little white truths

The trouble with receiving beauty subscription boxes, is that every now and then (or all too often, in my case) you receive a sample of something that is SO amazing that you JUST HAVE TO buy it - even if you don't need it and don't have the dosh for it.

This was the case with the Revlon Nearly Naked Liquid Foundation samples I received in both Bellabox and Lust Have It. They were such tiny sample cards - usually not enough to make a call on whether you love a product - but I indeed loved it so of course I went out and bought it, along with Revlon's Nearly Naked Pressed Powder (see my review here).

As you can see from the above and below photos, it's a fairly simple design - a glass bottle with no pump. I really don't like foundations without a pump: this generally means you can't control the amount of product tipped out with each use (particularly when, as with this one, the bottle has such a large 'mouth'). But perhaps we can put that down to Revlon keeping the price lower, so I can live with it. The foundation retails for $25.95 (30ml), but I picked it up at Priceline for $12.98 on special.

It was rather restrained of me to only buy one bottle at that price!

But I've learned not to stock up on good buys unless I know for sure that they're staples - I get bored of makeup products easily and am always searching for something new. 

But as usual I'm rambling, rather than reviewing. Sorry! Let's have a look at this one : )

Revlon's claims/product details:

See above and below swatches on my wrist. Above is unblended and blended a little, and below is blended well.

It's a runny, light product. You can see above that the colour's a bit dark for my wrist (not for my face), but once blended in, you can't see it (shown in the photo below).

Below is my clean skin. You can see some red spots and age marks (I do wonder whether I should be publicising these issues sometimes...).

Below is my face with the product, just one layer of it. The change is amazing - I hope the photo shows this well enough. My skin looks smoother and more even, and there's that dewy glow I love that wasn't there before. 

You can still see my 'real' skin through the product (eg the red dot beside my eye that's still visible), but I like that. I don't want to look like I'm wearing a mask. My husband loves this one; he hates it when I wear foundation and he can never tell when I'm wearing this.

Below is that chest redness again. The product has dulled it a bit, but not as much as it has on my face - probably because the chest redness is more pronounced. That's ok - after swatching this I put Revlon's Nearly Naked Pressed Powder over the top and sorted that out so it was less obvious. I didn't need to do this on my face.

Verdict

This product really is amazing. Maybe I should have picked up a second one (!). I'm not normally one for pharmacy foundations - they don't feel 'special' enough to me and I don't display them on my dresser because they generally don't come in pretty packaging. Plus they're not always cheaper than other products of this nature that I use (eg theBalm Shelter Tinted Moisturiser RRP $25, which comes in a cute box and is also sensational - review coming soon), but I do love this foundation and will likely purchase it again, once I get through my stores of other, similar products.

Does it live up to its claims? Without question. It blends in seamlessly and is buildable, so you can manage your coverage depending on how your skin looks on the day. I've mentioned before that I love tinted moisturisers/BB creams/CC creams more than foundations because I don't like noticeable coverage, and this foundation falls into that category for me because it's so light and you can't tell I'm wearing it. It also seems to have a 'matching' effect, so if you can't find your 'precise' shade in the 12 available, do try out the couple that are closest to your skintone - I suspect you'll find one that works for you.

Let me know if you've tried this one and what you think. I'd also love to hear if you have any pharmacy foundations like this one that you use and love : ).