Eve Lom Powder Foundation Brush

I do love a foundation brush, I really do. Well strictly speaking I love a buffer brush, something to buff my chosen base of choice into my stricken skin. And the chosen base of choice could be liquid, cream, powder, dependent on the strickeness of my skin and how much coverage is required.

This is £38 so to my mind is a considered purchase when there are many and varied buffing type brushes available at considerably less.

But I am on the quest for the one, the one true buffing brush which is long of handle, I find most buffing brushes frustratingly short in that department and dense of bristles.

So this brush is certainly full of bristles, but the head itself is reassuringly small and thus easy to manoevre.

The fault for me is that it is beautiful, and in its beauty lies a reluctance on my part to use and dent its perfection, on the few times I have used it, it has certainly performed and added a polish to my skin, but frankly I prefer to look at it and stroke it occasionally.

Minatures

I have a thing about minatures, not samples but minatures of the full size product, down to the glass jar (thank-you Omorovicza and Oskia) or glass bottle (thank-you Aurelia). 

Sometimes the minature is an improved version on the full size - Sunday Riley Start Over Eye Cream I am looking at you with your metal applicator missing from the full size.

Above is a small selection of some of my gift with purchase products.

Eve Lom Powder Foundation Brush

Ever since the handle of my Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki Brush decided to depart from its brush head totally and irrevocably, I felt the need for something to replace it. 

And I plumped for this, the Eve Lom Powder Foundation Brush.

This is a lovely, lovely brush. It has substance in the hand, so that I find I can buff it around my face without it skidding all over the place. The bristles are densely packed and very soft. 
What I particularly like is the fact that this brush does not hang on to the product, but deposits it around the face evenly.

Currently £38, not cheap but frankly I am over cheap brushes.

Eve Lom Radiance Perfected Tinted Moisturiser Alabaster 1 and Ivory 2

Okay, so I am following on on a bit of a theme, warmer weather means a lighter base and I thought I would look at what I already have rather than lust after something new.

I swatched this tinted moisturiser in SpaceNK and was impressed that the coverage was signficant and the texture and feel was, well I hesitate to say "nice" because that is such a bland catch all sort of adjective, I suppose what I mean was that once swatched the texture was cooling and comfortable on the skin and I liked that the shades were neutral enough.

I liked the swatches so much that I went on to purchase.

I like the packaging - squeezy tube with a narrow nozzle allows for accuracy, I find pumps can fail.

So Alabaster 01 on the top and Ivory 02 on the bottom.

The shades are neutral enough to my eye. I really struggle with shade matching and have shoved my wrists under the noses of my OH and my eldest son on numerous occasions crying plaintively "blue or green?" - not without reason, my OH teaches GCSE and A-Level Art and my son has a degree in Fine Art - and both favour neutral, so these shades pull neither too warm or too cool.

The coverage for a TM is considerable, but I like that - my skin needs all the help it can get.

What I particularly like about this product is that it wears off evenly, I get shiney throughout the day, but it behaves like skin if that makes sense, I end up with shiney but evened out skin. It is still there at the end of the day.

Currently £48 for 50mls. 

Eve Lom Cleanser

I first used this cleanser some 23 years ago. I remember reading an article in the much missed Marie Claire Health and Beauty magazine about spending £50 on a beauty regime (shows how long ago it was). I bought and I was hooked. 

To my mind this is the first of the balm cleansers, and if I am honest the benchmark with which I compare all newcomers.

So, a thick, somewhat grainy textured balm, someone likened it to goosefat in texture and look and I would agree. The scent is herbal and slightly medicinal, to me, not unpleasant, but distinctive. 

This is not a cleanser for those who like something quick, which emulsifies and removes grime with a quick addition of water and a quick rinse away, although it does emulsify if water is added. No this is a "dry hands, dry face" and massage away, a fingerful should suffice.

I have thin, aged skin with a fair smattering of thread veins and general redness and I have never had a reaction to this product, it is the most effective makeup remover for my skin and my makeup that I have used, on a single pass.

Of course the elephant in the room is that mineral oil is large component of this product. I am no scientist, all that I know about mineral oil is from my aromatherapy training (I completed 3 out of the 4 modules of a professional aromatherapy course with Penny Price) and mineral oil was dismissed as a carrier oil because the molecules are too large to penetrate the skin, not that anything can get in very deep, they just sit on the skin's surface. For a far more eloquent and knowledgeable post please read Colin's post here 

Of course balm cleansers have moved on in the intervening years, and I use many, and enjoy them all.

This was a limited edition 500mls pot from QVCUK, one can purchase 450mls from the Eve Lom official website for £140.