I ultimately decided to go with this because I liked the way it looked on my skin better, and that it matched my face better than the Lancome Tient Vissionaire. SO basically it was because Maxwell was right. Of course he was right, he’s always right.

I have incredibly oily skin, that even the most mattifying foundation has trouble keeping in line. So I usually tend to go for a Dewy finish foundation. I know most oily girls stay away from Dewy or Glowy foundations but hear me out, since my face gets oily anyway, if I use a matte foundation then when my foundation inevitably succumbs to the oil on my skin and goes patchy or shiny then it’s extremely noticeable and looks really odd. But if I’m already wearing a Dewy foundation, then my skin just looks more Dewy rather than patchy and oily.

Plus I like the Dewy finish. It makes my very pale skin look healthy and that’s something I need. Because pale skin that doesn’t look glowing and healthy looks sickly and scary. So even when I use a mattifying foundation I find myself using a lot of highlight to add some glow back into my face.

Personally I don’t have any issues with the staying power of this foundation. It last for about 5 hours on my skin with no powder, and almost double that if I use powder in the morning and touch up about halfway through.

However I feel like the Makeup Forever HD powder doesn’t work well with this foundation and gives my skin a sort of funny finish so if you have any recommendations let me know.

*That photo is from this post, I am wearing a Loft Sweater, Infinity Scarf I knit myself, Madewell Sunglasses. On my Face: Nars Sheer Glow, Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer, Makeup Forever Setting Powder, Benefit Benetint, Lancome Color Design Eyeshadows, Benefit They’re Real Mascara and Benefit Watts Up

Bonus Note: I took the product photos you see here! I’m so proud of how they turned out. After my photographer Husband edited them of course.

I know I’ve mentioned Emi-Jay hair ties a lot. I kinda can’t help it, I’m absolutely obsessed with them. I’ve tried the ones from Sephora, Twistbands and even ones that my dollar store was selling that looked similar.

None of them have come close. None. I don’t know why these are better, they just are. I’m certain the other companies making them use similar, if not the exact same materials, but Emi-Jay just seems to do it better. They’re about the same price as Twistbands and the Sephora ones too.

Of course it could be the Hippie in me, that’s mostly hidden by all my consumerism. Because Emi-Jay give money to Operations Smile, Be The Match, Step Up Women’s Network, and Project Knapsack. Any one of these charities would have been an admirable choice, but these girls chose to donate 20% of their procedes to split between them all.

Oh yeah, I said girls. Emi-Jay was started by two 8th graders in the Jay part of Emi-Jay, Julianne’s Kitchen. The Emi part of course stands for Emily. They got tired of no damage hair ties that still damaged their hair, and decided there was a better solution, so they found it. And they managed to make a successful business out of it, one that has Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Katie Holmes and Kim Kardashian as loyal clientele.

Another thing that I adore is the variety that they come in, printed, beaded and now bows. Bonus they totally have headbands. I haven’t tried them yet, but I am absolutely desperate to. I adore that they’re made with the same size band as the hair ties. Twistband uses a thinner band for their headbands, I have some that I got from Birchbox and I hate them. The thinner twistband actually causes dents.

Everytime I get my hair done, my hairdresser always comments on the fact that I don’t have split ends or breakage, despite the fact that I constantly am throwing my hair up in a messy bun. I don’t use heat on my hair often so that will cover the split ends, but I completely attribute the lack of breakage to the fact that I only use Emi-Jay hair ties.

At the end of one of my many shopping trips to Sephora I spotted the Korres Greek Yogurt Lactic Acid Sleeping Facial as one of the 100 pt perks and decided that I should try it, so I picked up two.

I haven’t even made it through my first one yet entirely because you don’t need very much of this at all. This is sort of a treatment and moisturizer all in one and I both love and hate it, but I think I might need to use it differently and that might fix the hate it part. But I’ll get to that at the end.

Whenever I use this the next morning my skin is glowing and bright looking, like I’m well rested. However it seriously makes the acne I have angry, and I usually get a few more blemishes popping up in the areas that I usually break out. I’m not entirely sure why that is. I don’t know if I just haven’t used this enough so my skin isn’t used to it yet, or if I should be using the Wild Rose version of this product, which is what I suspect since I’ve used the moisturizer version of that before and found it to be absolutely lovely. The blemishes don’t usually stick around for longer than a day or two though so it isn’t that bad.

I think I might be using it wrong because I put it on after my regular moisturizer and I think I should either be using it before or instead of.

Final Verdict? I like this product, I might purchase the full size once I finally manage to get my skin under control.

From Sephora I bought the Fresh Umbrian Clay Mask, 2 L’Occitane Hand Creams in Hibiscus Flower and Mango Flower and since I spent more than $45 I got the Benefit Loves VIB’s kit which has Bad Gal Lash, Sugarbomb Lipgloss and Sunbeam.

From Target I got a white pair of mid-rise Mossimo Supply Shorts, a Tank  and Chambray Shirt from the new Feed USA+Target collaboration.

I know I talk a lot about wanting to visit France or move to Britain, but I do care about the country I live in now. Not only that, but I have a soft spot for “buy this and donate money to this” type things. I mean why wouldn’t you, if you were going to buy it anyway? Companies like Sevenly, which do a weekly set of items and $7 of your purchase goes to the charity they’re supporting that week, get me everytime. If I plan to buy a graphic tee I will almost always buy it from Sevenly.com  Which is why I’m completely obsessed with all of the Feed USA things at Target. I want it all and I can’t even ride a bike.

If you’re confused on what Feed USA is, it’s a charity that provides meals to American school children and family’s in need. It’s a charity that I support wholeheartedly, and I have purchased something from one of their collabs before, I just dunno what I’ve done with it. Sometimes the only meals a child gets a day are the ones they get from school, Feed USA makes sure they get that. Feed also partner’s with other countries and their goal is to end hunger world wide.

The only issue is I don’t know if I can do a proper review on these products, because you see I’m already almost out of the Cleanser and halfway through the Toner. And I shouldn’t be, because according to Sephora I purchased the Cleanser on the 4th of June and the Toner on the 9th of June. Frankly this makes me flat angry, because for $32 and $24 respectively I should not be running out of either product. This is why I’m “reviewing” them together. I just don’t have enough to say about each for a full post on their own.

The Cleanser is what really baffles me, a little bit goes a long way, but the top of my package is leaky, so maybe that’s where it’s all going. It lathers well but isn’t bubbly and is lovely to use with my Clarisonic. I really enjoy the way it smells. It’s sort of gel like and I feel it’s more like a medicinal type cleanser than a luxurious cleanser. Just a get the job done type thing, where as the Caudalie cleanser and the Liz Earle cleanser just feel amazing.

The toner however, I know exactly why I’m halfway through it. It says to use two pumps on a cotton ball or cotton round, and then swipe over your face. The problem with this is 2 pumps barely covers my forehead and I don’t exactly have a big head or anything. I end up using 5 or 6 pumps on a cotton round. It’s sort of a non-scent in that I don’t really notice the smell of it. It does sting if you’ve got a sore bit or an open blemish. Other than that, I don’t have anything else to say about it. I wish you didn’t have to use so much of it so it would have last me longer, because I do like it.

Have you tried these Kate Somerville products? Am I judging them to harshly?

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If you’re wondering where the rest of my normal posts have been, well my son is out of school for summer. Then add in that I’ve been trying to cram in 3 seasons of True Blood before this season started, I just didn’t find the time to blog. But things will be back to normal soon. I swear, I have a Sephora Haul coming this week. The photos have already been taken, they’re just waiting to be edited. Add in that I’ve got tons of reviews on all the things I’ve bought to do and I shouldn’t be hurting for content for a while.

I’m also thinking of expanding my subject matter a bit, to cover things like shows, books and food. I know I’ve touched on all those things in the past, but a lot of time I’m lazy in getting my 3 or 4 posts up a week because I’m flat out of ideas. This blog is meant to be about Fashion… And Happy Things. Food makes me happy, television makes me happy, and books make me really happy, but how do you guys feel about that?

From my Mother’s Day Post: Howl Says BYE!

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When I did my big Sephora Haul at the beginning of the year I purchased the Caudalìe Cleansing Water and the Caudalìe Gentle Cleanser

Since I already had those and my skin liked them, I decided to make most of my routine Caudalìe. So I placed and order at both Caudalìe and Sephora to make sure I got the most bang for my buck, since they were each having shipping deals. If I’m ordering around, not only do I compare the cost of the items I’m buying but I also factor in the shipping. If an item is $30 at one place and $32 at another but the first website charges $10 for shipping and the second charges $5 then even though the product is more expensive at the second place you’re getting the cheapest price. With these orders I was trying to meet their free shipping marks since I was ordering everything anyway, but Sephora was sold out of one of the products.

First up is my order from Caudalìe.com. Isn’t the packaging amazing?:

Samples of the Premier Cru Eyecream, Vinoperfect Serum and Vinoexpert Radiance Day Fluid with SPF 15

I ordered the Moisturizing Toner,

 the purifying Mask,

 and finally the Lip Conditioner.

The Moisturizing  toner is nice, you only need one pump depending on how you use it. I love the smell and it feels very soothing on my face.
The Purifying mask is probably one on of my all time favorite masks and is well worth the $40 I paid for it. I love the way it smells on my skin, I love that even though it’s a clay mask it never hardens or makes your skin feel overly tight. And the smell, some people may not like the smell but I adore it. It’s very herbal and spa like. I will be repurchasing this, as soon as I run out of this. I love what it does to my skin and how it soothes my angry red spots, and even if I don’t stick with this routine forever, this will always be in my collection of skincare products. It’s such a treat to use and I want to use it every night.
I’ve had the Lip Conditioner before and my Husband swiped it, so I decided to order myself another one. Turns out he’d run out of his and stole this one too. It’s probably one of my favorite things to use from Caudalìe and I will be purchasing myself another one soon while his is still close to full. The Tubes last ages (apparently our puppy got a hold of the last tube he’d had, but that was actually my fault.), and it is the best thing for that horrible chapping you get in the winter.

 From Sephora I ordered the VinoSource Moisturizing Sorbet,

 and DermaDoctor’s Ain’t Misbehavin’.

 I really like this moisturizer, of course the scent is lovely being that it’s from Caudalìe and I only need a bit to cover my entire face and feel completely moisturized. It’s definitely another winner.
Ain’t Misbehavin’ was recommended to me by a lovely lady who works at the Sephora in Crestview Hills who has similar skin issues as me. I kinda love it so far. I use it as a mini mask for just 3 minutes or so every morning, putting a thin layer all over my face and a thicker layer over my problem areas. My skin’s not perfect yet, but I’ve only been using this for a few weeks and I am already seeing results.

This isn’t actually my complete skincare routine, I’m slowly building it. I’ll be changing the cleanser, probably just to a different Caudalìe one, because I’m almost out of the Gentle Cleanser, which is now called the Gentle Cleansing Milk, and adding in a Retinol to help more with my acne and a Sunscreen because the SPF in my foundation isn’t going to be strong enough with the addition of the Retinol. Currently I’m trying out samples of both of the last two products and will be deciding which one to get very soon. S

Honestly it’s a bit out of my way, but between Maxwell and Aimee, this Sephora is definitely my favorite and is well worth the few minutes extra drive.

 I bought another YSL Volupte Sheer Candy, A Sephora Professional Fan Brush and a Murad Moisturizer with SPF 20.

There’s no close up of the Brush so I’ll talk about that now. This is the brush that my favorite Sephora guy, Maxwell, used on me when he applied the Nars Deep Throat, and he recommended I buy it, but I didn’t, and then for a few weeks I’ve regretted it. It only took me a couple tries to learn to use it properly, but now I don’t think I’ll ever use anything else to apply blush. It’s the absolute best my blush has ever looked.

The Murad Anti-Aging Moisturizer for Blemish Prone Skin with SPF 20 was a necessity. I’m crazy pale, ya know in case you hadn’t noticed before, and have sensitive skin with acne issues and hyper pigmentation which is only made worse by the sun. Also at 26 I am not getting any younger. Since I needed a new sunscreen and have been doing a month long test on Murad products anyway, I figured this couldn’t hurt to try. So far I’m fan.

 Then, as Fleur De Force would say, I made a cheeky little YSL purchase. I absolutely adore the Volupte Sheer Candy Glossy Balm that I already have, so I just had to pick up another. This time I got (insert drum roll here)

#4 Succulent Pomegranate. This is what I was wearing in yesterday’s Stylish Sunday Post, and I’m completely in love with it. It’s definitely bolder than #9 Cool Guava, but it is stunning. I really love bright lip colors, because they make me so happy. I can promise that this will be my color of summer. I’m so in love with it.

The boxes you see in the background are actually part of how I store my nail polish. If you’re interested I’ll do a post on that in the future.

See I told you this was a very small haul. Just a couple things I needed, and a little bit of luxury.

I don’t know many girls that aren’t lip product junkies. I certainly am. So it’s was probably no surprise when I picked up a YSL Volupte Sheer Candy Glossy Balm in #9 Cool Guava a couple weeks ago at Sephora.

I just couldn’t help it, I mean look at how gorgeous the packaging is:

 

 and the color is just absolutely beautiful:

 

Cool Guava is a light natural pink that is really glossy. Sort of the perfect cross between a lipstick and a lipgloss. It also feels amazing on the lips, is moisturizing, doesn’t sink into fine lines (which I have a lot of) and stays put for quite awhile. Even a few hours later the gloss was faded but the color was still there, and that was after I ate. I’d say it wears pretty true to color when you factor in that it’s a sheer lip product.

I’m completely in love with this and I can promise you’ll be seeing more of the Volupte Sheer Candy Glossy Balm’s in the future. I’ve already got my eye on #4 Succulent Pomegranate.