As a Professional Makeup Artist, I often get invited to help promote makeup lines and give makeovers to their clients. This is a great opportunity for me to try out makeup on myself (I get free makeup samples prior to the event) as well as see how it reacts on others. Recently, I was hired by the owner of a Merle Norman Studio for such an event.

She gave me a sample of what she called Merle Norman's best selling foundation, LUXIVA Face the Day Creme-To-Powder Makeup. She told me that it was for all skin types. This product boasts a smooth, flawless, matte powder finish. When I got the product home and tried to apply it, it felt very gritty, almost like I was trying to rub sand or salt onto my face. The coverage wasn't good at all and it did not "set" on the face very nicely. When I looked in the mirror after application it just looked, well......bad. I could actually still see the granule-like spheres of pigment just sitting there going, "hey, we're those tiny little granule thingies you were just talking about and we're just gonna like sit here and annoy you all day."

Now, because this was the best selling foundation according to this particular Merle Norman Studio, I was asked to use this product on the clients that came in the next day for their makeovers. Thinking postive, as I always do....(ummmm, okay) I went ahead and tried to use this product. It did the same thing to everyone - oily complexions, dry complexions, it didn't matter. As a professional, I take pride in my work and just couldn't allow these poor women to go the rest of the day with this on their faces. So, I opted to use Merle Norman's liquid foundation and a separate powder. This gave a much more even, cleaner look.

I would not recommend this product to any skin type because of its texture and coverage; however, if you are an avid user of those creme to powder formulations, then this product would be for you!

P.S. Merle Norman has some great colors in their line of lipsticks!