December 26, 2015

PUR Cameo Contour - all five - swatches, review

Hello, Beautiful!

PUR has made an easy way to highlight and contour with their Cameo Contour sticks. This cream product duo has a lighter shade to highlight and a darker shade to contour. Can use alone as your only foundation product, or in combination with your actual foundation base.

I've been testing these out for a few weeks now, gathering my thoughts and favorite ways to use them. Read my full review below, but first check out the swatches, pics and some info along with them.

PUR Cameo Contour Info & Review
Cost: $39.50
Availability: Available on the PUR website, at Ulta, and everywhere else PUR is sold.
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Kisses

PRODUCT DETAILS & CLAIMS...

Meet the final word in flawless contouring. PUR's dual-ended contour stick adds closeup-worthy depth and dimension to your natural features with a creamy formula that sets to a picture-perfect powder finish. With use of the natural, light-reflective ingredients that resemble microspheres, this 2-in-1 complexion innovation emphasizes your face's natural highlights and shadows while simultaneously blurring the look of imperfections, such as dark spots and fine lines.

As you apply and blend one or both shades with the Contour Blending Sponge, your skin also absorbs the skin-perfecting benefits of PUR's own Ceretin Complex - a proprietary blend of hydrating ceramides and age-defying vitamin A!

Oil-free, Petrolatum-Free.

PUR Cameo Contour
Shades: Light, Medium, Tan, Dark, Deep
Continue scrolling down to see more pics of each individual shade.

Each duo stick comes boxed and includes a pink blending sponge.


The boxes are very reflective, so that's why they may be hard to read.

Shades listed at the top.


Here is a better view of the front and back of the box with minimum reflection from the lights.


As I mentioned, each stick comes with a pink blending sponge. Here are all five that I received; they're all similar in shape but vary slightly with cut.


Of course you should always use a blending sponge damp by getting it wet first.

Below shows dry vs. wet  -- and in this case, wet means damp (not dripping any water).

Also included is a little guide to help those that may not have tried contour and highlight yet. Keep in mind everyone's face shape and features are different, so while this map is a good guideline, you may find better points to place the highlight and contour shades on your own face.

Remember: highlight is what you want to bring forward and contour is what you want to push back.


For comparison of all shades next to each other, here they are:





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PUR Cameo Contour
Shades: Light
For fair skintones with creamy ivory undertones. Choose if in PUR's 4-in-1 Mineral Makeup you wear shade Porcelain or Light.
This is the lightest of the five shades. I found for myself, this one was too light but if you are fair this would be the one to choose.








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PUR Cameo Contour
Shades: Medium
For medium beige skintone with blush to golden undertones. Choose if in PUR's 4-in-1 Mineral Makeup you wear shade Blush Medium or Golden Medium.
Medium is the one I use the most. It's a good match and looks nice on my skintone.







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PUR Cameo Contour
Shades: Tan
For olive skintone with yellow, honey and caramel undertones. Choose if in PUR's 4-in-1 Mineral Makeup you wear shade Light Tan, Tan, or Medium Tan.
This is great for those with medium to olive complexions. I will use the contour end of this stick if I want a bit warmer contour.









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PUR Cameo Contour
Shades: Dark
For rich bronze skintones with golden undertones. Choose if in PUR's 4-in-1 Mineral Makeup you wear shade Medium Dark or Golden Dark.
Shades Dark and Deep are pretty similar, so if you're not sure which to choose from, you should be okay with either one. The undertones do vary slightly.








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PUR Cameo Contour
Shades: Deep
For warm skintones with golden amber undertones. Choose if in PUR's 4-in-1 Mineral Makeup you wear shade Deep or Deeper.
As I mentioned above, shades Deep and Dark are very similar. Shade Deep is just a bit more red in tone for the contour and a bit more caramel in tone for the highlight.








FINAL THOUGHTS...

I love to highlight and contour, but admittedly not a big cream product fan. I have a lot of flaws on my face to hide and the thought of adding a cream on top (which often removes the layer below, or at the very least moves it around), is just not desirable for me.

However, when my skin is in better condition, I will use cream contour and highlight products - especially if I'm going full glam with my  makeup. It's just that extra step that can take you from wow to wowza!

These creams are especially nice because they dry to a power finish, so there is no additional need to set them. Of course if you want to add additional highlight or contour on top you could go over them with a powder highlight and contour.

You can use these sticks as your only foundation too. You won't get full coverage from a single layer, but you can get light to medium coverage easily, depending on application and blending method.

The way I enjoy using these the most is not as a foundation but instead as an actual cream contour and highlight. I will apply my foundation and allow it to set before applying these on top.

The blending sponge that is included is nice quality and works well when used damp. For those that may be wondering how it compares to the brand name Beauty Blender, aside from the color, these are different in feel. This is soft, but when bouncing off the face you can feel it is a big firmer than the Beauty Blender is. It's a nice sponge, and far better than many knock-offs on the market that are very hard, even when wet. This one is comparable to the Real Techniques sponge more so.

While I do like these sticks, I find that the contour shades are a bit warm in tone. Ideally I'd like to see cooler tone contour shades, as warm tones don't work as contour on everyone. If you're looking for cool tones, these aren't a good choice for you, but if you like warmer to neutral tones then these are a good choice. The highlight shades are fantastic in tone; I especially like the Medium highlight shade.

I like that they're easy to use, blend well and easy to travel with. I took a few of these with me when I recently traveled to PA to visit my family. I used these on my niece for her 16th birthday party and she looked beautiful!

If you've been over whelmed by the palettes that include multiple shades, these duo sticks make it easy for you; just choose the highlight shade that is 1 to 2 shades lighter than your skintone and that's the stick you should get (in my opinion).

If you try these, let me know what you think!

Now let me know what you think...
What do you think of this product? Have you tried this, or would you consider adding this to your beauty wish list? Discuss in the comments below!

xoxo with love & beauty,
Crystal Valentine

Disclaimer: This is NOT a sponsored post. However, these products were sent to me for consideration. I am not being paid to make this post, nor has the company influenced me in any way. I have made this post because I wanted to, not because I had to. These are my honest opinions, thoughts and experiences.

December 6, 2015

Givenchy - Iconic Stud palette (QVC exclusive): pics, swatches, review

Hello, Beautiful!

Givenchy created two limited edition palettes for QVC, the Iconic Stud and Leatherette. I decided to get the Iconic Stud because the palette compact itself looked prettier to me and so did the shades inside. This quad is a beauty - from the shades to the feel to the performance, it's a real winner!

Check out all the product info, along with my full review, after the pics!


Givenchy Iconic Stud Palette Info & Review
Cost: $39.00
Availability: Available on the QVC website.
My Rating: 5 out of 5 Kisses!

PRODUCT DETAILS & CLAIMS...

Couture coordination. Elegant and luxurious, this eye shadow palette from Givenchy includes four specially selected shades to give you plenty of styling options. The couture-inspired case infuses a bit of luxury into your everyday.


Givenchy Iconic Stud Palette



The actual compact this quad comes in is very weighty and well made. It's a little piece of art, if you ask me. I chose the Iconic Stud palette for how it looked. The Leatherette looks pretty too, but this one called my name.




Inside are four gorgeous, wearable shades. You get a blue based gray matte, a deeper brown matte, a tan matte, and a rose sparkle shade.

They also include a mini duo-ended shadow brush, which I honestly never used and already lost.

The shades are really pretty, but look different than what QVC shows on their website.

Here is what my palette looks like (left) compared to what the QVC palette looks like (right):
 

As you can see, there is a difference, but it's still gorgeous and I love the shades.


Here are swatches....




Top left shade:



Top right shade:


Bottom left shade:


Bottom right shade:





FINAL THOUGHTS...

I really like this quad. I think it's a great everyday sort of quad to play with. If you really love simple, neutral eye looks, this will get the job done. you can wear the bottom left shade all over the lid, the top right shade in the crease and/or outer corner. Then use the top left shade as a smokey liner. If you want some sparkle, tap on the bottom right shade and you're good to go!

I've been using the two browns as crease/transitions shades, and using the sparkle shade a lot. I pair this palette with other shadows/palettes I have, but I have worn it completely on its own.

The texture of these shadows is really superb. The mattes have a velvety, creamy smooth texture. The sparkle shade has that packed sparkle pigment-like texture that is similar to the ones offered by Tom Ford and Charlotte Tilbury.

They blend like a dream! They were so easy to work with and effortless to apply. They're also really nicely pigmented, with the exception of the sparkle shade which is meant to be more of a topper shade and not fully opaque.

Overall, I find this to be a really luxurious little palette that I'd recommend as a great gift to give (in fact, I gifted my boss this as part of her Christmas present). They are limited edition, and only found at QVC, so get online and get yours before they're gone!

Now let me know what you think...
What do you think of this palette? Have you tried this, or would you consider adding this to your beauty wish list? Discuss in the comments below!

xoxo with love & beauty,
Crystal Valentine