Hair & Beauty

The top shade by L'Oréal is called Icy Glow and the Cover FX is Celestial.There wasn't much of a description about the shade of icy glow, however celestials shade is described as glistening pearl.Both of them have a little hint of pink in them, but the silver shine that it gives off mostly counters it out.Icy glow has a little bit of a scent thats nice but doesn't last too long, whereas celestial doesn't have a scent at all.Even though there is quite a price difference between the two, with L'Oréal ranging between £4.99-£6.99 and Cover FX between £28.99-£34.99, there are a lot of pro's and cons, depending on what you're looking for.

The packaging of them both are completely different and with Icy Glow you get 30ml worth of product.It can be used as a primer and can be mixed in with your foundation to give your skin a radiant complexion.I've trialled it with three different foundations: NARS Luminious Weightless Foundation, Kat Von D Lock-It Foundation and L'Oréal True Match foundation.Using it as a primer or to mix it in with your foundation didn't have much of an effect with the NARS and Kat foundation, but it worked great with True Match which was expected.It could be down to the formula for it to be working with the True Match as they're part of the same range.

The application is pretty easy, as the small pierced hole on the end makes it really easy to get the product out and to not waste any product either.You have to squeeze the bottle with only a little bit of pressure to get it out and you can either apply it directly to the face or put it on the back of your hand and apply with your fingers.I prefer to use the finger method as I don't want the highlight to be too intense for my skin tone and it can be easily blended out using my fingers without it leaving them sticky.The texture comes out like a cream but as soon as you start blending it into the skin it turns into a liquid.It gives off more of a matte finish and lasts approximately 5-6hours, which isn't bad for a £6.99 highlighter.

The packaging of this highlighter is still very pretty, however you get 15ml worth of product, compared to the 30ml by L'Oréal above.This can also be added to your primer or foundation, but also states it can be used along with a serum and moisturiser.I've only tried this as a highlighter on top of my foundation, because this highlight is SUPER intense and I think it would of left my face (or head) like below if I mixed it with my foundation or formula.

The application is surprisingly easy and I honestly thought that I would have a struggle with the applicator in general.I practiced before hand with it above the bottle, to stop myself from wasting any product, but it doesn't seem to drip at all.Where the lid goes, it can get a little bit messy, especially when you take the applicator out every time and its all left on the outside of the bottle, but it can easily be put back in or can be used to apply on the face.I like using both methods of putting it on the back of my hand (habit) or applying 3 small dots to the face to then blend out using my fingers.You literally only need a small drop for this highlighter to go a long way, because it is one of the most intense highlighters I have ever used and the pigmentation is amazing.I like to use it mainly on my collarbone if I'm going for an intense look and also my cupids bow or brow bone to highlight them features.The texture is more thick but is really easy to blend like I said with my fingers and it gives off more of a dewy finish.It lasted approximately 7-8hours for being INTENSE, but around 11-12hours it started to completely fade.

Out of the two, I personally favour the Cover FX one, because of how intense it is.I also love that its Paraben, Mineral Oil, Gluten free too.I also forgot to mention that icy glow tends to get patchy after the 6+ hours (depending on how much you apply) compared to celestial that just gradually begins to fade.Although its quite pricy, I would highly recommend the enhancer drops out of the two and think its 100% worth the price.By trying to get icy glow as intense as celestial, I would have to use a lot of product  and saying that I have about 60%-70% remaining of it, where as I have about 97-98% remaining of celestial.I've provided links to where you can get them from, with the sites that regularly have deals on them

L'Oréal True Match Highlight: 

£6.99 or 3 for 2 at Superdrug

£6.99 & free gift if you spend £12.99 or more on selected L'Oréal products at Boots

£6.99 at Feelunique

Cover FX Custom Enhancer Drops Illuminator:

£28.90 (15% off) at House Of Fraser 

£34 at BeautyBay

Each range has a letter in front of the shade, that represents the undertone for that foundation:

P- Pink Undertones

N- Neutral Undertones

G- Golden Undertones (The G+ shades are more warm and more olive)

My actual shade would of been G40, which is for medium skin with golden undertones, but as mentioned earlier I went 1 shade lighter.I got the shade G30, thats for light to medium with golden undertones.The chart made it extremely easy on finding my shade, especially as they had models with different skin tones and undertones which helped a lot.

The foundation is buildable, so you can apply as much as you want for your desired coverage.It states that its good for skin imperfections like acne, redness, dark under eyes for example, with the dark circles being a struggle for me.It also works as a 2 in 1 foundation and concealer, and normally I don't like products that do this, because it leaves my skin looking patchy, but this foundation leaves my skin looking natural.Its available in a total of 40 shades, being suitable for all skin types (including sensitive) and is free from Parabens, Mineral Oil, Fragrance and Gluten.

At first glance of the shade G30, I thought it was going to be way too dark for me.It comes with a sponge that you can use to apply it with which I've tried, but I personally prefer to use my beauty blender.Its probably not obvious in the picture above, but when I first opened this foundation to look at the shade, I couldn't help but dab my finger in it.I was really intrigued by the texture and its so creamy and soft to touch, it can be applied using your fingers, but again I favour using my beauty blender.

Dabbing my beauty blender into the foundation until I was happy with enough product, I started dabbing the foundation around my face, mainly focusing on my under eyes where I tend to get dark circles.This is extremely light on the face, even if you go for the full coverage look,it makes my skin feel so soft and doesn't feel heavy at all

I wanted to try out two makeup looks with this foundation, one with a matte finish and the other with a radiant finish that this foundation leaves you with.I always opt for a matte look as its my favourite finish, but I was really intrigued to see on how well this foundation worked and how long it lasted.It lasted approximately 6-7hours, with it starting to break around the mouth area, which is wear foundation normally starts to crumble for me. 

I decided to go for a winter/fall burgundy for the second makeup look, and used the foundation as a base before I applied the eyeshadow.I used a damp beauty blender this time round to give my skin that extra radiance that this foundation provides and set it with the MAC Fix +.While writing this blog post at the time, this foundation has been on my face for a total of 8hours and with the foundation still being intact.Its not necessary to use the MAC Fix +, but its certainly made the foundation last longer.

I'm really impressed with this foundation, especially since I wrongly assumed that I wasn't going to like it.I think its great that Cover FX have a wide range of shades to choose from and how they've made it extremely easy to find our shades to purchase online.Its a foundation that is extremely easy to work with, whether you want to apply it with your fingers, brush or beauty blender, you will get flawless results every time.

This foundation is currently on sale for £24.50 and can be found here