RiRi ♥ MAC Lipsticks in Pleasure Bomb & RiRi Woo

MAC's RiRi Hearts Holiday collection was launched on the UK MAC website on Tuesday 10th December. I fell in love with these lipsticks weeks ago when I first saw the press release photos and luckily I was able to purchase them both online, which was a miracle considering Pleasure Bomb sold out in about ten minutes! The packaging is beautiful, the traditional MAC lipstick bullet has been transformed from the classic black into a festive pearlescent white, with rose gold detailing. "RiRi ♥ MAC" is scrawled across the lid of the tube and "RiRi" is engraved into the actual product itself, so this would be great for Rihanna fans! 

The first lipstick  I bought is in the colour Pleasure Bomb, which is a bright fuchsia shade. Girl About Town, also from MAC, is fuchsia and it's one of my all-time favourite lipsticks, so I knew i'd get a lot of wear out of this one. It has a matte formula, so I was a little concerned as I have quite dry lips at the moment, but I tried this out with a layer of Vaseline underneath and it felt fine.

The second is RiRi Woo. RiRi Woo has been released numerous times now and as this is Rihanna's last collaboration with MAC I thought it was about time I got my hands on it! I have wanted a red MAC lipstick for a while and this one is a deep, classic red with cool undertones. It is a slight variation on MAC's coveted "Ruby Woo" lipstick, but this one has a retro matte formula, meaning it can be drying, but has great staying power. 

There was another lipstick shade released in this collection, Bad Girl RiRi, but it is a brownish taupe nude and I didn't think it would suit my skintone, so I passed on that one. I'm so happy that I managed to get these lipsticks as not only is the packaging to die for, they're amazingly pigmented and i'm really excited to start wearing them.

Unfortunately these lipsticks, as well as the rest of the collection, sold out online extremely quickly, but you might still be able to pick these up at MAC counters or at a MAC store.

Did you manage to pick up anything from the collection?

Starting Off: Foundation

Hello again!
This is the third installment of #theSOproject and this week i'm going to be talking about foundation!

To start off I should probably get back to basics and explain what exactly it is. Foundation is a skin-coloured make-up that is most commonly used to cover up blemishes, even out any redness or discoloration of the skin and generally give a more flawless finish to the face. It differs slightly from concealer, which is more heavily focused on eliminating particular problem areas or obvious blemishes. To find out more about concealer you can read my post all about concealer here.

If you're a teenager just starting out in make-up, you may still have perfect baby-faced skin, in which case, you really don't need to worry about it! I didn't start really wearing foundation until I was in about year 11 and to be honest there are still many occasions now when I just can't be bothered and a little concealer is enough. However, puberty often results in hormone-induced acne, which can make girls self-conscious. Ultimately though, women of all ages have problems with their skin from time to time and simply want some extra coverage, just to help with their self-confidence.

Luckily, the cosmetics industry has come a long way since our mothers and grandmothers were teenagers and there is an unbelievable range of foundation products on the market, ranging from BB creams and tinted moisturisers, mineral powder foundations and whipped mousse foundations to name just a few. However, all of this extra choice can be a little confusing, so i'm going to go through a few products that i've tried personally and hopefully it will help you to decide which kind of product you are looking for.

Tinted Moisturiser:
If your skin is in pretty good condition, with few blemishes and little oiliness, a great, lighter alternative to a classic foundation is a tinted moisturiser. What it will do is help with any dry skin you may have, whilst offering a subtle tint of colour, which should be enough to help even out your skintone, whilst still resulting in a very natural look. Personally I love MAC's Studio Moisture Tint as it has SPF 15 in it which is great for protecting your skin from the sun and it provides just enough coverage to make me feel confident with my skin. It's a little pricey at £21.50 but I love it a lot and i've repurchased it numerous times.

BB Cream:
BB (Beauty Balm) creams have been popular in Asia for ages, but are a pretty recent addition to the Western cosmetics market. BB creams are pretty similar to tinted moisturisers, but tend to be multi-functional, offering not only coverage but various skincare properties. They offer a subtle coverage, not completely eliminating imperfections, but evening them out and giving a very natural finish.
I have the Simple Kind To Skin + Perfecting Beauty Balm which retails at £8.99. It is only available in one universal shade, but from reading reviews online a lot of people with different skintones have said that it has adapted well to their individual skin colour. It's cheap, it gives a light, natural coverage and contains SPF15, Vitamins E and A and no artificial perfumes or colourings.

Liquid Foundations:

Liquid foundation is probably the most commonly used type of foundation as it is easy to use and there are so many different types available. It can be applied using a sponge, such as a beauty blender, a brush (personally I use my Real Techniques buffing brush) or can simply be applied with your fingertips. I've used many different types of liquid foundation over the years but at the moment my favourites are:
Benefit Hello Flawless (for a full review click here) £25.50 from Benefit
Bourjois Healthy Mix (for a full review click here) £9.99 from Boots or Superdrug
and Revlon Colorstay £12.49 from Boots or Superdrug
The main advantage of liquid foundations is that you can build them up to your desired level of coverage.

Powder Foundations:

Powder foundations, when worn alone, tend to offer a naturally matte looking finish and a soft, barely-there coverage. However, some powder foundations give this illusion of flawless bare skin, whilst actually offering quite high coverage. Brands such as bareMinerals specialise in loose powder foundations that can be built up to your own preference, from a sheer finish to a virtually full coverage. Powder foundations are also great for setting other products, such as a BB cream or a liquid foundation, making them last longer.
I love the MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural, which I use everyday to set my liquid foundation, or I wear it alone on days where I don't feel like wearing a whole face of make-up.
£22.00 from MAC Cosmetics.
I also like the Original Foundation SPF 15 from bareMinerals, as you can build up the coverage without it looking caked on and as their website states it "looks like a powder, but feels like a cream", so you don't feel as though your face is covered in layers of powder.
£25.00 from bareMinerals.

There are many other types of foundation out there, for example I was an avid fan of the Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse when I was younger, but now I find mousse foundations far too drying, so I tend to avoid them.

Anyway, apologies for the extremely long post but I hope it has been informative and helped you in some way!

What is your favourite type of foundation?

New Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation Review

(For the record, this foundation isn't particularly "new", but Bourjois revamped the original Healthy Mix Foundation and therefore on their website it is referred to as the NEW Healthy Mix Foundation.)

Hello again!
I was in Superdrug with my mum the other day and she was looking for a new foundation. I recommended the Bourjois Healthy Mix, as although i'd never used it, i'd heard it was great. Luckily for me, Bourjois had a 3 for 2 deal on, so she bought me one too!

I'm actually a bit of a foundation snob. I have quite a lot of high-street makeup, but when it comes to foundation I don't mind spending a bit more, as it will be going on my skin pretty much every day. For this reason, for the last couple of years i've tried MAC's Mineralize Foundation, Studio Tech and Studio Moisture Tint and more recently Benefit's Hello Flawless, which I LOVE. Therefore, I was excited to see how this high-street foundation would compare.

I've used this foundation about three or four times now and here are my thoughts on the product...

Pros-

• The colour. I got this foundation in the lightest shade available, 51 Light Vanilla and it matches my (very pale!) skintone perfectly.
• The smell. This foundation smells so lovely! The product contains apricot for radiance, melon for hydration and apple for youthfulness and together they make a really pleasant, fruity scent, which makes applying this foundation really enjoyable. However, this could be a con for those of you who don't like scented products. 
• Radiance boosting. Bourjois claim that this foundation is radiance boosting and I would definitely agree with this. It gives your skin a really dewy, healthy looking glow, without being shimmery or making your face oily.
• The packaging. The original Healthy Mix came in plastic packaging and i'm really glad that Bourjois have opted for a glass bottle this time around as it makes it feel much more luxurious and distinguishes it from cheaper high-street brands.
• Light texture. The product itself is very light, which makes it very easy to apply. I have been using my Real Techniques Buffing Brush to buff this into my skin and once applied it feels like you aren't wearing anything at all. (Read my review of the brush here.)
• Price. This foundation retails at £9.99, which for a product of this quality is a great deal and Boots and Superdrug constantly have some sort of deal on  Bourjois products, so keep an eye out for them!

Cons-

• The colour range. Although my shade matches my skin well, the actual range itself only consists of eight shades. All of which are fairly pale, as you can see here on the Boots website. So women with darker skintones may not be able to use this foundation.
• Coverage. Although this foundation is intended to give a very natural look, which I think is great for those days when you don't want to wear too much makeup, it really is quite sheer. Personally I generally prefer a slightly fuller coverage, to even out my skintone a bit more and give a more flawless finish.
  
    
  
  
  

Have you tried this foundation?  What did you think?

Real Techniques Core Collection Review

My lovely boyfriend recently bought me the Real Techniques core collection, so I thought i'd do a little review of my thoughts so far.

The set comes with four brushes; a detailer brush, a pointed foundation brush, a buffing brush and a contour brush, as well as a lovely protective case for the brushes that also doubles as a stand. All of the brushes are extremely soft and seem very well made given the price (in boots it retails for £21.99).

The detailer brush really is absolutely tiny, which makes it great for concealing particular areas, or for neatly applying lip products. However, personally I have been using it to apply a highlight (i'm currently using 'virgin' from the original Naked palette) to my brow bone and the inner corner of my eyes.

The pointed foundation brush is a bit of a hit and miss really. I already have the regular Real Techniques foundation brush, which can be found here and I think it is absolutely perfect, so I don't really have any need for this smaller, pointed version. I've tried using it to apply concealer under my eyes, but I don't find it blends as well as using my fingers.

The buffing brush is great with powder, as it enables you to actually build up quite a full coverage as the bristles are so densely packed together. Normally, I use my Mac Mineralize Skinfinish natural (found here) simply to set my foundation, but when used in conjunction with this brush it builds up, providing a much higher, yet not cakey, coverage.

The contour brush is brilliant, i've been using it to apply my bronzer and its great at defining the cheekbones without picking up too much product and making it look unnatural. Though i've only used this brush with bronzer so far, due to its size I think it could also work really well at applying a highlight to the tops of the cheekbones and down the nose.

I hope you liked my review! Sorry there aren't more photos, but my brushes are covered in makeup at the moment and I fear that wouldn't do them justice ;)
Have any of you tried any real techniques brushes?

NYX Cosmetics:First Impression

Although they have a UK website, i'd never actually seen any NYX products in the flesh before (apart from a few palettes in Urban Outfitters). So, when I saw that a local makeup outlet sold the brand, I jumped at the opportunity to try out some of the products and eventually decided on an eyeshadow palette, a lipliner, a lipgloss and a blush.

For Your Eyes Only-Sexy Blue Eyes Palette
The idea behind this range of palettes is that each palette is specifically designed to accentuate your individual eye colour and they are available for blue, green and brown eyes. Having blue eyes I obviously opted for the blue eyes palette and it contains a range of shades including blues, a brown, golden bronze colours and a champagne colour which would be perfect for highlighting. I swatched them quickly on my hand and they don't appear to be as pigmented as my Urban Decay or Mac shadows, but for the price and the number of colours you get I don't really mind. I love the packaging, there is a huge mirror inside which is great and i'm excited to experiment with these colours.

Powder Blush-Natural

I was drawn to this blush straight away. As the name suggests, it is a very natural, pale peach colour and is far paler than any of the other blushes I own. Despite the light colour, it is well pigmented and buildable and adds a light flush of colour to the cheeks without looking like you've tried too hard. I think it would be perfect with a more dramatic eye look, or just on a daily basis for a very natural, girly look.

Mega Shine Lip Gloss-155 Perfect

This lipgloss was such a beautiful colour that I just had to buy it. It is a salmon pink and has tiny specks of shimmer in. It doesn't add a great deal of colour to the lips but makes them super shiny and glossy and after a while actually feels quite moisturising. The packaging is adorable, with a little bow on the lid and the applicator is slightly curved which makes applying it a lot easier. There is however quite a strong scent, personally I like it and think it smells like cherry, but there are mixed reviews online and some people seem to find it too overpowering, so I guess you'll have to decide for yourself :)

Lipliner Pencil-840 Rose

This lipliner was actually on sale for £1! I don't usually wear lipliner, but for that price I thought when better a time to try it out than now? The pencil itself has an amazingly creamy formula and the colour I went for, a nudey pink called Rose, will actually work really well underneath the lipgloss. 

Although I got these products from an outlet, I just checked and they're all still available on http://www.nyxcosmeticsstore.co.uk/

Thanks for reading!