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FASHION & BEAUTY

Best Matte Foundations

January 23, 2018 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Hello all of you! Matte foundations have been gaining a lot of popularity lately. Every brand has its own version of matte or soft matte foundations, it’s kinda hard to choose which one would suit you. Even when the weather is dry, it seems like there are no hints of matte makeup products going away. If you have the oily skin type, you’re definitely gonna need at least a few of these mattifiers, but at the same time, you don’t wanna risk buying anything that will ghost on you, or cake at least. Personally, I find matte foundations to be quite a challenge to use with. They just kinda make my face look flat, undefined and kinda aged.

I’ve been testing a few mattifying foundations lately and most of you may have heard their names/brands already. I narrowed down my choices to the top 5, or should I say, the best 5 matte/mattifying/soft matte foundations according to my test and experience with them. I’d like to say that they’re all really great matte foundations, but some are much better than the others.

5 Milk Makeup Blur Liquid Matte Foundation in Medium Light (1 oz: $40) – A water-based, weightless, oil-free, silicon-free, full-coverage mattifying foundation. It has a fruity smell in an easy lightweight packaging. This formula doesn’t need to be applied a lot because even though it’s water-based, it’s still very pigmented. The matte effect is on the soft side, so it still gives a natural look, and it does a great job of hiding imperfections. However, after 4 hours of being into it, this foundation started to break apart and it was kinda sliding. It also settled into the pores and crease lines, so wearing this for long hours is not a good idea. I suggest using this only for a couple of hours, like running errands.

4 Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation in 210 (1.08 oz: $34) – Another oil-free foundation that’s meant to be lightweight, buildable, with a medium to full coverage. It doesn’t have any strong scents, and it’s one of those true soft matte foundations I’ve even tried. I like that it feels really light on my skin and it blends into it easily. I also notice that it’s really good at resisting sweat and humidity. Though I wish that it had an added Spf, I still like the fact that it doesn’t break on the skin after hours and hours of wear, so I didn’t have any caking issues with it. This foundation’s effect is a soft natural matte, which still allows for facial definition with complete skin coverage. It might have kinda settled on my pore’s hours later, but only very slightly and it decreases the shine on my face for a long time. On top of that, there’s a whole lotta shade range in this line, so for sure, you will find that right tone for your skin.

3 Yves Saint Laurent All Hours Full Coverage Matte Foundation in B30 (0.84 oz: $58) – Here’s a high-end full-coverage mattifying foundation that is also oil-free, noncomedogenic, and infused with black tea antioxidant. This has a soapy-floral scent that is kinda not my cup of tea. When I first tried this, I didn’t really like it. The formula feels too thick and too creamy, so I could feel it kinda sitting on top of my skin. Also, this slides and moves a lot, but I realize that it takes quite a while for it to settle on the face. It has a soft matte effect but you cannot go overboard with this because it’s so pigmented that it almost feels like a concealer. I was gonna put this at my top four, with the Fenty Pro Filt’r as my top three, in fact, I was really torn, but what I like about this is that it didn’t settle on my pores at all, not even on my fine lines. Several hours into the wear, and this foundation seems to keep getting better and better. It didn’t dry my skin, no caking, and it gave me a soft natural glow. Also, love that it comes in Spf 20.

2 Laura Mercier Flawless Fusion Ultra-Longwear Foundation in 2N2 Linen (1 oz: $48) – Oil-free, long-wearing, matte with a medium to full coverage foundation. I really like that this formulation has no detectable scent. It feels really lightweight on my skin and I love that soft matte effect while covering all my redness and blemishes. It’s also sweat/water resistant and you also don’t need to apply a lot. It’s pretty well-pigmented being a lightweight matte foundation, so too much of this can give you that cakey foundation look if you’re not careful. This just gives me a nice no caking coverage. I’m a long time fan of Laura Mercier foundations, especially the Candleglow Soft Luminous Foundation (reviewed HERE), and I feel like this particular foundation is a good matte alternative. I just wish it came with an SPF and more range of shades. Sigh…

1 Dior Diorskin Forever Perfect Foundation Broad Spectrum Spf 35 in 034 Almond Beige (1 oz: $52) – My first honor in all matte foundations so far. Never knew I could love a matte foundation this much, and frankly, I didn’t really expect much from this foundation. I’ve never owned a lot of Dior foundations before, and I was never really a fan. But this 16-hour medium-coverage luminous matte foundation deserves its Allure Best of Beauty Award. Something is really nice about this foundation. It’s mattifying but it doesn’t cake, it doesn’t settle into fine lines or creases, and it has a natural matte effect that just doesn’t make your face look flat. The formula is the lightest I’ve tried, not too creamy, not too watery, it just melts right into your skin without moving around, and it sets fast yet you still have enough time to blend. No need for finishing powders or some extra exorcisms, just spread and go. LOL, my kind of foundation. It takes away the shines off my face while feeling really comfortable with it all day long. Somehow, it reminds me of Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet (reviewed HERE), but with more pigment and coverage to it. It’s almost perfect, even the strong floral scent is a delight and it doesn’t bother me, but it does tend to oxidize slightly on me, but it’s hardly noticeable, so not a problem at all. However, I wish there will be more shades to choose from this range in the future, but anyways, I highly recommend this.

There’s goes my top 5 favorite matte foundations. I like them all and they’re all good but they’re not all the same. If you’re looking for a good almost all-around matte foundation that is not super high-end, I think Fenty’s Pro Filt’r is a good choice, but it doesn’t have any Spf though. If you’re into fancy schmancy matte foundations complete with Spf, gorgeous scent, medium to full coverage that lasts a long time, then go for Dior Forever Perfect Foundation.

Hmmm, I’m currently eyeing the newly-released Diorskin Forever Undercover Foundation which is a water-based, 24-hour, full-coverage foundation. We’ll see how it fares with the Dior Forever Perfect Foundation. Updates soon…

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Tom Ford Cream+Powder Eye Color & Cream Color For Eyes Review+Swatches

January 14, 2018 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Hey Everybody! Happy Sunday to you all! For most of my life, I’ve been using powder eyeshadows. I have a few cream ones but for some reason, I always seem to grab my powder eye palettes quite often. I just don’t know why, but I kinda feel like it’s easier for me to use them because I’m used to grabbing a shadow brush and work the colors around my lids. I have cream eyeshadows sure, but I mostly use them during traveling or whenever I’m time constrained. My favorites are the Laura Mercier Caviar Stick (reviewed HERE), Marc Jacobs Twinkle Pop Stick Eyeshadow (HERE), and Chanel Stylo Fresh Effect Eyeshadow (also HERE). I haven’t really tried those creamy eyeshadows in a pot. But anyways, if you follow my IG, you’d know that I recently took a trip to Asia, somewhere humid and warm. Before leaving, I picked up a few Tom Ford Cream Color For Eyes (0.17 oz: $46) and Cream & Powder Eyeshadows ($62). Why these? First, I wanted to test how well these eyeshadows perform under extreme heat and humidity. Second, I’ve had a few mishaps with a couple of powder eyeshadows before that tend to give me lid irritation whenever exposed to high heat and humidity.

So, for a change, a cream eyeshadow would seem really promising, and if it’s Tom Ford, hmmm, oh well, I really expect more. The TF Cream Color For Eyes are lightweight creamy eyeshadows that are extremely pigmented yet are very easy to blend. Knowing that they are creams, they can be layered very easily. The shades in this line are very beautiful metallics that add drama to your eye makeup game. You may or may not need to use a brush for these eyeshadows. I pretty much use the tip of my pinky finger for application and wipe off any mistakes or smudges with any makeup remover towelettes. A tiny bit truly goes a long way with these, so try not to use so much. What I love about these super creamy eye colors are the fact that they’re not only easy and fast to apply, which saves you a lot of time, they can also create a glamorous dramatic eyeshadow effect. I love love love the way my eye makeup looks. The shimmers are naturally fine but they make my lids look naturally gilded and beautiful. It’s like Andy Grammer’s song “Fresh Eyes”. Oh my, I could do a daytime or nighttime eye makeup look with this and still looks very natural and glam.

Lasting power for these Tom Ford Cream Colors is pretty much 10-12 hours or the whole day. They didn’t crease nor smudge on me, zero fallouts (of course) and they didn’t even settle in my lid’s fine lines. Which is a huge surprise for me because they’re cream eyeshadows, yet they didn’t really move around even when I was sweating like crazy due to intense heat and humidity. What I got are bazillion gallons of compliments from people admiring my eye makeup. Another great thing about these is that you can also use just one eye color instead of two or three and still your lids will look bright, pretty, and naturally shimmery.

Opale – the lightest pearly beige shimmer.

Platinum – a metallic earthy grey-brown.

Sphinx – slightly-peachy gold, such complicated beautiful shade.

Spice – bronze brown

The Tom Ford Cream and Powder Eye Color are two-tiered pot palettes that are slightly larger than the TF Cream Colors. The powder on top and cream in the bottom will give you the best of both worlds for your eye makeup look. The cream ones are the base colors which are more pigmented than the powder ones. They’re also slightly thicker in consistency compared to the Tom Ford Cream Colors reviewed above. They’re also extremely pigmented, long lasting, heat and humidity resistant, plus easy to blend. The powder eyeshadows on top of the creams are very lightweight, no fallouts and the shimmers are very fine, yet still very shimmery and dramatic enough. These eye colors can be layered easily, you can even mix and match these with the Tom Ford Cream Colors without a problem. Very easy to use and they save you a lot of time. Packaging wise is very practical and smart. You can just untwist the creams from the powders which have a small round mirror attached. Also, all shades of this line are very metallic.

Golden Peach – peachy shimmery powder/metallic salmon

Naked Bronze – golden shimmer/metallic bronze

Don’t be fooled by the size of these Tom Ford Cream and Powder eye color pots. They may look small, but a little bit goes a long way, so most likely you won’t be repurchasing these often unless you use it a lot. The only two problems I have with these, are the fact that they’re pricey, and the TF Cream Colors tend to move around the pot because of their creamy texture, especially when you’re traveling to a warm environment. Other than that, I highly recommend these for fast and easy eye makeup application that creates gorgeous and dramatic looks that will last the whole day no matter where you go. I hope TF will release more shades of these soon.

Have you tried these already? which shades do you like?

The Tom Ford Cream Color For Eyes are available at Sephora, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdales, Harrods

The Tom Ford Cream and Powder Eye Color are also available at Sephora, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Harrods, Net-A-Porter, Bloomingdales

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Dior Lip Glow Color Reviver Balm (New Shades)

January 9, 2018 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Brace yourselves guys! Dior recently released six new shades of their iconic and ever-famous Lip Glow (0.12 oz for $34). Now, there are more choices of pink tones you can choose from. Two are from their new Holographic/Shimmery finish, another two are Mattes, while the other last two have their usual Glowy/Satiny textures. If you’re a long time fan of these beautiful and hydrating balms like I do, I know you’re gonna be jumping in excitement because the new shades are to-die-for. It was only about a year ago when Dior released the Berry shade and the Lip Sugar Scrub (reviewed HERE) which are both so cute and I still carry them in my purse even to this day. In fact, if you’re gonna ask me what is one of the constant lip products in my bag, you can bet there’s always a Dior Lip Glow in there. As even more fact, I always have one or two with me whenever I’m traveling or when the cold temp starts.

I’ve been kinda taking a break from matte lipsticks lately because the air is just so dry from where I am. I need some real moisturization or else I’m gonna turn into a stone and I might crack. Oh no, LOL. Seriously, my skin’s been really dry lately and I need all the lotions, creams, and balms that I can get. So yeah, my lip’s best friend nowadays are these Dior Lip Glow Color Reviver Balms. They’re so much hydrating and they keep your lips well-moisturized for a long period of time. On top of that, the added tints are really gorgeous. They might be balms, and yes they’re on the sheer side, but the tints are complementing to the skin tone and they give a nice flush or glow to the face. Not to mention the fact that these balms are really lightweight.

Before these new six shades were released, I’ve been in love with Coral and Berry. Especially the Berry shade, because it’s the right muted-rose tint for my skin. But, the six shades below are so heart-stoppingly gorgeous, it’s gonna be hard to decide which one I’ll keep in my purse.

HOLOGRAPHIC/SHIMMERS:

HOLO PINK (Light Pink Holographic) – This looks like the coral shade but with a whole lotta shimmers in it. The pink tint didn’t really show on my pigmented lips, but the holographic effect is there. I would say that this is great if you have a very fair to light skin tone, which is basically lighter than mine so that the pinky tint would show. For me, this is the perfect plain shimmery balm on my lips.

HOLO PURPLE (Light Purple Holographic) – My heart skipped bazillion beats when I first swatched this on my lips. Oh my, that perfect Unicorn shade! who wouldn’t want to be a Unicorn? even if it’s not really the ideal shade for the lips, or even for most makeups. But hey, we all love Unicorns shades, don’t we? This shade is really pretty, the light purple tint showed on my lips, and it’s not over-the-top. It’s also packed in shimmers and sugar and spice and everything nice. This color makes me happy and I bet it will for you too. On the other hand, this shade reminds me of Rihanna’s Fenty Match Stix Shimmer in Confetti (not so much the Unicorn shade) and the Starlit Hyper-Glitz in $upanova.

MATTE:

MATTE RASPBERRY (Magenta) – I wouldn’t call this a true magenta shade, but more like true bubblegum raspberry pink in a soft matte texture. The moment I saw this shade I thought of the many ways I could create the perfect ombre lips with this. It’s even great for layering under a liquid matte lipstick. This shade looks fresh and it gives a really nice pop of color on the face. Like a true winterized lip flush. Being matte, this is not really drying and it doesn’t really settle into the lip’s fine lines, instead, this feels cushiony and comfortable and it has a really nice long-wearing pigment to it.

MATTE PINK – A matte version of the original Pink Glow. This is probably my least favorite of all the new Lip Glow shade released this year because I find the color to be too sheer, and it doesn’t have a lot of pigment to it. It also takes a while for the shade to adapt to my skin tone, but once it does, it gives me a nice faint shade of pink on my light-medium skin. It’s also a bit more drying compared to the Matte Raspberry above. But it’s also quite cushiony to the feel. So I think this would look really great if you have a fair to light complexion.

GLOW/SATIN:

RASPBERRY (Magenta) – This the satiny/glossy version of the matte shade above. This has the same original texture/finish as the Berry, Coral Glow, Lilac and Pink Glow, etc., which are all very comforting and very hydrating at the same time. The pigment of this is not as saturated as the Matte one but they both have the same pink raspberry tint.

ULTRA-PINK – A juicilicious pink that’s a shade deeper than the original Pink Glow shade and a shade lighter than the Raspberry shade. In other words, something in between Pink and Raspberry. It’s not neon-ish, but it has a nice midtone of pink that is simply stunning, cute, and irresistible. I like this shade of pink because it doesn’t make you look washed out, and it’s also not over the top, and the dewy glow texture makes it even look more gorgeous.

Honestly, I like the Satin and Matte shades both. The matte is ideal if you’re a die-hard wearer of matte lipsticks all year round, or if you can’t wear true mattes in winter and want a hydrating matte-effect balm instead. For me, a lip balm with a matte finish is perfect and I’ve been looking for one, thank goodness I found the Dior Matte Raspberry this winter, it would be so helpful for my dry chapped unrevived lips. LOL. As for the satin one, it’s a no-brainer pretty and super-hydrating balm and I recommend it for everybody. On the other hand, the Holos or the Shimmery finishes are magical and simply mesmerizing. You gotta dry at least one or two of them.

The Dior Addict Lip Glow is currently available in Sephora, Nordstrom, Dillard’s, Harrods, Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue & Selfridges

Happy Winter Y’all

XX.

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