I may find a dupe for Cle de Peau loose powder (old)

I love the old Cle de Peau loose powder which was stored in a square shaped box. It had a very beautiful lavender (or pink) tone with some very fine shimmers which makes your skin look luminous but not shine. It was not dry at all. I believe that powder suits everybody since it does not have the same dull white matte look as the new version. Unfortunately the old loose powder was discontinued about 4 years ago and the price has become more and more expensive.

Clarins has released new loose powder this year and the packaging is a lot better than CdP. It was much easier to control  how much to use  and the jar looks elegant. It comes with a quality puff, but not as thick and soft as CdP (remember we have to pay extra money for CdP puff).

The new loose powder from Clarins reminds me a lot of the old CdP loose powder. Actually I think it is much better than CdP. The package is better and the finish is more beautiful and the lasting power is better. The price of Clarins loose powder is reasonable ($47 for 30 g) comparing to CdP which retails for more than $125 CAD.

So far the only con I find with Clarins is that the powder has the same light scent as its everlasting powder which I am not fond of. Otherwise it's a fantastic powder with a reasonable price.

Cle de Peau La Creme U vs Shiseido Bio-performance Advanced Super Restoring Cream

When I was in my late 10s to early 20s, I always dreamed to have CdP skincare or makeup products. I would save money for a long time to buy one CdP's product and felt so happy the whole day.

The more products I try, the more I understand that the more expensive does not mean the better. Everything depends on marketing and how a company present the products images to other people.

The higher end products does not necessarily mean the best ingredients inside, they may use better ingredients but it does not mean it can work wonders to everybody's skin.
   
   I used creme de lamer and cdp la creme and I do not think they are awesome. They are
   pretty good moisturizers, but it does not mean they can work better than medicines which solve      all types of skin problems.

   A moisturizer from Olay or Loreal Paris can work much better than other more expensive        creams. Paula Begoun has taught us a lot from her books.

  As everybody knows, drugstore cosmetics by Loreal can contain the same ingredients as Lancome's as they are from the same company. Same thing as Cle de Peau and Shiseido, both of them have the same mother-Shiseido.

Therefore, Shiseido has so many products to be the dupe of CdP, and the moisturizer is no exception.

CdP la creme retails at 550 CAD plus tax while Bio-Performance Advanced Super Restoring Cream is at $140 plus tax. The price difference is crazy and huge. Does a $600 moisturizer work better than $100 moisturizer? I am not sure.

The texture of both cream are almost the same. CdP is slightly oily while Shiseido is slightly sticky. If you have very dry skin, you may need to warm your shiseido cream with your finger tips before applying onto your face; with CdP, you can just apply it on without any problem.

Does CdP la cream work wonders? No. The claim is however so big. But when your skin is in a really bad condition, better not to use it at all. It will irritate your skin like nobody's business. Does it hydrates well? Well, when your skin is in normal condition, it's enough. When your skin is super dry, no way. You will end up waste lots of products and still feel dry and itchy on your skin.

The bio-performance advanced super restoring cream seems to have the same problem. It works only when skin is in healthy and normal condition.

Why do I need to spend lots of money on products which only work with my skin on certain conditions? I don't know. For the name? For the packaging? For that you can be bragging to your friends and relatives?  I really do not know.

Review: Cle de peau Palette Vintage 2009 version- --Yves Rocher loose powder foundation 100 very light (dupe)

I do not remember why I bought CdP 2009 limited vintage palette. I remember it costs 140 CAD plus tax. A very crazy price. 

However I must say that I like that CdP palette very much. It not only highlights well, but also gives a beautiful, healthy and youthful glow. Do not turn yourself off because of the sparkle, it gives you a subtle golden sheen. 

The texture is ultra creamy, the powders in the palette are the most finely milled ever. It does not sink into the fine lines under eyes and it's not dry at all. 

There was a circle of bronzed color in the centre of the palette. As you can see it's gone already. It works well as eye shadow and bronzer. 

I have been looking for many highlighters and shimmering strips with the same finish, however there's no such beautiful glow and subtle high light color like CdP palette. 

One day I stepped into Yves rocher's shop to look for foundations, I found powder with the same finish as CdP palette vintage. Yves Rocher's loose powder foundation is not a foundation to me. It's a highlighter. So don not be fooled by its name. Since it contains only 4 g and the price is 29 CAD plus tax, it can be the most pricey powder foundation ever. 

You can see the above swatch. They look like twins! 

So save your money on CdP holiday palette. I bought only one time in 2009 and never repurchase again. I do not think any powder worth that much money. 

Review: Maybelline fit me pressed powder-A dupe for Cle de peau loose powder?

(photo courtesy: maybelline.ca)

Maybelline fit me pressed powder is not a new product. Somehow it did not impress me a lot when the first time I tried it. 

I have been search for a setting powder that does not mattify my skin. I found most powders tend to make my skin matte. 

Maybelline fit me pressed powder has some tiny tiny sparkles in it. It is almost difficult to detect it if you do not look it carefully. It does not make your face a disco ball but gives you a healthy young glowy skin. 

Fit me pressed powder comes in many shades. The texture is creamy. It does not have a dry or flaky feeling like some pressed powders. 

The packaging is quite "professional makeup" look. The pressed powder is stored in a square black case with mirror and puff inside. I do not use that puff comes with it, instead, I use The body shop mineral powder brush to apply this powder. 

The powder has light to medium coverage, depending on how you apply it. It's buildable and does cake on the skin. Because of its good coverage, you can even use it alone as a powder foundation. 

I use this pressed powder to set my Yves Rocher foundation and it does a really good job. It does not take away the beautiful glow of the foundation. The finish reminds me of cle de peau loose  powder. Though Maybelline's powder is not as finely milled as Cle de peau, it has the similar effect. 

The powder stays all day on my normal to dry skin. I think fit me foundation and powder are for dry skin types. I am not sure if people with combination to oily skin with enjoy this pressed powder since it does not mattify skin. 

To sum up, this pressed powder is for normal to dry skin types. If you like the finish of cle de peau's loose powder and do not want to spend another 150 cad like me for setting powder, this is your best choice! 

How to: Make Revlon Nearly Naked covers better and less runny

In my previous review on Revlon nearly naked foundation, I mentioned some of the cons about it. I recently found a new way to apply it and to solve some of the problems.

1. Moisturize your skin.  Here I use Yves rocher hydrating toner and  Lancome blanc expert emulsion. Since it was a tasting home, I don't wear sunscreen. (photo courtesy: yvesrocher.ca)

2. Put a thin layer of powder with light coverage such as Loreal true match pressed powder; Yves Rocher loose powder or Yves Rocher matte comfort powder.


3. Apply Revlon nearly naked foundation with your fingers. Since there's a layer of powder, the liquid is less runny on your face, and it becomes easier to apply. It also have almost full coverage since there's a layer of powder with light coverage before.

However you have to blend it carefully. It becomes a little bit hard to blend because of the powder underneath. Foundation brushes can make blending easier than fingers.

4. Set it with transparent loose powder. I use Cle de Peau's loose powder. You can skip this step if you want. Because we put a layer of powder before the liquid foundation, it becomes not sticky on the face. I prefer the luminous effect CDP powder offers.

5. Now you get  better coverage and longer staying power with nearly naked foundation.

However, it takes much longer time to do apply your base makeup than usual. I feel that I can get the same effect in a minute by using Cover Girl aquasmooth or some powder foundations with good coverage.

But it's a good way to make some use of the foundation that I am not crazy about.

Cle de peau brightening powder foundation vs Clinique Almost Powder makeup review

(photo courtesy: http://www.cledepeau-beaute.com&Thebay.com)

I love to try different types of powder foundations. I always look for powder foundations with spf (higher than spf15) and good coverage. To me, good powder foundations can offer better coverage than any other liquid and cream foundations. I also use powder foundations as part of my sun protection.

I do not use primer. Sometimes I do, if a primer has contains good spf. Otherwise I use only sunscreen with powder foundation as my base makeup.

The sunscreen I used yesterday was the brightening enhancer base by Cle de peau. There's no spf on the packaging. But looking through the ingredients list, titanium dioxide is on the third of the list. I know some Japanese- made sunscreen products do not list the sunscreen drug facts like Canadian's products do. I suppose it's because of the law to enforce companies to do that here. The sales lady told me the brightening enhancer base has spf 35.

The CdP brightening enhancer base has thin consistency. It's like lots of Japanese made sunscreen texture. The color is light yellow undertone (it's around loreal true match's w1 to w2 shade) with some tiny tiny sparkle that we can never detect. It contains very light smell. I personally prefer cosmetics to be no scent, but because it's so light and so nice, so I do not mind.

I would not suggest anyone to use this base as a sunscreen. Since you need to put certain amount of the sunscreen to make it effective. When I put a tea spoon amount of this brightening enhancer base on, I feel it's too pale. It's remind me the older CdP's blue tube base, which also creates lots of white case on the face. You'd better to use it like a make up base to bright up the face.

However, if you have the same make up routine like me--sunscreen and powder foundation, you can still use this brightening enhancer base as your sunscreen. Since this white case does not show anymore after you put a powder on.

The shade I choose for new CdP brightening powder foundation was BF 20. It's a light yellow undertone shade. I compared this BF20 with my another older CdP powder foundation O10, the shade BF20 is surprisingly lighter than O10.

For your reference, I am around MAC NC 20.

I applied CdP brightening powder foundation on my right side of my face and Clinique almost powder makeup in light on my left side of my face. The two shade look no difference on my face.

The best brush to apply for powder foundation is The Body Shop Extra Virgin Minerals kabuki brush. It not only offers even and great coverage, but also speed up my makeup time.

A good powder foundation with a TBS kabuki brush, my makeup look very polished, as if I have spent a long time on the process (from primer, to liquid foundation, to concealer and to powder)--which I don't.

The coverage of both foundations on my face were great. They are medium to full coverage to me. I also use them to cover my dark circles and they conceal pretty well.

The finish is not matte nor glowy dewy. It's more like a satin finish on the face.

The staying power was really good. I am do not touch them up after 6 hours of wearing them both on my face.

The CdP brightening powder foundation did not perform anything special to me. I cannot tell any difference between this powder foundation and the Clinique one. Maybe I will be finding something new after I finish this powder foundation.

So far I do not recommend people to spend so much money on a powder foundation. The CdP powder foundation is $95 CAD plus tax for 11g, while the Clinique one is $31 CAD plus tax for 10g. Three times more expensive, but does not perform 3 times better so far.

The CdP brightening enhancer base is $65 CAD plus tax for 30 ml.  It's too expensive to be a sunscreen and for being a makeup base, it's a good but not a superb product.

Review: Cle de Peau powder foundation

Cle de Peau belongs to Shiseido company, and the prices are almost twice more expensive than average department store products. This powder foundation (REFILL ONLY) retails at $95 CAD plus tax. The sponge and case are sold separately.

The powder foundation has no spf in it, which is a big disadvantage to me. However the US version shows that it has spf 21 in it.

Both shade I10 and O10 are too pink to me; while BF 20 and O 20 are too dark for me. There’s no perfect shade match to my skin though this powder foundation is supposed to be suitable for Asian skins.

The powder texture is fine and smooth, but not as finely milled as Clarins’ everlasting powder foundation. The coverage is great. It can cover up menstrual acnes without problem. Nontheless it’s too dry for my under eye area, it accentuates fine lines.

I expect more on a powder foundation with such high price tag, but it seems that it does nothing special to me. There are so many products which cost 1/3 of its price do better jobs. Though it covers up really well, it is not hydrating enough for my under eye area. What is worse is that it offers no UVA/UVB protection to me. I do not think I will spend so much money again on an OK product.