Monday 25 February 2013

Swatches: Pale Foundation

Geekily (that ain't a word), I'm rather excited about this post. I would like to head it "the eternal search for a pale foundation", but that sounds more like a film than a blog-post and was too long for the title ya know! I mentioned in my last post, the review for Lancome's new Teint Visionnaire foundation, that I'd spent some time swatching and photographing a bundle of my foundations to see how they compared to each other and to Teint V. This is probably half my current stash (!) and as you'll hopefully be able to see there is quite a difference between them.
It's harder than it looks to photograph this amount of swatches on your own arm whilst taking the photo with the other hand! However, if there are any you'd like me to compare separately (all the Lancome together for example) then just let me know and I can provide (probably more accurate) swatches on the back of my hand. I've also tried to mix photos with and without the flash as they can look different.
I tried to put the foundations into some sort of light-dark order before swatching, but I was only guessing from memory and through the bottle, so don't take that part as gospel. They always appear in the same order though, on the arm, on the shelf and individually.  First up is (the definite lightest) Illamasqua Rich Foundation in 115. Lancome Teint Miracle in 005 Beige Ivoire
Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclat in BR10
Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclat in B10 Lancome Teint Idole Ultra 24H in 005 Beige Ivoire
Estee Lauder Double Wear 1C1 Shell
Lancome Teint Visionnaire 005 Beige Ivoire Lancome Teint Miracle 010 Beige Porcelaine MyFace Cosmetics MyMix Fair MF101
Soap & Glory Show Good Face in The Fairest Of Them All
Clarins Ever Matte in 103 Ivory
E.L.F. Studio Flawless Finish in Porcelain
Now onto the swatches and firstly I applied them to my arm straight out of the bottle, easier said than done in some cases! Estee Lauder I had to apply to my finger then onto my arm or it would've gone everywhere and MyFace had an air bubble blocking the hole, so I squeezed out way more than I intended on that one! It took a lot of labelling on these photos, so the one without the flash is exactly the same, I just added a few reminders of which was which, but you'll be able to see clearly from the 'flash' pic above it.
and some close-ups Illamasqua is clearly much lighter than any of the others. I was definitely correct in saying Teint Visionnaire was darker than my other 005 Lancome foundations (Teint Miracle and Idole). It is actually closer to (Teint Miracle) shade 010 which is two shades darker!  It sometimes even looks darker due to it's orangey tone compared to the beige of 010. So please don't think that just because it's shade 005 and the lightest that it will be a perfect match, something to note definitely. I think it's also quite clear to see the pink tone of YSL's Le Teint Touche Eclat in BR10 compared to B10 which is more beige. Blended (actually 'smeared' would be the correct term)...
and closer...
None of them quite have that blue-Scottish undertone do they?!  I don't have much else to add as I think the images speak for themselves.  I would say I am eternally searching for the perfect pale foundation.  I do really love at the moment, YSL and Lancome Teint Miracle (005) but have to be honest and say if they were a little touch lighter they would be perfect.  I'm very disappointed that Teint Visionnaire is that bit darker as I usually think the 18 shades Lancome provide are relatively conclusive.  As for the darker Teint Miracle, ELF, Clarins, Soap & Glory and MyFace, I never use them.  I guess I expected them to be lighter.  Expensive mistakes maybe! Illamasqua is light enough but I don't like the finish (too mask like and doesn't wear well), so I use that purely as an undereye concealer.  Do let me know if I can help out with some more swatches/comparisons of these.  What are you currently using and is it the 'perfect' match?

Monster High Monday: Dance Class Operetta

Sometimes it feels like Monday comes round real fast and it's 'Monster High Monday' again! This week I'm featuring one of my newest dolls and she's gone right up to my favourites list. I wanted her, but when I got her, I realised she was even cooler and more amazing than I'd originally thought! She is Operetta, daughter of the Phantom Of The Opera.
She has lilac toned skin and a rockabilly style which I think is super cute. She's pretty partial to a red lip! She always comes with a little mask like the Phantom as she has some 'artwork' and 'disfigured' carvings on her arm and one side of her face, just like Daddy! As scary as that should be-I think she looks stunning with it.
I also got to add a little beauty spot just next to the lower lip and switched my eyes for grey ones, not too scary actually.
So, I started with Lancome Teint Miracle in 005 with Illamasqua Rich Foundation in 115 under the eyes, Playboy First Blush in Pink Pussycat and finishing with E.L.F. Studio HD loose powder in Translucent.
On my lips are Pout Lip Line Definer and Clarins lipstick in Passion 330 (now discontinued).
The eyes took quite a lot of products. Starting with Too Faced Shadow Insurance, I applied the all over base shade (shimmery) from the Lancome Color Design palette in 103 Golden Frenzy. Next I took the pink shade from Lancome Color Fever Quad in 350, which is a really frosty pink that was required for this look. I just applied it from the lash line to a little past the crease. On top of that in the crease, I used Estee Lauder 08 Dusk (I had a GWP duo pot), which is a dusky purple for the smokey look. I didn't think there was enough of a contrast between the purple and the pink, so I applied a little Sonia Kashuk (no idea where I got this from) Enhance Eye Color in 06 Amethyst, which is a brighter purple. Under the lower lash line I blended some of the silver shade from Too Faced Ooh & Aah duo.
My liner is YSL Waterproof pencil with a flick of Lancome ArtLiner and Lancome Hypnose Star mascara.
It was alright-ish this week, the lipstick was ridiculously bright in the flesh, but I think in real life all the colours at least looked similar to Operetta. We'll see what I manage to come up with next week and in the meantime if you'd like to see me sans grey eyes and beauty spot, then head over to The Shoe Girl Diaries for an outfit I think Operetta would be proud of actually!

Friday 22 February 2013

Review: Lancome Teint Visionnaire Foundation

I intended to bring you this review for Lancome Teint Visionnaire before the product hit the shops, as I've been lucky enough to trial the foundation for the past couple of months. However, I've been suffering from migraines last week and just haven't had time to devote to jotting down all my thoughts and you know how I like a good, thorough review! I also wanted to include lots of images of the foundation actually on my face, but again this would take time to collate them all, basically I've been wearing it since the middle of January and between The Shoe Girl Diaries and Monster High Monday, you'll have seen it in action!
I'm generally quite the Lancome foundation fan, using Teint Miracle and Teint Idole, so was ecstatic to get to try out Teint Visionnaire. It comes in the usual range of 18 shades which I think does a good job of covering the majority of skin colours. I use 005 Beige Ivoire and that was the shade I was sent.
The foundation is contained in a dumpy glass bottle (30ml) with a pump dispenser and a silver plastic lid which contains a correcting cream/concealer. The foundation contains two steps for a perfect coverage and natural finish, claiming to visibly improve skins appearance, reducing imperfections and dark spots, minimising pores and leaving skin looking more refined.  It also contains an SPF20.  
The foundation part aims to even out the complexion, improving the appearance of wrinkles and pores with daily use as it contains LR 2412, the active ingredient used in the Visionnaire skincare line. While the high coverage corrector is enriched with Vitamin CG and claims to immediately reduce the appearance of dark circles, dark spots and blemishes.
So my first impressions packaging wise were that it was rather chunky. Personally I've never been one to carry foundation around in my handbag, but if you were, I think you would think twice about this one. Although it's the size of regular foundations at 30mls, I've been using this every day for at least 4-5 weeks and you wouldn't know to look at the bottle that I'd used any! It's shorter than the other Lancome foundations but very round. I feel like there's a lot of product in there! I do like the pump dispenser, I think it's the easiest and least messy way to apply foundation. The corrector is contained within the lid section and you just flip the cap up and there's even a mirror inside which is quite handy. Again it seems rather cumbersome if you wanted to carry this around and I feel you would be more inclined to with the corrector than the foundation. It is very lightweight plastic, so no issues there but too big for me to carry daily.
When I first looked at the foundation I thought it looked considerably darker than my other foundations in 005. It has a yellowish tan tone which I don't believe Teint Idole or Miracle have. I found this a bit of an issue throughout the trial and will talk about that later. I also want to add that I've since swatched this foundation along with the other Lancome ones I've mentioned and several more brands within my collection. I thought you would be keen to see how it compares against others, you can find that post here. Onto how the product worked for me. I found the pump didn't dispense very much product. Lancome recommend you work from one squirt and add more if you need to. I found I needed two squirts and I applied this to palm of my hands and applied it to my face, like you would a moisturiser. Then I applied another pump or two to the back of my hand and applied this using my Pout Airbrush, buffing it into the skin. This has become my application process for any foundation recently, so I didn't see a reason to discontinue that method. On the Lancome site they recommend you use a foundation brush and buff it into the skin, so that's fine. It feels pretty light on the skin and does indeed give a very natural looking finish. It's dewy and I definitely needed to finish with powder as I prefer a more matte look. Seeing as this is aimed at the older market, I think the finish would work well with those skin types. It's hydrating for dry skins and will not settle into lines.
As I mentioned above though, the colour just didn't feel right for me. On some days the lightest shades in any foundation can be too dark for me, so given that I found this even a touch darker than those, it was too dark. After I finished using Teint Visionnaire, I've gone back to alternating Teint Miracle and YSL Le Teint Touche Eclat in BR10 and I've definitely noticed that those two are lighter than Visionnaire. I've especially noted when I'm editing photos for the blog that TV did look too dark for me (and usually involved me lightening the image slightly to correct that) and that TM and YSL look lighter and more suitable for my complexion. Swatched on my hand here, it looks very dark, remember my hand is a couple of shades lighter than my face.  As for how the foundation worked as an 'anti-wrinkle' product, I have to be honest and say after 1 week I didn't notice any change at all.  After 4 weeks of use, I think I did start to see a difference, but it's a difficult thing to measure.  I did think that when I wasn't wearing makeup, that the few fine lines I do have seemed less prominent.     Lancome recommend using the correcting cream before foundation, but I've always preferred using foundation first and any correcting or concealing product second. This way it means you cover what is still seen instead of wasting product on areas that the foundation will cover anyway. At first I found the correcting cream a little difficult to work with. It seemed quite firm and I couldn't pick up much on my fingertip. Lancome suggest applying some to the back of your hand and working it from there on fingertips into the skin. The warmth of your hands/fingers should make it easier to blend. I felt I couldn't pick up enough to put on my hand and ration from there though! Instead I chose to dab directly from my finger to the skin. After a few days whether me using the pot regularly or just getting used to the texture, it didn't seem to be a problem any longer. The two swatches above show the concealer to the right of the foundation blob.
My skin has had several blemishes over the weeks and I had a very red looking lump next to my nose (not a spot), so I was keen to see how well the cream would work on these. Again the colour was a bit of an issue given that it matches the foundation perfectly and that was too dark for me. However they are seamless together. I used a tapping motion on the blemishes until the product blended into the skin. As it's quite thick, it covers well and does so quickly and I was very impressed with this. I would say it's something you would need to touch up several hours later as by the time I washed my makeup off at night (I usually apply it around midday), I noticed the blemishes had become a little noticeable again. I hadn't looked in the mirror previous to this so can't pin-point exactly when it starts to fade. I also used the correcting cream as an undereye concealer for dark circles. I wasn't as impressed with it here, I found it was too thick and would settle into lines and looked noticeable and/or made me look wrinkly.
Overall I think it's great value for money (£36) as although that may seem expensive, you get two products for that price and both will last ages, plus there's the added 'skincare' element contained. The packaging looks great but isn't the most practical, although I do love the application with the pump.  Had it not been for the colour issues, I probably would have liked the foundation even more, but it was hard to gain a good impression of it when it looked too dark on me.  I personally wouldn't be switching from Teint Miracle to this. I prefer TM for it's porcelain finish and YSL for it's glow and both for their better colour-match.  However I think if you're looking specifically for an anti-ageing makeup (and can get a good colour match) then this is a good product for that which will not emphasise lines while the Visionnaire element is hard at work 'behind the scenes'.  The correcting cream I definitely grew to like.  It's a product that gets results fast with minimal fuss, just tap and set with powder!  This part I would continue using but again it does pose some issues regarding the colour and I've had to spend more time blending when I've been using it with my lighter foundations.  I liked Teint Visionnaire but wasn't blown away by it if I'm being completely honest.  You can visit any Lancome counter just now to get colour matched and receive your free 7 day sample.  Debenhams are currently running a promotion instore of spend £40, get £5 off while online it's 10% off when you purchase two or more beauty products.  Is this something you would like to try?