September 2010 -

Revlon has entered the fray into high definition style makeup with Revlon Photo Ready Makeup and Revlon Photo Ready Powders. I bought one of each to review.

Revlon Photo Ready Foundation has a nice smooth consistency that provides medium coverage. Although it is oil free, it feels rather moisturizing, and I felt that it was a bit too much moisture for my currently very oily skin. So I recommend it more for normal to dry skin types. Photochromatic pigments reflect light, and the makeup comes with SPF 20 protection. I got all day wear from it. It sits nicely on the skin and does remind me quite a bit of my favorite Make Up Forever High Definition Makeup (link is to previous review), in that gives the skin a very smooth appearance without looking too heavy, while also simply feeling pretty nice. However, I will still take my Make Up Forever over it any day.

Revlon Photo Ready Powder provides a nice finish for the Photo Ready Makeup. It provides illuminating pigments and a soft finish. As far as powders go I like it quite a bit. However in the drugstore brands Maybelline’s Dream Matte Powder has really stood out for me the most lately. Revlon’s powder also recently came out in multiple shades, which provide a fair amount of extra cover. With those, I found that by combining the tinted powder with the liquid foundation, I could cover my areas of melasma pretty well and still get a somewhat natural/sheer look. That is always a fine line—achieving cover v. not getting overdone—so Revlon’s new tinted Photo Ready powders are particularly good for that.

Revlon is available at most drugstores and big box retailers. Links above are to drugstore.com, which also carries the line.

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About the Author: Carleen Pruess Coulter

I have been focusing a lot lately on affordable makeup (link is to posts in the affordable makeup series) and have been somewhat neglectful of the luxury brands. Luxury has its place as well, and I adore many of the luxury items, so I thought I would try to concurrently do a series on the best of the luxury cosmetic brands. First up is CHANEL.

CHANEL is known for many luxurious items and their fragrances, handbags, and clothing probably stand out the most for many women. But Chanel makeup is also divine. CHANEL eye shadows and powders are all finely milled with full pigment. The lip products are also especially nice. Packaging is also pretty, sleek, and classic. CHANEL nail polish also always stands out, with their limited edition items always being highly sought after and quickly sold out.

COLLECTION ESSENTIELLE DE CHANEL MULTI-USE MAKEUP PALETTE: FACE – LIPS – EYES is the best way to sample the best of CHANEL. This CHANEL Paris-New York palette is formulated with neutral colors that will compliment just about any skin tone. The collection has two cream concealers, a cream blush, three eye shadows, one cream lip color and and two glosses. the taupe shadow is particularly gorgeous. At $85 it is a great value for the brand since buying these items separately would ring up a much larger bill.

CHANEL QUATUOR BOUTONS DE CHANEL YEUX EYES is for the eye shadow lover. This highly rated quad contains four beautiful neutral shades that can be applied dry for subtle shadowing or applied with a moistened applicator for a more intense shade. The shadow has organic polymer derivatives to ensure smudge-proof long wear, particularly in high temperature or humidity.It is the best of the best and best bought in a quad to maximize the bang for the buck. Price runs around $65.

LES TISSAGES LAMÉS DE CHANEL SHIMMERING TWEED HIGHLIGHTER is simply one of the most beautiful highlighting powders ever. With woven shades of illuminating color, it is just as pretty to simply look at! Gold, bronze and copper tones cast a natural luminous glow on skin to highlight and illuminate. $60.

LES MINIS DE CHANEL GIFT SET COLLECTION OF SIX ESSENTIAL MINI BRUSHES . Personally, I love mini brushes and buy them over ones with full size handles. CHANEL makes wonderful brushes and this gift set is the perfect way to obtain them. This professional set includes: a rounded Powder Brush for seamless application; Blush Brush to sculpt and highlight cheeks; tapered Concealer Brush to target flaws; beveled Eye Brush for precise eyelining; small curved Eye Brush for precise shading; and tufted Lip Brush for flawless coverage. The brushes are packaged in a luxury travel case with the CHANEL signature logo. $120.

CHANEL LE VERNIS NAIL COLOUR is the height of luxury nail polish. Also, don’t forget that CHANEL has wonderful lip products, such as their CHANEL ROUGE COCO HYDRATING CRÈME LIP COLOUR which many proclaim is the best lipstick ever.