Five New First Impressions

 

Over the last few months I haven't really brought a lot of new make up. A lot of it was because I wasn't particuarly wearing a lot of make up but also there wasn't a lot of new releases that caught my eye. However towards the end of August and the beginning of September there have been a few new releases that have definitely caught my eye and today I'm divulging my first impressions on five new releases as well as sharing the look I created with them.

A quick disclaimer, I didn't use anything different on my skin before I applied any of these products. I used the same combination of the Barry M Hydro Fix Primer Water and Maybelline SuperStay Primer that I use as my primer base everyday.

Product: First on my face went the Barry All Night Long Full Coverage Foundation. This is advertised as a full coverage foundation that stays in place all day and night. It claims to be lightweight and easy to blend as well as packed with fruit extracts that help give skin a healthy glow.
First Impressions: I do not like this foundation. I've worn this several times to see if trying a different primer would help but there is no helping this foundation. It is not full coverage, medium coverage at best, doesn't layer well and clings to dry patches of skin. Even set with powder and a setting spray, this still seperated on my skin, something I'd expect on a warmer day but this was on one of our cooler days. It's one of those products that had the ability to be a fantastic high street option but unfortunately fell at the last hurdle. I'll be sticking to my Rosie For Autograph foundation from now on.

Product: Make Up Revolution released a concealer version of their ever popular Fast Base Foundation Stick. The Fast Base Concealer is advertised a light coverage, highlight style concealer with a sponge top applicator and wide variety of shades. It can worn in conjunction with their Fast Base Foundation Stick or with another foundation of your choice.
First Impressions: I liked this concealer. It had a good amount of coverage, brightened the appearence of my under eye area and worked to highlight the areas of my face that occasionally look dull and flat with just foundation. What I don't like is the amount of product that this produces with just one click. It's great if you're going to place in multiple places before you blend it out but if you're like me and like to work in one spot at a time, this distributes way too much product and you'll be left with either a Casper-esque under eye or a build up of product in places where you didn't intend to place it in the first place.

Product: E.L.F. is a brand I haven't tried anything from. My local Superdrug has a stand, where I spotted their Instant Lift Brow Pencil and as I was in need of a third product for their 3 For 2 deal, I picked one up. It claims to shape, define and fill brows to give them a natural, polished look. It's a mechanical pencil that has a point tip and a spoolie at the bottom to brush through brows.
First Impressions: I'm actually on the fence about this product. The shade (Neutral Brown) worked well in my brows. I liked how they looked when they were done. What I didn't like was how much pressure I had to apply to get any colour to show in my brows. I had to press that hard, it felt like it was scratching through my brows and even then it was only for the tiniest bit of colour pay off. I think this is definitely one that I need to use a few more times before I properly make my mind up on it.

Product: The Maybelline SuperStay Matte Inks are some of my favourite lip products so when they released a variety of new shades I knew I just had to pick some up. Now I know that I've reviewed these before but with new shades also comes a range of potential problems, especially with these as there are quite a few darker Autumnal shades which are known for being troublesome when applied.
First Impressions: I'm in love! Out of the two shades I purchased (Founder and Groundbreaker), I'm was wearing Founder when I took this selfie. And it had been on for a good eight and a half hours. I was worried this was going to go streaky or patchy as it dried down but it didn't. It's highly pigmented and opaque in swipe, can easily be layered, wears comfortable, doesn't crumble or ball and even stayed put as I ate. This shade is the perfect Autumn/Winter shade and now knowing how well it wears, I can gurantee I'll be wearing this more than any of my other shades from the collection.

Product: Setting Sprays can be a very hit or miss product for me. The Make Up Revolution Amazing Make Up Fixing Spray wonders for me but I'm always on the look out for the next spray to try. And during the horrendous heatwave we had this Summer, I saw someone pick up their Sports Fix version of their setting spray and her make up looked flawless even though we were touching 30/31 degrees. The Sports Fix Setting Spray claims to have extra hold that sets make up down to a matte finish that should budge no matter how your day goes.
First Impressions: I quite like this product. I've worn it twice now, once with the Barry M foundation and once with my Rosie For Autograph Foundation. I wasn't too impressed when it was paired with the Barry M foundation but the second time I wore it with a foundation I knew made my skin look good, I was blown away with how well it kept everything in place. I wore this during a long, hectic shift at work and even after seven hours my skin still looked glowy, healthy and flawless. There was no seperation of my foundation, there was no fading and my skin hadn't taken on that powdery, cakey look that some setting sprays give after a few hours.

Overall I don't think was a bad result. I liked three out of the five I tried and will continue to use those three in conjunction with the rest of my collection. I'm really disappointed that the All Night Long Foundation didn't work out but I can find it quite hard sometimes to get high street foundations to work with my skin. The concealer is nice enough but I'm not sure if I prefer the coverage of the Conceal and Define Concealer more. I don't think I'll be using the E.L.F. brow pencil again, it scratched too much at my skin and took a lot of work to get any pay off. I knew I was going to love the Maybelline SuperStay Matte Ink as I absolutely adore the formula but was worried about how this particular shade would apply. So it was a pleasant surprise when it applied as smoothly as it did. And the setting spray seems to work wonders when paired with the right foundation so I'll definitely be trying it out some more.