Review Time! Garnier Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel-Cream Clinique Moisture Surge Dupe

So I have been desperately been looking everywhere for a dupe of my fav Clinique moisturizer, when a wonderful person on Makeupally.com suggested I try Garnier's Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel-Cream. I's so much more affordable. I got mine at my local Walmart for under $7, and not only that, I actually love the stuff! It works so well for me, as I have combo skin, more oily skin in the summer time and dry in the winter.

It's a light gel formula, I don't really know why they call it a gel cream? because its a gel. First of, the product has a light scent, very pleasant, and fades fairly quickly. The gel feels cool on the skin, and sinks in quite nicely, and like the Moisture Surge, it gives a silky feel to the skin, almost like a super light makeup primer! The refreshing feeling it gives feels so good in the mornings, like a mini pick me up. The packaging is very nice, its in a glass jar, it's clear tho so you may want to store it in a dark makeup cabinet to help preserve the antioxidants and such.

Garnier claims this product 'instantly penetrates', which I really think it does, sinks into my skin in about a minute, and I apply my makeup after about 5 mins, so its helps make my mornings go faster. It also says it is 'oil free' and 'blocks out dryness' Which I also think it really does balance out my combo/ oily skin, not giving too much moisture. Instead of oils it contains 'antioxidant fruit water extract' and I love the refreshing feel it gives, not oily or greasy at all!! I don't know how much moisture this actually has for dryer skin, so I will have to try it out in the winter, because I have combo skin and have to switch up moisturizers all the time! It also claimes to 'lock in moisture' and I do have to say I haven't gotten dry patches on my combo skin at all, so I'm really hoping to be able to use this in the cooler weather as well.

So if you love light moisturizers, have oily or combo skin, or just need light moisture in the warmer months, I say give this a go! What do you have to lose for under 10 bucks, its a great price for a drugstore product it really delivers, and I have to say I'm sold, and so glad I don't have to pay so much for Moisture Surge anymore!

I know I haven't posted a new eye look in a while, so I will get that going tomorrow for you guys!

Bronze and green look with our new bronzers

So I posted our new bronzers on etsy this weekend, and I'm so excited to show you the look I wore today using these.

On the eyes I am wearing Lemon peel on the inner corner of the eye, then I took grasshopper and patted onto the lid, just up to the crease and to the outter corner. I darkened my crease with Prowl, and defined the outter v with Coco Bean. To highlight the very inner corners of my eyes and under my brows, I used Beach Babe. I also used beach babe as a highlighter on my cheek bones.

Onto the face: I prepped my face with my fav daytime moisturizer (Garnier Nutritioniste Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel-Cream, I love this stuff, reviews of all my current favs coming soon!) and let it soak in. I then dusted Mineral blur to get an even surface, and applied our foundation in Light. For the bronzer I used Glowing Bronze. It's good for light skintones like mine and has a beautiful glow to it, and can be slowly built up to the level of sun kissed look that you want. I dusted on my forehead, nose and chin. I used it as a contour under my cheekbones and lightly dusted some onto the apples of my cheeks. To complete my summer glow, I loaded up my fluffy brush again and dusted all over my neck and under my jaw bone, and feathered the color down onto my chest. You can really see on the photos how natural this look is, and compare the wonderful color that I got from the Glowing bronze to the white shoulders I have!

And here is a peak of all five colors with swatches of each

Sea Urchin Mineral eyeshadow trio

Sizes

Sample baggies $5.00 Sample Jars $10.00 10g Jars $15.00

Sandy golden yellow and vibrant greens with soft blue undertones, these colors complement both warm and cool skintones. Colors go on vibrant, as shown in swatches, and a little goes a long way. Applying these colors wet bring out the soft blue tones.

Lemon peel: Low, shimmer, that goes on almost matte. A golden yellow, very bright yet not quit a true yellow, like the golden peel of a lemon.

Grasshopper: A lime green yet very slightly subdued by blue tones. Medium shimmer, not too much, to compliment both shimmery and matte looks.

Prowl: A olive green with slight blue shimmer, bring out the cool tones by applying wet. Works great as an eyeliner as well.

Midnight Summer Blues eyeshadow trio

Sizes

Sample baggies $5.00 Sample Jars $10.00 10g Jars $15.00

Summer is smokin hot this year, so why not get this smokey blue look to go with it! Three unique colors that can be worn together as in photo, or worn alone. Wear Aquatic by itself for a really bright daytime look, or smoke it out for a night time look with Midnight and Coco Bean in the mix. Super pigmented, these colors can also be used wet as eye liners and won't dissapoint!

Aquatic: A bright turquoise blue with gorgeous blue shimmer. Too bright for all over? Use it to line your bottom lid for just a pop of color for neutral and smokey looks.

Midnight: A navy blue with a slight purple undertone. Would also make a great eye liner.

Coco Bean: A super 'cool' chocolate, with a very unique purple sheen and shimmer. Would make an awesome liner for those days when black liner is too much. A great color for the office or any neutral look when plain brown just feels too boring.

New Item, Mineral Foundation, 10g jars

Sizes

sample baggie $2.00 5g jar $2.50 10g jar $5.00

Expect your mineral foundation to give coverage like a liquid? Perfecting Coverage gives you medium to full coverage, never looking powdery, but giving you a healthy, inner glow. Customize your coverage by applying wet or dry. No need to buy a separate concealer, spot apply wet for trouble spots that need a little extra coverage.

Silk powder contains 18 amino acids which can absorb into the skin, it reflects light to give a flawless face look, it absorbs oil, so it works well with oily skin, and it can also self adjust moisture, pulling or absorbing moisture when needed. Allantoin is a skin protectant, is very soothing to cuts, sunburn, etc, and can stimulate new cell growth. The more research you do on these two ingredients, the more you will fall in love as I did!

You will receive our foundation in our signature shiny black sifter jars in the 10g size. Swatches are applied wet over blur primer/ finisher.

Fair: for the lightest skin tones, which tend to burn, and more often have peachy/ pink undertones

Light: Slightly darker and more neutral tones than fair.

Creamy Beige: for those who fall inbetween light and medium, and find most foundations orange, our creamy beige has more neutral undertones.

Medium Olive: For hard to match medium tones who find makeup to be too orange, we have added a touch of olive tones to this blend to match neutral and olive ladies.

Tan: For medium tan skin with warm/ honey undertones.

Almond: For tan/ darker skintones with balanced undertones, not too warm, not too cool. Can also be used as a contour color for most skintones

Before and after photo - Anna (me)

Created this dewy look for summer for our Sultry summer eyes trio.  Love love love the coverage from our mineral foundation!

So this is me, the top photos were taken about two weeks ago, but as you can see I have bad acne and deep red scarring on my cheeks.  I'm so happy to get the coverage out of  these minerals, I hope they will help you as well, thanks for looking!

Coming soon, new eyeshadows, and 10g jars, and an update on my skincare.

After months on end of offering only samples, I've finally put in an order and our 10g jars should be here next week!  Sample jars of our shadows, blur, and foundations will still be 2.50, while our 10g jars will be as follows:

10g jar eyeshadow..................5.00
10g jar blur primer/ finisher......5.00
10g jar foundation...................5.00

Foundations will be reformulated over the next few weeks to contain silk powder and allantoin.  These two ingredients are both very beneficial to the skin, and I just had to have them in my foundation base!  Silk powder contains 18 amino acids which can absorb into the skin, it reflects light to give a flawless face look, it absorbs oil, so it works well with oily skin, and it can also self adjust moisture, pulling or absorbing moisture when needed.  Allantoin is a skin protectant, is very soothing to cuts, sunburn, etc, and can stimulate new cell growth.  The more research you do on these two ingredients, the more you will fall in love as I did!

Now onto my skincare.  So a few months back I was testing out the oil cleansing method for my acne prone skin, and it did not go well at all.  It ended up making my cystic acne worse, so I had to find another solution for my acne once again.  I found a site called acne.org, which is like one of the first websites when you google acne.  I have been following this regimen for going on three months now, and my skin has improved about 90%, while the other 10% left are old acne scars, which are slowly, slowly lightening, and I now only get two active pimples a month, and no more, I repeat, no more cystic types or large lumps have come up!  I will post before and after photos soon (the before and after show a huge improvement) and do a long post on the whole three month process.  The only other thing I did to help my skin was stop using my liquid and cream foundations and use only mineral makeup.