Let me be clear right up front: I’m not saying these products are actively BAD. Neither one broke me out, caused an allergic reaction, stole my boyfriend or knocked up my sister. They didn’t do anything TERRIBLE. In fact, they didn’t do anything AT ALL. And therein lies the problem.
The first do-nothing product I tried was L’Oreal Bare Naturale Soft-Focus Mineral Finish. This is a loose mineral powder that’s packaged exactly like the Bare Naturale foundation and blush — a jar with a sifter lid and a mini kabuki-style brush in the cap. Soft-Focus Mineral Finish promises to “create a translucent, shine-free, poreless finish.” Given the verbiage, I’m assuming this is L’Oreal’s version of the Mineral Veil product from Bare Essentuals.
Now, I am no fan of Bare Essentuals’ Bare Minerals line, as longtime readers know. I find the foundation to be WAY too shiny and weird-looking for my taste. That being said, the Mineral Veil finishing powder actually DOES something — it helps tone down the shininess of the foundation. It makes for a nice, light-textured finishing powder over other foundations as well because it really does soften your look.
But here’s the thing — L’Oreal’s Bare Naturale mineral foundation ISN’T SHINY. That’s part of what makes it so awesome, and why I always recommend it over the Bare Minerals foundation (see also: L’Oreal is less than half the price of Bare Minerals). You don’t NEED a finishing powder with this stuff — it gives you a lovely translucent, shine-free, poreless (well, nearly) finish ALL ON ITS OWN. So that makes the Soft-Focus Mineral Finish product kind of unnecessary to begin with, don’t you think?
That wouldn’t matter hugely to me if this product did anything, but I am here to tell you, I bought the Translucent (#401) shade and when applied over my usual Bare Naturale mineral foundation it does not show up AT ALL on my face. It does not at all, even a little bit, change the appearance of my makeup one iota. There’s no extra luminosity, no extra mattifying, no ANYTHING. The emperor has no makeup, people.
There are a couple of different shades of this stuff, including one that’s supposed to be extra luminizing and another that’s supposed to be extra mattifying, but I am going to strongly suggest that you save your money and give this stuff a pass. You may as well be running a completely clean, dry powder brush over your face. Thumbs down!
The next product I tried that did nothing whatsoever was one designed for hair — Garnier Fructis Style Fiber Gum Putty. This product promises “pliable molding” with an extra-strong hold. Um, yeah. NO.
I’ve been growing my hair out just a bit — it’s currently collar-length with long layers (not exactly a layered bob, but same functionality when it comes to styling and whatnot). I have fine but abundant, stick-straight hair that does not hold a style well at all, and I’ve been hoping to find a drugstore product that would give me a bit of texture and separation for my layers. Unfortunately this product is NOT it.
Fiber Gum comes in a generous 5-ounce tub (for under $4 — can’t beat that!) and smells FANTASTIC, like green apples. I could sniff it all day. The texture isn’t really what I would think of as a putty — more like a thick gel-cream. You’re supposed to scoop a small amount into your palm, rub your hands together to “activate the fibers”, and work it through damp or dry hair. I’m pretty sure they were aiming for a drugstore knockoff of Redken Rewind with this stuff (both Redken and Garnier are owned by L’Oreal).
But people? I have tried this on damp hair. I’ve tried it on dry hair. I’ve tried varying the amount of product I use and the way I work it INTO my hair. THIS PRODUCT DOES NOTHING. I can’t even tell it’s on! It does not change the appearance, feel, texture, whatever of my hair AT ALL, even a tiny little bit. The only thing it does is make my hair smell like green apples for maybe 30 minutes after I apply it.
So yeah, insanely cheap and mouthwateringly aromatic or not, I am going to recommend against this stuff, too. In this case, the emperor has no hair product! Thumbs down AGAIN!
Fortunately I HAVE managed to find some halfway decent drugstore crappe for my hair, and it’s from the Garnier Fructis line, too! So stay tuned for that review, coming up Real Soon Now. Promise!
I don’t generally give purchase information for thumbs-down reviews, but if you’re a glutton for punishment, you can find both of these duds at your local drug or discount department store for pretty dang cheap.
