August Ipsy Bag

Hello Beauties, 

So this month the theme for the Ipsy bag was back to school ( prep school to be exact)

The bag this month was a patterned and slightly textured bag in black and white with hot pink accents.

The 5 pieces I received inside my bag this month were:

1. Hikari lip gloss in "salsa:
2. City Colour HD powder ( SO EXCITED!)
3. Briogeo Blossom and Bloom Ginseng and biotin volumizing spray
4. Lather ultra mild face wash
5. Starlooks liquid liner pen in black


This month my bag was just alright.  I really enjoyed 3 of the 5 products, however the other 2 were a complete miss.


The Hikari lip gloss is beautiful, it is a fully pigmented ultra shiny gloss and the colour payout is AMAZING. It really wears more like a lip lacquer than a lip gloss. The downside is that because it is ultra shiny, it is also sticky. I found because of the high shine in the product that it never really "dries" which means that your lips stay tacky for as long as you're wearing it. The second issue I had with this product is that it does not have the staying power of some of its peers the wear time is relatively short.

I am trying to get into filming YouTube tutorials right now, so this powder is fabulous. I am able to set all of my looks without the harsh blow back that you would get from other traditional translucent/ setting powders. I wish that I had gotten it in a pressed powder formula instead of the loose powder (just personal preference). The powder performs well, it set my makeup and has kept it in place through the hot and humid August days.

The Briogeo volumizing spray was not one of the products that I used a whole lot of. I have a tonne of volume naturally, my hair is thick and curly, so I only ever really used this spray to try and help my hair along after I had back combed it. I can't honestly say if this spray made a difference or not, I really didn't notice any difference in my hair when i used the spray Vs not using it... Womp

Oh, the lather face wash... I was really hoping that I would like this one. I had heard really good things about this face wash and if I'm being totally honest, it worked really well BUT it smells awful. I just don't want to put it on my face again.

Last but not least, and possibly one of my favourites the Starlooks liquid liner pen by Doucce. This liquid liner is killer! the fine tip give you ultimate control over your liner look, whether it's a graphic liner, or something super simple. The colour payout is great and it stays ALL day. This was a great find for me.

Review: July Ipsy Bag

Hello Beauties,

It seems like it has been a while since I last posted and I am sorry about the delay. I took a little vacay with my fam jam in July so there was no internet for a good portion of the month.



A little while ago I decided to be to a monthly beauty box of some kind so that I could stay up to date with the newest products, and test them out for some honest reviews.
Then I kept forgetting to subscribe to one...womp womp.

This month I FINALLY signed up for the Ipsy bag, which is the monthly subscription bag started by the beauty guru Michelle Phan. Basically, you take a quiz and then receive 4 - 5 personalized deluxe sized samples in a cute cosmetic bag once a month.

This was my first month using the subscription service and I have to say I was not disappointed.

This month I recieved :

Jorel Parker Classico eau du parfum roller ball ( I will say that I do wish that it was a spritzer rather than a roller ball, but I suppose beggers can't be choosers, right?)

"Exotic, inspiring, and full of surprises, Classico whisks you away from the day-to-day. Indulge in the spicy seduction of Indian Tuberose, the striking and sweet sensation of Turkish Cyclamen and the purifying calm of Spanish Mandarin"

It took me more than one time wearing this fragrance to decide how I felt about it, but I really like it. It is well balanced and neither to floral, nor too spicey. It fades well too, I especially love the bass notes in it.


Mongongo Lip Balm Conditioner in Vanilla Coconut

I honestly love this stuff. I would definitely buy it if given the chance. It hydrated my lips and kept them soft and smooth without having to continually reapply. Essentially exactly what you want out of a lip conditioner


Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof Bronzer - Park Avenue Princess

I have to be honest here, I was NOT happy to see that I was getting this in my bag. As a red head, I am very fair, so I don't EVER wear bronzer. When I first saw this in there, I was thinking, great a product that I will never, ever use, I even tried to go online and see if I could switch it for another one of the products they were offering. As it turns out, you can not switch just one or two of the products, so i waited for the bronzer to arrive figuring at the worst I could give it to a friend.
When I opened my bag for the first time, I decided that I would use all the products just once to create a summer look, and that way I would get the chance to test them all out and see what I liked.
The bronzer is gorgeous against my skin, gives me the perfect sun kissed glow and would double as a great eye shadow. I am totally sold on the idea of a bronzer now.


Eyetini Swizzle Stick - Blue Hawaiian

This liner I felt I could take or leave. It is a great consistency, and the colour payout is fantastic, but I really wish that I had gotten a more neutral colour instead of the bright blue.
I think it is a beautiful shade, but not one that I think I would personally wear often.

Fianlly I also recieved a Belle Pierre Lipstick in shade P.I.N.K

The lipstick goes on creamy and smooth and the colour payout is great. I love this one on it's own, or mixed with a lighter shade to create a more natural pink tone. It's just a really pretty bright pink.


All of the products arrived in this cosmetic bag. It is super bright and summery and just a lot of fun over all

So far my experience with Ipsy has been great, the bag arrived right on time, and I really like the products that were selected for me this month. I have kept my subscription for the month of August and I can not wait to see what I get this time around.

I'll be sure to share another one of these with you in the next few weeks

stay beautiful and thanks for reading

Danielle

Trends: Red Concealer ?

Hello Beauties

Lately I've been seeing these posts ALL OVER the internet about this "Red Lipstick Concealer" trend.

If you haven't seen anything about this yet, basically people are using red lipstick to camouflage dark circles in the under eye area and yes it really does work.

essentially the red pigment in the lipstick acts as a corrector and covers the blue and purple tones that are so often found in dark under eye circles.

The red lipsticks works best on people with a darker complexion, on fairer people, something with an orange or coral tone works better.

TI am a red head, so typically if I am trying to cover my dark circles I will use the BH Cosmetics Concealer Palette. There is an orange corrector that comes in the palette which works wonderfully (and saves me from having to bust out my lipsticks)

I will also sometimes use these concealer/corrector wheels from Lise Watier

For the best results what you want to do is:

1. Moisturize!

Always start by prepping your skin for the makeup you're going to be using, moisturizing will help smooth and hydrate the skin. It will also help keep cosmetics out of pores which will help with breakouts. If you like using primers, you should apply one about 5 minutes after you've used your moisturizer, just so that it has enough time to full absorb into the skin.


2. Apply your Lipstick

Now you're going to want to apply your lipstick/ corrector to the dark areas you wish to conceal. There are two things that will effect the choice of colour for your corrector. 1.the undertone of you skin - when you look at your wrist, if the veins you see there are blue in colour, you have a cool undertone. Likewise, if you look at the veins and they are green, you have a warm undertone. Secondly, the tone of the actual dark circles. What you want to try and do is pick a shade of lipstick that will neutralize the undertones in the dark circles. You do this by selecting colours that are opposites on the colour wheel

Blue toned dark circles tend to appear on people with cool undertone skin (orange corrector)
Green-blue toned dark circles tend to appear on people with warmer undertone skin (red concealer)
Apply your corrector of choice, and blend into the eye area with either a brush or sponge.

3. Set your Corrector
You're going to want to set the corrector you just used over the dark circles so that it doesn't mix into your concealer or foundation whe nyou apply those to the undereye area.
Use a fluffy brush to apply your setting powder of choice into your under eye area. Use a clean powder brush to dust away any excess powder that might be left behind.

4. Apply your Concealer/ Foundation
Lastly you're going to apply your concealer and or foundation as you normally would.


Voila! what under eye circles !?

Thanks for reading - I love to read what you think, leave me lots of comments ;D

Danielle