Review| Tarte Amazonian Clay Airbrush Foundation and Airbuki Foundation Brush

All medium tan warm skinned honeys rejoice, because the Tarte Amazonian Clay Airbrush Foundation ($36 retail) has your shade! Spot on!

And the rest of you yellows, especially you light-mediums and super pales.....good luck have fun bye. The shade range is abysmal with this one and they tried narrowing it down to "common" skin tones aka those within the predominant market. I have no match for NC25-NC30, which is alright considering I rarely reach for powder in the winter. At NC35-40 "Medium-Tan Sand" is an exact match to my skin with no peach tones and lots of yellow. 

Curious wood-wannabe and plastic packaging. Read below for how to use and ingredients. 

Wow, much natural. So cruelty free. Such "skinvigorating ingredients"!

The packaging is really bulky and not for anyone wanting to touch up. It comes with a sticker attached to the bottom and you peel to reveal this lovely fishnet device that dispenses product with pressure. The plastic stopper on the cap helps the powder to NOT fly out everywhere *ahem Bare Minerals.* 

And here's the cute part, it's sold in conjunction aka to be used with the Tarte Airbuki Foundation brush. 

So cute!!!! Kawaii desu nee~~~ ^-^ <3 Q_Q <3 ._. Now they should slap a Hello Kitty on that shiz and up the price and it would sell like crazy. 

The brush fits in the palm of my hand easily and is meant to be used with the powder foundation. It's sold separately for 26 bucks. I realized how versatile and mobile it can be, so I picked it up some time later. It buffs out everything like magic, reminding me of a much bigger and user friendly Real Technique Buffing Brush or Expert Face Brush. Nice! 

I found that it works even with thicker full coverage foundations or sheer bases like MAC F&B (although I would advise against that if you need coverage.) It reminds me of the sleeved full sized brush I already have from Tarte, but 10x more portable. 

There you go, spoilers. 

Besides the brush being excellent, the foundation itself is very good. Let's see the claims on Sephora's website: "delivers flawless, natural-looking coverage that lasts, while the skintuitive™ formula invigorates skintone and texture for a youthful complexion. Powered by Amazonian clay enriched with the earth’s natural, light-reflecting gemstones, this talc-free, moisture-rich powder buffs on smoothly for waterproof, 12-hour coverage that won’t settle into fine lines and wrinkles."

Enriched with gemstones...that's all I saw from that. Also: moisture rich, full coverage , and....waterproof?? Wow, okay. 

I have to admit I was first intrigued because of UK Bloggers shilling the shit out of it for Tarte's release in the UK back in March. I held off on purchasing for as long as I could, but I'm a huge sucker for a) foundation b) ease of usage during the summer. 

Here are swatches in comparison to my powder foundations that are in the same shade range NC35-40. Can you tell I don't really like liquid base products during the summer? They tend to cake and pool and a lightweight powder that offers full coverage is always a better bet for me. 

 From left to right: Tarte in Medium-Tan Sand, BareMinerals in Golden Medium, MAC Studio Fix Powder in NC35, MUFE Duo Mat in 207 Golden Beige, and MAC Studio Fix Powder C5. 

It's a gloomy day today, but you can definitely see the different nuances between all five powder products. The Tarte is much peachier compared to MAC NC35 and seems to be even darker than C5 (the olive equivalent of NC42.) However all of these work for when I'm NC35 to 40 especially if I use just one light dusting. 

Here's a final look. I never realized how yellow the BareMinerals product swatches. You can also see the textures of the powders on the hand. These are swatched once with no primer underneath. 

Coverage: Definitely medium build-able to full, in no way full unless you have good skin to begin with. I don't find that this cakes up if you layer another dusting on top of your problem areas. 

Texture: The texture is super finely milled and buttery smooth, reminding me of MAC's MSFN or Benefit Hello Flawless powder. Though it's a powder foundation it doesn't fly everywhere thanks to the smart design of the cap and sifter. Of course, product does come out if you swirl a brush in vigorously but it's not gonna settle into a fine coat on your vanity.

Color Match: Like I said, the color range is not phenomenal but they do understand that people come in several undertones. It just depends on whether you're the right depth to find your ideal shade. I won't dwell on this because I think it's quite insulting. 

Wear: On the skin it's virtually undetectable and while it doesn't make my skin "flawless" per se, it does look naturally flawless. As in, I woke up and my skin looks damn great without any product. It wears down like any other powder foundation without a sticky primer or base which is around 6 hours for me. With a good primer I find that it looks amazing even after a full day, but I won't find much residue on my makeup remover wipe. I obviously don't wear it expecting to swim in a pool, but I'm sure when it comes to that time this foundation will prevail. 

I wish the foundation itself was more purse-friendly but I don't find myself needing to touch up with this product since it doesn't claim to control oil. I use this over a mattifying primer so that's no problem for me. Overall, it looks cute on my vanity and does its job well. I wouldn't rate it a perfect 10, but it's pretty damn close. 

xo Be

Review| Maybelline Dream Wonder Powder

As a strictly impulse buy, Maybelline's Dream Wonder Powder couldn't live up to my high hopes. 

That's not to say that it's a horrible product that oxidizes, cakes up, slides off, or anything absolutely horrible. However, it's no MUFE Pro Finish or even MAC Studio Fix powder. 

Retailing for 8.99 at drugstores, the Dream Wonder was meant to replace Maybelline's famous Dream Matte powders (which I never found to be quite mattifying in the first place.) It does come in a somewhat large range of colors; I saw 12 in the display but it could just be two of each color. Maybelline claims that there's less talc in this powder, making it feel creamier and better on the skin.

The texture is indeed very creamy and the powder doesn't kick up too much when you swirl a brush into the pan. Maybelline doesn't state specifically that the Dream Wonder is meant to be a foundation powder or setting powder, but it gives me a light to medium coverage with a semi-matte/satin finish. When I layer it on top of foundation, it really doesn't cake up. The closest thing I can compare this to is MAC's MSFN, where it isn't exactly opaque nor sheer and you can use it alone or over liquid foundations. 

If the color match wasn't too dark, it would work really well as a quick errands foundation powder. I picked up Sandy Beige expecting yellow tones for NC25-30 skin, but it's leaning towards NC35-40. Guess I'll have to wait until summer to use this. I've also heard a lot of complaints that the colors run way too dark, with some girls around NC25 using Classic Ivory. Um...no.

It comes with a mirror and sponge for on-the-go application. I absolutely hate the packaging on this product because of the cheap plastic parts and general clunkiness. 

If the texture is creamy and the coverage isn't too much, what do I have to complain about? The lasting power is shiet. 

With MAC MSFN, I can apply and expect the powder to stay around for about 4-5 hours without looking cakey or sliding off. With this powder, it seems to dissipate after 2 or 3 hours, leaving my complexion bare as if I had never applied a base product. 

When I layer it on top of another foundation, it's nothing that blows my socks off. It's not mattifying enough to be used in the T-zone or glowy enough to be used as an overall finishing powder. If your skin is absolutely normal/perfect/ flawless and awesome in every possible way, you *could* get this just to brag about how little you can get away with. Otherwise, beware.

Xo, 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

 

Current Favorites: May

Hello again,
I'm here to talk about my current favorites! To see more, check out my YouTube video coming up within the week.1. MAC Impassioned: Amplified

You know that one lipstick that just catches your eye every time you visit the counter, but you never muster enough courage to swatch in fear of obligation to buy? I've been eyeing Impassioned every time I hit up the MAC counter, but only swatched other lipsticks nonchalantly while the assistant goes to the back and brings me back my powder. I'm glad I took the plunge and got it.

This pink is the best on trend bright color for the summer season right now. Why go with Impassioned when you can impress with Candy Yum Yum? This pink is bright without being tacky, a sort of grown up pink where you can keep on trend without scaring your coworkers. It reminds me of Maybelline Vivid's "Vivid Rose" without being too muted to come off as a grandma hue. I would say the colors are actually comparable but the drugstore version tends to bleed as it is too creamy. Impassioned is an Amplified creme that doesn't flake or bleed and well worth the extra money.
Below is a quick picture of the lipstick in its bullet.

2. MAC Studio Fix Powder Plus in C5

My skin color changes and adapts to the sunlight so quickly, it's almost as racial as affirmative action. In the winter, I can wear NC20 and comparable shades. After two days in the sun, I change to NC30. After two weeks of sunshine, I am now an NC42/C5. (I never skimp on sunscreen and wear Spf 30 and reapply sunscreen liberally as I hate sun damage.)

...My skin is telling me to buy more makeup. It's all justified people!

My skin is also getting oily in the T-zone and a powder will not highlight any flakes or dry skin as it's all been replaced by oily, greasy, melty skin...lucky me. So, I went to get matched with a new summer foundation. In the past I wore BareMinerals in Medium Beige but never liked how it caked around the nose. Now with liquid foundation being out of the question I've been on a new quest for powder foundation.

Studio Fix Powder is a medium to full (leaning full) coverage foundation depending on method of application. I use a fluffy powder brush and it gives a great natural finish to the skin sans tinted moisturizer. I wanted a more matte powder but didn't want a "made up" look. It will act as both a spot cover up and full face powder depending on whether you use a sponge or brush. However, I would suggest not to pack this on with a sponge unless your skin is very oily and blemished and you need full coverage.

I also love the shape and weight of the compact. I don't have to touch up when using this powder, so I leave this one on the vanity. Plus, who applies powder in public? (That's archaic and sexist, screams the granola feminist). It definitely is a pretty compact to show off if you do.

A lot of people may be sensitive to the ingredients, but my skin is resistant and accepts anything I put on it. People also claim clogged pores and cystic acne from this powder, but I suspect they don't wash their face correctly at night to remove the product. Any product going to bed with you is a naughty one.

Overall, the makeup artist matched me with C6 rather than NC42 (in fear of the carrot face look, which is never pretty). However, C6 was out of stock. I chose C5 to still match my tanned chest and also keep the possibility of bronzer open. So far I have not seen any signs of oxidation.

I have a list of current favorites that will be going on YouTube soon with some other products. I will also swatch Impassioned and my Studio Fix on the video. Stay tuned!