Stephie Estie | Page 14 of 39 |

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream Review!

January 19, 2016

Happy Tuesday readers! Hope your weekend was great. 🙂

After much debate, I finally caved in and purchased two NYX Soft Matt Lip Cream products. I’m currently obsessed with nude/pink shades so I picked up the shades Athens (peach/pink nude) and London (peach/beige nude). Let’s get to the review!

Soft Matte Lip Cream

Described as a “velvety smooth Soft Matte Lip Cream delivers a burst of creamy color and sets to a stunning matte finish. Surprisingly durable, lightweight and delightfully creamy, it’s no wonder this sweetly scented formula is a NYX fan favorite.”

Pros

Creamy on initial application

Nicely pigmented/opaque coverage

Amazing scent

Decent lasting power

Budget friendly at $6/ea

Great array of colors

Cons

Slow dry down time

Feels drying once it sets

Color of bottle doesn’t match the actual shade

Needs to be reapplied after drinking/eating

Overall: Aside from the amazing cake scent once you open these, I noticed that the shades don’t necessarily match the bottle so I highly recommend swatching these in store beforehand. They feel very creamy when you first apply them and stay that way for about 10-20 minutes-the dry down time on these is fairly long. Once dry, this is a true matte finish so it will feel dry unless you apply a little bit of lip balm underneath. Exfoliating lips prior comes in handy so that the color doesn’t cling to dry patches. These have decent lasting power, however, they do come off if you are eating or drinking and you’ll need to reapply. I’m happy with these though as they provide good pigmentation and are inexpensive.

Here’s some swatches.

Top-Bottom: Athens and London

I hope you found this review helpful. 🙂

Have you tried these? What shades do you recommend?

Stephanie

Skin Tip: 'Tech Neck' 411!

January 15, 2016

Happy Friday readers!

If you need a reason to put down your smart phones or devices, keep this in mind. Spending long periods of time looking down at your phone or tablet can increase skin laxity and encourage lines to form around your neck, resulting in a premature aged appearance.

Have a great weekend!

Stephanie

KIKO Milano Rebel Bouncy Blush Review!

January 14, 2016

Hi readers! I have a review today on this blush I picked up awhile back so if you’re interested, keep reading. 🙂

KIKO Milano Rebel Bouncy Blush in Velvety Peach

Described as a “blush with a new sensory aspect and a satin matte finish.”

Pros

Budget friendly

Sturdy packaging and comes with a mirror

Excellent color payoff/pigmentation

Looks natural

Cons

Hard to apply at times

Not long-lasting

Overall: As soon as I swatched this shade in store, I knew I had to buy it. The color is such a gorgeous peach shade that has great pigmentation. It’s similar to the Colour Pop ones in that it has the same mousse-like consistency and is best applied with my fingertips to achieve a natural look. The two issues I have with this one is that a) the color does fade considerably after a few hours, especially when my skin is oily and b) sometimes it’s a bit hard to apply and blend out. Initially, the texture did feel bouncy when you applied it but now consistency has hardened a bit, which is what makes it difficult to apply sometimes in my opinion. However, once you blend it out it looks natural which is always a plus in my book. Definitely worth checking out. 🙂

A swatch of this lovely blush.

I hope you found this review helpful.

Have you tried any of their blushes? What was your experience with them?

Stephanie

How To: Take Care of Your Skin When You're Sick

January 12, 2016

Whether you’ve been sick or not, this post is a good read!

Skin Tip: Avoid Winter Hands!

January 8, 2016

Happy Friday readers!

Harsh winter weather coupled with frequent hand washing can leave your hands feeling extremely dry or chapped. Using a hand cream with occlusive ingredients like shea or cocoa butter can help as well as using gloves when you’re outside. Reapply frequently to replenish lost moisture.

Have a great weekend!

Stephanie

Best of Beauty 2105 Part II: Skincare and Hair Products!

January 7, 2016

Welcome back to part II of my Best of Beauty 2015 segment where I’ll be covering skincare and hair products I’ve enjoyed throughout the year. Let’s get to it. 🙂

Skincare

Cleanser

Monarch Beauty Herbal Milky Cleanser

Love using this creamy cleanser when my skin is dry and it also doubles as a makeup remover.

Renee Rouleau Purifying Face Wash

This unscented cleanser deep cleans skin without leaving skin stripped of moisture and will last you a long time.

Toner

Monarch Beauty Transforming Toner

A soothing mist integrating green tea and chamomile that helps calm skin and restore skin’s pH levels.

Rhonda Allison Cucumber Spritz

A light toner that is perfect to take on the go to refresh and hydrate skin.

Facial Moisturizer

Skin Script Cacteen Balancing Moisturizer

This medium-weight moisturizer contains prickly pear cactus to help heal and is rich on olive oil fatty acids that help retain moisture in the skin.

HydroPeptide Power Lift Advanced Ultra-Rich Moisturizer

When my skin needs a little bit of extra moisture, this one is perfect to use as the thicker consistency glides on skin without making me breakout.

Eye Cream

SkinMedica TNS Eye Repair

The fast absorbing and light texture makes this easy to work with plus the blend of peptides, retinol and vitamin C and E help firm, brighten and smooth the eye area.

Renee Rouleau Total Eye Repair

Another fast-absorbing eye cream that contains hyaluronic acid to hydrate skin and works very well under makeup and concealer.

Exfoliator

Kate Somerville Exfolikate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment

One of my favorite go-to exfoliators, this contains several acids and enzymes to exfoliate skin while cinnamon helps blood circulation.

Sunscreen

Dermalogica Dynamic Skin Recovery SPF 50

This product streamlines my morning skincare routine as it’s a moisturizer and sunscreen in 1.

Mask

Dermalogica Sebum Clearing Masque

Perfect for spot treating, this has kaolin and bentonite clays to this soak up extra oil and salicylic acid to treat breakouts.

Body Moisturizers

Skinfix Ultra Rich Body Butter

An unscented moisturizer that absorbs quickly and allows you to customize it with your favorite essential oil.

Lush Cosmetics Charity Pot

Another great moisturizer that helps lock in moisture and the ylang ylang cocoa butter scent is soothing.

Hair

Shampoo

Acure Organics Repairing Shampoo Moroccan Argan Stem Oil + Argan Oil

I received a sample of this in a Target Beauty Box and I really liked how it cleans hair without taking away too much moisture-crucial for curly hair!

Tessa Water Colors Shampoo in Molten Bronze

Love using this color depositing shampoo about every week or so to help refresh my hair color.

Conditioner

Nelson J Beverly Hills Argan Oil 7 Moisture Healing Mask

This hair mask helps smooth out the frizz factor from my curly hair and makes detangling easy.

Dry Shampoo

Bumble and bumble Pret a Powder

This travel sized option quickly blends into the hair, absorbing any excess oil.

Klorane Extra Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk

Fairly unscented, this also helps absorb extra oil in hair without leaving behind a white residue.

Shine Spray

Dry Bar Sparkling Soda Shine Mist

Adding shine to hair is very easy with this portable spray and it leaves hair smelling amazing.

Heat Protectant

Treseme Keratin Smooth Flat Iron Smoothing Spray

The best affordable heat protectant spray that makes straightening my hair easier and leaves it smooth and shiny.

Are any of these your favorites too? Let me know in the comments below!

Stephanie

Best of Beauty 2015 Part I: Makeup!

January 5, 2016

Hello readers and Happy New Year! Hopefully this year has been off to a great start for you. 🙂

I’m rounding up my standout makeup products for 2015, so let’s get started.

Lipstick

Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick

Housed in gorgeous, vintage rose-gold packaging this lipstick will change the way you view matte lipsticks.

Kiko Milano Cosmetics Smart Lipstick

Priced under $10, you’ll be able to stock up on a few without breaking the bank and they wear incredibly well.

Estee Lauder Pure Color Envy Sculpting Lipstick

With a magnetic cap to keep the lining of your purse safe, these lipsticks have all you can ask for: creamy application and highly pigmented color.

Lipgloss

e.l.f. Cosmetics EX-tra Lipgloss

At $2, you’ll get smooth application and impressive pigmentation with these glosses.

NYX Butter Gloss

Another great and affordable line , these glosses come in a beautiful range of non-sticky colors and smell so sweet.

Dior Addict Lip Maximizer

Higher on the price point but definitely worth it, this tingly pale pink lipgloss leaves lips with a smooth and fuller pout that isn’t sticky.

Foundation

Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation Stick

With the portable, sleek packaging, this foundation stick is perfect to carry on the go and allows for buildable coverage while letting your skin shine through.

Rimmel London Lasting Finish Foundation

Giving high end foundations a run for their money, this drugstore gem offers full and light-weight coverage with a satin finish.

Highlight

The Beauty Crop Lighting Crew Highlighting Cream

One of my Birchbox samples, this highlighting cream smells amazing and provides a nice glow for the face or body.

Charlotte Tilbury Wonder Glow

I received a sample of this product and it provides a lovely lit from within sheen that doesn’t scream heavy shimmer or glitter.

Mascara

Benefit Cosmetics Roller Lash Curling and Lifting Mascara

A great mascara that lengthens and curls my lashes with no irritation.

Eyeliner

MAC Fluidline

One of my favorite gel liners, this is easy to apply and control with lasting power.

Stila Cosmetics Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner

A staple in my beauty arsenal, once you apply this, it will not budge and it will last you a long time.

Bronzer

Clinique Chubby Stick Sculpting Contour

My first cream contour product, this is easy to carry with you, blends easily and gives a natural but defined finish.

Concealer

Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer

The wand in this concealer allows for precise application and the shade Vanilla provides great coverage without it feeling heavy.

TreSiQue Correct and Cover Concealer Crayon

Another Birchbox sample, I like to use this when I need a tad more coverage and blends out nicely.

Brows

Too Faced Brow Envy Kit

This kit almost has everything you basically need for grooming and touching up your eyebrows including tweezers, setting wax and customizable brow powders.

Blush

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush

A smooth blush that gives a beautiful glow and comes in a great range of colors for any skin tone.

Burberry Beauty Light Glow Natural Blush

My holy grail blush, this feels and blend like butter and the shade Earthy Glow can be used as a blush or slight contour.

Colourpop Super Shock Cheek

These wallet friendly blushes have a unique mousse-like texture that is nicely pigmented and comes in a variety of shades and finishes.

Eyeshadows

Tarte Cosmetics Beauty and the Box Eyeshadow in Apple of My Eye

Included in a PopSugar Must Have Box, these shadows are can be worn any season as it includes gold, bronze and brown shades.

Bobbi Brown Long Wear Cream Shadow Stick

Eyeshadows in a stick form that take a little bit of blending but provide long wearing color that doesn’t easily crease.

That’s it for today. Stay tuned Thursday for my picks on skincare and hair products.

What were your favorites in 2015?

Stephanie

Happy New Year 2016!

December 31, 2015

Happy New Year’s Eve (or day) everyone!

I ran across this quote yesterday and I found it to be perfect for today. 2015 for me was a good year. I accomplished several of the things I set forth on my vision board in 2014. This blog has grown so much within a year and has been viewed in about 97 countries! To many, I am considered their go-to skincare and beauty expert and I can’t even begin to tell you how much that means to me. Whenever I get a text message, an email or a comment asking for my advice, I’m so thankful I’ve established myself in a way where people can trust my opinions and advice. I’m continually reading and educating myself to provide you with the best information available which lead me to accomplishing my dream of (finally) taking the UCLA Cosmetic Chemistry course. It’s crazy how when you put your heart and soul into something you love, greatness occurs.

Of course, life wouldn’t be life if it also didn’t come with many downfalls and yes, I had plenty of those this year too. There are lessons we have to learn and sometimes they present themselves in the most painful ways. My willingness to help sometimes exposes me to be torn apart and used, making me withdraw from getting attached to people. This is something I have to work on. Defining myself as a person and not by my chronic illness is something else I’ve been struggling with. But, I just have to keep going forward, staying positive and having faith that things will get better.

So what will 2016 bring? I have no idea but I have a feeling it will be awesome! I’m working on some other ‘visions’ so stay tuned. Thank you so much for the love and support you have shown me. May 2016 bring all of you happiness, love and health.

Best wishes for 2016,

Stephanie

December 2015 Favorites!

December 29, 2015

Hello everyone! How was your Christmas and long weekend? Mine was great although I still can’t believe that we are only a few days away from a new year. Crazy how time is zooming by.

Anyhow, I’ve gathered my favorites this month so let’s get started. 🙂

Renee Rouleau Purifying Face Wash

This face wash is on heavy rotation in my skincare routine. It’s a very gentle, unscented gel cleanser that slightly foams but doesn’t leave skin feeling stripped of moisture. Ingredients like sea whip and green tea are included to calm skin. I think this cleanser is perfect if you don’t have too many breakouts.

Skin Script Raspberry Refining Cleanser

I ordered a box full of Skin Script skincare gift sets and I’m really loving this cleanser. It smells like raspberries and includes glycolic and salicylic acid to help clear up acne as well as yucca extract to help relieve irritation. This cleanser gently foams and rinses clean without that harsh tight feeling certain cleansers can leave afterward.

Skin Script Cacteen Balancing Moisturizer

I picked up a few samples of this moisturizer at the esthetic trade show in Long Beach and it’s been a good moisturizer for these winter nights. A medium weight moisturizer, this has prickly pear cactus to help heal and is rich on olive oil fatty acids that help retain moisture in the skin.

Tarte Cosmetics Beauty and the Box Eyeshadow in Apple of My Eye

I’ve been reaching for this eyeshadow quad quite frequently throughout the holidays and I love it. Bronze and gold eyeshadows are my go-to shades and this quad encompasses gorgeous colors that can be used to create subtle daytime looks to dramatic smoky night time looks.

e.l.f. EX-tra Lip Gloss in Scott

I picked up the e.l.f. Mix and Mingle Lip Gloss set at Target and while I’ll have a complete review on the blog later, the shade I have been loving is Scott. Scott is a peach beige lipgloss with gold flecks that once applied give a nice subtle glow. Priced at $2 each, they glosses have good pigmentation, decent staying power, aren’t sticky and have a sweet taste. My only issue is that the lip gloss applicator is flimsy and I’m constantly worried it may break off.

e.l.f. EX-tra Lipgloss in Scott

Rhonda Allison Holiday Wine Luster Holiday Set

I follow fellow esthetican Christina Gliatta from Estie Skincare on Instagram and when she posted this Rhonda Allison kit, I knew I had to order it from her. I’ve been wanting to try Rhonda Allison skincare products for a while and this kit did not disappoint. It includes one ounce of Cucumber Spritz and half an ounce of Blushed Wine Gel.

I use the Cucumber Spritz in the morning before I apply my makeup to add moisture to my skin without it feeling heavy. Depending on the weather, I’ll toss it into my purse and take it on the go to refresh my skin. The Blushed Wine Gel is a great antioxidant moisturizer for my combination skin during the day. It has small shimmer particles that provides skin with a glow and it works great under my makeup.

So far, I am impressed with the Rhonda Allison line and can’t wait to try more in the future. If you’re looking to try out Rhonda Allison products, make sure to follow Estie Skincare-Christina is super nice and helpful.

Sara Happ Lip Scrub in Peppermint

A special extra that Christina included- thank you!- this lip scrub is heaven sent! I like Fresh Sugar Lip Polish but this one is more moisturizing, and perfect for this harsh winter weather. The price is a little steep at $24 but you only need very little of this luxurious feeling lip scrub so it will last you a long time. Lips feel super soft and hydrated and most importantly, are left flake free. Bonus: the packaging is so chic complete with a little bow.