Review: L'oreal Visible Lift With Serum Foundation

I picked up this new L'oreal foundation recently during a 50% off face products sale at Pharma Plus. L'oreal products are if not the most expensive, definitely one of the most expensive drugstore brands. This foundation retails in Canada for about $18 I believe, which is so expensive. This foundation is a step up from the original Visible Lift formulation but with added serum. My bottle says "Visible Lift Serum Absolute". The serum in this is advertised  as addressing the "5 signs of aging to visibly transform skin to smoother, firmer, brighter, even, flawless." This is supposed to be "advanced age reversing makeup". I find it funny how the blue part on the bottle are just stickers.

L'oreal claims that this foundation provides "45% more even skin tone, 72% saw more youthful skin, 75% reduction in fine lines and wrinkles, 79% saw fewer imperfections and 90% saw smoother skin." The ingredients Hyaluronic acid, Pro-Retinol A, Pro-Xylane, Pro-Lastyl and Vitamin C. in this foundation include Personally, I don't think foundation can improve your skin, it can make it appear nicer, but I doubt it can improve it. Correct me if I am wrong, but treating your skin is up to your skincare routine. I bought this foundation to try and out and simply see if it's good, I wasn't expecting miracles in my skin, but the stuff in here sounds like it would be good for your skin, perhaps not reversal effects, but maybe prevention.

Announcement: Winner of Sigma Makeup Giveaway

It's time to finally announce the winner of my Sigma Giveaway. As you all know, the winner will get all 3 brushes that come in the Synthetic Kit. I will be contacting the winner shortly after this post goes live. The winner was chosen by random.org. Thank you to everyone who entered and blogged/tweeted about my giveaway. I hope to have more giveaways in the future, I am getting close to 1000 followers, and am planning a mega giveaway for that event. Thank you to Sigma Makeup for sponsoring this giveaway! And congrats to the winner! And the winner is....

Prettyaspeaches

Dior DiorSkin Nude Hydrating Makeup

Today was/is the last day to use your $15/$20 off Sephora coupon! Thank goodness for great friends online I came across another $15 off coupon and hurried away to Sephora tonight to pick up another, yes another foundation. It's funny how much joy a little black bag can make me, that Sephora bag is so pretty and brings joy to me. What brings me more joy is having Dior DiorSkin Nude foundation. This retails for $47 CAD and I got it for $37 with tax today with my coupon. I got the lightest colour, 010 Ivory. I was recommend this by a friend on here, Junerose and decided to give it a go.

 

First impressions of this product, it comes in a luxurious heavy glass bottle with silver lid and a nice pump. The colour range is good, not many colours, but colours are nicely suited for lighter skintones I think. The shade is 020 could of worked for me, more yellow-toned, but the girl there said I should match it with my neck (pastey white neck) and this matched better. It feels nice on my dry skin, I like it lots so far. I will update with a complete review in a few weeks. I got three foundations out of this Sephora sale, I been bad.

Have you tried DiorSkin Nude?

Review: ELF Studo Tinted Moisturizer

ELF recently came out with a new Tinted Moisturizer in their Studio line. When seeing the packaging, I thought it looked exactly like Smashbox's Tinted Moisturizer. But seeing it now, I think Smashbox's more stubby. I can't comment on the quality of that one versus this because I have not used the other one. I am a fan of tinted moisturizer, or so I am a fan of the skin matching makeup like the Revlon and the Almay one, they offer natural coverage on days you don't need a lot and feel comfortable on. I thought this ELF one would perform a similar way. This product is described as a "lightweight and hydrating formula, breathable and provides anti-aging sun protection with UVA/UVB SPF 20. Achieve even skin tone and naturally radiant skin with this moisturizing sheer tint of color. The smooth formula enhances your complexion with the nourishing key ingredients Aloe, Cucumber and Vitamins A, C & E."

The packaging is similar to that of the Almay/Revlon skin matching products. However the ELF comes with 20ml, while the other has 30ml. And that brings me to my first issue with this product, it may say 20ml on the bottle but I have my suspicions about whether you actually get that much. My tube feels 1/3 filled when you shake it. I know this product is only $3, but still I expected something more. Also, the back of the tube is just black with nothing on it at all, it would of been good if they added ingredients on the back (list does come on the box however).

This product comes in 7 shades, I bought the lightest one in "Porcelain". On the package it states this colour is for "very fair skin tones with yellow undertones". I would say this would definitely not suit very fair skintones, this stuff is very yellow and not very light at all. If you have strong yellow undertones, this might work for you, if you are neutral or cool, definitely will not. The next shade up is much darker, so it's a no go for me.

The coverage on this is very light, and it has a sheen when first applies (as seen in my terribly focused picture above), but it does try semi-matte. I would use a powder to set this for sure. The consistency is like a mousse. I find this product very hard to blend. The worst part of this product for me is the wretched smell! This smells of sunscreen, very strongly of it. I have a hard time keeping this on my face, every time I used this, I wanted to take it off immediately. Also, it separates very easily, you can see that in the little window on the tube. You have to shake it up well, and when you do shake it, it doesn't feel like there is anything in the tube. I think it's obvious I do not like this product, I would be curious to read what others think, there hasn't been much talk about this product yet since it is fairly new.

Have you tried the ELF Studio tinted moisturizer?

Monthly Favourites: November 2010

I am super late getting this one, I am usually pretty good about getting these on time, but several things have kept me from not posting lately. 1) I moved and am busy unpacking and getting everything together 2) I couldn't find my camera for the longest time 3) Now that I have found it, the thing has a mind of its own and won't focus well on pictures anymore (as you will notice in the picture below). Time for a new camera, maybe Santa will bring me one this Christmas. My favourites this month are some old and some new items.

Maybelline's Dream Smooth Mousse may be my favourite drugstore foundation of the year. This product is great for the winter when your skin is dry (mine is extra dry). It gives good coverage, and feels smooth on your face, see full review here.

Sigma's F10 Powder/Blush brush which is supposedly a dupe for the MAC 129. I find this a bit large for blush, but I do like it for finishing powder, bronzer, powder in general. it's soft and fluffy. Sigma should make a MAC 116 dupe.

Covergirl Lash Blast Fusion was not a favourite of mine at first, in fact I found it very similar to the original Last Blast, see review here. But since throwing out my overly-expired Lash Blast I have started using up this one this month and like it a lot.

MAC's Creme D'Nude is probably my most favourite MAC lipstick ever, and it has a special place in my heart because it was my first MAC purchase ever. This colour works well on anyone, has great formulation and a pretty colour.

ELF's Lipstain in Birthday Suit has been my go-to gloss for the month. I don't think of this as a stain really, and only use the coloured end, but I do like the light barbie pink colour that the gloss gives.

Clinique's Redness Solutions makeup is a great foundation. I picked this in the month of November and really like it. It's the first Clinique foundation I've ever used. Does it help tone down redness over time? I haven't used it exclusively enough to tell a difference, but I like the coverage and neutralizing effects that it has. Planning to do a full review of this one soon.

What were your favourites for the month of November?

Sigma Beauty: Holiday Special Complete Pink Kit with Brush Roll $79

Sigma just posted their Holiday Special offer, they had a very successful Black Friday sale (free shipping) and had to postpone their Cyber Monday deal until now. They are offering their Complete Pink Brush Kit with Brush Roll for $79, a savings of $20 off the regular price. If you want to try out Sigma brushes this is a great time to do it. I would of preferred if they had offered the black kit instead but this is still a great deal, the colour doesn't really matter.

If you are in Canada like me, shipping is very reasonable, I did a test order and it was $6 something to ship this. This offer comes with 12 brushes and a brush roll! Plus you will get the free bonus blending eye brush with this order as a gift. And just a quick note, I will be choosing my winner of the Synthetic Kit soon, I am just processing through all the entries now.

Click here to shop Sigma Makeup.