Just when we thought that the K-beauty base hype has died down, something new and shiny came along and piqued our curiosity. The spotlight is on Banila Co’s recently released Covericious Power Fit line, which promises long wear, buildable coverage, and high skin adherence. What really intrigued me is that these beauty bases are formulated with hydrolized collagen for additional hydrating properties that cling better to the skin than regular collagen. As someone with dry skin that’s prone to flaking, I definitely needed to test that out!

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but there’s a gold rush in the drugstore foundation category. All the drugstore brands are trying to become The Chosen One for bases; everybody is trying to outdo each other when it comes to quality, shade range (hurrah for inclusivity), packaging, and value. Revlon’s new Candid line holds no punches in this regard. They’ve recently come out with 31 shades from light to very deep - their most comprehensive selection yet - of which 12 are available here in the Philippines. It comes in cute millennial pink packaging to boot!

Let’s take a look at the Candid line and see what I think about this intriguing collection.

Happy Skin is most famous for their lipsticks but if you ask me, their face bases are so underrated! I’ve been a fan of their Don’t Get Mad, Get Even foundation line since it launched five years ago. I felt a little sad when they discontinued it, but lucky for us Happy Skin has a sneaky plan in place: they actually replaced DGMGE with a new and improved version called Ready To Glow!

Your girl loves a luxury foundation. Although it’s not necessary for creating the perfect base, I do find that there is a difference in formulation and how much easier it is to blend and wear versus what you can get from the drugstore. That said, I’ve always invested in full-coverage, long-wearing foundations when I buy luxury brands, so I was surprised to find that Guerlain’s L’Essentiel Foundation (~P3,500) provides a happy medium that’s suited for every day. We’ve reviewed a fuller coverage Guerlain foundation before, so I was curious to see how different this take on ‘natural’ foundation would be. I tested it for two weeks, and here’s how it panned out:

Hi, I’m Stacie and I am obsessed with SM Beauty. I feel the urge to pass by whenever I’m in an SM mall, even when I’m not actually looking for anything! Recently, I’ve noticed that more and more products are becoming available in sachet packaging, including face bases. Ranging from P25 to P99, they’re a tempting option for those on a tight budget or for when you need a quick fix. Sure, they’re quite cheap but are they worth it?

When it comes to trusted drugstore brands, Maybelline always makes the cut. Their base products are some of our favorites as their foundations are budget-friendly with great formulation. The new Maybelline Superstay 24HR Full Coverage Liquid Foundation (P499) is so good that it won the Allure Best of Beauty 2018 for Full Coverage Foundation! With such a glowing recommendation, I was very excited to try it out!

Guess what my favorite lip tint, eyebrow pencil, and vitamin C serum have in common? They’re all from K-Beauty brands that I’ve discovered over the past few years! No doubt about it, I’m a fan of how a lot of Asian Beauty (AB) products fit my needs and deliver results, at very decent price points. Even then, my go-to foundation products came from Western and local brands. I dislike being biased, but I generally find K-Beauty foundations to have limited shade selections, unflattering cool undertones (at least on me), and “dewy” finishes that make my face look like a major oil slick.

The MAC Studio Fix range is basically an institution, known for its wide shade range. In fact, beauty enthusiasts often refer to the MAC foundation shade coding system even when talking about other brands! Now, MAC aims to be even more inclusive than they already are by embodying All Ages, All Races, All Genders. They have looked at even more undertones and shades, and recognized what consumers have long been saying – one shade does not fit all.

I use filters for most of my Instagram photos because my iPhone has a crappy camera that just fails even in what should be sufficient lighting. It takes me extra time to edit my selfies, but it’s worth the effort to enhance the final image. And so here’s where Revlon asked and answered a question: what if your foundation already gives you the effect of app filters?

What kind of makeup do you love most? Some people collect eyeshadow palettes, while others are lipstick queens who might own the same shade in different brands and finishes! For me, it has always been about perfecting my face base. I love foundation formulas that I barely tell apart from my skin, both in appearance and feel, so when I first saw rave reviews on Estée Lauder's Double Wear Foundation, I added it on my list of must-try makeup.

The Ordinary is probably the biggest breakthrough beauty brand of 2017, and I'm just one of its many fans who can’t stop adding items to my shopping cart. It is addicting! They really raised the bar for skincare with their wide range of straightforward active ingredients offered at wallet-friendly prices. If you want to get on the bandwagon but don't know where to start, fellow PV girl Kim has a list of TO must-try's. But even if you're more into makeup than skincare, The Ordinary has also been making the internet buzz about its face primers and foundations - so much so that foundations had a 25,000-person waitlist!

Have you ever swatched foundation in the store, fell in love, and purchased it only to discover that it had turned darker (or worse, turned orange!) when you got home? If this sounds familiar, you've experienced having makeup oxidize on you. This is why beauty reps often ask "acidic po ba kayo?" when you shop face bases, but it's not helpful because the answer is always "yes" as our skin literally has an acidic pH level. What is causing the change in color then?

With so many makeup tips and tricks popping up nowadays, it can feel a little overwhelming sometimes. Some may even make you even cringe with how crazy and over-the-top they are - remember the one about using a knife as a guide to contour? No thanks! I'd rather stick to safe options, particularly when they look like they can actually work. So I decided to actually find out! I picked out three top hacks that promise to help my foundation look more fleek, using products that most beauty junkies would already have in their stash.Is it a real HACK or just WHACK?

The first time I got to try Ellana was through winning a contest sometime in 2008 or 2009. I joined the giveaway of a now defunct beauty blog called Kikay Exchange and won a few pots of this proudly local mineral makeup brand. I was still in college then so I didn't have enough money to buy a lot of makeup; Project Vanity was very young, and I was obsessed about finding new products to try and review. And so this is how my love affair with Ellana started. 

I consider myself to be a foundation fiend. As a girl with very oily skin and crazy work hours, only the most long-wearing of foundations stand a chance of making it through my typical day. I don’t feel that I need full coverage but I've found that the two qualities - long wear and opacity - usually go hand-in-hand.

I recently went through ALL my makeup and skincare so I can properly organize and dispose of items accordingly. It took me half a day and about ten extra bags of product, all of which I gave away to my family! Now my place feels cleaner and I get *less* stressed out about where my stuff are. I also unearthed some products that I really, really like, but can't use nor bear to throw away.

I found so many cushion compacts that I just kinda forgot about because they are ridiculously too light against my skin tone.