Flower Beauty BB Cream

One of the biggest drags that the summer brings is the constant shifting of your skin tone. I find it so frustrating to fall in love with a formula of a base product only to have it make you look ghostly in a few short weeks. This summer I have really made it a point to cut down on my screen time and increase my outdoor time, hence the shortage of blogging recently. With this, my skin has finally seen the sun, and I am no longer the palest of the pale. I ran out to the drugstore to find a bandaid for my skin tone issue.

Flower Beauty BB Cream in BB2 – $12.98 CAD

I originally heard about this BB Cream from Leighann Says on YouTube. I remembered her saying that she really liked this BB Cream, and I also happen to like lighter coverage base products, so I figured I’d give it a go. I settled on the shade BB 2, mostly because I knew BB 1 would probably be my year round fit, and the shade 3 looked crazy dark. I got lucky and it seems to be a really good match for me. I’ve been using this BB Cream as my every day base for a good couple of months now, so I feel as though I can give it a pretty good review.

The packaging is super cute and very functional. I love Flower Beauty’s packaging, and the line in general is super great. This BB Cream has an awesome consistency, it’s quite thick which I think helps out in the coverage department. I apply the BB Cream with a beauty blender, and it comes to a light coverage.

I don’t find this product to be very buildable. Once you have applied one layer that’s kind of all you can get without things looking cakey. I also find that this product sets up and dries pretty quickly, so I like to work in one section at a time. This doesn’t really bother me because I think the natural finish is worth the little bit of hassle. I’ve been really impressed with the wear time on this, it doesn’t break up and get weird, and it tends to keep my skin looking matte for a pretty long time. The only places where oil breaks through is on my nose.

As you can see, this BB cream mostly evens out my skin tone. You can still see some freckles through the product which is nice for summer. The only thing I can think to improve on is adding some sort of SPF into the formula. It is marketed as a BB Cream, and to be honest I’m not really clear on what this claims to do. As a tinted moisturizer, however, I do really love this, and will continue to use up for the rest of the summer and beyond.

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna

June 2015 Favorites

June is in the books, and I know I fell slightly silent on here for about two weeks. It was a combination of a bunch of things, mostly that the sun came out and I wanted to be at the beach instead of glued to my computer. It happens to all of us. But I’ve got the itch for blogging again, and I obviously continued to use beauty products throughout my mini hiatus, so let’s get into what I was loving this month.

I have to say, this month’s favorites is full of gems.

The Lush Cream Eyeshadow in the shade ‘Sophisticated’ has been absolutely fantastic for me this month. This is a gorgeous bronze-shimmer shadow that looks so effortless on the lid. I love this eyeshadow because it stays in place beautifully, it’s really subtle so I don’t feel like a clown in the office, and you just need this one shadow and your eye look is complete.

The Body Shop nail polish in the shade Rosy Cheeks is perfection for summer. I actually don’t find this polish to be rose hued at all, to me it’s a pink-coral that’s very bright on the nail. The polish is beautifully opaque in two coats, and lasts a solid week.

I snagged the Sonia Kashuk Eye on Neutral Palette well before Target peaced out of Canada, and I’m forever grateful I did. This is probably one of the best neutral matte palettes out there if you’re basic like me and shy away from all forms of colour. It has the most beautiful assortment of matte shades, I specifically love the shade on the bottom left all over the lid as a one and done shade. Big surprise here: I am lazy.

The Josie Maran Coconut Water Cheek Gelee, this one specifically is in the shade Pink Escape. I have 3 of these blushes and I am forever obsessed with them. They are so natural and easy to apply, they look beautiful and like you’ve just been out in the cold weather. One day, I swear I will own them all. I also really like these on the lips, they give a gorgeous natural flush to the lips, and they don’t dry anything out.

I have also been getting a lot of use out of my Body Shop Colour Crush Lipstick in Sunset Romance. Also known as the number 18 as the Body Shop has not gotten with the program and only puts the name on the wrapping that gets thrown out immediately. This lipstick is nice and sheer, and just gives a gorgeous hint of coral. I like this lipstick because I can easily apply it without a mirror, and it’s not a total full on colour, so I’m not completely intimidated by it.

I began my love affair with the Josie Maran Argan Oil Hair Serum this month. My boyfriend gifted me this travel size serum because I’ve been having some serious issues with my hair lately. A whole blog post is coming about the past two month nightmare that is my hair. This serum smells really lovely, and helps to tame away frizz, which my hair is very prone to when I don’t heat style it. This serum has never made my hair feel sticky or greasy, and a very, very small amount goes a very long way. I like to scrunch this into my hair on towel dried hair, and it leaves a gorgeous scent, and soft locks.

The Real Techniques Duo Fiber Brush has been all over my face this month. I have two of these, and I like to use one for powder, and one for bronzer. When the summer months hit, I find I want a really natural look, and these duo fiber brushes from Real Techniques do the trick. Plus they wash up beautifully, and are super soft.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been hitting the beach a lot lately, and because of that none of my base products match my skin anymore. I ran out and picked up the Flower Beauty BB Cream in the shade BB2. This is a really nice BB Cream, however I have to say it’s more like a tinted moisturizer. This has a matte finish and light to medium coverage. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the blendability, this product sets pretty quickly, so I’d recommend working in one section of your face at a time.

I’ve been all about the Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara again. This mascara is just my holy grail and I don’t think I’ll ever find one that’s as good as this one. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the price, but this just gives me all the length, separation, and volume I could ever ask for. This is the one, please never get discontinued.

That’s it for the month of June! July is my birthday month so I always look forward to it. It’s also my last month at one of my jobs as I’ll be moving into full time at the other. This adult-no-more-student thing is still very strange.

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna

Empties #5

The accumulation of empties has gotten past my point of tolerance. This particular round up of products is a good one, there’s some real gems in this group. There’s also a big old dud, and if you’ve been reading this blog for a little while it should be an easy spot. But if not, can you guess which product I was totally unimpressed with? Let’s get into it!

Ahh the unloading of empties, just makes room for more new products… right?

To start out with I went through my Avalon Organics Lavender Luminosity Facial Cleansing Milk like it was water. This is a really nice, brightening cleanser that doesn’t foam up, but still makes your skin feel nice and clean. This product is really nourishing to the skin, smells like lavender, and is priced well. I would definitely purchase this product again. Another product I have repurchased time and time again is the Giovanni 2 Chic Deep Conditioner. This stuff is gold in a bottle, I swear. I use this in place as a regular conditioner every time I was my hair. This always, without fail, makes my hair feel lovely, washes out easily, and is generally a joy to use. I will always try new products, but I feel as though I’ll always go back to this guy. It’s time to say goodbye to this tub of Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner. Not going to lie I have another tub sitting in my boyfriend’s shower. I love this stuff so much, and the decadent Rose Jam scent, but I think I’ll hold off on buying more until next Fall when the weather gets colder and skin gets drier. Plus this stuff is super expensive.

I used up a full tube of the Tom’s Simply White toothpaste, and have already repurchased this. My boyfriend hates the way this tastes, but I honestly do not mind it at all. It’s not overwhelmingly minty and that’s a quality I really like. This toothpaste does the job, and I had a great check up at the dentist not too long ago. Alright, time for the dud, the Flower Zoom-In Ultimate Mascara. This mascara has an adjustable wand that is just a straight up gimmick. Nothing wrong with that, I just didn’t care for the formula, or the brush. The formula is super clumpy, not lenghtening, or volumizing at all. This is a total pass. Lastly, I used all my Yes to Tomatoes Facial Cleansing Wipes. I really enjoyed using these, and was genuinely sad when I used them all up. They’re great for taking off make up, cleansing your skin, or removing swatches. These face wipes didn’t leave my skin feeling dry or uncomfortable at all. They also didn’t irritate my sensitive skin at all. I would repurchase in the future, however I try my best to steer clear of make up wipes as they’re not the greatest thing for your skin.

That’s it for this batch, I hope you’re having a lovely day!

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna