Today I used L’Oreal Colour Riche Lipstick

Hi everyone and sorry for the delayed post today – a dramatic morning and a bit of scrambling to get ready for going on holiday tomorrow.

Today’s product is disappointing. There’s no way to beat around the bush on this one I’m afraid but hopefully I might help some of you avoid my mistake with these ones.

I was very excited to find these newly released and on offer at my local Boots store about a month ago and thought they were so pretty I really delayed using them. However, I needn’t have bothered. Particularly, the one on the left, ‘Doutzen’s nude’ desgined by supermodel and Victora Secret angel Doutzen Kroes. The colour payoff is non-existent. It’s barely a balm. Terrible. See below.

There’s a faint sheen but other than that, nothing. And believe me, this swatch took some pretty heavy handed work. Loads of product, no result. Sad, but true. The other one, ‘Julianne’s nude’ designed by actress Julianne Moore is an improvement in colour payoff but this is where we move on to the subject of formula. Pretty unimpressive. Extremely sticky, claggy and clearly cheap. Which at £7 each – on offer – is not really true. Rimmel is coming out with some seriously good ones for 50p cheaper.

 

I haven’t tried the other two lipsticks in the collection from Eva Longoria and Cheryl Cole but I know I won’t bother with them. Aside from not being appealing colours I am already convinced I wasted my money.

I hate having to do posts which don’t recommend a product but sometimes I feel it’s necessary and unavoidable. Case in point. Do not purchase!!

Today I used Garnier 5 second perfect blur smoothing perfecting primer

If you can get over the long winded-ness of the name of this product then keep reading!

I was first introduced to the world of primers at Christmas last year when my (then) dry skin was causing any blush product I used to go patchy and cling by the mid point of the day. My skin has since turned EXTREMELY oily (a lovely hormone change I didn’t see coming) and I now have the opposite problem that most make up slides around by 10am.

The girl I targeted worked at my local MAC counter and I lavished my woes on her. It was then she suggested I use a primer and while it sounded like a COMPLETE hoax into buying more expensive products I just went for it. I used their Prep + Prime radiance primer and I have to say it was brilliant. It didn’t break me out and my make up situation definitely improved. That said, at £29 for a pump tube that lasted less than 3 months it felt REALLY expensive and I haven’t found it in myself to re-purchase it yet.

To cut this extremely long story short, I have since been on the hunt for a replacement which is much more cost efficient. I saw a review for the Garnier product which was extremely positive and was subsequently on offer in Superdrug for about £8.60 – much better.

 

I had tested out the ever-popular cult product Nanoblur as it was cast off from my mum, but I found exactly the same problem she did – way too heavy and far too drying. My skin was upset just at the thought of it. After one use I never went back. This product is certainly lighter and definitely stops my make up sliding so much. It also has a weird texture though, and went applying it to my skin has this strange tendency to roll up in itself and just peel off. The first week of use also resulted in a GINORMOUS spot on my chin which was very frustrating. I continued using however, and it doesn’t cause major breakouts so this could have just been a coincidence with a hormonal surge.

All in all, I feel like the L’Oreal skin perfection instant blur product is the best of the three.

 

It’s got the thinnest texture and absorbs into the skin the easiest. I unfortunately don’t own the L’Oreal product and only used it once on the lend of a friend but it didn’t cause any immediate skin issues.

By way of a conclusion I still feel highly indifferent to most of these ‘instant blur’ products currently flooding the market. They’re definitely a good alternative to anything more high end but their formulas are more dangerous in terms of what they’ll do to your skin. If you can manage it definitely go for something which is purely a primer and doesn’t promise any magic and comes from a high end brand. If not give any of these a go and good luck!