The Balm Gang

Happy Sunday beauties!

Hope you’re all enjoying your weekend and staying cool from the heat.

I love matte products and some of my fave lippie products are from The Balm cosmetics. I picked up some of these beauties from their 50% Flash Sale last month and finally came around to snapping a photo of them. I picked up the matte eyeshadow palette, some more matte liquid lipsticks and of course restocked on my OG Mary-Lou Manizer highlighter. I have been wearing the Committed shade for a month now and am obsessed.

What are some of your fave Balm cosmetics products?

• Meet Matt(e) Trimony matte eyeshadow palette
• Meet Matt(e) Hughes Liquid Lipsticks (L-R): Doting, Sincere, Committed, Trustworthy, Charming, Dedicated
• Mary-Lou Manizer highlighter

Mini MAC Haul

I took a trip to one of my favorite MAC stores in Los Angeles off Robertson Blvd. My sister and I go to this location a lot. We love how big the store is and especially love going when it’s slow. I’m big on shopping when it’s not crowded lol.

• MAC Prep+Prime Fix+ Spray
• MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NC25
• MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Peach Blossom
• MAC Pro Eyeshadows in (top to bottom): Soft Brown, Nylon, & Texture

January FAVES

Hello beauties! I’ve gathered together some of my faves from January! I still can’t believe how fast the first month of 2016 has flown by. Hope you’re having a great start to February, the month of love ❤️.

• Marc Jacobs Invisible Under(cover) Perfecting Coconut Primer – I’ve been using this on the daily before foundation application and I have been loving it. It is super milky but lightweight and easy to work into the skin, giving it the extra moisture it needs since I’ve been feeling really dry. I also like how my face doesn’t feel like it has a heavy layer underneath the foundation. So far, I have been really enjoying this product!
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Definer in Medium Brown – This product is still a little new but I love it so much I had to include it in the January list of favorites. It has been my favorite brow product so far and I feel bad I haven’t picked up my brow wiz but I love how convenient this product has been for me and such a time saver to be specific. The shape of the brow definer has helped me fill in my brows in record time lol. I was worried about the shape wearing off into a just a ball, but it has held up pretty well which I’m really pleased about. I went with a slightly darker shade in the brow definer and got medium brown instead of my usual soft brown. I am loving how soft it still is and not too overwhelmingly dark of a color. Obsessed with this product!
• Julep Gel Eye Glider in Rich Brown – I have been a long time lover of gel pencils and brown eyeliners. My sister turned me onto the Julep brand a few years ago, first with their nail polish and then their eye pencils. I have been using this eye pencil especially when I’m on the go and it just helps me save time when doing my makeup. It glides on so nicely and I seriously can do this application in one swipe! I love the pigmentation of this product, how it’s super creamy, super long lasting, and it doesn’t smear or rub off like some drugstore products do. A special thank you to my twinny who always let’s me piggy back on her re-orders!
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit in That Glow – This product is semi-new since I picked it up from the IMATS show in LA this past month, but I have been using it daily and am in love. I started off with this palette and I’m sure the other Gleam glow kit will be in my February faves, but I wanted to start off with one kit first. I am already a huge fan of ABH products (as you can tell) and I love how versatile the products are. I use this glow kit to highlight my face, inner corner of my eyes, use as eyeshadow and bronzer. I love how big each pan is in the palette since this kit isn’t really cheap. I feel like you get a good amount and also the formula is pretty nice, velvety and smooth. It makes it so easy to just use your fingers if you needed to pop on some highlight without a brush!
• Tarte Cosmetics Tartelette Amazonian Clay Matte Palette – I know I’ve been raving about this palette on my social media, but I really do love this palette and I have literally been using this on my eyes, everyday. The colors of the matte eyeshadows are my favorite nudes and I can easily use these shades for day and night. I have turned my eye-looks from day to night using this one palette and that’s why I love it so much.
• Anastasia Beverly Hills brush in A23 – I picked up this brush along with my new glow kits from IMATS LA as well and I only use this brush to highlight! I love that it is tapered a bit which helps hold enough product on the brush and makes the application easier. I have experienced some cheap fan brushes that take me several “swipes” to get my satisfied highlight look. Another time-saver product for me which gets a two thumbs up!

I hope you beauties enjoyed my review of my January faves and look forward to next month’s! Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Ciao,

Yuri

IMATS 2016 Haul

Here are some of the products I picked up from the IMATS LA show this past weekend. I needed to restock my kit and also wanted to try out some new goodies for myself! I always try to make a list of what I “need” and what I would like to browse from specific vendors that are at the show. Then, I’ll walk every aisle and go to the booths I know I want to visit to save time to browse new products and show specials. Here are the goodies I ended up getting from the show!

ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS

The new Glow Kits from Anastasia Beverly Hills were definitely calling my name (along with every other person’s name at the show. lol) I had fun swatching these and decided to pick up both kits: That Glow and Gleam. I also picked up the ABH highlighter brush A23 to use with these two kits as well as my other highlighters. I love the shape and build of this brush. Sometimes fan brushes can be too flimsy and don’t apply the product well enough so I’m excited to use this one. I got a new ABH Brow Wiz in Soft Brown and also the new Brow Definer in Medium Brown. I really like the shape of this brow definer and hoping as I use it more, the shape of the pencil holds up! The last thing I got from ABH was the lip gloss in Kristen. I wanted two lipgloss shades in Tara and Kristen (both nudey pink shades) especially since they were selling for $10 instead of $16, but they ran out and I was only able to receive one. Oh well! I think I did pretty well at this booth!

LORAC 20th ANNIVERSARY ALTER EGO LIP COLLECTION

I picked up this beautiful lip set from the Naimie’s booth at the show. The collection includes 10 matte lipsticks and 10 matching lip glosses with the perfect nudes + deep hues. I am so excited to use this set but it may be a while because it’s so pretty to look at I don’t want to touch it just yet. lol I heard they ended up selling out so I’m so happy I was lucky enough to get one.

 

BEAUTYBLENDER PRO PAC

I restocked on my favorite black beautyblender sponges and Naimie’s always comes through with the Pro Pac. I usually need to make time in my schedule to drive out to Naimie’s Beauty Center because they’re out in Studio City, CA so I was definitely happy to see the Naimie’s booth at the show. They always come through with some special deals for major makeup shows. Yay for beautyblenders!

TARTE COSMETICS

I have the Tartelette palette and have been obsessed with the perfect matte shadows that come in it. So, I had to pick up the Tartelette 2 In Bloom palette at the show! They weren’t offering a huge discount but it was better than no discount so I went for it. I also picked up the Lights Camera Lashes mascara and two Rule Blender double-eyeshadow brushes. Nothing beats a duo shadow brush for $5!

CINEMA SECRETS PRO COSMETICS

I’ve been waiting to finish my Parian Spirit makeup brush cleaner so I can finally get this 32 fluid oz Cinema Secrets Professional Makeup Brush Cleaner! I also restocked on my spray bottle so I can keep one for myself now that I have a big bottle to refill from. I love a GREAT makeup brush cleaner don’t you?

NYX COSMETICS

Prom season is coming up shortly and I wanted to make sure I stocked up on some pretty loose glitter for my clients. I picked out two to try out: Rose and Bronze along with the NYX glitter glue. The girls at the booth were raving about their glue so I’m excited to give it a try!

EMBRYOLISSE LAIT-CREME CONCENTRE

This product is one of my holy grail moisturizers that I always restock on because of the deal they have at makeup shows. With the cold weather that’s been drying out my skin, this has been my go-to moisturizer. It is super nourishing and it gives me the extra moisture my skin needs! I always pick up extra for my mom and sister too. 🤗

ARDELL PROFESSIONAL

My other holy grail product: Ardell Professional Natural false strip lashes in Demi Wispies black is my FAVORITE. They always have a makeup show deal: 8 lashes for $20 and I always stock up my kit with these because they’re my go-to falsies for my clients, especially brides! Let’s just say my makeup storage has it’s own shelf for lashes. lol

 I hope you beauties enjoyed my haul!

See you again soon!

Ciao,

Yuri