Product Rejects | #1

beauty

Very rarely do I like to to highlight products that I don’t think are worth spending your money on unless I just flat out don’t like it. However, when I was clearing out my makeup drawer recently I came across a few things that I regret ever buying and thought I would share them because no matter how much you love a specific brand, sometimes you don’t like a certain product they release.

The Bodyshop Tea Tree Flawless BB Cream | This was a product I bought when it was newly released last year. At the time I was struggling with bad breakouts - which I do still suffer with so any product recommendations would be greatly welcomed - but I wanted a slightly lighter base for summer. The shade range is awful as there are only three shades in total and they’re all fairly orange. Being a BB cream I assumed it would be fairly easy to blend in so if the colour was out slightly it wouldn’t be too bad, like with most products of this nature. However, this product is actually very thick for a BB cream and doesn’t blend in well at all. I found that it almost separates when blending no matter if I used my fingers, a brush or a sponge. It just wasn’t to my liking.

Bourjois Happy Light Matte Serum Primer | At first I loved this product - full review here - so when I picked it up again about a year later I expected to still love it. I’m not sure if the product has changed or if my skin has changed but it now sits differently and I found it not be as good at keeping my makeup in place as I remembered it to be. I also found that it could flake off in certain areas when applying a foundation over top.

Maybelline Dream Flawless Nude Foundation | This was just an all round no from me. I wrote a full post about this foundation - which can be seen here - but in summary I didn’t like the application and I didn’t like the product. It's okay on days if you just need to slap something on but in my opinion there are much better things out there.

Maybelline The Eraser Eye Concealer | I picked this up after hearing so many rave reviews about it however personally I didn’t think it was anything special, especially for undertake eyes - full review here.

Bourjois Chocolate Bronzer | I loved this product to death and still probably would if I still used it however, if you have sensitive or acne prone skin I’d recommend staying clear as I found this is be the number one cause of my breakouts. The Bourjois Bronzing Primer breaks me out instantly too, which I’ve so far put down to the scent as all other Bourjois face products I’m fine with.

Revlon Bold Lacquer Mascara | I’m a massive fan of the Revlon Lash Potion Mascara so when this launched I was really excited to try it. My main niggle with this mascara is that it has lash fibres in it - something which isn’t stated on the bottle - and as a contact lens wearer this made my eyes extremely irritated. It was also an incredibly wet formula which personally I really don’t like in a mascara.

Rimmel Wonder'full Mascara | Personally I found this mascara just didn’t really do anything to my lashes. It didn’t lengthen them and it didn’t volumes them either, is was a very nothing product for me.

What are some of your purchase regrets?

~ Jade xx

Current favourites | #2

barry m

Barry M textured nail varnish - lady
Revlon lash potion mascara - blackened brown
MAC eyeshadow - satin taupe
Bourjois happy light serum primer - matte

Barry M recently came out with a new textured line of nail varnishes called the ‘royal textured glitter’ collection. I picked up the colour ‘lady’ and have really been enjoying it. Two coats gives an opaque finish and the varnish itself is really pretty. Its part iridescent sparkle, part white glitter and part matte white flecks with an interesting textured finish. Barry M previously came out with a textured line of polishes during the summer and they didn’t catch my eye however this time around they have and I will be looking at picking up some more shades. The best part is they last a lot longer on the nails than a regular varnish because they’re textured. 


I’ve done a full review on the new Bourjois matte primer - which can be seen here - and since I bought it a couple weeks ago and I haven’t stopped wearing it. 

I picked up MAC’s eyeshadow in satin taupe when I was in London a few weeks back and I think I’ve fallen in love. I don’t usually go for cool tone eyeshadows as I don’t think they particularly suit me however satin taupe is great to pair with a warm toned champagne colour and adds just the right amount of smokey-ness for a daytime look. 

I’ve been trying out a new mascara recently and although I picked up the wrong colour - I’m a true black mascara girl all the way - I’ve been really liking this new option from Revlon. It adds just enough length and volume without my lashes looking too spidery or too full. 

Finally I’ve been in love with my contour brush from real techniques. Originally I used this for what the name suggests - contouring - however recently I’ve been using it to buff in my concealer. It’s the perfect size and as it’s duo-fibered and synthetic it doesn’t soak up too much product or make concealer look heavy and caky which I can sometimes find when I use a heavy duty concealer like my MAC pro-longwear. 



What are your current favourites?

~ Jade

Bourjois happy light matte serum primer | Review

bourjois


I’ve heard a lot about Bourjois’ new ‘happy light’ range around the blogger-sphere recently so I decided to pick up the matte primer. I chose the matte version since I have oily skin so the ‘luminous’ version just wouldn’t work for my skin type.

The matte version is aimed at those who have combination to oily skin - like myself - and as the name suggests it is serum based. I much prefer that it’s a serum to other more cream based primers I’ve tried in the past as it feels like a serum creates more of a barrier between my skin and my make-up which in my mind makes me think that my oil is less likely to show through and my make-up is less likely to sink into my pores and make them look more visible. 

I mainly concentrate the product around my t-zone and smile lines as this is where I get most oily and where my make-up tends to move around the most. I find that patting the product into my skin works best rather than smoothing it on or rubbing it in - and is also rather therapeutic first thing in the morning. The primer has a pink tinge to it when first pumped out of the bottle but dries clear and is a tacky-like texture when first applied. 

For oil control I definitely do still get oily and do have to blot but certainly not as much as I would normally. Usually in an eight hour day I’ll blot around four times - like I said, I have super oily skin - but whilst using this primer I’ve found I only need to blot a couple of times. However, what I really like about this product is that despite the fact I still have to blot, my makeup does not budge. It stays in place across my T-zone and more specifically my smile lines which I always struggle with and have usually lost all the foundation around my nose by mid-day.

Price wise I picked this up from Boots on a special introductory offer for £6.99 but the original price is £10.99 which I personally think isn’t too bad. For a high street brand/product I would expect the price to be slightly lower but when compared to something like the Smashbox photo finish light primer which is £25 it is definitely a good, more affordable price. 




Have you tried the new Bourjois line?

~ Jade xx

Photography information

Canon 600D with 18-55mm lens, Canon 24mm lens or Sigma 70-300mm lens. Canon EOS M with 18-55mm lens or Canon 24mm lens. Any edited photos are edited using Photoshop CS6. Picture source is given for any photo used that is not directly ours.