BeneFit Watt's Up Highlight

Recently, I have been enjoying shopping my stash to avoid spending money on unnecessary purchases. This summer I have been really focused on using products that shape, sculpt, and highlight certain points of my face. A product I discovered that has been a well loved highlighter within the blogging community is BeneFit's Watt's Up. I received this sample last year as part of my Birthday Present from Sephora and am wondering why I waited so long to use it!

BeneFit's Watt's Up is a cream to powder champagne highlighter that adds a gorgeous light golden iridescence to the skin. It truly leaves the most gorgeous glowing effect to any high point of your face. 

I like to apply this with my fingers and blend out so I have control over how much procduct is distributed. The full size product does come with a sponge on the other end for blending purposes. I not only like to apply this on the high points of my cheeks and down the center of my nose but I also really love the look of Watt's up on the inner corners of my eyes and brow bones to draw attention to my eyes and brighten them!

Rave: Cream Highlighter

I have been avoiding using more than one powder product on my face this fall. If I go into powder bronzer, powder highlighter and powder blush it is just way too much and too drying for my skin! Today I'm going to talk about a product brand that is never really mentioned in the beauty community because their makeup isn't that luxurious or quality. However, my friend just started selling Mary Kay and I purchased a product that I actually ended up LOVING. It's a facial highlighting pen from Mary Kay that is the same concept as the YSL Touch Eclat and MAC's Prep n Prime pen. Now, I do not own the TE or Prep n Prime so I cannot comment on their similarities or their dissimilarities. 

The Mary Kay pen comes in 4 shades. I wear shade 2 which is a neutral shade. Shade 1 is more peachy, shade 3 is peachy pink and shade 4 is a very deep luminous brown shade. The Mary Kay Highlighting Facial Pen has a click brush applicator. Normally I find this trait in a product annoying but after the first use you get plenty of product disbursed after just a couple of clicks. 

The highlighting pen is meant to lift shadowy areas of the face and make your skin tone brighter and more luminous. I have seen many reviews where people use this exactly under their eyes and have issues with it settling into fine lines but that is not what this product is for. I use this in a number of areas on my face including down my nose and on my cheekbones and right under my dark circles. I apply it right from the pen and blend in with my fingers. This is a sheer product and is really easy to blend

Nars Sheer Glow No Highlighter:

Mary Kay Highlight and NYX Cream Blush in Tea Rose:

As you can see from the photos the highlighter gives the skin a nice glow from within and really pretty pearlescent appearance. 

This is a really nice highlight if you are getting into the cream highlight/contour kick that is really popular right now. It retails for $18 which is a little cheaper than the Mac Prep n Prime and significantly affordable compared to the YSL so if you wanted to try out a product like this it is a good one to test drive before you shell out all that money!

Do you have a favorite cream highlighter! Share your favorites 

Fall Essentials: Cosmetics

Hello Ladies! My apologies for not updating as much as I would like. I am in the middle of searching for a new job OH and catching up on Scandal :)

While it is not yet feeling like October over here on the East Coast yet, I can't help but begin to fall in love all over again with my autumn  essential beauty products.

During the fall months I really like to play up my eyes and use shadows that are going to bring out my blue/green hues. There are a few shadows that really exaggerate the green in my eyes. I really love cranberry shades during this time of year. I always use Mac's Cranberry but NYX makes a great dupe called Rust. In my opinion,

cranberry shadow is a must have for anyone with blue or green eyes and looks great paired with gold shadows in the crease. 

I also love deep bronzier shades during this type of year. My favorites are Woodwinked and Bronze my MAC. On lighter skin tones like myself (NC20) Bronze is a bit more dramatic than an everyday neutral bronze. 

Woodwinked is another great eyeshadow choice for the autumn months because when it is applied to the lid it appears as a beautiful bronze shadow with some orange tones that pop much like the leaves during this time of year. 

On my lips I always have my Mocha Rose Lip Balm. I found this in my local beauty supply store but CO Bigelow's balm is very similar. It is a vaseline type texture and moisturizes the lips very well.

Benefit's Full Finish Lipstick in Lady's Choice is the perfect nude for me in the fall time. It is very much so "my lips but better" shade. Lady's choice is a pink nude with a touch of brown, giving it a very neutral appearance. The formula is amazing - very rich and creamy. Is is very glossy so a lipgloss is not necessary when wearing any of the Full Finish lipsticks by Benefit. 

For a more vampy lip I always reach for MAC's Rebel. Rebel is a fuschia/merlot berry shade with a semi shine finish. I love this because it's not the most extreme bold but definitely enough for that 'vampy' effect.

If I'm looking to add a gloss over my lipstick or by itself Baremineral's Buxom Lipgloss in Dolly is a nice muted plum shade. These lip glosses are known for the tingling sensation on your lips once applied. The gloss is supposed to plump your lips but it does not have that effect on me. If your lips are insensitive to tingly sensations and that menthol feeling you will love this lipgloss - the shade is beautiful and it contains a little bit of shimmer as well. (swatch posted below. 

There are a couple of blushes in my collection that exude fall to me. One is Pallido's baked blush in Choc-au-lait. This is a beautiful auburn shade. That sounds a little bit scary when describing a blush but on my NC 20 skin, it really warms up my face and gives it a glow from with in appearance. You only need a touch of the brush because a little goes a long way! The pigmentation is very impressive and the lasting power is great for such an inexpensive blush.

Another blush I am a fan of during the fall is Milani's baked blush in Berry Amour. This is a soft berry shade with pink, rose, and gold veining throughout so it's not a harsh berry shade when mixed all together. There is some shimmer in this blush and it can be a little chunky but it just takes some blending for that to dissipate.

To add a bit of glow to my skin during the dry months I use MACs Cream Color Base in Hush. Hush is a nice pink champagne color that makes your skin come alive when applied to the cheek bones. It is a tid bit difficult to work with but as you warm the product up with your fingers is becomes easier to blend.

Finally, I am adding a base to this post because it really gives off a dewiness to your skin that is much needed in the dry air. I am talking about Tarte's Marajuca Creaseless Concealer. When I apply this to my under eye area I look so refreshed and awake. It brightens and adds a natural looking sheen. I have a full review and swatches of Tarte's concealer here.

I am definitely going to be doing a fall essentials series - within the next couple of weeks I will share my essential nail polishes and skin care products for fall :)

What are your fall beauty must haves?

January 2013 Favorites

It is my favorite time of the month! Favorites posts & videos. This month I have been focusing on my skin and have not been doing much makeup, mostly because I am too lazy in the morning at 7:30AM to do a complete face. Since this is also my first favorites I thought I would show you essential products that are ALWAYS in my makeup/beauty routine 

• BareMinerals The Shinging Moment Limunizer: review here
• Revlon Colorstay Whipped Foundation review here. 
• Mac Careblend Powder This is my first compact but it is quite a nice powder. It's very smooth and gives nice coverage. Prior to this I used the Mac MSFN but I broke mine, unfortunately.  find this has a little bit more coverage than the MSFN.
• L'Oreal Liner Intense felt tip liner I have been using this for years now. It's the only liner I will use on my upper lash line.  It allows you to draw such precise lines and it lasts ALL DAY.
• Nars Luster: Nars blushes are hands down my favorite. I purchased this because this seems to be in everyone's top three Nars blushes. It is a nice apricot shade with gold shimmers. It's a great everyday blush, going out blush, I wanna be lazy and wear minimal makeup blush lol - seriously, it's great with any kind of look. I find Nars blushes to be very long lasting as well. 
• Elizabeth Arden body lotion + Perfume. I found this while cleaning out my bathroom cabinets. I'm assuming I received it in a gift set and just never used it. I am so glad I found it because the scent is a lovely fresh burst of green tea. It lingers quiet nicely also. I also found a sample size of this in it's perfume form - lovely as well! I would suggest being careful if you have sensitive skin. I did read a lot of negative reviews saying the body lotion gave them a rash. 
• Origins A Perfect World Antioxidant Moisturizer with white tea +  A Perfect World White Tea skin guardian. During Cyber Monday I was browsing the Origins site and found The Perfect World set that contained these two products plus a face wash and toner. The brand states that this line has all of these wonderful anti-aging benefits which was what I was looking for. These two items really stood out to me. My skin has been drier than usual this winter and I find this is the only moisturizer in my small collection that really moisturizes my skin enough. I apply this morning and night as soon as I wash my face. There have been complaints that this doesn't sink into the skin right away but I always apply my moisturizer when my skin and hands are damp to help it absorb into my skin quicker. I love the scent of this! The white tea gives it a very soothing and relaxing feeling. The skin guardian has been my go to 'primer.' While this is not it's purpose it does have silicone (which does not effect my skin negatively) so it does a good job at filling in pores and fine lines. It makes your skin feel like silk! The main purpose of this is to protect your skin from pollutants in the air. I really like it as a barrier for my skin.I have not been using these products enough to see anti aging benefits but they are lovely products nonetheless. 
• C.O. Bigelow Rose Salve - for my lips I have not been sticking to one specific color but I always  put this on my lips - it is basically glorified vaseline but it smells much nicer (it also comes in mint and strawberry I believe). This stuff is also great if you have try patches of skin or problem cuticles

What are some of your monthly favorites?

Bare Minerals The Shining Moment Luminizer

Happy Sunday. Hope all of you can relax a bit today and have gotten all of your shopping done for those that celebrate Christmas! 

Today I am sharing with you The Shining Moment luminizer from Bare Minerals. It is a Limited Edition compact highlighter. There are 2 of these, the other shade is called the Love Affair. The difference is the undertones. While A Love Affair gives a peachy glow, the Shining Moment is a more golden champagne highlight. I have yellow undertones and I love golden highlighters so that's why I chose The Shining Moment.

Bare Minerals states "SeaNutritive MineralComplex, this silky smooth formula delivers incredible skin-nourishing benefits" I haven't been using it long enough to notice any benefits so I won't comment on that but I can say this is a lovely highlighter. The best way to describe this is that it gives your face a nice candlelit glow. It is very finely milled so it almost crumbles to the touch.  

The first few times I used this I applied it with a fan brush which gave a very subtle highlight. If you want a more intense highlight you can use a fluffy eyeshadow brush.

I would definitely reccomend this product if you are a highlighter junkie. It was selling for $26 on a few websites including beauty.com and the Bare Minerals site but I just noticed yesterday that it was selling for $20!

Have you purchased this Limited Edition Highlighter?? Will you snag this LE product before they run out?!