Maybelline Super BB Cushion Fresh Matte SPF25 Review and Ingredients Analysis

Maybelline's Super BB Cushion Fresh Matte SPF25 has just launched this year - making it one of the earliest 2017 launches in the drugstore! I thought there was no better way to start off the year than looking at a new and shiny product, and the Fresh Matte BB Cushion caught my eye - after all, you can never have too many BB cushions, right?

Maybelline Super BB Cushion Fresh Matte SPF25: A matte cushion for hotter months

The Maybelline Fresh Matte BB Cushion is a matte cushion, and it claims to be a lightweight foundation with a "natural matte finish that keeps excess sebum under control & is up to 12H long lasting!" All of these properties are super useful in our hot, tropical weather, and for people with oily skins. It's also the matte counterpart to Maybelline's Super BB Cushion that was launched in May 2016 - so if you liked that cushion but wanted a matte version, it has now arrived.


Maybelline Super BB Cushion Fresh Matte SPF25: A matte counterpart to the dewier Super BB Cushion
So, let's check out the mattifying properties of the Maybelline Super BB Cushion Fresh Matte - starting with the ingredients list!

Easter Nail Art: Pastel and White Stripes!

Look at my Easter nail art for this year! It's all pastel-ly and stripe-y and totally inspired by the shades and designs of easter eggs! Although it's pretty simple, I really like how it looks. I know it isn't the most original nail art out there (if I'm not wrong, there are TONS of people doing Easter stripes nail art too), but I feel like for once, I actually did freehand nail art without screwing it up (too much), so this look is special to me!

For the base I used RBL Lulu for the pink, Illamasqua Jo'mina for the purple, Nails Inc Spring Mews for the green, and Maybelline Banana Puddin' for the yellow. I don't have that many pastels, so this was about it I think. Still, I was glad that they worked together without clashing or anything. For the stripes, I just used this LA Colors white striper that I got from another nail blogger sometime ago (I believe it was Scandalously Polished, but her blog is no longer up. *sobs*). I was worried that the striper would be too sheer, but it turned out alright.



Being pastels, some of these shades had difficult application - that's the thing about pastels, for some reason, they're always trickier to apply than un-pastel colours. Nails Inc Spring Mews and Illamasqua Jo'mina were good, and fully opaque in two coats. (I've actually featured Nails Inc Spring Mews before, not just once, but twice, for my Valentine's Day nails, and I've also blogged about Illamasqua Jo'mina too.) RBL was sort of a two-and-a-half-coater, meaning that it was opaque in two coats, but still streaky, so I had to use three to even everything out. Maybelline Banana Puddin' was just a pain in the behind to polish - it needed a full four coats before it was opaque and not streaky. (I've actually complained about Maybelline Banana Puddin' before, but in the end I just put up with the application for the colour...it's hard to find a yellow that looks great on my skintone.)



Anyway, despite the painful application on some of the colours, I really love my Easter manicure. It's not particularly original, or perfect, but I'm really loving it. I know Easter isn't really all about eggs and bunnies and things like that (it really has a much deeper meaning to it that's so powerful), but I figure that anyway I can celebrate Easter on my fingers can't be bad.

Neutral Berry FOTD: Sleek Fenberry Blush and Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick

Last week, I went out with my friends from University for lunch. It was a simple lunch, so I just did a simple FOTD (Face of the Day), using some of my latest products. In particular, I wanted to use some of the new products I've been using lately, in particular the super awesome Sleek Makeup Fenberry Blush from the Berry Collection, as well as the new Maybelline Color Sensational Lipsticks.

Altogether, I think it was a good look, although it was neutral and boring. This is also the kind of makeup I wear every Monday to Friday to my office. So yes, despite my awesome colourful eyeshadow stash, on an average day I wear barely any eyeshadow. Sad life, I know.

Here's the breakdown for the look.

FACE:
Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer (on undereye area)
Prescriptives Anywear Makeup Stick (on blemishes on face)
Transparent Loose Powder - I use a 50-50 mix of Pond's Magic Powder in Sweetie Pink and pure silica powder, I got mine from Coastal Scents
Sleek Makeup Fenberry Blush

EYE:
NARS Abyssinia (all over lid)
Apple Super Lash Mascara
Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in Rockstar

LIPS:
Maybelline Yummy Plummy Color Sensational Lipstick
Hello Kitty Rosette Treatment Lip

I liked the combination of the Sleek Fenberry blush and the Maybelline Yummy Plummy lipstick. The colours look a little more intense than in the photo - I swear in real life it looks a little more rosy, especially on the cheeks. And yes, I know my undereye bags are epic. This is AFTER they've been covered up partially. It's much worse when I wake up in the morning.

Also, another of my makeup application quirks is that I don't usually use foundation, because it usually doesn't do any favours for my blemish-prone skin. But I do use concealer to cover up spots I have, and set with transluscent powder, which is whatever loose powder (I'm not picky, I go for cheap stuff that wouldn't break me out), and silica powder, for better oil control. This mixture works like a charm, since silica powder alone can be too drying and leave a white cast if you're not careful, and just loose powder alone wears off after awhile. I totally recommend this for anyone with moderate oily skin who doesn't need a lot of coverage.

Simple Gold Glitter Gradient Christmas Nails

Since my nail beds were actually looking nice and pink and unstained for once, (I wish I could say that my nails were just that fabulous, but the reality is that I don't wear much nail polish at work anymore. Sigh.) I thought, why not do a mani to show them off? So I decided to do a gradient mani with - you guessed it - some bling!

I used Etude House Lucidarling Fantastic Nails in 04 Sequin Crystal Gold for the glitter gradient, but to add a little more pizzaz I also added a little bit of Maybelline Silver Spells for the big round glitter bits. For the base, I used Rimmel French Rose, which is a sheer light milky pink meant for French manicures.

I've blogged about the Etude House polish before, and back then I said it was pretty awesome, and one year on, I still think it is! It's a mix of small gold glitter and larger round holo glitter in a clear base, and so pretty. Silver Spells is such an awesome polish, consisting of very dense, big chunky pieces of hexagonal glitter in a clear base as well as tiny silver glitter - perfect for layering.



I didn't have much issue with Etude House Sequin Crystal Gold, and it more or less applies quite normally, although some dabbing was needed to even out the glitter. Maybelline Silver Spells definitely needed dabbing to prevent the glitter from clustering together. So basically this mani was quite idiot-proof - it was really more dabbing than painting! The painting bit came in right at the end, where I painted my nails with Rimmel French Rose.



I'm not sure if these nails really count as Christmas nails (I mean, there isn't any red or green!) but I do feel that the gold glitter really gives the mani a festive vibe. I like this mani - it's simple, wearable, and easy to do. Perhaps ideal if I want an understated holiday mani, I guess!

Essie Set in Stones Dupe? Maybelline Silver Spells

Essie's Luxeffects Collection consists of four glittery polishes that are meant for topcoating and layering over a manicure. Since I absolutely love glitter on my nails, I was totally ogling this collection! I mean, just imagine all the layering possibilities! I was drooling over swatches, when the swatches of Set in Stone caught my eye. I thought, "Hey! That looks familiar! I think I may have a dupe!"

So I dug out my suspected Set in Stones dupe - Maybelline Silver Spells, a really old, discontinued polish. Maybelline's Silver Spells may be old, but it is still pretty awesome. Like Essie Set in Stones, it consists of variously-sized silver glitter in a clear base. The glitter comes in two shapes - a small square glitter, and large hexagonal glitter. And like Essie's Set in Stones, Silver Spells is very densely packed with glitter.



I felt inspired to use Silver Spells for a mani, so here it is! I used Silver Spells over another polish I love, Nails Inc Paddington Street, a deep burgundy creme base. If it looks a little familiar, it's because I've used Nails Inc Paddington Street in a previous mani before. A simple coat of Silver Spells, and my mani is totally jazzed up!

I'm not sure if Maybelline Silver Spells is a total dupe for Essie Set in Stones, but I do think they may be quite similar. Because the glitter in Maybelline Silver Spells is so densely packed, some dabbing is required to even out the glitter a little bit more, otherwise it tends to pool and clump up on your nails. But it's so worth the effort, though!



I'm really loving this mani - it's so glittery and blingy and festive. Although it's not quite a Christmas mani, I think it kind of suits the season, with the deep red base and the truckloads of glitter. I can't help it, but I always associate glitter with the holidays!



I'm not certain if Essie's Set in Stones is really a 100% dupe to Maybelline Silver Spells, but having Silver Spells has really killed my lemming for Set in Stones. That's one polish I can remove from my infinite list of polish lemmings! Now, to find drugstore dupes for the other 23856283 polishes on my list...

Maybelline Pure Mineral BB Mousse Review/Swatch/FOTD

Since BB creams were introduced a few years back, it looks like the BB trend is still going strong, and consumers remain eager to snap up more BB-themed products. With that in mind, Maybelline's latest BB-themed product, the Pure Mineral BB Mousse SPF30, is sure to be a hit.

For those not familiar with BB creams, this was the product that started off the whole BB trend. BB creams were Blemish Balms (BB), touted to provide coverage as well as skincare benefits. In practice, a lot of BB creams I've come across are similar to creamy foundations and thick tinted moisturizers, right down to the ingredients (I need to do a post on the ingredients in BB creams sometime, but I'll probably get slammed for it). Hence I've been very skeptical of the "BB" label - like the words "mineral" and "natural", to me it's just marketing spiel to sell products. And as with supposedly "natural" or "mineral" products, the wild claims made by some brands have made me, and other consumers, I'm sure, tired of the whole BB label altogether.

Fortunately Maybelline is smart enough to put a new twist on an old product. The selling point of the Pure Mineral BB Mousse (wow, two marketing keywords here - BB and mineral) is not so much that it's a BB product, although there are some skincare claims made, but rather that it's a mousse. The mousse is supposed to lend a lightweight texture and feel to the product, and is supposed to be easy to apply too. Sounds like a winner, right?

The Pure Mineral BB Mousse is dispensed through a can bottle with a pump top. It can be a bit tricky to control how much product comes out of the pump (there were a couple of times where I wanted a small dollop and I got lots of foam by pressing too hard), but otherwise, this is convenient and sanitary to use.



This is what the Pure Mineral BB Mousse looks like when first dispensed. It's a huge big dollop of foam! Although it's somewhat similar to Shu Uemura UV Under Base Mousse, in that both are foam products, the novelty value on the Pure Mineral BB version is still quite high. I mean, the foam looks fun, right?



I have to admit, when I first saw that foam, I was wondering, how am I supposed to apply this to my face? Do I just smoosh the entire dollop of foam on my face and rub? Do I apply the foam bit by bit to my face? Do I use my fingers? Do I use a brush? Man, using this foam product was harder than I thought! But eventually I found that fingers worked best, and because the foam dries fast, whether you are using a large dollop or a small dollop, it's better to work on your face in sections (e.g. forehead first, then right cheek, left cheek, nose, etc).

Here's a swatch of what the product looks like. It actually dries pretty fast upon application, and dries out to a pretty matte finish, without any shimmer or glitter. It blends out decently with my skin, especially if using a thin layer. Although the product itself is slightly more orangey and darker than my actual NC20 skintone, I found that with a bit of blending, the colour match isn't too bad. Another thing is that because this product dries matte, it does have a tendency to settle into fine lines and creases, and the effect worsens the more product is used (my under eye area didn't look too good with this product). So if you have fine lines, be careful not to pile it on!



To me, the really tricky part of using the Maybelline Pure Mineral BB Mousse was really the application. The mousse itself is pretty blendable, but once it dries, it doesn't really blend very well, so I found it best to work quickly while the mousse was still wet to get an even coat, if not the result could look patchy. But overall, I didn't have any problems with application. I found that the finish was pretty matte, which is to my preference. Here's a shot of me wearing the Maybelline BB Mineral Mousse. As you can ese, it blended into my skin just fine. I was worried the colour match would be off, but it turned out alright.



Weartime on this was also pretty decent. I found that if I perspired alot, some of the mousse on my skin would rub off unevenly, and end up looking patchy, and it's hard to fix the patchiness after that (I mean, what am I supposed to do? Put on more mousse? Cover it up with powder?). But otherwise, if I wasn't running around, I found this quite good, as it stayed on my skin and didn't move or shift. I found that if I set it with a bit of transparent loose powder, the staying power is actually quite impressive. I wore it out for half a day, and by the end of the day, mhy T-zone started looking a little oily, but the other parts of my face were fine.

All in all, I quite like this product, but I wouldn't wear it if I knew I was going to be in for a time where I would be sweating a lot. If you have a lot of fine lines, the Mineral BB Mousse may also settle into them. But if you want a matte finish foundation that has good staying power (as long as you aren't sweating), this is a good bet. The mousse foam is really cute, too, and the novelty factor is really quite fun. I think Maybelline has just found their next big hit!

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Orly Galaxy Girl Dupe: Maybelline Vanishing Venus 350

Orly's Cosmic FX Collection has made waves with its unusual duochrome colours, and one of the colours in the range was Galaxy Girl. It's a deep vampy burgundy red with hints of green shimmer. Unfortunately for Orly, who had hyped up its collection to be unique (and jacked up the price to $10 per bottle along the way), bloggers have been finding dupes for most of the colours in the range for cheaper.

Now the presence of dupes doesn't detract from the awesomeness of the colour, and truth be told, Orly's collection DOES have really killer colours, but for those of us who can't spend US$10 on a polish, having the option of cheaper alternatives is always a draw. Maybelline's Vanishing Venus happens to be a cheap - and pretty good - dupe. Unfortunately, it's also been discontinued for awhile, so if you want it, you'll have to do some hunting around for this somewhat ancient polish.

Here's Vanishing Venus. Isn't it awesome? I know the texture on my middle finger is a bit weird, but that's because there's a teabag wrap on that nail. That, AND I dinged my middle by mistake while the polish was still wet, and I have neither the patience to re-do the nail, nor the image editing skills to edit it out. Oops.



I think it is quite a close dupe for Galaxy Girl, even if it's not 100% identical. It's also a shimmery vampy burgundy red, and it kind of looks like dried blood. (Hehe.) And it also has that awesome green flash, and the same kind of fine shimmer. I love it. It's a gorgeous colour. And that green flash. It sort of reminds me of RBL's Scrangie, only that this one is a blue-green flash in a burgundy red base, instead of a green-blue flash in a blurple (blue-purple) base. Few nail polish colours have this type of shimmer nowadays, so it's pretty cool for Orly and Maybelline to have something like that.

Here's a closer shot of my nails (and of said teabag wrap):



Application for this one was pretty darn good. Maybe it's one of those ancient non-B3F polishes (Big 3 Free meaning free of toluene, formaldehyde, and DBP aka dibutyl phthalate), because it has this really thin yet smooth application that is reminescent of those non-B3F polishes. Which is a good thing - it means it doesn't apply thick and goopy, yet isn't streaky because it's too thin. It applies in nice even but thin layers, and is easily built up for opacity. Of course, I've no way of knowing if this really is B3F or not, but it sure applies like one, and it's probably old enough to be one as well, which might be an issue for some users who may want to avoid non B3F polishes.

Anyway, this colour is gorgeous. If you don't mind potentially running the risk of using a non-B3F polish, I'd recommend this. If you do mind the fact that it might possibly contain one or more of the "Big 3", then the Orly option might be a safer (if more expensive) bet.

NOTD: Maybelline Banana Puddin': Pretty, but a PITA

I have a complicated relationship with yellow nail polish. I like how it looks like on others, but I've been too scared to actually try it out on myself. So everytime I consider picking yellow as a mani colour, my brain goes through this thought process: Wear yellow - Don't wear yellow - Wear yellow - Don't wear yellow - etc ad infinitum. Yeah as you can tell, I'm a deep thinker. :P

I decided to finally suck up the courage to actually try out a yellow, because I figured if I hated it on me, I need never look back, and I can finally stop vacillating over whether I should wear yellow or not. So I picked out a pastel yellow that didn't have too many warm tones in it - I figure it would ease me into the yellow shock I might have. And after scouring around, I found Maybelline Banana Puddin'.

Here is Banana Puddin' on me, taken outdoors in natural light. I actually think it's as pretty as pastel yellow can get, although it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea (I'm still trying to decide if it's mine or not):



Banana Puddin' is a colour that has long been discontinued (thanks, Maybelline), and apparently it's a HTF (hard to find) colour, and a pretty coveted one at that. Apparently it's desirability stems from the fact that it's a wearable yellow for cooler skintones. Warmer yellows can often make cooler skintones appear very ruddy and red, giving a "lobster hands" effect, but unfortunately most yellows are warm, so a cool yellow is hard to find.

I do think Banana Puddin' is wearable enough for cooler skintones. Of course it's still not going to be a colour everyone will like, but if you are going to wear yellow, this is probably one of the more wearable ones around. It's also a soft pastel yellow, as opposed to neon highlighter yellow, so it doesn't draw too much attention to itself. It's a good start if you're going to be trying yellow for the first time.



Here it is in indoor lights. You can see it's more yellow indoors.

While it's a pretty yellow, it was a total PITA to apply. Yellows in general do tend to be hard to apply though, so it was no surprise to me. Still, it's a pain when you're doing your mani, because it was sheer and streaky. These pictures show 4 coats. Yes, FOUR FREAKING COATS. If you are skilled and apply thicker coats that are even, you might get away with three, but I suspect most people are going to use four. I dinged my mani so many times while waiting for it to dry, because four not-that-thin coats is obviously going to dry slowly.

Unfortunately, my attempt to finally decide whether I liked yellow or not wasn't very successful, as even after trying Banana Puddin', I still feel ambivalent about yellow. I don't know how I feel about it, and the lousy application isn't helping. What do you think? Would you wear yellow?