Pretty Jelly - Grape Escape Review

Hi there!

The sun came out :-)

This means it's holo time!  The next one on my to-try list is another polish from the Pretty Jelly Glamorous Thief collection that I bought recently.  I've already reviewed Bullet Rouge from the same collection, and you can see that post HERE

I was in two minds as to whether to swatch any polishes this weekend, as I still have that slash on my cuticle, but as I don't feel like I've seen any sunshine for MONTHS, who knows when my next chance will be?  So I decided to go for it, and cover up the slash with my watermark, YOLO, right?

So here's Grape escape in all its sunshine-y glory:

Awesome, eh?  It's a lovely mid-toned purple, leaning to the lavender side, and really wearable.  I still haven't managed to catch the real life holo loveliness properly, as it looked much more holo than it appears in these pictures.  Definitely this could be office appropriate though, as in the shade it looks just as pretty but in a less 'disco' way:

This photo also shows the finish nicely too.  This is two coats over regular base coat and no top coat.  The formula was lovely to apply, and very forgiving, as I dug the brush into the first coat accidentally when I was applying the second coat.  Other polishes could have made a bald spot clumping argument about that, but this polish said 'hey mistakes happen, let me smooth that out for you', and it did, nice.  It left the brush (which was one of the thin-ish type, not pro-wide or flat) at a nice controllable speed and didn't flood or clump.  Dry time was medium-fast.  I like alot.

As a large swathe of the UK, including us here in Cumbria, have had alot of snow this week, I thought I would carry on the theme with snowy nail art.  Looking through my stamping plates, I was surprised to realise I only have one full nail snowflake plate design, so it wasn't really a hard decision which one to use. Bundle Monster BM-323.  I tried a few different polishes with this plate.  Barry M Indigo worked really well, but it wasn't really the look I was going for. 

The Essie Borrowed and Blue I bought from Amazon was delivered this week.  I have been so disappointed with it.  The colour is really pretty, but the formula is awful!  Plus I thought Essies had wide brushes now, and mine has a thin brush in.  Clumpy, floody, just a bottle of yuk.  So imagine my happy surprise when I discovered it stamps perfectly!

Here's what I came up with:

As you can see from the photo, I'd lost the sun, so I took a pic under the kitchen lights so the holo could come out to play:

I'm really pleased with how this came out.  It's definitely gone onto my list of 'lets do this one again' manis.

And just because I can, here's a picture of the polish nestling in the snow:

Just one little green shoot sneaking up past the cap, spring is trying to peek its way through!

Pretty Jelly polishes can be bought in the US HERE for $10 each, they are 3-free and cruelty free, so it's all good.

What do you think?  Do you own this one? 

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~

Nunale Nail Strengthening Cream Review

Hi everyone!

Here we are at the weekend again, hooray!  It has been an up and down week for me this week, somehow I feel like I've been affected greatly by not very much happening, most strange! 

Although one thing did happen.  It had been snowing heavily yesterday, on the way home I VERY narrowly avoided sliding straight into the back of a 3-car pileup, new pants please!  It wasn't actually snowing at the time, but the snow was blowing off the fields onto the road, and it had caught some drivers unawares.  Just around a bend a car had slid off the road, and I think someone had stopped to help, and then someone had slid into the back of the good samaritans van.

So around the corner I came, not actually going that fast, and YOWSERS, sooo nearly piled into them all!  ABS kicked in, I went sliding sideways, just missed them by the skin of my teeth, and managed to control the slide enough that I managed to get back straight and back on my way.  So lucky that nothing was coming the other way, the road was just like a lake of compacted ice.  I think the car (a long way) behind me wasn't so lucky, as in my rearview mirror I could see the traffic all backed up.

I was pretty shook up when I got home, but it also made me realise how lucky I actually was, and how easy it is for your life to change on the flip of a coin.  I also felt so sorry for the people who had actually been in the accident, but the ones I passed were all out of their vehicles talking to each other, and cars can be mended much more easily than people can, so mixed blessings I suppose.

Anyway, on to the actual point of this post haha!  I still have the slice on the cuticle of my middle finger, so am undecided whether to do any swatching/polish reviews this weekend.  I suppose if the sun comes out I won't be able to resist doing the rest of those holo's I bought, but I have so many other reviews I want to do anyway, from head to toe, that I won't be stuck for posts!

Todays review is for Nunale Nail Strengthening Cream.  My nails have been in a bad mood, peeling and cracking, since before Christmas, and I decided it was time to try something new.  I had heard great things about Hard As Hoof nail strengthening cream, and I had tried that a while back, but apart from smelling like Bakewell Tart (lovely!) I couldn't actually see any difference in my nails.  I know lots of people swear by it though, so it may just work for some people and not others. 

But I wasn't about to give up on nail strengthening creams just because one hadn't worked for me, so I was browsing around Amazon (my favourite online shop), and I came across this one: NUNALE CREAM ON AMAZON (LINK)

It wasn't too expensive at £4.39 with free shipping, and it had good reviews, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Here's what I recieved:

Firstly I'd like to say, that I'm completely smitten with this packaging!  It's so delightfully kitsch!  The tube is perfectly handbag sized for me at 11cm's long.  It's also tough enough that you don't have to worry about it bursting open in your bag.

The instructions are on the box:

Pretty straightforward, right?  So that's what I've been doing.  Here's what it looks like out of the tube:

Just a pretty pale pink colour, and this is waaay more than you would need for all ten fingers.  Consistency wise, it's like a thin cream, it's pleasant and is easily absorbed.  A very similar consistency to Sally Hansen's Healthy Cuticles Now Cream at a fraction of the price.  It has a light smell, a bit like talcum powder, but there is an undercurrent of lanolin (or maybe glycerin) smell, so if you don't like that smell you may well pick up on it.  I personally found it ok, and I'm pretty particular about scents as you probably know.  Please excuse the, errrr, slightly amusing shape the cream splodged out in, I promise it was completely accidental!!! 

The ingredients are listed on the box, along with the advertising spiel:

Now I was intrigued by seeing cholesterol in the ingredients, so I emailed the makers or Nunale to ask them what it was for.  I also asked them a couple of other questions, and was delighted that they replied quickly, courteously, and they answered all my questions.  Great customer service!

In their reply they told me that cholesterol is used because it acts as a moisturiser to revitalise the nails - who knew?!

I also asked them how long they'd been making Nunale, and if they made any other nail products, they told me they don't make any others, but they have been making Nunale for over 50 years, so it has definitely stood the test of time!

I also asked them if it is cruelty free, and importantly they tell me that it is - the glycerine is vegetable derived for anyone who's wondering.  So, guilt free moisturing, always a good thing.

So.... does it work?  I would say yes it does!  I've been using this in conjunction with a couple of other products, and I've had no peeling ever since - NONE.  The one nail that was worst affected, my left index, is surviving, although I do have to keep buffing it and filing it short, as it was a really bad peel and I'm hoping it will grow out before it pings off.

As you can probably tell, I've been super impressed by this cream.  It's reasonably priced, the packaging is super sweet, it's cruelty free, and it works!  I have no hesitations in recommending it to you, I hope it works as well for you as it has done for me.

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~

Pastel Cloud Nail Art with M&S Limited Collection Polishes

Hi everyone!

I know it's strange for me to post on a Tuesday, but I did my nails tonight, so I thought I would do a 'Nails Of The Day' post. 

I went shopping on Sunday, and I bought three polishes from the Marks and Spencers Limited Collection polishes. 

I love it when Spring is on the way, because all the pastels come out to play, and I LOVE pastels.

The three I picked were Pale Lavender, Pale Peach and Mint.  I was also missing a super-pale blue in my collection, so I went into Superdrug and picked up Rimmel Lasting Finish in Sweet as Sugar, and Barry M Blue Moon.  For this manicure I used the Rimmel, and will try the Barry M another day.

I wanted to test ALL the colours out, so I decided to do a pastel skittle.  To make a different colour on all 5 nails, I added Max Factor's Mellow Yellow, which was already in my stash.

I was undecided whether to do polka dots, stripes, or a cloud manicure.  In the end I went for the cloud, and here's what I ended up with:

Apologies for the slice across my cuticle on my middle finger.  I was reaching into the kitchen drawer for the tinfoil, and the serrated edge on the clingfilm box caught me, ouch!  I couldn't photograph my other hand because my index finger on my right hand has an even worse injury, deary me.

So, I actually planned this mani out.  I put the most 'normal' colours, i.e. the lavender and peach on the two largest nails.  Then, I wanted the two most similar colours, the green and the blue away from each other, and the same with the green and the yellow, so the positions just slotted in nicely.

For the clouds, I used the 'next door' colour.  I moved over one nail each time, so the peach is on the main part of the middle finger, but the end of the ring finger, and so on.  All in all I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  Here's another pic:

I was mightily impressed with the Marks & Spencer polishes.  First coat was slightly streaky, but you expect that with a pastel.  Two coats was enough for opaqueness and they dried nice and fast.  Not bad at all for £3.50.  If they did free shipping they'd be sold out in no time at all.

 

The Rimmel blue was a pain.  This is 3 coats and I still had VNL.  I hope the Barry M is better.  I already knew the Max Factor was a pain, it was gloopy when I got it, and I thinned it, and it's still not a very nice consistency.  It goes bald at the cuticle, and goes streaky no matter what I try.  But it was the right shade for this so I perservered.

 

Here's what the skittle looked like 'nude'  As you will see I did have a bit of chipping by the time I thought to take the pics, 24 hours on.  It didn't have a topcoat and I'm pretty tough on polish as I type all day so this really wasn't bad going:

Lastly, here's a line up of the polishes.  I've remembered to include the brush this time, I keep forgetting.  It was a flat style one, and quite stiff but not too bad.  I would have preferred it to have been slightly rounded at the tip, so it loses half a mark for that:

So there we have it, todays NOTD.  Which finger colour combo is your favourite?  I think mine is the ring finger, the blue and peach really work nicely, but I actually quite like them all.  Hopefully I can manage not to get bored of this one until the weekend!

 

Until next time...

 

MASPOOASE x x x

~Wendy~

A-England Princess Sabra - Review and Nail Art

Hiya again!

Today has been a day of excesses for me.  I stayed in bed too late, went shopping and spent too much, came home and ate too much junk food, and didn't get any housework done.  Slapped hands. 

Well, never mind, on the positive side, I've FINALLY bought myself a pair of work shoes that actually fit me, rather than struggling on with the ones I bought before Christmas that are way too narrow, and making my toes swell up.  I just didn't want to think I'd wasted my money as they cost me £40, but I've finally admitted defeat and thrown them in the bin.

Also, it's impossible for me not to buy polish at the moment, as spring is coming and all the pretty pastels are in the shops.  I adore pastels, and I bought 3 from Marks & Spencer which I'll swatch for you another day, they're so pretty in the bottle I hope they don't let me down.  I've also ordered Essie's Borrowed and Blue, as it looks like the perfect powder blue I've been looking for, fingers crossed!

Anyway, on to business.  Recently A-England had a fab sale where all their polishes were reduced to £6 each. Two of them I bought straight away, Princess Tears and Princess Sabra, and three, Tristram, Dragon and Lady of the Lake I ordered later.  Princess Tears and Princess Sabra were delivered on Friday, so I swatched Princess Sabra yesterday.

A-England have a lovely way of creating a background story for all their polishes, Princess Sabra's story on the website is "The heart-stoppingly beautiful daughter of the king, whose misfortune it was to have her name drawn as the next sacrificial victim of the dragon".  The founder of A-England, Adina, has based the colour of this polish on the eyes of her cat, Tristam.  She describes it thus:  Alluringly feline golden olive bronzite, the sacrificial Princess constantly shifts with her elusive, myriad hues.

So let's get on with the swatches.  Here's how it looks out in the garden.  Yesterday was cloudy and overcast:

It looks to me like a greenish toned antique gold.  This is two coats over basecoat with no topcoat.  The formula was nice, and has seemed pretty consistent across all the A-Englands I've tried so far.  Dry time was medium/fast. 

There is some scattered holo in this, but don't buy it expecting a holo fest, or you'll be disappointed.  However the best thing about it was that it's kind of metallic, and no brush strokes!  I hate brush strokes, I think it completely ruins any look of sophistication a polish might have.

It doesn't completely do my skintone justice at the moment, but I think in the summer when I get a bit of colour it will be perfect.  Here's another outdoor pic:

Try as I might, I couldn't really get the holo to show in my pics.  Here's the nearest I got, you can kind of see it up near my cuticles:

To jazz it up a bit I used some small circle stickers to mask off an area of my nail, then stamped using the snakeskin effect on Bundle Monster plate BM-215, and an Elf polish called Chocolate, along with NYC polish Canal Street blobbed randomly.  As it was I needn't have bothered doing that as the mottled effect I had planned didn't really show, but hey-ho it was worth experimenting because you never know:

In my impatience I smudged my index (pointer) finger with my SV topcoat, but it's not too noticeable, so I didn't bother to re-do.  Here's a final pic, taken under the kitchen lights.  Again, the holo allllmost comes out to play:

All in all, I like this polish.  I don't own anything like it, and I think it's going to make a versatile neutral-ish base for a lot of looks.  I can also see this coming out alot around Christmas time (I know it's a long way away, but planning ahead), and already I'm wondering what it might look like with Nubar Black Polka Dot over it, also safari/animal prints... and so on.....

It's available with free international shipping for £9 on the A-England Website HERE.

What do you think?  Are you a fan of gold toned colours?  I am, even though they don't do me any justice haha, I keep at them!

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~

Pretty Jelly Bullet Rouge - Review and and Nail Art

Hi everyone!

Hope your Saturday's going well.  I've had a day of biscuits, Dexter, and swatching, so I'm a pretty happy bunny, as you can imagine. 

I'm managing to stick with Detox January, no alcohol so far this year.  Saturday mornings are so much easier this way, I'm starting to wonder whether to stick with this all the time unless I'm going out.  And seeing as I don't go out much AT ALL, that would mean hardly any drink.  Perhaps that's a good thing, as I don't seem to be missing it much.  We'll see, I might change my mind completely on the 1st February haha.

Today I bring you a review of a polish that's part of a set unfortunately not available in the UK.  Luckily for me I have a good friend in the States who sent them to me, a million thanks to Wes at Polish Me Manly

This is an indie line called Pretty Jelly and this holographic collection is called Glamorous Thief.  The first polish I've chosen to swatch is called Bullet Rouge.  The name would make you expect it to be red, and indeed on their website it's described as a magenta-red, but to me it looks more like a slightly muted fuschia, and in some lights a dusky pink. 

It's been an incredibly cloudy and dull day here today, with flakes of snow, not a day to bring out the best in holo's, but here's what it looks like in cloudy daylight.  As you can see, the holo doesn't show so much in that light but I think it gives a good idea of what the base colour looks like without the sparkles.  This is two coats:

Application was lovely, this is my first indie polish, and I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was easily as good as any others I've tried, including the high end brands.  The formula was quite thin(ish), but opaque in one coat, however I did two to give me the depth of colour I wanted.  As you can see it self levelled nicely over my ridged nails, and dry time was medium-fast, I was very pleasantly surprised!  It reminded me alot of A-Englands formula.

But, of course, none of this is its piece de resistance.  First and foremost its main appeal is that it's a holo, and we need some better lighting to show that.  Ideally I would like to wait for a sunny day and do this properly, but as this is January in the North of England, I think we'd be waiting a while.  Therefore I've gone back to my trusty kitchen under-cabinet lights, and we'll just have to imagine a lovely sunny day instead:

Pretty eh?  As I mentioned, this is two coats, over a regular base coat and no top coat.  As much as I love looking at super duper swatches that make polishes look awesome, I'd like my swatches to accurately represent as best I can what you can expect if you buy this polish and get it home.  Too many times I've been disappointed by a polish, because I've bought it on the back of a swatch which probably had aqua base, four coats of colour, and Seche Vite on the top.

Because I can't get enough of the holo loveliness, here's another pic:

There is more holo to this in real life than shown in these pics, my camera just didn't want to pick it up.  The brush was quite thin, which was strange to work with after all the pro-wide brushes out there at the moment, but it didn't hamper the application in any way.

 

So me being me, then I wanted to do some nail art over it.  I've re-found my mojo for stamping lately, so I got my plates out:

I used Konad special polish in black for the stamping.  The bows are from Konad plate M59, and the hibiscus on my accent finger are from Bundle Monster plate BM-318.  I didn't get the bows on straight, but they are a definite improvement on my past efforts to line stamps up so I must be learning something.  I kind of wish I'd done the flowers on all the nails because I really like how they came out, but I'll try that another day. 

 

Heres another pic, I'll make this the last one, I promise!

You can buy these polishes by going to the Liquid Jelly website HERE the full size bottles like the one I got are $10.

 

The polishes are 3-free and cruelty free, so you can shop with a clear conscience.

 

I also have the other three colours from this collection to swatch, so watch this space!

 

Are holos amongst your favourites too, or do you prefer glitter for your bling fix?  What do you think of this one?  If you have any polishes similar to this, I'd be intrigued to hear about them, I don't think I could ever have too many.

 

Until next time...

 

MASPOOASE x x x

~Wendy~

Snooker Loopy! Nail Art

Hi everyone!

I hope you are well today.  Its been snowing here today, thankfully it's stopped now.  I love looking at the snow, but I HATE driving in it.  Last year it snowed, then froze, then snowed again on top of that, it was flippin deadly.  My car broke (again) on Thursday night, the bonnet  (hood) catch broke and it wouldn't close properly.  Thankfully I managed to get booked in to the garage on Saturday morning and they mended it, but that was when I was going to blog so didn't get the chance.  I did manage to squeeze in a little bit of polish shopping though, so will do some swatches later this week :)

It's been a frustrating weekend for me nailart-wise though.  It seems that I've had some brilliant ideas, but making them work on my nails has been a torment.  Sometimes they've looked ok and I've smudged them before I've photographed them, or they haven't looked anywhere near as good as they did in my mind.  There's a design based on a photo that I'm dying to do, but I really want to do it justice, and what I've produced so far is.... well, you'll see.  When I do finally get the design I like, I'll put the fail in there too to show you.  Also I've been doing my Valentines experiments.  Have come up with a few maybes, again, will include them once I get the design I like.

Anyway, on to what I have managed to produce today.  The snooker has started this weekend, and I LOVE it!  You get to know the players, and that makes the psychological element of the game even more fascinating to watch.  My favourite player is Ronnie O'Sullivan, he's the bad boy of snooker, gotta love that.

So, as I was watching the snooker I thought to myself, why not do some snooker nail art?  So I did exactly that.  Unfortunately by the time I'd finished it was dark outside, so please excuse the indoors photos.  Maybe one Sunday when I'm at a loose end, I'll do this again and put some daytime pictures in here too:

Pretty sure I got all the colours of ball in there!  These are the colours I used:

Here they are, lined up on my mantel piece.
White: OPI Alpine Snow
Black: unnamed from Simple Pleasures Halloween Scented collection, review HERE
Pink: OPI Mod About You
Blue: Barry M Cyan Blue
Yellow: Rimmel Sunshine
Green: Barry M Spring Green
Brown: Nails Inc Ganton Street
Red: Rimmel Double Decker Red
For the background 'baize' base, I used a Color Club green which I believe to be Twiggie from their Poptastic Collection, but have thrown the packaging away so can't be 100% sure.  I wish so much that Color Club put the names on the bottles.

Anyway, I'm rambling again, here's another pic:

As you can see, I was a tiiiny bit impatient with my topcoat and slightly smudged a few red balls, but in real life you don't see that.  Nowhere to hide with these close ups!

And finally, here's the BBC Snooker theme tune, the video to it is so clever and creative.  I always get excited when this comes on!

So, are you a snooker lover or a snooker hater?  I admit nail art and snooker aren't usually talked about in the same breath, but I love both!

 

Also, one final, final thing...  I noticed I've passed 50 followers, this is a really big deal for me.  I'd like to thank you, each and every one, from the bottom of my heart, for sticking with me while I work out this weird and wonderful world of blogging.  It really means alot, and I hope to keep you all entertained for as long as you'll have me!  Thank you again XXX

 

Until next time...

 

MASPOOASE x x x

~Wendy~

Lace Dots Pink Nail Art

Hi everyone!
 
Naileys you can look again now :)
 
Today I've got some nail art for you that was inspired in no small part by a Youtube tutorial from nailart guru and all round lovely lady, Plasmaspeedo.  I'm a massive fangirl of her videos.  If you want to see her tutorial, HERES the link.  I asked her if it was ok for me to do some nailart based her her design and she said no problem, so here it is!

I wanted a nailart look that I could wear to work, and that means no crazy colours, so I selected Nails Inc Marble Arch, which is a nice light cerise, or punchy pink, whichever way you like to look at it.

I did divert slightly from her tutorial, here's how it ended up, and then I'll get on to how I did it:

Apologies in advance for the quality of the step-by-step pictures, my camera was on the wrong setting and I didn't notice until after, doh!

So firstly, after my basecoat, I applied one coat of Marble Arch just on the bottom two thirds of my nail.  I didn't use tape, just freehanded because I'd be covering up the line anyway:


As you can see, it's by no means perfect, but that was just as good as I needed it to be.

Then, using Konad White stamping polish, and Bundle Monster plate BM-324, I covered the line across the top.  I believe the plate is from the 2012 collection:

Again, not perfect, I haven't done much stamping lately, and am way out of practice! Also I was a bit impatient and smudged the polish on some of the nails, but c'est la vie.

Once I'd finished stamping, I made my dots, using quite a small dotting tool, and OPI Alpine Snow:

And there we have it, all it needed now was a top coat (I used Seche Vite), and a clean up and you're good to go!  Here's a final pic:

I'm really liking this! It's girly and fun without being too cutesy, and it wasn't too hard to do.  If you haven't seen any of Plasmaspeedo's nailart tutorials yet, check them out, I'm sure you'll love them as much as I do.

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~

Magazine Sample Sachets - Skincare

Hi there everyone!

'Naileys' look away now haha

Although nails have completely overtaken my blog lately, and I'm happy about that, amazingly there are some other things I like.  Free things are one of those things.  However I'm terrible for hoarding things away and forgetting about them.  When Glamour Magazine had a free Nails Inc polish on the front (the only Glamour I ever bought) I took out the sample sachets and put them in a drawer.  Then I forgot about them. 

Anyway, as part of my New Years resolution to get more organised, I was clearing out one of my lotions and potions drawers and came across these samples.

There were four:


I decided that I could probably use three of these together.  Start with the ROC moisturiser, then on with the Nivea primer, and then the Max Factor foundation.  I'll try the BB cream another day.

I suppose then that you need to see my ugly mug?  Apologies for the terrible poses and the awful photos.  I hate having my photo taken, which is why I like nails haha.  Plus I'm not at all photogenic.  Plus you can see now what I mean about those big eyebrows!  Apparently big eyebrows are 'in' for 2013.  Yeah, that'll be why I let them get this way ;-)

So here I am, not long out of the shower with clean skin.  All that I've used so far is a squirt of toner.  My skin is not too bad, mostly I put that down to Decleor oils and Prolagene Gel, although it does get hormonal (don't we all lol):


And here's what I thought of the products:

ROC Hydra+ Bio Active Moisturising Cream SPF15 Normal Skin
I threw the packet away before I copied down the description (typical) but an online description I found (Marie Claire) says:

If you suffer from sensitive skin, then negotiating the right skincare products can be a beauty minefield. RoC has tackled the issue, and created the Hydra+Bio Active range, that is not only tailored to sensitive skin, but also to particular skin types, whether dry, normal or combination. £12.95

 

What I thought:

Looking for the description, I found out this product has been discontinued so I won't harp on too much about it. 

How much in the packet? 1.5ml/0.05fl.oz

Enough to do a whole face? Yes enough for face and neck comfortably

What was it like?  It had a nice smell, a bit like a light nivea cream smell, sinks in in about 5 minutes.  It had quite a thin fluffy texture, and did leave my skin feeling moisturised.  I wouldn't have like to have paid £12.95 for it.

Would I purchase?  No

 

Nivea Essentials Express Hydration Primer

They say:

We all know what it’s like to rush through your morning skincare regime with one eye on the clock.  So we’ve come up with an easy way to look fabulous fast. NIVEA Express Hydration Primer moisturises your skin and absorbs instantly. Giving you a smooth base you can apply make-up over straight away. For a look that lasts all day long. £4.99.

What I thought:

How much in the packet? 1.5ml/0.05fl.oz
 

Enough to do a whole face? Yes, and neck
 

Instant absorbtion?  No, took alot of rubbing in
 

Other thoughts: Didn't leave a slippy feeling like other primers, instead once rubbed in, skin feels a bit 'grippy'.  Fresh gentle Nivea smell which wore off quickly.  I did get a little bit of 'roll-off', but not as much as I had with the No.7 primer.

At the moment you can get a free sample of this if you want to try it for yourself on the Nivea website.link HERE although I don't know if it's international or just UK.

Would I purchase? Probably not

 

 

Max Factor Face Finity All Day Flawless foundation in Natural

 

They say:

All-Day Flawless 3-IN-1 Foundation with SPF 20 has been designed with a primer and concealer built-in, to give your look durability. The primer gives a smooth, even base for hold. The concealer corrects for a flawless look and the foundation gives a light, flexible finish. Now you can be certain that they will match, because they’re built-in, so you can be sure of a gorgeous flawless finish all-day long. Believe in beauty that lasts and lasts. £8.99

What I thought:
How much in the packet? 2ml

Enough for a full face?  More than enough, I ended up getting it everywhere.  Enough for at least two full applications.  I didn't realise it was supposed to already have the primer in, I couldn't tell how that made any difference.

Other thoughts: It was quite runny and it did have full coverage.  Not really any sense of skin left, however it did seem to emphasise my pores and a few of my deeper wrinkles.  The shade was fine for me, which was lucky.  Heres how it looked with everything on:

It has evened out my skintone, but in real life it did look a bit heavy, and I did have some cakey patches after a couple of hours. 

Would I purchase? No, but if you are looking at full coverage foundation, this would be a good alternative to Double Wear Light by Estee Lauder.  I already own that and it reminded me of it.  As I use (and like very much) the Bare Minerals powder foundation, I guess I'm spoilt now by the light feel of that, and so liquid foundation felt a little heavy to me.

I can't really decide if there's enough difference between the before and after pictures, in real life it was a huge difference, but by the time I'd got round to doing blogging today I'd lost the light, but hey, live and learn!  I've had a really productive day today though, decorations are down, house is all tidy and neat again.  Have been for a walk/run (bit of both), and started some organising.  Also so far am sticking to Dry January (no alchohol), so the blog got pushed back and back in the schedule.  Have still managed to squeeze it in though.

And there we go, certainly not a usual blog post for me, but I got rid of a few things out of my beauty drawer, and also got a blog post out of it, so win win!  This counts towards my organising resolution as it was part of a clear out so I'm happy.  Do you hoard freebies away like me?

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
 ~Wendy~