Review of MAC Pro Longwear Foundation- NW40

I had been a repeat buyer of Estee Lauder's Double Wear Foundation for about 4 years. However as much as I loved the foundation and how incredibly long is lasted, it did not really do much for my skin as far as illuminating it, and over time it seemed to make my skin seem duller and duller.

Granted I will still use it, I just wanted to dive into the realm of locating something with the same long lasting wear, yet with the benefit of making my skin look more alive.

I had picked up quite a few superstore brands like Maybelline, Revlon and so on, however none of them offered the type of quality I was looking for, and sadly I knew that quality meant more money that would have to be spent. I decided to give MAC a try. I went with their MAC Pro Longwear Foundation in NW40, which on my skin gave a beautiful summery sun kissed tan color. If you are pale, you will want to avoid this color as it is pretty sun drenched with a bronze hue. If you have a medium skin tone, or are already tan this color will blend perfectly.


Application:
 
I love, love, love the bottle that MAC put their MAC Pro Longwear Foundation in. The bottle is not one of those yucky screw tops where you have to dip your finger in. Instead the bottle has a unique twist mechanism that allows you to open it in order to pump the serum through a small tube. You can then twist it back to lock it in place so it does not accidentally squeeze or pump out while you store it away in your bag

Before applying the foundation I first use a skin serum in order to keep my face moisturized. I do this because it is good for my skin, and also throughout the years I have found that long wear foundations dry my skin out a bit.

When it came to applying MAC Pro Longwear Foundation, it went on like a charm, and the smallest dab on your finger truly will travel, so you do not need to funk your face up and add a whole lot of this one. It glides on and spreads easily, and once it dries your skin is left looking bright, and rejuvenated.
What I personally liked though was the fact that it did not clog pores, or leave my skin looking dry, dull or uneven. The foundations goes where you put it, and it stays there.

Last:
 
MAC Pro Longwear Foundation lasts quite some time, but it does of course have one downside. My issue is that I tend to get oily skin on my forhead as the day goes on. If I blot the area, the foundation will come off, which leaves me having to apply again, or add a powder to the area.
All in all though, most foundations, even those super long lasting ones tend to have that same drawback.

Overall:
 
MAC Pro Longwear Foundation is a very good foundation. I would not call it the best foundation I have ever used, but it definitely gives my skin new life, and it blends well with other foundations I already have. In my opinion it was worth the $30.00 spent, and it gives much better results than those $10-$15 brands you find at super stores. Much, much, better results!

Revlon Colorstay Concealer

Okay I've been there, used that. You name the concealer and I've used it.
While most products I've tried causes that nasty caking (I'm so doused in makeup look), SHINE, and even more breakouts which leads to having to use even more concealer just to hide the breakouts caused by the concealers; and for those with dry skin, concealers can just become a skin dilemma.

Revlon's colorstay concealer has caused me no skin problems whatsoever. My skin type is oily. Usually any type of concealers I've used in the past have caused me to look as if I had a mirror on my forehead.
Until using this product all of those problems have become problems in the past.

Revlon's colorstay Concealer stays on, and stays on well. NO shine! NO SHINE! Probably because it is OIL FREE.
It doesn't feel like your wearing any makeup at all. It blends easily, and quickly with your finger, there is no need for any application pads or special blending brushes.
It stays on my skin for a good 8 hours, without wearing off.
Yes you can touch your face, and yes, even lean it up on that significant others shirt and its not going to budge. (Unless maybe you really mash it in)

Revlon Colorstay Concealer is SPF6, and it comes in 3 colors of
Natural Beige
Sand Beige
Ivory.

I use the Sand Beige even though my skin is slightly lighter than that. This specific color gives me a nice look of a beach tan even though I wasn't really at the beach.

Ive found that the best way to keep the concealer looking its best and most flawless is to lightly dab your face with a shine proof powder or any type of powder, preferably oil free to prevent breakouts.

First apply the Revlon Colorstay Concealer then dab your face lightly with the powder. It gives your face a flawless glow. Especially if you use 'Radiance' shimmer powder.

The one bad thing I've noticed about this concealer is how if you get to close to the eyebrows it will create a line of darker color around the hairline.
It can easily be taken care of with a wipe of warm water or alcohol. But it doesn't make its appearance for about 4 hours into the wear. So a mirror checkup may be necessary.
But it does not dye hair with time. I've used it for months now, and haven't noticed anything strange in my hair color.

All in all this is the best concealer I've ever gotten my hands on. I wouldn't switch brands for anything.

Bare Escentuals Rareminerals Skin Revival Treatment Night

In my recent quest to remain young, I told my uncle that I needed to stock up on anti aging and anti wrinkle creams, lotions, serums, or whatever is possible to get my hands on. He thought it was funny because my skin does not have a wrinkle to be seen. Yeah by him! I see them little crow’s feet starting to stretch out from my eyelid! I see it there trying to be sneaky!

See today I turned 25, and even though he thought I was joking, I wasn’t. I am not happy about this number, nor the way my skin is going to start looking if I don’t take care of it.

I know a lot of folks will say, ‘Oh you’re young’… ‘You’re still a baby’. WHATEVER to them all, they don’t know what they are talking about.

As of now, I’m wrinkle free, AS OF NOW! But to make sure it stays that way, I of course need to start thinking about my skin! My face mostly.
25 is the age man, if you don’t start taking care of your skin now, you may as well go get yourself a paper bag and draw a happy face on it.

So about 4 days ago I get a package from UPS. My uncle Lenny (I love you) added in Bare Escentuals RareMinerals Skin Revival Treatment – NIGHT in a medium shade. Ooooohhhhh. I have heard about this before. I gave him a call, gave the whole thank you, and he kept telling me how I didn’t need it, and that he threw it in with the rest of my goodies as a joke.

He must be doing good, because that’s one expensive joke ($60).
The jokes on him, because I was excited to try out my new anti aging treatment. Haha!

My night treatment comes in a gold and white canister and contained .15 oz. Of RareMinerals.
On top is a small classy circular cut mirror, (finally a company that puts the mirror on the outside, and not the inside, where it can collect powder and get all fogged up).

You simply pop the top in any fashion. Inside is an attached applicator sponge. However you have to twist it till the arrow is on open. You can now puff some treatment out on your face. Now simply re-twist back to close it.

I quickly watched as I began to apply it to my face that my sponge was getting soaked with the medium colored product. Something about makeup stains on applicator sponges always has irked me, but what can yah do?

What I found mind boggling was how I was not able to remove the top at all to see how much was in the container. It’s really a guessing game on when you’re all out, or when you need to buy a new one. I honestly didn’t enjoy that.

WHAT IS IT FOR?

Well it’s used for bedtime, you apply a few dabs here and there, tah la la…here a puff, there a puff… everywhere a puff, puff; now go to bed.

This stuff is so light feeling that I honestly did not think anything was going on my face, and I thought I needed more than what I really did need. I guess when you are used to cruddy products; weight on your face feels normal. Making RareMinerals abnormal.

The coverage was flawless. I could not even feel it, nor see any traces of powder on my face or any darker areas near my dry spots. What I did see was a healthy natural looking coverage. I was impressed.

NIGHT TIME:

I at first was skeptical about the whole ‘leave it on at night’ concept, and thought that this powder was surely going to come off all over my pillow, so I lined my pillow with a blanket, just in case.
I had read testimonials about how people were claiming to wake up after just one treatment and seeing results. Hmm… I doubt that.

I woke up the next day and inspected my blankets and pillows. Not a trace of it anywhere. Hmmm…not bad, not bad at all.

I then waddled my way upstairs like a zombie expecting look like one.
Would you believe it! No creature face.
Obviously the treatment was still all over my face, but I was shocked to see that my skin looked sort of… dare I say…new!?

Yes, it did. My skin actually looked refreshed, and clean. Usually I wake up all splotchy, with patches of grease on my forehead and nose, and a new zit where the grease on my forehead forms overnight.
However waking up with RareMinerals this was not the case. I then rinsed off the leftover product on my face, and I was expecting to see my morning creature like self again under the makeup. The splotchy skin, a new zit perhaps…

But even after rinsing it off, I still looked refreshed, and my face still had that RareMineral healthy glow. WOW, WOW, WOW! I barely even had to do a touch up with foundation in the morning. This was amazing. This was definitely a skin break thru for me.

I don’t know what kept me from using it during the daytime. I honestly enjoy the look of this on my face more than my clay like foundation that dries out and leaves a clown like cake appearance on my face by mid-afternoon.

4 DAYS!

I know it has been only 3 nights and 4 days, but already I can report that I have not a single pimple erupt on my face since using this. My pores already look minimized, and the glow on my face is the biggest treat. No more dull unhealthy looking skin.

I don’t wake up looking like a zombie anymore, and this has taken my makeup application in the morning down a lot, and has saved me a good 15 minutes.
I used to start with a base, then a foundation, and then I’d do my cheeks with blush. Ech! Thinking of all that gunk going on my face now turns my stomach.

Just imagine how much bacteria was being slapped on and sticking to my skin while using heavy creamy foundations. Ew! Liquid foundation is so scrubby to me now. The enemy!

I now barely even have to do a touch up in the morning. I wash my face, apply a very light layer of ‘powdered’ foundation, to my greasier of areas, and that’s it. That’s really all I need.

I can’t wait to see what my skin will look like in 10 days. A new woman I’m honestly imaging.

Have I really found my fountain of youth in this little canister?
Perhaps. I wouldn’t go that far, but I can honestly say my skin already looks 60% better than it did 4 days ago.
If my pores completely disappear, I will update and really praise this stuff, and urge Epinions to allow me to add 5 more stars.

SPEAKING OF BACTERIA:

That’s sort of where I have an issue with Bare Escentuals RareMinerals Night Treatment. You see there really is no way to clean off the attached sponge applicator. I’m watching it get darker in color with each use.
I do apply it to a clean washed face, but I know that there is some funk still on my face, and pressing this applicator to my face everyday can’t be 100% clean. Oils stick to the sponge, I’m sure. So really it’s like puffing bacteria all over your face once the applicator is really dirty. I know this can cause acne.

So far I have been safe, but that’s because mine is new, I’m sure with long-term use, I too will see an occasional pimple because of this flawed design. A removable puff applicator would have been much better, that way I could replace it when it starts to look funky.

WHERE CAN YOU GET IT?

The price is high no matter where you try and buy it. It’s going to run you $60 easily (but I’m telling you its worth it). You can get it on the RareMinerals website, ULTA, or ULTA’s website.

HERE ARE SOME STATISTICS:

-89% felt their skin was firmer and more resilient
-85% felt their skin texture had improved
-83% saw fewer imperfections and less visible pores
-82% saw clearer skin
-81% saw fewer discolorations
-68% saw a reduction in facial lines and wrinkles

OVERALL:

Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic. I’m a customer for life now. My skin says thank you.

INGREDIENTS:

Organic soil mineral Concentrate, Illite (Green Clay), Emblica Fruit, Retinyl Palmitate (Vitamin A), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) - Natural, Aloe barbadensis Leaf Juice, Honey Bush Extract, Wheat Germ Extract, Rosemary Extract, White Tea Extract, rooibos extract, Other Ingredients: Organic Soil Mineral Concentrate - penetrates the skin due to the nature of the minerals and absorbs other materials making it a good carrier for active ingredients. Jurassic soil - virgin soil that remains untouched for thousands of years allowing for natural rock formations rich in minerals to remain intact and preserve the natural and optimum soil-mineral balance composition to be extracted by a proprietary process exclusive to Bare Escentuals.

RECOMMENDATION:

Hear ye’ hear ye’, this is a must have for any gal, any age. It has improved my skin, and I know it can do the same for anyone willing to splurge a little and give it a try.

I cannot praise it enough; it is my new skin miracle. Make it yours too…

Cover Girl Clean Pressed Powder

I remember way back in junior high that if you didn’t have one of these little black or green compact makeup mirrors out on your desk every 20 minutes doing a puff puff touch up on your face, you were considered un-cool, scrubby, and un-girly.

I was into the hype then, trying to fit in and look beautiful, until I realized the whole Cover Girl Clean Pressed Powder did nothing to help my skin, and that it in fact clogged my pores and caused more breakouts.

I was careless then though, I didn’t change the cotton applicator…ever.

Years later I figured I might as well give it a try again and use it in a cleaner more responsible manner.
The price went up a buck since then and ran me nearly $6 at Eckerd’s.

What Is It?

Cover Girl Clean Pressed powder is exactly as it’s stated. Its pressed powder smashed into a spaceship shaped compact with the initials CG on the cover.

It clicks open like a coin purse, inside you got your thin little round applicator (which has grown even thinner with time) and you got your small little mirror. Oh you feel fabulous now don’t you! You get approximately .39oz.

Cover Girl Clean Pressed Powder is used for touch ups to keep that nasty shiny mirror off of your face.
I’ll ‘cover’ how well it works further on.

Colors:

This product has you covered here it comes in extreme light shades, and gets darker and darker with each increase in number.

I myself have always gone with buff beige, or soft honey. However obtaining the correct shade is not always an easy task as there are never any testers available, and the skin charts may as well have never been printed. They’re useless, off color, and lies.

You’re best bet is to go with intuition… which do you think you need? Are you looking for a perfect match, or a tan glow? Use your imagination here people, and don’t go too dark, you’ll end up with one of them ridiculous looking cover-up mask lines. You know what I’m talking about, when your neck don’t match your face. You look a fool!

How Well Does It Work?

When I pop click open the top and take a look in the mirror it’s always covered in a dusty film left behind from the powder, so you’re really seeing yourself behind blur, you think you look good, till you clean off the mirror. YIKES! I’m a greasy mess!

That’s why I bought this to begin with, so I swiped my little circular cotton applicator around a few times and I dab it on my problem areas, and try to hide a zit or two.

I then take a good look in the mirror and see how well it covered.

I can say it did a great job on ridding my forehead of the shine, but the pimple is still very red, and very obvious.

With long-term use even with changing the applicator puff regularly, you will find more pimples on your face.

Where It Fails:

Now this is where this product failed for me, in many of ways actually.

1. If you are new to Cover Girl you most likely will buy a shade either too light or too dark. Good luck returning an open and used compact.

–If you go too light, you look like a mime, if you go too dark you look like a moron trying to get a fake tan from makeup. Either way you’re going to look like an idiot. This makeup has always been trial and error, which for a consumer is quite unfair.

2. If you over apply and take a good look in the mirror you will notice you look like a dusty mess.

3. The applicator gets so dirty, so quickly; you will find yourself having to buy new ones weekly, or suffer consequences… more pimples!

4. The compact itself gets loose and will open up on its own easily after about a month of consistent opening and closing of the compact. It looses its tight hold, and will flop open constantly, leaving your bag a mess, and the powder useless.

5. The smell is downright disgusting, it reminds me of medicine and pool chlorine. Luckily tough they have unscented available, however unscented or not, Cover Girl Clean Press Powder has a signature scent…like it or not.

6. Seriously 15 minutes after doing my touch up on my shiny forehead, I took another glance in its mirror and I was all shiny again. It was even worse. That’s what happens when pores get clogged and skin cannot breath. The shine and grease comes out with vengeance.

7. You get .39oz of powder; however by the time you get down to the metal bottom the powder is so funky and gross looking you will end up throwing it out.

What's Good?

Honestly I’m having a hard time figuring out what’s good about it.
Okay wait, on the site it says that this gunk got some Kiss Os Approval Award from CosmoGirl in 2005.

Hmmm… probably because it was still the ‘in’, cool, hip thing to have as a teen still. I can imagine they’re still sporting these pore cloggers and pimple starters all around with them, thinking it’s the best makeup ever! Yay!

Overall:

It was a nasty product when I was in junior high, and it’s just as nasty now. Cover Girl needs to either improve the powder or stop making it all together. I think it is absolutely hilarious how Cover Girl’s site claims this gunk won’t clog pores. It’s a pores nightmare, a pore trap! Ahhh... run…

Let us advance to modern day powder that will improve our skin instead of relying on our junior high school garbage for coverage!

Adore It! CoverGirl & Olay Simply Ageless Foundation

CoverGirl and Olay decided to join forces to deliver customers one of the best foundations I think I have tried in a very, very long time.

CoverGirl & Olay Simply Ageless Foundation is definitely different, and it demands attention when you walk past it in the store. Something as unique looking as this cannot go ignored and the moment you spot it, you will know you hit a gold mine.

What exactly is CoverGirl & Olay Simply Ageless Foundation?

It is actually a combination of foundation for flawless coverage, and Olay Regenerist Serum. The Olay serum will protect skin with SPF 22. It will also keep skin looking and feeling softer. Best of all though, this duo will improve skins appearance over time!

So while you conceal the flaws with the foundation, the Olay serum fixes them!!!

I honestly have no idea why someone hadn't thought of this sooner!

Appearance:

CoverGirl & Olay Simply Ageless Foundation is pretty hard to miss. You will spot it right away down the cosmetics isle in any local super store. You will spot the small glass and plastic compact easily due to the odd way they mixed it. Through the glass bottom of the compact you will clearly see the foundations color, and the swirls of white Olay serum running neatly through the foundation.

The compact itself is made of cheap purple plastic, and it is the only thing flawed on the product. The plastic breaks very easily, and you immediately can tell how flimsy it is. I definitely do not recommend you plop this one into your bag for travel, because it's not well designed.

Inside of this purple plastic chamber is a small application sponge. You must unscrew the purple lid in order to get to the foundation. It's an odd packaging, and I really don't care for it all that much. The foundation though is simply perfect.

My Use:

I ran the small sponge applicator through the foundation and applied it to my face. It went on so smoothly, and left my face feeling like it had been soothed down with silk. It leaves behind a very fresh, cooling sensation on the face and it really felt delightful to the skin.

The coverage also impressed me. It matched my skin tone to the tee, and blended in perfectly hiding all flaws, and making my small fine lines near my eyes vanish. The Olay serum left my skin feeling super moisturized. The formula goes on so nicely, and feels so light that you will not know it is there.

The downside though was that it did leave my skin looking a little shinier than usual. I fixed up this little issue by adding a fine puff of shine free powder.

The soft silky feeling this foundation leaves behind on the skin though is not what makes it my newest favorite foundation. It is the fact that my skin looks brighter, looks healthier, and feels much softer. I have only been using it for about a week and already I can see, and feel a difference in my skin.

Overall:

CoverGirl & Olay Simply Ageless Foundation is stunning, and the quality matches that of foundations you'd spend $30.00 or more on. I have used many foundations; cheap ones, and high priced ones, and so far CoverGirl & Olay Simply Ageless Foundation is my top favorite.