Beauty Product Reviews

Best I've ever tried.

This is by the far the best tinted moisturizer I've used in my makeup lifetime. I used to use the Urban Decay Urban Defense, but it was too thick for my liking. I like that this gives a decent amount of coverage (not like full coverage, but a little something) and makes my skin very nice and even. It's also cheaper and contains more product than the other tinted moisturizers. theBalm gets bonus points for this one.

Less product for more money.

These lip glosses are nearly 20$ now for less product than a lipglass, right? Well, that's what bothers me already. I've only owned Fashion Whim and when I loving MAC, it was my go-to gloss. It is a fantastic colour, really. The formula is great. But I cannot deal with the fact that it's 20$.

It gets the job done.

I got this cleanser in a set with a moisturizer and toner for only 10$ at TJ Maxx. If you want theBalm products, you need to go to your local TJ Maxx and/or Marshalls before hitting up Sephora online (they keep taking products away and don't carry skincare though, just so you know) and theBalm online.

This is a cleanser that gets the job done. I use it to remove my makeup when I don't have wipes and I wash my face with this again. It has a very nice scent and it doesn't feel harsh on my skin at all. Keeps my face feeling very clean, fresh, and even a little soft.

My new best friend!

Since I had my Benefit Erase Paste for almost a year and the consistency was starting to change (and not for the better), it was time to find a new concealer. Erase Paste isn't the best for me, so I was hoping for something different that was better and cheaper. Erase Paste is 26$, okay? That's not nice to my wallet even if I can afford to buy many of them at one time.

This Tarte concealer isn't the cheapest either. It's 24$ and I'm not sure if it has less or more product than the Benefit. I received this in a swap, the shade Light, so I didn't have to pay anything, lol!

I have very dry under eye circles so I was hoping for a concealer that was more liquid-y. I think this concealer is a mix of liquid/cream, but what do I know? It's on the thicker side. The girl that gave this to me warned me and said that the concealer is hard to get out, but I've had no problems. It's actually a good thing though because a little does go a long way, and I normally do not say that, ha. I use my SOHO pink handled crease brush to apply this, and then I'll use my fingers to pat it in/spread it out more. Set it with some powder and you're good to go!

I do think Light is a liiiiiiiiiiiiiittle bit too dark for me, so next time, I'd go for Fair. But Light is good enough. This thing brightens up my eye area and as long as I use the amount of eye cream I normally use, it doesn't look like a dry nasty mess like Erase Paste does.

Overpriced for what it is when you have lips like mine.

When I first got into makeup, I was all about the MAC lipsticks since everyone and the hype convinced me that MAC is the best~ I've purchased a few and I've swapped for a few. Honestly, it's not just the colour you get, but also the formula you get. That's definitely more important than the colour, in my opinion.

I've used Satin, Lustre, Amplified, Cremesheen, Frost (lol Angel is not a frosty finish, but ok), and... I think that's it? Satin and Lustre (and that "frost" lol) work the best for my dry lips, but they're not the best. People praise the amplified and cremesheen finishes, but I hate them. They bleed/feather and dry out my lips even with jack black underneath.

After finding MUFE lipsticks, I don't have an interest in MAC lipsticks anymore unless it's a colour I really like, but I have issues with MAC anyway because of animal testing and their supporting Internet censorship.

MAC, in general, is overpriced for what it really is.

My new favourite for setting undereye concealer.

This is the perfect brush for me, personally, when I want to apply setting powder on top of my undereye concealer. You could also use it for highlight on the cheekbones or anywhere you want to highlight, but I'm just using it for setting concealer right now. Maybe I need to buy a second one? LOL!

Here's a little tidbit from my blog post... it's the second half of my review with another brush:

"Now there is the Setting brush that I use to put powder under my eyes. To some, it may be a little too big for under the eyes. It does cover my whole under eye area. When I want to get powder in the corner of my eyes, I just use the tip and my problem is solved. It is also very soft like the Expert Face brush. This Setting brush does not have any shedding whatsoever.

I used to use a fluffy EcoTools brush to set my concealer, but I think I'll be sticking with this from now on. I love everything about the RT brush more."

Yes!

Real Techniques brushes are very hyped up makeup brushes because Sam from pixiwoo is the creator of these. They're very affordable (from six dollars to eighteen dollars for sets) and can be purchased from Ulta and I believe Amazon as well.

I went to Ulta (forty minutes away) yesterday and purchased two brushes: face expert (orange) and setting (pink). The Expert Face brush is for blending cream and liquid foundation. The Setting brush is good for applying powder or highlight on certain areas of the face. I've been using Expert Face for tinted moisturizer all over and Setting to apply powder underneath the eyes where I like to set concealer.

I'm completely used to applying my tinted moisturizer with my fingers. I've used brushes before and I didn't like the way they left streaks all over my face so I just felt like brushes were useless. I also wasn't keen on the idea of washing the brushes after every use (because built up liquid product is not pretty, obviously). But I'm a fan of the pixiwoo sisters (more Nic than Sam, heh) so I wanted to support. I always see these brushes being used and I wanted to try the new ones out. Plus, I already own the purple handle eyeshadow brush and I love it, so why not get more? Ulta also had a BOGO50% sale. I just wanted to see if a Face Expert brush really made any difference.

Does it make a difference appearance wise? I'm not very sure. It is fun to use. Just swirling it around on my face is fun. It's so soft so it's nice. It does leave streaks so I have to use my fingers in the end to wipe those marks away. It has made a difference in a different department: feel. When I apply theBalm BalmShelter TM on my face with my fingers, it does feel a little TM-heavy. It's nothing major, but it's there. When I use the Face Expert brush, I can hardly feel the TM on my face at all.

This brush does shed a little bit. As I was doing my makeup, I noticed I had brush hairs on my face at least three times. Since the hairs were fairly easy to remove, I did not rage at all (lol), but it's not something I'd like to keep doing every time I do my makeup.

Overall, I like the brush. I will continue using it for my face makeup.

Ha, no.

theBalm TimeBalm concealer is a seven gram product that you can get for 18$ at <a href='http://thebalm.com' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>thebalm.com</a>. If you're lucky, you can find it in a complexion kit with a few other products for around 30$ (or cheaper, if it's on clearance) at TJ Maxx or Marshalls. There are six shades: lighter than light, light, light/medium, medium, mid-medium, and medium/dark. The shade pictured is light.

This concealer is supposed to cover your dark circles and help "heal your delicate eye area from environmental stresses." Apparently, you can also wear this at night while you are sleeping. Honestly, why the hell would anyone want to do that?

I have hereditary dark circles, so I really need (or would like~ since makeup isn't a necessity in life and you will not die if you don't wear it) something that will cover it up. I've had very bad luck with every concealer I've ever tried. I'm not expecting a miracle and I'm not expecting my circles to be covered up completely, but it would be nice if a concealer covered my circles up somewhat. Before I tried this, I was using Benefit Erase Paste in Fair. It did an okay job, but I wanted better.

People on YouTube, beautylish, blogs, and makeupalley swore by this concealer. They swore it completely covered up their dark circles. So when I kept reading good reviews on makeupalley, I knew I had to get it once I found it.

Unfortunately, it doesn't do me any good. First of all, the shade light is too dark and too orange for me. It makes my under eyes look very muddy/dirty when I'm out and about and it seems to make my dark circles even darker, which is exactly the opposite of what I want. I figured since I'm the shade light in theBalm BalmShelter Tinted Moisturizer, this would work, but it doesn't. But it came in the kit, so I didn't have much of a choice in shade selection. It doesn't cover anything for me at all. I thought even though it's a bit dark for me, it'd still cover up something, but it didn't do that. It's also quite drying. I have dry skin and if you have dry skin, I would highly suggest staying away from this for that reason alone. I use theBalm eye gel and it didn't help. The concealer still dried down and looked very disgusting and powdery.

This is a photo of swatches of both concealers mentioned on my hand. I have Benefit Erase Paste on the left and theBalm TimeBalm on the right. As you can see, Erase Paste is much lighter. This actually suits my skintone very well. It may not cover as well as people say it does (why is it that every time people say something covers things up so well, it doesn't work for me), but it does do a nice job at covering it just a little bit and brightening up my under eye area.

In the end, I'm not a fan of this at all and I regret wasting my money on it. I have this up for swap and it's also in my shop if anyone sees this and would like to try it out.

EDIT: beautylish, y u no show photo when u ask me to post photo

Desert of sadness.

Korres was 50% off at my JCSephora recently. Why? I don't know. Since the concealer I wanted wasn't available in my shade, I decided to buy a lip butter for only six dollars. It's a nice balm while it's on. It moisturized my lips then and was nice and all of that. But once it dried/wore off, it was absolutely horrible. It made my lips even drier and hurt.

Another one of those "desert of sadness" products.

Short and sweet: I don't like them. It's another one of those over-the-top raved products I don't understand. I like the smell of these things. Nice smells. But the formula sucks. It did absolutely nothing to moisturize my lips. Props for packaging but not for anything else.