I’ve been playing with cosmetics ever since I was a little Irish dancer, and my face has worn it all. While I’m pretty indifferent about where I find my eyeliner and lip gloss, I’m extremely picky about where I buy foundation. Although this makes me sound like a makeup snob, in my experience, cheaper foundation does a poor job of evening out my skintone and turns orange-y over the course of a day. That being said, I was a bit apprehensive about trying Almay Smart Shades makeup. However, I was pleasantly surprised… it really does work!

What Smart Shades promises is the equivalent of magic, in my book. In its commercial, the company claims that the product, although white when applied to the skin, transforms to match your skintone after being blended in. After hearing about it, I couldn’t possibly believe this cosmetic phenomenon without trying it firsthand! Fortunately, Almay was kind enough to send us at Lovelyish some samples, and I was able to perform a little makeup experiment.

So you get the full effect of how well this product works, I present to you a “before” picture of my face, prior to the foundation application. I have some sunburn and so my skintone is a bit more uneven, so I think I was making it a little more difficult for this “smart” foundation. I chose the “light” shade, the palest of the three color options.


When I first applied the product to my face, I was surprised at how pale it really was. It was almost white, with little black dots in it. Despite the dots, which I thought would have an exfoliating effect, the cream went on very smoothly. I was pretty apprehensive, though, thinking that there was no way that this was going to blend in with my skin color!


To my surprise, though, the product blended in very well! Here are some “after” pictures of my skin post-foundation, so you can see the difference. I’m noticing now that I didn’t blend it in as much as I should have around my eye, but the rest of it worked out pretty well:



While I would definitely use this as a light makeup for everyday wear, there are a few tips I would recommend to anyone who uses this product:

  • While it held up fairly well throughout the day, I would recommend using a light coat of face powder for extra-long lasting power
  • This is great for evening out skin tone, but not so great for concealing blemishes or other problem areas. It isn’t as thick as most foundations, but evens out skin tone and has SPF protection. If you have a zit or two you want to keep hidden, though, I would dot a bit of concealer on them after applying this product
  • Blend, blend, blend! Be sure to blend very well while using this product

All in all, I would definitely recommend this product! For the low price of $10, it is definitely worth the money.


Have any Lovelies tried Almay Smart Shade makeup? Would you be willing to try it now?