April 2015 Monthly Favorites

I'm a little late in the game this month. It is testing season so I'm running a little behind. I haven't done very much as of late so these products aren't super exciting.

Loreal Brow Stylist Plumper

Alright, let me just announce that this is not,in my personal opinion, a dupe for Benefit's Gimme Brow. I think depending on what you want from it though it could be, but it is not a true dupe nor my personal dupe.

I bought Benefit's Gimme Brow to fill in the one weird sparse patch on my one eyebrow. This is the first brow product though that I am comfortable using over my whole eyebrow. I have thick, dark eyebrows so mostly I need to fill in my sparse patch and hold my brows in place that's it. Benefit's Gimme Brow fills in the sparse patch like a dream but is way too intense for my whole eyebrow, not to mention it doesn't have the most miraculous staying power to begin with.

This product has a lot less fibers and less strong of a tint which makes it nice because it intensifies my eyebrows but not too much, and it holds my brows in place really well.

Cover FX Custom Cover Drops

This is really ideal for the makeup geek trying to get rid of things. If you aren't a huge makeup dweeb, if you don't love playing with your makeup, I wouldn't spend the 44$ on this product. However, I love mixing these drops with my moisturizers and my CC cream and everything else to get this custom coverage.

Olay Moisturizer with SPF- FAIL- It separated, it looked terrible on my skin, regret.

Almay Smart Shade CC cream- Meh- It separated, but not on my face. It definitely adds some coverage but it didn't feel right. There was nothing drastically or specifically wrong though, it just isn't my favorite.

As a Concealer/Foundation- Pretty good- for covering up little areas of hyper pigmentation (read: bruises from hitting myself in the face with my car door) it works well and still looks natural.

Dr.Brandt's Pore refining primer- Promising- I was worried the products wouldn't mix together properly, but it turned out fine. I didn't get a lot of pigmentation because I only used two drops for my entire face (and that's like what you would add to an already tinted moisturizer), but it helped. I'm hopeful to try it out with some primers that particularly focus on blurring imperfections rather than filling holes.

Jouer Moisture Tint Sunscreen- Holy caking, Batman!- To be fair, I never would have mixed these if I wasn't a completely useless human being in the morning who couldn't remember or stop to think that the sunscreen looked fully pigmented and not like the luminizing primer I seemed to think it was. Regardless though there was SO MUCH COVERAGE and caking. It emphasized a dry patch I didn't even know I had.

Larenim Luxurious Kabuki Brush

My best friend was getting ready for her second senior prom and when I packed up a bag of makeup for her, I gave her my e.l.f. kabuki instead of this one because this brush is mine and it is probably the best brush I have ever had. It was the very first brush I got when I was 13, my mother bought it for me. I have treated it like trash and yet the bristles are still in pretty good shape, it has never ever shed, and it is the perfect density for applying powders. Not to mention it is SO soft. 

The company has since changed the packaging/appearance, but I do believe that this is the same brush. It's only like 20$ which is an investment but compared to some other high quality brushes you are getting away cheap.

bh Cosmetics Tapered Contouring Face Brush 

So bh cosmetics is a drugstore brand but it is only available online. I've tried a few of their products and mostly it is pretty meh, but I got this as a part of their 10 pc brush set for 20$ and I love this brush. 

I gave all the eye brushes to my friend and kept the face brushes. I use three of them regularly, those being this brush, the angled contouring brush, and the flat blending brush. However, the tapered contouring brush is the only one that made it into my favorites because this is the only one that hasn't shed on me. The density, size and shape are perfect for my uses. I know I've seen a lot of other companies offer very similar looking brushes though that would probably be better quality. 

I use this brush for my contour, it is the perfect one brush way to contour my face because it fits right into the hollows of my cheeks but also has the shape for blending. For 2$, I have no complaints. I would have paid 10$ for this brush easily. As for the set, though it does shed it is a very affordable way to try out a lot of different brush shapes, and the density of these brushes is on point so it is a great way to try things out and see what you really want and use for when you build up a nicer brush collection. 

Julep's Max Nail Polish

So, this is just a plain ol' black and white glitter polish. When I was at Ulta last week I saw a polish called Graffiti that was probably way cheaper and looked really similar, but I got this polish for 5$ during Julep's Black Friday sale so it was affordable. Mostly I just love the design, the formula really isn't that great, I am just adoring how sleek and elegant this polish is while maintaining that touch of whimsy. 

I cannot photograph this polish for the life of me,

Doctor Lacquer's Viking Polish 

The swatches still don't do this justice, but this is a holographic polish that I have been loving on my toes this month. The weather is really unpredictable here right now and I've recently had a lot of special events going on so my toes may or may not need to be polished on a moment's notice. 

The polish formula holds up pretty well and dries SUPER fast, but what I am really loving is the color. Since this particular holo uses a darker base it kind of acts as the Little Black Dress of toenail polish. I have yet to find an outfit it clashes with, mostly because its hard to decide what color it is. The color is very forgiving, so chips aren't super obvious even when they do happen, and unlike a lot of beauty products this polish shines best in awkward lighting.