As you all know, I have had the problem of eyeshadow and eyeliner creasing. Trust me, I have tried numerous amounts of primers and different techniques such as spraying my eyeliner brush with setting spray and running the brush over my eyeliner.
So, a couple of weeks ago, I bought some translucent powder to set all of my eye makeup. So one fine day, I picked up this primer again to use since I had not used it in a while. And, I discovered that even if I wasn’t using my powder on top nothing creased. The eyeliners that I was using before didn’t crease either. O-M-G. That’s how excited this made me.
The key to this primer is applying a thin layer and to just let it dry and set everything with a powder. But, I am so so impressed. And, this maybe the perfect primer for hooded lids and even better than Urban Decay’s Eden.
This baby costs $24 dollars and can be found on Sephora.com or Ulta.com
You can surely bet that I will be repurchasing this one again. And, it comes in two skin shades. A lighter one and a darker one. By mistake, I picked up the lighter one but it’s still worked well.
So eye primers can be a really tricky thing. There are some with a more slippery feel and there are some which are drier (Bare Minerals).
I have been using two eye primers alternatively and I have been pretty happy with the both of these. Urban Decay Primer Potion and Nars Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base. Both come with a doe foot applicator and have a slippery texture while applying but they dry invisible. The shadows last for a good 8-10 hours without creasing and longer if I use a makeup setting spray.
They can be found at Sephora!
I would like to try the MAC 24 hour primer to compare. Anyone try that yet?
You know when you come across a powder with such nice luminosity and glow that you take one look at it and you’re like.. I NEED THAT IN MY LIFE. Well yep.. this is what the Ambient lighting powder in Diffused Light did for me. Its a yellow toned.. finely milled powder which takes a away the redness in my skin completely and it adds a nice glow to my skin. This looks amazing to set an undereye concealer as well. I use a kind of peachy concealer under my eyes to cancel out the blue circles and then I use this yellow toned powder to even out everything and add a glow. And.. it does the job beautifully. I have always been a fan of the Ambient Lighting Powders and I think they are absolutely worth every penny at $45. The packaging for the powders is sturdy and beautiful.. but I sometimes think or wish the fingerprints wouldn’t come off on the compact.
Now is the time, when the weather is at is peak! Although it’s gorgeous outside with it being warm and sunny, let’s be honest- our makeup is probably sweating off this moment as we speak. So, in order for your makeup to stay put, I have figured out some essentials that are definitely needed in the hot weather.
1) Eye Shadow Primer- This is must if you want your eye shadow to stay put or your liner. The makeup on the eyes can easily transfer to the brown bone if you just walked through the heat for 5 minutes. And, if it melts, you end up looking like you have raccoon eyes. My personal favorite that have worked most of the time- are the Urban Decay Primer Potion, and the Nars SmudgeProof Eyeshadow Base. Both of these are wonderful, but I think that the Urban Decay Definitely works better with their own line of shadows. The consistency of both primers are more runnier, and go on clear.
Urban Decay and Nars
2) Face Primer- For those of you with oiler skin, or have a bit of textured skin, I highly recommend a face primer before putting on your foundation. This just evens out the texture and the makeup on your face ends up looking a lot smoother. All in all, this does help your foundation to stay put and not slide off your face. I personally do not use a face primer, as most of them contain silicones which break me out. In fact, I have tried a water face primer by Smashbox which ended up breaking me out as well. But, I have known a lot of people who rave about that one as well as the Laura Mercier face primers.
Smashbox Primer
3) Setting Powder- This is a translucent powder (usually is white in color), just melts into the skin and takes away any excess shine. It just keeps the oiliness at bay so that you do not get extra shiny during the day. Usually I would apply this in the T-zone area as that’s where I get very shiny. I like the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders very much for this purpose. They are a bit high end, but they do the job very well. Even though these have a bit of a sheen to them, they had a glow to your face, and take away the excess shine! Th ones I recommend from their line as a setting power are Dim Light, and Mood Light.
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder
4) Makeup Setting Spray- This is like God sent from the heavens people. Since my top liner was running everywhere even with the use of primers, I discovered the Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray. And let me tell you, I am hooked! This just locks in all of your makeup, and it takes away the chalkiness from your makeup to give you that natural look. So be outside and lounge by all means, and this baby will keep everything in place.
Urban Decay All Nighter
5) SPF- Its getting hot, and I wouldn’t want any one of you to end up with skin cancer. Being India, I do not get a sunburn, but I tan very easily. Needless to say, this is a very important thing for anyone. But, most sunscreens are chemical based which again, break me out. Recently Tarte released a new Sunscreen which is amazing. It is not chemical based, and it smells like lilies. I mean, what more can one want?
Tarte Sunscreen
If you’ve tried any other products from the same categories, or think anything else is essential, then do let me know!
The company BITE makes the most fabulous lip products ever. I have already talked about them before, but their products are all made with natural food grade products, and are made with fruit pigments instead of chemical dyes. Who wouldn’t want that!
They came out with a range of new lipsticks called Butter Cream lipsticks. This new formula has a straight edge top, which is supposed to deliver a more opaque finish. The result is also supposed to give you a more creamier texture.
I personally found the formula to last a tad longer than the original luminous creme lipsticks, but the overall they are pretty much the same. The Butter cream lipsticks retail for $28. The colors in this line are very in tune with spring and summer and are more along the lines of nude colors.
I picked up the color Marzipan.. which is a chocolate brown color with a hint of pink. Just a hint, on my lips that is.
Would I recommend them? Yes. There are more nudes suitable for every skin type in this range. And, you can never go wrong with BITE.
Sephora does a bi-yearly sale.. and now is one of them. You get 15% off of everything that buy. It started yesterday, and goes on till the 21st.
Its, definitely a good time to stock up on those goodies that are staples.. or if you just wanted to try something a little more high end, but didn’t want to shell out the extra bucks.
There are so many new things out there right now.. so what’s on your list?
I have a couple things that I might want to pick up so check ’em out!
Caudalie Divine OilNew Photo Phytoplage Hair and Body OilToo Faced Sugar Pop Palette
Caudalie is known for their skin products.. and I have been wanting to test out a new facial oil, and this seemed like a good one!
I love Phyto hair products and they formulate them with some amazing ingredients! And, hair oils are something I have been wanting to test out.. so good opportunity to try them out!
Last but not least, this colorful looking palette from Too faced seems fun. I am definitely the natural shadows kinda gal, but I really would like to try out some things with some fun colors. And, this is has received plenty of great reviews.
There are many, many harmful ingredients in the products we use for our body and hair and most of them we can’t even pronounce. A lot of the synthetic compounds found in cosmetics and personal-care products are being linked to carcinogenic contamination and hormonal interference. This in turn affects our reproductive and developmental health. Today, I wanted to focus mainly on the harmful chemicals found in body and hair products first. Typically we use these products everyday compared to makeup or other facial products.
1) Triclosan and Triclocarban: These are antimicrobial compounds that are typically found in soaps of all kinds. Triclosan has been linked to disrupt the thyroid function and reproductive hormones and the overuse of this chemical may result in the development of bacterial resistance.
2) Oxybenzone: This is a sunscreen agent and absorbs ultraviolet-light. It causes irritation and allergies and many studies have indicated that its metabolites may disrupt hormonal systems.
3) Formaldehyde releasers: This ingredient is made up of a group of cosmetic preservatives. It basically is a carcinogen when mixed with water.
4) Microbeads: These are tiny pieces of plastic that are mainly used as exfoliants and often they are so small that they get filtered through the wastewater and end up in lakes and rivers. Hence, the fish end up eating them. So they absorb a lot of these harmful chemicals as well.
5) Parabens ( propyl, isopropyl, butyl, and isobutyl): Parabens are basically preservatives that are used in cosmetics and fragrances. The FDA has already said that they have been shown to mimic estrogen. I had once been to an Endocrinologist and she had said the exact same thing. Many times we use hair product and don’t wash our hands. The chemicals are constantly being absorbed by our bodies. But, many companies nowadays are reformulating their products to not include parabens. So this ingredient has become easy to avoid overall.
6) Unspecified fragrance: A lot of times, companies do not individually its the ingredients that add scent to their products. These unspecified fragrances contain phthalates. This is known to be a family of plasticizers and has been shown to affect our reproductive health and cause reproductive and developmental disorders.
7) Polyethylene glycol (PEG) and Ceteareth compounds: These are conditioning and cleaning agents are considered as a probable human carcinogen.
8) Vitamin A compounds for daytime products (anything with retinal, retinol, etc.): This is a skin conditioning agent used in sunscreens, lotions, face moisturizers, etc. They break down sunlight and produce toxic free radicals which can damage the DNA in our body and which in turn can develop into skin lesions and various tumors.
I really do hope this post helps! We absorb a lot of chemicals into our bodies without knowing the side effects of these ingredients. It might seem as though we do not use a huge amount of these products with chemicals, but if we use them everyday just imagine how much our body and skin has been absorbing.
Krutika Puntambekar 