This is one of those foundations that gave me a bit of a run during my trial. I received this bottle in my Boxycharm premium and tried it out with the other makeup that arrived in the subscription box. I really enjoyed the first use. And then I looked at the bottom of the container and saw the expiration date. It was written 1/8/2023. As the subscription box didn’t arrive until mid January, I thought that Boxy sent an expired foundation. I sent in a message and they responded right away with an e-mail letting me know that instead of month first it was written month second so the foundation actually doesn’t expire until August 1st, 2023.
Which was a relief. Foundation is one of those products that is by definition put all over the face and so I really pay attention to those expiration dates. Actually foundation and all eye products are really expiration dates I don’t ever mess around with.
So relieved that it was not expired, I went ahead with my foundation test of this HIDE Foundation. According to the product page…
Achieve the perfect natural look with this soft matte foundation that easily builds to medium – full coverage. The custom oil-free formula is made to resist sweat and won’t clog your pores.
They also claim that this is medium to full coverage and is a buildable formula. Although listed as a premium foundation it retails for $30. Which is a pretty reasonable price. (One Foundation I consider premium, and well worth the price, is the Koh Gen Do Aqua Foundation which retails for $96 if you are looking for a comparison).
The container feels like cheap plastic. It is square and white with black lettering. It looks nice but it doesn’t look expensive. However you should never judge a book by it’s cover, or a foundation by it’s packaging. This foundation has a pump and I generally found that two pumps would give me enough product to cover my face. This shade is my perfect shade. It blends beautifully and gave great coverage. I used a brush as an applicator and then went back in with a damp makeup sponge to smooth out any brush strokes.
Like the description claims, it gives a soft matte finish. It is also a long wearing foundation. The longest I had it on was ten hours and it wore beautifully throughout. Personally it is really rare for me to be in makeup longer than ten hours. So this duration was perfect for me. Start to finish it looked good.
There are a couple of considerations though. The first is fine lines. If you don’t use a primer, it will emphasize those fine lines. Interestingly enough if I wore the foundation without a primer the lines were emphasized but they didn’t get worse throughout the day. So if I could keep the foundation from seeping into the fine lines during application then I was good all day. This foundation worked best with a pore filling primer such as the Tatcha Silk Canvas Primer or the Elf Poreless Putty Primer. Those were the two I had the best luck with when using this primer. The pore filling nature of both of them (along with the added Tatcha skin care benefits) worked really well.
It also helps if your skin is hydrated before applying this foundation as that helps keep the foundation from filling those fine lines. For me, part of that is that my skin is a bit more dry in the winter and we have had the central heat running more often during my trial of this foundation.
The only other issue I had with this foundation was when i tried to build it up. One application (2 pumps worth of product) gave me absolutely beautiful medium coverage application. When I tried to build it up closer to full coverage, it tended to look heavier. With the medium coverage it was light and beautiful and felt like I was wearing nothing at all. Even though it didn’t feel any heavier with more product, it looked heavier. Personally medium coverage is what I go for so I am perfectly fine with this. I feel no need to build it up to full coverage. If you want full coverage, it is going to look a little heavy.
Over all I really enjoyed this foundation. I will happily use the rest of this bottle and when it is out (hopefully before August) I will certainly consider purchasing a replacement bottle of this HIDE Invisible Oil Free Foundation.
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?
Today my darlings we are going to do something different for my daily post. I had planned on a bit more normality, my first use of the the paid My fitness Pal app, lie in general, and my daily makeup look. You know, all of the usual stuff. Then I went to get my makeup for the day out. I first came across the Becca Foundation I planned to declutter on monday. It was still out. I promised myself I would throw it out this afternoon. Then I reached into the drawer and pulled out the RealHer Foundation thinking I hadn’t used it in a while. It was seperated. So I reached for the NYX and found the tube was really light. I dispensed some into my hand and found there wasn’t enough left to use for one last time.
And so instead of putting on my makeup I laid out all of my foundations and did an impromptu foundation declutter. I know, My plan was to wait until December and go through my decluttering so that everything was fresh for the new year.
But I was annoyed. So Foundation declutter today. As a warning there may be a primer declutter for tomorrow as they are in the same drawer and there are several products that either need to go to a new home, tried out or simply thrown out because they have reached the end of their lives.
But for now, we are doing a foundation declutter.
Before we start I would like to say that a lot of these foundations came in subscription boxes. I did purchase quite a few of them because a few years ago the foundation I used routinely was discontinued so I went on the hunt for a new everyday foundation. Then I stopped and began rotating through products to use up the ones that I had. there are two powder foundations I didn’t take out for the declutter. One is the KVD Lock it Powder foundation and the other is the One Size Powder foundation. I like both of them and will be keeping them. Also I have two foundations that I did order. One is the Bounce from Beauty Blender. I tried the sample that came with a Sephora order and I liked it enough that when I saw it was on sale for half price and there was a $5 discount for first time purchases I went ahead and bought it. The second I have on order is the Koh Gen Do Aqua foundation. It was out of stock for a really long time but now it is back in stock. It is a fantastic high end foundation and my go to for event foundation. I tend to go through a bottle during the holiday season.
So this is everything else.
Just seeing them all laid out like that is a lot. But let’s dive in. There are a lot to go through so there is only going to be a few little bits about each so this isn’t a mile long. First we have the empties and expired products.
RealHer I am Divine is expired. It is an okay foundation but not one of my favorites. It tends to sink into the fine lines and isn’t all that long wearing.
The QMS Medicosmetics Active glow is also expired. It is a decent tinted moisturizer. It gives pretty much no coverage. it is great for a no makeup day, but aside from taking down redness it doesn’t do a lot. I liked it on no makeup days, but it is a pricy product that I won’t be repurchasing because there are less expensive products that perform better.
The Becca is discontinued, almost empty and on the verge of expiring. It was supposed to leave on Monday, but it was apparently just waiting for some friends to join it.
The NYX Bare With Me tinted skin Veil is empty. Completely empty. It is a fantastic product that I leaned on all summer. It is a great tinted moisturizer that works as a light coverage foundation and in the spring i will be repurchasing it. For now, the tube is empty and going away.
The Purlisse Perfect Glow BB Cream is also a summer time favorite. There is a smidge left in the tube but I am going to go ahead and declutter it. It is a good light weight formula that gives light to medium coverage (my preferred coverage actually) and I will definitely be repurchasing it.
The Catrice HD Liquid Coverage is a product I am sad to see go. I love the formula but had so many problems with the dropper. It is quite honestly a packaging problem. I am sure i will end up picking this up again in the future simply because it is such a good formula, but I have had two bottles of this and each of them has had issues with the dropper. since I don’t reach for it, this foundation has expired. I think if I had fewer foundations I would go to the trouble of having a replacement dropper next to the bottle to use but it is messy and with other foundations to choose from, I just chose other foundations.
Too Faced Dew You Full Coverage foundation is a good full coverage foundation. I don’t go for full coverage a lot and this foundation is light with kind of yellow undertones. There are about two weeks out of the year where I can make this work (this came in a subscription box). Because of that I don’t use it often and it has expired. It is very long wearing and very full coverage. It is just the wrong shade for me. I also think that Too Faced discontinued it.
I have two foundations from Yensa. One is the BC Skin on Skin Foundation. It is fantastic and I would wear it everyday if I could. Which is why the tube is almost empty. It is staying for now but i will use it up before the new year and immediately repurchase. The Yensa Super Serum Silk Foundation is growing on me. I don’t like it as much as the BC foundation, but I like it enough to finish the bottle. I am still on the fence about whether or not I want to repurchase, but it is staying and I will continue to use it.
The No 7 Lift and Luminate and the Elf Acne fighting foundation are my two drugstore favorites. The No 7 is reordered as soon as it gets low. I like the Elf and will repurchase it but I don’t feel as intense a need to replace it. The Elf is getting low and I will probably finish it out before the year is up. Oddly this is one of the only Elf foundations I do like. While I don’t have that big a problem with acne, this feels lighter than the other elf formulas and one that I would use again,
The Ciate London Extraordinary Foundation is a good foundation. I like using it but you have to go sparingly with it. A little does go a long way. You can build it to full coverage if you want to though. The more you build it though, the more it is going to settle into fine lines. I always use a pore filling primer with this foundation and I always go with a lighter application. For me the big draw for this foundation is that the shade I have perfectly blends with my skin tone.
The next three foundations I like and will use, but I probably won’t repurchase. I reach for them often enough that i will use them up, but I’m just not going to buy them. Two came in subscription boxes and one came from Influenster. The first is the Charlotte Tilbury Air Brush Flawless Foundation. It is nice but tends to feel a bit heavy and oddly enough looks a little powdery even without setting powder.
The Tom Ford Traceless soft matte is a beautiful foundation. It is a serum style and looks fantastic on. It is however quite pricy and to be honest the No 7 Lift and Luminate is almost on par with it. The Tom ford is a little bit better but only by a slim margin. while I don’t mind paying more for a great product, the difference between the tow is too slim for me to justify. I will however use every drop from this bottle.
The third in this group is the Natasha Denona Transformatte. It is a good formula but feels a little heavy on the skin. It is supposed to be pore vanishing but I still need a pore filling primer if it isn’t going to sink into fins lines throughout the day. It looks beautiful for about 8-9 hours and then it sinks into fine lines. I like it enough to wear, but not enough to repurchase given the price of the formula. It is good, but I am not repurchasing when it is done.
The bareMinerals Complexion Rescue is a good tinted moisturizer. It is great for a no makeup look and blends into the skin well. I like it, but I have other products that do the same. I am still actually on the fence about this product though. I don’;t think I have actually used it enough to really decide if I would repurchase or not. I do know my skin loves this more than it does my other tinted moisturizers. I think I might just have to see how I feel after more product has been used.
And then we have Bite Beauty. I love their Changemaker foundation. Or at least I love the formula of the Changemaker foundation I have. I know they changed a lot of their formulas. I don’t know if this foundation went through a change as well. I adore this formula and would purchase it repeatedly. If it hasn’t changed. Also I think the brand has started to go out of business. So this is a conditional love but might not be able to ever repurchase.
Also in that boat is the Kristopher buckle Triplicity Foundation stick. the brand is no longer in existence and I am finishing out the last of this stick. It was a fantastic formula and I will probably cry when the stick is completely depleted. It will not follow me into the new year though.
The Revolution Fast Base Foundation Stick i love and will repurchase repeatedly. I purchased it initially just to have something spill proof that I could travel with. And then I fell in love with it. it is creamy, blends beautifully and looks great. It isn’t the longest wearing foundation but when it wears off it just sort of fades away instead of peeling or sinking into fine lines.
And then the final stick foundation from Anastasia Beverly Hills. It is the Caramel Stick Foundation and it works really well with my skin. It is longer wearing than the Revolution but it also needs a little warming up before using. If you warm it up then it applies well and is very creamy. Again it is also the prefect shade for my skin so that helps.
and so there we have it. A quick and dirty impromptu declutter. It wasn’t what i planned for the day, but it was definitely needed. So the end result: Seven foundations are leaving today. There are thirteen remaining. One is discontinued and will be used up and let go. three are almost empty and will be gone before the end of the year. And five of them will be used up and never repurchased again.
It is still a lot, but as I empty out the ones with low product in them, even if I like them they will not be repurchased until the ones I want to use up and not repurchase have been used up and sent on their way. I’m sure there will be other foundations that come my way in the year but I feel pretty good about knowing what I have, the product level of what i have remaining and the fact that I have gotten rid of items I simply won’t (or can’t) use. Just before we roll into 2023 I will do a brief review to see what is going to actually make it into next year with me but for now, i feel really good about this, even if it wasn’t part of today’s original plan. Hopefully you enjoyed the break form the norm as well.
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.
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 have to say, this Yensa Super Serum Silk Foundation had a lot to live up to. I recently tried out the Yensa BC Full Coverage Foundation and absolutely adored it. It was easy to see why it is a long term best seller. This Yensa Foundation is a bit newer on the market.
In general I like serum style foundations. I generally find I have good luck with them. According to Yensa…
the serum foundation that is supercharged with skin-loving peptides and an age defying complex of Vitamin C, E, Ferulic and Bakuchiol Oil. Helps brighten, firm and prevent fine lines and wrinkles. Provides full, flawless coverage. 8 BENEFITS: Full coverage foundation, Vitamin C brightens skin, Graceful aging moisturizer, Ferulic Acid reduces the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles & dark circles, Provides brighter and even skin tone, Helps minimize the appearance of pores, Nourishes skin with 8 SuperBlacks Essence, and Bakuchiol improves skin elasticity
I love the fact that when you open this foundation it smells like skincare. It has a very skincare like scent and I have to say my skin has looked fantastic during my trial. I have had no break outs and if I am going to wear a product on my skin for eight hours at a stretch adding in skincare seems like a really smart idea.
Two weeks isn’t enough to see if there were improvements in my fine lines, but over time my skin usually reacts well to Bakuchoil so I am pleased with it. I am also pleased they went with a skin care ingredient that doesn’t make me sun sensitive. For those who aren’t aware, bakuchoil functions like a retinol but doesn’t have the sun sensitivity that a retinol can give you. Which is great in a product you are going to be wearing all day long.
blended in just the foundation
I generally found that i needed one pump of product to cover my entire face. This gave me a coverage that was on the lighter side of full. I’m sure if I went in with more product i could get a fuller coverage, but personally I didn’t se the need. One pump worked well for me. Sometimes I used concealer and sometimes I didn’t. As my skin was looking really good while I used this, i didn’t have all that much to cover, just around my eyes and a few dark spots. There were days i forgot the concealer and didn’t mind it. With one pump I would still recommend using a concealer, if you go two pumps you really won’t need it.
I was a little concerned about the shade of the product at first. When it pumped out it had a slightly yellow cast to it. My shade is Light Medium. When blended it worked out well though.
There is a slight shine to the foundation. If you are a fan of dewy skin it might not be enough for you and in that case I would use a dewy primer underneath. I am not a huge dewy skin fan and found that I could wear any primer I wanted underneath but if I went for a moisturizing or dewy primer then I would most definitely need my setting powder.
Over all this was a good foundation. Towards the end of the day I did notice there was some slight settling around the fine lines of my mouth but it was really towards eight plus hours that I noticed it and it was minor. When i used a pore filling primer it wasn’t an issue. This was in general a good foundation.
My only real problem with it was that I tried it right after the BC Full Coverage foundation. It is a skin on skin formula that i just like a little better. That doesn’t mean that this isn’t a great foundation, it just means I prefer the other one from the brand. There is a lot to love with this foundation though and I am certain I will use the entire bottle. And if the skincare benefits prove excellent long term it may rise in my estimation.
Will I repurchase? Honestly I would probably go for the BC full coverage foundation first when shopping from the brand, however I would happily use this Super Serum Silk Foundation again or pick it up it the BC foundation was unavailable. It is a very close second, but it is still second.
Recently Yensa sent a package to me for the purpose of review. Inside were a few of my favorites. The Pumpkin Turmeric Exfoliating mask is a long term love and I have purchased so many of the Yensa Tone Up Primers that I have lost count. Under a matte foundation it is one of my favorite primers. Included in this box was the Yensa BC Full coverage Foundation from their Skin on Skin line.
I believe i might have tried out a sample size of this product a while back, but truthfully it has been long enough that I couldn’t remember. So I was thrilled that I had a full sized version to try out. I really enjoyed wearing this foundation for the duration of the trial and i can tell you that I will be reaching for it until not a drop remains in the tube. But let’s cover what the product is supposed to do before we get into the details of how it performed.
Achieve your SUPERFOOD GLOW with our all in one BB, CC and full coverage foundation. Our BC Foundation is our #1 best seller that provides killer coverage and is infused with our exclusive 8 SuperBlacks Essence to feed your skin while you are wearing it.
8 BENEFITS FOR A SUPERFOOD GLOW™: Full coverage foundation, SPF 40 protection, Graceful aging moisturizer, Built in concealer, Provides brighter and even skin tone, Helps minimize the appearance of pores, Nourishes skin with 8 SuperBlacks Essence, Blurs imperfections, fine lines and wrinkles
I love when brands give you a checklist for a product. I can say that as far as I can tell this foundation hit them all. It was full coverage, and it had SPF 40 in it so it had some sun protection. And while I appreciate that in a foundation, you should never count on your foundation as your only sunscreen. As good as it is to have in the product, it isn’t enough. You need a regular sunscreen. That being said this foundation layered beautifully over the sunscreen i am currently using. (Currently Sunday Riley Light Hearted).
dotted on
In addition during the trial I didn’t have to use any concealer. I ended up using it as a lid primer when I used it, but it wasn’t needed on the rest of my skin.
I think the thing that most impressed me about this foundation was that even though it was full coverage, it felt like a BB cream on the skin. For me this is especially nice to know going into the warmer months. Often in the summertime I will only wear tinted moisturizers and BB cream simply because foundation feels a bit too heavy. even the light weight formulas sometimes feel heavier due to the high humidity. This actually felt light enough that it felt like wearing nothing, hence the skin on skin name i suppose. It also looked really natural.
blended in with nothing else on
This is a somewhat glowy foundation which did take me a bit of getting use to. I tried it with a non matte primer and it was far too glow-y for me. In the spirit of fairness I have to admit that I did get several complements that day so it looked nice, it just wasn’t my personal preference. with a matte primer underneath it was the exact right amount of glow for me. It worked well with all of my matte primers. Once I found I liked it better with the matte primers I didn’t really try it with all of the glow-y/dewy skin ones.
while it does have some pore blurring to it, I still felt the need to add a primer underneath it. It did a good job on it’s own but it performed even better with a partner. The two primers I preferred to use it with were the Tatcha Silk Canvas Primer and the Elf Poreless putty. While I adore the Yensa primer (and it did really well with pore minimizing) it was too glow-y for me when I paired the two together.
full face
Those of you who have read my reviews for a while know that my go to foundation brush is the bdellium 999 Master Blender. I did try it with this foundation but a Yensa also sent a foundation brush (pictured up top) I also tried that out. My normal foundation brush was just a little too stiff to work well with this foundation. The foundation brush that Yensa sent worked perfectly with it. it is an angled brush and while the bristles are densely packed it has a little more movement to the bristles that made it work better with this foundation.
I am going to be trying this foundation brush with other foundations and I think there are several formulas that it might work better than my usual. I’ll have to get back to you on that when I do a brush review. The take away here though is that with this BC formula a really stiff bristled foundation brush might not be your best bet. I would go for a densely packed one that has a bit more flexibility in the bristles. Using such a brush meant there were no lines that had to be buffed away. I simply didn’t need a makeup sponge with this formula and that style of brush.
Most days I wore the foundation about eight hours with no problems. I did have one day where I was in my makeup for over fourteen hours. On that day I did notice a little sinking into the lines around my mouth. Admittedly I would have been surprise if it hadn’t. It was one of those days where I looked exhausted both with and without makeup. In the normal course of an eight hour day there were no issues, it simply isn’t a 24 hour foundation.
I was honestly very impressed by Yensa’s BC full coverage foundation and I would definitely use it again. I loved the way my skin looked during this trial. I had some minor break outs due to my Easter candy extravaganza (seriously I had more sugar this month than I have in the past two years) and this foundation worked really well in concealing those. It is a great light weight formula that worked well now but I think will still be wearable as the weather heats up.
Interestingly enough, in this month’s IPSY bag, I received a different Yensa Foundation. It is the Serum Silk Foundation. I will be trying that one out next and comparing it to this one. While I may have tried a sample size of this BC cream once upon a time, I have not tried the other one (I believe it is a newer product). It will be interesting to see how the two compare. But for that, we will have to wait and see.
This foundation was interesting to work with. It is full coverage which is not my everyday wear for foundation. However as my go too full coverage foundation was from Becca and Becca is sadly no longer with us, I do need to find one full coverage foundation that I can count on when I need it.
nice pump top
As Always I tried the foundation on it’s own with no primer. I then tried it with a variety of primers. I have also started using the Embryolisse Lait Creme as a pre makeup base (which I love, BTW) so I tried it both with and without the Embryolisse.
First off, tools. If applied with just a makeup brush there will be streaks galore in the foundation. You can then smooth them out with a makeup sponge, easy peasy. Even easier is if you just apply this foundation with a makeup sponge to begin with. It just applies better that way. So give the makeup brush the day off when you reach for this foundation and it will work better.
dotted on face then blended in with a makeup sponge
Second, Primer. This is a foundation that needs a primer. Actually it needs a pore filling primer. I had the best luck when I paired it with either the Tatcha Silk Canvas Primer or the Elf Poreless Putty primer. Both have a similar consistency and this seems to be with this foundation works best with as a base. Without it, the foundation will sink into the fine lines. I particularly had issues around my mouth. By mid afternoon, the foundation had settled in the lines and emphasized them. which is not really what i wanted.
witout a primer it immediately settles into the fine lines around my mouth
Third, Embryolisse. I know this sounds strange to add in as part of the foundation test, but in general I found that this foundation performed better if I had the moisturizer on my face before I started applying the makeup. I applied the Embryolisse and let it sit for ten minutes before I applied the other products and everything was great. Without the moisturizer this foundation tended to look a little dry by mid afternoon. With the extra hit of moisture underneath that wasn’t a problem. For those with oily skin, this might not be an issue for you. If you have dry skin then you really should look at the moisturizer pre makeup application with this foundation.
with primer, makeup sponge application and Embryolisse as a pre-makeup base it worked well all day
Having said that, when everything lined up, this foundation did look beautiful and it lasted all day. There were just a lot of conditions for getting it to look good and stay all day. None were impossible to over come, they are just things to remember when reaching for this foundation. In the end I think I will use up this foundation, but I don’t think I will be repurchasing it in the future. The Charlotte Tillbury Airbrush Flawless Foundation is good, it just won’t become my standard for full coverage.
For the past week or so I have been using the Natasha Denona Transformatte Foundation. I know some people know right away how they feel about a foundation, but for me it takes at least a week of use before I fully determine if I like a product. It may sound strange, but I’ve had products that I tried once and absolutely loved and for some reason that one time the stars aligned and it was perfection. A perfection that was never repeated on subsequent uses. I’ve also had products that I absolutely didn’t like the first time, but then as I figured out how to work with them, I cam to love.
Let’s start with what to expect from this foundation.
A medium to full coverage modern matte, liquid-luxe foundation that blurs pores, smooths uneven texture and protects your skin from environmental damage. Use any foundation brush or a damp makeup sponge, starting at the center point then moving to the sides.
When I first opened the foundation I expected a creamy foundation that was a little thick. I think it is because the coverage is medium to full and that is the texture i associate with fuller coverage foundations. So when I pumped the foundation out, I was surprised to find it has more of a serum consistency. For me that is fine, some of my favorite foundations have been more of a serum type consistency. So it was a pleasant surprise. I was also pleasantly surprised that there was no scent to the product. I may be a fan of perfumes, but i am perfectly happy with a foundation that is content not to have a scent to it.
Typically I do wear primer with my foundations and while using this foundation I rotated through a variety of them from mattifying primers, prefilling and blurring primers to brightening primers. I also tried the foundation without any primer at all.
clean face
Without the primer under the foundation, the foundation does show a little bit more of the texture of your skin. If you have large pores, you are going to want to put a primer under the foundation. The foundation itself is pore vanishing, but I found it vanished more if it had the primer as a back up singer. I also found the foundation applied more smoothly and lasted longer.
applied foundation before use of foundation brush
While I do prefer a matte foundation, in general I found that because this is a matte foundation, a brightening primer actually worked out the best with the foundation. The primer I preferred during this test (and will probably reach for the next time I use this foundation, is the Banana Bright Primer from Ole Henriksen. This primer worked fantastically well with the Transformatte Foundation. The two worked well, gave me beautiful looking skin and lasted all day.
just foundation blended out
In the description, it states that you can use either a foundation brush or a sponge to apply. Typically I use a brush for application (usually my 999 Master Blender from Bdellium Tools) but I have been known to use makeup sponges. In fact when I used the Bite Beauty Changemaker foundation I found it applied much better with a sponge than with a brush (and looks fantastic too actually). So I tried applying the transformatte first with a brush and a second day with the makeup sponge.
full face
what I found was that when I applied the foundation with the brush (Pumping foundation on the back of my hand, dabbing it on my face with a finger and then blending it in with the brush) I used only one pump’s worth of product. When I used the sponge, I ended up using two pump’s worth of product. The single pump gave me medium and edging into full coverage. Two pumps was flat out full coverage.
I do prefer medium coverage with my foundations. However it wasn’t just about coverage. With one pump, the foundation blended in smoothly with my skin and felt weightless. It lasted all day with no problems. With the two pump fuller coverage it looked nice and lasted all day, but I sort of always felt the foundation there. It looked fine and I received complements on both uses, personally I prefer the brush method with the single pump of product. It provides me with the coverage I want and pretty much does everything I want in a foundation.
I was very impressed with this foundation and I look forward to using it again. The Transformatte Foundation by Natasha Denona at it’s full price is $45. I think it is well worth that price. At the moment it is on sale for 50% off. While I think it is worth full price, I am never upset about saving money. I have no idea how long the sale is going to last (I’m not an affiliate, I just saw the sale was up when I went to the website)Over all this is a really easy to wear foundation and I felt beautiful wearing it. What more could I ask?
Ms. Mimsy Reviews 