Rimmel Lasting Finish Foundation Review

Hello all! I'd been firmly stuck in my ways foundation wise for a while but when I recently ran out of my trusty L'oreal True Match I decided to try something else. Having recently seen a review of this Rimmel foundation from both Nic Chapman and missbudgetbeauty I decided to give it a go. I've been becoming oiler and oiler recently and I wanted something that was going to last through that, so this sounded perfect.

This foundation claims to offer lightweight full coverage whilst keeping skin hydrated for 25hrs. Now, I've really been putting this to test over the past couple of weeks and so I think I can tell you pretty confidently whether these claims are fulfilled or not (at least I can for people with similarly oily skin to me).

Firstly, the coverage. For some reason, I trusted that this would be the full coverage it claimed to be. I'm not sure why I did this because never have I found a drugstore foundation that claimed to be full coverage to actually be full coverage. This is no different. It's a pretty thick formula which initially made me think it would fulfil, however it almost blends away to nothing. Perhaps that's slightly too critical. I would say it's an okay medium coverage, but it's definitely nowhere near full. I have acne scars which are still fully visible through this but which True Match (a foundation which claims to offer medium coverage) covers easily. The thing that annoys me so much about foundations like this is, if they had claimed to be medium coverage, I would be perfectly happy but because they're claiming a coverage they don't have, I'm instantly disappointed. Furthermore, due to the thickness of this foundation, it looks like you're wearing a lot of makeup but with little coverage to show for it. Therefore, the foundation doesn't live up to the coverage claims. For a daily foundation, I think the coverage is fine, I am just annoyed that it isn't the full coverage it should be.
I will admit that I have solely used brushes to blend this foundation in and a different result may be achieved with a sponge or fingertips.

Secondly, I can't speak much of the hydration because I use so many mattifying and oil controlling products that I can't really feel if this makes a difference. However I will say that this foundation always feels very comfortable on my skin and I never look dry or cakey by the end of the day, which does suggest to me that the comfort serum is working.

As for the longevity of this on the skin, I will say it does pretty damn well. Even if I haven't primed or touched up and I'm pretty oily by the end of the day, the coverage is all still there. Because of this, even if I am oily, I still look okay because my skin still looks uniform and even. It doesn't go patchy or break up like some other foundations do when I begin to produce oil. I think the longest I've ever kept this foundation on for is about 10-12hrs and, aside from around the nose because I have had a whopper of a cold the whole time I've been trying this, it still looked great and intact at the end of it. Whilst the coverage was disappointing, this was mainly what I was looking for from the foundation so I'm still pretty happy.

Another thing I'll say is on the shade range. I know that they do a shade lighter than Ivory online but when I went in store to buy it they didn't have it. I don't know if this was just in my superdrug or if the lighter shade just isn't available in stores but it was pretty annoying because it means I now have a shade that is too dark for me. I can just about get away with it if I blend well and highlight with concealer but I wish I didn't have to do that.  I personally don't think the shade range is great (Rimmel in general don't do great shades in my opinion) so if you can find something to work for you that's great.

All in all, I do quite like this foundation. Whether I would repurchase it is another question. I am disappointed by the coverage but I can get over that. The thing that bugs me most is the way it looks like I'm wearing a lot of makeup. I do love the lasting power of it which is why I will continue to use it but I think coverage and appearance wise there are much better foundations at the same price point. Mixing this either with a moisturiser, BB Cream, or lighter coverage foundation might reduce the heavy look it gives but it will also reduce the already disappointing level of coverage. I will probably try the lighter coverage version of it next time in the hopes that it looks less heavy as opposed to repurchasing this as I personally don't think this is worth the money.

Let me know any thoughts you have on this foundation if you've tried it!

Nikki xx

First Impressions Review: No7 Beautifully Matte Base

No7 Beautifully Matte Makeup Base - £10.50 available here 

Hey guys, I was on the hunt for a good, budget mattifying primer and found this one being mentioned a lot on blogs. Although No7 is the higher end of the high street, I find a lot of base products are around this price and Boots always have offers and vouchers for No7 so you can easily get a good deal.

The first time I used this I was surprised by the slight pearlescence of it; it's a white cream with a slight shimmer running through it. Don't be put off by that though, it doesn't really transfer onto the skin that much. You don't need much of this (although I only really use it in the centre of my face) and it sets pretty quickly which can make it a little difficult to blend in. I find myself quite liking that though because it means I can apply my foundation straight over it without having to wait for it to set to a matte finish.

Applying foundation over it is fine, it does make blending a tad more difficult but nothing dreadful (I find stippling motions better for blending foundation anyway so it's not really a problem for me). This really does mattify your face instantly, especially if you're using a matte/satin finish foundation too (I haven't actually tried it with a dewy finish yet). Actually, I found myself feeling like I didn't really need to powder and it was quite a novelty only having to use a very light application of powder (for reference I used True Match foundation and Stay Matte powder).

This base didn't keep me matte all day but it did prevent me from having to powder longer. I put my makeup on probably at about 9:30am and at around 4pm I felt like I still could have gone a little longer before powdering; I had some oil coming through but it just looked like a healthy glow - not an oil slick. Usually, I would want to touch up at about 12pm if I'd put my makeup on at that time so I think that speaks for how good this primer extends your makeup. That being said, I'm not the oiliest of the oily. I would say I'm more normal-oily depending on the day but recently I've been finding myself getting very oily, very quickly.

I still need to put this to the test more and I'll let you know if my views on it change, but for now I'm  very, very happy with this primer. It's definitely the best I've tried from the drugstore.

Boots currently have a buy one get the second half price deal on No7 and £3 off No7 makeup vouchers circulating, so be sure to take advantage of them if you do decide to pick this up!

Have a fabulous day,

Nikki x

Happy New Year

Hello beauties! I know I'm posting this a little late (a week into January isn't THAT late) but I want to start as I mean to go on! I hope all of you had a fabulous Christmas and New Year, wherever you were and whatever you did. I hope you're all sticking to your resolutions!

As far as resolutions go, I didn't make any this year. I'm not really sure why, perhaps I didn't feel the need to. I would like to try to promise myself something though. This is something I promised myself last year but never saw through. This year, I want to try to start a YouTube channel. I have wanted to since I was about 13 and nothing has changed. I'm hoping I'll be able to get some proper batteries for my camera (that's all that's really stopping me) and I'll give it a go. Due to my decision last year not to peruse a career in beauty, I've found myself wanting to start a channel more so that I can still be a part of the beauty community, more actively than I am here. 

When I do finally get it together to make a video, I'll post it here too. It'll most likely be a tutorial of some sort. 

Anyway, this was a super short post but I think I've said everything that I wanted to. Again, hope all your 2015s are going good so far and stick to those resolutions!

Have a fabulous day,

Nikki x

p.s. sorry if there are any weird spelling mistakes or random words/punctuation in this post. I tried to get rid of them all but I'm writing this from my kindle so it's kinda hard to blog properly!

Review: Sanctuary 5min Thermal Detox Mask

Sanctury Thermal Detox Mask - £10.50 available here

I have been meaning to review this product for the longest time; I think I actually bought it about two or three months ago! Before I bought it I'd heard tonnes of good stuff about this face mask but I was dubious as it was far more expensive than my usual Lush masks and I'm not usually that fond of thermal masks BUT I'm happy to say this has lived above and beyond expectations.

First of all, this may be double the price of the Lush face masks but it'll last you way longer. A little of this really goes a long way and it's a pretty big tube. I always pretty much get out too much, despite the fact I've been using this weekly for the past 2 months so you'd think that I would be used to how much you need by now! Also, I find this to be far more effective than my Lush face masks I had grown so fond of (I actually have now come to the conclusion that they may have been irritating my skin). This Sanctuary mask is the first one I've used where there is a noticeable difference when you wash it off. My skin looks visibly clearer and feels clean but not stipped, it actually feels quite nourished.

I usually leave this on for longer than 5 minutes, usually around 20, but I have used it for around 5 when in a rush before and I still got the same results with it, so you really can get away with using this in the morning, before makeup even, if you're in a rush.

My only word of advice would be that due to how deeply this cleans your skin, you WILL break out the first couple of times you use it. I think I broke out badly the first three times and I do still get the occasional spot after but now that I'm using it every week obviously I don't have as much that needs to be purged from my skin. Obviously, you should generally expect this kind of reaction to any detoxing or deep cleansing mask but I felt I should mention it just incase you wanted to use it a day or two before a big event - unless you've been using it every week for a while, don't chance it!

Overall, I absolutely love this mask (and everyone I've recommended it do has loved it too) and it's become a staple in my skincare routine which I will definitely repurchase when I eventually run out.

January Favourites!

Hello beauties and welcome to another monthly favourites! January has literally flown by and I can't believe we're already a month into 2014, it still feels like 2010 was only yesterday to me! Anyway, on with my favourites, I've been trying out some new things this month that I still haven't completely made my mind up on, but a lot of them I have loved so there are quite a few newbies this month!

So, this month I have three new skincare favourites. Firstly, is 100% Argan Oil which I use to moisturise my face at night. I have actually had this and been using it for a few months now but seeing as I didn't do a December Favourites I thought I'd mention it in this post. I have dry/normal/combination skin (literally it's all over the place) and I find this great for whatever phase my skins going through. It's pretty heavy so I put it on an hour or so before I go to bed so it can sink in, and then when I wake up my skin feels lovely and soft and moisturised!

Secondly is Eau Roma Water Toner from Lush which I mentioned in my recent Lush Haul post. I wasn't actually expecting great things from this toner aside from a little added hydration but it's really helped to sooth my skin and actually reduced a lot of my redness. Plus it smells really calming and spa like so I'm in total love with it!

Thirdly is an old favourite (although if you've been reading my blog a while you'll notice I finally bought a new one) and also a product mentioned in my recent Lush Haul. Grease Lightning is, without a shadow of a doubt, my favourite spot treatment because it reduces any breakouts I have super quickly without really drying my skin out. I had a really annoying hormonal breakout on my jaw this month and this just really helped to reduce it super quickly!

On to makeup, and this is a product which I hadn't really cared for in the past. I got this mini Porefessional ages ago as a free gift with another Benefit purchase and I had used it on and off and never really seen what was so great about it. But this month I found that everyday when I got in from college I was noticed my makeup had settled into the pores around my nose, so I decided to give this another go and, as you can probably guess, it sorted the problem out straight away. I ended up liking it so much that I pretty much entirely used up the sample. Now before I repurchase it, I am going to try the new Maybelline baby skin primer to see how it compares but I can see myself repurchasing this very soon.

Next is a pretty cult product here in the beauty world. I don't know why it took me so long to buy Studio Finish but now I finally got it I'm beginning to wonder how I coped without it. This makes any redness and unevenness I have completely disappear and it's absolutely amazing on breakouts! Not only is it super amazing coverage, but it has great lasting power so you don't have to keep touching up throughout the day. My only issue is that I think I may have got the wrong colour. The neareast MAC counter to me is very far away, especially when you don't have a car so I ordered this online going off my Pro Long Wear concealer as a guide. Although I can get away with NW15 with some blending, I do think NW20 would have suited me a little better. So, I don't know whether to order it or just make do with this one. Either way, I still love this product.

Finally for makeup, is another old favourite. For a while I went through a phase of either not contouring at all or when I did, having a really diffused contour but this month I have gotten full back into having a really defined and structured contour and so, my eyes fell to my Sleek Face Form palette to do so. Although the contour colour is a bit orange, I do really love it and love how easy it is to blend. I've also been loving the highlight for the cheekbones, brow bone and cupid's bow to add some winter glow.

Last in my beauty favourites is a hair product. Now, I'm not a huge hair styling person, hair is not my thing I'm just not very good at it. But, I recently got my hair chopped quite a lot and I decided to put more effort into it. My Mum spotted this Batiste volumising powder in Superdrug on an introductory offer so obviously I snapped it up (having quite fine flat hair naturally I need all the volume I can get). I've been trying to find the Schwartzkopf volumising powder for ages but for some reason my local Superdrug just doesn't carry it! So, I grabbed this and I absolutely love it! It does make your hair feel quite thick and sticky and actually a little dirty, but you can't tell to look at it. It pretty much stays in all day too and it's so quick that I don't even need to make much time for my hair in the mornings!

Random Favourite!

My non-beauty favourite this month is Animal Crossing: New Leaf! This has been out for a while now and I was super, super excited for it but I didn't get around to buying it until a little after Christmas. There's still a hell of a lot I need to do in my town but I really love playing it a little everyday and it's lived up to and beyond all my expectations. The only bad thing about it is that it means I'm neglecting my Wild World town  - oops!

Well that's it for this month, I hope January treated you well and that February treats you even better!

Have a fabulous day,

Nikki x

Review: MUA Single Eyesahdows

MUA Single Eyshadow Shade 7 Pearl - £1 available here

Hello beauties! Today I want to review MUA's single eyeshadow. I have four of them; shade 6, 7 and 23 pearl and shade 18 matte. 

Overall, I am in absolute love with these shadows. I mentioned them in my November favourites I think, and I've been meaning to buy more! You wouldn't expect a £1 eyeshadow to have the texture that these do. They have such a smooth and buttery feel that loads of more expensive drugstore eyeshadow don't have. I have to say, I'm mainly talking about the pearl finishes here, the mattes aren't as buttery or smooth, but they're still good for drugstore mattes!

Also, the pigmentation on these guys is amazing! Seriously, one swipe and you get the same colour as the pan! They apply really evenly and there's hardly any fall down whilst applying, especially if you apply them over a cream shadow like the Maybelline ones. Again, I'm mainly talking about the pearl finishes here because the matte shadows aren't as richly pigmented or smooth. Although, the matte finish shadow I have I got a while ago and MUA do seem to have improved their formula since then of the pearl finishes so perhaps the mattes have improved too. 

So, for the pearl finishes I have nothing bad to say. They're amazingly pigmented, they feel like butter and they apply smoothly. The mattes, not as great but I'm going to try some more to see if they have improved. Regardless, I understand that matte eyeshadows are difficult to get right, especially at a drugstore price and for only £1 these mattes are pretty good.

Final score: 4/5 (the pearls would get 5/5 but the mattes bring the score down)

I hope that has helped some of you in some way and I'll see you soon with some new posts!

Have a fabulous day,

Nikki x

Mini Lush Haul!

Hey beauties! I did a little shopping in Lush today and I figured I'd show you what I got seeing as there is basically a whole skin care regime in it. Also, two really lovely women helped me in there and they made me realise again how much I love Lush as a company.

Lush Aqua Marina Cleanser £6.35/100g - available here

"This is a creamy cleanser designed to calm, nourish and soothe. We use kaolin and calamine to absorb oils and cleanse the skin, and aloe vera to restore moisture. Irish Moss gel (a type of seaweed) is full of restorative minerals and vitamins, and we've even included a sprinkling of sea salt for very gentle exfoliation."

Firstly, I got a new cleanser because my beloved seasonal Buche de Noel had about two or three more uses in it. Now, although I know that Angels on Bare Skin is incredibly similar to Buche, I went for this instead because I wanted to try something different. I've used it once and I can see myself really loving this. Although they say it's got sea salt in it, I can't feel any exfoliation going on in this, it's just really smooth and lovely. Smells a bit fishy when you first open it, but it doesn't once you've mixed it with water and put it on your face.

Lush Eau Roma Toner Water £3.95/100g - available here

"This is a simple, elegant formula that’s suitable for even the most sensitive skin. Rose water will help to calm the skin and reduce redness, whilst lavender water will balance and soften the skin. This was created as a way to hydrate the skin without causing it to dry out or overreact. Use it for a quick, refreshing spritz or to remove any traces of makeup."

I'll be honest, I made this next purchase because of Jaclyn Hill. She mentioned it in her Skincare Routine video and (I think) her 2013 Skincare Favourites video and I usually trust her judgement on things (despite my skin not being so dry any more). This won't take the place of my Botanics toner, however I intend to use this in the morning for a bit of extra hydration under my makeup. Also, I've really been wanting something to help calm the redness in my skin, so I figured why not give this a go? Especially seeing as the mini one is so cheap!

Lush BB Seaweed Fresh Face Mask £5.95 - available here

"Created to cool soften and reduce redness on harshly treated skin. Rose absolute will calm and balance the skin, olive oil moisturises, whilst toothed wrack seaweed hand-harvested from Poole Harbour works with aloe vera to soothe and soften. We also use rosemary oil for its regenerative qualities; kaolin to remove any excess dirt or oil, and millet flakes to gently exfoliate away dead skin as you scrub it off."

I explained to the woman in the store that I wanted a face mask that was quite soothing but to still exfoliate a little and she immediately pointed me to this one, saying it was her favourite. As is custom with buying a new face mask, as soon as I got home I removed all my makeup and put this on. It made my skin feel so soft and nourished and I can totally understand why the woman liked it so much! Although, I do have to say, I've never been disappointed with a Lush face mask so I wasn't too surprised.

Lush Grease Lightning Spot Treatment £5.95 - available here

This is an absolute must have for me in my skincare routine. After scraping about all I could out from my old bottle, I decided it was high time to pick up a new one. This treatment helps to clear any breakouts up lightning quick but does so without completely drying out my skin. Plus, you only need a tiny amount so this bottle will last me ages!

When I was paying, the lady serving me commented that I was buying a lot of skincare products and told me that if I wanted any samples of any products she would happily give me some. So, after happily accepting that offer, she offered me some moisturisers because I hadn't bought any. I've had a sample of a moisturiser from Lush before back when my skin was uber dry and had been very badly treated and I didn't like it, it wasn't hydrating enough (pretty much nothing was at the time). But now that my skin is basically normal, although occasionally leans slightly either way, I was happy to try one. She gave me Enzymion (which is available here) which is supposed to be great under makeup because is hydrates but mattifies your skin. I'm a bit dubious as to whether that's going to work for me because I'm not sure I'm oily enough to need something mattifying (although I did tell her that I had normal, kind of combination skin so I'll try to trust her judgement). She also gave me Imperialis (which is available here) which I have tried once and I really liked it. It's quite light and absorbs easily and quickly, doesn't leave the skin feeling oily or dry, it seems just right.

Well that's it for my Lush haul! I know that was actually quite a lot of information for not that many products but I wanted you guys to know my first impressions of them too. I'm sure I'll be uploading reviews of every single new product I got (especially the moisturisers) so look out for those!

Have a fabulous day,

Nikki x