A Golden Look for Max Factor Creme Puff Pressed Powder

Max Factor has been around for as long as I could remember. Back in the time when we were still kids and not allowed to play with makeup, we would often find ourselves sneaking to our mom's or grandma's dresser and probably seen familiar Max Factor compacts. It may have been applied to us on school presentations when our teachers would do our makeup or during flower girl days. Well I learned last Saturday when I saw the new Max Factor counter in Landmark Trinoma that this brand has actually been around for 60 years! Wow! It's practically been that long already and so well-established, generations and generations of women have been users of it.

Although the brand has been in around for quite a long time, it still continues to keep itself updated so it still has an appeal with the younger generation while keeping its classic allure that make the loyal users for decades keep sticking to it. A classic product, The Creme Puff Pressed Powder gets restaged and relaunched to fit the modern woman - packaging and all.

The Creme Puff was originally created for movie stars to hide spots and imperfections with that perfect coverage and still natural finish so it's like Hollywood skin is just gorgeous like that. Which therefore, makes it like the awesomest staple in the everyday life's makeup kit. This is the same product that has been around since 1953 but it is given a fabulous makeover in a golden case with that classic scent.


The Creme Puff (heehee I know, sounds like the dessert) is a pressed powder, which can be used over liquid foundation, tinted moisturizer, and CC or BB cream to set. It can also be toted for touch-ups during the day to matt out shine, because yes, we do shine up at the middle of the day. Since this is pressed instead of loose, there's less chance of messy purses from loose powder spills.

There are 7 shades available. I swatched the product and it doesn't quite interfere with makeup color, so I can recommend for a MUA to get a few of the medium shades to use for touch ups for both bride and groom. At Php 575, it costs almost half of the more expensive touch-up powders and performs quite as well.

Although this comes with a velvety powder puff, I like using a fluffy brush in applying this for professional use. I have the Creme Puff in Translucent, which is pretty much a safe color to start of with for makeup artists. It doesn't interfere with the makeup color so it's pretty much universal. It mattifies makeup without that Happy Foundation Day look, which can make makeup less obvious for males.

The scent though, is one thing that can be a con with this product. There are some clients who may not like the perfumed scent . According to users though, it only stays for a good 10 minutes until it fades off. It may work for others, it may not for some, especially if the wearer has sensitive skin. In that case, have your regular unscented plan B powders in hand if you are a makeup artist.

Performance-wise, overall I think it's great to have in my kit as a makeup artist and I would also use this in my travel bag when I go on trips and wouldn't want to look shiny come photo-taking. For my pro bag though, I must keep a spare unscented compact in case my client is sensitive. But for the price it has, maybe I'll get another lighter shade for highlight.

Vie and Vault Makeup For Ronnie and Alex

Another makeup challenge faced my way when I collaborated with two of my Pole Tiger friends when they competed for this year's Vie and Vault Asian Pole Championship. Last year, I was one of the finalists. I took backstage work this year doing two of my friend's makeup when they competed. Unlike beauty and bridal, this one is a bit more challenging. since it involved character makeup and conceptual makeup.

Alex and Ronnie are two of my Pole Tiger friends who do awesomely at pole. Alex gives out very soulful performances in our pole flow class solos (I got teary-eyed in his version of Hiram) and he's also super strong and flexible. Ronnie has awesome endurance, strength, and has no fear when it comes to all buwis-buhay tricks. I was excited for them and even on the eve of the competition, I was feeling all jittery and nervous as if I was one of the contestants.

For Alex, he would be dancing to the song Baliw by Kuh Ledesma. He wanted just clean makeup with emphasis on the eyes, enhancement with intensity. The peg was the look of the tomcats in Stellar 3. After usual clean guy makeup, I lined his eyes with kohl and extended them with gel liner and contoured his eyes for a tad of smokiness. 

Ronnie danced to a song he's been wanting to dance to : Magical Mr. Mistoffelees from the Broadway musical, Cats. His makeup would be more challenging since it would literally involve face-erasing techniques. I did my research in tutorials, watched the video like probably more than twenty times, and asked around MUA friends for makeup to withstand tricks, flips, and stage lights. Thanks to Oliver who lent me his Ben Nye Clown White palette and eyebrow-erasing techniques and Jinky who tipped me on Ben Nye color wheels, I was able to come up with his Mr. Mistoffelees look.

I did a bit of tweaking by adding a bit of blue to the eyes to match the hat, enhancing the jawline with more stripes (a suggestion by Oliver, which made the look more mischievous) and dusting glitter on the face for sparkle, since Mr. Mistoffelees is a magical kitty. Im glad it turned out almost like the one in Broadway (we had to do our own version to fit pole dance competitions) and Ronnie was practically unrecognizable the next day when he arrived at the Adam Tan workshop without his magical sparkly cat makeup. 

They did amazingly and I was super proud of them. For me they already all are winners. :) Added bonus for this day too, was when the winners were called out: Ronnie won best costume and styling as well as the champion title for the Amateur division!

I told them that my goal is that they would have to curse me when it comes to makeup removal or still have a bit of eyeliner up to the next day. My brushes also had white makeup on them even after three rounds of brush cleanser. Well, that's stage makeup.

A photo op with the two! Hugs from this kitty to you! Look, I even wore a tiger shirt to support! I believe that they both started pole just barely a year ago, I think, and they've grown so much stronger, with the grace to match. You both made me laugh and cry at the same time, but I still give you lots of hugs and love.  This was already pushing past 10 pm. Glad makeup stayed put with performances, cheering, and all that.  Happy to live the Vie and Vault experience once more, even if it was just lending a hand in makeup or cheering backstage. Would I be back onstage next year? Let's see. Congratulations to everyone - winners, competitors, and organizers. Loves and purrs to all!