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.