Review - Revlon Photoready Foundation.

One of the most eagerly anticipated drugstore foundations ever (exaggerate much?), has finally arrived in the UK... There are so so many reviews out there of this product, but what the heck, I thought I'd add mine to the mix. 

The packaging is fab, for one reason and one reason alone - the pump! Not only is the fact that there is a pump a great thing, but its also a very well designed one, which allows you to dispense a little or a lot of the foundation. Please Revlon, add one to the Colourstay range now? Those bottles are so messy without a pump...

Shade range wise, here in the UK, we seem to start at shade #02 "Vanilla" for some reason - I'm not sure if shade #1 missed the plane over or they just aren't bothering with that one over here... 

I was actually sent shade #4 "Nude" to review, but there was no way that shade was ever going to work on me. I was desperate to give it a go anyway, being the foundation junkie I am, so I picked up shade #2 "Vanilla". I was shocked (in a good way) when I realised it was actually a little bit too pale for me... I usually have trouble finding shades pale enough. Luckily Revlon was on 3 for 2 at the time so I picked up the next shade up "Shell". On most days Shell works fine, somethimes I have to mix in a little of the Vanilla shade too... The point is though, if you are pale, then this is a great foundation colour wise. The same unfortunately can't be said about the darker shades. This is surprising really because Revlon do so well shade wise in the Colourstay formula...

In the image above, all three shades look very similar in the bottles, and they are in fact very close, but have subtle differences in undertone and darkness;

Above from L-R - Vanilla, Shell and Nude. Vanilla and Shell are both light, however vanilla has a more yellow undertone, while Shell has more of a neutral/pink tone to it. Nude is slightly darker with a yellow undertone.

I've also heard a lot said about the shimmer/glitter in this product. Yes it is there, for sure - the particles are very very fine, but are there non-the less. I'd describe the particles as a finely milled shimmer rather than a full on sparkly glitter. So if you like matte, or completely detest shimmer, give this one a miss. Also if you have large pores then I have heard and read a lot of reviewsstating that the shimmer can draw attention to them, so definitely consider this too. Once applied and buffed in, I don't notice shimmer when I'm out and about in the sunlight, but my skin looks radiant and dewy. I do have a few open pores either side of my nose, however I don't personally find that this foundation makes them appear any larger.

 Given that this is called "PhotoReady" foundation, I was surprised to find that this carries an SPF of 20. I'm no makeup artist, but I know that SPF and photography do not make a good match. Indeed, it's an issue I have fallen victim to myself in the past (I actually look like casper in the photo's from one uni ball...). 

Below are pictures of the product blended onto the skin with and without flash...

 Above - product pictured without flash.

Above - product pictured with flash.

I personally think that for everyday photography purposes, eg days out with friends, BBQ's etc. there is not too much of a "bounceback" effect from the flash, and the foundation doesn't make the skin appear to have too much of a white cast. For a photoshoot or occasions where intense light is going to be used, it may not be quite right.

One issue I did have with this foundation is that it can be difficult to blend... Fingers can produce a streaky finish, a traditional foundation brush produces a streaky finish... I was at a bit of a loss really... Then I tried stippling brushes, which work reasonably well (MAC 187, ELF powder brush and Sonia Kashun flat topped face brush)... I think any decent kabuki or flat topped brush would work well. At times though, even these brushes need a little bit of extra work with fingrs etc to blend... If you can manage to find a brush that works well for you, then this looks lovely and dewy when applied, but you have to be extra vigilant for streaks with it in my experience.

On my normal-dry skin I find this foundation has a reasonable staying power - it does need setting with powder (I use ELF HD powder) and a touch up with pressed powder about half way through the day. If you have oily skin I would expect wear time to be reduced though, so consider your skin type before purchasing!

I have such mixed feelings about this foundation - I really really wanted to love it. I like it, and would probably repurchase it (look out for special offers as this retails at £12.99 which is a lot for a drugstore foundation). On days when I have the right brush to hand and the time to blend it out properly to check that there are no streaks, I love the way it looks... however if I'm in a rush I have to reach for something a little bit more reliable...


Have you tried this? What did you think?

Revlon Spring/Summer 2010 Lipglosses...

I picked a couple of these up myself recently as Boots had Revlon on 3 for 2 offer, however I was also sent a set of four of the five shades for review purposes. There is a further shade in the collection called Fire Cracker which looks like a great wearable red shade.

The glosses come with doe foot applicators, and retail at £6.49 each.

 L to R - Coral Reef, Peach Petal, Lilac Pastelle, Pink Pop. 

As they are glosses, all the shades are fairly wearable in my opinion - a gloss always seems like an easier way to wear a strong colour without looking as "formal" as a lipstick, so bright glosses are a great way to ease yourself away from nudes...

Peach Petal is the palest and most "nude like" shade so is probably the one that will sell out fast! These shades are always popular;

This shade looks pretty on its own, but I have also tried it over coral and peach lipsticks and it looks so pretty over those as well, toning down the colour and adding a glossy sheen. 

Coral Reef is a fairly bright orange coral shade... I imagine this looking great for a summer evening;

I'm not planning to go on holiday this year, but if I was, this is a shade I'd definitely pack for evenings out. 

Lilac Pastelle was the shade that initially grabbed my attention - it reminded me of the cremesheen gloss from MAC in Fashion Scoop that we were all going loop-de-loop for last year.

Unlike the MAC version this is much more pigmented and actually gives the lips colour when worn alone - another winner.

Finally Pink Pop, which is a bright blue-based pink with a hint of fuscia.

This is a lot more wearable than it looks in the tube! A nice shade for both day and evening wear...

The glosses are really comfortable on the lips - they remind me in feel of the MAC cremesheens, but are more pigmented, so deliver more on expectations. They last reasonably well for glosses, but like any gloss they will need a top up after food and drink. They are not too sticky either. 

These glosses are a definite winner in my book - I'll be keeping my fingers crossed these shades are available for a long period...

NOTD - Revlon Lilac Pastelle Polish

This is the second shade I was sent recently for review purposes from the new Revlon SS10 collection. I think this shade works a lot better with my skintone, and is also a more work appropriate "safe" colour. I do like Minted though - green and blue polishes are great fun, just ever so slightly tricky to wear!

This is a really soft pretty pinky lilac pastel and very wearable - I love this one... 
Formulation wise, this is again quite thin, and takes 3 coats to get "bottle colour", but with a topping of seche vite it wears very well - picture above was taken after two days of wear, and there is no tip wear or chipping. 

Which is your fave? Minted or Lilac Pastelle?  

NOTD - Revlon Minted

This is one of the new polishes from the Revlon Spring/Summer 2010 Collection designed by Gucci Westman, former international artistic director for L'ancome. This is apparently her first full collection for Revlon.

I have to say I am always a little dubious about green nail polishes... my hands have a slight pink tone, which can look a little, well, vomititious with green, especially pale green. This one is not too "green tippex" however, and works better than some I have tried. I can't say I am entirely sure this looks great on me, but I still like it...

While I wouldn't say this is a formal or work friendly polish, its definitely a fun colour, and although pastel colours can at times be a little temperamental, when done well they look relaxed and laid back - prefect for a BBQ... laid back day at the beach etc... *snaps self out of idyllic dreams about the summer she should be having, and focuses on the reality that she will be spending summer carrying boxes while she moves house... amongst other things*

 

Consistancy wise, this is a thin polish, which needs two-three coats to achieve "bottle" colour. It does wear well however, and the pictures above are taken after two days of wear. I'm impressed that there is no evident tip-wear.

I am a fan of the Revlon polishes and think that for the price (£6.29) they usually have trend concious shades which are slightly more sophisticated than many other ranges on the market.


Disclaimer - this product was sent to me for review purposes. As always reviews are honest, and based on my experiences and opinion... And I don't get paid for my reviews (Jeez - if I did do you think I'd be sat in on a Saturday night writing about nail varnish? No! I'd be out there drinking some sort of cocktail, possibly involving champagne) Always check as many sources as you can before making a decision about a purchase.

Nail Polish Lemming Alert...

This shade is released in June 2010....

 

This is the shade that graced the talons of  Florence Welch of Florence and The Machine at the BRITS 2010.... I love the look of this shade! Gray Suede from Revlon.... You will be mine!

Revlon Colourstay Mineral Mousse

I purchased this foundation with my own sweet dollar (or to be more precise, UK sterling) recently at Boots... I've been intrigued by the Revlon colourstay line, since I first started to hear raves about the colourstay liquid foundation.

 

So when I saw this gracing the shelves, I decided that maybe this would be worth a try - The mineral thing always appeals to me, with dry skin which somehow also manages to breakout occasionally, but with the flexibility of a mousse/liquid formula... This was on special offer in Boots - I think it was approx £10.00, but may retail for a couple of quid more at full price... You get 30mls of the product, and it contains SPF20, which a pretty good SPF level for a drugstore range - most mineral powders run at around SPF15.

More pics and review after the jump!

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Revlon Double Twist Mascara.

I was recently kindly sent this mascara to review by Revlon. I have not been paid for my views, and my reviews are always honest. 

This is the latest "revolutionary brush"... a hybrid of a traditional thickening brush, and a separating comb;

 
The black bits are the brush.... the red bits are the comb... Revlon claim this combination produces "Massive Volume and Remarkable Definition."

It is available in black, blackest black, blackened brown and blackened ruby, as well as a waterproof version - a tube will set you back £8.31, although at the moment, Superdrug have a 3 for 2 across all makeup ranges. 



In theory, this mascara really should offer the best of all worlds... something to please the fans of both combs and brushes... can such a thing really be possible!?

At first glance I quite like the packaging for this mascara... shiny and red, a nice change from the standard black tubes. The opening of the tube is really wide as the brush is a whopper. This inevitably means that the mascara is likely to dry up quite quickly. 

Speaking of the brush...

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Drugstore Bits And Bobs...

I was in Boots yesterday, and decided to pick up a few bits - Revlon has a special 3 for 2 offer on at the moment, and I decided to take advantage as I don't own much from the range - everyone raves about the nail-polish, so I picked up a couple, and then threw in one of those matte lippies for good measure...

I chose nail varnishes in shade #200 "Steel Her Heart", a lovely shimmery silver grey, and shade #025 "Plum Night" - this looks amazing in the bottle - a lovely dark cream purple shade - very autumn/winter. I haven't tried either yet, but I'm looking forward to the purple in particular...

I also picked up one of the lipsticks from the Matte range, in the shade "Pink Pout" - I know we have all seen this one before, but here's a photo anyway... Again- I haven't tried this yet, and to be honest, I'm really no sure its "me", but heck, it was free...

I also perused the Natural Collection stand, as the blogosphere is buzzing with rumours that their lipsticks/glosses are really rather good... I picked up a Moisture Shine lippie in "Rose Bud" (Orson Welles Flashback anyone?), and a lipgloss in the shade "Parfait"

As suggested above, the lipstick is indeed sheer, but a pretty pink. Its a pretty non-descript shade, but nice enough. It smells a bit chemically, like, well, like a cheap lipstick to be honest, but if that doesn't bother you, then the range is definitely worth a look for very reasonably priced (£1.95 a piece) everyday colours.

The lipgloss has a somewhat more pleasant smell than the lipstick, slightly vanilla, slightly orange, slightly chemical, but not unpleasant in my opinion. Its creamy and fairly well pigmented as well - the formula might be a bit drying on people with very dry lips, as this is not one of those really succulent, moist looking glosses.

Swatches on the back of the hand;

Above - Rose Bud on the lips - clearly very sheer, but completely non-offensive

Above -Parfait on the lips - as this shows, this is a fairly well pigmented gloss, and will be popular among fans of the Nude Lip look - I'm not altogether sure about it on me though - slight corpse like effect has been noted.

Any other "must haves" from either of the ranges?

MizzWorthy xxx

Revlon Runway Nails... A Finger Bling Give-Away!

I was sent these nails quite a while ago to review, but I was trying to grow my own nails at the time, so I didn't really want to have to buff them and apply press-ons... However, I have heard several raves both in blogworld, and on youtube lately about this range.

Therefore I have decided to share the love... I recieved seven sets of nails, which I'll never get through, so I'm looking for a few beauty junkies to try these outs and write a mini review for me, which will be published on this here blog...

The nails I recieved are all from the "Runway Collection", they are all medium length, contain glue, a buffer and 24 nails - they come in 12 sizes and Revlon claim that everyone will be able to fit these to their nails.

The styles up for grabs are all based around a classic french nail, but the tips have been blinged up substantially... for example, the style "stella" has a criss-cross design on the tip, while "sequins" has a glitter design.

As I said, I have seven pairs,and I'm going to keep two pairs for myself to test over the party season, so I'm looking for 5 people to give a set a test drive...

All you need to do is leave a comment down below (you don't need to explain why you want the nails though - I'll be using random.org to pick people!) saying you want to be counted in. Subscribers only please, as I don't want the give-away to be hijacked by the likes of moneyexpert.com, as has happened on other people's giveaways before.

Please bear in mind though, if you do enter and you get the nails, I would be really grateful for a mini-review of them (just honest thoughts on how easy they are to use/remove, how well they fit, how long they last - nothing major!).

I will ship internationally.

I'll close this at midnight on Sat 31st UK time, and announce the winners/testers the following day.

Thanks everyone!

MizzWorthy xxx