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FASHION & BEAUTY

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Volume 3 & Confession Ultra Slim High Intensity Refillable Lipstick Review + Swatches

November 16, 2017 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Hello Everybody, in my previous reviews, I’ve talked about the Becca Apres Ski Glow Face Palette (HERE), which I am still very madly in love with. But, there’s another face palette that I just couldn’t resist. It’s been on my radar for quite a while now, but I just can’t seem to make my mind on it unless I’d see it in real life. Given its price, I almost skipped on it, but when the Sephora Beauty Insider Event Sale came and I caught a glimpse of it immediately, I knew it’s going be another one of those love at first sight palettes. The Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Volume 3 ($80) is such a beaut and it’s probably one of the most beautiful palettes I’ve ever seen. As I placed one in my shopping basket, guess what I saw? another OMFG, those Hourglass Confession Lipsticks! Jesus, my uncle, I had to stop myself, but I heard Amy Winehouse singing in the background saying “They told me I should go to rehab, I said, no…no…no…” so yeah, the damage was done, I got the Ambient Lighting Edit V3 Palette plus two Hourglass Confession Lipsticks. Mery me.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Volume 3 ($80): Currently sold out at Sephora, but I’m pretty sure this will be restocked soon. This rose gold palette is shiny and luxurious looking. A real eye-catcher containing three of Hourglass’ bestselling shades, plus three new exclusives with a total of six different shades; two are setting powders (upper left and right shades) that color-corrects and blurs imperfections, while the upper middle shade is a universally-flattering highlighter. The lower left shade is a bronzer, while the remaining middle and right shades are blushes with different intensities.

To me, this face palette has it all. I love that I can use the finishing powders after applying my foundation, then I proceed into using the bronzer shade for contouring, while I use the sole highlighter to focus on the high points of my face where the light could hit. I then choose which blush I’d feel like using for that day, depending on the occasion and my mood, or I could just blend the two. For me, this palette is not only gorgeous, but I love its very soft texture, its natural effect on the face which is sheer but buildable, and it also gives that “lit from within” effect. I’ve tested the shades several times already, and while it’s no surprise how well pigmented they are, I’m really impressed with their lasting power. I applied the colors in the morning and I came home in the evening still with the same intensity of pigments on my face. There are two Holiday face Palettes that I think are worth having; one of them is the Becca Apres Ski Glow Face Palette (reviewed HERE) and the other one is this Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Volume 3. I might be a bit more biased towards this Hourglass one because it has more colors to choose from, and I love the fact that there are 2 finishing powders included in it. It has everything you’ll ever need in a face palette, and on top of that, it’s very compact, handy, and perfect for traveling. This is a must-have.

Hourglass Confession Ultra Slim High Intensity Refillable Lipstick ($34): These uniquely-packaged lipsticks will make you happy and sad at the same time. Oh well, first, let’s talk about the good news first. These lipsticks are housed in luxurious slim golden tubes with one pointy end. A bit like golden pointy cigarettes. These lipsticks scream luxe. What I love about these are their bold pigments. You can’t be heavy-handed while applying these. I find that I only have to apply this to some portions of my lips (sometimes dab), then I can just spread the shade all over without a problem. The formula is creamy and it settles into a satin-like finish. The lasting power is pretty good, probably around 4 to 5 hours on me, with some staining left on my lips. I love the fact that they’re refillable and the refill’s price is a bit cheaper. They’re pretty much easy to refill and it’s a no-brainer, although I tried to practice it at Sephora and I almost dropped the lipstick. But it’s just me, you know, because I’m clumsy. Anyways, these lipsticks are tiny and really slim. They’ll fit anywhere without a problem and I love their catchy “confess and fill in the blanks” kind of name. They’re almost pretty much easy and precise to apply on the lips. But here goes my beef on these. What a price for such tiny and slim lipsticks! It’s hard to justify collecting the shades, even though the range of shades is one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen. I feel like having one or three of these are probably enough. So you really need to carefully pick which color suits you.

Here are my two faves:

I’m Addicted: Terracotta Rose. My favorite everyday medium muted rose shade. Reminds me a lot of my other favorite everyday shade, the one that’s always in my purse, the YSL #66 Bois de Rose.

I’ve Been: Deep Rose Brown. A pretty perfect for Fall rosy brown shade. Very alluring.

Overall, I think these are such gorgeous makeup must-haves not only for the holidays but for the whole year. The Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit V3 Palette is a must for me, but I think any of Becca’s Face Palettes especially the Apres Ski would be a good alternative. If you can stomach the price on the Confession Lipsticks, given its size, then it’s good to have at least one.

Have you tried any of these?

The Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Volume 3 is currently available at Nordstrom, Bergdorf Goodman, & Net-A-Porter

The Hourglass Confession Ultra Slim High Hight Intensity Refillable Lipstick can be purchased at Sephora, Nordstrom, Barneys NY, Space NK, Bergdorf Goodman, & Net-A-Porter

Buh Bye

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Dior Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer Powder Review & Swatches

November 14, 2017 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Hey Friends! Have you been stalking the Sephora website lately? The Beauty Insider Event is still going on, but not for long though. It’s going to be just until tomorrow, so better check your wish list before it’s too late. But anyway, the holidays are coming and for sure there will be some deals here and there. Who wouldn’t want to treat ourselves once in a while? Here’s a Dior beauty you may wanna try while taking advantage of the beauty sales that’s been happening lately.

I’m a huge highlighter junkie and mind you, the highlighter trend saga is here to stay for a very long time, and it’s just going to get better. I know everybody wants that glow from within even if it’s chilly and gloomy outside, so here’s the highlighter that I’m so in love with lately – the Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer (0.21 oz for $56). Every time I’m at Sephora, I always spot them and test them on my arms. Just that gorgeous glow really made my heart skip a bit, lol. But I was a bit put off because of the price, after all, it’s Dior.

Anyways, when the first Sephora VIB Rouge Sale came, just about a week ago, I decided on two colors of these that I think would look really great on my skin. Since then, I’ve been using these non-stop, day and night.

001 Nude Glow – A very natural and universally-flattering shade. I believe this is the shade to have if you’re just planning to get one of these Dior Nude Air Luminizers. Also, it works really well for any skin tone, so you can’t go wrong with this golden-pearl natural soft shimmer.

002 Pink Glow – A nice pearly pink shimmer if you have a fair to light or light to medium skin tone. My complexion really pulled this off, and I tend to use this if I wanted a bit more glow than the natural Nude Glow Luminizer above.

The two shades that I don’t have are the; 003 Golden Glow, which is a Midas touch kind of gold shimmer, and the 004 Bronzed Glow, which is a true bronze shimmer and a lot darker than my skintone.

Don’t expect a blinding highlight effect from these. No, you’re not going to cause a traffic accident, just a soft natural lit-from-within kind of look. You can pretty much use any brush to apply these, but I love the mini kabuki brush that came with these compacts. It’s so soft and it really hugs the shape of my cheeks. Sometimes, I even use Rihanna’s Fenty Cheek-Hugging Highlight Brush (reviewed HERE) to get a more dramatic effect out of these highlighters. Speaking of the packaging, each compact is neatly packed and it comes with a free velvet pouch for storing, aside from the cute mini kabuki brush that works wonders.

Compared to other popular highlighters out there, I’d say, these Diorskin Nude Air Luminizers are definitely up there in the ranks of the top must-have highlighters. If you compare it to Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Highlighters (reviewed and swatched HERE), I feel like the Dior Nude Air Luminizers are even way softer and has a very natural sheer effect. The Becca’s are really buildable for that dramatic glow, while the Dior’s are great for that everyday natural dewy look. When compared to the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder, hmmm, hard to tell, I feel like both are pretty much the same in terms of their sheerness and natural soft glow effect. But anyway, whichever you’ll try of all these, I’m pretty sure you’re going to like the way you look. I guarantee it 🙂

Stay glowy my friends!

The Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer is available at Sephora, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, Dillard’s, Selfridges, Harrod’s, Orchard Mile & JC Penney

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Becca Apres Ski Glow Face Palette Review + Swatches

November 9, 2017 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Hello You Guys! the holidays are coming and so are the latest gorgeous holiday palettes popping out of Sephora and Ulta lately. It’s been crazy to see all these limited edition beauties! They’re so tempting, and with Sephora’s VIB Rouge 20% OFF Beauty Insider Event which happened a few days ago (they’re doing it again tomorrow) it’s kinda hard to resist. I’ve been contemplating which palette to purchase, but here’s one that I think is worth buying.

The Becca Après Ski Glow Face Palette ($54) is a limited edition highlighter-blush-bronzer palette in one. It features four of Becca’s bestselling shades; Two versatile Shimmering Skin Pressed Perfector Highlighters in Opal and Rose Quartz (reviewed further HERE), a luminous blush in Blushed Copper, and the Bronzed Bondi Bronzer. A new highlighter shade called Icicle has been added to the palette, and it also contains the new rosy pink mineral blush called Winter Berry. This highlighter is pretty much similar to the previously released Becca x Chrissy Teigen Glow Face Palette (also reviewed HERE), but with more shades to choose from. The packaging is elegant. It even came with a sample of Becca First Light Priming Filter. Size-wise, this palette is slightly larger than the Chrissy Teigen collab.

This palette has a really good color payoff for each shade, so you have to be really light handed when using these. I do feel like they’re probably a bit more pigmented than the Chrissy Teigen ones and I love the fact that I can do my whole contouring and strobing agenda in one single palette. It’s time-saving and practical to have. I also love the large mirror that comes with this palette so I could see my entire face while applying my makeup. Not only that, I love the snowflakes/pine etching on the palette. It reminds me of skiing in the Alps or the Pyrenees.

I feel like this palette could really work in almost all skin tones because each shade is so versatile. The Rose Quartz and Opal highlighters are great for light to medium skin tones, while the new shade called Icicle, which is a pearly shade with little flecks of blue is quite prismatic and ideal for lighter skin tones. The matte Winter Berry blush is also quite versatile and is very similar to the Blush in the Chrissy Teigen palette. Even the Bronzed Bondi matte bronzer is very similar as well. The Blushed Copper shade is very interesting for me. It looks like a bronzer, but apparently, it’s a blush that has shimmers. For me, it seems very versatile, as you can probably use this as a highlighter/blush if you have a deeper complexion, and you can also probably use this as a bronzer/blush if your complexion is on the lighter side. There’s a lot of things you can do with this shade. Also, if you like the eyeshadow version of this, Becca also released the Apres Ski Eye Lights Palette.

I do think that this Becca Après Ski Glow Palette is one of the best palettes on the market nowadays, and one of this year’s best holiday releases. I like the fact that “it’s got everything” type of palette. You pretty much get what you pay for and what you need in one single beautiful compact. The pigments are amazing and it retains the similar formulation/texture as most of Becca’s Shimmering Skin Pressed Perfector Highlighters, Blushes and Bronzers. To be honest, I kinda prefer this over the Chrissy Teigen Glow Face Palette. Though larger and bulkier for traveling, at least none of the colors looked very identical to each other. The two highlighters on the Chrissy Teigen ones looked very identical to my skin tone, so I feel like I could really only use three of that palette’s shades.

The thing that I like about this palette is that you can customize your look. You can either have a post-ski glow, or you can look like a beach bum. Up to you, but for me, this palette is one of the best holiday beauty must have.

What makeup palettes are you dreaming of lately?

The Becca Après Ski Glow Face Palette is currently available at Sephora, Ulta, Dermstore, QVC, & Revolve

The Becca Après Ski Eye Lights Palette can also be found at Sephora, Revolve, Ulta, & Dermstore

Becca x Chrissy Teigen Glow Face Palette is also available at Sephora, Ulta, QVC, & Revolve

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