Tuesday 16 June 2015

Vichy Dermablend

Just after my birthday in April I had a monumental breakout leaving me with very red, sore, bumpy - and extremely unattractive - skin, mainly around my chin area.  I know this was down to a huge hormonal surge due to my ongoing peri-menopausal symptoms (read about it here) & it was really leaving me feeling very depressed & self-conscious.  Without going on some very heavy-duty acne treatments, which I didn't want to do, I knew I was going to have to give my skincare routine & makeup a huge shakeup so I really couldn't have been contacted at a better time by the lovely folk at Vichy.


They asked me if I'd be interested in trying their Dermablend Corrective Foundation & their new Liftactiv Supreme moisturiser, and knowing the benefits of the Dermablend range, I took them up on their very kind offer!  After choosing my shade & skin type from the options on their website, I received a parcel from them a few days later & discovered they'd also very kindly enclosed a Dermablend Corrector Stick to me to try.





For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Dermablend range, it is known & well-loved for it's fantastic camouflaging abilities, covering skin imperfections such as scarring, redness, uneven skintone etc. without leaving your skin feeling like it's been totally caked in thick, heavy makeup.  The SPF 35 foundation has a medium consistency & blended evenly.  The website recommends to apply using fingertips or a damp sponge, although I'd like to try it with a Beauty Blender too so that's next on my list to order!  It's easily buildable should you require more coverage but for me, I only used a very small amount for my entire face & neck.  I chose the lightest shade Opal, which was just a tad on the pale side for me, especially as I now have a hint of a tan on my face but I will buy another one in a slightly deeper shade - it's just that good!

The SPF 30 corrector stick, as you can see comes in a twist-up bullet & has a much thicker consistency, but the coverage is seriously unbelievable with this!! I had at the time of photographing, a big red bump on my chest & I very lightly patted the teeniest amount of this over the top with my fingertip & it just vanished with absolutely no hint of redness to be seen.  And it did not shift or melt away all day, amazing, really!  You can see this with the before & after shots I've taken.

As I have rosacea & acne scarring, I am the perfect candidate for trying this & showing it to you because I am truly very impressed with these products!  Unfortunately (for me, that is!!) this means that I have to be completely bare skinned & makeup free for all the world to see which is some feat seeing as I haven't been seen in public sans maquillage since 1990!!!  But to be totally fair to the product & to show it's coverage honestly, here are my totally untouched before & after shots, redness,  lumps, bumps & all!!

Completely bare skin, eeeek!

With a very light application of Dermablend foundation, no other makeup

Dermablend foundation & corrective stick, blush, eye makeup & nude lip balm

Muuuuch happier!!  (I was also testing my new Eyeko liquid eyeliner pen, review to come!)

Such a happy camper aren't I, I honestly don't feel as miserable as I look here!!  But look how it's completely evened out any redness & even though a couple of bumps can still be seen on my chin, the coverage is amazing!!  It's so highly pigmented, you really do need the tiniest of amounts so the tube will last for ages, you can't fail to be impressed!

What do you think?!  Is anyone else a fan to the Vichy Dermablend range?  Keep an eye out for my review of the Liftactiv Supreme, coming very soon!!






Wednesday 3 June 2015

NOTD Barry M Gelly ~ Sky Blue


It's no secret that the Barry M Gelly polishes are my go-to brand & this one is no different.  Sky Blue is from the Spring 2015 range & yet again, offers the perfect formula & application now expected of these, even for a pastel shade which are notorious for bad coverage.



This is with just 2 coats with my usual China Glaze Strong Adhesion base coat & Seche Vite top coat & as I find with most of the Gelly polishes, it lasted a week with no wear or chips until I removed it to re-paint my nails.  It shows more green than it looked in real life, it is definitely blue though!  For just £3.99 a bottle, I really think you'd be hard pushed to find better quality at this price!

Are you a fan of the Gelly polishes?



Tuesday 2 June 2015

MAC ~ Call the Hairdresser!


This is the one & only MAC item I picked up whilst I was in NYC, shocking I know, but it's a goodie!!

MAC Call the Hairdresser! is an lustre finish & is a beautiful pinky coral shade, perfect for summer.  Annoyingly though, I can't find it on the UK site so it must be unique to the States, sorry!!  I'll try & find a dupe & add it on if I find one.




What's your favourite shade of MAC lippy?



Monday 1 June 2015

New York shopping

Well, after all my planning & preparation, to say my shopping 'haul' from New York was a bit disappointing is a huge understatement!!

A lot of the makeup I was after was sold out in many (many!!!) Sephora stores & even though we went into pretty much every CVS & Duane Reade we passed (so yeah, a LOT!), the displays were nearly always empty so I didn't get everything from there either.

Here's the few pieces I did pick up....





From Sephora, I only managed to snag a mini Sephora mascara for $5 (from the Aisle of Temptation!  You'll know if you've been there!!) & an Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade, which was $18.  From CVS I bought two lipsticks from Wet n Wild for a couple of dollars each (which are surprisingly good & give MAC a run for their money!)  I also picked up a MAC lipstick in Call the Hairdresser from Macy's from the rudest sales assistants I've ever had the 'pleasure' to come across.

I desperately wanted to find the E.L.F. store but the address we had, after traipsing up & down this sodding street several times in torrential rain, we discovered had closed down, grrrrr!!!  So I thought that'd be a no-go but then I found a small display of products in Old Navy & picked up 2 each of the brushes shown here (one set for my daughter) & a BB cream.  However, apart from the MAC & one of the WnW lipsticks, everything else is as yet unused waiting to be reviewed so watch this space!!

I didn't find one single bag that I liked enough to warrant spending a few hundred dollars on & no clothes were to be found either.  Anything I found that I did like, I knew I could buy cheaper here so I left them!  To be honest, we spent most of our money on bits for the kids!

But the one thing I did buy that I really wanted & is now my pride & joy, was my Tissot watch.  However, this was bought from Duty Free at Heathrow so doesn't really come under the 'New York shopping' heading but hey ho!!  I googled the price of the watch in NY & it would've been significantly more to buy there so as I was going to save £70 off the price buying from Duty Free, it was a no-brainer!!


So I'm sorry I don't have more to show you but now that my computer is working again, I'll get reviews of the bits I did get up asap!!




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