The Make Up Bag: February 26th, 2021

The Makeup Bag used February 20th – 26th, 2021

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.

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.

The Makeup Bag: February 19th, 2021

The Makeup Bag: used February 13th – 19th, 2021

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Makeup Bag: February 12th, 2021

The Makeup bag used February 6th – 12th, 2021

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.

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: February 5th, 2021

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.

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.

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.

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.

This takes us to the lips. And this week I had a new lipstick to try. It was the Wet ‘n wild Megalast matte bullet style lipstick in the shade Cinnamon spice. I really liked the formula.

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 unprecedented rich mask is powered by botanicals that virtually iron out the looks of lines and wrinkles. The anti-wrinkle hexapeptide softens the appearance of expression lines.

Free Gift: Smooth & Soothe Collection with any purchase of $225. Featuring best-selling Rice & Geranium Cleanser (8ml), Hibiscus Smoothing Mask (8ml) and Flower Harmonizing Cream (8ml).

Featuring best-selling Rice & Geranium Cleanser (8ml), Hibiscus Smoothing Mask (8ml) and Flower Harmonizing Cream (8ml)

Embryolisse has an off of: $10.00 OFF on Makeup Compact Powder. Embryolisse – the Dermo-cosmetic expertise.

And finally Amore Pacific has complimentary shipping and samples on every order as well as this offer:

Lunar New Year: Enjoy a Limited Edition Scented Candle Duo + 5-piece Time Response Set ($319 value) with any $275+ purchase!

Happy Shoppong!

The Makeup Bag: January 22nd, 2021

The Make Up Bag Used January 16th -22nd, 2021

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.

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.

30% off “You Are Brilliant” Pro Blush Palette! Available for $26.60, original price at $38.00. No code needed!

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.

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.

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.

The Makeup Bag: January 15th, 2021

The Makeup Bag used January 9th – 15th, 2021

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

The Makeup Bag: January 8th, 2021

The Make Up bag Used January 2nd -January 8th, 2021

Happy Friday my darlings and welcome to the first makeup bag of 2021. I’m trying a little something different with today’s post so let me know how you like the changes. Instead of just showing a picture of the product, I will add links for each of the products so you can see the product and then in a get ready with me style, show the application of them. If that makes sense. Let me know what you think.

So starting off, I applied my primer. Today’s primer was the Master Prime from Maybelline. It is a blurring and pore minimizing primer and it does the job well. It is clear, so there is little to see, but it does blur out the pores. It is however very silicone-y so it does make your face super slick as well. And remember my darlings, a little goes a long way with this primer. Add too much and the rest of your makeup will pretty much slide off of your face. A little dot, spread over the areas you mostly want blurred out of minimized is all you need. I generally cover my nose and cheeks in a broad strip and call it done with this primer.

Once the priming was done I moved on to my foundation. This week I used the last of my Yensa BC Foundation. It is a combination of BB and CC cream in a foundation. It does well eliminating redness and covering up minor blemishes so I didn’t feel the need to have a tinted primer this week.

This foundation is a little dark for my skin at this time of year, but there wasn’t much left in the sample tube and I wanted to use it up so that it didn’t go bad waiting for the return of the sun. Now the tube is actually empty and I know that Tan Neutral is more suited to my summer skin and will purchase accordingly. And I will be picking up a full size of this once my foundation drawer has been cleared out a little more. For now the empty tube journeys to the empties bin.

Because my foundation was a little dark this week, I reached for my Marc Jacobs Hi-Fi Filter. While I don’t do a lot of contouring these days, I really like the darker shade in this for my bronzer and I find that the lighter contour shade, if applied with a fluffy brush right over the foundation lightens the foundation, but doesn’t make it look as powdery as actual powder. And it sits well under the darker shade I used as my bronzer this week. As always I loved using the Marc Jacobs compact. It will be with me until it is nothing but pan, and then I will repurchase in whatever version is then available. It is one of those products that is definitely worth the price.

For blush this week I used the Multi Use Crème Color in Exhibit A from the brand Habit. This came in a Petit Vour Box last month and this week was the first time I used it. It is supposed to be usable for lips, eyes and cheeks but quite frankly, I didn’t like it on my lips or eyes.

two dots proved too much and I had very pink cheeks, one dot would have been more than enough, restraint my darlings, we must all learn it.

The color was off on the lips and it felt sticky on the lips. It also felt heavy on the eyelids. It wa however very nice on the cheeks. I dipped a finger into the pot of color, added a dot or two to my cheek and then blended it in with either fingers or a brush, both work. I actually need to look at getting more brushes that work for cream based products as at the moment, my fingers are the best blending tools for most of them.

But that is another story.

One thing to remember about this product is that it is highly pigmented. Even if you think you might want more, start with one dot, blend and then if you want more, dip back into the pot. It is highly pigmented and while it blends well, it stays fairly pigmented even after blending. You can always layer more on and make it as deep as you want, but tread lightly in the beginning my darlings or you may find yourself starting your day’s makeup look over again. I was very pleased with how well this stayed on the cheeks throughout the day. It did not blend into nothing and it did not fade away. I think I will see a lot of use out of this product.

I can’t really say the same for my highlighter. This week I used the Jecca Blac Glow drops in Champagne for my highlighter. I had high hopes as I used the rose gold glow drops and really loved the subtle glow it gave the skin. Like the champagne this product was listed as highlighting primer for face. The Rose gold worked well as a highlight but not as a primer. This one I may have to try as a primer. While I don’t really like the glow-y skin look, this might actually work under a full coverage matte foundation to provide a little more depth. I will play around with it a bit more, but I can honestly tell you it was not a highlighter. It blended out and was gone. I’ll save it ti try as a primer and see if I like it any better that way.

I used two powders this week, One was the Pacifica Cherry Blossom Translucent setting powder. It has a little bit of white to it when used, and can lighten up a look. It doesn’t make the skin look powdery and I personally like the scent. I generally like it for a week, then have to set it to the side and use something else before coming back to it though, because of the scent. It can get to be a bit too much if used too often. Spaced out, the scent is delightful. And the powder works wonderfully.

a simple eyelook I used for most of the week

Even though it is jumping ahead a bit in product usage as I used the pressed powder to touch up any shine throughout the day, I’ll go ahead and cover it here. This week I used the Zeesea X British Museum pressed powder. The compact is gorgeous and I will end up using it as a compact in my purse when the product is used up. The product however is nothing to really write home about. It is a competent and basic pressed powder. It is not a good pressed powder. It is not awful, but it isn’t great. I bought it for it’s look and I adore the packaging. It is sturdy enough that it could be reused for a long time after the product is gone and it is a standard enough size that I could probably find something to easily fit into the empty space once I have reached pan. But I can’t say it is a wonderful product. It is a wonderful packaging and not terrible expensive. But I will be honest, I bought it for the packaging.

My Ciate London Palette The Trend Edit was in use this week and I have to say I loved it. You can check out the full review here, but in short there was a lot of pigment, little fall out and it lasted all day. I would actually repurchase this simply for the shade Burnt. It is a fantastic everyday shade for me and was great in a one and done look. I foresee mentioning this palette many times in the future.

My mascara came from Kristofer Buckle this week. It is the Grand Opening Mascara to be specific. It is a lengthening mascara and while when I first tried it, I wasn’t too enthused, this mascara has grown on me as I’ve used it. I think I was so used to volumizing mascaras that I wasn’t ready for just a lengthening one. I have come to appreciate the lengthening ones though and this one did a really good job lengthening my lashes. It is one that I will repeatedly reach for. This one is nearing the end of its life, but I already have a second one waiting in the wings to be opened. Like the Ciate, you will be hearing about this again.

To be honest I didn’t really use eyeliner or a brow product this week. I just used a spoolie on my brows and called it good.

For my lips I used two products. One was the Dose of Colors in Stone that I am trying to use up. It is the perfect pink toned neutral to go with the Ciate Palette. Its shadows have a slightly reddish undertone that made them work well together. The other lip product was the Huda Beauty Demi Matte in Bawse. A bold shade. While you can read the full review here, the sort of it is that I absolutely oved this liquid lip. It went on well, didn’t dry out my lips and stayed in place (with some fading) throughout the day with no touchups. All in all a fabulous lip product. I foresee many from this line making their way into my dressing table in the future. Admittedly I may try out the mattes before committing to the demi-mattes.

To top it all off, although applied before the mascara and lipstick, I used the new Pore Professional Super Setter from Benefit Cosmetics. This product came to be via Influenster and I am really enjoying it.For the spray alone I would love this product. The scent is light and fresh and it keeps the makeup in place all day. When sprayed, even though it is a manual pump, the spray comes out like a mist from an aerosol can. It is super light and there were absolutely no drips to pat off with my trusty Huda Beauty makeup sponge. I know I do prefer a setting spray with skin care benefits, but when looking for a product to keep everything in place for the entire day, this is a fantastic option. I think in my normal everyday makeup I will still lean towards the skincare type of setting sprays, but when I want insurance for my makeup for a long day, this is what I am going to be reaching for. It is one of the best setting sprays I’ve tried in a while.

And with that my darlings, this week’s makeup bag is complete. Let me know what you think about the slight change I did with the post. Hopefully you liked it. I certainly had fun with it. I have a bunch of new products to try next week so it should be an interesting week as far as products go. Hopefully there will be some good surprises. I’ll see you then.

The Makeup Bag: December 31st, 2020

The makeup bag used December 26th – 31st, 2020

Ah, the makeup bag for the week after Christmas. Always a low key affair until you get to the actual New Year’s eve. This year it was an interesting bag. I used last week’s products for my holiday calls and then swapped out the makeup bag. In addition I will be using a completely separate New Year’s eve Makeup bag to get ready for my sparkly stay at home night.

But that is another story.

Which means that this week’s makeup bag was both easy and low key. I started off with the Yensa BC Foundation. It is from their Super 8 collection and I have to say I have had really good luck with that entire collection.

The BC Foundation is a cross between a BB Cream and A CC cream and I have to say, It goes on easily and just melts into the skin for a low key look that is my skin but better. I’m using a sample and I think I might be able to get one more week out of the sample tube. It might be pushing it so I think what I am going to do is keep it in next week’s makeup bag to use it up and have another product on standby for when this does run out. I suspect it will run out sometime mid-week next week. However it is on the products to pick up again list, so it will be returning once I’ve whittled down some of my foundation products.

The number of products in the drawer tends to make me nervous about products expiring before I can use them. So I am working through open products. Actually the last time I opened the drawer (to get this week’s product out) the drawer was thinning out a bit. I think because I used up and got rid of all of many of the sample sizes it doesn’t seem as frighteningly packed.

The primer I used with my foundation this week was an old favorite. It is the Urban Decay Optical Illusion Primer. I remember trying this primer when it first came out and falling in love with it. My love affair has lasted and even though it isn’t my one and only it still ranks high on my list of primers. I hadn’t tried it in a while so last time I was in Ulta I picked up a travel sized tube to see if I still liked it. And yeah, I do. I’ll keep the travel size in my dressing table rotation until it is through and then pick up a full size.

My bronzer this week was the NARS Laguna Bronzer. It is a sample size that is finally starting to get a dent in the center of the pan. I refuse to let myself buy a full size until I use up the sample. I have had this sample a while though as it is small enough that it tends to slip to the bottom of the drawer. I have decided though that it will be getting up, so it will be rotated in with increasing frequency until it does get used up.

Another product that I tend to forget about is the sample sized Tarte Blush in the shade Quirky. I just somehow never remember to pick it up. I really like the blush formula and the shade lends a really nice soft flush to the cheeks which isn’t over the top. It really works well with the natural skin look of the Yensa Foundation.

And then we have powders. Oh my darlings do we have powders. First there is the loose e.l.f HD translucent powder. It is a really good setting powder. It can leave a little bit of white in the crevices of the nose, but a quick dab with my lovely Huda Beauty sponge takes care of that. I really like the flat pointed section for getting into tight spots on the face. I am always amazed at how useful that one flat side actually is. I think regardless of brand that is the shape I will look for. And soon I will have to look for another makeup sponge as mine is sadly looking like it needs to be replaced.

However I really do like the e.l.f. HD setting powder.

As for pressed powder, my dearest No 7 made it through most of the week. Sadly it will not make it to the new year. It gave its all and I salute it. I will also repurchase it. Repeatedly. I am going to try to not pick it up right away so that I can use some other powders in my dressing table.

But this is one of my favorite formulas for pressed powders and at some point it will return. For now we have to bid it a fond farewell and let it at least have the distinction of being the first product placed in the January 2021 Empties bin.

Because I wasn’t entirely sure my No.7 would make it through the week I pulled out the sample size of the MAC Studio Fix powder. It is the tiniest little pan so it is kind of a pain to work with but the product itself is really nice. I really forgot how much I liked MAC products. I always remember their lipsticks but somehow tend to forget about their powders and eyeshadows. I really enjoy both actually I just haven’t picked them up in a while. I may need to remedy that in 2021.

I did actually use a MAC Satin Lip in the shade Mocha this week. I like the Satin Formula and found it comfortable to wear. The color was a little light for me so I deepened it with Huda Beauty’s Lip Contour in Trophy Wife. It was a nice blend of colors and I enjoyed the combo this week. When I wasn’t wearing that combo I reached for my e.l.f. Sheer Slick in Black Cherry.

T to B: MAC, MAC blended with Huda, Elf, Huda lip liner on it’s own

Because I seemed to have both a samples theme and a MAC theme going I added the MAC Strobe Cream sample I received in my Birchbox Advent Calendar. I know several people put it all over the face as an all over glow, but I think everyone has realized that isn’t really my thing. The strobe cream did make a really excellent and subtle liquid highlighter this week. Since I was going for a more subtly look it really suited me well. This is another product that I need to remember I have and to use it more often.

My brows were taken care of my wet ‘n wild Ultimate brow kit this week. As usual I used my own brush instead of the provided one and stuck with the one lighter shade in the kit. The darker one I still need to remember to use, but it is too dark from my brows so I will have to work out something in maybe the shadow eyeliner department. If you remember my initial use of the kit you may recall that while I really love the light brown brow powder, I despise the cream highlight in the kit. So this week I ignored it and pretended it was not there.

For my mascara I went with the Beauty for Real Mascara again this week. While I really like the mascara it wasn’t actually my intention to use it, I simply forgot to switch it out. Using it a second week wasn’t a hardship though. It is a really good formula. However I will remember to exchange it for another in the following week.

Which finally brings us to the eyeshadow for the week. This week I grabbed the doughnut shaped Maple Glazed palette from I heart Revolution. I know it looks like a toy, but I really like this palette. It is quick and easy to use and the shadows are easy to use and work well. To be honest I mostly used the darker brown accented with the bronzy shade this week. It was quick and easy and I didn’t have to worry about it much. I liked the way it looked and will happily reach for this palette again.

I don’t know if the doughnut series is still available (I picked mine up at Ulta a while back) but every time I use it I find myself wanting to pick up the other doughnut palettes in the line. It is just very well set up and easy to use. Plus, this is one of my favorite travel palettes as the puffy doughnut on top pretty much insures the shadows won’t break. Surprisingly we have reached the end of the Makeup bag. There were no real surprises this week. I know some of you are thinking, ‘weren’t you trying a new setting spray? And yes I was. However, I wanted a bit more time with it before I formed an opinion. So I will use the Pore Professional Priming spray from Benefit for another week and then next week post a full review as well as put it in my Makeup Bag post. I just didn’t think I had long enough to sort out how I felt about it to put it down. So there we have it my darlings, this week’s makeup bag. But stand by, the New Year’s edition is about to arrive in 10…9…8…7…

The Make Up Bag: December 24th, 2020

The Make up Bag used December 19th- 25th

Welcome my darlings once again to the weekly makeup bag. Here, I list out all the products I used this week and let you know what I think of them. I know, some of you may be asking, why do I fill a makeup bag every week instead of just choosing each product for the day?

Well, some days I do add in items, for instance if I have an outfit I decided to wear that simply needs a different lipstick, I will dip back into my dressing table for an extra product. Occasionally something will run out or go horribly wrong and need to be replaced. But for the most part what I choose initially for the bag is what I use throughout the week.

So why?

The main reason is one of choice. I am not at my best first thing. While I will never be a morning person, coffee does help me out. However, faced with a dressing table filled with a variety of products, I sometimes stare dumbly at them, not knowing which to choose. Even if I am just looking at five black eyeliners. And sometimes I get ready in a rush. In both instances, I tend to grab the first items I see and go with them. Then I put them back in the front of drawers. So the next time I’m in a rush, I grab the same products.

As I like variety in my products, as well as using all of the items I have, I decided that once a week I would pack a bag full of products to use, that way I didn’t have to start of my day with pre coffee decision making. Thus far it has worked out really well for me. I can rotate through products so that I am never bored, try new things, or if something is close to being used up completely, keep it out so that it can be finished without lingering in the bottom of a drawer with barely any product left.

I’ve found it a really useful method and I will be keeping it up for quite a while I think.

So, now that you know the reasoning behind the makeup bag, let’s talk about what I used this week.

I have to say, it was a bit of a mix. I tried many new products this week so there were a lot of surprises. We will start off on a positive note and go with the Viseart Palette. I received the Neutral Mattes Palette in my Boxycharm Premium box this month and I have to say, this palette justified keeping the subscription.

I was planning on keeping it anyway, but I was thrilled to get this palette and try it out and I absolutely love the way it performed. It is highly pigmented so start lightly and try to build. This Viseart Link will take you to my full review. But the end result is that I adored this palette and will be keeping it around for a long time.

It is however a matte palette and when I tried out the black shadow I found I wanted just a little bit of shimmer. I also wanted a reason to try out my Bobbi Brown Long Wear Cream shadow stick in the shade Golden Pink. It came in my Birchbox Advent Calendar and thus far the time had not been right to give it a try. This week, the time was right, so I used it as s shimmer to work with the Black from the Viseart palette. Wow. Just wow. It went on smoothly either over the plain eyelid or over a powder shadow, stayed in place all day long and didn’t crease or transfer on me. I was super thrilled to use this and will need to remember it, and possibly look at other colors. I want to at least get one more to see how it blends with other cream shadows, but it worked really well over powder. I will be reaching for it a lot.

The Marcelle CC Cream Golden Glow I used this week was a sample and it is unfortunately not something I will be reaching for in the future. Luckily the sample will be used up by the end of the week so no product will be wasted, but I will not be picking up a full sized version. It is an excellent color corrector and it did give the skin a golden glow.

However, it also settled into my fine lines and made me look much more tired than I actually was. I would really prefer my makeup products not to emphasize my fine lines. So while a decent product in many respects, the CC golden glow is not for me. I will stick with Marcelle’s mascara and moisturizer in the future.

elf primer and my almost gone No. 7 powder

For my primer this week I ended up reaching for my e.l.f. Poreless Putty Primer. It is an excellent primer in general and really does a good job filling in the pores and turning my face into a smooth canvas. I worked with it this week in an effort to try and correct the one flaw of the Marcelle CC Cream.

While it really helped in most places, towards the end of the day the CC cream still emphasized the lines under my eyes. For all else, the Putty Primer actually helped stop the CC Cream from showing a lot of the fine lines that it was showing without the primer. So This was definitely a good week for the e.l.f Poreless Putty Primer. It is a makeup bag repeat visitor and will remain so until the product is through. Then it will be replaced.

Speaking of using products up, It is almost time to say goodbye to my No7 Pressed powder. It has served me well, but alas, it is now only a slender ring of product around the outside of the completely exposed metal pan. Technically, I will be keeping it in the makeup bag for the rest of the week and possibly into the beginning of next, but I doubt it has enough product to last the full week, let alone next.

Even if this does last the week to be included in next week’s makeup bag I will be choosing a backup powder for when this finally runs out. I love the formula on the No 7 pressed powder and will be picking another compact of it up again. However at the moment I have several powders that I have ignored in favor of my No. 7 and I want to give them a chance to shine. Or to prevent shine, really. So I am going to do my best to try not to immediately repurchase this once it is empty. I suspect that on my next Target run a new one might somehow find its way into my cart, but I am going to try to resist.

I did have a loose powder in my makeup bag this week as well. This week I used the Smashbox Photo Finish Fresh Setting powder. It is called fresh because essentially it is a solid lump of powder with a grater. You turn the grater and the fresh loose powder appears. The product is good and there is a lot less spillage since you only grind up the powder you need when you need it, however the dial is really hard to turn if you have any product or water on your hands. Then it becomes too slick to turn and you are just out of luck. I think if you had any sort of mobility issues related to your hands (like arthritis) you would want to steer clear of this product. Which is a shame, the powder is really good. It just requires dry hands and a certain level of physical dexterity to use. The concept is fun though.

This week most of my face products came from the True + Luscious Lucky Glow Face Palette. It too was a Boxycharm item this month, but unlike the Viseart, there are mixed results.

In fact it makes me feel a little like Goldilocks and the three bears.

Let’s start with the bronzers. There are two. One warm toned (Good Fortune) and one cool toned (Serenity). Both tend to disappear on the skin. I had to work seriously hard to get them to show up on my skin. Maybe if I had really fair skin, this would work for me, but even though I do not have the darkest skin tone in the world, I was too dark for it to apply well. At best, the bronzers are good for taming down the blush.

Unlike the bronzers, the blush (Royal Flush)comes on strong and highly pigmented. After using the bronzers, this was quite the surprise. The first time I used this I ended up with a serious case of clown face. It is a very pink tone, which isn’t my favorite to begin with, but it is also highly pigmented. So I was VERY Pink. And had to wash my face and start over again for the day. I had a video call that day so leaving it wasn’t an option.

Then there are the three Highlighters.

If you remember your three bears, you know we’ve had our too soft, and our too hard, so you know what comes next.

That’s right, the highlighters were the , um, highlight of the palette. All three were soft and buttery, applied well and stayed in place all day. I could go light or bright with them and had no issues. Pots of Gold is a bright gold shade, Heaven Sent is a silvery shade (even though it looks kind of bronze in the pan) and the speckled Triple Sevens is a warm rose gold shade that worked perfectly for me. In fact Triple Sevens is the jackpot of the palette. I would by the shade in a single pan to use repeatedly. The other two highlighters, while good, weren’t unique enough for me to want to by them separately. If there was a highlighter palette with the three of these in it, I would happily use all three, but the only one I would buy on its own is the Triple Sevens.

My mascara this week was from Beauty for Real. I’ve used it before and as always I am surprised by how well I like it. I am used to fluffy brushed mascaras but this one has a really small brush on the end of the wand. I was certain I was going to hate it. Then I used it.

I do not hate it.

Quite the opposite in fact. The little brush lets me get to the base of my lashes and the formula really works at lengthening the lashes. Because I can get to the very base of the lashes I was able to make my lashes look a lot more full than I expected. Plus the small want is really good for lower lashes as well. I will happily continue to use this mascara.

I did not use an eyeliner this week. I chose one but I was having so much fun with the eyeshadow that I forgot to reach for it. So I will keep the eyeliner in the makeup bag and use it next week. I did however use an eyebrow pencil this week. My bangs are still long enough that I doubt anyone noticed but I used the RealHer brow pencil and I really enjoyed it. It is a great formula and has an easy to use fine tip.

the RealHer brow pencil and assorted lip products

RealHer also made an appearance with my lip products this week. I used the RealHer lip liner in the shade I am confident. It is a nice creamy lip liner that stays in place well. The reason I reached for it was because of my BareMinerals lipstick. It is the new Mineralist formula that came in my Macy’s Beauty Box this month and I was so excited to get to try the formula.

The formula is rich and creamy and feels amazing on the lips. It is a traditional style lipstick so it does need reapplying, but it is worth it. The formula in no way dried out my lips and felt really comfortable to wear. My only issue was the color. It is a little more pink than I like my lipsticks and wearing the RealHer lip liner underneath darkened it just enough to work for me. I will be seeking out a different shade of this lipstick soon. I really like the formula of it.

Liner on the left and then swatched top to bottom we have Bareminerals, Nudestix and Giorgio Armani

The lip liner actually worked well with the NudeStix lip crayon I had in my makeup bag this week as well. The Nude Stix is in the shade posh and it was almost a perfect match for the lip liner. I really appreciated that as lip liners really help me out with lip crayons. I don’t know if it is the shape of the crayon or what, but with lip crayons I need a liner to keep the edges neat. It’s not a reflection of the product, it is definitely user error. The liner kept the user in check so there was no error. I liked the color as it was a sort of pinky nude that worked well with my skin tones. It isn’t the longest lasting formula and so it has to be reapplied in the same way you would reapply a traditional lipstick, but it felt very comfortable to wear and I think I will get a lot of use out of it. I also thing I like it better than their liquid lipsticks.

As you may recall I had a Grande Liquid Lip product in my Macy’s bag and I was very excited to try it out. Unfortunately the wand either lost it’s head in manufacturing or snapped off somewhere in the tube. Either way, I just had a stick of a wand that was useless. The opening is too small for a cotton swab and none of my brushes would fit inside so I was unable to try it. I was really looking forward to trying out the formula. I have heard both good and bad things about the liquid lip and wanted to try it for myself. I’ve only used Grande Cosmetics’ Lash products (their Grande Lash mascara is really good) and I was looking forward to testing a lip product. I will set it aside and look for a brush that fits, but alas I did not find one this week.

And the final lip product I used this week was the tiniest most adorable liquid lip sample I have ever seen. It is the Giorgio Armani Liquid Lip Maestro in the shade Cedar (206). It came as a bonus in my final Allure Beauty Box (I cancelled my subscription). I’ve never tried any lip products from Giorgio Armani so I was happy to have a chance, no matter how small the tube. The formula applied well. It dries down but not all the way. When you press your lips together it still feels wet even hours later. However after about ten minutes I took a sip of my coffee and there was no lip print left behind. It dries enough not to transfer but not enough to dry out your lips.

It does fade throughout the day so a mid-day reapplication wouldn’t go amiss, but it still retain some color by the end of the day. The color was a sort of terra cotta, maybe a little darker, but with a definite slight orange tint. While not my favorite color, it did work well enough, and because of the formula I was willing to use it anyway. It is a tiny sample though. So I think I might put it to the side so I can use it in my upcoming lip series. In the new year I will be doing more posts detailing the wear and feel of various lip products in more depth (and with more photos) than I can do here without this being even more of a massive post than it is.

Speaking of massive, this one has grown in length. Luckily there is only one final product to talk about and that is the Lise Watier Magnifix setting spray. As a setting spray it works well. It does make your face very wet though so once applied, you need to take a minute or two to dry off before applying eyeliner mascara and lipstick. (I apply all three after I use a setting spray to avoid running). Other than the wait time, it sets well, smells nice and has the added benefit of antioxidants included in the spray. I like a little skin care with my setting sprays. Over all I liked it and will happily keep it in rotation. However I will not use this one when I am in a rush. It is not a quick drying product.

And so with that we finish this week’s makeup bag. It was quite the variety as far as reactions go. Next week should be interesting as I am packing two separate Makeup bags, one for the week and one specifically for new year’s eve. Both will post on December 31^st, so stay tuned.

The Makeup Bag: December 18th, 2020

The Makeup Bag used December 12th – 18th, 2020

This week’s makeup bag was really low key. This was one of those weeks where I worked at my desk by myself with the occasional phone call. No one needed to see me so looking good for zoom wasn’t a necessity. I think the only time other than my walks that I left the house was to run to the charity shop yesterday. So there were several days I just let my skin breathe.

But I did wear some makeup this week.

I started with the Banana Bright Primer from Ole Henriksen. The link will take you to the full review. It is a brightening primer, but under powder or foundation it blurs out blemishes and fine lines really well and while it hydrates, it didn’t ever feel greasy. This is a primer I think I will be reaching for more throughout the winter.

On the days I reached for foundation, I went with the E.L.F. Acne Fighting foundation. It was easy to reach for, light weight and felt good against the skin. This is one foundation that I know i am going to replace as soon as it runs out. E.l.f. really hit it out of the park with this one.

My RealHer Cheek Ultimate Glow Getter Trio provided my Bronzer, Blush and highlight this week. While I did use the bronze and highlight I think there was only one day this week I bothered with the highlighter.

The blush and bronze are both buildable products that let you go as light or as glam as you want. This week I tended to lean into the light and this Cheek Trio Palette was amazing for that. If you take a close look at the bronzer, you can see that the outlines of the pan are starting to show through the product. Of the three, the Bronzer is my favorite product. The blush and highlighter are good, but I tend to use them because they are there with the bronzer, whereas the bronzer is why I reach for the palette. It was a palette that I reached for a lot this summer and I am really glad to see that it is something I can easily use in winter as well.

For Powder I used my trusty No 7. Pressed powder and didn’t bother with a loose setting powder at all this week. I know, shocking. Much more of the pan is showing now and I am fairly certain that this compact will be empty by new Years. It really is one of my favorite products. The formula of the powder is just really nice against the skin.

This week I skipped both eyeliner and brow products completely. My eyebrow is still healing from an ingrown hair and quite frankly at the moment my bangs have grown out enough that you can’t really see much of my brows. I really need to cut them. I’ll admit, it scares me so I put off the trimming of the bangs as long as possible. I am less hesitant with the rest of my hair, but those bangs…Still it must be done and done soon. This week, I just used a spoolie to keep them neat and left them alone.

I had a trio of shadows this week. KVD’s Lolita was the shade I reached for most often for a quick swipe of color. It is an excellent shadow and the color works well for me. It can be used as a light blush or deepened towards a wine red. It is one of those shadows that always gets added to my travel bags.

The Colored Raine Champagne Life was my light shimmer shade this week. It is okay but not my favorite. It tends to disappear when I tried to blend it in and fades pretty badly throughout the day.

The third shadow I used was the IBY Fire and Ice shadow. I really enjoyed it. It doesn’t look like much in the pan but when applied it glimmers green like a beetle’s back and I really enjoyed it. I am definitely going to have to remember to use it more often. For a fuller review of the three and to see swatches and read a more detailed performance review, the link will take you to my eyeshadow review post from yesterday.

This week I finished off the They’re Real sample size of mascara from Benefit Cosmetics. I really like the way it lengthened my lashes and it looked really good, especially on the days where I did nothing but powder and lip oil. This was its third week and this morning I can officially say that the tube is completely empty. The sample is no more. I was rather surprised that it lasted the full third week, but somehow it just managed to hang on to finish the week out.

My final product this week was the Yensa lip oil in the shade Pink Shine. I love everything about this lip oil. It has a slight hint of color that compliments my natural lips. It helps refresh dry lips and it smells amazing. That being said, it does leave oily lip prints on the rims of coffee mugs and needs to be reapplied after eating. But the shine it gives to lips is fantastic.

This week I didn’t bother with a setting spray. Which means that we have now arrived at the end of the makeup bag. I told you, I didn’t wear a lot of products this week. I figured it was just me looking at a computer screen all day so on the mornings when I wanted to wear makeup I did, and the mornings I didn’t want to put it on, I didn’t. It was really nice to have a low key week like this. Next week of course I have the first of the week loaded down with pre-holiday work zooms, so I’ll have to be a little bit more mindful. But it was nice to have a very relaxed week and only put on what I wanted to put on without worrying how it would look on camera.