Sample Series #12: La Mer Soft Fluid Foundation in Neutral 22

I was curious to try La Mer's Soft Fluid Long Wearing Foundation, so when it was a sample selection from Nordstrom I put it in my basket. At $110 for a 1 oz. bottle, it's definitely pricey but most of the reviews I've seen having been positive.

The selling points for the foundation are that it also includes the skin care goodies that La Mer is known for, called "Miracle Broth". What might that be, you ask? Well, it involves "vital nutrients" that have been fermented and are supposed to hydrate, sooth, and repair skin, including fermented algae sourced from the coast of of Brittany. As you can see, it does have a long list of ingredients, as well as a SPF of 20.

Available in 15 shades, Neutral 22 turned out to be a good match for my skin.  I was able to get a week's worth of wear from the packet, which is not enough to form an opinion on the skin care benefits, but plenty to decide if I like it as a foundation. And I do! Enough to spend $110 on a bottle.....probably not. I've got a favorite foundation I like even more that I'm about to repurchase (more on that below).

La Mer's Soft Fluid foundation is medium coverage with a natural looking finish, and it is easy to work with. I used both an oval brush and a Beauty Blender sponge to apply, and I thought it worked better with the Beauty Blender. Another claim of the Soft Fluid foundation is that it holds up in humid climates, which is high on the list of selling points for me. Mobile, AL is uber humid, although we were in a 41 day drought during the time I wore this, so it wasn't exactly the usual swampy conditions. Regardless, Soft Fluid wore well on my oily skin for a good 7-8 hours before I noticed the inevitable breakdown inherent with my skin type. I experienced no skin irritation or breakouts, which would have shown up after repeated wear for a week if the formula disagreed with me.

The price is definitely the kicker for me. I rely on my skincare items for skincare, and it's not like I'm going to replace that with a foundation. I do want my foundation to have skincare benefits, but I've narrowed done my favorite foundation to....drum roll....Lauren Brooke Cosmetic's Creme Foundation, which contains skin enhancing ingredients with a SPF of 28 and is 100% natural, 97.5 organically based, and $29.50 a jar.

Lauren Brooke Cosmetiques will be having a 30% off sale on Nov. 25-28, which is when I'll be picking up a new jar. I've been wearing Cool 30, although I consider myself more neutral to warm in skin tone. Fortunately, you can order samples ($10 for 3) to try out before committing to a full jar, and I ordered the Cool 30/Neutral 30/Warm 30 samples to see if I really am best suited to Cool 30. I'll be posting another review once those samples arrive, but the Creme Foundation is truly the best foundation formula I've discovered in the almost 4 years I've been blogging, and I've tried a lot!

Pale to the Chief by OPI: NOTD

Dislcaimer: I purchased this. And there may be ramblings about the election outcome below.

I think it's rather ironic that I wore Pale to the Chief for the past few weeks, in light of our recent election cycle. It wasn't a conscious choice, but more because this pale beauty was the one I was most drawn to out of the Washington DC collection. Plus, I had a meeting scheduled with the top dogs of my organization, and I thought this would be a good "work appropriate" color to wear.  

However, the first day I wore it, the polish peeled completely off my index finger. In one piece, mind you. So, I reapplied using the same base coat (Julep's Oxygen Bonding), and it happened again, the day of my meeting with the top four people of my organization, all white middle aged males, by the way. Obviously, my recollection of the meeting is being shaded by the outcome of the election. The meeting went fine, although I did have some thoughts along the lines of how our society is still so patriarchal in structure. And yes, perhaps I shouldn't have started it by saying "I'm very blunt".  But I am, and I'm not good at pretending otherwise, because I'm also an INTJ female.

At the end of the day I preceded to peel off all the polish from the remaining 9 fingers. Clearly, something was wrong. Kind of like this week, if nail polish could ever be compared to, I don't know, the outcome of the election? Which of course, it can't.

I reapplied with no base coat for round two three, because I didn't have any other brand to use. This time Pale to the Chief wore beautifully, and what you see in the pictures is after 5 days of wear. If only all problems had such easy solutions. But, they usually don't. I'm sure my natural optimism will reassert itself at some point, but right now? I'm sad, and I'm not sure I'll be watching anything other than DVDs in the near future. I think I'll start with Detectorists.

Grateful Yogi: November Yogi Surprise Jewelry Box

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

I've been remiss in posting my Yogi Surprise jewelry boxes the past few months. Last month's box was missing the bracelet, and it took about a month of back and forth emails before it was resolved. Turns out there was not an extra bracelet to send me, so they sent October's lifestyle box instead, so I'm happy :-)  I'm also happy with November's jewelry box, so let's take a look!

If you are not familiar with this subscription box, for $24.99 per month you will receive two pieces of jewelry and some type of organic treat.  The minimum guaranteed value of each box is $64.99, and the jewelry is handcrafted in Bali and is fair trade. November's jewelry are a matching Yew Wood and Fire Agate "Gratitude" bracelet and necklace.

The bracelet has a lovely tree of life charm, which is a symbol acknowledging the unification of humanity with the universe as a whole and is recognized in many faiths, including Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Hindu, and Baha'i.

The Yew tree is known as the tree of resurrection and eternity or the goddess tree, as it embodies the crone aspect of the triple Goddess.  It symbolizes perseverance in the face of adversity and is associated with the winter solstice. Yew wood is thought to protect against evil and heighten psychic abilities. All parts of the tree except for the fleshy berry are poisonous, and the leaves and bark contain small amounts of the cancer inhibiting Taxol. The trees can live to be 2000 years old, which is amazing!

I love the design of the necklace, which features a single string of alternating yew wood and fire agate beads hanging from an antiqued metal chain.  Fire agate is highly regarded as a strengthening and stabilizing influence, and has a lower vibrational frequency than other stones. Fire agate increases emotions and helps to reconnect you to your deepest desires and can help with breaking out of humdrum routines.  Hmmm, I need this, as I've been feeling rather stuck and in a rut lately. It has protective properties that build a shield around the body and return intended harm back to its source. Dang.

The chocolate bar is from Raaka and features apples, cinnamon and graham crackers.  Mine was melted as it sat in my mailbox all day when the temps were still hitting the mid-80's. I love the wrapper and general artisinal vibe of this brand, although paying $10 for a chocolate bar is outside the norm for me.

If you want to experience monthly seasonal micro-batch chocolate bars, Raaka is offering a subscription service called First Nibs, and info is in the card below.

I'm loving November's box! I wear bracelets from my Yogi Surprise boxes every day, usually two or three stacked together with my watch. The sneak peek of December's necklace has got me excited with it's clean lines and quartz crystal - very striking.

If you are interested in this subscription box, I've got a Referral Code I would appreciate you using, or you can go straight to Yogi Surprise to sign up. I've been happy with this subscription service and now that I've seen how their Customer Service resolves problems, feel like I can wholeheartedly recommend.

Smoky Eye 3 Minute Beauty Set by Estee Lauder

Smoky eyes and me, well, I've yet to really figure that one out. I still try and all, but my narrow eyes and fair coloring just seem to be at odds with the whole smoky eye thing. However, I'm in love with Estee Lauder's Little Black Primer and am collecting them like crazy, so this set appealed to me on several levels.

You get a black patent carrying case with a nice double sided mirror, Sumptuous Infinite mascara (deluxe travel size), Little Black Primer (deluxe travel size), and Magic Smoky shadow pencil in Burnt Black for $32.50.

I've been using the Little Black Primer for over a month now and it will be a staple going forward. It definitely adds "oomph" to my less than obvious lashes, plus it makes any (ANY) mascara I pair it with smudge proof. That's a godsend to my lower lash line in particular, as my oily skin tends to make most mascaras smudge. An added bonus is that it wipes easily off my skin, yet once it's on the lashes, it doesn't budge. I do find my mascara harder to remove in the evenings, as this makes mascaras waterproof whether you wear it under or over lashes, in my experience.

The Sumptuous Infinite mascara is both a lengthening and volumizing mascara with stretchable fibers that fuse with the lashes as the mascara dries.  I would not have guessed fibers were in the formula, as it seems like any wet mascara formula when I apply.  I do like the brush, as I find smaller brush heads easier to maneuver on my small eyes.  Sumptuous Infinite mascara is supposed to be clump-resistent, flakeproof, smudgeproof, and sweat and humidity resistant.  I've only worn it paired with the Little Black Primer, and I'd say it's meeting it wear claims quite well in the swamp like climate of Mobile, AL.

The Magic Smoky shadow pencil in Burnt Black is a soft, hazy looking black that is easy to apply and smudge out.  Building up to opaque black is not really going to happen unless you wear a dark base underneath, but I do like the precision that the pencil gives when applying along the lash lines.  Plus, it's easy to buff out edges with a brush, so there is a fair amount of flexibility with this type of pencil shadow formula.  Intensity of color is not how these work, though, so think "smoke" instead.

I opted to wear black, smoky eyes on November 1 and 2, which are the days when The Day of the Dead is typically celebrated. I guess I needed a reason, as I'm a bit shy about wearing intense makeup looks to work :-)  The first day I wore the pencil without a dark base underneath and wasn't quite happy with the result, although it was definitely more work appropriate than when I went all balls out on day 2.

I primarily used Estee Lauder products both days, including the Double Wear Lite foundation in 2.0 mixed with Bronze Goddess Summer Glow Illuminator in equal parts. The color palette for day 1 and full FOTD:

The second day I used Milani's Shadow Eyez pencil in Black Ink as a base for Burnt Black, with two Pur Cosmetics matte shadows in BFF and Adore to blend out the crease.  I lined my upper and lower lash lines with Urban Decay's Perversion 24/7 pencil, which was an exercise in futility. Nothing stays on my water lines more than 10 minutes.

I was a little scared to leave the house once I was finished, but figured what the heck, I'm observing the Day of the Dead, after all. I really do love the whole concept of remembering loved ones who are no longer with us, and hope someone leaves out chocolate, flowers, and liquor for me once I'm gone.

Necklace I picked up in Albuquerque, NM

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream Vault

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

NYX came out with several interesting holiday sets, but the one that grabbed my attention the most was the Soft Matte Lip Cream Vault.  It went out of stock at Ulta almost as soon as I saw it.  I was fortunate enough that when it briefly appeared back in stock, I pounced with a 20% coupon that knocked the $64.99 price down to $51.99.

The set includes mini sizes (0.158 oz) of all 34 soft matte creams, plus two shades exclusive to the set, Bangkok (lavender purple) and Los Angeles (mauve tan). My previous experience with the Soft Matte Creams was limited to Morocco (review here), but I liked it enough to want to take the chance on the set.

I've worn a handful thus far, and so far the formula seems consistently good. When swatching, it was apparent that Monte Carlo was runny in consistency, and reviews at Ulta have been a bit mixed in regards to some shades performing better than others.

There are definitely some colors that I will never wear they could be useful for mixing colors), but it's fun to have such a color range at my fingertips. I find the soft matte creams comfortable to wear and appreciate that they do suck the moisture out of my lips.

I'll be housing mine in a container originally meant for storing beads that I picked up from Michaels.  The Nouveau Cheap Beauty Blog had a post on the Toho Bead Tube Holder by Darice , but I couldn't find that one.

This will work well enough for now, although the right side is just the caps of the bead containers in the cover of the set. Those are not high enough to securely hold the tubes, but it does keep them upright.

Zurich

The best 'try on all the NYX soft matte lip cream vault' video I have seen is by mirrorsandhaze, and I would recommend watching if you want to see what all the colors look like on. She is a super talented MUA and I thoroughly enjoy watching her videos.

Rome

Cannes

Budapest

Barcelona

The Soft Matte Lip Cream Vault is currently sold out, and it will be interesting to see if it comes back in stock. I'm glad I picked one up!