Garnier Miracle Sleeping Cream

Those are some big claims to backup there, aren't they? I have an uneven relationship with Garnier. For example, the BB Cream I loved initially but it lost its gloss quickly but the Ultralift 2 in 1 Serum I loved. As I love trying new products, this patchy experience was not enough to put me off.

The 50mL of product comes in a lightweight but very attractive pearlescent blue container. Obviously, the container is rather a lot bigger than it need be. On opening, you're greeted with a white interior and a pale peachy coloured cream. The scent is really strong - if you are not big on strongly scented products, you can stop reading now. I like to think I'm reasonably tolerant of scent but this was too much for me. The scent is rather over the top rose and confectionery - it makes you think of very sweet things.

The cream is really very thick. Do you know - it reminded me of panna cotta or a set custard - something dessert like! A very firm fruit flavoured yoghurt. Despite this very weird texture, it comes out easily and you only need a tiny bit - so plus points there. It smooths over the skin easily and it also absorbed easily. So until this point, if it weren't for the scent I'd be considering it a bit of a winner.

However ... I used it for a couple of days (and it was the only change in the beauty routine) and I came out in a couple of spots. I'm not normally spotty so I stopped using it and my skin eventually calmed down. At this point, I was prepared to give the cream the benefit of the doubt so I let my skin return to normal and allowed any potential hormonal interference get out of the way and tried again.

Exactly the same thing. I'm writing this nursing a spot on my chin, two on my temple and one by my nose. This is definitely not normal for me and given two instances, I'm going to have to chalk it up to the cream.

This is disappointing because I don't normally find new products affect me in this way and this product is super cheap (RRP $20, but you can find it a lot cheaper) but feels luxurious and seems to a pretty good job (minus that scent, obviously). While using it my skin certainly felt soft and hydrated but I'm not prepared to tolerate spots for that!

Available from Chemist Warehouse (& perhaps elsewhere).  RRP $20.

Garnier.

Source: prize.

L'Oreal Base Magique

A week or so ago I had a make up class with the lovely Laura of Ego Brows and Beauty. I'm pretty rubbish/minimal with make up so (despite owning a small ton of product) I asked her to focus on eye make up.

The great thing about spending an hour with a make up artist is all the suggestions and product recommendations and suggestions. One thing that Laura suggested was that, as I am currently using a compact foundation I revisit some of the primers I've found difficult to use with liquid foundation.

The first one out the drawer was a tiny sample of Base Magique. Like most of these products its main ingredient is a silicone: cyclohexasiloxane (followed by a couple of variations on dimethicone). This is what gives it its very soft feel and means not only does it have some emollient qualities, it also fills in fine wrinkles and plumps up your skin.

While I'm not a fan of how these products feel, I never have a problem with how they look on my skin. The problem hits when I apply makeup.

Unfortunately, in this case the solid foundation (applied with a sponge) was not happy. The primer came away from my skin - if you looked hard enough it almost looked like I was peeling! And I still ended up with the slight spottiness of pores being emphasised.

I'm glad I only had a sample and had not spent $30 on this. The remainder I gave to a friend!

Would I buy this? No. Not for me.

L'Oreal.

Widely available. $30.

Max Factor Ageless Elixir

Oh I love this foundation! I picked up the Max Factor Ageless Elixir ages ago in some big discount offer at Priceline. I chose it because I'd been impressed with a combined moisturiser/serum product and I can find that foundation catches in any dehydrated patches on skin so I figured the serum aspect would help with that. The fact that it's also SPF 15 is just a plus.

The coverage is light to medium and I like that it's really easy to build up without looking like you've caked it on. The foundation has a lovely, subtle rose scent and my only criticism of the pump pack is that it's hard to tell how much you've used. I love the black lid (no dirty foundation smudges visible!).

I have found that, as usual on my skin, this doesn't work so well on top of dimethicone/silicone rich moisturisers but if I use a good standard moisturiser (and allow it to soak in) then this works a treat. 

Because I favour such a light foundation, this has lasted me for absolutely ages, making it also excellent value for money.

I have reasonably fair skin and bought it in 45 warm almond which has been perfect.  I did spend some time choosing the colour before purchase (it only comes in 5 shades) and I've subsequently bought another Max Factor foundation in the same colour which is also a good match - so it seems the shades are consistent.

I'm quite disappointed I bought a different Max Factor foundation (always have to try something new!) because this is unequivocally a product I would both recommend and use again.

This is widely available and RRP is $32.95 but you will most find it discounted somewhere along the way!

Elucent Whitening Moisturisers

Gah! For some reason, I thought I had a post all scheduled and ready to go for last Friday (Friday, kids, is when Aus Best Beauty Buys will be bringing you my latest thoughts this year, providing I don't get muddled again!) but it turns out I didn't ...

Which is a shame because I have a truckload of products waiting to be written up.

But here we go with these two moisturisers - day and night - part of the 'whitening' range from Elucent.  I received these sample sizes as part of a little package of samples from a beauty website.  I have definitely used an Elucent product before but I'm stuffed if I can remember what it was.  I remember I liked it though.

The Whitening range is supposed to brighten your skin and reduce uneven skin tone.  As someone who has a little bit of pigmentation (hey, I grew up in Australia ... these things can't be helped!) I'm always keen to try out products like this.  I used the day and night creams in sync for a good couple of weeks and definitely noticed lovely, smooth, well hydrated skin during that time.  Did the creams reduce pigmentation and uneven skin tone? I can't say because I didn't take before and after shots but because they worked at their core business of moisturising my skin looked good.

The day cream
The day cream is SPF 30 - yay! A moisturiser with something approaching serious sun protection.  The cream is quite light and goes on easily and is absorbed quickly.  It does have a little bit of a white cast to it but that disappears when the cream is absorbed.  The cream does have the slight feel of sun cream to it but it hydrates and provides a pretty good base for foundation too.

The sunblock side of this cream definitely does its job - I wore this on a ferry crossing when I stood on deck for almost the full 45 minutes and didn't get sunburnt.

The night cream
The night cream is a completely different texture to the day cream.  It's thicker and feels richer but it is quickly absorbed and I didn't wake up feeling like I had a greasy face.

These creams aren't cheap and they're not widely available. But you can pick them up at Chemist Warehouse.