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.

L'Oreal Revitalift Total Repair 10 Night Cream

What a mouthful!  You can understand why, when I toddled into Priceline a few months ago to buy this (on special, of course) I was completely confused by what was on offer and what wasn't.  In the L'Oreal range, Revitalift and Revitalift 10 are two different things.  I'm still not clear on what the difference is - but this is what I ended up with ...

This night cream claims to fight 10 signs of ageing while you sleep.  A big plus for me is that its main ingredient (after water) is glycerin - something that my skin seems to love.  After that, an ingredient I haven't passed comment on yet: dimethicone.  This is really widely found in cosmetics (and related products) and is basically a silicone.  It makes creams very smooth and also helps fill in/smooth over any fine lines.  It can also act as a protective barrier (so make sure your skin is clean before slathering it on as it will help trap gunk too!).

Personally, I've found that products containing dimethicone have a nice feel when I'm applying them to my skin.  They spread easily and tend not to feel oily.

I absolutely loved this cream.  It was easy to apply, non greasy and I didn't need too much of it.  It made my skin feel plumped up and hydrated just before bed and in the morning I still felt the same way.

For much of the time I was using this, it was in combination with the Garnier Ultralift during the day, and those two in tandem is a combination I'd be happy to return to.  My skin felt great.

I was not such a fan of the little pump container.  It worked absolutely fine but there's no way to know if you've run out of cream or the pump mechanism is simply failing because there's not enough left.  However, even though it is a cheap plastic container, it does look reasonably luxe in your bathroom.

I would definitely buy this again.  I know I'm a bit younger than the L'Oreal Revitalift target age range but I figure that pre-emptive skincare is not a bad thing.

Widely available.  RRP is around $36 but you'll be able to find it cheaper.

L'Oreal.

Source:  purchase.