Illamasqua Lover Powder Blush Review, Photos and Swatches!

 Illamasqua Lover Powder Blush

Illamasqua Lover Blush ($24) is a pale apricot with a completely matte finish. To be truthfully honest, from the photos I've seen of Lover, I expected it to be more of a soft pastel.

I've been on the hunt for the perfect peach blush, and when I came across Illamasqua Lover on various beauty blogs, it looked exactly like what I wanted. 

I do own a bunch of other peach blushes, but I really wanted a matte, true peach with no tricky/misleading undertones.

It strikes resemblance to MAC Peaches (which I no longer own) In fact, they're are so similar that you most likely don't need both, unless you're a peach fanatic, or have a preference to one of the brands. I personally prefer Illamasqua because the consistency is softer, more pigmented and easier to blend. 

NOTD: Revlon Scented Nail Enamel in #325 Gum Drop!

Three (3) Coats of Revlon Gum Drop (no top coat)

I have never really been one to buy in to scented nail polishes. I guess it's kind of a fun concept, but every scented nail polish I have ever owned had the same exact scent. That sort of - fruity, candy smell which gets a little annoying after 5 minutes.

(random story) I remember purchasing Bonne Belle nail polishes when I was in Elementary school. I actually remember when I was 5th grade I was painting my nails with a gold glitter Bonne Belle scented nail polish (that smelled like Pinneapple) during Art class while our teacher was giving us instructions. Everyone was surrounding the teacher at a table, while I was all the way in the back knealed down with my little nail polish. I suppose because it was scented, the smell drifted through the air and the teacher got up right away & questioned what the smell was. Well, he caught me red handed and I was punished by sitting in the hallway for the rest of the period. I remember him being completely mind boggled and telling me "In all of my years of teaching... no one has ever painted their nails during my class". Haha! That's my little fun memory I think of when I see scented nail polish.

Anyway, while I was at CVS - I spotted a sale sign for all of Revlon's Nail Polishes. The price is $3.99 for a bottle, and you get $3 extra bucks at checkout. Meaning, at checkout you pay $3.99 but a $3 off coupon will print on your receipt that you can use on your next purchase on anything in the store. So in the end, it's like paying 99 cents for the bottle of nail polish. Sweet deal. 

I decided on Gum Drop, which is a pastel purple perfect for the Spring. I've never really been "keen" on purple nail polishes, but there's something about these light, pastel lilac colors that I love. The formula is fine. It's very sheer, so It was necessary for me to apply 3 coats. I never apply 3 coats of nail polish, but I had to with this one. It didn't take forever for my nails to dry, which I was worried about and by the 3rd coat, I had no streaks & no nicks.

I really like this polish & will be using it again soon!

Review: Hard Candy Sheer Envy Primer

Product Description: Sheer Envy Primer helps to even out the skin while reducing shine. Improves foundation application while minimizing skin imperfections. Make-up lasts longer and skin is left velvety smooth. (Source: http://www.hardcandy.com)

The back of the tube reads "A lightweight formula that enhances the skin's texture and primes the skin for makeup application".

Instructions for use: Apply a small amount for an even layer all over your face to create a skin-smoothing finish. Once dry, follow with foundation.

The tube is 1.6 oz or 45g and can be purchased at Wal-mart for $8.

Hard Candy Sheer Envy Primer is silicone based and shares a lot of the same ingredients as Smashbox Photo Finish, ELF Mineral Face Primer, Etc. The product itself is white and a little chunky (sounds lovely, right?).. but once applied to the skin, it blends in very easily and seamlessly. The outcome is skin that is soft to the touch and slightly more matte complexion.

You can see from the photo at the end that it does mattify the skin and fill in the small cracks.

My thoughts: Although I'm not very "big" on silicone primers - or primers in general for that matter.. I actually do enjoy using this one. I reviewed ELF's Mineral Primer maybe a month or so ago (click here for reference) and although they are very similar, I prefer Hard Candy Sheer Envy. I think it has something to do with the texture. Hard Candy's primer is a little more lightweight and has less of a thick "silicone" feel to it. I really like the way it makes my skin feel velvety soft and creates a great, even canvas for my foundation. What I especially noticed is when using my Cinema Secrets (cream/cake) foundation, this primer really allowed me to use less product - as it helped the product move around my face better. I also think the end result of my foundation looked much better and even. I will make sure to use this primer on days where I'll be wearing Cinema Secrets. As for my liquid foundations, I was again able to use less product & my outcome would be a very good, even foundation application. I didn't notice though, that it pro-longed the wear of my foundation, kept shine away or camouflaged my pores like other silicone primers may do. I find it a little difficult to rate primers on their performance because I change my products all of the time (moisturizers, foundations, etc) Otherwise, I'd probably be able to rate it better. But I do overall like this product and will continue using it for certain foundations. I also think it would work fabulous with powder foundation. So, if you like silicone primers, this is a great one to look into. :)

Have you tried this product? Post your thoughts below!

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Hard Candy.

Review: Dermablend Quick-Fix (Full Coverage) Concealer! Photos + Before & After.

Dermablend Quick-Fix Concealer

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: A lightweight formula with high purity pigments, Quick-Fix offers improved skin tone shades and texture with long lasting wear. For moderate to major localized skin flaws, Quick-Fix provides buildable coverage that won’t enhance the appearance of wrinkles or pores. Available in 10 shades.

For Skin Flaws Such As: Scars, Bruises, Freckles, Dark under-eye circles, Blemishes & Age spots.

(Source: http://www.dermablend.com/)

I purchased Dermablend's Quick-Fix Concealer in the shade Beige. It is a great color for light to medium skin tones. It is yellow-peachy in color, and works great for concealing purple tones under the eyes.

Dermablend Quick-Fix Concealer Beige

Dermablend Quick-Fix Concealer Beige

What really tempted me to try this product was, I've been seeing so many raves lately for the Vichy Dermablend Concealer (which I hear now is being discontinued?) and I can't find anywhere. Many have told me that I can purchase Vichy Dermablend from CVS - and I went to about 10 different CVS locations and none of them carried it. So, I went on the computer and started doing some research about Dermablend. Someone mentioned that the regular Dermablend concealer is the same product as the Vichy Dermablend Concealer. Even though they weren't a reliable source - I decided to check out ULTA, which carries Dermablend and swatch some of the testers. Dermablend has three different concealers. A redness concealer (Smooth Indulgence Redness Concealer), a liquid medium coverage concealer (Smooth Indulgence SPF 20 Concealer) and the full coverage cream concealer (Quick-Fix Concealer). I had every intention of purchasing the Smooth Indulgence liquid concealer because I prefer liquid concealers over creams, but the claims of the Quick-Fix concealer lured me in.

My Review: This concealer claims to be full coverage and states that it will cover under eye darkness, blemishes, scars, etc. So I expected this to be a really heavy duty concealer that will completely cover my occasional breakouts. The directions for use are to apply this directly to the under-eye area from the tube and blend with your fingers - or use your finger to wipe a little product from the tube and apply it to your under-eye area. From reviews I have read, some mentioned not to apply this directly under your eyes because it is heavy and will look cakey. I did not find that at all to be true for me. I like applying it directly from the tube and taking a flat foundation brush to lightly blend it in. No heaviness, no caking. The consistency is your average stick concealer. It applies creamy, but it also has the concentrated - sort of dry texture that many stick concealers have. I found it to be very similar to my favorite Palladio Stick Concealer. I didn't find it to look thick under my eyes, nor did it emphasize any lines. I always make sure to moisturize my under-eye area prior to using this so it will glide on better and have a better end result. It is necessary to set with a powder, as cream concealers tend to move around and will settle a bit in fine lines. After I set my under-eyes with powder, I had no caking throughout the day and no settling. It pretty much stayed put all day. The coverage - I would consider it to be full, but it wasn't as "full" as I expected it to be. With a thick layer, it covered probably 85% of my darkness - but once I applied my foundation you could barely notice them. I am happy with the results for my under-eyes and I'll continue using this. But, for blemishes - this is terrible. I have a few minor red scars from a recent breakout and this didn't cover them. It covered them probably 50% - and the redness still peeked through. I am extremely disappointed with this products performance for that considering it's the main reason I purchased it. This is no way going to cover anything remotely severe on your face unless you apply it to your face directly from the tube and don't blend it. Nevertheless, I really like it for my under-eyes and the tube makes applying it very handy.

The 1st photo shows my under-eyes before. They don't look severe at all - but the sunlight I took the photo in really distorted any darkness. They are much more purple/red in person. The 2nd set of photos show how the product looks applied directly from the tube. The 3rd photo shows me smoothing it out with a foundation brush (I was using Ecotools Foundation Brush) and the last photo shows my under-eyes after. They pretty much are fully concealed. Only when I turn my head in certain angles can you see the slightest darkness peak through my hollows. 

 

Have you tried any Dermablend products? Is there anything you would recommend?

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Dermablend.