Garnier Skin Renew BB Cream

This is the first BB cream that I tried, ever. I automatically liked it. Everyone else hates it. I don't really know why. I have since tried a sample of the Stila HD BB cream that I received in my Birchbox, but I don't like it more than this. I think this one has the same amount of coverage, a more pleasant smell, and I like that it has SPF in it which the Stila one doesn't. SPF is pretty important to me this time of year. I've been trying to make sure I either use a moisturizer or foundation with SPF in it every day. This is both, go figure.

Hopefully you can see from the swatch that it matches my skin pretty well. It applies sheer to medium coverage. People say it's just a glorified tinted moisturizer but I disagree. This gives me much fuller coverage than even my Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer. Coverage is important to me as I have very red cheeks; I feel comfortable wearing this out of the house with the amount of coverage it gives me.

Am I missing out terribly when it comes to higher end BB creams? Please let me know! Tell me what your favorite BB cream is or if you've used this one, let me know what you think!

Urban Decay Cosmopolitan Lip Gloss

Hey everyone! So I picked this up on sale a while ago and I never got around to reviewing it! Apparently Urban Decay had a line of glosses inspired by drinks! I thought this was adorable (remember I'm huge into gimmicky products and I'm not afraid to admit it) and because I'm 21, I thought it was appropriate!

The gloss itself is a nice color and consistency but there are some big flaws. I guess it is supposed to smell like a Cosmo. Now I'll admit that I am the most boring 21 year old alive. I rarely drink. I'll have Margaritas with my dad but I don't go to bars or anything like that. I really don't have a reason to. I don't need to pick up men because I have a simply wonderful boyfriend who I have been dating for 2 years, and my two best friends are under age so I can't help them pick up men. Anyways, my point is that I haven't ever tried a Cosmo so I don't know what they smell like. I supposed if I smelled a Cosmo and it smelled like the lipgloss I would change my opinion. For now, the gloss smells like bubbles to me. Bubbles as in the $2 bottles of bubbles that you buy in a drug store for a kid in the summer time when you are trying to think of ways to keep them occupied. I really can't get over the scent. I apply the gloss and as if I got into the TARDIS (Doctor Who reference for all you poor souls who haven't experienced DW yet) and was transported back to my childhood. Bubbles aren't exactly something you want to apply to your lips, so the experience is kinda negative for me.

ANYWAYS, (I'm in a tangent mood tonight) the other flaw with the product is that when you pull the doe foot out of the tube there is never enough product on it. Now my lips aren't very big, but I'm finding myself having to dip the wand in the tube at least three times to cover my lips all the way.

I thought maybe I had a defective Bubble-smelling, poor-dispensing gloss, but my best friend Becca has the same one and hers is the same. Oh well, I'll keep wearing it and see if it grows on me!

Let me know what you think!

Barbie Loves Stila Smudge Pot in Cobalt Clutch

I eyed this product for a long time before I bit the bullet and finally bought it. The funny part is that it was on sale the entire time I was eying it for only $8! Seeing as how Smudge Pots retail for $20, I'm not really sure why I waited... Oh yea, the color. I was both fascinated and terrified of the electric blue. Instead of calling it "Cobalt Clutch" they could have called it "The Most Beautiful And Impractical Color Ever."

As you can probably see from my swatch, it swatches more on the sheer side (buildable coverage) and it is a little blotchy at times. I would suggest wearing a primer with this color because it smudged and creased on my pretty easily when I wore it as a liner (I am still afraid to wear it as a lid color).

Do you have this color? What do you think of it? Let me know!

Colorful June Day 22

Hey everyone! Today I tackled a color that I have always been wary of: bright red. As it turns out, when you've been wearing fuchsia lips around town, red no longer seems like a threat. In fact, red is starting to feel like a down to earth natural color! I had college orientation today so I didn't want to look too crazy!

I used Wet N Wild berry red lip liner and topped it with a Revlon Lip Butter in Candy Apple. Very fun!

Let me know what you think!

Colorful June Days 16-21

I keep saying that I am going to make more of an effort to post every day, then I don't! Anyways, here are the past six days of Colorful June.

 

On day 16 I used the Lancôme color design quad in Pretty Pretty for my look. The palette features a very pretty shimmery pink color that looks amazing when used with a light hand! It looked nice and it was appropriate for my sister's graduation!

On day 17 I went to a MAC pro class with the theme Fashion Forward. We learned some new tricks and one of them was how to do a perfect winged eye. I made it pretty intense, but as you can see, when my eye is open it is barely noticeable. I paired it with a bright pink lip.

On day 18 I wore two bright green shades with a brown in the crease. I also wore my new MAC lipstick in Viva Glam V, a color that is said to be flattering on everyone. The major difference here is that I wore false lashes for the very first time. What do you guys think?

On day 19 I wore a pretty neutral eye look with a Revlon Moon Drops lipstick for my bright lip.

On day 20 I wore a turquoise look from a Wet N Wild palette. I also paired it with a winged liner and my Viva Glam V lipstick. It was very fun!

Today I only got one picture. I was outside filming a video and I accidentally took this. The only make up I'm wearing is a Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Color in Lovesick, liner, and falsies. As you can see, I'm wearing a pretty funky headband. That came from my last birchbox! The reason I don't have any other pictures is that it was about 97 out. My mom came home while I was filming and we installed some air conditioners. By the time we were done, we were so overheated that we went swimming and then no more make-up.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!

Colorful June Days 11-15

Sorry guys, this is going to be a long post! I've been slacking on posting lately and I plan to change this!

On day 11 I did a turquoise look with the Urban Decay 15th anniversary palette. I managed to make my lashes blue with my Urban Decay shadow pencil in electric. It was pretty fun!

On day 12 I did something I usually never would do. I used five colors from the Urban Decay 15th anniversary palette. Unfortunately the camera didn't pick up the vivid pink I used on my lids, but I assure you, it was bright! The funny thing is, when I open my eyes all the way you can't see my lids!

On day 13 I used the NYX butt naked palette and my Revlon lip butter in Lollipop. It was pretty fun!

On day 14 I started off with thick liner on my top lid and my MAC Sail La Vie lipstick (the bright orange one) on my lips. I then bought a Clinique Chubby stick in Pudgy Peony and proceeded to wear that for the rest of the day. Sorry about the lighting!

Today I did something way out of my comfort zone. I never ever ever wear blue eyeshadow, but that's exactly what I did! I even wore it to work! I used the Duwop Blue Eyes palette for this. When I bought this palette I didn't realize that it was cream eyeshadow. It's pretty difficult to work with, but I think I did ok.

Let me know what you think!

Colorful June Days 9 & 10

Hi everybody! Here are my pics for this weekend!

Yesterday I went sailing all day. I got a little sunburned despite using copious amounts of sunscreen oh well. I also swam quite a bit as we were frequently becalmed. The water was frigid but I'm a fish so it doesn't matter to me! My hair was pretty wavy and wind blown when we got back on land!

 

Aside from the obvious sunburn, I used the DuWop Green Eyes palette for my eye look and I used a Body Shop Delipcious lipstick on my lips. Some of the flush was also from drinking wine on the boat. If I have the tiniest bit of alcohol I turn bright red!

Today I worked all day, then got dinner with my boyfriend (it was our unofficial two year anniversary!), and then I hung out with my best friend, Rebecca. I didn't really feel like doing anything with my face because of my sunburn, so I went virtually make-up less except for my lips.

 

On my lips I put the Revlon Lip Butter in Lollipop. It is a fun bright color that is perfect for summer! Holy freckles!

Please comment and subscribe! Let me know what colors you are wearing for June!

Hyped Products?

Hey guys! I was watching beauty videos on YouTube the other day (I do this every day pretty much) and I heard someone mention that she likes to buy products other than the ones hyped on YouTube. That got me thinking, is there a list of the most hyped products on YouTube? After Google yielded no results, I decided that the only thing to do would be for me to make my own list.

So here's where you come in. I'm compiling my own list and I have my friend Becca helping me out. I know that we will miss things though. I'm asking people to comment with products that they hear about on YouTube all the time. When I finish the list to my standards, I will post it and the maybe try to do some sort of series around it.

Now what I mean about hyped products, are products that it seems every beauty guru has and loves. Some examples? NARS Orgasm blush, NARS Laguna bronzer, Benefit They're Real Mascara... Anything you hear them rant and rave about, I want to know what it is!

Thanks guys! I look forward to see what you notice!

Colorful June days 5-8

I've been really bad about posting and I'm sorry. My only excuse is that I've been getting up early for work and kind of skimping on makeup, then forgetting to post later. Hopefully this will sort of make up for it.

Here are a few of the looks I have done the past couple days:

The color didn't show up perfectly with this picture, but I did this look with the Urban Decay 15th anniversary palette.

 

This look will be featured soon in a $20 make-up video. It's not my best, but I was only allowed to use $20 worth of stuff! All the products used were Wet N Wild. I also didn't use a proper mirror for most of application.

 

Finally this is what I wore today. It was a covergirl palette with neon green, pink, and white that my friend Becca and I found on sale for $1.29. The pigmentation is really bad and the amount of color shown is after layering the colors over and over. As a colorful look it's hardly noticeable!

Stay tuned for more tomorrow. I promise I will post something fun!

Colorful June Day 4

 

Hey everyone! Please excuse my cheek, am ultra red today! Today I was lazy so I didn't wear make up for most of the day. I put this on pretty much just for this post.

I used my stila smudge pot in cobalt clutch to line my eyes and then I added extra wings with urban decay shadow pencil in electric. I then used Matisse lipstick in Ecstasy. This look is really fun but can also be casual.

 

Let me know what you think!

Colorful June Day 3

Hey everyone! So my look today was originally pink and purple eyeshadow with coral lipstick. I still have the pink and purple eyeshadow on, but I ended up dramatically changing my lips.

It's hard to see in the picture, but on my lids I have expensive pink and in my crease I have trax from MAC. Fun fact, those were my first MAC shades EVER.

So what ended up happening is that I went to MAC for the launch of the Hey Sailor collection. I don't know if you guys are aware of this, but when MAC launches large collections they give people free makeovers to promote the products. I ended up buying three lip products from the line, two of which I ended up wearing all day!

Let me know what you think!

Show Your School Colors!

As you may know from my previous post, I graduated with an Associates Degree yesterday. I thought it would be fun to do a post showing the colors of various schools on my friend's eyes. Now to do these looks, I primarily used the ELF 100 shadow palette which has SO MANY COLORS. On my friend Leslie, I used the Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadow in Too Cool as a base as none of the whites in the palette were opaque enough.

First up we have my sister Maddy. The colors of our local High School are green and blue. I thought this would be a fun way for her to show school spirit at her sports games and pep rallies. As you can see, I used blue all over her lid and green in the crease and outer corner. I didn't blend the two shadows much as I wanted them to stand out individually.

My best friend Becca attends the University of Guelph in Ontario Canada. Their school colors are gold, red, and black. I lined her eyes heavily with black, covered her lids in the gold color, and blended red into the crease. This gave her a pretty fiery look, perfect for school spirit (or Gryffindor fans).

This patriotic look was the most difficult to come up with. My best friend Leslie attends American University in Washington D.C. When making half an eye red and the other half blue didn't work, I gave her a look similar to the one on Becca, but I lined her eyes with the blue. The Maybelline Color Tattoo really helped to give her eyes the patriotic white color. Not only is this look perfect for her school, it could also be used for any of the patriotic holidays. Only a month until July 4th people!

And finally me! Instead of doing the school I just graduated from, I did the colors of the University of Vermont, the school that I will be attending in the fall. This is probably the most wearable look of all of them because they colors are much more neutral.

Now I have a challenge for you guys. Send me a picture of your eyes done up in your school colors. I don't care if you are graduated or just starting out, I want to see! Give me your information and I will do a post with all the looks I collect! My email is themakeupexplorer@gmail.com.

Colorful June Day 2

Hey everyone! So today was an exciting day for me, I graduated! In honor of the occasion, I wore tangerine lips! The color in the picture is a little toned down but I promise you in person they were bright!

 

There is the top half of the dress I wore. I thought I would share it with you all since I am now the proud recipient of an Associates Degree. I have tons of college left, but today was pretty exciting!

On my lips I wore Sephora + Pantone Tangerine Tango lipstick with Revlon color burst lipgloss in Papaya over it. On my eyes I wore some pretty neutral shades from the Balm Nude 'Tude palette. My cheeks are naturally like that, even through my foundation...

Anyways, if you have any comments or questions don't hesitate to leave them below!