Reviews and Other Stuff

Kevyn Aucoin The Contour Duo On The Go Review

February 21, 2017 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Hello Everybody! I’ve got an exciting contouring product to introduce to you all. The Kevyn Aucoin Contour Duo On the Go. It’s a little contouring compact that’s great for traveling or to keep in your purse. Isn’t that awesome? now we get to contour and define our cheekbones wherever we will go. Love it already!

I first discovered this teeny tiny compact contour (about the size of a business card) when I forgot my Smashbox Step-By-Step Contour Trio (reviewed HERE), which we all know are quite tricky to blend. I saw Kevyn Aucoin’s Contour On The Go close to the checkout line of Sephora and I immediately grabbed one because I really really needed to contour my face no matter what. I cannot get out of the house without my contour. In fact, I would die if I cannot contour. LOL ???? So yeah, off I went and got myself a new contouring product.

The two shades of this compact, composed of a highlighter and a bronzer are each roughly around the size of an eyeshadow pan, or perhaps the size of a stamp or even slightly larger. It’s really an itty bitty contour compact, but it works like a charm. The formula is quite sheer but buildable, and it’s crease-free. Though the shades might be more on the cool side, this Kevyn Aucoin The Contour Duo On The Go works really well on my medium skin tone. The highlighter gives a sheer and subtle glow to illuminate the face, while the bronzer gives a natural definition to my cheeks and jaws. Makes me feel like Nefertiti Queen Of The Nile, but really, am just going to the Gas Station. Hahaha! Why not coconut?

I think this Kevyn Aucoin The Contour Duo On The Go contour compact is really great to have. It’s perfect to carry anywhere and it really helps to define and sculpt your face no matter where you go. All that you’ll need is a good travel contour brush, and I recommend the bareMinerals Retractable Precision Brush.

Thanks for reading guys! and keep on contouring!

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YSL Rouge Pur Couture The Mats, Part II

February 20, 2017 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Howdy All! Today’s review is going to be exciting because we’ll be talking about YSL Rouge Pur Couture The Mats, again. But before that, the part 1 of this review can be found HERE. Since you all know that I’m an avid fan of YSL lipsticks, I have added four more of their matte lipsticks, called The Mats, as part of my personal stash of YSL lippies. You might be wondering why YSL? Because I just love their lip product’s formulation, the overall feel, longevity, and their gorgeous colors! There’s something about YSL’s lip products that makes your lip radiant, glowy, and simply beautiful.

We all know that YSL beauty recently added a couple more shades to the Rouge Pur Couture The Mats, and there’s quite some exciting colors to choose from. I had my eyes on the shades; 214, 217 and 218 and 206 shade.

Aside from the creamy and long-lasting YSL Rouge Pur Couture Lipsticks that I adore, I’m also a huge fan of The Mats. Their velvety matte formula is not like most matte lipsticks in the market nowadays. They sort of have this non-drying satiny matte feel that is comfortable on the lips while lasting for hours. They don’t feel heavy and leaves a soft stain even without reapplication.

The YSL Rouge Pur Couture The Mats still retain the same flavor that goes with any YSL lippies, which you may hate or love. As for me, it doesn’t bother me that much since I got used to their melon-mango flavor. Another thing I love about these lipsticks is that they have such gorgeous packaging. You can even engrave them whenever you purchase them at YSL’s website.

Here are my 4 faves:

218 (Coral Remix) – Pretty nude shade with a hint of coral. It’s the perfect daywear lipstick and can be worn by anybody with a medium skin tone. The texture is quite creamier than most The Mats.

214 (Wood On Fire) – This is a light red shade for those who like red, but not too much red. Think of it as an everyday red lipstick that doesn’t go over the top. It’s also a bit creamy.

217 (Nude Trouble) – This shade is definitely not nude. You could call it a nude pink-mauve perhaps, but this is more like a muted mauve that works really well if you have a medium skintone and sort of pigmented lips. Texture-wise, this feels like a perfect velvet-matte.

206 (Grenat Satisfaction) – This mix of dark, plum, brown and red shade is beyond gorgeous! Though this lipstick feels a bit drier compared to the other The Mats lipsticks, I think this is my kind of shade because it fits my skintone well.

Arm Swatch:

I like all the shades that I featured here, but if I have to rank them among each other, it would be; 4th place – 214, 3rd place – 217, 2nd – 218, and 1st- 206.

What do you think of these YSL Rouge Pur Couture The Mats? Any lipstick brands you swear by?

To see what’s coming next, follow me on Instagram: @reviewsandotherstuff

Bye for now!

Beautyblender Review

February 16, 2017 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

This review might be a bit too late, but I’d like to give my two cents about our favorite and the most popular makeup sponge ever, the Beautyblender. We all love this sorta memory foam-ish for the face. This Allure best of beauty winner is truly a makeup tool wonder. It comes with different colors and purposes, and it blends our makeup very well. From foundations to CC creams, to concealers to tanners, name it, there’s a Beautyblender for it. All you need is water, squeeze out excess H20, keep it damp and bounce it on your favorite creams or makeup foundations, primer, concealer, etc, and keep blending. Not only do this Beautyblender look cute, like a cross between Humpty Dumpty and a large marshmallow, but it’s reusable, versatile, easy to use and saves you the time and effort of reaching for your makeup brushes. It’s like an all-in-one blending tool, and the result is impressive.

But why is there such different colors? Does that mean that no two, three, or even five Beautyblenders are created the same? What are all these different colors for?

To summarize all the colors and its functions, check this out:

Original Beautyblender (Pink) – For primers, foundations, powders, cream blushes, etc.
Beautyblender Pro (Black) – Self-tanners and long-wearing makeup. Use with dark toned makeup products since lighter blenders gets easily stained with these.
Beautyblender Nude (Flesh) – For lighter foundations or makeup products that defines a natural look.
Beautyblender Bubble (New, Light Pale Pink) – Designed to be just the same as the Original Pink Beautyblender.
Beautyblender Pure (White) – For sensitive skin and skin care application.
Beautyblender Blusher (Gray) – Blush application
Beautyblender Red Carpet (Red) – same as Bubble and Hot Pink.

Frankly, I’ve never tried all Beautyblenders. I don’t think I’ll need all of them in order to nail my makeup look. Perhaps a few is enough, after all, aren’t they all made of the same material? Non-latex foam. Perhaps there might be a slight variation of their respective density and texture, but for now, I’m kind of fine with my two Beautyblenders.

beauty blender pink vs bubble — Wet Beautyblender expands its size

The original pink or hot pink Beautyblender is my first one, and I’ve had it for a very very long time. It kinda loses its shape a bit, specially near the tip or the triangular part from time to time. I dunno if it’s because I tend to press it a lot, there might be too much pressure from my fingers, or that I bounce it on my face like crazy. It also gets stained easily as well, but it does somewhat return to normal after cleaning it. Speaking of cleaning, I clean it with my Beautycleanser Solid and it does a great job of cleaning it. The problem is, whenever I clean it, the pink dye seems to bleed. I don’t know if it’s because I also use lukewarm water during cleaning. But it really doesn’t bother me that much, as long as my Beautyblender does not break, crack or split.

My newest addition is the newly-released Beautyblender Bubble. It’s a very very light pale pink shade that is almost white, and it’s supposed to work just like the Original Pink Beautyblender. A lot of people didn’t seem to like this one though. They’re saying that this is not exactly the same at the original, and that it breaks easily and soaks up more product. In my experience, I honestly couldn’t tell much of a difference between the two. This bubble one might be slightly firmer, but it has been quite similar to my hot pink one.

blendercleanser solid — A lot of people prefer the Blendercleanser Solid than the liquid one since it cleans better

Bottomline, I love the Beautyblenders, my makeup application is such a breeze with them. I also love them for traveling or when I’m simply in a hurry. Though I’m not quite sure about buying each and every colors just because they work differently as advertised, I feel like they’re all kinda similar really, but I do recommend that you should have at least one, and perhaps get one of those micro.minis too.

FYI: the pink Beautyblender stand used in this review is available HERE.

What Beautyblender color d’y have? Have you noticed any difference from each color?

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