Pale Products and More

I bought a lot of makeup this year let's be honest. I figured I might as well talk about my favorites to try and convince myself that it wasn't all a waste! Most products I have reviews on, and if I do they will be linked.

I only have one product when it comes to foundations and that would be the Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Foundation. This gives such a beautiful skin like finish and has a shade I can wear without mixing. Its the one face product I find myself reaching for much more consistently than any others, and I even bought a second bottle, which I don't think I've ever done! I have a full review on it here if you're interested.

In the category of concealers I have two products to mention; the Kat Von D Lock It Creme Concealer (review here) and the Nyx HD Concealer in Alabaster (review here). The Kat Von D one provides serious brightening and coverage, while the Nyx one gives a more natural look. I repurchased each of these and plan on doing so when I run out again!

I'm lumping face products together in one category, and I've got a few products to talk about; the Nudestix Nudies All Over Face Color Matte in Bareback/Bondi Bae, the Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Powders, the Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Exposed, and the Rms Beauty Living Luminzer.
I have reviews coming on the Nudestix products, but they are great! Bare Back is a perfect contour shade for my skin tone, and Bondi Bae a really nice bronzer. They blend out great and last really well.
I have two of the Hourglass Strobe Lighting Powders, reviews here and another coming soon. They are my go to highlighters that I know will look beautiful no matter what. I really want to purchase the other shade that will work on my skin tone, Brilliant.
The Tarte Amazon Clay Blush in Exposed (review here) is the blush I wear pretty much every single day. I don't have to worry about matching it to my eyeshadow and lip product, I can just put it on hassle free and know it'll look good. Its my ride or die blush.
I just recently got the Rms Beauty Living Luminzer, so a review will be coming, but I love this shit. Its the perfect glossy/balmy highlighter I've been looking for that looks great and doesn't fuck with my base products.

As far as primers/setting sprays two products really stood out to me this year; the Too Faced Hangover 3 in 1 Replenishing Primer and Setting Spray and the Smashbox Primer Water. Both of these improve the application of foundations when used as primers, making them look more skin like. I don't use the Primer Water as setting spray, but the Too Faced one really settles powder into my skin and gives a very natural finish to my face when it may look a bit powdery or heavy. I can always count on these two products to help my base look great.

When it comes to eye products there's really only one stand out product I can think of; the Nudestix Magnetic Matte Eye in Taupe. I got this as a free gift when I bought some of their lip products (which I promptly returned bc they were shit), and boy am I glad I did. I use it when I just need something on my eyes but am too lazy to really blend an eye look. I just plop it on, blend quickly and done. I really want to purchase other colors but they're a bit pricey so we shall see. (forgot to include this in the picture, don't drag me).

It was a good year for lip products; my faves are the Fenty Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer, the Tarte Quench Lip Rescue, the Butter London Sheer Wisdom Lip Oil, and the Lorac Alter Ego Glosses.
I have a review on the Fenty Gloss coming soon, but man I love this stuff. I wasn't gonna get it originally but I think Samantha Ravndahl on youtube convinced me. I was weary of the glitter but you can't even see it on the lips, it just looks juicy and beautiful.
The Tarte Quench Lip Rescues are my every day lip product when I don't want to think about my lips, but still want to look amazing. I have a review coming; they are everything I want in a lip product and more. I wish there were more shades!
Butter London really came through with these Sheer Wisdom Lip Oils (review here). They are exactly what I want in a sheer lip product and rival the Tarte Lip Rescues for my all time favorite lip product!
The Lorac Alter Ego Glosses are my favorite lip gloss formula I've found. I have a review coming soon, but they apply beautiful, and wear even better.

I've got one product to talk about in the personal hygiene category and that would be the Lush Aramaco Deodorant (review here). This year was a long journey to finding a non-aluminum deodorant that worked for me (no I'm not avoiding aluminum because I'm afraid of cancer or whatever, it just fucks up my armpits). This product was a godsend after many failed attempts, and many armpit rashes.

And my final category, skincare, has a few contenders; the Corsx Oil Free Moisturizing Lotion, Corsx BHA Blackhead Liquid, and the It's Skin Grean Tea Calming Cleansing Oil (somewhat old review here).
When I started using the Cosrx Oil Free Moisturizing Lotion it was like the missing puzzle piece in my routine. It provides the perfect amount of light moisture after my more liquidy products, and preps my skin for the more heavy duty ones.
I've been using the Corsx BHA Blackhead Liquid since before 2017, but I really started continued use this year. This product really makes a difference in the quality of my skin, texture wise. Even if I skip it for one night, I can physically feel a difference putting on products that night, as well as in the morning applying makeup.
I've also used the It's Skin Calming Cleansing Oil since before 2017, but this is the only cleansing oil I've wanted to use the entire year, whereas before I was still trying out others. This just gets all my makeup off, doesn't leave any residue, and doesn't strip my skin at all. Added bonus it smells nice! I think I'm on my third or fourth bottle of this stuff.

Okay done. That's it for my 2017 favorite products! This year I found some really good shit! I'm looking forward to what 2018 has in store :-)

This is the first year since I got really into makeup that I participated in the 21 Days of Ulta Beauty. I didn't purchase everything, or even half of the deals offered, but I got a handful of items. I was surprised that almost all the items I was interested in were discounted the full 50% off! I'm probably going to regret compiling all my purchases and seeing how much I really spent...

I forgot to include the Mario Badescu spray in this pic!

March 19: The Too Faced Love Flush Blushes were on sale for $13, regularly $26. After getting the mini version of this, I knew I wanted more so naturally I had to get one. I go the shade Baby Love. I love it just as much as I do the other shade!


March 25: One of this day's deals was the Tart Lights, Camera, Lashes mascara
for $10, usually $21. I'm not one to ever splurge on mid/high end mascaras, but at a drugstore price I figured I would go for it. (review to come in my Mascara Collection post).

March 28: Tarte Maneater Liner was the deal I got this day. It was going for $10, so half of its original $20. Again, I would never ever spend $20 on a liner, but at $10 I figured why not. (review to come).

March 31: This day I got the Smashbox Photo Finish Primer Water for $16 instead of $32. Primers are another thing I refuse to splurge on, but I have always been curious about this cult favorite. (review to come).

April 1: I couldn't resist snagging the $7 Maria Badescu Facial Spray for $5.25, not a huge discount but its pretty cheap to begin with so. I got the Aloe, Herb, and Rosewater (pink) version.


April 2: I have a sample of the Urban Decay Perversion Mascara and love it but refuse to buy a full size, so when I saw the $22 product for $11 on this day, I had to get it. (review coming in my Mascara Collection post).

April 5: I've been loving lip glosses lately so I had to pick up the $20 Butter London Plush Rush Lip Gloss for $10. I got the shade First Kiss, which is a pearly light sheer pink. (review to come).

April 7: I was really anticipating this day! Tarte Amazonian Clay Blushes ($28) were $14! I picked up Exposed. (review to come).


Okay so I did some serious damage, but got some serious deals. Overall without the deals this haul would have costed a whopping $144, but I got it all for $89.25. That means I saved $54.75! Aaaaaaaand the no buy begins.

So today's review is on the (mini version) Too Faced Love Flush Long-lasting Blush in the shade Love Hangover. I mentioned getting a gift set with a mini version of this in my Too Faced Candlelight review, and now here's the review!

It retails for $26 for .21 oz of product. Its a warm pinky shade with a sheen to it. Personally I would not pick out a warm toned pink blush for myself, so I was a bit skeptical, but its actually quite flattering.

It is very pigmented, but not so much that its difficult to work with (Lorac Color Source Blush I'm looking at you). It applies very evenly and blends out like a dream. There is very little to no fading after 8+ hours of wear, which is impressive if you ask me.



Overall I give this a 10/10, there's nothing I don't like about this product. I actually really want some full sized Love Flush blushes now (even more than I already did due to their cute design).

Okay okay, I know contour products are different from bronzers. But I literally only have one bronzer so I felt like it would be okay to include it in this post, sue me.

Finding the perfect contour shade is hard no matter your skintone, but especially so when you're on the end of the spectrum, be it light or dark. Obviously I'll be mentioning products that work for very, very light skin, as that's what I'm working with here.

First thing I'll be mentioning is the first ever product I contoured with; Nyx blush in Taupe. This is hailed all over the internet as the pale girl's holy grail contour powder. So naturally I bought it and used it for weeks...without realizing it looks orange on me. Its weird because it looks fine swatched, but on my face, noooope.

this is suuuuper old but I'm using Nyx Taupe so

The next product is my everyday contour product: the contour shade from the Maybelline Facestudio Master contour palette in the shade light to medium. I bought this after seeing my fave ever youtuber Thataylaa use it. I was wary at first, as it looks a little bit warm in the pan, but it looks nice and cool on my face.



Next is the Too Faced Snow Bunny Luminous bronzer. I got this in a gift set and was unsure of how well it would work on my skin, turns out it looks great! Its got four stripes of different shades, a white highlight, dark bronzer, pink blush, and lighter bronzer. I've found that when I swirl the shades together I get a beautiful bronzer! I can even apply it as a blush due to the pink and get away with it. It thankfully doesn't look too dark or too warm on my skin. Its super sparkly!

not the best shot but

And last is a product that isn't intended to be used as a face powder; the elf Brow Kit in the shade Dark. I use the powder side to contour occasionally. Its light enough and cool toned enough to work perfectly.



And honestly that's all I've got as far as this type of product goes. I feel like contour products and bronzers are something I really don't need a lot of, which is a rare feeling for me when it comes to makeup, lmao.

For Christmas I had asked for this little gift thing from Too Faced, I think it was called You Glow Girl. It had little mini versions of their blush, highlighter, and bronzer, and came with a mini brush. I had always been curious about these products, but never enough to actually buy them in full sized versions.

Which brings me to this review on the (mini version) Too Faced Candlelight Glow Highlighting Powder Duo in Rosy Glow. This shade is the "cooler" version (I use that term loosely as this is a golden highlight).

It retails for $30 for .35 oz, but like I said, I have the mini version.

It can be applied very subtly or built up to a nice glow. Whether you use only one half, or mix both, you always get a very gold tone (even when only using the pink). It does flatter my cool skin though. It slightly emphasizes texture, but I have yet to find a highlight that doesn't.

It lasted for 9 hours with little to no fading; and most of that time I was lying in bed cuddling with my boyfriend, so I would have expected it to rub off. I give this a 9/10, there's really nothing I don't like, although less texture would be a plus. Its perfect for the very rare days I want a golden highlight!

Today the spotlight is on Too Faced,specifically the Melted Lipsticks since those are the only lip products I own by them.

Melted Fig Melted Chihuahua Melted Berry Melted Metallic Peony Melted Metallic Macaron

My absolute favorite Melted is Fig. Its a purpley rose shade and its to die for. It will dry down matte if you apply a thin layer and blot, but will also remain satin if you don't; I love the versatility.

Melted Chihuahua is next. Its a peachy brown shade with a satin finish. It may dry matte throughout the day.

Melted Berry is a red toned berry shade with a bit of a glossy finish. It wears well through the the day and lasts a long time.

Then I have the Melted Metallics. First up is Metallic Melted Peony, which is a cool toned pink with a gold shine to it. It doesn't wear as well as the regular melteds do. And it doesn't last as long.

Melted Metallic Macaron is the next shade. Its a warm bright pink which isn't so flattering on my skin tone. It also doesn't wear as well as the normal ones.

And that's its for my Too Faced lipsticks!