Sunday, May 12, 2013

Get This Off My Face: A Review / Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer Crème Compact

A zillion years ago, give or take a few years, someone asked me to review the new (at the time) Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer Crème Compact that I had received as a deluxe sample. A good beauty blogger would have reviewed it from the get-go, taking wonderful photographs of the pristine new product. Clearly, given the below pictured state of my nearly empty compact, I am not one of those bloggers. I simply cannot wait long enough to photograph a product first before I start playing with it.

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On the plus side, however, I did give this product a good go. Judging from its pan-exposed state, I did give it its fair shake before determining...that I hate it. Let me be clear, I am a die-hard Laura Mercier product addict. I love the regular tinted moisturizer in a tube, the translucent pressed setting powder, and most of all the loose mineral powder foundation. (Not to mention eye and lip products in the color range.) But tinted moisturizer in this form did NOT agree with my skin.

This product promised to be LM's best-selling tinted moisturizer in lightweight crème form. This is a very, very different animal to me than the original tinted moisturizer. Though it was slightly lighter than other compact makeups, I did not find this to be lightweight; I actually found it to be quite heavy for a tinted moisturizer. Thus, it was very hard to blend. I have normal to oily skin (this product promises to be suitable for all skin types). It managed to find and cloy to any dry patch I had on my face, while at the same time producing a slightly heavy, masked feel. It did not blend well no matter what method I used to apply it (fingers, sponge, brush). While it lasted as long as any foundation product would on my face and did not oxidize, I was always eager to blot this product during the day and wash it off at night. Though I was not happy with the feel of the finish, the look of the finish was not the worst ever. I felt I could wear this in public and not look like an oompa-loompa, but it certainly wasn't the most natural looking product I've come across. The liquid form of this product definitely wins that award!

In the liquid form of the tinted moisturizer, my shade is nude. Based on this, I chose the nude sample of the crème compact. Though I was able to blend this out with much effort, nude crème compact was not my shade. (Honestly, the first streak almost looked like a light bronzer, though I could buff it into a flesh tone.) I suggest getting a shade match to this in the store, as I don't feel the shades translate across the tinted moisturizer line up. 

One strange note: I also found black flecks in the product. At first, I thought I had somehow gotten dust into this product, so I tried scraping off the top layer. However, the discoloration continued to the last swipe of the product. I'm not sure if this is a defect in the samples or somehow part of the product, but I found it strange. 

This product in full-size form retails for $45 for .26 oz., as opposed to $43 for 1.5 fl oz. for the regular tinted moisturizer. Luckily this was a deluxe sample, so no love lost. The sample served its purpose-to give the customer a go at something new without financial obligation. I was very happy this morning buffing on my trusty Laura Mercier mineral powder.