Back to makeup/skincare reviews. Lately, I've been noticing that there are a lot of products that are more of a two in one type of product. They are great skincare benefits and also give you makeup qualities. CC creams are all the rave right now especially now for the summer. Its a light weight, nice coverage, SPF color correcting cream. I love being able to just wear CC creams because it usually means that my face is acting right and I don't need the extra coverage. I also like to use CC creams when I am tanned. Its because a lot of CC creams come in limited colors which means that a medium would probably blend in enough for when I am tan and not tan. I don't go sun crazy on my face when I get sun during the summer. I usually put SPF 20-45. This protects my skin so that I don't have to worry about wrinkles in the long run. Now that I live in NYC, I definitely do not go to the beach as much as I did when I live in Puerto Rico. Oh! I remember when I lived there I was at the beach every weekend at least once a weekend from January to August. Those were the days! Now, living in NYC I am able to have any type of access to anything I would dream of in terms of beauty products but the 'beaches' are crap.
If you've read some of my past posts, you know that I love the Dr. Brandt brand. I've been hooked on the Glow day and night cream for about 3 months now. This stuff is amazing. It has made my skin look more radiant and the retinol has definitely been cleared up any blemishes that I had and also my wrinkles which aren't a lot but I do have laugh lines along with wrinkles around my eyes. This Glow line also has a CC cream that is available. It is like the Glow daytime lotion with a CC cream. So it comes in the color 'natural' which is a good color for me if I am not tanned but I do think it is too light for me the second I have some color. This is the only bad thing about this stuff, it only comes in one color. But if you are part of the lucky ones that are light to medium complexion, I would definitely recommend this for you. This cream illuminates and brightens your skin with the same ruby crystal complex that is in the Glow cream. This also hydrates your skin so that your skin is smoother which makes your wrinkles and lines diminish and also has SPF30 as an added layer of protection. It also has a concentrated amount of Vitamin C which does wonders to making your skin more radiant. The tint in this conceals imperfections and it evens your skin tone more naturally because its not a heavy caked on coverage.
You can find this CC cream online or in +Sephora. It retails for about $39 and I know for CC creams this is expensive considering there are a lot of drugstore brands that are as good in color correcting creams plus this isn't for everyone considering it is only available in one color. I do recommend if you don't have the Glow day cream considering this basically is the same cream but tinted. Hope this review helps you decide whether you need to buy this or if you've been eyeing it but couldn't splurge especially since its a pricey CC cream.
I finally decided to write about makeup. One of my most favorite parts of makeup is the foundation. I think that this is where your makeup starts. If your foundation is bad then it doesn't really matter what else you do everything else after that will be crap. I have oily skin as you may know if you've been reading along and you will know that since I have oily skin its just really hard for me to find foundation that will stop the oil and stay on all day. The oils of my skin usually make the makeup disappear. I do find that there are some that are too mattifying and just look caked on which is horrible but now in the summer I like my foundation to look flawless and natural which means I probably have to give up on the mattifying components.
Since I was in college I've first heard about BareMinerals makeup. Back then all they had were the powder foundations which I used religiously. I lived in Florida back then and for anyone who knows how it is down there you know that its sunny, humid, and hot all the time. I was able to keep my skin looking flawless with this makeup. I don't know why I stopped using it but I did and moved on to other products. Once I saw that BareMinerals came out with a liquid foundation I was very excited to try it. I didn't get it the day it came out but after seeing all the reviews I was able to see that it was definitely a must try. I went ahead to my local +Sephora where the girls know me and picked mine up. I went through a bunch of colors and settled on 08 which is Bare Beige. This foundation has everything I love in one foundation--brightening serum.. SAY WHAT?!? In a foundation? How is that possible? I was ecstatic to try this out. This foundation is suppose to be tone-correcting mineral foundation and skincare serum in one. Now this is music to my ears.
It was created to be pure and ultra thin on your face so that you don't feel like you even have anything on which was just like their regular mineral powder foundation. It has skin perfecting fluid that you can use for buildable coverage. Since the coverage is buildable it has a natural finish to it that allows to let your skin shine through but in a beautiful way and nothing too cakey but enough coverage where you are able to cover-up any imperfections. This will make your skin look brighter and more youthful which for me are all good things to have from a foundation. I tried this on and I am very happy that I bought it. I am in love with anything BareMinerals and I am not sure why I don't buy more of this brand. I definitely recommend this foundation. It retails for $29 and that is not that much since you don't use a lot of this per application. You can buy this at +Sephora in store or online. You can also get it in +Bare Minerals store fronts.
For those of you know who me you know that I love bronzer. I use bronzers every single day. I always love that bronzed warmer look. One of the products that I feel is an unsung hero but I've been using for about 10 years now is my Sephora brand Bronzer. I know a lot of people swear by Nars Laguna but I feel in love with the Sephora brand a long time ago. I use it every single day and I even got my mom hooked on it.
The Sephora bronzer is formulated with micronized pigments that have a high color pay off. People think that just because its Sephora brand that it would be crappy but honestly this is one of the best I've tried ever. Once you put it on you realize how good of a product it is. It gives you that natural sun kissed look without looking weird and streaky. There are 4 colors and 2 are shimmery and 2 are matte. I personally like matte bronzers since I hate to look like I have glitter everywhere. Also my skin is oily enough and I don't need more shimmer added so I usually just opt for matte bronzers.
This bronzer retails for $17 and yes its not the cheapest bronzer compared to Drugstore brands but this bronzer is definitely cheaper than lets say Nars Laguna which retails for $38. You can find the +Sephora bronzer within Sephora stores where they have their Sephora booth set up. You can also buy this on Sephora.com.
Do you have any bronzers that you think are really good? Do you have any Drugstore bronzers? I would love to try to find a drugstore bronzer that I can fall in love with.
I am always looking for the next best thing, if you haven't noticed. I love trying new makeup and just always seeing what can help me look and feel my best. I am not scared or turned off to anything drugstore since I don't think a high price tag equals quality and a cheaper version means its crap. I always like to try the cheaper brands since I feel like some people don't give them enough credit. I recently saw that +COVERGIRL l had a new line of makeup which was called the Ready Set Gorgeous. The name of the collection got me right away. I saw that it said it would give you flawless complexion and that it would be shine free medium coverage foundation. I immediately wanted to try it. I decided to pick this up the other night and immediately went home and tried it on. For the first night I didn't have it on for too long but I did notice that the coverage was great. It didn't get too oily but then again, I didn't use it for too long the first day. I just wanted to make sure that the coverage and color was good and as a first impression, this was a great foundation.
The next morning I decided to go ahead and use this as my makeup. I applied this with the BeautyBlender and again, the foundation went on amazing. It went on easy over my the Maybelline Baby Skin Primer. It looked flawless but natural. I think thats what I liked the most about it. The coverage wasn't caked on and it looked really natural. This foundation is shine free, oil free, it gives you instant correction and once it sets, you are good for all day. Today I wore it for around 14 hours before I went ahead and took it off. This stuff really does cease the shine. This foundation is really better than I could have imagined since it was drugstore brand. I am also always very skeptical about Covergirl brand in general since I usually think its a brand that is for children or teenagers but honestly thing foundation has definitely renewed my faith in them.
The foundation comes in a variety of different shades so there is definitely a color for you. It retails for $8.99 and I am not sure if this is a limited edition foundation but I have to say that if it is, hurry up and get it so that you don't miss out on a good foundation that is at an amazing drugstore price.
Do you have any good foundations that you've tried recently? Comment below! I would love to try different foundations
Now that Spring is in the air everywhere else except in the Northeast I always look for ways to change my make up look to make it more Spring-y and less Winter-y. One way to do that is use a different blush. I usually like the darker colors for blush since I am more of a medium olive tone skin color. In the Winter, I like more of a matte finish to my blushes, I usually also go for colors that are more muted. These pair well with a nude lip or a bold dark lip. For Spring, I let it all out. I like to go lighter on my foundation so I usually go with a BB cream and then just concealer to make sure that my under eyes don't look like I haven't slept in years. I also like to add a blush that has a bit of a sheen to it. Something that isn't a highlighter but that has bit of a highlighting aspect to it. I wanted to get the +Too Faced Cosmetics Sweethearts Perfect Flush blush but it retails for about $30 and I thought that was a bit crazy for a blush. I
Lately I've been trying a lot of different blushes and I heard that NYX was coming out with a Baked Blush. I saw this and jumped on it immediately. I love how these look on my face. When you swatch them on your finger, you immediately see that the color is sheer and has a bit of a highlighter feel to it. This is a blush that you need to really layer on so that you can see color but honestly I like that about this blush. I like that you don't have to be careful with it. I like how you really need to use your brush and apply a lot of layers. This gives you the freedom to have more of a loose hand and not worry about looking like a clown. They come in a lot of colors from pinks to bronzers and for drugstore blushes, I think these are one of the best ones out there.
They retail for about $6 each which is nothing compared to its +Sephora dupe from +Too Faced Cosmetics which is $30. I definitely recommend these more for the Spring and Summer seasons just because they look nice since they have highlighter built in already. Do you have a favorite blush? I'd love to hear about it! Definitely let me know!
One of my really good friends +Madeline Mulero has been asking for my "expertise" lately about makeup lately which I love since I always love talking about makeup. Mind you, she lives in Puerto Rico and I am here in NYC. There is a bit of a distance issue but with technology that we have now a days we make it work. She recently had to go to a wedding and in April in Puerto Rico its already really hot and it was outside. She really needed tips to making your makeup last. Okay so as you guys know I have really oily skin. I use a setting spray +Urban Decay Cosmetics All Nighter or the +e.l.f. Cosmetics Matte one every single day and honestly my skin still gets oily and my makeup doesn't look like it did when I left the house in the morning. It just doesn't and I've tried everything from good primers to good foundations and honestly at this point of my life, I've learned to accept it.
While +Madeline Mulero was in the drugstore searching for some of the products that I told her she should buy, she showed me Rimmel London Stay Matte Primer. I automatically thought, hmm I need to try this. I already use the Stay Matte foundation and I have to say that this is really good. It does hold the oily back better than normal foundations that don't have that component in it. One thing I do advise about the Stay Matte foundation is that you need to make sure you don't use a lot. I made the mistake with putting a lot on my hand and applying it to my face and wow! I needed to watch my face and start over. So just be careful. I also add a little bit of the Garnier Ultra-Lift Transformer Anti-Age Skin Corrector so the matte is cut a little bit because it can be a bit cakey looking.
I finally got the primer and was super excited to try this out. I opened it up and was expecting that milky white see through silicone gel texture and instead it was creamy more of a lotion type look and I was already skeptical. I put it on and it dried nicely. It was smooth and my foundation went on very nice over it. I had it on all day. I live in NYC and today was a cool spring day but I was running around so I did sweat a bit and when I got home I took a look at my face and I was stunned. I couldn't believe how my face didn't look oily at all. It obviously didn't look as matte and put together as it did in the morning but I was stunned because the Hourglass Liquid to Powder foundation didn't look this good after a day of wear. Hourglass foundation is $55 and Rimmel London Stay Matte Primer and Stay Matte Foundation are $6.99 each that's still cheaper than one foundation.
I definitely recommend this if you have oily skin or if you are going to do something outside where you think you are going to sweat and you need your makeup to stay put without looking like a greaseball. I think this is perfect for you.
