As you may already know I don’t buy full sized foundations on a whim, I play around with samples first and in this particular instance it was pure love. I purchased the foundation from the Dior website in the shade 3WO, described as “light medium skin with warm olive undertones”. It comes with 50ml of product for £29.50. I received 2 deluxe samples of my choice, free shipping and I opted for the gorgeous complimentary gift packaging since I was treating myself to my first ever Dior purchase. (I generally don’t like waste and unnecessary packaging, but I’ve kept the lovely box for storage purposes).

Top-Bottom: Becca Skin Love Olive, Nars All Day Luminous Stromboli, Dior Face & Body 3WO Taken in natural lighting.

- A light to medium build-able foundation. 

- Demi matte finish
- Lightweight 

- Skin like finish

- Long lasting

- Waterproof
- Liquidy formula and thin consistency but not super runny
- Has a slight fragrance

                                             
My application method:
I prefer minimal makeup for day to day. I don’t need all my marks to be concealed but I do want my overall skin tone to look even. I apply one drop on my forehead, one drop on my nose and one drop on each cheek. Then using my flat angled kabuki I blend outwards. I avoid my under eyes and around my mouth because they will most likely go ashy and I don’t want to use colour corrector or concealer as that means more layers making my makeup look obvious which I don’t want. With the minimal, barely anything amount left on the brush I go lightly over my mouth and chin. My skin is left looking more even and awake and still looks like skin. I then set with an incredibly light dusting of powder.


What I love about the foundation:

- Comes in a huge variety of shades with various undertones so everyone will most likely find a match. They have 'N' for neutral, 'W' for warm, 'CR' for cool rosy, 'WP' for warm peach and 'WO' for warm olive.

- Comes in an easy to use and convenient squeezy tube bottle. It’s very simple yet chic.


- A generous 50ml of product so well worth your buck.

- The shade 3WO (warm olive) is the perfect match for my skin tone. Lovely balance of yellow and olive with just the right amount of depth.

Top-Bottom: Becca Skin Love Olive, Nars All Day Luminous Stromboli, Dior Face & Body 3WO

- Blends into the skin seamlessly and effortlessly, my skin just drinks it up and becomes one with it.

- Undetectable skin like finish. People have told me my “skin” looks great when I’ve had it on, not my “makeup” looks great.

- Demi matte finish, matte but not flat, there are still areas of the skin with a slight glow. Obviously all adjustable with the type of skin prep and powdering.

- Very skin smoothing but in a natural way, it doesn’t form a second layer on top of the skin but sinks in to the skin and fills in and blurs pores.

- Super lightweight, I can’t feel it on at all.

- Buildable coverage though I always go for light coverage anyway. I don’t think this goes further than medium coverage. It evens skin out but will need more than 3 layers if you want to cover blemishes or red spots so I personally think you’re better off using a medium to full coverage foundation if you’re after coverage.

- Doesn’t oxidise orange or change colour, though I find my oils do react with it a little after a long while, but nothing drastic enough to put me off.

- No flashback so great for photography.

- Great for my combination skin type and has ample amount of oil control for me. After a few hours my skin looks more glowy in a natural way but not oily.

- Since it's for the body too, it's quite long-lasting on my skin and doesn’t melt or disappear. When set with a light dusting of powder I get approx 8+ hours of wear. But I apply such little product I can’t always tell what’s foundation or what’s skin (lol sorry). But when I cleanse there is always product on the flannel so I know there’s still foundation on my skin.

- Can be used on a variety of skin types, forgiving on most as it can be altered for either dry or oily skin but I would say best for combo oily skin.

Top-Bottom: Becca Skin Love Olive, Nars All Day Luminous Stromboli, Dior Face & Body 3WO

What I’m not so keen on:

I don’t have many dislikes with this foundation but if I really were to think about it I would say:

- Can be quite matte and drying if I haven’t prepped my skin properly.

- If I want a dewy glowy look this isn’t the foundation I will use. I actually reluctant to use this in the summer because it was too matte for my liking.

- I don’t think people with dry skin will like this, I think they will find it too matte.

- I rarely get breakouts these days (current skincare routine is working brill for me) but on the rare occasion that I did get some spots the Dior Face & Body didn’t conceal the redness with one layer and I didn’t really want to apply more layers. So not great if you’re after coverage.

To summarise I absolutely ADORE this foundation, it’s my current go-to everyday base. I find it so easy to use, very reliable and never lets me down. It’s the MAC Face & Body but in the perfect shade with a formula better suited to my skin type plus giving me the finish and coverage that I’m after. If you’re looking for a light coverage matte foundation which evens out your skin as wells as controls your oils then definitely give this one a go, you can use it on your body too if you like!

Have you tried this foundation? If so leave us your thoughts down below!

Previous review : NYX HD Wand Concealer

If you've been following my blog or Instagram for a while, you'll know that this wasn't the first time I done a disappearing act. I'll be honest though, 2 years was a long time, even for my standards! However this time round I felt the need to provide some sort of explanation for my recurring lengthy absences and to be perfectly honest I just wanted to be real with you guys.

Over the past few years in my life I've unfortunately gone through some very difficult and testing times, which has affected my physical as well as mental health and in order to recover and heal from these traumas, I've had to take some time out for myself. In these periods of time I've realised I lose any interest in my favourite pastimes and hobbies, which is why I disappear from the blogosphere. I'm generally a very positive and optimistic person but I have also had moments where I've hit complete rock bottom. I wanted to share this with everyone because we aren't always aware of what people have gone through in their lives or the battles they may be fighting every single day. Everyone has a story. I want to say to all you out there right now who have struggled or are struggling, that you are strong and that you will get through this. There will always be sunshine after the rain. I believe kindness, compassion and lots of positivity towards each other is what makes this world a better place to live in.

I've always tried to keep it real on my platforms and I want to make it more so because it's what I personally want to see. I want to see real lives and real people, the highs, the lows and the struggles. I want to see what makes us human. Unfiltered and relatable. Social media can be a very fickle place sometimes and we've certainly witnessed that behind every perfectly curated picture there's much, much more to a story.

Other than that I’ve also gotten busier with moving homes, new routines and a new job. Posting and interacting regularly on Instagram can sometimes feel like a full time job and I just don't have the time nor energy to commit to it as much anymore. To my loyal readers: Do not fear! I am just as much beauty obsessed as I was before and have so many new favourites to share with you all, so will be popping up on the blogosphere now and again. I hope you understood the purpose behind this post. Thank you for taking out the time to read this, see you around lovelies.

For the most of 2018 my everyday makeup routine was very minimal and stayed pretty much the same the entire year. It included the wonderful yet cheap and cheerful NYX HD Wand Concealer. I barely wore any foundation that year and used to use just a few swipes of this concealer in the centre of my face. I used up 4 tubes of this consecutively so I think it's safe to say it has certainly earned itself holy grail status.

The NYX HD Wand Concealer comes in plastic tube and has a doe foot applicator, simple, easy and convenient to use. Comes with 3g/0.11oz of product which isn't much (for e.g. the Nars RCC comes with double the amount at 0.22oz of product) but at £6 it ain't too much of an issue since it's still half the price. I find the packaging a little on the cheap side, if you screw the lid on a little too tightly it cracks the outer casing and you usually end up pulling the outer casing off whilst the actual screw part of the lid is still attached to the main body. Minor glitch but I would prefer if the packaging stayed intact, better quality packaging perhaps if you’re reading this NYX?

Shade

You know I love a good shade match and NYX haven't failed to deliver. After scouring the net for swatches I had my eye on the shade CW04 which is also known as 'Beige'. I'd seen other olive tan people use this shade so I was eager to try it out my self. I love this shade! I've been searching for a concealer shade that will brighten my under eyes but still look natural and this shade is perfect, it has the right balance of olive/yellow/peach to brighten yet blend into my skin for when I don’t want to wear any foundation. There have been many a times where a concealer shade just doesn’t have the right tones in it so it just looks silly under my eyes and usually ends up making my under eye area look worse than it started. This shade blends into the rest of my skin wonderfully, you can't tell where the concealer ends. I would use a peach corrector underneath for when I wanted more fuller coverage under my eyes.

I also looked into buying a darker shade as I'd gone on holiday and caught a tan, again after carrying out a little swatch search I discovered they had a new shade launch and it included some lovely warm medium shades. I picked up the shade CW6.3 which is also known as Fresh Beige. It's much warmer and a touch more neutral than Beige but done a good job while I had my tan. I've also realised that under yellow lighting this particular shade looks completely undetectable on my skin, it's literally seamless and I'm obsessed! They have some brilliant brilliant shades for anyone with warm yellow olive undertones, several people in my family also use and adore this concealer and they use different shades to me, so it's obvious it's great for Mediterranean or South Asian skin tones.

Formula, Texture & Finish

It’s not super thick but quite creamy but not super emollient and feels really really light on the skin. I found the cult favourite Nars RCC quite thick and it caked up quite easily on me, it also looked rather obvious on my skin. I personally find the NYX concealer really skin like. I’ve also tried the Urban Decay Naked Skin concealer which is another cult favourite and I found that super light. In comparison to that I’d say the NYX comes in between the Nars and the UD, I did love the formula of UD but none of the colours worked for me unfortunately.

The NYX HD concealer is not one of those formulas where you have to work super fast to blend it in before it sets and dries on you, you have plenty of time to play around with it. I personally find the NYX HD concealer really easy to work with, no need to faff around, just apply and blend. I actually like using a brush for everyday light application and it blends in nicely. Like I mentioned it’s quite skin like in finish and does exude a slight skin like radiance. Skin texture being my biggest pet peeve I also find it doesn’t exaggerate my skin texture too bad rather it gives me a smooth undetectable finish which is a major bonus!

Coverage

I would say it's medium to medium/full, definitely buildable. What I sometimes do is let the concealer sit on my skin for a while to let it dry up a little before I blend it in, this gives me a little more fuller coverage, I’ve seen a lot of YouTuber’s do this and it works really well with this concealer. I love that this gives me coverage yet looks really natural, there’s been a few times where people have asked me if and what I have on my skin because it makes my skin look naturally even. I prefer my makeup to look as undetectable as possible and this gives me just that.

Longevity

The NYX HD concealer isn’t the most long lasting formula but on myself once set with powder it does stay on a decent while. I have quite creasy under eyes so I always have to set with powder. For me personally it's a decent everyday concealer and performs how I want it to. It's not very heavy duty but great for everyday light makeup.

Overall Thoughts

I think the fact that I've repurchased this so many times shows how much I adore it. I do think there's always room for improvement when it comes to shades and definitely packaging with this one but other than that for the price and performance it's great! If you're after a lightweight, easy to use concealer and you're on a budget definitely give this a go, you won't lose that much if it doesn't work out for you. Anyway I hope this was helpful, thanks for reading guys!

Hey everyone, hope you're all well! After a fairly long and awkward hiatus I'm back with a foundation review. I'll be reviewing the newly released and highly anticipated Nars Foundation, the Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation (abbreviated as NRL for this review obvs). If you read my last post you'll know I was super excited for this foundation and couldn't wait to get my hands on it, to the point that I didn't even bother get a sample, I just bought it, which is so not me! Even though it was set to release on the 15th of January this year in the UK, I surprisingly came across it in the Nars Boutique store in Covent Garden a month ago and snatched it up right away. I've been testing this out for a month now and I think I'm ready to share my thoughts, I must forewarn you that they're unfortunately not all very positive ones...

What Nars say:

There’s longwear. And then there’s strongwear.

Introducing NARS’ first 16-hour foundation that stays turned on by the power of radiance. Untraceable. Unstoppable. Unlike anything else. Longwear is finally lightweight—and radiant. High coverage is now super natural. Its breathable, fade-resistant formula is infused with Raspberry, Apple, and Watermelon extracts to help smooth and improve the look of your skin instantly, and over time for full-powered radiance. It wears longer, stays stronger, and looks better with each hour. Specialized skin-matching technology ensures your truest match yet. Your future looks radiant with Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation.

IDEAL FOR:
Medium-to-full, buildable coverage

SKIN TYPE:
Normal, combination, and oily skin types

FINISH:
Natural, radiant finish

FORMULA FACTS:

TRANSFER-RESISTANT

SWEAT-RESISTANT

FADE-RESISTANT

NON-DRYING

PARABEN FREE

ALCOHOL FREE

OIL FREE

FRAGRANCE FREE

DERMATOLOGIST TESTED

NON-COMEDOGENIC

TECHNOLOGY:

Skin Optimizing Complex, a blend of Raspberry, Apple, and Watermelon extracts, helps support skin elastic fibers to smooth and improve skin’s texture over time for optimal radiance.

Packaging

The NRL comes in your standard Nars style packaging, sleek, simple and black. The foundation is housed in a clear glass bottle and looks like a longer and slimmer version of the ADLW foundation (review). It comes with a pump attached and the pump dispenses a small amount of product which ensures you don't waste product, if you're familiar with the ADLW it dispenses the same amount that that pump does. Another great thing is that the pump is also controllable so if you want to dispense a teeny dot (like I usually do) then you can!



Shade & Oxidisation

Nars have added newer shades to their NRL range and now carry a total of 33 shades. After carrying out extensive research and scouring the net for swatches (see swatch compilation post here), from looking at all the swatches, it appeared that Stromboli remained the yellow/olive-est shade from them all. So I bought Stromboli without any hesitation as I wear Stromboli in their other foundations too. After wearing this for the past 4 weeks I can easily note that there is a difference between this Stromboli and the others.

This Stromboli is actually similar to Sheer Glow's Stromboli (review) and lighter and less yellow/olive than ADLW's Stromboli, it perfectly matches the centre of my face (which is paler than the rest of my face) but is a little uncomfortably light for my hyper pigmented mouth and chin area and the upper half of my forehead which are the typical areas of pigmentation that some WOC can have. Also I've been terrible with my skincare and haven't used sunscreen alongside my acids or retinoids for the last few months (I know I know, I need to be lashed) so my pigmentation is really awful at the moment (cry for me please ;( ). Also I've been using the Nars ADLW continuously for several several months now and have become accustomed to its rich yellow olive tones, it's pretty much identical to and enhances my skins yellowness and depth so looks the best on me.

Even though NRL matches the centre of my face nicely, I can't seem to agree with the ashiness around my mouth even after colour correcting, though I do use my Radiant Creamy Concealer (review) in Caramel to deepen around my mouth and bronzer around my forehead. I have worn this plenty of times and can get away with the shade (using with the Caramel concealer) and repetitively ask friends and family if my base is looking fine and they reassure me that I'm not looking awful, ashy or grey. After looking at the shades I would say Valencia would probably match my darker areas better but I still feel like I'd just need a darker yellow olive shade whereas Valencia just looks more warm peach neutral. As much as I'd like Stromboli to be a little more golden/olive it's actually the formula that I'm not agreeing with and not just the shade.

Swatches below taken outside/natural lighting.

With regards to Oxidisation I haven't noticed any major oxidising but I have a feeling it does deepen especially if you're using an oil or a very emollient moisturiser underneath.

Formula

The NRL is a liquidy formula, it's runnier than the Sheer Glow but thicker than the ADLW. It's a very lightweight formula and does blend on to the skin decently well. I always test new foundations first with my favourite foundation brush (slanted, flat top kabuki), it did blend in nicely but not as smooth or seamless as other foundations I've used in the past, it needed a teeny bit more effort. The second time I used a damp sponge and found that not only did it blend in better but also looked better on the skin than the brush, but again didn't blend as effortlessly as other foundations I've tried. The sponge obviously absorbed a little extra product so I had to use more, but with a brush it didn't sit on the skin as nicely and looked a little more cakey than the sponge application. 

I have combination dehydrated skin and feel like this formula just didn't sit well with my skin for some reason. I'm really not sure what to make of it. From my personal experiences with this foundation and my understanding of it's formula (you know I like to dissect formulas), I would say it will work best for those with combination oily skin or for those with a Normal/oily skin type or those with dry but smooth flake free skin, I feel like if you have oily skin it breaks up the foundation and makes it patchy. I've watched a fair amount of reviews and I've noticed that those with very oily skin get really oily with this foundation and have given it a pass, these oily skinned reviewers then go on to say that this foundation will work for those with dry skin but I feel like this foundation will drag and get cakey on those with dry skin and I don't think it'll look very natural but more on the finish later. It's really confusing as I've heard mixed reactions from all skin types, so so confused, but ultimately it's not the best formula for me.

An important point I need to make with regards to the formula is that I have a fairly strong feeling that this foundation is breaking me out, I'm pretty sure it's this foundation because I've been testing it for a month now and my skin is really congested and spotty now, it wouldn't surprise me to be honest because the Sheer Glow breaks me out too. Now that I've got the review written up I'm going to take a break from using it and monitor any changes with my skin.

Finish

Nars say that the NRL is a natural matte finish and I will agree, it's a demi matte finish where it isn't flat but does allow a subtle light/radiance to reflect off the skin's high points. It definitely falls under the natural finish category. I find skin prep can really alter the finish and also the amount of foundation you use. If there isn't enough emollience on my skin I find I get a very matte finish and it can look quite cakey, flat and unnatural on me. But if I've moisturised really well it's fairly radiant. With this foundation I've realised I need to be well moisturised hence why I reckon this foundation isn't great for those with dry dehydrated skin, not only that I also need to make sure that the moisturiser has been applied well in advance and has had the chance to absorb into my skin properly or else I find the foundation slides around a lot and just doesn't mesh with the skin. Also when I've tried to go for a minimal look and use a little bit of product it's more matte but when I've used an ample amount and opted for full coverage, it's more of a satin matte. If you have dry or dehydrated skin I highly advise you to moisturise well before using this foundation.

I was hoping this foundation would be similar to the Giorgio Armani Power Fabric Foundation (review) but it isn't, it's not as beautiful and natural on the skin as the Power Fabric, the Power Fabric was really lightweight on the skin and had a lovely smoothing effect whilst still looking like skin. The NRL isn't as smoothing on the skin, it's more like second skin where it mimics the skins natural texture, I also find it isn't super pore filling either. I also have noticed that when I look really closely in the mirror I can see actual product on my skin, minuscule cakey pigments or powders that are just sitting atop of my skin which does get progressively worse throughout the day, I'll explain this in more depth in the Longevity section of my review because I feel like the finish is definitely linked to the longevity too.

I own all three of the Nars Foundations and I know the formulas pretty well, an interesting point I'd like to make is that I've noticed that all 3 formulas are not the greatest for those with textured or dry skin, I personally think Nars foundations sit much better on those with smoother and oily skin, this one included. I should add that my skin isn't at its best right now (especially now because of this foundation probably) I have quite a bit of texture and bumps and am quite dehydrated too. Another thing I need to mention is that I've noticed this foundation seems to highlight my pores, more than the ADLW, not only does it highlight them but it sort of sits in them too, at the same time I find it's not too bad with my laugh lines. As you can tell I'm not really impressed by the finish unfortunately.

Feel
One thing that I can't fault with the NRL is that it is a really lightweight formula, almost as lightweight as the ADLW but where the ADLW is very pigmented and watery thin you don't need a lot of product for coverage whereas with the NRL you do have to use a little more product. It's a very comfortable formula on the skin and it barely feels like you have any product on. This does set slightly on the skin so any tackiness you may feel does disappear but after a few hours of wear this does get quite radiant and oily so you may feel a tackiness at that point. Otherwise I do think that both the formula and texture is very lightweight.

Coverage and Build-ability
Nars say that the NRL is a medium to build-able full coverage foundation and I will agree, I would say from the first layer it provides a proper medium coverage, any redness is covered and my skin tone looks really even but my PIH marks are still visible, another layer or two just over those marks and they are completely concealed, I also have used this under my eyes over the top of some orange corrector and it's concealed my dark circles really well. I use 1 1/2 pumps for light to medium coverage and 4 pumps for full coverage and use concealer around my mouth too to deepen it up more.

The NRL builds layers really well and doesn't get cakey when building layers but because it is a matte finish and not the smoothest in blending I suggest you work one area at a time as it does sort of set and you do need to blend it in more to manoeuvre it around the face. Also personally on myself I find that my skin needs to be well prepped if I want to build layers as the finish can get slightly cakey and obvious on me with more product.

Longevity
Apart from the finish of the NRL, the biggest factor that I think that lets this foundation down -ironically enough- is the longevity. I've watched and read a lot of reviews and that is the one thing majority of the people mention when it comes to flaws in the formula. This foundation does not wear well on my skin at all, Nars say that this looks better on the skin as the day goes on but for me it looks worse and worse. This is where I said it was linked to the finish, because whether I set it or not the foundation just doesn't look very attractive on me at all after a few hours. Also it starts off a little tacky but then sets, but once my oils start to come out it feels tacky again and then I find it transfers really easily.

On myself I find this foundation looks the best when it's first applied and as the day goes on I notice that not only do I get quite oily, but it looks even more cakey than it probably started off with, it also sits in and highlights my pores even more and the foundation has literally separated, faded and disappeared in areas. I've tried this on top of a silicon primer to see if it'd help but it just became a hot cakey mess. On myself a hydrating primer works best underneath this foundation but to be honest it's just not worth it because it just doesn't look brilliant at all after several hours and I have other foundations that don't behave like this so I really don't need to deal with the drama.

Overall Thoughts
I'll be honest I did have quite high expectations for this foundation since it is Nars after all, I test a lot of foundations out and have seriously noticed how advanced beauty companies have become with their formulas so I didn't expect any less from Nars. I don't mean to say that the NRL isn't a good foundation, it definitely has its good points but it's honestly fallen a little short of my expectations and I've just not had the best or ideal experiences with it. I do know that there are a lot of people that do really like it and at my first ever application (which was at night time mind you) I also did think this was the foundation formula I was waiting for from Nars. I am on the fence with the NRL and will put it away for some time until my skin has gotten better and perhaps when I'm not as dehydrated I will give it another shot. I'm actually working on a comparison post between the three infamous liquid foundations that Nars do which I didn't mention too much on here because this review is already long and detailed enough. I'm also working on the Fenty foundation which I really really like, as well as a couple of other foundations, they'll hopefully be a bit more positive than this one and it'll hopefully get me back into the swing of things as I did feel a bit all over the place with this review! As always I hope you found this helpful.

Thank you for taking out the time to read and for all your support.

Quick Round-up

Positives
- Really lightweight
- Good coverage
- Natural matte finish
- Ideal for those with smooth skin

Negatives
- Not long lasting
- Fades and disappears off skin
- Not great for dry/dehydrated skin or super oily skin
- Can get cakey and highlight texture
- Shade Stromboli isn't as olive/yellow as previous Stromboli's
- Is most likely breaking me out

Rhea Valencia Channel

Her Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation review video 

(Super helpful if you're a fellow Stromboli!)

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Saaaammage Channel 

Her Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation review video

(Love her foundation reviews!)

BlissfulBrii Channel 

Her Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation review video

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Her Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation review video