Pressed Powders -Physicians Formula - Mineral Wear Pressed Powder in Translucent
Darya155 7/31/2012 10:39:00 PM
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this powder. My first gripe is that this powder is an extremely soft consistency. No matter how lightly I press my brush into it, the powder just lifts out of the pan and goes everywhere. No matter how soft or loosely packed or fluffy the brush I am using is, it's very hard for this ultra soft powder to not just fly away out of the pan for me once my brush touches it. Because it comes off so easily due to its softness, it's really difficult to not pick up too much product on a brush or powder puff. I have very oily skin and I tend to use a puff to powder my foundation and I have to be so careful with this to not go overboard and create an overly matte, dead, powdery looking face. Because I'm so oily, it isn't as big of a deal if it becomes too powdery because in the course of 30 mins, it will calm down. The soft texture aside, the color for me is a bit too pale for anything except the winter and maybe spring. This powder provides great coverage and is by no means "translucent." It has some serious coverage, especially if packed onto the face with a powder puff (which, despite its heaviness, I can do). I have used this alone as a powder foundation and have found it provides one of the best coverages of any powder I own so if you need the coverage from it, go for this definitely! You don't be disappointed. Once you wear down the top layer of it that appears like a spackle of two different colors, the shades are less spackled and look more like a mosaic with predominantly the darker shade so that is something to keep in mind. The lighter bits in the powder I can actually use as a brow bone highlight no problem because it is so extremely light (I'd say I'm an NC20). Really if you don't mind the powder's softness, its pale color (at least the translucent one I believe is the really pale one), and need its great coverage, this is definitely for you! I think it comes in two colors and unless you are extremely pale (NC/NW 15), I'd say skip the translucent unless you plan to use it very sparingly. I can make it work for me but it is too light for summer. It can look cakey because of its softness which is another down side but on oily skin, that tends to go away after about 30 mins to an hour. I am not certain if I will repurchase this--I think I prefer the Rimmel Stay Matte powder over this simply because its packaging is less obnoxious and it's not as soft of a powder so it doesn't fly everywhere while still providing coverage and it comes in more shades to choose from. These are my two cents! Hope it helped someone out. It's a good quality product but it's definitely not as easy to just slap on for me as Rimmel Stay Matte.
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Cleansers -Basis - Basis Cleaner Clean Face Wash
Darya155 7/19/2012 7:55:00 PM
I bought this to compare to my beloved Neutrogena Rapid Clear foaming cleanser (since that one is $7 and that's too much in my opinion to spend on a cleanser you go through quickly). This only cost me $3.97 or so vs the $6.97 I pay for the Neutrogena cleanser, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I love the Neutrogena one because it foams into a very thick, creamy lather that I've not been able to find with any other drugstore cleansers. All the other foaming cleansers, especially gel ones, foam a very small amount and don't really work up into a lather. The foaming of this one is no exception as it is a gel consistency--it does not lather, it just foams a little bit. That being said, I have a harder time using with with my Clarisonic because without that lather in between the brush head and my skin, the Clarisonic can be a bit harsh for me considering I use it 2-3 times a day. The product foams ok but does not lather much beyond sparse suds. It left my skin feeling somewhat tight after the first use, but it felt clean. I'd be scared to put this around my eyes since the packaging does say keep away from the eyes somewhere I believe. Also, the name deceives--my Neutrogena Rapid Clear Foaming Cleanser has half the ingredients of this product! I feel like I am putting excessive amounts of chemicals on my face using this product, drying it out. Ironic as it's called "basis" and has double the non-natural, chemical ingredients of the Neutrogena cleanser. I will use it up for now, but I don't see myself repurchasing.
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Crème -Revlon - ColorStay Whipped Creme Makeup
Darya155 6/19/2012 7:54:00 PM
At first, I really wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about this foundation. I tried applying it first with a Real Techniques buffing brush and it just didn’t seem to spread the foundation around as much as I’d hoped. Tried it with fingers, but I tend to hate using my hands for foundation (just preference for me) but it seems to glide on extremely well with fingers. Tried it with a beauty blender type sponge and it just didn’t wow me like most beauty-blender-foundation-applications do (I basically use the beauty blender for foundations that are hard to blend out and are on the drier side). It wasn’t amazing with this foundation though either. Finally, I tried my F82 round top by Sigma and it seemed to buff the foundation in just right but it made the coverage a bit more sheer than the other methods. This gets 4 lippies from me purely for its superb staying power on my very oily skin. I apply it and let it sit for a little then set it all over with a powder. I noticed that the powder you put over it really seems to alter the appearance of the foundation though—some powders are just not as compatible with this foundation as others so you really have to be more careful if you normally like to pile on the powder like I do on top of the foundation and find one that looks more natural overtop of this. My go-to powder made this foundation actually look dry and accentuated weird drier spots on my face which was no good. Overall, I’d say with this only powder the most oily areas (forehead, nose, chin for me) and lightly dust some over the non-oily areas as if you cake on the powder, it tends to look heavy and dry (which is strange for my oily skin). These two cons about application and its sometimes unnatural look on the skin are why I gave it only 4 lippies. The foundation seems to hold back the oils extremely well for me and that is the main reason I like it. I find it applies in a satiny finish and doesn’t really matte down on its own but I powder over all foundations, so it doesn’t matter to me. It still leaves you with a foundationy feel on the skin, but it’s much more comfortable than the original Colorstay and this one I can bear much more easily. The color Buff 150 in my opinion is almost identical to the liquid Buff 150 version—yellow undertone and pale. I would not say the coverage on this is full but rather medium to medium full. I can build it up to cover blemishes usually but I wouldn’t say this has MORE coverage than the liquid CS. I’d say this has less but this may be due to the different texture and method of application I need to use for this foundation vs. the liquid Colorstay. I had debated returning this foundation simply because I felt it didn’t live up to the claims of full, matte, long-lasting coverage here on makeupalley, but I guess I’ll keep it for when I need a long lasting foundation on hot summer days. I still prefer my Almay TLC foundation in Buff to this however as it feels and looks more natural on the skin and keeps the oil back just as well. This isn’t holy grail material for me, but because of its lasting power, it certainly is likeable. I love the jar packaging as you will be able to get 100% of the product out of the container and this is especially important since you only get 0.8 oz in this vs. the regular 1 oz. I just dip my brush or fingers into the product directly to get it out and onto my face—no reason this is unhygienic as long as your hands are clean. Overall, it’s ok but unless I find a more amazing way to apply this to get the full coverage and natural look everyone else seems to get form it, I would not buy this again. Edit: I had used it a few more times and finally decided how I feel about it. I must say that my experiences are somewhat inconsistent with many other's so maybe I got some off batch or something but... After having moisturized my very oily skin, I went to apply this foundation with my F82 (what I thought was the best method as stated before) and it just did not want to sit on the skin very naturally. It looked and felt like I was wearing a heavy base of makeup and on top of that, all of the dry patches (which aren't even that dry on my oily skin) were accentuated immensely. This was the most disappointing part. The foundation just seems very dry in texture to me. Also, I noticed this before but fully experienced it the last time I used this foundation: it isn't very easy to apply and blend in a concealer of a different texture (i.e. not the same texture as the whipped creme foundation) overtop of the foundation--the two just don't seem to blend and harmonize very nicely. It ends up taking the foundation off underneath and just looking very odd around the edges of the concealer which I apply with my fingers or pat on with a brush. My last problem with it was the fact it didn't seem to fully settle and meld into the skin until quite some time later after powdering and after my oils had started to come through and "soften" up the look a bit. This is about 30 mins after I apply the foundation that it begins to even look less like foundation and more like skin. The foundationy-chemical smell that this has is also much more off-putting to me than the regular Colorstay scent or most other foundation scents for that matter. I am not usually bothered by scents but I just notice this one a lot more when applying it. So that is my final verdict. I returned this foundation and have no desire to try it again. I would say definitely try this one as it's quite unique and definitely something interesting to try but keep the receipt just in case.
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Foundations -Almay - TLC Truly Lasting Color
Darya155 6/1/2012 8:55:00 PM
This foundation has been the only one that has truly lived up to its claims for me. This foundation suits my very oily skin’s needs extremely well as far as the look of it on my skin, its staying power, and its coverage. This is my ultimate favorite foundation that is most long lasting on my very oily skin (I believe it would last the 16 hours it claims but I’d rather not wear it that long to find out!). Longevity: This is the most ultimate, long lasting foundation I’ve ever tried. It surpasses Colorstay in every way possible except coverage (will get to that). It lasts much longer while still looking more freshly applied than Colorstay. My oils break through much more slowly and overall less through TLC, so it is left looking more matte and in place for longer. Of course after about 10 hours, you can begin to feel it and oils do come through then, but compared to Colorstay which would get a mask-like feeling and shiny after about 5 hours on me, this is like heaven! This is its ultimate benefit to me. I wear this when I know I have to wear my foundation and have it look good and last for longer than ~5 hours and I KNOW it will last as long as I want it to! Finish/Texture: Pumping this out, you immediately notice it isn’t very emollient. It’s rather thick and doesn’t run much. Its texture I would describe as being quite dry, almost like a hard, whipped, solid texture. It is unlike anything I’d ever tried before so it took me a few times to get to know the application method best and make it really look best on my skin. I have found this can be hard to blend on the skin with brushes so I use the SOHO beauty sponge (Beauty Blender dupe basically) to put this on and it works best for me. It’s effortless with the sponge and blends and applies itself. If you get this and don’t like it but really want to make it work, I would suggest investing in the SOHO beauty sponge (egg shaped one only though). It sets extremely quickly on the skin. In this aspect it is comparable to Colorstay. I’d say it may even set more quickly because it’s less fluid and runny but a more dry texture. This is why I really like bouncing it on with a sponge rather than spreading it around with a brush. The finish on the skin is most matte out of any other foundations I have which is a bonus for oily skins. It does not look extremely unnaturally matte, but it isn’t dewey or glowy by any means. Color: The color selection of this foundation strikes me as being somewhat similar to Colorstay but with a limited range. The two lightest colors match directly with Colorstay’s two lightest colors. I believe they’re even named the same thing. If you are 110 Ivory in Colorstay (the lightest), you are the lightest Ivory color in TLC. If you are the 150 Buff in Colorstay, you are 140 Buff in TLC. Beyond that, I don’t know much about the TLC color range. 110 Ivory TLC is pink toned (like Colorstay) and 140 Buff TLC is very yellow toned (like Colorstay). 140 Buff in TLC is my perfect match and it just seems to work almost year-round for me. I think this has to do with its coverage level. I will mention I noticed the color 140 Buff being put on sales like 75% off at CVS and other drugstores… so I think for some reason they are discontinuing this shade. Most Walmarts still stock the 140 Buff shade so I still have a chance to stock up, but I stumbled across this when it was 75% off at a CVS and, with another coupon, I got it for like $1.27 or something. AMAZING! However, I’ll never be able to get this shade as either all the sales have happened already and stores aren’t stocking the shade or still continue to stock it at regular price. Coverage: The most disappointing thing I first discovered with this foundation was its medium coverage. I build it up, as well, so I’d say this can even qualify as light-medium, but not light coverage. However, after dealing with its lack of coverage and using more concealer to cover the spots and discolorations (which is what I should have been doing anyways rather than piling on foundation to cover spots), I really began to enjoy its medium coverage. It’s buildable but only up to really medium. I was used to the heavy, mask like coverage of Colorstay, so transitioning to this was odd for me at first. But after a while of not using Colorstay, my skin actually began to improve. I think the heaviness of Colorstay just taxed my skin daily and made spots appear and take a long time to go away. The lighter coverage and feel of TLC felt like it clogged it all less and therefore, overtime, I began to not need the coverage I wanted with Colorstay. TLC’s coverage became enough for me, especially knowing I could fix anything with a bit of concealer while leaving the rest of my face looking good. The feel of TLC on the skin I will admit may be a bit drying at first even, but after a while the oils your face produce fix that. It feels much nicer on the skin than Colorstay ever hoped to. I’d say I still FEEL the TLC foundation on my skin, but it isn’t too bad and it certainly isn’t the level of discomfort Colorstay can bring to the face. It looks freshly applied for hours and only needs some extra powdering 5 hours and beyond (on very oily skin that just won’t quit! :P). Packaging: The pump bottle is nice although I don’t care either way whether it’s a pour spout or pump. Somehow my pump bottles tend to get dirtier than my pour spout types… anyways. It’s very easy to get the amount you want as the opening/hole of the pump is tiny. I use about 2 pumps for my entire face as I want to build the coverage up to medium and also I use a sponge which tends to soak up a bit of the foundation. Sometimes I will use 2.5 if my cheeks are exceptionally red for some reason. The bottle isn’t as bulky as some others and it quite thin and stream-lined. Overall, it’s nice. Price: This is a pricy foundation ($14-$11) but it’s well worth it for its quality, lasting power, and finish! Try WalMart. Thanks for reading! :)
8 out of 8 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Liquid -Revlon - ColorStay Makeup
Darya155 6/24/2011 9:06:00 PM
This is the foundation I always come back to, no matter which foundation I feel like trying that never lives up to what this one does for me and my very oily skin. First, the colors... In the winter I wear 150 “Buff Chamois” and in the summer I can easily get away with 300. In between, I can wear 180. Overall, the colors for me are very great, and most drugstore foundations are too pink on me. I have a very prominent yellow/olive undertone, and most foundations are not yellow enough. In the winter, it is a big problem, as most of the lighter shades come in very pink undertones or are too light or dark if they are yellow enough. The color match for my very yellow skin is great! If the shade 300 was a bit more yellow, it would be perfect! If you find this is a problem for you, try mixing a bit of another foundation with the right undertone into the Revlon Colorstay. The longevity of this foundation remains unaltered, but the color will match you better. Now, onto coverage. What I love about this foundation is that it’s so full coverage but can easily be sheered down to a lighter coverage for summer or for when my skin is nicer. At a full coverage, it can look cakey if too much is applied because it is SO opaque and makes your skin look so flat and dead. This is the ONLY downside to the foundation—its heaviness on the skin and its tendency to cake if used too heavily. This is a foundation you can definitely feel when it’s on your face. It is not light weight, so if you are used to that, this is not for you! I rarely need to use an additional concealer for anything on my face after I’ve applied this foundation. If I do need more coverage on some spots, I just dab on more of the foundation over that spot and it conceals perfectly. Just use less overall for a lighter coverage. I do not have severe discoloration or any hyper-pigmentation, but when I need spots covered, this foundation does the job splendidly. Because it is so full coverage, most people will find it hard to blend but once you’ve worked with it for long enough and know exactly how to apply it, I do not find this a problem at all. I work on sections of my face, not the entire thing all at once. I start with one cheek, then the other, then chin, nose, then forehead. The best brush I’ve found for this foundation is the Sigma F80 or F82 (which I actually prefer to the F80 because it can buff the foundation in and give a sheerer, more natural application while the F80 cakes it on a bit more). These brushes can soak up a lot of the product, however. I used to apply it with my fingers, and this also gives a nice application but you have to work harder with flat foundation brushes and fingers, I find. I would NOT suggest a flat foundation brush for this foundation. That may make it much harder to blend and apply. Basically as soon as you start blending this foundation on your skin, it has begun to set so moving it around additionally after the first few seconds will make it look worse. The application process is an art you have to master. The longevity is flawless for a drugstore foundation. This is the best and most long lasting foundation out there, no questions asked. I’ve not heard of nor found a more long lasting foundation than this. I have worn it for over 12 hours and, as long as I did not touch my face much throughout the day, it will still be on the skin fairly opaquely. Other foundations slide off of my skin in a couple of hours due to its oiliness, even with a primer underneath. With a primer, this one stays put over 12 hours on my very oily skin. I powder the foundation to make it last as long as possible after I apply it. After about 5-6 hours, I have to re-powder my skin to mattify it. I powder additionally throughout the rest of the day after the first hours of wear, but that keeps it looking flawless for a very long time. The oil in my face does come through the foundation, but that is nothing some powder cannot fix to keep the foundation looking full coverage for the rest of the day. It does not easily wear away. This longevity is unmatched by any drugstore foundation I’ve seen out on the market so far and is the main reason I use this. The smell used to be very strong but I’ve noticed in the newer bottles I have of it (and I have gone through several bottles) that the smell is not as prominent anymore. The foundation does not irritate my skin, but not many things do. Everyone wishes that it came in a pump form, but I do not mind the bottle very much because the product performs so beautifully. You just have to be careful not to pour out too much (which is something I oftentimes end up doing, putting almost double the amount I will need on the back of my hand when applying it) and not to contaminate the bottle. I think the formula of the foundation would not perform the same way if it were to go through a pump applicator. If anything, this should have a spatula like the Rimmel Clean Finish foundation. If the bottle bothers you that much, put it in some other type of container and use it from there. That is also better if you need to mix colors to get your specific skin color with this or if you don’t want to be opening the actual bottle very often. Overall, the bottle can get messy. The price is very fair, and you can often find coupons for Revlon products to knock off another dollar or two or buy it at Ulta with coupons. At my Walmart, it is down to around $9 which is not bad at all. Overall, I cannot give this less than 5 stars because this is my Holy Grail foundation. I have sampled Clinique foundations before, trying to find something better or at least a higher end dupe for it, and none of them stayed on my skin for more than 2 hours. This is better than all of the ones I have ever tried and I can imagine I will continue to reach for this foundation for a long time to come.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No