BECCA Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation (Review & Swatches)

Makeup, Reviews, Swatches

BECCA Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation

Brand new products from BECCA aways fill me with excitement (currently itching to get my hands on the new blushes, but they haven’t been in a store near me yet!!) and the Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation was no different!

BECCA Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation
BECCA Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation

BECCA‘s Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation claims it is “a light, buildable, liquid foundation that imparts subtle luminosity with a weightless feel”. It comes in a beautiful frosted glass bottle with a metal lid. It’s compact and sleek – all things I love!

BECCA Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation
BECCA Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation

The foundation is dispensed by a dropper type system. When you twist the lid off the foundation, the top pops up and helps you pump out product into the dropper. When you close the bottle up, the popped top then closes down to make it flush with the rest of the cap. It’s actually a really neat system.

BECCA Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation has a dropper dispensing system
BECCA Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation has a dropper dispensing system
BECCA Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation in Fair and Light
BECCA Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation in Fair and Light

The dropper is as one would expect, although I would say that with a full bottle of foundation, I really only ever manage to get the dropper half full. I usually need about two of these to cover my full face. Side note: this is a VERY liquid foundation, make sure you shake the bottle up very well before using it!

When the Aqua Luminous Perfecting foundation first launched, there wasn’t a ton of shades, so I opted to try out Fair and Light. I thought that Fair would be a bit too pale for me, but that actually turned out to be totally incorrect. They’ve since added more shades to their range and I think Porcelain would be a better match for my winter skintone. (They’ve also added more dark shades as well!)

BECCA Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation in Fair and Light - swatches
BECCA Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation in Fair and Light – swatches

You can see Fair and Light swatched above. They are significantly darker than I was expecting for shades with that name and they do lean quite warm. And yet… I don’t know what it is about my face… because somehow it oddly all manages to balance out:

Side by side comparison
Side by side comparison

I really wasn’t expecting Fair to be the colour match that it ended up being, but it works well on my skin! You can also see just how radiant it makes my skin too! That is some fairly ethereal glow going on there!

I do have a few thoughts on this foundation though, so bear with me.

The Bad

  • I find this applies a little bit strangely to my skin. I’ve mentioned in the past that my nose has problems getting foundation to adhere to it, and I found this foundation kind of balled up and stuck to dry patches around my nose. Very strange. It also sunk into the lines on my forehead.
  • The foundation range was really small when BECCA first launched them, but in the month or so I’ve been wearing this foundation to test it out, they’ve actually added more shades to their range. I still think the foundation range is too small (there’s about 10 shades), but they ARE working to adding more which is a bonus.
  • This isn’t a long wearing foundation (nor does it claim to be) and those with oily skin may struggle with the luminosity inherent in this foundation making them look a bit greasy.

The Good

  • I was told repeatedly that I had amazing looking skin when I wore this. (You can see me wearing this foundation in my IMATS New York Haul and my Ombre Rouge Makeup Tutorial.)
  • The foundation looks “healthy”. I know that’s a strange description, but there’s a glowing luminosity to it that can only be described as “healthy”.
  • It does feel like a lightweight foundation on the skin (as they described) so I was really glad that that claim was totally accurate.
  • The colour match, although it looked strange in the swatch, actually worked out a lot better than I thought it would. (So if you’re nervous about colour matching, definitely get a sample from Sephora and try it out first!)
  • I would say this is medium to full coverage with a single application. I was impressed and surprised how much it covered up my freckles!

Final Thoughts

I think this is a foundation you’re going to have to decide for yourself if you’re going to love it based on what I said above. I was astonished with just how many people commented on the appearance of my skin while I was wearing it though! If you’ve tried this foundation, I would love to hear what you thought about it!

The BECCA Aqua Luminous Perfecting Foundation can be purchased on sephora.ca for $53 CAD or on sephora.com for $44 USD.

The product featured in this review was sent to me for review.

What’s On My Face – Volume 46

Makeup, Tutorials

More looks! A few of these are looks from some videos I’ve done, there’s a guest post in there, etc.

201604_womfvol45_look1_1

This is my FAVOURITE makeup look. I wear it every year on my birthday because the colours are exactly what I love about makeup! This was early days for a makeup tutorial on my channel, but the video can be found here.201604_womfvol45_look1_2

Eyes

  1. Makeup Geek Creme Brulee
  2. Inglot AMC Shine 15
  3. Inglot Matte 382
  4. MAC Blanc Type

On my lower lash line, I applied a little of Too Faced Glitter Glue and then tapped on Lit Cosmetics California Soul glitter on top.

To create the wing I used MAC‘s Blacktrack fluidline and coated my lashes with Make Up For Ever‘s Smoky Stretch mascara. I added some House of Lashes Noir Fairy false lashes in black.

Face

  • Primer: Smashbox Photofinish Primer
  • Foundation:  Revlon Colorstay in 200 Nude
  • Bronzer: Revlon Photoready bronzer in Bronzed & Chic
  • Blush: Bobbi Brown Apricot blush
  • Highlighter: BECCA Champagne Pop
  • Lips: Benefit Coralista plushgloss

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I didn’t really have a theme for this look, other than that I wanted to use white liquid liner in some way. No video tutorial, but I wore it in an Empties video!

201604_womfvol45_look2_2

Eyes

  • Makeup Geek Shore Thing
  • Makeup Geek Shark Bait
  • Makeup Geek Sugar Rush
  • Makeup Geek Vanilla Bean

I created the wing with Kat Von D‘s Ink Liner in Neruda and coated my lashes with Laura Geller Glam Lash mascara.

Face

  • Foundation: Revlon Colorstay in 200 Nude and 150 Buff mixed together
  • Bronzer: Joe Fresh Sand 
  • Blush: Illamasqua Hussy
  • Highlighter: BECCA Pearl Pressed
  • Lips: Annabelle Big Show Lip Lacquer in Adore Simply

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This one is kind of sad because I didn’t write down exactly what shadows I use from the Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix palette but it was the more orangey shades. I also used Makeup Geek‘s Prism on the inner corner and applied Laura Geller Glam Lash mascara to my lashes. For lips, I’m wearing Catrice Feeling Feline.

This look was one I loved creating for Ivory Avenue a few months ago. The stipulation was GREEN. And green I did!

Eyes
I first covered my lid with NYX’s Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Milk, patted it out, then:

  1. MAC Cork at the top of the crease.
  2. Urban Decay Freak all over the lid.
  3. Urban Decay Fringe on the outer half of the lid.
  4. Urban Decay Thrash on the inner corner.
  5. Urban Decay Chaos along the lower lash line.
  6. MAC Blanc Type on the brow bone.

I created the wing with Make Up For Ever’s Ink Liner and tightlined both water lines with Marc Jacobs’ Highliner Gel Crayon in Blacquer. I applied Make Up For Ever Smoky Stretch mascara to my lashes and popped on a pair of House of Lashes Noir Fairy falsies.

Face

201604_womfvol45_look5_1

This look was for a St. Patrick’s Day video tutorial!

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Eyes
I first used NYX‘s Eyeshadow Pencil in Black Bean as a base, then (and shoot, I really messed up the numbers for this): MAC Cork through the crease (where 4 is), then MAC Print all over the lid (marked by 2). I added Naked Cosmetics IV-05 to the inner corner (3) and then popped some glitter glue on the center of my lid (1) and patted Lit Cosmetics Mary Jane glitter on top. MAC Blanc Type (unmarked) is on my brow bone.

Added the same glitter to my lower lash line, lined my water line with Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Crayon in Blaquer and created a wing with Kat Von D‘s Tattoo Liner in Trooper. I applied Laura Geller Glam Lash mascara to my lashes and then popped on a pair of Noir Fairy lashes by House of Lashes.

Face

  • Primer: Make Up For Ever Step 1 Hydrating Primer
  • Foundation: Maybelline Dream Velvet foundation in 10 Porcelain Ivory
  • Bronzer: The Body Shop Honey Bronzer in 01 Light Matte 
  • Blush: BECCA Beach Tint Shimmer Souffle in Guava/Moonstone
  • Highlighter: MAC Whisper of Gilt
  • Lips: essence Sheer & Shine lipstick in All About Cupcake

Kat Von D Lock-It Color Correcting Eyeshadow Primer (Review, Swatch & Time Trial)

Makeup, Reviews, Swatches
Kat Von D Lock-It Color Correcting Eyeshadow Primer
Kat Von D Lock-It Color Correcting Eyeshadow Primer

While my face may be on the dry side of things, I struggle with super freaking oily eyelids. If you’ve seen any of my makeup tutorials on my YouTube channel, you’ll often see me applying two separate eyeshadow primers to make sure my eyeshadow doesn’t crease on me throughout the day. Long gone are the days of using a single eyeshadow primer (although the Maybelline Master Prime gives me *almost* creaseless perfection!) for me it seems!

Kat Von D Lock-It Color Correcting Eyeshadow Primer
Kat Von D Lock-It Color Correcting Eyeshadow Primer

That being said, I am ALWAYS happy to try a new one out! Kat Von D recently released her Lock-It Color Correcting Eyeshadow Primer in a whopping five shades. You may think five shades is nothing, but have you ever stopped to consider that eyeshadow primers are (for the most part) quite clear?  Most of them offer little to no coverage for our veiny eyelids which is a struggle for people who enjoy wearing paler eyeshadow shades but also have a lot of veins and discolouration on their eyelids that they want to cover. The five shades range from fair to deep and I think it’s actually an impressive array considering that this is “only” an eyeshadow primer! (For example, there are brands out there that ONLY have four shades of foundation! Looking at you Joe Fresh!)

Kat Von D Lock-It Color Correcting Eyeshadow Primer with twist up
Kat Von D Lock-It Color Correcting Eyeshadow Primer with twist up

The brand indicates that the “formula color corrects your specific skintone to neutralize lids so that you can show off super-saturated, true color payoff.” It also comes in a nifty twist up stick for easy application.

Also comes with a sharpener!
Also comes with a sharpener!

It does come with a sharpener on the opposite end, but I can’t imagine why you’d need to sharpen this product – it’s not like precise lines are needed to cover your eyes. Regardless, it’s there if you need it!

Kat Von D Lock-It Color Correcting Eyeshadow Primer in Fair
Kat Von D Lock-It Color Correcting Eyeshadow Primer in Fair

The shade Fair is quite brightening on my skin and a tad bit pinker. I will point out the formula is on the dry side of things, so I end up applying the Lock-It primer by first running it on my eyelids, then blending it out with a finger to help warm up and spread the product out.

Time lapse on a day that it held up for me
Time lapse on a day that it held up for me

I know people like comparisons, so here we go! The shot on the left is from 7:30 am before I went to work, and the short on the right is when I got home at 5:00 pm. It looks flawless doesn’t it? There is no creasing whatsoever, and the colours are just as vibrant as ever (except for maybe my transition shade). However… this photo kind of annoyed me, because this is not an accurate reflection of how the primer always behaved. Sometimes I had severe creasing on my lids, and sometimes I didn’t. It was almost impossible to tell which days my eyeshadow would crease and which days it wouldn’t. I actually took the above time lapse photos to show you how much it could crease on me, but instead that very same day my eyeshadows stayed intact. *throws hands up in the air*

Final Thoughts

The Kat Von D Lock-It Color Correcting Eyeshadow Primer worked for me… sometimes. And that’s not a claim I’m overly comfortable with. If I can’t rely on my primer to work 100% of the time, then I’m going to double up on primers because I am not going to risk having my eyeshadow crease on me while I’m out. (Doubled up, this worked just fine for me!)

I love that Kat Von D offers five different shades to create a blank canvas on a wide variety of skintones. I think that’s especially important because it highlights the fact that companies are finally realizing there isn’t a one colour fits all for beauty products, and that’s extremely encouraging.

If you’re someone that doesn’t struggle with greasepit eyelids, I think this is a perfectly satisfactory eyeshadow primer that creates a blank canvas that makes your eyeshadows pop. But if you’re like me, and you need something more like super glue for your eyelids, I don’t think this is a primer you can wear on its own. That being said, I have blogger friends that this worked far better on, so please check out Swatch and Review and Workaday Beauty‘s posts on this primer!

The Kat Von D Lock-It Color Correcting Eyeshadow Primer can be purchased on sephora.ca for $33 CAD or on sephora.com for $25 USD.

The product featured in this post was went to be for consideration.