A Review On New (Hyped) Makeup: Is It Worth It?

Beauty Thought Leader: Elise Marquam-Jahns

I have some exciting new makeup products to try. I thought you’d like to see how these highly touted products actually work on mature skin.

So you can determine if any of them might be right for you. Some of this makeup launched recently and some of it is just new to me. I hope you’ll come along with me as I show and try out these products in the accompanying video.

“The color story combines both warm and cool colors.”

Let’s start with the eyes. One vow I made to myself this year was to move a little outside my comfort zone and try some new brands. So, I jumped in and purchased an eyeshadow palette I’ve been eyeing for quite some time—and which has received great reviews. It’s Oden’s Eye Solmane II Eyeshadow Palette.

Solmane is a Swedish word with Sol meaning the sun and the sun goddess and mane meaning the moon which represents the moon god. This palette was sold out for quite some time but it’s now back in stock. The color story combines both warm and cool colors.

Cool Colors:

For my eyeshadow look today I’m going to stick with cool colors and use lavenders and purples since those colors will coordinate well with the blushes I’ll be trying out later. There isn’t a light matte color in this palette that I can use on my eyelids, so I’m going to use the lightest shade from my Elf “I Love You a Latte” palette.

I’m going to start off with the color “Dream”—which is a lavender—in my crease. Then I’ll go with a Halo Eye look by putting the deep purple “Galaxy’ on my outer lid and blending it up into the crease. To get the halo eye effect, I’ll then also apply it on my inner lid. These are very highly pigmented colors, so I’m just going to use a very small amount

Next, I’ll apply just a very tiny touch of the deepest blue called “Nebula” on the outer corner. And I’m going to have some fun playing with the shimmers and metallics in this palette. I’ll apply the color “Hallucinations”—which is the deepest lavender metallic—on the outer lid; the lightest colored metallic—called “Meteor” in the middle of my eyelid and the lightest shimmer– called “Starry Sky”– on the inner corner.

I’m going to use “Nebula” as my eyeliner and I’ll apply that off camera along with my mascara, face primer, foundation and under eye corrector and concealer.

Cosmetic Products On The Market:

The new top lash mascara I tried today is from a company called Nobu Cosmetics. It was kindly sent to me by Emilia who is a spokesperson for the company and I want to thank her. This brand was founded by a group of women who are passionate about helping women feel confident and beautiful at any age.

“As the founders grew older, they realized that many of the cosmetic products on the market were designed for younger women..”

As the founders grew older, they realized that many of the cosmetic products on the market were designed for younger women and they often didn’t address the unique needs and concerns of older women. And I think all of us would agree with that!

I have to say I really like the mascara. It separated my lashes very well and did a great job of lengthening them with no clumping. It’s also designed to condition our lashes. If you’ve watched any of my previous videos, you no doubt know that I have extremely sensitive eyes and most mascaras irritate my eyes. This one definitely does not irritate my eyes, so I’ll absolutely keep reaching for it.

On my bottom lashes I used my favorite bottom lash mascara from Clinique which is appropriately called Bottom Lash Mascara. The foundation I used today was my It Cosmetics Your Skin But Better Foundation in Light Cool 20. Becca’s Under Eye Brightening Corrector was my corrector and my under eye and face concealer were from Doll 10

Makeup Forever:

Now on to an interesting new product from the brand Makeup Forever. It’s their Face Sculpting Palette. This palette contains both deep and light contouring shades as well as four highlighters. There are neutral fair and light beige colors, a medium warm beige and a medium cool beige, a warm tan, deep neutral brown, cool toned brown and deep warm brown.

And there are four highlighter shimmers in golden copper, medium gold, light gold and pink gold. Since I have a cool skin undertone, in the video I’ll use the Medium Cool Beige on one side of my face and the Cool Toned brown on the other side of my face. And I’ll use the “Neutral Fair Beige” as my light contour color down the middle of my face–and under my eyes. The shimmering pink gold will be my highlighter.

Range Of New Makeup Colors:

There’s a nice range of colors in this palette and the formula applies beautiful. But, is this a palette that most of us could get a lot of use out of? For makeup artists like me, this is a great travel-friendly sculpting palette to keep on hand since it’s a small, compact case that includes colors that can work on almost all skin tones.

“And if you have oily skin, there have also been some excellent high end—and drugstore– powder blushes as well.”

But, if I use it for myself, there are really only four shades out of the twelve that would work for my cool undertone. If you have a warm skin undertone, there are five shades out of the twelve that you could most likely use. However, this palette might be worth investing in if you have a neutral undertone since you could use the three neutral colors plus some of the warm and cool toned colors as well. So this may or may not be the right product for you depending on the undertone of your skin.

Two Liquid Blushes:

Now let’s move on to blush. Oh my goodness, this seems to be the season for blush. So many brands have launched new blushes. And since so many of them are creams and liquids, that’s a wonderful win for those of us who have dry or combination mature skin. And if you have oily skin, there have also been some excellent high end—and drugstore– powder blushes as well. Some really good ones are from Nars, Milani, Physicians Formular and Lawless. Today I want to focus on two liquid blushes and one cream stick blush. I do love a beautiful lilac or lavender shade of blush, so I recently ordered one of Em Cosmetics’ Stick Blushes in the shade “Chiffon” and their Color Drop liquid blush in the shade “Little Lilac.”

I have to say I was a little surprised when these blushes arrived and I swatched them because they didn’t seem nearly as lavender or lilac in tone as the pictures on the website. But, I haven’t yet actually tried them on my skin, so let’s give them a go. I’ll apply the Em Cosmetics Stick blush on one side and the Em Cosmetics Color Drop Blush on the other side. And I want to try one other new blush today which was recently launched by Nars:  their Afterglow liquid blush. I have the shade “Wanderlust” which was described on the Nars website as “Soft Lilac.”

Beyond The New Makeup Forever:

I’ll have to keep testing these blushes to see how long wearing they are. In general, it’s more likely that liquid blush will be more long wearing than cream, but that’s not always the case. But one technique that can really help our liquid and cream blushes last far longer is to spray a setting spray onto a dampened sponge. Then tap the sponge over the blush. Next, put on a second coat of blush and then tap on the setting spray once again.

Finishing Touches:

Let’s now take a look at my highlighter. Do I need any additional highlighter beyond the Makeup Forever shimmer I applied earlier? Why not! Let’s go with a little of Tarte’s Glow Tape highlighter in “Pearl Glow.”

I’ll use my L’Oreal Age Perfect Lip Liner in “Burgundy” on my lips and then a new Flower Beauty lipstick I’m trying for the first time today in the shade “Dahlia Desire” which is a deep violet shade. Over the lipstick I’ll go with a gloss from Sephora’s line in the shade “Wild.”

And my final touch will be adding my Hourglass Setting Powder in the shade “Mood Light” which is described on the Hourglass website as: “sheer lavender pink.”

If you’ve tried any of the products I used in today’s video, I‘d love to know your thoughts on them. Or if you’ve tried any other new products you love, please let us know what they are.

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