Hard Candy Glamoflage Concealer in 488 Medium Light

The concealer with a cult following, the Hard Candy Glamoflage Concealer ($5.98, exclusively at Walmart) is known to cover everything from tattoos to minor imperfections like blemishes, dark circles and freckles. 

The pencil concealer that comes as a freebie with the liquid doesn't currently suit me, as it's a bit too warm for my current skin. However, it works great as a lower waterline eyeliner to brighten the eyes. 

The Hard Candy Glamoflage Concealer in 488 Medium Light is a good shade match for my winter-to-spring transition shade, however in the winter months I'd definitely go for 978 Medium Warm. At 7 shades, the range is much more impressive than other drugstore concealers. There's ultra-light, fair, light, medium light, medium warm, medium and tan.

Being a super high coverage concealer, the texture is a bit thick and potentially cakey, but both the product and the coverage are easily thinned out with delicate patting motions of a damp beauty blender. Above, I only used the teeniest drop, which is enough product for a little more than for both sides of my under eye area. Surprisingly, the product dries to an almost skin-like consistency but will settle into fine lines if you over apply. Without powder, the concealer lasts all day long and then some. However, if you choose to set with powder it may end up looking a bit cakey. 

Can you spot the difference?

Press samples featured

Facebook || Twitter || Bloglovin || Instagram

Sephora Collection All A Glow Contouring Face Palette

The Sephora Collection All A Glow Contouring Face Palette ($41 CAD, exclusively at Sephora) is yet another limited edition set. In a nutshell, it's a wallet-sized fold-able palette containing everything you should ever need for your face, convenient for different looks and skin tones - concealers, bronzers, powder blushes, cream blushes, cream highlighters, and powder highlighters. There's three shades of everything except for the four powder blushes. It also comes with step-by-step instructions for  Bronzed and Beautiful and Ethereal and Illuminated looks. 

I've honed down on which colours work for my light-medium (~MAC NC 30)  skin colour. So I'll attempt to describe each shade in the palette and if you're having a tl;dr moment, I'll also denote colours that I would personally use with a (*). 

The concealers are cream-to-powder and dry down to a matte finish that lasts ~5 hours when set with a powder. Be forewarned, the concealers work much better over big oily blemishes than ones that are already dried up, as the faux-powder finish exaggerates dryness. 

#1 - light, #2 - medium*, #3 - dark (with a prominent orange tinge)

The powder bronzers impressed me. They feel more finely milled and easily blend-able than I had expected (kind of like a really nice face powder - shade #1 actually works quite nicely as one). 

#1 - light, #2 - light-medium*, #3 - medium

The powder blushes are not quite as soft as the bronzers and as such, they don't apply quite as smoothly. I find the first much too light for my face and the second and third too overtly shimmery for my tastes. 

#1 - matte pastel pink, #2 - neutral pink with gold shimmer, #3 - peach with gold shimmer, #4 - matte hot pink*

I have the same qualms with the cream blushes as I do with the powder ones. The first two have a shimmery iridescence that is too much to apply all over the cheeks, while the last bright pink is absolute perfection. The cream blushes work well to prolong the longevity and pigmentation of the powders for up to 6 hours. 

#1 - neutral pink with gold shimmer, #2 - peach with gold shimmer, #3 - matte hot pink*

The shimmers in the cream highlighters are thankfully much finer than the blushes and cream blushes. The cream highlighters provide a natural sheen to the cheeks and dry down to a powdery finish (similar to the concealer). All three shades suit my complexion. 

#1 - pale yellow shimmer*, #2 - pale pink shimmer*, #3 - pale gold shimmer*

The powder highlighters have slightly more concentration of shimmer than the cream higlighters but the shimmers are still fine enough that they don't look chunky. The texture is similar to that of the powder blushes. I've never seen an orange tinted highlighter in my life, so I'm not sure why there's one included here. 

#1 - gold shimmer*, #2 - pink shimmer*, #3 - orange shimmer 

Before (looking a little tired and red-nosed...also one noteworthy zit and a few minimal blemishes) 

After (Wearing the Sephora Collection All A Glow Contouring Face Palette ONLY- #2 concealer, #2 bronzer, #1 powder blush (pale pink) , #3 cream blush (bright pink), #2 cream highlighter (pink frost) , #2 powder highlighter (pink frost)) 

There's a heck of a lot of product packed in this one wallet-sized palette. Some products were good (concealers, bronzers, cream blushes, both highlighters) but others missed the mark for me (shimmery blushes, orange highlighter). While it's awesome for travel, for the price, I'd rather get a couple individual products with formulas that I am above and beyond excited about. That being said, this will come in handy when I want to do makeup on a friend with a different skin tone from my own, so I truly appreciate the variety. 

What do you think of the All a Glow Contouring Face Palette? 

Press sample featured

Facebook || Twitter || Bloglovin || Instagram

CoverGirl + Olay FaceLift Effect Firming Makeup and the De-Puffer Concealer in 340 Light/Medium

Not that I'll actually need a facelift anytime time soon (I'm only 20, gosh darn it!) but it's always interesting to try makeup products that claim to do so. The CoverGirl + Olay Facelift Effect Firming Makeup (foundation) ($16.99-18.99) claims to provide "luxurious, flawless coverage combined with the powerful hydrating effects of a night cream". Alongside the foundation, I've been testing out a product that's a little more age appropriate, the CoverGirl + Olay The De-Puffer. 

The packaging? For the foundation - a glass-tic (looks like glass...is actually plastic) pot that I highly dislike, as it leaves me with one of two options: (1) get foundation all up in your nails (2) purchase a foundation spoon. The concealer is housed in a hygienic tube with a cooling tip applicator (I'm going to dare to compare the tip to the likes of the Marc Jacobs Remedy Concealer Pen...). 

The CoverGirl + Olay Facelift Effect Firming Makeup comes in 4 shades (fair, light, light/medium, medium) and the Covergirl + Olay the De-Puffer Concealer is available in 6 (fair, fair/light, light, light/medium/medium, medium/deep). 

< CoverGirl + Olay Facelift Effect Firming Makeup // Light/Medium >

The Facelift Effect Firming Makeup provides a natural, glowy finish. The product contains "skin brighteners", light-reflecting pearls that create a warming effect and luminosity to the skin. I can definitely see the brightening effect come through. Lasting power is average at 5 hours of wear-time, though it wears away nicely (no weird patches). The colour match is a little light but nothing that can't be fixed with a little bronzer. As for the skincare and "facelift" benefits, this product is too hydrating for my skin. I don't typically break out from face products but after two days of wear, I broke out on my cheeks.

< CoverGirl + Olay the De-Puffer Concealer // 340 Light/Medium >

I'm already in love with this concealer because of the applicator. It reminds me of one of those rollerball metal eye cream applicators that help to de-puff your eyes. This is part of the Power of 3 that CoverGirl/Olay claims in terms of this product. The other two aspects are a serum containing cucumber extract to soothe the undereyes and a slightly warmer shade (compared to a foundation) to counteract dark circles. I can't confirm the former but I agree with the latter (see swatches below!). The concealer is very thin and light coverage and dries down to a semi-matte finish. Staying power is comparable to that of the Firming Makeup at 5 hours. Due to lack of coverage that this product provides, I would only suggest this product for the eyes, as that's the area that it targets. 

Left to Right: CoverGirl + Olay FaceLift Firming Makeup; the De-Puffer Concealer in 340 Light/Medium 

Overall, I love the effect that both these products provide. It's such a shame that the firming makeup broke me out but I'll continue to use the CoverGirl + Olay the De-Puffer for the awesome cooling metal tip! 

Do you use products that aren't targeted to your age group? 

Press samples featured

Facebook || Twitter || Bloglovin || Instagram