The Drugstore Highlighter I'm Currently Loving: NYX Bright Idea Illuminating Stick

Hello Beautiful Ones!

We're in the months now where summer is starting to fade into fall. Losing the bright summer months can get me a little down. Although I will admit I am a little excited for apple cider and boots weather (shh don't tell anyone). I plan to make that glowy summer feeling last as long as humanly possible. Also, I've been on a major highlighter kick lately. That brings us to today's review: the Nyx Bright Idea Illuminating Stick in Lavender Lust.

What's better than a good highlighter? A highlighter in stick form. Yay for easy application and portability! The NYX Bright Idea stick comes in a range of 12 colors that includes highlighters, blushes, and bronzers. As I mentioned I'm a sucker for highlighters and I also have a love for purple so I really didn't even notice any of the other shades on the display at Ulta if I'm honest. I grabbed the highlighter in the shade Lavender Lust. 

As I said, I prefer my highlighters in stick form because they are fast and easy to apply no matter where you are. I find that this one is especially easy because it's the perfect size. Not too big or too small, it's just right (seriously Goldilocks would be proud!). It also fits easily in a makeup bag or your purse for touchups. 

Now let's get to the main event: the color. This shade is just so pretty. It gives you the perfect highlight with just a touch of violet hue. The color payoff really is good here. Just a few swipes on my face and I'm good to go. It also blends extremely easily. It doesn't stay forever, but the lasting power is still good. 

The bottom line? At $8 a piece this highlighter is a great value! 100% recommend. I'm probably gonna be rocking this long into the winter in an attempt to pretend it's still summer, ha! You can find the NYX Bright Idea Illuminating Stick in drugstores or on the NYX website. 

Let me know if you've tried this, or any highlighters you're loving right now!

XO- Brittney

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Milk Makeup: Highlighter + Eye Pigment Review

Hello beautiful Ones!

Man it has been a hot minute since I have blogged anything, and I mean that literally since it's 85 degrees outside! The warmer weather has me looking for some fun new things to mix up my makeup bag. And what do I love even more than a new product? A new beauty brand to fall in love with of course! Today I'm testing a brand that I've seen popping up lately: Milk makeup. I'm reviewing the Highlighter in Lit and the Eye Pigment in Peep Show.

Milk Makeup comes from the Milk media brand based in New York and LA that specializes in fashion, beauty, photography, and film. Milk describes itself as "a hub for nurturing creativity and supporting partnerships with some of the industry's most visionary talent and innovative brands". The Milk Makeup line is new this year and features products with multiple uses that are made from natural ingredients. The colors are meant to be inclusive to both bold and natural looks. The idea is a cool look with minimal effort, and let me tell you I AM ALL ABOUT THAT.

The first product I gravitated towards was the highlighter. As someone whose natural shade is somewhere between paste and pale ghost, I am always looking for a subtle way to add a little color to my face. The highlighter comes in a solid stick form and is currently only available in one shade: Lit (According to my 18 year old sister, "lit" is what all the kids are saying these days :)). Lit is a subtle glowy champagne highlight and honestly I haven't stopped using it in the last few weeks since I bought it. The stick makes application beyond easy: just swipe it on and blend it in. As I said it is subtle, but I find that it gives me the exact amount of natural glow that I'm going for. The highlighter retails at $24 and is totally worth the money in my opinion.

The next product was something I just had to try because it looked so fun: the Eye Pigment. The Eye Pigment is currently available in 6 shades and I picked up Peep Show which is a sort of a slate grey/taupe color. I should probably just point out now that you might want to avoid this one if you're not a big glitter fan, because there is some serious sparkle involved here. This shadow comes in a tube and squeezes out with a consistency of glitter glue. What I love about it is that you can really build up the color/sparkle gradually. Just a teeny tiny amount will give you a little color and a lot of sparkle or continue to layer it on for a more dramatic look. This wears really well with little to no creasing and can be blended with other powder shadows easily. I don't wear this one everyday like the highlighter, but I still really enjoy it. It's kind of like a secret little weapon when you need to add something fun and unexpected to your beauty routine. You can get the Eye Pigment for $24 as well.

So what is my opinion of Milk Makeup based on these two products? I'm a big fan! I really enjoyed both of these and can't wait to try more! Neither one is overly expensive for high-end makeup and most importantly they both performed really well. The products are versatile, the packaging is minimalistically cool, and the ingredients are natural: what's not to love? Both of these products can be purchased from milkmakeup.com or Sephora's website.

Have your tried out Milk Makeup yet? Any suggestions on what I should try next? Let me know!

XO- Brittney

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Tarte Park Ave Princess Contour Palette- Review & Swatches

Hello Beautiful Ones!

Is there anything better than holiday palettes and gift sets? Is it bad that I love to buy said gift sets for myself? Oh well, it's important to treat yourself! One of the limited edition holiday palettes that really caught my eye was this Park Ave Princess contour palette from Tarte featuring a bronzer, blush, and highlighter.

Can we all just take a minute to appreciate this packaging? It really is gorgeous, and perfect for a gift (or to keep!). Here are some close ups of the packaging.

The palette is really slim and sleek. I love that you get a decent amount of each product. Also, there is a very large mirror in this compact which comes in handy if you are going to be doing any traveling. It's really convenient to have a bronzer, blush, and highlighter all in one palette. 

This palette includes a bronzer: Park Ave Princess, a blush: Posh, and a highlighter: Champagne Gold. I want to start out by saying that none of these colors are super bold, but since I have a very fair complexion they all work really well for me. You can build up the color as well. Here are some color swatches:

I've been applying these with a kabuki brush. Application is pretty easy, however you only need to tap your brush lightly in the bronzer to get a really good color payoff. The staying power is good, it can easily withstand a full day of work. Also, these colors are totally school/work appropriate.

The price tag is a little hefty at $34, but I would say that the product is totally worth it. Overall, this is a great value and a really nice piece for any makeup collection. Let me know what holiday beauty items are catching your eye this season.

XO- Brittney

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