Jouer Matte Moisture Tint

This is one of those "Youtube made me buy it" products. Namely, Missglamorazzi made me buy it. Self-diagnosed with oily skin, I usually flinch at the idea of a tinted moisturizer. They make me look as if I have a layer of cling wrap wrapped around my face and causes all products applied on my face to change GPS locations. Not to mention their known lack of coverage which my acne scarred skin needs to stay away from. But after seeing Ingrid's applications and reviews, it seemed that this product was;
1. lightweight on the skin
2. had build able coverage
3. had a matte finish

I was sold. All my adolescent years, I had wished to have flawless, makeup free skin. And this might just be the product to offer me that no-makeup makeup effect. Now Jouer is very hard to come by in Australia, infact, if you don't follow the beauty blogosphere, chances are, you'll never even know about this brand. I purchased mine from a korean website yesstyle.com.au for AUD$52 and used findation.com to find my colour match. 

Upon squeezing out my first dollop, I noticed it had a mousse texture rather than the creamy smoothness of usual tinted moisturizers. I buffed it into my skin with a flat top kabuki and I must say, it wears like a dream. It is lightweight, similar to Giorgio Armani's Maestro but covers up spots and pigmentation like Covergirl's Outlast Stay Fabulous foundation. I think this will definitely become a staple base product for me this coming summer. Set with a loose setting powder, I don't think I can go wrong ;)

The moussey texture can be seen from this swatch

Blended out

Monthly Marvels - September

During the month of September, I have bought an above average amount of beauty products. None of which I actually needed but all of which I had to have to make me happy. The first lot are drugstore products which I picked up from Priceline during their September “30 days of fashion & beauty” sales.

There has been a lot of hype around the Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3 in 1 (primer, foundation and concealer) foundation. And I must admit, it has become one of my favourite drugstore foundations. It is very light weight with medium to buildable full coverage. I definitely think it is comparable to Loreal’s True Match. I still use a primer although it’s is already included in the foundation just to give my oily-combo skin a little more help. RRP $19.95 (but keep an eye out for sales, I purchased this for $10)

Covergirl & Olay simply ageless eye concealer. I purchased this product after seeing the reviews from Missglamorazzi and Casey Holmes. It is a very moisturizing which does not crease once setting powder is applied. This colour 215 is a perfect match against my skin tone but I have also added 210 to my wishlist to see if the lighter colour can brighten up my under-eyes more. RRP $17.95

Real Techniques Expert Face Brush. Oh my goodness, why has it taken me this long to discover this brush? It is by far one of the best brushes for applying liquid foundation that I have ever used. It blends out the foundation evenly without any streaking. Available on iherb.com for $8.99

Rimmel Apocalypse in Celestial. Very pigmented neutral pink glass. It does not stain the lips and has a nice scent to it which is a bonus. Approx $10 on asos.com

Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer and Hourglass Veil Foundation. I hadn’t heard much about this foundation prior to walking into Mecca Cosmetica. It’s not a common product that Youtube Gurus review or mention. And I have no idea why that is because this foundation is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. I think I might even love it more than my all time favourite foundation: Dior Capture Totale. I definitely find myself reaching for this Hourglass duo more. It is quite pricey but I think a good base is definitely worth the splurge, especially for us girls with the super oily t-zones. I will definitely do a detailed product review for these in another post. Primer RRP $79 & Foundation RRP $87 from Mecca.

Mary Lou-manizer. You need it in your life. That’s all I have to say really. Just get it, you won’t regret it. AvaiMac paintlable on feelunique.com for AUD $21. (bargain!)

MAC Paintpot in Painterly. I used to use Bare Study as a base for eyeshadow but due to its creamy white shimmer, it alters the true colour of the eyeshadows that I apply on top of it. I have similar skin tone to Ingrid from Missglamorazzi and after seeing her use Painterly in 90% of her make up videos, I decided I needed it…on my face. This really is the perfect colour for my lids and doesn’t crease my eyeshadow for a good 8+ hours. RRP $35 from MAC.

MAC Pigment in Tan. I’m always skeptical about pigments as they are so messy and most of the time don’t tend to remain in the area that you first applied it. But after swatching this colour, I just couldn’t help myself and disregarded all reasoning. Turns out, it works great applied over Painterly and adds a soft subtle bronze shimmer to the middle of the lids (which is where I apply it. I sandwich it between an inner corner highlight – mary lou-manizer and a matte brown shadow for the outer crease). RRP $39 from MAC.

Nars Orgasm and Hoola Bronzer. These are re-discovered products. I haven’t used my Orgasm blush in over a year and had forgotten how much I loved this blush. I asked my dad to buy the Hoola bronzer for me earlier this year when he went to Hawaii but hadn’t really used it as I’m not usually big on bronzers/contouring. But recently due to my increasing pregnancy weight gain, I’ve been using it in an attempt to make my face appear smaller. It is a really natural matte finish that can be blended out or built up easily. I apply it using the RT stippling brush. Orgasm USD$29 from kissandmakeup.com. Hoola Bronzer USD$28 benefit.com.

FIIF Eyeshadow in color #58 . I purchased this whilst on holidays in China. I’ve never used it before and have just found out that this is the perfect subtle glitter over a brown matte shadow to add a little fun.

Hope you enjoyed.

K x.

E.L.F. Essential Bronzing Brush & E.L.F. Studio Blush Brush

Having purchased quite a large haul from E.L.F. earlier this year, I was really surprisingly impressed with the quality of their products considering the pricing. In the haul I purchased a Studio powder brush (which is the one similar to a flat top kabuki foundation brush) and found it to be dense, soft and witnessed no signs of shedding. 

So in a recent purchase from Beautyjoint.com I decided to try some of their other brushes. These two brushes were a big disappointment. At $1.99 for the Essential Blushing, Bronzing and Blending Brush and $3.99 for the Studio Blush Brush you really get what you pay for. Not much! 

First up, the essential bronzing brush has hair that seems to be made out of hay. The hairs are not soft, not fine and they are certainly not dense. It is very thin in volume and does not make blending an easy job. Frankly, I can't imagine anyone to brush this up against their cheeks. Someone posted on makeupalley.com that this brush gets softer with use, but unfortunately I am not willing to test that theory out.

Next up is the Studio Blush Brush. This brush has much finer and softer hair which is silky smooth to the touch. I would definitely prefer to use this for bronzer than blush as it is quite tapered/pointed. I personally prefer my blush brushes to be more rounded and puffy because for me it blends out the blush more evenly for a natural hint of colour. I will keep this in my collection, however, if you are from Australia and looking for good quality medium price ranged cosmetic tools, i recommend Artiste from Priceline or Real Techniques. They are available from various websites for around $10 each.

Have you used E.L.F. brushes before? Which ones? And how did you find them?

Estee Lauder Illuminating Powder Gelee Blush - Tease

So of course my first blog post would have to be about one of 2013's most famous limited edition blushes. This Blush was released in the rest of the world earlier in the year around March and were long sold out before us Aussies even caught wind this product existed. It has been raved about by the likes of Tanya Burr, Zoella and just about every other Beauty Guru with a Youtube account. So of course, being a religious follower of holy grails products and monthly favourite videos, I HAD to have this blush in my collection.

It was a long wait. It was launched in Australia on 15th September. But of course, if it was on schedule something would be terribly wrong. So most stores didn't received any stock of it until days later and I was finally able to get my hands on the blush after going to about 5 different department stores. The Lauder staff actually used the "this is our last one" sales pitch on me which annoyed me a little bit as I hate sales people who feel the need to say this to push a sale. 

In terms of the product, I think it just might be a little bit too shimmery for me to wear on an everyday bases for just buying some groceries and running errands (in other words, for a housewife). It is just pink and silver shimmer from every angle that you look at it. It is gorgeously soft to the touch and applies like a dream but the staying power is not the best on the market. 

The soft creamy yet powdery texture has me hooked and I will definitely be on the lookout for more of Estee Lauders Powder Gelee products from now on.

This blush retails in Australia for a whopping $75 AUD. For those who don't know, it equals to about $71 USD with today's currency. Which is really, really, extremely unfair as temptalia.com mentioned this product retailed for $40 in America and Tanya Burr purchased hers for 30 Pounds in the UK.

Let me know if you have purchased this blush and how you find it. Do you love it or can you live without it?