review – Page 9 – A Cosmetic Affair

Product Review: Elf Shimmer Lip Gloss Collection

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A few weeks ago I was lucky to have won the Elf Shimmer Lip Gloss Collection which contains five shimmery lip glosses varying from a golden gloss to a dark fuchsia pink. These were sent to me by the lovely Lizzie at Glam to Go and I would love if you could go say hi! Today I will be doing a review of these lip glosses and showing the shades and the color payoff!

What I like:

You get a nice variety of colors

The shimmer in them is not chunky glitter so looks very nice on the lips

The color payoff is good

What I don’t like:

The smell is a little overpowering, too sweet

The lip gloss is a little sticky

From Up to Down: Victoria, Miami,
Pink, Houston, New York City

Which are your favorite lip glosses? What do you think of the Elf lip glosses?

Product Review: Sigma Round Top Synthetic F82 Brush

The Sigma Round Top Synthetic Kabuki F82 brush is one of my favorite Sigma brushes! I have both this and the Sigma Flat Top Kabuki F80 brush and I love them both for applying my liquid foundation with. The F82 has definitely very dense bristles and a round top style which allows for perfect blending of your foundation so that it looks seamless. I never used to use any brushes to apply my foundation but since I have tried these brushes from the SigmaX line, I definitely see what the hype was all about.

There are various ways to apply your foundation or liquid products, one being with brushes. If you use brushes you must have either oily or combination skin otherwise your skin will flake as these kinds of brushes tend to ex-foliate a little when applying the product. If you have dry skin a good option is definitely making use of the good old sponge to apply the foundation. I make use of sponges too sometimes, for some foundation but the brush is faster and easier for me. I like applying the foundation at the back of my hand and then taking little of the product in the brush and blending in the skin one section at a time.

Since this brush has synthetic hair, it absorbs less product than if you use a natural hair brush or your hands. One of the problems that I got was, that I make use of the Revlon Color stay Foundation which is a very waterproof foundation and sometimes the brush remains a little stained but with two washes usually I can get the white bristles all nice and clean once more 🙂 This brush has never shedded any bristles when I was applying the foundation, however it did shed a few hairs sometimes when I wash it. To note: I wash this brush every time I use it, as I don’t like applying foundation to my skin with an already used brush since I have very acne prone skin.

I got this brush with my own money from the Sigma website for $16.00.

Do you own this brush? What do you think about it? How do you use it?

Product Review: Almay Intense i-Color Trio for Browns

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The Almay Intense i-Color Trio for Browns is a trio of eye shadows that is designed to intensify the color of your eye color with the use of light catching minerals that help brighten the eyes. Since I have dark brown eyes I went for this combination of colors that is specifically for brown eyes having a champagne/brown/lilac combination.

The trio is embossed with the Almay logo,
little details like these make the product look better ❤

The trio is in shade no. 1 for brown eyes!
It contains 3.6g/o.13oz of product!

As we all know shades like the lilac that comes in this trio are perfect for brown eyes as they make them look more bright! The shadows are very creamy and blend-able and the color payoff is good but not too intense which allows for softer looks and not overly dramatic eyes!

The trio comes with a little application sponge,
which although many people don’t use, I find they
are very useful if you want to pack on color.
You can apply a base and pack on color with the sponge
to get a super opaque and heavy color!

Swatches of the shades!
Left to Right are the shades from Bottom to Top in the palette

I got my palette from The Cosmetic House for £5.25. As always the swatches do not have a base under, so you can get an idea of the real color payoff on the skin. This has easily become one of my most reached for palettes as it allows to create soft wearable looks for during the day and if you apply a base you can get a more smoky look for night time! Almay have other trios designed for blue, green and hazel eyes together with another palette for brown eyes, you can check them out HERE. I would definitely recommend you try one of these trios that matches your eye colors, although you can try any combination as they are all gorgeous 🙂

What do you think of this trio? Which is your favorite eyeshadow palette?

First Impressions: Elf Lip Definer and Shaper

The Elf Lip Definer and Shaper is a universally flattering product that comes in one shade nude/natural. It is a double ended pencil with two shades, one for defining your lip and enhancing it and the other to define your top points such as your cupid’s bow, basically a highlight for your lips 🙂

You get two ends one for shaping and the other for defining

One thing I was not pleased with was the different caps you get for each end. I would have preferred to have them both in black and covering the end properly. The one with the sharpener, I think will make the product dry out faster!

You get 1.95g/0.07oz of product and Elf is Cruelty Free

Back of the box instructions, basic tips
for proper application of the product

The “Shape” end of the pencil is a light
shimmering pinky/champagne color perfect for highlighting

The “Define” end of the pencil is a dark
brown matte shade, that helps to define the shape of your lips

The brown matte shade at the “Define” end of the pencil is certainly a very noticeable color and it scared me off for a while. However, I figured that this pencil is not good for filling in your lips as I love to do with most of my other lip liners but this is great to give that extra touch and go lightly over the edges of the lips and blending into the lips so you don’t have any harsh lines. Especially with some bolder colors it works amazingly! Moreover, the product is nice and creamy and easy to blend into the lips.

From Left to Right: The “Define” end and the “Shape” end

I got mine from the Elf website for €4.00.

Have you tried this product? What do you think? What is your ultimate favorite lip liner?

Product Review: Benefit Creaseless Cream EyeShadow/Liner in Sippin’ n Dippin’

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The Benefit Creaseless Cream EyeShadow/Liner is a cream product that comes in this cute little jar shown above. I had never tried any from this brand as it is a little more than what I usually spend on a single product but I just couldn’t resist getting this pot. These cream shadows are compared to the MAC paint pots which I have never tried so I cannot compare.

I love this product and have actually just purchased two more which are still in the mail. You can apply them on their own on the lid for a slight wash of color and they set really fast and don’t crease even on my oily lids, so they are true to their name 🙂

The Cream Shadow comes in this over-sized box for the amount of product you get,
but I am a sucker for packaging and I think this looks really cute 🙂
However I still think you get a decent amount of product, 4.5g/0.16oz and
a little goes a long way!

The bottom of the jar where you have all the information you need about the product
Benefit Sippin’ n Dippin’

The product in the jar itself. It is very creamy and you hardly have to touch it to
get the product on your finger! Gorgeous shade 🙂

A swatch of Sippin’ n Dippin’ on my hand. A coral/orangey shade with gold undertones!
I think this will be perfect for quick looks in the Summer 🙂
Minimal shimmer in it, much more like a sheen which I prefer!

I got mine from The Cosmetic House for £11.99 which I thought is much cheaper than what they actually retail for!

Do you own any of the Benefit Creaseless Creams? What do you think?

Product Review: Montagne Jeunesse Blemish Mud Mask

Another product review for Montagne Jeunesse Mask, I have already done a couple of these but if you follow past posts you will know I am a bit of a mask junkie. I have many more than what I actually need and I have still a lot to go through to actually to need to buy any new. The mask I am reviewing today is the Blemish Mud Mask which has Aloe Vera and Willow in it.

Instructions on the back

This is a very pleasant mask from the brand. It is particularly suited for people who like me have acne prone skin. The natural ingredients in it help to clear the skin and refresh the skin deep into the pores. This mask contains Aloe Vera, Willow, Rosemary and Witch Hazel which specifically target problem areas in the skin. It has a nice thick consistency where a little goes a long way and it feels very nice and refreshing on the skin. The scent to it is not extremely powerful and sweet like some of these masks may have but I found it to be really calming and relaxing.

Some product on the back of my hand

The packet which contains 20g/0.7 oz of product lasted me for three applications and I can usually get these for around €1.20. I think this might be the best mask I have tried from the Montagne Jeunesse brand as it is calming and relaxing to the skin and to my mind, it was a treat to apply it to the skin and wait for the 15 minutes it takes to harden. I then rinse it off with some water and apply a moisturizer to restore the hydration in my skin.

For more information about the brand you can check their website. They make use of natural ingredients where possible and are cruelty free, so no testing on animals! If you want to see some other reviews of these masks you can check HERE and HERE.

Have you tried this mask? What are your favorite face masks?

Haul: Elf Mini Shopping Spree

About a week ago the lovely people at Elf were having a free shipping code for their followers on Facebook. So I decided to make use of this discount code to get my hands on some new products and others that I have been craving for some time now!

I didn’t get much as I already own lots of products from the brand but I am really happy with all my purchases 🙂

I finally got my hands on the Elf Complexion Perfection Powder and
now I can understand what all the hype was about!
A perfect finishing powder that helps to even out the skin and
does not make you look powdery!

I also got the Elf Pressed Powder in the
color Sand which works really well with my skin color!
This has some good coverage too 🙂

Also got the Elf Lip Definer and Shaper in the color Nude/Natural.
I had really wanted to try out this lip pencil for ages, will do a review on this for sure!

I also got two brushes; one is the new Angled Eyeliner Brush which works really well with my gel eyeliners and the other is the Small Angled Brush which I really love to apply eyeshadow as liner with and I am using it everyday since I got it 🙂

Have you tried any of these products? What else do you recommend?