August Favorites!

Time to dust off the 'ol blog! And what better way to do that than by gathering up my favorite beauty products from this past month? I found myself reaching for some really awesome goodies in the month of August, a few of them are all time favorites that I've been using for quite some time now.
 In no particular order, let's get into these bad boys!

-Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette
My favorite color in particular is the middle highlight shade, Incandescent Light. It's so beautiful, it adds such a youthful glow to the skin without being over the top. A little bit goes a long way, you just need to hit the high points of the face.

-L'oreal Infallible Shadows in Bronzed Taupe, Amber Rush, and Iced Latte
Stunning shades, amazing textures, great staying power, you need these in your life. Period.

-Nyx blush in Taupe
Perfect contour shade for fair to medium skin tones.

-Tarte Park Avenue Princess bronzer
I use this to put some warmth in my fair skin. Lovely bronzer.

-Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Diffused Light
This is an amazing setting powder. I bought this quite a few months back and it quickly replace my previous favorite Rimmel Stay Matte powder.

-theBalm blush in Fratboy
This shade is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. Stunning peachy pink shade with a satin finish.

-Benefit blush in Bella Bamba
This color is actually a similar shade to the Fratboy blush expect this one is slightly more pink with a golden shimmer shot through it. It gives the cheeks such a healthy look, no need to apply a highlighter with this. Plus it smells so good!

-L'oreal True Match foundation
Lovely medium coverage foundation, blends effortlessly, semi dewy finish. I've been loving the look it's been giving me and I can tell it's going to be my go-to foundation in the upcoming fall and winter.

-Maybelline Dream Lumi concealer
This is my fourth tube of this stuff, needless to say, it's pretty darn great.

-MAC Studio Finish concealer
An oldie but a goodie. I love to use this for pinpoint concealing blemishes.

-Anastasia clear brow gel
This is some serious brow gel, talk about hairspray for the eyebrows! This stuff does not go anywhere in the Texas heat.

-L'oreal Lash Out Butterfly mascara
I finally found a new mascara that I actually like! I still love the Covergirl Clump Crusher, but this one is great when I want a long, fluttery lash look.

-Clinique Bottom Lash mascara
I finally repurchased this and remembered why I loved it. The tubing formula is a God-send for those of us who have an issue with mascara smudging on the bottom lashline.

-Nyx Butter Gloss in Peaches and Cream
Adorable color, creamy formula, and smells super yummy! Great gloss!

-Maybelline Color Whisper in Cherry on Top
The name says it all, I love a nice pop of cherry on the lips. This one is nice though because it's very wearable, not a crazy in your face color at all.

-Jersey Shore Sun Mongongo lip balm
Holy moly, this lip balm works wonders! I got this in my August Ipsy glambag and it is a total winner! It actually improves the texture of my lips rather than just moisturize them and it smells delicious!

-Dr. Brandt Pores No More primer
Also from my glambag, this is my new favorite primer. It really does reduce the appearance of my ginormous pores and it keeps my makeup lasting longer than most of my other primers.

-Layla Cosmetics Ceramic Effects nail polish in CE74 Pop Pink
Perfect pink summer color with a purple duo chrome. SO pretty! I have it on my toes for the second time this month!

I loved getting all of my favorite products together from this past month! I can't wait to see what my new favorites are going to be going into the new seasons!
Chelsea

Covergirl 305 Eternal Oceans Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss review+swatches and pictures!

I've been wanting to try the nail polish from Covergirl for a while now so I decided to finally pick one up! I got this color, 305 Eternal Oceans, as part of my beauty haul that I posted a couple weeks ago.

As you can see it's a gorgeous purple with a blue undertone to it. Marissa was telling me that she thinks it's a close dupe to OPI's Tomorrow Never Dies from the James Bond Skyfall collection released for winter of 2012. I have yet to do a swatch comparison but just by looking at the two next to each other they do look very similar.

Covergirl claims that you can go without a base or top coat while using this polish because they added a chip-resistant topcoat to the formula. I did, however, use a base and top coat with this nail polish when I wore it just out of pure habit. So I took a photo comparison, on the left swatch I used my Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat and Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat and on the right swatch I used the nail polish on its own. 

natural lighting:

natural lighting with flash:

Surprisingly there's not much difference between the two swatches except for the right side being a little uneven which is pretty common when forgoing a top coat. 

The formula itself is very nice! It's thick but not goopy at all, time will tell if that changes but as of now it doesn't disappoint. It reaches full opacity in two coats which is heavenly! Dry time is alright. If you have to run out the door after doing your nails, I would definitely suggest using Seche Vite or Out the Door top coat to ensure you don't ruin your fresh mani with smudges.

I have no complaints about the packaging, I actually like it a lot. Sturdy but not clunky. It has a removable top which reminds me of Butter London polishes but still very different.

The brush is just your average looking nail polish brush really. It works great for me though!

My overall opinion of this nail polish is that it gave me a very good first impression! I'll definitely be getting more as soon as I can get my hands on them! And you should too! ;-)

Hugs,

Chelsea