Maxfactor Skin Luminizer Foundation

I was lucky enough to be sent the new Maxfactor Skin Lminizor Foundation a few weeks ago and I’ve been testing it out like mad since.

This is a medium coverage foundation that has reflective pigments to give the skin a subtle glow. The foundation has been created to give a healthy glow that evens out and perfects skin-tone and imperfections.

The packaging is quite nice, I love how you can see how much product you have left as the bottle is clear and it has a pump which is always nice and handy.

I have oily to combination skin and found that the formula gave a matte to semi-matte finish. I’m not a fan of dewy finishes but I did like this finish as it gave more of a natural glow than my usual oily shine.

I did have some problems with application, I found it very hard to get a good coverage on the skin. I used my Real Techniques and Sigma foundation brushes and neither of them worked out great. I love to buff makeup into my skin to give it a smooth coverage but I found the more I buffed the more the foundation moved. After neither of those brushes working I gave up and decided to use the tools God gave me, I put the foundation on with my fingers and it gave a much better result. I still found that it started to move around my face into patches. It’s as if it dries too quickly which makes it difficult to give a smooth coverage and the look that you’re not wearing any makeup.

I ended up buying a blender sponge, I dampened the sponge and I think the fact that it was going on damp that it didn’t dry as quickly so it made the application that little bit smoother.

I also tried it with different primers and found that Smashbox Photo Finish primer was the best.

I think that this foundation would suit people with oily skin, my cheeks are a lot drier than the rest of my face and it did dry into the skin making it very noticeable.

It does say it perfects skin tone which I did find to be true, I can be very red cheeked at times and it evened out my skin tone perfectly. It claims to be a medium coverage foundation but I found it to be more on the sheer side, I don’t know if I’m just too used to higher coverage foundations but for me it didn’t seem to be a medium coverage.

The colour however did suit my skin tone amazingly, I received mine in Light Ivory, to put that into context I’m NW15 in MAC foundations.

If I’m honest I probably wouldn’t buy this if I saw it in Boots, it’s pretty pricey at €17.00 and I would be raging if I did spend my money on it and it not work with my foundation brushes. I give the Maxfactor Skin Luminizer Foundation a 6/10. 

Have any of you tried it, if so tell me what you think about it.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Revlon Colorstay Foundation Review

  

As a girl with oily/combination skin it can be very hard to find the perfect foundation that will stay on for hours and not leave me looking like one an oil slick.

For years I swore by MAC Pro Longwear, I still do use it but I’ve been finding my hand has been reaching for my Revlon Colourstay foundation more and more since I bought it. They sell it for both oily/combination skin and normal skin.

It is a heavier coverage than my MAC Pro Longwear but it still looks natural and keeps my skin matte for longer which is what I’m looking for.

When I first bought it I got it in Sand Beige which is now slightly too dark for me, if you buy MAC foundation it is equal to NW20. I seem to be getting paler each month and the next time I bought it I had to buy it in Buff which is the equivalent to MAC NW15, it matches my skin perfectly.

Full coverage foundation yet still gives a natural look

The primer I wear does make a difference, I have a few that I go between some make me less matte then the others, the one that works best is the Bourjois Happy Light Matte Serum Primer. In the pictures I used Fuchsia Face Primer which I was testing out and I don’t think I had to powder my face once which for a  girl with oily skin is unheard of.

Applying the foundation is a bit difficult because you have to try get it out of the bottle and it can be a bit like banging the end of a ketchup bottle, sometimes it just won’t come out, which is the most annoying thing about the foundation. I heard you can buy a pump from Nars that fits it perfectly, I just haven’t managed to get my hands on one yet. Once I get it on to the back of my hand, I use my Sigma F80 flat top kabuki brush and just keep buffing it into my skin, for a few minutes. The result of all that buffing is a super smooth application, which gives you amazingly flawless skin.

The foundation says it lasts 24hrs on the bottle, seriously who wears their foundation for 24 hours their skin must be in bits, but it does last all day and on a good day I’ll only have to powder my face once or twice, which is a big thumbs up from me!

I have a few foundations in my makeup collection but this one seems to be the most reliable for it – it matches my skin colour, gives me a natural look even though it’s a heavier coverage, its long wearing and finally keeps me looking matte all day.

The foundation is available in Boots for €17.80, and you can purchase it in all good pharmacies.

If you know of any other matte looking foundations that work great for oily skin let me know, just leave a comment below.

Before – Right, After – Left

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah

Beauty for Bloggers Meet Up with Buff Make-Up and Review

A week or so ago I went to the Westbury Hotel with Miss Bright With Delight aka Karen. We were invited to the Beauty for Bloggers meet up to look at Buff Makeup and have the chats with some other bloggers.

I had heard of Buff Makeup but never had the opportunity to try any of their products out so I was really excited to see what they had to offer.

As well as having a table full of Buff Makeup to ogle over, we had two gorgeous models for the girls to work their magic on. The first look was a black smokey eye and the second look was a bit more natural but still smokey and glam.

There were two products that really caught my eye. Firstly it was their Sheer Glo Lotion (€32) in Paradise; it’s a gorgeous bronze highlight that can be mixed into the foundation or to the tops of your cheeks to highlight your cheek bones.

My second favourite of the night was their blush in Big O (€21.50). This is the mirror image of the Nars blusher in Orgasm but with a hint more of a glow. This is definitely on my shopping list.

We also got to take home some fab goodies. In the bag I got was their HD Liquid Foundation (€30), I was pretty impressed with it at the event and couldn’t wait to get home and try it out.

The foundation comes in 6 shades and each shade should be able to match up to 3 skin tones. It can be used to get a light coverage or can be built up to get the coverage that you desire. The foundation is very long wearing and doesn’t transfer on to clothes, it also covers really well.

It says it’s for all skin types but as I am very oily and I found that it did get very greasy. I used is for the first few days with my MAC prep + prime primer which I always use with my MAC foundations, I then changed it up to the Bourjois Happy Light Matte primer and it made such a difference I only had to powder my face once the whole day which for me is a result, so top tip – if your foundation isn’t working for you then play around with your primers as it can make such a difference.

I really like this make up and it smooth’s out the skin camouflaging any imperfections and for a girl with large pores like myself, it smooth’s them out completely, you can’t even tell that I have any!

It’s on the higher price range but the quality you get makes it well worth the price.

You can purchase their makeup online here or you can pop into Hessions in Drumcondra or Clontarf to buy the products there or you can book in and they can do your makeup for you.

Love Sarah xoxo

Vichy Dermablend Fluid Corrective Foundation | Review

 I picked up the Vichy Dermablend Fluid Corrective Foundation when I was looking for a good going out makeup. I was heading to my friends 21st and had gotten a spray tan that made me look like I had just walked out of the Sahara so none of my foundations matched my newly bronzed skin. I was in boots searching for the right foundation when I stopped by the Vichy stand, I remembered I had seen a Vichy ad popping up just before watching a video on YouTube showcasing the foundation so I started to swatch and one of the colours matched my skin it also appeared to give a great coverage so I decided to buy it and had enough points on my Boots card so I didn’t feel like I had to spend anything extra.

 It costs €20.99 in Boots and currently is on offer for only €15.74. It’s slightly more expensive than some brands but I think it’s worth it.

Left side of my face has Dermablend Fluid Corrective Foundation, Right side has no product.

Not to blow my own trumpet but I like to think I have good skin, apart from the a blemish during the month and having some rosy cheeks I don’t think I need to wear too much make up and most of the makeup I have is very sheer anyway. Even though I do tend to wear sheer makeup on a daily basis I think for a night out or special occasion I do like that little bit more coverage.

Before

After

The Vichy Dermablend Fluid Corrective Foundation can be slightly off putting at first as it can come out looking like it will be very high coverage but the more you blend it in it does get lighter looking while at the same time covering any imperfections that needs to be covered.

It covers up every imperfection and gives you such a smooth airbrushed finish that I haven’t seen in any other foundation. As it says in its blurb online it is a “camouflaging makeup and conceals minor to moderate skin imperfections” and it definitely lives up to that. It also has a high SPF of 35 which is the highest I’ve ever seen in a foundation and great especially in these hot summer months.

I did read that it can cover up tattoos so I asked my friend if she would help me to test this theory out as I don’t have any tattoos. I put in on the tattoo and as you can see in the pictures it didn’t cover it up entirely. I didn’t put any concealer underneath so maybe if I did it would have helped it to get completely covered.

My Lovely assistants Tattoo 

Hasn’t covered the tattoo fully, but with some concealer it might have been covered completely 

It is very long lasting and there isn’t too much transfer, although I did notice that after ringing someone on my phone the screen was left with a bit more makeup than usual.

I have oily skin and after a while it did get a bit more greasy and shiny than other foundations, also around my cheeks where I’m a bit dryer it can catch and gather in patches. That being said I still think it’s a really good makeup and when my skin is behaving it does actually work well, I think I just need to play around with different primers, I found that one of the ones I have work better than the others.

It won’t leave you with cake face and isn’t heavy like other makeups so you skin will still be able to breath so if you do have problem skin it won’t be getting clogged and made worse.

There’s a few other products in the Dermablend range that I would like to try like the concealer and powder.

It wouldn’t be my everyday foundation but for a night time or special occasion I will be wearing it, I would consider buying it again, especially as it matches my tan.

Have you tried any of the products from the Dermablend range? Let me know what you thought.

If you want any more information just click HERE

Love Sarah xoxo