Axiology very kindly sent over several products for me to try out and review. As always the reviews are my opinion alone. As all of the products sent had over lapping uses but slightly different formulas, I am splitting out the products so that I can get a feel for the different formulas.
If you have never heard of Axiology, I would really suggest checking them out. They are a company that puts all of their products in packaging with no plastic or metal parts. Everything from the shipping box and filler paper to the outer product packaging to the product packaging itself is made of paper. The shipping box and outer packaging I ended up tearing up and putting in my compost bin as dry matter. And when I finish with these products, their packaging will also journey to the composter.
Which I absolutely love. For the Color Creams, the product is in a lip balm style package but instead of the plastic twist off bits to lift the product, it is all paper and you push gently on the bottom to cause the product to rise. It’s also why I don’t have a picture of all of the product pushed out to show how much is inside. I wasn’t confident it would push back down. But as there are no internal mechanisms, just a paper base, I’m guessing the entire tube is filled with the product. Which is nice to know.
The first product I chose to try out (after the first day where i went a little crazy and tried to try all of them at once which didn’t work due to over lapping uses) was the Color Cream. According to the Axiology website…
Plastic-free packaging meets nourishing color in this extra creamy multi-stick. Plant butters and oils such as soy butter and coconut oil deeply penetrate skin for long-lasting hydration with a rich and creamy finish. Naturally-derived, vegan & cruelty-free. Made with 10 simple ingredients. Handcrafted in Bend, Oregon.
Since they mention the ten ingredients I thought it best to list their ingredients. It is a list I like as nothing on it gives me any issues. On the lips the formula is hydrating and highly pigmented. (I have the Shade True). It is a multi use stick so I used it as both a cream blush and a lipstick.
bare lips
For the lips, it is a pigmented color that applies well. It actually applies like a lip balm actually and that is how it feels on the lips. It is creamy and lip balm-esque. It will leave lip prints but they are faint. You kind of have to rub to get a lot of color leaving. I’m not sure why you would rub your lips on a glass mug, but you do you. It left a little more color on a straw than on the lip of a glass I think because of the pressing action of using a straw. The two pictures below are of the Color Cream first applied and then taken again after lunch. the color fades but is still pretty decent.
While the lips are nice and really it felt like wearing a lip balm, for me this is best as a cream blush. For a light touch I dotted it on my cheeks and then blended it in. It blends well but you do need to go one cheek at a time. so dot one cheek blend and then switch to the other cheek and blend. then check and see if you need more. It is pigmented but it blends softly. Still start with a small amount of product and build up to the shade you want. It can be built up with multiple applications, but start with just a little bit and see how it blends.
I used this as my blush for the past two weeks so you can easily flip through the pictures to see varying degrees of pigmentation. I went kind of soft with the pics for this post since that is my preferred blush application. I like a tint of pink to keep me from being washed out but my skin tone responds better to the deeper tones so it is always interesting to play pigment color and pigment saturation off of each other. this actually has a really good balance. It has the deeper tone but it isn’t too heavy. It is very buildable though and while it doesn’t dry down super fast if you do one cheek at a time it works best for blending.
When used as a cream blush the Color Cream form Axiology also didn’t pull up any of my foundation. I rotated through several foundations an had no issues. As that can be a common issue with cream blushes (and other cream face products actually) I was pleased to see this didn’t have that issue.
Over all I was really impressed with this Color Cream from Axiology. Sometimes good ideas in sustainability don’t always translate to the best most usable products. I always hope for the best but there is often some disappointment. This had no disappointment. Fab easy to use packaging with an ethos I can get behind with a fantastically easy to use product inside. For me it was a great product.
I will probably end up using it more as a cream blush than I will a lip product, mostly because it is one of the best cream blushes I have tried and I really like it as a cream blush. And while I don’t have a lot of cream blushes that I like, I do have a lot of lip products I like. So scarcity determines use for me. I like knowing that if I don’t have a lip product handy then i can use it as a lipstick, but it will be for me a go to blush and an incidental lip product.
I also tended to use a lip brush to apply it as a lip product. I used the brush on the side of the product and the tp of the product dotted onto my cheeks for blush. Over all this Color Cream was a winner for me and I can’t wait to see how the other products sent to me in the package from Axiology work out. If they work even half as well as the Color Cream i will be a very happy camper.
Looking at the blushes I reach for I find myself a bit surprised. I know these are the ones I reach for but I find the formulas that they turned out to be surprising. But we’ll get into that as we go through the top five blusehs I reached for in 2022.
This is the only sample in the collection and when the sample does run out i will be repurchasing. It is just one of those samples that never seems to run out. I suspect once it starts showing pan it will disappear immediately there after. But I am happy to use the sample until then. It is a cream to powder formula. I apply it with a finger tip and then blend with a makeup sponge. It gives a fantastically natural looking blush to the cheeks and is prefect for a natural makeup day. It blends well and lasts all day long.
I bought this gel blusher out of curiosity as at the time i had not tried a gel blush. I love it. the shade I have is a sort of powdery pink which for me leans to a more natural look I’m sure other shades are more dramatic but this dusky pink tends to lean natural flush for me. It needs to be blended as you apply it, don’t apply it on one cheek apply the second and come back to blend. Apply it with a fingertip and blend as you apply. Once settled in it stays there for the rest of the day if you blend it right away you don’t have to think about it the rest of the day.
This cream blush is more of a summer shade for me. I do need to warm it up with my finger tip but once it becomes less stiff in the pan i switch to a makeup sponge. I wipe my finger on the sponge so as not to waste product and then apply the cream blush with a sponge. this is another one that needs to be blended as you go. Don’t try to put it on both cheeks and then blend. And once it is in place it styas all day. I am a big fan of this cream blush and will be using it all summer long.
This shade looks toxicly pink in a swatch but blends out to be a lovely soft pink on the skin. i can really only wear this shade in the winder but it is now coming into it’s season. It is a baked powder formula and the marbled white and pink really help it blend.
I thought about putting this with the face palettes but I really only use it for blushes. There are three blushes and three highlighters. The highlighters I will use if I take the blush palette out but they not the reason I reach for this palette. I do like the gold toned one though and it is the one I reach for the most and would probably pick up separately. They are just there when i reach for the blush. The blush is one of my favorite powder formulas. And which of the three I wear depends on the season. The orange-ish one I can only wear at the height of summer, the soft pink I can only wear in the winter and the third I can wear all year round. I really enjoy these blushes.
And those are the top five blushes for me this year (I know I sort of cheated the numbers with the palette). what I find interesting is that this time last year, I was using the Bare Minerals cream to powder, but all of the others were powder formats. This year, that isn’t the case. I love blush and I think it will be interesting to see where I am next year with this. This year cream blush seemed to have it’s moment and while there were a few I hated, there were a couple of really good formulas. I will be curious to see how this changes in the following year. But for now, these five top the charts for me anyway.
I’ll admit, when Beauty Bakerie sent this Cotton Candy Blushlighter Palette to me to try out and review, I thought, ‘Well I’ll probably like those gold toned highlighters but that blush, mmmm, I don’t know about that one.’ And then it turned out the blush was my favorite item in the palette.
Isn’t that just the way?
But before we get to that, let’s look at the palette. The Cotton Candy Candy Champagne Blushlighter palette has four really large pans of product. The top row has the shade I used as blush (24hour Champagne Diet) and the highlighter Sip Sip Hooray. These are the two products I found myself leaning into the most.
I did use the bottom two pans as well, but that pair worked the best for me. On the Second row we have Stop and smell the Rose (L) and No Champagne, No Gain (R).
When you look at these pans, the three highlighter shades look very similar. If you look at the swatches you can see there are subtle differences. on the second row I could use the pans more or less interchangeably. On my skin they were both golden bronzes that worked well with my skin tone. They blended well and left me with a subtle glow rather than a blinding strip of product or a glitter bomb.
While I know a lot of people who love the glitter and even have a couple of friends who want the dramatic strip of glow, I am more into the soft glow, which is exactly what I love with highlighters. Admittedly they also are much more dramatic in their looks while I tend to go with every day looks. While these highlighters will give you a strip of glow if you apply it in a line and don’t blend out (it won’t give you glitter) they blend beautifully for a soft natural glow sort of look.
All three of these bronzy highlighters have that soft glow look. I was very impressed with their blendability. The top highlighter has a bit more of a pink tone to it than the others. I think with the three of these highlighters, they are wearable by a wide swath of people but your preference is really going to depend on your skin tone. For me the Sip Sip Hooray with it’s pinkish tint worked the best for everyday wear. the lighter Bronze of No Champagne, No Gain was a bit more dramatic for me but still very wearable and once the summer returns and my skin tans I will probably lean into the slightly darker Stop and smell the Rose.
All are great.
But then there is what I think of as the blush. It is the 24H Champagne diet. For me it is a blush. I think that if you had much darker skin than mine it could be worn as a highlighter as it also has a sheen to it when applied to the skin. In fact it was this sheen that had me a little nervous about it. It seemed a little glowy for a blush, but I was determined to test all four pans of product so I dove in. I am so glad i gave it a try. Because I love it.
applied blush on left and blended in on the right I went a bit overboard on the application for the picture I would normally apply about half of this amount of product (it just looked too subtle with the everyday wear version)
It applies with a sheen which on first glance, i didn’t like. To apply I took a stiffly packed kabuki style of brush and dipped it into the pan. the brush has a head about the size of a nickel. I dotted into place and then took my Blending Egg and used it to blend it out onto my cheeks. I found I only needed to dip into it once and then blend. It blended just as well as the highlighters and despite the fact that it is a brighter blush than I usually go for, it looked really good on me once it was blended out with the rest of my makeup.
While I am as pale as I ever get at this moment and this blush works, I think that with a little more of a tan it will look even better on me. And for me that is a big win. I have several blushes I can only wear in the summer and I have a few that I I really need to be winter pale to pull off. Having a blush that can transition, along with three highlighter pans to rotate though as the seasons shift is a really helpful thing for me. I will of course test out that theory when the sun and summer returns my tan to me, but I suspect this is going to be an everyday palette that I reach for given it’s versatility.
I am a long time fan of Benefit Cosmetics. I love their primers, have an adoration for several of their mascaras and enjoy the ultra fine mist from their setting spray. One of my favorite Benefit products is their Gold Rush Blush. For me it is a great shade and works well for me. Much of the sparkle was actually in the overspray on the top of the pan and wore off as I used the blush, just giving me a fabulous blush.
Benefit’s cult-favorite golden peach blush is back and sweeter than ever! The NEW Georgia is a warm, vibrant peach shade with a soft, golden shimmer for a fresh-picked flush. Peachy cheeks are always in season!
NEW! golden peach blush
Silky-smooth & superfine with a creamy, blendable formula
Fresh peach-floral scent
Includes mirror & soft, natural-bristle brush
First, the Brush. I like that Benefit sends a brush with it’s blushes and a part of me really likes that it fits into the box with the blush. I actually like the brushes, but I generally don’t like using them with the benefit blushes. I use them for other products, just not the blush. I tend to reach for a denser bristled brush when using this blush. The benefit blush brushes are great with loose setting powder, especially when working under the eyes.
I ended up using a kabuki style brush with this It was the Anastasia Beverly Hills A30 for those interested. For me the denser bristles just work better with the formula.
As to the scent, if you are looking for a highly peach scented product, this isn’t it. To smell anything I more or less had to press my nose against the pan and even then it smelled more like blush than peach. It was slightly sweet scented, but it isn’t a big peach scent. So if you are worried about overly scented products, this isn’t something that really should concern you. I really had to press my nose almost to the pan to get anything.
It is a creamy blendable formula. It performs just as well as the Benefit Gold Rush blush in that respect. For me the issue I had was mostly to do with my skin tone. I think that it is really designed to work with paler skin than mine. On the website the picture featured a pale, freckle faced redhead which should have been a clue. I don’t think you have to be a pale red head to use the blush but I think that is the shades target.
With me, I am tan enough that the blush came off as a subtle tint. Personally I really like it for a natural makeup look. On me that works really well. When paring it with face products. It is really good friends with BB creams and tinted moisturizers. With a medium coverage foundation, the blush disappeared. Natural-look and barely there products are kind of it’s zone.
For me, that covers most of what I wear in the summertime and I really think this will end up being a great summertime blush for me.
I think that if you are just starting to play around with blush then this might be a product that you might want to look into. I have a friend who never uses blush because she always goes really heavy handed with the blush. This is one I would recommend to her. Even going heavy handed, it is a pale pink and just provides more of a healthy glow to the cheeks rather than a dramatic blush. Like the Gold Rush Blush there was a kind of protective spray coat on the top, so when using it for the first time, you kind of have to work your way through it. Once you do, it is a light flush for your skin and a handy tool to keep for your natural look days.
As always the question is, would I repurchase?
I think the answer is yes. I would be more inclined to purchase one of the blush palettes from Benefit Cosmetics rather than an individual pan because I really like several of the shades they have and enjoy the formula. I also know that this is a summer blush for me rather than a year round one so the palette would be more practical. If it is in one of the palettes. I’d have to look.
However in whatever form individual or palette, I would, when this blush runs out, purchase this again.
New to my makeup collection this week was the Eco Fabulous Blush in the shade Camellia. ECO Fabulous blush is a clean beauty packaged in a reusable metal tin. personally I really like the tin. Inside instead of plastic compartments, or even permanent compartments is a foam cushion that holds the product in it’s pan.
while the product is securely in the container it is easy to remove and once removed the tin can either be used to house another blush from the company or put to another use, like holding hair pins. Because there are no permanent divisions within the container, the likelihood of it being reused is pretty high. It can be used for the purpose it was created by purchasing a refill or for something completely different, which i think is really smart. I can very easily see this becoming part of my traveling kit (when I am allowed to travel again).
The official description on the site is…
Our thoughtfully formulated EcoFabulous blush “Camellia” is a gorgeous coral shade with a golden shimmer. With naturally derived, skin-friendly ingredients, such as Organic Jojoba Oil, Organic Grapeseed Oil, as well as Sunflower-derived Vitamin E, we successfully left out harmful ingredients such as Dimethicone, PTFE and Polyethylene. This gorgeous color will leave you looking and feeling fabulous! We strive for an ingredient of 2 or lower according to the EWG (1 being the lowest). And if for some reason an ingredient falls out of range, we will let you know why with an asterisk (*).
I have to say that while I am thrilled with the packaging and the ethos that the company projects about reducing waste and being both eco friendly and sustainable, I am a little squidgy on the fact that Mica is the first ingredient. I understand why it is an ingredient and as an ingredient my issue is less with it and more with the way it is harvested. While lots of companies and products use mica with a company so focused on projecting a positive message I would expect a little something about their mica sourcing. I couldn’t find anything on the site. I think they are a relatively new company though so may it is coming. I will keep an eye out and update you.
However ethos aside a product is only worth purchasing if it does the job it is supposed to do.
I have to say I did like this blush. It does have some shimmer to it but not alot. It isn’t a glittery blush. While I do sometimes like glittery bluses I tend to keep them separated because I don’t want to pick one up in a hurry and have glittery cheeks during a meeting. Glitter is many things, but it is rarely professional. There are exceptions, but for most of my meetings I like to go glitter free.
This blush did not need to be separated out. It has a slight shimmer but not glitter.
It is a bit more pink than I like for my current skin tone, however as I tan throughout the summer months (and no I don’t lay out and bake myself, I just walk and work in the garden and my skin naturally tans through normal exposure. Even with sunscreen and a gardening hat, I darken quickly) I think the shade will work better with my skin. I think it only looks a little bright to me because I am at my paleest.
first swatch on the left and doubling up on swatches on the right (sorry I changed the angle of my hand between swatches)
It is a buildable formula, which I like as well. I showed it on my hand as it was easier to see. The first swatch has only one stripe from my finger and the second swatch has a second swipe placed over the first. It is easier to see than on my cheeks, but it builds up just the same on the face.
My one issue with it though is that the blush didn’t last all day. I generall put on my makeup around ten and by about two I noticed that I really didn’t look like i was wearing blush any more. so that is just something to be aware of. It is a nice blush with a good ethos and good color (at least for me). I like the packaging and the buildability but I don’t like the longevity.
This week’s makeup bag was a strange one. I wanted to test a flat top foundation brush (from F.A.R.A.H this is the link to the review if you are interested) so I chose five separate foundations for the week. I chose five that I really like and know how they perform for me so that it would be easier to test the brush. It also meant that I didn’t consistently use any single foundation this week. It was kind of a fun change. It also gave me an excuse to use several of my favorite foundations.
The Foundations this week
All of the foundations I used this week I really liked. I used the powder Foundation of KVD Vegan Beauty. This one is really good if you are in a rush as you just brush it on like powder, add a dash of blush and go. I also used my Kristofer Buckle Triplicity Foundation. I will pretty much use any excuse to go ahead and add that to my makeup bag as it is a really nice, really easy formula. My excuse was that the stick formula makes it a cream foundation.
I actually had a cream foundation in my dressing table and quite frankly I forgot all about it. It is the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Compact Makeup. I used it, really liked it, put it in the drawer and forgot it. I think I may keep this one out this week to use it a bit more. For my liquid foundations I used the e.l.f Acne Fighting foundation and the Pretty Vulgar Cool AF Lava Water Foundation. I love both of them and will reuse them until they are gone and then repurchase.
I wanted two products in each category but I only had the one powder foundation. The KVD Vegan Beauty powder foundation is one I also need to reach for more often. As you can see I have the old packaging on it and should probably use it up. In certain lights you can see the outline of pan beginning to show through so I’m pretty confident I can use it up this year, even with switching out my foundations. I just need to remember to keep it on the list.
While the focus was on the foundation this week, it clearly wasn’t the only product I used. For primer I used the last of my Benefit Porefessional Pearl Primer. It was the last of the sample and now it will journey to the empties bin. I like the primer and will be purchasing it in the full size as soon as I’ve cleared out a few of my primers. A could of them are actually pretty close to being used up so it shouldn’t be too terribly long.
Benefit also supplied my setting spray this week. I used the Porefessional Super Setter. I love the fine mist a d setting power of this setting spray. But why am I mentioning it this early in the post, you might ask? Good question. Normally I end with the setting spray, but things got a little discombobulated this week. Plus, I also had to use it with my eyeshadow.
This week I used the Teddy Boy eyeshadow palette from Butter London. The shimmers didn’t really show up terribly well unless I wet my brush or finger for application so it was the Porefessional Supper setter to the rescue. While I ended up using it to set my face, it also helped out my eyeshadow palette. This link will take you to the full Teddy Boy Palette review. It isn’t my favorite palette but it is different from anything else I have in my collection, so I am okay with keeping it a while. It survived my Spring Declutter. We’ll see what happens next time I sort through my palettes.
I used my Pretty Vulgar concealer this week. It is a really good concealer and it worked well as a eyeshadow primer as well. I think the tube is now about half empty. It isn’t low enough that I need to keep it around to use up, so I’ll trade it out next week, but it is about at the halfway point which makes me sad as it is one of my favorites. I may have to do a full face of Pretty Vulgar makeup before it goes out. This is one of those brands that I have almost a full face of products to use. At least as long as the concealer lasts.
My bronzer and blush were both trial sizes this week. I used my NARS in the shade Laguna as my bronzer and my bareMinerals Bounce and Blur Blush in the shade Mauve Sunset as my blush. I adore both of these products and I have to say this year you will be seeing a lot more of these tow samples because I won’t allow myself to purchase the full size until I use the samples up.
Mostly because I know that once I have the full size, I won’t actually use the samples any more and they will be wasted. Plus I know that if I can use the samples up then I will definitely use the full size. With these two it isn’t a hardship as I really enjoy both products. In fact I fall more in love with the bareMinerals Bounce and Blur each time I use it. It is the absolute best of both powder and cream blushes combined into one. They are both very bendable and ae easy to work with. I highly recommend both of them.
I had a pressed powder from e.l.f and a loose powder from Ciate London this week. With the Ciate London Extraordinary Setting Powder, I used the translucent version. I like the fact that it doesn’t have the coconut scent that the Vacaay powder does, but quite frankly I prefer the Everyday Vacaay version, even with the coconut. I actually have an unopened container in my drawer, but I wanted to use this travel size up first.
The regular extraordinary powder can leave a little white on the skin if you aren’t careful. The Vacaay version doesn’t have this issue. As long as you go back in with a brush it is fine, I just thought it a little odd that one had the smidge and the other didn’t. The e.l.f. pressed powder also had this issue. I really like the formula of the elf HD pressed powder though as one it is in place it really keeps the shine from coming through and doesn’t look powdery. I think in the future with the elf I would get the tinted powder rather than the translucent. I like the formula but the translucent does tend to be a little too white on my skin.
My eyeliner this week was the Tarte Double Take eyeliner. One end is a liquid pen and the other is a soft pencil. I enjoyed both sides this week and will certainly be using this again. Which is a bonus for me as I have a second unopened liner that came in this month’s Boxycharm waiting for me to finish this one. While I did an eyeshadow palette declutter I think my next declutter may end up being eyeliners. I at least need to separate the open ones from the others so that I can use some of them up. The issue is that I really don’t wear eyeliner all that much and when I do I tend to reach for my reliable Eyeko more than anything else. I think I might have actually use the last Eyeko I had up completely. I’m pretty sure that is what prompted me to gram a different eyeliner this week. But I am glad I did as I enjoyed the Tarte Double Take.
This week I used the Hourglass brow pencil and it was a good formula. The pencil is starting to dry out a little, or at least it no longer seems as comfortable to apply as it did when I first got it. When I looked at the amount of product left in the pencil though, it is getting pretty low. The Hourglass eyeliner may be sticking around in my makeup bag for a while as I try to use it up. While I still enjoy using it, I can tell a difference from when I first used it to now. I think that if you are going to use this brow pencil then you need to buy it and just use it until it is gone and don’t let it hang around. It is nice, but it doesn’t have the greatest longevity.
No mascara on the left, mascara on the right.
This week my mascara was actually two mascaras. I picked out the Kristofer Buckle Mascara to use as it has been open a while and while it gave me the length I wanted it wasn’t performing as well as it usually does. I think it is just reaching the end of its life. This one has been open for five months. And I think this will be its last turn through the makeup bag. Sadly when I went on the site to capture a link so that you could go find it for yourselves should you be interested, this mascara was not listed on the site at all. I don’t know if they are doing things to the formula or releasing a new mascara so I will have to dive deep and find out. As I’ll soon need to repurchase my Kristofer Buckle Triplicity Foundation, I will be popping in and out of the site anyway.)
To bulk up the fading Kristofer Buckle I called in the Ciate London WonderWand. This is not the first time I used this mascara and it won’t be the last. It is fabulously thickening, which made it the perfect pairing for Kristofer Buckle’s Lengthening. Together they were a great tag team. I may not be able to purchase the Kristofer Buckle again, depending on availability, but I will very much be repurchasing the Ciate London Wonder Wand Mascara. I have a second unopened ciate london mascara in my dressing table so I may compare the two to see if I like one better than the other before I buy it. As the Wonder Wand is getting low on product, I may have to do that test sooner rather than later.
My look for the day (the bangs were not behaving)
And finally the lips. This week I used the Gel Color lip and cheek Balm crayon in Posh from Nudestix. While I would not use this shade on my cheeks it made a fantastic neutral lip crayon that was surprisingly long lasting. It wore off a bit at lunch time but surprisingly is hung on most of the day with a single morning application.
I know I sound a bit surprised but I tried a liquid lip from Nude sticks a while back and I really didn’t care for it so I am surprised by how much I really enjoyed this lip crayon. I suppose it goes to show you can’t judge an entire brand on one product. I was quite impressed with this nudestix crayon. I know this came in either a Look Fantastic or a Glossy Box a while back but I can’t remember if I used it or not. Even if I didn’t I am glad I used it this week as I really enjoyed it and will be reaching for it again.
This week was mostly about the foundations as I worked with the brush to see how it performed. As a consequence I chose products that for the most part I knew wouldn’t give me much trouble. Next week I have almost an entire bag full of new products to try. In fact I am going to see how many new products I have and put most of them in the bag. So while this week was a bag full of good solid products, next week is going to be much more of an experiment. I can’t wait to see how it ends.
If you ae looking for brushes, Bdellium is having a sale. The link will take you to sale pages. I’ve really enjoyed all of the brushes that I’ve used from them and find them to be of consistently good quality. They also have a wide variety of styles so you can usually find the brush you ae looking for in their stock.
Welcome my darlings to the weekly makeup bag. Here I go through all of the products I used throughout the week and let you know what I thought of them.
This week I will start with a Primer. You know I love a good primer. I love smoothing the canvas of my face down as much as possible before I start to apply everything else. This week I chose my small sample of the Pore Professional Pearl for my primer. I chose it for several reasons. The first was that it is the last of a whole bunch of Pore Professional sample sizes that I had. I slowly worked my way through them and whittled it down to just the one. And once I got down to the last one, I let it languish in the drawer while I use other products.
This was once my absolute favorite primer. It is still good, but I can’t remember when exactly when I picked up the primer so it is time for it to be used up. The second reason I chose to use this primer is because the Clarins primer I’ve used for the last two weeks, and fell in love with, sort of reminded me of this one and I wanted to compare them to each other. The fact is that I still really like the Pore Professional Pearl Primer. I actually prefer it to the regular Porefessional Primer to be honest. It not only fills the pores like the original but the pink tint really suits my skin tone. In the pallor of winter it brings a very slight pink tint to the skin. It is light enough that I don’t think it can actually be called a tint. Maybe a hue would be a better term.
Bare face on the left and just the primer on the right
Either way it brightens the skin and makes me look healthier, even on days when I just wear the primer and no foundation. I very much like it and as I think I have only a week’s worth of product left in the sample tube, it will be sticking around in the makeup bag another week, just so it can be used up. It is also going on my list of products to purchase in the full size very soon.
This week I used the Kristofer Buckle Triplicity Perfecting Foundation stick. I adore this stick foundation. A couple of swipes across the face and a quick blend with the Bdellium 999 Master blender and that’s it. No muss no fuss. And this shade works so well for my skin. It is light Warm in case you are wondering. The color is actually flexible enough with my skin that I can wear it year round. It also requires so little product to create a fantastic look so the Foundation stick lasts a long time.
Unlike other foundation sticks I’ve tried, this doesn’t need to be warmed up or anything before applying it. The center circle of product is actually a priming agent, I find I still like a pore filling primer underneath, but the primer in the foundation really helps with the smoothness of the application.
This is one of those foundations I always travel with because it is so quick and easy to use, and because it is as stick it doesn’t spill. It feels weightless on the skin. It is one I will continue to use and always repurchase.
just primer on the left and foundation over primer on the right
This week I also reached for another favorite. I pulled the RealHer Ultimate Glow Getter Cheek trio out of my makeup drawer. It is a blush, bronzer and highlighter combo and as you can see the bronzer is already showing the outline of the pan underneath. This is one of my favorite face palettes. All three products are buildable formulas that let you control exactly how much product you want to apply on your face.
Even though the palette is small enough to be travel sized the pans are large enough to be used with the face brushes I usually use. I don’t have to get a different smaller brush to use them. The white casing was a little unfortunate of a choice as you can see the area around the bronzer has become especially dirty. It does clean up easily, but it does accumulate fast on the white plastic.
I like that the pans can easily be popped out of the palette as I think I will probably run out of bronzer before I use up the other two pans and I love the thought of being able to replace the pans in the palette with new ones a they are used up. I think it is really smart and I really hope I can get this bronzer in a single pan to fit it inside once it is used up.
Speaking of used up, I completely used up the sample size of the It Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores Pressed powder this week. It was a good powder and one I wouldn’t mind using again. It wasn’t my favorite pressed powder, but it was nice to use even if I won’t be running out to immediately buy the full size.
I like the extra cap that provides space for a powder puff if you use one
My loose powder this week was the Pacifica Cherry Velvet translucent setting powder. I think this is either the second or third container of this I have had in my dressing table and when this powder is used up, I will be picking up a replacement of it. It is a great loose setting powder and pacifica is a really good vegan brand that I can easily pick up on a run to Target.
I think I have about half a container of this powder left in the container so it will take a while for me to use it up, but when I do, it will be replaced. It is finely milled enough to set my makeup without being powdery and it has no white flash back in photographs. The cherry scent can be a bit overpowering if used every day, but in a rotation of other powders it is always a nice delight to have the cherry scent around for a week.
Eyeko Lid Gloss in Zodiac
Because I wanted to try out the Galactic Lid Gloss from Eyeko this week I added both it and the Meet Matt (e) Trimony to my makeup bag. The Balm’s shadows always work well for me and they were again fantastic this week. I live using this all matte palette in general, but it also is a great palette to use when working with layering sparkle and shimmer products over.
The Balm Meet Matt (e) Trimony Palette
It was excellent with my shimmer stick shadows and it was again fabulous with the Eyeko Galactic Lid Gloss. The lid gloss itself was fun to play with and I think I will be picking up several. While you can read my full review here, the lid gloss performed well. It could be sheered out to a little shimmer and it could be packed on for a coppery, metallic foil look. It was very versatile and once dried, stayed in place all day. I am a huge fan and look forward to trying out more colors.
As the Eyeko was so dazzling, I couldn’t resist keeping the New Big Poppa mascara from Wet ‘n Wild out another week. This is one of their new products and so worth picking up. In the photos it took just one application to make my lashes stand out. It does a great job lengthening and making my lashes look a little fuller. It also didn’t flake throughout the day. I’d say it might be one of my new favorite drugstore products, but quite frankly it out performed many of my more expensive mascaras. I am very much a fan of Big Poppa. I’ll try to remember to trade him out for next week’s selection, but it will be hard to let him go.
No mascara on the left, mascara on the right
I had two lipsticks this week. I have the Dose of Colors liquid lipstick in Stone that I am trying to finish out and I had the Nars Bullet style lipstick in Karat. If applied directly the Nars is a deep purple red lipstick that I absolutely adore. It can be tamed by using a brush to apply it and thin it out a little bit, for when you don’t want to be quite as vampy. It can also be lightened with a little dose of Dose of Colors Stone on top of it. Stone is a pinky neutral shade. The tones played well with the Nars and the two colors blended well. I could go very neutral with Stone alone or super dark with Kirat. I could also hit most of the spectrum between by blending them in different ways. It was the best of all lipstick worlds. The only downside was that these formulas both tend to be a bit drying.
But that wasn’t a problem as I had Teadora Wild Superfood Lip Drops on hand. The link will take you to my full review of them. The drops may be a lip treatment, but when used with a drying lipstick formula they really keep your lips from drying out. Just let your lipstick actually dry down before you apply it so that the lipstick doesn’t smear. That is the only trick. It will make everything more glossy instead of matte but your lips won’t feel parched, dry and cracked.
My final touch was my setting spray and I have to say I opened the new bottle of the Timeless HA Spray that just came in. I finished the old bottle and couldn’t resisted ordering the exact same one again. I thought about the other scents but I really like the fresh Cucumber scent of this cucumber scented HA spray. I also like the extra dose of HA and the way it keeps my makeup in place. I will say that the Pore Professional Super Setter does better at locking things down, but the HA spray gives me those extra skin care benefits. I think at this moment those two are my top setting sprays and while I will continue to try others, those are the two I will most often reach for.
And that my darlings is the makeup bag for this week. I’ll admit, I did go for a lot of tried and true products this week. I had some of my favorites I just couldn’t help reaching for. I think the reason was mostly due to my skin. Right now I am going through a really good skin moment. I have had a really good spate of products and I really like the way my skin looks and feels. Several of those products however are running out or have run out and are being replaced.
I’ll do a skin care line up post in the near future to discuss. But the end result is that since I am getting ready to try new products I wanted to take advantage of my good skin moment by using products I knew weren’t going to cause me trouble. Hence the lineup of favorites. I’ll get over it, I just wanted to take the small window before I start tinkering with my skin care again. While I enjoy trying all new skin care products, sometimes there is a slight risk. Of course some times that risk pays off by adding new favorites to my line up. We’ll have to see as things move forward. But for now, this was my makeup bag this week.
Good morning my darlings it is time once again to review all of the products I used on my face this week. As usual we will start with primer.
This week I again used the Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch primer and I have to say the photos do not do it justice. It was like magical pore eraser in a pretty red glass jar. I love this primer and A part of me really wants to keep it in the makeup bag until it is empty and then just replace it, however, I have other primers in my collection that I need to use.
So this coming week I will return it to my dressing table and take out another primer. Actually because it reminds me so much of the Pore Professional Pearl Primer, I might take my last remaining sample of that out of the dressing table and use it so that I can get a comparison.
Bare face on the left, just primer on the right.
Plus I think the sample has been in my dressing table long enough. It is unopened but I know it won’t keep forever and as I am not planning on traveling anytime soon, keeping it for travel is sort of pointless.
For Foundation this week I went with the Laura Geller Quench ‘n Tint hydrating foundation. It is hydrating and it is a really good light to medium coverage foundation that feels like a moisturizer when you apply it. You can read my full review here, but the result is that I liked wearing it now but have reservations about summer wear.
If my skin were dryer I think I could get away with year round use, but I think in the summer it would be too hydrating for my skin.
Just primer on the left, primer and foundation on the right
It was also a light enough formula that I needed to use my concealer on my cheek scar and this week’s concealer was the Trestique Conceal, cover and correct crayon. Because of it’s shape and formula it worked well on my cheeks. It is too stiff to use under my eyes though as I feel it pulls at the skin a little too much. I love it for spot correcting though as it covers blemishes well and blends in with any foundation I have tried it with.
My bronzer this week was from elf. It has been a while since I used this bronzer and I forgot how pigmented it was. The first day this week I used this my skin went from winter pale to summer bronzed as I tried to blend it out instead of having an intense bronze on. I really like the elf formula because it is very blendable, but it is necessary to remember that it is also highly pigmented and needs a light hand when applying.
My bareMinerals blush I absolutely loved this week. You can read the full review here but in short, the color was fantastic, the bendability was wonderful, the soft focus look was excellent and I really liked the feel of the product on my fingertips. This is a blush that you apply with your fingers and I have to say I really enjoyed using it and once this sample is used up I will be purchasing the full sized version. So you will see this blush a lot as I work through it.
My highlighter was a sample sized pan from Wander Beauty. It is the Wanderess Glow in After Hours and I have to say it was a beautiful highlighter. It is a sort of silvery pink and blends really well into the skin. I like that I can make it bright or subtle depending on my blending The color as good and the formula worked well for me. It is a big pan and even though it is a sample size, I suspect it will last quite a while. For me highlighters tend to last a really long time since I use so little of them. I have always preferred my highlight in small doses and to provide a subtle glow rather than a blinding light. While I could do something blinding with this, I like that I can go for a soft glow instead.
I had two powders this week one pressed and one loose. The pressed powder was the It Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores pressed powder. It is a sample sized. It is also beginning to show pan. While I will be keeping this powder in my makeup bag until it runs out I suspect that will be another week at best as it is very thin indeed at the moment. Once it is gone however, I will be replacing it with something else. I enjoy using it, but I will not be purchasing a full size once the pan is empty. It is a fine product, but I have others I currently prefer.
My loose powder this week was the Kristofer Buckle Translucent setting powder. It is a very finely milled powder that sits well on the skin and doesn’t cause flash back from cameras. I really like using it. The only thing you have to watch out with this powder is the fact that since it is so finely milled, when you open the inner lid, you can sometimes get a small cloud of powder. It isn’t much, just a small puff that spots your hand, but it is something to be aware of. I just run my powder brush over my hand before dipping into the powder itself and there is no waste. Just be aware so that you don’t breathe it in and you will be fine. It is a lovely setting powder and I am really glad I picked it up.
Actually it wasn’t a deliberate purchase. Kristofer Buckle has these Kits and as I adore the formula for their Cashmere slip Lipstick I wanted to try some of the other products on offer and ended up purchasing the kit so I could. It was a fantastic investment as I have used every item in the kit repeatedly, and some, like the mascara, I have already had to reorder. This powder is one of the things I will be reordering once it runs out. Currently they are having a sale on this powder (among other things on the site). Normally it is $24 but currently it is on sale for $18 and there is free shipping.
I skipped the eyeliner this week, but my brow pencil was from Il Makiage. It worked really well and has a fine enough point to it that it went exactly where I wanted it to go. I really enjoyed using it. The shade I used was in Truffles and it suited my eyebrow color perfectly. The product was soft enough so that I didn’t feel like I was scratching my brows with a pencil, but it was soft enough to leave product behind easily. It was one of the better brow pencils I’ve tried.
The simple two color eye look I wore most of the week
For my eyeshadow I reached for my trusty Ciate London. It was the nine pan The Trend Edit that I used this week. The link will take you to the full review if you are interested. This week I kept things pretty tame and went mostly with the brown shade Burnt on the lid and the shimmer baby towards the inner lid to lighten it up a bit.
I love the other colors in the palette, but quite frankly this was a simple easy look that took no thought on mornings when I was rushed. The colors don’t have a really wide range to them, but if you are looking for a good everyday palette you can wear to work and then use to brighten up the shine before heading to happy hour, this is a palette you might want to look into.
And at the moment Ciate is having a sale, The Love Sale, actually. Some of their items are up to 50% off. As I have quite the collection of Ciate London Products there are many I can recommend. They are good quality. And for those of you who love the Muppets, their Miss Piggy Collection is also on sale. There is a good possibility the Miss Piggy Mirror will soon be mine.
My mascara this week was brand new, not just to me, but in general. I had to run out to Target and as I hadn’t been out of the house in a while, I took my time. Thee on the end cap was the new Big Poppa mascara from Wet ‘n Wild. I know I have other mascaras that are waiting unopened and ready for their turn to be used, but I couldn’t resist. I think it is the fact that the mascara is wearing a crown. I couldn’t leave the crown waiting in the wings. While the crown is a nice decorative touch, I did find that the ridges of the crown actually let me grip the wand more comfortably and securely. So it is a functional design as well. The wand is straight, relatively short and bushy with an hourglass shape to it.
No mascara on the left and mascara on in the righthand photo
It made for a surprisingly effective application actually. I really liked the way my lashes looked. They were lifted and lengthened. It was quite dramatic actually. I liked that the mascara stayed on all day without flaking on me. It is actually a really good mascara. I was very impressed. I don’t know why I am so surprised because Wet ‘n Wild’s new releases lately have all been fantastic. At this point I have tried new releases of their tinted moisturizer, eyeshadow, lipstick and now the Big Poppa Mascara. All have been absolutely fantastic.
Very simple look for most of this week
I can’t really say the same for the Jules Smith Beauty Lip gloss. It is glossy and I do like the color, but it is sticky and even after the color and shine have worn off, my lips felt strangely waxy. It was actually a strange feeling. It felt like a heavy, waxy lip balm, but when wiped off my lips felt a little dry instead of nourished. It was odd. Luckily, this is a sample size and there is very little in the sample after a week of use. I may keep it out to use up, because I really do like the tint of color, however formula trumps color and this is not a formula I will be purchasing in a full size.
I have to say the same thing about the Lise Watier Magnifix Setting Spray. I like the thought of the healthy setting spray and I like the scent, which made me initially like the spray. I also used it right after using a very paint smelling setting spray so i think it got bonus points for that. It is a very wet setting spray that often leaves spots in my powder. The more I use it, the less I actually like it. I just dislike having to touch up wet spots it leaves behind. It gets a little old. The bottle is halfway empty and I think I will use it up, but once it journeys to the empty bin it will not be repurchased.
And that my darlings was the good, the bad and the fabulous of this week’s makeup bag. Tune in next week to see what new products are lurking in the soon to be refilled bag.
bareMinerals is one of those makeup brands that I really like, but tend to forget about for long stretches. Then I will use one of their products and wonder how I could have possibly forgotten about them. They are always good quality with good for the skin ingredients and for me they always work really well.
This fingertip-friendly, weightless powder blush blends like a dream — no brush needed. The good-for-skin formula blurs the look of pores and imperfections for a naturally airbrushed effect with no harsh lines or uneven texture. Choose between 4 shades inspired by the gorgeous tones of the sunrise and sunset.
Our breakthrough bouncy technology provides a buildable, blendable texture thanks to a Botanical Blend of hydrating botanical ingredients, naturally derived from Moss. Mineral Blurring Microspheres and Vitamin B blur and minimize the appearance of pores and imperfections. Like all of our mineral makeup, these blushes are Paraben-free, Sulfate-free and completely cruelty-free.
Okay in many of my skincare posts I have mentioned why parabens and sulfates are bad for you and not just a marketing gizmo. (well they may also be part of a marketing plan, but it isn’t an empty one) Parabens and sulfates can potentially cause skin irritations and clogged pores and have been linked to certain cancers. So really not good to apply on the body.
I like that bareminerals does not have these nasties in them.
But how does it perform?
First off, the color I used is Mauve Sunrise which is perfectly suited to my skin tone. While I have a sample size currently, this is the color I will be picking up in the full size. And yes, I will be purchasing this in the full size once the sample runs out (I like to completely use up samples before I purchase the full size).
This bareMinerals‘ blush feels like a cream when touched, but applies like a powder on the skin. It also blends like a powder, so if you have fears of cream products leave them aside. It may feel creamy to the touch but you work with it more or less as you would a powder blush. Which is kind of the best of both worlds in my opinion. I use both creams and powders and I like each for different reasons. This has the ease of applying that a cream has in that you can place it exactly where you want with your fingertip and have absolutely no fall out from the product, but has the blendability of a powder. I love the combination.
You apply this blush with your finger and basically brush it along the skin and then blend it in. You can blend it in or use a makeup sponge or even a kabuki style brush to blend it in if you really want to, but fingers really do work best. And as I had my Makeup Eraser handy, once I was done, I simply wiped off my fingertips before reaching for the next product in my getting ready process. It was super simple with no mess.
I found it blended in well and gave me a nice soft look to my skin. There were no harsh lines from the application and the blush stayed in place all day, it didn’t fade away throughout the day and it didn’t disappear when blending. And best of all there was no fall out. So my sink is not dusted with pink and all of the product that came out of the package was actually used. There was no waste.
I very much enjoyed using this blush this week and I will be working to use up the sample. Once it is empty, I will be purchasing the bareMinerals Bounce and Blur Blush in a full size. I will probably stick with the Mauve Sunrise as well as the color works really well on my skin and I can see it working well in both summer and winter for me. Truthfully the hardest part is knowing my shade and liking the formula. I really want to order a full sized version for my collection. Currently bareMinerals is having a 30% off sale so I may be checking them out later and if this blush is a part of it, I may pick the blush up now and just nt open it until I use up the sample. that way I can prevent waste AND take advantage of the sale. Of course even if the blush isn’t on sale, there are several bareMinerals products I wouldn’t mind stocking up on. The sale banner is linked below in case any of you fancy a bit of shopping as well.
The Makeup Bag Used January 30th – February 5th, 2021
Welcome once again to the weekly makeup bag post, where I talk about the products I used this week and what I thought about them. Are you ready? Excellent!
First up, we have the primer. This week’s primer is the Clarins Instant Smooth perfecting touch and oh my darlings I am in love. (the link is just a link to their website. I have no affiliate code or anything it is just a fantastic primer).
It is pink in color and reminds me of the Pore Professional Pearl (which I personally prefer to the other varieties). I needed just a tiny bit and I smoothed it over my face and POOF no more pores.
I don’t know how well it translates into the photos, but I’ve posted them below. In person it felt like some sort of magic trick. It was fantastic.
Bare skin on the left and just primer on the right (apologies for the head tilt)
The Primer retails for $39 and I have already book marked the product page. I know, I love primers and I do have quite a few. I try very hard to rotate through them so that no product goes bad, and I really don’t like stockpiling products, but this is one that I am having a really hard time not ordering a second one just so that when this one runs out there is already another one waiting. There are only a few products that I want to make certain that I have a backup of and this primer has now made the list. It doesn’t hurt that the primer is in a beautiful red glass jar. I am a sucker for jewel toned glass. Putting an excellent product inside, just makes it more desirable.
This week I took the Too Faced Dew You Full Coverage foundation out of my foundation drawer to use. I know it has been a while since I reached for it, but it is among my lightest foundations. Although if you compare the color by the name Porcelain to the actual product you find the product is just a little darker than the color strip (in case you were thinking of ordering it.)
The difference isn’t major, but there is one so you might want to think about that when choosing a shade. Even though it is a full coverage foundation, I tend to apply low enough amounts that I can talk it into being more of a medium coverage product. I like the way this foundation sits against the skin and I really like the design of the pump dispenser.
Just primer on the left and foundation over primer on the right.
The scent of the foundation is fruity. I think it is supposed to be tutti frutti, and it does smell fruity. I kind of like the scent and I like the way the foundation wears. It is an easy one to wear and as the shade is my winter range, I can now wear it. So it all worked out. I will probably use up this foundation though and not repurchase it right away, mainly because I don’t wear a lot of full coverage foundations and I have a couple that I tried that I do like a little bit better. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, it just means it isn’t a category where I need to keep anything but my absolute favorite stocked.
Too Faced also supplied my bronzer and pressed powder this week actually. I used the Cocoa Contour Palette this week. I chose it because I could adjust my bronze to suit my skin tone. I really like contour palettes when I am uncertain which shade would work best for me. I also tend to forget I have this one, especially in the summer when I just use the small bronzer compact from Too Faced. I really do like their bronzers and this is a category of their products I would consistently repurchase as I do like their formula. It will however take me quite a while to work through the products in this palette.
This week I blended the light and medium contours to use. The product worked well and I love the chocolate scent to it. I also love the packaging and to be honest the compact and the mirror is something I will use long after the product is gone. The sturdy package is perfect for travel and that mirror is really nice. Too Faced has a lot of really nice packaging and the products I have are good.
To round out the Too Faced trio I used the Peach Blur. As expected it smells of peaches and to be honest I forgot I had it. I used it quite a bit before I picked up the Becca Pink Haze setting powder actually as you can see from the wear pattern in the middle. That used to be a peach in case you couldn’t tell. It gives a slight pink to the skin and helps banish the winter whites with a healthier glow. While it works well enough to use, I really do prefer the Pink Haze from Becca. I will be using this powder up, but not repurchasing it in the future. Which is kind of a serendipitous call as it is no longer listed on the Too Faced site, at least I couldn’t find it.
I have to jump back now to my concealer (which I did add before bronzer and powder, I just grouped the Too Faced products together. This week I used the Julep Cushion concealer and as always it was fantastic. I know a lot of people tend to draw the under eye triangles with concealer, but this has never been how I apply it. I tend to apply dots and then go in with a makeup sponge to blend. I don’t have massive dark circles but I do have lines under my skin. I also have frequent bouts of insomnia and trust me, no makeup can really truly cover that up. I do like that the Julep formula does not emphasize them though.
The Huda Beauty Basic B sponge is great for blending out the concealer as it had that flat side that makes getting into the edges easier. I love the julep formula. My only issue is that the cushion top tends to make the inside of the cap a bit messy. It is a minor issue though and I will happily use every last drop of this concealer.
face products on
My blush this week was my favorite Marbled light in Halo by Ciate London. As always it performed beautifully. I love the way it can be built up and the way it wears. What can I say, it is one of my favorite products and if I don’t have a blush to test out I tend to reach for wither this Ciate Blush or the Benefit Gold Rush. Both have a similar glow they add to the skin without being shimmery and both ate at the top of my blush list.
For my highlighter this week I pulled the Illamasqua highlighter in OMG. At least I think that’s the shade name. I love that I can be as subtle or as glowy as I want with this highlighter. If I want a blinding strip of light, I can do that. If I want a soft glow then I can do that too. While I normally prefer more gold and pink toned highlighters, this is one of the few silvery toned highlighters that I really enjoy. It is a small compact though and I tend to forget it is there. I need to make an effort to remember more often. I have to say I have been picking up more and more Illamasqua products lately and thus far they have all worked really well for me. This is one of those brands I need to pay more attention to.
My eyeshadow palette this week was one of the new 5 pan Color Icon Palettes from Wet ‘n wild. The link will take you to the full review, but the basics of it is that it is a good palette with little fall out and colors that blend. My only issue was that I wanted the brown matte to be warmer in tone to mix better with the rest of the shadows. A minor complaint and the only one I had with the palette.
single ruset shade blended out with one dip into the pan
My eyebrow pencil was again the RealHer Eye am Strong. I know this is the third week in a row. I was planning to change it out but then I noticed that I had almost no product left in it. So I decided to just finish it out this week, which I did. Alas it is now ready to depart for the empties bin. No product remains. I enjoyed using it and once I use up a few more brow pencils (which doesn’t really take that long) I will be replacing it. This is another brand I want to remember to keep in my sites as I have several really good products from them in my collection.
Joining the Real Her in the empties bin this week is the Kevyn Aucoin The Expert Mascara. I know it should have gone sooner but I really liked the mascara, especially the small curve in the wand, so I kept it a little longer than I should have just to use up the last of the formula. The tube is now close to empty but it has been open far too long. It is also not performing as well as it did when I first got it, even though it is still nice, which is extra incentive to move it along to the empties bin.
No mascara on left, mascara on right
Even though there is still product left inside and it isn’t dry or clumpy I will be saying goodbye as it has been open about ten months at this point. I try to only keep a few mascaras open so that I can use them up by the six month mark. I loved this mascara and I used most of it up, but for health and safety it will now be moved to the empty bin. At some point though, it will be replaced. I enjoyed the heck out of this mascara.
It sat well on my lips and while it is a traditional lipstick and does wear off when eating or drinking it didn’t leave massive lip prints everywhere. The formula was comfortable and I absolutely adore the color. It is a nude with a rosy hue to it rather than a brown one and I really enjoy the shade.
The formula was nice and even though I know the lip design has been used elsewhere, I still like it. I suspect many more of these lipsticks will be coming into my possession. The formula is very wearable and as it is Wet ‘n Wild the cost isn’t prohibitive.
And so at last we come to the Setting spray. Once again my darlings I found myself reaching for the Pore Professional Super setter. I just adore the ultra-fine mist. It is so fine that one morning I put it on after applying my mascara and my mascara didn’t run. (I’m not my best before coffee.)
It also keeps my makeup in place well. I am very pleased with this setting spray. However, I will make a concerted effort to choose a different one for next week. I make no promises about the primer though. I am fairly certain I am going to have to talk myself out of using it every week. But I’ll argue with myself about that next week. For now I know I’m keeping the Clarins Smoothing primer in the bag another week. Everything else I will change out.
Over all it was a pretty good slate of products this week. I have quite a few products that I liked using, teo that I used up and sent to the empties bin, a couple that I’ve marked to use up but not repurchase and one product I have fallen head over heels in love with. It was an interesting mix and one I am actually quite pleased with.
With Valentines day coming up, there are bunches and bunches of sales. I’ve listed a few I know of below in case you are interested in taking advantage of them.
Chantecaille has two offers that run from now until February 28th:
$100 off Bio Lifting Discovery Collection with code TRYBIO. Discover the benefits of Bio Lifting skincare with this introductory set for $195 (a $344 value)
Ms. Mimsy Reviews 