Currently Loving: Maybelline Super Stay 24 Hour Concealer

I've almost used up the entire tube of this, which is how you know that I love it.  I got this while frantically rummaging through CVS on the way to class in desperate need of concealer after my MAC Studio Finish had gone MIA.  Honestly, I think I grabbed it because it was cheap (about $7).  I picked up Ivory, which is between NW15 and NW20 in MAC shades, and it's literally an exact match for my skintone--woohoo!  It comes in a little plastic tube, and unscrews to reveal a doe-foot applicator.  It's about the size of a lipstick, maybe a little longer, but I've had it since maybe February and it's still going strong.

Shade range: The shade range, sadly, seems extremely limited.  It's probably only going to work for you if you are very pale, like me.  However, if you are very pale, you are in luck!  They have a few options on that end of the spectrum.

Formula/coverage: I love love love the formula of this.  A lot of concealers I've used tend to sit on top of skin and be tacky.  This one is almost like a watercolor--it sinks into skin immediately, dries down, isn't at all tacky, and feels just like skin.  I've been using it on my dark circles and acne, and the fact that it dries down so quickly makes it great for covering blemishes.  I also love it on dark circles because it is extremely pigmented and doesn't crease.  This stuff is so pigmented that I can use just a dot and cover up a horrible zit.  While it claims to last 24 hours (who is testing that?!), I can definitely get a whole day's wear out of this without needing to retouch.

Application: It comes with the doe-foot applicator, which is handy for applying to dark circles and dabbing on blemishes.  However, I usually try to dab it on my hand and then apply it with my fingers because I don't want to get bacteria in the tube.  The one qualm I have about application with this is that you have to blend quickly.  It sets very fast, and then it doesn't budge, which is nice, but can be bad if you're like me and get distracted in the middle of blending in your concealer.

Awkward Chic Rating: A.  I wish it had a wider shade range, but it is a great concealer with stellar coverage and lasting power for a crazy cheap price.  Pale friends, rejoice! 

Image via: Maybelline.com.

Rimmel Foundation Failures

I've been on a drugstore foundation buying spree.  I love my NARS Sheer Glow and Revlon Colorstay to death, but I wanted to branch out.  And I am so sorry that I did.  This is going to be a short review, because both these foundations were so bad that I only wore them once.

Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hour Foundation, $7.29 at ulta.com, Rimmel Clean Finish Foundation, $4.99 at ulta.com: I got both of these in Warm Ivory.  I like the packaging.  The squeeze tube on the 25 Hour foundation is easy to use, and the packaging for clean finish feels very fresh.  Both foundations smell straight up like chemicals, big, nasty chemicals.  Clean Finish dried semi-matte on me, whereas 25 Hour was slightly dewier.  25 Hour is full coverage, Clean Finish is medium coverage.  Both foundations went on nicely, blended easily, and seemed promisingly.  AND THEN:

Cue three hours later.  I tried 25 Hour first, went to look in the first, and screamed.  My face was orange.  Dirty, bright orange, dripping with oil, and completely splotchy.  I looked like a practical joke.  Not only that, but I had started to break out.  I wrote 25 Hour off as a fluke, and tried Clean Finish the next day.  The exact same thing happened.  More pimples, more orangey-hued oxidizing, more oil.  

In short, these are horrible.  Do not buy them.  Both oxidized horribly on me, and while I am pale, so it does look conspicuous, they seem to oxidize on darker skin tones as well.  Plus they both broke me out and seemed to break down in the presence of any oil on my face.  

Awkward Chic rating: F.  Stick to Revlon Colorstay if you're looking for a new drugstore foundation, or try one of the new L'Oreal anti-aging ones instead, but run, RUN away from these foundations.


Images via ulta.com, realbeauty.com.

My Perfect Face Routine (Drugstore and High-end!)

I thought I'd do a round-up of all my face makeup--primer, BB cream, and foundation.  These are all products that I use either everyday or very often.  I like them all, none of them irritate my skin or break me out, and I'd buy them all again, so I really recommend them all.  For the record, I'm very pale with warm undertones, with acne-prone combination skin.  Oh, and there's a pretty nail polish at the end.


Primer: Korres Quercetin & Oak Age-reversing Primer, BB Cream: Garnier Fructis BB Cream:
A friend of mine gave me this primer.  It comes in a 1 ounce, flexible tube, smells like grapefruit, and goes on feeling like a light moisturizer.  I use a pea sized amount for my entire face in-between moisturizing and BB cream. It's chockful of anti-oxidants and other things that are supposed to be good for your skin, and it has no silicone!  Yay!  Silicone primers break me out like there's no tomorrow.  I've been using it every day.  I put my foundation on around 10AM, go to the gym, and bop around all day, and I've noticed that this definitely keeps my foundation lasting longer.  It still fades off my blemishes by the end of the day, but in terms of overall lasting power and keeping redness at bay, I get about 3 hours more wear from using this primer.  That makes me very happy!  I think this tube is going to last me a long time, but I think I'd buy myself one when I used it up.  After my primer I use a BB cream.  I know that sounds silly since I also use a foundation, but I've noticed that with a lighter foundation, like Colorstay, the BB cream helps give me just a little extra coverage and a slightly nicer finish.  I grabbed the Garnier Fructis BB cream because, well it was cheap.  I have the light-medium shade.  It's a pretty thick, moisturizer-esque consistency, with a yummy citrus-floral smell and SPF 15!  Yay SPF!  I love it for that reason alone.  Light-medium is definitely dark on me.  I couldn't wear this as my only coverage (both because it's too dark and it's too sheer), but it has a really pretty finish on the skin, and it's going to last me a long time, so I think it's a winner.

Drugstore Foundation: Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Buff Chamois 150, Nars Sheer Glow in Montblanc:
Sheer Glow I've reviewed before, and I still love it.  However, it's still $42 a bottle.  So that's difficult.  I picked up Revlon's Colorstay foundation as a day-to-day alternative to save some money.  Colorstay is about $12 at CVS and comes in a nice range of shades if you're pale, not so nice if you aren't.  It has a pretty, natural finish, layers nicely (I need 2-3 layers for good coverage), applies easily with my fingers, and lasts almost all day.  It's pretty liquidy and has a certain chemical smell, but I have no major qualms with it.  Long story short, Sheer Glow is definitely a nicer foundation, but Colorstay is a pretty good buy.  In terms of shade comparisons, Montblanc is slightly pinker and deeper than Buff Chamois, which is lighter and more neutral-toned.  Either one is a good match if you're NW15-20, but Buff Chamois is actually a better color for me.   Colorstay has a more natural, slightly matte finish than Sheer Glow, which has a very dewy finish.  They're both pretty negligible in terms of SPF.  Sheer Glow is a medium coverage foundation on me, and Colorstay is light-medium.  They both last for the same amount of time on me, and both work equally well with my combination skin (not making me too oily or dry and not breaking me out).  I wouldn't say that Colorstay is a dupe for Sheer Glow, but it's a viable alternative, especially if you want to save some money.

I know the Korres primer and Nars Sheer Glow are on the expensive side.  They are lovely, and if you can swing them, I recommend them.  However, the BB Cream does act as a decent primer and the Colorstay is a nice foundation, so they're good drugstore alternatives if you're like me and on a student budget.

OPI polish in Call Me Gwen-ever: Please excuse the horrible picture.  Call Me Gwen-never is a really lovely, muted orange-coral.  It's an opaque cream, covers in 2 coats, and lasts a full week on me with Poshe topcoat.  I've been wearing it for weeks--it looks equally good on fingers and toes, and I think it would be flattering on a wide range of skin tones and hues.  I got bored and did two stripes of Chanel Graphite with some tape.  Yay attempted nail art!

Images via: sephora.com, amazon.com, drugstore.com.

Review: Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Rose Passion 160

I picked up this Rimmel Moisture Renew lipstick at Boots when I was in the UK.  I don't think this shade is available in the US?  Or if it is, it's sold out because I can't find it.  Anyways, I got this because it came recommended by pixi2woo (aka Tanya Burr) as a good, moisturizing drugstore lipstick.


The PR copy: 'This moisture-infused lip essential reduces lip dryness by up to 65% for smoother lips and better colour. Developed with SPF 18 and a cutting edge Self Adapting Moisture Complex that features Hylaronic Acid, Collagen and Vitamins A, C and E to nourish lips, leaving them with a smoother surface for better colour application and wear. 24 creamy, moisturizing shades come richly wrapped in an elegant metallic purple case.'


I really dislike the packaging on this, at least from an aesthetics perspective.  It functions fine and feels sturdy enough for plastic/metal drugstore lippie packaging, but that metallic purple with the crown on the top--ugh.  It feels cheesy.  I dented the top of my lipstick.  :(  And apparently I chipped my nail polish too.  Grrr.

 As for the actual lipstick, it has SPF, which I love, but it also has an old lady-ish rose smell/taste, which I don't love.  It's not overpowering, but it's noticeable.  Unlike the Revlon lipstick I reviewed yesterday, this stuff is PIGMENTED.  That swatch is one swipe.  Rose Passion is a really reddish pink on me (pinker than it photographs), definitely cool-toned and slightly retro feeling.  It goes on easily enough, no dragging, but it definitely has a firmer texture than the Lip Butters, more like a traditional lipstick.  It doesn't feel drying like most lipsticks do on my bare lips, but I definitely need to wear lip balm with this.  It feels drying after a few minutes if I don't, even though it goes on bare lips smoothly.  I can get a straight-up opaque color with just one firm swipe, but I like to apply it a little more sheerly than you see in the picture below (all that color freaks me out).  I usually wear this as more of a stain, which is really pretty.  I get about 3 hours of wear with this one, and it wears down decently (it can be a little uneven).

And the creepy lip closeup.

Awkward Chic rating: B+.  I'm not a huge lipstick person, but as far as lipstick go I do like this one.  It's more moisturizing than most, even if that compromises the wear time, and it's really nicely pigmented.  I don't think it lives up to it's moisturizing claims, though.  Reviewing this right after the Revlon Lip Butter made the huge contrast in hydration really clear (and the Lip Butter wins by a long shot).  If I wanted an opaque lipstick, I would buy another one of these, but that's not really my usual cup of tea, so I'm not sure I'll end up repurchasing one.  But if you like moisturizing lipsticks and don't mind the smell or the shorter wear time, this is a good buy.

Review: Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti

It felt like everyone on the interwebs--YouTube, bloggers, even Tumblr--was freaking out about these new Revlon Lip Butters.  They're supposed to be like a lipstick-lip balm hybrid, here's the PR copy:

- Buttery Balm + Shiny Color
- Buttery balm with beautiful shiny color to give you baby soft, healthy glowing lips
- Hydrating mango, shea and coconut butter formula boosts lip moisture by 156%
- Pampering gel formula provides super charged hydration and glides on lips buttery smooth
- Sheer to medium color with buttery shine
- Available in 20 luscious shades

I was in Target the other day, and I went to look for these.  They were all sold out!  Except for 3 shades, and I picked up the only wearable one for my skin tone, Tutti Frutti.  The packaging is simple, with a sheerish plastic lid in a quilted pattern.  The lip butter comes in a balm-esque twist-up tube that feels slightly retro.  Overall I like the packaging.  It's definitely more cute than elegant, but it feels sturdy enough.

 Tutti Frutti is an orange with a hint of coral.  I really like the formula.  It goes on sheer--that swatch is VERY heavy--but you can build up the color to about medium opacity.  It goes on like butter, with a really lovely texture, and has a lot of sheen.  I feel like with a lot of 'hydrating' lipsticks, you don't really get that much moisture.  But I can actually use this as a lip balm--in fact, if it wasn't straight-up orange, I'd just make these my new lip balms.  I do like the orange, though.  It feels fun and festive, it's definitely wearable (even for me, and I'm scared of color).  I almost splurged on a MUFE lipstick in a similar color a while ago, and now I'm glad I didn't since I got this for $6.50.  As far as wear-time goes, I get probably 2-3 hours of color from this before it fades away beyond recognition.  The moisture lasts a little longer, maybe 4 hours.  It fades evenly, which I love, and doesn't stain my lips.  Oh, and as far as I can tell there's no smell or taste.

Here's the terrifying lip closeup.  

Awkward Chic rating: A+.  I really like these!  I feel like they live up to the hype of color and moisture, and hopefully I can track down some more nude/pink colors to wear.