Now, normally, I don’t go for gimmicky products, but this little beauty from Bourjois is very much floating my boat right now…

I was actually pretty skeptical when I heard about this, and expected it to be a dried out bit of sponge with a hole in which you’d have to scrub your nail in and out for ages, to get the bulk of your manicure off, and then still have to go over with a traditional polish remover. While I was right about the sponge with the hole in, I was very very wrong about the rest of my expectations.

The pot contains plenty of liquid which you can hear when you shake the pot (I actually usually store mine upside down so the top part of the sponge has a good amount of product in it which I think makes it work that little bit better). This literally takes a couple of  seconds and a quick twist to get every bit of polish off – It is quite simply fab.

Other good things about this? It doesn’t leave nails feeling stripped and dry, and actually leaves them with a nice fruity scent – described as “red fruit and vanilla” – it actually feels fairly nourishing (probably due to the almond oil in it!). It is also free of acetone and parabens.

The only downside? You still need a traditional polish remover to get polish off your toes. I could also see that accidentally leaving the top off or loose would be a bit of a disaster for this, as it might dry up quickly. Also, given that this was only sent to me recently, I’m not sure how long each pot would last before it needed replacing.

The remover pot is available now, and retails at £3.99. Which is pricier than an average nail polish remove, but this is a far from average product. A definite repurchase for me.

Disclaimer – this product was provided by a PR for review purposes. All reviews are my own and honest, and are based on my experiences with a product. 

The ten day anti-chip claim on this polish makes me feel a little bit sceptical, but not enough to dislike the colour and application of this shade. The brush is slightly unusual too – it has a slanted tip, and initially I was unsure how well it would work, but it actually does. I think it must be something to do with the angle of the hand used to apply and the angle of the varnish brush… Trigonometry aside though, I liked the way this applied.

One thing I would change is that I wish these polishes had names, not numbers…

Anyway, number 54 is a pretty peachy coral shade, lovely for this time of year…

Formula wise, this polish has a thin formula, but seems well pigmented – I applied two coats which looks fine, but on close inspection you could pick out a few patchy bits if you were being really fussy…

The nice thing about the formula being quite thin is that the polish dries fairly quickly between coats, so applying three wouldn’t be a massive hardship…

This retails at £5.99, but if you hasten to Boots they have a nifty 3 for 2 offer on all cosmetics at the moment, so you can grab a freebie while you are at it.

As far as I have been able to ascertain, Bourjois appear to be a cruelty free brand. Obviously in the future this may change, and I’ve been unable to find out if they are sold in China, where testing is mandatory. 

Disclaimer – This was sent to me by a PR for review purposes, I was not paid to do this review, and I’m not affiliated with Bourjois, my reviews are always 100% honest and based on my experiences with a product. 

I recently placed myself on a bit of a spending ban where makeup is concerned… After all, a chest of drawers full of the stuff, plus the kit I use for jobs is more than enough for several lifetimes, and there’s rarely a shade I can’t dupe these days. So I’ve taken to rediscovering some of the forgotten treasures in my collection, in a bid to entertain myself, and appreciate the goodies I already have rather than wasting moolah on pointless duplicates…

In my makeup bag this week…

It seems this weeks stash selection is something of an homage to mineral makeup, and this is no coincidence – I often find when I go to work with anything higher coverage than tinted moisturiser I get a lot of comments and compliments, which is nice, but my main aim at work is to look human, rather than overdone…. a no makeup makeup look if you will. Secondly, my skin seems to have had a flare up recently, so I opted for minerals as they seem the least irritant to my skin. Finally, it gave me a chance to try the new mineral bronzing foundation from Bourjois…

On the subject of the Bourjois foundation, I’ve been really happy with it and I’ve been using it for about two weeks now for work. I love the packaging, which has a clever twisty shaker, which enables you to customise the shade of foundation, as well as eliminating the horrors of messy mineral foundation…

This gives light to medium coverage, depending on how much you apply and buff it in, I’m pretty impressed with the longevity too – it seems to survive a full shift at work on most days, which for mineral foundation on my dryish skin is impressive… Topping it with the ELF mineral booster pictured above seems to boost its longevity too.

Bare face before foundation application...

Face after application of foundation and light contour using the bronzer...

Have you tried this foundation? What are your thoughts?

Another Bourjois product has also found a place in my makeup bag this week as well – their healthy mix concealer (I use shade 51), which deals with undereye circles and blemishes well for everyday use – I have a host of MAC concealers which I keep in my kit, but this one seems to work well on me without looking cakey or overdone for day to day use.

I’m also loving these two items from the Body Shop’s past baked mineral collection – blusher in “Coral Nuance”, and eye colour duo in “Copper”, although I usually leave the eyeshadow off for work…

Finally the lippie I’ve been using the most is my trusty Estee Lauder Crystal Baby, which is probably my all time favourite lip colour. Definitely worth a mention though is Sleeks True Colour in the Shade Liqueur, which is a very close high street match for Crystal baby;

Top - Crystal Baby, Bottom - Sleek Liqueur.

As you can see, the two aren’t exact dupes, but when applied to the lips they are pretty darned close – Crystal Baby is slightly more peachy pink toned than the Sleek shade, but in terms of wear and feel on the lips, they are very comparable, so this is well worth looking into for those interested in Crystal Baby but want a more affordable option…

Finally a quick snap of the whole lot applied;

Apologies for the ungroomed brows and seen-better-days hair…

What are you loving at the moment?

I’m a big fan of the Bourjois makeup line – I’d go so far as to say it’s probably my favourite high street range – I always love browsing their stands, and there are quite a few products in the line which I’d count amongst all time favourites (Healthy Mix foundation and concealer, the little blush pots, several of their mascaras, and they make some outstanding eyeliners – I am also a massive fan of their mineral face powder). One product that gets constant raves is their original bronzer which is usually fondly known as the chocolate bronzer, because it smells and looks like, well, chocolate, however that’s a product I’ve never bought for one reason or another. I think one of the things I worried about was the packaging – cardboard packaging always puts me off – and I always used to tell myself “No – you have 39273873 other bronzers to use up first missy”

Anyway, obviously my willpower waned when I saw Bourjois’ new summer range hitting the shelves in my local Superdrug – the summer collection has this new bronzer, a spray on instant tan, a mineral powder and bronzer duo, and a lipgloss… I picked up a powder bronzer, but I may go back for more of the collection…

The bronzer comes in two shades – I chose the one aimed at fairer skin.

I’m not going to lie, I love scented cosmetics, and I’m lucky enough that I’ve never had a reaction to anything in scented makeup, so the fact that this has a light smattering of chocolate orange scent about it was a definite winner.

The blurb on the back of the bronzer;

I also really like the packaging of this too – The compact has a swirly panoramic mirror (which reminds me of the very high end “Hourglass” range), which is a really good size – It also comes with a flat face brush, which is useful for touch ups, but I’d personally apply with a different brush if I had the choice…

I was a little bit concerned when I opened up the bronzer to see it contained little sparkly bits, as I don’t really like shimmery bronzers – I like matte ones as they are a bit more natural looking, and also multipurpose as can usually be used for contouring as well as bronzing.

I’m pleased to report however that this one, does not transfer to the skin as a shimmery bronzer, and comes off matte but natural looking…

This works really well for me as both a bronzer and a contour powder, and I’m pleased to report it has become a regularly reached for product like most of my other Bourjois bits and bobs. Not a hint of it looking too orange either. Love it!

The bronzer contains a “mineral filter”, which apparently imparts an SPF 15 – useful, but I wouldn’t depend on this for your sun protection! It also contains orange blossom extract for hydration, and I can confirm it’s comfortable to wear, and non-drying.

Have you tried this? Did you like it? How does this compare to the original chocolate bronzer?

Another quick and easy look today… for some reason everything is rather washed out today on photo’s… but hopefully, you get the idea!

I used Bourjois healthy mix foundation, Chanel Bronze Universal (or Soleil Tan De Chanel as its know nowadays… *tut*), and Inglot liquid blush in shade 87 on the face, with The Body Shop Bronzer in Warm Glow over the top of the cheeks. Highlight was MAC msf in Perfect Topping…

On the eyes the Body Shop eye colour in Jade from the “Baked To Last” collection, and a black kohl on the water line. 

On the lips, I have Estee Lauders Crystal Baby – its probably one of my top five fave lippies of the hundreds I have! A definite repurchase!

I also did a quick dye job on my hair today as well – I used a L’oreal Herbashine which I picked up in Boots recently for around a fiver. I have chucked the box away but it was a medium mahogony brown shade and had a picture of Bar Rafielli on the box (I have no idea who she is). The Herbashines are one of those new generation ten minute jobs – non permanent, so you get a shiny refreshed look without damage. Not dramatic but it looks a lot better than it did this morning!

I’ve picked up a couple of these little trios from Boots over the past few weeks – they are available in 8 colour ways (if you can actually find them in stock!) and retail at £7.49 for 4.5g of product. They come with a sponge applicator too, but I prefer to use my brushes with them…

On the left we have a warm golden brown trio (#3 Mordore Chic), and on the left a golden green trio (#2 Or Baroque). Both of these trios are wearable for daytime, but can also be vamped up for nocturnal looks too. 

The back of the palette offers a basic template/instructions on how to create a “classic smoky” ie darkest shade at the lash line and a haze of colour fading out from this. Obviously, you can also create a more modern smoky with lots of contouring.

I used the Golden brown trio to create a classic smoky;

And I also used the Green trio to create a contoured smoky;

The eye shadows are basically mini versions of the Little Round Pot shadows that Bourjois usually sell.
On initial swatching they can look a little poorly pigmented;

They do build up well on the skin – I used UDPP as usual for the looks above, and with a couple of layers they give good colour intensity. They also blend very well. I would avoid using fingers with these shadows though – they seem to be a magnet for the natural oils on skin, which can harden them…

Overall I think these are a great product – If I actually manage to find a store with decent stock levels I’ll be picking up more – there is a lovely grey set and a pretty violet set I have my eye on – do you own any of these? Any recommendations?

After recieving an invite to the Bourjois event last Saturday, and being unable to attend, I realised I had two choices – I could either sit and cry, or go and have a gander at the nearest Bourjois counter… After having a bit of a cry, and realising that no-one really cared, I went to the nearest Bourjois counter where I picked up a few bits, including this beautiful powder, and a their new foundation and concealer duo – Healthy Mix.

  

  

 Above – eyes before concealer
 

I picked this up in Boots a few days ago, for around £8. The product is a dome shaped mineral based powder (slightly smaller than the ubiquitous MAC MSF’s…), and is apparently “The first Hot Pressed powder enriched with radiance boosting mineral quartz for a matte yet radiant complexion“

 

Apparently “hot pressing” the powder means “its texture is as fine and lightweight as that of a loose powder. It softly glides on the skin to reveal the natural glow of your complexion and provides a matte, even and natural finish”. 

 I was slightlysurprised to see the colour of this powder – these seem to be aimed to use as complexion enhancer/setting powder, however this shade looks a little pink to be of use for that…