bareMinerals Addiction Continues with Destination Glow

As I've mentioned probably a thousand times within the short lifespan of this blog, I love bareMinerals. So when Ulta sent me a coupon for $10 off any $50 bareMinerals purchase, I of course took the bait. Hey, I was almost out of concealer anyway, so I was already $20 closer to qualifying for the coupon! bareMinerals coupons are so rare that I was not going to pass this up.

After much consideration, I decided to go with the new Destination Glow 5-Piece Full-Face Color Collection that came in an adorable mini tote bag. The kit includes the 5-in-1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow, Riviera Eyecolor, Flawless Definition Waterproof Mascara, Faux Tan Matte All-Over Face Color, and Loud & Clear Lip Sheer in Magenta Vibe. Honestly the tote is what caught my eye first, I am a sucker for a cute bag since it's like a bonus gift. But the two pieces that really sealed the deal for me were the 5-in-1 BB Cream Eyeshadow, and the Lip Sheer.

Although I have so many eyeshadows, I tend not to wear it on a daily basis. Not only am I lazy and usually running late in the morning, but I actually like the natural color of my lids. But sometimes I want to switch it up, so I have been looking for a quick and easy solution. The new 5-in-1 BB Cream Eyeshadow looked like a great idea, where I just could apply the eyeshadow and take off, and not have to bother with primer and blending and whatnot. Coming in the shade Soft Linen, this cream shadow is perfect for everyday, and takes about two seconds to apply (jackpot!). The first day I wore it, I definitely put it to the test: a 14 hour day of work! I have pretty oily eyelids after a few hours, so I was checking on this cream eyeshadow every hour or so for signs of breaking down or creasing. I didn't use any primer, I just put the product on straight from the tube in the morning. I was seriously impressed by the staying power, as there wasn't any noticeable creasing until about 9 or 10 hours after application. Even after it started creasing, I just took a tissue and blended it out again and it lasted the rest of the night. Even with primer, I can't think of an eyeshadow I've tried that can perform as well as that. I can't wait to get this puppy in other shades!

The other diamond in this set is the Loud & Clear Lip Sheer. Again, I have a ton of lip glosses, but this new sheer balm from bareMinerals looked so juicy that I couldn't resist it. I'm usually not one for such bright colors like this magenta shade, but I heard that this product truly is sheer and would be flattering on most. This lip gloss goes on so smooth, it's almost like Vaseline in texture. It doesn't have much of a flavor or smell, which I am fine with, and the magenta really gets diluted once applied and just gives a nice pink hue to my lips. I am absolutely in love with it, and again can't wait to get this in other shades.

I haven't tried the rest of the items in the collection yet, but I'm looking forward to the All-Over Face Color (my pale skin could use all the tanning help it can get) and the traditional loose powder eyeshadow. The Riviera Eyecolor is a stunning gold shade that I think would look great by itself, but may be even better and brighter if put over the Soft Linen cream shadow.

So, Ulta got me again with such a great coupon (please keep them coming!!). I am very satisfied with this collection and would recommend it to any bareMinerals fan. These colors are universal and flattering on everyone, and it's a great stock-up kit (every girl needs waterproof mascara). Plus the little tote bag gets me every time, it is so cute!!

My Current Wish List

My wish list is so long, no human could possibly need or even use up the amount of products I want to buy and try. I really have to keep a tight leash on my wallet when I'm walking through Ulta, Sephora, or random drugstores, looking through magazines, watching HSN, reading blogs, oh my gosh pretty much everywhere. If I won the lottery, there would be no limit to my beauty spending! (If only I could win the lottery asap!)

I've decided to share some of my current beauty wants, and although the list is always changing, these are the sticklers that one day shall be mine, oh yes, they will be mine. Unfortunately since I don't actually own any of these and because I'm new and not sure about the blogging rules for using pictures other than my own, I don't have any photo examples to accompany my list, so use your imagination...

1) Urban Decay Naked3 Palette - While I would gladly accept any of the Naked palettes, this would be my first choice. The rose gold shades are to die for, and right up my alley. Nude shades with a twist of pinks and shimmer, count me in. I love how versatile these shades are, and how they can be used for everyday or for special occasions with just simple changes in style. I am not someone who wears eyeshadow on a daily basis, but if I owned this palette I would definitely make room for it in my routine. Every time I see a tutorial online I swear my lids itch with longing!

2) Benefit Fakeup - This innovative under eye concealer is surrounded by moisturizer to help keep that delicate area nice and hydrated. As someone who regularly deals with both dry skin and dark circles, this concealer seems perfect for me...except for the price tag.

3) Lorac Back to Bronze Collection - Some of you may remember my regret for not picking this kit up in my last Ulta Haul post here, and I am still regretting it. The beautiful colors of the Alter Ego lipsticks have been calling my name, and the good things I'm hearing about the Lorac eyeliners make the urge to kick myself even greater.

4) Mally Beauty Face Defender - I've got to admit, part of the reason I want this is for the "whaaaat" factor. I hadn't seen this until recently on QVC, where Mally demonstrated this crazy gel-like substance that set makeup and did touch-ups on the go. I felt the product in the tester at Ulta, and it was slightly greasy but left no residue, and was a lot firmer than I expected. How this solid substance creates such a beautiful finish over makeup is amazing, and I must try it. I also truly appreciate that Mally interacts with all of her fans on Twitter, which cannot be an easy task to keep up with all the chatter. I don't own anything by Mally yet, but I already consider myself a "Mallynista!"

5) Sealed with a Kiss Hairspray by Martino Cartier - I'm usually not one for hairspray, I don't style my hair much past a simple bun or ponytail, but I love the idea that you can use this hairspray before ironing or curling without frying your hair off. My hair does not hold a curl well, and to use a hairspray before curling would normally destroy both my hair and my curling iron. But Sealed with a Kiss promises that using this hairspray before styling can actually help your hair and will ultimately hold your desired look. I think that if I had this can handy, I'd be much more likely to try more intricate looks.

There you have it, folks, the top products I'm yearning for lately. For now I will just have to be content to dream about the day when that lucky lotto ticket gets into my hands so that I can get all these awesome items and more! Does anyone have these items? What do you think of them?

Fail: elf Waterproof Eyeliner Pen

I guess the old adage still stands: you get what you pay for. When you spend $2.00 on an eyeliner pen, don't expect the world. I have a deep love/hate relationship with elf products. Some of their items have been awesome and a great value, and others I wish I hadn't wasted my time or money. This particular item falls into the latter category. 

I had high hopes for the Waterproof Eyeliner Pen. Some great reviews on YouTube put the idea of it into my head, and it gets about 4 out of 5 stars on the elf website. It's billed as a waterproof and smudge-free liner, which is important when much of the time I am looking through a camera and my eyeliner smears all over the place. I chose the shade Midnight because it looked more navy than black, and I have more than enough black eyeliners. And a felt tipped eyeliner pen seemed perfect for me, a person who is terrible at applying eyeliner and has had pretty good luck with the liquid pen type in the past. So I took a shot and ordered it, along with a haul of other things (and thanks to retailmenot.com, free shipping!).

I was so excited to rip open the package and try it, but the second I took a look at the tip, I knew this was a no-go. The tip looked so dry! The little fibers sticking out of the point didn't have an ounce of liquid on them. When I tried to swatch it on my hand, the tip was indeed dry, barely eking out a bit of color. Plus the pen was so stiff it almost scratched my skin! Thank goodness I didn't go right for the eyelid. Hoping that the liquid might just have been blocked from the tip during shipping, I recapped it to put it tip down to get the juices flowing. The back of the package states "Best stored tip down for ultimate color saturation," but the cap end is rounded and will not stand up on its own! Why suggest storing it tip down, but then make the packaging incapable of standing tip down by itself? So two strikes so far.

Notice the curvature of the cap, that's not going to stand up!

I left it alone for a while, propped tip down between two bottles of lotion, and hoped that when I reopened the cap that the tip would look a bit more saturated. But alas, this was not the case. I decided to play with the eyeliner anyway, and attempted to gently swipe it across my lid. OUCH. The tip was outrageously stiff and it actually hurt! One pleasant surprise was that it left a much more pigmented line than I had anticipated. Until, that is, I went to repeat the process on my other eye and it was a faded, pale line. I had to draw over the line about three times to match the darkness of the first side (and thus three more times of painful swiping). Strikes three and four. In a ballgame, this guy would have been benched already.

My one last hope for this product was the waterproof, smudge-resistant, long-lasting power promised by elf. I let the eyeliner dry, and waited about twenty minutes before testing it out, more than enough time for it to set in my opinion. I went to the mirror and slightly touched my finger to my lid, and... smudgy mess! The tiniest touch took my nice thin line to an ashy, thick line that honestly looked like a big bruise. Smudge-free, I think not. Deep down I knew that if it was this easy to smudge, it was impossible for it to be waterproof, but I didn't want to leave any stone unturned. I put a bit of water on my fingertip and touched my unsmudged eye, and as I thought, the second the water hit my skin the eyeliner ran like it was being chased. Strikes five and six, this guy shouldn't even be playing the game.

So this is going straight into the fail bin. If I had spent more than a couple bucks on it, I'd be making a much bigger stink with elf customer service. But as I said, you get what you pay for. Skip this one, ladies!

Latest Ulta Haul!

I made one of my many pilgrimages to Ulta this past week. Although a normal event for me, I was looking forward to this trip more than normal. Not only did I have a pretty rough week at work and needed some beauty retail therapy, but the busiest season of the year at my job is about to come up and this was going to be my last opportunity to leisurely browse through my favorite store for a long while. I even named it "Ulta Day," and my coworkers wished me a Happy Holiday, that's how serious I was and how bad I needed it. I gave myself a budget of about $30, and hoped that I could get some great stuff within that price point.

My original intent was to buy the LORAC Back to Bronze Collection. This set was gorgeous, with a ton of goodies for only $36. I've been wanting to try LORAC cosmetics for a while now, and I thought this would be the perfect introduction. The kit included the famous Cobra mascara, Alter Ego lipstick in Girl Next Door (so pretty), TANtalizer Baked Bronzer, a dual ended liner & shadow, and Liquid Lustre Gloss in Peach Lustre, all with a cute little makeup bag. I really was convinced that this was the set for me. But somehow, as I always tend to do, I talked myself out of it. I'm definitely regretting it now as I describe it.

After about an hour of wandering the store and picking up basically everything, here is my haul that I ended up with:

Starting from the left, the Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe, Herb & Rosewater. This is a product that was given to me as part of a gift for my high school graduation #### years ago. I never really used it, but was looking for a moisturizing spray that could be sprayed over makeup and dug this out of my stash. I absolutely love this product. Not only does it smell fantastic, but it sets makeup, helps keep my skin hydrated, and best of all- it's affordable at $7 a bottle. I bought another bottle to keep in my work equipment since the summer months are going to be brutal and this will help my skin immensely.

Next is the Tweezerman Smooth Finish Facial Hair Remover. As I constantly have to combat annoying facial hairs that pop up, I was really interested in this product. Apparently spring-based hair removal products are nothing new, but I've never seen such a thing and decided to give it a try (anything beats awful depilatory creams!). Plus, this came with a free mini-tweezer, another thing that has since gone in with my equipment for the upcoming busy season. Full review to come!

And last but not least, there was a sale on NYX items, and I had NYX on the brain after watching this video by emilynoel83 about her favorite NYX products. She is awesome, and her videos are addicting to watch. In this video, she talks briefly about the Dewy Finish Makeup Setting Spray and how it doesn't make her look too powdery. Honestly, that's all I had to hear, because her makeup is always gorgeous! So luckily, Ulta had one bottle left and I grabbed it! Since NYX face cosmetics were on sale for buy one get one half off, I had to find something else. My first instinct was lip color, especially since emilynoel83 speaks  highly of them, but I have so many lip glosses already that I really had to force my hand away from the display. Then I noticed the NYX Illuminator, and I am a sucker for highlighters. My pallor lacks the inner glow that every girl wants, so I am in a constant search for a highlighter that will make my pale skin look less lifeless. I bought it in the shade Enigmatic, which is a pretty pink shade that from first glance is pretty sparkly. I swatched it in the store and it gave a beautiful, natural looking pale pink shimmer to my skin. NYX is usually hit or miss for me, with more misses than hits, but I have high hopes. I'm going to try them for a little while before I do a full review.

By the end of Ulta Day, I had spent about $40, which was over my budget but close enough that I was satisfied, plus I got some great stuff. Hopefully this haul tides me over until I have some free time to head back! Have you used any of these products? Have you gotten anything good at Ulta or anywhere else lately? I love comments, tell me about it!

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New! BareSkin Liquid Foundation by bareMinerals

As I may have mentioned, I am a diehard bareMinerals Original Foundation fan. I have used it for over two years, and am constantly recommending it to anyone who will listen! The Original Foundation is a loose mineral powder that comes in a wide range of shades. A longtime drugstore liquid foundation user, I was at first hesitant to try a prestige brand (aka pricey) foundation, let alone the jumping into the foreign concept of loose powder. But I needed something that would effectively cover up my acne without making it worse, and a close friend recommended bareMinerals.

I was not disappointed. After watching a few YouTube videos on how to apply (Swirl, Tap, Buff!), I quickly got the hang of managing loose powder without making a mess of my face (or the bathroom counter). The Original Foundation looks more like my own skin than any foundation I've ever had before; my own skin but way better. It covers my blemishes, isn't drying or cakey, matches my skin perfectly, and blends flawlessly. I couldn't be any happier.

But then bareMinerals tempted me something even better, a new revolution in makeup. I was chosen to be one of the first to try their newest creation for free before it was sold in stores, bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation. This promised to be the innovation to convince any liquid holdouts to convert to the bareMinerals way. Finally a liquid foundation that acted like a serum to actually help your skin. Could this be better than my beloved Original?

I received this awesome tube of wonder containing my new foundation and brush in my mailbox at the beginning of April. Sleek packaging, I must admit.

Included with my foundation was the new innovative brush created for the proper application of their new formula. The new Perfecting Face Brush is designed with a little reservoir to hold the drops of foundation, and to help apply it perfectly to your face.

The little indent in the center of the brush is the reservoir. Truly a great idea, and the brush is incredibly soft.

As I am the shade Fairly Light in the Original Foundation, I was sent the new shade of Bare Linen to test out. Not the lightest of the light, but pretty close.

The application motto created is "Shake, Drop, Buff," where the user shakes the bottle (remixing the formula since the lack of harsh chemicals may cause ingredients to settle), then puts 1-2 drops into the brush reservoir, and then buffs it onto the skin (much like the Original Foundation).

Ladies let me tell you, less is more! Start out with one droplet, not two. When I first started trying this foundation, I mistakenly put two drops and my face looked like it was streaked with makeup. One drop will provide enough coverage and blend much better than two drops. One drop for the right side of the face, buff and blend, then one drop for the left side, buff and blend. I guarantee that if you are unsatisfied with the way this foundation is turning out, using too much may be a contributing factor. It is a buildable formula, so start off light and go from there.

As a loose powder gal, I had previously been unable to use cool products like liquid or cream blushes and highlighters, because liquid over powder is a no-no (can you say pasty mess). I'm thrilled to have a liquid foundation option by bareMinerals so I can experiment with items such as Benefit's posietint (stay tuned for my review in the near future!).

Since my use of Original Foundation had a lot to do with covering my acne and subsequent scarring, a main concern with bareSkin was whether it would cover adequately or not. With one drop for each side of my face, I found that the latest bumps and redness were easily covered at the time of application, and some days I didn't even need concealer. I did notice that there was noticeable wear-and-tear as the day went on, however, where the foundation started to cake and flake a bit around the worst parts of my face.

I was hoping that the liquid foundation would be a better option for the occasional dry patches on my face (Retin-A Micro causes my skin to freak out in spots sometimes). The Original Foundation is no match for flakiness, so I had high hopes for a liquid formula. Alas, however, I didn't notice much of a difference. As the day wore on, the dry patches appeared as they always do and flaked my makeup.

All in all, I was very satisfied with bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation. I cannot stress enough though that you should have a light finger when dropping the foundation into the brush. When I was first trying it out and using too much, I was told that I looked like I was wearing heavy makeup (something I have never been told with my powder). I will be staying with my Original Foundation for day-to-day makeup, and saving the liquid for when something more heavy duty is necessary (special occasions, extreme acne, etc). I highly recommend you give it a try, especially if you've been hesitant to jump on the bareMinerals bandwagon due to the lack of a liquid option before this. 

And thank you to bareMinerals for letting me try this product out for free before it hit stores!!

I'm 30... With Acne???

It has to be some sort of cruel joke, I thought to myself each morning when I woke up and found yet another blemish on my face. After all, I did my time already, suffering with this plague when I was a teenager. For a few blissful years in my twenties, I was free of these bulbous bastards. But as I entered my late twenties, and ultimately (gulp) thirty, they reappeared with a vengeance.

I am not talking about a pimple here and there, sporadic and manageable. I am referring to the giant, embarrassing kind that left my face a noticeable mess. Scars and scabs added to my despair, and nothing I tried seemed to work.

Every over-the-counter remedy was useless, Benzoyl Peroxide and Salicylic Acid had failed me. I tried home remedies to no avail. I hated my current dermatologist and foolishly refused to admit defeat and make an appointment. I stubbornly believed I could fix my acne problem myself, without shelling out the co-pay at the dermatologist.

The closest I came to reducing my acne was when a Sephora worker recommended the sulfur based Blemish Banisher Kit by Kate Somerville. This system was not cheap (about $55), but again, I was stubborn and I had never tried any sulfur products. The set came with trial sizes of her most famous products, as well as a full sized sulfur spot treatment called EradiKate. It looked like a science experiment, but I was willing to try it. Leaving the sulfur solution on the latest blemishes overnight, it definitely helped to dry them out and shrink them a bit, but the kit overall did not help prevent or alleviate my acne. $55 down the drain.

My acne got so bad, and my confidence so low, that I had to finally go to the dermatologist. I was at the point where I was so self-conscious that I thought everyone was focusing on my face and not me. It was as if my acne was all there was, like a giant red flag. I had been so stupid, trying to avoid the doctor for so long. So I found a new dermatologist, and made the dreaded appointment. After much trial and error, she finally got my acne under control with a combo routine that included the MIRACLE that is Retin-A Micro. Although it can be very drying if you're not careful to moisturize every single day and night, it really has helped to lessen my acne and to fade the old scars. I still get breakouts, but they aren't nearly as bad and can usually be covered up decently with makeup (I'm still looking for the perfect concealer that won't end up dry and cakey at the end of the day, comment with suggestions!).

The moral of my story is that I shouldn't have hesitated to go to the dermatologist. I realize that now. But one good thing from my saga with acne is that it got me started in this amazing world of makeup, because out of necessity to cover up the hideousness that was my acne, I began this quest to find my favorite brands and personal style.

My usual routine:
Morning- Neutrogena Ultra Gentle Daily Cleanser, Eucerin Daily Protection SPF 30 Moisturizing Lotion
Night- Bare Minerals Deep Cleansing Foam, Retin-A Micro, First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream