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Too much of a good thing?
A few months ago my skin was super dry. I’d seen a few Youtubers raving about L’oreal Lumi foundation but at the time I’d just spent $45.00 on some Stila foundation. I knew Matt would not be happy about me wanting to try something else. I was chatting with my mom one day and she mentioned she had some Lumi that she’d bought and only used a few times. The next time I saw her she gave me the Lumi to try. I immediately fell in love but the color she had was a little dark so I had to buy more in the correct shade. Now that summer is here I’m back to the darker shade mom gave me.
Anyway, the problem now is that my skin is back to it’s old oily self. Add foundation that has tons of hydration and well, yeah. I bought some Rimmel Stay Matte powder but that didn’t help. Next I decided to try some stay matte primer. I’d heard about the Rimmel Stay Matte primer on Youtube and for $5.00 decided to give it a go. Um, needless to say, it did NOT work, like at all. I tried it first on Saturday over my regular moisturizer and I still was pretty oily in a matter of a few hours. I figured I didn’t really give it a good shot so on Sunday I skipped the moisturizer and used it alone. A few hours later I was back to oily. The problem is that I LOVE my Lumi! I love the finish, and I love the coverage. Overall, I’m a fan!
This morning I mixed in some of my Clinique BB cream and I decided to use some of my Dewy Finish Setting Spray by NYX. My face doesn’t currently feel like an oil slick and I’m going on a few hours of wear. I must admit that I have already lightly blotted my face but it wasn’t terrible. The look on Matt’s face when I sprayed my newly applied makeup was pretty priceless. He was like “WTH are you doing?” HAHA! Boys!
I feel like the last few months have been one continuous foundation hunt after another. If my skin isn’t dry, it’s oily or vice versa. Maybe one day I’ll find a happy medium.
~k
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Scrub a dub dub
Since this has turned into a beauty blog, I’d like to share a new product I found at Ulta. It’s the Freeman Facial Polishing Mask with Charcoal and Black Sugar. I stumbled across this a few weeks ago but I wanted to try it out a few times before I reviewed it. I’ve used it several times over the past few weeks and I’m impressed! For $3.99, this stuff is GREAT! I try to use it about 2x a week and after each use I notice my skin tone looks more even, not to mention my skin feels really soft. I haven’t had any big break-outs while using this either. I’ve had a few small ones but I don’t know that I can contribute it to the scrub.
I start by removing all of my makeup and I lightly pat my face dry. Then I apply the scrub. It’s not quite as “masky” as I thought it would be though. I’ll include a pic so you can see what I mean. I leave it on for the recommended 5-7 mins, normally while I’m brushing my teeth. Then I wash it off, I also use it to scrub my lips. After, my skin tone looks so much more even, even more so than with the Mary Kay Microderm kit I think. I think for the price, you can’t beat this mask. It’s pretty great!
~k
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No Primer, No Problem!
As you all know, I’ve recently become OBSESSED with make-up tutorials on Youtube. Well, I have a few of my faves, but I also have a few others that I will occasionally check out. GossMakeupArtist is one I occasionally watch. Last week he posted a GREAT tip on how to make your foundation last. Seeing as I’ve been having foundation issues, I wanted to know what his tip was.
Now, before I go into exactly what you do, I just want to say that after I watched the video I was totally skeptical. So much so, that I refused to try this tip during the week. I waited till the weekend so if things totally went South I could just start over. But guys, it worked! Like really worked! So here’s what you need:
- Moisturizer
- Loose powder – translucent or colored (I use my Mineral Veil)
- Powder Brush
- Foundation
Okay, here goes. Apply your moisturizer as usual, then while its still damp, apply a little bit of loose powder on top. I tap out a small amount in the top, swirl my brush, and tap off the excess. The key here is to not use too much. Once you’ve powdered your face, you will apply your foundation. If needed you can add a little more powder over your foundation. (I have combo skin with an oily t-zone so I add a touch more powder to set the look.) Now I know, you aren’t supposed to use liquid over powder. But it works! Essentially you are creating a primer for your foundation.
Here’s what I like most about this tip. You have all the stuff needed already. Plus primers can be expensive. I bought a NYX primer a few weeks ago and feel like I need to use it sparingly even though it was only like $12.00 because I have to use a lot. The other good thing about this tip is, for me anyway, the moisturizer/powder combo also helps to smooth out my pores which helps your foundation sit better.
I’ve done this a few times since I saw it and I have to say, I’m impressed! My foundation seems to stay on a good bit longer than before and I’m not getting as oily in my t-zone. Not to mention it’s free!
Give it a try!
~k
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A New fave (yup another mascara post)
I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to write a post about mascara!
A while back I wrote about my current favorite mascara, Revlon Lash Potion. This stuff is pretty wonderful but it’s waterproof, like really waterproof. Honestly I don’t really mind if my mascara doesn’t fully wash off at night. I personally think you should wear mascara 24/7 but there comes a time when not washing off starts to make the next day’s mascara all clumpy. I started to have this problem and instead of investing in makeup remover, I decided to buy a cheap non-waterproof mascara to wear under the Lash Potion. Now, here’s the deal, if you wear a non-waterproof mascara under a waterproof mascara, your waterproof mascara will wash over easier. There’s another added bonus to layering your mascara, it will make your lashes fuller. You can really do this with any 2 different mascaras but the easier cleanup was my motivation. I already have long, full eyelashes which also makes me super picky about mascara. If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know I LOVE mascara! I think it’s the Bee’s knees! 😉
So here’s what happened. I ran to Target one day and started looking for some super cheap mascara. I finally found the Rimmel Extra Super Lash for about $4.00. Score! This was in my target of how much I wanted to spend on “cheap” mascara. Besides, this wasn’t the star of the show, the Lash Potion was right? Wrong.
I got the Rimmel home and found it had a long skinny, tapered brush. I usually prefer the fuller brushes but who cares right? I applied the mascara and was pretty surprised at how awesome my lashes looked. A little on the skinny side but this made them quite long. I continued on with my plan and applied the Lash Potion over. Overall it was okay, but not really what I was hoping for. As the weeks went on, I found myself using the Rimmel more and more and the Lash Potion less and less. I learned how to control the brush to make my lashes appear thicker and was pleasantly surprised that the non-waterproof formula had good staying power! I could wear it all day with no smudges or smears and this is pretty impressive since I touch my eyes A LOT! Don’t get me wrong, if it gets wet it’s going to run some but I don’t feel it’s as bad as some non-waterproofs (but really I wouldn’t know because I haven’t worn anything other than waterproof, like ever!)
Overall, I am super happy with my discovery! I love happy accidents and in this case a cheap happy accident. If you are like me and you love mascara definitely give the Rimmel a go.
~k
I was going to include a pic but my mobile app is being a pain so, no pic.
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I went to the MAC counter
God help us all, or really just Matt’s check book! 😉
I’ve had a lot of makeup posts lately and it’s because I have recently become obsessed with makeup tutorials on youtube. I’ll list a few of my fave channels at the bottom. Anyway, they’ve sparked this new found interest/obsession with all things makeup. Mostly though, I’m still looking for “the” foundation. My Stila is still doing okay but my skin has changed and I no longer find I am super oily like I was even a year or so ago. My skin has turned more to a combination to dry skin instead of combination to oily. Maybe age is finally catching up to me but I can’t seem to get enough moisture in my skin. I slather it with thick, heavy creams at night but nothing seems to help. I mentioned I bought a Mary Kay moisturizer a few weeks ago and I do like it under my makeup but I’ve since added Pore Filler primer by NYX. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way this stuff makes your skin feel. It literally feels like silk once you apply it. It also does a pretty good job of filling the pore across my nose and cheeks. It doesn’t help as much for some of the larger pores on my chin though. Overall, I give it 2 thumbs up. I will be purchasing it again.
Okay, so now on to what I really was going to write about, my MAC experience. My new love of youtube has lead to my need for a concealer. Almost all the girls I watch on youtube use MAC’s Pro Longwear Concealer. They rave about how it won’t crease under your eyes. Well guess what, that’s what I NEED! I’ve always had fine lines/wrinkles under my eyes, even a kid I remember having them. I guess it’s just in my genes. So on Saturday I got dressed and ran to the mall. The MAC store was pretty busy so I walked down to Belk to the MAC counter. I found a nice girl who informed me the pro longwear concealer was NOT what I needed and she recommended the mineralize concealer. She also recommended the mineralize foundation since I’d said I’d like a sample or two to test out.
She took me to a chair and went to grab a few items. When she came back she wiped off my current concealer and showed me how to apply the mineralize concealer. Then she decided to apply some strobe cream and foundation. The strobe cream was very moisturizing and had some luminosity to help brighten my skin under the foundation. She wiped off the rest of my makeup on one side and showed me how to apply it. Next she let me do the other half of my face, with her guidance. Looking at everything in their light looked really good. A tad heavier than what I’d normally wear but I felt like I looked pretty. She added some blush, grabbed a foundation sample, and I paid for the concealer.
As the afternoon wore on, I noticed the foundation had started settle a little in my pores but a light wiping with some tissue helped to smooth it over. I knew the real test would be the next day when I applied everything as I normally would. Yesterday after I got ready, I noticed the MAC was still settling into my pores especially across my cheeks near my nose. This is exactly what I was trying to avoid, and what everything else is currently doing. This morning I did my normal makeup routine but I used my fingers to apply my foundation instead of a brush with the same results! UGH! So far, I’ve gone back and forth as to whether I really like this foundation or not. In some lights it looks okay but in others it just makes my skin look dull and gross. Though I should mention the color is pretty spot on. The one thing I LOVE about my Stila foundation is the color. It’s more on the neutral/yellow side and it really helps to neutralize the redness of my complexation and also brightens up my skin. Granted I think it’s a shade too light but still I think it looks pretty good overall.
I should probably mention that so far I do actually like the concealer. It does still settle in my fine lines but it’s not terrible. It could also be I’m not setting it correctly?
For now I guess the foundation hunt is still on. If you have dry skin please let me know what you are using. I’d love a foundation that gives you a nice dewy/glowly look without feeling heavy or greasy.
Here are my youtube faves:
Jaclyn Hill http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6jgzx2g3nlbaYkd8EMweKA
Lauren Curtis http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXbQzhqSvgVZTUyi1T4AU3w
Shaaanxo http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMpOz2KEfkSdd5JeIJh_fxw
Happy Monday!
~k
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Oh Mary Kay
Two weeks ago I went on a little MK shopping spree. I bought eye cream, moisturizer, and a microderm kit. My old skin care routine just wasn’t cutting it so when someone on IG mentioned they were using MK products I decided to give them another try. A long time ago, when I was still living in AL, my mom and I started using MK products. We both really liked them, but at the time, it was a little difficult to find local MK dealers. Eventually we stopped and switched to who knows what.
With it back in my mind, I decided to search Amazon and ending up finding the products I was looking for for almost half the price of the MK site. I immediately placed my orders and waited. The eye cream was the first thing I purchased and it actually took the longest to receive. It just arrived on Wednesday. I had to email the seller ask where my order was. Turns out they bought the label but didn’t ship my order until I contacted them. Needless to say I will be writing a review and I won’t use that seller again.
I’ve been using both the moisturizer and microderm kit for close to a week now and so far so good. The moisturizer seems to hydrate my skin without feeling too heavy or greasy. It also isn’t so light my skin dries out. When you put it on it actually seems to feel little powdery. It’s odd but nice. The microderm kit I’ve been using on alternating days. I really like this kit so far. It doesn’t seem to dry my skin out and after it feels soft and smooth. With the microderm kit, I wash my face as usual, blot with a towel but not to the point of drying it, and then use Step 1. It’s really gritty but it’s not uncomfortable. Once I’ve given my face a good scrub, I wash off the product, dry, and add Step 2. I have no clue what Step 2 is or does for that matter but it feels nice. I then add my moisturizer and go to bed.
I feel like my skin tone is slowing improving. The dry spot on my cheek is still there. I’m not sure if it’s getting better or what but the skin is starting to flake off. I’m hoping this is a good sign that new skin is being generated.
I know this isn’t a great product review but if you’re looking for a change, check out Mary Kay. You might be surprised with the results. If I have any drastic results from the eye cream I’ll def post another review.
~k
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Oh Bobbi….
Before Christmas, I booked a “makeover” at the Bobbi Brown counter. Even after the disastrous foundation debacle I wanted to see what a pro could do. I was able to book a 4:30 appt on Friday the 20th. I get to the mall early and walk around for a few minutes. I pass by the Bobbi Brown store and notice it seems eerily empty but I’m early so I head to Belk for a few minutes. About 10 minutes before my appt I head back to the Bobbi Brown store only to find out the makeovers are happening at Belk! Ugh! Back I go.
I get to the BB counter and am given a makeup artist. She’s asks what I’d like to focus on so I say a smokey eye. Now I’m a little thrown because I thought this would be a full makeover but whatever, if someone can teach me how to do a good blown out smokey eye then I’m down. Plus I’ve already gotten the Stila foundation so I’m not sure it’s worth checking out the BB again anyway.
I sit down and the girl hands me some eye makeup remover. After a few minutes and several cotton balls later I still can’t get my mascara off so I comment that it’s not coming. She then realizes I have on waterproof and gives me something that will actually remove it. By this time my eyes are starting to red from so much rubbing. Once I’m done she begins working on my smokey eye. She starts, removes, starts again, removes again, thinks for a while and starts over, again! Then she grabs another girl. At this point she tells me she’s “hit a wall.” Okay then. The other girl comes over and offers a few suggestions. I also pipe in and tell her she can use black on me. Despite my fair skin I can pull off black eye shadow. Actually the darker the better. It makes my green eyes look bluer.
She finally dives in using the BB Smokey Eye palette. At this point all the other makeup artists are packed up and leaving and she’s still working on my smokey eye. I didn’t have anywhere to be so I wasn’t really worried about how long it was taking but I felt bad she wasn’t done yet. Finally close to 5:30 she finishes up. I tell her it looks good and head home but really I’m not that impressed. By this time my eyes are burning and itchy from all the rubbing and removing so when I get home I take a pic and wash my face.
A few days later I decide to try my own smokey eye. I personally think it looked as good if not better than the pro. So once again I was pretty disappointed with my Bobbi Brown experience.
The top pic is from Bobbi Brown. The bottom pic is my smokey eye.
~k
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I’m not sold
A couple weeks ago while getting my haircut I asked my stylist about makeup. She does hair and makeup on the side so I figured she would be a good person to talk to about foundation. I told her what I was looking for and she hands down recommended Bobbi Brown. I went to the Bobbi Brown website and found her Skin Foundation. With almost 600 reviews and a 4.7 star rating I knew I had to try this. The downside? The price. At $47.00 a bottle I knew Matt would flip. I also knew it would need to WOW me. Blow me away!
I ran to the mall over the weekend and went to the Bobbi Brown counter. I told the lady about my skin and what I was looking for. She sat me down to do a color match. Once happy with the color, she proceeded to redo the makeup on my cheeks, nose, and chin. When she was finished she handed me a mirror. I was definitely “blown away” and a little bit horrified. I’m not sure I contained my shock well. She had caked this makeup on my face. My first thought was OMG I still have to go to Lowes. I mentioned it was kind of shiny and she said I would need to finish it with powder. No shit lady. I asked for a sample and also signed up to see one of their professional makeup artists in a few weeks.
By the time I got home I couldn’t deal with the grossness on my face and washed it off. The next day I decided to give it another shot with me doing my own makeup. Night and day people, night and day. (I don’t know that anyone would buy anything from the lady that did my makeup.) The foundation has a bit of a matte finish, which is nice, it also goes on very smooth and is not streaky. All pluses. However, I’m still not sold. I don’t feel like my makeup still looks fresh even a few hours after it’s been applied. It has decent coverage and the color is nice and a little seems to go a long way. It almost doesn’t seem to get oily throughout the day but I don’t see what the hype is all about. And honestly I’m disappointed. I really hoped it would be a miracle in a bottle.
I’m planning to run to Ulta soon and see if they can help me find what I’m looking for. I want something with a medium coverage, maybe a whipped type formula. Something that will add glow (not oil) to my skin and look natural. My inspiration is Emily Thorne from Revenge. Her make up always looks amazingly beautiful and natural even though I’m sure she has a ton on.
I’m totally over the Clinique Even Better foundation at this point. It’s crap. I don’t know if they changed or I changed but I took the new bottle I had back. So now the hunt for awesome foundation continues.
~k
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A New Fave
You know I love mascara right? Well I do! I’ve always had pretty eyelashes and I want my mascara to make them look even better. For months now, Loreal’s Power Volume Collagen mascara has been my go to. You can find my review here. A few weeks ago mom and I were out shopping and we ran to Ulta. She wanted something to make her eyelashes grow and in the process we found Revlon’s Lash Potion mascara. I grabbed a tube of this and she bought the Revlon Grow formula. I normally buy mascara and then regret my decision and switch back to the Loreal but OMG! This stuff is amazing! It hardly clumps and it adds a ton of volume to my lashes. I think I’m most impressed with the fact that I don’t have to do multiple heavy coats to create volume. It only takes a few light coats to really plump them up. (When I say a few light coats I mean layering 1 good coat I guess. I don’t let it dry and add more if that helps.)
I’ve been using this mascara for a few weeks now and I am still impressed. Normally I either like mascara’s at the beginning or near the end of the tube once it’s dried out a bit. I tend to get mascara all over my eyes so if they are too “wet” it’s just a mess but tends to get better after a few weeks. I have problems with this even with the Loreal but not nearly as much with the Lash Potion. For $8.00 a tube this is a must try especially if you are a mascara lover like me!
~k
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Oh BB
A few months ago I posted about my new Clinique BB Cream. You may remember my review was not great. Like I really wanted to take it back I was not pleased. So now I’m here to say that maybe my first review was a bit harsh. I don’t think I really gave it a chance. I had an idea of what I thought it should be and when it turned out to be different I automatically didn’t like it.
*Hanging my head in shame as I’m sitting here wearing said BB cream*
Seriously I’ve worn it for the past few days and it’s starting to grow on me. It does offer a little more natural coverage. It is a little thicker than the Olay CC cream but not as heavy as a normal foundation. I do find it seems to “shine” a little more than I’m used to but I by no means feel like an oil slick. A healthy glow maybe?
Anyway I’m here to say my first review was a little uncalled for. I should have given it a few days before judging so quickly. So if you are looking for a BB cream the Clinique is not bad, though I will hold to my earlier statement that I would NOT pay full price. I don’t think it’s the best thing out there especially for the price.
~k