♡ Product Review: Clinique Skincare ♡

This was my first time using a full set of Clinique skincare products, so I thought I might as well make a review on my experience!

But first, mini story time: Earlier this year, my skin started acting up and breaking out more frequently than it ever had. I'd never had "bad" skin before, so it was extremely concerning for me. I started using Proactive's products, but even that didn't clear me up. I always knew that Clinique was revered for its skin care line, so I decided to give them a go to see if their products would improve my skin.

I went to my nearest Clinique counter, and these are the products that were recommended to me by a professional:

(left to right: Acne Solutions cleanser, clarifying lotion toner for oily/combination skin, moisturizing gel lotion for oily/combination skin, Acne Solutions acne healing gel)

Acne Solutions cleanser: very foamy and watery; gentle
clarifying lotion toner: drying, has a very strong smell, skin/pore tightening
moisturizing gel lotion: watery, mostly moisturizing, slightly drying
Acne Solutions acne healing gel: very drying, makes skin flake, stops blemishes from worsening, recommended to use on worst acne, use sparingly

I had also picked up a pamphlet at the counter and I read on it that skin could possibly become worse before improving because of the shift/lifting of bacteria and impurities from the skin. I didn't think anything of it because no product had ever worsened my skin.
However, that's exactly what happened to me. My skin became 10x worse than it was to start with. So of course, I panicked. But remembering what the pamphlet said, I chose to stick with my new regimen to see if my skin would improve after being in the "worse" stage.

I've been using these products for exactly a week now, and my skin has improved slightly since becoming worse, but enough for me to have hope to continue with my routine. I'll update this post in about another week or so to tell whether or not my skin has changed for the better or worse.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions for future blog posts/reviews!
XO, Blue
(3.24.13)

A week and a half later, here are my results:
My skin honestly hasn't improved. After being in the "worse" stage, it basically went back to how it was before I started using the products. I even stopped using the moisturizer because it ended up drying my skin out and making it flaky (weird for a moisturizer, right?).
So in all, I'm not impressed with Clinique's skincare line. I know it's worked amazingly well for others, but just not for me. Hopefully I find products that work on my skin, soon!

Again, thanks for reading!
XO, Blue
(4.2.13)

♡ Product Review: MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation ♡

Hi guys! Sorry I haven't been posting lately!
Today's review is obviously over a foundation; I purchased this product because of Zoe Sugg (Zoella) from youtube! I'd never heard of this certain foundation before I watched one of Zoe's makeup haul videos, but she always has amazing looking skin and she loves this foundation, so I decided to give this a go!

Packaging:
The way the packaging looks really attracted me to this because I've never seen a foundation in this sort of "bottle" before. Usually, they'll come in a pump bottle or a bottle where you pour the product out, but this comes in a rubbery tube. While I prefer a pump, I also really like the tube! And since it's so slim, it doesn't take up too much room in your cosmetics bag/drawer. But since it's so tiny (about an inch across, about 4 1/2 inches tall), I'm always paranoid about how much of it I use at once because I don't want it to run out! But..

Texture:
It almost has a gel-like consistency, so you don't need a lot of this on a daily basis because it's on the thicker side of textures! I've always preferred watery/runny liquid foundations and at first, I didn't particularly like this product. With runnier foundations, you can get away with using more of it, and I used as much of this foundation like how I would with a watery foundation. Big mistake! I hated how pancake-y this sat on my face, but after finally adjusting the amount I put on, I did a 180 and instantly loved it.

Application:
This product is SUPER easy to apply. I would normally use my fingers/hands to put on my foundation, but since this consistency/texture is a little heavier and thicker, I use a stippling brush to apply it. After setting it with powder, this foundation makes my skin look even and just about flawless!

My Shade:

Thankyou so much for reading this! If you'd like me to do a step-by-step tutorial on exactly how I apply  this, please let me know! Comment for any types of posts/reviews you'd like me to do. :)


UPDATE (2.23.13):
I've recently noticed that since I've been using this foundation, my skin's been breaking out like crazy. I'm not exactly sure if this product is the reason for it, but I'll be trying out a different foundation soon to see if this one is at fault. But other than that, I still love foundation's consistency/staying power!

XO, Blue

♡ Dual Product Review: Urban Decay Finishing Spray & Maybelline Color Tattoo ♡

Hi guys! I'm going to do something a little different and do a dual cosmetics review, one high-end and drugstore product. Starting off with the Color Tattoo:

I got one of Maybelline's Color Tattoos in "Bad To The Bronze" and this is actually the first drugstore makeup product that I've gotten in a long while. I chose to get this certain color because I've heard other amazing reviews about it and I thought the shade would be versatile and easy to work with different neutral/shimmery shadows (I'm not one for colorful eye makeup). I honestly couldn't be happier with it. This is a cream eyeshadow and very buildable. It's a sheer application which looks like a shimmery champagne but you can build the color up to make a deeper, more bronzy shade.

(Left: Builded-up color; Right: Sheer )

I use this mainly as a base to a pressed/loose eyeshadow (applied right after eye primer), and so far, it's amazing! Currently, I've been using this with Urban Decay: Naked 1 palette's "Hustle". I had been trying to find a way to create a very light, shimmery smokey eye, and this product does just the trick for me to achieve it. 

Now, for Urban Decay!

I got this spray originally because one of my cousins has it; I used her's maybe once or twice and I had always been curious as to how it truly works after being able to wear it for an extended period of time and to test it for over a week to see if it does what it claims to.

Urban Decay's "All Nighter" Finishing Spray is supposed to basically do what the name suggests/hints at: Keep your makeup in place for a long period of time. While I've been curious, I'd also been extremely skeptical of whether or not it'd do anything and turn out to be a waste of money. 

After testing this out for about a month, I haven't really come to a set, drastic conclusion. This honestly isn't a "hallelujah!" product or anything that seriously makes a difference to holding up your makeup throughout the day/night. 

Perhaps it's helped slightly to help keep my makeup looking fresh, but there isn't a huge difference. I could've gone without buying this, but I'll continue to use it and maybe use it more frequently throughout the day to see if that helps in any way. 

Thanks for taking time to read this! Please feel free to comment any opinions or post requests! 

XO, Blue

♡ Film Review: Django Unchained ♡

A few days ago, I went to go see Django Unchained and I decided to make a review post about it! I am in no way trying to pass off as a critic or anyone who's trying to know what they're talking about. This movie's been on my mind all day and I just wanted to put my thoughts about it out there.

First off, I want to say that this movie is brilliant in my opinion. I can honestly say I've never seen any movie like it. I expected a generic action/comedy movie set in the time period during slavery. Specifically, 2 years before the Civil War. The only reason I was interested in seeing this after watching the trailer for the first time was because the theme of the movie seemed unusual and undone before, repeat: slavery. But I was completely wrong and blown away by the content.

This film absolutely horrified and disgusted me, but in a "good" way, if that makes any sense. The only way to specify that last sentence is to describe to you some of the happenings that I found to be the most disturbing scenes I'll probably ever see in a movie:

• Two black men have to fight to the death (that being the main source of entertainment on the planation) when one snaps the other's arm, gouges out his eyes, and finishes him off by bashing him in the head with a hammer. 
• A slave on the plantation is torn apart/eaten alive by dogs because he expresses his wishes of not wanting to participate in the fighting anymore.
• Django's wife gets whipped and branded in the face for attempting to run away.

It was incredibly hard for me to watch these scenes because of the indecency so explicitly shown to human beings. While I found the brutality of these and similar scenes to be so disturbing and maybe even too macabre to be shown in film at all, I greatly appreciated the honesty of it. I wouldn't have enjoyed the movie half as much if Tarantino had sugar-coated/down-played the punishments and deaths Especially if he had chosen not to catch the victim's reaction/facial expressions on film but focus the death scenes on the killer's face instead, like so many action films. I compare these types of scenes to those of the Saw movies. Extremely visual, difficult to watch, and cringe-worthy. 

I think Tarantino did an astonishingly brilliant job, especially with the dialogue. Like I said before, I have never seen an action film like this one and the honest visual of it is half the beauty. 

Now on to my favorite actors!

After thinking for a long while, I've tried picking a favorite character between 2, but it's impossible for me to: Calvin Candie or Django Freeman.

Candie is played by Leonardo DiCaprio and I'd never been especially impressed with DiCaprio until I see this movie. Candie is the owner of the most important/main plantation in the movie, nicknamed "Candyland". I found it extremely unusual for DiCaprio to play a character such as this. Southern, charming, and cruel. But he played the part so beautifully that I feel as though Tarantino designed the character specially for him. 

Django, obviously the main character, is played by Jamie Foxx. His emotion throughout the film was so believable, played the witty scenes incredibly, and I felt that his dialogue came naturally to him. A+ for Jamie!

So that's was just a mini review over this movie, and I hope it helped you decide whether or not you should see it! I definitely think faint-hearted people should NOT watch it. Thanks for reading!

XO, Blue

♡ Product Review: Rockeresque Loose Eyeshadows ♡

I recently ordered these loose eyeshadows because of one reason: JessieBlush! I fell in love with the way she does her eye makeup, she does it so flawlessly! I noticed how pigmented and nice her shadows were and I knew she mainly used and loves Rockeresque (she's a promoter/model for them!) so I decided to order some without knowing what they'd be like or how they'd sit on my skin. I decided to get neutral colors, with the exception of a "fun" color. They come in little 5-gram pot with filters to control how much of the product you want to use at the moment.

(L to R): Platinum Blonde, Pudding Pop, Gingerbread Cookie, Vicious Teddybear, Ursula (unopened!), Dead As Night

I've tested all of these out except for Ursula, which is the fun color I picked out. (Currently I've been using Pudding Pop and Gingerbread Cookie on a daily basis)
These shadows go on very sheer but are highly pigmented if you build the color! They're very blendable and the colors are absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't have asked for better eyeshadows, especially since I had been hunting for good ones for awhile! All of these are shimmery/glittery except for Dead As Night, which is matte. Personally, I love glittery eyeshadows but only if it's subtle, which is how these are! The only problem I have with them is that they're messy. Since they're loose, it gets everywhere during application! I've been having to use folded pieces of tissue to hold under my eye so that it can catch any fallen shadow, and I also have to put on my shadow first and facial makeup (foundation, concealer, powder) after. But these aren't too big of issues for me, so I give Rockeresque shadows a big thumbs up!

They're also ONLY $6! I find that to be the most amazing part. You get alot of product for very cheap. And when the package comes in the post, you receive a hand-written thank you note and a little sample bag of another shadow! So I highly recommend this brand. Hope this review helped in some way!

www.rockeresque.com

Thankyou if you read this! Would you like to see more reviews in the future or no? Please comment your opinions! :)

XO, Blue

♡ Ello! ♡

Hi guys! I just made this blog, and I wanted to make a general overview of what you can expect to see on here!

• Reviews on different products (such as makeup/skincare/etc. products)
• My youtube videos
• Mini makeup tutorials
• Photos of myself, friends, family, and puppy
• Outfit Of The Day photos/descriptions
• Posts of my interests (music, tv shows, movies, etc.)
• Posts of the adventures I have
• And more!

I know I'm a complete unknown, but I'd really love/appreciate it if you would give my blog a chance! If you want, you can submit anything you'd like to see on here! If you take the time to look at my blog, thankyou!

XO, Blue