L'Oréal True Match: Review

I'd heard great things about L'Oréal True Match, and there was a lot of hype about it online. A lot of people say it's their Holy Grail so I had to try it. I had 7 at least half full bottles of foundation so I couldn't justify buying another one until some of those were gone. That was until I came across it for €8 in the exact shade I wanted in a Christmas Sale. It was almost half price, it would've been rude not to buy it! 

With regard to coverage I'd say it's medium to full, buildable. It's similar to Revlon ColorStay, but it feels so much lighter on the skin. Because it's a thinner consistency I think the coverage starts slightly lighter than ColorStay, but only slightly, and it's easily buildable to the same level. It doesn't go patchy during the day, and with my commute to work I easily wear this for over 12 hours a day and I'm always happy with it by the time I'm taking it off. 

Initially I had a problem with it which I'd never experienced with any other foundation. It applied fine in the morning, but by evening my face was quite oily, and the colour had oxidised and darkened a little. My skin is normal to combination so this was very unusual. I'd been using my Bourjois Healthy Balance powder which is a very fine, light powder, so I switched to Rimmel Stay Matte which is a good bit heavier and now it's perfect! It doesn't go oily at all, and it’s the exact same colour when I put it on as it is when I take it off. You may not have this problem, but if you do then try a slightly heavier, more mattifying powder, that will probably solve it. However, I would be inclined to think this wouldn't work for oily skins at all. 

Another thing that intrigued me about this was the colour range. I love the idea of the colours being divided into ranges of cool, neutral, and warm undertones. Far too often I've bought a foundation thinking it's the right colour, only to find out in natural light it's actually too cool/pink for me. I wish every company would name their colours like this, it would save so much heartache. 

I guessed I'd be neutral and I was right. I initially bought the colour N4, which is perfect with a decent tan, but as it got closer to Christmas I got lazier and lazier, and my tan application was getting lighter by the week. I then bought the colour N3 and this is perfect for now. I like that I can now mix two of the same foundation to get the right colour without compromising the formula. like that I can now mix two of the same foundation to get the right colour without compromising the formula. 

Overall this is an excellent foundation, and absolutely deserves Holy Grail status. I thought I loved Revlon ColorStay and then I met this. Medium to full coverage but feels light, it's very affordable at €14.99 in most places, and with this genius new way of specifying colours I'd bet anyone who knows their own skin could easily find their colour in seconds. I'd highly recommend it to anyone with dry, normal, or even combination skin. 

Essence Lip Liners: Review & Swatches

I am in love! Essence Lip Liners are amazing. They're only €1.29 and they're just unbelievable quality. They're quite short if you compare them to MAC or Wet 'n' Wild lip liners, but I don't think this should deter you. They are ridiculously cheap so even buying several wouldn't cost half as much as a MAC one. They're very creamy, and they don't dry your lips out at all. You can even wear them alone as a matte colour and they don't feel drying at all. The colour range is actually quite good as well. I don't yet have all of them but at that price I soon will. I have Soft Berry, Satin Mauve, Red Blush, In The Nude, Wish Me A Rose, and Honey Berry. The main lipsticks I wear these with are my MAC lipsticks so I've listed what I wear with each one.

Honey Berry is a deep pink. It's a perfect match for Girl About Town, but I also wear it under Heroine and that works really well too. I think it's because Heroine has a fuchsia base, have you ever noticed when it wears off it looks like you were wearing a bright pink rather than a purple?

Wish Me A Rose is a pale cool pink and it goes perfectly with Pink Plaid, perfectly. It's similar to MAC Hip 'n' Happy lip liner.

Red Blush is a great one for Brave Red, which I don't wear often enough, but I'm hoping this lip liner will encourage me to wear it more often. I think it might also work with Diva, but I haven't tried that yet.

In the Nude is exactly as imagined, so from my humble collection it would be best with 

Blankety or Velvet Teddy.

Soft Berry is a muted berry colour, if muted and berry could go in the same sentence. Strangely, I like to wear this with Velvet Teddy, blended very well of course. And also on its own, it makes a lovely matte, muted brown lip.

And finally, Satin Mauve, my baby. This is the nicest lip liner I think I've ever had. I love it on its own, and I love it with Blankety; I wear it as kind of an ombre lip, with Satin Mauve on the outside blended in, and then Blankety in the centre. It also goes really well with my newest love L'Oréal Color Riche Lipstick in 302 Bois de Rose.

On a slightly related note, having experienced the glory of these lip liners I bought a black Essence Kajal eyeliner and I find that equally lovely. It's the same price €1.29. Moral of the story: Essence Liners are amazeballs, go buy some!

A Little Intro

Hi, my name is Aisling. I’m 21, I live in Ireland and I work in I.T. I’ve been considering starting my own blog for a while now, probably two years. I’ve written numerous blog posts but never published them, or published and then removed them because I wasn’t entirely happy with the post, or the site, or something. Blogging is a very time consuming thing. You have to constantly be updating the site or people lose interest. It will be a big time investment, but I’ve decided it will be worth it, and I’m very excited to finally start this. It will be a work in progress for some time. The name will change, the format will change, the layout will change, but this will all be part of the fun. I know there are millions of beauty blogs out there, many of which are well established and have a huge following, but if even one person reads this I’ll be happy.

I love to read beauty blogs but I feel, for the most part, there isn’t enough information given. I love emilynoel83’s approach to the online beauty world. She doesn’t claim to be a makeup artist or to be an expert, she just gives honest and thorough reviews of beauty products. I don’t enjoy blogs which just consist of pictures of a person’s makeup, either boasting of how much they have or pictures of products with black and white packaging because it’s pleasing to the eye; there’s no substance. I think when it comes to makeup, people want information. They want to know if something is worth their hard earned cash. If we say a lipstick costs €10 that’s probably what most people earn in an hour. If you buy a lipstick you hate and never use then you’ve just thrown away an hour of your life. Makeup can be an enjoyable way to spend your money, but buying something that doesn’t work for you is heartbreaking. Like Emily, I don’t claim to know an awful lot, I’m just going to share my experience with certain products and hope that someone finds it useful. :)

As I said, there’ll probably be a lot of change for a while as I make mistakes and (hopefully) improve, but if I waited until I was happy with everything I’d never begin. Constructive criticism is always welcome, and I would appreciate suggestions on how to improve. Thanks for reading and if you like you could follow me on bloglovin, I'd really appreciate it.