Saving on Makeup

Hi all... and Happy Wednesday to you! I wanted to do a little post today about saving on cosmetics through savings programs, sales and coupons. With everyone jumping on the couponing train lately, it's not surprising to see those affiliated with cosmetics companies joining in on that as well! Since, there's a lot to absorb with this topic, I'm just going to take a little at a time. Today, I want to talk about the deal I was able to get last night and how I did it. 

Last night, I did a good shopping trip at Publix for groceries, but I also had some Cover Girl coupons and wanted to take advantage of those on some eye shadow singles. 

Publix have these priced (in Auburn, Alabama) for $2.99 each. Our Publix coupon policy states that you can use 1 manufacturer coupon and 1 store coupon per product. I had a $3 off 2 Cover Girl products coupon from the July 29, 2012 P&G coupon insert from the Sunday newspaper and I also had 2 store coupons from the Publix green advantage flyer that were $1 off 1 Cover Girl or Queen product. So, when I stacked those coupons I was able to get both eye shadows for just .98 or .49 each. After tax it was $1.07 for both full size eye shadows! 

 *Sorry about the right pic. Haven't figured out how to flip it on here yet!*

So the 2 colors I picked I consider both to be "highlight" shades. I picked up #620 in Snow Blossom and #540 in Pink Chiffon. Both are very light and frosty looking. Here are some swatches! (PS: I have a ton of the cover girl singles now. If you are interested in seeing swatches of all the colors I have now, just leave me a comment!)

My skin is light and pink colored as it is so these didn't show up particularly well, but they are both very nice. Snow Blossom, on the top, is a little chalky where as the Pink Chiffon is a really silky feeling. The Snow Blossom also has a little less shimmer than then Pink Chiffon. Both seem to be easy to blend and if they compare to the other Cover Girl shadows I have, they will be long lasting as long as they are used over a decent eye primer. 

Let me know if you have any questions!

- Yours - Jessica -

My New Foundation Routine: Initial Feelings

Hi friends! I know I was supposed to update you all the next day after the big foundation test (the summer outdoor children's party in Alabama heat) but I believe I still may be recovering from that! LOL I have continued basically the same foundation routine the remainder of the week and today I was not planning on going anywhere so I have slapped on my Philosophy "Take A Deep Breath" and am using this opportunity to clean my brushes and sponge.

So here's my thoughts about the different products I have used this week each day:

1.  Philosophy "Take A Deep Breath" (sample received as part of my $10 June Glam Bag Subscription) : I am very pleased with this product. It doesn't seem to really help with any redness I have (Although I've seen they do have a moisturizer to help with that and will probably try that next.) however, this gel-like moisturizer has a lovely cooling feel when you apply it and does not feel greasy at all to me. The little sample sized tube has been wonderful and with using I would say a double pea-size amount each time has lasted me about 10 uses and maybe has 1 or 2 left in there. I will give my final review and decision to repurchase when it's completely empty!

2. Hard Candy Sheer Envy Primer: Ultra Light Formula ($8 - Walmart): This is another product I am very pleased with so far! I will start by saying the one thing I would change about this product is that it feels EXTREMELY greasy when it goes on and frankly I was really worried about that making me break out (which is not normal for me) or increasing my redness. I wish they could change this initial feeling because I think it could scare some people off but when the product dries it leaves your skin as silky and smooth as a newborn baby's bottom!! LOL There is no feeling of greasiness when it dries at all and it really does make a nice smooth layer for you to apply your color cosmetics on top of. This product is white in color and is clear when you spread it so this product would not be used to help conceal anything, just help make a smooth surface. I had hoped that whatever primer I chose would help to conceal my redness without having to use an actual concealer so again, this is another product that I have not decided yet if I will repurchase and will give a final review and decision to repurchase when it's completely empty. 

3. Revlon Colorstay Makeup in #250 Fresh Beige for Oily/Combination skin ($9.99 - Target): This product has lived up to ALL expectations to me thus far AND lived up to it's name for me. I already have serious issues with facial sweating when it's not 100 degrees out in Alabama, but now that it is actually that, I have an even greater need for a long-wearing foundation through the heat and sweating. When I bought it I was not sure about the color and I also didn't realize I had picked up the one for Oily/Combination skin and I have dry skin. I have been very pleased with the color choice for me, I usually have to pick the lightest shade of foundation as I am fair skin and I tend to avoid the sun as much as possible during summer months but this color, a couple shades away from the lightest, seems to suit me well and looks natural when blending down the neck. Also, I was afraid the Oily/Combination product would be bad with my dry skin and hasn't been too bad thus far. My dry patches haven't gotten worse, but that being said, I do not think this type of foundation is helping to make those patches less dry either. My plan is to go ahead and work on finishing out this bottle and to keep an eye out for Revlon sales and my Revlon coupons and see if I can't pick up one pretty cheap for dry skin. As far as coverage, I would say this is a medium to heavy coverage foundation. When using a blending sponge to apply (thoughts on that coming next) you really do have the option to control the coverage more than say using your fingers or brushes (in my experience) to apply. I consistently went over each area and then would go back again to my reddest of areas. I found that 95% of the time my redness was well covered. As posted in #2, I will probably be on the search for a concealer in the next week  or so that is light and can be of help to me just during days I really need it. 

4. Sonya Kashuk Blending Sponge ($10.49 - Target): This product has been fabulous for me. In my opinion, this product, blends well, holds well in the hand while applying, is able to be used on all areas of the face thanks to the different sized ends, helps you control your coverage and rinses out well daily. I had previously seen several reviews where the reviewers had trouble rinsing our their sponge, but I have not encountered that. I am about to do a full washing with some foaming face wash so will let you know next review how well that works out. I have used the same process every day with this sponge to get the results I've had. I get the sponge wet under the faucet and I squeeze out really well until you can't really tell if it's wet or dry. I then put a dime size amount of foundation on the back of my hand, I dab the sponge in the foundation and then I use a light stippling motion all over my face. I truly feel like this product helps me to achieve an even application and airbrush-like finish. This will be my LAST review on this product until it comes time to replace it to let you all know how long it lasted for me. As stated in my last blog, I currently have no intention of trying the Beauty Blender (the pink, egg-shaped one). FABULOUS PRODUCT!!!

5. Mary Kay Loose Powder in Ivory #1 ($14.00  - Local Mary Kay Rep): This will be my last thoughts on this product until the winter months as I have made the decision to put this product away until the weather gets cooler. When I wore this product the other day out in the heat, once I did start sweating quite a bit, the powder did start to clump up again (not pretty). I spent 90% of the time at the party blotting my face. Since that day I have chosen to go without the powder and I have not experienced that again. As I stated before, I did really enjoy the powder when I wasn't sweating so bad, so I will give it another go when it gets cooler out. 

And that's it folks! I have been pretty pleased as well with the wear of my eye makeup, but I do think I will go back to using the Tarte Eyelid Primer that I was using when the True Blood palette came out. It really helped with any creasing and the over all look and wear of eye products. As usual, the STAR of all my face products HAS to be the Tarte Eyelash Primer and Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes mascara! I will never go back to anything else! I am a very emotional person and that mascara has held up though everything... Tears, Sweating, and even unintentionally rubbing my eyes after a long day. FABULOUS PRODUCT TARTE!!!

If anyone has any questions, let me know! :)

ISO: A New Foundation Routine

For a while now I have been in search of a new foundation routine. Before it started to get really hot I was enjoying the light Tinted Moisturizer from Mary Kay and if I wanted a little extra coverage, I would top it with the loose powder from Mary Kay. Then I started noticing that the warmer it was getting outside, the more I began to break out. In addition to that, I always have issues with facial sweating but in the Alabama heat, it's about 100 times worse than in the winter months. One Sunday I was HORRIFIED. I applied my tinted moisturizer and powder as normal and went off to church. There was an issue that day with the A/C coming on in the room that I lead children's worship in but I just did the best I could with it. After worship, I went into the bathroom and the moisturizer was literally STREAKS running down my face and the powder was all clumping up and I thought at that moment I could not continue to go on like that throughout the summer months, especially singing and dancing around with kids each week!

So, I set out on a hunt for something new. I am not one for immediately jumping to high end products without trying more affordable ones first, especially ones I know I can get coupons for! I began watching videos and reading blogs from other people who have tried and reviewed different primers, foundations and powders. I also sat down and watched some people's foundation routines on You Tube just to see what others are doing and why they are doing it. I figured I might be able to come across someone who has some of the same concerns that I do! I then made some notes about ones I might want to try and set out to the makeup section in Target the last time I was there. 

I decided to start with a Sonya Kashuk Blending Sponge and the Revlon Colorstay Foundation (I also purchased Revlon Airbrush foundation but have not tried it on my face. I was not really turned on by the one swatch I did, so I haven't gone there yet.) I couldn't, however, find any primer that I was interested in trying. I did see several rave reviews about Elf's primer but since I haven't had luck with any other Elf products I've tried, I figured that wasn't a good place to start for me. I ended up purchasing a Hard Candy primer the next day when I went to Walmart. 

*One point I want to make about my decision to purchase the Sonya Kashuk blending sponge is that I was rather humored by the reviews I found on beauty blenders on You Tube. Now, for those of you that are familiar with the different beauty blenders you know that they are special sponges, varying in shape and size, that are used damp to apply your face products for a more "air brushed" finish. Also, if you don't already know, you need to know that the Sonya Kashuk sponge is $10 LESS than the pink, egg-shaped, beauty blender. Here is where the humor comes in: I would find several reviews from people RAVING about the SK sponge. They would give an awesome review, show proof of the product with before and after pictures, and go on about how they wouldn't go back now that they had it. Then, you would find a later video where they would state that they keep seeing videos from other people about this pink TWENTY DOLLAR (YIKES!) sponge and they just HAVE to try it. <Blank stare inserted here.> Are people so desperate for perfection that the things they once thought were perfect aren't perfect enough any more?? Anyway, they would buy the pink ones, fall in love and never go back to the SK one. <Rant completed. Sorry.>*

Unless my SK sponge causes me some kind of mental agony... I officially have NO intention of purchasing a beauty blender (A $20 sponge.) with my own hard-earned money. 

Today I decided to give all 3 products a try. I am very very pleased with the coverage, wear and ease of application of ALL products I used this morning! This is the first time EVER that I have ZERO complaints! I am on my way headed out to an outside-in-alabama-heat birthday party and am looking forward to seeing how it holds up chasing the kids around in this nonsense we call weather here! LOL So here is my face of the day along with all the products I used. I will be letting you all know tomorrow how it held up outside and I intend on giving a final opinion review in a couple weeks!!

Moisturizer: Philosophy "Take A Deep Breath" (sample received as part of my $10 June Glam Bag Subscription)

Primer: Hard Candy Sheer Envy Primer: Ultra Light Formula ($8 - Walmart)

Foundation: Revlon Colorstay Makeup in #250 Fresh Beige for Oily/Combination skin ($9.99 - Target) applied with Sonya Kashuk Blending Sponge ($10.49 - Target)

Powder: Mary Kay Loose Powder in Ivory #1 ($14.00  - Local Mary Kay Rep)

Eyes: NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk ($4.49 - Ulta), Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips in Illuminating Black (From the Trio for Hazel Eyes - $9.49 - Walmart), Covergirl Eye Enhancers in #710 Champagne- $3.39 at CVS), Mary Kay Mineral Eye colors in Espresso and Lavender Fog ($6.49 each - Local Mary Kay Rep), Tarte Lights Camera Lashes Mascara (Part of the realEYES Natural Smokey Eye set from Ulta for $32 - $19.99 separately at Ulta), Tarte multiplEYE Lash Primer (Part of the realEYES Natural Smokey Eye set from Ulta for $32 - $22.00 separately at Ulta)

Lips: Mary Kay Lipstick in Raisinberry (My ABSOLUTE fav lipstick ever!!) ($13.00 - Local Mary Kay Rep)

*All products were purchased on my own unless otherwise noted. Some products, such as the Cover Girl Eye Shadow, were free or highly discounted due to couponing efforts on my part. If you would like any information on how I use coupons in my purchase of makeup, please let me know in the comments and I will be happy to post about that!*


*Please remember all opinions expressed above are my own and of my own experiences.*

Product Review: NYX Crimson Amulet Collection

... Inspired by the movie: Dark Shadows ...

I had no idea what this movie was when I bought this beautiful palette by NYX so I was purely going of the fact that I had bought the True Blood palette by Tarte last year and ended up loving it. So far I am 2 for 2 buying palettes inspired by something in Hollywood! 

I purchased this kit from my local Ulta store for $24.99. Now considering my Tarte for True Blood palette was considerably higher priced than this, I honestly didn't expect much. This palette, however, has turned me into an NYX fan for life! (In addition to this palette, I also purchased 4 more NYX products that day, all 4 of which I'm pleased with as well!) The pictures above show the palette from the front and back. It has a magnet snap closure which is strong so it stays together really well. 

When you open the palette, it has 2 sections. The first section is shown above with 24 very pigmented eye shadows, 4 eye shadow applicators and on the right, a mirror. For the following photos, I will show swatches of the eye shadows going row by row from left to right, top to bottom.

Row 1: This row consists of a matte black, a satin finish cream/flesh color, a purple shimmer and a satin finish almost "burnt orange" color, or copper. 

Row 2: This row consists of a shimmer finish lilac color, a matte sage green, a satin finish cream color (this is a tad bit darker than the satin cream in row 1 and is less pink in tone), and a shimmer navy color.

Row 3: This row consists of  a very light shimmered royal blue, a shimmery forest green, a shimmery chocolate brown, and a satin finish warm purple color.

Row 4: This row consists of your base neutral/highlight colors. First is a matte cream color, then a matte light brown/taupe, then a matte taupe/even lighter brown, and a satin finish egg shell white.

 Row 5: This row consists of a light brown with a very light satin finish, a matte dark brown, a satin finish light pink, and a matte charcoal gray. 

Row 6: This row consists of a satin finish pink/light lilac, a satin finish taupe, a shimmer brown and a satin finish light yellow/gold.

With all of the above polishes, I've gotten the best results when using an eyelid primer. Another great surprise is that I have experienced very little fall out so it's nice to finish your eye makeup without having a huge mess to clean up on the rest of your face. Luckily the palette name isn't literal! HAHA!

Now, we turn the "page" to view the rest of the palette. On the left, they give you an example of 3 looks from the movie from Josette, Dr. Hoffman and Angelique. The looks are described but there is no instruction like there was in the True Blood palette by Tarte. On one hand, I appreciate when instructions are included because I like to be able to recreate looks exactly as they were in the move. On the other hand, I think by NOT including instructions, NYX has inspired me to become creative... I feel free to create any look and not just included ones. 

First up in this part of the palette are the HD High Definition Shadow Base and the NYX Liquid Eyeliner that are included with your palette. On the right, I have swatched both of them for you with the base on the top and the eyeliner on the bottom. 

Typically I do not like a liquid liner, just because I have a hard time having a steady enough hand to use a liquid liner when the line is so harsh. I have found, however, that I enjoy putting the liner on and smudging it a little with a precision brush. I love the smoky look it creates. 

I LOVE the shadow base! It is very creamy and has a moisturizing feel which is great because for me, my eye area tends to get very dry. I also can testify to the long lasting quality of this base. My shadows have lasted for hours which is great as a busy mom because I just don't have time to stop and touch up my makeup with 4 kids running around! 

Next up is the highlight and blushes. Here I have swatched the highlight on the top followed by all 5 blushes from top to bottom. 

The highlight is a decent product. I'm not really accustomed to using highlights on a regular basis, but I do really like this one on the bridge of my nose and on my cupid's bow to help my lips look fuller. 

I also am not one to apply blush on a regular basis because my face naturally has a "blushed" look and often times will still show through what ever foundation I am using. The blushes included in this kit, however, are very pretty. First you have a matte pink/peach blush. Next you have a much more vivid color in almost a raspberry pink matte. Then you have a shimmery peach color, followed by a pink shimmer. The largest of the blushes is at the bottom and that is a light almost mauve pink. 

Lastly, we have 4 lip gloss products which are really more pigmented than I expected making them almost like lipsticks. From left to right we have almost a neutral light mauve color. Then we have a very bright blue-toned pink. Next is a very true light pink color. Finally we come to a color I expected to be more red, is actually a hot raspberry pink color. 

So... That's it for the collection! I have a few looks that I have enjoyed doing with this palette so I will try to get those done and posted for you as soon as I can! If you have any questions about this palette that I have not answered here, please let me know!

--Yours-- Jessica