va-voomvanity

[va-voomvanity]

🖤💚Sometimes I give myself the creeps💚🖤 Absolutely in love with the limited edition Basket Case eyeliner by @katvondbeauty and @billiejoearmstrong - this anti-precision liner brings back all the things I loved about my punk/emo liner from high school though I’d like to think my skills improved. A great thick, smudged cat eye is perfect #vavoomvanity #makeupblogger #makeupblog #makeupartist #mua #makeupaddict #makeupjunkie #eyelinerjunkie #katvondbeauty #basketcase #basketcaseeyeliner #greenday #punk #rock #emo #goth

[va-voomvanity]

I know what I’m doing tonight. Ready for the holiday? #maskmonday

[va-voomvanity]

Had a fun day at work with this client this morning! She wanted a soft, smokey eye and a pop of gold to match her dress for her sisters wedding ✨ #mua #custommakeover #makeupforever #anastasiabeverlyhills #stila #katvondbeauty #lauramercier

[va-voomvanity]

Treated myself to two highlighters and a highlight primer from @chaosmakeup 🐚 highlighters in kaleidoscope and ice, the primer is gleam! I tried on ice today and this picture doesn't even do it justice with how blinding it is without the primer underneath!! #mua #makeupblogger #vavoomvanity #chaosmakeup #mermaidmakeup

[va-voomvanity]

Another past Halloween look; a quickie pop-art Wonder Woman for our themed day last year #mua #marcjacobsbeauty #katvondcosmetics #anastasiabeverlyhills #hourglasscosmetics #houseoflashes #gobacktopartycitywhereyoubelong

[va-voomvanity]

Some mermaid glam realness from last Halloween. I abused my highlight that day 🌟 #mua #makeupblogger #sugarpillcosmetics #anastasiabeverlyhills #katvondcosmetics #urbandecaycosmetics #patmcgrathlabs

[va-voomvanity]

Another throwback: feeling myself some @mychemicalromance circa 2003 with this @gerardway inspired Three Cheers eye look. I'm never used to not wearing winged liner #mua #makeupblogger #maccosmetics #marcjacobsbeauty #mychemicalromance #mcr #mcrmy #threecheersforasweetrevenge

[va-voomvanity]

An older look from December; monochromatic multi-textured rebel eye look #sephora #sephoragirls #sephoramua #narscosmetics #urbandecaycosmetics #esteeeditcosmetics #lashesonlashes

[va-voomvanity]

A bit of a switch among all my prom clients; celebrating her quinceañera! #sephora #sephoragirls #sephoramua #mua #quinceanera #makeupforever #anastasiabeverlyhills #katvondcosmetics #beccacosmetics #narscosmetics

[va-voomvanity]

One of my beautiful prom clients from last week! I wish I'd taken more pictures to share of all these gorgeous gals 🌟 #sephora #sephoragirls #sephoramua #mua #prom #prommakeup #anastasiabeverlyhills #katvondcosmetics #urbandecaycosmetics #baremineralscosmetics

[va-voomvanity]

This is just one use after with the natural charcoal whitener by @carboncocoau 🌟it was an interesting feeling using powdered charcoal. I used their brush and brushed for a few minutes before rinsing. It wasn't terrible but I know it really only lifted my surface staining slightly but they actually feel cleaner than when I brushed this morning! Definitely going to continue to use this product to see the full results #vavoomvanity #mua #makeupblogger #teethwhitening #carboncoco

[va-voomvanity]

Water to compare @beccacosmetics new Amethyst highlighter to the purples in @katvondbeauty Alchemist palette and @anastasiabeverlyhills Moonchild palette. Top is Becca, middle is ABH, last is KVD #highlighter #amethysthighlighter #makeup #beauty #cosmetics #vavoomvanity

[va-voomvanity]

Ok I have more questions! I have serious freckles and red undertones in my skin, so I've always felt like wearing full face makeup looks very unnatural and obvious. What are some good options that don't make me look like I'm wearing a mask?

What makeup have you tried in the past and why didn’t you like it? Was it too much coverage (i.e. why you felt like you were wearing a mask?) or maybe it was the wrong shade? Are you actively trying to cover your freckles?

The red undertone could be calmed down a bit with a yellow or green base; I’d recommend something like mint green or pale yellow to help even out the red that may be too prominent. By color correcting, you’re able to get a truer match and application for your foundation. You can also get serums and moisturizers that will also help calm the redness you have, which should be your first step for makeup regardless (I’m all about skincare).

If the coverage was an issue, try something like a lighter coverage foundation or even a tinted moisturizer or BB/CC cream. You still want to match to your undertone, though. If you don’t, it’ll be very obvious that the color doesn’t match properly and will give you a very prominent line of demarcation if you don’t blend properly. 

If you want higher coverage without the freckles coming through, pick a concealer close to your skintone, apply a thin layer over them before your foundation to help cover them a little more. DO NOT COLOR CORRECT THEM WITH A PEACH TONE. This will make covering everything that much harder.

Feel free to message me again on here or my main account if you have any questions about the answer I gave. I’m always happy to help if I wasn’t clear :)

xo Cesca

[va-voomvanity]

I decided today that I will be either moving this blog completely over to a WordPress site or starting over completely. I love writing but my depression has taken a toll in me not posting here as of late. I want to make myself more accountable and deliver quality content but I feel Tumblr just isn’t the place for me to post and reach a wide audience. The makeup community on here is incredibly small compared to other platforms.

I will definitely post all the new info on here once I’ve made the move for all those who would like to continue following me.

xo Cesca

[va-voomvanity]

Lancome Teint Idole Ultra Cushion Foundation Review

Hello lovelies, after an extremely unexpected upsetting week I’m back with with a review on a new foundation. Another cushion foundation but unlike any other I’ve bought. Lancome’s new Teint Idole Ultra Cushion Foundation.

This cushion compact is absolutely gorgeous in the traditional Lancome way. The high shine gold coloured compact really exudes luxury. Inside holds a flocked velvet applicator puff which is part of the key to getting the ideal high coverage of this foundation. The puff was originally developed for this high coverage formula to give the perfect application.

The cushion in this compact is really different; instead of a sponge soaked in foundation, the cushion feels almost like a pliable plastic screen. It’s completely white and clean before you press to release the product but it becomes soaked easily. The foundation is supposed to be reflective of their popular Teint Idole Ultra liquid foundation but making it more compact and portable. Lancome says it took three years of research to create this “Double Matrix Technology” which is an ultra absorbent fiber network which was created for high coverage textures which won't leak.

It’s an oil-free, buildable medium to full coverage foundation with a natural matte finish. It also offers SPF 50 which is unheard of for a full coverage foundation. The formula is ultra blendable to leave an even finish but feels wicked lightweight. It also gives a slight cooling sensation when applied, though the smell is something else to be desired.

The foundation retails for $47 USD at Lancome, Sephora, and Ulta Cosmetics. I bought this in the color 110 Ivorie C.

I decided to wear this foundation this whole week to see how exactly I liked it since I’d been looking forward to it’s release for quite some time. I first applied it with the velour puff that came included with the cushion but found that it soaked up a lot of the product. Not only that, but it left the foundation very thick on my face which led to a lot of product breakup by the end of the day. Prepare yourself for a very unflattering picture.

It especially settled around my nasal labial folds (laugh lines, for those unfamiliar with the term) and under my eyes which made me look a lot older than I am. To combat this, the next few days I tried using a stippling brush to apply it and a beauty blender. The stippling brush seemed to do the best job out of all the tools and I’d highly recommend skipping the puff all together and using a different brush or sponge to apply this foundation. It didn’t settle as much, though it still seemed to want to, which is upsetting. The primer I used underneath this was Murad’s Invisiblur.

While I was really excited to try this foundation, I feel it didn’t live up to the great reviews I had previously seen. It’s worth it if you want a portable foundation with the highest coverage a cushion can offer but it isn’t for the end of the day result. Unfortunately, it was very lackluster.

xo Cesca

[va-voomvanity]

Pat McGrath Labs Skin Fetish 003 Review

Hey lovelies! It’s here and I finally got to play with this. I’ve been sitting on this one for a while waiting for the right time to pull this out of my back pocket and make it post worthy. Here we go with Pat McGrath Labs Skin Fetish 003!

First off, I’m so proud of that picture! So many sequins, I had to put them to good use (and I kept them because, why not?)

So this highlighter is like any other I’ve tried before and it’s very different. It comes in two colors, Nude and Golden (the one I picked up and pictured above is Nude). You get a package full of sequins and packed inside you get a stipple brush, highlighter/balm duo stick, and domed iridescent pigment and the instructions “use without caution”.

The Shiny Stick contains both the highlighter on one end and a clear balm on the other allowing you do either create a dewy look or amplify that highlight before adding the pigment on top.

The pigment that comes with this set is such a lovely and deceptive shade with this gorgeous pink/purple shift almost like a duo chrome shadow. 

You can definitely use this a multitude of ways: just applying the balm onto the high points of your skin for a dewy glow, applying the highlighter than balm over it, buffing the pigment over the Shiny Stick to add some otherworldly glam, or as you would a usual highlighter onto all the high points of the face and décolletage.

I love the idea that this is so customisable in terms of dewiness or sheer pigment you put on your skin, making it an extremely versatile product. I only used this to highlight my cheekbones in this review but I want to experiment and use this as an eyeshadow and base one day and see how well that fairs.

This photo simply does not do this highlighter justice. I may need to post an updated picture later because I felt like such a supernatural, paranormal princess with this on my cheekbones. I applied the highlighter end of the Shiny Stick first over my cheekbones and blended it out with my fingers before buffing the pigment over it and repeated this maybe two or three times to get that glow that I wanted. It was so different and so opalescent that I could not stop looking at this while I was at work.

If you have the means to spend $72 on a highlighter and want to bring a whole other player into your makeup game, I highly recommend getting one of these. It’s definitely a splurge and won’t make your wallet happy but it will definitely set you apart. Unfortunately it is limited edition so snatch it up while you can!

xo Cesca

[va-voomvanity]

Physicians Formula Booster Blush & Glow Pearls Review

Hey lovelies! Double review today since I bought a few new products that I wanted to try out all at once this time. Over this week, I picked up two Physicians Formula products: the Mineral Glow Pearls and Happy Booster Glow & Mood Boosting Blush.

I was a little upset because I thought I grabbed the lightest, translucent glow pearls but instead came home with the Light Beige Pearl one but oh well, I’d still use it. Wal*Mart has so much in there cosmetics section that I haven’t even explored before (since I only moved near ours recently) so I was excited to venture out and see what they had to offer! If you’re looking for these or other PF products, Ulta is having a sale on them now just so you know.

The mineral pearls seem to be meant either as a highlighter or a light bronzer that each have multi-color blend of pearls that will help you achieve a glowing complexion but also even your skintone if dusted all over. Each compact has “real mineral pearl extract” that gives a skin-perfecting look and comes in four shades and retails for $13.95.

The Happy Booster blush was a little out there for me. It’s a multi-tonal blush that allows you to blend all the colors to give a soft, healthy glow to the cheeks but also has a little iridescence to it, too. The odd thing about this one is that it’s  infused with their “Happy Boost Blend” which has “Happy Skin” and Euphoryl, which is a natural plant extract that’s been shown to promote the feeling of happiness by mimicking the effect of endorphins in the body. It also has a slight violet fragrance to it which is a nice touch. I don’t know how true it is that it helps elevate your mood, but it’s a cute gimmick. This blush also comes in four different shades (I got shade “Natural”) and retails for $11.95.

The packaging is adorable, as with all their products. These compacts have a little weight to them making them feel a little expensive but nothing as weighty as a luxury/prestige brand would feel. Each also flips up to show a mirror and an included brush.

The blush surprisingly didn't swatch too well and needed to be built up a little with the application but the pearls were surprisingly pigmented.

The pearls gave a pretty decent highlight. I went over it a few times with a denser fan brush because when I wear a shimmer highlight, I like to glow like it’s my job! The blush when mixed and applied a few times really gave that subtle and natural flush I like. The iridescence really didn’t show up too well but then again, I’m not a huge shiny blush person. 

It was a nice soft addition to my face today! I’m pretty pleased with the application but I don’t know if I’ll continue with the mineral pearls since the color isn't exactly one I’m 100% in love with but it’s different than the other highlights I have. It’s just TOO bronzy.

Let me know what you think if you’ve tried these! 

xo Cesca