Archive for July, 2011

I’ve written briefly about Inglot before, when Justin and I went to New York.  I figured now it’s time to actually put a review up about their freedom system! For those who are unfamiliar with Inglot Cosmetics, the Freedom System is pretty much exactly as it sounds.  You have the option to choose anywhere from a palette of 5 to a palette of 40.  These palettes are pretty heavy, but personally I like the weight because I know that it’s safer while I’m traveling.  However, I don’t think I’d ever use the 40 palette because that one is just way too heavy to put in my kit.  You can either buy the eye shadows in circle pans or square pans, the square pans are a little bit more expensive since each individual pan holds more product but I think that it’s worth it.  For example, if you buy a palette of 10 circle pans (while they vary in weight, the average circle pan is about 1.3 grams), I believe Inglot charges $45 while the 10 palette of square pans (which is on average, 2.8 grams) is $50.  So pretty much, you’re paying five more dollars for a lot more product.  It’s pretty overwhelming when you do the freedom system at Inglot, when you walk in the store, there’s a huge table set up in the middle dedicated just to the freedom system–there’s a ton of different colored eye shadows, lip colors, and blushes that are just waiting to be swatched.

Whenever I go to Inglot, I feel like I just need to spend the entire day there to pick out exactly what I need.  With so many colors to choose from, it’s a little difficult to actually pick out what you want.  The problem I run into is that I end up picking too many colors and then I have a hard time trying to narrow it down to what will fit in the palette.  I’m not entirely sure about this when you go to the store since I always fill up a palette, but online, the prices change depending on how many pans you buy.  Basically, the more you buy, the cheaper each individual pan is.  I have a feeling that you have to fill the palette that you choose on getting though, since each palette has a price, which includes all the colors that you choose.

I haven’t bought any lip colors or blushes through the freedom system, so I’m just going to review the eyeshadows today.  There are five different finishes which are
Pearl: the color has a satin or frosty look to it but does not have any glitter or sparkles in it
Matte: flat color with no shimmer
Double Sparkle: I’d say that eyeshadows with this finish actually have a matte base, with a lot of glitter disbursed in it
AMC: This stands for “advanced makeup component”.  Like the eyeshadows that have the double sparkle finish, the bases colors for AMC are actually matte, but have glitter throughout the shadow.  However, it is definitely less sparkly than the double sparkle eyeshadows.
AMC Shine: These, like the AMC eyeshadows, have glitter throughout the entire eyeshadow, but the base color has a satin finish to it.

Inglot has recently released a number of new matte eyeshadows and they are fantastic!  The problem I usually run into with matte eyeshadows is that they don’t have very good color payoff and it’s very difficult to blend out colors but Inglot’s matte shadows are extremely easy to blend and the color payoff is amazing.  Their eyeshadows are made of a drier formula, which can lead to fallout, it can easily be avoided by: rolling the color onto your brush instead of patting it on, and tapping off any excess color before actually applying it to your eyelid.

If you’re ever out near Fashion Island, be sure to stop by Inglot and have a look around! The quality is great and the prices are very reasonable.

With it being so hot lately, I’ve really been trying to keep myself hydrated–skin included.  Once a week, I’ve been using this facial mask made from just plain yogurt and oatmeal, and it’s been working wonders!  Whenever I use it, my skin always feels refreshed and hydrated afterwards.  I haven’t broken out from it at all, and along with washing my face with the oatmeal cleanser I posted about a couple of weeks ago, my skin has never looked better!  I wanted to share this facial mask with you guys, it’s a really effective and budget friendly way to keep your skin nice and refreshed.

Oatmeal Yogurt Mask
Equal parts of oatmeal and plain yogurt (I use about a 1.5 tablespoons each)
*remember to use plain yogurt and plain oatmeal!

I pretty much take the mask and apply a fairly heavy layer onto my face and leave it on for about 20 minutes.  It’ll dry up a little bit but don’t worry, it washes off away easily with some warm water.  After you wash your face off you should see and feel results immediately.  I noticed that my skin looked a lot brighter and it felt so so so hydrated.  I’ve always been skeptical about using homemade remedies for my skin, but after seeing how well this mask and oatmeal cleanser has treated me, I don’t think I’m ever going to go back to store bought facial products!  I’ve already talked about how oatmeal is good for the skin in my post about the facial cleanser, but plain yogurt can brighten skin, reduce redness, shrink your pores, and it definitely hydrates your skin.   I hope this helps you guys out, and let me know how it works if any of you try it!

A couple of weeks ago, I was sent a few products from Hard Candy  for consideration.  I’ve purchased a few things from them while they were at Sephora, but now Hard Candy can be easily purchased for a very reasonable price at every Wal-Mart.  I love love love Hard Candy’s packaging for their products, it’s so unique and really stands out whenever I’m sorting through my makeup drawers.  So now it’s time for the review!

Just Face It One Step Foundation

According to the description it states that it is a one step foundation that is your primer, concealer, foundation and powder all in one.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a foundation like this anywhere. Before I used it, I thought it was a liquid foundation but when I actually opened the product, its consistency is more of a mousse or cream foundation.  It has a very very slight smell, but once you apply it on your skin, it isn’t noticeable at all.  The sample that was sent to me was actually a little light for my skin tone, but I swatched a bit of it on my jawline and it blended out smoothly.  However, at the end of the day, I did notice that it oxidized a little bit so there was just a tiny hint of orange that I noticed, but it wasn’t bad at all.  What I like about this foundation is that their color range caters to yellow undertones, which can be hard to find when you’re shopping for drugstore foundations.  It is a medium coverage foundation but you can build it to be full coverage and the finish is pretty matte.  This foundation definitely doesn’t budge either.  When I swatched this on my arm, I had to actually use makeup remover to get it all off, so the description of this foundation definitely keeps true to its word about being a primer as well.  I would use my stippling brush to apply this foundation because I like to have a sheer application of foundation for my face.  I would probably set this foundation with a powder as well, just because I’m always paranoid that foundation moves around during the day.  All in all, I would recommend this foundation if you’re looking for an affordable matte, medium coverage foundation and will probably end up picking up a bottle the next time I need to buy a new foundation.

Mouthing Off Sheer Lip Shine in Love Dove

When I first looked at this lip gloss, I couldn’t help but notice how pink and shimmery it was.  I usually tend to avoid buying any kind of lip gloss that looks like this just because I really like the focus of my makeup to be my eyes, so having bright lips is just too much for my daily makeup.  However, when I actually tried it on, I couldn’t believe how sheer and wearable it is.  It’s perfect for just wearing by itself or for giving your lipstick a nice shine.  The glitter in it isn’t chunky, it just gives a nice shimmer when you’re wearing it.  What I like most about this lip gloss is that it doesn’t feel sticky at all which is something I always look for in a lip gloss.  I normally like to only wear lip balm on my lips for my every day makeup, but I can see myself reaching for this whenever I want something a little bit different.  The packaging is cute, but since there’s a white cover on the bottom half of the container, I can’t really tell when I’m going to run out of product.  It also comes with a doe foot applicator which I actually like more than a brush applicator which is something I’m seeing more frequently when I buy lip gloss.  I think I would end up picking up another one of these when I run out, but I’m curious to see how the other colors look.  Since it’s such a sheer application it doesn’t deposit too much color, just a nice sheer layer that gives a lot of shine.

Kal-eye-descope Baked Eyeshadow Duo in Secret Rendezvous

Hard Candy sells a baked/mineralized eyeshadow which is something that is becoming more and more popular as of late.  They have a variety of different eyeshadow duos which is nice, because if you’re on the go and need just something small to put in your makeup bag, these duos provide you with a nice lid and crease color.  The eyeshadow duo that was sent to me was in two shades of pink.  I normally don’t like to use pink too much when I’m playing with eyeshadows because pink tends to make me look very tired.  However, these colors swatched nicely, and I was able to use the darker pink as a crease color and it was neutral enough to wear I didn’t look too tired.  Baked eyeshadows can be applied either wet or dry.  Applying your eyeshadows wet give it a more intense, vibrant color which I do use from time to time.  However, please remember that you can only do this with your baked eyeshadows or mineralized eyeshadows.  If you do this with normal shadows, you’ll end up ruining it and it won’t apply the same again.  Applied dry, the two colors were pretty sheer, and I had to go over the colors again to get the desired colors I wanted.  They’re also a little bit powdery so you’ll really have to pack on the color and a bit on the shimmery side.  While they are very nice colors and would recommend them to anyone who is trying to build up their makeup collection, I don’t think I would purchase these just because I’m not too big of a fan of baked eyeshadows and I try to stay away from eyeshadows that are shimmery, but that is all just preference.

Take a chance to check out Hard Candy! They’ve got a great selection of makeup, and would really recommend their Just Face It foundation and their sheer lip shines.

FTC: Products sent for consideration.