Bottom-of-the-bag beauty finds

     

Do you ever find that the best makeup products are sometimes the one’s we forget we’ve got?

I recently experienced this when I discovered a super-cute three-year-old blusher I’d never even used before! 

    

I was emptying my makeup bag of shavings and slightly scuzzy, out-of-date cosmetics, when I came across a small Max Factor Cream Blush in Soft Pink.     

It came for free at the Max Factor counter after making an additional purchase of something I didn’t need.  You know how it is, you see a promotion which says spend £25 or more and get a free cosmetic purse with mascara, lipstick and blusher worth over £30.

It’s often the case that the contents of the free makeup bag are so not worth over £30.  They’re usually miniatures that can’t be sold individually, and the makeup bag itself is either ugly/inconvenient/comes with a broken zip.     

  

Yet, sucker that I am, I will often bump up the price of my purchase to meet the criteria for this freebie.  So I ended up with a foundation and mismatched concealer in order to get a red satin makeup bag from Max Factor, containing a beige sample of foundation that wouldn’t suit me, mascara and the aforementioned blusher.                

 

I made good use of the mascara, but the foundation languished in my makeup bag and the blusher was quickly forgotten.  That was until now.   

  

Uncovering the small sample of blusher one morning, I thought I’d give it a try before binning.  I was surprised with the result.  I’d not used a cream blush before and the shade - a light, candy coloured pink - was also a break from my usual cheek colour.

 

As you can see from the swatch below, it comes on almost fluorescent, but once smudged into the skin, it tones down and leaves you with a light flush which is totally flattering! 

In terms of staying power, like all blushers, it fades a little throughout the day, but doesn’t disappear. Though it would say it doesn’t last as long as a tint, link Benetint for example.  The other thing I would say about a cream blush is that it’s not great for contouring.  So for a structured look, I would stick to a powder blusher applied with a brush.    

  

Overall, I really like the cream blush, but the bigger lesson in this blog post is don’t ignore the makeup that’s at the bottom of your makeup bag – you might just find a real treat.      

     

     

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Keromask camouflage cream review

Keromask Camouflage Cream

 

When I was recently given the opportunity to review Keromask’s Camouflage Cream, my first thought was, what the hell do I need to camouflage? 

   

Keromask’s foundation is designed to cover up tattoos, scarring, acne, vitiligo and rosacea.  Apart from the odd pesky blemish, I didn’t really suffer from any of the above.  However, I did have two small burn marks on my wrist from a trigger-happy cooking session years ago.  I was making fajitas, and let’s just say, hot oil and wet onions don’t mix so well. 

While it’s not a real bother, I was intrigued to see what Keromask could do.     

Used by make up artists to cover up tattooed celebrities like Drew Barrymore, the Camouflage Cream is a heavy-duty foundation which cam also be used on the face.        

The Cream comes in a handy dispenser which allows you to control how much you use.  I was initially sent a sample pack to select the best shade.  Costing £4.99, the sample pack is a blister pack containing fifteen shades of foundation and powder for you to trial.        

  

Hazarding a guess, I went for medium.  I also asked for a yellow mixer.  This is one of the best offering of Keromask, as it’s a tube of highly pigmented, deep yellow foundation, designed to be blended with the other foundations. 

One of the problems with many foundations is that their rose undertones can end up making Asian skin look ashy, so the mixer is the perfect thing to blend with most foundations.   

The good people of Keromask also sent a gorgeous brush set, which comes in a very chic leather-look case, perfect for travelling with.  

Keromask brush set  

    

Anyway, onto the application…

       

So after applying New CID I-prime over my wrist, I brushed on some of the Medium Keromask Camouflage Cream.  I mixed a tiny spot of the yellow mixer, and a tiny amount really went a long way.  I would use the yellow mixer with caution, it is so deep and pigmented that any more than a pin prick and you could end up with jaundiced skin.            

Anyway, see below some before and after pictures of my wrist to see how my burn mark was covered up:

Before Keromask application   

After Keromask application 

As you can see, the burn marks are well covered up.  I later rigorously washed my wrist to see how waterproof the foundation actually was.  The foundation came away slightly, making the marks more visible, but it stood in pretty good stead. 

I have also tried the foundation on my face, and it really does give heavy duty coverage.  This is great for a special occasion if you don’t want your makeup to let you down, however, it’s a bit much for everyday use.  As I have oily/combination skin, I found that my skin felt a little thick and shiny.  But if you have dry skin, it might have a better result for you.       

    

Keromask Camouflage Cream is £14.99 for 15ml and is available from Keromask.com. For more information on how to use camouflage cosmetics visit Coverwithconfidence.co.uk

       

Keromask Brush Sets are £14.99 for travel and £19.99 for larger set available fromKeromask.com. 

     

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Gosh Long Lasting Lip Markers review

Gosh's Long Lasting Lip Markers  

I've recently tried two of Gosh’s Long Lasting Lip Markers, in pink and chocolate.  I’d heard about lip markers for a while and was intrigued by their promise of staying power.             

  

This claim was a real selling point for me, as I’m a real git for eating or drinking away any lip colour I wear. 

I know this is stating the obvious, but the Markers themselves look exactly like real marker pens (so keep away from children!).  Clad in the usual black Gosh branding, the Markers are sleek and slim enough to slip into the smallest of clutches.     

    

However, Gosh’s Long Lasting Lip Markers slightly missed the mark for me, mainly because of the strange drying effect they had on my lips.  Don’t get me wrong, my lips didn’t go flaky or chapped after use, but they did look and feel pretty parched.       

I think that the whole concept of a marker is that is uses little moisture, as this would simply rub off, as lipsticks so often do.  Anyway, I wasn’t happy with the ‘I’m so thirsty look’, so I applied a slick of lip gloss over the top.     

Also, the shades weren’t really for me.  The chocolate colour, as you’d expect, was particularly dark and thinning.  I have full lips so could kind of get away with it, but it’s a shade to avoid if you’ve got thin lips.

Gosh Long Lasting Lip Marker swatched  

      

The pink was slightly more flattering, but overall I think it was too light to do me any huge favours.  This is another point of the Gosh Long Lasting Lip Markers, the colours come on pretty sheer.  This is great if you want a subtle look or have pale lips, but it’s perhaps not the best option if you’ve got darker lips and want more definition.     

On the plus side, Gosh’s Long Lasting Lip Markers do live up to their name.  I wore the chocolate shade one evening when I was out for dinner.  It survived a buffet which featured raitha (cucumber yoghurt), curry and ice cream, so I must give the marker credit where it’s due.

 

So I’m not totally pooh-poohing the Gosh Long Lasting Lip Markers – they have staying power, and the Pink shade probably looks great on pale skin, but I’d team with lip gloss for the perfect finish.       

Gosh’s Long Lasting Lip Markers are available at Superdrug and cost £6.99.               

     

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