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Tag Archives: foundationDollface Reviews: Lancome Rénergie Lift Makeup in Lifting Porcelain
This foundation was a bit of an impulse buy. I spotted it in the duty free section of Sanford airport on my way back from Florida this summer, and was drawn in by two things: 1. The colour. I got the lightest shade available, which is number 10, ‘Lifting Porcelain’. I could tell right away that it would be a good match for my skin, and because it’s so unusual to find foundation pale enough for me, it was worth buying for that reason alone. 2. The ‘lifting’ bit. This claims to not only even out your skin and cover imperfections, just like every other foundation on the market, but to also “to visibly lift slackening skin and blur lines and wrinkles for 12 hours”. Well, that was all I needed to convince me: I bought it with the last of my dollars, and for the past two months, I’ve been alternating it with my Revlon ColorStay, using Revlon on the days when only the thickest coverage will do, and this when I feel I can get away with something a little lighter. Rénergie offers mid-level coverage, although it layers up quite nicely in areas where you feel you need a little extra. It’s a lightweight texture, which goes on smoothly and evenly, and is just really nice to apply. I posted a swatch on my post about foundation for pale skin, but just in case you missed it, here it is again: Perricone MD No Foundation FoundationAs soon as I heard the phrase “No Foundation Foundation”, I started getting excited. I mean, this is basically The Dream, isn’t it? Foundation that doesn’t actually look like foundation? Flawless skin, without heavy coverage? Count me in… And don’t get me wrong: I love my heavy coverage. My skin isn’t naturally flawless, so Revlon Colorstay is currently my best friend, but there’s no getting away from the fact that thick coverage comes at a price, and often that price involves foundation falling into the lines under the eyes, or just generally looking like thick foundation (and actually, it can sometimes make your skin look worse, rather than better, especially in direct sunlight). Perricone MD’s No Foundation Foundation, however, is designed to be the answer to all of that, so when the company offered to send me some to try, I jumped at the chance. Here’s what they have to say about the product:
When it arrived, the first thing I noticed was the medicinal appearance of the bottle – perhaps unsurprising, given the name of the company, and the fact that it was developed by a skin doctor. The pump dispenser comes separately, and screws onto the top of the bottle, allowing you to get the right amount onto your skin. Because the coverage is supposed to be translucent, it comes in “one universal shade”, and this turned out to be problematic for me, because I don’t think there IS one universal skin shade, and this one turned out to be too dark for my skin: Dollface Reviews: Revlon ColorStay Makeup in 110 (Ivory)
I picked this up last month, having heard lots of people raving about how good it was, and having also been impressed by the paleness of the lightest shade which is 110 – Ivory. As I mentioned in my foundation roundup, I’m not 100% happy with the shade, and while it looked like a perfect match in Walgreens, there are times when I feel it’s just a touch too dark for me, which is disappointing, because if they released this in a lighter shade it would instantly achieve Holy Grail status for me, that’s how much I like it. There are two different versions of this: one for normal/dry skin and one for oily/combination skin. I have lots of problems with shine on the t-zone, so I went for the latter, and it’s been fantastic: in fact, I rarely need to use powder with it because it soaks up the excess oil on my forehead, and heaves a matt, but not powdery finish. So far, so good. Coverage, meanwhile, is full and thick, so if you’re looking for something light, this probably won’t be for you. It’s not quite as easy to apply as some lighter products: I mostly use my fingers (yes, I know, it’s shocking, but it’s what I prefer!) or a foundation brush, and it does require a bit of blending, and extra attention to the areas around the nose and eyes where foundation can tend to gather. It also smells pretty bad: I’m not quite sure how to describe it, but it’s fairly strong, and a bit medicinal. You do get used it, but I was a bit put off when I first used it! Once applied, however, this is thick enough to cover any redness, and most small blemishes, however unlike some other very thick foundations I’ve tried, it doesn’t look caked on, and it doesn’t crease around the eyes: it’s called “colorstay” for a reason and I’ve been really impressed by how well it lasts, and how fresh it still looks by the end of the day. I normally find that foundation will have started to wear off (or slide off) by the time I go to bed at night, but this does a great job of staying in place, which is another huge point in its favour. At £11.99 per bottle, this is one of the pricier drug store brands, however, I think it’s excellent value for money: it’s one of those ” little goes a long way” foundations, so it should last a long time. Ultimately, though, I love it because it just makes my skin look better. Most foundations, I find, do a reasonably good job, but still leave my skin looking like, well, like my skin, just a little bit more even. This one, however, makes me look like I have someone else’s skin, and as the “someone else” apparently has better skin than I do, I’m good with that. One of the small downsides of this (about the only one I can think of other than the issue I have with the colour) is that it comes in a glass bottle, which can be a bit of a pain to use. I much prefer a squeezable tube or pump dispenser (according to the comments on my other post, it does come in a squeezable tube in some places. I bought mine in Florida, and only ever saw it in the glass bottle, but if it is available in a tube, that’s good news!), but that aside, I find practically perfect in (almost) every way. Now, let’s have some paler shades, Revlon, pretty please? BUY: Revlon ColorStay Makeup, £11.99 The Best Foundation for Pale Skin: a roundup plus colour swatches
Following on from my post on being Pale and Proud, a lot of you asked for advice about foundation for pale skin. Trust me, I feel your pain on this: I think for most of us palefaces, finding foundation that doesn’t look orange (or, in my case, just make me look like I haven’t washed for a week) can turn into a lifetime’s search with nothing ever being just right. The list that follows, then, is a highly biased list of my own favourite foundations for pale skin. Needless to say, these are just the products I’ve used myself, so the list is far from exhaustive, and I’m hoping some of you will help add to it by leaving your own suggestions in the comments. Before I start, I’m also just going to go ahead and state the obvious: that not all pale skin is pale is pale in exactly the same way, so what works for me may not work for you, and vice versa. For reference, my skin is pale and freckled, with pinkish undertones. In MAC terms, I’d be an NW15, but I actually find that shade too dark for me, so here are a few of the foundations I use, or have used, instead, in no particular order: Lancome Teint Idole Fresh Wear 18 hour makeup
Why? Well, this is a lightweight foundation that promises to control shine, and deliver a totally matt, “pore free” complexion for up to 18 hours. I’d like to be pore-free, wouldn’t you? (Not literally, obviously. Those things do come in handy…) And I’d like to be perfectly matt for 18 hours, so I guess the only remaining question is, do I want to pay $32? If I do, I can pick this up in Sephora next month (not that I’m counting down the days or anything*), or visit a Lancome counter to try out the ten different shades. If you have normal to oily skin, you may well want to join me, in which case, you can order online here. * 36 days, just in case you’re wondering Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation, with fruit therapy
We’re used to seeing fruit extracts used in skin and hair products, so why not use them in a foundation, too? That seems to be the thinking between Bourjois’ Healthy Mix Foundation, which uses fruit to deliver a “radiance boosting” formula, and eight hours’ worth of hydration into the bargain. The fruit’s not just in there for novelty value, though. Bourjois say they’ve used apricot for radiance, melon for hydration, apple as an antioxidant and ginger for energy. Sounds more like a smoothie than a foundation to me, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, and apparently this has a bit of a fruity fragrance too, which would appeal to me, although perhaps not to everyone. This comes in eight different shades, and retails for £10 at ASOS.com and anywhere with a Bourjois stand. There’s also a concealer to go with it, to make your face that little bit more fruity! DuWop Foundation of Youth lightweight anti-ageing foundation
The product itself sounds pretty good too, it has to be said. As the name suggests, this aims to disguise some of the signs of ageing, mostly by using anti-oxidants to plump out fine lines. You’ll also notice that the tube comes with its own brush applicator, just like Yves Saint Laurent’s Radiant Touch. I loved the brush applicator on the YSL foundation at first, but after a couple of weeks of use, found myself going back to applying it with my fingers: it was just too tricky to get the right amount of product onto the brush, and I’d always end up with too much or too little, which makes me suspect a regular foundation brush is probably better for me than one that’s attached to the bottle. (Easier to clean, too.) If you want to find out for yourself, though, this is $38 direct from DuWop. Dollface Reviews: Illamasqua Rich Liquid Foundation
I’ve been using this foundation for about a month now, and as I said in my swatch post, I’m having to mix two different colours (RF120 and RF105) to get the right shade. This is probably the biggest drawback for me, although I’m told Illamasqua are aware of the issues with the existing shades, and are working on bringing out more, so hopefully the perfect shade will be created at some point in the future! So, on with the review, and I’m going to start with the positives: the coverage. As the name suggests, this is a heavy-coverage foundation, in a rich, creamy formula. And, as such, it really does deliver: this covers freckles, blemishes, dark circles, you name it. I haven’t had to use a concealer with it for blemishes etc, although I have been using an under-eye concealer, because I feel the foundation is too heavy for that area. It has a tendency to crease around the eyes after a few hours, and as the skin around my eyes can be dry, it also clings to the dry patches and makes them look worse. The skin on the rest of my face is fairly normal, and I had no issues with the foundation there: in fact, I was really pleased with it. The finish is matt (I haven’t been using powder with it because I don’t think it’s needed) and flawless, and although I know some reviewers have found it difficult to blend, I haven’t had issues there either. I’ve been applying it with a foundation brush, and although it is thick, I find it goes on smoothly and blends quite easily. A little goes a long way, too, so although it’s expensive, it will last a long time. After about four weeks of use, it hasn’t made me break out, either, which was something I’d worried about before buying it. So far, so good, then. Such heavy coverage isn’t without its drawbacks, though. Although I find the foundation easy to apply and blend, it’s also very easy to apply too much of it, and if you’re not very careful, it can start to look caked-on. When I first bought this, there were a couple of occasions where I applied my makeup in my bedroom, as usual, and then walked into the brighter light of the bathroom, glanced in the mirror and immediately reached for my cleanser to wash it all off again because in the harsh light of day, it looked drag-queen esque. This isn’t entirely the foundation’s fault, obviously: it requires a light hand on the application, a very small amount of product, and I’ve also heard a couple of people recommend applying it with a sponge rather than a brush. (I’ve run out of sponges, so I haven’t tried this yet!) As well as the dryness around my eyes, I’m also prone to the occasional touch of dryness around the nose and mouth, particularly when I’m stressed. When this happened, I had to abandon Illamasqua for a couple of days because even with the best efforts of my moisturizer and primer, it would still cling to the dry patches and be very visible. Mixing it with moisturiser may help here, but I’d prefer it to work right out of the box – or bottle, rather. Ultimately, while I like this foundation, and LOVE the coverage it provides, it’s a lot of work to use and isn’t really a foundation you can put on in a hurry. It requires careful application, a good primer, and even then it’s not great on dry skin, so for me will probably be a product I’ll use on special occasions /good skin days rather than on a day-to-day basis. If you want to try it our for yourself, it’s £19.50 and available direct from Illamasqua, although, as I noted in my swatch post, I really recommend visiting a counter first to choose your shade! Foundation for pale skin: Illamasqua Rich Liquid Foundation swatches – RF105 and RF120
Before my unexpected beauty blogging hiatus, I promised you a review of Illanmasuqa’s Rich Liquid Foundation, which I’ve been using for a couple of weeks now. Well, that’ll be along soon, but first of all, knowing how difficult my fellow palefaces find choosing the right shade of foundation, I thought I’d quickly show you some swatches of the two shades I’m using – RF105 and RF120. These are the second and third palest shades Illamasqa do – or so I thought when I ordered them, anyway. I’ve since read that RF135 may be paler than the RF120 I bought, so that may be worth bearing in mind too. The very palest shade – RF100 – is a stark white that’s basically only going to be of use for editorial or theatrical purposes. The next shade up – RF105 – also appears to fall into that category at first glance, although it does have a pinkish tinge to it. It’s far too pale for even me to wear on its own, but I actually think a shade like this is really useful to have if you tend to have problems buying foundation, because it can be mixed with other, darker shades, allowing you to dial almost any foundation down to your shade. I’ve used it almost daily since I got it, and this is because the RF120, which I’d assumed would be more or less the perfect colour for me, is actually quite a bit too dark. It’s billed as a pink-toned, pale base, but I found it a little more yellowish than I’d been expecting, and too dark for me to wear it on its own. Here are both of the shades blended in a little:
Posted in Face
Tagged foundation, Illamasqua, pale skin, rich liquid foundation, swatches
7 Comments
Lancôme ‘Ôscillation Powerfoundation’ Micro-Vibratin Polishing Mineral Make-up
Well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later, didn’t it? I mean, we’ve had vibrating mascaras for aaaaggges now, so it was long past time to move onto the next thing in makeup, and it looks like that “next thing” is… vibrating foundation. Yes, vibrating foundation. This is Lancome’s ‘Ôscillation Powerfoundation’. It’s a mineral,powder formula, and it comes with it’s own sponge applicator, which vibrates. Now, I use mineral foundation from time to time, and when I do, I have to tie and old towel around my neck because I am absolutely incapable of applying it – or any kind of loose powder, really – without getting it all over my clothes, and anything else that happens to be in the vicinity. Personally, then, I’d be even more concerned about this than I was about vibrating mascara wands, when they first came out. As it turned out, though, the mascara turned out to be no messier than normal mascara, so hopefully that’ll be the case here, too. Indeed, Lancome claim this is “never messy”, although it’s possible they didn’t have me in mind when they wrote that. So: why do we need our mineral foundation to vibrate? According to Lancome, it’s because the vibrating applicator will massage our skin and gently distribute the product over it, allowing “7,000 micro-vibrations per minute” to ”break down the featherweight mineral powder for seamless blendability.” Hmm. I don’t know. I’m super-fussy about how my foundation is applied. Put it this way: I wouldn’t normally allow another HUMAN to apply it for me, so I still have my doubts about allowing a machine to do it. The product itself sounds nice, though: the foundation promises 14-hour wear, contains SPF 21 and claims to give you “newborn skin”. I could be persuaded. Could you, though? If you could, this costs $48 and you can buy it at Nordstrom, amongst other places.  |
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I’ve been meaning to write a review of
