Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Nudey Tuesday: Neutrogena Healthy Skin Liquid Makeup Review & Swatches

Repurchase: No
Price: $13.99 (1 oz)
Product: 17.5/25
Packaging: 3/5
Value: 8/10
Overall Grade: C-
After seeing many positive (and some very negative reviews), I was pulled in to trying Neutrogena's Healthy Skin Liquid Makeup as it seemed like something that could really work for me. It was affordable, provided a dewy finish (which I love), and was deemed as a cheaper version of NARS Sheer Glow (which I like but none of the shades match me right.)

The Packaging: I did not like the packaging at all. The foundation comes in a glass bottle (not good for traveling or clumsy people like me) and contains no pump. If you're pouring the liquid onto your brush or sponge, it can be really messy as you can easily pour too much.

Directions & Ingredients
Ingredients cont..
The Product: Foundation is a very "personal" beauty item. What may not work for me may be a HG product for you and vice versa. Here are a few things that you might want to take into consideration before you 100% go ahead and say "no" to this foundation like I have because it just may work for you! But for me, here are my personal skin "issues":
  • I have very dry skin and on top of that, I have eczema which means I am super dry all year round. My usual "problem areas" are my forehead, around my eyes, my upper lip, along my cheekbones, and my lips.
  • My forehead is a lot darker than the rest of my face -about 2 or 3 shades darker. I've always had this problem since I was a kid. My forehead just tans a lot more easily than my face. Other than that, the rest of my face is pretty even.
  • I have light "veins" along my cheeks going towards my lips. They're not that noticeable unless you look closely.
So what did I think of this foundation? I wore Neutrogena's Healthy Skin Liquid Makeup for over a week straight when I was at home. I would never wear this stuff out because of how "gray" and "dull"  it made my forehead look (remember, my forehead is darker than the rest of my face. This doesn't mean that it will make your forehead gray.)

The foundation gave medium coverage but I think I may need something with heavier coverage for my "forehead problem." Also, the foundation looked cakey in areas where I was especially dry and enhanced my dry patches and sunk into my forehead lines (I'm really dry there.) Really , the only positive note was that it contains SPF 20.

I'm actually just going to put put the rest into bullets in "pros" and "cons" list because there's too much to write (if I were to go with complete sentences.)

Pros
  • Didn't make me break out
  • Doesn't feel drying on my already dry skin
  • Blends nicely
  • Gives a dewy finish
  • Smell wears off quickly
  • Feels light on the skin
  • Covers my veins and the uneveness on my face well
  • Contains SPF 20
Cons
  • Does not cover the unevenness on my forehead -makes my it look dull and gray due to the color being to light for my forehead (even though it works for my face)
  • Will enhance any dryness you may have. My forehead is very dry and it sank into ever line and dry patch on my forehead
  • Looks dry and slightly cakey on dry skin
  • May be too oily for people with very oily skin (feels nice for people with dry skin though)
  • Because of the SPF, it looks lighter in flash photos making your face look whiter than the rest of your body
  • Packaging (glass jar and no pump)
  • Not a huge variety of colors to choose from
I would recommend this to someone who:
  • Has pretty even skin
  • Wants medium coverage
  • Likes a dewy finish
  • Does NOT have very dry skin
For me personally, this foundation just really sucked. I'm sure it would work great for others who do not have the problems that I have but honestly, my skin looks 10 times better without the foundation. I have pretty even skin without acne (maybe once every 2 months) so this just makes me look a lot worse -especially due to how gray and dull it makes my forehead look.

BEWARE: Scary Looking Photos Below!! The arrows represent all the areas where the foundation made my skin look extra dry.

It looked so awkward on my forehead!! Especially where my hairline is because it's so much lighter than my actual forehead "color." Also, my face looks lighter than my neck because the SPF makes the foundation appear much lighter in flash photos.
The Color: Fresh Beige was a pretty good match for my face (excluding my forehead) and blended in nicely. I do wish that they had more options though because the color selection is sort of small.

Swatches..
Above (no flash) from left: Fresh Beige, Natural Tan

Overall: Again, this didn't work for me but it MAY work for you. Be sure to read about my particular skin issues and if you're the opposite of me, this could work really well for you. I was a little generous and gave the "product grade" a C- even though it's more like a D+ for me. The grade is based on my own experience with the foundation but will vary depending on what skin type you have. For instance, I saw Ariel review this and it looks and works great for her but for me, not so much. I would still recommend trying it because of this reason but for me, it was an absolute no no.

Where To Buy: Drugstore.com, CVS, Target, Walmart

12 comments:

  1. I experienced this graying effect too, people told me it was because of the SPF. It was not a dupe at all of nars sheer glow in my opinion.

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  2. I really like this foundation, but thats probably because I have okay skin as is. Never tried the NARS but kind of want to just to compare!

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  3. I've tried Neutrogena foundations before and it was a terrible experience. It reeked of a chemical smell and broke me out like no other. I'd love to see drugstores put better ingredients into their products, but all I see is price increases. That's my personal opinion on drugstore products in general since I've been burned so many times.

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  4. I'm so glad I read your review! I was thinking of picking this up tomorrow on my shopping trip! Thanks x

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  5. What drugstore primer do you recommend?

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  6. yeah i heard that neutrogena didn't make very good foundations ): but i've never gotten to try them because i'm in canada.

    BTW - i e-mailed you about the giveaway! (my e-mails is luckysttar@gmail.com) if you've gotten my e-mail let me know!

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  7. I find the shades in this foundation very confusing. I had waaay too much trouble finding my shade.

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  8. @ Justine.. I agree. I haven't used NARS Sheer Glow in the longest time but I do remember it being A LOT better than this (for me personally.)

    @ Chic Geek.. I'm so glad you had a better experience than I did with this foundation! Yea I think it could work well on people who have pretty even, good skin.

    @ Kristie.. I rarely read ingredients (I know, horrible! I really should..) but I've tried some other Neutrogena foundations/face products in the past and none of them worked for me. Then again, it could be because of my skin type and whatnot. I agree with the whole price increase thing though ..if you're gonna raise the prices, why not improve the product right?

    @ Renay Shanel.. You're welcome. =) If you decide to buy it, I really hope it works for you!

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  9. @ Anonymous.. I've actually never used a drugstore primer before but I do like Make Up For Ever's HD Primer. They sell a travel size tube for $15 and I'm guessing it's around the size of a drugstore primer.

    http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P248525&categoryId=B70

    I've also tried Smashbox Photofinish which I like -but I'm not sure I'd recommend it for oily skin. Remember, you can always get samples at Sephora too before you buy! Sorry I can't really recommend any drugstore primers but I've honestly never tried one.

    @ cocoabee.. I think it's kind of in the middle.. Some people love their stuff and some hate it! Depends on your skin type (I personally haven't had the best experience with their foundations.)

    And I did get your email. Thank you for getting back to me.. I'll be sending the packages out hopefully by the end of this week or the beginning of next week. I've had a lot of work to do lately. =\

    @ PoorCollegeStudent.. I did too but I just ended up guessing. =P I wish drugstores had testers -at least for their foundations!

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  10. I have this in fresh beige, this was the closest shade to match me but it gives me that gray effect too. I have to contour and add bronzer for it to not really show. I still like NARS better. NARS Stromboli & Barcelona matches me better too.

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  11. Aww.. that's too bad. =( NOBODY wants to walk around with a gray forehead! I like NARS Sheer Glow too but I can't find a shade that matches me!

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