Pale Products and More

The ABH Stick Foundation came out awhile ago, but my local Ulta before I moved never carried the lightest shade, therefore I could never swatch it to see if it was even doable. I recently went to Sephora and was able to swatch it and get a sample so I figured I should review it as well.

It retails for $25 for .32 oz.; to compare the Tarte Clay Stick foundation is $39 for .32 and the Lancome Teint Idole Ultra Longwear Foundation stick is $42 for .31 oz. It is said to be a highlight pigmented buildable foundation with a natural matte finish. The color Alabaster is for "very fair skin with cool undertones". It looks like it might be a bit dark, but blends out okay.

I primed my skin with my Smashbox Primer Water, applied the product with my Real Techniques sponge, and set my skin with my Laura Mercier Translucent Setting Powder and elf setting spray. I used a powder because, as is my experience with other stick foundations, it didn't seem to set on its own. I wore it for 8 hours.

left side applied

applied to full face

I took some close up shots right as I applied it, because it already wasn't looking great. Clinging to my cheeks, which are by no means dry, settling into my forehead lines, and overall just looking textured. I usually have this experience with stick foundations.




I checked in after 5 hours and the results were pretty much what I expected. I didn't look horrible, but there was more settling/texture/just general heaviness. Keep in my mind my glasses rub off all my foundations so that's not the issue I'm showing in the full face picture- but instead just how it seems to age my entire face.



At the end of the 8 hours my face looked slightly worse than the 5 hour mark in the same ways; settling, texture, heaviness, etc etc. I was also looking a bit oily.

Overall this gets a 1/10. The color is the only positive for me, I really won't be trying this one even one more time. It did me no favors for sure.

I have come a long way when it comes to eyebrows. I once had the dreaded sperm brow, I'll admit, but I like to think my brows are pretty decent nowadays. I have a few different brow products in my collection that I'll be talking about in this post. I'm going to be including a few pictures of myself for in which I was using each product. I'm doing more than one, because my brows honestly come out different every single day; showing you different days will give you the gist, I think.

First we have the iconic Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade. I used to use the shade chocolate for whatever god awful reason, but have since tossed that one. Right now I currently have the shade Ash Brown which is a much cooler shade thank god. I went through a period where I used this religiously, but lately I never reach for it.

I also have the elf Eyebrow Kit in the shade Dark. This product is somewhat cool toned, but still does look a little off/warm on me. For awhile I was using only the gel side, then I was using the gel side on 2/3 of my brow and filling the front with the powder. Its a solid product, especially for $3. The following pictures are how my brows looked when using this.




The next product is the Nyx Micro Brow Pencil in the shade Ash Brown. I bought this when I realized the elf kit was still too warm. It was the first time using pencil since the very beginning of my doing my brows, so it had a bit of a learning curve. I liked it, but found it to still be too warm. When using this product I would do the same as with the elf kit, just using the pencil where I used the gel, and still using the powder.




One of my most recent brow product is the Etude House Drawing Eyebrow in the shade Gray Brown. This is cooler than the Nyx pencil, and its what I typically use on a day to day basis.





I also picked up the Nyx Automatic Eyebrow Pencil in Charcoal. This is super pigmented and I can use it on its own if applied lightly (first picture) or i mix it with the Etude House and Nyx Micro Brow (second picture).



Also, when using the elf kit, the Nyx pencil, and the Etude House pencil (sometimes) I use the Essence Make Me Brow in Browny Brown. I never use this product by itself, as my brows aren't full enough.

And that's really it for brow products! Personally I'm a fan of all of these! I think they all give my brows a unique look, but I really stick to using the Etude House one and/or a mix of Etude House and the two Nyx ones!

So after lusting over the Anastasia Beverley Hills Moonchild Glowkit until I had the funds for it, I finally purchased it! It retails for $40 on their website, free shipping- no complaints here. I had seen sooo many beautiful, pigmented swatches of this palette so I was pretty excited.

Sadly, when my palette arrived, one of the shades was cracked. But, ABH customer service to the rescue! I emailed them with my issue, and in the span of three emails a new palette was being sent my way. I seriously can't rave enough about this customer service, they replied within ten minutes of my first email, and less than 24 hours after my second email.

So like I said this product is $40 for .15 oz per pan of product. I'm no mathematician so I'm not even going to attempt to break down the cost and do price comparisons. But to my untrained eye it seems like a good deal, lmao.

I'm gonna go ahead and skip finger swatches because there's a million of those online and also its hard to get the accurate swatches on my skin tone.

Now I'm a sucker for crazy intense (blinding) highlight, so this palette was right up my alley. The other reason I was so drawn to this was the shades, obvious there are very little highlighters on the market right now in shades like these (save for Jeffrey Stars', but let's not get me started on that vile piece of trash); you typically see a gold, champagne, or peach highlighter in the mainstream beauty market. As you know I have very cool toned skin and anything golden looks like shit on me, so finding a highlighter is not always the easiest as I tend to be partial towards pure white shades (think Becca Pearl). I only have one highlighter in my collection of an ~unusual~ color (The Face Shop Pink Powder Flash Beam).

So moving on to face swatches and my thoughts on each individual shade.

Blue Ice is the most seemingly "normal" shade in this palette, described on the website as being a "diamond white with an icy blue reflect". This shade when applied is so versatile. I thought it would just be another white highlighter, but no; its got these blue and almost purple and pink reflects to it that give the most otherwordly glow.

blurry but you get the idea, I was having a hell of a time photographing this one

I was really interested in Star, which is a "moonstone fusion of mint, platinum, and silver". To me it just looks silver, not saying that that's a bad thing! Paired with a grey/silver eye and cool toned blush, this shade is killer. It reminds me of like....robots...in a good way.


Purple Horseshoe probably looks the most intimidating in the pan, like that shit. is. purple. ABH calls it a "glittering lavender with arctic blue reflect". The blue reflects definitely show more in the pan than on the face, but if you look closely and/or hit the right like you can notice them. This one paired with Urban Decay's Bittersweet Afterglow blush? Forget it. Perfection.


Pink Heart was not that exciting for me since I already have a pink highlighter, but I was surprised by how much I like it. It comes off a different pink shade than the one I have, so I know I'll be getting my use out of it. "Pearl white with a pink opal reflect" fits it perfectly; it definitely reminds me of opals.


Lucky Clover was the shade I was least excited about, described as a "shamrock infused gold with canary yellow reflects". Literally none of that sounds like it is going to flatter my skin. But when I finally tested it out, I was pleasantly surprised by it. I paired it with Benefit's Coralista and got a really nice, summery cheek. The gold didn't seem to clash with my skin tone!



I really enjoy Blue Moon. First of that's one of my favorite ice cream flavors, secondly the "frozen blue with silver reflect" just pairs so well with my cool skin. Its not overwhelmingly blue blue, you know? Its toned down enough to look wearable (obviously not natural), yet ethereal.


So overall this palette didn't disappoint in any way, and it definitely lived up to my expectations of it. I can't rave about it enough and have nothing negative to say. 10/10.