Fancy Vs. Frugal: Stick Foundation

Hi Everyone!

I’m starting a new series today called Fancy Vs. Frugal. In this series I will compare a high end version of a product with a cheaper option to see if you need to go fancy or if frugal will do the job. Today I decided to compare the fancy Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Invisible Cover Foundation Stick with the frugal Maybelline Fit Me Shine Free Foundation Stick. Until recently I had never tried a stick foundation, but after purchasing the MUFE stick, I became obsessed. Stick foundations are mess-free, quick and easy, which is perfect when I don’t have a ton of time.

The Price Comparison

There is a huge price gap between these two products, which makes this especially interesting. The MUFE retails for $50 CAD and you get 12.5g of product. I bought mine at IMATS for $30 though. The Maybelline stick was around $10 for 9g of product. Definitely a big difference in price.

Maybelline Fit Me Stick Claims

This foundation claims to set down to a ‘lightweight powder finish’ and promises flawless, shine-free skin.

MUFE Ultra HD Stick Claims

This claims to create a flawless complexion with an invisible look on the skin. This also claims to be 4k compatible, which I’m not going to be testing since most technology hasn’t caught up to that and even with a brand new camera, I haven’t either.

Finish and Feel

The Fit Me foundation feels like absolutely nothing on the skin. When I was swiping it on, it felt like my skin with no makeup on even with 2 layers, which is perfect for all day wear. With that being said, it’s definitely not full coverage. I have a mark on my cheek currently and even with 2 coats, it needed more coverage to be covered. It is advertised as shine free matte and although it’s not dewy, it’s not flat either. So still suitable for drier skin types as well as oily.

The MUFE is definitely a slightly heavier feeling foundation than the Maybelline, but it also has more coverage. I am comfortable with 1 layer of the MUFE and I always feel like that’s enough. I definitely wanted 2 layers at least of the Maybelline. The finish of this is different than the Maybelline, since it sets to be a dewier finish on me. Both finishes are good, and it’s really about preference.

I like these foundations for different things. For natural makeup days I will definitely reach for the Maybelline since it feels completely weightless, but for more glam looks I’d stick with the MUFE since it has more coverage.

I apologize that the photos were taken with different lighting; natural light wasn’t on my side today when I took the first photo, so I used my soft box lights.

Shades

The Maybelline foundation comes in 11 shades, which is good for drugstore but not fantastic considering all the skin tones in the world. There are lots of medium and light shades, but it seems to be lacking in dark shades. I wear 110 Porcelain in this foundation.

The MUFE has 15 shades, which is slightly better, but only marginally considering the price difference. They definitely cater to a wider variety with their range though. I wear R230.

Wear

Generally speaking I don’t have issues with foundations lasting on me so both lasted equally well.

The Verdict

In all, I’m extremely impressed with both of these. The Maybelline really held it’s own for being less than $10 and it definitely wins for price. I love the feel of the Maybelline as well, but I prefer the finish and the coverage of the MUFE. In all, I honestly think both of these are excellent. I would say if you have skin issues that you really want to cover, spend the money for the MUFE, since it has better coverage and you need less. If you have pretty normal skin, you could definitely go for the Maybelline. Other than coverage the main difference is the finish, like I said the MUFE is definitely dewier. In all, the frugal definitely held it’s own, but the fancy is great too!

Verdict: Tie, but not because they’re dupes.

There you have it! What other products would you like to see in this series? Let me know in the comments!

 

Bye for now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too Faced Born This Way Foundation Review

Hi Everyone!

It’s been a while since I reviewed a foundation and until recently it had been a long time since I had even purchased a new foundation. I’m at the point now where I’ve tried many of the ‘popular’ brands and there was really nothing I felt I HAD to try. That is until this foundation came out. Too Faced isn’t known for their face products so I was curious what this would be like. I’ve now tested this for a few weeks, so I think I have a good idea about what I think about this.

Packaging

This foundation has really nice packaging. It’s simple, yet it looks high end. The bottle is heavier frosted glass with a black cap and a gold band around the top of the bottle. Too Faced includes gold in a lot of their packaging, so this suits their brand well. The bottle contains a standard 1oz of product, so nothing revolutionary there.

Shade

The shade selection for this foundation currently isn’t great, although I’ve heard they will be extending the shade range in the future. I chose the shade Porcelain, which was described as fair with neutral to pink undertones. I definitely don’t agree with this. This is significantly more yellow than all of my other foundations. It matches me just fine now, but that might be because I have a little summer colour which is more yellow than my natural skintone. If I was my true, pale cool toned self, I’m really not sure how this would look. From what I’ve seen the shades in this range all seem to run yellow, which is something to consider if you have cool-toned skin like I do.

Finish and Coverage

The finish of this foundation is what I would consider natural. It’s not flat matte, but it’s not really glowy on me either. In terms of coverage, this is definitely medium to full coverage. 1 pump gives me good medium coverage. It covers freckles, but doesn’t blank them out entirely. With an additional pump added it will cover all my freckles, which is what I measure full coverage by. I have been applying this with a beauty blender and it blends out nicely, even though it is on the thicker side. This has never looked cakey although I do find it feels almost tacky on my skin It’s by no means sticky, but if I touch my face, it’s definitely there.

Wear

Like I said this is a little tacky and as it wears throughout the day it does have a greasy feel on the skin. On my skin type it doesn’t look greasy, but I could feel it. I don’t know how this would be on oily skin if it feels greasy on my normal to dry skin. It wears decently well, but it’s not the most long-wearing foundation I’ve tried. At the end of a day most of my skin will still look presentable, but sometimes a little redness will peek through.

Overall Thoughts

After testing out this foundation for a few weeks, I have mixed feelings about it. I think it’s a good foundation, but I don’t think it’s outstanding. If you’re going to spend $39USD/$49CAD on a foundation, I think there are better options out there. I will definitely continue to use this because it does look nice, but it’s not my favourite foundation that I’ve tried.

Have you tried this foundation? What did you think of it?

Bye for now!

Chelsey

Cover FX Custom Cover Drops: Review

Hi Everyone!

I have been trying to write this review for weeks now, but every time I go to write it something gets in the way. Finally I am sitting down to write about a hot new product that’s getting some buzz in the makeup world. When I first heard of these custom cover drops, I was intrigued. A pure pigment foundation that can customize the coverage of existing foundation or be mixed with basically anything to create a custom foundation. That’s pretty cool. So I went to go purchase these and my shade (P20) was out of stock for a while on Sephora’s website. Then when I finally got them I bought a moisturizer to mix them with since mine was out, only to have a terrible reaction to it all over my face. That was the first stall of this review. I went out once again to buy another moisturizer and had a reaction to that one too. So needless to say I wasn’t going to review a foundation with hives all over my face and neck. So when exactly this review will go up, I’m not entirely sure. When my skin cooperates I guess.

Anyway let’s get to the actual product since I assume that’s what you’re here for.

Price

This product is significantly smaller than a standard foundation, but a little goes a long way so it does make sense. It retails for $44.

Packaging

The first important thing to talk about, especially for this product is the packaging. This comes in a small glass bottle with a dropper. The product is very thin in consistency so I think the idea is to add a few drops to whatever you’re mixing this with. The first time I ever used this I shook it like the directions said, opened it to add a couple drops and the dropper shot foundation EVERYWHERE. All over my work uniform, my makeup table and the floor. Needless to say I was not feeling this product that day. Since then it has not done that so maybe air had settled in the dropper, but it’s still very messy in general. I find that product gathers around the edge of the lid and then drips and gets all over your fingers. I do think that it’s a big flaw in this product because it not only wastes product but it’s just inconvenient in general. I can keep the dripping at bay most days by keeping it upright on my vanity, but I don’t see this being a great travel product. Not only is it messy like I said, but it’s also glass so that’s not ideal for travelling.

 

In terms of actually using the product I do find the dropper to be a little challenging. The entire point of this product is custom coverage and I find it challenging to control how many drops come out, which makes it a little harder to get the exact coverage that you’re looking for. What I mean is you could be aiming for 3 drops, medium coverage and end up with 5 drops which is pretty full coverage. Or you could want 5 drops and only 2 will come out before you need to re-dip it to get more product. It’s just not a great dropper. The packaging is by no means a deal breaker for me, but something to consider I think.

Application

This product is designed to be mixed with something, so it does require some kind of surface to mix your concoction on. I use the back of my hand, which is alright provided that you’re careful. This product is very thin so it can easily run off your hand if you tip it by accident. You could use a metal palette if you wanted, you can get them really cheap on Ebay. I have tried mixing this with liquid illuminators, other foundations, moisturizer and even on it’s own. Out of all the methods I’ve tried I like mixing this with moisturizer the best. It feels super light on the skin, but  you can really customize the coverage to your liking. Since my skin is normal to dry, this gives me the hydration I need as well. I will say that you need less moisturizer or whatever you’re mixing it with than you think. I seem to always end up with more product than I need. I suggest mixing a little and adding to it if you need. They do advertise that you can add this to your existing foundation for more coverage. Most of the foundations I already own have decent coverage on their own, so it doesn’t make sense to use this product with them. I do like to mix these with the Urban Decay Naked Skin since that can be a little sheer initially. These give it an extra boost so I have a little more coverage where I need it without layering on loads of product.

Finish and Shades

The finish of this foundation isn’t flat matte, but it’s definitely not dewy. It has more of a satin matte finish which will work for a variety of skin types. In terms of shades they do have a pretty wide variety of light to medium shades, but not that many for deep skin tones from what I can tell. My shade P20 is a pretty good match for my skin tone.

In the picture attached to this post I am still suffering from my allergic reaction so if my skin looks a little uneven, please forgive me. I will say that I don’t think this would do all that well on very dry, flaky skin. I have a lot of texture on my skin from this reaction and it is accentuating it, so I don’t picture it looking that great on dry patches.

Who should try this?

I definitely think someone who owns and wears mainly light to medium coverage foundations should give this a go. That will allow you to add coverage when you want it. I also think this would be well suited to someone who doesn’t wear tons of makeup because with one product you could create many different coverages without buying more than 1 foundation. Lastly, even though I personally don’t fake tan I think these would be perfect for someone who does. Depending on your shade of tan you could purchase these in a darker shade to mix with lighter foundations and add how ever many drops you need to get your perfect shade.

Overall Thoughts

In all I do like this product. I like the feeling of it mixed with moisturizer on my skin and that I can have whatever coverage I want. It is an extra step in the morning to make my concoction so that does sometimes deter me from using it, but it’s not a deal breaker. I do wish the packaging was better. I don’t really trust it for travelling since it’s a messy glass bottle. This handy to have if I need more coverage but I don’t want to feel more coverage if that makes sense. There isn’t much else like this on the market that I’m aware of, so I’m glad I got to try this out for myself.

 

Have you tried the Cover FX Custom Cover Drops? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Bye for now!

Chelsey

 

 

 

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation Review

Hi Everyone!

So my birthday is this week and I got seriously spoiled. My sister knows I’ve been eyeing this FOREVER but had yet to bite the bullet and pick up the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation. I mean there’s high end and then there’s this so I was hesitant to dole out the dough to pick this up. My sister was beyond generous and gave this to me for my birthday which of course is why I’m reviewing it today. This is by far the most expensive foundation I own, so I do think it’s important to review it.  I know I looked for reviews before I purchased it and I really didn’t find as many as I thought, which was surprising. If you were considering treating yourself, then hopefully this review will be useful.

Packaging

The packaging on this is pretty luxurious, which it should be for it’s price tag. It has a frosted glass bottle in a cylinder shape that is slightly wider at the bottom and tapers towards the top. The cap has a raised Armani logo in the centre and underneath the cap is a pump. If you’re following along, I’m sure you get that this shiz is fancy.

Shade

First let’s talk about the shade. In most foundations I own my shade is the first one, the lowest number etc. This foundation uses a number system (2, 3.5, 4 etc.) and rather than being 0.5, 1 etc my shade is 3.75. Since it’s organized this way I would definitely recommend being matched at a counter or matching yourself against your other foundations online using Foundation Matrix. With that being said, 3.75 is one of the best matches I’ve ever found for my skin. I find that in some foundations for pale skin, the pink or yellow undertone is very prominent. When you look at it, you can almost see the pink or yellow. This foundation isn’t like that. Despite matching my pale, cool toned skin perfectly, the undertone isn’t obvious. It just looks like my skin tone in a bottle.

Application and Coverage

To apply this I use my beauty blender since that’s my most favourite method of applying foundation. I find a brush to be much more work and I just prefer the beauty blender. So for my demo pictures, that’s what I used. I started by pumping 1 pump onto the back of my hand, dotting it on my face and then blending it in with the beauty blender. With one pump, it looked nice but not out of this world. The coverage was alright, but I just wanted a little more, I wanted it to wow me. Luckily this pump is really good quality and you can control how much you pump out, so I pumped out about half a pump more to build up the coverage. I’m not sure what it was, but by adding half a pump more my skin literally looked airbrushed. It was like BAM! Bye bye flaws. But it just looked like my skin was already like that. And it just felt like silky soft skin. You definitely cannot see it on your skin. It blends in flawlessly.

Finish

The finish of this is subtly glowy. It’s like a very natural, healthy glow, which i prefer. This has been compared to the L’Oreal True Match Lumi but the finish couldn’t be more different. The Lumi foundation almost has a wet look on this skin and the glow is extremely obvious. This is much more natural looking, which will suit more skin types in my opinion.

I went for a ‘no makeup makeup look’ for the purpose of this review, just so there wasn’t a ton of product to take away from the look of the foundation.

Longevity

Generally speaking I don’t have issues with foundations staying put. My skin is normal to dry so most foundations stick like glue. I wore this for 14 hours (my whole work day until bedtime) and it looked pretty much identical to when I first put it on. It did feel a little tacky by the end of the day, but 14 hours is an exceptionally long time considering it doesn’t claim to be long lasting. Since it did feel a little tacky on my skin by the end of my day, I do think oily or combination skin would need to power and blot and it likely wouldn’t last as long as I wore it for. That being said, on my normal to dry skin, it performed really well. Even though it was a little tacky it didn’t transfer and I wasn’t oily.

Overall I am really impressed with this foundation. It really does make my skin look silky and airbrushed. As much as I want to save this for special occasions, I have a funny feeling that my other foundations might not measure up.

In all I think that if you have normal to dry skin this would be a good splurge. I don’t get any sort of natural glow on my own and this gives me exactly what I look for.

I hope this was helpful if you were wondering if this is worth the splurge! If you’ve tried this foundation, let me know in the comments!

Bye for now!

Chelsey

Nars Sheer Glow Foundation: Splurge or Skip?

Hey Everyone!

I have a new review for you today. If you saw my recent haul then you would have seen that I picked up the Nars Sheer Glow foundation when I went to the US. I’ve had some time to test it out and form my opinions on it, so I thought I’d share them today.

The Packaging

I really enjoy the packaging of this foundation. It’s a square style glass bottle with a heavy bottom and a screw cap. The packaging is simple, but I enjoy the matte black cap and no-fuss design. For the price it should for sure come with a pump, which it doesn’t so that’s a negative for me. I think if you expect a consumer to pay $45+ for a foundation, a pump should be standard. Now I will say that this foundation is a medium consistency, so it’s not too bad without the pump. I still think it should come with one, but it’s not super runny or messy without one. I could buy a pump for this, but then that does add $11 to the price. I did purchase one for my Estee Lauder Doublewear, but it’s a thinner consistency so it needed it more than this foundation does.

The Product

Now onto the product itself. First I’m going to list the claims from Sephora’s website:

• A glowing satin finish foundation with sheer and buildable coverage
• Enhances without masking your overall natural complexion
• Hydrates the skin while complexion brightening properties improve skin brightness, radiance and texture leaving skin with a luminous, sensual glow
• Suitable for normal, normal-to-dry, dry and very dry skin types

So the question is, does it stand up to it’s claims? The first claim is half true. I would definitely call it a satin finish, it’s not as dewy as I was expecting. I was thinking like L’Oreal True Match Lumi kind of dewy, but I actually love the finish. It has just enough glow to make your skin look healthy, but not so dewy that you look overly shiny. In terms of the coverage, I think sheer is a misnomer. This has amazing coverage, easily medium, but definitely not sheer. I love the way this looks on my skin. It looks really natural and fresh. That brings me to their next claim. I 100% agree with their second claim, this just enhances your natural skin with some radiance. It’s not remotely heavy or cakey looking. It didn’t settle unevenly anywhere on my face like some foundations do, just blended effortlessly into my natural skin. In terms of it’s skin care type claims, it didn’t make my skin dry or anything, but I can’t say it improved my natural skin. I don’t expect this from a foundation, so that doesn’t matter to me. Lastly, it claims to be suitable for the normal-very dry range. I’ll agree with this since I have normal-dry skin and it works wonderfully on me.

To really show what this foundation looks like, I took some photos in natural light, so you can see what it looks like.

Before and after

You can see on the left that I have some redness to cover up and a couple of scars around my forehead. In the after, the redness is completely covered, but the little scars aren’t entirely. I don’t mind because I would rather just use a little green concealer where I need it than mask my entire face. Once all my makeup was done, this really wasn’t noticeable. You can see my freckles, which I’m completely fine with. I haven’t found a foundation yet that completely covers them, so it’s not out of the ordinary. I like some of them to show anyway, it makes everything look more natural. 

Wear

This is another area where this foundation excels. I can put this foundation on and wear it for hours (10 hours+) with no primer and it looks exactly the same at the end of the night. And I mean exactly the same, not even a little fading. My blush doesn’t wear off with this and neither does my highlighter. In terms of helping my other face products stay put, this foundation is one of the best I’ve found. Now I haven’t tried this on anyone with oily skin, so I’m very curious how it would perform since it is geared to drier skin types.

I recently used this in a FOTD, so I’m going to include that so you can see what it looks like with a finished face. You can still see a slight blemish scar, but honestly that has a lot to do with where it is, not the foundation. If it wasn’t in the middle of my face (the best place to get a pimple of course), you wouldn’t notice it. And I’m extra picky, so there’s that too.

Overall Thoughts

I love this foundation! I think it has just enough glow to be appropriate for all year around, as it just looks fresh. It feels light on my skin and looks light too. In general, this is on the more expensive side, but I haven’t found any drugstore foundations that match this finish. As well, it comes in 17 shades with multiple undertones (my shade is Mont Blanc), so it will match a variety of skin tones. Overall I’m really impressed and this was definitely worth the splurge. Honestly, I think I’m starting to like higher end foundations a bit too much…oh dear haha.

So there you have it! If there are any other foundations that I really should try, leave me a comment down below and let me know which one! Help me feed my addiction!

In case you haven’t entered yet, there is one more day left to enter my giveaway, I will be drawing the winner on Saturday, so get your entries in!

Also, I’ve decided that I’m going to wait to do my favourites for a couple more weeks. I have so many new products that I haven’t given a fair shot yet due to makeup-less work days and being too sick to care. So my favourites will probably show up mid month for a change. Plus I’m getting right into fall makeup looks so I’m on the look out for good fall products!

Bye for now!

Chelsey