Review: Concealers

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a while, I have been slaving away at university. I decided I would take the time to do a concealer review, but then I had a better idea! This is a review and comparison of EVERY CONCEALER I OWN!

The concealers I'm going to talk about are CoverGirl TrueMatch, CoverGirl + Olay concealer stick, Revlon Photoready concealer, Maybelline Age Rewind, L'Oreal Perfect Match, Benefit's Lemon Aid, and Vichy solid concealer. I have only tried the lightest shade in all of these products.

CoverGirl TrueMatch: This is a liquid concealer with low-medium coverage. I really like this one, and I used to use it a lot because it's not too thick. It matches my skin tone really well, and doesn't feel heavy! I often pair it with the CoverGirl foundation from the same line.

CoverGirl + Olay: This is a concealer stick that I've heard a lot of good things about. Personally, I find it a bit dry for my skin type. However, it does give you decent medium coverage, and is not overly drying for a concealer stick. It's just not my favourite.

Revlon Photoready: This is my favourite concealer stick! Feels less dry than the CoverGirl + Olay, and it matches my skin tone really well. Provides medium coverage, and doesn't feel to heavy on your skin! If you're going for slightly more coverage than a liquid concealer, this does the job!

Maybelline Age Rewind: This is a dark circle eraser, which means it's a light concealer with illuminating properties, and it helps cancel out red and purple tones under the eyes. Personally, I love this concealer. So much that I use it all over my face! It's really light and provides just enough coverage to get rid of minor red areas or small pimples. For someone with no acne problems, this concealer works great for the whole face, and really helps wake up the eyes.

L'Oreal Perfect Match: To be honest, I was really disappointed. This is a liquid concealer that has a brush dispenser. The idea of it sounds really convenient, but the concealer dries up on the brush. This concealer is very drying, and has an orange tone. It got chunky and gross from staying on the brush, and it wouldn't come out evenly. I wouldn't recommend this product to anyone.

Benefit Lemon Aid: This is a yellow concealer made for covering dark under eye circles. For the price, I don't really think it's worth it, but it does help cancel out purple tones really well if you have bad under eye circles. The texture is really nice, and it goes on well.

Vichy concealer: This stuff is very drying, but extremely high coverage. If you have really bad acne, acne scars, or any injury (cut, bruise, etc.), this stuff will cover all of it. The lightest shade is still a bit too dark for me, but I put some normal concealer on top and it looks fine. I use this for the rare moments I have bad acne. I also used it when I hit my head and got a massive bruise, and it hid everything! A high coverage concealer like this is worth having for those moments.

If you have questions or comments about these products, let me know! Tweet me @PennilessBlog or email me at pennilessbeauty@gmail.com

Walmart and Lawtons Drugs Haul

It's time for a new haul! This morning, I had some spare time so I went to Lawtons to look for a nice blush. Blush is the one thing I don't have a favourite product in, so I'm always looking for a perfect blush. Anyway, I only bought 2 items (I'm on a strict budget this week!), which came to $13.51. Again, there were no sales at Lawtons, and I have to say I'm a little disappointed!

 



 

 

1. Annabelle Multi-Blush palette in Fresh Pink. $5.97. This was actually on display near the front of the store, and I believe it was on special (for that price, how could it not be). There are 5 shades of blush: 3 shimmery, 2 matte. I really like the bottom shade, so I'm excited to try it out! I know I tend to like Annabelle powder products, so hopefully this will become a favourite.

 

2. Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Cottage Cheese. $5.99. I actually heard about this from one of Emily Eddington's videos (love her! Here's her youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtC8m_F7jX2fGOQ3_nomg4g ), and it looks like a nice shimmery off-white colour for the inner eye and brow line. Now if only I could get the cap to come of!!!

Next, I went to Walmart, and the prices were AMAZING as always. My total came to $23.64 for 3 items.

1. Revlon Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie. $7.97. I LOVE the lip butters, I have about 6 of them now and they're all gorgeous. Plus, they feel so smooth and they don't dry out. Definitely a makeup staple for me!

2. CoverGirl Lip Perfection jumbo gloss balm in Haute Pink Twist. $6.97. I already have the one called Blush Twist, and I absolutely love it! This one is bright pink, which is a new shade for me (usually I go nudes, light pinks, or soft reds). I hope I like the colour!

3. Rimmel Scandaleyes waterproof eyeliner in Nude. $5.98. I needed a nude pencil for my waterline because it's been really red lately. I've heard this is really creamy, plus it's waterproof so I hope it does the trick!

If you have tried any of these products, let me know what you thought of them! Tweet me @PennilesBlog or email me at pennilessbeauty@gmail.com

Love you all!

Lawtons Drugstore Haul

Another haul from Lawtons Drugs! I decided to splurge a little and get a few new makeup products. I was a little disappointed by the lack of sales at Lawtons today, so my total was $74.12 for 7 products.

1. Revlon Just Bitten Kissable balm stain in Honey. $9.95. The colour is darker than I expected, and a little more purple-y, but the colour still looks nice and I've heard that these feel great on the lips!

2. CoverGirl Lip Perfection jumbo gloss blam in Blush Twist. $7.19. Has a bit of shimmer, and the colour is exactly the same as the cap, so there's no mistaking the colour! I've heard so many good things about these pencil-style balms that I had to get a few of my own.

3. Milani eyeshadow primer in Nude. $9.99. This is my first eyeshadow primer, and I'm not entirely sure why I haven't bought one in the past! It says it works on all skin tones, so that sounds pretty good to me.

4. CoverGirl + Olay concealer balm in Fair. $7.99. I really like my Revlon PhotoReady concealer stick, and I've heard this one is just as good or better. I guess I'll have to find out!

5. Garnier Moisture Rescue cleasing cloths for dry and sensitive skin. $8.49. I'm currently using the oil-free Neutrogena cleansing cloths, and I am not a fan at all. Hopefully these will be better! I'll be doing a makeup removing cloth review and comparison soon!

6. Maybelline Line Stiletto liquid eyeliner in Blackest Black. $9.99. I've tried the CoverGirl felt-tip liquid liner, and I was extremely disappointed. This one claims to have really good precision, so hopefully this product will make me like liquid eyeliner. So far, I'm a pencil girl only.

7. Maybelline Instant Age Rewind dark circle eraser in Fair. $11.99. I've heard so many good things about this product! I've been dying to try it for a while now, so I finally bought one, and I just tried it out... I actually quite impressed! It's like a liquid concealer, but it doesn't feel dry or thick, and it actually kind of feels refreshing! The coverage is good for people with some darkness around their eyes, but mine are really bad so I might have to layer it on. I was actually a bit worried when I started twisting the collar and nothing was coming out. It took a while to get the product to the surface, but I still think it's worth it!


If you have tried any of these products, let me know what you thought of them! You can reach me by email at pennilessbeauty@gmail.com or Twitter @PennilessBlog


Have a lovely day!

My First Z Palette!

Hello again! I'm on vacation at the beach right now, but I figured I should still do a little post about the new Z Palette I bought! This one is the green Cherry Blossom (Limited Edition) in large. I bought it from Makeup Geek who delivered earlier than the estimated delivery date, and even sent a little hand-written message on my receipt! I was really impressed by their service. The Z palette cost me about $40, but that included taxes, international shipping, and an extra bag of round magnets. I still think it's a great price!

I had originally intended to fill this palette with my eyeshadows. I started depotting my shadows, which wasn't too hard (though I accidentally cut myself with a pair of nail scissors, which I had been using to depot). Once I had depotted everything I wanted, I realized that the round magnets were way too big for my shadows. I had seen a tutorial saying you can cut them, but cutting the magnets makes them bend at the cut area, and also makes them very sharp. I ended up really hurting my hands trying to put magnets on my eyeshadow pans.

 

Eventually, I gave up. My hands were hurting a lot, and the pans weren't staying flat on the palette. I ended up having to put all of my depotted shadows into a plastic bucket, and then depotted blushes, bronzers, powders, and some larger eyeshadows (the Annabelle singles are the exact same size as the round magnets). This is what I had the time to do so far, I can post a finished palette once my hands have healed (sigh). Not a great first experience, but it looks awesome when it's done!

 

 

If you know of any products that are already magnetized, or have a better solution to my magnet cutting problem, please let me know! You can tweet me @PennilessBlog or email me at pennilessbeauty@gmail.com

 



5 CoverGirl Products Worth Buying

Hi everyone! So this is the first post of my new series called Products Worth Buying. I'm starting off with CoverGirl because I truly believe that they make a lot of good quality products that are great for all skin types! For now, here are the 5 that have impressed me the most:

In this picture, we have the CG Smoothers BB cream, the TruBlend foundation, the Instant Cheekbones contouring blush, the Clump Crusher mascara, and the Exact Eyelights waterproof mascara.

1. CG Smoothers BB cream: I have this in fair to light, and I really love it! It blends in well, so it will pair seamlessly with most skin tones. It's also extremely hydrating, and has a very creamy texture. I find most CoverGirl products work really well for sensitive or combination skin, and does not make me break out. I have very dry areas on my face, and this evens out the texture and tone of my skin. However, there isn't a lot of coverage, so it won't completely hide under-eye circles or blemishes. BUT, that's what concealer is for! Overall, this is a great product that I use every day.

2. TruBlend foundation: I have this in ivory, it's much lighter (almost white) in person than in this picture. Like the BB cream, it is great for sensitive or combination skin because it does not cause me to break out or get dry patches. It never looks caky either! The texture is very nice, and it blends really well. This is definitely more coverage than the BB cream, but it's still not a full coverage foundation. TruBlend is perfect for young people with no severe facial problems, and comes in so many different shades!

3. Instant Cheekbones contouring blush: This trio of blushes is perfect for any beginner or for people who need a fast way to do some contouring. The light shade on the far right, is a very light pink highlight with the smallest amount of shimmer. I like to put it at the very tops of my cheekbones. The medium shade in the middle is a very natural-looking pink blush. The dark shade on the far left is a darker pink shade which you put on the line under your cheekbone (the fish-face line), to give your cheekbones a little more definition. Terrific instant contouring!

4. Clump Crusher mascara: The Clump Crusher mascara is AMAZING! It lengthens, volumizes, curls, and stays clump-free for the whole day. Really easy to apply, and the staying-power is really great! I consider it part of the LashBlast line because it is so similar, so I'll give an honourable mention to the LashBlast volumizing mascara. It is super volumizing and has very similar characteristics to the Clump Crusher. The only thing is that I like the wand of the Clump Crusher better because it is curved and really gets every lash (shown below).

5. Exact Eyelights waterproof mascara: As a lifeguard, I tend to spend a lot of my time in the water. This is by far the best waterproof mascara that I have tried! I have this for blue eyes, and the staying-power is remarkable. I've worn this while teaching swimming lessons, and it never causes me to have raccoon eyes or leave any mascara on my face. It actually stays on my lashes underwater! Luckily, it comes off fairly easily with makeup remover. Awesome product!