Make Up For Ever Foundation Reviews: HD & MATTE

Every year when winter comes I start to update my wardrobe and my color palettes to get ready for the weather to get colder and my skin to get increasingly more pale and dry. Recently, I went to get my favorite brand of foundation and it was no where to be found, so I asked the ladies at Sephora to help match me up with a good product for Fall and ended up trying two foundations by Make Up For Ever.

At first I went home with MAKE UP FOR EVER Mat Velvet + Matifying Foundation. This foundation comes in 16 shades and I matched up so perfectly to shade 25 that I ignored the warning that is was for oily skin and decided to give it a try anyways. Buyer beware, pay attention to the bottle. This foundation because it is a MATTE foundation does not work for dry skin. It has great coverage and colors, but it stuck to all my dry patches leaving the look on my skin like I had on a badly set powder and clumped to any rough patches. But, if you have normal, or even more oily skin this is a perfect foundation for you!

 

So, for the first time in my life I returned something to Sephora and went back on the hunt. I really wanted to try Laura Mercier's foundation for dry skin, but they didn't have any shades light enough, so I decided to give Make Up For Ever another run and purchased MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Invisible Cover Foundation. This foundation comes in a miraculous 26 shades and if you go to the website it will indicate for each shade what undertone is matches up with. I am a yellow undertone, so I went with color 117. I would say this foundation is a medium coverage and almost lives up to being invisible. Again, anytime you have dry skin medium to full coverage foundations are bound to show up a little on dry areas, but it is definitely more dewy than the matte foundation and I like the overall effect. It is a small bottle and costs in Canada about 40CAD, so I don't know if its the best bang for your buck, but I will stick with it and see how long it lasts both on my face throughout the day AND time wise over the next couple months.

 

 



 



Better Brows: Make Up Forever Aqua Brow Product Review

I am always on the search for ways to improve my too blonde too short eyebrows. Eyebrows can really make or break the overall look of your face because of how they frame your eyes and draw attention to the center of the face. After years of using pencils, I ended up with two favorite brands Lancôme & Too Faced, but hated dishing out 40 dollars on a pencil that I had to sharpen almost everyday and went through them far too much. So, I decided to try a wax powder kit and really liked the effect of Benefits Brow Zings. Brow Zings is a great product if you have the time and patience to prefect the look you're going for, but when I work early mornings I was ending up with too bushy/too waxy brows and went back on the hunt for the perfect brow product and ended up with this dream boat of a brow gel....

Make Up Forever Aqua Brow comes in four different shades and is the best brow product I have ever used. It goes on so easily to create the perfect look and stays put all day. It claims to be waterproof & I'm not sure that I would go that far because it does wash off really easily, but it creates the look of full brows and is completely smudge proof. I use the small brushes from the Brow Zings kit to apply it because they are so small that they deposit the perfect amount of product on the brows & I also finish the look off using the powder from the Brow Zings kit over top of the Aqua Brow gel to darken and soften the look. Aqua Brow is only 20 dollars and Sephora workers state it should last about one year, so we will see about that. Either way, its half the price of the pencils, it gives the perfect look, and stays on all day! I'll be using this product for a long time to come!
Suggested Use:

 -Using an angled brush, pretend there is a vertical line from side of your nose (you can take a pencil & line it up beside your nose to get an idea of where the imaginary line will start on both sides) and start to fill your brow in from that line outwards, continuing towards the arch of the brow and then make a thinner line down to the tail.
-Fill in sparse areas and blend. Top with powder to set if you wish.

Tip: When you first start to fill in your brows you might think you look like a werewolf, or fear that you look like you have a unibrow.. it is normal to feel that way if you aren't used to it, but do not worry you do not look that way and any time you need brow inspiration please look at top model Cara Delevingne and her amazing brows.

Product Review & What To Do: Maybelline Highlighting Concealer

I usually by-pass concealers in drug stores because I’ve been such an avid user of the Lise Watier Portfolio conceal wheel  (that I talked about here) that I don’t tend to look at other products, but I couldn't help but notice that Maybelline has this little gem of concealer & highlighter in one! I haven’t used it too many times, so I’m not sure how long it will last and I don’t generally like twist up products for that reason, but otherwise I’m a little in love with this product. HAC-ing (highlighting & contouring) is the foundation for every make up routine and this concealer blends perfectly, gives the right amount of highlight) and provides good coverage for under eyes as well. I'm a fan! 

After contouring with a darker shade of concealer & applying foundation I apply the highlighting concealer in all the areas I drew with blue (under eyes in a pie shape, nose/forehead in a tree shape, chin, and above the tail of the brow: 

Product Review: Thermafuse Heatsmart Serum

Product Review: Thermafuse Heatsmart Dry Oil Treatment

I recently purchased Thermafuse Heatsmart Dry Oil Serum & am so in love. With three essential oils in it, this stuff really is happy hour for your hair. If you are travelling this little bottle, a brush, and dryer is really all you need. First off, it smells like cotton candy and although the scent doesn’t last the benefits of it do. Unlike Moroccan oils, which are great for thick hair, this oil isn’t overkill for my fine hair. I love the bottle because most oils give me too much product and I have to wipe it off my hands and waste so much of it, but with this bottle one pump gives me the perfect amount!  Also, it tames fly-aways and frizz without weighing my hair down or making it look too sleek or greasy. Another great benefit is that it doubles as a heat protector as well as a eliminating frizz, so even though it’s costly (a small bottle cost me 22.50 CAD), it really is two products in one! It’s the first oil I’ve ever really loved, so I think it will be a keeper in my go-to beauty routine. To Use: Apply to damp or dry hair. Use directly as a treatment or finisher.

Read more: http://www.thermafuse.com/heatsmart/dry-oil-treatment/