RMS Un-Coverup Concealer in 11, Swatches and Review

RMS Un-Coverup Concealer is a gem of a product. Brought to us by Rose Marie Swift, this a mulit-tasking product that can be used to conceal, but also to generally even out skin tone. I've been using it most under my eye and around my nose. As most of her products, this has a coconut oil base, so there was some concern over break out. I have somewhat acne prone skin (whatever that really means) and so far so good. My skin has been a complete mess since the seasons changed, but I don't think Un-Coverup Concealer has been anything but a help in that department. 

I was definitely concerned about matching a color to my skin. Un-Coverup Concealer comes in three flavors, 11 22 and 33: light, sorta light, darkish. All have a fairly yellow base. Having had so many failed matches with concealers in the past, it was a relief to have Rose Marie match me herself. Naturally she chose 11 for me, but she also demonstrated that 22 would work as well, depending on the effect I wanted. Personally I prefer pale, and was elated to see that 11 was a pretty perfect match. 

Un-Coverup Concealer is a transformative product, it looks so yellow in the pot, but spreads sheerly and naturally onto the skin. The coverage is medium to full and yet looks completely natural. I have neutral undertones which lean toward the cool end. I can get pretty rosey, but this yellow product actually meshes very well with the rest of my face. And it doesn't give my blue under eye circles a green cast (like stupid Dior did). I honestly think 11 would work for a huge spectrum of skin undertones, especially considering this is a product that the self-professed olive toned Grace London swears by.

Since this is an oil based product, it actually never dries fully. The skin remains very slightly tacky throughout the day, which would probably be a deal breaker for some. However, I think it's actually one of the most unique and awesome qualities about the product. As any concealer, Un-Coverup settles into the fine lines under my eye, but as long as I pat it out a little more sheerly, the problem is solved without sacrificing coverage. Since the product never completely dries, it remains manipulatable all day, so this problem can be corrected casually. With the usual concealer, if you try to blend it out again after in inevitably settles into those lines, you get cakey disaster. 

Additionally, Rose Marie showed me how this product can be massaged into the pores in my T-zone to literally make them vanish. I've never had a product be so effective for concealing pores. Although washing with an oil cleanser at the end of the day is very important if you use Un-Coverup to this end, because I could definitely see how pores could get clogged with this usage. 

Unlike basically every concealer/ foundation on the market, the formula of Un-Coverup doesn't contain any water, so the tiniest amount of product goes a very long way, and it will last and last without worry of expiration. So the value is actually a remarkably good one at $36 for 7 grams. 

This is definitely a new holy grail item for me. Nothing will every replace the Ellis Faas Concealer in my heart, but there's plenty of room for Un-Coverup. Every time I put this on my face, it seems like skin care. It keeps my skin hydrated and beautiful. And it has nothing but beneficial all organic ingredients. True love.

Essentials of Skincare: WITCH HAZEL

An under statment: I am bit skincare obsessed. I usually use pretty top of the line stuff on my face, but nothing will ever come between me and my witch hazel. If anything could ever be a holy grail, witch hazel is one for me. And it's so cheap! And easily attainable! At any drugstore! Holy damn! I go through a pint in about six months. Every morning after I clarisonic (don't you like how I made that into a verb there?), I take one of those round cotton pad jobs and invert the bottle several times over it. Then I tone my face and neck. The Duane Reade generic has 86% witch hazel, and the rest is isopropanol. I'm assuming this is the composition of all witch hazels.

Witch Hazel bush in the Spring

Witch hazel is a "decorative" plant that grows wild in the americas. Apparently the native indians used it extensively in their medicinal practices. The stems were distilled and used for all manner of ailments.

Witch Hazel bush in the Winter

Anecdotally, witch hazel evens out skin tone, and brightens the complexion. Since it's an astringent, it's very good for the acne prone. More importantly for the long term, it's an anti-oxidant, which means it prevents the oxidation of molecules. Oxidation is a type of chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a reducing agent to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation and reduction reactions are crucial for life, but too much and in the wrong place can result in damaging oxidative stress. For example, the product of such reactions can be free radicals. Free radicals are highly reactive molecules that can cause quite a bit of damage to cells, and any and all cellular damage ultimately translates into aging. There are many popular anti-oxidants in skincare, the most common of which are vitamins C and E. So toning with an anti-oxidant like witch hazel likely has a lot of long term benefits.

Witch Hazel is also supposed to be good for cuts and sunburns, how multitasking and useful of it! So go forth, buy witch hazel, because you never know when it might come in super handy!

I only trust my hair with Kevin Murphy

this is an old picture of my shorter, color treated mess

Today's topic is hair. I have long hair that probably reaches close to the small of my back. I can't actually say for sure using those terms, since I can't very well look at my own back while my hair is lying nicely on it, but I can tell you that when I reach around with my hand, the longest strands reach about that far. Anyway, I'm a British mutt in heritage. Meaning I have English, Scottish, Irish and Welsch in my background. So that means that my hair tends to be very fine and delicate. Mostly it behaves as a sort of puff around my head and shoulders because of the slight natural wave. I go to great pains to make it healthy. I want it to grow, and prosper, and lead a contented life. So I've experimented a lot with different types of hair care. I can say definitively that Kevin Murphy products are the only ones I really trust my hair with.

Kevin Murphy hails from Australia, and I seem to recall an ad claiming that the big aussie stars like Kicole Nidman and such were fans. Whatever, the best part about the products is that they're all natural, and soothe the soul of even the most damaged locks. The Kevin Murphy website says: "The products are made from renewable and sustainable resources whenever possible, using pure essential oils, plant extracts and natural antioxidants. All KEVIN.MURPHY hair products are sulphate and paraben free." The shampoo and conditioner, referred to as wash and rinse respectively, were a little hard to get used to at first. The shampoo doesn't foam as much as your token drugstore brand, the conditioner is not the typical plastic-y consistency. The two lines that I've used the past several years are the "angel," and more recently, the "moisturize me." The angel rinse is good for fine hair, and obviously the moisturize me rinse is good for dry hair. Both smell divine, I might add.

So my routine goes as follows. I condition my hair intensely every time I wash it, which means I go through the Moisturize me rinse about twice or three times as fast as the wash. Additionally, I only really wash the top of my head. I swear, the bottom of my hair probably hasn't been touched by shampoo in years. I also use the Born Again Masque once a week on the ends for extra conditioning.

If I actually ever style my hair, I often use Kevin Murphy products as well. I highly recommend the anti-gravity and motion lotion products for creating body. (I really don't use my hair dryer anymore, because it's bad for my hair [in fact, only one person uses my hair dryer these days, and it's my friend Josh who sometimes visits me here in the city. He has flow-y Jim Morrison style hair, and yes, my friend Josh is kind of a rock star]). I'm also EAGERLY anticipating the new product called the powder puff. Hopefully my hair-stylist second-mother gets it in stock soon.

Like whoa, it's gonna be awesome!

Ellis Faas Concealer

Onward to more Ellis Faas goodness. In my humble opinion, the Ellis Faas concealer is the very bestest concealer on the market. It has medium coverage, and literally looks like real skin once applied. I use S202, and it is an exact match for my skin color. For so many years I labored to make all the high end concealers work. Dior, Chanel, YSL. But they were all too yellow, or didn't cover quite enough, or covered too much and got cakey. Mercy! But now I am saved from my own dark circled self with help from Ellis Faas!

Here is a swatch of it on my wrist. This is probably not very representative since my wrist is much lighter than my under-eye, and you could better see the color match with it applied to my dark circles. But no dice. The wrist is all you'll be getting, sorry.

Top swatch: Unblended, Bottom swatch: Blended

Unfortunately I don't think the photograph captures the color very well, even though it's taken in full sunlight. I can say that the color has a bit of corrective peach tint to it that doesn't come across well in the picture. The finish is semi-matte deliciousness. Which is another way of saying that the finish is very natural. Not sparkling highlight-y, not flat matte. A similarly finished item on the market that everyone is familiar with would be the YSL touche eclat, which I've also used for a long time. However, the Ellis Faas concealer has more coverage that the touche eclat. I have never tried the Ellis Faas foundation, since I don't wear any, but I have a feeling it would have the same quality. Ellis Faas is available online at ellisfaas.com and in store at Bergdorf's.

And just because: