Apologies for the grotty sponge! |
When I receive products to try out for free I am very aware of the importance of remaining fair and unbiased, completely honest and quite critical of the product itself. I don't like it when I am reading a review and it is apparent that the author has been swayed by the fact that it was free, because I'm not completely trusting of their honesty regarding the product. I can promise you that the compliments and praises about this product that I am about to give below are my complete honesty - I think this product is amazing.
I initially thought it was a cream foundation until I read the box it came in and discovered it wasn't. It is described as a 'moisturising cover that conceals skin blemishes, freckles, broken capillaries and other discolourations while prolonging the life of your makeup.' It also says, 'Before applying foundation pat on to cover skin problems as needed.' I guess you could consider it more of a concealer. In saying that, when it comes down to it you could describe it as a foundation or concealer because I certainly used it as both.
This 'skin cover' is thick and creamy, applied with the sponge that comes with it. I get the impression it is aimed at older women as it is of a very high coverage and is quite thick as opposed to a light, sheer base. Having said that, I used this on my teenage skin and found it to give a beautiful flawless finish covering faded marks from old blemishes and even current blemishes too.
When using the sponge, I used the product as more of a foundation, typically applying it just on my chin to cover up old blemish marks. I don't like using it as a foundation all over my face simply because the coverage is so high and that is not a look that I particularly like when I don't feel I need my skin to be completely covered up. As it is a thicker product, all over the face can feel a little bit too heavy. It gave a smooth, seamless finish and blended in with the rest of my face where I used only a BB cream. I then used my concealer brush to apply additional product on any other areas of concern, like pimples and slight redness around my nose. Once again I found the high coverage product perfect for the job, and I was incredibly impressed with its lasting power. This lasted all day in terms of covering redness and faded spots, although did need to be applied a second time on the worst of my pimples. I wouldn't recommend it for use under the eyes because I find it too thick, but I guess if you felt you needed a super high coverage there then this would be suitable.
The product comes in a silver compact consisting of a mirror and two sponges (only one sponge fits in the compact at a time). The sponge is of an excellent quality and gives a good finish to the skin. It does soak up a lot of product though, so if you want to make this last as long as you can I would recommend using brushes. The product does have a fragrance that I'm not terribly keen on, one that you might imagine your grandma smelling like - a heavier powdery floral based scent - but by no means would it stop me using this product, or loving it for that matter.
As you can tell, I am a huge fan of this and I use it almost every day, paired with my Maybelline dream lumi touch concealer for under my eyes. It is fairly pricey in my opinion, coming in at $40.50, so that is why, when I can, I use my Face of Australia concealer as an alternative, but this is certainly better at covering my blemishes. It comes in 8 shades and can be purchased from the website Makeup Australia.
I would give this product 10/10 as a concealer, and 7/10 as a foundation.
I've never heard of Catalina Geo either - but this skin finish sounds lovely! But I'm a bit hesitant because of the price tag. x
ReplyDeleteIt is an awesome product, but the price tag is a little bit crazy. I guess it is one of those where you save up for it, splurge and feel guilty but then treasure it forever :) Haha.
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Have never heard of Catalina Geo, but love the sound of the powder... great review!
ReplyDeletexxx Marina
beautiful me plus you by Marina Bergmann
Oh my goodness, your comment got sorted into my spam section (which I don't check regularly) which is why I didn't post it! I'm so sorry!
DeleteThanks so much for commenting, I'm glad you liked the review.
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I definitely haven't heard of this product before! I thought it was a cream foundation at first too but it does sound more like a concealer. How lucky of you to have been able to trial it :)
ReplyDeleteI was very lucky to be able to try it, especially as I love it so much! I'd be curious to know dupes for this product that are of a cheaper nature...I can't really think of any.
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