first post! lengthy recent favorites + things i didn’t care for!

so today i decided to restart my blogging life. i had one on tumblr for a month or so, but decided to try blogging for real this time, so here i am, wordpress! for now this will remain text only as i don’t really have the confidence (or decent equipment) to make videos, but i hope that if anyone out there likes my posts, that you will let me know so i know whether i should keep this up or not and maybe i can expand to videos someday! anyway, i figured my first post should be things i have been digging recently, and also some things i got recently that i just want to review, so you guys can get a feel for the kinds and brands of products that i like to use on a daily basis (in no order, of course). i will make a link to everything on the brand website, and so without further ado, let’s get started!

THINGS I LOVE RECENTLY!

1. tarte rainforest of the sea foundation with spf 15 – i wanted this foundation so badly after watching some of my favorite youtubers review it, and when tarte was having their friends and family sale, i snagged this bad boy up! i got this in the shade light neutral because apparently i refuse to believe that i am fair skinned, or am in between fair and light for some reason. i probably should have gotten ‘fair to light neutral’ because light neutral is a little darker than my skin tone, but i make it work. i love this foundation because i tend to never wear sunscreen (bad, i know!) and i can wear this foundation knowing that i have a little bit of protection on my skin. it has a dropper applicator which is amazing, and i love applying it with my morphe y6 brush, my real techniques sponge, or my ecotools sponge. it is a water-based foundation and i wouldn’t say it’s a matte finish because when i apply it – and this is just on my own skin, it may be different for someone else – it’s kind of got a natural glow to it but not too much. i have combination skin with an oily t-zone, and  i find that it is quite a bit tacky on my skin after putting it on, but once i set it with a setting powder (that i will mention soon!) it looks amazing! other products go on it seamlessly and it looks great all day long, honestly!

2. tarte rainforest of the sea 4-in-1 setting mist – this is another tarte product i snagged up during the friends and family sale, and i got it in a travel size for i think 12 dollars, which isn’t bad. this spray claims it can be used as a primer, setting spray, hydrating mist, and skin refresher. i tried it as both a primer and setting spray and didn’t really use it for anything else. the only thing i did not like about this product is the fact that it had a pretty strong citrus scent. it smelled like oranges, i’m serious. this is clearly due to the fact that there is orange peel oil in it, but as someone who doesn’t care for citrus scents, it wasn’t my favorite thing to smell on my face as i sprayed it. other than that off-putting thing, it was amazing! i enjoyed using it as a primer and it dried pretty quickly, and the same for when i used it as a setting spray. i would definitely recommend this if strong scents don’t bother you.

3. milani amore matte metallic lip creme – THIS. IS. A. GAME. CHANGER. i’ve been wanting to try out metallic lipstick for a while now but didn’t want to commit to paying for a higher-end product and then end up thinking it doesn’t look great on me or doesn’t feel great, so i decided to try milani’s metallic lip creme! i got it at walgreens, so you know it’s affordable, and it was my first milani product ever! i got the shade ‘overdramattic’, immediately tried it on in the car after leaving the store, and I WAS AMAZED. it looked amazing, it felt amazing and not drying AT ALL, and it was so affordable! i have since gotten the color ‘the ultimatte’ and it’s by far my favorite of the two. it’s a gorgeous purple shade with a nice metallicness to it and i have gotten so. many. compliments on it since i got it. it’s amazing and if you’ve been looking for an affordable metallic lip product, this right here is what you need.

4. milani amore matte lip creme – sticking with the milani amore matte collection, this is just a regular matte lip creme from milani, and i have the shade ‘loved’ which is a gorgeous rusty pinky peach i’d say (i’m bad at describing makeup colors, sorry guys!), and it went on so nice and smooth and then dried to a gorrrrgeous rusty color that was super matte and gorgeous. just like the metallic lip creme, this isn’t drying either! it looks amazing and i couldn’t get over how it dried down to a complete matte finish with a little darker tone that suited my skin tone so amazingly.

5. colourpop x kathleenlights where the night is eyeshadow foursome – i love colourpop, and i love kathleenlights on youtube so much, and i loved the colors in this foursome, so naturally i had to get it. i was so confused when i first got the package and opened the shadows because they weren’t powder, but they weren’t cream… they were a bit of a hybrid and it felt spongey. i think the hybrid formula works so amazingly, they’re easy to blend out, and they are super pigmented and look amazing! the best part? no fallout!

6. colourpop super shock highlighter in ‘over the moon’ – this highlighter is the same kind of hybrid cream/powder/spongey hybrid that the super shock shadows are. when i first put it on, i was, for lack of a better term, shook. it is so gorgeous and not too bright but not sheen either. it’s a beautiful pink/purple combo, and it’s holographic! it makes me feel like a unicorn, kind of…

7. morphe y6 pro flat buffer brush – this was my first ever (and only, so far!) morphe purchase a month or so ago and i’ve been using it every day since i got it. it’s so pretty with a gold handle and i love the dense, flat top that it has. unlike some of my sponges, it doesn’t soak up too much product, which is great. it blends in my cream and liquid foundations really well and leaves my skin looking flawless, so i highly recommend this brush!

8. wet n wild mattifying powder – i honestly don’t think there’s too much i can say about a translucent powder. i love wet n wild so much though. i think they’re one of the best drugstore brands i’ve bought and i feel like they really know what they’re doing. anyway, i purchased this on a whim because a setting powder i got in an ipsy bag a while ago (the bellapierre banana powder that retails for $35 dollars or so, so i won’t be purchasing that any time soon) was almost out and i wanted a cheaper option. i love that it’s translucent so it doesn’t add any undesired color to my skin, and it takes some of my tackier foundations and completely mattifies them. so if you’re looking for a decent powder to apply over your foundation that’s incredibly affordable, THIS IS IT.

9. wet n wild lash renegade mascara – this is my current favorite mascara. my old favorite used to be the too faced better than sex mascara, but alas i had only gotten a travel size of that and it had since run out, leaving me sad and in the market for a new mascara… until i met this one. i feel as though it does an AMAZING job at lifting and separating my lashes, while also not clumping whatsoever. it’s also nap-proof, i can tell you that! i’ve taken many-a-nap in this mascara and it still held up with no smudges or residue. that’s how you know it’s real. i consider this to be a decent dupe for the better than sex mascara. it’s affordable, amazing, oh and did i mention it’s nap-proof?

10. wet n wild to reflect shimmer palette – i have this in ‘boozy brunch’ which is a nice gold combined with a hint of pink and deep brown. i heard some youtubers raving about this product and decided i needed to try it for myself, and oh boyyyy, am i glad i did. it’s currently the highlighter i use the most and it is gorrrrgeous. it’s perfectly pigmented and shows up as the prettiest gold highlight. i think everyone needs this in their highlighter collection.

11. nyx micro brow pencil – want flawless brows without shelling out the money for anastasia beverly hills brow wiz? I DID! that’s not to say i don’t ever want to try the abh brow wiz, but it’s not currently in my budget range, so i settled for the nyx micro brow pencil! mine ran out recently so i do need to repurchase it on my next trip to target. i love this pencil, which is actually more like a crayon, but nonetheless. it has a spoolie on one side, and the pencil/crayon on the other and it’s nice and thin to achieve the nice hair-like strokes that you want. the only downside to me was that mine only lasted maybe a week and a half to two weeks but that could just be because i occasionally cannot get my eyebrows right and end up starting over. i even love the spoolie so much that i have kept the brow pencil until i repurchase it so that i can use the spoolie

THINGS I DIDN’T CARE FOR (this doesn’t mean they won’t work for you!)

1. nyx gotcha covered total coverage concealer – i did like this product at first, but after a while i realized it was a little too thick of a consistency for my liking. it didn’t blend too well for me, personally. i prefer their hd photogenic concealer, as it’s more creamy and not thick whatsoever.

2. wet n wild photofocus foundation – I WANTED SO BADLY TO LOVE THIS PRODUCT BECAUSE I KNOW SO MANY PEOPLE DO, and maybe i just need to try a different shade or something, but much to my dismay, it was not a hit for me. i got the shade shell ivory, and i probably should have gotten one that wasn’t as light as that. the three times i’ve tried wearing it, i find that it does not blend well for me at all. it also settles into the pores in my nose, which is probably the biggest reason i dislike this. i think i’m going to try it in a different shade sometime and to see if the settling still happens but until then, it’s a no from me.

3. maybelline vivid matte color in ‘sinful stone’ – i had been eyeing this product at my work (i work at a drugstore) for quite some time and finally got the balls to purchase it, as it wasn’t a color i typically go for but it looked so pretty. when i went home to try it on, i was not impressed. it was streaky and thick-feeling and i took it off immediately. i tried it once more a week or so later to give it another shot and alas, still streaky and thick-feeling, which obviously i expected. i tried to apply more to fill in the streakiness of it but i think my lips kind of went numb…. honestly. i don’t think i’ll be trying to apply it again.

that’s it for my first post! i apologize about the length but i wanted to give you guys my honest reviews, and as i stated up there, if something didn’t work for me it doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. in fact, i hope it DOES work for you! if even one person out there likes this please feel free to comment and give me some constructive criticism, or just to tell me ‘hey! you did a good job! keep it up!” or whatever you want!