Pink and Undecided: compact powder

Everyday with Simply Stay

Hi ladiesss (i assume only the ladies would read my beauty posts but if you're a guy i promise i won't hold it against you :D!)

Remember BBlog? I seem to join almost every blogging competition they have lately mainly because they have interesting topics :), and it's time for yet another one : Everyday with Simply Stay by Mustika Ratu Blogging Competition!

This competition is (quite obviously) organized by BBlog and sponsored by Mustika Ratu. Before we start, let me tell you a little bit about Mustika Ratu. If you're Indonesian i'm more than sure that you must be very familiar with this prestigious local brand already, it being one of the oldest and most established Indonesian cosmetic brands (in case you're wondering why i write in English while talking about a local brand is because i want to introduce this awesome brand to my international readers as well. I was very pleasantly surprised when i saw Indonesian cosmetics being available in a few SEA countries and even more so when some of my Malaysian/Philippines blogger friends reviewing Indonesian cosmetics, i am hoping to see more of them in the future!).

As the biggest cosmetic producer in Indonesia, Mustika Ratu (although a very veteran brand already) always strive to follow the latest trends and came up with the new Mustika Ratu Simply Stay Makeup range. This range is especially formulated for active, simple women who always want to look great (that means : staying power is a must!). The formulas and natural ingredients are very safe and tailored especially for Indonesian women (meaning it's suitable for us who live in a tropical climate). What's even more amazing is this range claims to last for 8 hours! Other than that here are other great things that they also claim to be : have a soft texture, moisturizing and softening, simple and easy to use, long lasting, and certified HALAL.

Are all their claims hold true? I am here to test it out! First of all, let's take a look of the sample kit they've sent me :

It comes in this cardboard box (quite large!) with a picture of Elvira Devinamira (Puteri Indonesia 2014)

Complete explanation of the products they have in this line and the basic how-to-use

They have moisturizer, liquid foundation

Stick foundation, loose powder (which is the only one that's not present in this sample box) and two way cake

The products contains Curcuma Heynean Root Extract (that works as a natural skin contioning to moisten, soften and brighten skin), Tocopheryl Acetat (Vit E) as natural antioxidant, Octyl Methoxycinnamate as natural UV filter against UVB. It has a soft texture so it'd get absorbed easily into skin

And of course, like i stated earlier : easy to apply, lasts until 12 hours and Halal certified

Proudly made in Indonesia

The box has a little silver ribbon attached to pull out the little drawer inside

And here is what's inside :D

First of all, we have the moisturizer. There are two variants of the moisturizer in this line, one for normal to oily skin and another one for normal to dry skin

If you're lucky enough to have a perfectly normal skin, you can use either one of these two depending on the finishing you'd like to have (dewy or matte)! Since i have a very oily skin, of course i used the normal to oily one :).

The texture is kinda thick lotion-ish. Easy to spread and absorbs easily like promised, i do need to use a bit more product than i would normally use (with my usual moisturizer) to cover my whole face but that's not a problem

Now honestly, i have never tried any local made moisturizer yet. I don't experiment with skincare a lot but i'm sure glad i tried this product! I fell in love immediately after putting it on! It leaves my skin super soft and smooth, with matte finishing! I actually tried it on by itself as a night cream to see how it'd perform, and it i find my skin didn't get as oily as it'd usually do as fast, but i did wake up with a very oily skin which means it is moisturizing (in the long run) but keeps oil at bay for a few hours after being applied.

It is PERFECT as a primer and i've been using it as that every time i put any make up on (4x since i get it), i'm loving it so much! It makes makeup application smoother and breezier, keeps my skin (not oil free but) oil-less (i notice my skin start to get really oily after 4 hours but i only needed one piece of oil film to blot instead of two!) and it helps keeps my makeup flawless for 8 hours and more (that's the longest time i've worn makeup in the 4x i used it, and it's still quite perfect so i believe it can stay even twice that long!).

The only problem that i have with this product would be the scent, it's slightly disturbing for my nose (it's kinda floral? Sadly not in a good way) but after the first few usage it ceased to bother me. I've been searching for the perfect skin primer and now i think i have found it! It would retail (i heard that this line is not sold for public just yet) at IDR 15.000 which is unbelieveably amazing for such a great product!

I wanted to know how the normal to dry skin moisturizer works so i tried it on my ~~guinea pig~~ hunny who has a very dry, sensitive skin.

The scent, texture and application is exactly the same as the normal to oily one, but the finishing is dewy. My hunny's skin feels (and looks) soft, supple and healthy. I did not put any makeup on him (because he wouldn't let me haha), but seeing how his skin reacts to this moisturizer i am sure it'd help those with dry skin apply their makeups better since it's so moisturizing and softening!

Next up : liquid foundations!

They have Pearly White, Smoothie Yellow, Caramel Latte and Sweet Choco which is a pretty great color range to cater to Indonesian' women's skin tones

L-R : Pearly White, Smoothie Yellow, Caramel Latte and Sweet Choco

I have very pale skin and none of the four shades 100% matches my skin tone (the closest one would be Smoothie Yellow but it's a bit yellow for me, while Pearly White is at least one shade too dark for me. As for Caramel Latte and Sweet Choco, well... I would use them for contouring instead, i definitely cannot use them as base makeup because they clash badly with my skin tone) but i found out that their compact powder (which has closer shades to my skin even though they're from the same shades) counter balance the color and when used together, both the Smoothie Yellow and Pearly White works fine for me.

Only Pearly White has a slightly different texture than the rest, while Smoothie Yellow, Caramel Latte and Sweet Choco has light, runny textures, Pearly White actually is thicker and creamier-it feels a lot like some of BB Creams that i used in the past (even the shade reminds me of those BB Creams). The liquid foundation (and actually the others too) has a jamoo-ish (Indonesian herbs concoction) smell. Like the moisturizer, it did disturbed me on my first usage but by the fourth time i barely even notice them anymore. Coverage is light to medium.

Application was easy, both with fingers and foundation brush and they absorbs very fast leaving my skin smooth and silky. Liquid foundations would retail around IDR 20.000 (i'm feeling faint, so cheap!!!)

Stick foundation

Swatches

I was always scared of stick foundations because i'm afraid they'd be hard to blend, thick, sticky and uncomfortable. But these Simply Stay stick foundations are actually very soft and creamy, easy to spread and blend, quite lovely (and not sticky at all!) really. I do feel it's a little too oily for my skin so i didn't use it for my entire face (like you can, if you prefer. But i think it'd be more suitable for those with dry skin or who wants a dewy finishing), they can be used to contour and shade your face though so i did that, and you can also use them as highlighter (but not for me since the lightest shade is the exact match to my skin so it wouldn't be much of a highlighter, wouldn't it?). They also have the similar Jamoo-ish scent. Coverage is medium but i think it is buildable. Stick foundations would retail for IDR 50.000.

Compact powders

Swatches

The compact powder... Oh how i love them! It's matte, soft, smooth and silky! I absolutely adore it! It makes my skin looks super flawless, smooth and polished! I did notice that they can be a little powdery, especially when i applied them on my nose, but really... It's matte skin lover's dream come true! It's not thick (feels very lightweight but has a decent coverage, how awesome is that?) so it's not cakey at all even when you use a heavy hand while applying it, at the same time it has a decent coverage to finish up your makeup. I think dewy skin lover's not going to be too thrilled with this, i believe the loose powder might be a better match for them (but i can't say for sure since i didn't get to try the loose powder). Again, they also have the same jamoo-ish scent. Compact powders would retail for IDR 75.000.

All of the products work really well on my skin, they didn't break my skin out in the least.

I took a LOT of pictures to show you how they'd look when used on my face, so brace yourself!

My grossly pale bare face

I don't really have a lot to cover, just need to even out my skin tone mainly, notice the redness on my cheek and nose >.<?

I got hormonal spots on my chin a while ago (i don't get zits a lot but when they do pop out, it'd take forever for the mark to fade. And since i am pale they stand out a lot more than on people with darker skin! That's why i'm very scared of acnes!) and there're still redness remains zzz

Decided to try out the Smoothie Yellow liquid foundation first

With Smoothie Yellow liquid foundation. Like i said, it's a little too yellow for me and i look slightly jaundiced but not horribly so

My skin looking a lot more even already

Since i don't like thick foundation, i used the liquid foundation very sparingly and it didn't really cover the redness on my chin

Then i got an idea, why not use the stick foundation as concealer?

I used the lightest color

Which blended right into my skin and manage to cover the redness a lot better! I also used it as an under eye concealer (it's not as cakey as my usual concealer!) but since it's not light enough i don't think it's very good as under eye concealer, it might work better on people with darker skin colors, though

Then i decided to use the light brown one to shade my cheeks

I don't really do shading so i was very careful (as in i probably swiped my finger once or twice on the pan hahaha) and as a result... it's not quite visible on the picture but it's there!

Then i used the yellow-ish compact powder (i think it's the Smoothie Yellow? Sorry, i am a bit confused about the shades since none of them look exactly the same! And there's no indication of each shades for the stick foundation and compact powder) to set my makeup

With liquid foundation, stick foundation as concealer and compact powder to set them all off, the redness are completely covered!

Look how incredibly smooth my skin looks! And they cover my pores so well too!

With VERY light makeup (a bit of eyeliner, a touch of blush and lip gloss). See how my dark under eye's not totally concealed...

Like i said earlier, my skin start to feel oily after 4 hours and here's a picture after i worn them out for 4.5 hours without blotting or touching up at all :

4 hours later

Oily especially on the nose area but not crazily so!

Then i used the other shades on a Saturday night date with my hunny :

With normal to oily moisturizer and pearly white liquid foundation. Like i mentioned earlier, the Pearly White shade is at least a tone too dark for my skin so i looked really tanned after i applied it haha

Feeling brave and used the darkest color (now this one i'm sure is a Sweet Choco shade hehe) stick foundation to shade my cheeks

Applied very gingerly again so you probably can't see it, but it does help slim down my face IRL

Then i set them all off with the whitest compact powder to counter balance the dark foundation, i look more normal immediately hehehe

Then i used the darkest compact powder to bolden the shading

Errr, bold for my standard ya. It's still barely noticeable in pictures hehe

I even tried shading my nose for the very first time too! I was rushing and just used my finger so the result's not so good but it proves the point that the stick foundation (and the compact powder) is very good for shading and contouring too

With full makeup

For this second try, i actually wore the makeup for a full 8 hours, and i only had to blot once (with my normal makeup i'd at least need to blot twice, with two pieces of oil film blotters each!) with one piece of oil blotter film! Here's how i look after 8 hours and one oil blotter later :

Exactly the same except for the slight eyeliner smudge!

I don't know if you can see it, but the parts where i used stick foundation as a concealer did cake up slightly after i blotted my face (and a bit patchy) so in my experience the stick foundation didn't last as long as the other products on very oily skin.

Bottom line? I am in LOVE with this line! I love local cosmetics and been buying their decorative makeups for years (i own a few Mustika Ratu lipsticks and i love them) but i never tried any base makeups (or moisturizer) yet, until now! I am even more sure that we have amazing local products that performs as well as (or even better!!!) than imported products that are a lot more expensive than these local ones.

I love every single product from Mustika Ratu's Simply Stay line and would definitely buy them with my own money! I especially adore the moisturizer (the perfect skin primer/make up base for me!) and the compact powder and would buy them as soon as they become readily available for public (i love the liquid foundation too but i wish they have a shade that would match my skin tone better! Still, i would buy them! Maybe in Pearly White and then use a very white powder to set it hehe)! Highly recommending this line for every Indonesian (and any Asian ladies who can get their hands in this line) women out there!

Acara ini diorganisir oleh B Blog Indonesia Dan Disponsori oleh Mustika Ratu

berpartisipasi dalam "Everyday with Simple Stay" Blogging Competition [1]

Thank you to BBlog and Mustika Ratu for the opportunity to try out these wonderful products!

#Pink

PS : Sorry for the super long post, i am a very detailed person (even more so when it comes to reviewing products and i had to review so many products in one go!) so i have to cover all bases!