Jack & Hill: A Beauty Blog - make-up, cosmetics, perfume, and the substance of style

When Jackie met BECCA

I'd heard a lot of raves about Australian line BECCA (those shouty all-caps do grate, don't they?), so when the company's PR offered me some free products to try, I jumped at the chance. My conclusion: Great packaging, shame about the overpriced contents.

Here's a rundown:

I was disappointed by the mascara. I have naturally long, dark lashes, but even so, I would have expected a $19 product to do something for me. You couldn't even tell I had any mascara on - there was no discernible difference between my lashes before and after I applied a whole lot of product.

The tinted moisturizer is suitably sheer and provides SPF 25 protection, but is nothing to blog home about - especially not when it's priced in the $40 range.

I found the stick foundation quite drying and chalky. I like that it has SPF 30, but again, the price point is way too high for such a flawed product.

While it wouldn't be accurate to say that the compact concealer won me over, it was the best of the lot. I cannot get it to blend well, at least not easily. I would not pay $35 for this, even if it were twice the size.

Bottom line: If you're going to splash the cash on a department store line, go for one with more solid products or at least more fun packaging. Otherwise, you're better off opting for a more reasonably priced range.

Do you powder your nose?

  London Bar 
  Originally uploaded by steedoggydogg.

As you can see from this photo, taken in March when Stee was visiting London, I do not powder my nose anymore. I'll carry around my beautiful Estée Lauder gold compact (a freebie from EL's PR department) if it's made its way into the right handbag, but I gave up on the fantasy of perfectly matte-yet-natural skin at least a year ago. I decided that life was too short. I am 99.9% sure I am right.

But this piece in today's Sunday Times is making me have a rethink. In the past, I would have run right out and bought the Becca powder that Hannah Betts is gushing about, then realized I'd just flushed away a huge chunk of cash just to delay the onset of shininess by about five minutes. Now, I might head to a Becca counter and try the stuff out, with no expectations whatsoever, yet secretly hoping for a miracle. In fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do when I get to London next week.

Do you powder your nose?