So many women are looking for a basic moisturizer and so they ask what one they should use.
I want to know what you’re using!
Sometimes when I want to use something basic on my face, I use Cerave. What do you use?
Smashbox Halo Perfecting Powder
Smashbox’s Halo Perfecting Powder is said to perfect your perfection and does so with the addition of gold and antioxidants in its formula. What’s kind of cool is that you twist the top of the compact to freshly grind the powder for you. I love it because you get the airy feel of a loose powder with the portability of a compact. You can easily use your kabuki brush to swirl the powder around and then buff it on to your skin.
It wasn’t overly sparkly or glittery on my skin, and I didn’t notice any gold shimmer, but what I did think was that it’s a great powder for those days that you don’t feel like wearing a lot of makeup. It’s not very pigmented, but it has just enough pigment to kind of even out your skin which is just what I need. I put it on top of sunscreen and it’s absolutely perfect.
It does perfect your skin, and the results last for most of the day, with the powder absorbing any excess oil and impurities that the skin might produce.
I use my own powder brush with this foundation and it just works so well. I have it in the colour medium, but I could probably use a light/medium too.
All in all, probably one of the best powder/foundation that I’ve ever used and it’s a hard one to beat.
$55 at Sephora, or The Bay.
Do I Need a Toner?
Many of you are wondering: do I need a toner?
The short answer: it depends.
A toner is a great way to add some omph to your skincare routine. If you have dry skin, a toner can take away dryness and add a layer of moisture before moisturizer is applied.
But perhaps the best use of toner is for those who have more problematic skin. A toner with salicylic acid can be a boon for skin suffering with acne. One with glycolic acid is perfect for those who want to get rid of scarring or wrinkles.
Reversa, Neostrata, and Clinique all have great toners worth checking out.
Posted in Skin Care
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Woodlot Rose and Palo Calming Mist
This is my quantine must-have when I’m working from home. It’s brutal that I can’t even go to a coffee shop when I’m tired of my space, so when I need something to change the space around me, I’ve been reaching for this mist. You can spray it on your clothes, on your furniture, or just into the air.
Honestly I love it and it’s an essential when your office is next to the kitchen. Lots of people don’t like the smell of palo santo. It’s kind of an acquired taste because it smells woody but different, but it smells really fresh when it’s paired with the Rose.
You can get it at Woodlot.com.
$22.
YSL Black Opium Neon
Someone that I encounter almost daily smells so good. I walk by her and sometimes catch a whiff of her perfume, and I ask her what it is and it’s always… Black Opium. Given that, I was excited to give this new version of Black Opium a try.
This is definitely a gourmand scent, with notes of dragonfruit, orange blossom, and coffee, with a sugary amber in the dry down.
What I love about this scent is that it’s definitely long-lasting and I can smell one spray at the end of the day, even if I’ve sprayed it at the beginning of the day. It’s an eau de parfum and that’s probably why it’s so long-lasting.
$135 for 75mL, or $38 for this 10mL spray.
Catrice Cosmetics Overview Video
Catrice Cosmetics is an awesome drugstore brand out of Germany that has makeup products at a very affordable price point. Here, I talk about the products of theirs that I have tried. You can find this brand at Shoppers Drug Mart.
http://www.instagram.com/p/CAHDE0KBDoP/
The Bae Eyeshadow Palettes are $16.99, the Liquid Camouflage High Coverage Concealer is $7.99, and the HD Liquid Coverage Foundation is $13.99.
I’ve been impressed by everything in this line and think they’re worth checking out.
It Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC+ Illumination Review
Ok, my friends, I gotta say that I’m a huge It Cosmetics fan because their products are awesome. Soooo, I’m always a little biased when I talk about their products. BUT, I will say that I am on the fence about this CC cream. It is more like a foundation, even though it’s only available in 6 colours – and I have the shade medium.
If you’re looking for foundation-like coverage, then this is the CC cream for you. I love using a foundation that has SPF 50 in it because then I have to worry less about sunscreen.
But check out how much shimmer was left on my hand after using this CC cream. It was pretty shimmery which means that my face was shimmery too. It looked more natural on my face than it did on my hand, but super be aware that this is a pretty shimmery cream. It was toned down once I put powder on it and looked like a natural satin finish.
Available at Sephora for $52.
My Vanity Right Now
Here’s what’s on my vanity at the moment. What do you think? See any favs? I’ll say that this Make Up For Ever Reboot foundation is the best, even though it’s not really for oily skin. Still love it. I’m colour Y365 and I’ve added it to my Sephora List so that when it finishes I’ll be able to get more. It doesn’t have sunscreen in it, but I’m using a sunscreen as a base.
Posted in More Than Beauty
Tagged Bare Minerals, Bobbi Brown, Dior, L'Oreal, Laneige, Make Up For Ever
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Tips for using A313 Retinol Pomade
I’m using French retinol A313, and my skin is actually loving it. The weather these days is dry so my skin is more dry than usual. You can see in the picture above that it has a thick rich texture, which is slightly sticky when you apply it on your face. If you apply just a pea-sized amount, you’ll see that the pomade absorbs and leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth.
You also have to apply this on completely dry skin – one Instagram user recommended that I let my skin dry for an hour – but that’s just not happening. I wait about 20 minutes and then I apply the pomade, and I’m finding that’s working just fine. I also like to apply hyaluronic acid right on my skin before I use this because it adds a bit of moisture on my skin and the texture of the pomade seals it in.
If you don’t wait for your skin to dry before you use this, you’ll find that it becomes really itchy and you don’t want that. You’ll be scratching or touching your face almost constantly and that’s what you don’t want, especially considering the pandemic that’s been going on. Wait for your skin to dry and things will be better.
There might also be flaking when you use this – it’s only a 0.3% over-the-counter retinol but it’s pretty irritating so I found that I had some flaking after just 3 days of using it. A bit of irritation doesn’t bother me because it lets me know that it’s working, but I didn’t use any acids or vitamin C’s when I was on the regimen. I just stuck to my hyaluronic acid in the morning and at night and then used a hydrating cream in the morning. You could even use an oil and then put sunscreen on top. That worked well for me.
A313 is French but it’s available on Amazon! I have linked to it so that it’s easier to find.
Drugstore Dupe: Hair Serum
You know you love it – we all love to get premium beauty products without breaking the bank, and today I’m going to tell you about a hair serum that I think works as well as a high end salon line’s.
It’s L’Oreal’s OleoTherapy Perfecting Oil Essence, which I think works as well as Kerastase’s Elixir Ultime.
Now, I’ve gone through many bottle of the Kerastase serum and I absolutely love it. I even have a back up of it sitting in my haircare drawer, so that I can turn to it whenever I need. It smells amazing (all Kerastase products are so nicely scented) and it leaves my hair super duper soft. So I love it and continue to use it. But at $60 it might be the thing that you save for special occasions.
Instead, you could try L’Oreal’s OleoTherapy Perfecting Essence which is $15.96 and available at the drugstore. It offers a blend of oils with the silicones, and L’Oreal is the parent company of Kerastase, so it’s not surprising that both brands are offering an oil-serum to use on your hair.
I found that both of these left my hair super soft and manageable. The Kerastase one had a nicer scent, but it didn’t make that much of a difference in the long run.
You can find both Kerastase and L’oreal online.