The palette comes with two highlighters and 3 blushes. Both highlighters contain 0.19 oz of product (for comparison- the original Champagne Pop is 0.28 oz). The mineral blushes Amaretto and Pamplemousse are 0.12 oz and the luminous blush Rose Spritz is 0.10 oz. Each pan is big enough to use any kind of brush you want. All five shades are very pigmented. I'll go into more details below.

 

 

Rosé Spritz arrived with a little smudge on it :(

I have small hands but maybe this helps give you a size comparison.

Natural lighting outdoors

Descriptions of Swatches From Left to Right 

• Champagne Glow- soft white gold with peachy pink undertones. I may be crazy but this version seems a little less buttery than the original Champagne Pop but it's still the same color and looks the same when applied.

• Prosecco Pop- medium warm gold (inspired by liquid gold) definitely more yellow undertone than Champagne Pop.

• Rosé Spritz- soft peachy pink with gold shimmer. I like it on its own but I find myself mixing it on top of Amaretto in my everyday routine. Apparently, Jaclyn Hill's new favorite shade combination is to use Prosecco Pop on top of Rosé Spritz on the apples of the cheek. So of course I'm going to do the same tomorrow morning!

• Amaretto- matte toasted almond (but too warm and orangey to use as a bronzer). I haven't been using a lot of blush lately so this one is right up my alley!

• Pamplemousse- matte warm coral pink (I personally have to mix this with Amaretto to make it wearable). This one is so pigmented and bright that I'm a little scared to use it. I have to say that this is my least favorite shade and I don't think it will be used often.

 

 

swatches outdoors on a sunny day

One last picture I took in my car because... Why not?

Glo Minerals recently sent me their new Contour Kit (along with their Contour/Highlight brush) and it has already wiggled its way into my everyday routine and is now my new favorite, super time-saving product! I feel like there's no going back to the way I did things before finding this little gem. I think that all makeup lovers can agree that the list of products we can't live without gets a little longer as we fall in love with more and more makeup products. I fell in love with the Contour Kit because of the quality of the powders, sleek and slim packaging, and shade range. I own the medium to dark Contour Kit but glo Minerals also makes one for fair to light skintones (check out a review from Smoke and Mirrors Beauty!). I think there are shades from both palettes that any skintone can use.


These powders have a buttery, fine-milled texture and good pigmentation without being too intense, which makes it easy to blend. The powders are buildable so you can create a soft, subtle look to enhance features or you can create a more intense look with the illusion of chiseled features. This helps to make contouring and highlighting foolproof. The blendability also makes the Contour Kit a great product to use as eyeshadow and already has the perfect colors for an everyday look—yet another reason I love this product!

Highlight is a matte shade with yellow undertones. I like to use it to set my undereye concealer by applying it in a triangle from the top of my cheekbone to the side of my nose. Extending it to those areas (instead of only under the eye) will help to prevent a reverse racoon look and keep things natural and blended. I also place it on the arch of my brows to define them and make my face look more lifted and awake. If you want a super chiseled face you can also apply a little bit of this shade underneath the contour of your cheeks to create a more defined line, but make sure to blend!

Shimmer Hightlight is a golden champagne shimmer that I mainly use to highlight the top of my cheekbones for that 'lit from within' glow. I also like to use it on the inner corner of my eyes (or all over the lid) and on my cupid's bow. I like how this shade isn't too glittery but it still packs enough punch to try out the new Strobing trend.

Contour 1 is a cool toned brown that has a hint of gray to it (but not so gray that it makes you look like a skeleton). This kind of shade is what you want to use to contour your face because it mimics a natural shadow. I use it to contour under my cheekbones, which you can easily find by making a fish face or by placing your index finger in the hollow of your cheeks. This is also a good shade to use if you like to contour your nose.

Contour 2 is a warm toned brown that looks a little orangey compared to Contour 1. I use this to warm up my face and place it on my cheeks above the Contour 1 shade while keeping it below my cheekbones. This adds enough color to my face that I sometimes skip blush altogether. I also like to sweep it around my temples, hairline, and jawline.

The basics of contouring and highlighting is that you want to create shadows where you want to define your bone structure and add light to features you want to draw attention to. These areas can vary from person to person depending on face shape and facial features so just play around until you find what works for you! If you are like me and learn better from visuals you can consult the directions printed on the inside of the Contour Kit and watch this Youtube video tutorial from glo Professional.


If you thought things couldn't get better than the Contour Kit, here's some more info for you—glo Minerals also came out with a dual ended Contour/Highlight brush designed to work perfectly with the Contour Kits! The Contour end of the brush is a slim, round brush that fits perfectly in the hollows of the cheek. You can load product onto the tip of the brush for a sharp contour or you can use the roundness and softness to blend it out for a subtle contour. The Highlight end is a flat, dense brush that works well for setting undereye concealer with a matte highlight powder and creating precise lines for both contour and highlight. I learned some great tips on using this brush by watching the Youtube video that I mentioned earlier.

Both of these products can be found on http://www.gloprofessional.com/, where the Contour Kit sells for $36 and the Contour/Highlight Brush sells for $29. Both of these products are great items to add to your collection, whether you're a beginner or professional. I have been working at a spa that carries the glo Professional line for almost five years and have discovered some amazing products that I now use everyday, so it was no surprise to me when I fell in love with this one!

This month's Birchbox theme is Go Bold and features products that are supposed to dial up your beauty routine during the summer months, which is when we tend to let loose and go brighter and bolder than usual. The design of the box matches its theme and features a fun, bright geometric print. It is definitely one that I'm keeping to help organize my makeup collection. All details (descriptions from Birchbox are in italics) and a review of each product are listed below.

 

 

 I have wanted to try out the orange lip trend without spending too much money so this was the perfect chance to get the shades Free Spirit and Morocco. I'm not sure how I feel about the High Voltage Lipsticks because this shade really clung to the dry patches on my lips when I tried it on but maybe I needed to prep my lips better. This is my first Intense Butter Gloss but it swatched very nicely and the shade Toasted Marshmallow is such a unique mauvey purple shade. And I already know that I love the soft matte lip creams (check out my review here). These three items normally retail for $5.99 each but cost $3.59 during this sale.

 

 

My collection of highlighters is pretty small so I wanted to try out this peachy gold shade called Narcissistic from Nyx. It isn't very pigmented but I prefer a more subtle glow anyway. This Nyx Illuminator normally retails for $8.99 but I got it for $5.39.

 

 

Another thing that I don't have much of in my makeup collection is brow products. I have naturally thick brows and don't want to make them look too crazy but I love how this brow mascara will tint my brows to make them stand out a little more while also keeping the hairs in place. The Nyx Tinted Brow Mascara normally retails for $6.99 but cost $4.19 on sale.

 

This is a product that I already own but I wanted to get a darker shade for summer. I love how this foundation gives me a flawless coverage and finish and lasts me all day. I really wanted to get the Infallible Pro Setting Spray but the bottles they had left looked like they were already used. This foundation normally retails for $12.99. I also got an additionally 20% off since this product was the most expensive thing that I purchased today so I got this for $6.23.

 

Happy Independence Day to everyone! I hope all of you have a great weekend! XOXO -Jessie

MATTE LIPSTICK is all you have to say to get my attention. And I think I've found my new favorite matte lip shades and formula in the new, gorgeous suede matte lip collection from glo minerals! This collection consists of 6 suede matte stick shades and 6 suede matte crayon shades and costs $16 each. Both are formulated with antioxidants Vitamin C and Vitamin E and nourishing ingredients like mango seed oil, and shea butter. I have used products from glo minerals makeup and glo therapeutics skincare in the past and I think they are a fantastic brand with some amazing products!

These products were given to me by glo minerals for review purposes. All opinions are my own and 100% honest.

The things that overwhelmingly take over my makeup bag are LIP PRODUCTS! I had 13 lip products in my makeup bag not counting the ones that I take out and keep in my coat pocket. My current lip faves are Revlon's lip butters and kissable balm stain for quick and easy days,  reds and deep berries for statement lip days, and brownish mauves for the trendy Kylie Jenner lipcolor.

Lip products in my makeup bag before cleaning it out: