This week, Coming Up Roses is tackling an entire line of beauty and skincare products. Not an easy feat, my friends. But my friend Ashley is a beauty consultant with MaryKay, and she offered me a bunch of sample products to test and try and play with – who could say no to that? So today, we’re doing a little mix up on the blog. Below are each of the gajillion products I played with for a day, my thoughts, pics, and links to get connected to Ashley if you’re interested in seeing for yourself (under each product pic)! Which, in my totally unbiased-ish opinion, I’d recommend. I had never used MaryKay products before – I’m a total best-you-can-find-at-the-drugstore girl. But BOY have I been missing out. I swear to you, I almost committed a cardinal sin by sleeping with make-up on because it was just as good at night as it was when I first put it on in the morning. IMPRESSIVE, right? With that, here’s a before and after shot for your entertainment education.
Yikes.
Much better!
TimeWise 3-in-1 cleanser
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– The 3-in-1 cleanser felt more gel-like going on in comparison to other face washes I’ve tried. It has refining microbeads, but it doesn’t feel abrasive in the SLIGHTEST, which I loved. You just feel like you’re getting a really good clean! And your skin feels a bit tingly and chilled afterwards. Yummers.
TimeWise age-fighting moisturizer
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– I’m always getting reprimanded by beauty consultants and those people in the mall who do free makeovers (because I never miss out on an opportunity to get my makeup done professionally and be told everything that’s wrong with my current regimine – HA!). Why? Because I always skimp on moisturizer – a major beauty no-no. I grew up with uber-oily skin, and for me, this translated into not adding extra moisture. HOWEVER. I didn’t realize that sometimes, extra natural grease comes from your body attempting to make up for dehydration. Your skin is lacking water, so it produces more oil in hopes of making up for it. But we end up with greasy skin that might be more prone to break-outs, instead – not a lush, moisturized complexion. Bummer, huh? So I’m adjusting to moisturizer life. At first, I put on age-fighting moisturizer and it felt a tad greasy on my skin, so I got worried. Wait, I said to myself, and see what happens. Sure enough, after a few seconds, it melted into my skin and felt oh-so-light and airy, leaving me feeling moisturized and a few years younger. If anything, it ended up NOT feeling greasy…
Soothing Eye Cream
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– The soothing eye cream feels cool and a bit heavy – a neat sensation. It’s meant to reduce redness and puffiness and to help calm dark circles. So I guess if I used it for a long period of time I’d probably see more definite results. But I’d definitely want to buy it to try it long-term, because it just felt like a product that would work for me long term. Weird, right?
TimeWise Firming Eye Cream
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– The eye creams burned a little bit upon application, but I think that’s because I’m so rough (which is SO BAD) around my eyes when I’m putting eye makeup on in a hurry. I blend outward instead of inward (bad), I stretch out my skin to put on liner (bad), and I just dab shadow or shimmer on/off so fast that my eyes are probably screaming. That, and I have bad luck in stabbing my eye with mascara wands. #oops. I think, however, that this stuff basically did double-duty as an eyeshadow primer. Because I had no primer sample, but my shadow lasted all day, completely smudge and/or crease-free. Which NEVER happens for me. Definitely a #win.
Foundation Primer Sunscreen (spf 15)
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– I’d never tried primer before, but always meant to. WOW what a difference. My problem has always been feeling like I’m using a ton of foundation and it’s just being absorbed into my skin and clogging my pores instead of lightly laying over top and actually evening out my skin tone. It has a thick, gel-like consistency, feels like you’re putting on a clear mask. Now I know what I’ve been missing.
TimeWise Matte-wear liquid foundation in Beige 3
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– Use hardly any to still cover your whole face! Literally, I used the tiny bit that squeezed out from my sample packet and it covered my ENTIRE FACE. I’m a Beige 3. Turns out I’ve also been using foundation shades that are too yellow or too dark for my skin tone. Oops, again.
Translucent loose powder
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– I never thought a white-ish looking powder would sufficiently go onto my face and not make me look like I belonged in a Halloween parade (hello, ghost girl). It’s supposed to hold your makeup all day, and, as noted by my introductory raves, it seriously lasts all day. All. Day. Long.
Microdermabrasion
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– Step 1: Refine, Step 2: Replenish. Microdermabrasion is an interesting phenomenon. It’s an exfoliant, but the microbeads are super super tiny. It felt a bit too abrasive for my skin, though. I know I have pretty sensitive skin, but I can use exfoliants like St. Ive’s Apricot Scrub (which has MUCH bigger microbeads) without a problem. BUT. The “Replenish” cream that you put on AFTER the “Refining” goop feels so goshdarn nice. It’s like a soothing remedy for the exfoliation. Which basically makes everything ok.
Eyeliner in Steely
Mid-review break: The I-just-put-on-eyeliner look.
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– I’m not AS huge of a fan, because it was a tad light and smudgey for my taste. That said, I’m super picky with eyeliner, and eye makeup in general, because by 11 am I’m a big smudged and oily mess and everything I put on in the am is clumped in my eye crease and I have to wipe it off and re-touch – not cool. Disclaimer: My teeny sample size may have been the problem, because I usually wind the liner up more to use it and I was just physically unable to. So this one, take with a grain of salt. It still lasted all day and went on nicely to my waterline (where I wear liner on the bottom).
Lash Love Mascara
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– Ashley told me she considers this a mascara “comb” instead of a “brush,” and now I totally see why. The bristles are far enough apart that you feel like each lash is being individually mascara-d. I curled my lashes first with my eyelash curler (they look torturous, but they’re miracle workers I swear) per usual and applied – I did my little mascara shimmy and it was clump-free and long, just how I like ‘em. GUYS, I HAD SPIDER LASHES. Thoroughly impressed. So so thoroughly impressed. Definitely lash love.
MaryKay @ Play Baked Eye Trio in On the Horizon (the purple-y set)
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– I had never before been told to apply liner and mascara BEFORE shadow. So this was a new, welcomed experiment. I’m a HUGE shimmer girl. If it shimmers, shines, glows, sparkles, or has magical fairy dust-like qualities, I will put it on my face. Especially my eyes. Because I love my eyes and I like to use them as my featured feature. AND I LOVE HOW SHIMMERY THIS TRIO IS. Gold shimmer throughout was the perfect touch. Also, I had never followed an actual diagram before on where to apply different colored shadows…thanks again, Ash! (;
Mineral Cheek Color in Sparkling Cider
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– Super shimmery again! Normally, I’d pair shimmery eyes with a matte cheek or vice versa, so this was new for me. It was pretty faint, though, and a nice natural blush color – nothing like bubblegum pink, etc. So it actually paired perfectly with the rest of my face.
Marykay @ Play Jelly Lip Gloss in Berry Me
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– Love this gloss. Love. it. At first, it might seem a tad sticky. I hate sticky gloss. Yuck. BUT. It ends up being not sticky at all and glides on oh-so-nicely, and Berry Me is the perfect mix of color and shine. I felt music-video ready as a girl-next-door character or something. It was empowering.
All done up!
And VOILA! Lots of gunks and goops for the next time your face needs a lift. Super huge THANKYOU/shoutout to Ashley for making it happen! If you want to chat with her about your makeup/beauty routine, joining the MaryKay team, or just life in general (she’s ridiculously awesome, so I’m sure she’d love to chat!), find her at MaryKay. She’s absolutely fantastic at making you look and feel oh-so-amazing, so thanks tenfold to her!
What are your must-have beauty or skincare products? I’m always up for some recommendations! Let the comments commence.
lovelovelove,
E
coming up roses 