Tag: makeup review

Vegan and Cruelty Free Beauty, Vegan Cruelty Free, vegan lifestyle

L.A. Girl PRO Matte Foundation Review

Samantha

The search for a vegan and cruelty-free foundation and makeup in general continues, but my hunt for a VCF matte foundation specifically seems endless. For the past month or so, I’ve been testing the L.A. Girl PRO Matte Foundation (not sponsored) as an affordable alternative to a lot of the higher-end (mostly NOT VCF) foundations out there, so that you can make your transition to a vegan lifestyle much easier. I bought mine at Ulta (you can use coupons on it!) for get this, $8.99…and that was pre-coupon. I mean. Come on! I thought it was too good to be true, so I put the foundation to the test, for more than one month straight.

LA Girl Pro 6

1. CONSISTENCY

This foundation is easily thick and creamy and offers a medium to full-coverage. It doesn’t really feel like I’m wearing a ton of makeup and doesn’t look cakey which is nice.

LA Girl Pro 2

2. LONGEVITY

Not going to lie, I had high expectations for this foundation, and it didn’t deliver. It looks great at first, but after about a couple hours, I had splotches on my face where the foundation pooled with my oil–should my blog have had a “graphic” disclaimer? Sorry but I had to test it for you guys and that’s exactly what happened! This is why I think this foundation is better off for those who have normal/combination skin.

FYI–I touched up with powder maybe 3-4 times in my usual 10-hour day at the office alone to cover up the grease.

3. QUALITY

Between an “eh” and a thumbs up to be honest. I was, however, surprised by how good the quality is for the price. I did like that it came with a pump though!

LA Girl Pro 3

4. COLOR RANGE

LA Girl Pro 5

This L.A. Girl foundation only comes in 14 color options–such a bummer. I bought cafe at first, which was FAAAR too dark. This should’ve been named Burnt Toast because that’s what your girl looked like, and what’s worse, no one told me. #rude.

So I switched it up and went a shade lighter, which was much better. If it didn’t wear off an hour later, I’d be a sucker for this foundation.

5. VEGAN & CRUELTY-FREE FOUNDATION?

Cruelty-free? According to their FAQs: Please be assured that we do not test on animals. Beauty 21 Cosmetics (their parent company) is a proud member of the cruelty-free PETA organization.

They also wear the Cruelty-Free logo on their website! *Praise Be*

Vegan? L.A. Girl is not 100% vegan, although some of their products are. You can contact them to get a full list of their vegan products. I.E. some of their products contain beeswax.

OVERALL

TBH guys, I would pass. The color that eventually matched me looked beautiful, but that was it’s only redeeming feature. Needless to say, I do not use this foundation anymore.

RATING: 5/10 because of it’s initial beauty.

Would I recommend you buy it? Pass if you have oily skin. If you have normal to combination skin, this may be a win for you.

PRICE: $8.99 for 1 oz. I bought mine at Ulta.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

How do you keep your makeup in place all day? Do you guys touch-up at all?

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Vegan and Cruelty Free Beauty, Vegan Cruelty Free

Tarte Amazonian Clay Foundation Review

Samantha

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My search for the perfect foundation continues. But first, let me set the stage in case you’re a new reader:

  1. I have oily skin.
  2. I have a brown complexion with red undertones in some areas.
  3. I could have smaller pores.

So what does perfect mean to me? A foundation that doesn’t move around even after a long day on the job, keeps me looking matte and doesn’t oxidize. Well it turns out that these three things are a TALL order for your every day foundation. Not to mention I’m totally entitled and need a foundation with SPF to protect me from all the sun’s realness. Not much right? Wrong.

My search brought me to the Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage 12-Hour Foundation Broad Spectrum SPF 15 Sunscreen. Now that name sounds like it covers alllll of my three bases, so I put it to the test. Here are my results:

1. CONSISTENCY: What “Clay” Foundation Feels Like.

The foundation is middle in consistency between watery and thick, however probably leans more on the #thick side (hi!).

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2. LONGEVITY: Does Tarte Foundation Really Last 12 Hours?

This is where I was gravely disappointed. For the first day, it seemed to work fine. I tested it both with a primer underneath and without, however the primer didn’t seem to make that much of a difference. Note: This may have worked awesome for you and let me say that I am totally jelly of you for that, but I do have oily skin, so keep that in mind.

It lasted for about 2 hours before it started to move all around the place. I touch my face when I’m thinking or just taking a pause between projects. Why? No clue. But then I go to the restroom and I what look like little nicks on my face where my foundation moved. It literally sat on top of my skin and didn’t stick to anything. That said, it didn’t necessarily feel like I had a lot of makeup on so that’s a plus.

3. Tarte Amazonian Clay Foundation QUALITY

I think the quality is definitely there! It really make my skin look great (I always set my foundation with the same powder), even if it lasted all of two hours. As far as ingredients goes, this one is fantastic when it comes to sunscreen. Both titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are mineral sunscreens, which are much better than the other ingredients on the market that are complete with fillers such as: oxybenzone, avobenzone, octisalate, octocrylene, homosalate and octinoxate.

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4. Full-Coverage Foundation COLOR SELECTION

There are 40 color options to choose from, which is a lot more than I can say for your run-of-the-mill drugstore options! I color matched as 44S Tan Sand, and I think it was actually a little bit dark for me, so I replaced it with 40H Tan Honey, which worked out much better. It also didn’t oxidize orange, but I did find that it settles in a bit darker than what you see out of the tube. That may have just been me. Otherwise, I would say err on the side of a lighter shade to find the perfect match.

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5. Is Tarte Foundation VEGAN & CRUELTY-FREE?

Kind of!

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Cruelty-Free? When asked if Tarte is cruelty-free, they say: tarte cosmetics is a cruelty-free cosmetics line. tarte makeup and skincare is never tested on animals.

Vegan? When asked if Tarte is vegan, their answer is: many of our products are vegan! At the bottom of every tarte product page in the tarte shop there is an ingredient listing where you can find the ingredients to the products you’re interested in. tarte cannot guarantee that any ingredients or products were produced in an allergen free environment.

With that said, this Amazonian Clay 12-hour foundation is vegan-friendly, and it is one of  many makeup options that are in their “Vegan Friendly” collection: #notsponsored

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Source: Tarte.com

OVERALL

I would recommend this foundation not at all for it’s longevity, but for the quality if you’re looking to smooth out your complexion for a couple hours. A dinner? A photo shoot? A short outing? Perfect. Anything longer than that just didn’t gel with me.

RATING: 6.5/10 because of it’s longevity, otherwise I think it would be a solid 8.5!

Would I recommend you buy it? I think it’s worth a shot to see if it works with your skin.

PRICE: $39 for 1.7 oz. I bought mine at Ulta.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Do you use this foundation? How do you use it? What do you love about it? If it works for you–you’re so lucky!

Also, if you’re interested in reviewing certain products, let me know which and what you would like to see about them! These other reviews might give you some ideas.

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Vegan and Cruelty Free Beauty, Vegan Cruelty Free, vegan lifestyle

VCF Beauty Review: Tarte Busy Gal BROWS Brow Gel

Samantha

Happy Thursday, ya’ll! Or to some, it’s more like, “it’s not Fri-yay, yet?” and to be honest, I’m definitely team Fri-Yay. This week has been a doozy, a truly busy one. While my days are usually long and filled with a never-ending to-do list, this week seemed especially crazy. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve hit a milestone birthday and feel the need to keep the fact that I’m aging out of my head or just that…I’m one busy gal (nice segue, Sam).

But in reality, I am busy, and the only time I really get to myself is at 5:00 in the morning, where I allow myself 30 minutes to get ready (shower included) and read for 30 minutes before I head to work. SO I wanted to take some time away from beautifying myself and add it to reading. Cue busy gal BROWS (not sponsored–I swear). I wanted to be able to do my brows effortlessly without wondering if my eyebrows make me look surprised one day and angry the other. But–did this Tarte brow gel deliver?

Tarte Brow Gel

At first, I found it both hard and easy to use. Let me explain. The product doesn’t come out with much color on the brush, but it packs it on a tiny but at the very top of the brush. SO as I brush it through my brows, I find that the tip of the brush leaves product where I don’t want it. If you figure out how to distribute the product throughout your brush, it’s actually fairly effortless to use.

TarteBrowGel4

The downside is in the color pay off–there isn’t much payoff. I often have to dip my brush back into the tube 4 to 5 times for each brow. The swatch on the left is of the brush just touching my hand. The swatch on the right is what it looks like when I swiped it across–see what I mean about the uneven distribution?

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What is surprising however is how easy it is to define my brows! It actually helps shape it quite nicely, however I do use a pencil to just outline them a bit.

Price: $18. I got mine at Ulta in the shade black brown.

Vegan? Yes! Tarte claims this is vegan friendly. It says so right on the packaging!

Is Tarte vegan?

Also, according to the Tarte site: many of their products are vegan. At the bottom of every tarte product page in the tarte shop there is an ingredient listing where you can find the ingredients to the products you’re interested in. tarte cannot guarantee that any ingredients or products were produced in an allergen free environment.

Is Tarte cruelty-free?

According to TarteFAQs, tarte cosmetics is a cruelty-free cosmetics line. tarte makeup and skincare is never tested on animals. However, according to ethical elephant, they’re owned by a parent company, Kose, that is not cruelty-free.

Is the Tarte busy gals BROWS brow gel worth it?

I give the product a 6.5/10. Mostly because it’s hard to get color and because of the color distribution. It does however last for a while and once you get the hang of it, it’s actually quite easy to use.

Question of the Day

If you could choose between doing only your lashes or only your eyebrows for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

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Vegan and Cruelty Free Beauty

Cruelty-Free Makeup: Ace Beaute Eyeshadow Palette Review

Samantha

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This cruelty-free eyeshadow palette has literally been haunting my Instagram feed since it came out in July. Since I follow a lot of vegan and cruelty-free profiles and companies, it’s no wonder that it showed up after every other post on my feed. But, TBH, I wasn’t mad at it because um, have you looked at it? It’s absolutely GORG. Why then didn’t I get it as soon as I set my big brown eyes on it? Because it has a hefty price tag (at least my frugal self thought so) of $38.99, and with shipping and tax, it comes out to around $45 depending on where you live. So if you’re like me, you do your research and let it haunt you for months to determine if it’s right for you. So here we are. Your review! (Believe me, you’ll order it after this).

AceBeaute3Price. With 16 colors, this $38.99 Ace Beauty Quintessential Eyeshadow palette ends up being far more affordable than most high-end quality eye shadow palettes on the market today. The palette it most mirrors in my opinion is the Huda Beauty eyeshadow palette, which is available for $65.

Color Range. With about one to two times around each pan, I was able to swatch these brilliant colors on my arms. Some are lighter than others, while others are more exquisite. Either way, it’s a good mix of matte and metallic eye shadows. You get 7 matte shadows and 9 shimmery shadows.

VCF Approved? According to their site, the Ace Beauty Eyeshadow palette is indeed cruelty-free: “Our Eyeshadow palette is 100% cruelty free”! I would definitely add this to my next round of Top Cruelty-free and Vegan brands.

Quality. As far as quality goes, they can be a little powdery, but not so bad that I’d complain about it, because the pigmentation seems to pay off.

AceBeaute4AceBeauty5Buy or Let It Go. The verdict? Buy! I would tell you immediately if it wasn’t worth it and I personally think these shadows are worth $40. They’re silky, soft and come off smooth on the skin.

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Would you buy this cruelty-free makeup palette? Did you buy it? What do you think about it? Share your thoughts with our VCF family!

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