Feature Friday 8/15/14

Welcome to my very first Feature Friday post! This will be a weekly segment on Kalyn's Cosmetics, and it will be posted -- you guessed it! -- every Friday. I will feature various things: products, tools/brushes, make up accessories, and even artists.

Without further ado, let's get to it!

I'm giving the honor of my first feature to a tried and true make up product. I have used this product for years and have found that nothing does the job quite as well as it does.

Retails for $9.55 on physiciansformula.com

 This Conceal RX Physicians Strength concealer in the corrective shade green by Physicians Formula is a holy grail product of mine. As stated in other posts, I have acne prone skin, which means a lot of redness. The first time I was ever introduced to color correcting methods was at an Ulta event for Smashbox, and the rep used the green primer on my face and I was blown away. I've been using a green corrector ever since (although not the Smashbox one). The first one I purchased was in stick form, but that didn't blend well. I always had a zombie-esque look to my face. Not cute. Then I stumbled upon this specific product, and immediately fell in love. The creamy texture of this product makes it so blendable, while the thick consistency does miracles to cover redness.

But my all-time favorite feature of this product is how much I use on a daily basis.

That's it! That's all that I have to use. A little bit of this product goes suuuuch a long way. Like, seriously, a very long way, so consider yourself warned, because I have totally ended up with too much product on my face. And the sea sick look does not suit me well.

I have two methods of applying this product that I like to use based on the surface area I would like to cover. For covering blemishes, I simply dab some on my finger and blend it out. When I'm trying to cover a larger area -- for example, the redness in my cheeks from scarring -- I dab a few, small dots on my face and blend with an ELF small stipple brush. When I'm applying foundation, I make sure to pay special attention to those areas and see that the green-ness is fully covered.

In short, this product has saved my makeup life!

Are there any color correcting products you swear by?

What should I feature next? A brush? An artist? Let me know in the comments!

#allthingsbeauty_babetag (yay, my first tag!)

Tagged by @ashleymaekup

1. Favorite foundation Hands down my favorite foundation is my holy grail foundation: Revlon Colorstay. I have used this foundation every single day for probably a year and it has never done me wrong.
2. Favorite concealer I'm still on the look out for a good concealer that will hide my horrendous dark circles. I currently use Age Rewind by Maybelline, but it's not really doing much for me. Next I'll be trying the Colorstay concealer.
3. Favorite setting powder In a recent post I talked about the Rimmel Stay Matte powder and the ELF HD powder. Both are amazing, especially in conjunction!
4. Favorite blush Hmmm, this is a tough one. Lately I've really been enjoying the ELF HD blush. Great staying power, and a little goes a long way.
5. Favorite bronzer NYC sunny bronze. Perfect for my skintone.
6. Favorite mascara Right now I am loving on the Maybelline Volum' Express Pumped Up. It's such a black mascara, curls my lashes well, and never clumps.
7. Favorite eyeliner I really love my ELF cream liner and the NYX glide on pencils. Great color selection and staying power.
8. Favorite lip products I am sOoOoO obsessed with the NYX soft matte lip creams. I only own two colors and am dying to get the rest!
9. Favorite drugstore brand If you can't tell, I am the drugstore queen haha. However, I think my two favorite brands are NYX and ELF.
10. Product you recommend For the thousandth time, I recommend Revlon Colorstay to anyone and everyone.

Exploring the Discomfort Zone

Every professional has their comfort zone, right? At my law firm job, my comfort zone is LLCs. At my husband's job, his comfort zone is Kindergarten. Remaining in the comfort zone is easy and relaxing. However, stepping out of the comfort zone can sometimes be a very good thing and yield some incredible results. Same thing goes for make up enthusiasts/artists. My comfort zone are my every day looks. I've gotten pretty good at creating wearable, safe every day looks. I really enjoy creating these looks because they're more practical. But I just find myself sOoOoOo enamored by some of the more glamorous looks on my Instagram feed.

@chiknita81

@caprisssmakeup

@malenefrank93

 So this past weekend, after baby sitting a 5-month old for 8 hours, I decided to dive into my make up and create a more dramatic look for myself than I normally would. I decided on the black smokey eye with a warm crease. Easy (in theory), but definitely different than what I'm used to doing.

Someone get me a pair of falsies!

This is the end result, and I feel so silly posting this under all those great artists, but you know what? They didn't start out like that! They started where I am: as a girl who loves make up. With practice, determination, and dedication, they worked and blended their butts off until they became the amazing artists we all fawn over on IG. And with the same work ethic, I can do it too. We all can!

From this day forward, I will create at least one dramatic/glamorous/fun n' funky look per week. I will find inspiration from all sources, allow creativity to well up inside of me, and transfer that creativity from my hands and to my eye lids. I will then blog about my eye look and reflect on it. Is it what I envisioned? Do I like how it turned out? What would I change? Did I have the appropriate tools/colors I wanted? And please feel free to offer any sort of constructive criticism!

Are there any areas in your makeup life that you would like to step out of?

Matches Made in Makeup Heaven

As every good woman knows, no face of make up can be complete with just one product. On the contrary, it takes a multitude of different products and tools to achieve a certain look. By experimenting with different looks and products, we sometimes stumble upon make up gold! These are the product-product and product-tool combinations that we can't live without. These couplings complete our most flawless looks and enhance our features to the max. Here are my top 4 favorite make up duos. 

 This first one technically isn't a make up product and it's a trio, but everyone knows that good make up begins with good skin, which I don't have. It is very oily and prone to break outs. I've had acne since 6th grade, and it hasn't been an easy road to get to where I am now. However, this system is working fabulously for me! A unique quality of this system is that the cleanser doesn't have any active ingredients to fight acne. It is simply a cleanser, which means the system isn't too harsh. The cleanser does a great job of cleaning my skin, the toner is perfect, and the moisturizer is gentle, but still works to fight break outs. After using this system, my skin feels amazing, soft, and clean. 

This next duo is one I have faithfully used for the entirety of 2014. Last Christmas my mother got me a Real Techniques Stipple Brush, and I have used it with my Revlon Colorstay foundation ever since then. The finish that this product and tool give me is perfect! This is literally my flawless finish. The consistency of this particular foundation is perfect for use with a stipple brush because of the application it gives and because the brush doesn't seem to hold onto too much product. 

Can I get a hallelujah for this next pair?! The Rimmel Stay Matte powder and ELF HD Finishing powder are my two life savers. Like I said, I have very oily skin. Honestly, I sometimes gross myself out, but these two products together work mattifying miracles all day long. Separately, I would rank each product as a little more than average, but together they are my holy grail setting powders. The ELF HD powder gets a special mention here, because it dries my foundation to a skin-like finish. 

This combo is a new love, I must admit, but I have simply fallen head over heels for it. This brush is the densely-packed angled kabuki brush from the Sonia Kashuk special edition set (as if you couldn't tell). I knew it was meant to be used with my foundation, but I am a creature of habit and couldn't bear to separate my Colorstay and my RT stipple brush. So instead I paired this amazing brush with my Maybelline Age Rewind concealer. This concealer is known for blending flawlessly, but this brush just seems to do it better. What could possibly be better than flawless?! I don't know, but this brush does it. The shape of this brush is perfect for blending around the nose and under the eyes, and because this brush isn't fluffy, I'm not concerned about poking my eyes out. 

What are you holy grail combos?