Juvia’s Place I Am Magic Foundation and I Am Magic Concealer Review + Swatches (Darker Shades)

Disclosure: This post is a sponsored collaboration with Juvia’s Place. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.

It’s hereeeee: the long anticipated foundation and concealer from Juvia’s Place! More complexion options for deeper skin are being offered at ULTA Beauty (something I brought up to some ULTA execs I got to meet earlier this year—so happy to see some changes were already set in place) and I have the scoop on the new I Am Magic Foundation ($20) and I am Magic Concealer ($14).

Some quick background info on the brand, as I always feel knowing a bit about a brand’s story and its founder helps you to understand the brand better:

When she couldn’t find a foundation shade that perfectly matched her deeper skin tone when she first started wearing makeup, Chichi Eburu knew that one day she’d start a line that provided products that looked amazing on the lightest to the darkest of skin tones. In 2015 Eburu launched Juvia’s Place which took the online beauty community by storm, and is rocking the boat once again with the launch of I Am Magic Foundation and I Am Magic Concealer.

I Am Magic Foundation

I Am Magic Foundation is a radiant matte foundation that offers soothing and moisturizing benefits. Its unique formulation delivers great coverage while hiding imperfections in an instant. Thanks to its light touch, this velvety foundation blends and spreads easily while giving a soft focus effect. Formulated to provide full and buildable coverage, it immediately enhances all skin tones with a healthy look. Paraben Free. Oil Free. Cruelty Free.

At first you might be alarmed at the size of the foundation packaging BUT keep in mind that a little goes a long way with this formula. Also keep in mind, it’s about the same size as a lot of foundations on the market.

Juvia’s Place: 30 mL/ 1 fl oz | Dior Forever 24 Hr Matte: 30 mL/ 1 fl oz | Covergirl 30 mL/1 fl oz | Cover FX 35 mL/1.18 fl oz | Fenty 32 mL/1.08 fl oz

I loooove that while you can layer it to get full coverage, you can also sheer it out for less coverage. I am also SO happy that the finish is a radiant matte—I know makeup lovers have been loving that full matte finish and brands keep making them to cater to the audience, but a super matte foundation doesn’t always give skin a good chance to look like skin. I Am Magic Foundation manages to cover imperfections well and holds up all day while still looking like skin.

The I Am Magic Foundation comes in 42 shades with the following undertones: neutral, golden, cool golden, warm, and olive. The range is categorized into three kingdoms: The Nubian Kingdom (Deepest Dark, Deep Dark, Dark, Rich Tan), The Medium Kingdom (Tan and Medium), and The Light Kingdom (Light and Very Light).

It took me a little bit longer than usual to find my shade in the range. I typically just look for a dark brown with neutral undertones, so I used the foundation chart to look for all the “dark browns with neutral undertones.” Those weren’t right. Then I said let me just go through the shades themselves and try them on without looking at the chart. I wound up on shade 200 Kenya which is described as for deep dark skin with warm golden undertone. Now it’s important to really understand that there is no universal shade guide for foundations in the makeup industry—I’ve written about this before here so take a read so you understand. I have neutral undertones and have a pretty equal amount of red and yellow present in my undertones (a brand founder once used a device to measure this in my skin) and if you think about what “warm golden” means (warm sometimes means red in foundations and golden can mean yellow), it makes sense. I can also take a little bit of red in my foundation formula—not too much that it looks off though. One great thing about this foundation though is that if you put the wrong shade on, you’ll know IMMEDIATELY because the formula is so concentrated.

Also the shade range starts with the deeper colors in the beginning which is great to see of course, but I had to get used to it especially when looking for my shade and doing the swatches.

Though it took me a little bit longer to match my foundation (which is actually a good “problem” to have—it means we have way more options on the deeper end of the spectrum), this formula is worth the extra wait if you like a good full coverage, skin-like finish foundation. I did a wear test on my Youtube channel (check it out below) and although I had oil breakthrough and of course sweat throughout the 11 hours I had it on, it still looked good.

EDIT 11/25/19: I still had a bit of a tan when this foundation came out, but now that my tan has definitely worn off, I wear shade Tanzania 205. That can change soon and I could be back at Kenya as I will be in Ghana for 9 days soon.

I Am Magic Foundation Video Demo:

Juvia's Place I Am Magic Foundation Demo from Danielle Gray on Vimeo.

Shade Descriptions:

Deepest Dark

Sudan-Deepest Dark Skin with Cool Undertone (Cool)

Senegal-Deepest Dark Skin with neutral undertone (Neutral)

Chad-Deepest Dark Skin with Neutral undertone (Neutral)

Mali-Deepest Dark Skin with warm undertone (warm)

Angola-Deep Dark Skin with warm olive undertone (Olive)

Kano-Deep Dark Skin with warm undertone (Warm)

Deep Dark

Kenya-Deep Dark with warm- golden undertone (Golden)

Tanzania-Deep Dark with Cool Undertone (Cool)

Togo-Deep Dark with cool-Olive undertone (Olive)

Dakar-Deep Dark with warm Undertone (Warm)

Malawi-Dark with Golden Undertone (Golden)

Lagos-Dark with neutral undertone (Neutral)

Dark

Garbon-Dark Neutral golden Undertone (Neutral)

Burkina-Dark Skin with Neutral warm Undertone (Neutral)

Zaria-Dark skin with warm slightly red undertone (Warm)

Comparison Swatches

Comparing Kenya to other shades from my stash—see more about these foundations here.

I Am Magic Concealer

The I Am Magic Concealers are highly pigmented, and blendable, offering full coverage with one swipe. Treated with amino acids, these concealers provide intense color without compromising feel and texture. They are formulated with soft-focus spherical powders, allowing for a smooth, and soft finish that is light to the touch. They also contain a moisturizing blend of emollients to nourish and condition the skin.

I Am Magic Concealer comes in 24 shades. The concealer packaging is quite sizable and features a doe foot wand. The packaging seems similar to some of the popular, thicker creamy liquid concealer formulas out there, but I Am Magic Concealer is more on the liquid side. I actually found the concealers to perform very well without any creasing or settling into fine lines. I barely needed any to cover the discoloration under my eyes because the foundation covered that so well. I wear shade 7 to cover discoloration under my eyes (could also use it for dark spots elsewhere on my face), shade 11 to highlight, and shade 3 to contour. I prefer to use a cream concealer to highlight and a cream foundation to contour, but tested the I Am Magic Concealers to highlight and contour to see how they would hold up. A little goes a very long way with the concealers as well. I do find I get more control with cream products, but still liked how well the I Am Magic Concealers performed—no creasing and no settling even after 11 hours. Tip: make sure you don’t use too much product—these concealers are buildable so use a small amount first and see if you need to apply more. Also set it with powder—there’s a press and roll trick I talk about in my Youtube video which will be embedded below.

I Am Magic Concealer Video Demo:

Juvia's Place I Am Magic Concealer Demo from Danielle Gray on Vimeo.

Comparison swatches

Comparing the I Am Magic Concealers to ones I already have in my stash—see more about these concealers here.

Bottom line: Overall, this is a very impressive complexion launch. I would say your best bet at matching is to try and do it in person—you can narrow down your shades by kingdom and then see whether you’d need to go lighter or darker and then narrow in on the undertones to lessen your choices. There is a chart floating around the internet with shade equivalents, but use it more to narrow down your choices. That same chart matched me to 140 Angola in the I Am Magic Foundation which is too dark. I think it’s worth taking the time to figure it out and support brands like Juvia’s Place so we continue to have these options.

Now of course this launch would be limited to those who are looking for a full coverage, radiant finish foundation, but I’m hoping that the launch will do well and we’ll see additional formulas (lightweight, dewy finish, powders, etc) in the future.

I’m also excited to see this foundation coming to ULTA (ULTA.com and in select ULTA Beauty stores) as I’ve mentioned my disappointment with shades options for deeper skin at ULTA stores. It’s good to see change coming.

Price and where to buy: I Am Magic Foundation $20 for 30 ml/1 fl oz; I Am Magic Concealer $14 for for 10 ml/0.34 fl oz. Get it at juviasplace.com. Also available at the ULTA site and in select ULTA stores.