Happy holidays/New Year's, everybody! Since the year is coming to an end, I thought I'd share one of my favorite things that I bought this year. I've been (and still am) firmly in the leggings are not pants camp. HOWEVER (now is when I eat my words), I normally stick to skirts and dresses out of personal preference, but sometimes you just need to wear pants. I'm completely over jeans at this point--they're never comfortable, they never fit me correctly, and they just aren't really my style. In search of non-legging, non-jean pants, I stumbled across these J. Crew Pixie Pants, which are incidentally the exact same as the J. Crew Factory Ponte Pants (which are a good $30 cheaper on sale right now). The only differences between the two are that the Pixie pants have a zipper in the back, whereas the Ponte zipper is on the side, and the Pixie pants come in grey, black, and navy, whereas the Ponte pants only come in navy and black. I picked up a pair of the Ponte pants a few months ago, and I have been wearing them ALL THE TIME.
The Ponte pants are a rayon/nylon/spandex blend, which basically feels like a thick stretch jersey. One of the things that I hate about leggings-as-pants as that they are so thin--they don't hide underwear lines (or even underwear color often!), and they stretch out and sag. The Ponte pants are thicker, so they hide everything, and they don't stretch out at all. They have a thick high waistband, which doesn't cut into my stomach, and a zipper on the side. At J. Crew I'm often between a 4 and a 6 in bottoms, and since these have stretch I went for the 4, which fits perfectly.
I like to wear these with my Frye Jane boots (they would also be cute with flats, but that's not really my cup of tea) and either a sweater or a cute top. What I really love about these, aside from the fact that they're super comfortable, is that they're so basic I can wear them with just about anything. You can style them preppy, like in the photo above, or you can throw on boots, a tee, and a leather jacket and take them in a more edgy direction.
I really recommend these! I was a little skeptical at first, but I've ended up wearing them multiple times a week ever since I got them. They've held up really well, and I might even get a second pair in the navy! I wish they made these in more fun colors--I could totally go for a burgundy or a hunter green.
I bought this foundation in August, and I've almost used up a bottle, so it's probably time for me to review it (jokes, what is my life). This foundation has probably the longest name of any foundation I've ever used--Visible Lift Serum Absolute Advanced Age-Reversing Foundation. The idea is that this foundation has Vitamin C and Retinol in it, so it's supposed to have skincare-esque properties. I picked up the Classic Ivory shade at CVS for about $14--it's currently $15.79 at drugstore.com.
It comes in a one ounce glass pump bottle with a plastic cap. My bottle is gross and dirty, but I really like the overall packaging. The bottle is nice and weighty, and it has a very clean feel to it.
Classic Ivory on me is almost identical to NARS Sheer Glow's Mont Blanc, and it's right between MAC's NW15 and NW20. It's a perfect color match for me. This foundation comes in a surprising range of pale shades, although it doesn't have as great of range in the darker shades. And it doesn't oxidize on me throughout the day! On the left is a pump of foundation so you can see the texture, on the right I've blended it out across the top of my hand.
Formula: This foundation is a thick liquid or a thin cream, depending on your perspective. It almost feels a bit whipped. It blends into my skin very easily, with no streaks, and has a natural finish that skews a bit matte. I don't usually go for anything remotely matte, but since I have oily skin, the matte aspect of this foundation works really well for me. I don't think it would be great if you had very dry skin, as I find this emphasizes any dry spots that I have. It almost may not be very good for extremely oily skin--I think it's perfect for normal or combination skin types. Also, I've used this for almost a semester, and it hasn't broken me out AT ALL. I'm pretty paranoid about breakouts, and I was afraid of both the retinol in this foundation and how much coverage it has, but it's actually made my skin a little nicer!
Application: I love that this has a pump! I use two pumps on my entire face, and I apply it with my fingers to really work it into my skin. I find that it dries down pretty quickly, and then it doesn't budge.
Coverage: I find that this is medium-heavy coverage. Two pumps on me covers basically everything, but doesn't look heavy or unnatural.
Wear time: I can put this on in the morning (over my Korres primer), run around, go to the gym, get caught in an unexpected rain storm (story of my life) and 15 hours later, it still looks great! I think this has even better wear time my beloved NARS Sheer Glow.
Awkward Chic rating: A. It's great for my skin color and my skin type, lasts forever, and covers all manners of sins. I wish it was a little cheaper and had a wider range of colors, but I have trouble finding flaws with it. I will absolutely repurchase.
Confession--I bought these like three months ago, and have totally forgotten to review them. I generally have little faith in drugstore cream eyeshadows, but Tanya Burr (Pixi2woo, she's adorable, please watch her YouTube channel) endorsed these in one of her videos, and they were on sale at CVS, so I picked up two. I got Bad to the Bronze (25) and Pomegranate Punk (30)--click to enlarge the photos.
Bad to the Bronze is honestly more of a warm, metallic taupe for me than an actual bronze--it's very similar to MUFE's Aqua Cream in 15 (Taupe), which I also own, albeit a slightly warmer and more shimmery taupe. Pomegranate Punk is such a fantastic color. It's a rusty cranberry metallic with some silvery shimmer shot through it. It's a little like MAC's Vainglorious eyeshadow and Cranberry eyeshadows had a baby. I'm one of those strange people who really loves brownish-red eyeshadow, which is admittedly a little strange and hard to pull of at times. However, I think Pomegranate Punk looks fantastic on the lid and on the lower lashline when anchored with a black line. It feels a little glam/rock and roll, and can transition nicely from day to night. Bad to the Bronze is just a pretty neutral that I like to swipe across the lid on days where I don't want to do a lot of work in terms of eyeshadow. I can just use that and some liner and call it a day, or I can use it as the base of a brown smokey eye.
Application: the shadow feels very firm in the pot, but goes on like butter. I use my finger to apply, and two or three swipes across the product is enough to cover my entire lid. I'll blend it out a bit with my finger, and then use a blending brush to smooth out the edges and the crease. I find that this applies very smoothly, with no patchiness at all, and you have a good minute or two to put everything out before it sets entirely. The application reminds me of the MUFE Aqua Creams--those have slightly more slip, whereas these are a little more tacky, but it's very similar.
Wear time: I usually put this on around 9AM, and take it off at around 12AM, so I'm wearing it for about 15 hours. Part of the name of this shadow is 24hr, which implies that it lasts 24 hours. I don't think it does. When I get to 15 hours, it's still clearly on my lids, and the color hasn't faded a ton, but it does start to crease and fade just a tad. I think at 20 hours it would be on its last legs. I always wear this with primer (MAC's Paint Pot in Painterly), so I can't speak to how it wears without primer. But who needs to wear eyeshadow for 20 hours?!
Packaging: It comes in a thick glass pot with a black plastic screw-on lid. The labeling information comes on a sticker, which is a little blah, but I think the swankiness of the glass pot makes up for it. You get .14oz of product, and in about 3 months I've used up about 1/4 of shadow. So far they haven't shown any signs of drying out, so I think you could get a lot of use out of these.
Awkward Chic rating: A-. I wish these lasted a tiny bit longer, but the lasting power is definitely comparable with the much more expensive MUFE Aqua Creams. The pigmentation and application are great, and these are only $6.99 at drugstore.com. I think I want to pick up Bold Gold and Tough as Taupe too.
