It Cosmetics CC Cream Review

Well just look at me getting into all the hyped up products. This product was on my radar for what feels like forever. But it isn’t sold in my country. It’s like torture. But I finally found myself in an Ulta, and there was no way I was leaving without the It Cosmetics CC Cream.

It Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream in Fair – $38.00 USD

Expensive CC cream? You betcha. I have to say I wasn’t expecting this product to cost as much as it does. But I only find myself in the States every so often, so I knew I had to seize my opportunity to try out something from It Cosmetics. This CC cream is at the tip of everyone’s tongues, and I wanted to see what all the hype was about. Turns out it’s awesome.

I have the shade Fair, which is the lightest, and it’s a great colour match. The packaging is amazing, finally a company that understands the necessity of a pump. It just makes life so much easier. You get the perfect amount with just under 1 pump. This CC cream has a great texture, it’s really thick, but blends excellently, and doesn’t feel greasy at all. I must say my skin feels lovely to the touch when I’m wearing this product and it’s set nicely on the skin.

The coverage is excellent for a CC cream. I tend to go for a light coverage to begin with, so this really impressed me. It’s a light-medium coverage that builds nicely to an extent. Obviously you don’t want to go applying two massively thick layers, but within reason this layers well. What I really appreciate about this product is the SPF 50. This is going to be the greatest base of all time for summer. The product feels really light on the skin, so I can see this being lovely for beach days when you want to protect your skin, even out your skin tone, and not look like a cake face.

In the photo above I’m only wearing the CC cream. As you can see it evened out all my redness beautifully. Obviously it doesn’t completely cover the monster zit on my chin that I couldn’t resist picking at, but the aim of a CC cream is to simply even out. A touch of concealer and it was all hidden.

I feel like I already need to ration this stuff as it’s not sold in Canada. Perhaps trips across the border will need to become more frequent…

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna

March 2015 Favorites

I know everyone always says that the months just fly by but I seriously feel like March didn’t even happen. It was a crazy month, between helping my boyfriend move, to starting a new position at one of my jobs, to road tripping down to Seattle. There was not a lot of downtime this past month. Regardless of how fast time flies, there are always beauty favorites.

A pretty tame collection here, but these are all total gems!

For make up, I kind of stuck to some of my all time favorite products. One being the Josie Maran Coconutwater Cheek Gelee in the shade Poppy Paradise. This blush is just the easiest thing to slap on and look amazing. It pairs great with no make up looks or more polished and refined looks. Any situation and this blush looks natural and beautiful. I also was all over my BECCA Pressed Foundation in the shade Shell. My skin has been really really good, so all I need is this powder with light to medium coverage and I’m set on the foundation front. March was also the month I bought a new tube of my favorite mascara of life: the Pur Minerals Impact+ mascara. I will never not have amazing things to say about this mascara. It is just the most effortless, easy mascara to apply. It never clumps up or looks spidery, and gives added length and volume. Lastly I used the shade ‘Merci You Later’ from the Tarte Bon Voyage Palette a lot. Like every day. It’s my favorite all over the lid one and done eyeshadow.

Bath and body wise I have used the Desert Essence Jojoba Oil for everything. Literally everything. Eye make up remover, hair oil, facial oil, on rough patches, this stuff does it all. Jojoba oil doesn’t mess with my skin or clog it up at all which I totally appreciate. I also had been using my very old Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub a ton this month. My lips for whatever reason have been really dry so I’ve been trying to keep the dry patches at bay. Last but not least every time I wore the Body Shop Nail Polish in Frosting Fancy I got a compliment. It may take 3 coats to be truly opaque but all is forgiven for such a beautiful pale pink.

Onto April!

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna

The Winter Edit

The days are short and grey, and you suddenly cannot remember the last time you shaved your legs: welcome to Winter. I always feel kind of down in the Winter months, Fall is my favorite season, and summer feels like it’s an eternity away. And as the seasons change, so do our tastes. I thought today I’d share my picks for products to incorporate for the chilly season.

For Winter, I like to keep things pretty neutral. I always feel like Winter is the time to pull everything back and go for classic looks and an easy going, undone face. It must have something to do with the constant rain where I live that totally sucks away my will to put any effort into my appearance. Vancouver Winters are pretty typical, it will snow no more than 3 times, to the total of about 5 centimeters of snow, the rest of the time it will rain, be very windy, and it gets dark by 4pm. So here’s my go to products for the remainder of the drab season.

 For starters I basically live in toques. I hate washing my hair + my head is freezing = toque. I also love to add a scarf to my outfit. Plaid scarves are pretty in right now, and this one is from Forever 21 and will only set you back 10 bucks. It’s pretty light, which works well if you’re in a mild climate, and is a great way to inject some colour if you’re like me and your entire wardrobe is monochrome. What is colour?

If there’s two things you need during Winter, it’s bronzer and highlighter. I know I’m truly in need of bronzer when I can’t remember the last time I saw the sun. Vancouver isn’t nicknamed ‘Raincouver’ for no reason: we don’t see the sun a lot, so you’ve got to fake that healthy glow. I love to bring out this bronzer from the Body Shop because it’s quite subtle and blends really well into the skin. When all moisture from your face has been zapped, you also have to fake that moisturized sheen with some highlighter. The Balm’s Mary Lou-Manizer is a fantastic option because boy is it pigmented and boy does it make your cheekbones glow. Speaking of dehydrated skin, my skin really needs an oil to keep it from flaking up. I’ve really been enjoying Tarte’s Maracuja Oil, I’ve got a post all about it coming up next week.

Lips and nails, for the most part, I like to keep pretty neutral. For nails I’m all about light neutrals like Nails Inc Porchester Square and The Body Shop’s Frosting Fancy. Both wear nicely and give your hands a nice and simple, yet polished, look. I’ve been obsessed with Flower’s Shine On Lipgloss in Lovely Lotus is such a nice wash of pink on the lips, and is surprisingly very moisturizing for a gloss. For when I am feeling a little pop of red on the lips, I love Mineral Fusion’s Sheer Moisture Lip Tint in the shade Smolder. As the name would have you believe, it’s just a nice sheer wash of a cherry red that just ties together any look.

Lastly for the eyes, as previously mentioned I am incredibly lazy in the Winter months, so something like Jouer’s Cream Eyeshadow Crayon in the shade Baroque is a great one and done shade. You just need to apply a little to the lids, blend it out with your finger, and you’re good to go. I also really like to pair a simple small winged liner with the ELF Cream Liner  and pair it with the Mineral Fusion Lip Tint. Winged liner and red lips go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna