Beauty Blender DUPE! The Morphe Flawless Beauty Sponge

The Beauty Blender has not only been a holy grail in our lives, but a staple to legendary makeup artists around the world. It is definitely one of the most versatile beauty tools out there. With multiple companies coming out with their own beauty sponges, it never hurts to try them out and compare!

Today, we got the Morphe Brushes Flawless Beauty Sponge (image below). Here's what we think:

Firmness: When dry, it can seem intimidating considering how stiff and firm it feels, but once dampened, it has a great bounce to it. But it is a tad firmer than the original Beauty Blender when dampened.

Blend: Whether you are using this beauty tool to blend out your foundation, concealer, or cream contour, you will get a streak-free application.

Absorption: Dampened beauty sponges are bound to soak up some of your liquid foundation or concealer, which prevents cakey application. However, I did notice that the Morphe sponge does soak up a bit more product compared to the Beauty Blender.

Shape: The shape of the Morphe beauty sponge is a curved, tear drop. The indentations on the sides is great to allow your to have a good grip, especially when you're trying to blend out your under-eye concealer. The "butt" end of the sponge is also wider compared to the Beauty Blender once dampened, which will allow you to cover a larger area quicker. However, one problem with the shape is that once the sponge is dampened, the pointy-edge can get too big to get into the crevices and inner-corners of the eyes.

Cleaning: We were able to snag the Blvd. Cosmetics Brush Shampoo and Conditioner on the Morphe Brushes website and thought we could test this out and compare it to the Solid Cleanser by Beauty Blender! Detailed review with before and afters to follow on our next post!

Final Thoughts: If you're on the hunt for an affordable beauty sponge, look no further. The Morphe Flawless Sponge provides high quality at a much lower price point ($6.99). It's definitely a close dupe to the Beauty Blender and is much better than other beauty sponges on the market.

The Morphe Flawless Beauty Sponge is currently sold out on their website, but they are very good with sending alerts when a product is back in stock. You can find the Flawless Beauty Sponge and all of the other sponges they sell here: https://www.morphebrushes.com/collections/morphe-beauty-sponges.

Check out Jaclyn Hill use the Morphe Flawless Beauty Sponge in action: 

XO,

RLS

The Best Nude Liquid Lipsticks on the Market

Liquid lipsticks have taken up a storm for the past 2 years and we're not complaining. As huge liquid lipstick enthusiasts, we are always on the lookout for the next best formula and color. Today we are talking about the ultimate nude liquid lipsticks. Finding a true nude liquid lipstick can be very difficult especially since each color can look different on each skin tone, but we think we found some great ones!

From left to right: Venus, Bow N Arrow, Truffle, and Stripped

The liquid lipstick we want to talk about is the newest of them all, the Huda Beauty Liquid Matte Lipstick. The shade swatched above is the color Venus. Venus is described as a deep taupe-nude and it can't be more spot on. We absolutely adore this color. Now what about the formula? Huda Kattan kept us waiting for a very long time for her Liquid Matte Lipstick launch making amazing claims such as "the most comfortable, long-lasting liquid lipstick." So you know we had to give it a try! We snagged Venus as soon as it hit Sephora's website.

Consistency: The consistency of this lipstick is more on the liquid side compared to the other liquid lipsticks swatched above. If we were to compare it to other liquid lipsticks consistencies, we would say it is more similar to Kat Von D's Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks as well as Lime Crime's Velvetines. It most definitely does not have a mousey consistency like the Dose of Colors and Anastasia Beverly Hills liquid lipsticks.

Comfort Level: Every liquid lipstick is bound to be drying, but the Huda Beauty Liquid Matte Lipstick is more comfortable than other liquid lipsticks we have tried. It is, of course, recommended to prep the lips by exfoliating and adding lip balm and/or lip primer.

Wear Time: You can go for a good 6 hour wear time with this liquid lipstick, but once you start eating (especially greasy food) the liquid lipstick may begin to fade especially in the inner rim of your lips.

Reapplying/Layering: You can reapply this liquid lipstick with minimal crusting. It layers beautifully and is easy to reapply if you see the color fading.

Transferability: There is absolutely no transfer once dried to a complete matte.

You can buy the Huda Beauty Liquid Matte Lipstick at Sephora and Huda Beauty's Website.

If you want a detailed blog post on the Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick, Dose of Colors Liquid Lipstick and even the Girlactik Lip Paint, check out our previous posts linked below! 

Battle of the Lolitas 

New Dose of Colors Liquid Lipsticks

Girlactik's Bashful

XO, 

RLS

Unboxing Makeup! Sephora Play! August 2016

  It's finally that time of month again! It's time to unbox the August "Play By Sephora" subscription! There's something really exciting about receiving a box full of makeup at your doorstep each month. And to add an extra element, you don't know what's inside the box (which can be a good or bad thing). 

        So this month's box which was called "The Eye Openers." It had a bunch of products that are used on or around the eye area including eyeshadow, eye cream, eye liner, mascara, and moisturizer. I haven't had the chance to try out most of the products on my face, I've just swatched them on my hand so I can't give a thorough review! Stay tuned in the next few weeks if you'd like to see an updated blog post.

List of the products from top to bottom:

Make up Forever Artist Eyeshadow: Buy it here $21
Algenist "Complete Eye Renewal Balm": Buy it here $68
Urban Decay "Perversion" Mascara: Buy it here $10-22
Sephora Collection "Contour Eye Pencil 12hr Wear Waterproof": Buy it here $10
Lancome Moisturizer: Buy it here $55
CLEAN "Reserve Warm Cotton": Buy it here $25-90

XO, 

RLS

The dry shampoo that changed my life!

Dry shampoo is like magic! If you get your hands on a reliable one that does the job and smells great, it changes your whole life (okay, maybe just your hair care routine)!

A few months ago I came across Drybar's Triple Sec 3-in-1 which is a volumizer, texturizer, and dry shampoo. I wasn't too sure if I'd like it since I'm not much of a dry shampoo user, but this product is definitely a keeper.

It does exactly what it says, which includes giving your hair texture, absorbing out the oil in your hair, and volumizing your roots. It doesn't matter if I'm curling or just blow drying my hair, I spray the Triple Sec 3-in-1 a few times throughout my hair and it takes my hair to the next level!

Washing my hair everyday is usually not an option since it can leave my thick, curly hair feeling very dry and flaky, so this is when dry shampoo comes in. Also, on days that I don't have time to wash my hair, this product is a LIFE SAVER. I spray it at my roots and blow dry it quickly and it literally looks like freshly washed hair or even better. When my hair starts to flatten down as the day progresses, I just scrunch up my roots with my fingertips and it's back at it!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the best part, the smell of it. It smells amazing! It has a vanilla scent that just smells like pure perfection. The only down side is that (like most other dry shampoos) your hair starts to feel pretty dry if you use it multiple days in a row, but let's be honest it's probably time to wash your hair at that point! 

If you're not ready to commit to the full size bottle there's a travel size one for half the size!

Buy it here: Dry Bar Triple Sec 3-in-1

P.S We love this video by Modamob on Youtube on how to make the most out of your blowout.

XO, RLS

Urban Decay Concealer!

I've been wanting to try out Urban Decay's Naked Skin concealer for a while now and I finally gave 

in and bought it! So where do I start off...

Consistency: The consistency is the perfect medium of thick and thin. It's not too thick or thin. It doesn't feel to heavy or too watery on the skin like other concealers.

Blendability: With just a few dabs my Beauty Blender, the concealer blends out evenly whether it's under my eyes, on my forehead, blemishes etc.

Coverage: This definitely gets the job done for me. It's really pigmented so I find that a little goes a long way. It provides really good coverage and evens out the hollow space under my eyes.

Creasing: This concealer leaves me with a flawless finish under my eyes! It creases just a little bit right under my lash line (which is inevitable and like every other concealer I've tried), but looks seamless everywhere else applied.

After I blend out the concealer with my Beauty Blender I immediately set it with a powder, and it looks A M A Z I N G.

I would recommend this concealer to anyone who needs a good concealer for everyday wear. It can also double up for nighttime wear due to the amount of coverage it provides. If you would like to try out the concealer for yourself, check out the link below!

Buy it here: Urban Decay "Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer" -$28

XO, 

RLS

Sephora Play June Unboxing!

It's time to UN-BOX this months Sephora Play! Even though Sephora Play sends out small samples in this box every month, it still has this surprise factor to it that makes it SO exciting to receive at your door step. Let's start with this months box:

1.Benefit "They're Real!" mascara: $24

After using this mascara for the past month I would rate it a 6.7-7/10. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely an great mascara, but when I compare it to my absolute favorite mascaras, this falls short to them. The wand it stiff and plastic-y (not a bad thing), and it has very defined rubber spikes throughout the wand, even at the tip of the wand. I definitely liked the look it gave my lashes, but what I didn't like was how dry (I'm assuming it's waterproof) it made them feel. Also, I feel like I just couldn't get my lashes to look similar after applying the mascara! It would make some of my lashes straight and others nice and curled.

2. Tarte "Tarteguard 30 Sunscreen Lotion": $32

I've never really tried sunscreen that's amazing and this definitely felt like just another average sunscreen. Nothing exciting to say about it. I feel like it did the job and protected me from the sun, but I'm not sure why I would purchase the full size of this product.

3. Bumble and Bumble "Dont Blow It": $31

This hair cream smelled pretty good and did a decent job at keeping my natural hair in place and not crazy after the shower. You're supposed to use this cream on your natural hair and let it air dry without any heat. If you're a curly haired girl like me, you know that letting your hair naturally dry usually means disaster! This cream kind of helped tame my hair, and gave it a soft look. I prefer more strong hair creams that lock in my hair, but this leaves a nice, soft texture to your hair.

4. Becca "Backlight Priming Filter": $38

I shrieked in excitement when I saw this in the box! This primer has definitely been hyped up in the makeup community in the past few months so I was definitely excited to try it. Also, from my experience Becca has beautiful products that are great quality so I knew what to expect. So did it live up to the hype? I think it DEFINITELY did. The primer is not like other primers that claim to minimize pores and do NOTHING, I truly feel as if it minimized my pores (especially the ones on my nose.) I usually put a thin layer all over my face, except for my forehead since I'll become an oily mess. It leaves the skin looking glowy, minimizes pore appearance, and helps my makeup stay in place all day. My favorite part about this primer is the way my foundation blends over it! I also think it's beautiful if you just use the primer by itself without foundation. It has a similar consistency to Becca's liquid highlighters, and doesn't have a silicone feel.

5. BareMinerals "bareSkin Sheer Sun Serum Bronzer": $28

Last but not least, we have the Bare Minerals Bronzer! This bronzer is beautiful but very, very NATURAL! I don't really have anything negative to say about it. It leaves the skin looking very natural and it simply enhances the areas you apply it to, while blending very easily. If you love a more natural look, I would give this a try.

Until next time,

XO, RLS

YSL Touche Eclat Blur Primer

          Up today on the blog is the Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat Blur Primer! This primer is very eye catching, I mean who can pass on sleek packaging and gold flakes?! So to start off lets talk about what the primer claims to do. The primer is supposed to blur imperfections, illuminate the face, even out your skintone, and smooth out your skin’s texture. Also, it contains a few nourishing oils including corn, kernel, passiflora, and rice bran oil. After using it a few times, I have to say that this product might not be not worth it. At a $52 price point, I found that it didn’t do much different than other much cheaper primers.

          As someone with combination skin, this primer made me end up looking like a greasy mess. Don’t get me wrong, I love looking dewy and even the slightest bit oily but this primer just looked all sorts of wrong. I didn’t really change up my foundation routine or set more of my face just so I don’t get as oily because I feel like that’s counteractive. The primer definitely smoothed out my skin’s texture and skin tone, but didn’t do much else. I noticed no difference in pore size, which is really upsetting! At the same time, I noticed that the days I did ended up using this primer, my makeup just looked really bad and patchy.

          So who would we recommend this primer for? Probably someone with really dry skin. Also, a lot of the reviews online recommend it for more mature skin so maybe it’s worth trying if you have more fine lines or wrinkles. Despite not loving the YSL primer I’m definitely not giving up on it and am going to try it a few more ways to see if it works better with certain products.

The primer is on sale at Nordstrom right now so you can check it out at the link below:
 Yves Saint Laurent "Touche Eclat Blur Primer"

XO, RLS