MAC Diva Lipstick Review & Swatch

This is probably one of my favorite lipsticks in my collection--and I own a lot.

In my opinion, this is my favorite vampy, fall color. My skin undertones are very yellow/olive and deep, wine shades have always looked the best on me. I imagine this would look good on most skin tones. I was expecting the lipstick to be a bit dry when I first purchased it, but to my surprise, it wasn't that dry. Just make sure that you moisturize your lips before (I just use plain old Chapstick) you apply it. When you first apply the lipstick, it feels a little bit dry but when you continue applying it, it gets a little more easier to apply. It doesn't look that matte when you first put it on but once a few minutes passes, it's definitely matte.

Someone once told me that Wet n Wild's Cherry Bomb (from their Megalast lipstick line) was a dupe for MAC's Diva, so I went out to go buy that one since it only retails for around $1.99. With that price (and coupons or deals that Wet n Wild always has like 40% off or BOGO) I decided to give it a try because that price definitely beats MAC's lipstick price. However, although the color is quite similar, there was one big difference. The Wet n Wild lipstick bled like CRAZY which MAC's Diva never does. Especially if you're planning to use that lipstick for all day use. 

However, if you want to save money on lipstick and you don't plan to eat/drink with the Wet n Wild lipstick, then I suggest buying it considering you can get it for around two dollars, if not less. It is a little drying, so make sure to moisturize and see if lipliner prevents any bleeding. 

For me, I'll always go back to MAC's Diva. Beautiful shade, beautiful pigmentation, and amazing staying power.

(Swatch credits go to encuo.com)

Flower BB Cream Review

I originally bought this product because my friend had told me that it's comparable to Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Foundation. The packaging is a little bit similar in that they're both in squeeze tubes. Comparing the two, Tarte's foundation has 1.7 Fl Oz while the Flower BB Cream has 1 Fl Oz. The Tarte foundation is approximately $40, while at Walmart, the Flower BB Cream is approximately $13.

I would say that the term "BB cream" shouldn't be used for this product. It almost has the thin consistency of a BB cream, but it's actually quite thick. It has no benefits of a BB cream (smoothing out your skin, SPF, enriched ingredients) and the pigmentation is more like that of a foundation. There's not many shades in the entire shade range, but I chose BB2. If you're in the shade Light Medium Sand in Tarte's foundation, this shade would be perfect for you. In my opinion, the shades are fairly similar besides that the BB cream has a more yellow pigmentation than Tarte.

The wear time on this product is probably around 4-6 hours for me. Though it goes on as a matte finish, I get EXTREMELY oily with this product and I have combination/oily skin (this happens after about 2 hours). The BB cream doesn't claim to be long wearing, so I wasn't surprised that it wore off by the end of the day. The reason that I took off lippies for this product is because it's hard to blend out. Although the texture of the foundation feels easy to blend out, it takes a while for it to work on your skin. When I first applied it with a brush, it sat on my skin and I had to keep blending to really work it in. I also tried to apply it using a beauty blender, but again, it was patchy and difficult to blend into my skin opposed to other foundations that typically go on smooth. However, after using the RT EFB, the Sigma F80, and the beauty blender, I liked the finish from the beauty blender the most.

I would repurchase this product just because the color match is better for me than any other foundation I've tried. I'll wear this in the winter probably when it's less sunny out and I'm not looking for a super long-wearing foundation. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this to people with dry skin, but it's worth a shot if you want a full coverage foundation because I didn't find it to catch onto any of my dry patches. 
I would definitely not compare this to longer wearing foundations however, (Revlon CS, Tarte's Amazonian, ELDW) because it doesn't match up. If you want something more long wearing, it would be better to invest in one of those.