I'm Not a Beauty Guru

Confessions of a Cake Face

April 18, 2014 No Comments

Is it sad that while this was happening, I was thinking of blogging it? Probably.

So today at work we had a end of term event for all the interns leaving for the semester (I’m staying though, so for me it was an afternoon of free food. The best kind of food). Mostly for work I don’t do full makeup or anything just cause I’m so dang lazy. Today though I did full face makeup (brows, highlighter, the works).

Half way through the event as I’m sipping on my free Ginger Ale (did I mention I love free stuff?), my friend looks over at my face and says “Um, I think you have something on your face.” As I look at her with a puzzled look, two other people in the conversation look over with a slightly disgusted look. “Yeah, it looks like an orange streak on your face”. “Wow must be your makeup”. I didn’t even know what to say. One person actually said “It looks like you put it there”. Wow, nice.

What could I have said? Nothing much to make me feel any less embarrassed. All I could do is partially laugh it off as I scrubbed at my face with my hand. It’s funny, cause as I was scrubbing I was thinking “They must be seeing things, I deff checked my makeup just recently!”. #denial

As the title of my blog states, I’m Not a Beauty Guru, but I’m trying and learning!

Moral of the story, don’t let a streaky face get you down. You go Glen Coco.

Have a lovely long weekend everyone!

Reviews

Review: Nair Candy Apple Sugar Wax

March 23, 2014 12 Comments

Hello there!

Here with a review!

First off, I just wanted to say thank you to ChickAdvisor, as they sent this to me to review as part of their Product Review Club. (And a double thanks for extending the deadline for me. Hair removal is the last thing you’re thinking about when you’re in bed with the flu).

If you’d like to learn more about the Product Review Club (I highly recommend it), check out ChickAdvisor here.

On with the review.

Overview:

Time consuming but very effective way to remove hair.

Price:

This was given to be by the ChickAdvisor Product Review Club, I’m not too sure what the retail price is.

Rating:

6.5 / 10

Would I Buy Again?

I’m on the fence about it. I’m going to keep on trying it out until I perfect my technique! 🙂

Rambling Review

This is the first time I have tried using hot wax in spatula and tub form. I purchased a Veet electric hot wax product which wasn’t all that great, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one. Just a bit of background, I usually shave my legs but wax my underarms using cold wax strips.

The kit comes with a little tongue depressor stick, re-usable fabric sheets, instructions, and the tub of wax. Something I really liked was that the sheets are re-usable, you just need a bit of water to remove the wax from them.

The wax was super easy to heat up, you just pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds. It warmed up evenly and at the perfect temperature. The smell is quite pleasant (candy apple, yum) and the consistency was great. Now I was ready to go. I started with my legs and then I moved onto my underarms.

The first thing I noticed was it was a little awkward to get the right amount of wax on my legs. When I ripped off the sheets, there was still a bit of wax left over.

My fingers were getting sticky and making sure I didn’t mess up the wax everywhere on my carpet (bad idea doing it in my carpeted room probably…) was a bit of a challenge.

What I noticed though was that my legs and underarms ended up really really smooth. I’m very happy with the results and I can guess that this would last longer than shaving (they claim it lasts up to 4 weeks).

After finishing, I was sorta sticky all over. I was not planning to take a shower, so I had to run a towel under water to remove the wax. The good thing was it was very easy to remove. Other cold wax products I have dealt with have been a hassle to get the excess wax off. One thing I did notice is that it turned my fingers red after washing the fabric strips off!

It’s not super stained, but definitely noticeable.

My tips for using hot wax:

Make sure you have ample time on your hands. I would consider this a much lengthier process than shaving
Do this right before you are planning to take a shower. Clean up will be so much easier. (They recommend you don’t use this within an hour of taking a shower because your skin may be still a little wet, making the wax less effective)
Maybe wear gloves so your hands don’t get stained like mine
Use the wooden stick to put on a thin layer of wax. I think I sabotaged myself by using big globs when I could have done enough with just a thin layer.

All in all, I’m excited to try this again. I think with practice and timing, this could be a very good alternative to shaving.

Thanks for reading!

Personal, sephora

Heads Up About the Sephora Beauty Insider Program

January 19, 2014 3 Comments

Hello!

After posting a few reviews and hauls I think I’m starting to get a hang of this whole blogging thing.

I thought instead of posting a review, I would post something that came up recently about my Beauty Insider account with Sephora. I don’t think I’m the first person this has happened too, and I would like to give others a heads up.

For those that don’t know, the Sephora Beauty Insider (BI) program is a free loyalty card system that awards you 1 point for every $1 spent in the store. If you collect 100, 250, or 500 point denominations, you can redeem for free little goodies.

There are 3 levels to the BI program: Beauty Insider (everyone begins at this level), Very Important Beauty (VIB, spend $350 or more in a calendar year), and VIB Rouge (spend $1000 or more in a calendar year).

Each level has specific perks including sales, gifts, etc.

Anyhoo, after my post Christmas shopping, I noticed when I looked at my running total dollars spent towards VIB was not adding up.

I ended up calling Sephora, and the call center associate was very nice. She added up the totals herself, and noticed, yes, my account was off by around $50. So I thought, wow. That’s quite a bit towards a $350 goal. She told me that someone from Sephora would either call me or email me a request form so my account could be updated. I actually never received this call or email, but I didn’t bother following up because I was still $50 away from making VIB and it was 2 days until the new year (when your totals reset).

After this experience I can honestly say I’m going to be watching my account a lot more carefully. Disclaimer, I am no way complaining about the program itself. I think it’s great they they can offer free birthday gifts and other perks to members. I was just disappointed in the realization that their systems really weren’t as accurate as I thought.

So just a heads up, save your receipts, and check your account frequently!

Thanks for reading!

beauty, foundation, make up for ever invisible hd, makeup, MUFE, nars, revlon, revlon photoready, sephora, sheer glow, sheer matte, urban decay

Journey to the Perfect Foundation

November 24, 2013 1 Comment

Literally for the past six months I’ve been sampling foundations from Sephora to try and find the perfect one for my skin.

I would say I have oily-combination skin with an oily nose. I’m not sure if this is the same with others who have oily-combination skin, but I’ve been having a really hard time finding a foundation (hence me trying samples for literally half a year…).

I thought I would share my journey (so far) on the different foundations I have tried.

1. NARS Sheer Matte in Ceylan

NARS - Sheer Matte Foundation
Image from the Sephora website

This is the first high end foundation I had ever tried. I went to Sephora to get shade matched and there were only a few that came up. This foundation was one of them, but in the colour Fiji. After the sales associate at Sephora tried it on, we decided that Ceylan was a better fit.

This foundation was a bit too matte for me. I felt it gather around patches of my skin, even though my skin was not dry those days. I also noticed that it actually started to dry up in the little sample container. :/ Seemed like a bad sign.

2. Sephora Collection Skin Perfect CC Cream in Light

SEPHORA COLLECTION - Skin Perfect CC Cream SPF 20
Image from the Sephora website

I really wanted to like this CC cream, but I couldn’t and that’s because of the smell. The coverage was good, and it actually wore well on my face throughout the day. I noticed my nose would get shiny, but that’s to be expected.

The thing that really turned me off this product was the smell. Oh god the smell. No word of a lie, I thought it smelt like vomit when I was first putting it on. After it set the smell was fine, but it was putrid. I only tried this sample once, and had to dispose…

3. Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup in 3

Urban Decay - Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup
Image from the Sephora website.

I didn’t have a good experience with this foundation either. My skin became very very oily when I wore this. I set my foundation every time with powder, so I know it wasn’t that. Even my cheeks, which usually don’t get oily, looked very slick. The coverage was nice, and it felt light on the skin, but I had to pass on this one as well.

4. NARS Sheer Glow in Ceylan

NARS - Sheer Glow Foundation
Image from the Sephora website.

After trying out the CC cream and Urban Decay Naked, I decided to try out the NARS Sheer Glow. One of the reasons I stayed away from this one is because I thought I would look really really oily after using it.

Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised. It applied a lot better than the sheer matte, and I really like how my skin looked right after the application. This was one foundation that I was really close to buying full size, but I was turned off by a couple of things. I noticed my nose would get very oily throughout the day. Not even just a little shine, but sun-reflecting-burn-your-eyes shine. But the rest of my face looked great, which made it a toss up… Also the price made me unsure at $44. For a foundation that wasn’t perfect, I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend that much.

5. Make Up For Ever HD Invisible Cover Foundation in 120 Sand

MAKE UP FOR EVER - HD Invisible Cover Foundation
Image from the Sephora website.

So this is a foundation that I was this close to buying. I loved the way it made my skin look. I noticed I was still looking a little slick, but no where close to how the NARS Sheer Glow made me…glow. The coverage is great. The only thing is that I don’t think 120 is the perfect shade for me. It seemed a tad light on my skin, but the sales associate in Sephora said that I could warm it up with a darker powder.

This was the foundation I tested the longest. One reason why I didn’t make the plunge was the price at $42. If I do end up buying a high end foundation, I think this one would be the one I would get. The only thing is that I don’t really know how it would wear in the summer because I tested it in the Fall.

5. Revlon PhotoReady Makeup in 004 Nude

Image from the Revlon website.

So this is the foundation I ended up buying. I sort of purchased it on a whim, but when it first came out years ago I remember looking at it. The reviews I’ve read since purchasing say that it’s supposed to be a dupe for MUFE Invisible HD.

So far I like it. I think I might write up a full review after I’m able to test it out a bit more. When I first tried it on in my room, my face was a glitter mess. I could clearly see the sparkle which really annoyed me. But after wearing it throughout the day, it’s looked okay. I’ve only had it for a week though, so we’ll see how that goes.

And there has been my foundation journey as of now!
Thanks for reading! 😀

beginning, makeup, Personal

Beginnings

November 20, 2013 1 Comment

Some people say that the best ideas happen in the shower.
I would happen to agree.

Well here it is. My first blog post. I’m not even sure what to say.
I guess I could start out with what this blog will be about.

If you couldn’t tell from the title this will be a beauty blog. I’m a huge YouTube beauty guru fan. I’ve been watching Ingrid, Fleur, Tanya Burr and many more since getting into makeup a couple of years ago. Also insinuated in the title is my lack of skills in the makeup department. Don’t get me wrong. I really enjoy playing around with makeup and trying out new looks. But I honestly don’t know very much at all. In the past couple of years I have gone from bare faced every day to attempting to flick the perfect cat eye.

So I thought I would create this blog as a personal beauty diary. I plan to use it to keep track of products that I like, products I dislike, tips that I pick up around the internet and anything else that I feel like smashing in here. One of the major reasons I decided to start this blog was to actually keep track of things that I’ve tried and my opinion on it. I’ve done this quite a bit, where I pick up a product in the store, and I wonder if I liked it…d’oh.

I come from the world of Tumblr, so I’m unaware completely of any unwritten rules and such. I hope I will be able to post YouTube videos from gurus that I find helpful on here without facing a lawsuit or anything, haha. I guess I’ll find that out soon enough.

Anyways here it is! The beginning. Who knows how long this blog will last. Who knows how often I’ll post. As mentioned before, this blog is mostly for my sake, to keep together all the bits and bobs that I happen to pick up about makeup. But hey, if you wanna join me for the ride, you’re more than welcome!

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