Beauty Bar: My Year Of Drugstore Foundations

For me, putting on my foundation in the morning is one of the key steps to preparing for the day. It has the power to even out skin tone, cover blemishes, brighten the appearance of skin and generally make my pale complexion look more alive.
I've tried out countless foundations over the last decade, some to much more success than others, but here's a run down of the products I've tried in the last 12 months, how I'd rate them and how likely I'd be to repurchase.

Bourjois Paris - City Radiance
My Shade: 01 Rose Ivory
Rating: 8/10
Claims: To protect skin from pollution, give a brightening effect and give SPF30 skin protection.
My Thoughts: I really liked using this foundation. It's a light formula that I found to give around a medium coverage. It gave my skin a bit of a glow, without looking shiny. I really liked the protection that it gave too, as wearing SPF daily is so important.
The only thing I would like to see added to this foundation would be a UVA protection rating of 4 or above, particularly as skin protection is one of its main claims.
Would I Repurchase? Yes, I'd definitely repurchase this foundation to create everyday makeup looks.
Try It Here

Garnier - BB Cream / Tinted Moisturiser
My Shade: Extra-Light
Rating: 7
Claims: Miracle Skin Perfector that has 24hr hydration, evens skin tone, smoothes lines and imperfections, boosts healthy glow, contains SPF 15 protection and has Vitamin C.
My Thoughts: I know that this is technically a BB cream, rather than a foundation, but I did use it in place of a foundation for several months so thought it was worth a mention.
This BB cream is really brightening and does have a pigment to it to even out skin tone. It can leave the skin looking a little shiny though, so when I used it I always followed with a matte powder.
Would I Repurchase? Yes I would. I'd use this during the summer months when I don't want anything too heavy on my skin.
Try It Here

Bourjois - Healthy Mix
My Shade: No. 52, Vanilla
Rating: 3/10
Claims: To be an anti-fatigue foundation, that brightens skin and enriches it with Vitamins C, E and B5.
My Thoughts: I had heard amazing things about this foundation and it was recommended to me many times by friends and other bloggers. However, I was so disappointed with it!
I found it to be really heavy, and could both feel and see the foundation on my skin.
I think this might be more for you if you like a heavier coverage, but to me it didn't look natural enough and left me with dreaded Oompa Loompa vibes.
Would I Repurchase? Never.
Try It Here

L'Oreal Paris - True Match
My Shade: Rose Ivory
Rating: 9/10
Claims: Micro-Match Technology creates a true to skin feel and perfectly captures skin tone and undertone. Contains SPF17, 24hr hydration and is 'super blendable'.
My Thoughts: I love this foundation! It provides a medium coverage that is brightening, and doesn't look cakey. The range has a real variety of shades, which means that I've been able to find one that looks very natural on my skin. I also love that it contains SPF protection.
The thing that has impressed me most about this foundation though is it's longevity. I apply it at 8am, and its still giving great coverage at 6pm! I have never used a foundation before that has been that good, including designer products that cost triple the price.
Would I Repurchase? Definitely! This foundation is so good that I'd use it for any occasion, day or night. The only things that could put me off buying it again, would be that it isn't vegan and doesn't contain any UVA protection (although this can easily be remedied by my morning moisturiser and sun tan lotion).
Try It Here

Overall, I think the winner has to be the L'Oreal Paris True Match foundation. I think this will be a firm staple in my make up bag for years to come.
And for days when I want a more dewy look, I've started to mix with it a drop of the Bourjois Paris Sculpt Light highlighter - just a little extra tip there if you're after a bit more of a glow!

Have you tried any of these products before? If so, how did you find them and do you have any other staple foundations?

Lisa xx

Beauty Bar: Lip Balm Gold

Introducing Nivea's Hydro Care lip balm - unless you've used it before, it's not actually new or anything...
This is my absolute favourite lip product. Ever. Of all time.
I've repurchased it at least 3/4 times (which for me constitutes a life-long fave) and am coming to the end of my current one so will be buying another very soon!
I am always absolutely plagued by dry lips in Winter, which is a bit of a nightmare when you love lipsticks as much as I do, so finding a good, reliable lip balm has been key for me.

Reasons why I'm the number one fan of this lip balm:

1. It's a twist-up stick, which means that I don't have to worry about cleanliness when I apply it, and it doesn't gunk up my hand either. Super practical.

2. It is actually moisturising. This might sound obvious but I have used some pretty drying lip balms in my time; the worst culprits of all being lip butters from The Body Shop.
There was such a craze for those lip butters when I was in high school and I remember excitedly buying the coconut one because it smelt SO good and because I really like their body butters.
I wanted to like the lip butter so much that I just kept using it and pretending it was good, even when it was actually just worsening and worsening the dry lip situation... Never. Again.

3. It has SPF 15! As you'll know if you've read my blog about the importance of SPF and UVA ratings in skincare and beauty products; I am a massive fan of anything with this sort of skin protection. I mean, if you can put it into a product, why wouldn't you?

Do you have a beauty/skincare staple that you repurchase again and again?

Lisa xx

Beauty Bar: Brows

Over the last few years, bold brows have shown up everywhere. Gone are the days of over-plucking for the thinnest brows possible; now a much more natural look is favoured, and the search has been on to find a product that can make our brows thicker and bolder.

For this post I've tried out a few different products to compare them to one another. There are lots of different brow needs out there; for me, I naturally have full brows but the hairs are blonde so they're often almost invisible.
I first noticed this when I saw a photo of myself where sunlight was shining on one side of my face and made it look like I only had one eyebrow! Since then, I've been trying to achieve a fairly natural looking brow that's a few shades darker than my own.
Here's what I've found:

1. Benefit Gimme Brow
Shade:1
Rating: 3.5/5
I find this product to be very hit and miss. Some days it's really quick to use, other days it tends to clump up and I end up with more product on my skin than on the actual hairs themselves. I think this might be easier to use on brows that are already pretty full and bold, and that just need a little something extra.

2. L'Oréal Paris Eyebrow Pencil
Shade: 02 Blonde
Rating: 4.5/5
For me, this eyebrow pencil is perhaps the most reliable and consistent of all the brow products I've tried. This is the one that I reach for if I'm in a rush and need a product that will get me good results fast. The only negative thing that I find with using an eyebrow pencil is that it can be easy to be too enthusiastic and create a 'drawn on' look that isn't very natural.
I love that it's double ended, with wax for keeping hairs in place, and a little brush for achieving a more natural look.

3. L'Oréal Paris Micro Tattoo Brow Artist
Shade: 103 Dark Blond
Rating: 3.5/5
When I originally bought this product I really liked it and filmed my first impressions on my Instagram Stories (@lisaerinwoodson). However, I've since used it daily for a couple of weeks and sadly my rating of it has gone down slightly.
The idea behind this eyebrow pen is that it is a semi-permanent version of microblading. In terms of it being semi-permanent I have been pleasantly surprised that even after I've taken off my make up and done my entire skincare routine, my brows are still slightly more visible than they would naturally be. The bold colour is gone, leaving a much more subtle colour that suits a no-make up look.
The pen nib is split into three fine points, which when I first used the pen worked really well without having to apply a lot of pressure. It was highly pigmented and the three point nib gave a much more natural look than the single nib alternatives. However, the second time I used it the pen was much less pigmented, meaning that I needed to apply way more pressure, which was trickier to use and gave less natural looking results.

4. NYX Micro Brow Pencil
Shade: Taupe
Rating: 4.5/5
One of the things that I love most about this product is that it comes in a cool blonde tone! So many products only have one blonde shade, which is usually a warm yellow colour and doesn't look right with my skin tone, meaning I have to go for a light brown, which is a bit too dark for me.
I also love how thin this pencil is - great for creating a natural look - and it's wind-up so it's always precise and never needs sharpening.

I think for me, the winner has to be the L'Oréal eyebrow pencil, which I occasionally use in combination with the L'Oréal Brow Tattoo pen.
How about you? Have you tried these products before? Or do you have a favourite that isn't on this list?

Lisa x

Evading Those January Rays

January weather in the UK = cold, dark and rather uninspiring. At this time of year I can hardly remember what sun cream is, let alone contemplate putting it on my face. So why did I buy a tube of it yesterday?

Sadly, it's not because I'm off to somewhere hot and sunny, and it's also not because Leeds has inexplicably been forecast a heatwave (the reality is basically rain and snow forever).

I actually bought it after watching a documentary on BBC iPlayer called The Truth About Looking Good with Cherry Healey. (Which I SO recommend for anyone who is a fan of beauty and skincare.)

On it, a scientist said that 75% of lines and wrinkles are caused by a lifetime of sun damage, and that this damage isn't just caused by being on a beach in Barbados, but also by sitting indoors, in front of a window, in the middle of winter. This is because UVA rays are not blocked by glass.
I couldn't believe that this could be true, but when they compared the wrinkles around each eye of a coach driver, the side that tended to get the most sun exposure through the coach windscreen, had noticeably more lines.

Apparently, we should be wearing something with both a high SPF and a high UVA rating everyday. The UVA rating is shown in stars, often on the back of a product. I'd thought that a product containing both of those things would be easy to find, but I actually couldn't spot anything at all in Superdrug, and could only find 2 sun creams in Boots that had anything above a 3 star UVA rating (the scientist said you need at least 4 stars).

So many brands, such as Garnier Ambre Solaire and Hawaiian Tropic, only had a UVA rating of 3 stars. In the end, the only 2 products I found with 5 star ratings were both made by Boots: one from their No7 brand and the other from their Soltan range. As there was a £9 difference I went for the Soltan option; why pay more than double the price when the skin protection is the same?

I was, however, really pleased to see that the daily moisturiser I already use, from Boots Botanics (see the photo at the top of this post - which I promise is not sponsored by Boots!), is SPF15 and has a 5 star UVA rating! So my new routine is to use that in the morning, then top up with a bit of Soltan at lunchtime.

Are you someone who wears sun cream daily?

Lisa x