June wound up being the month of makeup; nearly everything I tried this month was a cosmetic product except for one article of clothing and a piece of jewelry. So makeup lovers, this one's for you!
Made the Cut
Flower Beauty Light Illusion Full Coverage Concealer | Light Medium (M1-2)
I didn't jump on the Flower Beauty train until earlier this year, so I've been missing out on how great this brand's products are. So far, everything I've tried has been really good, but their Light Illusion Full Coverage Concealer ($10) has easily been the best thing so far. A little goes a long way, and I feel it works best with a damp makeup sponge; I also feel like it dries somewhat quickly, so start blending it out as soon as you put it on your skin. But once it's blended out, it looks natural on your skin and has a fresh finish that's long-lasting even on my super oily skin that breaks down everything.
It took some time to figure out my shade in-store, but I went with Light Medium (M1-2) and it ended up being a perfect match for my skin. I mentioned back in the February 2022 edition of The Cut that I tried Flower's Get Real Serum Foundation and had issues with color matching, so I used the color matching tool on Flower's site to find a better foundation shade. Based on my selection of Light Medium for my concealer, I was matched to Natural Beige (M1) in Get Real, which wound up being a better shade for me. So if you haven't tried either product but want to try both, I'd suggest finding your match in the concealer first and then inputting that into Flower's shade matching tool so you can find the accompanying foundation shade.
Mejuri Heirloom Ring | Honey Quartz
I've had my eye on Mejuri's Heirloom Ring ($550) for a long time now, but as you can probably guess, the price tag didn't exactly have me jumping to make a purchase.
I finally caved and got it in Honey Quartz. It's a really beautiful ring in a timeless design, and the gorgeous honey-colored quartz goes with virtually anything in my wardrobe, dressed up or down. It looks looks fantastic in a stack, but if you prefer it to be the ring on your hand, it commands attention well enough on its own.
I'm not encouraging you to go drop a ton of money on something just because it's cute. For me, I've been considering this purchase since these rings launched (which has been many months now) and I was able to make it work within my budget, but I do want to stress that you shouldn't feel pressure to buy something just because an influencer or brand is telling you it's great. I'm very choosy about the things I recommend to my followers, particularly if it's pricey. But I would recommend this if you're looking for a beautiful statement ring in real gold. I'm glad I finally pulled the trigger and bought it; I haven't taken it off since it got delivered.
Flower Beauty Spotlight Liquid Highlighter | Opal
While I was picking up Flower's concealer, I also spotted their Spotlight Liquid Highlighter ($13) and decided to just grab it on a whim. I went with the color Opal, which seems to be a good color match if you're in the light-medium to medium skin tone range. This is such a nice product. It's in a tube and has a soft, fuzzy applicator (the kind where you have to keep gently squeezing until you see the product start to darken the fabric). I tap the product onto the high points of my cheekbones and then use a clean finger to gently buff it out so it looks natural. This gives the skin a nice glow without being glittery, which is what I want from a highlighter. As with many of their products, a little goes a long way, so don't go too heavy handed with this one.
Sanrio Badtz-Maru Portrait Crewneck
BoxLunch keeps pulling me in with all their cool Sanrio merchandise, and having sales helps, too. I picked up their Badtz-Maru Portrait Crewneck ($54.90) during a recent 30% off sale and love it so much. Like the Pochacco sweatshirt I got from them recently, this is so soft on the inside, and the art makes me so nostalgic for my childhood. And while I don't normally wear such bright colors, I had to make an exception for this adorable sweatshirt.
I went with my normal size in tops, XS, and it's still a bit roomy without being very oversized. I guess if you wanted a really slim fit you could size down, but taking my normal size was best for this sweatshirt.
Pley Beauty Festival Flush | Mojave Rose
In the latest edition of "I got influenced by an ad on social media," this time a Pinterest ad for Pley Beauty got me. I'd never heard of the brand, but I'm a sucker for good branding, so I poked around their site and was intrigued by their Festival Flush Lip & Cheek Tint ($20). I went with the color Mojave Rose — you know I love my nudes and neutrals — and after one wear, this became one of my favorite cosmetics I've tried in a while. I dab a little on with my fingers and blend it out (though I do find it a bit hard to blend out) for a natural flush of color. It's pigmented and gives great color payoff, but most importantly it lasts a long time. I often find blush is one of the fastest things to fade on my face throughout the day because of how oily I get, but the color was still visible hours after application and still looked good. I keep reaching for this blush and while I still prefer Glossier's Cloud Paints, this is a very, very close second.
Didn't Make the Cut
COVERGIRL Clean Fresh Cooling Glow Highlighter Stick | Translucent + So Gilty
I really like COVERGIRL's Clean Fresh line of products, especially the mascara (which is an ULTA exclusive), which is one of my go-to products. So when I came across their Clean Fresh Cooling Glow Highlighter Stick in CVS, I snatched it up in the shade Translucent, hoping it would give me a natural glow given that the line is all about natural-looking no-makeup makeup. Unfortunately, this puts the "no" in "no makeup" — it completely disappears upon application.
It definitely gives a cooling sensation when you apply it to your skin, but it's a pretty thick formula that needs to be blended out to look more natural on your skin. But when you do that, it dries down and fades away completely, leaving behind a chalky residue. I thought I was losing my mind or got a bad stick, so I looked up a couple of YouTube and blog reviews of this product and everyone had the same complaint about Translucent. Based on a recommendation in one of these reviews, I then picked up the shade So Gilty, a pale golden color, hoping it would be a better experience.
Rather than completely disappearing, So Gilty left behind a ton of glitter in its wake after being blended out. I was so disappointed by these highlighting sticks and wish they were much better; I noticed that COVERGIRL's official page for this product is kind of broken and CVS doesn't even have these on their site anymore. I can only find them for sale on Amazon and Walmart and ran into some at Grocery Outlet, which tells me COVERGIRL may already be phasing these out (though they do seem to have existed for some time before, under a different product name). I can't recommend these, but do recommend checking out the rest of their Clean Fresh line, particularly their Clean Fresh Mascara.
Be sure to check back next month for another round of products that made the cut and didn't, and thanks for reading my monthly series, The Cut.
Note: none of the hyperlinks in this post are affiliate links. They're included merely for your convenience.
Comments