Concealer Chat

Let me introduce you to the world of color correction: I use the Pixi Correction Concentrate in Brightening Peach to color correct the areas where I am dark blue and green and a little goes a long way with this stuff! It is a thick concealer that comes in a pot and it is an absolute holy grail of mine. I will admit that it is on the more expensive side of things - I got mine for $12 at Target, but it is well worth those 12 bucks. I have had it for almost a year now and I am about halfway done. (And I am a very sleep deprived student!) The salmon tones in this will cancel out blue and green. Then I layer on my favorite concealer (currently the Maybelline Fit Me in 15 Fair) to cancel out the salmon tones of the Pixi concealer, set with the Elf HD Undereye Setting Powder, and I am good to go. 

I find that the Maybelline Fit Me remains tacky and will settle into fine lines unless set with a powder. This would be a great concealer for anyone with dry undereye areas. It lasts on me for about 4-5 hours. (I have combo skin and the skin under my eyes is not dry)

Another great concealer with more yellow tones is the Maybelline Master Conceal in Fair. It is really thin yet provides great coverage and I find that it dries down to a skin-like finish without creasing. The yellow tones will brighten the undereye area and slightly cancel out more purple/red discoloration. (I say slightly since it is more of a concealer instead of a color corrector)

The Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser is fantastic for providing high coverage without creasing as much as the Fit Me. It has the longest wear time (for me) out of the ones I have mentioned and it comes in 4 shades along with two extras: The Neutralizer shade has more yellow tones, and the Brightener shade has pink tones so both can be used for color-correction.

Overall, I would say my favorite concealer would be the Maybelline Instand Age Rewind, but I am currently using the Fit Me since it is the best shade match. The best one for color correcting my dark circles would be the Pixi Correction Concentrate since it is the right color to cancel out the tones of the darkness I have.

Bootycall and Half Baked Applied Dry and Wet

I have never swatched a shadow wet before and after hearing people rave about it, I decided to try.  I went for two of the shimmery shades in my Urban Decay Naked 2 Pallette.  I simply wet my brush before sticking it into the eyeshadow and I was amazed with the result!  The swatch of the wet shadow looks like liquid metal!  I compared the dry version of the shadow to the wet:

I wet my brush with water but if you want the pigmentation to come out even better, try using Mac Fix+.  I got a couple questions on how I did this on Reddit.  I simply dipped my brush into water and dabbed it on my palm to get off any access.  Then I dragged the brush lengthwise over the eyeshadow  to collect the product.  Each swatch is one swipe!

Soundcloud #3

Here are some cool songs I found this week:

Foundation Shade Dilemma

I have really pale, cool-toned skin and I have a drugstore budget.  I am trying to find foundations that will suit my skin tone and it is harder than I thought. 

The foundation I was using last month is the Maybelline Matte and Poreless in 110 Porcelain but it is too yellow toned. I just bought the Revlon Colorstay for Normal/Dry in 100 Ivory since it is relatively as light but more pink toned. 

I thought I would do a swatch test on my arm and on my face. My face is really red compared to my neck so I am trying to get the foundation to match my neck. 

Maybelline Fit Me 110 on the right and Revlon Colorstay 110 on the left:

On the arm swatches, the Revlon Colorstay looks orange and too dark for me but on the face, I think it is a better match.

Any suggestions/comments?

Soundcloud #2

These are two songs that have been stuck in head this week:

Burt's Bees Chapstick in Vanilla Bean

I am one of those people who have lips that are addicted to chapstick.  If I go more than about an hour without any on, my lips are practically screaming for moisture.  They start to sting and I become really aware of them and it gets to a point where I just have to put some on.

I have to say that I really like this chapstick.  It is 100% natural so I don't feel bad about eating with this stuff on, consequently with it all ending up all over my Chipotle.  I am currently onto my third tube of this stuff!  I think it is the perfect daytime chapstick.  It is in-between oily and waxy in a good way.  It is not too greasy that it slides right off your lips, but not too waxy that it feels like you have a dry film on your lips.  I find it to be very moisturizing and it starts to wear off after about three to four hours which is pretty great for a chapstick. Even though the packaging claims this chapstick smells like vanilla bean, I think it smells more like vanilla frosting which I can't complain about.

I bought this chapstick for $3.29 at CVS.

Maybelline Great Lash Clear Mascara

Let me start off by saying that I have normal brows, slightly on the thicker side.  When I wake up, they are all over the place and adding a little brow gel makes me look more polished.  Without any gel, the tails of my brows also like to go all crazy if I accidentally brush my hand against them.  One swipe of my hand and the hairs at the end start flipping up.  After using several brow products, I have come to the realization that I prefer a small spooly on the application wand so I have more control when I apply the product.

I thought I would give the Maybelline Great Lash Mascara in Clear a try as a brow gel, thanks to many rave reviews.  This does a nice job at holding my brow hairs in place, but there are a few downsides of this product.  It takes a good five or so minutes to fully dry down, so I would end up walking around with shiny brows until it dried.  This mascara also has a spooly brush where the bristles are spaced too far apart.  As I ran it across my brows, it would push my hairs into lines, going in the direction I swiped.  I would say this clear mascara has a medium strength hold and left my brows crunchy.  When I would move my eyebrows, it felt like my eyebrows were stiff.  But, if I happened to itch my eyebrow, the hairs would be out of place again.

This bottle lacks the typical stopper that scrapes off excess product.  This mascara allows way too much product to get onto the spooly.  When I first started using this, I would scrape the wand on the sides of the top.  After I ran the spooly through my brows, I would run through them again with an alternate spooly to get rid of excess product and any lines the mascara wand left.

I was able to re-apply this product without it flaking.  I also noticed that since it is sort of watery, it sometimes removes some of the color from my eyebrows as I apply it.  You can see in the picture that the gel turns a light brown because of this.

I got this product at CVS for $5.99 but you can buy it at Target for $4.49.

I would put my own picture but I used it up and threw it away before I had the idea to create this blog.  The picture is from: http://kmakesithappen.com/maybelline-great-lash-clear-gel/

Soundcloud #1

I found these songs the other day and they are amazing:

Pixi Correction Concentrate in Brightening Peach

During the last semester of Junior year, I was averaging five hours of sleep a night.  I had really bad under eye bags that sunk in.  Even with my favorite concealer piled on, I still looked like a zombie.  I tried brightening my under eye area with highlighting concealers, but that made things look a little off.  They were too yellow for my cool toned skin.  I decided to look into the miraculous world of color correcting. Since my under eye discoloration is green/blue/purple, I went with a pink/salmon colored corrector.  I wanted one that was thick and waterproof so it wouldn't budge throughout the school day.  With some more research, I decided on the Pixi Correction Concentrate in Brightening Peach.

This corrector is amazing, honestly.  I wear it everyday and it makes such a big difference.  I am really quite pale and it is just right for my skin tone.  Other color correcting products I have swatched in store are too dark for my under eye area.  

The best way to use this corrector is to lightly swirl your finger or dab it to pick up product.  I then pat the product in on the discolored areas of my under eye and apply my favorite concealer over top like I normally would.  Just to be safe, I set all of the concealers with an HD setting powder.  I find that if I do not follow up with a setting powder, all of this will crease, but normally concealer creases on me, even without the corrector.  On the few days where I didn't wear it under my normal concealer, I have had people ask me if I am sick!

This product was such a big hit for me that both my sister and my mom started using it. They are hooked!  (Holy Grail status!)  We jokingly refer to it as "sleep in a jar."

This little container lasts forever! It is 3g/0.1oz and I am about halfway through after about 9 months!

This corrector retails for $12.19 at Target and is worth every penny.

Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser

I discovered this product while staying at a friends house.  I had forgotten my makeup remover and she gave me this cleanser to use.  When I dried my face off after using this, I looked in the mirror and was surprised.  There was not a trace of makeup left on my face and my skin didn't feel dry and tight. The next time I was at the store, I picked it right up.  I have been using this cleanser for 5 months and I have yet to be disappointed.

The Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser is supposed to be a makeup remover and a cleanser in one step, but I use it to remove makeup.  I find that even though it does a fantastic job at removing makeup, I still need to use a stronger face wash to maintain clear skin.  Even though it is oil-free, it really does get eye makeup off.  Even waterproof mascara!  With two pumps, this cleanser leaves my face completely makeup free and moisturized.  This cleanser does not leave an oily film on my face, like others do, nor does it over-dry my skin.  I use this gentle cleanser when I wake up to remove any oil that my skin produced overnight, and again at the end of the day before my face wash.  It is non-comedogenic and alcohol-free.  My sister is allergic to many beauty products and since this is hypo-allergenic, it does not irritate or dry out her skin.  This cleanser has a subtle smell of soap that is not overpowering.  I would recommend this cleanser for people with normal to oily/combo skin types.

This cleanser retails for $6.99 on Ulta's website but I bought it for $4.99 at Target.

It is a truly gentle cleanser that leaves my skin feeling soft and it works really well as a makeup remover.  It is definitely one of my Holy Grail products.