My 5 Minute Face

A sad truth of life is that you don't always as much time to get ready in the morning as you would like. Since I'm a junior in high school, this kind of thing happens a lot, particularly if I haven't gotten much sleep the night before and I end up sleeping in a bit. On days like that, I usually follow a routine similar to this.

Dior Diorshow Pure Compact Makeup (#200)

Sonia Kashuk Beautifying Blush in 'Pink'

Maybelline Baby Lips in 'Grape Vine'

Anastasia Tinted Brow Gel in 'Espresso'

Urban Decay 24/7 glide On Eye Pencil in 'Zero'

Agnes b. Mascara Crescendo

If I haven't gotten much sleep my skin is usually paler than usual (which, to be frank, is already very pale) and can be red and splotchy, so I need some coverage to even out my skin tone so that I don't look unhealthy when I go out. And since I have all that coverage my natural flush doesn't show through as much so I like to enhance it with a bit of blush. For my eyes, I still want them to look defined but I don't have much time, so I'll usually just tightline my upper and lower waterlines and maybe smudge a bit into my upper lash line. This mascara also curls your lashes for you so if you don't have time to curl your lashes with an actual curler, it's fine! A tinted brow gel also means you don't have to spend a long time filling in your brows so running a bit of this through your brows defines them lightly and in a shorter amount of time. The tinted lip balm is something you can just swipe on and go, and you can toss it in your bag to take with you, too. 

How does your makeup routine change when you're pressed for time? 

September 2012 Empties

I've decided to make this type of post a regular monthly feature on my blog. So every month, in addition to my favorite products of the month, I'll also show you guys what I've used up as a way for you guys to know that I really do use my makeup and also for my own personal record.

I used up more products than I expected to during the month of September, which was a really pleasant surprise for me. I feel like I buy so much, my products just kind of accumulate and then it becomes difficult for me to use things up. This month, however, I managed to use up:

Philip B Scent of Sante Fe Balancing Shampoo

LUSH Yummy Yummy Yummy Shower Cream Wash

Dr. Wu AcneCur Pore Refining Serum with Evermat

Moroccanoil Moisture Repair Shampoo

Neutrogena Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes

Jill Stuart Sugar Lip Scrub

Agnes b. Volum'Up Curl Mascara

Crazylibellule and the Poppies Vanilla Fruit Sorbet & Shanghaijava Ananas Imperial Perfume Sticks

The reason I was able to use up two shampoos is that I've been using them in conjunction with one another for a while. I use them alternatively, the Moroccanoil shampoo helps my hair feel less dry and I think also prevents it from getting split ends, especially when used with the accompanying conditioner from the same line. The Philip B shampoo gives my hair a lot of volume, on the other hand, and flat hair does not suit me, so this really helps me maintain volume without having to use like twenty products on my hair. 

As for the serum, I don't think it really did much for me. I did notice my pores were less noticeable after using it but it didn't do much to help my acne. I suppose it helped fade some of the hyperpigmentation, actually, but since I break out so much the hyperpigmentation isn't as much of an issue for me right now because more pimples pop up in their space. The LUSH body wash was used up extremely quickly because I feel like I needed so much to wash my entire body, so I kind of regret buying this. I've loved the Neutrogena towelettes for a while, I first tried them over the summer when I was at summer school and they were a much more convenient option than using my cleansing oil. 

The lip scrub wasn't very effective, the sugar granules were very large but dissolved really quickly, so the scrub didn't really have time to do anything for me. The mascara was a sample I received with my purchases of Agnes b. items (which I have reviewed) and I'm glad I didn't buy the full size because it was really clumpy on me, but I used it up anyway so it wouldn't be wasted. The perfume sticks are ones I've had for a while and finally used up this month! While I like the conveniency of these sticks (they're so portable and easy to use for touching up) I don't like the way they apply because I feel like they leave a sticky residue and don't last that long on me because they rub off. They smelled really yummy and I got so many compliments when I wore them, but I wish they were in a different type of packaging because I didn't really enjoy them in stick form. 

Those are all the products I used up during the month of September! Have you done a similar post to this? If so, leave the link below! If not, I'd still love to hear in a comment what you've used up this month!

How Much is My Face Worth?

Hi everyone! Hope you're having a wonderful week so far. I know I'm definitely happy that it's Wednesday already and I'll be on fall break soon! :)

Today I wanted to do a quick post on a tag I've been seeing circulating around the blogs lately...you might have heard of this one. It's called the "How Much is My Face Worth?" tag, and basically the point of it is to add up the cost of all the products you put on your face on a daily basis in order to see exactly how much the products you use are worth! This sounded like such a fun tag, but I was already really curious just to see how expensive my face was. Everyone's seems to be way more than they expected, so hopefully mine won't be as high as I'm expecting!

FACE

The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost - $26

Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow! Foundation - $34

MAC Well-Dressed Blush - $20

EYES

Urban Decay Primer Potion - $20

Smashbox In Bloom Eyeshadow Palette - $48

Dolly Wink Liquid Eyeliner - $13.50

Agnes b. Mascara Crescendo - $25

Laura Mercier Brow Powder Duo - $24

MAC Brow Set - $16

LIPS

EOS Lemon Drop Lip Balm - $3.29

TOTAL: $229.79

Ouch. I definitely wasn't expecting my total to be that high! And to think, I didn't even include skincare in this tally...I guess it just goes to show how much we take the things we have for granted. I think that's the really great thing about this tag, as well - it reminds us all how lucky we are to be able to afford expensive items like makeup and beauty products. 

Have you done this tag? What do you think about it? 

Agnes b. Mascara Crescendo

I posted a few days ago about the Agnes b. blush in Rose d'or and I mentioned that it was one of a few products I decided to pick up from the line when I found it in the States. Today I have a review for another one of the products I bought: the Agnes b. Mascara Crescendo.

This claims to be a lengthening and fortifying mascara, which promises to double up as a treatment for your lashes in order to make them grow longer and stronger. When I first tried this out, I couldn't really decide whether I liked it or not. I noticed there were small fibers that clung to the thin bristled wand and got transferred to my lashes when I applied the mascara, and while I think they definitely made my lashes look longer, I've tried other mascaras with fibers and those seem to work better. The formula is more on the wet side, which I normally don't like but the wand really allows me to separate my lashes so they don't clump up. It's not as black as I would like, though the pigmentation is decent and isn't a huge dealbreaker for me since I have naturally dark lashes already.

No mascara // two coats of mascara

I'm not sure how to respond to claims that it works as a treatment because I don't reach for it every day, but even when I use it for long periods of time I don't noticed much of a difference in the strength of my lashes so I'd say that claim is a bit of a hoax. Overall, I do like this mascara but more for clean, every day looks where I just want my lashes to stand out but still look natural. For more dramatic looks, I wouldn't really recommend this simply because it doesn't build up to anything really drastic in terms of length and volume. That being said, I wouldn't repurchase this simply because it was such an expensive product and I don't feel that it was really worth the money. This mascara will probably work best for those with already long, voluminous lashes that don't need much help.

Have you tried any Agnes b. mascaras?

Agnes b. Rose d'or Monoblush

Before this year I had never tried any Agnes b. makeup products. To be honest, I didn't even know such products were included in their line! I found a counter that sold their makeup when I was in New York this summer, however, and one of the products I decided to try out was their powder blush. The color I bought was Rose d'or.

In the pan, the color is a beautiful rose with gold shimmer layered throughout the product. Unfortunately, this doesn't translate to the cheeks. In the store, this swatched as a really pretty natural color with a hint of shimmer, but they must have done something to the lighting because when I tried it on my cheeks after I had bought it, it seemed like there was almost no color at all, just a ton of gold shimmer. It wasn't even fine shimmer; it looked chunky and glittery and I really didn't appreciate it. It was so unflattering, especially because it draws attention to the problem areas of my face (i.e. acne scarring, spots, dry patches). It has a light floral scent to it as well, which didn't bother me but I know there are some people out there who really hate scented makeup products.

I just can't honestly say that I recommend this product. I really wanted to love it because it looks so gorgeous in the pan, but this just doesn't look as nice when actually applied to the face. I've tried it so many different ways - as a highlighter, tapping off as much of the shimmer as I could...nothing helped. I wish it was as lovely as I'd thought it would be, it might've been almost like a lighter version of NARS Orgasm!

From the top!

The bottom - number and name of product

Have you tried any Agnes b. makeup products? What did you like/dislike about them?