Day - Long Review - Revlon ColorStay Sweatproof Foundation

I recently discovered that I hated my foundation. Maybelline Pure Makeup. Its water based, which is nice and doesn't clog your pores. But forget about it if you have oily skin, or even just an oily T-zone like moi. Now, I'm not the best at keeping my makeup touched up throughout the day, but you'd think your foundation could stand up for an hour at least.... Not so with Pure Makeup, it was patchy and cakey within an hour.

So I went to Total Beauty to find a better foundation. Something rated well for oily or combination skin. The results weren't promising. Too many products with too few reviews each. Irritating. On the basis of saving some cash, I decided to go with a "drug store" brand. I found good reviews of Revlon's ColorStay stuff, and I've always liked their ColorStay lipstick. They were kind of pioneers of that "lasts for 16 hours" stuff as I recall. So I set out to CVS to buy the stuff. I found there are three different kinds of ColorStay foundation: Normal/Dry, Oily/Combination and Sweatproof.

Now, my main complaint from my Maybelline Pure was that if I started to sweat, even a little, the makeup would just dissolve instantly. So, I went for the Sweatproof when I chose the new foundation. The reviews online promised it would stay put, not come off my clothes, and that it was light and comfortable. Here begins my journal style-review of my new foundation.

7:45 AM - Applied makeup to moisturized skin (ran out of primer, so didn't bother). Purposefully did my makeup before drying my hair, to check for "sweatproofness". Makeup is the consistency of watery clay. NOT light. Not uncomfortable, but certainly not like spreading whip cream on my face. My face now has these layers on it: moisturizer, foundation, concealer, powder, blush. Blow-dried my hair. Sweat not too much, but enough. Divot under my nose remains perfect, starting to see some minor caking on cheeks near nose, but easily fixed.
--Sweatproof makeup - confirmed! (but I already had sweatproof makeup, I use it on special occasions like weddings and stuff, L'Oreal Infallible, look for it in a future review)

9:30 AM - Cheeks, forehead, chin look fine. Nose is starting to get cakey and I can see my bare skin in some patches.

12:30 PM - Entirely gone from the end of my nose. Starting to look cakey on cheek area right next to nose

1:09 PM - Cheek area from earlier definitely starting to be cakey, not patchy yet. Makeup is only on the sides of my nose, and collecting around the nose-pads of my glasses. New: now collecting in fine lines around my mouth.

5:16 PM - Just got home from work. Time to check this "16" hour makeup after about 9.5 hours since putting it on. Remember, I've done no touch ups today, as I wanted to get a feel for my new foundation. Wearing off over my eyebrows, creating a weird effect that makes me look angry. Caking up above my upper lip. Entirely gone of my nose, areas where nose-pads of my glasses are have rings around them. cheeks/chin look ok. Best test will be to remove it to see if its still really there.

All that being said, it doesn't look all that bad. I think if I were good about touching up with powder throughout the day it might look better. It also might be more effective with primer.

Still, I think I might return it and try the "oily/combination" kind. We'll see.

Thanks for reading! I'll post again soon (yeah right).

Make-up Forever - Star Powder

So I went out a few weeks ago in search of new eyeshadow. I've been watching makeup tutorials on youtube, my favorite is xsparkage. She's awesome. She does tons of bright eye makeup and puts up awesome easy to follow tutorials. For a while, I was attempting to recreate her results with whatever cheap crap I had on hand. I've since realized that in order to really get vibrant makeup, you've gotta spend a little more to get the better pigments. Even M A C pressed shadows don't hold up. Then one day, as I was watching one of her tutorials, I discovered that she's not using pressed shadows. All her stuff is loose powder. Loose powder = more pigments!

So I started with M A C pigments, I bought a purple one, and I really like it. Its bright and vibrant and gives great coverage. You can apply it wet or dry (I haven't tried wet yet, I just know you can). The trick to really getting good coverage is plenty of eyeshadow primer.

Then I was in Sephora one day and something BRIGHT FREAKING PINK caught my eye. Make-up Forever Star Powder. Its a loose shadow, and i'm pretty sure its blacklight receptive, thats how freaking bright this is. I was with my friend Jess, we spied it at the same time... and bought it together. I wear mine thickly applied so you can really see how neon pink it is, Jess wears hers light and it looks pastel and very lovely. Either way, its awesome. Everytime I wear it, I get compliments. Its very noticeable and looks great with a lot of my other shadows. It does stain my eyelids though, just a little bit. And its tough to get out of the brush I use to apply it, ensuring that I taint my other shadows with it quite often. But its worth it for the look. Its not quite a pearlescent or a matte, its something in between (satin?). There are flecks of silver glitter in it, but very few. I recently purchased the blue in the same line. Its more pearlescent than the pink, so its a little easier to blend but its strangely overpowering. I've worn it a few times blended with a yellow CoverGirl shadow and its tough to get both eyes to look the same. I blame the CoverGirl mostly, its crap. With both colors, a little goes a long way, and I advise building layers rather than trying to slather it all on at the same time, the fall-out is pretty extreme, and tough to get off without wiping off your powder and foundation (fall-out = the powder that falls on your cheeks when you've got too much product on the applicator). I highly recommend it.


Incidentally, while I was at Sephora last week buying the blue shade, I also tried their cream eyeliner. I will be purchasing it very soon. Its wicked awesome. I also tried the HD Foundation. Also awesome. I may have to buy the entire line...
Thanks to www.mymakeupreviews.blogspot.com for this image, sorry i took it without asking...

My next post will be reviewing Arbonne and I hope to get it done before the end of the weekend.

Ponds Makeup Remover Towelettes

Hello! Sorry its been so long. I'm going to try to update more frequently. Promise.

Today I'm going to review the things I use to take off my makeup every night. Ever seen those commercials for face washes where the attractive girl splashes water on her face in near-orgasmic pleasure? She's so excited to wash her face! Well, when you try to mimic her enthusiasm, the end result is water all over your bathroom. And in my case, mixing with the little pieces of cat litter that my cats kick out of the litterbox, which of course are clay so they end up leaving gray/black marks all in the grout between the tiles. My shirt ends up drenched, the toilet paper's wet and the floor is slippery. UGH! And then I found something awesome. Makeup remover towelettes! Premoistened, they come in a pack of thirty or so, and you just wipe them all over your face and throw it away. No need to rinse or wash or scrub. The first brand I bought was Ponds, because it was the first I saw. I have since tried: Garnier, Olay, Target & CVS brands, Dove and Neutrogena. Nothing compares to the original Ponds, even the Target & CVS brands that were using the same formula. There's texture to the cloths that help take off all your makeup, including waterproof stuff. I have no fear of rubbing it all over my eyes. If in the process you happen to get the solution that its soaked in into your eye, it hurts about as much as getting just water in your eye. It takes everything off without stripping all the oil out of my skin (thank you CVS brand!). And while I should, I don't typically put on anything after that. Just brush my teeth and go to bed. But even with my foundation primer and eyeshadow primer and caked on powder and tons of eyeliner, one cloth takes it all off.

There is only one downside, which I'm able to overlook pretty easily. The package is a plastic pouch with a peel and seal label on it. You lift this, take out one cloth and then re-seal it. Its not perfect. Air gets in there whether you like it or not so your last 6 or so cloths get a little dried out. The solution is to spritz it with a little water from a spray bottle, or just wad it up in your hand and stick it under the faucet for half a second, just enough to dampen it. This wakes up the dried solution and makes it good as new.

Overall, I highly recommend it.

I'm going to try to do some kind of tutorial in my next post, but I haven't decided what or how yet, so keep an eye out!