I’ll be honest, for a long time I didn’t use a lot of setting powder. I saw videos of people doing their makeup and saw them ‘baking’ their face with powder and thought ‘what a waste of powder. I tended to use pressed powder for mid-day patting off of the shine and then a big fluffy brush with a little bit of setting powder to help control the shine when I knew it was going to be a humid day and shine was inevitable.
The reason I didn’t use a lot of powder was because I thought it made me look powdery. Which it did. With some powders. While I still don’t bake, I do use setting powder to set my makeup. I tend to go with finer milled powders with a slight tint to them so they don’t brighten my face too much. Unless the powder comes with a usable puff I tend to apply them with the round end of a damp makeup sponge. I dip the sponge in the powder and dot my face then I go in with a fluffy brush to spread the powder out.
I suspect that is on no professionals makeup application list but the reasons I do it are rather simple. I dot the sponge on the sections of my face where I tend to get the shiniest because my makeup has worn off, like the high points. I don’t cover the face because I find this dispersal method leaves the most powder where I put it and applies just a thinner layer on the places I don’t really need it just to even out the look. For me, it keeps me from looking powdery.
But not all powders are the same. Some are not finely milled enough so they will always sort of look powdery no matter what I do and some are so finely milled that they send up a cloud of powder into the air and I always feel like I am powdering the air more than my skin.
This Flour Setting Powder from Beauty Bakerie is right in the middle. It is finely milled enough that it doesn’t leave a powdery look and it is not too finely milled. It is as Goldilocks’ said, just right. The shade I am using is called Oat and while translucent there is a soft tone to it that keeps it from being bright white against the skin. For me that actually helps blend it better into the skin.
The container is not huge, which makes it perfect for travel. And inside the container has an inner plastic wheel that you can turn to close off the holes that dispense the powder. It means that you won’t have powder slipping through the holes as the container bounces around your makeup bag. I have had many a powder blowout during travel and it is really nice to know I won’t have that with this powder.
The container comes in a little flour bag as well which I think is just utterly adorable. And while adorable isn’t everything this powder looks good, applies well and locks in the makeup well. So the adorable is just the cherry on top of the sundae. I will admit I don’t really want to throw the outer packaging away. But it is paper that can go in the recycling, so I suppose it will just have a new life elsewhere. All in all I found this Flour Setting powder from Beauty Bakerie to be a fantastic setting powder.
This year I tried a lot of really good foundations. There are a few though that I find myself reaching for on a regular basis. These are the products I know will work well for me with little trouble no matter what else is going on. And having a foundation you don’t have to worry about is always a good thing.
This is the second tube of this that I have used this year. No other foundation product can make that claim in my world of makeup. As you can see this second tube is edging towards empty as well. I had to put it away so that I would start reaching for other products. It is just an easy product to work with. Two pumps covers my entire face with a medium coverage. it can be built up, but honestly that is the level of coverage i enjoy. I can wear any primer under this and it looks good. If I want a glowy look, I use an illuminating primer. If i want a more matte look,. I use a more mattifying primer. It is my first pick from the foundation drawer.
This is just a beautiful medium coverage foundation. It has a slightly luminous look to it so I tend to use pore filling foundations underneath it rather than illuminating primers. I am not a super glowy skin person. I like a little glow but i don’t like to look dewy. In my head dewy always translates into greasy looking, at least on my skin and then I end up reaching for powder to blot. this foundation gives a beautiful luminous glow to the skin while offering beautiful coverage. It is a makeup bag staple.
This is a foundation that looks good travels well and is the product i reach for when i am in a rush. It is creamy from the get go and doesn’t need to be armed up before use. I scribble across my face with the stick, blend it with a brush and done. It blends beautifully. It doesn’t build though. What you get is what you get. For me I need a pore filling primer underneath for this to look it’s best. It will settle into the fine lines around my mouth after about eight or nine hours but it looks fantastic the rest of the day. It’s benefit is it’s ease of use, quick application and fabulous travelling capacity. I initially bought it to have a foundation that wouldn’t spill when I travel but I liked it enough to take it out of the travel bag and use routinely.
This powder foundation really works. It takes down redness and provides a really good low to medium coverage. It is buildable to a point. the point is about medium coverage. Beyond that and it starts to look powdery. This is the product i pick up when I want a more natural look as it does light weight coverage really well. It is easy to use, looks and feels good and blends well. plus the compact is really pretty.
I seriously debated not adding this foundation to the list because I think Bite Beauty is going out of business. it is still available at places like Kohls and Amazon though if you are looking to purchase. And I have to admit, this is one that I may stock up on even though the brand is gone. In the end I had to include it because it is just such a fantastically beautiful foundation. Any time i wear this I get complements on how my skin looks. When I first tried it I didn’t think i liked it because it didn’t apply well with a brush. This is a foundation you are going to want to use a damp makeup sponge to blend out. using a sponge makes all the difference. And then when you do it looks so good. It evens the skin tone and makes the skin look like you are glowing from within. i pair it with a pore filling primer to keep it from sinking into fine lines (which it only really does after about 10 hours).It builds well but really looks best at medium coverage. I don’t know the fate of Bite Beauty but this was one of my favorite foundations this year and I really couldn’t leave it off the list, especially as it is the foundation i will be wearing for my holiday events this year.
And that my darlings is my list of my favorite foundations this year. There were a lot of really good ones I tried, but these are the five I find myself reaching for consistently. they are the ones i gravitate towards because they just work and always look good with little effort. What else can you ask from a foundation?
I’ll admit, when Beauty Bakerie sent this Cotton Candy Blushlighter Palette to me to try out and review, I thought, ‘Well I’ll probably like those gold toned highlighters but that blush, mmmm, I don’t know about that one.’ And then it turned out the blush was my favorite item in the palette.
Isn’t that just the way?
But before we get to that, let’s look at the palette. The Cotton Candy Candy Champagne Blushlighter palette has four really large pans of product. The top row has the shade I used as blush (24hour Champagne Diet) and the highlighter Sip Sip Hooray. These are the two products I found myself leaning into the most.
I did use the bottom two pans as well, but that pair worked the best for me. On the Second row we have Stop and smell the Rose (L) and No Champagne, No Gain (R).
When you look at these pans, the three highlighter shades look very similar. If you look at the swatches you can see there are subtle differences. on the second row I could use the pans more or less interchangeably. On my skin they were both golden bronzes that worked well with my skin tone. They blended well and left me with a subtle glow rather than a blinding strip of product or a glitter bomb.
While I know a lot of people who love the glitter and even have a couple of friends who want the dramatic strip of glow, I am more into the soft glow, which is exactly what I love with highlighters. Admittedly they also are much more dramatic in their looks while I tend to go with every day looks. While these highlighters will give you a strip of glow if you apply it in a line and don’t blend out (it won’t give you glitter) they blend beautifully for a soft natural glow sort of look.
All three of these bronzy highlighters have that soft glow look. I was very impressed with their blendability. The top highlighter has a bit more of a pink tone to it than the others. I think with the three of these highlighters, they are wearable by a wide swath of people but your preference is really going to depend on your skin tone. For me the Sip Sip Hooray with it’s pinkish tint worked the best for everyday wear. the lighter Bronze of No Champagne, No Gain was a bit more dramatic for me but still very wearable and once the summer returns and my skin tans I will probably lean into the slightly darker Stop and smell the Rose.
All are great.
But then there is what I think of as the blush. It is the 24H Champagne diet. For me it is a blush. I think that if you had much darker skin than mine it could be worn as a highlighter as it also has a sheen to it when applied to the skin. In fact it was this sheen that had me a little nervous about it. It seemed a little glowy for a blush, but I was determined to test all four pans of product so I dove in. I am so glad i gave it a try. Because I love it.
applied blush on left and blended in on the right I went a bit overboard on the application for the picture I would normally apply about half of this amount of product (it just looked too subtle with the everyday wear version)
It applies with a sheen which on first glance, i didn’t like. To apply I took a stiffly packed kabuki style of brush and dipped it into the pan. the brush has a head about the size of a nickel. I dotted into place and then took my Blending Egg and used it to blend it out onto my cheeks. I found I only needed to dip into it once and then blend. It blended just as well as the highlighters and despite the fact that it is a brighter blush than I usually go for, it looked really good on me once it was blended out with the rest of my makeup.
While I am as pale as I ever get at this moment and this blush works, I think that with a little more of a tan it will look even better on me. And for me that is a big win. I have several blushes I can only wear in the summer and I have a few that I I really need to be winter pale to pull off. Having a blush that can transition, along with three highlighter pans to rotate though as the seasons shift is a really helpful thing for me. I will of course test out that theory when the sun and summer returns my tan to me, but I suspect this is going to be an everyday palette that I reach for given it’s versatility.
I am currently at a stage where I do not normally get a lot of pimples rising. When I do it is typically around the holidays when I have consumed food righter in fat, sugars and salts than I do at any other time of the year or it is related to stress.
Yes my body’s reaction to stress is to stress is to retain weight, suffer from insomnia and to break out. It is a trait I share with all of my father’s side of the family. On the other hand my Mother and all of her side of the family tend to drop weight and retreat into sleep when a big dose of stress hits. It makes for interesting family problem solving.
easy to read expiration
It also means that I don’t keep a lot of pimple related products on hand. For me the rise of pimple patches has been amazing. The small containers are easy to store and they tend to last longer than a lot of skincare products. The two brands I usually use for this are Peace out Skincare and Zitsticka. I find them both to be incredibly effective. However this set of What Spot? Dots from the brand Disciple came in a subscription box and so when recent stress arrived and caused a painful bump to rise, I decided to give them a go.
I don’t know about you but for me when I get a blemish rising in that area between my lips and the side of my nose they really tend to hurt when they are coming up. Perhaps because the skin is so thin there. Regardless I was happy to have something to put on it.
dot in place
Because I don’t use these products often, I always check the dates for expiration and I was pleased to see that it was stamped in easy to read numbers on the interior container. Occasionally I will loose outer packaging for things like this so the inner expiration date helps me. In this case it told me that I had until 2025 to use these dots.
According to the website…
The BHA-powered What Spot? Dot? by DISCIPLE Skincare are effective hydrocolloid patches designed to minimise the look of blemishes and redness.
Featuring salicylic acid, the spot stickers help to decongest the skin, promoting a more clarified complexion. Hyaluronic acid helps to keep the area hydrated, preventing the blemish from drying out.
before on left, after on right, the Disciple brought the pimple closer to the surface
The dots went on like they usually do. You peel them off and stick them onto the rising blemish. You then leave them while your body absorbs the goodness and the redness and pain retreat.
I will say that this Disciple product did take down the pain of the rising blemish. My skin felt less achy and it did feel a little less red. Was it as effective as either Zitsticka or Peace out? No. I certainly found both products to be more effective. However this did help calm the area somewhat and it did take away the pain of the blemish. It is not a bad product, it simply isn’t the best. I will use these dots for the few blemishes that rise in the near future, but when i restock, I will go back to my usual brands rather than adding the Disciple What Spot? Dots to my list of must purchase items.
For the last few years my in person shopping has dwindled considerably. Truth be told I wasn’t doing a lot of in person shopping, but when the would went a little crazy, I limited myself to groceries and the occasional Target run. Everything else was more or less done on line. And there it more or less stayed.
While there is nothing wrong with that I do miss strolling through the drug store and getting inspired or simply interested in what is there. Recently I found myself in a drug store and spent a little while strolling and reveling in just seeing the products available. While I could have easily filled a basket with things I wanted to try, I did attempt to limit myself (my budget appreciates my lack of routine drug store visits even if I miss them.).
It is in essence, a cream foundation with sunscreen mixed in. For me SPF 20 isn’t enough and I do have my regular sunscreen layered with my skincare prior to applying makeup so I wouldn’t wear this on it’s own and expect it to provide me with the sun protection my skin needs. However I don’t mind a little bit of makeup back up to my skincare or my sunscreen.
As you can see in the package the product comes with a little foam applicator. I’ll be honest, I tried to use it but I have never had any luck with those little foam rectangle applicators so I rolled in a makeup sponge. While I typically prefer a makeup sponge with an angle, this foundation worked best with just your typical rounded makeup sponge. The one I used was actually the Luxie Makeuep sponge (the set is actually on sale at the moment if you are looking to stock up on some good quality makeup sponges). It had a good solid density to the sponge. There were a couple that were just too light and squishy to work well. While I really liked the Luxie sponge for this, look for a firmer makeup sponge as it makes application a lot easier.
half foundation, half not, this was a no primer try on and you can see why it needs a primer
Normally I also use a makeup brush and then touch up with the makeup sponge but this is not a brush friendly formula. I’ll go into that a little bit more in a moment, but essentially you are going to want a firm makeup sponge with this foundation.
The Aqua Smooth applied really well actually. I wouldn’t say it turned from a solid into a liquid like an alchemical trick, but the cream formula did melt into the skin for really good coverage. If used without a primer, it did tend to sink into the fine lines and pores. I definitely needed a primer underneath.
Interestingly, which primer I used mattered a lot with this foundation. I don’t know if it was the sunscreen or the potential solid to liquid formula, but if I didn’t use a gripping primer, the foundation never really settled. It continued to be movable. I don’t mean that it went off to lunch on it’s own leaving me bare faced, but when I went in with powdered products using brushes to apply them, the brushes for powder products would always streak the foundation and lave brush marks. Going back in with a sponge fixed them,. but it was still there. It also meant I needed brighter powder products because the sponge always took off a little bit of the powder.
just the full face of foundation
I had better luck with cream face products, but even with a finger application, the foundation could move a bit and leave some spots of less coverage.
All of this was easily remedied by a gripping primer. I went with the Milk Makeup Hydro Grip Primer, because let’s face it if the Milk Makeup Hydro grip can’t grip it, it isn’t staying in place. With the gripping primer underneath it stayed beautifully. I still preferred to use cream products over it as the cream products sort of melted into the foundation to give a better natural sort of look.
this isn’t a foundation I would wear for a formal and really dramatic look. This is the sort of foundation i would go for when heading out to a barbeque or picnic. It is an more natural everyday foundation. The added sunscreen makes it good for the out of doors as well. there is a slight sunscreen scent to it, but it is very light. I did find that it also wasn’t the sort of foundation to sweat off easily. which for me was a bonus.
complete look
the one concern I have is that it is not a long wear foundation. You can get about four to six hours of wear before it starts to sink into fine lines. I especially had trouble around my mouth. I also needed to pat it down with pressed powder after a few hours (2-3) because I was getting a bit of shine. If you go for the dewy look it shouldn’t bother you. I’m just not a dewy look sort of person. Over all I would say this is a decent foundation to wear to a casual out door event or to put on when you need to look good for a meeting in a hurry. It is very quick to apply. Just remember to use a gripping primer and pair it with cream products and it will look beautiful for four to six hours. As my in person meetings rarely last more than two, I most certainly have a place for the Covergirl Aqua Smooth Foundation in my collection even if it will never make my favorites list.
I have been trying to be better about rotating products and using them up in a timely manner. I am also trying to whittle down some of my products so that I only have the products that I like to wear. In general I am pretty good with foundations. I will give a product a week or two long trial while I play with it and try to determine the best application method and if I really like the product. If I don’t then it is almost always passed on immediately to someone who will use it. Foundations either work well for me or they are sent away.
It is one of the reasons that most of my daily use foundation reviews are fairly consistently positive. If the product makes it into the makeup rotation than I like it. I think it is because foundations are pretty easy to use without contaminating the product. Most of the ones I have are pump style. I pump them onto my hand and then apply from there so all that is needed is a quick wipe down of the pump and they can go to a friend with no worries. Which makes it a guilt free pass.
bare face
However occasionally products are forgotten, or come in with a subscription box and I forget to try them out. I pulled this RealHer I am Divine Power Wear Probiotic Foundation out of the drawer and while i think I may have tried it once, I honestly couldn’t remember trying it out. And so we have a foundation trial. Incidentally, I am Divine is actually the shade name. There are 20 shades and this is on the lighter end of the spectrum. Number 4 actually. So there are only three shades lighter.
In all fairness it is slightly too light for my current skin tone, but I am not actually bothered by that. while I have been darkening it a bit with bronzer, the reason it doesn’t bother me is because it is a true foundation rather than a tinted moisturizer. I tend to wear foundation products like this in the cooler months rather than the warmer ones so once my summer tan fades this will actually be the right shade for me. while there are foundations I don’t mind wearing in the summertime, this isn’t really one of them so I am okay with it only being my post summer shade.
application (1 pumps worth of dots)
But before we get into that, let’s look at the product page.
Whether it’s work-from-home video calls, posting flawless pics on social media, or simply giving your complexion a pick-me-up, Power Wear Probiotic Foundation will help you stay true to you and your natural hue with 20 shades to choose from. Allow your natural beauty to shine through with this natural-finish, long-wear foundation.
REAL TECHNOLOGY – Lactobacillus Probiotic This probiotic helps to maintain healthy and balanced skin, keeping you ready at all times. Lipigenine™ Extract This extract helps to keep your skin barrier strong, buoyant, and in tip-top shape. Blue Light Technology We love our tech devices, but an overabundance of the blue light they emit can be harmful to our skin, causing premature aging. Our Power Wear Probiotic Foundation features a unique Blue Light Technology in the formula that keeps your skin safe.
REAL APPLICATION– Give your foundation a quick shake before use. Pop the black cap off to access the rose-gold foundation pump. Use 1-3 pumps (start off with a little, then you can add more later!) and a damp applicator to begin tapping the foundation from the middle of the face, moving outward to evenly distribute the foundation throughout the entire face.
REAL TIPS– For a sheerer coverage application, mix with one or two pea-sized drops of your favorite gel or cream moisturizer.
Okay I know that is a lot of info for a foundation but i wanted to copy it out because there is a lot of interesting stuff in there. First, I’m pretty sure it has been proven that blue light doesn’t have any noticeable effect on the skin so I will just ignore that bit. But I do like the probiotic part and I did find that my skin did feel hydrated during wear. when I applied this foundation, I used one pump and it was more than enough product to cover my entire face. I could not imagine putting three pumps worth of product onto my skin.
For my application I pumped the product onto my hand and then dotted it onto my face. I used a foundation brush to blend it out. I found that there were streaks in the foundation and I did have to go over my face with a makeup sponge. Incidentally the Building my empire makeup applicator is a wand with basically two sponges on either end so this is a foundation designed more for makeup sponge application than brush.
This Real Her foundation does blend well and it has good coverage. It is the sort that needs a prefilling primer underneath. I tried it with and without primers and without primers it does cover up redness and blemishes, but it tends to show fine lines, wrinkles and pores. With a porefilling primer it turned out well.
just the foundation
Once in place it does tend to stay there. However towards the mid afternoon I did notice i had to apply a little powder to dial back the shine. I think with the probiotic element in there it leans towards shine rather than matte. It looks great in the morning, but just needs a little powder in the afternoon. I did try the sheer coverage application style as well with the foundation mixed with a moisturizer. It was a pretty good sheer coverage, but it too required a powder bot mid day.
foundation with other products in full sunlight
while this is a light feeling foundation, it is not as weightless as some of the other products I have used. In addition, it’s tendency to look a little greasy mid afternoon, makes me not want to use it in the warmer months. I think this would be less of a problem in the winter time, not only because there is less humidity in the winter but my skin is also a little drier. I think this foundation would simply pair better with my skin when I am less sweaty and my skin is in its ‘dry’ season. It is the reason I am not concerned that it is my winter shade. For me, this is a winter foundation. I liked wearing it now, but it wasn’t my favorite. I strongly suspect that it is a foundation that will simply wear better when the humidity is not that high.
If you live in a less humid climate this may be okay for summer wear for you. And again for me it was pretty good, I just know that there are some products that aren’t really summer wear for where I live. this is one of them. I am looking forward to wearing this foundation again once the summer fades. Of course at this point I am also just looking forward to the summer fading. But that is another story. In the end I would repurchase this foundation and it has earned a spot in my foundation drawer. I will keep this RealHer Power Wear Probiotic Foundation, I just won’t be purchasing it in multiple shades for different seasons.
I am finding myself drawn more and more to gel and cream products. In general I have good results with Illamasqua products so I was happy to try out the Illamasqua Gel Sculpt. I have the shade Outline, which is the lightest of the three.
Now if you have ever used a cream/stick product like this, then you know the greatest danger to them is that they will dry out and become unusable. This stick comes with a plastic cap that fits snugly over the product to prevent the gel stick from drying out. Don’t throw this away, you need it to seal the product in it’s tube when not in use. (I learned this the hard way with a Milk Makeup product a while back).
keep the plastic cap inside
According to the product page…Create an instantly chiselled complexion with the Illamasqua Gel Sculpt. Gel Sculpt is a unique contouring gel that offers subtle definition to cheeks with minimal effort. Perfect for light skin tones, the water based formula creates a soft shadow under cheekbones and along the jawline which can be blended with ease to achieve flawless natural contours with no harsh lines.
I really like that they mention it is a water based formula because it does feel wet against the skin when you apply it (all the more reason not to lose the cap). it feels wet as you blend it. When it stops feeling wet, it stops wanting to blend. And there the product stays. So if you want to avoid harsh lines, then blend right away.
I found this an interesting product to work with. for the most part it worked beautifully well. Despite being dark in the stick, it is light on the skin. In the swatch i have it against my arm as one stroke so you can see the actual pigmentation versus how it looks in the stick. This was one swipe of product against the skin. It has also not been blended out in any way, just for color purposes (remember this is the lightest shade Illamasqua offers).
For the first week I raved about this because it worked fantastically well. Applied easily, blended beautifully and wore well throughout the day. Then I realized that all of the foundation products i was using it with were either tinted moisturizers or serum based foundations. Mostly because in the summer time this is what i tend to wear.
With these face products the Illamasqua Gel Sculpt worked beautifully. With the more traditional formulas of foundations, it didn’t want to blend as well. Remember when I said that when it dries it stops moving? Well with more traditional foundations, it dries fast. It also has a tendency to wipe away some of the foundation with a first swipe. which made the line where I applied the Gel Sculpt seem harsher, not because of product application but because it took the foundation away.
This is a very natural look product. so if you are going with a tinted moisturizer or light foundation and just want a little definition, then this will work well. That is it’s strong suit. It falls down a bit when paired with more traditional foundations. So for me, this will be more of a summertime product than a year round one. When paired with the right products the Illaamasqua Gel Sculpt is fabulous. It just isn’t going to be friends with all of your foundations.
I know I have probably mentioned this Glow Ahead Illuminating Facial Oil from Wander Beauty before. It is one of my favorite products from the brand and I have been using it off and on for a really long time. Recently I pulled it into my line up because I am doing some skin care repair.
with all that went down, my skin had both oily patches threatening break outs and dry patches threatening flaking. It was quite the mess. While I am rotating exfoliation products in and blemish control cleansers, most of them targeted the oily areas of my face. which wasn’t surprising. That is after all their job. And while I am using a moisturizer, it to is designed more for dealing with the oiliness and preventing potential break outs than with the few dry patches that I have.
dispensing tip
Facial oils can be tricky. Some work fantastically well and others just make me feel like I am trying to grease myself up for some sort of Greco-Roman wrestling match that for some reason targets the face. Okay an imperfect metaphor but you get the picture. It is also a category I can forget to utilize which is why I have several facial oils in my skincare drawer all waiting to be tried out.
But now was not the time to try out the new. This was a time to go for the trusted. I know the Wander Beauty Glow Ahead works well with my skin, so I pulled it in for duty in the line up. This oil has a thin dispenser tip which lets you dispense as little as you need or as much as you want. Since the oil is a shimmery pink it is easy to see it rise through the tip to exit the tube, which makes it easier to control. It also reduces the risk of spilling. I use my skincare in a small powder room style bathroom and because of the small space things can get knocked over. So for me, this is one thing that can’t really get knocked over so that is a plus. In addition sometimes I will wear my glasses in the morning instead of my contacts and to apply skin care I have to take them off and I am blind as a bat without them and my radar is less than bat like so occasionally I am Super Klutz in the sink area.
the oil
This oil applies well and absorbs fairly quickly. You can tell it is full absorbed because the slightly sticky feel of it goes away completely. It is slightly sticky when wet. In the title you may notice that it is an illuminating facial oil. The pink oil is shimmery and when wet it does seem to lend a bit of a shimmer to the skin. as it dries and absorbs it looks less like you have golden shimmery bits on your skin and more like you just have healthy glowing skin.
the glow after being massaged in (it was easier to see on my hand)
This week I rolled this Wander Beauty Glow Ahead Illuminating Facial oil in because I had some dry spots that I felt weren’t really getting as much love as i thought they needed. The oil helped them out and really helped out the rest of my skin as well without causing issues. For me this is one of the benefits of a good facial oil. It hydrates the dry spots but doesn’t make the oily spots look greasy. The Wander Beauty Glow Ahead Illuminating Oil was my oil of choice this week and it is one I will be keeping in my line up for a while. Then I promise, I’ll start remembering to give the other oils a chance.
This tinted Moisturizer from bareMinerals is an interesting product and one that I really enjoyed using. I am, in general, a big fan of bare Minerals. I have several lip products as well as a blush and their mineral veil in my collection and they are items i reach for regularly. In fact i am almost out of one of my favorite glosses from their Mineralist line. I had to resort to the trick of placing the tube in a mug of warm water to gather the product form the sides so that it could be used up actually. The heat causes the product to slide down the insides of the tube and gather at the bottom so it can be used. Go with warm but not boiling water, you don’t want to cook your lipstick, just heat it a little and then take it out. And yes I will do this until there is no more product to use in the tube.
But we are not here to talk about extending liquid lip products. We are here to talk about the bare Minerals tinted moisturizer. According to the website…
The #1 tinted moisturizer in the U.S. This 3-in-1 multi-tasker is a moisturizer, skin tint and SPF 30, with Hyaluronic Acid to boost hydration for a dewy, healthy-looking glow. What it does: Provides 24-hour hydration, Builds from sheer to light coverage, creating a dewy, healthy-looking glow, Visibly evens skin tone and blurs imperfections, Protects with broad spectrum mineral-based SPF 30
Okay so right off the bat, I love hyaluronic acid for my skin. For me it really works in helping me to fight my fine lines. It isn’t magic, but it is a great weapon in the fight against the inevitable march of time across my face. It plumps up the skin around the areas where my fine lines are and because of the tint it helps to hide them from view.
the shade I have is slightly light for my summer time skin. i think if I were to order a bottle for summer use I would go one shade darker than this one. However, this is the perfect shade for my post summer and pre summer skin tones. Which i am not mad about. First of all, I don’t have a tinted moisturizer for the cooler months. Mostly because I tend to pick them up in the summer when I don’t want to wear foundation. Not only do I not mind having a tinted moisturizer for the cooler months when my skin lightens, but it has an SPF30 mixed in. While in the summer time i always put SPF 50 on and then just before my walk spray myself down a bit with a spray sunblock as extra insurance, I am sad to say that in the winter I am less diligent.
dot on skin
I know the sun shines all year round even f you are not sweating. But in the summer with both walks and garden work I am outside at least a little each day so it becomes habit to apply the dual layer. I am not outside every day in the winter and so the habit lapses. it is something i am working on. And while I would not trust my only sun block to a tinted moisturizer, it is nice to have that back up.
But how does it work as a tinted moisturizer? Really well. I needed only a pea sized amount on the skin to cover my face. I applied it in small spots to my skin then used a brush to blend it in. Even though it is a little light, it blended beautifully and felt absolutely weightless. Since this summer has been brutally hot, the weightless feeling is very much appreciated.
blended out
This bareMinerals tinted moisturizer does have a slight glow-y look to it. While I am okay with that in the cooler months in the summer I just look at myself and think oily so I add a pat of powder and the shine is gone. Because I am not a huge fan of the shiny/dewy/wet look I make certain to use a matte primer underneath. An illuminating primer is simply too much for me with this tinted moisturizer. But if that is a look you are going for then it will certainly give it to you so pair away. I add a matte primer and a quick sweep of powder and I am good to go. I need a second pat of powder around mid day, but that is all. (And mostly personal preference). I have missed that afternoon powder and no one thought I looked oily.
finished look
This bareminerals tinted moisturizer wears well. I used a light coverage and it kept the light coverage all day. The product is buildable if you are trying to get more coverage, but only to a point. It is a tinted moisturizer that can be stretched to a light coverage foundation with little issue. Beyond that and while it will look good for a few hours, after that it starts to feel heavy and slightly patchy. It wants to be a light tinted moisturizer. It will try it’s best to do more, but you ae really only going to get it to look good for a couple of hours if you do. especially in the heat. If you are looking for more coverage, use a product designed to give you more coverage.
As a light tinted moisturizer this bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Moisturizer takes out redness and evens skin tone. It is feather light and forgettable. It blends easily and I had no problem with any product i put over it. I really enjoyed this as a tinted moisturizer and will continue to use it. I will also use it when the weather grow cooler and then make the decision as to whether or not this is a product i want to keep in two shades or one I want to keep for a seasonal use. for now, I am happy to keep it in rotation and to find another great product from bareMinerals to use.
I love primers. I know I have talked about them a lot. Perhaps i spent too much time with the oil paints but i do love the idea of prepping the canvas of my face before applying the paint of my makeup. For me a good primer can take out some of the redness or unevenness of the skin tone so that you have to use less concealer. It can help blur out the look of pores and it can extend the life of the rest of my makeup.
For me using a good primer means I have to use less concealer and less foundation, which helps those products last longer in the bottle. It also keeps the makeup on my face lighter and in many cases it enhances the look of the foundation. If it is an overly matte foundation, put an illuminating primer underneath. Love the foundation but know it has a tendency to dry you out? how about a highlighting primer. Notice that this particular foundation has the habit of sinking into fine lies towards the end of the day? Why not go with a porefilling primer underneath?
please ignore the multitude of bug bites. I sprayed everything with bug spray except my hands before I went watering in the garden.
A good primer can not only even out your skin tone and get you ready for the rest of your makeup but it can form a power couple with your foundation making good products even better. Of course it can also go horribly wrong if a couple is just not meant to be.
This particular primer is the Unicorn Glow Long Wear Primer. It is…”Formulated with skin loving ingredients, this nourishing primer instantly creates a smooth glowing canvas for flawless long-lasting make up while providing coverage for fine lines and pores.”
My version is a sample sized tube that I think was paired with something else I ordered from IPSY a while back. I think I specifically ordered the other item and then just put this in the drawer because it was a duo. I took it out of the drawer as I am attempting to use up a lot of my sample sized products and see if they are worth picking up as a full size. I suspected this would only last a few days. However the tube was chock-a-block full and not a lot of product is needed for each application. In fact you shouldn’t use too much of this.
When dispensed the primer looks really light and I was concerned the color would be light on the skin. The color fades away as you blend it out across the skin. I chose to use the small dots across the face for my application of this because it helped ensure i didn’t apply too much. The Unicorn Glow Primer is a thinner consistency than many primers, almost the level of a water cream. Maybe slightly thicker. if used sparingly it blended in beautifully and looked great. It had a slightly sticky texture which I like for holding on to makeup longer. Apply too much product and it takes a while to absorb and can look a little oily. So when applying start sparingly and then add more on the spots you think might need more attention.
It did a pretty decent job of minimizing fine lines. It wasn’t the best for pore filling, but the fine lines it really seemed to work well in covering, especially the ones around my eyes. It is slightly hydrating but despite the name Unicorn Glow, it is not a glowy/dewy/illuminating primer. I didn’t have a problem with any of the foundations i paired it with and will happily keep this tube in rotation until it is empty. which may take a lot longer than I anticipated. Just remember to give it a minute to settle in (which is good advice for almost every primer) and it will work well covering up fine lines. This Unicorn Glow Long Wear primer retails for $12 and I will definitely consider picking up a full sized tube when i next look to buy primers.
Ms. Mimsy Reviews 