Reviews and Other Stuff

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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Milani Color Statement Matte Lipstick & Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte Lipstick Review + Swatches

November 7, 2017 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Aloha guys! I’m dreaming of sun and warmth in this gloomy and chilly Fall. The leaves are in such beautiful transition now, but I got that summertime sadness. It’s so uninspiring out here, hmmm… let’s see what Sephora or Ulta have? lots of new stuff! (Drool) Anyways, as I do my wishful thinking here, let’s get distracted for a while and let’s talk about this another long overdue review. Yep, we have another lipsticks galore review today. I’ve been hoarding these lippies for quite a while now, and OMG! they’re SO good! and OMFG they’re SO cheap and OMFFG! they’re drugstore lipsticks. SUREprise much? I know I am, but even before checking these lipsticks out in my local CVS, I already kinda knew that these are gonna be good. I’ve heard good things about these lipsticks from my friends and also from Insta’s party people about how good the Milani Color Statement Matte Lipsticks were, and that they’re pretty much neck-in-neck with Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte Lipsticks.

Sure enough, those claims are true. These lipsticks are some of the most amazing lipstick shade and formulation I’ve ever tried, and with their affordable price plus the fact that they’re easy to find, you know you’re getting a good deal. In my experience, they’re like non-drugstore quality lipsticks, which I’ll tell you in a while, and guess what, they’re very moisturizing for being mattes.

Milani Color Statement Matte Lipstick ($6) – These have a mild vanilla scent and they have the perfect matte formula for a lipstick. They almost kinda remind me of MAC Matte Lipsticks. That’s because they’re not so creamy and they’re not so drying. Just something in between. Their pigments are amazingly long-lasting. I could go on for hours and hours with these lipsticks and I still have some shade on my lips. Not to mention the fact that almost all the shades in these line up are so beautiful and so wearable. It’s hard not to just get two or three. You really need to stock up.

69 Matte Beauty – Warm Midtone Brown

74 Matte Darling – Muted Barbie Pink

77 Matte Tender – Muted Coral Red

80 Matte Dreamy – Terra Cotta Berry Mauve

Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte Lipstick ($7.49) – These are very similar to Milani’s but they’re creamier. Which is nice for anybody who likes matte lipsticks but didn’t wanna suffer the dryness. It’s amazing how these can be creamy mattes and long lasting at the same time. Such very good pigments too. They glide so well on the lips and mine never felt dry throughout the hours of wearing it. I actually think that these can be ideal matte lipsticks in the coming winter. That is if, you still wanna wear mattes around those times. I prefer to wear creamy lipsticks or balms during the winter because my lips tend to get really dry. Anyway, I have one caveat with these, and it’s the scent. I think these have really strong buttery vanilla-ish cocoa scent, which kinda annoys me from time to time. But other than that, the shades of these lipsticks are also TDF.

657 Nude Nuance – Deep Brown, half a shade darker than Milani 69 Matte Beauty

660 Touch of Spice – Similar to Milani 80 Matte Dreamy, but slightly more mauve.

I love love love these drugstore matte lipsticks. From their formulation down to their shades and lasting power, I think they’re worth giving a try and worth hoarding for. Plus, they won’t break the bank, and I love the fact that you can find them almost anywhere. I think any of Milani Color Statement Matte Lipstick or Maybelline’s Color Sensational Matte Lipstick will really impress you, and it’s just a matter of finding the right shade for your skin tone. For me, I think I love all the shades that I just reviewed here. So I suggest giving these beauties a closer look the next time you pop into your local grocery or drugstore.

Here’s one more look.

You can also find the Milani Color Statement Matte Lipstick online at Amazon, Target, and Walgreens.

and the Maybelline Color Sensational Matte Lipstick at Ulta, Target, and Walgreens

Ciao now… gotta go in line to stalk the iPhone X. LOL. Wish me luck.

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