Beauty Product Reviews

Real life photoshop; Pricey; Will last forever

Mine are the Crazy Pearls from the Champs Elysees collection, but despite the different colors and shades available, I've found that most Meteorites will have the same effect because color is not really what they're trying to put on your face. So even though there are bright fuchsia pearls in this shade, I still use it all over my face. Most important to keep in mind is that this is a finishing powder, not a setting powder. So you are using this on top of everything you have put on your face as your last step. Cool.

Now, first things first. $60 for a tub of shimmery balls? Really? I couldn't fathom it either. There are so many dupes out there at a fraction of the cost, and you know what you can do with $60? Buy approximately 15 Egg McMuffin meals from Mickey D's. Most days, I would choose the Egg McMuffins, but one day, I decided to bite the bullet because I had tried a whole bunch of 'dupes' and had been left dissatisfied. My wallet cried, and so did I. Buyer's remorse hit me almost instantaneously and I can't believe I had spent so much money on what I thought was a highlighter (I rarely highlight my face so it was a lot of "Why do I do this to myself"). As you can tell from my 5-star rating however, I wasn't crying for long.

Once I opened my little metal tin (metal or cardboard, depending on the collection), the most delightful scent hit me. Mind you, I hate scented products, and of all the scents I dislike, I hate floral ones the most. According to Guerlain, this is a violet scent, so I was already very pleasantly surprised. After I stopped sniffing my tin of balls, I looked down and realized that these weren't shimmery balls at all. They were balls ('pearls' if you're being classy) yes, but somehow they can't really be described as shimmery. More 'glowy'. It's hard to describe, but you won't see flecks of glitter on it for sure. And this is exactly the effect it has on your face. All over your face (I use a stippling brush), and your face will just glow. Not in the 'oh that's a nice highlighter you have on' way, but more in the 'hey your skin is looking great' way. My cavernous pores are blurred over and there is just a very slight sheen left behind. Essentially, it makes your foundation-ed, concealed, and set-ted face look like it's just your skin, but with a soft focus blur. If you want more oomph than a little sheen, just use a denser brush and you'll get a little closer to that. I don't think you'll be able to get a highlighter-esque glow from this, however, unless you take a ball and swipe it on your face. I have definitely gone 'crazy' with it before, and it's never looked over the top. So for all you folks who like your face looking matte matte matte (me), but still like natural skin (still me), this is for you (woohoo!).

I've used my tin o' balls almost daily for around two years now, and these little magic pearls are slowly wearing down. You'll see that these pearls wear down in little layers, and you can see each layer as you use them. Apparently these pearls are handmade ($60, y'all), so I guess someone's out there rolling layers of powder into balls. Nonetheless, my tub of pearls still looks brand new, and I doubt I will ever use it up. Unless you drop the tin or somehow crush the pearls, these babies stay nice and round even as they get used up. So $60 for a kinda never-ending finishing powder? Turns out it was a pretty good deal after all.

Sheer, moisturizing, sticky, shade is not universal

This is a very strange product in that it's a 'foundation' that's only intended to even out the skin tone, and not cover anything. When I first read about it, I could not imagine how it worked. It sounded impossible -- wouldn't you be covering up discolorations in order to even out the skin tone? But that was probably their marketing strategy, and it worked, because I bought it. And now that I've used it for a few months now, I can say that there is no other way of describing it.

If you want to get the 'foundation look' with this, which I do on days where I'm doing things more important than just dropping by the grocery store, you can put on two layers of this product and conceal areas that you need to. This will give you all the coverage that you need. But if you're looking for just a very lightly covered look, slap on one layer, spot conceal where needed, and you'll have an incredibly natural no-makeup look. That's where this product excels the most. Because if you kept using it for the foundation look, you will be using a lot of product for an effect that you can easily get with one pump of a regular foundation. And at this price, you are better off going with regular foundation. But if you want something that makes your skin look somewhat better, but completely like your skin, this is what this product's for. Completely undetectable once it's on, except for its incredibly dewy finish. I definitely need some loose powder on top of this simply because this dewiness is just too much for me (way past glowy to the point of almost greasy looking) and as an oily-skinned girl, excessive dewiness freaks me out. It is very moisturizing though, so at least there's that (there are so many products that are dewy but drying, and those are the worst of the worst).

What more is that this product is also weirdly sticky. Without powder, it won't set, and will feel very *there*. As in you know it's still on your face kinda feeling. I deal with it because it gives such a natural-looking finish, and because I always, always set it with powder.

Going on a abrupt switch here (because I am obviously terrible at segues), the idea of a 'universal' shade always makes me laugh. No, this is not universal. It is sheer, yes, and will suit many skin tones. However, it is most definitely not universal. If you are very pale, this might be too dark, and if you are very dark, this might look ashy. The shade itself, though sheer, is a neutral medium color. I have a warm medium skin tone, so the color works for me, but yeah, not everyone.

So, even though this product has its pitfalls, I still give it a 4-star rating because this is exactly how it was advertised. If Perricone MD said this was a high-coverage foundation, I'd be pissed. But no, they literally tell you that it's a 'foundation' that's not a foundation, so they're living up to expectations. However, I took half a star off for that awful stickiness (once, I didn't set it with powder just to see what it's like, and it was actually sticky for the entire day) and another half a star off for that 'universal shade' claim which is simply untrue. So if you have good skin and are just looking for something quick and easy that you can slap on with your hands as you're heading out the door, this is for you. You could also just add a drop of foundation to your favorite moisturizer for the same results without setting your wallet on fire. For everyone else, a 'foundation' foundation will probably be more satisfying.

Pigmented, glossy, lush

I have this lip paint in 3 shades: 52, 65, and 68. I love all of them very much, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that 65 is my most loved of them all. That's completely a shade thing, and not because of any kind of variation of the formula. 65 for me is just the perfect dark pink-brown for an everyday look. I have struggled long and hard to find a perfect 'nude' for me that doesn't wash me out (I have a medium olive skin tone, so you can imagine how hard that was), and the moment i slapped this on, I was charmed. Because it comes in a pot, I'd say you should use a lip brush if you're nervous about germs, but I'm definitely too lazy for that and I just use clean fingers. The perks of using your fingers is that you will feel the incredible texture of this lip paint. It is thick, creamy and just wonderfully melty. Your finger will sink into the pot, and when it comes out, the most beautiful pigmented color will come out. As a total lip product afficionado, I have tried hundreds of formulas, and this definitely ranks very close to the top. On normal lips, this probably feels great, but on my perpetually parched smackers, they feel absolutely divine. So smoothing, so moisturizing, and because of the semi-glossy sheen it imparts (the amount of gloss will completely be dependent on how much you put on), your lips just look plumper too. One downside to such a moisturizing, comfortable formula though, is that it doesn't last very long. If I hold still and stop trying to eat and drink everything I see, this can last up to around 4 hours. Once anything touches your mouth though, be prepared to reapply. The silver lining to this, however, is that despite its pigmentation, it won't leave that ugly lipliner-esque stain on your lips as it wears out (you know what I'm talking about). Instead, it gently and evenly disappears from your lips, like all good non-longlasting lip products should. I have already bought a backup from Beautylish of my favorite shade (which is 65 in case you forgot), and I know I will likely need more backups in the future!

Great ingredients, great coverage, limited shades

I first tried this CC cream when I received a sample of it in Medium, which was a smidge too light for me. I loved the texture and coverage so much that I went ahead and bought the full size of what I thought was the next shade darker. Unfortunately, Tan is a smidge too dark for me (such is my life), but because it's a fairly thick and creamy foundation, it mixes well with other products, and so, it's super easy to adjust its shade.

What I love most about it is that it truly encompasses what the BB and CC cream hype was all about in the first place, which is to have skin boosting ingredients coupled with high coverage. I started wading my way into this industry with Korean BB and CC creams, which were all medium to full coverage, high SPF, and packed full of amazing ingredients. Once those products became less accessible to me, I started trying out alternatives from brands in the US. I was stunned to see SPF 15 touted as 'sun protection' (it isn't, especially not in the amount that you use as your foundation), sheer coverage, and skincare ingredients all the way at the bottom of the ingredients list. Needless to say, I was disenchanted very quickly. But like most great romances, there is a happy ending. This CC cream was unlike any other Western BB/CC creams I had tried. It has full-ish coverage (half a pump is enough), and awesome ingredients. If you take a peek at the list, you'll see that snail secretion filtrate (sounds gross, but is magical) is the second ingredient on it. This ingredient hasn't quite gotten the same hype as it has in Asia, but is renowned for its regenerative abilities, making it fantastic for problem <a href='http://skin.To' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>skin.To</a> me, this means that this was genuinely thought out as a skincare product as well, and not just a foundation with a couple of flower extracts tossed in at the end. The SPF 50 is nothing to sneeze at either, but I won't go into much detail, since I think most of us here know the importance of slathering on SPF everyday!

So to end this incredibly long review (props to you if you're actually still reading this), I think the people who would love this CC cream the most would be individuals looking for a true skincare/makeup hybrid. Those who like some substantial coverage, and appreciate solid ingredients in the products they use. Just remember that due to the limited number of shades offered, it's more likely than not that you will need to tweak the shades a little to better suit your skintone!