Review: Younique 3D Fiber Mascara

Hello dolls!

Today, I wanted to give you a review of the Younique 3D Fiber Lash Mascara. I want to start by explaining what Younique is. I am not a full authority on what the Younique company is, but I see it almost like Mary Kay, or Avon. You make a purchase through a representative, and it is sent to you. I have seen positive and negative reports. Most fear this...

***scary movie terror music***

There is a way to totally avoid this though!!! My lashes turn out like this!!!!

                             

Before I had heard of Younique, I used about 4 to 5 different mascaras to even achieve the "fakes" effect. 

I'm not very good at applying false lashes. I only own about 5 pairs, and only attempt them on super special occasions.

Let me also describe to you my natural lashes. Thankfully I have medium to long lashes. I was a bit gifted. They are also very blond. They're practically invisible until I place mascara on it. 

With my particular lashes in mind, my mascara obsession (junkie), and this very different mascara, I want to describe the best way to apply the 3D Fiber Lash Mascara!

After I made my purchase, I received this info pic from the representative whom I purchased the mascara from (Amanda Keltz).

These same instructions come inside your 3D Fiber Lash Mascara package. The packaging itlsef is pretty darn cute. Both wands (the transplanting gel and the fibers) arrive in a case that sort of looks like a sunglasses case. Now, keeping the instructions in mind, let me give you the way I apply the mascara.

I might or might not start with the first silver tube you see in my normal mascara routine you see above ^^^^^^^^^^ That is just the IT Cosmetics tight liner. It's sort of a mascara, but not really. I aim it at the roots of my lashes to avoid seeing any of the skin in my upper waterline. So far it does a decent job, but it isn't necessary. 

To get a really good effect, you really need to curl your lashes. You can do what I do, start at the base of your lanes, where your roots are. Avoid catching your skin in your lash curler. Give it a good squeeze, release, and then move up, about half way through your lashes and give it another squeeze. Then if you still have a bit of lash tips left, give that a good squeeze too. 

Next, you need to prepare your lashes by starting with a mascara. Any mascara. I suggest a volumizing mascara because I haven't really found a great lengthening mascara. I suggest the Maybelline The Rocket Mascara in Blackest Black. I discourage the waterproof one since it dries quicker, and thus makes it harder to work with. Next, put on a layer of the transplanting gel (the longer tube). It pretty much looks like regular mascara. 

Then, and this is important, aiming at just the TIPS OF YOUR LASHES, stroke the fiber "mascara" (the shorter mascara tube) on to your lash tips. This is important or else you will get the fibers in your eyes and this hurts and is very uncomfortable!!!!!!! >_< Another important tip, be stingy with how many fibers you apply to your lash tips. You can add more layers of fibers later, but I suggest you add a little at a time. You have to end each layer with the transplanting gel again. So, let's review! First, your mascara, then the transplanting gel, then the fibers and lastly, the transplanting gel again. 

Again, you can add more layers of fibers, but need to make sure to apply a layer of transplanting gel before and after another layer of fibers. REMINDER: APPLY ONLY A FEW FIBERS AT A TIME IN EACH LAYER, IF YOU MUST ADD MORE. A little can go a long way in avoiding this...

***scary movie terror music***

I do have a back up plan, just incase that ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ happens. On my above picture of just The Rocket mascara and Younique mascara, you see one more tube. This is your back up tool. That is the L'oreal Voluminous Million Lashes mascara. This mascara has an excellent applicator wand. I use it as my last resort, if my lashes clump like that ^^^^^^^^^^^ in any situation. It is an excellent lash separator because every time you pull the wand out, it's squeezed out, so it gives you the right amount of mascara on the wand, but like I said before, I use it as my lash separator. If your lashes clump, use the applicator wand to CAREFULLY help you separate your lashes. Be very careful and dip the applicator back in the tube to clean it of any extra fibers that will get stuck on the applicator as you try and separate them. 

One more suggestion. I do not recommend that you use the fiber lash mascara on your lower lashes.  haven't tried it on my lower lashes, since I would rather not risk getting fibers in my eye by having the fiber wand so close to my eye ball!!!!

Now, let's get into the nitty gritty. The Younique 3D Fiber Lash Mascara is $30. It is quite a bit, that's why I suggested the above drugstore mascaras. As my starter mascara, I tend to use which ever one I am in the mood for in that morning, but I noticed The Rocket does a good job. I always have as a backup, the Voluminous Million Lashes as my "at hand" tool. You can purchase this awesome mascara at www.spectaculashes.com 

Let me know what you think of this mascara, after you have tried it yourself???

Love, Jess

The Magic is in the Brows!

Hello beauties!

I went in today to get my eyebrows professionally fixed at the only Ulta/beauty store within a close enough range... It's in Pocatello... An hour away... Yeah... Living in Potatoland (aka Idaho/aka Rexburg, ID/aka The state with more cows than there are people...)

Anyways!

Since I was... maybe 15 or so, I had gotten my eyebrows waxed at one of those hole-in-the wall nail salons for about $5. They turned out ok... I didn't care how they turned out. I wasn't that picky. Then I went through a period where I didn't really care about my eyebrows and semi-fixed them myself, with awful results. Here is my problem...

Incoming awkward looking stare...

For as long as I could remember, and I get pointed out every time I go in to get my eyebrows professionally fixed, one of my eyebrows has a shorter arch than the other. Or to put it more simply, one eyebrow is more defined than the other. My left brow is pretty darn perfect... while my right brow looks like it hates me. Whenever I fixed my own brows, and just tweezed outside my brow line, it looked like I over tweezed my right, but that's just how it grows. Not sure if I made that clear, but know this, my brows, no matter how much I let them grow out, are not even.

With this in mind, I got in to threading my eye brows in October of 2012 and kept getting them threaded until about April of 2014 because on two occasions the women that threaded my eye brows over threaded my left eyebrow, wanting to even it out with the right, but the right one is super imperfect!!!!!!

Then I happened to walk into the new Ulta located in the city of South Gate, California. They had just  opened up that center and the Ulta, and I figured I would go in to give it a look and then lo' and behold, I saw this!!!!!

Note: This is not an actual picture of the Benefit Brow Bar in the Ulta in South Gate, but they all pretty much look the same, or at least all of the ones I have been to.

THE BENEFIT COSMETICS BROW BAR!!!! >_< ***angelic choir***

I saw one of the attendants work on a customer's brows and figured I would ask how much their services were, and if I might possibly get my eyebrows fixed. She said she had an appointment after her current client, but if she didn't show up, she would be glad to help me. I was in luck, because the next client didn't show up. A sweet doll by the name of Ilse (pronounced something like "eel-se," with a Spanish accent) helped me save my brows! She, along with all other Benefit brow bar girls, have been professionally trained on the art and magic of the brow... Yes I am being dramatic, but Benefit Cosmetics is one of the most prestigious cosmetic companies in the world. Heck, they even published a book about eye brows titled Raising Eyebrows: Your Personal Guide to Fabulous Brows by Cameron Tuttle. It's a fun read that takes you through the history of eyebrows (yes, you read that right) and the importance of your eyebrows in the scheme of your face.

Let's put it this way, if your brows are not fixed and fabulous, the rest of your makeup will fall short of looking fabulous too. When your eyebrows are nice and neat, the rest of your face can look much more put together, it frames your face better, and I swear it makes you look about 10 pounds lighter!

Now back to the importance of the Benefit Brow Bar. These women are seriously trained to fix your brows to your specific face specifications. They start by using brow powder to lightly draw out the beginning of your brow, your arch and the end point of your brow. Then they "connect the dots" to create your perfect brow shape. Then you are waxed outside these lines. A bit of tweezing is done to get the little buggers that didn't get caught with the waxing. They also trim your eyebrows. They use Benefit products to also relax your skin, since it just went through a ton of irritation. Lastly, they fill in your brows with powder and a brow pencil to make them reach PERFECTION! 

They suggest products to keep normal maintenance, like filling them in on your own. I only own one Benefit product for my brows and that is the Benefit "Gimme Brow." It's a simple tinted gel that helps you start fixing your brows by filling them in a little and pretty much keeps them in place while you work on your brows. The rest of the brow products I own are by Anastasia Beverly Hills. 

I use Anastasia "Brow Wiz" thin pencil, "Brow Powder Duo," the Clear Gel, the "Brow Duality" pencil to define my brow bone after I finish filling them in, and I'm currently practicing with the Dip Brow Pomade. It's pretty much a waterproof tinted wax that fills in your brows and seals them tight. It's one of their newer products and still need some practice with it. I am using the shade Medium Brown, but I sometimes bring in the Soft Brown shade, depending on where I need a bit more definition. You can find these products on the Anastasia.net website, Sephora, Ulta and Nordstrom. The advantage of using Anastasia products is there color range. They have 10 different colored brow powders, 9 brow pencil colors, and 8 different colored brow pomades. And the stuff works great!!!!

I know, I keep digressing... Now, getting your eye brows professionally waxed costs $20. I know! A lot more than my old days of getting them waxed at the $5 place, but you leave with will groomed brows that lasts you about 3 weeks, or at least that's around the time I need to go back to tame these bad boys. They offer other serves as well such a brow tinting, facial waxing, and lash application. 

The main point of this point is to explain the importance of getting your brows groomed by those who were really trained in the art of the brows. My current brow girl is Breanne. Make sure to search online to see if your local Ulta, and even certain Macy's, offer the Benefit Brow Bar services. 

I also wanted to share with you my haul from this Ulta trip, because I can never resists coming out of that store without something!

I got a "clamp less" 1 inch curling iron by Hot Tools, a NYX cream blush in Boho Chic, an Urban Decay lip liner in Ozone (clear colored), Big Sexy Hair: What a Tease Back Comb in a Bottle and the new OPI Coca-Cola mini nail polish collection (also available in regular sizes, but wanted to try all of them).

Well, that is it for this post. Thank you for reading this loooong, practically scatter brained, post on the magic of eyebrows. 

-Jess

Review: The new Covergirl Ready Set Gorgeous line

Hello my darlings! 

I'm starting up a new blog dedicated to beauty, life, and anything else I can think of! I wanted to start my first post with a simple review. 

There is a new foundation line from Covergirl called Ready Set Gorgeous! They have Katy Perry as their spokeswoman for this line. You can see ads on Instagram and magazines promoting this new line. I've also seen a few YouTube reviews by a few beauty gurus and I figured I would give it a shot.

The line includes a powder compact foundation, a liquid foundation and a concealer. I'm a 115-120 in the pressed powder foundation. I'm actually a 120 in the liquid foundation (not 115). Lastly, I'm a 115-120 in the concealer. 

I personally don't wear powder foundation as just my foundation. My skin has semi-dry patches on my chin, cheeks, and forehead and can't handle just a powder foundation. However, when I pair all three together, they work pretty well. 

The liquid foundation is oil free and claims to apply from liquid to a powder finish. When I first applied the foundation with a brush, I started noticing dry patches on my forehead, cheeks and chin. It has a decent coverage, since it says to have a light to medium coverage. However, it wasn't build-able with the brush because my pores and dry patches were a bit noticeable and adding more foundation only worsened the situation. I then applied the concealer under my eyes. It had a very light coverage. I need a very good converge when it comes to my under eyes because of my dark circles, puffiness and lines. Now, when I added the pressed powder  foundation, it helped seal everything, but I still has the problem of my pores standing out a bit. I did put on primer before I started, but it didn't seem to help. I feel like the "to a powder finish" seems to live up to its word. 

As the day progressed, I got a bit of oiliness and it did oxidize a bit (aka change color). I blotted my face and that seemed to take of it. 

Now I tried the same process a few days later, but used a wet beautyblender sponge. 

The beautyblender is one of my most recent FAVORITE beauty tools. It's $20 but well worth it's weight in gold, if cleaned out once a week, at least. You wet it to activate it and helps to apply foundation to an airbrushed finish. Now I suggest this tool when working with foundation that dry to a powder finish. The wet sponge helps to avoid caking and helps your foundation to blend smoothly on your face. It even smooths over your pores. My foundation application has changed since I have purchased this awesome tool. I use the fuller, "butt end" of the blender to pat my foundation on my face, especially the Ready Set Gorgeous. I then use the pointed end to blend my concealer under my eyes. 

Having used the beautyblender, my foundation didn't get that oily and didn't oxidize as much. The concealer, sadly, still didn't build enough converge. The pressed powder was good enough for me to use to blot for the day. 

So pros, it has a good feel on your face. It almost feels like you have nothing on, which is a plus for the hot summer weather. 

It evens out your skin tone, if you use the the beautyblender.

The powder foundation is best used as part of a step on the whole routine, but don't recommend it on its own, to avoid weird, dry patches.

Cons, the concealer does not contain enough coverage, even if you try to build it. Too liquid-y.

The foundation itself is also very liquid-y, so be careful when you squeeze. 

Overall, use all three items together to get a summery converge, because it's HOT and I don't recommend a heavy foundation for this season.

Thank you for reading this far. Hope you liked this review and stay tuned for more posts. Love you!

-Jess