UNE Skin Glow Foundation Review

In my last post I mentioned the UNE Skin Glow Foundation as my weapon of choice for my FOTD. Back in March, UNE received quite a bit of publicity as they were just launching and reaching out to new customers. Things got a little quiet since then, and admittedly, I hadn't heard of this brand until around a fortnight ago when I found the makeup stand at Westfield in Shepard's Bush, and came home with a bottle of this, bought partly on impulse, and searched the brand for more information.

Now I'm going to write this review based purely on my experience with this foundation and ignore what I've read, because so far, I don't feel like this brand has been painted in a positive light which with my experience isn't rightly so, because I have nothing really negative to say.

So a quick overview of UNE, they are a spin-off company from Bourjois, but differ quite considerably to Bourjois, or any other make-up brand in that they are a "natural" cosmetic company. I think if any brand is deserving of that title, it would certainly be UNE since in the foundation alone, 98.2% of the ingredients are from natural origin, 17.1% are from Organic Farming, and many of the products, if not all, are free from parabens.

There may be a brand comparable, but when you walk into Boots, that's not neccessarily obvious, and that's what singles this brand out, is it's accessibility. Since buying the foundation in a large branch of Boots, I have now seen a stand in my local Superdrug, which I was pleased to find, and glad that this brand is reaching out as accessible and affordable. I opted for shade G06 which I think is around a MAC NC20-25. The foundation was priced at around £13 for 30ml of product. Not cheap, but then not vastly expensive either. It's mid-range, cheaper than a lot of foundations I've tried and a price I'm willing to pay to not put a cocktail of chemicals on my face. Don't get me wrong, I'll slap on MAC like it's going out of fashion, but I do think it's important to give my skin a breather from time to time, and I am one of those paranoid people who's a little afraid of chemicals. If I could choose a product from another and the only difference was the list of ingredients, then I'd obviously plump for the one without the artificiality, and I'm sure I'm not alone. So I applaud UNE for going against the grain and releasing an authentic natural range.

The real test is in how this make-up holds up. It's all well and good being natural, but if this make-up is gone without a trace in 2 hours, it's somewhat useless. NOT the case I'm glad to say! This is a "glow" effect foundation, and I am a combination/oily skinned client, so we are not traditionally a match made. I usually need something with "matte" in the title, particularly this time of year, late spring to early autumn and anything "glowy" or "dewy" on my skin usually=shiny. If I don't powder, I do notice a shine, but it's actually not something I can't live with, I don't feel like my skin is suffering under there, it's just a very natural look. It makes me feel like I can embrace the natural oily state of my skin, because it is still less oily than usual, and it evens out my skin tone, minimises my pores, all the while looking natural.

Here we have a blob. I wanted to give you an idea of the consistency and texture of the foundation. It looks like any other at this point I suppose.
Rubbed in a little, it's actually very smooth to apply, even on the dry skin on my hands it doesn't pick up any skin, just smooths over for an even texture. It's very creamy yet light feeling.

And rubbed in almost entirely, this is pretty much the coverage on my face, minus the cracks because my hands are a little dry lately. A little blob goes a long way which is another plus point, I don't like to apply a lot of foundation, I want a foundation that is going to last me a good few months so it's good value, and this definitely does the job.

So is this foundation for you? If you want heavy coverage then no, definitely bypass this, but if you enjoy make-up and want to go for a lighter, natural look than normal without skipping foundation it might be worth a look. I think this is great for people just getting into make-up aswell, people who might not have tried any foundations before, or if you have problematic, sensitive skin, this might be suitable as it's free from harsh chemicals. Even those make-up lovers who just want something for their down-days where you still want to wear a foundation but without the effort of a heavy coverage face, since this is almost like a tinted moisturiser. Since buying this, I've also gone back to my parents house to visit and lost my moisturiser somewhere in transition, so I use this after toning and it's become a make shift moisturiser/foundation. I love a good multi-use product.

FOTD using UNE Foundation and Sleek Jewels palette and NOTD 1/9/2010

It feels like England is clinging on to Summer now with a little burst of sunshine, even though technically it's September, we're now officially Autumn. This time of year usually means finding transitional makeup, makeup that's suitable for both seasons. For me, that usally means finding rich, plummy, golden colours, at least for my eyeshadow. A palette I find perfect for those rich, beautiful colours is the Jewels palette by Sleek, so I dug that one out and will show you a quick FOTD.I used the champagne gold colour all over the lid, it's a perfect wash colour, and probably one of only two colours I can use all over the lid. Then for the crease I picked out the plum/purple shade, and used the silver on the inner corner. Still a pretty neutral look, but the purple livens it up a little. Sleek is fantastic for their pigmented eyeshadows, they look so multi-dimensional once applied, so much depth to the colour. The only problem is finding a palette with an entire range of colours that I can wear. I wish they would bring out a neutrals palette, like the Urban Decay Naked palette, it would be pretty near perfection in a £5 palette. Close up of the eyes - I used Sleek Jewels, No. 7 Amazing Eyes eyeliner, (I found another liquid liner that actually compares to my HG Loreal Superliner!) it was given to me by my Mum since she couldn't apply it, and it's surprisngly very good, and I'd say pretty fool-proof too, if you're a shaky-hand-eyeliner-applier as I am.

Other products I used

EYES: Bourjois 1001 Lashes mascara, topped with Rimmel Volume Flash the Max mascara; Eyeshadows primed with TFSI;

FACE: Une Skin Glow Foundation in G06 (Love this, review to come soon); Rimmel Clarifying Powder, MAC Refined Golden bronzer.

LIPS: Maybelline Colour Sensational Lipstick in Rose Pearl.

And not to leave my nails out, since I really love this colour, I painted them in Barry M's Racing Green, which is truly a gorgeous colour in it's own right, it reminds me of old Jaguars, not just the colour but the finish aswell. I decided to turn it matte out of curiousity, and it turned out pretty good. It's a slightly irridescent colour, and you can still see the other dimensions to this colour, just in matte form. I'm going to be sporting this a lot through Autumn I think. I prefer dark colours for my nails so I'm not going to miss the summer pastel shades too much.

What are your favourite colours for autumn?

NOTD Matte Barry M Shocking Pink

Whenever I look at Barry M, I always gravitate to the shades that are probably the most obscure and unusual, the purples, the blues, the greens...I overlook the more normal colours. I'm sure I could find a hot pink shade like this by most cosmetic brands. Truth be told though, there aren't many brands of nail polish that please me as much as Barry M in terms of quality and value for money. It's the most long lasting nail polish I've tried and that's comparing it with brands such as OPI and YSL, and this is cheap as chips, almost. So rather than reserving Barry M for times when I want to pick up a new, outlandish shade, I'm going to make a point of picking up more every day, easy to find colours, so this one, Shocking Pink, was a start. It's not neon and nothing you haven't seen before, just a good quality hot pink shade. I've noticed a lot of hype around matte shades lately and realise they are making a bit of a comeback. I wasn't about to go out and buy a load of matte shades, instead I found this rather amazing, (well it amazes me!) product from Rimmel called Matte Finish, Mattifying Topcoat. Does exactly what it says, and worked even better than I expected it to. I thought it might need a couple of layers to become completely matte, or that it might somehow change the colour I'd already painted, but it did neither of these. It's literally just a quick one coat paint job and it dries incredibly quick. It turns even a very glossy finish like Barry M's Shocking Pink into a completely matte finish.It's always a good idea to use a topcoat to make your polish last longer, so now I can use this in place of my normal topcoat and get even longer wear out of my nails with a matte finish. I'm very impressed so far, I've actually been wearing this for about 4 or 5 days now, and there is only signs of chipping on the corner of a few nails. I'm going to redo them today, because I feel like a change, but I could get away with probably another couple of days if I wanted.

I like that this topcoat is a true matte finish aswell, it doesn't have that semi-matte, more of a satin finish, it's a pretty straight, flat matte!

So for around £4.95 this is a great value nail polish if you want to update your nail look. Definitely more purse-friendly than buying a whole bunch of new matte shades which you probably won't get to finish the bottle of, and you have the added bonus of being able to transform any shade you own.

Cornwall August 2010

Last week I went to Cornwall for a couple of nights. I braved the six-hour drive on the way down there, and an even longer drive on the way back. We decided to take the "scenic" route which inevitably means the longer route. I hate motorways though, and some of the countryside we drove through was very beautiful so it was worth it. We took the road that passes Stonehenge which I'd never seen before. It was a bit surreal seeing it this close, it's somewhere I associate with having a lot of mystique about it, and attract a lot of tourists, but it was strange how isolated it is from anywhere else, it just kind of pops up in a field. Here's one of the shots I managed to take from the car as we drove by.
Once we arrived in Cornwall and checked into the B&B we went to the harbour for lunch. It was so sweet and idyllic, and obviously a lot of other people thought so too, it's so busy this time of year.After lunch, we decided to head to the beach to escape the crowds, afterall we'd left for a break from the chaos of the city. This was so not how I remembered British beaches to be, white sand, and clean turquoise sea, so beautiful. It wasn't very hot whilst we were there, in the low 20 degrees, so the beaches were pretty quiet. Next day we decided to go for a walk along the coast. The weather really wasn't typical of summer so we gave up the hope of having a beach day and soaked up the scenic coastal walk instead.
Near to where we parked, there were signs for the walk which took us up a steep slope to the cliff edge, then in the middle of the grass there was this giant hole which the picture doesn't really give you much of an idea of just how giant and deep it was. I think it was caused by the waves crashing underneath and causing a collapsed cave.
I saw corn and wall! Back to the start of our walk near the beach where we ate lunch that day, the houses in the background are so pretty.

So it wasn't quite the same as a summer vacation abroad, and if the weather had have been sunny it would have made it a million times better, but I still had fun and was reminded by the beautiful sites we have without leaving our shores.

New Lush Bath Ballistics Review

I waited until I tried out all of the new bath ballistics before reviewing any of them. Supposedly it's still summertime, so I thought it would be a while before I used up all of these, but I really feel like summer has passed us by here in the UK, after only visiting us for briefly, oh I don't know 3 weeks or so! Colder weather definitely calls for more baths rather than showers, and I've really enjoyed trying out these new installments from Lush.

Top right of the picture is Mrs. Whippy. Love this. Love the name, loved everything about this one. It's a lot creamier/frothier than any Lush bath ballistic experience I've had. Most have been fruity and colourful, but this one left the bath water very white and milky. It's made with soya milk powder and it's more pleasant than it sounds I promise! I imagine a milk bath sounds pretty gross to a lot of people, but it's actually really moisturising and the scent of the bath ballistic also features a strong presence of "tonka" which I'd never heard of until I checked out the Lush site. Not sure what it smells of?... think stawberries.

Dragon's Egg was the ballistic I was most excited to try. I'd seen a demo of this one in the shop in Covent garden, it was dropped into a little bowl and fizzed and hissed brilliantly. Have to say, a little disappointing once dropped into a bath full of water, the fizz spectacle wasn't as intense, but it was still more impressive than the older bath ballistics that just tend to melt innocently away.
This is supposed to resemble...and I'm quoting the website here, "a baby dragon breathing fire as it hatches into the world". It's things like that, that are the reason I love Lush! It didn't quite look that way, but it was still pretty. I love the way the orange kind of fizzed out like a catherine wheel without me having to make it go that way, and along with the orange, lots of glittery bits were dispersed all around the bath. It was pretty, relaxing and refreshing!

Twilight: This one fizzed similarly to Dragon's Egg. It seemed to be a bath ballistic in two parts. Once the main part had fizzed a while, a new part seemed to break off and it was like having two bath bombs in there. It made a nice bathing experience, a pink and blue bath ballistic, both releasing lots of glitter in to the bath, and mixing together to make an unusual shade of violet bath water, which the glitter made seem even more alluring. Out of the four ballistics, this one was the most relaxing scent, it also features tonka, as well as lavendar, which we all know is famous for it's relaxing properties and ability to bring calm. Interestingly, Twilight also contains Ovaltine, which I only know as the nasty smelling drink people used to drink to help them sleep. Somehow it works. One thing I will say with Twilight and Dragon's Egg, is "Beware Glitter". Serious glitteriness faces you when you get out of this bath, so you'll need a good hose down, that's all.

Finally Fizzbanger. I didn't see this coming, but this is one of my absolute favourite bath ballistics/melts/anything I've put in my bath water. (Sakura holds top spot though.) It's an invigorating scent, relaxing yet uplifting at the same time. It's a citrusey scent, but there's also heavy undertones of cinnamon and a little hint of apple. I love the way the water changes colour with this one, yellow, to blue, finally green, and it takes so long to fizz away. Even when the ballistic appears to have all dissolved, there's still lots of crackling sounds. That's why this really reminds me of late autumn and Bonfire Night, and so I will be buying a few more of these once summer has ended. I love how smells remind you of certain things, and this really reminds me of freezing my ass off whilst watching impressive fireworks displays. It's also exactly the kind of smell I love, relaxing but not too heady that it's going to send you to sleep in the bath, invigorating enough to clear your head. It wakes up your mind but relaxes your body, perfect!

It feels ages since I last blogged, I've been away in Cornwall as I tweeted about, I will post a few pictures of this beautiful part of the world soon.

xXx

Tag! 10 Things I Love.

I was tagged by Laura to do this 10 things I love post, and since I never do these, I really thought it was high time I did. This is a nice one anyway, and easy to think of 10 things I love.
Rules are as follows.

1. Post who gave you this award.

2. State 10 things that you love.

3. Give this award to 10 other bloggers and notify them with a comment.

So firstly, it goes without saying, the people in my life are the most loved things, so maybe cheating a little, I'd like to put my friends, family and boyfriend at number 1.2. Blogging/ writing in general. When I was 5 years old I was asked what I wanted to do when I was older.I remember saying I wanted to be a writer along with the job actually do for a living. I'm glad to say all these years on, I'm still as passionate with both.

3. Guitar. I still can't play mine, but one day it will come. I enjoy learning which is the important part.

4. TEA! All varieties, but green is probably my favourite.
5. Chocolate, because I don't actually know where I'd be without it.
6. The sunshine. I'm so dependent on a bit of sun. I think I could quite happily live somewhere that had permanent sunshine, how can you not smile when the sun is shining?

7. Make-up. Blatantly.

8. Puppies/dogs. Best animal ever. My life will not be complete without one. I'd love a bichon frise/schitzu cross, they're adorable, or maybe a larger dog like a border collie or alsatian. I love cute, small dogs, but I'd like a dog with some intelligence too! I know it's not the right time in my life to get one yet though, but soon I hope.

9. Travelling. There's so many places in the world I want to visit, and so many places I've been that I've loved. I loved visiting Montreal and want to explore Canada a lot more, North America in general, Japan, New Zealand, Italy, anywhere!

10. Creativity. A bit broad I know, but I love designing, making things, whether it be song lyrics, a drawing, clothing, I love creating.

So I tag:

Florabundance

Beauty Blog of a Giddy Princess

Widdlesh

Marilou

Alice in a New Wonderland

Lily loves Lola

Miss Kei Kei

Dance as if no-one's watching

Beauty Love

Viviana does make-up

or anyone else that wants to do it!

MAC Dazzle Lipstick Win-Win

I knew I was going to like the Dazzle lipsticks. It was actually Tali's post that drew my attention to the beauty of these. I avoided the Dazzleglass's with the chunky glitter in, purely because it looked too chunky. Admittedly these lipsticks are a little scary to look at, and even to swatch but they are surprisingly very nice and very wearable on the lips.

I've tried to take a number of pictures here in different lights and different settings to give you an idea of the colour of this lipstick, and to see how different it looks in different lights. It proved really difficult to capture the true colour which is one of the things I like most about these lipsticks, they are so eye-catching and appear a different colour in different light. Win-Win is a pink shade with gold glitter. I'd say it's one of the least intimidating colours to choose from and definitely more "me" than the others. Having said that, when you swatch the lipsticks, you'll see they're actually not as bold as the colour in the tube. It's almost like the light reflecting off the glitter takes the emphasis off the colour.

Here's a picture with and without flash on my lips. I'm glad to say these lipsticks have great staying power. They've survived a few drinks and a meal without my lips looking like one hot glitter mess. The colour is still visible after a few hours although when the colour does start to fade, the glitter seems to linger a while longer. I actually don't mind it though, it doesn't look as you would expect with a glitter lipstick, at least in my experience, the glitter tends to stay put, I can see me having issues trying to remove it without rubbing glitter over my face, but during normal wear throughout the day, it's stayed just on my lips.

I think if you want to wear this in the day it's perfectly suitable, keeping your eyes simple, but might be best kept fresh by applying plain/clear lip balm over the top every couple of hours, rather than just adding to the glitteriness with another coat of the lipstick. It's definitely wearable during daylight though, I mean it's glittery and it draws a little attention but it's not so in-your-face as other glitter lipsticks I've seen or wearing a classic red lip during the day. You could say it's a sophisticated glitter lipstick if such a thing exists.

I am looking forward to wearing this on a night out though, when glitter is more socially acceptable and less risque. I think this will complete a grey smokey eye shadow look.

I also love that these are lipstick you can wear without worrying about priming before or coating your lips with a gloss afterwards. The glitter speaks for itself really, I wouldn't say you'd want to wear this with dry lips but it's not gonna dry out your lips anymore like you would probably expect. It's actually quite moisturising, and you don't notice the glitter at all. They're not obvious chunks that you can physically feel, yet they're obviously pretty visible and you don't need a gloss to finish this look, it looks pretty finished and polished by itself.

Now I said I avoided the Dazzleglasses, especially those recent chunky glitter ones, BUT, I would like to see the result of these topped with a Dazzleglass, just for interest.