It's been a while, I know. I'm sorry. The irony is that I have so much to tell you it's almost overwhelming. There have been some awesome products getting a lot of my love recently which I've failed to update you on. I've been thinking I really ought to make a list so that I can organise my thoughts more coherently and then I won't feel too overwhelmed to write about it all!
I thought I'd kick-start my writing again with a little show-and-tell of a couple of new products that have hit Boots this week; the L'Oreal Infallible Sculpt and the Blush Sculpt.
Contouring is MASSIVE. It's really become a mega trend in the last year, so much so that almost all of the budget brands have now launched their own take on how to chisel your cheeks. I don't know how it got so huge, and a part of me wonders if it's just another ploy to make us even more paranoid about our features and make us part with even more moolah than we already do. Well, it's made me paranoid enough to start noticing photos where I haven't contoured in some way.
So here's a little first-impressions on these two new face babies from L'Oreal seeing as I only acquired them today. First up, the Infallible Sculpt:
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| L'Oreal Infallible Sculpt in Light-Medium |
This is a decent-sized palette with two balmy cream-to-powder compacts. There are two colour options available, light-medium and medium-dark. This is the light-medium one which I think would be fine for very pale to medium olive complexions. The darker side is the contour and the pale side the highlight, although it doesn't behave like other highlighters...more on this later.
It's not clear how you're supposed to apply this, there is no brush supplied as L'Oreal have created their own to buy separately (out of stock where I was today). I tried using my fingers to stripe the product on which worked fine, although a brush of some sort works better for blending (I used a Real Techniques expert face brush).
The pigmentation is just enough for a gentle contour effect and it blends out really nicely. The feeling is like a silky balm (obviously it's silicone based) but the texture feels much more sophisticated and high-end than I was expecting. It's very similar to the YSL Le Teint Sahariennes cream-to-powder bronzer in fact, expect the colour is much more suited to contouring as it's much cooler in tone.
The paler side of the palette I'm not overly enamoured with. It just seems to look a bit ashy on the skin. There is no perceptible shimmer or gleam, and I can't work out how it's any better than using any other highlighter, or even nothing at all. However, I'm going to give it another chance this week when I test it out a bit more.
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| L'Oreal Blush Sculpt in Nude Beige |
The Blush Sculpt on the other hand I totally love! There seem to be 3 shades available at the moment, and I chose Nude Beige as I've not seen anything quite like those shades. In reality the name is misleading as it's more of a peachy copper and my goodness it's really gorgeous! The idea is that you swipe the darker shade lower on the cheek, and then top up with the paler one and then the highlight on the top. This is what I've done here in the photos but to be honest you get a beautiful effect when you just swipe a brush over all three shades and use it like that, it just seems to sculpt naturally, I don't know how!
So, here's mon visage avec a bucket-load of contour products! My camera phone is pants and the lighting is pants but the idea is to show the shade contrast and at least you get the idea. As you can see the effect is pretty soft (although in real life you can see it more) and the colour of the blush is just so pretty. It is on the shimmery side but this seems to fulfill the highlighting element quite nicely. It's not garish shimmer by any means but just seems to enliven the complexion really beautifully.
( If you're interested the rest of the make-up is: Bourjois CC cream over Laura Mercier Radiance Primer (holy grail primer BTW), Clarins Instant concealer, on the eyes Laura Mercier eyeshadows in Morning Dew and Fresco with Stila liquid liner and Dolly Wink Volume Mascara, on lips Revlon Red Colorstay lip pencil with a bit of lip balm)
At the moment the Infallible Sculpt is on offer at £6.99 (will be £9.99) and the Blush is £7.99. L'Oreal is on 3 for 2 at the moment as well.
I'll be back soon with some more make-up juice for you all, sweetpeas! Hope you enjoyed this little update!
