Good To The Last Drop: August Empties!

I've gone through a lot of products the last month or two, so I wanted share with you what I've used up and if I would repurchase any of these items again. Let's dig in shall we?

Hair Care:

 TIGI Catwalk Curls Rock Amplifier

John Frieda Frizz Ease Go Curlier Spray

Tresemme Thermal Creations Heat Tamer Spray

The Curls Rock Amplifier and the Thermal Creations Spray I've repurchased several times, and I will continue to repurchase. Alongside mousse, the curl cream is a Holy Grail product because it helps hold and define my curls while not being as hard and crunchy as gel. It's spendy though, so I try to stock up when there is a sale! This heat protect is pretty cheap and has a good even spray so it's easy to coat my hair.

The Go Curlier spray I bought because it was on sale to try it out. I didn't really notice a difference in my hair either with my natural curls or using a curling iron so I don't think I would repurchase.

Skin Care:

Dr. Brandt Pores No More Cleanser

Simple Cleansing Micellar Water

Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Cream Cleanser

The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Balm

I've been trying really hard to use up what I have before I buy anything new, hence the sample of the Dr. Brandt cleanser I got in a Birchbox! It's a good foaming cleanser with a nice botanical, spa scent but I don't think it's anything special for me. Would I repurchase? Nah.

The Simple Micellar water I've been loving for removing traces of makeup and cleansing in the morning, and definitely comes in handy to sort of "spot clean"! I've repurchased it I think twice now and I would definitely repurchase it again until there is a better drugstore micellar water available. There just aren't many affordable options here in U.S drugstores at the moment. :(

The cream cleanser from Neutrogena is pretty gentle, not over drying or harsh; great fro sensitive skin. I'm oily/combo with acne prone skin so this just didn't do much for me unfortunately, so I don't think I would buy it again unless its on sale or something. 

The cleansing butter I enjoyed, and it lasted me quite a while. It dissolves most of my makeup, including eye make up, with minimal foggy vision afterwards! I would repurchase again if the body Shop is having one of their sales.

Makeup: 

Ulta Matte Prime Primer

Revlon Colorstay for Oily/Combo Foundation in 180 Sand Beige 

e.l.f Lip Exfoliator

NYX Micro Brow Pencil in Taupe

The Ulta primer was on mega sale, so I decided to try it out. It's a pretty basic clear silicon primer that is supposed to help mattify. I liked it and it did a decent job, but I'm on an endless quest to find a primer that I'm absolutely in love with. Anybody else still trying to find their holy grail primer too? I'm open to suggestions for what I should try next! I don't think I would repurchase it again unless it was on sale and I was in the mood to pick it up.

Revlon Colorstay is one of my favorite foundations of ALL time. It lasts all day, I don't get overly oily, has a satin finish and matches my skin tone really well. Would I repurchase? ABSOLUTELY! I just want to get through some of my other foundations first.

The lip exfoliator I've already purchased a number of times! It's in a lipstick bullet form, easy to use and gets the job done. It does kind of hurt a little bit, but I've found putting on a lip balm before helps make the process more comfortable. I would definitely repurchase! 

The Nyx Micro Brow pencil is amazing, and nothing else compares from the drugstore. It's not too creamy and a little more on the waxy side so it helps prevent me from going too H.A.M on my brows and becoming Oscar the Grouch. The color Taupe is spot on for my brows too and isn't too dark or brown toned. I had a heck of a time finding the right shade for my brows since they are black and my hair is black, but if I use too dark of a color or it's too brown I look crazy. This has been a life changer! I will never be without it again.

What products would you repurchase again or can never be without?

xoxo

Jessica

August 2015 Favorites!

I've been really good this month trying to rotate my makeup and actually using what I have! Plus, it helped that the theme this month for me was laziness keeping things minimal and simple. By the way, I'm beyond ready for September and the beginning of fall weather! Who else is a fall gal?! Anyways, here are products I've been using the most this month!

For my go to base, I've actually strayed away from foundation for a little while and opted for the Maybelline Dream Pure BB in Light instead! It's light but still has decent coverage for a BB cream, and doesn't turn me into a total grease ball since it has salicylic acid in it.

What I've been using to set my BB cream and to add a little more coverage is the Maybelline Dream Wonder Powder in Ivory. It's a really nice drugstore powder that is so smooth and buttery soft! One of my favorite powders to use for sure.

The bronzer I've been gravitating towards is the Pop Beauty Sunkissed Bronzer in Secret Sunshine. I got this a forever ago in an Ipsy bag and I just rediscovered it this month! It is a wonderful golden brown bronze shaed that has shimmer in it but it's not too crazy, giving the skin a sunkissed glow. Sadly, I can't find it on their website. :( Maybe it can be hunted down on Amazon.

Despite the strobing trend, I've been scaling back on the BAM-in-your-face highlight and using my Wet n' Wild Color Icon Reserve Your Cabana "Bronzer". I've talked about it many times, and it's one of my all time face powders that can be dusted all over the face for an all over natural glow or concentrated on the high points to highlight. It's under $4 dollars, and it's a product everyone needs in their collection I think!

Aaaaaand my obsession with Smith's Rosebud Perfume Co. Minted Rose Lip Balm is still going strong from last month. It's just so good.

My last favorite is the e.l.f Smudge Pot in Cruisin' Chic, a cream taupe shadow that I've been loving, especially on those days when I am not in the mood to blend out a million shadows. I just throw this on my whole lid, buff it out a bit with a transition shade in the crease and I'm good to go! These Smudge Pots are so affordable and do not budge all day.

What are your August favorites!?

xoxo

Jessica

Ipsy Bag August 2015! #PrepSchool

Let me just say how beyond excited I was for this months bag choice; Houndstooth with a pink zipper! Definitely goes with this months theme of prep school for all those gearing up for the next school year. Houndstooth is one of my favorite patterns, and just so happens to match my lunch box so that's super cool. Let's get on with the contents of my bag this month!

I only received 4 out of the 5 samples I was supposed to get after checking online. This is the second month in a row I'm missing a sample, but I'm okay with it because it was only a sample and not one of the full-size products. I also redeemed some Ipsy Points for a Real Techniques Concealer Brush which is exciting! 

Anyways, back to the bag!

All products I got seem to be full-size this month (yay!), so let's start with the Trust Fund Beauty Nail Polish in the shade Elegantly Wasted, a beautiful lavender purple! And the name is hilarious. That'll be my next nail color for sure.

I also got a Marsk Pro Line Eye Shadow Brush, which is your typical flat brush for packing on pigment or for use with cream shadows which is probably what I would use mine for. I would LOVE to see Ipsy send more fluffy blending brushes, but I won't complain about getting any sort of brush!

I've gotten Hikari products before and loved them! So when I saw that I got a Hikari Lip Gloss in Merlot, described as an intense red mauve, I was stoked! Such a gorgeous color right up my alley and is a very pigmented gloss I would even consider this more of a lip cream actually! And as I've grown accustomed to, I of course got another black eyeliner. This time it's a Doucce Ultra Precision Eye Liner. It seems like a nice eye liner, but man I'm so done with getting eye liner. Anybody else feel this way!?

That's it for my bag! I loved the nail polish, lip gloss and concealer brush especially. What did you get this month?!

P.S this is my lunch box (which is dirty and gross), but don't they go together PERFECTLY!?

xoxo

Jessica

Monochromatic: Rose Gold

Hey guys! Sorry for the short hiatus, this week has been super busy for me with the new school year starting soon and trying to prep the classroom among other things taking up large chunks of my time. Anyways, I wanted to share with you some makeup products that are in my favorite shade: rose gold. There is something about rose gold that is so pretty and feminine that I absolutely adore wearing it. Here is what I've rounded up from my collection!

Obviously, I had to include the Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette! This palette is full of rosy toned shadows with a few mauves and purpley browns mixed in. The packaging itself is so gorgeous! Trick is a classic rose gold, but I found it hard to apply with a brush and had much better luck using my finger to get it to be super metallic and foiled looking.

 Urban Decay has some of the best quality shadows around, but it definitely comes with a hefty price tag of $54 for 12 shadows. A cheaper alternative that has pretty much all of the same shades plus 10 more purple toned shades is the Coastal Scents Revealed 2 Palette. The shades are shockingly similar but obviously not as great quality. They still are pretty darn good for the price of $20 for double the shadows though.

Probably one of my favorite shadows ever is the L'oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Amber Rush. It's super pigmented and foiled looking giving a glorious metallic rose gold shade all over the lid. If you just were to get one rose gold product to add to your collection, I would pick this one hands down. AND it's an affordable drugstore product.

My last eye shadow I have to share with you is the shade Fit from The Balm Nude Dude Palette. I also have that palette, but I got this super cute sample in my Ipsy bag a while back! It's a little on the bronze side of rose gold, so it's a little deeper in tone. It's also one of my favorite palettes that I reach for frequently (check out my post on it for a more in depth look here).

Two rose gold blushes I have are the Benefit Rockateur Box O' Powder Blush I got in a set and Milani Rose D'Oro Baked Blush. Rockateur is a dusty rose gold with a subtle gold sheen and Rose D' Oro is a little lighter and peachier with gold veining throughout. You don't see the gold flecks at all on the cheeks, just the beautiful glow it gives.

 I've had this blush for YEARS and after using it everyday for a solid year I still haven't hit pan on it. The packaging is in shambles though and is barely staying together but I refuse to buy a new one because I purchased this when I first began really getting into makeup. It has a special spot in my heart. I'm a sentimental person, what can I say?  Luminoso always gets all the hype, but I honestly prefer this shade!

Surprisingly, I found a rose gold lip color hidden in my collection! It's a part of a duo I got a long time ago, the Covergirl Blast Flipstick Lip Color in the shade 860 Intense. It's very metallic, which I'm not usually a huge fan of by itself but it's really beautiful mixed with other shades! The other side is a dark plum color that I like too.

Of course, I had to throw in one of my favorite nail polishes; Essie Penny Talk. In the bottle it doesn't look rose gold at all, more of a copper bronze. But on the nails it's a gorgeous coppery rose gold! This polish is a little hard to work with, but I think it's totally worth it.

I'm thinking about doing more post like this one which focuses on one shade in a variety of makeup products, like a mini series! Leave me a comment for suggestions on what color I should do next!

What are your favorite rose gold colored products?

xoxo

Jessica

August 2015 Boxycharm Unboxing!

My favorite subscription box is here! This months theme is Gorgeous Globtrotter, so let's take a look at what I got this month!

I'll start with the Coastal Scents Revealed 3 Palette! The other Revealed palettes have been included in past boxes, which is nice for the palette collectors out there who like having the whole set (*cough* me). I have the Revealed 2 palette, and I love it. This one isn't my favorite because I feel like the color scheme of the palette confuses me a little. It is mostly purple, mauves, pinks and browns in a variety of finishes. A lot of these shadows are hit or miss, with most of the lighter shades being powdery and not pigmented. Some are really beautiful though! 

I also received the Nios Shield Leave-In Conditioner, which has SPF 15 to help protect your hair and scalp from sun damage. This will definitely come in handy because I've noticed that in the summer months my hair color fades super quick so hopefully this helps while also conditioning my hair!

 

Since strobing is blowing up like crazy, I've been getting highlighters in almost every box. I got the So Susan Statement Skin Highlighting Crayon. It's a beautiful white champagne shade with a unique chiseled point to be really precise or cover a wide area quickly! It feels nice and blendable, so I'll give it a try.

Lastly, I got the MicaBeauty Gel Eyeliner in Black and the Seta Eyeliner Brush to go with it! I love when they include items that can be used with each other! I don't use eyeliner a whole lot anymore, but this gel liner is creamy and black that I might just start using eyeliner more often! The brush has a very small, fine point to produce precise thick or thin lines. Sweet!

I wasn't blown away by this months box, but I still liked it and can find uses for all of these products. 

Did you like this months Boxycharm?

xoxo

Jessica

August 2015 Birchbox Unboxing!

It's time to kick off another round of  unboxing my subscription boxes! I received my Birchbox first, and let me just say that their box game is on point lately! Let's dive right in to see what's inside! ;)

I got samples of: 

Dr. Brandt Pores No More Cleanser

Beauty Protector Protect & Oil

 R+Co Park Ave Blow Out Balm

LAQA & Co. Cheeky Lip 

Catherine Malandrino Style de Paris perfume.

I LOVE getting oils in my boxes, so I'm super happy with this Beauty Protector Protect & Oil! They do great things for my hair, especially after coloring it to help repair damage. Samples last me a while and I don't have to buy them too often. Perfume samples however, are up there with eyeliner pencils in that I get super annoyed getting them. This one by Catherine Malandrino Style de Paris smells nice though, like a light citrus, floral scent but I just end up forgetting about them.

The Dr. Brandt Pores No More Cleanser and the R+Co Park Ave Blow Out Balm will come in handy to throw in my travel bag! The blow out balm is a heat protecting styling cream that smells AMAZING so I'm stoked to try it. 

My favorite product in this box is this LAQA&Co Cheeky Lip Crayon in Cray Cray (shade name is fantastic by the way) which is a classic coral color. I've gotten products from this brand in the past and I've really liked them! Plus, this can be not only a lip color, but cheek color too. 

What did you get in your box this month?!

xoxo

Jessica

My Favorite Lip Glosses

They say my lip gloss is cool, my lip gloss be poppin'!

Except usually not for me if I'm being honest. Lip gloss is something that fades in and out for me; I'm either wearing a gloss everyday or I don't wear any for months on end. I was (and still am) very into a matte or satin lip and have been neglecting my lip glosses recently. Now that we are in the summer months I tend to go lighter on the makeup and have been reaching for my glosses or even just a tinted balm to complete my look with minimal effort. Here are a few of my favorite drugstore glosses!

P.s. name that song and artist! It's astounding how many songs I associate with everyday items. Some would say its a gift, others a curse. But I digress...

A few aren't really glosses, but I use them the same way so I included them anyways (fight the power!).

Since I am only in gloss phase once in a while, I tend to stick with my tried and true favorites. Most of my lip glosses are Nyx! I have two Nyx Butter Glosses in Creme Brulee and Apple Strudel, both being on the nude side with Apple Strudel being a brighter peachy-pink. They smell so good and have just the right amount of shine and pigment without being too much if you decide to layer them on another lip color or just by itself! I definitely want to pick more up.

I also have three Nyx Mega Shine Lip Glosses in Sugar Pie, Natural and Beige. Sugar Pie is a sheer, slightly frosted peach beige color that is my go-to gloss on top of another lip color if I don't want to alter the shade too much. Not to be confused with the other color Beige however, which is actually a nice pink nude. Natural is more of a brownish pink nude. I feel like the names of these glosses don't match the color at all and are actually more misleading than anything. Nontheless, I like these glosses a lot because of the great shine and color pay off. These are pretty thick and sticky though, so if you hate sticky glosses I would stay away.

I have two of the newish Revlon Ultra HD Lip Lacquers in Smoky Topaz and Rose Quartz. These aren't technically a "gloss," but I really like them! Smoky Topaz is a very opaque brownish nude and Rose Quartz is, well, a rosy pink nude. Both have little shimmers that are so fine its hard to detect on the lips but provides a great multi-dimensional shine. The applicator is a brush which I don't particularly enjoy. However, it does help to be more precise, but takes more work to completely coat the lips. The packaging is so cute though, with a jewel on the lid of each tube! I'm a sucker for Bedazzled shit, what can I say?

The last three are my random favs: Jane Iredale PureGloss Lip Gloss in Beach Plum, Cailyn Art Touch Tinted Gloss Stick in Love Affair and Beauty For Real Lip Cream (technically not a gloss) in Always There. The Cailyn and Beauty For Real glosses I got in a subscription box, and the Jane Iredale gloss has been my homie for years and got it back when I worked at a spa that sold Jane Iredale.
 Beach Plum is a lovely peach with gold iridescence that almost is metallic but doesn't look crazy. I would say it's on par with the Revlon Ultra HD Lacquers with the finish. The tube is deceiving though, and actually has a doe foot applicator instead of being a squeeze tube, which I prefer. Love Affair is a deep burgundy red in the tube, yet oddly swatches more of a deep wine color. It swatches a little more sheer for being a darker color, but it's a nice option when I want a deeper red lip but don't want to fully commit to a lipstick.
 Always There is my favorite shade, a mauvie brown nude color. Again, it's not technically a gloss, but I like it so much I wanted to include it. Plus, the packaging is the best part! It has a mirror on the tube AND a light on the wand which you turn on with the button on the lid much like the Gerard Cosmetics lip glosses! So freaking cool. Since it is a lip cream, it is very opaque and glossy. I'm not really a huge lip cream fan since they can be super messy and get all over the place on me, but again I love the shade and the packaging so it's worth it.

I swatched them in the same order as the picture below so you can see the swatch compared to the tube color!

Sugar Pie, Creme Brulee, Apple Strudel, Beige, Beach Plum, Natural, Smoky Topaz, Rose Quartz, Always There, Love Affair

I've heard great things about the Rimmel glosses, so I might try those soon and get my hands on a Buxom gloss one of these days. What are your favorite glosses?

xoxo

Jessica

Conceal Don't Feel! My Concealer Collection

Concealer is one of those products that is not exactly glamorous but definitely a necessity in my makeup routine. Whether it's concealing those under eye bags, discoloration or annoying blemishes, a good concealer can fake 8 hours of sleep and a clear, flawless face. So I thought I would share my concealer collection with the majority being drugstore, so you know they are affordable.

My favorite, HG concealer is the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circles in Brightening. It's peachy-pink color that is super brightening, lightweight and has great coverage. It has a sponge tip applicator that I actually like, but I know it grosses some people out since it can get pretty gunky. But I will ALWAYS repurchase this concealer, I love it that much.

 I also love the Maybelline Dream Lumi Concealer in Radiant mixed with Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in 10 Light for under the eye. The Dream Lumi has a brush tip applicator that also dispenses a peachy-pink concealer that brightens, but I find it has less coverage than the Age Rewind and I tend to go through it much faster. The Fit Me has a doe foot applicator, is more yellow toned and matches my skin tone which is not only great for the under eye, but for concealing blemishes. It's also good for highlighting the face! It's also one of my all-time favorites.

The It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye in Natural Medium, is a sample I got in one of my subscription boxes, and is one of the thickest, heavy-duty concealers I've tried. It's a little darker than what I would like but is pretty close to my skin color. If I have hard core bags that make me look like a corpse, I'll whip this out and it does the job nicely.

The Nyx HD Photogenic Concealer in Light is also peachy-pink in tone and works for under the eye and for blemishes. It has pretty decent coverage and has a slight brightening effect as well. I think I would go back to get a different color that is more yellow toned so I can use it on my face to highlight because it's creamy and blends out nicely.

Back in the day, I would only use stick concealers, so when I got this Mistura Beauty Solutions Complexion Corrector in a Boxycharm I had a quite the nostalgia trip. It only comes in a bullshit "universal" shade though. It's so creamy with full coverage and makes blemishes practically invisible! It does match my skin pretty well, but this won't work on really fair girls or anyone darker than medium skin tone.

The last two concealers in my little collection is the Miracle Skin Transformer Treat & Conceal in Medium and the Physicians Formula Concealer Twins 2-in-1 Correct and Cover Cream in Green/Light. The Miracle Skin concealer is my favorite for those painful, raging zits that still are raised because it not only hides them but helps treat them too! I got this in a Birchbox I think and I'll probably buy the full size version when I run out. This is a pricey one though, at a whopping $34.00! But I see it on Hautelook once in a while so I would keep your eye out for it!

 Lastly, the Concealer Twins includes a green tinted concealer to apply to blemishes or red areas before foundation to cancel out redness. The other side is a normal concealer that is neutral in tone and a little thicker to blend those blemishes into the rest of your face.

On my wishlist is the Urban Decay Naked Skin Concealer because I've heard that it's super amazing, but I'm trying to decide if I want to splurge on it. Plus, I feel like having this many concealers open at one time is a bit ridiculous...

What are your favorite concealers?

xoxo

Jessica