July 2016 Favorites

Hey guys! Welcome back to my blog. Today's post is going to be on my July favorites. I've never done anything like this before and I am SO excited to talk you all about my favorite products, maybe some are even your favorites too!

I have been trying out new products/using some products I've had lying around for some time and I've come to truly love a handful of them. They range from high-end to drugstore, so there are some pricey but also affordable products I'm going to talk about. So let's jump right into it...

First things first, I want to talk about this bad boy! The totally awesome Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Foundation in Medium Neutral ($39 at Ulta). I purchased this on a whim at Ulta one night and I am so glad I did, it is absolutely fantastic. The shade is perfect, it is definitely full coverage, it doesn't fade throughout the day and it keeps me matte. I mean, what else could an oily girl want in a foundation? I have applied this with a brush and a damp Real Techniques sponge and I find I prefer it with the sponge. It takes a bit to really work it into my skin because it's a moussey consistency but when it's all blended it makes me look FLAWLESS! I love love love this foundation and I highly recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind spending a little more on a high-end brand.

Next up is the ever so popular Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless in 235 Pure Beige ($7.99 at Ulta). I have owned this for quite sometime but it was too dark for me so I didn't wear it very often until summer came and I got a tan. I was curious to see how this would hold up during the North East's very humid summer and I have to say I'm impressed. It goes on nicely and blends like a dream with a damp sponge. It's a little too light for me now since I've gotten a pretty deep tan but once I add bronzer and the works it looks great. It certainly holds up to it's name and keeps me flawless, matte and poreless all day. I love this and will continue to repurchase.

Not much to say about this, Maybelline Matte + Poreless Pressed Powder in 235 Pure Beige ($7.99 at Ulta). It's a great powder, I use it to set my whole face and touch up throughout the day. It is the same color as my liquid foundation, it's the perfect matte powder and makes my skin look great.

I am OBSESSED with this eye shadow trio! The Wet N Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Trio in Walking On Eggshells ($2.99 here). Holy crap guys, THIS IS AMAZING. I saw Kathleenlights use it in a tutorial, went to my local CVS and scooped it up ASAP! The color pay off is incredible, the colors are gorgeous, they are the perfect warm colors. I use this all the time, at least once a week. I use the colors exactly as they're labeled, a little childish I know, but it looks fantastic. I can't say enough good things about this trio. You need to go and get it right now!! LOL but seriously it's the best and for such a low price you can't go wrong.

BROWS!!! I can't get enough of this stuff.. ColourPop Brow Color in Bangin' Brunette ($6 here). It is so creamy and goes on super smooth. I draw and shape my eyebrows with this stuff and then brush out the harsh edges with a spoolie and voila! perfect brows. If you haven't tried anything from ColourPop I suggest you do, their products are super affordable and totally amazing.

I've got 2 products from Too Faced here and for good reason, because they're incredible. The Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara ($23 here) and the Mascara Melt Off ($17 here). I know I am so late on the Better Than Sex bandwagon but oh my God!!! WHAT WAS I WAITING FOR? This mascara makes my lashes looks so great. It is so black, doesn't clump and makes my lashes super long and voluminous. And the Mascara Melt Off works wonders! I just brush it on my lashes, let it sit for a minute and then remove my make up as normal. The mascara literally just melts off! I highly recommend you try it if you have problems taking your mascara off. I am forever a fan.

Last, but not least, is the Noyah Lip Gloss in Malbec ($16 here). Gosh, this color is gorgeous. It is a beautiful bright pink but is sheer enough that it doesn't looks harsh on your lips and it's not sticky at all. Thank you, Boxycharm. :)

Just letting everyone know these are all my own opinions, I purchased everything with my own money and none of the links are affiliate links, I just thought it'd be easier for you guys if you were curious about them. I hope you all enjoyed this post and I hope it was helpful. Please come back again!

Jessica

Drugstore and High-end Review

Hey guys! Welcome back to my blog! Sorry I'm inconsistent with uploading content, I have a full time job plus a crap ton of events this summer so I'm trying my best. 

Today I wanna talk about and give a review on a few products I picked up/got in the mail recently. I ordered a couple things online and purchased the others from CVS, so it's kind of like a mini drugstore/high end haul. Very mini. LOL. The items I got online were the Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara ($23) and their Mascara Melt Off ($17). The items I got in-store from CVS were the Wet n' Wild Illuminating Face Palette ($4.99) in Catwalk Pink, Milani Conceal and Perfect 2-in-1 foundation ($9.99) in 05 Warm Beige,and the Milani Amore Matte Lip Cremes ($8.99 each) in 11 Precious and 15 Gorgeous.

 

I have to say the two Too Faced products (say that 10 times fast) are fantastic! I know I'm late on the Better Than Sex trend but better late than never right? I love it! It makes my lashes super black, full and long. What else could you want in a mascara? Also, the Mascara Melt Off is amazing. I applied it to my top and bottom lashes, left if on for about a minute and then took my make up off as usual with micellar water and bam! it literally melted off. A+ in my book, I will continue to repurchase both as long as they're on the market.

Now onto the affordable stuff. I shop at the drugstores around me quite often and always pick up random stuff and always end up returning something but not this time! The 4 products I purchased from CVS were a huge hit with me. The Wet n' Wild Illuminating Face Palette can be used in so many different ways, all 4 colors can be used separate as highlighters or eyeshadows and if you swirl them all together you get a really nice soft pink color and for $4.99 it's a steal!

The Milani Conceal and Perfect 2-in-1 foundation is also fantastic. I have very oily skin (as I've mentioned before) and this works wonderful on me, It does settle into my smile lines a little bit but that's the case with every foundation I own, whether it be drugstore or high end. The color is perfect and doesn't feel heavy, it does make me a bit oily as the day goes on but I just use some blotting papers to fix that. I'm used to most foundations getting greasy on me, with the exception of the Tarte Amazonian Clay and Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless, so it doesn't bother me too much. It makes my skin look flawless as well, the color is near perfect for me, Another A+ product and at such an affordable price you can't go wrong.

Last but not least, the Milani Amore Matte Lip Cremes definitely surprised me. They are a bit drying but honestly that's to be expected with any liquid lipstick. It's very liquid-y, not mousse-y, it has a similar formula to the Colourpop Ultra Matte's and although Colourpop is cheaper, the Milani ones are more accessible if you can find them at your local CVS. I absolutely love the colors, they are so opaque and gorgeous and stay on forever. I ate a bagel with cream cheese this morning and it did not budge!

Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed and please come back soon. 

E.l.f. Haul & Mini Review

Hey guys!

Jessica here, and today I'm going to give some details and a mini review on my recent online E.l.f. haul. There was a promotion going on if you spent a certain amount of money you got a free 3 piece kit and free shipping with the purchase of 3 items from the summer playbook section. So here goes..

Products I have swatched and/or used already:

Lip Lacquer in Natural ($2): Pretty color, a lot more nude than I expected but great to put over a nude lipstick or liquid lipstick, it's a little sticky but that doesn't bother me,

On the Spot Blot blotting papers ($5): Blotting papers are pretty much all the same but I have crazy oily skin so they're pretty much a necessity. It comes in a little plastic case with mini puff (like an old school powder puff) that is stick on one side to pick up the papers and blot with. Genius!

Poreless Face Primer ($6): It has a pretty strong smell (can't pin point it) but it goes away after applying it. I didn't see a huge difference in my face after using but I have very large pores and have yet to find something to completely fill them but it did make my skin look smooth. Pretty decent primer over all.

Ultimate Blending Brush ($6): Super soft! Super silky! Love this brush. Simple.

Baked eyeshadow in Enchanted ($3): Gorgeous gold color (on my tan-ish skin). It has pretty good pigmentation dry but of course baked products pop when you wet them but either way this color is gorgeous! For best color pay off use a primer AND wet the brush.

Eye Refresh ($3): Just your typical roller ball eye treatment. It's not too sticky and rubs into the under eye well. I haven't seen much of a difference in my under eye yet as far as helping with my dark circles but it did make them feel good.

Wrinkle Refiner ($3): This stuff is absolutely terrible. I generally don't like to talk junk about a product because everyone's skin is different but holy crap this stuff is bad. It's extremely hard to rub in because it dries almost immediately. It makes the under eye look smooth (as smooth as it can as I have terrible under eye wrinkles) at first but then after a second my under eyes looked exactly the same as before I applied it, super wrinkly. Then as soon as I started to blend out my concealer it started to get patchy and chunky and would not blend out at all! I had to take a make up wipe to my under eyes and start over without it.  I don't recommend if you have fine lines or wrinkles under your eyes. 

Products I have not used/have not used enough:

Daily Face Cleanser ($7): This was one of the free gifts, I have yet to use it because I have certain cleansers I use already but I will try it out in the future. And it is HUGE! 3.71 fl oz.

Acne Fighting Foundation in Buff ($6): I swatched this and it had pretty good coverage but the color seemed to be a bit too light for me so I have to get a different color. Stay tuned.

Daily Moisture Stick ($6): This was another one of the free gifts, I haven't used this at all and don't plan to. I have super oily skin (as I've said) and this will probably make it even worse. I am iffy about using new moisturizers because I can go from oily to grease bucket very quickly.

So there you have it, I might do an update when I'm able to use the products more so stay tuned. Thanks for reading! Hope you come back again!

Go-To Make Up for Oily Skin

Hey everyone!

Jessica here, today I just want to talk about something that might benefit a lot of you and that is my summer make up routine for VERY oily skin. I have seriously oily skin (ugh!) and if you also have oily skin you know what a drag it is to wear make up during the hot, humid summer. Here in the North East we have very humid summers that usually leave me a greasy mess. I have discovered a few products that I recommend to try if you have oily skin like me!

First, I want to talk about primers and foundation. I use the Olay Fresh Effects Clear Skin Swirled Mattifier ($9.99 at Ulta) to mattify my entire face, NYX Pore Filler ($13.99 at Ulta) to fill my very large pores, Soap & Glory One Heck of a Blot Instant-Perfecting Power Primer ($14 only at Ulta) to mattify my T-zone and last but not least Soap & Glory One Heck of a Blot Foundation ($19 only at Ulta) in Happy Medium.

I know it seems a little excessive to use 2-3 primers but I have to say pairing these products together keep my skin very matte and smooth looking ALL day! I'm not over the moon in love with the foundation because in some spots on the tip of my nose and chin it sits in my pores and gets a bit cakey but it does a really great job at keeping my face matte. Cakey-ness aside I think it's worth a try if you have oily skin, it may work better for you, everyone's skin is different.

Now on to the powders! To set my under eye concealer I use NYX HD Finishing Powder in Translucent ($9.99 at Ulta), to set my T-zone and other oily areas I use Soap & Glory One Heck of a Blot ($16 at Ulta), and to set my entire face I use NYX Mineral "Set it & Don't fret it" Matte Finishing Powder ($9.99 at Ulta) in Light/Medium.

Now for some color. I use the every so popular Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof Bronzer in Park Avenue Princess ($30 at Ulta) and for blush and highlight I use the gorgeous Becca x Jaclyn Hill Champagne Glow face palette ($52 at Sephora, Limited Edition, Available in stores June 16th) in the colors Amaretto, Rose Spritz and Champagne Pop.

I have A LOT of wrinkles under my eyes and the NYX HD Translucent Finishing Powder is amazing, it doesn't emphasize my wrinkles even more than they already are, their Mineral powder is so light and fine it feels weightless on my face. So those are both thumbs up in my book.

Soap & Glory hit it out of the park with this blotting powder and the primer of the same name, absolutely incredible for my very very oily skin, I HIGHLY recommend. I will continue to repurchase these forever (or until they stop selling them lol).

Thank you all for taking the time to read! Please note none is this is sponsored, none of the links are affiliate links and all opinions are MY OWN! Please come back again! :)

Welcome to my blog!

Hey everyone!

Jessica here, princesssssjesslovesbeauty on Instagram, and I just want to welcome everyone to my new blog. I share content on my Instagram but I figured it would be nice to have a blog to post other stuff like in depth looks at my hauls, un-boxings, my favorite products and much more.

 Thanks for visiting and stay tuned!