Anybody want some tinted moisturiser?

I have the Nivea Daily Essentials Tinted Moisturising Day Cream and the Stila Oil Free Sheer Colour Tinted Moisturiser SPF 30, both of which are the wrong colour for me. The Nivea only comes in one colour, which seems very dark to me but is probably not that dark to someone who doesn’t glow in the dark like I do – it blends pretty well, and is decidedly warm-toned. The Stila is shade “light 03”, which is just a touch too dark for me, but is still pretty fair, and lighter than the Nivea one.

The Nivea has a really lovely finish to it on the skin, and smells gorgeous (I like the Nivea scent – that’s what it is). The Stila is a bit less matte and has no scent at all. Both are 50ml; the Nivea one has been used once, plus tiny blobs taken for colour testing. The Stila one has not even been used once – it’s just had a tiny bit taken out for colour testing too.

If anyone wants either of these,  just comment on this post. If more than one person asks, I’ll pick one at random. If no-one bagsies them, I’ll probably give them to friends; they’re not really worth selling on eBay. If no-one wants them though, they might get chucked out – so speak now! 🙂

That’s it really! Drop me a comment if you fancy some free tinted moisturiser! 😀

Inital Impressions: Elizabeth Arden Sheer Lights Tinted Moisturiser

My tinted moisturiser quest is still going on, as I’ve been disappointed by all those I’ve tried so far, including the shock failure of Vichy’s Lumineuse Sheer Radiance. (More on that story later.) I am determined to find a tinted moisturiser that I like, that isn’t Laura Mercier – I’ve never tried this mythical product, but I’m a student and I simply refuse to spend that much. There has to be something else out there that I will get along with!

My dearest, most loyal friend eBay recently supplied me with this – the Elizabeth Arden Sheer Lights TM – for many fewer pounds than it would have cost me at RRP. (I may have gone on a slight eBay TM spree, actually.) It arrived today, and so of course I had to try it out immediately. This is the highest-end TM I’ve used so far, and I have to say, I’m actually quite impressed. I’ve become almost jaded and cynical, expecting every product to be bright orange and hideous, but this is actually a rather normal, non-scary beige colour. Of course, it’s not quite as light as I’d like, but nothing ever is. It blends in well, and the colour looks entirely natural on my skin. A little of this baby goes a long way, which I’m pleased about too. Value for money is a big deal! Another bonus is the SPF 15 that it contains.

One of my pet gripes about TM in general is that it’s either a moisturiser or a tint, but rarely both, and hardly ever a good both. This is at least a decent moisturiser for my skin. I did apply an extremely light gel moisturiser 5 minutes beforehand, because I would usually anyway, especially as it’s winter, but the Elizabeth Arden could probably have held its own without that. It sank in moderately quickly, which is actually what I like – too fast and it’s not doing the job – and my skin now feels soft and supple, but not at all oily. In fact, it feels like I have nothing on – which is one of the key things I want a TM to do. So, it wins there!

Ladies who want good coverage are obviously not going to be interested in this product anyway, but I have to say that it has evened out my skin tone very well, much more efficiently than my Stila product. It has also given me a slight touch of natural colour, which I’m surprised and pleased by. Honestly, if it was orangey or too dark, I would be the first person to complain – it isn’t at all. It’s just…nice.

Now for the “lights” part. It is illuminating, and if that’s what you’re after, it does its job really very well. It is subtle, but effective. I am not a huge fan of shimmer in my products, and there is some in this, there’s no denying it. However, it’s not scary-Twilight-vampire-Revlon-Photoready glitter. It just makes your skin glow. I like this, though I thought I wouldn’t – another win for Lizzie Arden there. I might dab a bit of powder across my forehead to tone it down a little, but it’s not necessary, just personal preference.

I can’t say how it wears yet, of course. From the feel on my skin, I’m expecting a little shine to break through later, but that it’ll generally wear quite well and problems will be very minimal. Until my Boots No. 7 TM arrives, this one is definitely the winner! (Not that the competition is particularly stiff; I’ve had to give away the last 2 I’ve tried!)

Yay, tinted moisturiser! I genuinely feel that my skin looks nice today because of this product. I hope it lasts!

Review: UNE Skin-Matt Foundation (Sin Binned!)

image from dailymail.co.uk

I bought this from my local Superdrug when UNE was still fairly new – absolutely ages ago now, I really should have reviewed it before! It was one of those products I really wanted to like, so I guess that’s why; I kept wanting to try it again to make sure of my opinion. Sadly though, this foundation is the worst I have ever tried. Ever. And that’s saying something!
Honestly, I’ve never tried a foundation that had such a totally disgusting finish on my skin; it looked dull, dry, the wrong tone…it seemed almost as though I could see the bits of pigment on my skin, and it was terrible. I had to wipe it off immediately, and I was really upset that I’d wasted so much money (it is a little expensive for a Superdrug job!) on something completely unusable. If the colour had been correct, I might have tried mixing it with something else, but even though it looked like the right shade, there was something off about it.
To be honest, that’s kind of it – pretty short review coming from me! But there isn’t a single good thing about this product. It isn’t even cheap. Oh wait – I remembered one thing; I got a free UNE mini kabuki brush with it. That still, after countless washings, sheds like crazy and leaves me with a faux moustache if I’m not careful!

Not good. Not at all. 1 star. * See, I can’t even be bothered to find a 1-star image for this foundation.

New Look!

I’ve changed my theme, as I’m sure is obvious – I kept the orangey/pinky colours that were in the old one, as I really liked them, but I just think that this layout is a lot more easy to read and appropriate for the kind of posts that I do. I wouldn’t mind something a bit more flashy really, but any themes that have preset images or designs just seem a little unprofessional to me…I don’t know what it is!

Anyway, hope you like the new theme and layout!

Spring Scent: CK IN2U her

Just a quick late-night post to say that a perfume I got for Christmas, CK IN2U her, has rapidly become one of my favourites and it’s my spring perfume of choice! It doesn’t feel very spring-like here in London yet, but wearing a lovely scent can always pick up my mood a little bit, even in the depths of February! Actually, in winter I always wear a scarf, so putting on a little bit of perfume just below my ears will make my scarf smell good too. It’s the small things that can make a difference to my day…

🙂

Versatile Blogger Award

image from versatilebloggeraward.wordpress.com, obviously!

Hooray! I’ve been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by the wonderful Rebecca Elliston! Considering the short time I’ve actually had this blog, I’d never expect someone to nominate me – thank you very very much ^_^ this properly made my day!

I am going to nominate 7 blogs/bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award, in no particular order:

pearlessence

into mind

laced in leather

Fast Food and Fast Fashion

Terri’s Kitchen

Loving Apartments Blog

The Hobo-Tect

More information on the Versatile Blogger Award can be found with the helpful people at versatilebloggeraward.wordpress.com

OK, so the next thing I have to do is give 7 pieces of random information about myself! (This is apparently for my nominator’s benefit, but I’m not sure she’s going to be that interested..!)

1. I can read Latin and Ancient Greek.
2. I have fairy lights around my mirror because I refuse to grow out of my 14-year-old idea that it’s cool and individual.
3. I will spend half an hour perfecting my makeup in the morning but I often can’t be bothered to paint my nails.
4. I compose music for fun.
5. I’ve only just allowed myself to wear tracksuit bottoms during the day as a viable item of clothing. I still won’t wear them outside.
6. I secretly want to chop all my hair off and have it short, but I just don’t have the courage.
7. I drink altogether too much tea. I currently have 8 different kinds in my kitchen.

So now I’m off to comment on those blogs I mentioned! Thank you again to Rebecca, and to those people that read my blog ^_^

Review: Sin Binned Product Alert! – Nivea Tinted Moisturiser

image from amazon.com

I’ve been looking for a good (but preferably cheapish!) tinted moisturiser for ages now. I have the Stila oil-free one, and I don’t mind it, but I would prefer something with a touch more coverage and with a less shiny finish! So when I saw this baby in Boots for about £8, I obviously couldn’t resist. I quite like Nivea Visage skincare as it is, so I was pretty confident I’d get on well with it.

Firstly, there was no open tester tube in the shop, so I couldn’t stick any on my hand to see what the colour was like. I hunted around, but then realised upon closer inspection of the packaging that they only actually make one colour – a truly frightening (as I discovered at home) dark brown. It does, obviously, lighten up considerably upon blending, but if you have pale skin, you can expect to be using hardly any of this and blending like a loony in the morning to make sure you don’t have brown lines on your face. I was seriously unimpressed by this fact.

Secondly, I do have something good to say about this product – I love the finish. It sinks in quickly and is beautifully matte, but not so much so that it looks fake or powdery. It really does look lovely on the skin (provided you are naturally the colour of a brick).

Thirdly, the worst thing about this moisturiser is that it broke me out. I am still slightly amazed by this, and I mean to try it out again just to be triply sure that it was in fact this product that did it. It was the only thing I’d changed, so I’m fairly positive, but it was just so unexpected it shocked me. Nivea, breaking me out? However, I’m certain enough that I’m not going to try it while I’m at uni – I’ve been waiting to do it during Reading Week, which is starting now.

I am very upset that my hunt for a repurchaseable TM has to continue! I’ve bought the Vichy Sheer Lumineuse one, and I have high hopes 😀

It’s Perfect! And Discontinued…- Stila Lipstick in Sonia

Just wanted to mention that I’ve found a totally gorgeous lipstick and I’m in love. It’s Stila, and it’s DISCONTINUED. *cue horror film music*

I bought it from TK Maxx, so I know I’ll never see it again unless I somehow manage to get hold of some on eBay. It’s a proper tube lipstick, not a glaze or anything, and it’s in the colour Sonia. This colour is EXACTLY what I’ve been looking for; it’s a gorgeous berry shade, but natural-looking on. Not shiny, not glittery, just perfect.

I believe Stila still make other products in this shade, but without the beautiful finish, it just wouldn’t be the same!

However, this has been my absolute favourite lipstick for winter, and will probably continue into spring too!

image from beautyfragrances.co.uk

Winter Lips – Lipbalm Addiction!

The winter really plays havoc with my lips. I use lipbalms at the best of times, (thanks Mum for getting me addicted at a nice early age!) but in winter, they really suffer. I’m not just talking about slight dryness or flakiness – sometimes if I can’t use a balm, my lips feel like they’re burning and splitting the whole time.

It didn’t take me long to realise a few things. Firstly, tingly “medicated” lipbalms are not all the same. If it tingles all that much, it’s probably making the problem worse, even if it soothes for a while. Some are genuinely good – for example, my current Holy Grail tube, the Blistex Intensive Moisturiser:

image from chemistdirect.co.uk

This does what it should, without making my problem worse by irritating already sore skin with tingly things. However, a product made by the same people, Blistex MedPlus, has good instant results but does nothing to keep my lips soft or moisturised once it’s worn off, or protect them while I’m outside in the cold:

image from cali-vita.com

This stuff sounds like it should be exactly what I need in winter, but it’s just not up to the job. Another similar offender is Carmex, which tingles like hell and, in my opinion, can do more harm than good.

I mainly wanted to compare these two, but there are several other lipbalms I’ve been trying recently. Vaseline, Palmer’s Cocoa Butter (Dark Chocolate and Peppermint) Lip Butter, and a Boots Cocoa Butter Lip Care Stick I have – none of these are hardcore enough to do it for me. They just don’t provide enough protection or moisture. However, if I leave my Blistex white tube in a handbag or pocket, and start panicking, I can rely on my LUSH Whip Stick lipbalm. This is moisturising enough to soothe, and waxy enough to protect my lips from the cold. I love it – it’s just not quite as amazing as the Blistex.

Also, if I know it’s going to be cold and windy, I’ll use a moisturising one overnight and then a layer of Burt’s Bees lipbalm in the morning before I leave will really seal in the moisture and protect my lips. It’s brilliant as a layer, but it does need to be used in conjunction with something else that’ll soften first.

Right, I’ll shut up about lipbalm now! Phew, that was a lot.

Product Alert: Palmer’s Skincare

I’m not sure if this is new, or if I’m just spectacularly unobservant, but I haven’t seen Palmer’s facial skincare in shops before. I have no idea what it’s like, but I might give it a try as a sort-of equivalent to my cheapie Johnson’s cleanser, when that finally runs out. The moisturising lotion was the first thing to catch my eye, but I don’t need moisturiser right now so I’ll investigate the cleanser first.

I’ll update if it’s exciting! If anyone’s tried it, I’d love to know what it’s like! 🙂