CoverGirl and Olay BzzAgent Campaign

 

 I was so excited to have been chosen by BzzAgent to try the new CoverGirl & Olay Tone Rehab 2-in-1 Foundation & their CoverGirl & Olay Pressed Powder. This 2-in-1 product is a foundation with a serum and primer base all swirled into one convenient product. It is no ordinary make-up as it smoothes the appearance of rough surfaces and gives your skin a radiant finish. The Tone Rehab Foundation also contains known skin conditioning ingredients to help hydrate your skin and help improve the skin tone over time.

All that's needed is just one pump for your whole face to reduce the signs and instantly cover discolorations and age spots while one bottle hydrates to improve skin tone over time. And finishing your look with a soft layer of CoverGirl & Olay Pressed Powder to help brighten your skin tone.

This Foundation comes in 14 beautiful shades that will cover many skin tones from light to deep, with a balance of cool, neutral and warm undertones. It comes in the following shades:

• Ivory
• Classic Ivory
• Creamy Natural
• Buff Beige
• Nude Beige
• Medium Beige
• Natural Beige
• Warm Beige
• Creamy Beige
• Soft Honey
• Golden Tan
• Classic Tan
• Tawny
• Soft Sable

This Foundation is available at all major retailers, with a suggested retail price of $13.99. CoverGirl & Olay Tone Rehab 2-in-1 Foundation, contains Olay serum, hydrates to skin to help improve it over time. Olay skin care ingredients, including Glycerine, Niacinamide and N-acetyl Glucosamine, effectually penetrate the skin's outer surface layers to moisturize skin for improved skin tone over time.

The CoverGirl & Olay Pressed Powder is made with gold pearls, yellow iron oxide, and silk mica. These work together to help provide natural looking skin while giving an energized appearance and healthy radiance. This powder helps brighten skin tone while softening the look of imperfections. The formula has a built-in smooth-glide serum, which provides a touch of brightness without feeling heavy or cakey.

This powder comes in 6 complimentary shades:

• Fair - pair with Ivory or Classic Ivory foundation
• Fair/Light - pair with Creamy Natural or Buff Beige foundation
• Light - pair with Nude Beige or Natural Beige foundation
• Light/Medium - pair with Medium Beige, Warm Beige or Creamy Beige foundation
• Medium - pair with Soft Honey or Golden Tan foundation
• Medium/Dark - pair with Classic Tan foundation

What did I think about this?

  For starters I love how great this foundation made my face look & feel. While I had seen this in print ads and on TV I had never even thought to try this. I personally haven't used Covergirl face products (foundation or powder) since I was in high school. I'm so glad I was given the chance to. I was amazed at how well it covered my red & hyperpigmentated skin. Also the smell was fantastic. I'm so sensitive & allergic to so many scents in my cosmetics that I can't use many of them.

The application of this product was easy I tried it with my fingers and it gave a good coverage if your in a hurry. My prefered method was using a foundation brush. Most any one will do it will assure that the coverage is even and flawless.

 I also loved the pressed powder it was great & a must have for me since I have very oily skin. The only con was that I had to powder several times during the day to keep the shine at bay. I feel that this will be better for me in the winter months when I tend to get a bit dryer. I did like how it covered my fine lines and discoloration with ease. I do think that this will be great year round for people with normal to dry skin. If you are oily it may be better for you to use in the winter time. Unless you don't mind blotting several times a day. Also the choice of colors available was great. The color I got was in 125 Buff Beige and 320 Fair/Light in the powder. In skin tone I'm a fair/light complexion. So this was a great match for me. At first I thought it would be either too dark or too light just by seeing it in the bottle. Actually it was just right. I would have thought I was a Classic Ivory, but as it turns out I'm not.

Overall this is a great product and I did see some improvement in my skin tone. I have been using this for a month now. I feel that this was sufficient enough time to give a review and base an opinion on this product. I have seen a slight difference in my fine forehead lines. Only time will tell if these will diminish further.

Here is a Before and After photo. The after is using the CoverGirl & Olay Foundation & Pressed Powder. The after photo is just the foundation and powder. No other make-up is used. Just those two products.

 

This was what came in my BzzKit. It contained 1) The CoverGirl & Olay BzzGuide 2) One full-sized CoverGirl & Olay Tone Rehab 2-in-1 Foundation 3) Complimentary CoverGirl & Olay Pressed Powder 4) Coupons to share with the ladies in my life

 NOTE: The above mentioned product was provided free of charge by www.bzzagent.com . All opinions in this review are my own and do not reflect the views of Bzzagent, their employees or affiliates nor of any brand mentioned therein. I received no monetary compensation for my participation in this campaign.

August Favorites 2012

It's time once again for my monthly favorites. Which wasn't hard for me to choose at all. Why? Well because all the items are from Urban Decay. So lets begin shall we?

• Urban Decay/Build your own Palette-$18- This palette has space for 6 pans of your favorite Urban Decay shadows. Inside, Urban Decay has included a generously sized mirror, a travel-size Good Karma shadow brush, and Walk of Shame, a pinkie-peach matte shadow available exclusively in this palette. In my palette I have Walk of Shame, Free Love, Lost, Mildew, Roach and Secret Service. Of course all the other shadows are not included so you will have to shell out some dough for those. Each shadow is $18 in the new packaging and formulation.

• Urban Decay/Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup-1oz-$38- This is a weightless and virtually invisible liquid foundation that creates a luminous, demi-matte finish on the skin. This has build able coverage which allows you to customize your look. Available in 18 shades. The finish is matte, never flat, and luminous, but not shiny. A little goes a long way with this foundation I only need a half a pump for my whole face (light coverage) and one pump for full coverage. In Mac I'm a NW20 so the color I was matched to was 3.5 which is a light shade- Beige with slight pink undertones. So far I have been happy with this foundation. I will try it a little longer then conduct a full review.

• Urban Decay/Good Karma Optical Blurring Brush-$24- This brush was made to use with the Naked Skin Foundation, this brush picks up and distributes all formulations from liquid to cream to powder makeup better than a sponge. The “optical blurring” comes in when you buff out your makeup: instead of a streaky finish from using your fingers or a sponge, buffing helps out the light-diffusing particles in Naked Skin and seemingly fine lines disappear. It's blending ability makes it ideal for mature skin, as it creates a smooth, youthful-looking appearance. The medium sized brush is packed with dense hairs & it has a domed top that works well around the face, making it suitable for under the eye, around the nose, and around the brow area. I really love this brush a lot and it was a great investment. It works super with the UD foundation and with others as well. The brush is made of recycled aluminum, and has synthetic, cruelty-free brush hairs.Which are a plus in my book because they are super soft and don't scratch.

• Urban Decay/24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencil in Paranoid-$19- This pencil is great. I have never tried their lip pencils before. I have tried and loved their eye pencils. So this was a first for me and boy it was a nice and creamy formulation without creating any feathering and stayed on for quite a long time. Paranoid is a deep pinkie nude which I was surprised it worked with me. I have kinda medium to darkish pink lips so when this color was recommend to me I was like whoa it's way to dark, but it really wasn't. I love to wear nude lip colors all the time and very rarely stray from those colors. So this liner keeps my lipstick from feathering it's not dry or flaky and holds it in place at least 4-6 hours. Which I find that amazing. On lazy days I will just only use this liner as my lip color and it still looks great on me. If you haven't tried any of their lip liners I would advise you to. You won't be disappointed.

• Urban Decay/Super Curl Curling Mascara-$12- This is a sculpting, curling and long-wearing mascara. In addition to holding curl all day, this mascara boasts incredible conditioning ingredients in its formula. Packed with glycoprotein for lash thickening, Moringa seeds to help with curl definition, and Meadowfoam seed oil and Shea Butter for moisturizing and smoothing, lashes get an extra nourishing boost with just one swipe. I have very long pin straight lashes my lashes naturally face down. So no curl what so ever. I really have a hard time finding any mascara to hold a curl let alone make my lashes look nice. So usually I don't wear mascara for that reason. Whenever I get a makeover done I'm always complemented on my pretty long lashes. Then they proceed to apply a mascara formula that they hope will work. Well for the first few moments it does then poof! They go flat and back to straight. Even using a lash curler won't work. I've even tried heated ones and nope no dice. So when the MA at UD suggested this one I was like go ahead try it because nothing works. Well guess what to my amazement it did work and now this is my only go to mascara. So if you have lashes like mine and have tried almost everything to have them hold a curl even for a few hours then you must try this. I have the sample size of this mascara which was given to me from UD so I didn't have to buy a full-sized just yet. The full-sized is $20. I know you can get one of these sample ones on EBay for cheap just to try out and make sure you will like it. PS this mascara also doesn't flake, run or clump on me.
  

July Favorites 2012

Whoo! as we all say another month as come and gone. I'm still trying to get these out in a timely manner but, no matter how hard I try something always comes up. So I guess it doesn't matter when the favorites come out. What counts is that they do. So without further adu here are my July faves.



1. Revlon Colorstay Whipped Creme Makeup Foundation- 220 Nude. (0.8 Fl. oz.) Now the reason this foundation is my favorite is because of the staying power. This foundation holds up very well to the hot Texas heat and humidity. I was at first skeptical on using this because I had such a bad experience with the original one. For starters the original Colorstay was terrible smelling almost like a chemical floral smell. Also the coverage was awful it was just too thick no matter how I applied it or sheered it out. So when this one came out I thought great I wonder how this will compare. Well I'm happy to share that this stuff is awesome and holds up well. It is a great summer foundation for oily skin gals like me. The longest I've worn it was 18 hours and it held up all that time. Through sweating and searing heat and humidity also I didn't even use a finishing powder with it. Which was great and also no touch ups needed. I also did have a hard time finding the best way to apply this foundation. I tried so many brushes so personally for me fingers work the best and also the next item to make my favorites worked the best. So the only cons are that the price is a little more than the original one and also that you don't get as much product as well. I do like the look of the glass jar but, being that I have carpal tunnel it is quite heavy for me. Other than that I'm so happy to be able to use a Colorstay product. As for smell it does have a faint smell but, nothing my sensitive nose can't stand. So this product is definitely a keeper. I will have to see how this holds up to winter weather. I got this at Target and paid $8.99 with a $3.00 off coupon. It sells for $11.99 at my local Target and Walmart also sells it for $10.99. Walgreen and CVS also sells this but, the prices were significantly higher.

2. Sephora Classic Mineral Powder Brush #45 $26 - Well I got this brush as I have all my other foundation ones to see if this one really worked like people claimed. Well for starters it's a great liquid foundation brush. I know it says it's for powder but, of all the reviews on Sephora website many are using it for liquid instead of powder. So I decided to give this a whirl. This works great for many of my liquid foundations. This brush for me worked the best with the Revlon Colorstay Whipped foundation. It left my skin looking and feeling great. A quick alternative to using your fingers if you don't want to have to take the time to get all the product off if your in a hurry. This brush is made with synthetic fibers which are also micro microbial and won't irritate your skin. This brush is a keeper. Just beware that when you deep clean it. It will take a while to dry like two or more days so make a note of that.

3. Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Base Coat $8 - This is a great base coat for my nails which sometimes get dry and peel. This base coats also fills those areas so that your nails are as smooth as possible. Which is great because I can't really wear those metallic polishes all too well. When your nails are either pitting or peeling those metallic polishes don't look good on and make a manicure look terrible. So if you suffer like me with this problem then this base coat is worth trying.

4. Revlon Lip Butter in Pink Truffle 001 $6.49- I love this color it is a pretty wine color and I love the formula of the lip butters they are so moisturizing and non drying my lips. So far I haven't had any problems with any of the colors. I own like 7 of these.

5. Philosophy Purity Made Simple Facial Cleansing Gel & Eye Makeup Remover $20-7.5oz

I know that the original Purity Made Simple cleanser is pretty popular, but this new version is way, way better.You can use a bit, lather it up, and use it to remove your eye makeup, followed by putting some on your Clarisonic and finish cleansing your face. Your face will be super clean and feel soft. My face has an oily zone on my cheeks, my nose, and my chin. This cleanser works wonderfully and I love how clean it feels. It won't strip your skin. I like that it suds up more than the original Purity and overall, this gel formula is more effective than the original. I hope this product is always available, as it is superb and a fantastic improvement on the original.

 

If you have any questions or requests please leave them below.  I'm also on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and of course Facebook.

Lancome Teint Idole Ultra 24h Review

This is a review on the Lancome Teint Idole Ultra 24h foundation in 210 Buff N and 220 Buff C. Well what can I tell you about this foundation? It is great, fantastic, and marvelous. I personally have never tried any of  Lancome's foundations. Why did I try it now you ask? Well earlier this month HSN was having a premiere launch of its newest formulation of the Teint Idole Ultra 24h. Something about 8 years in the making for this exclusive patent pending formula. HSN was the first to get their hands on it for customers to try before it launched nationwide. So I decided to try it . I really wanted to see if it was all that it claims. Well at least for me it was.

Over the last few years I've tried lots drugstore and department store foundations and I have loved some and left some. I will go further in depth in a later blog on my fave and not so fave foundations. Like I said, this foundation is amazing on my skin. And that says a lot. It controls my oily skin well. The only issue was that there were only 5 shades to choose from. So I chose the one for light skin which came in a neutral shade. My skin is more cool toned than warm. So when I received it the color was a little ashy.

This foundation is medium to full coverage but, still lightweight and covers well without looking cakey or mask-like. It makes the skin feel like it has nothing on at all. Now that's hard for a lot of foundations out there now to do. Even the ones that claim they are weightless. I was skeptical at first. When I first applied it I saw a major difference in the way my skin looked and felt. This does cover well. I have redness on my cheeks, nose and chin area. This also does not settle in my fine lines or pores. It actually makes my pores look a lot smaller without accentuating them. I have no problems with the coverage and I only used one pump for my whole face. It blends really well and is build able. You can apply it using clean fingers for a lighter look or blend it using a foundation brush of your choice. I tend to use my fingers when in a hurry. Otherwise I either use my Sigma F80 flat top kabuki brush or a damp beauty blender to apply this. It has a velvety matte finish with no powdery effect. I personally do not use a finishing powder with this foundation as I feel it makes my face look cakey. This foundation is oil-free, fragrance-free and transfer-free.

This is a swatch of the 210 Buff N color. When I got this it looks like a great match on my face but, in reality it wasn't it was too ashy.

Here it is spread out a little better. This was just half a pump of foundation an a whole pump will cover all your face. So this will last a long time.

Here is a swatch of the color 220 Buff C. This color was matched to me at Nordstrom by a Lancome Makeup artist. It is a closer color to me since it has more of a pink undertone.

Here it is spread out to where you can see the texture and color. This color blended a lot better than the other color on my skin and looked a lot more natural. The other color made my skin look paler than I was.

This last set of pictures here is from when I went to Macy's. I was still not sure after using the other color 220 Buff C for two weeks. It started to look like it was too dark on some days. I still love the texture, coverage and feel of this foundation. It is just the color that has me second guessing it. I'm considered a Fair/Light skin tone with pink undertones.  In Mac I'm a NW 20. There are some foundations that I'm fair in color and other I'm light in color. So this picture above is of Ivorie 110 C which I got a sample of over the weekend to try. I was color matched at Macy's as being their lightest shade. It is hard to tell in this picture since my hand is darker than my face. It seemed to blend in well to my skin when applied.

This is the color spread out. I'm sorry I didn't put a lot of product on this hand so It kinda dried fast. This is the color that was matched to me. So I'm still debating on what color I truly am. I do know for sure that I'm not a 210 Buff N. So the perfect color search continues.

Here are swatches of all the colors on my inner arm which is almost the color of my face. So as you can see when they are all together. They do seem a little off in color. Making the Ivorie 110 C color my perfect match. So I will continue to use the Ivorie 110 C for the remainder of the week to make my final decision on color. I hope that this was helpful. If you have any questions or comments please leave them below.

If you want even more information on this foundation I suggest checking out www.lancome-usa.com website or www.sephora.com or www.nordstrom.com .