Maybelline's Colossal

 

 

Hello loves.

The lighting in my bathroom where I normally take my photos was garbage this morning as it was dark and gloomy outside. Would you believe me if I told you it's already snowing in Alberta? No, well it is and I hate every minute of it.

The Maybelline Colossal Mascara used to be my HG. It lengthened and volumized the lashes like no other could for me. With so many other mascaras being released I took a long break but recently picked it up again and well...Maybelline's either changed the formula or it really wasn't as great as I remembered it. Don't get me wrong this still makes the lashes look wonderful but it's not an even an hour before I start noticing tiny black flakes under my eyes and around my nose. It flakes off so horribly and they stick so tightly to the skin that you can't even just brush them off, you have to pick it off which usually ends in chunks of my foundation being removed from my nails. I wish this was as good as I remembered because it really does create a lovely look. Ah well, luckily there are many others out there that perform even better than this. Loreal Lash Paradise is a fantastic one!

What's your favorite mascara?

♥

Bri

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Maybelline's Master Camo

 Hello loves.

It's about to be a very hot week here in Alberta and although my house is practically an oven in the summer, I'm so excited. I love the heat.

I meant to write this post up when these were newly released but it's been a hectic year for me with family deaths, my job etc.

I don't color correct every day. For me, it's an extra step that I don't feel I need when I'm just headed to work. For an event though it's nice to have that extra coverage for those pesky dark circles.

I picked up the pink and orange. The pink is for dull skin and the apricot is for you guessed it, dark circles.

The pink one did nothing for me and if I'm being honest was a complete waste of money. The reason there's no swatches here is due to the fact that I'd already used it up.

The above photos show a swatch, then blended in and the last photo is after applying a layer of concealer on top. As you can see it doesn't completely cover my veins but I only used a light hand with the concealer. On the under eyes it's buildable but can crease easily if too much concealer is applied so beware of that. Overall, it did an okay job. In the future I'd look for other products though as this was my first step into the color correcting world.

What do you use to color correct?

♥

Bri

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Essence Full Coverage Camoflauge Concealer

Hello loves.

I recently ran out of my current favorite concealer, Maybelline's Fit Me. So off to the store I went. I've put myself on a budget as of late meaning I needed a more affordable concealer than the Fit Me, which retails at about $10.99 CAD.

Essence has always been a super affordable brand that if I'm honest I often overlook. They had a display set up show casing many of their new releases, this being one of them.
When I first swatched it on my hand I was amazed and how thick and heavy it felt. On first application though, I found it to blend easily but it left you with more of a medium coverage than full.
I was looking to use it for my under eye area but it certainly doesn't cover enough for that use also while it doesn't crease it looks quite dry on the under eye. For concealing other areas of the face though it works wonderfully! Blends out beautifully and doesn't crease or cake and is an absolute bargain at $4.99 CAD.

 What concealer do you use for your under eyes?
♥
Bri

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Top 5 - Nude Lips

 Hello loves!

As you all know I'm more of a dark lip fan but that doesn't mean I don't own some nudes. In fact I'll be the first to admit that the nude collection is constantly growing. Today I wanted to share with you my current top five, almost all of which are drug store.

Being fair skinned it's hard to find a nude that doesn't make me look like a washed out zombie but I've narrowed it down to my five favorites.

{left to right - Maybelline Peach Buff, Rimmel Kate Moss 40, Rimmel Nude Delight, Tarte Birthday Suit & Rimmel Kate Moss 42}

 Maybelline Peach Buff -  After looking at the swatch, I'm debating whether or not would this would be classified as a pink. Either way, it goes on smooth doesn't dry out the lips and works with a variety of looks.

Rimmel Kate Moss Nude 40 - I'm a huge fan of the Kate Moss range of lipsticks. Aside from the nude range I own almost all the colors. These are affordable, easy to wear and easy to apply. This i a tad too light but looks fantastic mixed with a darker nude. 

Rimmel Moisture Renew in Nude Delight - Usually brown toned nudes don't mesh well my skin tone but I have no issues with this one and again being on the darker side it looks better than lighter nudes which wash me out.

Tarte Birthday Suit - A recent addition to my collection. But fast becoming a firm favorite. It's the perfect combo of a dark lip and a nude at the same time. Not only that but it's matte and I love a matte lip!

Rimmel Kate Moss 42 - This one is the perfect nude color for me, not too pink nor brown. Strikes the perfect balance for my pale pale self.

What's your favorite nude?

♥

Bri

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Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer

Good morning loves. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

Who doesn't love having multi purpose products around? They're great for traveling as they really help to cut down your bag clutter.

The Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch highlighting concealer is just that, a concealer that not only covers but illuminates leaving a highlighted finish on the skin.

I've never tried a concealer with this packaging and this will be the last one I do try. When you first try to use it you need to twist it about ten times to no avail and then a giant glob of product squeezes out. It's a complete waste as there is no way I'm able to use that much on my face at one time without looking like a makeup mess leading to huge amounts of wasted product.

This is a medium coverage finish and I found when I tried to build it up it creased quite quickly nor was it opaque enough to cover my pesky under eye circles.

I wouldn't advise using this as an under eye concealer unless you have mild dark circles and are looking more to just highlight the under eye instead of coverage.

For the rest of the face though this is a great concealer that does help brighten the complexion. 

Even though I have mixed feelings about it I'm going to keep using it as it works well on the rest of my face and blends out easily.

Do you prefer a matte concealer or a highlighting concealer?

♥

Bri

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Drugstore Favorites - Maybelline Fit Me Concealer

Hello everyone!

The drugstores have always had a vast selection of fantastic & affordable concealers. I think I may have found my holy grail!

The Maybelline Fit Me Concealer. 

I'm surprised I liked this as much as I did as I've tried both versions of the Fit Me Foundation (hydrate + smooth / matte) and wasn't really a fan of either finish. Naturally I expected to hate the corresponding concealer. Boy, was I wrong. 

It's lightweight but covers imperfections beautifully and blends effortlessly into your skin. It leaves you with a natural looking finish, not matte but not dewy either. I use this on my under eyes and the only downfall is that one coat is not quite enough to cover them but this concealer has no issues when building up for more coverage, I'd say it's buildable to about medium coverage but anything after that is prone to caking up and creasing especially in such a delicate area.

I wear this daily through my eight hour work day and have yet to notice creasing in my fine lines nor does it dry out the skin. For me because I have such dry skin I need my concealers to be light and non drying because no one wants their under eyes looking like crepes.

This is my second tube and I will continue to purchase it over and over again.

What's your ride or die concealer?

♥

Bri

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Maybelline FIT Me - Hydrate + Smooth

I rarely do foundation reviews.

Why?

Honestly, I couldn't tell you. It's not a product I really need to use as I have fairly good skin in the sense that there's little to cover up and there are just other things I'd rather review for you guys. I'm still struggling to find a foundation that I love. I'm finding it very difficult to find one that is dewy but not greasy looking or one that doesn't stick to to the dry patches on my skin...and there's a lot of them.

Foundation seems to be the one product that takes a lot of trial and error when trying to find that perfect formula.

I saw raving reviews on the Maybelline Fit Me Foundation which is what ultimately led to me picking it up. Sad to report that I don't understand what all the hype is about.

I apply this using my Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge and while it applies beautifully and blends really well a couple hours later I was left with a face resembling a patchy oil spill. 

For a foundation that's branded for dry skin I was definitely not expecting it to turn my face into an oil slick. It slides around on the face leaving patches everywhere. Not exactly the look I was trying to achieve.

It's light coverage and I've not tried building it up but with the experience I've had so far I wouldn't recommend it.

As you can see it really does blend nicely into the skin, I just wish it would have performed as well as it blends.

I'm keen to try the matte + poreless formula although because if this one is so oily in formula maybe the other one will be perfect for dry skin, I'll update you guys if I do end up purchasing it.

Please leave some foundation recommendations in the comments I'm still on the hunt for that holy grail.

What's your favorite foundation?

♥

Bri

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Maybelline

Maybelline has always been a firm favorite of mine at the drugstore but they've had so many new releases in the past two years there was no hope in my poor bank account keeping on top of things.

The Maybelline Lash Sensational mascara isn't a new release by any means but I've seen it splashed across the pages of many blogs I read so I'm very keen to pick this up. I think there are just as many if not better mascaras in the drugstores as high end. I recently tried Benefit Roller Lash and after I finished that I headed to my local drugstore and picked up my all time favorite mascara the Maybelline Colossal for a fraction of the price.


Maybelline Color Jolt These are a newer release (within the past year) and I wasn't too excited about them until this morning when I watched a video by RacchLoves  where she mentioned that there were shades in the line that are exact dupes for the Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipsticks which I fell head over heels for last Christmas. If I can save money you can bet that I'll try it!


Maybelline Vivd Matte Liquid Lipstick There's been a ton of mixed reviews on these, some people love them and some people hate them. Being the lip product junkie that I am though I'm willing to try them at least once.


Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer Another older product but one that was highly raved about on Youtube and various blogs. Come to think about it, I don't know if I've seen a poor review for this.

Maybelline Blushed Nudes Lately, I've been becoming an eyeshadow junkie. I used to be a girl who never wore eyeshadow as I just couldn't be bothered with putting in to much effort but as of late that's all changed. The color scheme in this palette is beautiful and for a drugstore palette I've heard glowing reviews.

Maybelline Nudes I want to try all the palettes in the Nudes Collection in case you hadn't noticed.


Maybelline Rock Nudes I like that this one has a few offbeat colors thrown into the mix. The blue and the almost olive toned looking gold shade, I would love to see how those look on the eyes. I think that olive gold would look gorgeous.

Maybelline Master Hi-Lighting Blush & Bronzer To be honest, I'm not sure if this is a newer or older release. Multi purpose products though save so much time on the weekdays when you really can't be bothered to get out of bed early. I've seen swatches of this online and it looks fairly subtle and natural, perfect for work.

Maybelline Master Strobing Stick  I love to glow. Even for day to day I like my highlight poppin'! This looks like it could achieve a fairly shimmery highlight. Some of the swatches I've seen it looks comparable to my ever loved Benefit Watt's Up

Maybelline Loaded Bolds More lip products? Of course there are! These are the newest release from Maybelline I believe. The shades I'd love to try are the blue shade which for some reason isn't on the Maybelline Canada website and "Gone Griege" but the entire collection looks wonderful. On second thought I might end up purchasing all of them, sorry bank account.

Maybelline Brow Drama Mascara I'm so basic when it comes to doing my brows, powder and done. I'd love to branch out and try new products that aren't powder. This looks interesting but I'm intrigued to see how you would use it.

What is your favorite Drugstore brand?

♥
Bri

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Maybelline Pore Eraser

 

Hello everyone!

I picked up the Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser last week with high hopes as I've seen this product raved about from many bloggers for some time now. 

This did nothing to blur my pores as you can see in the photos below but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good primer. In the before photo you can see some oily areas between my eyebrows and in the after one my skins texture is much more matte.

 

 \

As for the primer aspect it worked okay, it didn't wow me but it wasn't completely horrible. When you apply it although you can't see it there is a greasy film left on the skin and it doesn't sink in it just sits on top. You go to scratch your face or something and it feels like you rubbed your ginger through oil it's not a pleasant feeling. Once you add a layer of foundation on top though the greasiness I mentioned above disappeared so I'm not sure why but this is definitely not a primer I'd wear alone.

Even for a primer it didn't keep my makeup in place any longer than anything else I've tried and by the end of the day there was some patchiness where my foundation had broken up. I wouldn't buy it again although Maybelline is one of my favorite drug store brands.

I do think it should be rebranded as just a primer because for me it did nothing in the pore department which is what it's marketed to do.

Bri

 

Mini Haul

Hey everyone, here is my mini haul!

I picked up some products that were total hits and some that weren't quite up to par. 

You'll just have to keep watching to find out which ones =)

Bri

Maybelline - Master Precise {my old HG}

Hey guys. I'm sure you're wondering why this is no longer my holy grail eyeliner well let me explain...

First off I have been using Maybelline's Master Precise eyeliner for at least five years but recently it is no where close to the product I used to love...in fact I don't think I'll be buying another tube. Maybelline I don't know what you did to the formula of this but w o w has it changed.

The packaging and tip haven't changed and the tip itself makes winged eyeliner an absolute treat even if you have an unsteady hand, HOWEVER it is the formula of the product itself that has become horrible (Sorry Maybelline, you're still one of my favourite drugstore brands!)

I don't know what they did but I cannot for the life of me get this to stay on my eyes I have tried setting it with powder and all the tricks and no, just no. As you can see from the swatch above its a very wet formula and it never seems to dry. One wrong move it will be smudged all over, the second your eyes water forget it say goodbye to all your eyeliner...

I am really disappointed to say this because I LOVED this eyeliner more than any other and the fact it doesn't even last an hour without giving me panda eyes I just I'm so sad. Maybelline, why did you change this? It was so good before!

Have you ever had a HG product that either the brand changed or discontinued it?

E m p t i e s

Hey everyone! I've got some empties to share with you tonight, I am not one for having many empty products at the end of the month but I did have a few so I thought why not share? Well that is if you guys are interested in seeing what I use....haha. 

I'll start with the one that's not in the photo which is Inecto coconut face wipes. They were just a cheap drugstore product I posted a review not too long ago on them. I LOVE wipes mostly because I'm far too lazy to have a face regimen.

On deck next is Maybelline Master precise felt tip liner, this stuff makes the most inept person be able to do the most glamorous winged eye. 

Bath & Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar body lotion, I have quite the B&B obsession right now actually just bought the most wonderful smelling candle there the other day. It's called Apple Flower, seriously go smell it. 

Tresemme hair spray and Nivea's Happy Time body wash. I don't have much to say about the hairspray I posted a review last month. The body wash, I will not lie to you guys I mostly bought this because of the name BUT not only that it smells like oranges and makes your whole bathroom a scent sauna its fabulous really and cheap, so killed two birds with one stone there.

As you see I do not really go through a lot of products but just wanted to show you the ones I have used all up recently. 

What have you guys used up lately, let me know in a comment!

f o t d

Hello everyone, just wanted to do a quick pretty simple FOTD.

• Foundation - MAC NC20 Studio Sculpt
• Powder - MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Light Plus
• Bronzer - Benefit Hoola
• Highlighter - Benefit Watt's Up 
• Eyeliner - Maybelline Master Precise Liner
• Mascara - Benefit, They're Real
• Lipstick - Lancome Color Design in Red Stiletto

There you have it a quick little simple fotd for you guys. 

What are your everyday products?

*August Favorites

It's the end of the month and that means blogs are going to be flooded with the latest and greatest. My products are not so much on the new end but they were my most used of the month.

First is the Color Shield collection from Garnier Fructis. I dyed my hair just for the occasion! These products are fantastic. Remember those first couple of showers after dying your hair and watching as the color runs through the water, the Garnier Fructis Shampoo and Conditioner locks in your color I haven't noticed any run of color in my showers. Couldn't be more happy with these products, the spray bottle is a heat protectant and shine spray meant for colored hair and it does a good job of keeping your hair smooth and not brittle.
(* Note: these products were sent to me by Influenster for review purposes but all opinions are my own)

Second is Batiste - Dry Shampoo, I know this stuff has been around for ages however I've only recently decided to give it a shot, this is my third bottle in about a month and a half this one was on sale for $5.99! I have the unfortunate gift of incredibly greasy hair and it's horrible having to wash it everyday especially for the natural oils in your hair so with this I end up needing to only shower about three times a week. Thank you Batiste.

The Benefit "Bronze of Champions" kit mostly the Hoola bronzer and the Watt's up highlighter. Watt's Up has been used just about everyday the past month and is still being used daily, gives the face a beautiful champagne shimmer and the bronzer is well a cult favorite among many. For my pale skin its about the only thing that doesn't make it look like I rubbed my face in dirt.

Rimmel's Wake Me Up Foundation. Great for summer as it's not heavy but provides decent coverage and if required is buildable. Did I mention it smells super fruity?! I love love love this foundation my favorite drugstore foundation to date.

The Maybelline master precise liquid eyeliner. The easiest eyeliner you will ever use. Honestly go out right now and buy it. I've been using this eyeliner for over five years and I have not strayed it's that great. If you have trouble with liquid eyeliner don't be afraid this will solve all your troubles.

The last two are fashion items, the first is a gold multi chain necklace from Dynamite. I do not buy real jewelery, frankly I can't keep a necklace from breaking to save my life so this luckily was only $8.00! It goes with EVERYTHING, it's the perfect statement necklace. Lastly, are the Sleeping Beauty leggings from the Princess and Villain Collection from Blackmilk. I am the biggest Disney fan and these are everything and more I could ask from a legging. Actually I've been on quite a Blackmilk binge lately. Anyone out there who lives in leggings like I do? Check out Blackmilk!

Foundation Review : Maybelline Fit Me Foundation Stick

Hey everyone, bear with me for the next week please as I’m in the process of moving out and my camera is in another town right now so I’m currently using my phone camera. Terrible, I know. And apologies as the outside of my makeup bag is quite dirty.



What Maybelline has to say “Creamy gel foundation transforms to a matte powder finish. Ultra-lightweight powders in the anti-shine core instantly dissolve excess oil.”
At the time I purchased this I made the mistake of not reading the label. I am not a person who needs to dissolve excess oil, in fact I need the complete opposite. I got the shade 110 in porcelain, when first put on it’s nothing special but it does the job. Note that this foundation must be blended in with your fingers. HOWEVER I have extremely dry skin so to no surprise in about a couple hours this foundation was left clinging to the dry patches I looked blotchy and it made my face dry out even worse. When people say you look like a “hot mess” I didn’t even look good I looked like I had a skin disease, this was on fault of my own for buying a foundation meant for oily skin but hey! So give it a go if you have oily skin as I’ve read many other reviews of people who loved it but ladies who suffer with dry skin like me, stay clear!

How much is YOUR face worth?

 

My Face Products by ruee featuring MAC Cosmetics

Hello everyone, I'm here to tell you today how much my "FACE" is worth. I got this idea from Zoe's Blog (ZoFlo) I'd never seen her idea anywhere else but I really liked it, the idea is to take all the beauty products we use on our daily face and the cost and at the end add the total to see the total worth of our face, I'm not that scared tbh as I don't wear much face makeup...but here we go.
The first thing I used which I could not find a photo of to include in my set is the GOSH 3 in 1 BB cream, a primer, foundation and moisturizer, I really don't like this product actually I am just trying to use it up. It retails for about $22 CA at Shopper's Drug Mart. 
Next is Maybelline FIT me foundation stick in porcelain, I use this as a concealer and it retails for $6.99 at Target.
MAC studio sculpt foundation in NC20. Retails at MAC stores for $37.00 CA
To set it all I use MAC mineralize skin finish natural in Light Plus, retailing for $35.00 CA
Maybelline Eye Studio Master Precise Liner in black, $6.94 at WAL-MART
Maybelline Colossal Mascara (been using this for around four years!) $5.94 at WAL MART
Last but not least, this is my holy grail product I go NOWHERE without this and its $5.49 at Shopper's Drug Mart.

 

Time to tally the total 
$22.00
$6.99
$37.00
$35.00
$6.94
$5.94
$5.49
______________
$119.36

Not bad, this is an estimate however as I wear lipstick just about everyday but all my different lippies vary in price so I didn't want to do every single one.
Bye!