Products I Just Don’t Use

Sometimes we like the idea of a product more than the actual thing. Or you pick up a product based on the hype and you find you just don’t reach for. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong at all with a beauty item, but for whatever reason you just don’t use it. I try my best to do a lot of research, but sometimes there’s just no telling when you won’t use something you’ve bought. I did a little audit of my beauty collection and weeded out some products I just don’t use.

1. Glitter Polish. To be honest, I prefer my polish to have a cream finish. I don’t care for shimmer or glitter on my nails at all. I love it on other people, but it’s just not for me. Throw in the insane process of trying to remove a glitter polish and I am just downright disinterested in using it. For special occasions I may do a nice accent nail, but I’m a simple polish girl at heart.

2. RMS Un-Cover Up. I totally wanted to love and use this product, however the key ingredient is coconut oil, and if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll know that coconut oil causes me to break out in horrible cystic acne. I love the consistency, texture, pigment, and feel of this product. I love the finish and how it sits on the skin, I just don’t care for cystic acne, who does?

3. BareMinerals Original Foundation. I’ve had these two samples for AGES. Seriously for so long and I just never reach for them. The colour match isn’t great, and that’s fine as these are just samples, but the times I have used it I felt like it did nothing for my skin. I prefer the coverage from the Tarte Airbrush Foundation or the BECCA Powder Foundation.

4. NYX Matte Finish Spray. I love setting sprays, and I used to love this one, however my skin has done a complete 180 on me, and gone from oily to dry. I’ve been slathering oils and moisturizers on my skin like its life depends on it, so the last thing I want is something that’s going to dry it out more. It’s got a great price point, but my skin has just outgrown it.

5. Paddle Foundation Brushes. I just don’t see how these work for applying foundation on your face. They’re so small and just kind of smear things around. I prefer to buff things in, or use a sponge for a super natural finish. I feel like paddle foundation brushes make things appear cakey and patchy.

6. Giant Powder Brushes. I used to love this brush, but as I’ve acquired more and more brushes, I’ve started to gravitate towards smaller brushes for a more precise application. Just a side effect of being a make up hoarder.

7. Highlighter. I just always feel like a disco ball when I’m wearing highlighter. I always think it looks amazing on other people, I just can’t seem to pull it off. I think part of my aversion to highlighter stems from my years and years of having oily skin.

What products do you find you just never reach for?

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna

Naturally Flawless

My interest in the RMS brand came from a fellow blogger. Fellow Vancouver suburb native Emma at Sincerely Skin recommended that for lots of air travel, to turn to RMS Beauty as it’s made with only skin friendly ingredients. From there I researched the brand like a private investigator. I found out that the company was created by Victoria’s Secret make up artist Rose-Marie Swift, who is the personal make up artist for Miranda Kerr and Gisele Bunchen, umm… where do I buy every single product? I started my collection of RMS products with the ‘Un’ Cover up.

RMS Beauty ‘Un’ Cover Up in ’11’ – $36.00 CAD

This stuff is pricey, especially considering you get a tiny pot that contains .20 oz of product. Luckily, a little goes a long way. This ‘un’ cover up is essentially a light coverage foundation, or tinted moisturizer if you like, that seamlessly melts into the skin. The first ingredient is coconut oil, followed by castor seed oil, beeswax, cocoa seed butter, jojoba oil, and rosemary seed extract. There’s a whole lot of moisturization going on here.

I find the shade ’11’ to fit me very nicely. The first time I wore this my boyfriend thought I had no make up on my face. The ‘un’ cover up comes in 4 shades, one lighter than ’11’ and two darker. I think this product would be great if you picked up a couple of shades to highlight and contour the face in a very natural way. As mentioned earlier, this product has a very light coverage, but it is buildable. I tried using this as a concealer for blemishes and it doesn’t cover the best, I really needed to layer the product up to gain any sort of coverage. That being said, it’s really lovely as a base for mineral make up.

I really like applying the ‘un’ cover up with the Real Techniques Pointed Foundation Brush that you can get in the core collection, or the Eco Tools Flat Foundation Brush if I’m looking to cover a larger surface. I find these brushes help the ‘un’ cover up to get the best coverage possible from the product. I’ve used the ‘un’ cover up with the Real Techniques contour brush (also available in the core collection) and achieved very, very light coverage.

Here you can see the ‘un’ cover up runs just slightly more yellow than my natural skin tone, however once blended out it’s really impossible to see any difference as the coverage is more on the sheer side.

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna

Face of the Day #2 – Geocaching

Today is a super simple Face of the Day. My friend Kavan and I decided to go Geocaching in North Vancouver, so I decided to keep my make up super quick and easy as we were hiking in the beautiful forests of North Van.

Face

I started out by applying the RMS “Un” Cover Up in the shade 11 to the areas of my face that need the most attention. For me, the areas of concern are the ‘beard’ region and the sides of my forehead. I applied a thin layer with a Real Techniques contour brush. I then went in and set the RMS product with the Tarte Amazonian Clay Airbrush Foundation in the shade Fair-Light Neutral. This stuff is great because it really keeps everything in place and lasts all day. I quickly just ran a little (nasty looking)  Elf brow gel through my brows to keep them in place.

Eyes

I tightlined my upper lash line with the NYX Retractable Eye Liner in the shade brown just to give my eyes a little more definition. I then applied a super quick coat of the Physician’s Formula Organic Wear mascara. This mascara is good for days like this when you don’t want anything too noticeable on the eyes. I really was going for a no make up kind of look.

Cheeks & Lips

I also kept my cheeks really simple. I slapped on the Josie Maran Coconut Water Cheek Gelee in the shade poppy paradise with a Real Techniques stippling brush. I chose this blush because it looks really natural on the skin, and I didn’t have any make up on my cheeks, so I thought I would opt for a gel formula. I left my lips bare, although I did apply some grapefruit Burt’s Bees throughout the day.

And that’s all folks! Nothing crazy here, just a simple refining of the features. This is very similar to something I would wear to class, or just hanging out with friends. It’s taken me a long time to get to this state of mind, but so what if I’ve got a few zits that people can see? My skin goes through peaks and valleys, and right now it’s not at its best, but it will get better. I often find obsessively trying to cover them up makes it look so much worse. Why not just do what you can while still letting things look like real skin.

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna