The Body Shop Shade Adjusting Drops Lightening

četrtek, marec 23, 2017


As much as paleness is promoted to be embraced, there is one little hitch when it comes to deciding to stay pale and not invest the time in either sunbathing or self-tanning - there are only a handful of foundation shades on the market that are actually very light. The companies themselves are almost completely ignoring us pale ladies, so I can only thank some higher force that The Body Shop not only created a product that lightens any foundation formula, but also doesn't make the foundation suck by altering the texture. For years I had to mix my crappy pale foundations (most I own have a lame formula) with my good dark foundations, creating a sort of barely passable mix of textures (but perfect shades) and now I finally have something that works much better. I've already done a complete review of Catrice's Transforming Drops in Lightening, which are the cheaper option, but I advise all porcelain princesses like me to just shell out a bit more and get The Body Shop ones. I had these on my wishlist since I first saw them, but due to The Body Shop being complete dicks we still don't have a (online) shop here (I've been waiting for 10 years already) and it's only thanks to my lovely reader Oana from Not Just Makeup that I finally got my hands on these. 


Texture: These aren't some super light "Catrice HD Liquid Coverage foundation" formula as you might imagine at the name drops. The texture is more like a medium thick liquid foundation which is why the packaging for this formula really isn't good. If you blend them on the skin, they feel a bit thick and set fast, also it's like they don't have a lot of silicones, but none of these characteristics affect the texture of foundation they are being mixed with. By the way these have no scent.


Shade: While they appear white, the trick of these is that they have a slight pastel pink hue. To me that's a genius move, because other white such products I tried made the foundations look almost greyish and strange, while these drops neutralise strong yellow and that is exactly what I need, not just lightening, but also neutralising. I've always mixed my pink foundations with yellow ones to get a neutral undertone, so these drops really were made for me. However, I have one pink foundation, L'Oreal Infallible Matte in Porcelain which obviously mixed with the drops retains its cool tone, so for me a better colour combination is with the yellow Transformer drops by Catrice, but I can still wear it fine with TBS.

Performance: I've been using these pretty much every day since I got them, tried them with all my foundations and these work great. They lighten the foundation significantly with a small amount of product, but even if you add a bit more it still works the same. These don't alter the texture of foundation, nor their finish or their staying power like Catrice's drops do. 


I used a small drop with these foundations for the swatches: 
MILANI Conceal + Perfect 2-in-1 Foundation + Concealer 01 Creamy Vanilla - it makes it a lot more neutral and lightens it for two shades to about NC15-20. I need to use a lot of drops to lighten this one because the shade is so dark and it's still a bit too yellow, but passable. It doesn't affect the texture at all and let me tell you this is one of the most beautiful foundations ever. 
BEYU Nutri Power Foundation 15 - it makes it peachier and lightens it to NC/W15-20. This one is already perfectly wearable for me with the drops.
ESSENCE Instant Matt foundation 10 Matt Ivory - it makes it much less orange and lightens it to NC 15. I intensely dislike this foundation on its own and with the drops.
CATRICE HD Liquid Coverage Foundation 010 Light Beige - makes it slightly pinker and lightens to NC/W15. This combination works a million times better than with Catrice's Transforming Drops. I actually think it makes the foundation itself a bit better.
L'OREAL Infallible 24H Matte Foundation 10 Porcelain - keeps it pink, but lightens it to NW15. The foundation retains its awesome pore hiding abilities and a wearable matte finish. I can wear it despite being pink, but Catrice drops make it more neutral for me (also less matte).
BOURJOIS Healthy Mix Serum foundation 51 Light Vanilla - neutralises the yellow undertone, and makes it a NC10. I only need a tiny amount with this because it can quickly make it too light.
I didn't include it here, but I also mixed it with Bourjois' 123 Perfect CC Cream. Again it lightened it enough to NCW10-15, kept it fairly neutral and didn't affect its natural finish.


Packaging: As much as I love the colour and performance of these drops, I find the packaging remarkably stupid and it makes my morning routine less pleasant. The dropper doesn't really work and it doesn't suck up the product because it's too thick. I end up squeezing the dropper a million times and shaking the bottle like crazy, but more often than not I get nothing, occasionally I get a drop of product. So my method is to scrape the product from the dropper on my hand and only then add foundation. This really needs to be repackaged into a classic foundation bottle with a pump.

Price and availability: These cost 14 € for 15 ml in The Body Shop. It's not terribly expensive considering you don't need that much product at once, but it's not the cheapest. I find it's one of the best investments I've made and it already landed in my All-time favourites.


I really recommend these, especially to those who are struggling to find a pale enough foundation. They are more than capable to lighten foundations for several shades, they don't affect the texture, staying power and they neutralise yellow undertones (the latter might not be such a good thing for those with a strong yellow undertone, keep that in mind as well). But be ready for daily struggles with the bottle. 

Have a great day!

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13 comments

  1. I'm surprised at how much they seem to lighten foundations with such a little amount. They seem like a good option but they obvious pink tone always put me off of trying them myself.

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    1. They should really make a yellow version too, I'd love to have both since I have dark foundations with both undertones. These are really good for lightening and even though it's pink, foundations with a strong undertone like Milani's and Bourjois' will retain most of the original undertone.

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  2. This is so good to know as a Scot haha, I'm forever struggling to find a decent shade to match my skin tone! Your blog's so cute too, followed on BlogLovin' :)
    hannah ♡ hannxo

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    1. I feel you :) They recently stopped selling even those few very light shades we have here, so I can only order online and pray it fits me. Thank you <3

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  3. Jooj tole bi mogli pri nas imeti. Škoda, ker je težje dosegljiv izdelek.

    OdgovoriIzbriši
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    1. Yup, tole pa nujno rabimo. Upam, da mogoče L'Orelov začne prodajat podoben izdelek kdaj v bližnji prihodnosti, ker TBS je itak v bistvu njihov.

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  4. Odlična ocena, kot vedno. <3 Itak me mikajo, samo ne vem kako bi bil ta roza podton. Jaz sem sicer malo manj rumena čez hladne mesece, poleti pa sem spet bolj kot ne olivna. Samo tista vmesna faza je rumena. Vsekakor grejo na wishlisto. :)
    Bi mi bilo ljubše, če bi bila embalaža enaka Catrice. Tisto doziranje mi je všeč.

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    1. Hvala :) Ja, zate niso ravno idealne, ker izbijajo rumen podton, ampak pri močnih podtonih ti še vedno ostane dovolj rumene. Morali bi imeti še rumeno verzijo, ker tele so res odlične. Ti bi z njimi zagotovo še lahko nosila Milanijev puder brez problema.
      Embalažo morajo pa nujno zamenjat!

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  5. Amazing article,ive used some of the products mentioned with incredible results,
    I would recomend it to anyone

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  6. Če bi imeli še verzijo z rumenim podtonom, bi jih takoj kupila. In ravno s tega razloga me zanima bolj Nyxov Pro Foundation Mixer, ker mi na swatchih zgleda čisto bel :D

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    Odgovori
    1. Upam, da jih kdaj dodajo, bi tudi mene mikale :) Za tega od Nyx pa prvič slišim, sem pa imela druge bele izdelke za mešat in jih naredijo kar malo sivkaste, zato sem vedno raje mešala z drugimi pudri, da sem dobila še dosti naraven odtenek.

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  7. Tole pa res izgleda super! Catrice me namreč niso nekaj navdušile, bom ob naslednjem izletu v tujino zagotovo "pofirbcala" za njimi!

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    1. S temi se pa res zelo zadovoljna, razen butaste embalaže. Od Catrice pa upam, da jih izboljšajo.

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