Product Review- NYX Butter Gloss

Colors left to right: Tiramisu, Apple Strudel, Eclair

 

**Updated 3/3/14**  Here's my video review I did with an additional 7 colors I've added to my collection in the last several months!  Enjoy! 

 

 

From the Brand: Buttery soft and silky smooth, our scrumptious new Butter Lip Gloss tastes as sweet as a sugar cookie—and makes your lips look downright luscious. Swipe it on alone or over your favorite lipstick for creamy sheer to medium coverage that melts onto your lips and is never sticky.

 

Retails for: $5.00

Where to Buy: Ulta, Ulta.com, Nyxcosmetics.com, I've also seen NYX products at Target but never this particular gloss.

My Thoughts:  This is probably my favorite brand/formula of gloss right now.  The name butter gloss says it all.  It really does feel buttery soft, and it's not sticky at all.  The colors are nice and sheer, but they don't make your lips look chalky or pale.  They smell delicious, and with names like Tiramisu and Apple Strudel, why wouldn't they?!

I currently only own three colors, but I plan on stocking up on the rest of them as soon as I'm off my No Buy Challenge at the end of August and Ulta has a BOGO deal on NYX products.  (We all know what a sucker I am for Ulta's BOGO's!)  The colors I have are Tiramisu, Apple Strudel, and Eclair.  The Tiramisu is labeled as a brown on their website, but it's more of a soft taupey nude color in my world.  It doesn't make my lips look like I'm living in a Bobbi Brown ad from 1995, and it's a very wearable color I think would be perfect on just about any skin tone.  Eclair is a gorgeous baby pink, but like I said it's not a chalky color.  I'm super fair, and I wear this on my lips with no other makeup for just a touch of color and shine.  Apple Strudel is a peachy-coral kind of color, and it definitely adds a touch of peach to my lips.  It's a little more contrasty, since I'm fair and my lips are naturally very pink, but it's still very wearable on its own.

This lipgloss wears very well.  Its non-sticky, non-drying, and leaves my lips feeling like there's something on them for about 3-4 hours even with drinking.  The color will soak in and fade a bit with drinking as will the shine, but my lips won't feel naked.  It is fairly sweet to taste but not obnoxiously so.

Final Verdict:  A total winner in my book, and I can't wait to buy the rest of the shades!

 

 

**Disclaimer: As with all my product reviews, I was not paid by the cosmetic company to provide feedback or review/promote their products.  All the opinions expressed in this article are my own.  These items were purchased with my own money.

Where the heck have I been?!

Well, I've been a bit everywhere lately!  Things kind of took a crazy course for us right before we moved at the end of June.  My grandfather was suddenly in the hospital, and I debated heading up to see family in Connecticut a few days early rather than waiting for my niece's graduation.  Fortunately, it wasn't too serious, and I was able to keep my original vacation scheduling.  Unfortunately, I hadn't pre-blogged my articles for while I was gone, and it all snowballed from there.

Here I am with the graduate on my right, her sister on my left, and the little guy is my youngest.

He just loves his cousin!

Then it came time to move into the new house, and that was a debacle deserving of a five-star award in the shit-show department.  Suffice it to say, it was nearly a week after we had the keys to our house before our furniture was delivered.  The movers pulled out of the driveway at 5 pm on Wednesday night, and at 6 pm we had houseguests arriving for my java party!  (Side note: I've recently become a distributor for Javita Coffee Company weight loss coffee and energy coffee.  I'm sure I'll blog more about these products at a later date, but if anyone is interested, you should really check out the website! It's pretty amazing stuff!  A friend of mine's sister has lost 11.5 INCHES from her waist in the last month just by drinking two cups a day.  And I've cut my caffeine habit from 8 cans of soda a day to one cup of the energy coffee.)

The party went great, I sold a bunch of coffee, and that was our first night in the new house.  Noon the next day my sister and her family came for the 4th of July, guests for our BBQ arrived around 3, and it was yet another late night.  In the meantime, I was preoccupied and not blogging.  But I did have a great time spending a few days with my sister, her husband, and my two gorgeous nieces.  The past few days after they left have been furiously scrambling to get my office set up (note to self: if I ever move again, I WILL put the damn printer cords in the same box as the printer...) and my studio set up so that I can finally get back to filming videos and taking clients again.  Lots of upcoming brides need their lash extensions and spray tans to look super fabulous on their strut down the aisle!  The next set of family comes on the 15th and stays for 9 days, so I've got a log of pre-blogging to do this time!  July and August are always my vacation months, with family coming and then going down to Florida for a while to visit that half of the family. 

I recommend buying stock in IKEA.  I'm going to be spending a LOT of money there in the next few months...

Once school hits again in the fall, we're done with family and traveling, and have gotten all settled in, I'm looking forward to waking up every morning, writing up a new blog article, and relaxing a bit.  Nah, who am I kidding?  My life is whirlwind on the calmest of days, and I wouldn't know how to live any other way!  Hope you enjoy the ride as much as I do!

Product Review- Benefit Fake Up Concealer

 

From the Brand: Cover-up goes incognito! This hydrating crease-control concealer - with Vitamin E & apple seed extract - hides dark circles & diffuses fine lines for a silky smooth, ultra-natural look. Available in three shades, it’s proven to keep skin hydrated for 6 hours!* *Instrumental test

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW:
Results too good to conceal!

• 100% said fakeup hydrates skin*
• 100% said fakeup feels comfortable on skin*
• 100% said the texture feels silky*
• 94% said the effect is long-lasting*
• 94% said fakeup doesn’t run*
• 97% said the formula is lightweight*
• 91% said fakeup conceals dark circles*
• 91% saw a natural appearance*
• 97% said the packaging makes it easy to use*

*Results observed in a consumer panel survey.

Retails for: $24

Where to Buy: Ulta stores and online, Sephora stores and online, Benefitcosmetics.com 

My Thoughts: This is a really great concealer if you have a dry under eye area.   It takes a while to get used to using it though, and it has a bit of a greasy feeling at first.  It's definitely only for use on yourself, and not to be used between people, as it's meant to be applied directly on the face from the tube like a lipstick.  Scraping it off and applying with a brush doesn't give the same effect.  It gives light coverage of circles, so if you have really dark circles, I recommend using the Benefit Boi-ing or Benefit Erase Paste instead.  If you have a breakout, don't use this concealer.  It won't cover enough and the emollients in it will make it slide right off after a while.  The Boi-ing is a much better option.

 

Final Verdict:  A great concealer for light undereye coverage for those with dry undereyes.

**Disclaimer: As with all my product reviews, I was not paid by the cosmetic company to provide feedback or review/promote their products.  All the opinions expressed in this article are my own.  These items were purchased with my own money.

Product Review- Stila Stay All Day Foundation

 

 

From the Brand: An oil-free, high definition, high performance foundation that stays all day and delivers a flawless finish. Stila's Stay All Day® Foundation and Concealer has a unique oxygen technology that leaves skin hydrated, nourished and helps prevent premature aging.

This dreamy formula glides onto skin and immediately goes to work to help minimize skin blemishes and imperfection. It is also enriched with an array of skin loving ingredients, and unlike other long-wearing formulas, includes a synergistic combination of botanical extracts that have been shown to help enhance circulation and blood flow, resulting in an increase of oxygen being delivered to the skin and letting skin breathe. These innovative extracts also help to slow down the onset of premature aging and promote healthy, hydrated and vibrant skin.

This multi-tasker also contains a creamy, full coverage concealer cleverly hidden inside the cap (along with a handy mirror) that instantly hides blemishes, dark circles and age spots creating an impeccable canvas for flawless makeup application.

Spatula and brush included for ease of application!

 

Retails for: $44

 

Where to Buy: Ulta stores and online, Sephora stores and online, Stila Cosmetics Online

 

My Thoughts: When I first purchased this foundation, I absolutely loved it.  The convenience of having the matching concealer in the top is pure genius.  However, I don't like the applicator "scoop" inside the main bottle to remove the product.  I think it is a giant opportunity for bacteria to get into the bottle and corrupt the foundation.  The formula itself is super thick, but very creamy and emollient.  It's easy to remove too much, which is a waste.  Once you get used to how much you need, it's a really great foundation though.  It's super pigmented, so a little goes a long way, and it can be thinned down with moisturizer to extend the life of the bottle.  It does last all day long, at least 12 hours, but it's not transfer resistant.  When I would talk on my cell phone when wearing this foundation, I'd find it all over the screen when I was finished.  (Not too much of a detractor for me honestly, since I think that's just a normal drawback of wearing makeup to begin with.)  All this being said, I do have other foundations that are a lighter coverage without the "work" of buffing it all out to a natural finish (it can look cakey if you're using too much) that I like better, and those come with an easy to use pump.  This is my go-to foundation when I'm having a really bad skin day, like with redness and breakouts, etc, but it's not what I reach for on an every-day basis. 

 

Final Verdict:  Would I purchase this again?  Maybe, after I've used up everything else that I have already.

 

**Disclaimer: As with all my product reviews, I was not paid by the cosmetic company to provide feedback or review/promote their products.  All the opinions expressed in this article are my own.  These items were purchased with my own money.