little white truths

You may remember that we received this lovely little birthday gift from Mecca this year, being full sizes of Mecca Cosmetica's Illuminating Primer and All Set Makeup Perfecting Mist. 

It's a great gift and I was super pleased to receive mine: with dry skin, I'm always after illuminating products and I do also love mists because I use those to keep my skin hydrated throughout the day.

I've separated the gift and today I'm here to review the mist, which I've almost finished now so it's definitely time to give you my thoughts.

Mecca claims/product details:

• Set and forget, the must-have final step to any makeup regime
• Gives skin a beautifully radiant, glowing complexion while keeping makeup in place
• The perfect addition to your beauty regime
• Refreshing, hydrating formula helps prevent makeup from melting in the warmer months, and from drying out in the cooler months – which means less touch ups
• Lightweight, ultra luxe formula that's enriched with aloe vera, white tea and chamomile to revitalise and refresh your makeup throughout the day
• Leaves a radiant, dewy complexion
• RRP $35 AUD for 45ml

One thing to keep in mind with this mist is that the amount you get is very small. Indeed, I'm not sure I've ever seen a full-sized setting spray that's this small (they're usually 100ml or more, in my experience) - so you're getting less than half the amount that you normally would.

This means you'll get through it all too quickly, and also means that it's not good value. It's one of the few Mecca branded products I've come across that costs a lot more in practice than comparable products it sells (eg the Too Faced and Urban Decay setting sprays cost a bit more but you get 120ml, so they're effectively cheaper).

Verdict

This is a nice product, but it's not one I would buy - the main reason being that it's bad value. I mean, if you wanted a standard 100 to 120ml of product, you would essentially be paying between $70 and $100 AUD for it, just to put things in perspective.

It's a lightweight spray with a faint, refreshing scent that I enjoy. The mist itself is very fine so that's a plus, although I do occasionally notice droplets on my face when I use this - which terrifies me because those can put holes in your makeup, but this one never has so phew.

What I notice most about this is just how refreshing and cooling it feels on the skin. Soothing. Honestly it's lovely and I enjoy using it for that reason alone. It's a good product to spray on dry, uncomfortable skin - and I imagine that it would feel extra lovely in the summer when it's hot.

What I like about this is that it does its job of removing any powdery look from your makeup and also leaving behind a dewy finish that suits my dry skin. Note, though, that the finish is dewy enough that it mightn't be the right spray for oily skinned lasses or anyone who doesn't want to look shiny.

Indeed, with this spray I've learned to use it before I apply Hourglass' Dim Light, because this spray leaves me looking a little too radiant, so Dim Light tones that down and just makes me look radiant but not shiny. This is worth mentioning because, with dry skin, the more grease the better - so if this is a little too much for me, then it will definitely be too much for others.

Having said this, I tend to apply a lot of my setting sprays (I know I'm not the only one), so this could be part of the shine problem. And I've certainly made the mistake of applying far too much of this before so I've had to go in with my setting powder again to manage the issue. Let's call that user error ; )

The product dries down and leaves a slightly tacky finish that I don't mind but that's something to be aware of if you don't like feeling tacky. I've also found that, if I apply this after my setting powder but before my bronzer and blush etc, the tacky finish doesn't stop my powder products from blending well. Thank golly.

What amazes me most about this product is that it really seals in makeup so I agree that it holds your makeup in place. I've had a cold for weeks now and I've been blowing my nose something chronic, meaning my tinted moisturiser is always coming off on my tissue - but as soon as I apply this, it stops transferring. Honestly, it's quite amazing. Not even a tiny bit of beige comes off on the tissue. I'm impressed.

As for general longevity, I haven't really noticed whether this makes my makeup last longer (eg it's not as though my tinted moisturiser isn't fading when it normally would: it is), but as mentioned, I do think that it stops transfer so I do agree that it helps makeup stay put at least in some respects.

Overall I think this is a great setting spray, but it's not perfect - and it's definitely not good value. Urban Decay's fabled All Nighter Setting Spray (reviewed here) is better value than this one, and my HG budget mist from Banana Boat (reviewed here) is one I would recommend for anyone, whether or not price is an issue.

Lovely but not worth the price for me.