Benefit Coralista

It's been a long time since I've done a good, old-fashioned product review! Well, I am trying to remedy that; I have a couple in the works, and we're going to kick it off today with an exploration of Benefit's Coralista.

Coralista is one of Benefit's Box o' Powders, their collection of brightening, bronzing, and blushing face powders. I'd call Coralista a blush; if you have a darker skin tone, though, you could probably use it to highlight and brighten. It's the perfect coral shade, a beautiful balance between pink and coral that makes it suited to both warm and cool complexions, and I love that it goes with almost any combination of colors you can think of. When I need a quick wash of brightening blush and don't want to think too hard about matching the blush color to the eyeshadows I've chosen, I reach for Coralista. It's also a sheer enough but buildable color that it's pretty foolproof; you are not going to look like a clown (unless you want to; like I said, it is buildable).  It will run you $28 for .28 ounces of product, and the box includes a specialized brush. If you'd like to read more about it, you can do so at Benefit's website.  I don't use the brush that is included with it; it's a fine brush, just not the right size for precise placement. I use Coralista with a pretty basic fluffy blush brush (mine is Sonia Kashuk).

My poor Coralista is a couple of years old; the box is looking a little bit beat up, and they've changed the box design so now the lid flips up, instead of lifting off. I suppose this is an improvement, but I don't really mind mine! I mentioned before that this is a nicely balanced coral-pink shade that isn't overly cool or overly warm. It isn't sparkly, but it does have a faint hint of very fine pink-gold shimmer to it, just enough to give it a bit of an iridescent glow and keep it from looking flat. While the base color leans more coral, this glow pulls a bit pinker, and I find this finish really flattering (and forgiving when it comes to application)!

Here's the box:

Coralista!

 The included brush:

And the product itself! You can get an idea of its "glowiness" here; notice that there is no glitter or noticeable shimmer.

And swatches! I've shown what it looks like sheer on top, and built up on the bottom. I love that finish! Kind of a glowy satin.

And here I am wearing only Coralista over foundation and powder; no bronzer or highlighter. I've done a couple of passes of Coralista with a fluffy blush brush to build up the color some.

Summary: Coralista is a gorgeous pinky-coral shade, and its finish and opacity are SO forgiving. It's a really easy to wear, flattering blush. I'd recommend this to anyone, from blush novices who are afraid of overdoing it, to those who have a full arsenal of blushes and are looking for something soft and pretty but buildable.

Do any of you own Coralista? I love Benefit's Box o' Powder line, and Coralista has become my go-to brightening blush. I can wear it on its own and get a bit of a highlight along with a healthy glow.

NOTD: Playing with Galaxy Girl

This is a nail polish combination I wore about a week ago, and I can't get it out of my head... I might just do it again, or at least a close variation on it!

Can you believe that Galaxy Girl is the only Orly polish that I have? This is unforgivable, and it's definitely something I need to work on rectifying... They come out with some really amazingly beautiful and unique colors, and I don't even have a good excuse as to why I don't own more of their polishes. At any rate, when I first got it, I wasn't crazy about the way the color looks on me; sort of like a bruise. However, it's been growing on me, and I recently played around with layering it... boy, does it glow with a base color underneath! For this manicure, I used three polishes. My base was OPI Number One Nemesis, a very sparkly gunmetal. I put Galaxy Girl on top of that, which is sheer enough that the sparkles of Number One Nemesis show through, but dark enough that Galaxy Girl's color dominates. Finally, I added a layer of Icing's Pampered and Primped, an incredibly sheer orchid with angular pieces of mylar suspended in it that flash blue and peach.

OPI Number One Nemesis, Orly Galaxy Girl, Icing Pampered and Primped 

Ugh, I know, I know, I need to get back into the habit of cleaning up my manicures... This is embarrassing, but I dropped my clean-up brush into my bottle of acetone! And it started melting! I need to remember where I put my backup brush...

Indoor light

 If you enlarge this next photo, you can see the effect of Number One Nemesis peeking out from underneath Galaxy Girl. I really like the bigger pieces of shimmer of Number One Nemesis layered beneath the fine shimmer of Galaxy Girl, it's really lovely!

Natural light

I love layering glitters and shimmers... So much fun! I am still really bad at jelly sandwiches (I experimented a bit last night, might have made one work!), but layering is so easy and so satisfying. Now, if only I could find my clean-up brush so it doesn't look like a five year old painted my nails...

What layers do you guys like on your nails? Do you have more manual dexterity than a child? I sure don't. Any clean-up tips? (Other than pouring your acetone into a small dish so you don't lose your brush in your industrial-sized acetone bottle... Figured that one out on my own. Gotta break a few eggs, right?)

FOTD: Summer Reds

I was wearing a kind of vintage-ish outfit the other day, and wondered if I could do a 1940's inspired face without looking too "done up", and this is what I came up with! I think you can definitely see the vintage inspiration if you're told that's where I was coming from, but it doesn't look like stage makeup.  I didn't use as many products for eyes and lips as I tend to, but I used way more on the cheeks than usual to try to get the exact cheek color I had in mind... There was a lot of layer, buffing, re-layering, re-buffing... I also tried to focus the brightness (hello, Bang!) on the apples of the cheeks, and placed more muted, brown-based (like Dallas) shades further back towards the hairline.

Here are some (but not all) of the products I used:

Complete list of products used:

Face: Almay primer, Hard Candy Glamoflage concealer, Make Up For Ever Face & Body Makeup, Urban Decay cream blush in Bang, L'Oreal Infallible powder, The Body Shop Bronzer in 01, Hard Candy Baked Blush in Pin Up, Benefit Dallas, NARS blush in Exhibit A, Philosophy The Color of Grace Amazing Grace Shimmering Face Powder.

Eyes: Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in 13 as base, Ulta eyeshadow in mink, Benefit Gilded on inner corner and blended into crease, Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Zero (on top lash line) and in Baked (on lower lash line), Prestige My Biggest Lashes mascara, Prestige eyebrow pencil, Anastasia Brow Gel in Caramel.

Lips: NARS lipstick in Joyous Red patted on gently.

Cheeks!

 Eye close-ups:

And Joyous Red worn very lightly, an old favorite!

Wow, I can't believe I don't wear Joyous Red patted on lightly like this more often! It's the perfect "my lips but redder" shade; it doesn't look too unnatural. I don't know about you guys, but if I want a subtle lip color, any form of red is usually off the table; even sheer red is often still very bright. If you're curious what this looks like worn more heavily, check out my earlier review of it here.

Do you guys feel like summer calls for less makeup? I try to do more natural looks when the weather is hot and I know I'll be outdoors. Less maintenance!

LOTD: Lady Liberty

Happy 4th of July! And... happy fourth day in July to those of you not residing in the US of A or not celebrating. I can't say I did much in the way of celebrating; this look of the day was about it! I decided that, being it's a holiday, it called for more theatrical makeup than usual sooo... Here you go!

I was going for a 1940's pin-up version of patriotic makeup. I feel like I should be in a USO show... Hrrmm, I mentioned in a recent response to a comment that I was in a musical in 8th grade called "Don't Say No to the USO" (it was as AWESOME as it sounds, believe me), I wonder if that snuck into my brain and made me do this makeup! (Who am I kidding, I'm obsessed with retro makeup looks and that's where I've been getting a lot of my inspiration lately; I probably would have done something like this anyway!)

Here's what I ended up with:

Here's what I used:

Face: Clinique Redness Solutions Base, Rimmel 25 Hour Foundation, The Body Shop All In One Face Base, Urban Decay blush in Bang, The Body Shop Bronzer in 01, Smashbox Luminzier in Flash, NYX blush in Taupe, NARS blush in Exhibit A.

Eyes: MUFE Aqua Cream in 13 as base, Urban Decay Sellout on lid and under brow bown, matte medium-brown E.L.F. eyeshadow (not pictured) in crease, NARS Outremer (in crease), MUFE Aqua Shadow in 6E to line upper lash line, Benefit Gilded on lower lash line and in inner crease, Prestige My Biggest Lashes mascara, Stila Major Lash mascara, Prestige brow pencil, Anastasia brow gel in Caramel.

Lips: Sugar Coral Lip Treatment, NYX lip cream in Amsterdam, Bite lipstick in Apricot.

Check out these INTENSE cheeks; definitely blotting a little before I leave the house today! But it's pretty for pictures :)

Eyes:

Lips! I mixed colors to get the perfect "America Red" I had in mind. I like this combination, they're already two of my favorite reds... I'll probably do this again.

Did you guys do anything special for the Fourth of July?

SKINFOOD Haul

Hi Guys,

I've been really excited for this post ever since last Friday, when I found a brand new store hiding in Stonestown Mall in San Francisco called SKINFOOD. Ok, that's how I see it typed out on their website (check it out here) but honestly, it's creeping me out typing that in all caps, so I'm just going to call it Skin Food, since the words are separate on their label. Doesn't "Skin Food" seem a lot friendlier than "SKINFOOD"? At any rate, from what I've gathered, Skin Food is a South Korean cosmetic and skincare company that is just beginning to launch in the US; they don't even have the Stonestown location listed on their website (for those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area, it's downstairs near Nordstrom!). Their philosophy is that food products can be beneficial for your skin and has cosmetic benefits. I'm not going to lie; I was mostly drawn in by the rows and rows of pretty nail polish. They had a bunch of really neat lines; one was all milky colors, another were super sparkly shades formulated specifically for pedicures, and another was a line of sheer jelly polishes. They also had a very extensive "core collection" of polishes with no specific twist.

I ended up getting several bottles of polish, and they gave me A BUNCH of little packets of samples of their skincare, so I am looking forward to trying their masks, scrubs, face cleansers, and body gels over the coming weeks.

My haul of 6 polishes and numerous samples

As you can see, I got six nail polishes from several of their lines. The "core" line seems to be called Nail Vita, and there were a variety of different finishes, although all three of the shades I got were frosts. According to the website, these have keratin and vitamins in them, and are meant to help rough, dry nails (sounds like mine)! They contain .44 ounces of polish, and were $3.00 each. These are the rectangular bottles with dark caps; the pale shade hiding in the back left is is a very pale pearly warm taupe frost which goes by the charming name of #VI403. The other two shades I got are the two on the right side in the same bottle. The pink-brown shade has multi-colored microshimmer in it in addition to the frost finish, and is #BR614. The dark gunmetal shade leans a bit blue, and has a frost finish. It is called #BR601.

The rectangular bottle with the tan cap is part of the Pedicure Sparkle line. This was $6.00, and has .44 ounces of product in it. This is formulated specifically to last longer on toes, according to the description in the store. On the website, it is described as having "sparkling diamond glow", and it says for a more vivid color, to apply a second coat after letting the first coat dry. I only have one coat on my pinkie finger in the following swatches, and it is opaque, but I did a manicure with this after I took off all the swatches, and the color does get just a bit more vivid with two coats. This shade is #1, which is described as gold on the website; it's a bit more coppery than true gold, falling somewhere between the two. A copper and gold alloy is called rose gold, so let's just call it that! I have never seen such a sparkly polish; it's a completely opaque micro-shimmer that almost looks like a foil. The glare off of it bothered my boyfriend while he was driving, it is that bright and sparkly. Also, I'd believe that this would last a loooong time on a pedicure; I've had it on my nails for three days with one little chip and absolutely no tip wear or anything. In fact, I might take it off even though I don't need to just to try out another color!

The two colors up front in the rounded bottles are the Fruit Drink Nail line, Skin Food's jelly shades. These contain .34 ounces of product and were $6.00 each. These aren't on the website at this time. They are a medium-sheer polish that builds to become almost opaque with two coats. They are very glossy and have a lot of depth to them. I have #3, which looks coral in the bottle. One coat is more peachy-orange on me, two coats begins to lean more pink. The second shade I bought is #8, which is a deep burgundy/purple. I love these on their own, but I can't wait to play around with jelly sandwiches, too!


I tried swatching some of the polishes for you after taking off a really sparkly manicure, before doing my "real" manicure... Um, yeah. I debated not posting these because my hands look awful, but I wanted you guys to be able to see how these perform on the nail. I need nail wheels! So, forgive my ripped up cuticles and all of the shimmer that's all over my hands. I think in my excitement, I must have done something different with my camera settings, too, because a lot of the pictures came out really badly. Anyway, apologies, but I figured this was better than nothing! All swatches are one coat (except for the jellies; I did one nail with one coat, another with two to show how you can build opacity and color) over base coat, with no top coat. From my little finger to my thumb are 1 coat of Pedicure Sparkle in #1, 1 coat of Fruit Drink Nail in #3, 2 coats of Fruit Drink Nail in #3, 2 coats of Fruit Drink Nail in #8, 1 coat of Fruit Drink Nail in #8. (P.S.: I can't figure out why this paragraph looks highlighted... Can anyone tell me how to fix this?) 

Here's another view of that same hand.

This is one coat of Fruit Drink Nail in #8:

These are one coat each of Nail Vita #VI403 on the left and Nail Vita #BR601on the right.

And this is one coat of Nail Vita #BR614: 

Here are the jellies and the pedicure sparkle in natural light!

And the other hand in natural light. Ugh, couldn't get a picture of all three nails in one shot... Should have just taken two pictures. On my thumb is one coat of Nail Vita #BR614

I'll have an upcoming post focusing on my Pedicure Sparkle manicure, but my overall first impressions of this line are great! Granted, I haven't tried any of their skincare or other cosmetics, but the customer service in the store was top notch; it's a tiny boutique, and I think all 4 of the sales associates working their approached me, asking me if I had any questions, and all were knowledgeable about their lines when I asked questions. Other than the jellies, these seem to all be 1 coaters, although a 2nd coat can neaten up the manicure. They're incredibly pigmented. The frosted shades did have some brush stroke issues, but far less than many shades I've encountered; there seems to be enough shimmer to help cover up brush strokes. So far, I am really excited with my purchase, and can't wait to get back down to Stonestown to try more from this brand.

Has anyone else tried Skin Food? Do you get really excited when you stumble upon a new brand with all sorts of things that intrigue you? I have dreams like this, so I was pretty giddy when I stepped across Skin Food's threshold...