Elf Studio Tone Correcting Powder in Cool review & swatches // comparison to Essence All About Matt

I recently ran out of my beloved Essence All About Matt powder, so I decided to play around and try something else this time around. I have heard great things on YouTube about the elf Studio Tone Correcting Powder in Cool, so I gave it a try. I paid $3.99 on the Target website.

Here's the long and the short of it: it is absolutely inferior to my favorite Essence All About Matt. It is also not the worst powder I have ever tried. 

I always keep a touch up powder compact in my commuting tote bag because I get shiny throughout the day. I'm always looking for powders that are pressed in a compact, don't look cakey on the skin, and keep my shine at bay for a few hours at a minimum. Unfortunately, the elf tone correcting powder broke immediately and doesn't keep my skin matte for more than 30 minutes. I'm not particularly rough on my travel bag (I have never broken an Essence All About Matt or L'Oreal True Blend traveling) and I don't have oily skin. The elf studio tone correcting powder didn't cake up on top of foundation, but it also didn't seamlessly melt into the skin the way hd silica powders do.

Haul & Review: Essence The Velvets 05 Taupe Secret / 01 Fluffy Clouds (bonus: Long Lasting Eye Pencil in Hot Chocolate)

I recently ran out of my all time favorite mattifying & touchup powder, Essence's all about matt, so I placed an order on Essence's website. For some reason, the Ulta website doesn't have the new The Velvets eyeshadow line and I was excited to try them out. I chose 01 fluffy clouds and 05 taupe secret.

A quick shoutout to for the Essence US website - a $15 free shipping minimum is great, they shipped quickly, and they threw in a free nail file! As always, I paid for everything myself and Essence has never heard of me.

As far as I can see, you can only buy the Essence The Velvets eyeshadow line on the Essence website in the US. I expected to be able to buy them on the Ulta website, but they aren't listed there.

Essence The Velvets packaging

• The Velvets eyeshadows come in clear acrylic compacts that are thin and easy to store
• I paid $2.49 each
• Each eyeshadow has 2.8 grams of product
• The main ingredients are talc, mica, and corn starch, followed by some other minerals like zinc, dimethicone, pigments, and the usual (and necessary) ingredients to keep everything sanitary and shelf stable
• The Velvets have a matte appearance in the pan and in swatches, but if you look up close they are NOT 100% MATTE! I'm guessing that due to mica being the second ingredient, there is some subtle sheen that shows through in some lights. They look matte on first application, but after a full day of wear or in direct sunlight, you might see some sheen. 
• They have a cute quilted pattern stamped on the top

Swatches of 01 Fluffy Clouds &  05 Taupe Secret

L'Oreal pro matte gloss #316 statement nude - review & lip swatches

Let's start out with what I thought I was buying - a longwear gloss formula with no shimmer. It turns out that "matte gloss" doesn't mean what I thought it meant! The L'Oreal pro matte gloss is a demi matte liquid lipstick formula and is not at all glossy and not really long wearing. I bought mine from Ulta in shade #316, statement nude.


Lip swatches and my thoughts on the formula below:

Review: Wet n Wild take on the day mattifying translucent powder compact

I was shopping at Target a few weeks ago and saw the Wet N Wild Fergie Take On The Day mattifying powder on clearance. Wet N Wild is phasing out the Fergie line and putting the products in different packaging into their regular line, so retailers are clearing out the old packaging. I was almost out of my beloved Essence All About Matt translucent mattifying powder compact, but Target doesn't sell Essence and this one was on clearance for $1.40 so I figured I would try it out instead.

Jordana Easyliner for Eyes automatic eyeliner pencil - Khaki & Coffee Bean

 
I love trying out affordable retractable eyeliner pencils, so I picked up 2 Jordana Easyliner for Eyes eyeliners last time I was at Walgreens. I chose Coffee Bean, a matte dark brown, and Khaki, a cool toned grey. These retail for $2.49 each.

Pros:

• Affordable automatic eyeliner pencil option
• Pretty good color selection (no nude shade)
• Emollient enough to apply smoothly, waxy enough to stay put
• Easy to tightline with - doesn't clump up in the lashes

Cons: 

• Transfer to the lower lashline after 6-8 hours of wear (mild to moderate)
• I don't live close to a Walgreens (have to stop in when I visit my mom)

L'Oreal Colour Caresse Wet Shine Stain / Lilac Ever After #185

I wanted to quickly post swatches and a before & after of the L'Oreal Colour Caresse Wet Shine Stain in Lilac Ever After #185. I spotted several shades of the L'Oreal Colour Caresse Wet Shine Stains on clearance at Target today, on clearance for $2.15. Full price at Target is $7.19, but I usually see these for $9.99 at CVS and online. In addition to #185 Lilac Ever After, I also saw #184 Rose On And On and #193 Eternally Nude on clearance. The display was pretty picked over, so I bet other shades were on clearance as well.

 L'Oreal Colour Caresse Wet Shine Stains on clearance at my local Target

NYX Taupe Blush old vs. new HD formula

I have owned the NYX powder blush in Taupe (# PB11) for a long time and have experienced lots of issues with it, so I was so excited to try the reformulated HD (# HDB22) version. NYX HD blushes are $6.49 at my Ulta (don't forget to check for coupons/sales) and contain 4.5g of product. I am excited to see Taupe in a display in store now because the old version was not included in store displays in my area.

Unfortunately, I think NYX did a disservice here - the color and texture of the new version is quite a bit different than the much loved traditional one.

NYX Taupe blush comparison: New HD formula on the left, old formula on the right

Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips Warm Nude Eyeliner Trio review & swatches

The full name of this package of three eyeliners is absurdly long - the Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Eyeliner Trio in Warm Nude Eyes. Despite the name, these twist up eyeliner pencils are a great value for the price. For around $12 you get three eyeliners - a pearl copper, pearl chocolate brown, and a shimmery black. I bought mine at Ulta during a 40% off all Physician's Formula sale. I don't usually buy Physician's Formula products at full price because they are on sale frequently.

 The Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Eyeliner Trio in Warm Nude Eyes

Ulta Q1 birthday gift 2015: complete eye palette in Indie

Ulta's free January, February, & March 2015 birthday gift is an Ulta store brand complete eye palette in Indie. The Ulta complete eye palettes have five shades and look like they are being repackaged. The old layout is a bullseye format palette and the new style is a traditional quint layout. The new layout makes more sense to me because there is enough room for your brush in each pan.

The free Ulta birthday gift changes quarterly - Q1 was the palette in Indie, Q2 was an Urban Decay eyeliner mini in Voodoo, Q3 is a Urban Decay Perversion mascara mini, and I haven't heard yet what the Q4 gift is. If you know what the Q4 gift is, please leave me a comment and I will update the post!

Ulta 2015 birthday palette in Indie

Indie has five shades: a satin champagne in the center, a satin lilac taupe at 2 o'clock, a chocolate brown with red glitter that swatches suspiciously matte at 4 o'clock, a matte medium brown at 8 o'clock, and a satin rose gold at 10 o'clock. The palette retails for $12, contains 9 grams of eyeshadow, and is free for Ulta rewards members with an email coupon. Unfortunately, you may not choose your complete eye palette - everyone gets Indie.

Ulta 2015 birthday palette in Indie, back

My top 3 favorite colorless beauty products

I usually focus on color products on this blog, but I thought I would do a post honoring my favorite colorless products. Colorless cosmetics are easy to overlook, but each of these three are absolute must haves in my collection. Plus, each of these cost under $5.

Without further ado, my favorite three colorless products: the NYX Matte Blotting Paper ($3.99), Essence All About Matt Fixing Compact Powder ($3.99), and adhesive magnetic tape (about $5).

Must have: Real Techniques Powder Brush

Regular blog readers know I have a soft spot for brushes. Today's feature - the Real Techniques Powder Brush - is a reliable stalwart among my collection of face brushes. I realized I had to write a post on this brush when I caught myself procrastinating washing it because I didn't want to wait for it to dry to use it again.

The Real Techniques Powder Brush retails for $9.99, but you can frequently get it for less with sales and coupons. I bought mine at Ulta.

3 Bold Drugstore Blushes for Fall

I think good blush formulas are hard to come by in the drugstore - many are poorly pigmented, chalky, and don't hold up throughout the day. I wanted to share my top 3 bold drugstore blushes for fall, each of them pigmented and vibrant enough to make a statement, yet refined enough shades to be wearable. Plus, each of these 3 would work on most skintones, from fair to deep.

Top 3 Favorite Neutral / MLBB Drugstore Lipliners

I wanted to share my top 3 favorite drugstore MLBB (my lips but better) neutral pink lip liners. Neutral pink shades are the ultimate in versatility - perfect for everyday makeup, adding definition to nude lipsticks, and adding dimension to berry lipsticks. Even better, each of these is under $5!

Without further ado, my top 3:

• NYX Lipliner Pencil - #860 Peekaboo Neutral
• Milani Color Statement Lipliner - #03 Nude
• Jordana Easyliner For Lips - Tawny 

NYX HD Concealer Wand in Green review & swatches

Have you ever wished for a 'mint chip ice cream green' concealer? Perhaps a pastel pistachio? Me either. Read on for a tragic story of a promising product led astray by an odd undertone.

NYX HD Concealer Wand in Green (CW12) is described as a "pastel green" that will "reduce the appearance of redness." This is a sound idea according to basic color theory, so I figured I would give a green concealer a shot. I have quite a bit of redness around my nose, a little acne scarring on my cheeks, and a few active breakouts. This normally costs about $5 at Ulta, but I bought mine on a 40% off sale.

Milani Baked Blush in 05 Luminoso review & swatches

Milani's baked blush in Luminoso is stunning golden peach shade that leaves a healthy glow on the cheeks. I reach for Luminoso on the regular all the time in the spring and summer. Like all of the other Milani baked blushes I have tried (I reviewed the line here), Luminoso is pigmented and complex. I bought mine at CVS for $8.49.

Luminoso accomplishes something that is difficult to execute well - it is a full color blush that packs pigment without overwhelming fair skin. I have no trouble buffing this blush into my skin and find that it is equally beautiful in a saturated or diffused application.

Wet N Wild Color Icon Trio in Walking on Eggshells 380B review & swatches

Wet N Wild's color icon eyeshadow formula is famous on beauty blogs for being superior to other drugstore alternatives, and for good reason. Walking on Eggshells is my favorite Wet N Wild color icon trio in the regular line - the neutral satin finish shadows work well together for a quick eyeshadow look. I bought mine for $2.99 at CVS.

Shades:

• "Browbone" - neutral toned cream, satin
• "Crease" - warm toned medium brown, satin
• "Eyelid" - neutral toned soft ballet pink, satin 

NYX Eyeshadow Primer Base 03 Skin Tone review & swatches

NYX Eyeshadow Base in #3 Skin Tone (ESB03) was one of the first products I purchased when I started looking for eyeshadow bases / primers that would even out my lid color and mask visible veins. NYX Eyeshadow Base is an emollient cream base product that promises to act as a primer and concealer for your lids in one. The product also comes in two other color options - white (01) and white pearl (02). I bought mine for $6.99 at Ulta.

Skin Tone is the type of product name that makes me rage a little inside - "skin tone" is not one color! (This shade is likely a good match for light to medium skin) I apply this by patting a little bit of product onto my lids and it blends into my fair skintone well with a sheer application, but I don't think the shade is as important when used as a true base shadow because you will be layering product on top of it.

My Favorite Drugstore Blush Formula - Milani Baked Blush

Milani Baked Blush is the classic drugstore tale of a great product hidden in unfortunate packaging. Milani's Baked Blush line contains an impressive 8 shades (plus a 9th - a medium bronzer) with a surprising amount of shade complexity. Of the 8, 6 are satin or shimmery and 2 are matte. These blushes cost $8.49 for .12 oz (3.5 grams) of product.

I have 3 shades: 07 Fantastico Mauve, 03 Berry Amore, and 05 Luminoso. (Separate swatch posts to come!)

• #7 Fantastico Mauve is a shimmery red leaning berry with golden and bronze veining
• #3 Berry Amore is a shimmery warm bronze rose with golden and bronze veining
• #5 Luminoso is a satin warm peach with a hint of pink that comes off with a sheen on the cheeks (note: Luminoso is not a NARS Orgasm blush dupe - the Milani blush that was similar to Orgasm was called Luminous and is discontinued)

Elf Studio Small Stipple Brush review

After seeing Elf's small stipple brush from the studio line on EmilyNoel83's Beauty Broadcast Youtube channel all the time, I had to give it a spin. Stipple brushes feature bristles of two lengths - the longer hairs feather product onto your skin and the shorter, more dense, hairs buff and blend. The Elf studio line comes with black handles and ferrules, while the standard Elf Essential line comes with white handles and silver ferrules. Most of the Elf Studio brushes are $3 while the essential line is $1. I picked mine up at Target almost a year ago for $3, but my Target has recently raised the price to an oddly specific $3.04.

Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch highlighting concealer pen in Ivory 320 review & swatches

I have been curious about highlighting concealer pens, so I picked this one up at CVS. I ended up paying $1.28 thanks to CVS extra bucks and a coupon! I chose the shade Ivory, # 320, which is the second lightest in the range. Radiant, the lightest option, looked very pink (almost like color correcting pink) so I passed and chose Ivory.

Dream Lumi Touch has very standard concealer pen packaging - you click the bottom of the tube a few times to push a bead of concealer up through the attached brush tip applicator. The clear cap fits securely over the brush. The writing on this tube is poorly adhered and already is starting to flake off.

I usually like Maybelline concealers (still sad about the discontinued Maybelline Minerals concealer) and this one fits into the pattern. Like its sister product, the Maybelline Age Rewind concealer, this one has an overly complicated name and a frustratingly stupid applicator. I ripped the gross sponge tip off of my Age Rewind concealer long ago, but this brush tip isn't easily removed. Granted, the brush tip looks easier to clean than the sponge, but a squeeze tube or mini pump would be an asset to this product.