Pan Time!

Why do we get so excited about hitting pan? For me, it’s almost a proof that I was right, that it was a great product, and that I have stuck with something to the end. Weird, no? But we all feel it. Plus there’s that other element which is that it’s an excuse to go shopping, of course. I’ve been working away at a couple of products for the last couple of months that I’ve finished up (or are close to) in the last couple of months.

1.       Elf Studio Brow Kit – I’ve hit pan on the wax side, but the powder looks like it is going to be good for YEARS to come. This product can go on a little blotchy and uneven, but once you even it out with a wispy brow brush (I use an only mascara wand), then it’s actually really nice. I’ll keep using the brow powder but with some clear brow gel I have lying around.

2.       MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation – I got this in June of 2009, and I must have had a tan at the time, because it always felt a shade too dark. It also feels incredibly heavy. I got a nice finish out of it when I used it with a large, kabuki style brush spritzed with a lot of MAC Fix +, but even then I felt I was getting too much coverage. I then started mixing it with Kiehls Ultra Facial Moisturizer, which ended up being an amazing tinted moisturizer – a hint of color, a little bit of hydration while still feeling light. It did take me a whole year to finish the tube though, which drove me crazy. I have a bottle of Bobbi Brown Moisture Rich foundation which I also don’t love, so I’ll start mixing that with my Kiehls until I really need to get something with more coverage, in which case I’ll probably try NARS Sheer Glow or Bobbi Brown Skin. I don’t have perfect skin, but I don’t like my foundation to be too heavy. It just doesn’t wear well on me.

3.       MAC Paint in Bare Canvas. MAC Paints come in a tube form, and act similar to Paint Pots in that they are pigmented creams. This product was recommended to me by a MAC MUA as an eye shadow primer. I am so surprised that they are not more popular, because it works so well. Eyeshadows don’t budge at all when I use this, but colors remain blendable when they are applied. I have a hard time blending colors sometimes when I’m using Urban Decay Primer Potion. When I first got this, about a year ago, I wasted a lot of product because the tube form is not so easy to control, but once I’d used it a couple of times I got it figured out (be very gentle!), and fell in love. However, I’m not going to be replacing it any time soon, mostly because I have about 85 mini UDPPs lying around from the various Box of Shadows, so I want to use those up first. I also have an ELF Shadow Primer which is surprisingly effective, especially given the $1 price tag. Based on the number of primers I have in my dupes drawer, I won’t be buying any replacements for at least a year.

4.       NARS Orgasm Cream Blush – This is part of a duo with Laguna cream bronzer. I find the bronzer quite dark on me, but the blush is amazing, and completely lives up to its reputation. I’ve had this for about 18mths before I got to this stage, and for a good 9mths of that, it was literally the only blush I owned! Shocking, I know. Now I have about 6 or 7, including at least one other NARS one. Anyway, I still use this at least once a week, if not more, because it’s just a classic, flattering, easy color to wear. Although I’ve hit pan on this, I am sure I’ve got a good while to go yet before I’m actually all out. Then I’ll have to decide whether I want it in cream or powder form. Decisions!

At this point I feel like I should also confess that I’ve never, ever finished a lipgloss or lipstick. I’ve lost plenty over the years, but finished? None. And although I’ve been wearing a couple of shades again and again this summer (Hello Ever Hip by MAC, Perennially High Style again by MAC, and Tarte Raspberry Lip Stain), I’m months, if not years, away from finishing anything.

Have you finished up anything recently? Any products you think you might?

Elf Mineral Shadow Haul Part 2

A couple of weeks ago I brought you the first half of my Elf mineral eye shadow haul. Now it's time to take a look at the other 6 colors I picked up during the sale.

From L-R: Temptress, Trendy, Celebrity, Sassy, Seductive, Socialite

Temptress is a matte light brown. I think it's a really useful color for darkening the crease on a neutral look, and am pleased with it's color and wear. It goes on smoothly and has good pigmentation. 

Trendy is a very shimmery peachy gold. I didn't love this one as I found it quite sheer and it blended out to just large chunks of shimmer. I haven't tried it in a look, but it looks like it will be fallout central. 

Celebrity is a lighter, cooler toned gold. This one had much, much better pigmentation than Trendy. It is much lighter toned. This one looks gorgeous as a wash across the lids. 

Sassy is a beautiful rich copper tone. It reminds me of Orly Rage, or MAC's All That Glitters. It is very shimmery, so you need a light hand, but it is beautiful, rich color. 

Seductive is a matte charcoal gray. It's not quite black, but it's nearly there. I'm actually super wary of this color in powder form, as it is so easy to get too much, and too much of loose dark pigment can just smudge up a look, but if used lightly, this could be nice. For me though, it's too much work, and I'll stick to Carbon and Nehru for my dark looks. 

Socialite is a shimmery pewter taupe. It reminds me of MAC's Smoke and Diamonds, but it isn't quite as rich. It sheers out very nicely, and looks particularly gorgeous with Sassy. The shimmer content is very high, and it's not incredibly pigmented, but it leaves a gorgeous molten metal look on the eyes. 

So there you have the final round up of the Elf Mineral Eye Shadows. At just $3 a pop, and plenty of deals and discounts on the site, these are worth a look. My favorites? Sassy, Socialite, Natural. and Golden. Pass on Seductive and Trendy. 

Elf Mineral Shadow Haul

Clockwise from top: Angelic, Elegant, Innocent, Golden, Sweet

A couple of months ago I came across one of my all time favorite products: Elf Mineral Eye Shadow in Natural. It's a gorgeous shimmery peach color that is so flattering. As I was so happy with this product, I was excited to try some more colors from the range during their recent 60% off sale.

L-R: Angelic, Elegant, Innocent, Golden, Sweet

I ended up picking up about 10 colors, which I'll review in phases. (I'm sorry, I just can't handle all that typing right now - my legs are aching from a ridiculous work-out and yoga session, so it's all I can do to keep my fingers moving across the keyboard!). I'll start with the lighter shades:


Angelic is a very shimmery, cool, white. This is quite a strong, bright, white, with a lot of shimmer. One for a very light hand.

Elegant is a more golden peach toned shimmery color. It's lighter than peach though. This is pretty and wearable. I like it a lot.

Innocent is a matte sheer cream. This didn't swatch very well so I did not have high hopes for this color at all, along with my general lack of experience with mattes (is it just me, or are other people a lit bit intimidated by them?). Having said that, I did a look a couple of days ago using Innocent, and really loved it! It goes on nice and smoothly, and provides a gorgeous, matte, sophisticated wash of cream. Definitely worth trying out, especially if you haven't played around much with them.

Golden is probably my favorite out of this batch of colors - it's a very simple, shimmery wash of golden. I think that it runs closer to amber rather than golden (more orange than yellow), but it's a beautiful rich color that looks pretty in both summer and fall.

Sweet is a cool, sheer, shimmery baby pink. This color was an experiment, and I'm not yet sure if I can pull it off. It is not very pigmented, but it is definitely pink. I feel like if you use this shade with Elegant it might work, but on it's own, it's too much shimmer, too much pink.

Elf Mineral Eye Shadows retail for $3, but ELF frequently run sales and coupon codes, so be sure to look out for a deal. Even if not every color is a winner, They come in small tubs with a shaker top to control how much product comes though. I do like the quality of these shadows - as a rule they last a long time, have decent pigmentation, and are easy to blend. They do have quite a lot of shimmer, so be warned if shimmer is not your thing.

Have you tried Elf Mineral Eye Shadows? Is there a shade you like I've missed out?

Glamorize With Matte Eyes

That rhyme is not very good, is it? Sorry for that one! I put together this look recently while testing out some of the Elf Mineral Eye shadows I picked up during their 60% sale. I got a couple of matte colors, and while I was swatching they were very uneven and not at all nice. I haven't got a whole lot of experience with matte colors, but I have played with them enough to know that matte colors can sometimes play nasty in the swatching, but nice on the eyes. These ones turned out pretty nice after all. I was very surprised at how easy they blended out, and ended up with a 60s style look - a little more Twiggy than Mad Men though!

Eyes:
Base: Elf Shadow Primer
Lid: Elf Mineral Shadow in Innocent
Crease: Temptress
Crease: Seductive
Liner: Elf Liquid Liner

Elf Lip Shines Give Good Gloss

A couple of weeks ago ELF ran a 60% sale, and I was rather exuberant in taking part in this offer. I bought a lot of eyeshadows and lipglosses, reviews of which will be coming up over the next week. The first products that I'll be taking a look at are the Super Glossy Lip Shine SPF15.

For those unfamiliar with ELF, they are a drugstore / budget brand whose products are frequently versions of various high-end brands. The Super Glossy Lip Shine can most easily be compared to Lancome's Juicy Tubes. However, in the 10 years that Juicy Tubes have been on the market, multitides companies have brought out their own version, so I'm not going to get too worked up on the comparison here.

They come in a clear squeezy tube with an angled top for application, and packaging wise, it's fine. Nothing amazing, nothing terrible. I picked out 4 colors: Candlelight (a shimmery peach), Watermelon (a shimmery deep pink), Honey Do (a reddish coral jelly),  and Juiced Berry (a pink jelly). All of the glosses have a grape vanilla scent, which I found incredibly sweet and cloying unfortunately. They do have a slight stickiness to them, but they are not as sticky as MAC's Lipglasses. I found I got about 2-3 hours wear from these. They also have SPF 15 which is a nice extra.

Left to Right - Juiced Berry, Honey Do, Watermelon, Candlelight

Juiced Berry had the least color of the 4. As you can see from the swatch, there is barely any pigmentation, and it just showed up as a clear gloss on my lips.

Honey Do gave my lips a slightly rosier color, along with the high shine gloss.

Watermelon was my favorite of the bunch. It gave my lips a pink, slightly shimmery gloss. The shimmer was pretty subtle, and really just enhanced the shine more than anything else.

Candlelight was the most problematic of the 4. I had a hard time getting it to go on evenly for a start. Once I had a good application, the color sheered way down leaving a slightly shimmery, sheer, frosty finish, which was actually quite pretty. It didn't seem to give off as much shiny gloss as the others, perhapy because the shimmer is so high.

So, whats the final verdict on these? I actually like them. I think that at a $1 a go, having a couple of these in your purse is great. They don't have a lot of color to them, so if that's what you are looking for in a gloss you will be disappointed. For me they do pretty much what I'd expect, and I like them for it.

Summer Sunsets FOTD

This is my favorite look that I've done all summer I think. There's something about the golden eyes mimicking the gorgeous summer sun colors. I haven't used my Elf Candid Coral blush that often since I got it, and looking at these pictures, I really regret it. It's moving to the top of my blush pile rapidly!

Eyes
Goldmine all over
Cranberry inner crease
Amber Lights outer lid
Twinks outer crease

Face
Elf Candid Coral blush

Lips
MAC Ever Hip

Summer Lip Favorites Part 2

Yesterday I showed you some of my favorite bright lip colors. Now I'm showcasing my softer pinks. I get that these pinks might usually be more associated with Spring, but sometimes I just want something light and sheer and pretty in summer, and these are my go-to grabs for those days.

So, from left to right we have Elf Lip Shine in Pink Kiss, MAC Dazzleglass in Perfectly Unordinary, and MAC Lip Glass in Virgin Kiss.

1. Elf Lip Shine in Pink Kiss - this lipgloss feels slightly tacky and has a sweet scent. It's a sheer, slightly milky pink with silver shimmer. At only a buck, I think that this gloss is a great deal, as it's the sort of color everyone needs at least one of.

2. MAC Dazzleglass in Perfectly Unordinary - gorgeously pretty pink, gold sparkly shimmer - what is there not to love? Apart from MAC do come out with this shade ALL THE TIME!!! It does have a slightly gritty feel to it which isn't wonderful, but it's worth it for the pretty pretty shine.

3. MAC Lip Glass in Virgin Kiss - this came out in the Rose Romance collection last summer. Confession - I wore this at my wedding, so it will always have a special place in my heart. Apart from that, I think it's a gorgeous, cool, shimmery, baby pink. Again, a classic that's always going to make you feel pretty.

Any simple, pretty pinks I've left out or should try?

My Favorite Summer Highlighters and One That's Totally Lame-o

Summer is all about the highlighting. It’s time to take advantage of that gorgeous sun and make our skin literally glow! Highlighters are up there in my favorite products ever, so I wanted to share some of my collection with you guys and hear about which highlighters you really love. Highlighters can be used in a variety of ways. Traditionally, I wear them on my cheekbones, temples, down my nose and above my top lip on my cupid’s bow to give my skin a shimmery glow.

MAC Strobe Cream is one of my most versatile highlighting products. For a start – you get so much of it! I could literally be using this for years and not run out. It has quite a runny consistency, so a little goes a long way.  I break highlighters down into warm and cool for the most part, and this is definitely a cooler toned highlighter, throwing off a cool, pink-toned shimmer when the light hits it. It feels lovely and light to wear, and blends very quickly and easily. I have added MAC Strobe Cream to tinted highlighters, moisturizers, used it on my shoulders and my legs, basically everything, and it works like a dream. The running consistency does take a little getting used to, but I consider this to be one of those must-have MAC products.

NARS Albatross is frequently recognized as one of the best all time highlighters. I have to admit, I totally agree. It’s a simple, sheer powder with gold-toned iridescent shimmer. The gold shimmer works particularly well with my skin tone, and I love how flattering it is. I find powder highlighters slightly less flexible to work with than cream ones, but this product more than makes up for that with its beautiful, not too sparkly shimmer than instantly wakes up your face. I find that this looks particularly amazing at night, when you might be going for a stronger, more done look. It really does scream glamour!

Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips in Miami Strip are a recent discovery, and I’ll admit that the first time I wore them, I was a little overwhelmed. As you can see, it's one of the more shimmery ones I have swatched here. However, I’ve learnt that with a light touch, they can be an amazing, hard-working, multi-tasking super product, ready to give a natural, my face but better glow all over. They come in lots of different shades, so I’m sure there’s the perfect color out there for you, and at a price that’s hard to beat.

NARS Orgasm Illuminator came out last winter to much fanfare as an update to the ever popular Orgasm line. As a huge fan of the original blush in cream format, I was very eager to try it out. I’m not going to lie, at first I was disappointed and confused. The consistency is incredibly thin and sheer, so it can feel quite difficult to control. The color is gorgeous rose blushing pink with gold shimmer in the tube, but again, is so sheer on your skin. However, it’s gorgeous as a subtle glow from within look, and I love, love wearing it during the day as part of a natural, sheer look. 

All four highlighters compared

L-R MAC Strobe, NARS Albatross, Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips, NARS Orgasm Illuminator

I also feel obliged to post about one product which really didn’t hit the mark for me: Elf’s All Over Highlighter stick. This stick is modeled and marketed as a cheaper alternative to NARS’s Multiple, especially the incredibly popular Copacabana shade. There are Elf products that I love. This is not one of them. Even if you had had zero experience of NARS Multiples (I have, but not Copacabana), you would find this product horrible to work with. It is a sheer white cream based stick with shimmer through it. I have 2 HUGE problems with this highlighter. The first is the feel of the product – it is sticky!! It’s like putting lipgloss on your face! But less liquidy than lipgloss. Maybe more like glue? So that is very unpleasant. Secondly, the color is simply not sheer enough, and gives you a white cast wherever you use it. Again, maybe as if you’ve applied glue to your face? Either way, even though it is a dollar, it is most definitely a wasted dollar. 

So there you have it – a couple of awesome highlighting products, and one definite dud. What products did I miss, or do I need to try?

Sweet Pop of Color Technique For Summer

I was over looking at the awesome Karen at Make Up and Beauty Blog. She recently posted about what the hell to do with the Tokidoki Liner in Pink . She swiped a thick line on her eyelid, and then a super thin line in black liquid liner. It's an awesome technique that gives a pop of color without being scary or overwhelming. I decided to try this out myself. I don't have a Tokidoki liner myself, but used the age old technique of a fine liner, some water, and bright eyeshadow. For my Black liquid liner, I used Elf's liquid liner. I got this free with an order once, but it's only a buck, and I am constantly surprised by how good it is.

For the first eye, I used MAC's Da Bling. This looks awesome - I love the sweet pinkness, and it contrasts nicely against the black liner. To get the liner this thin. I actually line the eyelashes, just allowing the tip of the liner to go against the lid. I used Elf's Eyelid Primer which I got in the same freebie pack as the liner, and again is a nice surprise. Elf is such a random brand - so much is utterly terrible, but there are a few hidden gems in there.

For the second eye, I used MAC's Humid. This is a permanent shade and is also part of the upcoming To The Beach collection. I really wish I used this shadow more often, as it's a beautiful, rich green that would make my green eyes pop if I ever remembered to use it! However, the shade here was too dark and didn't contrast enough with either the black, or provide the pop of color that I was looking for.

I love this technique! It's also so clean, quick, and easy. My next experiment with either be with a bright purple or sky blue. Have you tried this look before? Any other color suggestions?

Elf Brow Kit

One of the products I picked up a whole ago as part of my second Elf haul was the Eyebrow Kit. If you follow the Elf logic that each of their products is a budget version of a high-end product, then this would most likely be compared to Benefit’s Brow-Zings kit. Disclaimer right now – I’ve never used the BrowZings compact, so have no grounds to compare to.

The packaging is perfectly acceptable – a matte black plastic case housing a small palette of powder and one of dark wax. Nothing to get excited about, and nothing to complain about either. I do have a complaint about the brush. It is double ended for the powder and wax, and is the most ridiculous rinky-dink thing ever. I could barely even hold it, never mind control it while using it on my eyebrows. Completely useless, really.

Nekkid brows - actually, whole nekkid eye!

waxed and powdered - the rest is still nekkid so no laughing!

I chose medium out of the three shades available. I have reasonably dark brows, and have natural mid-brown hair. However, I found that if I wore either the wax or the powder, I got a nice color, but if I used the powder to set the wax, the color came out too dark, and my brows started to overtake my whole face. Not a good look. One or the other was all good though. The wax provided a more defined finish, and the powder a softer look. I’m thinking that maybe I got the wrong color, but if I did, there is not much hope for the natural blondes out there with this product. However, if you do have dark brows, then I would definitely check this out. Plus, there's a lot of product here - I'm guessing at least a year, if not more, of product. Aside from the brush, this is a decent product, and for $3, you can't really go wrong. 

This post contains an affiliate links. Affiliate links in no way influence the outcome of reviews. 

Elf's High Definition Powder - Not For The Big Screen

Elf’s Studio High Definition Powder is a product that receives a lot of hype in the blogosphere. It is regularly compared to Make Up For Ever’s HD Powder and MAC’s Prep & Prime Powder. Unfortunately, I have not tried either powder, but I have been playing around with the Elf powder for the last couple of days and putting it through its paces.

The powder comes in a solid black box about 2 inches square. It has a sifter lid and a powder puff inside. The powder itself appears to be a bright white although it goes on translucent. It promises to mask fine lines and imperfections by using a light diffusion, and work particularly well in photographs. I have to admit, I would rather that my make up looked amazing in real life than in photographs, because I’m just not being photographed every day, apart from the blog things. But something that could do both would be worth taking a look at, for sure.

Although it come with a powder puff, there is no way I could apply it with it. I just couldn’t imagine applying anything with a puff for fear of ending up looking cakey and overdone. The puff is really there, for me anyway, to make sure that too much powder does not come through the spiller top, and for that it is useful. I use an Elf Fan brush or a standard powder brush to lightly apply this to my skin. It definitely make skin look matte and has good staying power. In terms of masking imperfections, in real life, I have not yet seen any real improvement. I do notice that I have to make very sure that I’ve blended it all in otherwise I’m left with the odd random white / gray patch, which does not look at all good. I’ve been using it for about a week, and I haven’t had any problems with breakouts, or irritation which is encouraging.

Do I think that this is a great product? Um. I think it’s a good enough, matte powder. I haven’t noticed it doing any of the things that it promises to do, but then again the price point is very nice (to check). I got it during a 50% sale on the website which made it even sweeter on the wallet. However, despite the low price point, I do not think that I’ll be purchasing again as I have not noticed any significant improvements. Instead, I’ll either spring for the MAC or MUFE powders, or look for something else entirely, ignoring this whole HD powder phenomenon.