ELF Clay Eyeshadow Palette in Necessary Nudes: A Review

Wow. I can’t believe this palette retails for six. freaking. dollars. When I saw this at TJ Maxx, I thought this might be a great neutral travel palette. I got this palette in the shade Necessary Nudes, which comes with two mattes and three shimmers. Also, my palette is set up differently than what it looks like on the website, regarding where the four square pans were placed. I’ll just start by saying that this palette was tragic, and not even worth the $3 I bought it for at TJ Maxx. Well, let’s just rip the bandaid off now so we don’t have to prolong the pain. In these swatches, the first is a finger swatch and the second is a lid brush swatch.
This first shade is a light caramel shade. It blends okay, and isn’t too terribly pigmented. It’s an okay crease color. It’s kinda meh.

This next shade is deep chocolate brown. The first swatch on this is the color layered up, the second is a brush swatch, and the third is a single finger swatch. This shade is quite patchy. Not only that, but the pigment kinda grabs in the first place you put it. It just isn’t a good brown shadow, plain and simple. 

The next two shades should not be in the palette because they are basically the same color. One is a gold and the other is more of an olive gold. Separately, they’d be good in the palette but they shouldn’t be together because on the eyes you can’t even tell a difference. In a palette this small, these two colors should be very different. Besides that, the pans basically hard panned as soon as I used a wet brush. The pigment would maybe be good for a slight wash of color, but they are definitely not for the eyeshadow whore that is myself. The first swatch is a finger swatch, the second is a dry brush swatch for me, and the third is a wet brush swatch. 

Lastly, we have the highlight shade, which is pretty much the only good thing in the palette. That being said, it’s a very basic color that you can find almost anywhere. It really wasn’t worth it for me to keep the entire palette for just this shade.  

In conclusion, I wouldn’t buy this palette at its full price. I would only buy it if you see in on sale or at TJ Maxx and you need a basic palette. Yes, you can make this work, but there is so much more you can do with $6. 

Light, Natural Makeup in 10 Minutes or Less

In the morning, sometimes I don’t have more than 10 or 15 minutes to do my makeup. Or, maybe sometimes I just want to do something simple with my look. On those days, this is my routine

 

Urban Decay Quick Fix Prep Priming Spray

I love this stuff. It’s hella expensive but once I tried it I couldn’t live without it. This stuff is hydrating and slightly minimizes my pores. I would definitely recommend this for people with dry skin. Sometimes if I’m super late I’ll even use this as a moisturizer.

 

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer

Concealer can really make a difference in a look. This is my favorite concealer because it covers all my dark circles.
Clinique Stay-Matte Sheer Pressed Powder Oil-Free in 01 Stay Buff

This stuff is my go-to for sheer coverage. It doesn’t do a ton for me, however, it does even out my skin tone.

 

ELF Budge Proof Shadow Stick in Rose Gold

This shadow stick doesn’t budge and lasts all day. The color isn’t that pigmented, but it gets the job done. I swipe this all over my lids and then blend it out with my fingertips.
Covergirl Clump Crusher Extend

I like this mascara because it just gives my lashes that barely there yet visible look. Mascara is a big part of any minimal makeup look (at least to me) as it makes you look more awake.

 

Neutrogena Moisture Smooth Color Stick in Soft Raspberry

Although kinda expensive for the drugstore, these lipsticks by Neutrogena are the bomb.com; they are moisturizing and comfortable to wear. The colors are pigmented and I love to wear them.
So Susan Blush and Glow

At first, I didn’t like this blush, but now I LOVE it! This blush is true to its name and it really does give you a glow. It’s like a highlighter and blush in one and just gives you face the best shine in a good way.

 

This is just my routine, it might not work for everyone. Feel free to let me know your 10-minute routines in the comments down below! Sorry if the formatting is a little wonky, I am trying to fix it.

ELF Sculpt and Glow Duo Stix in Fair/Light: A Review

When I saw that ELF was having free shipping on their website, I had self-control and didn’t buy anything I knew I had to at least get something. I am all for convenience makeup, so this duo stick with a shimmer highlight and a matte contour side.

The contour side of this stick is more like a bronzer. When I first used it, it was not very creamy. I used a lighter to heat it up a bit, and that made it a little better. It doesn’t blend very well with a sponge, and you really have to rub it in rather than dabbing motions. I prefer it more on my forehead rather than my cheeks, as it blends better.

Although the highlight in the picture looks pretty nice, when it’s on my cheeks, it really shows texture and does not blend out well, even using a lighter.

 

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend buying this, as it can be very hard to blend. If you do, I recommend heating them up at least before your initial use to get the outer layer melted. Have you tried these before? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

 

ELF Aqua Beauty Molten Liquid Eyeshadow: A Review

In my recent quest to find quick makeup to use in the morning, I stumbled upon these at my local drugstore. The liquid eyeshadows have a doe foot applicator, kinda like a concealer. I have three shades in this range: Liquid Gold, Brushed Copper, and Rose Gold. In the swatches pictured below, I blended then out using my fingers.

Liquid Gold:

This one is probably my least favorite of the three. It is more of a yellow gold. It doesn’t blend out that well, but I used it in a wonder woman costume as a crown and it worked really well,

Rose Gold:

This one is probably my favorite. It blends the best out of the three and doesn’t crease.

Brushed Copper:

I don’t know if I’d call this a copper. It’s more of a copper-gold and not what you’d normally expect for a copper.

Overall, I don’t know if I would buy all of these since once they’re blended out they all kinda look the same. Also, if you don’t like the textured look of eyelids I don’t think you’d like this. I’d recommend picking up Rose Gold or Brushed Copper if you’d like to try these. These are great for someone who wants a wash of color on their lids without much effort.

Pick these up for $4 at your local drugstore.

ELF Liquid Matte Lipstick in Blackout: A Review

On my hunt to find a good black lipstick, I found this on ELF.com for $5. I decided what the heck, it’s five bucks, how bad could it be? Apparently, very bad. After wearing this for ten minutes, my lips were absolutely P A R C H E D. I am not someone with dry lips, unless it’s in the dead of winter, and even then some vaseline will fix them right up. The lip took a lot of layers to get an opaque layer, and it oddly didn’t settle into my lip cracks so when I smiled you could see little lines where the color wasn’t. I would have been nice if I could have dealt with the dryness. I don’t know if the other colors in this line are like this, I won’t be buying this formula again.

The first swatch is the formula layered and the second is a single swipe.

ELF Acne Fighting Foundation vs Clinique Acne Solutions Liquid Makeup: The Showdown

When I saw the ELF Acne Fighting Foundation the first thing I thought was dude, I bet this is a dupe for my Clinique Acne Solutions Liquid Makeup. So, I put these bad boys to the test in an ultimate dupe showdown!

The first thing I will compare is the shade range:

The first swatch is the Clinique:

First is just a swatch of the foundation, and the second is the foundation blended in with a sponge.

First, we have Clinique:

You can barely see the second swatch, but trust me, it’s there.

Next, we have ELF:

You can definitely see the second swatch in this picture. The shade is a bit dark for me.

Clinique: 16 different shades, cool and warm undertones, grouped by color groups. There is also a questions hotline to help you shade match. Sold in Sephora, so you are able to have someone help you color match, and test out in store.

ELF: 5 shades (7 online at ULTA). Still, that’s half as many as Clinique. It might be hard to shade match as it is mostly sold online and you most likely won’t be able to test in store

Winner? Clinique!

Price:

Clinique: $28.00 at 1.0 oz

ELF: $6.00 for 1.21 oz (you can buy about 4 bottles of ELF for $24)

Winner? ELF!

Packaging: 

Clinique: A rounded square tube, with the Clinique logo and product name printed in white. The cap is mirrored. The bottle is lightly frosted. The bottle is essentially a squeezy tube. The shade name is a sticker on the bottom of the bottle.

ELF: The packaging is taller and skinnier than Clinique’s. The front is ELF’s logo is black. The bottle is taller and skinnier than the Clinique one. The bottle is also a squeezy tube, however, this one is a bit harder to squeeze out product.

Winner? Clinique!

Formula (lightest shades)

Clinique (Shade: 01 Fresh Alabaster): Natural finish. A little sheerer. Doesn’t cover my redness as well as I’d like it to. The shade matches me pretty well.

ELF (Shade porcelain): Natural finish. More full coverage. Covers my redness. Shade is too dark for me. It might be a good summer shade for me.

Winner? Clinique! 

Ingredients:

These foundations have 9 ingredients in common. However, they are in different orders. Click here for a table of all the ingredients. The common ingredients are highlighted.

Tally: 

ELF: 1

Clinique: 3 

Overall, it really depends on what you want and how much you want to spend. If you need a good cheap foundation, go for the ELF one. If you want to splurge on a foundation with good ingredients, go for the Clinique one.

 

Maybelline Color Sensational Lip Color Loaded Bolds in Pitch Black: A Review

bruh. This might be one of the worst lipsticks I’ve ever tried. It was the night before Halloween and I realized wow, I don’t have any black lipstick to wear for Halloween tomorrow. So, I asked my mom to pick me up some black lipstick at a CVS. It made me a little nervous that my mom, someone who knows very little about makeup, was buying it for me, but hey how bad could it possibly be? I thought. Oh man oh man, how wrong I was. The lipstick that she bought me was the Maybelline Color Sensational Lip Color Loaded Bolds in Pitch Black, and I can tell you that the formula seems pretty nice. On they website it claims to be a “creamy matte” which is totally not true. This formula is anything but matte, and is more like a hydrating lip. This is all fine and dandy, except for the fact that the color of the lipstick I bought is black. It looked nice at first, but as time wore on it wore off. Also, it isn’t very opaque which is a problem for a bold shade like this. I had to layer it up a bunch to get an opaque layer. It wore off pretty bad after a couple of hours, and I don’t think I’ll be using this ever again.

The first picture is swatches of the lipstick. The first swatch is layered up, and the second swatch is a single swipe. The second picture is the lipstick on my lips after two hours of wear. Yeah, that bad.

ELF Beautifully Bare Natural Glow Face Palette: A Review

I have had my eye in this for a long long time, but I’ve never been able to give myself a legitimate reason for buying it… until now. Now that I have my own blog, I can buy things I want as an excuse to review them! I am hella glad that I got this, because it’s actually pretty bomb. The bronzer is really nice, it is more neutral of a bronzer so it is perfect for my pale self in the winter. The highlight is kinda like a light champagne but isn’t as dark in the pan as it looks. It’s one of those highlights that melts into the skin and would be great as a lowkey highlight that wouldn’t overpower a look. The blush that is to the right of the highlighter… yikes. It takes a lot of work for this one to show up, and the with the swatches pictured (second swatch) it barely shows up in natural light. I had to swirl my finger over and over and over and press super hard to get it to show up, and I had to layer it up this blush is more peach toned whereas the second blush is rosier. The rosy blush is okay, once again it takes more work for it to show up, but it isn’t as bad as the peach one.

Overall I really like this palette. The blushes kinda mehh but the bronzer and highlight are good. This palette would be good for someone who is a minimalist with their makeup or is going for a natural look. I don’t think this would show up on skin that is deeper than medium. This palette retails for $8 at ELF.com.

IPSY Bag Review: October

I recently received my October IPSY bag last week, and I’ve made my opinions. For those of you who don’t know what IPSY is, it is a monthly subscription based service. Coming in at $10, you get five products to try and a bag every month. For the most part, the higher end products will be minis, and the lower end products tend to be full-sized. I’ve had an IPSY subscription for almost a year, however, this is my first review of a bag. So, let’s get into it!

The bag this month is so. freaking. cute! It speaks to my inner vampire. The bag is a red printed lace on (faux?) leather. The inside of the bag is kinda like a cheap raincoat fabric but seems pretty durable. Plus, it has an adorable little bat on the zipper, a subtle yet effective touch. This is probably one of my top five bags I’ve gotten this year.

Meech and Mia Loose Eyeshadow in Purple

 

This. This is probably one of the best things I’ve ever gotten in an IPSY bag. At first, I was a little skeptical on how nice this would be, but I am not disappointed. This is kinda an iridescent purple with a gray undertone. I thought this would go gray on me and wouldn’t look purple on my lids, but it looks SO vibrant. This is the perfect addition for a smokey eye.

Would I Buy This? YES

tarte deluxe lights, camera, lashes 4-in-1 mascara

This is my second favorite thing this month. One thing you should know: my lashes are naturally long, thick(ish), black, and curly. So, it really doesn’t take much for my lashes to look good. I like this mascara because it separates my lashes pretty good and also lengthens them, however, I didn’t notice much thickening

Would I Buy This: ehhhh, maybe if I was out of mascara and I saw it in a trial size.

Dermelect Cosmeceuticals: Dermelect ‘Me’ in Verdure

This is okay. It’s a nice color. It has a normal staying power. It’s a hunter green….. I don’t know what else to say

Would I Buy This? eh. no.

Marc Anthony: Hydrating Coconut Oil & Shea Butter Oil Treatment

Well. I tried this once, and then it leaked all over my counter top, so there’s that. The first time I did use this, I had to use a lot because I have thick hair. It was just okay.

Would I Buy This? heck no

Urban Decay: 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion

Well, I hate to do this, but I don’t use eyeliner (shocking I know). So, instead of using this product, I will be donating it.

Would I Buy This? not today Satan, not today.

 

Redeemed from Ipsy Points:

For those of you who don’t know, you can gain IPSY points by referring people to IPSY or reviewing your bags. You can redeem this brushes for items.

Crown Brushes: C441 Pro Blending Crease Brush

Bruh. I have some VERY strong words to say about this. I’ll save you the time and tell you that IT SUCKS! It’s scratchy, it shed at least 1/5 of its bristles, it frayed and every time I use it, it gets worse and worse. I’m seriously considering contacting IPSY for a points refund.

Would I Buy This? girl bye!!

Overview:

Overall, this isn’t the best bag I’ve ever gotten but it sure isn’t the worst. Is it worth ten dollars? Oh yeah. If I saw it a store would I buy it? Honestly? Probably not.

Ulta Beauty Color Correcting Foundation & Primer Stick: A Review

I went to Ulta recently and tried to find something I thought was out of the box and different from anything I’ve tried before, and I think I’ve done just that. This foundation/primer is unique because it has a green center. There are a couple of reasons why this could be my dream come true product:

1. I am HELLA lazy and I love me a good time saver
2. I get out of my bed 0.000001 second before I need to be in my car on my way to school (at seven in the morning, mind you)
3. My skin is quite red, so I basically have to put green color correcter all over my face anyway

So, this product is essentially three of my beauty steps in one. Coming in at $14 and 0.25 oz, I think it’s not a bad price point. One bad thing, however, is the shade range. It has only a mere eight shades. It is a pretty good gradient, except there are lots of light and medium but only two dark shades. The tone of the color corrector for the darker shades might be too light and might make you look ashy. My shade in the range is fair porcelain, the lightest shade. When I swatched it in store, it seemed like it would be too light for me but it’s actually pretty spot on, just a little bit lighter than my skin tone. Along with fair skin, I also have neutral-warm undertones. The second lightest shade is very pink, and pink does not look good on ya girl, and the third lightest shade (which an Ulta rep. recommended for me) would have looked like I smeared cream contour all over my face. So I said screw it and bought the lightest shade, and I’m glad I did.

When I put this one in the morning it looked pretty good, but as they day wore on it got worse and worse and worse. See, my skin is very oily, and it basically slipped and broke down all over my T-Zone and surrounding areas. It made my skin look very textured and clung to all the hair on my face and made it stand out more. It made me want to wipe it off of my face. When I got home from school, I tried some different methods to try and make this work because I really wanted it to work. I tried several different setting powders to try and set it, and they all made my skin look extremely textured. The green also settled into my nostrils, which can commonly happen with green color correctors. I think the finish is just too wet to set it, and it soaks up the powder as soon as you apply it. It says on the website that the finish is supposed to be dewy, so I tried one last time to make it work by not setting it. Once again, it looked really good when I first applied it, but after a couple of hours it disintegrated on my oily skin. It also made me look a little washed out because of the green core. It was very full coverage and made my skin look very good at first, however, towards the end of the day it sat on top of my skin and made my skin look very textured. Also, it made my skin look kinda wet, which I know some people like but I’m more of a mette kinda girl myself. Cream products worked very well with it, but I can’t imagine you could use powder products with it. I won’t be using it under foundation because if it didn’t work well on its own it’s not gonna work well under foundation.

The stick itself is very creamy, almost too creamy. It is very easy for the stick to get muddy. Also, if you use it at an angle the green center will wear down a bit slower than the stick. Be careful in regard to how much you roll up the stick because it might break or shift at the base because the formula is so soft. As I used it, it would break and shift and it was very messy. I feel like I actually used quite a bit because of how creamy it is. The inside of the tube is caked with product.

So, who would I recommend this product for? If you are fair to medium skin toned, have redness everywhere, don’t like to wear a ton of makeup, like a very dewy finish, and have pretty much flawless skin, then maybe this will work for you. But, don’t take my word for it. This is just my opinion, and it does have a 4.4 rating on Ulta’s website with 700 reviews, so I guess somebody likes it. In the reviews I did see some people using this a concealer, which is a smart idea. I won’t be doing that, however, because I am done trying to make this work for my skin type. Just because it doesn’t work for me, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you!