Product Review: The Balm’s Instain Blush

Several months ago, The Balm released a new line of blushes that promised to be so pigmented that no one has ever seen anything like it. Consisting of six colors, these blushes are supposed to be great for all seasons and skin tones. I purchased three of them shortly after their release and am finally getting around to reviewing them. Read on for my thoughts!

The Balm’s Instain Blushes are, without a doubt, the most pigmented and long lasting powder blushes I have ever worn. The idea behind them is that once they are on your skin, they not only apply like a powder blush but they also actually stain the cheeks so that the color lasts and lasts! I found that each color easily lasted twelve hours or more with only minor fading throughout the day. Since I absolutely loathe touching up my makeup during the day (anything but lips and the odd powder every now and then), I consider this a powerhouse of a product! I do find that I have to use a fairly light touch with a fluffy blush brush but they are very blendable and easy to apply. I purchased mine for $22 each at The Balm.com. 

Each blush contains the following ingredients:

Ingredients: Mica, Boron Nitride, Polyethylene, Silica, Isoeicosane, PTFE, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Synthetic Wax, Polyisobutene, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Kaolin, Dimethicone, Sodium Dehydroacetate. May contain [+/- Iron Oxides (CI77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Ultramarines (CI 77007), Carmine (CI 75470)]

Argyle, Lace and Houndstooth

Argyle is described as a “petal pink.” When I think of petal pink, I imagine a very light, soft, powdery pink with little pigment. I wouldn’t exactly call thin soft or lacking pigment! This is more of a warmer, matte pink and leaves a nice, rosy glow. Out of the three blushes in my collection, it is the lightest of the bunch and I believe it can be flattering on all skin tones.

Lace is a brighter, cooler matte pink that really brightens the face. It’s a fun, happy color that will look good on cool complexions, for sure. Like Argyle, the texture is smooth and not powdery. There is absolutely no fallout when applying this blush with a brush. Lace is a great color for days when you’re going for a very “girlie” look!

Houndstooth is described as a mauve blush that looks fairly neutral on my cool toned skin. It has a very slight, subtle shimmer that I will be wearing quite a bit this fall. This one is probably good for a wider range of skin tones as it seems quite forgiving in its pigmentation.

Here are a few pictures showing each blush.

Argyle

Argyle on face

Lace

Lace on face

Houndstooth

Houndstooth on face

I highly recommend The Balm’s Instain blushes! Have you tried them? Please share!

Ages of Beauty rating: *****

Product Review: The Balm Hot Mama Blush

As I mentioned in Monday’s Post, Rose Gold and a Tan, I promised to review the items I used. Well, it is truly my pleasure to review The Balm’s “Hot Mama!” Blush! This lovely, creamy golden rose blush packs a real punch and will bring a beautiful glow to any complexion. Take a look!





 

Hot Mama is a finely milled, well pigmented rose/coral blush with a hint of golden shimmer. The texture is soft but not too powdery and it provides a beautiful, healthy glow to the cheeks. I have used it on my very light skin in its normal state (for reference, I’m normally a NW20 in most MAC foundations) as well as my skin with the St. Tropez Bronzing Mousse applied (right now I’m using color C3/C4 in MAC Face and Body). Amazingly, it provides a natural look in both instances! I also found that it is quite long lasting as I easily got eight hours of wear with no fading.








Although I’ve never done this, Hot Mama can also be used as an eye shadow. I am definitely going to try this!!! It is available for $20 at The Balm.com. Hot Mama is the perfect blush for a sun kissed, tanned look!!





Ages of Beauty rating: ****

Rose Gold and a Tan

Not too long ago, I came across a video by one of my favorite YouTube makeup gurus, Emily Noel. In this video, Emily showed some rose gold colored cosmetics (you can see the video here) that I just had to try!


I’m doing something this summer that I have never really successfully done---self tanner! The St. Tropez self tanning mousse that I reviewed a few weeks ago (here) is working so well and, let me tell you, rose gold colored makeup looks GREAT with a tan!




For this look, I’m using several products that Emily mentions in her video. They are as follows:

• The Balm’s Hot Mama Blush ($20.00 at The Balm)
• Nars Satin Lip Pencil in Rikugien ($25.00 at Sephora)
• elf Pout Perfecter ($3.00 at elf)
• Sonia Kashuk Monochrome eye Quad in Textured Rose ($13.69 at Target)
• L’Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Amber Rush ($6.99 at Target)

I’ll be reviewing these products over the next couple of days so check back. Here are a few more pictures to give you an idea of what you can do with this color.

L’Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Amber Rush on inner lid and tear duct area

Sonia Kashuk Monochrome Color Quad in Textured Rose. I used the lower left hand corner shadow on the outer lids and in the crease

Nars Satin Lip Pencil in Rikugien all over lip; elf Pout Perfecter on middle of bottom and top lips

I have a couple of other rose gold products that I’ll review as well. Have you been wearing this color? What are you using?

High End Makeup of the Day

I’ve been playing around a lot with some items I’ve had in my collection for awhile. Some are things that I’ve received as part of various subscription boxes (so i didn’t pay separately for them) and some I purchased at a retailer. Since I’ve also been using the St. Tropez self tanner on the rest of my body, I thought I’d do something summery on my face. All of these products are so called “high end” products.





First things first---foundation. Becca’s Luminous Skin Colour Ultra Sheer Foundation is a new product for me. I have been wanting to try this product for awhile so I finally purchased it at Sephora (here). Retailing for $42, it comes in a fairly large 1.7 oz bottle. I got it in Olive, which is about two shades darker than my complexion.. This worked perfectly against my chest since I have been using the self tanner. It’s also really sheer so even if it’s darker than two shades, it’s pretty hard to mess up. At some point I’ll do a full review of this foundation as I think it’s great for summer.





Since the foundation is so sheer, I not only used concealer under my eyes but on a few darker areas of my face. For this, I used Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Concealer in R1. This is another new product that, again, I purchased at Sephora (here). This particular shade works well for my “tanned” look, but that’s sad because there’s only one color lighter than this one so that says a lot about my level of paleness! It’s a good product and at $20, I think it’s a good price point for a high end concealer. I’ll also review this one in the future.





Over that I applied the Nars Light Reflecting Loose Setting Powder (reviewed here), which I already had in my collection. Next up was Bobbi Brown’s Matte Bronzer in Medium 2, which was also from my collection. I like this bronzer because it’s matte and it’s also more red based than orange/brown based like a lot of bronzers. The red undertones are important because when I tan, my skin has a red undertone rather than yellow. That means that this color of bronzer tends to look more natural on me. You can check out this bronzer on Bobbi’s website here. It retails for $38 but you get a lot of bronzer which will last a long time. I used the bronzer to contour my cheeks, along the edges of my jaw and at the top of my forehead and down the middle of my nose.

As for blush, I had received a full size Be a Bombshell Blush in Sweet Cheeks as part of one of my subscription boxes. Since I had never even heard of the brand, I was anxious to try it. This is a really nice blush and I’m looking forward to trying more of their products. Sweet Cheeks retails for $16 and you can see more here.





Now on to the eyes. I used Mac’s Blanc Type powder shadow (from my collection) from the last line to the eyebrow. In the crease, I used Nars Cosmetics’s Ondine shadow, a plummy browny yummy color. Both of these colors are great for everyday wear and look good with all eye colors.








For mascara, I used The Balm’s What’s Your Type? Body Builder mascara (here for $19) and I also used The Balm’s Schwing black liquid eyeliner (here for $17).






Last but not least, I used a Paula Dorf eye pencil in Baby Eyes Enhancer on my lower rims. I received this in a subscription box but this retails for $20 (I also like this product).

Finally, to finish things up, I used Make Up For Ever’s Aqua Rouge in 20 Baby Pink. I love this product and must review it soon!









That’s my latest summer “high end” face. What do you think? Have you used any of these products? Are there any you want to try?

Product Review: The Balm’s Balm Jovi Rockstar Palette

The Balm’s Balm Jovi palette has been out for awhile and I’m finally getting around to using and reviewing it. This cute palette really packs a punch with all the eyeshadows, blushers and lip colors you’ll need while traveling. I’ve been using it for the past two weeks and I have been pleasantly surprised at its versatility. I’m not usually one to love palettes but this one is great! Let me show you how you can release your inner rock star!



Balm Jovi contains twelve highly pigmented eyeshadows, one powder blush, a powder highlighter/luminizer and two dual use lip colors/cream blushes. The eyeshadows are split into three categories: “Heavy Metals,” “Classical”  and “Alternative.”



The Heavy Metals have a slight sheen to them while the Classicals are matte. Alternative shades have a satin finish. Each pan contains a fair amount of highly pigmented eyeshadow. Some of the shades are a little bit powdery but there does not seem to be a lot of fallout with any of the shades. These shadows wear at least 8 hours for me without fading, adding to the value of the palette.



Also included is a subtle gold luminizer and a pretty peach/pink powder blush. The two work really well together or alone, depending on the look you’re going for. I find that the blush is very pigmented and has excellent staying power. A light touch will give you a very natural, flushed look  but it is easily buildable into something much more dramatic.



Milly and Vanilly, the two cream lip and cheek colors are also lovely and very versatile. As cheek colors, they are very vibrant and long lasting. On the lips, I’ve worn them with lip pencils and without. They can be applied with fingers but I find that the best results are seen with a lip brush. When worn as lip colors, I find that their longevity is average (which isn’t very long for me) but that improves when they are worn over a lip pencil.





Balm Jovi comes with a handy (and very cute) mirror and a guide to some combinations that work well together. In the pictures below, I’m wearing a variation of the first combo.

Wearing “Third Eye Blinded” on lids, “Alice Copper” in crease, “Adagio” on browbone and “Metal-ica” on tear duct area

“Don’t You Want Me” on cheeks

“Milly” on lips

Balm Jovi is available at The Balm here for $39.50. I think it’s an excellent value for traveling or even if you want to add a little bit of fun to your everyday makeup life. Check it out!

Ages of Beauty rating: ****