Friday, January 18, 2013

Revlon Nearly Naked Liquid Foundation Makeup

Hola my beauty lovin' babes!

I have ANOTHER Revlon foundation review for you today!! Revlon seems to be pumping out some really fantastic products lately, and I was super pleased to see another foundation in their line of hits. I did a little bit of research before picking up this foundation, but not as much as I usually do, as I was super intrigued by the whole "naked" concept and my shopping compulsion just overcame me.

As most of you probably know by now, my combination skin (lately) has been more on the oily side, as opposed to being truly "combination" in nature. I figured that the Nearly Naked foundation would be a bit of a gamble, since 'skin-mimicking' foundations tend to lean on the more dewy, or glowy, side anyways.

I picked my foundation up from Shoppers Drug Mart for about $15 CDN. I haven't really seen this foundation anywhere else yet (I've been avoiding shopping lately as we're trying to save money), but I would imagine that it ranges anywhere between $10-$17 CDN, depending on where you buy it. The bottle contains 1 fl oz (30 mL).

Revlon Nearly Naked Makeup
Photo credit: www.revlon.com
My shade is Vanilla, which is the lightest warm shade available from the line. There are 16 shades available, all split up into the "warm" and "cool" toned foundations - so virtually anyone can find a match. Revlon offers an interactive online tool to help you choose your appropriate shade, in addition to providing a little card on the display that will also help you determine which color to pick.

I don't particularly love the generic packaging. The sleek rectangular bottle and white cap make it different from every other foundation I own, but it's not really outstanding. Additionally, I hate the fact that there isn't a pump included with this foundation - it would be a nicer alternative to the open mouth that you have to dump foundation out of. Sigh de la sigh. This can get incredibly messy, very quickly.

As far as foundations go, I feel that Vanilla is as perfect a match as I'd ever find at the drugstore. I actually have more neutral undertones in my skin, but to counteract the pinky-redness in my face, I purchased the warmer foundation to cancel out and better conceal this.

The foundation has an SPF of 20, which does create a bit of a white cast across my skin in flash photography, but it's nothing too overwhelming. I think that powdering the skin definitely helps downplay the white cast as well.

The foundation itself is incredibly liquidy - in fact, its even more runny than Revlon ColorStay. I'd have to say it's as runny as my NARS Sheer Glow foundation was - and that's saying something. Revlon boasts that the coverage is buildable, and I would definitely agree. If you're applying a light first layer, the coverage is definitely sheer to light. If you use more product and a heavy hand, you can definitely achieve a light-to-medium coverage. Applying a second (or even third) layer will give you a very respectable coverage of the medium-to-full variety, depending on what all you need covered up. For my own purposes, I tend to go with a light layer around my face to even everything out, and then I go in with a little bit extra product on my brush to build additional coverage in my problem areas (cheeks, around the nose, chin, etc.).

Upon application, I find that this application is fairly tacky. It's not that it takes a while to set, it just feels sticky on my skin. Usually this is remedied by applying a powder to the shiny and/or tacky areas. I do find that towards the end of my 8 hour day, my foundation does tend to feel a little tacky, especially in my oily areas, but it's nothing a little powder won't fix.

I've tried several different ways to apply this foundation to my bare skin including my Real Techniques Buffing brush (wet and dry), my beauty blender sponge (damp), my Real Techniques Stippling brush, and my ELF Studio Powder brush. By far, my favorite way to apply this foundation is using my Real Techniques Buffing brush (dry). I feel like it gives me the coverage I want on the first go, and allows me to easily and efficiently buff the foundation into my skin. It doesn't seem to leave too many brush streaks behind in my foundation, which is a huge plus. Additionally, it makes building up the coverage incredibly easy. If I'm building up several layers of foundation, I'll usually roll a damp sponge over my face to ensure there aren't any weird streaks or marks left in the foundation from the bristles of my brush.

The longevity of this foundation is incredible. I'm not 100% sure how it manages to outwear the Revlon ColorStay on my skin, but it does! I can apply this around 8:30 am, and when I get home in the evening around 6:30 pm, it still looks EXACTLY the same as it did when I left the house in the early morning. It wears off beautifully in any event, not leaving any harsh lines or obvious 'bald' patches on my face. It wears off gradually, just fading slightly throughout the day. In fact, the most wear and tear I see is around my nostrils, but that's about it. The only other thing I notice is that my T-zone is slightly more 'dewy' than it was when I left the house in the morning. It's nothing that can't be remedied by a little powder, but it's not obnoxious or glaringly obvious... it just doesn't look quite as fresh as it could. For this reason, if I'm planning on being out later in the evening, I'll pack a powder along just to touch up after work.

At 9 o'clock am in the morning, in natural sunlight.
At 9 o'clock in the morning, in direct sunlight.


An up-close picture of my foundation at 9 o'clock in the morning.
Direct sunlight.
At 5 o'clock pm in artificial light.
On the left: no flash, On the right: with flash.
The left half of my face is clean, and the right half has foundation on it.
See how natural it looks!?
Another huge plus to this foundation is the fact that it increases the wear time of my blush and bronzer/contour astronomically. I look in the mirror at the end of the day, and I'm actually surprised because I can still see blush on my face... in fact, it looks almost as good as it did at the beginning of the day.

One of my favorite aspects of the Nearly Naked foundation is the way it sits weightlessly on my skin. I literally cannot feel this foundation at all. I get the coverage I want, without feeling cakey or weighed down by my foundation. Even when the end of the day rolls around and my face feels less than fresh, I still don't feel the nagging weight of my foundation. It's a comfortable, flexible wear - it is the picture of 'minimalistic.' 

Nearly Naked doesn't break me out at all. In fact, I've noticed that since using this, my skin has been happier and less 'upset' in general. Maybe it's my diet or something, but I've had fewer zits, and my complexion in general has been more even and smooth. 

What can I say? I'm in love.

I'd highly recommend this to everyone, except maybe those whose faces mimic the McDonald's deep fryers. Your skin might not fair so well with this foundation, but I'd say that anyone with dry to combination/oily skin could utilize this foundation and love it.

I cannot sing the praises of this foundation enough. I am so pleasantly surprised with this foundation. I am actually excited to get up in the morning and plop this on my skin. I love looking in the mirror and seeing my flawless skin look back at me. 

Definitely 5 out of 5 stars.

Let me know: have you tried the new Revlon Nearly Naked foundation!? What do you think of it...?

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