Category Archives: Makeup

Highlighter Dupes

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A big trend that is happening to take your makeup to the next level is adding highlighter. A full face of makeup can look incomplete without the finishing touch of highlighter. It adds a nice glow to your face and it adds more dimension. Putting a little highlight on the high points of the face (cheek ones, down the middle of your nose or the tip of the nose, and on the cupids bow) gives a more natural look to your makeup. A product that is extremely raved about in the online beauty community is the BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Highlighter in the color Champagne Pop cost $38 off of Sephora.com.

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I have to admit this is a beautiful product. If I had about forty dollars laying around I would love to buy this high-end product. But since I do not, I have found a product that gives me the same look for less.

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The Elf baked eye shadow shade called Enchanted. Even though this is actually an eye shadow you can still use it as a highlighter. This product only cost $3! That is a $35 difference for two products that look the exact same! The photo below shows the comparison of the two.

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Elf also offers actual highlighter products that I also love. They have three highlighter shades. Pink Diamonds (a pink/ blush shimmer), Moonlight Pearls (a light golden shimmer), and Blush Gems (a darker golden brown shimmer). They all cost $3 as well. These are all great products from Elf that I personally use everyday. All these shades including the baked eye shadow ‘Enchanted’ would only cost you about $12. You can get all four for still half the price of one BECCA highlighter.

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Primer Dupes

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One of the best ways to get the most out of your makeup is to always start your makeup routine with a primer. A primer is applied to clean skin first then your foundation or BB cream over to smooth out imperfections, make your pores disappear, keep your face matte, and to make your makeup last throughout the day. I have noticed a big difference on the days that I do and do not wear a primer under my makeup. If I don’t, by lunch time some of my foundation has probably rubbed off of my nose because that is where I usually get the most oily. Therefore there are obviously high end primers that will do the job but in reality I have found dupes at the drugstore for have the price. Here are some dupes that I have found and have tested out myself.

First is the Benefit Porefessional vs. Maybelline Baby Skin. The light blue packaging of both looks very similar along with the product inside. The Maybelline Baby Skin does just as good of a job erasing the look of pores as the Benefit Porefessional. But there is a big price difference. Benefit Porefessional cost: $12 and the Maybelline Baby Skin cost: $6. Save your money and go for Maybelline. You could buy two for the price of one Benefit Porefessional.

 

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Another dupe would be the Smashbox Photo finish primer vs. the Elf Mineral Infused primer. Just like the other primers above Smashbox and Elf are the exact same. They both do a great job making the skin look matte even with flash photography. But here is the price difference, Smashbox Photo finish primer cost: $16 and the Elf Mineral Infused primer cost: $6. Also Elf has different colored primers too for the same cost that help with color correcting of the skin.

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Soft Plump Lips

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Having fuller, plump lips is the popular look among celebrities. Along with bigger lips, matte lip stick is the latest trend in the world of makeup. Therefore, you need healthy soft lips to apply the product on top of. Also because it is still chilly outside lips can become extremely dry and flaky. Having boring, pealing lips is not only annoying but it is not very cute.

The first tip is getting rid of rough dry lips. What I like to do is use a lip scrub. Similar to a body scrub, a lip scrub exfoliates the dead skin off. There are lip scrubs available in the stores but there is a much easier and cheaper way to make the same product yourself. All you need is equal parts of coconut oil, raw honey, double the amount of raw or granulated sugar and a hint of lemon juice. Mix this all together and gently rub around on the lips. Then simply rinse off the residue and just like that you have soft kissable lips. This homemade lip scrub is easy to make and use. Not to mention it taste pretty good too.IMG_0624 (The photo on the left shows how smooth my lips look after the scrub and before I applied any lipstick.)

With this in mind, I like to get a supple look without obviously getting cosmetic surgery. A trick I have to get fuller looking lips is to apply a lip volumizing gloss by Soap and Glory. It is called “Sexy Mother Pucker XL Extreme-Plump” and it has natural ingredients that give a fuller lip look. It is priced at around ten dollars which is a cheap solution to achieve this look. Also there is the secret of over lining the lips. This trick does work as well but only if it is done right. The way to pull this off is to only go over our natural lips at your cupids bow (highest point of the upper lip) and the lowest point of the bottom lip. If you only over line the lips in the middle areas of the lips it looks more realistic than going over the whole boarder of the mouth. (The photo below is what it looks like after applying the plumper and doing the over lining trick on top of it)OUWE9861

High-End vs. Drugstore Lip Stick

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liplingerie_main The latest trend in make up is matte lips. Matte lip stick has a nonglossy smooth finish typically with lots of pigment and a stay that last all day. Many think that this kind of quality has to come at a high price tag but that is not always the case. Some of the most raved about high end products include the Kylie Jenner lip kits, Makeup Forever, Mac, NARS, YSL, Dior, and a few others. This list of products range from fifteen to forty dollars. In my opinion, as a college student, paying more than ten dollars for a lipstick is way too much. Those products might be worth the money in some ways but when comparing them to some drugstore products the quality is the same, with a much more manageable price. NYX is a drugstore brand that is just as good if not better quality then the lipsticks worth forty bucks. NYX is my personal favorite drugstore brand. I think this cosmetic line offers great products overall in addition to their lipsticks. The NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams and the Lingerie liquid matte lipsticks are the two products that I have purchased and the ones that I reach for the most when doing my makeup. There is over forty different shades to pick from. They offer the perfect nude to bright pinks and vampy dark purple, reds. The Soft Matte Lip Creams are five to six dollars and the Lingerie liquid lipstick are about seven dollars. Both are found at stores like Ulta or Target. The main difference between the two product would be the pigment of the colors. The Soft matte lip creams need two coats when applying to the lips but the two coats have just as much color as one layer of the liquid Lingerie lipsticks. Each last all day and do not rub off when eating or drinking. Hands down the best lipsticks for less than ten bucks. For sure gives the exact same look for much less.

Both images found off of nyxcosmetics.com

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