Beauty Reviews: By Terry Foundation, Rimmel Bronzer and Estee Lauder Pure Envy Lipstick

The second instalment of my “beauty reviews” – I do hope that this will become a regular feature. It’s useful, I think, to see products being applied – obviously you can’t feel the texture yourself, but you get a good idea of how a foundation blends, or how pigmented a lipstick is or how much coverage a concealer gives. I hope that you find these videos and posts useful. And do click play on the video screen if a product grabs your interest; I’m trying to make them as quick and concise as possible, so even if you usually hate beauty vids you should find these almost bearable. (Almost!)

And so on to the reviews: By Terry’s Densiliss foundation, which has been requested so many times this year; Rimmel’s bronzer in Sunlight, which is a very old favourite; Estee Lauder’s Pure Envy lipstick in Desirable, which is a very wearable pinky-nude. It has taken me a good while to get around to my Densiliss review, as I explain in the video: it’s very hard to talk about a foundation that costs £75. I am well aware that it’s a huge, huge amount of money for a face base. And I almost would have preferred it if the foundation had been a pile of crap, and I could have said, “see! You don’t necessarily get the best products if you spend more money!’ Which is actually true, in quite a few cases. Just not this one. Densiliss is bloody gorgeous. It applies like an absolute dream, feels so luxe you want to sleep in it and looks like skin, if skin was made from a weird super-mix of marble, gold, apricots and silk. When mine runs out, I will be putting my money where my mouth is and buying a new one, but I won’t be using it every day. Not on your nelly! For me, the Cover Expert comes in at such a close second that I can’t justify the extra expense for a daily dose of the Densiliss - you can see in the video that the finish is very nearly the same. It’s just the application that feels different - Densiliss has the feel of a high-end serum, Cover Expert feels like extraordinarily wonderful makeup.

I think that the price-tag on the Densiliss can be partly explained by the fact that it’s a formula that marries brilliant, natural, radiant coverage with (I quote the brand, here) “a futuristic formula that offers long-term anti-ageing benefits”. But the long-term benefits are not very easy to test – I can only judge what I can see, and what I see is a perfect base with a long-lasting finish and a formula that somehow corrects and adds radiance to the skin whilst looking absolutely natural. If you’re in the market for a super-luxe foundation and you pass a Space NK, give it a try. If you have the time, do a proper application on bare skin – and if you have even more time, do half a face in Densiliss and half in Cover Expert and then let me know what you think. I am all ears! (If you buy online, use the code RUTH20 to get a tenner off, until 16th April. See yesterday’s post.) By Terry’s Densiliss is £75 here at Space NK

Some relief for the overused purse-strings: the second product in the video is a high-street bronzer. Rimmel’s Natural Bronzing Powder. One of my old favourites – it’s nice and pale so you can build it up to an intensity that suits you. And I usually like to build my colour rather than slap it all on in one go and wonder how to tone it down… This bronzer from Rimmel is never going to win any packaging awards, but if it’s a good-looking compact you’re after then there are plenty of expensive ones to blow your cash on. (I’d look at Dior’s Nude Tan Matte, reviewed here, which has a heavy mirrored casing and a fine, matte-bronze powder inside.) Rimmel’s gives a good, realistic tan and costs £5.99 from Superdrug.com

Last on the list, the Pure Color Envy Sculpting Lipstick. This is a bit of a revolutionary formula in that it’s high-intensity – really very pigmented indeed – but incredibly lightweight. You get a good, strong blast of colour that looks juicy and fresh and stays on well – I wouldn’t say it stays on like a stain, or anything like that, but it’s good enough. And the best thing is that there’s a kind of 3D effect with this, but without any obvious use of reflective particles. There’s no shimmer, just fresh-looking colour. I think that is the best way to describe it – that it stays looking new and fresh, even when it’s been on for a while. I have the pinky-nude Desirable, but I’d love to see how some of the bright reds or corals come out. You can find the full range of these at Boots.com – £24 each, or 2,400 of your hard-earned advantage points!

If you can’t see the video below then please click

Oh yeah – I almost forgot these. A before-and-after comparison for your amusement. Dear God, I’m actually in two minds about even publishing the before shot – it’s a definite PMT day! I have only used the products reviewed above and I haven’t altered any colour balances or what-not, though light may have changed fractionally between the times when I took the photographs. The “after” is a little warmer in tone. What a difference makeup makes, though…all hail, praise be, etc etc.