My keyb0ard has br0ken. Guess which key? :P It's very irritating s0 I've 0rdered a wh0le new lapt0p keyb0ard. Let's h0pe I can install it pr0perly!
Anyway A while back I b0ught this f0undati0n testing kit fr0m Sleek. It c0mes in 6 different types (Fair/Light, Light, Light/medium, Medium, Medium/Dark and Dark) I g0t the lightest which is Fair/Light. Each kit c0mes with 5 mini tubes 0f f0undati0n which c0ntain quite a gener0us am0unt 0f pr0duct. I've g0t at least 3 full-face applicati0ns fr0m each tube. They c0st £2.99. Anyway the p0int 0f these is t0 find 0ut which shade y0u are (Sleek makes a t0nne 0f shades but n0t all 0f them are available in sh0ps s0 y0u have t0 0rder them 0nline). This p0st is just t0 sh0w what these different shades l00k like 0n me, t0 help if y0u have a similar skint0ne t0 mine. It's n0t a pr0per review 0f the f0undati0n f0rmular, that'll c0me s00n :)
F0r reference here's my bare face:
And here are the five shades that Fair/Light c0mes with acr0ss my jaw:
Fr0m left-right: Shell, White R0se, Linen, 0atmeal, 0yster.
N0w s0me full face applicati0ns, in the same 0rder. It's pr0bably best t0 full-view these t0 see the differences m0re easily.
Shell:
White R0se:
Linen:
0atmeal:
0yster:
It's quite hard t0 actually tell the difference, especially as the light kept changing (damn sun!) But Shell and White R0se are t00 dark and yell0w f0r me. Linen, 0atmeal and 0yster are all pretty g00d but Linen is the cl0sest (even th0ugh it l00ks t00 pale when swatched 0n my jawline)
A couple of weeks ago Illamasqua had a little event to celebrate the launch of their new foundation and I was invited. Sadly at the moment I'm just not up to going to any kind of event or leaving the house in general :( But the lovely Alex was very understanding when I explained and popped a few samples in the post for me to try.
If you've not heard of it before, Skin Base is Illamasqua's take on a BB cream. BB creams are a product started in Asia that act as a moisturiser, foundation and skincare balm all in one. Usually they contain SPF and whitening ingredients but Illamasqua has removed those.
Illamasqua claims it's Skin Base is 'Easily blendable, it effortlessly creates a perfect complexion, and like the entire Illamasqua foundation range, is undetectable in a professional HD environment. Suitable for all skin types, it smoothes, softens and conditions your skin whilst providing natural, buildable coverage.'
It comes in 18 shades from pure ghost white to a deep chocolate so hopefully there's something to suit everyone :)
My skintone is very pale and very pink (i don't really know if thats my undertone or overtone or whatever and i think i might have very mild rosacea on the lower part of my cheeks) and it's very hard to find a foundation that really matches me. Usually they're either too dark or too yellow for me. I was sent the shades 02 which is the palest pink toned foundation, 04 which has both pink and yellow undertones (somehow :P) and 05 which is the second lightest pink toned shade.
Here are swatches of them:
02, 04 and 05 swatches heavilly
And blended out.
You can see that 04 and 05 just aren't right for me at all. Claire is quite pale and has more yellow toned skin than me so I've given 04 to her, if it suits her i'll get her to tell me what she thinks. 02 seemed a pretty close match so I have been trying that one. When I first applied it I feared it still wouldn't work for me but once I blended it out it matched me perfectly. Wahey! I've only been using this a few days but I absolutely adore it.
It blends really easily. In fact while Illamasqua claim this is a medium/heavy coverage foundation, I've found that if I only use a tiny dot of product I can blend it out to give a light, sheer look. However it's really buildable, I can layer a bit more over my facial redness or any blemishes and it disguises them beautifully. The finish is beautiful, it's neither super matte nor dewy or shimmery, it looks just like natural skin. I love this because I have quite nice skin in general and the buildability means I can use a very thin layer over my whole face, letting my freckles and naturally good parts of my skin shine through, and then build it up on places that need more coverage and because of the finish it looks just like I have naturally flawless skin! It's really easy to apply, I just spread it on with my fingers and it feels really light, I can't really notice it at all once I've put it on.
The longest I've worn this so far is about 8 hours (this is about as long as I ever wear makeup) and it lasted really well. I got a tiny bit of shine on my nose (the only place my face has any oil) but other than that it looked basically the same as when I'd first applied it. Maybe if your skin is naturally a little oily you'll need to powder over the top. The only negative I can think of is that if I have any flaky patches of skin then the foundation does tend to gather there and emphasize it. However after the actual flaky bits of skin had gone away it never emphasized any dry patches of skin. Oh and while it works brilliantly over spots and my redness I can't quite make it cover the blueish circles under my eyes.
Here are some photos of my face au naturale
And now with the Skin Base foundation:
As I've been using it for less than a week I can't really review it for it's skincare benefits. However I swear I've already noticed my skin feeling smoother, softer and with less dry flaky patches. This might of course be coincidental but I haven't changed anything else in my skincare routine (and at the moment my skincare routine consists of removing my makeup with wipes, cleansing and exfoliating about twice a week and moisturising when I remember to. I really need to treat my face better!).
Personally I would love to have some SPF in this product because I am terrible and always forget to put on sunblock (I burn ridiculously easily so I really need a high SPF everyday but I just never remember :( I suck) but I understand why they've removed it. SPF often causes light to act oddly in photoshoots and as Illamasqua like to cater for theatrical use they wanted to get rid of that problem.
They also removed the whitening ingredients so that the formula would be suitable for all skin tones, which I think is great. Most BB creams only seem to come in a few shades, Illamasqua is the first company I've seen that has shades that would cater to dark skinned people (though of course there may well be other companies that do and I just haven't seen them). Also I don't really know if I'd like to use a whitening product myself, I have some discolouration and redness on my face that I'd like to be rid of, but I also have freckles and I love them and don't want them to go anywhere so I don't think I'd better chance them!
So basically I'm in love with this foundation, it's probably the best I've ever tried. I'll definately be buying a full size bottle once I've used up a few other products. When I do end up getting a full bottle I'll do another review!
*I was sent samples for review but all thoughts and opinions are my own. I'm well aware that this review is so incredibly gushing it might as well be another 'Lillian Loves' but honestly this is how I feel about this foundation. I don't want to desperately rack my brain for more negative things to say just for the sake of it. It's a holy-of-holies!*
You see that orangey blob on my arm? The one that's not really anywhere close to my skintone?
Well that is Rimmel's Match Perfection Foundation. It claims to 'Adapt to skin tone & texture. Perfectly flawless finish. SMART-TONE TM technology adapts to the colour and texture of skin.'
Hmm... Yeah, that's really adapted to my skin tone well! I would also like to point out that i tried Ivory, the lightest shade this is available in. So it wasn't like I tried a really dark foundation and expected it to adapt.
The annoying this is that if this sort of worked it would be amazing. It's really hard to find foundation in my shade (a problem I'm sure a lot of people have) so this gimmick would be amazing. But i have never ever found one that worked. And i have tried a lot! I guess it's just not possible for foundation to actually adapt to the colour of the skin it's on, but so many claim to!
Disclaimer: I recieved this product free for review, however the review i have written is entirely truthful based on my own experiences.
Out of the amazing package i recieved from Crystal of Beauty From The Earth for review this powder foundation is what surprised me the most. I had never tried a powder foundation before and, stupidly i now realise, didn't imagine that the coverage would be any good. I guess i just expected a loose powder foundation to be similar to a loose setting powder... I was DEAD wrong!
I think this is probably the best foundation i have ever used. I have quite good skin so didn't start using foundation at all until about a year ago, i like a matte look but only need light coverage and have dry skin. I think i can get a good look with liquid foundations but probably haven't got the full hang of them. I usually end up applying too heavilly and cant do it all with brushes without getting a streaky look and i am so pale and pink i find it really tricky to find a good match anyway.
This, to me, is pretty much perfect. I just have to buff a little of this on with a powder brush, the way i would with any powder, and i'm left with a really even, flawless and matte look. It conceals all of my redness and discolouration but doesn't look cakey or overly made up and i don't need to use any setting powder. It usually lasts me almost the whole day but in this really hot weather i sweat a lot and i need to reapply after a few hours.
Wanna see for yourself?
Before:
The little sample pot i recieved lasted at least 5 full faces plus some light re-applications. The colour Alabaster is the very lightest shade available and is absolutely perfect for my skintone. I also recieved 2 other shades of foundation which both work just as well as this one, but the shades do not match me quite as well.
A sample jar costs $2 and a full jar is $12 for a full jar (not sure of the amount you get as i couldn't find that info on the website). I will definately be buying a full jar once i use up some of my other foundations.
I was contacted by the lovely Crystal from Beauty From the Earth cosmetics to see if i wanted to try any of their products. Did i Ever!
Again please believe that any reviews of these products will be entirely truthful and not sugarcoated in any way because i recieved the items for free.
I have had a soft spot for BFTE since I first heard about them which was when the scandal about Lime Crime's repackaging was found out. It turned out that BFTE had been repackaging but didn't realise how it would upset people. When they found out they instantly apologised for any upset they caused anybody, reduced the amount of plain micas they sold and relabeled them all as 'primary pigments' so people would be aware of the fact. This seemed such a good, sensible way to deal with the problem, admit it and apologise and learn from your mistake. It made them seem quite trustworthy.
BFTE sells hundreds of multi use minerals (mainly used as loose eyeshadows) the vast majority of which are unique, original blends, as well as foundations, veils and blushes, lip glosses, primers and some false eyelashes and brushes and other supplies. Their website is really professional looking iwith tutorials, before and after looks and more. Their prices are competitive for an indie, mineral makeup company (for instance $6.50 for a full jar of shadow, $2 for a sample jar, £9.99 for a lipgloss etc).
Anyway Crystal asked me to send her a long list of products i'd like to try and she would choose some to send to me. So, assuming i would be sent just a few samples, i went to town creating a long list of choices. Really long! My parcel arrived a week or so after i sent my email and was shocked to see that they had sent me basically everything i had said i was interested in! Of my ludicrously long list only a few items were missing. I couldn't, and still can't, believe the genorosity!
Here is what i was sent:
See, so generous!
I was sent 3 full multi-use minerals, 13 samples of multi-use minerals (12 pictured here and also a small baggie which i have forgotten to swatch), 4 blush samples, 3 foundation samples and 1 veil sample.
Sorry, this took so long for me to put up! No excuse, i haven't been busy, just never got around to it!
Firstly here is the video i made about foun dations for pale skin that i have encountered:
Here are swatches of the products mentioned:
no flash:
flash:
And blended a little:
No flash:
flash:
from left to right the swatches are: Kryolan TV paint stick in 1W Dainty Doll Concealer in Fair Dainty Doll foundation in Ivory Dainty Doll foundation in White Shieido The Makeup fluid founation in I00 Very Light Ivory
I also tried to take a photo with half of my face plain, and the other half with my avon tinted moisturiser applied but you couldn't see any difference! I swear you can see a distinct improvment in rea life, but the photo just made it all look the same. Maybe it's the lighting in this room, i'll try some time.
Now I thought i'd do a more in depth review of the products i use frequently.
Avon Personal Match Barely The Makeup (in 'light'): This is a tinted moisturiser and the main item of face makeup I use. It is incredibly sheer, so if you need a good coverage this is not for you. I generally have quite good skin, it's neither too oily nor too dry and i rarely have breakouts. I do have a lot of redness (perhaps a very mild for of rosacea? i'm not sure) from my cheeks to my chin. Sometimes i get very irritated by this and ut a heavier foundation over the top to cover this, but for day to day i generally just stick my avon on to even out my skintone. One reason i love this is that it is the only 'personal match' product that has ever worked for me. When the boom of 'intelligent shades' and suchlike first appeared i got very excited because i thought i might be ableto get the lightest shade and it would adapt to be as pale and pink as my skintone. Sadly it didn't work and i never found one that would match my skin remotely. I've also tried a lot of tinted moisturisers, and because they are s sheer it doesn't qute matter so much, but they were still too dark and yellow! This however is brilliant. When you squeeze it out it looks like an ordinary white moisturiser but with a more liquid formula, but if you look closer you see tiny lttle spheres inside, these burst as you blend it onto your face. As I said the formula is incredibly sheer, it gives you very little coverage, but it really seems to both brighten my skin and even out my complexion. it also does something that's hard to describe, as i seems to both mattify my skin but add a little sheen, almost as if my skin is luminous. I also love this because it makes my skin feel extremely soft and almost powdery after using it. It has a slight smell i can't describe, but it is not chemically and i quite like it. Sadly Avon have discontinued this, I don't know why. There aren't any other tinted mosturisers in their range. You can get it on ebay still in quite a few colours (as 'light' is basically colourless i guess it gets more pigmented the darker the shades get) for around a fiver for 30ml. I think it's very good value because the little tube has lasted me for almost half a year.
Dainty Doll: This range was brought out by Nicola Roberts from Girl Aloud specifically for pale skins. I've seen a lot of very mixed reviews about this, and mine is much the same. Firstly about their concealer. I use it a lot, as it is the only concealer i've found that has been the right colour for my skin, it really is a wonderfully pale shade, but it's really not the best concealer. It's good for little blemishes, but i find it quite bad for under my eyes. I have only recently started getting dark circles under my eyes, so they're not terrible, but this concealer is somehow both greasy feeling and very sheer. One layer of this does basically nothing for me. But unfortunately when i try to layer it up, so it's thick enough to actually conceal, it makes me look even paler under my eyes, so i now have white circles instead of dark! Having said that, it is definately the palest concealer i've ever found, and the only one that really works with my skin tone, so i would probably buy it again. It also came in a slightly darker colour ('natural') which might be better for under the eyes, or if yo're sill too pale for ordinary face makeup, but not insanely pale.
The foundation got a lot of mixed reviews, people seemed to either love it or hate it. I personally am on the side of loving it. A lot of criticism comes from the size of the pot you get (for around £12 you get 10.8g of product). I live in London so i got mine from the Jelly Pong Pong shop, where i saw the size of the proucts before i bought them so i knew what i was geting for my money, most peope have got theirs from Asos.com and i can completely understand why they might be dissapointed. Firstly the website didn't show the actual size of the pots and secondly the box the pot comes in is a lot bigger than the pot, it's got a sort of built up 'step' of cardboard at the bottom, and even then the pot is not completely full to the top. However even in this sall pot you get quite a lot of product. You don't need a lot to cover your face. Howveer as i don't use this particularly regularly i still have plenty of mine, if you were to use it every day then it probably wouldn't last you too long.
Now about the actual product. It comes in 3 colours, i have two, 'white' which is, shockingly, just white and 'Ivory' which is a very very pale pink shade. The other shade is called 'porcelain' and is a yellower, more regular foundation shade and (i think) slightly less pale. It's a mousse formula. I find it's buildable, so it can go from quite sheer to a medium thick coverage and it dries with a slightly owdery, semi matte finish. I've read a lot of reviews which say it doesn't apply well and ends up patchy. Persoally i've never had this problem. You can't really use a brush with it as the mousse formula is too thick, but i usually prefer using my fingers anyway so it's no problem for me. I do find it clings slightly to any flakes of skin, an effect i find i often get if i use too much powder, it also does the same thing to my eybrows, meaning i definately have to use a brow colour when i wear this foundation.
The colours i have are perfect though. The Ivory is the closest i've ever found to a perfect match for my skin. It's the only foundation i've ever seen which has a really pink colour to it instead of a yellow one and it is pale enough to look perfectly natural on my skin, it doesn't give me even the slightest hint of a tideline at my neck. The white seems to frighten people. If you apply it very thickly it will indeed come out opaque white, but unlike a lot of other white foundations it is not a thick, white face-covering formula. If you blend it well it turns almost colourless, just adding a slight layer of coverage, almost like a thicker tinted moisturiser. I find i can use this alone and it looks fine, but more often i use it with the Ivory on places where ihave more redness or uneven colouring and it blends perfectly.However if you'e not as pale as me i think the white would make you look chalky.
I'm not sure if this range has been discontinued or not. Some products are still available from Asos.com but not the foundations and theres no information about it on the Jelly Pong Pong website, so i don't know if it's just out of stock or not being made any more. I have heard that it's going to be relaunched with new products soon, so i'll keep you infomed if i hear any more :)
And a word about illamasqua foundations: I'm quite sad about these to be honest. I was so excited looking at swatches on the website, thinking maybe i'd finally be able to have my pick of foundation formulas (powder, cream, light and rich liquid) that would suit my skin. Sadly when i went to a counter and tested them there in't one anywhere near my skin tone. The closst match was one the second palest, which is basically pure white but with a hint of pink. This was really to light for me sadly, but the next shade jumps to being far too dark for me, and still not the right shade for my skin. The woman at the counter was really lovely and helpful and did manage to match my skin with a blend of 3 light liquid foundation. The finished product looked lovely, my skin was evened out and flawless, with the red in my cheeks taken away, but not looking too pale or colourless. But as the foundations cost £20 it would mean i'd need to spend £60 to be able to get the right match, yes i would get 3 times as much foundation, but still i really can't afford £60 on face makeup :( I must say i'm a bit disappointed, because i was so pleaed to see a foundation range of such colours (its wonderful how many good shades they have for dark skin particularly) but to me the shades for caucasion skin are pretty much the same as MAC or other ranges. I'd heard some people saying they were sually the palest shade of foundation but in Illamasqua came up about the 5th or 6th palest, but for me they're still too dark, or unwearable unless i wanted a very gothic white-face.
I'm really sorry if i've made a lot of spelling mistakes in this, i'm on my new computer and it has a really sensitive laptop that keeps omitting letters. if anyone knows any other very pale foundations that i haven't mentioned i would love to hear about them!
