Mehron Celebré HD Cream Foundation in Eurasia Japonais Review

Started this review back in June! Talk about bloggers block! Anyway here it goes...

Since my success with the Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation Stick (review here) I knew I wanted to try more cream foundations (pure foundation junkie here!). I always felt I would like the feel of cream foundations. I first heard of Mehron from Wayne Goss in his favourite cream foundations video, alongside RCMA, Kett and others. I was interested but since it wasn't a very popular brand, I found shade searching and matching a bit daunting and didn't look further on into it. Then Onika Khatun raved about it on her blog and Instagram and let's agree, the girl's bloomin' gorgeous (mA) and she really understands skin and does a smashing job with her base/makeup. She is of a similar skin tone to me and uses Eurasia Fair. I looked up swatches and noticed Eurasia Japonais is more yellow and not that different to Eurasia Fair, plus she mentioned on her blog that the two were quite similar. (But some of the swatches are extremely confusing, the order of the swatches are different in different websites and different pictures, so I'm not too sure if some reviewers have got the order wrong and so I can't guarantee which is the more yellower one-more on that later).

As usual I was excited to use it when it arrived. My first impression when swatched was that it was quite thick, the colour however had true yellow olive undertones to it and it really reminded me of my Bobbi Brown 4.5 Warm Natural. This stuff is crazy pigmented, I think it has 30% pigment in it compared to normal mainstream foundations which can range between 8-20% pigment. Since it's so pigmented I highly doubt you would need to use that much, and can probably get full coverage with this. 

I first tried to use this with my damp beauty blender (I dunked the sponge straight into the pot and applied to face) and it was proving difficult to blend, the cream was thick so it just wasn't budging with the soft damp sponge. So I used my fingers, and it wasn't giving me the results I wanted, it was looking cakey and dry. The second time I used my RT Buffing Brush and it blended better. From these two methods I realised that No.1, it was a MUST for me to have soft, well moisturised and exfoliated skin, No.2, the product needs to be warmed up as much as possible, No.3, I don't need to use a lot of this, it's crazy pigmented, No.4, the stiffness of the Buffing Brush helped move and blend the product better on my skin but left a more streaky and cakey finish, so brush was a no no.

I decided to try a similar approach to how I used the Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation Stick. Using my RT Pointed Foundation Brush I brushed on a few stripes of Mehron Celebre HD onto my face then pounced/blended it out with my beauty blender, as I hoped it worked excellently! Through my trialling I can definitely say you don't need a lot at all! 

The formula is very thick, and it's very pigmented, it covers really well, you can definitely get full coverage with this foundation and I highly doubt you'll need any concealer, if blended properly with a sponge it can look rather natural and flawless on the skin (as natural as full coverage can look). You can also apply this lightly and build up to whatever coverage you want, it's really flexible like that, the lighter the coverage the more natural it will appear and you can definitely get an untraceable finish, perfect for those who like no makeup makeup (me). 

You can really tell how simple and basic the formula is, no SPF or shimmer, it's definitely not a modern day formula foundation, but it delivers exactly what is says so you can't argue. Even though it's thick and oil free, it's creamy in texture and can appear quite smooth on the surface of your skin since it's quite emollient. The finish is natural and skin like, it's not overly matte nor is it shiny. In my experience and on my skin type*, once set with powder this can last a rather long time, you may have to blot or retouch with some powder after 3-4 hours if you have normal to oily skin.

*My skin is dehydrated/dry and combination, very weird combination but I know that my skin can't handle too much product or it'll look cakey and dry, so I tend to go for hydrating formulas more often.

People with dry flakes really need to make sure they have no flakies on their skin because this foundation will most definitely outline them. For those that don't necessarily have flakies but have dry skin will need to make sure they are thoroughly moisturised. Since it's a cream it is emollient and hydrating to a certain extent, it can look greasy (my t-zone gets oily if I'm warm) so setting is a must because this cream formula doesn't set nor is it transfer resistant, if you have oily skin you will most definitely set your whole face with powder, I only powder my t-zone since I've noticed after a while my pores gape open like the Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation Stick. 

Also I definitely have to colour correct under my eyes and around my mouth with this foundation because my discolouration looks ghastly if I have too much coverage or product around my mouth. If you have skin texture you will notice this may eccencuate it a little, as with most face products and foundation, the smoother your skins surface the better makeup and foundation will look on you. 

Now onto my impressions and thoughts for the colour/shade match, I'm not sure how much I like the colour, at first I thought it was going to be perfectly undertoned for my incredibly fussy skin. I'm South Asian medium, light brown, yellow olive undertoned with discolourations. I'm somewhere around the NC35-42 mark, somewhere... though I'm under the impression that I don't have a perfect match in MAC...so yeah..

Sometimes I've used it and thought yes it's perfect, other times I've not been too keen. It may be down to the fact that some of the times I've used too much and it's been too strong a yellow/olive and other times I'd used less and the colour blends out perfectly.

There is so much confusion with the online swatches, I'll explain in detail now. (The next 4 pictures are not mine, I got them off Google for shade analysis and comparison, they belong to their respective owners)

In this picture Japonais is 3rd and looks like the more "yellow" one whereas Fair seems to have more "olive".

Again here Japonais is 3rd and looks more "yellow" and Fair looks more neutral /olive"

In this picture Japonais is 2nd and Fair is 3rd, but now Japonais looks "neutral/olive" and Fair looks like the "yellower" one.

In this assembly, Japonais comes 2nd and Fair 3rd, you can't really see the undertones properly but Fair looks more "deeper" in colour so we can assume that it's the more "yellow" one and Japonais is the more "neutral" one.

Do you see the problem? It seems to me that someone somewhere has gotten it wrong! The only way I can really determine this is if I owned Eurasia Fair too. Believe me I'm tempted! But I had no intention to spend £20 odd on 2 foundations just to determine which shade is which. I probably will do this in the near future if I'm still curious about the shades. 

Here are some swatch comparisons I done with some foundation that I own:

MAC NC40 Studio Fix and NC42 Pro Longwear

Nars Stromboli, Nars Barcelona and MAC Studio Fix Fluid NC37

Nars Stromboli is the closest match to my skin tone (but not gold enough) which is why I think I find Eurasia Japonais too strong in yellow sometimes. I find that I look kinda orange or jaundiced sometimes, but then sometimes I find it light. I'm so confused with this shade haha but I can't deny it's super yellow and pigmented!

It's a good foundation, but you need to know how to work with it in order to get good results. At £10 a 25 gram pot it's excellent and great value for money since there's so much product in there and it's so concentrated and the colour selection is pretty decent. I definitely recommend to trial and error with this, I still am to this day hence why it took me forever to upload this post, a lot of you were waiting so apologies for the delayed wait. I hope as usual that this was helpful, and if you have any questions or suggestions please let me know, I love hearing from you. Peace!

*UPDATE*: So like I said I've been constantly trialling this baby out and testing and experimenting with different methods and amounts to see how much I actually like it and how well it fares on me. I've figured out that I had been using way too much, I don't like heavy obvious coverage, I like to stay within medium coverage, it's just my preference. So since I was using too much, it was showing really yellow on me, lately I've been using less and it's been almost perfect on me, the colour is the perfect amount of yellow on me. No ashiness, no orange. I just have to remember to use less in the future and I should get along with it just fine. I can happily categorise this foundation into my "safe and wearable foundation shade" box. 

Also for extra information, this is my base routine for this Mehron foundation:

(Cleanse, exfoliant and serum) then moisturiser, whilst the moisturiser is still dewy I apply the LA Color Cover up Concealer in Orange only on the dark part of my under eye circles (not all the way under my eyes) and also all around my mouth/lips/chin (at this point I always think I look like a baboon but heyho you gotta do whatchyou gotta do). Then I apply 3 small dots of Mehron on my forehead, a dot under each eye directly ontop of the orange corrector, 2 dots on each cheek, a small dot on my nose, 2 small dots above my upper lip, 1 small dot on either side of my lips and then 2 dots on my chin. Then blend with my damp beauty blender. Once blended, I check if I have enough coverage then with a small headed brush (I use elf concealer brush) I brush it into my Soap & Glory KickAss powder tap off excess then press into my under eyes, the (cheek) skin around my nose and on the button of my nose, between my eyebrows, my whole forehead, above upper lip and beneath my lower lip. I use only a little powder specifically with a smaller brush so as not to overdo it with the powder because I have dry very cake prone skin. But since I'm oily in my t zone I do need to set my foundation or else I'll look unflatteringly greasy. Then I continue with the rest of my makeup. I also use RTPFB and draw small stripes onto my face then pounce away with the B Blender. I hope this was useful!

Description and Ingredients from website:

Mehron is proud to bring you Celebré PRO-HD Makeup Foundation! This innovative product is the result of collaborative efforts by Mehron’s product development lab chemists and a select group of highly acclaimed makeup artists. Celebré PRO-HD Makeup Foundation is an oil-free and fragrance-free cream formula that delivers satin-smooth, buildable coverage with a non-greasy feel suitable for all skin types. The buildable consistency adjusts for any desired coverage, plus soothes the skin with antioxidants such as vitamin E, pomegranate and aloe vera. With an impressive array of colors to accommodate all skin tones, Celebre's perfect range is available individually or in the Celebre Pro-HD Makeup 20-Color Palette - the perfect kit companion! From fashion runways and HD-TV to everyday wear, Celebré Pro-HD works for every occasion and on all skin types and colors. May be worn alone or set with Mehron Celebre Pro-HD Loose Mineral Finishing Powder for prolonged wear.

Propylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, Isononyl Isononanoate, Ozokerite, VP/Hexadecene Copolymer, Myristyl Lactate, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Extract, Ethylhexyl Hydroxystearate, Silica, BHA. May Contain: [+/- CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77489, CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499 (Iron Oxides), CI 77007 (Ultramarines), CI 77288 (Chromium Oxide Greens), CI 15850 (Red 6 Lake), CI 15850 (Red 7 Lake), CI 19140 (Yellow 5 Lake)].