Winter blues?

Face:
Lorac Makeup Primer
MUFE HD Foundation #140
MUFE HD Powder
BeneFit Lemonaid
Spaced Out blush

Eyes:
Pearl CCB browbone
Rubanesque paintpot inner lid
Marine Ultra chromaline outer lid
Arena e/s inner, crease and lower lid
Bang on Blue e/s outer lid
Blu-Noir e/s outer corners
Fly By Blu upper liner
Blooz e/k waterline

Lips:
Avon Watermelon gloss

Review - Lorac Makeup Primer

This gel primer is very cooling and goes on smoothly. It does not change the appearance of the skin by smoothing out lines like Smashbox primer. It does leave skin moisturized well without greasiness for nice foundation blending. However, for me, this did not appear to help with making my makeup last longer and it also doesn't have the "smoothing" benefit that I like in a primer.

Not just for mom's!

What is Lansinoh Lanolin?

Well, it's nipple cream for breastfeeding mothers. Yep, nipple cream. So what is a woman with no children doing reviewing this? I had heard from various skincare guru's that this is by far the best remedy for chapped lips. It just makes sense if you think about it. A sensitive area of skin, that stays moist will get chapped.

So being a lip balm addict (and I mean I am so addicted that I get very anxious if I realize I have left the house without one and will have to go to buy one immediately), I decided to give this a try. It is very thick, almost like a Vaseline, but much more viscous. After taking a couple of minutes with my wimpy muscles to actually squeeze some out of the tube, I applied it liberally to my lips and the area between my nose and lips which is also very dry this time of year.

Well, let me tell you - this stuff is sent from heaven. My lips have not felt this good in as long as I can remember, and my lipbalm addiction started before I was even a teenager. Ever find a product so good that you might cry? This is one of them for me. The other is ProActiv, but that is for another post. Lansinoh is made of 100% pure, preservative free Lanolin and is totally safe for the lips (as it is not even necessary for mothers to wipe it off before breastfeeding).

I have been using it for about 4 days now. Let's just hope that the effects last and that it's not one of those things that will stop working after a few days. You can find Lansinoh Lanonlin in the baby section of the drug store. If you're not so keen on carrying a giant tube of nipple cream, then do what I will be doing - squeeze some out into a cosmetic sample jar. You can buy the sample jars at the dollar store and will get several for a buck. Oh also, this is not very expensive at all considering you're just using it on your lips. This tube will last me a very a long time.

New Years Day - Just in Case Review

Happy New Year!!!

This morning, hubby and I decided to go for a walk, so I thought it would be agreat opportunity to try out my "just in case" kit from BeneFit.

• First I applied "Some Kind of Gorgeous" which is a very lightweight "foundation faker". It seemed to disappear on me like a tinted moisturizer. But it did even me out a little bit. I doubt this would work for people with much darker skintones though. It was just about right for me.
• Then I used "Eyecon" eye brightner all around my eyes. I think next time I need to use more because I am still seeing quite a bit of darkness. It is more of a light reflector.
• Then I applied "California Kissin'" lipgloss to my lips. It has a lovely silky texture, and don't let the blue colour scare you. It goes on very sheer and gives your lips a lovely frosty look.
• The final touch was "Benetint" lip and cheek stain. It goes on quite sheer and is very blendable and buildable. I used my finger to apply it.. and after washing it three times, my finger is still pink!! So if you have any tips on alternate application methods, I would love to hear them! It left a nice glow on my cheeks. I will try this on my lips next time too.

All in all, it was pretty good for a quick fix. The only thing I would do next time as an added extra step is add some kind of powder overtop to give myself a little more of a polished look.

Girl About Town

I decided to buy a couple of bolder, brighter lipsticks than I would normally wear. MAC's Girl About Town is one of them. It actually doesn't look all that bright here, because I do a lot of blotting when wearing a bold lip, but later on when I reapplied, it was much brighter. I am usually just a gloss kind of girl, so this was fun for me.

Now, I have major lip issues. Ever since I started wearing gloss when I was about 12 or 13, I realized that I had old lady lips. They are very dry, prone to flaking and they are wrinkly. My lipcolour always bleeds up into my lip wrinkles. So here is what I do to make sure my lipcolour looks good all day when wearing something dark or bright:

1. Exfoliate - I have a toothbrush just for my lips. I just dampen it with warm water and gently brush my lips to hel get rid of flakies. If they are really bad, I use an AHA lotion or cream on them.
2. Moisturize - I use a very thick moisturizer or balm.
3. Fill in the wrinkles - I use MAC's clear browset as a lipliner, or a waxy clear liner.
4. Fill in the whole lip with lipliner - I ony do this if I don't mind changing the lip colour a bit. When I am using reds, I always use a Creamstick liner underneath to really set it in place. The Girl About Town lipstick I used without a liner as I wanted to keep the colour true.
5. Apply lipstick with a lipbrush.
6. Blot with tissue.
7. Dab on a little bit of blow or translucent setting powder.
8. Apply another layer of lipstick with a lipbrush.
9. Blot again with tissue.

If I ever want to use gloss, I can only use a tiny bit, and never all the way to the edges of my lips or I will undo all the bleeding-prevention measures I just took. When reapplying, always use a brush and blot again.

What are your tips for keeping a bold lip looking great?