Hello!
I thought it would be good to do a Top 10 Summer Makeup Products list. We've had some extremely hot days and some cooler nicer days. But when it's 30C outside, I like to keep my makeup light. I don't like feeling like my face is melting off. Plus all the sweating and smudging equals hot mess. And I've been getting pimples like crazy. Probably had to do with running out of my holy grail skincare products.
I'll try to use some newer products that launched this summer. These are my most used and favourite products this summer!
Top 10 Summer Makeup Products
1. Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment - 26$CAD
Every girl needs a good lip treatment. I know the price is quite steep, so I try to make my tube last as long as possible. This is hands down THE best lip treatment of all time. It's a bit mooshy but that's because it actually goes into your lips and moisturizes them. It's definitely worth a try. I was convinced. They just came out with a new colour, Tulip, which is their first pink lip balm. I can't wait to get my hands on it. They're selling it in a new set as a mini with some other minis if you're not sure which one to commit to. I just picked up the set (with Advanced Lip Therapy, Rose, and Tulip along with a mini Sugar Lip Scrub) but haven't gotten around to trying the tinted ones yet. I do love their clear formula.
2. Too Faced Lashgasm - 28$CAD
Another staple product for me is this mascara. This is my favourite mascara ever, and I've tried a lot of different ones. It doesn't add too much mascara onto your lashes, so they'll never get clumpy. The wand is made to define each lash and comb through so they don't stick together. They're not crazy voluminous, but this is a perfect day time mascara. It makes each lash look defined and long. It's light enough but still makes your lashes look sexy. It isn't waterproof but this mascara has never leaked or run on me.
3. Too Faced Tinted Beauty Balm in Snow Glow - 42$CAD
For the summer, I think every girl needs a tinted moisturizer or a BB cream. I find foundation gets a little too heavy, especially in extreme heat. I like Too Faced's Tinted BB. It's light but it does have decent coverage. Of course, it won't cover severe acne or redness, but for those of you with perfect skin down to okay skin, this BB should be fine for you. My freckles show through a tiny bit which helps to make it more natural looking but it does a decent job covering up my pimples that I don't even use concealer. I use the shade Snow Glow, and there are four other shades to choose from. I find that it runs a little yellow so I have to make sure I blend it out well into my neck. I use their first BB cream, which is a liquid. I really don't like their new Air-Buffed CC Creme which is a cream version. I would stick to the original liquid one.
4. Chanel Joues Contraste Powder Blush in 84 Accent (LE) - 48$CAD
This was a limited edition blush that came out this past Christmas. I wish it would have been permanent because my mom and I both loved it. In the pan, it looks very brown but when swatched it gives off that perfect rosy/brown neutral glow. It's perfect as an everyday blush. It's soft and light and looks very natural. I find myself using this blush more and more on a lazy day.
5. MAC Casual Color Lip and Cheek Color in For Your Amusement (LE) - 25$CAD
This blush was a limited edition product from their Playland collection from earlier this summer. I wish they would release some permanent shades as part of the Lip and Cheek colour product line :( I love the formula. It's pigmented enough that I don't have to keep layering and when I use my MAC 188 brush to apply it, I'm in heaven. I can use a light hand to apply it until I get my perfect amount on without worrying about overdoing it. Plus I can use this as a lip colour too! That's always a bonus. I've fallen in love with this colour and I've used it often since I bought it. It goes on well and it blends out smoothly. They also have a bright fuchsia pink and a bright coral red as part of the collection.
6. MAC Superslick Liquid Eye Liner in On The Hunt - 23$CAD
My mom recently introduced me to these a few months ago and I fell in love. On a hot day where I don't want to wear a ton of eye makeup, I usually opt for a cat eye. I used to use fluidline but superslick makes it so much easier!! The brush allows for a very precise application and my lines are always smooth. Lately I've been using this a lot and I just ran out :( so I've been using Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner. It's alright, but I prefer the MAC one. Mastering the cat eye is tricky if you've never done it before. Even now, I still get the random crooked eye. Superslick is super easy to take off and try again and it'll stay on all day without budging. It goes on very dark black. With practise, you'll have the perfect cat eye!
7. MAC Kohl Power Eye Pencil in Feline - 19$CAD
This is my all-time favourite pencil eyeliner. It's the darkest black you could buy. It's very pigmented and has crazy staying power. It literally stays on all day and barely smudges off. It requires little to no touch ups throughout the day. One coat is good enough, you don't need to keep applying it. And you barely have to sharpen your pencil! I use this pencil literally every single day and I barely have to sharpen it, so that means that it's going to last quite a longer time than your usual eyeliner pencil. Since I discovered this pencil I haven't used any other for black.
8. Benefit Gimme Brow in Medium/Deep - 26$CAD
This is a new product that I've fallen in love with. It makes doing my brows a breeze. I have enough hair on my brows that I don't need to fill them in with a pencil or shadow so on a lazy day all I need is this brow gel. The medium/dark colour is perfect for me. The brush makes application easy and after two coats, my brows look perfect. I don't need to do anything else to them. This product has really made doing my eyebrows so much easier and quicker and it keeps them natural looking. My mom uses the shade light/medium and its perfect for her.
9. MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Lightscapade - 37$CAD
Another great product that I wished I'd discovered sooner. I've tried so many different highlighters and this one is my favourite. I like a highlighter that has a visible glow and isn't too shimmery or sparkly. I don't want it to be too noticeable, but I don't want it to be practically invisible either. And Lightscapade fits all my requirements. It's a very light highlight, which is great because I'm the palest person on the planet. If you're darker, I would suggest Soft and Gentle, which is more of a champagne colour.
10. Benefit PosieBalm - 22$CAD
This is quickly becoming a go-to tinted lip balm for me. I'm going to say right off the bat that this is not a lipgloss. It doesn't give as much colour as a gloss does. However, it is extremely moisturizing and has a touch of colour. It's great for when your lips are chapped and you still want to have some colour. I think part of why this gets so many low ratings is because people buy it thinking that it will have a lot of colour payoff and apply like it looks in the photo. It's a tinted lip balm, it won't. I have to say that I do like it for what it is. It has a rosy smell that isn't too overpowering but I can see how it can get annoying for someone that really doesn't like the scent.
BONUS:
11. Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless - 38$CAD
I'm adding in a bronzer because it is summer after all and we all like to have that "just tanned" look. I'm super pale so I needed a bronzer that was light enough for my skin and this bronzer is perfect for that. You can either lightly dust it all over your face or you can use it to contour with, since it's matte. It's also light enough that it doesn't overpower your fresh faced summer look. If you are darker toned, I would recommend trying it at the store before buying it because it might be too light for your skin. But for us pale girls, this is the perfect bronzer. It's my holy grail bronzer and its pretty obvious because I use it everyday and it's in all my tutorials.
I actually planned on doing a tutorial along with the list but I haven't had time yet. I'll get it done early this week. I'm actually interviewing at Sephora tomorrow so I've spent most of the weekend trying to figure out what my look should be. I'm so nervous but I'm so happy I got called into an interview. It's a group interview so it's my first round. I'll let you all know how it went and I'll let you know some of the questions they asked me in a future post. I'll also show you what I wore, both in makeup and clothes.
So now that I've shared my Top 10 summer makeup picks, it's your turn to shares yours! Have you discovered any new favourites this summer? Have you tried any of the products that I've listed and what did you think?
Steph xo.
Hello dolls!
I finally got my Sephora Black Friday shipment!! I just picked it up from the post office this past weekend and I was so excited to play with all my great finds!! I bought most of my Black Friday online from Sephora and I also picked up a few things from the store. Wow was it ever nuts online!! I made sure I was online at 12am and I spent a little while going over with my mom what exactly we were going to buy, so by the time I checked out at 1am, two items in my cart were out of stock! Oh no! Those items were Philosophy's Purity Cleanser and one of the two Makeup Forever Aqua Shadow sets. Fortunately, after refreshing a million times, the Makeup Forever was back in stock and went right back out of stock after I added that to my cart and checked out. I wasn't so lucky about the Purity cleanser, so I decided to get Philosophy's 500 Point Perk which contained a very tiny Purity Cleanser. I really really wanted that cleanser so I sent my mom out to Sephora that morning. And they had it there and I was happy once more! She also picked up a few other things that she thought I would like. They also gave her literally 10 samples. Go mom.
If you were shopping at Sephora on Black Friday like I was, you knew that they had a whole bunch of special items for 12$CAD or 10$US. You could only purchase a max of 2 items. On their site, they also had select items on sale, for example the Stila In The Moment Palette, which went down from 50$CAD to 26$CAD just for that weekend. They are now back up to 50$CAD on the site. I forget what else they had, nothing that I was really interested in. I don't think that this particular sale was advertised anywhere.
I'm going to show both hauls together, so here we go! And I know I bought a ton of crap, but how can you not when all this stuff is worth so much more than what they're selling it for and you know you're going to use it!
I lost a few of the boxes for some products.
I will be doing tutorials/reviews on these products soon.
My Black Friday Sephora Haul
Philosophy Purity Cleanser X2 (12$CAD, worth 34$CAD)
This is a 12 fl. oz. 3-in-1 cleanser, makeup remover, and toner. Philosophy is known for this cleanser. I've been using it a lot since I got it and I love it. It's soft and gentle on the skin, yet it removes every trace of makeup. I really really like it. For the price, you get an insane amount of product so I can understand why everyone went nuts and bought out this product within an hour of the online sale. If you haven't tried this out yet, I suggest you get a sample at Sephora and you'll fall in love.
Bare Minerals Enchanting Eyes (12$CAD, worth 25$CAD)
My mom picked this up for me at the store. It's a cute little compact with two eyeshadows and a sponge tip applicator and also comes with a mini Prime Time, their eye primer. The duo is called The Flashback and the shades are Deja Vu and Amnesia. Deja Vu is a light silver shimmer and Amnesiac is a dark matte grey. I haven't used it yet, but it looks like a great duo to have if you love smokey eyes like I do!
Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara mini and Perfect Eyes Eyeliner in Perfect Black mini (12$CAD)
My mom picked this up at the store because she knows I love all things Too Faced. She didn't know that I already have a fullsize mascara as well as a mini, and I also have half of the eyeliner, as well as a backup in my drawer. I knew that she was looking for a good black eyeliner and she could also do with a good mascara too, so I told her to keep the set. She didn't want to, but I eventually forced it upon her. I didn't really need it and I knew she did. I love both products. The eyeliner is the darkest matte black you'll find and it goes on so smooth and doesn't come off all day. The only downside is that it does tend to rub off on my contact lenses quite a lot so I can't really use it much anymore unless I don't mind being blind and cleaning my contacts every 5 seconds. But for non-contact wearers, you'll love the eyeliner. The mascara was pretty good, but it isn't my favorite by Too Faced. I much prefer their Lashgasm mascara.
Boscia Pore Perfection Set X2 (12$CAD)
I ordered one set and my mom picked up another in store. It comes with a mini Luminizing Black Mask and 3 Pore Purifying Black Strips. I love their black mask and had always wanted to try their black strips so I had to get this set. Boscia's products are pretty pricy, so this is a very good deal. I'm already in love with the Black Mask. It helps to remove blackheads and impurities, as well as diminish pores. When I tried the Black Strips for the first time, oh my God. They are seriously the best pore cleansing product ever! It removed all my blackheads and made my skin smooth and clean! The only bad thing is that the Black Strips are so expensive! That'll definitely have to go onto my Christmas list. Again, this set was a great value and if you have problems with pores and pimples, you need to check out their entire Black line.
Makeup Forever Aqua Shadow Duo in 2E and 30E (12$CAD, worth 48$CAD)
This was the one that had sold out online while I was trying to check out, but had luckily come back in stock just for me! I don't have many Makeup Forever products beside their HD Foundation and HD Powder, and I knew what a great value these Aqua Shadow sticks were, so I went for it. This set comes with 2E, which is a matte brown, and 30E which is a pearly pink beige. I wore them yesterday and did the look that was included on the card. I don't usually use shadow sticks so I needed a little guidance. I wasn't a total fan of the look but now I know how I can use these shadow sticks to make a look even better.
Makeup Forever Aqua Shadow Duo in 20E and 28E (12$CAD, worth 48$CAD)
This is the other set of Aqua Shadows that they had. 20E is a pearly taupe and 28E is a pearly beige. The colors are more similar, so I didn't think there's much of a contrast between them until I actually tried them. Again, I did the look on the card that came with the box. The shadow sticks give a soft shimmer to your eye and it's super easy and fast to do! You don't need to be a blending genius to use these shadow sticks and still look beautiful. The value for both these sets is insane, so I had to get both. I'll definitely be experimenting with them, as I don't own any shadow pencils except these now!
Stila Portrait of a Perfect Eye (12$CAD, now 19$CAD)
This Stila palette is part of their Christmas 2013 collection and it went down in price just for Black Friday. This palette contains six different brown/neutral shades: Parchment, Organza, Vintage, Linen, Antique, Rosewood. The first and last shades are matte, and the rest are shimmer. I received this today so I haven't played with it yet, but this is the type of palette you can use everyday for work or school because it's neutral.
Stila Artful Eye Collector's Edition Vol 2 (12$CAD)
This Stila palette and the one below were sold just for Black Friday. This palette is also a brown/neutral palette with 5 shades that are slightly bigger than the size of Portrait of a Perfect Eye. The shades are: Patchouli, Ember, Sandalwood, Rosewood, Eclipse. They are all shimmer except the last one, which is a matte black. You can use this for day looks or night looks. I liked this palette the most when I saw them all online.
Stila Artful Eye Collector's Edition Vol 3 (12$CAD)
This Stila palette was also just sold on Black Friday. This palette is colorful, it has a shade of green, purple, blue, golden-y brown and brown. They are all shimmer. The shades are: Light Apricot, Umber, Aqua-Marine, Soft Violet, Ocean. I think the idea with this palette is to use the goldeny brown and brown shades together and to use one of the three other shades to add a pop of colour to your eyes, especially if you're not used to wearing colors. I haven't tried this palette out either yet since I just got it.
Stila In The Moment Palette (26$CAD, now 50$CAD)
I had gotten samples of three of their palettes a little while back. I have just started trying them out and I love the colors that are in them. The two that were on sale for Black Friday were this one, and In The Garden. I didn't see myself using In The Garden much, but I did see myself using In The Moment because it had both purples and browns. The In The Moment palette contains 10 eyeshadows and one Smudgestick Waterproof Eyeliner in Tetra (purple). The shades are: Instinct, Impulse, Glance, Improvise, Catalyst, Desire, Wonder, Spontaneous, Whim, Captivate. They were selling both palette for half price, which is actually the same price as buying the smudgestick eyeliner alone! Ridiculous! I did a purple eye look a few days ago using this palette and I loved the colors and pigmentation. Since I was using a sample, it was a bit hard to get the color on the brush, but that isn't a problem for the actual palette. The palette also comes with a Lookbook with six looks.
Benefit Gimme Brow in Light/Medium (not a Black Friday deal, 26$CAD)
Now this one wasn't a Black Friday deal, I had suggested this product to my mom because her eyebrow hairs are very very light, so it can seem as if she barely has any eyebrows sometimes. We received it today and I applied it on her brows and what a difference it makes! If you have very fair light hair, this shade is perfect for you. It tints your eyebrows slightly so it looks as if your eyebrows actually exist. The shade is perfect, it doesn't look fake or too obvious or anything like that. It's a subtle difference that helps to shape your eyes and face. If you have very light eyebrows that are barely visible, I recommend this product. It really helps them to show through and it looks completely natural.
Philosophy Box of Miracles (500 Point Perk)
So I ordered this online when I found out that the Black Friday deal on Purity was sold out (my mom found it at our local Sephora later on). I love Philosophy's shower gels so I decided to go for it anyway and try out their skincare products. This a 500 Point Perk that is redeemable online. Some stores may carry it, mine did not. This set comes with a 2 fl. oz. bottle of Purity (really small compared to the huge one I just got!), Miracle Worker Miraculous Anti-Aging Moisturizer, and Miracle Worker Miraculous Anti-Aging Retinoid Eye Cream. I haven't tried the Miracle Worker products yet, but you all know how much I love Purity, which was the whole reason why I decided to get this perk in the first place.
So that's my Black Friday Haul!! Thanks for reading. I hope you were all able to partake in the savings too! It seems like I went a little nuts, but how can you not when you know you're saving so much money on all this stuff? Most of it was stuff that I wanted anyway.
So what great deals did you find?
Did anyone manage to get that amazing deal that Urban Decay had on their website? (I think it was 6 lipsticks for 50?)
And what did end up hauling from Sephora and other makeup stores?
Steph xo.
PS. I have a few posts coming up. I've got a 10 Minute Makeup post, a nail post, and I might do that Perfect Palette Tag.
