Photo Filter.

Smashbox –

Photo Filter Powder Foundation

‘The special effects of Light Filter Technology and the performance of long-wear Photoset Polymers blend together to make this powder foundation magic. Not only does it act like your favourite photo filter on your phone, but it also stays true all day.

In today’s super social world where everyone’s a photographer, this product couldn’t have come at a better time. 

WHY YOU’LL LOVE IT:

ALL ABOUT THE FORMULA

1)    LIGHT FILTER TECHNOLOGY: Works just like the filters that make your skin look amazing on the photo app you love. Transparent particles diffuse light in various directions, blurring imperfections while still keeping the subject in focus. We’re not using the usual chalky particles to fuse the formula, which creates a muddy effect. Since the particles in this foundation are translucent, the pigment’s true color always comes through.

2)    PHOTOSET POLYMERS: Taken from medical-grade liquid bandage technology, which sticks to skin for hours on end. You can always count on extended wear with this formula. 

JUST THE FACTS:

•    8-hour wear

•    Non-drying. Non-caking. Non-settling. Oil-free

•    Customisable finish – sheer or full – with a double-sided sponge

•    Buildable coverage’

I am really liking the new Smashbox Photo Filter Powder Foundation. I’ve been wearing this foundation for two weeks now, and I have been very impressed with it. My first WOW moment with this foundation was the amazing black square packaging. Similar to Nars packaging, the all black matte square looks extremely chic. It really stands out against most round powder compacts. The powder is extremely soft and creamy. It literally glides on to your skin. The foundation comes in ten different shades. I ended up going with shade 3. The foundation does oxidize (darken) a bit once applied, so if you are in between shades I would go lighter rather than darker.

The compact comes with a double sided sponge to customize your application. One side is slightly more velvety than the other, and is said to provide a more natural finish. I found that I liked to apply the product with a kabuki style brush-kind of buffing it into the skin for an airbrushed finish. The coverage is pretty fantastic. It really does not take a lot of product to get a flawless finish. I felt like the foundation really did “blur” my imperfections, and smoothed out my face. It does not accentuate dry skin or any dry patches on your face like some powder foundations can do.

Smashbox advertises the foundation as having an 8 hour wear, and I would say it definitely lives up to that claim. I can apply the foundation before work in the morning around 7:15, and I don’t find I really need a touch up until about 3 or 4 o’clock. I honestly have no complaints about this foundation, and I think it may be one of the best powder foundations I’ve used to date!

Oval 8.

ARTIS -

Oval 8

•    The Oval 8 is slightly smaller than the Oval 10 and has 100’s of thousands of fibres in an oval shape to provide applications to a large area of the face

•     The company’s trademarked CosmeFibre® is created by using high-tech machines that produce completely consistent, man-made fibres that make-up the fibre bundle. The structure of the engineered fibre, each with a microscopically tapered end, allows for more consistent application than animal hair used in conventional makeup brushes

•    Each patented brush has on average 3 to 10 times as many individual fibres as conventional animal hair brushes, resulting in superior blending and smooth makeup application 

•    Fibre bundles are shaped to make product pickup and delivery easier and more effective

•    Designed with a special grip surface to provide better control, and tilted brush tip and fibre bundles that give the user the ability to apply, distribute and blend like never before

Oval 8 was launched as the perfect “base brush” and believe me when I say it really is. It distributes and blends liquid products flawlessly and the whole process literally takes seconds. It’s also great to use with powder products to either set the face or apply a sweep of blush or bronzer.

This is THE brush that I’ve had my eye on since I discovered the Artis brand. Used in application of everything base related, this brush is magic! I usually use both a Flat Top Kabuki brush and a Beauty Blender to achieve the flawless airbrushed look when it comes to my base products: Flat top kabuki distributes the product, Beauty Blender buffs it out evenly; this has always been my base tag team.

The Oval 8 brush pretty much combines these two tools to give the most flawless finish I have personally experienced on my own face. It has the distribution qualities of a buffing brush and airbrushed blending of a beauty blender all in one. And as I mentioned earlier, the product did not get lost in the bristles so I ended up using much less foundation than I usually do.

So far I’ve used the Oval 8 brush for my liquid foundation, setting powder, bronzer, blush and highlighter and every single product blended like a dream. I found the trick is: do not press the brush into the skin but rather rest it against it and use soft circular motions until the product fully blends, which literally takes seconds.

This style of brush also comes in Oval 10, which is much larger and could probably be used for body products; the new Oval 7, which is on my must-have list, and also Oval 6 which again is on my list. I feel having this style of brush in slightly different sizes would give me more control of where I concentrate certain products.

Healthy and Invisible.

Dior - 

DiorSkin Nude Air Healthy Glow Invisible Loose Powder

Dior has just launched an innovation in the field of face powders: Diorskin Nude Air Healthy Glow Invisible Loose Powder (available in 4 shades), a face powder that is designed to work as a ‘invisible’ setting product for your makeup, with a lightweight and fresh feeling upon the skin. Some of the key features, according to the brand:

- An undetectable to the eye ultra-light texture to help unify, mattify and enhance the complexion

- Made with transparent pigments & translucent mineral powders to add precise tone

- Leaves a velvet finish upon the skin

- Enriched with vitamins, minerals and Sweet Orange Extract to help boost tone & freshness

- Non-occlusive and ‘breathable’ like an ‘intelligent fabric’

- Helps create a shield against pollution by limiting the absorption of harmful particles

Ultra Definition.

Urban Decay -

Naked Skin Ultra Definition Powder Foundation 

So many new and amazing things from Urban Decay recently! This post is all about the brand new Naked Skin Ultra Definition Powder Foundation. It can be used wet or dry and promises amazing, long lasting coverage.

“Want a foundation that delivers amazing coverage, lasts all day and works both wet AND dry? Naked Skin Ultra Definition Powder Foundation delivers. Our advanced, velvety formula provides weightless, build-able coverage with a luminous, demi-matte finish for a Naked Skin feel.

While some traditional powder foundations might look dusty or even cakey on the skin, Naked Skin blends gorgeously and wears comfortably. Like the rest of our Naked Skin line up, Naked Skin Powder Foundation diffuses light to blur fine lines and wrinkles to make you look as if professionally retouched. It’s also ultra-forgiving: apply more in the areas where you need extra coverage and all you’ll see is beautiful, perfected skin. 

Enriched with coated, micro-milled powders and HPP (Highlighter Performing Pigments) technology, Naked Skin Powder Foundation has a creamy feel, rich, long-lasting colour, and a perfect level of coverage to even out the look of your skin tone.” – Urban Decay

Instant Illuminating.

Dior - 
Diorskin Nude Shimmer Instant Illuminating Powder in 001 Pink

These are described by Dior to be more than a finishing powder but less than a blush/bronzer; these powders are all about ‘radiance’. Ultra finely-milled and with the softest shimmer you can imagine, one sweep of a brush swirled through the pan is enough to give your skin a light-kissed look, without ever coming across as overdone.

But just look at them – do you seriously need any more reason than that?

The powder is housed in a luxurious (does Dior do anything but luxury?) silvery compact bearing the distinctive Dior cannage pattern with a nice hefty feel, and secure magnetic snap closure. It also comes with its own protective velour pouches (must keep that finish pristine) as well as a small kabuki brush.

I know this is going to sound strange but both me and the boyfriend agreed that its delicately scented, not in a bad overpowering way, in a slightly rose way, the fragrance itself is subtle and disappears into the background of your application. To say that these powders are ultra-finely milled, would be an understatement – I experienced no kickback when I swirled my brush across the pan. The tiny kabuki brushes work surprisingly well, and actually do a great job of buffing the powder seamlessly into the skin. Lasting power is excellent as well, going way past the 8 hour mark – when my skin’s oils finally combined with the powder to give an even more natural glow.

This rose/pink shade is the lighter of the two shades available in this powder (the other being an amber shade) and perfect for fairer/fair medium skin tones (which is exactly where I fall). This compact bears 4 hues: the larger sections in light tan & blush, with the pink and pearly white lettering to add a hint of colour. Trying to pick up the individual colours is pretty hard, however can be done if you wish, personally I don’t think it would give the same beautiful glow due to it being made to wear mixed together.
I wore this two ways. The first was a blush, focusing a little more on grabbing the pinker shades to help give a rosy glow, this I find is perfect for everyday wear and gives my face such a pretty healthy glow. The second way was to mix them together and focus on the upper cheek area and my temples, giving an instant brightening, glow effect. This way is perfect for those special occasions, nights out or the times when your trying to make a little more of an effort.
TIP: As with other tinted face powders and/or bronzers, you should be aware that the colour “develops” slowly – it’s best to apply with a light hand, and then wait a few minutes to see the desired result before going in with more product.

Have you tried either of these beautiful Diorskin Nude Shimmers?
If you’ve tried the Amber shade…I would love to know your thoughts on it!

UD New Releases.

Firstly is Urban Decay Naked Ultra Nourishing Lipgloss. Like a luxe gloss and a rich balm all rolled into one, it’s supposedly unlike ANYTHING you’ve ever tried. Made up of a painstakingly crafted formula. Even the firmly gloss averse will become hardcore addicts when they try Naked Lipgloss. It not only looks and feels amazing on your lips, it’s also really nourishing. And they have the claims to prove it! With its creamy texture and gorgeous, high-gloss finish, Naked Lipgloss is the perfect gloss to complement any makeup.

Next up is Urban Decay Ultra Definition Loose Finishing Powder. This silky, weightless formula provides all the benefits of their pressed powder—including the luminous, demi-matte Naked finish. Set makeup, cut shine and blur flaws. Designed to be virtually invisible on your skin, their high-tech, light-reflecting formula “fools” the eye with optical blurring, seemingly airbrushing away imperfections and creating a soft-focus effect that looks professionally retouched. The creamy, build-able formula applies beautifully, never looks chalky or cakey and won’t settle into fine lines. Wear it to set your makeup and help it last, or use on bare skin.

Lastly, they have added 2 new shades to the Naked Skin Beauty Balm, Naked Light (light tint) and Naked Dark (dark tint). All three shades blur flaws in seconds and provide serious anti-aging benefits. Naked Skin Beauty Balm diffuses light with high-tech pigments to give you amazing, natural, NAKED-looking skin as it perfects, protects, treats, primes and hydrates. Moisturising but never greasy, it hydrates skin instantly and improves hydration over time. Makeup goes on beautifully and stays put. 

I'm really excited about this release. Especially the loose finishing powder, which from reviews done already it is meant to be fool proof and unbelievably incredible. Alongside this, the lip-glosses also look really good, however before your pigment loving ladies get your hopes up, they are the totally opposite of Urban Decays newest lipstick releases last year. These don't have that much pigment, and from the swatches I have seen, there isn't that much difference pigmentation wise between them all. However I definitely think I'll be picking up one of them to give them a try. The beauty balm however wasn't my cup of tea when it first come out, it doesn't really give enough coverage for me, and I don't really think I would buy it to under a foundation, as I prefer more pore minimising aimed primers.

Is there anything that's caught you eye?

stamp, don't sweep.

Whilst looking through my everyday blog reading list, I came across this on The Beauty Department website. I thought it was such a good tip, and something I never thought of doing myself. However, as someone who doesn't always like powder, due to it sometimes making me look too...over powdery, when I tried this tip it worked amazingly. 

Therefore I thought I had to share it with you all.

The Beauty Department is an amazing website. I would personally encourage everyone to add it to their blog reading list.

http://thebeautydepartment.com

Have you got any make up tricks?

Instant Retouch?

Soap & Glory -

Kickass Instant Retouch Pressed Powder

When I saw this was being released I was unbelievably excited to try it. It promised to perfect your skin, concealing a multitude of flaws in a single sweep, especially focusing on diminishing pores, which is my main focus. The totally translucent powder can be applied before or after makeup and using its vision-tricking Superblur technology and Camouflawge 3D it retouches your face in real time.

I picked this up before the original release date in my local boots a while back, they had been sent in 2 or 3 and I was lucky to get there before the last one had gone. I couldn't wait to get home and try it. Now. I usually find it hard using powders because to my combination skin it tends to sit on the skin and look slightly too powdery for my liking, no matter how little I use or how good I buff it in. I tried this a multitude of ways. 

Firstly underneath foundation. Personally, on its own, with this and no primer, it just doesn't work. My foundation doesn't last in the slightest, and it makes no difference to the appearance of my pores. I then tried it on top of my primer, before my foundation. Even though this did work, its hard to notice if its my primer working or the powder. It however didn't add to the longevity of the foundation. One thing I did think about was using it with a less expensive primer, which maybe isn't as good at covering my pores, for when I'm going to university, instead of using my much more expensive Too Faced primer. Its something I'm planning on trying, to see if it works. There are some good primers on the drugstore market, which work really well at keeping your foundation on for a long time, however they didn't hide my pores as well as I had wanted...for these primers this powder may come in handy. 

Secondly, I tried it on top of my foundation. This is where I get unsure. Some times when I apply it, it works really well, looks utterly flawless and amazing. Other times it looks really powdery and seems to blow my pores up even bigger. I really find it hard trying to figure out if I love or hate this powder because of this. I have tried it on other people and other people have tried it on themselves and they have found the same thing, its very hit or miss. 

I'm not going to lie and say its a miracle powder, because as I said for me it is very hit or miss, and I'm rather disappointed by it. Im determined to find a way to apply this perfectly, however as of yet, I wouldn't repurchase this, purely because of the hit and miss element. Everyones skin is different and therefore some people may really get on well with this and it might work wonders. It retails for £12 from boots, and I think its something if you like Soap & Glory products, or if your a fan or in need of a new powder, then its work a try!

Have you tried this powder? Has it worked wonders for you? 

I would love to hear you tips on how best to apply it!

Update - Today I used this powder on top of my primer and before my Dior BB cream. I used my 'Rimmel Fix and Perfect Pro' primer first, which is amazing at keeping my foundation or BB cream on for a very long time, however it doesn't help cover my rather large pores. As soon as I applied this powder over the top my skin looked pretty much pore-less which is just amazing. I then buffed my BB cream onto and it looked amazing! There was a slightest powdery tint to it, however that may have been due to me adding a little too much...definitely trial and error. Overall this is definitely my favourite way to apply and use this powder. My make up still looked really good after about 5+ hours with just the slightest bit of a touch up, and my pores were only just beginning to appear, which is amazing!
I'm super happy I have found a way to apply this powder. I'm still not sure if I would repurchase it, however I will definitely be using it for those days when a heavy silicon based primer isn't really necessary!

Stunningly Flawless.

Illamasqua –

Powder Foundation in shade 150

As you all know I love my Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation. However, I’m not one for taking it around with me, along with all my brushes and everything else. I like having a single, easy to carry around compact, which does everything I need for throughout the day touch-ups. I usually have the Clinique Almost Powder Makeup, which is amazing for touch ups thought the day…nightmare when you start to hit pan. However, I’m really impressed with Illamasqua’s products so far, therefore thought I would give another one of their products a try.

This was the main reason I went to Leeds, they have their own store there, and the staff is always ready to help. I explained that I wanted something to put in my bag throughout the day; just for touch ups. They advised that their powder foundation would be best for me, after trying it on my skin I really liked it. It isn’t too heavy, nor is it cakey, it looks really natural and gives your skin a flawless look. So…lets get on with the review of the foundation itself.

Illamasqua describes this power by saying; "Be the star of your own drama. The mainstay of film and theatre make-up artists, Illamasqua Powder Foundation glides over your skin, covering blemishes, correcting skin tone and leaving a shine-free look that lasts all night. Create a stunningly flawless base that begs to be touched. Comes in a mirror compact for touch-ups on the go.”

First of all I love the packaging, that's one thing Illamasqua do incredibly well. Illamasqua have a dark gothic edge going on with their products. When it comes to powder foundations I like the compact to be housed in a box, simply to protect the compact, collect any loose powder and to place in my bag for on the go, without worry of loose foundation ruining the inside of my bag. The powder foundation comes in beautiful sleek black casing, with the brands logo on the very top of the case and the brands name on the catch to open the case.

When using the included powder puff the foundation sweeps over the skin like a dream. Effortlessly covering blemishes and uneven skin tone leaving a shine free smooth finish. It can also be applied with a brush for a lighter coverage. The coverage is sheer and has an extremely lightweight feel. It feels amazingly soft when applied, and you can never over apply, so this perfect for those who are rather heavy handed. This foundation is also wonderful at mattifying the T-zone and is perfect at providing coverage for redness of the skin. 

I find the coverage to be quite buildable; I can get a natural to medium look. No matter how much I apply the coverage never looks heavy or cakey but this foundation does not offer full coverage. On a day-to-day basis I always go for a natural look so this foundation is perfect for me. If I were aiming for a fuller coverage I would apply liquid foundation instead, and set it with this compact foundation, as its also perfect for setting liquid and cream foundations.

As for lasting power, I can get around 6 hours from it but as it’s a compact foundation I can re-apply any time I need, but I never really need to.

All in all this is a great foundation and it's perfect for those with oily to combination skin, who want a sheer coverage to mattify their T-zone. There are so many different shades available I would find it hard to believe that there wasn’t a shade for everyone. It retails for £23 for 10g, which I personally think is really good, especially for such an amazing powder foundation.

Overall I'm really happy with this purchase; I think its money well spent.