Almay Smart Shade Concealer Review

Almay Smart Shade Concealer Review

From the Brand:
Finally a concealer that takes the guesswork out of finding your perfect shade, instantly adjusting to the color of your skin. Conceal minor imperfections on face and dark circles under eyes. Antioxidant blend of grape seed, ginseng and ginkgo biloba nurtures your skin for a beautiful, natural finish every time.

Retails for:  $8.99

Where to Buy: Anywhere drugstore makeup is sold, such as Ulta stores and Ulta.com, Walgreens.com, CVS.com, Target, Walmart, and grocery stores

My Thoughts:  In theory, this is a super cool concept.  How many times have you purchased a concealer thinking it was going to work for you only to find once you're home that it's way too light or too dark?  Me, it's happened countless times.  And it's a huge waste of both time and money.  I thought this would be an awesome solution.  However, it was way too light for me in the shade Light.  It goes on white and is supposed to darken to the correct color once the pigment spheres are I guess crushed and blended over the surface of the skin?  Not a science person like that, so I'm not 100% sure how it's supposed to work.  But this really didn't pick up much color at all and stayed an ugly ashy color on my skin. 

The formula was really nice though.  It was creamy and easy to blend, and it didn't settle into the creases under my eyes.  So I've got to give it that.  It's just not very "smart" on the shade end of things, and I'm usually the lightest shade of concealer in a brand.


Final Verdict:  Not sure if I'll try again with a "darker" shade or just call this a total miss.  Either way, I wasn't impressed.

**Disclaimer: As with all my product reviews, I was not paid by the cosmetic company to provide feedback or review/promote their products. This article contains some affiliate links provided through Viglink.com. All the opinions expressed in this article are my own. These items were purchased with my own money. For more information on my policies, please view my Let's Chat page.

Almay Clear Complexion Concealer Review

Almay Clear Complexion Concealer Review

From the Brand:
Blemisheal Technology contains salicylic acid to heal and conceal blemishes for an even complexion. Mineral complex absorbs oil. Aloe and chamomile soothe skin to help reduce redness.

Retails for:  $6.99


Where to Buy:  Drugstore.com, Walgreens.com, Ulta.com, and wherever you buy drugstore makeup



My Thoughts:  First, have you read my review of the Almay Clear Complexion Foundation?  No?  Be sure to check that out {HERE} after you're done reading this one!  I've got a video so you can see it in action, too.  {By the way, do you like the accompanying video reviews?  Want to see more?  Let me know in the comments below!}

Ok, moving on.... Let's get to the concealer!

This stuff is amazing.  It's truly one of my favorite concealers of all time for breakouts.  It matches my skin perfectly, so I can use it directly on my face.  And it really does work on helping heal my acne.  I wouldn't use it under my eyes at all.  It's too irritating for the delicate undereye area, and it's drying.  I notice a reduction in the size of my breakout within a few hours, and after a few days it's pretty much gone.

The only downside I think is that it's on a wand applicator.  I don't want to dab that directly onto the breakout, as that would put bacteria into the tube of makeup and contaminate it.  Even if the makeup itself has antibacterial properties, it's still not a sanitary way to apply makeup to a breakout.  I have to put some onto the back of my hand and then dab it on with my fingertip or a qtip.  I don't even really like using a concealer brush to cover breakouts.  I'm just too nit picky about contamination, and even being a makeup artist I know I don't wash my own brushes often enough.  In the morning when I'm in a rush to get ready and out the door, I don't want to wash my brushes every time.  And the same applies at night when I'm lucky if I don't crash without taking my makeup off.  And so it goes that I don't wash my brushes as often as I should.  *tsk tsk me!*

It also lasts a good deal throughout the day.  For when my face isn't in need of an all over blemish fighting foundation, like the Almay Clear Complexion Foundation, this does the trick perfectly.  I only have to touch up the concealer maybe once or twice, and that's more often because it's around my mouth, and I eat and drink a lot during the day.  It's also really good at covering the redness from a breakout.  You know how sometimes you can put on a concealer, but after a while the redness starts to show through?  Not with this one!

I love that this is a concealer that does double duty- it fights breakouts while helping to conceal them!  You should be using a different concealer for breakouts than you do for your undereyes anyway, since the areas need different formulations to give you the best finish and wear.


Final Verdict:  If you can find a shade to match your skin perfectly, I'd highly recommend this!  Even if it's just a tad off, you can put this under your foundation and just lightly sponge a bit of foundation over the top to get a nice even blend to the face.  It puts the blemish fighting ingredients right up against the skin anyway.

I want to know!  What's your favorite concealer to cover breakouts?  Do you have a Holy Grail concealer you think I should try?  Let me know below!

**Disclaimer: As with all my product reviews, I was not paid by the cosmetic company to provide feedback or review/promote their products. This article contains some affiliate links provided through Viglink.com. All the opinions expressed in this article are my own. These items were purchased with my own money. For more information on my policies, please view my Let's Chat page.

Product Review- Almay Clear Complexion Foundation

Almay Clear Complexion Foundation Review



From the Brand:  Clear Complexion Blemish Healing Liquid Makeup by Almay has BlemisHeal Technology contains salicylic acid to heal and conceal blemishes for an even complexion.


Retails for:  $12.99


Where to Buy: Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Ulta.com and Ulta stores, pretty much anywhere drugstore makeup is found.


My Thoughts:  At first, I didn't really like this foundation at all.  My skin is on the dry side, and in the winter it gets to Sahara-like proportions.  This definitely would be a foundation that works best on oily skin that can use a little oil-sucking.  Needless to say, it dried me out a bit.  However, I do have to say that it really worked great on drying out my acne as well!  By the next day, my skin was noticeably clearer.

The color didn't oxidize on my skin, and it matched me really well.  I used a Real Techniques Expert Face Brush to apply it and buff it into the skin.  It gave a believable finish to the skin, not too heavy and made up, but it also gave me enough coverage to dull out the redness of the breakouts.  My acne hadn't been picked at and opened up.  It was unextracted white heads or red bumps that hadn't developed into a full blown zit yet.


Final Verdict:  I love this foundation for around "that time of the month" when my skin is starting to freak out, but I can't use it for more than 3-4 days in a row with my dry skin.  I'm really looking forward to using it during the summer when I don't have to worry about that.

Want to see this foundation in action?  Check out my video review on my YouTube channel!  Check it out, like it, share it, then SUBSCRIBE for more great reviews like this one!

**Disclaimer: As with all my product reviews, I was not paid by the cosmetic company to provide feedback or review/promote their products. This article contains some affiliate links provided through Viglink.com. All the opinions expressed in this article are my own. These items were purchased with my own money. For more information on my policies, please view my Let's Chat page.

 

Product Review- Almay CC Cream

Almay Smart Shade CC Cream Review



From the Brand: Almay’s new Smart Shade CC cream is the perfect marriage of lightweight foundation + clarity enhancing skin care for beautiful coverage now and beautiful skin later. The lightweight formula:

Instantly:
1. Covers imperfections flawlessly
2. Corrects discolorations

Over time:
1. Brightens and evens natural skin tone
2. Helps prevent future damage with SPF 35

Retails for:  $9.99


Where to Buy:  Target, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Ulta, and anywhere else I forgot to mention that sells drugstore brand makeup


My Thoughts:  This was my first first reaction video on my YouTube channel, and at the time I'm writing this it's still the only one I've filmed and posted.  I have a few more foundation products to test out in this format, but I haven't been able to find a way to balance my time between my work as a makeup artist and writing the blog reviews you've come to know and expect from me every day.  I feel as though it's a lot easier for me to test the products out on myself when doing my own makeup, or even on set if I'm feeling bold enough {and confident enough that I can fix it if it goes horribly wrong}, and then write out how I feel at a later date after several uses rather than filming a video of a new product sight unseen and then doing basically two more videos throughout the day and then editing it all together to put up on my YouTube channel.  In the freelance world, it's either feast or famine when work comes in, and in September and October I've been very fortunate that it's all seems to come in big waves that keep me working several days in a row and then allow me just enough time to catch up on rest, a wee bit of housework, and some time to knock out as many blog reviews as I can before crashing back down into the next set of shoots and events.

All that being said, this is still a makeup review article, so I guess I should talk a bit about the makeup itself.  You can watch the video for more information, but the gist of it is that this product is great for those who only need a little bit of coverage and are more concerned with sun protection and hydration.  I haven't liked it enough to use for a period of time appropriate to test any claims on it evening out skin tone over time, but for the immediate application it was much more on the sheer side.  For my level of freckles/sun damage, it didn't cut it for me.  I have to go back in with concealer too much, and then powder to really set everything and dull down the shine caused by the thick moisturizers.  It also has a heavy SPF smell, which I don't really like either.

Hopefully I haven't given away the entire video!  Please take a second to watch it and give me some feedback!  Would you like to see more first reaction videos?  Or would you prefer that I supplement my written reviews with demonstrations on how the products work on the face/body? Or am I just annoying and you don't want to see my face at all?! haha.


Final Verdict:  I went through different phases with this CC cream, from hating it to loving it back to hating it.  In the end I think I settled on not minding it, but I won't find myself reaching for this on a regular basis.




 

**Disclaimer: As with all my product reviews, I was not paid by the cosmetic company to provide feedback or review/promote their products. All the opinions expressed in this article are my own. These items were purchased with my own money. For more information on my policies, please view my Let's Chat page.