I last talked about my 5 blush picks for spring and summer, and I thought I’d do the same for lip products. With the exception of one shade, all of these are super bright and therefore not for the faint of heart!
Rimmel Apocalips in Stellar
Just LOOK at that colour! Rimmel’s Apocalips formula is an absolute favourite of mine and their shade in Stellar is insanely pigmented. As a liquid lipstick, this goes on rather creamy and glossy, but will eventually dry down to a less glossy formula. The lasting power is also amazing (although I wouldn’t expect it to last through a meal, which is not something I personally look for in a lipstick). If you want an attention-seeking colour for your lips this season, this one is it.
Maybelline Vivid in Shocking Coral
I have two of Maybelline‘s Vivid lipsticks in this post because they’re just outstanding – everything from the pigmentation, to the colour range to the scent (very sugary/buttery) just make these an absolute pleasure to wear. Sidenote: These actually smell better than the Buffs collection that came out recently, not sure why that is.
Shocking Coral definitely comes off a lot more pink than coral on me but it’s a beautiful shade regardless.
Maybelline Vivid in Vivid Rose
Out of the Vivids collection, this one is my absolute favourite. Vivid Rose is the shade that made me fall in love with this range by Maybelline. It’s the colour rose on steroids with a dash of neon. As with all the Vivids – the lasting power is excellent as is the creaminess of the product.
NYX Butter Lipstick in Fizzies
NYX‘s Butter Lipstick in Fizzies is a shade I get complimented on frequently when I wear it. It’s easy to wear and has a sheer luminosity to it that makes it look a little less stark on the lips if full opacity bothers you. I tend to wear it pretty full-on, but the swatch reflects some of the sheerness of the product. This range of lipsticks appear to have no scent, which seems a bit odd given that the Butter Glosses had such a sugary creamy scent to them. Out of all the shades I’ve included in this post, this is the one that I feel matches most eyelooks the easiest, so this would be a pretty brainless lip product that you could pair with anything.
Benefit Ultra Plush Lip Gloss in Coralista
And when you don’t want a lipstick, Benefit‘s Coralista gloss is an easy one to just pop on your lips. Despite the swatch, it goes on my lips almost colourless with a very sheer hint of coral shine. I reach for this one a lot when I’m going out for dinner and don’t want to worry about having to touch up my lips and/or worry about smearing lipstick all over my face while I’m having a pint.
So those are the lip products I’m most excited to wear this season. Is there anything you’re amped about wearing? I’m so excited that it’s finally patio weather here in Toronto! Had my first patio experience of the season last night and I can’t wait for even warmer temperatures!
Another month, another bag of Ipsy goodies. This month’s theme was “Beauty Rocks” or something to that extent. Aside from the record on the front of the bag (an object I’m not sure the generation after me has even had physical contact with) the theme is slightly debatable.
Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-on eye pencil in Black Velvet (travel size)
First up, and the item everyone got in their bag, is Urban Decay‘s new 24/7 eye liner pencil in Black Velvet. I’m one of few people who doesn’t actually own an UD liner so I was really happy to receive this. Urban Decay says this is “an ultra velvety, plush version” of their usual liners and this can create “perfectly blended-out or rich, precise lines that are blacker-than-black”. This is a hefty size sample – in fact it’s only 0.01 oz smaller than a full size product!
Testing out Black Velvet
Judging by the picture on the diagram that came with the liner, I assumed I could blur this out to a really smudgy, smoky look. Well… that didn’t actually work out. The pencil is certainly very black, but blending this sucker out was difficult – too difficult. I ended up using UD‘s Blackout eyeshadow to blend out the pencil liner in an attempt to make it smudgy. As you can see, I didn’t really succeed, but I ran out of time that morning and finished it off as quickly as I could. Despite the pencil not actually smudging like I thought it would (or like they implied), I really do like this liner. It’s super black, and it’s wonderfully smudge resistant (hah). It sets really, REALLY quickly, hence why I had problems smudging it out. The liner didn’t transfer to my upper lid throughout the work day. It also claims to be waterproof, but I didn’t test that bit out. Definitely love this one.
Big Sexy Hair – Root Pump (travel size)
I was excited to try this out as I definitely feel like I need some lift in the roots of my hair and this product looked interesting. Big Sexy Hair‘s Root Pump is a white mousse that dries clear. The instructions indicate to apply it to the roots of your hair while your hair is damp and blow dry your roots away from your scalp. Did that and I think it worked – I certainly seem to have more lift to my hair through the scalp… but now my hair feels like CHALK! Like chalk that’s been smashed into powder, had water added to it and then rubbed into the roots of my hair. I constantly run my fingers through my hair throughout the day and the texture this created in my hair to give it the extra OOMPH just totally freaked me out. (It feels similar to those powder-shaker root lifts, another product I can’t stand.) So while this product DOES work, the texture is so awful to me that there’s no way I’ll use it.
Elizabeth Mott – Pop! goes the shadow in Champagne (full size)
A lot of people are going to love this colour I’m sure, but I’m only so-so on it. Elizabeth Mott‘s Champagne eye shadow is a barely there shade that adds a little bit of shine on my lids, but not a whole lot of colour payoff. It swatches okay, but the end result on the lids isn’t spectacular even with a primer. ( In the shot above, the shadow was applied all over my lid right up to my brows.) I was happy to try it out though, and I’ll give it a shot as a cheek highlighter as well.
Starlooks Luscious Longwear Lip Pencil in Naked (full size)
Since I discovered MAC‘s Prep + Prime for lips I don’t have a massive need for lip liners (as a result, I only have two!). As a result, this item was actually pretty welcome in my bag as I didn’t have a colour like it for the times where I do want to add some extra wear time to my lip colour or even just to wear a liner under some gloss. Starlooks Naked lip liner is a peachy-pink colour that slid onto my lips without any tugging (which isn’t something I can say about MAC‘s pencils… those suckers tug at my lips!). It does have a bit of a plastic taste to it which is a bit meh, but not enough to prevent me from wearing it.
Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion skin exfoliant (trial size)
I had to look up what the heck microdermabrasion was in comparison to a regular exfoliator and it turns out microdermabrasion utilizes smaller beads and is stronger than a regular exfoliator.Dr. Brandt‘s microdermabrasion feels really lovely on the skin and I can definitely feel the granular difference between this and the cheapo exfoliators I buy at the drug store. It also, incredibly, smells just like Sabon‘s Lemon Mint body scrub which makes this an absolute PLEASURE to use.
The full price of this product, however, is a whopping $78 USD. I love trying out this luxury brand, but let’s get real – this is a sample in a $10 a month beauty bag – most of us are not looking to spend nearly $80 on one skincare item. So it seems out of line with the clientele, but what do I know?
I used this once on my face and it felt wonderful, but I’m going to restrict the use of this to a pesky milia pearl I’ve got on one of my lower lids and see if this will work to get rid of it with prolonged use.
Ipsy April 2014 Breakdown
(all prices in USD)
Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-on eye pencil in Black Velvet (0.03 oz @ $15, full size is $20 for 0.04 oz)
Big Sexy Hair Root Pump Volumizing Spray Mousse (50 ml @ $3, full size is $17.95 for 300 ml)
Elizabeth Mott Pop! goes the shadow – Champagne ($12.99 USD, full size)
Starlooks Luscious Longwear Lip Pencil in Naked ($14, full size)
Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion skin exfoliant (7.5 g @ $9.75, full size is $78 for 60 g)
BAG TOTAL = $54.74
My Thoughts
Yet another good bag put together by Ipsy! I loved trying everything out even if some of them didn’t work out for me (I’m looking at you specifically Root Pump). Double pencils (eye and lip) was a bit of a let down at first but once I used them I was really happy with them. The Urban Decay one definitely lived up to the brand’s reputation and I love the microdermabrasion product – I just wish the full size wasn’t so expensive because I could never bring myself to spend that much on an exfoliator. Definitely staying subbed!
Is it time for bright cheeks yet? Could it be that spring is finally going to happen at some point? (Sources say no based on the amount of snow that Toronto got this past Tuesday… yikes!) Maybe we’ll skip right into summer – either one is fine, let’s just feel some heat already!
Stack ’em up!
These are my top blush picks for the spring and summer. I’m a sucker for coral and orange shades, which, conveniently enough, is the theme of every spring and summer EVER!
Hard Candy – Skinny Dipping
First up is Hard Candy‘s boxed powder blush (which they refer to as Fox in a Box) in the shade Skinny Dipping. The left side is more of a bronzer really and has a sheen to it. The right side is bright orange that seems rather matte. You could use them independently of each other, but I prefer to swirl my brush into the two shades and get the combined muted peach shade. It’s almost a boring shade – it really doesn’t look like much in my swatch does it? But this shade is really surprising on the cheeks. There’s an instant pick-me-up vibe to the shade that is really refreshing. This has been one of my most surprising blushes (in the sense that I wasn’t expecting to look as amazing as it actually did!
MAC – Petal Power
MAC recently came out with a collection for the spring called Fantasy of Flowers and this blush in Petal Power was part of that limited edition collection. Unfortunately it’s sold out online, but you may be able to still find them at free standing stores or counters (Edit: It’s part of the permanent collection now!). Petal Power is one of their mineralize blushes which usually means it has more dimension to it than a normal blush by MAC. Petal Power is no exception – this is a bright hot pink/coral shot through with gold shimmer (not glitter). Personally, I find mineralize blushes can be pretty hard to apply so I have to use a stiffer brush to apply them to my cheeks otherwise I don’t get enough product onto the brush. The nice thing about this shade, aside from the fact that it’s stunning, is that since there’s so much gold in the product, you don’t need to add highlighter to your cheekbones as the gold flecks in this product will set off your cheekbones anyway.
Tarte – Blissful
This is the first blush I ever owned and it’s my absolute favourite to this day. Tarte describes their Blissful blush as “warm peach”, but to me this is the very definition of the colour coral. The shade is completely matte and goes on the cheeks wonderfully. Tarte‘s Amazonian clay formula is pretty stiff in the pan, so I use a duo fiber brush to really stab at the product before buffing it onto my cheeks. This isn’t to say that the product doesn’t blend nicely, it does! It’s just something with the formula that seems to make it a harder blush. On me, this blush looks especially good in tandem with a shimmery bronzer.
Revlon – Coral Reef
Revlon‘s Photoready cream blush in Coral Reef is a strong orange coral. The texture of this product is pretty neat – it has a slightly waxy but slippery slicone-y feel. Fingers or a synthetic brush work really well to blend this into the cheeks. It goes on smooth and can be built up in light layers if you’re afraid of the vibrancy of the colour. Me though? Pack that on and blend out the edges and you’ll get a wonderfully flushed look.
Hourglass – Diffused Heat
Hourglass‘ Ambient Lighting blush in Diffused Heat was such a huge shocker to me. In the pan it looks like a bright vibrant pinky-coral mixed with the Diffused Light powder. As a result, I was expecting coral *something*. Instead, this swatches out, and applies like, a pale pink. This is almost a bit of a relief to me as I tend to focus too much on coral blushes and as a result don’t end up with much variety.
I said it the last time I mentioned this blush, but I’ll say it again: This blush is idiot-proof. The swatch above is heavy, but it doesn’t apply like that. It goes on softly and can be built up in intensity. The powder swirled into the mix ensures that the blush isn’t as stark or as bright as you would expect it to be by looking at it in the pan. This is an incredibly easy colour to wear and on my fair skin it’ll match pretty much any eye look I come up with.
My blishes pics – click to enlarge
Hard Candy’s Fox in a Box in Skinny Dipping
MAC – Petal Power
Tarte – Blissful
Revlon – Coral Reef
Hourglass – Diffused Heat
That’s my roundup! Any blushes you’re loving for the warmer months?
I absolutely adore these products. I use them every single time I do my makeup. But it gets incredibly repetitive saying that I use them every time I do a makeup look because really… these products aren’t changing in my routine any time soon and it’s not like you need to hear what primer I used unless I actually change it up, right?
So here are my unmentionables… and they’re only unmentionables because they’re too well loved!
The Tools – Tweezerman eyelash curler and an old mascara wand
Nothing glamorous about these two but they’ve ingrained themselves into my daily makeup routine.
The eyelash curlers are self explanatory – They’re a pair of Tweezerman ones I picked up at Shoppers Drug Mart several years ago. I’ve run out of the rubbery things to replace on the band, but they’re still working just fine as far as I can tell. (Although… side note, where the heck do you actually get replacement rubber thingies?!)
The old mascara wand is from a tube of L’Oreal Voluminous that I cleaned up and use as a spoolie for running through my brows when I’ve applied too much powder through them. Works like a charm, so why bother paying for an actual spoolie?
The Eye Primers – Urban Decay Primer Potion and NARS Pro Prime
Double primers because, for whatever reason, using only one of them no longer seems to work on me. I use the NARS one first, allow it to dry, then apply the Urban Decay one on top. These two together ensure that my eyeshadows don’t budge all day.
The Lip Primer – MAC Prep + Prime for lips
MAC‘s Prep + Prime for lips has been an absolute lipstick saviour for me. I was a really timid lipstick wearer until about three years ago. My major problem was that my lipstick, no matter what brand I used, would slide all over the place and bleed outside my lip lines. Lip liner never worked for me. Nor concealer. Someone at a MAC counter eventually suggested this primer and I was incredibly skeptical… how much better was this REALLY going to be? Well… it is. It just flat out is. My lipstick stays on my lips and doesn’t bleed outside my line. I won’t wear lipstick without this now!
The Brow Filler-Iner – MAC eyeshadow in Omega
I’ve been using MAC‘s eyeshadow in Omega to fill in my brows for the last two years and I’m only just now getting to the bottom of the pan. The colour is a perfect match for my barely there blonde eyebrow hairs. I’ve been surprised at the longevity of this product too – it doesn’t wear off during the day and that’s a necessity for me since my brows are so blonde it looks like I’ve overplucked them to hell and back. (I haven’t, the hairs just don’t seem to grow where the tail of my brows are supposed to be.)
All of these products are part of my daily routine and won’t be changing any time soon. They’ve all attained holy grail status in my collection. Is there anything you use in your daily routine that you can’t be without? I’m at the point where I don’t even want to test out replacement products or tools because these are already so good as is!
Ipsy‘s March bag was an absolute slam dunk. There is nothing in here I didn’t like! At first I was disappointed because there were only four products but they really outdid themselves on this one.
Let’s take a look at what came for me this month.
Pixi – Flawless Beauty Primer (12 ml for $8.80, full size is 30 ml for $22)
I’m not really sold on primers to be honest. I’ve gone through a few sample sizes of various brands and none of them really did anything for me (positive or negative). That being said, Pixi‘s Flawless Beauty Primer actually *did* do something.
When I first squeezed a drop out of the tube I was a little skeptical. The product isn’t clear, it’s actually quite pink with a sheen to it. So I’m thinking “well this is going to end in tears…” as I was blending it into my skin. It definitely tinted my skin and I looked like I had a bit of a pinky tan. I blended some foundation over top of it and it seemed to add a healthy glow even through the matte foundation (MUA matte). As a note, less is more with this product. I used too much and it balled up a little in certain areas – user error though, I don’t think it was the fault of the product.
bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie in Get Ready (No size anywhere, best guess it’s 1/4 the size of a normal lipstick, so… $4.50, full size is $18)
I don’t own anything from bareMinerals so I was really happy to get this lipstick. It’s a really tiny tube, maybe 1/4 the size of a full size of lipstick and the colour is beautiful.Get Ready is a pretty generic medium pink – which makes it easy to market to a lot of people. It has quite a bit of slip to it on the lips, so you may find it slides around a lot. I wore it with a lip primer and found it wore off within two hours or so, but it’s such an easy shade to wear and re-apply that you won’t find yourself with really awkward fade marks as the product wears away from your lips.
NYX Love In Rio – Segredos de Giselle ($6 USD, full size)
NYX changed up their eyeshadow trios relatively recently (I’ve seen them being phased out of Rexall over the last year or so) but I’ve never gotten around to trying out the old ones or the new ones. This trio, Segredos de Giselle, is a pretty failsafe colour combination (reminds me of Wet n Wild‘s Walking On Eggshells).
NYX Love In Rio – Segredos de Giselle
The swatches look rather sheer, but they apply really nicely on the lids. NYX having quality products is shocking to no one as they’ve proven themselves multiple times over the years with their products. One things that especially pleased me is how similar the beige shade is to Urban Decay‘s Virgin (closer than MAC‘s Shroom, in my opinion) and the brown is pretty close to Urban Decay‘s Smog.
Chella – Indigo eyeliner ($24 USD, full size)
The final item in my bag was this Indigo liner from Chella. I was expecting this to be a pencil liner (boo) so I was extremely pleased when I found out it was actually a liquid liner (yay!). The colour is absolutely beautiful and incredibly vibrant. It doesn’t apply quite as easily to the eyelid as it does to the hand – getting the product to flow right out of the very tip can be a bit annoying. Although it can be a bit of a nuisance with application, it does stay on all day and didn’t smudge or move around at all. I also really love that this liner is completely matte. Definite winner.
Eye look using NYX trio and the Chella linerIpsy’s March 2014 Glam Bag
Ipsy March 2014 Breakdown
Pixi Flawless Beauty Primer (12 ml @ $8.80 USD, full size is 30 ml for $22 USD)
bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie in Get Ready (no size anywhere – best guess it’s 1/4 the size of a normal lipstick, so about $4.50 USD, full size is $18 USD)
NYX Love In Rio – Segredos de Giselle ($6 USD, full size)
Chella Indigo liner ($24 USD, full size)
BAG TOTAL: $~43.30 USD
My Thoughts
I said it right at the top of this post – I loved this month! I’ll use every item and that’s really exciting! The colours are on the safe side (pinks, beige, brown, etc.) because I think that for the most part people who subscribe to Ipsy are looking for something that’s pretty generic… which is why the indigo liner was such a surprise. It’s beautifully vibrant and while it’s not an easy safe colour like black or brown, it’s still useable by loads of people.
