Clinique Blended Face Powder and Brush

So first off it comes with a little retractable travel brush. I haven't used it and I more that likely won't ever unless I absolutely have to. It's not a bad brush, I just like my big powder brush and it goes with me everywhere so that's just that. It would however be great to throw in your travel bag or your purse for touch ups with other powders and what not.

The face powder is what we are talking about not the brush. I just thought I would mention it really quick.

So here is what it says on the Clinique website about the powder:

"Clinique's signature blended powder. Loose, lightweight texture is right for every type of skin. Sets and perfects makeup, makes pores seem to disappear. Airy, skin-hugging formula delivers a reliably flawless finish."

This powder comes in seven different shades including a invisible blend and a transparent neutral blend. I bought the transparent one because I already have a invisible or white face powder. The neutral shade, I feel like, could go on many different skins from light to possibly medium skin tones because it is neutral in tone. Meaning it doesn't have a gold undertone or a pink undertone. Looking at it you can see that it is not predominantly pink or gold in shade. It is also a natural matte finish which means it is meant to leave your skin looking natural but will help control shine throughout the day. It also has no shimmer or shine in it, obviously, so it's just matte. Clinique says that this is suitable for all skin types from dry to oily.

I am truly in love with this powder. I am on the dry side of combination and I can tell you that this does not cling to my dry patches and it sits beautifully on my skin. I also am willing to say that I have never used a powder that has kept me matte all day long. I do have a little bit of oily-ness in the middle of my forehead above my nose and I always have to touch up there. Since I have been using this powder, I haven't had to do this. It does all of that and doesn't make my skin look all caked up if I do reapply it. In saying all this I can totally agree with the natural and light finish this does have. 

I wouldn't say though that it is flawless. Like I would never wear this on its own and it's not meant to do that cause it is just a face powder. It also says somewhere that it helps to diminish pores. I have noticed that it does help with the visibility of my pores but I can still see them. Like it is not a miracle powder that makes your pores disappear and it doesn't claim to be but it only helps slightly with my pores anyway. So the perfecting part of the disciprtion is not so much true. I don't really think that any powder can "perfect" your makeup/face. 

With that being said I do really like this powder. It is super fine and you hardly need any at all to set your whole face. It doesn't make your makeup look caked up either when you apply it and then reapply it later in the day if you need to.

So I would say that the Clinique Blended Face Powder is for sure a hit in my book. As far as loose powders go anyway. I really love it and if you are in hue he market for a higher end face powder I would for sure recommend this one. It is available at Sephora and your local Clinique counter and you can also order it online from both places as well!

Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation

So in my search to find a new foundation other than my Mac Studio Fix Fluid, I found the Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation. I have just become a little disillusioned with my Mac foundations for right now. I have heard this a few times and when I was looking for a new foundation many of the people that worked in the stores, told me that they have been hearing that a lot lately. 

I purchased mine at Sephora because they have a skin matching card that you can place on your skin and whatever shades blends in perfectly, is your shade. Super easy. It is also available at Ulta.

Here is what it says on the Urban Decay website about this foundation:

"Weightless, ultra definition liquid makeup"

"Coverage without compromise. Our weightless formula blurs imperfections for a flawless finish that feels invisible but looks professionally retouched." (That is just the mini description, the full description is on www.urbandecay.com ...it's like five paragraphs long...)

This foundation comes in eighteen different shades and it comes in half shades and full shades. Which means that, for example if you are matched as a NC 20 in a Mac foundation and it is too dark in the fall and winter and they say to get a NC 15 to combat that and it's way too light all of the time, with the Naked Skin it's like having a NC 15.5 shade. 

So now on to how the foundation performs. They say that it is weightless coverage that feels invisible, with a flawless finish. I would completely agree with the weightless coverage and the invisible feel/look. I feel like when I wear this that there is nothing on my skin. When I have it on I can't even feel it. We all know that there are foundations out there that make promises of weightless coverage, like the Revlon Nearly Naked........but then you can still feel them on your skin and you try to layer it and then it is instantly heavy. Urban Decay's Naked Skin foundation is super easy to build. I do find that if you don't let the first layer dry all the way or don't apply the next layer right away, that first layer will move a bit but it is easily blended away and fixed. About the flawless finish, I am not so certain. I would say that with the first layer it completly evens out my skin tone and eliminates the vast majority or any redness I have on my face. With a second layer I find that it has covered pretty much everything but the really bad blemishes but even still in some areas it doesn't give a "flawless" coverage. I don't really think that you can get a flawless coverage with a light to medium coverage foundation. With that being said I do find myself using less concealer with this foundation. Which makes me really happy! It just evens out my skin tone that well!

So with loving this foundation so much and I do. It has replaced my Mac Studio Fix Fluid. It does have its flaws as well, as all products do. I have noticed that there is some clinging going on on my dry patches of skin around my chin. I also noticed that if I have a new blemish, like one that is really red and more like a face demon than a zit, it wears off of that area more quickly or just doesn't apply well over top of that area. But that is really it for the issues I have had. I wouldn't recommend this for someone with super dry skin though or someone with really oily skin. I feel like it is good for people that have some type of combination skin like dry-combination or combination-oily, somewhere in the middle. 

So all in all I love this foundation. I would recommend that you try to purchase it at a Sephora because they have those skin tone matching cards or they did at mine. I would think that all of them have it. Sephora also has that new skin tone matching, Pantone thing as well. Ulta does not have anything like that and the ones that I have been in lately don't have those cards either. So I would for sure talk to someone at Ulta so they can match you or make sure you don't just guess.