Quick Target haul

Hey guys!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I've been a little sick and lost my voice for a couple days, but it's slowly coming back!

I've needed to go to Target to get more moisturizer for a couple weeks now and finally got the time to go.

And, of course, you guys know how it is - you go to Target only needing to get a few specific things but leave with more than you needed. It's always the case. Fortunately, though, it made for a good little haul post.

ELF Makeup Mist & Set Spray - I've read plenty of reviews on this and I've been wanting to try a setting spray for a while now. It doesn't smell that amazing, but I'm hoping it works wonders on keeping my makeup perfect all day.

Ponds Dry Skin Cream - I actually have oily skin, but I use this moisturizer at night. I tried my mom's before I moved and when I woke up, my skin was so soft and bright and wonderful looking. I am in love with this stuff. 

Garnier Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel-Cream - This is the moisturizer that I use during the day. It smells great, feels great, and is perfect for oily skin. It reminds me of the Clinique Moisture Surge gel moisturizer, but much cheaper!

Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hour foundation - After hearing Emily Eddington (emilynoel83 on Youtube, or maybe better known as Beauty Broadcast) rave about this foundation, I definitely wanted to try this! Let's see how it compares to my beloved Revlon Colorstay.

Maybelline Color Tattoos (Bold Gold, Tough as Taupe, Bad to the Bronze) - Everyone and their mother has tried these, reviewed them, and raved about them. This is my first time trying them. I stopped myself from getting more than three.

If you want me to review any of these, please let me know in the comment section below! I feel like I haven't done any reviews in a long time. 

Also, have you tried any of these products? Loved/hated? Let me know!

You can always join me on Twitter and Instagram @jessiefrancaise

To all the Jews out there - L'SHANA TOVA and a very happy new year!!

LOTD and another Target visit

Hey guys! I really meant it when I said I was back and that I was going to be posting a lot ;)

I'll start off by talking about my ELF/Target woes...
One of the ELF liquid liners I got in this haul was leaking from the bottom when I opened it... not good. So I took pictures of it, saved it, etc. to be able to exchange it out for another one. I've never had this problem before, so it's not like one leaky liner will completely change my opinion of the product.

Also, I had gotten one of the purple cream liners by ELF and at the time, when I opened it it was completely dried out. Well, I figured I would try it out and see if it worked. I wanted to use it today, but I couldn't use it at all. At the time, I didn't even think about returning it or anything (I bought it at Target), but today I decided I would try, along with the other eyeliner.

So I go to Target in the pouring rain, equipped with my two defective ELF liners. The guy at customer service was so nice and helpful! I didn't even need to show him the pictures of the liquid eyeliner all over my hand or have the cream eyeliner in the original packaging! All I had to do was go get two new ones and show my ID. Piece of cake.

Needless to say I'm a much happier woman now as I love my liquid liner and I really wanted that purple liner to work.

But please know that these are the only two products I have ever tried by ELF that have had something wrong with them. I love ELF products. I've usually never had issues with quality. I can assure you that these were definitely an exception and it should not keep you from trying out these products yourselves!

On to my LOTD...

As I have been trying to branch out and use things I have in my stash that I haven't used in a while, I went to one of my Clinique eyeshadow duos! (Also while contemplating a new post I have in store for you guys... ) It has a light gold and light purple with a hint of gold. I got it after using a friend's gold/purple eyeshadow duo from Loreal HIP, which I loved. This Clinique duo does not even compare... I can say that the HIP duo was much more pigmented and vibrant. In general, Clinique shadows are soft and not as pigmented. The advantage, though, is that there's never any fallout and the shadows practically blend themselves.

Once again, a pop of color :)

I took some pictures with Photobooth, and the rest with my iPhone, not in direct natural light (it's not sunny), and with:

One of the most frustrating things about doing my eyeliner, and blush/contouring even, is that the two sides of my face are shaped completely differently. It's the most bizarre thing actually. My cheek bones, brow bones, and eye sockets are all shaped differently and it makes makeup application really difficult. 

You can especially tell in this picture (with my eyes at least):

Onto the products I used...

Face

• Monistat Chafing Gel (as a primer)
• Revlon Colorstay foundation in Nude (200)
• NYX Concealer in a Jar in Fair
• Ulta Professional Concealer in Fair
• Palladio Rice Powder in Natural
• ELF Contouring Blush/Bronzer duo
• ELF single pan eyeshadow in Pink Ice (as a highlight)

Eyes

• NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder
• ELF Essentials eyeshadow primer in Golden
• NYX eyeshadow base in matte white
• Wetnwild Coloricon single eyeshadow in Brule 
• ELF Essentials liquid eyeliner in black
• Revlon Grow Luscious mascara
• Clinique Colour Surge Eyeshadow Duo in Beach Plum

Lips

• Liplicious Cup Cakes lipgloss in Pink Chiffon

Some more random ramblings...

I've been using some new cleanser with a higher concentration of benzoyl peroxide to nip my breakouts in the bud. While I'm spreading the cleanser on my forehead, some gets on my eyelids, and now my eyelids are super dried out and burning. Perfect. I love my life.

I'm thinking about starting to do videos in addition to this blog. What would you guys think about that? Please send me any feedback concerning that. I would love to be a part of that, but I do have apprehensions. I would only do that if I actually had the viewers and support. I have been getting more followers on this blog, but I still don't think the support is there. If you guys would watch and enjoy, I would gladly add a Youtube channel to my passion for makeup.

I was also thinking about making this a bilingual blog (French/English). I do get views from Francophone countries, and perhaps I could get a more widened, diverse support if I wrote in two languages. I don't know. Any feedback on this idea too, please let me know!

My college roommate really wants me to teach her how to do makeup. It's so cute! I'll have pictures to post of that come August when we move in together ;)

Thank you guys so much for reading this super long post! Please let me know what you think about my look, ideas, etc. below in the comment box or you can find me on Twitter and Instagram @jessiefrancaise!

Target mini haul + swatches!

Hey guys! I hope you all had a great weekend and a great Father's Day!

Yesterday I went to Target to pick up a few things I had been needing or wanted to try out. I was disappointed, however, that they had run out of a couple things I wanted, but I did luck out.

So I grabbed some mascara, bronzer, some of my favorite eyeshadow, and liquid eyeliner that I'm running out of.

After hearing Marlena rave about this mascara, I picked it up probably 6 months ago and used a whole tube and it took me a few weeks to fall in love with it but I do really enjoy this mascara. Kim Kardashian's makeup artist (Mario whatever his last name is) likes this one as well! I've been back to using my Lashblast for a while, but I'm running out of this. I had a Loreal coupon and actually found one with another $1 off so I think I ended up getting this for $4? 

This is the ELF Contouring & Blush set. I've been wanting to try this out for probably a year now. I was hesitant because I read that some people with fairer skin (like me) thought the bronzer was a little too dark. It is rather dark, but we'll see how it works out on my skin. I haven't tried it out on my face yet. 

Also, I did read a lot of reviews on this and heard about how pretty the blush is. Well, I thought to myself back then that it couldn't be THAT pretty, but I will tell you guys that IT IS! Granted, I haven't put it on my face yet, but swatching it, I can tell you it is absolutely gorgeous.

I'll probably do a review on this soon once I get to use it enough.

As you can see, this is the NYC bronzer in the color Sunny. It is a matte bronzer, which I guess is hard to find in the drugstore. I've heard Emily Eddington of Beauty Broadcast rave about this bronzer as it is a drugstore matte bronzer so I wanted to give this a try.  I paid $2.89 for this, so it was a great bargain. 

It comes with a face sponge, which frankly I find bizarre as one usually puts bronzer on with a fluffy face brush rather than a face sponge? I will be throwing that out... 

Also I've found that it's hard to open and close sometimes. Packaging fail? 

I might be doing a review on this one as well...

And this is the Rimmel Bronzer in Sun Dance. As well as the NYC bronzer, I have read that this is one of the best drugstore bronzers out there. I'll give it a test run. It does appear as though you get a hefty amount of product (0.49 oz or 14 g as opposed to 0.33 oz/9.4 g of the NYC bronzer). 

And I paid $4.29 for this bronzer, so it actually ended up being the most expensive thing I bought.

I may being reviewing this one in the future. Who knows?

I'm sure I'm not the only one who likes to stock up on her makeup favorites... I kinda hoard some things sometimes? Well, I like to stock up on my ELF favorites especially. Since I have a backup of my quads in Drama and Butternut, I wanted to get a backup of Day2Night. This quad makes me look like Kim Kardashian. Seriously. This quad is the best. (Review with swatches here). 

Also, I've been using liquid liner SO much lately. I guess because I get lazy and don't want to clean my eyeliner brush after using my cream liner so much? Well, anyway, my ELF liquid liner has been my favorite lately. I think I'm running out so why not buy some more? Haha.

I did want to get some NYC liquid liner to try (I haven't used it in probably 6 years), but they had run out :( 

What I also wanted to try was the ELF Clarifying Pressed Powder... OUT in my shade :(

And for some swatches...

L-R: ELF Contouring Blush, ELF Contouring Bronzer, NYC Bronzer in Sunny, Rimmel Bronzer in Sun Dance

So you can tell from the picture that the ELF bronzer is super dark and pigmented. I'm not sure how that will fare on my skin. If not, I still have that pretty blush. You can barely see the NYC bronzer... hmm... and I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but the Rimmel bronzer is a little orangey and shimmery.

Again, I haven't actually used these products. I will be using these a bunch and maybe writing some reviews. After all, it is the time of the year to be using bronzers...

Have you guys used any of these products? Tell me about your experiences with them in the comment box below. 

I do think I am going to start a monthly favorites post, so be expecting one for June in a couple weeks ;)

Thank you guys for reading! Have a wonderful Monday!