Revlon Photo Ready Foundation

REVLON PHOTOREADY FOUNDATION

OVERALL RATING: 3.5/5

WHERE TO BUY: Drugstores

WOULD I REPURCHASE: No

PRICE: Around $13.99 (Price varies)

POSITIVES:

- Medium, buildable coverage

- Has pump-bottle packaging

- Affordable and easy to find
- Has SPF 20 for sun protection

NEGATIVES:

- Sparkly

- SPF doesn't make it very photo-friendly

MY THOUGHTS:

This foundation got a lot of hype when it first came out. With a name like "photo ready," it almost seemed like a drugstore dupe for the popular, but expensive, Make Up For Ever HD Foundation.

The packaging... awesome. The pump bottle makes retrieval quick, clean, and sanitary. If only more drugstore foundations came with this kind of bottle.

The foundation itself feels light and blends easily. The coverage is medium, but it's pretty buildable. Adding more doesn't make your face look thick or cakey. So far, so good. But here's the part that kills me..

THE SPARKLES. Oh so many sparkles. Small pieces of them, all over my face. I normally stay away from shimmer because it tends to accentuate my acne scars. If you look closely in the above photo, you'll be able to see the little glitters. Someone uploaded a sparkling picture of Edward Cullen on the makeupalley review page for this. Although it's an exaggeration, it did make me laugh.

The SPF 20 is a good thing and a bad thing. Sun protection is always good for your skin. However, this is called PHOTO ready. You'd think that would mean that it's good for pictures. SPF is known to make your face look lighter in flash photography, so this photo ready foundation is probably not the best for photos. Sounds weird, I know.

Overall, it's a nice foundation, just not for me. It might work better for people without any major skin issues. If you don't mind sparkles.. I say give it a chance :)

Blended into my hand.

*Closed* $25 Gift Card Giveaway for Apothica.com!

Today is a special day for my blog because I'm hosting my first ever giveaway! This is a thank you to all of my followers and I would really appreciate it if you entered. You have nothing to lose! :)

Many of you may know of SkinCareRx, which is an online retailer that sells a wide variety of clinical skincare products from brands like Clarisonic, Obagi, Dermalogica, and more. Recently, they have joined forces with a sister site called Apothica.com to carry all of your favorite cosmetics.

Too Faced is one of the brands available on Apothica, and they carry some of my favorite products. I use the chocolate soleil bronzer almost everyday and it's amazing for a natural, sun-kissed glow without shimmer. Their retractable kabuki is also one of the softest brushes I've ever felt and I always carry it in my purse for on-the-go touch ups. Apothica carries many other brands you may be familiar with, including Smashbox, Cargo, Stila, and more.

Apothica is offering my followers the chance to win a $25 gift card that can be used at skincarerx.com, apothica.com, or skinbotanica.com. All three websites place your items in one cart, making it easy to purchase both your essential skincare items and your favorite cosmetics.

______________________________________

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this blog post with a list of the following things you have done:

1) Provide your email address and tell me that you'd like to be entered. (Worth 1 entry)

2) Become a fan of SkinCareRx on FaceBook. (Worth 1 entry)

3) Follow SkinCareRx on Twitter. (Worth 1 entry)

4) Subscribe to SkinCareRx's newsletter at the bottom of their website (Worth 2 entries)

5) Write a blog post about this giveaway and a specific makeup brand available on Apothica - Minimum 100 words with the word "cosmetic" linking to http://makeup.apothica.com (Worth 3 entries)

The winner will be chosen by random. This contest will end on August 21.

Pure Ice: Taupe Drawer

Pure Ice nail polishes are only $2 at Walmart. Taupe Drawer is the only color I've tried so far though.

MUFE Concealer Palette

MAKE UP FOR EVER 5 CAMOUFLAGE CREAM PALETTE

OVERALL RATING: 3/5

WHERE TO BUY: Sephora stores, Sephora.com

WOULD I REPURCHASE?: Probably not.

PRICE: $36.00

POSITIVES:

- Offers good coverage

- Long wearing

- A little bit goes a long way

NEGATIVES:
- Expensive

- Not enough shades for medium skintones

- Accentuates dryness

- Can look cakey

MY THOUGHTS: I purchased this palette because I thought it would be a good value. Even though it was $36, it evened out to around $7.20 per concealer.

I guess I'll start with the negatives first. I have a warm, medium skintone (NC30) and I had trouble finding a suitable palette. I heard that palette 3 would have worked well for me, but for some reason, they don't sell it anymore. It wasn't at the store and they never have it online. The only available palettes are numbers 1,2, and 4. Strange. Palette 2 was too cool toned and palette 4 was way too dark. I really wanted to try it so palette number 1 went home with me.

These concealers can look a bit cakey because of how thick they are. They don't work very well for covering blemishes or acne scars since they accentuate dryness. Therefore, I don't really use the green shade very often. I can't use the first 2 shades either because they're too light for me.

Now onto the positives. These concealers (the 3rd and 4th shade) work really well around the eyes, as long as I make sure to moisturize with an eye cream first. A little bit of product goes a long way. I only need a small dab to cover up the discolorations around my eye area. They make me look more refreshed and awake. Lasting power is good too. They seem to stay on throughout the day and I don't need to touch up very much.

Overall, I'll continue to use the 2 shades that work for my skin tone but I don't think I'll repurchase. This might work better for those with oily skin who can find a good color match.

swatched heavily

left - without concealer ; right - with concealer

Update, Outfit of the Day, & Dove

Hello lovelies! Long time no blog. I'm really sorry that I've been MIA for a while. I was actually on vacation for over a month. I know, what kind of "vacation" is that long? It was actually time spent with family. One of my sisters had a baby a few months ago, so I got to meet my nephew for the first time! Got to babysit him, play with my niece, hang out with old friends, and bond with my sisters. Now that I'm back home, my schedule isn't all that busy until school starts up again. Hopefully I can get back on the whole blogging thing and post more often.

Here's a quick outfit of the day. Belt is from Forever 21. Dress is actually from Walmart! I think it's from the brand OP. I honestly checked it out because the models for OP include Cory Monteith and Dianne Agron. AKA Finn and Quinn.. I'm a GLEEK! Haha.

Speaking of Glee, I won some Dove coupons from the Glee For All Giveaway that was going on a few months ago. Any suggestions for what products I should try? :)

LUSH Catastrophe Cosmetic

Sorry for the lack of updates! The last few weeks of school can get pretty busy, finishing assignments and studying for final exams. I'll be going on vacation soon, so I won't be able to update very much. I really wanted to post something new though, so here's a LUSH review! Hope you're not getting sick of them yet :)

OVERALL RATING: 4/5
WHERE TO BUY: lush.com, lush stores/counters
WOULD I REPURCHASE?: Yes

MY THOUGHTS: This is a soothing mask which is great for sensitive skin. To me, it smells like a mixture of yogurt, blueberries, and clay. There are also little chunks of what looks like blueberries mixed in. Like other fresh face masks, you have to keep it stored in the fridge.

The consistency is thick but creamy and spreads onto my face easily. I leave it on for around 10 minutes. Once the mask is dried, it starts to crumble off whenever I move my face. I wiggle my nose or raise my eyebrows and there's a bit of powdery fallout. It's kind of messy, so I have to make sure I run back to the sink as soon as the mask has dried. However, the end result is soft, clean, and calm skin. It doesn't make me break out either, so I would definitely buy this again.

POSITIVES:
- Spreads onto my face easily
- Makes my skin feel smooth, clean, and calm
- Doesn't irritate my skin

- Doesn't make me breakout
- Affordable
- Fresh

NEGATIVES:
- Only has a shelf life of 3 weeks
- Must be stored in the fridge

- A little bit messy once it dries

*UPDATED* Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips

OVERALL RATING: 4/5
WHERE TO BUY: Most drugstores (Walmart, CVS, etc)
WOULD I REPURCHASE?: Yes

MY THOUGHTS: This is my first time using pore strips. I purchased these because everyone and their mom seems to use them. I followed the instructions on the box for application; I wet my nose, placed the strip on, and peeled it off after 15 minutes. It stuck on to my nose really well. Removal was a little bit painful, but tolerable, sort of like taking a band-aid off your skin. Inspection of the strip showed that some blackheads and whiteheads were removed, but not everything.

UPDATE [May 09, 2010]: I don't think I did anything differently but these worked a lot better the second time I used them. They removed a lot of whiteheads so I'm bumping up the rating from a 3 to a 4. I'm also adding new pictures :)

Each pore strip comes in its own individual packet.


Here's what a brand new pore strip looks like.


On my nose.

First pore strip I used. Removed some blackheads.

Second pore strip I used. Removed a lot of whiteheads!

MAC Viva Glam Cyndi & Laugh A Lot

I got a lovely package from MAC this week.. a birthday gift from my other sister. Thank you Ate Lisa, Kuya Bobby, and baby Gabriel! :) They sent me lipsticks that were on my blog's wish list, so here are some swatches.

Viva Glam Cyndi


swatched lightly on the left, heavily on the right


coral-red. i heard this suits a lot of skintones.


Laugh A Lot


swatched lightly on the left, heavily on the right


this is like like my natural lip color, but a tad darker.
i can definitely see myself wearing this on a daily basis.

Lush Haul

Here's a collective LUSH haul using a gift card that my sister got me for my birthday. Thank you Ate Anna <3 Everything here was purchased within two visits. The employees at the store are starting to recognize me, haha.

- Baby Face makeup remover
- Shampoo bar tin
- Ma Bar bubble bar
- Cupcake fresh face mask
- Fresh Farmacy cleanser
- Buffy body butter bar

Baby Face and Ma Bar were used already but I wanted to include them in the group photo. I got a lot of these things based on good reviews. Oh the influence of the online beauty community..

Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel CreamLiner

A few weeks ago, I saw a blog post by vintageortacky about new gel liners from Physician's Formula. Gel eyeliners are my absolute favorite and 3 shades for $11 seemed almost too good to be true. I was excited when I found them at CVS! This isn't really a review, just my initial thoughts and swatches.

The 3 gel liners snap together. The kits come packaged according to eye color; I purchased the one for brown eyes.

You can see my fingerprints all over the packaging.. I can deal with that though.

It comes with a brush that's actually not half bad. I prefer to use angled brushes though.

Dark brown.

Purple.

Black.. once you dip the brush into this one, it actually has tiny purple glitters!

After applying these, I rubbed my hand over my arm for a few seconds to test out the staying power. They did not budge. At all. These are definitely worth checking out.

Outfit of the Day + Webcam Pictures

For once, I finished getting ready before my parents! We went to a friends house yesterday for a filipino party; the kind where dads sing karaoke and moms gossip. Since I had some extra time, I took pictures on my webcam. I thought I should post them here since my face has been MIA from my blog.

I haven't worn eyeshadow in a really long time since I'm lazy to put it on for school. My skills are pretty rusty so I just did some neutral browns using the 88 palette - nothing too exciting or close up worthy. Didn't wanna scare any parents. My mom compliments my smokey eyes by telling me I look like a vampire, ha.

I also took a picture of my outfit. Jeans, tank, and vest are all from Forever 21.

Lux Naturals Haul

My Lux Naturals goodies came today! I love finally getting packages in the mail because I'm kind of impatient when it comes to ordering online. You might remember that this company sent me some of their products to review a few months ago. Everything here was purchased with my own money.

http://www.luxnaturals.com

Soo much bubble wrap and packing peanuts.
You obviously don't need to worry about anything breaking on the way ;)

Moonlight Pomegranate soap - this is a repurchase because it smells amazing. I didn't get to use all of the first bar because my mom took it. It was my favorite but I let her keep it anyway. I previously described this as smelling like candy, but I realized today what it really reminds me of.. do you remember fruit stripe gum? It had a zebra on the front and came with temporary tattoos..

Blackberry Sage soap - this is a new one for me. It's kind of difficult to describe. It's like a deep berry scent. Strong, but not overwhelmingly sweet or fruity.

My package came with 2 free samples of soap. These are small pieces of Sandalwood Amber (left) and White Tea & Ginger (right).

I'm not too fond of Sandalwood Amber. It smells woodsy and musky. Kind of manly, so maybe my boyfriend will like it. I do really like White Tea and Ginger. It's a light, clean smell; the kind of thing you'd reach for when you want a nice scent without a lot of fuss.

Moonlight Pomegranate shea body butter - This is nice, although the soap smells a little better in my opinion. The consistency is different from the last shea butter I got. It's more like a thick mousse. It's still really moisturizing though and a little bit goes a long way.

At first I thought I was just imagining but the size of the jar has definitely gotten smaller. The new one is on the left and the older one is on the right.

Make Up For Ever Microfinish Blush: #14 Star Struck

This was kind of an impulse buy. I've seen some really good reviews for it but I wasn't really planning on getting it anytime soon. I stopped by Sephora and ended up getting it because it was so pretty and I had some birthday money on me.

So far, I really like the actual product but I'm thinking of exchanging it for another color. When swatched on my hand, it showed up as a bright pinky-coral. On my cheeks, it sheers out a bit. It shows up as a pretty, natural looking peach; the kind of thing you'd wear when you don't want it to look like you're obviously wearing blush. I usually don't return or exchange products, but for $27, I feel like I should get something more showy. I took some pictures of myself and the blush didn't really show up on my cheeks at all.

blended out / swatched

This was taken on the underside of my arm that's lighter than my face which is NC30. I think this color would show up better on lighter skintones. It's really beautiful so I wanted to share the swatch anyway.

Is it dorky that the first thing I do when I get new products is take photos and swatches? Haha.

Tresemme Dry Shampoo

Tresemme Fresh Start Dry Shampoo

OVERALL RATING: 2/5
WHERE TO BUY: Most drugstores (Walmart, CVS, etc)
WOULD I REPURCHASE?: No

MY THOUGHTS: I had really high hopes for this product. I thought finally, a dry shampoo from a drugstore brand that's cheap and easy to find! I'm usually a big fan of tresemme; I really like their shampoos and styling products. However, I was really disappointed with this one.

I ran out of my Batiste dry shampoo (click here for that review) and needed a quick fix for my oily bangs. Saw this at Walmart, bought it, and used it right before going out to dinner. I applied this to my hair, following the instructions on the back of the can. First off, the application is kind of messy. I thought it was safe to apply this in the bathroom with my boyfriend and his little sister present. The spray filled up the room as I applied it to my hair and they were coughing while fanning the air. Kind of like those messy aerosol hairspray cans. The smell wasn't too bad though. After all was said and done, I examined the finished product. My bangs were slightly less shiny, but felt flat, oily, and sticky. There was absolutely no volume or movement to my hair. It almost felt like I had just applied hairspray to them. Had to go to dinner with stiff greasy bangs :(

POSITIVES:
- Affordable
- Easy to find
- Doesn't smell too strong
- Took away some shine

NEGATIVES:
- Hair still feels oily
- Gave no volume; left my hair feeling flat.
- Sticky
- Messy spray

BEFORE


AFTER