Review| MILK Makeup Blur Stick

I firmly maintain that MILK Makeup is over-hyped & well packaged bullshit that has inundated the younger group of consumers obsessed with *~aesthetic~* over product function and quality. 

I mean, I saw it coming from a mile away. Point makeup disguised as markers? Generally yawn inducing "multi-purpose" blush sticks that look way too slippery and sheer? Even with the hype and branding (laid back model from New York/I woke up like dis), their makeup never caught my interest due to mediocre reviews across the board. 

Review| MUFE Step 1 Skin Equalizer in Smoothing

I had been using the Smashbox Pore Minimizing primer for months and didn't bat an eyelash towards Make Up For Ever's release of primers to correct skin tone and textural issues. After all, my dry skin doesn't really need primer to grab onto base products and I like finding an exact (or very close) match for my foundations.

For a truly in depth and useful blog review that spurred my curiousity, click here. This gal's before/after shot of her nose with this primer blew me away.

HOWEVER, the Sephora travel section got me (again...) and I picked up their Step 1 Skin Equalizer primer in Smoothing. The travel size is $16 compared to $36.  It's half of the size and less than half of the price...and the cute little packaging is TDF.

I've since been gifted another travel size and purchased a full size for later...because it's that good.

The Smoothing version promises to help with fine lines and large pores. I like using half of a pea sized amount on my nose, sides of my nose, and laugh lines. It visibly reduces the appearance of texture without feeling heavy and plays well with foundation. The Smashbox version is also great, don't get me wrong, but it can ball up if I apply too much in one area. Another pro: it has a tiny nozzle dispenser on a squeeze tube so that you can't go crazy and squirt out too much at one time.

I haven't noticed clogged pores with this primer. I can't say that it prolongs the wear-time of my foundations, but anything I put on top of it glides on well without the product feeling heavy in silicones. My laugh lines and fine lines are also "blurred" with this on. I also notice that the sides of my nose doesn't look as oily as the day goes on, but I wouldn't go as far to say that this controls oil. (In fact, they have a mattifying version which I hear works wonders on truly oily skin.)

TLDR: It's $16 bucks and worth a try. One tube has been lasting me more than 3 months with near daily usage.

Edit| The Best Primer That Wasn't: Urban Decay Naked Beauty Balm

I was having a rough day and took myself to the mall to throw my wallet to the woes of material hoardings. To my surprise, I connected with a very sweet SA from Macy's who worked at the Urban Decay booth. She had an amazing vamp to red ombre lip + smokey warm brown eye look that had me nodding yes enthusiastically at everything she put on my purposely bare face.

See, I'm not usually a fan of mall makeovers. They make me squirm, want to blurt out obscenities, and run as fast as I can away from dirty brushes and unsanitary test products. But this gal made me feel happy to spend in exchange for a little TLC from a stranger.

In any case, I walked away from the counter with their Revolution Matte lipstick in Bad Blood and the Urban Decay Naked Beauty Balm in Naked Medium ($34).

*screeeeeeeetch* Hold up. Isn't that the one product everyone hated and rates lowly and thinks is the laughing joke of all BB Creams? I had these nagging thoughts in the back of my head. Was I just pressured into buying? Do I truly love this? Yet, my smooth/poreless/lineless/perfected but not made up skin in the mirror spoke to me.

I remember this product coming out in 2013. Everyone and their mom got a press sample and even then they all bitched and moaned that it wasn't a true BB Cream. There just wasn't enough coverage for it to even be considered a shoddy tinted moisturizer. I had chuckled back then and gone back to my Asian BB Creams that had plenty of coverage and oil control, even if they were all beige and grey as death.

(PS: It Cosmetics CC Cream in Light is the HG of all BB/CC/ZZ/whatever creams for me. It's olive-yellow, medium coverage, SPF 50, and as moisturizing as it should get for the summer.)

Now, I just wanted something to simplify my morning routine: a base prep that could be worn alone or with a full coverage foundation on top. This stuff has SPF 20 (decent, not phenomenal) and definitely lives up to the claims of skin smoothing and blurring. The orange tint of Naked Medium disappears on my NC30-35 face, but I could see it being a little warm for when I'm NC25 or lighter.

It feels like the Maybelline Baby Skin primer which did nothing to prime my skin but blurred it and held down flakes and dry spots like a champ. This primer also doesn't feel like a thick silicone like the Smashbox Pore Minimizer primer and can be applied to the entire face without giving a slight pasty white cast. It's much more liquid than the Benefit Porefessional as well and should be used in sections. In fact, it feels like the Laura Mercier original primer which has always helped prolong wear time with colored base products.

I use half a dime size for each side of my face and work in sections to make sure that the product glides evenly onto my skin.

Sure, unless you have minimal (or no) redness you won't see "perfect" skin right away but the effect! The effect! My skin has never felt or looked smoother. It really helps to push down flakey skin and glides over dry spots. I was also surprised that underneath any foundation it helped prolong the wear of any foundation or blush for 9 hours. Many primers may help with textural problems or wear time but never both at once with such ease.

My skin looks pretty darn good after a solid 10 hours at the office as well. It prevents liquid foundation from sliding around and pooling on the skin, settling into lines and pores, and helps the base product GRAB onto my skin. As an added bonus, my skin feels extra velvety and doesn't over-produce oil in the t-zone area. Such win.

It also works well as a primer for powder foundations. Powders seem to love clinging onto this base...but not in a bad way! Instead of getting clumped up into little sections, the Beauty Balm seems to help it glide and stick. As an added bonus I can also skip my usual moisturizer in the warmer months and slap this on after rinsing in the morning. There's promises of skin improvement ("DNA Repair") just for the BB hullabaloo but I don't have high expectations.

Urban Decay would get tons of sales if they re-labeled this as a primer rather than keeping it an artifact of their rushed venture into the market of BBs. It's effective and decently priced. Or, they could go the other way and expand the (practically translucent but suspiciously orange) shade range into Fair/Light/Medium/Tan/Dark and make buttloads of monies. They've already expanded into an Illuminating and Bronzing version, and I bet you the Bronzing version is great at evening out your skin tone for the summer.

I've been using it consistently as a primer/moisturizer/SPF every morning before I walk the dog. Here's a FOTD with it and a powder foundation (MAC Studio Fix powder in NC35.) The primer helps the powder "grab" and adhere onto the skin without patchiness.

Here is the primer with the MUFE Ultra HD stick foundation on top. 

Finally, the primer also works well with very full coverage foundations like the Marc Jacobs Remarcable Foundation. 

 It's a lovely product that only took me 2 years to understand. Yet another lesson to go against the grain and test makeup for yourself since it varies so much from person to person.

xo Be

Review| Wet N Wild Take On the Day Eyeshadow Primer

I haven't used up a full sized tube of eyeshadow primer in literal years. Somehow, samples keep making their way into my stash and I slave on and on with each miniscule drop in the morning. But for $4.99 and an excellent reputation, I couldn't pass up on this Wet N Wild Take On the Day Eyeshadow Primer. Now I'll have a lifetime supply!

It's supposedly better than Urban Decay, Too Faced, Lorac, and even NARS! From the drugstore! How is that possible?

Oh, but it is. This primer goes on as an off-white/clear base and extends wear time for hours and hours and hours. I noticed absolutely no creasing or fading for at least 12 hours and yes, I did wear eyeshadow for that long just to see. Even if you disagree with its ability to out-perform high end brands, it's still an excellent primer that can rival their performance.

The main point I wanted to get across is how easy it is to apply and blend eyeshadow on top of this primer. For me and my normal lids, some primers can dry too tacky and it becomes a chore to drag a blending brush into the socket. For example, MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre; I love the opaque even-ness it gives to my lids, but not how hard it is to blend eyeshadows on top of it.)

Now that I know this exists and works very well, it's almost a moot point to purchase higher end eyeshadow primers. Not that I need to...since even a sample sized tube of Lorac's version lasted me a year and a half. 

xo Be

Edit| Mattifying Primers

The Becca Matte Poreless Priming Perfector  is flawless, awesome, powerful, resilient, and................expensive. Coming in at 36 dollars, I expected this to be the be all end all in the quest of controlling oil in the hot summer sun. My T-zone is basically a melting mess even in an air conditioned room and I'm sitting on my ass. Hm.

Here are the main points:

• Keeps me dry and matte for the entire workday without blotting once. If I spend some time in the sun and sweating, I have to blot. Keep in mind I am combo at the moment, with normal cheeks. 
• 36 dollars retail for 1.35 ounces. That's not bad since you can store it in the fridge when winter comes back around town.
• It works beautifully with either oil or water based foundations. It's free of cones, oil, alcohol, and fragrance and claims to make your pores less visible as well as "forever blotting" oil off your face. It really works with everything. 
• However, it can be very drying if used in copious amounts and all over the face. You will not want this on any patch of skin that's not dripping oil.

To be completely honest I had tried this once before, about two years ago, and purged it because I frankly had to clue how to use it to the best of its potential. Now I'm glad I tried it again, because now I can't do my makeup routine in the morning without using a primer before a foundation or CC cream. It's that good.

I find that it makes a phenomenal difference in how "natural" your makeup looks without the trace of powder making the skin looks heavy. If you know how hydrating Hourglass No28 Serum can be, Becca's primer is the exact opposite of it. To correctly use Becca's product you must have some extra time to extract it from the sanitary squeeze tube onto your ring finger. And only a dab. No, half a dab. Then, you rub your ring fingers together and start spreading/pushing the almost waxy lotion into the skin wherever you want to control oil. The trick is having patience and using as little as you can get away with.

And the best part is I've since found a relatively drugstore product to dupe this workhorse: No7 Beautifully Matte Make Up Base. I found mine for $10 at Target. There's a negligible difference in performance between No7 and Becca if you're looking to save money.

Main points:

• Again, this is not a product you want to spread all over the face as a base primer unless you really have oily skin everywhere.
• It can have a white cast if you're very tan and dark, but only if you have layered too much onto the face. 
• It has the slightly similar consistency as Becca but with a slight fresh scent and feels more like a lotion when you first spread it onto your fingers.
• It promises to not clog pores, have salicylic acid for acne prone types, and contains 1.35 ounces of product in the same squeeze tube format. 

Below are the ingredients list for both products. You can find the ingredients on the back of the No.7 primer. The Becca primer contains: Water, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Propylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Butylene Glycol, Enantia Chlorantha Bark Extract, Oleanolic Acid.

Here are comparison swatches of the product. I would take a picture, but it just looks...matte on my face. My T-zone does not get so oily that it would show up in pictures for a comparison.

The consistency of the Becca primer is very thick, waxy, and almost impossible to squeeze out loads at a time. You have to really work it between your fingers first. Once it's warm you can easily spread it on your face. On the other hand the No.7 primer feels much more like a thick sunscreen and has a white color to it. 

 This is me beginning to blend it out. Excuse the tomboys hands, I forgot to moisturize this morning. You can see that the Becca primer begins to blend in while the No.7 just seems to sit on the skin.

This is the product "blended out" as best as possible. The Becca primer has completely disappeared into my skin while the No.7 still leaves a white cast. This is the biggest complaint on the product that I've heard, so I think it's best not to use this all over unless you want to brighten your skin tone or resemble a ghost. I never notice any white cast on my T-zone because I use much less than this amount.

Overall, the price difference is what drives me to use the No.7 primer on a daily basis. If you're on a budget and don't care to spend over thirty dollars on a primer, this is your best bet. To me, I need very little of the Becca primer at a time so a tube will most likely last me through several humid summers. If you're looking for a more "natural" alternative, the Becca primer may fare better with your skin.

xo Be

Review| Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser

So what's the big deal with primer? It can prolong your foundation's wear time, minimize pores and fine lines, and generally help your base glide on effortlessly.

With so many primers available on the drugstore market, however, it's hard to see why anyone would rather pay upwards of 30 bucks for something that's almost an unnecessary step to some. For most days, I'm content with a good moisturizer (with SPF 30) and a foundation. In the summer, that's condensed down to an all-in-one BB cream or tinted moisturizer.

Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser is the cutest product I've seen that doesn't do anything a primer is supposed to do. In fact, it helps my foundation glide....right off.

For under 6 dollars retail, it's really not hard to pass up (a "why the hell not" product, if you will.) The squeeze tube packaging helps dispense the tiniest amount that you need for the entire face. I didn't smell anything too strong or offensive, and the clear texture is typical for a primer. I likened it to Tarte's Clean Slate primer or even Rimmel's Fix and Perfect 002 in terms of product resemblance.

 Upon first application, it definitely felt very silicone-y and slippery. This doesn't stop. In fact, the feeling of slip continued into the day every time I accidentally touched my face. Unlike Benefit's Porefessional, this primer doesn't dry down to a powdery or matte finish. It's definitely the biggest negative of the product, until I realized that it prevented my foundation from clinging to the dry patches around my nose and chin area. In fact, my skin had never looked smoother! I don't have super huge pores, but it did seem to blur them even if it did nothing to reduce the appearance of my laugh lines.

I think ultra-dry skinned gals or anyone looking to correct a dry patch or two would be really happy with this. Otherwise, even normal skinned people will be frustrated at the performance of this product.

Do you wear primer every day or reserve them for special events?

XO, Be