Sport FX

BB Cream Price: £12.99 Pros Good colour range SPF 20 Paraben Free Cons Very difficult to apply Hard to blend Too thick Not a lot of coverage Expensive Availability

Core Cream Concealer Price: £7.99 Pros Easy to apply Good colour range SPF 20 Paraben Free Cons Irritated my skin Contains fragrance Chalk-like look Application sponge is very solid Availability

When I first saw this range in Sports Direct I was so hyped to give it a go, to see if it could hold up against my active workday and sweaty post-work gym sessions. So as soon as pay day landed, I hit the shops and bought the Balance Boosting BB Cream and the Core Cream Concealer, both in the colour ‘Fair’, two products I would be likely to use on a day-to-day basis.

I decided to try the products out for the first time on a free day so I had the time to properly work out the best method of application. Fortunately I made this decision, because this is some of the worst makeup I have ever tried, the BB Cream is somehow incredibly thick and caky, yet offers a distinct lack of coverage. No matter what method I attempted to apply this product, it refused to blend out and continued to look patchy and chalky, which is not the look I am going for. I also found after using this BB Cream once that my skin started to break out, when it had been beautifully clear for a few weeks. Whereas the Core Cream Concealer offers decent coverage, but irritated my skin giving a burning sensation, especially under my eyes. I had to remove the product straight away to avoid serious irritation to my skin and the burning sensation was unbearable, so any positives to this product are cancelled out due to it being unwearable. This may not be the case for everybody as my skin is often sensitive to products containing fragrance, such as this, however I don’t see the need for a product made for sensitive areas of skin to contain fragrance.

Determined to give this range a day-long first trial, I battled for a good 10 minutes to blend the BB Cream out as well as I could then continued with my normal day to day products as I am clearly allergic to the concealer due to it’s fragrance content and didn’t fancy risking the likelihood of visible and lasting irritation. As I chose to try these products on a quiet day with only a few errands planned and no gym session, one might think this product would last just as well as any other product. Alas, this was not to be. After a trip out to a nearby town to run said errands, lasting less than two hours, my BB Cream base was beginning to get patchy on my forehead and around my nose. In fact the only areas that were surviving were those that had been given a healthy dose of setting powder and spray. If this is the resistance it sports on a relatively uneventful day, it would far from survive a sweaty work and gym day.

Overall I would not personally recommend this range of makeup, especially not to those who have sensitive skin or, like me, often react to products containing fragrance, although I still stand by my question as to why one might include such a harsh ingredient in a product meant for delicate skin. On top of the irritating ingredients and the terrible performance of these products, Sports FX are asking for a pricey sum considering the quality of their makeup. However, if you fancy trying this range out for yourself, it is available in most Sports Direct stores across the UK.

NYX Total Control Drop Foundation

Pros

- Lightweight

- Controllable

Cons

- In-store availability

- Price/quantity of product

This is a product I have waited for most of this year to become available in the UK. For those of you who follow beauty trends that go viral, you'll know that this has been big across Instagram, with many beauty/make-up Instagrammers becoming obsessed with this whole drip technique using foundations and serums. Unfortunately, this product wasn't all it has been hyped up to be, in my personal opinion. That's not to say that you won't get on with it, we all find different products that work well for our skin.

What drew me to purchasing this was not only because I've been waiting months to get it, but because I liked the idea of being able to some days have a light coverage of foundation, and a fuller coverage on others with one product. I've never got on with BB or CC creams, unable so far to find one that works well for me. This is a light-weight product on the skin, even at a full coverage amount. For me, this feels similar to the Urban Decay Naked Skin foundation, which I completely adore. Given this, and the fact it's around half the price of the Urban Decay foundation, is another plus. But, you only get 13ml of product. Which, if you want a medium-full coverage foundation on the daily, there are more affordable options that offer that, with more product in the bottle/tube. However, if like me, you don't tend to wear make up daily, or like the idea of being able to control how much coverage you get with only one product, this is something I would recommend. I'm still on the search for my perfect foundation, which as a pale girl is a mission of sheer determination, but this product offers 24 shades with varying undertones. The shade range is a massive plus, with previously having to use NYX white foundation mixer to alter my previous foundation. I've found that this feels a little chalky, and looks that way too, but this could just be down to having shade number 3, one of the palest in the range. I've tried applying it with my Real Techniques Expert Face brush, but found it works best with a sponge/beauty blender, giving it a more airbrushed look.

One of the major downsides to this is that it's not widely available to purchase in stores. I bought mine in the Boots in Cheltenham, where there is a big NYX counter with make-up artist on hand. This was where I was informed that it is likely only Boots stores similar to this will be stocking it, so if you're keen to swatch it before you buy it, you could find a bit tricky. There is a NYX store in Westfields Stratford (total heaven), so if you're heading there I can only assume they would have it in stock. It's available to buy online via Boots, Asos and NYX directly. Priced at £14, for the amount of product it's not overly cheap, but there more expensive products on the market, too.