PTXVI Old

NEW! Garnier Super-Hydrating Antioxidant Moisturiser

If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts (big up), you’ll know that I am obsessed with skin care and trying out new products.

At the start of the year I started a skin treatment prescribed by my doctor called Duac Gel – this has helped immensely with redness and stupid teenage spots I get. I went months only getting one or two spots a week, if that. My complexion evened out and my skin was clearer than it’s ever been.

However, since summer recently started I’ve been working a lot more which involves being around hot grills and generally in a hot environment, along with being out in the sun more, it’s bought out a lot more spots and congestion within my skin.

My skin is still fairly clear, texture’s nice and complexion is even, however I’ve had to put in a little extra work to clear up congestion than I had earlier on in the year.

I’ve also always been someone who preached about drying out spots, whether it be with drying lotion or tea tree oil – that was always my go too treatment for breakouts.

But recently, I’ve noticed my skin has been ridiculously dry which is weird because my skin is also really, really, really oily. This was kind of a foreign territory and I was stuck with how to care for my skin in a way that wasn’t my usual skin care routine. After talking to my mum, I came to the realisation I really wasn’t hydrating my skin (hence the dryness) – with the Duac Gel you’re advised to not use oil on your skin which I used to religiously use every night, so my skin wasn’t getting as much oil and vitamins as it used to.

The last few months, my favourite face masks have been the Garnier Sheet Masks – they make my skin feel so soft and glowy afterwards, I couldn’t recommend them enough.

They recently came out with a Moisture Bomb Moisturiser, for £8 I was excited to try it out due to how insane the sheet masks are. The sheet masks are usually £3 and so buying the moisturiser definitely seemed worth the money if it was going to do any job similar to what the masks do.

This is a ‘Super Hydrating Antioxidant Moisturiser with SPF10’ and ‘Rehydrates intensely for 24 hours, reduces the appearance of fine lines, has antioxidant & UVA/UVB protection’.

The moisturiser contains Antioxidant Pomegranate and AMLA Extracts, 7% plant serum for dehydrated skin and recharges the skin with hydration and helps protect it from external aggressions.

And this, is where the review comes in…

When first trying this product, I used way too much than the pea sized amount that was advised. Which proved to be the wrong move when the moisturiser left a white cast over my face. I’m not used to using moisturisers with SPF and so didn’t even realise this would happen. However, it wasn’t too bad as after massaging it into my skin, the white/grey cast went away a little and wasn’t as obvious.

The moisturiser isn’t extremely heavy but it isn’t the lightest moisturiser I’ve ever used. It’s somewhere in the middle, the more you use the heavier and greasier you will tend to look. But if you use a pea sized amount it will give you that healthy, hydrated glow – especially if you’re using it in the day.

I’m always worried about looking too greasy due to my oily skin, but this seems to have controlled my oily t zone due to keeping my skin hydrated, it isn’t producing masses of oil.

The day after using this oil for the first time, I noticed a huge difference in my skin. It felt insanely better and not as dry as it has been for the past few weeks. It looked healthier and not as dull and grey, especially having been in the sun so much, my complexion looked a lot more even. The texture was softer and smoother and the redness around my pores had toned down.

I can also really tell if a product is good when I use makeup. The way my makeup applies and stays on my face really tells me whether or not my skin is doing good or bad. With this moisturiser making the texture of my skin smoother, makeup feels way better to apply.

Before and After with Makeup:

You can see the difference in the texture of my skin and how well the makeup has applied.

Before and After without Makeup:

And here, although I still have acne scars and a couple spots, you can see the difference in my skin tone and the evenness.

Now I find a lot of the time, using a new moisturiser for the first time, it always seems good or better than what I’ve previously been using.

So I’ve been using this moisturiser for about a week now, day and night as well as my new Mario Badescu Glycolic Cleanser and the difference in my skin is amazing. Not only have my spots decreased in size, I haven’t been getting as many and my skin as a whole looks much healthier and glowy without looking too oily and greasy.

Obviously my skin isn't perfect and I'm not a dermatologist, just here to talk about what works for my skin and products I think are good.

All in all, I definitely recommend this moisturiser if your skin is dry and dehydrated, it will have you ready to be bare faced and glowy all summer.

If you have any other products you recommend for dehydrated skin, let me know!

Thanks for reading!

Phoebe

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, by PTXXII

Beauty

Fenty Beauty | Foundation Review

For the past 4 months I’ve been living in Manchester and started my venture into university life. It took some time but I’m finally settling in, working, making new friends and doing the oh so exciting assignments that university graces you with.

On transferring with work to Manchester, I happily discovered that I work right next to Harvey Nichols. Now, if you have any form of social media you may know that Rihanna released her first makeup line – Fenty Beauty. Catering towards, every skin shade you could think of, with 40 shades of foundation, out of this world highlights, more matchstix than you can imagine and a bombshell lip gloss. Rihanna has completely won over the makeup industry with the diversity her makeup displays and offers all kinds of people.

For weeks, I’d go into Harvey Nics, have a nosey and stop myself from getting coloured matched and buying the Pro Filt’r foundation. Always telling myself I had 2 foundations I should use before buying it, not enough money, blah blah blah. But the other day I couldn’t help myself and ordered the foundation as soon as my shade was back in stock – to say I was excited was an understatement.

Along with such a diverse line of foundations, comes having to find your shade. I thought I was 300, but after getting colour matched, discovered I was 290 – doesn’t sound like much of a difference but when it comes to the undertones and finally finish on my skin, it was really good that I got colour matched. So I recommend if you can, get colour matched!

Now, onto the actual review…

When applying the foundation I did my usual skin prep, cleansed my face then moisturised and primed. I applied the foundation as usual – pumped some onto the back of my hand, dotted it onto an area of my face and then blended it in with a damp beauty blender.

I found that when applying the product, I had to use quite a lot. Now fair do's, I have a big head and chubby cheeks so what’s new, but even after I’d applied one layer, the coverage wasn’t great and I had to build it quite a bit. I’d say I used at least 2 layers of the foundation, when usually I can just use one with my Estee Lauder Double Wear.

Coverage wise, the foundation medium – it covered up blemishes on my face but in terms of my darker acne scars, they were still pretty visible underneath the foundation. I don’t conceal over my scars as foundation normally does the trick and I didn’t want to end up looking cakey.

I also found that the foundation dried really quickly, which wasn’t a massive issue when applying it as I do gradual areas of my face rather than putting the foundation all over and then blending it in.

After applying the foundation, I concealed my under eyes and chin and then baked under my eyes and chin and powdered the rest of my face.

Now, I have to say, this foundation is INSANE for it’s shades. The shade of foundation is my exact skin tone. I usually mix foundations for a warmer look, but this foundation is my exact skin tone. There isn’t anything negative to say about it, other than the fact that it looks quite grey when applying it, but it oxidises afterwards and dried differently on the skin – but still, it’s my skin tone.

I then did the rest of my makeup routine; bronzer, contour, highlight, mascara etc. Finishing up with my Mac Fix+ Setting Spray.

The foundation honestly doesn't look too bad when I'd just applied it. It did look nice and was quite photogenic (a part from being able to see my acne scars). If it wasn't for how it wore after a few hours, my review would be completely different.

I ended up wearing the foundation for about 6 hours during the night when going out for food and out with some friends. Nothing of high activity to get me sweaty or anything, just an average night.

These are the photos of my makeup when I got back that same night…

Let’s be 110% honest – it looks a bit shit. I’m extremely oily and so the priming and setting is really important in my routine, which I did exactly the same this time as I do with my Double Wear foundation. The makeup came off around my nose and my mouth area and my smile lines were visible (honestly though, the smile lines usually come through cause ya girls just tryna stay happy and spread positive vibes).

The foundation looks so oily as well. I normally expect a bit of shine to be there but with this, the foundation literally just did nothing at all. It started going patchy and oily all over, I couldn’t touch my face without having foundation all over my hands.

After trying the foundation for the first time and having mixed thoughts, I decided to carry on trying it because I really really really wanted it to work out. I’m just tryna support Rih Rih and give her my coin because she did so well with the makeup line. The foundation also seemed to be working for everyone else and I hardly saw any bad reviews on it.

Unfortunately, for my skin it just didn’t work out. Every time I tried to use it, I get the same results – it doesn’t look nice on my skin, it doesn’t feel good and I end up looking like someone’s dipped my head into a fryer, I’m that oily. I even tried mixing the foundation with my Estee Lauder Double Wear just to see how it went, but it was still bad and didn’t work at all.

I delayed this blog post because I didn’t want to base it off of one time of trying the foundation, I tested it when my skin was good and bad and it just still didn’t work. So this foundation is a no go for me – however, I’ve watched sooo many videos of people using it and it looks incredible on them so I can’t shoot it down entirely, it just unfortunately doesn’t work out for me!

Anyway, let me know your thoughts on the foundation if you’ve used it or any solutions to oily skin and foundation!

Thanks for reading!

Phoebe

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, by PTXXII

ABH

Go To Autumn/Winter Eyeshadow

For the last few months, I’ve low key been quite unmotivated makeup wise. Weirdly, I think it’s just because I’ve been settling into a new lifestyle and routines with moving to a new city and having so many aspects of life change. For instance, I used to always wear makeup to work, whereas now I can’t remember the last time I actually did. I only really wear makeup if I’m going out out – partially because it all runs out at the same time and ya girls too skint to buy so much makeup at once.

Despite that, I do still love makeup and enjoy wearing it more than ever. I like contrasting between simple, natural looks, bold wings, focusing on my skin and especially eyeshadow looks.

Over the last few months, I’ve found myself constantly going to the same colours when I want to make a bit more of an effort but still look pretty casual in terms of eyeshadow.

Even on nights out, this look is so easy to glam up by adding glitter, liner or fake eyelashes – it really is my go to eyeshadow, and only consists of 5 shades.

To do this look, I use the Morphe 35O palette and that’s it. Which is even better as I’m able to have a look using one palette as opposed to tons of different palettes.

The look is quite autumnal and uses pretty basic colours, but you end up with a pretty, gradient look – not too bright or dark.

Step 1:

Start off with a primer/concealer all over your eyelid and set it with a white eyeshadow or translucent power. Depending on how casual or glam I want the look to be, I might skip this step out if I want the eyeshadow to look more casual.

Step 2:

Lightly go into your crease and above with shades 1 and 2. They’re the lighter, orange shades that will help with the gradient effect that’s happening on the eye lid. I use both shades at the same time on the same brush and blend them into the crease and above. The colours are also really buildable so keep applying more product for more pigmented colour, but keep blending it out as well at the edges.

Step 3:

Next, go into the crease with shades 3 and 4, again using both colours at the same time with the same brush. It’s important on this part to not go in too heavy handed or with much shadow at once as you really want these to blend well with the first orange, transition colours. I like to build these colours up quite a lot as I really want the red to show just above the darkest shade that goes all over the lid.

Step 4:

Then you want to get a flat brush and apply shade 5 all over your lid. As simple as that. I’ll also build this shade up a lot, but remember to keep going back into the crease and blending it in with the previous red and orange shades.

Step 5:

As a few final steps, I’ll apply the darkest shade to my lower lash line and blend it out with one of the first orange shades. Also, I’ll blend out the edges with clean blending brush to make sure there’s no harsh edges.

And that’s it, the easiest go to eyeshadow look. It’s so easy to interpret other techniques/looks into this one look to make it different. But as a basic, starter look it’s a really good look to get better at simple blending and building.

Anyway, I’m hopefully going to start posting more makeup looks/reviews soon so keep a look out and let me know any posts you’d like to see!

Thanks for reading!

Phoebe

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, by PTXXII

aftercare

Deep Cleaning Beauty Blenders and Brushes

If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you may know I am a skin care junkie, I love trying out new products (which reminds me I do have a new skin care routine that I’m tempted to upload). However, the key to good skin isn’t just simply moisturising your skin every night (I know my skin isn’t incredible but it’s getting heaps better). Other factors that may not be thought to be as important as routines should be taken into account when looking after your skin. Simple things like changing your pillow case at least once a week, not touching your face and washing your hands before doing your makeup.

Another not so obvious tip to clear skin is making sure that anything that touches your skin is clean, this including makeup appliances; beauty blenders and makeup brushes. What you apply your makeup with can quite literally make or break your skin. It’s often overlooked just how much bacteria can build up on beauty blenders and makeup brushes. If you think about it, you’re getting makeup in/on them near enough every day, of course there is going to be some kind of build up unless you thoroughly wash them after every single use.

I for one, always forget to wash my brushes, then complain about how bad my skin is. However, I’m making a pact with myself to clean my brushes at least once a week depending on how much I use them. I’ve started not wearing makeup a lot of the time, partially because, who has time for makeup when you could spend extra time in bed? I’d prefer the extra hour in bed.

Cleaning makeup brushes and beauty blenders can easily be forgotten. It seems like such a tedious job, especially when it comes to deep cleaning them. As well as expensive, there are so many solutions that deep clean your BB and makeup brushes, but cost an arm and a leg to buy. So I thought I’d put together few tips to deep cleaning your BB and makeup brushes inexpensively.

1. Shampoo/Shower gel

I’m sure you’ve seen tons of advertisements for specific Beauty Blender and makeup brush solutions for cleaning them. You don’t need them. Simply grab some shampoo to clean your brushes or even hand wash to clean your beauty blender. It’s as simple as that. As long as you have warm water and shampoo or shower gel you’re set to go. I’ve seen tons of posts about using washing up liquid but it’s something I wouldn’t recommend. Washing up liquid contains chemicals to break down oils, sure that’d be good to clean makeup, but if there’s any traces left on your brushes or BB and that is then touching your skin, it can be really harsh on your skin, causing you to break out or have some kind of irritation. So, try sticking to solutions you’d already use on your skin as they’re made using ingredients less likely to irritate your skin.

2. Technique

When cleaning your brushes, you want to make sure you have a bumpy surface in order to get deep inside the brush. The cheapest way to do this is by laying your hand flat, palm up and running your brush in a circle on the bumps of your fingers. This way, the surface is rigid and the brush is getting cleaned deeper. I used to do this but wanted to cleanse the brushes even better so I ordered a SiliconeCleaning Glove. This is basically something you put on your fingers and use as a scrubber to clean the brushes against. I definitely recommend getting one as it works so much better than your hand and is a lot quicker. It’s also very inexpensive at only £1.45 – that is for a small one which is perfect for eye brushes and works fine for face brushes. For deep cleaning your brushes, the technique used is essential to ensure that you get all the old makeup out of the brush that could potential transfer more bacteria onto your skin. Along with this, don’t be too rough with your brush when washing it. Being rough will cause the brush to shed and the hairs to fall out, leaving you with not much of a brush left.

3. Position

When cleaning your brushes, it is important to hold them downwards. Holding them downwards will prevent water from running down the brush and into where the glue attaches the head to where you hold the brush. When water gets in there it can make your brushes break as the glue gets wet and no longer sticks. Therefore, just keep the head of the brush pointing downwards.

4. Conditioner

Normally after washing my brushes, they feel a bit dense and rough. Obviously, I don’t want them to be rough as I will be using them on my skin and my skin can become irritated and sensitive quickly. To avoid this, I’ll simply go in with the same technique straight after shampoo but using conditioner. This will soften the bristles, as it would soften your hair after a wash.

5. Drying your brushes

After washing your brushes, it can take quite some time to dry them. It is usually good to clean them at night as they will more than likely be dry by the morning. After you’ve washed the brushes, pat them on a piece of tissue to get rid of any excess water. This will help them dry faster and lessen the chances of you using a damp brush the next day. Along with this, to dry your brushes, grab a towel and roll it up so that half of it is rolled up and half of it flat. Prop the brushes up so again, the head of the brush is downwards, with the bristles on the flat part of the towel. This will allow the water to drip down and the brushes to dry quicker than if you immediately put them back into a brush holder.

So there you have it, a few tips to cleaning your makeup brushes and beauty blenders. It really is that simple and inexpensive yet has a huge impact on your skin care.

Hope you enjoyed reading! If you have any recommendations or tips you’d like to share, comment below!

Thanks

Phoebe

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, by PTXXII

aftercare

Bleached Hair Aftercare

For the last 18 months or so, I’ve had my hair bleached around 2 or 3 times. I have foil highlights done at my hairdressers, to give me a more caramel/honey toned head of hair. For the longest time, I’d wanted light brown hair but was so scared that it would go wrong or wouldn’t suit me and my hair would be ruined. Thankfully, I have the best hairdresser in the world who knows just what to do and just what I wanted. I last had highlights around 4-6 months ago and my hair is still a gorgeous shade of honey blonde while being dark at the roots.

Another fear I had was that my roots would look horrendous when my hair grows out. But the way that my hairdresser did the highlights, has made it just look ombre’d a little when it grows out. It looks so natural and healthy to say that it’s been bleached. Which is why I decided to do a post on how I looked after my bleached hair, especially considering I do have Afro Caribbean hair which I regularly use heat on.

My hair routine isn’t anything out of the ordinary and I primarily use products from the drug store or Amazon. All the products are affordable and pretty basic yet manage to keep my hair healthy, even though it is bleached and heat damaged.

Firstly, when washing my hair there are a few different shampoos and conditioners I like to use. I feel that switching up shampoo and conditioner every few months refrains my hair from getting used to the product and having it not be very effective.

A brand I’m completely dedicated to is OGX. I’ve been seeing their products everywhere for the longest time now but for some reason, never thought to try them. About a year ago, I started using the Argan Oil of Morocco Extra Strength shampoo and conditioner. I brought extra strength because my hair was really damaged and soaks up any product that I use on it. Using both the shampoo and conditioner worked wanders on my hair and after the first use I noticed a difference in the condition of my hair. It only got better from there. The argan oil helped to soften and hydrate my hair, which meant it didn’t look as dry as beforehand.

My hair routine can differ in terms of washing it. If I’m leaving my hair curly, I’ll condition my hair, then rinse it and then condition it again and rinse a little with cold water (to stop frizz) and leave the conditioner in my hair. This is because, like I said, my hair soaks up any products I leave it in so this helps to keep it hydrated and prevent it from going dry and sparse when it’s curly. However, if I’m straightening my hair, I’ll shampoo and condition as normal, rinsing everything out after.

I decided to switch things up after a few months of trying the Argan Oil shampoo and conditioner. I tried the Anti Breakage Keratin shampoo and conditioner. Despite how good the first shampoo and conditioner was, this one didn’t do anything for my hair. It didn’t leave it feeling soft and hydrated, if anything it felt dry and stiff.

I didn’t notice it much until I brought a different set from OGX which was the Moroccan Argan Crème shampoo and conditioner. I realised how bad the Keratin formula was for my hair when the Moroccan Argan Crème worked a dream. Even better than the first shampoo and conditioner I tried from them, this formula helped to soften my hair as well as smoothing it down, hydrating and making my hair silky and shiny.

My hair definitely feels better when using OGX shampoo and conditioner together, but if I’m low on money and conditioner, I will stray towards Tresemmé. Their products come in bulks; you can get so much product for so little money and I heard a lot of good things about them so I thought I’d try it. I brought the Vitamin E Moisture Rich Conditioner in a 900ml bottle for around £4. I must admit, the effects on my hair aren’t as good as OGX but the Tresemmé conditioner definitely does what it says in locking in moisture and making my hair shine. The conditioner moisturises my hair and keeps it looking healthy. Although I still prefer OGX, if you are low on money and want to stock up on conditioner, I definitely recommend Tresemmé.

Another pro with OGX and Tresemmé is that they have so many different lines of products to suit different hair types. You’re not restricted to one kind of shampoo and conditioner, you can specifically choose products that will be best for your hair and have a better end result.

When my hair is washed and not soaking wet, I’ll get to applying oils.

The first product, I’ve been using for years and never realised it was OGX, is the Argan Oil of Morocco Extra Penetrating Oil for dry and coarse hair. This product is a holy grail. Something I couldn’t live without. The oil helps to hydrate my hair, especially in any dry and coarse areas, which for me is predominantly the back of my head and the ends of my hair. This product also helps to smoothen my hair and give it a radiant shine.

The next product is Frizz Ease Polishing Serum, something I’ve also been using for a long time. The main use of this product I have is to prevent my hair from being so frizzy and add a little more shine. You’ll notice most of these products help to add shine which is what you want for healthy looking hair. It won’t look greasy, more so giving it a healthy glow so long as you apply the correct amount.

The last oil I will use on my hair is the Fantasia Carrot Serum – Triple Strength. I don’t apply this all over my hair because I’ve already used a fair amount of oil and anymore will definitely leave it feeling greasy and heavy. I use this serum on the ends of my hair and a small amount at the back in dry and coarse areas. The Carrot Serum Beta Carotene, antioxidants and vitamins a and e to help condition and restore strength and shine to weak, damaged hair. This serum really helps to keep my hair healthy due to all the good ingredients it contains.

So that’s all I use on my hair to keep it healthy after being bleached. I don’t use any purple shampoo or anything like that to keep it blonde as mines more of a caramel/honey blonde colour that looks natural in my hair. All (if not most) of these products can be brought in drug stores or from Amazon, I’ll leave the links below to where I brought mine from!

(I haven't included the price as they all vary depending on where you get them from and what discounts different shops have on at the minute. But they are all under £10!)

OGX Products;

Argan Oil of Morocco Extra Strength shampoo: http://www.boots.com/ogx-argan-oil-of-morocco-extra-strength-shampoo-10202116

Argan Oil of Morocco Extra Strength conditioner: http://www.boots.com/ogx-argan-oil-of-morocco-extra-strength-conditioner-10202096

Moroccan Argan Crème shampoo: https://www.superdrug.com/OGX/OGX-Luxurious-Moroccan-Argan-Cr%C3%A8me-Shampoo-385ml/p/381604

Moroccan Argan Crème conditioner: https://www.superdrug.com/OGX/OGX-Luxurious-Moroccan-Argan-Cr%C3%A8me-Conditioner-385ml/p/381602

Argan Oil of Morocco Extra Penetrating Oil: https://www.superdrug.com/OGX-Moroccan-Argan-Oil/OGX-Renewing-Moroccan-Argan-Oil-100ml/p/579757?gclid=Cj0KCQjwierMBRCHARIsAHl9i4GlJreD1etWl2zfvn5SFaeJeSv8rPJMU65s-A6q0DHMMqaji7c9w64aAu3lEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CKHA95Gv6NUCFUoS0wodilEO2A

Tresemmé Vitamin E Moisture Rich Conditioner: https://www.superdrug.com/3-for-2-on-selected-Tresemme/TRESemme-Moisture-Rich-Luxurious-Moisture-Conditioner-900ml/p/428213

Frizz Ease Polishing Serum: https://www.superdrug.com/John-Frieda/John-Frieda-Frizz-Ease-Perfect-Finish-Polishing-Serum-50ml/p/876757?gclid=Cj0KCQjwierMBRCHARIsAHl9i4HH65KV1PQpZDqgHF4WFtSATvS-npILsbyy3VQmc7eEgFtW8rix6mEaAln1EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CMbYpqav6NUCFU0j0wodaSwCKQ

Fantasia Carrot Serum – Triple Strength: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fantasia-IC-Polisher-Carrot-Growth/dp/B0056HCBUY

If you have any products you use on damaged or bleached hair, let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

Phoebe

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, by PTXXII

Beauty

NYX Total Control Drop Foundation | First Impression

A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to venture away from my little Estee Lauder Double Wear bubble, and purchase a new foundation. In other words, I didn’t fancy spending £30 on foundation again. Not only that, but for the longest time I’ve wanted to find a decent drug store foundation for under £15-£20. So as you do, I took to YouTube and watched a million and one videos to try and find the perfect foundation.

In all honesty, I didn’t see a ton of videos on this specific NYX foundation, but was particularly drawn to it when I went into Boots and saw the huge shade selection. Usually with foundation for my skin tone, they’re either too orange or too pink. After swatching a few different shades, I finally found the shade 'Classic Tan' which blended in with the skin on my wrist seamlessly. Being only £14, I wasn’t going to be too hurt if it wasn’t a great foundation or was the wrong shade.

My first time using the foundation, I did my normal skin prep; moisturiser, eye cream, primer, colour correcting and rose water. I like to use rose water or Fix + just before applying my foundation as I usually find that foundation sticks to dry areas on my skin, especially after using the colour corrector.

The design of the product is a small bottle with a pipette to “drop” the foundation, I really like this design as it’s easily distributed and doesn’t have the touch the skin and build up bacteria, and you’re also not pouring it and wasting product.

What I did find with the foundation is that it is very watery. In some reviews I watched, they applied the foundation straight to the face and it would run a lot, which it also did for me. I also felt that when I did this and then blended it out, for some reason, there wasn’t as much coverage. I then switched it up and put the foundation on the back of my hand and applied it to my face in different spots. This blended a lot easier and the coverage was much better.

I blended the product out with a wet beauty blender all over my face and down my neck. The product being so watery, really did contribute to it blending out so well. It wasn’t too sticky or thick to blend out, it went really smoothly over the skin. The foundation is also quite thin and the coverage can be built up a lot – this meaning that when you do build it up for more coverage, it doesn’t become too thick.

When the foundation had all been blended out, I concealed under my eyes and briefly over blemishes and scars, then powdered and did the rest of my makeup routine.

In these photos of me wearing the foundation, you can see that some scars are still noticeable under the foundation (around the cheek area, these scars are very dark). You can also see that it looks quite dewy in the third photo. This is partially due to that being the look I was going for and applying more highlight than usual, and due to the foundation being semi matte and so not fully being matte coverage.

The foundation in terms of how it was throughout the day was good. The longest I’ve worn it was throughout a 6 hour night shift at work and then going out into town after (roughly 9-10 hours) – that’s when you know a foundation is good! For the most part, the foundation lasted, especially considering I was getting hot and would sweat at work and in the club – also, baring in mind, my skin is extremely oily. The oiliness was definitely evident as my skin was noticeably shiny many times throughout the night. My smile lines were also coming out and would cause the foundation to separate around those areas. However, I feel like this is inevitable as my skin was oily and I’d been sweaty and it wasn’t as well set throughout the night. Having said that, with my higher end foundation, this doesn’t happen as quickly as it did with this foundation. If I were to keep the foundation as it was when I’d just finished my makeup, I’d definitely have to keep powdering every hour or so (but keep in mind my skin is verrrry oily).

Overall, my ratings of this foundation are:

Coverage: light – medium, very buildable.

Product design: Very convenient, easy to use, but it’s glass to be careful.

Formula: Fragrance free, light weight but very runny

Finish: Semi matte – you can adjust it to be dewy or matte, not very long lasting (can be worn for a long time but does wear off).

Application: Best done with beauty blender onto wet skin, dotted onto skin and blended out

Another huge pro to the foundation is that they have such a variety of shades to choose from, you’ll more than likely find a shade to match your skin!

For now, I can definitely say that this is my favourite drug store foundation and I will repurchase it once I have ran out of this bottle. However, I do still want to keep searching for good drug store foundations for oily/combination skin – if you recommend any, leave a comment below or tweet me - @PTXVI.

Thank you for reading!

Phoebe

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, by PTXXII

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NEW! Garnier Super-Hydrating Antioxidant Moisturiser

Fenty Beauty | Foundation Review

Go To Autumn/Winter Eyeshadow

Deep Cleaning Beauty Blenders and Brushes

Bleached Hair Aftercare

NYX Total Control Drop Foundation | First Impression

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