High-Street Alternative.

Sometimes I don’t have the money to spend on high-end make up, and when I’m running ridiculously low on something, I sometimes try a highstreet alternative. This either ends with me falling in love (rare) or running for the closest department store (more likely). Never the less, I always like trying high-street products and sometimes you do come across gems that are just incredible. Therefore I thought I would show you a few things I bought in the last couple of months and my thoughts on them.

Garnier Oil-free BB Cream - £9.99

The packaging is quite an elegant slim line squeezy tube with a pointy tip. Scent wise - it is fragrance free so doesn't smell much, which is a massive bonus. The texture of the Garnier Oil-free BB is very runny. Never the less, it is exceptionally easy to spread and doesn't set too quickly so you have time to work it. The finish is surprisingly beautiful. It's a nice soft matte, very skin like. It is light to almost medium coverage and is particularly good at hiding areas of redness. The oil control is good, but not fantastic. I am oily on my nose and I still need to apply a mattifying primer to this area before applying the cream. I love the finish of this. Count me very surprised. It lasts around 8-10 hours and makes my skin feel so silky. I happily wear this when I’m just going to university, work placement or anywhere I don’t think needs me to use my high-end, much more fuller coverage foundation.

Rimmel Fix and Perfect Pro Primer 002 - £6.99

I bought this because I wanted a cheap matte primer to use under my Garnier BB Cream, instead of using my rather expensive illamasqua primer. It states that the primer will will “smooth, resurface, brighten, mattify and protect” as well as make your foundation last longer (if you choose to wear it under make up). It definitely did the latter – my make up stayed in place and still looked fresh by 8pm – despite putting it on 12 hours earlier! As for the other “5 in 1″ things, I wasn’t too sure. Smooth, yes, brighten, yes, but protect? Protect against what? It has no SPF in it, so I wasn’t too sure what this primer was “protecting” me against. Despite this, the first time I used it I was just amazed. It made my skin so smooth and my BB Cream went on so nicely over the top of it. No patchiness or caking like with other high-street primers I have tried. Overall first impressions…very impressed, never the less I will keep using it and keep you updated if my view of this primer changes in any way.

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer - £4.19

Firstly I apologise about there being no photo, my tube of this gets so much use it looks rather horrific at the minute, it also has no writing on it due to it rubbing off. I'm REALLY impressed with this concealer. For the price it’s an absolute steal for the high quality. It's thick and creamy so provides a good coverage, but isn’t cakey and is easily blended into foundation. It comes in 4 different shades and they are all so very different, currently I have shade 3 which is medium, however next time I might try 2 which is lighter, just to see if it blends that bit better with my false tan wearing off lighter foundation.

I totally recommend this concealer for anyone after a new concealer with staying power and good coverage. Don’t be put off by the cheaper brand (guilty makeup snob right here), it’s most definitely a drugstore product deserving a chance.

Maybelline Fit Me Foundation - £7.99

I received a tester of this foundation when it first came out. The best thing about this foundation for me, and the thing that intrigued me the most, is the fact that it contains no oils or waxes…'no nonsense' being the selling point of the Fit Me range. However, this foundation just wasn’t for me. I have rather sensitive skin with an oily t-zone and it definitely didn’t like this foundation at all. Within about an hour of applying this foundation it began to somewhat disappear and slide off my face, and it just wasn’t a pretty sight. I did try to apply another lighter layer on top but the same seemed to happen again and it was just become cakey and felt heavy on my skin. Another down side was that when I took it off at night my face was ridiculously red and not at all happy. Usually I give foundations another try to see if it works better, however with this I don’t think I will risk it.

Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder - £3.99

This is something so many bloggers rave about, and therefore I thought I would try it. I have it in shade 5, which is a really good match to my skin/foundation. Rimmel claims it contains natural minerals that help control shine for up to 5 hours and it also helps minimise the appearance of pores. For me this just didn’t live up to my hopes. I don’t usually use powder anyway, my past experiences have been that it makes your face really cakey and doesn’t really do much. This was for me no different. At first it looked nice, and gave me a lovely matte look, however soon it began to cling to any dry areas on my face, and also set into my pores. It just wasn’t good at all. I tried just using it throughout the day when I was becoming a little shiny, but it just looked shocking, I found it easier and better just to blot my skin and maybe add a little extra foundation over the area. Its cheap enough to try, and for some people it might work, for me…I wouldn’t use it again.

Rimmel Apocalips - £5.99

The Apocalips range is a type of lip-gloss/lipstick hybrid aka lip lacquer; they have all the pigmentation of a lipstick and the sheen of a gloss without any stickiness. The consistency of these products is what impressed me the most. They are really creamy and opaque. The applicator has a little well in the center that collects product so you can apply it with only one or two dips. However, sometimes it can be a bit of a nightmare when you want to get it exactly perfect, therefore I prefer to just us a brush to apply it. The product has a satiny finish that actually dries quite matte, so it can get a little dry after a few hours, however I just put a bit of balm or lip-gloss over the top to give my lips a bit of hydration then it’s it looks good as new. The staying power is fantastic. The bright colours especially, stay on my lips for hours and hours, even after eating! The 'scent' of these are slightly off putting, it’s very plastic-y and fake smelling. Overall, I think these products are really good, but not fantastic. Lovely packaging, the colours are ok, and the formula is good for the price

No7 Extreme Length Extend Mascara (fibre enriched formula) - £12.95

This mascara is amazing. Personally, I think it can give any high-end mascara a run for its money. I’ve done a much more in-depth review here. Trust me, it’s definitely worth a read.

Matte Perfection.

Illamasqua - 

Matt Primer

I recently purchased the Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation, however due to running out of my current primer I thought I would test another popular Illamasqua product, their Matt Primer…and let me just say, it blew me away!

I have combination oily skin, with some sensitive areas, and make up easily wears off my face or goes all patchy and weird. However with this it really makes such a difference and helps my make up last a ridiculously long time, even at the end of the day, my make up still looks really fresh and newly applied.

Unlike most other primers, the Illamasqua primer isn't Silicone based, so it's not going to get inside your pores and clog them up with the bad stuff. With acne prone skin, I've noticed my skin improve a lot when I'm wearing make-up thanks to this great primer. The consistency of this is beautiful, it’s rather like a milky lotion rather then a primer, therefore it goes on really lightly and you only need a very small amount to do the whole face.

It goes on easily and blends out clear, unlike some white primers, which sometimes leave a slight ghostly tint to the skin. Using a brush made this primer go on even better and bled beautifully into the skin, it didn’t feel like I had anything on just really mattifies my skin to perfection. Another highlight is that I didn’t have to wait for it to set or dry before I applied my foundation, which is something you have to do with most primers in order to get them to work perfectly.

I’ve used this every time I use my Illamasqua foundation, and my make up applies perfectly, and even though it does matte the skin, it doesn’t make it feel tight or dry. I can’t promise that this primer is going to be a miracle for everyone, but I’ve found my new favourite primer.

No Oil Oil.

Percy and Reed - 

No Oil Oil

I’ve been looking at this for a while, however it received rather mixed reviews about how good it was and the results it gave. However, imagine my surprise when this weeks Glamour magazine came with a free 30ml sample of it specifically designed for ‘thin hair’. In my opinion 30 ml is a really good sample size, it gives you enough product to really try it out and see what you think about it before buying the full size version, plus its small enough for me to put in my handbag for everyday use…bonus.

No Oil Oil doesn’t have much in the way of oil in it, as you’ve probably guessed. This makes it rather brilliant for people, like me, who have fine hair, which gets very easily weighed down. It has this wonderful lightness that’s almost water-like, yet it manages to smooth the hair and add incredible shine. You can use it near the roots of the hair, so its perfect for taming those broken fly-aways near the parting, it really gives a beautiful finished style, leaving your hair looking smooth, shiny and truly healthy.

In regards to the volumising benefits, I haven't tried it for the amount of volume it can give my hair due to my hair being easily made greasy, and many reviews have stated when they've tried using it to give the hair volume, its made their hair super greasy. Therefore, I use TIGI Bed Head Small Talk for volume, and this for a smoothing serum.

Overall, this is great for giving a smooth, soft and shiny look to the hair. For the moment, this is replacing my other oils and serums, allowing me to give it a thorough try out. I don’t use it every day, just when my hair needs a bit of smoothing down, however, as long as you use a good cleansing or detoxing shampoo its perfectly ok to use this everyday, but be careful of build up. Even though it’s very lightweight, it’s still layering up on the hair.