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!