Almay • Pure Blends 97.4% natural • Foundations

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lele118 on 4/12/2009 10:52:00 PM more reviews by lele118

Age: 44-55   Skin: Sensitive, Fair   Hair: Red   Eyes: Brown    

I’ve been a MAC user NC-15-20ish for 15 years and I’m looking for a replacement foundation that contains less toxic ingredients. I’ve read about Almay Pure Blends and decided to try it. Buff was a good match. It applied smoothly by settled into my pores, something I usually don’t notice. I tried many combinations; with primer Tarte and Estee Lauder Skin Refinshers and without; still no improvement. By mid-day I looked greasy in my T-zone. Another first - I have dry to normal skin. MAC powders did not help either. I decided to purchase Almay Pure Blends powder and immediately my skin started itching and turned red. I gave up and returned both. BTW the packaging is not that good. The foundation sort of oozed and a bit messy.

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*TOP REVIEWER* asr2005 on 4/10/2009 1:32:00 PM more reviews by asr2005

Age: 19-24   Skin: Combination, Dark   Hair: Black, Wavy, Coarse   Eyes: Brown    

Like other reviewers notes, this foundation covers more like a tinted moisturizer. For a natural formula, it exceeded my expectations. I was expecting an unpleasant odor, but it did not have that. It was not too oily, but I did have to use some pressed powder over it. The coverage is not meant to hide significant marks, but it does work well to even skin tone. It is not oil-free, and so it probably is not suitable for oily/acne prone skin. If your skin is normal to dry though, I would recommend this.

In terms of the packaging, I wish more natural/other formulas would use pump bottles!

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munchkin1402 on 3/30/2009 1:52:00 AM more reviews by munchkin1402

Age: 25-29   Skin: Acne-prone, Medium   Hair: Black   Eyes: Brown    

so i started using this foundation because the pixi illuminating tinted moisturizer kind of started making me break out (sucks because great product) and sally hansen natural beauty foundation is nice but a bit too heavy coverage for me for daytime. anyway, the foundation is like a tinted moisturizer but a little more coverage. ive been using it for two weeks now along with the shimmer powder from this line and i have not broken out. yey!.....i love the coverage. very smooth and natural looking and i have a glow. the shimmer doesn't show as glitter in the face, it just shows as a healthy glow. i love it. the best part is, the product does not dry out my face at all and it lasts all day. i love love love the fact the product is almost 100% natural and no parabens and full of so many antioxidants. what can be better than a good product for skin that gives good coverage and make skin look beautiful.
EDIT: unfortunately i had to bring down two lippies for this product because after wearing it for about two weeks my boyfriend told me one day my face looked so greasy. i stopped wearing it that day. i was so dissapointed because this product was really good but maybe just not for oily skin. i really think somebody with non-oily skin would love this product, but just didn't work for me.

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wleaf500 on 3/24/2009 6:14:00 PM more reviews by wleaf500

Age: 19-24   Skin: Acne-prone, Fair-Medium   Hair: Black   Eyes: Brown    

I adore almay makeups but this foundation was just way too oily for me. I would stick with clear complexion foundation instead.

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sanyav on 3/23/2009 4:45:00 PM more reviews by sanyav

Age: 19-24   Skin: Oily, Fair   Hair: Blond   Eyes: Green    

Coverage - sheer, dewy
Packaging - cute, white tube with pink flowers, but inconvinient - the product oozes out when you open it.

This is, for all intents and purposes, a TINTED MOISTURIZER! Not a foundation that will cover - at best, it will even skin tone slightly. It is dewy so if you are oily to begin with it will not suit you. I use it as a moisturizer during the day. It has a "floral" smell, but nothing too strong.

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WithaK on 3/10/2009 5:52:00 PM more reviews by WithaK

Age: 36-43   Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Brown    

I really love this product. The ivory has nice pinkish undertones that go well with my light skin. The coverage is nice and light, and it gives me a healthy glow. I realize some want more coverage, so I hope Almay comes out with another version for them. For me personally, I'm very happy with this product. I actually like it better than my Lavera foundation, so I'm really pleased since $11.99 is a really good deal for this! I find it to smell pleasant, but the smell goes away quickly, so you're not walking around smelling your makeup, which I do not like. Overall, I recommend this to my friends. If you want nice light coverage, you can't go wrong!

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*TOP REVIEWER* meriellyn on 3/5/2009 5:04:00 PM more reviews by meriellyn

Age: 25-29   Skin: Acne-prone, Fair   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Brown    

First off, I don't know who told Almay and Revlon that this packaging was a good idea. It's terrible. The product oozes out when you don't want it to and makes a mess in the cap.
Second, while I applaud the attempt at a natural product, this one totally misses its mark. The formula is not good at all. It has a unpleasant finish that just sits on the skin looking all obvious and accentuating pores and dry spots. Feels greasy and heavy even though it's really light coverage. Evens out redness decently, but you go from being distracted by redness to being distracted by "HELLO, makeup!" I'd expect something with such light coverage to be much less obvious.
It's a nice mild day, weather wise, and yet I can feel this stuff migrating on me (even with a top notch setting powder). I can't imagine what it'd do in summer heat and humidity! It looks like it's "pooling" even though I applied evenly and set it well (looks horrible before powder, btw). Unsightly.
And now it you'll excuse me, I need to go wash my face. :P

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*TOP REVIEWER* furchttrommel on 3/3/2009 8:37:00 PM more reviews by furchttrommel

Age: 19-24   Skin: Very Dry, Fair   Hair: Black   Eyes: Blue    

i loove this! i have very dry skin and tend to stick to tinted moisturizers, but i tried this on a whim. it didn't dry my skin out and felt more like a tinted moisturizer than a foundation anyway. it gives me a little bit more coverage than a TM and still didn't make my skin all dry and flakey (no one likes dry and flakey faces). Also, the packaging is a serious plus, i love the squeeze tube it comes in, and it's cute! the price is a bit high, mine came with a free lipgloss, too bad i hated the gloss, at least they tried.

also, i don't find this to be oily at all. a lot of my TMs make my face oily, which is not good, and weird since i have very dry skin, you would think my skin would just suck up all of that oil.. haha.

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Tellit2thestars on 3/2/2009 4:01:00 PM more reviews by Tellit2thestars

Age: 19-24   Skin: Oily, Olive   Hair: Brown   Eyes: Brown    

I really like this product.
Coverage: It has enough coverage to even out my complexion (it is fairly uneven, not too bad) yet not enough to cover up those red acne bumps. I say it has just a little more coverage than a tinted moisturizer.

Complexion: It makes my skin look wonderful! It gives it a natural look. As long as you take care of the bigger flaws with concealer this will make the rest of your skin look flawless!

The only negative thing I found is that it is quite expensive. 13.99 for only 1 oz! ouch. But you can find them BOGO at Ulta right right now (March 09). So I'm going to get a couple.

This product is good if you want an overall natural non cakey look and looks even better with the Pure Blends Matte translucent powder.

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*TOP REVIEWER* Meljolie on 2/7/2009 3:40:00 PM more reviews by Meljolie

Age: 19-24   Skin: Oily, Medium   Hair: Brown   Eyes: Brown    

I love love love this product. I don't mind that the coverage is pretty sheer because I treat this like a tinted moisturizer, even though it's not super moisturizing. I do my concealer (from Maybelline, the highlighter/concealer duo) on my cheeks, forehead, chin, nose and undereye circles. Then I put this stuff on my face using a sponge or a foundation brush.. whatever I have handy. And finish off with a dusting of a matte powder over the top. The finishing looks super natural but evens out my skintone. The matte powder is from Shiseido. I really like how this product seems "pure" as opposed to some of the other Almay products and drugstore foudations out there. I doesn't break me out and doesn't cause my face to look like a fell into a pool of oil. It also doesn't oxidize throughout the day. Yay! :) The smell is kind of floral, like the reviewer below me mentioned but I don't mind it. The only thing is the price. For so little product, the price is quite high.. but if you use the foundation well you could get a long while out of it. Another problem is the packaging. Sometimes it kind of just comes out on its on and I don't really like the mess it creates. Other than that, I highly recommend this!

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rebeccacribb on 2/3/2009 11:12:00 PM more reviews by rebeccacribb

Age: 30-35   Skin: Sensitive, Fair-Medium   Hair: Blond   Eyes: Green    

Two words - contact dermatitis! Unfortunately for me, this product caused very red scaly skin on my cheeks and breakouts on my forehead and jawline with just one day's wear. It also has a floral headache-inducing fragrance, but I think this is the natural scent of the ingredients, not added fragrance. I have a lot of problems with perfumes, particularly florals, causing me headaches so it's not just this product. Natural does not necessarily mean innocuous, so if you are sensitive to scents or have allergies this probably won't work for you either. I am finally realizing that products with natural ingredients aren't so good for me, and I think it's because I have pollen allergies to a lot of the plants that the extracts are taken from, so as much as I hate it, synthetic fragrance-free products seem to be much safer for my reactive skin.


I did like the consistency of this product and how it felt on my face before the irritation began, but I have dry skin and like something that feels creamy. The color Buff is similar to Revlon Buff and matched my light yellow-toned skin very well. The coverage to me is more like tinted moisturizer but it toned down my rosy cheeks very well, just needed concealer for blemishes and under-eye circles. I like the packaging (squeeze tube) but I think $13.99 for a drugstore foundation is expensive when a department brand like Clinique is only $6-$7 more. I'm still giving 3 lippies because I did buy from CVS so I can return it, and Almay's products are generally pretty safe. Obviously I won't be repurchasing this, but their line smoothing makeup seems to be agreeing with my skin and I'll review it after I've used it a few more weeks.

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daleysl on 1/26/2009 10:10:00 PM more reviews by daleysl

Age: 44-55   Skin: Dry   Hair: Brown   Eyes: Blue    

I bought this product hoping that the lack of parabens and talc would keep the breakouts away. I have yet to find a foundation that does not cause tiny whiteheads within hours of application. I bought this in Ivory, at Walgreens the other day during a BOGO sale. I would have preferred Buff, but they didn't have it. The foundation goes on very sheer and almost shiny. It took alot of product to get what I felt was an acceptable level of coverage. I used the matte powder over it, although it did not seem to do anything at all as far as cutting the shine. The color was nice, but it did seem to set into the lines around my mouth and eyes. When I washed my face in the evening, I noticed that my skin seemed a little drier than usual, and kind of dull. Today I woke up to a whitehead along the corner of my nose. I wore the foundation again, with the powder, and noticed that the area around my nose was really itchy, all day long. The foundation does seem to accent my dry patches and again when I washed it off, my face was more dry than usual, and I had a whitehead on my forehead. I dont know what might be causing the drying effect, but I'm not going to wear this anymore. Its funny how it made my skin look moist (or maybe just shiny), yet it just sucked what little moisture I had right out. After washing my face looks ashy and dull. I had high hopes for this natural formula, but its just making my dry skin look even worse. I won't repurchase.

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Lizzylu on 1/20/2009 4:27:00 PM more reviews by Lizzylu

Age: 36-43   Skin: Dry, Fair-Medium, Warm   Hair: Brown, Straight, Fine   Eyes: Brown    

Very nice and natural looking! I bought "Naked" at a BOGO and I also got the finishing powder in shimmer.I use mostly natural makeup and skincare so this is perfect. It matches my skin perfectly. It even covers my old acne marks. I wanted something a little heavier than my TM (Physicians Formula) and this covers a little better. If I want heavier coverage I just dust a little mineral powder over it. Not cakey, just a smooth natural face. It has a little fragrance similar to orchid I think. The packaging is great.
I highly recommend it.

The only downside is it's a little pricy for such a little amount but I will always pay a little more for natural ingredients.

EDIT: i thought this looked good on me until I went to a window and looked at myself in the mirror. It gave my skin a shiny sheen that did not look good and accentuated my poors drastically. Also, it looked very unnatural. This looked great in my bathroom mirror but in natural light it was BAD! I'm done with liquid foundation. mineral powder works best for me. Nothing looks more natural IMO. Anyone wanna swap for it, let me know :)

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Lanab8 on 1/19/2009 2:28:00 PM more reviews by Lanab8

Age: 56 & Over   Skin: Oily, Fair-Medium   Hair: Blond, Wavy, Fine   Eyes: Blue    

I do love almay products! Finally a foundation that doesn't have AHA or Zinc Oxide in it!

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zebraxing on 1/17/2009 6:39:00 PM more reviews by zebraxing

Age: 30-35   Skin: Acne-prone, Fair-Medium, Neutral   Hair: Black   Eyes: Brown    

I've been looking for a good TM to replace the Stila one I used last summer, and I think this is the one. I've been using "Neutral" this winter and not only has it left my skin unclogged and clear, it lets just the right amount of my natural flush show through so I don't need to mess around with blush. It's very moisturinzing on my combo skin, and I like that it smooths the dry patches. However, it does feel a bit slippery at times and I wonder how it will hold up to summer heat, sweat and suncreen - will update. They had testers at the store so I managed to try this in "Naked" (okay, but a bit chalky), "Beige" (too pink) and "Sand" (too dark). Turns out I am a "Neutral". The product tends to ooze out unexpectedly, and it's a bit pricy for what you get, so one lippie off for poor packaging. For reference: NC30, BE MB/GM. EDIT: Too greasy for my summer oilies, and too bad, too. Minus 1 lippie.

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mona82 on 1/16/2009 11:14:00 AM more reviews by mona82

Age: 25-29   Skin: Combination, Fair   Hair: Blond   Eyes: Green    

At 16.99 CDN, I was hoping this product would be a lot better. I'm a big fan of Almay, and was drawn in by the idea of it being more "pure" than other products. Like others have said, the coverage is not great, so I have to use my mineral powder foundation over it. That is not my main complaint though - I found the product to be pretty drying. I have combination skin, and it ends up making my chin and around my nose look really flakey and gross. That being said, I think this product would work great in the summer or in warmer climates, or for people with normal skin. For the winter, it does not give me enough moisture (even with moisturizing first).

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*TOP REVIEWER* happylynngilmer on 1/12/2009 4:36:00 PM more reviews by happylynngilmer

Age: 25-29   Skin: Dry, Fair   Hair: Black   Eyes: Hazel    

I agree with Cesa that this is a TM (Tinted Moisturizer) not a foundation or concealer. I use this in Ivory.
Lucky me, I was looking for a TM when I stumbled across this. I normally do not purchase anything without first consulting MUA, but I took a chance on this. I love it!

It is light and barley tinted. Provides the perfect amount of moisture for me, and lessens the red in my cheeks. Does not cake on. Blends well. I use about a dime amount for my whole face. I have been using it a week, and it has not broken out my sensitive, Irish/Scandanavian acne-prone skin.

This is talc, paraben and oil free. Cesa has listed the ingredients already, so scroll down if you need encouragment to see what makes up this great product!
I got this on sale at Target for $5.50 but even full price, I would continue buying this.

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cesa11 on 1/6/2009 11:34:00 PM more reviews by cesa11

Age: 19-24   Skin: Oily, Fair-Medium   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Other    

This stuff's awesome---but a lot of people may not like it only because there's a certain way to use it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So here goes- the first two ingredients are water and jojoba seed oil- thus the watered consistency--which I love because it settles very well in the pores on my nose, then USE THE MATTE FINISHING POWDER AFTER THIS!!! Otherwise you'll get no coverage and complain.
These two are magic together. I don't feel like I have a mask on which is great- and it lasts all day for me. You have to use both products though I noticed, they work together. Almay should have better advertised this product-- to me it's more of a TM and base for the corresponding powder. I love this stuff!!!!


Very natural looking, especially in conjunction with the powder


Ingredients: Water, Jojoba Seed Oil, Squalane , Glycerin , Sweet Almond Oil, Acai Sterols - Euterpe Oleracea , Sucrose Laurate , Cetyl Alcohol , Cellulose , Stearic Acid , Acai Fruit Extract - Euterpe Oleracea , Yuzu Peel Extract - Citrus Junos , Lotus Flower Extract - Nelumbo Nucifera , Orchid Flower Extract - Cymbidium Grandiflorum , Wild Pansy Extract - Viola Tricolor , Papaya Fruit Extract - Carica Papaya , Phospholipids , Rosewood Wood Oil - Aniba Rosaeodora , Pelargonium Graveolens Flower Oil , Carrot Seed Oil - Daucus Carota Sativa , Xanthan Gum , Glyceryl Stearate , Alcohol , Silica , Sodium Borate , Caprylyl Glycol , 1-2-Hexanediol , Mica - May Contain , Titanium Dioxide - CI 77891 - May Contain , Iron Oxides - CI 77491 - 77492 - 77499

6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.     Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No