Ok, so I couldn’t really help it with the title but I’ve finally found the dream team for base products! The Nars all day luminous and soft matte concealer have been my go to this past month and I’m very happy with the two. I’ve been struggling with foundations ever since I got into makeup during the beginning of uni, makeup artists have the tendency to colour match me to red-orange undertone foundations. Partly due to the fact that foundation shades for black women are horrible there seems to be this one size fits all approach by brands to just add 3 darkish shades and call it a day.

I got the shade Tahoe after wrongly colour matching myself to Cadiz *sighs* it was truly a waste of money the first time round that I was a bit hesitant to go back to Nars and had my heart set on the Milani 2in1 which seems to be great for us yellow toned girls. But a random stop with a friend made me want to give Nars another go I wasn’t interested in the sheer glow which I got the first time round (too thick for my liking) so I opted for All day luminous. The foundation is very watery which is great for me or anyone who hates feeling like they have foundation. The coverage of the foundation I would say is medium the reason I don’t agree that it’s full is because I could still see some scarring and hyper pigmentation around my mouth peeping through.

 The lovely lady who matched me also asked me if I wanted to try the matte concealer which newly launched. Now I hate pot concealer for hygiene purposes but this concealer; wow is all I can say I have pretty deep dark under eyes so naturally have to colour correct but the shade caramel which is quite yellow did a good job on its own. As for the consistency it’s not as thick as your typical pot concealers so it’s pretty easy to work with and the coverage is great. Naturally I was worried about creasing but my under eyes are deep with fine lines so its unavoidable, my left eye which is not as sunken seemed to not crease as my right.

I don’t wear foundation every day or for long hours but after about 8-9 hours I could see it was starting to wear off. Probably with a primer and setting powder it would last longer but like I said I don’t wear foundations long enough to test its durability. All in all I’m pretty happy with my purchases and don’t think I’ll be needing a new foundation for a while.

Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask

I’m finally reviewing a mask I’ve been absolutely in love with, the body shop charcoal mask I thought it would be like your standard clay mask but I was left very impressed. The mask itself contains charcoal from the Himalayas and is meant to be an exfoliating mask. I personally refrain from physical exfoliators especially since my skin type has changed over the years to being drier almost eczema like. The mask itself dry’s pretty quick and gives a slight burn which my skin doesn’t mind since I’m not sensitive but for those who are be cautious!

I applied the mask and waited for it to dry and washed it off and my skin instantly felt incredibly smooth and appeared clearer. I don’t however think it did much for brightening the skin but I also follow up with rose hip oil which works a dream with this mask. I also used it straight after a breakout so using this for the past couple of weeks has helped fade them ( which exfoliating does anyway). All in all I’m very impressed with this mask and can’t wait to repurchase it, the mask is £16 for 75ml and is available at the body shop store and online.