Going to start with the things I am just using to use up, for different reasons:
Benefit You Rebel Lite:
If you follow my tumblr at all you will have seen me complain about the color of this, it is incredibly yellow and too dark for my skin, I am wondering how the person at the Benefit counter thought this would match me back when this was still available.
This product has been discontinued, although exactly when I am not sure, but I have had this and when I finished my last foundation I was determined to get even more comfortable with using higher end makeup by finally using this. I currently only use it on days when I know the chances of me leaving the house or being seen by anyone other than my husband are low. When I ask my husband if I have blended it in enough to not be obvious that it is the wrong color he says I have so I probably could wear it out of the house and most people wouldn't notice it being the wrong color, but foundation is one of those things that I do get overly concerned about how it looks on me, so I choose not to wear this out of the house. I am using this to use it up and I will be happy when it is finished. I am also using this to remind my husband that requesting samples of a foundation and trying those at home before buying the foundation is a good thing. Whenever we request a sample of something he usually goes ahead and buys it if the sales person gives us the sample without being pushy about it or anything else, he believes in rewarding nice sales people, but maybe in the future we can request a sample of the foundation and he can buy something else that isn't dependent on matching my skin tone for whether it is useable or not. I am hoping to get one of the white foundation mix-ins to see if I can get this closer to my skin tone.
I also don't think this has any real coverage because all of my freckles and much of the redness of my face still show through when I use this, it just makes me look jaundice as well. I know it is a tinted moisturizer, but I would have expected it to do something as far as evening skin tone at least.
e.l.f. 3-in-1 Mascara in very black:
The problem with this mascara for me, for the first quarter, was all about the wand. The ball at the end of the wand made it so that I could only apply the mascara with the ball at the end of the wand and every time I used the mascara I ended up with mascara on my eye lids, crease, brow bone, and below my lower lashes. It was a mess, it made me not want to apply any makeup because if I do any makeup I am most likely going to do all the makeup, and if I do eye anything, mascara is a required step. Near the end of March I asked my husband to cut the ball off the end, mainly because I wasn't sure which pair of scissors he was going to be okay with getting mascara on, and now the mascara is much easier to apply, though now I am noticing that I get flakes below my eyes by the end of the day when using this, so I am not sure if it is time to change to a new mascara (the box says 6 months) or if maybe the formula was not the best all along but I didn't notice because I was having so many problems with the wand.
This was almost the worst thing for me for this quarter because it did make me just not want to do any makeup since I knew I would have to use this if I did anything. I think the Benefit You Rebel Lite got the top spot for worst simply because that is much more obvious for the entire day that it is not the right color, where as once the mascara was on the lashes I could clean up any that had gotten on the skin and could wear it out of the house without fear of looking a mess.
e.l.f. hydrating under eye primer:
This is not a bad product, I just don't think it is actually doing anything for me and at this point, I am just using it to use it up, but I have no plans to replace it once it is empty.
I am a person who likes my makeup to take as many steps as possible because I consider all makeup, even the very inexpensive makeup, a luxury. Essentially, anything that is not required to maintain life is a luxury in my mind, and I like doing things that feel like pampering myself which is what I consider makeup and the process of doing my makeup. So while this is an extra step, it is a step that as far as I can tell does absolutely nothing and if I am going to pamper myself, I want to get something out of it. Will I try other under eye primers, maybe, if I hear good things about one that isn't completely outside of our makeup budget, but this one, I will not be asking to replace.
Now to the things that did work for me:
Benefit Hello Flawless Foundation in Ivory (I'm pure 4 sure):
This is also too dark and too yellow compared to my actual skin tone, but much less so than the You Rebel Lite, and it actually covers the redness of my cheeks. It is also much easier for me to blend this into the skin and get to look okay than the You Rebel Lite is, and with my flat top buffer brush from Coastal Scents (and the primer I just started using from e.l.f.) this is very quick to apply and get to the point of being happy with the appearance. Would I buy more of this, I cannot really say right now, I do like the way it looks on my skin even being slightly too yellow, and the coverage is enough to make me feel like it is doing something; but I would have to use a foundation mix-in to get it to be the absolute right color for me and that gives me pause to think maybe something else, from some other brand, would be better, because for some reason I question whether Benefit makes a lighter foundation than this.
Physicians Formula City Glow Bronzer in New York:
I enjoy this bronzer because while I cannot actually see it after it has been applied to the skin, I always think I look better after using it, and really, to me at least, that is the goal with makeup, for it to not really be noticeable, but to still make you look better and this does that for me. I mix the two shades in the bronzer fairly evenly and then apply it along the hair line, the cheek area, and down the neck. I really enjoy it. Would I buy more of it, well, I keep wanting more Physicians Formula bronzers so I guess that is your answer.
e.l.f. Shimmer in Pink:
This is the first highlighter I have used that looked like a highlight and not a mass of glitter on my face. I am not sure it actually looks pink on the skin when applied as a highlighter, but it does provide a nice shine when the light hits it and that is what I was looking for. Would I buy more of these, yes, yes I would.
e.l.f. Lip Balm Tint in Grapefruit:
This is my favorite new thing from this quarter. I have been using this just about every day since I got it at the end of December. It is not something I post about on my daily makeup tumblr because if I did my tumblr would be full of pictures of just this lip balm. It gives enough moisture to the lips to keep them from feeling chapped without being greasy feeling. It also gives enough color to the lips to help make me appear more alive when I am having a really bad health day and look half dead. This is something that if my husband says we will be going out of the house for the day and I am not feeling well enough to do a whole face of makeup, I can do just this, put on my sunglasses, and feel like I look like I made an effort and that I look mostly healthy.
Would I buy more of this? Right now I don't have to. I mentioned to my husband that this was my favorite thing from the last quarter and he bought three more of them for me as well as three in another shade, so I am should be good for a while, but I am happy to have them all and they will get used.
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