The Best Face Products: All less than $10!

My dear friend Meaghan wrote the following guest post for me.  If you ever want makeup advice or tips, let me know so I can connect you with her!

Hi everyone!

My name is Meaghan Munguia and I am an aspiring MUA in Montreal. Today I will be reviewing some fabulous drugstore products that I love and are all $10 or less.

I am going to start off with products for the face: primers, liquid foundations, pressed powders and highlighters. Also, just as an FYI, a lot of the products that I use are for oily skin.

Also, these reviews are from my experience on my skin, products I have used on other people for some short films I’ve worked on with friends and when friends ask me to do their makeup for events. My results may or may not be the same as your results.

Primers

First, I have the Rimmel London Stay Matte Foundation. I LOVE this face primer, it makes the skin smooth, hides pores and actually stays matte! It feels like velvet on the skin and doesn’t build up or make the skin look or feel greasy. The product itself is more of a cream than it is liquid.  I find the liquid primers that I have tried make the skin shiny and I feel like it sits on the surface of the skin. With this cream, like primer, it blends into the skin quite nicely and once it’s dry you can barely feel anything! After wearing makeup all day my skin never looks shiny or greasy. This primer is by far my favorite.

The second primer I want to talk to you about is the Maybelline Master Prime Blur plus Redness Control. Now I have suffered from redness in my cheeks, cystic acne and just plain old “pain in my butt acne” for years, so when I saw this redness control primer I was said “Uhm, YES PLEASE!”. I went home after buying it, eager to see how much redness it will control. To my disappointment, it didn’t control much, and I know its not meant to be a miracle primer nor a concealer but the overall feel and texture of the primer I was happy about. It is a non-oil formula so it leaves the skin feeling smooth and it takes longer than normal for me to look a little shiny from the oil monster that is my skin.

Foundations

My ALL TIME favorite liquid foundation is by E.L.F. it is the Studio flawless finish foundation and it is just that, FLAWLESS. The shade Porcelain was the PERFECT match to my skin. I mean, I have never ever found a shade that was perfect- they were always too light, too dark or too orange. I found this beauty at Target (I am kicking myself for not buying more!!) BUT they are still sold online like on amazon or their product website. Honestly I love almost everything from this company, but the foundation is amazing, super light, pretty full coverage doesn’t cake on and blends perfectly into skin. This foundation is 10/10.

My second favorite liquid foundation is the Rimmel London Lasting Finish. Now on the bottle it says that the foundation is heat, sweat, humidity and transfer proof for 25 hours.  Now, I didn’t go and time it because I’m not about to stay awake for 25 hours to see if it’s true. BUT it actually is pretty darn heat-, sweat-, humidity- and transfer-proof.  Especially, when it’s topped off with a certain powder that I will talk about a little later.

Overall this foundation is great.  It has great coverage, it goes on smooth whether applied with brush or sponge. The finished look and feel once dry is fantastic.  You don’t even feel like you have makeup on!  As for how transfer proof it is?  Virtually nothing comes off unless you are trying to get out of a face-smothering bear hug…

I used to really like this Rimmel Clean Finish Matte Foundation but it can be tricky.  On the bottle it says “look 100% pore-less” and “oil control minerals”.  I tried it on my hand and I liked how it felt and blended.  It did just enough for me to buy it so I could test it further.

I went home, took off the makeup I already had on and tried this one. I love it!  It is light, blends well, matches my skin pretty well, and after buffing out with powder, it really did look pore-less.  I was happy!  The next day I was going out so I took a shower.  I tried wearing it again.  I found that if you do not hydrate your skin after hot showers like me (I know, I know, bad Meaghan.  I’m getting better though I swear!) this is where the foundation gets tricky.

I didn’t realize how dry my skin was after my shower until I put this foundation on!  It is great when your skin is already hydrated and moist.  If your skin is dry, it really accentuates all of the dry parts of your skin i.e. under the nostrils and chin. I am not saying that this will happen to everyone with dry skin!  I would simply keep it in mind, and proceed with caution.  Whenever possible, ask for a sample before purchasing.

Speaking of which- COVID-19 has had an impact on the way we shop in most stores.  This means, more and more stores are coming up with alternative options when it comes to most in-store experiences.  One of which, may be how we test products (like makeup) once the threat of COVID is over.  I know, it feels like it will never end.  One day at a time folks!  We can do this!

This next one isn’t a foundation but a tinted BB cream from Rimmel.

For those who don’t want to wear foundation, this is a great alternative. This product is a 9-in-1 tinted BB cream with a matte finish.  I use it when I don’t feel like putting on a whole face just to run one errand.  You know- those days when you don’t really want to get out of bed but you need food, or you had an already planned engagement.

Most tinted creams that I have tried are lacking in the tint portion of the product.  This one is actually very tinted.  It evens out the skin pretty well and it wears like a foundation.  All the while, it is nowhere near as heavy. The only problem I have with this, is that the shades are difficult because they run pretty dark.  Also known as more Oompa Loompa like (on the orange side).  If you are more pale, most likely, you won’t find a shade that will match perfectly.  Their lightest shade is “light” and it’s still quite dark.  Therefore, I am saying this is a great option, IF you can find your shade.  Perhaps, in the future, they will come out with even more shades, but at the time of this post- I had no such luck.

Powders

These are all by the same company, Essence.

My #1 favorite powder by Essence, it’s the All About Matt Fixing Compact Powder. Now I got this gem at the pharmacy and I believe it was only $3. Let me talk about Essence for a minute.

This can be found in a little end aisle at the pharmacy.  This is where they usually sell anything from nail polish to mascara and all of it is pretty darn cheap.  Cheap only in price- the quality is still quite good- about 1 to 4 dollars.  I have yet to try their nail polish but it is on my list.

Now, back to the powder. This is a great finishing powder for buffing and blending.  I put this over my liquid foundation instead of a pressed foundation powder because it won’t just sit on top of the foundation.  It actually blends into the foundation and makes everything nice, even, and flawless. The powder is white, but blends in translucent.  If you have a full coverage foundation, it’s great to put over it without adding on more makeup (like a pressed foundation). The softness of your face afterwards is nothing less than amazing.  Also, no transfer! This is a great find and I would recommend it for for anyone.

If you are using a light coverage foundation, a good pressed powder to use is the Mattifying Compact Powder from Essence. I prefer using pressed powders to loose powders because I find there is less going on your face and it’s easier to control.  Let’s face it… with pressed powders, there’s less mess!

Plus, the finished look of a compact powder is a lot better because of its lighter look.  It’s not as heavy and you don’t see residue in the fuzz on the face.  You know what I’m referring to.  Isn’t it annoying when that happens?! This powder is great.  It covers very well,  and the shades are pretty varied, so it’s easy to find a match.  Once it sets, it’s just like the powder I mentioned above.  It’s soft, and you barely feel like you have makeup on.

Essence also has a highlighter.  It is called Love Letters.  It’s actually really cute!  Engraved in the pressed powder, is “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all thing, endures all things…Love never fails”. Now other than being super cute, this is a pretty good highlighter.

The only thing I’m not crazy about is the amount of sparkle it has.  It doesn’t look sparkly when you are looking at it.  However, once you put it on?  Well, I’m pretty sure that’s what they used to make Edward sparkle in Twilight. The good news, is that it can be blended out! It can also be used in the corners of the eyes to give your eyes a little POP.

That’s it for today’s review, hope you all enjoyed it and please let me know if you tried any of these products and how they worked out for you!

The next review will be all about eyes! Eye shadows, mascaras and liners.

Stay tuned!

Joanna here!  I just want to say a huge “Thank you and Welcome!” to Meaghan for contributing. I don’t wear too much make up anymore (other than for nights out).  I am so glad to have someone who actually knows what they’re talking about helping me out!

If you want to contact Meaghan, comment below or e-mail me your information.  I promise to relay the message until she has her Facebook Page/Website up and running!