Makeup

Milani Eye Tech Extreme Liquid Eye Liner

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Milani Eye Tech Extreme

When I heard Milani Eye Tech Extreme may be a reasonable dupe for Stila Stay All Day Liquid Liner, I had to look into it. Glorious as the felt-tip liner from Stila is, it is about $20 for a full size at regular price, which makes me kind of sad. This product, however, is only about $7-8.

Featuring a fine felt tip, the Milani Easy Tech Extreme liquid liner is structured very similarly to the Stay all Day and should be able to product similar results. According to Milani’s Site:

Non-feathering, waterproof blackest black formula lasts all day without flaking our budging.

I tested it out to see how well it met that claim. Here are the pictures, taken and laid out similarly to the Stila test.

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Maybelline Shocking Coral

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Is, simply put, a lie. I wanted a coral because I did not own one. Maybelline Color Sensational Vivids came out with one, the I-wish-it-was-aptly-named-Shocking Coral.

Really quick – according to Wikipedia, the following are various coral colors. The latter two are what most of us think of:

corals

If we define it ourselves, most of us will say it is a light, orange-toned pink. Woo, sounds pretty! So I bought it a while ago to try because I am guilty of owning mostly MLBBs and reds.

Here’s the bottom. I’ve seen Shocking Coral as both 910 and 870; I got 870 – I’m not sure if there’s a difference, or if it is regional, or what have you:

870

Hmm. That doesn’t look too coral, but maybe it is just the sticker. Stickers have been known to mislead, after all, and that’s why we like swatches.

I’ll swatch it!

Maybelline Color Sensational Vivids Shocking Coral swatch

Granted, please note that this was taken indoors with flash – but this is absolutely, positively not a coral lipstick. It is more fuschia-y both in the tube, swatched, and on my lips than anything. It isn’t that the color itself is bad; it isn’t. But it is not coral. Maybe that is what is so shocking about it – it isn’t coral! This is what caused my to learn my lesson and to find swatches first unless I was in the fortuitous position of being an early adopter (and therefore provider of said swatches).

Otherwise, the formula is nice and I would recommend the Maybelline Color Sensational Vivids line (Electric Orange is fun) – but don’t get this one if you actually want a bright, vibrant coral because this is not it. You can find them anywhere that has Maybelline, including Amazon, for between $5-7.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links – this means I may get a very small percentage of the sale if you decide to buy something. I’ll only tell you that something is awesome if I have verified it myself!

Stila Hydrating Finishing Powder

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Today, in Things That Make Sense…


Stila Hydrating Finishing Powder

I was browsing the beauty section of Amazon the other day and came across this finishing powder. While I am currently happy with my current one, I was skeptical but intrigued and clicked through to the product. After all, how can a powder hydrate? After all, Google says:

pow·der

noun
1. fine dry particles produced by the grinding, crushing, or disintegration of a solid substance.
verb
2. reduce (a substance) to a powder by drying or crushing it.

Common theme? Dry.

I use a finishing/setting powder to absorb the extra oil that my T-zone produces and hold my foundation in place. (If I didn’t have that to contend with, I honestly wouldn’t bother. And since I do not wear foundation every day, I do not use powder every day.) Why? Powders are drying – that’s the whole point.

I did some poking around and found that they offer only one shade of this product. It is not translucent (it is pigmented!) but Stila says the Hydrating Finishing Powder is universal. Reviewers disagree – I found several that said it was too warm, specifically, too orange. I am not a particularly pale person (even when I am pale for me) and that looks like it would be too dark/too orange for me to enjoy.

The Stila Hydrating Finishing Powder page suggests that it can be used as an eyeshadow base and that it is a, “great option for individuals with oily eyelids.” As someone with reasonably oily eyelids, I can’t say I buy that line. If I want more than a couple hours out of much of anything, I need a primer – which this is not. Furthermore, if it is indeed as hydrating as they would have you think it would not make the best eye base for oily-lidded folks. If you have dry lids? Sure, it might help. But I wouldn’t bank on it, and I would still recommend a primer.

Stila says it helps to protect the skin – but it isn’t boasting SPF. Naturally, my reaction was, “How?!” To my delight, there’s some actual science here – the third ingredient, which is ectoin (ectoine?), is a compound present in certain bacteria. Don’t freak out – used in skin and sun care, it helps protect from UV rays. It apparently also helps with dryness somehow, but I’m not sure how – the mechanism is unclear. It is advertised to release this stuff via time-release, but I think that might require me to suspend my disbelief a bit more than I’m willing to.

In all, coming in at $32, I will pass on the Stila Hydrating Finishing Powder. In general, I prefer translucent powders but I especially do not like a one-size-does-not-actually-fit-all medium orange-y hue. Bottom line is that if your skin needs a moisture boost, you should look at your skincare routine and hydration habits – not a powder that perches precariously atop all the other goop we slap on our faces. If you’re looking for a decent finishing/setting powder, I recommend Rimmel Stay Matte. The line carries a translucent and several pigmented shades and is available for $3-5.

Disclosure: Hey! There are some affiliate links in here, thought you might want to know. There’s more info on the About page.

Sephora’s Urban Decay Event Report 2/15

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In the scheme of things, Sephora is pretty new to me. I did not live particularly close to one until they opened one in my local mall’s JCPenney store. They did not have events and classes right away because they opened right before the madness of holiday shopping struck. Now that things have settled down, they started offering events – I had shopped there, but never attended one.

On a whim, I checked earlier this month and found (to my delight) that they were hosting an Urban Decay event. I recently reconnected with a friend who I knew was also a UD lover, so I gushed about it to her – we made plans to go. After that, I realized I had no idea what to expect and the only information listed on Sephora’s site was:

Enjoy a complimentary makeup application featuring Urban Decay’s iconic Naked collection. Receive tips from our beauty experts–and get a free gift.

It also said you had to be enrolled in Sephora’s Beauty Insider program to participate (but you can enroll at the store!) and that because space is limited, you should call to make sure they aren’t already full. Fair enough – I called, was greeted by a friendly employee who took down our names and the time we would be coming in. Cool, I jumped that hurdle.

But what else should we know? Should we come in bare-faced, or are they just going to do an eye look? How long does it take? Are we expected to spend a certain dollar amount in order to participate?

A friendly acquaintance from high school is actually a makeup artist for Sephora these days, albeit in a different city. I asked him what he would prefer from clients – though it is best and easiest for everyone to come in clean, moisturized, but otherwise bare-faced, they will be happy to hand over a makeup removing wipe.

Because I don’t like wasting effort (or product), I arrived bare-faced. We arrived at our appointed time and were greeted and welcomed to Sephora Urban Decay Event by the (awesome, might I add) artists; they let us get settled at the vanity and decided on a look together. There were a few template looks, or they said they could create something unique. I felt adventurous and went with the unique option – my artist applied a full-face including Urban Decay’s facial primer (if there are more than one, I can’t remember which) actually, here’s a list:

  • Naked Skin foundation
  • 24/7 Concealer pencil
  • UDPP
  • Naked3 palette for shadow
  • 24/7 liner pencil (I cannot for the life of me remember which shade)
  • Big Fatty Mascara
  • Naked Flushed for blush
  • Naked Skin Ultra Definiton Pressed Powder
  • Revolution Lipstick in Naked
  • All Nighter Setting Spray

My artist was attentive and made sure I was comfortable the entirety of the time – colors, intensity, etc. Once complete, the finished look was great – it took maybe a little over a half hour from start to finish. The women in our store even went so far as to bake and decorate UD-themed cupcakes which I found to be a very nice surprise. We weren’t pressured to buy anything, but we were invited to shop around afterwards and that they’d hold our gifts at the register before we left. They were in reach when we had questions (except for a brief moment when they were all helping others, which is fair), but it never felt as though they were crowding us.

I definitely did expect a little pressure to buy so the lack of it was very nice – I’m thrilled to share that it was not the case. We obviously talked about products, but it was a legitimate conversation, not pushing; not being sold to. Granted, that might depend on the employee and the local store but if you were avoiding an event like this for fear of sales pressure, give it a shot and approach it with an open mind.

Once we finished up, we were given our gifts, which I talked about here. Here’s a look – it is one of their full-sized polishes and a TSA-approved clear plastic travel bag. Though the polish didn’t blow my mind, it is still a neat gift (that I was definitely excited to try out – and write about!)

100_1323

In the past, I’ve heard a lot of sass about Sephora employees being too sassy, judgmental, etc. and that some people have been deterred from shopping there – this made me nervous before my first time in my local store. Obviously YMMV, but I had a great experience with the event and with every time I’ve been to mine. If you enjoy Urban Decay products and your Sephora is hosting an Urban Decay Event soon, I recommend checking it out.

Olay Fresh Effects BB Cream

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I received a sample foil of the new Olay Fresh Effects BB Cream in Light to Medium recently, and because I was feeling kind of blah but not blah enough to break out my foundation, I ripped the sucker open to slap it on my face. This is the first product I have written about that I did not bother to research before slapping it on my face – crazy. I felt like living on the edge, I guess. I had no idea what kind of marketing or claims were associated with this product other than that it is new, it is from Olay, and it is listed as a BB Cream.

Here’s what the Olay site has to say:

Finish your daily beauty regimen with the all-in-one solution with 6 skin-perfecting benefits:

• Refreshes skin instantly
• Brightens for a radiant glow
• Evens tone with a splash of sheer color
• Hydrates for 24 hours
• Smoothes for softer feeling skin
• Protects against UV damage with SPF 15
• Infused with essence of honeysuckle and white tea

As far as my experience (which, again, occurred before I checked the product out) – the contents of the foil packet felt light on the pads of my fingers and was easy to apply – smoothing it on and blending it out was easy with just my fingers thanks to the light consistency. Though it looked pretty opaque when squeezed from the packet onto my fingers, I found that it was actually quite sheer as I applied it to my face. Using my lighted mirror as well as varying mirrors and levels of lighting, I tried (and failed, fortunately!) to see any lines where the color was showing or off – although I did not see any harsh lines, this did pull a warmer on me than my skin actually is.

Although the Fresh Effects BB Cream’s packaging says that it is, well, a BB Cream, it then indicates that it is a, “skin perfecting tinted moisturizer.” The distinction is important – although a lot of popular Western brands are trying to cash in on the BB cream market, most offerings are not really BB Creams, and are typically just tinted moisturizers with the addition of sunscreen – meaning they are not actually alternatives to foundations and so forth. This product, though it felt nice going on, is entirely too thin to be a true BB Cream.

The first trait of this product that struck me, though, was not how light it felt, how easily it applied, or how sheer it was – it was the scent. As it turns out, Olay Fresh Effects BB Cream really means, “Olay heavily perfumed BB Cream.” If you are familiar with the fragrance used in Olay’s Quench line of body washes, lotions, etc. — it is that scent, or something very close to it. I’m indifferent to the scent as a body product but for the love of cats why would you add that to a face product and not warn people? Not thrilled with that aspect at all, especially as I started sneezing shortly after putting it on. I do not have any known allergies (unknown-unknowns, etc) to anything in this stuff, but I abhor strongly scented products that are designed to linger on my face (i.e., moisturizer, foundation, etc).

Because I only had a foil pack, I don’t have any pictures for you, so we’ll live with a stock photo.

Now, to tackle the claims:

Refreshes skin instantly – The fact that it feels moisturizing is quite nice, and that may be what they mean – but something like this should not be applied onto anything but freshly washed skin that shouldn’t already need refreshing.
Brightens for a radiant glow – I do not feel that it brightened my complexion but it does leave a dewy finish, but doesn’t appear to be shimmery like some products boasting radiance have.
Evens tone with a splash of sheer color – The product does have sheer color, but if you have anything other than light splotchiness, you may want something heavier duty like a Korean BB Cream or straight-up foundation because this is little more than a tinted moisturizer.
Hydrates for 24 hours – Nope. Not in the winter, anyway. Beyond that, do not forget that this, and products like it, are cosmetics. Wash your face before bed!
Smoothes for softer feeling skin – Immediately after applying, my skin did feel slightly softer than before I applied, but otherwise my skin felt normal throughout the day.
Protects against UV damage with SPF 15 – It is true that this product contains sunscreen, but like any sunscreen it is recommended that you reapply. Don’t be that person reapplying tinted moisturizer without removing the old layer, okay? It will not be flattering.
Infused with essence of honeysuckle and white tea – Great, I like both of those things – unfortunately neither of those were what the smell is. White tea has antioxidants, but I can’t imagine the concentration in this product is high enough to combat a thing.

This is by no means a bad product, but it is important to recognize it for what it is – a tinted moisturizer, not an actual BB Cream. If scented facial products do not bother you, Olay Fresh Effects BB Cream is available online and at drugstores for between $10-14. Between the dewy finish (not cute for me, I have some pores that were a little obvious) and the smell that I just could not get past, I washed it off when I got home and will not be purchasing a full sized tube.

Disclosure: Hey! There are some affiliate links in here, thought you might want to know. There’s more info on the About page.