Giorgio Armani Maestro Fusion Makeup Octinoxate Sunscreen SPF 15 in Color 5.5

By Gladys in Giorgio Armani 0 Comment
Overall Rating

This is my new favorite foundation – I am so in love with it! It’s perfect, perfect, perfect. So let me tell you about it. It was designed as a complexion perfector and it truly does perfect my complexion. The foundation provides lightweight coverage. According to the description, it was inspired by super organza, one of the lightest fabrics in the world. When I apply it, I don’t feel that I am wearing any foundation at all – for the first time in my life. I compare it to other foundations I’ve had before and have now (i.e., Chanel, Dior) and none of them are even close by the way Armani Fusion foundation feels on my face and miraculously transforms it. It also has SPF 15 which is especially great for summer time.

Giorgio Armani Maestro Fusion foundation costs $64. You get standard amount of high-end foundation for this price: 30 ml or 1 fl.oz. This foundation comes in a glass bottle with a glass pipette. Packaging is very cute and convenient to use.

Ultra-thin suspension

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Chanel Lait Confort Cream Cleansing Milk Comfort + Anti-Pollution Face & Eyes

By Gladys in Chanel, Face Makeup 0 Comment
Overall Rating

Chanel has been doing much better in terms of makeup and skincare products in the last few years. Price-wise it’s very similar to Dior and Guerlain (not skincare products though). First I fell in love with Chanel eye makeup remover. Next I decided to try cleansing milk. Before I used Dior cleansing milk and I can say that I like Chanel much more.

The bottle of Chanel cleansing milk costs $45. The bottle is pretty big – 150 ml or 5 fl.oz. This is a very gentle but effective makeup remover for sensitive skin. It has a nice but rather strong smell: I like it, however, if you generally don’t like strong flowery smells in your skincare products, try it first at Nordstrom (or Bloomingdale’s). Packaging is great: the pump is convenient to use and never gets clogged. Black-and-white bottle is simple and elegant and looks good on my bathroom counter top.

Chanel Lait Confort cleansing milk has amazing silky texture: after I use it, my skin is soft and velvety. Unlike other makeup removers, Chanel cleansing milk does not irritate my skin: it doesn’t get red, there are no breakouts, no stinging. Sometimes I don’t even use night cream after I clean my face because it is that gentle and moisturizing. Lait Confort’s moisturizing qualities are due to Arum Lily Extract. Although it’s gentle it cleanses skin deeply and thoroughly: apparently, it’s all thanks to de-pollution qualities of Tulip Tree extract. I don’t know anything about tulip trees, but it’s extract works!

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Shiseido Instant Eye and Lip Makeup Remover

By Gladys in Eye Makeup, Shiseido 0 Comment
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I bought this makeup remover because I wanted to find a cheaper alternative to expensive eye makeup removers like Dior and Chanel. I usually like Shiseido, especially their sunscreen products but this makeup remover proved to be quite a bit disappointing.

Shiseido Eye and Lip Makeup Remover costs $27 for 4.2 fl.oz. For example, Chanel eye makeup is $34 for 3.4 fl.oz. So, at first glance, the purchase seemed like a good deal.

Shiseido makeup remover comes in a simple plastic transparent bottle. It’s liquid. There are a couple of good things about it: it is non-irritating (doesn’t sting like some other eye makeup removers), does not cause me breakouts, feels gentle and non-drying. Shiseido makeup remover does work instantly, as it is claimed: first you need to shake it so the solution emulsifies, then pour a little bit of the remover on a cotton pad, and wipe your eyelid with it. Most of the makeup (eyeshadow and mascara, for example) will come off immediately, but some traces of it, especially waterproof mascara, will still be there. So, normally I need two cotton pads soaked in the makeup remover to take makeup off one eyelid. I also use it to remove makeup from my eyebrows – it works. However, you really need to spend quite a lot of the product to remove all traces of eye makeup. I have this remover for a bit over a month and I only have about a 1/3 of a bottle left. Usually a makeup remover (smaller size) lasts much longer for me. I am not happy about it but it’s not my main issue with this product.

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Make Up For Ever Pro Sculpting Duo in 1 Pink Beige & tarte Slenderizer Contour Brush

By Gladys in Face Makeup, MAKE UP FOR EVER, tarte 0 Comment
Overall Rating

This is a relatively new product by MUFE. It came out in the spring and I bought it almost right away. However, with the move into a new house (yay!) I got to writing about it only now.

This sculpting duo is a compact containing a highlight shade and a contour shade, which really is a highly pigmented bronzer. Highlight shade is for enhancing your best features. The contour shade is for contouring your face and correcting features you are not happy with . The compact costs $39 but I think the price is pretty reasonable because usually I have to buy a bronzer and a highlighter separately, and the total price for both is between $50 and $80. Example: Dior bronzer ($50) + Benefit High Beam highlighter ($26) = $76.

The duo comes in a classic MUFE compact – black, sleek, simple. Not very elegant, but functional and convenient. The compact has a nice mirror which I use all the time. There is no brush or any type of applicator that comes with the compact. I use a Tarte brush (I will talk about it in detail below).

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Edward Bess Ultra Dewy Complexion Perfector in Medium

By Gladys in Edward Bess, Face Makeup 0 Comment
Overall Rating

Edward Bess is not a famous or very popular brand but I am really fond of their products. They are expensive and usually only Neiman Marcus carries this brand but from time to time you can find Edward Bess cosmetics at Sephora or Amazon at a very affordable prices (sometimes 50% off!).

Complexion Perfector is my favorite product by Edward Bess. Complexion Perfector is something between a foundation, a BB cream and a tinted moisturizer and it got the best of all three. It gives coverage like foundation, hydrates like a moisturizer and gives you the natural glow like a good BB cream should. On Neiman Marcus its price is $56 which is pretty high in my opinion. I remember buying it on sale for about $30. However, there is plenty of the product in the tube and it should last you for a while (I bought mine two years ago and still haven’t finished it). So, $56 might not be so bad after all.

It comes in a simple plastic black tube. There is nothing particularly elegant about the packaging but it is good and sturdy. There are four colors available: Light, Tan, Medium and Deep. I use Medium. It looks a bit darker than my skin but when I apply it, it adapts to my complexion and sort of melts in. What I love about the Perfector particularly is that, unlike other BB creams (Dior BB Cream and NARS Tinted Moisturizer), it doesn’t give my skin that orange oompa-loompish undertone. The texture is nice: it’s a bit runny and that way it melts in with your skin faster and more naturally.

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Dolce & Gabbana The Lipstick Classic Cream Lipstick in Sassy 525

By Gladys in Dolce & Gabbana, Lips Makeup 0 Comment
Overall Rating

I bought this lipstick at Herald Square Macy’s (NYC) without knowing a single thing about D&G cosmetics – I just fell in love with the color and decided to try it. This lipstick is everything a classic lipstick should be: it’s packaging is beautiful, the color is bold and provoking, and it’s quality is superb.

D&G Classic Cream lipstick is not cheap — $33.50, but it is not ridiculously expensive either if we consider that we’re paying for the brand as much as we do for the product. For example, Tom Ford’s lipsticks cost $50. D&G pricing is comparable to Dior’s and Chanel’s. They are very similar in quality too.

Packaging is stunning: the tube is classic retro gold which reminds me of an image of an expensive lipstick from my childhood when I saw how divinely beautiful ladies in the movies applied carmine red on their lips. It’s also sturdy and feels quite good in hands – sleek and compact. The tube has “Dolce & Gabbana” engraved on it.

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MAC Prep + Prime Lash (Eyelash Primer)

By Gladys in Brand, Eye Makeup, MAC Cosmetics 0 Comment
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MAC eyelash primer is the second product I own by MAC. The first one is mascara (which I am in love with by the way). For a long time I haven’t paid much attention to MAC because they don’t sell their products at Sephora (I like to collect my Beauty Insider points there). However, I must admit I started appreciating MAC after I tried their mascara and primer.

This primer comes in a black tube with subtle shimmer. Packaging is pretty simple but nice: doesn’t feel cheap despite an affordable price tag of $17. My purchase of the primer was impulsive – I didn’t research it before – but, as it turned out, rather successful.

Like all other primers I owned before, this primer is white substance, something between paste and emulsion. The applicator is good: easy to use, helps separate eyelashes and cover every one of them. When you apply the primer, it dries to a semi-clear base. That was a bit confusing in the beginning because I thought I didn’t apply enough primer and therefore it was not visible. Later I figured it out. I like this feature because some of the other primers I used (Dior Lash Maximizer, for example) are so white when dried, it feels like you have to paint mascara over them thrice. Prep +Prime dries very quickly, so you can apply mascara in just a few seconds after the primer.

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Clinique Chubby Stick Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm (in Mega Melon, Broadest Berry, Curviest Caramel)

By Gladys in Clinique, Lips Makeup 0 Comment
Overall Rating

Clinique Chubby Sticks are moisturizing tinted lip balms. I bought four travel-size chubby sticks for just $25 – I think it was a pre-Christmas limited edition. Although you can’t get this deal anymore, three of four colors are sold individually in full sizes and are available on Sephora.

These chubby sticks are one of the most popular products by Clinique and I can see why. They are super convenient to use and carry around, inexpensive and, most importantly, are two in one – you can use a chubby stick both as a lip balm and a lipstick with a good color payoff.

I got these travel-size chubby sticks in four colors:

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Tony Moly Panda’s Dream Brightening Eye Base

By Gladys in Eye Makeup, Tony Moly 0 Comment
Overall Rating

I am in love with Tony Moly products. They are incredibly cute, inexpensive and good quality. Tony Moly has been slowly making its way to the U.S. market. Now you can see some of their products at Sephora and Urban Outfitters. However, I recommend buying Tony Moly from Amazon – it’s much cheaper. For example, Sephora sells the Eye Base for $12 plus tax plus shipping (unless you have VIB benefits) and it’s out of stock right now. Amazon sells it for $8.88, no tax and free shipping on Prime.

Panda’s Dream Brightening Eye Base is an eye serum base designed to help reduce the appearance of dark circles around eyes (Panda’s Effect J). I have a big problem with puffiness and dark circles, so I was pretty excited about this product.

Packaging of Eye Base is really, really cute. The tube is small, portable and shaped in a form of a little panda. The stick can easily fit in your purse and you can use it throughout the day to brighten your eyes. However, I usually use the base only in the morning when I apply my makeup – I’ll explain why in a second.

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Dior Addict Lip Polish

By Gladys in Dior, Lips Makeup 0 Comment
Overall Rating

I think of Dior Lip Polish as a big brother of Dior Lip Glow Color Reviver Balm, one of my favorite lip products ever — I even took pictures of them together! Lip Polish is a lip primer and a lip polish that comes in universal sheer baby pink color (exactly the same pink that Lip Glow comes in). However, while Lip Glow works as a balm and a moisturizer, Lip Polish is more like an everyday hydrating lip gloss.

Lip Polish is expensive — $33, and honestly, I am not sure if such high price is justified. I am a big fan of Dior products and almost always think they are worth every penny I pay for them but not in this case. Let me tell you why.

The tube is very pretty. It’s made of clear plastic with Dior logo and has a silver cap. A spin-on applicator is nice too: not too big, not too small. Better than the one for Dior Addict Fluid Stick. The description on Sephora calls this applicator “revolutionary” – well, I think it’s a bit of exaggeration. However, this applicator does do its job right: it picks up the right amount of product and rolls it evenly on the lips.

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