Loreal Magic Perfecting Base: Love it or Lose it?

I grabbed up a sample of this at the dollar store and it just sat for a few months waiting for me to try it. It looked a little scary both because it's in a pot and because of the baby pink color. After having finally pushed myself to try it though I can honestly say I am going to love it. It made my foundation stay on all night at work, despite working in a warehouse with no climate control and it being summer. And to me that's a huge feat!

This primer stood up to sweat and heat, and I came out looking the same as I walked in. I got a ton of compliments on how wonderful my makeup looked, and how natural my foundation appeared. The primer melted into the skin beautifully, had no color, and was a nice silicone texture to grab onto and hold makeup in place. Though the tub looks small it claimed to have 3 weeks of use inside, and with how little I have to use in order to cover my entire face I certainly believe it.

The sample size is .17 ounces of product and is approximately the size of a Maybelline color tattoo. The full size is .5 ounces and is still in pot form. It has a beautiful silky texture and a whipped feeling. It glides onto the skin easily and blends out beautifully. I love that it has no color so that it doesn't change the tone of my skin before my foundation application. It claims to keep the skin matte and minimize pores with lightweight coverage and keep skin looking great all day. I don't particularly care about whether it keeps my skin matte since I have dry skin, but I did like that it minimized the occasionally shiny and oily spots I can get when I am hot or in the sun. It didn't feel like I was wearing makeup like some silicone based products can make it feel heavy on the skin. I struggle with a lot of texture particularly on the tops of my cheeks where my highlighter goes and on my nose where I have larger pores and lots of blackheads, but I did notice that my nose pores were camouflaged much better than usual, and I didn't notice much texture on my cheeks until I applied highlighter.

I'm extremely impressed with the weartime this primer gave me, especially in the heat of my workplace. I will definitely be using this more and maybe even purchasing a full size after I get through my elf hydrating primer.

My only problem with the product is the packaging because it's not all that sanitary when you have to stick your fingers in the entire pot of product, however I will either depot it into a pump canister, or I will use a disposable spatula to get the product out and onto my mixing palette before application.

Stay Flawless and Beautiful!

BNB

Hourglass Ambient Powder: Holy Grail?

I wanted to give the Ambient Lighting powders a try since I have dry skin, and I'm trying to embrace the more dewy and glowy look with my makeup to give myself some life. I'm fully in love with the way the Reserve Your Cabana bronzer makes my skin look when dusted all over as the Ambient powders should be, so will it be replaced or will it hold it's own against the higher end product?

And the answers is! It holds its own. I'm excited to be using the Ambient powder (I have dim light, by the way), but I don't feel like it's a necessity in my collection. It gives a nice radiance, but the Wet and Wild one does a little more and has a slightly yellow tone that I prefer to the pinker tone of the Dim Light. Maybe next I will try the more yellow toned Ambient powder.

The Ambient powder is very finely milled which sits much less noticeably on the skin, but I don't so much find that the Wet and Wild powder sits all that noticeably either, they're very smooth and buttery and blend well into the skin. It doesn't affect the color of foundation applied under it when put on, but gives a slight luminous look to the skin when the light hits it right.

I do like this powder, but with such an affordable product at the drug store that is so close to it, I'm not sure it's worth the price for a full size powder. Maybe if I get the palette it will be more worth it to me with a range of shades to play with. It's definitely made it to the top shelf with the Wet and Wild bronzer, and I use them both interchangeably.

Stay Flawless and Beautiful Girls!

BNB

Why I'm Over The Fit Me Foundation

If you've been reading for a while, you know that I used to be in love with this foundation. At one point I even owned a shade in each line. But, I'm totally over it. I ended up starting out with a warm toned shade from the matte line, which was 120, and it was far too warm for me. I wore it for a while, but I ended up either getting drier skin or finding out I had dry skin. The color laid very heavy on my skin and creased and made my skin look flat and ashy. I decided to try the dewy finish line in a cool toned shade, which I picked a shade lighter (115) thinking maybe 120 was too dark for me. However my problems continued, but in a different way... this one was too cool for my skin and gave me far too much of a pink coloring to my face. I used this one for a while too, because the finish of it is perfectly dewy and adds life to my skin. I'm a neutral tone, and after much trial and error I have figured that out. I will be purchasing a new foundation, and possibly hanging on to only the pink toned one for when I dye my hair back to red so I can have that rosy glow if I want it.

And I feel a little horrible about wasting 15 bucks by not using up both the foundations, but I'm perfectly willing to eat the cost of the yellow one and pass it along because I hate they way it looks on my skin. It almost made me look like I was sick, and I can't have that!

Stay Beautiful Loves, and always remember to be yourself.

BNB

Loreal Magic Lumi Light Infusing Primer: Love it or Lose it?

I purchased this when it first came out, in hopes to make my Fit Me Matte and Poreless look less matte since I found out the matte line of that foundation was not for me. On the bottle, they list multiple ways to use the product including mixing it with foundation or wearing it under the foundation as a primer, but they also suggested using it as a liquid highlight. I went ahead and tried it all three ways over the past few months to get a definitive opinion on each method with it, and I've got to say... It's more of a flop than a fave.

I still have a ton of product left despite using it over 20 times, which would be great if I actually wanted to continue using it. It's a little expensive too, which makes me feel like I have to use it up so I'm not wasting my money. I had high hopes for this product being similar to things like the Backlight Primer and Becca's Pearl, but sadly it was not so.

I tried it first as a primer underneath my foundation, and while it gives a luminosity to the skin it's roughly equivalent to wearing a white frosty highlight all over and it completely washes out my skintone. It attracts far too much light to my whole face, and it feels a lot like I appear greasy. It has alright weartime, but I don't feel like it works great as a primer because it doesn't seem to make my foundation last any longer than it does without a primer. The micro-shimmmer is just too much, it feels like a spotlight on my face rather than a healthy glow, and I'm not about looking like the tin man...

I then went for the next suggestion on the bottle, which was to mix it in with the foundation before application for a "soft light illusion". After one pump, it completely disappeared into the foundation and left behind no glow. I added another pump and it still disappeared, and then another disappeared... It successfully lightened the color and coverage of the foundation, which it doesn't claim to do, but I saw no results with adding a glow to my skin.

The texture is very watery, almost too much so for me to want to use it as a highlight, but I went ahead and tried it anyway. I hoped I had found my preferred way of using this product, but unfortunately it was rather underwhelming. Despite applying several layers on top of one another, there was hardly any payoff, even now looking at the swatch on my hand it looks almost invisible despite two applications. It starts out looking wonderful and then seemingly melts into the skin and disappears.

I'm not at all happy with this product, but I will probably continue mixing it with my foundation or using it to help highlight in hopes of using it up one pump at a time. Not at all worth a repurchase or the money I spent on it in the first place.

Stay safe in the sun and enjoy the summer air!

As always, Stay Beautiful!
BNB

Opal Has Arrived!

That's right ladies! My opal travel sizes have arrived.

I've already cracked them open and given them a test, and I have to say, I'm as impresses as I expected to be and maybe more. With a neutral skintone I can get away with going either warm or cool without any problem.

For summer I was excited to try out Opal because it gives a nice golden shine to the face which is very nice to give the suntanned effect to the face without having the skin damage of tanning. I'm absolutely in love with the powdered opal, the soft and almost creamy consistancy, the beautiful finely milled shimmer, the perfect pigmentation, and the gorgeous golden color. I loved the swatches of the liquid opal, but unfortunately I think the doe foot applicator takes away from the full intensity that you get with the pump bottle of the full size because I have to really pack it on to get any pigmentation out of it, but it's definitely enough to get me hooked and require the purchase of the full size. I look forward to trying some of the other shades as well, though I haven't decided which ones exactly yet. I've looked at Moonstone and was very tempted to purchase that one as well, and I think that may be the next one I try. I thought about Champagne Pop, and as much as I want to get the Jacklyn Hill and Becca collaboration palette it's just not an option for me, so I won't be able to try the limited edition shade from that unfortunately, but that's okay I guess...

What should I try next?

Stay Beautiful Ladies!
BNB

Recent Beauty Purchases

Recently, there hasn't been a lot of things tickling my interests in the beauty world.

I'm not a collector so I don't just pick up all the new products just to test them out. I do my research, I swatch things for months, I buy travel sizes or get sample perks before buying. If it doesn't peak my interest or have something to offer me that what I already have doesn't, it's not going in my vanity. But that being said, I have picked up a few things I've been in need of for a bit.

First, at my local hobby store I picked up a 4 inch square mirror to use as a mixing palette for my foundation so that I can stop having to use the backs of my hands to hold product. Before this I was using a Ball jar lid for a week or so, but it just isn't quite big enough

I also picked up some baby wipes and face cloths for removing my face makeup before showering, and to refresh my face after sweating when I don't have makeup on. I prefer baby wipes because they're cheap, multipurpose, and work very well on my fragrance and alcohol sensitive skin. I got a travel size pack of face cloths simply to avoid carrying liquid makeup remover, or a 40 pack of baby wipes around with me for vacation.

Next, I also picked up some travel sized brush cleaning wipes for my vacation as well so that I don't have to carry my brush spray on vacation either. I'm all about finding things that are convenient for travel, especially when it involves an airplane.

On a walk through Walmart, I came across a display of the new Garnier Whole Blends shampoos and conditioners, and remembered one of my favorite YouTubers raving about the Honey Treasures repairing shampoo and conditioner. For less than 4 dollars a bottle I just couldn't pass it up. Since growing out my hair and going back to dying and straightening it I know I will need something to help keep the damage at bay, though I will never stop using my Head and Shoulders shampoo.

At DollarTree, months ago, I grabbed a bottle of nail strengthener from LA Colors, but sadly I was unimpressed because it does little to nothing to stop my nails from peeling apart and breaking off at my finger tips. But more recently I found a few more similar products at a different DollarTree from a brand called Dr. Marvey which I will be testing out to see if they work better. For a dollar a piece if either of them work I will be quick to pick up a bunch, and if they're horrible then at least I didn't break the bank.

Reviews of these products and more are to come! I'll also be doing a post talking about what I pack and how I pack my beauty items for a vacation, and how I get everything prepared for airport security.

Stay Beautiful!
BNB

Drugstore Haul and Mini Reviews

I picked up a bunch of products in the last few months from Milani than I had been eyeing and gave them all a try.
I picked up 3 blushes, 3 single eye shadows, 2 liquid lipsticks, 2 lip oils, a lipstick and an eye shadow palette. The gold packaging feels very elegant and expensive and I love to have these products around on display. Some of the packaging I find to be bulky (like the blushes) but regardless they are wonderful.

The first blush is from the rose blushes line and is in Romantic Rose (01) and although it has a slightly weird and chemical scent it is a gorgeous color and very difficult to over apply as it had a lighter pigmentation and a buildable formula. The cool toned mauve color is perfect and very unique at the drug store.The next two blushes are from the baked blush line in the shades Red Vino (09) and Bella Rosa (11). Red Vino is a red blush with gold shimmer and Bella Rosa is a vivid bright pink matte. This formula is by far my favorite baked blush formula. Unlike most baked products these are still soft and extremely pigmented. Red Vino does require an extremely light hand on fair skin, but the color is gorgeous even when applied lightly, just be careful of overdoing it. Bella Rosa also requires a bit of a light hand, though less so than the other color. but both colors last a long time on the skin and apply evenly and easily.
The single eye shadows I haven't played with too much, but they're from the Bella Eyes collection of gel powder shadows. I picked up specifically shimmers and metallics because they seemed like things I would use the most. First up is Bella Rouge, a metallic red; then Bella Gold, a metallic yellow gold; and finally Bella Chiffon, a metallic creamy white. The formula is very interesting and is said to be simlar to the colour pop shadows, so before springing for those I decided I would test the Milani formula first in case I didn't like it. It's definitely applied best with the fingertips in my opinion, but a brush may work well for some colors. All of the colors are very pigmented and blendable with each other and other shadows. I find I like them best as an accent on the center of the lid or in the inner corner of the eyes to bring dimension. I plan to pick up Dolci the 31st shade in the line which is a beautiful rose with a gold metallic shimmer in an order online in which I will hopefully pick up some of the new metallic liquid lipsticks.
The Amore Matte Liquid Lipsticks I have a love-hate relationship with. I own Loved (12) and Obsession (18). Loved is a medium nude brown color, which I love, and obsession is a red-toned purple. Both colors definitely dry completely matte, however they may dry too matte. After a drink of water I can feel the lipstick suck the leftover moisture out of my lips. The formula is quite patchy when I apply it, but I find it to be less noticeable in the nude color than in the deeper purple shade. Before it dries it looks fine and then when it dries it becomes streaky and patchy. the mousse-y formula is wonderful and soft to apply without dragging, but stains outside the lipline if it finds its way there so be warned. The scent is to die for; it smells like vanilla cake icing.
The lip oils are definitely one of my favorite products. I use them before applying lip products to help moisturize, and then again after I take off my makeup to replenish moisture and repair any damage or irritation from longwear products. I have moisturizing coconut (01) and repairing rose (05). Each oil is supposed to do different things, and while I haven't seen these do different things from each other I still think they are a great product to help hydrate and care for your lips.
I also picked up the Milani Color Statement Lipstick in 38 Double Espresso. This deep brown with gold shimmer is the perfect 90's lip color in my opinion. It is glossy and moisturizing but does not find its way outside the lipline or fade quickly after application. It is not long wearing, but doesn't require constant touchups either.The scent of this product is also delicious, but is more of a fruit candy scent.
Finally, the palette I chose was the Everyday Eyes palette in Earthy Elements (05) which consists of 6 shades of warm tones. 2 shades are matte (a burnt orange and a warm fawn brown) and 4 are shimmers (a deep reddish brown, a peach champagne, a warm dark brown, and a cream). All the colors are pigmented and soft. They kick up a little bit of powder when used with a brush, but not extremely much. I wish one of the darker shades was matte instead of shimmer because the palette feels slightly off balance without it. This palette is one of my go to's for when I need warm colors, but I do have to pull other colors in due to the lack of mattes. The brush in this palette is not cheap and useless like most palettes in the drugstore. It's one of the few brushes I have actually have kept and frequently use during makeup application.

Quite the pile pf products!
Always enjoy your beauty and whatever products you choose to use.

BNB

Argan Oil Primer: Love or Hate?

I've been using the Physicians Formula Arganwear Argan oil primer with coconut water. It comes in the gold and white ombre glass bottle with the sprayer.
I enjoy the product formula itself, but the way the bottle sprays I often find that the products is badly distributed and I end up having to rub it into my skin to get it to actually melt in. My dry skin loves the coconut water and it does make my skin feel hydrated and prepared for makeup application. It's very easy to overdo this if you're not careful and end up oily. I'm not crazy about the smell, but it goes away shortly after spraying once the product settles.
It gives me a smoother application by removing the dryness from my skin, however I use this more as a skincare product than as a primer since I need a primer that really holds onto my makeup much harder. I definitely more prefer a silicone primer, but this may work as a primer on its own for someone else.
All in all not a fail, but I'm not completely in love with the application for this product. I'm also a bit annoyed with the biphase product because it seems to be hard to get it evenly mixed for long enough to apply it without having to shake it almost every spray. I've purchased the regular argan oil from them as well to see if I prefer that to the spray bottle version. We will see!

As always, Stay Beautiful
BNB

Sun Safety

Now, we all know it's important to wear sunscreen when we're outside in order to prevent cancer and early aging skin. But it's almost impossible to find one that's good for your skin and goes well under makeup. I think I finally solved this problem for myself, but it took all kinds of trial and error. No one sunscreen is right for everyone, and I needed one that had high SPF, no greasy feeling, and wouldn't leave my skin shiny and oily over time. With my sensitive, dry skin, it's important that my sunscreen isn't harsh while still working effectively to protect me from sun damage and sun burn.

On a whim I tried IPKN NewYork's Pore Apple Sun Cream sunscreen makeup primer. It has SPF 40+, is gentle on the skin, and  helps to control oily t-zones. It has a slight silicone feel, which is good for holding makeup on the skin. It claims to be moisturizing, which from my experience is true. It didn't leave my skin feeling tight, dry or tired after wearing it for the day at a festival. It's very lightweight and doesn't break down over time or become greasy out in the heat. It didn't melt and it doesn't have the horrible chemical smell that most sunscreens have.

I would recommend anyone try this product. I picked it up off of Amazon, and it cost only about $26. It's a little expensive for a sunscreen I'll admit, but for how little product you use at a time I find it to be worth it.

of course I haven't tried reapplication over top of makeup, but it worked well with my normal stick sunscreen that I carry for reapplication on the go.

Always remember to care for your skin, and Stay Beautiful.

BNB

The Creative Contour

Walking through the drugstore recently I saw a few things I thought would be useful additions to my makeup routine. But among these was a brush labeled "Contour Brush"on the ELF display, and I was curious. It is a small domed brush, stiff but not overly so. I snatched it up and brought it home. After reading the package I discovered that it was for your eyes, though I had bought it thinking it would be the perfect size for contouring and highlighting my nose.

While it works great for it's intended use of contouring your eyes for a natural look, it is also wonderful for contour and highlight on the nose area and applies the color and blends it beautifully into the skin. I ended up also using it to apply my highlight under my eyebrows as well as on my Cupid's bow because of it's small size and ease of blending. It may also work in place of using the edge of my flat contour brush to get the sharp cheek contour I like.

I'm absolutely in love with this brush after playing with it a few times, I love every ELF I have ever purchased and strongly recommend them to anyone who needs affordable and reliable brushes for makeup. I now own two Small Stipple Brushes, the Eyeliner Brush, the Contour Brush, and their Pointed Foundation Brush (which I'll be posting about another day, but am totally in love with as well) and I plan to buy many more of their brushes to add to my collection because of the affordability and the quality of their brushes.

New! From the Drugstore

So you guys all know that Loreal released their Lumi line recently. It was super exciting to finally see a product in the highlighting realm released by a drugstore brand. The price was a bit steeper than I had expected for the brand, but with a couple coupons to bring the price down I walked out of the local drugstore with both the True Match Lumi powder in Ice, and the Magic Lumi Light Infusing Primer.

Now, I've probably said this a hundred times on my blog, but shimmer isn't usually my thing and this powder highlighter has a lot of it. But it's good to try things outside your comfort zone once in a while, and I have kept glitter and shimmer a t a distance for so many years that I figured maybe it's time I gave it another chance. So here I am, trying a shimmery highlight, and a glowy primer. I'm not sure if I'll use the primer all over the face, or if I will select a section of the face where it looks best, but I'm going to give it some different tries before I give up or, hopefully, fall in love with it. I'm not sure what undertone my skin is, but Ice is for cool undertoned skin, so I will have to see if the one that called to me was the right tone for me.

After a few weeks of testing, I'll give you my full opinion on both products, but I'll tell you now that my hopes are to see a nice dewy radiance in my skin that isn't shiny, or glittery looking. Since so many people rave about it, and it looks so great on my YouTube friends I'm hopeful I will enjoy it, but not every product works for everyone so I'm giving it my best go.

Live Life and Stay Beautiful.

BNB

Balanced and Beautiful

Wet 'N Wild Correcting Palette

Four different shades for creating the perfect face. Yellow to cancel out any blue color from veins and bruising, green to cancel out redness from skin irritation and acne, purple for covering dark spots and neutralizing yellow tones in things like bruising. The fourth color is a pearl white cream highlighter to accentuate the natural features of the face.

I can't speak for the purple color, as I haven't had a reason to use it yet, but the highlighter and the yellow and green colors are beautiful to blend and give great coverage and cancellation of unwanted colors. The highlight is a very gentle pearlized cream which is nice for me because it gives you a more dewy finish to the skin rather than more chunkier glitter which reflects more light, but can look shiny and mimic oiliness. The highlighter isn't my favorite, but I do like it. I'm more of a fan of using the yellow side of my Hard Candy Sunburst Ombre Blush. The yellow color works great for covering blue tones from veins around the eyes and on the face. I've used this multiple times to cover dark circles under my eyes from late nights of studying followed by insufficient amounts of sleep. I've also used it to cover a large vein that shows on my upper chest when I wear lower cut clothing. I've been using green cover up for ages to help cancel out acne redness, sunburn, and other facial redness. I like the formula and blendability of the product in this palette, but I'm still partial to my Physician's Formula stick because it blends in a bit better when using liquid foundation. I've noticed with the one from Wet 'N Wild that it the green becomes a little too sheer because the liquid foundation will move the product around.

Winter Skin Repair

One of the samples I requested in my Package from Ulta a while back has become a nightly staple for me during the cold days of winter this year. I have absolutely fallen in love with Vitabath hand cream. It makes my dry hands feel absolutely silky soft, moisturized and rejuvenated after a long day out in the cold. The cream is nice and thick, quick drying, but doesn't leave behind a greasy film behind after application. The scent is salty but in a pleasant way. The scent is called Spring Green. It reminds me of the ocean, which is a wonderful thing to think about in the winter because it reminds me that the warmer days of summer are coming soon.

I use this lotion every night as part of my bed time routine. It helps to remove they dryness from being out in the cold all day.