20 Days Of Tinted Moisturizers: Day 2

Aveda Inner Light Tinted Moisturizer

I loved this stuff for quite some time.  In fact, I think I actually went through like 4 tubes!!! For those of you who are "normal", going through 4 of anything is quite a feat to a beauty enthusiast.  I generally like Aveda products.  I have sensitive skin and it tends to have no aversion to what they make.  

This was the first tm I have tried.  It started my love for them.   The consistency is thick and creamy.  Most days I could get away with not putting a regular moisturizer on underneath it.  It also has spf 15 which help me cut out the sunscreen step also.  It comes in a squeeze tube, which I quite liked.   It was nothing pretty by any means but it didn't like cheap or gaudy.  

I used number 2, beechwood.  This color was never a "match" for me per say.  I generally gravitate toward tm's that are a tad darker as I like them to bronze me a bit.  It was muchh to dark in the winter though.  I tend to change color quite a bit between summer and winter.  In summer, it was perfectly fine.  The color range of these is not great but its better than some.  If you are quite pale, good luck finding a match here.  I am about nc20 and the 2nd lightest shade was a bit dark for me...you get the drift.  

The product gives a nice glow, which is all find and dandy when you have no oil production going on in your skin, but it just made me look kind of greasy at times.  Powdering a bit usually solved that issue.  

Overall, I think the only reason I switched was to find a better color and because I found it too thick for my preferences.  It could have also been because I decided that there must be something better out there and it was my job to find it.  

Grade: B+,  great stuff for normal-dry skin who have nc20-probably nc45 skin. 

Disclaimer: This product was bought by me, the reviewer.

20 Days of Tinted Moisturizers: Day 1

This summer, I am bound and determined to find the best tinted moisturizer.  I love tinted moisturizers (TM)  because they are light and impart some color without looking mask-like.  I decided I will try (or maybe sometimes my mom) 20 different ones and review them here as my first little series. 

Day 1 is Dior Hydraction TM which I have already reviewed here.



Pictures: The picture above is from art.com.

My Nail Care Routine

I decided that since I have done so many nail polish posts I should blog about my routine. I am not going to talk about cuticle cream or hand lotion here because I use whatever is laying around for those 2 things.

These are the removers I have been using.  The one on the left is Beauty Secrets and its from Sallys Beauty Supply.  This bottle is originally $1.99.  It works well but I was suspecting that acetone may be making my nails peel so I have been testing the Zoya Remove+ on my hands and reserving this one for my tootsies. The Zoya is on the right and costs $10 for 8fl. oz., significantly more expensive than the Beauty Secrets.  I will do a full review on it once I finish testing it.

These are all the various treatments I use.  From Left to right: Barielle restorative nail serum and nail rebuilding protein, Nail Life nail revitalizer, Orly bonder.
The Barielles I use on my finger nails.  The serum is supposed to help clean the bed so polish sticks better. I like it quite a bit and feel at has helped my peeling some.  I am not super happy with the rebuilding protein.  It is supposed to be specifically for peeling nails and I dont think its helping at all.  It also doesnt hold polish very well. Both of those were purchased at Marshalls.
The nail life revitalizer was bought for my finger nails but didnt work for the peelies.  Now, I use it on my toes.  I got it at Sallys based on good recommendations, so maybe it will work for you even though it didnt work for me.  Bonder is used on my toes over the Nail Life to keep the polish on longer.  I really love this stuff. I used to use it on my fingers until I thought maybe the formaldehyde was causing the peelies.  It really does hold the polish on really long though and I highly recommend it.  I purchased it at Sallys.
 

I use Poshe as my topcoat.  I am so in love with it (and yes, maybe I will marry it).  I have been using Poshe for about 5 years now.   It is a quick dry top coat that dries in about a minute!! which is good for me since thats about the length of time that I am able to sit still.  I bought my current bottle at Sallys but it can also be found at Ulta. 

Well, there you go.  If anyone has any reccs for treatments for the horrible peelies or good hand creams, I am always open to suggestions! Just leave it in the comments. 

Everyday Minerals Multi-tasking Concealer

image from Everydaymineral.com

Multi-tasking is describes as the perfect color for fair to light complexions which means that this will most likely be too light for me in the very near future.  I tend to morph more into my italian self during the summer where as I am more of my eastern european self during the winter.  

Let me just start out saying that I love this concealer.  At the moment, it matches me very well.  I only use it on blemishes and redness as its a little too dry for my under eye area.  I pat it on with my bare escentuals medium concealer brush.  I actually really like powder concealers.  I find them to be the least cakey.  I usually just apply my powder foundation with the BE concealer brush but this works awesome too.  It lasts decently long as I tend to sweat like a pig.  Well actually, not like a pig since technically pigs don't sweat, but anyways...  

Overall: I would highly recommend this.  It's pretty cheap too!  It costs only $8 for the big size.  

Rating: A-

Disclaimer: I got this product as a free sample from a program that everyday minerals no longer has.  I paid the shipping for the samples.

Clinique Youth Surge SPF 15

I love mini sized things.  I decided that it was too much of a pain to lug all my beautifying products over to my boyfriends everytime I stay there, so I just test out all the minis there.  I received a mini size of Cliniques Youth Surge Spf 15 as an extra in a swap with a lover MUAer.  It is the dry combo formula, and of course, it has taken up residence at the boyfriends.

Image from Clinique.com

I use this morning and night when I am there.  Yes, I am aware that I am not supposed to use spf at night, but my skin doesn't seem to mind.  I am only 20, so I cannot comment on the anti aging power of this product. I liked the texture.  It was quite light and soaked in pretty quickly which I find to be rare in products with spf.  It keeps my normal skin adequately hydrated without breaking me out.  I expected that since it is for anti aging that it would turn me into a greaseball, but that was not the case. 

Verdict:  Nice moisturizer for those with normal skin.  I speculate that it may be too heavy for combo skinned folks. 

Disclaimer: I received this product as a sample in a swap

Everyday Minerals

My camera is still home. I promise lots and lots of pretty pictures once I finally get it back.  It is getting nice here, so I can take some pretty spring pictures.  Yay! 

Quite some time ago I got the set of free foundation samples from Everyday Minerals.  It included 3 foundation samples, a concealer sample, and a blush sample.  I understand that they no longer have this available, but the samples are still pretty cheap.  I have only gotten around to testing one of the foundations and the concealer.  I am just really not a big fan of loose powder products.  I am far to klutzy for these to ever really work for me.  The EDM samples are mini sifter jars which helps to minimize the mess. 
The shade I have been testing is Multi-tasking Neutral.  The color is an absolute perfect match for me, probably another reason I havent tested any of the other colors.  It blends in well.  The texture is fine and my sensitive skin didn't react to it at all.  My only qualms with this is that there appeared to be no coverage.  I tried layering and still nothing.  I thought foundation was supposed to at least give some coverage.  Good thing the concealer was awesome and helped it out, but seriously, why would I buy a foundation that doesn't even even out my skin? For reference, I used this with the bare minerals face brush. 

Verdict: I guess this foundation would be good if you wanted something that doesn't offer any coverage...


Concealer review to come.

Disclaimer: I got these as a free sample from the company.  I paid the shipping.

Bored Poll

Sorry I have been away so long.  I decided that I would just wait until I go back home in a week and a half to get my camera instead of making my parents ship it.  I just prefer to do post with my own pictures because, frankly, I prefer to read blogs who use their own pictures.

This is the Hotel Del Coronado.  I haven't been out to Coronado in forever, and now that the weather is getting nicer I really want to take a trip out there.  The beach is just gorgeous and downtown is really fun for just strolling around. 

On to the poll.

1. Lippie of the day: clinique black honey.  I really like this color with my skintone, but sadly, it is just a little too drying for my liking.  I am trying to use it up and am currently looking for a color replacement.

2. Skincare item you are currently loving: I am in love with with cetaphil moisturizing lotion.  I made the switch from the cream recently since my skin doesn't need as much moisture at this time of year.  My skin tends to be pretty sensitive and this doesn't bother it at all.

3. Favorite TV show:  Mine is definitely the original NCIS.  I love all the characters and how they interact.  I watched the NCIS:LA version once and it was just far inferior to the original.  I thought the characters were too similar to each other.  I couldn't connect with any of them at all. I have actually spent most of today watching an NCIS marathon and doing homework. 

4. Favorite nail polish color for spring:  I am wearing China Glaze For Audrey and I am really liking it.  The China Glaze formula is just excellent and this robins egg blue cream is just the perfect spring pastel.

5. Favorite drink:  I have been all about green tea lately.  I am trying to drink some variety of it everyday since it is so good for me.  Teavana has some awesome green teas and it is just a really fun place to check out. 

Fill it out this poll in the comments section if you would like.  I would love to hear everyone elses answers.