Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation Review

I've been waiting for this parcel for like over a month but it finally got here yesterday and I'm soooooo excited about it. Illamasqua had a 50% off everything sale in the middle of May to celebrate them reaching 50,000 Twitter followers, so of course I just HAD to buy a few things. I'm only going to review their Skin Base Foundation in this post but I thought I'd let you have a little nosey at everything else I bought :)

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Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation

 

 

 

The foundation comes in typical Illamasqa packaging with a black square lid with white writing and has a thin nozzle type applicator which I think makes it harder to squeeze out too much product, always a plus!

The product itself feels very light on your skin however it think it has quite good medium coverage and definitely hides redness. It has a very light vanilla/marshmallow smell which I think is just lovely, It makes me want to eat it! I'm normally quite wary of using perfumed products on my face as my skin is very very sensitive but I've had absolutely no problems with this.

 

I have compared the Skin Base Foundation with my usual Barbara Daly Moisture Foundation (review here) just to give you an idea of the colour and the coverage.

 

Swatched:

left: Illamasqua  Skin Base Foundation   Right: Barbara Daly Moisture Foundation

 

 Blended:

left: Illamasqua  Skin Base Foundation   Right: Barbara Daly Moisture Foundation

My camera hasn't shown them up very well but both foundations blend into my skin very well however I think the Skin Base Foundation is closer to my skin tone than the Mosture Foundation, also I think it gives my skin a bit more of a glow and makes it look a bit less dull.

I've worn the Skin Base Foundation a few times now and I love it's staying power, once its on your face it will not budge (unless you want it to). I went out in the rain and my face got completely soaked but my foundation still looked immaculate! This is definitely going to become my night out/party foundation.

The only thing that bugs me about it is that it's quite drying, I found that to make it go on my face evenly without clumping at dry bits I had to put on quite a heavy moisturiser underneath, which isn't ideal for hot days! The back of the bottle says it is 'Suitable for all skin types' but I can't say I agree, It's definitely more for normal/oily skin.

Repurchase? Only with 50 % off, I'm not convinced it's worth £27. I'm happy to pay £8 for the Barbara Daly moisture foundation and have to reapply every time it rains.

 P.s Enter my giveaway to win a Parcelgenie gift of your choice!! :)

What I bought #4

I've been a bit silly and splurged in the sales this past week, but I reckon it's completely justifiable because I didn't splurge in the boxing day sales, that's what I'm telling myself anyway! These are just a few things I bought from Boots, Tesco and The Body Shop. I've bought a few more things from other shops but thought I'd split it into 2 posts so you don't get too bored!

1 / St Tropez Everyday Gradual Tan - £9.66

2/ Rodial Brazilian Tan - Free with Elle magazine 

Tesco have 1/3rd of St Tropez at the minute, and I've nearly run out of my gradual tan mousse so was planning on buying a new one anyway. I love it when there's a deal on something I was planning on buying anyway! So I got this for £9.66 instead of £14.50, which I'm a little bit chuffed about!

I didn't actually pay for the  Rodial False Tan, it was free with this month's Elle magazine but I thought I'd include it here anyway as I'm quite looking forward to trying it! I'll try to do a comparison post in the next week between the St Tropez Tan and the Rodial Tan.

1/ The body Shop Raspberry Body Butter - £3

2/ The Body Shop Born Lippy Lip Balm - £1.80

As I mentioned in my last post, The Body Shop have got a massive 40% off all items (including sale items) so my Mum and I bought a LOT of stuff. This is what I picked up for myself. I also bought a few gift sets to give to other people.

I'm ashamed to say I've never bought anything from The Body Shop before, I've always thought it was too expensive, I mean £13 for a tub of body butter seems a little outrageous to me, even if it does smell delicious! However this tub was in the sale for £5 and with the discount it made it only £3, and my days does it smell good! It reminds me of Hubba Bubba bubblegum. The lip balm is lovely as well and smells of strawberries!

1/ Maybelline Dream Pure BB cream in Light - £6.99
2/ Revlon Lip Butter in Cotton Candy - £7.99
3/  Natural Collection Blush in Pink Cloud - £1.99
4/ Soap and Glory Hocus Focus £4.35 (RRP £13)

This next lot is what I bought from boots. I found the Hocus Pocus in the sale section for only £4.35, it says you can use it as a highlighter or mix a few drops into your foundation to create a dewy finish. I think it's great as a highlighter it has a really shimmery finish which catches the light, it's lovely!
I picked the BB cream up for hot days when I don't fancy wearing much make-up, the Barbara Daly foundation that I'm using at the minute is medium to full coverage and feels quite heavy on the skin when its a warm day. There's nothing worse than having loads of product on your face when it's sweaty and humid!
Boot's had a deal on for buy one get one on all cosmetics so I thought I'd get a long wanted Revlon Lip Butter. I much prefer neutral shades in lipstick so I went for the shade 'Cotton Candy' which is really subtle shimmery baby pink colour!
Last but not least I picked up a Natural collection Blush in the shade 'Pink Cloud'. I don't really have an excuse for picking this up, I just saw it, it was pink so I bought it haha!

Hope this post isn't too boring! Please send me your links!

P.s Only a week left to enter my giveaway to win a gift of your choice from the Parcelgenie app!

Top beauty sales picks!

Ahh I haven't posted in forever sorry guys, I just kinda got out of the flow of things, oops! Anyway, it's summer sale time again so I thought i'd do a little 'pick of the sales' post seeing as I've not got much else to post about. Will probably also do a Fashion one in the next day or two. Enjoy!

1/ Illamasqua Light Liquid Foundation - Now £15 Was £27

2/ Illamasqua Precision Ink - Now £10 Was £18

3/ Illamasqua Cream Foundation - Now £10 Was £23

4/ Illamasqua Nail Polish (various colours) - Now £7.50 Was £14.50

1/ Essie Nail polish (various colours) - Now £1.99 Was £7.99

2/ Calvin Klein Lipstick (various colours) - Now £1.99 Was £13.50

3/ Dainty Doll powder blusher - Now £1.99 Was £13.50

4/ OPI Nail Lacquer (various colours) - Now £3.99 Was £13.95

The body shop have 40% off all items, including sale items and also free delivery when you spend over £5. Enter EXTRATREAT at the checkout.
1/  Sweet Lemon Body Butter - With discount £3 Was £5
2/ All-In-One face base - With discount £8.40 Was £14
3/ Born Lippy Lip balm - With discount £1.80 Was £3
4/ Tea Tree Toner - With discount £3 Was £5

Have you spotted any other good summer sales? Please do let me know! :)

P.s. Don't forget to enter my giveaway to win a gift of your choice from the Parcelgenie App!

Summer outfit

NOTD - Models Own in Grape Juice

I am a huge Essie fan, I love how pigmented the colours are and the big thick brush makes it so easy to apply a perfect coat, even on my left hand. Therefore I've never really given any other brands a chance, except for topcoats where my absolute favourite is the Nails Inc Albert Bridge. I saw a few bloggers raving about the pastel shades that Models Own brought out so decided to pick on up and give it a proper go.

Models Own Polish in Grape Juice £5 - Motel Rocks

I'm still not a huge fan, I mean the colour is lovely and really summery. I just found it quite difficult to apply and a bit gloopy. It's supposed to be grape scented which you can smell a little bit once its dried, but seeing as most people wear a top coat over it, which would over power the smell, I don't really get the point of it. The end result is alright, it just takes more effort to get it like that than it would with an Essie polish. This retails at £5 and Essie polishes are £7.99 so I'd rather pay the extra £2.99 to save myself some time.

P.s my giveway is still running, enter here!

What I bought #3

I haven't done a haul post in like 2 weeks so thought I'd do one of everything beauty/fashion related that I've bought since the last post. There isn't actually that much stuff to be honest as I've been ill a lot of the time so only managed to get a few things. 

 1/ 1/ Maybelline 24hr Colour Tattoo cream eyeshadow in 'On and on Bronze' - £4 Tesco (usually £5)

2/ Revlon Lipstick in 'Carnation' - £2.99  

3/ Model Co Lipliner - Free gift in Mag

Swatched;

Top - Maybelline 24hr Colour Eyeshadow

Middle - Rimmel Lipstick

Bottom - Model Co Lipliner

I actually picked up the Mabelline 24hr Tattoo eyeshadow yesterday on a whim as it was on offer in Tesco when I went in to pick up some lunch. I'm definitely more of a neutrals fan so I picked up the shade 'On and on Bronze' which is just a medium brown with gold shimmer running through it, and I wore it today and it's lasted so far without creasing at all. Definitely a new favourite! 

Next is a Revlon lipstick in shade 'Carnation' which I found in a little shop in Wigan town centre. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called but it was basically a cosmetic and beauty shop which sells end of line make up (e.g last years shades) for really cheap. I think this lipstick cost me £2.99 and probably retailed at around £7.99. It's just a sheer pink, nothing too special! 

This month's Glamour Magazine includes a Model Co free gift, and only costs £1! I picked up a copy which inlcuded the Model Co Lip Liner, it doesn't actually say what shade it is, apparently 'one shade suits all'. It's kind of a nudey-pink colour. I haven't actually worn it out yet but I really like the colour, it's very subtle.

 1/ Garnier Moisture Match for Combination to Oily skin - £2.99 Tesco (usually £5.99)

2/ Avon Secret Fantasy Perfume - £6 for 50ml

I decided I really liked the Garnier moisture match after using a sample I found in Marie Claire magazine (I think). I do have very oily skin along my T-Zone and usually find that moisturiser worsens it, however this one has a really mattifying effect, it's brilliant. I tend to use it at night and in the morning before I put on my make up and I find that my skin is a lot more manageable and I don't have to re-apply my make-up halfway through the day. Only downside in my opinion is it smells so strongly (of green tea apparently), I've had no problem with it irritating my skin I just prefer things that are un-fragaranced, but oh well!

And last of all is this little bottle of perfume. My Mum actually surprised me with this the other day (the doll!) as I 'go through perfume like it's water' apparently. It smells really sweet and flowery,  a lovely summery scent!

So that's everything, I've got a few online orders coming in the next few days so will be doing a few more haul posts!

P.s. Don't forget to enter my Parcelgenie Giveaway!!!