Hot or Not Beauty

Sometimes I want to splurge on one makeup item that just exudes exquisiteness, so Yves Saint-Laurent’s Temps Majeur seemed like a perfect opportunity. I probably am going through a Yves Saint-Laurent phase but this rose has its thorns, and this foundation was one of them.

All of Yves Saint-Laurent’s makeup is strongly scented, the fragrance however has practically no staying power and doesn’t bother you. The perfume on this foundation is delicious however that is not my problem with it. My problem is the coverage and finish.

This is not meant for sheer application, it just sits there, whether applied with a brush or a sponge, it just doesn’t work if you’re going for a sheer look. So, OK, fine we’ll do it Medium-Full and it doesn’t look for me, it ends up looking cakey, incredibly heavy and OBVIOUS that you’re wearing foundation. In this day and age with all the advances in cosmetics this is something I wasn’t expecting for a $100 worth of foundation it just didn’t work for me at all.

Not only that, there was definitely something in the components that made me break out within a half an hour of putting it on my face.

I was so glad that I had previously asked for a sample of this to try out before I went out and bought it on impulse and left with yet another item for my “you-want-it-you-got-it” bag.
After so many hazards in my makeup shopping, I became a lot more careful about my purchases specially if it goes over $50 in price, it’s just not practical to have tons of makeup sitting because it didn’t either live up to my expectations or was just a bad product.

After falling in love with “Poudre Sur Mesure”, I wanted to love Temps Majeur as well, but definitely couldn’t and sported the war wounds for a few days until my skin cleared up.

Most of the time I rave and rave but there are those times when a good rant becomes a sort of public service.
Sometimes there are those products that we really want to love, because it looks cool or you just want to think that it will deliver all those things they say it does.

Although I control my shopping impulses a lot better, sometimes I succumb to them and well sometimes it works, while sometimes it doesn’t.

My daily makeup look is just to look as natural as possible and I’m constantly on the look out for stuff that makes me look good BUT doesn’t make look made up or like a wax figure, we guys need texture in our skin more than women otherwise we look… weird.

Although my Holy Grail pressed powers is MAC’s Pressed Blot Powder, during the harsher winter months the powder just takes longer to set and it’s not that convenient to apply at work because even if it applied sheerly, I will have a sort of powdered nose for the next 30 minutes or so.

Check this older post out (if you haven’t) for my thoughts on pressed powders, if you still haven’t.

With all that in mind, I thought that it was time to give Smashbox’s Anti-Shine Compact a try. I mean, why shouldn’t I? The compact was small and super convenient with a small mirror that would allow me to touch up in 10 seconds in the bathroom and return with a matte complexion and no powdery residue. Plus it also said that it contained “tea tree oil to help combat breakouts, and vitamin E to help repair skin damage”, so I was like “YES! MARRY ME!”. So I dropped by the nearest Sephora and bought it.

That afternoon, the oily shine struck, but I was ready for it! So I softly patted the product on my forehead and nose careful not to swipe and ruin my makeup, after all this balm type product isn’t supposed to apply like a powder. And it was miraculous, my skin was matte and no one was the wiser.

The next morning, when I woke up my skin texture was odd, I seemed to develop some bumps and it looked irritated. Well, I have been under a lot of stress lately and didn’t give it much thought and decided to keep using my new found friend, until he stabbed me in the back.

To make a long story short, my forehead and nose broke out (precisely were I had been applying it) and it took me almost three weeks and lots of TLC and pampering to normalize the texture and make the blemishes disappear (I did end up making a new friend in the process) and the pretty cool Smashbox compact is on top of my pile of stupid purchases. Oddly enough for the following weeks I had to use a bit of more concealer while I was going for a natural flawless look, even I loved the irony on this one.

Do yourselves a favor, oily skin? Acne-prone? Sensitive? Just steer away from this compact and wear something else to blot away the oil because sometimes when it looks too good to be true, you should rethink it over and over again.