Almay At-A-Glance
Strengths: An excellent assortment of foundations with sunscreen; very good powders, liquid eyeliner, lip pencil, and mascaras; inviting and well-organized in-store displays.
Weaknesses: Company discontinued all of their skin-care products; despite their hypoallergenic claims they still included potentially irritating and sensitizing ingredients; mediocre blush and eyeshadows; lipsticks with sunscreen that do not provide sufficient UVA protection.
Long a standby for those with sensitive skin seeking hypoallergenic products (though that term is unregulated and can be applied to any product, regardless of ingredients), Almay continues to refine its comprehensive makeup line. In early 2006 the company
repackaged its old favorites, and also relaunched several new makeup items. Everything now has a sleek new look and color-coded packaging. I admit, the makeover is effective, not just product-wise but visually too.
Shopping this drugstore line is now much easier because of the clearly defined product and color family groupings. Lamentably, testers and
trial sizes of the makeup are still scarce regardless of where you shop. Almay has always been a reliable line for foundations, powder, lipstick, and mascara. Within its current lineup you’ll find that remains true, though not without some new caveats (for unknown reasons, peppermint oil made its way into their lipstick and lip gloss, which isn’t helpful
for lips). The good news is that their foundations are better than ever, and still offer full, broad-spectrum sun protection and a mostly neutral palette. I also found their concealers and mascaras have improved, as have the pencil options. When it comes to shopping for makeup staples with state-of-the-art formulas, Almay has many winners, and some
innovative surprises that its competitors would be wise to learn from.
For more information about Almay, owned by Revlon, call (800) 992-5629 or visit
www.almay.com.