The IT Cosmetics CC Cream is an iconic product. My mom loves it, influencers love it, but I wanted to get the illumination version. I read an article quite a while ago that a beauty editor wrote who said that when she wears this CC Cream and people always comment on how healthy and glowing her skin looks. I was sold. I promptly went to Sephora and purchased this product. I bought this back in March and I’ve worn it on and off since then. I have been able to wear it enough that I know my thoughts.
The claims: “Infused with proprietary Drops of Light Technology™ for a subtle touch of radiance, Your Skin But Better™ CC+Illumination™ Cream with SPF 50+ delivers full, flawless, perfect coverage and protects your skin with SPF 50+ UVA/UVB broad-spectrum physical sunscreen. Clinically shown to provide intense hydration, support improved appearance in skin texture, and enhance skin brightness without glitter or shimmer, this breakthrough color-correcting cream never creases or cracks and instantly camouflages imperfections, including dark spots. It’s formulated with an advanced antiaging serum made of hydrolyzed collagen, peptides, vitamins, and antioxidants that work in harmony to visually diminish the look of wrinkles and pores for a more luminous, supple, and flawless-looking complexion.
All of the claims of this are pretty accurate – however, the shimmer they claim isn’t in there is totally in there. But I love it. I find it’s not detectable on the skin once blended out and it creates a lovely luminous look. This is a full coverage CC Cream, compared to my beloved Andalou Naturals CC cream that has next to no coverage, the IT Cosmetics has a full coverage.
Application: My preferred method for application is a sponge. The sponge absorbs just enough product that it sheers out the coverage to my preferred light to medium coverage. If you don’t like a sheer coverage, this will definitely deliver that full coverage effect. This feels lightweight on the skin and doesn’t irritate my skin.
Price: $52 CAD for 32 ML or 1.08 oz. This is a steep price, however, I think if you enjoy a full coverage with all the skincare benefits of a CC cream this is the way to go. If it is in your price range then go for it.
Overall rating: I want to say a 4/5 stars simply because I don’t always like using a sponge and sometimes prefer to just use my fingers. When this is used with a finger application I find the coverage is a bit too full for me. I would also say a con to this product is the shade range. I do think we are in the era of Fenty but I also think it can be overwhelming for there to be so many shades so really it’s toss up depending on your skin tone. I think it’s great that they have expanded to 12 shades, but there is always room for improvement in terms of undertone!
June has been such a lovely month. Many awesome things are happening, my room decorating is coming along and my career is slightly starting! I haven’t done a ton this month, lots of work and chilling, but I did discover a few lovely makeup items.
Pixi Delicate Dew Highlighting Duo
This is a lovely, glossy highlighter. It feels similar to the NARS Forte De France highlighter in terms of texture, and shines like it as well, but is a bit more subtle. Because I have a slight tan, even though it looks darkish in the pan, it gives a beautiful glow.
The Quo Colour Lust Lipstick in Gossip Session
This is a lovely lip colour. It feels very similar to the MAC Lustre Lipstick formula. This is a lovely peachy shade that lasts well and moisturizes the lips. It’s also buildable and a great work day lipstick that you can reapply without a mirror.
Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze
This is a lovely cream shadow. I have had this before and it dried up and repurchased it. It is the perfect bronze shade and hardly creases. My mom complimented my eyeshadow and asked what it was, and I told her it was the Maybelline Colour Tattoo. This is a lovely sparkling shadow that is an easy slap on and go type of shade.
Charlotte Tilbury Magic Away Concealer
I love this concealer. It is expensive but it hardly creases. It is easy to spread out and doesn’t leave my skin feeling clogged under the eyes or on the face. It is a splurge item but for something I use every day, that takes a few seconds to blend out with fingers or whatever your preferred method is, it is worth it for me.
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I did a bit of shopping over the past few months at good old Sephora. I have been near a Sephora about twice a month for the past 6 months for work training, and I always took the opportunity to do a little bit of a pop in at Sephora. I got a few of these products online (during the Sephora sale) and a few in store during my journey’s there. I wanted to do a few mini reviews rounding up my thoughts on these products. I will do some more in-depth reviews coming in the next month!
In Store Purchases
Mac Fix plus: This is an iconic product. I have heard on several makeup podcasts that its purpose is to not actually set your makeup but to refresh your skin and melt the powders together. I really like this, however, because it is not a setting spray it makes me miss my beloved Too Faced Hangover RX setting spray. This doesn’t irritate my skin and has a lovely scent.
Nudestix nudies matte in sunset strip: This was a YouTube made me buy it product. As soon as I saw Jamie Paige Beauty and Samantha Ravndahl use this, I knew I was going to “need” it in my collection. This is a lovely, coral blush that is the perfect summer flush (or any season flush). It is creamy, and while it claims its matte I don’t find it to be a flat matte, it is almost like the Physicians Formula butter blush in a cream stick version.
The Online VIB Sale Purchases
CoverFx Matte and Shimmer blush duo: This duo, again, something I saw on Instagram and it immediately piqued my interest. I love the idea of having the option of using a shimmer or matte blush or layering them. I also like to use these on my eyes as well. Full review and comparison coming soon!
The Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow: This has been on my list of things to get for YEARS. Since I saw Allanarama use this back in 2016 I have been eyeing it ever since. Now, that Charlotte Tilbury is finally in Sephora (and I finally could justify this in my budget) I bought it. This is a lovely product. The sculpt shade is the perfect contour without being too grey that I feel I can wear on its own or paired with bronzer. The highlighter is beautiful and glowy, without being metallic or glittery. This is the perfect palette for work!
Charlotte Tilbury Magic Away concealer: Oh mama. This concealer. Is. Magic. See what I did there? This concealer creases so minimally and spreads out so easily while maintaining excellent coverage, I don’t know if I ever want to go back to any other concealer… although you know me I’ll always be trying more. However, I think that this is going to be my new holy grail concealer … it’s just lovely!
Kosas Tinted Face Oil: This has mixed reviews from various sources. However, I really like this. It does tend to look greasy so I usually set my t zone when using this. I was concerned that this may break down on my skin but honestly, it lasts really nicely throughout the day. I don’t recommend this if you already have oily skin, but if you have normal to dry skin this is a lovely light coverage base. Full review to come!
Bite Beauty Agave and Daytime Lip Balm: I got this because I needed a good lip balm. This is nice, but I find that it doesn’t really hydrate my lips as much as I thought it would. I wear this in the morning as I’m doing my makeup. I find that my favourite lip balm is still the Fresh one in terms of actually hydrating my lips. I will use this up but I’m not sure if I would repurchase this!
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Beauty minimalism is something I wanted to talk about. I think the definition of minimalism is very personal but is tied with surrounding yourself with things that you genuinely love. The way I want to talk about the idea of minimalism from a beauty standpoint is discussing release fatigue. Basically release fatigue is when you are tired of brands releasing and releasing product (looking at you Colourpop). This is my daily struggle: my content that does well is reviews and hauls, and what else do you review than a new product? However, I battle between wanting maybe one or two products of each makeup category to loving trying and buying new products. I wanted to share some thoughts I have about release fatigue and the over-consumption (me included) of the beauty industry.
According to an article I found on the Allure website- over 3,000 women were surveyed by skinstore and found that women in the united states spend $300,000 on their face over a lifetime. A LIFETIME. I have never counted or added up the value of makeup collection mostly because I could porbably pay a large chunk of my OSAP. When you are not into beauty or skincare to this number is probably terrifying and the amount of makeup I personally own is probably mind boggling – however it is my only hobby that costs me money so I think somehow it balances out! But, to think about numbers like $300,000 shows how much the beauty industry is growing.
I think my biggest gripe with the beauty industry right now is how much companies are releasing. If you take a look at Trendmood’s Instagram you can see photo after photo of new products and new brands – which is great but can be overwhelming. NARS, Colourpop, Morphe are a few of the brands that I’ve noticed have been releasing collection after collection, MAC has always done those limited collections so I don’t get sick of their collections because in my humble opinion I feel like brands have tried to emulate that. I think my main issue is it feels like brands are capitalizing on trends and targeting consumers so they will buy more and feed into capitalism (which again obviously I do this too). However, I think that brands that curate well (like Glossier) do so strategically for marketing purposes. I think Glossier, and Hourglass are a few brands do well with having releases every 3 months or so making it less overwhelming for consumers. When brands like Colourpop (who I will admit don’t compromise quality) release a collection every which way I feel like for the average consumer this can get overwhelming. Even for me, an avid lover of the brand, it can just get overwhelming.
When I say overwhelming I say this for one reason: that someone new to makeup is just going to buy this affordable makeup and then not realize what they actually like. Am I speaking from experience? Yes. Yes, I am. When you first discover the world of beauty YouTube you just want to try everything and that means buying inexpensive products that either don’t work for you or you bought to try because you saw your fave person using or like me you use it once and realize its not your makeup style. Now I’m not saying Colourpop doesn’t make some of my favorite products or in fact doesn’t make products I use on the daily they are merely a good example of a brand that releases collections twice monthly. In fact most of the time I find myself gravitating towards my colourpop items because they are so good – however it is the best example I personally have in my Instagram feed of new releases.
What is the point of this post? I think my point is that I strive to be more intentional with my purchases. At the beginning of 2019 I bought a million drugstore products that didn’t “spark joy” as Marie Kondo would say (still need to read the book and will do so this summer) and then finding myself not gravitating towards drugstore makeup but using my high-end and boutique makeup (like the body shop). I think the other thing for me about trying to not buy makeup is to not buy it as an excuse for “research” for the blog. I built the beginning of this blog on drugstore beauty which I will never not lover but more and more when I picture my “ideal” collection it consists of high-end makeup with some drugstore and boutique brands spackled in there. While I don’t ever see myself losing the drugstore/affordable side of my blog I do think that because the beauty industry has boomed so much I want to start doing quality over quantity as well as treating ALL my purchases with more thought.
I also think that I struggle with the fun of trying new makeup and being creative with only owning what I need. For example, as a blogger, I love finding dupes for holy grail products which then means I am feeding into the mass market to try new things to help my readers find alternatives! Alas, the balancing act continues!
What are your thoughts on beauty minimalism as a beauty blogger?
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From my month of only wearing drugstore makeup I discovered quite a few lovely drugstore products. I wanted to share some drugstore products that are sort of hero products in my collection. This was also in part inspired by Mariah Leonard. Stay tuned this month for a “what happened to my skin when I used high end makeup for a month”.
Joe Fresh powder highlighter. Again, another gem from the Canadian drugstore. This is such a nice subtle highlighter that creates a beautiful glow on the skin. I thought this might be too icy for my liking but it is a nice neutral highlighter for my skintone.
Annabelle Matte bronzer. This is a really nice matte bronzer. It is a spot on dupe for the Anastasia powder bronzer. I love how this warms up the skin without being orange. Definitely a must have if you visit a Canadian drugstore.
Burt’s bees blush in Bare Peach. This is one of the best blushes I own. It is pigmented but fades quickly so I like going ham with it and taking it up on my temples for a more peachy look and it tones itself down by the time you are done the rest of makeup.
L’Oreal Blush in bare honey. Another great neutral blush from the drugstore. This is a lovely warm blush.
Burt’s Bees multi-sticks. These were sent to me by topbox cirlce in exchange for a review. I love these products. Glossy glowy goodness that creates a lovely dewy moment on the cheeks.
L’Oreal stick foundation. This is an awesome full coverage yet lightweight foundation from the drugstore. Again, not really drugstore priced, as its $19 CAD. It blends out easily and does not irritate my skin.
Burt’s Bees goodness glows foundation. This foundation was something that I did not life before – and I still do have a bit of hard time working with it in terms of blending it out and blending it into the skin. However, I found that using this with a good moisturizer and a good hydrating primer it works wonderfully. I also like that it is clean ingredients so I do hope they expand their shade range.
Annabelle hydrating illuminating veil. This is a lovely hydrating primer that I would repurchase. It is pearly without being glittery and creates a lovely dewy base that works well under any foundation.
Joe Fresh concealer. I love this concealer. It is from a Canadian brand and it has light coverage but covers just enough under the eye so you look awake.
Maybelline Age rewind. The Maybelline Age Rewind concealer is perhaps on of the best concealers I’ve ever tried … including the Charlotte Tilbury concealer except I would still repurchase both. The Maybelline Age Rewind concealer is light weight but full coverage and has great lasting power.
Revlon Candid Concealer. This is a lovely medium coverage concealer. This is eons better than the Too Faced Born This Way sculpting concealer (which has grown on me) but nonetheless this is a lot less expensive and is easier to blend out!
Colourpop eyeshadow in cornelious. These supershock shadows are awesome in general. They are easy to wear one wash wonders that are easy on the daily.
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You know me – I love trying new brands and discovering new brands especially ones with a Canadian background and brands for a cause. When I listened to the breaking beauty podcast with the found of Cheekbone Beauty Jenn Harper, who is an Indigenous woman from Thunder Bay. I was so excited that finally a brand with a great cause. The founder herself strives to educate people on Residential schools and its impact on generations of Indigenous people. The brand supports the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society (FNCFCS). You need to read about this brand – it is literally makeup that advocates. The founder of this brand is also extremely inspiring! They also have great customer service – when you order she emails you and says thank you for supporting. Their lip kits on the website also donate 100% of the profits go to the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society.
You can buy this brand on cheekbonebeauty.ca. I bought three products: their stardust highlighting palette, their warrior women liquid lipstick and their lip gloss!
Let’s start with their most iconic product: their warrior women liquid lipsticks. These retail for $29 CAD. I got the shade Melina. The cool thing about this lipstick collection is they are named after indigenous activists. This is directly from their website: “Melina was named after an Indigenous Rights advocate from the Lubicon Cree First Nation in Alberta, Canada, Melina Laboucan-Massimo. Melina has been a vocal advocate for Indigenous rights for the past 10 years and is a Climate and Energy Campaigner with Greenpeace Canada. Melina has also produced short documentaries on water issues as well as Indigenous cultural revitalization”. The liquid lipstick in this collection is a lovely velvet matte formula. I find they are similar to the NYX Soft Matte Lip creams but have better pigment and last longer. I find I can put this lipstick on and it lasts literally all day.
The lipgloss is also a lovely formula.The lipgloss retails for $24CAD. I don’t usually go for a colored lipgloss but the colour sundance spoke to me as I love coral. This is a lovely non-sticky formula that somehow lasts quite awhile.
The Stardust highlighting palette is perhaps one of my favourite products. The highlighter palette retails for $48CAD. The highlighters in this are a bit dark for my skin tone but I find with a light hand and mixing the lightest one with the gold one they give such a nice glow. They aren’t metallic but still gives a lovely sheen and glow to the skin.
The swatches:
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In the past, I have been skeptical of the brand makeup revolution because of its reputation of blatantly copying other brands best selling products accept selling them at extremely affordable prices. Now, I have just managed to get my hands on this because orabel beauty sells the brand. Makeup Revolution is a brand from the United Kingdom and is cruelty-free. I wanted to compare this palette to my much loved naked heat palette. This is very clearly made to dupe the urban decay palette but makeup revolution has sneakily added a few more shades so it’s not a blatant copy like their makeup revolution golden bar whose packaging couldn’t be more obvious that they are trying to copy Too Faced. On one hand, I wasn’t sure how I felt about this because they are copying another brand, but on the other hand, I think makeup and makeup trends should be accessible and that is what makeup revolution gives to consumers. In any case, I wanted to compare the two palettes because I love warmed tones and couldn’t resist testing it out. After the disappointment of their concealer, I wanted to try a few other items form the brand.
First the claims on each: Time to get RELOADED! Our 15 shade eyeshadow palettes that are bound to pack a punch at an affordable price. Warm burnt shades for lovers of orange and burgandys, in a variety of matte and shimmer shades. Highly pigmented, long-wearing, smooth and blendable eyeshadow shades that will keep you on trend all year round. The price of this palette is 9.99 CAD on orabel.ca. Orabel is a great website to find makeup that isn’t easily accessible in Canada. The shipping was super fast too!
The naked heat claims: Urban Decay’s Naked Heat features all-new, amber-hued neutrals—including warm browns, burnt oranges, and rich siennas. Each shade features Urban Decay’s Pigment Infusion System™, a proprietary blend of ingredients that gives each shade its velvety texture, rich color, ultimate staying power, and blendability” . This palette is currently $66.00.
As you can see, these to have a similar description in that it is a warm-toned palette but the makeup revolution one does not blatantly state that it is duping and after all brands are free to create warm toned palettes as long as no copy writing is being infringed upon. I think that these have similar vibes.
The Comparison
The biggest differences I see in these palettes are the density of the shadows. The mattes and shimmers in the makeup revolution ones feel thinner than the naked heat shadows and apply with less pigment. The same goes for the shimmers, the ones in the makeup revolution palette are quite similar to the naked heat but again, the naked heat ones to pack a bit more of punch.
I think that price wise the makeup revolution palette is a nice affordable option for that same warm vibe that the naked heat gives you. The naked heat really for me, steals my heart in that I am an avid lover of the naked series. While I don’t own the newest one, as a collector of these particular palettes I would always choose the naked over the makeup revolution. Now, the lack of pigmentation in the matte shadows in the makeup revolution reloaded is actually welcomed so that you don’t overdo it and it doesn’t require as much blending to diffuse the colour as I enjoy doing in all my eyeshadow looks. However, I’d say if you have a darker skin tone then you would have to build up the mattes in the reloaded palette quite a bit.
The application
The application of the naked heat vs. the makeup revolution is different. The naked heat packs a punch essentially right away whereas with the makeup revolution I find you have to build it up a bit more to get that full opacity. I created two similar looks here. The makeup revolution also did not last as long as the naked heat after a 12 hour day. Granted what I used for primer was a matte foundation and even when I have worn the makeup revolution palette with a sticky primer they tend to fade more than the naked heat.
Is this a “dupe”
In the makeup world a dupe is a duplicate, generally intended to be a more affordable version of the high end version. In all cases of duping, this is a colour dupe if anything. The Makeup Revolution Reloaded palette definitely has similar shade colours, but the formula is very different. I think that is a great dupe and if you want that naked heat warm vibe this is a great affordable alternative!
Because I’m not sent anything, I obviously do not have EVERY drugstore concealer on the market for this post. However, I have quite a few concealers I’ve been collecting over the past 7 months, FOR SCIENCE. I wanted to give mini-reviews on each. I think it’s helpful to have a reference point for something that most people use in their daily lives, makeup lover or not. I ranked these concealers into three categories: the top, the middle and the bottom. Basically, the ones I love, the middle pack are ones that are alright and I may repurchase, and the bottom category are the concealers that I would not repurchase. Most of these are super similar from the top 5 to the middle pack, but I wanted to give the low down on why I love the ones I do and why I am not a fan of some others. I would eventually like to do this again with maybe high end or different concealers from the same brand! Who knows, those ideas are always brewing.
The Top Five
Maybelline age rewind. This has a newly expanded shade range so I feel more comfortable recommending this than say, the Annabelle or collection lasting perfection. This concealer is lightweight yet covers up dark circle in no time. It doesn’t look heavy under the eyes and stays all day. I have yet to find another concealer (other than at the moment the charlotte tilbury concealer) that is as good as this one.
The Joe fresh illuminating concealer. When I first tried this I didn’t use eye cream and I thought it was a drying concealer and gave it to my girl Kaitlin, who loved it. So since she loved it I decided about a year later to repurchased, at which point I had forayed into an eye cream. This is a beautiful light coverage concealer. I love the effect it gives my under eyes. The biggest con is there aren’t many shades, you’ll see this is a recurring theme in this post. This is a Canadian brand you can buy this at Loblaws and Superstore.
Collection lasting perfection concealer. WHY IS THIS ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE UK????? This is such great, full coverage, lightweight concealer. I really enjoy this. It blends out easily and brightens up your undereye in a non extremely stark way. However, again a huge drawback to a lot of these concealers is the shade range. Selfishly this work – but the drugstore needs to step up its game!
Maybelline Fit Me concealer. This is yet another amazing concealer from Maybelline. I also used this quite early on in my makeup years, and again I thought it was super drying and didn’t look nice under my eyes. Then I learned some makeup tips and rebought this for this post.
Revlon youth fx concealer. This concealer is very similar to the Maybelline age rewind. It is lightweight and has a lovely satin finish under the eye. I used this up awhile so it is an empty so alas I don’t have a photo for you. I would 100% repurchase this! Again shade range …
The middle pack
Annabelle perfect concealer. This is a great concealer from a Canadian brand. The shade range is such drawback. Even the shade I got isn’t necessarily what I would classify as fair light but alas it does match my skin tone so I usually just mix it if I want a brightening effect. I like this on those days I don’t want super brightened under eyes and want a nice light – medium coverage.
Revlon candid concealer. I really like this concealer. It is only in the middle of the pack because really this is on the same level for me as the Annabelle. I like the finish of this. It is has a nice satin finish under the eyes and lasts all day.
L’Oreal true match concealer. This concealer has similar vibes to the Maybelline age rewind. It really creates that brightened under eye effect which isn’t always the vibe I’m going for but I find it has very nice coverage. I think if I were to repurchase I would get one shade up to match me a bit more for a less brightened effect.
NYX HD concealing wand. This concealer was just okay for me. It has a pretty good shade range, but I find its a bit thick on my under eye. I find that by the end of the day this almost balls up instead of staying looking semi fresh until the end of a work day which is something I look for in concealer.
Rimmel lasting 25 hour breathable concealer. This isn’t the best… some days it works really well and other days it does not work at all. This concealer is difficult to blend out and it doesn’t wear well throughout the day.
The bottom pack
Colourpop no filter concealer. I know this is in my bottom three but I simply cannot make this work. I feel like this is a polarizing concealer, either people love it or leave it. I like to mix this in with concealers that are a bit of a darker shade if I want that brightening effect but on its own it is too stark for my liking. It has nice coverage but I find that even when I set it – it faded throughout the day.
Makeup revolution. This was the same vibe as the Colourpop but a bit more full coverage and a better shade match. This concealer is only at the bottom of the pack because I just don’t enjoy how much this creases throughout the day. This does last better throughout the day than the Colourpop.
Elf beautifully bare. I really wanted to like this but it just did not work for me. This has a waxy texture, and faded almost right away even when I set it with powder. It also kind of balled up b the end of the day which isn’t my favourite!
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