Beauty Product Reviews

Great if you have nice skin!

Stila was one the first US companies to release their own version of a beauty balm. The Stila Stay All Day HD Beauty Balm is seeing a limited release through Ulta and their website but in the coming months that should change. It will be widely available by the summer. The packaging lists 10 Benefits. I have to say my skin has gotten even better with daily use. i have decent skin already so I might not be the targeted audience for this product. My fine lines and wrinkles are not super deep yet. I tend to furrow my brow a lot and have a naturally mean look about me. I can't help it. I really am a nice woman honest! I do have large pores though. But enough about me back to the product... I've been using Stila's Stay All Day HD Beauty Balm for close two months now and I really love it. At first glance the color of it can be scary but it blends beautifully into your skin giving light coverage on its own. It has a pleasant scent that does not linger and it feels really nice on my skin. I am not a dermatologist so I cannot attest to some of the claim's the packaging makes but it is long lasting on me and provides awesome oil control. I can go almost 8 hours with little to no shine and for me that is great. It does have that HD blurring effect which means it photographs fabulously and it conceals pores and minor imperfections well. It's versatile for me. It looks nice on its own for that added extra ooomph to my running around the house face. Powders layer well on top of it as do concealers to give a little more oomph to my natural beauty. It also layers well over foundation primer for insane staying power and oil control. AND it's an awesome pre-foundation primer. This plus my HG Chanel foundation has me glowing and oil free all day. I do have some dislikes though. What don't I like about it? The price! For what it is and how much you get I feel like it's about $10-$15 too expensive. The lack of shade selection is a bummer too. On its own this product will only work for those who have fair to medium skin tones. Stila's Stay All Day HD Beauty Balm also provides only light coverage. Those who have problem skin will have to layer a concealer and powder on top of this just to achieve a medium coverage at best. My final gripe is that this product is not hands friendly. The warmth of your hands will immediately cause the product to break down. As such it makes it difficult to achieve any form of even coverage when using your hands. I recommend a foundation brush or flat top powder brush for application. I'm on the fence about Stila's Stay All Day HD Beauty Balm as whole (meaning I am thinking about about consumers and not just myself). For those with darker skin tones this won't work at all. If you have problematic skin OR like something with more than light coverage then this is not the product for you either unless you use it as a primer. For me it works beautifully as a great multitasker and I love it. My suggestion is if you have decent skin in the fair to medium tone range AND you're curious about beauty balms/bb creams pick up Stila's Stay All Day HD Beauty Balm and try it out. If you don't like it you can always return it as Ulta has a decent return/exchange policy

My Holy Grail Eyebrow Pencil

I purchased Brow Wiz in Medium Ash and I have never been happier with an eyebrow product like I am with this. The pencil is soft and looks ultra realistic. Brow Wiz glides on nicely and it looks like real hair. No Sharpie brows here! It's also not prone to drying out like other brands and despite the shape of the pencil lead you can get precise definition. The spooly brush on the other end is also very awesome! It makes for blending the pencil into your eyebrows easy. It's also nice to have an all in one travel friendly convenient pencil. I don't have anything bad to say about the actual product. My gripe is the price. At $20.00 a pencil this is an expensive eyebrow pencil BUT the quality IS there and for me worth the price.

Anastasia's Brow Wiz is hands down the BEST eyebrow product I have purchased to date. If it came packaged with brow gel I think I'd marry Brow Wiz! This product has renewed my faith in the Anastasia line. If you're in the market for natural looking, defined eyebrows stop by your local Anastasia counter and try out Brow Wiz!

XOXO Ashley

Awesomeness in a bottle!

I recently was treated to a full consultation at a Chanel counter in Macy's. I really only wanted to sample Mat Lumiere because I am STILL looking for my holy grail foundation. I have been trying to find my perfect go to foundation for everything. I'm fed up of having several different foundations for different occasions. I want that all in one foundation. I'm getting off track. I went to the Chanel counter knowing Mat Lumiere is what I wanted to try. For my combination skin this is Chanel's best foundation.

I approached the Chanel counter and got matched. The SA at the counter offered to apply a full face of foundation for me. I took her up on that offer. Let me just say that EVERYTHING she used on my skin felt fabulous. I SO wanted to get everything but that would have been close to $400 and I'd be a dead chica later on when my boyfriend got the bill. She applied just the foundation. No primer or concealer. I asked her to put a pop of blush on just my cheeks. I really, really loved the way my skin looked. It looked so fresh and slightly dewy. I looked so alive. I fought the urge and did not buy it. I wanted to wear this for the day just to see what I thought about it.

I bought this foundation 2 weeks after my consultation. No buyer's remorse here baby! I really, really love the way this foundation looks, feels and wears on me. My skin has this natural glow that I wasn't expecting at all. Almost like post big O glow. And that's without any other products on my face. I don't use any brightening skin care products. My skin appears very smooth. This foundation doesn't settle into my pores or fine lines at all. I get a full days wear out of this. That is anywhere from 10-16 hours depending on what I am doing. Keep in mind I do use a make up setting spray. When I had this applied at Chanel it wore well over 8 hours on it's own. I like that I can apply this using my fingers without contaminating the product. I warm the product and apply it to my face. I then take either a foundation brush (if I have time) or my E.L.F. Flat Top Brush (if I am in a hurry) and blend out the foundation.

The pigmentation in this is top notch. I love the coverage it provides me. I could ALMOST get away with no under eye concealer if I am pressed for time. This product melts into my skin almost too well. If I am not careful I can leave streaks. Not because of the product but because of the horrid lighting in our bathroom. It's not the best. I usually check it in natural light before I leave the house.

I think the ONLY thing I don't like about Chanel's Mat Lumiere is the price. It's $54.00 a bottle. This is the most expensive single cosmetic item I have purchased to date. I really did struggle with purchasing this. In the long run it looks really good on me. It's easy to apply. It photographs well. It's long wearing. Mat Lumiere is everything I want in on a bottle. How could I not buy it? When I think about how much money I wasted on other foundations? Oh it makes me angry!

Chanel's Mat Lumiere is a really great foundation. It provides a long wearing, natural satin/matte finish. It is decadence in a bottle. I can't help but feel like a rich spoiled princess when ever I see the bottle. I also can't help but be reminded of my mother. She wore Chanel No. 5 when I was a little girl. Applying this product brings back so many fond memories. Stop by a Chanel counter and treat yourself to a free consultation. You might just be walking away with a little bit of luxury in a bottle.

XOXO Ashley

My holy grail lipstick!

First, let me start off by saying I tend to avoid beauty products that trend heavily positive in the You Tube world. I don't want to get suckered into the beauty hype machine that exists there. (Inglot anyone!) Even if the product is really, really fabulous. I'd rather wait until the hype dies down and then if I feel like I want to still try it I'll go ahead and pick it up. I saw these on a display at Ulta a few weeks ago and I decided to nab two of them for you know whats and giggles.

I think I have finally found my hg (holy grail) lipstick. I was loving my Buxom Lip Tarnish in Wardrobe Malfunction but I was bummed by the lack of color choices. Revlon's Colorburst Lip Butters don't wear AS long (2-3 hours!) as my Lip Tarnish does BUT they are way cheaper and come in a stunning array of colors. These are the most moisturizing lipsticks I have ever worn. My lips felt great with these on and great with these off. I was expecting these to bleed like a mofo. Guess what? No bleeding. I cannot believe how wonderfully amazing these lipsticks are.

Revlon is currently marketing them as a moisturizing lip product with medium to sheer coverage and a buttery shine. I'd have to agree with this description. I haven't tested all of the shades and to be honest I probably won't but I'll definitely be nabbing another 5-6 tubes of these miracle lipsticks, For the price, the quality and the amount of shades how could one pass up on this collection? In a year of holy grails I have finally found my lip hg product: Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters!

XOXO Ashley

I purchased the colors Cotton Candy (baby lavendar pink) and Peach Parfait (peachy nude pink). I wore Peach Parfait on Thanksgiving (and through out Black Friday). I put it on in the car while the boyfriend ran in the store to get some ice. I immediately liked how smooth and creamy Peach Parfait was. Since it is marketed as a "lip butter lip stick" I wasn't expecting much in the way of color. Peach Parfait was surprisngly opaque! And shiny! It's like a lipstick and lipgloss all wrapped in one very cute, affordable package. I couldn't wait to to wear Cotton Candy! I tried that color this past Saturday. It's a sheer, glossy my lips but better shade. It didn't pack the pigmentation that Peach Parfait did but it was still very pretty and performed the same for me. I've been reaching for them ever since!

If you adore runny eye liner this is for you...

Tarte states that EmphasEYES is a revolutionary long-wearing eye liner that contains intensely rich mineral pigments in a 50% water concentration. If this is the next revolution in gel eyeliner pencils then count me out! I tried the brown shade out yesterday morning. On my right eye it performed great. EmphasEYES melted into my water line and set into place instantly. I was impressed! Then I lined my left eye and all hell broke loose! My eye got cloudy, it teared and then to my horror I had brown streaks running down the left side of my face. I tried everything I could to keep it from running and once it stopped it didn't look bad but it never really set for the day. If I had to remove something from that eye it would smudge slightly.

Today I tried the Black shade out. I figured what happened yesterday morning was a fluke since my right eye didn't have the same reaction. I lined my right eye the exact same way I did yesterday and it turned into a black, watery mess. I had black liner ALL over the right side of my face. I don't know what it is about this formula but it's entirely too soft and watery for my eye area. The minute it touches my skin it turns into a soupy, watery mess. It should melt into your skin but because it is 50% water it just turns into ink!

Being the fair minded person that I am I asked my boyfriend's sister to use the Plum shade on her eyes. She has drier eyes than I do. She lined both of her eyes on the upper lash line and her water line. She didn't have the same issues I did with the cloudy vision and watery eyes. What happened to her is that the liner never really set. It would come off if I touche dit lightly so I left it alone hoping it would set. She wore it for 15 minutes and was able to remove it with a cotton swab and cold water. It literally came right off like it was never there. Long wearing? Not!

Ok, so it doesn't perform well at all. That's one check in the negative box. The other? The price! EmphasEYES is ridiculously over priced for the amount of product you get. Even if this works for you because of how soft the formula is and how little you get there's no room for error. There are several gel liners in the traditional pot form that are leaps and bounds better than Tarte's EmphasEYES in terms of quality and price.

Ehhh just ok!

While I am not IN LOVE with this product I don't hate it either. What do I love? It's moisturizing as heck! Turns my dragon lips into smooth, kissable lips! It smells like honey (which I LOVE!). The packaging is pretty. It's not sticky!

What don't I love about it? The "tint". I might as well have gotten their clear pink (Drizzle) tint as these impart very little color on my lips! I got two: Taunt and Lolita. They look ALMOST IDENTICAL on my lips. I would return one but I threw the boxes out by accident. It's a shame because they swatch beautifully! The caveat to it being moisturizing is that it doesn't stay where it should. It can and will bleed despite what Urban Decay's product description states. Also, you really cannot use it under lip stick like you can a traditional lip balm since it has a gloss like texture to it. The price is a little steep for what this product actually does. And while I like the scent it is VERY strong and lingers for a while. My boyfriend's sister said I smelled like feet once. I was mildly horrified.