Edit| A Natural Glow

Here is what I've been reaching for in the past month for a natural yet polish look in the office. 

Notice that there are no lip products in this edit; I haven't been wearing lipsticks recently thanks to alcohol related lip dehydration *ahem* and allergies making my nose and mouth area look like it's been ravaged by an evil flesh eating bacteria. Lovely.

I've then kept the attention away from my ailing skin and towards my cheek instead. I picked up Milani's Coral Cove on a whim and it's perfect: ultra pigmented and long lasting, with a cute packaging and design to boot. I've also been a little too happy with the highlighting, especially when Becca's SSP in Opal is radiant. It makes me look well rested and angelic, even when I'm screaming my head off into the phone.

For eyes, there are a few products that are not rotated out of the station: my Wayne Goss natural hair brushes, MAC Eye Kohl in Teddy, Stila Stay All Day Liquid Liner, and Maybelline Color Tattoo in (what else) Bad to the Bronze.

I also just recently opened a new tube of Benefit Gimme Brow in Medium/Dark. This stuff spoils after a year if you don't use it up, so I'm making an effort to be as bohemian with my brows and not pencil everything in. I also rotate eyeshadows in/out quite frequently, especially quick slap and dash cream formulas like Colourpop So Quiche and Desert. With enough eyeliner any eyeshadow is good enough for me...

Finally, I've been really enjoying the Maybelline Lash Sensational. It's very lengthening and somewhat volumizing, but the best part is how curled and defined my lashes are without looking clumpy or insane.

Do you keep basic products at work or the entire kit and caboodle? Let me know.

Xo Be

Review| Etude House Drawing Eye Brow Pencil in #5

I'll keep this short and sweet. This stuff is a dupe for Anastasia Brow Wiz pencils, except even more appropriate for those who have little to no red tones in their eyebrows. And the best part, it's five bucks on EBay. Sure it took a month of gnarly sea voyages or whatever to get to me, but it's amazing! And did I mention cheap??

I use shade #5 which is a light grey. Sounds awful, but it's actually the same as my natural brow hair color. It's dual ended with a slanted tip pencil (think Hourglass) on one side and a spoolie on the other. I scrolled up all the way and found a decent amount of product that would last me for a few months. 

 Since the tip is slanted but a tad small you can easily turn it about and accommodate your brow shape. It's very hard and waxy when you swatch on your hands, but this is perfect for defining the upper and lower edges of my brows.

Then, I go in with the spoolie and brush from the bottom up to distribute the color evenly through the bulk of my brows. If I want to add more dimension to my brows, I'll set with a brow gel like Benefit's Gimme Brow. 

Even though my current hair color has a tinge of red, I still don't like that to show up in my brows. I didn't set with a gel in this picture, but you can barely even tell I filled in my brows...and I'm NOT blessed in the brow department. 

Okay, that's all. Be sure to find it on EBay and try it out for yourself. You might find it to be an affordable dupe (or even better!) for whatever pencil you're currently using. 

xo Be

First Look| Obligatory Drugstore Haul

It starts with one YT video. You're thinking to yourself, wow this girl has a keen eye for new products! Wait a week. By this time everyone and their mother has hauled the exact same thing, perhaps in varying quantity. Then you think to yourself, "Hey...are you sponsored?"

No, I'm not sponsored. I took it upon myself to find these new products just to offer an opinion on them, not that anyone cares. Also, I get giddy hauling drugstore products just because the feeling of ripping apart plastic from paper is magical.

Revlon has reissued their Photoready Skinlight Face Illuminators ($10.99 retail) in four shades. Due to undertone conflict of interest, I went with Bare Light for every day and Bronze Light for every day in the summer. They aren't as refined in glitter (is glitter ever refined?) as my Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector, but they do just as well under foundation. Best bet with these is to use them sparingly and on high points of your face.

I also found the last of two Colorburst Matte Balms ($8.99 retail) in Shameless. This has been out for quite a while and the hype was definitely real. It looks great on any skin tone and is vampy without looking gothic. I like the minty smell and its lasting power.

L'oreal has a line of colored gloss (surprise) that has very fancy names like "101 Rose Melody" and other music/dance related things. Technically, they're called Color Riche Extraordinaire Liquid Lipsticks. They are very pigmented, feel glossy on the lips, but don't last very well either. For 9.99 retail, they aren't the cheapest either. They do smell good, like a faint artificial fruit/cherry, but I wouldn't purchase another.

They also have a new concealer out, Visible Lift CC Eye Concealer ($9.99 retail). I'm not sure how "CC" snuck itself into the name, but I picked up "Light" which seemed reasonably yellow-toned. The coverage is minimal, but it does redeem itself with a cooling rollerball. Probably best for when you need "CC" coverage.

Maybelline Volum' Express One by One mascara ($7.99 retail) is one I've never heard of even though I'm sure it's been on the market for quite some time. A few of my old drugstore mascaras had dried out and since my lashes are looking great with Latisse, I figure something that defines and separates will do just fine with them. The bristles on this one promises to never clump the formula. Interesting...

Finally, the very anticipated Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser Primer ($6.99 retail) aptly labeled "for use by adults only", because I very much wanted my baby to have baby skin. What the hell. Upon application it feels very silicone-y and slippery, almost greasy. It takes 10 seconds to set and blurred my skin well. I'll have to do a comparison with Benefit's Porefessional for you.

How's your new year going? Any resolutions you've already broken?

XO, Be

Haul| Revlon Colorburst Matte and Lacquer Balm (Unapologetic, Coquette, Demure)

I know, I know. I'm late to the Matte and Lacquer trend. Well, I surely hopped onto L'oreal's train but Revlon's station seems to be permanently set in Makeupland. I detest limited edition items that are good and damn impossible to find.

 I was originally going to pick up quite a few of these balm sticks, but a week of stalking blog posts, pictures, and videos made me decide against them. There were quite a lot of mixed reviews on the board, especially with the lacquer balms. Finally, I bit the bullet and found a few to swatch for you guys.

What I hear: 

• These balms are a permanent edition to the Revlon Colorburst line and come in 20 shades ($7.99 retail at most drugstores). They are twist up pencils. 
• Very opaque colors on the matte side, but they may be drying on the lips. 
• Too much glitter particles in the lacquer balms that stay even when the color fades, which is about 2 hours in.
• Minty scent similar to Kissable Balm Stains. 
• Rabid makeup who0rs picking up all of the great colors like Shameless. This is true. I went to my local Rite Aid on Monday and saw it. Hesitated. Two days later the entire back row was gone and I was stuck with a limited selection. People seem to want the mattes much more. Even with a "restocked display" I had about 4 mattes to choose from and went home with one. This is only because I already have many similar colors, especially within my Kissable Balm Stain collection.

My swatches: 

These are under yellow fluorescent lighting, but they capture the general essence of the color. 

From top to bottom: 210 Unapologetic (Matte), 110 Coquette (Lacquer), 105 Demure (Lacquer).

110 Coquette (Lacquer)

105 Demure (Lacquer)

210 Unapologetic (Matte)

You can see how the "matte" shade is rather satin while the lacquers shimmer with angsty pre-pubescence.

My observations:

The matte color is very opaque, not drying at all over a thin layer of lip balm, and doesn't feather. Me likey. On the other hand, the lacquer colors are very sticky (similar to MAC Lipglass more than a lip balm) and do have very obvious glitter in them. They don't exactly have a "color payoff", but Coquette has a more obvious tint than Demure. The minty smell is slight and doesn't bother me. 

I definitely like the mattes over the lacquers, simply because my NYX glosses blow most other ones out of the water. These lacquers are not really as "lacquered" as the L'oreal pencils, and they are just "glittery." 

As for the mattes, they are very comfortable and don't feel matte at all. They may perhaps come off more as a satin finish if you use lip balm. Compared to a NARS Matte Lip Pencil, they are much less "matte" but also much more comfortable to wear. The wear time is average for both finishes, but it doesn't transfer all over the place. If you eat, they will run away right quick. 

I'm coming back for Shameless. 

Be

First Look| Flower Beauty Haul

Sometimes, a good old fashioned drugstore haul just...happens. You read a few forum recommendations, a few blog reviews, and next thing you know you're looking through molested items in a brightly lit aisle trying to find what you "need." I've recently hauled these few items and have to rave about them to you.

I want to really highlight how good Drew Barrymore's Flower Beauty line is for the price and how they are cruelty free products. To be honest, I never really wanted to dabble in a hippie brand just because I was afraid of lack of pigmentation/chalkiness/sheerness/general shittiness. However, based on glowing reviews across the board for several items,  I picked up four things at Wal-Mart, where it's exclusively sold.

The first two are cream blushes (formally named Win Some Rouge Some, 7,98 retail at Walmart) in Forget-me-not (right) and Peach Blossom (left). These. Are. So. Pretty. I won't say that they are the best cream blushes, or the best blushes in the world, but the colors are so beautiful and natural looking on my cheeks that they beat over-applied and streaky powder blushes any day. Because they are cream blushes, they are pretty tricky to keep completely clean and I wouldn't recommend them to your average germaphobe. If you apply with a stippling brush, it looks violated. If you apply with a finger, it looks molested. Basically, it loses its appeal quickly unless you are quick to use them up.

Forget-Me-Not is a light pinky apricot that would show up only on pale to fair skintones (it's barely visible on me.) Peach Blossom is a true orangey peach. I'd say that Peach Blossom is the more intense version of the first, and they remind me of gimmicky Korean cream blushes. They last about 4 hours and don't leave you with patches of color. They also have a very slight sheen to them with no visible shimmer. They come in the standard white plastic packaging with rose gold accent and clear plastic lid.



The next is the Powder Trip Powder Foundation in PP3. I really wanted to try PP4, because it's the yellowest out of the lighter end of things (note: the powder line thinks that all women fall into pale, fair, medium, and tan-ish). However most of the powders were either "tested" or gone and I had to resort to this. It's a good match for me at NC25-30. I'm still NC30 and it oxidized lightly/is sheer enough to match.

I wouldn't say it's truly a foundation, setting powder, or finishing powder. Instead, it's more of a lightweight powder that you can layer on top of liquid foundation for a little more coverage.  I think you'd have to use a very dense kabuki or damp sponge in order to find coverage with this bad boy. It comes with a crapola brush and Middle Ages mirror behind it. (9.98 retail)



 

Finally, I gave another chance to drugstore mascara (as always) with Zoom In mascara. The wand handle twists to reveal three types of brushes: for lengthening, curling, and volumizing. It's a genius idea in theory, but I've only kept it at the lengthening shape and it works so well. My lashes are longer, darker, and there are absolutely no flakes at all. I can layer about 4 coats with no problem, and it holds a curl very well. Nice! (7.98 retail)



Lengthen! Curl! Volumize! Pretty cool, eh? There is a drastic difference between the long and short of it, not so sure about the curling option...

 

Well, that's all for today folks! I'm glad I tried out a few of these items and I have to say that they are pretty good for a celebrity line and especially for a drugstore brand. My favorite is the cream blushers and I'm planning to pick up a few more shades that are deeper to see how the opacity and color payoff is like. I was really willing to dismiss Flower Beauty until I read up on recs! So lesson of the day, do some asking around! There are always going to be a few gems within any drugstore brand.

Be