My two favourite drugstore foundations

Excuse the poor iPhone quality of this picture, I'm currently at uni and forgot/lost my SD card at home (dohh!)  so now I'm bound to my trusty old iPhone/digital camera.

Now I have to admit that I'm not usually one for drugstore foundations- I'm quite a bit of a snob when it comes down to what I put on my face. I've heard such amazing things about these two foundations however, that the beauty obsessive in me eventually had to have them. I've been using these two for quite some time now, so I thought it was time to share what I think about these little gems.

First of all, the packaging of these is really cute. They don't look as luxury as Chanel or Estée Lauder foundations, but it's the inside that counts, right? The Rimmel Wake me Up foundation is stored in a glass bottle, whereas the Bourjois foundation is housed in a little plastic bottle, which makes the Rimmel foundation feel a little bit more luxurious than the Bourjois one. Since they're both drugstore foundations the shade range isn't great. I find that the lightest Bourjois shade- which I have- is a little bit lighter than the Rimmel one. I don't really mind, but paler or darker girls should bear this in mind.

Now on to what's in the bottles- the actual foundation. The Rimmel Wake me Up foundation is supposed to, as you could probably tell from the bottle, wake your skin up and has got a tiny bit of shimmer in it. The Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum is supposed to give your skin a nice radiant boost and revive your complexion- so they are both supposed to do pretty much the same thing. When you put the foundations on your hand, they both smell really nice- Bourjois smells like peaches and fruit, I find (which is quite obvious since it has got fruit in it which are 'healthy' for your skin, even though I don't think it makes much of a difference), and the Rimmel One smells quite lemony. Bear in mind that if you've got quite sensitive skin, these probably won't be for you since they are quite perfumed and might break you out.
Now on to the coverage. The Bourjois Healthy Mix serum claims to give you a light coverage, but I do find it quite buildable. The finish is so beautiful, it really does make your skin look so much more brighter and just amazing. The Rimmel Wake me Up gives you a medium coverage, but you can build it up to full.

Well then, you may think, but how's the lasting power? I too find the lasting powder of a foundation the most important thing, and since I've got quite oily to combination skin, foundations tend to slip off of my face quite easily. The Healthy Mix Serum has got a semi-matte finish, and although I do like it so much, I find that my skin gets oily rather quickly- 3 to 4 ours after application. And yes, I do use a power on top of it! The Wake me Up foundation lasts a little bit longer on my skin, but after 4 or 5 hours or so the oil starts coming through. I do find that, if you've got oily skin like I do, you need to use an oil free primer and a powder to set your foundation- I use Benefit's Porefessional Primer and Rimmel's Stay Matte Pressed powder, which are both amazing.

Have you ever tried one of these foundations? What do you think of them?

Estée Lauder Double Wear foundation & concealer

Excuse the poor iPhone quality of this picture, I'm currently at uni and forgot/lost my SD card at home (dohh!)  so now I'm bound to my trusty old iPhone camera.

Well now, let me introduce you to my most loved/hated product. A product which I sometimes love so much that I just can't get enough of it and wear it every day, but also sometimes hate so much that it disappears into my huge box of make up and doesn't see daylight for a few weeks. Yes, it's one of the most famous and loved foundations of half the female population- Estée Lauder Double Wear foundation.
I've used this foundation when I was 16 and loved it so much that I wore it everyday, until it got empty. Then, being the beauty-obsessive I am, I did naturally have to purchase and try another foundation, so I've never really thought about this little gem again. Then, when I saw Kate (which is one of my favourite beauty bloggers out there, she is literally one of the most gorgeous persons ever and really knows her skincare!) blogging about it and bearing in mind how gorgeous and healthy yet still natural her skin does always look, I decided to cave in and buy it. I first got matched and the colour was terrible on me- it was at least 4 shades to dark and it made me look like a giant orange. So a littlewile later I decided to buy the lightest shade available in Belgium, 2N2, Fresco. Now that's one thing I don't really like about this foundation; it's still too dark for me. This foundation has got much lighter shades that would fit caucasion skintones so much better, but they just don't seem to be available anywhere in Belgium. Another thing that I don't really like about this is that it sometimes can feel a little bit too heavy. Another downside about this is that it doesn't have a pump. MAC foundation pumps do fit, but I don't own any MAC foundation, sigh.

But I think I'm in the loving-phase right now. Yes, I'm wearing it again every single day, and yes, I love the finish, the coverage it gives and that, even though this claims to be "medium to full coverage", it still does look so very natural. I first warm a little bit of this foundation up on the back of my hand and then buff it in really well into my skin- application is key with these kind of foundations. I don't find that I need to use any powder on my oily skin, which is such a plus since powder can make this foundation look a little bit over the top and very cakey. I find that my skin doesn't really get oily throughout the day, which is most certainly a plus! It does last me all day, which is never the case with any foundation I wear, so yeah, it's pretty darn amazing ;).

The Double Wear concealer however, is what I've been calling my all-time favourite concealer since I got it. It's full coverage yet still looks natural. I do, however, only use this on blemishes and other little imperfections on my skin and then use the Yves Saint Laurent Touche Éclat under my eyes. I love it. It's such a great colour match (I wear 01 - Light, which is the lightest shade) and I love it. I don't find that I need to use any/much concealer when I'm wearing Double Wear on it's own, but when I'm in a 'hate' phase with Double Wear, I do use a very light foundation and then this and the Touche Éclat and I feel pretty darn great, too. I couldn't recommend this enough, and even though it's so much more expensive than the famous Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, which they don't sell here, this is such great value for money and I will definitely be repurchasing this. This one does also have a better colour range, which might be worth considering ;)

Have you ever tried Double Wear foundation and/or the Double Wear concealer? I've never seen anyone talking about the concealer, which I thought was quite odd! Will you be trying them out after reading this review?

Origins Clear Improvement mask

Excuse the poor iPhone quality of this picture, I'm currently at uni and forgot/lost my SD card at home (dohh!)  so now I'm bound to my trusty old iPhone camera.

I have been loving Origins products recently. Not only the fact that they contain only natural products, thus don't have any nasties like parabens and mineral oil in them, but also the lovely smells, the really simple but gorgeous packaging of them and the fact that my skin really does seem to get on with them made me kind of obsessed with them lately. I find myself walking to their counter more and more, sniffing and tyring out their products, and I swear I won't rest until I've got a whole Origins skincare collecton! I'm making great products owning a cleanser, a toner, a moisturiser and their Super Spot Remover (post here!), but since my previous face mask ran out (the Body Shop's green tea mask) I was looking for a new clarifying clay mask. I've heard lots and lots of people praise this, so naturally couldn't wait to try it out!

So what does Origins claim about this product?

"Active charcoal acts like a magnet to draw out deep-dwelling pore-cloggers. White China Clay absorbs environmental toxins. Lecithin dissolves impurities. Without all that "stuff" down there, skin "breathes a sigh of relief. Use once a week or as often as needed. Open pores with warm, moist towel and layer on. Allow to dry. Rinse well."

I can now honestly say that it does what it says on the packaging. I use it about once or twice a week, during my weekly/biweekly (is that even a word?! Haha!) pamper night after cleansing and exfoliating. I then do what it says on the bottle and put a moist flannel on my face (hot water of course!). Then I pat my face dry with a little towel  (I don't like to cleanse/apply masks etc. on a wet face, I just fel like the product does just 'glide' of the face and isn't nearly as effective!). I lather quite a thick layer of it on, and it immediately feels very refreshing. After leaving it on for 10-20 minutes, a little period of time in which it tends to get quite hard and feels kind of funny to talk/laugh, I rinse it off with, again, hot water and my feels feels so refreshed and just so, so very much cleaner. It really does feel like all of my impurities are gone and some spots look significantly smaller and are much less painful! Since I can get quite spotty, I tend to buy more clay masks, althoughI'm really tempted to try out their Drink Up Intensive mask too! After that, I tone, put on my nighttime serum and quite a rich daycream, as I don't really tend to get along with mattifying moisturisers as they make my skin feel so much drier and thight!

This is such a great product, and when you use the Super Spot Remover afterwards, your skin will look clearer than ever. Sorry for the long review, but I do really think that it's such a great product and that it really does live up to its expectations. I loooove Origins skincare so much and I just couldn't recommend them more. The next things on my wishlist are most definitely the Skin Rejuvenating Treatment and their High Potency Night-A-Mins Nightcream. Is it weird that I find that such a clever and nice name?! Haha me so silly.

Have you ever tried this face mask? What do you think about it and just about Origins products in general?