Ok, the snow that hit us here seriously screwed up me entire schedule and it looks like we're going to hit hard again tonight, but I'm better prepared for it this time! If this midwest gets hit with snow again, I promise that there won't be a huge lag in posts again. Since I had so much time to myself in the house, I got around to testing out a ton of new stuff, so I am going to have a lot of reviews. Some of the products that I've been testing are the new Revlon products. These aren't brand spanking new, they've been out for a few months, but I just got around to buying some of them. I have three products to review: Photoready BB Cream, Colorstay Ultimate Suede lipstick, and the Photoready Primer and Shadow kit. We have the good and the bad in this group, so keep reading to find out more!
First product up on the chopping block is the Photoready Prime + Shadow palette in Metropolitan. I have several other Revlon shadows and their quality of those shadows really differ; some I love and some I keep because I hate throwing away makeup. I got this palette because these shadows look different than any other Revlon shadows; even through the packaging you can see the difference in texture.
What you get in this palette is a "primer" shadow, a sparkle top coat, and then three regular shadows. For this particular palette, the primer shadow and the highlight shadow are almost the exact same color, which is a little boring, but it's ok. The sparkle effect top coat is a gorgeous dark gold, but does have quite a bit of fall out; you have to be really careful when applying. The lid shadow is a warm dark brown, but it does apply kind of sheer, so you can build it as dark as you like. The crease shade is a beautiful shimmery taupe and is probably my favorite shade in the kit.
On top, from left to right, we have the highlight shade (which you can't even see), the crease shade, and the lid shade.
On bottom, from left to right, the primer (this is multiple coats of it) and the sparkle top coat.
Like I said, I wasn't expecting too much from this set since Revlon really bounces around with eye shadow quality, but I really like this palette. The colors are neutral so they are, of course, very flattering but they also feel really nice on the lid. They apply easily with the applicators that are included (I only used the applicators for the primer) and with brushes. The thing I was most skeptical about was the eye shadow primer and I have to say, it actually did work. I don't know if it's because it's winter and my skin isn't nearly as oily as it would be in summer, but my eyeshadow wore for a good 9 hours without any creasing. It might have worn even longer, but I forgot to check before I removed my makeup. Even if it did crease after 9 hours, that's 9 hours of good looking eyeshadow without a traditional primer. The only thing that I have to comment on as a con is the top coat; there was a lot of fall out which irritated me because it's so awesome otherwise.
Next up is the BB cream. I'm going to tell you upfront and without sugar coating at all, I don't like this product and I don't think it's worth the money. I have several BB creams, most of which are Asian brands, and this is not a BB cream. This is a tinted moisturizer with sunscreen in it. The only reason I'm not returning this product is because it has SPF 30 and I can use it as primer for my other makeup.
First and foremost, let me break down what a real BB cream should do. A BB cream is basically a serum, moisturizer, primer, foundation, and sunscreen all in one product. The main thing that you should have read from that is foundation, because even though it has all of those other awesome things in it, it still needs to act as a foundation. Most Asian BB creams are amazing, even the equivalent of cheap drugstore ones, and really do everything that the promise. The problem with this is that when the Western world of cosmetics caught wind of these miracle foundation creams, they bastardized them and literally started their tinted moisturizers as BB cream. They are not the same thing! Ok, now that we know this, I can tell you why I would never buy this certain product again.
1) This isn't a BB cream. 2) This is a tinted moisturizer and it was $10, which is expensive in the land of drugstore makeup. 3) I can buy better tinted moisturizers for less than $10 and they're actually labeled correctly.
The reason is bugs me so much that this is labeled as a BB cream is that I was expecting a BB cream. I was expecting great coverage with all of the added benefits, but I didn't really get any of it. I can't tell that it has moisturizer in it. It has sunscreen in it for sure because it reeks of it. It just feels like a sham to me.
Here is the product on my hand, the first thing that was wrong with this is that it wasn't thick; the texture was thin and seemed wrong for a BB cream.
(skin before the "BB" cream)
(skin after the "BB" cream)
So, you can see that there is a bit of a difference between the two photos above, but another huge problem with this is that the effect doesn't last at all. I put this on before work one day (actually on my face, not my hand) and by the time I got home, I looked worse than before I had put any makeup on.
All in all, don't waste your money on this product. If you want a tinted moisturizer, check out the ones made by Boots (you can buy it at Target) or maybe even a different brand's "BB" cream. And this is not a jab at Revlon by any means, because I absolutely love almost every other foundation that they produce, just this particular one was a huge disappointment.
And last, the Colorstay Ultimate Suede lipstick. I sampled this in the shade High Heels because I had seen someone use it in a YouTube video and I thought that the shade looked amazing. Normally I try to stay away from light pink lipsticks, but this one actually works with my skin, so if you're a fair girl, give this a whirl.
I'd also like to preface this review with a little information. I had heard a lot of negative reviews regarding this product, not a few but (let me bold face this) A LOT. Whenever I hear that many bad reviews, I get instantly curious about a product and why people dislike it so much. After having used this, I think I understand why people don't like it, but I don't agree with their conclusions.
I think one of the main reasons that people don't like this lipstick is because of the way that it's ben marketed. It is a Colorstay product, so you have to go into this realizing that it's meant to be worn for hours and hours and hours; this going to be a longwear lipstick. When it comes to lipstick, longwear generally makes your lips dried out. It's a fact, no one should be surprised by this and if you've ever wondering why some longwear products come with a gloss, it ain't just for looks. What's really misleading though is the name Ultimate Suede; I think that people believe that it's going to be a texture and not an appearance. To me, the product does live up it's name, it does kind of look like suede when it dries (think soft suede, I probably just have you a weird visual), but it isn't soft like suede.
Like I said earlier, I don't agree with all of those negative reviews. I like that this has long lasting power and that the shade I picked up is really flattering. It's nothing incredibly innovative in the world of longwear lipstick, but it does work well and the shades are kind of unique. Does it dry your lips out a bit? Yeah, it does, but I always carry a balm or gloss when I wear longwear lipstick, so it's nothing annoying for me. You can also apply a very light layer of balm underneath longwear lipstick if it really bothers you. I don't know, for me it's a good lipstick and I liked this one so much that I bought a really fun oxblood shade called "Backstage".
What do you guys think? Will you be picking up any of the products above or maybe changed your mind about getting any of them? Let me know in the comments below!
(All photos copyright Allison Richardson Photography and not available for use without permission)
I purchased all items mentioned with my own money and have received no compensation for my opinions
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