I’ll be honest, for a long time I didn’t use a lot of setting powder. I saw videos of people doing their makeup and saw them ‘baking’ their face with powder and thought ‘what a waste of powder. I tended to use pressed powder for mid-day patting off of the shine and then a big fluffy brush with a little bit of setting powder to help control the shine when I knew it was going to be a humid day and shine was inevitable.
The reason I didn’t use a lot of powder was because I thought it made me look powdery. Which it did. With some powders. While I still don’t bake, I do use setting powder to set my makeup. I tend to go with finer milled powders with a slight tint to them so they don’t brighten my face too much. Unless the powder comes with a usable puff I tend to apply them with the round end of a damp makeup sponge. I dip the sponge in the powder and dot my face then I go in with a fluffy brush to spread the powder out.
I suspect that is on no professionals makeup application list but the reasons I do it are rather simple. I dot the sponge on the sections of my face where I tend to get the shiniest because my makeup has worn off, like the high points. I don’t cover the face because I find this dispersal method leaves the most powder where I put it and applies just a thinner layer on the places I don’t really need it just to even out the look. For me, it keeps me from looking powdery.
But not all powders are the same. Some are not finely milled enough so they will always sort of look powdery no matter what I do and some are so finely milled that they send up a cloud of powder into the air and I always feel like I am powdering the air more than my skin.
This Flour Setting Powder from Beauty Bakerie is right in the middle. It is finely milled enough that it doesn’t leave a powdery look and it is not too finely milled. It is as Goldilocks’ said, just right. The shade I am using is called Oat and while translucent there is a soft tone to it that keeps it from being bright white against the skin. For me that actually helps blend it better into the skin.
The container is not huge, which makes it perfect for travel. And inside the container has an inner plastic wheel that you can turn to close off the holes that dispense the powder. It means that you won’t have powder slipping through the holes as the container bounces around your makeup bag. I have had many a powder blowout during travel and it is really nice to know I won’t have that with this powder.
The container comes in a little flour bag as well which I think is just utterly adorable. And while adorable isn’t everything this powder looks good, applies well and locks in the makeup well. So the adorable is just the cherry on top of the sundae. I will admit I don’t really want to throw the outer packaging away. But it is paper that can go in the recycling, so I suppose it will just have a new life elsewhere. All in all I found this Flour Setting powder from Beauty Bakerie to be a fantastic setting powder.
This year there have really been five powders I have reached for. I have others I like, but these have been the top products I use more often than others. One, is discontinued, but I still felt it was worth mentioning because it is different from the others and while I will be finishing it up in the next month I will be looking for a replacement for it. You know, why don’t we start with that one.
This setting powder is pink. For me that is unusual because generally I have setting powders that are white translucent to medium translucent. I have pink undertones to my skin. I know not everyone does, but i also know there are other tinted powders out there, although I do believe the pink tint might be good for a lot of people. I have a friend with very dark skin who uses it for pretty much the same reason I do. To add a slightly healthy glow to the skin when you feel kind of winter washed out. If you have really red/rosateia you might want to avoid this though It isn’t the same kind of glow that you get from a highlighter it is more of a healthy skin look. It makes you look a little less like you spent three months sitting at your desk with the only light available being the computer screen. when I first saw this i thought it would be like putting blush all ove my face but it isn’t. it is just a healthy tint when you look a little sallow. Becca is done and my container of powder has very little product in it, but i will be on the hunt for a new pink powder to replace it this year so I thought it deserved to be on the list.
Okay first off, the powder looks adorable when it arrives. It is wrapped in paper and just feels like a present. Then it has the powder puff. I would buy this just for the powder puff. And trust me when this powder container is empty, I will replace the container but keep the puff to use with other powders since a new one will be with the new powder. this puff is an actual puff and not a thin piece of foam that looks like it has been hit with a steam roller. Then there is the powder. It is finely milled and the shade I have (03) has just enough tint to really blend well with my skin tone. There are several other shades so you are very likely to find one that suits.
I am using the shade Oat. It is white but has just enough of a tint that it blends really well. I also like that it is not a huge container of setting powder. I don’t use a lot of powder with each set (I don’t do the intense bake layer, I just set my makeup with it which doesn’t take a whole lot) So this size will last me a while. Plus it’s size makes it perfect for longer travels. For shorter trips I use a smaller travel size. I love that there is a lid lock inside so that the holes can be blocked off and powder won’t spill into the cap when not in use. For space concerns I store my powders on their sides in a row and sometimes there is spillage. But not with this one.
This is extremely finely milled powder. I picked up the travel size because I wanted to try it. I had a sample from a previous Tatcha order and it comes pressed onto a sheet with a plastic overlay. I tried the sample and it felt a bit like a pressed powder because it was pressed to the paper. It worked well. I would have loved it in a compact though. if Tatcha ever makes this into a pressed powder I will purchase it immediately. I love it as a loose powder though. I mostly want it as a pressed powder because there is only one pressed powder I really use right now. This is a greatly good powder but it is fine enough that I sometimes hold my breath when dusting off the excess. That is it’s only flaw. It wears well and looks fantastic.
This is the only pressed powder on my list because honestly it is the only pressed powder i use. I need it to pat the shine off, especially in the summer so it is a constant makeup bag to purse traveler. This is the third compact of this I have used this year and it has about two more months left of use in it. It is really good for mid day use. It can powder down the shine without adding powdery weight to your look. It is a long term favorite of mine and probably will be for a long time to come.
And those my darlings are the top five powders of 2022. There are many more powders in my collection, but these are the ones I reach for first and use the most.
In the summertime one of the products I find myself reaching for more often is body powder. Now I don’t mean glittery bronzing powder designed to highlight collar bones with a delicate glow (although I do like those as well). Nope, this is the general body powder that goes in places not meant to be seen by the general public.
At least I don’t think that anyone is really looking at the backs of my knees or under my breasts.
Especially as I am not walking around naked.
Now, while I recall my grandmother always using body powder after a bath and keeping a lovely glass container in the bathroom for it (currently my mother uses the same one) body powder has fallen out of favor for a lot of people. It doesn’t seem to be a hugely touted product any more. Which is a shame as if you live in a warm humid environment it can be a life saver.
No matter what I wear on my walks, I will be sweating and the cloth will rub. When I come home, I cool off, take a shower, massage body lotion or oil (usually oil in the summer as it tends to absorb faster) and then at the end I take a little body powder and add it to the places where my skin may have been rubbed a little by the sweaty clothing to ensure the fresh clothes I put on won’t irritate that skin. I also add a little powder to the parts of me that are likely to sweat. Like the backs of my knees, under my breasts and at the small of my back, especially if I know I am going to a meeting.
Most of the places where I have meetings in the summer have overly air conditioned meeting rooms so I will wear slacks in the summertime (oddly I wear the skirts more in the winter but that is another story). The slacks keep me from freezing in the meeting but moving between indoor and outdoor air, sweat rises. The powder absorbs it and keeps it from leaving damp spots on the clothing.
So despite not being a popular touted item, it is quite a useful one. Now I always get the powder that is talc free and I also go for unscented where possible. Because it is such an old-school type of beauty product, the scents for it tend to remind me of the older ladies of my acquaintance. I do have a lovely powder from Too Faced that smells of Gingerbread, but it also has glittery bits mixed in. I still use it but the glitter is wasted on the backs of my knees.
With powders you generally get a large plastic bottle with a few holes that you squeeze out or you get a box with a cut out that has a small puff with it. I do like to apply powder with a puff as I find it makes less of a mess. The boxes that plan on you using a puff always make a mess. So I picked up my own container. This pretty little box came from Amazon. This is the link. They have many styles and colors. I’m sure similar ones can be picked up in a lot of places, but I wanted to highlight the features I really like about it.
First of all the metal lid seals really well. The jar is a light weight metal so it can go from bathroom to luggage easily. I have never had it spill in my luggage, but i do put it in a plastic bag for traveling just in case. It is easily wipeable. This particular one came with a powder puff. I use the puff until it needs to be replaced and then I buy replacement puffs. Generally they are sold in bags of 10-12 and I generally replace them at most two times a year. So the bag lasts a while. This one came with the jar (Because I had to order a new one since I left mine at my mom’s when I was down in May and she loved it so much I told her she could keep it).
The puff doesn’t fit inside of the jar because of the internal lid, but I am okay with that. I would rather have the internal lid than not so I will accept the puff not fitting. It is the one thing i would change though. I would make the lid high enough to accommodate the butt. Because it needs the handle. I love the internal lid as it means I spill less. Sometimes when you pull a lid off a jar you tilt things. the internal lid means the powder stays sealed in while i take the lid off and then I just lift it up to expose the powder.
Because body powder isn’t as widely used (or at least not talked about as much) it is a little difficult to find containers that look nice in modern bathrooms, but it is worth the effort. After a work out it can keep abraded skin from becoming rubbed raw. It absorbs excess sweat so you have fewer seat stains on your clothes and you feel a little more comfortable in your own skin on a hot day. And there is something about it that just makes me feel a little bit glamorous when using it. Perhaps it is that powder and powder puffs tend to feature in 1950s era adverts and bathroom design, but it is a small thing that helps my skin out and makes me feel a little bit special all at the same time. And that is not a bad thing to add to a daily routine.
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.
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)
This week’s makeup bag was a very interesting one. Upon first glance it looks like I went minimalist, which I sort of did. Mostly it was a minimalism dictated by the Ofra Face Palette since most of my products came from it this week. But we’ll get to that in a bit. We are going to start from the primer and work our way out today.
The primer I used this week was one of my long time favorites. It was the Urban Decay Optical Illusion Primer. I tend to use it in the spots where I really want my pores filled and my coverage flawless.
On me it works like a dream, and because I tend to use it only on my nose and cheeks where I have the most noticeable pores, One pump is all it takes for me. I really like the argan oil in the product as it makes my skin feel soft and nourished. I especially like using this primer under lighter foundation products as it means that the light coverage products don’t have to work as hard to look fabulous.
Bare freshly washed face on the left, primer only on the skin on the right
This week’s foundation product was the wet ‘n wild barefocus Tinted hydrator. It is a tinted moisturizer that gives sheer to medium coverage. I was very impressed by t’s performance and look forward to using this product repeatedly. Most of my tinted hydrators are tinted for my skin when it is in the summer and autumn. I deliberately picked this one up because I wanted to have a shade that was more for my skin color in the winter. I wasn’t certain if this would be the correct shade but I really liked how it worked out on my skin this week. The link will take you to the full review of the barefocus, but the end result is that I really liked it.
Just the primer on the left and the foundation over primer on the right
This of course moves us into the Ofra Good to Go Mini’s palette. This palette provided my bronzer, blush highlight and eyeshadow this week. While I have used Ofra’s Blush and highlight before, the bronzer and eyeshadows were new to me. It was kind of a mixed bag for me actually. The link will take you to the full review but here are the basics. The blush and highlighter performed well. As I’ve used those before I quite frankly expected them to be good products. The bronzer too performed really well. It was when we got to the shadows that things became a little iffy. With the mattes the formulas were nice but the colors weren’t my favorites. The shimmers I fell in love with. I absolutely adore the old gold shade called Ambition.
I really like the fact that the pans can all be taken out and replaced. Quite frankly I would replace all of the mattes. The formula was good, the colors weren’t. I did like having so many of my products in one place though. I think that if I were traveling, this would be a good face kit to travel with because of the face products. I would just need to replace the mattes prior to traveling or add a second shadow palette into the travel kit.
eyedetail
The Ofra Palette came in this month’s Boxy Charm premium as did the two Fenty Products that I used this week. The Setting powder I used was Fenty Beauty Pro Filter. I used the shade Cashew. The tone of the powder is really good on my, however it is a little darker than I need right now. I looked very tan this week. I think that I will put this powder back in my makeup drawer and take it out in the spring. I think it’s darker shade would help deepen some of my winter foundations as my skin starts to tan for spring and I think that in the summer time it will be the absolutely perfect setting powder shade for me. Right now it is a hair too dark. The undertones however suit my skin perfectly so I am pleased to have this around.
wand
The mascara I used this week was also a Fenty Product (the Full Frontal lifting and curling mascara to be precise) and also from January’s Boxycharm Premium. I have to admit I pulled the wand out of the tube and I was not all that impressed. Then I used the mascara and I was very impressed with the product’s performance. Fenty is one of those brands that is very hit or miss for me. Both the powder and the mascara were definite hits for me. I know the pictures below make me feel a little crosseyed to look at but the with mascara and without mascara pics are quite dramatic. I really look forward to getting a lot out of this mascara. It lengthened beautifully and didn’t flake out at all through the day. It was definitely a winner.
This week I kept my RealHer eyebrow pencil in the bag and again enjoyed using it. I figured I had so many new products to try that I ought to keep a couple of my excellently performing ones in the bag to balance it out. Hence why the RealHer Eyebrow pencil remained and I added the Urban decay Optical Illusion. Some days, you need to keep a few trusted friends close.
This week I also went with a tried and true for my lip product. I chose it not only because I love the formula and the color, but because it was an Ofra Liquid lip. I figured if I was going Ofra-tastic with the face palette, I might as well add in the lips as well. So I did. As always this liquid lip performed beautifully. I always enjoy using it. This shade is Pasadena and is one that I will be repurchasing (along with several of it’s friends) once I am finished with it.
And that is it. I know short and sweet this week. Also it was a pretty good week. Most of my products were new to me items. And I believe the wet ‘n Wild product is actually just new to the market as well as new to me. With the exception of the eyeshadow shades there was very little disappointment this week and a whole lot of cheering. Let’s hope next week is just as fabulous.
Welcome my darlings to the weekly makeup bag post, where I discuss all of the products that I used on my face through the week and what I thought of them. This week I didn’t have to go anywhere. I was working at my desk all week and while there were a few phone calls, none of them involved video.
And what did I wear on my week of only for me makeup?
Well I started with the Illamasqua Primer. (The link will take you to the full primer review post). The reason I pulled the primer from the dressing table is actually due to a cleanser issue. I finished up my Elemis Cica Foaming cleanser (which I adore and already have a second bottle waiting in the wings) so I decided to try out a Murad Acne Clearing Cleanser. I was having such good luck with the Murad Hydrating Toner I’m using that I thought it would be nice. And it started off nice. It cleared up my blemishes fast, and then it dried my skin out something awful. The fault is really my own actually. The Toner is hydrating and the cleanser is acne fighting. It fought my acne, and once my face cleared I should have set it to the side. If I had done that, everything would be fine. But I didn’t, so my skin became overly dry. The product is fabulous and works exactly as it is supposed to, this was entirely user error.
So I have been packing on the extra moisture from trusted brands ever since.
One thing this Illamasqua primer does is it hydrates as well as gives you a nice smooth base to work your makeup magic on. And this week was all about hydration. When my Look Fantastic Box arrived and I found it was the spoiler for the February box I was kind of amused by the timing. While I like this primer, I can only use it in the winter. It is far too hydrating for me in the warmer months. But it is excellent if my skin is feeling winter dry. (ir if I’ve gone overboard on and Acne fighting cleanser).
When I pull the Illamasqua primer out of my dressing table I almost always pair it with the Pretty Vulgar Cool AF Lave Water Foundation. It is Vegan, it is matte, it is fabulous on my skin. And it works well with this particular primer. This is one of my favorite foundations it is not a hardship to use it. I know I have been using a lot of tinted moisturizers and skin veils lately because I really do like them, but this primer needs an actual foundation so I was happy to turn to Pretty Vulgar. It works as beautifully as always. Although to be honest I probably need one shade lighter for the winter.
One of my new products to try this week was the Item Beauty Cheek Money Bronze Contour Duo in the shades Mood and Vibez. I’ve never tried anything from Item Beauty. The packaging on this duo is lovely. It has an orange ombre effect and it feels good to hold.
Post bronzing
The product however is pointless. In the picture you can see my face after I applied the bronzer. I had a hard time seeing it. I tried building it up, but to no avail. The product swatches well, and with effort it can be applied in a solid line on the cheeks. The small line you might see on my cheek is part shadow because the lighting at the time of day I did my makeup on the day I scheduled to take photographs was awful (hence the reason there are more product photos than my face this week) and part where I had yet to attempt blending in. As soon as you do any blending it disappears. It never builds up it just fades away. I tried both sides of the dup and had the same result with both. This is not going to be a product I turn to again. It also makes me hesitant to try any more Item Beauty products.
For blush I turned back to my tried and true Ciate London Marbled Light Blush in Halo. It is one of my favorite blushes and after the disappointment of the bronzer I was happy to have it. It is a soft buildable formula that lets me decide how blushed I really want my cheeks and I really enjoy using it.
The Sleek makeup highlighting palette was a new to me product this week. It features four shades of highlight. Three of them disappear completely into my skin tone and one of them gives me a pinkish tint that I would like better as an eyeshadow.
To be honest I might try repurposing this highlighter palette as an eyeshadow palette. The shades simply give almost no highlight to my skin, providing more pigment than highlight. I like my highlights subtle but for me, this just disappeared or left unwanted color on the skin. I’ll have to try it as eyeshadow and report back on how it does. I really like the compact, but like the Item Beauty, the packaging is its best feature.
I had two powders this week, The Smashbox Photo Finish and the sample of the It Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores pressed powder. Both were in my makeup bag last week, although I didn’t reach for the smashbox because of the tint of the foundation I was using. This week I used them both.
I would definitely pick up the Smashbox photo finish fresh powder again and keep it stocked. The It Cosmetics pressed powder however I will be using the sample up and then bidding it a farewell. It is nice enough to use, but not something I feel is so nice that I need to stock it. I would much rather repurchase my No. 7 Perfect light.
I know I mention the No. 7 a lot but for me that is the test. I don’t have a problem spending $30 on a powder as I know it is a product I will use. Seriously, if there is one product in my makeup bag I will use even if I don’t use any other that day, it is my pressed powder. And if it is a good one then I will spend the money to purchase it. But the No. 7 Perfect light Pressed Powder is $12.99 and is absolutely fantastic. A pressed powder has to work as well or better than my No.7 in order to make the repurchasing mark, whether it costs more or less. I may not mind spending $30 on a really good product, but I won’t buy a cheaper one that doesn’t work just because it is cheaper either. Several powders do make that standard mark, this It Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores Pressed Powder is just not one of them for me.
For the eyes this week I used my favorite KVD single eyeshadow in the shade Lolita. (currently KVD Beauty is having a sale. The link will take you to the site.) I love the formula of this shadow and will happily use it repeatedly in a one and done look. However, this week I chose it because I knew how it performed. I paired it with the Thrive Causemetics brilliant eye brightener shadow stick in the shade Aurora. I really liked the way the shadow stick performed. (The link will take you to the full review of it.)
I will be using this shadow stick quite often in the future and possibly looking into others from this line as well. I wish they had some mattes in the line, but alas they do not. I’m finding I really like using shadow sticks. The problem is that all the ones I have are shimmers. I don’t know if they even make matte shadow sticks, but that is something I will definitely be looking into.
New to me this week was The Estate eyeliner in black. It is a liner that starts off very black but went a little grayish by the end of the day. It did stay in place without smudging and it dried quickly, it just went a little gray. However the point of the liner is quite fine so if just lining your lash line if you move quickly then it is nice and thin. It is not my favorite eyeliner, but it works. Just don’t plan to wear it more than six hours if you are going to do anything more than simply lining the lower lashes. This is not a liner I would turn to for a wing.
My brow pencil this week came from RealHer. I’ve used it before and loved it, this time was no exception. I have to say the more products I try from RealHer the more I like the brand. The shade Eye Am Strong works really well for me. And I am happy to keep this brow pencil in rotation.
Currently RealHer is having a sale. The link is above if you are interested. I absolutely adore their Cheek Trio Palette and am actually close to hitting pan on the bronzer in that palette.
My mascara this week was the Pretty Vulgar The Feather’s mascara. I initially purchased this because it looks just so beautiful. However, I love the way it performs and I really like the curve of the wand. The mascara is not an overly dramatic one, but it is one that I can use to sort of punch up an everyday look without going too far with it. It still looks office appropriate and not too after hours. It doesn’t flake and it dries pretty quickly.
When they had the two for one sale back in November I stocked up. While this is my second tube of this mascara, I have two more unopened just waiting for their chance to be used. It is gorgeous packaging that houses a really fantastic product. Right now they have a Mystery box sale going on that you might want to check out. I have tried two products from them at this point, the mascara and the foundation -both in this post actually – and I love them both.
No mascara on the left, mascara on the right
Finally, this week I went with the Sugar Crush Liquid Lipstick in the shade Sprinkle. In a surprising note, it was my only lip product this week. I know my darlings, take a moment and recover from your shock. But yse, there was only one lip product this week.
It is a really nice shade and once on the lips it dries down almost completely. The dried down part means I am not leaving lip prints everywhere, but the ‘almost’ dried down means that it doesn’t make my lips dry and sandpaper like.
Final
It is a fantastic liquid lip as far as performance goes. It smells like cake batter and this particular color is a nice neutral that goes with a lot of everything. This is one of those formulas that I could actually see myself collecting the entire lip line. It shouldn’t surprise me, it is a Tarte Cosmetics product and I always have really good luck working with their products. I was just very impressed by how this dries down so it doesn’t leave lip prints everywhere but doesn’t turn your lips into sandpaper. It is a very fine line and they walk it well.
I did forget entirely to add a setting spray this week, in case you are wondering about it’s absence.
So that was my makeup for the week my darlings. I learned my lesson on timing though. The sun hits that window at a certain time of morning and while the light is actually really good for applying makeup, it is just horrid for taking photos of the process. I’m still learning on these posts so I hope you’ll bear with me on the photos. I promise to work harder at getting better. And as always if there is anything that you would specifically like to see, let me know.
There were some tried and true favorites this week. There were also some stand out newcomers and some absolute bombs. Quite the exciting mix actually. Next week, I have one scheduled conference call so I won’t be making up just for me. Because of that I may lean on more tested face products next week. But I won’t really know until I sit down with my makeup bag and start choosing products. I can’t wait to see what makes it into next week’s bag.
Welcome my darlings once again to the weekly makeup bag. It was an interesting mix of products this week. Some are tried and true favorites while others were first time uses. The tarte Maracuja tinted Hydrator was a new use product. The link will take you to the full review. It was only a sample because I wanted to see how I felt about the product before committing to the full size. I absolutely loved the way it performed this week and have added the tinted tarte to my future purchases list.
Look ma, nothing on my face
As it was a moisturizer the tarte tinted moisturizer was, well, moisturizing. Unfortunately so was my primer. This week I had a new Studio Makeup Silk Hydration Face Primer in my bag to try. It is very hydrating. So much so that I really couldn’t wear it with my chosen foundation product this week without being far too overly hydrated. I had to call in my e.l.f. poreless putty primer instead. It is a tried and true and it was easy to press it into service again this week when I was overly hydrated.
Just the primer
I think that the Studio Makeup primer may be good under a foundation that is especially drying, but it was a bit too much hydration with an already hydrating skin tint. I may set it aside to try at a time when I do have a more drying foundation rather than pass judgment on it now.
foundation application
The Julep Cushion complexion was added to my makeup bag as my concealer of the week and it did a great job as always. It covered and didn’t crease throughout the day. It is kind of fun that it is a cushion applicator though. I really don’t like the cushion applicators.
Concealer and yes I realize I am getting the superman curl on the center of my forehead, although not being a superhero, it doesn’t quite curl automatically.
There is no real reason I can point to but I just don’t care for them. However the formula of my two favorite concealers both have the sponge top applicators rather than wands. My two favorites are the Julep that I used this week and the Revolution Fast base concealer in case you were wondering. Both have those soft cushion tops. So clearly I don’t mind the applicator enough not to use the product. The Julep concealer is a really good formula so I use it. Pretty simple really.
My bronzer this week was an Anastasia Beverly Hills Bronzer that I picked up and then forgot I owned. I don’t actually recall using it before now even though I must have purchased it sometime before. I Think because it is a small dark compact and it was placed towards the back of the drawer it got lost in the shadows. So I am going to call it a new to me product. It is a highly pigmented bronzer and quite frankly may be a little dark for me at this time of year.
Bronzed and blushed
You may notice I appear a bit overly bronzed in these pictures. The day I took them I went a little too heavy handed with the bronzer. I actually liked the way the bronzer performed, however I think it may be more of a summertime use product for me. Even though it looks to be the same shade as many of my other bronzers, because it is so highly pigmented, it comes across darker on the skin.
As this is my only ABH Bronzer, I’m not sure if that is standard or not but I think I might pick up a shade lighter than what I want and see how that works out. As this one looks like the shade I want in the pan but is too dark, perhaps a shade too light will be just right. At least that is my current theory. I’ll have to see how it plays out in practice.
The Blush Divot increases
My blush this week was one of my recurring favorites. I used the Benefit Cosmetics Gold Rush Blush. On top of the highly pigmented bronzer it almost disappeared. However in general I really like this blush. It isn’t as sparkly now that the overspray is gone and it is just a nice blush with gold undertones that really suits my skin tones. I really like that it is buildable rather than highly pigmented. Buildable blushes keep me from inadvertently creating clown face. I can not be trusted with highly pigmented blushes. This buildable formula is one I reach for a lot, which is why it has a deepening divot in the center of the pan.
For highlighter this week I went with Ofra’s Blissful. I am a big fan of this one. It has the rose gold undertones that make the highlighter look pink on the fingertip, but blends in to a soft warmth on my skin. I prefer the warm glow to the bright spotlight. It is an Ofra Highlighter so it is quite pigmented but because of the tones it is easily blended into something more subtle. And in case you are wondering, yes I do apply my highlighter with my fingertips. I haven’t found a brush that applies the highlighter quite the way I like it. I should probably experiment more with brushes and highlighter but to be honest I generally don’t think of it until after I’ve used my finger to apply it.
Swatches: Blissful Highlight top, Caramel Lip Middle and Infuse Lip bottom, both lips by BITE BEAUTY
I did pull two powders this week, one loose and one pressed. The loose powder was the Smashbox photo finish fresh setting powder and to be honest, I didn’t actually use it this week. It has a tint to the powder that is normally very nice, however with the extra dark bronzer this week, I ended up feeling like it was too much, so I just used the pressed powder on my face this week.
The pressed powder I used this week was a samples size of the Bye Bye Pores Pressed by It Cosmetics. It came in an Ipsy bag and this was my first time using it. I like that the pan size of the sample made it easy to get my brush into it. It is a nice powder. It worked well and it did help lighten up my aggressive bronzing a little bit. I can’t say that it gave me an airbrushed finish.
It Bye Bye Pores Powder
It worked like any other powder. To be honest it was okay but not likely to make my favorites list. The No 7 pressed powder is what I compare powders to and if I had to choose between them it would be an easy choice to go with the No. 7 Perfect light instead of the It Cosmetics. This is going to be one of those samples that I will use and then not replace once it is gone.
My eyeshadow palette this week was from Complex Culture. The link will take you to the full review. While it looks like a color scheme I would wholeheartedly embrace, I did not care for how it performed. It is beautiful, but it just didn’t work for me. In the photo below you can see some of the fall out. The glittery descent got worse as the day went on. I was not a fan.
The shadow fall out was a big issue, especially with the shimmers
My brow pencil this week was from Il Makiage. And yes I did use a brow pencil this week. This pencil is a little stiff and the color comes off a little cool toned for me. I’ll still use it, but it is not my favorite formula of brow pencil. It is actually one of the few Il Makiage products I don’t like. And when it runs out, I will not be replacing it.
So let’s talk eyeliner. I know recently I haven’t been wearing a lot of eyeliner. This week I had a fun one to play with though. It was the Stamp and Drag from Ciate London. (at the moment it is on sale actually. Ciate London is having a pretty big sale with loads of products 40% off it is well worth checking out.)
I have never been a really big winged eyeliner sort of person. I tend to do a little flick rather than an actual wing, when I bother at all. Part of that is my eye shape. I have slightly hooded lids and sometimes when I get crazy with the liner it is all you can see and it can make my eyes look too heavy.
Stamp end of the Stamp and Drag
This Ciate liner was fun to play with. I won’t lie, at first I made a mess with it. Let me explain. The stamp and drag eyeliner is a dual ended liner. One end is a pen style liner and the other is a stamp used to create a wing. Pretty straight forward. When you stamp the liner you need to make sure you put it in the right place, because it is staying where you put it. I’d suggest practicing. There were a couple of days where at least one of my eyes had a strange double winged look to it because I stamped wrongly and tried to correct. I suggest using the stamp first and then going in with the liner so you can use the liner to fudge the lines a little but if you have to. The liner itself is with picking up even if you don’t play with the stamp. Although the stamp is fun.
The key to this liner my darlings is practice The liner itself is easy to use, the stamp placement though. It takes practice. By the end of the week, I had it more or less down and I didn’t look as lopsided as I did earlier in the week. The formula of the liner is really good on both sides of the liner. It is very pigmented black and it stayed in place all day with no smudging or fading. Give it a second to dry and it isn’t going anywhere the rest of the day. I was very impressed with the liner and thought the stamp was fun once I got the hang of it.
Because I used a black eyeliner this week I used my Milk Makeup gel liner. I have no idea what shade it is officially but it is a cream color, softer than a straight white liner and I used it in my water line. I find it helps keep my eyes from looking heavy when I have darker makeup on the lids when I line the water line in a lighter color like this. I put it to good use this week and as always I remembered how much I really like the gel formula of the Milk Makeup liners. They are long lasting , glide on easily and stay in place. It is a really good formula that doesn’t tug at the skin of the eye like a lot of pencil liners can do. I need to look into getting more shades of this actually. I just have so many black eyeliners that it doesn’t always occur to me to go eyeliner shopping (even if I am not buying black eyeliner)
For mascara this week I used the last of my Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir mascara. It is a sample size and alas it has given me it’s all. The Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir is one of my top five mascaras, possibly even number one actually. I love the formula which doesn’t flake or peel and I love the fat fluffy wand. This is not the first tube of this mascara I have taken down and it won’t be the last. However it is now empty and must make the journey to the empties bin. This is not goodbye, merely a parting until we meet again. Because oh yes my darlings, this Marc Jacobs mascara will definitely be repurchased.
No mascara on the left, Mascara applied in the picture on the right
For my lips this week I used a Bodyography lip liner. It isn’t my favorite formula as it is somewhat stiff and tends to dry the lips. However the shade Rosewood was perfect with my two Bite Beauty liquefied lips. To help with the Bodyography I hold it in my hand for a minute of so to let my body heat warm the product up. Once warm it glides on a lot more smoothly. It is a pencil though so it is always going to be a little stiff. If you take a breather to warm it up though it works so much better.
I used two Bite Beauty Liquid lipsticks this week. One was the lighter shade Caramel and the other was the darker shade Infuse. Both are from the Amuse Bouche line. The rosewood pencil shade works well outlining the lips for Infuse and under the Caramel shade I used it all over the lips to darken the lippie a bit more. It is just a bit too light a shade for me. It is an excellent formula though.
I originally planned to break the lipsticks out in their own post as I did with huda Beauty, but when I went to look up details on the Bite Beauty website, I couldn’t find them. I really hope the Amuse Bouche line has not been discontinued, but I fear it might. At the moment the only place I could find the liquified lips was at Sephora (I’m not in any way affiliated with Sephora but the link will take you to their sales page) and they are listed at 75% off. Which does mean that you can pick up the remaining colores relatively inexpensively if you are interested. I love both the liquefied version and the more traditional lipstick formula from the line. I sent an e-mail to Bite Beauty’s customer service to find out more information, but have yet to hear back. I’ll let you know when I hear back, At the moment I am hoping they have not been discontinued as I really enjoy the formula.
What I ended up with (prior to fixing my hair)
And finally we land on the setting spray. I had plans to switch out my setting spray this week but found myself reaching for the Pore Professional Super Setter once again despite my intentions. It is currently my strongest setting spray and with the eyeshadow palette’s tendency to migrate I wanted as much staying power as I could get. Plus I just absolutely love the mister on this. It is a pump but it comes out like a light aerosol. It is just a fantastic product I really enjoy using.
And so that my darlings was this week’s makeup bag. We had some highs and some lows. I tested new to me products and trotted out old favorites. And I have to admit, I had a boatload of fun playing with the Ciate Stamp and Drag. It is a great product, but it was also just fun to play around with. But now the makeup bag must be emptied and items either returned to the dressing table or to the empties bin. And a new bag must be assembled for the upcoming week. Next week I have absolutely no meetings scheduled so it will just be me at my computer for the day. I’m not sure if I should go low makeup casual or pull out my brightest glittery eyeshadows to play with. Maybe I’ll pull a mix so I can decide each day whether I want to be low key or super glam. Either way it should be interesting.
As many of you may be aware, Monday is Martin Luther King Day and while it should be celebrated all on it’s own, MLK Day also brings sales. I already mentioned the Ciate London sale (which is technically a winter sale rather than an MLK one) where you can get 40% off a ton of products. But
Look Fantastic is also having a 25% off Sitewide + Up to Extra 10% with the Code EXTRA from now until January 19th, Plus there is up to 70% off clearance items.
Grande Cosmetics is also having a MLK Day 20% Off Sitewide With Code: TAKE20 that you might want to check out as well. I’ll post more throughout the day, but those are three sales that you might want to take a look into if you are stocking up or just looking for something new.
Ms. Mimsy Reviews 