Beauty • On • A • Dime ✿ Brushes

Let's be real for a second, as much as we all love high-end makeup, sometimes (all the time) our wallets don't love it quite as much. Now, I'm not saying I'm a cheap-o, I splurge like any other girl...but when you're living on your own and you got bills, sometimes splurging isn't always in the cards. So, over the years I've picked up some little tips and tricks and discovered a few hidden gems along the way. This week, my favorite inexpensive brushes! 

Comfort Zone - Wet n' Wild & SOHO

 

When it comes to eye shadow, Wet n' Wild always takes the cake. They're SO pigmented and so so SO affordable! I do have to say that 80% of their shadows are shimmery....so if you're more of a matte kinda gal, then be weary of that when making your selection. Since it's fall, and since Walgreen's was having a sale, I picked up one of their new-er 8pans called Comfort Zone, appropriately named, because these are natural/neutral shades that s-c-r-e-a-m fall time.

Haircare • Luscious Summer Locks • Mini " Not Your Mother's " Review

Aloha! (I don't think I've actually ever said that out loud......so touristy haha) HI HELLO HOLA, WUDDUP?

So, I kind of wanted to drift away from makeup for 2.5 seconds, and talk about hair. Now, I'm no expert, I'm not a cosmetologist.....but through many....many trials and errors I've picked up a few tips and tricks to keep my hair as healthy as possible....especially after I destroyed it, haha.
Last year I had the in genius idea to ombre my hair....worse decision ever. I never really dyed my hair until I moved away for college....cause....well, my mom didn't want me to damage my hair, ladies, listen to your mama, she knows what's up.

Now, I'm a junkie...a product junkie that is. As soon as someone is like "This made my hair smooth!" I have to try it, I get suckered in so easily...but then I remind myself that I don't have the same hair type as they do....haha so what kind of hair type do I have? I have THICKKKKKK, dead-ended hair. I know, I know...I should probably just cut off my dead ends completely and start fresh, but girl, I'm not fixin' to have a bob.

These babies are what I use in the shower. Yes, I use two conditioners, haha. I use not your mother's for the root area of my hair, till about half way down, and then I put the ion conditioner on the lower half of my hair. Then I put it up and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes

Buy these products!

• Ion Keratin Smoothing Shampoo
• Ion Keratin Smoothing Conditioner

Once I come out of the shower, I usually alternate between these two. One cycle I'll use the Tresemme one and the next cycle I'll use not your mother's. They are very different, and I honestly prefer the Not Your Mother's anyway, even if they don't the same thing for several reasons. Tresemme' is really greasy and when it dries (air or with a blow dryer) it turns really hard, not a fan. It also doesn't do anything for split ends, it's more like a chinsy oil type treatment. NYM's is an oil treatment with argon & macadamia oil in it, and my oh my it's amazing. It smells like heaven and whether you towel, air, or blow dry your hair, it makes your hair so soft and ugh, I love it! 

This is by far my favorite dry shampoo, it smells so good and it doesn't leave your hair crunchy or white and powdery & this heat protecting spray is THE BEST one I've ever used, better than anything I got from the salon, that's for sure. I use the dry shampoo between hair washes, I only wash my hair every other day, because my hair is wicked thick and if I wash it everyday, it's no bueno haha.

Buy these products!

• Psssssst Instant Spray Shampoo
• TRESemme Heat Protective Spray

These are more of a once in a while type of thing, just because I go through phases of wanting my hair straight and curly....but when I use these, I fall in love all over again haha How I use them, is when my hair is damp (not soaking wet, it won't work out well), braid your hair into like....two braided piggy tails basically. Go to sleep. When you wake up the next morning take them braids out, run your fingers through them a little then start spraying! haha Don't over do it though, because a little goes a long way. After you spray it in, just run your fingers through it again :) Between the two, I prefer the Charlotte Ronson one, ONLY because it smells like sunscreen and it's a little softer than the NYM Beach Babe, but i L O V E that Beach Babe has sea salt in it :') 

Buy these products!

• Charlotte Ronson A Perfect Mess Beach Hair

I used to use ConAir and Goody brushes everyday, well duh, You gotta brush your hair everyday ahha. But it ALWAYS yanked my hair hardcore, I thought it was just cause my hair was impossible....until I learned that it was the brush. The brushes that have those little black balls on the end are like some form of barbaric torture. They cling to your hair and pull...and pull and pull. If you have long hair, you know it's a nightmare. So, when I discovered this Tangle Teezer brush, I thought I had found gold. I love this brush so much and it really does make a difference! 

Buy These Products!

• Tangle Teezer - Purple

I always heard of these products, but I never really thought anything of them....until I got a coupon code and down hill it went. Well, down hill for my wallet, up hill for my hair. These really do make a difference and they really do work. I intend on expanding my collection reallllll soon, there's a lot more I wanna try and I wanna find the Way to Grow Shampoo, it's ALWAYS sold out when I go to search for it :( There's SO many different products though, seriously, for straight hair, curly hair, long hair, short hair, bald hair, you name it, they've got everything. I oogle and melt every time I see their stuff online haha You can get these babies at Ulta, CVS, or just visit their lovely site! All their products are lightweight (I know I personally only have a few, but my friend Shauna uses these and I've tested them...and holy smokes!) and they don't weigh your hair down, like most conditioners tend to do. Trust me, these are worth every penny, and they're SO SO SO affordable. I LOVE Not Your Mother's, to pluto and back! 

Buy these products!

• Not Your Mother's Beach Babe
• Not Your Mother's Way To Grow Long and Strong Conditioner
• AH, I can't find a link for the Lock Luster, but I KNOW Ulta sells it 

I know what your thinking, AIN'T NO BODY GOT TIME FOR ALL OF THAT, but really, if you're like me and you have destroyed dyed/ombre hair, you know how dead ends can get. The only way to re-hydrate your hair is to develop a routine. Trial and error my friends! 

Well, I hope this helped out a least a little! What hair products do YOU swear by? Let me know! I love trying out new products! 

Until next time

xx

Angela 

What's in my Makeup Bag • Day-to-Day

This is something that I only started to do really recently, partially because it's summer and I'm always in need of a touch-up, and partially because this bag was way too cute when I got it to not lug it around everywhere I go haha 

This is basically what I bring with me every single day, the only thing that changes is the foundation. I obvi bring whichever foundation I'm wearing that day. Today, I went with the Maybelline Stick foundation, I really am trying to find a way to make this foundation work...once tip, fit+ does wonders. Just sprtiz it on after touch-ups, and bam, it's magic...can't even tell. I also like to keep my fix+ with me, because it takes the chemical smell out of any makeup AND on a warm day, this cool mist feels great.

My FAVORITE foundation brush, the Oh gee domed buffing brush, Mac Fix+ (baby size), Maybelline FitMe stick foundation, and my Mac blot powder, I use this more than anything, it's like an oil blotting sheet....in powder form aha

This also has a tendency to change frequently, usually on the week to week basis...haha We've got my perfume usually is always 'Very sexy' by Victoria Secret, but sometimes I'll alternate between this and a few other of my faves. Chapstick, cause you know, crusty lips ain't cute girlfriend; and a brush, cause knotted & nappy hair ain't so cute either haha

It may seem ridic to bring a makeup bag with you everywhere you go, but during the summer when you're hot and sweating, it's basically a necessity, and plus how are you gonna swoop up that hottie at the beach if your make up is melting off of your face? 

Haha talk to you soon!

xx

Angela 

Rant or Rave: Maybelline Fit me Stick Foundation

Hellooooo again, this one is kind of fun.

So I thought it would be fun to do segments, like reviews, but I wanted to do something a little bit....catchy....so I figured why not! let's go with 'Rant or Rave.' If I wind up not liking the product...I'll rant about it....and if I wind up loving it....obviously I'll rave about it :) I don't know I'm just spit firing ideas out there, let me know what you think :)

MOVING ALONG, so for the first rant or rave, I thought I'd choose something that a lot of people are gonna be on the fence about.... The new Maybelline FitMe Foundation Stick.

Judging by the photo below, one can assume that I love the FitMe collection they got going on. So, naturally, I decided to dive on in and test this baby out.

I'm not even gonna lie, I was expecting this product to be a complete disaster and I was expecting to hate it right off the bat, but lemme tell you....this foundation actually isn't half bad. At first glance it looks like an enormous chap stick, kind of like those burt's bees things they've got going on. And looking at it from the top of the tube, you're like "Oh goodness, this is going to be waxy, it's going to be tacky..." Y'know the typical judgmentals...but once you open that tube up it's like a whole new dimension haha 

The line has 12 different shades, which sounds like a lot, but what I noticed in the store is that these favor towards the cooler untertones (aka if you're a NC something in MAC), I didn't see much for the warmer undertones (aka if you're a NW something in MAC), but that could also be my store....I live in an area where everyone is whiter than casper. 

It's supposed to be like the liquid foundation, but obvi in a gel form, and less heavy for those days when you're on the go. It does have a lot of similarities to the liquid fit me foundation, but without the fragrance and the medium-full coverage.

 First thing's first, that anti-shine core thing, is a crock of bologna. It doesn't prevent shine at all, to me, it should be called the hydrating core, cause that's about all it's got going on. At first application, you'll notice that it glides on the skin REALLY well, it's like rubbing butter on your face (haha say butter like Paula Deen, it's fun). Secondly, if you have dry skin or oily skin, I wouldn't suggest this at all. I would say this foundation is for those who have normal to fairly combo skin. Thirdly, this foundation is light to medium coverage with the potential of full coverage but layering that much can cause cakey-ness, and that's not cute. 

The staying power of this foundation is about 4-6 hours, but I don't advise wearing it 

any longer than 4.5 hours haha 

I obviously did a trial and error type dealio with this, just to see what works best because I've tried foundation sticks before, but they're all so different! So what I did was I put primer on half of my face, and free balled it on the other half just to test if the primer made a difference. (sometimes with a gel-ish-type foundation, primer does nothing but help it slide right off your face) In this instance however, primer is definitely a necessity. But hey, who knows maybe you've got flawless skin and you don't need a primer, for my skin type however, I needed it. 

They suggest putting it on with your fingers to blend it in seamlessly.....but I have a problem using my fingers to blend in foundation SO. I used my Oh Gee domed buffing brush, and it worked like a charm. I would say if you wanna use your fingers, go ahead, if not, use a brush. The beauty blender and the sponge did nothing for me, it seemed to just kind of soak up the foundation completely.

I don't know about you, but no matter what kind of foundation I'm using I ALWAYS have to set it with powder, always. It's just habit. So naturally, I set this one with my rimmel stay matte powder. But use the powder sparingly, as you don't want to give the "cakey" look to your face. This foundation is a little mattifying, so adding more matte powder to it would just be a bad combo. 

I also carry my MAC blotting powder everywhere with me, if you're gonna wear this foundation, I suggest you bring your powder with you too. In extreme heat, like here in Maine, you naturally sweat, nothing you can really do about it, and like I said that anti-shine thing is bologna, so powder for touch ups will be your best friend. 

I'm a 130 (Buff Beige)

All in all, it's an okay foundation. If you're looking for something light for just going out to lunch, running errands, or even going to the beach/pool, this is a good foundation to test out. If you're looking for that great foundation that's going to give you coverage and make you look flawless, I'd skip out on this one. Also, if you have a lot of acne or scaring, I don't suggest getting this foundation. It's great at evening out your skin coloration, but it's not too kind to any texture on the face, it actually kind of dries up on those spots 

So how do I wear it? 

I'll just go from left to right haha

• My "Oh Gee Domed Buffing Brush" (ohgeeboutique.com) 
• ELF Daily Moisture Stick; I put this on before my primer, just because you should ALWAYS moisturize your face 
• Rimmel Fix & Perfect or Benefit's POREfessional; These primers...I always go back and forth about. I still love Rimmel's more than anything, but Benefit's helps with my black&white heads...weird I know
• Obvi the Maybelline FitMe stick foundation
• Rimmel Stay Matte; I use this powder to set my foundation 
• MAC Blotting Powder Pressed; I carry this in my purse for touch-ups everyday 

I really hope that they work on improving the formula for this though, because it's fabulous for those summer days when you need to just throw something on and head out the door for errands. 

so how would I rate it?

3.5ish /5

Here's why! While I love the idea and the concept of it, the formula still needs work, if they could perfect that anti-shine core, it would be a keeper.  &While I appreciate the variety of shades, they're all aimed towards one undertone type (like I said it could just be my store) 

I hope this was at least a little helpful! feel free to leave comments, suggestions, tips, tricks, ideas, or something you want me to chat about next :) 

So begs the same question, is it rant or rave worthy?
I think this is something that falls in the middle, there's so much to rant about, but the concept is cool, and it's interesting, nice for summer....so it's worth raving about. 

Until next time! 

xx

angela

Oh Gee Boutique.

Okay, so I was on the fence about posting this....just because I really know nothing about makeup...I just...experiment. Everything I know, I learned from my sister....and youtube haha

But anyway, I stumbled across these brushes when I was watching a video...and I was so intrigued...they had similar appearances to the 'sigma' brushes...but I R E F U S E to pay over 15 bucks for a brush....haha oops. So I saw these...and they looked pretty decent online so I figured, what the hell, why not.

the handle is so cute! gold and black are my cup of tea

One week later, these babies were in my loving hands. 

So a little background, 'Oh gee boutique' is owned by Brianna (or bri) aka ohgeeitsbribri on youtube, she's seriously the bomb. She has THE CUTEST jewelry, similar to stuff you'd see in Brandy or in Target....or Forever 21, but it's so inexpensive! I love it! The brushes come in a set of 4, but because I was unsure how these would work out....I didn't jump the gun and buy all of them.....but I really wish I would've. There's a tapered, domed, flat, and angled brush to choose from as a set....or buy them individually...which I did. I got the tapered and flat brushes as testers.  

PS if you order, there's a surprise on that thank you card ;)

The shipping was fast and the packaging was adorable. On the outside.....she actually writes your name. Not a total big deal, but it's always nice when you're personally thanked and recognized. Secondly the packaging was so cute! I thought it would just all be shoved in the manila envelope.......nope! it was wrapped in tissue paper with stickers tucked into them. So cute.

The brushes themselves, h o l y c r a p! I was so surprised of the quality, not only because they were inexpensive, but because usually when I order brushes from online shops....they're so......scratchy... these seriously feel like you're being kissed by little stuffed animals all over your face. Lame, I know, but seriously, they're THAT soft. The Handle is a little bulky, but that's okay, because it actually rests comfortably in your hand. But the most important thing......HOW WELL DOES IT BLEND?! 

I use the tapered brush for my concealer, and it works like a charm. No streaks, no loose bristles shedding everywhere, it's just a great brush, AND IT'S ONLY $10! Can't beat that haha 

The flat brush, I use for my liquid foundation, obvi, and again, it's great. It blends so effortlessly, I can't even begin to describe it words, haha. Take my word, you NEED to try these out :) 

All in all, if you're looking to get a great quality brush, with out dishing out a wad of dough, these are definitely a great option! Take my advice, get the whole set! They're so soft, and it's such a great deal! 

So how would I rate it? 

OBVI Bri's site will have a lot more (and way better) info about the brushes so make sure you visit her site :) 

vv

THE GOODS:

Bri's Shop: http://shop.ohgeeboutique.com/

Bri's Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ohgeeitsbri

xoxo, 

Angela 

PS, these were bought with my own money for personal purposes. I am not being paid in any way to talk about these products :)