favorites

August Beauty Favourites

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There are two beauty-related thoughts that frequently came to my mind frequently in the last month; I have been in a major makeup rut and that it pisses me off to no end when bloggers list 102 items as their favourites and we all know that it’s simply a list of products they used – not helpful for those of us with a limited makeup budget. As a result of these two things, I have sort of edited myself to compile a list of beauty essentials this month (not just stuff I wore a few times and went overboard).

I was never a lip-gloss girl, never even in my late elementary school or junior high days and because of this I thought I would not be a fan of the whole ‘lip butter’ craze because of their glossiness. However, Revlon lip products were on for a rare buy one get one free promotion and I picked one up to feed my makeup addiction. I think the hype is sort of worth it. The colour I have is Pink Truffle which is a warm, rosy browny pink that is a no-fuss kind of shade. The texture is like a waxy balm and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it lasted on my lips for maybe three hours

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At the end of last month, I ran out of my go-to eye primer, Urban Decay Primer Potion that came in my Urban Decay palettes and as I am currently broke and spent way too much money on makeup (story of my life), I switched to something I already owned, my Maybelline Color Tattoo Metal in Barely Branded. I’m sure everyone and their cat knows this, but these are long-lasting cream eye shadows that double as bases like MAC Paint Pots. It is a shimmery gold-based light champagne sort of colour. I would say the shade is a darker version of MAC Dazzlelight with a touch more champagne in it or is a slightly lighter version of Urban Decay Sin with golden undertones instead of the pink. The texture is ultra-creamy (creamier than the other one of this line that I own) and has good longevity. I do find that this shade performs better as a primer/base than Bad to the Bronze, as it lasts longer without fading and creasing. It performs almost as good as a primer and also doubles as a stand-alone shade..

Urban Decay 24/7 Waterproof Liner in Perversion is another one of those products seems to be a cult-favourite that I’ve found essential in the last month. It is a creamy jet-black that has amazing longevity, in that difficult-to-remove kind of way. It’s quite versatile as it provides the intensity of a gel or liquid, yet can be smudged out with the ease of a pencil.

I picked up Physician’s Formula Shimmer Strips New Eyes Palette towards the end of last month and initially was quite disappointed; it’s not completely practical to have a palette of nine entirely shimmery shades, the shades are a touch sheer and there is not much variation in the depth of the shades. Needless to say, it got used and grew on me. It’s a palette full of those rare taupey shades (there are ten of them in all). My favourite shades in particular were as follows: the light taupe with golden undertones (third from left) and the other light taupe with grey undertones (middle) on the lid, the taupey brown with purple-y undertones (second from left) and the taupey brown with grey undertones (forth from left) in the crease and outer-v and the frosty yellow-toned white (farthest on the right) in the inner corners. This is the kind of palette that is good for everyday looks but is lacking somewhat for more dramatic ones. The shadows do have a nice texture and are easy to blend, I have to say.

I find it particularly difficult to find affordable drugstore conditioners I like but L’Oreal Power Moisture Moisture Infusion Mask really impressed me. I find it very moisturizing without coating my fine hair and weighing it down (like it claims to do), but I think of it more as an everyday conditioner than a heavy mask – but I do have very dry wavy slash curly hair that is quite long. It does contain non water-soluble silicones high in the ingredient list, but I do not find amodimethicone to build up on my hair and its conditioning agents are not oils but rather emollients, the wax mineral oil is derived from and a small amount of hyaluronic acid. The only downside to the product is the artificial-floral scent and it fades after being rinsed out.

I’ve been really enjoying using Organix Luxurious Moroccan Argan Creme Shampoo this month. I was a fan of the regular Argan-oil shampoo in the Organix line but like this one even better. It is sulfate-free but cleanses with gentler surfactants (Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate and Cocomidopropyl Betatine) and the only silicone it contains is water soluble. It contains a fair amount of Argan oil and I do find it to be a moisturizing gentle shampoo that does not weigh my hair down in the least. It has the same amazing sort of scent that MoroccanOil products have.

I’ll start of by apologizing for the current state of this product but I used it and haven’t gotten around to cleaning it yet (and it stains anyway). About a month ago, I saw a Beauty Blender replica at Shoppers Drugmart for a few dollars and after hearing great things about the seemingly magical sponge I couldn’t resist. When used damp, the sponge expertly blends in makeup without wasting too much of the product.

 

 

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Top to Bottom – Revlon Pink Truffle Lip Butter, Maybelline Barely Branded Color Tattoo and Urban Decay Perversion 24/7 Liner.

 

Physician's Formula Nude Eyes Palette swatched from the right at the top to the left at the bottom
Physician’s Formula Nude Eyes Palette swatched from the right at the top to the left at the bottom

July 2013 Favourite Products

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1. Bumble and Bumble Texture (Un)dressing Creme is one of those products that oddly enough seems to suit all (or at least most) hair textures – from the straightest to curly, fine to thick. It is a thick and whitish sticky putty-like substance that defines curls, provides medium hold, controls frizz moderately (but not like a gel) and gives beachy textyre without drying it out. I can use this product in my wavy-curly hair wet for that beachy look (with no other products) but I love to use it to refresh my hair after a few days particularly in dampened hair; this is a godsend for me because I only wash my hair twice a week so anything that will help my hair look defined and volumized is amazing in my book.

2. Lately there’s been a whole lot of cleansing balm hype and hoopla (particularly after Caroline Hirons pretty much proclaimed them as the next messiah) and I spotted Boots No7 Beautiful Skin Cleansing Balm (which coincidentally was free of mineral-oil) at my local Shoppers for under ten dollars CDN so was compelled to pick it up. It is marketed as part of the dry/very-dry skin range, if anyone was curious. I wouldn’t say that it’s a balm cleanser, as its name suggests, I’d say its more of a cleansing milk. It’s very similar to Neutrogena Extra Gentle Cleanser except that it contains fragrance (boo), removes makeup a little better (but not fantastically) and contains oil (which is a plus in my book but might not be in others). Fortunately, I do not find it irritating and I would agree with the claim that it is not only very hydrating but does not strip the skin whatsoever. If anyone is curious, I did not include this in my skincare post because I’ve only been using it since the start of this month.

3. I really tried not to do this but I couldn’t resist; I have only owned this for twenty-or-so days but I’ve worn Skin79 Snail Nutrition BB Cream every day since I’ve gotten it and miraculously it doesn’t break me out or irritate my skin. I plan on writing a detailed review soon so I’ll try to keep it short and sweet (but I’ll most likely fail). It’s one shade oxidizes to a fair to light neutral tone, provides light-feeling medium buildable coverage and looks almost imperceptible on the skin. It has SPF 45 and contains Snail Secretion Filtrate (not sure how I feel about that…) as well as providing a long lasting natural-dewy coverage that holds up well in heat.

4. Upon reviewing my previous posts, I have come to the realization that I have a tendency to gushing about the same products over and over, so it’s no surprise that I’m including Tarte Natural Beauty Amazonian Clay Blush after my “Top 5 Blushes” post. It’s a matte bright water-melon pink blush that gives a nice bright flush wit fairly good pigmentation (it’s not as scary as it appears in the pan). This is the longest lasting blush that I’ve ever tried, hardly even fading after the 12 hour mark. I believe that this is a fairly unique colour, but don’t mark my words. I’m now intrigued to try this formulation in different colours…

5. Everyone has that makeup product that they have that love-hate relationship with (or so it seems) and for me this product is MAC Woodwinked eye shadow. I’m onto my third pan of this eye shadow but it can go months untouched. The texture is really easy to work with, smooth and pigmented, however I find the shade difficult to wear unless I have a bit of colour. As everyone I’m sure has heard before it is a very warm-toned medium gold shade with some brown in it that I find pulls orange-toned when I blend it (which is why I prefer it when I have some colour on my fair skin). Because of its orangey-gold undertones, this is a particularly flattering shade on blue eyes. I don’t find this shade to be particularly versatile – I tend to only wear it as a lid colour.

6. I think MAC’s matte eyeshadows are some of the best. MAC Charcoal Brown eye shadow is the only one I’ve personally owned but I’ve tried others. I use this shade daily to fill in my brows and I find that it’s the perfect no-fiss crease shade. It has nice pigmentation, longevity and texture. It is a matte slightly cool toned medium brown.

7. I’ve had MAC Sable eye shadow for well over a year and I’ve always passed it off as MAC Satin Taupe’s warmer and plummier less-attractive sister but I’ve pulled it out and kept it on rotation for when I want to look nice and wear eye shadow but don’t want to have to think about it. It has the same great finish/texture as most
(but not all) of MAC’s eye shadows and is a shimmery plummy-bronze colour that I like to wear in the outer v – I swear I’ve worn it like 20 days this month! It’s extremely similar to UD Toasted if anyone is curious. This medium-dark shade is also a nice lid colour.

8. One of my first posts on this blog was my review of MAC Studio Careblend Pressed Powder and although it was a powder I thought was exceptionally good, I didn’t find myself reaching for it all that much but that changed this month. I wear this product in Light which is a fairly neutral pale colour for reference. This powder has a relatively non-powdery look and provides sheer coverage. It’s sheerness comes in handy for setting foundation without adding to the heavy appearance on the skin but I also find it sort of buildable for pretty much invisible light coverage on its own when I’m having good skin days. This wore for over six hours on its own without fading which I thought was rather nice but keep in mind that with my dry skin skin products do tend to stay put for obscene amounts of time.

9. This is completely expected and unsurprising but with the warm weather and all, I’ve been really getting into using Rimmel Natural Bronzer in Sun Glow. It has a nice texture, good longevity, decent pigmentation although it is a nice light shade for my fair skin. I enjoy that it is matte (although sometimes I swear I see a sheen running through it but my eyes could be playing tricks on me) so it can be used to contour as well as to add colour to the skin in a natural-looking way and is not orangey. I would say that this is a warm-toned light golden bronzer. Too bad that it has horrendous packaging…

10. For someone with an unhealthy makeup obsession, I hate reapplying my makeup and as a result I spent a lot of my time dreading lip products because they require frequent reapplication. I got a sample size of Benefit Benetint with my 500 point perk from Sephora and it seems to be the answer to my prayers. It is somewhat drying on the lips but it is a stain that lasts a long time and is a flattering rosy colour.

Any favourites to share? X