MAC Tropical Taboo SIMMER Mineralize Blush and MAC NC20 Pro Longwear foundation fluid swatch/ reviews

MAC 2013 Tropical taboo collection came out with a bunch of usual mineralize blushes. Here's a review of the "Simmer" mineralize blush.

I thought I got an unusal one where there's way more of one shade than the other. Then I looked around online reviews and turned out it did seem like MAC intended this to have less heavy shade and more light shade in the same pan.

It's a apricot-beige-gold shimmer on one side and a plum on the other. It's a warm plum (though could be because the pan size is so small it's hard to pick up the shade without getting a bit of the apricot beige color in it too), not very dirty plum .

I'm not sure how the veining works underneath, but it does seem like there's gold shimmer on top for a few layers then there might be more plum underneath.

Here's the swatch: 

You can see it's a typical MAC mineralize blush consistency, there are bits of 'flecks' of shimmers while the rest of the color seems more evenly pigmented. It's not chunky by any means but does show up as visible shimmer under the sun.

Here it is on my cheeks- I used an even mix of both. I had to use a stippling / skunk brush (just a cheap sonia kashuk one, which is like MAC 187 brush but less bristles).  The lighting is indoor so overall a bit warm.

I also listed the other items I was wearing. I'm wearing Fancl skincare base creamy in shade "Natural pink", which is an illuminating foundation base, and trying my new MAC NC20 pro longwear foundation too. Then followed by a sheer application of Cezanna UV powder foundation (one in the blue case, shade #1 Cream Beige) then the MAC Simmer blush.

My cheeks are naturally a bit red so any blush shade does get influenced by that. It comes out as a plummy red. I thought the shade was a bit of de javu, like easily replicated by a lot of other plum blushes on the market, especially given my red cheeks which probably changes the color a bit. Unfortunately I didn't love the effect under the sunlight as it accentuated pores.

Here's MAC NC20 Pro Longwear foundation.

On my arms a quick swatch- I was in a bit of a shock when I applied some and realised how yellow the shade seems. I purposely applied some near a tiny bruise on my arm to see the coverage.

Below is before blending:

Blended out a bit on top of the bruise- again you can see the yellow tone.

Blended more

Fully blended. Yes it does have a decent coverage, probably covers half the bruise.

It's creamy but pats in to the face easy- though if you don't blend quickly or have dry skin it probably sticks to creases a bit like below.

Again, finished look. It gave a refined finish actually, it's not a full coverage (but I'm sure it's buildable). But after powder foundation on top it's medium coverage even though I applied a rather sheer layer.  A little also goes a long way.

I'm quite surprised it didn't turn out as yellow as it looked on my arms (my arms are probably a shade paler than my face though), but as I applied it over face I can still see a yellow cast, not sure whether it's because I had an illuminating primer underneath plus a paler powder foundation on top so the yellow tint didn't come through as much.

In terms of longwear of the foundation, I thought it was average, after 5-6 hours I still see a bit more oxidation like how my skin reacts with most liquid foundations- it always look a bit more dull in the afternoon. In the cold winter at the moment I think this is not very forgiving if you have any flakies or uneven skin, it does tend to sit in the lines a bit. The finish is a satin matte finish, it's not glowy or dewy or super 'natural'. It looks like "you have good skin, but I can see you are wearing makeup" sort of finish.

Blush rating 3/5. Foundation rating 3/5.

MEISHOKU, KUMALESS Brown Zone Concealer (Pink) for undereye swatch/ review

Meishoku KUMALESS Brown Zone Concealer is a Japanese drugstore brand, retails around 10-12USD. They are housed in a 12g squeeze tube with a fine nozzle. 

According to manufacturer, it's specially designed for the dark eye circles caused by poor blood circulation. The orange/pink concealer covers blue / brown eye circles, which help to hide fatigue looking. Infused with vitamin E, it helps to promote blood circulation, brighten and nourish eye areas to prevent dryness

My dark circles are probably closer to brown, so I chose the pink version above.

There's also a blue version (called "Blue Zone" on the tube) which is a orange toned concealer aimed at correcting blue eye circles. packaging is like this below:

 Here's my PINK version (called "Brown Zone")

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Here's the swatch, on the right is the product blended out. You can see a small amount stretches for a bit.  

I have pretty bad dark circles, about 2 foundation shades deeper than rest of my face, partly hereditary partly because of lack of sleep, and partly because of a lot of hayfever/ allergy issues.

My overall verdict is this should be an undereye brightener (think YSL teint eclat), rather than eye concealer. it will conceal and reflect for those with really light circles, however if you use this one alone, it can look a bit ashy on top of real dark circles. This is best used almost as a primer before foundation (or both before and after), to give more coverage. Or layered with another more opaque undereye concealer. 

The brightening effect is good, because the pigments are very fine, it's not overly shimmery or fake looking- it's a very good undereye brightener for $12USD but it will not double as a concealer for anyone who has dark circles at least 1-2 foundation shades darker than their face.

Compared to YSL teint eclat radiant pen, the YSL ones are probably superior quality and really have their brightening / reflective technology surpassing this , however YSL also costs a lot more.

Rating: 4/5.

Estee Lauder Cyber White Brilliant Cells Extra Intensive BB Cream (Creme) (Multi-action formula) review/swatch

It seems 2010 and 2011 are the year of the BB creams. Just about every single Asian brand has released a BB creme, now the Western brands are all jumping on the band wagon.

Personally I think BB cremes are just variations of tinted moisturisers or light foundation fluids, depending on how each cosmetic company markets it or formulates it.

Estee Lauder's Cyber White line is Asian exclusive, they are whitening lines which aims at brightening the skin, and occassionally the Cyber White line also makes base makeup. This BB creme is released in 2011. I know most searches say it's BB Cream but the product label says BB "Creme". Same thing.

 

It's housed in a pretty plastic white tube with a shiny mint green silver cap packaging. However the mint green cap will  get scratched easily and peel & chip in your makeup bag after a while.

The squeeze nozzle opening is very small, which is perfectly suited for dispensing the right amount.

Here it is on the skin, straight from tube on very left, blended out in middle, then completely blended on the right.

I've now blended the middle section as well- you can see the coverage is very light, because it doesn't cover the small freckle up the top. There is a light luminosity being picked up when you look closely though, while there are no visible shimmers to this product, there is a glow to it on application.

Under different lighting which is closer to the actual color, you can see it's like a very thin foundation or tinted moisturiser, it's very spreadable and soft on the skin, it's probably slightly pink toned rather than yellow. It melts into my pale skin, I generally wear the lightest or 2nd lightest foundations in most Asian brands.  Wears reasonably well for 5 hours, but I could do with a powder touch up by 5 hour mark for sure. It will not slide off my face or oxidise which is the typical problem I have with my liquid foundations.

However as mentioned, it offers very little coverage. If you are used to traditional foundations which will cover majority of blemishes or freckles completely, then this is not for you. You'd probably still be able to use this as a tinted makeup primer though. I generally apply this after a light primer (usually with shimmers), then press on some powder foundation lightly, or use pressed powder.

It then gives me a low coverage (but natural looking finish), my skin underneath can breathe through, and it's not mask-like.

Overall I quite like this BB cream, it's a generous 30ml which lasts plenty long, I usually use about 2 pea sized amount for the full face. I still use concealer no matter what foundation I use.

Suitable for those who prefers light coverage and a tinted moisturiser that gives you a breathable skin. I have not experienced congestion or irritation with this despite having super sensitive skin. It has a very light floral scent which dissipates quickly after application.

Overall 4/5. Thumbs up for the blendability and featherlight finish. However while I do love light foundations, this could offer slightly more coverage. It also does require a powder on top to set.

YSL Palette Collection Collector Powder for the Complexion Autumn Winter 2008

I forgot since when, but YSL started releasing a collector's face powder every year usually during autumn/winter collection or Christmas. They feature wonderful prints and are usually a little bit luminous.

This was the one from 2008, yes took me a while to review this...

It comes in 3 color stripes, with the YSL Collection text as a gold overspray on top. One single swipe and the beautiful text is gone.

Comes in the standard YSL shiny gold mirrored compact, with YSL font on top.

There's also a pretty average brush included. It does ok as portable brush but if given any other choices, I'd just go with my regular powder brushes.

The three colors are a soft luminous pink, an ivory with very fine gold shimmers, then a velvet (almost matte) light beige.

Here's a swatch- you can see the color is barely picked up, because this face powder really does have minimal color. On the very right is all the colors mixed together, which is a soft pinky-glowy beige face powder. The golden shimmers are more prominent there because of the YSL golden text overspray. Once that goes, I expect a lot less visible shimmer.

The powders are mostly 'luminous', which works well as an overall face powder after regular foundation just to finish the face off. It doesn't provide any coverage, but just seems to even the skintone out.

I like the very subtle tint, because some foundations can go on a bit mask like or too pale, then this helps to bring some 'natural' color back into my face.

Overall 4/5.

It's definitely not essential and if you actually hunt this down you'd probably be disappointed, because it is a pretty basic simple overall face powder, does not quite double as a highlighter either given the luminousity is so subtle. No way would this work as a blush due to the lack of pigmentation too.

The compact only contains 9g of powder, (most pressed powders or powder foundations 8g (e.g. Burberry powder foundation, to 9g, e.g. Fancl lucent pressed powder). With the powder being so finely milled, I actually do think you need a few extra swipes to get enough quantity, so 9g would probably not last all that long.

However, I do like this, after all half the thing about using makeup is being able to look at pretty things, and this is very pretty indeed.

Fancl Lucent Pressed Powder

Fancl Lucent Pressed Powder was released in late 2010 or early 2011 I think. I use and LOVE Fancl "Skincare Base Creamy" which is a lightly luminous foundation base/ primer. I thought the pressed powder might equally impress me.

Comes in a separate refill and foundation case (they probably standardised the compact sizings so the foudnation case can fit pressed powders refill too).

Ingredients:

Everything's SEALED in plastic, very clean. This is because Fancl prides in adding minimal preservatives or none, to their products, so they have a short shelf life (1 year from manufacturing date and 3 months for liquds after opening and about 6 mths for powders after opening). Personally I've used Fancl products a bit past the suggested expiry date (because it is very hard to finish some skincare products within 3 months!) and I never notice a change in consistency or anything....so I'd say it's more a 'recommended' use by date.

Fitting it into the compact:

The puff'sponge included is a very short fur type furry sponge. It's a bit useless, albeit very soft. You can see I struggle to pick up any powder even after a full swipe.

Here's BEFORE application

Here's AFTER.

Basically as the name says, it's LUCENT, as in translucent, so I cannot detect ANYTHING on my skin really because the powder is so finely milled. Do I like this? I wish I could've gotten a refund! I'm not sure whether it does anything, it doesn't cover anything because it's basically colorless. It doesn't 'set' my makeup after liquid foundation because it's just very hard to pick up enough from the compact.

I tried using a brush like a kabuki or powder brush with this, still did nothing.

Rating of 0 out of 5.

Beaute de Kose Esprique Precious Fit Up Concealer #40 Light-Beige review/swatch

Beaute de Kose Esprique Precious line is the mid price ranged line from the Kose group. Most items are under 40USD.

This is the "Fit up Concealer" in the lightest shade #40, Light-Beige. It's in a squeeze pink tube packaging, with a small nozzle, which makes it easy to control the amount.

 

On the very left is how it would look like under the eye and blended in. It's a very pigmented concealer, and dries quickly. I usually just pat it under eye with my finger tips.  As you can see it definitely has a strong yellow tone, which is too yellow for my face but ok for undereye.

However I find it a bit too drying and the opacity means it can look ashy under eye and a bit unnatural looking.

It has the added bonus of SPF25/ PA++. Contains 15g.

Overall 2/5. Unfortunately I find the majority of the Kose foundation lines to be very yellow, when I purchase something called light beige I really don't expect it to have this much yellow tone to it. The formula is also a bit drying and the pigment could be finer to make it look more natural on the skin.