Exfoliating Skin Peel

About 3 weeks ago I found this fabulous pistachio ice cream and I ate it until I realized just how many pistachios it contained. Naturally, it was too late by then and I broke out all over my face within a matter of days.

I'd never seen such a terrible break out and I was completely at a loss about what to do. After finally getting it under control, I noticed that I had dark spots all over my face.

Obviously, a good peel is all it takes to get rid of dark spot through gentle exfoliation. After some research, I found the Garnier Skin Renew Dark Spot Overnight Peel. 

As the name suggests, I apply it before bed and after 3 weeks, I have definitely noticed a difference. The bottle is fairly expensive for a generic peel (around $17), but it works better than anything I've tried in the past. If you use the product correctly, then you're getting a ton of product for your money too!

I think this is definitely a product I'm going to continue using into the future. It lightens up spots almost instantaneously without over drying skin. What more can you ask for?

Vacationing and Foundationing (Tarte vs. Mac)

Sorry for being completely MIA as of late, I was on vacation! Granted, that was two weeks ago but then mid-terms came around and weeks of studying and testing later, I'm back and I'm here to stay!

While I was on vacation, I attended a wedding. While I was packing for the trip, I noticed I was out of my most important bottle of makeup - my Mac foundation. Wanting to give something else a try, I went out and purchased a foundation I had heard a TON of bloggers raving about, Tarte 12 Hour Full Coverage Foundation - part of the Amazonian Clay Line. After giving it a try, I decided to compare the two for you:

Here's my skin type and what I was looking for:

• Fairly dry, combination skin
• Full coverage that lasts all night
• I use a yellowing primer so I prefer to buy foundation a shade lighter than my skin color
• I applied both foundations with a fairly dense foundation brush
• I don't break out so much as I have darker spots from when I did use to have acne problems

Tarte 12 Hour Full Coverage Foundation ($38)

Pros: Provides an excellent and lasting coverage. I wouldn't particularly say it has 12 hour coverage, definitely something closer to 8-10 hours. Very, very blendable. Quite matte at first, but evens out later on. I did not achieve any pretty, dewy skin results with this one. Packaging made the product easy to use (just squeeze out onto the back of your hand and apply with a brush, as needed)

Cons: Thick consistency and it's definitely buildable but only if you want to feel like you're wearing a 5 pound mask of make-up on your face. Really difficult to find the right color match, definitely not the same variety that can be found with Mac. It made my skin look quite fake. 

Mac Studio Fix Fluid ($27)

Pros: A pretty smooth coverage and definitely makes my skin look it's best. Very easy to achieve that dewy look with. Very buildable and doesn't feel too heavy on the skin. Tons of colors, so it's easy to match with your skin tone. 

Cons: The coverage isn't what I thought it was in comparison to what the Tarte foundation can do for me. The coverage won't get through 8-10 hours like the Tarte foundation will but you will definitely get a good 6-ish hours with this. Not as blendable as the Tarte foundation, it's fairly average in this category. Leaves me with slightly oily skin and does cause me to break out if I use this too often. Packaging lacks in comparison to the Tarte foundation, I have to sort of shake it out of it's bottle (though I've heard Mac is introducing a new packaging for this product). 

So all in all, while Mac does have a TON of cons, the way it makes my skin look is nothing in comparison to what any other foundation has done for me. Until I find something better, this is my HG. 

In fact, before returning home, I re-purchased my Mac foundation. And as the lady behind the Mac counter said "Never stray". Once you go Mac, you never go back.

Mac foundation (and its impossible to use packaging)

Tarte foundation (and its fabulous packaging)

Beautiful Blushes

So recently I've been obsessing over all sorts of blush, especially cream blush which was beginning to take it's toll on my cheeks. I was breaking out far more than I liked and blush didn't do a good job of covering it. While surfing Youtube, I found this blush palette along with this fabulous video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaxBL80x1jI

In the comments section there is a little spot where you can grab the coupon code for $4 off.

Oh my god. The blushes are pigmented perfectly. They don't disappear into my skin like other powder blushes have and now I can match the color of my blush to my outfits every day. There's also the added benefit that they suit every skin tone. I just ombred my hair and now that it's lighter, I find myself leaning towards more peachy makeup (instead of my usual pinks). This blush palette can accommodate that change perfectly!

Click on over to http://www.sedonalace.com to purchase your own!

Elegant Eyeshadows

Hi everyone!

Recently I decided to splurge on a Too Faced eyeshadow kit that I absolutely fell in love with when I was out shopping.

Too Faced Natural Eyes palette that retails for $36 and is definitely worth more than just that much. The amount of compliments I've received when wearing this eyeshadow is ridiculous.

It blends flawlessly, fallout is minimal, the colors are well pigmented so they show up well on darker skin tones and with the primer, it literally does stay on all day. 

Probably the best neutral palette I own.

The way this works is that each horizontal row is intended to be a single "look". The largest shadow is filled in on the entire lid and used as a highlight, the second one covers the first half of the lid and the darkest shade is blended into the end. I find that Nude Beach has the most fallout and looks incredibly dramatic and far more glittery when applied with fingertips instead of a brush. 

You can pull little cards out of the lid to learn where to apply which colors.

None of these colors are too dark to be worn during the day but they are buildable enough that they can be used easily when going out at night. Too Faced did also release a nighttime palette with darker versions of these same essential colors, however I have yet to give that one a try and probably won't because I'm not a fan of very dark eyeshadow.

Although this palette is intended for brown eyes I think it would look great with green, hazel and perhaps grey eyes as well. There are a few shades that could benefit you if you have blue eyes but it's probably not worth the investment in that case. 

These follow the order of the palette, keep in mind the picture is a bit diagonal.
They don't show up perfectly on the back of my hand but with a good primer, I promise they'll work perfectly on your lids.

The original primer with no shimmer. I highly recommend buying this one because a matte primer with an even base will make all your eyeshadows stand out well. The shimmery ones interfere with the color of your eyeshadows sometimes. 

If you have brown or green eyes, this is a staple for your makeup collection and it is well worth the money. If not, there are palettes for every eye color and I highly recommend checking out the one for your eye color. Too Faced eyeshadows are in my opinion, the best in the market. Even better than Urban Decay. 

What's your favorite eyeshadow brand? Have you tried Too Faced?

Gel Eyeliners

Hi everyone!

Lately I've been feeling like my usual liquid liner is a bit too dramatic to use everyday so I decided to give gel eyeliner a try. I did have a few pots sitting around because I purchased them a while back but was displeased with the smudged look. This time around though, I was very pleased.

The few gel eyeliners I found.

Close-up of the brush applicators they came with.

These are the ones that I found, naturally the Nars one is my favorite. It glides on much smoother than the others though the Maybelline is a close match. The Maybelline one is also brown (I usually wear black liner) and it's a very light shade which works well on days you don't really want to wear a lot of heavy makeup.

The applicator I received with my Nars liner is really a lot smoother and easier to use than the Maybelline one which is really stiff and almost painful to use. However, you can just pick up a gel eyeliner brush at your nearest makeup store if you're unhappy with the one your eyeliner comes with.

Pros:

Significantly easier to apply than any other type of eyeliner, these just smooth right on.
They give you the precision of a liquid liner but with a lot more control.

Cons:

They smudge. Easily.
Wears off after about 7-8 hours so it really can't be worn all day.


If you haven't invested in one of these yet, I would recommend that you do. It's a necessity for every eyeliner wearer and they're nothing like anything you've tried before. The amount of control you have with these is also spectacular, it's easy to master any eyeliner shape.

Have you tried gel eyeliner? Do you prefer it over liquid liner?

Moroccan Mask

Hi everyone!

Recently I've found myself reaching for more lip balms and moisturizing lotions and it got me thinking, it's probably time for a deeper hair conditioning treatment. Why do we see dry hair only as a summertime problem?
I went out and purchased something I've had my eye on for quite some time, the Moroccan Argan Oil Intensive Moisture Treatment. I've heard many reviews raving about what a great product it is for the price ($7.99), by the way. I happened to find it at Ulta for $5.99 and with a buy one get one free deal, so it was hard to resist not picking up a matching shampoo and conditioner set as well.
The instructions on the back of the bottle were somewhat entirely ambiguous and I had to go online to find out exactly how to use this product. The verdict? Any way you want. The Organix website detailed three different methods so I choose the one that seemed like it would work best and added a few embellishments of my own.

I applied this product to dry hair, as recommended by the Organix website. It was so tough to work through that I see myself dampening my hair before trying this ever again. Then using a wide toothed comb, I brushed through my hair to apply the product evenly. Lastly I added a plastic shower cap and covered over it with a hot, wet towel.
I left it together in this way for nearly 45 minutes which I thought was sufficient time to allow heat to build up under the plastic cap.

I let my hair air dry as usual and then straightened it the next morning. I can honestly say that the mask worked beautifully. I have trouble with my hair having too much volume but this time, it didn't have enough. My hair was also incredibly smooth and smelled absolutely wonderful.
The downside is that I had to back comb my hair after straightening it the next day to see even a bit of volume. I also see this as something that can lead to greasy hair if used too often so I see myself using this on a monthly basis as opposed to the suggested once a week. I also feel that there isn't quite enough product in the container because after a single usage, I've gone through nearly half of it.

After

Before

I added some before and after pictures to show just how much it smoothed down the fraying ends of my layers.

In conclusion, if your hair needs moisture and you feel that you've burnt it to a crisp with all your hot tools, this is a quick and easy fix.

What types of moisturizing masks do you like to use? 

The Triangular Concealer Formation

Hi everyone!

I know I promised a fun post, but this past week I got terribly sick. I had to spend two of the days last week at an important conference as well and so I learned a few make-up tricks I thought I would share.

Under eye bags are probably the worst things ever and they're amplified even more when someone's sick. Concealer sometime doesn't seem to cut it and soon I realized why. We've been doing it wrong this whole time.
We call them under-eye bags because they're shaped like bags. Why do we apply our concealer straight across then? Here's a picture tutorial of how I started applying my concealer (in a triangular formation) and saw immediate results.

As a side note, I will be updating my blog every Thursday from now on, so you can expect to find a post here every Thursday morning.
Hope this helps with those nasty bags!

What do you do to remove those awful bags?