Victoria's Secret Cosmetics - Soft Focus Liquid Foundation SPF20
By j.amie
As a previous employee/artist of MAC Cosmetics, it typically required some serious persuasion to get me to try anything else. MAC has such highly pigmented cosmetics that using much else felt watered down. It's also hard to beat MAC's ability to match skin tone perfectly. Before you start to wonder if this is morphing into a review of MAC instead, hear me out - it's not!
About four months ago my doctor put me on Retin-A aka tretinoin for adult acne. I rarely had breakouts as a teen, but suddenly at 30 I began breaking out like crazy. Nothing seemed to help. Retin-A was troubling at first because of the adaptation period, but after my skin adjusted - I will never go back! It's totally worth it. But the problem with MAC started there.
Retin-A is known to make your skin more sensitive because it causes the exfoliation process to speed up, SPF is necessary, etc; but my favorite MAC foundations now all burned as if I had poured alcohol into a wound the second it touched my skin. If I tried to wear it past the stinging (not smart, I know) my face was red for days. This also happened with their lotion and primer. I didn't dig deeper to find the culprit ingredient, but began my search for another foundation.
I tried various department store brands and drugstore brands and spent a considerable amount of money doing so until I finally, by complete chance while Christmas shopping, stumbled upon the makeup in Victoria's Secret. I didn't take it seriously at first, with a $16 price tag I didn't think it would be very good, but their store display lends itself to playing dress-up so I tested it out. It didn't burn and looked great in the store (but would it outside?), coverage was excellent (but would it last?). I didn't buy it on the spot, but eight hours later when I checked myself in the mirror I decided that I would.
I've used it for almost two months now. The color looks excellent in any light and coverage is great - a little goes a long way! It reminds me a little bit of MAC's HyperReal foundation in the way that it reflects light and softens the appearance of your skin. It's not oily, not dry, doesn't move around over moisturizer (necessary with Retin-A) and lasts all day. Really, for $16 who wouldn't give it a try? That's not much more than drug-store brands.
As I run out of other cosmetic items, I plan to try more VS Cosmetics. This stuff has really won me over.
For reference: I used NC20 in MAC, and use Light 02 in VS Soft Focus Liquid Foundation, the match is perfect.
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