Recap: March 2016

I feel like I've made some headway in the not-getting-suckered-into-every-gwp part of my life, and let me tell you March was a BIG test. I'll say up front that I did get the CultBeauty Spring goody bag, but I had been waiting for that one and already had some items I wanted to order so it wasn't too much of a stretch (namely Oskia and Bioessence jelly cleanser). I really think CultBeauty really does the best bags, as they always have 2-3 full size products. Barneys bag still looked the same, so it was relatively (and by relatively I mean I only thought about it 1/2 dozen times instead of actually making a shopping basking and him'ing & haw'ing over and over and over) easy to pass up. Beauty.com goody bag was a pass, along with a few others that I forget. 

Samples and promo codes were another challenge, but I really REALLY thought about every sample I clicked on. I had to genuinely want to try the product rather than getting it just because. WIN! I did place a SpaceNK order to get my Birthday gift (the description sounded pretty amazing, as always ha ha), but I *only* bought a Smith & Cult polish that actually had been on my wish list...it was the cheapest thing I could find on the site that I actually wanted. Oh, and there was no shipping - yay! And if you follow me on Instagram (@greytozblog, you'll have seen THIS pic showing that I did get the Sephora Birthday gift. Chose the MJ one - I won't use it, but I think my Mom would like it so I'll send it to her. Plus there were some items I had been thinking about buying already. 

Ok, ha ha, point being...I feel I made very conscious GWP/sample decisions over the last month or so - there was a reason for everything! Seriously this is big for me!!! 

Onto some beauty products...

***All items purchased by me. Links are non-affiliate. This is not a sponsored post.***

Recap: March 2016 - Armani Maestro Glow foundation in 4, Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Cleanser Daily Foaming Wash, Biologique Recherche Lotion P50, Zarkoperfume Pink Molécule 

Here are the notables:

Armani Maestro Glow Nourishing Fusion Makeup in 4 (my other foundation matches are TF Traceless Perfecting in 3 and Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua in B20) - UGH I'm really on the fence with this one. First, please note that these do apply lighter in color once on your face. I thought 4 was going to be too dark, but it ended up being a good match. I've read/heard this in other reviews too, so if you aren't sure what color you are I'd definitely try to swatch in person. I don't find this foundation to be particularly glowy, despite the name. It gives me some 'natural' luminosity, but nothing crazy and honestly nothing I can't get from using a nice luminous primer under other foundations. This actually wears pretty well throughout the day, but I find it kind of eats up any powder products I put on top.

Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal looked beautiful over it, but my powder highlighters not so much. Powder highlighters don't seem to blend all that well and whatever I manage to apply shortly gets eaten up and looks really patchy. Same thing with my powder blushes - ate them all right up and I had almost nothing left at the end of the day!! Did much better with cream blush, but still didn't quite last all day. But I only have 1 cream blush at the moment - I'd like to get another to test it with. 

Why bother you ask??? Because by itself this foundation looks pretty fantastic. It's lightweight coverage, but I can build it up to a semi-medium (I can add more coverage with concealer). This + Becca SSP + light dusting of powder on my nose and chin and I look like I've got really good skin. Great for days when I don't want to mess with putting on a whole face. Or is that crazy? Or maybe I'm being unrealistic. IDK. For some reason I'm having a hard time letting this one go ha ha! Oh, did I mention how crazy lightweight this feels??? 

Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Cleanser Daily Foaming Wash - Unfortunately this one I'm not all that jazzed about. I really like the actual ExfoliKate, but I find this does nothing special. And I don't find it helps with exfoliation. 

Biologique Recherche Lotion P50 - I went through several bottles of this over 10 years ago. At the time, I was of course younger and I don't think I fully appreciated what it could do (plus I had really good skin at the time so I don't think I would have noticed much anyway??). I bought it because I saw it in magazines all the time and was curious. So I stopped using it. 

Fast Forward to now, and I've had it on my list for awhile after seeing it on Caroline Hirons' blog, and more recently after seeing it repeatedly on The Beauty Bloss' Instagram. BTW, if you don't already follow her blog, please check it out HERE. I'm almost out of my Alpha H Liquid Gold, and while I still enjoy it I'm ready to try something else. So I decided to buy the P50. 

First night I tried it I had a really bad reaction and had to wash everything off and not use it. I was scared. But then...perhaps against my better judgement, but maybe not, because so far so good...I tried it again. I seem to have no bad reactions yet, and it's been a week so fingers crossed. I don't notice anything major yet except that my skin looks really bright. Even when I went into Sephora today, the SA said my skin looked amazing!!! Ok, maybe she was just blowing fluff, but it made me feel good LOL!! 

It's very early days to have a full on thumbs up or down, but I'll keep you posted. And if anyone out there is interested in purchasing in the US, I ordered mine from Rescuespa.net. Shipping was quick and they included a couple of Biologique Recherché samples. On the site, 6 types of P50 are listed. Mainly there are 3 types, but each type has the regular one with phenol (banned in the EU) and a version without it. I chose the regular P50 without the phenol. For the absolute best review of P50 I've found, please read HERE. The Rescue Spa site has good descriptions, plus they are really good about answering questions if you email them. 

Zarkoperfume Pink Molécule - For Christmas I asked for a sample perfume set from Zarkoperfume, which included sample sprays of all 5 of the brand's fragrances. I wanted it mainly for the Pink Molécule, but thought it would be fun to check out the other fragrances as well. It caught my interest a long time ago when Nordstrom had it on their site, but of course I never purchased it then (good thing too because Nordstrom had it for $150). 

On a side note, I SWEAR there used to be a US/North America site, but I can't find it now?!!!!! It's so weird! But I know it was just there because it was hard to find in the first place, but my Stepmom ordered the samples from there, and then I ordered the Pink Molécule full size from the same site - but I can't find it now. All I can find is the generic Zarkoperfume site, HERE. When I go to the address where I shopped from, it says the site is unavailable - even the Facebook page has been taken down. Supposedly Zarkoperfumes is launching in UK SpaceNK sometime this Spring, so maybe that has something to do with it??? IDK, but the site disappearing is really is annoying. Anyway - I did find another site that you can buy it from in the US for $50 (which is what I bought it for - other sites charge $150). Here it is: http://www.beaute-pacifique.us/products/pink-molecule-090-09

Sooooo...this was instant LOVE. And I mean like LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE, my favorite perfume ever LOVE. It's serious. You can read all about the fragrance notes in the links, but to me it smells like pepper and pink lemonade!!! Not too sweet, not too tart, with the right amount of pepper ha ha :-)  I went from only occasionally wearing fragrance to wearing Pink Molécule everyday - I can't get enough! 

How was your March (& February!)??!! 

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter if you celebrate it! Even if you don't, it's a good excuse to eat some Cadbury eggs :-P