Fail or Holy Grail Review: Dermal Cover Camouflage Makeup

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be talking about Dermal Cover Camouflage Makeup! Dermal Cover is an New Zealand based company that specialises in Camouflage Makeup, and I decided to purchase one of their samples after being matched at a Beauty Expo!

"Cosmetic camouflage creams were first developed by plastic surgeons during World War II to cover the burns received by fighter pilots. Nowadays men, women and children can use cosmetic camouflage to conceal abnormalities. Cosmetic camouflage can improve the quality of life significantly. Improved self-esteem creates a sense of personal well-being.

Although camouflage will not restore your skin to an even texture, it will conceal discolouration and blend in with the surrounding unaffected skin to create a natural look.

Camouflage makeup is thicker and more opaque with more pigment than regular foundation makeup. It effectively covers healed incision lines from surgery, scars, bruises and discolouration on your face or body. Camouflage makeup products are usually creamy and come in a variety of shades to match the colour of the skin.

The Difference between Camouflage Products and decorative Cosmetics

- Camouflage is Waterproof. You can swim in Camouflage makeup safe in the knowledge that it won’t wash off. Gently pat or air dry the camouflaged area when it becomes wet as rubbing with a towel will remove the camouflage.
- Camouflage is long lasting. It can remain in place up to 6-12 hours on facial skin and up to 2 days on the trunk or limbs.
- Camouflage creams can be easily mixed to provide a good colour match.
- If necessary, decorative oil free cosmetics can be applied over the set camouflage area.
- Camouflage makeup contains ultra-violet sun-protecting properties with SPF15
- Oil free sun protection can also be applied under or over the camouflage
- Topical medication can be applied under camouflage makeup
- Camouflage makeup can be removed and immediately re-applied with no adverse effects."(1)

Dermal Cover Camouflage Cream is  a dermatologically tested makeup product for covering and concealing skin irregularities. It is waterproof when set with a finishing powder and has UV protection to SPF15.

Choose the shade that matches your natural skin colour from the colour palette below*. If you are unsure of the colour you need, you can purchase a small sample tester kit that includes all the colours so that you can first match with your skin tone. Make sure you are matching with the skin immediately around the area you wish to cover as skin tone can vary from one part of the body to another."(2)

Paradise Beach is quite a good colour match for me! It's slightly on the pinky side, but this is the closest match for my neck and face. I purchased one of the small tester pots which cost $30 for 3 grams of product (which is insanely expensive might I add) and it came with a small pot of translucent setting powder. According to my consultant, I must use this setting powder when using this cream product. In all honesty you can just use a regular translucent powder, there's nothing special about this powder (especially considering the price of $65 for  grams!).

I bought this product to conceal my birthmark. Don't get me wrong, I don't care at all about my birthmark, it's a little something that makes me me, and I'm not ashamed of it! There have been awkward times like when the hairdresser spent 15minutes trying to clean it off thinking it was dye, or when children ask me if I left food on my face, so it's nice to have an option to hide it if I want to.

My birthmark is classified as a Café-au-Lait birthmark, (coffee with milk) and is a quite light brown colour! This type of birthmark often grows abnormal amounts of hair and mine is no exception, I have a thorough hair removal regime to follow, because my natural hair is very dark, it makes my birthmark appear much darker (I can't fix my ear hair, it's just too hard).

This Dermal Cover Camouflage Makeup is super thick and really quite difficult to blend evenly. It tends to get quite thick and chunky which isn't overly natural, but it has amazing coverage and lightens my birthmark substantially with one layer. I realistically need three layers of this product to sufficiently camouflage my birthmark, but it's still not 100% covered

Three layers of this cream product looks extremely cakey, it's impossible to get the coverage even for me as my birthmark runs down the side of my jaw, my eyes don't quite go that far! Because there is so much product on my face, it's really easy to smudge this with my hands, my hair can also leave streaky marks in it.

From a distance you can't see the cakiness of this product which is great! But as soon as you get within talking distance you can see it. I would definitely use this product for an evening event where I want to have my hair up and don't want to be bothered by questions, but it's really no good for any hot weather, day time lighting or when I want to wear my hair down.

What I Love

- Covers 90% of my birthmark

- Close to my skintone (slightly pinky)

What I Don't Love

- Super pricey at $72 

- Hard to blend and apply evenly

- Smudges throughout the day

- Looks really cakey and unnatural (in comparison to the rest of my face)

- The finishing powder is nothing special, not really waterproofing

Final Thoughts

My first bone to pick with Dermal Cover is the price of the sample! Why on earth does it cost $30 for 3grams of product and then $72 for 20grams? One gram should cost $3.60 making a 3gram sample size a mere $10.80 rather than $30. I just don't think this product is good enough for me to purchase full size because it doesn't quite cover my birthmark effectively, and it also still looks different in comparison to the rest of my face because it looks so cakey. It's not a terrible product and I'll definitely keep using this little sample pot when I go out for night time events, but I won't purchase this full size because it's just not worth the price at all.

I would recommend this product to any Princesses who want amazing coverage for light birthmarks or any acne scarring, but be prepared for high prices and quite cakey coverage.