35mm Beauty

After finishing my Glossier Stretch concealer, which I used under my eyes for its hydration and lightweight coverage, I decided I wanted to try another concealer which could tackle both red marks and spots, as well as being hydrating and light enough to go under my eyes.

My Nars Soft Matte Complete concealer became too pale for me (I have it in the palest shade, Chantilly) after using some fake tan and catching the sun over the summer months, so it was the perfect time to invest in a new concealer that would replace both the Nars and the Glossier.

I had heard excellent things about the Laura Mercier, it was definitely being heralded as a one stop shop concealer, with impactful coverage but a super natural lightweight feel and appearance on the skin.

Having tried a few shades in Space NK, I went for 1N, which is for fair skin with neutral undertones. In the winter months, I could actually use 1C too, but I wanted a concealer that would suit me both when I’m tanned and when I’m not, and 1N does that perfectly.

I bought this in the Autumn of last year, and have been using it basically daily (until lockdown struck). The tube has lasted for A G E S! I really thought as a liquid concealer (7g) it wouldn’t last long, but you do really only need a teency bit for it to cover well, so it has really performed well over the year.

In terms of covering blemishes, it’s great. It’s not cakey, matte, heavy and it doesn’t exacerbate imperfections – something heavy concealers can oftentimes do. You just dot a tiny bit on, and it will blend out to be almost imperceptible while covering well. It’s extremely lightweight without being too liquidy.

Under the eyes, I would say I still prefer Glossier. I don’t know if I’m the only person with this issue, but my under eyes are extremely dark, and are often dry and lined, despite the rest of my skin being super oily. It’s for this reason I have to have a highly hydrating and juicy concealer under there, and I can’t really set it with powder, otherwise it just cakes into lines. With the Laura Mercier, I can use a tiny bit over my Becca Under Eye Brightening Corrector (an extremely hydrating pot of correcting magic) but if I do any more, it does settle in the lines.

I bought this in Space NK with £5 off thanks to my Space NK rewards, so £20 for 7g, which has lasted me nearly a year, is well worth it in my humble opinion. Flawless fusion is an accurate description of this concealer, it fuses beautifully with the skin, making for a natural and perfected base, without looking too overdone. The shade range is also broad, meaning most skin tones should be able to find a good match in this concealer.

I was a bit put off by Beauty Pie until I received a body care gift set of their Brazilian Lime scent for Christmas (https://www.beautypie.com/brazilian-lime–bodycare-gift-set), I found the scent and body products of such lovely quality that I thought I would dive deeper. Before I was of the opinion that the products simply couldn’t be good enough to be worth paying the £5, £10 or £20 membership fee each month to access the products at their production prices.

I decided to sign up for one month free and try a few things, which I will write about later. So far, I’ve tried a fair few products and I’m delighted with practically everything. One such product is the Wonderscrub Bio-Microdermabrasion with fruit enzymes and volcanic lavaspheres. This is an extremely fine face scrub, definitely not reminiscent of the renowned St Ives apricot scrub – my first foray into skincare.

The fruit enzymes act as a pacman on the skin, eating away at dead skin cells on the surface of the skin and revealing a softer, smoother skin. The tiny ‘lavaspheres’ help the enzymes remove dead skin cells to even the skin tone and exfoliate. They are claimed to ‘help unclog skin and diminish the appearance of large pores’ – I would agree with the former as its exfoliating properties certainly aid skin renewal and maintaining a clear skin surface, but I can’t say that it’s diminished the appearance of large pores.

I use this several times a week after I get out of the shower, in place of a second cleanse. It acts as a semi-mask when you leave it on the skin for a few minutes, allowing the enzymes to do their work. You can then scrub it off as you would a regular scrub. By and large, I haven’t touched scrubs for fear of aggravating my active acne. Now that my spots have calmed down and are largely exclusive to my chin and jaw, I was after an extremely gentle scrub to be a part of my cleansing routine, and Beauty Pie definitely delivers on this front.

As a member, you pay £8.24 (on top of your membership fee and delivery), and its typical price is £35, meaning £35 is taken out of your monthly spending limit. This might sound confusing, but your membership fee allows you to spend a certain amount each month, and a product’s typical price is taken out of your spending limit, rather than the product price (which you actually pay). The more your membership costs, the more spending allowance you get. If you don’t want to spend anything that month, it will roll over, so there’s no pressure to spend. https://www.beautypie.com/wonderscrub-face-polish

Given I only use it a few times a week, and its quality, this 60ml product is definitely worth the money. I really do find my skin to be softer and brighter after I use it, and I find the process quite therapeutic compared to my normal liquid exfoliation. It feels like a real treat.

I had been by and large devoted to high-end mascaras for some time. Since I stopped using the Maybelline Lash Sensational in favour of Dior Pump n’ Volume, Lancôme Monsieur Big, and YSL The Curler, I hadn’t really bothered with mascaras from the chemist until I bought the L’Oréal Bambi Eye mascara.

L’Oréal mascaras do have a good reputation, and sit at the higher end of ‘drugstore’ makeup – this one cost £11. That is, however, still £10-15 cheaper than what I was paying for mascaras. Given the longevity of a mascara is, even in the best case scenario, 6 months, it really is worth saving your money on mascaras and spending it elsewhere on something that will really last.

Regardless of price, I think this is one of the best mascaras I’ve ever used – up there with the 3 high-end choices I mentioned above. It really is the most wonderful mix of lengthening, volumising, curling and defining unlike anything I’ve used before. The wand is rubber (my favourite kind) and domes in the middle, leaving a slimmer tip. The curling factor is what I’m most fussed about, as my lashes droop down very easily, even after i use lash curlers.

This is what L’Oréal claim:

The lightweight, velvety formula combs effortlessly through lashes without clumping or congealing, adding length and depth from root to tip while creating a voluminous, false-lash effect.

Brightening and enlivening, the black mascara lifts, lengthens and curls, giving the illusion of a wider-looking eye area. A curved brush with both long and short bristles grabs and separates every lash, elongating and dramatising to deliver flawless application and a long-lasting finish.

I have to say that it really does what it claims to, I’ve next to no complaints with it. My only gripe is that it seems to dry out quicker than others I’ve used, but that won’t put me off repurchasing. You can even get it cheaper than £11 on Lookfantastic or Asos.

I managed to get this highlighter in the set that Clinique sells in Boots around November time for around £35, but with a value of £130-40. I got my hands on this magical set last year as well as this year. This year it was very fortuitous timing as I needed a first-step makeup removing cleanser anyway and the Clinique Take The Day Off cleansing balm (as well as the eye makeup remover) were included in the set. I digress. But the point is, this was basically a freebie for me in that kit.

I do really enjoy this by and large. It’s a very pretty pearly, slightly pink shimmer, so honestly wouldn’t be great on warm or deep skin tones I shouldn’t have thought, but it’s nice on my pale, cool-toned skin. It last really quite well for a cream stick highlighter, but the consistency is slightly harder and less moveable than Glossier Haloscope in Quartz (my favourite stick highlighter).

It’s definitely more shimmery than the Glossier, but for nighttime it’s delightful, and the pearl in it catches the light really well. It would be nice for daytime too, but I feel most of us are more inclined to leave shimmer for the evening and opt for a softer, dewier glow in the day.

At 10g, this will last forever. £21 isn’t cheap, but given how long it will last and how you will be able to get it at a reduced price or in a discount set like I did, I don’t think that’s too bad…

The Benefit box blushers are arguably iconic noughties products. While I was a bit too young to really be part of the Benefit craze, I have in the past purchased their updated Brow Zings eyebrow kit – after having stolen my sister’s set in the old packaging. Aside from that, I’ve never really dabbled in Benefit as a brand, their kitsch and stylised packaging and marketing hasn’t been something that’s hugely appealed to me by and large!

This is probably due to a traumatic eyebrow tinting experience I had at the Benefit counter in the Exeter Debenhams, which left me positively coated in residue tint. The counter assistant had slapped on the tint willy nilly, with total lack of regard for the actual outline of my eyebrow hair, resulting in brown stripes bordering my eyebrows – à la Groucho Marx, but without the actual hair.

I didn’t want to write off the brand for life in my attempt at being a kind, forgiving soul, so I asked for Benefit Dandelion Blusher for Christmas this year, after having used my friend’s one on her. Now, I don’t want to be dramatic, but it really is the nicest blusher I’ve ever used.

It’s a really, really pretty pink, with a touch of peachiness. There’s a subtle gold shimmer running through it, but it’s negligible really, and doesn’t push the blusher towards a highlighter – it only adds a soft glow. I found Nars Orgasm, iconic as it is, to be too on the gold glittery side, and the pink is too bright and deep for me. Dandelion is soft and delicate and perfectly brightening, it somehow wakes your face up, without looking too done or over the top, almost as if you hadn’t put anything on really. It also lasts on the skin beautifully, without looking powdery or chalky.

This will look really lovely on tanned skin as well, but the ballerina pink does work thoroughly well on fair skin. Darker skins would probably want to opt for something richer and more vibrant, as I’m not sure how well the colour would pop on deep skin tones.

The Benefit website suggests this can be used all over the face as a brightening finishing powder. Now I’m really not convinced how this would work on anyone given how the pink is reasonably pigmented, but no judgement if you fancy doing that.

My main gripes, although small, are the concept of the box packaging. It’s so bulky and wasteful, there’s huge amounts of dead space within it that could just not be there to make for a much sleeker product. I suppose that’s for the square shaped brush which comes with it, but I also find that blush somewhat unnecessary (I imagine most of us use our own brushes).

In terms of price, it sells for £27 for 7g, which is a generous amount of product. You can also get it in mini, if you don’t want to splash out, but Benefit products can usually be bought on offer from one of the main e-tailers or in department store discounts. For comparison, Nars blushers are £25 for 4.8g.

The Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit (Ghost) is the latest offering in Hourglass’ series of Lighting Edits, which tend to come out around Christmas. I actually nabbed this in the John Lewis post-Christmas sale for £50 down from £75.

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What I love about this is that it’s definitely a one-and-done palette. When I went to the States for two weeks, this was all I took in terms of powders. There are two shades of setting powder, two blushers, a highlighter and a bronzer. Dim light (top left), Diffused light (top centre), Iridescent Strobe Light (top left), Eternal Bronze Light (bottom left), Iridescent Rose (bottom centre) and Sublime Flush (bottom right) are all included.

The blushers are pretty, I prefer Sublime Flush as it’s a little more brightening on my skin tone, but the two used in combination is also lovely. Given how natural Hourglass powders aim to be, they are surprisingly pigmented. It’s definitely true that all of the powders offer diffusion of some sort, they all contribute towards a soft-focused, pretty glow.

The bronzer is a little deep for me (I’m a ghost) but I mix it with Dim Light, which could actually be a powder for the really REALLY pale among us. The two together make for a lovely bronze glow, a tad deeper than my usual Becca Bali Sands or BareMinerals Invisible Bronze. The highlighter is pretty and slightly pinkish toned, which works well for me.

To be fair to the setting powders, I did buy the palette aware that they weren’t exactly right for me. I’m so oily that I need a powder which is just as finely-milled and fine, but which doesn’t contain any gleam in it. I don’t really need the extra glow on the central panel of my face, but for all you dry skinned eggs out there, these would be perfect. They diffuse and create a soft-focus finish, but the oil minimising properties are negligible. I’m still happy to use them, but I know I will be really rather sheeny.

Despite this, I’m very happy with the purchase. I wanted an all-in-one palette and this was the first of the Hourglass Edits which would suit my pale skin. I had been lusting over them for years, and but can only justify it at the reduced price.

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Do excuse the grubby tube, I did try my utmost to clean it. This happens to be one of the only downfalls of this product, that classic Nars slightly velvety black packaging which shows finger marks almost instantly.

This is somewhat a cult product, which is why I was tempted into buying it even though, on paper, its radiant finish shouldn’t suit my oily skin. I decided to give this a go a few summers ago and loved the juiciness of it, it really felt like putting moisturiser on my skin. It’s definitely brightening and glowy, but in a super natural and subtle way. Deffo gives the your skin but better vibes. It melts into the skin wonderfully, and offers a gentle level of coverage. Not enough to cover a spot but enough to blur red marks.

I don’t wear thick moisturisers, so despite my oiliness, I still love wearing this over a gel-like moisturiser such as Clinique Moisture Surge. It would be great for anyone drier than me, it is who its intended for, really. The oil-free formula combined with its moisturising factors and radiance + juiciness combine to make an excellent combination and appealing to many skin types.

The oils on my forehead do push through after a few hours, and this is accelerated in summer – so I have to go careful and wear less (none at all on my forehead often). However, given how lovely and pretty the finish is, I really don’t mind. It makes me feel healthy, hydrated and radiant.

The SPF of 30/PA+++ is great, although I prefer to get my SPF through my skincare as I apply it more thickly and thoroughly than I do with tinted products (which I don’t want to load on). I don’t find flashback to be much of an issue. It retails for £31 for 50ml (which lasts ages) but can be found on discount at ASOS, for example. It truly is my staple base product, and I don’t like to be without it.

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I managed to snag this at TK Maxx for half its RRP! I love the skincare offerings in TK Maxx especially, I only discovered it in the past year and a half or so and now every time I pop into town I have to see what’s on offer in there.

Despite the fact that I don’t have sensitive skin, I am bizarrely drawn to Pai. Perhaps it’s something about their branding I like, but I just always seem to gravitate towards it when I’m perusing Cult Beauty. I have been using the Pai Rosehip BioRegenerate oil every single night for years now – rosehip oil is meant to restore balance to irritated and acneic skin and I find it really hydrating and healing on sore spots of mine.

This cleansing mask is in the same rosehip line, and has similar aims. It’s meant to restore radiance, hydrate dry skin, reduce redness and soothe. It’s also aimed particularly at eczema. While I have neither dry nor irritated skin, I do find myself reaching for this over my other two masks. I use this about once or twice a week after I’ve taken my makeup off when I want a deeper clean which still leaves a hydrated and soothed skin. Because of the rosehip, I also feel it helps heal and soothe any painful spots, but mainly I like it for its gently renewing and softening properties.

Now, this is not a concentrated AHA mask or 2% salicylic acid toner. It is aimed at really irritated and sore skins so it is very gentle, and thus the results are actually negligible. I’m sure other cheaper masks can hydrate and soften like this one, and there will be stronger, more powerful masks for skin renewal such as the Peter Thomas Roth Pumpkin Enzyme Mask. If I had paid full price for this (£30), given that I don’t have the skin type it’s aimed towards, I would be quite disappointed.

Actually, as I didn’t go into store trying to find this, rather I picked it up on a whim at a massive discount, I love using it ritualistically for a quick relax and to nourish and soften my skin a little. I have other masks and acid toners to do the real mask, so I’m happy with leaving this on for 15 mins every so often and letting it do its thing. It smells similar to the rosehip oil in that it’s slightly woody and earthy, which I find very calming.

I can’t say how this would treat eczema, as I don’t suffer from it, but I am inclined to trust Pai with sensitivity and irritated skin. I like it when a brand just concentrates on one thing, and does it well – this is what Pai have done.

https://www.paiskincare.com/products/rosehip-bioregenerate-rapid-radiance-mask?variant=19874565324887

Glossier Cloud Paint blusher is certainly somewhat of a cult product – or at any rate, is becoming one. My first choice was Dusk, which is a deep-ish, tawny rose. On my skin, it can work well as a blusher/bronzer hybrid, as it definitely resembles sunburnt skin, but in a lovely way. I love popping this just beneath my brow bones, on my temples and across the bridge of my nose (as well as the apples of my cheeks) to create that sunkissed look. Or at least try to…

Puff is a newer addition, and I used the two together heaps this summer. I use a bit more of Puff when I do, as it’s a lot sheerer. Given the bright, fresh pink colour it does need to be rather sheerer so as to avoid disastrous application. On its own it’s also lovely, definitely that ‘just gone for a walk’ vibe. The coolness works well on my pale skin as well, but I do always try and go for the more sunkissed look, so I prefer mixing it with Dusk.

In terms of formula, this is pretty liquidy, but not so liquidy that is trickles down the skin. It’s definitely a gel-liquid-cream hybrid. This means it’s not enormously long-lasting, but it would probably last longer on those with dryer skin. For the oily among us, not so much.

Still, the ease of application (I use fingers or my Real Techniques contour brush), the beautiful colours and the relatively affordable price tags make these great blushers. They retail for £15, but will last ages.

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Now, I do absolutely LOVE Nars. Hence why I instantly added the Nars Climax mascara duo (one full-sized and one mini) to my ASOS basket when I saw it. It was a Christmas gift duo where the mini comes free essentially.

I had just come to the end of my Clinique High Impact Extreme mascara (which I love) and this, sadly, does not quite live up to it. It’s fine, it’s an absolutely fine mascara. But, when there are many ‘fine’ mascaras in Boots and Superdrug, it’s always saddening when you’ve spent actual money on one.

I am also of the opinion that spending money on makeup is great, I love it, but mascara is one of the things that I really ought to not spend much on, as they do regularly run out. Meanwhile, something like a bronzer will last for yonks, so I don’t mind splashing out.

This mascara has a fibre wand, which I am not a massive fan of. I find it hard to really get down to the lashes, as I feel fibre wands don’t grip the lashes that well, in a way. This wand is also gigantic, rendering application quite messy. If I really try to get this down to the roots of the lashes for the best application, it goes all. over. the lashline – calling for an extra couple of minutes trying to remove the excess from my eyelid with a small eyeshadow brush. And THEN this messes up the mascara on the lashes. In short, a lot of fuss for not much impact.

This doesn’t hold a curl, after I’ve applied one lash, go on to the next and come back to the first one, the curl has fully dropped. That’s after me always curling my lashes. The brush being so big ,you would think, would mean for huge amounts of volume. In reality, it’s sort of gentle volume, and the lashes become disorderly and not particularly lengthened.

Now, I am hoping that this is one of those jobbies which get better after time. If not, it’s not the end of the world as I got this with 25% off student discount, and it came with a free mini anyway. £21 with the discount is fairly good, for a high-end mascara.

My love affair with Nars blazes on, but I would say this is one to miss if you love defined, voluminous, separated and lengthened lashes.