Maybelline Dream Fresh 8-in-1 BB Cream

I’ve been meaning to blog about this for a little while now. BB creams apparently came from Asia, but maybe they don’t have them in Japan because I’d never even heard of them until recently. I saw an advert for Maybelline’s Dream Fresh BB cream in a magazine so decided to give it a go.

The 8-in-1 part is -

1. Creates a natural glow
2. Compliments skin tone
3. SPF30 UV Protection
4. Hydrates all day
5. Blurs imperfections
6. Oil-free, non-greasy
7. Looks visibly smooth.
8. Feels fresh

When I bought it, it seemed as though there were no different shades – I thought maybe one cream fitted all. But when I put it on, it was pretty orange. I think it’s not so orange that it’s uncomfortable, but it’s definitely on the boarder there.

The texture is pretty nice, and it goes on easily. The coverage is pretty poor, though. It’s right in saying it only blurs imperfections. I’d say it’s pretty poor at doing that as well, actually. So that’s number 1 and number 5 down.

Though when I first put it on, the texture of my skin and the general feel is pretty nice, come mid afternoon I’m a greasy mess with this stuff. I was wearing it when I went to the Mac makeup counter after work and the man there had a go at me for wearing such a greasy mess on my skin. I think I’d rather wear a nice moisturiser at night and wear something normal during the day.

I was so disappointed with this because I wanted for it to work – and for it to be something new for summer. But it’s a big failure for me. I keep trying it again from time to time, because it was 8 Euros for quite a small tube so it’s a waste to throw it away.

I’m hoping that not all BB creams are like this, because they seem to be a good idea for the summer. There was a small sachet sample in my GlossyBox so I might go and buy that one next.. once I’ve used all of this up.

Review – Nail Rock Nail Wraps

I bought two sets of these Nail Rock

wraps while I was back home … I’ve forgotten if I bought them in Boots or Topshop, though…

I’d never tried nail wraps before so I thought I’d give them a go. And this is where I make my confession – I’m not very girly and I’m not very good with ‘girly skills’. When growing up I didn’t really play around with my hair or make-up, so I didn’t really learn how to do cool things to look nice. Nail wraps are a new thing, but still, I have no idea how to do this kind of thing so it was all very new to me!

To put them on, you have to prepare the nail by buffing it, then wiping it with the wipe that’s included in the pack. This part is fairly simple. It’s when you go to put the wrap on that it gets difficult.

I don’t know if my nails are particularly small but even though I tried to match up the right wrap with the right nail, the wrap was still way too big. You have to cut them down to size and I didn’t really have the right scissors to do the job well. You can see above that the curve of the wrap isn’t really even.

I only put on two since I thought that any more would be an overkill.

Once on, they lasted quite a while. They could have lasted a whole week but I took them off yesterday (after having them on for 5 days) because the edges were getting a little frayed and I wanted a different look on my nails.

The pros to these are that they look really effective if done well, and that they last a long time. The cons would be that they are really hard to put on and are even harder to get a perfect finish on. I have more of the same design in the pack still, and I also have some polka dot ones, so I’ll see if I get the hang of it as I use them more. At this point in time though, I think I wouldn’t buy them again. At the end of the day, it’s just easier to paint your nails.

Japanese Beauty Products

The sun has got his hat on! Hip hip hip… oh, poo.

It’s now summer here in sausage land and don’t I know it. I have a wonderful farmers’ tan on my arms and chest. I should be happy – usually I only go red, like a lobster, but I sit and eat my lunch on a park bench so building up a nice tan like that has actually worked this year.

When my tan was still red, I pulled out all my sun protection products – including this one above – Shideido’s Benefique Day Protector. Nothing protects my face better, and it’s light weight and it doesn’t make me break out. A tiny bit goes a long way so although it was expensive, it’s worth the money. I did a little google search of this and found that although Shiseido do sell in the West, this is not a product that is sold here.

Then today as I was browsing fashionista.com I saw an article on “Secret Japanese Drugstore Beauty Finds“. It’s pretty interesting but there are some things you have to know when going into Japanese beauty products.

Firstly, many products say they are “specially for Japanese skin”. Aside from colour changes in make up, nothing should change between different types of skin. Skin is skin. So this means that you don’t have to give up on a product just because you’re not Asian.

Another thing is that a lot of face products, including the one in the article if I remember rightly, contain whitening agents. I found it really hard to find facewashes that didn’t contain chemicals to whiten my skin. I wish that in this day an age people weren’t trying to chemically change their skin colour, though I guess it’s no different to spraying on a tan.

It’s great that we can buy Japanese products through Amazon though. I wonder if I can find some of my old favourites… Though nothing beats being able to wander round Japanese drug stores and picking up new random potions and products!! The article is right – Japanese people do know how to pamper themselves!

Make-Up Post – Bella Pierre

I warned you about make-up related posts! And here is my first. I was talked into buying this mineral foundation powder from BellaPierre cosmetics while in London at Christmas. Seriously, if you sit me down and do my make-up then I will feel pressured to buy what you have put on me. So I bought this. Along with the “kabuki brush” used to apply it.

They promised me that the minerals in the formula would improve my skin (which is very poor…) and would keep me covered all day.

I have to say, I’m not so impressed. I used it initially only on days when I didn’t want to/need to wear a full face of make-up but for the past few weeks while it’s warming up I’ve been wearing it pretty much every day. My skin hasn’t improved, and it doesn’t cover the pinkness of my skin tone and worst of all it doesn’t last all day. I would have wanted it to work so much, to have done everything it promised me.

I’d like to find a powder foundation like this ready for the warm weather, because I don’t want to block up my skin with gloop when it gets warm. If anyone has any recommendations, do let me know!

 

Why I Love Youtube

You can see I’ve been on my Purikura 3ds game again! It works a lot better in the sunshine so since we’ve been having such lovely weather, I thought I’d give it a go while relaxing by the river!

I have turned into a broken record around my friends. All I ever say is how I want to make Youtube videos. I am obsessed with Youtube right now. I haven’t really been that into it before and have used it mainly to look at cat videos. But I have found a whole bunch of beauty related videos, I have become obsessed!

It all started with me watching a video by Michelle Phan, on how to look like Sailor Moon. It was, and still is, fairly ridiculous but looking through her other videos, I started to learn so much about make-up. I then moved onto looking for hair tutorials, and then my obsession began. I even watch these “what’s in my bag” videos now – I used to hate them, like why would anyone be so self-obsessed as to think that people would want to know what they carry around with them in their designer bag?! But now I have watched a few, I have picked up recommendations for products that I wouldn’t have known otherwise. They really are good for knowing what to buy.

The wonderful thing about Youtube is that you see videos of gorgeous girls and they tell you exactly how they got to be that gorgeous – how they did their hair, how they fought against acne, what shampoo they use… and you can follow their steps and learn from them. My favourite movie genre is chick-flick, not because I love romantic stories or anything, but because I love to be inspired by the gorgeous girls in them. I will give any movie, no matter how lame the storyline or how poor the acting, 10/10 if I walk out of the cinema with a bunch of fashion styles I want to try out, or hair styles I want to copy. Yup, it’s pretty lame! Haha.

But the thing with the movies is that these are actresses, and they probably don’t look that good in real life – they’ve been edited and airbrushed and their job is to be with a personal trainer and to have hair and make-up artists around them. Youtube is awesome because you really could look just as good as those girls because there is no trickery going on at all.

I highly doubt I’ll start making Youtube videos for real – I just have my crappy webcam that’s in my MacBook… but I think I’d like to make some posts at least into what products I have bought that are good and ones that I wish I hadn’t wasted my money on. Hey, maybe I’ll even do a “what’s in my bag” post!! I know they won’t be popular (posts with a “Frankfurt” tag remain to be my most popular) but hopefully I can help someone out there save money by not buying bad products just like how Youtube has helped me make informed purchases!

Here are the Youtubers that I have found and loved – just in case you too are interested in this kind of thing.

The Queen of Youtube Beauty – Michelle Phan

A down to earth, cute girl. Check out her monthly favourite videos for good products – NikkiPhillipi

Your hair needs this guy’s videos in its life – Davenmayeda

Very cute Irish girl who makes great make-up tutorials – TheMakeupChair

And Jenna Marbles… she is my lifecoach and guru – Jenna Marbles

Make Up Monday 13.02.2012

While I was in Galeria the other day, I saw an OPI nail varnish that was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Its name was Princess, and it was pink and glittery. And 16 Euros. Gah. I stood staring at it for what seemed like forever, assessing the pros and cons of spending 16 Euros on one nail varnish. In the end, I decided against it, and instead went on search for slightly cheaper ones.

I ended up in Claire’s Accessories, which I know is not so good for a girl over the age of 17. But I like it in there and they have some cute things (though the one in Frankfurt, despite being no smaller than other ones I’ve been to, has a disappointingly small range of goods). I bought the 4 nail varnishes above, which came to 15 Euros all together. They said on them that they are chip resistant, so I decided to try them out and see if that is true.

As you can see, they apply pretty nicely. They do take ages to dry, which was annoying because, despite liking to paint my nails, I rarely have the time to sit and wait around for it to dry. With a layer of top coat from a different brand, they did actually chip after a few days, but I put that down to me having been impatient when it was drying, causing it to warp and clump, and that it was just too thick with all the layers. I have the chocolate colour with glitter tips with now, without a top coat, and I have no chips after 4 days.

I guess I should be aiming at buying more expensive brands, but these, despite not being Princess by OPI, create some really cute designs and have some really cute colours. What’s more, the Frankfurt Claire’s Accessories has some of the friendliest staff I have encountered in Frankfurt so far! Winners all round!

Make Up Monday – 23.01.2012

Though not technically make up, I’d like to talk about Garnier Roll-On today.

When I moved to Frankfurt and got my first Big Girl Job (being an ALT is hardly a job..) I noticed that I started to get bags under my eyes. I’d seen Garnier’s Roll-on for the eyes advertised on tv, and it said that it should make my eyes feel fresher, get rid of my bags and dark circles.

I’ve used this product for about 4 months now and I can say that it does none of those things. At the most, the cooling gel may cool down the puffiness under my eyes in the morning, but that’s about it. It feels nice to put on, but it takes a little while to dry. It’s advertised as something you can pop in your handbag and take with you, but it doesn’t really go on top of make up, so unless you have time to touch up your make up or put a bit of concealer on afterwards, it’s a bit pointless using it during the day.

Given how expensive it is (£9.99 in the UK, around $12 in the US) I think it really ought to do something other than a simple cooling effect. It’s not really something people would just buy to try out – for that item at that price people would consider it, and then expect it to work well when bought. Though I continue to use it (meh, I paid for it so why not) I would not recommend this to anyone else.

Make Up Monday

I always laugh and say that I am a marketers’ dream – I will buy anything that someone tries to sell to me. One of my biggest weaknesses are the make up counters in department stores. If you sit me down and do my make up, I will probably buy whatever it is you are trying to sell me.

So this all means that I have random bits of make up that I never really intended to buy. Some of it’s good, some of it’s a big fat waste of money.

Today the bit I’d like to talk about is actually a really great part of my make up collection – Benefit’s The Porefessional.

Either side of my nose I have quite big pores, so much so that it bothers me a lot. This really light cream feels really silky and doesn’t clog the pores or cause spots. It feels so smooth on the skin and the effects last all day.

Tips: For use on nose, either side of the nose, chin or anywhere else you have large pores. Use after moisturising, and before foundation. Make sure to leave it a few minutes before you put make up on top of it. Also, I have used a few different moisturisers under this and some of them don’t react well together with Porefessional and I get small clumps of white stuff peeling off.  It seems to be cheaper moisturisers that this happens with though.

Overall: Highly recommended! It’s a tiny bit pricey at around $30 / £23 but you only need a tiny bit, so it lasts a long time. I’ve had mine since September and I’ve barely made a dent in it.