As much as paleness is promoted to be embraced, there is one little hitch when it comes to deciding to stay pale and not invest the time in either sunbathing or self-tanning - there are only a handful of foundation shades on the market that are actually very light. The companies themselves are almost completely ignoring us pale ladies, so I can only thank some higher force that The Body Shop not only created a product that lightens any foundation formula, but also doesn't make the foundation suck by altering the texture. For years I had to mix my crappy pale foundations (most I own have a lame formula) with my good dark foundations, creating a sort of barely passable mix of textures (but perfect shades) and now I finally have something that works much better. I've already done a complete review of Catrice's Transforming Drops in Lightening, which are the cheaper option, but I advise all porcelain princesses like me to just shell out a bit more and get The Body Shop ones. I had these on my wishlist since I first saw them, but due to The Body Shop being complete dicks we still don't have a (online) shop here (I've been waiting for 10 years already) and it's only thanks to my lovely reader Oana from Not Just Makeup that I finally got my hands on these. 

Texture: These aren't some super light "Catrice HD Liquid Coverage foundation" formula as you might imagine at the name drops. The texture is more like a medium thick liquid foundation which is why the packaging for this formula really isn't good. If you blend them on the skin, they feel a bit thick and set fast, also it's like they don't have a lot of silicones, but none of these characteristics affect the texture of foundation they are being mixed with. By the way these have no scent.

Shade: While they appear white, the trick of these is that they have a slight pastel pink hue. To me that's a genius move, because other white such products I tried made the foundations look almost greyish and strange, while these drops neutralise strong yellow and that is exactly what I need, not just lightening, but also neutralising. I've always mixed my pink foundations with yellow ones to get a neutral undertone, so these drops really were made for me. However, I have one pink foundation, L'Oreal Infallible Matte in Porcelain which obviously mixed with the drops retains its cool tone, so for me a better colour combination is with the yellow Transformer drops by Catrice, but I can still wear it fine with TBS.

Performance: I've been using these pretty much every day since I got them, tried them with all my foundations and these work great. They lighten the foundation significantly with a small amount of product, but even if you add a bit more it still works the same. These don't alter the texture of foundation, nor their finish or their staying power like Catrice's drops do. 

I used a small drop with these foundations for the swatches: 

MILANI Conceal + Perfect 2-in-1 Foundation + Concealer 01 Creamy Vanilla - it makes it a lot more neutral and lightens it for two shades to about NC15-20. I need to use a lot of drops to lighten this one because the shade is so dark and it's still a bit too yellow, but passable. It doesn't affect the texture at all and let me tell you this is one of the most beautiful foundations ever. 

BEYU Nutri Power Foundation 15 - it makes it peachier and lightens it to NC/W15-20. This one is already perfectly wearable for me with the drops.

ESSENCE Instant Matt foundation 10 Matt Ivory - it makes it much less orange and lightens it to NC 15. I intensely dislike this foundation on its own and with the drops.

CATRICE HD Liquid Coverage Foundation 010 Light Beige - makes it slightly pinker and lightens to NC/W15. This combination works a million times better than with Catrice's Transforming Drops. I actually think it makes the foundation itself a bit better.

L'OREAL Infallible 24H Matte Foundation 10 Porcelain - keeps it pink, but lightens it to NW15. The foundation retains its awesome pore hiding abilities and a wearable matte finish. I can wear it despite being pink, but Catrice drops make it more neutral for me (also less matte).

BOURJOIS Healthy Mix Serum foundation 51 Light Vanilla - neutralises the yellow undertone, and makes it a NC10. I only need a tiny amount with this because it can quickly make it too light.
I didn't include it here, but I also mixed it with Bourjois' 123 Perfect CC Cream. Again it lightened it enough to NCW10-15, kept it fairly neutral and didn't affect its natural finish.

Packaging: As much as I love the colour and performance of these drops, I find the packaging remarkably stupid and it makes my morning routine less pleasant. The dropper doesn't really work and it doesn't suck up the product because it's too thick. I end up squeezing the dropper a million times and shaking the bottle like crazy, but more often than not I get nothing, occasionally I get a drop of product. So my method is to scrape the product from the dropper on my hand and only then add foundation. This really needs to be repackaged into a classic foundation bottle with a pump.

Price and availability: These cost 14 € for 15 ml in The Body Shop. It's not terribly expensive considering you don't need that much product at once, but it's not the cheapest. I find it's one of the best investments I've made and it already landed in my All-time favourites.

I really recommend these, especially to those who are struggling to find a pale enough foundation. They are more than capable to lighten foundations for several shades, they don't affect the texture, staying power and they neutralise yellow undertones (the latter might not be such a good thing for those with a strong yellow undertone, keep that in mind as well). But be ready for daily struggles with the bottle. 

Have a great day!

Hopes were high for these drops, probably not just mine, as it's one of the very rare such products in our drugstores. 90% of the time I mix my foundations because a majority of my good foundations are too dark for my pale skin and the ones that actually fit me, suck (Maybelline, Rimmel, Manhattan). So I mix them together and get a semi-decent foundation. I was dead set on getting this, even though as soon as I saw it on Instagram Stories from the German Essence event, I had my doubts about it. Two versions exist - the Lightening one and the Darkening one. I'm not sure about the tone of the Darkening one, I hear it's not the best, but the Lightening is yellow and actually not that light. I don't think I've ever seen a yellow version of such a product and most are much lighter, usually white. Considering most of my dark foundation are warm toned, this wasn't a good start.

Texture: The drops isn't the best name for this product, since they aren't actually that watery, instead they are a light foundation type of texture. They start light, but once you start rubbing them on the skin, they feel slightly greasy. On their own these have a sheer to light coverage and if Catrice were really serious about creating a lightening product, they should have added more pigment. I have to use a lot of the product for it to have an effect, with certain foundations the ratio can be even greater than 1:1, so forget about the idea of adding a drop of it to make the foundation lighter. What this results in is that it messes with the actually texture of the foundation. In some cases it makes the foundation more obvious on the face, then sometimes it adds that little bit of greasiness to it to make it less flat matte looking. But the biggest change these drops do is that they almost completely destroy the staying power of any foundation. By the end of the day, when I'm taking my makeup off with a micellar water, the cotton pad has very little traces of foundation.

What I wonder is why didn't Catrice just use the formula of their HD Liquid Coverage because that foundation has a lot of coverage for a very light texture and then the product would actually be drops.

Shade: It's about the same shade as Nars' concealer in Chantilly, aproximately two shades lighter than my lightest foundations (Maybelline Fit Me 110 and Revlon Colorstay Ivory) and it's tinted yellow. Because of the light texture, I discovered these basically almost fit my skin tone (about a shade lighter) and I can wear it as a tinted moisturiser. I really think these should be lighter and I wish they had a pink version too, so I could make foundation more neutral (most of my dark foundations are warm).

 I've tried them with most my dark foundations:

- Milani Conceal + Perfect 01 (about NC30, very yellow): it lightens it about one-two shades which is not enough and I still can't wear it. Also the yellow on yellow when it comes to undertone, doesn't help either. 

- Beyu Nutri Power Foundation 10 (about NC25, warm): still not quite enough lightening and it affects the texture of foundation, as it makes it more obvious and it basically destroys the staying power (Nutri has a great staying power on its own).

- L'Oreal Infallible 24h Matte 10 Porcelain: these are a great match. Porcelain is pink, so the drops neutralise it and lighten it enough, plus the pore hiding capabilities remain. This is the only good combination I've found so far.

- Catrice HD Liquid Coverage 010: surprisingly a weird combination. It made the foundation sit strange on the skin, but it lightened it enough. Ironic these don't work with a foundation from the same brand.

- Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum 51: ruined the natural finish of the foundation, but it lightened it enough, however the yellow undertone remained too strong. The reason I wear this foundation is the invisible finish, so this is a no-go combination.

- Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream 31: Makes it a very glowy foundation, but lightens it enough. It makes it wear funny, almost like you've overdone on a highlighting primer on an uneven texture. Again not a fan.

Packaging: The drops are stored in a classic tube with a precise nozzle, so I have no complaints here. However, it's only 15 ml of product and considering how much I need to use with every foundation, these won't last long.

Price and availability: These are sold in drugstores for 3.49 €.

Yay or nay? I don't know. It's not like we any other choice here in Slovenia. Alverde has something, but I hear it's got a thick formula that affects foundations texture. Catrice's Drops lack pigmentation and are capable of lightening for about one-two shades, they also greatly affect staying power. It works really well with L'Oreal's foundation, but so far I'm not a fan of other combinations. I still prefer mixing my foundations with other foundations over with this, so a light one with a dark one and of course always a pink one with a yellow one because I have a neutral skin tone, so for these to work they need more pigmentation, to be lighter and too be available in both yellow and pink undertone.

Recently I got The Body Shops Adjusting Drops in Lightening. It's a far superior product in my eyes. Not only does it lighten significantly better and you need to use a lot less, it also does not affect the texture of the foundations as much and original staying power remains. The only thing that is worse is the packaging, which drives you insane. If you're really pale and struggle to find foundations like me, so you're not just looking for something that'll lighten your summer foundation for one shade, try to get your hands on TBS drops. You'll be much happier. I'll have a review in a few weeks once I properly test them with all my foundations.

*PR product.