Hello beauties, I hope you’re all well. A few weeks ago I made a little trip to Bluewater as I was at some training nearby and decided it would be rude not to. As is usual when I’m in a big shopping centre like that, I love nothing more then spending a couple of hours going around all of the beauty halls and stores and seeing whats new, what I haven’t tried and what I might like to repurchase. I really like Bluewater because it has both a House of Fraser and a John Lewis as well as a Space NK and a massive Boots complete with all the high end counters. As I went off on my beauty marathon I had a very strict ‘don’t buy anything’ policy! I knew I was going away with my mum a couple of weeks later and so I was busy saving my money for a trip to Manchester’s Trafford Centre! I’m not going to lie, that plan kind of failed immediately because my first stop was MAC and I couldn’t resist picking up Viva Glam Nicki as it has just come out! After that I was determined, no more spending!
I decided it was probably most sensible to check out counters I don’t normally have access to near where I live and I quickly found myself at the Laura Mercier counter. Unusually for a beauty blogger I don’t actually own any products from the brand despite hearing lots of good things about them. The MUA on the counter was really rude but I persevered with trying to explain I wanted to try the Oil Free Tinted Moisturiser and she begrudgingly applied some to my jaw. I tried the lightest shade and went off to find some decent light to check it out in (on a side note, why do department stores insist on putting such rubbish lighting in their beauty halls??). I have to say I really wanted to love the tinted moisturiser but I just didn’t. I was, in fact, really unimpressed. It just didn’t feel as nice as I thought it would. It was a bit greasy (so I dread to think what the non oil free one is like) and just did not sit very nicely on my skin at all. Laura Mercier definitely struck out for me!
This sort of got me thinking about a possible tinted moisturiser purchase ready for the summer. So that gave me a bit more of a focus. The other counters I visited didn’t have much to offer in that department so I didn’t bother trying anything else out until I got to Space NK. I bloody love Space NK, I’d go as far as saying it’s one of my favourite stores of all times! All the staff I’ve encountered at different stores are always lovely and helpful and although it’s not the biggest store in the world, I really like the range of brands that stock. While I was there I tried out another three products.
First up was Chantecaille Just Skin. I pretty much agreed to try this knowing full well I wouldn’t purchase it. At £55.00 it’s bordering on obscene and there is no way I would ever spend that much on a tinted moisturiser. As luck would have it I wasn’t even tempted because it’s not even that great! I’m pretty sure that mixing my usual foundation with a bit of moisturiser would give me the same effect. It extenuated my pores as well as any other blemishes on my face. I know the whole point of this is that it is supposed to be sheer and it supposedly enhances the skin rather then masking it, but this really wasn’t for me.
Next I gave Jemma Kidd Light As Air Foundation a go. Now I know this isn’t actually a tinted moisturiser but it was light enough to still be a contender for my summer skin. I tried this in the palest shade (nothing new there!) but it was still far too yellow for my skin. It felt nice and made my skin look beautifully flawless but it just wasn’t the right colour!
After the disappointment of Light As Air, the lovely MUA recommended Nars new Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturiser. I already own and love Nars Sheer Matte Foundation and so knew their colour range was great for those of us that are pale and interesting! I hadn’t even heard about a tinted moisturiser from Nars but thought it was definitely worth a go. Well, with just a touch of this applied to my jaw all my no buying anything intentions fell apart. I knew I had to have it. This stuff is amazing!!! I picked it up in the shade Finland.
I’ll be reviewing this in full in a few days so keep your eyes peeled for that!
