NYX HD Studio Primer Review

From the Brand:  Designed to be paired with our HD Studio Foundation, this water-based makeup primer fills in pores, minimizes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and mattifies the complexion for a seamless finish. It also ensures the durability of your makeup, which will last for hours even under the harshest lighting.


Retails for:  $17.00


Where to Buy:  Select Target stores, Ulta stores and Ulta.com, www.nyxcosmetics.com, CherryCulture.com


My Thoughts:  I'm not a fan of this primer personally.  It goes on white and doesn't absorb into my skin well, leaving a slightly chalky pale cast to my face.  It doesn't do much more than a moisturizer for helping my makeup lay "flat" on the skin and not sink into pores/lines/etc, and it also didn't work to extend the life of my makeup past what I'd expect normally.  I was really disappointed, since a lot of the NYX products look like dupes for the high end Makeup Forever brand, and many are honestly very comparable for a much more affordable price.  I absolutely LOVE the Makeup Forever HD primer, and I was really praying this would be a dupe for it.  Sadly, it wasn't.

Have you tried this before?  What's your experience been with it?  I'd love to hear back from others to see how it did for their skin.


Final Verdict:  This one goes in the "busts" bucket under the sink.

**Disclaimer: As with all my product reviews, I was not paid by the cosmetic company to provide feedback or review/promote their products. This article contains some affiliate links provided through Viglink.com. All the opinions expressed in this article are my own. These items were purchased with my own money. For more information on my policies, please view my Let's Chat page.

Product Review- Too Faced Beauty Blogger Darlings

Too Faced Beauty Blogger Darlings Review


From the Brand:

Chocolate Soleil Bronzer- 

What It Is:
Bronzing has never been so delicious. Our chocolate-scented, shimmer-free, matte bronzer is perfect for contouring and creating an all-over deep tan using real antioxidant-rich cocoa powder. It’s all the tan without the twinkle.

More To Love:
Infused with antioxidant-rich cocoa powder and signature bronzing pigments to create a unique matte bronzer that neutralizes red and evens skin tone.
100% cruelty-free product.


*Vegan friendly
**Paraben-free

Shadow Insurance Eyeshadow Primer-  

What It Is:
Your full coverage insurance policy against all fading, creasing and smudging. Our skin-soothing formula evens out skin tone and smoothes fine lines to create a perfect canvas for shadows. Color is intensified and locked down until you take it off.

More To Love:
Unique Binders: Volatiles lock down eye shadow pigments for amazingly long wear.
Versatility: Use with powder or cream eye shadow products.
Fights Fading: Anti-creasing formula holds eye products in place by securing a barrier between the oils of your skin and your makeup.
Concentrated: The size of a rain drop covers the entire lid.

**Paraben-free

Primed and Poreless Face Primer- 

What It Is:
Our one-of-a-kind makeup primer was scientifically formulated to wear under bronzers and foundation powders or alone to achieve the look of flawless skin without makeup. Vitamins A & C, Mulberry Extract and a powerful dose of Retinol virtually banish pores while tired skin is left hydrated, firmer, and detoxified. Primed & Poreless creates the perfect canvas to allow powders, bronzers and foundations to airbrush onto the skin seamlessly and perfectly blended. Skin appears brighter, fresher and younger. Color stays true and in place all day.

More To Love:
Erase Pores and Imperfections: Virtually erases pores, softens lines and perfects your complexion leaving skin ready for bronzer, powder, makeup or nothing at all.
Customized Formula: Provides an airbrushed canvas as it preps skin for bronzers, powder products and liquid foundations. Bronzers glide on without grabbing or looking heavy. Powders float above imperfections. Makeup applies like magic onto skin. Color stays true and in place all day.
Mulberry Extract and Arctostaphylos UVA URSI: Protect, brighten and lighten skin for a renewed freshness and soothing effect.
Retinyl Palmitate and Cyclodextrin with CAVAMAX Retinol: Restores moisture, elasticity and suppleness with a powerful combination of anti-wrinkle, youth enhancing, skincare ingredients.
Camellia Oil and Vitamin A: Essence of the white tea plant and the free radical fighting vitamins are nature’s most powerful antioxidants. Skin looks firmer, brighter and more resilient, even up close.
Colorless: Great on any skin color! The nude tone becomes invisible once applied.

*Vegan-friendly
**Paraben-free

Better Than Sex Mascara-

What It Is:
The Better Than Sex Mascara Hourglass-Shaped Brush was designed after discovering the bust-waist-hip ratio of an iconic silver screen Blonde Bombshell held the secret to the perfect brush silhouette that separates, coats and curls each lash to voluptuous perfection. One coat of the carbon black, collagen-fueled mascara formula and lashes are full, defined and stretched to unbelievable lengths. Two coats and lashes are even more luscious, curled and dramatic. Three coats and achieve the most intense black, oversized, multidimensional lashes possible! A mascara so amazing…it’s Better Than Sex!

More To Love:
Better Than Sex mascara includes:

• Film-forming Polymer for smudge-proof, all day wear
• Acacia Senegal Tree Extract to nourish, thicken and lock curl in place
• Unique Peptides for the deepest, intense black possible

• 1,944% more volume*
• 100% saw longer lashes**
• 100% saw dramatic volume**
• 93% saw base-to-tip curl**
• 8 out of 10 say it’s the best mascara they’ve ever used**

*results observed in a clinical study.
**results observed in a consumer study.


Retails for:  $20.00


Where to Buy:  TooFaced.com, Ulta.com and Ulta stores


My Thoughts:


Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzing Powder-  If you've ever watched any of my makeup tutorials on my YouTube channel, you know I'm totally addicted to this stuff.  It's used every time I do my makeup to give my cheeks the perfect matte sculpted look.  And it smells like real chocolate!  I have a few small travel sizes of it, so it's with me wherever I go and one in my makeup kit.  Clients love the way it looks and smells, too, and it's dark enough for even the more tanned skin tones.


Shadow Insurance Anti-Crease Eye Shadow Primer-  A MUST every time I do eye makeup.  Again, I have the trial sizes from various kits plus a few full sizes I've picked up along the way, so I have these stashed everywhere.  I absolutely adore when Too Faced comes out with these sets so that I can stock up on this stuff.  It's clear, hydrating, and locks shadows in place like nobody's business.


Primed and Poreless Skin-Smoothing Face Primer-  I waffle back and forth with this face primer between loving it and just not using it often enough.  It comes and goes in spurts where I use it every time I do my makeup and getting pushed to the back of the bin when I discover something new to obsess over.  (The bane of being a beauty blogger I suppose!)  But I always come back to it.  It's my old faithful.  Since my skin is more of the super dry variety the majority of the time, I do tend to skip this more than I should.  But during the summer when I need more pores smoothed and evened out, or if I have photos that are going to be taken of me and need a flawless finish to my face, this is what I know I can depend on.

Better Than Sex Mascara-  This is Too Faced's newest mascara, and honestly it's the reason I bought this kit.  I figured it was an inexpensive way to get travel sizes of my three most-used Too Faced products and also get to try out this mascara at the same time! I've got a  nice in-depth review on this mascara coming soon, so I won't go into too much detail, but it was definitely a good buy on my part with getting this kit!  Check back on the 19th for more info on this mascara!


Final Verdict:  For only $20, you can't go wrong with this set!  There's a reason beauty bloggers love these products- They rock!  Even if there's something in here you aren't a huge fan of, the rest of them in convenient travel sizes make it totally worth it, and it's the perfect introduction to the brand if you've never used Too Faced before.

 

**Disclaimer:  This article contains affiliate links.  As with all my articles, the opinions expressed herein are fully my own.  For more information on my policies, please view my Let's Chat page.

 

Tarte Smooth Operator Illuminating Serum

Being a professional makeup artist sure has its perks.  First, I get a tax write off on all the makeup I buy as business supplies, so it gives me the opportunity to try out all sorts of new stuff.  Second, with as much makeup as I have to buy to simply replace the makeup in my kit I use on shoots and weddings, I rack up a lot of membership points at Sephora and Ulta.  Sephora has a program called V.I.B., Very Important Beauty (Insider).  I get exclusive emails with discounts and promotions, and every year on my (Free) renewal date, I get a coupon for 10% off.  With this year's discount, I bought a set of "Sephora's Favorites- Glizt & Glam Collection" and in it got a lot of great kit-sized products to test out.  I tried a few of them out this weekend at a wedding and was super impressed by Tarte's Smooth Operator Illuminating Serum, an new product that's only available right now as a part of the set or as a part of Tarte's Radiant & Rested Luminous Complexion Collection.  It's so smooth and silky feeling, and it has a bit of a tint to it,so it really helps to even out skin tone either alone or under foundation.  It says there's a bit of a glow to it, but I didn't really see much pearly glow as an evening of the skin.  I think it's best for clients with fair skin, as on darker skins it might look chalky.  But it made a super amazing base for a client with a large red cluster birthmark on her right cheekbone above her eye.  It helped grip the concealor and added a bit of coverage on it's own. Then with the airbrush over the top, you couldn't even see it any more.  I just ordered the R&R complexion set with my Sephora Friends and Family discount code (Available from now until Nov 3, use promo code FF2010 for 20% off!) for the full size product.  I'm also excited to try the EmphasEYES eye brightener for the inner rim that comes in the set, too.

Copyright Tarte Cosmetics.  Photo from the Sephora website.

Another product from the Sephora Glitz & Glam collection that I fell in love with is the Lorac Perfectly Lit in Spotlight.  It's a tan bronzer like product that has a bit of shimmer to it that adds a beautiful glow for sculpting the cheekbones on fair skins.  I brushed it on the back of the cheekbones and up to the temples and then used a very sheer bright pink on the apples of the cheeks to help them "pop".  It was a beautiful combination that gave them a gorgeous glow without looking like they were wearing a ton of blush. 

Since I'm going on and on about the great stuff I got from Sephora recently (and that I tried out at the wedding this Saturday) I'll also let you know about Tarte's Good As Gold Lipgloss Collection (for only $29!!!!!).  It is absolutely going to become a staple in my kit.  The glosses are the perfect size, the price is amazing, and the colors are to die for.  I used some of the brighter pinks on the lips blended over a brownish nude lipliner, and it was the perfect compliment to the bronze/pink cheeks of the bridesmaids.  Paired with shimmery nude and chocolate colored eyeshadow and glitzy copper liner, it was a soft romantic effect that went perfectly with the deep chocolate colored bridesmaids dresses.

I ordered a few more collections from Sephora with my discount today, and I can't wait to get them in and tell you all about the awesome products inside!