Collective Drugstore Haul 12/12

Hi everyone! Hope everyone is having a great holiday 🙂 Thought I would share some of my drugstore buys from december. Most of them were from the beginning of the month so I’ll be able to give a mini review for those (ALSO, comment below if you wanna see any specific items to be reviewed!) A lot of these have been very popular in the makeup blogging and youtube world so I thought, why not? Let us know if you’ve tried any of these products and what you think of them! Til’ next time!

Maybelline Age Rewind Concealers!

From left to right: Brightener, Neutralizer, Medium

To be honest, I’ve never been impressed with foundations/concealers from the drugstore just because I never seem to get the right shade, doesn’t last well enough and/or they break me out (super sensitive skin sucks!) However, everyone is raving about these undereye concealers from Maybelline and I gave in and finally bought them. First one I bought was in Medium, which was a pretty good color for me. Coverage is probably not enough for those who has super dark circles but it’s enough for me. I bought Neutralizer next but I’m not really impressed with the shade. It’s a super light (for me) yellow shade that doesn’t really… neutralize much. I picked it up since I thought it would counteract the purpley veins under my eyes. BUT.. I think it really brightens the area since it’s a lighter shade so maybe I’ll think of it as a brightener instead. I actually just bought the Brightener today and hopefully that will work better as an undereye corrector than the Neutralizer. I’ll get back to you guys when I try it out this week! Here are so swatches:

Top to bottom: Medium, Neutralizer, Brightener

Rimmel ScandalEyes (waterproof) Colossal Volum’ Express (waterproof), Revlon SUper Lustrous Lipgloss in 130 Pink Whisper

Next up, mascaras and lip glosses… something us girls can’t have enough! Just picked ScandalEyes today and haven’t had the chance to try it out yet. It looks promising because I am a fan of huge bristles/brushes. Decided to go against my previous Rimmel mascara experiences and get it anyway.

Colossal is a repurchase and it’s been one of my favorite mascaras since it came out… like 5 years ago?! Love the brush and the formula.

Don’t know why I never bought this Revlon lipgloss because it’s been talked about by almost everyone. It’s a little on the sticky side, which is something I am not a fan of. I think I’ll be sticking to my NYX lipglosses (which I am obsessed with!) but I do love the color; it’s a perfect pink with small shimmer particles

Tresemme Heat Tamer Leave-In Spray, Umberto Dry Clean Dry Shampoo, Organix Moroccan Argan Oil Weightless Healing Dry Oil

The Tresemme is a repurchase and I love it. I haven’t tried many heat protectants just because I feel like this one works well enough for me that I don’t need to shell out extra cash and go for higher end brands. Claims to protect up to 450 degrees and it doesn’t weigh down my hair or make it feel greasy or stiff! Always gotta have this especially since I curl my hair almost every other day.

If you haven’t heard about dry shampoos, well go out and get some! I was extremely skeptical when I first heard about it but I’ve been hooked since I tried. Out of the ones I’ve tried so far, this Umberto dry shampoo has been my favorite. It doesn’t have a smell (pro or a con, depending on your preference). The main reason why I like it so much is because I don’t get that weird feeling of buildup on my scalp, which makes me feel like I have even dirtier hair. I have dark brown hair and it doesn’t leave a weird, gray film

I’ve used many Organix hair products and I like this one. I don’t think it’s a holy grail “I’ll never use it anything else” product but I like what it does to my hair. Makes it super soft with a nice shine. I definitely use way too much on my ends but it never made it looks greasy. It’s also a really fine spray, which I like very much! And I don’t know if it’s just me or it make my hair dry so much faster (when I air dry)

Maybelline Dream Matte Powder in Honey, Rimmel Bronzer in Sun Dance, Real Techniques Stippling Brush, Wet n Wild Blushes in Pearlescent Pink and Heather Silk

I am a huge fan of the Dream Matte powders! I have repurchased this a gajillion times and I think it works just as well as more expensive powders. I used to use MAC Blot but this works without the higher price tag! I can literally pack this on and I still wouldn’t look cake/powder-y. Great for setting liquid foundations!

Purchased this Rimmel bronzer because I was in need of a contour/bronzer but couldn’t find my NYX matte bronzer anywhere. I think it’s an alright bronzer, but isn’t as dark as what I was looking for. I think it would work for lighter skin tones well because it doesn’t have an orange undertone. It has small shimmers but haven’t noticed any on my face whenever I’ve used it. It’s not matte nor glowy… great as an all over bronzer!

I am obsessed with Real Technique brushes. I literally don’t think I’ve liked a line of brushes so much. Full review on the brushes I have? I think so!

Most of you probably know how great Wet n Wild blushes are so I don’t need to repeat every other bloggers’ thoughts on these. Jumping on the bandwagon now because I’ve been traveling so much and my MAC blush palette is just too big to be lugging around.

New Obsessions: Trader Joe’s

When I came home from winter break, I was excited to find out that a Trader Joe’s has opened in the next town. As I sit here catching up on Revenge (AKA my new tv series obsession), I snack on some goodies from Trader Joes!

If you have one near you, come try it out and comment with your thoughts! It’s perfect for my spicy cravings I’ve been having lately!

Banana Spinach Smoothie

I know I’ve been extremely M.I.A since I started this blog this past summer, but classes have been extremely tough and I didn’t have any extra time to post. Now I’m on Christmas break and been on an extreme healthy eating kick lately (more than usual after eating so horrible after final exams)

So as my first post back, I decided to share with you an extremely easy and yummy green smoothie. I love making this because 1) it’s super easy and doesn’t have a lot of ingredients 2) it’s good for you 3) it fills me up and makes a good breakfast on the go

Here’s the recipe:
2-3 cups of baby spinach (I usually do 3 but if you’re not a veggie/spinach fan, I’d say go for 2 cups)
1 banana (I slice them so it’s faster to blend)
3/4 cups of Silk Light (can substitute with any other kind of milk)
Ice

Put in all the ingredients in a blender and you’re done! If you really hate the taste of spinach, I would add some kind of sweetener to mask the taste. However, I find that the banana is enough to make it not so spinach-y. 1 serving (1 cup) of Silk Light is only 60 calories! I find that it gives it a better taste than skim milk because it’s a little sweeter and also a thicker consistency.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Breakfast On The Go

Today, I found myself rushing to get ready for work after I overslept 30 minutes. Even though I do oversleep quite often, I can still never skip breakfast. For me, I feel less energetic and more likely to snack on unhealthy junk food throughout the day if I wait until lunch to eat anything. Even though I didn’t get to make myself a full breakfast, I had enough time to make myself some oatmeal. So I figured, while sitting on my bed drinking my Banana & Peanut Butter Smoothie (recipe coming soon? comment if you’re interested!), I would share with you guys today about my new found love in the world of oatmeal and breakfast. As you know, I am ALL about eating healthy and organic and blah blah blah… BUT I also refuse to eat bland and tasteless food in order to eat healthy because to be honest, there are MANY (and I mean many…) foods out there that are both healthy and tasty.

I bought this OatFit instant oatmeal with flax at Target a couple of weeks ago and it has become a LIFESAVER whenever I need to eat but don’t have enough time to prepare a meal. The box comes with 5 little pouches and will only cost you about $3! I only bought one box just to try it out since I have never seen nor tried this brand before but I am GLAD I did!

       As you can see from the instructions above, it only takes 90 seconds in the microwave until it’s ready! The other upside to this product is that the pouch itself works as a measuring cup, with a dotted line that shows you where to stop. If you’re rushing, it would be inconvenient to try to measure the right amount of water to use with a measuring cup anyway! With this, you’ll get the perfect consistency without even worrying about it. What I usually do is I prepare this before I go in the shower and by the time I get out, I have oatmeal waiting for me. The only reason I do this is because I personally don’t like extremely hot oatmeal (mainly because I burn my tongue… EVERY time) but you can obviously just wait out the 90 seconds and eat it right away.

I am not only raving about this product because how easy and fast it is to make it. If you look at the nutrition facts shown above, this oatmeal is loaded with vitamins and minerals that everyone needs! It also has low fat at 3g per serving, most of which comes from unsaturated fats anyway. It has a total of 18g of carbs, 3 grams of dietary fiber (2g of soluble and 1g of insoluble) but 0g of sugars! What I like best about this oatmeal is that a serving is only 100 calories but still offers a decent amount of dietary fibers and essential vitamins.

But why stop there? OatFit is not only healthy but it is also cheap and tasty! I believe I bought this box for less that $4, including food tax here in NJ. Not too bad huh? And even though it has 0g of sugar, it still tastes really good. I know that it is probably hard to believe how a product such as OatFit can be healthy and taste really good at the same time but it’s TRUE! The flavor I tried was Maple & Brown Sugar, and I must say that it tastes just as good as it’s competitors on the shelves. The first time I actually made it, I thought to myself “This won’t be enough for me”. However, I did not feel hungry until lunch time and I was really pleased on how much it filled me up and helped me stay full (an upside of dietary fibers).

It also comes in a Cinnamon Roll flavor but I’m not too fond of cinnamon, so I think I’ll be sticking with the same flavor. While doing some research on their website, I see that they offer different types of oatmeals and OatFit is just one of the lines they offer. So if you’re in the supermarket and in the mood for some oatmeal, check out the OatFit brand and let me know what you think!

Review: Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20

As summer rolled by, I had to ditch my beloved NARS Sheer Glow Foundation for something lighter and more heat friendly. I have used (and sometimes still use) my Benefit’s YouRebel Tinted Moisturizer SPF 15 in the past few summers but I have always wanted to try Laura Mercier’s Tinted Moisturizer since it’s been raved about by countless people.

So, I went to Sephora after worked and I was matched to Sand. I thought it matched pretty well, but it was a teeny bit light for my NC40 face. I told the girl at Sephora that I have normal, sensitive skin and she thought I should try the regular version. Now, I should’ve stopped her right there because even though I have relatively normal skin, I always use oil-free products. My skin was a little bit dry so I figured, why not? BIG, BIG mistake! I used it about two-three times I would save before I noticed that numerous cysts were forming on my chin and a few spots on my cheeks. I immediately stopped using it! But here’s my take on this product and I’ll pretend I did not break out from it

 

Minus the fact that I broke out like hell, I think that the tinted moisturizer is really nice. It was enough of a moisturizer where my skin felt comfortable, not too dry or too greasy AND it gave a decent amount of coverage! I used my fingers to apply it the first time and it blended very nicely. I love when products can also be used with fingers, especially since it’s annoying (at least for me) to have to carry a ton of brushes around when I travel. The next few times I tried it, I used the ELF Powder Brush, which is basically just a buffing brush. Definitely gave me a bit more coverage but not too much of a difference between the two. Since it is a tinted moisturizer, don’t expect it to have a ton of coverage. It evened out my skin tone and helped take down some of the redness around a couple of scars I had around my cheeks. If you have acne scars like me, this would be GREAT paired up with a cream concealer since you probably would only need coverage on those certain spots.

 

The finish was a natural finish and if you have oily skin, I would definitely set it with a mattifying powder. I set mine with MAC Prep and Prime Translucent Powder and it was fine for my normal skin. For lasting power, I would say it’s average. I find that tinted moisturizers are not the products I go for when I know I need my make-up to stay on for more than 6 hours anyway. Although this might not matter for others, these tinted moisturizers come in an array of shades and it’s quite easy to find a shade that will match you. Even though the shade was a little light (and I really mean a LITTLE), it didn’t make me look sickly.

 

I actually did take some pictures when I had this on and it didn’t really give me a white cast! Always a bonus for me since I love to take pictures but I obviously cannot skip the sunscreen.

 

Overall, I did like this product. However, it broke me out really bad and I am still battling the nasty acne scars it left on my chin til’ today. In addition, I did try the Oil-Free version since I returned the regular version. I wanted to love this product so bad! But it just doesn’t agree with my skin. I think if you’re looking for a tinted moisturizer with a little bit more coverage than the average and have dry/normal skin, you should definitely check out the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer SPF20!

 

Leave a comment below and tell us your favorite tinted moisturizer!

Rave: Nanoosh

I just want to do a small rave post for a little restaurant in Garden State Plaza in Paramus, NJ called Nanoosh. They are described as Mediterranean hummus bars and counters. I personally LOVE hummus, or anything Mediterranean for that matter. Working at the mall, it’s really hard to find a place that has good food (as well as variety) while being healthy and relatively cheap.  The first thing I tried from there was the “Hummus mushroom bowl” which had roasted red pepper hummus with sautéed mushrooms and onions, and greens… which were ALL organic. For the price of $7.79, it can’t be beat. Oh.. and you also get a side of Quinoa salad, which was the second best thing I’ve had from them! Then they started serving falafel, which are just little balls of goodness! I had a hummus platter with falafel two days ago and it was to die for! It was the best thing I’ve had and will definitely keep getting it as a side order (not ashamed of my love for falafel!) It was basically a hummus bowl topped with about 4 falafels and 2 rounds of whole wheat pita bread. It was the perfect little meal for a lunch break

Relatively speaking, I think they are quite new to GSP and they only have three other locations in NY. If you live near one of these little gems, stop by for lunch! I promise you won’t regret it!

Clarisonic Mia 2: Initial Review

While I was at my Nordstrom Chanel counter looking for a foundation, I ended up buying a Clarisonic Mia 2 as well. Now, this was a completely impulsive buy! In conversation, I told my Chanel girl how the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizers (Both the regular and oil-free!) broke me out like crazy and I was looking for a summer foundation. I had my eyes set on the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua but I ended up with the regular Vitalumiere (review on this soon). She cleansed my face and actually used a Clarisonic to take off the make-up I already had on! I was really pleased and since she said she used it, I wanted to try it out as well.

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So here I am, with the Clarisonic Mia 2 in Coral and I am in LOVE with this. The Mia 2 cost me $150 and I can honestly say, after using it for less than a week, that it was worth it. After my first use, my skin has never felt so smooth and clean! After my struggle with the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizers, my skin was breaking out and my pores were clogged. I had a couple of whiteheads and cysts in combination with the tiny little bumps that were my clogged pores. With just one use, I could easily see the difference it made! The number of clogged pores decreased DRAMATICALLY and my skin just felt so… smooth (like a baby’s butt as some would say)! In all, I was very pleased and Ive been using it twice a day, everyday. It also comes with a travel case, which was so handy since I already took it for travel!

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Although I did not own the Classic or the Mia, I am aware that the Mia 2 comes in two speeds and the timers just like the Classic. The reason why I didn’t get the Mia was because it only had one speed, although I’ve never even used the slower speed on my Mia 2. Also, it has the timers like the Classic while still being small and compact, and in pretty colors!

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I will be continuing using this little guy and hopefully, I will start seeing some of my acne scars fade and forever get rid of pesky clogged pores.

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Till next time!

Introduction :)

Before I started to actually write reviews and blog, I just wanted to formally introduce myself to my (future) readers! Some background info that would probably be useful to know is that I LOVE to read/watch reviews, whether it be a blog or a vlog (YouTube is a lifesaver!) So I thought.. Why not start my own?!

I value honesty (A LOT!) so expect 100% of my honest opinion on this blog. I do try both drugstore and high-end products so watch out for both kinds of reviews on here! I love trying new products, from skincare to makeup. But, I am not only interested in the makeup industry!

While I do enjoy putting on makeup, my true passion is in fashion (and yes, I did just rhyme). I could probably spend every day at the mall just browsing and looking at the newest pieces on the rack. I’m looking forward to sharing some outfits maybe? or some hauls.. or both 🙂

However, I do go to college with Dietetics as my major. And as much as I love to shop, I love to eat food as well, healthy food that is. Now don’t get turned off by the word healthy JUST yet… I know that the term “healthy” also is in category as “boring” or “gross” for a lot of people. But one thing I’ve learned so far is that eating healthy doesn’t mean you can’t eat anything delicious! As an extreme Pinterest user (they have so many things on there!), I would LOVE to share any (or all?) the recipes I’ve tried or want to try.

So.. that’s pretty much my interests in a nutshell. Even though this will probably start out as a make-up/review blog, I am really aiming it to be more of a Lifestyle blog! Cheesy, I know! But those kind of blogs are the ones I enjoy the most, and a kind that I am striving for! Thank you for stopping by!