UPDATE

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Hey everyone!

 

Just wanted to give an update on what is going on with the site and page! I am currently in the process of working on getting tutorials set up and figuring out my camera and all that good stuff. Major props to the YouTubers out there, because this is work!!! I don’t want to go into too much detail but there will be some reviews soon and the first visual and video tutorial soon. I hope to get this all done before I visit my sister so it won’t look like abandoned my blog! Just because there aren’t many updates right now or posts on Facebook doesn’t mean I am jumping ship, I am doing a lot of behind the scenes work so I can get everything running and keep a constant flow of posts and updates once it’s done. I really should have did this stuff before starting my blog but I didn’t realize all the work that goes into this but I am up for the challenge!

 

Kim

Review: Revlon Lip Butters VS Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment

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Ok, so it’s never a surprise when I say I’ve stopped into a Sephora, in fact it’s starting to seem a little redundant as they are everywhere in the city. Speaking of which, they reaaaally need to get on down to Brooklyn somewhere, seriously these stores are popping up all over Manhattan some as close as five blocks away from each other! Although, I might end up with a REAL problem if they did put one in Brooklyn, you know like those people on that show, Hoarders. Only instead of being overrun with spoons and dead animals you’d have to dig through piles of mascara to find me.
So anyway, yes, I went into Sephora a bit ago and one of my gifts with purchase was a set of Fresh’s Sugar Lip Treatments. I went through those babies like water. I went back to get more and the price tag of those babies shocked the hell out of me! $22?! It’s a prettier version of CHAPSTICK! So after my WTF moment, I put them down and moved on, but I really wanted them and I knew even though I loved them there was no way I could justify the price unless there were no similar items on the market….!!!

Fresh sugar lip treatments colors available and review
After much testing I found there were MANY similar products on the market at a fraction of the price, BUT, there was nothing that offered the benefits of the lip balm and the color of a lipstick like the ones by Fresh. Until Revlon came out with those lip butters that is, when exactly did they come out with these? I have no idea, I had heard so many rave reviews of other bloggers gushing about how wonderful they are but had yet to actually SEE them anywhere. I finally caught them at a Rite Aid, while on sale no less! I grabbed the only one of the bunch that I thought would look good on me, a hot pink color called Sweet Tart. *These come in a TON of colors, but the ones the store had left were for lighter skin tones. These things are flying off the shelves!

Sweet Tart revlon lip butter on me review

Product VS Product:

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Rose VS Revlon Lip Butter in Sweet Tart

Color: These are both 2 different shades of pink, but they are both that sort of pink that will look amazing on anyone. Both products offer a smooth lip balm feel that glides quite nicely over your lips and a beautiful sheer color that can easily be layered for more coverage. Fresh offers about 5 colors total and 2 colorless versions. Revlon has a huge range from nudes and pinks to purple, peach and red.

Packaging: Revlon offers a more traditional lipstick tube, with a really cute lid that matches the color inside and a clear top for easy viewing of the color. It’s sturdy and snaps securely. The Fresh packaging is downright innovative, offering a screw on top in what appears to be your typical chapstick tube. The darker shades tube match the colors inside but none of the others really do, the only downside to this is sometimes you will forget to screw it shut and the lid will come off, if it’s not in your purse it’s no big deal but these can get really messy if they are!

Price: $22 for Fresh, $7 for Revlon.

Overall: While both products are great I really have to say “Get the Revlon”  because it comes in a ton of colors and you can get THREE for the price of one of the Fresh’s Sugar Lip Treatments!
Honorable Mentions: $3 for both

EOS lip balm – it comes in a cute little sphere tube! No colors, but they feel amazing and are great for days I don’t want to wear lipstick or gloss.

Nivea lip balms – These are usually called things like “Touch of: Honey, Softness, Smoothness, Color, etc” The color ones add a nice sheer wash of color but they don’t layer much, these offer sunscreen protection and really make your lips feel like silk.

Setting Spray

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Hey everyone!

I am sorry for the lack of posts this weekend but I was busy preparing to talk about and review some products some of you may be interested in. I went to the Sephora in Times Square and had a nice chat with some of the sales team on their favorite products in store and snagged quite a bit of stuff! I can’t wait to use it all!

Today I want to talk about setting sprays, for those of you new to makeup a setting spray is a spray used after applying your makeup to help make it last all day. Setting sprays can also be used to refresh your makeup during the day, and can even be used on bare skin as a primer. As a person who sweats their makeup right off I have used a lot of these, so lets talk about some of the more popular/well-known sprays.

Model in a bottle – $18:
This setting spray is actually a really good one, it is made to withstand warm temperatures and hot lights and really does keep your makeup looking great for more than 10 hours. (That’s how long I tested it for before washing it off and it really did work!) There are some downsides to this product though and number one is the smell, it smells a bit funky at first and then dries to nothing but it’s still pretty bothersome and you can’t use it everyday. If you were to use this everyday you’d probably breakout as it’s very heavy for my skin and my skin while sensitive does not breakout easily and after using this 3 days in a row I realized it was best saved for special occasions only.

ELF Studio Setting Spray – $3:
At just $3 this is definitely one of the cheaper setting sprays, it’s probably closest to the MAC spray Fix+ as it is water based. This is terrible as a setting spray (as is the MAC one!) but it works great to refresh your face and makeup during the day, and it also helps eliminate that caked on powder look most women get after applying powder makeup. I actually keep this on hand all the time because it’s really cheap, and the bottle is small and perfect for a purse. The downside to this is that it will not set up your makeup to last all day, but I actually have a few bottles of this in my makeup drawer!

MAC Fix+ – $20:
This is not really a setting spray although many beauty bloggers use it as one, but this product is for refreshing makeup and eliminating the caked on powder look as well. Since discovering the ELF spray I have no desire to waste my cash on this spray anymore. (It’s not that it is a bad product or anything but I rather save my $17 for expensive products out there that don’t have a cheaper alternative. )

Urban Decay De Slick Oil Control Setting Spray – $29:
This spray was part of my Sephora haul this weekend and it claims to eliminate oil and shine while helping your makeup last all day. Urban Decay also claims that all their setting sprays lower the temperature of your makeup to help keep your makeup looking fresh and beautiful for up to 16 hours! I grabbed a box and tried it out. For the price the bottle is a decent enough size, but this is also the most expensive spray on the list. It sprays a light mist that is very cooling on the skin at first, and dries almost instantly since the mist is very fine. I really love how this feels on my skin, I tried it both after using primer and over my makeup and I think it works best using it that way as opposed to either before or after. After about 4 hours of walking around the city my face was still shine free and no need for blotting papers yet! A good 10 hours after applying this my makeup still looked pretty good minus a smudge of eyeliner here and there definitely no shine or grease face! This is definitely my new setting spray from now on, although they also offer this product in a clear gel version that I hear works wonderfully as well! I will have to try it, if anyone here has let me know in the comments. Since there is no other spray like this on the market and drugstore brands have yet to catch on to the setting spray needs of us ladies this is one item you will have to budget for instead. However, it does live up to its own hype so I think it’s worth every penny. (They also offer mini sizes online or in Sephora stores for about $12 if you just want to try it out)

**Extra** If you have dry skin Urban Decay offers a setting spray called Dew Me which offers the staying power as well as helping your skin keep a dewy finish.

The best makeup invention EVER! *heart*
END NOTES:
1. Our referral contest is still running on Facebook! Send your friends to like my page and say you referred them and you can win a mini makeup kit!

2. I am thinking of offering you lovely ladies some videos or picture tutorials on how to apply makeup and different techniques I use, if this would interest you let me know what you would like to learn how to do!

Review: Crest 3D Whitening System

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Can you really whiten your teeth on a budget? Let’s find out…

At about an average of $50 a box Crest White Strips hardly count as budget friendly, but compared to a professional treatment at the dentist they’re a steal! Most people have heard of these strips for a while now, in fact there are quite a few versions of the strips available. Crest also supplements the strips with their new 3D White line of toothpaste, mouthwash, floss, and even a tooth-brush. The 3D White website offers a tool to help you choose the best products for your needs, and offers coupons and free samples (if you’re lucky!) as well.

CVS was having a sale on the strips as being $5 off and getting $5 in extra bucks as well, I also had a $10 off coupon for the strips and various coupons for the toothpaste and mouthwash, so in total I paid about $50 for all the items using all the discounts available. Not bad, huh? I even got the tooth-brush and since I already use a different floss in their line I passed. The strips we chose were the Advanced Vivid and they claim to whiten in 14 days with visible results after 3, I decided to share them with Matt because my teeth are already pretty white I only had about 3 shades to go. After 3 days of whitening, brushing, and using the mouth wash both of us had whiter teeth!

At that point Matt got lazy and stopped using the strips, but after about a week of just brushing and using the rinse his teeth were whiter. White enough that I actually noticed! I used the rest but stopped seeing results after the first few days, so if your teeth are decently white stick to the website recommendation of using the 5 minute a day strips or just the toothpaste and mouthwash. I would definitely buy these again if I needed them, and the tooth-brush was pretty much like every other spin brush out there, but the toothpaste and mouthwash are now staples in our household!

 

 

Overall

Crest 3D Whitestrips – Advanced Vivid

Packaging: 5/5 - Individually wrapped and easy to open.

Ease of use: 4/5 – While easy to use, if you don’t buy the advanced seal ones they can end up a sloppy mess.

Price: 5/5 – At $50 a box the price is amazing compared to a dental treatment of $300 or more!

Works as advertised: 5/5 – They actually work better than I thought they would!

*Also after live chatting with the Crest rep I was told the mouth wash is to be used after brushing! (Unlike some that say to use before brushing.)

Penny face mask and our first contest!

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Since Matthew had yesterday off we decided to make it a Monday night date night and head off to Chipotle for some burrito goodness. We ended up staying up late and I totally forgot to wash my face, this almost never happens but I guess everyone makes mistakes. Well this morning my face repaid me with 10 tiny whiteheads, I’ll admit it I’m a popper, but these were so tiny I wouldn’t be able to pop them and I surely wasn’t going to stay with them on my face either.

I had read about mixing baking soda with water and turning it into a face mask to help black/white heads rise to the surface of your skin so they can be removed. I decided to try it. First I poured some baking soda into a little measuring cup, and then I added some water to make it a nice thick paste:

Then I slathered it all over my face, until it was fully covered and I looked thoroughly creepy:

I let it dry completely and then rinsed it off and washed my face using my regular face cleanser. I actually felt my face tingle but after this dries it starts to crumble and the powder goes everywhere so be careful! It started irritating my nose and I realized I should have rinsed it off sooner, so as soon as it dries take it off! My face felt super clean after using this and it did help push the heads out so they could be removed! It dries them out a bit as well so this isn’t recommended for dry skin.  A box of baking soda is less than a dollar and water is pretty much free, so this is the cheapest face mask I ever used and I have to admit it worked pretty well.

I am hosting our first contest starting tomorrow! It is a referral contest for Budgeting Beauty’s Facebook page, the rules are simple and easy.

1. Like our page

2. Refer your friends and make sure they say YOU sent them!

The person who refers the most friends and pages will win a mini makeup kit! (Pictures will be posted towards the end)

This contest will be running from May 9, 2012 – June 9, 2012 and the winners will be announced shortly after. Winner’s will have to supply their address to receive a prize, make sure you are ok with this before entering!