Urban Decay Naked Heat // First Impressions

Isn't she beautiful? 

For the longest time, I put off getting this palette because I refused to give into the hype, and also I thought "well I never use those kind of shades so it's not for me anyway." 

As usual, I was wrong. After playing around with more reddish tone eyeshadows, I found I really love how they look against my green eyes, and as I have every other Naked Palette, AND I had a 15% off code, I gave in, and now am the proud owner of a new Naked Palette. Wooooooops. 

I put this delivery on my Instagram story (follow me, @curiousginger) and thought, I may as well write a blog post about my initial thoughts. At the time of writing, I've only used this about twice!

I'm a huge fan of the Urban Decay Naked range, I have all the palettes, and they are by far my favourite to use. The eyeshadows in this palette are of the same quality, so if you've ever used Urban Decay shadows before, you know what you're getting into. Some of the more shimmery shades do have a bit of fall out, but it's easily gotten rid of. All the shades are so pigmented and beautiful!

You get 12 eyeshadows, plus a double ended brush, which is fairly standard for these types of palettes from Urban Decay. 

Top to Bottom
Ounce
Chaser
Sauced
Low Blow
Lumbre
He Devil

Top to Bottom
Dirty Talk
Scorched
Cayenne
En Feugo
Ashes
Ember

As you can see, it is a very red toned palette, which I think is so cool and very different to other palettes I own. I feel like there could have maybe been another lighter shimmery colour, and perhaps a black, but that's just me being picky- and I do really love all the shades.

So far I think my favourites are Lumbre, Scorched, and Ashes, but as I've said I have only used this twice at the moment so I'm excited to give it more of a try!

I'm glad I got this palette, I think it's going to be really fun creating different types of looks with! If like me at first, red toned eyeshadows really intimidate you, just remember you can wipe it off if it looks crappy (it probably won't) and it's just fun to try different things now and then! Experiment! Go crazy....


That's all from me! I'm excited to give this a go!

Thanks for reading,

Lauren xx

Dermacol Foundation // Review, Swatches, First Impressions

Hey guys, hope everyone is well!

Today I thought I would share my thoughts on the "Dermacol Makeup Cover" Foundation, as I have seen so much hype around this, and after trying it out for a few days I have some thoughts!

I first found out about this on Sophdoesnails' YouTube, where she did a video on her first impressions and measured how it wore throughout the day. You can go and watch that here, if you want to see it in action. I thought it looked quite interesting and considering its less than £10 I thought I would try it for myself.

Product Details:

So, this foundation is renowned for having i n t e n s e coverage. It has 50% pigment in it, compared to other foundations which only have around 20-30%. According to the Dermacol website, it is a popular foundation in Hollywood, and a lot of makeup artists are known to have it in their kits. I can see why, but I'll get onto my thoughts in a second.

Its supposed to provide "outstanding coverage, with a natural looking semi matte finish." which is a claim I will revisit later.

This comes in 16 shades (I believe) and to be honest the shade range is a bit poor. There doesn't seem to be many (in fact, none) shades for darker skin tones, which in 2018, I think is unacceptable, and is something I hate about the cosmetic industry. Makeup should be fun, and you shouldn't feel excluded and not be able to try certain products just because of your skin tone! Alas, I digress...

Screenshot from the Dermacol Website

I actually got mine from a website called Just My Look and you can click here if you are interested. It was £9.95 but at the time they had a deal where if you got any two products from Dermacol, you could get a free sample of their primer. (I think this is still on at the moment) 

I picked up the Acnecover Mattifying Powder, just to have in my bag when I'm out and about. I haven't actually used this yet, but on first impression it smells very very strongly of tea tree oil.

Their satin makeup base primer sample, I was actually really impressed with, and I never usually use primers. (A- because I'm lazy. B- I always forget) but I did notice it really smoothed my skin, and made it feel really soft. But, onto the foundation...

First Impressions

So when I got this, I was excited to see just how full coverage it really was. I decided to test it out on the tattoo I have on my wrist. Also sorry in advance if veins freak you out, this was just the easiest tattoo for me to try it on! 

The coverage is insane. Truly. And you need the smallest amount as well, so I feel this 30g (yes, grams not ml... goes to show how thick in consistency it is!) tube is going to last me a very long time. I did need around two coats to fully cover my tattoo, but even so, I was impressed.
Obviously the colour does not match the skin on my arms very well, and I can see now looking at it on a bigger screen you can see a tiny bit of the tattoo underneath. However I just did this really quickly, so maybe if I spent more time, and used powder too I'd get a better result.

I got the shade 208, because I am so pale, and this seemed like the best one after looking at swatches online. I did notice as well it was so difficult to find swatches! I'm hoping this blog post will be able to help at least someone!

Here it is swatched next to some other foundations I own (sorry for the awful pictures and dodgy swatches, I'm trying lol): 

I learnt a few things in this photo, one being all the foundation shades I have are completely different to each other, the other being I am awful at swatching. How do people do it so nicely....

The shade 208 is actually a really good match, and matches me a lot better than my other foundations. If it helps, I also use the shade "Mont Blanc" in NARS foundations, and I think NW10 in MAC (but i haven't used MAC foundation in years)

This foundation is so thick. It's more like a paste I would say, and a little goes such a long way! I can't express that enough.  On my face the coverage was just as good as on my wrist, and I didn't even feel the need to put concealer on, which is literally so rare for me.

I wouldn't say the finish is matte though, in my experience anyway. It is quite dewy and I do need to use lots of powder to set it down, but thats what I'd usually do anyway.
Having tried it for a few days now, I've found it does last very well, but I have only tried it with powder setting it as this is how I would usually do my makeup, so I can't comment on how it would hold up with no powder!

With the primer sample, it goes on effortlessly, and I use a beauty blender to put it on. Even without the primer though, it's still really easy to blend but it just takes a teeny bit more time.

I'd say if you are looking for a really high coverage foundation that lasts well then you may as well give this a go. It does have SPF 30 so I'm not sure how it would look in flash photography, but it does look very natural and not cakey in real life. It also claims to be waterproof which I haven't tested!

One thing I have noticed though, is that it does easily transfer, which is weird because at the same time it lasts all day! Maybe I am just putting too much of it on, or I just need to touch up with more powder, but I thought I would mention that.

I'd also avoid wearing this foundation everyday, just because I feel it might clog up my skin as it is so full coverage and quite thick. Saying that it doesn't feel really heavy on my face, but it's good to let skin breathe every now and then.

Overall Thoughts:

I definitely would recommend trying this foundation if you can. Especially if you have tattoos you need to cover, or just want to cover for fun. Sounds weird, but it was oddly entertaining. Also because it is so thick and high coverage, I always make sure I thoroughly remove it, and wash my face well before going to bed.

Coverage: 10/10 extremely high!

Longevity: 9/10 Lasts well on me, with powder!

Shade:  9/10 (but shade range is very poor)

Transfer proof?: 6/10- might just be down to how i'm applying it.

Finish: Natural/Dewy.

I hope this has been helpful to at least somebody! Apologies for low quality pictures, I am hopefully investing in a nice camera this year to go with my nice new blog, but in the meantime my iPhone 7+ will have to do.

Thanks for reading as always, and please follow me on Instagram (@curiousginger) and Twitter (@curious_ginger) if you want to be nosey and see what I'm getting up to when I'm not blogging!

Have you tried this foundation, or anything else from Dermacol? Let me know in the comments!


Love, Lauren xxx

First Impressions // Samy Fat Hair "O" Calories Amplifying Creme

Hello

In my recent Haul I showed you this, and said I would be doing a First Impressions post on it, so here it is!

Let's get the facts out of the way first:

This bottle has 155ml of product in it, and I purchased this tube at Superdrug on sale for £2.97, it was originally £5.99 (at the end of this post, I will have links to different places to buy) I got this because it intrigued me, and I wanted to try something new. Here are the details from the back of the bottle.

"This ultra lightweight Amplifying Creme adds incredible fullness, volume and body, while adding texture and shine to your style. FAT Hair's exclusive blend of natural proteins and extract, nourishes each hair strand, resulting in longer, luxurious and healthier looking hair."

This product is claiming to do a lot, so here are my initial thoughts. When I dispensed the product into my hand, the first thing I noticed was its consistency, it seemed very creamy and thick.

I rubbed my hands together and distributed it through my towel dried hair from root to tip, I usually avoid my roots when using styling products, but as this was promising volume, it would be silly to miss them. After this I blow dried my hair- I don't do it any fancy way, I just roughly dried it. I always blow dry my hair upside down, which is a good tip if you are looking for more volume!

The scent of this product is quite difficult to describe. It's quite fruity with a little bit of sourness to it, but it smells good, and I found it didn't linger in my hair.

I found this definitely gave my hair more texture and shine, and it added a little volume, but nothing spectacular. I would say this could work nicely with people who have fine hair, but my hair is quite long, and heavy so perhaps that's why.

Overall, I would say try this product if you are looking for something new, I don't think this is a  must have, but if you are looking for more texture, volume, and shine without your hair looking like a greaseball, this works nicely.

Here are some places where you can buy this product if you are interested.

Superdrug
Amazon 

I hope you liked this post, and let me know if there are any products which you would like to see a first impressions on!

Bye,
Lauren xx

First Impressions: Max Factor Clump Defy Waterproof Mascara

Hello again lovelies!

Today I'm going to be doing a first impressions post on a recent purchase I made recently. Max Factor Clump Defy Waterproof mascara was recently on sale for £7.99 down from £10.99 so I decided to buy it as I was in need of a waterproof mascara. 

Here is a close up shot of the brush. It is a plastic, curved brush which might not be to everyone's taste. I have heard that this looks quite similar to the Maybelline Falsies Wand. 

I like the wand, I think it's good for reaching hard to reach lashes. Now I'm going to show you before and after shots of my eyes. 

There are two things you may notice about this picture. First is that I am awful at applying mascara to the back of my lashes, but also that this really is clump free.

This was about two coats, and I feel like it gave me length and definition. For me though, I usually prefer more voluminous mascaras, and I like my lashes curly. I did curl my lashes before I applied this mascara. I took these photos yesterday, and although this claims to be waterproof, it had smudged by the end of the day which I didn't expect.

Overall, Although this mascara really is clump free, I don't really feel like its for me, I'll run you through some pro's and con's because for all I know this may turn out to be your Holy Grail Mascara!!

Pro's

1. No Clumping.
2. Lengthens Lashes.
3. The wand shape allows to get to those hard to reach lashes.

Con's

1. Doesn't hold a curl very well.
2. Smudged on me by the end of the day.
3. Didn't add much volume to my lashes.

Overall, I don't think I have found a new HG mascara, but I will use this again! :) You can purchase here.

What do you guys think on the Max Factor (covergirl in USA) mascaras?