Makeup

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer

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Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer, $29
pic from the NARS Instagram

I neglected to give NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer a shot, dismissing its praise as fangirl hype. As one of the higher-priced prestige (not quite luxury) concealers out there, it was low on my list.

Then, fortunately, Sephora started carrying a travel size. What better way to try NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer than to pay only $12 (.05 oz) for a tube rather than $29 (.22 oz)? Sure, the price-to-product ratio is better in the full-sized, but it takes me forever to get through concealer. This time, overall value loses out to gross spend.

Shades

The diminutive tube only comes in Vanilla and Custard. The two, respectively, are the second- and sixth-lightest in the line. Overall, the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer line features sixteen shades, including five deeper ones that would suit some people of color. As for me, I picked up Custard – a yellow-toned concealer for light-to-medium tones.

My gripe with the line? Make some of the travel sizes for people of color, damn it.

More after the jump.

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Paradise Lost, Foundation Found

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sephoraserumRIP

My heart hurts. If you’ve been reading for a while, do you remember how over-the-moon excited I was when I found Sephora’s serum foundation? If you weren’t around, the excitement was so intense that it was camping.

But, naturally, all good things must come to an end.

Paradise Lost

I was in Sephora and saw a few of the precious, ridiculously-dropped-topped bottles on their neglected clearance end-cap. I panicked, and rummaged through the bottles to find my shade. I’d settle for not-my-shade-but-close. Nothing. Upon returning home, I raced to the website. Clearanced, $11, my shade and everything close-ish is sold out.

My half-hearted, half-assed search for foundation was reawakened with new vigor. My bottle of Teint Infusion is on its last legs. 

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Labor Day

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I’m giving myself a day off. I hope you have one to enjoy; if not, I hope you have one soon. For today, some more tidbits.

  • The Urban Decay Electric Palette is on clearance at Macy’s for only $24. Tempting.
  • I have a dream that we live in a world where Sephora does Labor Day sales.
  • Speaking of sales, Ulta is doing another 21 Days of Beauty. Today, they have Becca Luminous Blush and IT Cosmetics eyeliner on sale. Truth be told, though, I’m kind of underwhelmed. I will probably pick up two more Clarisonic brush heads on the 16th, though.
  • In 2015 around now, I talked about my experience with makeup sales people. I did visit this past week, though, and had a far more real, sincere experience. Got color matched, got zero false-flattery BS.
  • I tried out the L’Oreal Infallible Pro-Matte AND Pro-Glow foundations. They wear well, but I haven’t found the right colors for me. How I wish drugstore items had testers – they’d probably lose less money if they did (rather than some asshat choosing to treat stock as their own tester).
  • Happily, I can report that my hair is NOT losing its mind after several months of primarily using Tigi Moisture Maniac.
  • The red Stridex Pads are still treating my skin kindly, too!
  • Beauty Retailers are going to start stocking their Holiday 2016 sets soon. How crazy is that? I won’t buy any of the holiday palettes, but there’s definitely value in some of the other kits.
  • I finally remembered to redeem my Play! Pass and got my extra 50 Beauty Insider points.
  • I’m in desperate need of a DIY Pedicure and plan to give myself one today.

If you do have the day off for Labor Day, what will you spend it doing?

Cheers.

Naked2, Bought & Sold

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naked2Urban Decay Naked2, $54

Urban Decay Naked was my second-ever palette. I still have it, and I baby the hell out of it because it is delightful. Last October, I bought Naked2. As far as I could tell, my collection wasn’t rife with dupes (except for Half Baked, but I’m okay with this).

Last Friday, I sold it. I never even took swatch photos for the blog because I hadn’t grown to love it.

I picked it up that same morning to do a look, thinking, “This hasn’t been touched this in months.” After doing my makeup and examining my work with the cooler, smoky tones, I decided I was over it. An hour later, I took usage photos, sanitized it, and listed it for sale. The palette was claimed within the next few hours, and mailed out to its new (excited to own it) home the next day.

The colors are pretty, but the majority of the cool shades aren’t pretty on me. That’s ultimately the deal-breaker here; I’m not a professional makeup artist, I don’t need to keep products that don’t flatter me.

What I Didn’t Love about Naked2

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