February-March Faves and Fail

It has been a hot minute, has it not? And by that I mean this blog has been a bit of a ghost town. My sincerest apologies. I know I have explained on the blog before that this period of time gets pretty hectic, and I don't have much room to sit down and prepare posts.

Enough excuses. Just know that there is more to come. As for my favorites, some are things that have already been in my collection, but I have since really come to appreciate. Others are brand new. Most of them, oddly enough, were purchased at Target.

None of them are eyeshadows, which is shocking to me. Eyeshadows are typically my makeup favorite. Right now I am holding off, though, because I am currently trying some Sydney Grace shades. I want to devote an entire post to them, so we will forego any discussion of eyeshadow for now.

Let's get this show on the road. As always, click on the pic for higher-res. 

The first is the PIXI Milky Mist. It cost $15 at Target, for 80 mL of product. I bring this one with me to work. I am very much a fan of facial mists, and I especially enjoy the fact that this provides hydration. Though I have combination skin that can get quite oily throughout the day, I find that the lines on my face are more pronounced by the end of the day, and my skin just feels tired, which this spray helps with. As of now I am not sure if I would repurchase, because there are plenty of facial mists out there, but in the meantime I am very much enjoying this one. I have been using it for a month now.

Soap and Glory Puffy Eye Attack Gel, $14.00 for 18 mL. So this one has pretty mixed reviews on the internet. I am always on the hunt for eye gels, because my eyes are prone to getting a bit swollen in the morning. On my sensitive eyes it seems to prep my skin pretty well. It doesn't sting my eyes in the morning, but at night if I removed makeup and rubbed the skin and then applied the gel, it most certainly stings, which makes sense. It absorbs quickly and doesn't leave the skin sticky. I personally like this gel, and appreciate how it calms my eye area in the morning and night. However, I am always open to different alternatives.

Good Chemistry Body Mist in the fragrance Brainiac. I bought this about a year ago after trying out the tester. It cost $10.00. In addition to a positive first impression from using the tester, the name of the spray was intriguing and reminded me of the Justice League/Supergirl/Superman villain. Brainiac is unlike anything else in my collection. While I usually wear gourmand, creamy, and very sweet fragrances, Brainiac seems very masculine at first, and peppery. It eventually wears down and you can smell a bit of Vanilla. Even though this is a body mist, the fragrance lasts the whole day, which I appreciate. It is a really cool, clean scent, and I would recommend checking it out.

Next, we have a new shade of Butter Blush from Physicians Formula, in the shade Saucy Mauve. It seemed to me that the initial Butter Blush release from PF wasn't very successful, because the shades were a bit too chalky and similar. I think PF is trying to rectify this. Saucy Mauve is similar to Wet 'n Wild's Blazen Berry, but not as sheer. It also lasts the entire work day for me, which is about 7 hours. Now how can I get Butter Bronzer to stay on that long?? I have been using Sauvy Mauve as my only blush for about two weeks now, and I don't know why. I just think it goes with both cool and warm toned looks. It provides warmth and color to the face and has a somewhat lustrous, natural, finish. I highly recommend it.

Then we have two brushes from Elf, both $3.00 each. The left is a tapered highlighting brush, which I now use to set translucent powder under my eye. The other is a concealer brush, which I use now to blend in concealer under my eye. They have replaced my Real Techniques brushes, which I think are not precise enough for that area of my face. The elf brushes are quite fluffy and soft, which is important when working on such a sensitive area of skin.

Makeup Revolution, Supersize Concealer in the shade C1. C1 is the second lightest shade in the range, with neutral undertones. The concealer cost $10.00, and you get more than double the amount of product in the original, which is excellent. I used up the original sized Conceal and Define in about 3 months. I just wish they didn't make the supersize option an Ulta exclusive. Maybe one day.

Alright, so my last two favorites are part of a team, in a way. One "major" makeup revelation I had these past two months has been cream/gel eyeliner. I am a total convert, and no longer want to mess with eyeliner pens. Mac Pro Longwear Fluid Line in Blacktrack, which cost $18.00, is working for me. I use it with the Luxie lip brush. I feel that this option gives me the most control. I also think it is the more economical version, as I was getting overwhelmed with the amount of dried up eyeliner pens that were piling up. My only caveat about this product is that is does leak to my lower lid when I inadvertently apply too much product towards the outer corner of my lid. But that does not happen too often.

And finally, I have one fail, but it is major. Target and CVS are now carrying the Creme Shop, which used to be a K-Beauty brand (I think). I bought their wispy mascara for $9.00, and all I can say is....Nope. Stay far away. This product did literally nothing for me. And this is what it looks like:

A clumpy nightmare.

So, that's all I have on the docket for today. Have you tried any of these?

Thanks for reading!  😊

Today's Eye Look: Orange and Brown

Today's eye look was the result of four shades:

•   Dawn, from the Subculture Palette
• New Wave, from the Subculture Palette
• Toasted from Clionadh Cosmetics
• Boujee, from Looxi on the lid

Basically, I love New Wave as a shade. It is the perfect "Mac 'n Cheese" yellow-orange. I do agree that the shades from the palette are trickier to blend. You can see how the brown matte on my outer corner, Toasted, is hardly blended with the orange.

On the lid is Boujee, from Looxi Cosmetics. I think this was a good choice because the warm gold matches the other colors, but this shadow has a blue shift, which complements the warm tones nicely. The shift is hard to make out on camera. 

Lastly, I was using a relatively new product. I am trying to get the hang of gel liners, because even though the brush tip eyeliners have been my HG, especially from Physicians Formula, I am getting bored with them, and getting frustrated with how easily I go through them. So I bought Mac's Black Track gel eyeliner pot. I am not sure I am using the best brush, but I do feel like I have more control with the product, so I am eager to keep using it on my eyes. I like the wear time, but I am not sure how I feel yet about the formula.

I went with a brighter, warmer look today, because I was mostly wearing pastel cool tones- blue and grey.  If I don't "plan" a look ahead of time, usually I just try to have it complement whatever I am wearing. Tomorrow I might wear a darker blue or black, so my eyes might be pink or purple. Maybe. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Anyway, thanks much for reading!

Small Lil' Ulta Haul and Reviews

So before my coupon expired, I bought three things.

1.) The Morphe 505 Tapered Blending Brush. Yes, I actually bought something from Morphe. The brush has their rebranded logo on it and cost $6.00 (without applying coupon). It has a nice weight and length to it. As I was looking through their brush selection,  I realized that I don't actually own any tapered blending brushes. All my blending brushes are fluffy and fan outwards slightly.

Upon using the brush, I was blown away. Why wasn't I using tapered brushes before? I have a lot more control of the product, and a much easier and smoother blend. Below is a look I did today, using the Subculture Palette, and I believe Clionadh's Toasted:

I was really impressed with this brush and plan on buying more from Morphe in the future. 

2.) Mac Mini Strobe Cream in Pink Pearls, $12.  I used this today and like the results. I think this will be a product I use more in the winter, because I do get very sweaty and oily in the summer. It smells very similar to the original Fix Plus. I have it swatched here on my hand, but have also applied it to be face, but I have not gotten long term use out of it yet. I remember Dustin Hunter mentioned that you get more of a value if you buy the mini compared to the full size.

All I know is that as it is getting cold outside, I am really into cream and liquid products. I am also afraid I am being turned into a Mac person, which I find hilarious because the only other brands I have this weird collector mentality about tend to be drugstore and indie. But on my radar for a possible next thing to try from Mac is one of their loose powders, like Silver Dusk or Gold. 

3.) Makeup Revolution Concealer. Yes, the one that is supposed to dupe Shape Tape. I have and will never use Shape Tape, so I can't comment on that. I have been wearing this concealer for three days in a row now. The color I selected is C1, the fairest one with neutral undertones. I like the fact that it is more neutral because most of my concealers have skewed a little pink, but this one seems to cover up more the redness around my eyes.  It wears nicely and works well with powder. It is thinner than the Colourpop concealer, but blends well. I would recommend it.

Here is a swatch. I am also wearing the concealer in the picture of my eye above.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the products I picked up today, and look forward to using them more!

Thanks for reading :) 

What I Wore on my Face Today

Today a couple of weird events unfolded. Rather than get into all of them, one of them I will comment on- my eyeshadow choices.

There was a choice, yes, but one I thought I'd only make when I am channeling old Hollywood glamour (imagine I rolled the rrrs here) - grey eyeshadow.

What I was going for was some kind of sultry look with minimal(ish) color and shadow.

So. I am not a huge fan of this picture because you don't see the front of my eyes and the blending going on there. Whatever. I went in with a light grey matte from a Covergirl Quad, and then I used Nabla Wild Child in the crease, outer corner, and the lid. I finally took a dark grey almost matte black from the BH Cosmetics Zodiac palette in the outer corner.

I used to be afraid of grey shadow. But now I really like the idea of it, and how grey can look like a natural shadow on the face.

What else? The highlight is a mix. I first applied (with a light hand) Mac Snowflushed, and then over that I used Wet 'n Wild The Sweetest Bling, a pale cool-toned pink.

Would I do this look again? Yeah, I would! Though I love shimmers and different colors, there is something classic about a grey smokey situation that I would replicate.

To be "fun" though, I would pair the Nabla shadow with a Nabla highlighter. I have the shade Millennium-  technically an eyeshadow- but I would use it on my face. I think that would be neat.

Other than that, nothing of real importance to note. I am doing terribly with my shopping my lip stash challenge so far....

Thanks for reading!

MAC Snowflushed: Review, Swatches and Pics

MAC Extra Dimension Skin Finish in Snowflushed is known to be a re-promote of Stylishly Merry 2, an eyeshadow from last holiday. However, it is marketed now as a face powder, 10 g, for $35.00. 

After being quite interested in the strong sparkly pink shift of the product, I decided to take the plunge and try a MAC holiday powder for the first time. 

Let's look at some pictures:

 The packaging is sleek and simple, albeit a bit too light-feeling. Some might say on the verge of cheap, but I don't mind too much.

Swatches were difficult to capture with my phone, as the strong pink shift tended to disappear. Some photos will appear blurry, but I needed to capture the different dimensions of the product.

My skin is quite light, so if I really pack the powder on my cheek bones the light brownish base will show. I have seen this powder on medium to dark skin tones and this product looks amazing. For me I have to use more of a light hand.

I have used this product for about a week now, and I really like how intense the shimmer is. It is a sparkly highlighter, no doubt, but the sparkle is so finely milled that I like the way it looks. It shows a little bit of texture if I pack too much on. Otherwise, though, it provides a long-wearing pink-copper shimmer on the skin.  It is a similar, delicate, complex, sort of glitter finish that I see in my Kiko Milano and Nabla single shimmer shadows.

Also, I have a shade from Looxi Beauty called Mirage, which some may consider to be a dupe, but I think they just are very similar. The pink shift is much more intense for MAC, though.

Snowflushed (l), Mirage (r)

As an eyeshadow, Looxi's formulation is more wet and dense, while MAC's powder is drier, thinner, and easier to blend out. 

Final thoughts:

I do think this is a special powder that is very unique and multi functional. I will happily continue to use it. However, I do not think I would be willing to spend $35 on a face powder any time soon, though. 

Thanks for reading!

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