Clean Scene by Murad

I don't want to call this a 'skin care routine' post, because I don't really find those helpful. I think everyone has such specific needs when it comes to their skin that the most we can really take from those types of posts are good skin care product recommendations. Which is great, don't get me wrong. There's so much out there between the drugstore and department store brands that it can be unbelievably overwhelming trying to wade through it all to get to the products that will work for you. That's the best thing about the online beauty community.. we all do the hard work for each other, testing and grading the huge number of products out there.

I've been having a terrible time with clogged pores recently, and have been frantically trying to find something to clear my congested skin. I ended up buying Murad's new lines' 'Craving for Clean' cleanser and 'Begging for Balance' moisturizer on a whim, not realizing I was making the perfect choice. The line was created for the younger population (hence the packaging and sickly sweet smells, which I'll get to later), targeting their skin's needs. Most automatically associate teen skin care with acne fighting products, but the line utilizes skin-balancing ingredients rather than the more often seen bacteria killers. The star ingredient in this line is 'Yumberry', which may be hard to take seriously, but is a super anti-oxidant.

Clean Scene 'Craving for Clean' Foaming Cleanser
For the price, this may not seem worth it for it's simplicity. It might seem like the overpriced equivilent of a drugstore cleanser, but I've decided the price is comepletely justifiable. Standard foaming cleansers from my local drugstore dry my face out like no other. Somehow this standard foaming cleanser from my local Sephora manages to keep my skin's balance from getting out of whack. As promised, this cleanser does foam up a good deal. On it's own, this doesn't remove all of my make up, but I always use a seperate remover anyway. Then again, I pile the stuff on; I would not doubt this cleanser's ability to efficiently remove every last trace of light to medium make up. This cleanser smells artifically fruity, but not in a clear-your-sinuses way. It's not overly obnoxious. For those of us who don't seek fancy pants ingredients in our cleansers, just something to get our faces completely clean without over-drying, this could just be The One.

Clean Scene 'Begging for Balance' Moisturizer
I'll keep this short and sweet: this is basically my dream moisturizer. Oil-free, light, skin-balancing. For my skin's condition right now, I've struck gold with this one. It won't harrass my poor pores, yet it does a great job of hydrating my dry cheeks. On a side note, the brand claims the moisturizer has mattifying properties, but since I use it at night I cant vouch for those. This one smells even stronger than the cleanser, but I mean, it smells like candy! It might bother some though.

Although I was immediatly put off by the overwhelming fruitiness of these products, I'm now loving what they're doing for my skin. They leave out all the bells and whistles, which I can get from masks and serums without worrying about overloading my skin.

The cleanser costs $17, the moisturizer goes for $22.

The cleanser's ingredients are: Water, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Glycol Distearate, Butylene Glycol, Myrica Rubra Fruit Extract, Tocopheryl Acetate, Ascorbic Acid, Chitosan, Zinc Gluconate, Sodium PCA, Betaine, Sorbitol, Glycine, Alanine, Proline, Serine, Threonine, Arginine, Lysine, Glutamic Acid, Polyquaternium-4, Disodium EDTA, Propyl Gallate, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Limonene, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Chlorphenesin, Fragrance, Red 33 (CI 17200)

The moisturizer's ingredients are: Water, Dicaprylyl Maleate, Diisopropyl Sebacate, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Sorbitan Stearate, Stearic Acid, Cetearyl Alcohol, Myrica Rubra Fruit Extract, Salicylic Acid, Bisabolol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Dimethicone, Ascorbic Acid, Chitosan, Zinc Gluconate, Sodium PCA, Betaine, Sorbitol, Glycine, Alanine, Proline, Serine, Threonine, Arginine, Lysine, Glutamic Acid, Propyl Gallate, Allyl Methacrylates Crosspolymer, Ceteareth-20, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Sclerotium Gum, Disodium EDTA, Aminomethyl Propanol , Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Limonene, Linalool, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Methylisothiazolinone, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Chlorphenesin, Fragrance.

Birthday Love

My birthday just passed, and as usual, most of my gifts came in the form of a small plastic card. I've already got down to business putting them gift cards to work!

MAC Lipglass in 'Lovechild'

Lovechild is a beautiful mauvey plum with golden shimmer. Anything mauve goes well with an olive complexion, so even though I don't normally gravitate towards darker colors, I knew I'd like this one.

MAC Eyeshadows in Mythology, Saddle, Soft Brown (no base)

Just some swatches of some well known colors. I needed medium and light warm browns, so I picked up Saddle and Soft Brown. Mythology is one of my favorite crease colors.

Conceal FX Camouflage Concealer in Light-Medium
Left eye (your left) completely bare, right with concealer
I really don't want to jinx it, but I think I might have just found my holy grail under eye concealer. I'm usually weary of anything that claims to "self-adjust", but I've read too many good things about this concealer to not try it. Cover FX describes this as being self-adjusting, water-resistant, and 'hi-definition'. It also has a built-in primer. It went on yellow when I first applied it, and I was instantly dissapointed because I thought it was another bad color match. But as I blended more, the pigment magically harmonized with the coloring of my foundation. It might not be totally seamless around the edges, but the coverage factor and texture of this concealer beats that of any I've ever tried. I know this line is over-used, but since you need so little to achieve full coverage, this product is a great value. $25 at Sephora.

the Balm Mary-Lou Manizer

LOVE. That pretty much sums up my feelings towards this highlighter. Unless you like an extremely subtle highlight, I can't think of any reason to not like this luminizer. I fully expected it to be chunky and glittery, but it isn't either of the two at all. It gives you a gorgeous glow. You have to see it in person to understand exactly what I'm talking about. I much prefer powder highlighters to creams/liquids, because the latter make me look greasy. This is hands down the most flattering highlighter I have ever used. The packaging is adorable, and the compact has an sturdy mirror built right on. Plus you get a ridiculous amount of product.


Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Liner in 'El Dorado'

Lastly, a UD 24/7 pencil. I've been wanting this one forever. El Dorado is a true gold, creamy and pigmented as are all of the 24/7 liners.

That's all for now. Hope you're all enjoying your summer :)

FOTD

I've done this with my eyeshadow like 4 times this week because I love how the colors look with my skin color. I dont remember what I have on my face is terms of foundation and blush, but who really cares about that anyway.

On the eyes..
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk (base)
Orb (lid)
Embark (crease)
Cork (to blend out darker brown)
UD 24/7 in Zero
Lancome Hypnose Drama

And the lips..
Shy Girl l/s
C-Thru l/g

Looove pinks on the lid with warm dark browns in crease or outer v. Another good pink to use with Embark is Da Bling.. the MA in mac did my eyeshadow using only those two colors and it looked amazing. The trick is to keep the dark brown defined in the outer v.. don't overblend it all the way into your lid.

The Balm Time Balm Concealer

I picked up the Balm's concealer a few weeks ago. I actually went in for Cover FX's liquid concealer, but I loved the Balm's bronzer, so I made a last minute decision change and came out with the 'Time Balm' concealer instead.

So on top of my hereditary dark circles, I now have reddish rings around my eyes because I've started using RapidLash (which is amazing so far, by the way). They've subsided a lot, and the picture below is right after I rubbed off all my eye make up, so don't be put off by how scary they look, haha.

Before foundation & concealer:

Left eye (your left) with just foundation, right with concealer:

What It Is: A full coverage concealer with anti-wrinkle properties.

Consistency: The concealer is very creamy. I actually dislike this because of the greasy look. It spreads very easily, though.

Coverage: The color I got, Medium, is very yellow, so I thought it would cover darkness well. The concealer itself is extremely pigmented, but the color wasn't right at all. It left me with a greenish tint under my eyes. You can tell in the picture the edges look unblended.. it was hard to get it to blend with my foundation.

Staying Power: The coverage lasts about 5-6 hours on my skin. I didn't like how my under eye area looked after a few hours though.. kind of creasey and bumpy and weird.

Final Thoughts: I wasn't impressed by this. This might work for other imperfections on the face, but for under eye circles, it was too shiny for my liking. Plus the texture wasn't amazing. It might work better for more mature skin, since it's drier.. and the concealer fights wrinkles. I'm going back for that Cover FX one I've heard so many raves about. I'll review that bad boy as soon as I get my hands on him.

Micabella Eyeshadows

Here are the Micabella shadow swatches I promised. The three colors I got were 'Coral Reef', a peachy color with golden shimmer; 'Carnival', a super shimmery gold-bronze; and 'Diligence', a deep, plum-y brown.


Side to side comparisons, left side swatched dry, right side swatched wet using Visine.




Finally, a look I did yesterday using Carnival. I used Nylon in the inner corner, Micabella's Carnival on the lid, Embark on the outer lid, and Blanc Type to highlight.

Bad Lighting Woes

So I visited my best friend over the weekend. She actually lives right by the city that has my nearest CCO (still an hour and a half away!), but for some crazy reason that didn't occur to me until the last day I was there. I did manage to pick up a bunch of other make-up though. Along with what I'm about to show, I got three Micabella eyeshadows. If you haven't heard of the brand, they're a mineral make-up line that you'll find at many mall stands. It's funny, because normally I am not the type of person to fall for a good salesperson's tactics, but this girl sucked me innnnn! I really was only coming up to check out the colors, but somehow she managed to sell me 3. It probably had to do with the fact that she was able to relate to me, since we had similar ethnic backgrounds.. a great way to sell is to relate to the customer personally. In retrospect, I guess I felt obligated, like if I didn't follow through with the sale I'd be letting her down. But I didn't even know her! I could have walked away. The eyeshadows are really gorgeous though. I'll do a separate post on them, with swatches and a look.

Moooving on.



The Balm Bahama Mama Bronzer is the only product I have by The Balm. I've been looking for a bronzer for a while, and had my heart set on finding a matte one, but I swatched this in the store and it looked pretty enough to make me want to try it out. It does have a sheen to it, just more subdued than how it shows up on my hand. The color is perfect, no orange. The texture is smooth.. I apply with a 109 in really quick, circular motions. It truly does make me look tan, not like I have anything applied on my face. Say hi to my weirdly pale looking hand.


NYX Blushes in "Terra Cotta" and "Mauve"
I got the blushes in the first store I've ever found with a full NYX display.. I am so excited now. I went for Terra Cotta because, surprisingly, I think it makes a pretty highlight. Like for a bronzer or dark blush when applied extremely lightly. I don't know if I would use it as a blush, the color is kind of weird on my skintone for that. Mauve is a pretty mauve-pink (color description skillzz). Just a good everyday shade, but one I'd definitely apply with a light hand as well.

MAC Eyeshadows in "Brown Script", "Jest", "Beautiful Iris", and "Samoa Silk"
I got Brown Script because I've been in desperate need of a warm brown, whenever I do any eyeshadow look with browns they always blend out into a gray or even purple.
I used to have Jest but returned it because I had too many similar colors, but I caved in and bought it again because the pigmentation and texture of this shadow are unbeatable.
Beautiful Iris makes for a gorgeous inner corner or lid color with any purple look.
Samoa Silk is the best example of how much mac's lighting will throw you off. In the store, I could have sworn it was a pale yellow. Then I brought it home and realized it was almost exactly the shade of Peaches blush. I'll see what I can do with it, though.

In the store, this lipstick looked both gorgeous, and like an exact dupe of mac's Shy Girl. I has SG on that day, actually, and spent 30 minutes comparing the two with this face D: ...trying to decide whether I should spend the $12 for a color so similar to one I already have (WHO CARES IF THE SHADES ARE EXACT MATCHES, THE FINISH IS DIFFERENTTTTTTT!). So in the end I bought it, of course. Whisper is a sheer, peachy color with gold glitter... on my hand and under Victoria Secret's lighting, anyway. Back home, this morphed into a metallic finish, gold-flecked sheer lipstick.. thing. It's not ugly, it's just not worth the money. The good thing about these lipstick is that they are very creamy and moisturizing. That can be a bad thing too though.. I kind of like my lipstick with a bit of grip. Applying gloss over this lipstick would be a slippery nightmare.

That's it for now, check back for the mineral eyeshadow swatches!
Happy Wednesday ;)

FOTD

I kept the make-up very neutral today, I just didn't feel like having a lot piled on my face. When doing neutral make-up I don't worry so much about color coordination as I do about defining my features as naturally as possible.


(Products are always MAC unless stated otherwise)
Face
Tarte Smooth Operator "Agent 14" (Disguise)
Tarte The Eraser "Bare 04"
Sonia Kashuk loose powder "Colorless Matte"
Harmony blush (to contour)
Peaches blush
By Candlelight MSF (to highlight)
Eyes
Painterly Paint Pot
Swiss Chocolate (brows)
Orb
Cork
Ricepaper
Embark (as liner)
Maybelline Colossal Mascara
Lips
Shy Girl lipstick
C-Thru lipglass

MAC In The Groove + Masssssive Haul

Okay, so I may have gone a little.. overboard.. with the make-up shopping this past week. But I had the sudden urge to get myself some bright lipsticks, now that it's summer. And that sudden urge happened to fall on the same week mac's massive collection came out.. so that's how I wound up where I am right now. Broke... but with so many pretty colors!

All Styled Up (Cremesheen)
This is from In the Groove. I chose this over "I Like It Like That" because that one seemed way too purple and I thought this was more bubblegum-pink.. but I was wrong. The two lipsticks are soo similar, I have no idea why they came out together. "All Styled Up" is more pink, but the purple is definitely there. I don't really like shades like this on my skin, the only thing they work well with for me is dark smokey eyes.. and even then, I'd much rather go with a different lip color.

Speed Dial (Cremesheen)
This is a well known permanent color, kind of a brighter version of "All Styled Up". "Speed Dial" is medium blue-pink with some golden shimmer in there. I really like this color.. it's the barbie pink I've been looking for. With this lipstick I find that I need to apply several layers to get full color-payoff, but that doesn't mean it isn't a pigmented lipstick.

Vegas Volt (Amplified Creme)
I've been lemming a bright orange lipstick, and that's what I went in for. This is what I came out with, instead ("Morange", you're next on my list). It's a bright coral, which I think pulls more pink than orange. I personally like that.. I think pinky-coral is way more flattering than orange-y coral. This is a great color for summer, and can be layered to achieve different levels of color.

Looooooove love love love love this lip gloss. I bought it to go with Vegas Volt, but I think it'll be gorgeous with just about any shade of lipstick. It can tone down oranges, add a hint of peachy coral to your pinks, and it goes hand in hand with coral shades.

Harmony is wayyyy lighter than this, I swatched it heavily to show it's undertones. It's just a muddy brown color that works amazingly well for contouring for a large bracket of skin tones.
Blushbaby is a brown-ish pink that's totally matte. It works well with neutral looks, or if you have loud eye make-up or lips and need to a subtle cheek color.
Peaches is pretty self-explanitory, a matte, true peach color. I think it looks really good on both light and tan skin tones. It doesn't look ridiculously peachy on the cheeks, it blends out into a believable, natural color.
Pink Swoon is a gorgeous cool pink, made famous by Kim K. It's extremely pretty, my new favorite pink blush. It looks more sophisticated than other warmer pinks that can make you look too young.

By Candlelight Mineralize Skinfinish
Famous MSF that I missed out on when it came out with Warm & Cozy. I'm sure a lot of you have seen it a million times, but here it is on my skin tone for reference. The texture it amazing, and it seems to adapt to whatever your blush color is when using it as a cheekbone highlighter.

Lilicent Blushcreme
I know this is a popular one, and I've checked it out in the store a few times, but it never seemed as pretty when I'd swatch it. I'm happy I finally got it though. When actually applied to the cheeks, it becomes a really pretty peachy pink. I like using this on it's own with a Cream Color Base to highlight, or more commonly, under a powder blush.

Bust out those bright lippies, though, seriously! Summer is the most fun season in that you can get away with pretty much anything when it comes to bright colors, so take advantage of it.

Have a good weekend :)

Natural, Affordable Skin Care!

Sometimes I feel like I'm throwing away my money when I purchase high end cleansers and toners. I'm still young, so it just doesn't seem like the high price tag is justifiable for the benefits I'm getting out of products that stay on my skin for such a short period of time. My thought process is that as long as I'm getting every last trace of make-up off and cleansing my skin with something gentle, I'm taking good care of my skin. Although I'm not as strict about make-up, when it comes to skin care, I make sure to keep it as natural as possible. Luckily, there are way more natural products in drugstores now than there was even 5 years ago. I love that you can find organic skin care lines at your local drugstore, in the same price range as it's chemist brand neighbors down the aisle.

I want to share my favorite natural drugstore products. I use 2 of these daily, and the other 2 weekly, and they all do a great job of taking care of my skin.



Yes To Cucumbers Calming Cucumber Facial Cleansing Gel: Of the three versions of Yes To products (the other two are carrots and tomatoes), the cucumber line is created for sensitive skin. This cleanser definitely doesn't make my face red in spots like some others do. It is very gentle, yet still does a good job of cleansing my skin. I don't use this alone to get off my make-up, though. As with any cleanser, I use something before-hand. If you have dry skin, don't be put off by the word "gel". My skin in combo, and when I use this cleanser in the morning, it doesn't make my dry spots feel tight in any way. This contains organic cucumbers, green tea, dead sea minerals, aloe vera, olive oil, broccoli, and other ingredients you won't find in most drugstore skin care. This doesn't contain parabens, petroleum, or nasty SLS. The last thing I have to say is that the cleanser smells divine. The scent reminds me of one I'd smell in a spa. It always puts me in a good, calm mood. The whole time I've been writing this paragraph I've been flipping the cap open to take whiffs.

Alba Sea Algae Enzyme Facial Scrub: Another great smelling product. If anything, at least smell these next time you're at the drugstore. Hahah, no, I really don't like when people go on about how great a product is because of it's smell. But if something works well, a good smell can make a huge impact because it makes the experience of using the product a pleasurable one. Anyways, I use this about every other day. The exfoliating factor in this is corn cob meal, which make up the actual grainy beads. Sea algae enzymes and aloe vera, according to the brand, rid your skin of impurities, revealing a cleaner complexion and increasing circulation. I usually use this in the shower, after the steam has opened up my pores a bit. It's important not to be to rough, or this will make your skin break out in angry red spots. The exfoliating beads are doing the work for you, you don't need the extra force of your hands. After I use this, my complexion definitely looks brighter, and my skin feels smoother. My flaky spots are gone. Unless you need something a little more heavy-duty, I think this could be anyone's favorite exfoliator. It does an amazing job.

Boots Botanics Conditioning Clay Face Mask: My skin has become more and more prone to clogged pores this past year. This was actually the first mask I've ever bought and used regularly. Before this, I used the occasional home-made concoction for dry skin, but nothing meant to pull anything out. This clay mask contains Burdock, which has been used for centuries as a blood-cleanser. On the less gory side of things, it also does a good job of ridding your skin of toxins and impurities. After using this, my pores are visibly reduced in size. My skin looks and feels deeply cleansed. There may be fancier products with fancier ingredients on the market.. but like I said, I'm still young and as long as I'm keeping my face clean, I'm happy and my skin is happy.

Alba Green Tea SPF 30+ Sunscreen: I bought this because I wanted to start being religious about keep the back of my hands and chest area protected from the sun (those are the tell tale spots when it comes to a woman's age!). The packaging is very practical, no pumps, just a flip-top cap so you don't end up with the product all over your purse. What I was pleasantly surprised by was how well it fares as a facial moisturizer. This sunscreen has it all, natural broad-spectrum SPF, with some good-for-your-skin ingredients packed in there. Not to mention it's water resistant. It does go on a bit greasy, but I promise you it dries really nicely. My skin absorbs this well, and I'm able to apply make-up over it just as I would be with any other moisturizer under. It has a spf of at least 30, which is great because for many moisturizers with spf, the typical number is 15. And even then, I'm worried about that number being reduced by the fact that the product is in fact a moisturizer, and not a sunscreen. I wouldn't replace my facial moisturizer with this, but for the summer months this is definitely what I'm using daily. And don't slap me, but this smells extremely good.

Prices vary from store to store, but the Y2C Cleansing Gel typically retails for about $10. Alba Facial Scrub also goes for $10 in most stores. The Boots Clay Mask retails for $8.99 at Target. Alba Green Tea Sunscreen averages around $12.

St.Tropez Self-Tan Bronzing Lotion

So I was in the market for a new self-tanner to use specifically on the face. The 'Sublime Bronze' one from Loreal works great on my body. But when it comes to the face, drugstore tanners either turn me orange or break me out. Usually both. So I thought I'd seek something nicer. After spending a solid 30 minutes at Sephora's self-tanner display, it came down to choosing between a gradual tanner and what I ended up buying, St. Tropez's vaguely named 'Bronzing Lotion'. I went with this one because it was the only tanner in the whole lot whose directions implied that it was to be used on the face.

What It Is: St.Tropez (pronounced tro-PAY, ladies) Self-Tan Bronzing Lotion is a tanning lotion that claims to help users achieve a deep, believable tan that lasts longer than with most tanners. This is because it utilizes the ingredient 'Erythrulose', which works like a slower-developing version of DHA. So basically, after the DHA's effects begin to fade, Erythrulose got yo back.

Application: The first thing you notice is the color of the lotion.. a ugly shade of green. This tint is vital though, because it counteracts any orange. I applied to a freshly exfoliated face, using my fingers. It blended easily, and immediately I saw a bronze effect. It faded quickly, but only because the actual color was beginning to develop.

Smell: This product smells amazing. Seriously, no DHA smell at all. Like many, the company has some fancy odor-blocking technology. St. Tropez has it down pat, though. I can't describe the scent at all, only that it smells exotic and tropical to me.

Initial Results: The morning after I first used this tanner, I was extremely pleased with how my face looked. There was a healthy dose of color, but not as deep as some tanners have taken me. The color was nice and even, and I didn't see any spots or blemishes on the face. My skin felt really smooth, too.

Further Results: I wanted to be darker, so I used this for about 3 days after the first time. As far as color, it's strange because it seems like the results sort of plateaued around the 3rd application. Color is buildable, so I don't know why that happened. It still gave me a nice tint though. I also noticed that it seemed to be clogging my pores up a bit, but I think this was partially my fault for not exfoliating enough, trying to keep the color on my face. In the after picture below, I look substantially darker, but the natural light might have exaggerated my color a little.

After picture was taken 3 weeks after inital application. I applied the lotion 3 consecutive nights each week.

My final thoughts on this product are that it does a amazing job at what it's made for, so I'm only slightly dissapointed I couldn't get the results I wanted in terms of color. What I love is what it's brought my skintone to. Before, I had neutral undertones on my face, my coloring didn't pull more in either the warm or the cool direction. That's always made it difficult for me to find complimentary colors for my skintone when it comes to make-up. Now I have a light-medium olive complexion, and I think it's sexayyy. I love how my old eyeshadows and lippies look fresh with my new color. I'm so happy I found this product and will continue to re-buy it unless I find something better.

This retails for $30 for 4 oz, the bottle I got. There's also a 8 oz bottle for $40, so you're saving a lot of money there. Not the cheapest tanner on the market, but since I'm only using it on the face this bottle will last me a while.
The ingredients, taken from the box, are: Water, Dihydroxyacetone, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Glycerin, Apricot Kernel Oil, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Sorbitan Stearate, Dimethicone, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Matricaria Flower Extract, Ceteareth-20, Sclerotium Gum, Butylene Glycol, Potassium Sorbate, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Bisulfite, Fragrance, Benzyl Salicylate, Cinnamal, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Citronellol, Coumarin, Eugenol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Geraniol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Hydroxycitronellal, Isoeugenol, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Linalool, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Citric Acid, Caramel, Yellow 6 (CI 15985), Red 40 (CI 16035), Blue 1 (CI 42090).

Summer Hair Care

SUMMERS HERE! Well.. almost. But it definitely feels like it.
We're adamant about protecting our skin, and slather on the sunscreen (we do, right ladies!?). So what do you do to protect your hair? Give it a rest from all the heat tools and products? Most of us, when we decide to give our hair a break, think that's all it takes to start repairing the hair. Actually, that state of mind can do way more harm than good. The serums and hairsprays, and all other products we gunk up our hair with during the year do dry out our locks and cause build-up.. but they can also protect our hair! Many hair products have some spf factor in it, protecting our hair from one of it's worst enemies.. the sun. Also, we tend to be more mindful of our hair-care regimen during the year, clarifying and deep-conditioning. Our summer low-maintenance hairstyles allow us to fall behind on our keep-up.. who honestly wants to sit inside, sweating profusely, a shower cap and warm, damp towel plastered to her head?! So this is how, at the end of August, many of us find ourselves with a head full of dehydrated, damaged, frizzy hair.

Fortunately, giving your hair a break (which does work miracles!), is easy to do right as long as you keep a few things in mind. Even if you don't decide to go the au natural route, keep my 3 basic (but necessary) rules in mind this summer:

Protect Your Hair From The Sun (and wind.. and salt water.. and humidity...)
Direct exposure from the sun is extremely damaging to the hair. Imagine blasting your hair with the highest heat setting on your blow dryer for about 5 hours.. that's the equivalent of what you're doing when you're at the beach with nothing protecting that hair! There are so many easy things to do to protect your hair, that will save you tons of stress later.
One of the most obvious is busting out the hats. This is the quickest fix. Next, I highly suggest investing in a product specifically designed to protect hair from the sun. Whether it be a leave-in conditioner, serum, whatever. Trust me, there are hundreds out there, and they're especially easier to find during summer. Use it any time you'll be out for anything other than a quick trip. When I'm going somewhere I'll be swimming, I find the easiest thing to do is whip up a mixture of water, sunscreen, and a little bit of leave-in conditioner. If I'm laying out for a while before I swim, I keep my hair under a hat. But as soon as I'm out of the water, I douse my hair in the mixture. This works wonders.. not only is my hair protected from the sun, but I don't have to deal with the post-swim uni-dreadlock. After you comb it through (bring a wide tooth comb with you any time you go swimming), it gives hair a gorgeous wet, sleek, perfume ad look.
Also, a great quick tip I want to add.. one I remember reading somewhere. To protect your hair from chlorine and salt water, wet your hair with some some water, whether it be from a bottle or water fountain, before getting into the pool or ocean. This prevents either elements from penetrating your hair to a point where it can damage it.

Condition Like Crazy!
Summer is when we should be the most concerned about conditioning our hair.. not when we should be all laissez-faire about it. As a rule of thumb, avoid products with alcohol in them. These will dry your hair our way further than the elements already will naturally. It would be beneficial to cut down the number of times a week you shampoo. Your scalp will produce more oils in the hot months, and your natural oils are the best conditioner for the hair. In any case, make sure you without fail deep condition once a week. If you have anything other than oily hair, you could bump it up to two or three times a week. You can deep condition with anything. A store-bought deep conditioner (let me know if you need help picking one out for your hair type, I've tried them all), olive oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil, bananas.. chances are you know what works best for you. One awesome thing about the sun is that it's like a natural heat-cap! Oil treatments are useless on the hair without some kind of heat to allow the oil to penetrate, so douse your hair in any kind of oil, sit out in the sun, and enjoy your hot oil treatment!

Trim Your Hair Regularly
Split, ragged ends are extremely common at the end of summer. If you're taking good care of your hair with the aforementioned rules, they shouldn't be that bad. But inevitably, they're going to be there, so get rid of them before they get too high up. Don't think of summer as your break from trims, or you're going to need to cut off a lot of length at the end of the season.

My 3 rules seem pretty obvious, but it's surprising how many people throw any hair-care sense out the window during the summer months. Just like it's so much easier to gain weight than it is to lose it (ugh), it's way easier to rack up hair damage than it is to undo it. So do yourself a favor and keep that hair healthy this summer!

Have a safe and happy summer :)

MUFE HD Invisible Cover Foundation

Maybe 3 foundation posts in a row is overkill.. but then again, maybe it's not. There are thousands of reviews for Make Up For Ever's famous "high definition" make up.. you could definitely say it has a cult following. Thing's never seem to work out for me quite the same as they do for most, though.. so I wasn't surprised that this didn't blow me out of the water. Here's my story of how it worked out for me:

What It Is: Sephora's site describes this as being an oil-free foundation, with medium to full coverage. Marketed (sort-of) as a camera-friendly foundation, it's supposed to give your skin that "soft focus" effect, and prevent you from looking all funky on screen and in pictures. It boasts a few fancy ingredients.. relipidium, to boost moisture content; fucogel (can't science come up with some prettier names?), forms a barrier between your skin and the nasties floating around in the air; and finally, sericite..this, and I quote straight off the website, "enables rays of light to spread more widely across the face". Sounds pretty impressive. Speeding rays of light, beaming across your face, further and wider than any rays of light have sped across it before!
Application: Anyways, I used a classic foundation brush with this, like I do with everything. No stipplers or buffers or sponge eggs. I like the coverage and finish a plain old foundation brush gives me. The consistency was extremely runny, but it blended easily. I needed about 2 full pumps for the whole face.
Feel: The foundation felt extremely light and pleasant on the face. It also felt nice and moisturizing.
Look: The shade I got, 120 (medium-light with yellow undertones), seemed okay at first. But in retrospect, 123 would have probably been better as the shade description is an exact description of my skin tone: light with olive undertones. I definitely noticed that "soft focus" effect it promised. The problem was, the areas that had that looked great, but the areas that didn't look bad in comparison. The upper lip, between the eyebrows, and the nose area all looked kind of weird and drab compared to the rest of my lit-from-within face. The coverage was medium, nothing more. It didn't cover everything, but I'll give it credit for how much it brightened up the under-eye area. What I didn't like was that this did not work well when layered. It quickly turned a orange shade and looked really chalky.
Staying Power: This would probably fall under the "Look" category, but it's such an important point I didn't want anyone to overlook it. This foundation will make you shiiiine! Upon initial application, the finish is pretty close to perfect. But after about 2 hours, my face begins to shine in a way that no powder can cover up. It's the weirdest thing. As far as longevity, the coverage does last throughout the day. The shine factor is just too much for me though.

Final Thoughts: It didn't work out for me the way it did for tons of other people. It looks amazing on camera, but not so much in real life. It's funny because maybe the whole HD thing is what's wrong with it in the first place.. is it just me or does a pixelating foundation sound better than a high definition foundation? I need those flaws blurred out!

Ingredients, taken from Sephora's website: Aqua, Cyclopentasiloxane, Neopentyl Glycol Diethylhexanoate, Mica, talc, PEG-10 Dimenthicone, Biosaccharide Gum-1, Phenyl, Trimethicone, Sodium Chloride, Lauroyl Lysine, Dimenthicone Crosspolymer, Glyceryl Caprylate, Methylpropanediol, Butylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorphenesin, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Sodium Myristoyl Glutamate, Cyclohexacyloxane, Methylisothiazolinone, Sorbitan Sesquileate, Silver Oxide, Propylene, Carbonate, Fragrance, Methylparaben, Fagus Sylvatica Extract, Hydrolyzed Yeast Protein, [+/- CI 77891 )titanium Dioxide), CI 77491 (Iron Oxides), CI 77499 (Iron Oxides).

NP Set Pasarella Powder Foundation

I've never liked powder foundation.. I feel naked with it on. It doesn't cover anything I need covered, and on top of that it never lasts for me. But there are those days when I can't stand the thought of painting on thick liquid foundation. Those would be the hot, sticky days that make up a lot of the year where I live. Now that summer has rolled around, powder foundation has become my new best friend! I recently picked up NP Set's "Pasarella Powder Foundation" from target. Here's what I thought...



What It Is: A compact powder foundation that claims to be unlike other powder foundation's in terms of it's moisturizing abilities. Contains Shea Butter and Pomegranate Extract, which seems to be this line's signature ingredient.
Application: After applying primer, I used the sponge the foundation came with to apply an initial layer on the cheeks, chin, and forehead.. basically where I want the heaviest coverage. Then, using a kabuki or mac 109, I get some powder on the brush and go over the rest of the face, blending everything out as I go.
Look: This gave me medium-ish coverage, heavier than most powder foundations, but still not what I'm used to. It didn't give look chalky in any way.. which is great because that's the reason I stay away from powder foundation in the first place.
Feel: Even though it didn't look powdery, it definitely made my face feel dry. This might not be the case with oilier-skinned wearers, though. I always finish my make-up routine with Fix+ anyway, so I wasn't bothered too much by how it felt.
Staying Power: This foundation's longevity is pretty impressive, it lasted a solid 3 or 4 hours for me (this is powder foundation we're talking about!). What I didn't like was that anytime I rubbed my face with any kind of fabric or cloth, the foundation would transfer right onto it.



Final Thoughts: The results I got from this foundation were definitely beyond what I expected. I love using this on lazy or hot days when I just don't feel like doing the whole enchilada when it comes to my make-up. For it's price, though, I would definitely not buy it again. It didn't do that much better than my previously reviewed Neutrogena powder foundation. My hard-earned dollars would better be invested in quality liquid foundations, and saved when it comes to the powder type...

This retails for $30 at your local Target. You can also find it at http://www.npsetcosmetics.com/.
The ingredients are: Talc, Corn Starch, Ethylhexyl, Methoxycinnamate, Triisostearin, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Dimethicone, Zinc Oxide, Myristyl, Trisiloxane, Soybean Glycerides, Zinc Stearate, Chlorphenesin, Potassium, Sorbate, Polyperfluoroethoxymethoxydifluroethy, Peg Phosphate, Shea Butter, Dimethiconol, Tetrasodium Edta, Morus Alba Root Extract, Hydroxypropyl Cyclodextrin, Silica, Corn Oil, Retinyl Palmitate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, BHT, Ascorbyl Palmitate MAY CONTAIN: Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides, Ultramarines

Almay Clear Complexion Makeup

So I bought Almay's Clear Complexion liquid foundation about a month ago, and have been using it regularly. At first I was ecstatic about it, amazed that the best foundation I'd ever used I had found at the drugstore. Since then, how I've felt about it has changed. At first, it gave me the smoothest looking skin any foundation had ever given me. The color match was perfect, and although I doubt it has enough salicylic acid in it to actually combat pimples, it was definitely wasn't breaking me out. My review will be for the results I'm getting with this now.



What It Is: A liquid foundation that is made with natural ingredients like meadowsweet (purifies skin), chamomile, and aloe (both skin calming ingredients). It also contains salicylic acid. I got it in the shade "Naked".
Application: I applied this with a regular foundation brush. The consistency is thick, so a little goes a long way.
Look: This foundation gives great coverage. Right after application, my skin looks pretty flawless. The problem for me is that it doesn't always last. Though not all the time, it usually changes it's color on me throughout the course of the day. It also makes me look a bit on the greasy side after 4 or 5 hours.
Feel: This felt very light on the face, and didn't make me feel like my pores were clogging up under it.
Staying Power: The coverage does last me until the end of my (7 or 8 hour) day. Unfortunately, it does make me look oily, and sometime's a little pink..

Final Thoughts: I'm dissapointed that this didn't work out for me in the end. But I guess that's what I get for celebrating too early. I still reach for this on day's I won't be out for a long time. But with it's inconsistent results, I just can't depend on it to last me throughout my typical day.

Biiig Haul

I've really been into blushes lately, with summer coming up. Tan skin goes well with bright blush and some lip gloss. So I've spent way more on blushes this past month than I should have been spending.. but they're all so pretty! Here's some stuff I've bought recently:

Laura Geller baked blush palette, Bare Minerals "Precious Pearl" blush, Nars "Madly" blush, Mac "Tilt" and "Steamy" eyeshadow, Mac Studio Finish concealer in NC25, MUFE HD foundation in shade 120, and Mac Dazzleglass in "Sugarrimmed"

Woo!

Here's a close up of the blushes:


Laura Geller blush swatches:

I love the finish on these blushes. I do love my matte blushes, but sometimes I don't like how done-up they make me look. These blushes are pigmented, but not too dark in color. The shades themselves are gorgeous, and versatile too. Sunswept would make a pretty highlighter, in my opinion. The swatch is heavy, but one swipe gives a sheer, iridescent silver-pink.

I picked up the Nars blush on a whim. It looked so pretty in the store. It's a muted pink-brown, with shimmer. I was hoping it would be a nice hybrid of blush and bronzer, but unfortunately it's not that spectacular looking on my skin. It just looks muddy. Also, it's shimmer doesn't translate onto my skin, which was a disappointment. The Bare Minerals blush, on the other hand, is my new love. It's a mauve-pink that I think looks beautiful for every day when applied lightly, and even better applied a bit more heavy-handed with dramatic looks.

The eyeshadows:

Steamy is a well-known colors. It's a teal with a very pretty sheen. Tilt is another popular color. It's a iridescent sky blue, but with violet undertones that reflect light in a gorgeous way.

Ohh my goooodnessssssss do I love this lip gloss! The camera doesn't do it any justice.. it's the perfect color in real life. Normally I don't pay any attention to the colorless shades in a set of lip glosses, but I'm so glad I got this one. It's an extremely pale, milky pink with allll different kind of pearl in it, the most prominent being blue (yay for whiter teeth!). However it may look in the picture, this gloss looks amazing in real life. On it's own and topped over any lipstick, this gives me shimmery, full lips. Go to your nearest Mac store or stand and try this on!

Lastly, the concealer:

I've used Studio Finish in the past and hated it. I thought I'd give it another try, though, with a darker color this time. NC 25 is very peachy (almost orange-y), so I thought it would work well to counteract the colors I got going on under my eyes. Well, it did, but just like my last go with this concealer, the pigmentation faded once the concealer had set. It may look alright up above, but after 10 minutes I'm left with a gray cast under my eyes. Worst of all is the finish on this concealer. It's really chalky and highlights everything on my skin. The only thing I like about this is it's brightening properties. Oh well, on to the next one

I'll be doing a review on MUFE's foundation soon.. it was the first thing I bought of the whole haul, and I've been wearing it for a few weeks now. I'll have that post up soon :)