Summer Beauty: Cover Your Face

For a large part of this summer I’ve been on a long, long ride on the struggle bud trying to find a foundation/ BB cream/ tinted moisturizer that had decent coverage, doesn’t break me out and has SPF. It’s essentially the unicorn of the face makeup world for oily skinned ladies or those with acne prone skin, because unless SPF is done just right it is bound and determined to break you out. To add to that, it’s hard to find good coverage for existing blemishes in a lightweight formula. However, after much searching and trying and many, many breakouts later I’ve found three products of varying levels of coverage that I give a passing grade. And on that note my three favorite summer face products are… 

 

These! I’ve used the products over an extended period of time to make sure my results were consistent and reliable and I’m pretty happy with these products.

Product Number One is MAC’s Matchmaster foundation. Matchmaster is a relatively new formula for MAC, and comes in a color range that’s different from MAC’s traditional NC/NW rating. These foundations are offered in shades from 1 to 10 with half shades in between – I wear a 1.5. The formula is billed as “medium-buildable” coverage and contains SPF 15, which while it’s relatively low it should be good for days when you’re not planning to spend the entire day outside. I’ve tried a few different application methods including the 187 brush by MAC and a foundation sponge but I’ve found that using my fingers to apply gives me the smoothest and most covering application. I found that it was extremely difficult to build color with both the brush and the sponge, and with my fingers I can just tap extra product where I need it without it getting sucked up in an applicator. The formula looks very natural once applied and looks extra wonderful when set with an HD powder or MAC’s Mineralize Skinfinish Natural.

Product 2 is a perennial favorite of mine, Smashbox’s BB Cream. I’ve tried tons of BB creams and even a couple of CC creams but I always come back to this one. I love the amount of coverage it gives while still maintaining a natural finish, plus it has SPF 35 which is GREAT if you’re spending time outside this summer. My only con for this formula is that Smashbox claims the formula is oil controlling, but I see no marked improvement in the oiliness of my skin when I wear this. However, I do have SEVERELY oily skin, so that could just be me. I’m sure this might help girls with combination skin or just lightly oily skin, but it certainly doesn’t help me. I have to blot or reapply powder an average of three times a day when I wear this. I also prefer using my fingers to apply this product (spoiler alert: that’s how I apply the next product too).

Product 3 is Pixi Beauty’s Illuminating Tint & Conceal. The biggest con for me is the price tag – this product costs 30 freaking dollars and it’s from Target. Not a fan. However, I had wanted to try this product for a long time as it generally receives fantastic reviews, so I finally picked up a tube a while ago. I’ve used it quite a few times and I have to say I’m impressed. It has admirable coverage for a tinted moisturizer, plus the concealer in the cap is GENIUS. It’s a full coverage concealer, which is great because you definitely need that with a tinted moisturizer if you have any blemishes or facial scarring. It’s a truly genius idea and would be great for travel. It also contains SPF 20, which is a little above average for tinted moisturizer. Another thing about this product that may be a con for some is that it’s quite shimmery. I don’t mind it so much if I top it with powder but there is a good amount of shine to this product alone. Overall this is a really great product, but honestly I’m just not sure I’ll always be willing to drop $30 for it.

Like I said one of my conditions is that none of these products break me out, which is true of all of them. Of course when you apply with your fingers, make sure they’re clean. Overall these are good products – the foundation is light enough that it’s not drying or overly moisturizing. The tinted moisturizer is great for the weekends when you’re not doing much but still want to look not so much like a zombie. Beware the BB cream: if it’s hot enough that you’re sweating, it’s going to come off and if it doesn’t it will slide all over your face and look terrible. Other than that I have very few complaints about these products. They’ve served me well this summer through long days at work, hot days in the city, busy days running errands and lazy days at home. They’re great summer staples that beauty devotees will love. They may not be for your average shopper as all of these products cost upwards of $25 but if you want great face products that are tailored for summer skin concerns, these are really great. I hope my advice will help you get flawless summer skin!

Magical Things: LUSH Cosmetics

My sister and I have started this tradition where every time we go on vacation to somewhere really cool we have to see if there's a LUSH store in the area and go to it and spend obscene amounts of money. I've visited LUSHes in Canada, Hawaii, and all over the eastern seaboard. I'm pretty sure I've also visited LUSHes in Europe and the Caribbean, but I'm not totally positive and I would hate to lie to you. But seriously, it's becoming a problem for us.

I could wax poetic about LUSH for hours. Seriously. But the short and short of it is that their products smell amazing, work wonders for various skin, face and hair problems, and are overall great quality products in a pretty reasonable price range. I absolutely love that the brand makes a point to make all their products all-natural and many organic and vegan. Plus, not only is the brand cruelty-free, but they actively work to eradicate animal testing from the cosmetics industry with their Fighting Animal Testing campaign. They're an all-around great brand creating innovative products and formulas with ingredients of excellent quality.

I've had this love affair with LUSH for a number of years, but I'm continually discovering new products and trying new things that LUSH has to offer. I had a number of those experiences recently when I purchased LUSH's new Beach Box, pictured below (it's in French because I bought it in the Montreal store).

Not only was the packaging totally adorable (the empty space was stuffed with rainbow packing peanuts and there were interesting facts about the environment printed all over the box) but it came packed with five travel-size products, all themed for the beach. Almost all of the products were new to me, and included two of LUSH's all-time best-selling products - Dream Cream body lotion and Ocean Salt face and body scrub. The other three products were Seanik solid shampoo, Sea Vegetable soap (one of my favorites) and Sea Spray hair mist. In the same trip, I bought the Miranda bar soap, which I had never tried before but smelled completely amazing, like all the best things about summer. I can't wait to crack that baby open. 

Photo via lushusa.com

But now for the beach box. I absolutely love Sea Vegetable, I've been through two whole bars of that soap which is a LOT for me, as I usually prefer liquid body wash. The lime and lavender scent is amazing and the sea salt and seaweed really softens the skin in a great way. But I was really impressed by the products I'd never tried before. I can see why Dream Cream is such a big seller - LUSH's number one seller in fact - the lotion makes my skin feel ridiculously soft and smells awesome. Plus, it's almond oil-free, which is great for me because I'm allergic to tree nuts (last time I tried Charity Pot, my hands broke out in hives. Yuck.). 

Photo via lushusa.com

The Sea Spray was actually not one of my favorites, although it did add a beautiful sheen to my hair that most salt sprays do not, I found the scent to be far too strong for me. The Ocean Salt scrub is amazing, I can't believe I've never bought it before, it made my legs incredibly soft and smooth after just one use. However, I would not use it on my face as it seemed too rough for delicate face skin (but not as rough as their solid sugar scrubs, which I've also used before).

Photo via lushusa.com

But my favorite part of the box is most definitely the solid shampoo. This is one of those LUSH things that I always thought was super weird and I had no idea how it worked and never tried it because I thought it would be a waste of money. I WAS SO, SO VERY WRONG. This stuff is incredible. You rub it down your wet hair three times, suds it up, and that's it! It saves space, it saves time, and I'm pretty sure if you crunched the numbers it would save you money. I've used this every day since I first tried it. It smells amazing, it works into a great lather, and leaves my hair feeling really clean. So many shampoos now are either so gentle/moisturizing that they don't make your hair feel clean, and this left my hair feeling light and bouncy but not dried out. My hair has also been incredibly soft since I started using Seanik, so clearly this is doing a lot of things right. Sorry liquid shampoo, but I may never come back. This is just too, too great.

As for my all-time favorite LUSH products, I'm just going to list them. There are too many: 

• Butterball bath bomb - it's like taking a bath in cocoa butter. Truly amazing, and your skin will probably never be that soft again
• Sexy Peel soap - because the name is cheeky and it smells awesome
• Honey, I Washed the Kids soap - it smells incredible and makes skin super soft
• Marilyn hair mask - specially built for blondes, it's lightening, softening and shine-inducing. My hair literally felt like silk when I was finished. Plus, it smells lemony and delicious.
• Tea Tree Water toner - makes your face feel seriously clean, and tingles, which is always fun
• Cupcake fresh face mask - An acne/oily skin mask that smells like chocolate? It's like they read my mind!
• Honey Trap lip balm - incredibly moisturizing and smoothing, plus tastes like vanilla and honey and is non-sticky. Can someone say makeout sesh?
• A Million Kisses lip tint - SO RED!!! Who knew that natural ingredients could make such a richly red pigment?
• Lip Service - a truly deep treatment for dry, chapped lips. Smells like lemon and works 1,000 times better if you let it soften in your pocket for about an hour before using.
• Gorilla Perfume in 25:43 - one of my favorite perfumes, it's spicy and sexy but also playfully citrusy
• Sugar Babe body scrub - I guess this has been discontinued, but this scrub was super effective. There was not a single bit of dead skin left on my legs once I was through with them. This would be great in the summer for pre-self tanner prep.

As you can see, I have an addiction, but it's one that benefits both me and the makeup world. LUSH is beauty with a conscience and a mission to make the world prettier, naturally. I'm in love with LUSH, and I expect a long, long love affair with this brand.

Necessary Beauty Tools: Sharpeners

If for any reason you don't know this, I'm a total beauty junkie. I used to do the same old same old "what I'm wearing" and "how-to" posts that everyone does, but clearly this new blog is not about that. I made this blog to help me expand my horizons and write about something other than beauty, but there are some things I feel very strongly about that if prompted, I will share with you. Today I was prompted, so here we are.

I read so many reviews online and on Sephora because I do like to do a lot of research before I buy beauty products. If you know me you may be incredulous considering the volume of product I own, but I have cut my inventory by almost half and have become much more judicious in my spending (gasp!). So now research is a thing for me. One of the products I choose to invest in is eyeliner. I use this product every single day and having a good-quality liner makes a huge difference in the look you achieve (and maintain) when you go about your day. And on that note, there are many cosmetic products these days that come in pencil form, and this is where this article comes about.

In my research, I consistently find that many people are switching to retractable pencils, whether it's a lip pencil, eye liner pencil, eyeshadow pencil or so on because they can't find a good sharpener. Personally, I am a huge believer in traditional pencils. My look would not be complete without either my Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero or my MAC Powerpoint Eye Pencil in Engraved. I'm pretty sure at least 80% of the eye and lip liners I own are traditional pencil style, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I too struggled with finding a good sharpener at a decent price. I tried the cheap sharpeners from the drugstore, the high end sharpeners I could use in my place of business and I've tried sharpeners at Sephora and I've finally found one I'm extremely happy with. I present to you: Urban Decay's Grind House.

Photo via sephora.com

Of course a brand that's famous for it's liners would make the best sharpener that (not a lot) of money can buy! I've found over and over again that the Grind House sharpens my pencils to a point with no rough edges or unevenness. It gives me a uniform sharpen all the way around even when I've broken a pencil and start from the bottom. There is little to no chipping in the actual pencil and removing it from the sharpener is easy and doesn't leave rough edges.

This sharpener is also great for its features. It's a double-barreled sharpener with a small hole for standard-sized eye and lip liners and a larger hole for standard-sized jumbo lip and eye pencils. There is a relatively standard size amongst brands now, and a variety of pencils fit into the Grind House. The Grind House also comes with a built-in scraper, which you should utilize after every use to make sure there's no left-over pencil, which can cause problems with future sharpenings. It comes apart for easy cleaning, but when you put it back together it stays together until you take it apart again. Be aware though, I've found that the scraper tends to fall out, so you may want to just take it out and keep it somewhere separate from the sharpener itself. The Grind House recently underwent a design change but I can safely say that the new sharpener is just as good as the old one. At $10.00, this is truly a rather small investment that will pay off big time for your makeup bag, and you can buy it at Sephora or Ulta.

For best results, I've found this technique to be the best.
1. Insert pencil into appropriate side of the sharpener.
2. Sharpen to desired point.
3. Apply light pressure as you gradually pull the pencil out while continuing to slowly rotate. This will assure you don't end up with any sharp edges or dents in your pencil.
4. Once the pencil has been removed, empty contents and clean sharpener with attached scraper. If you feel the need, wet a Q-tip in makeup remover and fully remove remaining pencil from sharpener blades.

I really cannot say enough good things about this sharpener. Don't ever give up a pencil you love because you can't find a sharpener that does it justice. The Grind House will not let you down, and at its reasonable price point I highly recommend picking one up. If you've had sharpener issues in the past or you just really love liners, give this sharpener a try - it won't disappoint!

Magical Things: Water, Meet Straw

Just for your reference, in my personal dictionary “magical things” are things that you would call awesome, or revolutionary. I made a realization about myself today, but first I need to give you some backstory. I used to hate drinking water. Like REALLY hated it and avoided it if at all possible. A couple of years ago I discovered MIO, which was great for a while, but I rapidly got sick of the ridiculously sweet, fake-tasting flavors they provided. When Dasani and Crystal Light released their versions of MIO it was a total relief as they taste much better, but I stopped drinking them out of pure laziness after a while.

Recently, however, I decided that my healthy choice for the year would be to start drinking my recommended dose of water every. single. day. So I, the girl who hates water, was on a mission to drink it. Like, a lot of it. My friend recommended the Drink Right app to me to help me with my goal. Drink Right is an amazing app that uses your gender, age, weight and height to calculate the perfect amount of water for you to consume in a day. It then gives you a picture of a beaker with your recommended amount and the minimum you should drink each day, then gives you amount-size water droplets to drag into and fill up the beaker as you drink. The app notifies you when you’re supposed to drink water and how much you should drink at that specific time. You drink the water, record it, and reach your goal. Easy, right? Wrong. Using the app itself is easy, but my recommended dose of water is 54 ounces per day. That’s a LOT of water. If you think about a traditional Nalgene bottle (not the skinny new sissy ones, one of the BIG old ones) it’s about one and 2/3 of those. It’s a lot of water, and like I said, I don’t enjoy water.

So this was my predicament. I decided I was just going to suck it up and drink the water. So I dug out my old Nalgene, which came with the ounce measurements on the side so I would know exactly how much I was drinking, and decided that would be my vessel for water consumption. It was going pretty well, and I was reaching my goal at least half of the week and if I didn’t reach it I got close to it. But I really, really was not enjoying it. To me, the water tasted funny, it got warm way too fast, and I was constantly running to the bathroom because I’m not used to consuming so much liquid. I also had problems drinking right when the app told me to, frequently missed my morning dose and would have to play catch-up later.

My Nalgene was a big part of the problem. It’s not insulated, and because it’s old it smells pretty funky which translates into a strange flavor in the water. It also is not optimized for drinking out of, and I’d frequently pour a bunch of water down my shirt. I was frustrated, and I found relief when I took a recent trip to Montreal and decided to shirk my water-drinking responsibilities for the week. I came back and I actually did feel kind of crappy, and I was getting frequent headaches so I decided I should really try to keep it up with the water. But today, I decided my Nalgene needed to be washed, so I used my cold cup instead. I figured half was 8 ounces, which is usually the standard dose, so I’d be okay with measuring. What I found when I got to work was actually shocking. I immediately began drinking water, and it tasted good! No funky flavor, and the cold cup actually kept the water cold. It was amazing. But I think the biggest deal for me was that having the straw actually made me want to drink more. I don’t know what it is, but straws just make liquids more fun, and by 5 PM I had almost completed my goal for the day. I will never go back to my Nalgene after this and I can safely say my cold cup is my new best friend.

Now if you’re like me I can’t promise this is going to make drinking water easier for you, but it really worked for me. Try adding some of the liquid flavor add-ins or try a fun and colorful cup that makes it look pleasant. Filter your water before you drink it to get rid of icky flavors and impurities, or buy large jugs of distilled water (I don’t recommend this because it’s a waste of plastic, but whatever works). Try making it social – do Drink Right with your friends. You can share on Facebook and Twitter when you join and when you reach your goal for the day, so your friends can see your progress and congratulate you on it. It’s great for your body, great for your health, and it’s especially great during the summer when it’s easy to become dehydrated.  Good luck with your water-drinking, I’ve hoped my experience can help you on your quest to stay hydrated!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Independence Day! In celebration of the 4th, I've curated my favorite patriotic beauty shots and product picks from my "Amurrica" Pinterest board. You can check out the rest of the board (which has some fabulously patriotic fashion inspo) here. Enjoy!

So glam, love this retro beauty shot from Vogue

Remember MAC's Bronzing collection from last summer? This Red Racer lipstick was too perfect.

Julep's America the Beautiful polish - last year's version of patriotic glitter, this year they have a new rendition called "Fireworks"

Stars and stripes are perfectly matched with a loose, blonde braid.

The most patriotic pretty hair accessory, like, ever!

 And finally for a little nail art inspo!

Perfect flag manicure. Love it!

Love this tribal take on the flag manicure. It's too fun and goes perfectly with all the festival fashion floating around this summer!

I also love this video from the Today Show on all-American beauty brands. From Josie Maran to Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, they give you the down-low on these fabulous, Made in the USA beauty brands! Check it out here, and I hope you've had a fun and festive Fourth!

Product Review: Honey Sweetheart Instant Highlights by Bath & Body Works

When I first saw this product I was ridiculously excited. It only comes in one color, bronze, but that’s okay because I’m blonde and I knew it would add pretty color to my hair for summer. This would also work great on brunettes and redheads and maybe applied sparingly to black hair as an all-over shimmer spray. Plus I got this during the semi-annual sale so the normally $12.50 can only cost $3.15! Such a great deal.

Okay so now for the good stuff. I put on a bathrobe because I didn’t want the product to stain my clothes. The bottle says to hold the can 10 inches from the head and spray on the desired area of DRY hair. Hair must be dry or the product will either a) not work or b) stain your hair. I’m not sure which one but just don’t do it. It recommends spraying individual streaks or just the ends but you could do tons more with this. I chose to create an ombré effect by spraying the bottom third of my hair. I found that you have to hold the can much closer to your head than recommended to get the full effect of the color. It comes out as a pretty, shimmery copper color with a hint of orange (on blonde hair). You then let the product sit for a minute and then either just go or lightly brush out.

I felt like I had to spray a LOT of product to get full color. Also, make sure you’re in a well-ventilated room – I wasn’t and I nearly choked to death on the stuff. It’s scented like the brand’s new Honey Sweetheart fragrance, which is quite pleasant. I’d describe the scent as honey and vanilla with a light hint of sweet flowers. The color is quite summery and pretty but VERY shimmery. I also brushed my hair way too much after applying and a bunch of the sparkles came out, but that’s my own fault. Once the color dried it stayed in place well aka didn’t travel all over my head and it didn’t come off much on my t-shirt. However, every time I ran my hands through my hair I came out with a handful of coppery sparkles. Oops. I do feel that the color appears a little orange on me, but that’s probably because I brushed out a lot of the shimmer. It faded a little bit throughout the day but not too much. I also had a pretty sedentary day and I don’t know how the color would wear on a more active day.

Overall I actually really liked the product and thought it looked great in my hair. It washed right out after one shower, which is great, and it couldn’t be easier to apply. This would be such a fun addition to beachy waves or to straight hair for a summery ombré or color-dipped effect. This would look great for a day out shopping, at the beach, or for a party. There are a couple of drawbacks, and my asthma won’t let me make the mistake of not turning the fan on again, but I’m seriously considering going back in and buying two more bottles of the stuff while it’s still on sale. At the sale price it’s definitely worth a try, and even if it wasn’t on sale I might have still bought it. If you love summery hair or have wanted to experiment with temporary color I’d definitely give this a try! It’s also a nice alternative to hair chalk, which has a lot of the same drawbacks in terms of color. So go out and get this! I love it and I think you will too.