Review: No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation

Hey everyone! I thought I'd share my thoughts on No7's Beautifully Matte Foundation, which I bought at the beginning of April. This post is probably going to be quite long but I'm aiming to make it as thorough as I can!

This foundation doesn't get an awful lot of hype in the beauty world - but neither do many of No7's products. I do think No7 is a bit overpriced, but they do have some great products. It does get mostly positive reviews on Makeupalley and Boots.com though.

The No7 sales assistant used the Foundation Match Service device to match me to Calico, the lightest shade (big surprise) which matches me quite well but would be too dark if you're extremely pale. There are 14 shades to choose from which I think is pretty good.

Other things to mention:

• It's hypo-allergic
• It has an SPF of 15
• It has medium to full coverage
• It has a matte finish, as the name suggests!

I don't like to look or feel caked in makeup so I don't usually go for full coverage foundations, however this one usually feels light on the skin.

 I like how this foundation is less likely to aggravate any breakouts as No7 say "salicylic acid had been included in the formula to help unblock pores and improve the condition of the skin throughout wear." I also own the Maybelline Dream Pure BB Cream which contains 2% salicylic acid. The only thing with this is it means you can't apply either of these products very close to your eyes, or it may sting. 

Calico swatched.

It claims to keep you shine free for up to 14 hours (or 12 hours according to the website) which is quite tame considering there's a 25 Hour Foundation (by Rimmel) and the L'oreal Foundation I almost bought, Infallible Matte, promises a matte result for up to 24 hours. I don't know who wears their makeup that long but I think the staying power's quite good. I wouldn't say my skin is extremely oily and this foundation wears well for around 7 or 8 hours before I start to feel a bit shiny on my forehead.

I like to apply it over the Beautiful Skin Day Cream for Normal/Oily Skin (reviewed here) and use the Real Techniques Buffing Brush (from the Core Collection) to apply and blend. For testing it for this review I used no primer or powder. Although this has fairly high coverage I definitely still needed some concealer for those dark circles and blemishes...

Before, so no makeup:

After (just foundation):

Here's a comparison how my 'problem area' (i.e. where I always seem to break out) looked before and after applying this foundation, so you can have a closer look at the coverage it gives. That's right, I lost my mind and put pictures of my spots on the internet (my skin is quite rubbish at the moment.) Oh well!

^ As you can see it hasn't done much when it comes to covering the three active spots near my jawline, but it has done quite well at covering red marks which are healing old spots.

Here's how the foundation looks along with the rest of my makeup:

It might just be the lighting but if I wasn't avoiding powder for the purposes of this review I would definitely have powdered my T-zone with MAC's Blot Powder as I feel like my nose and forehead look a bit shiny.

In case you're wondering, the rest of the makeup I'm wearing is:

Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara (reviewed here) applied over Seventeen Falsifye HD Mascara
NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Vanilla under the eyes (reviewed here)
Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair for spots
MAC Prep and Prime Highlighter in Radiant Rose under the eyes and on the brow bone
MAC Satin Taupe eyeshadow with a bit of Patina at the crease
L'oreal Brow Artist Plumper in Dark Brunette
NARS Gaiety blush
NYC Smooth Skin Bronzing Powder Sunny (I never use bronzer but I thought I'd give this a go - not sure if you can tell I'm wearing it?!)
Seventeen Mirror Shine Lipstick in Belle (I've raved about this lipstick before but I don't think I've actually shown how it looks on the lips until now!)

Overall, I quite like this foundation, though I don't think it's 'holy grail' at the same time. The coverage is good, but what I think I like most about it is how natural it looks, as it doesn't feel heavy or cakey at all.

You can buy this foundation only at Boots for £13.50, but look out for the £3 off No7 Makeup vouchers! There is currently a free gift offer when you buy two No7 products. There's also a 'Save £5 when you spend £35 on selected fragrance, No7 & premium beauty' offer which is only online.

Have you tried this foundation? What's your favourite foundation?

Sabrina xx

Review: No7 Beautiful Skin Day Cream For Normal/Oily Skin

Hello again! So I am now completely sorted when it comes to moisturisers. Last week I revisited my beloved Uni town (Aberystwyth) and popped into Boots there intending to just get the Nivea Daily Essentials Sensitive Night Cream, having quite liked a sachet sample of it I tried recently. It's also currently half price - £2.24 instead of £4.49, which makes it extremely good value. I only use it every other night at the moment because it's quite rich and I don't want to overload my skin, but I'm really enjoying using it (I may do a full review soon!)

I spent over £5 getting other stuff (including reduced-but-still-tasty creme eggs, oh yes) and was given a £5 No7 Skincare / £3 off No7 Makeup voucher, which came out very soon after I missed the last ones! This particular batch expired last Sunday unfortunately but I'm sure it won't be very long at all until the next ones. I always like to take advantage of at least one voucher, even if it's just getting their £7 Face Wipes for £2, which are quite nice but definitely overpriced. At the time of writing, there's a 3 for 2 on selected No7 offer.

So, again having tried out a sample and really liked it - I bought the Beautiful Skin Day Cream for Normal/Oily Skin, so I now have a moisturiser for day and night. It is normally £13.50 but with the voucher I got it for £8.50, meaning I got another voucher which I actually didn't want because I didn't want to be tempted into buying anything else!

This is what No7 promise about it on the box:

It seems like a thick, rich lotion in the jar but when you actually apply it on your face it sinks in incredibly well (especially if you do a gentle patting motion) leaving skin smooth and happy, and you can't feel that it's there. This means it leaves a great base for makeup, which is my favourite thing about it. 

The SPF of 15 is also a big plus for me as I rarely wear an SPF out and about in normal weather unless it's in my foundation - the same factor is also in the No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation which I purchased recently and will do a review on soon. Does that mean than when wearing both I have a factor 30 protection?!

Anyway, this addition of SPF does mean that that's mainly what this product smells of. I find it an acceptable, inoffensive scent but if an SPF smell in your moisturiser bothers you then you probably won't like this. Also, part of the packaging warns that this isn't suitable for sunbathing so it might not be a good idea to rely on just this for sun protection.

It works quite well for me at keeping oil at bay and mattifying my skin but it doesn't mattify all day long and I don't think it would work for very long if you are very oily.

This product does have a few downsides - firstly there's the jar packaging. It does look good and I know this only really means you need to wash your hands before applying; which is something you should probably do anyway no matter what the packaging of your moisturiser is, but to me it's still a bit unhygienic and annoying. Please can we have a pump packaging, No7? 

I'm not sure why No7 added Fragrance as it pretty much smells like sun cream!

My other bugbear is the fact that this has alcohol denat. This moisturiser, as with all No7 products is hypo-allergenic and it doesn't irritate my skin at all, but I'm still not keen on the inclusion of this irritating and drying ingredient. 

My skin is quite oily but on less oily days I find myself applying quite a bit to make my skin feel thoroughly moisturised. No7 also do a Day Cream for Normal to Dry Skin so if you have combination skin you may well feel unsure as to which one's best suited to you. I'd say that it would be a good idea to try a sample out of the one you think you're more suited to. I don't think this would be suitable for someone whose combination skin leans more towards being dry.

Overall, this moisturiser is really good (despite the dodgy packaging) and I'd recommend it!

Have you tried this product? What's your favourite moisturiser?

Sabrina xx

My Spring Fashion and Beauty Wish List

Hello! Spring has well and truly sprung here in the UK - we've been having some beautiful weather in the past week! It's strange how the week before that I was still wearing my coat as it was quite cold, but now I'm bringing back my summery clothes and also being tempted to refresh my wardrobe a bit.

I still have some great basics for my spring/summer wardrobe - my New Look denim skater skirt being one of them because it goes with so many things. I am much more likely to be seen wearing skirts as opposed to shorts because I just find them a lot more flattering, particularly A-line shapes! I also love wearing dresses and occasionally playsuits.

So here are my picks for spring/summer clothing, makeup and a new perfume that I have my eye on (despite not really needing any more perfume.)

Skincare Tip: Steam Your Face!

Hi! So this post is going to be a bit different - usually my blog is generally more for talking about fashion and beauty rather than giving advice, as I don't claim to be an expert in either.

If you're wondering what I'm on about with 'steam your face' I simply mean using the steam from boiling water to really open up your pores and do a deep clean. You may have heard of this before but I haven't heard very much about it in blogs or on youtube so I thought I'd share it just in case it helps any of you!

I use either Coconut Oil or No 7's Radiance Boosting Hot Cloth Cleanser for this, the latter being a well known dupe for the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser which everyone raves about. The Liz Earle cleanser is £14 for 100ml and no cloth, whilst the No7 cleanser is £9.95 for 200ml and comes with a muslin cloth.

I have never tried Liz Earle's Cleanser to compare them but I quite like the No7 one, it's lasted me a long time and actually seems to have been discontinued. The one available now is called Beautiful Skin and is probably not much different to mine. It's probably best to use a Hot Cloth Cleanser rather than your usual 'foamy' cleansers as I don't think the consistency of the foamy ones will work for this as it's staying on your skin while you steam it and then you wash it off. 

I used to use the cloth provided and follow the instructions but I've found that I prefer the steaming your face method. As for Coconut Oil, it's amazing stuff and much lighter on the skin than the Hot Cloth Cleanser.

You can use any brand as long as it's virgin and there are a million more things you can do with it - read here for more detail! The brand I have is Real Food Source and was the cheapest one I could find on Amazon in terms of the amount of product you get for your money.

With both methods you're using heat for your deep clean and hot water can damage your skin so please be careful.

All you do is boil some water (I like to make a cup of tea to have when I'm done cleansing) and pour it into the sink - unless of course your hot water tap can go as hot as boiling. Next apply your cleanser to dry skin, get a towel and drape it over your head to trap the steam in so that it focuses on your face. Then just place your face close to the steaming water - but obviously not so close that your skin feels like it's burning!

You should be able to feel it working without it being uncomfortable. Try and steam your face for at least 10 minutes - I know it's a bit dull just standing there for that long, but it's worth it! (Like in the shower, it's a time for deep thoughts - like how I can't wait to have a chocolate biscuit with my tea when I'm done.)

After 10 minutes I add cold water to get the hot water to the right temperature and then wash off my cleanser, which by this point is quite melted. You can use a wash cloth along with the water if you prefer, but just make sure that all of your cleanser is gone.

Next I just splash my face with cold water to close my pores, which is always nice and refreshing after feeling a little hot whilst steaming my face! Then gently pat dry your face.

Your skin will now most likely feel extremely soft and squeaky clean, but try to resist the urge to keep touching it! Finally just follow with your normal moisturiser.

To be honest I don't do this every day - more like twice a week or so (mainly because it makes cleansing take much longer and sometimes you just don't have time) but when I do I love the results, it makes me feel less likely to get the breakouts that are caused by clogged pores/unremoved makeup.

If I do this after already cleansing my face to remove makeup (I use the Garnier Micellar Water for Oily Skin) it feels like I've got rid of every last trace of makeup, and keeping your skin as clean as possible is obviously a great idea for preventing spots. Even if you don't suffer from breakouts it's a great way to give your skin a bit of a boost and make it a bit more radiant.

I hope you found this helpful and if you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to comment!

Sabrina xx

High Street Haul: Boots, New Look and Superdrug!

Hi everyone, hope you all had a great Easter! Today I have a haul post to share, because I went to Boots, New Look and Superdrug, and stuff just happened...

I actually only got a few things from Superdrug so I'll start with those. I got two Barry M nail polishes from Superdrug as the £3.99 ones are currently on offer for 2 for £6 and I wanted to get a more expensive product for free when I took advantage of the 3 for 2 offer in Boots.

As I've said before, I do have too many nail polishes - but in my defence these two are both very unique in my collection, as I don't think I had any yellows at all before I bought this one!

I picked up one of the new Quick Dry polishes in Stop the Clock, which is a really pretty and summery pastel yellow. I'm not sure if this will go that well with my skin tone but I love the colour so it's worth the risk. I'm also looking forward to seeing if it does dry quickly as it promises!

The other colour I got was Almond in the 'Gelly Hi-shine' range which Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup said was an amazing dupe for Nails Inc's Porchester Square in this blog post. I don't normally go for this kind of taupe shade but I thought this would be a great work-appropriate neutral which is something a bit different from the light, natural pinks I usually go for when I think of more formal nail looks. I've tried a few shades from the Gelly range and they've all been great, and I love Barry M polishes in general!

Moving on to Boots, I went in knowing I was going to get the L'oreal Brow Artist Plumper, as Renata from Speaking Beauty wrote that it was a great dupe for Benefit's Gimme Brow, which I've tried at a Benefit counter - it looked great, but it's too overpriced for me at £18.50. L'oreal's offering is £5.99, but I got it free with the 3 for 2 offer and it's the first eyebrow product I've ever bought! They had no tester for the darker shade but I tested the lighter one and knew it would be too light so I got the darker one - I have dark blonde hair so I just hope my eyebrows don't clash too much with my hair colour.

'Dark Brunette' swatched

I quite like it so far! It's a welcome new addition to my everyday makeup as it definitely makes my eyebrows look more polished. I had a look at the even cheaper (£3.99) Rimmel version of the eyebrow mascara type product (Brow This Way) but the brush was shorter and larger so I wasn't sure about it. I like the brush of the L'oreal one, it's quite long yet small and it makes me feel like I know what I'm doing when I do my brows haha.

Before and After

But seriously, this kind of brow product did seem best for me as an eyebrow product beginner because I just don't know how to fill in my brows with products like Benefit's Brow Zings and the mascara-like brush does it all in one go so it's pretty effortless. I also wasn't sure if my eyebrows even need much filling in as they're quite thick already!

I also went in thinking I was probably going to buy the No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation - I had a sample of it and quite liked it, but I also noticed that L'oreal had a new foundation aimed at oily skin - Infallible Matte Foundation, which at the time of posting is on offer for £6.99.
It looked intriguing - it promises to stay on for 24 hours which is a slightly pointless claim considering that no one keeps their foundation on for 24 hours! In the end I went for the No7 Foundation as it has SPF which is great for daytime wear (I can use my Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation for night time wear to avoid flashback in any flash photography) and looking on Makeupalley on my phone I could see that the No7 foundation had a higher rating/more positive reviews than the L'oreal one. I would still love to try that L'oreal foundation sometime though! I have never tried a foundation from either L'oreal or No7.

Side note: am I the only one who checks the overall rating of a product on Boots.com and Makeupalley whilst browsing in Boots or Superdrug?! I just don't want to take the risk of blindly buying a product without checking any reviews or ratings first, and I might even return a product unused if I did buy it blindly and then find that it has extremely negative reviews!

The final product I got in the 3 for 2 was the Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara, £7.99, which I've heard great things about on blogs. I've used it a few times now and I like it so far apart from that it's a little clumpy, but I'll let you know how I get on and probably do a full review soon!

I went to New Look just to see if they had any nice work appropriate pieces other than the usual white shirts and black trousers. I bought this dress with a contrast collar. It is a little short (I'm 5'9) so I'd probably wear it with tights. The only size 8 they had in this had foundation marks around the collar so I got 10% off and it's non-returnable. It is £19.99 normally and looking online it's currently on offer for £14.99 which is slightly annoying, but nevermind.

They also had a black version but no size 8s, I tried on the 6 and it was way too tight, so that made the decision for me on which colour to get!

Lastly I didn't intend to buy a bag and I haven't bought a new one in ages, but I fell in love with this one - it is such a classic style but in a gorgeous, unique colour, which I couldn't help but notice is very similar to the nail polish I bought earlier that day, Barry M's Almond.

The rose quilted design is very pretty and it's a good size - not too large or small, and I really like the adjustable strap. It was also very reasonably priced at £12.99!  I'm not sure if it goes that well with my new grey dress, but it doesn't clash either. Overall, everything about this bag is gorgeous, and I think it's suitable for finishing off both formal and casual outfits.

Thanks for reading!
Sabrina xx

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My Everyday Makeup!

Hi again! So I thought I'd share my everyday makeup look, although technically I don't wear makeup every day - but you get what I mean ;) I usually like to change a few things round each time I wear makeup though (blush, lip colour) and I rarely wear eyeliner during the day.

I'm also trying out a couple of new products at the moment - I got a sample of the No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation at a counter as I don't own any matte foundations, which can be tricky when my skin is being particularly oily, so I thought I'd try this one out. At £13.50 though I think I'd probably like to wait for the next £5 off No7 vouchers to come out if I decide to buy it! 

I have only used it a few times but so far I quite like it, it mattifies and gives decent coverage without looking cakey. The lightest shade, Calico, is just about light enough for me. I've been trying it out without using a primer or a powder as I like to see how long it can last on its own - and so far it's been pretty good (No7 say that it stays on for up to 12 hours - I haven't worn it that long to say so far but it has lasted a good 8 hours or so.) I also like how it has an SPF of 15 and is hypo-allergenic. I might do a proper review of this sometime, especially as so far I'm definitely considering buying it :)

I think foundation with SPF is great for the daytime so before I started trying this one I was typically using Rimmel's Match Perfection Foundation which I have in the lightest shade again (Porcelain) - it is super pale so a good winter foundation.

I'm also trying out the Seventeen Perk and Paint Eyeliner Duo which I bought along with the Seventeen Falsifeye HD Mascara in a 'buy one get one half price' offer on Seventeen products. I also had a voucher to get 300 Advantage Card points for buying any 17 product (am I the only one who likes to build up their points using the points boosting vouchers they send in the post about every couple of months?)

17 Perk and Paint Eyeliner Duo Swatched

I haven't seen much talk about this on blogs but it seems good so far! Like I said I don't normally wear eyeliner during the day but I like that I have a black liner on the other end of the brightening pencil as it's handy for if I do decide to wear eyeliner. I'm definitely more intrigued by the 'eye brightener' side though as it seems like it could be a great dupe for Benefit's Eye Bright (which I don't own but have heard good things about) In the makeup picture below I just wore the brighening pencil on my waterlines - it's a great choice for if you tend to have reddish waterlines when you're tired!

Here I am makeup free:

I like to keep my everyday makeup quite natural, as you can see: 

Products used:

MUA Clear Mascara for my eyebrows

Seventeen Falsifye HD Mascara - sometimes I like to apply loads of this

Seventeen Perk and Paint Eyeliner Duo

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer

Clinique Chubby Stick in Wopping Watermelon (sample size I got free with a magazine)

Sleek Rose Gold Blush

No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation

I also applied my foundation with the Real Techniques Buffing Brush and my blush was applied with the Real Techniques Blush Brush.

Just a random thought: recently it's occurred to me that I might be a bit of an unusual beauty blogger in terms of how I don't really use anything on my eyebrows. I tend to just pluck my brows to keep their shape every week or so and then occasionally use a clear mascara from MUA (which only cost me a pound from Superdrug) to brush through them if I think they look a bit unkempt but other than that I leave them au natural. In some photos I think my eyebrows look fine just as they are but in others I feel like they need filling in or tidying, in fact my friend Emily has filled them in for me a couple of times for nights out but I usually think they look a little strange (even though they are tidier and she does a good job!) probably because I'm not used to them looking like that! 

Anyway I'm thinking about buying an eyebrow product such as the Sleek Eyebrow Stylist, I'm not completely sure how to use brow products though and I don't want my brows to look weird. If you have any recommendations or tips on doing your brows then please let me know! (Or I could just google it of course, haha)

Thanks for reading!

Sabrina xx