Products Worth the Hype
[All purchased by me, or given as gifts from friends]

Inspiration strikes at the strangest times and I scrambled for my notebook and pen yesterday as I jotted down categories that I felt a comprehensive review series could be based off of.  None of these are original ideas, just categories that I can group parts of my makeup collection into that I think would be interesting to read.  Briefly I think the areas I can cover over the next couple of weeks include the one you are reading, it's counterpart "Products not Worth the Hype", "Products I'm on the Fence About", "Cult Products", and "Under-hyped Products".  Look forward to those and intermittent random posts as I feel inclined.

For the first category, I have two bases from different parts of the world raved about by girls spanning an even wider distance.  Included are a couple makeup brushes that have gotten nonstop attention recently.

Skin 79 Gold Label Super BB Cream 
This is one of those products that ignited the BB cream fever, for me at least.  It was the first true BB cream I've ever purchased and is an all-around fantastic base.  It looks natural, adapts to my skin tone, has light-medium coverage and blends out imperceptive-ly (just made that an adverb- GRAMMAR!)

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Foundation in 52
It's the closest thing I've found to the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in terms of finish, meaning it's barely detectable with a light-medium coverage.  It's hardly drugstore price in the U.S., but it's definitely worth checking out if you're not about to shell out for a very high end foundation but want similar results.

Real Techniques Buffing and Contour Brushes
Highly raved across the board by the blogging community, these synthetic hair brushes blend out products like a dream.  The Buffing Brush is my go-to for most foundations (except the very thin) and the Contour Brush has a myriad of uses.  Currently, I'm loving it for buffing powder around my T-zone area.

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze
As you saw a couple posts back, not all Color Tattoos are created equal.  However, this shade is cream eyeshadow perfection.  It's creamy, wears as well on me as a powder foundation and has enough pigmentation to be worn on it's own.  I very rarely find cream eyeshadows interesting enough to wear on their own but I'd make an exception for this one.

Wet n Wild ColorIcon Eyeshadow Palettes in Comfort Zone and Silent Treatment
These are soft, buttery pigmented shades that are easy to work with and come in a great selection of shades.  I think this is a strangely difficult combination to find in a drugstore eyeshadow but this formula is really top-notch.  For a fun variety of neutral and bright shades, check these out for $3-$5 each.

Real Techniques Base Shadow and Deluxe Crease Brushes
The eye counterparts to the last two face brushes I talked about, these brushes are an absolute must-have for me right now.  I use the Base Shadow Brush to apply and blend color effortlessly.  Something about the shape-how it's more tapered than the MAC 217 make me reach for this over my MAC brush every time.  I can say that I'd take a backup of this brush over the MAC 217 right now (crazy I know).  The Deluxe Crease Brush is an ideal brush for buffing into undereye concealer but I actually use it with a mineral foundation as a spot concealer and the combination is the best I have tried int terms of heavy-duty concealing.

Maybelline Baby Lips in Cherry Me and Grape Vine
I had the original Baby Lips at one point after a successful Secret Santa gift exchange.  The two that stood out to me in the end were these two, especially Cherry Me.  I think the sheer red is a perfect shade for any skin tone.  It's my go-to easy lip in the colder months.  Grape Vine is just as the name implies, a grape-y shade that doesn't go too vampy.  Both of these can be built up to a decent opacity so beware when applying these without a mirror.  These are moisturizing and smooth just like others have said.

Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in 01 Rose Shimmer
This was floating around the British blogosphere for a while and I was pretty impressed with the reviews.  I picked one up and determined that this would become my handbag staple.  A light, balmy gloss with only a hint of tint, this is very comfortable to wear and actually leaves my lips feeling more moisturized after it wears off.  

An encore and an appearance of two products I couldn't put into their own category because there was only one of each!

Batiste Dry Shampoo in Original
Choose a scent that you like, spray into roots, go do makeup, brush out and voila- second day hair that looks presentable.  This is a lifesaver for oily skin girls like me and this is one of the best I've tried so far.  Very worth the hype.

Clarisonic Mia
You've heard enough about this I'm sure.  Basically, my rationale for including this product is that it is the only thing that actually minimizes the appearance of pores for me.  Blackheads are much less noticeable and there's pretty much no cleanser/treatment that has a similar result.  I see this more as a treatment rather than a daily use product.  

Hope you found that useful and stay tuned for more!

Maybelline and Dior Summer 2013 

Hi-Lo Impulse Purchases (Vol. One of Many)

[Purchased by me]

Inspiration strikes me at random times and judging by my self rationalization from a few posts back, impulse buys and long-time wishlist front-runners make up the majority of my beauty purchases these days.  I don't really differentiate between high-end and low-end in terms of preferences for most things, but for impulse purchases, it seems low-end is the way to go.  If something doesn't work out for you, your wallet feels a lot better than if you splurged on something on a whim.

With the overwhelming blogger attention to the Maybelline Color Tattoo launches, I usually get interested in every collection that comes out but rarely bit the bullet and purchase anything because I know cream shadows dry out and it's not something I've incorporated into my everyday routine.  However, when I heard the Summer 2013 collection was duochrome, a lightbulb went off in my head and I thought "I want that."  For all you movie buffs out there, imagine the lady from Napoleon Dynamite whispering this to her husband as Uncle Rico presents a model ship as part of his sales pitch.


I found these at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $5 which is pretty much a crazy great price for a really great formula....BUT sadly there was a hit and a miss.

Seashore Frost and Icy Mint

Seashore Frost is a gorgeous periwinkle/lilac duochrome with a yellow sheen that has medium pigmentation that's buildable.  I think this is really nice on it's own and a really unique color for cream eyeshadow.  This was the one I wanted the most from looking at other blogs and I'm glad I got it.  I'm a sucker for duochrome. 

Icy Mint is a sad disappointment.  The color is sheer and not buildable.  I wanted it to use as an inner corner eye highlight (an obsession of mine recently as you've seen) but it barely registers.  All that really shows up is a light green sheen.  I managed to make this work as a base for neutral shades surprisingly.  Under a wheat brown shade, it lends a very very subtle green sheen underneath that's a slight twist on the usual neutral eye look.

I also bought Dior Addict Lipstick in Delice.  If you've read my lip product post you know I'm actually trying to use one up right now in another shade, Beige Casual.  I swatched this at Sephora and couldn't resist picking it up during the Chic Week sale.  It lends a sheer orange sheen to the lips that looks really nice but is essentially a glorified tinted lip balm.  I haven't found anything at the drugstore that's a worthy comparison to this texture but my main justification was to be able to wear an orange lip in any type of environment, even the conservative.  

Dior Addict Lipstick in Delice

Top to Bottom:  Dior Delice, Maybelline Seashore Frosts and Icy Mint

Almost impossible to capture the true sheen of Seashore Frost but believe me it's awesome!

This is just such a gorgeous shade and I totally justified it.  I was thinking of doing a monthly favorite post but I actually rotate through my collection pretty regularly on a daily basis and these new things are probably what I'm reaching for most otherwise.