Too Cool For School Rules of Pore Get Ready Dual Primer

Product description: Silicon neatly covers pore and unevenness. Moisture reinforcing complex keeps skin smooth & moist all day long. Sebum absorbing powder wipes out excessive facial oil. Magical pore cover ensures visual changes, no more frequent make up corrections, take sebum under control!

Product is a duo of 50ml primer in squeezy tube and 1.5g of pore balm hidden in tube's cap. I ordered set of 10 sample sachets, which are unfortunately only the primer, so I didn't have a chance to try the pore balm. One sample sachet lasts for approx. three applications.

In the ingredients we can find some good stuff:

• Portulaca Oleracea Extract (also known as wild portulaca or pigweed) - has many benefits on skin: soothing effect, accelerating healing process, improving skin's elasticity. As a natural source of vitamins A, C and E and the co-enzyme Q10, is an excellent antioxidant, fighting premature ageing and protecting skin from enviromental damage.
• Betaine - An amino acid also known as Trimethylglycine or glycine betaine. Primarily functions as a humectant and anti-irritant in cosmetic products. It's able to give superior hydration to the skin, without the residual stickiness often associated with glycerin based emulsions. When used in skin care products, it can temporarily decrease the depth of wrinkles, giving the face a much smoother appearance.
• Sodium Hyaluronate (sodium salt of hyaluronic acid) - is a powerful anti aging ingredient in skin care. It is naturally occurring in the skin, but as we get older it's level decrease causing our skin to age and sag. It has ability to absorb water up to 1000 times its weight, what makes it one of the best moisturising substances known.
• Witch hazel extract - a strong astringent & antioxidant, has antibacterial & anti-inflammatory properties, effective in acne treatments

but considering the presence of silicones and parabens I wouldn't expect any skin miracle effect, however it's good to know they are there.

Full list of ingredients: Water, Cyclomehicone, Dimethicone, Propylene Glycol, Stearyl Dimethicone, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Sodium Hyaluronate, Betaine, Talc, Phenyl Trimethicone, Cyclopentasiloxane, PEG/PPG-19/19 Dimethicone, Sodium Chloride, Disodium EDTA, Triethanolamine, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, BHT, Hamamelis Virginina (Witch Hazel) Extract, Tocopheryl Acetate, Fragrace
Ingredients analysis [HERE]

 In the pore balm we can also find some extracts:

• Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract - it'a a powerful antioxidant, protecting skin cells from the damage caused by free radicals. It is also known to reduce skin swelling and help soothe and condition sensitive skin.
• Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil - essential oil with powerful antiseptic properties, widely used in acne treatments
• Witch hazel extract
• Portulaca Oleracea Extract

Full list of ingredients: Aluminium Starch Octenylsuccinate, Idodecyl Neopentanoate, Dimethicone, Phenyl Trimethicone, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Isopropyl Isostearate, Hexyl Laurate, Dipentarythirtyl Hexahydroxystearate/Hestearate/Hexarosinate, Ceresin, Polyethylene, Tihydroxystearin, Tocopheryl Acetate, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Bark/Leaf/Twig Extract, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil, Polybglyceryl-6 Polyricinoleate, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Sea Water, Fragrance, Propylparaben
Ingredients Analysis [HERE]

The primer has creamy consistency and white colour, but spreads into clear gel texture, does not leave white cast on the skin, actually does not influence skin tone at all. After application skin is nice and smooth in touch and what really surprised me - it does feel moisturising! I know it contains hyaluronic acids, but I didn't actually expect such a nice, moisture feeling.
Unfortunately the primer does not do much to the pores. To be honest I don't see any improvement to my pores at all. My wrinkles are not covered as well. There is also no sebum control, my skin get just as oily as always. The BB Cream is just a little smoother, that's it.

Price: from £12 on e-Bay for full size product, I payed £3 for set of 10 sample sachets.

Pros:
+ contains hyaluronic acid and feels really moisturising on the skin
+ skin is nice and smooth after application

Cons:
- does not cover enlarged pores well
- no promised sebum control

I think that this product rally has to go in duo and maybe with the pore balm it would work better. It's a shame that the sample offers only the primer. If you are looking for simple primer with some moisturising properties this may work for you, but if you want to cover enlarged pores I would suggest to try the product as a whole (duo) or maybe try the Magical Pore Balm on it's own:

I think I will pass on this product, especially that I prefer tinted primers, as they help me to even out my skin tone and cover my scars better. Skin Food's Black Egg Pore Gel Base worked much better for me.

Perfect circle lens for bright eyes: Vassen Rainbow Eyes in Purplish Red

I wanted to try some purple lenses for a while now, but I couldn't decide. I mostly wear my lenses to work, I don't go out that much, so it's better for me to go for some natural or semi-natural looking lenses (I don't wear my GEO Honey Wing to work, cause they look so unnatural in the daylight). A lot of lenses are rather in-your-face purple, especially on bright eyes. When I came across this ones they immediately catched my eye as they have combination of my two favourite colours: pink and purple. I wouldn't dare to try just pink lenses, but this mixture looked interesting and subtle.

They have the biggest diameter of my lenses so far: 15mm. Even though they seemed quite big for me I didn't have any problems with putting them on. They settle quickly on the eye and comfortable to wear for 10-13 hours.

left: my nautral eye colour, right: Vassen Rainbow Eyes

This lenses are basically only printed on the very edge, so a lot of natural eye colour is visible. They go well with my natural grayish-blue eyes. Because they don't have the black rim effect is very natural, they can be easily worn to work. The enlargement effect is quite significant. Even on the printed side the lenses are quite transparent. My eyes have natural rim a little bit darker on the outside side of iris, and I can see this rim through the lens if I look closely. If you have natural strongly dark rim around the whole iris this lenses may not look great. Also because of very subtle colour I can't really see them going with very dark eyes - it would kill the effect.

Unfortunately pink is the downside of this shade. It looks interesting, but if you are tired and your eyes are getting red or if you have problem with dark circles around the eyes, pink makes it all more visible. So I only war this lenses when I had a good night sleep lol!

Price: £14.82 on Pinky Paradise

Pros:
+ easy to put on despite of bigger diameter
+ good enlargement effect
+ comfortable to wear for long time
+ quite subtle, suitable for daytime wear
+ look great on light eyes
+ one year life span

Cons:
- they make tired eyes or dark circles around the eyes more visible

Summary: this are nice, comfortable lenses, interesting mixture of colours, looking nice on bright eyes. However I know already that pink is not my kind of colour for the eyes, so next time I will be looking for pure purple.
Rainbow Eyes are also available in Pinkish Brown, Grayish Blue, Light Greenish, Brownish Hazel. I am really tempted to try the Light Greenish, which has blue and green strokes or Grayish Blue which has blue, gray and yellow strokes^^

Holika Holika Petit Clearing BB Cream

One of my readers has recommended me this BB Cream as a good one for oily skin. Since it's very cheap I just spontaneously added it to my basket during on-line shopping, especially that I am just about to run out of my everyday essential - Tony Moly Petite Cotton BB.
Let's have a look on that Holika Holika's cutie!

 Product description: Contains extract of tea tree oil and sebum controlling powder. Removes oiliness and cleanses the skin to be soft, refreshed and beautiful. SPF30 PA++

Tea tree oil is recognised as one of nature's most effective and versatile healers. It is effective against nail fungus, ringworm, athlete's foot, dandruff, acne, blackheads and many types of infestations/infections.

Ingredients: Water,Cyclopentasiloxane,Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Titanium Dioxide,Methicone,Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Butylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, Dimethicone,Butyelene Glycol,Disteardimonium hectorite, Tribehenin, PEG-10 Dimethicone,Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, Iron Oxides(CI 77492) & Mica & Methicone,Vinyl Dimethicone/Methicone Silsesquioxane Crosspolymer,Sodium Chloride, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Triethyl Citrate,Glyceryl Behenate,Polyglyceryl-6 Octastearate,Silica,Iron Oxides(CI 77491) & Mica & Methicone,Iron Oxides(CI 77499) & Mica & Methicone,Phonoxyethanol,Methylparaben,Propylparaben,Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Extract, Fragrance, Xanthan Gum.
Ingredients analysis [HERE] 

The product is a squeezy tube with 30ml capacity. It does not have any extra packaging, arrives just thermo-wrapped in foil.

The BB Cream has nice consistency - a little bit more rare than my favourite Tony Moly BB, but not too rare. However I think that the tube's hole is slightly too big for that consistency as I keep squeezing too much of it. This BB comes only in one shade and the colour is so nice, I love it! It brightens up skin in a healthy and beautiful way. The coverage is just right - it evens out skin tone and covers dark circles under my eyes, but still manage to look natural and blends well with the skin. It's easy to build up in places that need more coverage. It has a slight dewy effect on the skin, so I do mattify it with powder, however the shine is bearable and not too strong. A little goes a long way - the amount shown on picture is about enough to cover the whole face, including double layer around the eyes and on my acne scars.
As for the sebum control - it's not that significant, it controls oil only slightly better than Tony Moly's BB. I still have to blot my face after approx. 3 hours, so my skin becomes shiny after the same amount of time, however I think there is a little bit less oil on my face than with other BB Creams.
Unfortunatelly when used on top of primer it tends to oxidize and looks a bit cakey after couple of hours. Used on top of sunscreen oxidizes terribly - I used it with sunscreen only once and I had to wash it off my face after 6 hours, because I looked like spotty cow. Yuck.
 
Price: from £3 on e-Bay.

Pros:
+ beautiful colour, that makes skin look bright and healthy
+ a little goes a long way
+ right consistency
+ good enough coverage with natural look
+ nice smell
+ cheap, cheap, cheap!

Cons:
- when used with primer it oxidizes a little bit
- when used with sunscreen it oxidizes TERRIBLY and turns face in hot spotty mess after few hours

Overall this is a very pleasant product if we use it straigt on the skin. But if you use sunscreen everyday better stay away from it.

This BB Cream is part of Petit BB line, that contains five BB Creams to meet different skin needs:

• Essential (orange) - with collagen and caviar, for tired skin
• Clearing (turquoise) - with tea tree extract, for oily and acne prone skin
• Shimmering (pink) - with pearl powder, for brightening skin 
• Moisture (purple) - with hyaluronic acid, for dry skin
• Watery (light green) - with green tea and glacier water, balancing and refreshing.