The Ultimate Setting Powders

The ultimate key to a long lasting makeup day consists of the right setting powder(s). But it's important to know the different types of setting powders and their purposes. We got to try out three setting powders that have been getting a lot of buzz in the beauty community: RCMA No Color Powder, Ben Nye's Banana Luxury Powder, and the Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder.

Here's a breakdown of each product:

1) RCMA No Color Powder:

The Research Council of Makeup Artists (RCMA) Makeup is known to be top notch specialized professional make-up products for the film, television and stage industry. So when we heard about a 3oz. $10 setting powder by them, it was definitely worth a shot trying. Two beauty gurus are responsible for the popularity of this product: Wayne Goss and Kathleen Lights. Wayne Goss has been raving about this product since the beginning of his YouTube channel. Kathleen has reintroduced this product claiming to be better than the beloved Laura Mercier Loose Translucent Setting Powder that everyone and their moms swear by.

After many attempts of purchasing the item since it was always sold out, we finally got our hands on it. The RCMA No Color Powder is essentially what it is said to be, a no color powder. Do not hesitate from it's white form, it contains absolutely no pigment. Therefore, it will absolutely not alter your foundation/concealer/cream contour shade or natural skin tone. Another great thing about this product is that it will cause no flashback. When it comes to performance, we can see why Kathleen and Wayne love this product. It leaves your skin with a satin rather than an overly matte finish, creating a pore-free complexion. As a girl with dry under eyes and an oily t-zone, this product performs for both of my needs. 

2) Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder:

The Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder has blown up all over YouTube and Instagram. Makeup artists and beauty gurus have raved about this product claiming to make their concealer absolutely creaseless. I personally find this powder overly drying for my under eyes. Therefore, we suggest applying a moisturizing eye cream before concealer application. As for my oily girls, you would love this to set your face base. It keeps you matte all day long with a soft-focus effect that subtly blurs the look of fine lines and imperfections. The product contains 1oz. and costs $38. 

3) Ben Nye's Banana Luxury Powder:

The Ben Nye Banana Luxury Powder got on everyone's must-have list after Kim Kardashian's makeup artist, Mario Dedivanovic, claimed to love this product. So you know we had to give it a try! As a girl with light to medium, yellow undertone skin color, I recommend lightly setting your concealer with this powder. Baking with this powder will only cause an unflattering yellow tint on lighter complexions. With that being said, this powder works more ideally for medium to dark skin tones. We also recommend using this strictly under the eyes or anywhere else you have applied concealer for a brightening effect. As for the rest of the face, you can check out any of the powders mentioned above or even Ben Nye's Neutral Set Powder. The Banana Powder is $15 for 1.5oz jar. 

Final Verdict:

RCMA No Color Powder: For all over face, under eye, and baking for any skin type and color
Laura Mercier: For combination to oily skin all over the face, under eye, and baking for any skin color
Ben Nye's Banana Luxury Powder: For medium to dark skin tone for under eye setting and baking 

Brushes:

We love using the Morphe E2 brush for an all over setting application and the Morphe M438 for setting the under eyes. 

The Morphe E2 is a large, round, and full brush that distributes product beautifully. The Morphe M438 is perfectly tapered to reach any area that needs to be set. For more Morphe Brushes recommendations and in-depth review, check out our Morphe Brushes Overload post.

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XO,

RLS

Sephora PLAY!

We finally got our hands on our very first Sephora Play Box! Just like many other beauty subscription boxes out there, the Sephora Play box has a monthly fee of $10 and includes 5 deluxe sized beauty products. But Sephora's subscription box is a little different because all of their products are considered "prestige"brands, which you don't get in most other subscription boxes. Here's the products that came in this months box.


To start off, the first makeup product in this month's box was one of Bite Beauty's Amuse Bouche Lipsticks in the color "Kimchi". Although this isn't a color I would wear often, I can picture wearing it during the Summertime paired with a nice tan. The color is a very vibrant, neon pink (think 70's), has a orange/fruity scent, and feels very moisturizing on the lips. Once you wipe it off, or allow it to fade it stains your lips with the remaining color!

Next up was the Tarte Tarteist Lip Crayon in the color "Latergram". The color is a really beautiful mauve that would look good on a lot of different skin tones BUT the formula of the crayon is horrible. The consistency is very waxy and dry, so it doesn't apply properly on to the lips. It's almost impossible to get a smooth application of this on your lips. But, I tried adding some chapstick to help it glide on better, and it did an okay job. Either way, it shouldn't take that much prep to put on a lip pencil.

The box also came with two Origins face masks and one skin-optimizing mask primer. The two masks it came with were the "Clear Improvement Active charcoal mask to clear pores", and the "Drink Up Intensive Overnight mask to quench skin's thirst". I don't really like how it didn't come in a tube, they could have done something with the packaging to make it feel more "deluxe", but I'm still excited to try out the products. So far I tried out the mask primer with the Drink Up mask. So the primer is supposed to prep my skin for the mask that I put on afterwards, and all I noticed from the application was that it made my skin feel the slightest bit sticky so maybe it was working. The Drink Up mask felt really good on the skin, it had a citrus scent and felt very nourishing on the face.

The Korres Wild Rose24 Hour Moisturizing and Brightening cream is okay (Yeah there's definitely a lack of enthusiasm there). I just found it to be a solid/good product, but there's nothing amazing about it. It has a really strong rose scent which doesn't bother me too much. In terms of moisturizing/brightening my face, I feel like it slightly moisturizes, but I haven't noticed any brightening effects. After applying it onto the face, I find that it gives my face a powdery feel, if that makes any sense. 

The Briogeo Don't Despair Repair! deep conditioning mask was pretty nice. I used it in the shower right after washing my hair and left it on for around 5 minutes. Like many of the previous products in this month's box, it has a really strong scent! I kind of loved/hated the scent, but I can't really explain what it smelled like. Anyway, I actually liked the mask but I'm not sure how different this was from my regular hair conditioner. I mean, it definitely left my hair nice and smooth after the shower but I expect more from a "DEEP" conditioning mask. At the same time, I can't really give a thorough critique of this product after one use. The sample was enough for one use and I feel as if I would have to use it a few times to know if it's actually something special!

Here's where you can purchase all of the products:
Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipstick in Kimchi $26
Tarte Tarteist Lip Crayon in Latergram $18
Origins Maskimizer $22
Origins "Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask To Clear Pores" $4-26
Origins "Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask" $4-26
Korres Wild Rose 24-Hour Moisturizing & Brightening Cream $38
Briogeo Don't Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Mask $36



                                     XO, RLS

Current Obsession: Girlactik's Bashful

                         There's one liquid lipstick we just haven't been able to put down since
                     the day we purchased it, and that's Girlactik's Matte Lip Paint in Bashful.
                     Even though I've purchased many other lip products after getting Bashful,
               I've constantly grabbed onto Bashful for most of my looks in the past few months.
              The color is just gorgeous and I can't seem to get enough of it. On my yellow/olive          
                   undertone skin, it comes off as a mid-tone peachy/light brown nude, but would
                          come off as more of a bright/stark pinky nude for darker complexions.

 

The formula of the liquid lipstick is equally as amazing as the color. It feels very light on the lips and definitely doesn't dry them out. There are some liquid lipsticks that are just so heavy and thick on the lips, while others are so thin and blotchy, but this formula has the perfect in between consistency. After wearing it for an hour or two I've noticed that it settles into the lines of my lips but I feel like it's not noticeable to others. To help with this I usually just apply a very light layer of chapstick to moisturize my lips and wipe most of it off before applying the liquid lipstick. This gives my lips a nice base coat of moisture to help keep it from cracking throughout the day. Lastly, the only drawback to this liquid lipstick is that once you start layering it on your lips (lets say when you're touching up) it seems to start drying out and flaking a little bit more. This is clearly expected of any liquid lipstick but, I just wanted to mention it! They have a lot of other gorgeous colors for liquid lipsticks so check them out if you're interested!

My favorite part about Girlactik's liquid lipsticks are that they are so flattering! Some liquid lipsticks just apply as a very opaque and thick formula and just sit on the lips, Girlactik's somehow adjusts to your skin tone and matches your complexion (if that makes any sense.)

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XO, 
RLS