Dupe: Estee Lauder Illuminating Powder Gelee Blush - Crystal Baby

Dupe alert! It's always nice being able to find a cheaper alternative to an expensive product and I think I've found a good one. I recently purchase Estee Lauder's gelee blush in the shade Crystal Baby and I've been obsessed with it. It's such a beautiful pink toned highlighter that adds a gorgeous glow to the cheeks. It can be used as a blush topper or a highlighter. In my opinion, its too light to wear as a blush on its own. This product is limited edition available exclusively through Nordstrom.

Estee Lauder Crystal Baby, Victoria's Secret Impassioned

Fast forward a week or two and I picked up Victoria's Secret Illuminating Face Powder in the shade Impassioned. When I got home and swatched it I realized how similar it looked to my gelee blush. Impassioned is also a pink toned highlighter with the same type of shimmery look as Crystal Baby. I decided to swatch them side by side and it confirmed my suspicion. It's a dupe!

Estee Lauder Crystal Baby, Victoria's Secret Impassioned

The only trouble with this is that Victoria's Secret is discontinuing their makeup line so this product will be gone soon. I can't remember the exact price I purchased it for but I think I paid around $8 (originally $16) for the VS highlighter. Right now all of VS makeup is on sale for 50% off or more because they want to get rid of their stock. The gelee blush was $40. The VS dupe is definitely a cheaper alternative if you don't want to shell out the money for the Estee Lauder one. I've swatched both in various lightings to show you how similar they are. I swatched Crystal Baby on the left and Impassioned on the right.

EL Crystal Baby, VS Impassioned

EL Crystal Baby, VS Impassioned

EL Crystal Baby, VS Impassioned

As you can see they both have a gorgeous pink shimmer. Both are pigmented and have smooth application. The only difference I noticed is that if I look closely the VS one has a bit of a fuchsia duochrome look to it. You can't really tell from the pictures but when I look at it in real life I can see it. However, once you put it on your face and blend it out the difference is hardly noticeable.

Estee Lauder Crystal Baby, Victoria's Secret Impassioned

I do still prefer my Estee Lauder one to the Victoria's Secret one because it does not emphasize pores and has a bit of a more finely milled texture. I find that if I use too much of the VS one it can make my pores look bigger. However, like I said before - both are great products and I would recommend picking up the dupe if you're on a budget. If you want to splurge then pick up Crystal Baby. But you need to hurry because neither of them are permanent so they'll be gone before you know it! You definitely don't need both but since I am a makeup hoarder I obviously do ;)

Shannon

Birthday Haul!

It's well known that I am a makeup addict and I usually blow all of my money on cosmetics. So when my birthday came around I obviously had no better excuse than to go makeup shopping! I ordered a few things from Ulta as well as making a trip to Sephora. I can't resist a good haul even though it makes my bank account sad. Here's what I got!

I've been wanting a Clarisonic Mia for the longest time and I finally splurged and picked one up along with Philosophy's purity face wash. I've heard these two are a great combination so I'm excited to try them out. I also purchased a delicate brush head replacement and the real techniques sponge (which is always sold out in store!!).

From Sephora - I got 2 blushes and 1 eyeshadow. I seriously am a blush addict. Most of my makeup collection consists of blushes. The Sephora I went to carried Becca Cosmetics which has been all the rave recently. I had no idea about this brand before but it seems like its being hyped up on YouTube and Instagram so I had to check out their stuff. I wanted to pick up one of their powder shimmering skin perfectors but they were all sold out so I settled for a blush. When I swatched this one in store I immediately fell in love. The shade I got was Gypsy. I think I have a new love affair with Becca! Now I want all their blushes (this is the makeup hoarder in me talking because I have enough blush to last me a lifetime).

I've had my eye on Hourglass' ambient lighting blush in the shade Mood Exposure for the longest time so I finally treated myself to it. And lastly, I got the Laura Mercier single eyeshadow in the shade African Violet. This is such a beautiful purple shimmery eyeshadow. I am in love.

When I checked out I received a mini set of Makeup Forever products as a birthday gift. Free makeup is always nice! well, that wraps up my huuuuge haul. Now I am broke and waiting for my next paycheck to come in on the 30th so I can buy more makeup ;) The life of the makeup addict.

Ulta Steal: Cargo Cosmetics

I know I know.. I can't shut up about Cargo Cosmetics. But seriously - this was not a deal that I could pass up! Last Saturday I was browsing my Ulta app (as I am wont to do) and I happened across the most amazing sale. As most of you already know Ulta is no longer selling Cargo and it had an in-store clearance sale a few months back where all Cargo products were 50% off. Even after that sale they still carried the products online at full price. I figured maybe they would just continue to sell online only rather than in store but it looks like they decided to get rid of their online stock as well!

When I discovered that their online stock was put on sale I almost had a mini heart attack and started clicking away adding everything to my cart. The beach blushes were on sale for $7.50 and they normally retail for $30. The eyeshadows were $2 compared to $16. Basically all of Cargo's items were deeply discounted. I tried to pick up as much stuff as I could because this kind of opportunity does not come around very often. I already had one of the beach blushes in my basket when it sold out! It was just a happy coincidence that I was able to stumble upon this sale and I let my IG followers know about it right after I made my purchases. Within half an hour of my instagram post all of the blushes sold out. I'm glad I was able to alert some of you to the sale and you were able to pick up some goodies!

Ulta shipping is super slow and my package ended up arriving last night (over a week after I put in my order). But here's what I ended up getting! Please excuse my horrible lighting. I snapped this photo last night in my bathroom which has very yellow lights.

HD Powder, Magic Brush, Picture Perfect Mattifier
 Cable Beach Blush, Matte Bronzer, Miami Beach Blush, Eyeshadow Primer
Moreton Bay eyeshadow, Shanghai eyeshadow, Provence eyeshadow, Pasadena eyeshadow
Sante Fe lipstick, Dubai Lipstick

Another shot of everything unboxed

I will do individual posts showing everything I purchased in detail along with reviews. I hope you guys were able to grab some stuff from the sale! Can't wait to play with everything. 

Cargo Cosmetics - Brand Overview

Hi guys, I thought I would do a blog post today giving a brief overview of my favorite blush brand. I feel like they're underrated and not talked about enough! I recently expanded my cargo blush collection exponentially in the past few months and I must say they're blushes do not disappoint. Their shade range is so vast that I'm sure everyone will be able to find their perfect shade no matter what kind of skin tone they have. Sometimes they go on sale on Hautelook and you can get them for about 50% off but Hautelook is absolutely AWFUL when it comes to the handling of their merchandise and it also takes FOREVER for them to ship. I ordered 4 things from them last time and 3 arrived shattered. So order from Hautelook at your own risk.

Cargo's blushes come packaged in a simplistic metal tin with a pull off lid. I personally love the way they are packaged but some people might find it hard for travel because the lids do not screw on nor do they have a mirror. Each blush costs $26 and comes with a whopping 11 g or 0.37 oz of product. That's a lot of blush!! It's double the size of a Nars blush which contains 0.16 oz of product. Their beach blushes cost a bit more at $30/blush and come with the same amount of product as their regular blushes.

Now to talk about the blush itself - they are so smooth and buttery with buildable pigmentation. Sometimes I hate it when blushes are too pigmented and when you go to apply it you end up with clown face. This is not the case with my cargo blushes.  I can apply it lightly for just a flush of color or I can build it up to have more of an intense cheek look. I love that the product allows for that versatility. The blushes come in both mattes and shimmers and I must say their shimmers are not glittery. They are smooth and provide the most beautiful sheen to the cheeks without being over the top. Can you tell how much I love these blushes?? I own 8 of them plus 2 of their bronzers. I also have a couple more on their way to me in the mail.

I will do more in depth reviews of each shade when I have time. I will also share with you what I got when my Ulta package comes. But seriously - go out and try one of these! You won't regret it.

Top row: Los Cabos, Ibiza, Catalina
Middle row: Cannes, Echo Beach, Bali
Bottom row: The Big Easy, Tonga, Water Resistant Bronzer

Review: Kiss Everlasting French - Glue On Nails

I received these nails complimentary from Influenster in my spring vox box. I was intrigued because I'm not really a nails person and I have never tried fake nails before. They are something that I would not spend my own money on - I would rather save that money and buy make up instead. Anyway, since I received them I decided why not try them out?

The ones I received were the Kiss Everlasting French nails in the medium length. They were very easy to apply. I just needed to select the right shape and size for my nail and then put glue on both my nail and the fake nail and then press them on. It took me about 15 minutes total to have the finished effect. My first impression was that they were VERY long. I always keep my nails trimmed short so this was definitely a change for me. I could barely function with these long nails so I ended up trimming them after application.

The nails responded well to cutting. They didn't crack and I was able to shorten them to a manageable length for me. After I clipped them I used the file that came with the kit and filed down the edges to be smooth. I have to say after I did this I LOVED the way they looked. I don't think they looked overly fake and they made my nails look so polished and elegant.

According to the box, the wear time on these nails is supposed to be 7 days without chipping or cracking. This was definitely NOT the case. That same night I was trying to take the hairband out of my hair and my thumb nail cracked. It hurt so bad!! To fix this I ended up using a tooth pick to get more of the nail glue under the nail and pressing it back on and then going over the top with some clear nail polish to seal everything together. After my little fix these nails lasted another 2 days and then that same thumb nail came off. I kept the rest on to see how they would wear but the following day I lost 2 more nails. So I decided to just peel the rest off. I have to say when I first applied them I was afraid removing them would be painful and messy. But on the third day I was able to peel all of them off with no issues and they all popped off easily. This goes to show that these definitely would not have lasted 7 days.

Ultimately, I would recommend these for special occasions only - a one day event. Because these will not last through the wear and tear of daily life. They look really nice but if you use your hands a lot they will come off in a few short days. I might buy these again for that special occasion but overall I wasn't that impressed. But then again I haven't tried many press on nails so I don't have much to compare it to. Let me know if you have tried these and what you think.

Shannon

Welcome to my blog!

After being part of the instagram beauty community for about 6 months now I've decided to finally create a blog. Its something I've toyed with for a long time but have finally decided to just do it! Maintaining a blog is definitely something that is more time consuming than just posting a picture to instagram but I will try my best to post regularly. I plan on using my blog to do more in depth reviews on make up and beauty items. It's been a struggle to condense my reviews in order for them to fit under an instagram caption so this will allow me more flexibility with what I write. Hopefully this will be helpful to my readers too. I am super new to this whole thing so I hope you can join me on my blogging journey!

From Instagramer to Blogger :)