Laura Mercier: Tinted Moisturizer

Ever have one of those days where your skin just needs a breather? Or you need to be out and about but don’t want to pile a whole heap of foundation on your skin? Well, I feel like I've pretty much found the solution (that works for me at least). 

Laura Mercier Oil Free Tinted Moisturizer

The thing about me is that I have extremely dry skin, so as soon as I put any form of makeup on my face, it immediately dries me out and gets crazy annoying. I’m talking so irritated that I feel the need to scratch my entire face off (a bit dramatic?).

 Mostly I will deal with it because I do want the full coverage that these foundations provide, but for days where I just need a little bit of help to even out my skin tone, no way is my usual foundation going to cut it. 

Yes, I know there are BB creams or even light weight foundations, but personally these have never really worked for me. No matter what, I still feel them very heavy and uncomfortable on my skin, with no real outcome. 

I’ve heard for a while that Laura Mercier has probably one of the best solutions to this problem—their Tinted Moisturizer. But of course I was not so quick to believe it, until that was I made my way to Sephora and had a little test of my own. This stuff actually is amazing! To be honest, with the steep price tag of RM169 I was hoping it wouldn't live up to my expectations, just  so I wouldn't have to fork out that amount of money.  Unfortunately (or fortunately for my skin) I absolutely love it! It is so light weight and literally just feels like a moisturizer absorbing into your skin- except with the benefit of some coverage to even everything out.  

I picked up the  Oil Free Tinted Moisturizer in the shade "Tawny" (swatched below). I feel this shade matches me pretty well, but considering the nature of this product, it will pretty much blend into and adapt to your skin tone- which I love! (provided you pick up the round-about correct shade).

Laura Mercier Oil Free Tinted Moisturizer: Tawny

Pros

• Light weight- Perfect for those lazy days where you don't want to put on a lot of makeup, but still want that tinted glow
• Natural finish- Lets your natural skin peep through, so it actually looks like skin- just better ;)
• Protects you- It does have SPF 20 in it, so actually protects you from the harmful sun rays

Cons

• Scent- It smells like straight up sunscreen. If you were blind-folded, you would 100% think you were applying sunscreen onto your face. But hey, some people do enjoy that scent- me, not so much.
• Coverage- Like I said earlier, it has very light coverage (well it is a tinted moisturizer- not a foundation) so may not cover as many imperfections as you would like. Personally I have an issue with dark circles, so on days I want to put in an extra effort I will go in with some concealer over top problem areas and I'm good to go :) 

Hope this was helpful!

♡ 

MeNow Long Lasting Lip Gloss

Hey guys I'm back!

And going to jump right into a quick review of these new MeNow Long Lasting Lip Glosses I recently picked up off eBay.

Firstly, I need to start out by saying these are in no way a lip gloss, so I have absolutely no idea why they are marketed that way. They are definitely more of a matte lip cream which do dry completely matte and literally don't budge (very comparable to the Makeup Forever Aqua Rouge Lip Colors). So guess they nailed the 'long lasting' portion of it's name- the lip gloss part however, not so much. Not that I'm complaining as  love me some matte lips!

They come in a variety of 36 colors, mostly all opaque and matte with the occasional two or three that do have some shimmer in them (still of a matte finish). I picked up 20 of these as I did feel that some of the colors were somewhat similar, and therefore not necessary for my collection.

Here are swatches of the shades that I picked up:

As you can see from the swatches above, these are super pigmented and dry completely matte (two of my favorite things)!

Pros:

• Completely matte!

• Super long lasting - And I mean like eat and drink anything you want, its staying put!

• Great pigmentation - For the most part (keep in mind that lighter shades, for example #14 will require a couple more swipes in order to increase opacity, unlike the deeper shades which are pretty intense upon the first swipe. 
• Easy application - The shape of the doe foot applicator as well as the long wand allow for precise application, making it real easy to carve out the perfect lip without the use of a liner.

• Good range of wearable colors- All the basic shades any girl could ask for; from nudes, pinks and reds to purples and browns- pretty much got you covered.

• Price- Super affordable! I got mine off eBay, but it did take a while to get all the way to me here in Malaysia. Note that it did come in the stipulated time and the seller was lovely :)

Cons:

• Drying on the lips- Because these do dry completely matte pretty fast, they tend to dry out your lips, and you will definitely feel that when you first put it on. You get used to the feeling after a few minutes but I definitely recommend applying some lip balm before hand if you hate the feeling- I dont really mind so much.

• Tend to peel and crack if over-applied- This is just a tip not to over apply as the product will start to crack on your lip. This happens when the product has dried and you add another coat on top of it. Because of this I recommend you work pretty quickly. Put on a couple of coats before it dries. Keeping this in mind will definitely save you removing everything and reapplying- trust me, I've been there!

• More adventurous colors- This may be down to personal preference, but i would love to see more bold colors such as  blue, orange, deeper purples or even black! I just think it'd be so fun to play around with more bolder colors in the complete matte finish this product offers. But hey, that's just me :)

Check out my video for some swatches :)

Hope this was helpful!

Would love to hear your thoughts on this product or if you keen on picking some up :)

P.S How cute is the packaging!? Reminds me of little test tubes! :)

♡

Let's Paint the Town Red (...or any dang colour we feel)

Wet n Wild Mega Last Lip Colours ♡ 

Yes, I know this probably seems like a pretty strange post seeing as these Wet n Wild Mega Last Lip Colours have been out forEVER! But  seriously—I just can’t get over how amazing these are! Each time I pick up one of these marvelous creations­­, I fall more and more in love.  Now, I’m definitely not one to rave about something I’m not that into, so you can pretty much imagine the level of excitement seeping through me as I type this.

At this point, there are about 26 colors in the range. I own 12 of these as of right now (swatched below), but definitely planning on picking up a couple more (I want them all- HELP!).

I could basically write out an entire essay on why these little pops of colour will liven up your daily makeup looks as much as it has mine, but I ain’t gonna do that. As they say, pictures speak a thousand words—so here we go.

Left to Right: Sand Storm, Rose Bud, Wine Room, Smokin' Hot Pink, Mauve Outta Here, Don't Blink Pink

Left to Right: Sand Storm, Rose Bud, Wine Room, Smokin' Hot Pink, Mauve Outta Here, Don't Blink Pink

Left to Right: 24 Carrot Gold, Purty Persimmon, Coral-ine, Stoplight Red, Cherry Picking, Sugar Plum Fairy

Left to Right: 24 Carrot Gold, Purty Persimmon, Coral-ine, Stoplight Red, Cherry Picking, Sugar Plum Fairy

Sand Storm: A really soft brown nude. Perfect nude for darker skin tones.

Rose Bud: A very muted brown-pink. For days you want to go brown but still need your little splash of pink in there.

Wine Room: A very toned down purplish pink, with a dash of brown. 

Smokin' Hot Pink: A rusty dark/ hot pink. 

Mauve Outta Here: A very pigmented and bright version of a pale blue based purple.

Don't Blink Pink: A bright hot pink!

24 Carrot Gold: Bright but wearable orange, for those 'feeling adventurous' days.

Purty Persimmon: A bright red-ish orange.

Coral-ine: A pink-ish orange, with a little bit of coral thrown in to even things out.

Stoplight Red: : A dark, but somehow bright, stand out red. 

Cherry Picking: A very deep plummy (cherry?) pink-ish red.

Sugar Plum Fairy: A very deep and dark purple. Love it!

P.S One that is missing here and  my absolute favoourite is Cinnamon Spice, which I have unfortunately misplaced (not going to say lost because I mentally will not accept that). It is basically a dupe for Diva by MAC  and I cannot tell you how much it saddens me that I cant find it :'(

PROS:
1. Price point-  These are so affordable, you honestly feel like you are getting such value for money. The quality and amount of product you actually get is incredible. I have alternated between these 12 colours pretty much everyday for about 9 months, and they are still going strong!

2. Color range- They come in a variety of different shades that will suit basically every mood and complement any outfit. From pale pinks,  neutral nudes and soft browns, to bold reds, bright oranges and vampy purples- this range seems to have it all.

3. MATTE- So this may not be such a plus point for everybody, but for me, being the huge matte girl that I am—this is perfect. I find it extremely hard to find lipsticks that are not only in the bold and pigmented shades I love, but also of a complete matte finish. These wet n wild lip colours definitely check both boxes for me.

4. Formulation- In hearing 'matte' one would automatically assume a drying product, however these lipsticks are far from that. They still seem to keep the lips feeling- I wouldn't go as far as to say moisturized- but they definitely don't dry your lips out. The product glides on upon application and pretty much stays put without an uncomfortable sensation  (personally speaking of course). 

5. Longevity- This point could pretty much be a pro or con. They last a reasonably long amount of time (on average of five hours for me), but seeing as they are called 'mega last' you would be expecting something like an entire day right- too much to ask? They manage to stay in place when I eat pretty basic things using a fork or drinking through a straw, but throw a burger at me and they pretty much disappear, leaving somewhat of a stain behind. Then again, this could probably be down to the way a devour my food and forget about my lipstick all together....

CONS:
1. Packaging- This may be the only con I can actually think of for this product, but it is a pretty big one for me. I absolutely cannot stand the packaging. This is mainly because the product doesn't fully turn down completely in the tube, so when you put the lid on you have to be extremely careful in that you don't slice the actual lipstick. This can be kinda annoying, especially when the entire lid is covered in lipstick smears (who has time to clean all that jazz). This issue is fine once you have already used a lot of the product (guilty), because by that point, the lipstick will fit nicely in the actual case, so crisis averted I suppose. 

I think the main reason I’m so in love these are because they are such value for money. It’s—get this—USD$3 (+/-RM10) per pop! And for such good quality too, so I'm willing to look past the fail in packaging.
So if you’re looking to add a little splash of color to your looks, make sure you pick some of these up. Promise, you won’t regret it :)

♡