If you’re looking for a foundation that gives you a nice, dewy, glowy look, give this foundation a try. I’ve tried other foundations that promise a dewy look, but I end up looking shiny and oily. NARS Sheer Glow just gives me a nice, healthy glow.

The NARS website describes their Sheer Glow as:

A glowing, satin-finish foundation with sheer and buildable coverage. Replete with skincare benefits and the NARS Complexion Brightening Formula, skin is hydrated, more luminous, softer and smoother. Used daily, Sheer Glow Foundation improves skin brightness, radiance and texture. For normal to dry skin types.

• Minimizes visible discoloration
• Brightens and clarifies overall skin tone
• Improves skin luminosity and radiance
• Hydrates for softer and smoother skin
• Dermatologist tested. Non-comedogenic. Fragrance free.

I wear this in the shade Barcelona/Medium 4 (for reference, I am a NC30 for MAC foundations). NARS has 21 different shades for you to choose from, which is a pretty big range, so you should be able to find a good match fairly easily. And because it is a medium coverage foundation, your natural skin shines through a bit, which helps with blending in the foundation to match your skin perfectly. I did have a bit of a hard time finding a good match for this foundation, and ended up returning it twice at my local Sephora, but I finally found a good match!

Once you find your shade, you’ll see how easy it is to work with this foundation. It blends in with my skin beautifully. I use either my MAC 187 or my Sephora Professional #55 Brush to apply this evenly on my face. I love that it doesn’t really just cover up, which I find a lot of the MAC foundations do. When I wear MAC foundations I feel like I can’t touch my face throughout the day because I’ll end up smearing my makeup. With my NARS Sheer Glow, I can touch my face throughout the day and nothing happens! It lasts all day, and I have no problem removing the foundation with makeup wipes.

I have dry skin, and I often find foundations emphasize my dry areas. When my skin is extra dry and I don’t moisturize as well, NARS Sheer Glow does emphasize my dry areas a little, but it’s barely noticeable. As long as I moisturize properly, I don’t have any problems with this foundation.

I also love that I don’t really need to set this foundation with a powder. Once I’ve applied it, I feel like it’s not going anywhere until I take it off. However, if I do set it, I use my MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark, and it works beautifully over this foundation.

As for the complexion brightening effects NARS claims this foundation has, I’m not entirely convinced. I think the effects requires to use this foundation everyday, and I haven’t done so since I’ve been testing other foundations, and some days I just don’t feel like wearing makeup. But I do love the way this foundation looks when I wear it. It just looks like skin… like my skin, but better.

My one minor complaint is the packaging. This foundation does not come with a pump, so it can be a little tricky to control the amount of foundation that comes out. But since so many liquid foundations don’t come with a pump, I’ve gotten used to this, and it doesn’t bother me. Another note on the packaging — NARS has another foundation called Sheer Matte, which is another great foundation, and has very similar packaging to the Sheer Glow one. NARS Sheer Matte comes in the same bottle as the Sheer Glow, except it has a matte/frosted finish to it, whereas Sheer Glow is in a shiny bottle.

As all NARS products, their Sheer Glow foundation is pricey. It costs $42 for 1 Fl. Oz. (30 mL). But you don’t need a lot of product for you entire face, so it should last you for some time. Because of the price I’m unsure that I’ll repurchase, as much as I want to. I have been told that the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Liquid Makeup is an exact drugstore dupe for this, and it costs around $13 for the same amount.

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The MAC website describes their Mineralize Satinfinish foundation as:

A fluid foundation that blends the natural light-reflecting properties of micro-minerals with a smooth satin finish. Provides a low-to-medium buildable coverage with a slightly luminous look. Contains antioxidants vitamins C and E. Provides everyday SPF 15 sun protection. Long-wearing. Suitable for normal-dry skins.

This is definitely a light coverage foundation, which, as MAC states, you can build to a medium coverage. However, to get a medium coverage you have to use quite a bit of product. With 1-2 pumps I get a nice, light coverage. To get a medium coverage I need to use 3-4, sometimes 5 pumps. It also gets quite streaky as you use more product (I use my MAC 187 or Sephora Professional #55 brush for application). However, as a light coverage foundation this works quite nicely.

As for the claimed satin finish, upon application this product does have a nice, dewy, healthy glow. However, an hour after application, I find my face looks shiny and oily, which is a look I do not enjoy.

I’m not a fan of MAC foundations, but this is my preferred MAC foundation of the ones I’ve tried. It does look quite natural when used for light coverage. However, the more I build it, the more concerned I get about my makeup smearing throughout the day. To prevent smearing, I use my MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark to set this foundation, and I find it looks a little cakey after doing so.

This foundation comes with a pump, unlike other MAC foundations. The pump works nicely, doesn’t dispense too much product. And it can lock in place, so you don’t have to worry about it accidentally pumping out foundation if you carry this in your makeup bag.

One thing to note — the shades for Mineralize Satinfinish run lighter than other MAC foundations. I’m a NC30, so I got this in NC30, but it is lighter than other products I own in NC30. If you look at the swatches on the website and compare them to swatches for other foundations, you’ll see the difference. Oddly enough, even though this foundation is a bit light, I can make it work, especially as a light foundation.

Overall, this foundation is just ok. I’ve held on to it because I think it will work nicely in the summer when I don’t like wearing much makeup. Since my skin is generally in good condition, I’m ok with a light coverage foundation, so this should work nicely in the summer.

MAC Mineralize Satinfinish foundation costs $29.50 for 1 fl oz (30 mL). You can purchase it form MAC stores, MAC counters, and maccosmetics.com.

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The MAC website describes their Mineralize foundation as:

A rich, luxurious compact foundation offering a creamy application for a flawless, medium-buildable, naturally revitalized, fully dimensional finish. Lightweight and silky to apply. Good for all skin types; particularly benefits dull and/or dry complexions. Provides super-hydrated, high-comfort wear and everyday SPF 15 sun protection.

And the MAC 130 brush is described as:

A short, round, flat-topped brush ideal for the smooth, easy application of foundations, creams, emulsions, and select powder products. Features a blend of natural bristles and synthetic fibres.

Initially, I really loved the MAC Mineralize foundation, and the MAC 130 is an ideal brush to apply it. You just stipple the brush into the Mineralize compact and buff it into your skin. I’ve never tried another method for applying this foundation. Using my fingers just doesn’t make sense in my mind, and I’m just not a fan of sponges. It seems to me that no other brush I own would apply this foundation well. No wonder MAC made a new brush to be released with this foundation.

After using this foundation for a couple of days, I decided that I really don’t like it. It definitely needs to be set with a powder, otherwise it will just smear right off your face, so I use my MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark to do so. Even before I set this foundation, I can see it settling into my fine lines and it even emphasizes my pores. After setting it with a powder, the foundation becomes cakey and makes my face look matter and overly dry.

This foundation offers a light to medium coverage. I’ve tried building it up, but more you do so, the more cakey and streaky your foundation looks.

After about 4 hours of wear, I find my face becomes shiny and oily. Because of this, the foundation actually separates and sits on my face on places that become overly oily (like my nose).

The MAC 130 brush is quite nice, as are most of MAC’s brushes. It’s actually much smaller than I anticipated. I was expecting it to be similar in size to the MAC 187, but I think the smaller size is appropriate for applying cream foundations. I do find this brush to shed everytime I use it, which is unfortunate. Now that I’ve decided I really don’t like the Mineralize foundation, I’m unsure what else I can use this brush for.

Overall, I’m unhappy with my purchase. I really don’t like the MAC Mineralize foundation, and while I think the MAC 130 brush is ok (perhaps because I’m a brush whore), I don’t know what else I can use it for. I might give it a go with my liquid foundations.

The MAC Mineralize foundation costs $32 for 0.35 oz (10 g). The MAC 130 brush costs $38. Both of these products can be purchased at MAC stores, MAC counters, and maccosmetics.com.

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I’d like to start out by admitting that I pushed off trying this mask for about 2 years till I finally just forced myself into my car and bought some aspirin. If you’re like me, aspirin is probably the last thing you’d buy for your medicine cabinet when you’ve got Motrin or Aleve in the running. Hence, before I start this review, I’d like to point out that Advil, Motrin, Aleve, etc. are not aspirin! They are ibuprofen tablets. What you’re looking for is a generic, uncoated, regular strength aspirin. I bought mine from Target for $3 so that should give you an idea of what you’re looking for.

*NOTE: Coated aspirin works as well but takes forever to dissolve. You would have to wait for the outer coat to dissolve, peel it off, and repeat the process with the powdered, uncoated tablet inside. If you’re still unsure of which to get, most brands specify if their tablets are coated or uncoated so grab a labeled bottle! If you want to go a step further, there are some brands that even sell aspirin in powdered form making this recipe almost fool-proof — slightly more expensive though.

The recipe is quite simple — simple to the point of confusion — so I shall try my best to disperse any existing ambiguity.

Aspirin masks are tricky characters that apply differently on each person. It requires a good understanding of your skin type and an understanding of what your skin can and cannot tolerate. That being said, don’t give up on this mask too easily. By nature, the aspirin mask is composed of just aspirin and water and tends to dry out your skin sometimes causing and/or worsening acne. Hence, most people try to add a couple ingredients into the mix to combat those negative effects. You can also throw in a couple other ingredients if you know certain ingredients are beneficial to your skin type — this mask is whatever you make it. I personally add honey to moisturize my skin and a drop of vitamin E oil to help with scars. If you’re not sure which ingredients are ideal for you, I’d suggest researching and experimenting.

This is my altered recipe which I’ve found to work well on most regular skin types with regularly tolerant skin — meaning that if you’re skins a diva, do some research before slapping this on.

Aspirin Mask Recipe

• 3-4 tablets of regular strength, uncoated aspirin
• 3/4 teaspoon honey
• 1-3 drops vitamin E oil
• 6-8 drops of water

Directions: Place 3-4 tablets of uncoated aspirin on a dish of any sort. Using your finger, allow 2-3 droplets of water to fall upon each tablet. Wait a couple seconds and smash each tablet with your fingers. They should fall apart relatively easily (if not, add a drop more water). You should now have powdered aspirin! Add the 3/4 tspn of honey, a couple drops of vitamin E oil, mix well, and you’re done! Dip fingers into mixture and exfoliate your face in a circular motion. Leave mask on for 15 minutes and remove gently with a warm wash cloth.

Granted, this still seems like a bit of work, but you can actually make a nice big batch of this and store it into a container for later use. Don’t forget to shake before use though! Also, limit your use of this mask to every other day. Too much exfoliation is never good, and your skin may become tolerant to the aspirin if used everyday. I personally do this mask twice a week.

Now for the good part! The benefits of this mask are endless! Removes dead skin cells from your face leaving your skin smooth, refreshed, and young looking. It also helps remove and prevent millia from your skin which are those unsightly white bumps that tend to form around your under eyes and mouth. I’d suggest giving it a quick Google search … I didn’t even know I had millia until I found out this mask fixed it! The other way to get rid of them involved squeezing, pain, and a needle, so it might be worth your while.

PS. Allergy information is as follows: If you’re allergic to aspirin or any other ingredient you threw into your mask you will be allergic to the mask. I wouldn’t risk putting it on your face if you can’t ingest it — you never know.

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So when I stumbled across RapidLash, I immediately purchased it. At $49.99 for 0.1 Fl. Oz. (3 mL), it’s not cheap. But compared to alternatives, like LiLash or Latisse (which is a prescription treatment), I thought it was a pretty good deal. 

It looks like a clear liquid eyeliner, and applies exactly like one. You’re supposed to apply it to your upper lashline every night on a clean face. So I did this, and also applied a bit to my lower lashline because I very much wanted some visible lower lashes. I don’t think the product is recommended for lower lashes, but I found as long as I didn’t get it in my eye, I was fine. I don’t have sensitive eyes, and I found no irritation from using this product. However, I have heard some other reviewers with sensitive eyes say that they did experience some irritation from this product. Another con of this product that I have experienced myself: darkened skin at the lashline. My skin has become darker just where I have applied this product. It’s not a huge difference to me and doesn’t bother me at all, but it does happen.

My results? Well it’s definitely not an overnight miracle. I applied this every night religiously, and was getting a bit disappointed. But after 3 weeks, I finally saw results!! Not only were my lashes longer, but I found more lashes on both my upper and lower lashlines, and they curled naturally! I was extremely impressed that they would curl naturally without the help of a curler. Before this, even after curling my lashes with my Shu Uemura eyelash curler, as soon as I applied mascara my lashes would go back to stick-straight. Now, because of RapidLash, I’m able to use quite a few mascaras and have found really great results from my pile of previously “bad” mascaras. Also, I have found RapidLash to condition and strengthen my lashes. It used to be that some of my lashes would fall out after curling them, but now I rarely find my lashes falling out.

You have to continue using RapidLash to maintain the results, so it can become costly. I’ve found a tube to last around 3 months, and luckily spending $49.99 every 3 months fits into my budget. I’m not sure of any negative side effects due to prolonged use of this product, so I decided to give my lashes a break for a bit. After not using RapidLash for about 1 month, my lashes have gone back to their short, stick-straight state. However, they didn’t go back immediately to this state; for about 2 weeks after using RapidLash I still had nice, long lashes.

I plan to continue using this product, and perhaps I’ll also try LiLash at some point just to compare results. However, LiLash does cost $139.97, which is quite pricey. So if you are looking for beautiful, long lashes, I’d recommend checking out RapidLash.

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• NARS Sheer Glow Foundation (2)
• MAC Mineralize Satinfinish SPF 15 Foundation (2)
• MAC Mineralize Foundation and MAC 130 Brush (2)
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• Maybelline Eyeliner & Mascara (5)

Now, onto the other big move… I left Southern California last week and I’m moving into a great apartment in Quincy, Massachusetts! I thought this would be a great opportunity to do a series of blogs about how I plan to organize all my makeup and cosmetic products, accompanied with photos of my progress and whatnot. Since I’ll be going through all my stuff during the move, I will be doing a lot of reviews on the products that I’ve been using and the ones I simply can’t live without.

I’m expecting to expand my makeup collection a LOT this year, so I will need to be really organized I’m looking forward to discovering great ways to organize all my makeup. Here’s a brief of some new ideas I’ve been thinking about:

• A great vanity/makeup armoire is one of the biggest items on my wishlist for my new apartment. I don’t want a regular vanity you can buy from any store, but I want to design something custom for myself, that will fit my needs and (of course) my style. I’m thinking about putting something together from ikea, using multiple components like this. It’s going to be a slow process though, because I’ll need to save money to buy everything piece by piece.
• Shelf Savers! I got some wonderful inspiration from this great post by Sara. My collection probably wont be as gigantic as hers, so I’ll probably incorporate a much more scaled down version of this totally awesome organization system.
• One of my biggest challenges with doing my makeup and getting ready in the morning has been the horrible lighting in my room in California. Since I can’t see how much makeup is on me, I tend to walk out of the house looking like a drag queen. Then when I get under some natural lighting – usually by the time I get in my car (I always drive with the visor and mirror down) – I frantically start trying to wipe off some of the makeup. I’m planning on making sure that is NOT an issue in my new apartment.

That’s all for now! Like I said, I’ll keep you guys updated on my progress. The apartment is being renovated right now but I can move in next week.

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In other news, I moved to Boston this week! Stela, Anisha, and I no longer work at the same company. I’ve joined a great company in Boston called SCVNGR as their Promotions Design Lead. You can read more about my big move on mine and Anisha’s blog. Stela and I will still be working on myCosmeticBag together – just remotely, of course.

And, I received some samples last week so I will be reviewing them as soon as I get this server situation resolved.

Some other random posts:

Determined not to waste my money, I gave it some more thought and wondered if my “Express Finish” is drying the coat too quickly for this topcoat. To test out my theory, I pulled out my typical hot pink Orly’s nail polish. This time around, I didn’t wait till both hands were done before putting on the topcoat. I painted one hand and immediately put on the topcoat to ensure that it’s over a wet coat of polish. So far, it’s been good!! It’s day two and my nails haven’t chip yet. I’ll be counting down how many days before my nails start chipping. Oh yeah, and this time around I didn’t even bother to put on a base-coat. I just put on two thin coats of nail polish and then the Orly’s Won’t Chip Topcoat.

Update:

OK, it start chipping on Day 5. Not too bad.

Some other random posts:

As I’ve gotten more mature ( -_-), I’ve started using more and more body lotion to keep my skin hydrated and moisturized. I usually keep a bottle of lotion in my room, car, and on my work desk.   Recently I got a hold of this new product called (seed)+ Grape Seed Enriched Nourishing Body Lotion, (“Invigorating Citrus Blend”) and it is quite nice. I dislike watery or thick lotion… For me, it has to have a perfect consistency and do a good job of keeping my skin feeling hydrated. If I have to re-apply every two or three hours, that is a big FAUL in my book. (seed)+ has perfect consistency. I’m not sure if the consistency will stay the same after a couple months of use though, but I especially like the fact that I feel like I just got out of the shower after using it on my skin. I think lotion should make you feel refreshed and clean, not oily or gunky.  The best part is that it’s natural.   

If you are looking for a refreshing body lotion, give (seed)+ a try.

Introducing SEED, An Innovative Collection of Seed-Based Body Care Products That Harnesses The Power Of Nature To Enhance Your Natural Beauty.

The SEED story begins with co-founder Rebecca Gournay’s search for the most potent ingredients to enhance your daily body care ritual. She found the answer inside a grape seed.

Each tiny little grape seed is naturally rich in Vitamin E, a potent mix of antioxidants, and beneficial  essential fatty acids, all known for healthy skin benefits. The result is a collection of products bursting with effectiveness that not only feels good, but is good for you too.

As a bonus, SEED also goes beyond just nurturing your skin – the line is also kind to the planet.  All SEED packaging is recyclable and/or biodegradable. Plus, unlike most skincare items, all products and packaging in the SEED collection are made in the United States so you cut down on your carbon footprint.

www.seedpowerbodycare.com

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(For a complete list of colors, check them out on their website here.)

To test these liners out before purchasing, I swatched a few on the back of my hand and let them set for about 30 seconds. Then I tried rubbing off the product. It would not budge! I was quite impressed. I also really loved the color payoff. With just one swipe I was able to get a rich, saturated color. Not only that, these pencils really do glide on, as their name suggests.

These are my go-to liners when I’m in a hurry in the mornings. I have a good color selection (and there are still many more colors I want), I know these will glide on effortlessly, and I know they will last throughout the day. I do, however, notice one minor problem—while the liner on my top lid stays put throughout the work day, the liner on my bottom lid does smudge a tiny bit by the end of the day. It’s not too noticeable, and I do think that this can be prevented by applying a primer first, like Urban Decay Primer Potion. My lids do get oily throughout the day, which is probably why a little bit of smudging occurs. If I’m not lazy in the morning, I apply UDPP first and don’t notice any smudging at the end of the day.

While I love bold, bright colors and absolutely love the range of colors these pencils come in, I do think they have a good selection unique colors without being too bold or obnoxious. For example, Rockstar (a deep eggplant color) is a great alternative to black. It’s dark enough to be a subtle color, but less harsh than black, and yet it’s still edgy. Keep in mind, I do work in an office, and even though we have casual attire, I’m not willing to go totally crazy with colors at work!

Overall I am extremely satisfied with these liners. I plan to purchase all the colors eventually!

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