[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] Too Faced Born This Way Foundation #Vanilla

I received 3 foundation samples from Too Faced in a previous order I made, so I decided not to waste them, especially seeing as Vanilla is my perfect shade! Unfortunately I am only able to give my first impressions as I wasn't wearing the foundation for the entire day.

Too Faced - Born This Way Foundation - First Impressions

Too Faced Born This Way foundation in
Warm Nude, Nude, Vanilla

Item: 1 oz. / $36 / toofaced.com / Ulta
18 available shades

Claims (taken from TF website): Born This Way is an oil-free foundation that masterfully diffuses the line between makeup and skin. For coverage so undetectable, you can’t see the makeup and you can’t see imperfections—all that’s left is naturally radiant skin that looks like you were Born This Way.
Delivers?: Yes. Started with solid medium-high coverage off the bat, easily built to full coverage. Demi-matte finish on my skin while still looking very skin-like. Detected no scent.








My Skin: Often varies from dry to very dry, acne.

Foundations I regularly use:

• Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Foundation Light Sand
• Urban Decay Naked Weightless Foundation 2.0
• Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation (red pump) 52 Vanilla
• Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless 115 Ivory

Ingredients:
Water (Aqua) (Eau), Cyclopentasiloxane, Glycerin, Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate, Isododecane, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, Hexyl Laurate, Dimethicone, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Magnesium Sulfate, Diphenyl Dimethicone, Tribehenin, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Polysilicone-11, Propylene Carbonate, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Cocos Nucifera Water, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Rhododendron Ferrugineum Extract, Alcohol, Silica Dimethyl Silylate, Lecithin, Pistacia Lentiscus (Mastic) Gum, Butylene Glycol, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Hyaluronate, EDTA, Caprylyl Glycol, Phenoxyethanol. May Contain/Peut Contenir (+/-): Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499). *Vegan-friendly *Formulated without parabenslica Dimethyl Silylate, Lecithin, Pistacia Lentiscus (Mastic) Gum, Butylene Glycol, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Hyaluronate, EDTA, Caprylyl Glycol, Phenoxyethanol. May Contain/Peut Contenir (+/-): Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499). *Vegan-friendly *Formulated without parabens

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Please excuse my especially unkempt brows. I don't normally do my brows besides cleaning them up anyway, but I completely forgot.

My foundation-less face! My cheek acne was healing well, but suddenly came back again.


One layer of foundation. I'd feel very comfortable going out with just this much!


Close ups of my cheeks from the one layer in natural lighting.
 

Next is a terrifyingly lifeless picture of my face in natural lighting (spot layered the foundation, Tarte Shape Tape Concealer applied under eyes) that shows absolutely every detail of my face when zoomed in, followed by 3 close ups of my face in window lighting.


Lastly, this is my full face of makeup, did not powder my face.

Final Thoughts

• I really like this foundation, and I'll 100% be purchasing it when the best opportunity strolls along.
• My boyfriend was amazed by how flawless my skin looked while still looking like skin, and he was impressed that my face felt soft and not sticky, as if nothing was on it. However, for someone who likes a more natural finish, this might look a bit heavier than expected.
• I applied some to his face as well, since I had 3 samples to be thrown away LOL. He said it looked cakey on his skin since he has more crevices and texture (note: he has very large pores) but it felt like nothing was on his face.
• I applied my blush with a brush and it still went on smoothly and blended out well despite my face not having been powdered underneath.

Overall, I encourage you to try a sample of the foundation before purchasing. While it seems to have worked well for me, I've seen and heard many mixed reviews that it largely depends on your skin type, especially things about clinging to dry patches and not working quite as well for oily skin.

I did like how this felt but I wasn't able to fully wear the foundation out, so only take this "first impressions" as a reference in, say, color match: do your research, always read and watch a variety of reviews online, and always, always take a look at reviews from people who didn't like the foundation before you buy.

Sorry if this first impressions seems kind of pointless.

makeup

• no primer
• Too Faced Born This Way Foundation #Vanilla
• Tarte Shape Tape Contour Concealer #Light + Maybelline Fit Me Concealer #Sand
• NARS Unfiltered I Cheek Palette #Me First
• Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara
• Too Faced La Creme Lipstick #Bon Bon
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renassiance Eyeshadow Palette: Raw Sienna in the crease, Love Letter in the outer V, Primavera on the inner lid, Cyprus Umber as "liner," Vermeer inner corner of the lower lid.

[HAUL] TesterKorea - EGLIPS & TonyMoly

TesterKorea recently had an event with free economy shipping (no tracking) with a weight and price specification, so naturally I fell into the trap and chose some low price items I'd been interested in trying.

I bought a total of 4 items, totaling about ~16.46 USD.

TonyMoly Eyetone Shimmer S02, TonyMoly Crystal Blusher 16

EGLIPS Apple Fit Blusher 5 & 1

Items

1. TonyMoly Eyetone Shimmer #S02 어딕트슬립 [link]
• Very sheer wash of light gold. I was a bit disappointed in this one since I love the pigmentation on their matte Eyetone shadows.
• Update: The top layer of the eyeshadow was honestly too stiff to use. However, using a skincare spatula, I scraped the top layer off and the pigmentation is fine! Still not one of my favorites but usable at the least.
2. TonyMoly Crystal Blusher #16 핑크브라이트 [link]
• The formula is very soft, and it blends away to the sheerest of applications on my hand. I'll have to try it out on my face before I give a verdict. It seems to be more of a very, very subtle sheen.
3. EGLIPS Apple Fit Blusher #5 라벤더블룸 [link]
• I've been looking to try a lavender/purple-toned blush, and I often see Pony (from Pony Makeup) using her EGLIPS blusher in #6. This blush is more focused on brightening the face, I think, so I'm excited to try this on my cheeks. Soft formula, very nice and buildable light pigment.
4. EGLIPS Apple Fit Blusher #1 퓨어핑크 [link]
• Same as #5.

ULTA All Nighter Mystery Bag - 12/11/16

Ulta had an All Nighter Mystery Bag as a free gift with $40 purchase on December 11, 2016 from 9PM to 9AM. The bag was to include eight random samples.

1. Butter London: Double Decker Lashes Mascara (5.5 ml/0.18 oz)
2. Too Faced: Mascara Melt Off oil mascara remover (1.15g/0.04 oz)
3. Carol's Daughter: Monoi Repairing Conditioner (118 ml/4 fl oz)
4. Jergens: Wet Skin Moisturizer (59 ml/2 fl oz)
5. Philosophy: No Reason To Hide Total Skin Tone Correcting Serum (2 ml/0.07 fl oz)
6. Pureology: Strength Clear Cleansing Conditioner (50 ml/1.7 fl oz)
7. Nubian Heritage: African Black Soap Body Lotion (88 ml/3 fl oz)
8. Simple: cleansing facial wipes (7 wipes)

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1. Butter London - double decker lashes mascara
• ULTA ; currently retails for $20 (0.41 oz)
2. Too Faced - mascara melt off
• ULTA ; currently retails for $17 (0.23 oz)
3. Carol's Daughter - monoi repairing conditioner
• ULTA ; currently retails for $22 (8.5 oz)
4. Jergens - wet skin moisturizer
• ULTA ; currently retails for $7.99 (10.0 oz)
5. Philosophy - no reason to hide serum
• ULTA ; currently retails for $68 (1.0 oz)
6. Pureology - strength clear cleansing conditioner
• (travel size) ULTA ; currently retails for $9 (1.7oz)
7. Nubian Heritage - african black soap body lotion
• ULTA ; currently retails for $11.99 (13.0 oz)
8. Simple - cleansing facial wipes
• ULTA ; currently retails for $5.99 (25 wipes)

Note: Prices are accurate to time of posting.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss #Papaya Review

Hello! Today I'm reviewing the Anastasia Beverly Hills lip gloss in "Papaya."

Wear time: 3 hours

Papaya is (taken from ABH website):
"Vivid reddish orange"; $16 (in stock)

Claims (taken from ABH website):
An opaque, high-shine lip color. Use Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss’ flat sponge-tip applicator to deliver intense pigment with precision for an expert finish in a single swipe.
Delivers?: Yeah, very vivid color and stays shiny enough. Not sticky at all. Also not drying in the least, leaves my lips very moisturized!

Scent?:
Hell yeah. It literally smells like birthday cake flavor which I personally love omg. But the scent actually disappears the second you apply it (slightly disappoint ngl).

Transfer-proof?:
Nope. It's a lip gloss, not a lipstick after all.



Ingredients (taken from Ulta website):
Polybutene, Triisodecyl Trimellitate, Mineral Oil/Paraffinum Liquidum/Huile Minerale, Mica, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Bis-Diglyceryl Polyacyladipate-2, Limnanthes Alba Seed Oil, Octyldodecanol, Silica Dimethyl Silylate, Propylene Carbonate, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Propylparaben, Tocopheryl Acetate, Fragrance/Parfum. May Contain: Red 6 (CI 15850), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090), Red 22 Lake (CI 45380), Red 27 Lake (CI 45410), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891).



Freshly applied:


1 hour of wear time:


~3 hours of wear time (I live in darkness at 5:00PM):


But did it survive mushroom, shrimp and rice?!


Kinda.

Thoughts:

• This lip gloss is crazy opaque. I don't wear lip liner or lipstick or anything like that under this, and this level of opacity is what I would expect from a liquid lipstick (although I'd say the color looks more coral to me?).
• It's not sticky or goopy at all.
• It smells nice and the smell entirely disappears upon application.
• The price is affordable (especially since I got this for $8 during Macy's Black Friday sale heh).

As you can see, the inside part of my lips has started to fade away. I'm honestly not much of a lip gloss user because I never thought it'd be my type (turns out I like it) so I don't know how long lip gloss normally lasts - but I think 3 hours for this little bit of wear is really quite nice. I don't know anyone who would look that closely to notice it and as you can see, it fades subtly. To be fair, all I did was sit at home, chatter on Skype nonstop, and eat my dinner for the whole 3 hours, though. But to be fair, that's how my everyday life goes.

Also, I'm sorry for the progressively shitty camera quality. I wanted to keep the lighting as natural as possible because the light bulb in my room has a very very yellow tint to it for some reason.

Repurchase it?: Yea, I actually like this a lot. I might pick up another color? Maybe? We'll see.

Where to buy:
Anastasia Beverly Hills website - $16 | free standard shipping $25+
ULTA website (don't sell Papaya but their shade range there is still quite big) - $16 | free standard shipping $50+
Sephora website (also don't sell Papaya but have many shades) - $16 | free standard shipping $50+
Macy's website (no Papaya but many shades) - $16 | free standard shipping

Note: Shipping and prices are accurate to time of posting.

makeup

• no primer
• Klairs x Merry Between BB Cushion Compact
• Tarte Shape Tape Contour Concealer #Light
• MAC Select Sheer/Pressed Powder #NC20
• e.l.f. Matte Blush Duos #Rosy Flush (peach shade)
• essence Long Lasting Eye Pencil #18 Berry Merry
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss #Papaya

Another Haul! ULTA, eBay, ColourPop, Amazon

I've been going kinda crazy with purchases recently... and also Black Friday sales coming up so... I don't exactly make the best of decisions. But anywho! I'm here with another haul~ I'm working on trying to put together a review of the Klairs cushion from my first TesterKorea haul, but it's taking a while since I've never done one before. ;; But for now, here's the haul.

ULTA Haul

Here's the list of my order from ULTA. I had a 20% off coupon for my Ultamate Rewards Credit Card's first purchase online (that was expiring), so I used it on this order and paid $38.71 

• I've never tried argan oil, so I figured I'd just go ahead and add it to my cart since they were $1 a pop.
• There is currently an ongoing event for the free It's A 10 Travel Size Daily Conditioner with any online purchase. Simply add it to the cart and checkout. In the shopping cart itself, the item should say the price is FREE so if there is any amount other than that, the event has ended and you will be charged for the item.
• Since there were two Gift With Purchase items for Julep, I just kind of went for it. One of my biggest fears is finding a great skincare product and having my skin get too used to it. So I decided to spend a bit more on skincare over makeup and bought the Restorative Facial Milk. As you can see below, the texture is just a little bit thicker than liquid. I don't really like it when my skincare feels oily afterward, so we'll see how this goes. I'm hoping for the best!

• The mirror and deluxe sample of Matte Lip Mousse in #Bisou were free with $30 and $35 Julep purchase. I actually don't own a small mirror, which is why I wanted this. LOL. I spend every day standing in front of my full-length mirror, but I get lazy sometimes and want to sit to do my makeup. The external material is kind of like leather? The top mirror is normal while the bottom mirror is magnified.
• I've been pondering about whether or not to buy the full Bisou for the longest time, but I'm glad I got a sample of it because I don't think the color really suits me, although the formula doesn't feel drying on my lips. It's like a deep rose pink shade, as you can see in the image in the eBay section of the haul. It's really pretty, just not my own preference.
• Lastly, I bought the L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in #Amber Rush. It's kind of like another rose gold shade except cRAZY PRETTY oh  go d.

eBay Purchase

These two items I'll talk about are the Aritaum Mono Eyes eyeshadows that I got for $11.66 total. These eyeshadows are sold on a variety of platforms such as eBay or Amazon, the price normally ranging from $5 - $6+. The two that I've decided to purchase are #41 Cashmere and #94 Jack Burgundy.

As you can see from the image, #94 is a burgundy shade with red shimmers. Unfortunately it's a bit too difficult for me to catch the color of #41 properly, but the color itself is a light pink with gold shimmers and could very well be described as rose gold. These shadows aren't incredibly pigmented - instead, they're very buildable. As someone who doesn't use much eyeshadow and more often than not opts for finger blending over brushes on a day-to-day basis, it works perfectly for me. They're both very pretty shades, but I have a feeling I'm going to love #41 the most for the prettiest subtle wash of color. I know it's not noticeable in the picture, but I swear it's so pretty.

ColourPop Purchase

Next is the highlighter purchase I made in #Lunch Money.

As you can see, it's a very pretty and light golden highlighter. But it also kind of blends away to nothing? I blended it at the bottom to show. It's really nice if you concentrate it on the right spots, but I think people who want a strong highlight shouldn't get this. This works for me since I don't use much highlighter every day, but for someone who wants that beautifully blinding highlight, I wouldn't recommend.

Amazon Purchase

Last but not least, I have my beloved TonyMoly Moist Mist. It's a nice moisturizing spray and it smells sooo good. Fruity-ish? And it just feels so nice to hold. I've seen reviews of people saying it kinda hoses you instead of just a soft mist, and I can kind of agree with this. It's not like a setting spray which just seems to absorb into your skin right away, but it does provide a good spritz of moisture if your face is dry or too matte for your liking.

Alright! That's the end of my haul for now. I'll probably have more stuff coming in once Black Friday rolls around, too. But I hope I can finally figure out a good way to format a review post by then so that this blog won't just be hauls anymore. ;;

Thanks for stopping by!

TesterKorea Haul & First Impressions

I decided to try out TesterKorea, a different kbeauty website since BeautyNetKorea honestly doesn't have enough options to satisfy my Kbeauty curiosity.

 
Here's what the package came in, small and very well packaged. It was very interesting to me that they would individually package their items.

This one was a pretty lengthy process.

Monday, October 10 - 1:21 PM: I placed an order at testerkorea.com.
Thursday, October 13 - 9:51 PM: I received an email with an apology stating that one of the items I had in my order was discontinued. That's no problem, I can deal with that. I was given the choice between getting a refund for the item into my account or choosing an item with similar weight/price. Note: TesterKorea does not have free shipping; shipping is based on the total weight of your order and you are given a choice.
October 15-18 - Correspondence. One thing I'd like to note is that I made a mistake in my order and had chosen the wrong color. There was no hassle with that exchange, though unfortunately I kept choosing colors that were out of stock, oops.
Thursday, October 24 - 2:55 AM: I received an email stating that my order had finally shipped. They also thanked me for waiting a long time, so it felt kind of nice to see that it wasn't a totally automated message.
 Thursday, November 3 - 1:30 PM: The package was delivered to my door.

Their listed estimated shipping for Rincos said it would arrive within 3 ~ 7 days. My package took a total of about 7 business days. There is tracking for Rincos shipping.

 

I received a total of 5 items and a few samples:

• A'PIEU Cotton Lip Fluid #CR01 (3,800 KRW = ~$3.40)
• A'PIEU Cover Forever Gel Tint (YoonCharMi Edition) #RD01 (5,800 KRW = ~$5.20)
• A'PIEU Lasting Nails #CR02 (
• innisfree Real Color Nail (Jeju Color Picker Edition) #89 (3,000 KRW = ~$2.62)
• Klairs x Merry Between Mochi BB Cushion Pact (23,900 KRW = ~$21.41)

Note: These prices were the prices listed for each item during the time that I paid.

   

The A'PIEU gel tint is red with pink undertones, and it has a bit more of a watery consistency than I was expecting but good nonetheless. I still have a stain on my hand from the swatch despite how faded it has become.
The Cotton Lip Fluid, however, I'm absolutely in love with. Without flash, the deep pink color didn't seemed true to color in the photo so I stuck with the flash.
Note: I washed my face off to try on the Mochi BB Pact and the Cotton Lip Fluid did not come off. I didn't rub it, mind you, but the fact that the color didn't wash off under the running water was impressive to me. The gel tint mostly washed off and left a subtle tint, not quite as impressive to me.

For the Mochi BB Cushion Pact.... The packaging is beyond cute. At first I didn't even want to use it because of how cute it was. But after peeling the seal away, I touched the sponge and it was kind of.... dry? It didn't really feel right. Oily, even. I'm not sure what to do about it, so I just left it like that but used tweezers to push the bb cream to the surface. The texture still doesn't feel right but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
As you can see from my finger it does seem to be mixing with the oil a bit. what do ;-;
Edit: I couldn't handle it and just flipped the sponge. Turns out I really like it!
Side note, though, the sponge applicator is incredibly soft and squishy albeit it smells a bit funny.

I'll be sure to try it out later and hopefully be able to put together a review.

Overall, I'd like to say that TesterKorea had very good customer service, very timely responses. They seem very efficient in their business. I do hope that they'll start updating their product listings a bit more diligently (I think it's mostly just because I chose older products, though). I really liked ordering from them. Their selection range is huge, so if you have a lot of little light-weight items that you want to buy from the kbeauty side of the world, I highly recommend trying out TesterKorea.
I'll definitely be putting in another order later.

Alright, that's it for my haul! Thanks for stopping by and reading!

BH Cosmetics Haul & First Impressions

My favorite time of the day is here~ Mail has arrived!

Wednesday, October 26 - 12:05 PM: I placed the order at bhcosmetics.com.
Wednesday, October 26 - 4:47 PM: I received an email with the tracking number, informing me that the shipment would soon be on its way.
Thursday, October 27 - 5:23 PM: The tracking information updated that the package had been accepted at the USPS Origin Facility at North Hollywood, CA.
Saturday, October 29 - 1:00 PM: The package was delivered to my door.

The shipping and delivery said 2 - 6 business days, but I didn't expect it to take the actual minimum of 2 days to arrive! Incredibly fast delivery. A++++

I received four items:

• Blushed Neutrals Palette - 26 Color Eyeshadow and Blush Palette ($12.00)
• Be... by BubzBeauty Palette ($12.50)
• Blending Eye Trio - 3 Piece Brush Set ($6.00)
• Pride + Prejudice + Zombies - Eye and Cheek Palette ($12.00)

Note: These prices were the prices listed for each item during the time that I paid. All of the palettes were on sale during the time of purchase.

However! I paid only the total of $30.50 for the Blushed palette, Bubz's palette, and the brush set. Using the storewide event code OUIJA on orders $25+ will grant you free shipping on your order as well as the Pride + Prejudice + Zombies palette for free! The offer ends today: Saturday, October 29, 2016 at 11:59 PM (PST).

This is the package that I received it in. Well-packaged, nothing came in damaged. The packaging itself is not very high quality, Blush Neutrals palette is kind of like a cheap plastic that snaps shut while the other two palettes are in a cardboard packaging with magnetic closing. Still sturdy enough, though.




Brush set, Blush palette, Pride palette, Be... palette.

The brushes are nice and soft. I don't own many (hence why I purchased them), but they seem like good quality brushes and only costed me $2 a piece.

The Blush Neutrals palette is an okay palette. It's not incredibly pigmented upon first swatch, but it seems to be buildable enough for general use. I'm not really one to use very bright or out-there colors and generally limit myself to only a few shadows per day, so I think this palette will be good for a newbie like me. The texture is a bit stiff.

The Pride + Prejudice + Zombies palette seems pretty nice. A few of the shades (especially the light silver shadow) don't seem too pigmented, but the texture is far softer than the Blush Neutrals palette. The blushes and highlighter, however, seem somewhat chalky.

The Be... palette is by BubzBeauty, who I adore, so I bought it partly just to support her. I figured the color selection would be nice for the very unadventurous me because they're very elegant and beautifully simple shades, though I was particularly excited to try out the purples as neither palettes I already own have purples. But, unfortunately, I'm honestly a little bit disappointed. The texture is the same as the Pride palette which is nice, but the purple....

I tried to get it in as best lighting as I could. The very first swatch, Kind, is basically nonexistent. But to be honest, I'm liking every other shade, except maaaybe Optimistic. But oh lord, I'm so excited for Hopeful. I'm sO EXCITED. The moment I swatched it, I gave the softest little gasp.
Overall, aside from one or two shades, I'm pretty happy with the palette and can't wait to try it out.

Later, I will update on whether or not I would recommend the palettes.

Be... by BubzBeauty Palette
I already posted the picture of the swatches above and gave my general opinion of the palette. Aside from two of the shadows, I like the palette and would recommend it to newbies like myself.

Pride + Prejudice + Zombies Palette

*I apologize for the yellow lighting. I swatched these late at night on impulse and daylight had already run out by that time.
I do actually quite like the swatches of this palette. The silver shadow that I mentioned before does have a bit more pigmentation than I originally thought, but it's also 9x more glittery. I still don't entirely like the blushes (top row) because they do seem like they'll be a little too blotchy upon application, but if my opinion of this changes, I will update. The highlighter also seems a little too dark for me. The black isn't as pigmented as I'd like a black shadow to be. I like the other shadows besides the last three.
Overall, it's not great, but it's a nice palette for a cheap price when on sale (or free!).

Blush Neutrals Palette - 

Alright, that's my haul from BH Cosmetics!
A highly affordable brand with okay to nice quality products, is my impression.
Bless their delivery service tho.