Showing posts with label Rimmel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rimmel. Show all posts

Spring Beauty


BASE
Spring is time for lighter bases and this one definitely fits the bill. It has a light to medium coverage, in fact in that respect it's very similar to Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum, however, the finish is more satin-matte than dewy which will appeal to those whose skin gets a bit shiny during the day. This is my ultimate product for when I'm in a hurry as it takes seconds to apply and blend in with fingers.

Out of all my foundations, BBs and CC creams this has the best finish ever. Again it's similar to Healthy Mix Serum in terms of coverage, but with a more satin finish. This literally looks like skin. It just melts in invisibly and it doesn't settle into lines or pores. To me this is the perfect base, but the lightest shade is too dark for a Snow White like me, so I really wish Bourjois made another lighter shade of this.

This has been my favourite foundation since its release. It looks incredibly natural and fresh on the skin due to the dewy finish and it's particularly nice for dehydrated skin with dry patches because it's one of the rare foundations that doesn't look odd on such skins. This is a staple in my collection.


 EYES
I love a neutral, defined look in any season, but I think that such a look fits into spring especially well. This is the palette that started my matte neutral-taupe eye look obsession and it made me fall in love with eyeshadows. The shades in it are perfect for an everyday defined eye, but the colours can also be worn in a smokier combination. The quality is fantastic and these are some of the best matte eyeshadows around. 

Basics 2 offers a bit more variety when it comes to medium toned shades and it also contains more cool toned shades. If you find the first version too light for your skin tone, this should work at lot better. The quality is again superb as at the original, so another pack of nicely pigmented and smooth eyeshadows.

 I've raved a lot about this budget friendly palette and I still love it. It's like someone put both Naked Basics palettes together and took only the good shades in it. The quality is really good for the price and all the colours are actually matte.


CHEEKS
BENEFIT Coralista
Coral is the obvious choice for spring cheeks and Coralista is my favourite because it's gorgeous coral shade with an illuminating shimmer/glow. This is the type of shade that makes you look so fresh.

The most classic warm pink shade that brightens the face by giving a cute flush to the cheeks, but without any shimmer. The quality of these blushes in amazing, especially considering the price. 


This is one of those great super perky peaches for pale skins. I prefer this to pink blushes when I want to look healthily flushed, plus the velvet cream texture looks very natural on the skin.

Pop of Pink is a bright warm pink-coral and can be used quite sheer or build up for intensity. The liquid-mousse texture gives the cheeks that lovely natural "of course I'm not faking that flush" finish, especially when paired with a light base. 


LIPS




Nude-ist is a beautiful muted rose shade on me with a nice matte finish and it's one of those fantastic natural shades that give me a bit of colour and definition to lips. 

These are such a fancy replacement for a lip balm due to their comfortable, creamy formula and the divine peachy scent. Rose Melody is a natural-pink my-lip-but-better-shade with a nice glossy finish that is great for any easy everyday look.



This is one of my never-fails default lip colours for most occasions because it manages to brighten up my pale skin tone, but isn't too flashy or too in your face. It's a medium pink-coral or peachy-pink and I really appreciate that there is more pink in it because corals mostly look unflattering orange on me.

The brightest choice in my selection, Sweet Tart is a bright, warm Barbie pink that is very pigmented, which is a pleasant surprise for such a balmy product. 


 Cotton Candy is a warm pink that is similar to MAC's Please Me, so it's a great everyday colour, when you want something neutral, but not completely nude (on condition you have a pale skin tone). The formula is really creamy and yet it manages to cling on longer that for example Essence's pencils, so it's a nice replacement for a lipstick.

This is currently my favourite lip colour as it's one of the nicest light peachy-pinks ever. It's a good pencil that is somewhere between being creamy and hard, so it defines well, but the formula is a drier one, however, the colour makes it all worth it.

NAILS

The rather dully named nail colour, 01 is a a nude with a rose-violet-taupe tone, which is close to my skin tone, but those cool hues keep it from looking like mannequin fingers. The formula is so smooth and surprising easy to apply for an opaque nude nail polish, but what impressed me more is how shiny is the finish.

This is that one fantastic transition shade that can easily be worn from autumn though winter into spring because it's such a nice mix of styles. It's a mix of autumn-winter taupe and spring pastel lilac shades, so it looks very modern on the nails. 

ESSIE Nail Lacquer
Mint Candy Apple
The quintessential mint green nail polish that is closer to pastel blue than green. The formula makes you work for it, but there are plenty of better performing dupes anyway and you can't really have a spring without such a shade at least once on the nails.


I got this hoping it be the perfect nude nail polish, but it turned out to be so much more. It's a pastel light pink-peach shade, so it's somewhat nude but with a cute twist.  

The name completely fits this brightened coral-pink shade as it really is cute.The formula of this shade is unbeatable because the application is so smooth and even.

The greener and a bit more muted sibling of Mint Candy Apple, but with a much better performing formula.


FRAGRANCE
Katy Perry Royal Revolution
A sweet, yet fresh scent which still has that depth that also makes it a nice choice for a night out. It reminds me of a very nice smelling shampoo and I love such scents in the spring.

LA RIVE Moon
This is one of those clean, but classy scents that work no matter the occasion or season. It's basically a cheap knock-off of Hugo Boss Nuit Pour Femme and works just as well. It starts with a nice peachy burst, but it quickly settles into a nice expensive fabric softener scent.

The heaviest fragrance out of the three, but still lighter than all those vanilla-cupcake based scents like Fantasy. Fame is a lovely blend of apricot, honey and flower notes, while the depth is created by the smokiness of the incense note.


Have a great day!
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Rimmel Velvet Matte 014 Sumptuous Red


This is one of those nails polishes that I expected to wow me based on other people's swatches (*insert a Google search*), but I was very underwhelmed. I expected a perfect mix of purple and pink, so a warm Tyrian purple colour and it does look like that on the swatch wheel, but unfortunately, just as at First Class Up-Grape, due to (I'm strongly suspecting) my undertone, this looks just boring cool-toned purple on me. It's not a bad colour at all, but less unique and darker than I expected. The finish is a velvet matte, which honestly looks less spectacular than on my pictures in person, especially with prolonged wear as the oils from the environment make it just a bit greasy looking (check the final picture that was taken after four days). But you can easy just put a top coat on it and have a regular creamy finish look nail polish. 


The formula is an odd ball. It's very difficult to get this even looking as during application it's pretty much impossible to get the coat even, instead it's a very patchy looking affair. I needed three and on some nails even four coats to create an even fully opaque looking base. The problem is that it dries very fast to a matte finish, so unlike most nail polishes it just sticks to the patch where you applied it meaning it doesn't level out by itself like a lot nail polishes do. Due to that the final effect doesn't look as smooth and piling on additional coats only makes it worse. 


The brush is one of those wide ones and I do like it, the fault for the uneven application lies mainly in the formula and not the brush. Staying power is not as good as at regular nail polishes, but on my nails it still lasts well, but it did peel off the nail wheel, just to warn you.

Yup that's the same nail polish. Lucky me...

It only occurred to me to take another picture of the nails polish with a shiny top coat after four days of wearing it already, but it still looks decent, right? I applied Seche Vite on top, only the ring finger is top coat free (see how non matte it is compared to the first pictures?).


This didn't meet my expectations at all. For one the colour is completely different on me than in the bottle or on the nail wheel and the formula is difficult to work with, but I forgive that since it's a matte nail polish.

Have a great day!
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December Inspired Beauty

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Rimmel Lasting Finish Nude Foundation 010 Light Porcelain plus NARS Sheer Glow Foundation Siberia


It's been a bumpy ride with this foundation. I bought it a couple of months ago as a replacement for Match Perfection in the same shade, which was another foundation I wasn't too fond of as far as texture is concerned, but I used it nonetheless every day to mix it with other foundations because the shade of it was perfect. I've heard so many positive reviews for this foundation before and after I purchased it, but I'm a lot less enthusiastic about and yet, just like Match Perfection, I use it every day and have used up quite a lot of it already.


Texture: This is a much thicker foundation than Match Perfection or for example Healthy Mix Serum, but it's still fluid enough that is slowly runs off the back of the hand when you squeeze it out of a pump. Blending is the issue with this foundation. I always first try applying the foundation with my fingers and though it was going in the right direction, it just looked wrong on my face after a while. It settles into pores and lines and I just can't get this foundation to look nice on my nose. I don't know what's the deal with it, but sometimes there are just some weird unblended-looking and even reddish patches on my nose after a while. 
I later tried to apply it with all of my foundation brushes and Real Techniques brushes such as the expert brush, buffing brush and the stippling brush do not work at all. The best brushes I found are the E.l.f. Powder Brush and Ecotools Bamboo Bronzer Brush, but only if I use one pump of product and don't try to layer it. So super fluffy brushes and a small amount of foundation works adequately, but any more and I end up with a cakey mess. A flippin' mine field, I tell you. 
So using it alone is not the best option as far as my skin is concerned and that's why I mix it with other, better foundations. Best to mix it with in my experience are Bourjois foundations, such as their CC Cream and Healthy Mix Serum. It also works very well with Catrice's Nude Illusion, I've even had a few compliments on my skin when I wore that combination.

Shade: This is very close to perfect for me, especially when it's blended into the skin.  That's why it makes me even more sad that the formula by itself doesn't perform all that well. 010 Light Porcelain is a true super light/fair/porcelain shade with a pink undertone and I think it's basically the same shade as at Match Perfection as well as the pink counterpart of Nars' Siberia (another set of swatches below). Mixing it with a yellow foundation creates a perfect neutral match for me.


Coverage and finish: This could easily be a medium to full coverage foundation if it worked in a "normal" quantity on my skin. I can only do a light layer before "tragedy strikes", so it's light-medium (that's how much I applied it for the before/after picture). Layering it makes a terrible cakey mess, especially on my nose. I had my cousins say when I wore it the first day when I applied it liberally with fingers that it looks like I have a Band-Aid on my nose and that is something you just don't want to hear. Ever. On my skin this has a kind of a matte finish, but not a draining one, it's more on a natural side. Under no circumstances can I use mattifying powder over it because it makes it look horrible, the only thing that does work is a very light dusting of Java Poudre de Riz powder by Bourjois. 
I always keep the images quite large and if you want a closer look, click on it.

Staying power: Naming it Lasting Finish should indicate some exceptional staying power, but at the end of the day there are only traces of foundation on the cotton pad when I'm taking my makeup off with micellar water. In short, it's average, so in the Bourjois range.


Packaging: A glass bottle with a good pump. As far as the functionality of the packaging goes, I have no complaints. The white cap is what differentiates it from the "regular" Lasting Finish foundation.

Price and availability: I got mine on Look Fantastic for €10.39.

So I've been using this for a couple of months now and after a very rough start, we are at a much better place now since I found with which foundations should I mix it to get the best result. I have no idea why it doesn't work on its own on me if I use any more than a thin layer and how it starts to look on the nose after a while is a particular issue I have with it. I adore the shade of this, it's simply fantastic for me, so I'm sending a virtual hug to Rimmel for having such a shade in their lines of foundations, though I wish they had better formulas. What I want to point out is that there is a huge possibility that this foundation just doesn't work well with my skin as I've heard a lot of positive opinions about it, so don't let my review discourage you if you want to try it, but perhaps try to get a sample first. However honestly, I wore Bourjois CC Cream the last time and I swear it's just a gazillion times better when it comes to "invisible foundation/base finish". 


NARS Sheer Glow
Siberia


Since one of my readers sent me a very generous sample of Sheer Glow in the lightest shade Siberia (thanks again Tamara. You're made of pure awesome!) that I've been wearing for a while now and I though I might include my impressions here as well as include some swatches that some may find helpful.

Texture: It feels quite light and it reminds me of Healthy Mix Serum, but of a version with more coverage. It blends out so well with a brush because it has this type of a light silicone texture and you can really buff it in. I have to say that I expected a lot from this foundation and it certainly delivered as far as other people's comments go. Everyone I've asked said that it look perfect on the skin, like it's my skin but better and that's it's invisible, especially as far as the colour match is concerned. If I look closely, I actually think that it is a noticeable foundation, but others said otherwise and I value their opinion (though they checked after a few hours of wear). It blends nicely over pores and doesn't sit in them like most drugstore foundations, but it still settles into this two lines I have on the sides of my lips, however, less horribly than Rimmel's foundation.  

Shade: Siberia is very light, though not as light as Chantilly (their Radiant Creamy Concealer). As I said before in the Rimmel's review, this is a yellow version of 010 Light Porcelain, but I have to say that I was quite shocked when I first saw just how yellow it is. The yellow tone is even stronger than in Bourjois foundations, however, it blends well into my skin, in fact, it starts to look a bit more neutral after a while, so I consider this a very nice match for my skin as also confirmed by my cousins.

The girl, who sent me the sample, Tamara, also did some super helpful swatches and I really wanted to include them here as well. Tamara, I hope you don't mind. Obviously these were taken in different conditions than mine, hence why Siberia looks less yellow, but trust me it's super yellow in person.


Coverage: The coverage is impressive, I'd say medium or even medium-full and it can certainly be layered with no issues. It covers a lot, as you can see most of the freckles are covered as is the redness on the sides of the nose, but I still need to use concealer on spots (it sort of slides off from those) and a bit under the eyes. Radiant Creamy Concealer works very well with this foundation formula, it's like they were made to be used together. I've wearing the combination of both here.

Finish: It reminds me of Catrice's Nude Illusion in a way that it gives that healthy luminous finish, but it's not super dewy, rather leaning more to matte, however, it gets dewier with time. 


Staying power: This wears so well on the skin and looks better with time. I think that it melts into the skin and looks less foundation-ey after a few hours and at the end of the day it looks pretty good. 

Price and availability: It costs €41.19 on HqHair with worldwide shipping.

My final verdict - I would love to have a bottle of this foundation. I wasn't completely sure from the first use because I was always looking close at my skin, but comments from other people convinced me that this is absolutely the right choice for me. Now I just need to find a place to buy this with a pump. The official EU NARS website sells both, but their shipping is insane. I might just have to settle with a pump-less bottle from HqHair.

Edit 11.3.2015: I finally got a bottle of Sheer Glow for myself. I still stand by my review based on a sample, but I have more information to add. As you may know this foundation comes without a pump, which it ridiculous considering how expensive it is. I've discovered that Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum's pump works just fine with this and you can read more about it here. 

I hope this was helpful and have a great day!
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