Product Review -- Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Radiance Drops

When it comes to makeup products, all they have to do is promise me radiant skin and I am sold.

So it's probably not a surprise that I was hooked by the Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Radiance Drops.

These multipurpose drops are meant to add a pretty radiance to the skin -- to both your face and anywhere else on your body that you might like, such as your shoulders or collarbones.

They come in a heavy 1 ounce bottle with pretty purple and gold packaging. It features a medicine dropper dispenser, which is perfect for allowing you to get just the right amount of the product.

Product Review -- The Ordinary High-Spreadibility Fluid Primer

I have enlarged pores and dry skin.

That doesn't seem to be a combination that most makeup companies understand.

Well, at least in my experience.

Most pore-filling primer are designed to mattifying too, while most hydrating primers don't do much to fill in the pores.

I can make do by using a pore-filling primer on my nose and cheeks and a hydrating formula on the rest of my face, but it would be nice to have a single product that could do it all.

That's why I was so interested to try The Ordinary's High-Spreadibility Fluid Primer.

Review -- YSL Touche Eclat Blur Perfector and Touche Eclat Blur Primer

Confession time -- I stalk the Sephora website on pretty much a daily basis, looking for new products.

Now, I don't always buy the new goodies I see, but I like to know what's out there so I can decide how badly I "need" this or that.

When I saw the Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat Blur Perfector, I was definitely intrigued. 

A product that perfects the skin while keeping its healthy glow? 

Sounds pretty fantastic, doesn't it?

But the product is $55, which is a definitely pricey in my book so I didn't rush out to buy it. I mean, I own exactly one YSL product -- the Le Teinte Touche Eclat Illuminating Foundation -- which I absolutely love, but because it was pretty expensive, I tend to save it for special occasions. 

So when I had the chance to try the Touche Eclat Blur Perfector and a sample of the Touche Eclat Blur Primer for free, courtesy of Influenster, I was super excited.

Review -- e.l.f. Studio Hydrating Under Eye Primer

Over a year ago, I reviewed the Tarte Tight & Bright Eye Perfector, which I absolutely love.

It's a dual-ended wand with one product meant to prime the under eye area for concealer and another to brighten up the area after concealer.

Personally, it's really just the primer end that I love because the brightener isn't that unique a product in my book (I've got lots of concealer type things that can do that). The primer, though, does a great job hydrating and smoothing the under eye area so my concealer goes on easily and without creasing.

Now, it's not a miracle product -- some concealers still do crease by the end of the day -- but my under eye concealer never looks as good without the primer as it does with it.

I must have been one of the few people who enjoyed the Tight & Bright, though, because Tarte has discontinued it. I managed to snag a couple of tubes when Tarte was on HauteLook a while back, but I'm going to run out eventually.

So that's why I was really excited to try the e.l.f. Studio Hydrating Under Eye Primer.

Product Alert -- Upcoming Tarte Shades of Clay Amazonian Colored Clay 7-Piece TSV on QVC

Hope everyone is having a fabulous New Year! I've started 2014 with a cold, which is kind of a bummer, but I'm still determined to get back on a reliable blogging schedule. It's one of my resolutions for the year, so don't hesitate to keep me honest.
 
If you asked me to list my favorite makeup brands, Tarte would easily come in somewhere in the top 3.

That's why it's always pretty much a done deal that I'm going to order a Tarte Today's Special Value (TSV) from QVC when they appear.

When the TSV contains a slew of new products, then I'm a total goner.

The Tarte Shades of Clay Amazonian Colored Clay 7-Piece TSV that will air on QVC on February 4th is chock full of new goodies and some old favorites, so I had to give it a try.

The kit contains:

• Tarte Colored Clay CC Primer
• Tarte Amazonian Colored Clay Liquid Foundation
• Tarte Amazonian Colored Clay Bronzer Blush in Pink Bronze
• Tarte Amazonian Colored Clay Eyeliner in Black
• Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 Mascara
• Tarte LipSurgence Lip Gloss in True Love
• Tarte Bamboo Foundation Brush

You also get a nice big, hot pink makeup bag to hold all your items.

Review -- Tarte Tight & Bright Eye Perfector

I'm not a fan of gimmicky products.

I much prefer simple, no frills products that don't promise the moon and the stars and the sun.

But I'm also pretty curious by nature, so sometimes when a new product comes out that makes some lofty claims, I can't resist the urge to try it.

That's what happened with the Tarte Tight & Brighten Eye Perfector Double-Ended Priming Serum & Brightener.

Tarte does promise quite a bit with this product -- they claim the double-ended priming serum and brightener can help you fake a good night's sleep by reducing dark circles and softening the appearance of fine lines. It is also meant to enhance the wear your under eye concealer, which is something I'm always looking to do.

My Favorites (But Not Monthly or Weekly) and Some Other Ramblings

I've been a bad beauty blogger lately.

I keep skipping out on monthly favorites posts.

And as someone who loves to hear about other beauty junkies' favorites, I've really got no excuse.

Except that, for some reason, lately I find recapping my monthly favorites overwhelming.

Because each month there might be too many products or not enough and I wind up obsessing over it like a crazy person.

Review -- Best of BECCA Kit from Sephora

(In my last review of the Tarte Amazonian Eye & Cheek Palette, I mentioned that I had come across a couple of items that I'd forgotten to review when I got them at the beginning of the year. This is the second of those items.)

I've always been curious about the BECCA brand.

Maybe it's because Lisa Eldridge is always using products from the line in her tutorials and she makes them all look amazing.

(Of course, she makes everything look amazing, right?)

That's probably the main reason, actually.

But when you've never tried a brand and don't know that much about, it can be difficult to figure out where to start.

Fortunately for me, my aunt gave me the fabulous Best of BECCA Kit from Sephora for my birthday so I got to try a bunch of products at once.

It's a terrific way to introduce yourself to any brand, I think.

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.

Laura Geller Beauty Off the Vine AD Shipment #2

Back in December when I received the Laura Geller Beauty Off the Vine TSV from QVC, I didn't expect to keep up with the auto-delivery kits.

It wasn't that I didn't like the products -- most of them were big favorites actually (and have continued to be).  But there were a couple of small issues with the one of the items and since I already have plenty of makeup, I thought it might be best to cancel the auto-delivery option.

Well, perhaps I'll cancel the final shipment but I just couldn't resist this second one. 

February 2013 Favorites

February definitely flew by, but there were still a few products that really stood out for me.  Here are the item that I reached for most often this month.

Products I Wouldn't Want to Live Without

It would be impossible to give these goodies up!

I'm a serious beauty junkie, so there are tons of products that I love.

However, there are a select few that stand out as being so good that I don't have anything else in my collection that performs the same way or gives me the same results. 

These are the products I wouldn't want to live without.

(Obviously, I could... if I had to... but I really hope that I never have to try.)

Bare Escentuals' Return to Radiance TSV

Bare Escentuals Return to Radiance TSV

My UPS man made another visit to my doorstep yesterday to deliver yet another beauty related TSV from QVC.

I seriously cannot resist these deals.  It’s a major weakness of mine.

This time, my friendly UPS guy dropped off the Bare Escentuals’ Return to Radiance kit that is scheduled to be the TSV this Saturday, March 3. Again, I couldn’t wait and ordered early. Still, it was a somewhat impulsive buy. I knew that the kit came with a foundation and Bisque concealer, both of which I have plenty of, so it didn’t seem like a good fit for me. The fact that it did contain one of Bare Escentuals’ new Ready Pressed Blushes did have me slightly on the fence because I’ve been interested to see if the pressed blushes are as good as their pressed eye shadows.  Still, I figured I could wait until the blushes were available on their own and pick one up.