Beauty Review: Rimmel Stay Matte Foundation

As part of an Influenster Vox Box* I recently received a sample of Rimmel's new Stay Matte foundation.

Now normally, I don't wear foundation. I'm a BB cream or tinted moisturizer kind of girl, so as you can imagine I was apprehensive about trying a real foundation! Overall I have fairly even skin and not a lot of problems with acne. Since having Olive, however, my hormones have been out whack causing a little bit more skin issues than I'm used to.

Enter - foundation.

Influenster and Rimmel sent me the 'True Ivory' shade, which seemed like it would most closely match my skin tone. Upon my first application I noticed it was really cakey. Is this normal? I may have used a little too much. After washing my face and letting it dry I tried again with half as much. Still pretty cakey. After I applied it (with my fingertips) I still had to go back and put some lotion around my jawline and mouth to blend it and make it feel less heavy.

The plus side though, was it did have significant coverage. See below - before and after.

Overall, I would purchase this foundation for two purposes - 1) if I am really broken out and need to even out my skin and 2) for a fancy look for a special occasion.
It definitely didn't convert me to a full on foundation wearer. Mostly I couldn't wait to get home and wash my face after wearing it out to dinner.

Do you guys wear foundation? Have any tricks for making it less cakey? Or are you a tinted moisturizer kinda lady like myself?

*I received this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

Beauty Find: Liquid Lipstick

Awhile back I was totally bragging about Revlon's Bitten Lip Stain. Now, don't get me wrong, it's still one of my favorites, but a week or two after opening, I noticed it starts to dry out and the color isn't as bold or bright. Major bummer for an $8 lip stain. (I'm just getting into lipstick, so to me, that's muy pricey-o for only a few good uses.)

Anyway after another day of mediocre lip color I decided to hit wally-world and see what other options are out there. I honestly cant stand lip STICK, it ends up on everything, I can't eat or drink water (I drink water all.day.long.) without reapplying and I feel like I have to constantly be conscious of it.

I'm normally pretty loyal to my makeup companies, so I breezed over to the Revlon section, and there it was...

Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick.

This shiz says it last for up to 24 hours and its NOT kidding. In fact, at the end of the night you need MAKEUP REMOVER to get it off, washing alone doesn't work! To some people that might be an annoyance but to me its pure bliss. I put it on in the morning and I might touch up after lunch, depending on what I ate, and then I'm good for the rest of the day and night. My only suggestion is to make sure you have a chapstick handy as it does feel get dry on its own, and that being said, make sure you dont mind your chapstick getting a hint of color mixed in it.

Top Tomato is my favorite shade so far, as I'm on a huge red lippy kick. If you try it out let me know! I'd love to hear your opinions and favorite colors!

*note this is in no way a sponsored post. I found it, tried it, loved it and I know you will too :)

Beauty Find: Just like a tattoo

Lately I've been getting super into makeup. Ok, I've always been into makeup, but I normally find what I like and stick to my routine (Hello recent sad day when I discovered my favorite Maybelline Dream Mousse Blush was discontinued. I threw a fit and promptly bought 5 pots from Amazon while I could still find them.)

Recently I raved about Revlon's Just Bitten Lip Stain here - and I'm still loving them. That some excursion to Walgreen's I found Maybelline's Color Tattoo 24hr Cream Gel Shadow. I stared at them for a super long time trying to decide what color to try. I REALLY wanted the blue, but I was afraid it would be too much. I still wanted to try a bright color, so I went with Fierce and Tangy Orange.
While the color isn't really for me (kind of washed me out with my lack of tan I have going on), I LOVED the product. It didn't crease like so many gel shadows do, and it stayed on all day, even after my work out.

It's also really easy to apply with your fingers. If you like a paler shade, only do a swipe or two. For more vibrant color, layer it on and the color will keep pumping up!

I'll be going back for another pot or two - I'm thinking Edgy Emerald might look good with my hazel eyes.
What colors would you try?

These are a few of my favorite style sites...

As may now know I haven't been blogging for long. In my first couple weeks of research and actually getting the ball rolling, I have come across so many AWESOME sites - blogs and otherwise - that offer some really cool things.

These are a couple non-blogs that ya'll probably already know about but I'm just now experimenting with and I can't get enough!:

www.birchbox.com - $10/month for premium beauty samples. We are talkin' nail polish, face creams, makeup, perfume -- you name it! Its an amazing way to discover new products without spending loads of money buying full sized items.

www.stylitics.com - I discovered this site on a freak (but awesome) accident Superbowl Sunday. You can add your clothes to your virtual closet, and with an easy drag and drop format, plan out your week's (or even your month's!) outfits, while giving you stats about your wardrobe like how many times you've worn a piece, a color, or a brand, or how much your wardrobe is worth. I enter my outfits daily to build up my closet, and after a couple months of doing so my wardrobe is pretty stocked! I also love that I can jump on at work and plan my outfit quick for the next day!

www.stichfix.com - review to come on this guy - Ill be getting my first fix next week! The idea is you fill out a style profile about your style, your sizes and your wardrobe desires, and they pluck 5 unique pieces, ship them to you for at home try on and you can purchase what you want or ship back what you don't! Its $20 per fix, but if you do decide to purchase, that $20 acts as a credit toward those purchases, which is pretty awesome! Shipping both ways is also free!

Style away!

KathrynLaine.