Countdown to Gorgeous Days 15 and 16: Be Original and Fierce

Disclaimer: I purchased these.

Day 15 of the Countdown to Gorgeous advent calendar brought me the Original Mineral Veil powder, and I just finished using up a jar of this recently. I like it and find that it does a good job of setting my foundation, minimizing pores, and giving my skin a more flawless appearance.

Of course, the drawback of loose jar powders is how messy they can be, as evidenced by the powder all along the rim. I find using the black palette pictured below helps in this area, as I can empty some of the powder from the jar onto it and have plenty of space to dip my brush without causing more mess.  You can see how much lighter the Original Mineral Veil is compared to the Tinted Mineral Veil, although the tinted version sheers out enough that it does not impart that much color. If you have darker skin however, I can see where it would be much preferable.

For my eye of the day (EOTD) on day 15, I chose the Le Metier de Beaute shadows marked with an X below. This color scheme always has me reaching for Urban Decay's now discontinued eye pencil in 1999, which I used on my top and bottom lash lines.

On my lips I'm wearing the Essence lip liner in Satin Mauve topped with the Buxom Full On Lip Polish in Gabby. Essence makes some great lip liners that are super inexpensive - really can't go wrong with them. Gabby is described as a "magnetic mauve", and the combination of the two works well. I did lightly blot with a tissue for a more natural look.

Buxom's Gabby + Essence Satin Mauve

Day 16 had me scratching my head a bit at first, as didn't I already receive a Lash Domination mascara?

Why yes, yes I did on day 5, in fact. However, comparing the two showed me that the first one has a much smaller brush and is called the "Lash Domination petite precision brush", whereas this one has a much larger double helix brush. The devil's in the details, always.

I'm not a big fan of the Lash Domination formula, as I find it a bit too wet for my taste. The larger brush did make it more difficult to coat my lower lashes without getting some on my skin, so I can see how the smaller brush would be useful. These are just not something I want to reach for, however.

Eye shadows used on day 16 include Buttered Rum and Very Money from the Too Faced Be Merry holiday palette. I depotted them in a palette declutter and put them in a Z palette.

Here I'm wearing Lash Domination over the Little Black Primer by Estee Lauder. Lash Domination is billed as a volumizing mascara, but I'm not seeing much impact myself.

Only two more working days and one project that needs to get done before the Christmas break!

Countdown to Gorgeous Days 10 and 11: Glee Radiance and Risk Taking

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

I'm impressed with the attention to detail put into the Countdown to Gorgeous advent calendar by bareMinerals. For example, Day 10's saying is "Be Radiant", and behind the door is Glee Radiance. Looks like some thought went into the items and their sayings, which adds to the experience!

Glee Radiance is a face powder/luminizer that is peachy pink in color.  The shimmer is on the more subdued side, but it does give a glow that does not emphasize skin imperfections. My camera did not want to focus on it for some reason :-( If you are super fair you may be able to use it as a blush. It's not super evident on my face in the pictures I took, although you can make it out as my inner eye color in the picture below.

Day 11 brought another Marvelous Moxie lip gloss, this time the copper shimmer Risk Taker. It's the darkest and most pigmented of the three I've received from this calendar, but does look more sheer on my lips than in my arm swatch.

The Marvelous Moxie glosses are a stickier gloss with an obvious tack when you rub your lips together, but they do wear really well for me. I'm a fan and considering I had not tried them before this advent calendar, they are a nice find.

Less than two weeks til Christmas and only 5 more working days! I'm slowly tackling my to do list at work and there is light at the end of the tunnel.....

Countdown to Gorgeous Days 4 and 5: Mineral Veil and Lash Domination with FOTD's

Disclaimer: I purchased this. All links are to past reviews.

I'm enjoying the little sayings on each of the doors to the Countdown to Gorgeous advent calendar by bareMinerals. Nothing wrong with starting off each day with a simple positive affirmation plus a makeup treat!

Day 4's offering is the Tinted Mineral Veil. I just finished one of these, although the one I had was lighter in color, so was probable the original or hydrating version. The Tinted Mineral Veil is supposed to add a subtle hint of color, and I do think it warms my skin up a bit. I emptied more than I was intending on the palette below.

Tinted Veil on left

I don't always wear makeup on the weekends, but I had the heating/cooling technician scheduled to come by on Sunday plus needed to make a run to Costco, so I decided some effort was in order. I went for a natural/neutral look using the Lauren Brooke Cosmetiques Creme Foundation in Neutral 30 with the Tinted Mineral Veil as my setting powder.

For eyes I used the Color Tattoo Creamy Beige underneath ColourPop's Smash, with BECCA's Champagne Pop for the middle of the lid shimmer/inner eye highlighter. I've been tightlining with Lancome's Black Coffee Le Crayon Khol Smoky Eyeliner.

Rose Spritz Luminous Blush

For blush I used the bareMineral's Natural Passion cream blush (I've hit major pan!), with a light dusting of Rose Spritz Luminous Blush from the BECCA + Jaclyn Hill Champagne Face Palette.

On my lips is Nude Passion from Day 3 of Countdown to Gorgeous. It was like pea soup outside and my camera kept fogging up, but I managed to get one decent picture. My heater is also now working - apparently it needed configuring/some type of code from the technician. My car is still in the shop, so one down and one to go.

Behind Day 5's door is a mini-sized Lash Domination mascara. I remember trying this a while back and not being overly impressed, but sometimes second impressions are different.

I remembered the wand being a little bit scary with all its spikes, which do a decent job of separating and combing through lashes. Since I used Estee Lauder's Little Brick Primer prior to applying the mascara, the spikes tended to grab a bit more, but nothing too bad.  I'm just "eh" about Lash Domination, although I will continue to use up this sample.

Day 5's makeup featured the It Cosmetic's CC+ Cream as my foundation, topped with the Tinted Mineral Veil.  For eyes I used Color Tattoo's Nude Compliment as a base shade and Kat Von D's dark brown Oak and tan Suede from the MetalMatte palette in the crease/outer V.

Buxom's Mink Magnet provides the shimmer in the middle of the lid, with a Le Metier de Beaute cream shimmer shadow as my inner eye highlight. Lancome's Black Coffee has been my liner of choice for the last few weeks. I like how this turned out.

Blush is Natural Passion again, this time lightly dusted with Laura Geller's matte Bosenberry. Now that I've hit pan on Natural Passion, it makes me want to use it all up!

I've got Nude Passion on my lips with Trail Blazer in the middle for a pop of shine/shimmer. I really like both of these for a peachy nude lip.

Sunkissed Beauty Mosaic Powder Compact by Essence

The German brand Essence continues to impress me with their uber affordable yet good quality line of cosmetics.  For example, the Sunkissed Beauty Mosaic Compact Powder is only $4.49 yet provides the fair-skinned with a natural looking, lightly tanned look.

I'm not going to call Sunkissed Beauty a bronzer, because it's more than that.  It can be used as an all over face powder when you blend all the colors together.  Or, it can be used as a highlighter when you use a smaller brush to concentrate on the lighter shades.  Alternatively, you can focus on the dark tan colors for contouring.

But get this:  it also works really well for a neutral eye look that's a step beyond naked.  Quite versatile, no?

Don't let the sparkles scare you off, as they are not of the disco ball variety.  Instead, they keep the color from looking flat yet in no way magnify skin imperfections, of which I've got plenty.

Here I used Sunkissed on both my eyes and face, including as a blush.

If you want to amp it up a bit, add in a bit more color on your cheeks and lips, as well a some inner eye shimmer.  I used Essence's Autumn Peach blush on the apples of my cheeks (review coming soon) and Revlon's Lip Butter in Candy Apple on my lips.  The inner eye shimmer is courtesy of Laura Mercier's Rose Gold Caviar Pencil (such a beauty, see full review here).

Sunkissed Beauty does kick up a lot of powder, but that doesn't translate to chalkiness on the skin. Overall, I'm impressed and will keep my eye out for more bargain beauties from Essence!

Graphic Expression Face and Blush Powder Palette by Clarins

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.  Links provided for convenience only.

When form and function come together, it's a beautiful thing.  I've admired Clarins' lovely face powders in the past for this esthetic appeal, what with the lovely designs and colors.  So, when Clarins recently enticed me with a $20 off purchase coupon (with no minimum price purchase, even), I decided it was time to pick up Graphic Expressions.

 

First impressions are important, and Clarin's brings it with the ruby red coverlet over the shiny gold compact.  Lots of visual appeal here, both inside and out.

The gold overspray brushes off with easily and you are left with a demi-matte combo of apricot/rose/tan that blends together for a warm flush.  Of all the face powders currently on Clarins, this one looked versatile enough to work as both a blush and face powder, and it does. 

Swirling all the colors together produces more color than you would assume give the predominance of beiges and tans in the palette.  However, there is enough width of the tan colors to use those as a soft contour or all over face powder.  I love that the finish is not flat at all.

Graphic Expressions, part of the limited edition 2013 Fall collection, is currently on sale for $24.50 at Clarin's.   With my coupon I paid $4.50 plus shipping, so the bargain shopper in me is very satisfied, Even better, however, is that I will use this a lot!