Foundation Files #2 Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation

Hello! So I've been road testing another item from my ridiculous foundation collection (post here) for a while now, and thought it was about time I let you know how I've been getting on with it! As you know, I like to give something a good solid test before I write anything about it on my blog, because I don't want to tell people things about it without really knowing it inside out!

I wrote about this in the first post (Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum) but I'll say it again just for reference, I have combination skin, with mostly normal skin, but some slightly oily areas, and some drier areas in winter too, and my foundation preference is a dewy finish with not too heavy coverage, I like to look as natural as possible!

 The shimmer running through the foundation is just visible here.

Down to the nitty-gritty, the wake me up foundation is described as anti-fatigue effect and giving a flawless, natural looking, glowy finish. I found this to be a light coverage foundation (it can be built up a bit, but I'd say only to a lowish medium), it blurs the appearance of blemishes, but doesn't cover them on its own, but means that it does live up to its promise of natural looking skin, which is a big must for me, so we're off to a good start! I did find that the dewy finish on this did leave it a little tacky (not very much, but worth bringing up all the same) and it never completely dried down. I do prefer a foundation that's not tacky, but this was only a little, and I can deal with it if it gives me the glow I'm after! I have the lightest shade of this, which is 100 Ivory, I'd say that I detect pink undertones, which works fine with my skintone, but the shade was a smidge too dark for me (not too much of a problem as it's a light coverage, but had it been heavier I don't think I could have got away with it). I tend to find that if I build it up on my face very slowly, putting a very small amount on at a time it matches me better, rather than putting big blobs on everywhere and blending. It also seems that it only looks a little too dark in the morning when I first put it on my face, and it settles down after that to a near perfect match! There is also an SPF of 15 in this one, which is great because it cuts out a sun protection step when you're getting ready (which I'm too lazy to bother with anyway) but it does make it a little risque for a night out if you're going to be using flash photography!

Straight after application in the morning

So how have I found that this works best for me? Well I didn't like wearing it with only moisturiser underneath and no primer, I found it looked quite cakey, the glitter particles were visible and it was a little streaky! It works far better with a primer, and didn't look cakey at all. When I used a radiance primer underneath (the Lily Cole for Body Shop one) I did find that I could still see glitter particles on my face and my pores were more visible. I found that the best combination for me was with the Benefit That Gal primer underneath, and the Bourjois Healthy Balance powder in 52 dusted over my nose and chin (I found the foundation to wear off in those places without the powder because those are my oil-prone spots). With this combination I found the foundation to last all day (around 8+ hours?) with a lovely, healthy radiance and minimum sparkles showing through, win! I've found that I'm really happy with the way that the foundation looks at the end of the day, my skin looks really healthy with a sort of glowing, flawless radiance! Exactly what I'm looking for! So that's how I'd recommend wearing this, with a brightening NOT radiant primer, and powdering areas prone to oiliness! I also didn't find that this particularly emphasized any dry patches that I had!

After all day wear at uni (taken in the evening)

Another thing that works for me is the packaging, I love the glass bottle, and the fact that it has a pump makes it so easy to use. So overall this has been pretty successful for me, it delivers on the anti-fatigue, natural glowiness that it claims and using it in the way that I described definitely maximises its wear time and makes it reasonably long lasting, which is an absolute must for me! I will definitely be repurchasing this one, as soon as I manage to whittle my current foundation stash down to a reasonable size!

Have you tried this out? What do you think of it? Which foundation should I try next?!
Eleanor x

NOTD Gelly Texture

Hello! I've been in the midst of quite a bit of work at the moment, as it's coming to crunch time and my exams are fast approaching, but among all of this, I woke up this morning and just wanted to paint my nails - I almost never allow myself the time to do this during term time because I've just got too much work to do!! So I thought I'd do a blog post about it at the same time!!

I went for the Barry M texture polish in Kingsland Road which I bought a couple of weeks ago, it is literally THE perfect pastel pink colour, it's so pretty and I think it suits my pale skintone quite nicely if I do say so myself, and gives me the illusion of having more colour than I actually do.. haha! I had a couple of the Barry M Gelly Hi-Shines that I wanted to try out too, as I hadn't used them yet, so I decided to throw in a few accent nails in complimenting pastel shades (Blueberry and Prickly Pear) All in all I'm quite pleased with the results!! All of my nails just took 2 coats and they're pretty much opaque, and they were touch-dry quite fast, which is a massive bonus!

The Gelly Hi-Shines are definitely living up to their expectations and are very glossy without a topcoat, and I really love the texture effect polish, I can't stop running my fingers over it to feel it haha! It has a grainy texture, almost like sand mixed in there, and I think it has a really cool effect on the nails. The pastel shades that they've released in the collection are absolutely perfect because they make your nails look polished (lolgeddit) with the pretty colours, but with an unexpected quirky twist, which is something that I really like.

So overall I'd definitely recommend any of these polishes! It still baffles me as to why people would go out and spend great amounts of money on nail polishes, Barry M are such great polishes, and if they have the right shade for you, GET IT!! They're so cheap but really good quality!

Do you have any of these polishes? What do you think of them?
Eleanor x