Thursday, November 28, 2013

Fig & Watermelon

When Tarazz held a $10 flat rate shipping from Sephora a few months ago, I couldn't resist placing an order with a friend. Among the items I purchased was this BECCA Beach Tint Duo, consisting of 2 x 4ml tubes of their Beach Tints in Fig and Watermelon (the full size is 7ml). Apparently the duo is a Sephora exclusive, making it seem like a worthwhile addition to my cart given how arduous it normally is to ship from the US Sephora website to Australia. (I may have also been swayed by Liz's review on them.) The set was just over $20 which I found to be decent value for money, considering the regular size retails for $42 a piece and the amount of product in each is close to an Illamasqua cream blush (4.5g) or Stila Convertible Color (4.25g).









l-r: Becca Fig, Revlon Soft Nude, NARS Biscayne Park, Illamasqua Zygomatic, NARS Douceur


I'd read reviews of how light Fig was, but I took a gamble and hoped it would show up on my skin. No such luck. My attempt at something approximating a cheek swatch shows how barely detectable the colour is. It's not completely invisible, but it's more or less negligible in terms of any effect that you'd normally want blush to give, and blends out into nothingness. It leaves a slight pinkish brown tint, but mainly just looks like extremely subtle shading or the faintest tan. I originally suspected it would be nearly identical to Illamasqua Zygomatic, but Zygomatic actually can be seen on the cheek and is darker, pinker and dewier.


l-r: Becca Watermelon, Revlon Soft Rose, Napoleon Perdis 'Color' from the Ultimate Contour Palette, Bourjois Rose Éclat, Illamasqua Naked Rose


Watermelon is on the opposite end of the spectrum to Fig. This one is hella pigmented. You really need only the tiniest amount, otherwise it's easy to put on too much and risk looking ruddy. It leans quite red against my skin tone, which is a colour I usually try to avoid when it comes to blushes. This is what I imagine a red-leaning blush like Tarte Natural Beauty would look like on me, except Watermelon might be more berry pink than classic red. While it might not be my favourite colour, at least it provides more variety to my blush collection and a change of scenery from the "peachy pinks" that tend to dominate it.


I tried two coats of both shades on the lips and wasn't particularly impressed with the results. I found them to be surprisingly very drying. Once the product sets, it turns from thin, emollient and slippery in texture, to a matte cream, almost what I imagine the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams would be like. Once it turns matte, it starts to become quite flaky, accentuating dry patches and unevenness. It was difficult to get even coverage as the product is so thin and lightweight but easily spreadable. I just felt it was sliding around everywhere and application was extremely patchy when I used my fingers. The problem isn't as bad when applying the Beach Tint on the cheeks, but I still don't find them as forgiving and easy to work with as other cream formulas. I think the trick is to use minuscule amounts spread as evenly as possible in thin layers, gradually building up to achieve your desired pigmentation.

Fig was too light on my cheeks and on my lips was terribly unexciting. Watermelon reminded me so much of Revlon ColorBurst lipstick in Soft Rose and sure enough, they swatched almost identically. Watermelon is just a touch more muted and subdued compared with the more pigmented and opaque Soft Rose. The texture and application issues don't encourage me to favour these Beach Tints as a lip colour over the multitude of proper lipsticks or lip crayons I have that are similar in shade. While they're marketed as a "crème stain", they weren't at all staining on the lips and could be completely removed with a tissue, as if all the product was merely sitting on top of the lips, ready to be wiped off.

Another strange thing I noticed was my tube of Fig had these sparse, tiny black granules in it, visible when I squeezed a small amount out, that made it weirdly grainy. I have absolutely no idea what they were or whether it was a product defect, but it did little to ignite my enthusiasm.

Much like the BECCA Eye Tints, my overall experience with these Beach Tints was underwhelming. On the plus side, I do like the candy/fruity scent and the packaging is both novel, convenient, hygienic and aesthetically pleasing. But Fig is a nonevent and Watermelon is passable, but not really my thing. While I do watch the odd video or read a blog post featuring these Beach Tints in a way that makes me think "what am I doing wrong?", I just haven't found myself warming up to them or utilising them to their full potential.

18 comments:

  1. Oh nooo, too bad they didn't live up to the expectation..I think watermelon is a pretty shade! unfortunately fig is too pale to appear on the skin, and the black granules O___O hopefully it is not anything funky.. I have never tried anything from Becca, but I'm in general not very keen on lip/cheek tints, because I think they're a bit of hassle to apply which is an oxymoron since they're usually advertised to be the easier version of conventional blush/lipstick.

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  2. I had zero luck with these too! Glad to hear I'm not alone as I've also often wondered what I'm doing wrong. luluisloving.wordpress.com

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  3. I haven't tried these but I had wanted to, now I'm not so sure. I think Fig may work well on my skintone but I could only use it as a blush as I think I would have the same issues as you for using it on my lips.

    Lovely colours though it's just a shame they didn't work for you :(

    A Little Boat Sailing

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  4. When I saw this on my feed I tought "oh another really wonderful product to try out", but I guess there is no such luck with these two...
    I've heard really good reviews on their blushes and facial primer - specially the one that's it's target to oily skin. I'll be taking this out of my wishlist after all. The best tints so far to me, are the Japanese and Korean ones. I have a smal version of benetint and I'm super disapointed with him. Although, I want to try out the The Body Shop tint because it looks more pigmented compared to benefit's tint (also, I believe it has a more gelly consistency, ove the liquid one from benefit).

    Oh, and I've heard from Lisa Eldridge that, the tint from Shu Uemura is also really nice! (she talked about the one from their Holiday collection. Sadly Shu Uemura isn't available in my country :c )

    Please take care, have a nice day!*
    beauty-with-love.blogspot.com

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  5. I hear SUCH mixed reviews on these beach tints but I think yours has finally pushed me to one side… yuck. They look super unpleasant on the lips and Fig is nearly transparent on your cheeks :/ HOWEVER, I must say, Watermelon looks fantastic on your cheeks; really it looks truly lovely. Such a shame that these were underwhelming overall. I'd probably feel the exact same way about them (though, truth be told, I've never been a big fan of products that can be used on both lips and cheeks).

    ♥Cassie
    thriftthick.blogspot.com

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  6. Aw man that's such a bummer! They're expensive and they looked nice too!


    jesselynnn.blogspot.com //FANCYTHEE

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  7. Gorgeous as a blush! =) I have tried the tints as lip products but it was drying for me as well!

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  8. They do look lovely but sucks that they were a bit mleh! I doubt these would even show up on me, ha!

    Halima

    Fashionicide | Manchester Fashion & Beauty Blog

    xo

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  9. They look really promising, and I love every Becca product I've tried so far! Shame they were underwhelming xx


    Gemma | Miss Makeup Magpie

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  10. Thanks for the shout out and I'm sorry you're not liking the Beach Tints as much as expected. I'm lucky that Watermelon suits my skin tone so well. It's funny that it doesn't show up on my lips at all though! I do like the texture though and find it super easy to work with, with fingers, not brushes. I guess your perfect shade is somewhere between Fig and Watermelon, go figure. :<

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  11. thanks for your review. i wanted to order this cause the tiny tubes seemed perfect for my makeup habit(?) and the set is quite affordable, but maybe i won't after all. ;)

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    1. Haha ... makeup habit - that I can relate to ;) I don't know, maybe you'll get along better with this duo than I did. At least it wasn't overly expensive, though I wish I liked it more. So far my experience of Becca as a brand has been largely underwhelming which is a shame since so many people seem to love their products! I read your review of their Shimmering Skin Perfector and surprisingly it wasn't an outright rave like everything I'd encountered before.

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  12. As I was reading this post I was hopeful that somehow it worked for the lips instead of the cheeks or vice versa. I've never tried Becca products and it's too bad these haven't quite worked out for you. Although the only thing I'm sure is that if you do get the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams, you'd definitely get an even and smooth application as compared to these. They may emphasize dryness but if your lips are kept in good condition, then you'll be fine. I've been wearing mine a lot since I got it :P

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    1. I haven't tried NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams but maybe it's just a matter of time, especially since NYX recently launched in Target here in Australia. I'm sure they'd fare a lot better than these Becca Beach Tints. I really wasn't expecting them to be so dry on the lips but I was pretty disappointed when I found out they were as even if they didn't work on the cheeks, I was thinking they would be multipurpose at least and be decent lip colours.

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  13. I've been tempted by these for a long time but it's such a shame they don't live up to expectations. I think I'll give them a miss!

    Jennie xo | sailorjennie.com

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  14. So sorry to hear that it really was such a bummer! I can't believe there is no show up at all with that first shade which looks lovely on its own! And on the lips, it seems so dry! That's so strange as most of their products are well raved about! Thanks for letting us know!

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