New Makeup Brushes - Sigma Beauty Premium Kit

I am super psyched to announce that I finally received my Sigma Beauty Premium Kit yesterday!

Of course, after buying that - as well as a Beauty Blender, three Napoleon Perdis Foundation Sticks, two L'Oreal Lumi Magique foundations, three new eyebrow styling kits, a Lime Crime Carousel lip gloss (Cherry on Top), five sets of false lashes, a bottle of Clinique Toner and...you get the picture - last week, my funds are running pretty low and I am now left bumming food from the boyfriend and pleading with my landlord to let me off rent for a few more days, but hey.... my makeup looks damn good.

Anyways, the brushes have literally revolutionized everything I thought I knew about painting my face on...

Seven odd years ago, I graduated from using my fingers to (really cheap) brushes, and once I got used to using tools like a semi-civilized human, I realized it was damn hard to go back to my primal ways.

THAT was like going from walking to riding a bicycle. THIS, on the other hand, is kind of what I imagine driving a Maserati feels like: indulgent, luxurious, exhilarating.

(Okay, I would rather have a Maserati, but I only had a couple of hundred dollars and they laughed me out of the store. Bite me.)

There is very little doubt in my mind that eventually my perpetual dissatisfaction will cause me to upgrade to a  still better set of brushes but for now...?

I am in makeup brush heaven.

When I first received my package, after the obligatory round of squealing, air guitar and jumping up and down, I tried to share my excitement with the boyfriend.

He was not impressed.

In fact, he suggested that I go to the hardware store for some paintbrushes which "feel the same, do basically the same thing, and are wayyyyy cheaper". 

Right. 

Sometimes, the boyfriend just does not get it. 

So anyway...

I tried to hold out long enough to film myself unwrapping them for you guys, but it was too late last night and I just could not wait to try them out. I did take some photos though, and I will definitely put up a review on my YouTube Channel as soon as possible.

This is the F80 Kabuki brush which I got separately

The brushes shed A LOT when you first get them. The best way to deal with that is to wash them fairly vigorously with your favorite brush cleanser or baby shampoo before the first use so that most of the loose hairs can come out...

Just so you know, as I live in Australia and postage from the USA was ridiculously expensive despite the fact that I had a coupon code, I bought the brushes from myqty.com. They arrived within 3-5 business days, in excellent condition, which means that I am quite likely to purchase more stuff from there in the future unless I learn to teleport international shipping gets more affordable.

The Sigma Beauty Premium Kit comes with 15 brushes for the face eyes and lips. (Although I could not afford the whole Kabuki Kit, I also got the F80 Flat Kabuki brush which is awesome and super super soft).

Here is a list of the brushes that come in the kit, which I ripped straight off the Sigma website.

E10 - Small Eye Liner: Precise application of liner. Use with gel or liquid liners. 

E15 - Flat Definer: Sharp and precise application. Press product along upper and lower lash lines to create an easy, thin liner. Works with gel, liquid or powder products. 

E20 - Short Shader: Concentrated color application. Apply color onto small areas of the eye such as the outer eyelid. Also use to smudge the lower lash line. 

E25 - Blending: Controlled blending. Blend colors together onto the lid with added control. Buff out harsh lines for a well blended effect. 

E35 - Tapered Blending: Controlled application of crease color. Using just the tip of the brush to pick up color, apply directly onto the crease and sweep through. Effect is blended, but defined. 

E45 - Small Tapered Blending: Precise color application onto the crease. Picking up color with just the tip of the brush, apply intense colors to the crease to add depth and dimension to the eye. 

E50 - Large Fluff: Controlled highlighting. Apply highlighting shades onto the brow bone or upper cheekbone. Gives a soft and blended finish. 

F10 - Powder/Blush: Precise placement of blush. Use for powder application. 

F15 - Duo Fibre Powder/Blush: Soft blush application. Generates a diffused blush application. Works especially well with mineral product for a natural and delicate effect. 

F20 - Large Powder: Controlled bronzer application. Bronzing of the cheekbones and temple area. Using the flat side gives definition and control. 

F25 - Tapered Face: Exact product placement onto cheeks. Apply powder, blush or contour shades onto the cheeks and temples. Tapered shape gives exact placement of product. 

F35 - Tapered Highlighter: Subtle highlighting. Apply highlighting shades onto the upper contours of the face. Diffused finish gives skin a natural glow. 

F65 - Large Concealer: Conceal larger areas of the face or body. Works well with liquid or cream products. 

F75 - Concealer: Precise product placement. Use around the lip area to conceal when wearing bold lip colors. 

L05 - Lip: Precise application of color onto the lips. Use the firm edge to define and contour the lips. 

I am dying to tell you what I think of each brush individually... But, as I have already written a small novel, I will save that for another post :)

Thank you for reading, you guys rock my world!

Love always, 

 Tatiana
PS: Please share my blog so I can eventually become a full time blogger and never have to wear pants to work again! 

Lightening dark hair at home

One of my best friends has been dyeing her hair black from her natural dark brown for a few years, and after a few months of growing out her roots, decided she wanted to go lighter instead.

Much lighter.

She went to a hairdresser's for some foils, but, a significantly lighter wallet and half a head of blonde highlights later, realised that she wanted the bottom half of her head done as well. 

Now, I am well aware of the dangers of DIY hair colors, and also know how much more dangerous trying to lighten dyed black hair can be. I am also, however, somewhat of a risk taker (albeit not with my own hair, which is so fragile that just brushing it tends to be a major risk), and therefore begged her to let me do her hair. 

Before I get lynched, I would like to point out that I did do a ton of research first. 

Although, as one 'kind' soul in a hair salon/store pointed out to me: she had studied for four years to become qualified to dye hair and I should not aspire to equal her with my pathetic home research, done from the safety of my home/laptop. 

Despite her condescending tone and rude whispering with the other sales attendant, I managed to ferret some valuable information out of her, which is seriously the only reason why I restrained myself from asking her if she had also studied makeup, and if so, how she could justify walking around looking like this: 

Anyway. 

Armed with my new knowledge, as well as a:

• tub of blue Salon Smart powder bleach
• 30 volume creme developer
• 10 volume creme developer
• bottle of purple conditioner
• 8C Crema Color by Sol-Fine (toner)
• pair of latex gloves
• mixing container
• long-tailed comb; and,
• tinting brush

...and having firmly tied my friend Jaycee (not her real name) to her chair, I proceeded to torture her by "umm-ing" and "aah-ing" over her hair for the next few hours, as I bleached, washed, conditioned, toned blow-dried and straightened her hair. 

I made sure to throw in quite a few worried glances and panicked "oopsies"  in there for good measure too. 

The end result was really close to what she was after, and she has now asked me to start looking into how to tint highlight regrowth for future reference. 

The top left photo is Jaycee's (still not her real name) hair before I got my hands on it. 

The other three are "After" photos. 

Unfortunately, the sun set before I finished so I couldn't take photos out in the natural light, but I did not touch the top half of her head - which had the original foils in - so that can be used for color reference purposes from the top left photo. 

I will try to remember to take some more shots when I see her during the day next. 

The process: 

I decided to use blue tinted bleach as her hair was quite dark and black hair tends to go quite red/orange when bleached.

Knowing there was a good chance that I would be too scared to leave the bleach on very long, which meant her hair was more likely to turn out orange, I wanted to cover as many bases as I could to minimise it and the blue bleach was one of those steps. 

Bleach is mixed with a developing creme to activate it. 

Despite one of the ladies at Priceline suggesting that I use the 40 volume developer, I decided to go with  30, mainly because I did not know how fast I could work in her hair, and preferred to underprocess all of her hair rather than overprocess one side while applying bleach to the rest of her head. 

As the bottom half of her hair was dyed black from previous dye jobs (this is visible in the "before" photo as her natural hair throws off a reddish reflection in the sun), I first bleached that section for about 10 minutes to remove the previous dye and then spread the bleach upward toward her hair line. It worked quite well and the end result was quite homogeneous. 

After bleaching and towel drying her hair so it was just damp, I mixed the 8C Light Ash Blonde toner with a 10 volume developer and used this to tone Jaycee's hair back from a bright orange color down to a gorgeous caramel shade. 

There is a slight chance that the developer was not quite a high enough volume and it may fade, but I have a second bottle handy, so at the slightest hint of orange highlights, I will be putting Jaycee through another round of toning.

Obviously, DIY dye jobs require gloves to avoid damaging the skin, so I used some chemical proof latex gloves throughout the process.

I also bought the purple conditioner to offset the orange that I felt would inevitably come out of the bleaching over time. 

Although I used it when washing her hair out, I definitely did not leave it on long enough to achieve visible results, but I have seen girls with extremely orange hair use a purple shampoo mask to tone their hair rather than a actual toner so I know it works!

Other info: 

I used a simple plastic container to mix the products in.

Long tailed combs are handy for parting hair, and I used a hair dye brush, as well as my gloved fingers to apply all the products on to Jaycee's hair, taking care to rinse and shampoo everything well in between different chemicals. 

Jaycee loved the results, although she did mention that she would like to go even lighter soon, but agreed that we should probably wait a little bit and see what happens to her hair before we do anything else to it. 

I am really grateful that she trusted me enough to let me do this, and had so much fun doing it, plus I really enjoyed watching a ton of videos and learning about bleaching, dyeing and toning. 

If you are thinking of a DIY dye job, may I suggest enrolling the help of a friend who has a strong interest in hair (and is therefore more likely to take things seriously)? Doing your own hair can be extremely difficult even if you know what you are doing - I don't know about you, but I struggle to see the back of my head most days... and, as a starting point here are a few of the things to consider looking at:

Pink so Foxy's blog: Balayage Highlights At Home and YouTube videos.

Clairol Professional: Lightening and Toning Hair FAQs

Hair color shades - a selection guide

I would also suggest going into a hair salon and telling them what you intend to do and what you are trying to achieve. Yes, they will try to dissuade you and attempt to book you in to an appointment, and they are likely to be extremely condescending, but at the end of the day, that is their job, and whatever advice they give you may just help you avert a crisis. 

As always, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post! 

Love always,

Tatiana

Fifty Shades of Red

Having had my psyche severely damaged earlier today (hearing the words, "she is quite a big, solid girl" from people who have literally just met you can do that to a person); I am going to keep today's post strictly about makeup and won't be sharing the details of my interesting yet soul-destroying day just yet.

After posting this awesome post about purple lipstick, I started to feel a little bit guilty about my blatant colorism - yes that is a word now - and disregard for other lipsticks' feelings and decided to stop ignoring all my gorgeous red shades. 

In case you don't believe red is awesome, try to picture a purple Ferrari... 

Yep, didn't think so. Sometimes, red just works.  

So here are the different lip colors I tried: 

Pout Paste Love Bites - $12.95 (Australis)

Having owned the 'Berry Nice Kiss' (for the rest of us, 'purple') Pout Paste for a few weeks now, and having loved it since the first day I got it, I decided to buy the red one as well. I did try Pash Me Pink in store, but the Barbie doll color did absolutely nothing for me, and, while I am quite happy to wear a discrete pastel pink lipstick, I could not bring myself to buy this one. 

Love Bites however, I LOVE. Just like the Berry Nice Kiss, it is a beautiful, intense color, which is a little bit thick and goopy when first applied but quickly settles into feeling like a regular gloss. 

I had to apply a little bit more than with the purple shade however, as I struggled to get it quite right without lip liner, and in the end, I did decide to line my lips as I think that perfect edges are key to pulling off bright lip colors. 

This is what it looks like:

My favorite thing about red lipstick is that getting the right shade for your skintone and teeth color will usually brighten your complexion and make your teeth appear whiter, which this shade definitely does for me.

Small drawback - this color did not last quite as long as the purple one for some reason, and I felt like I had to reapply more often. Not ideal considering you need a mirror to ensure precision, as opposed to when using a true gloss which can sometimes be done more stealthily. 

Still definitely worth the $9.99 I paid for it on sale. 

Velourlips Matte Cream NY-CEE - $9.95 (Australis)

Priceline describe it as:

"Highly pigmented lips are the look of the moment, and this lip cream takes it to the next level with its beautiful matte finish! The creamy long-wear formula glides on easily with its doe foot applicator, finishing to a velvety matte look with intense, full coverage colour payoff. Perfect for when you want lasting, matte colour that moves with your lips without flaking."

While this definitely has a matte finish and an intense, full coverage, I am really not sure about its ability to deliver on the "without flaking" part. Here is a photo of my lips after the lip cream has dried, as well as a few minutes later, after I pressed my hand to my lips rather forcefully to see if it would transfer.

It transferred a lot less if I pressed my lips to something gently, but any accidental rubbing motion definitely made the cream flake and worse, the color rubbed around my lips when I tried to clean it up.

This was quite hard to remove and I have to use several cotton pads soaked in makeup remover, but it still stained my lips. 

I was also not a fan of the smell. 

So I pretty much decided that when I want bright red matte lips, I will stick with the (way) more expensive but tried and tested Mac lipstick. 

MAC Lipstick - Ruby Woo $36 

If I had to commit to a single red lipstick for the rest of my life, I would unhesitatingly tie the knot with this one. MAC is quality makeup, and this lipstick delivers on all its promises: a rich, vibrant red, a matte finish, does not stain your teeth and lasts quite long, as long as you wear lip liner and don't expect your lipstick to last through a bucket of greasy KFC chicken wings. 

I always get compliments when I wear this out, and it is the kind of color that you can easily justify wearing during the day as well as to a night out. 

It also doesn't stain your lips and is easy to remove, which I cannot be thankful enough for after my Velourlips removal battle. 

Anyway, that's it from me today. Thank you all for reading. 

Love always,

Tatiana

Makeup your mind

This weekend, as I was helping the boyfriend review one of his assignments, he pointed out that I am ridiculously good at words.

Having learned to speak when I was a child, and not paid too much attention to the skill since then, I did point out that I would have preferred a compliment on my hair, or, if that was too far fetched, maybe a nice comment on my teeth or ears.

The boyfriend quickly pointed out that he was, in fact, in awe of my ability to write, that he thought I was an absolute genius (some creative license taken with his words here) and that I should consider writing a book.

Ten minutes later, inspiration struck me: “Boyfriend”, I whispered gleefully, “I just had the best idea! I think I should write a book!”

Being the kind of person he is, the boyfriend did not complain about my blatant theft of his initial suggestion. He smiled back and replied that I really was a genius and that I had the best ideas ever.

When I excitedly asked him if he would be willing to put up with me being unemployed while writing this book, despite the fact that I have so far given up on almost every project I have ever undertaken, the boyfriend smiled and said he believed in me.

At the risk of sounding like a smug brat, I have to say it:

My boyfriend is the best, ever.

The whole encounter basically shamed me into writing this post, as I have completely neglected my blog over the last few weeks, mostly because I was so worried that people would not like it that I stopped writing altogether, ‘just in case’.

Which brings me to this whole book writing thing...

On the one hand, I am painfully aware that I have many projects happening at the moment which I should probably be focusing on; but on the other hand, I really really really want to write a book!

And the boyfriend said I could!

So there!

In completely unrelated news, I finally signed up to NIDA acting classes last week, and I didn't even ask the boyfriend whether or not he thought it was a good idea before hitting the ‘confirm payment’ button. 

That’s right: I am an adult! 

I made a decision! 

After I finished congratulating myself, I did remember that I was writing a makeup blog and should therefore probably share my latest and greatest find with you all. 

So without further ado, here it is, the Sigma Defining Eyes Palette by TiffanyD (US $55).

I ordered this online a couple of weeks ago from the US, mostly because it was on sale at the time, and because, having never before tried Sigma makeup, I was intrigued. 

So far, I have been pleasantly surprised by the great value that I got with this palette. 

Not only are the eye shadow colors absolutely beautiful, the palette comes with a dual ended eyeliner pencil (blue and white), a dual ended sigma brush, as well as two pots of gel eyeliner (brown and black). 

Essentially everything you need to create a number of diverse day and night looks in one box.

  

Top row: (from left to right) 'In the dark', 'Midnight', 'Fog', 'Halo'

Bottom row: 'Brunette', 'Chestnut', 'Smoke',' Beam'.

The box also includes a small booklet with five fairly simple looks and instructions on how to replicate them. I have tried a number of these at home and unfortunately, they have not turned out quite as perfect, but I cannot tell if it is skill that I am lacking, or if maybe the instructions are not 100% complete. 

Mostly, I don't believe the brushes included with the palette are enough to create these looks with the same precision, and the colors have definitely been enhanced a little bit too much for my taste in the photos.

They do not 'pop' quite as much in real life. 

Overall though, I really love this palette, as mentioned above the colors are beautiful (my favorite is the midnight blue, which looks absolutely stunning when smudged thinly along the lower lash line and paired with a black winged eyeliner on the upper lid), and the gel liners are easy to apply and do not smudge over the course of the day. 

I like that the palette includes a mix of shimmery and matte eye shadows, and particularly like the fact that the two matte colors are the dark brown and black ones, as I find it easier to wear darker colors to my corporate job if they are matte. 

The shimmery ones, unless they are fairly subtle, I like to save for outside work. 

'Beam' is the perfect color to highlight the inner corner of your eyes, while I prefer to use 'Halo' as a base color to blend some of the darker ones into. 

I absolutely love 'Chestnut' and 'Smoke' for their metallic shimmer, and while 'Fog' is not my favorite (that particular shade of grey doesn't do wonders for my skin tone), I must say that these are all great colors which are easy to apply and blend even if you don't know too much about makeup. 

Really happy with this one. 

I will definitely be buying more Sigma makeup in the future.

The next item on my shopping list right now though is this Sigma Brush Collection Premium Kit.

Please comment down below if you have tried Sigma makeup and want to let me know what you think of it, or if you have written a book, or even if you just generally want to say hello. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, as always, I love knowing that you guys care to read about what's happening in my world.  

Love always, 

Tatiana

Another one for the nail files

Napoleon Perdis is one of my favourite makeup brands, but I never really thought to try their nail polish.

As I don’t wear nail polish very often, when I do, I tend to stick to the obvious brands, Revlon, OPI, and Dior are some of my favorites, mostly because they have awesome marketing I already know about them.

Similarly, I tend to buy makeup based on brands I already know, or on recommendations from people.

This incidentally, is how I became addicted to Napoleon Perdis, after someone bought me ONE product and I realised how fantastic their makeup was, it made it really hard to go back to drugstore brands which are way harder to apply without looking like you are ran away from clown school.

Incidentally, before I go on to praise Napoleon Perdis any further, I would like to point out that I actually don’t really like shopping in their stores as their staff have a tendency to be slightly extremely pushy.

Obviously, this is not true of all their staff and some of the girls are brilliant, but on the whole, I have found that when I go in there, I need to have a good idea of what I want, a firm budget in mind and the words “no, thank you” at the ready.

Which was evidently not the case when I went to Myer this weekend “for a quick look”.

With a vague notion that I wanted a new blush and really did not want to do my uni assignment, I wandered in and asked the girl to make me pretty. 

Which she did. 

And then showed me the 1249 products it had taken her to make me look like I was wearing nothing at all.

Of course, I had to have everything.

After handing over my life savings and signing away a couple of my unborn children, I left with a huge smile on my carefully constructed face, holding a new contour palette, a new brush, as well as a lovely gift set including a huge makeup bag, a nail polish, a small foundation and a new primer, a blush (success!), and a surprisingly large tube of lip gloss.

So far, I am pleasantly surprised with all the products.

Napoleon Perdis Nail Polish - Biscotti

As you may have guessed, I am not a patient person, so I really like that this nail polish dries super-fast despite the fact that I messed up a few times and so ended up with about three coats on.

It is a nice matte color, and the nude shade is subtle and lengthens my fingers, which is always a bonus.

Two days after application with no base or top coat, I only had one small chip on my right index finger which I only noticed hours after I got home as it is such a discrete color.

Overall, I really like it and will definitely be buying other shades as they are fairly reasonably priced (about $16 online).

I tried it out with a shiny top coat as well, as I wanted to see what the result would be, but unfortunately forgot to take photos.

I used Seche-Vite Dry Fast Top Coat, which I love not just because it is super glossy and very forgiving on people who aren't super careful with their nail application, but also because it really lives up to its name and dries extremely fast.

I normally apply it about 30 seconds after my second coat of nail polish, and within a couple of minutes, my nails are touch-dry.

Win.

In this case unfortunately, the beauty of the nail polish is the matte finish and I did not really like it as much with the glossy coat. I thought it made it look a little ordinary and boring...


As this is a nail-related post, I might hold off a little longer on reviewing the other stuff, but I am getting to it, I promise!

Love always,

Tatiana

Prime time drama

I was geared up for a pretty awesome weekend on Friday.

One of my friends just got engaged, and she indulged my hair and makeup addiction by asking me to do hers for her engagement party.

About 5 minutes in though, I realized something pretty important: knowing how to do your own hair, which in my case is equivalent to taming a lion’s mane (as evidenced by this video), does not mean that you can do someone else’s.

Especially if that person happens to have soft, fine and straight hair - pretty much the opposite of mine.

After about two hours of fiddling with curlers, hairspray and pins while panicking about wasting my friend’s time and/or ruining her party, we managed to create this, which I thought was pretty and my friend assured me that she liked.

As I thrive on feeling like crap and second-guessing myself, I nevertheless spent the next four hours obsessively trying to decide whether she actually did like it or was just being nice to me.    

I then somehow managed to go home, get dressed, and hightail it back to her party, where I proceeded to panic at the thought of her hair falling out, eat way too much delicious quiche, catch up with a lot of great people and succeed in only embarrassing myself a handful of times.

Overall, pretty much a win.

Of course, by the time I woke up the next morning, the combination of hangover from hell and tiredness led me into a spiraling vortex of self-hatred and despair, and I decided that I was an absolute embarrassment to nature and did not deserve to be around people.

So I did what one always does in these situations, I  went for a run, had a shower, did my makeup put on some yoga pants, made myself about six peanut butter and honey sandwiches and sobbed hysterically while watching sappy shows and trying to fish the sandwich crumbs back out of my sports bra, because well, my mamma taught me not to waste food.

The highlight of that day (other than finding a left over cereal bar in my handbag after running out of sandwiches) was finding a little package wrapped in a purple ribbon (can anyone say StrawberryNet??) neatly tucked into my mail box.

While I was really excited about the promptness of the delivery (I'd only placed my order about four days prior), it really brought home my anger over the fact that I ordered some stuff from Priceline Australia on 12 March which has STILL  not arrived despite them charging me $5 for delivery within 3-5 days.

Not impressed.

Anyway, I hear some people have had bad experiences with StrawberryNet and have received fake products, but so far, everything I have bought has been great. 

Which is why last week, when I ran out of my favorite Laura Mercier Oil-Free Primer and found out that the Laura Mercier counter at Myer was closed, I hopped online and ordered a new one from SN.

(As a quick aside, I have been asked quite a few times why one should use primer. There are a number of reasons: depending on the kind of primer you use, they can even out oily skin, prevent break outs,  help prevent skin from absorbing talc and pigment from your foundation as well as prevent the talc from drawing oil from the skin, and they make your foundation last longer.)

This is the primer I bought online:

1. Laura Mercier Foundation Primer · oil free

By far the best primer I have used, this is a water (rather than silicone) based primer with a very neutral scent - for some reason that makes me feel like it might be better for my skin.

It is quite liquid and the texture closely resembles a light, oil-free moisturizer.

I have combination skin - the areas around my nose tend to get oily whereas the rest of my face is quite dry and I find that this primer really evens everything out. It also keeps my foundation in place all day. 

My only issue with it, which I have discovered since using other primers, is that it doesn't make my skin look quite as smooth as the next one on this list.

On the whole though, it has never caused me to breakout and my face loves it, so I will keep it at # 1.  

2. Benefit - Stay Flawless 15-hour Primer $47.00

First, may I point out that I am all for people recommending things to me because they have tried them and  genuinely love them, but if a sales person is literally reading me the label on the back of the product I want and spouting things like “This is like a magnet for your foundation, it just sort of sticks and makes it stay on”, there is a good chance that my wallet and I will go wandering off to a different store. 

One where shop assistants assume that I am literate and can therefore handle the simple task of reading labels as well as understand the concept of a magnet...

This time though, the other stores were shut and I was out of primer. 

Which is why I handed over my credit card, muttered a quick thanks to the deity of Bank Account when the payment went through, and went home to complain about sales assistants and play with my new primer in peace.

Anyway, the primer:

Overall, it feels more like a stick of wax than a magnet, but having tried it on in the store helped me manage the unrealistic expectations that could have otherwise been implanted in me.

The stick sort of melts on to your skin when you try to apply it directly and you end up using way too much, which, as it dries really fast, is a massive waste of a really expensive product.

Once you manage to get past all that though, I have to admit the primer itself is not bad at all. It made my skin look noticeably smoother, and my foundation lasted a reasonable amount of time. It smells a bit like vegetable oil. Again, not great, but also not a massive concern once you apply foundation over the top.

3. Models Prefer - Perfect Canvas Mattifying Primer $14.99

For comparison purposes, I decided to also buy this primer. It is a lot cheaper than the two previous products and I find it does the job, although my skin was breaking out a little last week when I was using this, and in hindsight, I realize the change in primer was the only possible culprit. 

Oops. 

However, definitely mattifying and keeps your foundation in place.  It is a lot thicker than the Laura Mercier but does not dry too fast so it is quite easy to apply. 

I have to admit that coming to the conclusion that this primer is most likely the reason why I spent all week having to use concealer does not make me want to continue reviewing it... 

I might try it again this weekend and see what gives - water based products don't usually cause my skin any issues so I am considerably intrigued. 

4. Napoleon Perdis Auto Pilot Radiance-Boosting Primer $42.00

The only reason this is in last place is because it is not something I would recommend if you were only buying a single primer.

As indicated by its name, this is a shimmery primer which makes your skin look shiny and glowing. In my case, great for my cheekbones and forehead, but not so much on my nose, unless I want to look like Rudolph the greasy-nosed reindeer. 

At $42.00, the price is also a bit steep considering the tiny size of the tube and how much product comes out whenever you squeeze the tube, albeit ever so gently. 

I do love the effect of using this primer as a highlighter on my cheekbones though. Unfortunately, the one time I used it all over my face, I was so horrified by the oily sheen of my complexion that I didn't stop to find out whether or not my pores looked smaller in my rush to take it all off. 

Not planning on trying that again. 

That's all from me today folks. As always, thanks for reading, please drop me a comment down below if you have any questions/really want to...

Also - here is a lion I drew. Just because. 

(I don't know about you, but I can't help resenting it slightly for looking like it's having a better hair day than me.)

Love always,

Tatiana

Beauty and the Beholder

I heard someone make an extremely self-deprecating comment today and it made me really sad because that girl is unbelievably nice, crazy cool, beautiful, and I felt like she should be aware of it.

As I was turning around to say something to her, I caught myself, and realized how hypocritical that would be, considering I think and say horrible things about myself on a daily basis. 

That's just what girls do, right? 

Mostly, yes. "Right"? Not so much. Here is a Dove video created as part of their 'Real Beauty' campaign which I think is absolutely amazing and demonstrates why we should be kinder to ourselves. 

In honor of International Happiness Day (yes, that's a thing!!), maybe we should take a moment  to think about the things we love, like or even just plain appreciate about ourselves. Here are a few of mine: 

• I love that I am willing to stand up for myself when people try to bring me down, and seem calm and collected despite the fact that my heart is usually racing and I am swallowing back tears.

• I love that I can make people laugh (even when it is "at me" rather than "with me") because I always feel really good when they walk away from the conversation with a smile on their face.

• I love that I often have awesome ideas, even though 90% the time someone has had them and implemented them before me - I am looking at you, inventor of the Vivino Wine App.

(That last one is a real bummer to be honest. While I absolutely love the internet, and the fact that it connects billions of people around the world and allows them to share ideas, I have to admit that it sucks a little bit when you come up with something brilliant and then realize 13 million other people have had the same brilliant idea, WAY before you did...)

Anyway, as a reminder that beauty comes from within, here is a pretty picture I drew:

And, in case you are not convinced and think I am full of it, here are my thoughts on a couple of awesome lipsticks that I own, which make me feel pretty when I need it most:

L'Oreal Color Riche Anti-age Serum - Ardent Sunset

I am a little bit gaga over this color! While I don't really care about the anti-ageing serum in the lipstick, I love the feel of it on my lips -light and non-sticky - as well as the moisturizing properties of the product.

The drop in the middle of the stick contains hyaluronic acid, pro-xylane and collagen which are supposed to plump your lips and make them look fuller as you keep using the lipstick over time, but to be honest, I have not seen these effects yet.

Maybe because I have only worn it twice?

There is an extremely slight tingle when you first put it on, nothing like some "lip-plumper" glosses which make you feel like someone has used a cheese-grater on your lips and then doused them in acid.

The only drawbacks so far are the fact that it smells like old lady lipstick and is a bit expensive for a drugstore brand ($21.95 at Priceline), but you can get it quite a bit cheaper on eBay.

L'Oreal Color Riche Made for Me Natural - Sunset Blush

This one is extremely subtle and one of my favorite colors for work. I really like that it lives up to its name and is more of a 'blush' than a color, as well as the fact that it moisturizes lips without adding too much gloss.

This one also has the old lady smell and costs the same as the Ardent Sunset, my only other issue with it is that it does not stay quite within the lines of my mouth and tends to bleed just slightly unless I use lip liner with it.

Despite my tendency not to blot after application, neither of these colors have transferred to my teeth so far, which is awesome!

As always, thanks for reading, and please feel free to drop me a comment below and let me know what you love about yourself!!

Love always,

Tatiana