Cream Blush: Bourjois vs. Maybelline

I have only recently discovered my love for blushes in general, and so when I discovered Bourjois were bringing out some cream blushes I knew I had to try them. Whilst I was in Boots purchasing a Bourjois cream blush, these Maybelline ones also caught my eye! From doing some research, I don't actually think these are a new release from Maybelline, but I had never seen them before so decided to pick one up to compare the two!

 

 

 

 

Left: Maybelline, Right: Bourjois

 

The shades I have are Maybelline Dream Touch Blush in 07 Plum, and Bourjois Cream Blush in 03 Rose Tender.

 

The packaging of these are quite different. The Maybelline blush is in a rather sturdy glass pot with a colour coded, screw on lid, whereas the Bourjois blush is in a tiny magnetic compact which contains a handy mirror which is really useful for when you're touching up your make up on the go. Although the Bourjois packaging is more travel-friendly, I actually prefer the Maybelline packaging, simply because I find it easier to open!

 

The consistency of the two products was where I found the most difference. I found the Maybelline offering to be much more creamy and easy to apply than the Bourjois one. I usually use my Real Techniques Stippling Brush to apply these, and I find that the Maybelline blush provides more even application and less work to blend into the cheeks. I have also tried applying these both with my fingers, and again the Maybelline one is much more creamy and easy to blend than the Bourjois.

 

The Bourjois is a cream blush which dries to a powder finish, whereas the Maybelline blush tends to leave a dewy, cream finish on the cheeks. This is all down to personal preference, but I prefer the finish of the Maybelline as it looks more like a natural colouring!

 

In terms of pigmentation, I would say that these two were on a par. I had no complaints about either of their colour payoff, and they both lasted with my make up all day, something which is important to me as I hate touching up my make up throughout the day!

 

Overall, I like both of these products. I think they're both good quality, however my favourite has to be the Maybelline Dream Touch Blush, as I find it easier to apply and blend in!

 

The Maybelline blushes are £6.49 and available from here, the Bourjois blushes are £6.99 (usually £7.99!) from here.



Collection Shimmer Shades: Blushalicious

I have been really getting into blushes lately - I never used to get that excited over them, but recently I find myself drawn to them when shopping. I picked up this set from Collection about 4 or 5 months ago now, and haven't got rounf to writing a review on it, but since I find myself reaching for this most days, I thought I'd share my opinions on it.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a compact containing four shimmering blush shades, which can either be used individually, or you can swirl your brush around and use them all together, which creates a gorgeous coraly-pink colour.

 

All four colours make gorgeous blush colours, which will suit most skin tones, and the colour in the bottom left can also be used as a pinky highlighter to accentuate brow bones and cheekbones. My personal favourites are the two on the top row, as I find pink blush suits me more than coral ones do.

 

These are really good quality blushes too - they apply easily, don't look chalky, and will last on your skin all day, even if your skin is oily like mine. I love how versatile it is, as you are essentially getting five blush colours in one.

 

I was concerned at first that the shimmery colours would be difficult to wear, as I'm not really one for shimmery products, but in all honesty they're not too shimmery at all - there's just enough shimmer to create a healthy-looking glow to your face.

 

The packaging of this isn't the best, but for £4.19 you can't go wrong. There's also quite a large amount of product in there too (12g), so it's bound to last you a good while!

 

I absolutely adore this little compact. It's extremely versatile, contains gorgeous, good quality blushes, and is also extremely cheap. I would 100% recommend this to anyone.

 

This is £4.19 from Boots and Superdrug.

 

There is also a bronzing "shimmer shades" compact, which I reviewed here!

Benefit Fine One One

Benefit is a brand I really like, and I was really looking forward to the release of this, their new product called "Fine One One". I didn't 'get' the name at first but now I realise it's actually a play on 'nine one one', so it's a rather cool name if you ask me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

For starters, I absolutely love the packaging of this. The rose gold theme is lovely, although it's sort of reflective so it attracts fingerprints like there's no tomorrow! Besides that though, the packaging is amazing, and I feel it makes the product look high-end and expensive (even though it is anyway!).

 

Benefit describe this as "a sheer, brightening cheek and lip colour to give your look instant lift, shape and pop". It contains a cream highlighter and blusher, which turn to a powder look once applied to the cheeks. You can also use this on you lips, but I haven't actually tried it that way.

 

This is really easy to apply - just sweep the 'stick' across your cheeks and then blend, either with your fingers or a brush. The swatch photo above looks rather scary, but I pressed hard just so you could see the colours. Obviously you only need to press very lightly on your cheeks.

 

The thing I love most about this is the fact that it's really versatile - you can make it look as subtle or as dramatic as you want. I imagined this would be really hard to apply but it's really straightforward!

 

This lasts all day on me, so there's no issues with longevity. Overall I really do think this is a really good product, and I think it'd suit most skin tones too.

 

This is £23.50 and available from Boots and the Benefit Website.

 

Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades

Hello everyone!

I feel like lately I've been leaving so long between blog posts, but I don't honestly know where time is going at the minute! It's going way too fast for my liking, I can't believe we're into the 2nd week of August (I sound like an old woman here, but it's true!).

Anyway, today I thought I would write a little post about Collection 2000's "Shimmer Shades". Collection 2000's website simply says that this is "4 shimmering shades in 1 compact for a subtle, radiant glow". They have the Shimmer Shades in 2 colours, 'Way-to-Glow' (the one I have) and 'Blushalicious'. Way-to-Glow is more of a bronzing compact and Blushalicious, as the name suggests, is more of a blush compact!

The compact contains a white, champagne colour which I use for highlighting, a warm bronze and a cool bronze, which can be used for contouring, and a peachy, blush colour, which is nice, but I don't tend to use this colour as much as the other three as I have lots of blushes to choose from!

The colour payoff for all of the colours, particularly the two bronze colours, is excellent. This has become a must-have in my everyday routine, as I think it's a great multi-functional product. I really like the highlighter as it is subtle, but still really effective. Apologies for the lack of swatches on my face by the way, I took these pictures aagggessss ago and completely forgot to do any!

The packaging is not the most beautiful packaging you will ever see, but I like the fact it is see-through so you can immediately know what it is when you open your make-up bag, and it feels very well-made, so I wouldn't be too worried about it breaking if you just threw it into your bag or went travelling etc.

The staying power of this is good too, the shades generally last me all day with no touch ups. I can honestly say these last better than some more expensive bronzers I have.

They are available for £3.99 from Boots and Superdrug (Can't find it on the website to link but I know they definately sell it as that's where I got mine from!)

xx

Vivo Cosmetics Baked Blush in Peaches and Cream

Hello everyone,

This is another product which a lot of you will have seen before. It is a 'baked blush' from VIVO Cosmetics, which is a budget brand and is available from Tesco.

The packaging of this blush is a silver plastic base with a clear plastic lid. I actually quite like this packaging because it is extremely easy to open and close, and despite being so cheap, the packaging does not feel flimsy or like it would break easily.

I chose a shade called 'Peaches and Cream' which is a peach colour (obviously) but with very pink undertones. It looks ridiculously pretty in the pan and there is some slight shimmer in it, but don't let that put you off if you're not a fan of glitter as it doesn't translate onto the face.

Apologies for the rubbish swatch picture, I just couldn't get the colour to show when I tried to picture it on my face :\. Anyway, the blush is rather pigmented which is good, and you don't need a lot of it to get a nice glow to your face, so the chances are this product will last you a while. It blends in easily with a brush - I tried it with my Real Techniques brush and a cheap brush just from Superdrug and they both blended it well.

I think this is suited to lighter skin tones as I don't think the peachy colour would suit people with darker skin, but there are roughly around 4 shades in the VIVO collection for you to choose from.

This cost me £4.00 for 8g, and considering a little of this product would go a long way it's really good value. For such a cheap product it's safe to say I wasn't expecting it to be this good. I have also heard some good things about VIVO's pressed eyeshadows, so I may have to go and try some of them next time I'm in Tesco (the fact that they're sold in Tesco is also a plus because this makes them readily available to a lot of people).

Overall, I think it's a really good product :) I would definately repurchase this, and will probably be buying a lot more from VIVO in the near future.

Anyone tried this? Or have any VIVO reccommendations?

xx