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.
  

Clarins Skincare Review

I have over the years been using many different skincare products as I age. Some I really liked and others I didn't. So far I have been liking my latest find. These products have been working really well on my skin. I haven't had any reactions and so far they do what they say. Which is control oil. I have very oily skin and that hasn't changed yet. I seems as I get older the more oil I produce. Weird. Well any way this is a review on the products that I bought that have worked wonders for me so far.

 I have really oily skin with few breakouts. Just the occasional white or blackhead. I had been blessed all my life so far. Knock on wood. With pimple free skin. I do however have rosacea, large pores and uneven skin tone.With some hyperpigmentation just under my lip on my chin. So with that being my skin issues. I decided to try Clarin's skin care products. I had been a die hard user of Clinique products in my 20's. Then in my early 30's I changed brands. That was because my skin had changed as well. Clinique wasn't working like it used to. So I began using the Philosophy brand of skin care. This was a brand that I knew of well but, had never tried. Until my sister turned me on to the brand. She was and had been using their products for quite some time and liked them. So I started using them for the first half of my thirties. Then upon my mid-thirties I was just using anything new to find a Holy Grail product since I'm getting older and still just as oily.


On my latest shopping trip earlier last month. I found myself at Macy's and passing by the Clarins counter. The lady there politely asked me if I had used Clarins before. I had told her yes but, only their Soothing face primer and their lipsticks. I had never used their skin care before. So she showed me what I needed to do to get my skin back in shape. I purchased the items she recommended. I only got the three that I thought I needed right away. I was going to wait on the facial creams. Particularly the day and the night moisturizers because I want to finish my current ones. Plus I like to research those before I buy them since they are so expensive. 

The items I purchased were their Gentle Foaming Cleanser with Tamarind and Micro-Pearls for Combination or Oily Skin. 4.4 oz for $21.

Toning Lotion Alcohol-Free with Iris (aka Toner) for Combination or Oily Skin. 6.8 Fl.Oz. for $21

Pore Minimizing Serum that refines and smooths skin texture. 1Fl.Oz. for $49.

When used all together they really work. I have had my oil production almost cut in half since I've been using these. My skin looks great and more even and my pores seem somewhat smaller. Since using the serum. Only time will tell since I've been using these three products for over a month. The toner and the cleanser work well I love the way they smell and feel on the skin. I really think that I may have found my HG face trio. If you want more information on these or any other products go to www.clarins.com

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 .