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Monday, September 24, 2018

highend makeup

Benefit Precisely, My Brow Pencil Review

Benefit Precisely, My Brow Pencil Review
September 24, 20180 Comments
Hello!

Are you surprised to see me posting so soon again? I know I am! This week I wanted to review the Benefit ‘Precisely, My Brow’ Pencil. This was another product that I receive for free #freesample from the Topbox Circle in exchange for reviews, but this blog post was not a requirement—I’ve just decided that if I’m going to review a product anyway, I might as well have a post up so all of you can learn more too.


I was sent the colour 4, which is described as a ‘warm deep brown.’ This seems to be a perfect match for me at the moment, but if your hair is super warm or cool, there are other colours available in their range. I’ve heard about this product for years and always assumed that the influencers raving about it were only doing so because they were sponsored. While they were sponsored, I now believe their claims because I love this as well!

The pencil is really thin, which makes it super easy to create brow-like hair strokes. The formula isn’t super creamy, so it doesn’t smudge, but it’s also not too hard where you have to press hard. It’s the perfect consistency and so far I haven’t had any issues with it snapping. I only twist out the amount that I’ll need to use it, and when I’m done I twist it back down and put it away.


The downsides? This is a high end product. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that you’ll be spending a lot of money for this, and if you do your makeup everyday, those price tags really add up. The spooley isn’t my favourite. The ABH spooleys are by far the best that I’ve ever used, but this Benefit one is a little bit too soft so while it brushes out the hairs, it doesn’t help blend easily. I’m not a cruelty free blogger and probably never will be, but I do use a lot of products that are, however, for some reason I assumed that this brand is cruelty-free, but when doing a quick Google search, I learned that it is not the case. So unfortunately, if you are cruelty-free, you can’t use anything from this brand.

All in all I do really like this brow pencil. Will I purchase? Not for daily use, but yes for very special occasions. Something like this would be amazing for my wedding day (which is a few years away) so if I run out of it before then and don’t have a different product that I like more, I’ll probably buy this again. That being said, I do have a lot of brow products that I love that are more affordable so I don’t think this is life-changing and you can probably settle for a drugstore alternative.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this review and seeing me post consistently for once in my life. In case it wasn’t already obvious, while I did receive this product for free I am NOT sponsored. One day when I eventually am sponsored by a company, I will make it very clear as I never want to throw out my morals, break the law or trick anyone. As usual, all opinions are 100% my own.

See you soon!
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Wednesday, September 12, 2018

affordable makeup

Revlon Colorstay Full Cover Foundation Review

Revlon Colorstay Full Cover Foundation Review
September 12, 20180 Comments
Hello!

I received a few products in PR from Revlon about a month ago, but just realized that I hadn’t shared them yet. I went to the Revlon event (#feelthelippie) back in July where I received two lippies that will be in my next Revlon review, and ate their free ice cream, which was awesome. After the event, I found an email from them where I could tell them my foundation shade and makeup style, so I did and soon after I received more products (a foundation and a new lip product).

The product I want to feature today is their new(ish) Revlon Colorstay Full Cover foundation. I didn’t know my shade, so I took a wild guess based on the swatches online, and thankfully was spot on for my skin tone at the moment. This matches my end of summer shade (yes that's a thing for me) perfectly without having to mix any other foundations in, or tan up my neck. The formula is very moussey, but it applies really well with your fingers or a beauty sponge and even with a brush. My favourite way to use it is with my Beauty Blender pro (the black one) after warming it up with my finger.


This foundation claims to be full coverage, which on me isn’t true. It’s more of a light to medium coverage, but that’s perfect for me as that’s the most coverage I want. I have a few breakouts, but nothing serious and most of my skin is pretty good, so I don’t look for heavy coverage anyway. This completely evens out my skin, which is great considering I have a tiny bit of discolouration, and my under eye concealer sits perfectly on top.

I normally set my foundation in my t-zone, but I have worn this a few times without setting at all and it hasn’t caused any problems. I just really like to set my forehead and chin since those places tend to get a bit shinier no matter what foundation I wear. When the foundation is set, it lasts a few extra hours, but this formula is so nice that it’ll evenly wear off throughout the day so it isn’t very noticeable. I’ve never experienced it coming off in chunks, or bunching up anywhere (not even on my dry patches). I'm wearing the foundation in the instagram picture below!


Overall I’m very impressed with this foundation. It’s the first Revlon foundation I’ve worn in years because I had a very bad experience in the past with one (does anyone remember the Naked foundation?), but this one really surprised me, and it’s been pretty the only actual foundation I’ve been reaching for (and my cc cream on even more natural days). Here's an arm swatch to show how close it is to my skin tone. I'm now losing my tan thanks to the lack of sunshine and cold weather so it matches almost perfectly on my arm, which is typically darker than my face, but at my darkest a little bit of bronzer would probably be enough to make this match ok.


The Canadian Beauty Bloggers Network's theme for September is fall faves, and the brand of the  month is Revlon, so I will be reviewing the other products I received in another post since the rest are all lippies! I’m also trying to focus more on beauty blogging again so don't be too surprised if you see more frequent posts for the next little while!
I hope you enjoyed this post and look forward to the next review!
See you soon!
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Saturday, September 08, 2018

affordable makeup

e.l.f. Cosmetics Molten Liquid Eyeshadow and Lash Extending Mascara Review

e.l.f. Cosmetics Molten Liquid Eyeshadow and Lash Extending Mascara Review
September 08, 20180 Comments
Hello!

A few weeks ago I received these two e.l.f. products in the mail thanks to Topbox! I've had plenty of time to play with these products to give a full review. Even though I did receive these for free, all my thoughts are 100% my own and I am not being paid to write this post. Let's get started.


The elf Cosmetics Aqua Beauty Molten Liquid Eyeshadow in the colour 'Rose Gold' is beautiful! This is very pigmented and didn't crease on me at all. The swatch below is one swipe on my hand and it looks similar on the eyes, but once you use a brush to blend it, it does disappear quickly. My favourite way to apply this is with the brush, and then using my finger to gently blend it out since it prevents the product from being picked up by the brush.


The mascara is all right, but not the greatest. It works, but I have other mascaras that I love so much more that fit within the same affordable price range. If you forgot a mascara at home, this is great if you want to buy one just for the day, but it won't give you amazing lashes. It'll be black and help lengthen a bit, but not enough in my opinion, so this will be going into my 'at work' makeup bag for days that I might forget my regular bag and for whatever reason need mascara on. I'll be sticking to my other mascaras and wouldn't purchase myself.


In this picture I'm wearing the eyeshadow with a neutral colour on the outer third and the crease, and a bit of highlighter on the inner corner. I am wearing the mascara, but it didn't do much as you can probably see, even though this isn't the best picture to showcase that. Overall I'm very impressed with the liquid eyeshadow and will definitely continue using it, and the mascara will remain in my work makeup bag in my desk for emergencies.

I hope you enjoyed this short review. Thank you again to Topbox for sending these products to be in exchange for a review. This blogpost isn't part of the exchange (just an instagram post and review on the website), but I wanted to write about it anyway since I really want to review more makeup on my blog.

See you soon!
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Saturday, September 01, 2018

reviews skincare

Dr. Belmeur Avanced Skincare Solutions Review

Dr. Belmeur Avanced Skincare Solutions Review
September 01, 20180 Comments
Hello!

I have received a lot of skin care recently, as well as face products (some of which I purchased) and I've been putting them all to the test. I've decided that September will be focusing mainly on those categories, but I'll also have other makeup-related reviews up during the month.

Chickadvisor sent these Dr. Belmeur products over in one of their Product Review Club's and I was very excited because I've never truly tried Korean skincare before. These products range from $42–$48 and are available at The Face Shop. At the time of publishing this post, all three of these products are on sale for 30% off, making them way more affordable.


I used the Advanced Cica Recovery Serum every morning and night as my first step after cleansing and drying my face. While this may have made a tiny difference, I don't think it's necessary unless your skin is more damaged. I'm young (23 soon) and have decent skin, so I'm probably not the best person to be testing this type of product out, but if you think your skin has more damage to it, definitely look up reviews from other people with similar skin concerns to your own.

Every morning after the serum, I put on the Panthenol-Soothing Gel Cream as my daily moisturizer. I did enjoy this as it kept my skin moisturized all day, without it ever making my skin oily. My makeup also applies very well on top of this, which is a huge bonus for me. It is very pricy though and I do think that there are more affordable alternatives (I have one) so I won't be purchasing this once it's out, but I will continue to alternate with my other moisturizers since I do enjoy it.


Finally, the Advanced Cica Recover Cream. This is the product I might repurchase because I truly feel that it does something for my skin. This comes with a little spatula that you can scoop the product up with to avoid contamination, and is easy to clean. The cream itself is very rich so I've only been using this at night. I don't have any other night creams in my collection (or that I've used in the past) that work as well for a lower price (even without the sale), which is why I'm considering purchasing this when I do run out. 

Now that I've reviewed this I'm going to stop using this for a few weeks to test out a different range of products, but then I will either go back to them, or alternate.

I hope you enjoyed this review. Thanks again to Chickadvisor for sending these to me for free in their product review club!

See you soon!
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Saturday, August 18, 2018

highend makeup

Esqido Gel Eyeliner Pencil Review

Esqido Gel Eyeliner Pencil Review
August 18, 20180 Comments
Hello!

I'm really excited to be writing this blog post today. A few weeks ago I received a PR package from Esqido with their first ever makeup products: The Esqido Gel Eyeliner Pencils! Esqido is known for their false lashes and I've actually written two different blog posts on them before. Check out my review on one of their Mink Lashes sets and Lash Companion glue and here for my review on their Synthetic Unisyn Lashes.

I love their lashes so I was really excited when I got the email that I would be receiving their first ever makeup product, eyeliners. That same day they arrived in the mail and I have been using them ever since.



These eyeliners currently come in a black and a brown. I'm not sure if they plan on expanding the colour range (I really hope so!), but for now these are the colours most people use. I was expecting these to be really expensive because of how high the quality is, but they retail for $16 USD each at full price, but are launching at $10 USD. Esqido is amazing and has made me an affiliate when they added me to their list, so if you use the code amys it will give you an ADDITIONAL 20% off, so if you're interested go buy them now to save a lot of money with my code and their current launch price. If you buy both, that means that you'll be getting two eyeliners for the price of one full priced eyeliner.

These eyeliners are retractable and come with their own sharpeners on the bottom for an extra-precise line. I haven't used the sharpener yet since this is already thin enough to do what I want, but for those of you who like to do detailed work, the sharpener will be great. They come with 0.5g of product per eyeliner and the formula is pretty great and 5-free: Free of latex, formaldehyde, parabens, sulfates, and phthalates. Like most eyeliners I've tried they are also fragrance free and these ones work well on sensitive eyes (mine are pretty sensitive and these don't irritate me). The ingredients are fully listed on their website



I'm wearing the black eyeliner in my waterline and tightline in the first picture, and the brown one in my tightline, and very lightly smudged under my lash line in the second. Once I post close up looks of my eye makeup on my instagram, you'll see these being featured more!

Overall thoughts? These are pretty great. I'm not someone who uses eyeliner on a daily basis, but when I do a full face of makeup, I feel like I at least need some in my tightline. These are super smooth and last all day, so I can rely on them to do my job and not have to worry. The price is also really good considering that the most comparable eyeliners I have in my makeup collection are about $30 CAD each, so with the current launch price and my 20% off discount code, they're super affordable. Of course if you don't want to use my code, you can use someone else's that has done a review of these, but it would mean a lot to me!

Full disclosure: I was sent these eyeliners for free in PR and my amys code is an affiliate code that gives me a bit of commission (some links in this post are also affiliate). I was not paid to write this post or post pictures on instagram, nor was it a requirement for me to write this post in order to receive the products. All thoughts and opinions are my own!

See you soon!
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