First Impressions of Cover FX Mattifying Primer

Hey guys!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been really struggling with two problems: oily skin and random pimples popping up on my chin. I’ve changed face washes, quit using BB cream, changed from the Up and Up makeup wipes to the Simple Ones to no avail. They are still there. Then I decided that it could be my primer I’m using (the ELF Mineral Infused Face Primer from Target). I picked this up at the beginning of the school semester, and I’ve been having trouble since about that time. It’d make sense I guess.

Recently I popped into Sephora to FINALLY purchase NARS Deepthroat (yay!). I know it’s been like ten years in the making. Anyway, while I was there, I made sure to scan everything. When one of the makeup artists came up and asked me if I had any questions, I asked her about face primers for oily skin, and she pointed out three of them, and this Cover FX MattifyingPrimer with Anti-Acne Treatment was one. She gave me samples of all three (which will also be here on the blog, this is just the first one I’ve started with).

Sephora

What intrigued me at first about this primer was the “anti-acne treatment” that is right in the title. I mean, with the breaking out, I’d been wanting to try some more spot treatments for my problem areas, and essentially this primer is one big spot treatment. It does have Salicylic Acid in it, which is what is in most acne washes/spot treatments. I’ve never heard of a primer or something having that, so I thought that was pretty darn cool.

Also I was interested in seeing how a primer made especially for oily skin would work. In my experience with primers, they all just seem like the anti-oily skin remedy. And I had never heard of Cover FX (I was thinking along the lines of Smashbox, Tarte, or Benefit for a primer). Another thing I was super excited about is the friendly skin properties of the ingredients. It has Willowbark extract and is without parabens and sulfates and other stuff that skin apparently hates.  

I used this primer for a little over a week (those samples sizes go far haha). Here is what I noticed.

• The smell. It definitely smells and feels like an acne spot treatment. If you hate this smell, you probably won’t like this primer. I don’t mind it, but I definitely notice it.

• It’s sticky when applying and hard to blend. Once again, I blame the acne treatment for this. But honestly, once it’s on my face it doesn’t feel sticky. It feels cool. And it is hard to blend, but I’d just advise go light in application and then reapply a tiny bit if you need more.

• Two days after using it, I noticed how glowing my skin looked without makeup on. It looked lovely! No new pimples. The old ones were fading away. And my skin didn’t feel as oily.

• The staying power with powder was around 4 hours (about normal).

• My chin was a little oily, but everything else was fantastically matte and not even heavy feeling. This was in weather that reached into the 60s-70s.

• My skin looked healthy, normal, small pores, no crazy discoloration. Just happy.

Overall I really like it! I haven’t tried the other two samples yet, but this could definitely be something I’d spend $38. I’ve never tried a high-end primer before though, so we’ll see. The price isn’t something that makes me happy (particularly for such a small amount). But if it makes my skin healthy, then I’d be all for it. Especially with the acne treatment.

Do you have a favorite high-end primer? Do you think primers are really necessary?

Here's my review of the Becca Ever-Matte Primer, another sample I picked up!

February Favorites

Hey guys!

I can’t believe how February flew by! Literally, it was the fastest month ever. I’m sitting here wondering where Valentine’s Day went! Even though this was a fast month, I still have a ton of favorites! They are pretty random too.

Revlon Photoready BB Cream, ELF Mineral Infused Face Primer, The Rocket Mascara, Simple Cleansing Wipes, BBW Wildberry Dahlia Foaming Hand Soap, Wet n Wild Walking on Eggshells, Mossimo Boyfriend Cardigan, Essie Watermelon (upper), Essie Plumberry (below)

Revlon Photoready BB Cream
Finding the shade light/medium proved to be virtually impossible, because this is such a popular item! With good reason though. Out of all the BB creams, this is by far the best on oily skin. It's extremely similar to the Smashbox one (just a lot more affordable). My only complaint, it's a tad hard to blend. But that's not too bad of a complaint.

Elf Mineral Infused Face Pimer
As I reviewed earlier this month, the ELF Mineral Infused Face Primer has been a really pleasant surprise. While it has a slightly more watery texture than the Sephora one I used previously, I honestly think it has better staying power and is better on my oily skin. The one day I went without it, I definitely noticed a huge difference in the look of my face makeup.

The Rocket Mascara
As I've documented several other times, I've had a love/hate relationship with Maybelline's the Rocket mascara. But after some debate, I've gone back to it toward the end of the month. I love the dramatic look it gives my lashes. I love how long and volumized it makes it. The two downsides: it's very hard to take off and the bristles of the brush hurt the base of my eyelashes! But, it's two things I'd be willing to deal with because the results are so good.

Simple Cleansing Wipes
So I used these last fall and really enjoyed them, but then got distracted with the Up and Up brand ones. However, I started breaking out! It was really annoying, so I thought I'd try a different brand of makeup removing wipes to see if that helped. And it did! These just are really refreshing and gentle on the skin, and I love it. It even does it's best at removing the Rocket mascara (which is no simple feat). I'm definitely going to repruchase these again!

Bath and Body Works Wildberry Dahlia Hand Soap
I can't say enough great things about this handsoap. It smells amazing! I sometimes just wash my hands for fun to smell this! Some reivewers say it smells like grape soda, and I can kind of see that. However, I love it. You definitely need to go out and smell it because it's perfect for spring!

Wet n Wild's "Walking on Eggshells"
There are so many great things about this trio on the internet, and I know I've talked about it before as well. For the last few months, I was all about the Covergirl Shimmering Sands pallet, but this month, I've been using the Walking on Eggshells trio constantly! I love it, particularly the champagne color! I've worn it almost everyday!

Mossimo Boyfriend Cardigan
Another new obssesion this month is the Mossimo Boyfriend Cardigans from Target. They are amazing! I picked up the black and the oatmeal colored ones (and I've really been eyeing the red one haha). I absolutely love the color of the oatmeal one. It's the perfect neutral!

Essie Watermelon
I've been eyeing Watermelon for such a long time (mostly because I love the name). It's a really pretty pink color that was perfect for wearing Valentine's Day week! I love it!

Essie Plumberry
After seeing Plumberry on Pinterest, I decided I need this color because I don't have any berry reds in my nail polish collection. Although it can be a little dark, it's such a pretty, different take on red. It's hard to describe but it's like a red-purple.

Much Needed Shopping Trip

So I've had my eye on a few things recently and today I decided to finally go get them. You know, sometimes nothing beats a good shopping trip. The sun shinning, walking around, and a nice Starbucks to go with it.

So I went to Target (my favorite store in the entire world) and picked up a few cheap essentials. I know after all that debate about Sigma vs. MAC vs. Sephora brushes I bought two ELF. By no means are they my final selection, but sometimes you just need to buy something to tide you over until you afford better. Plus, if they are good, they were only $3 each. And if they aren't, eh. It's only $6 total. But reviews online were pretty postive about the blush brush and the complexion brush, so we'll see.

While I'm discussing my love for Target (it is seriously up there in my top 10 loves because they constantly amaze me), I also decided to try out the Cos Bar cleansing towelettes. They're currently highlighting businesses from around the US and one of them is Cos Bar from Aspen. It was probably the packaging (loving leopard right now) and promise of a blueberry scent, but they were calling me. And for $5, you really can't argue. I'm loving my Garnier ones right now because they aren't overly oddly smelly and get off my mascara (best thing ever), but I'm halfway through them and wanted to try this. So excited to take off my makeup tonight!

The other half of my shopping trip was to the open air Promenade shoppes, which happen to have many of my favorite stores (Pottery Barn, Victoria Secret, Bath and Body Works, Express, Ulta, and Sephora).

Sephora is seriously another favorite of mine. Everything just calls me. Kinda like the Apple Store, everything is so shinny and sleek and beckoning me to sample new products. In the end, I walked out with what I wanted. NARS blush in the ever famous Orgasm and Sephora's ultra-smoothing primer.

I think I easily spent over an hour in Sephora playing with everything. I swatched the Naked Palettes on my arms, drooling over them (I know, I'm the last person to not own them), tried on every primer in the store (on my arm for some weird reason haha), and comparing all the different foundations and such.

But overall, I'm happy with the blush and the primer. I was seriously stuck for a little bit between Orgasm and Tarte's Amazonian Clay Blush. Ugh, that was such a hard decision!

How is a girl to choose?! After swatching them, trying to them on, trying to find something to sway me either way, I finally had to go with NARS, it is supposedly the best. Plus, it was what I went to Sephora for originally. But I will definitely have Tarte in mind for the future, because the texture of the blush was so cool. Soft, heavily pigmented, almost cream-like. But definitely solid.

I also found a way to manage to stop my the mall to go to Dillards to visit the MAC counter. I've been trying to figure out a good summer face look and finally the wonderful reviews of MAC's Mineralize Skinfinish Natural called me. It was cheaper than the Makeup Forever, Benefit, Bare Escentuals, and Laura Mercier ones I was looking at. And the reviews were promising me something that I wanted: a light, natural, finished look. I was color matched to medium plus and I can't wait to try it.

Overall, I think today was a successful shopping day. My account took a beating, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet I guess in the sake of investing in good products (hopefully). I can't wai to try them all and see how they work for me. This will be my first high quality face routine (before I just dabbled with Covergirl and other drugstore brands). Hopefully they live up to the hype!