The Balm is on Hautelook

For my fellow TheBalm lovers out there make your way to Hautelook and take a peak at the selections they are currently offering, some of which are up to 50% off. 

If you find yourself in need of a referral to Hautelook feel free to let us know and we'll send you one. Either way, have some fun shopping. 

Until next time,

Yess 

Too Faced on Sale

If you haven't already make your way over to the Too Faced site and check out some of the great items from their holiday collection that are currently going for up to 70% off. 

Wet n Wild New Eyeshadow- I'm His Breezey

I love Wet n Wild eye shadows, if I am having a lazy day and do not want to hunt down eye shadows for a look I know that I can pull out one of the trios and I can look ready for the day. When I saw that Wet n Wild was coming out with new quints I was excited. I went to my local Walgreens and picked up a few, today I will be quickly reviewing the quint I'm His Breezey, which is the blue one.

I am weird, I love blue shadow but it has to be the right blue to make it into an eye look.

This palette at first glance looks amazing. The blues are vibrant and there is a nice soft powdery blue that can add dimension to a look; but that is where the good ends.
The Base shadow is powdery and chalky.
The brow bone shade is not pigmented, it took 3 or 4 passes to build up the color.
The eyelid shade is a nice vibrant blue but it is no where near as pigmented as it looks in the pan.
The definer shade is super patchy.
The crease shade has a lot of sparkle in the pan but the sparkle does not translate on the lid. The color also took a long time to build up to the desired intensity.

I palette retails for $3.99 in my area, and I was able to get it for $2.99 because it had a $1 coupon. I was really hoping that the eye shadows would live up to the expectation that I had, that they were in any way similar to the 8 pan palettes I know and love. Unfortunately these palettes perform poorly.

I had done an eye look with it but it was so patchy and the colors were so hard to blend together that I gave up on trying to make it work.

I am holding onto the palette for my daughter to play with and maybe for Halloween but I do not see myself using it all that much.

Until next time

Yess :)

Rimmel Stay Matte Foundation

I was really really hoping that this foundation would be the best matte foundation at the drugstore. I had extremely high hopes because I had read some rave reviews about it online, and even seen a video or two on YouTube that spoke so highly of it. I purchased it at my local Harmons for $4.99 after using a $1 coupon that was on the display. 

The foundation itself is a thicker formula, a very thick formula that does not glide onto the skin as nicely as some other matte foundations I have tried. The foundation itself clings to any dry patches that you may have so I recommend using a good thick moisturizer and letting it completely set before applying the foundation.

I also recommend a good primer, preferably something is oil controlling. 

The foundation claims to be "feather-light", that it "blends flawlessly for a natural looking all day shine control". They also claim that it "won't feel heavy". I have to disagree with these claims. You can defintely feel the foundation once you put it on. It does not provide all day shine control and it definitely feels heavy. The color match is okay but not he best. 

I used the foundation several different ways, with the Rimmel primer, with Benefit Porefessional, with Too Faced Primed and Poreless, L’oreal primer, Monistat Chaffing Gel, and finally the Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer. I also tried various mattifying powders on top; I even wore it without powder on a few days.

I wore it for two weeks and was consistently disappointed in the performance of the foundation. With any of the primers I tried I found that I had a ton of foundation breakdown on my nose and forehead within 3 hours; same thing happened with the powders. I was so disappointed that I was ready to give up but then I decided that I needed to try it with the Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer and I finally received the results I had hoped for. The foundation lasted a good 8 hours without it breaking down and without powder. It was amazing. But without this primer the foundation underperformed and I was not impressed.

Rimmel Stay Matte Primer

I have owned this primer since December 31, 2013. I purchased it at my local Harmons for $5.99 after using a $1 coupon that was on the display.
I have used it about 10 times in the last three weeks. I have worn it alone, with BB creams, matte foundations, lighter weight foundations as well as luminous ones to see how it truly wore. After trying it with my Matte foundations I was ready to just give up on it, I wanted to take it back to the store and call it a day on trying to make it work.
I apply most of my foundations with a flat top brush because I enjoy a more full coverage application of foundation; it’s something that works best with my super oily skin.

The primer claims to control shine for up to 8 hours, that it is lightweight, and minimizes the appearance of pores. I have to disagree with some of those claims. It does not minimize the appearance of pores, it is not a pore filler or a pore blurrer; it blends evenly over the pores but they look the same before and after application. It is very thick and better for people on the oilier side, I would steer clear if i had dry skin.

The primer did not keep me matte for 8 hours; with almost every foundation I tried it barely kept me matte for 3 hours. I was beyond disappointed. But I decided to give it one more try with my L’oreal Lumi Foundation because it is really luminous, and I was surprised by the results. Although it did not give me 8 hours of matte wear it did give me 3 which was nice. So I tried it with one more foundation, The Covergirl Stay Fabulous 3 in 1 Foundation and I was very happy with it. I found myself experiencing the promise of 8 hours shine free.

For the price I do recommend it as a drugstore foundation. I would advise to use it with non-matte foundations as it is harder to blend them over the primer. But all in all for $5.99 it was a great deal.

UltaMate Rewards

I received my Ulta flyer for the week starting February 2nd and was pleased to see they included a page explaining the new change from The Club at Ulta for those of us up here in the NE to the UltaMate Rewards Program. 

I asked one of the managers at my local Ulta yesterday about the points, for example of someone had spent $50 in January already does that automatically get grandfathered into the program once it starts on February 23rd. The manager at my Ukta said that they do, that once the program goes into effect you will get credit for everything you've purchased as of January 1st. 

And I was also able to find out that Ulta will be sending out a last rewards certificate for this quarter. So for those of you who like me have been spending this quarter and were looking forward to using that certificate towards a perfume, fear not. 

If I am able to find out anything else I will keep you guys updated. 

Until next time guys 

Yess :) 

Ulta Deals from last week :)

Hey guys, 

I had wanted to get this up earlier but I've been so sick the last week and it completely slipped my mind.

I ended up taking advantage of the Ulta skincare and makeup deal, the L'oreal eye deal, and the L'oreal hair care deal. 

I made out like a bandit, spending less than $20 for 8 products which to me is a bargain, especially considering that the primer retails for $18 on its own. 

I cannot find the bag with the L'oreal products and receipt but once I do I will upload a picture. 

On the folded bits of the receipt something curious happened, there was a point balance and points available section. My Ulta has only offered the Club at Ulta so I had never seen this, I'm hoping this means exciting news is around the corner for those of us who so not have the UltaMate clubs available in our area. 

Until next time guys, 

Yess :)