Tarte ReCreate Silicone-Free Primer - Review

The current status of this product has me a bit baffled. I think it is discontinued. Since the makeup world can be a funny place, this product may be repromoted one day, so therefore I will do a review. I swear I got this large size sample of this product from Sephora recently. Yet, this product is not on Sephora's website and it is no where to be found on Tarte's website. Maybe one of you know? Please leave me comment below.

The foundation primer business has become a monster in the last year or two. Competition is fierce. If this primer didn't survive the battle, I am not surprised. It wasn't wonderful, just ok. It looks like a body lotion and is white. It glides on easy as pie and you don't need much. It feels nice on the skin and seems unscented.

I am lucky that I can say that I don't have much in the way of wrinkles so I can't say that I noticed that this product, which is targeted at working on blurring wrinkles, did anything for me. It is silicone-free which appeals to many people. Normally, I love most Tarte products, but this one didn't wow me. The best I can say about this primer is that it helped keep my foundation looking fresh longer and it gave me a little bit of a more dewy complexion. I skipped primer one morning recently and I totally noticed a difference that day when I had been using this product every day for a week before. However, compared to my Laura Mercier Radiance Primer, this Tarte primer is sub par. If it were still available, I wouldn't repurchase. I will finish the tube though. I didn't notice that this primer did anything to minimize the look of my pores or redness on my face which a lot of other primers do these days.

Packaging: 5/10 (boring!)  

Pigmentation: N/A 

Easy to Work With: 10/10

Longevity: 8/10

Texture: 10/10 

Price: ???????

Ingredients: ??????? 

Travel Worthy: 10/10 

Attractiveness of Product: 6/10

Would I buy this again? Uh No and Can't

Overall Rating: 6.5/10

Sigma Beauty Eye Shadow Base Kit in Bare - Review and Swatches

I have been meaning to do a review on this Sigma Beauty Eye Shadow Base Kit in Bare forever....The truth is that I tried two of them and just got around to trying the third one, Sculpt, recently. I did a long and detailed review of Persuade several months ago and it can be found here:

http://mymakeupissues.blogspot.ca/2013/04/sigma-beauty-eye-shadow-base-in.html

The Eye Shadow Base Kit in Bare comes with three colours - Persuade, Pose and Sculpt. Persuade is a pink nude shade which colour wise is a dupe of MAC's Painterly Paint Pot. It's a dupe in colour only, not quality, let's be clear. Pose is a reddish shimmery brown. Pose is a dupe of MAC's Constructivist Paint Pot in terms of colour. Sculpt is a grey black colour which is a colour dupe of MAC's Blackground. None of these are on par with MAC's Paint Pots, I am strictly talking colour only.

This kit was $36 U.S. when I bought it. I struggled with whether or not to buy it as I didn't really want the Sculpt shade as I have MAC's Blackground. I wanted Pose because I didn't have MAC's Constructivist Paint Pot (I only had a small sample in my stash). I mostly wanted Persuade because all of these bloggers (mostly if not all Sigma affiliates) claimed the product was creaseless. It was also cheaper than MAC's Painterly in theory and was a dupe. Sadly, Persuade is not creaseless. It creases on me in less than 10 minutes. I have oily lids but that is crazy. Painterly creases on me as well, but it is a far superior product to Persuade.

This kit is now $28.80 on sale on Sigma's website as I write this. One of these eye shadow bases on its own is $13. I also wanted the brush that came with the kit which is what made me decide to get the kit. I like the brush by the way. It's nice and tapered and can be used as a concealer brush as well.

I am going to attempt to not be as long winded here as I was in my previous post on Persuade. Here is the quick and dirty version. Persuade is a thin, watery product. It glides across my lids like watery butter and keeps gliding if I don't work it in immediately in the place that I want it. It creases like crazy on me. It is lightweight which is a plus but it does not give your lids an opaque look like Painterly does. It's a bit transparent and you can see the veins on your lids still a bit. If you have dry lids, you might really like this product, but it isn't suitable for me or anyone with oily lids nor is it for someone who wants an opaque base on their lids. If you are used to using Painterly, you are going to be shocked at the difference and not in a good way.

I like the cap that is inside of these eye shadow bases. It's a good idea and MAC should take a leaf out of Sigma's book on that point. This product though is so watery, it would be hard pressed to dry out.

The size of the packaging is insane and it's plastic. MAC uses glass. Yeah MAC! Can you see above how small the pot of product is compared to the overall jar! What was Sigma thinking??? Also, and this really burned my biscuit, the jar is constantly cracking. It hope you can see the cracks above. I have not been rough with them and they have been stored at room temperature not in the bathroom nor a cold or hot place. This looks so cheap in my opinion.

I did the math in my previous blog post. You can refer to it for the nitty gritty. Basically though, if you buy one of these for $13 and add shipping, you have paid for a MAC Paint Pot. There is not cost savings per se.

In the picture above are the swatches. Left to Right is Persuade, Pose and Sculpt. They are a bit thin and watery as you may have noticed. They do glide on easily though, too easily.....The quality of these reminds me of the gel eyeliners that were in the Tiffany D Defining Eyes palette by Sigma. Watery and not long lasting.

Pose is the best of the three in my opinion. It was the most opaque on the lid and lasts the longest. Sculpt was not good. It blended out too easily and can be completely removed from your lid if you blend too much. Crazy, I know. It melts and disappears into your eyelid, even with a primer underneath. Almost any trace of it has faded into nothing including the eye shadow that you put on top of it within a few hours.

I was so disappointed with these. A full list of ingredients is on my other blog entry which I have linked to at the start of this blog. The best thing I can say about this kit was that Pose wasn't bad, but needs a primer, and I liked the brush.

Here is a swatch of MAC's Painterly Paint Pot on the left versus (vs.) Sigma's Persuade on the right.

As you can see, Painterly is a lot thicker than Persuade. I hope this was helpful for you. I wish I would have seen a review like mine before I bought it!

Packaging: 2/10  (the 2 is for the inner cap)

Pigmentation: 3/10  Persuade   7/10 Pose    3/10 Sculpt
Easy to Work With: 4/10 (goes on and slides off easily)
Longevity: 1/10
Texture: 5/10 (feels smooth and light but there is no substance)
Price: 6/10
Ingredients: 7/10
Travel Worthy: 2/10 (bulky!)
Attractiveness of Product: 2/10
Would I buy this again? No Way
Overall Rating: 4/10 (being mega generous)

**Product Update 10/23/2014 - through an accident Persuade ended up redeeming itself a little http://mymakeupissues.blogspot.ca/2014/10/two-products-that-i-have-changed-my.html

Again???!!! More Discontinued Eye Shadows from MAC

Hello!

Just a quick blog post to let you all know that MAC is discontinuing another couple of eye shadows from their permanent line. They are:

Seedy Pearl
Crystal

So if you like these two, better run and grab them while you can! I picked up Seedy Pearl the other day myself.

MAC Sweet Heat Extra Dimension Eye Shadow from the Magnetic Nude Collection - Review and Swatch

My hubby got a me MAC gift card for Christmas and I dipped into it a little bit this week. One of the things that I bought was the limited edition MAC Sweet Heat Extra Dimension eye shadow from their Magnetic Nude collection which came out recently. I wasn't planning to buy it, but the salesperson showed me this and well, I liked it. I thought it looked cool. She suggested this would work well as a pop of colour and shimmer on the inner corner or as a highlight. I agree with all of that and I think it also works well as a lid colour. It's described as a liquid-powder eye shadow.

This was the first Extra Dimension eye shadow from MAC that I have purchased. It is $22.50 Canadian and $19.50 U.S. The pan is 1.3g or 0.04 oz. A regular MAC eye shadow is 1.5g so you are getting a bit less here and you are also paying more for the "extra dimension". This was an impulse buy but I do really like the colour - it is described as a soft peach pink. It's very vibrant and creamy. The colour blends easily, it's smooth and long wearing. MAC is claiming that it lasts up to 6 hours. I wore this one day with a clear primer and it lasted the whole 17 hours that I wore it until I took it off. I think MAC is underselling themselves here.

 

 

Here are a couple of swatches. I think anyone could wear this colour. It's a no brainer shade. I do think that $22.50 is a bit much since the regular eye shadow line in the pro refill pan has been reduced to $12 Canadian each now. That's almost double the price. I don't regret this purchase (use of a gift card cushioned the blow) but I think there are other lovely shades out there that are similar for less money. I love my MAC though.

 

 

 

 

I am planning to put together some Top 10 lists for MAC eye shadows soon so I hope you stay tuned! I love reading other people's Top 10 MAC lists so hopefully you will like mine.

 

 

Packaging: 10/10    

Pigmentation: 10/10
Easy to Work With: 10/10
Longevity: 10/10
Colour Stays True: 10/10
Texture: 10/10
Price: 3/10
Ingredients: 8/10
Travel Worthy: 10/10
Attractiveness of Product: 10/10
Overall Rating: 9.5/10 (only negative is the price)
Would I buy this again? For the price, this one is the only one I'll be getting 



Fresh Sugar Advanced Therapy Lip Treatment - Review

This review is going to be short and sweet. I bought this early last year when I was having some serious issues with my lips after an allergic reaction I had. I used it for a bit and forgot about it. Now that the weather is freezing and central heating is on 24/7, my lips were soooo dry and cracked. It's gross. So I dug this up a couple of months ago and I am now scooping out what is left of the product from below the rim. This stuff is amazing. It works really well. With regular use it repairs your lips and makes them feel very nice. I would wax poetic about this product but that would be a bit much. If your lips are in bad shape, this is a worthy investment.

Investment you say? Yes, that's what I said. The price tag is a killer. It's $28 Canadian or $25 U.S. It's just clear lip balm. If you have no issues with your lips, I wouldn't buy this as it is outrageously expensive. Burt's Bees lip balms do a good job and are almost, but not quite, as good as this and they cost 1/6 of the price. I do love this product, but at $28  a pop I will be hard pressed to buy another unless my lips get really bad again. Which, hey, it might happen. I would consider this more of a "health" product or investment perhaps than a beauty one. Cracked, dry lips are not beautiful of course so you could take this product either way.

One final word to the wise.....this lip balm smells like a cross between lemon pledge and lemon meringue pie. I have grown to not mind the smell, but some people may not be crazy about it.

Packaging: 8/10 (writing on tube fades fast and scratches off but the tube looks solid and cute when new)

Pigmentation: N/A 

How Does it Feel On: 10/10

Longevity: 9/10

Texture: 10/10

Price: 1/10

Ingredients: 8/10 

Travel Worthy: 10/10

Attractiveness of Product: 10/10 (for clear balm)  

Smell and Taste: 8/10

Would I buy this again? YES if I need too      

Overall Rating: 8/10 (the price is the main issue that drags the score down)

Love MAC? Do you travel? Like saving money? I have a suggestion....

Brrr it's cold here! It was -35 degrees with the windchill here this morning. For those of you in warmer climates, you may not be able to visualize that, but I assure you that -35 degrees is damn cold and is quite colder than normal for us Torontonians during the winter months.

I have something a little different for all of you today. Do you love MAC eyeshadows? Do you sometimes travel? On a budget or like saving money? Well I have a suggestion for you.

If you buy an empty MAC Pro Palette Eyeshadow case x4, it is $10 Canadian or $8 U.S. Just for an empty palette, no eyeshadows included. This palette is on the left in the picture above. I will admit that the MAC palette is sleek and looks sexy. I have a few of these myself.

On the right in the picture above, we have the e.l.f. Essential Custom Compact with Mirror. It's $1 U.S. Yep, that's right, I said it's $1 U.S. Can't do better than that. To do a couple things better than MAC, it has a mirror and a dual-ended applicator which the MAC version does not have. Now the e.l.f. palette looks kind of cheap and is no where near as attractive as the MAC version. I won't kid you there.

I am sure you can see where I am going with this. MAC Pro Palette Eyeshadow Refill Pans fit into the e.l.f. palette. I have MAC's Trax in the lower right hand corner above in the e.l.f. palette. The e.l.f. palette slots or holes (gee that doesn't sound good) are just a hair bigger than a MAC eyeshadow pan, but because it is magnetic, it holds the MAC eyeshadow snugly and firmly in place. It will not fall out if you turn it upside down.

Sorry my MAC palette is so dusty looking and there is a shot of my camera in the first pic.

On top of this sweet discovery, as you can likely guess, Makeup Geek (MUG) eyeshadows also fit into the e.l.f. palette. Winner, winner, chicken dinner! So if you don't feel like splashing out $10 Canadian for the MAC palette or $15 U.S. and up for a Z palette, this may be a good alternative for you. I would even dare to suggest that the e.l.f. palette is sturdier for travel than the MAC one. I'm just saying.....

I'll be using my e.l.f. palette with MAC and MUG eyeshadows the next time I leave town for a night or more. What about you?

Too Faced Crisp Apple Strudel Eyeshadow Swatch - I love this colour!

Happy New Year everyone! It's back to work for me tomorrow (boo!) so I thought I would just put up a quick post. I have been absolutely loving the eyeshadow Crisp Apple Studel by Too Faced over the past couple of weeks. This eyeshadow is in the A Few of My Favourite Things palette. I hope Too Faced will make this eyeshadow part of their permanent line one day.

The picture that I have above of me wearing the colour does not do it justice. It is shimmery and looks like a few different colours on your eye depending on the light. It's multidimensional. Looks great on its own all over your lid. I like to pop a lighter colour in my inner corner to add some more brightness, but do whatever you like. It looks like you spent ages applying eyeshadow when you only have this colour on. Wow, is all I have to say.

I don't even love brown eyeshadows, but this one is the bomb! It is extremely long lasting, soft, silky and stays true to colour.