Skin Care: St Ives and First Aid Beauty

Since I haven't been able to wear makeup as often as I would like I've focued more on my skin care routine.

A while back I ordered the First Aid Beauty Forever Fab kit. I really like everything in the kit. The pads are exfoliating pads but they are really mild and you just swipe them on and put your moisturizer over it. I have been using the moisturizer that came in this kit as my night time moisturizer and I think it works really well. I also like the roller ball for your eyes because it is quick and easy to use, but don't expect any dramatic results. I love the exfoliating pads and I think they really did make a difference in my skin.

After I ordered this kit it sold out and didn't come back into stock for a long time so I was on the search for new exfoliating pads and I found some. St Ives makes these really great gentle exfolitating pads. The are called Scrub Free Exfoliating Pads. They are very similar to the First Aid Beauty pads and work really well. I'm on my 3rd jar and I can see a difference in my skin. You can find them at Target and Walgreens (and maybe other places). I will keep using these as long as they make them!

Quick Make-up Looks (Mommy Make up)

I have been wanting to post for a really long time but just haven't had a chance. I don't get to do my make-up that often and when I do I am usually in a major hurry, so I have been perfecting a look that you can do very quickly. I like to call it my mommy makeup :)

All these looks use the same method. I use a light colour lash to brow ( I prefer something sparkly but I've done it with matte colours and it looks ok). Then you do a mid-tone shade on the outer half of the lid lash to above and in crease. I just use my BE blending brush and blend the mid-tone colour up and out, I'm not very careful or neat about it. Then I use a dark liner and I'm done.

Most of the looks I'm posting are from the Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca palette. It has a great sparkly pink and a nice bright mid-tone pink that I think look really good (the purple also looks good with the pink). It also has a nice light gold that you can use the green, dark gold or blue with.

I used the same method with the bare escentuals holiday palette. I used the cool palette (I can't remember what it is called) but I used the light pink and the mid tone purple for that look.

The last look doesn't use the same method (I had more time that day) it is a look with the LORAC Baked Trio in Star Struck

Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Pinks and Yellows

BE The Coctail Hour Palette: Ice Breaker and Elixer

LORAC Baked trio

Cable Car with the Lorac Movie Star Trio

Here is a look with the LORAC trio. Since the peach is a cool peach I think it looks good with colours like cable car, sex kitten, congac diamond and I think it would look good with purples as well.

EYES:
Primetime for eyes,
50/50 mix well rested/clear radiance all over,
LORAC Movie Star trio lightest colour under brow, peach shade lash to crease, black along top and bottom lash line,
Bare Escentuals Cable Care in crease and outer corner,
Revlon 3D mascara.

CHEEKS: Rosy Outlook
LIPS: Best Friend lip balm

Reviews: Tarte Achoite, Lorac, Revlon 3D mascara, Physicians Formula Khol eye liner, Baby lips lip balm

I just want to do a quick review of a few new things that I have tried. I've been looking for makeup that could make my routine a little faster and that is why I picked most of the drugstore make I'm going to review.

I bought a LORAC kit with primer, liquid liner marker, a eye shadow trio, brush and mascara. I bought this mainly because I needed primer and this had a really huge tube of primer in it and it had gotten many good reviews. I haven't really tried the primer yet (I'm finishing up my PTFE), but I was surprised by how much I like the eye shadow and mascara in this kit. The trio has a witish golden cream colour, a cool peach and black. The colours go on smoothly and look really nice. The black is dark enough to use dry as a liner. The peach is light but can be used as an all over lid colour. I will try to post a look with this trio later. The liquid liner is nice but I think it irritates my eyes. It has a nice fine marker tip and it goes on smoothly but I got a tiny amount on my upper waterline and it made my eye water and kind of ruined my makeup. The mascara is actually really nice. It has a primer on one end and black mascara on the other end. The brush in s thin and flexible plastic brush. I really like the brush because it makes it easy to get all your lashes. It gives you a very natural look but with some length and fullness.

Around the same time I got the LORAC kit I also bought the Tarte Achiote kit. This kit has a blush, a lipsurgence lipstick and a lipgloss all in the achiote colour which they describe as a warm pink. I really like the blush and find that I reach for it often. I thought I would love the lipsurgence lipstick but it is just okay, it is darker than I was expecting and although I like the way it looks I wish it was a little more sheer. I haven't tried the gloss yet because I have too much open gloss at the moment.

I also decided to try Revlon's 3D mascara because I really need help getting the lashes on the outer corner of my right eye and this has a brush with a little ball on the end for getting those outer (and inner) corner lashes. I am surprisingly found of this mascara. It does lengthen and give you a little volume, and the brush is really great for getting the outer corner lashes. I wish it was a little more volumizing but I think I will use this mascara often.

I found a two pack of Baby Lips lip balm on sale at Target yesterday and decided to give it a try. I really really like the clear lip balm. It absorbs into your lips but keeps them moisturized so it is perfect for underlipstick or gloss. The second lip balm was a pink tinted lip balm and it is a little light for my skin tone I think but it makes me want to get some other baby lips tinted balms. The tinted version does smell like the name. The pink punch smells like fruit punch. So if you don't like lip balm with strong smells you should just get the plain kind.

The third thing I got yesterday was a set of three Physicians Formula Khol eye liners. I got the set that has black, purple, and green. I have only tried the black and purple so far but I think I like them. The are very smudgable so I think if you have oily eye lids you would not like these. But I think they might be able to be smudged out into a base for a smoky eye pretty easily. My other concern about these is that it is not clear how you would sharpen them. They also picked up some of the eye shadow I was wearing as I put on the eye liner. They did go on smoothly once I got them going. I warmed them up on my hand before I used them on my eye. 
I also tried the Physicians Formula Eye liner marker and I really like it. I've used it a few times since I bought it and like it quite a bit. It does not irritate my eyes the way the LORAC liner does but it does not have a super thin tip. However, I think it is a good option for a fast neat line.

This first look is the lightest colour and the black from the LORAC eyeshadow trio and the liquid liner. I have on the Tarte Achiote blush and Lipsurgence.

EYES:
UDPP Eden,
Bare Escentuals Turn On lash to brow,
KVD purple from the Rock n' Roll Palette in crease,
Physicians Formula Khol liner in Amytest,
Revlon Camera ready 3D mascara in Blackest Black.

CHEEKS: Bare Escentuals Haute Pink blush
LIPS: Maybelline Baby Lips tinted lip balm in Pink Punch

April for April

This look features April from the Bare Escentuals Year of Beauty kit. When I saw April I knew it would be one of my faves. It is a really nice green and it looks really good foiled.

EYES:
Primetime for eyes,
50/50 mix well rested/clear radiance all over,
Enlightened under brow,
April foiled lash into crease,
Pond in crease and outer corner,
KVD Navy from Metal Orchestra wet lined on top,
KVD Med blue from Metal Orchestra dry along lower lash line,
Smoky Lash mascara.

LIPS: Las Vegas Buxom

Going Green

This is a fun look for St. Patrick's Day.

EYES:
Primetime for eyes Brightening Pearl,
KVD Marya undr brow and inner corner,
KVD No Regrets lash into crease on outer 2/3,
KVD Mad Max in crease and outer corner,
Big and Bright liner in Oz upper and lower lash line,
Falsies mascara.

CHEEKS: Pink Ribbon blush
LIPS: Fresh Sugar Rose tinted lip balm

 

Dove Gray and Amythest

Most of the elements in this look are from one of the holiday collections.

EYES:
Primetime Primer Shadow in Dove Gray,
Swanky under brow and inner corner,
Amythest in crease and outer corner and along lower lash line,
Big and Bright in Intense black upper lash line,
Falsies mascara.