Hello beautiful people!


Ready for the weekend? Of course you are! (wink, wink).
Today's post is a long overdue one, I have been planning to show you what makeup goodies I got for my birthday and Christmas. I know, I know what are you gonna say, but please, could you cut this girl some slack? Would you? Thank you!

Right off the bat, let me just say that this is gonna be a big beauty HAUL. If you have been reading me for a while now, you must know these type of articles I enjoy the most. It is not in my character to brag about these things, so if you do not like these kind of posts (but, let's face it, you do!), I am inviting you to access your free will and exit my page. I consider myself a very lucky girl to have in my life such amazing people that understand and supply my beauty madness.

Now let's dig into the goodies, I know you want to see them!

For a long time, I have been wanting a Bobbi Brown shimmering brick, but I was keep holding myself back from buying one, until my birthday in October when I decided to splurge a "little". It was such a special occasion, plus I had a 20% for their Friends & Family event (SCORE!!!). All my fellow beauty addicts out there know what I am talking about. So, I picked up this beauty - "Bobbi To Glow Shimmering Brick Palette", (you saw it also on my Instagram) which includes three of their most popular shimmer bricks: Gold Shimmer Brick, Bronze Shimmer Brick and Wild Rose Shimmer Brick. Isn't it gorgeous?

In 2016, I was all about the glow and I found myself buying highlighters and blushes more than lipsticks, so I just couldn't pass this adorable set "Glow For It" from Sephora Favorites collection. I was happy that they restocked it just on time for me to purchase it. I love everything in this set.

Continuing on the glowing trend, I really wanted the M.A.C. "Sweet Peach" Face Compact from their Nutcracker Sweet Holiday collection, but it was sold out everywhere. Somehow, Santa found out about my wish and brought it to me. I was so happy when I found it under the tree.

Every year for my birthday, I treat myself with the "Give Me More Lip" set from Sephora Favorites collection, but for 2016 I was very disappointed with the selection they offered, so in order to satisfy my lipstick addict needs, I opted for this beautiful lip set "Light it Up" - lipstick + lip mattifier set from Smashbox. Lippies for days!!!

Santa (who apparently knows me so well) also brought me this cute "Melted Merry Kissmas The Ultimate Liquified Lipstick" lip set from Too Faced. Could I ask for more?

My dear friend Maddie pampered me for my birthday and Christmas with so many amazing sweets, she got me my first Anastasia Beverly Hills liquid lipstick in the shade "Crush", spoiled me with gorgeous accessories, Lush products and many more.

You know how Sephora gives you a birthday gift every year? For my birthday, I received these cute minis from Marc Jacobs. Did you see how adorable is the lipstick?

I wanted to try something new for my hair so this set "Spread Cheer and Perfect Hair" from Living Proof was just what I needed. It comes with a full size dry shampoo and a mini shampoo and mini conditioner.

Also, I got this Urban Decay eyeshadow in "Midnight Cowboy" as a freebie for my birthday from ULTA..

I hope you enjoyed my beauty HAUL and I thank you if you stayed until the end of this post.
If you want me to review for you any of these products, please let me know in the comment section down below.


Yours,
Rally

Hello beautiful people!


How are you doing today? I hope everybody is well and enjoying their week so far..

In today's post you'll find a review of a foundation that I have been using for a while now and it's time for this "culprit" to go under the microscope and be analyzed here on the blog. I am talking about the Fit Me Matte + Poreless foundation from Maybelline.

To me, Maybelline's foundations can be either a hit or a miss - let's all remember the Maybelline Dream Wonder Fluid-Touch foundation - but that fact did not stop this crazy girl in her continuous search for that perfect foundation.

If you are wondering how I ended up buying this foundation, well, besides my desire to be a lab rat, I've heard so many good things about this product and you know how this goes, I had to give it a try.
The foundation cost me $5.94 (+tax) at my local Wal-Mart.

In case you forgot, I have a very fair complexion, sensitive combination skin, so I have to be very cautious when I am picking a foundation.

As you can see, Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless foundation comes in a hard glass bottle and has 30 ml or 1 FL.OZ. According to the code on the back of the bottle, the product was manufactured in August 2014 and has a general shelf life of 36 months.
                                                                             (Based on the information provided by Cosmetic Calculator)

Ingredients: 
Water/Eau, Cyclohexasiloxane, Nylon-12, Isododecane, Alcohol Denat, Cyclopentasiloxane, PEG-10 Dimethicone, Cetyl PEG/ PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, PEG-20, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Phenoxyethanol, Magnesium Sulfate, Disodium Stearoyl Glutamate, HDI/ Trimethylol Hexyllactone Crosspolymer, Titanium Dioxide, Methylparaben, Acrylates Copolymer, Tocopherol, Butylparaben, Aluminum Hydroxide, Alumina, Silica, Glycerin.
May contain: CI 77891/ Titanium Dioxide, CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499/ Iron Oxides.

Moving forward, let's see how Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless foundation worked for me.

When I picked up this foundation I had in mind three things:

1. I wanted a foundation that can offer me good coverage;

2. I was looking for a foundation that can mattify my T-Zone and chin without drying my cheeks or nose and without settling into my fine lines;

3. My desire was for a foundation that would not make me look cakey, but as natural as possible.

On this side note, I love playing with makeup and I feel blessed that I am able to do so, but I do not want to overdo it, my intention is to just conceal or highlight my features.

As I am looking on the back of the bottle, I see that this foundation claims to be good for normal to oily skin: "Mattifies and refines pores, matches natural tone and has a natural seamless finish."

The shade that I have picked up was 110 Porcelain, which is the fairest of them all and matches my skin tone well. I like the fact that Maybelline always offers a good variety of shades that can cover all the different skin tones out there.

As having a fluid texture, I had to gently shake the bottle before applying the foundation on my face. Right after the second I opened the bottle, a strong smell of Alcohol hit me, just like another Maybelline foundation tested - The Dream Wonder Fluid-Touch foundation. This product does not have any type of applicator, which is unfortunate, especially because you need to dose the amount desired at every application (not to mention all that residue that gets stuck in the cap or at the bottle's neck). What I did after gently shacking the bottle, I applied a small amount on the back of my hand and worked it with a brush or fingers onto my face. 

The foundation glided smoothly on my face, it blended easily and offered me a medium coverage that can be built gradually. After applying it, I immediately noticed that mattifying effect that I was looking for, the shine on my T-Zone and chin disappeared, the pores on my nose were not as visible, my skin looked even and I liked that "natural" makeup look without looking weird or cakey.

I usually prefer to set up my makeup with a powder, I usually go with a light hand trying to set the main areas, like under eyes, nose, forehead, chin, neck and I ended up using the face powder from the same range which I loved. The two combined made quite the team and my makeup lasted up to 8 hours.

What I did not like about this foundation was that it did settle into my fine lines around my mouth and, as I smile a lot, I had to always be careful and blend it, in order not to look too "funky". Also, the presence of strong irritants like the Alcohol Denat and other parabens dried my cheeks and my nose. At night, when I would take my makeup off, I would feel my cheeks dry and I would notice that my nose was showing dry patches and my pores were showing up as well. So, in order to avoid that, I started mixing this foundation with a BB cream from Bioderma; this duo worked well for me and my face was kept hydrated, looking natural and fresh.

Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless foundation does not have SPF, and, as you know me, I always advice you to apply your favorite SPF cream before applying makeup - trust me - your face is gonna thank you in the long run. This foundation is transfer resistant with a minimum spotting of the objects that come in contact with, like your blouse's collar, phone and other objects. 

I bought this foundation reading so many good reviews about it and because a lot of people with oily or combination skin recommended it, but I am having mixed feelings about it, my sensitive combination skin can only take so much.

Let me conclude with my well-known STRONG POINTS and WEAKNESSES of the Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless foundation:

STRONG POINTS:

• good shade variety
• smooth application + easy to blend & buildable + offers that natural makeup look
• transfer resistant
• long lasting 

WEAKNESSES:

• no applicator
• settles into fine lines + emphasizes dry patches
• contains strong irritants + parabens which can mess up your skin 

I hope you found these information useful!

I want to find out more about your experience with this foundation. Have you tried the Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless foundation?

Yours,

Rally