Gerard Cosmetics

If your into makeup I'm sure you have heard a lot of beauty gurus and instagram people posting about Gerard cosmetics. The colors always look so nice yet I couldn't justify paying almost 20 dollars for a lipstick. As I was watching a video I saw a great discount code for 3 lipsticks so I decided to take the opportunity to see what the hype is all about.
The package came very quickly. And everything was packaged well. The lipsticks are in gold bullet looking containers. Shinny gold color and Gerard cosmetics written in black. When I first pulled out the lipsticks from the packaging to me they seemed cheap. It felt like the lipstick packaging can break easily. They are also very light in weight. So packaging wasn't a big deal to me.
The colors I ended up getting were buttercup, nude, and 1995. The pigmentation is also not that great. I have to swipe about 4 times to get a good color pigmentation. The one with the best pigmentation is 1995 which is the darkest one of the 3. I was very disappointed with these because there's so much hype over them and in my own way of thinking I would prefer to get a nars lipstick that m i get be a bit more But the colors will work great.
Its a good thing I didn't spend the full amount on each of these because I don't think I would have been hap pop y if I did. I don't think I will be purchasing from this company anymore. I just wants impressed. I hope my pictures can be uploaded this time that way you guys can see.

Morphe

A friend of mine placed an order to morphe brushes and when she posted a picture on Facebook I was intrigued about this brand. I like testing new things and finding things that work and if they are cheaper the better. So as I was talking to a friend I found out morphe brushes has a location in Burbank. The next day I dragged my husband there with me to see what they were all about. The location is small and the majority of products are brushes. They have sets and lots of single brushes at a reasonable price. To me they are compared to crown brush. They did have some palettes of eyeshadows, blushes, powder etc.
I decided to get a z palette, 16 eyeshadows, and 7 brushes. I was so excited to start playing with all my stuff. So now are these worth it? Let's begin with brushes. I bought two face brushes. One a flat top brush and the other like a dome duo brush. Now the flat top brush is very dense and to me it lacks a bit of movement. Its a bit hard to work with. I used it with my foundation. The other brush I also used for foundation and it was very soft and applied well but it was very large for some places like under the eyes. Overall not bad and they were both under 15 dollars.
Now the eye brushes. They all worked well but my favorite one had a down side. When I wiped off the product It smelled really bad. Like wet dog. Sucks because I did love it.
And they eyeshadows. I heard these were 2 dollars and with all the excitement I didn't even check my receipt. I get home and they charged me all of my 16 eyeshadows were charged at 4 dollars!!! Luckily I emailed morphe and they gave my money back. So the eyeshadows are same size as Mac and they are pigmented. The color variety was not that big in the store. The colors are a bit hard to blend and some of them fade super bad. The colors go on nice but once you begin to blend they fade. In the picture the first two rows and the first two of the third row are all morphe cosmetics. Overall the brand is ok. Not something I would purchase from all the time. Maybe just brushes but that is all.

Hourglass immaculate foundation

I've always looked for a good matte or oil control foundation because at times my skin can really get oily. I saw a video on you tube on this foundation and I thought maybe I would try it out.  The price is a bit high so I figured I would wait a little. Maybe About a week after I went to a sephora store and as I was looking around I ran into hourglass. I pumped a bit of foundation out on my Palm of my hand and the foundation seemed like it was a bit oily and I remember saying how will this work if it applies this way. I then overheard a guy working there tell a customer that was the best of the best. So as a religious makeup shopper I said I'm gonna buy this.
The foundation comes with a pump so that makes it easier to waste less product. The guy working there did tell me that I would be better applying the foundation with my fingers or a brush but not a beauty blender. He said the foundation has clay and it would ruin it. The next day I tried the foundation and I did not regret the $55. It does dry a bit fast but it's easy to work with. The coverage wasn't full it was a bit more of a medium coverage.
The foundation goes from liquid to powder finish and it does stay matte all day. I was very impressed and it's my new love . I try to only use this for special occasion because it was expensive.

Beauty Blender

Now that I have two kids I look into different products and if higher end brands have dupes. I can't afford to spend like I did before my children so if I want to invest in something a bit more expensive I find ways to cut in other things that I buy. So at the beginning I never really understood what all the hype was about. One day while I was at ulta I saw a sort of dupe to the beauty blender I decided to research on it and purchase it at another time. For some reason I didn't research but I had that thought of I need that item in my head. So when I bought it I was super excited. Yet when I used it I just didn't understand how people loved it. It was hard to work with. And I didn't see all the hype.
A couple of weeks ago I went to sephora and ran into the beauty blender. So I decided to give it a try.as soon as I got home I wanted to play with the things I got. Wow was I wrong. The beauty blender feels like memory foam. A really soft material. When I used it I didn't even have to try hard to blend. It  worked great. Now that's all I want to use. I guess some things are worth investing in.

Too faced-a La mode palette

I gotta say I did get sucked into the hype of this bad boy and didn't end up loving the palette. I was dying to go to ulta to pick it up and after I used it the first time I realized I could have just used colors I already had. The eyeshadows are soft and they stay on all day. Its just that once you have a lot of colors you seem to stop finding palettes worth investing in.
I decided to give you guys dupes to all the colors that way you can decide if it's a good palette for you. Lets begin;
1. St. Tropez- mac vanilla
2. Cannes- mac Aztec brick
3. Soleil - mac folie
4.Riviera-  mac rice paper
5. Jardin- mac paradisco
6. Cote d'azur- mac satin taupe
7. La croisette-  mac nylon
8. Monaco-mac romping
9. De La mer-  mac deep truth
I decided to do all Mac products because it's something that a lot of people can easily access.

Covergirl tru blend

Every time I would go to cvs, rite aid etc I would always see this tru blend foundation but never really decided to give it a try. The last time I visited ulta I ran into it again and decided it wouldn't hurt. I'm not too familiar with anything this foundation is meant to do but based on the name I'm assuming it's supposed to blend into your skin without looking like your wearing makeup.
I got the shade m6.  They have 3 levels which is light medium and dark. And each level has 7 shades. The variety is good and I'm sure many can find their perfect shade.
The foundation does have a pump which is a plus because you have control to how much you want to use. The foundation is not very liquidy or runny. When I apply it with my brush it seems to be light to medium coverage but leaning more to light coverage. You can see my skin trough the product. It blends fast and looks great on. Its a bit shinny and does oil up during the day so if you are oily I would use a primer. Overall an ok product with great variety.

Anastasia beverly hills dipbrow pomade

I was so excited to see this item in stores. It had been released about 2 months ago but you were only able to purchase it online. I decided to wait to pick the color that would best suit me.
This is a product for eyebrows that can help you define them and fill them. It's a gel formula very comparable to gel liners like Mac, still etc. The pigmentation is great. I hardly tap my brush into the container and it goes a long way. It does dry and is waterproof. I tried to see if my eyebrows would smudge and they didn't come off.
I use an angled brush to apply it but it is very tricky to do so. I do my eyebrows first and all that's in my face is moisturizer and a primer. So this does create a slippery surface so I would recommend work slowly with this product.
I think the price is great because you don't need a lot of product to Do your eyebrows. I bought this item at ulta and unfortunately the only color they had was chocolate. So I decided to give it a try. I probably would have got a lighter shade but this one works ok. It does leave my brows a bit darker than I like them But I have managed to make it work.
Overall I love this product and I would say give it a try. That's all I use now.