Drugstore vs High End Mascaras

Hey everyone! Today's post is all about mascaras. My question is, is it really worth investing in high end mascaras like Yves St. Laurent's Faux Cils, or are drug store brands like Maybelline's Falsies just as good if not better?

I've gone through my fair share of mascaras, trying to find ones that would volumize, others that would lengthen, one that was water proof etc. Now a days it's wanting my lashes to look thicker and fuller. Having heard rave reviews about Yves St. Laurent's Faux Cils mascara, I was curious to try it, but hesitant to shell out 30$+ for it. It's only a mascara after all. And thirty dollars is pretty excessive considering drug store brands are sold for less than ten dollars!

Anyways, while in Vegas for the holidays I had the opportunity to try the Yves St. Laurent Faux Cils mascara at one of the Sephora's there. It's a really cute tube and my first impressions were wow. I like shiny things! The applicator brush itself was nice and big so I could see how it easily covers the lashes (with enough coats!) to make them appear as if you have false lashes on. Now as lovely as this mascara was and how well it applied to my lashes, I have to say that I wouldn't be able to wear this as an every day mascara. For one, it made my lashes really thick looking, and it gave my every day office look a little too much pizazz (if that even makes sense ha!). It was just a bit TOO much for an every day mascara, though would be perfect not nights out, events and more because of the way it accentuated the lashes.

Now though I had purchased this, I did end up returning the tube because unfortunately it was drying out. It wasn't worthwhile paying 30$+ for a mascara that was already thick and chunky in the tube. I'm not putting that on my lashes thank you very much!

Wanting to find a dupe that was cheaper and not so dramatic, I tried out Maybelline's Falsies mascara. At first I wasn't too impressed, mostly on my part because I didn't read the labels and took a brown one instead of black. I dislike brown mascaras for some reason. But also because I didn't have high expectations. I've kind of diverted from only using drug store products to using high end products instead. I guess I was being a snob haha! Anyways, Maybelline's Falsies only cost 7$ and I really like the applicator brush for this mascara! It's a curved brush and I really find that it helps separate my lashes and helps to evenly coat them. Also, when you reverse the brush it's a great way to do your bottom lashes without them clumping. I'm not a fan of clumped lashes!


So basically I found that I liked the Maybelline Falsies mascara to be better than Yves St. Laurent's pricey Faux Cils mascara. The price was better, the coverage was just as good and I also noticed that I didn't end up with raccoon eyes at the end of the day like I did wearing other mascaras (Yves St. Laurent's included!). Moral of the story, don't judge a mascara by it's price! Sure everyone is bound to have their favorites, but sometimes there's a cheap dupe for the high end one you're using. And really, it's mascara...is 30$ a tube really worth it? I know I'd rather spend my money on other products!!!

Daily Skin Care Routine

Hey everyone! On the topic of skin care I was wondering what everyone else is doing/using? There's the typical three steps which include soap, astringent and moisturizer and I was wondering do you do all three? And products do you find work and don't work?

Right now I'm into Clinique products and using their three step kit which includes a gentle face wash/cleanser, an astringent and the dramatically different moisturizer.

At first I wasn't a big fan of the moisturizer. I didn't like the texture, the smell and I found it really didn't do anything for my skin. So I tossed that aside to then come across it a few months later. Deciding to try it again, I'm wondering why I didn't like it in the first place. Maybe because I'm using it more often, or because my skin is reacting differently to it, who knows. What I do know is that my face has never felt this soft before, I feel like I have baby cheeks haha!

My skin is somewhat sensitive so I do have to watch out what products I use and I'm loving the Clinique products because they're gentle on my skin, but give me the same results and some of the stronger products. I had to stop using St. Ives products, Neutrogena and even Clean & Clear because my skin was becoming too irritated which then lead to more breakouts. Which is not a good thing!!!

Aside from the daily skin care routine, sometimes I like doing face masks or finding products that can help clear the blackheads on my nose. Which are disgusting by the way! I've tried several brands and multiple products, even Biore nose strips, but they never did THAT good of a job, and for the amount I was spending it was crazy.

Watching gurus on Youtube seems to be my new addiction and one person who I love to follow is Jarmaine (jlovesmac1). She had done a skincare video herself and in it she mentioned this face mask product by Queen Helene. It's a mint julep face mask which smells super amazing! Like minty fresh bubble gum! It smells so good you want to eat it...though that'd be gross! Anyways, this face mask is kind of like a clay mask I guess you could call you. It's really thick and creamy and is nice and gentle on the skin. I wasn't expecting great results from this because face masks don't usually do as they should for me but I have to say I was really surprised with this one. For it to remove all of the blackheads on my nose with one use...WOW! For 4$ you get a pretty big tube and you don't really need much to do your entire face either. I like to either do my entire face or depending on the day I'll just put some on my nose. It's really inexpensive, works well and smells great! If you're looking for a good mask or something to remove blackheads I would definitely check it out. I found it in the states, you can find it at CVS or Walgreens. In Canada I'm not too sure where you can find it locally, but Well.ca is a Canadian based "pharmacy" type website that sells them as well. They're 6.99$ here instead of 3.99$ like in the states, but it's still not too bad either price wise. The bottle itself is a bit bigger than the St. Ives apricot scrub if you compare the two so you are getting your moneys worth for it!

It's coming!

Hey everyone! So Valentine's day is approaching and at Sephora they have a line up of products for this special occasion. Skimming through the products the one that stood out the most for me was Stila's little kit called Make Me Blush. It includes a full sized blush and two mini lip glazes in hugs and kisses.

The blush itself is just super cute because it resembles conversation hearts! I'm excited to receive this in the mail since I purchased it online. I saw a video where it was swatched next to Nars Orgasm blush and it looked amazing! It's a nice peachy pink color that will add that flush and glow to your cheeks.

When I get this kit in the mail I'll be sure to show you swatches of the blush and lip glazes. I have yet to try Stila lip glazes so we'll see how those turn out too. Though I don't need any more glosses since I own a ton already, these two shades are too cute to pass up on!

Here's a link to Sephora's website where you can find this cute kit! It retails for 20$ which is a really good price. Usually I pay more in Canadian but I believe they've updated things since it cost me 21$. Considering the blush retails alone for 20$ I think this set is really cute and affordable. Three Stila products for 20$ is really good!

Stila Make Me Blush Set

Also here's a link to the blog where I saw the swatch of this awesome blush compared to Nars' Orgasm.

gimmemakeup.blogspot.com

Disappointment

So I recently made a purchase on Hautelook when they had CrownBrush products. I was super excited to purchase them because of rave reviews I was hearing from others and also because the price was right. I think I paid around 60$ for a full kit (The bronze set in the faux snake skin wrap) and a travelling set.

When it finally arrived I liked the packaging on the snake skin one, it was cute and I liked the color, but the travel set looked really cheap. The zippered area looked like it was hastily sewn on, the material wasn't too nice etc. All in all I was set up for disappointment from the beginning. Because I had high hopes? Possibly, but for the price I paid I was expecting a bit more!

Needless to say, when I finally opened both kits and viewed the brushes I thought okay, these look like they'll be good! The brushes seemed like practical every day ones with a few extras so I was sure to use them, until I took the brushes out of the packaging. Jaw dropping moment here!

They handle itself felt really like, hollow and cheap and the bristles oh my! They looked like someone had hacked them trying to get an even tip, the hairs were a mish mash of colors...there were blue fiber things included. That turned me off right then and there but I decided to give them a chance. They may not look so good but maybe they would apply nicely or something, who knew.

So giving them a chance the next morning I tried the large shadow brush, the regular shadow brush and the pencil. The regular shadow brush was very stiff and didn't pick up much of any color, nor did it apply it either. What a waste of my Stila shadows!! Switching brushes to the larger one, that one picked up the shadow a bit nicer but the application wasn't so good either. And don't get me started on the pencil brush gah!

All in all I really regret buying both sets of Crown Brushes and wish I had invested in Sigma brushes instead. I'm sure they would have come out 10x better than this! So to anyone looking into purchasing Crown Brushes, may I suggest looking at them in person before purchasing them online? Sure it's a good deal..but you can finder better quality ones at Walmart!

A new love!

Hey everyone, so I wanted to discuss a product that I recently received for free (Part of Sephora's skin care challenge, buy x amount of items and receive one free). It's Philosophy's Purity Made Simpe formula which is a face wash, makeup remover and more all in one!

Now at first I didn't like this product at all! One for the smell, and two for how it felt on my skin. When reading the directions it mentions that you can apply it wet or dry. Thinking that was neat-o I decided to try it dry. Low and behold I though it was gross and sticky and my face quickly became irritated.

So having stashed that bottle away in some recess I kind of forgot about it. Now we come to me going to Vegas and shopping at Sephora, and I ended up with a free sample of this face wash! When I mentioned to the sales lady that I had previously used it and didn't like this product she urged me to try it wet. So taking her word for it I did...and wow!

I have to admit that I was skeptical at first, okay it cleans my face nicely and makes my cheeks feel soft, but to remove my makeup? Really?! Well it did! Mascara, eye liner, shadow and all! I didn't have to scrub too much, just a light rubbing on my eye lid, rinsed it off and voila it's all gone!

So now this is my new love, aside from my Clinique face wash! Anyways, if you can get a free sample of it at Sephora I definitely recommend it! The full sized bottle itself is rather pricey, though consider that you get a lot in the bottle and don't need to use much for each application..but still.... 40$ US a pop is a little extreme each time for a face wash!

Any who that's my ramble for tonight, now off to bed! Ta ta for now!

Here's a link if you want to check it out at Sephora!

http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P7109&categoryId=B70

Hautelook Haul

Hey everyone! So this is my first post and we're going to start things off with a haul!

I recently purchased Urban Decay and Lorac products from Hautelook.com (If you need an invite to the site I will provide a link below!). Needless to say I bought quite a bit and paid next to nothing for it. I love finding great deals and I always seem to find something on this website!

Anyways, to start off with I bought a few products from Urban Decay; a mix of eye shadows and eye pencils. For the eye shadows I bought Narcotic and Chronic, which are really nice matte shadows. For the pencils I got Green Goddess, Mary Jane, Maui Wowie and Purple Haze. I think I got them for something crazy like 2$ each so I bought two of each! They're really nice pigmented pencils with a smudge brush on the other tip.

My other purchase was from Lorac. I had previously bought an eyeshadow and loved the consistency, the pigmentation and the color itself and when I saw it was on sale I was urged to purchase more! I'm a shopaholic when it comes to makeup, what can I say? Anyways, I ended up Jade, Reverie, Lush, Olive and Lilac which are really nice neutral everyday colors. I found a baked matte satin eye shadow and decided to try Posh. It's a really nice peachy/pink color so I'm guessing it will be really cute as a highlighter, a base or for a look that's meant to be very neutral. Last but not least from Lorac is my Caribbean Crush palette. Now this was purchased for the sole reason of taking down south or using in the summer time because of the shades and the shimmer in the products. And I have to say that with swatching everything in here, the colors are really nice for the shadows, the blush is a cute color, the bronzer as dark as it is is really nice and the highlighter is cute as well! All in all, this palette has a bit of everything and it was less than 10$ if my memory serves me well.

Last but not least I was super excited when I came back from Vegas (My uncle's Christmas present to my sisters and I...amazing right?) to find a delivery from Tarte Cosmetics sitting on my bed! Just before leaving I had recently started following Tarte Cosmetics on Twitter, unbeknown to me they were holding a contest and giving away 5 palettes, of which I won one! I was so stoked! This palette is huge and retails for about 52$ at Sephora, so figure than in Canadian and you're looking at about 70$ or so!

I know I know, things are getting long but I'm almost done! Ha! Anyways, below I'll have pictures of all of the products I just received from my most recent haul from Hautelook and later on this week I'll do another haul on all of the beauty products I purchased in Vegas. I bought so much at the four Sephora's there!

Hautelook URL:

http://www.hautelook.com/invite/faestina

Follow me on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/faestina

Find me on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/faestina