Tag Archives: becca

Buying Stuff: Blush Edition

Standard

You won’t even believe what I’ve been up to.  Remember that time not too long ago where I was addicted to makeup and bought Tom Ford lipstick for $50 because that made perfect logical sense?  Well, of course it still does cuz you can’t fix crazy that easily, but that is not the point of this post.  The point is that I now own almost 600 bottles of nail polish and I’m thinking I probably need like 94576946 more.  Give or take.

Who am I?!

While you contemplate, let’s talk about some blush I bought.  I’ve been using these for the past few months, and I have some things to say.  Probably nothing that interesting, but let’s just pretend, shall we?  You read this blog for a reason and most likely it’s not for the scientific value.

First up is the NARS Dual Intensity blush in the shade Fervor:

This is the prettiest one out of the bunch in my opinion.  The darker pink is so shimmery and practically metallic, that only someone blind could turn their back on it.  The lighter pink is more of a highlight, as it doesn’t lend too much color payoff – if any at all.  However, as a whole, it’s pretty.  I swirl my brush over both colors so the light pink doesn’t feel left out.  And despite the intense foil of the dark pink, you don’t end up with prostitute-y cheeks like you’d expect.  You don’t get much product on your brush, especially if you use one with loose bristles.  That could be a good or bad thing depending on what you’re going for.

Something else about these blushes is they could also be used wet.  That sounds like a lot of effort, and honestly, I’m not getting up any earlier in the morning just so I can apply my dry blush wet.  But apparently it gives you a more high-impact flush.  If you’re into that, then by all means.  If you’re like me (i.e., lazy), we’ll just move on.

I bought these two Colourpop Super Shock blushes in shades Pre-Nup (pink) and Between the Sheets (peach):

And I freaking love them.  They’re like 8 dollars, which proves you don’t need to spend your paycheck on fancy names just to get something quality.  Never mind that comment on the Tom Ford lipstick.

These are cream blushes and super easy to use.  I don’t know about you, but cream blushes give me the hives.  They make me nervous.  There’s a point of no return as soon as your fingers hit your cheek.  Either it’s going to turn out fabulous or you’re forced to sport clown cheeks all day – there’s nothing in between.  You get like 1.2967 seconds to blend as if your life depended on it (it does), and if you fail, the color is locked in place in whatever direction you’ve left it.  Aaaack!  I cannot deal with that kind of pressure.  I may start blending with every intention of continuing to blend, but I get sidetracked easily.  In other words, I need locked in a window-less room so I can do things properly.

So if you suck at cream blush, try these.  Buy yourself a stipple brush, like the small one from e.l.f. or the pretty pink one from Real Techniques.  They are your saving grace, trust me.  Swirl the brush in the product and then onto your cheeks as if you are applying powder.  It’s magical.  The fear is gone.  You’ll never shy away from cream blush again.

Anyway, back to the point (there is one), these Colourpop blushes are awesome.  My favorite is Pre-Nup, the pink one.  It looks so natural and lovely on the cheeks.  I highly recommend it, especially if you have a hard time picking.  Just toss this in your cart and be done with it.  You can thank me by reading this blog and following me on Instagram.  Or sending gift cards.

Sometimes I have a severe lack of judgement.  Behold, the By Terry Terrybly Densiliss blush in Nude Dance:

I can’t even excuse myself because I used a coupon cuz I absolutely did not.  I paid $70 for this for no other apparent reason than clinical insanity.  In my quest to own all the things I’ve gone mental.  Who buys a blush for $70?  Crazy people and billionaires.  That’s it.

In my defense, this blush is STUNNING.  Everything about it from packaging to final result is top notch.  The silver metal compact weighs about 10 pounds (probably) and feels so substantial in your hand.  Like if you just want to know how much luxury weighs, then go hold a By Terry blush for a second.  Good gracious, it’s fancy.  Even the little blush brush it comes with is quite precious.  I’ll never use it, but it’s precious nonetheless.  The blush itself is a very flattering nude peachy pink.  It lasts all day long and looks completely natural and glowy.  I really do love it.  But is it worth the $70 price tag?  Welllllllll, you can most definitely find something you love that is cheaper.  But if you just want to own a piece of artwork, I’d say $70 is a pretty good deal.  Serious, hold the compact in your hand.  You’ll understand.

Next up is the Stila Aqua Glow Watercolor blush in Water Lily:

This is an interesting product as you can see from the pictures.  I will admit the uniqueness of it is the only reason I forced myself into using a liquid blush – a billion times scarier than using a cream blush.  But the word “watercolor” got me and the little mesh screen that separates the product from the outside word sucked me right in.

I haven’t used this as much as I thought I might.  It’s not difficult as expected – due 100% to the fact I used a stipple brush to apply it.  A little goes a very long way, so be careful.  But it just wasn’t as exciting as my imagination made it out to be.  The color is beautiful – you see that gold sheen? – but once it’s on your cheeks, it’s pretty sheer and kind of appeared flat on me.  It does last all day (it’s pretty much a stain), but other than that it’s been collecting a nice sheen of dust for the last few months.

Here is Marc Jacobs Shameless Bold Blush in Irresistible:

Look at that gorgeous orange!  It’s definitely a bold, fun color.  But how does it look on the cheeks?  Well, it’s certainly not this vibrant – which is a good thing unless you bought it for a specific Halloweeny-slash-Clown-Disguise type situation.  In fact, it’s so subtle, I about broke a brush in it trying to pick up product.  That’s an exaggeration but only slight.  It’s truly a vague wash of color; nothing drastic.  I like it but it definitely makes you work for it.

And now, last but not least:  the Becca mineral blush in Songbird:

Now THIS is a pretty blush!  Don’t you just want to dip your aqua-tipped fingers in it?  I do (and might still).  This is possibly my absolute favorite.  It’s pretty neutral but also warm.  I’m on the medium side of light, and this flatters my skin tone very much.  It’s pigmented but buildable.  And it’s enriched with antioxidants so it’s healthy for you!  There are 6 colors in the line, but this one is by far the best one.  Trust me: I’m an expert.

And I know ya’ll are staring at my nail polish and also maybe the chipped parts and the hang nail.  Number one, I’ve had lots of practice since this photo was taken and now my nails look like they need their own insurance policy (cuz they are moneymakers).  And number two, you can go buy this polish from Live Love Polish by clicking here.  It’s Floss Gloss in the shade Wet and it is fabulous.

Well that’s it guys.  My first blog post in eons.  Hope you enjoyed it and you read all the way to the bottom like a true friend.  I’m going to start doing more nail polish reviews and swatch photos on here because I have to justify lining my 3rd bedroom’s walls with polish racks – otherwise, hubby doesn’t understand the purpose of 600 bottles.  Why, I have no clue.  Cuz he bought an elliptical.  For exercising.  So everything that happens after immediately gets a pass.  Sorry, them’s the rules.

Back soon!

Buying Stuff: Episode 17

Standard

You ever have those times where you think you are doing so good at shopping, not spending too much, then on the way out the store you see something you most desperately need and end up ruining all your good work?  Except you technically didn’t ruin anything because now you have something amazing, therefore you go home feeling like you quite literally saved the world from a stock market crash.  Well here is one of those times:

20140628-125842-46722003.jpg

It’s a cute little mask set from Peter Thomas Roth and I am in love.  Even if you don’t like masks, you could buy this cuz it has pretty colors, and who doesn’t love that? (Crazy people.)  I’ve been wanting to try the two gel masks for awhile, so finding this kit made me var var happy.  I didn’t know the pumpkin one existed, so that was a bonus.  Although I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin smells.  The last pumpkin thing I had was a mask from Michael Todd, and it had the consistency and appearance of baby food.  Not necessarily a bad thing if you love pumpkin; however, I do not.  But this Peter Thomas Roth thing is an exfoliator and the opposite of baby food, so I think it will be fine.

And remember how I saved the world from a stock market crash.  So everything mentioned in this post, including the pumpkin scrub, is immediately justified.

Below is a small Sephora haul:

20140628-125840-46720347.jpg

I love it when I run out of something cheap like body wash or makeup remover.  I have a legitimate shopping excuse at that point, and anything else that happens to find their way into my little basket is just a hazard of the emergency.  I mean, what can you do without body wash?  You can’t take a bath, that’s for sure.  So probably “emergency” is too mild a term to describe this situation, but “catastrophic misadventure” is much too long to type.

So I picked up a Philosophy body wash (that triples as a shampoo and bubble bath) in the scent Melon Daiquiri.  It smells like summer in a bottle, and I really like it.  They have tons of scents to choose from, and I spent an obnoxiously long time sniffing each and every one of them.  I almost bought all of them at one point, but finally decided on the melon.  But the Animal Cracker and Coconut scents are probably my next buy.

Wanted to try one of the Too Faced La Creme lipsticks because YouTube haunts me about 95% of my day.  Lots of my gurus talk about how they like the formula of these lipsticks, and I am easily persuaded, so there ya go.  I swatched a few of them in the store, decided on Pink Chocolate, and proceeded to walk around with it in my hand for about 45 minutes.  Right before checkout, I had an attack of conscious and realized I didn’t need to buy another lipstick.  I put it back, then stood in line at the register behind a lady taking an extraordinary amount of time signing up for the rewards program.  Or just long enough for me to ignore my rudely interrupting conscious and grab the lipstick off the shelf again and put it in my basket.

Well.  People need to be quicker in dealing with their transactions, that’s all I’m saying.  Hardly my fault.

Also got suckered into buying the Sephora #55 airbrush foundation brush because I am helpless and need a psychiatric evaluation.  Honestly, how many foundation brushes do I need?  In my defense, none of them say the word “airbrush” in the title, and I don’t know about you, but that word sucks me in almost 97.90567% of the time.  As evident by the fact I bought the dang thing.

I primarily wanted it because back in May when Sephora opened, the sales girl applied the Kat Von D foundation on me using this brush.  The finish was spectacular, which prompted me to buy the foundation.  Since that day I have not been able to duplicate the finish.  In fact, I almost hate the Kat Von D foundation because it is so thick and dry that applying it is about zero fun.

So now that I have this brush, one of the first things I did was apply the Kat Von D.  I read the directions of how to use the brush, and it says to dip it in the product, swirl it on the back of your hand, then apply to your face.  I did all that, and I still didn’t get the finish I was looking for.  Drat.  Perhaps I am not the makeup artist I pretend to be?  Perhaps my brush is broken?  Whatever the case, I have yet to achieve the look of airbrush, but I’m still working on it.

And then for no reason whatsoever, I needed to buy the Becca Beach Tint Shimmering Souffle.  For one, it’s a new product and there was a lot of excitement circling the Becca aisle because of it.  And two, the texture of this is pure fun.  It’s like the bubble wrap of makeup – you can’t stop touching it.  Whoever decided to call it a souffle gets an award, because that’s the perfect name.  It’s cushiony, airy, light.  Here’s a better close up, complete with finger indention.  Not a big one cuz I didn’t want to ruin it right off the bat:

20140628-125841-46721172.jpg

This is the color Guava/Moonstone.  It’s a cream blush – but the easiest application of a cream blush I’ve ever used.  It’s no fail.  If you get circus cheeks from applying this, then you need to sit down, as messing this up would be nigh on impossible.  The color payoff is very sheer and subtle, which could be a good thing if that’s what you’re looking for.  Beachy and glowy is what it is and var var beautiful.  Now, this is the only color I’ve used.  The others may be completely different.  You may get circus cheeks out of them for all I know.  But the Guava/Moonstone is golden and sunkissed – probably works best as a highlighter since the coral in it does not pop like you might expect.  I also have medium light skin, so depending on how dark or light you are, this may or may not be your dream blush.

How’s that for a review?  Maybe, maybe not, could be, could not be, yes, no … You might just need to swatch them for yourselves cuz I ain’t getting sued for misleading information.  All I’m saying is I like it.  Mostly because it’s squishy in its jar.  I dare you not to want to stick your fingers all in this stuff.  If you are somehow able to refrain yourself, you might need to take that show on the road, because that amount of willpower is downright inspirational.

Next up is this horrible picture below.

20140628-125839-46719548.jpg

I can’t even pretend there’s not cat hair all over this blanket.  I’m sorry.  What can I say?  They lay about as if they own the place.  And I guess that’s somewhat correct since my girl cat poops wherever she feels like and we still let her live with us.

The only thing in the picture I bought was the Bobbi Brown blush – the rest I got for free.  Perks of being VIB Rouge, y’all!  Which did not cost me a small fortune to begin with or anything (you know, in case the husband is reading this).  But back to that Bobbi Brown blush.  I got the color Sand Pink, and it’s a really nice medium shade that looks good with my skintone.  I’d say it’s pretty pigmented, but right now I’m distracted by how much cat hair is on that blanket and I can’t think of anything else.  I need to page-down real quick or something.

So all that Fresh lip care stuff was a little sample set.  It includes the lip polish, two lip balm treatments, and a sugar shine gloss.  I am really enjoying these products.  Aside from the weird brown sugar smell, that is.  I don’t prefer it.  But I believe the scrub is the best one I’ve ever used.  It keep my lips exfoliated the longest.  Which is quite a feat because I have the flakiest lip skin in all the land.  I don’t even understand why.  It couldn’t be because I sleep with a fan blowing in my face for 8 hours or anything.

The lip balms are nice as well.  The Rose one has a slight pink tint, but it’s not super evident, so don’t expect a whole lot.  I do like the way they feel on the lips; very moisturizing.  The shine gloss is just a top coat.  I probably won’t use this as much, but it’s not a bad product.  I just don’t wear a lot of clear glosses.

Then I cashed in a couple hundred rewards points and got the next two things.  First one is the Aqua Eyes eyeliner by Make Up Forever. I didn’t realize when I got it that it was a brown pencil, but I’m kind of happy it was. I have a lot of black liners, but very few brown ones. I was mostly interested in it cuz I needed a really good liner that stays put in my waterline. And even though this one is waterproof, my eyes somehow, miraculously, couldn’t give a shit. So this isn’t the one, needless to say. Still searching. Story of my life.

Last product is the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil bronzer. I know I’m the last person aside from nomads and cavewomen to own this bronzer. Better late than never. I can’t own all the things all at the same time ya know? Anyway, I thought this bronzer would be too dark for me cuz it kind of appears that way in the pan. But it’s PERFECT. Goes on lovely, blends fantastically, and smells like chocolate. Plus it’s matte so old people like me can wear it with confidence. Yayuuuuuus. In short, it’s my favorite bronzer now.

Congratulations, you’ve reached the end of this post. Your reward? Another post tomorrow.

You’re welcome.