Urban Decay Naked Skin Color Correcting Fluid: Peach and Green Review

I got this great little sample of Urban Decay's Color Correcting Fluid and I was so excited to try these! Using color theory, these correctors aim to cancel out common skin imperfections.

I got the peach corrector meant for masking circles and spots and the green corrector for reducing redness. I have a lot of pink and red in my skin (and unfortunately quite a few blemishes currently) so I was especially excited about the green.

L: no makeup; Center: green applied to blemishes on chin, tip of nose, cheeks and forehead, Peach applied to undereyes; R: blended and foundation applied.

I think these color correctors did an amazing job at covering up my redness and my undereyes. I especially love the green for disguising my blemishes!

Full face of makeup applied

I would really like to try some of the other correctors in this line, but I really like the green one. With my foundation applied on top, there is no trace of the green and my redness is pretty well covered up. I'd definitely be interested in purchasing these correctors in the future when I have some more disposable income (so probably never...). I'd also be interested in the pink color for my under eyes for extra brightening. These correcting concealers sell for $28 for 0.05 oz. 

Check out the color correcting fluids on Sephora's web site HERE!

xxSJ

Covergirl Full Lash Bloom Mascara

 After my beloved Clump Crusher dried up, I decided I wanted to try a different mascara this time around. Staying in the Covergirl family, I picked out this pretty fuchsia tube. It is the Covergirl Full Lash Bloom mascara in black, and I chose the waterproof version to give my stick straight lashes the best chance at holding a curl!

The wand is full of very spiky appendages and there is no curvature to the wand. I find that this makes it hard to apply the mascara evenly to my lashes. Also, the formula of this mascara is very thick and clumpy. You can see some clumps in the picture above and the clumps are incredibly difficult to separate on the lashes. The spikes on this wand are a bit long as well so I find that I often end up with mascara on my eyelids having poked through my lash line during application. 

No mascara above, one coat Full Lash Bloom applied bottom photo

After a day of wear, this mascara also falls off my lashes leaving some black on my undereye. It is also incredibly difficult to remove with just a makeup wipe. Overall, I really don't like this mascara and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I'm going to purchase a tube of Clump Crusher immediately and stow this mascara away for a few weeks and try using it again when its on the drier side and see if there's a difference.

I'll put my thoughts here: I still don't like it.

xxSJ

NOTD: Essie 'Starry Starry Night'

This nail polish by Essie is absolutely gorgeous in the bottle. Starry Starry Night is a deep navy blue with flecks of silver and bright blue glitters suspended through out. Its stunning in the bottle and looks pretty good on the nail. The polish is somewhat thick though easy to apply and work with and is fully opaque and chalk-full of glitter in 2 coats.

Though I like the way this polish looks on the nails, it has one of the worst wear times of any polish I own. This polish immediately starts chipping and lifting on the edges within hours of application leaving your manicure disheveled by the next day. I wouldn't recommend this nail polish, though it is very pretty in the bottle and upon first application.

This nail polish has a different top because it is part of Essie's 'Retro Revival' collection where they sought to bring back favorite limited edition polishes from past collections. This polish apparently has a different formula than the original Starry Starry Night and simply isn't as good.

Save you $8 with this one, folks!

xxSJ

Steph Reads: Morning Star: Book III of the Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown

Morning Star by Pierce Brown is the third installment of my favorite book series, the Red Rising trilogy. The book starts off where Golden Son left off...and its a pretty desperate situation. Darrow has been captured and subsequently tortured unsure of the fate of his friends and ultimately what his fate will be given he is in the hands of the Jackal. The book takes its time to get going as it relies on Darrow's own thoughts and recollections of past occurrences to get the reader caught up on the current situation, but sure enough, there are joyous reunions with new and old characters alike and the story follows Darrow's continued quest to overtake the broken society and convince all to break the chains that bind them.  My favorite character of this series is Sevro, the smart-mouthed and sharp goblin who is as jaded as he is witty and tough, and I was so happy to find he served as one of the main characters in this book with his personality a highlight throughout.

Without spoiling anything, I will say that this book was everything I hoped it would be as the perfect wrap up to my favorite series. It had violence, romance, conflict, love, war, defeat, and success. I appreciate the imperfections of our favorite protagonists that made the characters both frustrating but also all the more relatable. I'm excited for this series to be turned into films (rumored to be happening soon!), because I NEED this amazing world and its characters to be brought to life.

I will definitely be following Pierce Brown's career eagerly awaiting his next book because the way he writes is realistic even with the most fantastical elements and so, so addictive.

xxSJ

Check out my other Steph Reads posts!
The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends by Courtney Robertson
Golden Son by Pierce Brown
The Hypnotist's Love Story by Lianne Moriarty
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks
Someday Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
The Husband's Secret by Lianne Moriarty
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty
Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
Splintered by AG Howard
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Beneath the Glitter by Elle and Blair Fowler

Clinique Beyond Perfecting foundation and concealer in 'Breeze'

My skin began acting crazy after spending a very humid Summer in NYC. My foundation was oiling up by the end of the day and yet my skin was breaking out while looking quite dry in some areas. I decided to splurge on a higher end foundation that would give me the coverage I need for my breakouts but was designed for my combination oily/dry skin. I went to Sephora and picked up the Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation + Concealer.

This foundation is your standard 1 fluid ounce and it is housed in a glass container. One interesting part of this foundation is the gigantic doe foot applicator. Some people think that this doe foot is not 'sanitary' for application directly the face, but I don't mind. I use one dip of the brush and put the foundation on my cheeks like wiskers, a stripe down my nose, and then a few dots on my forehead and chin. I've been using a beauty blender to blend this out which works beautifully. 

L: no makeup on at all!!!**GASP**, R: one coat of Clinique foundation applied with beauty blender

I got shade matched at Sephora to the lightest shade of this foundation which is the color 'Breeze' (0.5 VF-P). I noticed that this shade range is a little limited as far as lighter shades. A lot of the shades had quite a yellow undertone to them which on me makes me look a little sick. This color 'Breeze' was more pinky which is why I selected it. I think it might be a bit light for me but with blush and some bronzer it looks just fine. I find this foundation wears really well over an entire work day and does a beautiful job at evening out my skin tone while my freckles can still peek out to say hello. I find this foundation does well with a powder on top to set it and performs fine with products layered on top without caking up or emphasizing pores or fine lines. The finish of the foundation is quite natural (as in NOT MATTE) and allows for some light dewiness without making me look like an oil slick by day's end. 

This foundation costs $27 which is pricey compared to drugstore, but a very fair or even inexpensive price compared to other brands at Sephora. I am finding this foundation lasts quite a long time as well. I think I am only about 1/3 of the way finished and I have used it daily for 2 months. That is much better value than the L'Oreal cushion foundation (Click HERE for my review on this foundation!) which costs $15 but only lasts for a month...think about it. 

I'm all about this foundation, you guys, and I highly recommend it if you have similar skin to me. It just does what its supposed to do which is so refreshing. 

Check it out from Sephora HERE!

xxSJ

Steph Reads: The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

The Good Girl follows the story of Mia Dennett, a young school teacher who comes from a massively wealthy family making her the perfect target for an abduction demanding a hefty ransom. The story takes place through the eyes of Mia and her captor during the time she is living as a captive, as well as after her return switching perspective between the Detective on the case and Mia's mother. Upon her return from being held captive, Mia has selective amnesia which has blocked most of her memories of her time in the Minnesota woods with her captor, making her case all the more interesting and complex.

Kubica manages to pen this story switching between points of view as well as places on the timeline without confusion and is able to reveal a great deal about many characters in few words. Overall I enjoyed the set up of this story as well as the ending, but I felt the middle of the story was a bit lengthy without much development. It was most likely intentional, but just when I thought the characters were getting somewhere in a scenario or conversation, the chapter would end and the point of view would shift to a different character and part of the timeline forcing me to abandon the momentum I had going in a previous scene.

I do think that the ending of this story was worth the wait and well worth the repeated taunt at some sort of fulfillment in the mid portion of the story, but I do think other books (such as Gone Girl and Girl on the Train) do a better job at keeping a more consistent engagement with the story. When people refer to these types of stories as 'thrillers' or 'roller coaster rides,' I would say with this novel I felt a peak at the beginning, one long plateau, followed by a last peak where as with the previously mentioned novels I feel a ton of bumps along with the massive peaks throughout the story's entirety. Again, I think the ending of this book is very well done and made me want to read the story again (seriously, read the Epilogue...my jaw dropped and I gasped on the subway), but be prepared for a bit of a slow burn with this one!

xxSJ

Check out my other Steph Reads posts!

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline11/22/63 by Stephen King
Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends by Courtney Robertson
Golden Son by Pierce Brown
The Hypnotist's Love Story by Lianne Moriarty
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks
Someday Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
The Husband's Secret by Lianne Moriarty
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty
Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
Splintered by AG Howard
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Beneath the Glitter by Elle and Blair Fowler

Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in 'Double Dare' and 'Lovesick'

 The liquid lipstick trend has hit the beauty world hard and I don't think its going anywhere any time soon. I decided to hop on this trend after thorough research on what I thought the best liquid lipstick formula would be for my dry, depraved lips. I settled on trying out Kat Von D's Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks due to their reputation of having a long-lasting and very comfortable formulation.  I settled on picking two neutral colors to try this trend out.

R: Lovesick, L: Double Dare

 I picked out 'Lovesick,' a mauve pinky nude, and 'Double Dare,' a dusty rose mauve. The products come housed in a slender plastic tube with ornate black designs on it. I like the sleek packaging a lot, and the slimness may make it seem like you get less product, you actually get 0.22oz of liquid lipstick which is double what you get in an Anastasia Beverly Hills liquid lipstick. The applicator is a standard doefoot applicator which I found very easy to use to get a relatively perfect application.

Top: Double Dare, Bottom: Lovesick

I love this product a lot.  I am someone who LOVES lipstick to death but can't be bothered to reapply it through out the day when it fades. I also have a profession that doesn't allow me to look in mirrors often or take frequent restroom breaks for touch ups so I tend to avoid putting on lip products at risk of fading or smearing in an unflattering way. I think this product solves this issue for me as I get a full 8 hours of wear time out of this lipstick with no touch ups needed. This stuff lasts through eating and drinking and best of all, it doesn't make my lips feel uncomfortable. I definitely wouldn't say that this lipstick makes my lips feel moisturized while I wear it, but I'm certainly not bothered by it.

As an added bonus, I noticed in the morning following wearing this product my lips always looked and felt very refreshed. After some light investigating I discovered this product is infused with Vitamin E and sunflower seeds which my lips apparently respond really well to!

I'm in love with these lipsticks and will surely pick up more shades in the future. It's a beautiful product that works and costs the fair price of $20 per tube. Its not cheap, but its not going to break the bank if I hold off on my normal Starbucks purchases for the week!

Find these liquid lipsticks HERE!

xxSJ

MAC Goodies: Flamingo Park collection

MAC has recently done some out of character things for the brand such as lowering their eyeshadow pan cost to a meager $6 as well as starting a loyalty program AND providing free shipping, no minimum. After a recent browsing sesh on their website, I noticed that MAC now has a 'sale' section online! MAC and 'sale' are two words I never thought I would see in the same sentence, but I suppose they are attempting to move some old stock out of inventory.  The MAC Flamingo Park collection was a collection full of deliciously gorgeous pinks that I completely drooled over. I repeatedly added products into my shopping cart only to have them sit there for days, unable to pull the trigger (being that I am a grad student with low funds for my makeup hoarding!).  After seeing some of the Flamingo Park collection on sale for 30% off, I finally felt like I could pull the trigger!

I purchased a lipstick and a blush. The lipstick is in the color 'Flocking Fabulous' and is a hot coral color.

The blush is the color 'Spring Flock' and is a bright peachy coral in the pan but shows up a bit more subdued when swatched.

Wearing Spring Flock blush and Flocking Fabulous lipstick

MAC blushes wear for about 6-8 hours on my skin and this shade of lipstick lasted about 4 hours through light drinking. This creamy shade needs to be reapplied after meals though!

I recommend stalking MAC's website for the random sale you may stumble across! You never know what goodies you might find...I think these two products were awesome items to add to my collection that I'll get plenty of wear out of.

xxSJ

NOTD: Essie Coconut Cove

Essie's 'Coconute Cove' is a member of the Summer 2016 collection, inspired by the brilliant bold colors found in Antigua, Guatemala. I am always drawn to neutrals and how can you get more neutral than white? Coconut Cove is a white cream color that was surprisingly easy to work with given its pure coconut coloring. I have to say that this color was the easiest white I've ever applied and was opaque in 2 coats. This polish wore for 4 days without chips.

Essie polishes are $8.50 a bottle and can be found at drugstores, Ulta, and even on Amazon!

xxSJ

BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Luminous Blush: Tigerlily and Snapdragon

I am a woman OBSESSED with BECCA cosmetics. I have problem skin and ever since discovering BECCA's highlighting products I feel like my skin has had life breathed into it! Recently while browsing around Sephora and touching ALL THE THINGS, I was drawn to my favorite little spaceships over at BECCA cosmetics and I saw the most gorgeous blushes ever.

L: Tigerlily, R: Snapdragon

I picked up the colors Tigerlily, a bright orange tangerine color, and Snapdragon, a vivid coral. Both blushes are part of the 'luminous blush' line with shimmering flecks running through out the blushes.

The blushes are a bit smaller than BECCA's famous highlighers, but these puppies are so pigmented that I feel they are a fair size for a blush. They come housed in the familiar UFO shaped containers with brown rubberized plastic and a silver brushed metal top. They have high quality mirrors on the inside perfect for application on the go. 

L: Tigerlily, R: Snapdragon

These colors are rich with pigment and yet are easy to blend. You need the tiniest boop of your blush brush into the little compact to pick up enough color to complete your makeup look.
Tigerlily is a vivid orange that blends seamlessly with my complexion and gives me the perfect sunkissed look. I don't think I will be able to pull this blush off in the Winter time, but I've been using it nearly everyday this Summer. Snapdragon is the perfect coral that I think is the perfect year round blush for the my skin tone. Both of these blushes leave a perfectly radiant finish that makes me look healthy and happy!

I've seen comparisons between Snapdragon and NARS' infamous 'Orgasm,' so I swatched those below:

L: Snapdragon, R: Orgasm

Similar, but not quite the same. I think Snapdragon is richer with a radiant sheen where as Orgasm is more shimmery and light in color.

These blushes are not cheap at $34 a pop, but oh my goodness they have made me a happy camper! I think its worth checking them out the next time you're in store and perhaps treating yourself if you see a color that speaks to you!

Check them out HERE!

xxSJ

NARS Audacious Lipsticks: 'Grace' and 'Natalie'

Grace

 I love the NARS Audacious lipsticks SO MUCH so I recently decided to add two bold colors to my collection. I've recently been adoring wearing bolder colors this summer and stepping out of my comfort zone a little bit. While browsing the NARS area in Sephora, I was drawn to the color 'Grace,' a vibrant red leaning coral, and 'Natalie,' a bright flamingo coral.

Natalie

 The colors look a bit similar in the tube but swatch quite differently on the skin.

L:Grace, R: Natalie

The NARS Audacious lipsticks are some of the only lipstick formulas I've found that moisturize my lips while maintaining a matte finish and lasting for hours through eating and drinking. I love that these lipsticks have the lasting power of a liquid lipstick but look gorgeous without making my lips look like a desert wasteland.

L: Natalie, R: Grace

On me, Natalie has the perfect amount of orangish coral to be perfectly wearable on my complexion. Since I'm newer to rocking more bold colors, I love colors like this that are bold but still wearable. Though Grace is described as a bright coral, on me this color is a perfect red. I love these types of reds that are rather ambiguous....is it pink? Is it red? The world may never know...and it doesn't matter because its beautiful. 

L to R: Claudia, Brigitte, Natalie, Grace

 I think these two lipsticks are the perfect colors to add to my Audacious lipstick collection! The one con about these lipsticks is that they are $32.00 which is definitely on the pricier side. However, for someone like myself who struggles with finding lip perfection, I think adding some select colors to my collection is well worth it!

Click here for my review of Brigitte and Claudia!

Find NARS Audacious lipsticks HERE

xxSJ

NOTD: Formula X for Sephora 'Free Spirit'

Today's nail of the day is a beautiful pastel blue in the shade 'Free Spirit.'  It took 2 coats to achieve full opacity easily and this stuff wore well for 5 days with NO chips. I really love Formula X's formulation and find that I'm almost always satisfied with my manicure after using it!

I highly recommend this shade if you're looking for a pretty blue! Formula X is sold at Sephora for $10.50 a bottle.

Check it out HERE!

NOTD: Essie 'Viva Antigua!'

Today's NOTD is from Essie's new Summer 2016 collection. The collection is full of bright colors inspired by Rebecca Minkoff's travels to Antigua. Viva Antigua I find to be a pretty unique standout in the collection which is why I selected this one from the bunch. It is a turquoise with A LOT of green in it with gold and turquoise flecks running through out. This stuff is gorgeous in all lighting and is the most perfect formula-2 easy coats to full opacity!

Check this color out if you're looking for a fun addition to your Summer nail wardrobe!
Check out the collection here!

xxSJ

Steph Reads: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ready Player One follows teenager Wade Watts as he plugs into the virtual reality Oasis on the daily as his avatar, Parzival. Wade is obsessed with the creation of the Oasis, more specifically the Easter Egg hunt hidden within laid out by the creator of the virtual world following his death. The prize for completing the hunt is control over the Oasis as well as a fortune beyond belief. After Wade unlocks the first clue in the egg hunt, both his reality and virtual lives hinge on his ability to complete the quest for the ultimate prize.

If you like books that focus on world building, then you will LOVE this book. Cline does a fantastic job of explaining the rules of a world living almost solely in virtual reality. From currency to crime, he covers it all.  Though some elements are a bit fantastical, there are some hard truths about living in a virtual reality and being addicted to technology that Cline shines a light on. I found this book incredibly entertaining from start to finish though I do think in the latter half of the book some plot elements and climaxes were resolved a little too simply and cleanly for my liking. You do not have to be an 80s video game fan to enjoy this book as there are plenty of pop culture references to enjoy regardless of your interests and experience in gaming. This novel is being adapted into a film directed by Steven Spielberg and will surely be a fun one!

Check out my other Steph Reads posts!
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends by Courtney Robertson
Golden Son by Pierce Brown
The Hypnotist's Love Story by Lianne Moriarty
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks
Someday Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
The Husband's Secret by Lianne Moriarty
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty
Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
Splintered by AG Howard
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Beneath the Glitter by Elle and Blair Fowler

Burberry 'Rosewood' Eyeshadow

 After loving my Burberry Eye Colour in 'Pale Barley' to death (I've already hit pan on it after only a few months!), I wanted to pick up another one of Burberry's Silk Shadows. Enter the color 'Rosewood,' another one of Burberry's eyeshadow collection cult favorites.

 Without a doubt, part of the ultra expensive cost of this single eyeshadow goes toward the gorgeous packaging. In the linen colored box is a plaid covered velvet couch encasing the weighty metal square tin. The tiny compact has the infamous Burberry plaid on the top with 'Burberry' stamped on the side. The sleek container closes magnetically leaving no interruptions on the outside case.

 The shadow housed inside is also stamped with the beautiful Burberry plaid and a nice quality mirror is included. A sponge tip applicator is nested in there as well....mehhhh.

Rosewood is a brown satin shade with dusty rose undertones and gold sheen running through out. It is everything I wanted it to be as far as being simple enough to throw on and go to work with but complex and beautiful enough to create a stunning eye look with just one shade. 

The shadow is buttery soft to the touch and perfectly pigmented. It blends easily and layers well with itself and other shadows. 

Here is the color compared to Pale Barley. You can see the Rosewood has more rose to it but isn't as metallic or shimmery as other well known Rose Gold colors like L'Oreal's Amber Rush or Ardency Inn's Rose Gold shadow. This shadow is simply beautiful, understated, and classy.

Check out my post on Burberry's Pale Barley Eyeshadow!

Burberry Eyeshadows are $29 each for 0.09oz of product. Check them out HERE!

xxSJ

L'Oreal True Match Lumi Cushion Foundation

With Korean beauty trends taking the Western world over by storm, it was about time a cushion foundation made its way to American drugstores. This gorgeous rose gold packaging caught my eye and after reading a couple positive reviews about L'Oreal's new True Match Lumi Cushion Foundation, I wanted to give it a try.  I selected the color N2, which is the lightest color I could find in the line. Buyer beware, this foundation line does not have extensive shades to pick from! 

The pretty reflective compact opens up to reveal a little puff settled into a plastic cover. Lift the cover up to reveal the saturated cushion sponge on the inside. 

Make sure after every use you close the plastic part tight to ensure your foundation doesn't dry out! 

Since the cushion is totally saturated, the foundation appears pretty dark in the container. A very light bounce with a beauty blender (my preferred method of application) or a finger gives you A LOT of product. One bounce is enough for me to cover my whole face, and then another extra bounce will cover problem areas. 

L: no makeup, R: L'Oreal Cushion foundation, one coat

I find this foundation to give medium coverage and does a great job of evening out skin tone while giving a natural, dewy finish. Speaking of dewy, now that NYC is becoming a bit more humid as we get deeper into the Summer, I'm finding I need to blot my skin nearing the end of the day as my t-zone and forehead get rather oily. I definitely think this is a lovely foundation for the drier fall and winter months, however, and will give you a healthy glow. This foundation is pricey for drugstore at $15.99 and only lasts about a month before you're pressing into the cushion hard to get the same foundation payoff. I have flipped the sponge over in mine and resorted to pressing into it in different ways to get all the product out. I suppose that is the drawback of the fun little sponge is that you may be wasting quite a bit of product!

I definitely like this foundation and see myself repurchasing it once I escape the humidity of this NYC summer.  Check it out if you're looking for a beautiful foundation with a gorgeous finish in unique packaging!

Check it out HERE!
xxSJ