Hey Everyone,
I don’t know about you but crazy as this sounds, I’m getting bored of higher end brands. I shouldn’t say that too soon I reckon but ever since I’ve caught myself falling in love with drugstore foundations and mascaras, I’ve been putting my foot down on unexplored drugstore makeup territory. Trust me, my wallet is thanking me too.
Target Australia and Woolworths were selling all of their Covergirl products at 50% off. Yes, half off. I pretty much went crazy and then with the Maybelline Dream Mousse range on my wish list, I picked up a few of those too. Here’s a haul of the products and my first impressions.
1. Covergirl Clean Foundation
Apparently this is one of Covergirl’s top products. It claims to have a natural finish, designed for normal skin, is water-based so it doesn’t clog your pores and has a fresh, non-cakey finish. Coming from a more department store make-up background, I was a bit iffy on buying this but it was only eight dollars so I decided to give it a try and thought you might all like a review on it one day!
First Impressions:
First off, I’m a bit disappointed with myself because I picked out the wrong color. The thing with sales is that if you don’t get there fast enough, you’re pretty much given the last of the lot. But, I guess it doesn’t really matter if you’re testing the foundations effectiveness. I reckon it would only hurt your review on its lasting finish since I don’t really want to wear this foundation out and look like I just fell into a bowl of flour. Besides that, it has a really bad smell. There’s this thing in chinese medicine called “hong yu”. It’s this black oil in a thin glass bottle and whenever I complain that I have a tummy ache, my mom whips the bottle out of nowhere and turns into a masseuse. When massaged into the skin, it takes the gas out. I know, gross. But it works. Well it doesn’t have a very pleasant smell and smells just like “hong yu”, close to a medicinal cleaning agent mixed with mouthwash. I guess Covergirl took it a step too far in the whole “clean” theme. When applied, the coverage is light to medium and it has a very glowy look but it’s right, it’s quite a natural finish. I’ll be doing a review someday so stay tuned to that!
2. Covergirl TruBlend Foundation
This Covergirl foundation is all about a mineral based liquid foundation that utilises Covergirl’s colorsphere technology to bring you again, a natural finish. I can’t say much about this yet because I haven’t tried it but it smells just like the Revlon Colorstay. It was again half off and the pump looked pretty appealing.
Swatched, it reminds me somewhat of the Revlon Photoready foundation because it has a slight glow. I don’t think it’s per-say caused by any chunks of glitter but perhaps just the formula adds a bit of sheen to the swatch. I reckon I can tell it’s about a light to medium coverage and it’s very blendable into the skin. Crossing my fingers that it’s my color. If not, there will be a review. Didn’t want to buy this thing for nothing!
3. Covergirl Eye Enhancers – Pure Romance
This is Covergirl’s Eyeshadow quad range. One of my favourite YouTube gurus of all time, emilynoel83, raves about this quad in Drama eyes. Unfortunately, with the excitement of the half off sale, that quad was long gone before I even set foot in Target. In its replacement, I purchased the quad in Pure Romance – a lovely mixture of purple, lilac and light chocolate hues. It looks a lot lighter in the picture, but overall, it’s not a really a dark palette to begin with. It’s more spring, think lavender flowers, and a picnic.
First Impressions:
I’ve worn this look twice now. It’s not as pigmented as I’d like it to be but it does the job well for a quad that’s not too expensive. Honestly, the mixture of colors is a little too light for my liking because you know me, I’m more of a dramatic smokey eye girl. It’s a nice breather though and the combination of colors work together well. I’ll be doing a tutorial review soon, I think it’ll be worth the read.
4. Covergirl LashBlast Fusion Mascara
This is Covergirl’s Lashblast’s unsung sister. I didn’t know that this even existed but I was in love with the Covergirl Lashblast volume, the original orange tube of happiness. Because I’m not a fan of most mascara siblings to the mascaras I love, I was a bit skeptical to try this out. Compared to the Covergirl LashBlast Volume, the LashBlast Fusion has more bristles and has “longer” bristles than it’s orange counterpart. It claims to not only volumize lashes, but also lengthen them. Hence, the name “fusion”.
First Impressions:
Honestly, I found that this mascara did the exact same thing the Covergirl Lashblast did. That isn’t a bad thing either. I didn’t see too much improvement in the overall length of my lashes but it did do the job in volumizing and curling. If you’re at the drugstore and LashBlast runs out, it’ll be okay to pick up the fusion as a good substitute.
5. Covergirl Outlast Lip Stain
I’ve heard a great deal about these things and with nothing particularly similar done up by other drugstore brands, I thought I might give this a go as well. This little lip marker provides a liquid stain to the lips that’s supposed to last for ages and for that “just bitten” look. It boasts a water-based colourant, a tint that lasts for ages and a convenient pen-like applicator.
First Impressions:
It felt like water on my lips and I was expecting the color on the main part of the pen but it comes out as a daring red on me. Not a color I like wearing out and about. Overall, it was easy to apply as it boasts. Who knew a marker on the lips was so convenient? The tint is lightweight and gives great pigmentation. A bit dissapointed how the tint appears way darker than what it looks like on the tube. It’s also quite sweet!
6. Covergirl & Olay Simply Ageless Eye Concealer:
After I asked you what you’d like to see bought from Covergirl on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/roseannetangrs), one of you said that you wanted a review on the Olay Simply Ageless Eye Concealer. Glad that it was pretty much the last on the rack, I grabbed it with an evil smirk. This eye concealer combines the effects of Olay’s serum into a concealer that brightens under-eye circles. I’m pretty sure that this is meant for older women but I guess it’s never too early to start.
First Impressions:
The olay concealer is much too light. Covergirl only provided two shades of this and I picked the darker one so I’m not sure who to blame. Instead of using this as an eye-concealer because I don’t want to look like a reverse panda, I decided to use this as a cream based highlighter. I blend it on the top of my cheekbones and on on the bridge of my nose for a muted light. It doesn’t really work very well but it works and I don’t see myself using it for its actual purpose anyway. Supposedly the white serum doesn’t contribute to the color but I think it does. I think they’re wrong about this one.
Maybelline Haul!
1. Maybelline Lash Stiletto Mascara
Don’t worry, I’m getting tired of writing at this point too. Haha. Maybelline mascaras were also going for $10 bucks each. Hearing rave and not so rave party reviews of the Stiletto Mascara, I popped this into my basket without even thinking twice.
First Impressions:
I feel like the black color payoff wasn’t as black as normal. It was sort of a gray dark black. Like a carbon which wasn’t quite conventional nor that pleasant either. Nonetheless though, it did a great job with lengthening my lashes but not so great on curl performance. Volume was average as well. I’ll try a it out a few more times, it might be because I only just opened it. I never like mascaras the first time I use it.
2. Maybelline Dream Mattte Mousse Foundation
I’ve always wanted to try this baby, but of course I’ve always been skeptical about how well I could wear a mousse or how a mousse could ever be a great foundation. This foundation claims to give you a velvet touch, a matte finish which is ideal for normal to oily skin. You have to use sponges for this, using your hands might get a little messy.
First Impressions
Applying a mousse foundation for the first time was a little tricky for me. I whipped out my sponge, got a little bit of the mouse and started spreading it all over my face but I found that chunks of mousse would fall off my face so I didn’t know what to do. Eventually, I figured that I should press the foundation into the skin first before spreading and that worked wonderfully. This really does give you that smooth and velvet touch they claim it does and it does stay matte throughout the day or for about 4 hours at least which is pretty good! I oil up in like 20 minutes. It gives a very soft sheen, not glowy at all, very muted light which is also very nice. Applying additional products is a bit hard on this because I find that my studio finish concealer just glides off because of such a smooth touch so a light coverage powder to set is a must. It provides light to medium coverage when applied with a sponge.
3. Maybelline Dream Liquid Mousse Foundation
When I swatched this at the store, I fell in love immediately. It has the perfect consistency and texture that any liquid foundation dreams to have. It’s very smooth, blendable and had very good coverage when i swatched it on the back of my hand. I already had the dream matte mousse in my basket and I really didn’t need another Maybelline foundation to try but that voice inside my head said, “Do it.” I’ll need to talk to that voice inside my head one day, I’ll need it to tell it to stay quiet in times like these. This foundation claims an “air-whipped” liquid that gives 100% poreless skin that’s ideal for normal skin.
First Impressions:
Well, it didn’t give as much coverage on the face as I thought it would. It’s about a medium coverage but it does blend very well and the consistency and texture of this foundation is gold. My face felt smooth to touch after the application but I can’t justify the 100% poreless claim since I still did see my pores. Overall, so far, a great everyday foundation to have.
And there we have it! I just noticed how wrinkly my hands are. I need more hand cream. Remind me.
What product here do you want me to review first?
Love,
Roseanne