product review

Make Up For Ever Camouflage Cream Palette | Product Picks #18

by Jamie Sanford on February 20, 2019

Check out all of my Product Picks here. If you want to see all of the products I’ve reviewed (not just the ones I like), click here for Reviews.

I’ve talked about makeup plenty of times on this blog before, but it was only this week when I pulled out a trusty product that I realized that I hadn’t written about it.

This is the Make Up For Ever Camouflage Cream Palette.

If you’ve been here before, you won’t be surprised to know that I have the lightest option, palette #1.

Here’s the info on this palette:

This multi-use cream palette is ideal for color correcting discoloration, concealing dark under-eye circles and spot imperfections, or, just use it to highlight and sculpt your features.Camouflage cream provides full coverage with an easy to blend, lightweight and creamy texture. Each palette contains 5 shade combinations with an assortment of color correctors and concealers. This creamy formula is buildable so you can layer multiple shades to customize your make up result. Available in 5 shade harmonies to target every skin tone, choose your perfect palette for a flawless, even complexion.

I wish I remembered which YouTuber or article introduced me to this palette. It had to have been at least 5 years ago, and it immediately shot to holy grail status.

I am lucky enough to not have to deal with blemishes that often, but when I do, this palette is my go-to for concealing.

Mostly I tap on a tiny bit of the green first, to offset the redness, and then I take one of the darker skin tones and tap that over the top. (I almost exclusively use my middle or ring finger to apply this product.) This product is quite thick and a light hand is needed, or you will quickly overdo it. I then follow up with my regular application of liquid foundation with a beautyblender, I am careful to not wipe away the concealer when I am applying foundation. I simply dab and blend the foundation with the patented bouncing of the beautyblender.

I set as usual with the Coty Airspun, and sometimes take a smaller detail brush and apply a bit of extra setting powder over the problem areas and let it bake for a while before brushing away the excess.

I would note that I’ve never used this product like a traditional concealer. I have learned from the gurus that using an undereye concealer to cover blemishes is almost always a bad idea, because you are generally adding light to your undereye area and you don’t want to brighten an area with a blemish! The colors in this palette are nowhere near as light as my foundation, but it works because I’m able to cover it. Essentially, what this product does is to help cancel out whatever issue you are having. The camouflage name is fitting.

I have also tapped the green over my cheek redness in the past, but I did not have a great experience with how my foundation looked over this product having been used on a much larger area of my face. I think spot concealing is where the Make Up For Ever Camouflage Cream Palette really shines.

At $42, this is the most money I’ve ever spent on concealer. However, for when I need it, there is no substitute for it’s incredible coverage and staying power.

Tweet at me with your favorite concealer!

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Product Review: Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation

by Jamie Sanford on July 20, 2018

Check out all of my Product Picks here. If you want to see all of the products I’ve reviewed (not just the ones I like), click here for Reviews.

Product Review: Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation

It’s been months now since the introduction of the Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation. I saw a number of YouTubers that I watch review the foundation, and it was mostly positive with a few negative comments about how the foundation skewed a bit on the dry side. I ended up with a big sample of it in a Sephora order, and luckily, I managed a color match on the first go! I tried color 150, which is in the image below.

While I ended up with the same conclusion about the foundation’s behavior when interacting with dry skin, I absolutely LOVE it.

The first wear day for the foundation was an odd choice, as I then spent 5 hours cleaning out a storage unit with my husband. A true endurance test! By the end of the day, it looked a bit rough in my t-zone, but my cheeks that don’t have sweat glands looked good.

The next day, I tried again, as it was a normal day of going to the office and enjoying a climate-controlled environment. I noticed almost immediately that some small patches of my skin looked pretty flaky. I do not have dry skin in general, and certainly didn’t notice any of the tiny bits of my skin that were dry until after I put this foundation on. I had used primer, and I’m not sure if I just missed these spots or if they were already experiencing dryness. Either way, I wasn’t happy about this, as I was continuing to enjoy the excellent full coverage and the finish of the product.

The next day, I was very deliberate and thorough in my moisturizing and priming, and it definitely improved my experience. I didn’t notice any standout dry patches on my skin, and the finish continued to be amazing!

The biggest downer about the Fenty foundation is that I am suddenly disappointed with my ride-or-die Covergirl 3-in-1 Foundation. I have been back on my regular foundation in the past few days and it is not holding a candle to the Fenty Pro Filt’r.

I can buy 4 bottles of the Covergirl 3-in-1 for nearly the same price as 1 bottle of the Fenty Pro Filt’r, so I might buy a full-size bottle of the Fenty foundation and use it on days when I want to look extra flawless and amazing.

If you like a full-coverage foundation with a matte finish, I cannot recommend enough that you try the Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation. It is available exclusively at Sephora and on Sephora.com, for $34.

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Kiehl’s Since 1851 Creme de Corps Nourishing Dry Body Oil | Product Picks #17

by Jamie Sanford on May 22, 2018

Check out all of my Product Picks here. If you want to see all of the products I’ve reviewed (not just the ones I like), click here for Reviews.

I have moderately dry skin, but do not moisturize it nearly enough. Mostly this is because of the inevitable greasiness that comes with covering yourself with cream/body butter/etc. I have used body oil in the past, the Bio Oil that was recommended to me ages ago by a friend, and it did make my skin feel good, but there was a long period of feeling like I was covered in oil for too long after application. I stopped using that and have tried lots of moisturizers since.

Enter the Kiehl’s Since 1851 Creme de Corps Nourishing Dry Body Oil.

I wish I could remember who recommended it or which YouTube channel that I heard about it on, because this stuff is amazing. I purchased the small bottle from Sephora to try it out, and I’m a third of the way through it after about a month.

I either spray it right onto my skin, or into my hand, for more precise application. I rub it in with my hand, and the speed with which it soaks into my skin is incredible. It definitely leaves me with a bit of sheen, but nothing like I’ve experienced with oils in the past, because it doesn’t feel wet. (The dry oil thing is no lie!)

This product is a game-changer for me, because the texture of my skin is markedly improved after regular use. I’m not sure that this wouldn’t be the case with another moisturizing product, but the issue there was that I never used them regularly enough to find out because I was too irritated about being greasy.

If you also have this problem, I cannot recommend that you try this product enough. I am definitely a convert.

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Pantene Pro-V Silky Moisture Whip | Product Pick #16

by Jamie Sanford on May 25, 2017

Check out all of my Product Picks here. If you want to see all of the products I’ve reviewed (not just the ones I like), click here for Reviews.

During a random span of time a few years ago, I won a few different contests online. One of them was a Twitter giveaway of Pantene products, and today I want to talk about what has become one of my favorite hair products of all time.

Pantene Silky Moisture Whip

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll have perhaps noticed that I change my hair color pretty regularly. My stylist highlights my hair and sorts out my roots on occasion, but the rest of the time, my hair is refreshed in whatever color I’m going for that day with Arctic Fox haircolor. The Arctic Fox is really moisturizing and conditioning, but obviously, the hair that has been highlighted is a bit damaged.

I had forgotten about the Silky Moisture Whip until I cleaned out my bathroom cabinet with all of the hair products. I immediately moved it to the front and started using it, and noted an immediate difference.

After towel-drying my hair, I squeeze the mousse-like product into my hair and brush through for full coverage. I then air-dry or blow-dry, and follow-up with heat spray before using the Tyme Iron to straighten and/or curl my hair. The difference was much greater than I would have expected, and especially for a drug store product that has an incredibly reasonable price.

The official product description is as follows:

Pantene’s Pro-V Silky Moisture Whip contains a Moisture Protection complex that acts like hair’s natural lipid layer to help: leave hair feeling moisturized for up to 48 hours, protect hair from heat styling damage in just one use and regulate hair’s natural moisture and gives silky hair that shines.

The Pantene Pro-V Silky Moisture Whip is available on Amazon. If you feel like your hair is lacking in moisture and shine, I highly recommend trying it out.

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Kat Von D Shade & Light Blush | Brand Experience Project | Missing the Mark #10

by Jamie Sanford on November 27, 2016

To view all of my content about brand experience, please click here.

This was going to be a product review, but my experience created questions that I think are better fitted to a brand experience post.

I am a big fan of Kat Von D Beauty products. I have a number of eyeshadow palettes and powder foundation, all that I greatly enjoy. During a random trip to TJ Maxx a few weeks back, I was super excited to see some Kat Von D Shade & Light blushes in the beauty section, and quickly scooped up a “Bonnie & Clyde” blush.

Here’s where things get unfortunate.

So much promise.

The focus here is questionable, but you can see the swatches of these 2 blushes on my arm. I expected a LOT more pigmentation than this.

Wow. This is how they looked after I blended over them with a brush. Where did they go? This is a major quality issue.

Beyond this, the product packaging was also a bit disappointing. I am going to directly compare the packaging of this blush with my Kat Von D Lock-It Powder Foundation.

It certainly looks like a lot more thought went into the packaging for the foundation. There is a lot more detail.

The sticker is actually pretty good on the blush, especially with 2 shades of product in the compact.

The packaging quality on the foundation looks much more expensive.

So, if I were reviewing this blush, it would be 0 stars. If I try to put it on my face and it just disappears, is isn’t actually blush. I went online after discovering the issue with this product, and found out that it had actually been pulled from both Sephora and the Kat Von D Beauty website.

Also found this on Reddit:

Here’s where I get to the heart of my issues with my experience.

Why did this product that had CLEARLY been identified as sub-par, get sold to a discount store? As a Kat Von D Beauty fan, I was excited to see what I figured was just excess stock being sold to TJ Maxx, and so I scooped it up. It didn’t occur to me that I should be looking online to find out that this is crap. I know what they say about assumptions, but I didn’t expect a Kat Von D Beauty product to be this terrible.

This makes me REALLY wonder who at Kat Von D Beauty decided to let this product into the wild in discount stores. Excess stock is one thing, but to release product of terrible quality to a discount store is a huge miss. Shoppers in a discount store might be really excited to see Kat Von D Beauty products at a discounted price. This could be a gateway product for someone who is interested in the brand but doesn’t think that they want to spend X dollars on a makeup product, and that opportunity to convince them that the cost is valid would be ruined by this product. The idea of samples from Ulta or Sephora, and perhaps even selling excess stock to discount stores, is to increase exposure of those products, to convince a shopper who isn’t sure about the brand or who isn’t sure about the price that the quality of the products is well worth the attached dollar amount. This blush is going to have the complete opposite effect.

I would love to hear comments from anyone on what you think about placement of problematic products into discount stores. Do you shop in a store like Marshall’s or TJ Maxx with a thought in your mind that you might be getting X product from a well-known brand because it might be of lesser quality?

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