Review - Cover FX The Perfect Light Highlighting Powder

I bought this Cover FX The Perfect Light Highlighting Powder in Sunlight in one of Sephora's Weekly Wow sales.

I honestly didn't hold too high of hopes for this as I already own the Cover FX The Perfect Light Highlighting Palette in Light/Medium (also a Weekly Wow purchase) and was a little underwhelmed by it. The first time I used it, the creams in the palette disturbed my makeup, and I didn't feel like the powder highlights were very impressive. (I will admit that I liked the powder highlighters better after switching up my brushes; I was using a Japonesque fan brush originally, and I switched to a Luxie 522). Using the fan brush gave me an extremely subtle highlight, which some people might like. The Luxie brush gave me what you see below, bright but not too intense, so it's still wearable for everyday. The fact that it's buildable is probably a good thing for most people.

The color Sunlight is described as a soft gold glow, but I found it showed up more cool that that. It honestly doesn't look too different from Moonlight, which is supposed to be silvery (this is in the palette). The only color that I haven't tried is Candlelight because I expect that will be too dark for me but may look lovely on medium to deep skin tones. I also appreciated that it does not emphasize texture because my skin was in need of exfoliation the day the above picture was taken! It's not my absolute favorite highlight, but it's good for work and other times where I need to look professional, so I find myself reaching for it in those instances.

TL;DR?

COVER FX THE PERFECT LIGHT HIGHLIGHTING POWDER

Price: about $34
Pros: buildable, wearable for everyday, doesn't emphasize texture
Cons: may be too subtle for some people, not much variation in colors, pricey
Will I use it up?: Yes
Will I buy again?: Maybe

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Review - Phyisicans Formula Butter Highlighter

I am so excited to finally get a Physicians Formula Butter Highlighter! I purchased mine through Amazon, and even with Prime shipping, it got delayed, but it's finally here! I purchased the color Pink, but there are 3 other colors available (Champagne, Pearl, and Rose Gold). This is about the same size pan as the Butter Blush, but this one has a screw top rather than being in a compact.

The first thing I noticed is that this does not smell as good as the Butter Blush or Butter Bronzer. I love how those smell, so I'll admit I was a little disappointed. It's not bad, but it's a little more chemical-like. I did notice the trademark smell was a little more prominent when I was actually applying it though. The product is a cream to powder, but it applies just like a powder and doesn't seem to disturb underlying makeup like some cream formulations do. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that I am a fan of a bright highlight, and this delivers! The picture below is the result of just one swipe of my brush through the pan. I was worried that the pink might be a little too dark for me, but it looks much lighter on the skin. You can build it up to an even brighter highlight, if you like (I wore this to work, so I didn't want it to look too crazy.)

I also tested it on the inner corners of my eyes, and it did not irritate them.

The highlighter wore all day without breaking down. I didn't feel like it emphasized the texture in my skin either.

I am thoroughly impressed with it, and I will likely buy the other colors, too!

TL;DR?

PHYSICIANS FORMULA BUTTER HIGHLIGHTER

Price: about $10
Pros: bright highlight, easy application, doesn't emphasize texture, good value
Cons: may be too bright for those wanting a more subtle highlight
Will I use it up?: Yes
Will I buy again?: Likely

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Review - Models Own Now Brow! Finale Brow Gel

I recently received a box of Models Own makeup as a Platinum Perk through Ulta. The box contained several full-size items, so I thought I'd test them out to see how they perform. I honestly had only heard of the brand in passing, and given that most of the items online had poor ratings, I didn't expect much, but I know that sometimes you find a surprise if you're willing to look past the poor reviews.

The first item I am reviewing from that box is the Now Brow! Finale Brow Gel in Clear. It's a fairly standard sized brow gel (0.27 oz.), and it comes in the shades Clear, Light Brown, and Dark Brown. I did not test the colored gels as they were not apart of the kit I received, so I can only speak for the clear one.

I tried this gel out on two occasions, and both times, I was disappointed. I will start with a positive note and say that it does keep your brow hairs in place all day. I had several issues though. The wand picks up way too much product, and it has a very wet formula, so it's hard to keep the hairs neat and separated. I don't like the way this product feels on my brows either; it's crunchy like someone put glue in them.

Many of the hairs are stuck together and look messy...

The other issue I have may be mostly a design issue. The other two brow gels come in opaque containers, but the clear one is transparent. After only two uses, I am seeing this fogginess, which I am assuming is other brow product that the wand picked up. It's definitely possible that this happens with other brow gels, but due to the clear container, I can see it very well, and it frankly looks gross.

It's not an expensive product, but I'd say there's better products out there around this price. I'll stick with my NYX Control Freak brow gel, thanks.

TL;DR?

MODELS OWN NOW BROW! FINALE BROW GEL

Price: about $7
Pros: stays put all day
Cons: Small range of shades, too much product on wand, really wet formula so it's hard to keep hairs separate, brows feel crunchy (like glue), gross container (clear)
Will I use it up?: No
Will I buy again?: No

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Review - Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Treatment Concealer

I have had a hell of a time finding a concealer that does not crease under my eyes. Even with ample moisturizers and setting/baking my under eyes, they always seem to crease in one spot, and it irritates the stew out of me!  I decided to go ahead and try the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Treatment Concealer because, A. I was at Walgreens already so it was easily available and inexpensive, and B. I saw a mature skin concealer review from Hot and Flashy on YouTube where this one was rated by highly (it beat out Shape Tape in her review, sorry ST lovers...).  

Ulta.com has 6 colors, which are all in the fair to medium range, two of which are described as a neutralizer and a brightener. I bought the color Fair, as I am quite pale most of the time. Initially, I did not like the applicator because it has this weird little puff on the end. 

I found that you have to twist the container quite a bit to get any product to come out and then you need to pat or swipe with the little puff in order to apply it. I would love to be able to apply with my finger or a brush, but the way it comes out of the applicator makes that near impossible. I thought might see if I could pull the applicator off, but I haven't tried as of yet. I moisturized and baked my under eyes like I normally do. I did go over the area with a damp beauty sponge before baking. I don't have horrible dark circles, so I felt like this did the job quite nicely. This was the look before I left for work:

No filters here, just reality!

When I checked my eyes out around 12:00 PM, I really did not see any creasing. I was busy at work and home that day, so I didn't have time to check again until I took my makeup off. Even at the end of the day, I only saw the tiniest bit of creasing toward the center of my eye. I was shocked, frankly!

End of the day. Barely any creasing!

Since that first time, I have used it about 3 more times and seen the same results. After a few more uses, I somehow liked the puff better. I'm not really sure why except that maybe because there was more product on the top and easier to apply? So here is my final verdict:

TL;DR?

MAYBELLINE INSTANT AGE REWIND DARK CIRCLE TREATMENT CONCEALER

Price: about $9
Pros: Light, little to no creasing, covers dark circles pretty well
Cons: Small range of shades, likely have to apply with puff applicator
Will I use it up?: Yes
Will I buy again?: Yes

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Review - L'Oréal Magic Lumi Light Infusing Liquid Facial Primer

I got the L'Oréal Magic Lumi Light Infusing Liquid Facial primer because I've been looking for a water-based primer that isn't too heavy for my combination-oily skin since a few of my foundations don't cooperate with the silicone-based primers that I usually use. 

This one comes out of the bottle as a shiny white tone: 

I was worried that it would look too white and blindingly shiny due to how it came out of the bottle, but it went on very light and really made my skin look luminous. I honestly was tempted to go out with no foundation just because it looked so nice! But that's not the point of a makeup test right? 😂 

The first day, I used my tarte Double Duty Beauty Empowered Hybrid Gel foundation with this primer. (Now, I know I probably should have bought a different foundation for my type of skin as this is really more geared toward people with drier skin, but it was on sale during Ulta's 21 Day of Beauty, sooooo...) Because this isn't the best foundation for my skin type, I've been dealing with it basically melting off my face in my T-zone, no matter what primer I used. This L'Oréal primer worked perfectly with it! I am totally pleased because now I don't feel like I'm going to have give up and waste this pricey foundation. I will say that it didn't really cover any pores though.

tarte foundation and L'Oréal primer together

The next day, I tried this primer again but with The Ordinary High Coverage foundation. No Cinderella story there. My foundation looked like crap by the time lunch rolled around. But in theory, I knew it likely wasn't going to work anyway due to different base compositions of these two products. I also tried this with some of my powder foundations, and it didn't really do anything special. So, you win some, you lose some. Overall though, this is a keeper for me just because it works with that one tarte foundation!

TL;DR?

L'OREAL MAGIC LUMI LIGHT INFUSING LIQUID FACIAL PRIMER

Price: about $13
Pros: Light, dries fairly quickly
Cons: Doesn't work with all foundations (likely best with water-based ones), no help for pores
Will I use it up?: Yes
Will I buy again?: Yes

I was pleasantly surprised with the primer overall!

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Review - L'Oréal Voluminous Lash Paradise Mascara (Washable and Waterproof)

Over the past few weeks, I have tested the L'Oréal Voluminous Lash Paradise mascara. Just by the packaging, I am pretty sure that they are trying to dupe Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara. I got the washable and waterproof kinds, both in the shade "blackest black", but there are 3 other colors available in the washable version, and the waterproof version has 1 other color.

Opening up the tube, you can see the wand itself is similar to BTS, but not quite as large (now I'm definitely sure it's trying to be a dupe...).

The next few pictures show the mascara (washable version) on my lashes:

No mascara, just curled (There is some powder on my lashes; my lashes are not actually quite that light.)

One coat

Two coats

Two coats on top and one coat on the bottom lashes

This is a photo of two coats of the waterproof version:

You can see it was just a little messy, and I attribute that to the wand shape (I had the same issue with BTS), but the volume is nice and the color is very good. I had noticed a little flaking after a few hours of wear, but it's not horrible. I will note that the next day I wore the mascara with the Smashbox eyelash primer, and I felt like the flaking was actually worse. I found no difference in application and how it appeared on my lashes between the washable and waterproof versions. The waterproof version did live up to its title, so I had to remove it with an oil-based cleanser.

TL;DR?

L'OREAL VOLUMINOUS LASH PARADISE MASCARA (WASHABLE & WATERPROOF)

Price: about $10
Pros: Strong pigment, good volume and lengthening
Cons: Flakes somewhat, a little clumpy
Will I use it up?: Yes
Will I buy again?: Maybe

All in all, this was a decent mascara, but not in my top 5. It might be worth trying if you are needing a budget-friendly mascara with good lengthening and volume.

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