Old Products, New Uses

For a while now I’ve been trying to clear out all the products I don’t use or like in order to minimize the amount of makeup and skin care items I own. This means using cleansers I don’t like, wearing powders that are too dark, and applying lip balm that smells like wax. Luckily I’ve managed to find other uses for a few products that I thought were lost causes.

Cover FX 160 Foundation Brush. I originally bought this brush along with my Cover FX Cream Foundation because that’s what Cover FX recommends you apply it with. That was a big fail for me. Not only does this brush shed (think MAC 109), but the actual cream foundation just doesn’t look good when applied as an all over foundation. I can’t understand why they would market such a thick, full coverage product as a foundation. It’s excellent as a concealer and I think it lives up to the hype in that respect, but there are very few people that need the amount of coverage this gives you on their entire face. Hence, the 160 foundation brush became useless.

Enter NARS Sheer Glow. I’ve had issues applying this foundation with brushes in the past and so stuck with the tried and true fingers method, which does give excellent results. A few weeks ago I was playing around and decided to give the 160 a try. Surprise! It actually applies Sheer Glow really nicely and because it’s a thinner consistency there’s minimal shedding. I use this brush with Sheer Glow when I want a little bit more coverage and so far so good. I think it would also be really nice for cream highlighters and blushes.

Clinique Superpowder Double Face Makeup in 01 Matte Ivory. Oh Clinique. What the hell were you thinking? For a skin care line that claims to cater to sensitive skin you’d think Clinique would produce face products in shades lighter than NC/NW25, especially since fair skin tends to be more prone to sensitivity. When I bought this powder it was the lightest shade Clinique made. Apparently now they have a lighter shade called Matte Bisque (which sounds darker to me) but I can’t imagine it would be light enough for me considering Matte Ivory is about 2 shades too dark. Anyway lately I’ve found I can use this powder without looking like an oopma loompa! I use this product with my MAC 187 and use it as a bronzer/contour powder. It’s very subtle and if I want a more dramatic look I’ll go with Benefit Hoola or NARS Laguna but the Clinique powder is nice for everyday use.

La Roche Posay Effaclar Deep Cleansing Foaming Cream. This cleanser dried out my skin. End of story, I won’t use it. I don’t recommend this to anyone, not even those of you with the oiliest skin out there. No cleanser that dries out your skin this badly is worth it and it’s just going to cause your skin to become dehydrated and dull looking. I only used this once or twice before I realized how awful it was so I had an entire bottle sitting in my shower for months. Now I use it to cleanse my Clarisonic brush head after each use. This cleanser works great for that because it gets rid of all the makeup and dirt my Clarisonic picks up and it disinfects the bristles.

Wow! That was a long post. Sorry! ;)