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Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Review: Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs Makeup Lotion

Review: Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs Makeup Lotion | Sammi the Beauty Buff

Hi, friends! I know back-to-school season is just around the corner for many of you, but there's still a month of summer weather left! Today I wanted to share with you an interesting product that you might want to pair with your skirts and dresses, whether it be in the summer or year-round.  

Have you ever heard of leg makeup? It's like wearing foundation, only for your body. Crazy, right? Not really. Sally Hansen has been making their Airbrush Legs Makeup spray for years, and not too long ago they released a lotion version. Think of it as a temporary self-tanner, foundation, and overall goodness in a tube. 

Review: Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs Makeup Lotion | Sammi the Beauty Buff

About


About SALLY HANSEN:

Since releasing their Hard as Nails clear nail strengthener over fifty years ago, Sally Hansen has expanded their line to include a ton of nail and body products, even dabbling in some cosmetics. If you've been to a drugstore, you've probably seen them taking over the nail polish aisle. 

About Airbrush Legs Makeup Lotion

The Airbrush Legs line is advertised to cover up veins, freckles, and "imperfections." Don't ask me why someone would want to cover up their beautiful freckles, but you do you. It started out as just an aerosol can, but they've recently added a lotion formula.

Other Claims (from Sally Hansen's website):
  • "Helps stimulate microcirculation for healthier and firmer looking legs and feet"
  • "Water and transfer resistant"
  • "Stays fresh and natural looking all day"

Ingredients

Isobutane, Cyclopentasiloxane, Aqua/Water/Eau, PEG/PPG-18/18 Dimethicone, Talc, Polyglyceryl-4 Oleate, C18-36 Acid Triglyceride, Dipropylene Glycol, Propylene Glycol, Panthenol, Silica Silylate, Sodium Chloride, Gluconolactone, Disteardimonium Hectorite, PEG-8 Propylene Glycol Cocoate, Dimethicone, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Propylparaben, Methylparaben, Sodium Benzoate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Hdi/Trimethylol Hexyllactone Crosspolymer, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Oil, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Leaf Extract, Propylene Carbonate, Glycerin, Phenoxyethanol, Calcium Gluconate, Silica, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Ethylparaben, Butylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Palmaria Palmata Extract. May Contain: Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides ( CI 77492, CI 77491, CI 77499), Mica.

* This product does contain talc and plant extracts, for those of you who are sensitive to that sort of thing (though honestly, it's such a small amount that I can't see it bothering anyone). If you're afraid of parabens for whatever reason, they're also in here, and I've put them in bold for your reference.

Review: Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs Makeup Lotion | Sammi the Beauty Buff


Price and Availability 


4oz - Amazon [$11.49], CVS [$13.99], Kmart [$13.99], Walgreens [$13.99], Walmart [$11.33], Ulta [$12.99]

My Experience


The Packaging:

Review: Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs Makeup Lotion | Sammi the Beauty Buff

This is just a sample tube, but the full-size contains four ounces of makeup. Being that your typical tube of foundation contains about one ounce, I'd say that's pretty fair. I can imagine someone getting a good amount of use out of one container.

Being in a tube makes it easy to squeeze the product out. If you're trying to get that last drop out, just do what I do with any tube and cut off the top. There's usually a bit of lotion gathered around the sizes!

I wonder if this product becomes popular enough, they'd consider making a larger version with a pump. I just imagine that'd be easier for application. 

The Stuff Inside: 

Review: Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs Makeup Lotion Swatch | Sammi the Beauty Buff

For a lotion, this stuff is relatively thin. It makes sense, since water is the third ingredient. Not that it's watery pe se, but if you compare it to a typical body lotion, you'd notice this is a lot thinner. It's more like a hybrid between a liquid and a lotion, kind of like a foundation (Whoa!).


My Experience - (I got the shade: Light)

A little about me -- I'm pretty sure someone sends out a memo to all the mosquitos when summer starts, because I get eaten alive. Every. Year. Seriously. My mother says I have "sweet blood." Gross, right? I think I'm allergic, but that's not the point. Anyway, as a result my legs are always covered with marks. I also always have at least one bruise of unknown origin on my legs. Needless to say, they're a hot mess.

I never really minded that there were marks on my legs. I figured, I'm human and that's all there is to it. America will just have to understand if I have bug bites on my legs! But everyone has that thing they're self-conscious about, and for some people, I guess it's marks on their legs.

I could have put a little bit of this on my bug bites to see if it helped them blend in, but to really put this to the test, I used this on my mother's legs instead. 

Review: Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs Makeup Lotion | Sammi the Beauty Buff
Excuse the sock tan--my mom's been rocking sneakers almost all summer

As you can see, my mother has a lot of spider veins, and as she's gotten older, his skin has gotten thinner. She never really seems to mind, but she suggested I try this out on her to see what would happen. This blog has become a family affair--who knew?

Review: Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs Makeup Lotion | Sammi the Beauty Buff

Holy cow, this stuff is pigmented! If you can look past the fact that this doesn't match her skin tone, you'll see it really covered up most of her veining. And she had some pretty intense veins! I'm impressed.

It's also quite matte. If you're looking for a shiny, supermodel finish (think: drenched in baby oil), this is not it. But it doesn't look unnatural, either.

Also, just a note -- make sure to really rub it in when you're applying it. If you're wearing this for real (and not just for a blog post), take your time and make sure this stuff is fully blended in. Trust me.

Review: Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs Makeup Lotion Before & After Swatch | Sammi the Beauty Buff
Before & After

Though, it's clearly obvious that this color does not work for her, and she would look like someone out of the Jersey Shore if she went out like this. My main problem with this product is that this is the lightest shade! The lightest shade, named Light. How is anyone fair supposed to pull this off? This definitely looks more like a Light-Medium to me, at the very least. I don't know what the other skin tones look like, but since there's only five shades, I imagine they're leaving a good chunk of people out (considering undertones, etc). 

With any other foundation, I'd normally just add a bit of moisturizer to lighten it up a bit, but that usually affects the coverage. With this already being such a thin consistency, adding moisturizer will only take away how effective it is. Applying a tinted moisturizer to your legs doesn't seem like something I'd do on the reg', and if it doesn't cover up what I want it to,, then why bother?

The Verdict


Pros: 
  • Great job at covering up (minimizing) spider veins, bruises, bug bites, etc
  • Doesn't rub off onto clothes or furniture
  • Relatively water- and sweat-proof
  • Easily removed in the shower

Cons:
  • Poor shade selection 

In the end, this is a pretty cool product. If you're self-conscious about your legs, or you're going to be taking a lot of photographs of them (again, you do you), I say go for it. Just make sure they have a shade that matches your skin tone.

I don't know about this whole "improving circulation for healthier legs" claim, and although I haven't worn it for a long enough period of time, I'm gonna go ahead and place a guess that it's bogus. I'm sure no one's going out and buying leg makeup for the "long-term" effects anyway.

Maybe you'll want to use this on a special occasion, or maybe you'll like it so much you'll want to use it every day. If you're one of those people that needs/wants to wear stockings (or god forbid, pantyhose--do people still even wear those?) you can still look like you have perfectly polished legs without sweating or being uncomfortable.

At the age of 22, I can't really see myself caring about how vein-free my legs are, but maybe that's something I'll be more sensitive about when I'm older. If you don't care about this kind of product, carry on!

Have you ever tried leg makeup? What do you think? Yay or nay?  



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Disclaimer: I received this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes. This does not affect my opinion of the product in any way. Mad props to my mom for being my assistant!