Givenchy Teint Couture Metal Cushion - Mini Review and Comparisons

When Sephora was having a VIB/VIB Rouge member sale, I decided to take the plunge and purchase the Givenchy Teint Couture Portable Fluid Foundation (official label-I will just refer to it as their metal cushion). I've liked Givenchy foundations in the past and when I tried the testers for this one in the store; the product did feel very light and moisturizing while giving a really nice finish. 

Sleek compact

Includes a puff that sits right on the metal plate

Push down on the plate and the foundation comes up

 So this item isn't my first metal cushion. The first one I tried was by the Korean brand VDL. It stood out in the sea of cushions because of the metal plate which felt more hygienic than the foam cushion and it does give a pleasant cooling effect when you apply the product. The second version that I tried was by another Korean brand SU:M37 which I purchased mainly because the casing was really pretty.

VDL x Kakao Friends case

SU:M37 x Bahk Seon Ghi

Right: SU:M37 Air Rising Glow Cover, Left: VDL Beauty Metal Cushion

Now how does the Givenchy compare to these metal cushions? Structurally the compacts are pretty much the same even though the Givenchy one is made in France while the other 2 are made in Korea. A relevant note on cushion compacts (metal or foam): the inner cushion part are usually meant to pop out and be replaced after a certain period of time. Korean cushions often come with a filled case and an additional refill. The Givenchy even with the high price tag - does not come with a refill and none are available for sale. However, the cushion does pop out and does fit in the other metal cushion casings and vice versa. 

Inner metal cushion part separated from the case (you just have to push on the center bottom)

Givenchy metal cushion in the SU:M37 case

As much as I liked the finish and feel of the Givenchy cushion foundation I ended up returning it because none of the 6 shade offerings seem to work for me. I picked up 4 Fresh Beige which ended up being quite pink once I applied it to my face. No. 3 Fresh Sand seemed to be a bit more yellow/neutral but too light and 5 Fresh Honey was definitely too deep. For comparison, here is the Givenchy swatched against the Korean cushions which are also limited in how well they match my skintone but I work with it.  Once I had done these swatches; I didn't realize before now deep the Givenchy shade appeared to be especially against the other shades - Sephora does seem to have tricky lighting....

Indoor; natural lighting

Indoor; direct window lighting

Overall, I was disappointed that the shades for the Givenchy Teint Couture Cushion didn't work for me (although wallet was happy) even though the formula seem really nice. It did give a lovely blurring effect and natural finish. The Korean cushions may not have as appealing formula and texture (the foundations are a bit thicker and do have a dewier finish) but for half the price and twice as much product - they are pretty good. I hope that Givenchy will eventually expand their shade offerings and provide the opportunity to purchase just refills then this product will definitely have the appeal for me to throw my money at it once again.

MÜLE(뮬): Make Your Own Rule Theme 1 Make Up

I thought I had posted about this make-up collection but quickly realized that I had dropped the beauty blogging ball on this topic. So *cough* these items were purchased last year. MÜLE is the beauty brand from Jung Saem Mool, a popular Korean make-up artist. I had discovered her youtube channel and liked the tutorials that were posted but I had not realized she had released a make-up line till a few other bloggers were tweeting about some of the items. I visited the channel to see what they were talking about and the items piqued my interest. I was still fearful of using gmarket at the time so I ordered a set from evil-bay that included the Artist Essential Primer, Artist Correcealer Balm in Shade 02, Artist Curve Brush & Puff and Moist Fixing Powder.

 Boxed items and a pamphlet that was included (along with an intruding cat)

Items unboxed

Artist Essential Primer

 

A dual phase liquid that consists of 7 plant based essential oils.

 Artist Correcealer Balm in Shade 02

 

Compact includes a fingerprint sponge. There is a mirror under the tips sheet on top.

 

On the right, there is a removable screen. 

 

Shade 02 has a peach face color and a foundation shade (I'm guessing suitable to about NC30). The foundation has a consistency similar to Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua but has a heavier feel to it. I found the foundation balm to be a bit light for my skin tone and the undertone was a bit off. I can wear this shade during winter months but the color match is so so.  I will try to update with a swatch.

Upon opening the lid, the screen is to help remove excess when using the Artist Essential brush and the surface next to the screen is for use with the fingerprint puff.

Artist Curve Brush and Puff

 The brushes were the most anticipated items from the set. The brush is very soft and dense and works well with liquid and cream foundations. The puff is nice with cream blushes and I like the option of not having to apply blush with my fingers. 

I've washed the brushes a few times and they've both have held up well - no shedding or distortion.

Moist Fixing Powder

A setting powder with pearl particles. Gives a nice soft finish when applied. The puff is designed to emulate a fingertip and you apply the powder in dabbing motions to the face. The top does crew off so you can use a brush if you prefer. This powder reminded me of the Mac Magically Cool Liquid Powder from the Disney Villains Collection.

Here's a video showing all the products in action. This brand is a bit hard to purchase outside of Korea but gmarket is a decent option if you are interested.

Cellnique Skin Action Sebum Gel, Advance Bio Renewal Masque, Diamond Serum Foundation

I had received an invitation to review a few Cellnique products and after indicating that my main skin concern was congestion; I was sent 3 items-the Skin Action Sebum gel, Advanced Bio Renewal Masque and the Diamond Serum Foundation.

I never really had much breakout issues but in the past 2 years, I've had a lot more congestion issues and clogged pores especially in my t-zone. The problem was made worse since I am the type to pick at my skin even though I know it will make the healing time longer and make it more likely to have the blemish leave behind a scar.

I've actually ordered the Skin Action Sebum Gel before having been contacted by Cellnique. I was interested after seeing eki's fab review a while back and decided to finally give it a shot back in December. The item arrived super fast from Malaysia, I would say within a week of placing my order and customer service was helpful in answering questions.

The sebum gel comes in a small pump bottle. The pic below is my old bottle that I've had since December, hence the writing has worn off a bit. The gel comes out clear and has a minty/menthol type of smell but it's not noticeable once you apply the product. I use it after cleansing and toning day and night. I concentrate it on my t-zone and blend out any excess to the rest of my face. After a few weeks, I did start to notice that my congestion had improved. I still get the occasional bumps but they are definitely fewer in number. In terms of controlling oiliness, I did not notice as much of a change but that has never been a major concern for me. The gel costs $51 usd but a little goes a long way. I use the gel day and night and one bottle has lasted about 6 months.

Bottle and back of the box


This is about the amount I use for the t-zone area

Forehead before (Dec.) and after (Mar.)

The second item I tried was the Advanced Bio Renewal Masque. It's a clay based masque meant to exfoliate and help clean pores. It smells like really ripe pineapples and has a soft paste like texture with granules. The mask spreads really easily on the face and can give a slight tingling sensation. The first 2 times I used the mask, I did not feel anything but on 3rd time I did notice a bit of tingle. I applied the mask on my dry face and left it on for ~15 minutes. Then, I use wet hands to massage the product for a few seconds and then rinse off the mask. Afterward, my face feels significantly smoother and looks brighter. The Advance Bio Renewal Masque costs $51 usd.

The last item that was sent to me was the Diamond Serum Foundation. I would called essentially call this a BB cream since it offers many skin benefits including firming, brightening, lightening, and soothing. It comes in only one shade and for my NC 35 ish color, it did not really match it. The cream comes out brown but once it's blended out, the color lightens quite a bit. The smell is similar to what I call a generic foundation smell (if that makes any sense) and is undetectable once you apply the serum foundation on your face. The cream also has quite a shimmer to it due to the nano diamonds incorporated in to the product. By itself, the serum foundation does feel pretty moisturizing and not too heavy but since the color was not quite right for me, I tried to wear it as a primer of sorts and apply another base on top but that combo was a bit heavy feeling. However, I could see that it did smooth out my skin and the shimmer showed through just enough give a more glowy look. The Diamond Serum Foundation costs $45 usd.

Please visit the Cellnique site for more info and to see other products. I've been pretty impressed by these products and I decided to order a few other items to try. I purchased the Vital Repair Cleansing Milk and Oxygen Mousse Cleanser. I'll post reviews for them soon.

If you're interested in trying the Skin Action Sebum Gel, Cellnique is offering to send my readers a sample. The first 50 who email their full name and mailing/shipping address to fbfreesample@cellnique.com with the subject beautymoogle.blogspot.com will receive a 3ml sample of the sebum gel. This offer ends a week from this posting and the sample will be delivered within 4-6 weeks. Enjoy!

Beautymaker foundation, concealer and lipgloss

One of the first items from Beautymaker that I had decided to try was the Aqua Light Creamy Foundation. I had been looking for a decent foundation and since there has been general raves about the Beauty maker items I decided to give it a shot. I picked the darkest one offered: #3.

It looked a bit dark in the jar but wears a bit lighter. (L to R: No flash and with flash)

It blends very easily and I love the finish that it gives-not too chalky or too dewy and it gives pretty good coverage. It evened my skin tone and help hide some blemishes although my super under eye circles were still visible, they were diminished. You can build the coverage a bit more, but since it has a thicker consistency it may look a bit cakey if layered on too much. Sadly, I got this before my trip to Bermuda and I think that it's a bit too light for me now. Sigh. During the blogger meet-up, I actually ended up purchasing the Paul and Joe Foundation in 50 (I was using 40 before the trip).

I'm also wearing the beautymaker concealing cream in #3 under my eyes. I had originally gotten #1 since I thought there was only one shade offered, but then other shade options popped up and I got #3, which was the darkest offered although now there is a #4 available.

Since I can't resist lip glosses I decided to try the Color Plump l/g in #1, a cool pink color and the Sweet Heart l/g in Peach. Swatch below the lip glosses is the BB concealing cream #3.

Both the gloss are on the thinner side, definitely not sticky or goopy. They give a nice shine although after applying the Sweet Heart l/g on bare lips today, my lips did start to get a bit itchy so it may go up on the blog sale, which is a shame since it is such a pretty peach color. I didn't notice it the first time I wore this l/g since I think I had layered it over a lipstick. I purchased all items through imomoko.com and you can enter MMK06 for 10% off, coupon expires on June 30th. =)

Paul and Joe...mmmh stuff

I was wondering if the Bergdorf counter would have the Paul and Joe summer collection in already so I made a visit last Tuesday after work. The beauty floor was so empty. There were definitely more SA's than customers so I had to skillfully avoid eye contact so they would not pounce on me (I buy enough without harassment =P).

I made it to the Paul and Joe counter and I didn't see any of the summer stuff but I figure I would poke around. I ended up chatting with the really nice girl behind the counter. She told me one of the most popular item was the new foundation and she mentioned some of the skin care items. I had time to kill so why not, I decided to get matched for a foundation since I figure it would be helpful for future reference.

She used the light cleansing milk to remove the foundation I had on (Dior Airflash) and matched me on the first try-whoop! I'm 40 Almond in the protective fluid foundation. It really did give me a nice glow with decent coverage so this maybe my alternate to the vv expensive Airflash especially nice in the summer since it feels lighter and has the sun protection. She dusted on some of the Mauve press powder, which was nice but I didn't feel I needed right away ( I will give into it soon most likely). She also put on me a lipstick and lip gloss which I ended up loving-lipstick in 29 and lip gloss in 4. I also left with some skincare samples~all three of the cleansing milks.

Top to bottom: foundation 004, lipstick 29, lip gloss 4 (no flash and with flash)

She also mentioned the loyalty program. You sign up and for every $50 you get a kitty stamp on a card (bc the founder is obsessed with cats) and you get a gift once you collect 10 stamps. You also get a welcoming kit for signing up. I got the kit super fast, I signed up that Tuesday and had my welcome kit by Friday. It had sample of the toner (I had asked about it), light cleansing milk, moisturizing cream, purfume sample (although my vial was missing from the cardboard sleeve-there as still enough fragrance left on the card) and a cute brown and white make up bag.

Since BG didn't have the summer '09 items, I decided to order some online. I purchased the 3 nail polishes, 2 lip glosses and 2 of the eye shadows.

The nail polishes were all shaken from traveling so I did not see the cool stripe look that the promo pics showed right away. After a few hours of being upright, you can kind of see the separation but not very defined. After sitting upright overnight, the separation is much more apparent. 001 is light bronze with gold shimmer, 002 is clear with gold shimmer, and 003 is a sheer bright pink with gold shimmer. When dried, the polish does have a floral scent to it. Not a bad scent, just un-expected.

L to R: 001, 002, 003 (no flash, with flash)

L to R: 002, 001, 003

The 2 shadows I picked up from this collection were a dark brown with gold shimmer (002) and golden color with gold shimmer (001). The colors are pretty, but not super unique. The quality of the shadow is excellent though; I wore them today and they blended easily and did not crease. I think I will wait till BG has the collection in stock and check out the pink gold color.

L to R: 002, 001 (no flash (natural light), with flash)

I couldn't resist the swirl lip glosses that were being release although I only got the pink and gold one. They were both well pigment, shimmery and super comfortable on the lips.

This was a cute collection overall, although if you don't like gold shimmer it won't be for you =) The shimmer is done in a nice way for all items. I kind of wish there as more variety but I will enjoy the items I got. Hope you liked the pics, my allergy med is kicking in so time to call it a night!