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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