Written Reviews

Lovely natural matte finish - coverage is medium and you can layer it if you want, and it’s surprisingly blendable. Would have loved more coverage, but not a dealbreaker. Will emphasize any dry patches, so beware and prep well. May not need to be set with powder depending on your preferences and skin type. Finally found my match among the new shades - I was previously matched to Ivory, which was a shade too dark, and the lighter ones were either too light or too pink or neutral. I also love the new squeeze tube! The old glass bottle was definitely luxurious but seemed so wasteful.

I love a good compact. I also love a powder foundation, and seeing the good reviews across beauty blogs convinced me that I need this new powder foundation in my life. I don't regret the purchase, either, and thanks to the good colour match it's a product I use daily. The thing is, for oily skin, there really is no such thing as an all-day foundation in any format or category. And for oily skin, anything with words like "luminous" or "glowy" should be approached with extreme care. Be careful if you have thick skin with enlargened pores like I do, because it's very easy to go overboard and end up just adding more texture to your skin, which will be even more pronounced once the oil breaks through, as it will. This is true for any foundation, of course; I find that generally powder foundations wear better and look more natural and don't pool up in my pores or fine lines, which is true for this one too. NARS beats my failsafe NYX Stay Matte But Not Flat powder foundation in terms of colour matching and handier compact (plus more product, 12 g vs NYX's 7,5 g). As for application, the NYX powder foundation swatches easier and packs better coverage; NARS looks a bit more natural; and both wear very similarly. Maybe the differences in formula will be obvious for drier skin types (the "luminosity" etc), but for oily skin, it's a toss up; if NARS is within your budget, sure! But if you're looking for something that gets the job done and doesn't break the bank, I would get the NYX one (of which I already have backups and darker summer shades stocked up).

I love the feel of this powder — it's very, very silky and smooth, and doesn't look cakey no matter how much I apply. It does help with tone correcting somewhat, although the ffect is pretty subtle. The "soft focus" and "blurring" claims are warranted, too. This powder gives me a really smooth, but not too smooth natural matte finish and lasts reasonably well against my oily skin, and helps a little to tone down redness. I only wish the packaging wasn't so bulky!

Thanks to the waterproof formula, this version of the Rocket at least holds curl well and doesn't smudge or flake. Otherwise it is no better than the washable version at lengthening and I find it not that volumizing, either.

The non-waterproof Rocket is a good enough mascara for adding some (but not loads) of volume to your lashes if you don't find the rubbery, spiky short-bristled brush off-putting. I didn't find it very lengthening, and the non-waterproof version smudges easily on my oily skin and doesn't hold any curl at all. I would use this more if I had naturally long, curly lashes that only need a little definition but otherwise, Maybelline probably has better mascaras for those who really wamt a boost of volume.

If you want a mascara to lengthen and define plus hold your curl, here's one. The brush is curved with short fibre bristles and comes out with a nice amount of product—not too much, not too little (for my taste). With small-ish hooded eyes like mine, I like that the bristles are short and not prone to making a mess around my eyelids like larger brushes tend to, and the curling ability is a must for my short straight lashes. However if you do like your mascara to volumize, this one's not for you, and you will need to layer another mascara with this to achieve any amount of added volume. Probably because of the non-volumizing properties and the short-bristled brush I didn't find this to clump at all or come out with too much product. For a more natural, defined and lengthened look, this works wonderfully.

After all these years this is still one of my favourite powder foundation formulas. It goes on smoothly and gives light to medium coverage. It's a wonderful product for your base makeup and touch-ups, and you get refills! Too bad about the somewhat awkward shade range, although it is better than Shiseido usually does.

My rating is based on the overall performance rather than colour matching abilites: W3 is way too cool and pink-toned for my skin tone, or, IMHO, to be put in the "warm" shade range at all. That (rather personal grievance) aside, this is a great touch-up powder with an impressive colour range, which is far less impressive in Finland. It adds up some coverage, too, so what's not to love? The packaging, which gets worn down in a makeup bag pretty quickly. White I do love how the mirror has been incorporated in the compact, it's not very handy for on-the-go touch-ups under the powder pan.

I like the formula but I would actually LOVE this product if it wasn't scented. The scent itself is nice, but it is prone to irritate and dry my lips just like Maybelline's Baby Lips. The sheer colour can be built up with ease and it's effortless to apply, wear and tough up thanks to the handy twist-up pen format.

This one, like my e.l.f. Studio Stippling Brush, has held up through almost daily use and frequent washings without *any* shedding, splaying or paint chipping. I use this mostly for face powders and powder foundations and also for blending out more stubborn blushes and bronzers. It's great, and I love it, although I would love it more if it came with a travel case! Lovely, soft face brush that I can definitely recommend.

It's been 9 or 10 months since I got this brush and since then it has been almost constantly in use and washed at least twice a week, but usually even more frequently. It's not splaying, it's not shedding (it didn't even when I first got it), the paint on the ferrule or the handle isn't chipping and the print with the brand and brush name on it hasn't faded one bit. I love it. I can't say whether this brush competes with e.g. MAC or MUFE brushes, but it certainly works for me. Maybe I would love it more if the bristles were more densely packed and the length difference between the white stippling bristles and black buffing bristles was a little smaller, but it is a perfectly good brush for any liquid or cream face product.

It's a good concealer and I have actually taken to wearing this blended with moisturizer instead of foundation all over my face + spot concealing undereyes (love the salmon undertone for it!) and blemishes. I am still a rookie at concealing away red spots but this is a good enough concealer.

I bought this on a whim while visiting overseas, and while I do love this, I feel that this can emphasize large pores and fine lines despite the claims to blurring them. That said, it excels both as a highlighter and all-over finishing powder and it gives me the most natural, healthy glow.

I would have loved the Baby Lips balms had they not irritated my lips and made them chap even worse. The colour of Pink Punch is cute and can be built up if you like that sort of thing, but if you want to condition your lips, maybe consider something else.

I tend to use this bronzer as a blusher because it is mostly pink, and it gives a lovely luminous flush to my light-medium complexion. It's mostly neutral in undertone which is a boon — not orange, and the shimmer is more of a sheen than frost on skin. At 10 dollars for 9 grams it's great value, but the included brush is terrible. It says something about the good formula that even with that thing this bronzer applies and blends smoothly.

The shades I have, Cocoa, Khaki, Amethyst, Sandglow, Rosegold and Pink Opal are all smooth and creamy to apply and for the most part, excellent pigmentation. All are shimmery, with Pink Opal containing larger bits of shine. Pink Opal also applied sheerer and blended out to nothing. Once these shadows set, they won't budge except maybe on the oiliest of eyelids. I experienced some slight creasing after 10 hrs of wear but my lids are super oily. Very impressive, and very good to travel with.