Review: ELF Cream Blush in Flirt

Elf Cream Blush in Flirt

I've always been a big fan of ELF products. They are pretty great quality, and very reasonably priced. This blush is a part of their studio line, which means it cost me $3, instead of their other stuff, which usually costs only a dollar.

Elf Cream Blush in Flirt

At first glance,this can look like a very bright colour. But when applied on the cheeks, it is a really nice wash of colour and looks very natural. 

swatch, unblended

swatch, blended

See how pretty it is? It isn't overwhelming at all.

The Breakdown:

Packaging: This packaging is cute, but very bulky. It's a big plastic jar, so it isn't very heavy, but it takes up a lot of room in your makeup drawer. This contains 0.15g of product, so you get a lot, but there is a lot of excess packaging.

Colour: This shade is what I would describe as a matte, bright, baby pink. It looks super bright in the container, but on the cheeks, it appears as a natural flush (all depending on how much you put on- it is buildable). It is pigmented, but no so much that you have to worry about clown cheeks when you first put it on.

This comes in six shades, as available on Elf's website.

Formula: This has a weird sort of texture. It feels sort of like Play-doh and it's very squishy. They don't feel like either a cream or a mousse. They sort of feel like...a creamy sponge? They may seem a little dry at first, but that isn't a issue for me. To avoid dryness, I use my fingers to apply, and I pat it on, instead of swiping. 

Longevity: These last decently long without fading. I don't usually put on much to begin with (to keep it looking natural), but it is still there after about five hours.

My Rating: 8.5/10

This a really great blush. It looks natural, it has great pigmentation. Would highly recommend!!

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa

NOTD; Revlon Facets of Fuchsia

Revlon Facets of Fuchsia

I am seriously in love with this colour! I've owned it for about a year, but this is only my third time wearing it!! How could I ignore a colour this pretty??

This is from Revlon's Autumn 2011 collection, Expressionists. This was released with a couple of other glitter nail polishes, but this is the one that caught my eye. 

This is a sheer black jelly base with purple microglitter and larger hexagon glitter. It's a vampy polish with a little bit of added something. It's not just your standard black, or dark purple.

Revlon Facets of Fuchsia-close up

I used three coats for this. After the first coat, it's pretty sheer. But the second one makes it almost completely opaque. I did a third just to even things out. 

I used one layer of top coat, but I could have done with two because it was still a little bumpy.

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa

PS. Sorry this post is kind of short; I'm sick at the moment.

Review: Revlon Colorstay Whipped Creme Foundation

Revlon Colorstay Whipped Creme Makeup in 110 Ivory

For about a year and a half before I purchased this foundation, I had been using Revlon Colorstay regular liquid foundation in Combo/Oily and then I switched to Normal/Dry formula. So before I go into reviewing this, I'll tell you about my skin type.

I used to believe I had combination skin, because my T-zone would get oily. But now I know that I have dry skin, with a bit of an oily T-zone. Because my regular Colorstay foundation in Combo/Oily would always look cakey on me, I switched to the Normal/Dry. This worked better.

So I have sort of acne prone skin. I get occasional breakouts on mostly my chin, and sometimes my forehead and cheeks. I have very dry patches around my nose, mouth and eyebrows. And my chin and forehead can get a little bit oily, but my major worry patch for greasiness is my nose. My pores are big around my nose and on my forehead. Does that cover every issue? I think so. Yes, my skin is kind of a pain. 

Anyway, so my Normal/Dry foundation would still look a bit cakey on me (even when applied with a damp sponge, which I do every day), so when I saw this I decided to pick it up and give it a go.

Revlon Colorstay Whipped Foundation in 110 Ivory

I picked this up in the lightest shade, Ivory (that's the shade I usually am). From the pictures above, you can see what the packaging is like. This is a bulky, heavy and unnecessarily large glass jar. This contains 0.8 fluid ounces of product, so this has a lot of excess packaging. But for a drugstore product, it does feel rather fancy. 

This cost me around $15 CAD at my Wal-Mart, so this isn't very cheap.

When you open the jar and remove the white plastic protective covering, this is what you see. Creamy, whipped foundation. I was expecting the texture of this to be like the Maybelline Dream Mousse products, but it isn't. It's feels like a very thick liquid foundation. It sort of feels like a melted ice cream,or milkshake. 

swatch

As you can see, this is quite a yellow toned foundation, just like the original Colorstay. I have pink undertones, but this matches my skin rather well. But for people with very pink undertones (mine are more neutral), this may not match very well.

This foundation for me gives even more coverage than the original Colorstay. So for people looking for light coverage, look elsewhere, because this gives medium-heavy coverage. 

swatch, blended

It blends well, as you can barely see it in this picture here. 

I've seen other people say that this looks completely natural on the skin, so there must be something wrong with my skin, because this still looked cakey when I put it on with my fingers. So I started using a damp sponge again, and that works better for me. This looks less natural on my skin than liquid Colorstay, but it does deliver more coverage. 

This foundation claims to wear for 24 hours, but it doesn't for me. It wears down a bit after 13 hour days, but for people with oilier skin, it will wear even less. 

Overall:

Packaging: The jar this comes in is pretty bulky and heavy. It could definitely been toned down to be more compact. And also, you have to dip your fingers into this day after day. After awhile, bacteria is going to build up in there. 

Colour: This is a very yellow toned foundation. For me, this isn't a big issue, but for some with very pink undertones, it might present a problem. This foundation is available is 12 shades, and it is part of their permanent line.

Formula: As previously mentioned, the consistency of this is very thick, creamy Cool-Whip sort of texture. It blends and wears well on my face, but still looks slightly cakey on me. It has a lot of coverage, and when blended, feels quite light on the skin. It definitely gives a matte finish on me, but for oilier skin, it may appear more dewy.

Another note, this doesn't have SPF in it. That being said, I have seen some reviews where they mention having an SPF 20, but my particular jar doesn't have any.

Longevity: Like I said, I can get around 12-13 hours of wear out of this, but not near 24. I find that a bit of an excessive claim.

Claims: This product claims to wear for 24 hours, and while I've already touched base on that, it also claims to provide buildable and full coverage (which it does. Good job, Revlon), and to have a soft matte finish all day long. It does that, too but not the "all day long" part. 

My Rating: 8.5/10

This isn't the best foundation I've ever used, nor is it the worst. I knocked off some marks because of the bit of cakey ness on skin, but that may just be me. It has more coverage than original Colorstay, but looks less natural.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this foundation, and I think on people with normal or oilier skin and yellow tones, this would look great! But I do enjoy wearing  it on own skin, too.

Thanks for sticking to the end of this pretty long post!!

Melissa

NOTD: China Glaze Velvet Bow with China Glaze Twinkle Lights

China Glaze Velvet Bow under Twinkle Lights

If you want to see China Glaze Velvet Bow by itself, check out my last NOTD.

Both polishes today came from China Glaze's 2011 holiday collection, Let It Snow. Velvet Bow is a deep wine colour that you can't really see under the glittery-ness of Twinkle Lights.

China Glaze Twinkle Lights

Twinkle Lights is basically just Christmas in a bottle. It is a clear base, with green, gold and red glitter. When I first got this, it was sort of sheer. Even with three or four coats, you could still see bald patches when I wore this. But now, a year later, this has thickened up quite a bit and it's a lot more pigmented. I barely needed two coats to get complete coverage, but nonetheless, I put a base polish under this. 

China Glaze Twinkle Lights

The ratio of glitter here is about 50% gold, 25% red and 25% green. It is just so pretty! This here is one very thick coat, which is equivalent to about two regular coats.

Some glitters are real top coat eaters, but surprisingly, this one isn't as much. I only needed about two layers of top coat, but I probably needed to go with three. But with some glitters, four or five layers are required to even be vaguely smooth. 

Obviously since this is from last year's collection, you can't buy it anymore. But there are some glitters in this year's China Glaze holiday collection, which you might enjoy instead.

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa

NOTD: China Glaze Velvet Bow

China Glaze Velvet Bow

I honestly cannot express how much I love this colour. I know it's nothing special and it's been seen in many a collection before, but I just love how... glamorous it looks on the nails.

China Glaze Velvet Bow

This is from China Glaze's holiday collection from last year, Let it Snow. This is a deep burgundy/wine creme, but it kind of squishy looking, and I'd say it's bordering on a jelly formula.

This is literally the best formula I have ever worked with for a nail polish. I'm the type of person that gets air bubbles every single time I paint my nails, regardless of what I do, but this one gave me no air bubbles AT ALL. It's a miracle!

This might be due to the fact that I've started using a new top coat, Revlon Colorstay. It's really great so far, as a little side note.

China Glaze Velvet Bow

As this is a semi jelly finish, it was sort of sheer, so I needed three coats to reach full opacity. Definitely worth it!

Obviously, this colour isn't available anymore, but it's so common, I'm sure you can find another colour like it. In fact, there's a colour very similar in the OPI holiday collection (both the collection and the polish are called Skyfall). 

There is also a very similar colour in this year's China Glaze holiday collection, Holiday Joy. The polish is called Merry Berry.

Thanks for reading!!

Melissa

Monday Questionnaire: November 12, 2012

Is it too early to be excited for Christmas? Well, there's only 6 more Mondays until then!!!


1) Current Mood:
Average, I guess. I'm kind of feeling a little...insecure, self-hating right now. That's never a good feeling, but sadly, way too frequent.

2) What is the last song/album you purchased?
The new songs from the last episode of Glee.

3) The best video game system ever is ___________?
I've had three in my lifetime: Nintendo Game Cube, Nintendo Wii and a Playstation 3 (well, the last one is my brothers). I would have to say that the Playstation is my favourite. The graphics are awesome, and a lot of my favourite games are on there (RockBand, Skyrim...lol)

4) Current nail polish:
China Glaze Velvet Bow.

5) How many times did you hit the snooze button this morning?
None! I'm very good at getting up on time, even on a Monday morning...at 6am.

6) Current outfit:
Black leggings, a blue shirt, and a brown/white striped three quarter cardigan.

7) What is the furthest distance you've ever driven?
Um, no idea?

8) You can only use one mascara for the rest of your life--which is it?
Oh my goodness, this is an impossible question. I feel like my mascara favourite is changing all the time...well, my current favourite is Covergirl's LashBlast Fusion, so I guess we'll go with that.

9) If you could have a $1000 gift card to anywhere right now, where would you choose?
Sephora, of course!! That gift card would be used up in one trip...it's very sad that I'm not even exaggerating.

10) Weekly Goals:
Don't let the things people say bother me :(

Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone has a great week!


Melissa

My MAC Eyeshadow Collection!

So today I'm going to share my MAC eyeshadow collection with you. I've found that MAC eyeshadows are some of the best quality there is, right after Urban Decay. All the shadows in this blog post are part of their permanent eyeshadow collection.
So over the course of about two years, I've only bought eight MAC eyeshadows for my palette. Why? Not because I don't like them, or because they're too expensive. In fact, they're quite reasonable for a high end brand. They're $17CAD regularly, but I get them for $13 because I buy them in the palette form.
Anyway, the reason I have only acquired eight is because MAC don't have a lot of shades that appeal to me.
Let's get started then!

1) MAC Phloof!

MAC Phloof!

This is my all time favourite colour from MAC. It is just such a perfect highlight colour. It's a frosty off-white with pink undertones. Lot's of pigment; a great colour.

According to MAC's website, this is indeed a frost finish. 

2) MAC Dazzlelight

MAC Dazzlelight

This is another great highlight shade. This is also an off white, with yellow undertones this time. This is a Veluxe Pearl finish. Not as good pigment on this one as Phloof!, but still decent.

3) MAC Retrospeck

MAC Retrospeck

I'll be honest, I don't really reach for this colour very often. It's a good colour, but I think I got a bad shadow. When I swatched this in store, it was smooth and buttery. But when I got it home, the one I got was stiff and not very pigmented at all. The swatch you see above is very heavy.

And yes, I understand it's supposed to be a "beached blonde", but it just lacks pop for me. But for people who like lighter shadows, maybe check this one out! This is a Lustre finish.

4) MAC Era

MAC Era

Now this is one I reach for a lot.This is the absolute perfect colour for when you want to look like you're not wearing any makeup, but you want your eyes to look finished; more polished. I love Era for this. 

MAC's website says this is a "soft golden brown with shimmer", which I'd say is pretty accurate, although I'm not sure about the shimmer part. It looks like it just has more of a sheen. It is a satin finish. This is definitely more of a warmer brown.

5) MAC All That Glitters

MAC All That Glitters

This is the first MAC shadow I ever got, and I must not have been very makeup savvy back then, because I NEVER use this anymore. It is just way too warm and orange for my skin tone. 

MAC describes this as a "beige with gold pearl", with a Veluxe Pearl finish. It's a pretty colour, and a cult favourite in the makeup community, but it just doesn't work on me.

6) MAC Honey Lust

 MAC Honey Lust

Once again, another colour I never use. And once again, it's because it pulls too warm on me. Not too mention the fallout is awful for this shade!!

MAC's description is a "bronze dipped peach", and that is definitely accurate. This is the same finish as Retrospeck (Lustre), but this is way more glittery, in my opinion. Not a fan, to be honest.

7) MAC Satin Taupe

MAC Satin Taupe

This is a definite favourite for me and many other MAC fans. Satin Taupe is just such a pretty colour, for any season of the year.

It is a mix of taupe, gray, purple and silver. This is a frost finish, just like Phloof! I can't say enough good things about this colour; I highly recommend it to everyone.

8) MAC Gleam

MAC Gleam

And last but not least, we have Gleam. This is quite a complex shade. According to MAC's website, Gleam is a "barely pinked gold" with a Lustre finish. I'd say the finish is more similar to Retrospeck than to Honey Lust. 

I don't use this colour very often either, because I can't really find a use for it. Which is a shame, because it is such a pretty colour!

So that's the entire collection!

Thank you for reading, and I hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Melissa