Day Long Review: Model in a Bottle Setting Spray

So, I never made a post about my trip to IMATS. Between moving and working, there just wasn't time. 

But one of the things I bought was Model in a Bottle setting spray, matte finish. I'd remembered hearing about it somewhere, and couldn't remember if it was good or not, but it was relatively inexpensive so I decided to buy it. 

I used it the day after IMATS for the first time. This shit BURNS when you spray it!!! What the hell is in it??? Clearly a ton of alcohol. And it makes your face kinda tacky, like my hair was sticking to my face, not for long, it does dry, but its weird.

So I've been using it since IMATS. Pretty much every day. And I've been breaking out a lot more. So, today, I'm making a day long review where I really pay attention to how it looks. 

8:30 AM 

Just sprayed for the first time today. You put it on after all your makeup, making sure that your mascara is completely dry. It burns your face. And also, the sprayer BLOWS. no matter how far away you hold it from your face, you can't get a nice even mist. You'll end up spraying it 8-9 times to get even coverage. Insert whatever TWSS jokes you want. It has an odd finish, once it dries and your hair doesn't stick to your face anymore. Being no stranger to spray mount, it feels a little like that. Kinda rough. It also does not give the best matte finish, despite claiming it does. Aside from a bit of color correction, this has not been photoshopped. Look at the shine on my nose!



11:50 AM
Three hours+ into my work day. And its a hot one today, although I'm in an air conditioned office. Aren't florescent lights lovely. I am totally a corpse.... Anyway, its holding my makeup on pretty well, despite the fact that my skin looks like a leather handbag... ugh. But thats the fault of my primer (just bought some new stuff, expect a review next week). I can feel the oil on my nose, forehead and chin (T-zone area) starting to bleed through, despite the fact that my cheeks feel a bit stiff and dry (they're not, its just the SHITTY finish of the setting spray). I'm already in the habit of being super aware of NOT touching my face, but with this stuff on, I feel like any touch will just wipe the makeup right off. The overexposure you're seeing in the picture on my nose is not really shine, or at least not much. Just low-quality iPhone camera combined with bad office lighting. There is a bit of shine though. And there will be more by the end of the day I expect.

Makeup Forever Profinish Foundation

Gotta write this quick, because I have shit to do at work...

I finally ran out of the Gorgeous Cosmetics foundation that I got at IMATS last April. Pretty impressive that it made it almost a year. I will definitely be buying more of it this year.

I had a sample of Makeup Forever's new ProFinish lying around that I got a Sephora a few weeks ago. I've been hesitant to try it, as #1 they didn't have a color that matched me correctly, so they gave me two different ones to mix and #2 a convertible foundation where the dry application is the full coverage? Wha?

So in a hurry this morning, I gave it a whirl. Neither color works well on me, the dark being too dark and yellow, the light being waay too light and pinkish. Blending them was also a bit tricky, as the dry application sets up really fast. But... damn! The coverage! Seriously! I barely had to use any concealer afterward, and I enjoyed that there wasn't a need to set it with powder. I did set my Mac concealer with a bit of translucent powder, just to make sure it stayed put, but then blush and a final hit with setting spray and I was done. I dislike the sponge applicator, but I can't see how I'd use either my fingers or a brush to apply it dry. Its possible that the full size sponge might be better, but its still a damn sponge. Still soaks up oil. 

I've had it on for about two hours now, and my face still looks pretty matte, and the coverage is pretty outstanding. Again, you'll have to forgive the corpse like lighting in my office. I'm working on getting a shade and a desk lamp so I'll look more like a human. I'll update later in the day when I have time to do so. If anyone has any experience with this new stuff, please let me know. Or go to Sephora and ask for a sample and try it yourself!

UPDATE 2:12pm: Foundation holding strong in most of my oil prone areas (forehead, cheeks, chin). Nose too, though not as well. It still looks matte for the most part, but i'm starting to see the oil seep through. I can't find my stupid blotting papers, or I'd take care of it. But it seems like this foundation might actually be good for something. So thats cool.

NYX Liquid Liner Review

So, I had been using Kat Von D liquid black liner, and then it ran out. And I was broke. So I bought this instead, because its way cheaper. I can't remember exactly when I bought it, but it was quite a while ago, Summer 2012 at least, so there's a plus. Shit lasts forever, but I guess that depends on how much you're putting on each day. But I put on a small-medium amount EVERY day, and only now am I starting to need to shake the bottle to get product onto the brush.

It goes on smoothly, and I find I don't have to stretch my eyelid out to get a smooth even line. It also stays put through most things; its not waterproof, but I've cried with it on and it stays in place. Same with small amounts of moisture, like light drizzles. I only put it on my upper lid though, and I wear glasses, so that might be why. Its also a super dense black, which is nice.

Now... I'm not a liquid liner extraordinaire or anything. I'm pretty handy, but it has taken me almost the entire time of owning this liner to get any kind of decent at applying it. I was pretty good right off the bat with the Kat Von D that I was using previously, and the MAC felt tip pen I had before that. And the MAC gel liner I had before that. But... this one, I kinda feel like a moron. I suspect its the fact that the bristles of the brush are long. This can work to your advantage, but coming from the Kat Von D, it took a lot of getting used to. I also have a lot of trouble getting just a razor thin line, like I'll get one eye done and completely fuck up the other one, and thus have to make the line really thick to cover up the mistakes. I really don't know what the deal is. Although, I suspect when I eventually go back to one of the above eyeliners, I'll be really good at applying liner.

Overall, I'd say I recommend it, but be prepared for a learning curve. I think its like $6 at Ulta, but I couldn't find it on the NYX website, so it might be discontinued and they're just selling off the rest of the stock. For the price, its pretty good stuff.

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Day - Long Review - Revlon ColorStay Sweatproof Foundation

I recently discovered that I hated my foundation. Maybelline Pure Makeup. Its water based, which is nice and doesn't clog your pores. But forget about it if you have oily skin, or even just an oily T-zone like moi. Now, I'm not the best at keeping my makeup touched up throughout the day, but you'd think your foundation could stand up for an hour at least.... Not so with Pure Makeup, it was patchy and cakey within an hour.

So I went to Total Beauty to find a better foundation. Something rated well for oily or combination skin. The results weren't promising. Too many products with too few reviews each. Irritating. On the basis of saving some cash, I decided to go with a "drug store" brand. I found good reviews of Revlon's ColorStay stuff, and I've always liked their ColorStay lipstick. They were kind of pioneers of that "lasts for 16 hours" stuff as I recall. So I set out to CVS to buy the stuff. I found there are three different kinds of ColorStay foundation: Normal/Dry, Oily/Combination and Sweatproof.

Now, my main complaint from my Maybelline Pure was that if I started to sweat, even a little, the makeup would just dissolve instantly. So, I went for the Sweatproof when I chose the new foundation. The reviews online promised it would stay put, not come off my clothes, and that it was light and comfortable. Here begins my journal style-review of my new foundation.

7:45 AM - Applied makeup to moisturized skin (ran out of primer, so didn't bother). Purposefully did my makeup before drying my hair, to check for "sweatproofness". Makeup is the consistency of watery clay. NOT light. Not uncomfortable, but certainly not like spreading whip cream on my face. My face now has these layers on it: moisturizer, foundation, concealer, powder, blush. Blow-dried my hair. Sweat not too much, but enough. Divot under my nose remains perfect, starting to see some minor caking on cheeks near nose, but easily fixed.
--Sweatproof makeup - confirmed! (but I already had sweatproof makeup, I use it on special occasions like weddings and stuff, L'Oreal Infallible, look for it in a future review)

9:30 AM - Cheeks, forehead, chin look fine. Nose is starting to get cakey and I can see my bare skin in some patches.

12:30 PM - Entirely gone from the end of my nose. Starting to look cakey on cheek area right next to nose

1:09 PM - Cheek area from earlier definitely starting to be cakey, not patchy yet. Makeup is only on the sides of my nose, and collecting around the nose-pads of my glasses. New: now collecting in fine lines around my mouth.

5:16 PM - Just got home from work. Time to check this "16" hour makeup after about 9.5 hours since putting it on. Remember, I've done no touch ups today, as I wanted to get a feel for my new foundation. Wearing off over my eyebrows, creating a weird effect that makes me look angry. Caking up above my upper lip. Entirely gone of my nose, areas where nose-pads of my glasses are have rings around them. cheeks/chin look ok. Best test will be to remove it to see if its still really there.

All that being said, it doesn't look all that bad. I think if I were good about touching up with powder throughout the day it might look better. It also might be more effective with primer.

Still, I think I might return it and try the "oily/combination" kind. We'll see.

Thanks for reading! I'll post again soon (yeah right).

Arbonne Review at long last

Wow, so I really suck at updating. Especially since I've been unemployed all summer and have had ample time to do so. So, here, at long last, is my Arbonne Cosmetics review.

I have a bunch of Arbonne products, which I bought from a friend's mom who is an Arbonne Consultant. Basically, its like Mary Kay or Avon where you can only buy it directly from a consultant.

The theory of Arbonne is great. Only natural products, no weird chemicals or rendered animal fat (EW! its called Sodium Tallowate, but I'm not sure how its spelled. check your products for it and promptly get rid of them. its basically boiled road kill). I'll review, at least briefly, the products I have used from Arbonne, and will be happy to direct you to my friend's mom who sells the stuff if you're interested.

The Arbonne Primer is a decent product. I know some who use it as both moisturizer and primer, but I didn't find it moisturizing enough to do that. It was more or less effective at its job, but I like my Smashbox primer better. And at something like $30/bottle, it didn't quite feel worth it to me. Supposedly using all Arbonne products in tandem makes them more successful and actually improves your skin (you should SEE the woman I first bought stuff from, she looks fantastic all the time) but as I couldn't (and definitely can't now) afford all the products at once, I wasn't seeing those benefits. Overall, I hesitantly recommend it.


Arbonne Foundation has about the same review as the primer. It did its job, but not better than any other foundation. I've been using this cheap Maybelline stuff for a while and I like it better (the Maybelline is water based and very lightweight for a liquid foundation). And again, for the $39.50 price tag, this foundation better be the best freaking stuff ever. I also had trouble finding a shade that matched my skintone. The lady I bought it from eventually had to squirt some lighter stuff into a ziploc and give it to me to blend with it. So, what she was telling me is I have to buy TWO shades in order to get my one perfect one. Overall, I don't recommend it.



The Arbonne FC5 line is my without-a-doubt favorite facial cleansing system EVER. It comes in several different combinations, based on your skin type being Oily, Normal, Combined or Dry. Theres (I think) an eyecream, moisturizer, hand cream, cleanser and translucent (and oil absorbing) setting powder. And the best part? Stuff smells fantastic. Fruity and sweet and clean. The cleanser rocks, it never feels drying but successfully gets off all the crap from my face. The moisturizer is also awesome, its not too heavy and not too light, which is perfect for my combination skin. I unfortunately have not been able to try the eye cream or the setting powder, aside from when my friend's mom was presenting them, but I look forward to having a job again soon so that I can purchase these also. Overall, I highly recommend the FC5 line.


My opinion of Arbonne varies greatly (clearly). I'm very very fond of all the skin care products, but not overly thrilled with the cosmetics. But then again, I'm a fan of dramatic makeup. I know other friends of mine who love every part of the Arbonne line. Its great if you want that subtle, natural look. But of course, my last review was praising neon-pink eyeshadow. So, my review of Arbonne is skin care = awesome and can't be beat! but cosmetics = your money's probably better spent elsewhere if you're looking for high-drama, high performance stuff.



I'm currently working on figuring out a way to film tutorials, I have a couple of makeup looks that I'd love to share. As soon as I deal with the lighting and camera problem, I'll get those up for anyone who's interested.


Thanks for reading, and please subscribe! I only have two followers! Thanks Julie and Meghan!

Make-up Forever - Star Powder

So I went out a few weeks ago in search of new eyeshadow. I've been watching makeup tutorials on youtube, my favorite is xsparkage. She's awesome. She does tons of bright eye makeup and puts up awesome easy to follow tutorials. For a while, I was attempting to recreate her results with whatever cheap crap I had on hand. I've since realized that in order to really get vibrant makeup, you've gotta spend a little more to get the better pigments. Even M A C pressed shadows don't hold up. Then one day, as I was watching one of her tutorials, I discovered that she's not using pressed shadows. All her stuff is loose powder. Loose powder = more pigments!

So I started with M A C pigments, I bought a purple one, and I really like it. Its bright and vibrant and gives great coverage. You can apply it wet or dry (I haven't tried wet yet, I just know you can). The trick to really getting good coverage is plenty of eyeshadow primer.

Then I was in Sephora one day and something BRIGHT FREAKING PINK caught my eye. Make-up Forever Star Powder. Its a loose shadow, and i'm pretty sure its blacklight receptive, thats how freaking bright this is. I was with my friend Jess, we spied it at the same time... and bought it together. I wear mine thickly applied so you can really see how neon pink it is, Jess wears hers light and it looks pastel and very lovely. Either way, its awesome. Everytime I wear it, I get compliments. Its very noticeable and looks great with a lot of my other shadows. It does stain my eyelids though, just a little bit. And its tough to get out of the brush I use to apply it, ensuring that I taint my other shadows with it quite often. But its worth it for the look. Its not quite a pearlescent or a matte, its something in between (satin?). There are flecks of silver glitter in it, but very few. I recently purchased the blue in the same line. Its more pearlescent than the pink, so its a little easier to blend but its strangely overpowering. I've worn it a few times blended with a yellow CoverGirl shadow and its tough to get both eyes to look the same. I blame the CoverGirl mostly, its crap. With both colors, a little goes a long way, and I advise building layers rather than trying to slather it all on at the same time, the fall-out is pretty extreme, and tough to get off without wiping off your powder and foundation (fall-out = the powder that falls on your cheeks when you've got too much product on the applicator). I highly recommend it.


Incidentally, while I was at Sephora last week buying the blue shade, I also tried their cream eyeliner. I will be purchasing it very soon. Its wicked awesome. I also tried the HD Foundation. Also awesome. I may have to buy the entire line...
Thanks to www.mymakeupreviews.blogspot.com for this image, sorry i took it without asking...

My next post will be reviewing Arbonne and I hope to get it done before the end of the weekend.

Ponds Makeup Remover Towelettes

Hello! Sorry its been so long. I'm going to try to update more frequently. Promise.

Today I'm going to review the things I use to take off my makeup every night. Ever seen those commercials for face washes where the attractive girl splashes water on her face in near-orgasmic pleasure? She's so excited to wash her face! Well, when you try to mimic her enthusiasm, the end result is water all over your bathroom. And in my case, mixing with the little pieces of cat litter that my cats kick out of the litterbox, which of course are clay so they end up leaving gray/black marks all in the grout between the tiles. My shirt ends up drenched, the toilet paper's wet and the floor is slippery. UGH! And then I found something awesome. Makeup remover towelettes! Premoistened, they come in a pack of thirty or so, and you just wipe them all over your face and throw it away. No need to rinse or wash or scrub. The first brand I bought was Ponds, because it was the first I saw. I have since tried: Garnier, Olay, Target & CVS brands, Dove and Neutrogena. Nothing compares to the original Ponds, even the Target & CVS brands that were using the same formula. There's texture to the cloths that help take off all your makeup, including waterproof stuff. I have no fear of rubbing it all over my eyes. If in the process you happen to get the solution that its soaked in into your eye, it hurts about as much as getting just water in your eye. It takes everything off without stripping all the oil out of my skin (thank you CVS brand!). And while I should, I don't typically put on anything after that. Just brush my teeth and go to bed. But even with my foundation primer and eyeshadow primer and caked on powder and tons of eyeliner, one cloth takes it all off.

There is only one downside, which I'm able to overlook pretty easily. The package is a plastic pouch with a peel and seal label on it. You lift this, take out one cloth and then re-seal it. Its not perfect. Air gets in there whether you like it or not so your last 6 or so cloths get a little dried out. The solution is to spritz it with a little water from a spray bottle, or just wad it up in your hand and stick it under the faucet for half a second, just enough to dampen it. This wakes up the dried solution and makes it good as new.

Overall, I highly recommend it.

I'm going to try to do some kind of tutorial in my next post, but I haven't decided what or how yet, so keep an eye out!

Maybelline Lash Stiletto Mascara

Hello to all of my lovely readers. You are few, but I am confident you will soon be many. Thanks to my friend Kyle over at FaceCandy I was able to review this product. It retails for under $7, which is pretty decent as far as a good quality drug-store brand mascara goes.

Now, I'm blessed with long lashes naturally, which doesn't make me a good judge of mascaras. But I will do my best, as I've been requested by two people to discuss mascara. The graphic designer in me is a sucker for the packaging of this one. Its designed to look like the heel of a shoe!! And the typography is cool (not altogether that creative, but well executed). The brush is great, its narrow enough to get into that corner of your eye without getting the product everywhere, but thick enough to distribute fairly evenly. I had minor-moderate trouble with clumping, but a lash comb will get rid of most of them. If you're looking for length, its pretty awesome. I put some on this morning and then reapplied a few minutes ago (because I'm going to see the midnight show of Watchmen!!!) and it looks like I'm wearing false lashes. They're black and long (thats what she said!). I had more trouble with clumping just now, but I didn't take off the previous application, so thats why.

It stays put. It doesn't flake off, there's no "raccoon eyes". It looks just as good when you apply as when you take it off. And it comes off as easy as any mascara. If you're looking for volume, forget it. Its really really great for length. It blows for volume. Each lash is defined, but not thickened, unless you count the clumping. For this fact, I'd say I recommend it, but not highly.

It still doesn't beat my favorite mascara of all time, the Kohl's brand, Flirt! Far Out Lengthing Mascara. My favorite mascaras have combs for brushes. They thicken and lengthen. My next mascara purchase will be Benefit's BadGal Lash mascara, but I now have two tubes of mascara to use up, so it may be a while before I review it.

That's all for now, thanks for reading, and invite your friends!!!

Sephora Eyeshadow Primer

I've decided today to review Sephora Eyeshadow Primer. When I first heard about makeup primers of any kind I was skeptical. Why the fuck would I want to add another layer of stuff to my face. Well, the answer is this: it makes everything stay on better and for longer. I came home after 8 hours of work today, and only had to touch up the powder on my nose. Everywhere else was fine thanks to my foundation primer. And my eye makeup was fine thanks to my eyeshadow primer. Eyeshadow primer prevents eyeshadow from fading and creasing and also helps with getting really brilliant results from a minimal amount of product. Meaning, you only have to do a one or two strokes with that eyeshadow brush instead of ten to get the vibrant color that you see in the pot/package. My blacks go on richer and darker (instead of light gray) My lime greens go on bright lime green instead of pale, sheer green, forcing me to layer the product on really thick to get my desired results.

I wasn't really sure what type of eyeshadow primer to go with when I first bought some. So I went to Sephora and bought something cheap, just so I could experiment without having to spend a lot of money. I saw products from just about everyone, Stila, Urban Decay etc. Then I went to Sephora's proprietary brand (called Sephora, go figure...) and found a little pot of eyeshadow primer for $8. I brought it home and over the next few weeks figured out how to apply it. I use my index finger, and I put a thin layer across my entire lid and brow bone. I've discovered that, since its very thick that if you apply it too heavily it makes eyeshadow difficult to apply and blend without "skipping" (when the brush gets caught on loose skin and "skips" making a banded texture in the area of application). Its thicker than concealer (which I've also heard will work in a pinch for eyeshadow primer, but have never tried myself) so you don't need much. I've had this little pot for about three months now and haven't even begun to use it all. There are days when I've forgotten to put it on and I definitely notice a difference. I'm not 100% happy with it, though it does do the job for a minimal amount of money, because its not simple to apply, and if you goop it on too heavily it doesn't make for good eye makeup results. But, since its very inexpensive and lasts a long time, I do kinda like it, especially if you're just getting used to using professional grade products (like me). I look forward to trying other products so I can do an educated comparison.

Overall, I hesitantly recommend it.

Sorry its been so long since my last post. Work has been hell and the last thing I want to do when I get home is to sit in front of my computer...

I have a small bit of news. My friend Kyle over at FaceCandy gave my address to the PR rep for Maybelline and they sent me mascara to review. I'm about to take my makeup off for the night, so look for a review of it as soon as I've tried to for a few days. Thanks Kyle for passing my name along! I'm enough of a dork that I called a friend immediately to tell her the exciting news that the Maybelline (or at least their marketing company) knows that I exist. :)

Eyeliner

I'm an eyeliner freak. I love dark eyeliner, and always have. I've tried so many different kinds. I've spent as much as $10 and as little as $1 in my quest for the perfect eyeliner. I hate retractable/self-sharpening. And I dislike liquid and creme unless I'm going for a really specific thing. I also rarely stray from black eyeliner, and if its not black its dark purple or brown. My hesitancy is simply a lack of practice, and a lack of funds to buy every shade of eyeliner and play with them.

In any case, the absolute best black pencil liner that I have found is Beautique. It's available at Sally Beauty Supply stores, in a rack right by the register. Its about 18 inches long. And is not more than $4. Online its only $1.49, in the store I think its around $3.50 or so. It's great. Fantastic. My favorite of all time. (with the exception of Revlon powder liner which they no longer make). Its not waxy. Its soft enough to get a good dark line, but not so soft that you have to sharpen it every five seconds. It stays where you put it, but is easy to smudge with a smudger brush or your fingers if you want to. It comes off easy with whatever your preferred makeup remover is. And the best part is that its HUGE. Like I said, 18 inches long. For less than $4. I sharpen mine about every other use, or if I want a really precise line.

Overall, I highly recommend it.