Hello! Today I wanted to quickly talk about a few things that I've been loving so far this month, some of which I've recently purchased and others I've had for a while: classic holy grail products. I'll be talking a little bit about each product I've pictured, and giving a little review as I go, so let's dive in.
This palette is one I received for my latest birthday in September 2014, and although I'm not much a fan of baked eyeshadows I couldn't pass this up- the colours were too beautiful. Baked eyeshadows (if you aren't familiar with them and how they differ from other shadows) are pigments that need a little bit of help to get the most colour payoff. Typically you would use another product (like Mac's Fix+ or Lise Watier's Metamorphix) to wet the shadow a little and get more pigmentation.
I'm much too lazy to do that on a regular basis, so I wasn't sure how much I'd like this palette. To my surprise, though, the colours are beautiful with or without a little help. My favourite shade is 'Grenada', this dark, cool blue-toned purple shade. If you have hazel eyes or green eyes, this shade will absolutely make your eyes pop.
Sephora released multiple versions of this palette, to my knowledge there were three. In the Tropics (the one I purchased, because I'm such a daredevil) which has all their shades named after Tropical islands- the colours are very bold and fun. In the Nude, with- you guessed it- nude shades, and In the Dark, with very cool-toned dark shadows
Anyone who knows me at all knows this is a staple product in my makeup collection. It is tried and true, and I have gone through at least five of these in the past two years. I pick mine up in the shade '100 Ivoire N' which ivory neutral.
When I worked in cosmetics, Lancôme was one of the brands I sold, and it became one of my favourite brands ever. This foundation is matte, it is full coverage, and it lasts all day. I have dry skin, and typically full-coverage matte foundations (especially in the winter time) don't do so well on my skin, they cling to my dry patches and I look like a cake within a few hours. This foundation doesn't do that, though, and I love that I can put it on very sheer and still have amazing coverage so as to avoid feeling cakey and dry. It mixes with other foundations quite well, also, I frequently mix it with my L'Oréal True Match Lumi to tone down the matte effect slightly on days where I want a semi-matte finish.
If I had one negative thing to say about this product, it would be that if I don't moisturize enough, and if my skin is just being moody on any given day, after about six or so hours, this foundation does not look good on my skin. On my dryest of days, where I just was too lazy to exfoliate, even if it applies just fine, I do find after a certain number of hours it gets very noticeably clingy to my dry patches and looks quite bad. That's more of a me-problem than an it-problem, however, and it is an incredibe product overall.
I got this around Christmas time this past year, it came in a cute little package along with the photo finish perfecting face primer (which I already love). I have always loved and used the Smashbox photo finish colour-correcting face primer, the green one, because redness is such an issue for me, but on days where I really don't feel like I need to do the full shabang with my makeup, I will skip my face primer and just put this in a triangle shape under my eyes. I get dry patches around the bridge of my nose and corners of my eyes, so just keeping that area hydrated and primed throughout the day is such a bonus.
I got this product in my most recent Ipsy bag this month, and if you read my detailed review of Ipsy here you'd know that I'm always most excited about the one full sized product that we get. This brush is almost too beautiful to use. Almost. It's got a light, metallic, pastel-pink handle with rose gold hardware, and the brush itself is incredibly soft. It's great for contouring and highlighting because it is narrow and angled for those precision areas.
Okay, sorry for another Lancôme product... they are pricey, BUT I worked there and had a discount. I'm justifying my purchases. This single shadow is supposed to be a shimmer, and it's definitely not matte, but I find it's not very shimmery when applied. Which is a good thing, when I bought it I wasn't looking for a shimmery dark brown shadow.
This colour is a very warm, chocolatey dark brown shade and I use this quite a lot for lining and blending down onto my lower lash line. When I do my dark purpley-toned smokey eyes, this is my favourite shadow to use for my lower lash area because I feel like it just neutralizes everything.
Alight, aside from how freaking adorable the name of this shade was, I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked this up at Walmart. My boyfriend texted me at work and asked me to pick up a few things from the store on my way home, so while I was there I checked out the beauty section... Does anyone else do this? You know you're at the store just to get bread and milk but because you're so nice picking up your boyfriend's groceries, you decide you might treat yourself to a little somethin' while you're there... Just me? Okay.
I posted a mini review of two Flower products on my Instagram when I bought them, I had picked up this cream eyeshadow, and I picked up a chubby shadow stick. The chubby stick... we won't even go there. It's god awful. But this cream shadow, I was so pleasantly surprised, I would have paid a lot more than I did for this product. The consistency of the product is so spongey and goopy, in a good way, and it goes on so pigmented and smoothly. Whenever I'm getting ready in a hurry, I will plop this all over my eyelid and go. It is absolutely beautiful.
I'm sad that Flower only has a few shades for this product, and all neutral tones, because I would raid their beauty wall if they ever came out with more colours.
Lately there's been some hype about this product, and admittedly I actually picked it up before I saw any reviews on it or knew that it was something people generally liked. I had run out of my Smashbox hydrating concealer (moment of silence) and didn't want to justify paying another $23.00 to get a refill, so for months I'd been on the hunt for another holy grail concealer.
I admit, this is thick and it definitely not hydrating; however, I didn't expect to like it as much I did. The coverage it gives is out of this world, and a little bit goes a long way. I picked up the shade 10 fair, the lightest one (I need a tan) and to my surprise, it is actually lighter than my skin tone and not too pink. I am so pale and neutral/yellow-undertoned that way too many concealers are not light enough for me, and come out too pinky. This one doesn't!
 | Sephora Moonshadow Baked Eyeshadow Palette Sephora/Amazon $59.50 |  | Lancome Teint Idole 24H Foundation Sephora $52.50 |
 | Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Under Eye Primer Sephora $14.00 - $18.00 |  | Luxie 504 Large Angled Face Brush Luxie $16.00 |
 | Lancome Single Shadow in 'Guest List' Lancome $23.00 |  | Flower Beauty Cream Eyeshadow in CE8 Awesome Blossom Flower Beauty $5.19-$8.98 |
 | Maybelline Master Conceal camouflaging concealer Maybelline $23.00 |  | H&M Black suede & leather cross body bag H&M $19.95 |
I hope you enjoyed my mini review of some of the products I've been loving so far this mid-month, as well as a few of my typical holy grail products. Bonus: A cross-body leather and suede bag from H&M that I picked up last week and have been just in love with.
Thanks for reading! Until next time, sunshine.
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