Finally a Primer That Works for Me! RMK Makeup base - A Review!

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are all well and getting lots of inspiration for my contest! I can't tell you all how excited I am to see the entries, and the lovely Kelanjo has started the ball rolling by doing her entry! You can check her blog out at http://www.kelanjo.blogspot.com/

So while I'm waiting for all your entries to come in, I'll continue with the usual blogging business of looks reviews and hauls. A few weeks ago, I blogged about a haul from the brand RMK, who are a sister brand of Kanebo - You can have a look at my haul here - http://mizzworthy.blogspot.com/2009/03/haul-rmk-nails-and-non-makeup-item-xxx.html

One of the items I purchased at the time was the RMK makeup base...

If you are anything like me, you will have heard a lot of sales pitches about makeup primers, and maybe even read a lot of information about what they are and what they do. In short makeup bases or primers are designed with the purpose of preparing the skin for makeup application, ie making the skin feel smoother, reducing the appearance of pores. I have also been told they are meant to protect the skin from foundation (thus reducing breakouts etc), and they are also supposed to help foundation wear longer...

If I'm honest it is the last claim about helping foundation stay on longer that attracts me to these products. I have tried a few primers ranging from the cheap and cheerful (Rimmel recover base, Boots No 7, even Lanacane anti chafing gel - as an alternative to the American girls'favourite Monistat) to the expensive (MAC Prep and prime, MAC Matte, YSL Top secrets). Unfortunately, many of these have had limited success for me - MAC prep and prime skin was a total waste of time and money, YSL was similar - thankfully I only tried a sample of this, rather than wasting £30. MAC Matte and lanacane work reasonably well, however due to being silicone based are useless under mineral foundation, and seem to "ball up" when I buff and blend liquid foundation over them. Silicone based primers also often feel quite greasy on the skin, and MAC matte gel, although a reasonable primer, does not actually mattify the skin... Not an issue for me as I have fairly dry skin, however I would imagine if you had oily skin, this might be a letdown for you!

So when I bought this makeup base from RMK, I have to say, I was not expecting much, despite the MUA telling me it was a top seller and award winning product. But this little beauty really works!

This is a fairly expensive product - it retails for approx £22 for 30mls at RMK, and I have seen it being sold for slightly more by various ebay sellers. Unfortunately RMK only currently have counters in Selfridges in London and the Trafford Centre, I am sure it would be possible to order from website or the counters direct though... However, when I think of how much cash I must have wasted on primers in the past, I would rather pay this amount for something that actually works. Also, given how much I spend on foundation I want it to last, and this is the one primer I have found that actually does this!

The primer comes in a screw top bottle from which you pour the primer, and I think this is the one flaw with the design of the product - it would be so much easier to use and dispense the correct amount if it came with a pump. You only need a small amount of this to cover your face, and the bottle makes it difficult not to pour too much out...

The product definately falls into the category of liquid rather than creme formulation too - and this may feel strange at first - it's almost watery in its consistency, however this maens that the product does not feel heavy at all on the skin and applies quickly and easily. I use my fingers to apply, but would imagine it would also work well with a brush - I would not recommend a sponge, as it would just completely absorb the primer.

The big news is with this, that I have totally noticed a difference in the length of time my foundation lasts - with other primers, my foundation would be gone after about 6 hours at the most, but with this primer my foundation stays on until I decide to take it off! The other thing have noticed is that this does actually appear to make a difference to the appearance of the pores on my face - they appear smaller and less noticeable throughout the time I wear my makeup.

The liquid consistency means it absorbs into the skin quickly and doesn't feel greasy, which makes it suitable for use under mineral and powder foundations as well.

I will definately repurchase this when it does run out, despite the flaws with the bottle design. RMK actually make several makeup bases including a creamy base, a mattifying base and various colour correcting bases. The serious drawback with this product is its lack of availability in the UK, but if you can get to an RMK counter, I'd definately recommend getting yourself a sample and giving it a try. With any primer, I'd always recommend trying out a sample before you buy - after all unlike in the USA, us brit girls can't take these products back if they don't work, so always be cheeky and get a sample. after all, we all have different skin and different things work for different people!

Please let me know if you have any questions about this product or any of the other primers I have mentioned!

MizzWorthy

xxx

PS - Just a reminder about the comp, please make sure you make a comment on my blog to let me know when you have posted your entry. Also if you do a video entry, please email me some still images for judging purposes at jennifer.worthington1979@gmail.com Thanks everyone x

HAUL! RMK, nails and non-makeup item! xxx

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all ok - as promised here are some pics of my haul from RMK, my new nails and the one non makeup related item I bought! Me and my lovely mum went to the Trafford centre in Manchester, our first stop was Selfridges and we spied some lovely Cath Kidston stuff in there... For some reason I love really nice mugs and stuff, so when I spotted that they were only £4 each I deliberated over which one I should get, and finally decided on this one;

Tres Kitch, but I love it!

Next we travelled down to the cosmetics section, the best bit. This seemed to take forever as we walked past the concession area for "The White Company" (they sell candles and room spray, nice towels, pyjama's, soaps etc, which are all - yes, you guessed it, White). My mum wanted "a quick look" but I swear she smelled every candle in the place before buying the first one she'd picked up lol. It was very nice though!

Finally we got to the cosmetics section - This was where I discovered the RMK stand - My mum wanted to get her HG moisturiser from Sheseido and while she was getting it, I was looking around and on the other side from the sheseido, was RMK. Hmm, I thought, I've never heard of this before! I looked closer and I realised that some of the colours were fab, so I started to play - the eye shadows, they have some really unusual colours and various finishes too - powder, liquid and cream, and I noticed sme great coloured blush too...

So in the end, the most friendly sales assistant I think I've ever met came over to see to us, she had this totally fab accent - a mixture of japanese and cockney! She told me a bit about the company when I said I hadn't seen the brand before. RMK is apparently a sister company of Kanebo, which used to be fairly widely available in the UK, but for some reason is very hard to find now. Anyway, it used to be a favourite company of my Mum's and they did some amazing skincare too, so I was very interested! (Not that it takes much to get me interested in makeup...)

Anyway, this company make three primers, one of which has won awards, and the foundations are top sellers in Japan, so I decided to try the primer as I have been consistantly unimpressed by all the primers I've tried... I also got a cream eye shadow in a soft brown colour with copper/bronze reflects. Next I got a powder shadow in a pewter grey colour, and I also picked up a limited ediction shadow duo from the spring collection. This one contains a lovely mid brown matte shadow, and a frosted pink with silver reflects. Both colours are nice on their own, but the SA explained that if you layer the pink over the brown it creates a third colour...

Here are the goodies in the packaging - everything comes in matte silver boxes with things like "choose me", and "open up" embossed on them. As you can see I got a load of freebies too! A candle, Blusher brush and LOADS of samples!

Here is everything opened up - the cosmetics come in silver plastic casing, but the individual shadows can be made into palettes - my shadow duo was originally two shadows and I boutght the palette separately for£7. You can also see the primer there. It is really runny liquid, but so far I like it - it seems to actually make foundation last longer, and makes my skin feel really soft - at last, a foundation primer that does what it's meant to!

Finally, I just wanted to show you all the samples I got too! She was soooo generous and basically gave me one or two of everything! I ended up with three foundations to try, three different types of primer and loads of skincare, including a cleansing oil, which I can't wait to try!

Since making the haul yesterday, I have looked into the company a bit more, and at the moment it's available in London and Manchester branches of Selfridges, but is not otherwise available outside of asia at the moment - but I think you can buy off the website - www.rmkrmk.com

Has anyone else tried any of their stuff?

Finally, we popped to Debenhams, where I got my nails done;

I was actually thinking of getting acrylics as I really fancied having some long nails for a while, even though I knew they'd wreak havoc with my natural nails. Luckily, at the Nails INC nail bar, they talked me into having calcium gels instead - AKA a three week manicure. This is basically a french manicure (but you can also get coloured ones too) sculpted from calcium enriched gel which sets hard. While it's on, it's meant to make the natural nails stronger and make them grow faster. It was expensive though - a whopping £50 to have them applied (my lovely mum treated me!), and it costs £20 to get them removed every 3 weeks too, so I'm not sure how long I can afford to keep them up!

I also got this kit for £20 at nails inc- It contains a buffer, topcoat and base coat/ridge filler and a nail oil pen. Buying all these thigs individually would have cost about £40, so it was quite a bargain!

Hope you all like this - let me know if any of you have used any RMK before though, and what you all thought of it!

Oh yeah! I nearly forgo I got my back up of Pink Fish too! I wont post a pic of that becaus the entire world knows what it looks like now lol!

Love MizzWorthy

xxx

Non Foundation Review! MAC Matte Gel...

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all fine and dandy!

Pinkneauveau5 Requested a review of a product pictured in my post about my makeup collection, Now I'm not used to doing reviews of anything apart from foundation lol, but I'll do my best! Usual rules apply and I'll try to give you an overview of other reviews both good and bad so you can form a better opinion of the product.

MAC Matte gel retails for £12.72 for 25mls here in the UK, which at first look sounds like a very small amount of product. And it is - the tube is probably about the same size as a lip gellee from MAC. However, a little of this product goes a very long way - I use this on my t-zone only as a primer and I use a tiny tiny amount, like less than half a pea size - more like a quarter really! I would expect this tube to last me about 4-5 months... One makeup alley reviewer states that a tube lasted over a year for her.

MAC state the following about the product;

"A matte-ifying cream that acts like a powder, M·A·C Matte adds a sheer, no-shine matte texture in one smooth layer. May be used on bare or made-up skin. Use a latex sponge or a 252 Large Shader Brush to apply over the entire face or in the T-zone to reduce the appearance of shine. Apply M·A·C Matte after moisturiser, but before foundation to prime the skin for makeup. Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation applies smoothly and effortlessly over top of M·A·C Matte. Apply M·A·C Matte to eyelids before applying Eye Shadow or Paints to help increase the longevity of the makeup and reduce creasing."

I have been using this product for a couple of weeks, and prior to this I have used MAC prep and prime face, which I was frankly unimpressed with - yes it feels nice and light on the skin, but frankly I wanted a product which would make my foundation last longer which prep and prime sadly did not do...

By the way - I do not feel that you need to purchase a special brush for this - I use my fingers and it applies fine. A brush would probably waste far too much product, but each to their own!

The product has a strange texture. It feels like a gel, but is non-sticky and when rubbed into the skin it takes on a consistency somewhere between a silky liquid and a finely milled powder. It seems to have some type of light relective properties, which seems to diffuse fine lines and pores. It won't perform miracles, however I do notice a difference in the size of my open pores when I use it.

As far as changing the longevity of wear of foundation, I do feel that this product actually makes a difference, and the fact that it is suitable for use on and around the eye area is a convenient point.

However, one major issue some reviewers have found is that they feel that the product doesn't actually mattify the skin, a common complaint among makeup alley reviewers - which is odd considering that it is called 'matte'! I only use this around my t-zone which does get very slightly oily - and I find it a plus point that the product is not drying on the skin, so I guess this issue depends on your perspective! This may however account for the reason that only 58% of makeup alley reviewers would repurchase this... I actually would repurchase, but not for mattifying, more for priming the skin and the effect it has on my pores and wear of foundation. I do find that the product forms an effective barrier between any oil and my makeup, so in this way, does prevent the skin looking shiny, rather that mattifying the skin, if that makes sense...

MAC Matte is a silicon based gel, which accounts for its qualities in both smoothing the skin and helping foundation stay on... Some people dislike silicon products, finding that they can block pores etc, however I haven't found this to be an issue.

If you watch youtube vids, then you might have noticed that a lot of people in the USA are into using a product called Monistat anti-chafing gel-powder as a primer - I have found a similar product here in the UK called Lanacane anti-chafing gel, which costs about £4.50. These both work as primers due to fact that they are silicon based, so could be a cheaper alternative.
The key with these products is to make sure that you cleanse thoroughly and exfoliate regularly to keep pores healthy and unblocked.

The vast majority of primers do in fact work in this way, and are silicon based, ranging from smashbox to GOSH. The only one I am aware of which is silicon free is made by NARS, and as such would be suitable for those who find they are affected by silicon.

I like the MAC product purely because it has been designed specifically for the skin on the face. I would definately repurchase it when I run out, but would actually use Lanacane if for some reason I couldn't get hold of the MAC version - I have tried it and found it did an adequate job as a primer...

Hope this helps!

If you have any further questions please ask, and I'll try to help - I'd also love to get any comments or other reccommendations for primers that anyone els might have!

Love MizzWorthy xxx xxx

(PS - Silicon based products do not mix well with tinted moisturizer - the texture becomes rough and lumpy, which is not a look most people are going for!)