Beauty By LeRenda

CoverGirl Ready Set Gorgeous Makeup Review

Jan 252015

I haven’t heard any thing about this new line of CoverGirl makeup, but I decided to experiment with it because I thought the name and packaging was cute. LOL!

My first reaction to the foundation was “Oh! This is thin. It’s probably not going to cover well”. I wouldn’t say it’s exactly “watery”, but it’s really thin & lightweight.

My second reaction was “oh crap! This is too dark”.

But somehow, it ended up blending into my skin and evened it out…just as advertised.

I didn’t see a good variety of concealers. Not sure if that’s due to Kroger’s not having the entire line, or if that all CoverGirl offers.

When I applied it, I thought it was too light, but just like the foundation, it blended I into a great highlight shade. I’d forgotten how nice it is to have a concealer with an applicator. I’m happy to now be able to quickly and neatly apply my concealer without always having to use a brush/sponge.

I really was curious about this Powder Foundation.

I love combining steps of my makeup routine, so powder foundations definitely appeal to me. The fact that I can get color and good coverage in one step is good news. My favorite powder foundation is MAC Studio Fix. I can put it on without liquid or concealer and still be happy. I really wanted to see how this Ready Set Gorgeous Powder Foundation would compare.

It worked surprisingly well. The packaging doesn’t say what the coverage is for any of the makeup, so I figured it would be somewhere between light to medium and it is. It does not work nearly as well as MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation as far as the amount of coverage, but it’s still pretty good; especially for the inexpensive price of around $7 vs $27.

All 3 products appear to be buildable, so you can apply a light amount for sheer to light coverage, or you can apply a generous amount for medium coverage.

Below are pics of where I built up (Added more) the foundation and powder to see if I could get to full coverage.

Yay! I’m pleased to say that I got some really good coverage. I still wouldn’t say it was full, but maybe medium-full. The downside was that it appeared that the color changed a bit as I added more makeup. I didn’t like that. I’m hoping it’s because I applied more liquid on top of the powder ( I was too lazy to take everything off and start over with more liquid). I’ll try it again another day from scratch to see if I can get more coverage without a color change.

I’m sure you noticed my brows weren’t done. I tried using this Ready Set Gorgeous Concealer to highlight my brow bone.

It did ok. Nothing like my MAC Prolongwear though. Here’s my finished full face.

Below is a picture of all the products I used for my look.

Magnolia Makeup Highlight Powder in Penny and Illuminaughty on my cheeks.
Magnolia Makeup Highlight Powder in Gloucester for my nose highlight
CoverGirl Queen Collection Bronzer in Ebony Bronze as a Cheek Contour
Magnolia Makeup Eyeshadow in Big Easy on my eyelids
Magnolia Makeup Eyeshadow in Fairground in my crease
Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner
Beauty Supply Lashes #28
MAC Viva Glam lipstick & lipglass in Miley Cyrus with MAC Magenta Lip Pencil

Overall, I’m pleased with this makeup and will continue to play around with it so I can really get comfortable using it.

Loreal Infallible Pro Spray & Set Makeup Extender Setting Spray Review

Drugstore Makeup, Face, face primers, Grocery Store Cosmetics, Grocery store make-up, H.E.B., Makeup Spray No Responses »

Jan 232015

While walking through the cosmetic aisle at HEB Grocery store, I saw a Loreal Infallible display, and on it was a new Makeup Setting Spray with the Pro Matte Glosses.

If you’ve followed me over the years, you already know my biggest facial issue is extreme oiliness. With that being said, I was definitely intrigued by this spray. It’s advertised to extend the wear of your makeup and allow “All Day Makeup Lock-In Without Touch Ups”.

I was truly eager to see if this spray lived up to this claim. I usually use Skindinavia products. I have bottles both for my personal use as well as in my pro makeup artist kit. Here are the ones I use the most below. The primer is fairly new, but I’ve used the Oil Control Finishing Spray (pictured below) for years.

I’m including the Skindinavia products in this post as a frame of reference for a comparison. Before the Primer Spray was developed, I used the Oil Control Spray (or No More Shine as it was previously called) before and after applying my makeup because I’m super oily. Now I use the Primer Spray before and the Oil Control Spray after. This new Infallible Setting Spray says you can use it before and after as well.

Here’s my before picture below

The directions tell you to use an X motion. Then you can optionally spray in a T motion if you know you need extra help (which of course I need the extra help).

Here’s my after picture.

I like the way it helps my makeup settle and helps my skin look smooth. However, I can’t honestly say it helped oiliness. I still had to blot several times throughout the day. I will say that my makeup was still on, it was just shinny. Ugh! So maybe it worked liked it was supposed to because it DID NOT say it reduced oiliness.

Now to be fair, this doesn’t necessarily mean this product is trash or that it won’t work for you. I’m somewhat of an extreme case and I own it and recognize. *sigh* I just didn’t feel like this L’Oréal Setting Spray worked as well my trusty Skindinavia sprays.

Loreal Infallible Limited Edition Pro Matte Gloss Review

Beauty Blogger, Bold colors, Bold Lip, Drugstore Makeup, H.E.B., Inexpensive Products, Limited Edition, Lip Colors, Lipgloss, Lips, Loreal, Loreal Infallible Limited Edition Pro Matte Gloss, Matte, product review No Responses »

Jan 232015

My 1st thought when I read “Matte Lip gloss” was that doesn’t make sense. How can something be a gloss and a matte. Then I thought, well maybe it’s like a liquid lipstick. Either way, due to the colors being pretty and all Loreal products being $2 off at HEB, I figured I’d give them a try.

They’re not actually matte. They glide on smoothly and feel nice on my lips, but they still have shine and never dry down to a real matte texture. Even though they last pretty well throughout the day, they do still transfer.

Here’s Blushing Ambition

Here’s Fuchsia Amnesia

This is Tantalizing Tangerine

And the last one I got was Aphrodite Kiss

I definitely like that they’re fully pigmented. The color pay off is great. I’m not sure how long they’ll be available so if you look fully pigmented, long lasting inexpensive lip glosses, I’d recommend you go get these soon.

NYFW Beauty Mixer with Digital Sorority and Inglot Recap

Beauty Mixer, Beauty Party, Digital Sorority, Event Coverage, Fashion Week, Inglot, Makeup Brand, Makeup Company, Meet Up, NYC, NYFW, Pro Makeup Artists, Way Back When No Responses »

Jan 132015

After the leaving MBFW I attended a NYFW Beauty Mixer called “Relax Relate Relase” hosted by Social Media Gurus Kela Walker, Ty Alexander of GorgeousInGrey, and Christen of Divas and Dorks who started the Digital Sorority. It was held at the Inglot Studio in SoHo to celebrate the end of another successful New York Fashion Week. Before I go any further, I need to make a disclaimer. I lost a lot of my NYFW pictures. For some reason, not all of my pictures transferred to my dropbox. As a result, I’ll be posting my Instagram posts. At least I still have those. Thank God.

The ladies had a cool set up towards the back of the Inglot studio with lights (looked like Glamcor, but I’m not sure) an iPad on a stand, and a big screen TV. We were able to take selfies, usies, and wesies during the event and instantly post them to our social media accounts. They even had cute little signs for us to hold up with pre-printed titles and hashtags.

This was such a fun event! There were Makeup Artists doing makeup demos and Hairstylists from Angela’s Hair Salon NYC doing hair. AT&T gave away a cell phone and Otterbox gave out cases. They had light refreshments and gave away goodie bags. (sorry I don’t have those pictures anymore. *cries*) The Instagram collage below is the closest thing I have left.

Here’s the goodie bag we received at the NYFW Relax Relate Release Party.

My NYFW Sept 2014 Recap Part 4

Blogger, Dorin Negrau S/S 2015, Event Coverage, Fashion, Fashion Designers, Fashion Show, Fashion Week, FlashBack Friday, Models, NYC, NYFW, Runway, Spring Trends, Trend, Way Back When No Responses »

Jan 112015

This post will focus on the last day of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. I was privileged to attend the Dorin Negrau show.

Above, the lights had just dimmed as the show was about to start.

Dorin Negrau’s 1st model to walk the runway. It was a bit theatrical. Below are more of the models walking the runway.

There were some great pieces in this collection.

BeautyByLeRenda MBFW 2014 Dorin Negrau Model 8 The models making their grand finale walk on the runway.
Here’s Fashion Designer Dorin Negrau making his appearance after the final walk of the models.

After the show, I hung around for a while to experience everything MBFW had to offer. It was a lot of fun. There were booths set up from different companies and most of them provided goodies and picture opportunities.

They even had free refreshments & charging stations! The Pandora booth offered free flash tattoos. The elephant immediately caught my eyears of course!

My NYFW Sept 2014 Recap Part 3

Backstage, Behind The Scenes, Event Coverage, Fashion Show, Glam Squad, Makeup Application, Makeup Artist, Models, NYFW, Pro Kit, Pro Makeup Artists, Trend, Way Back When 1 Response »

Jan 102015

This post will focus on the third Fashion Show I worked on. I did makeup for Fashion Designers Yanell Galva and Ricardo Cabrera.

Me with two of the male models I worked with for Ricardo Cabrera.

Model Raemi on the left and model Jay Millz on the right. These guys were super cool and had everyone laughing backstage. We had such a great time that it didn’t even feel like work.