Product Empties 2: Skin + Hair

  

Happy Saturday! I hope everyone is doing well and you’re all experiencing beautiful weather. It’s still rainy here in the Midwest, but it’s a perfect day for blogging and running a few errands. I’m out of some of my hair and skin products and wanted to share my empties with you!

1. Aveda Botanical Kinetics Toning Mist is supposed to help balance and refresh normal to oily skin. I purchased this must after my wedding, because my professional makeup artist used this on me and I really loved the smell and the way it made my skin feel. The main ingredient is water, along with peppermint, aloe, rose, witch hazel and more! Overall I really enjoyed this toning must because it’s convenient and I don’t have to put it on a cotton swab. I would repurchase this product sometime, however, I don’t plan to run out and get it right away. I would like to try other toners especially if any of you have any recommendations.

2. Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser is my holy grail product! I purchased this a few years back and I have gone through several bottles. This stuff is a dupe for the Philosophy Purity Made Simple cleanser as well. It completely removes 100% of my makeup at the end of each day, even mascara, and it’s gentle enough for sensitive eyes including contact lense wearers. This cleanser doesn’t strip my skin of its natural oils and leaves my skin feeling clean but not tight. This can be purchased at any drugstore for only around $5! I used to buy makeup wipes all the time which can get costly, but this has saved me so much money because I can completely skip that step with this cleanser. I can’t say enough great things about this product, it has quickly became a must-have in my skincare routine!

 
3. Murad Skin Perfecting Lotion is a part of the Murad acne fighting kit that I purchased awhile back at Ulta. This lotion is fantastic, because it replenishes the moisture in your skin and doesn’t leave it feeling greasy or too hydrated, it always feels just right. It doesn’t state on the packing if its oil-free or not, but it is non-comedogenic. As I mentioned in my last empties, which you can read here, I will not be repurchasing this product because I’ve been more into gel moisturizers because my skin is so oily. I also feel that the Clean & Clear moisturizer featured in my last empties haul is a wonderful dupe for this product and is about 1/6 of the cost!

4. Dove Go Fresh in the scent blue fig & orange blossom is my absolute favorite deodorant. Dove is the best brand for deodorant and body wash in my personal opinion, because their products work well with my skin. This scent is my favorite even though I have tried the pomegranate, cucumber, and others! Something about the go fresh line really did the trick for me and has kept me dry all day. I have repurchased this time and time again and I will continue to do so. Right now I’m actually giving the Dove Dry Spray a go, so we’ll see how that works out!

5. Macadamia Deep Repair Masque is my favorite hair mask that I’ve ever tried. My hair typically is pretty dehydrated and frizzy because of my ethnic background, great genes, and heat styling tools that I use. Every time I use this masque my hair is deeply hydrated, less frizzy, extremely shiny, and has less fall out. The whole point of this masque is to mimic the hairs natural oils it produces to revitalize it. Not only is this amazing for the health of my hair, but my senses are thankful too – this product smells absolutely amazing! I have purchased this a few times and I definitely will again. *I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle and was thinking about picking it up to see if it gives comparable results. If you’ve tried the Aussie brand please let me know how you liked it – or if there are any other masks that are your favorites. 

Have you tried any of the products listed above – if so, what are your thoughts? If you have any recommendations for me please list them below!

Thank you for reading!

Follow me on Instagram: IAMBEAUTYBEEXO

XOXO, Bee

Elf Cosmetics Blush Palette

  

Hello everyone! I hope you’re all having a great start to your weekend. It’s raining like crazy here in the Midwest so I thought it was the perfect time to sit down and write about this amazing blush palette from Elf Cosmetics that has completely taken me by surprise! One of my new Instagram followers photographed this beautiful quad on her page and had nothing but great things to say about it. I have been really needing to pick up some more blushes for spring because to be honest, blush is something I just started wearing within the last few years. I always thought that with my darker skin tone blush would be stupid or it wouldn’t show up, etc. Little did I know I was very wrong and blush can look beautiful on any skin tone!

  
This palette can be purchased online or can be found at a majority of drugstores – I purchased mine from Target for only $6! Only $6 for four shades is such a steal! The packaging is a sleek and matte black hard case that is perfect for travel and it goes nicely with all of my other products. It does look high-end because it has a large high quality mirror that fills up the entire lid. If you’re traveling and it happens to break, it’s very cheap to replace! The palette comes in two color choices: light & dark. I chose to pick mine up dark because I love the look of deep rose/mauve shades on my tan skin.

  
Shade Descriptions: 

•Top Left – deep burgundy matte

•Top Right – raspberry shimmer

•Bottom Right – coral pink matte

•Bottom Left – baby pink plum matte

 
This is the reason why I’m in love with this little palette. Just LOOK at that pigmentation!  It blends effortlessly into the skin and has buildable coverage. I barely tap my blush brush into the palette and that little motion is literally all that I need for each cheek. This is probably my favorite purchase so far in 2015, because it’s affordable, highly pigmented, buttery, great packaging, easily accessible, hasn’t broke me out, etc! I don’t think I can say enough great things about it other than to thank Elf Cosmetics for making such a wonderful drugstore product!

Have you tried either of these Elf blush palettes or any other blush from them – if so, what are your thoughts? Are there any other Elf products that you love?

Thank you reading!

Follow me on Instagram: IAMBEAUTYBEEXO 

XOXO, Bee

Little Ulta Haul

  

Ulta is having a buy on get one half off for a lot their drugstore brands (including NYX) so I knew I had to jump at this opportunity! I picked up some oldies but goodies and some new products that I’ve been really wanting to try!

1. Real Techniques Expert Face Brush this is a new product that I’ve never tried but I’ve had my eye on it! I currently have the blush brush from RT and I love it so much! I honestly probably didn’t need this brush, but hey, who wouldn’t love another in their collection…AM I RIGHT!?

2. Essence All About Matt! Powder ever since I posted my Essence Lip Liner look for spring, which can be read here, I have been so excited to try more products because there were quite a few fellow bloggers responses about the brand were positive! You all know I’m oily, so I thought I would give this a shot and review it later!

3. Smashbox Photo Finish Light this is not a new product for me. I’ve purchased this probably three times now. Every time I try to use a new primer I always come back to this one. I can do a full review later, but nothing else has helped keep my oil at bay as well as this one. Thank you, Smashbox!

4. Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer for those of you have been following me for at least a few weeks, it’s no surprise that this was a repurchase. I posted all about my top four concealers and this one is an oldie but goodie and definitely made the cut! If you’d like a more in depth review about this concealer, you can read that right here.

   

5. NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams I purchased these in the shades Copenhagen and Prague. I know Copenhagen isn’t that “springy” of a color, but this baby is always sold out and I’ve never seen it in stock at my store! I’m thinking ahead for this fall, plus I will be honest I eat, sleep, and breathe for a deep vampy lip! 🙂 These are also completely new items that I’ve never tried! I’m very excited because I’m obsessed with the NYX Buttergloss collection already. 

6. Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless this foundation it’s pretty spectacular and I have a full review on it plus the powder that you can read here. With the buy one get one I was able to get this at a fraction of the price and I know I’ll be running out of my other one soon since I’ve been reaching for this 3-4 days per week.

7. Maybelline The Rocket Mascara is a product that I’ve never tried but always wanted to! I’ve had a few bloggers suggest trying this one out because it’s their holy grail! Buy one get one, I figured why the heck not!? Plus my L’oreal mascara was running low and I needed a change.

Have you tried any of the products list above – if so, what are your thoughts? Hopefully you got to take full advantage of the buy one get one sale at Ulta! Have a fabulous rest of your Sunday 🙂

Follow me on Instagram: IAMBEAUTYBEEXO 

XOXO, Bee

Product Empties!

Happy Saturday everyone! I’ve started to run low on some of my products and thought an empties post would be ideal. I’ll write a bit about the product, my thoughts, and if I would repurchase!

1. Rimmel Stay Matte Primer if you’ve been following me for a while then you know I have very oily skin! It’s a curse and a blessing a the same time. This primer states that it is skin-perfecting, can be wore alone or under makeup. It also states it can keep you shine-free up to 8 hours, and minimize the appearance of pores. – I agree that it creates a great base of makeup, minimizes my pores, and controls shine. The consistency is really thick, but not as thick and difficult to work with as the Boots No. 7 Matte primer – that one was so thick and glue-like it broke me out. The claims that it controls shine up to 8 hours is interesting, with a strong emphasis on the “up to” part, I would say I get a good 2-3 hours before I need to blot my face. This is the best drugstore primer for oily skin that I’ve tried so far, I will repurchase for days when I don’t feel like using a high end primer.

2. Clean & Clear Dual Action Moisturizer states that its oil-free and that it helps to treat and prevent pimples. This product contains 0.5% salicylic acid acne medication. It doesn’t really contain enough acne fighting ingredients to truly make a difference in your skin on it’s own, but it’s something to help with other methods you may be using. I really actually enjoy this moisturizer! It’s very important to have oil-free products when you have oily skin and this just feels good on the skin. It’s very inexpensive as it can be purchased for only around $5, and it lasts an extremely long time. It took me months and months to get through this bottle. I won’t be repurchasing this anytime soon, because I have actually been more into gel moisturizers rather than lotion types. But if you’re in the market for a great product that hydrates with a non-greasy feeling and you’re on a budget, this is for you!

3. Batiste Dry Shampoo states that it’s perfect for use between washes. A quick burst revitalizes hair and removes any excess oil. Hair feels gorgeously clean and fresh with added body and texture. I completely am in love with this product! I agree with all of the claims. I purchased this at Ulta for around $8 and it was the first time I tried it. Previously I tried others like Dove, Toni & Guy, Tresemme (which was the worst out of the bunch) and I was never really impressed by those. This dry shampoo is perfect and really gets the job done for a good price. I have already repurchased this baby in the tinted version for dark brown hair, because it leaves less of a “white cast” on my hair! Love love love.

4. Maybelline Fit Me concealer in shade medium. I don’t really need to get into much of an explanation about why I enjoy this product, because I just did a whole post on my top four concealers which you can read here. This was one of them listed because it’s very inexpensive, easily accessible, and perfect for every day wear. I’ve already repurchased this and it’s in my stash!

5. ELF Clarifying Pressed Powder in the shade ivory. I’ll admit that this is a strange product in my makeup collection, because I don’t use it for it’s intended purpose. The product states it’s for the treatment of acne and that it helps prevent new acne blemishes. It also contains 1.0% of salicylic acid acne medication. I purchased this product in a lighter shade and I actually use this to set my concealer under my eyes. This only costs $1 at the drugstore and it’s surprisingly buttery and rich. It’s finely milled and perfect for setting my eye area. I’ve already repurchased this product, it’s fantastic!

6. Anastasia Brow Wiz in the shade chocolate – which is the perfect color for me. Who hasn’t heard of this product? It’s fantastic and I don’t even need to tell you why! One of my favorite parts about it though is the spooly at the end to comb through my brows. It is on the pricey side and can be purchased for $21 but it is definitely worth it! At this time I won’t be repurchasing this product and may not again, thanks to a new dupe that I found for less than half the price!

Have you tried any of the products listed above – what are your thoughts? Do you have any products not listed that you would recommend?

Thanks for reading!

Follow me on Instagram: IAMBEAUTYBEEXO

XOXO, Bee

Spring Lips with Essence Liner

A few weeks ago I posted a review on the Loreal Colour Riche Lipgloss in the shade coral encore, which can be read here. In that review, I stated that I didn’t use a lipstick or liner underneath because I wanted the true color in the gloss to shine through. A week ago I went on a bit of a shopping spree at Sephora and Ulta and ended up purchasing a few lip liners from the brand Essence. I’ve never tried anything from them up until this weekend. I wanted to do a fun springtime look featuring a neutral eye and defined brow (of course) and I thought the lip liner I purchased in the shade cute pink would be perfect for this look!

 

Here is the finished result! I would like to mention that with my 20% off Ulta coupon this lip liner was purchased for $1.19! That is insane! I will repurchase more of their liners as they are extremely pigmented and created a great base. They’re very creamy and do not leave the lips feeling dry at all. Thank you Essence, for creating great quality products and an insanely affordable price!

To show the difference the lip liner made underneath the gloss, here is a side by side. On the left is the Loreal Colour Riche on its own, and on the right I have the Essence lip liner as a base.

Have you ever tried these lip liners or anything from the brand Essence? What are your favorite springtime lip looks?

Follow me on Instagram: IAMBEAUTYBEEXO 

XOXO, Bee

A Girl’s Best Friend: Concealer!

As I was getting ready for today I looked down at my vanity and saw all of the different concealers that I have and some of them have truly been my holy grails for quite some time. I wanted to share with you all my top FOUR concealers that are liquid gold. The beautiful thing is that they are at all different price points if you’re on a budget.

1. Urban Decay Naked Skin: mine is the perfect shade for my tan skin, med-dark warm and it retails for $28 which is the most expensive concealer I own. I couldn’t justify spending that much on a concealer, but when I tried it at Ulta I knew this was special. I’ll be doing a separate review on this so I don’t want to blog about it too much just yet!

2. NARS Creamy Radiant Concealer: I have the shade custard, which I ordered online from Sephora, but I think ginger would have suited me better. This concealer retails for $26, but if I had the choice I would spend the extra $2 and purchase the UD concealer instead. But I do love this concealer for its high pigmentation and it doubles as a wonderful eyeshadow primer as well. If you’d like to read more about this concealer I did a full review here.

3. Maybelline Instant Age Rewind: I have this in the shade medium and it retails for $8 at any local drugstore. Let me tell you, that is $8 well spent friends! This little concealer (well not this specific one because it has been repurchased over and over) has been my holy grail baby for years now! When I first started getting into makeup and realized I may have some things to conceal, I started with this one. It’s perfect for under the eye area and is great for contouring as well. It blends out like a dream.

4. Maybelline Fit Me: my shade is…you would never guess, medium! This retails for only $5 at any local drugstore and is a pretty good dupe for the NARS concealer. The difference between the two is that the Maybelline is less thick, which is actually good in some instances because you can take your time putting your makeup on and blending it all out. You do have to use more product to get the same coverage as the NARS concealer but for only $5 each you can buy 5 of these for the price of one NARS gasp.

These four are my absolute favorites! Have you tried any of these concealers, if so, what are your thoughts? What is your holy grail concealer?

Follow me on Instagram: IAMBEAUTYBEEXO

XOXO, Bee

Versatile Award + Premio Dardos Award!

I was nominated by one of my FAVORITE bloggers, Stashmatters for this award that I am ever so grateful for. If you’re unfamiliar with her blog it is an absolute-must that you check it out. Her personality shines through in all her posts because she is so hilarious, yet detailed, and will never give an un-honest review. I literally get excited when I see a post from her on my feed, because I know it will be a great read – guaranteed!

Premio Dardos is Spanish for “Prize Darts” and is an award in cultural, ethical, literary and personal values that are transmitted in the form of original and creative writing.

The Rules:
1. When you accept the award, post it on your blog along with the name of the person who nominated you and put a link to their blog.
2. Include the image of the award in your post.
3. Pass it on to 15 other bloggers worthy of this acknowledgement.

The Rules:
1. Show the award on your blog
2. Thank the person that nominated you
3. Share 7 facts about yourself
4. Nominate 15 blogs
5. Link to their blogs and tell them they’ve been nominated

Seven Facts About Me:

1) I blew my right ear drum when I was ten years old. Since then, I have had 3 reconstructive surgeries!

2) I’m a first generation college student and I graduated with a BA in Graphic Design and minor in Communication Studies.

3) People always ask my ethnicity within the first few times of speaking to me and I’ve got everything in the book, people! Hawaiian, Brazilian, Caribbean, Indian, etc…except I’m just half black and half white (disappointing I know) so let’s just skip the discussion.

4) I have my Series 6 license. Getting that license was one of the hardest tests I’ve ever taken in my life. I would rather re-do an entire semester of college than relearn all of that material again.

5) My favorite food to make is spaghetti.

6) The movie A Walk to Remember gets to me every time. I bawl like a baby – Mandy Moore you’re an angel.

7) Give me a glass of wine and I will be your best friend – preferably a juicy red blend.

Nominees: 

I’m going to nominate my 15 most recently followed blogs! I followed all of these ladies for a reason – so if you’re looking for some new great blogs to follow make sure to check theirs out 🙂 Pores for Thought l Beauty & Lifestyle, Dolled Up By J, Talking about Beauty, auberginereverie, KimsTag, judyandmakeup, Bella Razzi, courtneysmakeupcorner, The Beauty Truth, Jessie’s Budget Beauty, MY BUDGET BEAUTY, Karina Noa, Fierce Villain, Beauty l Lifestyle l Fashion, & One Girls Obsessions.

Make sure to follow me on Instagram: IAMBEAUTYBEEXO

XOXO, Bee

Spring Lips & Coral Cheeks

Spring is officially here and has me in the best mood since I live in the Midwest and our grass is getting green again! I wanted to pull a few things from my collection that really scream spring is here! 

  

On the lips:

• I have been OBSESSED with the Vaseline Lip Therapy in rosy lips which retails around $3. This little lip balm is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen because of it’s miniature packaging. The top comes off very easily and the smell of the balm is phenomenal – roses. This little guy is extremely moisturizing and gives lips just a touch of a pink tone. I wear this every day, all day long.

 

• If I’m wanting slightly more of a wash of color to my lips and I want to add some serious shine, I always reach for my FAVORITE gloss which is the NYX Buttergloss in Strawberry Parfait! This baby retails at ULTA for about $5 and lasts an extremely long time. My absolute favorite thing about the Buttergloss line is that none of the glosses give you that disgusting sticky feeling – they really are like butter! Not to mention the pigmentation is unreal.

  

• If a gloss just isn’t going to get it done for the amount of color I’m looking for, then I’m going to reach for my BH Cosmetics Creme Luxe Lipstick in the shade Pop Cultured. These lipsticks retail for only around $5 as well. The pigmentation of these lipsticks by BH Cosmetics are fabulous and they’re extremely creamy, rich, and even moisturizing on the lips. 

On the cheeks:

 

• This is one of my favorite blushes that I own and the only blush that I currently own from Tarte. The shade I have is called Tipsy and it’s the PERFECT coral pop of color for the cheeks. This blush retails for around $26 at Sephora – which seems a little pricey, but I’ve used this blush I don’t know how many times and the pan never seems to shallow out! This blush might expire before I ever hit pan, so it’s definitely worth the money. Not to mention the extreme pigmentation of ALL of Tarte’s blushes mean you use a lot less product than just a drugstore brand.

Have you tried any of the products mentioned? What are your go-to spring looks? 

XOXO, Bee

Follow me on Instagram: iambeautybeexo 

Soap & Glory Super Sale!

  

Today I splurged on lots of products at Sephora and ULTA – yes, there will be reviews soon. Just wanted to post quickly to let you all know that Sephora is discontinuing Soap & Glory in their store so all of the merchandise is 35% off or more! I’ve never tried anything from them, but I have been wanting to so I picked up the Rich & Famous Body Wash and Hand Food moisturizer for under $15. I’m really excited to try these out and they both smell amazing!

Have you tried anything from their line?

Follo me on Instagram: iambeautybeexo 

XOXO, Bee

MAC Studio Sculpt Superblack Lash

I NEVER purchase high end mascaras, ever. I think it’s a waste of money and there are SO many amazing drugstore mascaras out there that do just as good of a job – or in this case, better. This was given to me brand new because my husband’s coworker knows I LOVE makeup. I was so excited, because I never tried a MAC mascara before. I can’t even begin to explain how big of a disappointment this was.

Please, just LOOK at the wand!? WHAT IS THAT. It has two rows of teeny tiny little rubber bristles that do absolutely nothing. Now, my husband is far from a beauty guru but he opened it up and his face was in awe and said “Is it supposed to be like that? I don’t get how it works if there is nothing on there!” Lol, hubby had it right! I put this on my lashes and I did three layers of it and it didn’t do anything for me. I immediately grabbed for my L’oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara that I’m obsessed with, you can see a review of here.

The only good thing I can say about this product is the packaging. I’m a sucker for sleek matte black packaging. Aside from that, the smell of this mascara is terrible as well. It’s reminiscent of the Maybelline Colossal in the yellow tube that gives me a headache and stings my eyes.

MAC’s website description of this product is, “This unique wand has two rows of bristles to separate, define, curl, and lengthen lashes. Now in carbon black.” It retails for $17 and for some strange reason 5 people rated this product a 5/5 stars, gasp. This product doesn’t do any of its claims other than maybe separate. I guess that would be one use for it is to separate your lashes after you use your normal mascaras.

Sorry to the MAC lovers, but this just didn’t do it for me. Have you tried and loved this mascara or any other MAC ones? What are your holy grail mascaras?

XOXO, Bee