Review -- Missha Signature Real Complete BB Cream SPF 25

My very favorite BB cream in the world is the Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream.

It feels like nothing on the skin, but delivers seriously impressive coverage that tends to be enough for me most days.

It also has a healthy, dewy finish that's really pretty and the shade No. 13 is nearly a perfect match for my super fair skin.

But Missha has a ton of BB cream options, and I wouldn't be the makeup junkie that I am if I weren't a little bit curious about their other formulas. So when they had a sale recently, I decided to give the Missha Signature Real Complete BB Cream a try.

Upcoming Tarte Beauty Without Boundaries TSV from QVC

 If you've been reading this blog for a while, you probably know two things about me.

1) I am a sucker for pretty much any beauty-related TSV on QVC

2) I love almost everything that Tarte puts out.

That's why you probably won't be surprised to know that I pre-ordered the Tarte Beauty Without Boundaries TSV that will air on QVC on September 24th.

While I likely would have ordered any collection that Tarte put out, this one was actually a no-brainer for me because it contains a product that has quickly become a must-have for my makeup bag, along with a few new products that I was interested in trying and a mascara that I love.

That said, I don't think this TSV will appeal to everyone because its centerpiece is not necessarily a product that everyone will buy into. 

Now, as I said, it's become a must-have for me, but I'm not sure that everyone else would agree.

Review -- Urban Decay Naked Skin Beauty Balm

With the BB and CC cream (I think there's even a DD cream out there now) craze sweeping the beauty industry, it's hardly a surprise that every company wants a product to throw out into the arena.

The only problem with that is that many U.S. companies are just taking tinted moisturizers and calling them BB creams ... or in some cases, taking a product that doesn't really have any of the properties of a BB cream and slapping the BB label on it.

Case in point: the Urban Decay Naked Skin Beauty Balm.

UD touts it as a multitasking product that hydrates, primes, protects, perfects and treats the skin.

I suppose it could do most of those things to some degree, but in my mind, the Naked Skin Beauty Balm is similar to the Tarte BB Tinted Treatment Primer in that it's essentially a tinted foundation primer.

And if that's what you're in the market for, I'd recommend the Tarte BB Primer over the UD Naked Skin Beauty Balm for sure.

That's not to say that the Naked Skin Beauty Balm is a bad product.

May 2013 Favorites

In May, it finally started to feel like summer around these parts and there were definite adjustments to my makeup routine as a result.

Accordingly, there were a few products that I found myself turning to all month for the perfect warm-weather look. 

Oh, and I actually have a skincare product to mention this month as well.  I know, I know ... will wonders never cease?

Tarte BB Tinted Treatment 12-Hour Primer SPF30 in Fair

It's so rare that a gimmicky product turns out to be any good.

And let's face it -- most of the so-called BB cream products on the market here in the U.S. are nothing more than gimmicks. 

They're glorified tinted moisturizers, but because there's so much hype surrounding true Asian style BB creams, American companies try to jump on the bandwagon.

Don't get me wrong -- there are a few good ones (the Smashbox Camera BB Cream is one of my favorite face products) but for the most part, I've given up even trying any of the American versions.

When I saw Tarte's entry into the BB "cream" market, though, I was kind of intrigued.

March 2013 Favorites

In a lot of ways, March felt like a really long month. 

I went to Vegas, came home sick, had a ton of work to catch up on, and took a quick weekend trip for Easter -- it just seemed to go on and on.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you. 

Besides being sick and all the work, it was a pretty great month.

And there were a few pretty great products that I definitely relied on in March.

Best New Products of 2012 (and One Big Disappointment)

If I sat down and tried to write a post about my favorite products of this past year, it would be a novel.

Seriously.

There are tons of products that I loved in 2012, but some of them I've loved for years now and I've already mentioned them more than enough times on this blog anyway.

Instead, I thought I'd focus on new products that I found this year that really knocked my socks off.  Now, I've probably blogged about some of them plenty of times but this will be my last word on them, I swear.

Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream

Last week when I review the Skin79 Triple Function BB Cream, I mentioned that I picked up the Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream from Amazon.

The Missha BB Cream took a little longer to get here since it came directly from Korea.

It was worth the wait.

Like the Skin79 BB Cream, the Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream is very different from American versions.

Skin79 Triple Function BB Cream

I've tried quite a few American BB creams this year - I own the Smashbox and Too Faced versions, and have used samples of the Maybelline, L'Oreal, Garnier and Dr. Brandt ones as well.

With the exception of the Smashbox BB cream, I really haven't been that impressed.

The rest pretty much seem like glorified tinted moisturizers.

This and That: Lavanila Vanilla Summer, Dr. Jart+ BB Creams, Sales & Miscellaneous

This will be another odds and ends post since I have a few little tidbits that I wanted to share.

Lavanila Vanilla Summer Rollerball

1. I received my free rollerball of Lavanila's Vanilla Summer from Sephora the other day. (You can read about how to get your own here.) Oh my God!  As delicious as the description of the scent sounded, the genuine article is even yummier. Vanilla, coconut, pineapple and other tropical goodness all in one amazing scent - it really is like summer in a bottle.  Supposedly, the scent is limited edition so I'm kind of feeling pressure to rush out and buy a full-size spray bottle.  It's that good.

This and That: BB Cream Update, Red Lips & Tarte/Sigma Giveway Update

I'll warn you ahead of time that this post is going to be all over the place. There are a couple of things that I wanted to mentioned that don't really warrant a post of their own, so I thought I'd combine them all in an odds & ends sort of catch-all.