Review - Model In a Bottle

My name is Sophie and I have a confession to make - I've been known, on more than one occasion, to set my makeup with hairspray.

Gosh it feels good to get that out in the open. But I bet I'm not the only one! I want you to confess your beauty sins in the comment box below.

I guess it was something that I picked up in school, along with glittery eyeliner for daywear and frosted lipstick.
Except where the latter was left in 2001, my hairspray habit has stuck with me. In my defense, I'd restrict it to night's out only, in the pretense of trying to preserve my skin (read: laziness. I rarely wear makeup during the day)

It just so happens that when I read a series of tweets from uber cool wig emporium Annabelle's Wigs last weekend, proclaiming their love for this new wonder product, I'd just completed a mammouth weekend of fun and frolics and my skin was seriously suffering. A mixture of too much to eat and drink, Estee Lauder Double Wear and topped off with a fine film of hairspray to boot - it's a recipe for surefire spots. And as such I threw caution to the wind, and bought the product on one recommendation alone.

Now, I don't often go around spending £16.99 a pop on high end beauty products. Whilst my recent makeup purchases have indeed been from the likes of Benefit, Mac and Estee Lauder, it took me hours and countless consultations to get me to part with my hard earned cash. And so, the pressure was on.

My outlet of choice, Victoria Loves Beauty, were very prompt with delivering my order and even tweeted to say thanks for purchasing. So far, so good.

The product is to be sprayed over a finished face and then wait for 20-30 seconds for it to dry. Truth told, I'm not so fond of the application - the spray nozzle is perfume bottle-esque and as such feels patchy and too wet on application, even when following the procedure on the back of the packaging. I found that Model in a Bottle dries quite quickly and once it has done so, you cannot feel it on your skin.

My first outing was with what I call my 'full face'. Estee Lauder Double Wear base, Benefit Brow Zings on my brows and MUA Heaven and Earth on my eyes. All set with Collection 2000 translucent powder.

And whilst the above photo doesn't show a huge amount, after 15 hours of wear (long day!) my face was almost in tact. I hadn't had to touch up once. It definitely minimised the shine that tends to build on my oily/combination skin and I noticed my eyeshadow hadn't creased either.

Overall, this product has got to be better for my skin than hairspray. but truthfully I feel that £16.99 is pretty steep. Had this retailed for under £10 I would've been more than happy. The application feels low-end and clumsy, and when I tried it with a basic face (BB cream and eyeliner) I found Model in a Bottle didn't hold the test of the time. If you have a lot of nights out and like to invest in your beauty products, then perhaps you'd find more use for it, but I can't help but feel this will languish in my products drawer for month to come.