My HG Make Up For Ever Products For A Flawless Face!

I assume most of you have heard of Make Up Forever, a popular brand amongst Make Up Artists who rave about how awesome these products are and the flawless look which can be achieved on you while getting your pics or videos taken! Having owned a few of their products for many months, here I present my review about them.



Let me start with the infamous MUFE HD Foundation!

It is a very clever foundation! Those of us who like the look of flawless skin but weren't naturally born with it, this is the worth the investment! At £27.95 (purchased from Guru Makeup Emporium) a bottle it sure is a steep price to pay but considering the fact that it works brilliantly for flash photography and HD Videos, its worth every penny! And when I really want the best coverage, natural finish and a perfect color match, I reach for my Make Up Forever HD Foundation! This foundation comes in a really sturdy clear plastic bottle with a handy pump and has no SPF in it which makes it all the more suitable for flash photography! If you are in the market for a higher end foundation, this is definitely worth a try!


Another foundation from MUFE that I love and been using throughout the winter season is the Makeup For Ever Pan Stick Foundation! It is such a nice creamy foundation and it glides smoothly like silk! It has a concealer like consistency and blends like a dream, stays on almost all day and conceals any dark circles, imperfections and redness and gives a beautiful yet not quite matte, nowhere near shiny finish! It can be used as full coverage or could be sheered out by applying it with the help of a damp sponge. All in all, I'd say it's near perfect and at £19.95 its fair price for something that will last you forever!


Make Up For Ever Sculpting Kit is the perfect sculpting and highlighting kit! It's a kit featuring complimentary powders, dark and light, that allows you to contour, sculpt, and correct the face structure. I use the shade 3 which is great for contouring and highlighting my face. The dark shade is great because it has no shimmer and no orange undertones which makes it great for a light, natural contour. The powders in the Sculpting Kit are very finely milled and are silky and smooth, and blending them is effortless. Its lasting power is great and can give you the most insane cheek bones. Its expensive at £25.95 but I feel for the price you get your money's worth.
I would suggest to go for this product if you like non-shimmery highlighters and contour a lot.


Next up on my raving list is the Makeup For Ever Compact Shine On! Usually powder highlighters make me look like a disco ball but this ingenious product just makes me look like I'm lit from within, thanks to the fine mother-of-pearl particles it contains! I apply this over my cheekbones, blending into my brow bone and use a little bit down the bridge of my nose and I'm good to go. Sometimes I apply this all over my face for an overall healthy glow and it doesn't look like I've dumped glitter all over my face. This doesn't get cakey at all, its more like a complexion perfecter and gives a really healthy looking flush to my skin. At £24.95 its pricey but you get a lot of this product. Buy it! I promise you'll love it.

Finally some swatches for you to see of how it looks on my NC 27-30 skintone!



Have you tried any Make Up For Ever (MUFE) products? Please share your views with us, thanks!

MAC Studio Fix Fluid Vs MAC Pro Longwear Foundation

A few days back I took a plunge and decided to get myself the latest offering from the range of MAC foundations - MAC Pro Longwear Foundation with SPF 10.

To cut the long story short, I'm just L.O.V.I.N.G this foundation!! I would even go further and say it's their product of the year! Its the best thing that MAC came out with during the whole year!

This foundation, I would say is being targeted towards a specific kind of audience, if you loved the Studio Fix from MAC you would also love this one! Pro Longwear is quite similar to MAC Studio Fix, however, there are also a few differences between the two lines, which I am going to list down below while comparing them.

So lets get started with my detailed comparision review between the MAC Pro Longwear and MAC Studio Fix Fluid foundation:-

* Unlike the Studio Fix (SF), Pro Longwear (PLW) comes with a pump for easier and hygienic application, plus no chances of spilling it anywhere either, all thanks to the pump! (My rating: SF= 0; PLW= 1)
* Studio Fix has an SPF of 15 whereas Pro Longwear has an SPF of 10 in it to offer a little bit of Sun protection. (My rating: SF= 1; PLW= 0)
* Studio Fix stays put for upto 6 hours on me and after that it starts to melt off from my nose and chin and a little bit on the forehead area, whereas the Pro Longwear stays more than 10 hours on me which is the best part about it as none of the foundations I've ever tried has stayed that long on me, so it gets the points for long wearing!(My rating: SF= 0; PLW= 1)
* Studio Fix is not very good at oil controlling and I have to blot every 3/4 hours to remove excess oil, where as the Pro Longwear is very good at controlling my oilies, with this I can go on without powdering for upto 7 hours and after which it starts to look rather dewy than shiny.(My rating: SF= 0; PLW= 1)
* I find Studio Fix to be great for flash photography however, the Pro Longwear casts a white shadow, but its not very visible to the naked eye.(My rating: SF= 1; PLW= 0)
* Pro Longwear is easier to blend in and takes longer to set, I can have my sweet time to play with it before it completely sets on to my skin. The Studio Fix however, needs a bit more effort with blending and dries (sets) very quickly, it doesn't let me play as much with it and I have to work very fast to avoid it from getting streaky.(My rating: SF= 0; PLW= 1)
* Studio Fix gives a higher coverage than the Pro Longwear foundation and I love high coverage :D(My rating: SF= 1; PLW= 0)
* Pro Longwear is more transfer resistant than the Studio Fix.(My rating: SF= 0; PLW= 1)
* Studio Fix gives a matte finish to my skin where as the Pro Longwear gives a satin matte/dewy finish.(My rating: SF= 1; PLW= 1)
* Studio Fix has an alcohol smell whereas the Pro Longwear doesn't smell bad at all!(My rating: SF= 0; PLW= 1)
* Studio Fix is more suitable for people with normal to dry skin whereas the Pro Longwear is more suited for normal to oily skin.(My rating: SF= 1; PLW= 1)
* Studio Fix gives a full but natural looking coverage and also minimised my pores to a great extent, whereas the pro Longwear can look slightly cakey/blotchy if layered on heavily and can escentuate the dry patches and pores on skin. (My rating: SF= 1; PLW= 0)
* Studio Fix feels quite heavy whereas Pro longwear feels lighter on my skin.(My rating: SF= 0; PLW= 1)
* Studio Fix foundations offer a great color selection, it comes in 26 shades, whereas the pro Longwear comes in only 16 shades.(My rating: SF= 1; PLW= 0)
* The NC shades of Studio Fix have more yellow pigments in them and hence suitable for people with yellow skintones whereas the pro Longwear has more beigy tones in it which is great for people with less yellow undertones.(My rating: SF= 1; PLW= 1)

So, do we have a clear winner over here? On a score of 15, I have given the MAC Studio Fix Fluid foundation 8 marks and MAC Pro Longwear 10 marks! Therefore the Pro Longwear WINS the battle against Studio Fix by just 2 marks!!

Both of them are great foundations from MAC and I love the results everytime I use them so I am happy to include both in my makeup stash!
Next time I will try mixing both and see how it works when combined together and incase I find it working any better then I'll get this post re-edited :)

SOME TIPS (for both foundations): you can go one shade lighter while choosing your shade, the Titanium Di-Oxide content in the sunscreen of these foundations tends to get oxidized and make you look eventually dark. I love to use the Stippling brush with these foundations for an even, flawless look. Work in small sections, buff in the product well. Begin with very less, dot it on the skin and then stipple and swirl it using the stippling brush, you could then apply a second layer if you fancy more coverage.

Have you tried the MAC Pro Longwear foundation? Please share your views and experiences, thank you xoxo

Illamasqua Rich Liquid Foundation Review

I've been using foundation since time immemorial but so far have only come across a few really good ones that have stood the test of quality, value for money, performance and time. For me, to get excited about just any foundation is very rare, I REALLY am that fussy about the base products! From drugstore to high end ones, I have never really hesitated to try my luck with them.

Inspite of having good skin I do have a few imperfections here and there which I occassionaly like to cover up, especially at times when I have a few breakouts which make my face look flushed in appearance and hence the need for a good high coverage foundation to cover them all...

For the past few months i've been searching for a base product which can deliver in its promise in terms of providing a flawless coverage and give me a perfect canvas to work upon. It seemed like my journey to the perfect base would never end until I met this jewel from Illamasqua.......
and its....*blows trumphet*...(No prizes for guessing as the title says it all!) the Rich Liquid Foundation from Illamasqua!

This is a no nonsense foundation! A clever little product that WILL cover almost any scar/imperfection! I am really serious when I say this! It provides the HIGHEST coverage I have ever seen for a foundation and this comes from a person who has tried and tested a lot of them in the past! Before buying this foundation, I had come across a few bad reviews on Rich Liquid foundation which made me think low of it but when I had an oppurtunity to try this at the Illamasqua counter, I was surprised to see how flawless it made my skin look!

One more thing that tempted me to buy the Rich liquid foundation was the vast shade selection, available from palest to the darkest of the dark shades! FYI, the SA at Illamasqua counter told me that Ilamasqua has finally tweeked the foundation shades a bit in the Rich Liquid range to bring down the ashy tones in them and make them suitable for yellow based skintones.

During summertime I can take the liberty of going a shade dark or two and I bought the 215 shade for summer and for winter I bought the 210.

Whats really worth mentioning about this wonder of a foundation is the concentrated pigments in them, which is simply amazing as it evens out skintone unike any other foundation in the market! Its a foundation and concealer all in one! This foundation has a creamy gel-like texture, similar to the MAC studio scupt and provides a semi matt to matt finish to the skin. It is a thick foundation but feels and looks light on your skin.

I really like the packaging of this foundation too, it comes in a transparent plastic case with a tiny nozzel to prevent spillage plus its so hygienic to use!

With Illamasqua Rich Liquid foundation, you just need a tiny amount to achieve that flawless Red Carpet look and if you desire for a bit lighter coverage, you could mix it with a blob of moisturizer and apply it using either a duo fibre, flat top or a dense kabuki brush.

In terms of staying power, Illamasqua Rich Liquid foundation keeps me looking flawless upto 4 hours and after which it starts to look a bit cakey and shiny in appearance and needs a bit of dusting with a face powder to reachieve the matt look. By the way, my face produces more oil during summers and this could also add to my one in many reasons for getting a shiny face within a few hours.

The only one thing that I have to keep in mind before using the Rich Liquid foundation is to exfoliate my skin properly and then use a good moisturizer so that it helps the foundation to glide well, without clinging onto the rough patches on my skin.

(A pic of me wearing the Rich Liquid Foundation by Illamasqua)

Overall, I'm utterly chuffed to have found this foundation and would definitely recommend this to people who like a semi matt to matt finish with full coverage (skip this if you are into tinted moisturizers/light foundations). Illamasqua Rich Liquid foundation retails at £21 per 30 ml bottle and I got 25% off on my purchase, courtesy Illamasqua Make Up Amnesty!

By the way, Illamasqua Makeup Amnesty has been extended upto 7th August 2010 due to the popular demand, so take advantage of this offer and grab yourself some Illamasqua goodies!

Updated Review:- A month has passed since I started regularly wearing this foundation & what I have observed is that it dries my skin a lot and feel this foundation is not suited for dry skin. I've a combination skin type whereby my nose, cheek and chin region is more dry than the rest of my face and this foundation makes those regions to appear more dry than usual and accentuates it a lot. After a bit of trial and error I found out that if I mix this with MUFE HD foundation [which also contains silicone] and moisturizer in equal portions and apply it with a foundation brush (not a stippling brush as it could lift up the dry skin), it spreads a lot smoother and looks more natural on my skin! This technique works for me and for others it might or might not but I would suggest you first mix it with a silicone based foundation and moisturizer and see if it works or not for you.

Have you tired the Illamasqua Rich Liquid foundation? Whats your HG foundation for maximum coverage? Please feel free to share about your best and worst foundation purchases with us xoxo