Essential Tools Hi-Def Angled Blush Brush

I have a lot of makeup brushes at all sorts of price points, but one of my favorite brushes is the Essential Tools Hi-Def Angles blush brush.  I use this for powder blush and bronzer just about every day.  I probably have 5 of these brushes.

 

This is a soft, dense natural hair brush.  It's tapered and definitely thin enough to be used for contouring.  

I buy these brushes at Wal-Mart.  I have no idea if the brand is exclusive to Wal-Mart.  I don't think I've ever seen the line at any other drugstores.  This line of brushes is incredibly affordable.  The Hi-Def Angled Blush Brush retails for $5.97.

The quality of the bristles is great, but the ferrules on these brushes leave quite a bit to be desired and often come loose, especially with regular washing.  At this price point, that isn't a deal breaker for me, but it definitely does drag down what is otherwise a fantastic brush.  None of my brushes have come completely apart yet, but there are several where the ferrules are very loose.

Have any of you tried the Essential Tools line?  Which brushes are your favorites?

Overall:  8/10

L'Oreal Visible Lift Serum Absolute Advanced Age-Reversing Makeup

So, in continuing with my penchant for doing some posts solely for the purpose of complaining about a product, I bring you the GirlieReview product review for L'Oreal's Visible Lift Serum Absolute Advanced Age-Reversing Makeup.  

Cut to the chase, it's awful.  Just look at it.  Looking at it makes me want to cry.  It looks like a turd.  Because it is a turd.

This foundation is like no other foundation I've ever used (thankfully).  It has the strangest texture.  I definitely get the 'serum' part of this foundation.  It has a very thick, emollient, serum-y feel.  So imagine a really emollient, silicone heavy serum mixed with powder foundation.

Yeah.  It's as bad of a combination as you'd think.

The powder just sort of swims in the serum.  And the best part for me was that when you apply it to the skin, it's thick.  I found this foundation difficult to sheer out because the 'serum' never sinks into the skin.  It just sits on top of it.  The upper layer of the foundation does dry out and it has a rather cakey, powdery finish, but the layer next to the skin stays wet.  And it creases like crazy.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have baby skin.  I have my fair share of fine lines, but this foundation creased everywhere.  It creased in the corners of my eyes, it creased on my FOREHEAD.

So, to re-iterate, this foundation is awful.  Skip it, regardless of your skin type, it's awful.  I picked it up at my local grocery store, but you can avoid buying it anywhere L'Oreal tries to peddle this crap.  I'm giving it to my daughter for her dress up box.

Overall: 0/10

Wet n' Wild Color Icon Blusher in #834E Berry Shimmer

Wet n Wild is one of those lines that I just love to pieces.  The entire line generally has functional (if boring) packaging, a phenomenal price point and the quality is outstanding.  Because of this, I own just about everything Wet n Wild has on the market.  But last weekend, I found a blush I had somehow neglected to pick up.

This is the Wet n Wild Color Icon Blusher in #834E, Berry Shimmer.  It is a gorgeous deep wine color with gold sparkle.  The pigmentation is absolutely phenomenal.  It has fantastic color payoff.  

The texture of the blush is very soft and easy to blend with a lovely satin finish.  I found that as you blend it out, it does tend to lose the sparkle, but not the pigmentation (I hate it when blushes work the other way around - I'm looking at you, Milani).  

The Wet n Wild Color Icon blusher in Berry Shimmer contains 4 grams of product and is available wherever Wet n Wild is sold.  I picked mine up at Wal-Mart for $2.93.

Overall:  9/10

Physicians Formula Happy Booster Glow & Mood Boosting Baked Bronzer in Light Bronzer

Seriously, what is it with Physicans Formula and the names?!?!

I mentioned that a couple of weeks ago, I picked up some Physicians Formula products at CVS while they were 50% off.  One of the products that I picked up is the Physicians Formula Happy Booster Glow & Mood Boosting Baked Bronzer in Light Bronzer (what a mouthful).

As previously mentioned, while Physicians Formula could definitely improve their pricepoint (and occasionally, their quality), they certainly get packaging right.  Just look at this thing.  It's adorable.

Unlike the blush I reviewed recently, which was a big old disapointment, I really like this bronzer.  You can get three distinct shades.  

• Heart -  is an orangy gold.  I don't think you could use it as a bronzer, but it could definitely be used as a highlighter, though I tend to use it as an eyeshadow.  
• Outer circle - is a champagne brown.  On lighter skintones, it could be dark enough to be used as a bronzer, but again, it's shimmery enough that on some skintones it could be a highlighter (or eyeshadow).
• Mixed - is a slightly warmer champagne.  Again, highlighter, bronzer or eyeshadow depending on your skintone and proclivities.

The bronzer is baked, so you get an irridescent sheen, but it doesn't contain any straight up glitter.  It has good color payoff, but can be easily sheered out.  I got a good six hours of wear time out of it before I noticed any fading.

The Physicians Formula Happy Booster Glow & Mood Boosting Baked Bronzer in Light Bronzer contains 9.5 grams of product and usually retails for around $11 wherever Physicians Formula is sold.  I got mine at CVS (for 50% off).

Overall:  8/10

Maybelline Color Tattoo in #15 Blue Paradise

I am not sure when the Maybelline Color Tattoo in Blue Paradise came out.  I just saw it a couple of weeks ago, but I saw YouTube videos from UK YouTubers ages ago using this shade, though I'm pretty sure it's called Light In Purple in the UK.  (See Shiv from LetzMakeup's tutorial HERE)

(daybulb)

(indirect sunlight)

Blue Paradise is a sheer light blue base with blue, silver and violet shimmer.  I think this shadow is just stunning.  It's a chameleon shade and definitely changes color depending on the light and angle.  I found it to be a little patchy, but since I think I would most likely wear this shade layered over a darker shade, I don't think that's necessarily a problem for me.

I found the texture of this shade to be much more similar to the recent Color Tattoo Metal line than to the other, standard Color Tattoos I've tried.

Wear time on this product was good.  I got a good six hours before I had any noticeable fading.  And unlike other glittery color tattoos that I've tried (*cough*BoldGold*cough*), it didn't leave glitter on my face.

The Maybelline Color Tattoo in Blue Paradise contains 4 grams of product and retails for around $6 wherever Maybelline is sold.  I got mine at Wal-Mart.

Overall: 8/10

Essence 3D Eyeshadows 04 and 09

I recently subscribed to Babycake390 on YouTube and in one of their recent videos, they were talking about how much they loved the new Essence 3D Eyeshadows.  I was at Ulta last weekend and I had my 20% off coupon, so I thought why not?

I picked up two of the duos, 04 Irresistible Caramel Cream and 09 Irresistible Chocolates.  First off, I will admit to peeling off a sticker that was on the front of all the Essence shadows.  It said "WOW!".  I just ... oh dear.  There is a reason I don't buy a lot of drug store items.

First up, 04 Irresistible Caramel Cream.  So the shadows aren't even.  There is definitely more of the lighter product.  Also, the lighter product is raised up considerably and the darker portion is flat.

You can see it swatches pretty true to the pan.  The first shade is a warm light champagne beige.  The second shade swatches a bit lighter than it looks in the pan.  It's a warm medium golden brown.

As with all of the baked mineral shadows I've ever used, these have a metallic finish and you can use them wet or dry (I only swatched them dry).  I think that either color would work well as a highlighter.  The shadows are on the drier side.  I had to sort of fight with them to get the product, but it is a drugstore item.

The second duo, 09 Irresistible Chocolates, is considerably darker than the first and both shades swatch very true to pan.  The fist shade is a beautiful medium neutral pink.  The second shade is a cool dark gray brown that looks a little gold in the pan, but doesn't really on the eye.

Overall, I can't say that I'm really in love with these products.  They're okay, especially at the price point, which truly is fabulous, even for a drugstore brand.  Milani, which is slightly more expensive, has some very similar colors in their recently released nude versions of their Runway Eyes palettes.  

As I mentioned, the shadows are very dry and stiff, but I do think that once you get them applied, they look really pretty.  As with wet/dry shadows, you'll get more intense color payoff if you use them wet.  The colors are natural enough for them to be multipurpose products (eyeshadow, highlight, bronzer, etc) depending on how you want to use them.

The packaging is super flimsy and they have domed tops which means they don't stack (my personal pet peeve - I hate that about the Milani individual baked eyeshadows too).

Essence 3D Eyeshadows contain 2.8 grams of product each and are available at Ulta for $3.99 each (unless you have a 20% off coupon like me!)

Overall:  6/10