My Foundation Collection

It's been a while since i've done a collections post, so I thought there is no time like the present to write a post containing one of my favourite beauty staples - foundation. I go through lots of different phases with my skin so i've catagorised them to make it slightly easier to navigate.. enjoy!

 Natural/Low Coverage Foundations

Bourjois Paris BB Bronzing 8 In 1 Cream - Full review here. - £9.99
I've never really jumped on the BB Cream bandwagon, so I bought this through sheer curiosity. As much as it is a terrible bronzer, this has just enough coverage to cover up any unnecessary blemishes - but nothing more. I must admit I don't use this often because my skin has never been great enough to get away with it, but its ideal if you're blessed with perfect skin.

Benefit You Rebel Lite Tinted Moisturiser - £24.50
The packaging looks pretty shabby because this is the foundation I used throughout summer. I always like to switch to a tinted moisturiser in the warmer months so my skin doesn't feel so heavy. Packed with SPF 15, its perfect for those who don't like going completely bare-faced in the sun. I would say the lighter version of the two (This product is designed to adapt to your skin-tone) has a yellow tinge to it, so if you're pale skinned try not to be too liberal with the application.

Revlon Nearly Naked in 180 Shell - £8.99
This is a beautifully designed product that gives an airbrush feel with added SPF20. However, as much as I enjoy using it its not something i'd pick up when I need to be up and out in a hurry. It doesn't come with a pump, almost as if its designed to be put onto the hand and mixed with another shade. It's light in consistency and blends well, but I did find I needed to touch up around areas prone to redness.

Matte Foundations

Rimmel Stay Matte in Ivory - £5.99
This has to be the worst foundation out of the collection. It has a strange perfume smell and it makes me look orange however sparingly I apply it. It has a runny consistency, and I found it didn't provide any coverage unless I built it up, making my face shiny as opposed to matte. The shine control element is practically non-existent, but the inclusion of cotton, chamomile and cucumber did make my skin feel slightly softer.
 
Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse in Ivory - £7.69
This is the newest addition to my collection, as I was searching for a mattifying foundation that provided great coverage without feeling cakey. Using a mousse makes application a breeze - i'm not usually a fan of applying with my fingers but i've found its the best way with this product. It's inexpensive and I don't need to reapply throughout the day.

MAC Studio Fix Fluid with SPF15 in NC15 - £21.50
As many of you will probably already know,  MAC provide heavy coverage. I use this foundation for nights out because it provides little shine that will come from that dreaded flash photography (Although any foundation with SPF in it will provide shine to a certain extent!) . However, it is quite orange (I have the lightest shade too!) so I need to mix it with my lightest foundation to create a suitable blend.

Brightening Foundations

No 7 Instant Radiance in Calico - £12.50
This inexpensive foundation is great when my skin needs a little pick-me-up. It's still reasonably lightweight so I like to use it when i've had a late night and my skin looks tired in the morning. Overall i'm a massive fan of No7 due to their unique foundation matching service and their wide selection of foundations.

Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Brightening Makeup - £25.50
What first drew me to this foundation was its added SPF25, along with its oil-free formula and hydrating benefits. Although I love the overall look of this foundation (It doesn't really cover blemishes but gives your skin a great glow!), i've found that even the lightest shade makes my skin look bright yellow! I've had to mix it with a bit of my No7 foundation, which sort of defeats the object.

Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclat- £29.00
This is my dream foundation. Coming in 16 different shades, it eliminates blemishes and brightens shadowy areas. This is my second bottle of this, but i've chosen to use it more sparingly as it is the priciest product I own. My skin looks flawless when teamed with the YSL Touche Eclat Touch Highlighting Pen. It has a light consistency, allow my skin to breathe and giving just enough coverage to even out your skin tone. Love this!

Aswell as this, i've also started using my tester pot of Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation (£28.50) - which is certainly the most heavy coverage foundation i've used. So far I haven't found it very breathable, but a tiny amount lasts all day so is ideal for a special occasion when there isn't much time to touch-up.

I'm always on the look-out for the 'perfect' foundation, so let me know what your favourite foundation is below! :)

Review: Revlon 'Just Bitten Kissable' Balm Stain in 'Cherish Devotion'

Lip stains and crayons are all the rage this summer, with practically every mainstream cosmetic brand releasing a variation of the popular product.

Beginning with the Chubby Stick from Clinique, these crayons ensure easy application, storage and come in many long-lasting, moisturising colours.
I've been a fan of Revlon for a while now, however it was their gorgeous Colourburst lip butters that made them one of my favourite brands for lip products. I'd heard many great reviews on their 'Just Bitten Lipstain + Balm' and this gave me the confidence to test their newest product: Just Bitten Kissable Lip Stain - a combination between the already existed lipstain product, and a lip crayon.

This new product comes in 12 shades, ranging from glamourous red and deep plum, to sheer coral and pastel pink. There really is a colour for everyone, which made me excited that I could purchase more shades for different occasions if I was satisfied by the product. 

As suggested, the stick resembles a crayon, and has a retractable crayon that can be adjusted using the silver end of the stick. As you can see I opted for a pink (Shocker, I know!) but I decided to change it up a little and go for a brighter shade that can be worn on a night out.

The tip is slightly darker because it's just been used, but as you can see the actual crayon is quite thick, and as it is retractable there is certainly a lot of product. This product is designed as a fusion of a ultra-moisturising balm and a vibrant lip colour, and I found that it was so creamy it literally glided onto my lips. As you can see, the swatch on the bottom of the crayon is true to the shade, which is sometimes a bit of a difficult task for Revlon (I'm still moaning about the Peach Parfait swatches!).

I love that it illiminates the extra step of adding a balm ontop of a lip colour, as the last lip stain by Revlon was designed. Combination products are on the rise, people want maximum results with minimum effort and reduced application time (take BB creams for an example!) and this definitely ticks all of those boxes. Being designed as a crayon makes it a perfect product for beginners, allowing you to essentially draw on your colour. Here's what it looked like on:

With flash:

 It's a gorgeously vibrant pink, that feels like a balm but looks like a lipstick. As it's considered a stain I was expecting it to last just as long as other lip stains, but as it is infused with a balm it doesn't last quite as long but it definitely took a few hours before needing to reapply, however it does come off when eating and drinking etc.

Overall I am so impressed with this product. It fits snuggly into my handbag, easy to apply and has a great end result. The colours are definitely a lot less sheer than I expected from a product that is combined with a balm, making it great to carry around in a purse on a night out, and will provide your lips with plenty of moisture throughout wear. I can't wait to get my hands on some more gorgeous shades!

You can purchase Revlon 'Just Bitten Kissable' Balm Stain at your local Boots or Superdrug or online here for a reasonable £7.99.

Be sure to vote for Sophie Says for the NEXT Newcomer Blog Award at this years Cosmopolitan Blog Awards HERE!

Review: Revlon Colour Burst Lip Butter in 'Peach Parfait'

I've already reviewed two different shades from this range (You can read here) but it was originally the 'Peach Parfait' that I wanted to try out. That was because the cover girl for the brand, actress Emma Stone (who is my favourite acress ever) was wearing the gorgeous peachy coral shade and it looked so nice on her.

See for yourself:

Source: trend911.com

Of course I am aware that the image has been digitally enhanced and obviously it wouldn't look exactly like that, but I was curious! However, I think other people had the same idea and I went back on numerous occasions and it had sold out. However, when I was browsing the make-up aisle for Barry M shade 154 (Review will be up in a couple of days!) I managed to grab the last one! 

 So gorgeous on Emma, so gorgeous on the swatch on the bottom of the tube .. but is it just me, or does that look nothing like either? There wasn't a tester of this particular shade available so this could have been prevented, but I wasn't expecting it to be a dark pink with flecks of gold.  Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely shade, but looks completely different?

 It seems more of a peach/pink in this swatch? The tube swatch and the image of Emma shows the shade being much more coral, orangey even. 

 

The shade seems like a darker, more glittery version of the 'Strawberry Shortcake' lip butter. However, comparisons aside it is a lovely colour. The sparkles make it perfect to wear in the evening, but the pretty pink is ideal for spring and summer days. The shea, mango and cocoa butter gives your lips total nourishment, leaving them as soft and supple as if you'd just applied Vaseline or Chapstick.

Overall, a lovely colour but incredibly misleading. Definitely a colour i'll be wearing again, but let that be a lesson to all of you .. if there's no tester, request one! It'll save disappointment and money if you're unsatisfied with the end result.  

You can purchase one of the 20 gorgeous shades of Revlon Colour Burst Lip Butter for £7.99 at your local Revlon counter or concession stand.

Revlon Colourburst Lip Butter in 'Cotton Candy' & 'Strawberry Shortcake' - Review & Swatches!

I don't know about you, but I just can't resist anything that is named after something to do with food or sweets. Whether it's clothing, perfume or make-up, if it's candy related it must be mine!
Admitadly it is what drew me to the lipsticks at first, before realising that they were the products I had been dying to test for a while!

Revlon are a well known makeup and beauty brand that provide top-quality products to a number of countries worldwide. Revlon are a brand that I personally trust, which gave me the insentive to try out their newest lipstick during a trip to my local Superdrug: A stick that not only provides a pop of colour, but is also designed to bring nourishment and moisture to your lips.
I don't know if it's because the products are called 'butters', but I love the idea of something making your skin feel so silky smooth and was curious to see whether I could achieve that feeling on my lips.

I decided to try 'Cotton Candy' and 'Strawberry Shortcake' because I loved how natural they were, and thought they'd work well for spring and summer. The plastic lid for the lipstick matches the shade, which I think is really effective as you can identify the shade quickly without having to look for the swatch on the bottom. I also like the fact that it's plastic so I don't feel so guilty just throwing it into my handbag!

Cotton Candy

First of all, how gorgeous does the stick look! A sweet pink with a slight sparkle. As you can see when it's on it doesn't look too different from my natural lip colour. It's as if it is essentially the same shade just enhanced slightly. This is the perfect shade if you want to go girly but not too 'Barbie-esque' with the colours.

Strawberry Shortcake

 

Now this is the shade to go for if you want a hot pink pout. Slightly brighter than the 'Cotton Candy' shade, this would be a shade I would choose for the evening or if I wanted to make my make-up a little more dramatic than my usual daytime natural.

It's quite disappointing how similar the shades are. On the swatches and even the lids of the tubes were more contrasting than they are on my lips. However, they are both gorgeous colours that suit a pale skin tone perfectly! 

They're really easy to apply due to the use of mango, shea and coconut butter. My lips felt impossibly smooth after application, so much so that I almost rubbed off all the colour just by constantly rubbing my lips together to feel how soft they were! Because it slicks on so easily be sure to apply sparingly and then build up, you don't want to waste it. Revlon claims that the lip butter formula enhances lip moisture by 156%. I don't know much about the percentage, but I know that if I continue to wear this, dry lips will be a thing of the past! 

The lipsticks are £7.99 and come in 20 sheer to medium colour shades (with names such as 'Fig Jam', 'Cupcake' and 'Gumdrop'!), so there's a perfect opportunity to buy one in every occasion without giving your bank card too much of a workout! You can buy Revlon's Colourburst Lip Butter at your nearest Revlon concession stand.

Review: Revlon 'Top Speed' Nail Enamel in Emerald

I think I said it in a post before that I was trying to expand my nail polish collection (I've been going from buying at least 3 a week to buying one a month!) and that I was lacking in greens. So, I was feeling pretty festive as I browsed the make-up aisles in Boots and came across this gorgeous matte green polish from Revlon. I always think you can't go wrong with a strong matte colour as they always look just amazing on your nails as they do on the bottle. By the way, because it's night there is no natural light,so the flash makes the colour slightly lighter than it actually is, it's a forest green!

The bottle claims it only needs one coat, and that it takes 60 seconds to dry, and it's completely right! First off, I hate still being able to see the nail underneath the polish, it's just pointless! But after applying (Quite liberally, just incase!) quickly there was no hint of my natural nail in sight. I was precise enough to actually time the drying time to see if it was over a minute, and by 60s my nails were bone dry. Result :)


Please ignore my temporarily short nails, they keep breaking off because they're getting too long! As you can see it's a gorgeous woody green, and reminds me of the colour of a Christmas tree :)
It retails at £6.49 from Boots, which I think it's amazing as the application took two minutes, and the drying time is only a minute.

Excellent value for someone like me whose always on the go and can't afford to be wasting time blowing on my nails to make them dry! I recommend 100 percent.

xo