Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Powders

Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Powder - $48.00 CDN

I have a bunch of Hourglass cosmetics.  I love their Ambient Lighting Blushes, Ambient Lighting Powders and on the fence (well more like majorly on the fence) about their Modernist Eyeshadow Palettes.  I have yet to try out their bronzers.  However, that is coming soon!  So when Hourglass came out with their Ambient Strobe Lighting Powders, I was intrigued on trying them because I really wanted to know what the difference would be between their ambient lighting powders and their ambient strobe powders.

Hourglass came out with four Strobe Lighting Powders.  Two which had already been previously released.  Their incandescent strobe powder was released in their Ambient Lighting Powder Palette that came out during Christmas 2014.  And their iridescent strobe powder was released in their Edit palette for Christmas 2015.  I currently own their incandescent strobe powder because I bought the lighting powder palette when it first came out.  So I wanted to try out their other three colors to see if they were similar or the same to the ambient lighting powders.  These strobe powders claim to be strictly highlighters.  Yet there is where my confusion came in.  I thought that the Ambient Lighting powders were highlighters all along! However ones thing for sure, with the ambient lighting powders, you can also use them as setting powders for that soft glow candle light effect.  I quickly learned that if you use these strobe powders as setting powders, you will have a strong disco like effect going on.

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There are four colors in the ambient strobe lighting powders series.

Brilliant is literally a brilliance highlighter that is a light shimmery gold.  It really does leave a lustrous effect on the cheeks without looking like a disco ball.

Euphoric is beige in tone with a peach undertone which comes across as a neutral highlighter in a pearlescent kind of way.  This highlighter is the darkest in tone amongst the four of them.

Incandescent is a opalescent pearl powder that is still in the pink range but is lighter then iridescent.  It is very celestial when applied to the skin and gives off a nice natural looking glow. 

Iridescent is a pink powder that is darker than incandescent but still gives off a soft highlight without coming across too dark.  It is a very illuminating color.

As a gift, my husband went out and bought me the brilliant ambient strobe powder.  I was totally psyched when I received this as it showed just how well he knows me.  These strobe powders come in a beautiful silver case.  The cases are the normal standard cases with a mirror on one end and the powder at the other.  The cases are their usual mirror like finish but in a silver color.  You will get finger marks on these just like their other bronze, gold and yellow finishes. These strobe powders are finely milled with little fallout and pick up great when used with a brush.  Hourglass is selling an Ambient Strobe Light Sculptor; basically a beauty blender like sponge that you can use to apply these highlighters with.  Save your money and use whatever normal brush you use to apply your highlighter with.  There is nothing really special about this "sponge" that a normal brush can't give you.

I applied the brilliant strobe powder to the top of cheek bones, bridge and tip of my nose, forehead and sides of my cheeks like I normally do. The highlighter looked amazing.  It blended in well, caught the light with a beautiful effect and didn't look obnoxious or as if someone threw a cold pail of water on my face.  I didn't have any fallout out and the highlighter really stood out while not overpowering the rest of my makeup.

The price on these highlighters are pricey but at least comparative (more or less) in their size to their other products.

Their ambient bronzers - 0.39oz for $60

Their ambient lighting powder - 0.35oz for $52

Their ambient strobe lighting powder  0.16oz for $48  

Their ambient blushers - 0.15oz for $45

So while they do get cheaper depending on which product you buy based on the amount each product category contains, however the price really doesn't go down by much.  You still will have to be willing to put out some hard dough if you want to get that candlelight glow affect all over your face.  Many people ask me all the time, if these products, the ambient powders (in general) are worth the money?!  I can tell you right now with confidence, hell yeah!  While they may be priced stupidly high, however you do always get what you paid for and what you paid for is totally an amazing picture perfect makeup look all over your face.  So while I hate spending so much money just for one item, however I can't deny it money well spent.  I totally recommend these highlighters you if want something beautiful and not over the top.

Have you tried any of the new strobe powders?  Let me know down below!

Keep Smiling!

Dayana   

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Huggies Bye Bye Diapers Pull Ups!

On my blog, I have talked about things not related to beauty, but related to moms!  Because hey, moms are beautiful after all :)

I recently received from Huggies a free complimentary box of their Huggies Pull-ups for my three year old daughter.  You see, in my household potty training has always been a challenge.  I have four children and my first child didn't become potty trained till three days before school started.  He refused to use the toilet at all cost. After three shut in days that my husband and I spent in with him all (long) weekend long, he finally got it.  A day before school started, he started wearing underwear. Needless to say he had a few accidents during school that year, but after a hand full of times, that was over with.

My second child is now turning four, and while she loves to sit on the potty, she refuses to actually use it.  So she will take her diaper off (after going in it) sit on the toilet and let me know that "she's done!"  I have been looking into pull ups, but wasn't sure how she would handle it as she hates (and I mean hates) change!  But surprising, she loves these pulls up.  A large part is because of the Minnie and Disney princesses that are printed on them.  She is learning on how to pull them on and off and also realizing that if she decides to go in her pull ups; well they don't feel awesome.  So she is slowly going towards the toilet versus using her pull ups as a diaper.

One of the things that also attracts me to this campaign, is the multicultural view of this brand.  Normally on just about any commercial, print and so on you mostly fine a white skin tone, blue eye, blonde hair child.  While my children are completely white skin toned liked myself, and have black hair, you can tell they not completely "white".  So being able to see children of different races on their packaging is awesome!  It appeals shows me that Huggies is realizing that everyone, regardless of race needs diapers and pull ups for their growing children. So why not incorporate all these beautiful looking children!

I really like these pull ups and well keep using them for my next two kids who are in the next few months will to transition from diapers to pull ups!

Keep Smiling

Dayana

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Clinique Sweet Pots Sugar Scrub & Lip Balm Review

Clinique Sweet Pots Sugar Scrub & Lip Balm - $23.00 CDN

I have owned a few Clinique products in my time and had always loved them. Their makeup products have always delivered and never disappointed...until now.

Clinique came out with their Sweet Pots in January. I found the product to very convenient and cute! One side offered a colored lip balm, and the other side offer a lip scrub all in a cute macaroon style packaging. I have used before the lip scrubs from Sara Happ and Fresh Sugar with both doing a great job at scrubbing the dry chapped skin off my lips. So once these sweet pots became available at Sephora I decided to give it a shot.

I ordered mine in Sweet Rose. It has a very nice lightly fainted scent.  (These are suppose to be scentless, so maybe its just me wishing it smelled like something. Who knows. But I smelled something!!) The lip balm came in a light ruby pinkish color and was very soft and moisturizing on the lips. However it gave off no color pay-off whatsoever. I must have applied at least three to four layers of the lip balm to see no color appear on my lips. I even swatched it on my hand and blend it out (because we blend our lip balms out, right) and still on my hand you hardly saw anything. This is basically just a lip balm with very little to no color. I think if you have very pale lips, this MIGHT show up on you. The scrub part was a major fail! The beads are so small and so soft that it didn't do a thing for my dry chapped lips. It felt like I wasn't rubbing anything on them even though I applied a generous amount and rubbed hard to see if anything would occur. After about five mintues of trying and two attempts back to back, it still left my semi dry chapped lips with no change. I gave up and decided to use my trusty and proven Sara Happ lip scrub which of course took care of my lip situation in one go!

The packaging on this sweet pot is cute. It comes double sided with one side offering the lip balm and the other side the scrub.  Its pretty easy to open with a twist of the top for each section.  You can figure out fairly quickly which side is what by looking at the top of the package.  The lip balm is housed in the clear part of the package where the word 'Clinique' is written.  However both sides have a very small amount of product to them.  So little is offered, that I can see myself going through this in less then a month if I use it everyday. So for $23 its really not worth the price.  I think the packaging is what drives the high price tag on this.  I would say this should have cost no more then $15 to be honest.

So while this sweet pots are very cute and the lip balm does work to hydrate your lips (if you don't care about getting any color out of it); unless you are into collecting cute makeup items, this isn't worth the money. This will however look really cute on your vanity or purse! But that's about all it will do! While the concept is great and can totally work (if re-formulated), they really need to do something about the scrub part. Maybe add a little more color into the lip balms as well.

So while I will be keeping this because the lip balm is hydrating, I have no intentions of buy the other sweet pots. For $23, you can get better lip balms or scrubs!

Keep Smiling

Dayana

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Yves Saint Laurent Chinese New Year Harmony Set!

Yves Saint Laurent Chinese New Year Harmony Set - $70.00 CDN

So rarely does Sephora luxury high end products EVER go on sale.  Even during the semi annual sale at Sephora where VIB members get a discount code; even during Christmas the prices are generally the same.

While surfing Sephora yesterday (because I basically surf their website multiple times a day) all the way at the bottom of their page, I saw a small advertisement for their Chinese New Year celebration products.  So I gingerly clicked on it not expecting much.  Wow! I was totally shocked! Sephora is currently having a limited edition Yves Saint Laurent set with three FULL SIZE Volupte Tint in Oil for $70 dollars!! Keep in mind, each of these Tint in Oil retail for $36 which is pretty hefty, but its YSL we are talking about.  So nothing comes cheap (in price) with this brand!  However if you were to buy three of these, normally (without taxes) the cost would be $108.  So for $70 you are basically getting a free one!

The colors included are I Rose You, Cherry Me Cherie and Peach Me Love! This is a limited set for a limited time till they run out.  Normally, once they run out, its doesn't come back!  So if you are a Tint in Oil lover like myself, then jump on this! I did last night...lets hope the hubby doesn't find out!!

Keep Smiling!

Dayana

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