Review: MAC Copperthorn

To say I’ve been busy lately is a total understatement. I’ve had the pleasure to attend my first media screening for a movie in Melville, Johannesburg. I had to attend a corporate photo shoot and had to assist with holding props and walking all over the Maboneng Precinct in Johannesburg CBD. It’s the birthplace of all hipsters before they all migrate to Cape Town on skateboards or whatever method of transport it is that hipsters use nowadays, but in all honesty the CBD is very cool.

So with all my excuses out the way, I thought it’s about time that I do a review of an oldie but a goodie eyeliner of mine that I rediscovered while frantically searching for my concealer in my make-up bag one morning.

*Drumroll please* It’s MAC’s Copperthorn!

I absolutely adore this eyeliner. The texture is very smooth and velvety. Although it is technically an eyeliner in the more liquidy/gelly family, I use it as an eyeshadow.

It’s not powdery, but trust me when I say this baby sticks! You don’t need a primer and it seriously makes your eyes pop. I have blue eyes, but I think this is a shade that’ll work well for any eye colour.

It’s also jam packed with sparkles and pigment, but it’s not so sparkly that it’s glittery. It’s just the right amount of shimmer.

If I remember correctly, this product wasn’t exactly cheap since it is MAC, but you don’t need a lot of it when you’re using it so it’ll last quite a while.

It also comes in the signature sturdy glass pot with a black top that MAC loves using.

Which MAC eyeliner/shadow is your favourite?

XO Carina

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Review: The Brush Egg

Let me make something clear: I hate cleaning my make up brushes.

Honestly, I’ll find every and any excuse not to do it. I actually don’t know why, because I don’t have a vast collection of make up brushes so it doesn’t take long at all. I’ve come to think that it’s the same reason why I don’t like washing dishes: I don’t like the feeling when my fingers start looking like raisins.

But yesterday afternoon, I was stalking the Internet and I stumbled across the Brush Egg. It’s a funny looking thing so it peaked my curiosity.

It’s a nifty little tool to have and what it does is it has various ridges that you run your brushes across when you wash them and it gets rid of more dirt and old make up-y gunk that often still sits in between the fibres.

It’s very easy to use as well.

I wash my make up brushes in the sink with luke warm water and Johnson’s and Johnson’s baby shampoo. It gets my brushes squeaky clean, doesn’t cost a fortune and is soft on the brush bristles. I usually use the original yellow one but Clicks were out so I bought the orange one.

 

I ran my brushes along the edges and it worked really well. Use the bigger ridges for your blush brushes and the small, round ones for your eye shadow and eyeliner brushes.

I highly recommend purchasing a Brush Egg. You can buy one here. They cost R100 and they’re made of a sturdy silicone or at least it feels like silicone to me. They’re available in purple, pink and mint.

XO Carina

P.S I’m on Instagram, Twitter and Bloglovin’ too! Come say hi.

Update: The Beauty Blender

I did a post a couple of week’s ago about this extremely expensive pink sponge and to make a long story short, I wasn’t particularly impressed with it.

You can read my whole review on it here.

When I first started using the Beauty Blender, I was using BB cream with a fairly runny consistency. I then switched over to foundation a couple of weeks ago and I have to say, although I’m still not a massive fan and can’t understand what the insane fuss is about, it does work better with foundation than with BB cream.

Also, make sure that the Beauty Blender is damp and not thoroughly soaked because that just makes a mess. You’ll have water and make up dripping everywhere.

I use the Beauty Blender daily since I did pay a fortune for it, but honestly, I don’t know why everyone is carrying on about this product. I stand by my original opinion that it does not make your make up look flawless and airbrushed. In fact, you need to go over certain areas and rub the product in properly with your fingers because the Beauty Blender leaves fine streaks. I also stand by my original opinion that this product is grossly overpriced and ultimately just more porous than your other make up sponges.

If you have any advice for me with regards to getting better use out of this product, please feel free to let me know in the comments below.

XO Carina

P.S: I’m on Bloglovin’ and Instagram. I follow back. 🙂

Review: Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation SPF 15

If you have extremely pale skin like I do, you know the struggle of finding the perfect foundation for your porcelain complexion.

BB creams, foundations, tinted moisturizers, whatever are all either too yellow, cakey or pastey.

I’m a BB cream girl and I’ve been using Garnier’s for the past three years even though I know it’s too yellow for my skin tone. So imagine my absolute surprise and delight when I went shopping for a birthday gift for my mama with my bestie who by the way swears by Bobbi Brown foundation, and what do you know, I find that the shade Sand 2 is perfect for me!

Even though this foundation is high end (i.e pricey) I think it’s worth making the investment. Besides you only use a teensy amount at a time, am I right? Yes yes, I’m the devil sitting on your shoulder. 😉

The formula is light weight, but you can build the product up if you’d like more coverage for dark circles or imperfections. Another great thing about the product’s consistency is that it’s easy to apply with your fingers, a brush or a sponge.

The finish is just great. If you dust a light layer of powder over, you have a matte finish without looking cakey or you could just leave it without the powder and it stays put all day and you have a slight dewy finish without looking oily.

The packaging is quite simple, but that’s what makes it a bit more posh. I like the fact that my foundation comes in a proper glass bottle (don’t drop it!) with a sturdy black plastic ‘cap’. The lettering and font is the standard signature Bobbi Brown font. Simple elegance.

My sensitive skin hasn’t had a freak out like it’s done numerous times with MAC skin products so all in all, I’m happy except for the price. At R480 a pop, it’s not cheap in the slightest, but ultimately, it’s worth it.

Go on, you know you want to…

XO Carina

P.S I’m on Instagram and Pinterest.

Review: The Original Beauty Blender

So if you’ve been following beauty trends or been keeping an eye on your favourite beauty bloggers/vloggers, you may have heard about this bright pink sponge (because that’s basically all it is).

I picked one up at Sephora in Dubai mall after being bombarded with the enormous stand. There were cute baby ones in green as well, but I chose to rather buy the bigger one.

So first things first: The packaging

Really cute. I love that it’s so bright and in my favourite colour. I also like the canister that it comes in although it’s pretty flimsy plastic, but the print is cute. It comes with an instruction manual as well just saying you need to wet the product and squish out excess moisture before using it to apply your make up.

Using the product

I used the Beauty Blender for the first time this morning expecting great things from it since everybody’s been carrying on so hectically and to be honest, I’m disappointed. My make up didn’t look any smoother to me than it did before when I just used my trusty foundation brush or fingers and it kind of felt like the make up almost got sucked into the sponge so I had to use more product than usual, which is not ideal.

Some of the reviews I read, people claimed the Beauty Blender made their make up look airbrushed. I did not experience that at all.

The pros

The packing is cute, it dries quickly and it retains its original shape when drying so don’t stress about giving it a squeeze. The sponge is also soft so it doesn’t pull on your skin.

The cons

Your make up will look exactly the same as before. Sorry. Oh and this sponge is.not.cheap!

Final conclusion

I honestly don’t know what the insane fuss is about. It’s adorable and fun looking, but ultimately, it’s a bright pink, overpriced dome shaped sponge. Save your buck and purchase cheaper R20 ($2) packs of sponges at the drug store or pharmacy. This is not worth the Dhs80 (!!!!!!) it cost me.

I will do an update on this product in a week or so, but for now I’m not blown away.

Have you used the Beauty Blender? What did you think?

XO Carina

P.S Follow me on Instagram and Pinterest for more beauty inspired shenanigans.

FOTD: Frozen

I’ve recently watched the movie, Frozen, and I loved the icy blue hues in the movie. It inspired me to do a nails of the day (NOTD) post yesterday and then a blue-ish make up look today.

Please excuse my hair, it was really irritating me so I braided it all and just stuck it up on my head with bobby pins.

Products I used:

Yves Saint Laurent foundation in shade B10

Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream concealer in Fair

Inner corner highlight: NYX Eyeshadow Base in ESB02

Crease colour: The darkest brown in the Revlon Colorstay eye quad in Moonlit

Blue eyeshadow: Maybelline 24 Hr Color Tattoo in Turquoise Forever

Eyebrow highlighter: Essence Eye Sorbet in Illuminating Hazelnut

Under eye eyeliner: Maybelline The Colossal Kajal 12H in Turquoise

Mascara: Maybelline The Rocket Volum’ Express

Brow pencil: Gosh eyebrow pencil in 01 Brown

Blush: Too Faced Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush in Something About Berry

Lipstick: Rimmel Apocalips Lip Laquer in Celestial

Xoxo Carina

FOTD: Berry ice cream

Time for another FOTD and embarrassing photos of me sitting with my eyes closed to show you my eye make up. 😉

It’s summer in South Africa, but I’ve been seeing so many berry lips and cat eyes on Pinterest, I simply could not resist doing a berry lip today myself. If you’re living in a country where it’s fall, this look will work well for you.

Let’s get into the products I used:

Nivea Daily Essentials Shine Control Moisturising Day Cream for Combination Skin

MAC Prep + Prime Skin base (primer)

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream in Light/Clair

Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream Eyes (concealer)

Gosh Eyebrow Pencil in 01 Brown

Essence Liquid Eyeliner in Black (my cat eye)

Maybelline 24 Hr Color Tattoo in 35 On and On Bronze (under my eyes)

Maybelline The Rocket mascara in Black/Noir

Too Faced Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush in Something About Berry

Labello Lip Butter in Raspberry Rose´

Maybelline Color Sensational in 380 Sweet Bordeaux

Ice cream necklace from Mr Price (R79,99)

Xoxo Carina

P.S Remember to follow me on Pinterest and Instagram.