Brazilian Bum Bum Cream

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly- The review series.

I received the highly talked about Brazilian Bum Bum cream as a birthday present in November from my bestie who had heard me talking about it for quite some time. I had heard from many Youtubers that this stuff works wonders for the body so I was itching to try it.

This expensive little pot of cream by Sol de Janeiro claims to be "perfect for stimulating circulation and keeping posteriors at their smoothest, giving your bottom the ultimate boost and stimulating circulation to keep it super smooth and tantalisingly toned, while also minimising cellulite. With a light, silky texture the cream is great all over the body (bum bum and beyond), absorbing quickly without feeling greasy or oily." - Sounds great!

My friend got me the 75ml pot which sells for a whopping £18 on Cult Beauty. The larger pot (240ml) is £44.Wowza...I went bankrupt just looking at the price!

For the face:

I figured that since this cream has tightening properties it would be great for keeping the face looking young and fresh. It's basically become my skin care routine every night. I have a simple but effective little routine:
I use a Garnier makeup wipe to clean all the makeup off my face.
I then use a tea tree oil spot treatment on all my blemishes and areas where I feel a spot is about to form.
I will do a clay face mask once every two/three weeks and a blackhead rip off mask once every month.
Then after these steps I apply the Brazilian Bum Bum cream which leaves my face feeling so soft and smooth.

I also realised that there are ever so slight micro glitter particles in the cream which really brighten the skin. When I have days where I can't be bothered wearing makeup I will put this cream on in the morning and apply a little bit of Burts Bee's tinted lip balm.

For the booty:

Directions of use: "Massage in a clockwise circular motion to create warmth for better absorption and circulation. Start with your bum bum, but you won’t be able to resist moving on to your tummy, arms, legs and all your beautiful features."
I used it around twice a week for two months and nearly every day while on holiday. I noticed that it felt smoother but I don't feel that this was anything more than what a simple moisturizer or body butter would have done if I applied it to the same area. I stopped applying the cream to this area after a couple of months because I genuinely didn't notice a difference at all when it came to the firming and tightening side of things. No miracles happened, I still have stretch marks but I found a much better alternative to a tighter booty and guess what- it's absolutely free! I have been doing 100 squats every day for the past few weeks and I am already noticing immediate changes to my bum and thighs. I can feel them getting much more firm and bigger already and I am so loving it! (fitness blog post coming soon for this!)

Final thoughts?

I feel like the concept of this product is a slight gimmick but that's just because I'm speaking from personal experience and didn't really notice a difference. For the face however It's one of the best creams I have ever had and I think they should really try and market it for this use instead. But hey, I aint gonna tell them how to run their business!

As much as I loved this product for my face I wouldn't buy it for myself. It's extremely overpriced and I can totally live without it. All these creams that claim to be magical for your body all seem too good to be true and I am yet to find something that actually works! As soon as this runs out I will be sticking to a budget friendly moisturiser/body butter...although it will never be the same I just do not have the coin to spend on this! However if you do and you love splashing out on skin care products then go for it! What doesn't work for me might actually work for you and vice versa.

So what do you think? Have you tried this cream and did you notice any differences? I would love to know!

Kisses,
Laura x

Kuckian Cosmetics

 The Good, The Bad and The Ugly- The review series.

The launch of Kuckian Cosmetics for me was highly anticipated for a long time. I have been a fan of the content creator on Youtube: John Kuckian for a couple of years now and when I seen that his makeup line had launched I jumped at the opportunity to buy something from the collection. I had seen many sneak peaks on John's snapchat about the up coming liquid lipsticks and eye shadow pigments. They all looked incredible and I wanted to buy it all but I kept within my budget and purchased a liquid lip kit in the shade "Wildfire".

I wasn't able to purchase straight away so had to settle for pre-order which arrived towards the end of January. To my surprise I received a HUGE box which I thought was a little extra for one lipkit...but then again, this is quite representative of John's personality and a great way to make bold first impressions for a launch.

The box arrived with black stuffing and a note inside informing buyers of the affiliates program which I may consider looking into further. It also came with a booklet guide on how to use the makeup effectively for the best results. I tend to ignore these and throw them away as I just use makeup the way it works best for me, however that is just personal preference.

I took everything out the box and was really blown away. For the small amount I paid (£17.89 + shipping) I got a lot. I can also really appreciate the effort put in to ensure that the contents of my order were safely packaged.

The aesthetic of the packaging is everything! I love the classic black and white combination with a pop of colour. This is exactly how I designed my bedroom and I usually hoard boxes with similar aesthetics to keep as storage. I will usually keep nicely packaged makeup on my vanity as it goes well with the colour scheme of my room so immediately when I opened this up I knew that's what I was going to do!

The kit comes with one liquid lipstick and two lip liners to compliment the lipstick. I heard John mention that the packaging for the kits was made from artifact foam which is supposedly very high quality and sturdy foam made for keeping artifacts in. I could definitely feel that it was sturdy and did not feel cheap at all. In fact the whole thing looked really expensive and very Chanel.

I was really excited to give this kit a glowing review with no flaws whatsoever as John is a Youtuber who I really enjoy watching and I am still subscribed to. However I want to be an honest blogger and remain unbiased towards products simply because I like the names behind them.

 I was a little disappointed when I opened the first lip liner as it came with the top broken and inside, embedded in the product was a fiber that resembled a hair. I can't confirm if it was a hair, dust, or something else, but regardless it turned me off a little bit.

I threw this piece away and just forgot about it, at the end of the day it's not life or death. I'm the kind of girl who if someone handed me a burger with a hair on it at a restaurant I would just simply ask for a new one and forget about it and not make a song and dance about it, so this doesn't bother me too much. I'm sure if I wasn't so lazy and contacted customer services they would have sent me a replacement, but I waited so long for these truthfully I just couldn't be bothered.

The other lip liner came in tact perfectly.

I swatched them first on the back of my hand to look at the colour and pigmentation. They were extremely creamy and had excellent colour payoff. The only thing that disappointed me was the actual colour itself. I bought "Wildfire" under the impression that it was a unique burnt orange shade:

However upon swatching I noticed that the colour is very different and actually is more of a warm red. This could however be due to my skin tone being medium with olive undertones as I notice a lot of the time that colours look very different on me than it does on my paler and darker friends.

Regardless of the colour not being what I anticipated I still like it and will continue to wear it, but now it just means that I need to buy a burnt orange lipstick!

I first tried using the full kit with liners and lipstick on top and it gave an extremely shiny satin look which I think looks great.

I then applied the liquid lipstick on its own and it looked much more matte. I love both looks and like that both techniques give very different effects so you are able to mix and match. Of course the liners can be used on their own also.

I have to say out of both the looks I prefer the liquid lipstick on its own and would have preferred to buy just the lipstick on its own and pay a little less for it. I do see why they are being sold as kits though and I imagine that this will appeal to a lot of customers as they will feel that they're getting a lot more value for money.

Final thoughts?

Well despite the negatives of the review and the controversy surrounding the owner of this brand, I don't regret buying these. I still really love the formula of the liquid lipstick and to be completely honest its become one of my every day go to lippies. I think it goes perfectly with my hair colour and despite it not being the colour I thought it would be it still looks amazing. I think the launch of Kuckian has been a huge success and I am glad John is doing well for himself and perusing his dream career. I would love to see the Kuckian liquid lipsticks being sold as singles as I just don't see myself reaching for the liners that often. That however is just personal preference and I'm sure there are people that really enjoy the liner and lippie combo.

Thanks again for reading! Hope you loved this post and found it somewhat informative! Will you be buying anything from the Kuckian Cosmetics line? I'd love to know!

Kisses,
Laura Rose x