BASE
I’m a big fan of Everyday Minerals's mineral foundations and the Matte Base in Ivory (1N) has been my go-to since last summer. I'm working through a second jar now. I also used up a mini jar of the The All Natural Face Mineral Foundation in Porcelain Kissed By Honey. Also a solid product, though probably not something I'll buy again since there are other mineral foundations that I prefer.
The Ecco Bella FlowerColor Face Powder in Fair is my favorite powder for setting liquid or cream makeup. It offers little in the way of coverage, but has a beautiful, natural finish. Definitely something I intend to re-buy in the future. The Honeybee Gardens Pressed Mineral Powder in Geisha is another good one -- medium coverage and super quick to buff onto the skin. I think the ingredients have changed since the last time I purchased it, so I'll have to check into that before I buy it again.
I also tried samples of several liquid bases. I had similar issues with the Pure Anada Tinted Moisturizer in Porcelain and Smooth & Conceal Liquid Foundation in Arctic Alabaster as I did with their moisturizers -- they sat on top of my skin and, as such, didn't look natural. The Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue in Opal is a well-loved product, but I found it a little dark and a lot too luminous. I'm all for glowy skin, but this crossed the line into oily for me. I also wasn't wowed by the 14e Cosmetics Aloe Nourish Sheer Tint in Birch (1.5). I don't remember there being anything wrong with it per say, but I didn't like it enough to pick up a full size.
The Ecco Bella FlowerColor Face Powder in Fair is my favorite powder for setting liquid or cream makeup. It offers little in the way of coverage, but has a beautiful, natural finish. Definitely something I intend to re-buy in the future. The Honeybee Gardens Pressed Mineral Powder in Geisha is another good one -- medium coverage and super quick to buff onto the skin. I think the ingredients have changed since the last time I purchased it, so I'll have to check into that before I buy it again.
I also tried samples of several liquid bases. I had similar issues with the Pure Anada Tinted Moisturizer in Porcelain and Smooth & Conceal Liquid Foundation in Arctic Alabaster as I did with their moisturizers -- they sat on top of my skin and, as such, didn't look natural. The Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue in Opal is a well-loved product, but I found it a little dark and a lot too luminous. I'm all for glowy skin, but this crossed the line into oily for me. I also wasn't wowed by the 14e Cosmetics Aloe Nourish Sheer Tint in Birch (1.5). I don't remember there being anything wrong with it per say, but I didn't like it enough to pick up a full size.
MASCARA
The Pacifica Stellar Gaze Supernova Mascara, which I used two tubes of, has become my new go-to mascara. It's good and black, non-irritating to my sensitive eyes, and reasonably water resistant. The other two were total flops: the Physician’s Formula Organic Wear Work It!, because it was practically invisible and still managed to smear all over my glasses despite stay-put claims to the contrary, and the BareMinerals Lash Domination Mascara, because while it looked and wore fine, it also seemed to make my lashes considerably more sparse during the two or so months that I used it. Ingredients leave a little to be desired in the Bare Minerals too.
EYELINER
You wouldn't think brown pencil liner would be something to be picky about, but there you have it -- there's actually quite a bit of variation across brands! The Lily Lolo Brown Eye Liner Pencil, a dark brown with a creamy formula, is a definite favorite. The Pacifica Fringe Natural Eye Pencil was a little too light and warm-toned for my liking -- disappointing because the black from the same line is one of my favorites. The Honeybee Gardens Smoking Gun JobaColors Eye Liner is the most beautiful metallic cool taupe shade, but I'm not too impressed with the new ingredients since these were reformulated (and renamed), so it’s not one I’ll be replacing in my collection.
EYE SHADOW + EYE SHADOW PRIMER
The Lavera Eye Shadow Base was just okay. It worked well at preventing creasing, but I found that colors tended to mash together over it, so it’s not ideal for more complex eye looks. I also finished a couple no longer available indie eye shadows: Shiro Cosmetics Baker’s Boy, a beautiful shimmery gold, and Detrivore Cosmetics Contamination, a perfect warm matte medium brown. I love wearing colors like this blended out in the crease.
LIPS
Clearly I use a lot of lip balm! The Crazy Rumors Raspberry Sherbet Lip Balm and Wedderspoon Peppermint Lipcare are two great ones that I've bought many times over. The Epic Blend Hemp Mint Lip Balm and Eco Lips Apricot Peach POGO Lip Balm were also good, although the shape and sturdiness of the latter left a little to be desired. I used up one tinted balm: the Everyday Minerals Tinted Lip Balm in a mystery color (the label's worn off), which was the most perfect mauvey-nude. My one gripe with Everyday Minerals is how frequently they discontinued their color products, which was the case with this one. There's a new incarnation of the tinted lip balms, but nothing that looks very similar color-wise.
I didn't finish the Eco Lips Peppermint Mongo Kiss Lip Balm, but I'm tossing it because I had a reaction every time I used it. The only ingredient that was new to me was the mongongo oil, so I'll definitely be proceeding with caution with any other mongongo oil-containing products! I'm also finally chucking out my Vapour Elixir Lip Glosses in Enigma and Twinkle. I loved these glosses, but they've been long discontinued so it's well past time I got rid of them. I'm not sure how Vapour’s doefoot glosses compare, but they're on my to-try list!
BLUSH/MISCELLANEOUS
The Silk Naturals Lovelace Sheer Blush was one of my first blushes and it’s one I loved right to its very end. The Sheer Blush formula offers medium pigmentation and blends like a dream, and Lovelace, which is advertised as a dupe for Nars Deepthroat, is a beautiful shimmery peach. I've got a new jar sitting pretty in my cart for my next Silk Naturals order. I also sampled a few Everyday Minerals products: Berry Berry Luminous Blush, which I loved but which was no longer available by the time I got through the sample, Let's Pink About This Luminous Blush, which was just okay, and the Peach and Yellow Primers, both of which I like using to set or prime under eye concealer. I have a larger size of the Yellow Primer that I'm currently using. I also used at least one pack of the Blum Naturals Oil Absorbing Facial Tissues, basic blotting papers that I keep in my purse for midday touchups.
And that's a wrap on this batch of empties -- I'm so happy to finally chuck all these out!
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