Saturday 19 October 2013

Bobbi Brown Moisture Rich Foundation Review


Confession? I hate buying foundation. I'm pale, have combination but dehydrated skin and it's just no fun at all for me to find something that works.

I've tried everything, from cheap high street foundation to Chanel and everything in between and I think I'm yet to find the perfect foundation! but this, is pretty damn close.

I decided that I'd try Bobbi Brown, they do lighter colours than other brands and have many formulations. I went in with the intention of walking out with Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation, as that's my desired look with foundation, my skin, but perfect, without looking fake. The lovely lady on the counter talked to me about my skin and what I wanted from my foundation  she said that Skin would be too lighter coverage for me and that Moisture Rich would be a better option. 'Moisture Rich!?' I thought to myself 'Surely it'll just slide off' but I asked to try it anyway, and see what I thought. I often fall in love with the way I look at the counter when I'm buying things, only to get it home and find that I hate it! So I left empty handed to examine my face under better lighting and see what I thought of the colour and look of the foundation, and I was quite impressed. 



The foundation offers medium coverage but can be built up to full. My skin sucks it up minimally and it does last a good amount of time on my skin, when set with a powder. At first, it feels too matte when set with a powder but 10 minutes on and my skin looks quite glowy and natural, like the foundation has settled. The coverage looks natural, while still hiding all my flaws, without looking like a mask. I prefer to apply this foundation first on the back of my hand and then dot it onto my face, and use a brush like the Sigma F80 or the Real Techniques Buffing Brush to blend it in. 


The downsides of this product are few, but they could be deal breakers for some. The bottle it's self glass, which isn't a big downfall for me but could be if you often have to travel, I wouldn't have enjoyed bringing this foundation to my boyfriends when we were living apart as I feel I'd probably end up breaking it on the train down. The other downside of the bottle is that it's a pour out lid, now the foundation it's self is thinner than MAC Studio Fix Fluid, which can go through a pump, and some other Bobbi Brown foundations are packaged with a pump, so the fact that this one isn't is a bit of a downside for me. The other issue I have with this foundation is the colour, I have the shade 'Porcelain' which is a nice colour, a touch too dark for my skin, but currently I can get away with it, however in the winter when I turn so pale I look sort of blue, I think it's going to be much too dark. This wouldn't be an issue, if Bobbi Brown hadn't stopped selling their lighter shade 'Alabaster' in the UK, which seems a weird choice as you'd think, over here in the UK, the land with no sun, pale foundations might be a good move!


This foundation also photographs nicely, with minimal flashback! 


Overall, I find this to be a good, medium coverage foundation that feels nice and light on the skin and looks natural, while still hiding all my flaws, however the packaging isn't ideal and I hate brands that don't sell their full range of shades in the UK as well as the USA. I really enjoy using this foundation and think it's the best I've used to date, however I'm always on the quest for better! I also feel this foundation acted as a gateway drug for me into more Bobbi Brown products and I have since spent quite a lot of money on their products, and really enjoy them! I have my eyes on their brand new 'Luminous Moisture Treatment Foundation' as it sounds perfect for me and they do the Alabaster shade!

Friday 4 October 2013

Smashbox Photofinish Primer Review


I've completely, 100% used up this product, so I think I can give a pretty good review of this.

I decided to buy this primer before I started college last September and it lasted me until around March, I didn't buy the full-size, but instead the travel size. It cost £12.50 from boots. When deciding to get one, I was faced with the challenge of choosing which one. I've always heard that for acne-prone skin that the photofinish light was great for my skin, and I thought the hydrating one might be something for me as I also have dehydrated skin, so thought that the Hydrating version would be for me. After going through the options with the sales assistant, I decided to buy the original and give it a try, and then I could try a different one if I didn't like the original. 

The packaging is nice, it's sleek and my travel size is perfect for travelling and ml for ml, it's not much more expensive than buying the full-size, as mini's often can be. The only thing I have to say about the packaging is that towards the end of the product, it becomes quite a challenge to get it out of the bottle, however I did think that mine had reached the end a few times, only to be surprised that more could come out. 


I apologise for reusing the photo, but mine is grubby, empty, bent out of shape and topless!


In terms of the effects, I felt this primer gave me a good base for make up, it was smoothing  so helped foundation glide on and sit nicer on my skin. I also think I have quite enlarged pores on my cheeks (my Mum says this is in my head though) and this product has a soft-focus effect on them, making them look smaller. The silicone feeling helps my foundation stay on rather than being sucked up by my dehydrated skin and I'm pretty sure that this has a big impact on helping my make up last longer. Overall I enjoyed using this primer, I really like using primers and felt that this one made a big different. It's texture reminds me of a primer which GOSH makes, which costs the same amount of money but for around double the product, however my skin didn't agree that and it caused my skin to break out and I had more clogged pores than usual. The Smashbox primer didn't do this to my skin and I didn't notice it make any difference, good or bad to my actual skin. 

Now, the question is would I buy it again? I think I would buy a smashbox primer again, maybe not this specific one as I think I'd quite like to try out their hydrating one, or the Laura Mercier Hydrating one to see which I like better.

So a question to you all, when it comes to foundation primer, do you do or don't? I'm definitely in camp 'do'!