Sunday 10 February 2013

A Little Bag of Goodies

As some of you who know me already will know, I work for
<insert large branded high street cosmetic retailer here>,
and occasionally, it does not completely suck. Every now
and then the managers throw a little incentive our way.
In this case we were all given make up cases that were
stuffed with make up.
Some of the it was just unused testers, some just
offplan stuff that we haven't sold yet. Either way,
I decided to go for a week using only the make up
in the bag, and see for myself if one mans 
iscaarded make up can be a
budgeteer's treasure.

Loreal Color Riche 325 "Feeric Fushia"
If any of you have this, you'll remember that it came in a
free gift set that L'oreal were doing just before Christmas - 
it was included in a pack that you got for free for spending
over £15. There were actually two included in my goody
bag, and I already have one at home because I got the
free L'oreal set too, but I actually don't mind because
I love the colour. 

The theme of the set was Diamantissime, so the lipstick
goes perfectly with my matching Volume Million Lashes
mascara. I think the colour is perfect for looking your best
on a night out, but I also think it can add a touch of
glamour to an every day look as long as the rest of your
make-up is minimal or natural. It also lasts quite a few
hours so you don't have to keep topping up every
half an hour.


Maxfactor Miracle Touch Creamy Blush
I had my reservations about using the Miracle Touch Cream Blush,
mostly because of the colour. I have a very sandy pale
complexion and for my every day look I like to keep my
colouring as natural as possible; so of course rubbing
what appears to be a very waxy barbie-girl pink onto my
cheeks did not seem like a good plan.

However, I was pleasantly suprised by the overall outcome.
You only need to use a very small amount, and you need to
rub in quite well because it's quite a greasy product, but I
have to admit it's less messy than a powdery blush.
This is the sort of thing that I would keep in my make up
bag for a bit of complexion revival, because you can
easily just rub some on and wash your hands, without
having to faff around with brushes and powders.


17 bronzed cream blush
  This Bronzed Cream blush by 17 came from part of a free
Summer giftset. I think that it would look great to set off
a tan. Because (and I can't stress this enough) I am so
pale, I didn't use much of this, I just stroked tiny bits
underneath the apples of my cheeks, to accentuate my
blusher. So really I used it as more of a bronzer than a
blush, and I would generally prefer a powdery bronzer
for this. I will keep the product on my dressing table
and pray for a tan this summer.


Loreal Paris superliner luminizer

As far as Superliner's go, this is probably one of the best
I've ever had. That's not saying an awful lot though - my
plain Rimmel black Kohl eyeliner pencil goes with me
wherever I go in life. I find liquid eyeliner a bit fussy.
This one was okay, the tip of the applicator was nice
and firm so when I did use it I got a very precise line.
It also dried quite quickly which was nice, I will
probably save it for a night out and find a nice
eyeshadow to go with it, so I can do something
a bit special with my eyes.


Maxfactor Masterpiece max mascara









This was fantastic. The short brush made my hands feel
more secure whilst I was applying, and maybe that was
a big part of it, but I usually use three different Mascara's
from three different brands and don't get the effect I got
with this. I probably will still use another mascara as a
base coat before I use this, but the body of the brush
really helped to enhance my lashes, and I felt a million
dollars all day. It's also size-handy for make up bags.


Loreal chrome shine bronzer
 
I'm almost embarrassed to admit this but for a while I
was using this product as an eyeshadow! The brush
confused me a bit, it's small and round and foam and
the sort of thing I'd use to apply eyeshadow. For my
bronzer I like to use a medium sized make up brush
and put it on in strokes, I do this, and most of my
friends also do this, because it makes cheekbones
more prominant. I suppose you could try and get the
same effect with the brush but it just seemed
uneccessary so I used the product with my own brush.
The overall look was fine, the powder added a shimmery
sheen to my skin that was quite summery, so I will
probably come back to this bronzer later in the year.


Loreal colour riche nail varnish oppulent pink
 
I really do like this nail varnish, and what I like even more
is that it looks great with the Color Riche lipstick that
was included in my goody bag.  The varnish is not a
quick dry but still dried fairly fast, and the thin brush
makes applying it to your nails a less awkward procedure
than other nail varnishes. Although personally I'm not
really a lover of pink (despite having three fushia L'oreal
lipstick's on my dressing table) the colour is rich enough
to be glamorous but warm enough to be soft and feminine.
A positive review from me.


Barry M Nail Paint Coral
This Nail Paint personally has a place in my heart.
Coral was without a doubt the shade of Summer 2012
- it was everywhere! Maybe it's just nostalgia on my
part but I think the colour is just amazing - it's warm,
it's unusual, it's soft, it has personality, it look's cute
with fair skin and hair and it looks sexy with a tan.
The only downside in my opinion was that it took such
a long time to apply. The range is called Nail Paint for
a reason, the colour is matte and takes more than just
one coat to get really decent coverage. However, after
the three coats I use was on it looked great, and I like
that the bottle was big - so hopefully I can just keep
coming back to it and back to it until summer.


17 In the nude Lipgloss
I couldn't find a non-blurry picture of this product, but....
it's a nude lipgloss, use your imagination. Yeah basically,
I'm a lipstick girl. I like vibrant colours and experimenting,
but I do also like to tone down once in a while. My general
rule for daytime make up is - glamorous lips or glamorous
eyes, but both of them together is over the top. This nude
lipgloss went really well on days that I did my eyes up
carefully. It looked smart but not like I'd made too much
effort, which I liked. What I didn't like was that I had to
keep topping up throughout the day, and sometimes
where the lipgloss had partially rubbed off it made the
colour of my lips patchy. Maybe I'd go back to this
occasionally, but I think deep down my heart is telling
my that I am and always will be a lipstick girl.


Thanks for reading if you made it this far! I hope there'll
be more to come soon.