Skin Care and Makeup Haul

Hello! Today I bring you a skin care and makeup haul. Well, it's not really makeup but makeup brushes. I hope you enjoy!

I went on a bit of a splurge this month but I'll proceed to explain: I had ordered these brushes a bit after new year's but they only arrived this monday so I can only share them now.

I've admired and watched Pixiwoo's videos for ages and ages on end, they are a true inspiration and when they came up with a brush line some years ago, I automatically fell in love and, well, I had to have them sooner or later. They day has arrived for me to own some of these brushes and here's what I got!

Sam's Picks

Starter Set

Core Collection

Travel Essencials

 So here's a list of all the brushes that came on these sets:

• Buffing Brush
• Contour Brush 
• Pointed Foundation Brush
• Essential Foundation Brush
• Detailer Brush
• Buffing Brush
• Setting Brush
• Domed Shadow Brush
• Base Shadow Brush
• Deluxe Crease Brush
• Essential Crease Brush 
• Accent Brush
• Brow Brush
• Fine Liner Brush

Some sets came with brushes that already came in other sets so I have duplicates of some brushes.

Here's a little review on them:

I had really high expectations for these brushes since I had been waiting to own some for years and they did not fail to fulfill the expectations at all!

They are extremely soft, they're cruelty free (which means they're all made of synthetic fibers), they blend color in so so well, I am so satisfied with them!

After playing with them a little bit and doing a full face of makeup with them, my favorites are the Multi Task brush, the Contour brush, the Essential Crease brush and the Fine Liner brush.

I highly recommend the Contour brush and the Fine Liner brush. The Contour brush helps sculpting the face beautifully, it fits right in the hollows of the face, making it so easy to achieve flawless contoured effects. The Fine Liner brush is, by far, the best eyeliner brush I've ever used. It's perfect for super precise and sharp lining with gel eyeliner. It's recommended for people that have a little bit more of practice with eyeliner since it's best for freehand drawing of eyeliner, so if you're a beginner with eyeliner I would go for and angled brush instead.

One brush that I had really high expectations for was the Setting brush. I read review of people saying wonders of it for highlighting the face and setting concealer under the eyes and I'll have to say that it didn't fulfill my expectations. I found that it was great to set concealer under the eyes but I didn't find it so good for placing highlighter on the face. It's still a great setting brush for small areas of the face.

The brushes are overall very soft and of high quality.

I also bought some new skin care products since I didn't have moisturizing cream anymore.
Here's what I got!

Garnier Pure Active Moisturizing Cream for Oily Skin with Imperfections

This cream is the bomb! Combined with the exfoliating cream from the same brand, it helps you achieve flawless skin. I find that it is very refreshing and keeps shine away from the skin for the whole day. 

I've been testing it out and I like to apply this one in the morning and let it sink in and do its job during the day.

Garnier Moisturizing Cream for Oily to Combination Skin

This is an amazing cream, I find. Once the skin is used to it, it controls shine beautifully while keeping the skin deeply moisturized and nourished. Its formula is rather thick and textured, which I believe is best for oily skin. The texture of it leads me to believe it had some ingredient that absorbs oil and that's why it is so good at controlling shine.

I use this one as a night cream and sometimes during the day as well.

Nivea Replenishing Night Cream for Normal to Combination Skin

This cream was a huge disappointment and a waste of money.
I was hoping that it could be a good night cream for my skin and I also thought it would help reduce the oil that it naturally produces but one thing I'll tell you is that it doesn't help eliminate oil, it only makes the skin feel greasier.
It has a super thick consistency that reminds me of that traditional Nivea moisturizing cream that comes in a blue round tin. It's not bad as a replenishing night cream, my skin looked very healthy in the morning after using it, it just doesn't do its job as a cream for combination skin. Although combination skin isn't as oily as oily skin, it still has some areas that produce more oil than others and I wouldn't use this cream for those areas.
But, if your skin the rather a normal skin type, you'd be just fine with this as your night cream. It just didn't work for me.

And that's it for this post! I may have another post up this tuesday or wednesday that will be carnival themed, so I hope to be back then!
I hope you have a fantastic weekend and a great valentine's day and carnival, if you celebrate it.

Love,
Anna