Eyes. Lips. Face Haul

Living most of my life oblivious to makeup, besides lipstick and eyeliner, I am just discovering E.L.F. I love how inexpensive they are and the array of different products they offer.

I decided to get several things that I wanted to try and with prices like they have I was able to try a lot and not feel it in my pockets. Winning!!!

The items I purchased and small reviews:

* High Definition powder : I love this translucent powder, it has replaced my MAC powder which I now only use on my lips (my bottom lip is slightly lighter than my top lip and I like my lipstick to be the same color..lol) and when I need to touch up my face throughout the day.
* Tone Correcting Concealer  in honey: totally not my shade it is too light, so I have not used it yet.
* 3 Foundation Sticks in Coffee (my shade), Almond, and Tan: THIS IS THE BOMB!!! It goes on smoothly with my fingers or a brush.  I don’t even know I have it on as its very light. It last me all day and it does not settle into any creases.  To me its a good doop for the NARS All Day luminous foundation WHICH I LOVE!
* 2 HD blushes in showstopper and encore: These are highly pigmented so a drop of the product goes a long way. They actually changed my thoughts about blushes from im not into them to YASSSS blush YASSS!
* Pressed Mineral Blush in wanderlust: I haven’t tried this yet
* 3 Eyeshadow Primers in pearl and sheer: They booth work fine in making the shadow stay in place as well as making the colors more vivid.
* Clear nail polish
*  Sponge wedges
* Fan brush
*All Over Color Stick in pink lemonade..I have not used this yet but the site says you can use them as blush, lipstick, and/or browbone

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Dry Skin Cronicals – Saying Goodbye To Sheabutter

Getting into makeup has now  opening my eyes to the wonderful world of skin care.  Prior to wearing makeup I would just moisturize my skin with lotion, not even a facial moisturizer.  I would have to pile it on because my skin is severely dry and half way through the day in the winter it would start to flake and I would have dry patches scattered throughout my face…TACKY!

What I noticed started to happen after I put foundation on ,my cheeks still get dry and begins to flake under the makeup and it can be SEEN!  I was using a primer and a facial moisturizer (I will talk about what I’m using in a later post) and still my face was dry. What I’ve started to do now is moisturizer my face at night with Shea butter.  And this is helping a lot BUT I am starting to develop  white heads!!! I’VE NEVER HAD A PIMPLE PROBLEM UNTIL NOW!

Through researching I discovered the problem may have been the Shea butter because it is so rich in providing oil into the skin I had an oil overdose (so to speak) and with the production of the access oil it got trapped in my pores thus forming this white head.  This is all my SPECULATION based off a few articles I read…none of them said that exactly.

I’ve since stopped using the Shea butter and have noticed that I do not have a single bump, pimple, Whitehead NADA on my face. Which is what I am used to and I like it!  I am now us Vaseline Intensive Care on my face at night and I am getting good results just as I did with the Shea butter.  I had one bad day  where my dry patches started to show and that was because I applied my BB cream at 6:30 am and did not get home until 6 pm and I was sweating A LOT.

Goodbye Shea butter on my face, however you will always be my true love when it comes to my natural hair 🙂

 

Makeup Review: Black Radiance BB Cream

The lighter the makeup the happier I am unless it’s a special occasion then I can pile it on like the next person…lol. But in attempts to find something very light…sheer if you will…I did some research and discovered that BB creams are a way to go.  Not only are they good for light coverage but my research also uncovered the fact that they are good for people with dry skin. As a bonus, they are wonderful for the summer months when you don’t want you makeup sliding off your face. BOOM! I am in love with this concept.

For anyone new to makeup as I am, BB stands for beauty balm mainly but can also mean blemish balm or blemish base. It is lighter than foundation and heavier than a tinted moisturizer.  It also has some skin health benefits depending on the brand, such as anti-oxidants and/or SPF.

So my first experience with a BB Cream was with the company Black Radiance  in color Coffee Glaze which I discovered while browsing drugstore.com (loving this site right now). It is very creamy and extremely light weight.  It feels like I lotioned my face and now its just a part of me.   I’ve been wearing it since I purchased it about a week ago and I don’t want to stop…lol

This may very well be my last review because why keep going if I’ve found true love….NAH just kidding, im addicted to trying new things for now. lol

I highlighted my brow area with my mac concealer. Used Mascara and eye liner for my lower lid. And the lipstick is violet volt by Milani.

I’ve been looking into blotting sheets for my nose and this picture confirms the need lol.

 

Why do I look like a blowfish?!?!

Blowfish syndrom…lol thats what I’m labeling this condition that I have!  Please tell me I’m not the only one who goes through this 😦  So every so often (more often than I’d like) when I wake up in the morning my face is puffy, mainly my eyes. Sometimes the swelling will go down after I get out the shower, sometimes after a couple of hours, and sometimes even LONGER than that!  So your girl is fed up with this and about to fix this…or attempt to…hehehe.

Here are some of the things that I plan to try.  If you know of anything else that may help please leave a comment below.

– Drink more water …So I already do this but I do skip some days of drinking as much water as I should.  I need to keep a journal to pinpoint when this happens and if my water intake could be the problem

– Dip face in ice filled bowl a couple of times, then rinse with cool water…not gonna be a fan of this but I think it MAY be worth it.

– Use a chilled water filled mask or gel pack for 10 minutes in the morning…thinking this is the way to go for me. I’m going to do this more often but until I buy one ill be doing the ice filled bowl above.

Review: Sephora Collection A45 Teint Infusion

Another sample.  I’ve had two issues with this product and both were bad enough for me to stay away. 1st thing is that it is not easy to spread and manipulate.  Its kind of stiff or hard to spread around your face.  I normally use a stipple brush and this is not stipple brush friendly. It took up a lot of my morning trying to apply this evenly and smoothly.  I dont have that much time!  2nd problem was that it broke me out! I woke up the next morning with 4 pimples on my face!!!  I am no wear near an adolescent thus its been a VERY long time since I’ve seen a breakout like this.  No skin is perfect, so i get an occasional bump brought on by something i’ve eaten but for the most part outside of my dry skin I typically do not get bumps, pimples, or other skin blemishes. I’m wearing makeup to be more beautiful not to add more flaws!

This goes on the He#! NO NEVER AGAIN list!