Mediocre Week in Makeup

It's been a blah week here in Lululand. Tested something new everyday and nothing rocked my world. Normally, I'm very deliberate about my testing making it almost a game to find the best way to use a product or the best pairing to help the new product perform. This, week not so much. I was all over the board.

OPI's answer to gel polish systems launched recently and I bought the three products: base, color, and gel top coat. OPI, what are you thinking? The point of a gel polish, aside from shine and durability, is that it "cures" or dries in a flash. The point of this second generation of gel systems is that you don't need a UV or LED  light to cure them.  This took forever to dry and then after forever, it still wasn't dry. The shine looked glorious but I finally had to apply one of my quick dry top coats, NYC In a New York Minute, so the dings would stop. Plus I had to get to bed and wanted avoid those dreaded sheet marks. Although In a NY Minute has a great shine, the OPI gel shine really had a WOW factor and applying the fast dry top coat brought the shine down a bit.

I'm not a gel manicure kind of girl. I like to change my polish often, durability is not important to me. For some peculiar reason, my nails don't chip even if I keep my polish on for a week. Pampering and my "this girl does not do dishes" policy both help. But I love the shine and the luscious looking depth of a gel manicure. My search continues. P.S. I've tried L'oreal and Sally Hansen but didn't like the color part of their systems.

Tried out the new Smashbox primer spray thing. Let me go look for the real name. Talk amongst yourselves. I'm back. Smashbox Photo Finish Primer Water spray. I have to do a better test of this but test round it made my skin slippery. It's a spray so I held a wash cloth over half my face and misted the other side. I try to do side by side road tests whenever possible to get a truer result. My preference is to start my face routine

with under eye brightener and concealer, most apply this after their foundation. Not me. I applied my concealer and could not get it to stick to my skin. It slid right along with my finger. I tried patting. It bounced off my skin and right back onto my finger. The mist took forever to dry on my face. Maybe I sprayed too much. I waited a bit long before applying my foundation which helped. But who has 10 minutes for primer to dry? At the end of the day, the misted side of my face did not look any different than the non-misted side. The thing with a mist is that it does zero to smooth the skin. I like my primers to smooth my skin, blur those pores, fill in some lines. Should have thought about that fact before I bought this. Have a feeling this is getting returned.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Waterproof Mascara was a huge disappointment. Mascara does not flake or smudge or transfer on me. First, nail polish does not chip and now mascara does not smudge. Don't hate me. The Estee Lauder Double Wear Waterproof, which I would expect to wear like iron, flaked! I thought maybe it was weather. Windchills were -30. Maybe the mascara froze while I walked across the parking lot and then thawed at the office and same on the way back home. Am I making up chemical makeup science? I tried it the next day. Flaked again. I found it quite fascinating.

Even a new (to me) candle from Bath and Body Works was a fail. Scent is personal and personally the  Marshmallow Fireside made me turn green. I didn't pick up even a smidge of marshmallow. The fireside notes were more like an Abercrombie & Fitch store. Bad, expensive memories. Not my kind of scent. I like fruity or bakery scents when it comes to wax. Most reviews on this mentioned the gooey marshmallow notes. Not to my nose!

The week was not a complete fail. I had two shining stars. First was Maybelline's Fit Me Poreless and Matte foundation. Lovely coverage, blended easily, wore the entire workday, blotted once about mid-day, natural not too matte finish. A winner for my foundation drawer. Second was the new L'Oreal Infallible Pro-Last Lipcolor. Make sure you use the balm side, it's a critical component for comfort and wear. These wear like iron but use the balm side!

Color 109 Toujour Teaberry

 How was your week in makeup?

Cheers,

Lulu
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