It's time to review your recent beauty purchases!

I got a packet of BOSCIA Luminizing Black Charcoal mask as a freebie in my Sephora order and do not recommend it. It HURT like the dickens taking it off and my face felt sunburnt for 4 days. It ripped out all the peach fuzz from my face. I've read later that you should only use it on your t zone. So maybe it was user error, but I'll pass.

I went to Sephora and picked up Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty Foundation, Primer and Foundation Brush. It wears like a dream. I’m oily and this stayed matte all day. It didn’t settle into my lines very much and my skin looked so pretty, smooth and even. I’m very pleased with this purchase! No oily face and blotting a couple of hours after wearing like I have been doing forever with my Bobbi Brown foundation and before that, my It Cosmetics CC Cream.

Urban Decay Naked Heat Eyeshadow: a lot of orangey hues but I like them. I wish they had a few more lighter shades- I like more of a contrast between the lighter and deeper colors. Still very fun.

Two-faced Sweet Peach Eyeshadow: I love this one- a lot of great options here. And it smells amazing. I go through Two-Faced eyeshadows faster than other brands- they must be softer. I love this palette, though.

Thanks!  That's the look I want!

For those that haven't found a great foundation, I encourage you to watch Foundation Friday by Hot and Flashy and Foundation Road Test by Stephanie Marie on YouTube. Lots of through recommendations and reviews. Also know that if you buy one at Sephora or Ulta and try it for a few days and hate it, you can return it.

Thank you for the you tube recommendation!  I also just started watching Hot and Flashy!  I love having video recommendations for over 40.  I knew nothing about you tube until over a year ago, and now I am addicted to the cleaning and beauty channels!

I bought the Real Techniques blush brush, an eye shadow Angie (Hot and Flashy) showed, and a make up mirror (10x magnification and with lights) from Costco ($14.99 on sale). Can't wait to try out the new stuff!

I love colorstay shadows, both the powder and the cream. They last all day. The cream feels really sticky on my eyelids if I don’t put something under. I usually use a primer but one day I accidentally used under eye concealer. It worked great and the shadow stayed all day.

I think I have all the shades of brown. I bought a new one the other day and It was something I already had. LOL. I got the pink too and I’m finally ready to admit it doesn’t work for me.

I recently bought a Bobbi Brown matte lipstick. I put it on this morning, and it looked like a nice red in my mirror. Then I went to get my hair colored and it looked bright pink in their mirror! I was asking two of the hairdressers if they thought it was too pink for me, I don't usually ask people about my makeup but c'mon, they're professionals! About an hour later, a third hairdresser came in, and started going on and on about how much she loved my lipstick color. The rest of us were laughing so hard, it became a unanimous yes for the color.
So my review is that I like the color, and the lipstick stayed so nice for a good four hours. Bobbi Brown makes good stuff.

I'm so sad that Too Faced discontinued their cocoa face powder. Luckily I was able to snag one on Amazon but I probably won't be so lucky the next time I run out. It smells so good!

Most of what I bought recently has been repurchases of things I already use and like:


Too Faced cocoa powder foundation (not happy at all that it got discontinued, but I got two backups to last a while). 

Urban Decay naked skin ultra definition powder foundation (the UD website has it marked down, I bet it's on the way out too).

Bare Minerals 5 in 1 BB advanced performance cream eyeshadow (I use this in a skin-matching shade as an eyeshadow primer, I like it better than any of the others I have tried). 

Olay regenerist micro sculpting serum and cream (I got a full size regenerist cream cleanser free as a GWP but haven't tried it yet).

Nailtiques formula 2 treatment and Solar Oil nail/cuticle oil.

A Bare Minerals foundation starter set (I used to use it all the time, but haven't for years, and wanted to see if it still works well for me. I got a really great GWP set with it too). 

Bare minerals trial size BB cream I used to love (along with a couple bonus items in the bag). 

Covergirl lip perfection lipstick (discontinued, but found 2 more neutral shades I liked and a replacement of the one I've been wearing).


And some new stuff:


Urban Decay Naked Heat palette (I really like the colors, they bring out the blue in my eyes and work well with my hair color). 

Urban Decay moondust eye shadow singles (two colors, Diamond Dog and Zodiac). 

Sephora brand rose micellar milky cleanser (on clearance, but liked it so much I got 3 more bottles. Smells heavenly, doesn't need rinsing, gets my skin clean, and doesn't leave it feeling tight).

Pinrose "Moonlight Gypsy"  fragrance (smells like you're standing in front of the incense display at whole foods).

SJP "Stash" fragrace (one of my favorites, a very woody-spicy-incense-y unisex fragrance, got a bottle of elixir oil free with the EDP). 

Mini of Tory Burch Bel Azur (smells like classic eau de cologne, very citrusy and light, will hold onto it for summer). 

A selection of spicy-woody unisex and men's fragrance decants from Scentbird (Etat Libre d'Orange "Like This", Rag and Bone "Oddity", Carner Barcelona "El Born", and Montale "Wood and Spices".  The Montale is the only one that's bordering on too masculine, the rest are completely wearable for me. And I really want a full size of Oddity, it smells like a pumped up version of Donna Karan Black Cashmere, but a true unisex take on it).



And some vintage items for my fragrance collection:


Coty Emeraude parfum and parfum de toilette (7 bottles ranging from 1930s to 1990-ish, although mostly pre-70s, and Sweet Buttery Jesus the 1930s bottle is beyond amazing!)

Guerlain Samsara extrait (1989 formula, that had the heavy percentage of natural Mysore sandalwood in it that you can't get any longer. Again, Sweet Buttery Jesus it's beyond amazing!)