Etude House BB Magic Cream Review + Swatches

Etude House BB Magic Cream

My friend had purchased this BB cream and didn't find it to work well with her oily skin so she passed it on to me and it has worked great for me! It has become one of my favourites actually!

A little background on the product: 

(35ml/usually under $20.. depending where you buy it)

This particular one does not contain what most other BB creams have such as: sun protection (SPF), whitening agents, or any "wrinkle improvement", etc. But there's two versions of this particular one (in the purple tube). "Refreshing" is for oily skin and "Moisturizing" is for dry skin. I think my friend accidently purchased the "Moisturizing" one because both types are in the exact same tube I believe, so it can get pretty confusing when purchasing online (ebay/amazon). 

So how is the BB cream itself? 

It's lightweight, feels like I don't have any make up on! It has a very natural dewy-ish finish. It gives a light-medium coverage. It looks like skin but with it evens out your skintone. It blends easily and great which I like because it's not as thick as others. It's more of a tinted moisturizer than a foundation. For more heavy coverage, use with concealer, and foundation powder and it'll be great for a lighter foundation application and fuller coverage.

There is a slightly strong scent of like some asian herbal medicine... Not very fond of that, but it eventually goes away and becomes more subtle.

It lasts for about... hmm.. I'd say maybe around 6 hours? I can't ever say too much about lasting power because I have dry skin like I've mentioned before and most foundations last a full day for me.

Packaging:
I like that it's in a squeeze tube with a pump. It's sanitary and good for travel. However, I hate the pump. Like I despise it so much. It's a plastic pump and sometimes it'll get stuck and it'll squirt out unevenly and all over which makes it hard to control how much comes out sometimes. Just like the Lioele BB cream, the product leftover on the tip of the nozzle also gets on the cap and it looks messy.

SWATCHES:

After blending it out

After oxidizing for about 30 minutes

This BB cream does only come in one shade and it's a little lighter and doesn't oxidize as much as other BB creams. If you are anything over NC30, it will be too light for you. I'm about NC25-30 so I can get away with this, especially after I put on some bronzer. It has a slight yellow undertone but it does contain a slight white cast on it which could be from the SPF - although I'm just not sure if it does have SPF because it didn't claim anywhere that it did...

So overall, let's summerize!

PROS:

- Nice natural, slight dewy finish

- Easy and great to blend out

- Lightweight, feels like you're not wearing any makeup

- Sanitary packaging with the squeeze tube

- Cheaper than other BB creams out there

CONS:

- Pump is a pain in the ass

- Only comes in one shade

- Comes in the same exact packaging for both oily/dry skin so it can get confusing when purchasing online

 - Scent is slightly strong

I'm not sure if I would purchase this BB cream again, even though it gives a nice finish that I like and look for in any sort of foundation... But I feel like if I'm going to use a BB cream, I'd want all the benefits BB creams are known for such as skincare properties (ie. SPF, whitening agents, evening out skintone...etc). I couldn't find much info on this product but I do know it's pretty popular. 

I think this is a great BB cream for those who's looking for a good BB cream to start out with! 

Hope this review was helpful and informative. Any questions/comments - leave them and I'll get back to you on my comment section. :)

Thanks for reading, and welcome new followers! <3

xoxo

OOTD - Color Blocking

Color blocking is getting bigger this season and I saw a beautiful hot pink blazer at H&M but it didn't quite fit me right but when I went back in there another day, I found this bright neon orange cropped blazer and fell in love!

Lace Top: Aritzia (I think, it was awhile ago)

Shorts: Unknown (They're old)

Shoes/Bag: I haven't figured it out yet!

Accessories

I love color! I'm not very black & white, I don't think. But I love how this blazer can dress up any B&W outfit! It's a great pop of color and it's definitely BRIGHT which I love, especially for the summer! :)

PS. Would you guys prefer if I do videos on my outfits? It would be a lot faster for me to just film and then upload/link it. I dread taking pictures and editing it and blah blah blah lol. Or are pictures better and good enough for ya'll? LET ME KNOW!!! :)

xoxo

OOTD - First Day Of Summer!!!!

Another OOTD :D It's officially the first day of summer and it was a BEAUTIFUL day in Vancouver!!! Decided to take advantage of it and wore my new dress!

Dress: Costa Blanca

Flats: Aldo

I absolutely adore this dress. It's very light weight and the pattern/color is very simple but with a twist. I like the elastic cinching at the waist and my favourite part is the POCKETS!! Dresses with pockets are my love!

Accessories

Ring: H&M

Necklace: F21 (I think... it's super old)

I carried the same ol' purse in a previous OOTD post :) and had a cropped black cardigan on top in case it got cold.

Hope you liked it!

ps. These are the shit. I swear they got shorter though :(

xoxo

Mini Walmart Haul & Review

We only have one Walmart where I live and it's pretty out of the way for me but my friend and I decided to randomly just make a stop there because I wanted to check out if they carried Hard Candy Cosmetics for Canada's Walmart as well.

So while I was there, I was browsing around and picked up some other stuff as well! I was excited to see that they did stock Hard Candy. But of course, a lot of the super popular products were sold out. -___- 

I did however, manage to pick up at least one of the items I have wanted to try!

Fox in a Box Bronzing Duo in "Skinny Dipping"

Individually, the orange shade is a beautiful color. The muted beige is quite light (too subtle) for a contour/bronzer shade, it may work for very fair skin if you prefer to use it separately. Personally, I like to mix the two together. The muted beige really warms up the bright orange and makes a fabulous blusher for the summer! 

I want to pick up the other Fox in a Box bronzing duo in Truth or Dare, which has a darker bronze shade and a pink blush as well as their blushing quads which looks beautiful! 

 It's not highly pigmented, however on the skin it definitely shows up really nicely - especially the orange! It blends out nice and the product is smooth. It's not chalky at all. There are subtle shimmers which gives a nice sheen to the skin - perfect for summer!!!!

Packaging: It's like a copy of Benefit's blushes. Benefit has a separate lid for their box blushes, however their new packaging for their newest blush in Bella Bamba, the lid is attached to the box just like Hard Candy's Fox in a Box.

Hard Candy also gives you a small brush that can be attached to the lid and also it has a magnetic snap closure.

I personally adore the packaging just because I think it's really cute along with their other products. However, it's obviously not travel friendly considering it's pretty bulky.

It contains 5.7g/0.20oz and I purchased this for about $6 CAD which I think is a super good price for it!

Freeman Clay Mask: Mint & Lemon

My friend was raving about this product when she was on a hunt for the perfect mask. She said it was a lot better than Queen Helene's Mint Julep Masque!

It's a deep pore cleansing clay mask aimed more towards those with oily t-zone/skin. The mint and lemon extract helps sooth and calm problematic skin and this mask is also supposed to help oil production and reduce appearance of large pores. 

You all know by now that I have dry skin. I picked this up without even reading that it was more for oily skin. But because my friend raved about it, I still wanted to give it a try and just like she told me, it's really nice! 

Compared to Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque, it didn't feel like it completely stripped away ALL of my (barely there) oil. Queen Helene does a decent job of what it claims to do (minimize large pores, shrink acne, wash away blackheads), however my skin always felt even more dry.. like I have no oil whatsoever (which isn't good thing!)

Freeman's Mint & Lemon left my skin feeling refreshed, smooth and clean! I also had another friend rave about this and she has really oily skin and loves it as well and said that it really helped control her oil production! 

The smell is very soothing, and not over whelming at all! The lemon is subtle but you feel so refreshed after and the mint doesn't burn like Queen Helene's. I feel like Freeman's helped reduce the appearance of my pores a lot more than QH did. QH is a little heavier, in my opinion - in the sense that it really strips out all your oil and dirt out of your face which leaves your skin feeling rough. However with the Freeman's - it gives you that soft, refreshed, clean feel on the face.

I think I'll be choosing Freeman's over Queen Helene for the next little while... until I feel like I need a heavier mask!

Pricing is pretty similar. It was about $3-4 CAD.

Spasource Eye Contour Brush

I randomly came across these brushes, never heard of them but I really liked this shape of it. I remember seeing a youtuber use a flat top brush like this one for the brow bone so I figured I would try this one out because it was only around $4! 

To my surprise, it's soft and works great. Nicely packed bristles and works great for my brow bone highlight. Even though it claims to be an "eye contour" brush, I haven't tried using it for that, simply because I don't think it would work well for my eye shape. 

It also has a nice weight to it and it doesn't feel cheap. The farrell feels very much intact and the brush itself all around feels like it's good quality, unlike ELF brushes which feels a little more cheap.

Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Water-Light Sunscreen SPF 60

Summer is coming. I need some sun protection in my life! Well, not just because summer is coming. But... more so especially because summer is coming.... LOL. I decided to try out a cheaper brand before venturing out into something more expensive. I purchased this one for about $11-13 CAD.

Okay so I know I am bad for not ever wearing any sunscreen. I hate the smell, the texture, the residue it leaves on your skin, the white cast...etc. But I have decided that I need to suck it up and start wearing it. I figured I can probably find a good sunscreen that protects both UVA/UVB without that greasy nasty feel since more companies are improving on sunscreen.

Originally, I was looking for Neutrogena's DryTouch Sunscreen which I heard was good and blends in quick and doesn't leave that greasy residue on the skin... while I was looking for that, I stumbled on their Ultra Sheer Water-Light Suncreen. 

It claims it has an even, non-shiny finish and works beautifully alone or under make-up and moisturizers which right away caught my interest! 

Other benefits of this product: 

- Helioplex which means it protects both UVA/UVB 

- Photostable

- Waterproof, sweatproof
- Non-comedogenic (won't clog pores)
- Oil-free, PABA-free (for those with very sensitive skin)

That all sold me so I went and purchased it! 

You have to shake it up before using it and the formula is quite "water-light". Some have said it's like skim milk consistency. Applied and blended out, it definitely didn't have a shiny, greasy feel/residue on my skin. It was easy to blend out, and it didnt leave a white cast at all! In the picture above, I had applied foundatio on top to see if it would peek through in flash photography but as you can see - NO WHITE CAST!!! :D

 It definitely works as a great make up base, however I still did apply my moisturizer on top to lock it in. 

The only con that I have about this sunscreen, is that it did have that disgusting suncreen coconut smell that I absolutely despise. BUT after I applied my foundation, I guess it overlapped the smell so it wasn't too bad lol.

Last but not least, I found this really handy dandy travel make up case!! I'm going away in July to visit my boyfriend again and I used to just use like 3 big make up cases... so I figured this one was perfect!

It has two medium sized make up pouches and then one big case on the bottom! And of course the biggest case you can also use but I'm most likely going to just use the 3 and have it all packed together so it makes travelling a lot easier! 

This was my favourite purchase, I'm super excited about it and look how cute the print is! It's totally me! :P It also wasn't that pricey either, it was $20! This will also help me learn how to pack lightly on the make up LOL.

Anyways, that's it! I hope you found this informative and helpful! Any comments, questions, requests... feel free to leave them in the comment section and I'll reply back on there so always check back! :)

xoxo

-J.

Hong Kong Haul + NYX +Two Faced DUPE?

Hello! My friend went to Hong Kong and I asked her to pick me up some stuff while she was there. Unfortuantely she didn't read my email correctly so I didn't get two of the BB creams I have wanted to try but that's okay! There was a lot more that I wanted but I decided to just keep it super small so she didn't have to bring back craploads for me in her luggage haha!

 I asked for eyelashes (obviously), Lioele Triple The Solution BB Cream, and Dolly Wink Eyelash Glue! 

Now I am able to get these here but since they jack up the prices, I had to take advantage of the exchange rate!
 

Close ups on the eyelashes:

Lioele Beyond The Solution BB Cream

 It's a non-oily bb cream, that also acts as a moisturizer which uses various natural oils and vegetable coillagen to smoothen the skin.

This is a fantastic BB cream! The coverage is really nice, I'd say medium to full coverage if you do another layer. It's a lot easier and smoother to blend than the SKIN79 which is a lot thicker. I also love the packaging because it's adorable and super pretty. It comes in a squeeze tube with a pump - very sanitary and two big thumbs up!

One con is that it has a old lady scent to it although it does go away once its on your skin and blended out. The cap also gets dirty from when you place it back on and there's a little

I did a swatch of the BB cream to show you guys what the color looks like and after it has been oxidized on the skin.  The color has a yellow undertone which is great and it's also one of the darker shades than other BB creams which are usually lighter and sometimes have a gray undertone.

After 30ish minutes... blended out and oxidized...

*It doesn't settle into the lines on your face or anything like it looks like on my hand. Sorry for my ugly hands lol...

Some CONS:

It has a old lady scent to it although it does go away once its on your skin and blended out. 

Also, after you just pumped out the product and a little bit of it is still on the nozzle, it transfers onto the cap when you place it back on so it looks dirty and messy >__<

For myself, BB creams never look like foundation on me. It always looks like your own skin and this one definitely gives that look but with that extra coverage where no one can tell if you have any foundation on ;)

As for oil control, I can't say much as I have normal to dry skin! Although my friend has oily skin and she uses Triple The Solution and likes it, it has a pink undertone however. So I suggest looking up in depth reviews for both and seeing which one will suit you more!

NYX COSMETICS

I absolutely adore NYX products! I think they are very good quality for "drugstore" and has a great wide selection of different products and color selection.

 

I picked up the Eyshadow Base from seeing Sonia, aka sccastaneda use it quite often. I've been wanting to try the MAC Paint Pots as a base so I decided to try this one out first. It's creamy at first and once you apply it onto your lids, it dries up slightly but still has that creamy consistency which I feel like it isn't a great base if it doesn't dry to a powder finish. 

It also has a strong old lady's bathroom scent... although I asked Sonia if hers has the scent and she said no and she has like 10 of them... sooo maybe mine was just a defect but I'm still trying it out.

It creased before but it could also be because I've been using the next product below on top so that may be why it's creasing...

I also picked this up because of Janice, aka chaigyaru <3. I absolutely love this color! It's a super nice taupe-y gray brown. It looks a lot more like the swatch without the flash IRL.

I was super excited to see that they had the Runway Collection 10 Color Palette in stock! I originally wanted to pick up the Smokey palette but had opt for this one since it had more neutral wearable colors and the other palette had mainly only grays.
When I was playing with this palette, the pigmentation was alright. It's not as pigmented as their single eyeshadows and the shimmery shades were rather more on the crappy side. It was a lot more sheer than I expected but I'll just have to play around with it more to form a better opinion on it. Their matte shades however, were pretty good and smooth.

It could be a nice (more affordable) dupe for the UD Naked Palette.

TWO FACE BRONZER DUPE

So I was browsing in Forever 21 and I randomly saw this and immediately was reminded of the Two Faced Pink Leopard Bronzer! I decided to pick it up especially since I've been wanting to try Two Faced's and also it's just too cute to resist!

I have swatched Two Faced in Sephora before and it is definitely a lot more shimmery (from what I can remember) and slightly darker and more pigmented (obviously).

However, for $5.80 - I think this is a really nice product, especially for the summer! I tried it out today and it showed up a lot darker on my face but it's a really nice bronzed shade with a nice sheen to it!

Not too shabby for Forever 21 ;) They also had a pink shade just like Two Faced! 

Hope you guys liked and enjoyed this post! 

Thank you so much for letting me know what kind of posts you all would like to see more of - definitely helps and I'd love to have more requests so feel free to leave a comment and I also reply back! :)

xoxo

EOTD - Gold + Purple

2 posts in a day from me!!!! LUCKY YOU & BLOGSPOT! hahaha

I created this look today and thought I'd share it with you :)

I used only three colors on the lids and NO lashes - just mascara! :D

(excuse the mascara smudge lol)

Products Used:

(in order) 

 

NYX Eyeshadow Base 

All over LID color

(Urban Decay) 

Outer Corner

(NYX - Lake Moss Trio)

Center Lid

I thinly lined my upper lashline with ELF Waterproof Eyeliner Pen and also tightlined with Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil... which I ended up poking myself in the eyeball really hard :'(

Leave me comments, requests, questions, and love <3

Thanks for all the support!!!!

xoxo

OOTD x2- WILD THAAAAAAANG lol.

Another OOTD because it's quick, fun, and easy! 

I'm a lover of animal print & off the shoulder shirts - who isn't? :)

DAY 1:

H&M

DAY 2:

Forever 21

So much fun lolz, hope you like! Sorry the pictures turned out really blurry... was in a rush, but better than nothing! :)

xoxo