Tag: skincare

I’ve been watching everyone’s Sephora sale reviews and last-minute recommendations, and I could feel myself starting to fill up another cart. The problem is I had already shopped the sale once, I ordered a bunch of Lisa Eldridge and Ravie products to test, and I also have a huge YesStyle birthday order I’m working through. So instead of placing another order, I shopped my stash. Some of these are products I hadn’t used in a bit, and some are things I just wanted to spend more time with, but all of them reminded me I already had great options at home. In this post, all links are affiliate links (thank you for your support!), but all opinions are my own.

Moira Love Blur Blush in 12 So Divine – Hybrid cream-powder blushes are so popular right now, and because this is probably my personal favorite blush texture, it was very easy to convince myself I needed another one. Instead, I pulled back out my this Moira blush, and I’m so glad I did. It has that bouncy cream-to-powder texture that makes this category so good, and the formula is actually really blurring. The shade is such a pretty berry flush on me without being too bright or too purple, which can be a hard balance to find. It blends out to just the right amount of pigment, lasts all day, and reminds me a lot of the Rare Beauty blushes in this formula, which I also love. Pulling this back out was exactly the reminder I needed that I did not need to buy another trendy hybrid blush just because I was watching everyone else’s sale reviews. If you want a full Moira review, I actually have a bunch of products from the brand and just haven’t found the right place to post them yet, so let me know in the comments if you’re interested! I also really like buying Moira products from HB Beauty Bar because they seem to always be having a good sale.

Prada Reveal Skin Optimizing Refillable Soft Matte Foundation in LW5 – Soft-focus, perfected base products are very tempting to me right now, but instead of buying another one, I pulled back out the Prada foundation I already own and love. This is still one of my favorite foundation formulas because it gives that really smooth, blurred finish while still looking like skin. The coverage is on the lighter end of medium, but it builds easily without getting heavy or cakey, which is a huge part of why I like it so much. This is what I reach for when I want my skin to look especially polished without feeling overdone. Pulling it back out was a very good reminder that I did not need to buy another trendy base product when I already had one of my favorites at home (did I already buy four new base products before this to test for y’all? Also yes).

Etude Fixing Tint in 14 Rose Lilac and 15 Woody Pink – I am very into the whole lip blush, blurred matte lip situation happening right now. It reminds me of when matte lips were everywhere, except the formulas we have now are so much better. You still get that soft matte, blurred look, but without the super dry, crusty feeling that used to come with it. I have honestly been testing a ridiculous number of these kinds of lip products at this point, at least fifteen, so if you want a full roundup sooner rather than later, let me know. But instead of buying yet another blurred matte lip during the sale, I pulled back out my Etude Fixing Tints in 14 Rose Lilac and 15 Woody Pink. I don’t want to speak too soon, but I’m pretty confident this is my favorite formula in this category so far. I love how flexible this formula is. You can do just a little for a soft hint of color or build it up more, and either way it stays comfortable and looks super smooth. Woody Pink is a dusty rosy neutral that works really well with the mauvey beige looks I wear all the time. Rose Lilac is deeper and moodier, more of a jammy berry-plum, and it pairs especially well with berry-toned blush. Another thing I really like about these is the tint they leave behind. Woody Pink fades into a really pretty light pink stain, while Rose Lilac leaves more of a berry tint. This is one of those categories where using what I already have has honestly just made me want to buy more of it, but these are so good that I’d rather keep reaching for them instead. These are also under $10 right now.

Lawless Forget the Filler Lip Plumping Line Smoothing Gloss in Lavender Sorbet – There are always a million glosses, lip balms, and other glassy lip products tempting me, and I definitely did not need to buy more of them during the sale. Instead, I pulled back out the Lawless Forget the Filler in Lavender Sorbet, which is already one I love. The shade is such a pretty cool-toned milky violet that adds the nicest tint on its own, but it’s also really good over other lip products when I want to cool something down a little. I also love this formula so much. It does have some tingling, but nothing painful or intense, and I really do think it makes my lips look smoother and better overall. It’s also super nourishing and hydrating and lasts pretty long for a gloss. I honestly was considering grabbing another shade, but once I put this one back on, I realized I already had the one I needed. 

Unleashia Glitterpedia Eye Palette No. 1 All of Glitter – I am always a little bit at risk of buying another glittery eyeshadow because I really do love having something sparkly on my eyelids. But I have plenty of eyeshadow palettes I’m already testing, plus another one I’m excited for later this year (if you know you know), so I absolutely did not need to add another one right now. Instead, I pulled back out the Unleashia Glitterpedia palette in No. 1 All of Glitter, and it has been perfect for adding that sparkle to every eye look. It’s a palette of nine glitter shades in a really good range of tones, and only one pulls a little too orange for me. A few of the shades are chunkier pressed glitters, so if that’s not your thing you probably won’t love this, but there are also several smoother sparkle shades that work beautifully if you don’t want to mess with pressed glitter. I would not recommend this as your only palette if you’re hoping to do a full eye look because all but one are really best used as toppers (which you can probably see in the swatches – they really look amazing over something, but not great over bare skin). If you want a dedicated sparkle palette to add that extra layer of glitter, this is a really fun one.

Have you shopped your stash lately, or is there a category you keep almost buying more of? As always, some links may be affiliate links that support the blog and some products may have been gifted, but all reviews/opinions are completely my own and unsponsored.

I realized I would need to write a reallllly long post with all my Sephora favorites I’d recommend for the sale, so I decided to focus on the 10 products from Sephora I’d buy first if I had to start over and rebuild my routine. I really tried to focus on what I’d actually buy from Sephora instead of doing a full-face roundup/one from every category. You’ll notice some categories (like bronzer, contour, powder blush, and mascara) are missing because my favorites aren’t available at Sephora. In this post, all links are affiliate links (thank you for your support!), but all opinions are my own.

Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops – This is the primer that makes my skin look so much better, no matter how little sleep I got. It’s skincare and glowy primer in one, without leaving a greasy finish. It gives that fresh, bouncy finish like you just drank a gallon of water. Even though it provides a glow, it still sets down and provides a great base for makeup to sit on top of and also looks great on no-makeup days because of the finish. I’m really happy I finally grabbed the value size in the last Sephora sale.

Armani Golden Hour 24HR Lightweight Skin Tint with Hyaluronic Acid in F3 – This is such a beautiful skin tint that’s worked well with every primer and sunscreen I’ve paired it with. It’s also played well with all my powders. The shade is a bit too peachy but I don’t feel like I need to add a color corrector when I wear this which is huge for me. You can see next to the Tower 28 concealer below that it would look seamless, except that the Tower 28 is so perfectly green in comparison. It gives light coverage that lets my freckles peek through, similar to the Lisa Eldridge Seamless Skin Tint. You can build it up a bit to light-medium coverage, but it won’t go a real medium or even full coverage. The finish is natural (not too matte, not too dewy), and really looks just looks like skin but better. It has a slight fragrance, but nothing overpowering or lasting. It blends out incredibly easily and holds up really well throughout the day without getting patchy or breaking up. I’ve honestly been really neglecting my other base products so I can wear this instead.

Tower 28 Concealer in BW – This is a newer shade that is specifically supposed to work for olive undertones, and yup, it really is green. This is one of the only concealers I’ve found that actually looks like my skin tone (on my face) instead of just sort of working well enough. I already liked this formula, so having a shade that actually matches me is awesome. It blends in beautifully and looks really natural on the skin, which is why you can’t really see anything in the swatch. It looks like they also have a medium olive shade, so I may end up grabbing that in the sale and mixing the two together because BW is about to be too light for me heading into the spring and summer. I really appreciate that BW is a true warm olive, and it matches me much better than any of the other shades I’ve tried so far.

Danessa Myricks Yummy Skin Liquid Blurring Balm Setting Spray – The Danessa Myricks spray has become more of a powder step for me than a normal setting spray. Sometimes I spray it onto a brush or puff and press it into the skin and basically use it as powder. Since it’s still been super dry here and so has my skin, I’ve been reaching for it most days instead of actual powder, and I’ve been really happy with how that’s been working. 

Laura Mercier Translucent Pressed Setting Powder Ultra-Blur – If I really want an actual powder step to lock something in, this is the one I reach for. I love that no matter what I do, it never feels like I put too much of this on. It’s truly translucent so it doesn’t add any coverage or change the color of what I have on my face. It’s definitely only doing a tiny bit of setting and mattifying (so I wouldn’t recommend this for combo/oily skin) but I love how it’s able to do what I want a powder to do without adding any heaviness or getting cakey. It does have a tendency to hard pan, but you can easily fix that with a piece of tape.

Makeup by Mario Master Mattes® Long-Wearing Cream Eyeshadow in Mauve – This shadow has quickly become a one-and-done favorite. The mauve shade is actually a warmer brown on my skin tone but it looks so polished with very little effort – it’s the tan/brown I’ve been looking for that isn’t Cheeto orange. It applies super easily, blends out quickly, and once it sets, it stays put all day without creasing. I love using it alone, but it also works really well as a base under other powder shadows. It’s exactly what I want in a liquid matte shadow. I also love how easy it is to get just a little bit off the doefoot because the formula is a little thick, which means you don’t end up with way too much that blends out all over your face. I honestly might grab some more shades in the sale.

Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush in Believe – This is very far away from beige in the packaging, but on me it turns into a perfect soft muted beige flush that looks like it just belongs on my face. The brand describes it as a true mauve, and it has that desaturated cool-toned mauvey pink tone that ends up looking just right instead of orange. This is a pretty pigmented formula as you can see in the swatch where I applied directly from the doefoot in a line. You really don’t need that much, and 0.25oz will last forever. The formula is great – it blends easily, lasts all day, and sets down to a really nice skin like finish that isn’t too dewy. If your blush disappears on you, this is a really good one to grab.

Rare Beauty Brow Harmony Flexible Lifting and Laminating Eyebrow Gel – I’ve tried so many brow gels, and nothing has ever really held my brows in place all day until this one. I’m honestly always shocked that my eyebrows stay put with this until I wash them off, with zero crunchiness, flaking, or stiffness. The hold is strong but flexible, and it actually looks natural. I wish it came in tinted shades, but even with the clear shade, it’s worth adding into my routine for the shaping and hold.

Eadem Le Chouchou Exfoliating + Softening Peptide Lip Balm in Fig Sauce – I’ve talked about these balms so many times because they’re genuinely some of my favorite lip products ever. What I wanted to share is that Fig Sauce is such a good color. It’s a super pretty milky rosy brown that ends up being the perfect everyday shade. I usually go for deeper and more brown colors because of my high-contrast olive complexion, but this one still works so well. It’s flattering, easy, and very much a “throw it on without a mirror” situation. The formula is incredible, the scent is amazing, and I haven’t met a shade I didn’t like. I’m so happy to have another one in my collection, and I highly recommend them if you’ve been curious. I still love the shimmery ones (Pain au Chocolat and Coissant au Beurre), Boba Bounce, Bissap Glaze, Guava Fresca, and Butter Mochi, but Fig Sauce has definitely become one of my favorite day-to-day colors.

Every Experiment product I’ve tried so far – I’m cheating a little by making this one product but I would immediately replace all four of the Experiment products I’ve tried. I love them, I use them every day, and they are really special. The Super Saturated Barrier Support Serum gives my skin a lot more hydration, and the Molecular Mesh Moisturizer is one of the best moisturizers I’ve ever used. The Oil Buffer Jelly and Softwear Lip Treatment are very important parts of my nighttime routine and supporting my skin barrier overnight. I use both at night as my last steps, and I definitely notice when I skip them. I’m actually grabbing a new Molecular Mesh, a Support Serum, and a Softwear lip treatment in this sale because I’m about to run out of all 3.

What Sephora product would you replace first? Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to see here, and thanks for reading! As always, some links may be affiliate links that support the blog, but all reviews/opinions are completely my own and unsponsored.

Welcome back to the Setting Spray showdown! This is the third and fourth (last!) round in my setting spray showdown series, where I’m testing popular formulas side by side to see what actually makes a difference in real life. I’ll be doing the same makeup, with the same lighting, for at least 16 hours for each test. I’ve also been testing all of these setting sprays for months before doing these elimination rounds. For these rounds, I did all of the matches in one post since I’ve already talked about each spray at length in previous posts. In this post, all links are affiliate links (thank you for your support!), but all opinions are my own.

Round 3, Match 1: MAC Fix+ Stay Over vs Danessa Myricks Blurring Balm Spray – Obviously, since we’re at the final four, all of these are beautiful and genuinely great setting sprays, and I would repurchase all of them again and again. Mac Fix+ Stay Over is one of my all time faves, and I’ll keep repurchasing it, especially for my super dry skin days. But if I’m being super picky, Danessa Myricks is the one that’s moving forward in the showdown. I tested these side by side on different days and switched sides to make sure. Both times the Danessa side looked smoother and more blurred without being too matte. It photographed better, it looked better in person, and it kept my makeup looking great consistently throughout the day. I continue to be surprised how well the Danessa works with my dry skin, even in winter.

Round 3, Match 2: Milani Make It Last Dewy vs Hourglass Veil Soft Focus – These both looked great, as expected, and I really do think the Hourglass spray is amazing for a soft focus finish. If I really had to choose, the Milani side held up better throughout the day and just looked slihtly more hydrated and smoother. I also did side by sides over two days and switched the sides to make super sure like I did with the first match. In photos and in person, everyone picked the Milani side both days. That said, I’m sure from a distance that you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between these two. Given how much less expensive the Milani is, it’s an easy choice to move it on when it held up so well to (and honestly did better than) the Hourglass.

Round 4: Danessa Myricks Blurring Balm Spray vs Milani Make It Last Dewy – I tested these against each other for a bunch of days so I could switch the sides each spray was on and see how they worked with different makeup. Surprisingly, the same spray won every time even though it was very close. I did get a couple of “those are the same” responses, which is good news given these are the final 2! Both sprays gave me that blurred, smooth look and helped my makeup last all day, but one side always just a little looked better in photos and in person (as always, no one I knew which side was which). That side looked more natural, my makeup looked more intact at the end of the day, and my skin looked dewier without an overly glassy finish or looking like I had a film on my face.

So especially if you have dry skin, Milani Make It Last Dewy is the final winner! One caveat – the sprayer is not a luxury experience, and it’s the one thing that really bugs me about the Milani. Given how much less expensive it is than many of the others, I’d be willing to buy a nicer spray bottle to put it into (and probably will). The Danessa Myricks spray is also still incredible, and I think you’d be really happy with it particularly if you have combo to oily skin. My oily-skin friends have confirmed it’s amazing for them. Honestly, I’d still recommend most of the setting sprays I tested, and definitely any in the top four. I’m excited to have the more matte and blurring ones for summer and the dewy ones this winter!

What other products would you like me to review? Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to see here, and thanks for reading! As always, some links may be affiliate links that support the blog, but all reviews/opinions are completely my own and unsponsored.