Physicians Formula Healthy Wear SPF 50 Powder Foundation
I picked this up at Target for about $13, which is expensive for a drugstore powder, but the SPF 50 made it irresistible to try. It only comes in 4 colors for light to medium skin tones, so the color choices are limited. I got the Natural Beige color and it’s a great match to my skin tone. The packaging is really cute and it seems durable – it’s in a bright orange and hot pink case, and it comes with a sponge applicator.

Benefits
The main benefit of this powder is its high SPF 50 (which offers UVA and UVB protection)! It contains 4% Octinoxate, 21% Titanium Dioxide, and 3% Zinc Oxide. The packaging says it’s water-resistant, but I haven’t actually tried this powder in water yet to see how it holds up.

Application and Coverage
I immediately threw out the sponge because it didn’t work well to apply the powder. Instead I used a powder brush. Getting this powder on my face was somewhat of a challenge! In order to get any powder on the brush, I had to push the brush into the powder pretty hard before it actually coated the brush. I applied this over sunscreen, and initially it didn’t do much to mattify my slightly dewy face. I had to keep going back and applying more and more powder. I’m not sure if it’s just hard to get the product onto the brush, or if I was actually using a lot more powder than I’m used to (which means this would run out pretty fast). I also applied this to bare skin, and it still took a lot of swipes before I felt like I had any coverage. What I don’t know is how much powder you need to apply to achieve the SPF 50. I felt like there’s no way I was really putting enough on to get to that level of sun protection, and I wouldn’t chance wearing this alone without regular sunscreen underneath.

Results
With enough powder on my face to look good, the Physicians Formula powder still looks pretty sheer, with light to medium coverage. The packaging says it has full coverage, so I guess you really need to cake this on to get more coverage. It has a nice finish and initially I was excited to use this in the daytime instead of Maybelline Dream Matte Powder, because of the added SPF. However, after about 2 hours, the powder wore off and my face was left shiny again! Normally because I have dry skin, I can go all day without ever touching up my powder! While a lot of people on Makeupalley.com like this powder, some people also complain about the difficulty in getting enough coverage, and its lack of staying power.

What I have now been doing is applying the Physicians Formula powder first, and then sealing it with the Maybelline Dream Matte Powder. Or the other way around gives the same results. This way I’m at least getting some added SPF (who knows how much) without the need to reapply every two hours. But if you’re out in the sun, you’ll want to reapply that often anyway.

Safe for acne-prone skin?
I was nervous to try this because of the high amount of Titanium Dioxide, an ingredient that sometimes gives me breakouts. Surprisingly in the two weeks I’ve been using this, I haven’t had any breakouts, however a lot of people online have reported them. The only way to know for sure is to try this yourself. You could try a small area on your face for several days to see what happens before using it everywhere. This doesn’t contain any pore clogging ingredients otherwise.

Bottom Line
The idea of the Physicians Formula Healthy Wear SPF 50 Powder Foundation is great due to its high SPF. It’s definitely worth trying if you’re seeking a powder with added sunscreen. You’ll just need to experiment with your application technique, and you may need to reapply this throughout the day. On days when I know I’ll be outside, wearing this over regular sunscreen gives me a little more peace of mind than usual.

Have you tried this powder? What’s your favorite powder with SPF?

*Buy Physicians Formula Healthy Wear SPF 50 Powder Foundation*

Active Ingredients: Octinoxate 4%, Titanium Dioxide 21%, Zinc Oxide 3%, Inactive Ingredients: Talc, Mica, Nylon-12, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Diacetyl Boldine, Diisostearyl Malate, Dimethicone, Genistein, Glycyrrhetinic Acid, Lauroyl Lysine, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Peg-12 Glyceryl Dimyristate, Solanum Lycopersicum (Tomato) Fruit Extract, Squalane, Tocopherol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Ubiquinone, Zinc Stearate, Disodium Edta, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Sorbitan Sesquioleate May Contain: Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide, Ultramarines

Related posts:

1. Maybelline Dream Matte Powder
2. Road To Healthy Skin Tour
3. Vanicream Sunscreen

Last week I was at CVS and noticed my favorite foundation Maybelline Pure Makeup was on closeout, and upon further investigation, it appears it’s been discontinued. It’s currently half-price at every drugstore. Why??? Why??? Do you know how many foundations I had to try before I fell in love with this one??

What to do when your favorite beauty product is discontinued:

1) Cry. Mourn. Tell yourself maybe you’ll find something even better, even though you know it’s probably not true.

2) Contact the product’s company to find out if they have a similar product that you may have previously overlooked. When my Clinique moisturizer was discontinued, I emailed Clinique (the contact info is on their website) and asked what they would recommend as a replacement. They were very polite and emailed me some suggestions, but the new products they recommended either cost more, came in jar packaging, or had completely different ingredients, so I didn’t end up buying any of their recommendations. You may even find out your product hasn’t really been discontinued, and that there’s still a way to purchase it (either at a different store, only online, etc.)

3) Head over to MakeupAlley.com and look at the product reviews of your favorite product to see if other people have suggestions for what product they found to be similar to your favorite. Then you can look through reviews of other products in the same category to see what else appears to have great reviews, but this can take hours and hours because there are so many products out there. 

4) If your favorite beauty product has been reformulated, buy the new version and maybe you will still like it. I rarely find this to be the case, but sometimes I am still happy with the new version. Ulta, Sephora, and most drugstores and department stores will let you return used makeup and skin care products you don’t like, and I have no guilt about doing it when my beloved product has been ruined with a new inferior formulation!

5) Stock up! I just bought 5 tubes of the Maybelline Pure Makeup, and I figure it will last me a few years. That will postpone the search for finding the new perfect foundation for quite a while. Hopefully by the time they all run out I’ll have found something even better, and if the makeup goes bad before then, it only cost me a few dollars each, so it was worth the risk. At least I have peace of mind…for now.

6) If you can’t find your favorite product in the store before it’s gone, again contact the product’s company to see if they can help you locate a last few bittersweet bottles of your favorite perfume or precious jars of your moisturizer. Clinique has a service that does this, but I decided against trying to track down any more of the On-line moisturizer because I was just so mad at the time, and I had found a cheaper alternative that was almost as good.

7) Start a Facebook campaign to have your favorite product brought back. Okay this one is pretty far-fetched, but TV shows have been brought back from the dead by people signing online petitions, and Betty White got her SNL hosting job from Facebook supporters. I kind of doubt a tube of lipstick or mascara would garner the same support as a TV show, or Betty White, but you never know…

8) Type in the first several ingredients of your favorite product into Google and see if there’s another product out there that has similar ingredients. The same company may make the same product under a different name, or you may find another company that makes a very similar product. This is a slight long-shot, but it’s worth trying.

9) Check online to see if your favorite product is still available somewhere – on a website that specializes in discontinued beauty products, on Amazon, on eBay, on a store website in another country, etc. Just be cautious because I find it’s not always a good idea to buy beauty products from eBay or random websites, and chances are you can’t return the product if you have a problem with it (it’s a fake, it’s expired, etc.) Amazon is a good place to buy from, though, because they offer refunds.

10) Start saving up some money because in the end you will probably have to start the quest for your new favorite lipstick/moisturizer/shampoo/sunscreen, and it will inevitably cost a lot to find it. The whole kiss a lot of frogs thing is totally true when it comes to beauty products (as well as men of course). Unless I get lucky, I will probably have to try 5-10 new foundations before I find one I like as much as the Maybelline Pure Makeup. I will probably end up returning some future foundations I end up hating, but most people keep their purchases, even when then don’t really like them. Despite reading great reviews about a product online (or on my site), everyone is different, so even though a product may work great for most people, you may not be one of them:(

What’s your favorite beauty product that’s been discontinued? How did you go about finding a replacement that you love just as much? The only silver lining in this whole thing, for me at least, is that I’d run out of things to write about if I never tried new products. And even if you think you’ve found the best beauty product ever, there’s probably something out there that’s even better, but you just don’t know it yet…

Related posts:

1. New Beauty Products
2. My Favorite Makeup
3. Breast Cancer Awareness Month – Beauty Products

Price
For the last few years I had been using Neutrogena Healthy Skin Pressed Powder, but the formula changed, and I thought I’d try the Maybelline Dream Matte Powder because it was getting better reviews online than the revamped Neutrogena, and it’s a few dollars cheaper (it’s about $7). Plus my favorite foundation is Maybelline Pure Makeup, and I’ve had good luck with several Maybelline products.

Packaging
I think the packaging of the Maybelline powder is good, and it seems sturdy and it’s easy to access the product, but a lot of people hate the packaging for some reason. The bottom part swivels out and there’s a powder puff and mirror in the bottom. As long as nothing breaks with it, I am happy with the packaging.

Safe for acne-prone skin?
Most drugstore powders contain pore cloggers that cause cosmetic acne, but this powder doesn’t as far as I can tell, and in theory it should be a good choice for acne-prone skin. It’s oil-free and it’s also free of cornstarch, which can be a problem for acne. I haven’t had any breakouts since I started using the Dream Matte Powder a few weeks ago, but a lot of people on Makeupalley.com report they have broken out from it. The ingredients appear safe for acne-prone skin, but unfortunately the only way to know for sure if something works for you is to try it yourself. I breakout pretty easily from makeup, though, but this one is safe for me.

*Buy Maybelline Dream Matte Powder*

Colors and Coverage
Maybelline Dream Matte Powder only comes in 4 colors (one light shade, and 3 medium shades), so it’s pretty limiting. In the store none of the colors looked like they matched my skin, but I chanced it and picked up Beige, and on my light/medium olive-toned skin, the color looks perfect (probably because it’s almost translucent). I use a big powder brush to apply this (not the puff it comes with). The coverage of the product is really light, though, so rather than adding a lot of color to my skin, it just gives it a more matte finish. If you need a decent amount or a lot of coverage, this product probably won’t cut it for you. Also, I’ve only worn it over foundation and sunscreen, so I’m not sure how it looks on bare skin.

The finish of this is sort of matte, but since the coverage is so light, my glowy/shiny sunscreen shows through slightly. Up close the powder looks slightly “powdery” but it doesn’t sink into my wrinkles and make them look worse, which is a problem I have with a lot of powders. It doesn’t achieve the absolutely flawless look I would like, but it looks good enough to keep using it, especially for the price. I have dry skin, and this makes my face feel slightly drier. This should be fine for slightly dry, normal or oily skin, but since the coverage is so sheer, I’m not sure how well it works to control oil. The powder still looks fine at the end of the day, and it doesn’t change colors and turn darker like some powders. This does contain talc, in case you have an aversion to that ingredient.

Final Thoughts
This is a good powder – not horrible, not awesome. It offers sheer coverage, it’s cheap, and it’s good for acne-prone skin (in theory). It only comes in 4 colors, though, and even though it’s non-comedogenic, some people still report breaking out from it. Since I don’t love this, I’ll try something new next time, but I’m okay using it for now. Have you tried it? What’s your favorite drugstore powder?

*Buy Maybelline Dream Matte Powder*

Ingredients:
Talc, Nylon-12, Isodecyl Neopentanoate, Magnesium Stearate, Dimethicone, Phenoxyethanol, Cetyl Dimethicone, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Methylparaben, Triisocetyl Citrate, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Butylparaben. May contain: Mica, Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide.

Related posts:

1. Physicians Formula Healthy Wear SPF 50 Powder Foundation
2. Avoid Cosmetic Cornstarch If You’re Acne-Prone
3. My Favorite Makeup

Shop Tarina Tarantino at Sephora!

Have you tried Tarina Tarantino’s new beauty products yet? What do you think?

Tarina products that look enticing to me:

Sparklicity Pure
A pale pink crystalline sparkly highlighter for brows arches, eyes, cheeks and lips. This appears to be noncomedogenic.

Eye Dream Hyperliner
Waterproof, smudgeproof, smooth eyeliner that comes in lots of shimmery colorful shades. Paraben-free.

Dollskin Cheek
Silky powder “high definition” blush that comes in 5 colors. This appears to be safe for acne-prone skin.

Tarina Tarantino’s beauty line also features mascara, lip gloss, lip sheen, shimmer body dust, pearl glow primer, eyeshadow, cream eyeshadow, makeup brushes, and more! Tarina is also doing in-store meet-and-greets at several Sephora stores this month!

Related posts:

1. Hard Candy Makeup at Walmart
2. Great Makeup I Won’t Use
3. Discontinued Makeup And Beauty Products

When Hard Candy first hit Walmart last year, I was ready to prove that you don’t need expensive makeup from department stores and Sephora to get super high quality makeup, but the Walmart version of Hard Candy has turned out to not be as good as the original higher end version to me:( All of the products are formulations are different, so this is like an entirely new cosmetics line.

Hard Candy Glitter Pencil
I was most excited to try the glitter pencil (which comes in a package called Eye Candy that includes a glitter eyeshadow). The original Hard Candy glitter pencils were great – they were easy to use, they went on nice and dark, and the glitter looked sparkly but not too over the top. The Walmart version is horrible:( I bought the purple color, and could barely even see the color after several waxy application attempts. I threw it out after the first day. The Eye Candy glitter eyeshadow is a clear cream with flakes of glitter. It would be cool for a night on the town, or Halloween. The whole set is $5. I am currently on a search for a new glitter eyeliner pencil. Any suggestions? Even though I’m in my mid-30s, I’m not ready to completely give up glitter yet.

Hard Candy Kaleyedescope Baked Eyeshadow
I love the old-school Hard Candy eyeshadow quads so I was also dying to try their new duo eyeshadows. I bought them in four colors at Walmart, for $6 each. They aren’t as pigmented as the original eyeshadows, but for the price they are pretty good, and the array of colors is nice. When used over an eyeshadow primer they look better, and last most of the day.  They come in 14 different duo colors. I am a little out of touch because I had not bought a single drugstore eyeshadow since before the original Hard Candy eyeshadows came out about 15 years ago! I never had good luck with drugstore eyeshadows before, but I am curious to try other newer pigmented drugstore eyeshadows like L’Oreal HiP.

Hard Candy Nail Polish
The original Hard Candy line started with their crazy colored nail polishes, and somehow I found myself spending $12 for a bottle of nail polish back in the 90s. The Walmart nail polishes are $5 and come in 16 shades. Some of the colors are unique for drugstore polishes, and are worth checking out. They also come with the novelty rings, but the new rings are harder plastic and kind of bulky, but they are still sort of cute.

Hard Candy Blush Crush Baked Blush
Finally I bought the Hard Candy blush in the Living Doll color (a pale pearly pink) for $7. It broke into pieces before I got home, and I was too lazy to go back and get a new one. It’s a nice subtle pink color, but given how easily it broke for me, I would worry it would happen easily, and once it’s broken, it’s hard to contain the pieces in its case. Otherwise I would consider buying this blush again.

These are the only Hard Candy products at Walmart I tried, but there are tons of other ones too – primers, highlighters, bronzers, mascara, liquid liners, lipsticks, lip glosses, body glitter, and more! All of the packaging is really cute and eye-catching. Which products have you tried, and what do you think? I’m not totally giving up higher-end makeup just yet!

Related posts:

1. Hard Candy Eye Shadow
2. My Favorite Makeup
3. Tarina Tarantino Makeup

Paula Begoun says cornstarch is a ”Starch obtained from corn and sometimes used as an absorbent in cosmetics instead of talc. However, when cornstarch becomes moist, it can promote fungal and bacterial growth.” About rice starch, she says it’s an ”Absorbent substance sometimes included in products rather than talc. It can cause allergic reactions and, because it is a food derivative (as opposed to a mineral derivative like talc), it can support bacterial growth in pores.” 

L’Oreal True Match Powder
Originally this post was going to be about this foundation, and how I really like it, and how it hasn’t caused me any breakouts. All of that is true, however its second ingredient after talc is corn starch. To be on the safe side, I wouldn’t recommend using a cosmetic with corn starch as one of its main ingredients if you are acne prone. Personally I will probably still buy this product because it goes on smoothly, has a nice finish to it, it comes in a lot of shades, and I have not had an issue with it. I never would have bought it if I remembered at the time to avoid cornstarch, so it’s only by accident that I’m using it.

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Pressed Powder
This is the pressed powder I usually use, and I think it is totally safe if you are prone to acne. It only comes in three light shades, so the color choice is pretty limiting. I started using the L’Oreal True Match, because now that summer is here, I wanted a slightly darker shade to go better with my fake tan. Currently, the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Pressed Powder is the only powder I’ve tested that looks good, and that does not have aggravating acne ingredients!

3/19/2010 update: Neutrogena Healthy Skin Pressed Powder has been reformulated, and I haven’t tested it yet to see if it’s still safe for acne. It now contains 3% titanium dioxide, which gives it an SPF 20, and it comes in 4 shades. I hope they didn’t change anything else about it:(

Related posts:

1. Maybelline Dream Matte Powder
2. Cosmetic Acne
3. How To Prevent Cosmetic Acne

Origins Halo Effect
Origins makes a product called Halo Effect, which comes in two colors – Pink Potion and Golden Potion. I bought the pink version, and so far I really like it. It’s similar to Benefit High Beam, but it is not as creamy, and it dries with almost a powdery finish. Origins says “this lightweight pearly potion casts an ethereal aura over skin to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative. Use it to give cheeks a glistening gleam. Make browbones subtly beam. Glistening mica shines a luminous light on facial features while taking focus away from fine lines and flaws.” I don’t know if it does all that, but it gives a nice subtle pink/silver shimmery sheen to my browbones and cheeks. I haven’t used it anywhere else. You can also mix it with your foundation.

While the product doesn’t appear to have pore-clogging ingredients, it has a lot of essential oils, which could be problematic for someone with really sensitive skin. Since I’m not putting it all over my face, I don’t think it will be a problem.

In the end, I might prefer a product that is a bit creamier since I have dry skin, but it’s more important for me that my makeup doesn’t cause breakouts. Have you tried Halo Effect?

Related posts:

1. Great Makeup I Won’t Use

If you click on the picture, it will take you to my Flickr account, which is where I post random cellphone pictures (mostly of my cats, which of course has nothing to do with skin care!)

Who’s Fafi, and have you bought any of these new MAC products yet? Read more about Fafi here.

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Philosophy Candy Hearts is a super cute trio of lip balms out just in time for Valentine’s Day. The three lip shines come in Melon Daquiri, Vanilla Birthday Cake, and Rasberry Sorbet flavors. I hope my boyfriend gets me this for Valentine’s Day! These high-shine lip balms are great to wear if you have a boyfriend (like mine) who is afraid of getting lipstick, or lipgloss on his mouth!

Related posts:

1. How I cured my super dry, chapped lips

Maybelline Pure Makeup in Nude
Ths is a great liquid foundation that happens to be really cheap too. This comes in lots of colors and doesn’t clog my acne-prone skin. It also doesn’t accentuate my fine lines/wrinkles and pores like most makeup does. It dries with a matte finish, yet is not drying on my dry skin. I’ve tried probably 20 different liquid foundations and tinted moisturizers, and this is the first one I actually feel comfortable wearing because it still looks fine at the end of the day. It has light-medium coverage.

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Pressed Powder
I apply this over the Maybelline, and use a foundation brush to apply it. This also doesn’t clog my pores, and it doesn’t cake on my skin like a lot of powder foundations. I’ve tried probably 10 powder foundations, and like this the best so far.

Hard Candy Eye Shadow Quartet – Suede
I know all of my fellow beauty bloggers swear by MAC eye shadow, but I have been a fan of Hard Candy for 10 years and have this color, plus almost every other 4-shade compact they make! This eye shadow is really pigmented, so it goes on well, and it stays on. I’m using Hard Candy as the picture for this post, since I love the brand, and am sad that they don’t sell the brand at Ulta anymore, and it’s getting harder to find it at Sephora, so I’m starting to get nervous. Support Hard Candy! hehe.

Hard Candy Glitter Eye Pencil Midnight
For eyeliner, I love Hard Candy’s Glitter Eye pencils, and have the Midnight (navy blue) and Galaxy (black) ones. They have little silver glitter in them, and I don’t care that I’m in my 30s – I love sparkle. People always comment on how much they like my eyeliner, so there you go!

L’Oreal Blush Delice in Strawberry Tart
The first time I used this blush I thought it was too subtle, but now I love it! It’s a slightly shimmery light pink blush that is easy to apply since it’s not real bright. And I find it stays on better than cream or other types of blush.

Lancome Juicy Tubes – Ultra Shiny Lip Gloss
Juicy Tubes are what I splurge on ($17), because I’m sure I can find a cheaper lip gloss, but I always come back to them. Juicy Tubes last me maybe 6 months, since I do use the cheaper L’Oreal Colourjuice as well. In the past I would buy whatever new drugstore lip gloss came out, and then I’d end up not liking it, so it’s cheaper to stick with what I know I love!

Tweezerman Slant Tweezers Zebra
I love Tweezerman tweezers because they work really well at picking up super tiny hairs, and they don’t hurt as much as cheap tweezers. I have them in purple, but see they now make them in animal prints. They are totally worth the $20 or $25 they cost! I love giving these as gifts.

I’m still looking for a favorite mascara, but for now am happy with the free Clinique High Impact Mascara that I always get as a “gift with purchase” when I buy my Clinique Moisture On-line moisturizer.

Edit: Since I wrote this post, several of these products have been discontinued, or reformulated:(

Related posts:

1. Hard Candy Makeup at Walmart
2. Hard Candy Eye Shadow
3. Discontinued Makeup And Beauty Products