the Hellcat: Review: Revlon Photoready Airbrush Mousse Makeup

Updated With New Photos!

That's a mouthful! And surely it must be because this stuff made my jaw drop. My local Zellers is turning into Target and they have everything on liquidation. I picked this up. I applied it half heartedly, after reading slam reviews. I looked in the mirror and it seemed fine. It smells horrible, by the way.

It was not until I applied some just to mask some tired looking skin when I needed to photograph my peacock inspired eye tutorial that I was amazed. I was reviewing which pictures to include in the tutorial and my skin looked flawless and glowing. I was so confused as to the secret of this magic mousse.

I tried to research this for you, dear readers. The most in depth explanations include something about little micro light reflectors and formulas that are especially resistant to streaking and patching. Typically there would be no sunscreen, because SPF can make your face glow white in photographs. Just the sort of thing you’d figure. Nothing special. Generally a sheer to medium coverage that will blend into the skin extremely well, rather than sitting on top of it. If you’re looking for heavier coverage you’ll probably need a concealer.

Basically it’s all smoke and mirrors, which explains why it was just a drugstore foundation to my naked eye, but in pictures it amazed me. Absolutely amazed!

Pigmentation & Coverage: I bought this in shade 010 Vanilla. I think it was the lightest warm shade. It is a good match for my skin. It’s a light to medium coverage, which works for me because I don’t have a lot of imperfections (if you don’t count my freckles) and I prefer a natural and dewy finish- which this has. Some people have complained that there are sparkles in it, but I didn’t really notice.

Formula & Finish: The formula is a smooth, wet, lightweight mousse. It still foams when applied to your face, which tickles and feels strange. The finish is youthful and dewy, as I’d mentioned.

Longevity: I applied this 11 hours ago. It’s still working for me, but it’s faded a bit. Mind you I stayed in the house most of the day and didn’t give it much of a challenge.

Ease of Application: I’ve applied this using a cosmetic sponge, buffed it in with my MAC 187 duo fiber (skunk brush), and applied it with my fingers. It looked flawless and did have an airbrush finish when buffed in with the brush. The sponge was the second best choice, but fell far from the brush. Finger application was poor.

Packaging: Aerosol can with a top that you press down to release the mousse. I was expecting it to be a spray, but that's my own stupidity because it says mousse right on the can. You have to be careful not to get too much, which is easy to do. This means there’s potential to waste a lot of product. Even when I tested it in the store I pumped waaay too much and had to take out a baby wipe because I had more than I could have ever blended into my hand.

Oxidization/Transfer: Some people have claimed that this oxidizes, though I haven’t seen this yet. As for transfer, I’ll have to get back to you on that. I haven’t noticed anything, but I also buffed it into my skin with a brush and then dabbed my face with a cosmetic sponge. I can see that it may transfer, because my face was still left damp after buffing… hence the blotting with a sponge.

Breakouts/Clogs: No immediate irritation. I might update this in a week or so.

Shade Range: Shade range was pretty limited. I would like to see a lot more colour choice. I find that Revlon doesn’t offer a good variety of shades. When I used ColorStay I bought two and combined them to make my own colour.

Smell: This smells absolutely horrible. I am considering purchasing more MAC Fix+ to spray on my face after application in hopes that it will mask some of the stink. It smells kind of like… paint, chemicals, and olives.

Price: I’m not sure what the regular price is, but I got this on liquidation for about $10.

Repurchase: I will probably try something else after, but I would definitely consider repurchasing this, especially with photos in mind. It’s an average drugstore quality foundation for every day life. It’s in pictures that this stuff really shines. It’s called Photoready and it is absolutely that!

To sum it up, I will use this foundation when I’m expecting to have pictures taken. I will even overlook the horrible smell. I am still in shock at how flawless my skin looked in these pictures!

Here's what I'm talking about. The first picture is without foundation. The 2nd and 3rd are with the foundation, with and without flash. And I must warn you, these pictures are dangerously detailed in full size. You're going to see my mustache in all it's glory! Some unibrow... some snot. I bare it all for you, dear readers.

(Mustache, unibrow, lunch lost... Haha)

See that!? I'm in awe. Freckled tired mess, to dewy fresh flesh!

-H. Cat

And the Update...

I had limited time this morning. Bus to catch, errands to run, but I managed to throw on some makeup and snap these for the blog. Tomorrow I will try to remember to snap a picture of how it is holding up after 6 hours, 8 hours, 10 hours.