Concealers -MAC - Pro Longwear concealer
COCO792 10/4/2011 4:38:00 AM
I don't really understand what this concealer is supposed to cover up. I wanted to try this because I read it was good for covering dark under-eye circles. which I guess it is but being a long lasting product, it creases when you smile/laugh and looks like wrinkles. I've found this happens with every "long-lasting" makeup product, and not just from MAC. long lasting foundations and concealers have a kind stickiness that helps them stay on for so long and they are also very thick so they crease. I just had a look on MAC.co.uk and saw that this concealer is full coverage, which I didn't know before now. but it did cover my under eye circles very well. you can't wear it on it's own without foundation though because it's so pigmented and the colour is strong. wearing this without foundation made my eye look un-naturally bright, and it made my actual eye look smaller because it's so thick. I am NW15 / NW20, as I have pink undertones. I was "matched" to NW15 in this concealer and it still looked sort of yellow. which added to making my eyes look un-naturally bright. I got recommended select moisture cover by a differnt MAC artist, which works a lot better. it offers moisture with a better colour match(NW15 is actually pink!) and a more suitable consistency for under eyes. so if you are looking for an under eye concealer from MAC, go for moisture cover. yes it has less product than pro-longwear, but you don't use all of the product from pro longwear because of all the wastage. this bottle pumps out more product than MAC foundation pumps. one full pump from this concealer covers the whole face, twice!
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Makeup Brushes -Urban Decay - Big Buddha Brush
COCO792 10/3/2011 10:56:00 AM
firstly this brush IS meant for the face aswell as the body. one) because it was designed to be used with UD's baked bronzer. and two) there isn't another smaller bronzing brush from UD. this is UD's quirky twist on the kabuki brush. it is very, very soft. and doesn't feel like plastic at all. but it is massive. the reason it is so soft is because the softer the brush, the less product (powder) it picks up from the pot. like I mentioned above, it is for use with UD's bronzer, because their bronzer is so pigmented. I found out that they only work with each other and neither product works with anything else. any harder bristled smaller bronzing brush will pick up too much product from UD bronzer pot and makes you look orange. there is no way around it. UD bronzer is the most pigmented I've ever seen. no other is as bright. so if you use this brush on any other bronzer, it will pick same amount of product up, but that won't be enough. so you will have to keep dipping in and end up turning orange. UD are good at designing tools that only work with their products. their pencil sharpener doesn't work on anything else but their 24/7 concealer pencil. I don't wear eyeliner so I can't comment on the eyeliner sharpening hole. two/three dabs with this brush onto UD bronzer and one/two sweeps on the cheeks is enough.
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Lip Gloss -Lancome - Lancome Juicy Tubes
COCO792 9/28/2011 11:06:00 AM
BEST LIPGLOSS EVER!! I honestly can't express how perfect and brilliant this is! but I'll try my best. there really is such a difference between this and regular glosses. I got this in shade 31-PÊCHE which is a nice pink(not too bright) with a peachy tint. perfect for summer but I use this shade in winter aswell. this has 2 looks in 1. you can put a little bit of this on to look natural or add a bit extra for more glamour. people moan about this being sticky, but anyone in the UK who knows No7's old lipgloss won't complain about this one bit, that was the mother of sticky. makeup wipes struggled to take that beast off. and the new No7 lipgloss is the opposite, there's no stickiness whatsoever. it just slides everywhere. but enough of No7. Lancome isn't sticky as such. I wouldn't say this is sticky, but it keeps perfectly in place and lasts for ages. the difference is: sticky lipglosses are irritating and tacky and this doesn't bother me in the slightest, it's so comfortable. along with the colour, this also leaves a nice finish. so flattering. it kind of has a its own glossy coat over the colour. I've never seen anything like it. it kinds of defines your lips, works with the shape of your lips and somehow adds dimension. it's moisturising too! my lips are well looked after by this and feel really smooth when this is taken off. and as for price, this isn't even that expensive. £14 compared to the typical £20 for high end lip gloss is amazing value. and 15ml in the tube aswell!! so generous! you don't even see 10ml in a tube of lip gloss anymore, they all look like samples. so this just adds to the value-for-money with this thing. and the fact it's in a tube bowled me over. I love tubes, they're so easy to apply and control how much product comes out. I hate screw top applicators they're so fiddly and faffy. seriously, I think screw top lip gloss was only invented to hide the tiny amount of product there is inside. whereas with tubes, you can see exactly how much product you get.
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Pressed Powders -Urban Decay - De-Slick Mattifying Powder
COCO792 9/28/2011 10:08:00 AM
Urban Decay is one of those brands that just doesn't work for me. everything I tried: gloss(too much colour), foundation(yellow as hell), and bronzer(drag queen-esque) was just a nightmare. this is the only product along with 24/7 concealer pencil from UD that is actually worth talking about, and boy is this powder worth talking about. it's amazing! this is for glowy foundations that often go greasy, this brings down the bad kind of shine while still letting the "glow" through. this doesn't make you matte, it just stops shine and brings luminous foundations down to a natural finish. and for keeping your makeup in place on a night out when you makeup starts to slide a bit. my foundation lasts longer with this. I don't need to re-touch during the day. you will only need to re-touch once during the day, and that's only if you want to have no shine through whatsoever. that's why I love this so much, because I don't like matte foundations(they are dull) and use luminous foundation but sometimes need a little grease control over my T-zone. you only need to use the tiniest amount of product( I've had mine for 2years+). anymore than two dabs into the pan will show white-cast over foundation. the only problem I have with it though is that it's not completely transparent. it is white with a very slight lavender tinge. this was launched way before UD's re-vamp, so was back when UD was on the gothic side of "edgy makeup". because the only way you can try to look natural with stark white foundation, is if it has a blue/purple tinge. (and even then it doesn't look natural) so that's probably why this has the lavendar shade in, to try and make a natural colour over white. I went to a picnic yesterday in warm humid weather for around 4hours. I had Maybelline dream matte mousse on which started to melt a bit and go greasy after 1hour. I dabbed a little bit of this on my T-zone and cheeks and I was good for the rest of the day. the only time I've gone greasy with this on was on holiday sunbathing in nearly 30°C weather in Tenerife. which is obvious as nothing can keep your sun cream sliding off in such hot weather. so there you heard if from me - it takes nearly 30°C weather for this baby to go greasy. this is discontinued in the UK :( I'm nearly down to the bottom of the compact and I'll be sad to see it go. BEWARE MATTE LOVERS: this doesn't work on matte foundation. because you will be matte already, this can't make you any more matte so will just sit on top of matte foundation leaving a white-cast. but if you must stay absolutley matte, you can dab a little bit of this over areas of the face that go shiny after a few hours. and only when your shine comes through or like I said it will leave a white cast.
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Liquid -MAC - Matchmaster SPF 15 Foundation
COCO792 9/9/2011 4:03:00 PM
This is the first MAC foundation I have tried and I would guess I'm shade NW20 as I have pale but not-so-pale skin with pink undertones. the MAC artist put shade 1.0 on me which is equivelent to NC15, it looked fine instore just a bit yellow so she "warmed it up" with NW15 powder. then after a few hours it went orange, this was because of the powder. I bought the bottle and wore it the next day and thought "oh I look a little bit pale but it's not noticeable", everyone, actual every single person I talked to that day said I looked way too pale. one of my friends said I looked like a vampire, another asked if I was ill, and my brother said I looked like I'd died. beware, shade 1.0 is VERY pale! I went back and tried shade 1.5, which seemed to suit me a lot better. then got it home and tried it, turned out to be way too dark! it just turned orange on me. it goes on smooth, blends well and leaves a natural finish, kind of half matte and it lasts quite a long time, it feels kind of powdery once set and goes powdery/flaky over dry patches, but this smoothes out if you blend it with your finger. it smells nice and foundationy at first but then I got a whiff of paint, yes paint. it smells like the thick block colour acrylic paint we used in art at school. so I wondered what chemicals they put into this, and is it the same stuff that goes into paint?. however this didn't irritate me in any way, (I have sensitive skin but foundations never bother my skin so I didn't expect this to) in fact it has a moisturising feel to it, my skin always feels nice and smooth and moisturised when I take this off. the MAC artists are still getting used to this so if your thinking of trying this be absolutely sure it matches you before you buy and don't let them put powder over it to warm it up or cool it down. you want to see this outside in natural light on it's own to see if it suits you. the lighting in stores can be a little deceiving. I really wanted to love this foundation, everything is great apart from the colours. all of the shades are yellow based. they really need a seperate pink and yellow line for this foundation. because how can one foundation colour match a variety of undertones?!
9 out of 13 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Foundations -Maybelline - Dream Matte Mousse
COCO792 8/22/2011 3:43:00 PM
I am 3 shades in this foundation: Ivory, Cameo and Nude. I use Ivory in winter when I am at my palest, Cameo my natural colour when the weather warms a bit (spring and autumn) and I use Nude in summer when I have fake tan on(I don't tan naturally whatsoever) and matches my tan perfectly, seriously with Nude you can't even tell I have it on when I'm "tanned". this foundation requires the least amount of time and effort to apply. put a clump on your fingers and rub it straight on using circular outwards motions. if you do this right and not being arty farty or trying to get it perfect, it will go perfect on its own. don't apply in sections or it will go streaky and look un-even. get the entire amount of product you want to use on your fingers for each side of your face and apply it that way. this stuff is drying even for oily skin and it flakes over dry patches so use plenty of moisturiser. this foundation is not for dry skin. I don't set with powder and I don't use powder to re-touch this, because dmm gives a slightly powdery finish already and powder will show up and look obvious because it has nothing to cling to and will make you look overly powdery. on its own this will last half a day. and with a primer it will last the whole day! before when I used a primer I didn't let it set before putting foundation on so it slid all over my face. let the primer dry and set and this foundation will last you all day with a couple of touchups, guaranteed ! so this needs hardly any effort to apply and maintain. it does, however, need plenty of moisturiser and some attention to maintain it through the day. so overall it's pretty good :) I've tried high-end foundation that haven't worked out for me. and I always come back to this. I wear it pretty much everyday. HELPFUL TIP- many of you will know this already, but to truely tell if a foundation colour will match you, you need to put it on your jawline first. so do this instore before you buy, not on the back of your hand.
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Concealers -Urban Decay - Surreal Skin Creamy Concealer
COCO792 4/16/2011 12:54:00 PM
the only place I use concealer is on my nose to set my foundation so it doesn't slide off. because I've got combination skin with my nose being oily, a liquid concealer seems kind of stupid. and it is, for me. because this just slides off along with my foundation. it is quite thick, so if it matches your skin tone(it doesn't match mine) then it will cover up large spots, but that's the only use for it really. I use UD 24/7 crayon concealer, it's much better!
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Bronzers -Urban Decay - Baked Bronzer
COCO792 4/16/2011 12:42:00 PM
I got shade "Toasted", the matte and apparently lightest shade, though it's still pretty dark. this bronzer is super pigmented so only a small amount when applying. and because you only need a tiny bit it will probably go off before I can use it all, it just never seems to empty! in all fairness, this is probably the best bronzer I've used. I love the colour, the texture, the pigmentation. you can lightly dust this onto cheeks, t-zone to add a natural bit of colour to your face. or you can add a bit more for a night out. and it probably last me forever. NOTE: it goes on orange if you use anything other than UD Big Buddah Brush to apply it with so you will have to buy that aswell or this bronzer is useless. it distuributes an even amount of bronzer to the face and makes it look natural. the brush bristle have purple ends and with gradual use they turn brown, so make sure you cleanse the brush regularly with a proper makeup brush cleanser(Clinique, Estee Lauder and MAC offer these) because the longer you leave it and the more times you use it, the harder it is to wash out. PLUS: it stains clothing and bedding.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Powder -Urban Decay - Surreal Skin Foundation
COCO792 4/16/2011 12:29:00 PM
I wasted my money on the liquid foundation from UD before they dicsontinued it and brought out this. so why I bought this aswell I don't know. I have pale skin with pink undertones. all of UD's foundation shades are yellow based, so DO NOT buy UD foundations if you are pink based, they will make you orange. the lightest shade illusion, is too way dark for me there is no way I can wear this it's just so dark. for a powder though it's actually quite thick, I had razor sharp finishing powder long before this and that's really light so I was suprised how thick this was compared to that. the puff application is pointless, because if you liked this foundation and used it everyday it would soon run out and you'd waste more product in the puff mechanism than you would actually use. I used UD powder brush, it distributes evenly on the face but has sparkles in it and it goes everywhere, don't even breathe near the pot if it's open because it will make a cloud of powder. I ended up giving this away because I couldn't cope with it any more.
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Concealers -Urban Decay - 24/7 Concealer in DEA
COCO792 4/16/2011 12:16:00 PM
I orignally got it to use as an under eye concealer because my YSL Touch Eclat was running out. but it doesn't work as an under-eye concealer. I use it on my nose and chin over foundation. because I have an oily t-zone and makeup comes off during the day, I only need to re-touch this halfway through the day. as I don't really have spots, and the little ones that I do have cover up with foundation, my nose is really the only thing I use this for. because it sets my foundation. but I do get the odd spot that foundation can't cover, and this struggles to blend over it. this blends well over smoothe surfaces, but for bumpy surfaces ie spots, it can't cope. NOTE: one thing UD are good at is creating products that only work with their tools. ie Baked Bronzer goes on orange if you don't use the Big Buddah Brush because it's so pigmented and the brush is so big to evenly dustribute the bronzer. and this concealer will only sharpen with Grind House sharpener.
3 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Liquid -Urban Decay - liquid Surreal Skin
COCO792 4/16/2011 11:47:00 AM
Urban Decay products are just not for me. I am very pale with pink undertones and all UD's foundations are yellow, so even illusion(the lightest shade) is too dark for me. it's really thick and the smallest amount looks cakey and if you try to spread it, it all sticks to your fingers instead of your face. it's almost impossible to wash off your hands, and it smells. it is however, easy enough to get out of the bottle. just turn it up side down(with the lid still closed) and shake or pat the bottom of the bottle so it all runs to the top. the lid even screws off completely so it will just pour out. there is nothing that difficult about getting the product out of the bottle. if you tried squeezing alone you'd get nothing for a minute and then it would all shoot out. so TAP before you squeeze. if needs be, store it upside down. this also brings out spots on my face so overall I don't like it. yes it was my own fault because the colour is totally off, but it looked fine on my hand, I should have asked an UD sales assistant to put it on my face. so if you have pink undertones in your skin, DO NOT get ANY urban decay foundations, they are all YELLOW based.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Liquid -Clinique - Superbalanced Foundation
COCO792 4/3/2011 1:57:00 PM
I quite like this foundation, but I'm not sure if I'll buy it again. it gives light/medium coverage as a minimum and the shades are realistic. I found it hard to apply though at first. when I use my fingers it leaves streaks, and using brush strokes can sometimes leave this un-even. the method I found to be the best is to dot little blobs all around the face then blend with a foundation brush (but don't fully blend), then finish blending by patting it with the foundation brush. this gives an even, dewy finish. I got this in March 2011, I don't wear this everyday and I'm just coming to the end of the bottle (Feb 2012). the colour match was pretty much perfect (Alabaster 27). you have to shake this well before use and still the heavier elements in the product sink to the bottom, because now when I apply this it looks orange and too dark. so shake the bottle really well ! this lasts about 6 hours+ with primer, it kind of flakes off after then. but a little re-touch during the day keeps it looking fresh. coloured powder put over this foundation turns orange. so use a translucent powder.
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