Revlon ColorStay

Ooh that felt wrong. I’m suddenly morphing into an old teacher of mine and inwardly wincing at spelling colour ‘color’. But it says ‘ColorStay’ on the bottle so I guess I’ll have to get over it!

Having given up on the Revlon Photo Ready foundation and donating it to a dry skinned friend (who is singing its praises from the rooftops I might add) I thought I’d try ColorStay for normal/ oily skin. I must say I’m impressed but it isn’t foundation perfection.


The good points include the colour range. The lightest shade, Ivory, is once again a very good match for me. It’s fairly cheap at £11.99 and Revlon is usually on offer at Boots. The coverage is more than plenty for me and I would call it full. Unlike the Photo Ready it doesn’t run screaming from my oily nose lasting about 6 hours before it needs powdering again as long as I set it with powder in the morning. If you want a fuller coverage, long last foundation you could do a lot worse!

Here is where it gets a little iffy. The packaging is an issue for me. One of the plus points to Revlon Photo Ready is the handy and hygienic pump dispenser. With ColorStay we are left shaking a glass bottle in the hope that we haven’t flung it across the room by accident before some comes out of the bottle (it hasn’t happened... yet). This is not only unhygienic it is also a pain in the backside. As many before me have commented there is a really weird smell to it. It’s kind of chemically smelling though it fades pretty quickly after application.

It’s a pretty quick drying foundation and you do not have long to blend it before it’s set. Once it has set it’s not going anywhere without a heavy duty remover so blend like your life depends on it! I find I get the best result if I use my ELF Studio Powder brush. Just tap some product onto the back of your hand, tap the brush onto to it the buff like a mad woman. This gives me an even blended finish and avoids the cakey mess I get it I apply it with a traditional foundation brush.
I’m utterly convinced that something in the foundation actively dries out oil and spots. This is great on my oily bits but not so great on my dry bits. Initially I found it created flaky patches on my cheeks and next to my lips but switching to a heavier moisturiser on these areas corrected it very quickly.

If you have oily skin and want a full coverage foundation I would recommend this. If they put a pump on it and sported the smell out it would be close to perfect! And whilst it isn’t the easiest liquid foundation to apply the very same properties that make it awkward when applying make it long lasting and matte on oily skin so the effort is worth it for me. I’m looking for something slightly lighter for the summer but come Autumn/ Winter I will most definitely be repurchasing xx