Beauty and Fashion Tech

Lorac Breakthrough Performance Foundation

I am loving LORAC Breakthrough Performance Oil-Free Anti-Aging Foundation with SMS Complex - SPF 14. This foundation pretty much matches the name.

First off, the makeup is oil free, yet it has a moisturizing feel to it that I love. It is quite lightweight, but gives medium coverage. Best of all, it adds some anti-aging properties and SPF.

I have been wearing the Lorac Breakthrough performance Foundation for about a week now and have found that it both lasts all day, and quite simply has a very nice look to it. I have had no issues with it looking flaky or dry like I sometimes experience with many oil free foundations. It also provides enough moisture for my dry areas, without making the oily spots look shiny. This means that I don’t end up with foundation settling into fine lines and wrinkles, but I don’t end up looking like an oil slick by the end of the day either.

Another bonus: This one works quite well without a primer. It also is nice with one– pretty much all foundations are– but I have been very happy wearing it alone when I usually find the need for a primer with some other brands.

Bottom line is that Lorac has created a winner with this one. I definitely recommend it!

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By Carleenp Posted in Makeup, Skin Care | 4 Comments

Review: Elizabeth Arden Intervene Foundation

I am pretty darn enamored with Elizabeth Arden Intervene Foundation SPF 15, and that shouldn’t be taken lightly. I am picky, picky, picky about foundation! I tend to want at least medium coverage for my melasma and over pigmented areas, anti-aging benefits, some moisture, SPF, and a formulation that won’t settle into my fine lines and wrinkle (the lack of plural is intentional, I am in denial about any other potential wrinkles). Elizabeth Arden delivers, with a great new foundation aimed at aging skin.

I suspected that I would like it even before it arrived based on these items in the description:

SPF 15
Contains anti-aging ingredients
Contains antioxidants (Vitamins C and E)
Micro-mineral pigment technology
100% oil free
Medium to full coverage

My suspicions were correct. When I tried it, I was quite impressed. The foundation feels wonderful. Coverage is as promised–I would rate it at medium or slightly over medium–but there are no issues with it feeling heavy or settling into lines or my one wrinkle. I also found that it blends quite nicely, and the shade, soft shell, works fine with my very pale skin. The makeup also lasts a full day for me with no problems.

I like the inclusion of anti-aging and antioxidant ingredients in foundations and am pleased to see an increasing number of companies starting to include such formulations. Elizabeth Arden’s offering is definitely one of the best. I will be using the Intervene foundation for some time.

Elizabeth Arden products are available online and at various department and cosmetics stores.

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By Carleenp Posted in Makeup | 3 Comments

A New Neutrogena Face: Mineral Sheers Powder Foundation, Sheer Highlighting Blush, and Nourishing Eye Duo

I love the new sheer blushes that are coming out. Neutrogena has a great one, along with a number of other new items, and I had the opportunity to put together a pretty nice look with some of them.

Neutrogena Mineral Sheers Powder Foundation Mineral Makeup

First off, Neutrogena Mineral Sheers Powder Foundation (above) is a great improvement on Neutrogena’s mineral sheers makeup line and it is refreshing to see so many new drugstore mineral makeup lines coming out. The powder foundation is easy to apply, and because it comes in a standard compact, you can also use your own brush . I recommend a stiff kabuki brush and personally use the Bare Escentuals Handy Buki Brush, which is my favorite for all mineral makeup applications. For those who need a supplied applicator though, it also has a sponge applicator in a little compartment in the compact.

I got a nice medium coverage and even finish from the foundation and was pleased to see that it was not cut with talc or bismuth. It contains soy for skin health and has an SPF of 20. It lasted fine through an evening and generally worked well with my dry to combination skin. The dry spots didn’t flake, and the oily part stayed generally matte. The shade classic Ivory worked fine with my very fair skin. I have recently taken to wearing this nearly every day when I want something to cover my hyperpigmentation a bit (I have mild melasma) and want extra SPF, but don’t want a heavily made up look. Overall it is a great drugstore mineral foundation.

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Blends Sheer Highlighting Blush (above) pairs nicely with the mineral foundation. I really love this blush. It is quite sheer with a light shimmer to create a glow that does not look overly glittery. Like many Neutrogena products, it also contains various skin conditioners. I tried the shade Vibrant, which worked well on my fair skin, but would likely work fine on medium to darker skin tones as well. Overall, it gives a fairly light look that is perfect for the upcoming spring and summer.

Another new product that I love is the Neutrogena Nourishing Eye Duo (above). I tried this in Starry Night, which has blue gray and silver gray shadows. The shadows contain soy silk and vitamins, and have a light shimmer. What I liked about the duo was that for a drugstore brand, they were pretty well pigmented and the shades in this line are particularly nice. They are all good basic shades that just about anyone could wear, so I might go back and buy one of the duos with brown shades. The shadow lasted well, and I had no creasing issues. Overall, this is a good value shadow set that is also good for your skin.Neutrogena products are available online and at most drugstores.

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By Carleenp Posted in Blush, Eyeshadow, Makeup, Mineral Makeup | 10 Comments

Chanel Foundations: Vitalumieries and Double Perfection Makeup

I know a number of women who swear by Chanel Vitalumi eries Foundation. I recently got a few samples of this foundation and had mixed results.

I love Chanel cosmetics, so I had high hopes for this rather expensive product. For my first try, which did not fare so well, I used the foundation over plain sunscreen and moisturizer. It went on fine and look fine, but I just plain did not see anything special about it to justify the price tag.

However, when I used the foundation over a silicon primer, I found that it really stood out. The product has some luminizing properties that for whatever reason did not really work well until used over a primer. At that point I loved it and prefer it over my less expensive foundations because my skin looked nearly perfect with it on. So the upshot is that Chanel Vitalumieres is one that I would happily wear when going all out, but would not likely choose for day to day use when I just want to put on moisturizer and a bit of foundation.

I also tried samples of Chanel Double Perfection Foundation. This one is quite nice, but it wasn’t right for my skin, which was particularly dry when I tried it. The foundation goes on wonderfully smooth and dries quickly to a matte finish. It then lasts quite well. For anyone without dry skin, Chanel Double Perfection is a wonderful foundation and comes recommended by many. But on dry skin, a mattifying foundation just doesn’t work for me. I’m hoping to try this one again in the summer, when I will appreciate the silky matte finish.

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By Carleenp Posted in Face Products, Makeup, Makeup Primer | No Comments

Review: Maybelline Mineral Power Liquid Foundation

Maybelline has jumped on the mineral makeup bandwagon and released a full line of mineral cosmetics. It is also so new, that it isn’t on their website yet! However, it is in at Target and other stores, but selling out fast in my area of the Chicago suburbs.

Since I have been up to my ears in powder mineral makeup lately, I decided to give the liquid foundation a try first and will test the powder in upcoming weeks. However, if you are interested in the powder before then, Makeup Moxie has a great review of it. I also did note that it doesn’t seem to list fillers such as bismuth as an ingredient, and there appears to be a fairly decent range of shades, although I couldn’t get a great look at the store because so many were sold out!

The liquid mineral makeup is pretty darn good stuff with one big caveat– You need to have the skin type for it to see the best results. The coverage of the liquid mineral power is quite nice. Something more than sheer, but less than medium. I found it to be perfect for when you really need to cover up some redness but want your real skin to show through. It was not enough coverage to hide my melasma, but it was enough to lessen the appearance of it, which is what I often prefer for daytime looks anyway. At my age, less foundation is more, and I would rather have some spots showing through than look caked with makeup! The porcelain ivory shade was also perfect for me.

Unfortunately though, I don’t think the foundation is for me at this time of year when my skin is on the dry side. First off, it goes matte pretty fast. I would love that in the summer, but right now when I am a bit dry, it didn’t work as well. It wasn’t awful–I didn’t get overly flaky or anything–but I felt a bit too much on the dry side when I was wearing it.

Now here is where things get a bit interesting. When I first wrote this post, I was going to particularly recommend the Maybelline liquid minerals for oily skin because of its matte nature and because mineral makeup tends to be pretty friendly to acne prone skin. But then I read Jazmin’s review of it at Makeup Moxie. Jazmin, who was kind enough to let me use her photo of the product (Thanks!!!), has oily skin, and found that the foundation did not remain matte. In fact, she got oily again rather fast. The upshot is that I am beginning to think that this one is good for mainly normal skin that doesn’t go too far into the either the oily or dry side. Unfortunately, that limits its use for quite a few people!

The foundation also contains SPF 18. I imagine that I will happily use up the bottle that I purchased once spring arrives and I am ready for matte makeup again, but before summer when I start to get oily. If you like matte makeup, and don’t have partcualry oily or dry skin, you might want to give this a try. In that range, it is a nice makeup with a nice price tag to match.

One final note: Powder minerals tend to be quite freindly to dry skin, so hopefully that one will have a better skin type range. Keep watching for a future review!

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By Carleenp Posted in Makeup, Mineral Makeup | 6 Comments

Review: Laura Mercier Foundation: Oil Free and Silk Creme

A change of season always makes me search for new foundation. I like something light and oil free in summer, while in winter I want a bit of moisture. I also tend to need decent coverage because of I have areas with light melasma and hyperpigmentation. I recently tried two different Laura Mercier foundations, one for lighter, oil free coverage, and one for full coverage. I am quite happy with both.

Laura Mercier Oil Free Foundation provides light to medium matte coverage. It also has illuminators to help fine lines seem less apparent. The luminating quality of it is what I like. I have not seen that much in oil free foundations. The foundation is also fairly buildable, so you can create sheer coverage in some areas and medium in others. However, it did not build enough to fully cover my areas of melasma. I added a bit of concealer for that. The shade porcelain ivory worked quite well for my very fair skin.

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation is one of the best foundations I have come across for medium to heavier coverage that is also moisturizing. Although the foundation seems rather light, it covers quite nicely, and like the oil free foundation, can be built up for heavier coverage as needed. Also like the oil free foundation, it has some illuminating properties. Laura Mercier advertises “the flawless face.” Applied over a silicon primer, and finished with a touch of concealer and powder, I did obtain a nearly flawless look. The shade soft ivory worked well with my pale skin.

Laura Mercier products are not cheap. But I will likely continue buying the silk creme foundation. That one is worth the higher price to me. I like the oil free foundation as well, but am wavering on whether I think it is really worth the $42 price tag. Perhaps if I had oilier skin and really desired or needed the luminizing factor.

Interested in more Laura Mercier products? See my previous review of the Laura Mercier Oil Free Primer. Also watch for an upcoming review of the concealer.

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By Carleenp Posted in Face Products, Makeup | 15 Comments

Review: Rimmel Cool Matte 16 Hour Mousse Foundation

Rimmel Cool Matte 16 Hr Mousse Foundation gets merely an OK from me, although I think those who want something really sheer might like it. I absolutely love Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse Foundation and thought that perhaps the Rimmel product would be similar. It turns out that the two products really are not much alike. Maybelline provides good coverage that is not too heavy, while Rimmel’s mousse is very sheer.

The Rimmel foundation, although labeled as a “mousse,” really has more of a cream/lotion texture to it. It does appear to be a bit whipped, but not much. I found that while the shade I tried (#100, Ivory) was about right in tone for me, it barely provided any coverage. This stuff was as sheer as some of the tinted moisturizers that I have used. The sheer nature of the product could be a good thing for those who desire a sheer coverage foundation, especially in a matte form, but it did not work for me. I also did not get 16 hours of wear from it. I doubt that I even got eight, but it was hard to tell because the product had so little coverage to begin with. With all of the long wearing stuff, I tend to just cut the promised time in half for my expectations. Personally, I have found that none of them really seem to meet their claims and the companies would be better off leaving an hour figure out of product names. Why make promises that you can’t keep?

The product did go on pretty matte, and that is a nice feautre in a sheer foundation, since many other products this sheer are things along the lines of tinted moisturizers. I simply need more coverage because I have hyperpigmentation and melasma. In the end, if you are looking for a fairly inexpensive foundation that is very sheer and matte, this might be worth a look. But if you want much coverage, take a look elsewhere. As for that 16 hr thing, just ignore it and expect a normal length of wear.

By Carleenp Posted in Makeup | No Comments

Patricia Wexler M.D. Instant Injection Line Filler, Instant Airbrush Concealer, and No Injection Lip Plumper

I have been trying out some products from famed Dermatologist Patricia Wexler M.D. First up are some more cosmetic oriented products. I am also trying some anti-aging skin care products that I will write about in a few weeks after I have had time to use them a bit longer.

Wexler’s Instant Injection Line Filler is a nice wrinkle filler that is similar to several other products that I have recently tried but have not yet reviewed. This is a silicon gel product that acts to fill in fine lines so that makeup will sit on top of them instead of sinking in and accentuating everything. I’m a pretty big fan of these types of products. They really do seem to make a difference. If you are familiar with DHC Velvet Skin Coat, it is similar in consistency to that, but perhaps slightly thicker. DHC also makes a thicker wrinkle filler, that is slightly more thick than the Wexler product. You could also envision this as a thick version of Smashbox Photofinish. The Wexler line filler is a nice medium between all of those products for me. It is not too thick and not too thin. It seems to work best under the eyes, with a bit of concealer over it. Which leads to a look at Wexler’s concealer.

Patricia Wexler Fastscription Instant Airbrush Line Smoothing SuperConcealer is a pretty neat product. This is a liquid concealer packaged in a pen. On one end is a brush (with a cover), and on the other is a push tab that clicks the product up into the brush for application. This makes it very easy to carry and dispense without any mess. The concealer itself is pretty good too. One word of warning though, don’t click that tab too much! I initially clicked it a bunch and overloaded the little brush. Once the thing is primed, it really only needs one click. The packaging is also a very attractive deep red color. It is a nice product to look at and to carry.

I also tried the Wexler Advance No Injection Lip Plumper (pictured). Like with every lip plumper I have tried, I didn’t see much plumping. But this still is a nice gloss, and I really do love the tingle that lip plumpers give, including this one.

Patricia Wexler products are available at select Bath and Body Works stores.