Benefit's The POREfessional Instant Wipeout Masks - The Civilian Report

If something doesn't work on my skin or I get sent a sample that's wrong for my skintone I'll get someone else to test drive it for me. These posts will be posted as 'The Civilian Report', unless otherwise stated these are non-make-up artist friends of mine so their reviews are completely honest and without and background in the business. 

These masks are going to be way too much for my sensitive skin (which is on the mend) so I gave them to a couple of people to try and review for me. Thanks to Fifi for this one.

Whilst my pores have never been my biggest beauty hang-up, there are definitely days where they feel very prominent so I was interested to try these masks.  Now I love a bit of theatre with products, and this does not disappoint. Popping the plastic bubble and squishing the serum around the mask gave a real sense of that my pores were in for a treat. The mask itself isn’t flimsy, and sits nicely on the nose/cheeks. The serum has a light, cooling feeling and after 10 mins I gave the chin a quick swipe as well as smoothing over my nose and cheeks. 

My pores definitely looked smaller without my skin feeling tighter, and I noticed that my tinted moisturiser didn’t settle in the pores the way it sometimes does (although this may say more about my moisturiser than the pore mask). I would definitely use this again when I thought my pores were becoming a little too apparent.

What You Need to Know - The POREfessional Instant Wipeout Masks

• £20.50 or US$32
• Press the plastic button to make the serum go into the cotton mask. Remove the mask and put on the problem area. 
• Exfoliates and removes pore impurities
• Available in the UK from Feel Unique, John Lewis, Look Fantastic
• Available in the US from Benefit, Sephora, Ulta
  

February Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Michelle Cooper. You have won the Urban Decay Naked Palette, Primer and LY38 Brush. As soon as I have your address I will post them out to you.

Thanks to everyone who took part. Come back on Tuesday when March's giveaway will be going live.

February Favourites - Friday Video

February favourites. It was all going so well time-wise until Loki butted in to say hi...


Louise Young Blushers
Skandinavisk Skog Candle
Bobbi Brown Long Wear Cream colour 
Daniel Sandler Intense Volume Pro Mascara
Tada & Toy
Jenny Lewis She's Not Me

Urban Decay Naked Palette

Nearly ten years of blogging and nearly seven years of using the Urban Decay Naked palette and it's never had a review! An outrage that I am about to fix. I don't know why but I feel like this palette gets slightly overlooked and that's actually not very fair. How many other palettes have been around for nearly a decade and still sell really well? Not that many.

Out of the 5000+ reviews on the Urban Decay website for this palette 99% of reviewers would recommend it which is pretty impressive for any make-up product and there's never been a time when I haven't had one in my make-up kit.

With matte, satin, shimmer and sparkle shades it's incredibly versatile and blends beautifully. The only downside is there is a bit of drop down but use a primer and it's absolutely fine.

Quick Day to Night Eyes using Urban Decay Naked - Friday Video

When I worked in an office I'd often have to go out straight from there and having to do quick, easy make-up in the badly lit office loos was always a pain so here's how I'd do it using the Naked Palette from Urban Decay.

I've linked to all products below. This may look brush heavy but actually the one I use most comes with the palette and the most recent palette has a double ended brush which means I'd only end up taking the angle brush with me. So all you'd need in your make-up bag is the palette, mascara, lipstick and eye kohl. Pretty simple.

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MyFace My MixFoundation - sadly no longer available
Clarins Instant Concealer
Louise Young Blusher in Coop
Hourglass Diffused Light Ambient Lighting Powder
Dior Rouge Baume in Lili
Urban Decay Original Primer Potion
Urban Decay Naked
Soap & Glory Supercat Fat Jumbo Liner
Crown Brush Deluxe Crease Brush
Real Techniques Angled Brow Brush
Eyeko Fat Brush Mascara
Daniel Sandler Intense Volume Pro Mascara
MAC Smoulder
Louise Young Lip Trio in Pin-up

L'Oreal Professional Volume Architect

How my quest for more volume has not got me here sooner I do not know. The only other product that comes close to this is another L'Oreal Professional product, Horizon Fix, in fact I'm struggling to think of one I've tried that hasn't done exactly what it's supposed to.

L'Oreal Professional Volume Architect is easy to use, easy to travel with and not unreasonably priced. Most importantly it works. You don't have to trust me. When checking it out on Feel Unique I noticed that it has 50 five star reviews. That's pretty impressive 

For a long time I've believed that the only way to boost your roots is with a mousse but they inevitably leave your hair feeling a bit crusty and one you've brushed it through it disappears (except the aforementioned Horizon Fix). Not so with this which I spritz through the roots and mid-lengths and then either dry with my round brush as normal or rough dry and sleep on it a bit damp and wake up with the best kind of bed-hair. The kind that those of us with fine hair can only dream of. Yes it doesn't get to Dolly Parton levels but it sorts gives enough oompf that you are not constantly shocked when you see yourself in a mirror with terrible '60s hippy hair' as my mother would say.

Smells nice but not of anything too much and has a really handy lock on the spray so it's great for travel. Straight onto the automatic re-buy list.

What You Need to Know - L'Oreal Professional Volume Architect

• £13.50
• 150ml
• To thicken and texturise
• Spray into the roots and then mist over the rest of the hair before drying. 
• Available in the UK from Feel Unique, 

The Sunday Spend

One of these deals below I've already taken advantage of. Why not celebrate the end of awful January.

• Beauty Bay have some great offers. The LMB picks are buy one get one half price on Eye of Horus a brand I've been meaning to try out for ages (the Isis Sun Goddess palette and the Goddess Pencil look good). I'd also get some Cargo products as I haven't tried anything from this brand for years (probably the mascara and Summer in the City eye palette)
• Cult Beauty - 15% of all orders until midnight tonight 
• Kiko - I haven't tried anything from this brand for a while and what I have tried has been a bit hit and miss so I'd really go crazy in the sale here to try more out. The LMB picks are the Water Eye Shadow (champagne looks a beautiful colour), the Mixing Solution (always great to have in the kit for mixing loose pigments) and the nail corrector pen (you can never have too many of these).
• PAM - have a rare sale on and this is great for pro's wanting to top up their kit. If you use Make Up For Ever shadows their have a discount on the refills, if, like me you've wanted to try the Vera Mona colour switch that too is on offer and the fabulous beauty blender is in a bind up with the make-up eraser. I've never used the make-up eraser but someone who had sought me out in Selfridges to tell me how amazing it was.
• Space NK - have £15 off orders of £60 or over. This is an online only deal and I've taken advantage of it and bought the Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Oil which I've been tempted by since I heard about it. If you've been thinking about making a spendy purchase from Space NK for a while then now may be the time to bite the bullet. 

Foundation Chat with Leila - Friday Video

Right this is the longest video ever. We will do better next time and try to be more concise. We do discuss 21 foundations here though so it may be worth just skipping ones that aren't of interest to you. I've listed what we talk about in order below. Please do leave a comment if you want further info and we will get back to you.

This is the first proper video we've done together and foundations is a HUGE topic - Leila wasn't feeling great hence why I do a lot of the talking. I also have two ill little boys so my time editing this has been punctuated with brow mopping and cuddling.



NARS Sheer Glow
Chanel Vitalumier Aqua
Chanel Vitalumier
MAC Face & Body
Estee Lauder Daywear
Estee Lauder Double wear
Estee Lauder EE Cream
Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation
Bobbi Brown BBU Palette
Bobbi Brown BB Cream
MyFace MyMix Foundation
Benefit Hello Flawless
Chanel Pro Lumier
Dior Star Fluid
Laura Mercier Silk Creme
Hourglass Illusion Hyluaronic Skin Tint
Sisley Phyto Oil-free foundation
Babara Daly Face Lift
Chantecaille Just Skin
Dr Hauchka Day Tint
Daniel Sandler Invisible Radiance Foundation and Concealer

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit

I included this in my Christmas gift guide last year when I had just received it and I've been using it pretty solidly ever since. Time for it to get a proper review. Just when it's selling out everywhere...

Since I started using the Diffused Light Ambient Lighting powder in August I've been completely converted to the idea of an 'ambient lighting powder' and feel dull (in every way) if I don't have it on. My (ongoing) beef with palettes is, why make us want and pay for extra colours which can't possibly suit everyone? Well this is not the case here. I think this palette really could work on everyone. I have to be incredibly careful with the blush tones or I come out looking like Andy Pandy so for those who need a bit more ooompf, you get it here.

In the Kit - Louise Young Make-up Brushes

Being a make-up artist and writing about beauty, make-up and skincare means I'm not slavishly loyal to any brand. I try what I get my hands on and if it works I'll keep using it until I find something better. For many make-up artists brushes are an almost guilt-free shopping pleasure. You always have an excuse to buy new brushes, there's nothing worse than not having the exact one you want to hand and no one likes having to clean brushes mid-way through a job so it's best to have plenty to hand. And ones that can do more than one thing are often the best.

However, if I was told I was only allowed to use on make of brushes both in my kit and on myself there's no question that Louise Young Cosmetics is the brand I'd go for. And I'm not alone. Her brushes are found in kits all over the world - in TV studios, film sets, bridal specialists and the backstage areas at all top fashion shows. And with good reason. These brushes are handmade in the UK (you can see how in the video link below) and all created by Louise, one of the hardest working artists in the business and a complete perfectionist. All the brushes (and the make-up in her range) are made for her, they are things she wants to use when she's working. Which means I've yet to use one of her brushes and not really get why it's in the range.

Urban Decay Naked Palette Quick Review - Friday Video

I really love this palette, which is why it's chosen for the #LMBturns10 giveaway, but haven't featured it as much as I should have. Look out for a Face of the Day with this later on in the month but for now here's a quick review on why I love it...

Dr Sebagh Serum Repair

First things first, I’d have never coughed up £69 for 20ml of anything, not even in my hardest partying days. This product came as part of the 2015 Liberty Advent Calendar, a thing of wondrous beauty and which I can heartily recommend.

This serum promises to hydrate and firm and reduce wrinkles. It’s basically made of hydrolysed collagen (watery collagen), and a version of hyaluronic acid, as well as a lot of other things that sound really complicated and which I’d rather not know about.

I’ve been using it every morning, as I don’t care about my wrinkles when I go to bed at night. It’s a weird half gel/half liquid, and is dispensed via a dropper so you feel properly medical when you go about your post-shower routines. As you rub it in your face it smooths in and then your skin feels oddly sticky. You’ve got to massage it into clean skin and top with moisturiser, so that’s what I’ve been doing.

I would say I’ve absolutely noticed a difference. My skin looks brighter, less tired and definitely less puffy.  Less kind of old, basically. I have 41 year old, Australia-damaged skin and it definitely has made a difference to how I look for at least the first two-thirds of every day.

It’s one of those products I should never have started using. Now I’m up for £69 every few months. I should say that I’m only a third of the way down the bottle despite having used regularly for 3 weeks now so if using once daily it lasts better than some other things (NOT NAMING NAMES, CLARINS DOUBLE SERUM).


What You Need to Know - Dr Sebagh Serum Repair

• £69
• 20ml
• Claims: Firms, hydrates, reduces wrinkles, boosts production in collagen
• Contains hyaluronic acid
• Apply before moisturiser
• Available in the UK from Beauty Bay, Liberty, Dr Sebagh, Space NK 

LMB turns 10 - February 2016 Giveaway (NOW CLOSED)

Thank you to everyone who got involved last month. Now to February's giveaway and I have three really exciting prizes.

The original Naked Palette from Urban Decay is 7 this year and although I have one in my kit that I do use sometimes, it is here as the winner of the go-to eye palette for my personal use. Whenever I don't know what eye make-up to wear or I don't have very much time, or when I go on holiday this is the palette I reach for.