Another Round of Stash Shopping

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I’m fortunate enough to have a great deal more makeup than any ‘normal’ human being found outside of this obsession would deem justifiably normal, however it’s not like I have a dresser full like many others seem to. Lately my general daily makeup organization has gotten out of control and I’ve had no choice but to go through an impose some organization and I’ve rediscovered some neglected beauties that I’ve been excited to add back into the rotation. Plus, I kind of want to minimize extraneous beauty-related spending as much as possible and this seems to be my ticket.

Sonia Kashuk Undetectable Crème Bronzer in Rich Bronze ($10.99)

I remember picking this one up earlier this summer after really enjoying the lighter-toned Warm Tan shade for months previously but I know that I had cast the cream formulations aside during the time that I was suffering from stubborn breakouts along my cheeks that just wouldn’t leave me alone and I had just completely forgotten about it months since. About ten days ago, I randomly picked this darker but still warm-toned shade and have been enjoying sculpting and adding warmth to my face ever since, paired with the Real Techniques Contour Brush.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Ethereal Glow ($41)

Considering how I constantly waxed poetically on my love for this pale cooler-toned pink blush for the good four months after I bought it (more than) consistently, it seems outlandish that I could ever include this in a rediscovered products post – that would require me to stop using it, after all – but in my recent state of frightening makeup disorganization and rushing to the nth degree in the morning constantly, I had neglected this beauty. It’s so light and cool-toned that it appears deceptively light and chalky and even swatches slightly that way but somehow it translates onto the face with buildable pigment that reads as an angelic soft-focus flushed effect that’s especially stunning on fairer skin. I may or may not have another shade of the expensive blush line on the way, courtesy of the Sephora VIB Sale. I don’t regret it, at all.

Benefit Girl Meets Pearl ($36)

As obsessed as I am with getting that glow, highlighter tends to be an afterthought in the makeup routine, often neglected completely or thrown on haphazardly in the last few seconds remaining and the cream offerings tend to be completely neglected because I don’t want to think about using cream-powder interaction. However, I’m rather sad that I neglected this gorgeous and easy-to-use pale salmon-tinged pink offering that has the prettiest subtle golden duochrome to it. It’s cream but somehow easier to use than most of its texture.

Annabelle Lip Liner in Demure ($5.95)

This is one of those beauty bargains that I really got my mileage out of this summer and lead-up to Fall but then came my laziness, my obsession with much bolder lipsticks and the great makeup organization catastrophe – with my reorganization, I was more than pleased to spot this again and remember its existence. It might sound boring but this warm-toned dusty brown-tinged neutral pink liner works perfectly with my lips and my most neutral of offerings, adding longevity and a little bit of polish – with minimal effort or time involved, of course.

MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Layin’ Low ($25)

I’m no stranger to the concept of the MAC Paint Pot and I’ve been a fan for numerous years but after discovering my favourite NARS primer this August, I had kind of cast these coloured cream bases aside for the most part, only reaching for the occasional more exciting hued Maybelline offerings. However, I forgot just how nice, gorgeous and most of all creamy (even after six or seven months) that this medium-toned warm brown matte shade is in recent months until I couldn’t find any other sort of base the other morning and dug this one out. It might be basic but it’s beautiful and requires extremely minimal effort.

DSC_1219From the top: Hourglass Ethereal Glow, Benefit Girl Meets Pearl, Sonia Kashuk Rich Bronze, Annabelle Demure, MAC Layin’ Low

Have you ‘shopped your stash’ lately? If so, what were your finds?
Maggie, x.

 

Everyday Essentials #2

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This is certainly not the most unique sort of post by any means — understatement of the year — but when I spot posts of this variety in my daily Bloglovin feed, I tend to salivate over them, hanging onto every word so it seemed prudent to give another one a go; if all goes well this may turn into one of those regular things. Thoughts?

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John Freida Frizz-Ease Dream Curls Daily Styling Spray ($11 CDN):This is more of a recent addition to the daily routine as far as these things go but since giving this another go (a few weeks back) to refresh my curls after being slept on, this has become a daily product staple. At first it seemed to be a pear-scented spray that did nothing but wet the hair but since I’ve discovered that the wet sensation dissipates after a few minutes and without drying out my hair, it adds a good deal of life and definition back to my second third and fourth day curls.

Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light to Medium Bisque ($30 CDN):Although this hasn’t received many raves from me since I discovered it in April, the pinky-toned creamy concealer has remained a firm love of mine. Without needing to be topped up with a more neutral concealer, the creamy-textured corrector neutralizes my dark circles like a champ, all without looking or feeling heavy on the skin.

Dior 5 Coleur Eyeshadow in Grege ($62 CDN):Although in the last month or so, this palette has proven itself as a daily compact palette that houses the shades for several versatile looks, it also lends itself extremely well to be used with other eyeshadows to provide high-quality basic shades. The caramel shade is one that I find myself constantly reaching for as a transition shade, the highlighting shade is a nice staples as is the rich matte chocolate brown. I really ought to dedicate a post to this quint soon as it’s so long overdue….

Avene High Protection Mineral Cream SPF 50 ($30 CDN): With the rapid emergence of the hot sunny days of summer in the past few weeks, sunscreen has become a must on a daily basis and considering that I’m allergic to most chemical sunscreens, I reach for this one. The cream is tinted to minimize the impact of the white-cast and hydrates my hypersensitive skin without causing any sort of reaction in the realm of irritation. By no stretch of the imagination is this greasy but I will admit that my face develops a bit more dewiness in my t-zone while wearing this but I’m satisfied with paying this price for a sunscreen that doesn’t irritate the skin with its alcohol content whilst never making the skin burn with its protection and never running into the eyes either.

MAC Eyeshadow Quad ($10 CDN) with All That Glitters, Coppering, Coquette and Sketch ($12 CDN):This self-created quad of shades houses my essentials, especially for this time of year and as usual, the quality of these shadows are fantastic and you can’t beat the versatility of creating your own palette. All That Glitters is that gorgeous peachy golden shade that has to be my favourite lid colour of all time (and most repurchased) so I can’t be without it obviously, the grey-brown Coquette remains my favourite shade for filling in my brows and it doubles as a great crease shade given its pigmentation and the workable texture, the deep plum Sketch serves its place as that almost-matte shade that adds definition to the outer corner of the eye while still being a little bit interesting and flattering and Coppering (obviously) has been a staple as of late for when I want to go for something a little more intense and warm than ATG either mixed or on its own.

L’Oreal Lineur Intense in Carbon Black ($9-10 CDN):I’m aware that I’ve raved about this affordable felt-tip liner more times than I can most likely count but its just the easiest effortless liner to use on a daily basis to create the subtle winged eyeliner in well under a minute. On top of this, the liner remains wet and pigmented for months and the felt tip remains precise. It lasts like a dream until you remove it but isn’t a hassle to remove either.

No 7 Beautiful Skin Hot Cloth Cleanser ($12 CDN):This affordable offering ticks all of the boxes as the ideal cream cleanser for me. Although it does have some fragrance, (pleasant and luxurious-smelling, if you’re curious) the cleanser not only doesn’t irritate even the sorest skin in the slightest, it removes face makeup like a dream while leaving the skin soothed and nourished. I’m not sure if I like this more than the Cleansing Balm from the same line, but at the very least it is equally as good and the pump dispenser is increasingly practical for daily use. I’m not a fan of the included muslin cloth so I don’t use it exactly as advertised.

Sonia Kashuk Undetectable Creme Bronzer in Rich Bronze ($10-11 CDN): I mentioned picking up this shade of the affordable creamy bronzer recently in my last post and ever since doing so, I haven’t been able to resist putting this one down. It has the same blendable skin-like texture and longevity as the other shade in the formula does but the darker shade has much less obviously warm (orange-y) undertones and instead lends itself well to sculpting the cheekbones along with adding a bit of bronziness; it’s a dream to contour with because you can just swipe a stripe above the hollows of your cheek and blend it out with ease.

What are some of your daily staples?

Maggie, x.

 

 

 

 

 

The Daily Face #16: Coppery Summer Eyes and a Chanel Foundation Gush

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So I had to talk write about my birthday splurge, the chic black-bottled beauty that is the newly released and absolutely divine Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet Smooth-Effect Makeup – every girl needs a Chanel foundation, am I right? – and as pleased with the product as I am, I am aware of how premature a standalone post would be so here I am bringing you another slightly-overdue edition of the products currently gracing my face with some thoughts on them thrown in. Believe it or not, I’ve actually switched up my makeup some in the last little bit but just to warn you I picked up a thing or five on my quick little jet into Walmart so these products haven’t necessarily all been gracing my face in days passed.

 

T’is another gorgeous sunny day, so I prepped my mug with the non-irritating and hydrating Avene High Protection Cream SPF 50 and then went in with the thin semi-matte finish foundation (the Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet Smooth-Effect Makeup in 10). It’s a marvel to me how this foundation offers medium coverage while feeling so lightweight and remaining undetectable on the skin. It also does the unthinkable, suiting my skin with plenty dry-patches and actually having luminosity without even edging on dewy in finish. Colour me impressed, thus far. It surprised me by doing a good job covering up some purging-induced blemishes around my chin and I didn’t even reach for a brush to cover those bad boys up further. At the reccomendation of the lovely lady who sold me the foundation, I went for a light dusting of powder through the t-zone, opting for the MAC Studio Careblend Pressed Powder in Light after dabbing some of the Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in Very Fairunderneath my eyes to deal with some of that dark-circle situation.

Recently I picked up the darker and less-terracotta coloured Sonia Kashuk Undetectable Creme Bronzer in Rich Bronze and I’ve been constantly using it to bronze and contour the cheekbone area — unlike the lighter shade, this one can actually create some sort of natural shadow without looking grey in the slightest, FYI. The other two cheek products were recent additions but both have impressed me: the rosy pink-toned Maybelline Master Hi-Light Blush in Pink Rose and the Revlon Highlighting Palette in Peach Glow.I was also feeling a setting spray so I misted my face with the dewy Nyx offering.

I began the eyes with a base (as always), opting for the warm matte MAC Prolongwear Paint Pot in Layin’ Low.The eyes were where I’ve switched things up in a notable way since the last post of this variety — going outside my comfort zone on my lids. I wanted to go for a copper theme but a wearable one at that so I toned down the gorgeous MAC Coppering with All That Glitters all over the lid (but not enough) and then I added the much less coppery L’Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Tender Caramel on the inner portion of the lid to brighten things further. I went for a little bit of MAC Coquette in the crease for some depth after I had already filled in my brows with the same powder and I finished the eyeshadow situation with MAC Club in the outer corner. There’s something about rimmed eyes that suit these more coppery tones so I lined the inner rims with Annabelle Smoothliner in Black. For mascara, I went for a nice coat or two on both sets of lashes of the Revlon Bold Lacquer Mascara as it’s easy to use, building volume without difficulty or clumpiness but actually removes like a non-waterproof mascara should.

On the lips went MAC Sweet & Sour Lipstick which has remained an everyday effortless lip staple. The subdued corally shade seems to go with everything without fail and could only be improved by having a more forgiving formula on my sensitive lips that I very badly need to exfoliate but fear doing so in case of retaliation.

P.S. After putting this on, I decided to go down to my dock in the heat and not only did the makeup hold up, it felt weightless on my skin. More than that, I couldn’t even tell I was wearing foundation. It’s completely premature to say so but I think I’m in love. And if you are wondering why my face in these pictures might look a little less perfect or if they look a little different, I got a digital SLR camera for my birthday and the quality of my photos will be improving as I learn to master the object.

Have you tried any of these products? Thoughts on the face?

Maggie, x.

 

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