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Lancome Teint Idole Ultra Cushion Foundation Review

Hello lovelies, after an extremely unexpected upsetting week I’m back with with a review on a new foundation. Another cushion foundation but unlike any other I’ve bought. Lancome’s new Teint Idole Ultra Cushion Foundation.

This cushion compact is absolutely gorgeous in the traditional Lancome way. The high shine gold coloured compact really exudes luxury. Inside holds a flocked velvet applicator puff which is part of the key to getting the ideal high coverage of this foundation. The puff was originally developed for this high coverage formula to give the perfect application.

The cushion in this compact is really different; instead of a sponge soaked in foundation, the cushion feels almost like a pliable plastic screen. It’s completely white and clean before you press to release the product but it becomes soaked easily. The foundation is supposed to be reflective of their popular Teint Idole Ultra liquid foundation but making it more compact and portable. Lancome says it took three years of research to create this “Double Matrix Technology” which is an ultra absorbent fiber network which was created for high coverage textures which won't leak.

It’s an oil-free, buildable medium to full coverage foundation with a natural matte finish. It also offers SPF 50 which is unheard of for a full coverage foundation. The formula is ultra blendable to leave an even finish but feels wicked lightweight. It also gives a slight cooling sensation when applied, though the smell is something else to be desired.

The foundation retails for $47 USD at Lancome, Sephora, and Ulta Cosmetics. I bought this in the color 110 Ivorie C.

I decided to wear this foundation this whole week to see how exactly I liked it since I’d been looking forward to it’s release for quite some time. I first applied it with the velour puff that came included with the cushion but found that it soaked up a lot of the product. Not only that, but it left the foundation very thick on my face which led to a lot of product breakup by the end of the day. Prepare yourself for a very unflattering picture.

It especially settled around my nasal labial folds (laugh lines, for those unfamiliar with the term) and under my eyes which made me look a lot older than I am. To combat this, the next few days I tried using a stippling brush to apply it and a beauty blender. The stippling brush seemed to do the best job out of all the tools and I’d highly recommend skipping the puff all together and using a different brush or sponge to apply this foundation. It didn’t settle as much, though it still seemed to want to, which is upsetting. The primer I used underneath this was Murad’s Invisiblur.

While I was really excited to try this foundation, I feel it didn’t live up to the great reviews I had previously seen. It’s worth it if you want a portable foundation with the highest coverage a cushion can offer but it isn’t for the end of the day result. Unfortunately, it was very lackluster.

xo Cesca

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Here it is! It may not be the best looking video but I’m proud of this one. For all those looking to start doing basic pinup makeup, I hope this helps

xo Cesca

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Thought I’d share a makeup application I did a few weeks ago for a lovely girl going to her sorority’s yearly mixer who gave me permission to take and post these photos. 

She wanted something very natural so we kept it soft. I remember using Tarte’s In Bloom palette, Lancome Grandiose mascara, Bites Amouse Bouche lipstick in “Sake”, and of course Anastasia Brow Definer for the brows.

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One for the look book. From a few weeks ago after coming home from work. I’ve really come to love Kat Von D’s liquid lipstick in “Witches”. I paired it with her Shade & Light Eye palette.

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Lilumia Makeup Brush Cleaning Device Review

Hey dolls, do I have a treat for you! If you’ve been active on instagram, you may have seen this device popping up either in ads or from other makeup buffs talking about it. This is the Lilumia Makeup Brush Cleaning Device.

Let me start off that I was not paid or sponsored for this review. I had seen this device a few times and finally decided to preorder one and give it a shot.

The Lilumia device is basically a washing machine for your makeup brushes. It’s shaped like a huge egg (and actually reminds me a bit of something out of an anime called Angelic Layer) which comes in four colors of either black, silver, gold, or pink. Your device will come with a measuring cup marked off for water and soap. The only downside is that the soap is sold separately and they do recommend that you use their soap as to not damage the machine. I was lucky enough to receive a large 33 fl oz bottle since I preordered!

Before I get fully into the review, I wanted to thank the Lilumia Staff team for their amazing customer service. I had preordered my device two days before Thanksgiving only to see that holiday night, they were running a Black Friday sale for the color that I’d ordered. After getting in touch with them and explaining the situation, they honored the Black Friday price for my order which was a very pleasant surprise. They had even sent a concerned email explaining that my order may have been incorrect, meaning I may have been shipped the wrong color, but when I opened my package this afternoon I was happy to see that everything was perfect and sent an email over to them to let them know. I highly recommend their customer service since they are so willing to make sure their customers are happy.

The device is very user friendly and comes with a pamphlet of instructions with illustrations to follow. This device is able to wash 12 brushes (or 6 large brushes or a mix of both) at a time and will clean them in 15 minutes. You load your brushes from the bottom so the ferule won’t touch the textured base that washes your brushes.

The base where the brush bristles sit is textured with raised nubs that help dislodge all the makeup, dirt, and oil from your brushes. Once you place your brushes back on the stand so the bristles are splayed out, it’s time to add water and soap. Do make sure that the ferule is NOT pressed down to the base the the brushes can’t move! Doing that will also let water into the ferule which will loosen the glue and make your brushes shed.

You add 12oz of warm water to the basin and 3oz of the Lilumia soap on top where the brushes are sitting.

After that, you pop the top on and you’re ready to clean!

A video posted by Cesca (@jailhouserockabettie) on Dec 7, 2015 at 12:59pm PST

The device gently oscillates the brushes creating suds and effectively cleaning the makeup from your brushes. It will then drain the dirty soap into an empty chamber, then fill with clean water to rinse. It does this twice to ensure all of the soap is out of the brushes. Once the second rinse is complete, you have 15 minutes to decide if you want to drain the dirty water and add more for an optional third rinse for those really stubborn big brushes that tend to hold a lot of soap. If you opt out, you can shut the machine off and drain the water.

To dry the brushes, you must first squeeze the excess water from them and reshape the bristles so they don’t dry improperly. You also need to clean the surface where the brushes sat so the makeup residue doesn’t dry on there.

You can balance the stand so your brushes dry in the holder though my preferred method is to use hair ties to secure them to my bathroom towel rack once I’ve reshaped them.

Now, down to the nitty gritty. I feel like the only downsides to this device was feeling as if I put too much water into the basin. Even though I filled it to the 12oz line of the measuring cup and made sure it didn’t go over the max fill line on the device, it overflowed a bit. That could be human error on my own part but I also managed to make a bit of a leaky mess when emptying the dirty water basin, too. The other downside is that although it’s a quieter motor, the noise is definitely noticeable if you leave the room. Also if your brushes measure more than 8 inches in length, they won’t fit the machine.

I did enjoy being able to do other things while my brushes were being cleaned. I do love having clean makeup brushes and the BrushEgg certainly helped me when I started really taking care of my tools but it still took me a while to get through all of my brushes by hand even though it reduced the time. The Lilumia definitely is awesome letting you basically “set it and forget it” (plus your fingers won’t get pruny).

Honestly, I think this is a neat gadget that any person with a lot of brushes would enjoy having in their arsenal and may not always have a lot of time on their hands to devote to cleaning them.

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Back to Reviews!

Hey dolls! I’m sure you’re curious about my long absence. After starting at Chanel, my schedule had become so packed with work and personal matters that needed attending to with our little family (meaning myself, boyfriend and two cats) that had to be addressed.

Sadly, I left my position at Chanel after a really fantastic four months. It was a personal decision of mine. I’m back at Sephora (a different store than I was with previously) and I want to try to really set time aside to get back into the swing of writing since doing this is something that I truly enjoy!

I’ve got some interesting things up my sleeve for these coming reviews that I hope you’ll enjoy! I want to catch up on my inbox and tagged posts tonight :)

xo Cesca

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Hanging up my tunic: My Sephora days are over.

Hey there, dolls. Now with the giveaway over, I wanted to make a more personal post. Two weeks ago, I resigned from my position at Sephora as a Product Consultant. It was no fault of mine or anyone at my job, truth be told it was my favourite and most fulfilling job I’d ever had, it was more to do with the lack of hours we had.

I have never been more upset about leaving a job and the overwhelming feeling knowing that my coworkers were actually sad that I was leaving made it hurt more. I had always wanted to work for Sephora and finally last year, that dream came true. It spurred this crazy love for makeup and taking better care of my skin and appearance that I had never felt before. All of my coworkers were amazing and fun to work with and I feel I made some real friends while I was there. I built a clientele of my own who would come and ask for me specifically and it made me feel so good about myself and all this knowledge that I’d gained. That was the whole reason I’d started this blog. I am so appreciative to my managers at Sephora for helping build my skills, giving me constant education, and letting me explore new products with them.

No fear though. I will continue blogging because I don’t think I could possibly stop now. I love the world of makeup too much. I’m still going to visit my old job and continue to support my store and play with new products as they come out.

I’ve been having a hard time since my last day on Tuesday, honestly I’m still pretty down about it. Now, I’m (mostly) full time at what was my second job at European Wax Center, and I’m doing all I can to thrive there the way I had while at Sephora.

Onward and Upward.

xo Cesca

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Thanks to all that entered!

The giveaway has ended and a winner has been picked and contacted! If they don’t reply in 24 hours, another winner shall be picked.

Thanks to all who entered and followed the rules. You made this giveaway a success.

xo Cesca