I've been incredibly fortunate lately having won product reviews! This time it is with Jolse - one of my favourite places to buy Korean beauty products because of the range of products they carry and always have discounts going on.
Today I am reviewing a product that I don't actually use often - makeup fixing spray. I'm not sure why I have never really got into this habit before but since using this product, I am positive that I will start building this into my makeup routine.
Ingredients
So I did a quick search to look at the ingredients for some other popular makeup sprays (MAC, NYX, The Body Shop, ELF - all budgets!) and the major difference between this and the others is that it contains seed and root extracts in addition to leaf and fruit extract. Most of the makeup fixing sprays I see contain Aloe leaf extract and some floral extracts, but this SAAT one contains different leaf, floral and and fruit extract (Pepperment Leaf, Ginger Root, berry, Camella). At the bottom of the ingredients list there is also Propolis Wax.
What this all means is that not only does this setting spray sets the makeup, it is also good for your skin - trust K-beauty to build products that also have skincare qualities! This is one of the major reasons why I love K-beauty so much; it's always skin(care) first and for me, that is what I strongly believe in - good skin = good base.
Packaging
Can we take a moment to appreciate how pretty the box it - the lovely marbled pattern with a good choice of font. The actual product itself is straight forward to use and the spray allows the product to be applied in a very fine mist, which is what you want as a fixer so you're not creating massive droplets on the face, and that you are also covering more area of your face
Effacacy
This product claims to "form a thin and uniform water film on the skin to enhance adhesion of makeup" (google translated). This also moisturises so the skin "shines all day long". It advises to use before and after makeup, but generally I only really use after makeup.
I normally use a light to medium (buildable coverage) foundations so I haven't tried this with heavier makeup. However, I do see that it reduces the look of cakey-ness and creasing throughout the day that I get.
This is what I usually look like at the end of the day
It can get even worse than this and my hand hasn't been steady enough for me to take the picture, but you can still see patches around these oilier areas.
Exhibit one. 8am is generally an hour after my makeup has been done for the day at the office. You can see the dewy finish that this fixing spray gives (which I love! At the age where I prefer the dew rather than the matte). 2pm at the office you can see that not much as budged - there has been a bit of foundation coming off at the chin, but I have eaten and have rubbed my face/lips. At 5.30pm, I may be tired, but my makeup ain't. I do have an oily t-zone but this has reduced so much of that creasing that I normally get - it really is noticeable.
Not only does this spray sets the makeup, it also makes your skin look good. When I used this at the beginning, my colleague commented on how fresh my face looked and the only thing that has changed was using this mist.
Here's a fully day with travelling, walking around... This was this year's Photography Show at NEC Birmingham. We were travelling up on the Saturday and returning on Sunday. I am using a different foundation here - in face it is a BB cushion by the same brand (SAAT) as this spray. There will also be a review for this.
This cushion generally gives a dewy finish anyway so the spray hasn't added much, but it did make it look more blended/less heavy over time. It has also kept my skin moist, especially travelling on the train.
By 5pm, I was still at the venue, walking around; oily t-zone but this spray has not really made my face look as oily as it normally would. By 7pm I was absolutely knackered - again, I was tired, but my makeup ain't. At this point though, I definitely needed to freshen up for the evening and removed my foundation and reapplied. So this spray will last for 10 hours or so and even still you may still find that you have a good finish and I think it really is how your skin is like. For me, I definitely needed to remove and reapply purely because of how my oil production is like. Even though there wasn't much creasing (surprisingly!!), day old makeup is day old makeup - you're better off just taking all of it off and reapply.
What was even more impressive about this spray is that my skin genuinely feels moist and supple throughout the day. This may be down to my normal skincare routine, but I have no doubt that this spray has helped with that too. Makeup tend to adhere to my face better when it's well moisturised and kept moisturised so this spray definitely helps. Plus all the good stuff in there helps to condition the skin at the same time.
I should have taken moisture reading throughout the day but I would safely say that this spray has helped to keep my skin moist.
Price
This product sells at USD 25.05 on Cosmetic Jolse, which would make it fall under the pro makeup brand ranges for setting sprays. If I use sprays more often, this would be on my list to repurchase. The effectiveness for this is great, keeps a dewy finish and conditions the skin. It can, however give too much of a dewy/shine finish for some people and in that instance, go with a NYX one (matte finish).
If you can find a dupe of this, absolutely let me know! Otherwise, personally if I do spray as a routine (I don't currently), this would be a product I'd repurchase.
Overall score: 4/5
The 1 point being it at a higher price point because I'm cheap and always want to look for a good deal. Buying this off Jolse though means you can get a pretty good deal at certain times as they do member discounts, brand discounts, and you can also use points you've built up as well. I find it difficult not to buy a lot of products when I go on Jolse anyway and often able to use these discounts (also to take advantage of free shipping over a certain amount).
Have you tried this? Do you use a fixing spray? What do you look for?