Tag: #summer

How I Stay Tan All Year Long!

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Am I the only one who feels 197639640 x better with a tan? I refuse to bake my body in the sun for hours upon end and tanning beds are simply out of the question, so what’s a gal to do? Well, I have been using the best self tanner duo to make sure I have a bronzed glow all year round! I wanted to share these products with you because for years, I was under the impression that the only way I could be tan was to go outside with all the SPF 5 oils, but now I’m really starting to prevent fine lines and wrinkles and with the statistics on skin cancer, it’s just not worth it to me. Self tanning at home always seemed like such a stressful burden to me and I was fearful that I would turn orange or splotchy, but I promise these products will give you a natural, olive-undertone tan!

For my body, I’ve been using the Loving Tan Self Tanning Mousse for years. I was previously trying out a lot of other popular brands like St. Tropez and Fake Bake. They weren’t “bad,” but they weren’t the perfect formula or color for what I really wanted. When I came across the Loving Tan Instagram, I was shocked at the before and afters! That’s really what sold me on trying the product! The difference in one usage was dramatic (in a good way) and I absolutely loved the natural, olive-toned tan that it gave even the most fair-skinned girls! Nothing about it appeared orange or uneven, just a perfect, “I just got back from the beach” suntan! I definitely wanted to try it out for myself and see if it lived up to the hype. I initially ordered their “Ultra Dark” formula, which instructs you to leave it on for at least six hours. I would typically just apply it at night after I have showered and exfoliated, then go to sleep and rinse it off in the morning before work. If you want the most dramatic, “wow I can’t believe I’m this tan” effect, then definitely go for this! It’s worth it to just sleep in for a night to have perfect bronze color for a week without fading! I still enjoy this color, I just would use it only in the summer, or for special events or a vacation in the colder months! Throughout the Fall, Winter, early Spring months, I do use their “2 Hour Express Dark Self Tanning Mousse” because it is just more believable that it’s my skin color! It’s still very tan, but it’s not as deep and I really like that it’s completely ready to rinse off in 2 hours. I like being able to just get it done as soon as I get home from work or on a weekend morning, it’s just really convenient since you don’t have to wait for too long! I really wish they made the “Ultra Dark” in a 2 hour formula, but for now, the dark shall do! They also have a Medium shade if you are very fair and want to ease your way into the self tanning trend! There are many other absolutely amazing things about this self tanner. One of the greatest being NO SMELL! There is nothing worse than getting a spray tan and smelling like absolute garbage for 12 hours. This one is practically odorless and just smells slightly sweet, rather than rancid. It also has a color guide, so as you apply it, you can visibly see the areas that you’ve placed the self tanner and where you haven’t. Don’t worry if you look a tad crazy and splotchy as it dries, I panicked the first time I used this because it looked super dark in some places and not dark enough in others, but once you rinse it off it will look completely even and flawless! I have super sensitive skin all over and it has never broken out my body or face! I also just love that it lasts! It isn’t until about 7-10 days after my initial application, that I start to notice it fading. I really can’t say enough good things about this product! You can absolutely use the self tanning mitt that comes with the product, but I would highly recommend this Tarte one! It’s so soft and fluffy and I think it buffs out the mousse so evenly. I love that it’s so durable as well and will stay put on your hand throughout the application! I’ve actually tried the Loving Tan “Back Applicator” and I just cannot make it work, so please leave me a comment on how you tan your back! 😂

I’ve only been using the Coola “Sunless Tan Anti-Aging Serum” for about a month and it’s absolutely amazing! I use exfoliating skincare products and a Clarisonic nightly, so applying self tanner onto my face doesn’t always make sense when it usually fades in a day or two. I read a lot of reviews on the Coola serum and decided to purchase it to see if I could finally find a product to match my face to the rest of my body! I don’t wear makeup every day, so when I go into public with a fresh face, I do get a bit self conscious knowing my face is visibly more pale compared to the rest of my body. I just mix 2-3 pumps of this serum into my moisturizer and apply it directly to my face. It took 3-4 days for me to get the desired bronzed shade, but wow this stuff is so great and looks natural! The color is even and it will give your skin a glowing appearance! It hasn’t broken me out at all, which is super shocking since most serums do! This one is created with organic ingredients and has hyaluronic acid for anti-aging! It is lightly scented, but I absolutely love it. I’m pretty sure it smells like a sweet, coconut/pineapple scent, which will you feel tropical even in the dead of winter! I will say that the tan does fade after 3-4 days, so you do have to stay consistent with it, but for me it is totally worth it!

Thank you for reading about how I stay tan all year round! These products simply work and I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a safe and natural tan. I really want to know your favorite self tanning products, so please leave me a comment below! Also any orange, cheeto girl horror stories are welcome! 😂 I always picture Ross from friends when he got the Mystic Tan! I hope you all had a great weekend and a great rest of the week!

Shop the Loving Tan Self Tanning Mousse

Shop the Coola Sunless Tan Anti Aging Face Serum

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Best Bronzers For Any Budget!

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Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer, Luminous Bronze Light, $50. Too Faced Soleil Matte Bronzer, Chocolate – medium to deep, $30. Too Faced Beach Bunny Custom-Blend Bronzer, Beach Bunny – bronze/ soft peach/ golden ivory/ golden tan, $30. Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer Murumuru Butter Bronzer, Bronzer, $14.99. Physicians Formula Bronze Booster Glow-Boosting Pressed Bronzer, Medium, $14.99 L’Oreal Glam Bronze Bronzer Summer Collection, Glam Bronze Medium, $14.99.


    

Bronzers are an essential makeup item during the warmer months. If you’re like me and enjoy looking bronzed on a daily basis, I have some favorite drugstore and high-end bronzers to share with you that I think you will really enjoy! I wanted to break these bronzers up into a few different categories, such as price, color and finish. These are the best formulas in those three different categories in my opinion, so I wanted to share my favorites with you and hopefully help you find a good match that fits your personal preferences!    

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer, Luminous Bronze Light, $50. Too Faced Beach Bunny Custom-Blend Bronzer, Beach Bunny – bronze/ soft peach/ golden ivory/ golden tan, $30. Too Faced Soleil Matte Bronzer, Chocolate – medium to deep, $30.


We will begin with bronzers in the high-end category that are available for purchase at Sephora. My ride-or-die favorite is the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil bronzer. I have been using this product since I was a sophomore in college (aka 2011!) and have never been without it! This is the type of bronzer that goes perfectly with my skin tone no matter the season, so I always like to have it available in my collection. First of all, it smells like chocolate; so that is enough reasoning for you to run out and purchase it immediately. Second of all, it comes in three different shade ranges so you can choose the best match for you, I am in the medium shade known as, “Chocolate.” The formula is creamy and blends seamlessly into the skin. This color is on the cool-toned shade range, which makes it perfect to contour and bronze all at the same time! It is also a matte finish bronzer so if you prefer that look, or have problems with texture on the skin you do not want to emphasize, I think you would really love the smoothing effect of this product. I cannot say enough good things about this bronzer and definitely will keep repurchasing for years to come!

     

The next high-end bronzer I wanted to mention is also from Too Faced, however it is drastically different than the Chocolate Soleil! The Beach Bunny bronzer is a shimmery, glowing formula of bronzer that has a warm undertone when applied to the skin. It is beautiful for the warm weather when you want your skin to glow and reflect in the light. I would describe this product as having a sophisticated shimmer because it is definitely not glittery by any means. I also love wearing this product as an eye shadow whenever I want to use minimal products on my face. It is a really long-lasting product, as all Too Faced face products seem to be. My favorite way to apply this product is with a big, fluffy brush over the high points of my face for an all-over, artificially sun kissed glow.

    

Lastly, I had to mention the most luxurious makeup product I own, my Hourglass Ambient Light Bronzer. I honestly cannot believe I paid $50 for a bronzer, but I was so intrigued by the idea of a bronzer being mixed with a luminous swirl of light reflecting powder. I picked up the lightest shade of this formula after reading reviews that the Medium shade looked really orange once applied on the skin. Whenever I wear this product, I am blown away by the finish it gives on my skin. It can be described as a sheer, but buildable formula that naturally bronzes your appearance. Since I do have an olive skin tone, this is more of an all-over face product for me. I use it when I want to give my entire complexion a glowing, bronzed look! This product is not shimmery or sparkly, it truly just has a glow to the formula that is so subtle, people will really think you have this gorgeous, healthy skin naturally! I am always receiving compliments whenever I wear this bronzer!

L’Oreal Glam Bronze Bronzer Summer Collection, Glam Bronze Medium, $14.99. Physicians Formula Bronze Booster Glow-Boosting Pressed Bronzer, Medium, $14.99 Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer Murumuru Butter Bronzer, Bronzer, $14.99.


Of course, I had to mention my favorite bronzers that can be found at your local drugstore! There are so many good inexpensive bronzers out there, but I narrowed it down to my current favorite three. One of my very first makeup products that I ever bought was the Physicians Formula Bronze Booster. When I first started wearing this product in high school, I didn’t realize how great it was without any prior product knowledge to compare it to. Now that I have tried dozens of bronzers in every price range, I can confidently say this is one of the best. It is a very terracotta, warm-toned bronze shade with slight gold shimmer. It is extremely bendable and will look perfect with any makeup look. I love wearing this bronzer throughout the summer because it doesn’t fade regardless of the hot, humid weather and has the perfect amount of subtle shimmer to give the skin a pretty, sun kissed effect.     

The new Butter Bronzer, also from Physicians Formula, is a gorgeous light bronze, matte shade that truly smells like a tropical vacation. I honestly can’t get over how good this product smells, it reminds me of a pina colada! Even if you don’t purchase this product, you should seriously smell it whenever you see it out in stores. The formula is very smooth and blends so beautifully into the skin. It is a satin-matte finish, which is extremely natural looking. I have my Butter Bronzer in the darkest shade called, “Bronzer” and even that is very light on my skin tone, so this is definitely suited for fair-light gals! They also have a shade even lighter than this, so check it out if you have a hard time finding a bronzer that doesn’t look too harsh! I’m so happy I picked this product up because it’s a perfect neutral brown shade, which are hard to find at the drugstore! I think the packaging is so beautiful and again, I cannot stress enough just how good this bronzer smells! 

    

I did a full blog post on this L’Oreal Glam Bronze bronzer and wanted to update you on just how much I’m loving it! I use this product on a daily basis because it’s very wearable and easy to blend. I find that this is a product that takes little-to-no effort to blend and instantly gives me that warm bronze shade that looks like I just got out of the sun! I still love this formula and find it to be very long lasting. It is a satin-matte bronzer because it does have slight shimmer in it, but once blended on the skin, it resembles the look of a matte bronze. I think the packaging is great because the pan size is huge; making it easy to swirl your bronzer brush around and pick up product evenly. I love using this bronzer with a warm toned blush and gold highlight because I feel so summery and glowy! 

     

I really hope you enjoyed reading this post! Hopefully you found a bronzer to pick up next time you’re shopping! Let me know your favorite bronzers because I enjoy testing them out and adding to my collection! 

L’Oreal Glam Bronze Bronzer

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This gloomy weather has been making me crave Summer. Since I can’t naturally achieve my desired tan, glowy skin at the moment, I decided to cope the best way I know how and buy a new bronzer. Whenever I walk into any drugstore, I always check out the new makeup collections displayed in the front. I noticed L’Oreal’s new products for Summer right away because they were in sparkly orange packaging. Once I examined the new “Glam Bronze Bronzer Summer Collection,” I noticed there were three different shades in the range to suit light, medium and dark skin tones. I chose the shade “Glam Bronze Medium” because the shade was uniquely the perfect mix between a cool and warm toned brown. I also could see that there was visible gold shimmer on the pan, but I personally like my bronzers to have a sheen to them! Especially in the summertime for an added healthy glow to the skin!     

Glam Bronze Bronzer Summer Collection, Glam Bronze Medium, $14.99.


    

So now onto the actual review of the product! I’ve only been testing it for about a week, so these opinions are based on my first impressions! Beginning with the packaging, I really feel like for drugstore it’s pretty solid! It doesn’t feel super luxurious, but I also don’t think it’s flimsy like some other drugstore packaging can be. I think the size of the bronzer is amazing! The pan is huge so you can fit any sized brush into the product. Sometimes I like to use a large powder brush to lightly sweep bronzer all over my face for a natural, non-contoured effect, so pan size is important!   

Such a beautiful woven pattern stamped onto the bronzer. Love the attention to detail, L’Oreal!


    

The consistency of the bronzer is really different, in a good way! It feels like a hybrid between cream and powder. When swatched, this bronzer feels super silky on the skin, which is nice because most powder bronzers can be slightly chalky and have a lot of fallout. This bronzer is very evenly pigmented and doesn’t transfer the visible glitter that is on the pan, onto your face. I have a feeling it is an overspray and once I use the entire top layer of this product, a satin bronzer will be underneath! Overall this bronzer applies in a really natural way once on the skin. I believe the unique silky texture forces this product to blend in with your skin without any harsh likes. Once finished applying this bronzer, it truly just looks like a natural tan. 


As far as the longevity of this product, it lasted throughout an entire work day for me. This time lapse included applying at 7:00 am and arriving home at 6:00 pm. I would say once it was 8-9:00pm, I noticed it was broken up and patchy around my forehead. This is probably due to this area of my face falling victim to oiliness! Other than that, the product lasted nicely throughout my entire day! I did find that setting my entire face with a makeup setting spray (I use Urban Decay All-Nighter) did extend the wear time of this bronzer, but it honestly does that with any bronzer that I wear. 

   

I think this bronzer is perfect for someone who enjoys a neutral bronze shade. One that isn’t too warm and orange-based, or too cool with a gray undertone. It really looks so natural on the skin and melts in with the rest of your face products seamlessly. At $14.99, it is pricey for drugstore, but L’Oreal tends to be. I think with the amount of product you receive, the price can be justified! Again, you can usually find good deals on L’Oreal and other drugstore brands if you research what weekly sales are happening in your area, so try to get an added discount if you can! I would definitely repurchase this product and it’s now my new favorite bronzer from the drugstore. Also let me know if you would like to see a post about all my favorite drugstore and high-end bronzers! I think I have quite the collection and variety so it could help you find your next bronzer obsession! Thanks for reading! 

Tarte Rainforest of the Sea: “Drink Of H2O Hydrating Boost” and “Aquacealer” Review

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I’ve always loved the brand Tarte. Their beauty products are created with all-natural, dermatologist tested ingredients. They exclude popular cosmetic toxins from their formulas, specifically parabens and phthalates, which I greatly appreciate. Their products are highly pigmented and long lasting, which is rare to find in an all-natural beauty brand. Basically, you can feel good about what you’re putting on your face whenever you use Tarte. With this said, they’ve been one of my favorite brands for years and I’m always drawn to their newly released products.      

Recently, they have launched their “Rainforest of the Sea” collection that claims to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines through their proprietary blend of algae and marine flower. Other natural ingredients promoted throughout this line are coconut for hydration and cucumber for calming and smoothing. You can imagine my excitement to test out these products. I love makeup in general, but I really love makeup that incorporates skin care benefits into their formulation. You can find this limited edition collection exclusively at Tarte and Sephora. 

 I decided to only test out the two products I was most drawn to in the “Rainforest of the Sea” collection. Spoiler alert: I could not be more impressed with the way they performed on my skin! 

 

I love the blue and purple packaging for this collection!


                                                                             
My first impression of the hydrating boost is I LOVE IT! Perfect for moisturizing and priming all in one step. This product went on with a smooth, gel-like consistency. I felt a noticeable cooling effect on my skin too. Once I let this sink into my skin and dry a bit, I was able to effortlessly blend in my foundation. I believe this product contributed to the longevity of my makeup and also hydrated my skin throughout the day!

TARTE Rainforest of the Sea Drink Of H2O Hydrating Boost , $39

 

I had very high hopes for the concealer in this collection because of the hydrating properties in the “Rainforest of the Sea” blend. My under eye area not only suffers from dark circles, but also fine lines and dryness.       

TARTE Rainforest of the Sea Aquacealer Concealer, $26

I decided to lay my Becca Under Eye Brightening Corrector underneath my eyes first, to completely cancel out the blue tones in my dark circles. This way I could apply a lighter layer of the Aquacealer concealer over top and prevent product build up, which causes creasing! A tip for blending out fine lines is to look up, take your damp beauty blender and blend back and forth over the concealer, then dip your beauty blender in loose translucent powder and tap in those areas! Then when you look down, you’ll see completely set under eyes that are bright and crease-free! 

I am using the shade Light-Medium. I like to choose a concealer 1-2 shades lighter than my skin tone for a brightening effect.

After testing these products out for a couple weeks, I believe they really work in the ways they claim to. The moisturizing boost definitely calms and hydrates my skin. It primes really well and the rest of my makeup lays beautifully on top. I noticed this product did extend the longevity of my face makeup! 

The Aquacealer concealer is my new favorite! It is such a light, almost watery formula; it feels like you’re not even wearing concealer! It doesn’t crease and the color will not fade throughout the day! I unfortunately would not recommend this product to someone with oily skin because I think it could look patchy if added moisture began breaking through. If you have combination, normal or dry skin, I think you would really enjoy this product. This is going to be the perfect Summer makeup item because it’s not heavy and you won’t have to worry about it melting off! 

    

 I hope you enjoyed this review, let me know other products you would like for me to try out! Thanks for reading!