Tag Archives: skin

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

June 8, 2021

Posted under

Beauty

Comments

Leave a comment

The Great Foundation Rotation

How awesome is it to have a guest blogger!  Introducing tarlottechilbury, who loves makeup as much as me…maybe even a little more.  You’ll love her post as much as I do, happy reading!

You probably don’t know this about me, but I have a bit of a problem. I am obsessed with foundation. OBSESSED. As a woman with maturing skin, I am always on the hunt for the most achievable flawless coverage. Now, I want to make clear that aging is natural and we should embrace our skin. Texture is very much real, and everyone very much has it. The only way to get that perfect airbrushed look you see on social media is a filter, baby. Don’t stress if you see a bit of texture. Anyway, I wanted to share some of the foundations that I have in my current rotation.

fitmeFirst up is the always reliable, perfect in a pinch, drugstore holy grail – Maybelline Fit Me Foundation. I have both Dewy & Smooth and Matte & Poreless. They both have always worked great for me, depending what I have going on that day or what finish I am feeling that day will depend on which one I use. These are particularly great if you’re traveling & need to grab some foundation on the go. Any drugstore or Target across the United States and Canada will have this. Done! AND, the price is ridiculous for how well this foundation performs. Medium to full coverage but is totally buildable if you have areas that need more attention. This will not leave you looking artificial, or cakey. Minimal touchup is required throughout the day, although I have a more oily T-Zone so I will always have to use blotting papers on those areas at least once throughout the day regardless of what product I am using. ‘sigh’ That’s just my unfortunate cross to bear. Everyone’s skin is different so what may work for me isn’t always going to work for someone else. I will always recommend this product to someone who isn’t very experienced with make-up & is just starting their make-up journey because it’s reliable & costs $6-$7!

I have been crushing on this guy for a minute. Oh E.l.f. Cosmetics… How you’ve completely stolen my black little heart. This E.l.f. Camo CC Cream is simply amazing. If you’re a fan of the It Cosmetics CC Cream, but hyperventilateamazoncamocream at the prospect of spending $40 on 2.5oz of product that you will inevitably use daily and have to replace frequently, the E.l.f Camo CC Cream is your guy! You guys, when I say this gal is full coverage, I mean FULL coverage! A little goes a long way, so you will only need one, maybe two pumps for the entire face and neck. Such an amazing finish and I love the way my face looks at the end of the day. This is your new BFF at $14 vs. $40 and in my opinion out performs the It Cosmetics CC Cream.

This guy has gotten some online hate from the makeup community, and that’s ok! What works for one person is not always going to work for someone else because we all don’t have the same skin type. I have two shades of this because they were both purchased during quarantine. One shade is slightly darker than the other, but both shadesmilaniamazon work really well with my skin tone. I have medium olive skin with neutral undertones so I can, fortunately, get away with some things. Anyway, this is the Milani Screen Queen Foundation and quite honestly, we are not mad at her. She is medium coverage, but absolutely buildable and in my opinion feels like second skin, because I honestly don’t even feel like I am wearing any foundation. I think it applies beautifully & wears surprisingly well for all the negative things I have read and watched by reviewers. I notice though that most of the negative reviews I have seen are from really young people, like in the early 20 range, so this might be more a product for mature skin. I will say, if you have a lot of spots that need covered you are definitely going to have to use a good

This is another super affordable, and suitable foundation. We already know I love me some E.l.f Cosmetics, and this elfflawlessE.l.f Flawless Finish Foundation is pretty legit. It’s not my favorite foundation, but it’s certainly not my least and for $6, no one is complaining. This far outperforms what you would expect from a $6 foundation. It’s a satin finish, so if you’re more of  a matte person, this is probably not going to be your jam, but it’s $6 so why not try it, you never know, you may want to explore a more dewy, glowy vibe.

These are some random guys I found on Amazon. They came together, were only $10 for both, and actually had some pretty convincing reviews. I had to know! These are by a brand called Phoera and this is their Soft Matte Longphoeraamazon wear Liquid Foundation. This claims to be “Naturally Flawless, oil-controlling, and lightweight feel” and I can attest that these are not lies. This is full coverage but super lightweight for full coverage. The pump can be hit or miss, but whatever, the important thing is product performance & this performs and wears really well! I definitely notice more oil control in my problem areas so there is virtually no serious touch ups required throughout the day. I give these guys a B+ and would recommend it if you’re looking for a good matte but not chalky matte moment. 

Ok… So, I need to just say that out of all of the foundations I have just mentioned these two I’m about to talk about catriceneware probably my most favorite right now. I stumbled upon the Catrice Cosmetics True Skin Hydrating Foundation online one day, cruisin’ for make-up – as I do. This guy had great reviews so I threw caution (and $11) to the wind and bought this baby where we were to fall into a deep love affair. This foundation is A M A Z I N G. I find myself reaching for it the most, it is so hydrating and it literally feels and looks like skin; as though you’re not wearing anything. It wears… “chefs kiss”. It’s medium to full coverage, builds beautifully if you have some troubled areas, but the wear is phenomenal for mature skin. We just love her!

Because I loved the Catrice Cosmetics True Skin Foundation so much, I wanted to see what kind of heat some of their other foundations brought to the party. Hello, Catrice Cosmetics HD Liquid Coverage Foundation! This babycatriceamazon claims to last 24 hours, mattifying coverage, and is supposed to have that second skin effect. This is more of a serum, but I don’t use a serum brush to apply this. I’m old school AF and will always be a damp beauty blender girl. That just always gives me the most beautiful finish, so damp BB will always be my ride or die application method. Anyway, this foundation is super lightweight, has buildable coverage, it’s matte, but not over drying in my less oil prone areas. It wears beautifully, I love the way I look at the end of the day. I absolutely love this foundation.

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

November 20, 2018

Posted under

Beauty

Comments

Leave a comment

The Story of My VI Peel

I need to share with you my latest addiction in making my skin look absolutely FABULOUS, healthy, and compliment worthy.   I’m known to be a little extreme when it comes to my face and this is definitely worth the entire unpaid week off from work that it took for me to recover.  It’s called the VI Peel Precision and it’s my secret weapon when my skin looks tvipeelpicired, crepey, and dull.

In case you haven’t heard of a VI Peel, it’s a medical grade chemical peel that can only be done in a practitioner’s office.  To learn more about this peel, and all the other peels they offer, here is a link to their website VI Peel

Let me start by saying that this is a peel you need to plan into your life because this is definitely a process.  The process takes 5-7 days and unless you don’t mind leaving your house looking like a snake shedding its skin, you should plan to stay home all week.  I absolutely refuse to leave my house with sheets of skin falling off of my face.  I have known people who have missed funerals because it’s so hideously unacceptable to be seen in public with your face falling off.  You get the idea.

I always plan this peel on a Wednesday because the peeling usually starts Friday, which gives me the weekend to get it together before I go back to work on Monday, but that’s not always the case.  Everyone’s different, but my starting point is Wednesday because I feel that day gives you the least number of days off from work.

Here’s a brief rundown of the process.  There are several VI Peels, however I did the VI Peel Precision, which I love for anyone my age.

Day 1: APPLY THE PEEL – After wiping the face down with acetone to get the oils out, the peel is applied with gauze all over the face and neck and décolletage.  The peel stings at first, but since there is a numbing agent in it, that lasts seconds.  The peel is applied in three layers, however the eye area which is delicate, gets only two passes.  The thing I love about this peel is that it can be applied on the eyelids and also under the eye where I get the “chicken skin”  bumps.   When I left the practitioner’s office, I looked like I had a spray tan gone bad from the color of the peel.

My instructions were to leave the face alone for 4 hours, then wash with the cleanser provided, and rub the first of three towelettes all over the face.  An hour before bed, I was to use the second towelette and call it a day.

Sleeping is NOT fun!  My neck and face itched like HELL.  In the post peel packet, they provide post peel protectant and sunscreen.  The post peel protectant has hydrocortisone in it for anti-itching, but since that flares up my dermatitis, I could only apply that on my neck at night.  I laid on my back and took two Tylenol PM’s and called it a night.

Day 2: TIGHT AND TAN: My skin was feeling tight and it looked very dark like I had a some amateur give me a spray tan.  The instructions were to use the sunscreen every 3 hours and also the post peel protectant (which, again, I didn’t use).  I put a sunscreen on every 3 hours as directed even though I didn’t leave my house.  That step is essential because even though I was hiding out and didn’t see the light of day, there are UV rays everywhere (something to google when you’re bored).  As instructed, one hour before bed, I washed and used the last of the three towelettes and called it a night.

Day 3: ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE!!! Ok, starting from the chin and mouth area, my face looked like one of those birch trees with the peeling sheets of bark.  Every time I talked, I felt it peel deeper and wider in width.  My face felt extremely dry, and no matter what type of lotion I used on top of the sunscreen, NOTHING helped.  This is when I got sterile surgical scissors and trimmed the skin off throughout the day (DO NOT PULL THE SKIN OFF OF YOUR FACE!!! YOU MUST LET IT HAPPEN NATURALLY, hence the scissors for the dead skin that’s hanging there in limbo).  Plenty of sunscreens and moisturizer later, It was bedtime, so I washed and slathered on the thickest face lotion that I could find (that did absolutely NOTHING as my face still felt tight and was still pretty actively peeling)

This is just the beginning of what things are going to look like:

peel

Day 4: HELL IS STILL HAPPENING: This is pretty much more of the same, but now on my cheeks, forehead, and nose. Again, I was trimming the hanging skin that has already peeled but still attached to the skin that wasn’t peeled yet.  My neck was also reeking havoc, but I started to feel some progress, the new skin peeking through was looking fresh and flawless, reason to smile!

Day 5: I lose my patience and apply an obscene amount of Aquaphor all over my face and neck, so now I look like a greasy corn dog that just comes out of the fryer.  The skin doesn’t hang off in dry sheets anymore, but it sticks to my face now that It’s greased up.  I have to say, it looks and sounds gross, but my face doesn’t feel so dry and itchy when I do this (in the past, this has always worked for me when I did this peel, I just find that constant lubrication that doesn’t “soak in” is way more comfortable and also helps the peeling process – I have always done this on the last few days when I’ve had this peel done)

Day 6: WELCOME TO THE WORLD NEW SKIN! After almost a week of hibernation, I’m ready to leave my house with sunscreen all over my new skin, sunscreen in my foundation, and a big hat if I’m outdoors any more than 2 seconds.  Sunscreen is the more important factor in this entire process because you don’t want to ruin your fresh new skin.  Also, if you’re a smoker….ugh.  That’s terrible thing to do to your fresh new skin.  Would you smoke around your fresh new baby??  Same thing!!

Even though I curse myself EVERY TIME I do this peel, when I see the results I’m in love with my face because it’s fresh looking, awake, and flawless.  It’s definitely a process, but really what isn’t a process when you’re a woman on a mission to look forever 29?

Before
Before
After
After

Not the best lighting in America, but here is my skin before (left) and after (right).  You can see that my skin tone is better, my age spots are gone, and my pores are barely visible.  This was worth every sleepless, itchy night, the one week of hibernating, and every last penny!

To find a VI Peel practitioner near you, follow the link at the end, scroll all the way to the bottom and you’ll find Practitioner Locator, then type in your zip code and you’re good to go!!

VI Peel

Happy Peeling!

♥