Bobbi Brown Shimmer Blush Pink Coral - Review

I admit it - I love blush. Mostly corally pink, shimmery blushes. At one point, a MAC makeup artist told me that would be the best color for my skin tone and coloring, and I apparently took that to heart. I'd estimate 70% of my blushes are in the coral/pink/peach vein, and every time a new one comes out, I feel the urge to bring my wallet from my purse.

About a year ago, I hit a Bobbi Brown phase, and dumped a lot of money in a short period of time on Bobbi's products. While everything I tried was nice, I never felt like I just had to use it. I'd get something new, and wouldn't feel that urge to take off the makeup I was wearing to apply the new whatever. I've swapped away quite a bit of it, and kept only a few things that I really like. This blush is one of those pieces.

Bobbi's blushes are $24 each. You get 0.13 oz of blush in a black, square pan that fits into any of Bobbi's  customizable palettes.To compare, MAC blushes are $19.50 for 0.21 ounces for the potted variety, and $16.50 for the propan.

Pink Coral is described as a "a bright warm pink." While I see the pink, I think the description is missing the yellow tone that brings this color into the coral family, which is reflected in the name. The pan would indicate loads of glitter, but I don't really see that when it's applied. While pink isn't a color I can wear easily, I like this color on me, despite the strong pink tone. It definitely is a warm toned color, and lasts all day on me, unlike other higher end blushes (*cough* NARS*cough*).

I also really appreciate Bobbi's palette system. Everything can be removed from it's original case and put into her palettes. She even sells palette-ready foundation, concealers, lipglosses and lipsticks, perfect for putting together your own face-case (remember that Urban Decay product from back in the day? I wanted all of them!) for a trip, and then rearranging once you return home.

Overall, I like this blush. I'm not convinced it's terribly unique (I have a Sonia Kashuk blush that looks suspiciously similar, which I need to swatch and review and stuff). The last power makes it a winner in my book, though.

Revlon Custom Eyes Naturally Glamorous Palette - Review

Revlon has always struck me as a grandma-brand. When I was younger, it seemed impossibly expensive (that sounds so funny to say now, though), and they always seemed to use older models than young, hip, and less expensive brands like Maybelline. As I've grown up, and had the opportunity to try some of Revlon's products, I'll have to say that I'm not that impressed. Sure, they're okay, mediocre at best, but they don't justify that higher (drugstore) price tag.

There are a few exceptions, however. This palette is one of them. I read a post on Makeupalley saying these cable-knit-looking palettes were amazing, soft, buttery, just the best thing ever. When cruising through my local Fred Meyer during a 40% Revlon sale, I decided to give one a try, and since I'm a fan of neutrals, Naturally Glamorous was the best choice for me.

Each palette has 5 shadows, and retails for between $10 - $13. The shadows all share the same pan, there's no dividers between them. I've already gotten rid of the applicator, but it was the standard fair for drugstore palettes - two different shaped sponges on a stick. No mirror is included with this palette, which is normal, as well.

 The back just has a diagram of where to place the colors should go to create a specific look.

Each palette contains a liner shadow, two - three lid colored shadows, and a a highlighting shade. All of the colors in the palette lean warm. The liner shade, number 5, is a deep, blackened brown with shimmer. The neighboring shade, number 4, is a warm browned-gold. The highlight shade, number 3, is a light gold, that's just a touch frosty. Next, number 2, is a coppery-gold color, and last, number 1, is a golden taupe, sort of. The picture above is with flash, the picture below is no flash. You can see how different that last shade looks.

No names were provided for these colors, which seems normal for drugstore palettes. All of the shadows are decently pigmented, the only problem is that 3 of the 4 shades look very, very similar. They're by no means identical, but they seem superfluous, especially since the differences are fairly hard to notice when applied on my eye.

The texture, however, is the definitely the best thing about this palette. They feel very, very creamy, almost to the point where you start to wonder if they're cream shadows. They wear fairly well, and last on my lids 11 hours or so, at which point I remove my makeup.The liner doesn't really work as a liner, unless using a pencil brush, like the MAC 219. An angled liner brush, like the MAC 266, doesn't work.

I'm very impressed with this palette. I wish there were different shades in this palette, to really make it worth the money. Shades 2 and 4 are very, very similar. But, they wear and blend so nicely. Even shade 3, which could've been a frosty nightmare, is pleasant to use. I would definitely recommend this palette for neutral gals (and guys!) everywhere!

Tarte Pure Maracuja Oil - Review

With both of the QVC TSV kits that I've ordered this year came a sample of Tarte's hyped maracuja, or passionfruit seed oil. Since I had two, I figured I might as well use one, so I used the first one I had received.

Tarte makes several claims, and backs them with some survey results. You can view these claims here. The bottle I used contained 0.17 fluid ounces, and lasted about a month using 3 - 4 drops from the included dropper once daily, before bed. Since several of the claims are based on 6 weeks' usage, I'll highlight those I can comment on:

• In a consumer use study, 100% of subjects agree the Pure Maracuja Oil application directions are easy to understand and the product is easy to use.
• In a consumer use study, 90.7% of subjects agree Pure Maracuja Oil absorbs quickly and doesn't leave any oily residue on skin after application.
• In a consumer use study, 96.3% of subjects agree skin appeared smoother after 3 weeks of use.
• In a consumer use study, 88.9% of subjects agree skin appeared more radiant/luminous after 3 weeks of use.
• In a consumer use study, 83.3% of subjects agree there's a visible improvement in even skin tone after 3 weeks of use.
• In a consumer use study, 88.9% of subjects agree there's a visible improvement in skin texture after 3 weeks of use.
• In a consumer use study, 90.7% of subjects agree there's a visible improvement in skin’s moisture after 3 weeks of use.
• In a consumer use study, 64.8% of subjects agree pore size looks visibly reduced after 3 weeks of use.
• In a consumer use study, 77.8% of subjects agree fine lines and wrinkles look visibly reduced after 3 weeks of use.
• In a consumer use study, 81.5% of subjects agree skin elasticity has visibly improved after 3 weeks of use.
• In a consumer use study, 90.7% of subjects agree there's an overall visible improvement in skin after 3 weeks of use.
• In a consumer use study, 90.7% of subjects agree skin appears renewed and rejuvenated after 3 weeks of use.

Gah. That's a lot of claims! So, is this snake oil? Or, it is a miracle worker? For the retail price of $46, I have to say, I wasn't overly impress. For your $46, you get 1.7 fl oz, which, using the same amount that I did, should last close to a year. 

I'll tackle the claims in order, for clarity's sake. I really like they included a statistic for how many people found the product, essentially, easy to use. Really? I guess they needed to have something that was at a nice, round, 100%. Yes, this oil is easy to use. I agree with this claim. I'd also agree the oil absorbs quickly, and my skin didn't feel oily. So, Tarte is right on that claim as well.

My skin didn't appear smoother, or more radiant, after 3 weeks. In fact, it looked.... the same as it did the month before. No change occurred with my skin tone - nothing was really evened out. The texture of my skin wasn't changed, and my skin was no more dry or oily than it had been before. My pores are still the size of compact parking spaces, so no change there. I cannot comment on the fine lines and wrinkles claim, yet, nor can I comment on the elasticity claim. 

The last two claims didn't hold true for me, either. My skin looked, essentially, the same after 4 weeks of daily use. I can say my face felt soft in the morning, as I applied this product at night.

So, is a soft face worth $46? No, because passionfruit seed oil is available at much more reasonable prices elsewhere, like here, or here. From The Herbarie (second link), 1 ounce is only $5.15, although they do have a minimum purchase requirement of $30.00 (they carry a lot of great oils, though!).

Would I purchase this product? Nope. Absolutely not at the price of $46. I balked, initially, at buying Bobbi Brown's EXTRA Face Oil, thinking I could make a ton of it for super cheap, but you can't. The price of jojoba oil is skyrocketing, and the EXTRA Face Oil contains very expensive essential oils (like Neroli, and Sandalwood). The Maracuja Oil has... Maracuja oil. Blended with a little more maracuja oil. That is available in a non-fancy bottle for less than $6.00. Tarte had an opportunity to make something great by adding some of these ingredients, but they decided not to. So, I won't be paying for this.

MAC Studio Careblend Pressed Powder - Review

I'm a total sucker for MAC stuff. My collection is at least 60% MAC, and I still get all excited about future launches. The one place I don't really have a full MAC collection is foundations and powders. I don't really know why - I've tried a few MAC foundations, and liked them well enough. I really like Blot powder, as well, but I just don't ever think to use it. I've been dying, however, to get my grubby hands on the Studio Careblend Pressed Powder since it debuted earlier this year. To keep myself out of trouble, I don't venture near MAC counters or stores (the last time I did, my bank account was about $150 lighter than it had been), so I had rely on swapping. Finally, I was able to swap for Studio Careblend Pressed Powder in Light Plus.

This powder retails for $23.00. Packaged in the standard black compact, with a mirror inside the lid, there's nothing very ground breaking here. MAC says:

Formulated to provide a smooth, virtually invisible, fresh-looking finish, this soft, cream-like powder is carefully blended to provide the skin with extra care, nourishment and comfort.

In all honesty, this powder doesn't feel creamy at all. Maybe I associate "creamy" with moist (what an unpleasant word that is), but it just feels like any other powder. Light Plus is very, very, yellow on me. Almost to the point that it's not a great match for me, a light NC15 (I have a feeling I'd be more of a neutral match in most MAC foundations.

The bottom swatch is not blended, while I did blend some in above it. As you can see, it does blend well using my finger, so with a brush, it's even better. It does provide very light coverage, more than Blot does, and I've heard some say they really like to set tinted moisturizers with this, because it boosts the coverage just a bit. Since I'm currently using the Tarte Amazonian Clay foundation, I thought I'd like the extra coverage, but it just doesn't appear to add anything on my face.

This powder isn't geared towards my skin type, I think. I've been told I have dehydrated skin that manifests itself as being oily (which both makes sense, and doesn't make any sense), and this powder doesn't seem to hold up to oils at all. I have to blot within hours of applying. I've tried pressing the powder in with a powder sponge, with a brush, and then just brushing it on. Nothing seems to make it defeat my t-zone's oil attack. I can't fault the product, though, since it's not really designed to be a blotting powder.

I was curious about the "comfort" aspect of the claims, wondering if this powder would address the surface redness of my cheeks. It didn't, but since MAC didn't make any claims that it would, I also can't fault the powder in this respect, however, the yellow-tone didn't really do much for my skin, either.

Overall, I won't buy this in the future. I'll keep this until winter, when my skin is a touch drier, to see how I feel, but... I'm not a seasonal makeup kind of girl. I want products that work 365 days a year, not 2 or 3 months a year.

Smashbox Brow Tech Trio - Review

Brow powder has to be the most unexciting thing to shop for, ever. At least it takes forever and a day or so to finish, though. I had a $10.00 Pretty Points certificate from Smashbox that was close to expiring, and decided to use it towards a product I've been overly curious to try, so for a mere $14.00, I selected the Brow Tech Trio in Soft Brown/Taupe (this product retails for $24.00).


Smashbox says:

We took one of our most popular core products and made it even better. Our brow trios have 2 shades of hair color-coordinated powders for a perfect match every time. Fill in brows with the lighter shade, define with the darker, then use the wax to seal them in place all day. Pair with Angle Brow Brush #12 for flawless application.

I was drawn to this product originally because it does have 2 shades of powder. It appears they no longer sell the single-color pot of brow powder, however, you can by just the brow wax here.


Although I have red hair, my brows are a disappointing brownish taupey color. I pray every day that my hair doesn't fade to this color as I age. If it does, I'm totally going to try using henna to get back the red. Moving on... I'm not close to finishing my MAC Brow Shader in Buttery/Blond Taupe (like I said, it takes forever to finish brow stuff), but I wanted something new, and in particular, I wanted to try Brow Tech, because it is almost always mentioned as a great brow product.

Not surprisingly, the colors of the powders are a soft brown, and a taupe. Like my brows, they are both ever-so-slightly cool. The wax is clear, but definitely provides some "shine" to my brows after I've applied. I appreciate that Smashbox didn't divide this trio into 3 equal parts, because I use the wax more than either powder. I'm still working with the colors to make the best match for my brows, since neither color is dead on, however, I like the ability to create a stronger brow by using more of the darker colored powder, or a softer brow using more of the lighter color. Both powders are very nicely pigmented, and easy to work with. I'm really liking the effect of the wax, as well. I've never had an issue with my brow powder migrating around my face or anything, but the shine is nice, but subtle.


I used my MAC 266 or 208 to apply the powder and wax, and I don't clean my brush after using the powder, as you can tell. After applying the wax, I use a brow brush to fix my brows where I want them (and I have a wild hair or two that just want to stick out a little - the brushing helps reign them in a bit, and ensure the wax is distributed evenly).


Overall, this is a sold product. It's easy to use, pigmented, and does what it should. I think it's a little pricey, however. $24 for a trio that's the same size as the standard MAC (or Smashbox, for that matter,) eyeshadow is a bit much - I wish it were a little bigger. The size issue isn't a terrible problem, since you could depot this and put in a palette, if you wanted to. Additionally, I'm fairly confident, that I won't run out of one particular shade before the other, and the wax hopefully will last as long as the powders, assuming it doesn't dry our or harden in any way. The Brow Tech Trio has it's good points, and it's bad. At this time, It's a suitable replacement for my Brow Shader (that doesn't need replacing, since I have at least 50% left). I'm not convinced I'll repurchase.