Le Makeup Routine

I truly enjoy putting on makeup! It's just so fun to go through my products and decide what to use each day. I have discovered that I am reaching for the same four items recently during this hot hot (a bazillion days in a row over 100) weather. Liquid foundation just feels icky to me right now, so I've been all about the powder foundation, and loving it.

1. Benefit Hello Flawless! powder foundation in Never Settle Petal ($34 from Sephora) applied all over with a flat-top brush

2. Too Faced Primed & Poreless Powder ($28 from Sephora) applied all over with a powder brush as a finishing powder

3. Smashbox Fusion Soft Lights in Baked Stardust ($30 from Sephora) applied with a skunk brush on the top of my cheekbones

4. Benefit Dandelion ($28 from Sephora) applied with a blush brush to the apples of my cheeks

What face products are you loving right now?

Review: Physicians Formula Happy Booster Powder and Blush

I have been scouring the town for the past 2 weeks, looking high and low for the new Physicians Formula Happy Booster products. I finally scored on Sunday at my local Super Walmart.

Happy Booster Face Powder in Translucent ($12.67 at Walmart)

Happy Booster Blush in Rose ($10.63 at Walmart)

These are just darling! So glad I purchased them.

Both products have a slight Violet scent that disappears when you apply them. You know how sensitive I am to smells, and it did not bother me at all.

The powder has a very slight shimmer to it, and I'm using it as more of a highlighter than an all-over finishing powder.

The blush is just gorgeous, but is very very pigmented, so I have a brush application recommendation for you.

I first tried it with a normal, slanted, rather dense blush brush, shown above. This applied it way too heavily and I had to tone it down quite a bit with another lighter product before I was satisfied with the look.


The next day I tried my Sonia Kaskuk skunk brush from Target and the application was much much better. This type of brush picks up less product, and is perfect with a highly pigmented product.

Part of my love for these products may be directly related to the cuteness factor, but hell, they are just darling I'm not ashamed to love them.

By the way, I am doing fab on my resolution to purchase absolutely no new lip products in 2011!

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

These are a few of my favorite things.....

Right now I am using Dove Damage Therapy Intensive Repair Daily Treatment Conditioner on WC's hair and am LOVING it. Poor thing has hair just like me- super fine- and it gets so tangly just walking around. But this conditioner is wonderful and I truly think it's made her hair smoother and much less tangled in the evenings. Her hair looks shiner and so much healthier as well. Disclosure: I received this product for free from BzzAgent.

I had heard a lot about "skunk" brushes and have heard these give a great "light" application of blush or bronzer. I purchased this Sonia Kashuk Highlighting brush at Target for about $12 and I absolutely love it. I'm pretty pale, and a regular blush brush sometimes applies too much color for me, so this works great. (For some reason, this brush is not offered or pictures online at Target's site, but it is available in stores.)

I also needed a new powder brush. I apply a finishing powder over my foundation, and the brush I was using was past it's prime. When I was shopping Avon recently, I found this Mark powder brush for only $8 and I am so glad I ordered it. The handle is high-quality and nice and heavy and the brush itself it so soft. Great purchase. Here's a recent post I did on how to get free shipping on Avon products when you order thru my rep, Valeri.

I've been using Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle for years and love it, but am such a product junkie I can't be satisfied with that. I have to keep trying different products and see how they work in comparison!

I purchased Instant Artificials at Sally's a few weeks ago (about $7-8 I think) and I've already been recommending it to friends! I had a crazy busy week last week and didn't have the opportunity to paint color on my nails, and usually when this happens, I lose a few nails to breakage since they don't have the protection of a million coats of polish. However, I painted two coats of Instant Artificials on my nails and not only did my nails stay intact, the clear polish lasted for 6 days with absolutely no peeling or chipping and my nails seemed even stronger at the end of that week. I am sold!

What products are you loving these days?

Budget Makeup- Hard Candy at Walmart

Trolling the aisles at The Walmarts, I ran across some new boxed blushers by Hard Candy called "Fox In a BOX" for just $6 that suspiciously looked like Benefit boxed powders, which retail for $28.

In fact, I was sure one of them was a Sugarbomb dupe.

(left to right, Spicy & Sweet, Hot Flash, and Smooth Talker)

and yup, look at that! The colors of Smooth Talker are identical to Benefit Sugarbomb! (Sugarbomb is on the left and Smooth Talker on the right)

Now, the brush in the Hard Candy box is pretty useless- it's tiny and you'd never get a good application of blush with it. I've been using my Sonia Kashuk Skunk Brush (discussed and pictured here) and find that's the perfect type of brush since this blush is quite pigmented.

I think these are a fabulous find and quite a steal. I'd suggest a trip to Walmart is in order for you to pick these up!

Pixi Lumi Lux Radiance Powder Review

Are you using your "Summer" makeup? I am, for the first time, really getting into bronzers and powders that add that sun-kissed glow to my skin.

I was excited to receive the Pixi Lumi Lux Radiance Powder to review. It retails for $26 at Target.

The design of Pixi products is always so cute- this is a slide-out powder.


However, you can see the downside to this--- I nicked the flower with my fingernail when I was opening it to photograph- see the part of the flower right by the P in Pixi?

I tried to swatch the powder on my skin, but it's so natural, it's hard to see! So here's a swatch on a cotton pad.... it's a nice rosy peach.

Per Target,

This silky, all-over illuminating powder palette adds light, radiance and
luminosity to the skin and creates an angelic sheen. It's ideal for
counteracting tired skin as an instant pick-me-up on cheekbones and
eyes.

I used a skunk brush to swirl the colors together and applied like I would a bronzer.... to my temples, cheekbones, and nose. I followed with my normal blushes and loved the look.

If you are looking for a new illuminating powder to add some radiance to your face, this would definitely be perfect!