That negative experience stayed with me and I’ve only visited a black|up counter once since, until now. Luckily this time round I had a really positive experience and the sales girl really knew her stuff. Within 15 mins I’d chosen what I wanted.
Top of my list was a bronzer. My absolute all time favourite is the Stila Sun Bronzing Powder in Shade 3 (sadly discontinued). It gives me the perfect sun kissed look and I’m gutted that despite me regularly searching Ebay for the past three years, it’s nowhere to be found.
I picked up the Sublime Powder (£26), which gives a healthy glow thanks to a balance of pigments and shimmers. Formulated according to yellow/orange/red undertones, it gives a lumunious finish which doesn’t turn white on darker skins. The Sublime Powder has an oil-free, fragrance-free and paraben-free formula. It comes in sturdy packaging and the texture is silky and very fine. This is available is five shades and I purchased it in shade 3 (NPS03), but I’m contemplating swapping it for a slightly darker shade, hence why I’ve not swatched it yet!
I also decided to buy the Loose Powder (£24.50). There was a reason I picked the loose over the pressed but I can’t remember for the life of me what it was! Anyway, in terms of convenience, I’d prefer a pressed powder so I could carry it around with me but I’m liking this so far. I’m not a fan of puff applicators, they’re dated and remind me of watching my Mum apply her make up when I was little. She was always using the Fashion Fair powder puffs to apply her powder. I just tip a bit of powder in the lid and ‘swirl and tap’ with my powder brush, before applying it to my face to set my make up.
This comes in six shades and combats shine without making my skin look dull, flat and powdery. By lunchtime I’ve noticed the shine on my face is considerably less than what it was with the previous powder I was using, so that’s been swiftly ditched in favour of this now. I picked this up in shade 3.
Finally, I bought the Jumbo 2-in-1 Lip Pencil (£15.50) in shade 08. I’ve been umming over this ever since swatching it months and months ago. I kept looking online to snap it up but it was never in stock, which made me want it even more. Despite initially lemming over shade 07 which is a shocking hot pink, I opted for the slightly more tame 08 which is a darker bright pink and somewhat more wearable for day to day use. Now, you know when you’re really excited about finally using a product and it turns out to be the biggest disappointment ever? Well, my friends, that is exactly what I experienced within minutes of breaking this out of its packaging.
First of all, it’s just too finicky. It comes with an inbuilt sharpener in the lid, but to get to the sharpener you have to remove yet another lid. Annoyingly when I went to close it, I put the wrong lid on, and bloody crushed the tip of the pencil..I HADN’T EVEN APPLIED IT TO MY LIPS YET!! I sharpened it, and then promptly made the same mistake again!! Perhaps I’m just stupid but ARRRRRRRRRRRGH!!! When I finally swatched it, I noticed that the shade has pearlescent undertones in it which teh beauty hall lights hadn’t picked up. I am not a lover of pearlescent lip colours, again I find them dated. I should have stuck with shade 07, which is what I had originally fallen in love with. Lesson learnt! Annoying packaging aside, the intensity of this product is insane. The colour is incredibly dense. Applying it straight to the lip is tiresome though, the colour didn’t transfer smoothly, despite being soft and creamy and I’d need to use a lip brush to ensure coverage is even. Within five minutes, I’d lost all patience with it so I’ll be giving this to my Mum when I next see her. The 2-in-1 lip pencils come in 12 intense shades.
2/3 products isn’t bad, although I’m still smarting over my costly mistake with the Jumbo Lip Pencil. I didn’t swatch any lipsticks when I was at counter as my son was getting a little impatient with Mummy playing with make up and repeatedly throwing his hat on the floor from his pram, but I’ll certainly make a conscious effort to visit the counter again and have a play with some more products.
If you haven’t had a chance to have a look a black|Up cosmetics, I’d strongly recommend you hotfoot it to your nearest counter. In the meantime you can take a look at the black|up range online at Debenhams and on the black|Up website
* I was gifted a voucher which I redeemed against my purchases and paid the outstanding balance myself
