50% off Elf Mineral Makeup!

Hi Everyone!

Elf at eyeslipsface.com currently has 50% off ALL of their mineral makeup including brushes!

Here's a link to a flat eyeliner brush you can use to apply the Elf cream liner-- only $2.50!
http://www.eyeslipsface.com/minerals/eyes/eye_brushes/mineral_eyeliner_brush

Happy Shopping!

Help! Adult acne...anyone? Anyone?!

I've been (unfortunately) experiencing a bit of acne lately and It's driving me completely nuts.  I got through all of my teenage years without acne of any kind, why now?! Why me!?

I started noticing in January that my face took a turn for the worse...breakouts, redness, super sensitivity.  I have extremely dry skin which an issue all on its own, but it turns out that adult acne is most likely to occur in women with very dry skin... figures...

It's obvious at this point that my current skin care regimen isn't working. (Exfoliating scrub, toner, Pond's Dry Skin Cream) so I went to Walgreen's tonight with my girlfriends to pick up a few new products...

 ::Drumroll::

I'm hoping these items will keep my skin issue at bay until I can see my dermatologist... has anyone had any luck with these products? I'm desperate!

Cream Eyeliner... Budget friendly!

Hi Everyone!

Keeping with my commitment to find the very best products on my very low budget, I've been a sucker for all the deals on eyeslipsface.com, otherwise known as Elf.  Elf is sold at Target stores as well but their site is packed with items that can't be found in stores AND they have a new sale up literally every time I blink.  I took advantage of one of those deals (50% all Studio makeup) a few weeks ago and I'll review some of the products I ordered at a later date. 

Elf flew under the radar for a while at Target stores offering $1 makeup.  I may have bought a lip gloss or two back in the day but Elf has stepped it up majorly.  The packaging, the pigmentation...for the price, can't be beat.  I was talking with my friend Sam today (who also enjoys Elf) and she wanted to see a review for some of the new products I recently picked up.  That is coming (promise!) but I couldn't hold off on reviewing one of my favorite new Studio products I've found recently...

Do you have $3? I know you do.  And if you don't...SCROUNGE!  That is all this little pot of joy will cost you!  I'm talking about Elf's cream eyeliner.  I used to be a pencil liner only gal...those days are O-V-E-R!  I own a few cream liners from Smashbox which are really fantastic but I had to try this one from Elf... I actually nabbed this at my local Target 2 weeks ago as I failed to add it to my "cart" during my Studio line binge.  I decided on "Plum Purple".  It has the slightest sheen to it and it's absolutely gorgeous.  Other colors include: Coffee, Midnight, Copper, Gunmetal, etc... Also, whoever bought up all the Black from my local Target: sharing is caring!

Smashbox Cream Liners

Plum Purple

 The product claims to be "smudgeproof and budgeproof" and they aren't kidding.  The photo below showing the swatches is after I've rubbed my fingers back and forth over the product leaving it undisturbed.  Amazing!  I wore this liner this weekend and I probably had it on for a good 12 hours and it looked perfect at the end of the day.  It's magic, I'm convinced.  I like to use a flat liner brush for application (Smashbox) and it goes on flawlessly.  It does come with a cheapo mini angled liner brush which didn't particularly work for me so I tossed it.   

The packaging is very nice.  There is quite a bit of plastic surrounding the actual product, but I truly can't see myself ever having to scrape the bottom of this pot.  A little goes a very long way. 

I HIGHLY recommend this liner.  If you are a cream liner novice, you can absolutely afford to experiment with this one!   

Cover Girl Natureluxe- Luxurious, lightweight feel; Infused with jojoba and cucumber extract

Sunday evening...  what to do?

I've been relatively unsatisfied with my foundation selection as of late.  I've been using Maybelline's Dream Liquid Mousse for about 2 years now but lately I've found that my skin seems to get oily after about 4-6 hours...
I always set my foundation with powder but I just can't win lately.  I do have extremely dry skin but this foundation just isn't doing it anymore.  I needed a new solution.  What to do?

I turned to my late-night addiction, youtube beauty videos, in particular: emilynoel83, one of my absolute favorites, along with many others.  She (and others) spoke of Revlon's Colorstay foundation and its long wearing formula.  I made my way to Ulta to pick it up and I was SO excited to try it.  I got home, I moisturized, I primed, I applied... not a win.  The Colorstay does not BLEND! I admit, I probably didn't make the best color selection, but this product was awful for me.  The product comes in both dry skin and oily skin formulas and even the dry formula left my skin feeling beyond dry, it felt like it was cracking...

Back to Ulta it goes.

I was at Target yesterday and I was strolling through the cosmetics aisles and I came to Cover Girl.  I don't own a ton of Cover Girl, but the Natureluxe foundation has been intriguing to me, particularly since I'm paying more attention to the chemicals I'm allowing to be placed on my face and/or body.  To my surprise, someone had left a buy one foundation, get a free Natureluxe gloss balm coupon! I gave in...PLUS Target had the foundation on sale for only $9... it tends to retail for around $13-14.

I woke up this morning, sprung out of bed to use it and was pleasantly surprised! The smell is interesting-- it's a soft cucumber scent, nothing too potent.  The color match was pretty decent as well.  They don't use names like "sandy beige" or "creamy natural" which might throw some women off, but my particular color is 320 Aspen.  I used a dense flat top brush from Smashbox to blend and it worked pretty well.  The overall coverage is light to medium and it leaves a really silky feel.  It's definitely more of a mousse texture than a liquid, but I prefer moussy foundations anyway.  As I feel the blended swatch on my hand, I'm almost wishing I had a moisturizer that felt this good.  It's very silky.  I set it with a powder, but I think without a setting powder you'd have luck achieving a dewy look.  I would say it lasted a good 6-7 hours before I felt like I need to touch it up.  Overall, I'm really happy with this foundation.  It feels more like a tinted moisturizer to me than a foundation-- super light weight, good coverage, silky feel, pleasant scent.  I think this will be a fantastic summer foundation.

The Gloss Balm I picked up is called "Marble" and it's a very sheer light pink. 

I would definitely recommend giving this foundation a try if you're in the market for a light weight foundation.  I don't know how well this foundation would fare on oily skin, but there's only one way to find out! If you pick it up at Ulta, they will let you return it if you're not satisfied which is fantastic.  Otherwise, give it a go! 

It's springtime! Coral and orange lips galore!

Hi everyone!  We've made it to March 21, springtime!  I've been doing a lot of digging into what's "hot" this season in makeup and nails and without a doubt, coral and orange lips are huge!  I wanted to make sure I could try this look on myself before I went and spent a fortune on all kinds of colors I didn't need so I spent some time at Ulta trying to find the perfect color.  I wanted something affordable, bold and bright.  After some searching, I decided on Revlon's Hot Coral Moon Drop lipcolor.  The Moon Drop lipsticks have been around for some time, but nothing could beat the hue on this one.  It's a bright orange-red and it's gorgeous.  I've never been one to shy away from bold colors on my lips so I knew I could rock this. 

The most important thing to remember when wearing a color like this for spring: It MUST be matte. Say it with me! "It. MUST. be. matte."  Going too glossy with a color like this will be way over the top.  You want it to look effortless and chic.  If the lipstick you choose has too much of a glossy sheen to it, just blot with a tissue, top it off with some translucent powder, and then dab your lips with a bit of water.  Instant all day matte lip!

I'm really excited about this new trend and I think it's a new fun way to experiment with color.  For a more subtle coral lip or to ease yourself into an orange lip, try Revlon's Super Lustrous lipstick in Smoked Peach.  It's definitely more subdued, but it packs a punch that's oh-so-summery!

Happy Spring!