An Engineer's Beauty Diary

Hello everyone; I hope you are all doing well! Sorry for the lack of posts; it's not that I don't want to write anything, it's just that I'm sort of stuck right now on ideas and creativity. Anyway, today I thought it would be nice to bring you all a post on my favorite winter beauty products, so without further ado, let's jump right in! Face:               1. Prime/All in One: Dr. Jart Water Fuse BB Cream   Beginning with the bases, I have recently brought this BB cream back out to use and one day, when I applied it by itself, it gave more coverage than usual for some reason and it didn't make my face super oily after a few hours. These new revelations are probably due to the season and how my skin's been quite dry/combination. Sometimes, I like to use this in the place of my foundation, and I've found that it does have a decent enough coverage if you layer on in the areas that need a bit more. What I als...

Hello everyone, I hope you are all doing well! Today I have for you a review on the NARS Light Reflecting Setting Powder. I had never tried a NARS product before and was in desperate need of a powder since I was quickly running out of my bareMinerals Matte. With perfect timing, I received a $20 off of $50 email from Sephora, so I decided that it would be prime time to try out this powder, since it's quite pricey at $34. So, without further ado, let's get into my experience! As you can already tell from the picture above, the famous rubberized packaging that NARS has on many if not all of their products has picked up unwanted finger marks. I don't think I actually knew what other reviewers were complaining about regarding finger prints on the packaging until now that I've experienced them for myself. Aside from packaging, this is a setting powder, so the only shade for it is 'Translucent Crystal'. This is supposed to mattify the skin as well as give a glow...

Hello everyone, I apologize for the delay in posts once again. I'm trying to come up with good ideas for posts, and that's been slow coming lately. Today, I have for you a review on the American Eagle Live For Her Perfume, and the one I have is in rollerball form. I'm doing this post today because they're still having 40% off everything in store and online! I've tested the discount, and it works on their fragrances as well. So, without further ado, let's get straight into it! I bought this about two years ago, on an impulse when I was with a few friends at a mall, but didn't use it a whole ton last year. This year though, I've been using this perfume every single day, and I've been carrying this around in my purse and reapplying every few hours. This rollerball contains .25 fl oz. and costs $14.95 at any American Eagle store or their website (I'll leave a link to this perfume in rollerball and full size form at the end of this post). This...

Hello everyone, I'm so sorry for the lack of posts, it's been so hectic! Today I have for you all a post on my favorite mascara of all time, the Bobbi Brown Intensifying Long-Wear Mascara. I had gotten this as part of my 500 point perk at Sephora, which I included in my Mini Sephora Haul . Without further ado, let's get into the review!   This mascara is in my opinion the best one that I've come by because of it's longevity. This product doesn't smear at all, and I can wear it throughout the day with no worries or problems. Also, the small size of the brush is perfect for getting to every lash, top and bottom, easily, without the fear of poking my eye. Sometimes, with mascaras like Benefit's They're Real, I find myself always having to take a long time applying it carefully, while this one I can swipe on easily and quickly. I'm happy to report that it doesn't clump like crazy, and if you do experience some clumping, just brush it through w...

Hello everyone, I hope you all are doing well on this fine Saturday afternoon! I have for you all today a post on how to keep oily skin shine free without having to wear extremely heavy foundations and powders! As you all probably know by now, I have super oily skin, to the point where almost nothing will control it, and I've haven't had any luck with the Dr. Jart Water Fuse BB Cream. Now though, I'm able to get my money's worth out of the product, and with the new combination that I've discovered, it not only keeps me quite matte, but there's also a great amount of coverage, all the while feeling light on the skin. Without further ado, into the magical combination we go! As you can probably tell from the picture above, I've definitely been using the BB cream quite religiously, so much so that it shocks me! From my previous post where I talked about my experience with the Garnier BB cream, I mentioned that my skin was acting up, and that it was most...

Hello all! I apologize for the delay in posts, school has been monopolizing all of my free time! Today, I have for you a post on the Garnier BB Cream for oily skin. I picked this up at my local Wal-Mart, for around $13, including tax.   I don't have anymore, so I simply inserted a promotional picture of it above for reference. I returned this product last Saturday, and the only reasons being are: it was simply too dark and too pink (I had purchased the light/medium shade) and, I suspect that it was breaking me out as well. I wanted this to work for me so badly, because of its amazing coverage and super light feeling on the skin, as well as the matte finish. But, alas, I couldn't deal with the color being off so much. I would look into the mirror at school and notice that my face was extremely pink!   As for its claims of controlling oil, I think it does, to an extent, and then its all just the same. Also, I may have found a better combination to control oil tha...

Hello everyone! Today I have for you all a post on my top 7 picks for fall lip colors. These are all shades that I love for the fall and even into the winter time. I don't wear lip products very often, but the times that I do, these are the ones I usually reach for. All right, in the picture above are all my favorite lip colors and I'm going to take you into each one in depth. Let's jump into it! (By the way, these will be going in the order according to the picture above.) First up is Juicy Tube Gloss from Lancome and this shade is In the Light. I had gotten this last year as part of a Christmas gift with a few other glosses, but this one is perfect for the fall and winter time because of it's golden color. I find this especially beautiful over a deep berry, red, or fuschia color, and paired with any of those shades gives a gorgeous golden shimmer with the color underneath! Moving on, this is the Maybelline Color Sensational Lip Stain in the sh...

Hello everyone! Today I have a mid-October favorites post for you all. These are just the products that I've been loving, but keep in mind that since this is a mid-month favorites, I don't have that many products, but I thought I would share these with all of you anyway! My first product is a foundation, and if you've read my What's in My Everyday Makeup Bag  post, then you've seen this product as one of my staples, and without further ado... It's the amazing Revlon Colorstay Foundation! I've never used Colorstay as much as I have this month and last month, probably due to the fact that this shade, 150 Buff, is my absolute perfect match, as apposed to 180 Sand Beige that I had before. I've been wearing this foundation mixed with my Neutrogena moisturizer for sensitive skin (the one with the purple label) every single day this month, and most of last month as well. It covers wonderfully and with the moisturizer it's just absolute perfection i...

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well, and I once again apologize for my absence, but I'm going to set up a new uploading schedule. I thought it would be good to have a new post up on every even day of the week: Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, so I'm kicking off this new schedule with a new post today. Besides that, today I have for you all a simple and easy DIY on how to create your own angled blush brush. Let's jump into it! I have wanted an angled blush brush for the longest time and for some reason, I've always had problems with applying blush using a regular blush brush and always had to resort to using a stippling brush. One day, I was just about to go to my local Wal-Mart and buy an angled brush, but I found the brush in the picture in one of my drawers. The brush was originally a powder brush, so it was not angled at all, and it came in a set of brushes that I got from Walgreens, but it was so scratchy and had the texture of dried, dead grass th...

Hello all! Today, I went to Sephora to pick up another one of my staple cleanser, and got a few free gifts, so I thought I would share my very small haul with you all. As you can tell from the picture above, this haul is literally only three items, but I thought it would be fun to share this with you all because there are multiple items within the boxes. So, first of all, I got the main item I was going in to get, the Clinique Acne Solutions Cleansing Foam. It's the staple in my skincare routine. This is the standard birthday gift that Sephora offers, which includes the Benefit They're real mascara and Watt's Up Highlighter. I haven't tried the mascara, but the highlighter I already have a sample of and love for a nice fresh candlelight glow. Now, this I was super excited about when I got the email a few days ago, this Bobbi Brown to Go Beauty Insider gift is amazing! It is a 500 Point Perk, so if you have that many points now, I suggest you go a...

Hello everyone! Today I have for you a collaboration post with Gigi from  Gigi's Kitchen all about what's in our makeup bags! My daily makeup is really simple, but I for one always enjoy watching/reading about what everyone's staple products are, so here's a look into mine.   All right, this is my makeup bag from Lancome, and an overview of all the products that I use on a daily basis. I don't use many products everyday, mostly due to the fact that I don't have much time to do my makeup before school every morning. So, starting off with the base, these are my very first staple items. I mix the Colorstay foundation with my Neutrogena moisturizer for sensitive skin every morning. I usually just use half a pump of my moisturizer and the same amount of foundation. This combination gives me the most perfect coverage, and texture. Also, I don't use a primer anymore, instead I do my daily morning skincare routine and with this mixture it's moisturizi...

Hey everyone! I hope you're all doing well. I've been around running errands all morning and it's been sweltering hot! I just got nominated yesterday for a Liebster Blog Award by Em, of mascarawarrior . So, without further ado, I'll get into explaining what it is, from what I've gathered from Em's blog and online! All right, the award name itself is German, and while I have no true idea of what it means exactly, I have read that it means something nice. On Em's blog, she described it as something very much similar to a tag, it's meant for bloggers who have less than 200 followers. The rules are different for everyone, as is the meaning of this "award"! Here are the rules: 1. Link back to the person that nominated you. 2. Nominate 6-11 other bloggers that have less than 200 followers. 3. Answer the 11 questions from the blogger than nominated you. 4. Write up 11 new questions. 5. Let your nominees know about this award, either through...

Hello everyone, I hope you are all doing well. I apologize for my recent absence. Today I want to tell all of you about my experience with the bareMinerals Matte foundation. The first face makeup I ever got was a powder, so I am quite partial to powder foundations; with that said, let's get into it! My mom had used bareMinerals on and off a few years ago, but she only used the original formula. When I was breaking out badly around two years ago, I decided to pull out the original bareMinerals and give it a try, even though it was in the wrong color for me. I mixed some other powder foundations to get a reasonable shade to match me, but after a few days of using the original formula, I noticed that every time my face would perspire, it would itch like crazy! Needless to say, I discontinued using the original, then I found that they had come out with the matte formula and went out to Sephora to buy it out of curiosity. I use the shade Golder Fair in this formula, it's...

Hello everyone! I know in my last post I stated that I would be doing an overview of my mom's favorite Shiseido products, well it has come to light that they may be causing a strange skin reaction for her right now, so I'm going to hold off on that for now. Today though, I have for you another Grail or Fail, this time on a more accessible and inexpensive product, the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Primer. Let's get straight into it! I heard about this primer when I was searching for a dupe of my beloved BareMinerals Prime Time Foundation Primer in Original. I haven't repurchased that primer in quite a while, and though I have bought it twice, it was only the small travel size, which cost $14 in itself. My powder foundation never looked better or stayed longer on my oily skin than it did with that primer, so when I ran out, I tried a few other primers and noticed that the texture was not to my liking. I did some research and came across this, from the pictures that...

Hello everyone! Today, I have for you yet another review, on yet the same brand. I realized that looking through my skin care basket, I have this Shiseido Deep Cleansing Foam as well as three Shiseido White Lucent products, which I will most likely post a review on tomorrow. Anyway, today is all about the Deep Cleansing Foam, so without further ado, let's get into it! All right, now, keep in mind that I haven't used this cleanser in quite a long time, maybe a year and half or even two; the reasons will be stated in this review. I heard about this cleanser when I was with my mom at the Shiseido counter at our mall. The sales lady helping my mom suggested that I gave this a try when I told her of my skin concerns, though at that time, my skin was relatively clear, and didn't have a large amount of acne scarring or acne itself. I think I finally bought this a few months later, along with Josie Maran's Argan Oil at Sephora with a gift card. Some background into this ...

Hello everyone, I hope you are all doing well! Today, I have a review for you all, on the Shiseido Extra Smooth Sun Protection Cream SPF 38 PA +++ for Face. It's August now, and though it's nearing fall, it's still hot and sunny most days, at least where I am! Let's get into the review... I discovered this sunscreen through Xteeener's, or Christine's, videos. She was talking about this product through one of her hauls from a place like TJ Maxx if I can remember, and featured it in quite a lot of videos. The thing that really caught my attention though, is the way she used this sunscreen as a primer, saying that it helped to mattify and control the oil. Having very oily skin, I was immediately intrigued, though I held off buying it until this summer. Seeing Christine have such amazing results, I finally came across this in a TJ Maxx store near me and immediately snatched it up, thinking it was already an HG for me, sadly, that isn't the case. Here...

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well and having a great weekend! I know I already have a post up on my skincare, it's simple and quick, with prescription topical creams. I'll link that at the end of this post if you would like to take a look. Anyway, I've changed up my morning routine a bit, and my skin has cleared up greatly in just the past three days. These products that I have re-incorporated into my morning routine have helped me through bad breakouts in the past; what I'll be talking about today is the Clinique Acne Solutions Cleanser and Toner. When I had first tried out some products from this line, it was probably in 8th grade. I had bought the bar cleanser, moisturizer and spot treatment from a Macy's counter in my mall. After using the products for a few weeks, I noticed two things: one, the bar cleanser was horrible, it left my face feeling like there was some kind of weird residue and left behind this disgusting scent, and two, the product...

Hello everyone! Today I have for you a review and swatches  on the Lancôme Color Design as well as their Season Effects Eyeshadows. Are they worth it? Let's find out! Lancôme Color Design Single Eyeshadow  Off the Rack (Metallic) All right, let's start with the singles that I have then, this shadow is a light pink duo chrome metallic that comes off as a beautiful shimmery sheen. It looks pink in certain lights and can look blue/purple in others. I find that if I put this over a black base, it truly turns that blue/purple color. The staying power of this eyeshadow is astounding! I have worn it without eye primer before and it lasted me a whole school day, which for me, is unheard of due to my extremely oily eyelids. This shadow contains 1.2 g and retails for around $17, so definitely a pretty hefty price tag on a shadow. Mochaccino (Matte) Also in the Color Design line, this shadow is a deep, cool matte brown. As you can tell in the swatch, sometimes th...