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

Tarte Showstopper Palette

Today I’d like to share with you a splurge product I picked up during the Sephora VIB sale. I had been eying up this palette online, and I honestly thought it was an Ulta exclusive, meaning us lowly Canadians were out of luck. When I saw this palette on the Tarte shelves in Sephora I snatched it up. And I’m so glad I did. Spoiler alert I have been using the heck out of this palette since I picked it up. I do have a few constructive criticisms of this palette, however.

Tarte Showstopper Clay Palette – $46.00 CAD

From what I’m able to tell online, I don’t think this is a limited edition product. The palette comes in the same kind of packaging Tarte has used before, mainly with their Rainforest After Dark palette from last Fall. It’s a beautiful circular palette with faux purple snakeskin and gold accents. I kind of think it feels a little cheap and you can definitely tell it’s plastic, but so long as it doesn’t break on me, I’m fine with the packaging. There’s also a really nice big mirror on the inside, a big plus.

I actually think this palette is a very good value for money. The palette is centered with an Amazonian Clay blush that’s .14oz in size. A regular sized blush from Tarte is 0.2oz and retails for $34 CAD. You also get 6 shadows, a very decent sized bronzer and highlight. I was very tempted by the Tarte Poppy Picnic Palette, but this one just seemed like a better value, and had more interesting shades.

Ahh the beauty of an untouched palette. The blush is completely matte, as well as one of the eyeshadows. All the other powders have some sort of sparkle to them that range from basically non-existent to metallic, we’ll get into it in the swatches below momentarily. Here’s my one complaint with this palette. I don’t really think the blush compliments the shadows. I actually really like pairing these shadows with my Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in the shade Mood Exposure. I do like the blush itself, it’s a really beautiful peachy-orange, but it just doesn’t go well with the bronze shades.

The pigmentation is definitely what you expect from Tarte. I’ll break down all the shades, formulas and wear times below.

For face powders, there are 3 in this palette. I swatched the palette going clockwise. Starting with the top, there’s the Champagne Pink highlighter that’s a very frosty white cream shade. Not the most pigmented, which I appreciate so that I don’t look like a disco ball. The bronzer is the classic Park Ave Princess Bronzer, however this one has a little sparkle in the formula. When you pick up the bronzer with a brush it doesn’t translate to your skin at all, but you do see it in the pan. I feel like this bronzer is deeper than what I have in the Park Ave Princess Palette, but it seems to apply just the same. Finally is the Amazonian Clay Blush in the shade Fame. As mentioned earlier, this is a very strong matte orange-peach shade. I really like applying it with a light touch and a duo fiber brush. With tanned skin, I think Fame would look amazing. The bronzer and blush apply beautifully, with no patchiness, and wear all day with no problems.

Continuing on, again clockwise in the palette, are the eyeshadows. I think you can easily get various, complete looks with this palette. Dim the Lights is an almost matte very deep blackened brown. I’d love this shade more if it was completely matte, as I could use it in my brows, but that’s just me being picky. The shade Rose to the Top was what actually sold me on this palette. When I swatched it and saw how buttery and pigmented it was, I had to have this palette. It’s a beautiful bronze with a hint of rose. This shadow is the stand out of the palette. Steel the Scene, I was expecting to totally ignore in this palette, but it’s actually ended up being my favorite. I’ve used this shadow almost every day. It’s a gorgeous taupey metallic shade with a hint of bronze in there. It’s a great sweep all over the lid and go shade. You’re a Natural is your typical transition shade, it’s a medium brown, like a great bronzer shade that’s totally matte. Go for the Gold is a beautiful shimmery gold that’s great to take from day to night. Lastly is Showstopper Copper, it’s a shimmery warm brown shade, totally beautiful and suits blue eyes beautifully. All of these shades actually make blue eyes pop. With a primer, these shadows stay put and do not budge or fade. The only shadow I’m not totally impressed with the formula is Dim the Lights, it’s just a little chalky, the rest are gorgeous.

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna

April 2015 Favorites

Another month in the bag! Time flies while you’re having fun, and I guess I had a lot of fun because I’m not really sure where this month went. It’s been a very busy month for me, and a very makeup-y month for me as well! I addressed a lot of ‘needs’ (lets me real… they’re all non-necessities) in my beauty collection, and I’m really happy with this collection of favorites.

Some old and some new – let’s get into it!

I was all about the Naked 2 Basics palette this month. This palette just has everything I need, it’s got lots of mid-toned neutrals which are apparently all I own, some lighter highlight shades, and a perfect shade for my brows. I feel like this palette is in every single one of my Face of the Day posts, but that just goes to show how much I reach for the thing. The Wet n Wild polish in the shade A Latte Love was pretty much omnipresent this month. I wore this polish back to back, something totally unheard of for me. I think I wore it 3 out of the 4 weeks this month, which really says something. It’s the perfect shade for any occasion at a really affordable price. And the formula is on point. The Jouer Matte Moisture Tint in the shade Porcelain was my go to for the month of April. My skin has gone from oily to more dry, so I find I don’t even really need to powder (just my nose) when I use this as my base. It covers nicely, but naturally, and doesn’t cake up or settle into pores. For face powder purposes I really found myself reaching for the Tarte Park Ave Princess palette. I use it all. Bronzer: awesome, blush: gorgeous, highlight: subtle and glowing. This is a traveler’s best friend, as you can easily use the highlight and brozer for a simple eye look. Totally (still) in love with this palette.

Some stuff went down with my skin this past month. I’m not really sure how this happened but my skin got so dry and so flaky that just exfoliating was not doing the job whatsoever. So I marched on down to The Body Shop and picked up the Vitamin E Sink in Moisture Mask. And it has totally done my skin a solid. I use it as a night cream and I have not seen a flake on my skin since I started using it. You can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll have a full review up in the near future. I was reunited with my Bite BB for Lips in the shade Flush this month. I really like this for work, or when you just want to slap something on super quickly. Last up is Lily Lolo eyeshadow in the shade Vanilla Shimmer that busted me out of my matte shadow funk. This is a beautiful shadow to just sweep over the lid and head out the door.

I may or may not have acquired a LOT of new products over the month of April, it was tempting to throw them all in this post, but I really wanted to give everything a fair shot, so expect a lot of reviews up in the coming weeks.

Talk soon,

Xx Brianna