Wishlist - L'Oreal BB cream

Can you be product-curious? I believe you can :-) L'Oreal has released a ton of interesting products, at least judging by the stand at Di shop on Saturday. One of them is their version of a BB cream or creme nude magique. It is 30 ml and the price is set around 14 EUR. SPF 12, available in two shades, for light and medium toned skin.

L'Oreal resist & shine titanium polish

If you are looking for soft colour and long-lasting effect, here is one tip :-)

Battle of the primers - L'Oreal Magic Perfecting Base vs Catrice Prime and Fine Smoothing Refiner

Given that I have an oily complexion, I have been on the look-out for a good primer to stop the excess oil shining through my makeup. I have tried quite a few of them and I finally settled for L'Oreal Magic Perfecting Base. However, I am very happy to share news with you, there is a better alternative!

L'Oreal Magic Perfecting Base is on the pricey side, it can cost anything up to 20 EUR, the prices really vary from Di, Kruidvat (cheapest) to Inno (most expensive), the best deal is by Ryanair when you fly :-). They are both the pretty much the same size, 15 ml or 0,5 oz with L'Oreal and 14 g or 0,49 oz with Catrice. Only Catrice costs 4,99 EUR...no brainer.

They are both of light pink colour, really blendable and leave your skin super smooth. However, L'Oreal can be a bit trick to work with (I often find that makeup is dragged along with the primer, no such danger with Catrice). The biggest surprise is that Catrice primer keeps my skin shine-free, a thing I completely gave up on, so I am very pleased with how it performs. I absolutely recommend that you try it out, I love it!

Catrice Prime and Fine smoothing refiner

"Base for an instantly refined, smooth and soft skin appearance. Makes pores and lines invisible."

So much for the promises. It will not make any lines or wrinkles disappear, but it will smoothen out your skin, giving it an incredibly pampered feeling. It costs 4,99 EUR for 14 g, at Kruidvat. I think they were aiming for a battle with L'Oreal's smoothing resurfacing primer (cca 16 EUR for 15 mil).

The product has a light pink colour and the skin soaks it up quickly without a trace - actually much faster than the L'Oreal primer, making it a perfect canvas for the makeup application. It will not stop the shine coming through, though, but I still it is a nice and effective primer.

L'Oreal Glam Shine Fresh lipgloss 600 Aqua curacao

L'Oreal lauched a fantastic new range of lipglosses enriched with vitamins C and E, there are 7 available shades. Yummy names indicate their colouring: aqau watermelon, aqua pomegranate, aqua grapefruits, aqua curacao, aqua lychee, aqua madarin, aqua lemon tonic. I inevitably chose the blue one, as I was not impressed with 2true fresh breath lip gloss. I would have picked up more shades, had they not cost a hefty 10,99 EUR (6ml) at Kruidvat...

The lipgloss has a standard, pleasant smell, typical of L'Oreal lipglosses (plus now a well-established and instantly recognizable heart-shaped applicator), and it is not sticky at all (due to a gel-like consistency). Your lips become a shade cooler, due to the blue tone of the lipgloss, but it is not a dramatic effect, so do not worry (it has almost a transparant, sheer finish). I so want to try all the unusual shades, such as yellow and orange...I say yes to them all :-)

L'Oreal solar expertise

A sun allergy is not the best thing under the Sun (ha, ha, ha) but there are ways of dealing with it - dodging it, hiding from it and even bravely facing it - but only armed with a suitable protection.

Come spring time, I apply L'Oreal Solar Expertise anti-rides and anti-taches solaire creme (always sounds posher in French!, anti-wrinkle and brown spot cream for us, non-posh lot) as a base under my foundation. The sky used to be the limit for SPF, until someone realized it was ridiculous and nowadays you can only go up to 50+ .  I am not going to lie, it is going to make your skin shiny and that might not be your cup of tea. However, it is a reliable protection and you can use it equally for your hands and chest (you should appreciate it when YOU are 50). It cost 15 EUR at Di.

The description by L'Oreal:

UVA PROTECTION :

Advance protection conforms to the new European recommendations to prevent premature skin ageing caused by sun exposure: lines, brown spots, drying…

UVB PROTECTION :

Very High.

ANTI-AGEING SUN CARE:

Active Anti-Wrinkle and Age Spot Sun Cream enriched with Hyaluronic Acid and + Melanin-Control helps make lines appear reduced and prevents an increase in the appearance of age spots.
(http://www.loreal-paris.co.uk, 2. 5. 2011)

LOreal Perfect clean exlusively at Kruidvat

Yet another reason to pop into nearest Kruidvat!

Go 360 ° Clean - deep exfoliating scrub review

As much as I love putting makeup on, I have as much trouble taking it all off! So, I when I saw a commercial for go 360 °clean scrub in American InStyle magazine, I decided to give it a try.

And here is a shocker! It is normal scrub :-) However, the fancy scrublet will get your face as clean as it gets. I just love how the product mixes in with water to create foam :-)

It promises to exfoliate dull, dead skin cells and unclog pores, to remove all traces of oil, dirt and makeup...well, hopefully :-) While this may all be true, it also claims to make your pores small, and even I am not falling for that :-)

Having said that, this is my favourite scrub product, the smell is devine and the little sponge scrublet does make a difference in taking all the makeup off.

So, when you see it, for example, on a shopping trip in German (Joy magazine, April 2011), definitely buy it:

L'Oreal magic perfecting base - Kruidvat deal

Ladies, if you considered trying this base, I suggest you run to Kruidvat. Di sells this magic base for 20 EUR!

Gel eyeliners review

I am crazy about gel eyeliners so imagine my excitement when I discovered they were finally available at Di and Kruidvat (Maybelline Lasting Drama). This afforable product (cca 12.99 EUR) does not fade out during the day and the colour payoff is amazing. The gel in the container has not dried up for months. The fact that is it packed together with a flat bristle dome-shaped brush makes is a perfect starter combo.

I bought a plum version in New York, I do not think it is on offer in Europe yet. :-(

L'Oreal HIP (high intensity pigments) - I bought it in blue and I am happy to report that the pigmentation is indeed rich and the colour does not botch all day long (available at http://www.allcosmeticswholesale.com/).

ESSENCE gel eyeliner in grey (Denim Wanted line)- locally available (Kruidvat), very cheap (4 EUR). The colour is long-lasting, it has nice metallic sheen to it. Unfortunately, mine dried up within days after I opened it and it is difficult to transfer it to my eyelids.

Final tip: to remove eyeliner from the brush, it is best to use two phase (normally for waterproof makeup) makeup remover soaked in a cotton pad.

Foundation primers review

Skin priming before you apply foundation is like preparing a canvas for painting. It increases longevity of  foundation, it smoothens the skin and provides a flawless finish. You can wear it on its own or under foundation. If you have oily skin, you should choose a primer that is going to help your skin stay shinefree. To that effect, I personally apply just a primer in the morning (after cleansing my skin) and no other moisturizer. While it works for me, you might want to moisturize your skin first, let it settle into your face and only then use a primer.

My skin is rather oily and hence I want to block the excess shine throughout the day. The first skin primer I ever bought was L'Oreal Magic Perfecting base. It is a bit costly, cca 15 Eur per 15ml, but in my opinion, it does the job the best. The consistency is frequently described as a mashed potatoes paste and I would agree with that. It is smell free, it settles really well into the pores and leaves your skin silky smooth. While it will not prevent your skin from shining completely during the whole day, I still rate it the highest out of anything I ever tried.

My second most favourite skin primer is Gosh Velvet Touch Foundation Primer. I bought it in Slovakia for around 20 EUR, 30 ml. This is an apricot primer with Matrixyl 3000 - a face firming peptide. It is perfume and preservative free. The texture is really light and it gets soaked into the skin quickly and you only need a tiny amount. It does not fill in the pores as well as the L'Oreal one.

So far the least favourite one for me is Covergirl Olay Simply Ageless Serum Primer. It left my skin well moisturized but extremely shiny, quite the opposite of what I wanted in a primer. In fact, it is so glossy on the face that I ended up using it as a night cream. The consistency is indeed creamy and light. It could work really well on a very dry complexion, though. I bought this on in New York for 14 $.

Lastly, I also have N°7 Shine Free Primer. It cost about 12 $ and I have not tried it yet, but I intend to review it in due course.