White Foundation Mixers - A Review

White foundation mixers are supposed to be the pale person's saviour. Any foundation that is supposed to be a near-white shade of 'porcelain' can too often be several shades darker than a pale person's actual skin tone. Pure white foundation mixers allow us to lighten any foundation shade to our perfect shade.

Or so the theory goes...

As someone with grey/translucent skin, I've always struggled to find a foundation shade that matches my skin tone on the high-street or from high-end brands. Either they're slightly too orange to start with, or they'll swatch on pale and then oxidise to a dry/orange paste. I must have spent hundreds of pounds on these poor foundations and have yet to find a perfect match.

Several years ago, I thought I found a miracle. It was the Barry M Foundation Creme in a pure white shade. I used it to lighten several shades of high-street foundations and it always did so perfectly. Finally, a solution to my problem! Until one day, my tube ran out and after several searches of Barry M makeup sections, I checked online to find that it had been discontinued.

I accepted my fate. I was destined to blend down my neck and hope that my orange face wouldn't be obvious next to my white hands and chest.... But then Body Shop came through with another miracle and my journey with foundation mixers began.

Body Shop - Shade Adjusting Drops - £10.00

When I first got my hands on a bottle of this, I was so excited. It had been years since the high-street had been able to offer me something like this and I was buzzing to try it. I can't remember the first brand of foundation that I mixed it with but I remember that the formula worked well for me. Well enough that I recommended it to all of my friends and left them a glowing review on their website.

It took a few drops to get the desired effect for me which meant the dropper-style bottle design was a bit of a pain - but it blended so well that I put up with it. Since I needed so much of the stuff to actually lighten my foundation to the right shade, I very quickly ran out. I went into the store to find they were out of stock and the same was true online. I signed up for a stock alert and it was WEEKs before they finally had more in which just shows how many of us need to customise our foundations.

When the second bottle arrived, something was different. The formula wasn't blending as well and it left my foundation patchy and oily. I tried a few foundations in case it was the formula in the foundation but it didn't like any of them. I'm not sure if they changed the formula to get the stock out quicker or if my skin just didn't work with it anymore. Either way, I couldn't use it anymore and had to look for alternatives.

5/10 - I was sold a dream and it was taken away.

MAC - Studio Face & Body Foundation in White - £29.50

After the let down of Body Shop, I had to look for an alternative. A friend recommended the MAC Studio Face & Body Foundation in the pure white shade. I was delighted! An actual white foundation from a high-end brand like MAC must be incredible, right? Their reputation is so strong and they're charging almost thirty quid a bottle...

I was so disappointed. Not only was the formula watery even after several good shakes, it also led to the same patchy coverage that I'd seen with the second Body Shop bottle. Again, I tried several foundations in case it was the formula but I couldn't make it work. It didn't even seem to be lightening my foundation at all, even with a huge dollop of the stuff. After a few days of trying it, I stuck the bottle in a drawer and it's been gathering dust there ever since.

1/10 - Daylight robbery.

NYX - Pro Foundation Mixer in White - £8.00

I had all but given up when the new NYX aisles in Boots revealed this beauty. I had been loving the NYX range and thought I'd give this a try.

Sadly, it too left to patchy foundation but with the added bonus of EXTRA oil on my skin. I'm not sure if the formula is just too heavy but I ended up shinier than ever and had to touch-up with powder once an hour. It did lighten my slightly but the coverage was poor for such a heavy feeling formula.

2/10 - Betrayed by NYX

LA Girl - Pro Coverage Foundation in White - £11.33

For a little while, I stopped bothering with foundation mixers. I accepted that my face and body would never match and started cracking jokes about it to people around me just so they would know that I was well aware of it. I tried searching for products here and there but nothing ever came of it.

I had all but given up until my brutally honest sister finally told me that my orange-face-white-neck combination had gone past the point of acceptable.

After going on Amazon to buy Airspun setting powder (review to follow), I noticed this foundation in my recommendations list. It only has a few reviews but they're really strong so I thought I'd give it a try, and I'm SO GLAD that I did.

This stuff is incredible! It blends well, it has excellent coverage and it has a matte finish so I have zero oil slick by the end of the day. I only need one pump to match up my foundation so the bottle has lasted a good few months already.

10/10 - Miracles do happen


I hope that you find this useful! I wish I had more positive reviews but hopefully this can help you learn from my mistakes. Ultimately, you have to find the right formula for you so there's an element of trial and error. Just don't get sucked in to the 'reputation' (read: branding) of some of the high-end names - expensive doesn't always mean 'good'.

Beauty Discovery | Revolution Vivid Baked Highlighter

I mean, just look at it. It's stunning.

I was in Superdrug checking out the Revolution stand after an old friend (holla, Charlotte!) SnapChat me asking if their brand was any good. I spotted this little beauty and after a quick swatch I fell in love.

This is the Revolution Vivid Baked Highlighter in Golden Lights and it is £3 from Superdrug or the Revolution website itself. The shimmer on this is actually stunning and I would pay a lot more than £3 for it. It is just gorgeous so I had to write a post to shout about it.

I haven't stopped wearing it since I bought it and even looking at it on my shelf makes me happy. I thought their Iconic Pro palettes were impressive enough so seeing this be such a winner too makes me want to go out and buy their whole range. Especially given it's so cheap as well.

10/10 forever - highly recommend!

Review | Makeup Revolution Iconic Palettes

In another recent wander round Superdrug, I spotted a stand for a brand that I'd never heard of before called Makeup Revolution. It turns out, they've only been around since March 2014 otherwise I'm sure I'd have heard of them before. They had an impressive range in gorgeous packaging and incredibly low prices. Their range starts at £1 so perfect for me on my budget.

I spotted their Iconic Palettes and I couldn't resist buying them once I'd swatched from the tester tray. These are AMAZING and out of stock on their online shop so definitely popular. I picked up Iconic 1 and Iconic 2. Both were £6.99 each at Superdrug and can be found at the same price on the Makeup Revolution website when they're back in stock.

 They come in black matte palettes which are thick and sturdy. Each one of these includes a double ended eyeshadow brush too. Yes, an eyeshadow brush instead of those useless sponge applicators you get with other brands. The brush included is actually really decent so this was an added bonus.

The first thing that lured me in with these was the colours. Both palettes contain some truly gorgeous shades with both matte and shimmer options. The pigment is beyond amazing too. The rich darker shades have so much depth to them and blend so easily. There are a tonne of other palette options available besides these so I can't wait to explore the rest of the range.

After application, the staying power of the shadow is impressive too. There was no fade, smudging or sitting in the crease. I love these shadows and have really enjoyed playing around with them. Definitely a perfect bargain find!

I'd recommend a look at their website. There's over 300 products on there and all of them are cheap as chips but excellent quality. I know I'll be heading into Superdrug again soon to swatch some more of their range :-)

Tabitha
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Review | Max Factor Colour Corrector Sticks

I spotted these whilst I was in Boots. There was an offer on the Max Factor line and I thought I would give these a go. My biggest issue with my face is my red skin and dark eye circles. There was a huge range of colour correcting solutions so I picked up these two.

I do try not to expect miracles, but I can get a bit hopeful when it comes to products that promise to correct redness. 

The green stick is supposed to neuteralise the red tones from blemishes, blotchiness or veins near the surface of the skin. The yellow stick is supposed to neuteralise the purple tones of under eye circles or veins.

I was excited to try these out and used them a few times before writing this. As much as they definitely did their job from a colour point of view, I don't think they liked my primer very much. I tried them with a couple of different primers and bases because the colour really did work, but sadly it just didn't work out.

Unfortunately, the texture of these didn't work with my skin. They're a creamy/balm like texture that applies and blends really well. But after a few hours, the product dries out and turns really flakey. It sucked in my foundation and concealer too and made me look really patchy. 

I am gutted that these didn't work for me but I'd definitely recommend swatching them in store in case they work for you since the colour correcting side did what it said on the package. As much as they applied green and yellow, they blend with foundation colours to even out and become unnoticeable.

They're available at Boots for £8.99 each and there's a whole range of colour correcting solutions.

 I hope that they work for some of you!

Tabitha

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Review | Soap & Glory's Trick and Treatment

I am plagued with dark circles under my eyes and always have been. Whether I get four hours sleep or the 12 I used to get at university (those were the days!), I still end up with dark grey/purple shadows under my eyes. I'm not even kidding about always having them - this is me at around 5 or 6 years old:

Like I've been up all night...sigh.

I used to have this amazing colour correcting concealer palette from E.L.F but that dried up before I finished using it and I started just making do with Collection's Lasting Perfection concealer as an all-rounder.

Nothing at all against that concealer, since it is my favourite, but it cannot be expected to cover grey as well as it can cover my redness. As a result, I started looking for an under-eye concealer on the high street again and I found this absolute gem at Soap & Glory. 

I have already recommended this to all of my make-up minded friends and a couple of them have bought it themselves as a result. I haven't been able to stop raving about this product and I'm so glad I found it! It's the Soap & Glory Trick and Treatment Under Eye Dark Circle Concealer currently £9 at Boots

It's slightly yellow coloured which covers purple/grey shades to blend with your natural skintone. As a very pale person, I was worried that this would be a little too dark for me - especially since they don't seem to have any other shades. However, I find a thin layer of Collection's Lasting Perfection in Fair across the top allows it to blend seamlessly with my skintone. 

It has a thick consistency that offers a medium-heavy coverage without becoming cakey in any way. It also has a very light shimmer to it which helps to reflect light away from the dark circles and really brighten up the under-eye area. I tested it out in as natural a light as I can achieve in my little basement flat as I was putting on my makeup the other day. Here's my dark circles before:

And here's what they look like after using Soap & Glory's Trick and Treatment:

There's not a lot that I can do about the physical puffiness of my eyes, but you can see that the whole area has been brightened up and I'm near enough shadow-less! When I finished my whole makeup look, I felt like I looked 10x more awake than if I had just put my normal concealer on them so I'm definitely happy with this product.

This was actually the first Soap & Glory product that I've ever tried and I have to say I'm very impressed. Are there any Soap & Glory products that you've used that you'd recommend I try?

Tabitha 

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Haul | Sleek Palettes

I've been the proud owner of a Sleek Contour & Highlight for going on 3 years now. I've long since hit-pan but it just seems to last and last despite me using it every single time I contour (which is every time I wear a full face of makeup). I got it as a birthday present from a friend that's very in-the-know when it comes to makeup and was instantly converted.

While browsing my local Boots last week, I saw that they now have a whole section for Sleek now! I got to see a few of the tester products in action against my skintone and I ended up simply having to buy them.

Just look at the packaging!! Urgh! I bought:

Sleek i-Divine Eyeshadow Palette in Au Naturel | £7.99
Sleek i-Divine Eyeshadow Palette in Vintage Romance | £7.99
Sleek MakeUp Face Form in Fair | £9.99
Sleek Highlighting Palette in Precious Metals | £9.99

They are all absolutely stunning and I've had a chance to test them all out over the course of this last week too. Firstly, the packaging on all of them is (for want of a better word) so sleek.

I don't know what it is about black packaging, but it just screams professional to me. Even if my foundation-fingers are going to dirty these up in no time at all, I just feel so fancy using them.

The eyeshadows are perfection. Highly pigmented and soft so you can pick them up with your eyeshadow brush easily. Minimal fall-out too which is always a bonus for me.

I fell in instant love with the plum/purple shades in the Vintage Romance palette. They look so gorgeous next to the gold shimmery shades in the same palette and compliment my blue eyes perfectly.

The Au Naturel pallete is a dream too. It's got all the soft matte brown shades I would use on a daily basis plus a couple of shimmery shades that look amazing on my brow bone. At £7.99 each, I think these palettes are a bloody bargain and will definitely be expanding my collection!

Having owned a Sleek contour palette before, I was pretty confident that this contour/highlight/blush palette would be excellent too. I wasn't wrong. Just look at the perfect golden shimmer on the highlighter which is matched by the slight gold shimmer in the blush too.

It's a gorgeous palette and I've no doubt at all that I'll be hitting pan on this one in months to come too. I love highlighters but do tend to stick to powder ones as I find these blend better with the setting powder I used. That said, I couldn't resist the Highlighter Palette:

It comes with a brush even though the only powder one is the bottom right. The other three are cream highlighter and are like little swipes of finely milled glitter. All three of the cream colours are perfect and compliment my skintone beautifully. The powder may just be a bit too dark for me but I can definitely use it as a shimmery eyeshadow!

Despite the cream formation, they blended well with my foundation/powder routine so I can definitely see me using these a lot going forward!

I used these in my Valentines look that I posted last week  and love the subtle glow they gave my powder-heavy face. I will definitely be recommending these!

Are there any other Sleek products that I should check out? Let me know in the comment section below if you've got any recommendations for me.

Tabitha

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Valentines Day Makeup

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Or if you're anti-Valentines, happy Saturday! I hope you're all having a good day so far and have some exciting plans today to look forward to. Myself and my Valentine won't be celebrating until tomorrow when we'll be having a delicious home-cooked meal by candlelight.

That said, I had some time this afternoon and a few new products to try so I thought I'd do a makeup look for Valentines in case anyone is looking for last-minute inspiration. I've kept it fairly natural with some gold shimmer eyeshadows and highlighters that I think will look perfect by candlelight. I'll list all the products used below.

Base:

Laura Mercier - Foundation Primer

Rimmel - Match Perfection Foundation in 010 Light Porcelain

Collection - Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair

Collection - Pressed Powder in 18 Ivory

Blush/Contour:

Sleek - Contour & Highlight Palette in 884 Light

Chit Chat - Blusher 

Sleek - Precious Metals Highlighter Palette in Royal Gold & Platinum

Seventeen - Instant Glow Shimmer Brick in Gold Broze

Eyes:

Soap & Glory - Trick & Treatment in Bright On

Sleek - iDivine Eye Shadow Palette in 141 Vintage Romance

L'Oreal - Brow Artist Plumper in Light/Medium

Revlon - ColourStay Liquid Eye Pen in 01 Blackest Black

Jane Iredale - PureLash Extender & Conditioner

Maybelline - Colossal Mascara in Go Extreme! Volume

Lips:

L'Oreal - Infallible Lip Liner in 701 Stay Ultraviolet 

Laqa & Co - Lil' Lip in Wolfman

I am loving the Sleek eyeshadow palettes so much! I had a bit of a Sleek Haul which I'll blog more about once I've had a chance to try all the products I got. The Vintage Romance palette in particular has gorgeous plum shades that I wore today:

It sits next to a couple of gold shimmery shades that are so pretty! I'm going to enjoy experimenting with these palettes in the near future. There's a huge range in my local Boots which is pretty big but they're also online here.

I hope you all have an amazing Valentines day, single or not! I'll see you all again soon with a new post <3

Tabitha 

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Review | L'Oreal Paris Color Riche Exclusive Nudes

Having been to Boots this evening to buy two more shades from this L'Oreal collection, it's probably about time that I reviewed the first shade I bought.

My local Boots were all out of Blake's red which was the shade I was initially interested in, so I picked up Julianne's nude shade. I've been looking for a good nude shade for a while and this one certainly didn't let me down.

Gorgeous packaging is always a plus!

Peachy rose shade

I tried it out straight away and fell in love with the line. The formula is silky smooth and shiny going on, but dries to a non-sticky sheen that I get along with very well. The colour doesn't go on with a large amount of pigment so it does take a couple of layers. However, it was long-lasting and didn't dry out my lips as can happen with other lipsticks.

Here is the shade on:

Please excuse the pout

I felt that the shade was a perfect compliment to my skin tone and this lipstick will be my go-to nude shade for a while to come. 

I bought mine at Boots where their description of the shade is "Julianne Moore: Barely Peach nb5. Sensual and delicate to the extreme, enhances the radiance of pale complexions and endows them with elegance and sophistication."

I don't know about complexion sophistication, but I'd definitely recommend this shade and the collection as a whole. I'll post a review on the two shades I've picked up today from the Reds collection which include another Julianne as well as the previously elusive Blake.

Summary: 9/10 - Would definitely recommend. Another winner from L'Oreal!

Tabitha

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