Testing MUD Cosmetics...

I posted the other week about my planned purchases. Well, I revised that list, and went to work with what I had, in terms of accessibility.

Last week, I placed my 6-weekly grocery order, and I got me some makeup. I got MUD (MakeUp Design) and Rimmel from Woolworths. Cheap (Rimmel was 1/2 price), so no major issues if it all went to Hell, or was utter rubbish.

3 days in, and I have to say, I am rather impressed. The BB cream (MUD) was around $8AUD, and I love it! My only complaint is the smell, but I only have to deal with that briefly, so we are all good. I've worked out that the reason the smell (think plastic fruity smell) got to me so much is that everything I use is fragrance-free due to my husband having emphysema (fragrance affects his breathing badly), so that first whiff was HUGE! Day 3, it was minimal, because I'd adjusted.

Anyway, the products: CC Cream (light to medium) $8AUD, pressed translucent powder $4AUD, lipstick in Pure Passion $4.50AUD, and the Rimmel is the Calm Down & Wear Gold e/s palette. And I am very happy with all of it. The lipstick is the only 'iffy' thing, and that's because I can't say how long the colour lasts (I've been out every day, and not near mirrors to check). Plus, I've only worn it 2 days, as my lips are suffering from the week-long run of -5 (Celcius) days we had right before we left home for the coast.

Day 1: Up at 1.30, face on at 2.00, out the door by 2.30. That is in the a.m. - cold and dark in south-central Qld. I did the whole lot (with a random e/l & mascara) and left it all day. Wandered into our room around 5 that evening, and it was all still there, no patchiness or colour change. I'd not touched it all day.

Day 2: I was running late (we are walking with hubby's mum in the mornings), so I did my face 5 minutes before leaving at 6.45 a.m. Minor - very minor - transfer to the (cheek height) collar of my cream puffer vest - came off with a wipe. Day 3, I did it half an hour before leaving, no transfer. Lipstick had no transfer onto a cup of tea 2 minutes after application (I truly wasn't awake), but lack of mirrors means I can't say how long it lasted.

I have had no patchiness, colour change or 'heaviness' at all over the 3 days. Each day, when I wander in the door, I check, and I still look reasonably polished. I'd look better if I powdered through the day. And given one of those days was 16+ hours, that's impressive. Granted, this is winter in Queensland, so I am not sweating and humidity is low, but still, I am impressed. For me, this is a major breakthrough in makeup.

I've Been Doing It Wrong!

For years - decades even. On the advice of 'experts' - MAs and SAs. No wonder I never got the results I was looking for! Not that I can blame them; they were following their training, but still - how much happier would my relationship with cosmetics be now had I known this years ago?!

Let's start with concealer.

Dark under-eye circles. At different times, I have looked like I have twin shiners; since childhood. I've had maybe half-a-dozen black eyes in my life, and never 2 at the same time. Well, ok, once; when my sister smashed me in the face as hard as she could with a wooden hearth brush & broke my nose. But that's the only time. And a story for another blog. (NB: That is the ONLY time I've had twin black eyes; and only once of the twice they were caused by people. The rest? Blood pressure, meet floor...)

Concealer should be the same colour as your skin toner. So I was told. No. A shade or two lighter is ok. *le sigh* That would have made life easier; matching foundation to my skin tone is hard enough, without trying to match concealer.

The colour of the concealer is another thing I am (still) confused about; yellow to combat purple circles. I think. Orange or preach if they are brown. I think. Green for redness (not an under-eye issue I have, except in allergy season, or after watching The Notebook or Once Were Warriors).

Confused? You betcha! But wait, there's more!

When to apply concealer - I always understood it was before foundation. The experts disagree. Or agree. Or a bit of both. Aaaarrrgggghhhh!!!

How to apply it. Just on the circles? No. An inverted triangle onto your cheekbones. Right - that would explain a lot. It wasn't me. Or rather, it was, but it wasn't just me...

And then there's powder.

This is easy; match to your foundation shade. Or family (light, medium, dark).

No.

Translucent. Looks white but isn't. Blends in for a polished finish. And you can apply and reapply through the day to control oil and smooth your look because there is no colour! Again, something it would have been useful to know years ago.

And you 'bake it' -  pack it on over your concealered bits, leave for 5 - 10 minutes, brush (fluff) off the excess with a brush loaded with a powder foundation/finishing powder.

Feh! Anyone else exhausted by all this?

Skin Specifics

I have long described my skin as 'cranky'. Because, like the rest of me, it is.

When I was younger, it was oily. Super oily with HUGE pores. The only blessing? I never suffered from acne - the occasional hormonal breakout, but never severe. I've always had dark under-eye circles; as a child I often looked like I had twin shiners!

The oil-slick continued until I was 28, when I had a hysterectomy. Then things really changed. I had to re-learn my skin. From oil-slick to desert dry in one easy (!) step. And no more monthly breakouts. Now it was stress that did it; but rather than big blind pimples, it was white heads and the odd blackhead.

As I head for 50, not much has changed, although my pores are finer. I have wrinkles, and in the last 12 months, pigmentation has started to appear in patches. There's a name for it, my sister told me (she has it too), but I've forgotten what it is. The worst is on the middle of my forehead, although I have it on my chin, upper lip (looks like a mo' on a bad day), and my cheeks, around my eyes.

Concerns? Besides the pigmentation and the wrinkles - not a lot. I'm past worrying about the dark circles; I have NEVER found a concealer that works, so I've given that up as a lost cause.

Pigmentation - my sister is being my guinea pig, with no luck as yet. I'll live with it til a miracle happens.

Wrinkles - fact of aging and moving my face. I'll live with those too.

Dryness - now THIS is something I do constant battle with. My bespoke (homemade & cheap) winter moisturiser is working for now, but as it gets colder, who knows. I know that whatever I use has to be lightweight but rich as thick, heavy stuff will make my skin feel 'ick' and look muddy.

I'd also love to find a liquid foundation that matches my skin tone, gives light-to-medium coverage, doesn't run off or vanish into my skin in an hour, and stays true to colour. I've long had this problem - great colour match initially, and then, Boom! it's a totally different shade, and I look like a clown. Or it vanishes - usually in patches. And I look like a clown.

One thing I would like to get done, which is actually not skin-specific, but is vanity-related, is teeth whitening. Not the celebrity blue-white, just a few shades whiter. And maybe, if it was possible, my brows lasered into shape, so I never (or rarely) have to endure waxing again...

No more 'Avon Calling'

In February this year, Avon announced it would withdraw from the Australian & New Zealand markets as part of it's plan for long-term sustainable profit.

According to reports, no-one on the ground in these countries saw it coming. Although, the writing may have been on the mirror; the US arm was sold off in 2016. The US is a far bigger market than the Anitpodes could ever be. Still, it is sad.

Avon has long been a part of my beauty journey; my mum loved the original Skin So Soft - I remember the bubble bath from when I was a kid. My first 'grown up' perfume was Avon; my sister had a Strawberry Shortcake one. My MIL introduced me to Imari. I learnt that liquid eyeliner was NOT my thing through Avon, even the 'pen' ones were a fail for me - my hands aren't steady enough. Most of my early skincare in my teens and twenties was Avon; ditto my makeup. I was a happy chickadee when Avon came calling.

I loved Avon. It gave me a chance to try different skincare products at a bargain price; their vitamin C serum was great, albeit sticky. So was their green serum (forgot the name). Both were around well before the current offerings - at least 15 years ago. And they were GOOD!

The same went for makeup; no-one was every going to mistake Avon products as having the quality of high-end brands, but they gave us the option to play at a reasonable price point. And for the most part, the quality was there.

THAT was their genius; that and the fact that we could play with pretties that were delivered to our door, with no pressure to buy through 'parties', and, as often as not, gave us a chance to have a coffee and chat with another adult - an absolute God-send for a harrassed and harried mother of 5. I could shop in my trackies; I didn't have to get dressed, wrangle the kids into decent clothes, out the door and into town, only to be too exhausted to enjoy the shopping. It came to me & I could browse in those few spare moments I had; no scheduling required. And the products were, as a rule, good. Not top-notch, but not crap either; chemist shelves are full of these types of brands.

In later years, the company expanded into other things; clothing, homewares, toys, luggage etc. Jewellery had been there for years. Most of these lines were - ordinary. But again, they were cheap, and served a purpose if you approached it the right way. Buy a cheap pair of Avon shoes in a particular style, love them, buy a more expensive pair. Better that than to buy an exxy pair to start with, and hate them. If the Avon ones sucked, you killed them off, or gave them to Salvos; they were cheap enough that it didn't hurt too much.

I haven't bought Avon in years (moving all the time makes having an 'Avon lady' difficult), but I often thought I would like to; just knowing they were there made me feel - safe.