Preparing for a Wedding - Part 2

About 2.5 weeks ago, I posted Part 1 of this series - preparing for a wedding. I'm back today with another post detailing some additional products I've picked up in preparing to do my maid of honour's bridesmaids' makeup one week from now.

One of the products that I think is really important to have is a good eye cream. One that gives enough hydration to the undereye area but also primes the area. After finishing a sample of the Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream, I really wanted to get a full-sized pot of it but I still had a whole bunch of other eye creams to finish. But the wedding was a good reason (excuse) to get an eye cream that does it all - hydration and prime.

With doing other people's makeup, I need to be aware of keeping things sanitary and rubbing alcohol can only do so much. I picked up the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Custard and Ginger so I don't use the open concealers I've been using on myself. This concealer is just as it's named - radiant and creamy. It provides great coverage while still being moisturising. And, I picked up a new Anastasia Brow Wiz in Ebony. This is a really good shade for those with naturally black eyebrows and dark brown to black hair. My own Brow Wiz in Ebony is really dirty and I've already used up a lot of it! So, this new one will last for doing the makeup of two weddings.

Stay tuned for the next post that includes tools I've picked up in preparation for the wedding!

Believing the Hype #1

There are many products out there that many bloggers and YouTubers rave about and in turn become quite popular amongst the beauty community. I'm not usually one to want to buy products that have been hyped up, but I've tested and used some of these products and here are some of the ones where I believe the hype is real.

Caudalie Beauty Elixir
Many people swear by this magical liquid in a bottle. The only way I was going to try this product was if it was included in a value set - I wasn't about to pay full price for this toner. Once I had gotten my hands on it and tried it out for a couple of weeks, I fully understood why so many people love this product. I've done a review on this product here.

Ole Henriksen Truth Serum Vitamin C Collagen Booster
Was it me or did the beauty blogging world go through some kind of vitamin C craze? I first heard and read about this product when there were all these YouTube videos and blog posts talking about how good vitamin C is for the skin. Once the craze had died down, I bought a value set that had a sample size of this serum. It's helped with evening out my skin, make it brighter and more supple. It definitely lived up to the all the hype surrounding it and it smells amazing!

Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil
This was the first brow pencil that I tried out because of the amazing reviews and the wedge shape of the pencil. The heaviness of the pencil also drew me to it because of the luxurious feel. The formula lived up to the hype - it's buildable, with a waxy formula to help set the hairs. It blends well and lasts for the entire day.

Anastasia Brow Wiz
I really didn't want to like this product mostly because of all the hype and rave reviews its received. After using it a few times, I understood why so many people love this product. The pencil is very thin which makes it easy to get precise strokes to mimic brow hairs. It gives enough colour, but doesn't deposit too much pigment. There's also a wide range of shades that should be able to fit everyone's needs.

Discoveries of 2014: Makeup

2014 was a great year in discovering new products that I've loved and truly enjoyed using, and have included in my daily routines. This week will be a recap of all beauty discoveries I've made in the past year and have stood out to me. Today's post will focus on most aspects of makeup - foundation, eyeshadow, mascara and more.

Foundation

Diorskin Star Foundation - One of the most hyped up foundations of 2014 which definitely deserved to be. I have the shade 031 Sand and it is truly like perfect skin in a bottle, while being lightweight and comfortable to wear on the skin. It has SPF and lasts for quite a long time on the skin.

Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet Foundation - This is the first Chanel foundation I've ever tried and I put a lot of time into researching this before purchasing. Am I glad I bought this! This is a great foundation for those who have combination to oily skin as the foundation dries down to a smooth velvet finish while keeping the oils at bay. The lasting power is decent, but nothing a blotting sheet can't fix. For reference, I have shade B40, which is a tiny bit dark for me at the moment, but can be blended out to match my skin a little better.

Concealer

Chanel Correcteur Perfection - I bought this on a whim to see if it was comparable to the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer. I wouldn't say this would be a replacement for the NARS concealer, but it's similar. I use this as a corrector under my eyes, before using the NARS concealer on top. I bought the shade 30 Beige Petale, which is too dark for my skin, but works great as a corrector due to its pink undertone. 

Blush
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette - Probably one of the best beauty buys I made in 2014. It contains 3 blush shades that can look beautiful on all skin tones. I don't think I could pick a favourite out of the three, but I really like layering Luminous Flush and Incandescent Electra. All three blushes give a natural flush to the cheeks and a luminous highlight all in one.

Contour

Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder - A silky, matte contouring powder that gives a natural finish. It isn't chalky or orange and really helps with mimicking shadows to help contour a face that may not have strong cheekbones. Because the powder has some grey undertones, it really helps with giving a more realistic contour shade than bronzers.

Eyebrows
Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil - The first brow product that I used and immediately loved. I especially like the shape of the pencil, which makes it super easy and fast to fill in my brows. The dark brunette shade is a decent match for me and continues to be my favourite brow product for now. You can read more about my thoughts of this product here.

Anastasia Brow Wiz - Another brow product I tried in 2014, which I liked. I appreciate the thinness of the pencil to accurately draw in tiny hairs and for being precise in creating the shape of the brows. I also reviewed this brow pencil here. 

Eyeshadow
Bobbi Brown Warm Eye Palette - Possibly the perfect warm neutral eyeshadow palette for me. This was the only palette I reached for since I got it, as it has a great combination of light, medium and dark shades. It also has both matte and shimmery shades. You can read my review and see swatches of the shades here. 

Eyeliner
Kat Von D Ink Liner - 2014 was the year I wanted to master liquid eyeliner. After trying a few out, the Kat Von D Ink Liner came out as my favourite felt tipped liquid liner. It has just the right amount of flexibility and stiffness, while giving an extremely black colour that also isn't shiny.

Essence Waterproof Eyeliner Pen - Not my favourite liquid liner, but the felt tip is stiff with no flexibility, which is excellent for drawing the flick when doing winged liner. When I'm having a bit of difficulty with drawing the flick with the Kat Von D Ink Liner, I use this.

Mascara

Shu Uemura Petal Lash Mascara - The best mascara I've used in a while. It's great for keeping the curl and is smudgeproof. Even though it doesn't explicitly say it's waterproof, you definitely need a good eye makeup remover to get this off. 

Honourable Mentions
Last but not least, I have a few honourable mentions from 2014. I finally tried out the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick, Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector, and Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge. Even though I had only used these products a few times in the last couple months of 2014, I enjoyed them! I will continue to use them in 2015 to see if they will be products I will fall in love with and put into my daily routine.


What are some of your makeup discoveries from 2014?

Also, stay tuned for my skincare and haircare discoveries of 2014 coming later this week!

Finding the Ultimate Brow Product: Anastasia Brow Wiz - Dark Brown/Brunette

In continuing my search for finding the ultimate brow product, we have the Anastasia Brow Wiz as the next contender. This is a brow product that many people have raved about and claimed as their HG brow product, so I was excited to try this out.

So far, I've reviewed the Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil which you can read here. Naturally, the Anastasia Brow Wiz would be the next product I would try out. It's similar to the Hourglass brow pencil in that it's double-ended with the pencil on one end and a spoolie on the other. Unlike the Hourglass brow pencil, this product comes in 9 different shades, so most people should be able to find a shade that's appropriate for them. I chose Dark Brown/Brunette, since Ebony seemed a little too dark for me.

In terms of using this brow pencil, I like that the pencil is really thin, so it allows for more precision when drawing in little hairs. The fine tip also makes it easier to outline certain parts of the brows. It's nice for when I have a bit more time to fill in my brows, but most days I'm too lazy to think about such precision and go back to using the Hourglass brow pencil, which is also a bit waxier in formula - great for helping set the brow hairs in place.

The spoolie for this pencil is also great. It's full and dense, which helps with blending out the pigment. Since it's a bit smaller than the spoolie on the Hourglass pencil, it gives more control when blending.

Now, after using the brow pencil for a month, I can say I like it, but I don't love it. I like how my brows look in pictures, but in real life, I think the shade is too light for me. So, I might have to try the shade Ebony to see if it sways my opinion of this product. The packaging is good, but I find it's too thin. I like holding something thicker, so sometimes I'm a little scared I might snap the pencil in half if I hold it too tightly. The thinness of the product is great for precision, but causes me to spend a little longer on my brows than I would like to. And lastly, the amount of product you get is so little! You get 0.085g of product, which compared to the Hourglass brow pencil (0.4g) is ridiculously little. Now I understand how others run out of this in a month or less.

I still have other products to test out, but so far, it's not my favourite.