Profusion Studio Blush Palette Review and Swatches

If you've been following me for a while, you probably know that I've turned into quite a Profusion Cosmetics junkie lately. Their newest products have left me so impressed, especially the Studio Contour and Studio Highlight palette (see my reviews here and here). So when I saw their Studio Blush Palette on their website and I knew that it had to be mine. Luckily, before I even had to place an order, I spotted it at my local Kmart (I didn't even know they carried Profusion!). It looked even more beautiful in person, and at only $5.99 (or $1 per blush-crazy right?) I couldn't resist. Let's take a look...

Favorite Blushes of 2015

I officially became a blush addict in 2015. I've always loved blushes, but I got to try so many amazing new formulas this year I added a ton of new ones to my collection. Here are the ones that stood out to me the most...

There were two amazing cream formulas that launched this year and both are really affordable! Colourpop's Super Shock Cheeks have a beautiful, soft spongy texture that blends like a dream and they last all day. So impressive for only $8! I also fell in love with L.A. Girl's Velvet Contour Stick Blushes ($5). They're so quick and easy to use and there are so many beautiful shades to choose from! 

See my reviews of Colourpop Super Shock Cheeks here and here. 

See my review of the L.A. Girl Velvet Contour Sticks here. 

Quite possibly one of my favorite formulas ever is both a cream and a powder! The Flower Beauty Transforming Touch Powder to Creme Blush ($12.98) is super unique. It starts as a loose powder and morphs into a soft matte cream as you blend it into your cheeks. It's super long lasting and doesn't budge all day! 

See my review of Flower Beauty Transforming Touch Blush here. 

On a typical day, I like to use matte blushes, but I also love glowy formulas because they wake up my face when my skin is looking dull and lackluster. Two beautiful formulas I fell in love with this year were the e.l.f. Baked Blushes ($3) and Hard Candy's Blush Crush Baked Blush in Living Doll ($7). 

See my review of the e.l.f. Baked Blushes here. 

See my review of the Hard Candy Blush Crush Baked Blush here.

I'm so happy I discovered the City Color Be Matte Blushes ($4.99) at Five Below this year because they're my favorite matte blush ever! There's no reason to ever spend more on a matte blush because these are absolutely perfect. They have a silky smooth formula, are long-lasting, and come in a huge container that I'll probably never run out of.  I reach for these more than any other blush in my collection. 

See my review of the City Color Be Matte Blushes here. 

When Cover Girl released their new TruBlend baked blushes last month, I was super impressed with the soft, highly pigmented formula. Plus, the marbled formula reminded me of the Hourglass Ambient blushes at a much nicer price. 

See my review of the CoverGirl Tru Blend Baked Blushes here. 

Finally, there were so many amazing affordable blushes this year, I only ended up splurging on one...the Too Faced Love Flush blush. The formula is silky, smooth and highly pigmented, plus they last all day on my cheeks. Not to mention...the packaging is so adorable! 

See my review of the Too Faced Love Flush Blushes here.

So there you have it...my favorite blushes of 2015! What blushes did you fall in love with this year? 

Covergirl Tru Blend Blush Review

I recently found the new Covergirl Tru Blend Blushes ($7.99) at my local Bed, Bath & Beyond. These are brand new for Spring 2016 and join several other new products that are really quite exciting! Let's take a look...

Kiko Cosmic Starlets Moon Dust Blush & Angel Kiss Set Review

I've fallen in love with Kiko Cosmetics over the past few months and while their regular product lines are amazing, the special collections are my absolute favorites! This month, they launched the Cosmic Starlets collection for Holiday 2015 and everything from the packaging to the products themselves are simply stunning. 

I was at the mall last week and wandered into the Kiko store after seeing the Cosmic Starlets collection online and it was tough to choose but I picked up two products to try...the Moon Dust Face Powder Highlighting Baked Blush and the Angel Kiss Set. Let's take a closer look...

Beauty Treats Heart Love Blush Palette Review & Swatches

I am always on the hunt for new affordable beauty brands to try because, I don't know about you guys, but lately I've been kind of bored and unimpressed with most drugstore makeup. Discovering brands like City Color, Profusion and Colourpop (to name a few) have made me wonder...why can't the drugstore brands keep up? Somehow these smaller brands manage to offer adorable packaging, innovative formulas, and amazing quality while still keeping the prices down (often even lower than brands like Maybelline, CoverGirl and Revlon). 

I've seen the brand Beauty Treats around in places like Five Below but I hadn't tried anything from them before. Then I saw this Heart Love Blush Palette in Burlington Coat Factory earlier this week and it was $4.99. And it's blush. In heart shapes. So yes, I put it in my cart in about half a second and crossed my fingers that it's actually as good as it looks. 

City Color Mosaic Blush Review & Swatches

I'm back with another blush review, this time it's City Color's Mosaic Blushes ($4.99 plus 10% off with my code BudgetBeautyBlog). I don't know why I keep buying blushes lately...I think I might have a bit of a problem. Still, I couldn't resist these when I saw them at Five Below a few weeks ago because as you probably know by now, I'm obsessed with City Color's Be Matte Blushes- they're amazing. So how do these compare? Read on to find out...

Sephora Ombre Obsession Face Palette Review & Swatches

Looking for something to buy during the Sephora VIB event? How about the stunning Sephora Ombre Obsession Face Palette ($34)? I went into my local store a few days ago with my Rouge 20% off coupon and ended up totally caving on this palette when I saw it in person. It's huge! Like, literally the size of a dessert plate, I kid you not. Remember when I posted about this palette a while ago? I was picturing this to be about the size of a CD, but yeah...nope! When I saw it in the store, it suddenly seemed to be worth the $34 price tag. Also, Sephora Collection can sometimes be hit or miss for me (although lately I've been loving everything from them) but this is definitely a hit. 

Let's take a closer look! 

e.l.f. Baked Blush Review & Swatches

I feel like I'm the only person in the world that hasn't tried e.l.f.'s Studio Baked Blush ($3), so I bought all four shades during a recent e.l.f. haul. I was surprised when they showed up and looked more like highlighters than blushes! They're super shimmery and two of the shades are actually light enough that they could easily pass for highlighters. But hey, I'm a highlighter junkie so this didn't bother me one bit! Let's take a look...

These slightly dome-shaped blushes are swirled with two different shades that look so pretty when they blend together. The compacts they come in are pretty lightweight and cheap-feeling, but I don't expect much for $3...besides, it's what's inside that really counts.

On a side note, one thing that really bothered me was the sloppy packing job by e.l.f. employees at their warehouse. I ordered 12 different products and they were just thrown into a bubble-lined mailing envelope, so they were all banging around together inside. One of these blushes, Rich Rose (the bronze-looking shade) is loose inside the compact, which makes it difficult to pick up any color. I have to try to hold it still with one hand and swirl my brush around with the other. I also ordered some of their Baked Highlighters and one came completely shattered in a thousand pieces. So that's two products that were ruined during shipping...ugh!

These are just beautiful to look at and they do contain a lot of shimmer, so if shimmery blushes/highlights aren't your thing, you probably won't like these. I have really dry skin, which has a tendency to look dull, so I like shimmery formulas because they add light to my face. Just as long as they're not too glittery, I'm good.

Pinktastic seems to be the shade that everyone always talks about when it comes to the Baked Blushes. I kind of laughed at the name, because while it does have a few pink veins running through it, it's primarily a golden shade! A lot of people say that this is a dupe for MAC's Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft & Gentle...I haven't tried that one, so I can't confirm that. I swatched this against my other highlighters but didn't find a dupe in my collection.

Pinktastic

Peachy Cheeky is a light golden peach shade that could also pass for a highlighter on me. It's such a beautiful shade and it adds a warm glow to my cheekbones.

Peachy Cheeky

Passion Pink is probably my favorite of all the shades to wear as a blush. It's the perfect flush of pink on my fair skin and I just love it!

Passion Pink

Rich Rose actually looks bronze with coral running through it in the pan but swatches sort of a rosy bronze shade. This one doesn't seem to pick up quite as well as the others when I use a brush or my finger...it feels drier somehow. But this is also the one that's broken so I'm not pressing quite as hard due to it sliding around a lot in the compact.

Rich Rose

When I first played with these, they felt dry and like they had an shimmery overspray coating on them. But after a few uses, they felt much softer and I was able to pick them up easily with my e.l.f. blush brush. I find that these sheer out too much if I try to use a fluffy brush, so ones with shorter or stiffer bristles seem to apply them the best. These can also be used wet or dry! Here, I swatched them dry and they go on pretty sheer...

Then I applied them wet and they really pop! I used them with a damp Beauty Blender and also spritzed my brush with a setting spray and it worked well both ways. 

Overall, these are really beautiful shimmery blushes to add to my collection. I've been buying a lot of matte blushes lately so this was a nice change and now that we're heading into the Winter (aka dry skin season) these will give my skin a much-needed glow. 

Have you tried the e.l.f. Baked Blushes yet? 

Disney Villains Jealous Blush Review & Swatches

The Disney Villains makeup collection has arrived at Walgreens, and with Halloween right around the corner, it's the perfect time to launch some badass beauty products featuring the Evil Queen, Ursula, and Maleficent. There are beauty books, a Maleficent contour palette and more, but the first thing that jumped out at me was the Evil Queen's Jealous Blush ($3.50 at Walgreens stores or at Drugstore.com) because it looks a heck of a lot like Nars Orgasm. Let's take a closer look...

Profusion Make Me Blush Set- Blush Boutique Review & Swatches

The other day I wanted to go to Walgreens to see what was new because this time of year, the holiday sets start to hit the shelves. But lately, I have a hard time just going to Walgreens because the one in my town is right next door to a petting zoo that my 2 year old loves! He usually cries if we go into Walgreens first because he thinks I'm not taking him to see the animals....so I take him there first and then we can go to Walgreens. Haha...at least the petting zoo is only open for a few more weeks and I'll be able go straight into Wags without making that pit stop.

So after we fed the goats, sheep and cows, we headed in (with my son singing "Old McDonald" at the top of his lungs) and right in front, an employee was starting to put out the holiday sets. A lot of them are the same ones I've seen in years past, but then one caught my eye...it's a set of 4 Profusion Blush Boutique blushes with a blush brush and it was only $5. Done and done.

L.A. Girl Velvet Contour Sticks Review & Swatches

L.A. Girl Velvet Contour Sticks ($5 each at Lagirlcosmetics.com) are a brand new product designed to make contouring easy with twist-up stick packaging and a velvety cream formula that comes in highlight, blush and bronzer shades. I've come to expect great things from L.A. Girl so I didn't hesitate to grab 8 out of the 16 shades to try. Funny enough, despite these being called "contour sticks" I didn't pick up any of the bronze shades because I'm not all that into contouring (gasp!). But I did grab all three highlights (because I love me some highlighters) and five shades of blush. So let's take a look! 

Sephora Collection Ombre Obsession Palettes For Holiday 2015

Sephora Collection has just released two brand new Ombre palettes for Holiday 2015 and I am drooling over how beautiful they are! There's an eyeshadow palette and a face palette with blushes and a highlighter (my fave!). Let's take a look...

Sneak Peek- Too Faced Love Flush Blush Palette

Just when I thought, "Ok, I have my Tarte holiday blush palette, I'm all set", Too Faced goes and does this: 

Photo from @makeupbyvirizun on Instagram

Yup, a Love Flush blush palette is coming out soon, although I don't know when or how much it will be just yet. As much as I'm loving my Tarte Bling It On blush palette, I find myself wanting this one too.

Photo from @makeupbyvirizun on Instagram

It looks like it's a really long palette...I wonder why they didn't do 3 on top and 3 on the bottom instead of 6 across. It looks cool like this but depending on how big it is, it might be hard to store. It makes me wonder if these pans are like, super small. 

What do you guys think? Yay or nay? 

Tarte Bling It On Holiday 2015 Amazonian Clay Blush Palette Swatches

I just got the Tarte Bling It On Amazonian Clay Blush palette in the mail today and I couldn't wait to open it up and swatch it! This palette is $44, a Sephora exclusive and is part of the Tarte Holidaze collection. I have never owned any of the Tarte Amazonian Clay blushes, even though I've been hearing amazing things about them. Every time I go to Sephora I can't decide because there are so many beautiful shades...and since I can't afford to buy all the ones I like, I was never able to settle on just one shade. With this palette, I didn't have to...finally, I can try five shades at once! Let's take a look: 

City Color Cosmetics Spring Beauty Blush Review & Swatches

City Color Cosmetics Spring Beauty Blush ($3.99 at Citycolorcosmetics.com) is a line of 4 multicolored blushes that are imprinted with the prettiest floral designs. I got mine for $3 each at Five Below, but they're available on the City Color website right now for only $1.99 on sale (as of the time of this post). Let's take a closer look! 

Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Cheek Flush Review & Swatches

Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Cheek Flush ($5.99 at Target) is a brand new gel blush that claims to give a "fool-proof sheer" wash of color to your cheeks. I know you guys have been really curious about these and a lot of you have told me that your Target doesn't even have them in stock yet (mine doesn't either, so I found these at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $5.79 each). I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if I'm being totally honest, you'll probably want to save your money instead of buying these...read on to find out why.   

Flower Beauty Transforming Touch Powder-to-Cream Blush Review & Swatches

Flower Beauty Transforming Touch Powder-to-Cream Blush is an innovative formula that allows you to get a soft-focus flush of color with a powder that turns into a cream. Keep reading for my full review and swatches!

I was at Walmart the other day checking out what's new in their beauty department and came across one of the most interesting products I've seen in a long time...maybe ever! It's from Flower Beauty, which I'm sure you're aware by now is Drew Barrymore's line. I regret not reviewing more of their products because it's actually a great line and I love their philosophy. They use high end ingredients that are found in luxury makeup lines but they keep their prices down because they don't pay for advertising...Drew takes care of promoting the line on her own which is really cool. For me, that means it's not just "another celebrity makeup brand"...she's actually involved with everything. Plus, they don't test on animals which is another plus. 

When I saw the Transforming Touch Powder-to-Cream blush I knew I had to buy it, even though it's a little pricey for a drugstore blush at $12.98. I've seen cream-to-powder blushes, but seriously, what kind of witchcraft is involved in turning a powder into a cream?! That's a question I've asked myself a lot since using this, but at the end of the day, I don't even care because it's just awesome.

Hard Candy Blush Crush Living Doll Review & Swatches

Hard Candy Blush Crush Baked Blush in Living Doll ($7 at Walmart) is a product that has a bit of a cult following and I've been wanting to try it for sooo long because I'm a total blush fanatic, but my Walmart is always sold out of it. A few weeks ago, I happened to get lucky and spotted one lonely blush sitting on the shelf and it was Living Doll, so I grabbed it right away. This is my second blush purchase from Hard Candy...you might remember that I reviewed their newly released Glow All The Way Baked Ombre Blush back in March (see that post here). The Blush Crush Baked Blushes, on the other hand, have actually been around for a few years, so I can't believe I'm just getting a chance to review this now! 

My Favorite: Powder Blushes

Wondering what the best powder blushes are? Here are three of my personal favorites!

A lot of you have asked me over the years what the best products are whether it's mascaras, eyeshadows, foundations, etc. and while it's hard to say what the "best" products are, I can definitely tell you my personal favorites and the reasons why I love them. 

Today, I wanted to talk about blushes because I am such a blush hoarder...I don't know why, I can't stop buying them and probably have more than I can use. But at the end of the day, there are certain ones I use most often, and they're at all different price points...more expensive isn't necessarily better! 

So I decided for this post, I would choose a favorite from each of the three price ranges I use on blog...Under $10, $11-24, and over $25.

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Blush Review & Swatches

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Blush ($7.99 at Ulta) is brand new for Summer 2015 and I was immediately drawn to these when I saw them at Walgreens, as I really like the modern square white packaging! I believe that these are the first single blush that Neutrogena has ever had (correct me if I'm wrong)...in the past they've only had blush/bronzer duos and blush blends. So let's take a look!