BB Cream Wars: Gosh Cosmetics vs. Sleek

It seems like forever that I have waited for a bb cream to be available in the UK in a colour that I can actually wear without looking like a pasty ghost.

 Cosmetics Companies, would it kill you to release all the shades at the same time???

After waiting for what seems like forever, two BB creams are finally on the market for the darker ladies and surprisingly they are BOTH drugstore and exclusive to Superdrugs.

Up for the BB cream wars today, fighting for your love and money are the Gosh BB Creams and the Sleek Makeup BB Cream so lets dive into the arena (yes I am in a Hunger Games mode, and yes I am having fun writing the review this way)

Standing at 30ml, in a glossy, black packaging with a RRP of £9.99, we have Gosh Cosmetics’ BB cream.

Acting as a 3 in 1 solution (Foundation, Primer and Moisturiser) with an SPF 15. The Gosh BB Cream in 05 Espresso is spot on shade wise for my skin (MAC reference NW45) and with added mineral pigments to the formulation. It promises to adapt to your skin tone.

 Personally I don’t actually LOVE this BB cream, which is a real shame for me as it is the only bb cream I’ve found in my exact shade. I used this for the best part of two weeks; ditching my everyday Illamasqua Skin Base, and honestly I don’t find that this moisturized my skin at all. I feel that it dried it out and also made my pores on my face a lot more pronounce and broke me out.

Now I do believe that it adapted to my skintone, so on other girls who happen to be a similar skintone to me, this is a great choice but I am starting to think that I don’t have a positive reaction to Gosh skincare products in general, so if it wasn’t for the slight reaction I would be preaching the benefits of this product

And in this Corner, in an sleek (pun intended). black, glossy packaging, we have have Sleek’s

The Sleek Makeup Blemish Balms come in 4 shades and unfortunately for me I seem to be situated in between the medium shade and the darkest shade and while I have a peeve of mixing foundations (I mean REALLY? Who has that kind of time?), I can’t lie that I was tempted to get both, but I went for the medium instead.

The medium is a shade lighter that what I normally go for, so straight off the bat it didn’t look great on me. I looked a bit pale and chalky but I find that it blended well and had a firmer consistency than the Gosh foundation.

Infused with Vitamin C and promising to reduce skin discolouration as well as gradually repair damaged skin. I do feel that this was the most moisturizing of the two and although I didn’t dare leave my house with it on (didn’t want to scare the kiddies), I am considering getting the Dark Shade so I can mix the two foundations together so I can get my moneys worth out of it.

At  50ml, it is 20 ml more than the Gosh foundation and also a £1 cheaper but I found I probably used more of the Sleek BB Cream trying to blend it into my skin than the Gosh one.

 Anyway this is my jumble review of the Drugstore BB Creams. Since there is no real clear-cut winner for me, let’s just assume that they both managed to knock each other unconscious at the same time.

Which BB Cream works for you? Would love to know how it worked because my skin just seems to be having an off month lately

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Review: Gosh Instant Tan Gel in Dark (#TFWOC )

Another Week. Another Tanning product for the ‘Tans for Women Of Colour’ Project.

First off I want to thank everyone for all the positive response we had have so far for the #TFWOC Blogger Project. If you are joining the show a bit late, The TFWOC involves 11 lovely olive, brown or black skinned bloggers who are showing everyone that dark-skinned girls CAN tan and FYI the results are absolutely amazing!

Last Week we kicked things off with reviews of Abi O’s Beau Bronz and I am going to post up a summary of all the posts later on today so you can scan through all the different reviews in one place, and this week we have a Cruelty Free High-street/Drugstore Tan from Gosh Cosmetics.

Containing Day Moist CLR and organic Gojiberry, the Gosh Instant Tan Gel in Dark (rep. £7.69) is a Wash Off, DHA free Tan with Sugar beet extract and corn starch. As DHA is the main ingredient used to tan the skin, I was quite interested to see the effects this tan would have on my dark skin. 

I'm always a sucker for gold and black packaging so that won me off aesthetically. Even though it is shaped a bit like an aerosol can, this comes in comes with a doe foot applicator and comes out with a very dark brown (almost black) formula on my tanning mitt (Yes, i have a Tanning mitt now. After a twitter discussion with Sophia of Tattoed Tealady on twitter and how this was difficult to take off, I went to Superdrug and grabbed a Tanning mitt)

Initially I was impressed. I love the shade of brown my arm went and I thought it had a light soapy fragrance, which wasn’t too bad as far as fragrances go. I showed my swatched arm to my sis and she remarked on how glowy and healthy my swatched arm looked compared to my unswatched arm which honestly when doing a tan project on dark skin is what you want to hear so initially I was pleased as punch . . . until the tingling  . . .and then the burning . . .then the nausea happened

I don’t know what the hell happened because I’ve talked to the other girls who have reviewed the Gosh Instant Tan Gel so far and no one got the symptoms I had but then I am allergic to certain sugars (honey, watermelon, ragweed etc. etc.) so I might have just reacted to the Sugar beet root extract so if you have sensitive skin like me I wouldn’t really recommend this product for you are you might be playing with sugar-flavored fire.

Regardless I was not very impressed with this product because after the 30 odd minutes of fanning my arm and the burning/tingling feeling subsided (FINALLY!), the tan only lasted 2/3 hours before it completely faded away! I made the mistake of tanning too far up my arms into my wrist and tanned the bottom of my palm a bit orangey brown and after 3 hours the tan on my palm wasn’t even visible and seeing as this is meant to last 6/8 hours, I think anyone buying this to use on a night out will be very unimpressed.

Overall I loved the two hours of colour and the shade this product gave me but ladies with sensitive skin I wouldn’t recommend this at all. I didn’t have a positive experience with this product and I doubt you would either. I’m not normally one to give a negative review for a product unless it is absolutely crap but all I have to say is Tingling . . .Burning. . Spent the rest of the day in bed with a raging headache.

If anyone is interested in trying out this product for themselves as maybe my slight allergic reaction to it, doesn’t paint it in the best light. Leave a comment below and I’ll pop it in the post to you.

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Review:- GOSH Velvet Touch Foundation and Eye Primer

This month, I've really been trying to focus on my skincare, because it is soooooo cold outside and I can literally feel the moisture under my makeup being sucked out of my face. So to combat this problem, I've invested in primers

*Yaay*

Makeup primer is mean to be a beauty geek's best tool in keeping your makeup looking in place for longer, as it is basically a product that prepares your face for any type of makeup you might put onto it, and acts like a layer between your face and makeup. I normally use GOSH Velvet Touch Foundation Primer, but I ran out back when I was in uni (I'm talking March 2011) and I just haven't had a reason to replace it until recently.

I actually can't believe I forgot about this product!!! It's absolutely fantastic and my skin feels so gorgeous after using it. The primer comes in a matte, colourless gel and while it supposed to be scentless . . it wasn't!!!! I do think it actually stinks a little but the smell does wear off after a few minutes. I really do love this foundation primer as it stays true to it's name and does make my skin feel like velvet.

*strokes cheeks*

The GOSH Velvet Touch Eye Primer was a new buy for me (and a bit of an impulse buy for me). Like the foundation primer it comes in a matte, colourless and *this time* odourless gel, but I honestly wasn't impressed with this product. I found it to be a bit greasy and a tad bit heavy. I don't think it actually held my eye makeup very well, as the pigmentation of my eyeshadows has not lasted as long as it normally does since  I've started using this product. However *and I find this a bit odd* it does hold my brow powders in place for longer so I think I will incorporate it as a base for my eyebrow powders in the near future but it's not going anywhere near my eyes!!!!

Purchase Details

You can buy both the GOSH Velvet Touch Foundation and Eye Primer on the Gosh Website or in Superdrugs. They retail for £12.99 and £9.99 respectively

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Brow – chick – a-wow- wow!!

This season is all about having bold, well defined and well groomed eyebrows!! If you are like me and (unfortunately) were not blessed with naturally thick eyebrows at birth then hopefully you might to fake it with this post

There seems to be a major influx of brow palettes coming into the beauty market at the moment and a lot of mixed reviews going on about them, but I’m just going to add one more *I’m sorry* and give you my twist to the reviews and how they come up on girls with darker skin.

HD  Brows in Vamp

(rrp £19.95)

What HD Brows Say

'HD Brows Eye and Brow Palettes make it easier to maintain that "fresh out the salon" appearance [. . .] The new long-lasting, anti-smudge powders will keep brows looking fab for up to 24 hours'

What I Think

This Kit is formed up of two brown-toned powders as well as a nude & carbon black eyeshadow. The HD Brows Eye and Brow Palette is the only kit in this brow review that does not come with a wax-based substance in its palettes which I have to admit is a bit of a downer for me originally

However the shadows do have a silky, smooth texture making it super easy to lift and blend so I don't think coming with a wax with have done it much good. In terms of usability, this is by far my favourite brow kit! The texture of the powders means it glides on with a silk effect and actually goes where I want it to go without too much of a fuss but in terms of colour, I found the carbon browshadow a bit to dark to be used on my eyebrows and trying to dim down the colour with a warm brown browshadow didn't really work

Rating:- 4

Sleek Eyebrow Kit in Dark

(rrp £7.99)

What Sleek Say

'For Perfectly shaped, groomed brows look no further than Sleek MakeUp's brow kit. Complete with all the tools you'll ever need for brows that flatter and frame your face [. . .] Your brows will never stray away'

What I Think

This kit comes with literally everything you need to get your eyebrows in shape. The Sleek MakeUp Brow Kit is the only kit in this brow review that comes decked out with a pair of tweezers; which screams originality to me. I really liked the small, compact, square packaging of this brow kit as it looks like the product can take a bit of a tumble and still survive another day

In the dark kit, you get a dark wax with a lighter brown setting powder (which is pretty much standard is brow kits). I think this brow kit actually gave my brows a bit of volume *if that's at all possible* , I'm not biggest fan of the brow wax colour as I think it made my eyebrows look abit grey * but what makes this browkit a winner for me is the texture of the brow wax. It did what I wanted, when I wanted and I didn't have to keep going over and over the same spot

Rating: 4

GOSH Eyebrow Palette

(rrp £7.49)

What Gosh Say

Well they don't really say anything because their website is a nightmare to navigate and Superdrugs (their main retailer) doesn't seem to have a blurb about their products . .So moving swiftly on . . .

What I Say

GOSH's Eyebrow kits were actually my first experience with eyebrow kits when it came out way back when (sometime early this year . . I think). This Kit comes with 3 browshadows as well as a clear wax. To my knowledge GOSH only do one eyebrow kit so it's really a one size kits all. I really am in two minds about this product and it might be due to the fact that I've owned this the longest so I have had a lot of time to try it out.

 I love the fact that this is a versatile product that can be used on just about anybody regardless of their skin tone and brow condition and the colour comes the closest to matching the shade of my eyebrow pencil (which I really, really love). What I don't like about this product is the stiff texture of the brow powders. I know some people would prefer a stiffer browshadow texture to a flitty one but I find the powder a bit difficult to shift and place exactly where I want it

Rating: 2

Elf Brow Kit in Dark

(rrp £3.50)

What They Say

'Create brows that are fuller,thicker and more defined! The pigmented wax defines and shapes brows, and the colour complementing setting powder keeps them looking arched and perfected.'

What I say

Despite the fact that this is the cheapest of the brow kits I have reviewed, it is (in my opinion) the strongest contender. While I'm not the biggest fan of the E.L.F compact packaging *I don't know why but the tiny little protective plastic ALWAYS comes off*, it doesn't discourage me away from this brow kit. I really, really love the wax colour; It isn't too dark or too light. 

What really gets my goat about this product because it does tick the right box for me in terms of colour and application. It has next to none longetivity! If you swatch the wax on the back of your palm and give it a little rub, it disappears into nothing and as someone who hates to retouch their eyebrows on the go

Ratings: 3 

Overall Ratings

So I'm just going to break my ratings to give you my winners in terms of colour, texture, wear and appearance

Colour:- E.L.F as the colour was just spot on
Texture:- HD Brows. Your silky texture really hypnotises
Ease of Use:- HD Brows. Silky texture makes it easier to use
Wear: Sleek as it actually lasted against my back of the hand and rub like a maniac text'
Appearance:- Sleek as this brow kit looks like it will take a tumble and keep on going

I really hope this review helped out you wade through the sea of eyebrow kits out on the marker, especially if you were planning to shell out on any eyebrow kit this winter. 

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