Review: Loreal "Magic Lumi" Collection (Foundation, Concealer, & Primer)

                     

Hey beauties I got a few requests to do a review on the Loreal Magic Lumi Light Infusing Primer so I decided to do the rest of the items in the "Magic Lumi" collection. I have a few products thrown into this review from other makeup lines to either prove a point, compare the two, or show you my application process necessities. If I leave anything out please don't hesitate to comment below with your questions or email me :)

Lets get started:

Foundation:

I recently purchased the foundation because almost all of my beauty gurus have it and love it...so why not?! And to be honest I couldn't find this shade (W 1-2) at a lot of locations and I stumbled upon it at Ulta a few weeks ago (seems to be a popular shade lol). The color is almost identical to my skin tone, which is a must for me, and it is very creamy & luminous. The creamy texture is my favorite part of the product because for my dry skin it does not latch onto dry patches (if I have any) and it goes on sooooo smoothly!!! 

Depending on the amount you use you can definitely achieve full-coverage which is convenient because if you use a small amount you get a tint and the more you use the more the color builds. It also does not cake up (another important quality). I would say you get a dewy finish out of this foundation because it is luminous and it also gives you a gorgeous glow!

P.S. I always where a primer under my foundation...I use the Illamasqua Hydra Veil Rehydrating Gel (I have a separate review solely on this product (http://fortheloveofmakeupbaby.blogspot.com/2014/01/illamasqua-hydra-veil-rehydrating-gel.html)

Primer:

As far as the primer I absolutely love it because I can mix it in with any foundation (pictures below) and it gives my dull foundations a luminous glow. It is also great to use on its own as a highlight because it doesn't really have color its more like shimmer because as you can see in my third picture above its still my skin tone color but with pearly shimmer...if that makes sense. 

I have also realized that the more you build  the product the more the color intensifies...like above I stacked up the color twice because one application wasn't really showing up. I also pat the color on my skin I don't swipe it on my face! 

You really need the smallest amount of this product because if you cake it on then you will have a awkward white shimmer! The amount above is perfect to mix in with foundation and to use alone as a highlighter (anywhere you normally highlight). 

The pictures above are to show you how extremely "glowy" your foundation will be if you add that much of the primer (btw that is one full pump of the primer...you would generally need 1/3 of that amount. As far as the foundation that is also 1 pump and I need about 3 pumps for a flawless medium-full coverage finish). 

I apply the foundation with this slanted buffing brush...I believe I got it off Ebay and it's great quality!

If you would like to know more about these brushes just comment below and I can go into detail about how and from who I bought it from.

This is the blended out look! As you can see its a gorgeous luminous glow!

If I ever want to use this foundation but I don't want such a dewy "wet" kind of look (or even such an intense glow) I use this powder. I apply it with my Estee Lauder brush above (it doesn't have a name I got it forever ago).

Funny story about this powder...I have had it for years and I recently rediscovered it in my makeup collection and decided to use it & I am obsessed I totally love how it mattifies this foundation (and all others) but doesn't take away from the luminosity (as you can see below). I also love that it doesn't accentuate my dry skin (including dry patches that I might have). 

The only con to this is that by the end of the day it starts to break apart and look really dry and ugly which is weird because it doesn't do that when I first apply it or a couple hours after applying. It happens if I have worn it for at least 7 hours and during that time I have not touched up. What I do when that happens is rehydrate my face with a facial spray or elixir such as my Caudalie Beauty Elixir or my Mario Badescu Facial Spray (which I will talk more about in my upcoming haul). 

As you can see even with the powder the foundation still has a little glow it just doesn't have a dewy look! 

Primer + Tarte Foundation:

So I tried the primer with a different (more yellow toned) foundation to see if it works well with other foundations and it definitely does! I did 1 pump of my Tarte foundation and about 1/3 of a pump of the primer and as you can see below it gives a beautiful glow to my dull yellow foundation, which by the way is about 2 shades darker than my skin tone. 

Here it is with the matte powder! I don't know if you can still see the glow in this picture but you definitely pick it up on your face.

Concealer:

As far as the concealer goes I do like it, I am almost out of it, but I wouldn't say that I would re-purchase it. I also have not used this product too much and I'm shocked to see that it is on the verge of finishing so I'm assuming there is very little product inside. 

The color itself has a hint of yellow and it has buildable coverage. It is a creamy product and it does have some luminosity to it, not too extreme though. The last picture above is only one application and the picture below is 2. 

If I want a brighter under eye I need to apply this product at least 2-3 times, because I am very pale! For someone who is a few shades darker the color is ideal but again you would need at least 2 application processes because one does not give you that much coverage (unless you don't need or want it). 

Comparison: 

In comparison to my all time favorite concealer/highlighter the Maybelline Age Rewind it does not stand a chance! I prefer the Maybelline because the color is more opaque and I like the consistency & texture of that product more. It is thicker but it's also creamy! I also think its more flattering than the magic lumi. Overall, I would definitely repurchase the Maybelline concealer and prefer it over my Loreal. 

I hope this review helped and again if there are any additional questions I did not cover please comment below or email me!

Email: fortheloveof_makeup@yahoo.com

Instagram: fortheloveofmakeupbaby

-Love Greta! Mwah!

Illamasqua Hydra Veil Rehydrating Gel Review!

Hello beauties, I hope you're all having a great week so far. This post is about my Illamasqua Hydra Veil Rehydrating Gel that I was raving about in my previous haul saying that I could not find it because it was sold out everywhere. Well about 2 weeks ago I was out with my girlfriend in Santa Monica (3rd St. Promenade to be exact lol) and we were roaming around Sephora when I saw only 2 of this left on the shelves! I grabbed it and ran to the counter. I was so excited and happy I finally found it that I did my makeup for 3 days straight just so I could use it....I'm not a freak I swear haha!

Now lets get into the product details:

I don't know about you guys but I have never tried a primer with a gel formula and this is definitely the most unique thing about this primer. 

How do I use this product:

I always moisturize my face (Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream 24-hour daily face moisturizer) prior to adding a primer. Depending on the thickness of my moisturizer and how fast it absorbs into my skin I always let my moisturizer sink into my skin for at least 10-15 minutes (again it depends on what you use) before I apply a face primer. Once that process is over with I apply this primer...a little goes a long way girls...I let this stay on my skin for at least a few minutes then I go about applying my foundation! I feel that this gives me a flawless foundation application every time. I have tried to moisturize, prime, and apply foundation one after another and it has no effect on my skin. This could be because of my skin type or it could be because I'm caking up my products. 

A tip I have for my ladies who aren't very dry is that this primer is intended to be part moisturizer part primer so technically you don't need to moisturize you can just apply the primer then your foundation...I do both steps because I need to! You just need to find what works for you!

Why I like this product?

If you guys follow my blog you know that I used to be obsessed with Too Faced Primed & Poreless (the original) as a primer. Don't get me wrong that is still a great primer but ever since I got my hands on this baby it just raised the bar for all primers! It is so extremely hard for someone with my skin type (dry & flakey) to get a flawless foundation finish let alone find any great face products (foundation, powders, and so on)...thats why I'm always trying something new out. When I realized that this product gives me flawless results every single time it changed my life...it sounds dramatic but its true. I no longer need to worry about heavily moisturizing my face hours prior to my makeup application or worrying if my foundation will go on flawlessly that day...yes these were big concerns of mine before I discovered this product! I can honestly say that I will repurchase this product over & over again! 

The only con to this is that it is SOLD OUT!

As I mentioned before I got this from Sephora but the only problem is not all Sephora locations even carry the brand Illamasqua, only the big ones. 

http://www.sephora.com/product/productDetail.jsp?keyword=ILLAMASQUA%20Hydra%20Veil%20Rehydrating%20Gel%20P379052&skuId=1513662&productId=P379052&_requestid=131007

You can ask to get an email when this item is back in stock otherwise, you'll need to try your luck at other locations!

As always I hope this post helped and comment below or send me an email with any questions!

Email: fortheloveof_makeup@yahoo.com

Instagram: fortheloveofmakeupbaby

-Love Greta! Mwah!

New Year...New Haul (Nars, Too Faced, Sephora, & MORE)!

Hello beauties, I hope you all had a wonderful New Year celebration and I wish you all health & happiness in 2014!!!!!! With that said lets get started on my massive New Year haul!

I have been MIA because I have been collecting all these new beauty products to feature in 1 post...to make all of your busy lives easier! I also must add that I apologize for the lack of blog posts but school began Jan. 6th and I haven't had a break to even catch my breath! I am swamped this quarter...just bear with me.

These 2 palettes are from Nordstrom and I got it as a Christmas gift. The eye shadow palette is not very pigmented unless you pack on the color which can take a while to do, and I find that it works best when you wet your brush so you cut down your application process! My favorite thing from the eyeshadow palette is the mini mascara it comes with... I really like it for my bottom lashes!

The lip palette comes with 3 creamy & pigmented shades of pink (don't mind my fingerprints in the palette lol). And the lipgloss is a sheer shimmery pink (it doesn't look so sheer in the picture because I packed the color onto my wrist).

The two palettes also came with brushes.

I also received this set from Burts Bees as a Christmas gift and I love this brand! I haven't tried anything but the lip balm (which I loveeeee)! It has a thick waxy consistency and it moisturizes well! 

I also like to keep the lotion handy in my backpack for emergencies!

I am a sucker for baked bronzer and this one got me good! It's a gorgeous gold bronze color perfect for a nice glow. This color can be used as a highlight for darker skin tones and for lighter skin tones (like me) I use a little all over my cheeks! A little goes a long way beauties, trust me this is really pigmented.

My graduation picture day was just last week and I was informed to use a foundation that did not have SPF (because the flash from the camera bounces off your face and makes you look scary white) and I realized all my foundations contain SPF. YAY another reason to buy new foundation lol! I ran to Sephora and tried out everything I had been meaning to try and came across this just as I was exiting the store with my purchases. I decided to try it on my hand and immediately loved it so I bought it. I am so surprised that this $20 foundation is probably my new favorite! It is so beautiful and flawless, especially for someone with dry skin like me!

It says that it's a 10 hour foundation but that didn't hold true for me, even though I set it with powder it began to wear off around my chin and nose area because I was touching it a lot that day...maybe thats the reason why but either way I still love this foundation! 

It is oil-free and it says that it's like second skin (meaning it blends in to look just like your natural skin) and that is not totally true because I find it to be a medium-full coverage foundation, which I don't mind because that is what I wanted! However, if you try using half a pump and really blend it into your skin I'm sure you can get a "second skin" result! 

For me one pump does the job because it is soooo creamy and creates a gorgeous glow. It is also true to my face color &  buff it into my skin with an angled kabuki brush!

Overall, this is my new favorite foundation without SPF hands down!

I recently purchased this product and really like it. I saw a difference with just one use!!!

It definitely does remove dirt and purify and for a drugstore product it gets 2 thumbs up!

I absolutely love Freeman products they are so inexpensive and of great quality!

OMG this palette is everything!!!! It is my new obsession and I have not put it down since! Too Faced can never do wrong by me I swear, they are amazing! The colors are so creamy and so pigmented. This palette especially has the most unique colors and I will not say more because I am working on some makeup looks to feature in a separate blog post featuring this beauty!

Stay tuned :)

As most of my readers know I am a huge Nars fan but this product threw me off guard! This was the other foundation I purchased (without SPF) to use for my graduation picture and I am warning all my dry skin girls now...IT IS NOT FOR DRY SKIN! It seriously clung onto my dry patches and accentuated it even more! It looks gorgeous on my hand as I blended it out but horrible on my face. 

In general it is a sheer natural foundation however, it is buildable. It has a dewy finish and a gorgeous glow! It is also really creamy, which is why I was shocked as to why it didn't work out for my skin but oh well! Anyways, I would suggest this for someone who does not have dry skin like me and wants a natural coverage. I ended up returning this product!

I got this Buxom lipgloss "Katie" as one of my 100 point perks from Sephora and it's just another sheer shimmer gloss! All of Buxom's lip products have a plumping & moisturizing effect including this one! It has a thick consistancy (which I like) and it isn't sticky! It also feels very cool on the lips, almost like a gel!

I came across this product at the drugstore and was blown away by the packaging. I have never seen such neat packaging from a drugstore product...like ever! It was so cute I had to try it lol! I got the only color that was left on display "Nude Glow"and I think it is the only color they have! Anyways this whole "Nude" line they have going on has the cutest packaging, similar to the MAC Rihanna ones except with bows! 

So the point of this is to conceal & highlight leaving a skin-glowing finish! As far as concealing, it does not do its job. I have purple veins that you can see under my eyes and it did not cover those veins. As far as highlighting it was too dark for my skin tone so it did not highlight. And as far as giving me a glow it totally did that lol, it gave a subtle glow! I don't dislike his product but I would not repurchase it thats for sure. I can use it over my concealer to give me a glow but that's about all. If anyone has beige skin (a shade or 2 darker than the color above) you will love this for highlighting otherwise don't be fooled by the packaging! 

A month or so ago I had accumulated about 600 Sephora points and decided to use 500 of it on this Dolce & Gabbana set, which I regretted immediately after lol! I hate perfume samples because I never use them so I have no idea why I even bothered to get this! 

The set came with a cute burgandy clutch, 2 perfume samples, and an eyeliner. The eyeliner is not creamy so it is a little difficult to apply because you have to go over it a couple times to get a nice pigmented line. The color is a bronze (almost rose-gold) shade with shimmer, not very universal but definitely unique! It comes with a smudger on the opposite end of the pencil, which to be honest I find no point in because it is literally a rubber tip (exactly like a cuticle pusher). I used it to smudge out the pencil on my hand and it took all the shimmer away (as you can see in the picture)...pointless!

This was a waste of points! 

It's safe to say I love this brush duo! I love that it comes with instructions & tips..very useful for anyone who might be intimidated by the brushes and the shapes. 

I use the left one to do a cut-crease (or to define my crease) and I use the right one on my outer V to blend out any colors! the right brush which is said to be an all over shader brush is a bigger version of my Stila #5 brush. The left brush says it is a cat-eye eyeliner brush but I find that it is more useful for defining the eye because of the brush length!

I ordered this product from Sephora a few weeks ago because I am almost out of all my foundation. I got the lightest shade and it is way to yellow for my face so I really have to blend it down to my neck. The packaging is neat it's in a matte glass bottle and has a pump...1 pump does the job! It is thick & creamy. The reviews on Sephora raved that it is compatible with dry skin but I wouldn't totally agree because it does tend to latch onto dry spots, I have to make sure my face is heavily exfoliated, moisturized & primed! The foundation is also supposed to be 12-hour and it does seem to do the job...I have wore it for 5 hours max and I did not need to reapply (except around my nose which is normal for me regardless of the foundation). What I find interesting is that there is hints of shimmer and a glow coming from the foundation, but it's not very obvious. It also has a smooth finish to it!

Overall, I only use this for events or during nighttime because it is really yellow and in my opinion doesn't look pretty in natural light! And I need to make sure my face has been exfoliated and primed to get a flawless application!

A week or so ago I got samples of these 2 products and am dying to purchase the real thing!

First off, the creator of Glam Glow is a skin care god! Ladies, whoever created this is a freaking genius! It is an amazing product! It does tingle which feels a little comfortable cause it feels like your face is going to burn off but it's worth it lol because you see results right away! No joke, right away! No wonder it has a beauty award. It is better than my Botanics Conditioning Clay mask, which you guys know I swear by! Anyways, I will have a full review once I purchase the product!

The second product, the Illamasqua Hydra Veil Rehydrating Gel, is seriously another genius creation! It is part primer part hydrator and it works! All my dry skin ladies get on this product now! I love my Too Faced Primed & Poreless but I feel like this works even better, I still need to use it a few more times once I purchase the full thing...which might I add is SOLD OUT everywhereeeeeee...but so far telling from the sample its my new fav!

Stay tuned!!!

P.S. this post took me like 2 days to write because I've been so busy...sorry beauties!

As always I hope you guys enjoyed this post & if you have any questions you can comment below or email me!

Email: fortheloveof_makeup@yahoo.com

Instagram: fortheloveofmakeupbaby 

-Love Greta! Mwah!