Alright everyone, it's that time of year. Sephora Friends and Family event starts TOMORROW on the 3rd. I have a previous post where I really go in depth, which I will link here, of what I think would be great buys or what I personally would get. This is going to be a quick top 10 post though of things I would get, taking into consideration what is new and what is going to be the best deal. Of course skincare comes first for me andddddddd.....there's something special for you guys as well.
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I recently done my favorites in Skincare right now. So now I'm gonna do my makeup favorites as of late. Lets get into them.
I've not been posting as regular on here as I like, I have plenty of good excuses but excuses are just that....excuses. So why you bore you with them, right? I have been making notes...per usual, of things I want to talk about. If you're ever wondering what my thoughts are on products and such then I suggest you follow my Snapchat (loveandmascara. I give LENGTHY snap stories and talk about various products. It's usually all content related 80% of the time with the other 20% being a little bit of life outside of business.
One thing I wanted to discuss was a few brands that impress me immensely but I find they're extremely underrated. I was actually working on this before hand as just a list of brands that were impressing me and my friend Rhea said I should do a post on underrated brands....so here we are. Thanks Rhea. I thought I'd do a round up of some makeup products I've been loving lately. Just kinda random. I won't be talking a lot about products I've mentioned before, and not all these are exactly "new". I've really been into trying some newly discovered favorites that aren't "new makeup" or new launches they're just new to me. Also, re-visiting some long time favorites and "go to's" that I haven't ever discussed that much and have "re-discovered".
**On the left we have the Berry Adore trio and on the right we have Pool Party. These are from Sephora's website as they are far more accurate than my pictures.** Anastasia Beverly Hills added a new product to their makeup line....blushes! I am always so excited when ABH extends to other areas of makeup because they do such a good job everytime. To be clear these are blush trios. Which I love. They have 5 different color schemes available, from peachy, to pink, to deep, two others that offer a bit of everything. I really love them. I think they've done an excellent job. You get .11 ounces per pan and there are 3 pans in each compact so that's a total of .33 ounces which is 3 g total for $30. Which a NARS blush is .16 for $30 just to give you something to go off of. I've had these for a couple months and just now getting around to talking about them. So sorry. The two I got were Berry Adore and Pool Party. I like them both but I'm seriously thinking about getting Cocktail Party as well. Berry Adore is quite dark but if you know me, you know I love berry shades and deep corals in the summer. I think it's so pretty on the skin. This trio is good but the darkest shade being Velvet is going to swatch a bit dry if you're in store and doing the "finger swatch". All I'm going to say is, I don't apply blush with my fingers so I don't judge these off of that. Pool Party is my favorite of the two. First, because it has a bit of a contour shade, then a medium pink, and then a peach shade. Which brings me to the second thing I love which is that while these do have pigment they aren't pigmented as the eye shadows are or SUPER INTENSE, which means that they're layered very easy. So you can build up the intensity how you want it without over doing or it being patchy on the skin. Obviously with the darker one, you don't have to do that if you're skin is in the fair to light category right now. It will also depend on the density of your brush as well. If you use a tightly packed dense brush you're going to pick up more product obviously, if you use a fluffy brush you'll pick up less. So just a reminder to keep that in the back of your head. The reason I want Cocktail Party is because it's like the more intense or "night time" version of Pool Party. So you have 3 separate colors again, that are a little more intense instead of 3 shades in the same color family. Bottom line, yes I think they're worth it. Especially if you are a MUA. I also think it's worth it if you're not and just wanting some choices with blush colors in your collection or especially to travel with. Where you could spend close to or more than $30 for one shade at least you have 3 options here. So I do not disagree with the price point at all. I'm gonna drop in some looks wear I've used them. The only brushes I ever use for blush is the Morphe E4 brush and the Real Techniques Blush Brush from the chrome line ( think that's what the line is called). Both of those are pretty dense but that's how I prefer my blush brushes because it gives me more control. The first shot starting at the left is Pool Party. Just a mixture really of the colors the bronzer shade being my actual bronzer.
Second shot or middle is also Pool Party, the pink and coral shades mixed. Last shot, right side is Berry Adore trio, the first shade in the pan. I find that Berry Adore works beautifully with contour and bronzer. I also love deep shades in the summer specifically for an evening look. It's well past time for a "Why Isn't Anyone Talking About This?" post. I've had a lot of skincare posts and campaigns lately and I love skincare probably more than any other "thing" or "possession" I have. I also love makeup though just as much, and sometimes that line gets a little blurred. Makeup was what started this blog and this journey so just wanted to clear that up.
This time we're gonna talk about a product that I've actually been using for months. I kept waiting for everyone to start talking about it but no one ever did really. Or not that I've seen. I've only heard it mentioned a few times here and there. It's the Bare Minerals Invisible Bronze powder bronzer. Baked powder to be exact. I've not done a foundation review in a while so let's talk about a new "drug store" one I picked up recently. I'm gonna be the first to tell you that I am not the biggest fan of Covergirl makeup. Nothing personal at all it just never has worked out for me. There will however be a special place in my heart for my first compact (and piece of makeup) which was from Covergirl. So there is that.
Sephora's Spring VIB Sale is coming up. So per usual I'd like to provide you with a buying guide of things I think would be good choices to pick up. I prefer to buy more expensive items during these sales to take the sting off the price a little bit. Keep in mind you can return stuff to Sephora even if you've used it, they have a wonderful return possibility. It's also a great time to pick up things you use constantly or that you know you love and will use. These are the only sales that I actually "plan out" to get the most bang for your buck and to buy smart and use it to your advantage. I feel like skincare is the biggest expense and also the bigger concern so I prefer buying skincare during these. So I will have a skincare suggestions list, and a makeup suggestions list, and some honorable mentions at the end. Starting with skincare, I like buying value sets. You get to try more stuff for a better price and for things you aren't positive if you'll like, you get to sample it first kinda. Skincare Suggestions:
Also it's a great time to buy skincare tools. I recommend the PMD Personal Micro-dermabrasion set, a Clarisonic, or a Foreo Luna. All of those especially the cleansing devices make a huge difference in your skin and hardly ever need to be replaced. Makeup is often times more exciting and fun for people. I felt the very same way. Where I like to buy skincare sets in these sales I don't like to buy makeup sets because I'd rather buy full size of something I know I'd use. I generally go for foundation, which is what I will do this time as well. A nice eye shadow palette, not gimmicky. Something that blends beautifully and gets the job done. I often buy palettes a lot come to think of it. I also buy stuff that I use constantly that I need to stock up on.
Makeup Suggestions:
So for some honorable mentions: Brush sets, especially the Natasha Denona one. Dyson Hair Dryer that is ridiculously expensive. Too Faced Natural Love Ultimate Neutral Eye Shadow Palette. Lots of neutrals and in matte and shimmer formulas. Becca Shimmer Skin Perfector Pressed Primers, ie: Smashbox, Hourglass Veil, Dr Brandt Pore Minimizing, Becca Ever Matte. MUFE Star Lit loose powders Stila Magnificent Metal Glitters Dr. Jart Ceramidin Moisturizer If you wanted to try LaMer now would be a good time but so far I don't care for much of it but they do have some sets available. So those are just some things that I suggest. Of course it's not the Gospel people, you're free to buy whatever you want. **I hear that the sale is the 7th of April but I haven't had that confirmed and usually the spring sale is 10%-15% depending on what tier your on with the Beauty Insider** Several months back I done a blog post about concealers, "The Good, The Bad, and The Eh". I didn't think much about the title until I was looking at recent eye palettes that I'd gotten, because it seems like every brand launches the same thing all at once. Right now it's lip palettes. You see what I'm saying. So like I said I was looking at recent eye palette purchases and thinking that some were good, some were crap, and some were just okay. So I thought why not do another "The Good, The Bad and The Eh", but this time for eye palettes. Let's start good and we'll end with bad. *the picture above is from Coloured Raine's twitter* First up is the Queen of Hearts palette by Coloured Raine. I'm sure this is sold out by the time this goes up and I hope they restock because everyone needs this palette. If you love red berry, orange, and foiled shadows you will love this palette. It's quite a big palette too in size. The shadows are lovely. I wasn't going to get it because it was the same color scheme or similar to ABH Modern Renaissance but the foiled shadows are what got me. "Ladyship" feels a bit rough texture wise but it works great with a brush so I don't hold that against it. This doesn't really have any matte brow bone highlight shades so bear that in mind and it doesn't have a black shade either. It has a beautiful shimmer ivory highlight with a touch of duo chrome to it which actually looks great as a cheekbone highlight as well. I really can't say much else, this speaks for itself. Each shade you seen is as intense on the eye as it is in the pan. *the picture above is from Juvia's Place website* Next is Juvias Place The Saharan Palette. This just recently released. It's absolutely gorgeous and unique. Juvia's Place is super affordable. All their palettes have consistent, super pigmented formulas. This is no different. It's a bit out of the ordinary. You can look at some of the shades and wonder why they're even in there because it looks like the color scheme wouldn't flow together. That's why I love it though. You get shades you don't normally see. A healthy mix of super pigmented mattes and foiled type shadows and two shimmers. You can do a lot of cool looks with this. It has the blackest black I've ever seen in my life and a really nice tan transition shade. Once again no matte highlight but you do have a shimmer one. There are some super bold matte shades that are so fun to use in the crease and the foiled shades are awesome as always. You get 12 shades all together and I believe it's around $30. You need at least one of their palettes in your life because they are amazing. Also, there is always codes out there to save you at least 10%. I used "Trendmood" for mine. Moving onto the Eh. *The picture above is from the Karity website* The Karity Smokey palette is in the "Eh" category for me. I believe it's because it was super hyped by ads and so on, it just pulled me in. Don't get me wrong it's not a bad palette it's just not as great as everyone says it is, if I'm being honest. It has some in consistencies and I've seen better. It's as simple as that, I've seen better. Overall you get 21 shadows for $28.50 (pretty sure you can get $10 off as well), and out of those 21 shadows a lot of them are okay and can be worked with. Some however just aren't. So like I said it's not terrible, it's just not great. *The picture above is from Sephora.com* Buxom Stone Cold palette from the Stone Cold Babe set, which is now in the Sale section in Sephora and Ulta, is another palette that's ok but not great. First, mine came damaged so lets get that out of the way. However, once pieced back together I find that most of the shades don't really create a good dimensional look, it just all becomes one color. I don't like that. If I'm going to put in the work for a crease shade and shimmer on my lid and darken up my outer corner, I don't want it to all just melt together into one taupe type shade. The colors in these are so similar that it's very hard to create different looks with this, they'll just about always look the same. Which again is something I don't care for. However, the formula is not bad it performs well and blends nice (obviously) so I just don't like the layout or colors chosen for this palette. I don't mind the theme, I just wish there was several shade ranges in the palette even if they stay with the same color scheme. It looks like there is online in the picture but in person and certainly when using it you see that the shades are very similar to each other. *The picture above is from Sephora.com* Now to the bad. I hate to do this. I really do. I love Urban Decay but the AfterDark palette is just a fail for me. It looks gorgeous and if you have the time you can make it work but I find the shades hard not creamy which makes them difficult to work or build up. Some shades just don't seem to build up much at all. I do have a favorite color in there which is Fringe, these are all very bold shimmery shades. They're meant to be intense I think and have some duo chrome to a few but it's just not there for me. I don't like it, I wouldn't recommend it. There's my thoughts. This is even sold out online on Sephora, so maybe I'm the only one who doesn't like it but I just don't care for it. I'm going to include some looks below that I've used each palette with. So you can at least see them on the eyes and how they look over all blended out and so on. This look is from the Queen of Hearts palette. It's bold, it's intense, it's dark but still burgundy. It has a pop of warmth in it and I live for that inner corner highlight. I'm not even wearing lashes in this picture which I'm super impressed by. This look is from the Saharan Palette. It actually had such a different look in person and was not captured that way in the picture but none the less this photo and the one below will hopefully show how diverse you can get with your looks, with this palette. This look is Saharan Palette in the crease and some on the lid but the teal blue shade is Fringe from the AfterDark palette which is my favorite shade form that palette. This look was using the Karity palette. As you can see it built up well. I used the shades that were good in the palette and stayed away from the ones that didn't have much pigment. I did have to work with this a bit longer than other palettes or shadows, especially the blue. It's not my favorite look to be honest but it's the only one I have. This look I was using the Buxom Stone Cold Babe palette. As you can see it's just a very basic eye look. It's doesn't draw attention and it's very subtle. Which isn't always a bad thing which is why I'm gonna keep it around but I like for my eye looks to have some kind of "pop" to them most of the time. This is using the purple shades in the AfterDark palette from Urban Decay. I had to dip my brush in Mehron Mixing Liquid to get the intensity you see in the pan. Like I said it's just hard to work with. You can make them work if you put in the time but other shadows are easier and less expensive.
The pics below are more shots of looks with the palettes. I didn't have any more for the Stone Cold Babe palette so it's not in the gallery below. I'm sitting here eating a fudgeround for breakfast....just thought you may want to know. It's good too. Moving on.... As you may or may not know Makeup Geek, Queen Marlena, has blessed us with highlighters. Officially part of their permanent line and there are colors for everyone plus Duo Chromes as well. Which you know that what I was going for. There are 13 highlighters all together (not including the Kathleen Lights palette that may still be available) 7 regular highlights and 6 duochromes. These come in at 7g/ 0.25 oz for $20. Which to give you some reference the Becca Skin Perfectors are .28 oz for $38 and Urban Decay highlighters are .23 oz for $26. I gave you those two as reference because I feel formula wise these feel alot like those, which in my opinion is very soft. So while I think this is their highest priced item they have in the brand the quality and quantity is really good as always with them. So if you're willing to pay $38 for Becca why don't you save some money and try Makeup Geek instead. They also have bundles as well for each complexion, where you get 3 highlights for $48 (which is the better deal obviously), the only bummer is you can't choose your shades. I think you get a duochrome in every bundle though. Like I said these are soft so they're easily broken. Keep that in mind if you're gonna pack them to take with you or whatever. Try not to drop them. Also Marlena put out a video on the launch of these which I will link here, and I remember her saying something about the top layer almost having a "film" over it so to rub your finger across it to get that off. I didn't have to do that with mine, they were just fine but just remember that if you're having some issues. She also said she made these to be "buildable" and not overly intense when first applied. The duochromes I feel are more pigmented when you apply them first. I use a small but dense tapered brush to apply highlight though so naturally it's going to pick up more product than say a fan brush. The regular highlight seems to have the "buildable" quality like she said. The duochromes can be built up, I'm just saying that you may not need to because I think they're pretty heavily pigmented in the beginning anyway. I have 4 shades. Which are 1 regular and 3 duochromes. I didn't really need regular highlighters and I was still on the hunt for really good duochrome highlights so thus I have 3 from MUG. The shades I have are: Celestial which is a neutral base with a violet or lavender shift Moonphase which I feel is an Ivory base with a blue or teal shift Lit which is a warm ivory with a peachy pink shift Glitz which is a cool toned almost silverish pale pink highlight The three duochromes are Celestial, Moonphase and Lit of course. The regular one being Glitz. My favorite by far is Lit and then probably Celestial. Moonphase is nice as well but the blue shift throws me off sometimes. Glitz came in a bundle so I didn't choose it. I'm not one to use pink highlights but this is nice as a blush topper and as a highlight as well I just usually prefer something more Ivory or neutral. The duochromes are pigmented but the duochrome is hard to catch on the face. Especially in pictures. In real life you can see it if you catch the light just right but it's not super noticeable which I tend to like because often times that's what makes them unwearable. I feel like Lit and Celestial especially are super wearable because unless you really pack it on your only going to see subtle hints of their duo chrome shifts. As I said earlier there is something for everyone which includes duochrome as well as regular highlight. From the palest of skin tones to the deeper ones. I have the ones for pale skin obviously. I really love Makeup Geek for the simple fact that they do their best to include everyone and every skin tone in their brand. Unfortunately in makeup brands it's very limited for some skin tones esepcailly if you're very pale or a deep skin tone. Makeup Geek does a really good job catering to eveyone though not just with highlighters with everything they've put out thus far. So I'm going to try and do swatches, but the duochrome may be hard to catch but I will try my hardest to get pictures of the duochromes for you. So from top of my wrist down in both pictures its: Glitz Celestial Moonphase Lit I tried my best to get catch the duo chrome shifts in them. They get more noticeable the more you layer them. Which again is something I like but if you don't want to layer the product to get a beaming efect (which I don't like layering product either) then you may not like these. I'm wearing Lit here but as you can see it's not overly noticeable also light isn't shining directly on my cheek either. However, just so you know it is everyday wearable for sure.
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ErinI'm from Tennessee. I'm a makeup and skincare lover. I have always enjoyed creating looks but I love to help people with product knowledge and application even more. I've been able to start blogging and do these things I love because God has seen fit to bless me with the opportunity. Thanks for stopping by and visiting with me! Categories
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