Using the Stila One Step Color Correcting Primer

You know I love primers. I think anyone who reads any of my posts regularly knows I love primers. They are a great way to even out skin tone so that the rest of your face products don’t have to work as hard. I have in fact had a good primer make a not so good foundation better. (It isn’t a miracle worker, but it can sometimes give a much needed lift.) I find primers can also help prevent some foundations from sinking into fine lines, which I appreciate more the older I get.

This primer’s specialty is in skin tone correcting and Brightening. It is the Stila One Step Correct Skin Tone Correcting and Brightening Primer. So what it does is really in the name. But just so we are all clear on what this primer is supposed to do…

Primes, color-corrects, brightens, and nourishes skin for a flawless face with no fus. Transparent, priming perfector creates a radiant canvas for your makeup. So it’s your skin, only brighter. Helps reduce imperfections and improve skin texture. Hydrates, balances, and nourishes the skin. Contains 3 color-correcting pigments to even out complexion. Designed for all skin types and skin tones.
Stila

I have enjoyed many Stila products over the years. My favorite product from the brand was actually a primer (Lingerie Soufflé Primer) which has long since been discontinued. I kept the jar around for a long time after it was empty because it was so pretty. The product was even better than the jar, but that no longer matters as it is gone now. But because I really loved that Primer I had really high hopes for this one. Plus it was really nice to see a product from a brand I once really liked reappear in my world.

The look of this in the container is quite fun. It reminds me of those marshmallow rope candies you used to be able to buy. Perhaps you still can, I just can’t recall seeing them recently. And I can see where the pink, green and purplish colors were chosen. They are the classic color correcting shades. You will find them in pretty much every color correcting palette.

Curious to see how they all played together I dispensed the product as I would any other primer and applied it to my face. For me this means pumping it out onto the back of my hand, dotting it onto the spots where I need priming the most (Usually across the bridge of my nose and cheeks, along my chin and around the fine lines around my mouth (on the sides, and yes I use primer like fine line spackle to fill in the lines so my foundation doesn’t go in there.) and then I blend.

when dispensed the colors blend together into a grayish paste. I applied it and there were streaks of green and pink. I was feeling particularly red on the day I took these photos. I am not normally that red but allergies were striking. So I thought it the perfect time to try this out for it’s color correcting abilities.

I found it very interesting. The primer went on very wet and needed time to dry down. The color correcting was fine until it was blended out and then the redness didn’t really go away. There was a slight improvement but it wasn’t major in the color correcting department. My skin did feel hydrated and smooth. Makeup application over this primer was really nice. Products applied more smoothly and looked great. It also filled in my fine lines well and had a lightly glowy kind of look to it. The color correcting was minimal at best. However as a general brightening and smoothing primer it worked well.

I did think that maybe I didn’t apply enough to get the color correcting benefits, but when I applied more the same thing happened. It is a wet formula and does take a while to dry down. The more you apply, the longer it takes to dry down and the more likely it is to look greasy instead of glowy. It is also only a minor color correcting formula. While I don’t think that this would do much good for anyone looking to blend out rosatia or major discolorations, it does some minot corrections. It also create a nice surface on which to apply the rest of the makeup and it did, over all, make my makeup look better and last longer. which makes it a pretty good general primer. Just remember to use sparingly and let it dry down before continuing with the rest of your makeup and don’t expect too much color correcting out of this Stila One Step primer and you will be fine.

The Daily: January 11th, 2023

Good afternoon my darlings. Today there has been no sun and the air is chilly. while this morning started with coffee instead of switching to water when it was done I found myself switching to tea. Actually today I went for the Macha from the Art of Tea. It was one of the teas in the sampler pack that I tried in November and December and I ended up buying the full sized pack. It is one of the better Matchas I have tried and I am really enjoying it. Plus I just needed something warm but not as caffeinated as coffee.

Even though it is warm inside the house, there is just something about a cold gray day in winter that just calls out for a hot beverage. Today, Mine was Matcha.

I did manage a short walk today which was nice. I ended up walking with one eye looking at the sky though. It is cloudy but doesn’t feel like rain, however those clouds kind of looked like it. I made if back still dry, but I don’t think I am going to push ,my luck with a second walk. I’m tempted because a nice leg stretch with a breath of fresh air is awfully tempting. I just don’t trust that sky and don’t want to be cold and soaked. Cold I can handle, but not while dripping wet.

But I do feel good for having gotten in that one walk. So to the makeup!

Today’ Look:

Primer: Stila One Step Color Correcting and brightening Primer

Foundation: Good Apple Cream foundation from KVD Beauty

Bronzer/Highlight: Sun Stalk R palette from Fenty Beauty

Blush: Kaleido Cosmetics Skin Luminate Blush Palette

Eyeshadow: Mischo Beauty Eyeshadow Palette

Mascara: Iconic London Triple Threat Mascara

Lips: Mischo Sheer Lip Shine In Madam

Earrings: Shop Miss A Jewelry

In case you hadn’t guessed, My Ipsy Bag came in today. There is a post on Instagram if you want to see the whole bag. As I’m trying to sort out which subscriptions to keep and which to let go I am posting the bags there instead of writing full reviews for a while. That may change, but I’m going to try this for January.

Anyway, this month’s bag was heavily makeup. The only thing that wasn’t makeup was a makeup remover actually. So I decided to tryout the new to me today. I just couldn’t resist. Actually the primer and the lip are the only items not from this month’s Ipsy bag.

To start with the primer I went with the Stila today. It is a good primer but only minor color correcting. I chose it mostly because it was slightly hydrating and from what I have heard about the KVD foundation it can be a bit drying.

The KVD Good Apple foundation balm is one I have been wanting to get my hands on for a while now. Every time I went to look for it, it was either sold out completely or just my shade was gone. So seeing it in an IPSY in my shade was fabulous. I applied it with a sponge and then smoothed out the whole with a brush. A little goes a really long way. I would not start with a brush as that would pick up too much foundation. Start with a damp makeup sponge. It blends well and sits beautifully over the face. It is settling in some of the fine lines around my mouth so i think a pore filling primer is called for. It also feels a little dry on the skin. While I was willing to use a moisturizing primer, I did skip the Embryolisse as my pre makeup base. I think tomorrow I will definitely use that since I think the extra moisture is going to come in handy. This formula does oxidize a bit. I am currently half a shade darker than when I applied it. i am still in my range though so I am okay with that, it is something to note when you pick a shade. I don’t know if it will get darker throughout the day, but that is something I will test for. Over all, despite the slight dryness, it feels amazing on the skin.

The Fenty Beauty Palette is meant for face and eyes. It has two shimmer shades, I used the bronze as a highlight today. I think it is meant as a shimmer shadow. It doesn’t really work as a highlight. So perhaps tomorrow I will try that out. In case you ae wondering Ipsy is doing a beauty boost. You pay an extra $15 per month and they give you one extra full sized item. I believe the value is supposed to be over $65. But I’ll have to check on that. December was the first month they did that and it was a heavily skin care bag, the Boost Item was from Kate Somerville (which I am currently using in the line up) and this month in a heavy makeup bag it is the Fenty Beauty Palette. I am actually quite happy with it. The palette itself is rather hard to get open so packaging needs a bit of a rethink. maybe an indentation for gripping so I don’t break a fingernail. The products were nice to use today,. The range is nice and I like that there are two shimmers. The formula of the bronzer was buildable. The shimmer though I think is more a shadow than a highlight.

This blush palette has three blushes. They are highly pigmented so tread lightly during application. As bright as the one I am wearing looks today, it is the darkest tone in the palette. I tend to drift towards the darker blushes. I will dry them all though. I liked the way the blush turned out but I am not sure how many pans in this trio I will end up using.

The Mischo Eyeshadow Palette was interesting. The Pink shade is a fantastic one and done shade, but I wanted to see how the shadows worked together. The dark brown was the only one I had problems with. It didn’t want to blend like the others and just wanted to stay where i put the shadow down. All of the other shades blended well though. I think this is one of those palettes where the dark brown shade is used more like an eyeliner and the rest of the shades are blended as shadows. I didn’t use all of the shades but other than the on-blending brown, it worked well.

And finally, because I have it and like it I picked out the Mischo lip gloss. It is an easy shade that I really like wearing in the summer for a light wash of color. It isn;t really something I gravitate towards in the winter, but today I figured why not. It is a decent low tint lip gloss and as such it works well. It is better adapted to more natural looks and I usually pair it with my BB creams. It is a little slimy, but it is a lip gloss.

the earrings just felt right today as well. This came as a trio of earrings in a Shop Miss A pack. I actually bout the trio for the studs but I really like these hoops. They are of much better quality than I thought they would be for a dollar. And they give me far more than a dollar’s worth of enjoyment. So I am happy.

And that my darlings is me, and most of my January Ipsy bag actually. I enjoyed using the products and I look forward to testing them out further. But for now, it is back to work for me.

The Daily: November 21st, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings and welcome to Monday. And it is a special sort of Monday. Today is going to be my only Daily post as the rest of the week is going to be away from the computer. There will be posts up (except for Friday), although Thursday will mostly be a posting of the Black Friday Sales that you might want to take a look at, or use codes for.

That’s right, it is the week of Thanksgiving. So today is the day where i try to wrap up anything that I need to finish for the week. This weekend I did a lot of cleaning but tomorrow there will be the last of the full on cleaning, followed by the beginning of the cooking. I am baking pies and taking them down. There will also be a sweet potato casserole and mashed potatoes that will be going down with me. It is just easier to make them here and bring them down so that everything just needs to be reheated on Thursday. This year I am in charge of the turkey so that will be the main focus.

We are leaving Wednesday at noon. Technically we could leave a little earlier, but if we leave at exactly at noon we can actually hit the major urban centers in the non peek traffic times. Sadly if we leave earlier we will still end up arriving at the same time we will just spend a lot more time sitting in traffic.

And yes, we have timed it on several occasions. So noon it is.

So Wednesday morning I will be cleaning all of the makeup brushes that I am not taking with me so that when I return home all of my brushes will be clean. There is something just fabulous about coming home to having everything clean and fabulous. It is why I spent a large chunk of the weekend cleaning. After the few days we are gone the scent of cleanser will fade and the house will just smell clean when we come back.

Its a little thing, but it is just so nice to come home to. So I take the time before I leave. It also amuses me to look at the activities list on my calorie/activity calculator on My Fitness Pal and find out how many calories vacuuming burns. I don’t know why that amuses me, it just does. So on the only makeup post this week, shall we see what I used?

Today’s Look

Primer: Stila One Step Correct

Foundation: Beauty Blender Bounce Liquid Whip Long Wear Foundation

Bronzer: Iconic London Contour Dup Pot

Blush/Highlighter: Cotton Candy Champagne Blushlighter Palette from Beauty Bakerie

Setting Powder: Beauty Bakerie Flour Setting powder

Beauty Bakery has a 40% off sale running from 11/23-29

Eyeshadow: Sweet Potato Pie Eyeshadow Palette from Beauty Bakerie

Mascara: Complex Culture Mascara Black

Lips: Anastasia Beverly Hills Matte Lipstick

I know I am still testing out the Dr. Brandt Primer, but I couldn’t resist trying out the Stila color correct. It actually looks like a twisted marshmallow in the tube and I was curious as to how it would apply. while I will obviously test it more, I have to say today it did even out some redness to my skin. It was quite nice on the skin. As pretty as it looks in the container, it comes out as a purple tinged gray that is distinctly unappealing. It does work well though, at least for the first try, and enough to continue testing.

I am still really liking this foundation. Since I have been working on testing out a primer I haven’t gotten to use it as much as I wanted in the past couple of weeks (with primers I like to try them with all sorts of foundations while testing them). The box is messy, but I know they are changing that and really as long as you remember to wipe off the bottle after each use you can keep it pretty clean. I only needed two pumps to cover my face and honestly I think it looks great today. I’ll test it out longer when i am not playing with primers.(I’m kind of looking forward to that actually.)

This Bronzer has a cream and a powder product. Today I used the powder product because I really like it. I played with the cream this weekend and while I am getting better at using it, I honestly hate it. It is not the best product. In fact it may be the worst cream bronzer that I have used in a really long time. I do however adore the powder part of the duo. I’ll break it out in more detail in a full post, but if you are going for an Iconic London contour or bronzer, go for the powder.

The more I use the Blushlighter palette the more I like this blush. It is bright, but it doesn’t come on strong. It can apply very softly and then be built up to whatever level you like. I have been using a kabuki style brush to dot it onto my cheeks and then use the makeup sponge to blend it out at it has worked really well with me. It does have a bit of shine to it, but once you put setting powder on that it dims down. The highlights are all nice glowy highlighters instead of glitter bombs which is also nice. I am definitely more of the soft glow rather than the glittery highlight sort of person. These work well for me.

Thus far this Flour setting powder is also doing well. The oat has just enough tint to it that the powder is not bright white and glaring. Which I really like. Also as it has an interior cap that I can turn and lock the powder into the container so it isn’t all in the cap if i travel with it, I will be traveling with it this Thanksgiving. It is a good size for travel and it has the interior lock so into the travel bag it will be going.

Today I got to use the Sweet potato palette. I put it to the side because it didn’t really go with the fantastic red lipstick I was testing out. This is an interesting palette. It is reddish/orange toned, which is appropriate for the name of the palette. I couldn’t resist the blue shimmer though. And then i went in with the yellow shimmer so it came out distinctly green. Which is basic color theory I suppose yellow and blue to make green. Not sure how that goes with Sweet Potatoes I do however like it. This isn’t a color scheme I would naturally go to, which is actually a plus. I feel like I always go for the brown toned neutrals lately. It is actually really nice to just go crazy with color. But it is a safe crazy. There are several lighter tones I just went for the really bright ones. I did have the more neutral shades underneath(before I went crazy with the blue) I used only dry brushes and finger tips for application today. As I play with it I will try out some wet brush applications especially with the shimmers. There was very little fall out though and the shades blended well. I will continue playing with it, but for this uses, I really enjoyed it.

Generally i am not impressed with Complex Culture. Usually they look fantastic and then apply only so so. They are never bad, but they are never really great. they are the sort of product you can use while they are there but never miss when they aren’t. This mascara however was better than expected. It is very lengthening and I like it. I am more into volumizing of lashes, but this was quite lengtheing and that is nice. It is a little flaky though. Not a lot, but enough that it is noticeable to me.

I really like the ABH Matte lipstick formula. This shade was discontinued (Dead Roses) but it is a great neutral. I am reaching for it a lot right now because I want to use the last of it instead of hoarding it because i k now I can’t get it any more. Also it is perfect for the season. Moisturizing enough that it doesn’t dry out my lips for the winter and a really great fall/winter shade/ I do like the formula and will be picking up other shades, I just want to use this one up.

And so my darlings, that is me today. I will have regular posts tomorrow and Wednesday with the sales list on Thursday and then I will be out until Monday. I hope whatever you are planning for the Thanksgiving you have a fabulous time.

Save 15% Off All Cookware & Bakeware use code: COOKWARE15

The Daily: September 6th, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings. I hope you had a fantastic weekend. Personally I really enjoyed the three day weekend. While the rain kept me from doing much in the way of garden chores, I did get several very necessary things done in the house. Which was nice. I also took a little time and just sort of rested. I think I have been running a 100 miles a minute for the last few weeks so having a little time to just sort of take a breather was probably the best thing for me.

Sometimes, even when your plate is full, taking a few minutes of down time is the best thing you can do for your mental health. I always forget that until I take the down time and then i always remind myself to remember after I’ve taken the time. I need to figure out a better system, but hopefully the reminder will help you.

Speaking of reminders, I did something fun and fabulous this weekend. I pre ordered my Look Fantastic Advent Calendar. I know, it is September. The pre release list was just opened. They won’t ship until closer to the Holiday season. Unlike the people at the grocery store near me who already have a display of Santas and other Christmas themed décor items up for sale. (Seriously, they skipped both Halloween and Thanksgiving and went straight to Christmas in the final week of August. I am actually amazed at how offended by that I actually am. After all I haven’t even gotten out my Frankenstein Coffee mug.

the pre order I don’t mind though. Especially since the last three years they have sold out before I could purchase them. I have been trying to snag the Look Fantastic Advent Calendar for a while and just missing out. So the pre order went in. And then there was a Happy Dance. It was also nice to just feel like something went right for a moment. Even if it was something small. And even though I do put up an advent calendar post listing out all of the ones I think are worth purchasing, I generally limit the number of advent calendars I actually purchase. while cost is definitely a factor, I really like it to feel special and opening one or two nice ones instead of a bunch does keep them feeling special. There are always far more advent calendars that I want than I can realistically buy anyway, hence the post. I’ll still get a couple for family as gifts, but limit the number for myself.

Anyway that is the long winded way of saying that I managed to pre order the Look Fantastic Advent Calendar for 2022 and that they are now available for pre-order if you would like them. I am now avoiding any spoilers for the Look Fantastic Advent Calendar since I would like to forget what little I do know about it and treat it as a surprise. So with that said, let’s jump into today’s look shall we. I decided to take a little break from the neutral norm.

Today’s Look:

Primer: Elf Poreless Putty Primer

Foundation: Cover Girl Aqua Smooth Makeup + Titanium Dioxide Sunscreen

Setting Powder: Kim Chi Chic Beauty Puff Puff Pass Setting Powder

Bronzer: Buxom Staycation Vibes Bronzer

Blush: bareMinerals Bounce and Blur Blush

Eyeshadow: Colourpop Blowin’ Smoke palette

Brows: iMethod Beauty Stencils with the ABH Dip Brow Pomade

Mascara: Milk Makeup Rise Mascara

Lips: Stila Stay All Day Lip in Rubino

I know usually I start with the base work my way out and then go from eyes down landing on the lips but today we need to start with the lips. Oh my do we need to start with the lips. I ordered the Blowin’ Smoke Palette from Colourpop and it arrived over the weekend. It was on sale (still is actually if you follow the link above). I’;ve wanted the palette for a while now, but always talked myself out of it. I think I was just wanting something more than the rosy tones and neutrals that I have been going for later and I have to say this was fun to play with. But that we will get to in a minute. The point is that once I put the eye makeup on a neutral lip didn’t look right.

While I have bee wearing more neutral lips a lot lately I love a good deep lip color. This Stila liquid lip is one that I always swatch when I think about decluttering my lips and then decide I just love the shade so much I can’t part with it and remind myself to wear it more often. So I went for it today. It is a messy liquid lip. It needs a lip liner to keep it from bleeding into the fine lines. It is also strange when drying down. It takes a while to dry down on the lips, but it sort of stains. So once you put it on your lips that is where it is staying. Which is why if you zoom in my lips are messy and crooked. This formula doesn’t dry down all the way and leaves lip prints everywhere. it also stains your lips and if you smear it it stains around your lips too. I am going to have to go in with a lip scrub tonight. I do love the color but have just such problems with the formula. The wand put too much product on the lips and then when i blotted, it smeared and touch ups were kind of a pain. I need to find this color in a different formula and just mark this tube as kept for color match not for wearing.

the foundation was a new one for me as well today. I saw this when i ducked into a drugstore over the weekend and couldn’t resist. It is really interesting. It has to be applied with a makeup sponge. You will get no where with a foundation brush and this product and actually using brushes afterwards will leave lines. It applied beautifully with a sponge. With the sunscreen in the formula though, it is a bit on the oily side. It was fine once I set it with the setting powder but it is a foundation that needs setting powder over it.

Also it doesn’t like brushes. At all. I use the Kim Chi powder today because it came with a powder puff. When I applied the bronzer I used a brush and then had to tidy up with a makeup sponge which I have never had to do with the Buxom Bronzer. I had a different blush out but went with the bareMinerals because it was a creamier formula applied with the fingertips. That worked better. I think this is just a foundation that needs cream products on top of it. I liked the way it looked so I have no problems playing with it to see what works, but any brush will leave tracks t seems.

I think I will try cream products tomorrow to see how it works out.

The Colourpop palette was fantastic. The brushes had to be tapped off because it was a bit powdery. But I think that part of that is because of the darker tones. This is a fun palette. It is full of grays and black tones with silvers. It is a really nice break from my regular palettes and I am really glad that i picked it up. I enjoyed using it today and I will enjoy using it the rest of the week. It makes a really nice break from the red tones and neutrals. The gray and black blended well and that silver was just absolutely fantastic. It will be interesting to see how long I find the palette interesting as it is fairly monochromatic and could get boring. At the moment I am loving it and I think it will be a really good addition to my collection.

The Rise Mascare from Milk Makeup remains super fabulous and I can already feel the tube starting to make the empty sound so soon it will be no more and I will need to purchase a full size.

If you have been following these posts for any length of time you will know I have fallen in love with the iMethod stencils for brows. Mostly because it is the first time my brows have actually looked like each other. Sometimes they are sort of related when I do them with out a stencil, sometimes they aren’t even in the same gene pool. So this has been fantastic for me. It feels a bit like cheating but i don’t care. However I do have several other brow pomades. And since the pomade from iMethod is running low I thought I would rotate the pomades with the stencil and tool and see how it worked. I went with the ABH Dip Brow today. it works fine with a brush, not so fine with the stencil. It is far too dark with the stencil. the formula worked well, which is nice to know, but the color is just off. I would need to get this in a formula several shades lighter to look right. But I like the fact that I can use it with the stencils.

And that my darlings is me today. A little bit different from the typical but I think I like it. I will probably be rotating through my darker lip shades but this is actually helping me decide which ones I need to let go. I love the Stila color. If I get a lip liner that can corral it I might be able to make it work, otherwise the formula is just too messy. Which is also good to know.

And so it is back to work for me now. Have a great rest of the day and I’ll see you back here tomorrow to share what is going on in my world. Until then.

The Daily: August 23rd, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings. It is another humid day, but the temperatures have actually dropped. My morning walk was extremely pleasant actually. 68 degrees. Admittedly with the 70% humidity, there was still a whole lot of sweating going on.

I have to say it feels fantastic to be getting back to normal now. The morning walk, the regular work day, the meal plan. I don’t like to think of myself as a routine driven person but I have to say there is comfort in getting back to it.

I suspect that part of the comfort is feeling better with routine exercise. I hated remembering to add exercise in every day when i started my weight loss journey, but now I just feel better when I move a little bit each day and miss it when I don’t. I’ll never become a hard core fitness fanatic or gym rat, but a little daily movement really helps me feel my best. I do wish there was a reliable swimming pool near me though. I used to love swimming as much as I love walking and wouldn;t mind getting back into that.

Even if that does mean I have to put on a swim suit. That’s been an event I have put off for several years now. But I think I might be able to embrace it now, as long as I can find a pool to use. Perhaps I will begin the search over the coming weekend. And if I start in the off time maybe I will be comfortable in my swim suit by the time the pool is packed next summer. Its a theory anyway. And something to explore.

not sure why there is a strange shadow on my chest

Today’s Look

Primer: Tatcha The Silk Canvas Primer

Foundation: Real Her Power Wear Probiotic Foundation

Bronzer: Kim Chi Thailor Bronzer

Blush: Benefit Cosmetics Golden Georgia Peach Blush

Powder: Kim Chi Puff Puff Pass Setting Powder

Brows: iMethod Beauty Eyebrow Stencil kit

Eyeshadow: Nomad Cosmetics Berlin Underground Palette

Mascara: Stila Huge Extreme Lash mascara

Lips: ColourPop Lipstick in Evil Queen

I am still testing out the Real Her foundation, but at this point I’ve realized it looks a bit better with pore filling primer than with a brightening one, so I went for the Tatcha instead of trying to make a more brightening primer work. Personally I think it turned out pretty well, and lets face it I love this Tatcha primer. I’ve been debating between the solid balm and the liquid version and to be honest I like them both and wouldn’t mind having both around (and just might pick up both) but if I had to choose one I think I’d go with the balm version. I like it just a little bit better. Both are in my top products list though.

The Kim Chi Bronzer I am still getting the feel of. I think it might be a shade too dark for me but if I go in with a light hand I think I can make it work. It is a nice formula and highly pigmented so a light hand would be advised even if it were my perfect shade. I still adore the Kim Chi powder though. It is a really nicely milled product and I still adore the powder puff. That I will certainly pick up again.

The Benefit blush is nice and light. Just a bit of a pink on the cheeks. I think it works a little better on my in the winter, but i still like it.

I also tried out the shadow moon eyeshadow guard today

As for eyeshadow. Yes I know I am still technically testing out the OFRA but I went to reach for it this morning and just didn’t want to. so I looked in on my favorite palettes and realized it had been a while since I used it. With the new palettes coming in from subscription boxes sometimes I forget to reach for my favorites. And to be honest the gunmetal blue shade of East Side Gallery was just calling to me. I couldn’t resist. It does tend to shed powder so be sure to tap off the brush before using. I think I enjoyed it more because most of the palettes I have been trying out lately have been reddish tones and I just wanted something a little different.

i used the Stila mascara with it. I really like this mascara and will need to pick up a new tube again soon. It just performs beautifully, even if the name Huge Extreme Lash is a bit much. It works so I’ll over look it.

And then for lips I was feeling the red of the Evil Queen. I know Colourpop no longer has it for sale, but it is still for sale on the Disney store in the Evil Queen Collection. That’s the link I put above. I like this shade of red but it is slightly pinkish for me. I think i need a dark lip liner underneath or something. I really like the deep blue reds and this is just slightly missing the mark. But I love it and still use it. I just might be looking for a dark lip liner. Actually I think I have a wine-y shade of lip liner that might do well under this. maybe I will try that tomorrow. We shall see.

But for today, this is me. I’m rather pleased with the look and it actually feels really nice to use a favorite palette rather than a new one to test out. I like testing things, but sometimes, I just like reaching for my favorites. Or really just reaching for the shades that appeal to me for the day. especially when i am slightly bored with the palette I am testing.

But now it is back to work for me. Have a lovely rest of the day my darlings.

The Daily: July 14th, 2022

Today has been a very good day my darlings. I have been working on The Academy for a really long time. It has felt like the cursed manuscript. Anytime i got close to finishing it something would happen. I lost the document twice (partially due to computer glitches and partially because of my own stupidity – always back up your documents) So I actually wrote the bulk of this manuscript three separate times. There were also multiple family emergencies, two surgeries and a death. Anytime I uttered the words, ‘I think I’m almost done with this,’ something would happen. I have never had this much trouble getting a manuscript finished before.

But it is done now. The curse has been lifted.

As you can imagine the bulk of today was my own personal mini celebration. I didn’t do much that was out of the ordinary. I walked, I did my yoga. I chased the birds away from my blackberry bush because last night’s storms sent the netting flying across the yard leaving the berries exposed. I did paperwork.

Okay at lunch I took some of the fizzy water from my Soda Stream bottle, added a splash of grenadine and a twist of lemon peel and put it into one of the fancier cocktail glasses in my collection. Because even cursed manuscripts need a little celebration.

Otherwise it was a pretty typical work day. But I have to say even the typical work conundrums don’t feel bad today. Because the book is complete. Bring on the paperwork, I am fine with it. I feel like I can tackle anything right now. I know the feeling won’t last, but while it is here, I am going to revel in it.

Today’s Look:

Primer: Tatcha Liquid Silk Primer

Foundation: bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Moisturizer

Bronzer: Buxom Cosmetics Staycation Bronzer

Blush: bareMinerals Bounce and Blur Blush

Powder: bareMinerals Mineral Veil

Eyeshadow: Lunar Beauty Nude Prism Eyeshadow Palette

Mascara: Stila Huge Extreme Lash Mascara

Lips: bareMinerals Mineralist Moisturizing Vegan Lipstick in Perception

I know, today I went bareMinerals heavy. I couldn’t help it. I saw the newly arrived tinted moisturizer and though about how much I love their blush so I decided to use it. Next to it in the drawer was the bareMinerals Setting powder which I really enjoy and then when I looked at the lip products I saw the glosses from bareMinerals which are summer time go-tos but then I saw the actual lipstick and you know I love a good deep lip.

I figured that since the eyeshadow leaned in a reddish tint direction I would lean into it. I am still testing out the Tatcha and the Buxom was still out from it’s last use. So that was my decision process. I don’t regret any of it. They are all really good products.

This was the first use of the tinted moisturizer. I think it might be a shade too light for my skin at this time of year, but with the bronzer I made it work. It is one of those products than can go on for really light coverage but be built up for a medium one. Because of the tone I went for the lighter side. When playing around with it I will attempt to build it up to see how it performs, but I really like the way it looks as an almost sheer coverage. It evens the skin tone and blended in well. It feels like I am wearing absolutely nothing on my face. It was a really good first use and I am looking forward to playing around with it.

The other first use was the Lunar Beauty palette. One tap knocked off any loose powder so there was no fall out during application. The shadows are slightly on the powdery side, at least the mattes are. The shimmers are quite soft. They aren’t deeply pigmented but they are buildable and they blend really well. The dry shadow brush did nothing with the shimmers. Next I’ll try it with a wet brush but today I used a fingertip and they applied well. There was just no pigment gathered with the dry shadow brush from the shimmers. I’m going to break out both the setting spray and the cotton swabs for this palette test, but honestly it was a decent first test. No fall out and I like the shades.

Off to a great start.

And now I am going to let my good mood help my afternoon paperwork seem less onerous. So it is back to work for me. Have a great afternoon my darlings and I’ll see you back again tomorrow morning to round out the week.

Free Bag of Biltong or Jerky If You Spend $5 with code BAGONUS2022

The Daily: May 31st, 2022

Today my darlings is the last day of May. This has been a hard May for me and I for one am very happy to see the end of it. It seemed as soon as one calamity started to fade another one decided it was time to rise. Some were larger than others obviously and a few will have lasting effects, but when the hits keep coming even the small problems suddenly seem like too much.

So I am fervently hoping for a quiet June. A nice peaceful month where the only thing that really worries me is the number of rabbits that are intent on nibbling in my garden.

and actually thus far that hasn’t been bad. Don’t get me wrong, the rabbits are everywhere this year. It was apparently a bumper season for bunnies. However my yard hasn’t been hit too much. We do now have a neighbor with an outdoor cat and that cat likes to spend time in our yard chasing things. So I think that may be the reason. I’m not a cat person, but if the cat wants to chase the rabbits and squirrels out of the yard I am fine with it. My babydoll is still trying to decide which sort of terrier he wants as he thinks that will take down the rabbit problem.

But for now the neighbor’s cat is helpful. And the birds seem smart enough to stay out of reach.

This long weekend was nice. I don’t know what you did but I did a whole heap of nothing and I did it far from all of my electronic devices. If the world ended this weekend i wanted to be the last person to know about it. In fact i wanted to be the person asking “Hey what was that noise?”

There was no computer, no phones (because the cell service was really bad not by actual choice), while there was music we used only CDs and records so there was no possibility of news updates.

It was glorious.

I can’t tell you how much I really needed a break from the world at large. My brain simply needed a break. And I got one, a nice long one from Friday afternoon to late last night. And now I am ready to face June. I am hoping it is a quiet June, but I am still in a better place to face it.

The bangs are crazy, no excuse, just pointing out the obvious, I am happy with the rest though

Today’s Look:

Primer: Yensa Essential Glow Tone Up Primer

Foundation: Yensa Skin on Skin Full Coverage BC Foundation

Bronzer: Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer

Blush: Patrick Ta She’s Passionate Blush

powder: bareMinerals Original Mineral Veil Setting Powder

Eyeshadow: Iconic London Sunset to Sunrise Eyeshadow Palette

Mascara: Stila Huge Extreme Lash Mascara

Lips: About Face Light Lock Lip Gloss in Angel on Fire

Okay today I was feeling a little summery. Perhaps it is the anticipation of June’s arrival and the desire to put this awful Spring behind me. Today I paired the two Yensa products together. I know it is a bit more of a glow than I like, but I am beginning to embrace the no longer full matte look. I’m never going to go full on wet look, but a little glow is nice. Although when I do I don’t use any highlighter. Highlighter seems like overkill. I might work with the Subtler St. Luxe though as it is less highlighter and more lit from within shimmer, but that is for another day.

I also wanted to pair these two as I am going to be playing with some of my more illuminating primers and this is one of my favorites, so I wanted to compare the softer glow to the upcoming products (I am still working through the new primers I’ve accumulated).

The Too Faced bronzer is a summer staple. If you use a light touch it works early on in the summer and is buildable so that even at my deepest summer tan I can use it. So it will be making it’s way out of the drawer more as the summer sets in. I am slowly working my way into the seasonal makeup change. It has been slow this year.

This Patrick Ta blush is a bit lighter than I usually go for, but somehow works with the primer/foundation combo. I tend not to reach for it in the winter when I am too pale and it is just too pink and then about this time of year it s okay so I’ll start reaching for it and remembering that it is a really nice formula. Then with my mid summer tan it is about perfect for giving me a light blush with a natural summer look. It is a really great formula and I need to look at picking up at least one more shade for year round use. I just need to sit down and figure out what that shade is.

I loved the way these shadows blended today

The powder was a deliberate choice, and it will appear again tomorrow. I’ve recently been trying different powders and using a poof to apply the setting powder rather than a brush. With powders that tend to look powdery it looks less powdery with the poof than with the brush. This bareMinerals is one of my favorite powders. With a brush it doesn’t look powdery. Today I applied it with a brush and tomorrow I will use the poof. I want to see if it makes a difference with the application of a product I already like. So I know I love this powder it is more a case of testing application tools.

This was my first use of the Iconic Palette. I couldn’t find it listed anywhere other than Boxycharm or IPSY so the above link will just take you to the eyeshadows page of Iconic’s home page. (I’m not an affiliate, I just like to link back to products so you can find them easily). I don’t know if this palette has been discontinued but even if it has this is my first use of their eyeshadows so I’m testing it for the formula. I do like the colors though, it is a nice collection of shades. And as far as first use goes, this went really well. The shadows have a little powdery-ness to them but it wasn’t too bad in the fall out department. They applied well and blended really well. I used two mattes and a shimmer and all three blended well. I’ll be working my way through this palette as I try out the different shades (because sometimes lighter shades work differently than darker ones) but thus far I like the formula. So hopefully it will be a fun test.

I love the Stila Mascara and feel I will soon have to replace this tube.

The About face Lip gloss seemed right for today. It has a light color but felt like a summer gloss. It has a peppermint scent to it but no plumping. It is also slightly sticky. It is a nice gloss though and stuck around for a while. It isn’t one I’d feel the need to replace, but it is one I will use until it is done.

And that was me today. well rested, even if my hair does look a bit insane and feeling ready for the new month ahead. I have my fingers crossed that it will be a nice quiet one with the only excitement happening being the champagne popping at the end of the month in celebration of my birthday. In fact that’s what I want for my birthday, a nice quiet month or just steady days. excitement can take the summer off and return when the leaves start to turn. I know it doesn’t work that way, but at least I got a nice quite weekend before returning to work today. I hope you had whatever long weekend you needed to get you ready for your work week as well.

The Daily: May 17th, 2022

I know I missed yesterday’s daily post and I apologize. I was just exhausted. This weekend was as horrible as expected. On May 6th, my younger brother died unexpectedly. He sat down, leaned back closed his eyes and was gone. While we will need to wait fifteen weeks to hear back for a final diagnosis, preliminary thoughts lean towards either aneurism or stroke. Regardless it was quick and hopefully painless.

While the shock threw me (and everyone else into a tailspin, the world is on a little more stable footing now. This past weekend was the memorial service which made everything real. As horrid as it was, it did provide a bit of closure which was especially important as the death came out of the blue. While grief will clearly take a long time to settle, A return to a more normal course is helping me to regain my footing. I planned to start back to normal yesterday and I made a good start.

But then I decided a destressing face mask would be a perfect break as my walk was overly sweaty due to high humidity and then I closed my eyes and was out. Luckily it was a gel like hydrating mask that could be worn overnight if you wanted and not a clay based one. I was out for several hours. While most of the mask ended up on the pillow, I did get quite the hydration out of it, as well as a much needed nap.

So today we slide back into our regularly scheduled routine. There was a walk today. It is always interesting in the spring. The humidity rises even though it isn’t all that hot and I feel like my pores have opened up and are having a good clear out. I have to splash water to rinse off the salty sweat, but at this time of year the walking always makes my skin feel really good once the sweat is rinsed away. It is as though it has purged toxins that I didn’t know it was holding on to. Of course that also results in a spate of clogged pores. It is as seasonal as my allergies. I’ll need to put some pore clearing masks on my to do list to keep things clear, but otherwise it is a good feeling.

Food has been hit or miss. Last week I nibbled but didn’t eat much, then I went home and ate a lot, more because people seemed to feel the need to feed me more than because I was hungry. It was actually a relief to have one of my Smoothie Box Shakes for lunch today. (I went with the orange one). There were a lot of heavy sauces over the weekend. They were delicious, but very heavy. More than anything it is a relief to get back to my own food.

I think I am going to try to sneak in a second walk this evening after the heat of the day breaks. I’m pretty sure half of the calories I am burning off right now are Cream of Mushroom Soup based.

Today’s Look:

Primer: Lorac Light Source 3-in-1 Illuminating Primer

Foundation: Bite Beauty Changemaker Foundation

Bronzer: Buxom Staycation Vibes Bronzer

Blush: Benefit Gold Rush Blush

Powder: Kim Chi Beauty Puff Puff Pass Set and Bake powder

Eyeshadow: Tresluce La Flor De Mexico Shadow Palette

Mascara: Stila Huge Extreme Lash Mascara

Lips: Elf Sheer Slick in Black Cherry

When I was packing my travel bag this past week I realized there are several primers I haven’t full tested. I think several came in at the same time and I got distracted. Today I skipped the pre makeup base of Embryolisse because I wanted to treat this as a first use primer and this primer has some skin care benefits I believe. I’ll have to double check that as I dive deeper into it. I love Lorac lipsticks and eyeshadow formulas but I don’t think I’ve ever tried any of their face products so this was fun. I know I tried this when it first came in, but I don’t remember it. There is very much a skincare like scent to the primer. It glides on well and this far it is working well. I chose not to add a highlighter because of this primer. It is a bit on the glow-y side, but it isn’t overly wet looking. The wet look just makes me feel like I look greasy. I liked the way this primer turned out today.

Today I reached for the Bite Beauty foundation because I just heard the news that the brand is going under. For years they were my go to for lip products. Their agave lip mask was hands down my favorite for years. Then in 2019 they decided to reformulate everything so the brand was vegan. They released their new formula in early 2020 and as we all know 2020 didn’t go as anyone planned so it was poor timing for a release. The thing is that their new formula wasn’t that great, at least with the lip products. I’ve had excellent vegan lip products but this just wasn’t an excellent formula. So they are closing and pretty much everything on their site is 50% off. Including this foundation. this is the formula still on sale and now that I have the hang of the formula I really like it. It is one of those foundations you need to use a makeup sponge for and go lightly with instead of applying with a brush. Once I figured out how to apply it correctly I fell in love with the formula. It is very lightweight and feels and looks natural. I was really looking forward to summer wear actually. while I usually use BB creams and tinted moisturizers in the summer this was light enough I thought it would work for summer wear and I was thrilled for a summer foundation. I’ll still use it, but apparently this will be it’s one summer of use.

The Buxom Bronzer and Benefit Blush are also summer faves and it feels like i am starting to naturally shift to my summer wear makeup. I will be shifting things around in the makeup drawers this weekend so the summer wear products are nearer to hand. This bronzer and blush will make steady appearances all summer.

The Kim Chi powder is one I am really liking. Part of it is the powder puff. I think that I am going to try the puff with other powders to see if the puff application is the main reason I like it so much or if it is the powder formula. So that will be fun to play around with for a bit.

This was the first use of the Tresluce palette and the colors are really nice. They are a bit more pigmented than I expected and they didn’t blend as well as I would like today. I used all matte shades today. I’m going to see if I can get the blending to work a little bit better, but the shadow formula was nice to apply. I did have to tap off the brush as it was a bit on the powdery side, but there wasn’t any fall out during application. Over all it was a good first use.

I then finished up with two of my favorites, The Stila mascara and the elf sheer slick. I am almost out of the Elf sheer slick actually. It is a nice light formula that is a summer staple. When I replace the Black Cherry i am going to look for one that is more neutral for a natural look day.

So that was me today. I’m getting back to normal. I’m sure there will be a bit of rockiness ahead, but today was pretty stable sailing. I am sliding back into my routine and tonight, there will be a second walk, followed by bean burgers. (I make my own patties rather than purchasing them). There will be no cream of mushroom soup in sight.

The Daily: May 5th, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings. Have you ever had one of those days where you get up go through your morning routine and then as you sit down with your first cup of coffee look at your schedule so you can have a sense of your day? Today I did that, as I do most mornings. And my schedule looked clear.

It looked like smooth uninterrupted desk work for the duration of the day. Which was nice. I had a lot of work to get done and it was nice to have a long stretch of time in which to do it. I then looked at the weather and saw that it was going to be sunny today and I might actually be able to chance a walk and at least see if the flood waters have receded from the walking trail.

Then the work day started. Given that I was going to be on my own, sans meetings today I was going to go makeup free. I settled into my desk thinking, ‘Maybe a nice moisturizing mask around lunch time would be a good idea.’ I had a vision for my day.

Then I looked at my e-mail. And found there were several unexpected meetings, some requiring video. Now I know loads of people really want to see the people they are meeting with face to face, but the thing is, very little I do requires more than a phone conversation. I always spend the video calls taking notes and asking the occasional question for clarification. which is also what I do for regular phone calls, except that on a regular phone call you can’t tell I didn’t bother with makeup and might be wearing a face mask. Even if most of the call is people watching the top of my head as I write down notes.

Still against all odds, some people love video calls. So I hustled into a quick makeup look and made sure my hair was passably respectable. The earrings I chose because I like them and I am always interested to see if anyone notices the ‘hoops’ are actually octopus tentacles. Thus far no one has commented on them if they have noticed. But it amuses me. I do wish I remembered where I picked them up though. I really like them and I remember that there was a ring there I liked as well. It had an octopus head where the ring would be and then the tentacles wrapped decoratively around the finger. It was delicately done in an old gold look. I remember really wanting it but thinking that I couldn’t get away with it in the office (it was a very conservative office). And I never saw it again. I remember it striking me because it was very delicately done fine jewelry rather than the heavier steam punk sort of pieces that you usually see with octopus designs.

While I like a lot of the Steampunk stuff I am just an old school fan of Jules Verne. Journey to the Center of the Earth was my absolute favorite, followed very closely by 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. Both are books I highly recommend reading. The imaginative landscapes are just fantastic.

But no one noticed the earrings or at least they didn’t say anything. And my memory search for the maker of both the earrings and the ring remain.

In addition to the surprise meetings I also have an upcoming evening I forgot about. Because if you look at your calendars you will see that today is Cinco de Mayo. My babydoll and I are meeting a few friends on the patio of our favorite Mexican Place tonight. It’s a locally owned spot with wide open spaces and fantastic food. So that was a nice surprise to balance out the unexpected meeting surprises. So this is the look I threw together when I realized I would have to see people. I will probably change out the lips and put on a more festive shirt for tonight.

Today’s Look:

Pre Makeup Base: Embryolisse Lait Creme Concentre

Primer: No Poreblem Primer from Touch in Sol

Foundation: Yensa BC Full Coverage Foundation

Bronzer: Trestique Bronzing stick

Blush: Illamasqua Gel Blusher

Powder: Kim Chi Puff Puff Pass Set and Bake Setting Powder

Eyeshadow: The Balm and The Beautiful Vol 1 from The Balm

Mascara: Stila Huge Extreme Lash Mascara

Lips: Real Her Lip Liner in Be Yourself Be Real Her

The name of today’s game was quick, easy and looking good for a work meeting. Which I managed I think. At least no one on my calls thought I was on my way to a clown convention, so that’s a good sign.

The Embryolisse made every thing apply extra easy. I put it on, then went rounding up products and tied up my hair. By the time that was done, I was ready to apply may makeup. The Touch in Sol primer I haven’t used in a while. No real reason other than it was on it’s side and rolled to the back of the drawer. It is a good primer. It blurs pores but isn’t pore filling and it is moisturizing without being glowy. It is neither matte nor brightening. It does have that silicone slippy feeling to it but i don’t mind that as long as it keeps the foundation from settling into my fine lines, which it does.

I went for the Yensa BC Foundation over the Serum Silk one I’ve been working with for the last two weeks because I did want a final comparison and Yes I do like the BC Foundation a little bit better. They are both great products, But this Skin on Skin formula is just my preference. I’ll still happily use them both, this is just the one I’d repurchase first.

The Trestique and Illamasqua are both easy reaches and beautiful products that I didn’t have to think about. which was the point today. They worked well with the face products underneath. And as I now have the hang of the Kim Chi powder I didn’t apply too much and things worked well. Given that the Yensa has a slight glow to it I didn’t bother with a highlighter. It just wasn’t needed.

The Balm palette was fantastic this morning when I reached for it. It applied easy, blended beautifully and I think looked good. I topped off the eyes with Stila mascara. It is getting low and will soon be empty. It is one that I will be replacing asap. (I’m doing a mascara inventory this weekend to see what products I have that I haven’t used before I repurchase though, but that is because I don’t like holding a lot of extra products.)

Then we get to the lips. I don’t know how evident this is, but I have been sorting through my odd collection of lip liners trying to figure out which ones I like, which ones I need to get rid of and what shades I am missing. Today I grabbed randomly and came up with the real her one. It is a retractable liner with a really nice point to it which makes it perfect for lining the lips. It is a but thin for filling the lisp in. Based on the color stripe on the end of the pencil I thought it was a deep berry almost burgundy shade. It was a lot brighter than I thought with much more pink tones. The formula is creamy and wears like a lipstick but i am not a huge fan of the color. I think I would wear this under a dark lipstick I wanted to brighten but it is too pink for me to wear on my own. It is a nice creamy formula though so I might keep Real Her in mind when filling out my lip liner shad range. I am just not a fan of the color.

And that was me today. I know, not the most fascinating of days, but at least when I sit down I will feel justified that I have certainly earned my margarita tonight. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

The Daily: May 2nd, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings and welcome to May. With as much trouble as the April showers caused, the May flowers are beautiful. And of course more showers are on the way. we had on and off rain here this weekend so I did the last of my spring garden planting between rain storms. The bonus was that I didn’t have to water. We have a garden bed I am keeping my fingers cross for this year actually. It has been a battle to reclaim it from the weeds since we moved in. Last fall we stripped it out completely digging down about a foot to get rid of all the little weed rootlets. we then laid down a garden fabric to suppress weed growth and layered card board over that (a fantastic use of old subscription box packaging in case you were wondering) and then buried the lot of it in rich dirt, fertilizer and mulch. It sat all winter and this weekend I went and scattered bread seed poppy seeds. They are the poppy seeds you see in lemon poppy seed bread in case you are wondering. When the flowers are ready to seed they throw the seeds out in heaps and self seed themselves once they get started so I am hoping that the seeds will not only take, but take over. I would much prefer a bed of purple-y blue poppies to snarled masses of bindweed.

That has been one of the major house projects for a while so reaching the stage where i could just scatter seed was a major accomplishment. And now all I can do is wait and hope nature gets on board.

But with May also comes the need for the changing out of the bed linens. once we get a stretch of good weather all of the winter blankets will get washed one last time for the season, strung up in the sunshine to dry and then packed away while the spring/summer covers come out of storage. I don’t know if you have issues with blanket storage but as both my babydoll and I come from families who believe you can never have too many blankets, storage is always an issue. Until we picked up these vacuum storage bags. I picked mine up from Amazon (it is a general link, no affiliation) and they have been a life saver. Not only do they save space by compressing the blankets but my babydoll has major allergies and soring out blankets in the vacuum sealed bags has really helped. The UV of the sun kills any potential dust mites and then the vacuum seal protects them when not in use.

The park is once again flooded so I am back to Yoga today instead. May tends to be an indoor work out and then things dry out a little and I end up on the summer schedule, walking as soon as I wake up so i don’t give myself heat stroke. Even so with my muscles sore from the garden work, I feel okay with the stretching of yoga. I also feel rather virtuous for completing so many of my spring chores this weekend. Now if only my afternoon paperwork goes as smoothly, I will be all smiles at dinnertime.

Today’s look:

Pre Makeup Base: Embryolisse Lait Creme Concentre

Primer: Tatcha Silk Canvas Primer

Foundation: Yensa Super Serum Silk Foundation

Bronzer: Buxom Staycation Vibes in Rooftop Tan

Blush: bareMinerals Bounce and Blur Blush

Highlighter: Iconic Illuminator in Original

Powder: Kim Chi Beauty Puff Puff Pass Set and Bake Powder

Eyeshadow: The Balm and the Beautiful from The Balm Cosmetics

Mascara: Stila Huge Extreme Lash Mascara

Lips: Persona Cosmetics lip liner in 90210

Today was interesting as far as testing and favorites go. As for favorites I went for the tatcha silk canvas. I have the balm formula. I haven’t tried the liquid version and I am curious to see how it performs but I absolutely adore the creme formula of this one. It is pore filling and helps lock makeup into place. It also has that lovely Tatcha skincare scent to it. I generally find my skin reacts well to this primer as well. I did want a matte primer today because of the highligher, but I’ll get to that in a moment. The long and short of it is that I adore this primer.

One of my other favorites is the Bare Minerals blush. I am always happy to reach for this one. It can be a little too intense in color in the winter (I have the shade Mauve Sunrise) but as my skin gets summer tan it just looks better and better so I will be using this a lot in the coming months. Which is no hardship. I do need to look into a lighter winter shade though, but I have a little bit of time now before that is needed.

The Buxom Bronzer is also more of a spring summer product. It is of a tone that takes me into spring and early summer but generally isn’t worn after July when I am full on summer tanned. Or at least that was last year’s scale. I ended up spending more time outside last summer than I planned. I also wanted to try a powder product today with the Kim Chi powder. On my first use of the powder I overdid it and everything looked powdery. I was just so enthused but the actually useful powderpuff in the container that I couldn’t hep myself. And over use made things look powdery.

Then I tried a lot of cream face products and it worked fantastically well with them. So I wanted to see if it was me over doing it or if it was just layering with other powder products that caused the issue. I think it might be a bit of both. With one powder product and the rest cream the setting powder didn’t look powdery when used with a light touch. I think however it is the sort of powder I will prefer with cream face products. I also think I am going to use that puff with several other powders. I do like this powder though, it just needs to be used sparingly to avoid a powdery look.

I have been trying out the Saint Luxe liquid highlight and wanted to try it against another liquid highlighter. So today I picked out the Iconic Original Illuminator which is an old stand by. It was far more glowy a product than the Saint Luxe. The Saint Luxe is far more subtle of a glow. Which I don’t mind actually. I know that using the Iconic with Natural look makeup (which is sort of my go to in the summer) is too heavy a highlighter. I don’t think the Saint Luxe will be. While I am finishing up my Yensa trial this week, I think that after the trial is complete I will be trying out the highlighter with a tinted moisturizer instead of a regular foundation to see how it performs. I have high hopes. The Iconic was nice today and I like being able to make the comparison.

The stila mascara I love. It needs one coat and I am done. The fact that I reach for it a lot means the tube is almost empty and will soon need to be replaced. But it is now one of my favorite mascaras.

The persona lip liner worked well all over my lips. It is a creamy formula that can be used as a lipstick. After a few hours though my lips do start to feel a bit dry so I add a lip balm over them. That is enough to keep the lips moist. So I am good with this lip liner.

Today was the first use of the Balm’s The Balm and The Beautiful Palette. As a first use I did the one matte all over the lids with a lighter matt in the corners look. I love the Balm formula. The brush didn’t need tapping off and the matte blended beautifully without a powdery mess. I am looking forward to playing around with this palette.

And that my darlings was today’s look. I feel like I went a little long today but I have several products I am testing out. Hopefully you found it interesting. But now my beauty break is over and I must leave you and heed the call of my inbox. It is the first of the month and and it seems everyone has a new project to start. So off we go. Have a great rest of Monday.