Ipsy February 2016

          I think any month that has a holiday makes me more excited for my Ipsy bag. This month I wanted pink for Valentine's Day, I would be happy if every single item was pink. Let's check it out:

 

 

         First how cute is this bag? I love the cute little pixelated love letter, the pink top zip and the back is solid shiny pink. I'm a fan.

 

treStiQue Baby Blush Stick in Bora Bora Coral

Full Size $34 Sample Value $8??

          I am not a huge lover of cream blushes but this feels almost like a powder when it goes on the skin and blends out to a wearable colour. Swatch Below. I am not sure on the value of this one, it is not a lot of product compared to packaging but definitely enough to use for a while.

 

 

Trust Fund Beauty Nail Polish in I'm Kind of a Big Deal

Full Size $15

          There is the pink! I do not normally want to get nail polish in my bags but I love this brand and was hoping to get this. They cover in a couple coats and last quite a while with the right top coat. Would I pay $15 for a nail polish? Oh hells no.

 

Smashbox Cosmetics Photo Finish Primer Oil

Full Size $42 Sample Value $5.50

          I might get hate mail for this one (just kidding, no one cares enough about my opinion) but I really do not like Smashbox. I have tried primers, eye shadows, mascara and I was either left unimpressed or indifferent. That being said I was curious to try out a primer oil, to me that seems kind of foolish since my face already makes enough of its own oil. I was pretty surprised how well this worked for me. Will I every buy it? No. It did make my makeup go on nicely but it didn't do anything to extend the wear. Like I said I have oily skin so I did not expect much but it was not a horrible as I thought. If you have dry skin this might be something you want to look in to. Just make sure to let it soak into your skin for a while before moving on in your routine.

 

Dr. Brandt PoreDermabrasion

Full Size $68 Sample Value $8.50

         I could get this in every single bag and be excited every time. This has physical and chemical exfoliants so you face feels so smooth and deep down scrubbed after using this. In studies the majority of participants said their pores looked smaller, skin looked smoother, helped mattify and so many other good things. I can not justify spending $68 bucks on a full size but if I ever came into some money you better believe I would always have this beside my sink at all times.

 

Margaret Dabbs London Miniature Crystal Nail File

Full Size £12 (about $17USD $23 CAN)

           I got a couple crystal nail files from Julep and Immediately threw out all my regular nail files and bought more crystal files as Christmas gifts. It is just so much smoother on my nails and apparently makes your nails less likely to split. If you spend any time at all filing your nails go get a crystal nail file, it is a little more expensive but will last so much longer. This mini size is perfect for my purse.

 

         The value of this month's bag is $46 (using the USD value for the nail file) which is pretty impressive for a $10 bag. Even with the shipping and awful exchange rate I am happy with the value. I will use 4 out of the five items, the odd man out being the primer oil. I already know a dry skinned friend who will love it and I am glad I got to try it out. Overall I am very happy with my products even though two are not items that I would normally want to receive.

 





Thanks for reading!

A

 

@dirty_cupcake

 

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Ipsy November 2015

           Well this review is a little late eh? Work has gotten more than a little hectic so I basically had to walk away from blogging for a little while. I also was not thrilled by this bag so I was not motivated to share it. I decided I would go ahead and review it for anyone considering signing up or wanting to compare months. The them for this month was Beauty Blast and the bag has a great cosmic design to it. I also redeemed points items and I will talk about them at the end.

 

Sinful Colors Nail Polish in Kissy Full Size $1.98

             I never want nail polish in subscription boxes/bags, I only use gel polish or the Revlon Gel Envy. Very rarely do I use a regular polish and even if that was not the case this just isn't my colour so it will be passed on.

 

Cool Way Strong Hold Spray Full Size $19.95 Sample Value $3.02

          I have no strong feelings about this product either way. It is not super exciting but I will use it  so its just one of those "meh" products.

 

tre'StiQue Mini Matte Lip Crayon in Florence Fig Full Size 3 for $25 Sample Value $8.33

           This is probably the only item in the bag I was actually pleased with, it has a pinkish red undertone and I have discovered that is the type of nude shade that works for me. It is matte without being overly drying and is fairly long lasting. (Swatched below)

 

Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara Full Size $20 Sample Value $7.40

            I am not a fan of Smashbox products in general, a lot of them just do not work for me but this mascara is pretty decent. I passed it on to my mother since I already have a few mascaras to work though and it just is not amazing to me.

 

Beaute Basics Gel Eyeliner in Navy Full Size $9.99

          I am not sure if this is full sized or not but I don't care since I will not be using it. I am very pale and any blue eyeliner, no matter the shade just makes me look trashy. I might be able to pull off a blue that is so dark it almost looks black but I am not interested in even trying this out. I do like that they include a little brush with the product for application so half a point for that. (Swatched below)

 

     

 

 

          Like I said above I redeemed some points for a few items. How cute is the little bottle for the Jouer oil? I can not get over how precious it is. I have been using it fairly regularly and I love how soft and even my skin had become. I use this at night under my moisturizer and I think that this in combination with another product (review to come, hint: Urban Decay) have really helped even out my skin tone and reduce redness. I have not looked up the price to purchase this as I am afraid it will be expensive and that I will talk myself into it. I also picked up a couple lip balms, I have had others from Jersey Shore Cosmetics and they are excellent. I ended up getting really sick of the Pumpkin Spice so that has been put away until next fall when the madness begins again. The Peppermint is rather strong and I love it, it has not left my purse except to be applied multiple time a day.


       The total value of this bag, not including the points items, is $30 which isn't bad but I am only going to be using two of the items and one of them is just because it is there. This bag was a miss for me but the points items made up for the disappointment.

Thanks for reading!

A.

 

@dirty_cupcake

 

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Top 5 Favourites - June 2015

          I wasn't sure if I was going to do a monthly favourites for June. I haven't been using a lot of new products since I have been doing my project pan so I took a look at products I use everyday but do not give much thought to. 

Eucalyptus Spearmint Fine Fragrance Mist from Bath and Body Works 

           This is a relatively new addition to my already way too large body spray collection and I use it almost everyday. I love this scent, I`m obsessed with the Stress Relief collection from BBW and this has the same scent. It's just a fresh, clean and uplifting scent. 

Honolulu Sun Gentle Foaming Hand Soap from Bath and Body Works

          BBW hand soaps always smell amazing but this may be my favourite. It smells like a tropical vacation with coconut and pacific palms. I swear you can practically smell the sand and surf. I am on a very low buy and it is taking everything I have not to go buy 17 more. 

Instant Glow Powder Exfoliant by ClariSEA

          I got this as a points item from Ipsy and it may be the best thing I've ever gotten in one of those pink bubble mailers. I love this because it is a natural salt exfoliant that I can add as much or as little as I need to whatever face wash my skin will benefit from. You do not need a lot to really scrub all that dead skin off and fell fresh faced. I will be buying this when I run out.

Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in 10 Light

           I've just recently needed a concealer in a bad way and this one is a wonder. It covers any blemishes, redness or dark circles while looking great under any foundation. It works pretty well even on the most oily places on my face. When I went to link my May favourites at the end of this post I realized that this concealer was also a top 5 last month. I am leaving it in because I both love it that much and am too lazy to walk over to my makeup table to pick another item.

Full Exposure Mascara baby Smashbox

          When I first got this little sample I was very underwhelmed, I did not think it did anything for my lashes. So. Wrong. I tried this again just because I wanted to get my money's worth out of it and I'm in love. It is very much a lengthening mascara over my usual preference of a volumizing mascara. It makes my lashes look so long and it just gives my eyes a clean, wide open look. It doesn't flake or smudge at all. I would repurchase this in the unlikely event I every need to actually purchase a full sized mascara.

Check out my May favourites. 

Thanks for reading!

A.

@dirty_cupcake

Primer Showdown

          As I had mentioned in an earlier post I have declared war on my oily skin. I won my first battle when I picked up some Clinique skin care products, I will link that down below. My next mission is primers. I bought four to try out in hopes the would be able to help me fight my oily skin. I wanted to start with drugstore products in hopes of finding the perfect primer without making my wallet cry.

          In order we have Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer, Gosh Velvet Touch Foundation Primer in Classic, Hard Candy Sheer Envy Shine Free Primer, and Rimmel London Stay Matte Primer. I will give you some information about each one, the price, where I got it and why and then give a little review. At the end I will rank each of them 1-4, 1 being the best obviously. 

Smashbox Profinish Foundation Primer.  Full Size $40

          I decided to give this one a try because I have heard so many people on YouTube or different blogs talk about this like it is gelly gold. I did not want to drop forty bucks on it without trying it first so I bought a kit with a few different products from Smashbox in trial sizes. I will link that haul at the end of this post. It is oil free which is great because I have enough of that on my face already. The main focus of this primer is to reduce fine lines and reduce pores so it is not specifically for oil control but it is supposed to make your make up last longer. This primer has won tons of awards including the Sephora Award for Best Primer, one of Marie Claire's "25 Products That Will Change Your Life", an InStyle Best Beauty Buy and Martha Stewart Wedding Big-Day Beauty Awards Winner in 2013.

My Review: I am not one to go against Martha, she is a bad bitch who knows her shit, but this primer was complete crap. At least for me it was, my make up slid all around on my face to the point I could not even blot because it moved all my makeup around. I gave it many chances with different foundations, with and without lotion underneath and on days that required different makeup needs but it failed everyday. One day I wore it to work in the restaurant and near the end of my shift I just took all my makeup off because I looked terrible. I would say this actually made my makeup wear away faster and look worse while it was on my face. I will say that initially the clear gel went on really smooth, made my skin soft and my makeup went over it well. I gave this away to my sister I hope it will work for her, I mean it has won so many awards so it has to work for someone. 

Princess's Review: My sister said she did like it, that it was light and made her made her makeup last

Gosh Velvet Touch Foundation Primer in Classic   $25

          This was recommended to be by a woman in the Shoppers Boutique place, I told her I had oily skin and was considering trying the Smashbox primer but was not loving the price. I feel like she missed the part where I said I wanted a primer specifically for oily skin, this is the classic formula; maybe they have an oily skin formula. The bottle says "...is a perfect base for all makeup. It fills in fine lines and deep pores in the skin, creating a uniform, matt and silky soft surface" It is clear and about the of a gel consistency 

My Review: this was very similar to the Smashbox primer both in formula and effectiveness. The Gosh primer took a couple hours more to melt off my face but was still a disappointment. I did like how it felt going on and my skin looked smoother instantly. By the time I was halfway through my day my foundation was patchy and sliding around my face. I was going to just toss this but since it looked so nice by itself I think I will use it alone when I go to the gym to at least get some use out of it. 


Hard Candy Sheer Envy Shine Free Primer    $7.98
          I just saw this in Walmart and decided to give it a try since it said it will control shine for a matte finish. The back of the tube says : "Prevents oil build up and reduces sine while reducing the need for foundation touch ups. Lightweight primer is suggested for oily, sensitive or problem prone skin"

My Review: I had high hopes for this one since it was meant for oily skin, it had creamy texture and felt nice enough going on. My makeup did not slide around like the first two, it stayed put fairly well but I did have a lot of oil and shine, blotting was a must. Wearing a day lotion or serum underneath this one was impossible. I will use this but I will check to make sure to put blotting sheets in my bag.

 Rimmel London Stay Matte Primer    $9.99

           Another Walmart purchase, you can use this alone, under or over makeup to create a matte complexion that controls shine for eight hours.

My Review: I picked this up because I had tried the foundation from this line and found it was pretty decent for my oily skin. The formula was a little thicker, more like a cream. My foundation looked so natural on top of this. I did still have to blot a little after six or seven hours but there was not as much oil as the rest of the primers above. So while it did not solve all my problems it did perform a miracle: my foundation actually looked good under the fluorescent lights in the basement office! I will keep wearing it just for that. I did find that putting a little of the primer over top of my foundation but under powder did help control shine for a little bit of extra time.

The final standings:

4. SmashBox 

3. Gosh           

2. Hard Candy

1. Rimmel        

None of these were outstanding, I will keep using the Hard Candy and Rimmel primers under my foundation and the maybe the Gosh primer alone for the gym.

I will keep trying new primers and let you know what I think.

Thanks for reading!

A.

@dirty_cupcake

The HUGE drugstore haul where I got some of the primers

HUGE Drugstore Haul April 2015

          I did way too much shopping, some from Target and some from Shoppers and I am super excited about every item. You may want go grab a coffee or a beer because this is going to be a long one. 

Swatches are below the descriptions in the same order pictured. 

          With the exception of the first lipstick all this is from Target. This would cost over seventy dollars and I paid fifteen dollars! How could I possibly pass that up?! 

Essence Long Lasting Lipstick in Wear Berries    $3.49

          This is a brand I never really looked at, it seemed cheap so beyond clear brow gel I never tried anything from Essence. This lipstick is so creamy, has great coverage and just sits so well on my lips, with out any goopyness. I have used much more expensive lipsticks that I have liked less, eventually I will pick up some other colours, I think I have enough for now. 

L'Oreal 6h Infallible Lipliner in Pink and Coral  $8.99 regular price

          These do not go on as smoothly as I would like but they look lovely on. I do not have many lipliners and I want to start using them under my more sheer lipglosses to give them a bit more colour and staying power. If this lasts anywhere near as long as the Infallible lipstick it is going to be my new favorite thing. The Coral one is more of a brown tinted pink than what I would consider to be coral. 

Annabelle Metalic Lipliner in Sparkle   $3.69 regular price 

          I would not normally pick up a metalic lipliner but at 80% off of that price why not. I'm glad I did because it looks perfect under the Julep gloss I included in my project pan. It doesn't go on very creamy but once the gloss goes on top it feels very moisturizing. 

Annabelle Twist Up Retractable Lipstick Crayon in Mimosa and Bubble  $8.59 regular price 

          I love these, very creamy and smooth. They both look great alone and with gloss over top. I feel like they would have pretty decent staying power. 

Sonia Kashuk Velvety Matte Lip Crayon in Coraly Nude    $7.59 regular price 

          I also love this, velvety matte crayons do not usually look right on me but this is beautiful! It also makes a great base for the Julep gloss. 

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss in Frosted Beige   $7.99 regular price 

          I would not use this by itself, I have a hard time finding nude lipcolors that work for me. At first I was disappointed by this but when I layered it over the next product I fell in love. I think this gloss would work over the L'Oreal lipliner in coral. 

NYX Lipstick in Honey   $5.99 regular price 

          I have two other lipsticks in this line and love both of them. This one I would not be able to pull it off by itself but paired with the NYX gloss it looks beautiful. I am more hesitant to wear a nude lip than a bright red or pink, I am excited to give this look a try. 

Maybelline Super Stay 14 hour lipstick in Fushia    $2.69 is the price on the receipt but I thought they were more expensive than that. 

          If I remember correctly my cousin (that is you Em) loves this brand of lipstick so I picked it up for her. She can not say enough good things about it. It has amazing staying power, rich colour and all without drying your lips. It also smells nice which is strange. 

NYX Studio Liquid Liner in Plum Purple   $6.99 regular price 

          I have said it before and will say it again: I am hopeless at liquid eyeliner. I am so very willing to give it a shot for this beautiful colour. 

Aren't they all beautiful?! 

         Ok. Break time, go pee and get a snack. I will wait. 

Smashbox Try it Kit   $22 

          Happy Easter to me! I have never heard anything bad about Smashbox, other than the prices are too high. Included in this kit are sample sizes of:

Photo OP Eye Shadow Trio in Filter 

           It's is such a cute little eyeshadow! I like the packaging, it just swings out of the cover. This would be perfect for tossing in a purse or traveling. The shadows go on smooth and blend well together. I love the darkest colour, it is perfect for the crease or blending out for a smokey eye

Vanilla, Sable and Sumatra 

24 Hour Photo Finish Shadow Primer 

          "A shadow primer that locks on more vibrant colour for a full 24 hours with no fading, creasing, or smudging." I have slightly greasy eyelids so creasing is sometimes a problem for me. The sample should last a long time since you only need such a small amount and it is  so creamy. I am pretty excited about this product. 

Full Exposure Mascara

          I would not say this is the most volumizing formula but it goes on very easily, lengthens and with no clumping or flaking whatsoever. Very pretty but I have mascaras I prefer over this. I think I am going to only use sample size mascaras from now on, that way I can have all different kinds and still use them up before they go bad.

Photo Finish Foundation Primer 

          I have heard so many good things about this primer. I did not want to drop $40 on it without trying it first. I just want to find a primer that can fight my oily skin. 

          This is the last bunch I swear. Stay with me. 

KT Elastic Sports Tape   $12.99

          I have a busted shoulder that didn't get treated or taken care of in time to heal properly so sometimes I need to be taped together. This stuff is a life saver. I have never tried this brand but have read some good reviews and I sincerely hope it lives up to them. 

Quo Make-Up Removing Wipes    $12 

           These are certainly in the top five of all the makeup wipes I have tried. They took off waterproof eye makeup like nothing. Shoppers had the regular wipes packaged with the little pink pack of eye makeup remover wipes. These are perfect for my gym bag, purse or the days of heavy eye makeup. 

Maybiline Fit Me Concealer in Light   $9.99 on sale 

          I realized I have no concealer, too bad I couldn't get some before my skin cleared up. This is the perfect colour for me. I have a hard time finding concelers that are are the right colour and still have full coverage, I am too pale apparently. 

Gosh Velvet Touch Foundation Primer    $23 

           I am hoping I like this better than the Smashbox primer since it is nearly half the price. The lady in the Beauty Boutique reccomended it for oily skin. It really does feel like velvet when I swatch it on my hand. 

Maybiline Dream Wonder Powder in Porcelain Ivory    $15.49

           I love this powder, this is the second or third time I have repurchased this. It just sets my makeup so perfectly without looking cakey, on a low key day I skip the foundation and just go for the powder. 

          Ok I lied to you. I have one more product but it is a quick one. 

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Boosters Daily Cleanser    

           I bought this after I tried another Neutrogena cleanser that Momma has. It removes makeup easily, cleans away oil and does not leave my skin dry. I love the cleanser I have (Bioré Charcole Cleanser) but it was drying out my skin. I think I will make this cleanser my daily and use the Bioré one once or twice a week. 

        That is it for real this time. I am so excited to try these products out, if they work out they may make it to a favourites/top 5 post. Either way they will be in the empties eventually. 

Thanks for reading!

A.

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Product Raider  - Check out the products I helped myself to while I was creature sitting for my family