Summary for 2015 - Cosmetics

<this post has been written on my mobile and will be formatted better when I get to my PC>

I love make up.  I enjoy playing with colours and the way it makes me feel good.  Last year, I tried to make more ethical choices with my cosmetics.  With a tight budget it was difficult to choose what to try as nowhere locally stocks these products to see before you buy.  

JANE IREDALE 

Thanks to Skin Maze I was able to buy samples of the products to see what I though before buying a full size.  I haven't been disappointed by anything I have tried.  

I have tried: 

* Glow Time BB cream (shade 1 & 3) 

* Pure Pressed Bare Mineral (shade Ivory) 

* Just Kissed Cheek & Lip stain (shade Forever Pink, Forever Peach, Forever Red)

* Honey Bronze 

Glow Time is my main foundation now.  Sometimes I use a little as concealer or a full face.  I did find my shade is right between 1 & 3 but they don't do a number 2 so I mix them both together in an old Lily Lolo foundation pot.  

I love the lip & cheek stain.  I was looking for something to replace my Benefit Benetint and this is even better.  This stain is hydrating, lasts well (no reapplying) and gives a gorgeous soft shade that is unique to you.  Peach is my favourite and once I've bought more ill do a full review on all three shades.  

LILY LOLO

Lily Lolo was the first mineral foundation I bought and first natural cosmetic brand.  

I have tried: 

* Mineral Foundation (shade Porecelain) 

* Finishing Powder (shade Flawless Matt)

This brand is so affordable.  The pots have screw top lids so they won't leak when travelling. The pots are reusable.  I've used them to mix my Jane Iredale BB shades, to store a lock of my sons hair and for stashing some hair accessories.  You can buy samples of shades from them direct or from Lucy Rose.  

I'm hoping to try their BB cream as I found the powder a bit drying for me.  The also have two eye shadow pallette stage I've been eyeing up for months.  

ERE PEREZ 

After my terrible experience with BWC I was determind to find a good organic waterproof mascara.  My search took me to Australia.  

I tried: 

* volumizing Waterproof mascara (black) 

* Natural Almond Oil mascara (black)

* Rich Olive Oil lipstick (high tea) 

* Oat Milk foundation (light)

* Oat Milk foundation (medium) 

The waterproof mascara has been great and I use it every week when I go swimming with my son.  It also survived the tears at my Gran's funeral.  I've been using it for 6 months without irritation.  I have found that it can smudge if I'm wearing my BB cream without powder so I usually add a bit of powder around my eyes if I'm wearing that. I wouldn't say I noticed it adding much volume but I bought it more for its underwater effectiveness.  

The other mascara was actually a gift for my best friend who has very sensitive eyes and can't wear mascara.  She was really pleased with it and now wears it for nights out and dates.  

The lipstick was a free sample.  At first I wasn't keen and found it drying as i usually wear balms but I have grown to like it and it's a really good neutral day colour.  

The foundation was a sample I purchased from Flora & Fauna as I loved what I read about it.  However, their idea of light was too dark for me. So, I didn't even need to try medium.  

ZOYA 

I wanted to try an organic nail varnish and this brand had good reviews and was a reasonable price.

I have tried:

* Nail Polish (shade Elodie) 

I was impressed how nice this looked and lasted without a base or top coat.  It didn't chip for about 3 days.  

I'm encouraged to try more natural polishes as they are just as good as conventional polishes but without the nasties.  I bought mine from Naturismo.

I have Sparituals protein basecoat and some shades on my Lucy Rose wish list.

100 PERCENT PURE

I took advantage of its Black Friday deal to get two lip and cheek tints for just £7.  I liked the idea of the products using fruit extracts but couldn't find many reviews.  

I tried: 

* lip & cheek stain (cranberry glow) 

* lip & cheek stain (pink grapefruit) 

I kept the cranberry one and gifted the grapefruit to a friend.  

The chubby stick is too big to apply directly to your lips so I ended up rubbing it onto my finger and then onto my lips.  My cheeks I applied it to directly and then smudged with my finger.  The product lasted a good while and wasn't too drying.  

The cranberry gives that flushed cherry colour you get when you've just been kissed or come in from outdoors after a brisk walk on a cold winters day.  

I wasn't in love with this product enough to purchase again at full price but the brand is good quality and I'd be interested in trying more.  They have beauty sets where you can get a lot of products to create a look at a subsidised price.  

FIGS & ROUGE

I discovered this brand when hunting for a good hand cream for my dry winter hands.  On Naturismo, I spotted their lip balm on sale.  I bought the hand cream from Feel Unique. 

I tried: 

* Tinted lip balm (mocha orange) 

* hand cream (vanilla) 

The lip balm squeezes out the tube like a gel tooth paste.  You can't apply it directly to your lips.  You need to use your finger to smudge it in which then leaves you with a sticky finger.  It does have a lovely subtle orange taste and sparkle.  

The hand cream is very moisturising.  It feels like my skin is drinking water.  It's refreshing but not wet.  It dries quickly but doesn't dry out my skin.  The product is amazing.  My only gripe is that the scent is too sweet.  I love vanilla but this is too sweet like ice cream and makes me crazy hungry.  

Performance wise both products have rescued my dry hands and lips from the cold and made my winter much more enjoyable.  I will buy both again but I'll try a different scent...

PIXI

This is not an organic brand and I bought it believing it was - whoops, I strayed. 

I have tried: 

* concealing concerntrate (shade Adaptable Beige) 

*. Mesmerising mineral pallette (shade Emerald Gold)

* endless silly eye pen (shade black noir)

* tinted brilliance balm (shade rosy red, unique pink) 

I bought the pallette and rosy red balm myself but the other products were a free gift from either Cult Beauty or Beauty Bay.  

The eye shadows are perfect colours for redheads.  The unique pink was a gorgeous colour that was individual to each person but sadly no longer appears on their website.  The concealer was too orange for my pale skin.  I love the eye liner, it was so soft and creamy.  The rosy red was a lovely bright red, not a natural shade.  

BEAUTY WITHOUT CRUELTY 

I ordered this brand because I was looking for a waterproof mascara and a concealer.  The make up was very affordable and I purchased it from Animal Aid so got to support a good cause too.  

I tried:

* waterproof mascara (black)

* liquid foundation (sheer)

NOT IN STOCK:

* concealer - chubby pencil (fair)

Sadly, the chubby pencil was out of stock but Animal Aid had excellent communication and customer service and my money was promptly refunded.  

The mascara was in a cellophane wrapper and I had to break the seal to open it so I could tell it had not been opened before.  Unfortunately the fluid had dried up and it was like applying crumbly dust to my lashes.  I was so disappointed.  My much didn't improve with the foundation - the shade sheer lived up to its name.  It should be called tinted moisturiser because it had no effect at all at evening my skin tone - it looked as if I was wearing nothing and not in a beautifully natural flawless way. 

Since my dissappointing experience with this brand I have not bought any more product from them and have no wish to do so. 

VERDICT

At first organic products seemed like a gamble because there is no way to test them out but I've found some helpful online companies that have helped me identify the products that are right for me.  I shall do a post soon reviewing the online shops I have used.  

At first I thought the change would be expensive but I've replaced things gradually and done my research and mostly I've been impressed with what I've found.  

Here comes the long lust list for cosmetics for 2016:

This year, I hope to try more Jane Iredale and have my eye on their spf face powder and facial mists.  I really would like to get some organic eye shadows and like the look of both the Lily Lolo palletes and their shade witchypoo.  I like the Bellapiere palletes on Naturismo too. I have long list of products I want by brand Pacifica - I may have to get one of their collections but currently they only seem to be available on their American website.  I will probably start with their waterproof mascara and eyeliner and see if it beats importing Ere Perez (it's a long wait to be shipped in from Australia). I need to get better at doing my nails so I'm desperate to buy the Sparitual protein top & base coat and some pretty polish colours but I struggle to choose shades. I also liked Kure but they are very expensive so keeping my eye out for a sale.  RMS illuminzer is £30 so it's always in my basket but never makes it to checkout because I that's my whole budget gone on one item.  I've tried lots of Vapour samples and never been disappointed - their primer, foundationd and concealer were a close second to Jane Iredales BB Cream.  Ilia has some lovely looking kits for lips and eyes that I'm hoping to treat myself to, one day...

<this post has been written on my mobile and will be formatted better when I get to my PC>

Tarte vs Jane Iredale

I've been lusting after Tarte cosmetics for a while but they are difficult to buy in the UK.  In addition, Tarte Cosmetics official website does not ship to the UK (USA, PR and Canada only).  The only option appeared to be QVC. 

QVC don't do samples and had a limited choice of shades (none of the pale shades).  I found a seller on eBay who sold 2ml samples for £3.90.  I ordered the shade Fair Sand.  I feel its a tad too dark and yellow for me.  I planned to order Fair Beige or Ivory come pay day.  

Whilst waiting, I discovered Rose Beauty Store.  This store is online, the office is located in the USA but  supply a UK distributor that uses DHL (so you don't pay import fees).  They charge £1.49 per sample and £2.00 shipping.  One sample would cost £3.49 and two samples would be just £4.98.  Www.rosebeautystore.com is worth checking out. Their prices are reasonable and they have an excellent range of some difficult to get products.  

At the same time as ordering from ebay, I ordered a sample of Jane Iredales Glowtime BB cream in shade Fair BB1 from Skin Maze.  This is an award winning salon in Dorset that you can visit for treatments.  They stock the full Jane Iredale range and offer a sample service. This sample cost £2.50 and free shipping.  The sample arrived with a generous amount of product.  I have used it to do a full face and thought it looked great and felt good on. 

Sample Jane Iredale Glowtime in Fair BB1 purchaser from Skin Maze.  Sample Tarte Foundation in Fair Sand purchaser from eBay but similar can be purchased from Rose Beauty Store for less money.

The BB cream feels more moisturising and smooth.  Tarte felt thicker and drier but not in a nasty way. 

Top is Jane Iredale BB cream and bottom is Tarte Foundation.  The BB cream is lighter and has a pink tone.  Tarte is darker and has a yellow tone.  

The both deliver a good full coverage and blend reasonably well.  When I applied the BB to my face, I used my blender sponge and it looked smoother.  They both seemed to melt into my skin as they warned up.  

TARTE FOUNDATION VERDICT (£36.99 at Roses Beauty Store)

This shade is to yellow for me.  I might order Ivory or Fair Beige to see if they are better matches as I love the fact this is made from clay from the Amazon rain forest that has been untouched by pollution.  Doesn't that sound beautiful?  I do like how the product feels on my skin.  The product has an spf 15.  

JANE IREDALE BB VERDICT (£32.50 at Skin Maze) 

I honestly thought this would be too dark - like nearly everything that claims to be light.  When I first put it on, it was too light.  However, give it a few seconds to adjust and it looks perfect.  It feels so good on my skin - it gives that feeling that your skin will be better for wearing it which is the result of a good BB cream.  

It has an SPF 25 which is great protection for skin that easily burns. Seven of the Jane Iredale products have won the Skin Cancer Foundation seal of approval and this is one of those award winners.  I've had my eye on their "powder me spf dry sunscreen".  If I couldn't find a good foundation with spf I was going to buy the sunscreen as a finishing powder to give me the protection I need.  

It claims it can also be used as a concealer but I'm not yet convinced - i think if I had a bad blemish, I'd still want the reassurance of a strong concealer.  

This BB cream is everything I could wish for.  I'm not sure I can wait until pay day.  This is the winner of everything I've tested and I don't feel the need to test anymore.  

I shall do a post on where to get samples for different brands so you can do your own trials if you wish. Xxx