Beauty Review: Makeup Revolution Concealer

Every once and a while, a product comes along and gets hyped up. It might be a perfectly good product--like this one, the Makeup Revolution Conceal & Define concealer--but with all the hype, it's hard to live up to expectations. 

A few months ago, I watched multiple videos singing the praises of this concealer. It's just like Shape Tape! The color selection is amazing! The wear is great! And even better, many beauty bloggers also said it was amazing. Considering it is only $7, I thought, "If I can replace that tube of Shape Tape that I don't really love, it will be worth it." 

Friends, sometimes when we hype things up as the greatest thing ever... there will only be disappointment. 

I purchased this concealer in the shade C1 (for fair skin tone with neutral undertones) at Ulta for $7. I was so excited to try it! I have a tube of Shape Tape that I've been diligently trying to use up for actual ages, because I don't really love it, but I spent $25 on it, so I feel obligated to finish it. 

The biggest question for me about this concealer was this: is this a dupe for Shape Tape? 

The answer frankly is no. And considering I don't like Shape Tape, you might think, well, isn't that a good thing? 

Well, no. Not if this is worse. 

Shape Tape is too drying for me. But this concealer from Makeup Revolution doesn't really do anything. The first time I put it on, I felt like it blended to nothing; the second time, I let it dry a little and then blended... but still, nothing. It didn't seem to cover anything. And worse, the tone of it was almost grey-beige. I found myself wondering if I had gotten a tube that was somehow different from everyone else. 

It's definitely not the worst concealer I've ever used... but I can't even count it as passable. Just like Shape Tape, I'm trying to use the tube up as quickly as I can! And thankfully, it's a rather small tube of product; I've already had to pull out the wand plunger so I can get the bits at the bottom. I find it works well enough that I can use it on my no foundation days, but it doesn't have the coverage I want and the tone of it is way, way off. 

Have you tried this concealer? Were you as disappointed as I was? Or did you love it? 

Beauty Review: Makeup Revolution Luxury Baking Powder

If you've read my blog before, you know that I love my IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores powder; it features heavily in my preferred foundation routine. 

However, the It Cosmetics powder is $32 for a jar and it's not very much in terms of weight. It works like a dream but for $32, I felt like I needed to test out some other options. 

Enter Makeup Revolution's Ghost Luxury Baking Powder. While buying some new concealer, I spotted this powder. For $9, it seemed like an absolute steal. After using it almost every day for about a month, I have some thoughts. 

How I Use It

As you probably know from my foundation routine, I wear powder underneath my foundation; it's my first step after moisturizer. I use this powder first, then apply foundation, then more powder. 

There are a few things I look for when it comes to using powder under my foundation: it doesn't make my foundation pill or look cakey; and it doesn't leave white patches. I found that this powder wasn't as dry as the IT Cosmetics; it reminds me more of elf's HD powder, but heavier. It didn't pill underneath my foundation.

How It Wears

As I said, this powder isn't as dry feeling as IT Cosmetic's. It doesn't have that instantaneous dry and matte feeling. It's not bad, but I was really hoping it would be a good, affordable dupe. 

It did set my makeup relatively well, but it did not extend the light of my foundation at all; within a few hours, I was getting breakdown around my nose and on my forehead, my two big problem areas. Even on my "no foundation days" where I just wear concealer, it ended up making my concealer look very cakey and it broke down a lot faster than usual. 

As well, I noticed that if I wasn't careful, it made me look so cakey! As well, if you don't brush it right away, it leaves large white patches. It is supposed to be a baking powder, which means you do leave it on for a while. However, if I brushed right away, I didn't get white patches. 

It's not the worst powder I've ever used, but it doesn't perform the way I would expect a baking powder to. 

Final Thoughts

Would I repurchase this powder? Absolutely not. For the same price, there are powders that don't advertise themselves as baking powders that do the exact same thing and don't look as bad. In fact, I own some of them! 

I'm still on the hunt for a good dupe for the IT Cosmetics powder. Until then, I guess I'm dropping $32 on an ounce of powder! 

Beauty Review: Makeup Revolution Fast Base Stick Foundation

I had just started doing wear tests for my mega foundation post (you can read which foundation quiz works best, as well as my mini reviews of 6 foundations, here) when I spotted the Makeup Revolution Fast Base Stick Foundation at Ulta. At only $9, it's a super affordable stick foundation. Compare to the Anastasia Beverly Hills stick foundation ($25), the Maybelline SuperStay stick foundation ($11.99), or the OG Hourglass stick foundation ($46). 

$9, comparatively, is an absolute steal. But is it a good foundation? I wore this throughout my trip to Idaho, as it is wonderful to travel with, and then did several wear tests at home (since my skin is not its best when I'm on vacation). Here's my review!

(Purchase this foundation here at Ulta.) 

The Shade Range

First things first, the current range has 18 shades (F1 to F18). There are 9 fair shades and 9 medium to dark shades. I'm not super happy with that split; it seems to be heavy on fair shades, with multiple nuanced undertones. It does go quite dark, but ultimately, there are maybe only 4-5 shades for POC compared to 9+ shades for everyone else. That's not balanced!

When testing in store, I went with shade F2 as I wasn't sure if F1 would be too light; they looked really similar, so I just went with it. However, looking at the description now, F2 is fair with yellow undertones, which is why it's not a great match for me. I think I would have been better off with F1 or F3. 

The Formula

The intention of stick foundations is, of course, speed. That's the promise of this foundation as well. Here's the (meager) description from Ulta: 

“Foundation just got faster! Available in multiple shades and a range of undertones, Makeup Revolution’s Fast Base Stick Foundation quickly perfects, contours and highlights your complexion.”

It doesn't make any claims about finish or anything, which sometimes is a good thing. 

Here's my impression: the formula is very creamy and easy to blend. However, I found that as I blended it out, it appeared quite... powdery on my skin. It doesn't settle right on my skin and leaves the finish looking rough and spotty. It's not the ideal formula for my skin, I think, as it is almost too thick and difficult to blend out. It was also very hard to layer over setting powder, which is my preferred method of wearing foundation. The finish ultimately was very matte. 

How Did It Wear?

So, how did this foundation wear throughout the day?

As a disclaimer, I have very oily skin; almost every foundation breaks down on me, even ultra mattes that those with dry skin can't wear. I'm oily. It's who I am. This is important context.

I noticed breakdown really quickly with this foundation and it started to feel quite tacky, even with setting powder, within 1-2 hours. It also became quite cake-y and mask-like throughout the day--not my ideal look! 

This is one of those foundations that I realized, after wanting to love it, just doesn't work for me. However, a friend bought this foundation right around the same time as me and it looks AMAZING on her; it wears great, the finish is gorgeous. It really just depends on your skin.

For $9, it's absolutely worth a shot as it is now several people I know's holy grail foundation. It just isn't mine!