Tarte Maracuja Cheek Tint

I was reading Vivianna Does Makeup's Tarte, Tarte, and More Tarte, when I remembered: wait, I love Tarte products too! So I rushed over to Sephora's website and discovered this gem on sale for $10.

I'm pretty sure it's being discontinued, but to me this looks like one of those seriously misunderstood products.

This is meant to be a cheek stain. Not just a typical blush. From reviews I've read, you use a tiny dot, blend quickly, and the sheer color will stain your cheeks and last all day.  This cheek stain meets a lot of my requirements for loving a product: minimal packaging (with a pump to boot), long-lasting, cream/liquid formula, highly pigmented, and natural-looking.

I just finished ordering mine and wanted to share before this beautiful product goes out of stock.  I got mine in Sheer Red, but it also comes in Light Pink and Light Nectar.  Which color do you think would suit you best?

This product is probably going to reignite my love for Tarte (I already have my eye on this, this, and this) and I'm looking forward to some new finds.

Katie

My Skincare Philosophy

My skincare philosophy is simple: problematic skin is sensitive skin.

No matter what issue you suffer from - acne, rosacea, psoriasis, dehydration, enlarged pores, hyperpigmentation, premature aging - it is important to remember that there is a cause behind these issues. The only way to eliminate your skincare as a potential culprit is to use skincare built for sensitivities.

Below are my five tips to be sensitive to your skin.

Fall Nail Polish

Fall is definitely my favorite season.  It's never too hot, almost never too cold, but there's that distinct crispness to the air.

One of my beauty-related reasons to love Fall is: Fall Nail Polish.  Truthfully, the shades I wear on my nails year round are Autumnal. I just like them better (or maybe I just want it to be Fall year-round).

So here are some nail polish options for my favorite colors this Fall.

Navy Blue

Butter London: Royal Navy, Essie: After School Boy Blazer, Rimmel: Aye Aye Sailor, Julep: Char, L'Oreal: After Hours

Green

Butter London: Bossy Boots, Essie: Vested Interest, Zoya: Hunter, Revlon Colorstay: Spanish Moss, Maybelline Color Show: Tenacious Teal

Red Black 

Barry M: Red Black, L’Oreal: Haute Couture Red, Chanel: Rouge Noir, Essie: Wicked, Covergirl: Wine Stain

 Nude

Essie: Balley Slippers, Covergirl: Forever Frosted, Wet N Wild Megalast: 2% Milk, L’Oreal: Sweet Nothings, Julep: Clara

 Chocolate Brown

Chanel: Particuliere, Zoya: Louise, Sally Hansen: Mudslide, Julep: Olivia, Revlon: Foxy

The variety of nail polishes available is amazing.  There is sure to be something to suit everyone's style.

I hope this post encourages you to branch out of your nail polish comfort zone and try a new color. Or if you're like me and this post epitomizes your favorite colors, then just enjoy yourself this Fall :)

Katie

PS Leave this on your cuticles for a minute, then scrape it and all your cuticles off with ease.

International Wishlist

I've been thinking a lot lately about travel - where I want to travel to, what I to see when I'm there - and it got me thinking about all the beauty products I would want to pick up abroad.  I constantly read product picks from bloggers in countries other than the US and I've developed a pretty long wish list. Here are a few:

TED Talks

Remember when TED Talks were all the rage two years ago? Or maybe that was just my experience: I was a college freshman and newly-empowered teenagers love showing their friends things that make them look smart for having discovered it.

I remember my friends showed me bands that were too obscure for me to know, their favorite directors (because knowing anyone besides the cast in a movie is very impressive), how race relations could be summed up in a pithy yet poignant meme, and the best TED Talks.

I bought in completely to the TED Talk craze.  I didn't spend as many hours pouring over TED Talks as some of my college colleagues, but I did really enjoy the ones I did watch. I found my favorites and I would look up the speaker, make note of his or her book (almost every speaker had written at least one book) and add it to my amazon cart to buy and read later.

For your weekend.

Have a little fun this weekend.  Cool off with a snowcone.

I'll be waiting for Illamasqua's Cream Pigment in Hollow to come back in stock (the perfect cream bronzer).

How to find happiness: a cartoon (the quote is from this speech).

Pumpkin pie in a mug.

Captures one of those ineffable qualities of being a New Yorker.

I'm going to make whipped coconut oil body butter this weekend.

Putin wrote an article for the NY Times about Syria.

Charlie Rose interviewed the President of Syria about the use of chemical weapons.

The distinction between journalism and international diplomacy seems to be fading.

I can't stop listening to Anathallo's The River.

Katie

Photo from the wonderful Snobama Tumblr.

Buxom Full-On Lip Stick in Shanghai

I wanted to do a quick review of this lip stick because it's one of those random products that I own that I have heard nothing about on the internet.  It was a gift from a friend and she doesn't have the unhealthy obsession that I have with beauty blogs, but she does see how I wear my makeup.  So she chose a product I've never heard of, but she nailed the color choice.  It is definitely my favorite shade in my possession.

I was trying to swatch it, but the pictures I took didn't do it justice.  It's a very purple lipstick, but it works for someone with light cool tone skin like me, and I imagine it would greater for deeper skintones as well.  Plus, the blue undertone makes your teeth look really white.

It's sort of a cross between a jumbo lip pencil and a lipstick with a very matte and long-lasting finish.  It's an automatic roll-up with a built-in sharpener in the bottom making the application very simple and precise.

This is not a particularly moisturizing or easy to apply product.  It's the kind of lipstick that takes a few minutes to get on in the morning, but the result is a bold, long-lasting color that only requires touch ups after eating. My perfect formula.

It retails for $19 at Sephora, but you can get it in various shades in value kits (Barcelona in this one).  I've got my eye on Tokyo and Havana, but I doubt any shade will ever live up to Shanghai.

Katie