Sleek Lifeproof Foundation and #MyFaceMyRules Campaign

If you hadn't guessed by now, I am a huge fan of Sleek, I think it is a great value for money High-street brand which is constantly challenging boundaries and releasing some amazing products/ Their latest release is the Lifeproof foundation which I was colour-matched too at a recent Sleek launch event, at which, I was one of the first to see their new campaign #MyFaceMyRules.

The My face. My rules campaign is essentially about trying to tackle makeup shaming. The campaign which was created in partnership with international anti-bullying charity Ditch The Label was developed to positively recognise and stand up for everyone’s right to define their individual beauty, without boundaries, a campaign I think we can all get behind right?. My face. My rules. is essentially a celebration of individualism and uniqueness, with a true love for makeup being right at its core. What I love even more about the campaign is that it stars Sleek MakeUP’s own consumers, the majority of whom were cast via social media, and showcases their skills and responses to the judgement they face in the world. You can watch the entire campaign here.

The Lifeproof foundation is available in an impressive 24 shades and I was matched to two of them, which I mix before using and I am pretty with happy with how it looks. Using blurring and brightening technologies which help to reduce the appearance of fine lines and help your skin look even and shine-free, whilst imperfections are concealed, it promises to be sweat-proof whilst also being oil-free.  It also gives a medium to full buildable coverage.

Whether your skin is fair, Fair, Light, Medium, Medium Deep or Deep with pink, yellow, olive, neutral or even red undertones, Sleek have something for everyone and even I, who is usually the fairest of them all, am a mixture of two shades which are LP01 which is very fair with pink undertones and LP03 which is fair with yellow undertones.

The foundation, which comes in a squeezy tube, works really well with my beauty blender, I simply squeeze a mixture of the two shades and then blend over my face, after priming. The foundation glides onto the skin and impressively, I haven't found that it sticks to any dry patches and it does leave a silky velvet appearance behind and creates a pretty good seamless coverage. Blending both of the shades together gives me a coverage that I am happy with.

I have combination skin which gives me an oily t-zone, so in a foundation, I want something that doesn't slide off my face mid-afternoon and to give Lifeproof Foundation a huge round of applause, it really doesn't slip as much as I had expected, but if I am going out after work, I do need touch up my makeup, which in fairness I always do anyway.

Priced at £8.99 and available now, Sleek is on a  for 2 offer in both Boots and Superdrug.

*this post contains PR samples and/or Affiliate Links unless indicated otherwise - you can learn more on my Disclaimer page.

Urban Decay Spring 2015 Collection

Urban Decay is a brand I haven't had too much exposure too, so when this package arrived, I squealed with absolute delight.  The Spring 2015 collection is nothing short of delightful and I have had great fun playing with these items.

Naked Skin Ultra Definition Powder Foundation - Package inside this beautiful purple floral string bag, is the new Naked Skin Ultra Definition Powder Foundation can be found in this sleek and beautiful shiny gunmental compact, which shows the Urban Decay logo clearly embossed on the top. With 9g of powder and an accompanying sponge double-sided sponge.

Available in 14 different shades to suit most skin shades, this powder is weightless, gives buildable coverage and leaves a demi-matte finish, I have shade Medium-Light and I find it works well with my skin tone.  The powder when used is really light and promises to give 8 hours of wear time, which it does.  I have combination skin, which leans to the oily side across my t-zone and it still manages to look flawless and doesn't cling to any dry skin making it perfect for using everyday and even though it does stay in place, if I feel the need to touch up any oily skin, the sponge is useful for doing that. RRP £26

Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer - to compliment the new powder foundations comes 8 different shades of the Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealers.  With what is described as being a modern flocked applicator, it uses just the right amount of product to cover redness, blemishes and those pesky dark-circles effortlessly.  

There is also a bit of science to this concealer "Naked Skin Concealer with so many ingredients that are good for your skin, it’s practically a concealer and a treatment in one! Matrixyl 3000 contains anti-wrinkle peptides to improve skin’s youthful appearance and elasticity. Japanese green tea revitalises and helps reduce the appearance of fine lines. Litchiderm™ (derived from lychee fruit) protects against dehydration, resulting in a brighter, more radiant complexion. And sodium hyaluronate helps skin attract and retain moisture".  

Now, since having this concealer, I am a tad obsessed with it, it is amazing, it blends really well, it looks natural and once applied it sticks, it doesn't disappear half-way through the day, it does the job it is meant to do and all for £17.50 - it is worth every penny!

Sheer Revolution Lipsticks - There are 10 offerings when it comes to the Sheer Revolution Lipsticks and every single one of them is beautiful. Described as being "creamy, badass luxury meets sheer, pigmented colour" the lipsticks are packaged inside this stunning lilac coloured case which I just adore. The formula is also amazing as they are infused with what is referred to as Maxi-Lip plus an added blend of nourishing oils and antioxidants into the formula along with Vitamin C and E, Shea butter and olive oil so your lips are left feeling hydrated and plumped. I wasn't too sure what to expect from Urban Decay because I am new to the lipsticks, but as well as being incredibly moisturising, the formula has a creamy consistancy which simply glides across the lips leaving behind great coverage of colour and shine but none of that horrible sticky tackiness you often get with lipsticks. 

I was sent two different shades - Sheer Ladyflower and Sheer Rapture, both very different shades but both utterly stunning. 

Sheer Rapture is described as being sheer dusty rose and once on the lips, you can see the transfer of colour which is more of a rosy plum shade, quite out of my comfort zone, but the colour which lasts for a good 4-5 hours before the shine wears off and whilst there is still a hint of colour, you might feel you want to touch up your lipstick.

Sheer Ladyflower is a sheer rose pink shade and when applied it is more of a medium pink, which looks really lovely.  As with Rapture, it lasts 4-5 hours before you need to re-apply.  Both lipsticks retail at £15.50

Moondust Eyeshadow is a product I have come across before, but this range has 4 new added shades which are called Ether, Scorpio and Cosmic. I was kindly sent Scorpio and Ether which are truly beautiful to look at, never mind play with and wear. Like all other Eyeshadows, each of the Moondust shades come packaged in a compact with the cool pop-out feature. You can pop these shadows out of their compacts with no problem and into an Urban Decay customisable Build Your Own Palettes (RRP £8) to create the ultimate travel-friendly collection. Each shade retails at £14.

Ether is described as being a “light purple with pink-blue 3D sparkles and it is quite a fine texture which you can apply with your fingers or a brush easily, though go careful with how much you choose to wear because there is a lot of sparkle! 

Scorpio is described as a “matte black with gold 3D sparkle and within this shade, the sparkles aren't quite as noticeable as they are in Ether, but they are present. For me, this isn't a shade that I wear across my entire eyelid, though it is possible and it looks amazing on a lot of looks ive seen, but I prefer to wear it under my lower lash line, which I fine much easier to applier than eyeliner and it is lovely and smokes out really nicely, again with your finger or a brush.

I am very much enamored with this collection, it includes something for everyone including those of us who are yet to be brave enough to try a lot more colour and on the reverse for those people who love their bright and bold shades.  

Is there anything within this collection that you want to get your hands on?

Boots No.7 Match Made Lipstick Service

I finally got my act together and went into a local Boots store to try out their matching service and the No.7 girl was so lovely she offered to do both foundation and lipstick - winning!  The match made service is totally free and the little device which is no bigger than the average television remote control, reads your skin precisely to decipher which shade of foundation, concealer and lipstick will suit your skin tone. 

So I sat down behind the counter and was asked if I was wearing any make-up, which as I was, it was removed for me and then the gadget was placed on my cheek and she did it on both sides of my face to ensure she got the right reading, both sides registered my perfect shades and before showing me the machine, off the lady went to collect the foundation to try on my skin and then gave me a card which listed all of the lipsticks I should try.  

My skin shade was matched to Cool Vanilla which gave me a huge amount of option with regards to lipstick, so I had a good time swatching them.  As you can see below there is a choice of 10 different lipsticks from the Moisture Drench side and 7 for Stay Perfect - all of which I swatched except Rose Mist as it wasn't in stock.

As I couldn't decide which shade I liked more than any others, the lady who was testing the products on me offered to make the choice with her colleague, which sounded interesting, so having agreed they went off and spent 2-3 minutes deciding which one they thought would look best and picked one for me. I wasn't allowed to see it until it had been applied and once I did see it, I knew I was going to be buying it. 

 The shade I was given is Spring Pink which is a No.7 Moisture Drench Lipstick designed to keep your lips smooth and soft. Hypo-allergenic, Fragrance free, SPF15.

As for the foundation, the shade I was matched too is a Stay Perfect Superlight foundation in shade Cool Vanilla which I have to admit is brilliant, I absolutely love it. Described as being a new innovation in life-proof, light weight foundation. It gives a naturally flawless look which stays perfect for up to 24 hours. It has an SPF 15 and is hypo-allergenic too.

The best part of the whole experience is that there was also a 3 for 2 offer on at the time, so I needed to select a free product and this is what I chose.

Overall, I am really happy with the service and wouldn't hesitate to try something like this again.  There will be pictures of both the foundation and lipstick in a future post as well as the highlighter.

 Have you tried it?

{Guestpost} - Top 3 Summer Foundation and SPF Cream Essentials

Hello everyone, I'm Maria and I'll be taking over Rachel's blog today! Before I get into my top 3 summer foundation and SPF cream essentials, I'd like to thank our kind, lovely Rachel for letting me guest post on her blog. You are a doll!

Since we're already in summer, rain or no rain, we should highly consider stepping up on our solar protection, the damaging sun rays cause nothing but wrinkles, spots and pain and no matter what age you are, you still need a great sunscreen cream.

As a person with sun allergies and sensitivity, I live in SPF creams all year around, I've tested many of them so today I?m here to talk about what worked best from my point of view.

If you never leave the house without foundation, like me, here are my top 3 picks for foundation with a high solar protection factor added:

Adding layers of sunscreen followed by foundation can feel pretty heavy on your skin, but luckily Shiseido makes an amazing sun protection liquid foundation that keeps your face flawless and protects it from the damaging sun. This is my all time favourite as it worked great and had a pretty good coverage.

Le Blanc by Chanel also has a good level of sunscreen and a bit of coverage, it?s just perfect if you are going for a natural, dewy look.

Clinique's Moisture Surge CC cream is also a great pick, somewhere in between the two previous ones as far as coverage goes, and it comes with SPF 30, which is just perfect for your face.

Now if you don't care much about coverage, or foundation at all for that matter, it's ok, you don't need to wear it. But you do need to protect yourself with a good sunscreen.

The best sunscreen for sun allergies that I have tried is the La Roche Posay Anthelios SPF 50. It protects you from the sun even in the middle of the day, but I must admit I don't love the smell of it too much. It doesn?t remain on the skin though, so don't worry.'

Even if it?s just SPF 30, Dermalogica?s sunscreen is a very effective one. I enjoy the refreshing feel and the clean scent of it also.

Another good liquid SPF 50 sunscreen is the Pure & Free liquid daily sunblock by Neutrogena. Liquid sunscreen is perfect if you have oily/combination skin, but if your face tends to get very dry in the summer, you can go for the cream version of the ones I mentioned.

I hope you found this helpful, thank you beautiful people for reading and thank you Rachel again for having me. Never forget your sunscreen!

Love, Maria.