Review: Clinique Acne Solutions Liquid Makeup

I HATE THIS FOUNDATION.

Okay, there, I got it off my chest.

To my dear lovely followers, I want to share with you not only what I love, but what I also hate. I think it's important for you to know if there's a product that I really don't think is worth your money. This is one of them.

So I'm not sure where to start really. How about some pictures?

Clinique, I will give you this. I like the packaging. As opposed to my favorite Revlon Colorstay, this packaging, which is like a squeeze tube with a fine nozzle (pictured below), gives me more control over how much product is coming out of the bottle.

What does Clinique have to say about their product?

Skin clearing? Not a bit. Do you really think that a teensy tiny little bit of salicylic acid will get rid of all your zits? What I don't understand is how that minuscule amount of salicylic acid will get into my pores and clear my skin when I'm wearing moisturizer and primer underneath. I need moisturizer because this foundation will dry out my skin, and I need primer because heaven knows this foundation does not last on my oily skin. 

Cool and comfortable - maybe I'll give them that. It feels nice going on. It's just a matter of the way it LOOKS.

I really don't think this foundation helps acne at all. It surely does not COVER acne. It's a moderate coverage but demands a ton of concealer if you want to cover up those zits at all. Revlon Colorsay does the trick for my breakouts.

Fresh, flawless look? Okay, here's the deal. This stuff splotches like crazy, especially on my nose. It is impossible to get a flawless coverage with this foundation. It splotches, smudges, creases, and CAKES! Oh boy does this cake! 

I can't even stand my own mother to see me when I wear this foundation because I'm so embarrassed at how horrible it looks. And it is for this reason that I am not posting pictures. Also I am not posting pictures because oddly enough, it photographs well. 

Oh, and one last thing:

Why would this foundation be recommended for dry skin as well if the salicylic acid will just dry it up even more? 

I don't want to carry on with my schpiel any longer. All I have to say is, Clinique, what were you thinking? Mind you, I have many Clinique products that I do enjoy, but this really isn't one of them. 

I paid $22 for this, and to me, it isn't even worth $5. Also, the price has gone up to $27. Save your money and look for something better. 

Pros:

• light, cool feeling on the skin
• nice lightweight packaging gives good control
• photographs well

Cons:

• price
• cakey, splotchy, uneven look
• does not give enough coverage for a product targeted to acne-prone skin
• does not last long even with primer
• will not make a difference in breakouts
• can be drying with salicylic acid

I hope no one is offended by my negativity. I really just needed to do this post because every time I try and use this foundation thinking that each time I use it, it will somehow magically get better, it doesn't, and leaves me in the worst mood. 

So now I'm curious: Have any of you ever tried this foundation? What was your experience?

GIVEAWAY! Crazed and Caffeinated Beauty

First of all, I want to say a big THANK YOU to all of my new followers. I went from 22 to 41 in just a day or two, so for that I am so grateful. I like to think that blogging is just a hobby and that writing, coming up with ideas, and the experience overall should be worth it, but frankly, I feel that the audience has a big part in that, so thank you guys!

Now, the whole point of this post is to inform you that Crazed and Caffeinated Beauty is having a giveaway, which you can enter here. The star of the giveaway is the NYX Haute Jersey Leopard Couture Palette, along with other various products. They look great and I think it's pretty generous just for a 50 follower celebration giveaway.

If you decide to enter, good luck! And to Sarah, thank you for sharing this with us! I know it's a great feeling to make it to that many followers :)

Hiatus, June favorites, and BBloggers Blog Hop!

Hey guys!

I know I haven't posted in a while, and for a couple of reasons. First, I've been trying to go through my room and get ready for college, as well as buy a lot of things for my dorm room. Also, I haven't been wearing that much makeup lately and when I have, it's been minimal and boring. And thirdly, things have come up in my personal life that have made me busy and rather stressed.

Thank you guys for following me, staying with me, reading/commenting, and most of all for your support.

I did draft a June favorites post, then things came up and I never had the pictures to include. Once I took the pictures, then things came up. Now I feel it's too late to make a June favorites, SO I will group June and July favorites together. I have already started my July favorites post.

I might be getting a new pair or two of glasses today, so do expect a makeup for glasses post in the future.

And finally, on BBloggers Unite, they will be having a Blog Hop! I will be participating because I am looking for new followers. I've been at this for almost a year now and have not seen the audience that I was expecting. I also want to branch out and read some new blogs, maybe get in touch with some other bloggers just starting out.

If you want to participate as well, just click the link above to the page and follow all the rules and guidelines!

And as I always do, I will follow back! I look forward to finding all these amazing new blogs to read!

Review: Stila Travel Palette - Striking in South Beach

Hey guys! I'm back for a review on one of the Stila Travel Palettes.
I had gotten one of these earlier last year and it was the Haute in the Hamptons palette. This one, Striking in South Beach, I got for Christmas last year from my mom and I'm just now getting around to review it.

So to start with the packaging, it has a hard cover and opens up like a book. On the inside there are four round shadows, a blush, a bronzer, a square mirror, and instructions on how to create a look.

Also, as you can see, every color is named. 

Now for some swatches and first impressions:

L-R: Ocean Drive, Wave, Cabana, Nightlife

These shadows seemed very promising as this is a higher end company and is known for great shadows. Ocean Drive and Cabana were both definitely lacking in pigmentation. I had to swipe them a few times to get the color in the picture. Wave and Nightlife were pretty pigmented, but still not as much as I was expecting. Nightlife was overall the best shadow from the palette, but honestly I can get a sparkly/shimmery black anywhere...

Another thing I should note is that Wave shows up on my eyelids splotchy. Whether I use a primer, pat it on, or sweep it across my lid, Wave will always be patchy and not smooth on easily at all. Major disappointment. 

What can I say... I have ELF $1 shadows that are better than these. They are hard to blend, powdery, and some are just not pigmented. I would expect better quality from Stila. 

Top color is Art Deco and bottom color is Sabe

Where the shadows were lacking in quality, the blush and bronzer picked up the slack. I really do like these. They're much better quality, smoother, and more pigmented. The one thing I don't like is that the "bronzer" seems much more like a blush to me...  

Sabe is more pigmented than Art Deco, but that is good because if the Art Deco were any more pigmented, it would make you look like a Barbie or a clown. 

I did my own look with this palette because I didn't like the look following the instructions it gave me. 

All the pictures are with flash (they didn't look good in the natural light without flash)

Look at how brown my eyes look! That's the one thing I really like about this shadow combination.

I applied (or at least TRIED...) Wave all over the lid. I used Cabana in both the inner and outer corners, and also in the crease. I used Nightlife in the very outer corner and used it to let my liner on both the upper and lower lash lines. I used a little bit of Cabana on the lower lash line. I used Ocean Drive as a highlight, although it is a little too dark to use as a really good highlight. 

Even though I think Sabe is a little too rosy to be called an actual bronzer, I used it as a contour and think it looked surprisingly nice that way. And then Art Deco I used on the apples of my cheeks and blended it into the Sabe.

Pros of this palette:

• Very affordable - under $20 for a high end palette
• Packaging is adorable
• Colors are coordinated, do the choosing for you
• Instructions provided for creating the look
• Colors are perfect for brown-eyed girls
• *Almost* complete look in one simple palette (just add a little mascara and foundation of your choice)

Cons:

• Eyeshadows are hard to work with, some are not pigmented enough
• Shadows can be powdery
• Bronzer is not really a bronzer, maybe a dark blush
• Made me look a little too over "done"

Overall, I might give this palette 6/10. I don't think it is available anymore, but Stila is coming out with more of the Travel palettes. I do recommend picking up at least one if you haven't tried them before. They're easy - they have everything there that you need to really complete a look and it even tells you how to do it! Also, they're really cute and pretty small so they don't take up too much room!

I have another Travel Palette that I like so much more than this one. I think this may have been a dud because from what I've read and from my own experience, these palettes are of great quality. 

Have you guys tried out any of the Stila Travel palettes? What do you think of them?

Smoky cat eye with ELF

Hey guys! I hope you all are having a great weekend! It's unbelievably hot here.

I hadn't used my ELF Drama in a while, and today I wanted to use it in a way I don't usually use it. Normally, I'll take the silvery color and use that as a wash all over the lid, use the gunmetal color in the crease, the black in the outer corner, and  the matte white as a highlight.

Well, here's the look I came up with. Mind you, I did take these pictures six hours after putting it on, and after being in the sweltering 90 degree heat. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

Here's how to get the look:

• Do the usual foundation routine: primer (I used Monistat chafing gel), concealer (NYX Concealer in a Jar in Fair), foundation (Revlon Colorstay in Nude), powder (Palladio Rice Powder in Natural). Eventually I had to blot and set my face again using the ELF Mineral Booster in Sheer because it was so hot in my house that I kept sweating. 
• I primed my eyes with my Laura Mercier eyeshadow primer. While letting that dry, I filled in my brows with the NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder. 
• Then I took my Wetnwild Coloricon black eyeliner pencil and drew a thick line along my top lash line, with a wing out. I took the black color in the ELF quad in Drama with an angled brush and just set the eyeliner. 
• Then, with a smaller detail brush, I took the charcoal/gunmetal color in the quad and blended out the edge of the liner. 
• Then I blended the light silver color into the crease area.
• I went back and darkened the lash line first with the gunmetal color and then with the black, redrawing the winged line. 
• I took the matte white shade and blended it right under my brow bone and in the inner corner of my eye. This is a great pigmented matte white color, by the way.
• Finally, I took the black eyeliner and lined my waterline and the outer third of my bottom lash line. I set this and blended it with the black shade. I blended the gunmetal shade into that and spread it out to the middle third of my lower lash line. I put the light silver shade in-between the gunmetal shade and the matte white.
• I contoured my cheekbones with the NYC Bronzer in Sunny. Then I used my ELF Essentials blush in Blushing. 
• I actually did my mascara and lipgloss in the car. I used my Revlon Grow Luscious mascara and NYX Megashine lipgloss in Salsa. 

I hope you guys liked it! This is something a little different from what I usually do. I got a lot of compliments on it while I was out and about today, so I guess that's a good sign.

Also, while I was out and about I couldn't help but buy these:

Bath & Body Works is having one of their huge semi-annual sales. All of these lip glosses were $3 each and they're normally $8. I saved $15!!! I love these glosses, but I would say that they are definitely not worth $8... So that's why I stock up on them in June and December! 

Do you guys use these glosses? What do you think about them?

Well I hope you're having an amazing and relaxing weekend! If you're in the US, I hope you're staying out of that heat! Find me back here soon for some more posts ;)

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!

Marlena inspired "Bronzed Summer Look" LOTD

Hey guys! First of all, I'd like to give a shoutout to my several new followers! I was so delighted to log on today and see I have more followers :)

The other day I was going through some of Marlena's much older videos and came across this one called Bronzed Summer Look. As it is summer, I decided to put my own little spin to it.

Some of the pictures may be a little crappy. I haven't charged my camera yet, so I had to use my iPhone.

Here's the look I came up with:

And for the ones in the broad daylight, which I think are much better:

I usually just do neutral colors and after getting back into the blogosphere and seeing colorful artistic looks, I know I need to branch out with my colors. The "pop" of color in this look gives me the opportunity to branch out. Good thing I kept my turquoise eyeliner :)

Products Used:

Face

• Monistat Chafing Gel (as a primer)
• NYX Concealer in a Jar in Fair
• Revlon Colorstay foundation in Nude 200
• Ulta Professional Concealer in Fair
• Palladio Rice Powder in Natural
• ELF HD Powder 
• ELF Contouring Blush/Bronzer duo
• Rimmel Natural Bronzer in Sun Dance

Eyes

• ELF Essentials eyeshadow primer in Golden
• NYX eyeshadow base in matte white
• NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Dark Brown/Brown
• NYX Ultra Pearl Mania in Mink
• LA Splash Cosmetics pigment in Bronzed Brown
• ULTA Automatic Eyeliner in Teal Blue
• Wetnwild Coloricon single eyeshadow in Brule
• Bourjois eyeshadow in Beige Rose
• Revlon Grow Luscious mascara

Lips

• ELF Super Glossy Lipshine in Pink Pop

This look is very wearable for anywhere or any occasion and I love that it's versatile to where you can add practically any pop of color. I would use my NYX purple liquid liner with this too. 

Let me know what you think in the comment section below! Also join me on Twitter and Instagram @jessiefrancaise

Thank you guys so much for reading and following!