Simply Vera Vera Wang Naturally Radiant Hydrating Makeup Review and Swatches

We all know Vera Wang for her beautiful wedding dresses, but it turns out her makeup line at Kohl's is pretty fab too! So, now we can grab some designer makeup when we hit up one of the never-ending Kohl's super sales.  I recently picked up a couple tubes of the Naturally Radiant Hydrating Makeup and I'm really excited by the results. Is it for you? Read on :)

Let's get right to it.
This is a liquid foundation, with a thick, yet luxurious and velvety consistency and  it blends out beautifully to a light-medium coverage. The formula is emollient which makes is perfect for drier skin and the finish is natural, fresh and really gives the skin a radiant glow.  There is some shimmer hidden within this foundation. I say "hidden" because the shimmer is super fine and I didn't even notice it until about halfway through the day when I was examining the foundation's performance in a different light. I'm usually hesitant to wear shimmery foundation but Vera has managed to incorporate it perfectly into this formula.  The wear time is 8 hours +.
I haven't noticed any weird fading.

This foundation is available in 10 shades. The first three, 101, 102 and 103 are very similar. This is awesome for those with lighter skin tones beacause it means you're pretty much guaranteed to find a perfect match. To test things out I wore 101 on one side of my face and 103 (I skipped shade 102) and I loved the way both looked! I'm thinking I'll either wear 101 in Winter and 103 in Summer. Or I'll just go get 102 and wear it all year.  Once you get into the darker shades, there are some gaps but nothing outrageous. I think most people will be able to find a shade that works for them.

(L to R) 101, 103, 105, 107

This is a great product for those dull-skin days, when you really need a boost of radiance. You'll love this if you want a moisturizing foundation with a natural finish. If you're totally against shimmer or you need a full coverage foundation this might not be for you.

It retails for $39.50 for a 1 oz tube of product. So, while I'll probably never have my very own Vera Wang wedding dress, I can indulge in some designer foundation every day :)

Cover Girl NatureLuxe Silk Foundation

Cover Girl Natureluxe, a.k.a. my Holy Grail of drugstore foundations. Seriously, I have nothing but good things to say about this foundation. I reach for it when I need an inexpesive sure thing.

Let's start with the boring stuff - the packaging. It's perfect, as far as I'm concerned. It's a thin, lightweight, plastic tube housing 1 fl liquid oz. It's super squeezable which means you can easily control how much product you squirt out. And when you get down to those final drops, you can just snip off the top with some scissors and dip your finger in there so you don't waste any product. It's also great for traveling, since it's not clunky. 

Now the formula? It's a dream. This is a thin, silky liquid.  It's lightweight (I can't even feel it on my face) and it makes my skin feel super smooth to the touch. It looks good pretty much all day - It's a light coverage to begin with so if does fade you hardly notice. I've tried applying it with brushes and sponges but honestly I get the best results just using my fingers, which I love because it makes things that much easier.

L to R - Alabaster 305 and Flax 310

This is definitely a light coverage foundation. So, if you need or want a heavier coverage, just look elsewhere. This product is for those who want a naturally flawless look. It doesn't cover moles, freckles or any of that. It does a beautiful job of evening skin tone and giving you an overall smooth, healthy look. This looks like skin, not foundation.

When this foundation first came about a couple years ago it had SPF 10, but it seems that CoverGirl has taken that out. I liked the little bit of SPF. I'll take protection from the sun wherever I can get it, so I'm a bit disappointed about that.

It does contain fragrance, which in general I'm not a fan of, but this happens to be a relatively nice fragrance, so I don't let it get in the way of my love for the product. The formula contains cucumber water and jojoba extract and they definitely play up the former. The cucumber scent is kind of strong, but it's a fresh one and not perfumey in any way.

This retails for $11-$12 depending on where you live. Not bad for such a nice foundation!

Maybelline Fit Me Foundation

I usually always end up with the lightest shade of any line of foundation so I stuck with what I knew and got 110. It is REALLY light. In the winter months it is just wearable and in the summer (even though I don't get much sun at all) it makes me look like a ghost! I thought 115, the next shade up, looked too pink in swatches I'd seen online, but I probably would have been better off with it. As it is, I can only wear this in the winter when I'm super pale.

*side note - The shade 110/Porcelain Ivory in Maybellines Dream Smooth Mousse is a few shades darker than the same number in Fit Me. The 110 Smooth Mousse foundation is slightly too dark on me and the Fit me is too light. This makes it difficult to find the perfect color in a new line even within the Maybelline brand. It's a mystery why they didn't notice and remedy this*

The foundation has an spf of 18 which I LOVE. Sunblock is probably the best ant-wrinkle product you can use. I hate getting burned or even "kissed" by the sun. I love my pale skin!

The product has a sort of baby-powdery fragrance. It's not particularly unpleasant and it mostly goes away several minutes after application (you can still smell it a little) but I prefer my cosmetics to be fragrance free.

It's quite thin and really easy to blend out and looks amazing right after application - natural and satiny - but after just a couple of hours something starts to go wrong. It starts looking powdery and cakey and blotchy. It makes well moisturized skin look really dry, even though it isn't. BUT when I set it with a powder this doesn't happen and I get a nice natural finish for several hours. I don't have oily skin so I'm not sure what the issue here is. I only know that when I wasn't setting it, it wasn't working well with my skin.

I've tried applying it with my fingers, brushes and sponges. All methods have worked just fine, but I find that I get the best results by blotting and pushing the foundation into my skin with a  moist sponge.

FINAL VERDICT
If you love a light, natural look give this a try! There's a large shade range so you should be able to find one that suits you. It's at the lower end of the price range and available just about everywhere, so you don't have much to lose.

 

Shade 110

ELF's Flawless Finish Foundation

 ELF's Flawless Finish Foundation has it's pros and cons. In general I like it, but there are some things I would change about it.

It's not too expensive at $6, but keep in mind you're only getting 0.8 fl oz (most drugstore foundations give you a ful ounce. If you do the math you're paying more PER OUNCE for this ELF foundation than you will for a lot of drugstore foundations) and you may have to pay for shipping, if you can't find it in a store near you, or you don't get in on one of ELF's awesome sales.

The bottle has a pump, which is a nice touch, but it's not easy to control it. I usually ended up getting way too much, so I started unscrewing the whole thing and getting the prodoct out that way.
 

It's got a nice finish. Satin-esque. Not dewy. Not matte.

SPF 15 is great.

 
It's not easy to blend evenly if you apply it straight. I HAVE to either use a primer or use a heavily dampened sponge to blend it out well. That said, it looks pretty good even if you only use a super cheap sponge to apply it.

You can definitely feel this on your skin. It's not light-weight at all. It doesn't feel disgusting or anything but you know it's there.

My shade is Porcelain, the lightest shade they have. It's not a perfect match, but it's not so far off that it's unwearable. With only 6 shades to choose from though, what can you expect? The Porcelain shade has a slight yellowish undertone. Most brands overdo the undertones, whatever they may be, but I think ELF got it spot on with this shade. It's an easy shade to wear, if you're pale.

The most startling thing about this product in the scent. It's very strong and I can smell it on my skin for about 2 hours after I've applied it. I'm not really sure if the scent goes away after that or if my nose just gets used to it. It's not a totally unpleasant scent, kind of powdery, but it's much stronger than I'd like.

It's a medium coverage with a satin finish. It says it's "oil-free" but it does contain mineral oil and some people with oily skin have reported looking a bit greasy after application. And I suspect that it could irritate those with sensitive skin, with all the fragrance they add.

Final Verdict
I like this foundation a lot more now than I did when I first tried it but I haven't decided yet if I'll repurchase it or not.

 

NYC's Smooth Skin Liquid Makeup

Anyone who has ever shopped for makeup at the drugstore is probably familiar with the New York Colors brand. It's synonymous with cheap right? Well, that doesn't necessarily put me off of anything. Sometimes you can find great products for very little money, and we all know that the splurge doesn't always pay off. So I decided to give NYC's Smooth Skin Liquid Foundation a try.

I was pulled in by the roughly $3 dollar price tag, for 1 fl oz,  and the name "Smooth Skin." I figured if it ended up being awful, I would have only wasted a few bucks. Turns out, the purchase was NOT a waste, by any stretch.

First off, my shade is Ivory 676, the lightest shade they offer, and has slight pink undertones. (I think they've only got 6 shades to choose from) I want to say it's a flat-out LIGHT coverage foundation, but some people might consider it to be light-medium coverage. Freckles definitely show through and if you normally need to conceal certain imperfections, this foundation won't lessen that necessity. It's got a slightly satin finish. Definitely not dewy but not fully matte either. It really does mimic skin. But like I said, it doesn't cover everything. It mostly evens out skin tone for a natural look.

The foundation is very thick and it does not come with a pump. I've read a lot of reviews from people who HATE that about this product, but it's not such a big deal to me. Once you get it out of the bottle it's very easy to apply. You just need to use a q-tip to get it out, or give the bottle the ole'Heinz 57 SMACK! You may end up wasting some of it doing that, but hey, it only cost $3 dollars!

The website claims that it lasts up to 12 hours. I've never tried to make mine last that long, but it does stay put through my 8 hour work day. I haven't had any problems with transfer either. 

Overall, I would definitely recommend giving this a try if you're on a budget and on the look-out for a lightish coverage foundation.