Beauty and Fashion For the Fringe

I’m working on a post that’s kind of a general catch-all of info about mineral makeup and indie companies but for now I’d like to do a little review of Meow Cosmetics Foundation.

I had seen the name Meow popping up in lots of beauty blogs and I decided to check them out. Picking things out to try from the site was almost overwhelming because there are so many choices. They have over 80 shades of foundation!  The foundation is divided up into three finishes- Purrfect puss is the sheerest coverage, Pampered puss is medium coverage and Flawless Feline is the heaviest. Then there are Different colors based on undertones- for example Chausie is a cool-toned pinkish, and Siamese is neutral. Then within the undertones there are levels of color, from nearly pure white to the darkest african-american.  It sounds more complicated than it is but that is what makes it possible to find a foundation that’s truly a perfect match which is difficult with even high-end store brands. An example of how this would work if you are very fair, Asian and want the heaviest coverage to conceal acne or whatever- Flawless Feline in 1-Sleek -Manx. If you look at the site it’s much easier to understand. I ordered 4 different undertone colors in the medium and heaviest coverages as well as undereye concealers in the yellowest undertones (to best cover my dark circles) as well as some blushes.  I placed my order on June 9th and it shipped on the 22nd.

I don’t have swatches of the foundations because getting an accurate picture was impossible- they just blended right in to my arm plus they looked sparkly. I was worried when I was attempting to swatch and I noticed the sparkles. It looked like a bit of extremely fine glitter in the foundation on my arm but this did not show up on my face no matter what light I was in or how hard I looked. Weird! The website says that to apply you just brush on like any powder- that you don’t need to “buff” like with Bare Escentuals. The reason you have to buff BE is because it looks shiny otherwise. I did kind of buff it in just to blend but it really doesn’t need it much.  I was impressed by how natural it looks and how shortly after you apply it seems to melt into the skin. It’s almost like a powder-to-cream if such a thing existed.

This is the nicest most natural foundation I’ve found so far! The medium coverage wasn’t enough for me on it’s own-It worked better for me with concealer underneath. Keep in mind though that I want industrial-strength coverage because of the redness on my cheeks, nose and chin plus acne and acne scars. The medium coverage (Pampered Puss) can be built up- I actually tried to see how much I would have to use to make it look “powdery” or cakey and I gave up before it started to look bad, lol. Pretty impressive. The heaviest coverage (Flawless feline) is perfect for me because I can get everything nice and evened out and great-looking in a few quick swipes. As far as wear-time goes ,I’ve used it with and without primer. With primer I noticed it lasted and looked better but lately I’ve been going without and I only need 2 or 3  minor touchups between morning and bedtime.  I slept with it on once and it was still mostly there when I woke up. It doesn’t do anything in the way of preventing oily-ness but they do offer an oil-control product  which I just ordered a sample of. It’s not bad on oily skin or anything, it just doesn’t prevent oil nor does it claim to.

This is the first foundation I’ve found that the lightest shade is TOO LIGHT for me! I was shocked! The lightest color is zero and I ordered mostly zeros so most of what I got wasn’t quite right for my face but this would be great for the gothlings who are looking for a quality pale foundation! The concealers that I ordered are great too-I have some serious under-eye darkness and the Manx undereye concealer is awesome. It not only covers my circles better than my beloved Benefit Lemon-aid but I’ve been lightly dabbing it on my red spots before foundation and it covers those as well!

Besides foundation & concealer they have various color-correctors, finishing powders, eyeshadows,blushes, etc. I picked some blush samples from the different collections they have and the ones I picked were-Masterpiece-The Scream,Firefly blush-illuminate, 2 Taboos- Exposure and Exhibitionist (listed in the order they appear in the pic above) The last color in that pic is an eye color- Vandaleyes collection- Resisting Arrest. So far with the blush I’ve only tried “The Scream” but I loved it! It’s like a shimmery pale pinky-lilac that looked amazing with dark eye makeup. I had lots of eyeliner going on, lots of black and this off-set it, it just looked right. It seemed pretty sheer but buildable. These might get their own post with swatches if I can get them right.

Bottom line is that their foundation rocks. Check out their website for yourself and don’t get overwhelmed! Email them a pic and ask about finding a match for you or check out the mineral makeup forums or some beauty blogs to get an idea what to order. The foundation samples are a dollar each so go crazy! I have another order on the way so I can find my purrfect match and get a full-size so I can be confident that my skin always looks fab! If  you have very pale skin like me I can tell you exactly what I ordered (it’s more than in the pic) and what the colors were like in person.

http://www.meowcosmetics.com