It’s becoming VERY obvious to me that blush is my latest product to become obsessed with. So, when I saw the previews of the BECCAShimmering Skin Perfector Luminous Blushes, I knew I was going to be taking some home with me.
BECCA Luminous Blush in Snapdragon
“Shimmering Skin Perfector Luminous Blush” – good HEAVENS is that ever a mouthful. The premise for these blushes, and the reason for the insanely long name, is that these were developed with BECCA’s Shimmering Skin Perfectors in mind (see my previous reviews on Champagne Pop and Pearl). They wanted to create a blush which emulated the highlighting properties of their shimmering skin perfectors.
BECCA Luminous Blush in Snapdragon
As I’ve mentioned before, I want to own every single shade of coral out there, so I opted for Snapdragon. Snapdragon is a warm pink-orange with a hint of golden sheen. I don’t find the gold translates too much in a swatch however, which is a bonus for me since I don’t like a ton of reflective qualities in my blush. And like all BECCA products… this is second to none in terms of pigmentation.
BECCA Luminous Blush in Snapdragon – swatch
My Snapdragon swatch, for whatever reason, ends up fairly pink in my arm swatch. In practice, I see more coral on my cheeks, so I’m not sure why the swatch was so pink.
Wearing Snapdragon
Gahhhh I love this blush so much! In these shots I’m wearing the blush without any added highlighter. While the blush is quite luminous, it’s not as in your face as their shimmering skin perfectors, which is a very good thing because I did not want super reflective cheeks!
Wearing Snapdragon
There’s a soft quality to the blush which is enhanced by the highlighting properties contained in the formula. And it’s just… guys… I can’t say this enough… it’s just gorgeous. Snapdragon is the kind of colour that just makes me HAPPY and it’s a shade I’m going to be wearing all summer long.
Final Thoughts
Although I’ve only tried the one shade, I do feel like the BECCALuminous Blushes are a win. While they’re quite pigmented, they can also be sheered out to give more of a flush than a full on blush look. I love that the sheen enhances the luminosity of the blush – it’s just really, really freaking stunning. And yes, I do add my Champagne Pop highlighter on the tops of my cheekbones even while wearing this blush! If you want to see this blush “live”, I wore this whole makeup look in my recent YouTube video.
These blushes are on the pricier side of things, but if there’s a shade you’re really lusting after, I don’t think you can go wrong. Of course… once you fall in love with them (like me)… suddenly you want to own a lot more than just one!
Mary Kay‘s got a bunch of new products out for Summer 2016, so I grabbed some of them and put together a look alongside some quick reviews. Let’s get into it:
Mary Kay Mineral Eye Colour Bundle ($76 with compact)
The most eyecatching item was easily the Rose Gold Compact Mini ($22 if bought unfilled).
Mary Kay Mineral Eye Colour Bundle – Sweet Cream, Spun Silk, Moonstone, Rosegold, Driftwood & Espresso
If you purchase the full compact with shadows, you’re looking at $76 CAD ($54 CAD without the compact). It comes with six shadows in your standard neutral shades. This is the kind of compact absolutely anyone can grab and create an easy day-to-day/work look.
Mary Kay Mineral Eye Colour Bundle – Sweet Cream, Spun Silk, Moonstone, Rosegold, Driftwood & Espresso – swatches
The colours swatched well, and are quite pretty (if not fairly standard fare), but they were really, REALLY powdery in the pan. They applied well, but the kickup in the pan is INTENSE, so be sure to bang your brush off hard before you apply this to you lids!
Mary Kay Beauty That Counts – Hearts Together Lipstick ($18 CAD)
Also out is a limited edition Beauty That Counts “Hearts Together” lipstick. From May 16, 2016 onwards, $1 of the sale of each lipstick will support the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation in its efforts to support women living with cancer and to help end violence against women by providing grants to women’s shelters and community outreach programs.
Mary Kay Beauty That Counts – Hearts Together Lipstick – swatch
Hearts Together is a labelled as a “soft pink creme lipstick”, but I’d say it veers more towards a sheer-shine lipstick with a glossy cool pink hue.
Mary Kay Perfecting Concealer ($17.50 CAD)
Okay guys… deep breath. DEEP BREATH. I loathe reviewing concealers because I just don’t use them. Why, you ask? Because every freaking concealer creases on me. Or looks crepey under my eyes. Basically, they all look like absolute garbage, so I can’t be bothered to use them.
….UNTIL NOW. I don’t know what the heck is in this thing except for magic. PURE FREAKING MAGIC. I put this on my undereyes and it not only brightened the area, but it also didn’t budge. It didn’t crease. It didn’t look crepe-y. I am totally and completely floored.
Mary Kay Perfecting Concealer in Light Ivory & Deep Ivory – swatches
The shades featured above are the ones that are most likely to match my skintone so they’re the ones I’ve swatched. As it turns out, I used Deep Ivory under my eyes and it was slightly lighter than my skintone, so it helped to brighten up the area.
Mary Kay Summer 2016 Look
Mary Kay Summer 2016 Look
In these shots I’m wearing the eyeshadow palette on my eyes, the Lash Intensity mascara (which I forgot to photograph – I am so sorry!), the Perfecting Concealer in Deep Ivory under my eyes and the Hearts Together lipstick.
Mary Kay Summer 2016 LookMary Kay Summer 2016 Look – Eye Closeup
Rosegold on the lid.
Espresso on the outer corner and on the outer lower lash line.
Driftwood through the crease.
Sweet Cream on my brow bone.
Moonstone on the inner corner.
Mary Kay Summer 2016 Look – Eye Closeup
Final Thoughts
I wasn’t totally blown away by this collection as there are a few misses in the lot. (Overall, I found the Spring launch a lot more up my alley.) Of the products I used here, I think the eyeshadow palette is a miss for me. The eyeshadows, while lovely on the lids, are intensely powdery and I think the price point is unreasonable when other brands are putting out more shadows for a cheaper price point. (And it’s odd too, because the rest of the Mary Kay line is not unreasonably priced, so I have no idea why these shadows are so expensive. I also feel they’re inferior quality to the ones I tried last quarter from the spring line.)
The lipstick was perfectly adequate, and completely comfortable to wear. My only reservation is that it’s just not a shade I’d wear with any kind of regularity. If you love it though, get it – it’s comfortable and easy to wear!
All that to say… the complete and absolute winner out of this whole lot were the Perfecting Concealers. I can’t even begin to explain my excitement for this product! AT LONG LAST, I can finally wear undereye concealer without having to WORRY about it. I’d long since given up thinking I could wear undereye concealer just because no other brand has ever worked for me. I am so excited that the Mary Kay ones took me by complete surprise because I absolutely love them!
The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration.
QUO recently released some new products for 2016 and amongst them was this palette called Romance Novel. The pans are ENORMOUS, so you’re getting a huge bang for your buck!
QUO Romance Novel palette
If you see the palette in stores though… just look for the one that apparently have no logo on the front cover. So weird…
I see the launch of the Kat Von DShade + Light Eye Contour Quads as a colourful extension to her Shade + Light Eye Palette. You know… kind of like colourful addons that you can use to help flesh out the neutral look of the original palette.
Except… I was drawn to the shade range that is probably MOST like the original eyeshadow palette!
Kat Von D Shade + Light Quad in Rust
The brand new Kat Von DShade + Light Eye Contour Quads come in four different colours that speak to different tonal shades. There’s Rust (matte brownish reds – which is the one featured in this post), Sage (matte greens), Plum (matte purples) and Smoke (matte cool grays). They’re also ALL matte shades.
Kat Von D Shade + Light Quad in Rust
So the Rust quad is… well… it’s pretty freaking gorgeous. As the name suggests, it features very warm and rusty shades. The largest pan is a bit more peach, the two middle shades are varying tones of orangey-red (be still my heart) and the final shade is a perfect brow bone highlight colour for me.
Kat Von D Shade + Light Quad in Rust – Swatches
Swatched out on my skin you can see that they are really saturated with pigment. They do verge on slightly powdery (as does the original palette), but I’ll take that over a hardpacked shadow any day. I don’t tend to struggle with powdery shadows because I feel like you’ve got even more pigment to blend with.
KVD Rust versus KVD Shade + Light Palette – swatches
I know a lot of people are going to compare the Rust quad to the warm toned section of the original KVD palette, so I thought I’d swatch both out for you to compare yourselves. They are definitely *similar*, but not quite the same. I prefer the tones in the Rust quad personally, but if you’re looking for more colour dimension to add to your collection, the other quads (Plum, Sage) may suit you better. You cannot go wrong with the formula though – so pick whichever quad suits your fancy!
Wearing Rust
Here’s how it played out on my face. I’m wearing only the Rust quad on my eyelids, and, since I know I’ll be asked, on my lips is Maybelline’s Vibrant Mandarin and on my cheeks is Hard Candy’s Skinny Dipping.
Wearing RustEye Closeup
The Contour shade (the orange) was easily the most pigmented, so I’d say start small when you apply it to your lids and then keep building it up. I ended up whacking a whole ton on when I first applied it and the colour just kept blossoming over my lid as I was blending. (Not a bad thing, just worth mentioning!)
Eye Closeup
Final Thoughts
The Kat Von DShade + Light Eye Contour Quad in Rust is a thing of beauty. The texture of the eyeshadows is soft and powdery (which I’ll leave up to you to decide if that’s a texture you enjoy – for me, that’s a thumbs up!) which make them very easy to blend. The colours are gorgeous and work incredibly well together – you can wear this quad without needing to pull in any other shadows for a cohesive eye look. I do find the packaging is a bit bulky, but it does fit with the KVD aesthetic so I understand the reasoning for it. I also love that she stuck to matte shadows with this launch. Overall product definitely gets two thumbs up from me!
It’s funny how things change over the years – for years and years and YEARS I wore L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black in the waterproof formula because I thought it was basically “dumb” to wear anything but waterproof mascara. I mean, the risk of getting rained on is kind of a constant, so why bother with a non-waterproof formula? Of course, nowadays, I’ve changed my tune since there’s a heck of a lot of mascara out there that doesn’t come in a waterproof formula.
However…. if your favourite formula of mascara is Too Faced‘s Better Than Sex, you can rest easy knowing they have a waterproof formula now!
Too Faced Better Than Sex Waterproof MascaraToo Faced Better Than Sex Waterproof Mascara
First off… the packaging is pretty damn swanky. While the original Better Than Sex mascara came in a sleek pink tube, the new Better Than Sex Waterproof comes in the same style tube, except this one is pale aqua-blue with embossed water droplets. The packaging is VERY reminiscent of Alluring Aquatics collection from MAC a few years back. Am I complaining that they copied them? Hell no, I LOVE this style of packaging, and bonus points for the simulated water droplets actually making it easier to open the tube! (Sidenote, I had never actually owned a full size tube of Better Than Sex because I always managed to have them in deluxe sized samples, so I had no idea how solid and weighty these tubes of mascara felt till now!)
Too Faced Better Than Sex Waterproof Mascara
The brush is identical in size and shape to the original Better Than Sex. It’s an hourglass shape that works well to build volume and length. While I personally like the effect it creates on my lashes, I need to point out that I find the brush a bit cumbersome since I’m prone to getting mascara everywhere on my lids. It’s not my favourite style of brush, however I definitely make it work because I love the formula!
Too Faced Better Than Sex Waterproof Mascara – nothing on lashes, one coat and two coats comparison
So that’s how it plays out on my lashes. I’m a one coat mascara kind of woman, and the Better Than Sex Waterproof definitely delivers in one coat. At two coats, it thickens up my lashes for sure, but I don’t find it’s totally necessary (for my tastes). It doesn’t clump up and I’ve got plenty of definition to keep me happy.
Of course, this is a waterproof formula, so I had to put it through some kind of water test. So here’s my step by step test:
Too Faced Better Than Sex Waterproof Mascara Demo
Step 1 – Apply mascara and allow to dry for five minutes.Step 2 – Spritz with water until face is completely soaked.Step 3 – Rub eyelashes horizontally and rub between fingers.Step 4 – Check for residue on fingers and smearing around lashes. There is NONE!And for good measure, here’s a closeup shot of my eye so you can see how soaked it is. This was taken after I had rubbed at my eyes with my fingers.
(If you notice that smudge on the lower lash line near the outer corner of my eye, that’s just my terrible mascara application. You can see the smudges are there in the Step 1 shot above!)
Alright, so Too Faced released a waterproof mascara… but how you gonna take that off?
Too Faced Mascara Melt Off
Never fear, they’ve got an answer for that too! Their brand new Mascara Melt Off is a cleansing oil intended for waterproof mascara, but can be used on any mascara you’ve got in your stash.
Too Faced Mascara Melt Off
It comes in a slim tube that’s basically like any other identical tube of mascara. However, this tube is filled with a cleansing oil that will break down your waterproof mascara. The wand is quite slim and has small grooves in it to help pick up the mascara from the tube and deposit it to your lashes.
Too Faced Mascara Melt Off Application
The Mascara Melt Off is applied to your lashes as you would any other mascara. I coat the tops and bottoms of my lashes and let it sit about thirty seconds (maybe less). I then wipe it away with a cotton pad and… poof! Every smidge of mascara is totally gone. I’ve started using the Mascara Melt Off with both my regular mascaras and my waterproof ones just because it works so well.
Final Thoughts
Better Than Sex Waterproof – I’ve heard of people having issues with this mascara not drying down at all and transferring everywhere. I did not have these problems whatsoever as I found that it was totally dry within five minutes of application (probably less, but I wasn’t really timing it). I also found it was totally waterproof if I was running my fingers along my lashes and squeezing them between my fingers after I had doused my face in water. If you SCRUB at your eyes, then yes, you’re going to get a bit of transfer, but that’s kind of to be expected because of friction. I definitely feel it’s a waterproof formula that holds up. For daily wear I also found it to be fairly decent. I had very little flaking (which is something I’m prone to), and it was only after the 13 hour mark that I started to notice any kind of smudging. For example, I wore this to Gen Beauty this past Saturday: I applied it at 8 am, and by 11 pm I had some outer corner smudging. But you know what? That’s a LONG ASS day, so I can’t really fault a mascara for struggling after 15 hours of wear. For a normal 8-9 hour work day, I have zero issues.
Mascara Melt Off – What a neat product this one turned out to be. It does feel like an added step in my routine, but it does so well to help break down the mascara that I’m pretty happy to use it when I’m wearing a longwearing formula. It helps me avoid scrubbing around my eyes with remover, thus preserving the eye area from wear and tear. Is it necessary? Nope, totally not. Is it handy and makes it easier on me to remove tough mascara? Absolutely!
