Maybelline Airfoam Foundation

When I saw the press release for this a couple of months ago I couldn't wait for it's UK launch to get my hands on it. I've been a long time love of Maybelline's Dream foundation range and am yet to find a version I don't like so I had high hopes for this new formula. Although it's a refreshing change of pace mousse/foam foundation isn't a totally new concept. It was popular in 90s, Elizabeth Arden's version has remained in their permanent line ever since and Revlon have recently launched an aerated version of their popular photoready in US so I'm sure we will see lots of brands having a go at something similar this year.

The first thing I'd like to clarify here is that I don't think this is going to be for everyone! Normal to oily skins will be fine but the formula is thin and quick to set so drier skin types might not get on with it. It will cling to dry patches making them appear worse. Extra oily skin might struggle too. The application is nice, it spreads nicely and I got an even matte finish, The coverage is a lot like that of a tinted moisturiser, very light but this is buildable and doesn't look the least bit cakey when layered on. It lasts as well as any other dream formula I've tried.. I would need to reapply for the evening but it will be fine for a days work.

My only real issue with this foundation is how difficult it is to colour match. The foam comes out as quickly as you'd expect - just the same as a hair mousse - so you get way more than you need if you're just swatching which means you can't swatch that many shades in store unless your armed with a packet of babywipes.. and even then it's just so wasteful! The shade I went for ended up way too dark on me and looking online I'm not sure they will have one light enough for my skin tone (NARS Mont Blanc FYI) so that's a big disappointment.

Despite my misgivings if you have normal skin with no more than an oily t-zone I would recommend you give this a go. If the colour match was good I'd have been really happy with this product but it was comically dark and the tester didn't appear that way.. I mean look at the pictures... I'm not crazy.. that's clearly not my shade! If I can find the right one for me it could just be my favourite foundation, it has the potential to build to a true airbrushed finish without all of the tricky machinery usually required to achieve it.

The RRP on this is £8.99

Currently available from Superdrug here for £6.99 so now's a great time to give it a go

Have you tried this already?

Thoughts?

Miss BB

Something Glossy For the Guys

I was SO excited when I saw this advertised in last months Glossybox. My other half is very much a modern man, somewhat of a "metro-sexual" you might say so I knew I had to subscribe to the new

Glossybox for Men

In this post I'll show you what he got in his first months box

His review with more product info will follow once he's had chance to try them out.

Personally I like the first box. The products are all things he'd try and nice sizes, The Cool Fix for example will last him a few months. I'm sure the Goldwell hair gel will go down well as he's always looking for something that will tame his unruly barnet but would never pay Goldwell prices. It's also a nice little tub to reuse for travelling.

It's great that someone has finally acknowledged that men want to look after themselves too. I think this is the perfect way for guys that don't necessarily feel comfortable going up to a counter and asking for advice to try lots of different products in the comfort of their own home and potentially find something they love in the process. Of course It won't appeal to all men but I know it will appeal to mine!

Glossybox for Men is a quarterly service in which you will receive 7 luxury sized samples.

It's priced at £15.00 per box + shipping and you can subscribe here

Miss BB

Something Naked This Way Comes

At the start of 2011 I was working for Urban Decay and we were told there was going to be a Naked 2 in the fall. They said it would be in a tin and that was all we were allowed to know so when the 15th anniversary palette was released I thought perhaps they were talking about that. I assumed they were expecting to be as popular as the Naked. I was mightily disappointed that we weren't going to get an actual new Naked.. until this morning. I've never had a more exciting reading list appear in front of me! 

Now I didn't want to go pinching pictures from those lucky few that have the palette in their possession so I will point you in the direction of Charlotte at Lipglossiping who has some fab up-close shots and promises swatches later today (can't wait) here's the link to her review post. I love that it's in the same format as the first Naked but it's in a wipe-clan tin. Much as I thought the chocolate box velvety finish looked great on the first it's not worn well over time. There's also a useful double ended eyeshadow brush included at launch as opposed to the double ended pencil that was so hard to manufacture and made the first palette so tricky to get hold of until they replaced it with a shadow brush. Lastly the mirror is the size of the whole lid so more usable and rather than the mini primer potion that is usually included with UD's sets they've put in a mini Lip Junkie Lipgloss.. I can tell you these smell and taste delicious.. nothing like the disgusting pocket rockets (eugh) So that's a nice to have.

I have no idea the price point or the uk launch date but rest assured as soon as I do, you will!

This is one item I will be rushing to the shops for, how about you?

MissBB

The Matte Factor

I get sent samples of all new releases from the Miners range.. some I don't post on because quite frankly.. I don't like them.. but when I got these... WOW! They are Ah-Mazing! Upon uploading these pictures I realised my error with my swatched immediately... I didn't let them dry before I photographed them so they come off glossy.. they're really not. They go on so smoothly, dry quickly and are smudge/kiss proof. They don't claim to be long lasting but as with most matte colours they are.. unlike most matte lip products, however, they do not dry out my lips at all. I haven't found a lip product I've loved this much in a long time! The only colour I don't think will get much use is the light pink, otherwise I will wear them all. This is one Miners launch I am whole heartedly behind, I would recommend these to anyone and for £3.99 how can you not want one? They do have a strong vanilla scent which could put some people off but I don't mind it. The only thing that puts Miners at a disadvantage is that you can only purchase online (here) but I guess it's the same with ELF here in the UK and they still do pretty well for themselves.  

L-R

Light Pink, Peach, Hot Pink, Warm Red, Deep Red, Cappuccino

Have you tried these? I never tried the Cream Puff lip colours from Collection 2000 but I'd imagine they are similar... I'd be interested to hear from you if you'd compared the two.

Saturday Sparkle

I popped to Boots today on the hunt for these new 17 Wild Metallics eye shadows and came home with a few more bits all of which seemed to lean on the sparkly side.. hence the title of this post. I can tell you I am more than happy with my purchases and I got everything in this post for less than £15! That's 3 Nail Polishes, 3 Eyeshadows, a Liquid Liner and a Lip Gloss.. now that's bargain hunting! First up I had to decide between the gorgeous new shades from 17. I must admit I was drawn immediately to the neutrals and I may just have to go back for them later but I decided to go for these... more party friendly for the upcoming season I thought.

Wild Silver and Wild Midnight Blue. The consistency is more mousse than cream/gel. I'd liken it to Maybellines Dream Matte stuff crossed with Rimmels Colour Mousse range.. consider it a sparkly lovechild of the two. The reason I decided to go for these shades in the end was my absolute hatred of glitter fallout. These seem to have just as much impact as your average glitter-packed shadows without any of the annoying side effects migrating to your cheeks. I can't wait to try them out in a look.. I'll try and make it a tutorial and really road test them for longevity for you guys. I'd imagine as with all cream-type eye colours these will crease but that shouldn't be a problem if you use a primer or even a powder shadow over the top.. again this is all speculation.. I will let you know once I've tried it for myself. I'm almost certainly going to be going back for more colours as they are just £3.99 (can be bought here).. very reasonable if you ask me!

Another awesome bonus from 17 is the free gift you get right now if you purchase 2 or more products. I already knew I had to have at least 2 of the new shadows so I was on to a winner before I even stepped in the store. The Femme Noir gift set is a really cool freebie, the contents of which exceeds my total purchase price for the other 2 products as it is so really terrific value for me.

In the set you get a Glitter Eyshadow in Night Sky (which I cannot wait to try over the metallic silver!!!), a liquid liner in black and an Ultimate Volume lip gloss in Very Berry. The glitter shadow is a wash of gun metal sparkle, the liquid liner is pretty basic but will be used and the lip gloss is GORGEOUS! The absolute perfect shade for the holiday season.. I just can't believe it was free!

Lastly here are the other bits I picked up. I was on the look out for Models Own Juicy Jules which unfortunately was out of stock so for the same money I bought 2 polishes from Barry M. Hologram is a repurchase.. Mine dried out forever ago and I've been meaning to replace it for the longest time and Peach Melba is a relatively new addition to the range which having seen all over the blogsphere was also on my list so it didn't take long to pick once I was at the stand. After I'd paid for my purchases I received one of those lovely £5 off No7 vouchers which was nice so I went and got ANOTHER polish (money) which ended up costing me £2!! It was a great day for bargain hunting!

I also bought my wedding dress from Primark for £17 for anyone interested... I posted about it on my other blog here. Like I said... great day for budget shopping.

I feel like I haven't shopped in forever, I've just had no spare cash and now I'm saving for a new laptop I really don't want to part with any that I don't have to but I guess I'll have to get used to spending less with the baby on the way.. still... don't expect my blog to run dry. I will always have something to say as long as you're here to listen.

Barry M Silver VS Barry M Foil

When I first saw Barry M's Foil polish launch I immediately thought of the old "Silver"

I always thought the silver came off as a "foil" or "minx" like finish so I was dubious as to whether they were just rebranding the old formula at a higher price. Being the curious blogger I am I had to test it out...here's what I found...

Surprisingly they are totally different! I thought I'd hate the foil and begrudge paying a pound more for something I effectively already have covered from Barry M but far from it. I must stress that the pictures below show my nails after ONE COAT of the foil effects polish... that puts it way up in my estimations already but also.. it's a totally new addition to my collection. As you can see from the below pictures the silver (on my thumb and forefinger) is very much a sparkly finish. It's made up of lots of fine glitter and took three coats to achieve a full coverage. It's still a lovely polish but I have to admit if you're looking for foil... it doesn't compare. I may even go out and buy the gold one now.

Man I hate to be wrong!

Have you tried this yet?

NOTD - Miners Plum

Plum, a beautiful, wearable raspberry shade. The easiest formula I've applied in a long time, I might have been able to get away with just the one coat. Even within one brand formula can be hit and miss so I'm really pleased with this one.

I'll remind you this is from the A/W collection I blogged about previously.

This is the only colour that's not *new* for the season. It's a relaunch but it's my favourite of the five.

You can shop the A/W collection here for at £2.99 each

Fashionista Shadow Swatches

 You may have seen my original post about this range but if not you can find it here

I was waiting to see it in one of my local stores rather than order online. There aren't that many posts online about this brand yet so I had no swatches to go by.. I needed to see for myself. First of all I want to mention the awesome deal that is a quad palette. When I first looked into it I saw that each shadow was £4 and the palette was £5 but what I didn't see was if you bought a full quad you paid only £12!!! Bargain!!!

I was always going to buy 4 and the palette but this was I saved £9! It's practically 5 for 3.

I don't know if this will be the permanent offer but just in case I intend to go back for more over the coming weeks. My first impressions are that much like W7 and MUA the shadows are hit and miss. The metallic/shimmery shades are best as you'd expect, there are some with glitter fall out that aren't so great but I can tell you the few matte shadows there are are pretty good. I didn't immediately need any of the blushers so I stuck to shadows this time but I swatched some and they seemed ok. You never really know til you try them out of course but I wouldn't rule them out in future. As usual I plumped for a neutral selection first. I would love to buy a few palettes and fill them with a range of colours but given that I've just left work I'm not in the ideal financial position to do that right now even at £12 a go.

 Clockwise - Nude Glimmer, Bella, Black Out, Berry Brown

L-R Nude Glimmer, Berry Brown, Black Out, Bella

Nude Glimmer and Bella come across as similar I know but Bella is really sheer and packed with fine glitter where are Nude Glimmer is a really dense, highly pigmented formula. Berry Brown is much the same and Black Out is a matte black. As with most brands the matte black is the most difficult shade of the bunch but I thought I'd give it a go, It's not the worst I've tried but it's nothing special. I will do a look with this palette soon.. I'm looking forward to layering Bella over some of my other shadows to give some extra sparkle.

Here's my Fashionista review video...

Have you tried anything from the Fashionista Brand yet?

Everything seemed good value for money size-wise so I will be trying more of it for sure

New Nails from Miners - A/W '11

This week I received the new Miners A/W Nail Polish shades to review. When I first saw them online I couldn't wait to get my hands on them, they are so different to last years A/W collection. This time around they've gone for glossy opaque colours where as previously Miners have favoured the shimmery/frost finishes which I'm not entirely on board with. Before I even begin I love "Weekend in Paris" which may seem like a boring old red but it's a little on the pink side and different to any other I have in my collection. As we near the festive season I can't get enough of red nail polish. Without further ado.. here they are..

L-R - Fairytale of New York, London Calling, Bangkok Blues, Weekend in Paris and Plum

The first I tried was Fairytale of New York, it's the one colour I'd have never picked up so I guess I was out of my comfort zone. I wasn't expecting much and I wasn't exactly wowed. I don't think green is the best colour on me and this is not the autumnal shade I'd have chosen. It's more like a racing green. I really love the Miners formula, they go on nicely in two coats and are reasonably chip-resistant so I will definitely get through the rest of the collection and post as and when I wear them.

You can buy the new range from Miners.co.uk priced at £2.99 each

Have you tried anything from this budget brand?

Look!! New Budget Beauty Brand!!

This is just a quick buzz about the new makeup range launching from Look Magazine. It arrives in selected Superdrug Stores today but as far as I can tell it's not online yet. It's a comprehensive debut offering everything fom foundation to nail polish with prices ranging from £4 to £18. I've heard the packaging  is a hit and miss with beautifully comissioned artwork on some items and nothing but clear perspex on others... Why not keep the branding consistent? It's all speculation at this stage as I haven't seen any of it in person but any new budget makeup brand is going to peek my interest so I thought I'd let you know what I do so far. As soon as I know more or better still have it in my hands I will post again, in the meantime if any of you have managed to get a peek already.. what are your thoughts??

The Saturdays Launch Magnetic Nail Polish

A few days ago I blogged about the uber-hyped Nails Inc magnetic nail polish that hit the beauty world this week.. well now there's something new! Since I put up that post I learned Boots 17 have their own version coming out AND The Saturdays are launching a range too. It's an exciting time for your fingertips!

Now I don't have all of the information yet but I couldn't wait to share my glee in anticipation of this arriving in Superdrug next month. There will be 5 shades available retailing at £6 each, the magnets will be available separately at £3 each. What I'm hoping is that there will be 5 different patterns to choose from (magnet-wise) because that's what I think its really missing from the Nails Inc line, the ability to create different effects in the shade of your choice. I'm also very interested to see whether these magnets will be interchangeable from brand to brand. You'd expect so, I mean a magnet is a magnet, right? But if a brand can make it exclusive to their product I know they will. I can't wait to see how these work in practice and you can be sure I'll be trialling as many versions as I can get my hands on but these are the one's I'm most looking forward to.

Have any of you tried magnetic nails yet?

Magnetic Nail Polish????

Excited? Me too!

Nails Inc have launched this fabulous new polish and you can buy online here

At £13 a bottle it's not cheap but is it not the coolest nail polish EVER???

There are 3 shades to choose from,

Big Ben : Metallic Gold

Trafalgar Square : Metallic Silver/Chrome

Houses of Parliament : Metallic Purple

I'm finding it really difficult to choose between them but I'm leaning towards the silver.

It's not on the boots website yet so I'm not sure if it wil be in their stores. I'm putting in my order online now.. not risking missing out in store... must try this as soon as humanly possible.

Have any of you managed to get your hands on this stuff yet?

Tell me it's as awesome as I hope!!!

Can you keep a secret?

I "borrowed" the images above from the Nails Inc website...

I'm advertising their product for free... I figured they wouldn't mind