030. Evan Healy, The Crown
A brand new YouTube video on the entire Evan Healy cosmetics line and celebrating Season 4 of ‘The Crown’
Hi! I’m Maggie, and welcome to Tender Forms Off-Camera: a weekly newsletter about slow beauty and slow living. If you enjoy and would like to support this newsletter, click the button below! No pressure but thank you if you do.
For the past month and a half, I’ve been using the Evan Healy cosmetics line. They launched back in September, and I was one of their lucky giveaway winners! The giveaway was extremely generous, including multiple shades within a product category. I’m so happy to finally share both my review and a new YouTube video!
If you’re already a YouTube subscriber, thank you so much for always being so patient. Though I never mean to take so long, a lot of love gets poured into these YouTube videos; I wish I could just make this my full-time job! And if you’d like to subscribe (it would really help me out), you can use the button below!
You can see all the details and swatches in the video, but I thought I’d supplement with a few more in-depth thoughts in today’s newsletter. *A heads up that all items mentioned and shown were either won in the giveaway or gifted by the brand.
Tinted Oil Serum Foundation* ($29.95, 1floz | 30ml)
If I had to choose a favorite from the line, it would have to be this foundation. They did it right:
Silky finish
7 ingredients
Customizable
Blends like a dream
Skin-like finish
Affordable
Recyclable packaging
I’m currently using shade 25, though I’ve started mixing in a bit of shade 15 to match my quickly paling skin from lack of sun. I want to share a little background on how I shade match because it’s a bit quirky. My face is darker and more golden than the rest of my body. Thus, I’m usually looking for lighter shades to balance it out with my neck and hands. Because my body is cooler than my face, that also means I tend to go for neutral to cooler shades. Luckily, with physical SPFs, there’s usually some degree of a white cast, so I’ll dial up or down foundation depending on the SPF. At first glance, shade 25 is too warm for me. But I’ve been using the Sundaze SPF, which has a significant white cast leaving me paler and cooler than usual so that mixed with a light layer of shade 25 is perfect. In the rare case where I wouldn’t have to wear SPF, a light layer of shade 15 works excellent. If you have a hard time shade matching like I do, I highly recommend getting samples of the foundation first ($2.50 each).
Color Balm* ($19.95, 0.17oz | 5g)
I have three of the four shades of their color balm: Sibyl, Vintner, and Medina. It’s impossible for me to choose a favorite. Trust me, I’ve tried. I’m not sure how, but I love all three equally. While these shades aren’t groundbreaking, I think it’s their collective traits that I’ve fallen deeply for. They’re pigmented, have a great ingredient list, and the undertones are fantastic, meaning they should work across a variety of skin tones. There’s at least one shade for everyone here. You’ll recognize Sibyl from last week’s newsletter, a sophisticated mauve brown. Vintner gives that berry, cheery stain look, with superfine shimmer, so it comes across as radiance instead of glitter. Medina is that sumptuous terracotta brown.
This is a dupe for the caramel brown Moment RMS Beauty Lip Shine. I much prefer Evan Healy’s over RMS’ because the scent is much better. Evan Healy’s smells of faint sweet citrus, whereas RMS smells like oils (more cooking oils than skincare oils). The color balms’ texture is less balmy and emollient, making the wear time excellent, and without flyaway strands of hair getting stuck (my one major gripe with the RMS ones). I also equate it to my beloved Bobbi Brown Camel eyeshadow color. And it’s equally lovely on the cheeks and lips, which I didn’t expect!
I should note all three of these are stunning on eyes, cheeks, or lips. I love the shades they came out with and I think they’re a much more affordable version of the (M)anasi7 All-Over Colours. The shades are as sophisticated, but I prefer both the texture and price of these Evan Healy color balms. Plus, the consistency of formulation and texture between the shades are identical, whereas the (M)anasi7 can be a grab bag. They both have short period-after-opening life spans of 6 months. But I don’t mind with Evan Healy because I love the simple yet outstanding ingredient list. And the price leaves no guilt-trip if I don’t finish it in time.
Glow Balm* ($19.95, 0.17oz | 5g)
I’m not much of a highlighter person, but I do love that Evan Healy’s Luna glow balm is an excellent dupe for the RMS Beauty Living Luminizer at half the price! They currently have three shades of glow balms that are excellently spaced out: Luna works great for fair to light skin tones, Elysium for medium to tan, and Helios for dark to rich. Of course, that’s not to say you can’t use several of these, no matter your skin tone. The base for all three is pretty warm and yellow, making it disappear on correlating skin tones, leaving more of a glow from within rather than a pigmented highlighter. The texture is very emollient and more slippery than their glow balm, so you may have to set it for better longevity.
Brow Pomade* ($19.50, 0.12oz | 3.5g)
The brow pomade was my least favorite of the bunch only because of the shade. Swatched, the shade Taupe is as described, an ash-tinged medium brown, but once applied, it’s far too warm for my brows. Though I don’t use it for my brows, I love it as an eyeliner. It’s an ideal cooler brown for making my lashes look fuller while encouraging lash growth. If you can find a shade that works for you, I think it’s an excellent dupe for the Plume Brow Pomade, and it’s less than half the price of that one.
They offer samples of everything in their cosmetics line, which I thoroughly appreciate because you can try anything and everything before buying a full-size. I’m so impressed by Evan Healy’s cosmetics line. I really feel like they hit it out of the park with the core collection. I love most that everything caters to a wide range of skin tones. I also love their products’ affordability, their paired-down but still stellar in performance ingredient lists, and their overall ease-of-use. I am so impressed and can’t recommend this range enough!
Season 4 of ‘The Crown’ premieres today! I can’t begin to express how excited I am right now, even just typing this. ‘The Crown’ is one of my favorite television series ever since it first premiered in 2016. Let’s get all the easy stuff out of the way. This series contains some of the most beautiful cinematography ever to grace television screens, excellent acting from both seasoned and new actors, with impeccable writing. In honor of today’s Season 4 premiere, I’m listing my favorite episodes per season. Hoping to keep this relatively short, but no promises.
Spoiler warning: the following will contain some spoilers, but can it be a spoiler if it’s history?
Episode 2: ‘Hyde Park Corner’
It’s always tough not to list the first episode as the favorite in any series. However, what sticks in my memory is the second one. There is such monumental emotion captured in this episode. We all know the history, but the actors do such a tremendous job of rendering it to life. Claire Foy is an extremely technical actress. Sometimes it can be tough to be both technical and emotional, but she has both in spades. Her facial expressions can be minute yet deliver such gravity. This is also a nod to how terrific the directing and editing are. The scene where she is reunited with King George felt earth-shattering to me. One of the loneliest, truest forms of grief portrayal I’ve seen in film and television.
Episode 7: ‘Matrimonium,’ Episode 9: ‘Paterfamilias’
My favorite is split between two. Both venture outside of the palace and politics for the most part. Because ‘The Crown’ is so contained and singular, it’s a breath of fresh air when they venture outside the life of duty. ‘Matrimonium’ centers around Princess Margaret. I’ll admit, Matthew Goode’s guest appearance is half the reason why I chose this episode; his acting always draws me in. And Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret is incredible to watch in both of her seasons.
Equally up there is ‘Paterfamilias,’ a dual-timeline episode of Prince Philip and his son, Charles. Again, it’s exciting when they venture outside the palace wall and current timeline. Plus, I didn’t know as much about Prince Philip’s background as I do the rest of the family, so it was enlightening and heartbreaking. Aside from being a great standalone episode, it sets things up nicely for a forthcoming episode in Season 3. I was also incredibly impressed by Finn Elliot, who plays young Prince Philip. This is what I mean when I say this series features some great actor newcomers.
Episode 3: ‘Aberfan,’ Episode 6: ‘Tywysog Cymru’
Another split, I know, but honestly, it was tough just stopping at these two. Season 3 is filled with a lot of incredible gems.
Episode 3 is my favorite. Another heartwrenching one, but I genuinely admired the breadth of the episode. I’ll stop here because I don’t want to ruin it if you haven’t seen it or are unfamiliar with the event. It’s such a well-executed episode and a great standalone if you aren’t interested in the rest of ‘The Crown’ but are looking for a historical drama to watch.
I had to include Episode 6 because my god, where did Josh O’Connor (Prince Charles) come from? I saw him first in ‘The Crown’ though I just watched him in ‘Emma’ and again, I must admire his incredible range. I fell hook, line, and sinker for his portrayal of Charles thanks to this episode. O’Connor is tremendous from start to finish. Okay, I guess I really can’t choose a favorite episode. It has to be both of these.
And in case you don’t want to rewatch the series but still want to get into the mood, might I suggest a listen to the original soundtracks. Season 1’s remains my favorite, and Hans Zimmer’s main title theme is nothing short of exquisite.
Season 4 is arguably what everyone has been waiting for: the introduction of Princess Diana. I’m so excited for this season just because I adore this series. I’ll try my best to extend the viewing time by allowing only one episode per night. It worked pretty well for Season 3; let’s hope we (Husband and I) can replicate those results this time around.
Thanks so much for reading! Just a heads up that I’m working on a pretty intense job for the next three weeks. Apologies in advance if my responses are more delayed than usual! I wanted to make sure I got the Evan Healy video up in time in case they have any holiday sales coming up. Let me know if you’ve tried their cosmetics line or if there’s an item you’re interested in! And are you excited for the new season of ‘The Crown?’ You can always leave a comment or reply directly to this email for one-on-one chats!
I hope you have a great start to your week. See you next Sunday!