Beauty Product Reviews

This. Is. Everything.

I cannot believe how much I LOVE this product. After some fails in pressed buffing/setting powders (Urban Decay, MUFE, etc), I was ready to write this entire product type off. In addition, I already set my foundation/tinted moisturizer with pressed powder foundation (medium coverage), so I didn't think I needed something like this. WRONG.

This product is amazing beyond my wildest dreams. I don't even use my Laura Mercier loose setting powder now. I just buff this on as my final makeup step before Mac Fix+ spray (after skincare, primer, tinted moisturizer, pressed powder foundation, bronzer, and blush) and I look flawless. It's very blurring and smoothing but it also manages to give you a lit from within glow. It doesn't really look powdery at all. I don't even need highlight on the tip of my nose - this gives me enough subtle glow. And I really find that it helps me from getting too oily during the day.

I love this so much that I just bought a Japanese powder brush solely for this product. I love it so much I'll probably buy a second to keep in my purse if I need to reapply during the day (usually, after 8 hours, I oil blot and then buff a little more of this on my T-zone).

PS - I am nearly the fairest shade of foundation possible. Like, Finland in NARS, Fair in IT Cosmetics, somewhere between 10 and 20 in Natasha Denona, etc. Fair in this product was definitely light enough for me. But Medium was way too dark - looked like bronzer. I think fair is probably the best shade for many Caucasian people, even if you're not as pale as me.

Not Effective

This product is not effective and wasn't pleasant to use. I bought mine at Sephora at the same time I bought her Glow foundation. Day one, I wore the Glow foundation with Hourglass mineral veil as my primer, plus setting spray and multiple setting powders. Got pretty oily within 4-6 hours and had to oil blot three times in my 12 hour day. Day two, I wore the Glow foundation with this primer thinking they're meant to go together so it might keep my oil better at bay and prevent the foundation from sliding off (all the other steps / products were the same to day one). This primer is very tacky. Extremely tacky. It's clear and sticky but not very silicone-y or blurring. I thought maybe that would help it to grip onto the foundation, but I actually think it might have been worse than it was on day one - I was a total oil slick in two hours, like I've never seen before. My face isn't that oily with NO makeup. For this price, it just doesn't seem remotely worth it. I would prefer something blurring or something with sunscreen....

Beautiful but not totally practical

I'm really happy I bought this palette (I wasn't able to get it through Beautylish - had to fight two other ladies for it at Sephora...); however, it's not the most practical palette I own. The colors are stunning and very beautifully pigmented, plus there's an A+ array of finishes....but it's hard to make it work 5/7 days of the week when I have to go to work. I love it for a night out (see Tati Westbrook's YouTube tutorial - that look is stunning), but the colors are too bold for daily wear. There are zero transition shades, period, and really only two lid colors appropriate for daytime wear (if you work a corporate job, at least). If I want to make this work during the day, I use my transition shades from the MannyMUA x MakeupGeek palette in the crease and then some of the brighter colors in this palette for pizzazz in the outer crease.

If you love makeup and can afford to say that this is just a sometimes palette, then go for it. For an every day look, however, there are better out there (Like ABH Modern Renaissance...).

Cleansing without drying

Wow, I really love this product! I'm hesitant to use clarifying shampoos since most are so harsh (so many sulfates!) and I have colored hair, but this relies on charcoal and other not-so-damaging ingredients...and it really works. I wouldn't necessarily recommend daily or even weekly use - but once every couple of weeks, I feel like this is really great to refresh my hair and remove any product build-up. I also like to use it before I fly out on short but still overnight business trips, as I don't want to bother doing my hair once I arrive, but I want to make sure it still looks clean and bouncy. Plus, the foam application is so fun!

What happened???

I'm giving two stars rather than one because, while #5 Sultry Muse and #6 Paris Nudes were SO disappointing, I did like #1 Neutral Mattes. Nonetheless, I ended up returning them all because I just felt like the quality didn't reflect the price. While some of the Make Up Geek and ABH options can be hit or miss, and perhaps have too much pigment (i.e. fallout), I'd rather pay $40 for 8-12 shadows that have great color payoff and easy blendability versus these shadows, which were MUCH more sheer than I expected or would ever want, and turned totally muddy when blended. The Paris Nudes was the worst, while the Neutral Mattes had a few great shadows....but if I'm going to spend this kind of money on a palette, I want every shadow to be great. Furthermore, I didn't really feel like Neutral Mattes could stand alone. I'd like a palette with mattes and shimmer shades - so some combination of the three palettes I bought would have been good...if they actually had good color payoff. Bummer.

Not impressed...

I tried the Natasha Denona Blush Duo in #10 (Sheer Peachy Nude) and #2 (Light Antique Rose) and was so disappointed by both options. I was happy to see nicer packaging than her eye shadows - hefty case, nice big mirror - but my happiness stopped there. The product is so sheer and so powdery - it needs at least three layers to get appreciable color payoff. For this price, I find the Hourglass brushes to be light-years better - and I also like that the Hourglass options have a tiny bit of glow, rather than this super flat, powdery look. I really don't have more to say - this just isn't worth the money. I think there are drugstore blushes that apply better than these.

This could have been amazing...

Ugh, I wanted to love this SO BADLY. I used to be the queen of the winged liner, then I gave it up for a more natural look, and then when I saw this product on the market I thought it might be time to return to my winged glory. I was a long-time devotee to the Chanel Automatic Liquid Eyeliner (ÉCRITURE DE CHANEL), which in theory is very similar to this, minus the part where you have to click-up the "ink." That had been my holy grail for years, easily beating out any drugstore option, Charlotte Tilbury's Feline Flick (a bit too dry), and some of the popular South Korean/Japanese options on the market (they explode too easily on airplanes, even in the main cabin, rendering them useless). This product was primed to upset my HG Chanel liner.....except for the dual ends. That's right, the dual ends actually ruin it for me. The short end is just too short and inflexible for the way that I personally draw on a winged line, so I find myself ONLY using the longer, more flexible end. Sadly, the pen separates the ink flow to the two ends, so once I use up all the ink in the end I DO like, the pen will become useless to me. And, for this price, that's just absurd. So, I think I'll use this one up and return to the Chanel option, which is just as dark and long-lasting on the eyes....but is a longer-lasting and somewhat less expensive product.

Is this for pre-teens?

Oh. My. God. This is just like a metallic glitter bomb. I tried it so many different ways. On its own. Over a nude lip. Over a brightly colored lip. It just looked insanely cheap and tacky no matter how I applied it, and it completely covered the color of any lip product underneath. It's definitely not day-time appropriate, and I'd be pretty embarrassed to even go out at night looking like this. Plus, it feels kind of gross on the lips. The smell is nice, but there are better, more subtle products out there. Honestly, Milani makes better, less insanely metallic lip toppers that actually enhance lip color rather than overwhelming it. This one got returned...

Fun but pointless...

If you want your friends and loved ones to have a good laugh, then definitely put this mask on. You'll look straight up like a serial killer. Or a hockey goalie, if you're being more generous in your evaluation... But, this mask leaves a lot to be desired. I'm not inherently upset by the "dry mask" situation - I get the concept, where your body temperature melts oils and such in the mask directly onto your face. However, I just feel like the execution of this particular product is pretty lackluster (and I'm glad I only bought 1!). First, it doesn't fit my face very well, so it barely touched my nose or nasolabial folds. Second, it really didn't melt down all that well - and I'm not in a cold climate or anything that could influence this. I basically rubbed the mask on my face for the entire ~15 minutes that I wore it (not just at the very beginning) and I still felt like there was very little transfer. So, I really didn't feel like I got a lot out of the product, nor did it impact portions of my face that I care about. It is nice that it's reusable and the dry factor makes it easy to travel with - so, I could see it being good on a flight - but I just think it could be better, especially for the price.

Holy Grail Mascara

I am truly a mascara junkie. I buy all the new drugstore releases and I've tried all the popular options from MAC, Dior, Givenchy, and Too Faced. No matter what I do - this one reigns supreme. I am completely obsessed. People routinely ask me if I have fake lashes on when I wear this. It's so black. It lengthens and voluminizes so well. It doesn't smudge or flake on me, whatsoever. And, I am CONSTANTLY rubbing my eyes. Truthfully, I have a weird habit of picking at my mascara, and this one doesn't cause a nearly as much fallout as you'd expect when I do that... Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara used to be my other favorite mascara, and I would alternate between the two depending on what stores were running sales (this isn't at Sephora like Too Faced...), but now that Too Faced has been acquired by Estee Lauder, I've noticed a SERIOUS decline in the quality of that mascara, so now Charlotte Tilbury is my 100% go-to. My ONLY complaint... I don't pump my mascara in the tube (air dries it out, guys!) nor do I scrape excess on the top of the tube (why create clumps for later??), and yet, I still feel like this dries out quickly and accumulates a lot of gloop around the top of the tube. So, it could be better, but even when things start looking pretty desperate, the product continues to deliver pretty well. I think it may be because it's not a super wet mascara, which is GREAT by me. Love this stuff :)