Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The All Natural Face

I found The All Natural Face on Etsy back in June of 2009. I have since placed a couple more orders with her. I have tried many of her products, and have been overall happy with them. I'll review more products in the future, but today I'm going to focus on mineral foundation.

The shop is run by the simply delightful Crystal. She is an absolute sweetheart! If you would like to read a bit about her and her makeup, visit her store or read her profile, I recommend it! She also has a website outside of etsy, TheAllNaturalFace.com.

The second order I placed with her was for the foundation sample kit. You get to choose 7 of her MANY colors. I had a hard time even choosing 7 so I told her a few colors I wanted to try and to surprise me with the rest. She sent me way more than 7 foundation samples, plus samples of many of her other products. She does this with every order!

She ships every few days and I got my order when I expected. It was a bit longer than usual for Etsy orders, but I definitely wouldn't say it was too long at all, and was well worth the wait. I had fun trying out all of the samples. The samples were generously sized, and I was able to use them for a few days so that I could determine my perfect color, and if I would like to order more.

I instantly tried to recreate the color of the current mineral foundation that I was using (medium beige from Bare Minerals, or BE for short). I combined two colors, Ivory Rose and Medium Beige Warm. The color ended up being a bit lighter than my BE, which was perfect since the BE was a little dark for me. I got lucky on my first try, the color matched my skin PERFECTLY! I'm sure I could have found a color in all of the samples that would work for me, but why bother when I found my perfect color. Especially when the generous and sweet Crystal is willing to create your perfect color when needed.

I applied the foundation with my big kabuki brush from Bare Escentuals. I tried it with a few other kabuki brushes too, but this was my favorite. I would say it went on and covered similar to my BE, but definitely looked better since the color was a perfect match. For awhile I used a brush that I got from Crystal, her Baby Buffer, which she sells with many other products, including with the foundation kits for only $7! I really liked it with that brush, which is amazingly soft. Lately though, for ease of application (I love a long handle), I've been using my Handy Buki from BE. I used my BE mineral veil over the top, but I'm still unsure if I really need this since it doesn't seem to really make much of a difference and can just dry me out and make me look powdery.

I was having some dry skin issues when I started using this foundation. I found it to be less drying than the BE, but definitely not oily in any way. It was a nice change! After a few hours of wear, I did notice some creasing or gathering of the product along side my nose and on my chin. It wasn't bad, and I've had this problem with BE before when my skin isn't super dry. I've since tried it with a primer underneath (DHC's Velvet Skin Coat - which I think is similar to the Monistat Chafing Gel, which I have yet to use, but I will - and I'll review it too!). The primer seems to help with the creasing issue. I'm wearing it with a primer today, and after 3 hours of wear there is no sign of movement.

I've obviously been very pleased with the foundation, and have since ordered more. Crystal was having a BOGO promotion, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to stock up! Since I have kept many of my empty BE jars, I ordered the refill for 30 gram jars, which is a complete steal at only $11!! She even custom mixed me my perfect color! I've been using this, along with a few of her other products everyday since June and I'm very happy with them. I highly recommend checking out The All Natural Face, you don't be disappointed!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this article, it is always great fun to be introduced to new and interesting shops on Etsy and what a wonderful place. :) T.

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  2. Congrats on the new blog!! Off to a great start! ;)

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