Review: Revlon Colorstay Whipped Creme Foundation

Revlon Colorstay Whipped Creme Makeup in 110 Ivory

For about a year and a half before I purchased this foundation, I had been using Revlon Colorstay regular liquid foundation in Combo/Oily and then I switched to Normal/Dry formula. So before I go into reviewing this, I'll tell you about my skin type.

I used to believe I had combination skin, because my T-zone would get oily. But now I know that I have dry skin, with a bit of an oily T-zone. Because my regular Colorstay foundation in Combo/Oily would always look cakey on me, I switched to the Normal/Dry. This worked better.

So I have sort of acne prone skin. I get occasional breakouts on mostly my chin, and sometimes my forehead and cheeks. I have very dry patches around my nose, mouth and eyebrows. And my chin and forehead can get a little bit oily, but my major worry patch for greasiness is my nose. My pores are big around my nose and on my forehead. Does that cover every issue? I think so. Yes, my skin is kind of a pain. 

Anyway, so my Normal/Dry foundation would still look a bit cakey on me (even when applied with a damp sponge, which I do every day), so when I saw this I decided to pick it up and give it a go.

Revlon Colorstay Whipped Foundation in 110 Ivory

I picked this up in the lightest shade, Ivory (that's the shade I usually am). From the pictures above, you can see what the packaging is like. This is a bulky, heavy and unnecessarily large glass jar. This contains 0.8 fluid ounces of product, so this has a lot of excess packaging. But for a drugstore product, it does feel rather fancy. 

This cost me around $15 CAD at my Wal-Mart, so this isn't very cheap.

When you open the jar and remove the white plastic protective covering, this is what you see. Creamy, whipped foundation. I was expecting the texture of this to be like the Maybelline Dream Mousse products, but it isn't. It's feels like a very thick liquid foundation. It sort of feels like a melted ice cream,or milkshake. 

swatch

As you can see, this is quite a yellow toned foundation, just like the original Colorstay. I have pink undertones, but this matches my skin rather well. But for people with very pink undertones (mine are more neutral), this may not match very well.

This foundation for me gives even more coverage than the original Colorstay. So for people looking for light coverage, look elsewhere, because this gives medium-heavy coverage. 

swatch, blended

It blends well, as you can barely see it in this picture here. 

I've seen other people say that this looks completely natural on the skin, so there must be something wrong with my skin, because this still looked cakey when I put it on with my fingers. So I started using a damp sponge again, and that works better for me. This looks less natural on my skin than liquid Colorstay, but it does deliver more coverage. 

This foundation claims to wear for 24 hours, but it doesn't for me. It wears down a bit after 13 hour days, but for people with oilier skin, it will wear even less. 

Overall:

Packaging: The jar this comes in is pretty bulky and heavy. It could definitely been toned down to be more compact. And also, you have to dip your fingers into this day after day. After awhile, bacteria is going to build up in there. 

Colour: This is a very yellow toned foundation. For me, this isn't a big issue, but for some with very pink undertones, it might present a problem. This foundation is available is 12 shades, and it is part of their permanent line.

Formula: As previously mentioned, the consistency of this is very thick, creamy Cool-Whip sort of texture. It blends and wears well on my face, but still looks slightly cakey on me. It has a lot of coverage, and when blended, feels quite light on the skin. It definitely gives a matte finish on me, but for oilier skin, it may appear more dewy.

Another note, this doesn't have SPF in it. That being said, I have seen some reviews where they mention having an SPF 20, but my particular jar doesn't have any.

Longevity: Like I said, I can get around 12-13 hours of wear out of this, but not near 24. I find that a bit of an excessive claim.

Claims: This product claims to wear for 24 hours, and while I've already touched base on that, it also claims to provide buildable and full coverage (which it does. Good job, Revlon), and to have a soft matte finish all day long. It does that, too but not the "all day long" part. 

My Rating: 8.5/10

This isn't the best foundation I've ever used, nor is it the worst. I knocked off some marks because of the bit of cakey ness on skin, but that may just be me. It has more coverage than original Colorstay, but looks less natural.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this foundation, and I think on people with normal or oilier skin and yellow tones, this would look great! But I do enjoy wearing  it on own skin, too.

Thanks for sticking to the end of this pretty long post!!

Melissa

NOTD: China Glaze Velvet Bow with China Glaze Twinkle Lights

China Glaze Velvet Bow under Twinkle Lights

If you want to see China Glaze Velvet Bow by itself, check out my last NOTD.

Both polishes today came from China Glaze's 2011 holiday collection, Let It Snow. Velvet Bow is a deep wine colour that you can't really see under the glittery-ness of Twinkle Lights.

China Glaze Twinkle Lights

Twinkle Lights is basically just Christmas in a bottle. It is a clear base, with green, gold and red glitter. When I first got this, it was sort of sheer. Even with three or four coats, you could still see bald patches when I wore this. But now, a year later, this has thickened up quite a bit and it's a lot more pigmented. I barely needed two coats to get complete coverage, but nonetheless, I put a base polish under this. 

China Glaze Twinkle Lights

The ratio of glitter here is about 50% gold, 25% red and 25% green. It is just so pretty! This here is one very thick coat, which is equivalent to about two regular coats.

Some glitters are real top coat eaters, but surprisingly, this one isn't as much. I only needed about two layers of top coat, but I probably needed to go with three. But with some glitters, four or five layers are required to even be vaguely smooth. 

Obviously since this is from last year's collection, you can't buy it anymore. But there are some glitters in this year's China Glaze holiday collection, which you might enjoy instead.

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa

NOTD: China Glaze Velvet Bow

China Glaze Velvet Bow

I honestly cannot express how much I love this colour. I know it's nothing special and it's been seen in many a collection before, but I just love how... glamorous it looks on the nails.

China Glaze Velvet Bow

This is from China Glaze's holiday collection from last year, Let it Snow. This is a deep burgundy/wine creme, but it kind of squishy looking, and I'd say it's bordering on a jelly formula.

This is literally the best formula I have ever worked with for a nail polish. I'm the type of person that gets air bubbles every single time I paint my nails, regardless of what I do, but this one gave me no air bubbles AT ALL. It's a miracle!

This might be due to the fact that I've started using a new top coat, Revlon Colorstay. It's really great so far, as a little side note.

China Glaze Velvet Bow

As this is a semi jelly finish, it was sort of sheer, so I needed three coats to reach full opacity. Definitely worth it!

Obviously, this colour isn't available anymore, but it's so common, I'm sure you can find another colour like it. In fact, there's a colour very similar in the OPI holiday collection (both the collection and the polish are called Skyfall). 

There is also a very similar colour in this year's China Glaze holiday collection, Holiday Joy. The polish is called Merry Berry.

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa

Monday Questionnaire: November 12, 2012

Is it too early to be excited for Christmas? Well, there's only 6 more Mondays until then!!!


1) Current Mood:
Average, I guess. I'm kind of feeling a little...insecure, self-hating right now. That's never a good feeling, but sadly, way too frequent.

2) What is the last song/album you purchased?
The new songs from the last episode of Glee.

3) The best video game system ever is ___________?
I've had three in my lifetime: Nintendo Game Cube, Nintendo Wii and a Playstation 3 (well, the last one is my brothers). I would have to say that the Playstation is my favourite. The graphics are awesome, and a lot of my favourite games are on there (RockBand, Skyrim...lol)

4) Current nail polish:
China Glaze Velvet Bow.

5) How many times did you hit the snooze button this morning?
None! I'm very good at getting up on time, even on a Monday morning...at 6am.

6) Current outfit:
Black leggings, a blue shirt, and a brown/white striped three quarter cardigan.

7) What is the furthest distance you've ever driven?
Um, no idea?

8) You can only use one mascara for the rest of your life--which is it?
Oh my goodness, this is an impossible question. I feel like my mascara favourite is changing all the time...well, my current favourite is Covergirl's LashBlast Fusion, so I guess we'll go with that.

9) If you could have a $1000 gift card to anywhere right now, where would you choose?
Sephora, of course!! That gift card would be used up in one trip...it's very sad that I'm not even exaggerating.

10) Weekly Goals:
Don't let the things people say bother me :(

Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone has a great week!


Melissa

My MAC Eyeshadow Collection!

So today I'm going to share my MAC eyeshadow collection with you. I've found that MAC eyeshadows are some of the best quality there is, right after Urban Decay. All the shadows in this blog post are part of their permanent eyeshadow collection.
So over the course of about two years, I've only bought eight MAC eyeshadows for my palette. Why? Not because I don't like them, or because they're too expensive. In fact, they're quite reasonable for a high end brand. They're $17CAD regularly, but I get them for $13 because I buy them in the palette form.
Anyway, the reason I have only acquired eight is because MAC don't have a lot of shades that appeal to me.
Let's get started then!

1) MAC Phloof!

MAC Phloof!

This is my all time favourite colour from MAC. It is just such a perfect highlight colour. It's a frosty off-white with pink undertones. Lot's of pigment; a great colour.

According to MAC's website, this is indeed a frost finish. 

2) MAC Dazzlelight

MAC Dazzlelight

This is another great highlight shade. This is also an off white, with yellow undertones this time. This is a Veluxe Pearl finish. Not as good pigment on this one as Phloof!, but still decent.

3) MAC Retrospeck

MAC Retrospeck

I'll be honest, I don't really reach for this colour very often. It's a good colour, but I think I got a bad shadow. When I swatched this in store, it was smooth and buttery. But when I got it home, the one I got was stiff and not very pigmented at all. The swatch you see above is very heavy.

And yes, I understand it's supposed to be a "beached blonde", but it just lacks pop for me. But for people who like lighter shadows, maybe check this one out! This is a Lustre finish.

4) MAC Era

MAC Era

Now this is one I reach for a lot.This is the absolute perfect colour for when you want to look like you're not wearing any makeup, but you want your eyes to look finished; more polished. I love Era for this. 

MAC's website says this is a "soft golden brown with shimmer", which I'd say is pretty accurate, although I'm not sure about the shimmer part. It looks like it just has more of a sheen. It is a satin finish. This is definitely more of a warmer brown.

5) MAC All That Glitters

MAC All That Glitters

This is the first MAC shadow I ever got, and I must not have been very makeup savvy back then, because I NEVER use this anymore. It is just way too warm and orange for my skin tone. 

MAC describes this as a "beige with gold pearl", with a Veluxe Pearl finish. It's a pretty colour, and a cult favourite in the makeup community, but it just doesn't work on me.

6) MAC Honey Lust

 MAC Honey Lust

Once again, another colour I never use. And once again, it's because it pulls too warm on me. Not too mention the fallout is awful for this shade!!

MAC's description is a "bronze dipped peach", and that is definitely accurate. This is the same finish as Retrospeck (Lustre), but this is way more glittery, in my opinion. Not a fan, to be honest.

7) MAC Satin Taupe

MAC Satin Taupe

This is a definite favourite for me and many other MAC fans. Satin Taupe is just such a pretty colour, for any season of the year.

It is a mix of taupe, gray, purple and silver. This is a frost finish, just like Phloof! I can't say enough good things about this colour; I highly recommend it to everyone.

8) MAC Gleam

MAC Gleam

And last but not least, we have Gleam. This is quite a complex shade. According to MAC's website, Gleam is a "barely pinked gold" with a Lustre finish. I'd say the finish is more similar to Retrospeck than to Honey Lust. 

I don't use this colour very often either, because I can't really find a use for it. Which is a shame, because it is such a pretty colour!

So that's the entire collection!

Thank you for reading, and I hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Melissa

NOTD: OPI Goldeneye

OPI Goldeneye

Ok, I just totally realized saying the name of this polish out loud, that "OPI Goldeneye" totally rhymes!! Anyway, totally off topic.

I also just realized that I said "totally" three times in that sentence.

This polish is from OPI's newest collection for holiday, the James Bond collection. This collection is full of a lot of reds, and there was only two colours that really caught my eye: this one and Live and Let Die.

In case you didn't know, all the polishes in this collection are named after Bond films.

OPI Goldeneye

This polish is a clear based yellow gold. It's actually hard to tell that this has a clear base, because there is SO MUCH GLITTER!!!!! This literally looks like flakes of gold on my fingertips. 

I did two coats on my fingers, and it was opaque with that. However, in some angles, it looks like there are bald spots still on it. But when you look at them dead on, it looks completely opaque.

OPI Goldeneye

I'm not sure how I feel about this colour. The formula is great; it was smooth and flowed evenly. It has a lot of colour; a lot of pigmentation. But I'm not how good this colour looks on my skin tone. I'm very pale and cool toned, and this is a very warm, almost yellow, gold. That being said, this is a great colour in every way. Each to their own, I suppose.

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa

Review: CoverGirl Lash Blast Fusion Mascara

CoverGirl Lash Blast Fusion Mascara

Today's post is going to be a quick review of a mascara I recently bought, the CoverGirl Lash Blast Mascara in Very Black. I had used this mascara before, a few years back, but I couldn't remember what it did for my lashes. Since I needed a new mascara, I decided to give it a try.

Purple is my favourite color, so I'm really enjoying the packaging on this. That being said, this is a rather bulky mascara tube. It's nothing atrociously big, but it's not very slim, and it's rather heavy. 

brush

The brush looks the same as the one on their original Lash Blast. It is a pretty large brush, but not too big that I jab myself in the eye whenever I use it. 

The colour is pretty good; it's a rich black that makes statement on the lashes.

lashes-before

lashes-after

As you can see, this lengthens my lashes quite a bit. This mascara promises both volume and length, but it definitely gives me more length than volume. 

This is two coats of mascara in the pictures above. After two coats, it can start to get a little clumpy, but this mascara is actually pretty decent for not being clumpy. 

Staying power is good, too. After about seven/eight hours of wear, it can start to wear down a bit. 

Overall, I'm pleased with this mascara. I would have liked maybe a little more volume, but I'm pleasantly surprised because I got this on sale for $6.99 CAD!!!!

My Rating: 9/10

Thanks for reading!!!

Melissa