Hey guys! One week and counting until I head off to Thailand and Laos for two months - I am seriously excited and have had SO many things to do, and of course have had little time to blog :( which is sad but I am still being very active on my Instagram @jemsbeautyau. During my time away I won't be able to blog much (I think I'll be able to prep at least two, hopefully more) and my Instagram will be looking a little barren as well (although I'll do my best). However bear with me and remember that I'll be heading to MAC and Sephora no doubt before I return ;)
Anyway, now that's all out of the way, today is a review of the products I picked up when Priceline was having their 40% off cosmetics sale, which happens about twice a year. I went into Priceline nice and early on the first day, list in hand, and it was quiet and easy for me to find what I wanted, so all in all it was a very easy trip (it can sometimes being seriously busy and hectic so I'm glad it wasn't this time).
I picked up some things I've been wanting to try out a while, but had not yet taken the plunge.
Bourjois Healty Mix Foundation in 51, Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Gel in 52, and Loreal Paris True Match Foundation in C2
Face of Australia Face Base Primer
Essence Silky Touch Blush in Autumn Peach
The Australis Fresh and Flawless Pressed Powder is absolutely raved about online so of course I had to see what all the fuss was about. I picked up "Deep Natural", not the lightest colour but I thought the lightest colour looked a bit too yellow for me so I decided to go with this one.
I think it works really well as a setting powder to mattify foundation and give a bit more coverage. I'm not sure how well it would cover on its own but for someone looking for a light coverage powder, this might be a good choice. Unfortunately, this powder only comes in three shades, which are all relatively similar to one another, which is pretty disappointing. If you match one, you're in luck, but if you're even slightly too light or too dark you miss out on this product. It costs $11.95 at Priceline and you can have a looky here.
The Essence Sun Club Bronzer I picked up pretty much solely because of Karissa Pukas - she really loves it and I was in need of a matte bronzer that was lighter than my Chocolate Soleil, so I just went for it. I got the one for blondes because, well, I am blonde, and that's the one Karissa had. Hair colour isn't really the best way to figure out what colour bronzer you should pick up, so just get whatever one you think will match your skintone.
This is a really good bronzer for adding warmth to light skin. I have very pale skin and struggle finding the balance between "well I'm cool toned" and "but I wanna be sun kissed!" and I feel like this helps me look a bit tanner without my skin tone looking weird. It smells like coconuts which kind of reminds me of Le Tan Gradual Tanner, which isn't the worst smell but is pretty darn strong, for those that it might affect. It comes in a massive 15g which I think will last me forever... The packaging is nice and sturdy and clicks closed well. I could only find a link to the shimmer bronzer on the Priceline website here, which says its $6.15 but also has a product picture of the matte bronzer... which is strange. There's no link to the matte bronzer on the website at all. Get your shit together Priceline website, honestly. Anyway, if you get it instore, make sure it's the matte one, not the shimmer one (I also think it was $7 not $6 so that might help).
That's all for my Priceline haul! Did any of you pick these up? What do you think?
Anyway, now that's all out of the way, today is a review of the products I picked up when Priceline was having their 40% off cosmetics sale, which happens about twice a year. I went into Priceline nice and early on the first day, list in hand, and it was quiet and easy for me to find what I wanted, so all in all it was a very easy trip (it can sometimes being seriously busy and hectic so I'm glad it wasn't this time).
I picked up some things I've been wanting to try out a while, but had not yet taken the plunge.
- Loreal Paris True Match Foundation in C2
- Bourjois Paris Healthy Mix Foundation in 51
- Face of Australia Face Base Primer
- Essence Silky Touch Blush in Autumn Peach
- Australis Fresh and Flawless Pressed Powder in Deep Natural
- Bourjois Paris Healthy Mix Serum Gel in 52
- Essence Sun Club Bronzer for Blondes
Let's start with the foundations -
All three of these are raved about online, and when push came to shove I couldn't pick between the three of them. So I did what any normal person would be - buy all three! (40% off guys!) To be honest, I don't think any of the three colours I got match me perfectly, but I got the lightest shades available and it's coming into summer soooo.... it might be ok.
Here's a comparison swatch to help you out:
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| Top to bottom: Loreal True Match, Healthy Mix Serum Gel in 52, Healthy Mix Foundation in 51 |
As you can see, Healthy Mix in 51 is obviously the lightest colour. The Serum also comes in 51 but at this point I was comparing 51 and 52 and they looked so similar that I just got 52 and figured the lighter coverage one in a darker colour would be useful in summer. Looking at the swatches now there is very clearly a difference but it looked negligible in the bottle. Ah well. The True Match is the darkest of the three, but is also the most cool-toned (which I am), as the Healthy Mix runs very, very yellow. However, I'm not too picky (although I probably should be) because I often mix foundations or even out colour using bronzer and concealer etc anyway! The finish of a foundation is much more important to me than an exact colour match.
The True Match has, in my opinion, the best finish. There is something about it that just looks so natural, it seriously melts into your skin and makes it look like there's nothing on your face. If I ever go somewhere where C1 or even N1 is sold I'd probably pick it up because this foundation just makes your skin look amazing. I understand why Lauren Curtis raves about it so much (and she matches one of the colours perfectly so it makes a lot of sense).
I like the Healthy Mix Serum for days when I want my skin to feel a little lighter and have a more dewy finish. I don't find a massive difference between the finish of this vs the regular foundation, except that the foundation is more matte and slightly heavier coverage. I don't think you need both to be honest. I'd pick depending on level of coverage/skin type, and go from there.
All in all, all three probably are my three favourite foundations I have. I think they are all going to be well used by me and I'm happy to have picked them up!
True Match is $29.95 and can be found here.
The Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation and Serum Gel Foundation are both $32.00 and can be found here and here, respectively.
Face of Australia Face Base Primer
Face of Australia have three similar primers that I had trouble picking between - this one, one with SPF15 and a HD one. I chose this since it had great reviews online and I was looking to replace my Rimmel Fix and Perfect which I've nearly finished up.
This primer is white (strange to me after the Rimmel one is orange!) and quite runny, and you have to be careful when you squeeze it out because quite a lot comes out. And a little goes a long way! It feels very light on your skin and dries quickly, and smooths out my skin nicely. It feels almost like a moisturiser, but leaves your skin feeling nice and prepped for foundation, not sticky or heavy feeling at all.
It's oil-free, which is good for my oily-skinned gals out there, however I am dry-skinned and it still feels really moisturising on my face. It is water-based, meaning it doesn't have silicones that fill in or 'blur' your skin (that's what their HD foundation is made for), so using a pore-filling primer in those areas such as the T-zone may help moreso than this primer.
I do recommend this primer, however I will continue to use my Fix and Perfect until it runs out and will likely use Porefessional or Primed and Poreless to fill in pores and even out some bumpy areas of my skin underneath a primer like this. I think this would be a good primer for someone looking to try primer out for the first time.
This primer is white (strange to me after the Rimmel one is orange!) and quite runny, and you have to be careful when you squeeze it out because quite a lot comes out. And a little goes a long way! It feels very light on your skin and dries quickly, and smooths out my skin nicely. It feels almost like a moisturiser, but leaves your skin feeling nice and prepped for foundation, not sticky or heavy feeling at all.
It's oil-free, which is good for my oily-skinned gals out there, however I am dry-skinned and it still feels really moisturising on my face. It is water-based, meaning it doesn't have silicones that fill in or 'blur' your skin (that's what their HD foundation is made for), so using a pore-filling primer in those areas such as the T-zone may help moreso than this primer.
I do recommend this primer, however I will continue to use my Fix and Perfect until it runs out and will likely use Porefessional or Primed and Poreless to fill in pores and even out some bumpy areas of my skin underneath a primer like this. I think this would be a good primer for someone looking to try primer out for the first time.
Essence Silky Touch Blush in Autumn Peach
I have a love affair for Essence that cannot be tamed. Pretty much every product I pick up by them I love, and this is no exception.
I have to admit, there's nothing really special about this blush. It comes in a tiny single compact, is matte, and has some swirls on, y'know. No fancy shimmer or colours or nice packaging or anything. But it just does its job perfectly, and that's what makes it such a great product, especially in conjunction with the price - $5.10 at Priceline. For some reason there are only four colours on the website and Autumn Peach isn't one of them, but head into your local to see what they have in stock. They come in a range of nice, basic colours, are nicely pigmented, and just have everything you could want in a blush, for an amazing price.
Autumn Peach is a dark pink with orange tones, almost a deep coral.
Australis Fresh and Flawless Pressed Powder in Deep Natural and Essence Sun Club Bronzer for Blondes
I have to admit, there's nothing really special about this blush. It comes in a tiny single compact, is matte, and has some swirls on, y'know. No fancy shimmer or colours or nice packaging or anything. But it just does its job perfectly, and that's what makes it such a great product, especially in conjunction with the price - $5.10 at Priceline. For some reason there are only four colours on the website and Autumn Peach isn't one of them, but head into your local to see what they have in stock. They come in a range of nice, basic colours, are nicely pigmented, and just have everything you could want in a blush, for an amazing price.
Autumn Peach is a dark pink with orange tones, almost a deep coral.
Australis Fresh and Flawless Pressed Powder in Deep Natural and Essence Sun Club Bronzer for Blondes
The Australis Fresh and Flawless Pressed Powder is absolutely raved about online so of course I had to see what all the fuss was about. I picked up "Deep Natural", not the lightest colour but I thought the lightest colour looked a bit too yellow for me so I decided to go with this one.
I think it works really well as a setting powder to mattify foundation and give a bit more coverage. I'm not sure how well it would cover on its own but for someone looking for a light coverage powder, this might be a good choice. Unfortunately, this powder only comes in three shades, which are all relatively similar to one another, which is pretty disappointing. If you match one, you're in luck, but if you're even slightly too light or too dark you miss out on this product. It costs $11.95 at Priceline and you can have a looky here.
The Essence Sun Club Bronzer I picked up pretty much solely because of Karissa Pukas - she really loves it and I was in need of a matte bronzer that was lighter than my Chocolate Soleil, so I just went for it. I got the one for blondes because, well, I am blonde, and that's the one Karissa had. Hair colour isn't really the best way to figure out what colour bronzer you should pick up, so just get whatever one you think will match your skintone.
This is a really good bronzer for adding warmth to light skin. I have very pale skin and struggle finding the balance between "well I'm cool toned" and "but I wanna be sun kissed!" and I feel like this helps me look a bit tanner without my skin tone looking weird. It smells like coconuts which kind of reminds me of Le Tan Gradual Tanner, which isn't the worst smell but is pretty darn strong, for those that it might affect. It comes in a massive 15g which I think will last me forever... The packaging is nice and sturdy and clicks closed well. I could only find a link to the shimmer bronzer on the Priceline website here, which says its $6.15 but also has a product picture of the matte bronzer... which is strange. There's no link to the matte bronzer on the website at all. Get your shit together Priceline website, honestly. Anyway, if you get it instore, make sure it's the matte one, not the shimmer one (I also think it was $7 not $6 so that might help).
That's all for my Priceline haul! Did any of you pick these up? What do you think?
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