Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Review: Revlon ColorStay Velvet Crème Matte Makeup

Here's my review on the Revlon ColorStay Velvet Crème Matte Makeup. This is my current foundation and I have been using this for more than a year, hence I will be able to give a full and detailed review on this product.

This is what it looks like, a full bottle (my second one),

Product Description (Front):
NEW Matte Makeup with SoftFlex™ SPF 12 30 mL

What it claims (Back):
ColorStay Velvet Crème™ Matte Makeup with SoftFlex™ is a whisper soft velvety rich cream which magically transforms into a silky powdery veil, for the most flawless and natural looking skin. It controls oil breakthrough and retains the skin's moisture.

For proper use:
Shake well and smooth over skin.

Since I couldn't find the list of ingredients online, I've decided not to type them up. The list is too long and I don't think that it is very necessary.

The recommended retail price was about AUD$32.00 but as it may now be discontinued foundation, I was able to purchase a new one for AUD$25.95. For Australian prices, it is still pretty 'cheap' compared to other brands and prices for Revlon. Revlon in Australia is heavily overpriced compared to the states!
Score: 10/10

I love the packaging of the product, especially because it is all plastic. It won't break if I dropped it on the ground, unlike other Revlon foundations that are in glass packaging. Also, I can easily cut open the plastic tube if none of it is going through the pump (when it's running out) and so I can scoop out the rest for de-potting (putting it into a small container). I can use up 100% of the product without any going to waste. Its uses a vacuum pump, meaning that it sucks the product out instead of using a tube stick inside like a soap dispenser. This makes it very sanitary because the product is 'clean' when it comes from the pump since it has had no contact with anyone's hands or bacteria.
Score: 10/10

This what one pump looks like:
To cover my whole face, I use 1 and a half to 2 pumps.

It definitely is a velvety cream and once applied to the face, it is as though I just applied powder that sticks to my face. It gives a matte finish, meaning that the finish is powdered so there is no shininess on my face. Instead it leaves my face feeling smooth, creamy and lightweight. The texture isn't really recommended for someone with dry skin like me because it doesn't give you a dewy (hydrated, moist) look and you make find that it'll make your skin look more dry. When I first bought this, I didn't know much about skin types and textures, that is why I have to wear moisturiser and a primer underneath my foundation so that it doesn't give definition to my dry areas. I think I would have preferred to use a liquid foundation to better suit my skin type however, the matte makeup actually helps absorb my shiny moisturiser and primer so when I wear them together, I can achieve the smoothness on my face. It also doesn't slide around on my face during the day and it does stay put. I use this foundation both day and night when I go out.
Score: 8/10

Smoothed onto the back of my hand:
Smooth, covered some spots

The type of coverage is matte and coverage is fantastic. I love the fact that it covers up my redness, blemishes and lines as they almost completely disappear and it feels very light on skin, as if i'm wearing nothing at all. This is exactly my reason for not needing to use concealer. However, because it is such a great cover, it makes your skin very monotone. To counteract this, you can use a bronzer to contour or apply blush over the cheeks to put a bit of colour back into your face. I normally just wear the foundation on its own which is still okay.
Score: 9/10

Daily wear:
I wear this foundation often and I've noticed that there is about 4-5 hours of solid cover before it starts to fade. To me this is alright, even though the end of the day it is more of a light/sheer cover. I don't need such a heavy or cakey foundation because I don't need a lot of coverage so it is fine. Also, I don't need to use a powder to go over my foundation because it already gives me a matte finish. If I do tend to sweat on my face during the day, it is likely to slide around on my face however, it'll give me a nice natural, dewy glow. Unfortunately though when I scratch my face or lightly rub it, the foundation does transfer a small amount onto my hands or finger nails which is a bit of a worry.
Score: 8/10

Before applying foundation on my face and after:
It definitely covered my redness and made my face look more smooth
Note: my face isn't this red in real-life, I enhanced both pictures by editing the lighting.

Scent and SPF:
The foundation has SPF 12 and even though it isn't that high, you can smell the sunscreen, which is quite a flaw seeing as so many other foundations with sunscreen have managed to avoid the smell. With that said however, the scent is still very bearable. As the SPF isn't too high, it is suitable to wear at night when there's flash photography because your face won't look so white/dull in pictures. The higher the SPF, the more whiter your face will look. I for one, do not like looking washed out in pictures therefore I can stand wearing this foundation at night. During the day though, I would like to have a higher SPF foundation so that I can avoid being burnt on a warm, sunny day without needing to apply sunscreen. I usually forget to apply sunscreen...
Score: 6/10

I believe that it is suitable for all skin types. It is a really good matte foundation for a solid coverage and it is highly recommended for people with oily skin because it will give you a matte finish and absorb the oiliness. The texture may seem cakey at first but once smoothed over, it's actually very light! I don't believe that this can cause breakouts as I didn't experience any.

This is actually my first Revlon foundation and all I can say is that I highly recommend this brand. It's so popular online because it is known to be the most expensive foundation, but it can be comparable to high-end brands. Revlon has such an extensive range of foundations with different textures and purposes to suit you.

Score: 8.5/10

Unfortunately I'm not able to find any more of this foundation so I'm going to have to purchase a different Revlon foundation next time :( But that's okay, because I trust this brand and maybe a liquid foundation will suit my skin type just a little bit more!

Monday, November 29, 2010

Dressing For Occasions

In exactly one week, I will be having my high school graduation night! :) It's quite exciting because it'll be like dressing up for the school formal aka prom all over again.

I had my school formal early this year in March (back then I didn't have a blog) which for some may seem so early to have one but I believe that the earlier, the better. March wasn't a stressful time in school for me so the only 'stress' on our minds at that time was getting a dress, contemplating on what shoes and accessories to go with it, the make-up, the transport etc. Mind you, I wasn't stressed about it at all. These are my reasons:

1. I already had a dress that I was planning to wear.
Last year I bought a dress for my cousin's wedding so I decided to wear it again at my formal. For sure, it is a little weird wearing the same thing to a different occasion, and many would say that wearing the same outfit twice is a big no-no, but honestly, it wasn't that bad. I knew that it would be rare for me to wear that dress again so I thought, why not. I saved money and time looking for a new one, and I worried less about whether someone would wear the same. Thankfully no one did :) If I did buy a dress this year, the chance of someone having the same would have increased so much *phew*. It was a combined year level formal (year 11 and 12) so you can do the math on the probability of someone having the same x] One last thing... I haven't had the chance to wear that formal dress again since! See see, I didn't have to buy a new one after all :P

This also applies for my shoes, my accessories and bag/clutch

2. I did my own hair, nails and make-up
I didn't need someone to do my make-up for me, I had all the tools already at home. I'd watch YouTube beauty gurus and I learnt a lot from them through their tutorials! I'd also read a lot of magazines that had beauty tips for night outs like formals so I knew the basics. I really recommend D.I.Y make-up, because you save money, you can try to develop some skills and techniques and experiment with colours =]

So as you can tell, I was so organised for formal! I could say the same for my graduation too, because I've got my dress. I'm not going to show it until the night is over :P

Evening look - Formal (March 2010):
So here's my take on an evening look suitable for a formal event... such as a school formal/prom:

Gold and bronze eyeshadow
I didn't line my top lash line, apply any lipstick or use any blush. I wasn't into those products back then. Things have changed :P

With my hair, I used a curling iron but now I can do these waves with a flat iron :) They're just very loose waves.

Bf took this photo and made me pose x)
Foundation colour matches the rest of my body :D
Even though I have a little bit of a shirt tan :S

You can check out my other evening looks here and here

Going from day to night (December 2009)
I had to attend my cousin's 'tea ceremony' as well as her actual wedding, so I dressed up for both the day and the night. This is my 'transformation':

I got my hair curled at the hair dressers =]
On my face is just eyeliner, curled lashes, mascara, lipgloss and foundation!
Wore a floral summer dress

Same dress and necklace as my formal, but different dress from the day
Changed my hair, wore a different necklace, purple eyeshadow, more eyeliner and mascara

Day time - Brother's university graduation (July 2010):
I didn't have a lot of time to get ready...

Purple and pink look. Very simple day make-up
Curled lashes, no mascara

I had to wake up early that morning so I didn't get the chance style my hair. I don't think I need to anyway, it's fine being straight like that
Semi-formal dress and necklace
Make-up lasted until the afternoon thanks to the Urban Decay Primer Potion :)
Can you tell that I'm wearing foundation? It looks very natural.

My Revlon ColorStay Velvet Creme foundation review will be after this post, I promise :D

All I'm going to say is that my graduation dress is cream/beige coloured and is quite simple. Not too long and not too short, just on and below the knees - meaning that it is layered. My formal dress was silvery beige, so I don't know whether I should go with the same make-up colours again on my eyes.

I'm thinking of doing smokey eyes, but not too smokey. A bit like how I did my eyes in this blog post. I want my eyes to stand out more because there's going to be 'bright lights' at the graduation ceremony.

And this time for graduation, I'll be wearing higher heels this time, like 10cm heels! My heels were the shortest on formal night so I looked heaps short compared to all of my friends T_T And I'm not even the shortest lol! I'll be wearing gel heel cushions just in case my feet get sore.

I think I'll wave my hair again because my hair is longer than it used to be so waving my hair will look fine :)

As for nails, I might be using water decals or nail stickers... I'm not that creative with nail art ^^" For previous formal events I used false nails or just plain nail polish over my long, grown nails. My nails are currently long, so I won't be needing artificial nails. I actually find artificial nails a little annoying at times.

That's it for this post, I don't want it to get any longer =] The day after my graduation (next Tuesday), I'll have a post up and show pictures of everything ^_^

I'll leave you with a question:

What sort of dress did you wear or would you wear to your graduation?

Most people are going to be wearing long dresses for grad :/ Mine's not long at all!

I'd also really appreciate it if you have any suggestions/advice for my graduation :)

Sunday, November 28, 2010

What is Your Skin Type?

Hi =] So this will be a beauty-related post since I haven't really done any of them in a while. I'm sure you already know what this is about just from reading the title. Anyway, I decided to do this post because the lovely Tam asked me a question relating to skin care products. She told me that she's been having breakouts and wanted me to recommend her a face wash to reduce the effect, and also suggest a good foundation for her skin. I didn't ask her what type of skin she has but because she was having breakouts, I assumed that she had oily/combination skin.

Honestly, no one really can assume what type of skin someone has. Only you yourself would know. When I was a lot younger, I thought that everyone had the same skin type. Now that I look back I realise how naive I was :S Our skin differs not only by shade but also by type. Not sure what 'skin type' means? Well it's just a way to describe what type of skin you have, such as normal, dry, oily, combination (dry & oily) and sensitive.

It took me a while to realise that I had dry and sensitive skin. I was once allergic to chlorine in a specific pool that I used to have swimming lessons in, and each time I went swimming I would get a really bad red, itchy rash afterwards. The doctor prescribed me with a cream to treat it and it helped. I also stopped swimming there because I realised that that was the cause and I really hated having a blotchy red face. People at school would ask me how I got it and I'd say that it was sunburn... even when there was no sun around. I was ashamed of my sensitive skin, and no one would have understood if I said that it was an allergic reaction to chlorine. You know how young school kids are, they don't care much about your feelings and say whatever they want. Someone asked me whether it was contagious or not. I just gave them a weird look *raises eyebrows*.

I have a dry t-zone (forehead and nose bridge) so I can't comprehend how people can have that area being oily! Growing up, I used to worry about getting really bad acne because I saw that it was common in pubescent teenagers. If only I had understood that my skin type wouldn't be prone to having a bad case of acne. Those with oily skin are prone to having acne because the oil build-up on the face causes break outs and clogged pores. I used the face wash that was suitable for people who have acne and oily skin. Quite frankly, I did not care about what products I was using for my face, and then I'd get allergic reactions. Haha, I was never taught anything about skin types!

I won't go into the jargon of what each skin type is described as and stuff so I'll leave you with this quiz which was in the Dolly Beauty Book. Dolly is an Australian teen girl's magazine and in the previous issue, it came with a free Beauty Book :D That was my main purpose of purchasing this issue!

Just a few scans I've decided to include relating to skin and some which I found to be really interesting:

To me this book is like the replica of those make-up books like the ones from Napoleon Perdis and Bobbi Brown. This is much simpler and includes skin, make-up, hair and body sections :)

Feel free to do this very simple quiz. I'd like to know whether anyone has the same skin type as me (sensitive). Sorry that the scan isn't very clear on the edge =[

Here are some tips on how to 'fix' blemishes on our face, such as dark circles, redness and puffy eyes. I found this really helpful.

Simple steps on how to wash your face =]

Tips on how to face mask, and the types of masks that are suitable for your skin type

Are you allergic to any ingredients, or would you like to know what certain ingredients do to your skin? This really helps!

Oh and yes, the skin myths busted :)

Props to those who do scans for magazines, it's not that easy! Well, for me it wasn't that easy :/ As you can see, I didn't put it very straight in my scanner and there are dark bits on the edges. I knew it wouldn't have been easy, but I really wanted to share with you the information in this beauty book :) I loved how it was free and I'm glad that I got my hands on this.

There were more stuff on skin but I didn't think it was necessary to scan, and they weren't as interesting :P If anyone wants, I could scan the make-up section and hair section since they are also really interesting too =] I'll only scan if requested hehe.

Oh and some of you requested for me to do a review on my current foundation - the Revlon ColorStay Velvet Creme make up. That is on its way!

Unfortunately this beauty book can't be for sale on its own and the issue of Dolly was last month's so it isn't available anymore :( Hmm perhaps I should have made this post earlier... oops.

I'm curious to know, what is your skin type, and how do you maintain it?
Were you ever or are you still like the 'old' me, so clueless about skin care products?

Friday, November 26, 2010

E.L.F Has Arrived in Australia!

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This was what I got in my inbox today, and so I thought I'd share it with you all. I've known about E.L.F Cosmetics being in Australia but now they have officially launched their site! About time, don't cha think?! I've been waiting for E.L.F to be more readily available in Australia, especially because it is known for it's very low prices on quality items :) To my surprise, the items aren't $1 or $2 like they are in US. In fact, most of the items are $3.99... which is double the prices in the US!! Isn't that so unfair >=/ ? Things in Australia always seem to be overpriced anyway, compared to the US. $3.99 isn't overpriced compared to the drugstore items we have here, but I think the price can be better than that.

Anyway, don't get too excited about E.L.F being in Australia because the site doesn't actually have that much stuff yet :/ And I found out about their site being open about 2 weeks ago, yet the stock seems to be the same. Not feeling too keen about making a purchase just yet because the items that are available haven't really attracted me, but then again, you can't expect much from a newly opened online store. I'll wait until I see something I really like and then maybe I'll make a purchase. I don't want to splurge right now, especially because I'm still unemployed T__T

The free shipping and the free item deal going on kind of tempts me, but I have a feeling that it can get better than that, or just remain like that forever... since it's like that on the other E.L.F sites. I might as well wait until it becomes a little bit more popular and hopefully they'll have more items in stock so I can choose and spend more wisely =] That's why I've subscribed to their mailing list, so I can be updated with any deals, sales and whatnot!

So for any Australians, do let me know if you are going to be purchasing from E.L.F! Is the shipping really fast? Is $3.99 an item worth it, compared to US $1? I'm very curious, but not game enough to try just yet.

It's based in Victoria so your Melbournians will get the fastest shipping, no doubt!

I'll let you all know if I eventually make an E.L.F purchase ;) Please do the same too hehe
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