FOTD 12/30/14 Maybelline for the win

Hello darlings! Here is a FOTD. No special occasion, I was just going to work-doesn’t mean I can’t have fun with makeup! I decided to use Milani Bella Copper because I’m in obsessed with how coppery and sparkly it is. I realized when I took a picture of the products I used that almost half of them were Maybelline. It wasn’t intentional but I guess I’m on a Maybelline kick lately haha.

Here is what I used-

Face: Boots No7 Beautifully Matte primer and Smashbox photofinish primer (I mix a little of each because the Boots primer is thick and flakes when I use it on its own >_<), Maybelline Dream Pure BB cream (light), NYX dark circle concealer (light), Maybelline Instant Age Rewind concealer (light), Maybelline Dream Wonder Powder (classic ivory), Tarte Park Avenue Princess contour kit (blush, bronzer, and highlight)

Eyebrows: Anastasia Brow pomade (medium brown)

Eyes: Makeup Geek Creme Brulee and Cocoa Bear mixed in the crease, Milani Bella Gold all over the lid, Lorac Pro2 Buff for a browbone highlight and Snow and Beige to highlight the inner corners, Maybelline Falsies mascara

Lips: Maybelline Matte Lipstick in Touch of Spice

The highlights for me were the copper eyes and mauvey brown lips, as well as the maybelline bb cream (new to me, review to come!)

What brand to you find yourself using a lot of?

Thanks for reading! =)

-S

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Review: LE Tarte Park Avenue Princess Contour Kit

Tarte Park Avenue Princess Contour Kit

Hello lovelies!

The Tarte Park Avenue Princess kit was originally part of their limited edition collection for the holidays, but it is actually being made part of the permanent collection for Spring 2015. It will contain similar shades but have different packaging. Instead of the shiny gold packaging you see above, it will actually be matte brown packaging. Check out Muse’s comparison of the old and new version here: http://www.musingsofamuse.com/2014/12/tarte-park-ave-princess-contour-palette-review-swatches.html

I thought I would go ahead and post a quick review since the original version is popping up on clearance at various places, including Sephora (currently sold out) and Ulta-right now it is available for $24 on Ulta’s website (orig $34, online only) if you want to check it out, go here:  http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod11351047

The kit comes with Park Avenue Princess bronzer, a blush, and a highlight. The bronzer is available for purchase on its own for $30 for 0.32 oz, while the bronzer in the contour kit is 0.21 oz. The bronzer is matte and on the warm side, so I like to use it for an all over glow as opposed to a contour (I prefer to use a cool toned bronzer for that). It is highly pigmented and warms up the face nicely. The blush is a pale cool toned pink with medium but buildable pigmentation. The highlight is a peachy champagne shade, also with medium pigmentation. All of the products blend easily and last all day for me. This is the only product I own that contains a bronzer, blush, and highlight all in one place (which is what made me want it), so I find it very convenient. It’s nice not having to pull out three separate products, and it would also be a nice kit for travel. The shades are suitable for everyday, and I find myself reaching for it often.

Other brands have similar products that contain a bronzer, blush, and highlight in one kit-Urban Decay and Sleek come to mind, and I’m sure there are others. The Tarte one appealed to me because I didn’t have anything besides a setting powder from them, so it was a nice way to try a few more types of products. Overall, I was pleased with this kit, and if you can find it on sale I would grab it if you don’t have any similar sets or want to try some new products from Tarte.

Do you have any contour kits similar to the Tarte one? What are your thoughts on them?

Thanks for stopping by! -S

Covergirl Ready Set Gorgeous Foundation Review

Hi everyone! I picked up Covergirl Ready Set Gorgeous foundation at Target for $6.99. I think I’ve seen it at drugstores and Ulta for a couple dollars more, so if you decide to try it I would check out Target first. I got the shade 115 buff beige, and I think it ended up being just a bit light for me, but it wasn’t noticeable after using bronzer. The last Covergirl foundation I bought was the 3 in 1 Stay Fabulous, and unfortunately that oxidized on me. I would rather have the shade be a little light than make my face look orange haha. The shade 115 looked like it was neutral while the shade 110 looked like it was a similar shade but on the warmer side, so to avoid potentially looking orange again I went with 115. It always throws me off when the next shade down or up isn’t necessarily lighter or darker but just a different tone. I like how L’oreal separates their foundation shades into warm, cool, and neutral.

Covergirl Ready Set Gorgeous shade 115 Buff beige foundation swatch (left-no flash, right-flash)

Foundation blended (left-no flash, right-flash)

Left: Bare face Right: Covergirl Ready Set Gorgeous (both flash)

Ok, let’s talk about how the foundation performed. It has a semi-matte finish with medium but buildable coverage, and no oxidation occurred. The foundation is oil-free and claims to “blend easily to even skin tone and reduces shine all day”. The other claims were that it “won’t clog pores”, “suitable for sensitive skin”, and “lasts all day”. In the bare faced picture (ahh look away!) you can see I’m not dealing with any major breakouts right now but I have redness around my cheeks and jawline, dark circles, and old acne marks. With the Covergirl foundation, most of the redness is gone but the dark circles and some of the bad acne marks were still visible. I went back over these areas with a little extra foundation where there was still redness, and it did build pretty nicely for more coverage. I dabbed the foundation around my face and blended a bit with my fingers, then went back in to buff with my Sigma F80 brush to get an even coverage. I will say I found the foundation a little hard to blend. It’s not very thick or dry by any means but next time I would use a damp sponge or beauty blender to more easily blend it out.

I have combo/oily skin, and I get horribly oily throughout the day in my t-zone. So I did use primer and setting powder focused mainly on my t-zone, because no matter what liquid foundation I use I get breakthrough shine in that area. I started to see some shininess around 4 hours in, but it wasn’t major.  The foundation did last all day, and I think it controlled oil better than a lot of liquid foundations I have used. One thing I noticed was that in the flash photo, the foundation looked a little white to me compared to what it looked like in real life. I realized the shade was a little light for me but not enough to look that white in the photo. The foundation doesn’t say it contains SPF anywhere on the bottle BUT at the end of the ingredient list, it says “May contain: Titanium dioxide, iron oxides”. DUN DUN DUN. So I wonder if that’s what gave it the white cast…or I’m just crazy haha.

Overall, I think this is a nice foundation. I like that it comes in a squeeze bottle so you can use however much you want. It has decent coverage, lasted all day, and did help to control the oiliness in my t-zone. I also did not notice any breakouts after using the foundation. Most of the claims of the foundation turned out to be fairly true in my experience.

Have you tried the Covergirl Ready Set Gorgeous foundation? What did you think? If you have oily skin, what are some your favorite foundations to control shine?

Thanks for reading, happy Friday!

NOTD Milani Golden Romance + Sinful Colors Vacation Time

Hi everyone! Quick NOTD post featuring Milani Golden Romance and Sinful Colors Vacation Time. The Milani polish has a gold glitter base with different sized pink/rose gold glitters. I found this polish at Walgreens on clearance for less than $3 recently (among other goodies, so go to your Walgreens and CVS to see what’s on clearance!). When I saw the rose gold tones in the larger glitters I knew I had to have it. I used Sinful Colors Vacation Time as a base- it is a darkened pinky/salmon color, so I thought that would go nicely with the rose gold tones in the Milani polish.

As you can probably see in the pictures above, Milani Golden Romance is just insane. You know how a lot of glitter polishes have that problem of not enough glitter coming off on application? Yeah this polish has the opposite problem- a crazy amount of glitter comes off on each swipe. It gave a very beautiful effect, almost like there’s liquid gold on my nails. It also dried very quickly so that was convenient. I was trying to go for a more sheer application so the Sinful Colors shade could show underneath, but alas it was pretty much overtaken by the Milani polish. It does look very pretty though so I’m not too disappointed. Next time I would only use this for an accent nail so that my nails aren’t like a glitter explosion. I’m sure this manicure will wear like iron because of the glitter, and I’m not looking forward to attempting to take it off >_< I’ll worry more about that when the time comes….

Do you like to use glitter nail polishes? What are your favorites? I have such a love/hate relationship with them- they look so beautiful but they are the devil to take off, and sometimes I just don’t have the patience.

Walmart Winter Beauty Box

Hi everyone, happy Sunday! Today I will share with you what I received in my Winter Walmart beauty box. The box itself was free but shipping was $5. This is a quarterly box, with a new box coming out each season-Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. This is something Walmart introduced recently and the first box came out this past fall.

In my box I received the following: sample sizes of the L’oreal OleoTherapy shampoo and conditioner (2 oz each), Jergens BB Body perfecting skin cream (1 oz), Olay fresh effects makeup wipes (7 wipes), and a Maybelline Color Sensational lipstick in the shade Maple Kiss. There is also a packet sample of the Nivea Cocoa Butter lotion and a cardboard sample of the Maybelline Dream Wonder powder. Both contain $1 off coupons.

Maybelline Maple Kiss

Maybelline Maple Kiss swatch

Maybelline Maple Kiss

Maybelline Maple Kiss lipstick is a lovely color for the winter. It’s a warm brown color with a slight red undertone with a cream finish.

All the products in this box except for the Dream Wonder powder are new to me, so I’m definitely excited to try them out. The shampoo and conditioner as well as the makeup wipes are perfect for travel. The sizes of the L’oreal shampoo and conditioner are pretty generous so I’ll be able to get multiple uses out of them. Overall I’m really happy with everything I received in this box! I’m able to try out several new products for only $5. This is currently the only beauty box that I am subscribed to. I like that it’s a seasonal box because I buy enough beauty products on my own that I don’t have to worry much about accumulating products compared to receiving a box every month. It is probably one of the cheaper beauty box subscriptions out there, and for only spending $5 I won’t be too disappointed if one of them turns out to be a dud.

When the Fall box came out a couple months ago, I read on Nouveau Cheap’s blog that depending on your age group you would receive different products in your box. I actually saw Eleventh Gorgeous open their box in one of their recent Youtube videos and they got totally different products, so I was surprised when I received my box.

What did you receive in your Walmart Beauty box for the winter? Were you satisfied or disappointed?

FOTD + mini reviews

 

My apologies for the bad lighting! >.<

Hi everyone! I just wanted to share a quick FOTD worn for sushi night with friends (we did the all you can eat deal and proceeded to eat fifty ponds of sushi…did we have stomachaches? Yes. Was it worth it? Damn straight!). Featured products are the Milani Bella Eyes eyeshadow in Bella Copper and Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in Standout which are new to me.

Face:

Make Up Forever powder foundation shade 113

NYX Dark Circle Concealer in Light

Rimmel Match Perfection Concealer/Highlighter in Fair/Light

Tarte Park Avenue Princess Bronzer and highlighter from Park Avenue Princess contour kit

Benefit Coralista blush

Sonia Kashuk Hidden agenda concealer palette

Eyes:

Covergirl & Olay simply ageless concealer in Light as an eyeshadow base

Makeup Geek eyeshadow Creme Brulee in the crease and Cocoa Bear in the outer corner

Milani Bella Copper eyeshadow all over the lid

Lorac Pro2 Palette Buff & Beige on brownbone and inner corner

L’oreal gel eyeliner

Maybelline Falsies mascara

Anastasia Brow Pomade in Medium Brown

Lips:

Revlon Colorburst matte balm Standout

Revlon matte balm Standout (left) Milani  Bella Copper (right) (flash)

Love love love the lippie and eyeshadow! Bella Copper is such a pretty sparkly copper-y color. I can’t say I own anything similar to it. It’s my first eyeshadow from this line, and I’m definitely impressed! It has good pigmentation, but I layered it to get its full intensity. It’s best applied with your finger to control fallout and get the most pigmentation. I haven’t tried it wet but I’m sure it would produce a nice foiled effect.

Standout is a very nice red, kind of a nice neutral/cooler toned red that would probably look great on any skin tone. It fellt very velvety on the lips when applied and wore well without feeling drying. The crayon applicator makes it really easy to apply. It did eventually fade in the middle after eating and left me with the dreaded ring around the lips (rather upset that my friends didn’t inform me about it haha!)  I own a few other shades of the Revlon matte balms and they are all quite nice – the shade Sultry is a favorite of mine.

After swatching Bella Copper it made me think of Trick from the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette but when swatched next to each other you can see they are quite different.

Bella Copper (left) and Trick (right)

Bella copper is more orange toned while Trick is more pinky-toned. Bella Copper reminds me of the color of a new penny, while Trick looks more like a rose gold color. Both are sparkly and have a little fallout when applied.

Overall, I was impressed by the Bella Eyes line by Milani. I really liked the copper shade, I think its quite unique and a steal at less than $5. None of the other colors really caught my eye at the time but maybe I will buy more down the line.

Hope you enjoyed! Do you have any of the Milani Bella Eyes eyeshadows? What shades are your favorites?