Spring 2015 cosmetics update

Its been a really long time since I posted anything about cosmetics. I have been trying out different products and now would like to mention some of the more noteworthy ones here.

Recently I tried out a couple new foundations. One is Armani Luminous Silk Foundation. It is a very light foundation that reminds me of Chanel’s Perfection Lumiere Velvet. By light I don’t mean coverage, but the actual texture. When you apply it it forms a very thin, velvety layer and you almost think that there will be no coverage but actually the coverage is really good. It is similar to Chanel’s Perfection Lumiere Velvet although I think the coverage is somewhat more intense with Luminous Silk.

Dior has also released a new product that is similar called Diorskin Nude Air. I used the Luminous Silk the past couple days and today tried Nude Air for the first time. I really like both of them a lot. Luminous Silk is a bit more.. well… luminous than Nude Air.

Prior to these the primary foundation I’ve been using for the past months has been another new product from Dior: Diorskin Star which I really love. I like it so much that it has up till now become my favorite foundation. It is not quite so velvety in texture as the previous products, but it is very light. I only use one pump – which is not that great an amount – for my entire face. I usually prefer to apply it with my fingers rather than a brush. Dior’s Dreamskin makes a great base for it.

Another product I tried recently that I love is Marc Jacobs’ Highliner Eye Gel Crayon. I use these for the upper and lower outer lash line. I like to apply it as close to the lash line as possible then go back over it gently with a brush to soften it and smoke it out. I will use a little extra in the outer corners and then brush up and inward to smoke out the corners. For the inner lash line & lower water line my favorite still is Chanel’s Stylo Yeux Waterproof in Noir Intense.

One final new product which I really really like is Dior’s Glow Maximizer which is listed as a primer but which I like to apply as a highlighter. It works great as a primer with some foundations like Chanel’s Perfection Lumiere which is not very luminescent, otherwise I apply it to the upper cheekbones like a highlighter. I think in some of the video tutorials on Dior’s website they also use it as a highlighter this way.

Today I also tried another new product for the first time which I must have purchased a while back but forgot about: Too Faced Shadow Insurance Primer. It does not feel as heavy as some other shadow primer’s I’ve used and my shadow colors held up well throughout the day with it.

The other day I was at Sephora and trying some of the Kat Von D Studded Kiss lipsticks. Not only are the colors really fun, I found that they held up a long time compared with many other lipsticks. Because of the more exotic colors in their line and the stylized Gothic font for their company logo, when I was in the store I initially thought it said something like “Kona D” which I actually think is a kind of cool name for a cosmetics company, evoking Hawaii. But Kat Von D is a cool name too 🙂

UPDATE:

Over the past couple days I’ve worn Diorskin Nude Air and am really liking it a lot. Today it went through a sort-of ultimate test in a long bicycle ride to the ocean, time running around by the ocean and doing yoga and Pilates in the sand, and then riding back home. Seriously, I was like sitting on rocks by the water with the spray hitting me in the face a couple times, doing crunches on the wet sand, and pigeon poses with my face down in the sand, not to mention the bicycle ride back with all the vehicle pollution and grit.

It held up pretty well in the sense that when I got back my face didn’t look like a mess. Some foundations will kind of melt down when they interact with the sweat and pollution and leave the face looking horrible, but Diorskin Nude Air did not. In fact when I got back I thought that, given all the blissful energy I had experienced earlier by the ocean under the glowing afternoon Sun, that I actually looked better. Woohoo!

The Marc Jacobs Highliner Eye Gel Crayon also held up ok. One other product I’m really impressed with in terms of how it held up is Dior’s Iconic Overcurl mascara. As you know many mascaras will kind of just dissipate off the lashes throughout the day, especially if one is very active. But the Iconic Overcurl still has an intensity to it that is quite impressive. I think that Iconic and Iconic Overcurl are my favorite mascaras at the moment. I’m not sure if there is a formula difference between the two or if only the wand is different.

One other product that I’ve been trying out recently is Alterna Haircare’s Bamboo Smooth Anti-Humidity Hair Spray. Immediately after my hair air dried last night after having cleansed it in the bath I used this hair spray before I went to bed. It helped keep my hair from frizzing out over night and tonight, even after the trip to the ocean, my hair is mostly under control. This hair spray is not too heavy and seems to be a good balance between having hold but not too much.