Dermablend Bluring Mousse Camo Foundation

Dermablend Bluring Mousse Camo Foundation

I'm the shade Cameo, which may be a tad light with my summer tan. It will be perfect for winter.

Overview

I have very oily skin, especially on my nose, chin and cheeks, so in other words most of my face. My skin is so oily that keeping glasses up on my nose is a chore, which makes me very thankful that 99% of the time I'm able to wear contacts. Even though I'm 30 I also have very acne prone skin. I've basically given up on having clear skin, but still use washes, creams etc. Since my skin is so oily and acne covered (sigh!) I'm always on the hunt for a full coverage foundation that will cover my acne, last throughout my day or at least 8 hours, and not cause more break outs.
 

The Claim

Dermablend claims this foundation is the best for oily, combination and acne prone skin. The foundation is oil free and supposed to smooth the appearance of bumps, crevices and enlarged pours. It is supposed to camouflage skin concerns such as acne, redness, and scars while having a natural matte finish. They boost up to 18 hours of coverages.

Wear Test

I test all foundations out with only the foundation worn on my skin, no primer, setting spray, concealer or powder etc. I only top it with blush to give a more complete look. The foundation boosts up to 18 hours of coverage, which I tested by wearing for 3 days to work ( I work in an air conditioned office). Each day was about 9.5 hours of wear. I spent all of this time in the air condition in my home or my house except maybe 10 minutes of back and forth to the my car, so I can't make a judgement on how this would hold up in the heat. Each of the three days I did check ins through out the day and then when I got home, I'll post some of the pictures I took below to give a better idea. I usually check the first time around lunch (4ish hours) to see if I have any blush left and to see how oily my skin has gotten . Normally my blush is either very faded or completely gone (doesn't matter how long wearing the blush is) by this time of the day, unless the foundation has extraordinary oil absorbing powers. When I checked at this point in the day for all three days it looked freshly applied. I didn't notice any fading of my blush or oil in my typically spots that are usually oily by now. I kept checking throughout the day and didn't notice any noticeable shine or fading. I didn't test for 18 hours as I'm more concerned about finding a foundation that last through my work day, especially since most non work adventures aren't any longer in time. By the end of the day 9.5 hours later foundation looked great, maybe some slight fading of my blush but not enough for me to worry about. Also very minimal oil. To sum all my blabbering up this foundation passes the test!!  

Coverage

**My eyes were a little irritated for some unknown reason. I'm guessing allergies because they cleared up soon after these pics were taken.**

I think its fair to say the claims are true, as you can see in the before pic I have a lot of redness, scars, and active acne. Very full coverage as my redness is no longer visible and my acne has been blurred out. It also claims to fill in craters and smooth out skin, which as you can see it does. I was already in awe when it covered my redness, since even the fullest of coverage foundations are no match for my acne redness, so imagine how floored I was to see how smooth my skin is.



I'll bring you in even closer to see redness coverage and acne/crater smoothing.  This stuff is nothing short of a miracle worker for an acne suffer.

Can't leave out the right side. Sorry for the bad lighting, but hopefully you can see the amount of coverage still.

 My chin is always the hardest to find the right match.  If I'm lucky enough to find the right match it always wears off before anywhere else on my face.  I'll show pics below of my chin to show it stood the test of my entire work day.

Wear Time Pictures

8:30



5:40

 6:00 Not much different from 5:40 but wanted to show in different lighting.

 

A different day but wanted to use to show beginning of day vs. end of the day.  The left is at 8:30 and the right is at 6:00 at the end of the day.  Only fading I noticed at all was a small amount on my pimple to the left of my chin, which wasn't 100 % covered to start with.

Final Thoughts

 If you have active acne and acne scares run don't walk to get this foundation!  It more than surpasses my expectation to camouflage my acne and acne scars.  I would be happy with coverage alone but I'm even more impressed that it lasts all day long  

Thanks for reading my review. 

Em :)

P.S. sorry for the bad font. It won't let me fix it :(

Make up Forever Mat Velvet + Matifying Foundation

Make Up Forever Mat Velvet + Matifying Foundation

 

Best. Foundation. Ever!!!!  I LOVE this foundation!!!!  Next to my acne my biggest problem with foundation is finding the correct shade because I'm very fair but often lightest shade is too light and the next shade is too dark. Its SO frustrating!  Alas I've found something that works perfectly!

 

(Photo from Sephora.com)

 

Product Details

 

* $ Retails for 36 and Sephora and Sephora.com is the exclusive retailer of it.

* 16 Shades available

* Full Coverage

* Water Resistant

 

Why I love it (and I think you will too)

 Match is perfect.  If you've been reading my blog (or if you view my pics) you'll see matching my skin is hard to do. I was matched as the 3rd shade which 25 warm ivory for pink undertones. I was skeptical at first because I'm never the third shade and only once have I been the second (Urban Decay Naked Skin I wear 1.0 which is the second shade---My review here).  Anyway I couldn't be more wrong, I honestly feel like this is the most naturally looking make up I've worn yet.  Its more like enhanced skin, I love it blend in so well that it doesn't scream "I'm wearing make up."

 

Long Wearing.  I have very oily skin.  To really test out the water resistant claim (in my mind if they are claiming water resistance my oily skin shouldn't melt it off my skin) I haven't been wearing primer with it.  I've been putting it on before work and taking it off almost 12 hour later and while I can tell it has worn off some,  for the most part its still there.  The key here is that I have to take it off, most foundation is almost complexly gone from my skin (without primer and even with if its a super long day) by the end of the day.   To make sure by fluke my skin hasn't magically gotten less oily I wore two different foundations without primer and noticed my skin is still oily. In fact I was rather disgusted at how bad my skin looked by the end of the day.

 

Full Coverage.   As you'll see in my before pictures I have a lot of redness, marks, and acne on my skin.  I am blown away with the coverage of this foundation.  With a very small amount (about the size of a pea) of product I'm able to cover up almost everything.  Best part is even though it covers up a lot it still looks natural.  If I want a really flawless look I use some of their long wear concealer (I'll make a separate post about it later).

 

Enough of my excited babbling lets look at some comparison pics.

Comparisons

 

Sorry for all of the goofy faces I'm making.  Also I know the lighting varies a good bit but hopefully you can still see the amount of coverage.  All of these pics are with the foundation only, no powder or concealer.

 

These are taken after trying the foundation for a couple of weeks.  My skin is really freaking out in these which isn't cool but does help to show the coverage off better .

 

 

Full Face Pics

Again with some pretty ridiculous expressions. I'm not very good at taking the selfies lol.  All of these are my finished out the door look so I have added some finishing powder and blush but no concealer.

 

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

This foundation is my holy grail because not only does it match my skin perfectly but it stays on all day.  Really I couldn't ask for anything else of my foundation.  I think if you decide to try it you'll love it as well. I would love to hear other opinions.

 

 

Thanks for reading

 

~Em

 

 

 

 

 



 



M.A.C Mineralize Moisture SPA 15 Foundation

              M.A.C Mineralize Moisture SPA 15 Foundation

About six months ago I decided to try my first M.A.C foundation, Studio Fix Plus  (see post here) , ever since I've been a fan of M.A.C. Recently I heard about the new M.A.C. foundation coming out, but wasn't sure if I would be able to wear it with my oily skin (Studio Fix Plus is for more oily skin types). I decided to stop by my local M.A.C counter last week to have them try it on me. *Funny aside: She put on moisturizer first and then applied the foundation. Well this foundation literally feels like water drops being patted on the skin so I thought she was still putting on moisturizer when she was putting on the foundation. I actually asked if she had started with foundation yet. She got a pretty good laugh out of that but did say she can see why I thought that. First impression of it really blew me away, I love the dewy finish it has and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of coverage. I was matched at NC15 and its the perfect match for me, I think this one is a bit lighter than the Studio Fix Plus, since it seems to have a touch more yellow tint to it (it still blends well).

Packaging

Pretty standard packaging, but I do like that they included a pump.

Consistency 

The consistency is unique compared to most foundations--it is runny but not sheer in color if that makes sense at all.  For example Urban Decay's naked skin (See Urban Decay Naked Skin blog here) is runny in consistency and somewhat sheer due its formula.

Rubbed in a little--it has a semi-dewy finish.  

 This is dotted on my face and then smeared a bit with my fingers.  I wanted to show the finish, even after rubbed in it has a dewy appearance.

How it wears

It feels very moist when applying it, it literally feels like I'm putting water on my face,  I absolutely love this!  The finish is dewy but not overly shinny. I was a bit worried about how it would do on my oily skin, I've also never tried foundation that wasn't matte in finish for this reason.  I went to M.A.C. counter to have them try it on my to make sure it wouldn't literally melt off of my skin (yes, I've had this happen--gotta love oily skin, not!)  I wore it roughly 8 hours after they applied it with no primmer or powder added, and to my surprise it was exactly how they put it for the most part.  I say for the most part because I'm sure some wore off in that point but there were no oily spots or areas that needed touching up. I decided to really put it to the test by applying it myself the next day with no primmer or powder.  Again it stayed in place for he most part the entire day.  I'm beyond impressed at how well it holds up because it definitely does not have a matte finish.  I've always liked the dewy finish look of foundation but up until now I haven't been able to wear it---I've had a couple of fails with this finish such as Loreal Lumi foundation. The Lumi foundation went on really nicely but didn't stay on very long.  I've played with it everyday since I've gotten it so the next day I did my regular routine (Primmer--smashbox photofinish on this day, and powder--Bare Minerals pressed mineral veil) and a touch of Bare Minerals concealer)  and was really pleased with how it came together to create pretty close to a flawless look.

I could go on and on (if you've read any of my posts you know I'm long winded) but instead i'll sum it up by saying this oily skinned girl was able to wear it.  I think it would work for most skin types but I would suggest  getting a sample first to make sure it works for you.

Before vs. After Comparisons

Sorry for the lighting difference between some of the before and after pictures.  I wanted to post several different angles/pictures to show the coverage.  M.A.C. claims the foundation has a blur effect over imperfections, I would say that's true.  Instead of blabbing on I'll let you decide from the pictures.  

 

I said I wouldn't comment on every photo bu wanted to comment here (lol) just to say that I love how it blurs out imperfections .  Even when my acne isn't acting up I have marks from it.  I love how they are hardly noticeable  when using this.

 

Full Face

Foundation only, no powder or concealer

Foundation only---no powder or concealer

Foundation only--no powder or concealer.  The lighting is a little off on this one but it shows the dewy finish somewhat so I wanted to add it.

Foundation with BM translucent powder, no concealer, and a little Tarte blush.

Final Thoughts 

I Love this foundation! I love how it wears and even more I love the radiant look it gives my skin.  I'm definitely becoming a M.A.C. fan.

If you give it a try I would love to hear your thoughts/opinions.

Thanks for reading

Em :)

                       

Urban Decay Naked Skin

Urban Decay Naked Skin 

I really like the fancy packaging although the only thing that really matter is that it has a pump.  I find foundations without a pump more difficult to use, and I tend to make a mess with them (yes I'm clumsy lol).  I also like how little it takes, I use about a half a pump for each side of my face so one pump total.

Urban Decay's Claim

Coverage without compromise.  Our weightless formula blurs imperfections for a flawless finish that feels invisible, but looks professionally retouched.



How it stacks up to the Claim

I really do think this foundation lives up the hype and so much more.  I love how light it feels once its on and how it truly does disappear into my skin.  Another big selling point for me is the large selection of shades (I'm so fair that I have a hard time finding a good foundation match).  With 18 different shades I was hoping to find just the right shade and I was able to do so with shade 1.0. I normally wear the lightest shade or next to lightest shade if it super light with pink or cool undertones, so I thought .5 would be my match.  I decided the get a Ulta rep to match me though just to be sure and turns out that 1.0 is a better match for me.  According to Urban Decay's website 1.0 is for very fair (yep) skin with soft warm undertones (I'm pretty sure I'm cool) so I wouldn't have picked this one for myself but indeed its the best match I've had so far.  I really could go on an on as to how great the match is (that such a huge deal to me--I"m also most always slightly off in the match).

Consistency 

Sorry that the picture is a little blurry, I was trying to keep the foundation from sliding off my hand.  It is very runny (for lack of better term) but I find this to be a nice quality.  The extra liquidity of the formula helps it live up to the claims about how feel and how well it blends into skin.

Coverage

  I would consider it to be medium coverage as it does cover up a good bit, but not everything.    For those like myself that have acne or redness you may want to use a concealer to cover up redness that shows through (as coverage is sheer but does even out complexion well) or any acne that needs additional coverage.   This foundation does have a nice finish, therefore, powder if not necessary to seal up the foundation but you may want to use some if you require additional coverage.   Even though my complexion is uneven I have worn just the foundation for days I'm not wanting to use the whole nine yards (concealer, and powder etc) and felt fine doing so.

Primer

I always use a primer before putting on my foundation because my skin is very oily.  I've been using this primer for a while and think it works very well.  Even when it was extremely hot (I'm late doing this review) my make up would still be in place at the end of the day.  I've also found the primer does hold up to its claim that it fills in pores and smooths out complexion.  

Urban Decay Good Karma Optical Blurring Brush

I've just recently gotten into brushes (aside from my bare mineral brushes and a few eye shadow brushes that I have), this was actually my first foundation brush.  The ulta rep helping me select a shade suggested I get the brush also, I was skeptical at first so she let me try it out.  I love how it helps to blend the foundation evenly and easily into my skin (this foundation really does disappear as promised). I usually use a sponge and my fingers to apply foundation so this is a big change, but definitely a great one. I'm really loving having this foundation brush and the idea of using it over a sponge.  I'll also have to get some other kinds to try.  I'm open to suggestions if you have one that you love.

Before Vs. After 

Sorry about the lighting difference in the before and after pictures.   Its a little harder to see any specific unevenness of my complexion/redness or any acne marks current or past but it does give a little bit of any idea of the over all improvement.  I can not safe enough about how awesome this foundation is with evening out skin tone without being heavy.  It seems many foundations can do this but they end up being cakey or requiring what seems like coat after coat, and then it doesn't look natural.

Notice how it helps take out the redness on my lower chin.  If I were going for a "more polished look" I might add a little bit of concealer to finish covering  these spots, but I am very happy with coverage as is for foundation only. 

I look really mad in the after picture haha.  It's a challenge for me to take my own photos without a front facing camera.

I really like this angle/picture because it shows my complexion being evened out.  This is probably more true to most people's skin needs--as I feel many need their complexions to be evened out some but may not have acne as well. Lighting is off a bit--my face isn't as red as it looks but it was a bit red from me playing with make up (I took off my make up  after work--the Revlon Naked Skin makeup and then put this on--hence the same shirt and necklace lol).

Full Face/ Pictures from other days for comparison

I'm still working on lighting (I know you all are tired of me saying that) so my skin looks a little splotchy that its not in real life.  I think the extra light does help to show how well it blends into my skin and just how natural it looks.

These are taken back in the summer, hence why my skin is clearer.  The acne comes and goes, but never seems to stay gone forever.  I like these pictures because they were taken outside and give a better look of how it looks outside.  I should have written this review a while back since I've had this foundation since not long after it came out.  Revlon's release of naked skin gave me the idea to do the review (I'll compare the two in another post).


Bottom Line

I LOVE this foundation, it truly is the holy grail foundation for me, while it is not full coverage (closer to medium) I prefer it to other full coverage foundations because of its natural look.  I really do like  that it blends in to look like skin, thus looking more natural than other foundations.  In my opinion full coverage foundations are nice (don't get me wrong they are a girl with acne's best friend, especially when its really acting up) but they aren't as natural looking, as I feel it can be seen that they are being worn (not that its a bad thing but not as natural looking for lack of better words).   I'm not even sure if my rambles make sense to anyone outside of my head (ha) but I saw all of that to say that it goes on very easily and provides great coverage while still having a natural finish.

If would love to hear what you all think.

Thanks for reading.


Em :) 

Revlon Nearly Naked Foundation

Revlon Nearly Naked Foundation

Pretty standard drug store foundation packaging.  I must say I would prefer a squeeze tube or a pump or something. It was a little bit difficult to get it out of the bottle without making a mess. I ended up dipping in a small brush and dotting it on my face that way.


Revlon's Claim

Undetectable coverage. Unbelievable complexion. Makeup so refreshingly light it melts right in, creating a fresh, even look.

How it stacks up to the claim

I would agree that this foundation evens out my complexion well, and that's saying something because my skin has some redness and marks from past and currently acne.  It is lighter weight  than most liquid make up but not the lightest that I've tried. It is a lighter weight foundation  than Revlon's Color Stay but not as light weight  as Urban Decay's Naked Skin.   Also if you look at my Color Stay review I mention that the match of the Ivory Shade (normally my shade) doesn't match me exactly, this shade and foundation does match me well (as a fair skinned girl this is a huge victory :--)  ).

Consistency 

It is a bit more liquidy than most foundations, almost runny, it was sliding off my hand a little bit in this picture.   The extra liquidity or whatever you want to call it helps it go on very evenly and easily.   I definitely like how it feels and goes on.


Coverage

I would describe it as medium coverage, as someone like me with more to cover up would need a concealer and some powder to finish off a look.  It really does cover well for a more sheer coverage foundation, so it may be enough for those of you with better skin or desiring less coverage.  I have skipped the concealer when I was in a hurry and it looked fine. In fact none of my pictures on here have concealer or powder so that may give you some what of an idea.



Before vs After Pictures

Before                                  After


Sorry for the lighting difference between the two.  My skin is freaking out a bit right now so it had more to cover.  For a medium coverage foundation I think it does well.  It evens out my complexion well without feeling heavy like some liquid foundations. The lighting is off some in the after picture but it did help even out the redness in my skin, some of which is from playing with my skin so much (I love to play in make up lol).

    Before                               After


Full Shots

 I think this picture shows off how natural it looks.  It really does not look like I'm wearing foundation at all.  Even the best match of liquid foundation its usually at least some what evident that foundation is being used, but not so much with this.

I'm still working on lighting but I'm getting a little better, at least I think.

Bottom Line

For $9.99 (you can also find it on sale at most drug stores, I got mine on sale at CVS) I definitely think this version of naked make up is worth it.  I really like the feel of the make up and it is very long wearing.  Both of these pictures of above (full shots) are taken after been worn all day at work (I do wear a primmer but I wear one with all of my foundations, but I can still tell some foundations do not wear well). I also did not wear any powder and it still stayed well (I actually put this one in some what of a hurry before work one morning so I didn't take time to add powder or concealer, so it worked well for my blog post as I do not like to add extras so that an honest opinion can be given about that product).    Give it a try and let me know what you think, I don't think you'll be disappointed.



If any of you have tried it or decide to try it I would love to hear your opinions.



Thanks for reading.


Emily :)