A little while back Revlon sent me a bunch of their foundations to try along with the most thoughtful press pack ever. It included a Woolworths’ gift card (so I could go binge drink W Cafe’s Chai lattes) and two of my favourite treats – yoghurt-covered dried mango and Reese’s Pieces.

You have no idea how much I love Reese’s Pieces. I always buy the family bag when I spot it in airports, promise I won’t open it on the plane and inevitably do. I then swear blind that I’ll only have ‘a few’ but, come touch down I’m almost always minute away from a diabetic coma. Come to think of it, this is probably why I could sit through all of Adam Sandler’s Blended, probably the worst in-flight movie I’ve seen in years.

Anyhoo, let’s get back to the foundation shall we?

I didn’t get to try the powder foundation – it was way too light for me – but found all the ‘Sand Beige’ shades worked well enough with my skin. In fact, I could even probably go a bit darker. As it is, I like my foundations with a bit of a yellow-tone to them.

Of all the foundations I tried, these are my thoughts.

Revlon ColorStay make-up for Combination/Oily skin SPF 15, R215, Spree.co.za

Of the three fluid foundations, this baby’s the lightest in that it feels the least viscous and offers the sheerest coverage. In saying that, the coverage isn’t ‘sheer’ or ‘light’ – you’re still in medium coverage territory here. Being an oily-skinned girl, this would be a good pick for me, but I’d rather choose ColorStay Active and I’ll explain why if you read on. I also wasn’t in love with its twist-off cap and large ‘neck’ that made pouring a little tricky. It also ended up leaking all over my make-up bag. Bleh.

Revlon ColorStay Stay Active make-up mattifying SPF 25, R249, Red Square.

Despite all being called ‘Sand Beige’ each colour was slightly different to the other and I found ColorStay Active’s version the most yellow which warmed up my face and gave me a healthy-looking glow. Big brownie points right there. I also liked the texture. It was slightly less ‘fluidy’ than the combo/oily option but still super easy to spread and served up the teensiest, tiniest bit more coverage. You’re also getting almost double the SPF protection and, to top it all off, it’s packaged in a pump bottle. Yay!

Revlon ColorStay Stay Natural make-up for Normal/Dry skin SPF 15, R249, Red Square.

This is supposed to be more hydrating than the other foundations, making it more suitable to those with drier skin types but, to be honest, I could wear it with ease if I wanted to. Even when I wear the more oil-absorbant foundations, I still have to touch up my T-panel with the odd blotting powder/oil-blotting paper application so I might as well do the same for this boy. In short, I found it served up very nice medium-weight coverage.

Revlon ColorStay Whipped Creme make-up SPF 20, R195, Spree.co.za.

Ooh la la! This light airy mousse texture is lovely in that it’s rather buildable, so you can choose your level of coverage, and very easy to spread. Then, once it’s set, it sits vas just like the others do. For some reason, it’s moussey texture made me think it might rub off on my clothes but it totally doesn’t. I also like that the colour doesn’t look ‘flat’. There’s a bit of mica in here to create a super slight reflect which kind of lifts things a little. The big ole’ negative here is the enormous clunky glass jar packaging. My make-up bag is heavy enough as it is and this dude’s so ‘weighty’ I honestly feel like, if I hit someone over the head with him, I could totally kill them. As a result of the packaging ish, I’d usually pass this item on to a friend. But something stops me every time ‘cos the formula’s just that lekker.

Now tell me, which ColorStay foundation is your favourite?

Love, love

Leigh