Sephora Bestsellers [Unsponsored]

My hands got itchy a little, thinking about what products I should try next so I went to Sephora website and clicked on their bestsellers.

I saw the Benefit, the POREfessional. Well, that's something I really hope to get my hands on and try it. My Tarte primer has proven itself to be my Holy Grail item. Can Benefit take over Tarte? We shall see! Share with me your Holy Grail items!

xoxo,

Pinkcactuslady

Sephora Rouge in Red Tango (Shade R05) [Unsponsored]

I have always love those red, intense lipcolor I often see celebrities putting on. It gives a very sexy and feminine feel and I always wanted to find that perfect shade.

Decided to step into Sephora (Once again), in an attempt to find that perfect red rouge. What attracted me was the Sephora house brand corner where there were just so many different kind of lip colours. Be it highly pigmented colours to those subtle shimmery kind, they had it all.

Took me about thirty minutes to finally zoom down to that perfect one.

Look at that beautiful colour!

I liked that it is matte in finish instead of gloss because I always find it irritating when my long hair stick to my lips cos of the gloss.

I had it on for a day yesterday..

The colour is actually redder than how it appeared in this photograph, mainly cos of the lighting which was directly casting on my face.

My Verdict:
That red colour really blew me away. Many complemented me for my beautiful red lips. I liked the matte finish. It is not drying, unlike those I used to wear, whereby my lips turned up dry and cracky looking after just half a day of wearing. No drying, nothing of that sort. And what's more, this is really friendly to our pocket. No big burning hole after this purchase, which leads me to wanting to buy more?! ;)

The only con, which I guess applies to all intense rouge - frequent touch-ups are inevitable. The fact that they are intense in colour, makes it obvious when just a tinge of it comes off and the only way to continue have that oh-so-beautiful-even-lipcolor look, is to be diligent in touch-ups. For this part, lip stainers win me over.

Price:
SGD $20

Where to purchase:
All Sephora outlets

Cheers to beautiful, sexy lips! *SMOOCHES*

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Full Coverage Foundation & Clean Slate Poreless 12-hour Perfecting Primer [Unsponsored]

And so I got my hands onto this tube of foundation that is oil-free and made from Amazonian Clay. To me, the word 'oil-free' really matters a lot for the simple fact that my face is of oily type. Oil (or sebum) caused many problems and most frequently linked to acne. Initially, I really hesitated as this tube of foundation did not come cheap at almost $60. Nonetheless, I decided to step into Sephora and grab myself a tube and not look back after making the payment.

You can read more about this product at Tarte's website: http://tartecosmetics.com/tarte-item-Amazonian-clay-12-hour-full-coverage-foundation.

What I really love about it is that it comes in 16 different shades. I was initially overwhelmed by it and had to call for help at Sephora for the assistant to help me choose the best shade. This huge range of shades available made me feel assured that surely one shade can fit me perfectly. I have fair skin and eventually settled for the 'Fair Beige' shade which is the third lightest shade available. 

This is how it looks like on the back of my hand:

It has sunscreen of SPF 15, which to me initially wasn't that high, but I come to realise that I am gonna apply sunscreen underneath anyway, so it didn't bother me that much after all.

I kind of liked its packaging, especially the wooden print cap. I thought it is something unique and it gives the nature feel and since it's made from Amazonian clay, it definitely is from nature isn't it? It comes in this 1.7 fl. oz. packaging size.

Upon reaching home with my new purchase, I decided to keep it aside, go to bed and look forward to waking up the next day and use it before I go to work. I squeezed only a quantity equivalent to pea size and brush it on my face using a foundation brush. Lo and behold.. I was so blown away by the coverage! All it took is one layer for my old acne scars to be 70% 80% concealed and it felt so light on my skin. It did not give me the heavy and thick feel I have with other foundations. Just one pea size and it was enough coverage for my whole face. All I needed after that was just some concealer to perfect the coverage and off I go with just a few puffs of powder on my face to complete my make-up routine.

My face usually requires a blotting at mid-day but my first day was awesome as I only need to blot it towards 2-ish kind of timing. No sliding of make-up and as what I've mentioned, I was fully bought over by the light feeling and its coverage. It stayed looking flawless on my skin for the rest of the day. So is it 12-hour coverage as it claimed to be? I can't say much on that cos I still require some minor touch-up in the afternoon but it is definitely still an improvement over my previous foundation. Thumbs up for that!

The only thing I hope to deal with on top of this are my pores problem. My pores are pretty enlarged at my cheek areas and I always find them disturbing. They are often the thing that caused my skin not to look flawless. I thought to myself, probably a primer might solve my problem and so, I stepped into Sephora again, in hope of finding the primer that will suit my requirement. Unknowingly, I walked towards Tarte section and found myself looking at its primer. The word 'poreless' attracted me. Yes, I am easily attracted to such keywords. Marketing strategies like these work very well on me. (GIGGLES). I decided, since I have my Sephora discount on-hand, why not just try it out? After all, Tarte product with Tarte product, should be pretty awesome right?

Here's the packaging:

 

More product details found here: http://tartecosmetics.com/tarte-item-clean-slate-poreless-12-hr-perfecting-primer .

I kinda love the purple packaging together with the floral designs. It looked very feminine and gave it yet another touch of nature.

When I opened up my product and tried it on my hand.. It's like... WOOOOOO. It is so smooth!

It is clear in colour, and feels similar to my silicone-based moisturizer. I love how it glided on my skin effortlessly.It got to be the smoothest thing that has ever come into contact with my hand! NO JOKE.


I tried it on my cheeks and went on to apply my Tarte foundation on top. It glided on so easily! No stress on my skin, no tugging of my face. I became a happy lady but that's not the wow factor for me. I was fully convinced that this product really works when I came back from my lunch break and decided to give my face a round of blotting. My make-up stayed intact and the smoothness that I achieved that same morning, actually remained. My Tarte foundation rested so nicely on my skin even after blotting and a crazy hot weather outside. If you ask me, I have never felt so good about my skin before!


My verdict:

It took me super long to find something that can give me the sustained look from beginning of the day till I end my day and I'm glad I've found Tarte products. I felt that the foundation on its own is not perfect but together with the primer, the difference is drastic.

Will I repurchase? Yes, I will. Though the price is a little on the steep side, I feel this product is worth investing in for now, till I find a better product for my sensitive face.

Price:
Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Full Coverage Foundation - SGD $60
Tarte Clean Slate Poreless 12-hour Perfecting Primer - SGD $47

Where to get:

Any Sephora outlets. It is usually located nearest to the entrance which could explain its popularity? =)

P/S: I really wish the foundation came with the brush though. I was told in some countries, the brush actually came with each purchase. Not sure how true but would be great if it is true as I really love that brush a lot!

First post!

I have finally taken my first step towards what I've always wanted to do and that is to do beauty blogging! So why of all things, beauty? I love people-watching and I realised that to look good, one has to make an effort but besides that, it also involves a whole string of experimenting to finally come to a product that is able to suit our skin's needs. All of us has skins that are so different. What works for you, may not work for me and vice versa. For me personally, it is comforting to find reviews from people who has the same skin type as me and all I ever wanted is to learn their secret collection of products to make them work around their skin condition so that they can achieve flawless skin.

So here I am, hoping that my reviews will help those of you out there who were just like me, always googling about what works and what doesn't.

If you are also a lady out there who feels very overwhelmed whenever you step into Sephora, I hope you can find some help much needed over at my blog, to help you better gauge what product could work for you.

I have a few reviews lining up consisting of Urban Decay and Tarte products.

Stay tuned!

xoxo,
Pink Cactus Lady