Since it's summer and all of us have hidden the foundation, I thought it would be nice to write about tinted moisturizers. These are the ones I have used:


Urban Defense Tinted Moisturizer :Urban Defense feels and looks natural and doesn’t feel greasy. It absorbs and dries down quite fast, and if you have very, very dry skin, you’ll still want to use a moisturizer first before layering this on. However, even though it feels lovely on, it does have a bit of a dewy finish. In real life, I think it reads dewy, but in photos, I found it made me look oily. Either way, I still preferred it with a dusting of translucent setting powder on top! It also lasted me six hours or so without ever looking greasy or fading which was definitely nice!

[These photos aren't mine because I wanted to show you a swatch of every shade.]

Sheer Color Tinted Moisturizer from Stilla : The color was a perfect match for my skin.The product blended seamlessly with my skin, and though it seemed thick, it didn’t feel heavy to wear. (It was just the teensiest bit sticky, though.)It lasted all day without melting off . In fact, my only disappointment with this product came in the matte finish. I love a little subtle shimmer in my tinted moisturizer to give my skin a glowing effect, but I’m sure lots of you girls would prefer the matte look anyway.

Lancome Aqua Fusion My favorite part about this tinted moisturizer is the coverage it gives. It still has an amazingly lightweight feel, but it delivers more than sheer coverage–I’d even go as far as to say light-medium (not quite medium). It covered some healing acne and post-acne marks on my face and gave me a lovely, natural finish. I also love that this moisturizer absorbs and sinks in quickly and doesn’t leave behind a dewy finish. It has a nearly matte finish, so it’s great for my oily-skinned friends, in particular.Even though I love, love the feel and coverage of the product, there are a few noteworthy drawbacks. If you’re pale, I don’t know if you’re going to find a good match.I’d also prefer to see broad-spectrum protection here, because it is moisturizing enough (without being heavy or greasy) to be worn without an additional moisturizer, but since it lacks UVA protection, you’ll need to use another product to get sun protection.

Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer : When I first tried the tinted moisturizer I loved it, I thought it was very light and they had some great shade choices. Then summer rolled around and the makeup only lasted about 2 hours before it started to either completely rub off, or just looked bloched. If you're not looking for full coverage and want that 'glow' where it gives you a bit of a shine, buy this. I like full coverage. Also I have heard that it's not very good for dry skin because you might have break outs because of it. I feel like this is an overrated product, since everyone on you tube talks about it. But hey..it's just my opinion.

Cover Girl Smoothers:The moisturizer has blended really well but I've found if you put on a very thin light coat, do your eyes, and then come back and dab on another thin coat of moisturizer it blends even better and comes out looking more even all around then when I just put on one thick coat to start out with it. It's definitely made my skin softer and smoother to the touch, especially my chin and forehead. My forehead also doesn't get as shiny as when I only use pressed powder. The moisturizer is also absorbed into the skin really quickly so you don't have to wait before applying blush and any other make-up you might use.

Kiehl's Ultra Facial Tinted Moisturizer: I know Kiehl's works to incorporate lots of natural ingredients in their products and it has an spf of 15 so I got a sample of their tinted moisturizer in Light. (They come in 3 shades: Light, Medium, and Dark) So on a freshly washed face, I dabbed it on all over my face and worked it in.It looked like I had a mask on.It felt good on my skin and went on smooth and light, no pun intended. I liked those things about it very much. It just wasn't the perfect shade for me .So I DO feel that it is a good product, it's just not a good look for girls with pale skin. Unfortunately, after I have tested the product, i've thrown away the packaging so I don't have any photos for you girls..sorry about that :(

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Enhancers: This product can be really good for some of you and very bad for others. I have oily skin and it's very hard for me to find a moisturizer that doesn't make me break out. Neutrogena was very good from that point of view. But I don't need a lot of moisture, since my skin is never dry. If you have dry skin I wouldn't recommend it. Also, it has very very very light coverage. Unless you have beautiful skin already, it's not very useful. I know it's a tinted moisturizer, but I need some coverage, and Neutrogena wasn't as good as I expected it to be.

These are all tinted moisturizers I have tried. In my opinion, the best has been Stilla. Now I will make a list of all the others tinted moisturizers you can buy and the website where you can find more details about them. I haven't tried them yet because I don't feel the need to. But maybe there are some of you who want to test them. So here you go:

Bobbi Brown Tinted Moisturising Balm SPF 15: http://www.bobbibrowncosmetics.com/templates/products/spp/index.tmpl?ngextredir=1&CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY22957&PRODUCT_ID=PROD3442

Clinique Almost Make up SPF 15: http://www.clinique.com/templates/products/spp/index.tmpl?ngextredir=1&CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY4900&PRODUCT_ID=PROD547

Korres Watermelon Lightweight Tinted Moisturizer SPF 30: http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P212710

Boots No 7 Soft and Sheer: http://www.us.boots.com/SoftSheerTintedmoisturizer/

Smashbox Sheer Focus Tinted Moisturizer: http://www.smashbox.com/SHEER-FOCUS-TINTED-MOISTURIZER

Wet 'n' Wild Tinted Moisturizer: http://wnwbeauty.com/Product.php?Pid=48

Elizabeth Arden Tinted Moisturizer: http://shop.elizabetharden.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=4056662&cp=2522359

Hard Candy’s Sheer Envy Tinted Moisturizer: http://www.hardcandy.com/products.php?cat=5#115

Clarins Hydra-Care Tinted Moisturizer SPF 6: http://fr.clarins.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/beauty-products_hydration_hydra-care-tinted-moisturizer-spf6_C010404011_10051_10204_-1_24043_41525_10315

Kiss My Face Tinted Moisturizer: http://www.kissmyface.com/tintedpages/tintedpage.html

Physician's Formula Organic wear 100% Natural Origin Tinted Moisturizer: http://www.physiciansformula.com/en-us/productdetail/organic-wear-product/02154.html

Benefit You Rebel Tinted Moisturizer: http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P20044

I love the bright shades of the MAC Alice+Oliva Collection, due out on July 8, 2010. There are 3 shades. My favorite is Sparklicious because I am a huge fan of neutrals. They cost about 21$ each.In the bottom I have also posted the link to the MAC website where you can find more details about this collection. Don't forget to tell me what you think about it in your comments:).It means a lot to me.

• I.Want.Candy. is a semi-sheer yellowed chartreuse green with green-gold shimmer. It does, actually, impart significant color, given both that it’s green (even though a brand may put an unusual shade out, they often mute it) and a gloss. I don’t find it particularly wearable alone, but perhaps over pinks or corals. Because of the yellowness in the shade, it will pull the yellow tones in your teeth.So I wouldn't quite recommend it
• 
• Sparklicious is a sheer silver and pink shimmered shade. It almost has a milky white-pink base, but it’s hardly noticeable. It’s super sparkly, so it lives up to its name. It kind of reminded me of She Loves Candy Lipglass from Hello Kitty.
• 
• If It’s Pink… is a semi-sheer brightened fuchsia pink with softer pink shimmer. It delivers plenty of color without being full-on color
• .

http://www.maccosmetics.ca/templates/collections/collection.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY30218

I want to make a list of my favourite summer products.In my opinion, these are perfect for summer.Even though i looove make up i don't wear make up when i go to the beach. The only thing i recommend you to wear when you go swimming is waterproof concealer and of course sunscreen. I normally don't wear concealer, but I know some of you might want to cover soe of your blemishes and stuff .So, here you go:

Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer. This concealer is the best for summer. It's heavy duty, yet still manages to not look and feel heavy on the skin. you only need a little and you cover so much. there's a great color range. my color, #4 is a nice yellow tone that works wonders not only on my blemishes, uneven spots, and the big hit: under my eyes.It's waterproof and stays on. It blends well but once it's on, it doesn't get all crease-y under the eyes or fade away after a few minutes.

I'd definitely recommend this for those with oily skin, or for anyone who has stubborn spots that nothing else will cover.

Clinique City Block SPF 15 or 30. I have the 30 one since my skin is very sensitive and i need really good protection. What I love about this is that is oil free. I have oily skin and in the summer it tends to look even more oily than usual. So it's very important that everything I put on my face in the summer is oil free.It also gives you a little bit of a glow.

Mac Blush Ombre in Ripe Peach : This blush ombre starts off from a mild peach to an intense coral, and adds a gorgeous warm glow to the complexion. Its light golden shimmer is there, but barely noticeable on. Just bewarned though, a light hand works best for this blush. This one packs a punch for pigment. And there is such a thing as too much blush.I got it from a friend, but it might be sold out now. I'm not sure.

Mac Marine Life Highlight Powder. Recently I purchased it. At first I was hesitant in purchasing this line, but I love the gold embossing seahorse motif on it. I personally think this powder is more a blush instead of a highlight powder, because this powder is pigmented and it is vibrant pinkish when swatch. Sorry no swatches yet because I'm afraid to ruin the gold pretty dust

Benefit Sugarbomb I thought the color combo was a little odd when I first saw it. I mean how often do you see a plum next to a peach? But hey, it works. Swirled together they create a super pretty, shimmery pink (but not too shimmery). I swatched it below. But as is usually the case with face powders, it’s hard to get a good pic.

Mac Cream Color Base in Pearl. At $16.50, Pearl’s a great bargin, because not only can you can use it as an eyeshadow base, but it also works well as a highlighter for your face or lips. You can apply it to bare skin or underneath (or on top of) foundation or powder to play with different looks and textures.And the pan is ginormous. MAC Cream Color Base is one of my favorite MAC products, and I recommend it to people all the time. I hope you give it a try!

Dior Shimmer Powder in Amber Diamond. I love this product and in my opinion it's the best high liter. But I wouldn't recommend it for all skin tones.It's a bit expensive [ 42 $] but it's worth it.

Sephora Natural Vitamin C + E Blotting Papers. I don't have a lot of things to say about these. They are just some blotting papers. You can find them at Sephora and they're not really expensive.

I think you have noticed that I haven't mentioned any type of foundation or dark eye shadows. That's because in the summer i like to keep it light. Not too much make up. I have some acne scars on my face so I have to use some concealer.Because of my scars I can't get tanned so I use a bronzer. That's what I recommend for everyone. You don't want to wear heavy foundation when it's very hot outside because after a while you will sweat and it will look horrible. You'd better use a tinted moisturizer. Well..that's it... Tell me what you think in your comments.

P.S. : I have been experimenting different photos techniques. I have also taken photos in different rooms because I wanted to experiment the lighting. Tell me which one you like the most.

Yesterday i went to a drugstore with a friend and i couldn't help but buy rimmel london's moisture renew lipsticks in pink chic and spotlight beige. the pink chic is actually a little more blue toned than i thought, when applied on my lips it reminds me very much of the mac viva glam gaga lipstick. spotlight beige is a very soft and natural nude, not as drastic as other nude lipsticks, like mac myth, this one is much more wearable. in fact, i don't really know if it qualifies as a nude lipstick, let's just say that it is very natural looking. i haven't worn these yet, just tried them on, but they feel very moisturizing and glide on easily. i hope they are long lasting! here are the swatches (my camera kinda messes up the colors, the pink one is pretty accurate, but the beige is much more nude in real life and not quite as pink as it looks in the picture)

I wanted to give you give some information about fake mac cosmetics. I have written about fake mac brushes and about fake mac eye shadows. Many of you don't have a mac store near where you live, so many of you use ebay to buy these products.

Keep in mind that 99% of the MAC full-size brush on Ebay are fake. If you must buy your brushes on Ebay, then buy them individually or used.

MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AUTHENTIC AND FAKE MAC BRUSHES

1. PACKAGING
Authentic MAC brushes come in a clear plastic sleeves with a bar code printed on the sleeve. Many fake brushes I have seen come in clear plastic sleeves without the bar code. In addition, many fake face brushes come with additional hard plastic protectors for the hairs. Real MAC face brushes do not have this additional plastic protector. They come in the simple clear plastic sleeves with bar code.

2. HANDLE
Real MAC brushes come with black wooden handles and the neck (the part that connects the handle to the hair) is silver. I've seen some bad fake brushes with black plastic necks.

3. LETTERING
Authentic MAC brushes are labeled "MAC ###". ### being the number of the brush. On real brushes, the lettering is printed on the handle and easily rubes off with your nail. On most FAKE brushes, the lettering is engraved into the handle and very hard to rub off. Try it.

4. BRUSH SETS
Keep in mind that MAC has never offered a set of full sized makeup brushes except until November 2006 called the Pret-a-Porter brush set and the 2008 Holiday Set for Nordstrom only. The Pret-aPorter set includes 8 full size brushes (187, 190, 129, 213, 224, 266, etc). The set comes with a black satin brush roll. So if you see a full size MAC brush set on Ebay but it doesn't have the 187 skunk brush, it's FAKE. For Christmas 2008 MAC released a full set for Nordstrom only. It came with 4 full size brushes (187, 168, 222 and 208).
Therefore, 99% of the brand new full size MAC brush sets on are FAKE.

TRAVEL SIZE BRUSHES
Authentic travel brush sets usually come in sets of 5 brushes with a cute brush case, the brush handles are usually some unique color, not black. The fake set below, however comes with plain black handles and a generic looking brush roll.

5. THE SELLER
Never buy MAC products from a seller you don't trust. Sellers to watch out for are a) Newly registered sellers with no or little feedback, b) sellers in other countries such as in Asia, Australia and Canada, c) sellers selling a lot of other MAC brush sets (you have to wonder where they are getting the endless supply of brush sets). Don't let 100% feedback fool you. Look at the seller's completed listing and see if week after week they list full size MAC brush sets. That's a sign the brushes are fake!
Please do yourself a favor and click on the "View Sellers's Other Items" link on the right hand over below the sellers info. If the seller is selling other MAC or designer makeup products that week, ask yourself how this person gets their hands on cheap makeup products. 99.99% of the time everything that person is selling are FAKES.

FEEDBACK ISN'T ALWAYS RELIABLE
Plenty of people buy fake MAC brushes on Ebay without realizing it. They leave positive feedback for the seller and in turn convince more victims to buy. There are plenty of sellers with 99% or higher ratings who are selling fake MAC brushes. Bottom line - don't trust feedback. Do your research instead or buy from a store. Don't try to save money but end up paying for a fake brush set.

6. THE PRICE
$50 for a set of new and authentic MAC full size brushes? That's too good of a deal to be true!! The best way to avoid buying fake brushes on Ebay is to buy brushes one at a time, instead of in a set. I am noticing more and more fake 187 brushes on Ebay. They look very similar to the real thing except the seller seems to have an endless supply of them and happily sells them for 50% off of retail. This is a sure sign they are fake. Watch out for seller ids: "goldenseller23","dalilakahlo1","videopizazz2008", "consoledcat", "best_makeup". All their items are fake.

FAKE MAC EYESHADOWS

I have created a photo slide show of 2 Mac Single Eyeshadows, 1 of these eyeshadows is a fake and the other is genuine. The dark green colour is called flourishing and is the genuine one. The fake one is light blue and called PRISMIQUE Lustre 02

How to tell the difference...

If you have looked at the photo's above, you can probably tell that the fake is pretty obvious.

Below i will describe in more detail:

1. The fake is slightly smaller than the genuine.
2. The lid on the fake is more dome shaped. The plastic window is also slightly raised more.
3. The font is thicker and darker
4. The sticker on the bottom of the fake is more darker & glossy and the writing is bolder. The sticker also states 02 which genuine Mac don't have.
5. On the fake, the lid opens at a 90 degree angle, the genuine lid goes further back.
6. The pot where the pan is contained is different in shape. On the genuine pot the pan is contained in a dip where as on the fake , the pan is raised.
7. On the bottom of the fake their is a compartment containing a mirror and applicator....fake mac eyeshadows do not come with this compartment nor has mac ever released an eyeshadow that comes with an applicator.

The key points to remember when buying these eyeshadows online other than on Mac's original website is :-

Mac call their shades by names, they will never have a number!

There is no 2nd compartment!

There is no mirror or applicator

I hope the information i have given you will help you.

FAKE WEBSITES:
http://www.brush111.com

http://www.cosmeticshotsale.com

http://www.uusell.com/

http://www.beingsale.com/

Here is a list of products i've used that are under 10 $:

Maybelline Define A Lash Volume Mascara. You can see how good is it for your lashes. She is my best friend and she has really short lashes.This mascara really makes them look better.

And this is how the carton looks like: [I took the picture from google because I was too lazy to take it myself :) ]

ELF Lash and Brow Clear Mascara. This is really good and it costs only 1 $, while other brow setting gels from Mac cost about 15 $.

Maybelline Line Stiletto Liquid Felt Tip Eyeliner.It's about 7 $.It has a nice felt tip applicator, but the tip isn't as fine as I would like it to be.But it's very easy to apply, especially if you want to do the wing, cat eye look.So it's very good for beginners. It's very similar to the L'oreal Carbon Intense. So if you liked the L'oreal liner, you should definitely try the Maybelline one.

Revlon Super Lustrous Lip Gloss in Peach Petal. This is limited edition for the summer time, but I'm talking about these Revlon glosses in general. Any of the Super Lustrous lip glosses are great in my opinion. They have a non sticky consistency ant they are pretty opaque for a lip gloss. Peach Petal reminds me of a peach version of Nars Turkish Delight, maybe that's just me though.They cost about 7 or 8 $.

I will keep posting some reviews about the drugstore products I really liked.

I just found a great giveaway. Check this out:http://www.beautyscribbler.com/2010/06/follower-giveaway-16x-sets-of-andrea.html . 16x sets of Andrea Face Spa Revitalizing Peel-off Masques to win . Sounds interesting ;)