Sigma and Illamasqua Shipping Offers

Just a quick note...

Illamasqua is offering free shipping til midnight on Friday. The code for the UK is 'FREEUK11'. There is also free international shipping (only over £50 though) which is 'INTERNATIONAL50'.

Also, and possibly more exciting for non Americans, Sigma also have free international shipping tomorrow! Sigma make amazing brushes (I'm a huge fan of their F80 kabuki brush, which is like the elf Powder Brush but a million times better. It has literally made foundations amazing just using this brush!). With free shipping and the difference in currency conversion, it makes them very well priced. I have the F80 and F82 and they are both really good quality, no dye running or shedding. If you've been eyeing them or any others up it's definitely worth taking a look! This offers run from 9am to 5pm US Central Standard Time- as far as I know for UK readers that means around mid afternoon onwards tomorrow, you'll be able to see whether it's started from your shopping cart I imagine.

Will you be taking advantage?

http://www.sigmabeauty.com/default.asp
http://www.illamasqua.com/

Love B xxx

Foundation Forever #1- Illamasqua Skinbase in Shade 2

After doing my Lipstick Forever series for a while, I thought I'd start a foundation series to cover in depth about foundations! First up... the Illamasqua Skinbase.

Product: Illamasqua Skinbase
Shade: 02
Price: £25, online at the Illamasqua website or from their counters.
Finish: Semi matte, more natural.
Skin Type and Colour:  Combination (dry sensitive cheeks, oily T-zone). Very pale (N10 in Mac) neutral toned, but slightly more pink.

Packaging: I really love the packaging of Illamasqua foundations. The colours they use and the curves on the bottle make it really stand out from the plain packaging a lot of brands use. The bottle is plastic and easy to carry, and the small nozzle means it is difficult to squeeze out too much.

Colour: I picked up Shade 2, a very pale pink. If I'm honest, it is a bit too pale (even for my ghostly skin). I couldn't really go down to another shade (the other one they showed me was way too dark), although be aware the shades are by tone rather than straight from light to dark. I love Illamasqua's range, but this colour has too much white for me. You know the white cast effect from sunscreens? That's what this reminds me of when I first put it on. I can work with it, but it isn't great.

You can see it clinging a bit in these two pics.

Ghostly.

Application & Coverage: I would say the coverage is medium-high. I LOVE Illamasqua as a brand, but honest to God I've hated the application of every foundation of theirs I've tried (this is the third). This is an improvement on the others, but I still found it very hard. I found it a little cakey and liable to cling to dry patches (where I didn't think I had any). It did get better after an hour or so, it sort of melts into the skin and looks better? Very odd.

Best Way to Apply?: I didn't particularly like this with fingers or any of my brushes or primers. Fail.

Lasting Power: Admittedly not bad, it held up pretty well. I did find I was quite oily by the end of the day though so I'd take powder or oil absorbing sheets to top it up if you are oily too.

Thoughts: I love Illamasqua. I love their ethos and style. And I really wanted to like this. But I don't. At worst I really wasn't pleased with how I looked. At best, in the middle bit where it melted in... it was ok. There was never a point sadly when it blew me away. Great colour range though, and I'm aware it could be my own picky skin and rubbish skills that are letting me down as much as the foundation, and I have seen loads of good reviews and there are good points. I just can't think of any niche in my make-up bag where it's better than anything else I have.

Overall Mark: 6/10. I really really wish it was more though.

Love B xxx

Random Days: Mini Haul :D

I had another mini haul yesterday and the day before, as I had a few girly days out to say goodbye to my friends :(

The first haul came from Folkestone, which is lovely (from the limited view of the inside of Primark) and got some little treats! I got several headbands from New Look, and some super cute dresses from Primark. I'll update this post with photos of them tomorrow once I've actually got some light to see them in!

The second haul came Canterbury, I was actually quite restrained (no really) especially we essentially went in EVERY shop in the town haha!

I came home with this little lot:

From M & S! I'm really not a orange person, but this is the first shade I've seen that isn't really harsh or neon. It's really pastel and sherbet-y and lovely :D This was about £3.

I'm not a big mascara buyer either, but I saw this Maybelline The Falsies on someone's blog (can't for the life of me remember whose it was!) and loved how amazing it made the blogger's lashes look. See my earlier post on the M & S eyeshadow to see how it looks on, so far it's amazing! This was on sale at the cheaper price of £6.19, but I managed to get it with my Boots points :-)

I'm happy with normal shampoo for washing my brushes, but after seeing this video by Tiffany D (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT8LpwDjwNI) I couldn't resist a quick way to clean my brushes, hoping it will save me a lot of time! This was £8.50 I believe.

This actually came in the post this morning, but nevermind :D I have been lusting after this Light Liquid Foundation for a while because of Illamasqua's amazing shade range and brand ethos. First impressions are AMAZING colour (in the lightest natural shade LF115) but need to experiment with application because it's tough to blend and get even, but hopefully I can try it lots and get it looking amazing :-)

Will update with more pics tomorrow!

Love Luxie xxx