Recently Estee Lauder launched a brand new foundation, the new Perfectionist Foundation – which now sits beside the cult favorite Double Wear foundation at an Estee Lauder counter near you. It’s autumn, making it prime time for me to get back into my base and a new foundation is always exciting! And so I jetted off to my nearest Nordstrom to get color-matched by one of the nicest gals I’ve ever met. Seriously, Estee Lauder and MAC always have the best salesgirls. I don’t know what it is – but I always walk away with a new best friend 😉
Yay or Nay Monday : LOreal Magic Nude Liquid Powder
When L’Oreal released the Magic Nude Liquid Powder, I was interested in the idea but never in trying it. But as summer and humidity rise around me, I started to look at this from another angle while shopping around CVS. Could this be the ideal summer product? A light coverage ala a tinted moisturizer but with stay-matte properties? I couldn’t wait to find out!
And to my surprise, my wish came true. This is absolutely everything I wanted from it. Would I recommend this as a foundation? No. Would I use this outside of summer? Probably not. Is this the summer dream product all of you need to get asap? Yes! (Or at least if you have minimal coverage needs.)
Coverage
The coverage is minimal-to-light. As in, this barely does anything to conceal anything outside of some minimal redness/discoloration. So if you have problematic skin and need some coverage, this is definitely not for you. If you’re like me, and have a clear complexion (thank you Clarisonic!) with just some hormonal redness around your nose, this is perfect. I will say, in it’s favor this does build really nicely. I think if you did have a blemish or two you could build that area up without much trouble. :
Texture
The consistency of this product is like water. Truly. I would highly recommend pouring this into the palm of your hand, as you would a hair product, to apply. This quickly turns from a runny liquid to a powder when applied…and yet remains completely light and soft on your skin. It’s a very pleasant feeling, if I must say 😉
Longevity (In High Humidity Conditions)
I have put this product through the ringer. As in, I have worn this all day outdoors, in high humidity, running around outside, with zero touch ups and when I look in the mirror at the end of the day I don’t feel like running away in horror. In fact, my skin not only looks ‘good’…it looks really good! Magic Nude can stand up against humidity like a prize fighter. #Fact
Cost
As a drugstore foundation, this does ring in at the higher end of the price spectrum. But, even then it’s a very reasonable item. I would recommend picking this up on sale, with a coupon, with a reward value…or all of the above. $2 off L’Oreal foundation coupons are usually readily available 😉
Overall
Huge thumbs up to this as a light-weight, stay-matte formula for summer. Which honestly, isn’t that what we all want? From me, this gets a huge YAY!
Yay or Nay : Lancome Visionnaire Advanced Skin Corrector
I may not have many fine lines and wrinkles, but I’m a bit ‘pore-anoid’ (aka, paranoid about my pores). So, every time I saw an ad for Lancome‘s Visionnaire Advanced Skin Corrector my eyes and ears perked up a bit. This was an item on my Wish List for quite some time before I took the plunge. I’ve been using this for just over two months now, applying it in the evening as a serum before my moisturizer, and have to confess, it feels quite nice. It’s very soft and smooth on the skin. But feelings aside, does it work?
For pores and evenness, I’m inclined to say yes. I can’t testify to the affect on wrinkles but I have definitely noticed my pores being less pronounced and somehow the redness I faced every morning (which could have come from just sleeping on my face?) has diminished in its severity. Before using Visionnaire, a heavy concealer on my areas of redness was part of my daily makeup routine. Since using this? I haven’t reached for my heavy concealer at all. That’s some serious advancement if you ask me!
I do think a change in season has definitely helped this product along…but in general, I think this worth considering when shopping for skincare. In my book, it’s never too early to start thinking of anti-aging products, but as many of them are pricey it’s nice to feel secure about a purchase before diving in. And hey, all the 5 star reviews I read about this were definitely telling the truth. Lancome Visionnaire Skin Corrector is a big Y-A-Y!!
Yay or Nay Monday : Maybelline New Master Drama Eyeliner
Happy Memorial Day to my fellow Americans! I hope everyone has a beautiful day off and enjoys their cookouts, fireworks or whatever festivities they plan to get into. Today’s Yay or Nay Monday was going to be put on hold, but I felt I couldn’t delay reviewing these new Maybelline Master Drama eyeliners any longer! Recently I fell in love and in lust with the Marc Jacobs gel eyeliners (review here) and I was pretty desperate to find a reasonable drugstore alternative. So when Maybelline launched these new eyeliners I was pretty excited to try them and hopped around drugstores until I had them in my possession.
At $6.99 a pop, these definitely come with a much better price tag than the Marc Jacobs’ alternative. Sadly, the pros end there.
The shades I picked up are Bold Brown and Vibrant Purple, which is ironic as I find neither to be very bold or vibrant. The pigmentation of these is rather lackluster and in general I’d say Maybelline shot too dark for these to be anything eye-popping. The brown you could use as standard brown liner, but as an eye-catching bronze you’re best going with something else.
Okay, so these aren’t made for a quick sweep of color on your eyes. I could deal with that. (Even though that’s what I was hoping for.) But when used as just a standard eyeliner these are also quite disappointing. For one, the formula and packaging of these really suck. It’s that crumbly type of self-‘sharpening’ eyeliner that can easily break off and basically never comes to a point. Even the plastic itself is really frail and cheap. Maybelline definitely went the mega-cheap route when it came to packaging these.
Long-lasting? Absolutely not. After an hour or two, you’ll find these smudging and wearing off your eyes. I wouldn’t recommend these at all on a day where you’re not going to have time for touch ups. And I definitely suggest stashing a few q-tips in your purse on days you do wear these to wipe off the smudged/melted product before reapplying. (Which, rightly, seems like a whole lot of work.)
As much as I wanted these to be a YAY they ring in as a major N-A-Y! They’re definitely not going to give your eyes a lot of drama as advertised.
Please, let me know if you know of great color liners in the drugstore with a metallic finish? These are a big fail but I like to believe such a thing exists!
Yay or Nay Monday : Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Eye Crayon
Last weekend I hit the mall in a bit of a panic to hunt down a Derby hat for a party. I left the mall without a hat, but instead an Highliner Eye Crayon from Marc Jacobs. If nothing else, my eyes would look great! Right? Right. I opted for the shade Lunatic, which is a gorgeous metallic lavender/silver. Lately I’ve banned myself from picking up any new eyeshadows, but was quite smitten with the idea of an eye crayon and when swatched fell in love!
Probably the best part of this guy is how effortlessly simple it is to use with quite a lot of payoff. It’s like the lazy girl’s secret to creating an eye look in no time. And, as this is gel, it’s extremely smooth and easy to wear. My nagging complaint about many of the eye crayons I’ve tried is that I have to put pressure for them to work. With eyes being such a delicate area and sensitive to showing signs of age, dragging an eye pencil along my eye is never something I want to do. Problem solved! You can barely touch this to your eye and still get a ton of pay-off.
I’ve worn this a few times now and continue to be impressed with it’s staying power! Once it sets, it stays nicely in place for quite a long time. Perfect for a night out, but also useful in the day too. The color selection of these is really great as well. In fact, I’ve already ordered Vivid Purple and am seriously eye the browns. But truly, I was so excited about this guy to wait until I got those. I just had to let everyone know straight away how fantastic these are!
If you’re in a rush or don’t feel comfortable developing a full look with eyeshadow, this will be your savior! You can quickly sweep this along your lower lashline for some drama, or even smudge out all over your lid. You’ll be looking great in no time. These are a definite YAY from me!
Has anyone else tried these? Let me know what you think. And take a look at the full collection here.
Yay or Nay Monday : Wet n Wild Megalast Nail Polish
I’ve seen a lot of people say positive things about the Wet n’ Wild Megalast Salon Nail Color, and so when I was able to work a deal and get 3 for $3, I of course had to jump on it. And I’ve got to say, immediately I was sucked in by the gorgeousness of these vivid, bright colors for spring and the quality of the packaging really blew me away. I mean, this is Wet n Wild…not exactly known for their spectacular packaging…no offense or anything. In fact, usually with Wet n Wild the packaging totally sucks but the product itself is miraculously great! They do some really quality eyeshadow and blush products. Their lip products are somewhat drying but also really kind of awesome.
With an extensive list of ‘Dos’, I went into this with high hopes that I finally found a cheap nail polish that I liked. And at application, I was pretty impressed. The formula is quite thick and creamy, and very nicely pigmented. Although I did find that things could veer into the ‘streaky’ direction, which seemed allowable given that I paid only a buck for these bad boys.
Wear wise though?
I was extremely disappointed.
Look, I like to paint my nails, I really do. However, I don’t like it so much that I want to be doing it every day. I like to get 4-7 days out of a polish before I’m ready to mix it up again. This polish though I was like desperately needing to redo my nails after day 2. I wouldn’t say they ‘chip’ either, as the formula doesn’t really flake off into chips. But somehow, it just completely vanishes and you’re left having to conceal your nails at a work function because you really don’t want to be that girl who is at a nice professional event wearing bald patches all over her fingernails. No, these polishes are definitely not going to earn you any brownie points in the work department.
So, alas, I have to give these a big nay. And even though they’re Wet n Wild and extremely cheap, I’m left really disappointed because I’ve come to expect to be pleasantly surprised from the cheap corner of the drugstore.
Have you tried the Wet n Wild Megalast polishes? What was your experience like?
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