Fab Five Favourites

Hi Beauts.

 I wanted to do something a little different today, and share with you all my Fab Five Favourites. I'll still be posting my monthly favourites every month, but thought this might be a good way to share what I've been loving during the week. This week, I'm going to rave about my five favourite face products...There's a lot of F's flying about this post isn't there?!

1 - B. Flawless complete coverage Foundation in 'linen' I'd ran out of my foundation so was on the hunt for a new one to try out. I'd loved the lip crayons from the brand B. so figured I'd try out one of their foundations. The coverage of this is pretty good and it works well with my oily skin, however even the lightest shade is a little too dark. Which brings me to item number 2.

2 - NYC all day long foundation in 'classic ivory' I've tried this before amd loved the finish and staying power however the lightest shade is too light for me. Mixed with the foundation from B. and the two combined give the best cover, finish, staying power and the shade matches me perfectly.      

3 - B. Sheer finish Pressed powder in 'light' - Again, I'd ran out of my powder so needed to pick up a new one and this one was on offer in Superdrug so I thought, why not? It's a pretty yellow based foundation which I love as I wanted to tone down some of the warmth from the B.foundation. It doesn't add too much coverage but it does leave me matte and keeps my foundation on throughout the day. I love that it comes with a mirror too, very handy

4 - elf blush in 'blushing rose' - I've been trying to use more of my blushes because I've tended to stick to one or two the past few weeks. I'm not sure why I stopped using this little gem, it's the perfect berry shade which is my favourite shade to wear (no matter what the season is) it's highly pigmented too and stays put all day long.

5 - The Balm Mary-Lou Maniser - This is probably my all time favourite highlighter if I'm honest. It's         shimmery but not over the top and it gives the most gorgeous highlight to cheekbones. It's neutral toned too which is a must for me. This little beauty can also be used as an eyeshadow, browbone highlight and inner tear duct highlight too!

What are your current favourite face products? 

Stacey x

Barry M flawless finish matte foundation

Hi Beauts.

The main thing I have trouble with because of my skin type, is finding a good high street foundation. And it's even harder now that I only buy cruelty free products. Way back last year Barry M released some new products, one being their flawless matte finish foundation. 

When it was first released I didn't really think of picking it up as I was enjoying using the foundation I already had, so pretty much overlooked it. 

However, Barry M is cruelty free and I was on the market for a new foundation so decided to pick it up and give it a go. The flawless matte finish foundation comes in 5 shades, ivory being the lightest and the one I went for. 

I will say that although this is light, if you're super pale then I don't think this will be one for you. I'm quite pale, however my chest is a little darker so I can get away with using this. 

However Barry M do a white foundation which is for mixing into darker foundation to get your shade, so maybe that would be worth looking into. 

I usually go for a full coverage, or a buildable medium at the very least, as I have a few scars on my chin and I have quite a few freckles which I'm not overly keen on. I'd say this is a light to medium coverage and can be built up to a higher medium and even not full, with no caking up.

I find this to apply and blend better when I use my fingers as opposed to using a brush or my beauty blender, and I get a better coverage doing it that way. I was expecting this to dry pretty much straight after applying (as it's a matte) but it's still pretty tacky. However it doesn't look dewy and once powder is applied it's matte. My face did stay shine free throughout the day with and without a primer, however I did lose a little product on my chin and nose which are my 'trouble' areas. All in all, I'd say this is a foundation that's definitely worth checking out if you have oily/combination skin. And for £5.99, I'd say it's a pretty great buy!

Have you tried this? What's your favourite cruelty free foundation for oily skin?

Stacey x

Rimmel Fix and Perfect Pro Primer review

Hi Beauts.

After getting many recommendations from some lovely girlies on twitter, I decided to pick up the Rimmel Fix and Perfect primer.

I usually use No7 beautiful skin primer, but I find it a pain to blend sometimes as it's a mattifying primer. I didn't think this would work for me if I'm honest as I have oily skin, but wanted to give it a bash anyway.

Packaging:

This primer comes in a tube, which I prefer when it comes to liquid products as it makes it easier to control the amount of product you use. I also like the fact that you can snip off the bottom to get every last drop out.

Product:

The product itself is, I'd say, similar to that of a light moisturiser. It's not too thick or thin and has a slight scent to it. It's not a perfume scent, more of a clean smell - if that makes any sense?! It's not greasy at all either, which I have found some other cream primers to be.

Application:

After using the No7 primer, and having to buff it into my skin, this was a dream to apply. It did just feel like applying a moisturiser. I used my fingers to apply this and it was smooth, easy to blend and soaked into the skin pretty quickly. I wasn't left looking greasy or dewy, I wouldn't say my face looked matte but it did look healthy. This can also been worn alone, which I haven't tried

Staying power:

I was pleasantly surprised by this if I'm honest. I know so many people love this primer, but again as I have oily skin I usually go for mattifying primers and didn't think this would work for me. But I was wrong. I did lose a little foundation on my chin but I usually do (I tend not to when I use Revlon colorstay) but other than that, after 9 hours my face was still looking fresh and not at all shiny.

Claims:

As with all products, this primer has a number of claims which of course I put to the tea:

Smoothes - Yup. My skin did look smoother

Resurfaces - Yup. I'm pretty sure this goes hand in hand with smoothes

Brightens - Yup. My skin definitely looked brighter after applying this

Mattifies - This one, I'd say not so much. I definitely didn't look shiny or dewy, but I didn't look matte either

Protects - I'm not sure what it's protecting from if I'm honest?

Would I recommend this primer? Absolutely! I'm so glad that I tried it out, and I shall definitely repurchase once it done with this tube. I'd say this is best suited to all skin types, it doesn't dry out the skin so it would work for those with dry skin. And it definitely works for oily skin. 

Thumbs up from me Rimmel :)

Have you tried this? What did you think?

Stacey x