Coverage & Protection All In One…

Hi Ladies! 

Recently I went on the hunt for a good CC cream, one that would not only make my skin look great but also have the vitamins and sunscreen in it to make my skin great without makeup also. When researching the true benefits of CC creams I found this, “Anyone who wants the anti-aging benefits of peptides, niacin, algae, vitamins A, C, B, E, hyaluronic acid, and hydrolyzed collagen and SPF 50+ UVA/UVB Broad Spectrum, Physical Only, Non-Chemical Sunscreen should be using a CC Cream.” CC creams are literally packed with so much good product for you skin it’s impossible for your skin to not look beautiful and glowing with or without the product. 

I fell in love with the IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream which is a full coverage cream with SPF 50+ and packed with the vitamins listed above. The product is amazing, it glides right onto your face with a brush or just using your finger tips, gives you wonderful coverage, and makes your skin appear as if it is glowing from the inside out. The product does not have any shimmer in it but it does give your face a nice dewy sheen. When I first picked this product up my skin was very dry and this acted as a double moisturizer also because of the vitamin C within it (a super hydrating vitamin). If you have oily skin then I would recommend setting this cream with a powder because it will slip and slide if you do not. It blends out very well too making it a perfect cream for everyday or on the run because you don’t need to use a brush for it, you can simply put it on with your fingers. On the back of the packaging it says to reapply this cream every 2 hours because of the sunscreen benefits but I think you would need to reapply it anyways because this will not last you an entire day. I am not very oily but after a few hours I was oily and my skin was peaking through so reapplying this is a must for a long day. This product is perfect for more of a beach day when you aren’t worried about having to reapply this over powders and you are using this as a sunscreen or just for running quick errands. Either way, I felt that this product made my skin look better when I took the cream off, my skin seemed plump and healthy with a glow and it looked like I just had a facial, it did not look like I had been wearing makeup all day. I would recommend this product to everyone! For $38 you are getting a lot of really good product. I think this cream would be great for women who are concerned about aging, sensitive skin, dry skin, and women at the beach or running errands. 

 

How I Use It: I start with a clean face and then apply some of my Benefit Professional to my skin after my moisturizer I let these to products soak into my face for about five minutes while I finish my mascara then I take the CC+ Cream on my fingers and blend it into my skin but not all the way, then I go in with my damp beauty blender and blend everything out one last time (this creates a really nice thin layer of the product and makes it look like my actual skin). Then I finish my concealer and highlight and set everything with my Hourglass Powder. 

XOXO
 

The Real Deal With Eyebrows…

Hi Ladies, 

I recently did a post about how important contouring is and the wonderful effects it can have on your face if done correctly but there is another popular step in beauty today that needs to be discussed, eyebrows. Eyebrows literally shape your entire face. You can change so much about how your face is perceived if you have awesome brows. I try not to follow by many beauty rules or set too many restrictions and guidelines but I vowed to myself awhile ago to never leave the house without my eyebrows being filled in. If you honestly don’t think it will make a difference I beg you to go into your makeup collection, take a brown (or matching shadow) on a flat definer brush and fill those babies in! 

We all know that Anastasia Soare (Anastasia Beverly Hills) is known for not only her impeccable pros and the vision that she has for others brows, but the phenomenal products she sells also. Her business is so successful and so important to the makeup world right now. Her products are seriously revolutionary for today’s world and trump over most others in the category. Recently she came out with her Dip Brow Pomades which are a creamy consistence of eyebrow heaven. I personally use the Dip Brow Pomade in Auburn every single day. Some may say that it is too harsh for a normal day-time look but if applied correctly and with a light hand you will achieve beautiful full brows that will last you all day by adding a touch of her brow gel. 

While I do love the Dip Brow, I began my eyebrow craze with Tarte’s Amazonian Clay Waterproof Brow Mousse (seriously a mouth full). When I first discovered that I wanted a more thick brow and the pencils and powders weren’t doing it for me this was the first product in a pomade moussey form that I tried and honestly I loved it. It was thick but precise and really allowed me to create the brows I wanted at the time. I bought mine in Medium Brown and I found it was perfect for my light brown hair because it never went on very thick or dark. 

 

Comparing: 

Overall both are great products but they do have some distinct differences

1. Tarte’s Brow Mousse is definitely more thick and if you aren’t used to this kind of formula it can be kind of a mess. While the Anastasia Dip Brow was light and seemed easy for someone new to these products to handle. 
2. Both of the colors were the same level for both brands (medium browns) but for Tarte it had an obvious grey undertone and seemed quite dull when compared to the rich color of the Dip Brow. These could be a negative or a positive depending on who is using this product. I actually did not mind this grey tone to it, at times I think it made it look more natural when it was blended out on my brows. 
3. Both of them last very long. Whether you end up setting them with a brow gel or not these act as a little bit of brow gel because of the texture to them. It is kind of like putting gel in your hair, it might move a little but for the most part the shape will hold all day.
4. I did find that the Tarte Mousse was waterproof, it took extra work to get it completely off at night which I didn’t mind because I knew that even if it rained or I jumped into a pool, it would stil be stuck to my brows. The Dip Brow was slightly waterproof but if given the choice I would choose the Tarte Mousse

Honestly both of these products were so similar and I do not have complaints about either of them. I think it would depend on what exactly you are looking for in an eyebrow product and how advanced you are at creating your shape with a pomade or mousse. Overall I would choose the Anastasia Dip Brow just because it is not as thick and a little bit easier to work with. 

XOXO

Contour & Highlight in One Perfect Palette

These are the two shade options available

Hi Ladies!

So as we all know contouring and highlighting is as essential as drinking water these days. Whether you’re Kim Kardashian or anyone else, the benefits that contouring and highlighting can have is simply phenomenal. While to some, it may seem unnecessary you can get a serious transform in a matter of minutes with just a little dark powder and cream.

I recently attended IMATS in LA this past January and was overwhelmed with the amount of cream palettes that all of the big makeup brands were offering. I ended up choosing a wonderful palette from RCMA Makeup. The palette comes with 18 shades of concealer ranging from dark to light (mind you there are two of these palettes depending on your skin tone, since I am fair I chose the VK #11 because it had more shades to compliment me). This palette is phenomenal! It was seriously worth every penny I spent (I don’t remember the exact price because the IMATS prices were a little different than the normal prices but it currently retails for $27.00)

Although the palette can seem intimidating at first I would definitely recommend trying a cream contour. Concealer palettes make this easy because they offer you such a light shade and then one that is much darker than your normal skin tone. This concealer is formulated to be very creamy and sheer so you will need to build upon it for a more intense highlight. If you are a pro, this kind of palette is ideal because of the price and also the variety of colors that you get because it is so versatile.

 

How I Use It:

I start with my normal foundation routine but I usually apply a thinner layer when I know I am going to contour with cream. After my foundation I take a MAC 189 concealer and dip into some of the lightest shade (if you are using this palette on multiple people then scoop the product onto something separate) I then take the lightest shade and draw a triangle under both eyes down to my cheekbones, a triangle in the center of my forehead, a swipe on my cupids bow, and a triangle on my chin. Next I take a beige color from the palette and swipe it onto the hollow of my cheeks, on the sides of my nose, the area that was not covered by the highlight on my forehead, and on my jaw. I then take any duo-fiber brush and lightly blend out the highlight and then take my beauty blender to blend my contour in ( I like using my beauty blender for this because I want the dark product to stay exactly where it is, if you move it too much you can change the shape of your face and make it look bigger or wider.) After everything is blended I set all the creams ( for my highlight I set with MAC Pro Emphasize powder & for my contour I set with Benefit’s Hoola.)

 

In case you can’t get your hands on this palette try using a light concealer from the drugstore, I like the Maybelline Age Rewind (so blendable and comparable to a high-end concealer) and for contour try the Sonia Kashuck Undetectable Cream Bronzer (there are two shades). If you want more of a liquid contour try a few shades darker than your skin tone in the L’oreal True Match foundation (beautiful foundation from the drugstore)

 

XOXO

What’s The Deal With Primers?

Hi Ladies!

Recently I started the task of trying to find a perfect primer one that truly did everything it said it would and would live up to the expectations that I had. To start, my initial belief is that I need a primer. My skin is dry but it also gets oily in my T-Zone during the day. For some reason almost every primer that I have used has inevitably broken my makeup in certain parts of my face and made my face look worse with makeup than it does without. I started thinking, do I actually need a primer? Are they worth the extra $40 and time in the morning? If you follow Jacklyn Hill on YouTube you know that she does not use a face primer, just a good moisturizer and goes from there and her makeup looks flawless on and off camera. She said that as long as you treat your skin well then you should have no problem simply applying foundation straight to your face. Thinking back to middle school and early high school years, I never used primer or did I know anything about it, it wasn’t until magazines and make-up counters started saying that women NEED it. Over my hunt for the perfect primer I had a lot more bad skin days then I did good.

I started the hunt a few months ago when I started using Hourglass Veil, the primer seemed to glide onto my face and give me a very airbrushed finish. I started developing some intense blemishes quickly after using the primer (and a few new skincare items) so I changed it immediately. I then started using the Benefit Porefessional Primer which honestly is one I always seem to find myself going back to. If you have yet to try the primer, it gives you the most flawless silky skin and I always found that my skin looked best an hour after my foundation had been sitting on it. It was when it got to the fifth or sixth hour that my skin was almost peeking through, I was oily and blotchy, and extra touch-ups just made my skin look worse. Basically this primer did not last long at all. So I set out to find a primer that gave me the same immediate results as the Benefit Porefessional Primer but just lasted longer. So I tried the Too Faced Primed and Poreless Pure primer which was formulated without oil for sensitive skin. This primer to say the least was a waste of money, I was better off with my Benefit primer. Lastly, I rediscovered an old favorite, the Smashbox Photo Finish primer. As I am writing this post I am currently wearing the primer and asking myself why in the world I am. The primer broke up my makeup almost immediately with two different foundations and made my skin look like I literally caked on my makeup. If I could wash it off now without destroying the hard work I’ve done on my liner I would.

So now I am left to return the Smashbox primer and go back to the racks to find a new one… Some of you may say that I am expecting to much from a primer to withstand the wind, sweat, and sun for up to 10 hours but let’s be real I put on my makeup in the morning to last me ALL day… I don’t have time to come home between work or school and wash off my hard work, PLUS thats another four or five pumps of foundation that I am wasting…

If you guys have any suggestions for the next primer I should try just let me know!

XOXO

Is the HYPE worth it?

Recently in the beauty community there is a new little skincare product that is making women go insane, but is it truly worth the big penny? The GlamGlow Supermud claims to, “fight all common skin concerns including breakouts, discoloration, black and white heads, razor bumps, and ingrown hairs.” This product packs a serious punch even in this little white container. The product you get is about 1.2 oz and will run you about $69.00 at most Sephoras. Let me just tell you, this is my holy grail face mask. When you scoop out the mixture it’s a very gritty and sticky black blob that you smear all over your face and wait until it dries. Once it dries you wash it off (or gently rub) with a warm towel and you should unveil beautiful glowing skin. For me personally, I’ve never seen a difference with any skincare when it comes to glowing skin, as long as it’s pimple free I am happy. This product will seriously change your skin, just applying a small amount for ten minutes I almost guarantee will reduce the size of your pores and take out any little impurities. It’s important to remember that this product is really getting into your pores and taking out every little piece of oil and dirt so if you are dry like me use this product with caution. I tend to not believe the hype when it comes to face masks because I personally never see a huge difference and my skin is always SUPER dry after but there is a reason this mask is so popular. I will say though that when researching some negative comments about this product, a lot of individuals who claimed that they had stubborn white or blackheads or just cystic acne did not see the same wonderful results as someone who is suffering from hormonal acne or a random breakout. If you are not ready to commit to the price go to your local Sephora and ask for a sample of it first and trust me you will be hooked!

How I Use It: After I have washed my face I like to apply this all over my face (avoiding my eye area) and focus the excess that I have on my hands mostly on my problem areas so really in my T-Zone. Then I let it sit for about ten minutes, I then take a towel and let it sit under hot water for a few minutes and when I am ready to take off the mask I ring the towel out and lay it on my face for a few moments, the steam really helps to open your pores and give you a serious deep clean! You can also use this towel method befor you put on the mask to prep your skin for it but I usually do it while the mask is still on.
Second Way: If you are suffering from a pimple, do your normal nightly routine and then take a small amount of the GlamGlow and put it on the blemish, in the morning wash it off and reveal your new skin without a pimple! I would not recommend leaving the entire mask all over your face on for the whole night because it will take every drop of moisture from your skin.

The Beginning to Something BEAUTIFUL

Hey Ladies,

Have you been in Sephora for hours trying to find which under-eye cream will be your new holy grail products or have you tried so many different mascaras that your poor little eyelashes are exhausted? Well my name is Sara and I will be your new beauty guru! During your time on my blog I will teach you some makeup tricks, help you pick out your new goodies, and give you a little inspiration everyday. Beauty to me is a form of expression and makeup is our personal paint brushes, I want to share the love that I have for the makeup industry with all of you lovely ladies. You get out of makeup exactly what you put into it but that does not mean I will be making you spend thousands of dollars on eye shadows and foundations, I want to this blog to be a place for women from all walks of life, skin tones, skin types, and financial situations to find peace and help in. So please continue to check back for a new beauty post.

XOXO