Unboxing Beauty

I am always looking at BB creams and foundations, as my favorite Western one looks to be in demand and I do not know if they are discontinuing it or not.  I have long wanted to try vegan and cruelty free Dear Dahlia products as, let’s face it, the packaging it just on point.  If this design looks familiar, it should… but not for the reasons you might think.  Dear Dahlia was before Fenty Beauty so Dear Dehlia didn’t copy them at all!  I chose the Limited Edition Paradise Collection Special Package, which included a boxed set of my shade choice of the Skin Paradise Blooming Cushion Foundation SPF35 PA+++ and Lip Paradise Intense Satin in #807 Carmen.  Jolse, a premier Korean online store, sent me these items for review purposes. 

Skin type/concerns:  Oily, aging, blemish prone, pores, hyper-pigmentation, fine lines and wrinkles. 

I received these products complementary to review and was not paid.  All reviews are my own honest opinion and  I never have been asked to write copy for a brand.  This blog post might contain promo codes, affiliate and referral links, which using my links will help generate a small commission that helps support my blog at no extra cost to you.

The packaging for Dear Dehlia is totally for the ‘gram.  The hexagon shape, trimmed in rose gold, in a faux marble pattern is just lovely and the compact has a good weight to it.  It is not flimsy and also includes a nice sized mirror.  Skin Paradise Blooming Cushion Foundation compact is a bit different from your traditional BB cushions ~ there is no sponge here.  There are holes in a plastic pan and you press down firmly on the pan and foundation comes out of the holes, looking like a flower!  I like this method a lot as that means I can dip my Beauty Blender into the foundation instead of using the puff if I want to.   The key ingredient in this foundation is dahlia variabilis, which is an antioxidant and was an important medicinal ingredient, in Central Mexico, Yucatan and Guatemalan pre-Colombian Indians (source) This has an SPF of 35 PA+++, with its UVA/UVB protection coming from physical sunscreens of zinc oxide and titanium oxide.  This also has mineral powder in it as well ~ disteardimonium hectorite ~ which is supposed to make the finish semi-matte, which I was very interested in.  This has several moisturizing oils with sweet almond, argan and olive oil, as well as essential oils of lavender and orange peel, and those are all Ecocert certified organic oils and butters. All of Dear Dehlia products are formulated without nano particles, sulfates, parabens, PEGs, phthalates, synthetic fragrance, EU/USA banned color pigments, no animal ingredients, no animal testing

I do really like the compact and the design ~ I am not sure why this is considered a foundation and not a BB cream, as it has all of the markings of a BB cream.  At any rate, there are 4 shades in the Skin Paradise Blooming Cushion Foundation

• Nude Beige: Fair to light skin tones
• Peach Ivory: Fair to light skin tones with pink undertones
• Natural Beige: Light skin tones
• Soft Sand: Lightly tanned, medium skin tones

image source

Now, I am pretty much neutral ~ I have both warm and cool tones on my face.  I tend to lean towards more warmer in my foundation shades as pink toned foundations make me look very PINK and I do not like that.  I chose Natural Beige as I am light/medium toned and I was worried that Soft Sand might be too warm toned for me.  I shouldn’t have bothered.   Let’s get the color out of the way first.  I did an initial swatch on my hand and wow, I thought, this is going to be great!!  Look at how it matches my skin tone nicely.  This has a nice light herbal/citrus scent to it.

Then I applied it to my face ~ and yes, I know, I am not pretty and all of that jazz.  I love beauty, but that doesn’t make me one! lol I wish.  Anyway, you can see my sun damaged hyper-pigmentation, the redness on my face ~ that comes with age, ladies ~ and my chin is a mess as that is the blemish area for me.  I applied the cushion and I did another wow, only not in a good way. This is beyond warm toned. This is very yellow on me ~ I am not sure if it oxidized on me, if I got a bad product or what, but this is nothing like the photos for this foundation.  I was able to tone it down a bit by putting a tinted powder, blush and highlighter, but still ~ quite yellow AND BRIGHT.  I mean, look at my neck and shoulder there and compare to my face…sigh.  I was thinking that maybe Nude Beige would have worked, but that would have been so light ~ same with Peach Ivory ~ only with that one, I would be a bright pink.  If Natural Beige is this light and bright, those would have been worse.  Soft Sand would have probably been more yellow on me.   I am not even going to show you the photo that was before the full makeup as it is a joke how yellow this foundation is on me.   That said, look at that lipstick!! I will review the lipstick next, but that color is amazing!

I didn’t find the cushion to be that great as the foundation kept pilling, so I used a damp beauty blender to apply the foundation.  I found that I did need to use a face primer first, as on my oily and aging skin, this foundation did cake up quickly and really accentuated my pores and fine lines.   I also could not build the coverage either, as if I went over the first layer lightly, the foundation pulled off my skin and caused patches if I fiddled around too much with it. I am thinking I got a bad compact here, as I do not see how this could have worked for so many others!  The coverage is a medium coverage, so I didn’t need to apply additional layers, thankfully.   The finish is not semi-matte ~ it is more semi-dewy, meaning that it is more dewy than matte.  It isn’t totally moist and sticky, but it isn’t a satin finish.  I topped it with a powder, so that is why it may look matte in the photo above, but it isn’t.  Long wearing?  Meh ~ my T-Zone area broke thru this foundation pretty quickly, but the rest wore nicely as the day progressed.

Ingredients: dahlia variabilis flower extract, water, methyl trimethicone, titanium dioxide, glycerin, butyloctyl salicylate, phenyl trimethicone, diisostearyl malate,caprylyl methicone,pentaerythrityl tetraisostearate, dipropylene glycol,trimethylsiloxysilicate,lauryl polyglyceryl-3 polydimethylsiloxyethyl dimethicone,polyglyceryl-3 polydimethylsiloxyethyl dimethicone, zinc oxide, disteardimonium hectorite, magnesium sulfate ,vinyl dimethicone/methicone silsesquioxane crosspolymer,lavandula angustifolia (lavender) oil, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) peel oil,camellia sinensis leaf water (green tea), prunus amygdalus dulcis (sweet almond) oil, argania spinosa kernel oil, olea europaea (olive) fruit oil,tilia vulgaris flower extract,methyl methacrylate crosspolymer,bisabolol,polyglyceryl-6 polyricinoleate,synthetic fluorphlogopite,triethoxycaprylylsilane, caprylyl glycol,palmitic acid, aluminum hydroxide,stearic acid, glyceryl caprylate ,trihydroxystearin,methicone, ethylhexylglycerin, adenosine, dimethicone ,tocopherol, iron oxides(CI 77492),iron oxides(CI 77491),iron oxides(CI 77499)  cosDNA

Lip Paradise Intense Satin in #807 Carmen  Now the lipstick is AMAZING.  I actually was looking at this lipstick way before I decided on this limited edition set.  Lip Paradise contains dahlia variabilis extracts and plant based natural ingredients to nourish and hydrate your lips. This has an SPF rating of 15 and also contains light weight antioxidant and hydrating rice bran wax, instead of animal or beeswax to help moisturize your lips and provide a smooth application. Carmen is a deep terracotta shade and very intense. It has no noticeable scent to it.  Can we also just praise the packaging on this lipstick?  WOW.  So beautiful and unusual ~ once again, the faux grey and white marble with the rose gold trim.

Lip Paradise Intense Satin is very creamy, doesn’t pull or tug on my lips while applying and it dries down to a nice semi-matte or satin finish.  It isn’t cakey and it isn’t drying.  Lipsticks never last long on me as I am always eating or drinking something, but the color is so intense and richly-pigmented that even after it is wiped off, this lipstick leaves a stain on my lips.  It is a beautiful shade, perfect for fall and winter months.  This lipstick does come in 10 shades 

#801 Stella: Vivid & fresh hot pink with cool undertones
#802 Marilyn: Vivid coral pink
#803 Bella: Peachy coral pink
#804 Adele: Neutral nude with a touch of dusty rose
#805 Scarlet: Brilliant Red color with a tinge of orange
#806 Ruby: “Little Black Dress” of makeup ~ a vivid and rich red with blue undertones
#807 Carmen: Rusty Red
#808 Megan: Muted rose color
#809 Kate: Pink beige color
#810 Lucy: Coral beige color

  image source

Ingredients: polyglyceryl-2 triisostearate, caprylic/capric triglyceride, silica, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, ceresin, diisostearyl malate, phytosteryl/isostearyl/cetyl/stearyl/behenyl dimer dilinoleate, bis-diglyceryl polyacyladipate-2, synthetic wax, synthetic fluorphlogopite, ethylhexyl salicylate, ricinus communis (castor) seed oil, methyl methacrylate crosspolymer, HDI/trimethylol hexyllactone crosspolymer, sorbitan sesquioleate, oryza sativa (rice) bran wax, polyglyceryl-6 polyricinoleate, dahlia variabilis flower extract,  lavandula angustifolia (lavender) oil, prunus amygdalus dulcis (sweet almond) oil, argania spinosa kernel oil, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) peel oil, ethylene/propylene copolymer, titanium dioxide (CI 77891), dehydroacetic acid, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, water, glycerin, 1,2-hexanediol, ferric oxide (CI 77491), red 7 (CI 15850), black oxide of iron (CI 77499) cosDNA 

Final Thoughts

So, YMMV on the foundation from Dear Dahlia.  I am not sure if I got a bad one ~ it cannot be old, as it is a new brand.  I found that it was too warm toned for me ~ Normally, a lot of Korean BB creams are warm toned, but I found a lot of them are more neutral-warm and they work well for me. This was just a bit too yellow for my skin type. It is really obviously when I have the overhead lights in my bathroom on, but less so in natural light or when I do not have bright lights on me.  I had have to apply a tinted powder over this ~ to both mattify and tone down the shade a bit.  I am scared that going to a lighter pink shade would make me look like Miss Piggy, but the alternative is looking like Big Bird.  For me, the Dear Delhia foundation is just not matching my skin tone very well. I love the case and I will figure out a way to refill it with a BB cream that does work for me.

The lipstick is another story!!  I LOVE IT. I love the creaminess, the satin matte finish, the tint that it leaves behind, plus the case.  This is totally worth the money as it not only functions like a high-end, name brand lipstick, but looks like one as well.   Carmen is a great color choice for me ~ its rich cinnamon-y shade would work with  a lot of skin tones.  I think I would like to try Megan next, as you know me and my 5,789 mauve muted rose shades!  

Where to Purchase

Jolse no longer carries the Limited Edition set right now (retailed for $72.00), but they do sell the products individually, plus refills on the compact. 

• Skin Paradise Blooming Cushion Foundation 14mL $42.00
• Skin Paradise Blooming Cushion Foundation 14mL Refill ONLY $26.00
• Skin Paradise Blooming Cushion Foundation 14ml + Refill 14ml $61.00
• Lip Paradise Intense Satin 3.8 grams $30.00
• Lip Paradise Intense Satin Trio $90.00 (Megan, Kate, Lucy shades)

Prices will fluctuate slightly due to the Korean Won/USD conversion. Jolse has free shipping all the time, ships internationally and gives out tons of free samples.

image credit from jolse

 

disclaimer: this product was sent to me for review purposes. all opinions are my own and are unbiased