A Day In Wears: Hourglass Immaculate Liquid Powder Foundation

Hello loves! Today I wanted to try a little bit of a different post, and I’m super excited about it. For me, one of the most important qualities in my makeup products is that they last pretty much all day, and don’t require much maintenance. So a Day In Wears is going to be a new series where I check in with you all as the day goes on and see how whichever product I’m testing out that day is wearing. And today’s product is the new Hourglass Immaculate Liquid Powder Foundation. This foundation is also Mattifying and oil free. I was given a sample after making a purchase at Sephora and decided to give it a try. (This also explains why this foundation is slightly/incredibly the wrong shade for my skin tone. I just blended it down my neck, like a lot.) I was given the shade Nude, which as mentioned, wasn’t the shade I would choose for myself but I made it work. Upon first application this foundation is incredibly matte. Like you-look-kind-of-dead-until-you-put-the-rest-of-your-makeup-on matte. Which is really great for if you plan on taking any pictures that day, you will only shine where you want to!

8:00am: first application, and looking flawless.   
11:00am: making lunch for the kids I was babysitting, and still looking awesome! 
3:00pm: right after my hair cut, you like? And still feeling good about the makeup! It had settled a little bit along the sides of my nose so I blotted that away, but otherwise looking good! 

 7:00pm: getting ready for a going away party for a friend, and noticing a bit of wear and tear. Definitely emphasizing my dry patches, and needing some touch-ups on blemishes. I applied a little bit of concealer where I needed it.

 10:00pm: after applying a bit of concealer on a few more obvious blemishes. Not looking too bad!  

And yes, I realize I am not wearing the same top in any of these pictures. My first top is my PJ shirt, then I threw a sweat shirt over my navy v-neck for the second shot since it was cold, took off the sweatshirt for my hair cut, then came home and threw on an oversized tshirt to nap in, and then changed for the bonfire. So yeah. It was a crazy day, but all the better to test out this foundation. I was incredibly impressed by how long this product lasted and the flawless finish it gave my skin. I have dry to combination skin, and I did notice that towards the middle and end of the day that you could see the foundation clinging to any dry patches I had. That being said, I probably wouldn’t recommend this to anyone with very dry skin. If you have normal, oily, or combination and are looking for a flawless finish, I highly recommend this product. It was very light feeling on the skin, one of my pet peeves is super thick and goopy foundations, and this was not one of them. The only thing that catches me up on this product is the price. It’s $55 for 1oz of product. To me, that’s a little bit much. So if you have the money, this would be a great everyday flawless face for the office, or if you just want to save it for special occasions, that’d work too. I hope you guys have found this helpful! Have a fabulous day!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette

 

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BaubleBar Service: Rant

Hello loves! So I recently placed an order on BaubleBar.com. I was super excited to see some lovely jewelry that was highly recommended and supposedly high quality. I ordered a pair of tassel earrings that I was super excited about (and caused me to place the order) and I had planned one of my sorority event night outfits around them. The image online showed a pair of antiqued gold earrings with white gems around the stud and baby pink beaded tassels. I was so excited to receive them! 3 days after I placed the order I received an email from a member of their “SWAT” team, no clue what that means, saying that there had been a mistake with the picture online compared to the actual earrings. I was sent what seemed to be a picture taken on a phone of a pair of earrings with light gray stones and asked by this “SWAT” team member if I would still like the earrings and encouraged to take them as they’d be “perfect for fall.” Here’s a comparison of the two side by side:

I chose not to get them because I really wasn’t a fan of the lack of contrast and the cloudy coloring on the gray earrings. My account was refunded immediately for the price of the earrings, which I appreciated. But the thing is, I ordered some other things from the site 8 days ago and have just received them. Yet BaubleBar guarantee’s 3-5 day shipping. There is also no apparent way to track where my package was at any time during transit, so for awhile there I assumed it had been lost in the mail. The rest of my order consisted of the Meteorite Stud Trio of earrings, which I thought resembled my favorite Kendra Scott earrings from the photos online. After receiving the actual product, I am very sad to report that they look like rocks someone found and glued to posts with little to no shine unless placed in direct sunlight. Here’s the image online and here is an image of what I actually received:

Vs. The image on Baublebar

I’m in my perfect right to say these look slightly less appealing in person, right?

Next up in the line of fire, was an awesome bracelet set where you got to choose your own three bracelets for a set. I was stoked about this. Here are the three I ordered:

I loved how they looked together, and I was a huge fan of the gold bracelet covered in tassels. (Tassels are my favorite.) BUT the pink threaded cuff is TINY. I mean tiny. And I have average to small wrists, but this cuff is so tight on me that if I move my arm in anyway, it twists and presses against one of the two larger bones in my wrist. Whichever way I move my hand, it digs in on the opposite side into that bone. And since the bracelets are technically a set, I can’t return just one of them, so they all had to go back. I mean “beauty is pain” but not every time you move.

To say the least, I am not pleased with the color mix up, which they STILL have not removed from their site more than 10 days later. So anyone who attempts to order this color in the earrings must be receiving the same issue. Is it that difficult to change the image or take it down once you’re aware there is an issue? I think not. I’m also very upset that $75+ of my purchases where nowhere to be found in the bleak black hole that seems to be their shipping methods for several days. Overall, I am very upset with the way my order has been handled and am less than impressed with the quality of the majority of what I received. I wanted to put this review out there because it took me almost a year to finally order from this site after hearing about it from handfuls of bloggers, whom I’m sure have their needs catered to endlessly to encourage positive reviews. And to be honest, a brand with that much hype should not have a missing package 4 days late or the wrong image on their site. Sorry for the negativity, but MAN did that feel good to get off my chest! I hope you all have a great day and I hope a missing package situation never befalls you!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette

Rant or Rave: It Cosmetics CC Cream

Hello loves and happy Monday! Today I have a new CC cream to review for you! As you all know, BB and CC creams are a staple in my makeup collection, chaos breaks out if I run out before I repurchase a new one. So when I was too tan for my favorite Too Faced Beauty Balm, I immediately headed over to Sephora to restock, but THEY WERE SOLD OUT OF MY COLOR. I stayed calm and quickly headed over to Ulta to see if they had any in stock, and of course they didn’t. (Has anyone else noticed Ulta is almost low or out of what you need?) Anyway, I couldn’t keep looking like a ghost while the rest of my body was tan, so I decided to try out a new CC cream by It Cosmetics. I’d heard a lot of good things about it and was amazed when I tried it on the back of my hand in the store. It set quickly and left a beautiful glowy finish. I also bought the equivalent setting powder by the brand, their Bye-Bye Pores powder, to really give It a try. At first I absolutely loved it! My skin looked great, the color matched up perfectly, the powder worked great, by as the day wore on my makeup seemed to be disappearing from my face. At the end of the day when I went to remove it, almost no makeup came off on my towelette. I tried it for a few more days to see if it was a fluke, but sadly it did not wear well or stay as nice as it looked when I first applied it. I decided to try it with my Clinique translucent setting powder to see if that made a difference, and it did, a little bit. But I still found that it didn’t stay put or wear well throughout the day, which is something that’s really important to me as I don’t really have time to worry about how my makeup looks or reapplying thoughout the day. So sadly, I think I’ll be returning my It Cosmetics CC and hopefully exchanging it for a re-stocked Too Faced Beauty Balm. I’m a little disappointed to be honest, but I’m glad to have a tried and try favorite to fall back on, if they’d just get a shipment in!!

Here’s a swatch of the product, I have the shade “medium”:

 

   
Here’s the fresh application:

  
Here’s after a day of wearing it with a few touch-ups:

   
   
I’m not a fan of the way it oxidizes under my eyes WITH the it cosmetics concealer, which is should work well with. And I’m even less of a fan of how much it fades and doesn’t conceal minor blemishes by the end of the day. Overall, I am not a fan.

I hope this review was helpful to you all and that you have a wonderful day!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette

Rant or Rave: Deborah Lipman Polish

Hello loves! And happy Monday! I have been majorly slacking in the posts department recently, and for that I am so sorry! I’ve worked it into my weekend to write all the posts for this week way in advance, and hope to continue doing that so I’ll have consistent content! With that being said, today I have another review for you!

I recently purchased my first Deborah Lipman polish on a whim at Sephora. The shade “Like Dreamers Do” was on sale for $8.99, which is comparable to OPI or Essie, so I thought, why not! I tried it out for the first time about a week ago when I was home sick, and loved the color. If you have a tan or naturally have medium to dark skintone, you need this color in your life. It also looks amazing with both gold and silver jewelry and is honestly the perfect summer neutral. I was expecting this polish to wear like my Essie polishes do, which is a few days (1-3) without chipping, and then after those couple days about 2 more days before it looks unacceptable and needs to be removed. But… This polish lasted for over a week before it was, what I consider, unacceptable. A WEEK PEOPLE. This blew my mind. And let’s also remember that I work at a summer camp for 40 hours a week, with dirty dirty children, outside, were we swim at least twice a week. And it lasted through all of that. I couldn’t believe it. I still don’t. But with all that being said, this will probably be reapplied weekly for the rest of the summer. Oh, and this polish also dries super fast. Like lightening speed fast. And I, the most impatient person ever, can handle the drying time. It’s amazing. Here are some photos of my best hand modeling:

   
   
So on that note, I’m going to head over to sephora and stock up on about 50 other shades from Deborah Lipman. And cross my fingers that all her colors have this lasting power. Have a fabulous day!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette

Rant or Rave: Glam Glow Masks

Hello loves! Happy Monday! Today I have a review I have been wanting to do for awhile, and haven’t had the chance to! So today is the day. I have heard so much about the Glam Glow face masks, and how they’re basically a gift from God. Obviously, this prompted me to want to try them so I waited for a trio-sampler to come out so I could try all three at once. The trio includes the Power Mud, Thirst Mud and Tingling Exfoliating Mask. Now again, before I jump into this review, I have dry-combination skin that is somewhat sensitive, so this is how it reacted with my skin. I’d also like to point out that the Glam Glow mud masks are around $70, so you know, I expect them to work pretty darn well. And to be honest, I kind of hate all three of these masks. They do not feel pleasant when they’re on your skin. They feel incredibly drying when you have them on (even the hydrating one!) And they give off a weird tingling sensation that’s border-line painful. I also noticed little to no positive impact on my skin after using them. Immediately after my skin was a bit red and uneven from the intense exfoliators that are also in all the masks, which exfoliate your skin as you wash them off. Having skin that’s on the dryer side, I know my way around exfoliators, and know for a fact that they shouldn’t feel like they’re cutting into or hurting your skin, which these do, especially the mask specific to exfoliating. Overall, for how expensive they are and the excessive hype these masks have received, I am unimpressed and somewhat repulsed by the terrible time I had with them. I will most definitely be taking the trio back to Sephora to get my $75 back. Have you guys tried these masks? Did you have different results? Let me know in the comments below! (Side note: we finally got a rant review in! What did you think!?) Have a fabulous Monday loves and I’ll talk to ya Wednesday!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette

Rant or Rave: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure

Hello loves! Today I’m back with another Rant or Rave with you, which is basically my time to tell you if I think a product is amazing, horrible, or somewhere in-between. Today I wanted to share with you, not new to the world, but new to me product that I’ve recently tried. I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect royal blue nail polish FOR-EVER. Like years on end. I tried Butler Please by Essie, and it sucked. It royally sucked. It was clumpy, didn’t dry evenly and was seriously just a huge mess. Me and my girlfriends saved that polish for weeks so we could debut it on our spring break, and then ended up smearing it everywhere and making a general mess all over the coffee table of our rented condo. It was real fun. But anyway, I then moved on to try the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure nail polish in shade 828, Batbano Blue. And whoa baby is this stuff great. For a somewhat incredibly impatient person like myself, drying time on a nail polish is the key to it’s status in my polish collection, and this stuff has amazing dry time. The other amazing thing about this polish is how many coats it needs: ONE. You just have to take your time applying it to make sure it’s evenly applied. Two coats will give you the flawless “I went to a salon for this” manicure, but you can definitely get away with just one coat. I can’t tell you how this wears by itself, because I am a firm believer in the usage of a topcoat at all times, but with either my OPI or Essie top coat, it lasts about 3-4 days without chips, and then usually a good 5-7 days before it gets to the point where I really need to take it off. The only thing I can’t vogue for is the other colors in this same line, I will be trying some out in the next couple weeks though for sure. I’ll probably do another post on the colors I try out, so be on the lookout for that! But for now here are some pics with the Batbano Blue!

Polish:

  
One Coat: 

 

Two Coats:

 
With Top Coat:

  

I hope you enjoyed this week’s review, and let me know if you’ve tried out any other colors in this line! I need some suggestions! Have a fabulous day!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette

Rant or Rave: Benefit Roller Lash Mascera

Hello loves! Happy Monday! I’m trying to get back on schedule with posts after this week because I finally have a bit of time and a break from craziness to plan! But today I wanted to bring you guys another review. (spoiler alert: this is my new obsession.)

Today I have a review for you of the Benefit Roller Lash Mascera. Now when this first came out it got an insane amount of hype, like major hype. And whenever a product gets that much hype, I kind of assume it’s not going to live up to the claims and the expections I have for it. I don’t know why, that’s just how my brain works. For some reason I especially felt that way about the Benefit Roller Lash, so much so that I bought it to make sure it wasn’t going to work. But it did. It seriously meets all the claims made about it, which never happens. It holds the curl all day and doesn’t wear off, which is a serious problem I tend to have. It’s incredibly pigmented and looks great with either one or two coats. Ever since I bought this mascera I haven’t touched another one, and it’s been around a month, which is crazy for me because I’m a mascera junkie. This mascera is reasonably priced for a higher end mascera at only $24. The only thing I don’t 100% agree with for this mascera is that they say you don’t need to curl your lashes. The whole theory behind why this mascera is so life changing is the hooked brush. It has very unusual brissels tha are supposed to take away the need for an eyelash curler. I’ve tried both with a lash curler and without one, and I definitely see enough of a difference between the two methods that I do still use a curler. This mascera is definitely more of a lengthening mascera, but it does add some volume too. Here are some before and after shots:

Before:

  
One coat on my right eye:

Two coats on my right eye:

   

 

And the finished look on both eyes:

  
 

I hope you guys enjoyed this review. Have you tried out any new products lately? Let me know in the comments below! Have a fabulous day!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette

Rant or Rave: Simple Micellular Cleansing Water

Hello loves and happy Tuesday! I know these posts are usually reserved for Monday’s, but I really wanted to get this one into this week somehow. So here’s a rant or rave on a Tuesday!

I recently tried out Simple’s cleansing water. This was a big deal because it’s the drugstore answer to the Bioderma cleansing water that is exclusively available in Paris, but is apparently a life changing skincare product. I haven’t had the pleasure of going to Paris is pick up a bottle and try out, but judging by the reviews, it must be magical. That being said, I was super excited to try out, what I expected to be a pretty close dupe for the Bioderma cleansing water. The simple cleansing water claims to remove makeup, oil, and dirt while hydrating and cleansing the skin. I had been using this for about 2-3 days straight to take off my makeup at night when I started to breakout and my skin began to get very oily, which is rare for me given that I have dry to combination skin. I kept using it to see if maybe my skin was just irritated by something else, but after a couple more days my breakouts continued to get worse and my skin was still extra oily. I am not a fan of this product for the obvious reason that is made me break out, but for a few other reasons as well. After using it, it leaves an incredibly oily residue on your skin, not the hydrating “I just used a really great face mask/moisturizer” kind of feeling I was expecting. This product does remove face make up, such as foundation and concealer very well, but for eye makeup, I much prefer an actual eye makeup remover. Overall, I would give this a 1 out of 5 stars because it does remove face makeup well, but everything else about it kind of sucks. I really doubt it truly removed all my makeup and the dirt on my face if I was still breaking out a lot more than usual.

Not to be a downer, but I wanted to give you guys an honest review and a fair warning if you were thinking of trying out this product. I tried it out way to close to prom for my liking, but thankfully most of my breakouts cleared up just in time! I hope you’ve found this review helpful and have a fabulous day!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette

Rant or Rave: First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Face Moisturizer

Hello loves and happy Monday! I hope you all had a restful weekend and are ready to take on the week! Today I wanted to chat about a new skincare item I’ve been trying for a little over a month now. I’d been using the First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream, which is incredibly hydrating but also very thick in consistency. It worked super well for my dry-combination skin type and I’d been using it for about a year. I went to restock at Sephora and saw that First Aid Beauty had come out with a specific face moisturizer and I was immediately intrigued. (Let me also so I was mostly interested because I am an advertiser’s dream and a new product junkie.) So I decided to give it a go, and holy smokes people, this is a winner. The consistency is incredibly light weight and soaks into your skin rather quickly, which makes it great for makeup application in the morning. First Aid Beauty somehow managed to make this ultra light moisturizer pack a serious punch in the hydration department as well, my skin feels just as healthy and glowy as it did with super thick moisturizers, if not better. I am pleasantly surprised by this moisturizer and will definitely be repurchasing. It also could not have come at a better time as summer is right around the corner, and lightweight is the way to go. The only complaint I have is that you seem to get less bag for you buck with this one, as the bottle is smaller than the Ultra Repair Cream tub that you can buy for only a slightly less money at $24. That being said, my whole face is more than covered with one pump from the Face Moisturizer bottle, and it doesn’t seem to be running out too quickly.

  
  
{this is only about 1/2 a pump for reference}

I hope you guys found this review helpfu! Have a fabulous Monday!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette

Rant or Rave: Bare Minerals Well-Rested Eye Brightener

Hello loves! Happy Monday, we’re back at it for another week. Doesn’t it feel like the weekends go by in a blink? To brighten up your Monday, I have a rave review for you all today!

I recently used some of my Sephora points to get a box of Bare Mineral samples to try out, and they were all ehh… Except, the eye brightening powder. Oh. My. Goodness. This is a life changing undereye powder. I can’t even begin to tell you. It sets concealer beautifully, like no creasing or budging all day long. I’ve switched back to using a drugstore concealer because it makes any undereye concealer appear flawless and stop all creasing and caking. It also helps brighten your undereye area with a slightly yellow coloring, which blends in seamlessly. I’m so obsessed with this product that I may be trying out a handful of other Bare Mineral products in the upcoming months. That being said, big thumbs up for this product! I can’t say how long it will last you vs. how much it cost since I just have a sample, but it’s $18 at Ulta for .07 ounces, which seems a little small to me. I’m sure I’ll be purchasing one in the upcoming weeks though, so safe to say even if that is tiny, I’ll still give in because of how amazing it is.

Here’s my swatch and the actual product itself:

 

This is what it looks like once I’ve applied it in the morning with my Maybelline Instant Age Rewind concealer:

  

I hope you’ve all enjoyed this review, let me know if you found it helpful and if you have any Bare Mineral products I should try in the comments below, have a fabulous day!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette