Beauty Minimalism as a Beauty Blogger

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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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Drugstore Hero Products

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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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Cheekbone Beauty Brand Review

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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:

Liquid Lipstick in Melina, Lip gloss in Sundance
Swatches of the stardust highlighting palette

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Makeup Revolution Reloaded vs. Naked Heat

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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.

MR means Makeup Revolution and UD means Urban Decay

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

Right is urban decay and left is Makeup Revolution

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!