L'Oreal Brow Stylist in Medium/Dark

I got this L'Oreal Brow Stylist tool at CVS for 75% off a couple months ago, i payed roughly $2 which is a pretty good deal! It comes with: brow pencil in medium/dark, tweezers, and brow comb.

PROS

pigmented

love the 3-in1 combo

very travel friendly

tweezers work well

brush is great for shaping and filling it brows after you use the pencil

pencil is soft and easy to use

color medium/dark fits me great

i got it super cheap

comes in other various shades

CONS

because there are tweezers in the bottom it leaves less room for the pencil so the pencil part is sorta short, therefore i will need to repurchase it soon.

Overall im pleased with this and i should've bought more while they had the 75% off sale! I have been using it everyday since i purchased it and i like it alot. It fills in my brows without making it look fake or too dark. You cant even tell i filled them in!

Mix Your Own Foundation Shade!

If you've ever had a foundation that just didn't match, you need to read this post! For those of you who regularly read my posts, you'll know a while back i bought the new Maybelline Fit Me Foundation in the lightest shade possible for me, and it was still way too pink/warm for my skin tone. I also have a L'Oreal TrueMatch foundation that was way too light and too drying on my skin. I have been thinking a lot about how to fix these two products in order to continue using them and not waste any money - i found it!!

A while back at WalMart i found these two cute little travel bottles hanging from the side of an aisle. It comes with one pump bottle, and one squirt bottle for $1.99. At first i had no use for them i just figured at some point they would come in handy and i was right! lol. *I plan to use the squirt bottle to make a homemade brush cleanser. I will do a full review & pics along w/ a recipe for that soon!*

Mixing Your Own Foundation

1. Make sure you have an empty pump or pour bottle ready to use. They can be bought in the travel-size section in the beauty aisles at your local drugstore and are usually very cheap.
2. Take two foundations that don't exactly match you, but you think would work well together. I chose these two shades and mixed a tiny amount together before dumping them in the bottle to make sure they made a nice shade. This may take a few tries.
3. When you've figured out how much of each shade you need - wether it's ½ and ½ or ¾ to ¼ of each foundation - begin slowly pouring them into the empty bottle. Do not pour them in all at once.
4. When the bottle is about ¼ of the way full begin to shake the bottle to mix to two shades and see if you're happy with the results. If you are - continue pouring the same way. If you aren't - try mixing in different amounts to balance it out until you have it right.
5. Once you've balanced the two shades and you're happy with the results, fill the bottle up as much as you can. Shake it and mix the two shades together and you're done!!
6. Shake well before each use.

Luckily i only needed to mix equal parts of my two shades so i basically dumped the entire bottle of Fit Me into the pump bottle and then dumped the entire bottle of TrueMatch ontop of and then shook it to mix them. The shade is still a tad light for me but its MUCH better than the others were by themselves. Because the Fit Me was too pink and a tad too oily and the TruMatch was too dry and too light, they mixed together very well!! Overall im happy with the results and i used the foundation directly after mixing them and it fit me great!

If you try this or have tried this in the past please let me know how it worked out for you, or if you did anything differently! :) Thanks for reading.

L'Oreal Studio Secrets Magic Perfecting Base

I bought this primer 2-3 months ago at CVS for upwards of $14 (i cant remember the exact price). It comes in a nice glass jar with a wide mouth so its easy to get fingers in there. I have a love/hate relationship with this base, i'll explain below.

PROS
high quality packaging
definitely absorbs all oil and shininess from skin
doesnt make dry areas look drier
makes makeup last longer
makes skin feel very soft like silk
a little goes a long way, so one jar should last a while
packaging ensures you'll get 100% of it out, unlike tubes where some can be left behind.

50/50
Price is steep for a drugstore product but since it lasts so long its worth buying this rather than getting a high end one instead.

CONS
alot thicker than a gel face primer
a little hard to blend all over face
feels heavy on my face sometimes - but not super heavy, just a little
clogged my pores first time i used it and i did have a small breakout, but i havent had one since

You can see from the last two photos it is quite pigmented before blending (photo #3), and after blending it is completely invisible (photo #4).

To Use: When i apply this to my face i put a tiny dab on my finger tip and apply to small areas at a time then repeat the process until my face is done. I do not take a big glob and attempt to blend all over my face at once - it wont work this way for me. If i do that the product tends to stick to certain areas and it becomes hard to blend out.

The first time i tried this was in Walgreens, they had a tester out so i swiped a little on the top of my hand and i thought "OMG this is amazing!<" but i still held off on buying because i really liked my Revlon gel face primer (still do). This stuff definitely makes a nice matte soft base for foundation and will help them last longer w/o any 'melting' or wearing off but it does have its downsides. Im still not sure if i love it, or just like it a little but im going to continue to use it until its gone so i dont waste my money.

L'Oreal HIP Bright Shadow Duo

I bought this super bright eyshadow duo from L'Oreal HIP at Walmart a couple years ago and havent really used it much. Im pale with green eyes and this is waaayyyy too bright for me, im not sure what I was thinking when i bought this.

However, the eyeshadows are VERY pigmented, have long staying power, and dont crease. Overall, they're nice shadows but these two particular shades are not for me. I cant remember the price or specific name of this duo, sorry.

EOTD: MAC Blue Brown and L'Oreal Intrepid

On the left eye is MAC Blue Brown and the right eye is L'Oreal Intrepid. They look the same, dont they??? I did use a couple other shades so here's the full look.

STEPS:
1. Shade Too Faced 'Cocoa Puff' into outer corners and lined along bottom lashes. (or a similar chocolatey brown shade)

2. Press or gently sweep Blue Brown or Intrepid pigment into inner corners and blend outward.

3. Blend Urban Decay 'Sin' as highlight on brow bone and inner corners. (or a similar light pink shimmer)

4. Apply a black liner to top & bottom lashlines, finish with black mascara.

Admittedly, this look was hard to blend together, so i used a loose eyeshadow brush at the end to try and soften edges. I also used Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer as a base/primer before applying to the pigments didn't stain my eyelids (hey, it happens!). This is a very dark, smokey EOTD which is obviously better for night use. However, these pigments can also create a soft look too when applied properly. Use dry for a softer effect, wet for a more pigmented/darker effect.

DUPE: MAC Blue Brown vs. L'Oreal Intrepid

I have owned MAC Blue Brown for a few years now and I absolutely love it. I bought some MAC pigmented samples on eBay and have been searching for a Blue Brown dupe forever!! I finally found one in L'Oreal HIP Pigment in Intrepid. Just look at that swatch! They're nearly identicle and soooo much cheaper!

I payed $10.95 for Intrepid, and a full size MAC Blue Brown goes for $19.50.

L'Oreal Studio Secrets Anti-Dull Skin Primer

I'll admit that prior to purchasing, opening, and testing this product I had totally forgotten my vow to not purchase L'Oreal products due to the fact that they are known to test on animals. 

There are three primers in this Studio Secrets Professional line ($13.79): green for anti-redness, pink for anti-dull (light skin), and orange for anti-dull (medium-dark skin). I chose pink for my light skin tone, although i swatched the green at CVS and it made my skin look terrible, like I was dead. 

This Anti-Dull Skin Primer in pink is VERY shimmery. You can't tell at all by looking at the bottle, but believe me, there are alot of sparkles packed in there. The formula is thin and pretty runny, but it makes it easier to blend and spread out and the bottle is pump style. It does make my skin pink/reddish which is a slight problem because i've already got naturally flushed cheeks, but its not too bad. It definitely makes your face ridiculously sparkly, so if that kind of thing is a turn-off for you, DO NOT buy this. I find that concealer and/or foundation does cover most of the sparkle but you're still left with a little and a sort of 'glow'. 

Im still unsure if i like this product or not. Im not particularly fond of shimmer all over my face although my foundation did cover most. I guess it did make my skin less "dull" and it definitely wasnt heavy, but my opinion is still on the fence.

What do you think? Have you tried any of these primers, or would you try them?