I am sooo psyched that Asian drugstore brand Za Cosmetics (parented by Shiseido) has returned to Philippine shores, the global mega brand once made waves locally in the 90s but it was shortlived, there was even a TV ad on MTV, but frankly, we were just not as interested back then. Mom and I are particularly fond of Za’s base products, especially their 2-Way foundation compact and she would ask me to buy this for her in either Hong Kong or Singapore back then before we discovered the IN2IT compact locally. I was invited as a blogger to attend the Za launch yesterday at SM Aura and I did come away with a couple of freebies but to avail of the 20% off discount I did make one purchase, especially after trying this out at the makeup station. I simply just…could…not…resist owning yet another liquid foundation, but like we all do, I have my reasons. By the way, the name True White I think sucks because in no way is this going to make you “white” don’t worry about that, it just provides coverage and UV protection. Think of it this way…Chanel Vitalumiere/YSL Touche Eclat foundation dupe for Php595? After the 20% discount offer I got it for Php476 at the launch.
“Achieves a pearly white finish…” (not really but that’s okay, coz that’s not the point naman) with Bright White Complex and Vitamins C & E
You get 30ml of product in a glass bottle (which reminds me of the Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation bottle) with a pump. I have a love-hate relationship with foundations that contain SPF, but this one I truly like. During the daytime you can be ever so glad foundations with UV protection provide it, but come nighttime any foundation with an SPF level above 20 is a high risk for facial flashback in photos with flash, at 25 though it’s possible that this might still be okay. My Shiseido perfect refining foundation that was SPF24 didn’t give me problems. Za Cosmetics makes wonderful Asian skin shades for light to medium complexions, they offer a more neutral series of shades that begin with “P” and the spot on yellow undertoned shades that begin with “O”. My current shade in this is OC20 which is like a fair medium (looks like a MAC NC30 shade in the bottle but after a few minutes oxidizes/deepens to an NC35) but in a week or two when my slight tan fades I’ll be an OC10 which will oxidize and settle to a MAC NC30 shade. Given that I have normal skin that isn’t oily I’m blessed with the flexibility and option to use dewy foundations, if I don’t want to have as much sheen I simply lightly powder over the T-zone with some blot powder or translucent setting powder. In these photos however I don’t have any powder on.
This is how I look like with the foundation on in a dim room on a cloudy day, by the window. The coverage on this foundation is light to medium and matches the texture of Revlon’s Nearly Naked foundation which I tested when I was in Europe. There is some detectable shimmer in this but it’s tastefully part of the mix. At first when I was shooting for this I was a little bit frustrated with the lighting at home, when the sun hid behind the clouds it got pretty dim. The foundation’s lovely finish still came out okay on camera though as you can see above and I was like “Great, it’s nice”…and then SUDDENLY (cue Mr. Bean)…the sun filled the room and I was even more beside myself with glee. Brace yourself…
Holy wow…I nearly gasped at myself or er…the finish when I finally cropped the photo and after matching the colors to real life. I’m also wearing the Za Plumper Lips lipcolor in Rose Vintage which is best described as something like the Clarins Instant Light Perfector lipglosses in lipstick form or glorified, sheeny lip butters. Heart, heart, heart. I’ve got no highlighter nor contour on here but Za’s True White Liquid foundation provides enough dewy definition so I can skip excessive contouring or highlighting.