Maybelline Impressions Part 1

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!! This holiday almost slipped by me and I sadly realized that my adult self does not own any green tops. So tonight I will be hopping into a Target to hopefully change that for this weekend's festivities. If you haven't already, check out my Snap Chat, I will be showing that trip tonight! I have been starting to show my daily routines and the products I have been using. As many of you know, I love love love Maybelline products and was so excited to try a lot of their new products. I wanted to split this up into a few posts focusing on two or three products at a time since I went a little nuts at the drug store. I want to make sure you guys get fair reviews of these new products regardless if I enjoyed them or not. My goal in these posts is to be informative with a sprinkle of my opinion, and to allow you to make the decision on if these products could work for you, so lets get into it.

 

To start off, I am reviewing the FaceStudio Master Fix Setting Spray and FaceStudio Master Fix Setting + Perfecting Powder. I wanted to put these two together since they were the first products I purchased back in December for my Drugstore Simple Holiday Look and have been trying on and off these past few months.

 

FaceStudio Master Fix Setting Spray

 

Setting sprays can be compared to your hairsprays; they are used as a finishing touch on the look you have created. Most sprays are used to set the face, allow longer wear of your makeup, and to hopefully avoid the mid day meltdown. There are several types of sprays that are meant to focus on what you are specifically looking for, such as oil control, hydrating, and even cooling. For those of you with dry skin, you may have to pay attention to the ingredients a lot closer if you are sensitive to products containing alcohol since they can dry out your skin. For this setting spray, it does list alcohol as the second ingredient, so this may not be the product for you if you tend to dry out quickly.

 

As a first impression, it was nice and felt like a damn near close dupe for Urban Decay's All Nighter. I have been using All Nighter since my first year in college, so about 7 years this has been in my collection. I love All Nighter because it feels like I could spritz it all over my face and my make up will hold up all night. Now, I would apply it before I applied lashes or mascara to avoid any moisture on my mascara and false lashes. Back then my oil was out of control and I had no idea how to combat with moisturizing, but I digress. So the All Nighter extends the length of time between application and becoming slick, especially in the T-zone. Maybelline's new setting spray is very similar to the All Nighter in this aspect. I felt the makeup stayed in place longer than it would have without it, but I did not notice any difference in makeup settling into fine lines. They are both lightweight, quick drying, not sticky or shiny.

 

I have also been asked to compare Maybelline's FaceStudio Master Fix Setting Spray to MAC's Fix+ and I would have to say absolutely not. There really is not anything like Fix+ on the market that I have found yet, in my opinion. MAC has it down with that product where it really locks in your look; it adheres the makeup you have applied to your skin allowing powders to stay without flaking or brushing off, and as a plus the scent of the original is so unique and beautiful, there is just nothing like it. Also if you notice the ingredients, which you can see I did a little digging on these products for you, Fix+ has Glycerin which in beauty products can be like the glue to hold it all together and is found in many primers for smoothing and decreasing the appearance of pores. Glycerin is a popular ingredient in cosmetics since it helps retain water to allow the person using the product to complete their look with a dewy finish or to freshen up.

 

So comparing it to Fix+ is a no go, but if you're a huge fan of All Nighter, this will be a great drugstore alternative, especially for the price. Maybelline's 3.4 fl oz bottle sells for approximately $10-14 depending on locations and Urban Decay's 4.0 fl oz bottle sells for $30. I will definitely be keeping the Maybelline FaceStudio Master Fix Setting Spray in my collection!

 

 

FaceStudio Master Fix Setting + Perfecting Powder
 

 

I am always in search for powders that work just as well as the Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder and after trying Maybelline's Setting + Perfecting Powder, I will need to continue my search to say the least. It almost seems like Maybelline had this new expansion of products, completely forgot about a Translucent powder, and slapped it together at the end.

To compare to the Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder, that a lot of Gurus have been gushing over (with good reason), which is an extremely lightweight, silky sheer setting powder with a velvety matte finish. It is not dusty, there is no harsh scent, and it smooths skin as it sets your makeup, leaving you look natural without caking or creasing. The FaceStudio Master Fix Setting + Perfecting Powder is a light weight powder that has high dust, almost like when you clap two chalk board erasers together. I have seen some reviews out there on other sites saying that this high dust is due to the first ingredient, Talc. After spending most of my day researching why this is beginning to come up as a harmful ingredient to stay clear of, I found that this is a hoax, but more on that in another post. Trust me, it will be worth the wait. But without talc in either one of these powders, and yes talc is the first ingredient in Laura Mercier's powder too, they would not be able to set your makeup.

Talc, also known as French chalk, is a useful ingredient in these cosmetic powders since it absorbs moisture and oil, helps skin feel soft, fresh, cool, and dry. It can also reduce the friction and chafing that can irritate your skin. So when Laura Mercier lists talc but describes it as the finest French cashmere talc, it is the same French talc used in the Maybelline's FaceStudio Master Fix Setting + Perfecting Powder but milled into a finer powder. Also keep in mind that the talc used in cosmetics, also known as non-asbestos talc, has not been linked to cancers such as Lung and Cervical cancers like asbestos talc has been. Again, more on this later, I could go on forever about my findings.

This, in my opinion is not the issue, it's just easier to blame. The damaging ingredient in the Maybelline product is dimethicone, which helps form a protective barrier on the skin, filling in lines and wrinkles on the face, and often used in primers. However, the artificial coating on the outside of your skin can cause several issues leading to breakouts and black heads, and actually prevents the skin from normal activities such as sweating and removing dead skin cells. Prolonged exposure to dimethicone can increase skin irritations since it is also listed as possible skin and eye irritant. So this is one more reason to not only research what you are putting on your face but to also wash your face at night. If you're not properly removing products with ingredients like dimethicone, you will start to see your pores clog up quick.

So this one might just be returned to where I purchased it from, because I will not be continuing to use something that feels and smells like it was collected from edge of a chalk board. It is not finely milled like the Laura Mercier, or even like my NYC Smooth Skin Translucent Powder. Which I wish I had these products with me today while I was writing this up because I would have loved to compare the drugstore items to each other, but I could not find NYC's list of ingredients online. We can save this topic for another post.

To end this longer than normal post, I hope you learned a little something today about both items that we use in our beauty routine and how to spot something you might not like before you even purchase it. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday today and have loads of fun this weekend! Thanks so much for reading and don't forget to check me out on Snap tonight!