The truth about… Blush

After playing around with many different brands of blusher (and even some smudged lipstick in extreme circumstances) I have discovered this little gem of a blush from Bourjois (number 92 ‘Santal’.) It is packaged in a clamshell like case complete with compact mirror and tiny brush that is designed to fit the domed curve of the compressed blusher powder perfectly. The whole package is small and round and the little hinged lid is designed to shut with a reassuringly loud click!

Only a gentle brush of the surface is required to get enough blush for each cheek as the pigment quality seems really quite good and is certainly dense enough to stay put all day without the need for more applications.

One of the most admirable feature of the Bourjois range of rouge has to be the fragrance -it smells so delicious that I can’t help but put my nose dangerously close to the surface of the pink powder in an attempt to identify the ingredients. It seems to be a perfume that hints of 1940’s glamour and I think of an elegant lady in 40’s curls and a floor length evening dress whenever I smell it. The reality has however, got the better of me; could it be a faint hint of chocolate mingled in with lily of the valley? I can’t be sure, the mystery is I think why I love so much applying a buff of powder in the mornings.

Beauty product illustrations: Illustrator Vicky Newman

The truth about… Mineral Foundation

This post is about the much talked about ‘Mineral Foundation’. It seems that just lately all the big cosmetics companies are jumping on the mineral band wagon and proclaiming this magic dust as the answer to all our deepest darkest desires. So after a brush with a very persuasive sales assistant and my continued quest to hunt out the perfect foundation, I found myself walking away with a pot of ‘custom blended’ Bella Pierre mineral foundation. (Custom blended meaning that sales associate tipped half a pot of one shade into the other and shook vigorously!)

The idea behind the mineral foundation is it uses 100% mineral natural ingredients, this means it is entirely hypo-allergenic and therefore does not contain the usual ‘bulking out ingredients’ that other foundations contain, such a talc, it also meaning you require less of the product as it is more concentrated. -Do check however, you are buying 100% mineral as I have noticed some brands marketing a ‘mineral’ foundation only use 60% minerals and the remaining 40% is back to that trusty old ‘bulking’ ingredients -sneaky!

With all this promise of goodness I really wanted to like my newly acquired pot of mineral foundation, but try as hard as I may, it wasn’t to be. My skin tends to fall under that slightly ominous category the ‘T Zone’ (oily skin on the forehead, nose and chin and drier skin on the cheeks) and this meant after a couple of hours the product on my forehead and nose had all but gone and the product on my cheeks looked took heavy and overly dry. Also after years of using liquid foundations that respond easily to my fingertips and are quick to blend in the areas that need extra coverage, using a brush to apply loose power to my face felt clumsy and awkward, and harder to regulate the amount of product on my bush at a time to work on certain areas.

As I hung up my brush I gave this foundation a sadly shameful 48%. Despite this I feel I cannot wipe out all mineral foundations based on one product and I’m sure it will not be long before I take up the quest for the perfect foundation once again and dive head first into the shimmering pool of mineral foundations all promising that ‘beautiful flawless look’.

Makeup and beauty illustrations: Illustrator Vicky Newman

The truth about… Lipgloss

For my next post I wanted to look at Lipgloss. I was never much of a fan as it seemed whenever I tried wearing it, the wind would suddenly get up out of nowhere and take a great delight in blowing from all angles and wrapping my hair across my face and trying to stick as much of it as possible into my newly applied lipgloss; not a game you normally have to play with the old school glamour of matt lipstick.

Every so often however, I have some sudden rash urge to indulge in a smart test-tube like bottle full of pearly coloured gloss and to give it a brief reprieve (which sadly and predicably, normally always ends in a wind-wrapping moment). This time, things were different. The gloss in question is made by Revlon, and in my case was colour 14 (or ‘Shine That Pink’) and turned out to be not nearly as gloopy or heavy as normal, and therefore did not feel like I had coated my lips in a treacle mixed with paper glue combo.

I always blot my lips once with the back of my hand after applying gloss, which I’m sure everyone will tell me might defeat the point a tad -but I find this takes down the super-shiny, super-fake look of lipgloss and gives the lips a seductive dewy sheen that could almost be natural (natural in a Herbal Essence – ‘I’ve just had a shower in a waterfall’ kind of way). The colour I also found (after blotting) was just a shade darker than my lip’s original colour and therefore defined my lips quite nicely. I was suitably impressed and gave it the honour of a place in my makeup box and a deserved 78%!

(Fine and dandy illustration by Vicky Newman)

The truth about… Mascara

To get back to basics my first post in this blog had to be about mascara. This is an age old beauty product that goes back to the days when women used coal dust and boot polish to black their eyes, thankfully due to modern cosmetics I do not have to find an alternative career as a chimney sweep to have beautiful glossy black eyelashes!

My quest for the perfect mascara took me through the hallowed halls of Chanel and Dior and all the other premium brands, for a while I was a fan of Maybelline Great Lash mascara with the distinctive pink and green packaging, that was however until I found Bourjois mascara “Oui au volume, Non aux paquets” (Yes to volume, no to clumps!) This I proudly award 97%! (I don’t think there can be a product out there that can get 100% -only in fairytales)

When I first bought the product I was annoyed at myself as it appeared to have a pink comb instead of the normal hedgehog style wand -I threatened it most cruelly but tried it all the same. I was forced to apologise as the pink comb was brilliant -it separated each lash and coats it in smooth coating of black, no clumping of eyelashes together to give the impression a awkward five-legged spider has just died on your upper lid but clean and elegant. It is easy to see how much product there is on the comb and therefore easy not to overload the eyelashes in short it was perfect and I have used it ever since!

(illustration by the very talented Vicky Newman at beautiful illustrations )