YSL Buys

YSL Babydoll Mascara/ YSL Rouge Pur Couture in 39

Working within walking distance of Oxford Street has it's pros and cons. 

Pros include the vast array of shops, however this is also considered a con in my eyes as I happily add to my ever expanding wishlist!

After work on Thursday my colleagues and I headed to Oxford Street to take advantage of the high street beauty offers.

However somehow (I cannot figure out how!) I ended up at the YSL counter in Debenhams.

I have never been a YSL girl, I own nothing from this luxury brand and to be perfectly honest I had no plans to buy anything from them until I saw Tanya Burr's video. 

I loved the look of Touche Eclat foundation on her so I wanted to try this out but I became distracted by the GORGEOUS range of lipsticks on offer.

I swatched until I had no space left on my hand and vowed to pick up the gorgeous purple that had caught my eye.

Cue two days later and an overwhelming amount of begging to my brother... I took my short lil self to my local Debenhams in order to pick up the YSL Shocking Mascara and the purple lipstick I had swatched.

The lady at the counter was super nice! 

Instead of the Shocking Mascara she recommend YSL's newest mascara Babydoll which worked much better for me as I found upon testing Shocking my lashes clumped up A LOT.

She then matched my shade of Touche Eclat foundation to B70 and finished off with a GORGEOUS YSL bronzer in 30.

It was safe to say I was fully YSL'd up!

I left happy and very impressed.

When I got home I wasted no time swatching my new lipstick!

I picked up YSL Rouge Pur Couture Lipstick in 39 Pourpre Divin

This lipstick is DE-vine! 

I mean with YSL you get what you pay for!!

It glides on fabulously and provides the most beautiful smell as well as colour.

Here I'm wearing the Babydoll mascara as well as my new gorgeous lipstick.

I think the pictures sell how seductive this lipstick really is!

I can finally end my strenuous mission of finding the perfect purple lipstick!

Thanks YSL!

Do you have any YSL products?

What do you recommend?

Dont forget to enter my GIVEAWAY due to end on the 2nd June 2013.

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Daniel Sandler Swatches and Initial Review

If you have read my previous post you'll see my recent Daniel Sandler haul.

I have swatching away like a busy bee to give you an initial review of the products I picked up recently!

So go and get yourself a good ol' cuppa, get comfy and let's get started!

(Don't forget to click the pictures to enlarge!)

Firstly let's talk about...

Perfect Canvas Fluid Foundation

Daniel Sandler's Perfect Canvas Fluid Foundation is described as a foundation that:

" provides invisible perfection for every face and skin tone. Proven outstanding in providing a gentle, and uniformly applied makeup to even out skin tone and blemishes, leaving a velvety smooth finish, providing medium coverage"

and I totally agree!

Perfect Canvas is for those of us who want to even out our skin tone for a natural everyday look.  

I liken the finish of it to MAC Studio Fix Fluid.

I found that you do not need a lot of this product for it to work well for you. 

I firstly applied Shade 10 with a dry stipple brush however applying it this way made me feel like I had far too much product on so I went in again with my fingers and blended it into areas of my face that needed coverage.

This provided a more natural look which I loved!

On a separate occasion I also wore Shade 15, applied with a damp stipple brush. This was by far my favourite way to wear this foundation. It provided me with a dewy, natural and even looking skin tone.

The great thing about this product is that it is multi faceted! 

It is a great product to mix with your daily moisturiser for a dewy natural look or this can also be used as an under eye concealer! Fab or what?!

What I absolutely adore about Daniel Sandler's products is the colour range!!

As a woman of colour it is always a God send to find a beauty range that not only caters to women of colour but the different tones that we come in! 

As you can see above Daniel's products cater for reddish undertones as well as golden undertones.

I have swatched Perfect Canvas along with my other foundations so that you can get an idea of the tones of Perfect Canvas.

Shade 10 is the shade that is most suited to my skin tone (at the moment) as you can see from the swatch above. I expect when the sun finally shows itself I may have to adjust this which I can do by mixing shades together.

Next we have...

Daniel Sandler Catwalk Compact SPf25

Catwalk Compact is described as the following: 

"Cream-in-a-compact leaves smooth matte finish and setting properties of a powder... Coverage is buildable, from moderate to high. Suitable for combination to oily skin types."

Initially I was not going to pick up this compact, I had never used a cream to powder foundation but from personal recommendation from Daniel himself I decided to give it a go and I'm glad I did!!

This product is fabulous! 

Great to store in your handbag and easy to apply.

It is also very light weight which makes it blend in like a dream!

As you can see from the swatches above this product is build-able providing medium to full coverage.

I would say try this out if your a fan of MAC's Studio Tech foundation.

The website recommended applying this with a damp brush for a sheer look, however I applied with a stipple brush, powdered and set with MAC Fix + for a more full coverage look.

Here I used as many of the products above so that you can get an idea of tones and coverage offered. I am normally one for sheer/medium coverage but for the sake of this review I built up coverage to medium to full.

I applied both shades of the Catwalk Compact on my face and Perfect Canvas in Shade 10 underneath my eyes.

I then set my face with On The Loose powder in Shade 15.

As it seems like it has been winter forever here in the UK, these shades are coming up a little bit warm for me, (my winter shade is quite pale) however I don't imagine this being a problem in the summer.

All in all I am super impressed with this products!

They are a FABULOUS price as well as being Women Of Colour friendly!

They are also VERY versatile. 

Each product can be used a number of ways ensuring you get the best use out of it, which is great for those of you who like to customise your make up or who work as MUAs!

For more information or to purchase these items visit Daniel Sandler's website HERE.

What do you think of Daniel Sandler products?

Are you tempted to try them out?

14

Fashion Fair Oil Free Perfect Finish Souffle

Click To Enlarge

Hey Beauties!

This review has been a long time coming but due to a broken camera, a misplaced USB cable and a lack of sunlight this has taken longer than normal.

Nevermind, it's here now.

I decided to pick up this foundation after seeing how flawless DestinyGodley looked wearing it.

I took myself to Debenhams and was quickly matched up to the shade 'Tender.'

The Fashion Fair website describes Perfect Finish Souffle as the following:

'skin perfecting, full coverage cream foundation. Absorbs oil for a stay-true-powder-soft finish. Covers and conceals imperfections for flawless even-tone skin.'

Application

This foundation comes in a simple glass jar, no spatula, no nothing. 

So application is essentially down to you.

I dab my finger lightly into the foundation, as a little goes a long way with this product, and apply what transfers onto my face, I do this several times until I feel I have covered enough ground (or in this case, face.)

I then go in with a stippling brush and blend in circular motions.

Now, this foundation is FAST DRYING and thick but the addition of primer helps to blend this out a bit better.

My Thoughts

Let's get straight to the point here.

I am not loving this foundation. I am not even sure if I am liking it.

It is hard to blend and I am almost certain I have been matched to the wrong shade. (You can see how light it is via the picture with flash above.)

I find Tender dull looking on my skin so I've taken to mixing it with my GOSH BB Cream in Espresso. 

This bring a bit more life to it.  

For the case of this review I have skipped out mixing the foundation with the BB cream so that you can see its true colour.

As you can see from my bare face (eeeeek!) and my made up face, coverage is amazing! 

This product CANNOT be faulted on that!

My blemishes are covered with one layer and this is without the addition of concealer or powder!

Perfect Finish is an oil free foundation, which I figured was another plus as I have combination (mostly oily) skin.

However, I found after 20 minutes or so I had shine on my T-Zone even with powder. 

All in all this product just sits wrong with me.

It's heavy duty which is something I'm not entirely used to and this may be why I am not a fan.

I can feel it on my face and it does not feel too comfortable.

I may love this more if I applied with a damp beauty blender instead of a simple stipple brush, which I may try.

For those of you who love full coverage foundation this may be for you however I suggest applying with a beauty blender and finishing off with a setting spray to give a less cakey look.

Where To Buy

Fashion Fair Oil Free Perfect Finish Souffle Make-Up can be purchased from Debenhams in the UK for £22.00 HERE

If you live in the US you can purchase Perfect Finish Souffle directly from the Fashion Fair website HERE

Has anyone else tried this and loved it?

What full coverage foundation do you use?

10

LimeCrime Red Velvet

Ladies and gentlefolk welcome to my blog post about my new favourite red lippie.

It is no secret that I am a big fan of all things lipstick, especially red lipstick so when I came across a picture of Lime Crime's Velvetines in Red Velvet on Instagram I fell in love INSTANTLY.

Lime Crime itself is a unique American based vegan and cruelty free brand, founded by Doe Deere, the brand creates...

' a unique blend of innovative beauty products and fantasy presentation. Ranging from opaque lipsticks to eyeliners and eyeshadows, Lime Crime is a known trend-setter of the makeup world."

Lime Crime is a brand that isn't afraid to be different and their new Velvetines prove this.

Their Velvetines come in two colours: 

Red Velvet

and 

Suedeberry 

and are described as the following:

'Long-lasting waterproof liquid lipstick that goes on with the ease of gloss and dries completely matte.'

The description sums up the product perfectly really!

Application

Application was a bit messy, this was due to the fact that the product is a liquid which comes with a doe foot applicator. 

I think maybe a brush would have been more ideal but it wasn't too much of a big deal breaker...nothing that concealer couldn't fix.

I didn't apply any lipliner, instead I went straight in with the product, applying a first layer and letting that dry.

Coverage was superb with one coat however I went in with another, well...just because!

Drying is a bit odd, maybe because I'm used to matte products drying super fast, however with the Velvetines expect to wait a little bit longer than usual. Around maybe half a minute to a minute.

Once it dried I tidied up the edges with some concealer. 

Simples.

My Thoughts

I LOVE THIS!!!!!!

Why?

For various reasons, but mostly because of the colour pay off.

I liken it to Ruby Woo on crack!

Very bright and vivid but long lasting and the soft non-drying matte finish just makes this product a winner.

Perfect for the classic red lip for a vintage, siren look.

It works perfect on my skin tone and I am more than sure that it would also look amazing on paler skin tones but if you are unsure and you own

 Ruby Woo then this will work for you!

I definitely recommend this product!

I think I will be purchasing more products from Lime Crime from now on, I love the idea of their daring lip colours and eyeliners.

Where To Buy

If you live in the US you can purchase Lime Crime products directly for their site HERE. 

The Velvetines retail for $16.99

I purchased my Lime Crime Velvetines from Love Makeup.com HERE.

 At current they only stock the Red Velvet Velvetine which retails for £11.50.

I also received a free sample pot of Lime Crime's Eyeshadow Helper too!

Result!

What do you think about the Velvetines?

Have you tried any Lime Crime products?

Would you recommend? 

Let me know!

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