Review: L'oreal Mat Magique All-In-One Matte Transforming Powder

A rather exciting review post. I've been wanting to write about the L'oreal Mat Magique All-In-One Matte Transforming Powder because the first few applications were amazing, but I decided to test it out for a couple more weeks before I give you guys my feedback on this! 

L'oreal did a great job in disseminating information about their latest product online. They approached popular lifestyle bloggers and I got to know of this amazing product from these blogs. Good marketing plan, L'oreal! It's quite obvious that their plan worked hugely to their advantage because I had to visit 3 different Watsons before I could purchase the L'oreal Mat Magique All-In-One Matte Transforming Powder in my shade. 

My shade is N2 Nude Vanilla and this retails for S$30.90. Fortunately, I got this during a sale, so I paid less than S$25 for mine. 

The first thing that will catch your attention - OMG SO PINK?! 

If you absolutely detest pink, then this may not be the product that you want to have. Or maybe you can just buy, hide it at home and apply before going out because the product is quite stellar! 

The L'oreal Mat Magique All-In-One Matte Transforming Powder has a lot of oily-skin friendly claims:

• Shine resistance of up to 12 hours
• Powerful sebum absorbant
• "Just-out-of-shower fresh finish and sensation" - Wahlao this one a bit pushing it haha
• Poreless skin
• Great for priming the skin 
• Minimize appearance of imperfections
• Ultra sensorial velvety soft touch

Those are a lot of huge claims. To be honest, the powder didn't work that miraculously on me. However, I still love it! For those with extremely oily skin, this powder will work for around 5-6 hours? 5-6 hours is only half the claimed 12 hours, but if you have EXTREMELY OILY skin, you will understand that 5-6 hours of relatively shine-free skin is like a miracle. 

To give you an example - if I don't include this powder in my makeup routine, my skin will get oily once I step into office; that's like 2 hours after application. Sigh~~ 

Ingredient List

Packaging: Pink, pink, PINK! Thank goodness the interior of this product is not pink. Phew. I'm not a pink fan but for the amazing product, I'm willing to shelf my negative feelings for the colour. This contains 6.5g of product, which is significantly less than what I'm used to. I have been using the ZA Two-Way Foundation since secondary school (10 years already!!!) and that has 9g of powder.

Colour: N2 Nude Vanilla is a little too pale for me. I normally use OC10 for ZA Two-Way Foundation. I don't use this powder on its own so it's not such a huge problem.

From left to right:
1. Bare skin
2. One swipe of L'oreal Mat Magique All-In-One Matte Transforming Powder (no concealer)
2. Two swipes of L'oreal Mat Magique All-In-One Matte Transforming Powder (no concealer)

Application: On its own, the L'oreal Mat Magique All-In-One Matte Transforming Powder can be quite drying, especially if you have dry skin. The powder applies smoothly and the provided sponge applicator is quite useful in providing a dense application. There's a tendency for the powder to cake up after the second application, so I will recommend you to stop at one application. Two applications maximum if you have more blemishes to conceal.

For those with more problematic skin, the L'oreal Mat Magique All-In-One Matte Transforming Powder can be used as a finishing powder after your usual BB Cream/Liquid Foundation and concealer routine. Use a less dense, face brush and you will get the perfect look. A dense brush will cake up your face and that is not the look that we should desire for!

Mattifying? Oh yes, definitely. I had relatively matte skin 5 hours after application and I was so impressed! No other powder has lasted me more than 2-3 hours in the oil-control department so this is amazing! If you have normal-combination skin, the mattifying effect would probably last longer on you.

Concealing? For those blessed with few imperfections, this powder is good enough be used on its own. You won't even need concealing because it covers redness quite well. However, if you have a lot of acne scars, pimples and all those face demons, then this will be better as a finishing powder.

Touching up: After using this for more than 2 weeks, I have come to realise that I have to blot thoroughly before any touch-ups. If not, there will be powder coagulated at the oily parts and that's nasty. Hence, quick tip for touch-ups: blot and make sure there are no shiny parts before touching up!

Will I buy it again? As of now, this is the best mattifying powder that I have ever tried. 5-6 hours of mattifying and shine-free effect may not be ideal for some of you, but for an oily mess like me, it's more than sufficient and frankly, quite a miracle. Also, this didn't break me out (halelujah!!). Hence, yes, I will buy this again!

Hopefully this has been useful! Have a great day ahead guys! :)

Black Box April 2013 - Double Happiness!

Yet another beauty-box related company has emerged! Black Box is different though because you don't need to pay a single cent! OH YEAH. Initially I subscribed once to Black Box (April 2013), but I think my form submission process got wonky and accidentally I submitted more than 3 times. I waited and waited and waited and waited, and finally it came delivered to my doorstep yesterday! 

I was shocked because I received two of the same box! At first, I went "crap, now I have double of samples that I won't use", but no, that thought disappeared quite quickly because I pretty much liked everything inside the box. Even the Vanish stain remover because I can bring it to Japan for my laundry sessions! :D 

Anyway pictures time! 

And yes, for subscribers, you will get emailed links to a certain survey. After you have completed that survey, you will receive another Black Box (of another month) for free! Just completed mine, and I can't wait to receive my June 2013 Black Box! :)

Every box will have a fixed set of items, with an addition of one or two extra surprises!

For the first box, I got the Ettusais sample as the extra surprise!

Seriously, if you give me coffee sachets in your box, there's a very high likelihood that I will love your box. :P So yay, 6 new Nescafe coffee sachets! :)

Also, I thought it was fate that I got the belif samples, and not only random belif things, but they gave a sample of the belif First Aid 360 Eye Care Mask, WHICH I WANTED TO GET FOR THE LONGEST TIME. Even though each sachet was only 3ml, a little bit of product goes a long way. I emptied the product into a small container and the 6ml looks substantial enough to be used for a good 2-3 weeks! OHYEAH!

The L'oreal Revitalift Serum and Cream samples are not small. I think they can be classified under "deluxe samples" already. Problem is should I start using them, or should I give them to my mom? Even though I would love to start on my anti-ageing skincare routine soon, but starting on strong products like these is not good on my skin. Later my skin dependent on it how? :(

The second box had the Bioflora Collabee as a surprise item! I put it in the fridge already and according to the card it taste like pineapple juice?! Can't wait to drink it tonight and be in deep illusion of how my skin is firming up already. :P

The rest of the items are similar to the first box!

Anyway, there were a lot of vouchers included inside the box as well! I can't wait to use my Revive Wellness voucher!

How's that for a FREE beauty box? Actually I shouldn't mention Black Box as a "beauty box" because  they include unisex items and not solely beauty/skincare items! As written on the website, "there's always something for him and for her"!

Do visit this website if you are interested in getting your own Black Box: http://blackbox.sg/ (Don't insert dot-com-dot-sg because that's another website haha).

Subscribe now and enjoy your surprises soon!! Did I mention that the boxes are hand-delivered? I think  I did, so double yay!! :)

Free Sample: L'oreal Lucent Magique BB Cream (5ml)

Don't miss up this chance to try the new L'oreal Lucent Magique BB Cream! L'oreal Singapore is currently giving out 5ml samples of the product!

1. Go to this page: http://www.facebook.com/lorealparissingapore/app_431285850240381
2. Like the page
3. Fill in your particulars at the end of the page. 

IT IS THAT SIMPLE! GOGO! :)

Disclaimer: this is for Singapore residents only.

Free samples: L'oreal White Perfect Laser

Another free sample up for grabs, and this time it's from the latest product from L'oreal Paris - their White Perfect Laser products! 

To grab some free samples, just like this page:

http://www.facebook.com/lorealparissingapore/app_321174177960580 

Click on "White Perfect Laser Sampling"! 

Quite excited to try this out because I WANT TO GET FAIRER. I think it's a growing up thing. In the past, I used to hate getting pale, but now I JUST WANT TO LOOK LIKE A VAMPIRE!! HEHE :D

GO GRAB SOME AWESOME SAMPLES! :)

Review: L’oreal Paris True Match Blush in 04 Rosewood

Product: L'oreal Paris True Match Blush

Colour: 04 Rosewood

Bought for: S$5 on eBay (Brand new!! YAY!)

First impressions: 

The first thing that came to my mind was how compact the product was. It's quite small in diameter (5 grams only!), but rather hefty when you look at it sideways. Then it hit me that they needed extra space to store the brush!

I realised all the products in the True Match range (except the liquid foundation, duh) have this common feature. The brushes that came with all the powder-based products were all hidden within the packaging. 

Quite convenient, especially if your makeup bag is not big enough for your gigantic brushes! 

Pigmentation: I was rather disappointed with the pigmentation of the blush. The colour that I chose was more of a deeper corally-plum shade and I expected that to appear after the first swipe or so. But no, even after vigorous swiping, what came out was a pretty rose-pink with gold dust.

I thought perhaps it was just unfortunate of me to get an inferior product since I got it online for cheap. Hence, I went to Watsons and tried the tester for this product - STILL LIKE THAT!

Application: As with all L'oreal blushes, the powder is very finely milled, and it's highly unlikely for you to get a streaky disaster on your cheeks. The problem I have though, is how much I have to go back to the product to get more blush so that I can build up the colour on my cheeks. The culprit is of course the pigmentation. If this were a little bit more pigmented, it would have been THE perfect blush. I love the gold flecks and all, but not much colour seem to be coming out of the pan!

Applicator (Brush) Quality: Utter rubbish. If you intend to scratch your face, then use the brush. I recommend using your trusted blush brush for this.

Anyway, here's a photo of how cleverly the brush is hidden under the blush. Now, if only the brush were made for human skin...

Sorry for the blur picture! ARGH!

Trial: The swatch below was painstakingly applied after going back to the product for more than 5 times. =_______=

Choice of colour: To be honest, I really like the colour despite all the hassle I have to undergo during application.

Swatch under camera flash

Some photos of me trying out the blush. I really don't like how it's not showing up on camera. I WANT COLOUR ON MY CHEEKS, GODDAMIT.

After I change the lighting settings, I managed to get some colour out. SO TROUBLESOME!

Will I buy it again? HELL NO! I'm going to continue using the blush just simply because the colour is pretty (after a tiresome application process of course), but buying another one will be an obvious NO!