Category Archives: Blush

Rediscovering Nars Blushes

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When I purchased the Nars Basic Instincts Cheek Quad II at the end of July 2021 and two single blushes on Black Friday, it was because I wanted to get a good sense of what Nars blushes could do. I wanted to experience them for the first time. As I went through my blush drawer to prepare for this post, I realized I had several more blushes from Nars that I completely forgot about (and I bought one more product after I was supposed to be finished with this review)! Despite owning their blushes as far back as 2016, I still had no sense of how I felt about them beyond the experience being positive. It was high time that I analyzed all of these further to officially decide where I rate Nars blushes within my own collection.

Nars Basic Instincts II Cheek Quad

This palette was a limited edition Ulta exclusive (now only available at the Nars website), that came in two different versions comprising of Nars’ bestselling shades. The biggest selling point for me was getting my hands on Taj Mahal, one of the beauty industry’s most famous orange blushes, and Exhibit A which I completely forgot I already owned. Ulta was offering a free 3-piece gift with $30 Nars purchase at the time, and I had a 20% off code as well, so I was able to get everything in the top left photo for just $33 (tax included). I felt this was an amazing deal, considering each pan is nearly the size of a full size blush and Nars blushes cost $30 each. I just needed to like one blush for this purchase to be worth it.

I should preface that I currently like shimmer blushes thanks to formulations from MAC which showed me that they could be done in a way that don’t look like I used a colored highlighter or shimmery eyeshadow as blush on my cheeks. They could add a beautiful luminosity to the skin without making too much of a statement. Prior to this lesson, I hated shimmer blushes. Unfortunately, some of the shades in this quad brought me right back to that feeling of remembering why I steered clear of shimmery blushes for so long.

Taj Mahal is a gorgeous color in the pan, but I don’t think it suits me. It may as well be an orange highlighter, and that was quite disappointing to discover because of how much Charlotte Holdcroft raved about how it’s supposed to look bronze-orange on the skin or “tan skin with a touch of orange.” To be fair, it did look that way on her. On me, whatever brown tones are in this are camouflaged against my skin tone and all I get is the golden orange shimmer on my cheek. It doesn’t matter what brush I use, the photo above depicts the result I get every time.

It looks slightly nicer if I carry my bronzer higher up so that it’s partly on my cheeks as well, and not just in the 3-shape on my face, but the shimmer is still too metallic and reflective when it’s in direct light. Blush has always been something that I want to look natural, like I’m actually blushing, but that type of shimmer is a dead giveaway.

This is my same issue with the shade Savage, although I really like the tones of that one. It’s like a warm brownish red or dark copper similar to Kiss of Rose from bareMinerals. It would be perfect if the shimmer wasn’t so metallic looking. It’s at least not as bad as the blush shades of Coloured Raine’s Glowlighters, but still not my preference. Even when I’ve used this as a blush topper, it’s too much like a highlighter for my taste. If I want to wear a shade like this, I’ll put on Kiss of Rose or Faux Sure from MAC.

Torrid surprised me in the best way. For starters, it’s just like MAC blushes where they look far lighter in the pan, but when they’re applied to the skin it looks deeper and actually works for me. I do have to build Torrid up in order for it to be seen, but the shimmer level in this one is far less than Savage and Taj Mahal. I love how this one looks.

As for Exhibit A, it looks a bit rough in the photo, but that’s because I forgot to reapply my foundation between wiping off the previous shade and applying this new one. It’s very pretty. Although it looks extremely intimidating in the pan, it can be sheered out to give a light flush to the skin. While it’s true that the other Exhibit A in my collection is very old, which should make having this one a good thing, I feel that I already have my go-to statement red blush out of the Hindash Beautopsy Palette. The shade Kills gives me Exhibit A vibes and is very similar, though it’s a slightly stronger red. Exhibit A leans a touch on the orange side, but considering the Love shade from Beautopsy also leans orange, I feel I have my bases covered in being able to absolutely dupe out Exhibit A. So it’s still a redundant shade for me to have in this Nars blush quad.

Had I known then what I know now, even at my great deal, I would have skipped out on getting this quad. Since I have it, I do want to continue using the shade Torrid, but I am notoriously bad at reaching for blushes that are in any form other than singles, so we will see how well that goes. Or, perhaps, I will find a new home for this quad. It’s definitely not a bad product in terms of quality, but one has to like statement blushes as well as this type of shimmer at this level of intensity.

Additionally, part of my biggest issue with the shimmer in Nars blushes is that some of them emphasize texture. Any bumps I have on my skin become a lot more noticeable. I would semi expect that from a highlighter, but I definitely don’t want that quality in my blushes.

Nars Narsissist Unfiltered I Cheek Palette in Watch Me, Me First, Takeover, Out There, Chic, and Exhibit A

This palette, along with the lighter Unfiltered II version, was released at the end of 2016, though it was intended to be a Spring 2017 launch. I recall reading online that some people were able to get the palette before launch if they went in-store and asked for it specifically. It was also around the time that Sephora used to have X amount of dollars off a $50 purchase, so I was lucky enough to have paid after tax like $38 for this (I think it was $25 off for Rouge).

The first three shades on the top row are all highlighter shades for me. At the time, Watch Me was even too light for me to use, or at least I was into more subtle highlighters closer to my skin tone. For that reason, I mostly stuck to using Takeover as a highlighter or mixing it with Watch Me if I didn’t reach for a different highlighter altogether. As for Me First, I didn’t use it more than once.

I admittedly hardly used Chic or Exhibit A. Chic was similar to Out There, which I loved, but it was cooler toned so I never reached for it over Out There. As for Exhibit A, I’m pretty sure I was searching for the right brush to give me a sheer enough application for my tastes back then (which was very much about no-makeup makeup) but I stopped using the palette altogether by the time I eventually got brushes to work with it.

By right, this palette is so old that it should be part of my retired makeup shelf, but I decided to go ahead and demonstrate what Out There looks like on my cheeks. This shade used to be what I considered my perfect and favorite blush color. I wanted to try it again for nostalgia reasons as I wholeheartedly regret that I didn’t get more use out of this palette. As much as I loved that shade, at some point I reorganized my collection and this palette became physically hard to reach, and the outer mirrored lid on top made me not want to move it around as much for fear of breaking it. It eventually got buried under other blushes and forgotten about completely. Part of me still wants to make up for lost time, but I have brand new Nars blushes to dig into, so I won’t.

Nars Blushes in Liberté, Amour, Orgasm X, and Goulue

I have Liberte and Amour in the full sizes, purchased during a $19 per blush Black Friday Deal on Nars’ website. I purchased the mini of Orgasm X in April 2021 during the VIB sale. As for Goulue, the shade was originally released in 2013, but became a Sephora exclusive shade in 2016. This particular mini was the Sephora 2016 Rouge gift, so it’s “only” between five and six years old. I decided to demonstrate this shade as well, since I always assumed it wouldn’t work for me so I didn’t do anything with it other than swatching. It does faintly show up, like the shade Plum Foolery from MAC. I wish I had given it more of a chance in the past, but at least I have a newer dupe, so this will be decluttered.

I owned at least three free gift with purchase minis of the original Orgasm blush, but I always give them away because it’s essentially a highlighter shade for my skin tone. Orgasm X doesn’t show the strongest on me either, but I can at least wear it as a blush if I want. My first few uses with this mini had a very shimmery top layer, so I did not like how it looked on my cheeks. Using it now still shows as shimmery on my cheeks, but it’s on that borderline of me liking it and having it be too much. Despite taking it on my trip with me in order to use it more and figure it out, I still haven’t decided how I feel about it. Not being able to decide is kind of a decision in itself because if it’s not a blush I can quickly say I like, then I know I won’t use it.

And unfortunately, another blush I probably won’t be using is Amour. It looked much deeper in product photos. While it does go on my skin darker than it looks inside the compact, it’s still a touch too light for me. It’s a shame because it’s one of the few matte formulas from Nars that I have, but I’d rather give my attention to Liberte.

Liberte was my saving grace for this post, prior to me buying the High Profile Cheek Palette, because it’s not too old in my collection nor too shimmery. Nars lists this as part of their “Sheer” formula, but I get a decent amount of pigment from this. I do consider it still buildable though. There are visible shimmer particles in the compact, but it does not look shimmery on the skin.

Nars High Profile Cheek Palette

Out of all the blushes that are still usable in my Nars collection, Torrid and Liberte are my favorites. My inner makeup goblin wanted me to look into the other non-shimmer Nars blushes, but as nice as they appear, I still prefer my MAC blushes over these. So, I said to myself that unless Nars releases a palette of some kind that has mostly matte blushes, I should be all set and will be able to stop buying them. Then I saw a deal on Mercari for the High Profile palette which was a limited edition release for Holiday 2021 that had only been swatched and I just couldn’t pass it up. I originally wanted that palette when it was first released, but reviews about the shades being nearly identical on the cheeks deterred me. However, I bought it for only slightly more than the price of a single blush, so I figured that was worth looking into, especially since I wasn’t satisfied with how uncertain I felt about Nars Blushes by the time I thought I had finished this review.

The blushes in this palette are gel-powder, which I was curious to try from Nars, with a satin-luminous finish. This type of sheen is more my style than the shimmer formula. The only issue is that I can’t use most of my favorite blush brushes with this because of this kind of formula which requires a more resilient bristle in order to pick up the product. So, my favorite with this particular formula is the Chikuhodo FO-2 because it fits well with the size dimensions of the pans and picks up a decent amount of product that allows me to still control in building up the color. For instance, Hit It Off is a little more sheer than the others and Showdown is quite light, so I need multiple swirls in the pan to have the opacity level I want of them on my cheeks. However, Just Lust is very pigmented and I just need 1 or 2 taps to get enough product of that per cheek with this brush. So, I can apply these quickly and smoothly enough without feeling the need to swap to a different brush for each different shade.

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The batch of photos I took wearing Spin Off didn’t turn out well and that shade is too subtle for my camera anyway as it’s barely noticeable on my cheeks in person. There’s a bit too much brown in that shade for my skin tone but I’m sure it would look pretty on others.

I could have built up High Demand, Showdown, and Just Lust even more, but I liked their levels in the photo. Despite High Demand looking to be the same depth as the very pigmented Just Lust, it’s not as intense of a blush color. They look similar in swatches, but High Demand is a brown-red whereas Just Lust is more of a berry shade. Showdown is more apparent on the skin in person, but I do like to mix it (mainly on the apples) with Hit it Off (mainly towards the back) to get a little more depth from that deep pink-coral with a brighter coral pop towards the front.

Nude Revue is more sparkly than my taste in highlighter, but the tone fits me so well that I could still picture myself using it occasionally. I’m very pleased that technically all these blushes work for me! Everything I said earlier still holds true though. I prefer MAC’s blush formulas overs Nars’. From within their own brand, I prefer Nars’ mattes over their satins but I like satins more than the shimmers. I’m going to steer clear of the shimmers, but if Nars releases another blush palette of mostly mattes and/or satins, I could be tempted to buy them, especially if the packaging is pretty. However, I would like this to be where my exploration of Nars blushes and highlighters end. I will try my best to get use out of what I currently have, and everything else from Nars I’m still interested in because they usually make products that work really well on my face!

That’s all for today!

-Lili ❤

MAC Surrounded By Stars Palette, Peaches ‘N’ Dreams Blush, and Macstack Mascara Reviews

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I buy products from MAC fairly often, but I like to review multiple purchases at once, rather than doing them individually. Today’s post is a review of all the latest additions to my ever growing collection of makeup from MAC Cosmetics.

MAC Extra Dimension X4: Surrounded By The Stars Skinfinish Palette

This item is part of MAC’s Magnificent Moon Collection that I purchased online from Selfridges containing an existing Extra Dimension Highlighter (Oh, Darling), two existing Extra Dimension Blushes (Hushed Tone and Hard to Get), and one new Extra Dimension Skinfinish Blush/Highlighter in the shade Surrounded By Stars, which is also the name of this face quad. This release was in celebration of Ramadan and EID, which I admittedly don’t know anything about aside from them being an important time in the Islamic religion. By this point, it seems this collection will not be released in the US. As a lover of celestial imagery and MAC’s Extra Dimension Skinfinish formulas, I couldn’t pass this up like I did with the MAC Mosaic Masterpiece Collection from 2020 that I hoped would come to the US, but it never did.

I already own Hushed Tone, but the other products are new to me. Hushed Tone was my favorite Extra Dimension Blush shade from MAC for a while, but it’s on the lighter side of medium which means it is harder to see on my skin. If I build it up too much, the shimmer particles become too apparent for my taste, which is why I usually reserve this blush for the winter time when I am at my lightest. Faux Sure replaced Hushed Tone as my favorite because it has just as pretty of a sheen but is on the medium-dark spectrum, so it shows better on me. Oh, Darling is a bit light for me and Surrounded by Stars only works for me as a highlighter, so I prefer to combine those two products. Surrounded by Stars can look a bit subtle because of the tone of it, so adding the tiniest amount of Oh Darling gives it that extra pop at the highest points of my face. As for Hard to Get, the only reason I don’t already have a single of that shade is because I knew it was darker than I like to wear for blush. It doesn’t look too dark in my photo since I applied such a sheer layer, but I can literally use it as a shimmery sculpting blush if I want. In fact, when I reach for this palette, I like to put Hard to Get just above where I would contour and have it be a deeper gradient going into Hushed Tone.

I forgot to mention that in the last photo above, Surround By Stars with Oh Darling are both on top of the Suqqu blush.

It was only around six months ago that MAC released a similar product as part of the MAC x Rosalia Aute Cuture collection. Those were more of the highlighter formula whereas these are the softer to the touch blush formula, which I prefer. I’m quite pleased with the fact that I can find a use for all these shades, though I am more lightly to reach for my single products over this full palette. This is especially because I have a difficult time using limited edition products and ruining the embossing on the pans. I am happy to have this anyway.

MAC Wild Cherry Glow Play Blush in Peaches ‘N’ Dreams

I reviewed the HD Cherry Tree Blush previously, but I used my points at Ulta to get this shade. It’s not very pigmented, so it takes a ton of building up to get it to show on my cheeks, though my camera still had a hard time picking it up. It looks quite orange in the compact, but it translates to a true peach on the cheeks. I do like this shade and just like all the other Glow Play blushes, the blend is beautiful and the blush lasts as long as I need it to on my cheeks.

I couldn’t decide which photo shows the blush better so I just put them both here. It may depend on the viewer’s device settings and screen brightness.

MAC Macstack Mascara (Mini with the Superstack Mega Brush)

I bought this with my Ulta Reward Points as well. I purchased the version with the Superstack Mega Brush which is supposed to be better suited for those with longer lashes naturally and/or for everyone to use on the upper lashes. There is also a Superstack Micro Brush for those with naturally shorter lashes or for those who just want a smaller brush to get at the lower lashes.

I applied a thick line for my eyeliner, which makes it difficult to see my eyelashes, but I do have decent length to them. It’s just not as visible without the lift that a good mascara provides. My lower lashes are quite fine though, so I typically have an issue applying mascara there (except with a select few favorites), but I still went for the mini size of the Mega brush mascara.

I cannot deny that I can achieve a false lash effect with this mascara. I don’t have issues with smudging and it’s also fairly easy to remove the mascara. However, the more layers are added the more it’s prone to clump despite being marketed as, “… a continuously buildable mascara that stacks on infinite layers of volume and length.” Even if I keep passing over the lashes repeatedly without dipping back into the tube (so still within the first coat) it will start to clump if I keep at it for too long. After using it a few times, I wondered if it was because it starts trying to dry. The formula is supposed to allow the user to build up multiple coats, even on fully dry lashes, so the dried lashes do soften back up, but then it just builds on top of the clumps rather than smoothing them out. So, the most clump-free tactic I have is to skip wiggling the applicator side to side like I usually do to build up volume with other mascaras. Instead, I try building up the first coat using straight upward strokes for about 30 seconds to a minute before dipping the wand back in the tube (even if there’s still product on the wand) just to get a fresh wet coat and continue building it up, just stopping short of it starting to get that first clump. I then use the tip end of the applicator to smooth that clump back off (since it’s easier to fix one spot rather than multiple spots in multiple sections of the lash) and then leave the mascara alone. Another method is to repeat that step of building up a layer in the first minute, stopping to let it dry, then building up a second later but only in a minimal amount of strokes (5 to 15) in order to stop before the clumping begins.

The only time I had an issue with flaking was in the beginning when I had drier layers and clumped layers. Considering how much I dislike spidery lashes or clumps because it makes my lashes look like they’re suffering from split ends, I’m a little torn on my feelings about this mascara. I love the effect it gives in the end when I get it right, but it’s a little more finicky than my tried and true favorites, so it’s not always worth the effort for how quickly I need to do my makeup sometimes. I do like it, but I will not be buying the full size at full price. I could possibly see myself buying it at half price after my mascara no-buy is over (which I technically already broke for this).

That’s everything for today! Thank you as always for taking the time to read… or if you’re new here, welcome!

-Lili ❤

My February Purchases Reviewed: KVD, Essence, Tarte, etc.

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I wish it was possible to have reviews for my February purchases up quicker, but two of the orders were from international brands, which took nearly a month to arrive. I then needed adequate time to test out the makeup, but I was away from home quite a lot in the month of April. So, here we are now!

Some of these items have already been reviewed by now, so in order to give the unreviewed products their time to shine and not be repetitive, I will just add links that open a new tab to the locations of the previously discussed products.

KVD Beauty Good Apple Lightweight Full-Coverage Concealer in 167

This feels like old news by now since so many reviews have been released about this super hyped up concealer, but I may as well give my take on it too. This product, in terms of performance, has surpassed the identically priced and beloved Tarte Shape Tape Concealer! I have to use it in specific ways though in order to get it to last all day.

This product is full coverage but spreads very easily within the first half minute or so. The applicator feels lovely on the skin, but the amount it picks up is too much for my entire face, even when I scrape the excess product off the tip. With the scraped off amount, if I try to blend in the same spot, it still spreads outside of the brush zone, so I have to continue blending out the edges to get it to seamlessly fuse with my foundation, which can lead to it moving too far. How I minimize this is by applying a thin layer of concealer to the areas I need coverage, but I leave a little room on the edges and try to avoid my under eye lines. Then I wait at least 45 seconds to let it start to dry. Then I start blending and tap my brush onto the wettest parts that haven’t settled yet and use that to spread and cover all the blank spots. If I’ve lost some of the coverage by then, I dot the tiniest bit of extra product to those areas and smooth it out. This technique allows me to use the least amount of product, but prior to this, I learned it’s better to apply the concealer in two light layers rather than one heavy one. It also helps that I use the Sonia G Jumbo Concealer brush which doesn’t trap the product in its bristles or pick it back up off the face.

I don’t follow the inner and outer corner concealer application spots, the concealer triangle, or other shapes beauty gurus show because my dark circles and discoloration are unique and must be applied in the way that suits my face. I was in a bit of a rush when I took this picture, but that initial application doesn’t have to be perfect. The key is to cover most, but not all, of the undereye darkness and discoloration so that even less product will be able to settle into those lines later when I blend in the rest of the concealer. This is the method I use exclusively with the KVD Good Apple Concealer.

I’ve also been content with leaving my concealer as is and not setting it with powder, though without powder, I’d need a decent amount of product in order to keep it lasting all day. Denatured Alcohol is fairly high in this concealer, as the fifth ingredient. This probably helps with the quick dry down/partial self setting aspect, but it does concern me as someone with dry skin to have a drying ingredient in it. However, I decided I will continue using this concealer, at least until I’ve used it up because I like it so much. I love that it’s so lightweight but builds up to full coverage and looks a little more hydrating under my eyes than Shape Tape, even with the alcohol. It’s also longer lasting than Shape Tape. I think it’s important to prep my under eyes, but if I use a moisturizer (I don’t use eye creams anymore) with too many oils, it will break down my concealer quicker than usual. I’ve had better success using my primers/priming moisturizers like the Bobbi Brown Face Base, Tatcha Silk Canvas, Touch in Sol Pretty Filter Glassy Skin Balm, MILK Hydro Grip Eye Primer, etc. If I use something under my concealer, that’s when I make sure to set it with powder.

Regarding the color options, I recommend paying close attention to the swatches because some of the shades are randomly darker than the swatch above and below. Several shades are also essentially the same depth, but just have different undertones. When I was trying to figure out which one to get, it was quite confusing. If KVD created something between 173 and 177, that would be my ideal color provided it’s actually darker than 167 but lighter than 177. My current shade works under my eyes, but it’s too light for the hyperpigmentation around my mouth and gives a grey look when I cover it up. And for those who don’t know, I prefer having a concealer shade that matches my face, rather than being a few shades lighter. The dollops of product depicted for each shade are also much deeper than in reality, so I recommend going by the swatches or seeing these in store to be safe. My nearest Sephora never has anything new but both malls closest to me are closing, so I know that’s not possible for everyone to do.

For those curious, here are some swatches and shade comparisons. I only have a mini of the Deep Shape Tape right now, which I suspect is lighter than the full size, so I would say take that with a grain of salt, along with the Pat Mcgrath concealers which are nearly used up and also changing in consistency and should probably be tossed out. I typically mix PML’s 22 and 24 to get a better match and Lancome’s 460 and 495 to get a better match as well.

One thing to watch out for though is that after using it for a month, the color seemed a little darker than when I first got it. I think it’s due to repeated exposure to air. I will continue to monitor what happens with this concealer as time goes on and update this post if necessary.

Nyx Marshmellow Smoothing Primer (Mini)

I was always intrigued by the idea of this primer, but I held off buying it until I tried a sample of it and loved how it gave me what I wanted out of the Touch in Sol Pretty Filter Glassy Skin Balm, but with more of a shine to my skin. The sample I got was perfectly blended and mixed, but in my $8 mini, the oil and rest of the product is partly separated so much that it leaks out of the tube every time I open it. I know this is common in some products, but it’s quite the annoyance trying to apply it evenly to my face and not get too much oil in one spot. Before every use, I rotate between shaking the tube and massaging the packaging a few times to try and get them to mix back together.

This has a light marshmallow scent to it. There are quite a few claims on Ulta’s website like, “This primer smooths, softens, extends makeup wear for 16 hours, hydrates, soothes, evens tone, minimizes texture, blurs lines, adds a soft focus finish AND keeps makeup fresh.” After several wear tests, the longest being ten hours, I can only confirm the skin softening, minuscule amount of line blurring, and keeping makeup fresh. I hoped that the initial shine I got on my skin when first applied would continue throughout the day, which it does sometimes, but at other times this primer actually partially mattifies my skin. I would not have noticed if I hadn’t done several wear tests using the NYX primer only on one side of the face. Sometimes it goes on perfectly clear and at other times it leaves a slight white cast, which at least is undetectable once foundation is on top, but still it’s quite the strange phenomenon. The only explanation I have is the separation of the formula and me being unable to consistently mix it back together in the tube. So, on those matte days, I don’t know if my skin is actually being hydrated. It at least feels hydrated, so that’s a good thing for me.

I don’t wear makeup for long enough to know if it would last 16 hours and I have no idea what a “soft focus finish” from makeup would look like in real life, so I can’t confirm or disprove those claims either.
I still like this primer, but not enough to repurchase it unless I somehow start noticing the other supposed benefits like a more even tone, minimized texture, and an increase in the blurring power.

Essence Coffee to Glow Highlighter Beans

Calling this subtle wouldn’t be the right wording, but it gives more of a sheen or glow than a blinding reflect. It lasted a full eleven hours without fading during my longest wear test and with my best primer. The worst performance of it when combined with different base products left me with a very subtle sheen by the nine hour point. I’m quite shocked at how similar it actually is to the Guerlain meteorites in terms of performance, though it’s a little more toned down than those and the Guerlain is a little more friendly to texture.

It smelled like coffee when I first bought it, but a month later it smelled faintly like coffee but mostly like pencils. It’s the type of smell that is detectable when I put it on, but I can’t smell it after I finish blending it. According to Ulta and Essence’s websites though, these are somehow fragrance free. I skimmed several videos to see what others had to say about the beans, and theirs had a smell too, so I don’t know why this is the case if they aren’t supposed to be scented. Maybe it’s the foam or packaging itself that’s scented and not the makeup.

There are way less beans in the cup than I expected because there’s a foam layer that fills most of the space, as can be seen in my product photo far above. I don’t mind this since I’ve never gotten even a quarter of the way through a highlighter.

It is easier to get powder from the lid rather than trying to pick up product off the beans because I have occasionally gotten crumb size pieces between the bristles of the brush and when those fall to the floor it makes a mess. The beans stay mostly intact if I rub my brush over them, but they are not difficult to break. One shattered between my fingers when I tried to swatch each of the three colors against my arm and it got everywhere!

Considering I did not enjoy the Essence Pure Nude Highlighter Palette, I’m shocked how much better these are and how much more I like them. For those who like subtle highlighters and don’t mind scented makeup, I’d recommend trying these out if they’re still available. Also, those of a lighter skin tone can remove the darkest beans if there is a concern of this leaving a dark cast on the face. Conversely, those with a darker skin tone can remove the golden yellow beans if there is a concern of it being too stark, but I think it may be less of an issue for those on the deeper skin tone spectrum as can be seen here in this YouTuber’s video.

Essence Coffee to Glow Eyeshadow Palette

I should note that these two Essence products and the Nyx primer are all allowed in my low buy under the stipulation of “products that I intended to get last year but was prevented from doing so for one reason or another.” I tend to prefer colorful eyeshadow palettes, so the only reasons I wanted this palette were for the glossy and swirl shadows. I felt like it would somehow give me a taste of Huda Beauty’s Naughty Palette which has those types of shadows in it.

The #5 gloss shadow has a hard gel layer with all the pigment pearls at the very bottom, so I had to crush it down to the pan in order to get any color out of it. I expected it to just be a gimmick and it would certainly have been pointless wearing it on its own on my eyes if I hadn’t mixed it. It’s supposed to be a “universal eye shadow topper,” but that isn’t my makeup preference. Instead, I use this as a base primer and it greatly increases the longevity of the shimmers I apply on top, as I saw in an eleven hour wear test. I almost always get creasing on my eyes, and using the gel as a base does deepen the creases, but it also keeps my shimmers in place and prevents the transfer that I get from my lid to my crease when I use a regular eyeshadow primer.

With regular primers like the MAC Paint Pot and Gerard Cosmetics Clean Canvas, my eye looks using this palette are still fine past ten hours but the shimmers aren’t as intense. As for the mattes, I was impressed with the color payoff. They blend sufficiently. I just wish Essence included a deeper shade because I can’t get much depth out of shades #1 and #8 which are the two darkest colors in this palette.

I always use #3 to blend out the edges of the other mattes in the crease. For the inner corner, I use #2 or #6 but my favorite thing is to use them together for the inner corner highlight because #2 has the best reflect but it can be a bit dark depending on how much of the darker swirl is used, whereas #6 is lighter but not shinier. Those two shades don’t last as long on my eyes because I do touch my eyes frequently throughout the day and these are easily removed by touch, no matter what primer I use.

#4 is a nice metallic shade and both #4 and #6 feel like normal shimmers with some slip, but the #2 “bouncy swirl” shadow is quite creamy/wet feeling.

This palette is only $8 and is unscented. It was definitely worth me purchasing, even if it was purely for the fun of playing with some of these uncommon textures and formulas. The lightweight packaging feels like recycled cardboard and the palette is tiny and fits in the palm of my hand, but what it lacks in packaging quality, it makes up for with the eyeshadow formula.

Rephr Hydration Cream 1.0

I purchased this when rephr was offering a “set your own price” option where one could pay even as low as $0 to get it, plus the shipping cost. When I first used it, I applied way too much to my face and continued to get dewier throughout the day. In many subsequent uses, I learned that if I applied a smaller amount, it fully absorbs into my skin and is fully hydrated without leaving a trace of shine, which is fantastic for non-makeup days! I only like a little dew to my skin when I have a full face on; I don’t want to look shiny when I’m barefaced.
I’m also impressed by this formulation because it meets the requirements of my dry skin as a powerful moisturizer that is also lightweight. Rich/Heavy products tend to clog my skin. It’s not the easiest to find something that lets my skin breathe while also lasting all day.

Some highlights about the benefits of this moisturizer are that it’s fragrance and essential oil free, it’s made in Korea, it’s made of recyclable lightweight aluminum packaging, and it contains:

  • Niacinamide (5%)
  • Dimethicone (3%)
  • Glycerin (3%)
  • Centella Asiatica Complex (2%)
  • Meadowfoam Seed Oil (1%)
  • Panthenol (0.5%)
  • Algae Complex (2.0%)
  • Soybean Complex (1.5%)

Other lightweight moisturizers for my face that can do the job are the Innisfree Jeju Cherry Blossom Jelly Cream ($25 for 50ml), Round Lab Birch Juice Moisturizing Cream ($15-36 for 80ml), Laneige Water Bank Hydro Gel ($38 for 50ml), Saturday Skin Waterfall Glacier Water Cream ($39 for 50ml), etc. So, rephr is offering quite the deal at $26 (listed price) for 100ml. The only one of those I mentioned that I like better than this one is from Round Lab, though I believe the rephr cream may be more occlusive.

I’m terrible about keeping to a consistent skincare routine, so I can’t say how this product performs on a regular daily basis, but I’ve used it enough these past few months to be able to say that it’s great and hasn’t caused me any issues.

Colourpop Pressed Powder Blush in 4ever Yours – That review is here.

This is was the first official breech of my low buy this month. I’m not supposed to buy blushes unless it’s one of the brands on the exceptions list, which this is not. Considering how similar it is to the heart shaped blush I bought from Colourpop last year, I should have stuck to my guns and not gotten it.

Colourpop Super Shock Highlighter in Champagne BB

According to the rules of my low buy, I should not have gotten this either. It’s the classic case of wanting it because I like the formula, but I don’t need anymore, especially when I have them in shades I already like. My only defense was that I at least removed the other highlighter and three blushes I had out of my shopping cart, but I just ended up buying those anyway in March. Oops!

This shade looks a bit too dark for me in swatches, but when it’s diffused onto the skin, it looks like the perfect depth and still brightens the area due to the sparkle. It lasts on my cheeks all day and I can’t even regret this purchase because it’s great! Unfortunately, this particular Super Shock has already been discontinued.

Oden’s Eye x Angelica Hela Palette – The review is Here.

This fits in line with my two eye shadow palettes per month rule. I’m doing quite well with that so far!

Kaleidos Lip Clays (plus Smokey Nostalgia Tin Box) in Skinship, Cognac, and Bare – The review is Here for both the Lip Clays and Blush listed below.

I purchased the custom bundle which requires 4 lip products, but the fourth was a gift for a friend. So, I’m not counting that last one as part of my lip no-buy and my total is currently 3 lip products out of the allowed 5.

Kaleidos Smokey Nostalgia Blush in P03 Sanguine – The review is linked above.

This is another purchase that technically goes against my low-buy. Kaleidos isn’t on the exceptions list for blushes, but I have always wanted to try one from them and couldn’t due to the shades not being suited for my skin tone.

MAKE UP FOR EVER Electric Brushes Set

This set with tax came to $36 from Nordstrom. The original price was $69 and has a retail value of $150. It includes :

  • 106 Foundation Brush: a brush for applying and blending all kinds of foundation for an even result.
  • 124 Powder Kabuki Brush: a brush with a short and slender handle for ensuring smooth and even application of all powders to create a lightweight, flawless result.
  • 152 Highlighter Brush: a brush for easily and delicately highlighting your face and body with its soft fibers.
  • 228 Precision Shader Brush: a paddle-shaped, flexible brush for applying, blending and smudging all types of eye products quickly.
  • Brush case

Today’s review will be about the foundation, powder, and highlighter brushes, but I’m going to give someone the shader brush. I rarely like synthetic eye brushes, so it would be a waste for me to even bother trying it. In general, I prefer natural hair brushes, but I’ve always wanted to try these, just not at full price. It was still very early in my exploration of makeup when MUFE decided to make their brushes fully synthetic. Regarding my no buy/low buy, I’m unofficially on a makeup tool low buy. However, I didn’t set any restrictions in writing.

The Foundation brush, I had seen in action during a Rouge event many years ago when a MUFE representative did my makeup and I wanted it ever since. I typically don’t like paddle style brushes, but this one works just as well as I remembered. I get zero streaks using this brush. I’m able to apply and spread foundation easily and get around edges and small corners with ease as well. I have a background with painting ceramics, and painting on canvas is an occasional hobby, so I can’t be sure if that plays into why this brush is so easy for me to use, but it is.

This brush can also apply a crisp line for cream sculpting products, though the shape of the tip isn’t the best for blending, but I can still do it with this brush.
It costs $36 which ended up being the price I paid for the entire set. I personally think it’s worth $25 at most, but having this brush made the whole set worth it.

I find it so strange that this is listed as a Highlighter brush considering it’s bigger than my Smashbox Cream Cheek brush and many other blush brushes.

It applies far too much highlighter for my preference, so I consider this a blush brush instead. That being said, I’m not the biggest fan of this brush for that purpose either. There’s so much bristle for such a flimsy floppy splay that doesn’t feel like I have much control of the blend. It’s like it smears blush across the skin like a mop rather than buffing in the blush. When I use easy to blend and pigmented blushes, this brush works perfectly fine. However, with a sheerer blush or lower quality one, it takes forever since it’s lacking firmness and makes things look patchier. I figured if this is problematic with powders then maybe cream blushes will be better for this brush, but that’s not the case. It doesn’t allow me to fully work the cream products into my skin and it just sits on top of it. With even more emollient creams, it has the issue of spreading product too far out.

This retails for $37, which I don’t think it’s anywhere near worth that. If I had bought this #152 brush individually, I would have returned it. I don’t recommend this one.

The retail price for this one is $52! I can’t recall if I ever paid over $40 for a synthetic fiber brush, so it’s no surprise that I wouldn’t normally buy a brush like this. The handle on this one feels even sturdier than the others in the line.

It’s the most dense at the very center and looser packed around the edges. When I put this brush handle side up against my palm, it sinks in at like a centimeter before it forms what feels like a wall. It’s so solid that I can’t get the bristles to splay, it just stiffens. This does the same thing when I apply a powder to my face. If I grip the handle and use a normal amount of pressure to spread powder on my face, it feels incredibly firm to point that it offers very little movement and the bristles drag heavily across my skin.

The way I like to use it is holding it in a looser grip and just blending with the tips without applying pressure. This method still gives me a strong blend without feeling like I’m using the world’s densest brush or attempting to exfoliate my face. I’m not saying that these brushes are scratchy. The bristles on all of them are soft, just not the softest synthetic I’ve felt, especially when pressure is applied and it drags on the skin. These fibers actually remind me a bit of pony hair, but softer. Now that I know the trick to using this brush, I do like it and I’m happy it’s part of the set. It can’t compare to my natural hair powder brushes, but I use those for an airier and more blended finish. This brush is one that I’d use when I want to actually load on a thin solid layer, like with face powder, before blending it out.

Even though I’m not planning to use this brush, I wanted to show how it looks through the plastic. The retail price is $25.

I feel like I got an absolute steal on this brush set! Even though I don’t want to purchase anymore synthetic fiber brushes, I can’t regret buying these.

MAC Glow Play Cherry Blossom Blush in HD Cherry Tree – The review is Here.

Considering how many MAC blushes I own, this shouldn’t be on the exceptions list, but it is because I don’t have the willpower to cut off the brand that ranks number one with blushes for me. So this purchase is still allowed according to my Beauty Resolutions.

Tarte Amazonian Clay Best of Cheek Set (Holiday 2021)

This set went on sale for $22 on 2/22/22, so with tax it came to just under $24. I always wanted to try this formula of Tarte blushes because people have been raving about them since I started getting into makeup and they always said that despite the holiday items being notoriously lower quality, this formula from Tarte was always great. After trying these minis out for myself, I can understand why these are such beloved blushes! The longevity is insane. I’ve done several wear tests with the longest being eleven hours and by that point the blush still looked freshly applied!

I used the maximum amount of Exposed, a moderate to heavy application of Charmed, a heavy application of Captivating, a moderate amount of Delight, and a light to moderate amount of Fantasy on the cheeks. Charmed and Delight had more room for building up.

I bought this expecting to only be able to wear the darkest blush in the set and just test out the formula of the highlighter, so I was pleasantly surprised to see everything show up on me! Exposed is described as a “nude pink” and admittedly barely shows because the brown tones blend into my skin. The pink is what makes it visible, though it’s on that cusp of being too light for me, so I will probably find a new home for that shade.
Charmed is a limited edition “bright pink” that I consider a light-medium tone that works for me if I spend a little time really blending it into my skin. The one that I’m actually shocked that I can wear because it’s even lighter than Charmed is the “bright peach” shade called Captivating. It looks crazy at first, but it warms up as I blend it in. I love the look of peach blushes, but they are usually ashy on me, which is why I go for corals as my closest equivalent of peach. It excites me to no end to have found one of the rare peach shades that I can pull off!
The last blush is another limited edition shade called Delight. It’s a “deep rose” that’s a cross between Exposed and Charmed, but darker. It’s the most natural looking of the shades on my cheeks and it’s the only one I don’t have to build up for depth of tone reasons and not pigmentation reasons. All of these blushes have a good amount of pigment.
As for the highlighter, the limited edition “rose gold” shade Fantasy is too light for me. Beyond the shade match, the way it reflects in the light emphasizes texture in a way that other highlighters I’ve used that are even lighter than this one don’t do. I don’t have enough experience with Tarte Highlighters to be able to say if this is indicative of their formulas, but I have an upcoming review where I tried another one that I liked much better and did not have the reflect and textural problem. That one went on smoothly, whereas this one sticks in places and takes a bit of blending in, so I think it’s just an issue with this particular highlighter.

So, in this set of five travel size products, I intend to continue using three of them. That makes the usable items worth $8 each in my eyes based on what I paid, plus the knowledge I gained in learning that I really like the Amazonian Clay blush formula! Each compact contains 1.5 grams of product, so the three I’m keeping equals 4.5 grams that I paid $24 to have. A full size blush from tarte is 5.6 grams for $29.
For these reasons, it made the set worth it, but I wouldn’t have felt the same way if I paid the $39 full price. Tarte lists this as being a $75 value, but there’s a combined product weight of 7.5 grams, which means the set should actually cost $38.84.

This is why I always recommend waiting for Tarte’s holiday items to go on sale. Then it has a chance of actually being worth buying if the products are not 100% suited for someone.

We’ve now reached the end of the post! I had so many products to review, which I expected would slow down my purchases for March, but it did not! It worked in the beginning of March but halfway through the month things got a bit crazy. I would estimate that post won’t be ready until August. I hope you’ll visit my blog again soon! And if you missed January’s purchases, they can be found here.

-Lili ❤

Kaleidos Smokey Nostalgia Blush and Lip Clays

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From the Smokey Nostalgia collection, I purchased two of the four new lip clays and one of the five new blushes. There’s one more lip clay I purchased, which will be discussed later.

As an absolute blush fanatic, I was the most excited to try a blush from Kaleidos. The brand’s first attempt at blushes was a very non-inclusive release of two blush duos, so I was happy to see at least one deep skin friendly option this time. I will say that the Sanguine blush I purchased is not quite as deep as it appears on the website. This is why I’m not certain if the other shades are even lighter in person as well.

This shade is also difficult to capture accurately. It looks like a straightforward dark red in the pan, but I’d say it actually goes on the skin more like a deep rose shade. I was instantly reminded of MAC’s blush called Frankly Scarlet because of that reddish pink element.

The two blushes don’t look similar in the pan, but on my cheeks I can see that Sanguine is a bit more natural and red whereas Frankly Scarlet is a little more vibrant. I’m shocked to say this, but Sanguine is actually a tiny bit better! It isn’t often that I prefer another brand’s blush over MAC’s formula. The texture of the blush feels extremely soft, like velvet, and it’s both buildable and easy to blend. I honestly did not expect such good quality. Sanguine is pigmented, but I can make it as sheer or as intense as I want. I’ve done up to a nine hour wear test twice and it lasts on my cheek that whole time without fading if I apply a normal amount of blush. If I wear a light sheer layer, I can expect noticeable fading to start at 6-7 hours, but it was still clearly there by hour 9.
If I wasn’t confident that the other shades won’t work for me, I’d probably have placed another order to buy more. If additional shades are released in the future though, I could be tempted to get them.

One thing I can’t explain is that I swear there’s a faint rose-like scent, but fragrance isn’t listed on the packaging.

The quality of the Cloud Lab Lip Clays in this collection are the same as I’ve experienced in the past. I really wanted the Smokey Nostalgia tin, plus at least three lip products, so I opted for the Custom Lip Bundle and reserved the fourth lippie as a gift for a friend. A small part of me wishes I actually used that fourth spot for the Mahogany shade instead of Cognac because that’s one that I originally wanted as a mixing shade to deepen looks or make some less colorful.

Mixing these together isn’t as seamless as I expected. I kept seeing Kaleidos ads on YouTube mixing one of the pink-red shades (I think Cactus Flower) with Agave to create a gorgeous purple lip. They did something else with Mahogany, so I expected them to essentially mix like paint, but my attempts haven’t yielded results as dramatic as that. Also, some influencer videos showed Cognac as being a lot closer to brown than it is, so I figured (possibly incorrectly) that Cognac would be better than Mahogany for what I needed.

Despite so many options, and similarly toned ones at that, I still haven’t found my perfect shade in this formula, nor been able to find the best combo for myself either. I will continue to keep my eye out though because it’s the only liquid lipstick I’ve liked in a really long time. The unbelievable lasting power and water resistance without feeling like my lips are drying out are worth that effort to find.

Lastly, I just wanted to add that I’m shocked that Bare isn’t as pale as I expected. If it was the tiniest bit darker, it would have been perfect to wear on its own.

That’s all for today!

-Lili ❤

Drugstore Makeup Worth The Hype?

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I’ve been burned a lot by drugstore makeup, so I tend to only buy the products that have been hyped up for a year or longer. I know it’s possible for drugstore makeup to be on par with, or even better than, high end products, which is why today’s post is an attempt to see which of these items are beyond just being, “good for the price.”

Milani Cheek Kiss Cream Blush in Nude Kiss

When choosing this shade, I accurately detected that the color in the pan should be a dark enough blush color for me. What I failed to take into account was the sheerness of the formula. If I treat it like other cream blushes and pick up my usual amount to somewhat build it up, it blends away to nearly nothing. No matter how much I attempted to build, it would not go on my skin opaquely. However, if I load a lot onto my brush and apply it to my cheeks all at once and then blend it out, even picking up the excess with my Blendiful (yes, I’m still using that old thing), then I am left with a gorgeously dewy looking cheek.

I didn’t have high hopes for applying this blush with my fingers, but once again, I can get a nice result if I apply a lot of product to my cheeks at a time. This is why I don’t prefer using this blush with a sponge either, since the dampness from the sponge thins the formula and I have to use an excessive amount of product to compensate.

Had I known how sheer these would be, I would have gotten Merlot Moment. I bought Nude Kiss because I wanted something natural, but it’s still a touch too light to look completely natural on me, so I could see myself mixing this shade with some of my more pigmented cream blushes.

This formula does not set in the amount I have to use packed on, but it’s at least not sticky. It remains creamy to the touch and easily transfers. It also absorbs into my dry bare skin very quickly, so I need a barrier between the blush and my skin (like a layer of foundation) to prevent that from happening. When applied on top of foundation, this still begins to fade within a few hours. To get this to last, I use setting powder on top. This step also reduces the amount of product transfer and the balmy feeling to the skin, but it still doesn’t dry down completely.
With a foundation layer, packed on blush, and a setting powder layer, this blush starts to fade at eight hours. Considering the fact that I don’t like blushes that don’t set, I’m still impressed with this formula. It’s like a better version of the Tower 28 Beach Please Cream Blushes that so many people love, but I hate. I certainly recommend the Milani Blush over the one from Tower 28, but it’s possible the Tower 28 blush is longer lasting. I can only guess that because the Tower 28 blush I tried was more pigmented, but I don’t know its full wear time because I couldn’t stand the feeling of it on my skin and could not complete a wear test. I understand why the Milani Blush gets so much hype, and I like it, but I won’t be purchasing the others.

Below is a photo comparing the swatches off all the blushes we’ll discuss today.

J.CAT Beauty Blush-Mallow Soft Blusher in Thank You Berry Much!

This packaging is like an even cheaper version of MAC’s compacts. I feel like I could accidentally break the flimsy lid every time I open it. My fears for this cream blush are warranted considering my first one arrived broken in the mail, so Ulta replaced it.
I bought this on a whim because the look of it in promo shots and its description as, “a marshmallow textured formula,” reminded me of the Armani Neo Nude Color Melting Cream Balm Blushes (at least Warm Coral is that way). The J.Cat blush isn’t as emollient as that one and is a little stiffer, but once I’m able to pick up enough of it, it spreads fairly easily. It’s only $4, so I wouldn’t have asked for a replacement if I didn’t like the formula but I was so impressed!

Thank You Berry Much has a good amount of pigment, but because of the tone, it’s subtle on my cheeks. Despite the “berry” in its name, it’s a terracotta shade. I like the warmth it provides to my cheeks and by the eight hour point, it is significantly faded. It’s at least solid without fading up to six hours, and past eight hours it still clings on for an hour before disappearing. This also depends on whether or not I’ve set it with a powder and how often I’ve touched my face. When first applying, the blush dries enough that it’s not sticky to the touch and I don’t feel the need to set it with a powder. There is a tiny amount of transfer if touched and a low amount if accidentally rubbed.

This is one of the few blushes I like applying with my fingers, though I still end up applying it with a brush more often. The brush just requires a lot more building up. I can really pack on color with a damp sponge, but the sponge picks product back up, leaving splotches on the cheek. It also turned the blush into an odd vibrant coral orange shade. I think it’s a reaction between the water and the dyes. Sometimes eyeshadow formulas with dyes in them have color bleed out when I’m pressing them back in the pan with isopropyl alcohol. I’m guessing the dye in the blush reacted to the small amount of water in the sponge and caused a similar situation of the dye seeping out.
Because of the patchy results, I wouldn’t use this blush with a sponge again anyway. Fingers and brushes are the way to go.

As it stands, I think the one I have is the only shade I’d enjoy out of what’s available on Ulta’s site, but J.Cat has sixteen in total. The consistency is fun, the shade is pretty, and it performs fairly well on my skin, but this might be one of those things that are fantastic for the price as I can think of several cream blush formulas I prefer more.

Covergirl TruBlend So Flushed High Pigment Blush in Sweet Seduction

I like shimmery blushes, but so many that I encounter have too metallic and/or reflective of a finish or the shimmer particle size is large and takes it to the glitter level. I am so pleased to have found a great one at the drugstore, and it’s entirely thanks to Nikki posting about it on her blog. She mentioned that it can be found for as low as $7.99 at retailers like Walmart and Target. I purchased this from Ulta, which is normally $10.99, but between the sale and an additional promo code, I paid $5.30 for it. In my eyes, it’s absolutely worth getting and I’d even be willing to pay somewhere between $15-$18 for it! I have very few blushes in this exact tone, somewhere between a mauve and warm pink that adds life to the cheeks but is still grounded. It looks smooth on the cheeks, especially as it settles into the skin, and gives the right amount of shine.

“High Pigment” in the name could probably sound intimidating for some, but this blush is very blendable and therefore easy to get a subtle look or tone down. It’s also buildable, and I could get it to look even more intensely than my photo demonstrates above, which I used a medium to borderline heavy amount of blush. Nine hours is the longest I’ve worn it for, so far, and it was still going strong with no fading that I could see.

There aren’t any other blush shades in the line that interest me, but this experience makes me want to try the bronzer version and see if the Ebony shade would work for me.*

*Note: Spoiler for my March purchases post… I have tried Ebony and it does work and I do like it a lot!

Essence The Blush in Believing

Ulta bumped up the price to $3.99, but it was $2.99 originally and on sale for $1.79 at the time I bought it. It had been on my wishlist for months because I was curious as to whether or not such an inexpensive blush could actually be good, as well as wanting something I could throw in my cart to meet the free shipping requirement if needed. The only thing holding me back was the uncertainty of whether any of them would be deep enough for me. Thanks to Stef, another blogger who posted swatches of the four blushes available at Ulta, I was able to feel confident that the shade Believing would work for me. This mauve blush takes a little building up, but it does show on me and is actually quite flattering! It also lasts through a full day of wear. This is perhaps the best performing blush I’ve used at this kind of price point besides the ELF Bite Size Face Duos, which the combined weight of both the blush and highlighter (0.16 oz) is nearly the same amount of product as the one from Essence (0.17 oz). I like this, I think it’s good, and I could see myself continuing to use it, but it doesn’t quite cross into the “I love it” category. It’s equal to the quality of Colourpop blushes, which is around the $10 price point. So, for those who like Colourpop blushes and don’t mind having plain packaging, this blush is practically a steal.

Essence Pure Nude Highlighter Palette

Based on Ulta’s photos, I really thought the bottom shades in the Highlighter Palette were deeper than they ended up being. The second version called the Sunlighter Palette looked too deep for me, but I should have searched for photos from other customers and bloggers because I would have discovered it’s so much lighter.

I heard so many people say the Essence Pure Nude single compact highlighter was the perfect dupe to Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders, but I saw those in person and knew they would be too light for me. When I saw the palettes on Ulta’s site, I thought those would be deeper, but we know how that turned out. It’s possible that because the singles are baked, the formula and performance is totally different from these highlighters in the palette, since these aren’t the most refined and have a creamy slip to them that all baked products I’ve used don’t have. So, I guess I still can’t determine how good those singles are, but I can at least confirm that the highlighters in the palette don’t compare to Hourglass at all. They aren’t even the best options from the drugstore. They are too light for me, so they go on my skin bright and intense,yet they dull down so quickly and fade within hours. Even with a dewy product underneath, these highlighters don’t last on my face. They’re also a bit tough to blend and Pan #1 is flat out powdery and almost chalky. The other three weren’t as bad, but they reminded me of a slightly worse version of the Haus Labs highlighters in the Blush and Highlight Duos I’ve reviewed before. I can get the shades in this palette to work and look super pretty on the cheeks initially, but this formula just doesn’t last, which is the main reason I don’t recommend them.

I didn’t bother taking photos of highlighter #1 or #2 because they looked so terrible on me and are clearly not intended for dark skin anyway.

Maybelline Master Chrome in Molten Topaz and Molten Peach

I don’t have a lot of drugstore highlighters, but there seems to be a pattern of longevity issues with them. With this Maybelline formula, I can at least get 6-8 hours before they begin to fade. Molten Topaz is smooth, creamy feeling, and blends well into my skin. If it wasn’t for the fading, I would have mistaken it for a high end formula. Molten Peach is a stunning color, but there are noticeable large silver glitter specks throughout the pan and I am not a fan of glittery highlighters (especially silver), so this is not something I’d wear again. I wish I knew Molten Peach didn’t have the same milling of the powder as Molten Topaz, so I wouldn’t have wasted my money buying it, but it was only $5 from Amazon. I also bought Molten Topaz from Amazon for $6.

Although Molten Topaz is still not in my top favorite formulas, I think it is quite good and that the hype is well deserved. The biggest difference between this and more expensive formulas is the longevity. As for Molten Peach, that shade doesn’t give me what I want from a highlighter, so I don’t think that one is even good for the price at $10 considering I have Colourpop Super Shock highlighters at the same price that I like more and those last all day.

Revlon Skinlights Prismatic Highlighter in Gilded Dawn

Talk about a glittery cheek! In some lighting, it’s alright, but it’s really glittery up close. I despise how this looks with some brushes that pick up more of the shimmer onto the brush than the rest of the powder, but even at its best it’s still too much for me. I don’t think it looks flattering on me purely because of the visible glitter. I did attempt a full wear test and it didn’t last to the eight hour mark. It has that glassy reflect to the skin like most baked gelée products. The base color blends into my skin so well, and it feels smooth to the touch, so this really could have been a hit for me if it had finer shimmer. At the same time, I know a lot of people don’t mind glitter and some people even love it, so I still get why this is hyped up.

The Results With My Best Brush

I thought it might be interesting to compare some of my least expensive highlighters together in the picture below. I like Colourpop the most, then Maybelline, Revlon, and Essence.

L’Oreal Paris Infallible Fresh Wear Foundation in a Powder in Copper

I go through phases of wanting powder foundations, but I’ve had so much trouble finding the right shade that I’ve mostly given up. When this line came out, I was interested to see so many deeper toned options and at drugstore prices, so I thought it might be worth investigating. I watched plenty of videos to try and find my closest shade, but the overall consensus was that the foundations lean too warm for me past Hazelnut. Hazelnut in the liquid foundation was too light for me and I had to mix it with Copper, so this information made me realize I was highly unlikely to get my perfect match in the powder form and that I should skip getting it. However, in one review, someone said that this powder foundation makes for an excellent bronzer and I decided I needed to try it for that reason alone!

So, I cannot say how this product performs as a foundation. I’ve only worn it around the perimeter of my face to add warmth, but no extra depth, to my skin. It lasts all day, although it’s quite subtle because I didn’t go for a darker color. This also makes for a good balancing shade for times my foundation or concealer is too light or too cool and I need to add some warmth back.

Because I don’t use this for its intended purpose, I don’t think I’m able to judge whether it’s worth the hype or not. I can at least say I have use for it in my collection.
Ironically, just a few days ago L’Oreal actually released this product as bronzers.

For the sake of science, I’m tempted to see how the two products perform similarly, but the ingredient lists are almost identical excluding two ingredients towards the end of the list. So, I think they could be considered the same product in additional shades.

Nyx Gimme Super Stars! Epic Ink Black Eyeliner (LIMITED EDITION)/Vegan Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Black

I actually bought this by mistake, as I didn’t realize this was part of Nyx’s Holiday 2021 Collection that released two weeks after the Nyx x Netflix Casa de Papel (Money Heist) Collection. I was entranced by what looked like a gorgeous coppery packaging and I ran out of liquid liners, so I clicked whichever version on the website was available that wasn’t in the standard black packaging. It turns out it didn’t matter. The one I received was a pretty gold pen and apparently the Netflix version is still gold too. Only certain promo pics gave it the coppery outer appearance.

I’ve made it known that the Stila Stay All Day liquid liners are my holy grail. This version from NYX is very comparable, but Stila is still better in a few crucial ways. For one thing, I’ve used up a NYX Epic Ink liner pen already, so I know how it performs when it’s starting to run out of product towards the end. It ends up being less pigmented, like the liquid and pigment are separating. This causes feathering sometimes in the lines of my eye. It also means I have to reline a few times to get the full opacity. With this new pen that I have, the watery aspect has already started. I’m not sure if NYX messed with the formula because I heard someone else say the same thing in a video this year. I have to add that I can sometimes get feathering from the Stila pen as well.
The second way Stila is better is that the NYX pen doesn’t go over multichromes and some of my thicker shimmer eyeshadows as well as Stila. I have to make multiple passes when using those types of shadows as well, which increases the chance of me making the line too thick for my liking. When this NYX liner is good and working right, it’s just as great at the Stila one and really is waterproof, but it admittedly still has weak points.

The NYX liners are only $10 and could be even less with a coupon, so the few issues I have with them seem to be worth dealing with compared to Stila’s $23 liners. However, Ulta has Stila’s liners in their 21 Days of Beauty and other sales for $11 often enough that I would normally encourage others to skip the one from NYX and wait for a sale on Stila instead. In 2021, Ulta actually kept Stila off the sale page and the usual holiday kits with two products for $22 weren’t included that year, which is how I ended up buying another Epic Ink Liner instead. After getting the Stila liners at half price for the last six years or so, I was adamant about not paying full price for it. And sure enough, it has already been on sale for $11 in 2022. So, I recommend the NYX liner in the event that cheaper waterproof liquid pens aren’t available, but for anyone who can hold out, getting Stila on a sale is more worth the wait.

Well, that’s everything for today! To sum it all up, the Covergirl blush is the only one I can fully endorse, but all the other blushes and the Maybelline highlighter (Topaz specifically) are all great for the price and perhaps worth looking into as well.

-Lili❤

10 Colourpop Powder Blushes and Highlighters I Never Used

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I made a similar post to this regarding Colourpop’s eye shadow palettes, and just like that one, since 2020 I have had a growing blush and highlighter collection that remained unused and unreviewed. I can at least say my newer blushes and highlighters get some love in the Super Shock formulas, but not the powder ones, even though I keep buying them. Doing the wear tests for this post is going to help me decide once and for all where Colourpop stands among my powder blush and highlighter collections.

Colourpop Dark Blooms Pressed Powder Blush in Palatial

I wanted at least one thing from the Dark Blooms Collection, but the palettes weren’t my kind of color story and Palatial looked like the only one of the blushes that would show up on me. I’m also a sucker for a pretty imprint, so I got it in Dec 2020. Ignoring the highlighter on the top of my cheeks, this is a matte blush. It’s fairly pigmented, but I have to build it up for it to show. Because it’s a terracotta shade, it looks natural enough on me because of the brown, but it still slightly pops from the orange-red. I like it in that barely there kind of way. It’s discontinued, but I’m sure they’ll release something again that’s similar to it.

Colourpop Big Poppy Pressed Powder Blush in Outta Sight

I did try this blush once at some point when I was darker and it didn’t show up on me at all. After trying it again now, I can faintly see the coral-orange base color, but the shimmer particles are too large in this one. I really don’t like how it looks when I turn my face and it hits the lights. There isn’t enough color payoff for the amount of shimmer, so I plan on decluttering this in some way. On top of that, it’s another blush that Colourpop discontinued.

Colourpop x Hello Kitty and Friends Pressed Powder Cheek in Bundled Up

Of the two blushes in the collection, this was the only one with a chance of showing up on me. It’s faint, but once again, I don’t like the shimmer level (even prior to adding highlighter). It’s as if Colourpop only knows how to create blushes with a sheen if it’s in the Super Shock formula. The powder blushes are either all matte or matte with sparkles (like those sequin matte with shimmer/glitter eyeshadows). Colourpop never makes the kind of shimmer blushes I like. In any case, I mostly bought this for Hello Kitty collector purposes, so it will remain in my collection for now.

Colourpop x Hello Kitty Pressed Powder Blush in Aloha Honey

We finally have a product that’s still available for purchase (at least at the time I’m writing this), though I saw it in the sale section, so it’s probably on its way out! Aloha Honey is a pigmented vibrant coral that reminds me of an even brighter and slightly lighter in tone version of Pat Mcgrath’s Electric Bloom blush. Between the two, I prefer the shade of Aloha Honey better, but the Electric Bloom formula more. PML’s non-shimmer blushes are still demi-matte and that slight sheen that it gives makes it look nicer on my dry skin. However, for the $26 full price cost difference, if I had Aloha Honey in my hands first, I would have skipped buying Electric Bloom and just been satisfied with the Colourpop blush.

Colourpop Pressed Powder Blush in Luv Me Not and 4Ever Yours

Luv Me Not was part of the 2021 Valentine’s Day collection, but I didn’t get my hands on it until one of the restocks last October. Colourpop’s heart shaped blush was another product I wanted mostly for the packaging, as well as the hype since some people were saying it was Colourpop’s highest quality blush formula to date. For the 2022 Valentine’s Day collection, they released six shades with Kiss n’ Tell as the only returning shade out of the original three. This is when I purchased the shade 4Ever Yours, which looked like a deep coral orange in Colourpop’s photos but it is in actuality way more toned down and pink. If I build up 4Ever Yours, it looks incredibly similar to Luv Me Not. Between the two, I prefer 4Ever Yours just because it’s not as deep of a shade, so I don’t have to worry as much about overapplying. Then again, it is very pigmented, so those lighter than me would still have to be careful using 4Ever Yours as well.

Colourpop Wild Orchid Collection Pressed Powder Blush in Potted

I usually say I’m not into berry blushes, but there’s something about this shade that is so special. Perhaps, it’s because it’s the exact tone of my favorite color (reddish purple). It also helps that with a sheerer application, this doesn’t look too dark on me and I find darker blushes to be aging. Part of what makes picking a berry blush tricky is that I can never tell if it will flatter me or not based on the pan color. I have to actually try them out to know for sure if it’s the kind that could work for me or not, and I’ve had so much bad luck in the past, which is why I rarely take the chance anymore.

An example of the kind I like is quite the throwback, but it was formerly my holy grail blush back in 2014 or 2015 until probably 2018. The Make Up For Ever HD cream blush in Raspberry 510. I never even considered this a berry blush because it was more like a red with a splash of purple. I have this strange view in my mind of only considering plummy cooler toned type of shades to be berries when that’s not the case in nature.

Shade aside, Potted is yet another matte pigmented blush that’s now discontinued from Colourpop, so I’m glad I snagged it while I could.

SOL Body Shimmering Body Powder in Wild Orchid

This highlighter has the typical Sol Body coconut/suntan oil smell. I’m not into duochrome highlighters, but I saw Amanda’s (Makeup.Just.For.Fun) YouTube video and it looked so beautiful with the other blush in the Orchid collection that I decided to take my chance on it. This highlighter is unsurprisingly glittery, which is another thing I tend to despise about highlighters, but this is the one exception. The way it looks with Potted is so pretty to me.

When I use this product, I prefer to either apply with my fingers and blend it out with a brush or to use it with a dense brush from the start. The dense brush will pick up more of the shimmer, but at least the base goes along with it. When I’ve tried applying this highlighter with my usual favorite highlighter brushes, they only picked up the shimmer/glitter particles and it looked terrible on my cheeks. I may use this highlighter in the future but solely with blush shades like Potted and most likely for an occasion or event.

Also, I know this is a body highlighter, but I don’t use products like that. I would only use this on my face.

Colourpop Super Shock Highlighter in Lantern Fest

I snuck this one into my powder post. Please forgive me. When I bought it, I thought it was a powder highlighter. I didn’t realize it was the Super Shock formula. I had some blinders on when I bought this because I wanted it for the packaging. It was a Lunar New Year item for the year of the Ox. I have mixed feelings about this on me, but tilted toward the side of not liking it. The specks of shimmer seems to be bigger and more visible in this formula than the other Super Shock highlighters I own. The color is light for me but sometimes I like it and other times I don’t. I’m not sure if that has something to do with the mixture of the red, yellow, and pale pink and preferring when I have more or less of a certain color. This is returning to the back of my collection and is of course discontinued.

Colourpop Cheek Palette in Tea Cakes

This is the third and last item from Colourpop that is still available for purchase. It’s one of several different cheek palettes they’ve created. The highlighter is in the Super Shock formula, but the three blushes are powder products. Most Necessary is darker and more shimmery than I like to go for in a highlighter, so I don’t intend to use it again unless I’m in a time crunch and I’m already using this palette.

Pralines is like the better version of Outta Sight. Because it’s so reflective, I think it’s best on me as a highlighter. It gives a hint of color, so I could wear it on its own, but I prefer to use it as a blush topper, which is gorgeous with other warm toned blushes. This is the only shimmery powder blush from Colourpop I’ve tried that I like, but again, as just a topper.

I’ve tried Snickerdoodle and Tea Cakes once before and I didn’t like them. I’m guessing it was when I was darker because trying them again, I find them to be much prettier now. I just wish they weren’t so matte. These two shades remind me of Sigma blushes, but just slightly better. Snickerdoodle goes on the cheeks bright initially, but is toned down when blended into the skin. Yummy Bite has just enough red in it to show as a true blush shade on me, rather than a bronzer or something, which was my initial reservation about having a brown blush in this quad. Again, in my eyes this would be even better if the blushes were semi or demi mattes rather than full on mattes. I still like them though and if I could finally get to a place where I use blush palettes rather than always reaching for my single blushes, I believe I would use this again. This is one of those purchases though that I think is worth getting for the price and not necessarily for how amazing it is. It’s pretty good, but not exceptional.

That’s all for today! After testing these out thoroughly as part of my Shop My Stash for March, I’ve decided that the Colourpop powder blushes and highlighters don’t rank in my top 50% favorite formulas. I really should not get them anymore except in the less common shades, like Potted and Aloha Honey, which are my favorites out of the bunch. Getting those were worth it because they are priced affordably. It’s the everyday wearable kind of shades for me that are worth getting at the top tier level. Most Necessary and Lantern Fest also showed me that even getting the Super Shock highlighter formula doesn’t guarantee the small particle shimmer size I prefer, so I should stop getting highlighters from Colourpop altogether.

Even though the majority of these products are discontinued, I hope this has been helpful.

-Lili ❤

Beautylish Presents The Year of the Tiger Brush and other January Purchases

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I’m still playing catch up on things I purchased in 2021 and wish to post about, but today is an update on all my beauty purchases from January 2022. I’d like to show how well (or not) I’ve been sticking to my Beauty Resolutions for the year.

Beautylish Presents the Year of the Tiger Lunar New Year Powder Brush

  • Full Length: *170mm / 6.69 in
  • Hair Length: 47.6mm / 1.87 in
  • Hair Width: *40mm / 1.57 in
  • Bristle Type: Blue Squirrel

In my Beauty Resolutions post, I mentioned that I should only purchase Lunar New Year items that had personal significance to me (ex: Year of the Dragon). This brush depicts the most adorable chubby kitty with tiger stripes, which does make it significant to me in my interpretation of this design (it’s an inside joke). In addition, for half of my life the Tiger was my favorite animal. This is why I succumbed to the temptation and finally bought one of Beautylish’s collaborative Lunar New Year brushes. They did not announce which brush-maker created this year’s brush, but in the past is was Chikuhodo. Even if another Fude company created this brush, I’m still happy that it has the Chikuhodo aesthetic with the large round shiny handle similar to the Z-series. As long as the brush is high quality, which it is, it doesn’t matter to me which Japanese company created it. This brush is still hand bundled with an exquisitely detailed lacquered handle using the maki-e process.

This brush is unbelievably silky soft and of course perfect for those who want a very sheer application of powder. I can use this for highlighter (when applied just on the very tips), blush (when I use sweeping motions across the cheek), and bronzer, but in my eyes this is a dedicated all over face powder brush. Although it picks up a small amount of product, when that product is very pigmented it takes more effort than I like to buff it out because it’s not dense enough for that. If I use a squirrel hair brush for blush, I prefer one that’s thicker and more round like the Z-1. Anything looser packed than that, I consider to be more ideal for setting/finishing powders. Honestly, this is more of a collector item for me and not one I intend to use a lot. When I do use it, it’s heaven though. It’s so soft and light that I barely feel any pressure on my skin. This is a beautiful powder brush, but if you already own one with grey/blue/ash squirrel hair, you’re not missing out by not having it. For those who don’t and would like a light/medium density powder brush, this might be a good place to start since comparable brushes to this would be a little more expensive. I still recommend this for collectors, but for someone looking for a more functional or versatile brush, I would direct them to Chikuhodo’s Z series and FO series.

At launch, Beautylish also restocked the previous Lunar New Year brushes as well: Pig, Rat, and Ox. As cute as those designs are, those three have nearly identical brush heads which is already practically the same as the Tiger brush, so I didn’t feel any pressure to add those to my cart. Since I already have three close enough brushes as the Tiger, Koi/Carp, and the Z-1 (the Z-9 is a better dupe but I don’t own it), I don’t feel a need to get a backup brush. However, trying to steer clear of a Rabbit next year will be difficult, and I suspect trying to ignore the Dragon will be impossible.

Sonia G Builder Pro Eye Shadow Brush

  • Full Length: 152mm / 5.98 in
  • Hair Length: 12mm / 0.47 in
  • Hair Width: *9mm / 0.35 in
  • Bristle Type: Dyed Saikoho Goat Hair

The Builder Pro and Builder Three are both brushes that lay product down well but can also be used for blending. I’ve discovered that the Builder Three leans better on the blending aspect because of the flatter top, so I prefer that one for crease work. The Builder Pro leans better on the lay down and building aspect because it’s perfect for applying shadows to the section of my eye between the eyelid and inner corner. I always struggled with that spot, but this brush gets in there easily. It’s also more precise for application to the outer V. I’ve actually been able to do entire eye looks using this brush alone. I’m very happy I decided to finally buy this!
The tapered tip that makes the Builder Pro so great for applying shadows also prevents it from blending large areas as quickly as the Builder Three, so I will probably use that one more often when I’m in a rush. However, for when I have more time and want to create a detailed and more skillfully done eyeshadow look, I will definitely grab the Builder Pro instead. They perform differently enough that I feel justified having them both in my collection.

Before we move onto the next topic, I have to acknowledge that I bought a backup of the Builder Three at the same time that I ordered the Builder Pro, which is a breech of my beauty resolutions. Then Sonia G/Beautylish restocked many brushes I wanted, including the Cheek Pro which would have been yet another backup purchase, but I was able to stop myself.

Lethal Cosmetics Charity Eyeshadow in Meekha

This is one of four limited edition charity eyeshadows released from Lethal Cosmetics. I mentioned liking tigers earlier in this post, but I am dog person and I have a soft spot for pitbulls. It was very lucky that the only eyeshadow that caught my attention happened to be the one named after the sweet rescue pitbull named Meekha. In addition to the animal charities being supported by the purchase, Lethal also committed to planting a tree for each January order. My sister had a pitbull named Radja, so that’s the name I chose for the planted tree in her memory.

This is the second indie brand that I’m aware of who has created limited edition shadows for charity, and I am here for it! For some reason, when larger brands do it, it feels like it’s just for press. Somehow, this kind of thing coming from a smaller brand seems more heartfelt. In any case, I like to see this.

The combination of the colors in the Meekha pan turn into an icy lavender shade on me. I’m not sure how often I will use this shadow, but I was able to create a look that I liked. It even makes for a nice bright inner corner highlight shade for other eyeshadow looks! The eyeshadow texture and performance feels just like other shimmers from the brand. The formula is a bit thick, but they smooth out nicely on the lids and fallout is about what one would expect from a shimmer shadow (present but not too bad especially if applied wet or on top of a glitter primer).

And as a follow-up to the charity aspect, post-January purchases will continue to go to charity. It’s just the tree part that is over now.

Lethal Cosmetics Highlighter in Fusion

I wanted this highlighter shade for a long time, but it was initially exclusive to the Equilux face palette, which I did not get because the blush and bronzer in the trio were too deep for my skin tone. Since it’s now available as an individual item, and I wasn’t completely satisfied with the highlighter selection I brought with me on my trip to Germany, I figured this was the best time to get it (especially with the lower shipping cost). I am supposed to be on a highlighter No-Buy, but this purchase was allowed as it falls under the category of something I would have bought last year if it was available to me, and in this case, available as a single product.

Unlike Gamma and Gravity, my two other Lethal Cosmetics highlighters, I find Fusion to be quite subtle. Fusion is close to my skin tone, and that could add to how subtle it is, but even the texture feels a bit different than the other two, and not just because of the lack of ridges. Fusion was difficult to show in swatches, even when built up. It feels a bit hard pressed*, and when the highlighter was delivered, it was messy around the pan edges as well as within the packaging. My brushes are able to grab product easily (despite the fact that it looks a bit hard-panned** now too) but perhaps the hard pressing is preventing more of the actual shimmer particles from being picked up. That would be ironic considering if I have an issue with a highlighter it’s usually that my brush is picking up too much of the shimmer.

*NOTE**: I have a few wonderful friends and family members who read my blog sometimes and may not be aware of some of the terms I’ve used. For anyone who needs clarification, the press of a product refers to the force in which a product is physically pressed into the pan (usually with a pressing machine). Makeup that is “Hard Pressed” has powder so compacted together that it becomes difficult to get the product out of the pan and onto the brush. “Hardpan” is when a powder product gets a hard or filmy top layer that also prevents someone from being able to pick up product onto a brush, but it is usually due to oils from the skin getting into the powder and creating that tough layer. Certain formulas of powder products are more prone to hardpanning than others.

Fusion has an orange tinge to it. Although the shine level is a bit low, when it hits the light, the golden-orange sheen is apparent at that point. It’s not what I was going for but mixing it with some of Gamma puts the look back in my comfort zone. I will likely declutter Gravity and Fusion at some point, but testing out these shades reminded how much I enjoyed wearing Gamma, and I will have to remember to use it more often. Anyone interested in seeing those shades on me can check out my previous Lethal Cosmetics post here.

Chanel JOUES CONTRASTE Powder Blush in 320 Rouge Profond

I considered buying a Chanel blush for a long time, although I always expected it to be from one of their limited edition collections. My interest in buying one re-sparked when Ulta started carrying Chanel Beauty products in January (although the brand will probably be excluded from all coupons including prestige). I also really wanted the Blush Lumiere Brun Roussi shade from the Spring 2022 collection, but I wasn’t willing to spend Hermes prices for it. So, when I was browsing the Duty Free section at the Frankfurt Airport, I had an impulsive moment to buy shade 320 Rouge Profond, a shade that is not available at Ulta and is part of their older blush formulation. Chanel changed to the new formula in March 2021, and according to reviews I’ve seen, the new formula is less smooth, less sheen-like, and less pigmented, so I decided to go ahead and get this one in the old formula while it was still available.

The Houkodou Nagi Powder N-F1 Brush fits perfectly around the dome of this blush and applies it perfectly as well. The blush swatch needed to be built up on my arm, but color goes onto the cheek nicely. The perfume scent is very noticeable. The color and performance reminds me of the MAC Mineralize Blush in the Flirting With Danger shade. In fact, as much as I like this blush, it didn’t “Wow” me more than the MAC blush and that one is significantly less expensive. My curiosity is satisfied knowing Chanel’s permanent blushes aren’t superior to products I already have, but there’s still that troublesome part of me wondering if Chanel’s even pricier blushes are better. Either way, at twice the price, I doubt it would be two times better, so it’s best I leave that topic alone.

That’s everything I bought in the month of January! I did not include products I ordered in December that arrived in January. Those items will show up in future posts.

Thank you for joining me today! I hope this has been helpful!

-Lili ❤

*UPDATE: For those on the email list, I apologize for the accidental early release of this post. I’ve been consistently posting at the same time for a reason, but I’m not sure how or when the scheduled time for this one was changed and it completely escaped my notice. Considering we just entered Daylight Savings time in the US, this could be especially early for some people. I plan to resume our regular schedule of Mondays at 11:30 am EST.

MAC Cosmetics Lunar Luck, Wild Cherry, and More

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MAC Cosmetics is probably the most reviewed brand on my blog. They frequently release eye catching collections that manage to make me want even their repromoted shades, just to get the limited edition packaging. They often have sales, which plays on my deep love of getting a good deal. Their staple products are top notch and they’ve held onto their generally good reputation for decades. Unfortunately, MAC has made some questionable production decisions in the last few years to the point where I seriously considered taking a break from them. Today’s post is not about that, and is instead about sharing the newest additions to my MAC collection.

MAC Lunar Luck Eyeshadow x 9: Made My Fortune

This palette was a gift from one of my best friends, and for that reason I will cherish it. It’s one of those things I wanted for the packaging, but not the makeup inside, since I tend to not be the biggest fan of MAC’s eyeshadows. I can at least say the quality of this one is the best I’ve tried from them. The shimmers have pigmented bases, but are a bit tame in sparkle reflectivity, even when used wet. I appreciate that they were easy to apply smoothly to the lids and inner corner. The mattes were also more pigmented than I expected from MAC, and slightly easier to blend than the ones I’ve used in the past. Creating the two looks shown below was enjoyable enough that I may continue to use this palette from time to time, but not enough to make me want to purchase anymore MAC shadows. There isn’t a whole lot of versatility among the two light mattes that hardly show on me (Shell We Celebrate and Sunkissed Orange) and two shades that look nearly identical when used next to each other (Propitious Poppy and Plum What May). The shimmers (excluding Supreme Harmony) don’t look that far off from each other in the pan, but I was pleased to see they are distinctly different on the eyes. Wish Me Luck!, 15 Minutes of Flame, and Born to Rule (as a highlight shade only) are my favorite eyeshadows in the palette. I’ve really been into the brown shimmer eyelid look lately. I still feel $32 is a bit pricey for the quality, so for anyone wanting this palette, I hope you’ll be able to get it on sale!

MAC Glow Play Blush in No Shame!

I’m a big fan of MAC’s Glow Play blush formula, so I wasn’t satisfied with having just one from their collection. I got this for 50% off on Black Friday.
These blushes tend to look more vibrant and pigmented than they actually look on the skin, which can be tricky in trying to figure out which shades would work for me. No Shame! takes a lot of building up to get it to show on my cheeks, but the end result is pretty. It has that familiar putty-like texture that sets to a natural finish, just like the others.

At the time that I’m writing this, I cannot find this shade on the website any longer. I think it’s safe to assume it has been discontinued, and I believe the reason is because of the release of HD Cherry Tree.

MAC Wild Cherry Collection Glow Play Blush in HD Cherry Tree

HD Cherry Tree is like a deeper, slightly more berry version of No Shame!. Quite a few people managed to get their hands on this blush before the US launch, so I purchased mine from one of them (and for less than the retail price)! I was unlucky that as soon as I flipped it over to let the plastic protector naturally fall out, the entire blush popped out with it. However, since it’s a bouncy blush, I was able to squish it back in the compact. Good as new!

I’ve only purchased the Glow Play shades that I think would show up on me, and it’s a bit unfortunate that they look quite similar to each other.

My hope is for MAC to expand the range even further to fill in some gaps, like a medium-deep reddish brown, a terracotta, and a deep pink-mauve. Then again, I’m trying to buy fewer MAC products, so maybe it’s good that they don’t have those shade options!

The Wild Cherry collection is limited edition, but I wonder if MAC intends to make HD Cherry Tree a permanent shade in the future, but without the special packaging. There are two other Glow Play blushes in the Wild Cherry line, but I don’t plan on buying them. Between the Wild Cherry packaging and last year’s Black Cherry packaging, I prefer the look of this new one.

MAC x Lisa Blush in Melba

There isn’t much to say about this blush since I already reviewed it before, but I wanted it for the limited edition packaging since purple is my favorite color. I know Lisa is from the band BLACKPINK, but I don’t listen to their music, so the collab aspect didn’t entice nor deter me.
Melba only works for me when I’m at my lightest (typically winter), so I gave my original blush to my sister. This color is still so difficult to get it to show on camera*, but it is visible in person. After wanting to repurchase it for so many months, I decided to go ahead and do it when it was 40% off on Veteran’s Day. Around that time or soon after, I saw the sneak peeks of the MAC x L collection, but I had no idea they would repromote yet another product and that it would be Melba! It worked out in the end since I gifted my new and unused standard packaging version of Melba to the friend who gave me the Lunar New Year Tiger palette.

*Another photo showing Melba is in the Illuminate Face Palette section demonstrating how GoldieLush looks on the cheeks.

I’d like to add that my last purchases directly from MAC’s website was last November and December and both of them were listed as delivered according to the tracking history on my account page (I didn’t get shipping confirmation for either one), but they never arrived. I had to contact customer service for reshipment. Prior to that, my eyeshadow palette from the Tempting Fate collection was lost in the mail (after already being delayed for a week before getting shipped). I would typically view the carriers as responsible for undelivered mail, but the lack of shipping confirmation in two of those instances makes me wonder if the fulfillment center nearest to me is having issues and if it’s fixed by now.

MAC Pro Face Palette: Illuminate

I was eligible for a free birthday gift in November, which was supposed to be an eyeshadow quad. Only three out of four shades were in stock, and it wouldn’t let me add them to my cart without choosing a non-existent fourth available shade. I asked customer service what I should do in this instance, since you can only redeem the gift with a purchase and I only had a few days left before the offer expired. The solution was to send me this palette, which I jumped on since I don’t really like MAC eyeshadows anyway.

This palette consists of cream highlighters that have an almost waxy texture. It reminds me of both edge gel and the Danessa Myricks Dew Wet Balms. I didn’t have high hopes because products in that consistency tend to remove my foundation underneath it, and this one did too, but it’s easy to apply a little concealer back on top without interfering with the shine level. Unlike the Dew Balm, this gave a perfectly smooth wet sheen without looking greasy. It doesn’t dry completely, but it’s not dewy enough for my hair to cling to it either. I was very happy with the results! It also makes a great base to intensify powder highlighters that are applied on top of it, although I don’t usually go for the super highlighted look. Powder highlighters are my preference, so I don’t know how often I’ll actually use this, but it certainly made a nice birthday gift!

Please ignore the slightly lingering indent on my skin from wearing a mask. I took 3 of the 4 photos on the same day, which is why GoldieLush doesn’t have that mark.

They look nearly identical in photos, but the slight pink tinge in Starry Opal, the light silvery tone of Malted Milk, the traditional medium gold in GoldieLush, and the orange tint to Peach Plush are identifiable in person.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Dark Tan

I wanted to try this powder for so long, but trying to figure out which shade I should choose out of Dark, Dark Tan, Dark Golden, Dark Deep, and Dark Deepest (which didn’t look all that deep in all the photos and videos I scoured the internet to find) was quite frustrating. It’s helpful when brands list their products by order of either lightest to darkest or darkest to lightest, but these didn’t seem to follow that order all the way, which added to my confusion. The biggest difference between multiples of them seem to be the undertone, but MAC doesn’t have any descriptions of these shades. It would be great if the brand created a chart pairing MAC foundation shades with the suggested powder matches.

This powder tends to look lighter on camera, so it took ages for me to get an accurate photo. I can understand now why the same shade looks so different in the photos and videos I’ve seen others take too.

Based on the broken up powder photos from MAC’s website, I thought Dark Tan and Dark Deep were my two best options, but I questioned whether Dark Deep was slightly too dark and possibly a bit orange. Since powders can sometimes deepen on my skin when I wear a dewy foundation, I decided to ultimately get Dark Tan. Dark Tan is admittedly a tad light, but it still works for me. The bigger issue I have is that it looks a little dry on my skin because I grew unaccustomed to having such a matte look to my face, plus it being a bit light. I have only used this a few times, so I will continue to experiment some more using different brushes. It’s possible I applied too much or that it looks better with other complexion products. Because I was so iffy about whether I’d like this powder or be able to select the right shade, I decided to wait as long as it took for this product to finally be on sale for higher than 30%. It took years, but I was thrilled when MAC added this to the 50% off deal for Black Friday. So, that made satisfying my curiosity less of a financial hit!

This is everything new I’ve added to my collection from MAC so far. I do intend to get the Magnificent Moon Extra Dimension x 4 highlighter quad palette when it gets released. Of course, I shouldn’t because I’m on a highlighter no-buy, but this falls in line with one of the exceptions listed in my Beauty Resolutions post. I love moons. It’s one of the central aspects of my one and only tattoo, so that kind of imagery is significant for me. Other than that, I’m going to continue trying to slow down on the frequency of my MAC purchases so I can enjoy what I already have!

Thank you for reading!

-Lili ❤

I Said I Wouldn’t Buy These, But I did!

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I admittedly have an excessive makeup collection for a single person. Though it may not seem like it considering all the newly released makeup I purchased in 2021, I actually made a bigger effort to talk myself out of getting makeup in categories I already had favorites of and didn’t need. Each product reviewed today were things I thought I successfully anti-hauled, but all it took was a sale for me to change my mind!

These purchases were all made in 2021, so my beauty resolutions for 2022 are still intact and going strong! If anything, this post is an example of why I had to come up with a better plan for this year.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Cream Bronzer in Hazelnut

This purchase I attribute to Angelica Nyqvist’s many videos talking about how fantastic this product is, including her end of 2021 favorites. I wish I could say I had the same experience, but I just find it to be okay at best. This cream is easy to blend out, to the point that I have to build it back up, but if I overblend while building it up, it starts to look patchy because it’s setting in spots at different times. On the opposite side of the issue, I try not to apply too much at once because the shade is a bit deep for me. The shade jump between Hazelnut and the next lighter shade, Caramel, is huge. Hazelnut was my only color option. So, perhaps if I had a better match that didn’t put me at risk of overblending, I might like it better. As it stands, I prefer the Danessa Myricks, Kaja, and Sol Body/Colourpop cream bronzer formulas above the one from ABH because those three all blend quickly and easily into a skin-like finish. They’re also just as deep, or in some cases deeper, than the ABH without the blending and building troubles.

I’ve used this about ten times, so it’s possible I could find another brush that works better with this bronzer other than the Sonia G Mini Base and Scott Barnes #65 Flawless Face Brush, but between using a sponge, brush, or finger, the end result looks similar for all of them. I’m cutting my losses and rather than figure out how to make this one work better, I can just use my no-fuss cream bronzers that I like instead.

Pat Mcgrath Labs Skin Fetish: Sublime Skin Highlighter in Lunar Nude

I couldn’t resist the gold packaging with that embossing, but I’m at least glad I waited for a sale. I told myself over and over that Lunar Nude would look too light for my skin tone, so I shouldn’t get it. I was half right. The shimmery reflective particles are light gold, but the base color is a copper color. It even looks copper or gold depending on the lighting of the room and the angle. The base tone helps it look a little more wearable on me, but it’s still lighter than I’d prefer in a highlighter.

I can see the shimmer particles on my face, which is also not my preference, but I also realized that certain brushes of mine pick up more of the sparkle than others. On the website, there was a note to pair this with the highlighting balm duo. When I used the balm and then applied Lunar Nude on top, it definitely helped to make the product melt into the skin and look super smooth and achieve that “wet look” that I enjoy. However, it really cranks up the intensity level and the fact that the highlighter is too light for me becomes way more obvious. Since I figured out how to use it to my preferences, I like the formula but not the actual shade. Ultimately though, I don’t think this is worth buying at full price except for collectors and luxury product lovers. For anyone looking for the best highlighter on the market for the best price, this isn’t it. Much better and more affordable options are out there. It’s “pretty good” at best. I personally prefer Pat Mcgrath’s Divine Rose highlighter. That one is listed as a “futuristic gel-powder formula” in the “Skin Fetish: Ultra Glow” line whereas Lunar Nude is a “luxe gel-powder formula” in the “Skin Fetish: Sublime Skin” line. It’s possible they are the same formula, but Lunar Nude leaves more sparkle on the skin, which is the biggest difference other than the color.

Pat Mcgrath Labs Highlighter Comparisons

Different lighting to reveal the color shift of the trio.

Of course, since making this purchase, Pat Mcgrath has released similar highlighters to Lunar Nude’s formula in the Bridgerton collection. I don’t believe either of those new colors would look nice on me. If PML releases a shade variation I like in this same formula with the same special packaging and same or similar embossing, I would most likely sell Lunar Nude and buy that one. As it stands, this one isn’t getting much use in my collection but I still don’t want to part with it without a superior replacement.

Smashbox Loves Becca Under Eye Brightener in Dark

Although Becca Cosmetics is no more, a few best selling products were resurrected through Smashbox. This decision is presumed to be made by their parent company Estee Lauder.

There were originally just two shades: light-medium (now called Fair/Light) and medium-deep. The Smashbox x Becca version has two more in the mix: Medium and Dark. It’s my understanding though, based on a YouTube video by All Beauty by Sarah, that the original medium-deep color is actually close in depth to the current Medium shade with the main difference being that the original had a stronger pink tone to it. The third darkest shade now is called Medium/Dark and is much darker than the original medium-deep. The final shade, and the one I picked up, is Dark. Based on the description and the shade in the pot, I expected Dark to be too dark for me. Technically, as this is supposed to brighten my under-eyes, I should have gotten Medium/Dark. However, I prefer for my under eyes to match the rest of my face rather than being brighter, so Dark works perfectly for that. It’s the best matching color-corrector type of product I have ever used because it has a slight orange tone to hide my dark circles, but there’s also enough brown to make it look natural. I try to avoid showing my skin discoloration as much as possible, but in this instance I felt it was necessary to show a demonstration photo below.

Cream products almost always move in my under-eye area, but what makes this one a little different is the very sticky texture. This product has gripping power similar to the Milk Hydro Grip Eye Primer, but stronger than that one. This makes it ideal for applying a concealer on top, even though based on the color match, I don’t find that to even be necessary. However, it will not set on its own, so I either have to apply a concealer that sets down like the Tarte Shape Tape or apply a setting powder to my under eyes (or both). If I apply the Smashbox x Becca corrector by itself, it will settle badly into creases. So, I need at least something on top to keep it from creasing and to continue looking smooth.

So, I have an answer to using this product to hide my dark circles and keep it looking as smooth as possible considering I have heavy lines under my eyes. This product would be perfect if it wasn’t for the transfer issue. No matter what products I apply on top of the corrector, it will lift off my under eyes if I accidentally touch it or if I try to wipe away shimmer eyeshadow fallout. So, despite being the perfect color match for me, this isn’t a holy grail product. I use it on days when I’m not planning to go anywhere and am just putting on makeup for Instagram and Blog photos. I am at least glad I’m still getting use out of it. This would work wonders for people who don’t touch their face or rub their eyes as much as I do, so I still recommend it, but I would be wary about potential issues. Also, I would use a dedicated brush specifically with this product because it’s a bit of a pain to use with my favorite concealer brushes the way it coats the hairs in its sticky texture.

Flower Beauty Jungle Lights Palette

The release of Flower Beauty’s Desert Lights palette didn’t take away the major hype surrounding the original Jungle Lights palette. That’s what ultimately caused me to finally want to try it out. I’ve also always been curious how it stacked up to the MAC Tempting Fate palette a lot of people were comparing it to.

In the photo above, in the “Flash Off” set of swatches, I put a yellow divider line to help show the differences between the Flower Beauty swatches on the left half and the MAC swatches on the right half. In the “Flash On” set of swatches, I did not put a divider in order to keep it from impeding on seeing how similar the two sets look next to each other in every shade except Amazon (which had no equivalent) and Jaguar.

The Flower Beauty Jungle Lights formula is as creamy as everyone says, except Paradise and Jaguar have less slip and feel a tad more gritty. I also like the sparkle and shine level of these shimmers, which clearly surpass that of the MAC Feast Your Eyes Palette from the Tempting Fate Collection.

They’re as nice as people say, and I appreciate the fact that they last fairly well on my eyes as long as I pack on enough color with my finger (which is the recommended application method) and am content with the colors fading a bit to a duller color by the end of the day.

I think it’s worth looking into, especially at the price point. $17.99 is great already, but between a sale and coupon codes at Ulta, I got this one for $8.68. I still would have thought it was worth it at full price.

One of the most fascinating aspects of this palette was when I came across a reddit post showing 47 different shade combinations that could be made using this palette depending on which shade was on the bottom layer and which one was on top. Of course, the differences aren’t as obvious on my skin tone, but there were enough combinations to leave me thoroughly impressed. I took photos of some of the most obvious color changes with comparisons to the individual shades on their own to make it easier to see the differences.

And then the photo below shows all the individual shades plus my favorite five new shade combinations.

Unfortunately, some of these shade mixtures don’t show as well on my eyes as they did in arm swatches. However, it’s still fun to play around with the combinations. It makes for a more versatile palette.

I wish there were some mattes included, but I could perhaps continue to get use out of this if I remember to pull it out in conjunction with some of my all or nearly all matte palettes.

Sigma Beauty Berry Glow Cheek Duo

I really thought this duo looked nice on my skin in person, but in photos, the blush looks very ashy. The fact that it’s cool toned does look a little off to my own eyes though. I’m torn.

I bought the duo for about 40% off during a Black Friday sale and thought it was an extra great price considering it came with a brush as well. The brush will be reviewed in an upcoming synthetic bristle brush post. Considering the ashy look of the blush on camera, I’m not sure if I’ll continue to use it. I guess as long as it still looks nice in person, and I could potentially mix it with a warmer blush, I still somewhat like it. However, considering I also had mixed feelings about the Cor-de-Rosa blush palette, I think this will be the last blush purchase I get from them. I do like the highlighter, as it’s quite smooth with a small shimmer particle size and it doesn’t look stark even though it’s such a pale highlighting shade. It comes off a little more champagne-gold in person even though it looks almost platinum on camera. I’m almost tempted to investigate Sigma’s Glowkissed Highlight Palette from last year, but I have a full highlighter palette already from Danessa Myricks that I just bought during Black Friday too. I certainly don’t need another.

Those who are fans of the Sigma blush and highlighter formula already will likely enjoy the quality of this duo as well. I will continue to give it a few more tries to solidify my own feelings on it, but it’s just “nice” in terms of quality in my opinion. It doesn’t quite reach the “great” territory.

That’s everything! Out of the five items, I wish I could have successfully anti-hauled the ABH Cream Bronzer, Sigma Duo, and this particular shade of PML highlighter, but I really expected to love them and wouldn’t have known otherwise without having bought them first to try out. I will certainly try harder to stick to my anti-hauls in the future.
Thank you for reading!

-Lili ❤

Blushes So Good I Needed Another…part 2

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This is an update to my post from September 2020 where I’ll be showing my newest shades of blushes I’ve already reviewed before and loved so much that I wasn’t content with having just one shade. I needed more!

KVD Everlasting Blush in Peony and Foxglove

I already talked about how much I liked the shades Poppy and Snapdragon in Part 1 to this post, so I surprised myself that I actually bought two more. I always suspected Foxglove could work for me and Peony looked borderline like I might be able to pull it off during winter or early spring when I’m usually at my lightest. I was shocked that they ended up looking as nice as they do! Those two shades were clearly not intended for someone with dark skin but they have enough pigmentation to make it show and not look ashy!

Peony is cool toned, but this kind of pink still somehow looks nice on me. After about 3-4 layers, it doesn’t show any stronger on my skin tone, but I like how it looks with even just 2-3 layers. Foxglove doesn’t show as strongly in the photo above, but that’s because it’s a more toned down dusty rose type of pink and I prefer not to build it up beyond two layers. While I would say I consider a very pigmented blush to show on me in 1-2 layers, the fact that these are so pale in the pans and swatches, but still show this much on me speaks volumes.

Of the four blushes, I think Foxglove is my new favorite.

Pat Mcgrath Labs Skin Fetish: Divine Powder Blush in Electric Bloom

I purchased this perhaps a month after the initial blush launch. I wanted so many shades from the collection that I told myself I was only allowed to have one more, so I went ahead and made it this vibrant coral shade. It’s the kind of color that is debatable whether I can pull it off or not, but always calls to me. If I had just waited a little longer, I would have seen that it was listed as a dupe for Colourpop’s Aloha Honey blush shade on Temptalia’s blog and therefore I didn’t need the almost identical blush color. To be fair, I haven’t used the Colourpop blush enough to say how it compares in terms of quality because I always reach for Electric Bloom over Aloha Honey.

Paradise Venus is still my favorite shade of the three I have from Pat Mcgrath.

LYS Beauty High Standard Clean Cream Blush in Inspire

I hope anyone who reads my blog regularly isn’t tired of me going on about how much I love this cream blush formula, but I feel it deserves to be gushed over. I always had plans to eventually get this beautiful coral-orange shade, but I wanted to wait until I made more progress in my overall cream blush collection. However, I had some store credit built up via the Ambassador program with the brand, so I decided to go ahead and cross that off my wish list! Half of this blush was paid for via credit and the other half was paid for out of my own pocket. For full details about my affiliation with LYS, please see my About Me page and scroll to the near bottom.

Inspire performs just as well as the others. I cannot decide which of the three is my favorite because I keep changing my mind every time I use a different shade!

Wayne Goss The Weightless Veil Blush Palette in Bright Poppy (Sunny and Golden Glow)

Unlike the other blushes I’ve listed, which are among my top favorites, I decided to try Bright Poppy because the colors are better suited for me than Vivid Azalea and I wanted an answer as to whether the blush shade would be insanely pigmented in this duo too. Sunny is not quite at the unbelievable pigment level of Shocking, but if I tap once into the blush with my Smashbox Buildable Cheek Brush, it’s enough to thoroughly cover my cheek. An additional half layer is the maximum amount I would want to use. Otherwise, my option would be to tone it back down using a finishing powder on top.

Sunny is pretty on the cheeks. Golden Glow is a nice highlighter formula that is very complimentary to my skin tone. I prefer to apply my blush and highlighter separately, but Wayne suggests that anyone who likes shimmery blush formulas could apply the highlighter to the entire cheek and then blend the blush on top of it. This technique worked for me with Vivid Azalea because the combination of the two shades turned the blush into a lighter color. I tried this with Bright Poppy and did not like it at all because the shimmer color and blush color don’t match. This means the particles in the highlighter stand out a lot more and I don’t like how contrasting it is. Whether I applied the highlighter to the bottom or the highlighter on top, the end result was the same.

Colourpop Super Shock Cheek in Matte, Satin, and Pearlized finishes.

Colourpop’s Super Shock Cheek line includes both blushes and highlighters, so I decided as a bonus to review all the ones I own here since I’m a huge fan of them. They have the benefit of looking and applying to the skin like creams, but without feeling heavy, sticky, or greasy on the skin like some cream blushes on the market can do.

In the Matte finish we have Over Dramatic, a “mid-tone pinky nude,” and Swift, a “rich deep warm brown” shade. Both are very close in color and practically look the same on my cheeks. Calling Swift a deep and rich shade is quite the exaggeration on Colourpop’s part. I have to build them up a lot in order for them to show in photos, but I bought these specific colors so I could have some brown leaning blushes, which aren’t as prevalent in my collection. Swift is from the Make It Black Collection when the brand partnered with Pull Up For Change. It’s a bit stiffer in consistency than Over Dramatic and because Swift is more of an orange-brown than pink-brown, it blends in with my skin a lot more. It’s on the borderline of blending in too much, considering it’s such a nude shade for me already. For that reason, I do prefer Over Dramatic because of my personal preferences.

I just have one Satin finish Super Shock Cheek and it’s in the shade Georgette which is described as a “bright apricot with a warm sheen.”

Georgette has the right amount of brightness that isn’t obnoxious. Also, I’ve always struggled to find orange tones of blush that look flattering on my skin tone. I tend to like the ones that lean more red or pink. This apricot shade is more on the yellow side, but I like it. So now, I think it’s just true oranges at the 50/50 split between yellow and red that I don’t enjoy as much. My quest to figure it out continues!

I have five shades in the Pearlized finish, starting with the two that came in the 2020 Lunar New Year set called the Lucky You Super Shock Cheek Duo.

I kept these unused for so long because of the pretty pattern in the Super Shocks. When I finally used them, I was a little disappointed that Drop of a Hat was too sheer to work as a blush for me. It’s better if I consider it a pink highlighter or blush topper. Goody Two Shu is pretty but a little sparkly, so I decided it wasn’t worth continuing to ruin the embossing. I just keep these as collector items now.

Voile is another Super Shock I stopped using. I kept trying to use it because the shade reminded me of Benefit’s Kiss of Rose and Charlotte Tilbury’s Walk of No Shame, which are both shimmery blushes I find to be beautiful. However, the shimmer level of Voile in person and the way the “copper sheen” sparkles on my cheeks is too much for me. It’s far more sparkly in person than it appears in the photo. I’ve realized that I prefer Colourpop’s matte and satin finishes for the blush shades. The only pearlized blush I enjoy is Cheerio and that’s because it seems to be a pearl-satin hybrid! Cheerio is a repromoted shade, which I bought from the Wine & Only Collection. The back label on my blush has “Pearlized” printed on it, but on Colourpop’s website it’s listed as a satin and it doesn’t have as many sparkles as the others in that formula. Or, perhaps I can’t see them if most of the sparkles match the color of the blush. What I see are some silver flecks.

I have to use a very small amount of Cheerio because it’s a deep shade. It’s easy to overapply and my specific blush arrived partly shriveled (which I pressed back into the pan). So, it’s a little drier than it should be and not as easy to spread evenly on my cheeks, but I can still make it work. Colourpop did send me a replacement, but I realized I preferred the cream blush from Natasha Denona’s Bloom Cheek palette a lot more, and that color is similar to this one, so I gave the replacement to my sister.

Lastly, we have my absolute favorite Colourpop Super Shock Cheek. It’s a “peachy gold” shade that I use for highlighting called Parasol.

It looks extra sparkly in the photo above because I used it over the Georgette blush which also has a sheen, but this highlighter is very smooth and wet looking. It blends into my skin very well and is the kind of tone I like for highlighting. I’ve used it quite a bit, even though it doesn’t look like it in the photo from the top down angle, but it actually has a dip in the center.

This concludes the post! I tried to keep it short since all of these (minus Colourpop) have been reviewed on this blog before.

Are there any blushes you have been loving at the moment? The blush and highlighter categories are the reason I haven’t been able to post Best of 2020 and Best of 2021 posts. I was constantly trying new products, loving the majority of them, and not able to use what I consider my favorites consistently enough to rank some over others. This year, I’m committed to getting a lot more use out of my older products. There are still plenty I haven’t even reviewed yet! I hope you’ll return to see the progress on that! Thank you for reading!

-Lili ❤