Makeup Lately #3

July 21, 2015 in Makeup

Welcome back to another rendition of Makeup Lately (#1 here, #2 here). These have become some of my favorite posts to write as I just love blathering on about what I've been slapping onto my face every morning for the past week or so. After layering on a huge amount of glittery eyeshadow to go to a drag show the weekend before this past one, I found myself with a scratched-up eyelid and unable to wear any eye makeup for the week. Instead of ditching makeup all together and feeling like a bum at work, I decided to take the extra time to focus on my skin and use a few new additions as well as dig out some old favorites.

I've been completely obsessed with the MAC Strobe Cream since I got it early last week and have been applying it as the first step of my makeup routine every day. It's super moisturizing on the skin (although I prefer to always feel hyper-moisturized so I still layer my normal daycream on underneath) and gives it the most beautiful luminosity. This would be great on no-makeup days too as a way to perk up tired skin.

Once I was feeling all glowy and awake, I would go in with a bit of the Diorskin Nude Skin-Glowing Makeup on a damp sponge. If you've been reading my blog for awhile you'll know I used to be obsessed with this stuff - I don't really know why I stopped using it, actually. I would concentrate this mostly around my more problematic areas, like my chin, around my nose, and my forehead, blending it so there was less product on the outer parts of my face. This foundation is really lightweight and skin-like but still gives a buildable medium coverage with a satin finish. Having the Strobe Cream underneath really helped my skin look healthy and glowing from within.

On my cheeks I can't get enough of the Stila Convertible Color in Lilium. It's the perfect neutral pink to go with everything and gives the skin a natural-looking flush. It has quite a dewy finish, yet lasts awhile on my skin. I still love the Stila Watercolor blush, but as I live out of a makeup bag most days, I tend not to reach for it because of the slightly messy packaging. I've been skipping the contour and bronzer and going straight onto highlighting (more on that later this week), and for that this past week I've reached for the Clinique Chubby Stick Sculpting Highlight. I got it on the same shopping trip last week as the Strobe Cream and it's been another instant obsession. I spoke about it in my Highlighter Roundup post, but it leaves a beautiful sheen on the skin and is amazingly easy to apply.

As I said, for most of the week I sported absolutely no eye makeup as I waited for the scratches on my eyelid to heal, but once they started getting better I added some mascara back in. At the beginning of the week I went in with the Clinique Lash Power Feathering Mascara mainly because I knew it would be incredibly easy to remove at the end of the day. As my eye healed I went for the Maybelline Lash Sensational - one of my favorite ever mascaras for the incredible length and volume it gives. I did my brows with the Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade as usual (I'm definitely officially converted to this stuff).

On my lips I've been going for another new addition (from that same shopping trip as mentioned before - I may have gone a little crazy). I picked up the Marc Jacobs (P)Outliner Longwear Lip Pencil in the shade Prim(rose), despite swatching it and realizing it was very similar to MAC Soar (which I own). What made me pick up this more expensive version of a lip liner I already had, you ask? The formula just felt so incredibly soft and creamy when swatched on my hand that I couldn't resist. When swatched next to Soar it's actually lighter and less mauve (it's like if you mixed Whirl and Soar and then made it a few shades lighter), so it's almost totally justifiable. Anyway, it's unbelievably comfortable and creamy on the lips and yet lasts forever - it lasted an entire 8-hour workday on me, even throughout lunch and about three water bottle refills.

I've really enjoyed focusing more on my skin and taking a break from eye makeup. I think once my eye is totally healed I'll slowly introduce the eye makeup back in, but keep the effort I put into my base constant. What makeup have you been wearing lately?

The Highlighter Roundup

July 18, 2015 in Makeup

I originally intended to spotlight some of my highlighters in a “Top 3” style blogpost, but as hard as I tried, I could not choose just three. Highlighters are hands-down my most favorite product to use, as it makes me feel so confident when my skin has a noticeable glow. It's also the area of my collection, besides maybe neutral lip colors, that has all but exploded with new products. I decided, after really loving writing my Face Mask Roundup post, I’d pull together another roundup for all my highlighters so they'd all get equal love.

The One that's a Moisturizer. MAC's Strobe Cream is a new addition to my collection, but it's already been well-loved nonetheless. It took me ages to realize my local MAC counter carried it because I didn't know there was a separate "skincare" section or that this could be classed as such. But it does feel incredibly moisturizing on the skin - if you're oilier than me, you could definitely get away with using this as your daytime moisturizer. This gives such a luminous glow to the skin without any added visible shimmer. I like applying this (quite liberally) to the high points of my face before going in with my base product of choice, but you could also tap it on over your base.

The All-Over Glow. Similar to the Strobe Cream is the Shimmering Skin Perfector by Becca in the shade Moonstone. This gives the skin a much more obvious glow with some small visible shimmer, so this is definitely one I like to use before or mixed into foundation. This is a lovely pale gold color that has really been complementing the teeny tiny bit of a tan I got on vacation.

The J.Crew Model. There was no more appropriate name for the rms beauty Living Luminizer because it really is what J.Crew models use to give their complexions that immaculate, dewy glow. This little pot of magic is probably my favorite highlighter. Containing organic ingredients like coconut oil, castor seed oil, and beeswax, it feels really nourishing and almost balmy on the skin but never greasy. It uses mica to give that luminescence, so there's not a visible shimmer particle in sight. This one is quite subtle and gives the skin that glossy, almost "wet" look.

The Candle-lit Sheen. The Creamy Glow Duo by Kevyn Aucoin in the Sculpting/Highlighting shade is really a thing of beauty. It's something I've been reaching for quite often as the creams are so blendable but last quite a long time on the skin. The highlighter included in this little duo is a cream version of the famous Candlelight powder, and it gives the skin just what you'd expect - a candle-lit glow. This one is subtle like the Living Luminizer, but with a gold tint rather than an icy white one.

The Perfect One for ~sTrObiNg~. Another very new addition, the Clinique Chubby Stick Sculpting Highlight has been a welcome one to my routine. There's nothing better for rushed mornings, as the stick form is so quick and easy to use and blends into the skin beautifully. This leaves the skin with a beautiful almost pink/lavender-tinged glow that's really unique, with no chunky shimmer particles in sight. It sits well on all areas of the face, so it's been my number one product while I try my hand at strobing - I can just streak it on my cheekbones, forehead, down my nose, on my cupid's bow, basically all over my face, etc and it looks flawless everywhere.

The Icy Sheen. It took me awhile to think of the perfect descriptor for the Colourpop Highlighter in Smoke N Whistles because it's such a unique product. I suppose it's a powder, but it's the creamiest powder I've ever used - spongy and mousse-like. The color is quite an intense pale pink with silver shimmer, so not one for the faint of heart. This really gives you that ice queen look and draws lots of attention to them cheekbones - I love.

The Beam of Light. One of the most talked about and widely-owned highlighters in the beauty blogging community is theBalm's Mary-Lou Manizer (excellent, excellent name). It's even more intense than the Colourpop one, and gives the skin a beautiful golden sheen. I like to describe this one like a strong beam of light shining on your face, one to surely turn heads. It's got an incredibly buttery formula and just glides onto the skin.

The Ethereal Glow. I've got a whole post dedicated to my love of the MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Lightscapade here, and it's still one I reach for quite often. Because of the delicate veins of pink and lavender powder, it gives a really cool-toned glow to the skin, making you look like an ethereal wood nymph frolicking through a moonlit forest (can you tell I'm having fun thinking of these different light situations). This is a really subtle one (maybe it's just my compact though), so I have to use quite a dense, stiff brush with it to see the amount of sheen I want, but it's a beautiful one nevertheless.

The Glow from Within. My prettiest highlighter might just be the Laura Mercier Matte Radiance Baked Powder Compact in Highlighter 01. Don't be fooled by the name, this is not a matte powder. It's hard to define the color, it's a pale gold, but it's not too gold, but it's not anywhere in icy white territory either. This one is easy to adjust to the level of glow you want - a sheer wash to a more intense sheen. It looks flawless and really natural on the skin, like you're just glowing from within.

The One that's "On Fleek." Last but not least is probably the most intense highlighter that I own - the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Champagne Pop. This is the collaboration with Jaclyn Hill, the queen of highlighting herself, who makes some of my favorite tutorials on YouTube. As soon as I saw her use it in a video, I knew I had to have it. I'm surprised this still works on my skintone, as it's quite dark for what I usually wear, and it's got a strong peachy tone to it. But once swept over the skin the color doesn't seem to matter and leaves the most intense glow - it really gives the skin a "wet" look, but a golden wet look. It's absolutely beautiful, and while one I may not reach for on workdays, it's still the one I get most excited to use. When I went to a drag show last Saturday, this was of course the highlighter I went for, without a second thought.

I hope I didn't ramble too much, but my love for highlighters knows no bounds. Please let me know what your favorite highlighter is - after discovering Champagne Pop works on my skin, I might have to pick up MAC's Soft and Gentle (I previously thought it would be too dark)! My name is Kelsey and I am a serial highlighter hoarder.

The Cream Eyeshadow Trio

July 16, 2015 in Makeup

In the summer (and, let's be honest, pretty much all year round), I tend to reach for cream eyeshadows exclusively. I'm a big fan of one-wash colors that can be easily slapped on and blended out, and to me this look is most often achieved with a cream. My makeup drawer is full to the brim with Color Tattoo upon Color Tattoo, but I've been reaching for a few high end options that actually work extremely well together as well as on their own.

You may remember from my Beauty Wishlist from early last month that I was pining for the Charlotte Tilbury Eyes to Mesmerise Cream Eyeshadows, and if you happened to write a post on them or mentioning them, I probably left a comment on it telling you how much I wanted them (sorry about that). The shade I was most desperate for was Marie Antoinette, described as an antique bronze, because I just don't have enough bronze eyeshadows, you know (can you feel the sarcasm radiating at you through the screen yet)? I also wanted Mona Lisa because of the name (hello, art history nerd here) and the beautiful warm chocolate brown color, and Jean because you can never have too many pinky champagne colors (and because it was modeled after Marilyn Monroe's look).

After I made some extra money house/pug-sitting, I finally bit the bullet and justified my purchase of Marie Antoinette and Mona Lisa based on how long I had been thinking about them and my proclivity towards anything in cream form. Jean got the axe from my shopping cart when I realized I was close to spending $90 on eyeshadow and it was probably similar to my Benefit cream eyeshadow that was gathering dust at the back of my drawer. Fast forward to me wandering around a Cosmetics Company Store while on vacation last week and picking up the Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Cream Shadow Stick in Golden Pink and finding it was probably pretty similar to the one that got away, Jean.

Whew, thanks for listening to me blab about how this trio came to be, but what I came here to really tell you was how beautiful these three shadows are. Golden Pink is, as you'd guess, a really pretty pale rose gold shade that really adds some brightness to the eyes. The formula of this eyeshadow stick is incredibly creamy and blendable, but once it sets it's there for good. This color is super shimmery, which I love as it adds even more light to my eyes, but if you're not one for shimmer I'd give this one (and in fact, all three of these) a miss.

Marie Antoinette, as I said above, is a perfect bronze shade that's not too warm and not too cool. It's actually a little similar in color to the Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze, but the formula could not be any more different (this is how I'm justifying it and I'm sticking to it). Mona Lisa is a gorgeous deeper chocolate brown color that has a hint of burgundy - I'm thinking it's like a deeper, darker version of MAC's Sable eyeshadow (another firm favorite). The Charlotte Tilbury cream shadows have blown me away and have become my favorite cream eyeshadow formula. It's got a more liquid-y/mousse-y formula than the Color Tattoos and is much softer to the touch. They're so so pigmented - I just have to gently tap my finger into the pot and have enough color to produce a lovely, even wash over the eyelid. They're packed with shimmer, but it's so fine that it gives the eyes a glossy, almost metallic look. I was nervous about the incredibly creamy formula making its acquaintance with my "everything creases on me, even with primer" eyelids, but it was a hit. I still do use primer of course, but like the Bobbi Brown offering, once set these do not budge or fade or do anything you don't want your eyeshadow to do.

All three of these are beautiful on their own, but I realized while swatching them all together that they'd look perfect together for a really pretty neutral eye look. I like to sweep the Bobbi Brown Golden Pink over the inner third, then pat on some of the Marie Antoinette on the outer two thirds and blend through the crease, and finally add a little of the Mona Lisa into the outer corner for some depth and definition. They complement each other nicely - I usually don't wear more than one cream eyeshadow at a time because ones like the color tattoos can become hard to work with if you're trying to be precise with them, but the three of these are so creamy and blendable that it's easy-peasy.

Do you like using multiple cream eyeshadows for a look, or are you more of a one-and-done kind of person?