"Baking" Makeup

Hi!

I recently in the last few months have heard people on Youtube talk about "baking" their makeup. I had no idea what the heck they were talking about. I watched a few videos to figure out what it meant and how to do it. I think I stumbled upon this by watching a Christen Dominique's video about doing this first, then I saw it done on Casey Holmes and then I watched a few others that I can't remember. I can't believe I never thought about doing this. After I found out what it was, I was like duh, that makes total sense. I don't think many beauty guru's on Youtube really used that word or used it very rarely, but now I won't go without it. I wore concealer under my eyes recently without baking it and it has been fairly hot and humid here so I was sweating a lot and the concealer and foundation dripped into my eyes causing irritation. It was a huge mess! My eyes are super sensitive to even the slightest irritation. Now I won't go without "baking" my makeup! I find that it really works for me.

Baking your makeup at the most basic level just means that whenever you put on concealer, primer or foundation, you bake it by applying a powder or eye shadow on top of the concealer/primer/foundation because the powder/eye shadow helps the product to stay in place and it fills in holes and creates a smooth surface that makes other makeup apply smoother. Baking your makeup helps in two ways: 1. it helps the concealer/foundation/primer stay in place and 2. it creates a smooth surface for better makeup application of other products!

I don't think this concept is necessarily knew or not well known because it used to be called setting your makeup and I know I've heard of people applying powder on top of their makeup before, but baking your makeup sounds cute. So I thought I would share it in my blog with all of you =-) Just an FYI to throw out there is that a lot of my makeup is made for long wear times so I'm not sure if that effects the baking or not. I am not entirely sure how baking on non-long wearing makeup works, but I'm sure it does the job for non-long wearing products to make them last a bit longer. But all of my primers, foundations and concealers are all long-wearing formulas. Long wearing formulas plus "baking" makes for really good results that I have seen. Just a fair warning that non-long wearing makeup should last slightly longer than if you don't bake, but not as long as long-wearing products. I just wanted to make sure that information is known.

Baking with Primer:

On clean eye lids apply your eye primer of your choice.
For example: I use the MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre because it works really well for me, but you can use actual eye primer or something similar. Whatever you like to use for your eye primer works. I would apply that all over my eye lids and give it about a minute or so to dry down.
Then you find an eye shadow color that matches closest to your eye lid color.
For example: I use the Coastal Scents Revealed 20 Eye Shadow Palette that I got from my husband's mom for Christmas a few years back. It has a lot neutral colors in it. It is used for more neutral looks which I like. I found that in the top row the fourth color in, they don't have names sorry but it's a tan color. Then you would just apply that on top of the eye primer. This is called baking and it helps to set the primer so it lasts longer and really does create a smooth surface to apply eye shadows on top of! That is basically all you do.

Baking with Under Eye Concealer:

To bake with under eye concealer all you do is apply your favorite concealer like you normally would under your eyes. I have to be careful because I have super sensitive eyes and to make sure no product leaks in my eyes I don't get too close like some people do with their concealers, but if you can and do that works too. I usually leave maybe a quarter of an inch space between my eye and the under eye concealer.
For example: I have used the IT Cosmetics Bye-bye under eye concealer and I have used the MAC Pro Longwear concealer in NW20 that is in the round black container. They are supposed to be waterproof, but I think I got too close to my eye and it leaked in or maybe it was the foundation. Let the concealer dry for about a minute or so. What you would do is find a powder or eye shadow that matches close to the concealer. I apply the concealer under my eyes without getting too close and then to bake it I either apply the Coastal Scents eye shadow the top first one matches my concealer color very well so I use that or I have a L'Oreal Mineral Makeup Finish powder that matches close to my skin color to apply on top of the concealer. It really does help it to stay in place.

Baking Foundation:

This is the most simplest one yet. Take a foundation of your choosing and apply all over the face. Give it a minute or so to dry and do it's think. Take a big fluffy brush and use a white powder or flesh colored power or a powder that matches your foundation and gently apply on top of the foundation on your face. This bakes the foundation to help it keep on your face longer and it may also help with keeping the foundation from breaking down, especially quicker. I will throw a warning out there that I have not tried to do this with non-lasting foundations so I don't know how well it works with those, but I do know that I have used this method with long-wearing/long last foundation and it works really well.
For example: I have used the L'Oreal Infallible 18 hour foundation and the MAC  with the L'Oreal Mineral Finish powder and it helped to keep my foundation from breaking down and it helped to make it last longer. Without baking I don't think it could go a full 18 hours on my face, but with baking it definitely gets closer. As long as it lasts up to 8 hours on my face without breaking down is pretty good in my book.

I hope this helps and let me know in the comments if you tried this with regular non-long wearing as well as long-wearing products to let everyone know how it worked and how how much longer it lasted when you baked and didn't bake. I'm sure it will help others and I know I am curious to know. Thanks =-)

Sincerely,
Marina

Dollar Tree L.A. Colors Nail Polish Haul 06/25/2017

Hi!

On Sunday I had to run to the Dollar Tree to pick up a few things. I have always wanted to try the nail polishes and I found some super cute Summer colors that I just had to try! I bought the L.A. Colors Color Craze nail polish. All of the nail polishes are a $1.00 each! Can't beat that price. I'm sure they aren't good for your nails, but as someone who rarely wears nail polish I figured it would be okay.

I bought the L.A. Colors Color Craze nail polish in #612 Purple Passion, #505 Pink Bubbles, and #534 Hottie. Purple Passion in the bottle looks like a light to medium purple. Pink Bubbles in the bottle looks like a barbie pink, maybe slightly darker. And Hottie looks like a pale orange. If these colors work out I might be going back to buy some of the darker shades for Winter because they had beautiful purple and blue colors that looked really cute. I usually don't go for red, but the red in the bottle looked like a really pretty color too!

I am going to be trying out the purple color this weekend. I will try them out and do a review on them!

Sincerely,
Marina

Bath and Body Works Fine Fragrance Mist Haul 06/24/2017

Hi!

This past weekend I finally made a trip to Bath and Body works. I ran out of the Christmas special body spray a while back, they now call it a fine fragrance mist, but I am just going to call it body spray, they are pretty much the same thing. It was the Vanilla Noel scent or something like that. I love it! I've been wanting to go to Bath and Body works, but it didn't work out until this past weekend! I was super excited. The Bath and Body Works that I went to had a deal going on where if you buy 3 you get 3 free. I think it applied to the sprays, the scrubs, and the lotions, but I'm not big on lotions and I have a Clean and Clear scrub that I use that I like so I decided to buy all 6 body sprays.

I bought 3 of my favorite which is the Warm Vanilla Sugar and then I decided to try 3 new scents I haven't tried before so I got A Thousand Wishes, Beautiful Day, and Magic in the Air. These are going to last me at least 6 months to a year. They are $14.00 each and each bottle has 8 fluid ounces so if you go in and buy 6 fine fragrance mists the total comes out to $88.00 before tax. With the deal they had of buy 3 get 3 free came out to $45.15 with tax included. Instead of being $14.00 at regular price it was like they were $7.00 for each bottle which makes it sound more reasonable. That is still a bit more than I would like to spend on body spray, but it should last me 6 months or so if I use them everyday that's about a bottle a month. I don't have a need to use them everyday so they should last me a while, especially since I probably will use different scents depending on my mood and the occasion.

A few small spritz goes a long way. I think I spritzed about 2-3 times and the smell was very strong and lasted a good while.

They changed the bottles and the scent formulas. I remember the bottles looked like cheap plastic that you would find at like Walmart/Dollar General/Dollar Tree, but they re-did the packaging and the label and now they are super cute! I wasn't able to justify spending $10.00-$12.00 on those and the scents I don't think were as strong either. I mean they smelled good, don't get me wrong, but I think they re-did their scents to make them stronger and the bottles are stronger and look super cute! They are plastic, but they aren't that cheap plastic, but a nice solid plastic with silver spray tops instead of the cheap plastic white tops. Bath and Body Works seems like they really stepped up their game with the body sprays from the last time I bought their products which admittedly was probably 5-7 years ago.

So far I am very happy with my experience, the sale that I got and the products that I purchased! I will do a review on them after I test them out some more.

Overall opinion: the bottles are made out of better plastic, the spray tops are silver instead of white which looks more classy, I think the silver classy look goes even better with the new bottles and labels so it all works very well together, they updated their labels that look super cute, the scent formula seems to be stronger so it lasts longer because they have always had really good scents, and when you find a good deal that made them $7.00 each instead of $14.00 each that makes it even more exciting!

Sincerely,
Marina

MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NC 25

Hi!

Oh my... I had a few saved drafts of products that I wrote reviews about, but was waiting to post because I don't like posting multiple in one day unless the products go together or I have to and I seriously thought I got to all of them, but I was just looking through my posted and drafts, guess what? I found this that I completely forgot to post! I feel so horrible. I still love and use this product. I am beyond sorry for not posting it sooner, but I really thought I did.

For my birthday last year I stopped by the MAC counter at my local mall and picked up something I wanted to try for a long time. That is the MAC Pro Longwear Concealer that I have heard a lot of great things about. Every time I go there are new people, but it seems like I get the same attitude. They force themselves on me and I'm just like, "I'm just looking, thanks." I'm nice, I smile, and they just are always seeming to have a bad day or something. I don't know. I went there with a specific purpose in mind and she kept trying to get me to buy other stuff. She asked if I wanted her to match me and I said sure. She asked if I had dry skin and I said yes so she tried to persuade me to buy some slick hydrating foundation. I told her that I could not wear that because even though I do have dry skin, I need waterproof makeup. Then she tried to push another product on me that I did not want. I finally got matched for the concealer that I wanted. She was awfully pushy about what she wanted me to buy. I didn't even ask how much the foundation was, but I was expecting to spend between $18.00 and $20.00 but apparently this concealer in the last few years flew up to the price of $22.00 for a tiny bottle. Yikes! That is some expensive concealer, but I did try it and it was definitely worth it. I really liked it and it held up on my face which is always a plus!

Rating:

Price: 7/10
Packaging: 10/10
Amount of product: 8/10
Longevity: 10/10
Application: 10/10
Covers redness: 10/10
Covers large pores: 10/10
Different skin types: 9/10
Overall rating: 9/10
Would I repurchase: 10/10
Total rating: 93/100=93%= A

My personal rating: 10/10=100%= A

Comments:
I recently purchased this product at my local MAC counter. I paid $22.00 for this product. I thought $18 for this product was a bit much, but now they charge $22 for it which I think is way too much. The packaging isn't super cute, but it holds the product, it doesn't leak, and it comes with a pump to pump the product out which I like. I'm pretty sure they give the same amount of product as they did when they charged the $18 so I think that if they are going to charge more they should give more product. The longevity of this concealer is awesome. It definitely lasts and it doesn't have to false advertise that it lasts 18 hours or 24 hours. It pretty much lasts until you take it or wash it off. The application is smooth and I haven't had any problems with it, but you do want to work a bit quick with this product because it does dry. I bought this product because I wanted to see how much it covers and it is definitely full coverage! I love it! I think that this product covers my large pores and makes it easier to put foundation on over it. This product is probably meant for oily or normal skin, but I think even dry can use it. I think it covers and goes on pretty much anything and stays there. It might be a bit drying on dry skin though. Overall, this is a great must have product! I can't believe I waited so long to try it. I can wear it alone or under foundation. A match made in heaven, lol. Yes, I would most definitely repurchase this product unless it goes above $25, that is my cut off for a concealer.

Sincerely,
Marina

IPSY, January 2015: Pacifica Natural Mineral Coconut Eye Shadow in Treasure

Hi!

In today's blog I am going to be talking about products that I received in my IPSY bag for January 2015. IPSY is a beauty subscription service that costs $10.00 a month, but they usually have a deal where if you buy a full year then you get $10.00 so you get 1 month free. I just went through the IPSY beauty quiz and they have added a lot of options on there. It's a bit overwhelming. IPSY might be taking the beauty quiz a lot more seriously now because they ask a lot of detailed questions about colors and stuff. That would be really cool! I just logged into my old IPSY account and I can't find anything that confirms whether or not IPSY still has a waitlist or not. I would have to set it up. I don't remember it being like that with the waitlist so I would assume there isn't one, but you never know. I was just looking at their past bags and I am so jealous in October 2016 some very lucky people got the coveted It's a 10 hair product. I probably would not have been one of them, but that kind of makes me wish I was still subscribed to this service.

In today's blog I am going to be reviewing the Pacifica Natural Mineral Coconut Eye Shadow in Treasure. At first I was really excited about this product because I like testing out eye shadows and finding good ones. I also love seeing what colors there are. I will admit that when I saw that this was a mineral eye shadow I was not as excited because my eyes are sensitive to products and from past experienced when I used mineral eye shadows they didn't last because I have very oily lids and the product would slide off into my eyes causing other problems. I'm reserved about this product. Although, I just tested out the Cailyn Eye Polish which is also a mineral eye shadow and that one really surprised me because it lasted a lot longer than most mineral eye shadows do on me. The awesome part is that it lasted well both with and without eye primer. The Cailyn Eye Polish restored my excitement that there are good mineral eye shadows out there that are beautiful in color that I can wear! I've heard a lot of good things about Pacifica as a brand and Pacifica as an eye shadow. I am trying to not get too excited because I don't want to get super disappointed.

IPSY does not include descriptions or prices in their insert.

Rating:

Price: 5/10
Packaging: 9/10
Amount of product: 10/10
Pigment on fingers: 10/10
Pigment on eye lids: 10/10
Longevity: 10/10
Application: 10/10
Texture: 10/10
Blendability: 10/10
Different eye lids: 10/10
Overall rating: 8/10
Would I purchase: 3/10
Total rating: 105/120=87.5%=B

My personal rating: 9.5/10=95%=A

Comments:
According to the official www.pacificabeauty.com website they don't sell this as an individual eye shadow, but it comes as part of a palette that costs $32.00 but does come with a bronzer, a blush, 3 highlighters and 6 eye shadows. Since you can only buy it in a palette I have to use the $32.00. That is way too much. You would pretty much have to invest in the palette but it does come with a ton of different products. The palette is definitely an investment. The packaging of the sample is cute, but feels very flimsy and easily breakable. I took a point off for that. In the sample you get a decent amount of product. In the palette it seems like you get a decent amount of product too. The pigment on the fingers is beautiful. Much to my surprise the pigment actually transferred from the package to my finger to my eye lid. I was really shocked by how well the pigment went on the eye lid, especially a mineral one. I have been wearing it for about a half hour and it still looks the same even though I do have oily eye lids. That is a very good surprise! The longevity of the product is that I think even though it doesn't claim to be long wearing/long lasting/waterproof, especially for a mineral eye shadow, this eye shadow has some lasting power. I think with a really good primer this should last a while. The application was super smooth and even and easy. The texture of the eye shadow is smooth/creamy and light weight. I think this eye shadow blends really well and blends with other eye shadows. I have super oily eye lids so as soon as a product goes on my eye it is guaranteed to come off and quickly. Usually I start noticing a product starts fading, but I have not noticed this product doing that even without primer. I think different eye lid types from normal to oily to dry should be able to use them. Overall, this is a really nice eye shadow. The color is beautiful and the pigment actually goes on the eye lid. Even though this eye shadow is not waterproof, it does seem to have staying power. The two things that bug me is 1. that you can't buy it individually and 2. they want you to buy a $32.00 palette to get it. If I was going to buy one palette I would buy this one because of that eye shadow and the color. Plus it comes with 5 other eye shadows that look beautiful too so I would love to test out the colors of the other eye shadows! I can't see myself going out and buying this palette just for this eye shadow, but if I were to invest in a palette I would highly consider getting this palette.

Sincerely,
Marina

IPSY, January 2015: Hikari Eye Liner in Storm

Hi!

In today's blog I am going to be talking about products that I received in my IPSY bag for January 2015. IPSY is a beauty subscription service that costs $10.00 a month, but they usually have a deal where if you buy a full year then you get $10.00 so you get 1 month free. I just went through the IPSY beauty quiz and they have added a lot of options on there. It's a bit overwhelming. IPSY might be taking the beauty quiz a lot more seriously now because they ask a lot of detailed questions about colors and stuff. That would be really cool! I just logged into my old IPSY account and I can't find anything that confirms whether or not IPSY still has a waitlist or not. I would have to set it up. I don't remember it being like that with the waitlist so I would assume there isn't one, but you never know. I was just looking at their past bags and I am so jealous in October 2016 some very lucky people got the coveted It's a 10 hair product. I probably would not have been one of them, but that kind of makes me wish I was still subscribed to this service.

In today's blog I am going to be reviewing Hikari Eye Liner in Storm. I was excited when I saw that I got an eye liner, but I was disappointed because I have to have waterproof/long wearing/long lasting makeup because of my oily lids and product leaking into my eyes causing a lot of problems. I was pleasantly surprised that this eye liner is a retractable pencil instead of an actual pencil that you have to sharpen. I prefer the plastic pencils where you twist to get the product out. I so wish this was a waterproof eye liner because praise the Lord, it is not red. If you have been reading my reviews of products all of the beauty subscription services for like 4 months straight sent me a ton of red or reddish or a form of red. This color appears to be a dark grey color. I am so excited that it is not red! lol. It looks really cool.

IPSY does not include descriptions or prices on their insert.

Rating:

Price: 6/10
Packaging: 10/10
Amount of product: 10/10
Longevity: 6/10
Pigment: 6/10
Application: 6/10
Texture: 10/10
Different lid types: 6/10
Overall rating: 6/10
Would I purchase: 0/10
Total rating: 66/100=66%=D

My personal rating: 5/10=50%=F

Comments:
According to the official Hikari website, this eye liner is $13.00. I was actually really surprised at how much they want for it because mine doesn't work well. I love the packaging. I always tend to go for eye and lip pencil products that come in a plastic case, that is retractable so you can twist the package to get the product in or out instead of having to deal with sharpening a pencil, and I tend to like the liners better because most of the time they are creamier. Unfortunately, this pencil product feels dry and drying. You do get a decent amount of product in the packaging, but I personally would not pay $13.00 for this. The longevity of this product is none existent since I can barely get it on. I think that this product would not last around my eyes because it would rub off easily or leak into my eyes. The product is very easy to rub off my eyes, but not my hand, go figure! The pigment of this product on my hand the first time the pigment is light, but the second time of going over it the pigment payoff is good. On my eyes no matter how hard I press I can barely get any on my lash line! It is very frustrating! I have to say that the pigment of this product is not good! The application of this product I would expect to be smooth, creamy, and even, but it is not at all. I almost stabbed myself in the eye from pressing so hard to try to get the product on. Yikes! No thanks. The product on my hand applies uneven. The texture of the product doesn't feel bad or heavy or anything. The only reason why it hurts is because I have to scratch my lash line to try to get the product on. But the product itself doesn't hurt. On different eye lid types I think that normal might be able to use this product, but dry and oily should be careful. On oily eye lids this product will just slide off if you can even get it on in the first place. On dry eye lids the product probably wouldn't even go on and if it does would be super patchy and uneven. I really wanted to like this product and if it was described as long wearing and it just dried out I would be a little bit more understanding, but this eye liner is not good at all. Overall, the eye liner product is dry and difficult to work with on the lash line. I love the color and I was excited to try a dark grey color on my eyes, especially since I have blue eyes, but this product would not go on around my eyes at all. I am really disappointed. I would not buy this product.

Sincerely,
Marina

IPSY, January 2015: Malin and Goetz Mojito Lip Balm

Hi!

In today's blog I am going to be talking about products that I received in my IPSY bag for January 2015. IPSY is a beauty subscription service that costs $10.00 a month, but they usually have a deal where if you buy a full year then you get $10.00 so you get 1 month free. I just went through the IPSY beauty quiz and they have added a lot of options on there. It's a bit overwhelming. IPSY might be taking the beauty quiz a lot more seriously now because they ask a lot of detailed questions about colors and stuff. That would be really cool! I just logged into my old IPSY account and I can't find anything that confirms whether or not IPSY still has a waitlist or not. I would have to set it up. I don't remember it being like that with the waitlist so I would assume there isn't one, but you never know. I was just looking at their past bags and I am so jealous in October 2016 some very lucky people got the coveted It's a 10 hair product. I probably would not have been one of them, but that kind of makes me wish I was still subscribed to this service.

In today's blog I am going to be reviewing the Malin + Goetz Mojito Lip Balm. When I first saw this product and that it was a lip balm, I have to admit that I was not very impressed. I was just like, "great, another lip balm..." But after I put some on my lips I was like, "Ooo... a lip balm!" lol. I don't know why, but while I was applying this product to my lips I liked the way it smelled, I like the way it applied, and I like the way it feels. As soon as I put this lip balm on I could feel it start working on hydrating and repairing my dry lips from all of the lip products I have been testing for the past couple of weeks. The text goes on thick and the lip balm feels thick, but it doesn't feel like it weighs the lips down and it doesn't feel sticky. I actually really like it. It just instantly put me in a better mood.

IPSY does not include product descriptions or prices on their insert.

Rating:

Price: 4/10
Packaging: 10/10
Amount of product: 10/10
Application: 10/10
Pigment: 10/10
Longevity: 10/10
Smell: 10/10
Texture: 10/10
Taste: 10/10
Different lip types: 10/10
Overall rating: 10/10
Would I purchase: 6/10
Total rating: 110/120=91.66%=91.7%=A

My personal rating: 10/10=100%=A

Comments:
I'm terrified of the price... oh my gosh, they want $12.00 buck a roos for this product! Yikes! That's like triple the amount of a natural decent lip balm and like 6 times the amount of a chapstick lip balm that are like 2 a piece. I really like this product, but not for $12.00. Wow. I can go buy a giant jar of Vaseline for that price, maybe even cheaper, and make my own, lol. $12.00 for a lip balm. In some alternate universe if I was rich I would go and buy this. The packaging is very simple, but very cute. The packaging is a squeeze tube that you push to squeeze the product out onto the lips. I think that the size of the packaging itself is really nice, but for the price it should probably come in a bigger size. The application of this product is smooth and even and super easy. The package comes with a guided lip application so it makes this product easy to apply to the lips. This is a lip balm and lip balms don't usually have pigment and this one doesn't but I'm okay with that. The longevity of this lip balm compares to any lip balm or lip product. It depends on how much you lick your lips, if you are eating/drinking, etc. This lip balm is a bit thicker so in that way it does last a little bit longer. The smell/scent of this product is very nice and clean. It's not overpowering, but you can tell it's there. It gives off a nice fresh minty scent. The texture is a bit on the thick side and goes on thick, but it doesn't feel heavy or weighed down and it's not sticky at all. It is super smooth. This product doesn't give off any taste really. It definitely does not taste like chemicals of any kind or even waxy. It almost has a very tiny citrus taste to it. I don't mind it. It's not offensive. I really like it! I think this product can be used on different lip types from normal to dry. This product works super well with dry lips and lips that have been abused by testing many lip products on. I feel like it repairs without me having to feel like it's working and it's just very calming with the slight scent and the slight taste. I love everything about this lip balm. Overall, this is just a very nice lip balm. The nicest one I have ever tried. It works and it feels nice and it smells nice and I just like everything about it. If I had some extra money to spend I would invest in this product, but I wouldn't go out and buy it because of the price.

If someone would like to buy me Malin + Goetz Mojito Lip Balm, please let me know so I can set up a P.O. box where you can send it.

Sincerely,
Marina