40 Beauty Questions: Reloaded

Source

Hello, dear readers,

I have a new night time skincare routine [morning hasn't changed] and foundation routine coming up soon, and I'm also long overdue for a review on the Fusion of Color powder products. Because I want to take pictures for my foundation routine, I have to do it when I'm actually wearing makeup for a "Before" and "After." I literally just started my new skincare routine last night, so I'm in no position to share it with you. I can't exactly tell you anything until I get some results, positive or negative. For today, then, I'm doing a tag that I did back in September 2011, so we can both see how different the answers are. Considering September was less than a year ago, they'll be extremely similar, but I want to do it anyway!

Here we go:

SKINCARE -
How many times do you wash your face daily?
Twice. I'll use Olay Cleansing Cloths Sensitive to take off makeup after walking home from school, but I'm not counting that as fully washing my face.

What skin type do you have? (dry,oily,combo) 
Combination and somewhat sensitive [oily nose and chin, normal to dry forehead and cheeks]. Fun fact: I tend to be allergic to products like salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide, while retinoids don't really bother me at all. It's the opposite to most people's reactions. 

What is your current facial wash?
Olay Foaming Face Wash Sensitive Skin

Do you exfoliate? 
Yes, weekly.

What brand do you use?
I just use my regular face wash with baking soda. It's a great, gentle exfoliant.

What moisturizer do you use?
In the morning I use Olay Complete Daily UV Moisturizer SPF 30 Sensitive Skin; I use SPF 15 in the winter. At night, I use Neutrogena Oil Free Moisture Sensitive Skin. This has remained the same! Told you it wouldn't be that different.

Do you have freckles? 
I have a few very faint freckles on my face, and a smattering on my arms. They tend to only be visible in the summer.

Do you use eye cream? 
No. I do have a sample size of the Clinique Eye Roller serum, because it came as a gift with purchase. I use it when I'm particularly exhausted in the morning.

Do you or did you have acne prone skin?
Yes. Oh, the joys of adult acne. Instead of just breaking out on my chin from hormones, I now break out there as well as on my cheeks and nose. I occasionally break out on my forehead, too! Thankfully, the breakouts aren't that noticeable, but that doesn't make them any less annoying.

Did you ever have to use Pro-activ? 
No, and I don't think I would.

MAKE-UP
What foundation do you use? 
Clinique Perfectly Real Makeup in the shade 01.

How about concealer? 
Hard Candy Glamoflauge Concealer in Light. You may have noticed that I'm always the lightest shade, unless the lightest shade is too dark. Then I try a different line!

Do you know your undertone color?
I've been told by some people that my skin looks peachy. My undertone is mostly pink, with a little bit of yellow thrown in. However, yellow-toned foundations tend to look orange on me. I'm probably one of the few people that actually wants peach or pink-toned makeup. 

What do you think of fake eyelashes?
No. The only way they're acceptable is when they're natural enough that I can't tell you're wearing them. Sorry. 

Did you know that you are supposed to change your mascara every 3 months? 
Yes.

What brand of mascara do you use?
When I do amuse myself by wearing mascara, I've used one of the Organic Physician's Formula mascaras, or a Clinique mascara. I can't remember the name, but it is not the High Impact Mascara. I'm the worst person for that particular makeup item, because it either bleeds below my eyes, or I rub my eyes right after putting it on. Am I the only one that feels weighed down by mascara?Sephora or MAC?

I shop at Ulta, because they have drugstore and higher-end brands. If I didn't, it would definitely be Sephora.

Do you have a MAC Pro-card? 
No.

What makeup tools do you use in make up application? 
A brush for powder; flat foundation brush or my fingers for foundation; just my fingers for concealer.

Do you use make-up base/primer for the eyes? 
No because I don't wear eye makeup. I tend to put concealer on my eyelids, though, to neutralize the darkness and brighten the eye area. This is still true.

For the face? 
Nope.

What is your favorite eyeshadow (color or shade)?
Like I said, I don't wear eyeshadow. I do, however, like neutral colors on other people, or a lighter wash of any color. Bright eyeshadow is great on people who know how to use it. This probably doesn't answer the question. 

Do you use pencil or liquid eyeliner? 
I don't wear eyeliner, but I own both pencil and felt tip. Still true!

How often do you poke your eyes with an eyeliner pencil? 
The few times I have used it, I think I poked my eyes maybe once.

What do you think of pigment eyeshadows? 
They look harder to work with, and I imagine I would make a mess.

Do you use mineral makeup? 
I do own makeup that considers itself mineral makeup. I say "considers," because pretty much all makeup contains minerals. You know those powders you buy? Plenty of them contain talc, which is, indeed, a mineral.

What is your favorite lipstick?
I've been loving my Revlon lipsticks lately, especially ColorBurst lipstick in Carnation for spring.

How about lipgloss? 
I haven't worn it in a very long time, but Avon Glazewear lip glosses are probably my all-time favorites.

What is your favorite blush to use? 
I own a couple of blushes, but 1) I'm rubbish at using it, and 2) I don't feel like I need it. I don't have a favorite

Do you buy your makeup on ebay? 
No.

Do you like drugstore makeup? 
Yes. Every brand in any price range always has good and lousy products. There's always something to like.

Do you go to CCO's? (cosmetic company outlets) 
No. 

Did you ever consider taking make-up classes? 
No. 

Are you clumsy in putting on makeup?

No, but I can occasionally put on too much if my lighting is dim. Then I leave my room and look in natural lighting and brush off as much as possible!

Name a makeup crime that you hate? 
Corpse lips, spider lashes, orange tans, and unblended eye shadow. 

Do you like colorful shades of makeup (lipstick,eyeshadow) or neutral ones? 
I generally prefer bright lipstick and neutral eyes.

Which celebrity always has great make up?
Anne Hathaway, Kate Winslet, Rachel McAdams.

If you could leave the house using just ONE make up item, what would you use?

Concealer.

Could you ever leave the house without any makeup on?
Yes, and I often do when I'm walking to school and I know it will sweat off anyway.

Do you think you look good even without any makeup on? 
Everyone has good and bad days, but generally yes.

In your opinion, what is the BEST makeup line?
Like I said, every brand has fantastic products and terrible products. I can't choose a single brand that's great all around.

What do you think of makseup?? 
I think it's a fantastic way to minimize the appearance of imperfections so the focus is on your features. It's a nice confidence booster, too.

I guess that wasn't much of an update, was it? At least that didn't make it any less entertaining to fill out.

If you've done this tag, let me know so I can read it!

Have a splendid Saturday and Sunday!

xEsther

Naughty and Nice Products of 2010

A tag has been going around YouTube for quite a while now in which beauty gurus list their five "naughty" and five "nice" products of 2010. Since this is self-explanatory, I feel the need to continue with explanatory mumblings. "Naughty" products are those we've discovered in 2010 that are either horrible products all together or just don't work for us. "Nice" products, as the name would suggest, work well for us and our just all-around great products. I'm limiting myself and sticking strictly to items I've tried first in 2010.

I'll start with the naughty list, which is considerably shorter:


Naughty!


The first product on this list is NYX Round Lipstick in Indian Pink.

This lipstick is an absolutely gorgeous color, just not for me. I was on the search for a natural, not nude, pinky/coral color and I thought this would do the trick. In the lighting at the Ulta I was at, I couldn't tell how orange and warm-toned it really is. This would be a beautiful color on warm or neutral skin tones, but with my extremely fair, cool-toned skin and pinky red natural lip color, it just didn't work out at all.

The next product that didn't work for me was Avon Beyond Color Radiant Lifting Concealer in Fair.

I learned my lesson with this concealer: unless you're actually sure what concealer shades work for you, never buy from a catalogue or online. Avon notoriously has wonderful products but really untrue pictures of the colors of their products. The shade "Fair" for this concealer was nowhere near white enough for my super-pale skin. When applied over my dark circles, it just looked like I had applied beige concealer over purplish circles. Yeah. Exactly what we women want: concealer that makes it look like we're wearing makeup. Not only was the shade wrong, but the coverage wasn't opaque enough. It just didn't hit the mark for me. I had actually never worn undereye concealer, or any concealer for that matter, until 2010. So this was my first concealer "miss." I'm still on the lookout for the perfect one for porcelain skin.


The next is also a concealer. It is Almay Smart Shade Concealer in Light 010.
Because the link is choosing not to work for the picture, you can check out this product here. First of all, the fact that it claims to match your exact skin tone is a bit ridiculous, but my friend did recommend this product to me so I thought I'd give it a go as an undereye concealer. The problem with this, besides its ridiculous claim, is that it's so sheer that it never fully conceals the circles. It works nicely to brighten up inner corners and it lightens dark circles a bit, but it just doesn't live up to its claims. The color is by far a better match than the Avon one, but I'm afraid that if it was actually opaque enough, it would prove to be too beige/peachy for my skin tone. The search continues for a perfect undereye match.


This next product is a hair product that has been raved about in the beauty community. It is It's A 10 Miracle Leave-In Product.

This product claims to do ten things, including smoothing hair and getting rid of frizz, fixing damage and working as a heat protectant. It also claims to protect color and detangle. The hairstylist I used to go to recommended this product to me and gave me a small bottle to try out for free. Honestly, I think it's just a glorified detangler/leave-in conditioner/ heat protectant. There isn't anything special as far as ingredients in this product, and after a month or so of near-nightly application to damp hair, I saw no difference at all in my hair. There are definitely cheaper heat protectants, and if that's all this product is good for then I am not going to repurchase. It's really an overpriced detangler in my opinion.

The fifth and last item on my naughty list is actually a general and not a specific beauty item and that is: fragranced body lotion. It pains me to say that I can no longer wear my favorite Bath and Body Works scented lotions. Over the past couple of years, my skin has become ridiculously sensitive. Any type of fragrance makes my skin sting, so I can only use hypoallergenic, fragrance free lotion. This means that all of the wonderful lotions I've been given as gifts have to be given away, and the only people I know who'd want half-used lotions are probably my mom and sister, and my sister doesn't live in the state. That's a lot of lotion that I sadly can no longer use. 

Nice!

Over the past year I discovered several new lipsticks, so I'll try to limit myself to my absolute favorites. The first is L'Oreal Colour Riche Lipstick in Tropical Coral.

Unlike Indian Pink, this lipstick is a reddish coral, and it's cool-toned. It picks up the red in my lips, and, although it's pigmented it somehow manages to be completely wearable and almost natural on my lips. I first discovered this shade in New York City this summer, but I didn't actually purchase it until I got home from vacation. It was one of the first success stories in lipstick shades of 2010, and it quickly became a staple. When I first started college, I wore this lipstick every single day for at least a month and have recently been picking it up again. The formula is fairly long lasting and not drying, though I wouldn't apply it without a balm underneath.

The next lipstick is one I've been reaching for quite a lot over the past couple of months, and that is Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Latino.

At first I was a bit disappointed in this lipstick because it's got quite a noticeable shimmer when first applied. However, I've discovered that I was the only one to actually notice the shimmer, and it gives the illusion of a fuller lip rather than a frosty one when the shimmer dies down. I've found myself reaching for this every day, and it's half gone by now. This is a super moisturizing formula. Again, I always use balm before lipstick, but this one is moisturizing on its own. It also has SPF 18, which is a nice touch. It's the perfect soft, wearable everyday pink color. I kept going to different drugstores and Ultas and opening this one up and gazing at it before my mom got sick of me staring at it and bought it for me. Now she loves it, too, and keeps reminding me that I'll need to get a new one soon.

        

The next item is a hair product. The reason I started using it is actually because I discovered this product in the Beauty section of Seventeen magazine. It was an article for girls with thick waves, messy curls, and/or frizziness, or something along those lines. I don't know if I've got the exact wording correct, but basically my hair fits all of those descriptions. This product is Suave Professionals Weather Protection 365 Anti-Frizz and Flyaway Cream Gel.

My hair has gone through many transitions throughout my life. I had huge barrel curls when I was little, then I got it cut extremely close-cropped (I HATED that) and it grew back stick straight. Then it got sort of lank and wavy. Eventually it got really curly, went back to wavy, and now it's back to curly. My type of curl is the kind where it's flat on top and curly on the bottom. Because it's so thick, it tends to fall into waves. I wanted a product to get rid of frizz and define curls without giving the wet look of strong-hold gels. This product does the trick. I like to towel-dry my hair for twenty minutes and then comb and scrunch this into damp hair. It helps to define the curls and keep them defined. It eliminates a lot of the frizz within the curls and gives a nice shape to my hair. I still need to use a serum to get rid of the frizz and flyaways that remain, but this product is amazing. The only downside is that I go through it so quickly. I currently have four tubes at home, and one back in my dorm room. It's kind of a miracle-worker.

The next product is Physician's Formula Concealer 101 Perfecting Concealer Duo in Green/Light.

This product came to my attention in a rather unconventional way. I had been going to a dermatologist for years, and my skin had suddenly started breaking out on my chin and forehead, and nothing was curing it. I've only just discovered the cause of this, but at the time my dermatologist gave me an antibiotic to take and then, curiously, asked if I ever wore concealer. The answer at the time was that no, I never used concealer. Because the antibiotic was going to take a month or so to take effect, he suggested a Physician's Formula green-toned concealer to cover blemishes. This was the second type I tried, and, even though it gets a lot of hate on MakeUp Alley, it works wonders for me. The brush isn't great and the packaging is terrible, but I find that applying the green to blemishes and covering the green with the skin color works wonderfully to cover up blemishes and redness. The only way it can get cake-y is by applying too much, as it is a cream to powder formula. The skin color really is nowhere near my actual skin tone, but for some reason when applied over the green it blends right in. Unless I find a better concealer, I'm sticking to this until my skin clears up. Another bonus is it doesn't aggravate my breakouts.

The last of my five Nice products is Avon Moisture Therapy Intensive Extra Strength Cream for Extremely Dry Skin.

As I've mentioned, my skin reacts to even the slightest hint of fragrance. My hands also get ridiculously dry and visibly flaky in the winter, so I need something extremely strong and non-irritating to calm them down.  This cream does the trick. I use it on my hands and elbows at night, though I'm not very diligent at applying lotion regularly. When I do apply this nightly, it softens my hands and visibly reduces flakes and redness caused by cold, dry winter weather. It also comes in the tube form in two different sizes. I have all three varieties, and they really are life-savers, but my favorite is definitely the kind that comes in a jar. Its consistency is just thicker and creamier and easier to blend into the skin. 

That concludes my Naughty and Nice list for 2010 beauty items. I hope 2011 brings another slew of wonderful products for us all to indulge in!

Happy hunting!

xEsther

Favorite Skincare Line: Olay

Hello!


Today I thought I'd do a post on a skincare line that's served me well for years. My absolute favorite skincare brand is Olay. Through the ups and downs of my struggle with hormone-aggravated acne, and dry/sensitive/combination skin, Olay has always proved to be a very simple and very effective skincare range. The products I use never break me out and are very well formulated. My skincare routine is extremely simple because I also use prescription acne medication. I'd rather use gentle products for the rest of my skincare and let the prescriptions dig in deeper and do the dirty work.


Here are my absolute favorites:

                                Olay Complete All Day UV Moisturizer, SPF 15, Sensitive Skin

The sensitive skin range is obviously the one I reach for, as I have very touchy skin. However, I would recommend that everyone try the sensitive skin range as it's the only SPF 15 moisturizer from Olay with physical sun protection. This means that the sun protection is derived from minerals and physically blocks the rays from damaging your skin. The mineral sunblock in this product is zinc oxide. Zinc oxide and titanium oxide are the best ingredients to look for in sun protection because they are physical rather than chemical blocks and better protect from signs of aging as well as all sun damage. It also contains Vitamin E, an antioxidant that works against aging, soothing aloe, and it's non-comedogenic and fragrance free, meaning it won't clog pores or irritate skin. Some people might think SPF 15 isn't enough, but it works just fine for me during fall and winter when I'm not outside as much.

                    Olay Complete Defense Daily UV Moisturizer SPF 30, Sensitive Skin

In the spring and summer, I reach for the SPF 30 version. Unlike the SPF 15, I do believe all the ranges of SPF 30 moisturizers from Olay have zinc oxide in them. It's formulated the same way as its less-strong contemporary, with Vitamin E, aloe, and physical sun protection. Both these products last forever even though I like to slather on my sun protection. I've been using both of these since I was about 12, and seven years later I still absolutely love them. Neither have caused me breakouts or irritated my skin in any way, and my face has never been burned or seen any signs of sun damage while wearing them. Again, it's fragrance free and non-comedogenic. Both are also oil free and dermatologist tested.

                                        Olay Foaming Face Wash Sensitive Skin

The last skincare product I use from Olay is their foaming face wash. This is soap and oil free as well as fragrance and dye free. It doesn't have sodium lauryl sulfate, which is really the most harmful of the sulfates. There's a lot of debate in the beauty community about sulfates, but according to Paula's Choice Beauty Bulletin, which does scientific research of ingredients in skincare and makeup, it's sodium lauryl sulfate that people should worry about the most, not sodium laureth or ammonium sulfates. Again, I like to use gentle cleansers so that they don't interfere with my prescriptions, and so far this has done the trick quite well.

Olay is a fabulous skincare brand, and their anti-aging lines are supposed to be great as well. I've only done research on the products I use consistently, but I'm sure there are other winners in Olay's ranges of skincare.

What are some of your skincare favorites?

xEsther