January Favourites - Makeup

Hey everyone!

I usually try to come up with witty or fun titles for my posts but there isn't much you can do for "January Favourites" so, straight and to the point it is! I haven't done a favourites post in a long time but I decided I should, not just for you guys but for me to see what I'm really consistently using. As you might be able to tell some of these products are "well loved" and not in the best shape but hey, it means they are great and getting used! So, lets start:

The first photo is things that I turn to on an everyday basis for my face:

1. Tarte Smooth Operator Illuminating Serum

2. MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural in Light Plus

3. Revlon ColorStay Foundation Normal/Dry in Buff

5. Hard Candy Glamoflauge Concealer in Light

6. Lush Colour Supplements in Light Yellow

7. NYC Mosaic Colour Wheel in Translucent Highlighter Glow

I actually use the Color Wheel for a bronzer. You know you're pale when you use a product called "Translucent Highlighter Glow" as a bronzer.. haha

Favourite Blush:

Hard Candy Baked Blush in Living Doll

Favourite Eye Products:

1. Cover Girl LashBlast Volume in Very Black

2. Cover Girl LashBlast Fusion in Very Black

3. Revlon ColorStay Eyeliner in Black

4. Natural Beauty by Carmindy Concealer in All Over Brightener

Favourite Lip Products:

1. Yes To Carrots Berry Lip Butter (I like the Carrot one too)

2. LipFusion lip plumper in Clear

These were the products I really and truly reached for on a daily basis. There were many other products thrown into the mixed and even used often but these stood out. If you'd like a detailed review on any of these please let me know!

You Shine a Little Love on my Life (Clap, Clap)!

Afternoon Ladies,

I'm not sure how many of you will be familiar with the title of this post (Song: ELO - Shine a little Love) but I found it pretty fitting for this particular product review!

Up today is Tarte's Smooth Operator Illuminating Serum. Again, can you tell that I'm on an illumination kick? This product is honestly worth its weight in gold (sort of pun intended)! And shouldn't be overlooked as an amazing, light infusing primer.

I purchased this product a LONG time ago before it was available for sale individually (hence why it doesn't have the "Amazonian Clay" label on it) in a kit called Radiant & Rested Complexion Set. It included the EmphasEYE's eyeliner inner rim brightener (flesh-toned peach), Mini Cheek Stain in Glisten, Mini Park Avenue Princess Mineral Bronzer, ReCreate Silicone Free Primer and this serum. It was a fantastic kit and I'm still so happy I purchased it!

Now that I've rambled, this product is a super lightweight highlighter without any really noticeable shimmer or glitter (everything I look for in a highlighter!). It comes in a huge tube (1.7 ouces) and a little goes a really long way. It is super versatile and lends a gorgeous "glow" to skin.

Above you can see the product straight from the tube. (NOTE: Be sure to shake this before you use it as it has a tendency to separate in the tube.) It is a soft flesh-tone that becomes undetectable once applied to skin. 

This is my favourite photo! As you can see, you can't see the product unless the light of the flash is reflecting off it in a certain way. This ensures that skin doesn't look "all over shiny" but has a hint of glow when the light hits. You can also see that the shimmer particles are so small that they don't even look like shimmer when the light catches them.

Tarte's website doesn't state how you should use this serum, but to me that means the possibilities are endless! My favourite way to apply this is over my foundation on places I want to highlight - cheeks, bridge of nose, around my eyes and nasal-labial folds. Then I apply a little MAC Mineralize skin finish to set it and ensure I don't look greasy. Another great way to use this is as a primer. I often mix it with a moisturizer before I apply foundation and it still gives a great "lit from within" glow without the intense sheen. 

Another great feature of this serum is that it is free from:

- Parabens

- Sulfates

- Synthetic Fragrances

- Synthetic Dyes

- Petrochemicals

- Phthalates

- GMOs

- Triclosan

And contains Amazonian clay, Camomille, Vitamin C, A & E and Hylauronic Acid! A beautiful glow and beautiful skin care ingredients? Sign me up!

Overall, this is an amazing product and is well worth the money, especially for the amount you get and for the versatility of the product. I would highly, highly recommend this for anyone seeking a believable glow.

Summary

Tarte Amazonian Clay Illuminating Serum

$32.00 USD

Available at: Sephora & Tarte

Best of 2010 - Face Primers

Hi ladies! I hope everyone had a great weekend! I know some of you were probably out hitting the malls for some last minute shopping (I know I was!) and I hope you are now on vacation! Christmas is SO close I can't believe it - I hope I'm prepared! haha

As it is so close to the end of the year, I am doing some posts about my favourites of 2010! This post will round up my favourite facial primers - yes I said primer-s, there is more than one! ;)

Honestly, I only really started using primers this year. I have really oily skin and always found that even though primers said they were mattifying, they weren't. I would end up an oily mess by the end of the day or worse they would make me completely break out! So, the above picture is of all the primers I have accumulated this year from left to right: Tarte ReCreate Primer, CoverFX Skin Prep, Fusion Beauty Acne Control Primer, CoverFX Clear Prep, Clinique Pore Minimizer, Hard Candy Sheer Envy. I'm only going to show my favourites on this post! :)

First up is CoverFX Clear Prep. This is not only a foundation primer but an anti-acne treatment as well! Thats honestly what sold me on this product (and the sales girl at Murale said it was amazing!). This has a clear, super smooth texture - much like other silicone primers, but much lighter. It sinks into the skin and doesn't feel like there is anything on your face (bonus for us oily girls!). This also has really helped with my complexion and my skin looks much clearer (with continued use, like any skin care product!) The more I use this, the more I love it! I actually also use this at night as an acne treatment. It keeps me matte and fresh while fighting blemishes and I don't wake up with an oil slick on my face! As a primer this also works great! My foundation glides on much smoother and wears a lot longer than without primer!

Next up is Fusion Beauty Prime Results Acne Control Primer. The best invention of 2010 has got to be these anti-acne primers! This is Fusion Beauty's contender and it is a great one! This primer has a lotion-like texture as opposed to a silicone and sinks into skin very easily and completely. It has a yellow tint to counteract redness (from acne), which really does calm down the face! It contains salicylic acid and other known anti-acne properties and calming ingredients. Depending on the kind of texture I want on my face that particular day, I waver between both of these primers pretty much equally! They are both amazing options for oily or acne-prone skin! (Oh and did I mention both Canadian brands?!)

Last, but CERTAINLY not least is Clinique Pore Minimizer Instant Perfector. This is a much smaller tube than other primers on the market and is also a little different than regular primers. I like to think of this as a spot treatment or "spackle" for the face. It fills in pores like NOTHING else! I only use this around my nose and maybe my forehead to camouflage large pores and control shine. Instead of rubbing this onto the skin, you "pat" it on to fill in pores. This makes my face look absolutely flawless and keeps shine at bay all day. I usually use this over top of one of my other primers because they don't do as good of a job of filling in pores. You can use this over makeup as well, like a finishing powder - which I regularly do! If you have medium/large pores this is a must!

These are swatches of my three go-to primers! Left to right: Clinique Pore Minimizer, Fusion Beauty Acne Control Primer and CoverFX Clear Prep. As I hope you can see, the Clinique is more of a "balm" consistency that is a dry finish. The Fusion is a very light lotion and the CoverFX is a clear silicone feel. 

These are the swatches spread onto my hand. Hopefully you can see how the consistency changes. The Clinique ends up being a complete "powder" feel, which I love! The other two soak completely into the skin with no tacky feel so they are lovely for oily skin! Overall, I'm so happy that these companies have come out with primers for acne-prone skin and oily skins! I hope there are more great ones coming up in the next year! What are your favourite primers? Do you use a primer?

Tarte Radiant & Rested Complexion Set

Illuminating Serum, Cheek Stain, Primer, Eye Brightener & Bronzer

Hi Ladies! Hope you are all having a great start to your weekend! I thought I would start mine off my sharing one of my latest purchases with you!

As you may know Sephora sent out coupons earlier this month for Beauty Insiders and VIB's ranging from $15-20 off when you made a $40 purchase. Seeing as I spend WAY too much money there, I am now classified as a VIB so I got the $20 coupon!

After much deliberating I decided on the Tarte Radiant & Rested Complexion set. I decided on this because I figured I would get the most use out of complexion products (as they are my weakness) as opposed to a giant set of eye shadows! This set retails for $55 CAD, so a little more than I wanted to spend but for the use I would get out of it, it was worth it! Heres what is included in the kit:

First up, and the main reason I purchased this, is the Smooth Operator Illuminating Serum. This product is not for single sale yet, but Tarte says it will be soon! This is a great, lightweight illuminating all over serum for giving you a nice glow under (or instead of) your foundation. 

Before Blending

After Blending

I hope you can see the great "glow" this gives to the skin without being sparkly or glittery! Its really gorgeous and adds just enough luminescence to the skin to make it look healthy and youthful! It also doesn't leave my skin greasy or "shiny" which is a big bonus. I've been using this almost everyday and it looks great under foundation or alone! I'm really glad I purchased this set JUST for this! I hope it becomes part of Tarte's permanent line soon!

Next is a Mini Cheek Stain in Glisten. I love stains, gel blush, cream blush anything but powder for the cheeks so I was very excited about this little guy! I actually haven't owned a Tarte Cheek Stain before this one but I've swatched them a lot in store and have always liked them!

Here is the stain applied to my hand with no blending, just a swipe back and forth! This is much more of a glow than a colour, once blended the colour is SO light that it actually doesn't like a blush at all. It does add a great healthy sheen, but I do prefer more colour in my blush. That being said, I will still be using this as it is very pretty!

Now we have a mini, travel sized ReCreate Silicone Free Primer. This primer is aimed towards more mature women stating that it has "wrinkle rewind technology". 

This primer is a light, lotion base that disappears almost instantly when worked into the skin. I must admit I haven't tried this on my face yet because it does feel a little thick and too moisturizing for my skin type. I prefer a mattifying primer. This one might go to my mom!

Next up is one of my favourite products from Tarte (which I already own) Park Avenue Princess Mineral Bronzer. I usually prefer more of a matte bronzer, but this one has forever changed my mind! This has no noticeable shimmer/glitter in it, but it does leave behind the prettiest sheen! Its also a great bronze colour that is good for us fairer skinned girls, and it doesn't contain any orange undertones!

I hope you can see the great golden sheen this has in the photo! It really is a gorgeous bronzer and I highly recommend it so I'm really happy there was a travel sized one in this kit!

This is actually the second reason I bought this kit, the EmphasEYES Inner Rim Brightener. I have been lusting over Stila's peach coloured Kajal pencil so I was super happy to see that a peach rim brightener was included in this kit! This is also not sold separately but should be available soon (hopefully!). I like to line my inner rims with a brighter colour to make me look more awake in the early mornings but white can be too much at times so a peachy/flesh tone is a great option!

It really is flesh-toned so you can't see it very well on my hand, but it is great for the inner rim! It comes in an automatic twist up pencil like Tarte's other emphasEYES pencils, but isn't quite as thin. I like that because it gives more chance that I will actually get it on the rim of my eye! I am so squeamish when it comes to anything to do with eyes that its hard for me to put a pencil on my inner rim!

I know this was a long post with a zillion photos but I wanted to get the full effect of the products across to you! I'm super happy with my purchase of this kit! Although I probably won't wear all the products together (a little too much "glow" for me) they are great to have to give your complexion a much needed boost!

Thanks for reading and bearing with all the photos! XOXO