Review: ELF Mineral Blush

ELF Mineral Blush in Peachy is by far my favourite blusher of all time.  It's a 100% mineral based shimmery deep pinky-red, which complements my pale skin perfectly.

Its mineral based formula contains no parabens, no preservatives and no chemical dyes.  The colour comes from natural pigments, and Titanium Dioxide provides UVA/UVB protection, so you have that extra SPF where the sun would hit your cheeks.

The Mica in the product creates a kind of soft-focus blurring effect, so any wrinkles or uneven-ness underneath the product will be diffused and disguised very subtly.

The product comes as a loose powder in a plastic pot, and is dispensed through larger-than-usual holes.  It is incredibly pigmented, so a little goes a very very very long way.  My usual blush routine is as follows: 

1. Open pot  

2. Tip excess from lid back into pot, leaving a light dust in the lid  

3. Use blusher brush to pick up small amount from lid  

4. Tap excess into pot  

5. Blow brush 

6. Apply very lightly  

7. Use small fan brush to remove excess from face.

So, obviously, it will last me forever. 

It does stay on my face all day, not budging even a smidge.  Not a bit.  Even just using the tiny amount I do, my cheeks have a slightly flushed look until I go to bed.  The colour is hard to describe - it's more red than pink on the skin, but it's so sheer that it looks like you're... well... blushing a bit.  It has a slight shimmer to it which act like a bit of a highlight, so they're more defined.

I love it.  And for £5/3.4g, it's a bargain too.  I would recommend this to anyone with a face.

Available from EyesLipsFace.co.uk

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Review: Elf Studio Flawless Finish Foundation

This has been my go-to foundation for well over a year now, for one simple reason - it doesn't break me out.  There are many other plus points to this, but that is the main one for me - the oil free formula is great on my skin.

I started buying this back when it was about £3.75, and the price has jumped up to £6.75/29g now, which is why I chose not to repurchase - why not try something new for the same price?  It'll still be here if I decide it's the only one I can ever love.

Now it's not got the best coverage, and it doesn't last long, but it has SPF15 UVA/UVB coverage, and that's a must (you should try to get SPF in as many of your face products as you can manage, but if you can't get SPF foundation, opt for SPF moisturiser.  Make sure you have that protection there, or you're risking your skin looking old and tired too soon, as well as skin cancer.  Bad times.)

This foundation comes in a glass bottle with a black plastic lid, and a pump dispenser.  The down side to this is that, once the product is out of reach of the pump, it stops working.  For the past 2 months I've been unscrewing my bottle and applying it via the back of my hand.  Now, for people who don't know there's product left and don't unscrew the pump, that's a massive waste of money - about 1/3-1/2 of the bottle.  Not a small amount.

As I said, I've been scraping it out for about 2 months now, and a bottle lasts me around 3-4 months at most.  One pump/small pea sized amount is enough to do my whole face, and build it up in the areas where I need the most coverage (blemishes, redness).  It is buildable, but to an extent.  I wouldn't buy this if I needed heavy coverage, but it's perfect for light-medium coverage.

The texture is really silky, and it goes on really light.  It doesn't feel like it's sitting on your skin, it feels like it's soaking in like a moisturiser would.  It blends out really well, too, and I've never been left with a dirty line around my face/neck, so I'm pleased with that.

It comes in 6 shades - Porcelain, Sand, Buff, Caramel, Almond and Coco.  I use porcelain, which fits my light skin tone really well.  I do usually use the lightest/second lightest foundation shade available, but this is one of the best fits I've found for my skin colour.

As for longevity, it doesn't score a 10, that's for sure.  It lasts a few hours, and then seems to come off my skin, which is strange considering I don't have oily skin at all.  It just seems to wear away and my blush is left sitting on a naked face, and whilst that isn't so bad if you're using it for light coverage, anything more than that and you're not really getting any use from the product.

Overall, this is great for everyday wear if you have clear skin and want something lightweight on your face, but if you don't want your spots to be revealed half way through your day, this probably isn't for you.


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Review: Elf Mineral Lipstick - Cool Coral

Elf Mineral Lipstick in Cool Coral
RRP £5.00/3.8g

Now you can hydrate your lips and get a lasting soft colour naturally! This nourishing blend of exotic oils, natural waxes, vitamins and plant extracts create the perfect moisturising formula. The sleek lipstick has superior colour payoff, glides easily onto lips, and is long wearing. Lips stay perfectly hydrated and soft throughout the day for no fuss, lip loving happiness. 

100% Mineral based lipstick with no parabens, no preservatives and no chemical dyes.



Ingredients: 

Jojoba Seed Oil - Soothes, moisturizes and softens the skin. 
Coconut Oil - A moisturizing remedy to prevent wrinkles and sagging 
Candelilla Wax - Protects the skin against moisture loss
Ceresin Wax, Microcrystalline Wax, Caranauba Wax, Paraffin Wax
Castor Seed Oil - Soothing and rich in antioxidants - helps to prevent aging
Shea Butter - Deep penetrating, long acting - restores moisture balance & prevents visible aging
Olive Oil - Combats aging and locks in moisture
Tocopherol (Ve) - A Vitamin E derivative and a powerful antioxidant - helps skin healing
Ascorbyl Palmitate (Vc) - A Vitamin C derivative that promotes healthy skin
Retinyl Palmitate (Va) - A Vitamin A derivative and powerful antioxidant which increases skin elasticity
Mica - Imparts a soft focus effect
Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891) - Provides sun protection
Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499)
Manganese Violet (CI 77742).


Colour:

So this is the colour I expected to receive when I ordered Cool Coral (6704), and below is the picture of the actual colour.  I MUCH prefer the actual colour to the photo on the website.  The photo online does the lipstick no justice whatsoever, it's just a stock lipstick photoshopped a bit to slightly resemble the colour you might imagine the lipstick to maybe be.







The actual colour of the lipstick is a lovely shimmery orange/red.
It has a great payoff, not too overwhelming but definitely the same colour that it is in the tube - it doesn't take 2 or 3 coats to build up, it's just there instantly and it's so pretty!

It's very multi-dimensional and depending on where the light hits it, you'll see a different colour, which I love.

I've never found that I had to wear lip-liner with this, it doesn't seem to smudge or bleed or wear thin, it's fine just on it's own - great for quick touch ups and not having to re-paint your whole mouth!



Texture:

It also has a kind of rough texture to it, probably because it's a mineral lipstick? but I just like to pretend that's exfoliating my lips.  It's actually really hydrating and makes my lips feel so soft.
 (no surprise when you see the ingredients list below) 

Longevity:

It has quite good lasting power, doesn't clump together in cracks in dry lips, and it doesn't smudge really easily - I can eat and this will stay on, but I'll touch it up anyway just because I love the colour.

Packaging:

The packaging has held up well, for all the knocking about in my coat pocket, being man-handled and bashed, it's still in near-perfect condition.  No cracks or splits in the plastic, and the eyes lips face hasn't rubbed off the side yet either.


Value:

It's my go-to lipstick, you know the one you keep in your coat pocket rather than your handbag?  It's that one.  It will sit forever in my coat pocket for those moments when I need shimmery orange lips.

It doesn't seem to be wearing down very quickly either, which is great.  You can tell from the photo that it has softened a bit around the edges, but considering my almost daily usage, I still have most of it left - I bought it around 7/8 months ago, maybe more?  So that's pretty good going.


Rating:

This is my favourite lipstick, and considering all points - Value for money, lovely colour and excellent payoff. I'm giving it 5/5.



Please leave comments below to let me know anything you'd like to see!

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Everyday Makeup Products: Primers

This is going to be a list of the products I put on my face every day - First up, Primers.

If you're interested in buying any of these products, I'll put links in the descriptions :) *
*I was not asked/paid by any of these companies to mention any of their products.




 
Elf Studio Mineral Infused Primer
RRP £6.00/14g

This is BY FAR the best primer I've ever come into contact with - the feel reminds me of the GOSH gel primer - the one that feels a bit velvety - it's just SO smooth.  Once you start to run out, if you take the pump off, you still have about half the product left, and I think that's a shame for people who didn't realise and bought another unnecessarily.  It's fine if you just use the pump tube to get it out, but it seems like bad design.

The only other thing I'm not keen on is that the ingredients include methylparaben, ethylparaben and propylparaben.  That's a lot of parabens for one face.


This in mind, I've discontinued my use of my favourite primer, and have been alternating between the following two:

Rimmel Match Perfection Fix & Protect Primer
RRP £4.99/30ml

It claims to have a 5-point attack on dull skin, smoothing, resurfacing, brightening, mattifying and protecting!  It's ok.  It doesn't feel great.  It feels more like a watery moisturiser than a primer, but then I'm used to a gel, not a cream.  It doesn't seem to do anything for my makeup, either.  It's a shame really, I wanted to like it.

Witch Anti-Blemish Skin Clearing Primer
RRP £4.49/30ml

So far, so good with this one.  It has a nicer feel to it - somewhere between the two finishes.  It's not as smooth a finish as I'm used to but it has antibacterial properties, is fragrence free and oil free and has absolutely no parabens! so it's probably the one I'll stick with for my regular use.  It doesn't provide a bad base for makeup, and it helps with my pore-guilt - at least I'm clogging them with something helpful, right?




Please leave comments below to let me know anything you'd like to see!

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