April Favourites

Hey beauty fam!

It’s the first day of May which means it is time to share my April favourites with you all ❤

What products have you been loving this month? Leave me a comment down below!

 

1. Wet N Wild Photofocus Foundation In Soft IvoryI have been using this foundation non-stop this month! It has definitely become one of my all-time favourite foundations. I love the unique spatula applicator; it allows me to put the perfect amount of foundation on my face and not waste any. I would say that it is a medium coverage. It blends in like a dream and the finish is stunning! My skin looks airbrushed when wearing it. The picture at the end of this blog post shows me wearing all of the products that I mention. I also love how weightless it is. I feel like I am wearing nothing on my face at all. This foundation wears beautifully all day and stays in place on the oily parts of my skin. It looks amazing in pictures too! It doesn’t cake up around my nose or cling to dry patches. The only downfall to this foundation is the fact that it smells like paint. The smell isn’t too strong, but you can definitely smell it. However, this foundation is so amazing that I can look past that. I highly recommend this foundation, especially because it is so affordable!

2. Covergirl Outlast All-Day Finishing Powder In Light-MediumThis powder has been my everyday go-to this whole month! I bought it because Tati said it was amazing. She was definitely right! This powder is so smooth, and blends into the skin beautifully. It doesn’t make me look cakey at all. It is perfect for setting my under-eye concealer. It keeps my concealer from creasing all day. It also prevents my t-zone from becoming an oily mess throughout the day. It is very light weight and wears all day. This powder and the Wet N Wild foundation are the perfect match for each other!

3. Ofra Highlighter In Rodeo DriveI got this highlighter mid-month in my Boxycharm! It very quickly became the highlighter that I reach for all the time! This highlighter feels like silk and is very finely milled. It looks so smooth on the skin and it doesn’t emphasize my texture. This is definitely a blinding highlight, however I find it looks so beautiful on a natural makeup look. I am still mind blown at how amazing this highlighter is! I highly recommend this! Thank you Boxycharm.

4. Milani Baked Blush In LuminosoThere are no other words for this blush other than stunning! It is a peachy-pink blush with very small glitters throughout. However, the glitter doesn’t translate to the skin. Instead, it gives you a radiant peachy glow. It is super smooth, pigmented, and blends out on the skin so easily. This was a new discovery for me this month and I honestly wish I had of got this sooner!

5. Benefit Goof Proof Brow Pencil In 3I got this pencil this month because I ran out of my L’oreal Brow Stylist pencil and wanted to try something different. I am so glad I did because this is way better than any brow pencil that I have ever tried! I love the shape of the pencil. It makes it so easy to fill in your brows. I love how the pointy end allows you to create a very thin stoke. This makes your brows look so natural. The pencil is super smooth and it doesn’t tug at my skin. This pencil lasts all day and I honestly don’t need to set this product with a brow gel. Doing my brows have never been so easy!

6. Wet N Wild Megalast Liquid Catsuit Matte Lipstick In Nudist PeachThis liquid lipstick formula is incredible! It is thin but super opaque and it dries down mate. However, it doesn’t make my lips uncomfortable or look cracked. Most of the time I forget that I am even wearing this. It lasts most of the day, and it passes the eating and kissing test. This lipstick is transfer proof and it doesn’t feather. If you are looking for a super affordable but amazing liquid lipstick, I highly suggest this line. I absolutely love the colour that I ended up picking up. It is the most beautiful nude-peachy-pink. It has a coral undertone but it is more on the neutral side. It is perfect for everyday wear, especially in the spring and summer. I will definitely be purchasing more colours!

7. Tarte Rainforest Of The Sea Color Splash Lipstick In Set SailIt isn’t very often that I have 2 lip product favourites at once. This month I have been going back and fourth between this one and the Wet N Wild one. This lipstick is truly amazing! It is the most moisturizing but long wearing lipstick formula. I would say it is a satin finish, and it definitely isn’t transfer proof. However, like I said, it wears for a few hours before needing a top-up. It is by far the most comfortable lipstick that I own. It makes my lips feel more moisturized than a lip balm does. What drew me in to this product in the first place was the packaging. It is sooo beautiful! I am so glad the formula turned out to be just as nice as the packaging. The colour Set Sail is the perfect deep mauve-nude. It pairs very well with pretty much any makeup look. If you are looking for a new lipstick to add to your collection, I highly recommend this!

I used these products to create the following look:

Well that wraps up this month’s favourites! Have you tried any of these products? If so, what do you think of them?

Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed this post.

Until next time,

-xo. Elizabeth

 

 

 

 

 

April Boxycharm Unboxing + Ideas

I was super excited when my favourite subscription service appeared in my mail box for the month of April the other day! Boxycharm is a $21 USD a month subscription service where you get 4-5 full size beauty products to your door. I have been subscribed since November of last year, and it has always been 5 products. They include makeup, skin care, and hair care products and it is always above $100 worth of product. I live in Canada, so after dollar conversions and shipping $35.63 comes out of my account every month. With each box being valued at over $100, it is definitely worth it. It is an amazing opportunity to try out new products! It is like Christmas every month!

Let’s jump in and unbox April 2017! The theme for this month’s box is Boho Glow!

• Ofra Rodeo Drive Highlighter: $35
• PUR Cosmetics 3-Piece Contour Blending Sponges: $36
• Measurable Difference Concealer Palette: $19.99
• Allegory Story Plato’s Cave Lipgloss: $15
• Hairgurt By Project Beauty Soothing Yogurt Shampoo: $10

*Total Box Value: $116

I put these products to the test and created the following look. This is my take on Boho Glow! I used every product except the shampoo, because it wasn’t my hair washing day! I am going to take you through my first impressions and give you some ideas on how each of these products can be used.

1. Measurable Difference Concealer Palette:

This concealer palette has a great shade range. It consists of 16 different shades. These concealers are a very thick consistency and dry matte. This is great for covering up blemishes and colour correcting. For contouring, and covering the under-eye area I highly suggest mixing some oil or primer spray into it by wetting your brush. This makes it glide across the skin smoothly and makes it easy to blend. This palette can be used for so many different things. It is very versatile! For the look I created above, I did the following:

From left to right: Cream, Ivory, Vanilla, Ginger, Lemon Meringue, Cappuccino, Caramel Latte, Taupe

• Vanilla: Eye primer, I then set it with translucent powder
• Espresso: Used as a cream eyeshadow on the lid. I then went in with a matte dark brown eyeshadow from the Morphe 35O palette on top. I blended it all out using a warm matte light brown shade.
• Pecan: under the eyes to colour correct the dark blue circles before foundation

 

From left to right: Creme Brulee, Mocha, Toffee, Milk Chocolate, Pecan, Toasted Almond, Bronze, Espresso

 

• Cream: covered up pimples before foundation
• Milk Chocolate + Toffee: Contoured the hollows of the cheeks, nose, hairline, and jawline
• Toasted almond + Milk Chocolate: Filled in my brows then used a light brown shade from the Morphe 35O and the Loral Brow Stylist Plumper on top to set them

 

2. PUR Cosmetics Contour Blending Sponges

 

This sponge set is amazing!! I’ve never found a sponge that I like as much as the beauty blender until now! The best part is that they are latex free & hypoallergenic

 

The bright spring colours, add a nice touch. They look like cute little eggs, just in time for Easter! When you wet them they expand quite a lot (picture to the right). It remains a little firm, but bouncy enough to blend out the product effortlessly. The bottom round part of the sponge is perfect for blending out foundation. The round tip fits perfectly under the eyes and around the nose to get a precise, flawless blend. The angled carved out side of the top is perfect to get a precise contour and to bake with.

3. Ofra Cosmetics Rodeo Drive Highlighter

 

There is honestly no better way to describe this highlighter than STUNNING! It is a golden toned highlight which is perfect for the spring and summer. On the arm it swatches very subtle; but when you apply it to the face with a brush, it comes to life! You can either go for a more natural highlight if you use a super light hand, or build it up to a blinding light. A lot of highlighters emphasize the texture on my cheekbones like crazy, but this one doesn’t. When you touch the pan, it is such a silky, smooth powder. When I first touched it, I couldn’t stop. The only disadvantages to this highlighter are the fact that the packaging feels cheap and the product feels very fragile. I feel like if you dropped it, the product would shatter. Thats how soft and smooth it is! So I would say, just be careful and you have yourself a beautiful highlighter! In the makeup look I created, I used this to highlight the tops of the cheekbones, the nose, cupid’s bow, inner eye corners, and the brow bone.

4. Allegory Story Lip Gloss In Plato’s Cave

I love the dusty brown colour of this lipgloss along with the beautiful packaging, but I did not like the formula! It is very thick, and applies so patchy. I know it’s a lipgloss, but I had to apply 3 layers to just get it to look even. By then, my lips felt very heavy and uncomfortable!

The one good thing I would say about the formula though is that it doesn’t feel to sticky. My lips don’t get stuck together. In the description of the lipgloss it says that it is a vanilla scent. To me, it just smells like a bad version of a regular lipstick.

 

5. Hairgurt Smoothing Yogurt Shampoo By Project Beauty

I haven’t had the opportunity to test this out yet , but I like the description Boxycharm gives. It contains yogurt, prebiotics, quinoa, 6 botanical oils and bio-keratin. All of these ingredients are great for combatting dry, frizzy hair. It also smells exactly like a strawberry banana smoothie! Sooo good! I can’t wait to test this out. I will give an update on my instagram (elmasmabeauty) after I use it. It is a shampoo, so just use it how you would with any other shampoo.

 

That wraps up what I got in this month’s Boxycharm. If you are interested in this subscription service, you can sign up here: Boxycharm Sign Up (Disclaimer: This is not an affiliate, but if someone signs up through this link, I get charm points to go towards various product rewards)

I hope that this post gives you some ideas and inspiration for using the products included in the box. Thank you for reading,

-xo. Elizabeth