January 2019 - Reviews and Other Stuff

Month: January 2019

La Mer The Luminous Lifting Cushion Foundation SPF 20 & The Soft Fluid Long Wear Foundation SPF 20 Review

January 24, 2019 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Hello Friends! Several weeks ago, I stumbled upon a sample of the La Mer Soft Fluid Long Wear Foundation and I was really impressed with it. Before that, I think I may have only tried a few La Mer products, like their famous Creme de la Mer and their Moisturizing Soft Cream (reviewed HERE). But when it comes to La Mer makeup, the last one I’ve tried and reviewed was the limited-edition La Mer The Bronzing Powder (read HERE), after that, I don’t think I’ve talked about La Mer items lately until I tried the amazing Soft Fluid Long Wear Foundation sample which was kind of life-changing for me.

I wasn’t really on the market for new foundations but since trying the La Mer Soft Fluid Foundation, I felt like I’ve got to have more of it. Since then, I also got curious about their Luminous Lifting Cushion Foundation and have read good reviews about it. So, here’s a side by side comparison and contrast of two of La Mer’s bestselling foundations.

The Luminous Lifting Cushion Foundation SPF 20 + Refill in Warm Vanilla ($120) – This cushion in Warm Vanilla is definitely meant for light skin with warm undertone. On my skin, I don’t find it to be very warm or too golden, but more like a subtle one. The cushion itself has the same scent as the Creme de la Mer but perhaps slightly milder. It has a really lightweight feel on the skin, to the point that it almost feels like not having anything on the face. It has has a natural to dewy finish that doesn’t make your face look flat or cakey. Also, there is no need to dip the sponge applicator that hard on the cushion because there is a lot of product in this sleek compact. Since the coverage of this foundation can go from medium to full, you only need to lightly tap the sponge applicator to your face. I really love the no-mess fuss-free application of this, and I find the finish to be very complementing on my skin, it’s kinda like a second skin that lasts the whole day without giving me any breakouts and I get lots of compliment whenever I use this cushion. Most of the feedbacks I typically get are from people saying they like the way my skin looks, or that it looks more even and almost poreless and flawless. Can you imagine? LOL! I also love the fact that it’s so easy to take this cushion to my travels and it’s perfect for a quick foundation application or a retouch. On top of that, it’s great to use as an everyday foundation for that minimal “no makeup” makeup look, and though it’s pricey, I’m glad that there’s a refill and an additional sponge applicator included in its packaging. Overall, this La Mer Luminous Lifting Cushion Foundation is definitely now in my holy grail list, but I feel like I also wanna test the Cle de Peau one which I heard is also good, and I’ll be giving you my two cents of the La Prairie Skin Caviar Essence-In Foundation (seen HERE) when compared to these two high-end cushion compacts. In fact, since I’ve been loving the cushions lately, I’ll be reviewing my favorite cushion foundations both high-end and drugstore pretty soon here on the blog. So stay tuned for that guys.

The Soft Fluid Long Wear Foundation SPF 20 in Shell 11 (1 oz: $120) – The Soft Fluid Long Wear Foundation sample shade that I’ve tried several weeks ago was called Natural 12 which really fits me well, but it did kinda pull a little too warm on me, so I got the regular size in Shell 11 shade which is meant for light skin with cool undertone and this shade seems perfect on me. My skin right now tends to have a neutral to cool undertone although I can still pull a mildly warm undertone like the Warm Vanilla shade of the La Mer cushion above, it just all depends on the product’s pigment, its tendency to oxidize with time, and of course the season. So far, with these two La Mer foundations, I haven’t noticed any extreme oxidation, and if there is, it’s probably very light. So back to this Soft Fluid Foundation, I find this to be very liquidy and very light, which kinda reminds me of the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua (reviewed HERE) or the Dior Forever Perfect Foundation (seen HERE). These are the type of foundations that are weightless, set well, and almost feel like second skin. The La Mer Soft Fluid Long Wear Foundation doesn’t settle into fine lines and doesn’t make you look like you packed on a ton of makeup. It has a soft luminous glow to it, kinda like a lit-from-within finish yet still very natural and the packaging is really luxurious with a heavy weighted glass material. The coverage of this foundation is medium and can be layered. I really don’t need to apply much of this on my face and I only dab a little bit of setting powder on top of it just to set the foundation well. My top favorites for setting powders are HERE. In total, I find this foundation to be very long-wearing and it stays on my face throughout the day without making it look too oily. However, this does have a weird alcohol scent blended along with its typical La Mer cream fragrance which really doesn’t seem to be so enticing to my senses, but apart from that, this foundation gives a nice youthful finish to the skin, giving you that “your skin but better” effect, blurring all the fine lines, blemishes, pores, and some other imperfections.

Final words, I love both of these foundations, but I think I may be slightly biased towards the Luminous Lifting Cushion because it’s easy for traveling and it’s perfect for a mess-free foundation application. As for the Soft Fluid, I adore its skin-perfecting effect, but the smell can be too much at times and it’s not ideal for traveling because of its heavy glass packaging. Both foundations are expensive but they’re totally worth it for their natural luminous skin effect or that effortless lit-from-within glow that lasts the whole day. They don’t slide off the face and they are definitely long-wearing. Because of these reasons, I think these foundations might be the best I’ve tried so far.

Have you tried these already? What do you think of the La Mer Makeup line in general?

The La Mer Luminous Lifting Cushion Foundation SPF 20 and The Soft Fluid Long Wear Foundation are currently available at Sephora, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, Harrods, Selfridges, and Net-A-Porter

Pink Jade Roller is from Amazon
Fenty Beauty Foundation Brush 110 is available HERE, reviewed HERE
An Inspired Life Book Journal is from Anthropologie
My Favorite Essie Gel Couture Nail Colors are swatched HERE

Natasha Denona Eyeshadow Palette 5 & Mini Nude Eyeshadow Palette Review + Swatches

January 18, 2019 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Happy Friday Everyone! Lately, I’ve been playing with a few Natasha Denona eyeshadow palettes and today I’d like to finally review her famous eyeshadows and tell you guys what I think about them. For some time, I’ve seen and swatched the Natasha Denona Eyeshadow Palette 5 on my arms and even the Minis in-store but I’ve never really actually applied the shades on my lids. I did like the way the colors feel on my fingers because they seemed so soft and so buttery, but I was a bit put off at first because I think the price is a bit too much per eyeshadow. Anyhow, eventually I got tempted and decided to try three of the Eyeshadow Palette 5 and also the latest Mini Nude Eyeshadow. I picked the shades based on how universally wearable they are and how they’d complement my skin tone.

Eyeshadow Palette 5 (5 x 0.08 oz: $48) – This palette features five creamy buttery eye shades that are well-paired together to create a coherent and beautiful eye makeup look. All shades are really pigmented and very long-lasting and they blend very easily. Each palette has a combination of matte and shimmer finish and you can create a soft daytime eye makeup down to a date night glam look. The formula of these palettes is said to be water-resistant and is infused with real crushed pearls. While that is really something, all I know is that I’ve worn these eyeshadows in the snow and my eye makeup is still intact and on point. I haven’t experienced any fallouts with the shimmery shades from these palettes but I did notice that some of them tend to have a soft shimmery finish when applied with a brush, so if you want to enhance your lid with more shimmers, you may need to apply the shimmery colors with your finger. Other than that, I really love the soft buttery feel of these eyeshadows which kinda reminds me of the texture of my favorite Anastasia Norvina Eyeshadow Palette (swatched HERE) and the Lorac Pro Eyeshadow Palette (seen HERE).

#02 – This eyeshadow palette gives me that plum vibe. Think Urban Decay’s Naked Cherry (swatched HERE) for a slight resemblance. I feel like some of the shades in this palette may be a little too similar to each other but this palette has one of the most wearable color schemes out of all the Natasha Denona Eyeshadow Palette 5.

#04 – The color scheme of this eyeshadow palette gives me that rust vibe. Kinda like Urban Decay’s Naked Heat (seen HERE) but not quite like it exactly. This palette also has the most wearable shades out of all the ND eyeshadow palettes I’ve seen.

Camel – This palette has four varying shades of matte browns and one shimmery copper, which reminds me a bit of Chanel Clair Obscur (reviewed HERE), but I prefer the Chanel one better because one of the matte brown shades here called Safari pulled on yellowish on me as if I had jaundice, but it’s still very wearable and so are the rest of the shades.

Mini Nude Eyeshadow Palette ($25) – This travel-size palette has a very similar color scheme to the Camel palette above but this one has three shimmery shades and two matte ones.

Out of all the palettes reviewed here, my most favorite is actually #04 because it seems to complement my skin tone very well and next would be the Mini Nude Eyeshadow. I do find that names of each eyeshadow don’t seem to correspond to their true colors, and their shades tend to differ a lot when photographed on a natural light versus in a shade.

Overall, I love these eyeshadows a lot. On a scale of 1 to 10, one being “very poor”, and ten being “very impressive”, I’d give these palettes a score of 8 to 8.5. I love these for the long-lasting pigment and coherent color scheme, on top of that, they’re great for oily lids since they don’t settle into the crease.

Have you tried these palettes before? What do you think? Are you a fan of Natasha Denona Eyeshadows?

The Natasha Denona Eyeshadow Palette 5 & Mini Nude Eyeshadow Palette are currently available at Sephora and natashadenona.com

What’s In My Bag? The YSL (Saint Laurent) Monogram Chain Wallet Review

January 16, 2019 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Hello You! It’s been a while since you guys took a peek at what’s inside my purse. Lately, I’ve been obsessing about this Saint Laurent (YSL) Monogram Quilted Leather Wallet on a Chain Bag in Black (1.1 lbs: $1,650). Without any intention, and for some reason, I realized that YSL is becoming my favorite bag brand and I am slowly morphing into a YSL girl. Last time I checked, I seem to own more Saint Laurent bags than any other brands out there. I guess I just really love their versatile and edgy style.

Since the YSL Wallet on Chain is my bag of choice this Winter, let’s take a look at the things I stuffed inside it and how this bag had held up so far for me. Take note that I’ve had this bag for barely a year but I’ve been using this a lot on a daily basis at most.

Size

Since this bag is more of a wallet as opposed to a real purse that can hold a considerable amount of stuff, expect to see this bag to be pretty small, or you could say that this is more like a large wallet with a nice luxurious chain strap. The shoulder drop of this bag is about 19 inches and the height is around 6 inches with a length of 9 inches. So this looks more like an envelope wallet purse with an expandable width of about 1 inch to a few inches more. I wouldn’t stuff this bag with a lot of things or else its look could get deformed.

Style

The style of this bag is very versatile. It’s perfect for just about any activity or occasion, and it just elevates any wardrobe. Depending on its color, like my black one here in this review, this bag can carry you from a daytime gathering to a nice and formal glam evening. The chain strap is on the heavy side so it helps to make the bag more stable on your shoulder, and if it’s in gold-tone like mine, then it makes the bag look even more elegant and dramatic. Further, this bag is easy to use with its snap button closure.

Functionality

This bag is really light and pretty much easy to carry. The chain is on the heavy side which rolls around a lot and tends to have a life of its own (lol) but it makes the bag feel really well-made. I like the height of the shoulder drop of this bag which is not too long and not too short for my petite frame (5’3) and I could wear this as a shoulder bag or as a crossbody. Inside, this wallet on chain purse can fit twenty card slots and has one coin pocket with a zipper closure in the middle. I haven’t really placed any coins in the coin pocket so far, but I do place my very important cards, bills, and any documents in it that I wanted to be secured. When it comes to the card slots, I do think that this Saint Laurent Wallet on Chain bag is the perfect purse for storing just about any cards you may have, but you might be wondering why I’m still carrying a separate card case like the Gucci and the YSL one below? That’s because from time to time I may have to carry a large bag or a tote for some work-related activities and I need to easily transfer my personal belongings from one bag to another, also I’ve been traveling a lot recently and I didn’t carry this YSL bag with me. On top of that, card cases are much faster for me to use and grab instead of diving my fingers inside this purse that has a dark lining and tight slots, which require some breaking in period. Eventually, I would have to stuff all my cards into this wallet purse and then I might be able to add more stuff later on, like a small eyeshadow compact plus some other flat-shaped objects.

What Can Fit Inside?

For now, here’s a bunch of stuff I managed to fit inside this wallet in chain purse.

Nars Velvet Matte Lipstick Pencil in Walkyrie (0.086 oz: $27) – burnt coral red, one of my favorite lip shades this Winter. Love the texture and finish of this lip pencil.
Chanel Rouge Allure Liquid Powder in 960 Avant-Gardiste (0.3 oz: $30) – love this shade a lot and this is a long-lasting easy-to-use innovative lip powder. See the swatch HERE.
Boscia Black Charcoal Blotting Linen (100 Sheets: $10) – this blotting sheet has black bamboo charcoal and it absorbs any excess oil from the face. See my favorite blotting sheets rounded up in this review HERE.
Gucci GG Marmont Matelassé Leather Card Case in Dusty Pink ($250) – love the soft leather feel of this card case so much and the color is just so pretty. This has a center slip pocket and four card slots.
Benefit Cosmetics “Laughter is the Best Cosmetic” Small Flip Mirror – got this for free from my Sephora Rewards Points. I wanted a flat mirror to store inside this YSL wallet purse, so this Benefit small flip mirror fits the bill and it looks really cute.
Saint Laurent Monogram Quilted Leather Card Case in Shocking Pink ($275) – a finely-pebbled calfskin leather with YSL-metal initials card case that looks chic and has an interior pocket with four card slots.
L’occitane Mini Hand Cream (1 oz: $12) – this is a tiny classic L’occitane Shea Butter hand cream that can fit inside this bag. Love this cream for this winter since my hand gets dry easily. I wish I could fit my Chanel La Creme Main hand cream in this bag (reviewed HERE), but this classic staple from L’occitane is a good alternative.
Beter Pocket Comb ($3.57) – got this in Spain years ago when I realized I forgot my 16-year old comb (yeah that ancient, lol) which was given to me by my best friend in High School. So I went into panic mode and walked to the nearest convenience store in Passeig de Gracia where I found this really flat and handy Beter comb. I’m not a fan of its narrow-spaced bristles as I prefer a wide-toothed one, but this comb is cheap, fits anywhere, great for teasing, perfect for keeping my side-part style, and it’s good enough to make me look human, LOL.

iPhone X – yes this bag can also fit an iPhone, even the larger ones, but definitely not an iPad or an iPad Mini. As you can see, I’m listening to Troye Sivan while taking photos for this review.

Other Things In My Bag

I’ve got a few weird stuff that is honestly inside my bag. Number one, a Bravo Gift Card given to me by one of my good friends because I love to eat at Bravo, LOL. Two, I also have a pink Parker pen – my pen of choice (brand and color). I always keep a pen inside my bag just in case I need to write something or if someone wants to borrow a pen (girl scout). I also love to collect Parker pens because they write so well, so I make sure that I always have a Parker pen in each of my bags. The last thing in my bag are these two fortunes from the last fortune cookies I ate, LOL. Yeah, I’m the type that reads every fortune after eating any fortune cookie, and I tend to keep some of them just for the fun part. So, if my fortune tells me right, I really need to find out who this acquaintance is. Hmmm…

Durability

Since I got the bag, I’ve been using it a lot almost non-stop. I haven’t really seen or noticed any scratches, not even at the edges. I have placed this bag anywhere and everywhere and it still looks good as new. However, it hasn’t been a year since I owned it, so I’ll take note of its wear and tear after a couple of years. But so far, I am impressed with this bag and its overall quality, and I think it really helps that it’s made of embossed grain leather.

Drawback

One thing’s for sure, you can’t stuff a lot of things inside this bag. This is really pretty much a straight-up wallet on chain type of bag where you can indeed store a ton of cards in it and a few necessities, but that’s about it. All your other important stuff has to be inside your pocket or in another larger bag. This is more of a made-for-quick/casual-gathering type of bag or for a formal evening bag. Can’t put my groceries in here, LOL.

Verdict

Why I love it? Even though this bag doesn’t hold much, not even my necessities like my house and car keys which I now put in my pocket, but this bag has taught me to carry only the very important stuff, just the things that I really need and this has made my life a bit easier and simpler. Since this bag is lightweight and can be worn crossbody or as a shoulder bag, this is so much easier to carry than my other bags and they keep my hands free.

Do you also own this bag? What do you like most about it? Are you a fan of YSL bags?

The YSL (Saint Laurent) Monogram Chain Wallet is currently available at Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Selfridges, Harrods, and Barneys New York

Other items seen in this review

*Hourglass Palette is the Ambient Lighting Edit Volume 3, swatched HERE. Latest Volume 4 is still available HERE.

*Dior Addict Lip Tattoo, reviewed HERE

*Sunglasses from Balenciaga, found at Saks Off Fifth in-store

*Giorgio Armani Rouge D’ Armani Matte Lipstick, swatched HERE