MUA Beauty Balm BB Cream Review

It seems every brand is coming out with their own version of BB cream at the moment, and this time it's Make Up Academy's (MUA) turn. Their version is called Beauty Balm instead of Blemish Balm, but since they put a big BB on it, we'll just assume that's supposed to be the same thing.

Although technically this is not a BB cream, because it doesn't include any SPF. They claim the all in one, multi-functional formula primes, protects and conceals. I'm not sure how it's supposed to protect your skin without any SPF though. Okay, so what does it do? It's basically a medium coverage foundation as far as I can see. For the price it's not a bad one either. The formula is a little on the thick side for my liking, but it does blend out eventually, and it gives a good medium coverage, so I don't need extra concealer on my spots/scars. I chose the medium shade as the light one was too light for me (it comes in 3 shades by the way), and other than being a little pink for my colouring, it's a very good match. It has a slight scent, but it doesn't bother me and fades away quickly anyway. I always set my foundation, so didn't test it without setting powder, but with it this lasted on me for a good few hours before I had to do some blotting, which is very much the same as any other foundation I own.

I'd say for £4 (or rather £3 at the moment in Superdrug!) this is a good foundation. It's a good size at 30 ml too. I would prefer it to have some SPF, but for the price it's really hard to fault it. Out of the four BB creams I have tried so far (MUA, 17, Garnier and Ginvera) this is not my favourite, but probably comes close to the 17 one. The Ginvera BB cream is still leading, although it contains the least product and costs the most, so I'd probably go for the 17 one when it came to repurchasing. I hated the Garnier one so much, I got rid of it, but I will be keeping and using this one, however, probably won't repurchase it if I ever run out. 

See more pictures after the jump!

What's In My Holiday Make Up Bag?

You might not have noticed (thank God (Blogger) for scheduled posts), but I went on a short holiday last week, and I thought I'd show you what make up I took with me. Now bearing in mind I was only away for 5 days and on day 1 I'd already done my make up, I'm thinking I might have taken a bit too much with me. Well, see for yourselves...

It doesn't look too much in the bag, but that's just the basics, I also took 5 Sleek palettes and my Mac highlighting palette with me. So yeah, too much, especially bearing in mind we spent 3 of the 5 days at the swimming pool, so those days I pretty much only wore waterproof mascara and lip balm.

Do you also take loads of make up with you when you go away or are you a minimalist? Let me know in the comments!

For details of what I took with me, keep reading after the jump!

Ginvera Green Tea Nude Cover BB Cream Review

BB Creams are the new big thing in the UK and every brand seems to be bringing out their version of it at the moment. Some seem to be better than others, some labelled as BB Creams are no more than tinted moisturisers, but some are really worth paying attention to. Ginvera Green Tea Nude Cover BB Cream is certainly one of the good ones, in fact I will go as far as saying that it's the best one I've tried so far. (I have already reviewed a couple: Garnier BB Cream and Boots 17 BB Cream, click on the links for the reviews.)

The most unique thing about this BB Cream is that unlike the others I have tried, this has a nude shade, so not so pink as some others. When you apply it in fact, it looks quite grey on the skin, but it blends in really nicely and gives you a great skintone by enhancing your natural tone rather than covering it. Coverage is light to medium I'd say, not as heavy as the 17 BB Cream, but certainly a lot better than the Garnier BB Cream. It doesn't come in more than one shades and says it's suitable for all skin tones, but I would struggle to see this work for very light or very dark skintones. I haven't tested this though, so don't take my word for it!

Once again there are a lot of claims this product has to live up to and it actually does what it says "on the tin". It does blend easily, gives a natural matte finish that lasts, evens out skintone, and it has an SPF30 sun protection which is really good. I can't say it gives a completely flawless coverage, although if you have relatively good skin, then I guess it would, and I can't really comment on whether it's hydrating (although it's not drying on my skin) or whether it helps reduce the formation of lines, which I guess you'd only notice after long term use. All in all this is a good BB Cream, and I would happily recommend this.

My only complaint is the price tag, this is the most expensive one I've tried so far at £20 and you only get 25 ml, so it's also the smallest. Although you can currently get it for just £15 (plus p&p) from Janiro, the new UK distributor of Ginvera products. You can also request a free sample before committing to buying the full size product by clicking here.

See more pictures after the jump!

Garnier Miracle Skin Protector Daily All-In-One B.B. Cream Review

I hadn't even heard about BB creams until just a few months ago (I know, call myself a beauty addict?), but once I read up on them and realised that there were a few coming out in the UK, I thought it was time for me to try them out as well. So I bought Garnier's Miracle Skin Protector Daily All-In-One B.B. Cream (from now on just BB cream). As my skintone is light to medium, I picked up the colour light which actually suits my skintone pretty well.

My problem with this product, that once the word "miracle" is in the title, it's hard not to expect just that. Having heard that BB creams are these fantastic all-in-one cream/foundation/primer/magic potions, I had huge expectations for this one. Did it live up to them? Sadly, no.

I mean, it's not a bad product, it's a decent tinted moisturiser, but I'm afraid it did not live up to all the claims. It's supposed to immediately perfect my skin, giving an even skintone and healthy glow, blur imperfections, hide redness, smooth the appearance of fine lines, hydrate for 24 hours and protect the skin with SPF15. It is hydrating and it does give a glow (ie leaves my face shiny), but it did not cover up any imperfections on my face whatsoever and my skintone was not evened out in the slightest either. Once I set it with Mac MSF Natural, it looked fine, but to be honest, my skin would look the same with normal moisturiser and Mac MSF Natural. The coverage is so light, I really can't say it's an all-in-one product, because I still need a concealer and foundation to cover the redness and imperfections. I also has some breakouts while using the product, but I can't say for sure whether it was related or not.

It's not too expensive at £9.99, but equally not that cheap for something that doesn't actually live up to its claims. You get 50 ml, and little goes a long way, so it will last you for a good while, but I just can't see myself reaching for this regularly I'm afraid.

See more pictures after the jump!

FOTD: Bobbi Brown Black Ruby Sparkle Eye Palette

Following on from yesterday's review of Bobbi Brown's Black Ruby Sparkle Eye Palette, here's the look I created with all 4 eyeshadows. Let me know what you think in the comments.

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Bobbi Brown Black Ruby Sparkle Eye Palette all 4 shades
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Rockstar on lower lashline
Clinique Lash Power Mascara in Black Onyx
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector Daily All-in-one BB Cream in Light
Mac Truth & Light Magically Cool Liquid Powder
Bobbi Brown Illuminating Bronzing Powder in Maui on cheeks
Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Platinum Pink to highlight

Lips:
Mac Dazzle lipstick in Snazzy

See more pictures after the jump!

Laura Geller Baked Marble Eyeshadow/Eye Rimz in Cinnamon Swirl/Mint Chocolate Chip + FOTD

Bit of a mouthful, huh? Anyway, this is my newest Laura Geller baked eyeshadow, it cam out in the same (Vanilla Nudes) collection as the Baked Dreams Cheek Highlighter and Blush I told you about the other day.

What you have hereis basically a baked eyeshadow duo. On the left you get a mixture of autumnal shades: orange, brown and khaki swirled together. On the right you have a very shimmery blackened green eyeshadow that can also be used as a highlighter. I have found that it is best used wet because otherwise it's a bit chalky and the shimmers get lost when applied to the eyelids dry. I used it wet as an eyeliner and it is gorgeous. The left side of the eyeshadow is slightly larger and has good chunks of separate colours, so I managed to pick out the orange and khaki (but there's a nice big brown patch too) to create the look you can see at the bottom of the post. The left side is perfectly good applied dry, in fact I never even tried it wet.

I used my Barbara Daly eyeshadow primer under this and the shadows didn't crease at all and still looked the same 10+ hours later. There was minimal fallout during application, but nothing afterwards. The compact is 1.8 g, so pretty much standard baked eyeshadow size. As it was part of a set, I haven't got a price for this, I don't think it's available to puchase on its own anyway.

Make sure you go all the way down to the bottom of this post as I have a look I've created with this eyeshadow duo which I think turned out really well actually. There are also swatches after the jump.