Max Factor Face Contour

A couple weeks ago I received another VoxBox from Influenster containing more Max Factor goodies to try out and share my opinion.

The box contained:
Max Factor Face Finity All Day Flawless 3 in 1 Foundation
Max Factor Miracle Contouring Palette
Max Factor Miracle Glow Duo Pro Illuminator
Max Factor Facefinity Compact Foundation

The base done before the rest of the makeup is crucial to how it all turns out in the end and therefor I wanted to give these products a proper go before giving my thoughts on them.

Max Factor Face Finity All Day Flawless 3 in 1 Foundation – soft honey

Firstly I must mention that the color I received was way too light for me. That made it a little harder to give it a proper test and also a full review, more so on the hold of the formula. They don’t have the biggest range of shades, but they definitely have darker shades than this.

I still wanted to test the formula through it’s initial application.
It being a 3 in 1 flawless foundation I was expecting it to be a full coverage foundation. With the first layer I could still see my skin color peeking through, but gave a solid medium coverage. Had I been any lighter I could have almost gotten away with the first layer.

However, the foundation is definitely buildable. I went in with 2 more layers for the purpose of testing the coverage and how cakey the formula might me. On my dry skin I must say I was impressed, it did not start to look cakey. But I did start to look more and more beige, the coverage for sure started to add up.
(Noteworthy: I always use a beautyblender with any foundation/cream products. And due to my dry skin I always use a hydrating primer/moisturizer underneath).

The foundation has an SPF of 20. To me personally that does not make much of a difference as I always wear SPF underneath anyways. And I recommend you do too, please take care of your skin! However, more SPF is always an added bonus in my books.
Many people do not like SPF in their foundations due to flashback in photography. If you do take flash photography a lot that might be something to keep in mind. Personally SPF in my foundation does not impact my pictures, atleast it hasn’t up to date.

Due to this being the wrong shade I could unfortunately not test the foundation on it’s own much more than this. Therefor I can’t say how much it lives up to the name “All day”.
But one thing I was keen to test out was how well this would blend with my Nars Sheer Glow Foundation. I love this foundation, but the shade I have (Macao) is now very dark for me. But it is so good (and also expensive) so I did not want to chuck it away.
Now that I had a foundation that was on the opposite end and very light for me I really wanted to see if I could get use out of both.

I must say – This has now become my new favorite combo. Both formulas blend well and together I can get my perfect shade. Since both the Max Factor Face Finity Foundation and Nars Sheer Glow foundation are solid medium to full coverage foundations, the combo definitely gave me wedding ready coverage, but yet natural looking finish. One layer of this combo was plenty enough for me, but if you want full on flawless coverage you could go in with another layer.

Now I would not recommend you going out and getting these two in your wrong shade. Don’t waste your money, get whichever one in the right shade. I did want to mention this as not always all formulas blend well together. And if you happen to have a bit contrasting shades in your vanity try mixing up the formulas and maybe you might end up having “your own” foundation.

Max Factor Miracle Contouring Palette

This palette impressed me more than I expected. I know many people tend to be scared of cream contouring, personally I am a big fan. My all time favorite cream contour is the MAC richly honed pro sculpting cream. Having this as my go to I was a bit sceptical to how this would compare. I would not say this replaces my MAC cream contour, but it sure is a close alternative and a cheaper option too.

This palette is divided into 3: Contour, lift and highlight
For contouring and my skin tone I use the two darkest shades. One is cool toned contour and the other a more warm bronze. Depending on the look I am going for I will either mix the two or use the dark cool toned contour. The darker shade when swatched is just the same as my MAC cream contour. However the Max Factor blends a lot easier and quicker into the skin. This is good if you are new to contouring or scared of the harshness a cream contour could give, as you can build up the darkness of your contour.  I like a contoured cheek so I build this one up a bit.

There are a lot of shades, depending on your skin tone and how highlighted you want your face to be you have a flexibility to choose and mix which to contour, lift and highlight.
And this palette is refillable, which if I am not mistaken means you should be able to buy singles of the ones you might run out of.

Max Factor Miracle Glow Duo Pro Illuminator

I was most excited to try out this product when I received the parcel.
For the longest time I was not that into highlight – still not into the very glittery/bang on highlight, but anything to add to that natural glow I am all about it. From the looks of it this seems just like that.

When I finally started to test out the product I was neither impressed nor put off, just stuck a little in between. The lightest shade definitely adds that natural lift to the cheekbones. Does not contain any shimmer, so if I want a little bit more to the cheekbones I add another shimmer on top. But for day-to-day lift this is a decent one.

The bronze shade is what made it a “meh” product for me. I could neither use this as a shimmer on top of the other shade as it was just a little too dark. But at the same time it was a little too pale to use for a glowy bronzed look. If you are paler than me it might work out perfectly for a glowy bronzed look, and if you are darker than me this might work as a beautiful cream highlighter. Unfortunately for my skintone it does not do too much for the face. Keep in mind I got the shade “deep” in this glow duo. The one in “medium” might have been a better match as a highlighter duo. Since I have it tough I do use it on my eyelids every so often. When in rush out the door this is easy to slap on for super quick eye look.

Max Factor Facefinity Compact Foundation

Are you a no-makeup-makeup gal?
This one might be just what you want. With a big powder brush this will give you a very subtle coverage and with a kabuki brush a little bit more coverage. Light to medium-light coverage. You could build it up for more coverage, but personally I felt that to be very heavy on my face. I could feel the product sitting on my skin and that is not a very comfortable feeling.

If you know me personally you will know that if I am to go for a ‘no-makeup-look’ I will literally not wear makeup. But I also know that not everyone is that comfortable with that. If you do prefer putting on some makeup rather than no makeup, then this might be what you want.

How I for the most part end up using this product is either:
1. To set my liquid foundation and add that slightly bit more coverage. Due to this being a foundation and not a translucent powder, I don’t use this to set a medium to full coverage foundation. But rather something along the lines of The Ordinary Serum foundation.
2. Or I will just use it to set my contour.

Here I am wearing a mix of the Max Factor Face Finity Foundation and the Nars Sheer Glow Foundation. I have set my contour with the powder foundation and used both the lightest shade in the pro glow duo + one of the lightest shades in the contour palette to highlight my cheekbone, t-zone and upper lip.

Other products also used on the face:

UD naked heat palette, Max Factor brow contour, UD 24/7 glide on pencil in perversion, Max Factor brow Shaper, L’oreal double extend mascara, Max Factor blush in gorgeous berries, Becca shimmering skin perfector in Opal and MAC lustre lipstick in Capricious.

Thank you to Influenster Middle East for sending me this #VoxBox with products from Max Factor Arabia.

What are you favorite products from Max Factor?

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Buda-pest

Hey guys!

Hope you are all keeping well.

As mentioned earlier I was lucky enough to explore Budapest together with my best friend. She is a med student and currently finishing up her studies in this beautiful city.

I was so lucky with the weather during my stay. Allhamdulillah for the most part I did not even need to wear a jacket. That is big considering just the week before it had been snowing ❄️

There was so much to see and as long as you are comfortable walking you can explore the whole city by foot. The city is very European and that is highly visible through the buildings in the city and their architecture.

The city is divided in two: Buda & Pest, both connected by the bridge. On the pest side of the city you can climb up towards the Statue of Liberty and see how the city is connected. Truly a beautiful walk. Be prepared, it is a bit steep in the beginning, but once half way the rest is a piece of cake.

Have you been to Budapest?

Follow me on Instagram for more updates @nuhasgram

Long time no see

Salams everyone!

Hope you are keeping well. It has been a while since I was able to update you guys.

Now if you follow me on Instagram (@nuhasgram) you will know I have been away. I got the chance to finally visit my best friend studying in Hungary. It had been long time coming Allhamdulillah.

And right after that it was Easter so we took that chance to meet up with my family in UK and boy was that an amazing vacation together too Allhamdulillah.

Might share more on that with you later, but for now here’s a picture from this passed weekend.

Outfit details: Abaya from Podur, handbag from Prada, shoes from Steve Madden and hijab from Sharjah central souk.

ID design 2018 catalogue launch

Salaams everyone!

Hope you are keeping well.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending ID Designs 2018 catalogue launch at Mall of Emirates. It was a beautiful event and I had the pleasure of meeting some amazing people.

ID design draws inspiration from Scandinavian design – simplicity and fine lines. I can’t deny that brings a certain pride being from Norway 😇

Their new pieces are intended to make your home flourish and bloom.

And they certainly got you covered in that area no matter your style.

Some of my favorite pieces though has to be their decor pieces. They are quirky and they are sleek. I get the combo of being “in bloom” while inspired by Scandinavian design. I wish I could take them all home, but I did get some pictures to share with you.

Check out their new catalogue and latest pieces at one of their showrooms in MOE or Mirdiff city center.

Be sure to follow me on IG @nuhasgram for updates ✨

ALL BLACK 🖤

Salaams everyone,

Have you guys seen all the hype around the black ice cream? It has been popping up all over social media and the hype is real.

Now the hype is ice cream made of charcoal. But I had the pleasure of trying an Oreo version of black ice cream. If I am not mistaken that is usually a mix of charcoal and Oreo. Charcoal for colour and Oreo for flavor.

It was delicious. So smooth and creamy! You know how sometimes when you have something Oreo flavored you can get the grittyness of the cookies. This was not like that. Super smooth and creamy. I would definitely recommend to check it out. I got mine from black cab coffee (sister company to my much loved depresso coffee). They have pop up stalls all over Dubai inc La Met and CityWalk.

Could not help myself, it was so delicious! 💁🏽‍♀️

One of the most gorgeous mall

This is where pictures speak for itself…

Honestly, isn’t this so stunning? 😍

Just love the interior, feels like walking through the streets of Paris.

Check it out for yourself by visiting Mercato Mall in Dubai.

THE ORDINARY – FOUNDATIONS

Salaams everyone!

I finally got some time to write down my thoughts on the foundations from The Ordinary.

I got both the serum foundation and the coverage foundation in the shade 3.0 Y.
Now I must say I do hope they extend their shade range for darker complexions as it is not the best, however it is better than many others. What I do like is how they have shades for the different undertones: Pink (P), Red (R), Neutral (N), Yellow (Y).
This is definitely something we need to see a lot more of, specially in the drugstore/high street brands.

The Serum Foundation

As I have dry skin this was the foundation I was most excited to try out.
It has a very thin and light consistency, it is one of those foundations you can hear when you shake the bottle.

As it is a serum foundation I did not expect much coverage and thats what I had heard about it too. I was however surprised on just how light of a coverage it gives, but in a good way. I always use a beautyblender with my foundations which generally does give foundations a lighter and more blended look in my opinion. I did try it with a brush, but was not a fan.
You can build up the coverage, but for me it never went more than a medium-light coverage.

This for me is the perfect everyday foundation, it smooths out the skintone/pigmentation and just gives an overall natural and dewy look. For those days you just need to look awake while running errands.

The Coverage Foundation

This foundation was a pleasant surprise for me. I did not expect too much due to my dry skin, and was therefor a little unsure on how it would work for me.
But this is now a foundation I am truly enjoying. It has a slightly thicker consistency than the serum foundation, but not much. However the coverage is a step up from the serum foundation. Because of the name and from what I had heard I was expecting quite a full coverage foundation, but that I did not get. This foundation is a medium-high coverage for me, a little more buildable than the other.

Because of the difference in coverage between the two I love switching between them depending on how much coverage I need for that particular occasion.
I would call this a work appropriate/lunching out foundation, hoping that makes sense.

I should mention that I always prime my skin before applying makeup, regardless of what foundation/base I use. And I did test both foundations without priming, both foundations did not react well with my dry spots… Serum foundation was slightly better, but still not something I personally would want to see enhanced with a foundation. That might be something to keep in mind if you are someone that does not prime beforehand.

Two more common bonuses from both foundations is:
1. The fact that they have SPF 15. For some this may not be a positive due to possible flashback. I am not someone too exposed to flash photography, so thats not my biggest concern. However I live in a country with high sun exposure. Obviously SPF 15 is not enough and I do use higher SPF in my skincare. But I won’t complain about layered protection in that area.
2. The fact that the packaging is so small and compact. This little bottle contains the same as most liquid foundations (30 ml), but is in a container smaller than half the size of most. It is also very simple and matte. I am not someone to make a big fuss over plastic or glass as each of them has their positives with it. This is in a plastic, but due to the matte finish it has a higher end feel and look to it. Glass always looks and feels more highend, however plastic is more travel friendly. So each to their own there, and comes down to personal preference. If I like a foundation I will take it with me regardless of packaging.

Have you tried the foundations from the ordinary – thoughts?

Also, rumor has it that The Ordinary will be extending their makeup line soon 😀

Click here to read my review on the EyeSerum.

The Dubai Frame

Salaams everyone!

Yesterday I was finally able to check out the Dubai Frame. If you live in Dubai you know what I am talking about, if not you might be slightly confused.

It is basically this huge landmark they opened this January. It has been in the works for some time and it is so huge you can spot it miles away.

As you can see it is a giant gold frame. The height of the team is between the height of The Eiffel Tower and The Statue of Liberty.

When you go to the top you will be able to clearly see the difference between Old Dubai and New Dubai. And it is a breathtaking sight from each side of the frame, subhanallah.

If you ever visit Dubai you should check out the Dubai Frame. For sure #Recommended.

Follow me on IG for up to date posts @nuha.mcke

Xx,

Nuha

S H O W E R

Dubai is off to a good start with a whole full day of rain showers.

This takes me back to Norway…where it rains almost every other day. Atleast in the city I am from. I must say though..I do not miss it. However, I am grateful for the rain. In a country as dry as UAE this is much needed, and gives a sort of “fresh breath of air”

Max Factor Eye Studio

Salaams everyone,

So if you follow me on Instagram you will know that I had the great pleasure of receiving a complimentary VoxBox from Influenster Middle East containing products from the Max Factor Eye Studio Collection.

(From left to right) Max Factor Masterpiece Nude Palette (03 – Rose Nudes, 02 Golden Nudes), Max Factor Ultrafine Brow Shaper (Deep Brown), Max Factor Colour X-pert Waterproof Eyeliner (Deep Black), Max Factor Voluptuous False Lash Effect Mascara (Black), Max Factor Brow Contour Kit.

After testing them all out these past couple of weeks, here’s what I think…

Max Factor Masterpiece Nude Palettes
At first glance, like so many others have said, these remind me of the UD Naked palettes. Specifically the original and Naked 3. But are they dupes?
I can’t say for Naked 3 as I don’t own that one. But I do have the original one. I won’t call them dupes shade for shade, but they are definitely in the same spectrum of neutrals. Also, this palette has some olive shades which you don’t find in the UD palette.
To be honest I was not expecting much pigment from these palettes as generally I don’t have the best experience with shadows from the drugstore. But these pleasantly surprised me. Decent pigmentation, where you can create a full eye look and it does not look like you have wasted your time and got nothing on your eyes. Neither are they chalky/patchy in formula. Very smooth and blendable, and you can also really build up the colors and make a more intense eyelook. They are not as pigmented as you might find elsewhere, but not something to knock of your shelves straight away. Specially if you are a bit new to makeup and/or like being safe and build up your color and intensity.

Swatches 02 Golden Nudes

Swatches 03 Rose Nudes

Max Factor X-pert Waterproof Eyeliner
When they say waterproof they are not joking. This eyeliner will not budge once set. I am not the one to usually go for a dipliner as they tend to make a thick liner. I prefer a thin stripe. However, the tip is super fine and just flexible enough to create the thickness you prefer. I still do prefer my gel liner over this one though, but if you are one for dipliner or pen liner this might be one to check out.

Max Factor Brow Contour Kit
Now this is a product I am loving big time, and surprisingly not for the reason it is intended for. However, if you do want to use this for your brows it serves its purpose very well. I love the darkest color for an intense and defined brow, while the lighter next to it is a more everyday soft brow filler. And the lightest shade is a perfect brow highlighter. Keep in mind, these shades are super pigmented and buttery. So if not careful and you got my skin color or darker this will show up very white and ashy under the brows. But with a light hand and fluffy brush this gets an A+. But I am more of a pencil user for my brows, they are just quick and easy.
What I do love using this palette for though is as shadows. I kid you not, this is a perfect basic palette to carry around with you and have in your everyday staples. If you ask me, it is better than the UD original naked basics. Last one has a bit more shades, but for me and the types of look I do this one is a lot more useful.
If you like a smokey look, but not always a black smokey eye.. then go for the darkest shade in this one. It is so rich and will intensify any eye look.
The shade next to it is a perfect transition color in the crease for my skin tone. Sometimes I will mix the two in the middle for the crease. And the lightest I do actually use as brow highlight as well as inner corner highlight. For a complete matte eye I will use the lightest all over the lid or mix it with the color next to it. That color is a bit too grey for me to use on it’s own, but love mixing it with the others to create different looks.

Max Factor Voluptuous False Lash Effect Mascara
Now if you know me personally you know I am a big fan of the original False Lash effect mascara from Max Factor. This one does not even come close.
Firstly, not sure if it was just mine, but the formula was very dry. Like a tube that has been open for a month already. Now some people might love that, and personally I can work with that. But the brush… I just don’t know how to work with it. It has these weird thick bristles and thin ones intertwined around the wand. Too bulky. I don’t know how to work with it without poking my eye or getting mascara all over.

Max Factor Ultrafine Brow Shaper
This is another love of mine. This is the first time I am trying one of the much spoken about super fine brow pencils. And I get the hype. For a long time my go to brow product is a pencil – as mentioned it gets the job done in no time. With this super fine tip it is so much easier to create hair like strokes. You can create just the brow type you like – wether that is defined and/or soft brows. The shade is just right for my brows, and it’s a twist up. Less mess – me likey! I love that it comes with a spooly on the other end. No need to carry multiple products for no reason.

Here’s one of the looks created using these products, also posted on Instagram (@nuhaa.ma)

Also on my face:
Primer: Maybelline Master Prime (50 Hydrating) & Too Faced Primed & Poreless
Foundation: Rimmel Match Perfection (Bronze) & Mac Cosmetics Lustre Drops (Sun Rush)
Corrector & Concealer: Bobbi Brown Corrector (Dark Bisque), Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer (Caramel)
Eyelid base: Urban Decay Primer Potion
Blush: Max Factor Creme Puff Blush (Midnight Berries)
Lips: Milani in Teddy Bare & Max Factor in Midnight Mauve

Have you tried any of the eye products from Max Factors latest release?
Whats your favorite?

As you may have guessed my favorites would be the two brow products and the least favorite would have to be the mascara.