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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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