artdeco – Beauty Playbox

Love/ Hate: ARTDECO Pure Minerals Pore Refining Primer

Let’s premise this by saying that it’s quite possible that my tube is just hella old. When I used it for the first time, the liquid coming out of it was clear, and during the second use it started showing some colour, which means that the product is separating. When left untouched for a couple of days, it does the same thing.

Unfortunately, one can never be too sure of the age and the quality – and in some cases origins as well – of products bought through local retailers.

The texture and the feel of the skin with this primer are bloody amazing. It doesn’t alter the skin’s appearance on its own, but I can’t remember the last time my skin felt as smooth as it feels after applying this primer.

I’d also go as far as to say that Pure Minerals improves skin quality with continuous use. It really is hydrating.

It applies evenly and doesn’t require a lot of product for one application. Both the downside and the plus are, it’s transparent. So I can never be too sure if I covered all parts of the face with it.

The packaging is a squeeze tube with a thin nozzle. It’s more or less convenient when there’s a lot of product left to go through, but it will be a bit of a pain further down the road. I’ve already started to store it vertically.

While not scentless, ARTDECO Pure Minerals Pore Refining Primer has a very light scent that reminds me a bit of L’Eau par Kenzo.

Seeing as it smooths out the skin, the foundation application with it is a breeze, including my nose, where I really struggle to apply foundation evenly due to pores.

So with all the good points of this primer, why doth thou hateth it, Alex?

Well.

It doesn’t prolong the life of my make-up one single bit. My foundation starts to wear off about three hours after I apply it – much like it would without a primer.

I have oily skin, but if yours is on the dry side, I think you will love this product.

FOTD #2: Bold lips, muted lids.

Products used:

Foundation: MAC Studio Fix Fluid NW10
Powder: IsaDora Perfect Loose Powder
Highlighter: Giordani Gold Opulent Night Pearls 27115
Concealer: Artdeco Mineral Fluid Concealer in 04
Eye shadow Primer: Artdeco Pure Minerals Mineral Eyeshadow Base Sensitive
Eye Shadow: AVON True Colour in Lace Hues
Brows: Relouis Eye Pencil in 02
Lipstick: L’Oreal Infallible Never Fail Lip Colour in Garnet 750
Mascara: Maybelline The Falsies Volum’ Express Flared Mascara

I’ve had this lipstick since ever. It’s expired by now, so I think I’m going to let it go during my next monthly clean-out. Or perhaps just place it in a separate compartment where I keep all my nostalgic purchases. It’s a good lipstick, but for it to work your lips need to be in very good condition. It will highlight every flake and every dry patch, and while the balm on top will soothe and smooth, it will not really affect the visual. For some reason I was under the impression that this product was discontinued, but it’s still available. As long as you don’t attack oily foods with abandon, it will last you for about 6 hours no problem, all while eating, drinking, talking, etc. with the lightest amount of caution. Word of warning, though — there’s no touching up this lipstick, only a complete reapplication.

The muted pink and blue in this quad are gorgeous, aren’t they? I love these colours so much. I went on a bit of a binge a few years ago and bought… six AVON eye shadow quads? They have since then rebranded the line and made the insides square, which diminished their obvious visual likeness to CHANEL. While I really like many of the colours — why would I buy them otherwise? — I am not at all impressed with the quality. The mattes are chalky, not easy to blend, nearly every single shadow is poorly pigmented, and all of them have excessive amounts of fall-out. Don’t expect them to last more than three hours without a primer either. With primer, they usually last about five, but begin to show signs of wear a bit earlier. Perhaps with the visual update came an update of the formula? I might want to find out a bit later, but for now I’ll be exploring other brands.

Something is to be said about using grey as eyebrow definer instead of brown. Brown can be very hard to match to your natural colouring. It’s either too red, or too coppery, or too dark, or too light. Most of the time it’s visible, especially in photographs. While grey is a true neutral colour. It’s non-colour, so defining your brows with grey works really well. There are only that many things to worry with grey — the desired lightness/ darkness and – a must – a matte finish. The aforementioned Artdeco make a great little grey eyeshadow that I really enjoyed using not only for its determined purpose, but also for brows and for slight contouring, especially of my rather prominent nose. I smashed the poor darling beyond all repair not long ago. It’s on my list of repurchases. I’ll be sure to write a review and swatch it once it’s done.

Try using grey for your brows, I’m pretty sure it’ll work.