I’d love it if you used this link or click on the banner below to shop the Sephora VIB sale and help support Blushing in Hollywood:
Sephora VIB Spring 2017 Discount Codes
Reminder: The sale is 10% off your entire purchase (for Beauty Insiders aka anyone that signs up for free) or 15% off your entire purchase if you have Sephora VIB or VIB Rouge. For Beauty Insiders the sale ends Sunday 4/23/17 both online and in store and the code is BISPRING. For VIB the sale ends Monday 4/24/17 and the code is VIBSPRING. For VIB Rouge the sale ends the same day as VIB on Monday 4/24/17 and the code is ROUGESPRING.
I went a little HAM on the Fall 2016 Sephora VIB sale so let’s review my purchases!
During the Sephora VIB sale I went to the store and watched the Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Colors and they were SO gorgeous I had to pick one up myself. I ended up getting Moonlight a metallic champagne beige and I have been wearing it daily! I used to use MAC Eye Kohl in Teddy and just make a thin line on top of my upper lash lane and usually skip eyeshadow, but ever since buying the Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Colorin Moonlight ($29) I’ve been wearing that instead DAILY.
I take the stick and basically color my entire lid with it, then take a fluffy eyeshadow brush and blend the colour slightly, but only in the crease because I want the rest of the lid especially near the lash line to look intense. The color lasts all day and looks so beautiful! This weekend I decided to use it in a different way and used it to line my bottom lash line quickly to give it some definition and I loved that too! I can’t wait to get more of these things it’s amazing! Here’s a picture where you can see the sparkle on my bottom lash line: Continue reading “Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Color Review”
I wanted to make a quick post where I re-evaluate my previous reviews to give you some ideas for what to buy and what to skip at the Sephora VIB Sale 2016 which starts in 3 days on Thursday April 7th if you’re VIB Rouge or April 8th if you’re VIB and goes until the 13th.
As a refresher in order to be Sephora VIB you must spend $500 in a calendar year. The good news is that if you spend more than that then it rolls over towards the next year. To find out your status you can log on to Sephora.com and click “(Your name)’s Account” in the top right corner. If it says “VIB Beauty Insider” you’re in! You can use “VIBNOTE” online during the sale and get 15% off your entire purchase.
As I mentioned in my previous post, the Sephora VIB sale Spring 2016 is back starting April 7th for VIB Rouge and April 8th for straight VIB through the 13th, 2016. The spring discount is the typical 15% off. The discount works both in store and online (using code VIBNOTE). Also, you can basically get another 4% off taking you to 19% by using Ebates:So let’s get into the purchases that I have made since my Fall Sephora VIB Sale post:
Attention everyone, this is not a test! theBalm is on HauteLook and most of the products are 50% off! This sale ends on 1/20/16 so do not wait!!! Go now!! theBalm is sold at places like Frends Beauty in LA and the big fancy Walgreens on Sunset Blvd, but otherwise it can be somewhat hard to find. I mentioned it in my 2015 Makeup Favorites post because two of my faves came from theBalm and I had some honorable mentions in there as well. theBalm has excellent quality, fantastic pigmentation, and adorable and creative packaging, what else could you need?? Without further ado here’s some recommendations and reviews!
My Favorite Products from theBalm
theBalm Highlighters
How the hell do I use a highlighter? You may be asking yourself. Well friend, using either your finger or a blush start with a small amount because this stuff is PIGMENTED! Put some on the inner corners of your eyes, down the bridge (center going from top to bottom) of your nose and a little extra on the tip of your nose, put some on your brow bone (draw a line following directly beneath your eyebrow), put some on the high points of your cheeks (almost to your temples under your eyes), put some on your cupid’s bow (right along the ridge of your upper lip) and put some on the center of your bottom lip. You don’t have to put it on all of these places, but these are some options that will have you look like a shimmering glowing goddess. You can also just use this like you would an eyeshadow.
Mary-Lou Manizer by theBalm
Mary-Lou Manizer by theBalm (normally $24 on sale for $12): This stunning highlight shade is a favorite of the beauty community for a reason. It’s a shimmering honey color that can be used as a highlighter or as an eyeshadow. This color looks great on the fairest to medium skin tones.
Mary Lou Manizer by theBalm
Cindy-Lou Manizer
Cindy-Lou Manizer by theBalm (normally $24 on sale for $12): This is also a highlighter that looks gorgeous on top of a pink or coral blush. It has more of a pinky-peach duo chrome that looks gorgeous when light hits it. I’ve been wearing Cindy-Lou even more than Mary-lou lately!
Cindy-Lou Manizer from theBalm
theBalm Bronzer/Contour Powder
Bahama Mama Bronzer/Shadow/Contour Powder
Bahama Mama Bronzer/Shadow/Contour Powder by theBalm (Normally $20 on sale for $10): My absolute favorite contour color! This shade has more of a neutral undertone so it won’t make you look orange! This powder is VERY PIGMENTED so again, start slowly and work up until you get the desired effect. This shade looks great on fair to medium-dark complexions. I also use it all over the lid as a matte-brown eye shadow or sometimes as a crease color. I use it all over the face as a bronzer as well when I want to look DARK!
The Balm Bahama Mama Bronzer is a deeper shade that can be used to contour.
theBalm Blush
FratBoy Blush/Shadow
FratBoy Blush/Shadow by theBalm (Normally $21 on sale for $10.50): This is a great peach shade with a hint of pink and subtle shimmer. This shade definitely packs a punch (highly pigmented) and is great for a good glow. I LOVE their packaging “So many men, so little time…” how perfect, right?
FratBoy Blush by theBalm
INSTAIN Blush in Lace
INSTAIN Blush in Lace by theBalm (Normally $22 on sale for $11): Looking for a blush as crazy intense as Lace is this season on the Bachelor? Well look no further! Holy PIGMENT. This blush is BRIGHT as heck so only use it if you’re looking for an intense and long-lasting effect. This blush is for bold girls!
Instain blush by theBalm
theBalm Lipstick
theBalm Girls Lipstick in Ima Goodkisser
theBalm Girls Lipstick in Ima Goodkisser (Normally $17 on sale for $8.50): First of all, I love how these lipsticks are a cute little play on Bond girls. This lipstick is moisturizing and has decent pigmentation, but is by no means completely opaque. This color is a nice soft-shimmering coral and has a vanilla-mint scent. I like this lipstick and the color, but I think it tends to get on my teeth more because it’s so moisturizing. Take that info with a grain of salt since I feel like I get lipstick on my teeth 95% of the time that I wear it ha!
theBalm Girls Ima Goodkisser Lipstick
theBalm Eyeliner
Schwing Liquid Eyeliner in Black
Schwing Liquid Eyeliner in Black by theBalm (Normally $17 on sale for $8.50): My favorite liquid eyeliner! Very pigmented and very black so you won’t have to keep going over and over your line! This is long lasting and fast drying and a matte black color. I highly recommend this!
Schwing Liquid Eyeliner by theBalm
Products that I didn’t like as much:
Give Crease a Chance – All-Over Eye Shadow/Eye Blending Brush (Normally $26.50 on sale for $13.25): This brush didn’t really wow me especially for the price. The quality wasn’t that great and the brushes are enormous for eyeshadow. I say skip.
NudeDude Eyeshadow Palette by theBalm (Normally $36 on sale for $18): This palette is very cute, but I rarely find myself reaching for it. I also find that it has a lot of fall out. If I didn’t already have way too many eye shadow palettes, I would get the Meet Matt(e) Nude palette because the beauty community LOVES that one and it has a nice range of shades and great pigmentation.
Products I bought today from theBalm
I picked up BalmShelter Tinted Moisturizer in Light because my skin is THIRSTY! And this one is supposed to be good, a Bahama Mama Bronzer/Contour/Shadow Powder for my sister, CabanaBoy blush which is a plum rose with a subtle shimmer because I just read Dita Von Teese’s book and want to be her, and timeBalm Face Primer because I need a new primer and I like how this one has antioxidants! I was tempted to get Balm Desert bronzer, Overshadow Eye Shadow in No Money, No Honey (but I already have like 12 gold glitters), and Read My Lips in Pop! But I stayed strong and resisted!! Hehe.
Here’s my HauteLook link which will give me a $20 credit if you sign up and make a purchase and will further fuel my makeup addiction 😉 Going through my emails it looks like HauteLook had theBalm today 1/18/16, 9/25/15, 5/1/15, 1/23/15 so every January, May, and September so DON’T MISS THIS 50% OFF THE BALM SALE ON HAUTELOOK YOU WILL REGRET IT!!
With all of the advertising and marketing in the beauty industry it’s very hard to tell what is going to work and what will not. This is so important because who wants to waste $$$ on a product that does not live up to it’s claims? So how do you research a products claims and find out if it contains ingredients that will actually make your skin better? This is where one of my favorite websites Beautypedia comes in. Beautypedia was started by Paula Begoun who is known as the cosmetics cop. For decades now she has been breaking down ingredient lists vs. manufacturer claims to de-mistify the (sometimes) fuzzy beauty science and to educate the masses. Whenever you sign on to Instagram, Youtube, open a magazine, see a commercial, etc. you’re constantly being bombarded with “This is the one! The product that will make you flawless and fix all of your skin’s problems! BUY NOW!!” and Paula helps you separate the BS from the truly beneficial products.
The other thing I like about her site is that you can choose how deeply you want to plunge into the scientific knowledge behind ingredients. You can find out if a product contains sodium hyaluronate acid and what the hell that means, or you can just find out if the MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation lives up to it’s claims or not (PS it does according to beautypedia and now I really want to try it!).
Today I have a fun new video where I show you some tips on how to put on Younique Moodstruck 3D Fiber Lashes and give you my take on it! What is Younique Moodstruck 3D Fiber Lashes you ask? Well, Younique is a direct-sales company (like Avon or Mary Kay) and it’s sold by “Presenters” where they sell the products to their friends and family and get a commission from their sales. Younique is different in that you don’t have to host parties at someone’s house to sell the products, the majority of their “parties” and sales are done online and over social media. My friend Michelle is a Presenter and she offered to buy me their famous mascara to try out and if I liked it then I could blog about it and link everyone to her Facebook page and website so they could check it out themselves. Check out my video to see how this mascara works and what I thought about it!: Continue reading “Younique Moodstruck 3D Fiber Lashes Demo & Review”
Last month when I was in Florida for the holidays I hit up the incredibly epic Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise (near Miami). If you’ve never been to Sawgrass Mills it’s an enormous super high end mall PLUS outlet mall with stores like Tory Burch, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Kate Spade, Nordstrom Rack, Saks Fifth Avenue Off Fifth, etc. etc. It’s always swamped with people from all over the world all brought together by the shared love of finding a great deal. I was at Sawgrass for HOURS in a trance-like zombie shopping state when all of a sudden I realized “holy shit…I’m in a CCO.”
So what the hell is a CCO anyway? CCO stands for Cosmetic Company Outlet or it’s also known as CCS which is The Cosmetics Company Store. A CCO is the one magical, mystical place that you can find MAC ON SALE. And not just MAC, but Origins, Estée Lauder, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Smashbox, Urban Decay, and more. They have current and past/discontinued products, limited edition products, gift sets, and products that are in the older packaging and therefore are no longer sold at the store. The products are authentic and usually sold at 30% off retail price. The stores are open to the public so you don’t have to be a makeup artist or in the industry to go to one. How is this possible? Continue reading “What is a CCO?”
So now that I’ve had a chance to use my purchases from the 2014 Sephora VIB sale I wanted to give a quick review on them and let you know what I think. I especially wanted to get this up because Sephora sent out another perk for VIB members which is $20 off your purchase of $50 or more and the holidays are coming up so I’m sure you want to know what gifts are worth it.
1. Smashbox Photo Finish Pore Minimizing Foundation Primer ($39) – So far I’m happy with this little guy. The product is a little thick so you have to warm it up on your finger tips before you apply it. You then want to kind of push and roll your fingers into your skin to best cover your pores. When I’ve applied it and look in the mirror there’s no huge “WOW where have my pores gone!?” reaction, but it feels silicon-ey and smooth and blurs your face a tiny bit. The main thing I like about it is that I think it controls my oily skin without making my face too dry which is a delicate balance. My foundation maybe looks slightly better on top of this vs. without it, but it’s not anything that a slower more intentional application of the foundation couldn’t replicate or beat. It maybe keeps my makeup on a tiny bit longer as well, but again no huge day and night transformation. It’s supposed to last for up to eight hours, but I usually have my makeup on for about 12-14 hours per day. Overall I’d recommend this if you’re oily, if you’ve liked Smashbox primers in the past, and if you aren’t counting on it to change your life. It would also be good if you’re sweating or somewhere that’s humid because it’s supposed to be resistant to those things.
2. Sephora Cream Lip Stain in 07 Dark Berry ($13) – I got this because I want to be Samantha aka ssssamanthaa on Instagram from Batalash (see video below), but instead I look like I’m failing miserably at trying to look like Lorde. I’ve only worn this around the house to try it because it is BOLD as hale. It smells really nice like the Stila Stay All Day Lip Colors a nice cake scent. It stayed pretty well and I don’t remember my lips feeling too dry and crispy. I hope I’m brave enough to wear it out into the world one day, but we’ll see. The color is really cool and I’d recommend it if you want to try something new and fun I just don’t know if I’m cool enough to rock it yet.
3. L’Occitane Voyage En Provence Set ($39) – Ugh I haven’t used all of the products in this set so far, but so far I’m super disappointed. I had very high expectations for this especially for the famous She Butter Ultra Rich Body Lotion and it was nothing special. The scent was whatever and it’s not super thick or long lasting or curative to very dry skin or anything like I was expecting. I would not recommend this and I’m wary of buying more products from L’Occitane now even though so many people are obsessed! I’d recommend this to no one because I hate it and I’m pissed. The more I think about it and write about it the more I think wow why am I not returning this to Sephora I don’t need products to travel with so desperately that I need to keep this $39 set!
4. Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup in color 2.0 ($39) – I knew this guy was not going to be the perfect fit because it’s a luminous light weight virtually invisible foundation and deep down I’m a full coverage kind of girl. It’s very thin and fluid-like and reminds me of the bareMinerals bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation in that it’s luminous and nice for a day that you want to look natural and take a break from full cake face mode. This would probably work better for me at night because when I wear these luminous foundations during the day I get oily and then they’re a mess, but the problem is that I want full coverage when I go out at night. This does have build able coverage though which is good. I need to experiment with it a bit more to figure out how it can work best for me. I wish it had sunscreen in it. I’d recommend this to someone that wants to look younger (a more sheer, luminous foundation will make you look younger than a matte full coverage one), someone that already has pretty good skin and doesn’t need a ton of coverage, and someone with dry, normal, or combo skin.
5. Urban Decay Good Karma Optical Blurring Brush ($25) – This is a vegan brush that was developed to work with the Naked Skin foundation and overall I like it a lot. It blends out the makeup quickly and evenly. I have used it with both the super thin Naked Skin foundation and the super thick BECCA foundation. I’m back to using my tried and true Beauty Blender, but when I mix it up I love using this guy. I’d recommend it to someone looking for a good foundation brush to use with liquid foundation. I think the price point on this is great and very reasonable for the quality.
6. BECCA Ultimate Coverage Complexion Creme in Buff ($44) – YASSSSSSS hunny. I am absolutely loving this foundation and I’m using it everyday and at night for going out as well. It is super full coverage and gives you a very flawless finish. I normally use a generous amount of foundation so when I accidentally put two whole pumps on my beauty blender and then went to blend it out and I was wearing a serious mask (which was fine for that day, but meant I don’t need to use as much in the future because it’s so pigmented). This foundation is easy to blend but the only thing you have to look out for is once it dries (relatively quickly in 1-3 minutes) it is DRY and SET so don’t try to blend it out again because you will just mess it up. This foundation lasts me all day and/or night long and keeps me relatively matte without drying me out too much. Once it’s on it doesn’t feel super heavy or cakey which is nice for how full coverage and pigmented it is. I spent at least an hour trying to figure out online which color to get in this and while I like to think I picked the best match I do definitely have to blend it very well down my neck and blend very very well if I’m wearing my hair up. This foundation color is also super yellow which I like because I think it balances out my redness, but I know not everyone likes super yellow foundation. I would recommend this to anyone that is looking for a full coverage foundation with great coverage and staying power who has normal to oily skin. This is my favorite thing I bought. This price tag is a little high, but I’m hoping that since it’s so pigmented that I will use less and it will last me longer (fingers crossed!) Here’s a pic of me wearing it:
Pic I posted on Insty of me wearing BECCA Ultimate Coverage Complexion Creme www.blushinginhollywood.com
