drugstore beauty revival

 

I'm trying my very best to save a little money in the beauty department so instead of going on a zombie-like shopping spree at Ulta or Sephora I'm hitting the tiny selections at the grocery store. 

First, Orly's polish bond is so legit; I've been using it for a while now and I find that it's extremely compatible with Essie polishes (more so than Essie's own base coat). It does such an excellent job of keeping the polish from receding and cracking (along with Essie's new couture gel top coat).

Physician's Formula products have always had a decent drugstore reputation and I remember hitting pan on their shimmer strips when I used them years ago. I have to say I do think Mac's mineralize skin finish is better, but I'm trying to save and these strips give me a pretty nice glow when I swirl my brush in them for an all over the face bronze. The only drawback is that the powder composition tends to absorb oil quicker leading me to scrap off the top layer every now and then so I can still pick up the product. Other than that, it's a decent value and lasts all day long. (color: "vegas strip")

The powder palette blush is new PF product and a new product altogether as I have never tried blush before (I'm more of a highlighter gal). I'm still trying to decide if I like the product at all, so far I can say that the pink I chose shows up very subtle on my dark skin, which I wanted, but I also wanted a pink shimmer which I think is more of a presentation thing as the shimmer particles seem to disappear as I use the product more. I'll keep using it and playing around with mixing it with my highlighter before I make a final judgment. Definitely still on the hunt for a legit pink highlighter however. (color: "rose pearl").

The final product is another pink hue for my face from Nyx's liquid suede line. "Pink lust" is the perfect popping pink against darker skin tones and has a waxy, comfortable formula consistent with the rest of the line.