BB Creams Round Up & Review

I'm currently waiting for a delivery of a few of the new Skin Food Good Afternoon BB Creams but before they arrive and I review them I thought I would post a quick round up of the BB creams I have been using regularly and what I thought of them.

 

Over the last couple of years I've used quite a few so I thought it might be good to do a little round up before I add more to my collection.

 

First up, the very easy to get hold of readily available UK based BB creams.  Both of these are available in Boots or Superdrug or a variety of other high street stores so if you want to try one out they shouldn't be too hard to track down.

 

Garnier's formula is quite light and doesn't give a huge amount of coverage, it's definitely closer to a tinted moisturiser than a foundation type product and I find it can leave my often greasy skin looking quite shiny.  Saying that I like the light formula and I do wear this one fairly regularly in the summer when my skin is looking good without too much help.  Of all the BB creams I have tried this one is the darkest, even in the lightest shade, I suspect on very pale skin it might look a touch orange.

 

 

Next up Maybelline, this another lighter coverage BB cream which I have in two colours so that I can wear it normally and when I have a bit of a tan.  It definitely does give a fresh faced glow but it can also have the tendency to leave me looking a little shiny, it's lovely and light though and the darker shade (02) is perfect when I have a bit of colour.

 

Next up, the BB creams which I have ordered online (all through eBay) and are not so easy to track down in the UK.  With places like eBay it isn't much hassle to order them online there just isn't the instant gratification of buying them in store. :)

 

Shills was the first BB cream I bought (there's a post on it HERE).  It's a thicker formula which leans more towards a light foundation coverage than a tinted moisturiser.  That's really the biggest different I have found between the original Asian market BB creams and ours here in the UK, the Asian ones tend to have fuller, better coverage.

 

Some people might find the colour of the Shills looks a little ashy right out of the tube but I have found that it doesn't look that way once applied and blends nicely into my skin tone.  It gives great coverage and hides any imperfections and flaws without looking to heavy and cakey, definitely one of my go to products for every day wear, particularly in winter.

 

I also tried out a LE Cherry Blossom Oil Shine control version but to be honest I found it pretty much exactly the same as the original, so not bad but also not worth shelling out for if you already have the original.  Although it initially looked a touch lighter it didn't seem so when applied so basically a favourable review but not really any different from the original product.

 

Next up, two BB creams from Skin Food.  I love both of these, like the Shills they have a better coverage than the UK equivalents and hide any imperfections I might have on my face while not looking heavy or clogging anywhere. 

 

Ginko Green claims to protect sensitive skin and improve skin tone.

 

While Red Bean nourishes and moisturises rough skin.

 

So two fairly similar claims, both of which I would say stand up.  These two are fairly similar formulas too and I use them both regularly (so much so that the Ginko Green one is actually finished now), they apply smoothly and leave my skin looking fresh and glowing without being overly shiny.  Both last well throughout the day and definitely improve the look of my skin.

 

Overall I have been pretty impressed with all the BB creams I have tried but for my often slightly greasy skin which I like to give a bit more coverage the Asian BB brands really win for me, their slightly heavier coverage and shine control seem to suit my skin very nicely.  The pale shades are also a big plus with my skin tone, even the darker colours which I use when I have a bit of a tan don't look remotely orange when applied.

 

Based on that my new purchases are again coming via eBay from the other side of the world, check back for reviews of the Good Afternoon range over the next few weeks.

 

Spa Ritual - Optimistic

Today I have another polish from Spa Rituals to show you and another from the summer 2013 collection Laugh, this time I am wearing the pale creamy white Optimistic.  It's a little different to the bolder shades and glitter I showed you the other day but equally pretty, I think.

 

 

Yet again I loved the rubberised handle on the bottle, it makes it so pleasant to hold while applying the polish and really does add an extra luxury look and feel to the bottle.  The bottle is a generous 15ml size which will do countless manicure.

 

Optimistic is a cool cream polish, not quite white but not too yellow, it's a love;y fresh clean colour on the nail and looks to me like an ideal base for some nail art.

 

The polish applied nicely, it's slightly sheer meaning it needed 3 coats to even out the colour across the nails but it applies smoothly and dries pretty fast so it's worth the three coats to get a deep opaque cream covering.

 

Optimistic can be found on https://www.sparitual.co.uk/ for £9.75 and while you're there check out the SALE section where you can pick up lots of bargains including full sized (15ml) polishes for just £5!

 

 

 

*This product was sent to me for review

 

Spa Ritual Nail Lacquer

Today I have two Spa Rituals colours to show you; a lovely green called Emerald City, emerald is the pantone colour of the year, and Out Loud one of the gorgeous new glitters from their Summer 2013 Collection - Laugh. 

Despite having seen Spa Ritual around before they are a brand I have never tried so I was keen to see what their polishes were like, first up a quick bottle shot of today's colours.

Spa Rituals describe themselves as a vegan luxury spa lifestyle brand:

Dedicated to the spa tradition, SpaRitual is committed to creating eco-friendly products and packaging perfectly crafted for the enlightened consumer. We use Vegan ingredients from around the world, including many specially sourced and selected plant essences that are wild crafted OR organic. The formulations are naturally coloured and free of synthetic dyes. SpaRitual is constantly monitoring sustainability issues and strives to be on the cutting edge of environmental awareness. Enlighten yourself. Be a SpaRitualist. Because we all deserve to live the good life.

Sounds good so far, and the bottles do have a lovely luxury feel to them. The larger bottle (15ml) is a very generous size and I love the rubberised caps, they make the bottle tops lovely and comfortable to hold and give really good grip. It's not something I've seen many polish brands do but I'm all in favour of it, it does add a little luxurious edge to the bottle while you're painting your nails. Even the smaller (5ml) mini bottle feel quite generous and substantial compared to other brands mini sizes, they feature the same rubberised cap.

Now, on to the actual polish, first up Emerald City.

I really like the colour of this polish, although I would say it seems more like a teal to me than emerald as the name suggests, nonetheless it's beautiful colour and super shiny, these pictures are without top coat and they still have a brilliant shine that you don't always get from polish alone.

Application wise the polish is lovely, very smooth and easy to apply. Although the polish is listed as a cream I would say it almost veers towards gelly texture as you do need three good coats to get full opacity with no visible nail line, the polish build up to an opaque finish beautifully.

 

The bonus of this slightly more sheer finish is that it looks like it might work well for a jelly sandwich manicure which is unusual from a darker shade so I am looking forward to trying that out in the future.

 

Next up Out Loud, this one is a real stunner, it's a dark blue base crammed full of green and blue and colour shifting hex glitter, even in the bottle it looks fantastic, I couldn't wait to try this one!

The base of the polish is quite sheer so you do need 3 good coats of polish to get it totally opaque on it's own however this really adds to the multi-dimensional look of the polish as you can see the glitter at different depths when all the coats have been applied. 

As with Emerald City this polish applies really well and it has the added bonus of you not having to fish around to pick up glitter from inside the bottle which can be a real issue with some glitter polishes.

Under bright light you can really see the glitter pieces sparkling and they seem to take on an almost holographic look changing from deep green and blue through brighter blue shades and even a bronze, so pretty and sparkly!

I decided to try Out Loud as a glitter topper over another polish (I used a dark green colour) to see how it fared that way too and I was not disappointed, although you don't get the same multi-dimensional effect as you do from using several layers the polish still looks fantastic and really adds some shimmer and glitter to the plain polish underneath.

Both polishes, and a whole lot more, are available from www.sparitual.co.uk prices start at £9.75 for 15ml and £5.50 for 5ml minis. They also have a selection of colours in their Sale where you could definitely pick up a bargain, some of the large 15ml sizes are only£5.00! 

 

 

 

*These polishes were sent for review.

Dainty Doll - Nicola Roberts - Blushers Part 2 - Powders

This is second part of a two part post on some Dainty Doll blushers I picked up from Fragrance Direct recently. The blushers were only £1.99 each which is a huge saving on the £13.50 RRP.

 

This post is about the cream blushes, of which there are 4.

 

 

The colours are Happy Shake (001), My Girl (002), Money Talks (003) and You Are My Sunshine (004).  I've cleverly managed to swap the last two in the first picture, just to confuse matters.

 

Happy Shake is a very pale pink, this one is definitely more of a highlight for me than a blush but it leave a lovely soft pink sheen on the skin. My Girl is a bright rose pink. 

 

Money Talks is more of a bronzer than a blusher, it's a soft taupe tan colour and I'm really looking forward to trying it out, I've always been a bit scared of bronzer but this one is nice and light so I'm hoping it will suit my colouring. 

 

You Are My Sunshine (004) is a peachy coral with a golden shimmer through it, again this one reminds me a bit of Nars Orgasm.

 

Here are some quick swatches:

 

Again they go on beautifully, really soft and easy to apply and the colours are perfectly suited to my, rather pale, skin.  At £1.99 you really can't go wrong with these if you're in the market for a new blusher.

Dainty Doll - Nicola Roberts - Blushers Part 1 - Creams

This is the first of a two part post on some Dainty Doll blushers I picked up from Fragrance Direct recently.  The blushers were only £1.99 each which is a huge saving on the £13.50 RRP.

 

Today I have the cream blushes to show you, there are three shades

 

 

Paper Roses (001), Orange County Girl (002) & Billion Dollar Babies (003)

 

Paper roses is a soft rose pink colour, Orange County Girl is a coral / peach shade with a subtle shimmer to it (to me it seems a bit like a cream version of Nars Orgasm, maybe a touch more peach) and Billion Dollar Babies is a light taupe sort of colour, this one is almost like a cream bronzer rather than a blush.  There are some rather poor swatches below:

 

The blushers apply beautifully, they are silky soft and so easy to blend.  They leave a lovely natural flush of colour on the cheeks and all three seem to suit my skin tone nicely.  Maybe there is something to be said for make up for paler skins after all!

 

At £1.99 these are an absolute steal, if you're in the market for a cream blusher, or if you've never tried one before and want to do so without splashing lots of cash then these are for you.

 

Fragrance Direct charge £1.99 for second class postage which is a pretty good deal and mine arrived within a couple of days, quicker than I expected.

Yankee Christmas & Winter Tarts

It's probably a little too early for this post, but I have been enjoying burning my Yankee Christmas and winter scents so much that I wanted to post and let others know how many lovely scents there were this year.

 

I have 7 of the Festive scents so far, 4 from the Q4 release (Yankee do 4 releases each year compromising of 4 or 5 new fragrances, generally Q4 is the one with the Christmas and Winter scents in) and 3 additional Christmas scents I picked up from my local stockist when I saw they had them in.

 

First, the Q4 tarts:

None of these really scream Christmas to me but they are definitely winter themed.

 

Snow In Love:

Fall In Love with this delightful blend of creamy, comforting woods and wintry powder freshness.

 

Cranberry Ice:

Refreshingly tart and sweet, A cool, stimulating rush of frosty red fruits bursting with a tangy sweetness.

 

Sugared Apple:

A deliciously sweet apple treat ... a perfect recipe of juicy apples sprinkled with sugar and vanilla.

 

Apple & Pine Needle:

Popular pine gets a fruity twist as crisp apple notes are combined with pine needle, cypress and cedar wood.

 

Overall, I was really pleased with these tarts, I bought them online as a set and hadn't smelled any of them before they arrived which was rather risky but worked out well on this occasion.  They definitely smell like their descriptions and they're all perfectly suited to winter and colder weather. 

 

Snow in Love and Sugared Apple are both very warm, soft scents perfect for a snuggly evening on the sofa whereas Cranberry Ice is very zingy and fresh and perfect for perking you up on cold, dull days.  Apple and Pine Needle was the one I was most concerned about as I feel like pine can tend towards a toilet sort of smell if it's not done right but this one is done right, the apple really comes through and it's a fresh, clean scent which is really pleasant to burn.

 

There is also a fifth scent in the Q4 release, White Christmas, which I have yet to try.

 

Then the additional tarts I picked up which are definitely Christmas themed in their names and wrapping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Eve:

Traditional holiday scents of a warm hearth, sugared plums, and candied fruits.
 

Happy Christmas:

Glad tidings of Christmas joy come wrapped in the happy scent of Christmas pines and festive fruits.

Christmas Cookie:

Buttery rich, vanilla scented, holiday sugar cookies.

 

I was quite surprised by Christmas Eve and Happy Christmas as they are both definite fresh, fruity scents which is not what I would immediatly link to Christmas, but that's a definite plus for me as I am not a big fan of many of the more spicy festive scents, I really dislike cinammon which means a lot of the usual festive tarts are off limits to me so it makes a lovely change to have fruity ones.

 

Christmas Cookie is an old favourite of mine, I have a candle too which I burn at the same time as my tarts in a different room so the scent wafts all through the flat.  I love it, it's sugary and warm and absolutely delicious, perfect for cold weather.  I'm tempted to stock up on a big batch of these to see me through until next Christmas!
 

Here's my sub-standard picture of my most recent festive haul.

 

 

I also want to try out Christmas Cupcake: An irresistible treat ... rich, moist vanilla cupcake covered with sweet buttery holiday icing.  I imagine it'll be similar to Christmas Cookie and probably the other cupcake scents Yankee have done in the past.

 

Have you started buying and burning your Christmas scents yet?  Which ones are your favourites?  Am I missing out on any you think I should try?

 

New HB Nail Plates from BF Beauty

A link on a Facebook group I use led me to the BF Beauty website, which features all sorts of beauty and nail products. It's a Hong Kong based site (I think) and to me looks very much like the Born Pretty store which sells similar items.

I was initially drawn to the site by their stamping plates which retail for just $2, for my first order I chose 8 of them. Shipping came to a very bargainous 60 cents! Plus, with your first offer you get a gift of some points to spend in the store which is equal to another $1 discount. All in my order of 8 plates and shipping cost me a total of $15.12 (for some reason the pates went through at $1.94 each) which is just under £10. Not a bad deal for 8 plates!

These are the ones I chose, mostly in preparation for up-coming Christmas manicures!

 

 

 

 

 



I placed my order on the 2nd of October and received a confirmation email saying they had shipped early on the 3rd of October, the plates arrived on the 15th of October, so pretty much exactly 2 weeks after I ordered. 

 

Not super fast but not too slow either and pretty good for a website based in Hong Kong (although oddly my package has a lot of German details on it and seems to have been delivered by Deutsche Post, so I'm not sure if they do maybe ship from Europe or have a warehouse there?).  However they got here I am pleased with the shipping time taken and they were well wrapped too so no complaints on that front.

 

Now that they've arrived with me lets see how they match up in real life!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They look even better in person than I hoped!  There are some gorgeous images on there that I can't wait to try!  I have ideas for so many manicures using these plates already.

 

The plates don't have backing on them so they are a little sharp round the edges, no big deal though as I am happy to put backing on myself as I've done before.  They all came with a clear film over the front on the plates to protect them, I can now see why people have tried to stamp with a film on before, it's quite tough to see if you don't know it's there and there are no wrinkles to give it away!  The film came off without too much problems but did require a little bit of picking round the edges.

 

I did a few trial stamps to see how the images came out, they're not the neatest as it was late but they give a pretty good idea of what the images will look like:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HB37 and HB26 come out worst in these examples, I think in part that is down to the designs being so small and complicated and in part down to my bad stamping technique.  HB24 isn't perfect either but again I think it's me rushing the stamping when they are such small images.

 

I am really pleased with these plates, the Christmas images in particular are fantastic and I can't wait to get started on doing manicures using them.  The only small issue I would mention is that some of the larger designs are an odd size, particularly on the feet images (both human HB26 and animal HB37) the larger design isn't large enough to cover the full nail but it's too large to look like you just meant it as one part of a design, I'm sure there are ways round this though and as a complaint it's a very minor one.

 

I was very happy with the service I received from BF Beauty and wouldn't hesitate to use them again, so much so that I have been back on the website already planning my next order!

 

Have you tried any of these plates?