COVER FX Custom Cover Drops

This is an interesting new product from Cover FX. This is  described as a custom formula that you can build up or sheer out to your hearts content. It is intended to mix it with your your own moisturizers, serums, oils or primers to create your own tinted moisturizer. Its not supposed to matter if its water, silicone or oil based. The product is said to bond with whatever product you mix it with to seamlessly combine in to new custom product for you. At $44 its not cheap, but it is interesting and I am looking forward to trying it. Its already online at Sephora but I really hope it comes to Shoppers Drug Mart soon! 

What it is:

A dropper with concentrated pigments for convenient customization of any product in your beauty regimen, allowing you to control the level of coverage.

What it does:
From a sheer tint to total coverage, Custom Cover Drops lets you achieve your desired coverage. Blend it with anything liquid to create your desired coverage, including moisturizers, serums, oils, primers, foundations, and tinted moisturizers that are water-, oil-, or silicone-based. These revolutionary drops feature Flash Fusion Technology™, so as soon as you drop, it leaves behind pigment that weightlessly transforms your favorite beauty product into the sheerest tint or a total coverage foundation. Simply adjust your coverage by the number of drops you add. The pigments are coated with lecithin, which is biochemically similar to the skin, to ensure seamless blending, precise control, and the smoothest application.

Almay Wake Up Liquid Foundation Review

I have never tried Almay foundations before this. I have never even looked twice at them. But it was $18.99 on sale for $8.99 and I had a $5 off coupon. For $4 I not only had to buy one to try, I had to buy one for my mom to try. Easy to choose the right shade for her. Lightest shade available. She is a shade or two darker than me, so most drugstore foundations work for her.

I have to say, I did not hate this, though I did not like it. Should have read reviews on it and saved $4! But hey, it was only $4. I understand why everyone on makeupalley rates it a 1 or 2.

The wear on this was not great, but it wore off evenly and kinda just faded away. It lasted about 6 hours. The good thing was that it did not get patchy and uneven as it faded or melted away. It also has NO coverage. I would call this more a tinted moisturizer than a foundation. It is extremely light coverage (my Bobbi Brown Extra Light Tinted Moisturizer has more coverage) and as you can see in the pictures my blemishes show through. All this really does is even out the redness in my skin and even that only lasts a few hours before it starts to go bye bye. In these pictures I am wearing it with bush, lipstick and eyeshadow. No concealer or anything else on my face.

NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation Review

I was so excited to try this new foundation from NARS. I love the sheer matte foundation, like the sheer glow foundation (at times) and love the Radiant Cream Compact Foundation. I also like the Radiant Creamy Concealer. So I just assumed I would like this.

I sadly, DON'T. I don't even like it. I should start with the shade issue. I wear Monte Blanc in the Sheer Glow, Sheer Matte and Radiant Cream Compact and in the tinted moisturizer I wear Terre Neuve. But the shade selection doesnt work well in this one. This formula is a hair darker and I find it far more yellow and less pink. So strike one for me.

Also, its a very finicky foundation. Its very very liquidy but it builds up very quickly and at the same time drying very quickly so that it can easily look patchy or cakey. Also, for my super greasy dehydrated skin (yes, its dehydrated and in some spots peeling its so dry yet very greasy and constantly breaking out) it clings to the dry patches showing them off, even if I put moisturizer on first.

Overall, I am sure for some people this product will be a holy grail. But for me its already been returned to sender. Did you try it? If so, what did you think of it? Let me know in th ecomments below!

Yves Rocher Flawless Skin Concealer Review

 

I was sent the new face makeup for Yves Rocher to review. For some reason, they sent me this concealer in pinky medium instead of pinky light. Unlike the foundations that are the perfect shade for me, this concealer is too dark. But as long as I don't use it under my eyes I can make it work.

And to give you an idea of its shade, I put it next to my benefit boi-ing concealer in 01 and my time balm concealer in lighter than light.

And its a PERFECT time to try out a concealer since my face has bee a pimply, broken out, red and irritated mess for the last week. Ever since my makeover last Friday! So here is my scary before pic.

As you can see its far too dark but it does have excellent coverage you could build up to cover pretty much everything if it matched well. Its creamy and soft and feels nice on.

And here it is blended as well as I could. I would have tried to build it up more if the shade was a better match.

The concealer retails for $16 but its on sale on the Yves Rocher website HERE for $9 right now. I think I may have to pick it up in the lightest pink shade Light Pinky.

Yves Rocher Zero Defaut Review - Flawless Skin Foundation 14H & Flawless Skin Powder

So look at the package I came home to on Thursday! And inside was the new powder foundation, liquid foundation and concealer from Yves Rocher!

The Zero Defaut  Flawless Skin Foundation 14H has some pretty heft claims!

The secret of a flawless complexion? An invisible finish foundation that instantly conceals blemishes.

With its formula enriched in Botanical-Mineral Fusion pigments, theFlawless Skin Foundation perfectly blends with the skin to unify complexion and reveals flawless* results, for perfect looking skin. 

Result: Ultra-natural invisible finish, blemishes are concealed. 

The Plus: Its long-lasting formula giving impeccable coverage for up to 14 hours.

Now let me just start by saying it does NOT last 14 hours. Nope. But thats not to say I don't like it.

This one is Pinky 000 (or so its called online) but its Rose 000 on the box. The retail price is $28 though its on sale right now for $15 HERE. It comes in a glass bottle with a pump. The pump is nice and the packaging solid. It does not dispense too much foundation at all and two pumps covered my face. That being said, if I were to admit just how anal and obsessive I truly am, I would complain about the lack of a lid over the pump.

Now for colour reference, this is my NARS sheer matte foundation in Monte Blanc. Its a bit brighter and a bit pinkier than Monte Blanc, but not by much. In fact, the shade itself is great for me. A bit darker than my natural skin but since I am glow in the dark white, it works well.  I just have to blend it real well so that you don't see a line where the foundation ends!

Nars is on the left, and Yves Rocher on the right.

And here I am with soaking wet hair straight out of the shower. Pre-makeup.

This is two pumps. I would probably not need as much if not using the foundation brush that eats so much foundation, but its my favourite tool for application.

The foundation is very light and comfy on my face. Its a light to medium foundation. I know it claims to cover blemishes flawlessly, but it really is NOT going to cover and conceal blemishes flawlessly. It will however look like your skin but better.

The flawless Skin Powder is said to mattify the skin. That it does. I am not sure if this is supposed to be a powder foundation or a tinted blotting powder. The description is as follows:

Evens and mattifies complexion. 

The secret of a flawless and mattified complexion! 

With its formula enriched in Bamboo powder, the Flawless Skin Powder evens and mattifies complexion while remaining invisible. Ultra fine, its texture perfectly blends with the skin for a sensation of comfort all day long. 

Result: Complexion is mattified and skin texture is refined. 

The Plus: Its case with a mirror and brush for easy touch-ups throughout the day.

The black plastic packaging is sturdy enough. Again, I got shade Light Pinky which is labeled Rose Clair (light pink). The retail price is $31 though its on sale right now for $17 HERE.

Now this powder is very......... I am not quite sure how to describe it. Its a pressed powder that is VERY pressed in there. You dont get much product when you use a brush.

After three swipes with the brush this is the product that is on the brush.

IF you can see the swatch on the hand its a bit darker than the colour of my hand. Its light and doesnt feel cakey.

I used it here as a setting powder for the foundation.

Now I through on a creme highlighter as an eyeshadow, a touch of mascara, Dior rosy glow blush and then a Lancome lip shade and I was ready to go.

Now for the big question. The wear. Friday I wore it for 10 hours without a primer. It was half worn off. There was visible wear at about the 6 hour mark. On Saturday I wore this over a primer (Benefit PoreFessional) and there was no visible wear after 6 hours, and around the 9 hour mark it started to show a bit. I could easily have used some blotting powder or reapplied a bit of the Flawless Skin Powder however and I am sure that would have carried it to the 14 hour mark though I just washed it off at the 10th hour. For 10 hours with a primer this stuff is great though. The only issue for me is if you say 14 hours, it should wear on its own for 14 hours. But in reality, I find very few products actually wear for the full length advertised (even WITH primers and setting powders).

Overall, I think the liquid foundation is worth picking up (specially right now when its only $15!) and the concealer. For me, there is nothing wrong with the powder and I will certainly use it, but I wouldnt necessarily suggest you need to get it. I will be picking up the light pinky concealer to try out shortly and will do a review on it at a later date, but stay tuned for the general review of the concealer based on the medium pinky shade I was sent which should be up on my blog the day after tomorrow.

The Concealer Palettes I Use For Contouring (As Budget As It Gets)

Now in general when I say or call something budget here on my blog, it usually means It Cosmetics, Julep or other brands that are to most people not budget but for me, a LOT cheaper than the Dior, Chanel, NARS and LMDB I normally gravitate towards. Well today by budget I mean under $10. Or even under $5 budget!

I picked both of these up in Aug of 2013, so about a year and a half ago but yet never did a review of them here. The second palette is still sold on Coastal Scents under their logo named the eclipse palette and no longer sells the first of the two. BH Cosmetics no longer sells either version of this. That being said, these are the basic cheap palettes they sell, just without the logos on them. And for the price, they are quite good!

Let me start with I do not think these are the most ideal for doing heavy or even medium CONCEALING. They are very creamy and light, but they really blend out almost too well to conceal much and if you try to build it up, it tends to get a bit cake-ey. BUT.... for contouring, I FREAKING LOVE THESE! Due to an error in shipping I accidentally got two of the bottom palette and that is good since I literally have used up an entire pot of the top right shade as well as the second from the right in the bottom row. I ended up throwing out the palette and going on to the second. I also had used up the entire green one though I only use it when I am out of my go to green concealers as its not the best green one. I much prefer the shiseido green foundation stick.

Now on to the swatches! Each set of swatches is one row starting with the top row, then the middle, then the bottom rows.

Now these palettes can be found easily on ebay for under $5 shipped, but if you would prefer to NOT shop on ebay and NOT deal with paypal, you can get them here for $10 shipped from the United States instead of China like the ones on ebay (tracking can be found when you log in to your account after purchasing). 

EDIT - it seems the first one has become hard to find on Tmart at all, and not so easy to find on ebay either! Maybe thats why Coastal Scents and BH Cosmetics sell no version of it anymore!

Bourjois Paris 123 Perfect Foundation Review (#51)

I was walking through the Shoppers Beauty Boutique I regularly go to when one of the sales associates came up to me and said "Hey! We have a brand new foundation in that will suit your skin tone! It works on my daughter and I know you have the same issues she does with foundations!". I of course had to immediately head over there. I was also of course holding an 18 inch pizza (because who DOESN'T have a massive pizza box with them at 730am?) making the shopping trip very awkward. But I was excited by the idea of a new foundation! And a foundation that only cost me $28? Awkward or not, I was trying this out!

Long story short, I bought this foundation. And I have NO IDEA if I like it or not. What they say about it:

Tested and approved by 97% of women,* the “new generation” foundation for a rested yet radiant complexion and a flawless, even result for up to 16hrs**
Its formula:
3 colour correcting pigments:

1. Yellow pigments – conceals dark circles for a rested look
2. Mauve pigments – corrects dullness for radiance
3. Green pigments – neutralises redness for an even out the complexion

Soft and smooth formula for an undetectable, second skin finish. Availble in 9 natural shades to suit all skin types.

And it’s good for my skin!
- 24hr hydration**
- SPF 10
- Cotton Flower – hydration & anti-shine
- non comedogenic, lets skin breathe

As you an see, it leans a little yellow. Normally a first strike equivalent to three in my books. And normally an automatic pass.

But it sheers out nicely and doesn't look overly yellow on the skin.

Now here is how it looked on my in the store. Awful lighting throughout, but different awful lighting in every corner so I was able to get pics in all kinds of harsh and unforgiving lights. 

And outdoors.

As you can see, the shade is a bit too dark for my skin as my neck is obviously a few shades lighter than my face. But not too bad.

PROS

1. This is a really big pro. The colour correcting pigments WORK. Can I say this enough? I am wearing NO concealer, NO green foundation under this as I normally do (really, the Shiseido green foundation stick is a miracle worker) and I do not look red. It actually DOES cancel out all the red! And did quite a decent job on the dark circles as well, which is impressive as I have at this point in the day been up for 17 hours!
2. While extremely pricey for a drugstore foundation (which is what Bourjois actually is), its a downright steal here in Canada compared to middle of the road brands such as Stila and Smashbox ($28)
3. The wear seemed quite good. I had this on for only about 6 hours, but I did take a hot bath in that time and there was no wearing or patching off. And this was all with NO primer and NO moisturizer over top. No setting powder either. I am wearing the foundation and a benefit blush in these shots and no other anything. 
4. It feels completely light weight. It may be a medium to heavy coverage, but it feels more like a tinted moisturizer. 

CONS

1. Lousy shade selection. While they do have this very light shade (51) they only have 5 options. Meaning you are very unlikely to find your perfect shade. This is Light Vanilla and its a shade or two darker than it should be but manageable. But good luck with only 5 options!
2. It ever so slightly oxidizes on the skin. The one who sold it to me was adamant it didnt, but it went from being the perfect shade on me to being about a shade in a half to two shades darker than my neck within 30 minutes.
3. It leans yellow. 
4. Very limited availability within Canada. Only available in Canada at Shoppers Drug Mart as far as I know, and only 2 or 3 locations in my city have it. Making it slightly obnoxious to get if you aren't lucky enough to be close to a store that carries the line.  
5. Now this is a pro for many, a minus for me, but it DOES have SPF in it. Making it not ideal for any events or functions which might include photo ops. 

Now, I am not sure where to put its packaging. I find it a plus, but many call a glass bottle a minus. I love the glass bottle, feels more sturdy and higher end, and I love that it comes in a pump. 

Overall, I like it, I don't love it. I will wear it (though it looked better on my mom when I made her wear it this morning than it did on me) but I am not ready to sing its praises. Its............. fine? I have to give it a better shot, with primer and my own brushes and such. I do however LOVE its ability to hide redness and dark circles.

Let me know if you have tried this and if so, what do you think?