Anyway, let's talk about my favorite and not so favorite products from April!
Flops:
1. City Color Cosmetics Ooh La La Eyeshadow Palette ($7.99) - I wanted to love this palette so badly because it contains some really beautiful colors. Sadly, the pigmentation just isn't there, plus they were powdery with tons of fallout...just no.
2. Hourglass Ambient Light Correcting Primer ($44) - This is another product I really wanted to like since I love their powders so much. It's not a bad product at all...it did create a nice glow on my skin that showed through my foundation and gave me that lit-from-within look. The problem is, it didn't do anything else like fill in lines and pores...you know, typical primer stuff. For $44, I expected it to do more in the way of perfecting my skin I guess. Think I'll just stick to my L'oreal Magic Lumi primer instead.
3. Elf Baked Highlighter & Blush and Highlighter & Bronzer ($4) - These were a big disappointment in that they hardly showed up on my skin...and I'm fair so most things show up well! They were super sheer and hard to pick up, so they were definitely a flop for me.
Faves:
On a side note: You'll notice that the new Wet n Wild Highlighters and Multi-Sticks aren't in my faves and here's why...I loved the formula of both, but the majority of the shades didn't really work for me. The lightest powder highlight borders on being too dark for my fair skin (forget about the darker one), and the one multi-stick that I could use as a highlighter is pretty much a dupe of the one I have from the previous Mulan collection. So while I don't hate them, I wouldn't really consider them "faves" either.
Katy Perry x CoverGirl Katy Kat Matte Lipstick ($9.49) - I don't even mind that this lipstick isn't truly matte...it's so comfortable on my lips, highly pigmented and long lasting!
Circa Beauty Lip Polish ($10), Powder Blush ($12) , and UltraSuede Cream Blush ($13) - Although this post was about more than one product, I fell in love with all three in a big way and will definitely be trying more from this line! If you didn't see my original post, click here to read all about them!
Benefit Cheekathon Palette ($58)- This was my biggest splurge this month, but at the same time, it was such a bargain. You get five full sized Benefit blushes for the price of 2 and they come in an adorable travel-friendly box. I'm officially obsessed with this!
NYX Avant Pop Eyeshadow Palette ($16.99) - I was blown away by how pigmented, soft, and blendable these shades were and I love the selection of colors in this Nouveau Chic one...it's beautiful!
Elf Total Face Palette ($8) - This cute little palette is the perfect match for my fair-light skintone. The illuminating powder, blushes, and bronzer could have been handpicked just for me...they give just the right amount of color for days when I want a natural, no fuss look and all the shades are buttery soft and nicely pigmented.
CoverGirl Super Sizer Fibers Mascara ($7.99) - This is very similar to the original Super Sizer (which is one of my favorite mascaras)...same tube, same brush, and similar end-result. The difference for me seems to be that this makes my lashes look amazing without as much work. It amazed me how much this boosted my lashes volume and length with only one coat! But after three coats of this, I don't think my lashes looked too much different than with the original (maybe a tiny bit more length). It just takes a bit more finesse with the original version to get my lashes to look the same way. This also doesn't clump, smudge, or flake!
C. Booth 4-in-1 Body Lotion ($9.99) - I was so impressed by this formula! I have dry skin and usually need to use a body butter or oil to make my skin soft, but this lightweight lotion does it all. It exfoliates with fruit acids, hydrates, protects with antioxidants, and firms your skin with caffeine. Plus the scents are delicious and last all day.
I also want to mention my favorite post for the month of April which was the BeautyKind coupon I gave out. The people at BeautyKind let me know that hundreds of you ended up taking advantage of the $50 off a $75 purchase code and so many of you came back to tell me how much you loved the experience, from the fast shipping time to the generous samples, and also being able to choose the charity you wanted the 5% of your purchase to go to. The code is good until the end of August, so if you haven't redeemed yours yet, visit my post to start shopping!
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I ended up buying the C.Booth lotion after you posted about it, and I am so glad I did. This stuff is awesome and the smell of the vanilla one truly lasts hours!
ReplyDeleteYay! I'm so happy you like it...it's the best! :) I also ended up getting the vanilla one and I like it better than the coconut fig. It reminds me of Aquolina Pink Sugar perfume and you're right, the scent lasts all day.
DeleteI love the Nyx Avant Pop palettes. I got a couple of the Katy Perry lipsticks and returned them two days later. The strong perfume scent and taste was too strong. Usually I do OK with CoverGirl, and find the scent/taste dissipates after a little while, but I swear the Katy Perry ones I got were 10x stronger than any other CG lipstick I've had. I really liked the colors, so I was disappointed.
ReplyDeleteAww that stinks! It didn't bother me all that much but I can see how the stronger scent would definitely annoy some people. They should have made it more of a sweet scent rather than a perfumey scent...something that people won't mind tasting!
DeleteThe NYX palette looks so beautiful! Gonna remember that one.
ReplyDeleteIt totally blew me away...I wasn't expecting that at all! :)
DeleteBaked stuff from ELF can be pretty awesome, they just need a bit of work put into them haha.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite eyeshadows *ever* (it's true that I have yet to try out high-end stuff), and one that I use almost everytime I do my make-up because I just love it SO much and can't stay away, is ELF's baked eyeshadow in Enchanted. It's a gorgeous, magical colour <3
Usually baked products are *better* when used wet... so, knowing that, and being at my first 'baked product' experience, I used it wet at first. Otherwise, it was really dry, not pigmented / the product couldn't really be picked up. But after I used it wet for a few times, the product somehow softened and it can be used dry, too! And it is pigmented and easy to pick up!!
So, maybe try to 'wet' those baked products for a few days (like a plant, basically :)) ), and see what happens then! :D I know, it sounds like work and if you pay for something you want it to work without all that fuss. But since baked products are meant to 'shine' when used wet... at least they have that excuse :))
Congrats for the blog, just discovered it, great swatches!! <3
That's crazy that the new hourglass primer isn't that great! What a let down!
ReplyDelete