Bourjois Rouge Edition Lipsticks Review Shades 02 & 17

There have been quite a few posts in the past couple of weeks about Bourjois's new Rouge Edition lipsticks, and I know people are getting a bit bored by them, but after I tested them for myself I knew I wanted to add my thoughts. I nipped into Boots and they were on offer for buy one get one half price, I swatch shade 17 on my hand and really thought it was a pretty colour and found shade 02 as well to take advantage of the offer, they cost £7.99 each you can find them here, I think they are now on offer for £5.99 (Bargain!).

Firstly I wanted to mention I really love the packaging, the lipsticks look really sleek and high quality, I particularly liked the numbers at the bottom of the lipstick. On the concession stand they have also grouped the shades into categories, which is a bit gimicky but I like it!

I have really been enjoying using these lipsticks, they feel lovely and moisturising on my lips so they are really easy to wear especially as my lips are quite dry at the minute, Bourjois say that the lipsticks offer 10 hour hydration, I'm not sure I would agree with that claim but they feel lovely to wear. The colour lasts a good 3 - 4 hours on me, and most importantly they don't wear away leaving a horrible lip liner look!

I love shade 17 which I think is called Rouge Buzz, it's such a pretty rosy pink, when I apply the lipstick I like to blend it in a bit with my finger so it looks more of a stain, it really brightens up my makeup and is my spring/summer essential.

Shade 02, Beige Trench, is my ultimate nude lipstick, it's not too orangey and contains a hint of pink so it looks nice and natural.

I have been really impressed with these lipsticks and I can definitely see myself buying more from the range, I currently have my eye on shade 13!

Have you tried any of the lipsticks from Bourjois?

Elaine

What's in my Handbag? My everyday lipsticks

My handbag is jammed packed full of everything, as an outreach worker it doubles up as my mobile office too, so it's a struggle to find anything in a rush and every time I went to grab a pen I seemed to find a lipstick, so I had a good sort through of my bag at the weekend and found 5 lipsticks in there, not including lip balms!

All of the lipsticks I found are my everyday lip colours that I reach for the majority of the time.

L'Oreal Rouge Caresse - Tempting Lilac

This lipstick is a mix of dusky pink and mauve lilac, I wasn't sure if this shade really suited me when I first got this, but I find it gives your lips a nice perk of colour.

L'Oreal Rouge Caresse - Dating Coral

This is one of my all time favourite lipsticks, if I am looking a bit tired or a bit blah I love wearing this lipstick as it really brightens up my make up, I've been wearing it quite a lot recently as me and the dark mornings aren't mixing well.

I'm really loving the L'Oreal Rouge Caresse lipsticks they are so nice and easy to wear, they give a nice glossy sheer swipe of colour. I think they are great value for money for £8.19 and easier to wear than the Revlon lip butters, you can find them here.

17 Mirror Shine - Beehive

17 recently changed their packaging from a blue bullet to black square packaging with an in built mirror, the consistency of the lipstick have also changed and they aren't as soft. I think the colour used to have a hint of pink but now it's more of a beige neutral colour, it's a shame as I loved the original but this version is good to wear for everyday. You can find them here.

Revlon Lip Butter - Macaroon

This is a really lovely berry colour with a hint of gold shimmer, it's not too dark so I wear but you can build up the colour for a more dramatic look. You an find the Lip Butters here.

Rimmel Apocalips - Celestial

Every beauty blogger has mentioned the Apocalips from Rimmel, when I saw all the swatches on blogs I knew I had to get this shade when it was released, and so did quite a few people, I had to go to a few Boots to get one. It's a really pretty pigmented dusky pink shade. You can find them here.

(L-R) Celestial, Dating Coral, Tempting Lilac, Beehive and Macaroon

Have you counted to see how many lipsticks are in your handbag??

Elaine

NOTD: Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine in Prickly Pear

This is the first Gelly nail polish I have bought from Barry M, and I really love it! 

I am pretty obsessed with purple and lilac nail colours, but this is the first blue shade of lilac that I have and it's such a great spring/summer shade.

The nail polish itself was really easy to apply, the first coat was very sheer so it needed the second coat to get this opaque colour, this finish is nice and glossy but I think you would still need to apply a top coat just to get extra a couple more days out of the wear.

Elaine 

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation Review

I bought this foundation quite a while ago when it was first released, you can find it here for £6.99. I went to swatch it fully expecting it to be too dark for my skin tone like most of the other Rimmel foundations but I was pleasantly surprised that the shade 'light porcelain' was nearly the perfect shade for me, it's actually the lightest shade in their range.

Rimmel say: A match so perfect, it's undetectable in any light! Light Perfecting radiance foundation. Traceless coverage and perfectly flawless skin under any light. Lasts all day. SPF 18

This foundation gives me a light coverage, I have had really bad skin recently and found that I struggled to build up the coverage with this foundation so I have always had to use concealer on top, because of this I only use this foundation during the day. 

It gives a nice finish to my skin when I apply it with my Real Techniques buffing brush, but I do find that by lunch time at work my skin around my nose and cheeks becomes quite shiny so I need to apply powder or blot around the area, I also notice that around this time my redness around my nose and cheeks is starting to show.

Apart from those issues I was liking this foundation as it was so easy to apply in the morning I didn't have to worry about adding my Barry M white foundation or blending for hours to get the right shade to match my skin tone. I wasn't too fussed about the shiny patches as the foundation makes no claim to have shine control qualities, I just figured it was a winter foundation that wouldn't be best for oily skin in the summer.

That was until I went shopping after work I was having a mootch around in Boots and happened to catch sight of myself in the mirror I looked awful, practically all of my foundation had gone and my blotchy skin was showing through, I put it down to a bad day, but after that on other occasions after work I noticed the same thing. So on my skin this foundation does not last all day at all, I would say 6 hours max, and if I'm having a bad skin day or have an important meeting/event at work where I want to look my best I never reach for this as I know it won't cover fully or won't last long after lunch.

On a positive note I do like how the foundation does blend very well into the skin, sometimes when highstreet foundations do lighter shades they tend to make them too white so any colour I have on my skin is lost, but I don't find that with this foundation at all, it's not the perfect match but it's pretty close at only £6.99.

Overall I this is a bit of a meh foundation, it's just ok for me right now, I don't think I would buy it again as I don't think it will work with my skin in the summer and sometimes I need a better coverage out of a winter foundation.

Have you tired Match Perfection yet?

Elaine

My new favourite website!

I came across this website after seeing one if it's dresses featured in this month's issue of Cosmopolitan (Mollie from the Saturdays on the cover), and I really enjoyed looking through the entire website at all the gorgeous clothes. I thought I would share it with you all as I had never heard of this website before and I already love it, so I thought you might want to take a look too!

I have literally spent a good hour going through all the clothes on the website making a wish list of all my favourites, can you tell I'm looking forward to spring??

(L-R) Vintage Silk Floral Blouse, Aztec Lace Insert Dress, Cut Out Splat Print Dress & Vintage Floral Tribal Midi Dress 

My favourite is definitely the black and white 'splat print dress' (what a name!), this was also the dress that was featured in Cosmo, I'm still debating whether I feel confident enough to get a cut out dress but I will be looking at this again when I next get paid.

Elaine

January 2013 Favourites

So last year I wasn't the best at getting my favourite's posts done, I think I did 3 if that, this year I'm going to be more organised and get a post up each month. I haven't done a favourites post in a long time so there are a few things that I'm really loving at the minute, quite a few things are new but that is because I have been trying out presents that I was given at Christmas, I think for future posts I will include makeup that isn't new to me but that I have rediscovered in my collection.

Real Techniques Brushes: Buffing Brush, Blush Brush & Contour Brush
These brushes are amazing, they are really easy to use and find they really help your makeup look it's best. I have found that the blush brush is great when using bright blushers as it picks up the right amount of blusher so you can build the colour or just get a hint of colour.

Sleek Blusher in Pixie Pink
I bought this after seeing Tanya Burr using it in one of her youtube videos (here), I don't really have many blushers and wanted to expand my collection. It is a really bright pigmented pink, but if you only use a small amount, you can build up the colour that bests suits you. I have really enjoyed using this blusher and have worn it nearly everyday.

MUA Cream Blusher in Dolly
I bought this when MUA first released their cream blushers, I never really wore it though as it seemed a bit of a faff, but recently I have been experimenting with the blusher and I absolutely love it. It does require a bit more effort than powder blush but it's worth it, I especially love blending the colour into my skin with my Real Techniques Stippling Brush. It gives my skin a really nice natural glow.

Rimmel Scandaleyes Liner in Brown
I already have the nude eyeliner from this range and really liked the texture of the liners, so I bought one in brown, the liner has a slightly metalic finish to it which I really like, it's great as a normal liner or smudged out for a smokey finish, I have worn this practically everyday this month.


Topshop Crescent Moon Highlighter and Sleek Bronzer in their Face Form Palette
I have really been enjoying learning to contour and find these products have been great to create a really lovely subtle contoured look. You can see my review of Sleek's face form palette here.

(L-R) Topshop Crescent Moon, MUA Dolly, Sleek Pixie Pink & Rimmel Scandaleyes

Barry M White Foundation Creme
I recently did a post on this (you can see it here) but this is a must for my pale skin, don't know how I managed without it... oh yeah I looked orange all the time!



Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish
I know I'm late to the party with this one, but I love this cleanser, I use it everyday and it's perfect for my winter skin, it's also brilliant at taking off my eye makeup.

Liz Earle Brightening Skin Tonic
I've never really been that fussed about toners before I know I need to use them to make sure my skin is cleansed thoroughly and they help to close your pores but I never really see a difference in my skin after using them, that was until I started using this toner, my skin looks brighter and more healthy after I use this toner. It's not a miracle worker and my skin is still in bad condition but I can see a difference when I use this. I love it!

Clarins Hydra Quench Moisturiser for Oily/Combination skin
I'm still loving this moisturiser, you can see my full review here, it feels lovely and rich without being too heavy or greasy, it has been an essential part of my skin care this winter.

Bioderma
The bloggers best friend. When I was in Paris in September I was sure to stock up on this as it is much cheaper over there as there isn't a stockist for it in the UK. Bioderma is essentially a cleansing water, but it is really gentle and doesn't leave my skin feeling tight or sore. I don't use this everyday but I have got in the habit of keeping it by my bed for days where I have been too lazy to wash my face with my Liz Earle or Emma Hardie cleansers, and that is why it's in my favourites I love being able to use it when I'm sitting in bed, it might not be the thorough double cleanse i probably should do but it's better than going to sleep with makeup on (which I have been guilty of too many times).
Rumour has it that Boots will be stocking Bioderma later in the year!

Full product reviews will be coming soon!

What are your January favourites?

Elaine