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

Exciting Products to Come!

I have a lot of great stuff in the works for the next few months. I've got some things in the mail, as well as a few things I want to try out in hopes of working with my seemingly picky skin.

In the mail I have the mini size of the Hourglass dim light ambient lighting powder so I can try it out, by looks it appears my wet n wild bronzer in reserve your Cabana might be a dupe. We will see!

Also in the mail is the Becca travel set of the Opal powder and liquid formulas. I thought it might be worth a try since I seen to have a lot drier skin than I used to. I went into Sephora and got color matched because I couldn't decide between opal and moonstone. The opal set is going out of stock and the moonstone liquid travel size is new, so I wanted to be sure I was getting something I would like. With my skin I could have chosen either so I started with Opal.

In the works otherwise is purchasing the milani liquid metallics lipsticks before they go out of stock permanently. My goal is to pick up the nude and the brown shades. I'm in love with the liquid lipstick formula because I work in a hot warehouse and I need something that stands up to drinking and sweating.

And also soon I will be getting matched for a foundation because unfortunately for me my skin isn't very agreeable with drugstore foundations because they are generally either yellow or pink based and both of those tend to be off on my skin. So I am looking for a more neutral toned color or a way of making my foundation a better match instead of just going with what I can find that's close enough.

Take care in the sun and heat, and Stay Beautiful!
BNB

I'm Not On The Bandwagon

Lately everyone on YouTube has been all over the Better Than Sex bandwagon. And I agree that it's a good mascara, I can't knock it for anything except the price compared to the mascara I prefer over it. I can't jump on the bandwagon when my ten dollar mascara from Avon gives me falsie quality lashes from one coat where I have to apply multiple coats of Too Faced's and it still doesn't give me the same volume and length I get from my Avon Mega Effects. I wear mascara every day, and I hardly reach for Better than Sex because of my Avon mascara. I have to make an effort to use all of my mascaras instead of the Avon one. I've never had a mascara do this great, and it's hardly ever talked about (if at all) how amazing this product is compared to some of its more expensive competitors. And the best part about Avon is that often time their mascaras are on sale for Buy One, Get One for $1, so just like me you can stock up during the sales and have back ups waiting for the first one to wear out. I'll be posting a full review on both of these mascaras in the next few days to give you a better idea of what I find to be the best and worst about the products separately.

Stay beautiful

BNB

Beauty Steal: Michael Kors Nail Polish

I have been cleaning out all my drawers of polish to make room for colors I will use more and replacing old bottles with new ones. I've gotten rid of a lot and I'm learning what colors I lean towards when painting my nails. Lately I've been going for more neutral colors like greys and skintones, as well as leaning more towards shimmers and placing a matte top coat on everything. When I do go for colors I tend to lean towards jewel tones and deep colors. I used to pick warm colors over cool shades, but lately that has switched and I have been on the hunt to buy more cool toned polishes.

I picked up some beautiful jewel tones from Nordstrom Rack recently. I wasn't keen on buying anything from a higher end company at first because I'm completely satisfied with drugstore brands, but I was blown away by how beautiful the colors were and had never seen anything quite like them.

I purchased 3 shades: Cabaret, a wine red that had a golden shimmer(unfortunately no gold when dry)
                  Thrill, a beautiful teal green, more on the green side and unlike anything I own
                  Femme Fatale, a deep royal blue almost to the point of navy
(photos are below)

Instead of being 18 dollars a bottle it was only 7, so I decided that I would give them a try. the packaging was really cute at first, but when I went to open the bottles to use them I was annoyed to find that the gorgeous gold topper for the lid is just a cap you have to pull off before unscrewing the brush from the bottle.
While I don't think there's anything special about them to convince me to buy them full price, I find that I did enjoy the colors, and with a thick first coat they went on pretty opaque. The polish was shiny and had a nice fine metallic in it. With only one coat of polish and a top coat it lasted for about 3 days before it chipped. It probably would last longer if I wasn't working in a warehouse using my hands all day.

All in all, I would definitely run out and buy a few more colors of these from Nordstrom Rack if I could find some, but it's nothing to write home about and is hardly worth ordering the 18 dollar colors from the Michael Kors company unless there's something truly unique that I can't get somewhere else. I was dissapointed in how some of the finishes changed as they dried, and it was unfortunate that my favorite polish, Cabaret, morphed into something so normal compared to how it looked in the bottle. 0.3 fl. oz. seems like a pretty large amount of polish for me and I'm happy I got the chance to play with some of these shades before they disappeared.

Although I had higher hopes for some of these than they delivered, I am not at all disappointed in what I got for the price I paid, and if I see more colors of these in my local Nordstrom Rack I will be picking them up for sure.

Holy Grail Products for 2015

Perfume: Outspoken by Fergie, sold by Avon

Lotion:
Face: NYX Tea Tree Balance Elixir
Hands: Vitabath Shea Butter Hand Cream in Spring Green
Body: Skin So Soft Lotion, Sold by Avon
Feet: FootWorks Healthy Intensive Deep Moisture Cream, sold by Avon

Primer:

Eyelid: NYX Eye Primer in Nude (for neutral looks) and White (for bright looks and bold colors)
Under Eye: Wet N' Wild color corrector wheel (yellow)
Lip: NYX Lip Primer in Nude
Face: ELF Face Primer in Clear

Lip Exfoliator: ELF Lip Exfoliator

Foundation: Maybelline Fit Me Foundation Dewy and Smooth in 115 Ivory

Concealer: Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer in Sand

Blush: NYC Blushable Creme Stick in 649U Berry New Yorker
Contour: Covergirl Powder in Rosewood (No Longer Available)
Bronzer: Covergirl Powder in Copper Pennyfrost (No Longer Available)

Brows:
Pencil: I don't use one

Gel: ELF Wet Gloss Lash and Brow in Clear

Eyeshadow:

Nicka K Perfect 10 Palette AP021
NYX The Natural Shadow Palette TNS01
Sleek Makeup i-divine Ultra Mattes V1 Brights 

EyeLiner:
Cream: Essence Liner in Midnight in Paris 01
Liquid: NYC Liquid Eyeliner in Black 887
Pencil: WarPaint Beauty Wing Tip Liner Pencil in Black or Milani Eye Pencil in True Black and Dark Brown

Lashes:
Mascara: CoverGirl Lash Blast Volume Mascara in Black (Waterproof)
False Lashes: Ardell Fashion Lashes in Natural 110
Lash Glue: Duo Lash Glue in Dark

Lips:
Lipbalm: Burt's Bees Original Lip Balm
Lipliner: Avon Glimmerslicks Lipliner in Clear
Lipstick: Hard Candy Plumping Serum Lipstick in 866 Anonymous
Liquid Lipstick: Covergirl Outlast All-Day Wear Lipcolor in 661 Cinnamon Stick
Lip Gloss: Hard Candy Fierce Effects Daring Lip Gloss in 968 Adrenaline

Cleansers:
Face: St. Ives Naturally Clear Green Tea Scrub (light abrasion), St. Ives Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub in Invigorating (heavy abrasion)
Body: Bath and Body Works 2 in 1 Superfruit Body Scrub and Wash in Pure Passion (back, chest, shoulders and arms), Summer's Eve Cleansing Wash in Simply Sensitive

Makeup Remover: 

Wipes: Huggies

Liquid: Simple Micellar Water

Longwear spray: Elf Makeup Mist and Set

Brush Cleaner: The Brush Guard Set

Brush Set: Crazycity Professional Cosmetic Makeup Brush Set with Bag, Sold by Amazon (Imported from China)
ELF Contour brush
HOSL Flat Contour Brush (Sold on Amazon)

Nailcare: 
Nail Polish: Milani Color Statement Nail Lacquer in 03 Lady-Like Sheer
Nail cream: Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

Go-To Greige

This is my absolute go-to this season, and I'm planning on buying a few extra of this lipstick while it's on sale in order to have it for a long time to come. I've been looking for the perfect grey-beige lip color in the drugstore ever since Jeffree Starr launched his liquid liptick line and I saw swatches of Posh Spice, and I've finally found a combination that is absolutely gorgeous.

I've fallen in love with Loreal Colour Riche Lipstick in Silverstone (760) paired with a nude lip liner. Currently I'm using a very beige lip liner from Avon in the shade Nude, from their Glimmerslicks Lip Liner collection, but I plan to purchase several others to see what I like best.

Silverstone is a very metallic, slighty purple-grey color. Though I'm not completely fond of the metallic finish of it, I am in love with the way it looks when paired with the nude liner. It gives off the perfect grey-nude color, without looking like I'm dead, the purple hint adds just a touch of life to the traditional "greige" that most people are loving these days. The color is semi-sheer, lending it to all sorts of play with colorful lip liners underneath. However, since it's a regular lipstick, be ready to reapply as it will wear off after eating, drinking, or hours of wear.

Lately I've been in a lip color rut, and this new color has brought some life into my routine. I'm interested to see what else comes out in the near future that may fall into the "greige" category.

Stay Warm, Cozy and Beautiful

Until Next Time,

BNB