I've always loved the Glossier aesthetic but never thought it was ideal for my problematic-ish skin. However I was going through a period of rather good skin during the summer/autumn of 2019 and it was around then that I realised how ideal a dewy base with minimal coverage would be.

Website Description
Perfecting Skin Tint

Sheer skin enhancer 

1 fl oz / 30 ml 

More skin, less makeup.

What it is: 

In the land between bare skin and makeup makeup exists the imperceptible wash of color that is Perfecting Skin Tint

Why it's special:

Breathable, ultra-thin formula evens out skin’s appearance for a smooth, dewy finish

Diamond Powder gives a brightening, soft-focus effect and minimizes the appearance of pores, while Glycerin moisturizes skin

Comes in 12 super sheer, adaptable shades that won’t hide your freckles, cake your pores, or cover you up

Good to know: hypoallergenic, dermatologist tested, appropriate for all skin types, non-settling, non-irritating, paraben free, fragrance free, cruelty free, vegan

Another day another foundation review! I came across this foundation on Kinkysweats youtube channel, she's one of the handful of youtubers who's product reviews I trust and buy! I also watched Melissa Alatorre's review on this and share her opinions on it so check out these videos if you want an actual demo and a good review.

Foundation technology is advancing so much and this Shiseido Synchro Skin Self-Refreshing Foundation is up there for me at the moment. I've tried many many foundations in my time (as you may already know) so I recognise great formulas and can easily distinguish characteristics between various formulas.  I've heard Shiseido are very advanced when it comes to beauty formulas so I'm not surprised at how good this foundation actually is. Not only that but most companies are now producing at least 20+ shades so people can now finally enjoy a pretty decent shade match alongside an outstanding formula.

Flash Photo. Top-Bottom : Nars All Day Luminous Stromboli, Shiseido Synchro Skin Self-Refreshing 340 Oak, Dior Face & Body 3WO

-It's interesting but I've noticed the shade adjusts after about half an hour but it doesn't exactly oxidise.

-Light creamy texture, runs slowly down the back of your hand.

-Very easily blended out, doesn't require that much effort. I like using a brush most of the time anyway but I've tried it with a sponge and both are amazing with this formula, even though it's a light formula there's not too much absorption.

-Looks very natural on the skin and feels very lightweight. This manages to mimic my skins natural texture and characteristics without highlighting or adding texture yet manages to smoothen the surface and perfect at the same time. It's amazing I love it, I feel like a better version of myself and not caked at all whilst getting decent coverage.

- For me personally this is a very skin beautifying and enhancing formula and finish.

-Provides medium build able coverage. More coverage than the Dior F&B so light blemishes are concealed with just one layer and skin looks really flawless. Not super full coverage but it can be achieved.

-Natural semi matte finish but there is slightly more radiance to the skin compared to Dior F&B, so erring more to the side of satin but not fully satin either. So great for combo skin like mine.

-Once set with a little powder it lasts a while and wears really nicely on me. This is one of those formulas that move with the skin so no fading or melting. I have prominent laugh lines (I'm a chubby smiley person ;) ) and this doesn't settle in the lines. It doesn't highlight or sit in or around my pores nor does my skin drink it up or look parched after a while. Also noticed it controls my oils nicely too where after a few hours, I look radiant but my face or especially my t-zone isn't hella greasy.

-With regards to staying power this does have a setting factor. I read in the description that it 'self refreshes non-stop', how and if that's possible I don't know... but I can agree that this does actually remain looking fresh for a good length of time.

-Reminds me a lot of the Giorgio Armani Power Fabric Foundation (review), thin consistency, semi-matte, lightweight, skin like, skin smoothing and good wear time, I would say the Shiseido is more natural looking on the skin but they're very similar and obviously this shade is way better for me.

Now for the negative..

-I haven't had many negative experiences with the Shiseido Synchro Skin Foundation but I would say that it can sit around dry flakes if you have dry skin. There was a time when I was due for some exfoliation and noticed the foundation sit around some dry flakes on my nose. 

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!