Tarte Maracuja Bronzing Serum - Review

"An innovative, gradual bronzing elixir powered by the miracle of maracuja"

Even though it's still winter which means cold wind, snow, and practically no sun, I still dream about spring and summer weather and everything that comes with it. that's not the whole reason I got this product though. I was getting ready to place an order on Tarte, and the main thing I wanted to get was their Maracuja oil, when I saw this and the description is practically the same just this has self-tanning benefits to it. So you can guess what happened. I decided to order this instead. Long story short, I didn't get to truly put this product to the test during summer, because let's get real, even though I have SPF on me, I still get a little darker during summer. So there wasn't any need for this. Now that it's winter, I got to truly try this out and put it to test and see the results and form an opinion on it for myself, and of course I'm going to share it with you all as well.

This Bronzing Serum comes in a packaging very similar to their Maracuja Oil, but different outer appearance. It's a glass bottle that comes with a dropper which I love droppers, haha they're just so fun to me. I don't know, maybe you think I'm weird but yeah, I love droppers. The serum is a golden yellow color, but there's no actual shimmer or tanning color to it if you know what I mean. If you have seen self-tanning creams, they usually are like a dark brown color, but this is like a clear, golden yellow toned, serum/ oil but it's not greasy or oily either. It says it has a lot of floral tones mixed so it's supposed to smell floral, but to me it smells like a self-tanner or like the gradual tan moisturizer. So as I said, the consistency is not oily or greasy but it is moisturizing and hydrating on the skin. I have used this alone, and as well as mixed it with my moisturizer. Both methods have worked really well. I just find that when using it by itself, I have to wash my hands afterwards, because my fingers get a little stained, more like between my fingers. Mixing it with my moisturizer, I don't have to to that. The scent is pretty strong, and I can smell it on my skin a little after but it's not unpleasant or overwhelming whatsoever, so I have no issues with that, but I can imagine it might bother some people who are more sensitive to smells. I notice that by using this product regularly, after a week or two, I get a glowy tan, that during winter is more noticeable, since there's not much sun to get a tan from compared to using this during sprig/summer. I also like to use this only for my face. Since my face is always a shade or two lighter that the rest of my body, this sort of balances out my face color in a way. The color difference is not that huge or obvious, because I don't self tan or anything, but It's nice to get a glowy tan on my face to feel more healthy and alive, specially during winter.

I am so happy with my choice to have exchanged my order from the Maracuja Oil to this Bronzing Serum. Don't get me wrong, the oil is awesome as well, but if I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have gotten to try this out and experience it for myself. This way I get the benefit of the Maracuja but with gradual self-tanning benefits. For reference, my skin tone is light-medium to medium during winter usually, and medium to medium-tan during summer and this has worked really well for me. I imagine anyone lighter than me can get the same awesome results. A drop or two of this serum is enough to mix with my moisturizer to get the results I get, so even though because of the price this is counted as a luxury skin care item, I feel like it is worth it. A little goes a long way so this big bottle will last for a long time.

Have you tried this Bronzing Serum by Tarte Cosmetics? What are your thoughts on it?

Post your comments down below, I will be more than happy to read them and reply.

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Lots of love,
Dina
♥

NOTD : Julie G - Mermaid's Tale

I love NOTD (nail of the day) posts, I just rarely do them, because I honestly forget. I am slowly becoming obsessed with Julie G nail polishes. I have a bunch of different shades from her collection and honestly, they're all great. I love the name and color of this one. I love that this is like different shades of ocean in a bottle with lots of either glitter or sparkles. I'm not really sure, but if it is actual glitter, then nail polish doesn't dry gritty or bumpy like some glitter nail polishes do. I always love doing two coats to get the color of the bottle. These last pretty long on me which is nice since they're really inexpensive.I get these Julie G nail polishes at Jesse's Girl Cosmetics online and as I said, these are very inexpensive for the quality so I ordered a bunch of then and my collection of these nail polishes has grown a lot.

You can checkout my other NOTD and nail polish reviews on the Nails tab at the top of my blog, or you could click here, and it will take you there as well.

Also don't forget to G+1 and follow my blog for more reviews to come. I'm always happy to have more blogging friends!

Lots of love,
Dina
♥

Too Faced Shadow Insurance in Champagne - Review + Swatches

"Cheers to stay-put eye shadows. Our featherweight primer creates a perfect canvas for cream and powder shadows. Wear it to add a warm, sexy, shimmering glow alone or with your favorite shadows. The crease-proof formula intensifies color while keeping your shadow in place for 24+ hours."

The honest reason I have for buying this is because Ingrid Nilsen/missglamorazzi on YouTube talked about this a long time ago, and I was really interested so I got it for myself a long time ago. So by a long time ago, I mean a year ago, and I am sure of that because I just checked my Sephora purchases history and yes, it says a year ago.Back then. I was used to buy something, then forget about it for a little while, then start to really use it. It happened to this product as well. At first, I bought it but forgot all about it a little while, then when I remembered it and started to use it, it became sort of a staple in my makeup routine. First let me get into the actual product, then I'll tell you all about my thoughts of this product.

This eye primer comes in a squeeze tube. At the time when I bought this, I hadn't tried the original formula, so I had no clue on Too Faced eyeshadow primers but I could imagine how it would work. I have this in Champagne, and this was my first time to use an eyeshadow primer like this in an actual shade, rather than the typical clear version, like the same product just in the original shade or UD Primer Potion in original shade as well. This comes out in like a cream sort of texture, it's not liquid so it doesn't pour out, I have to squeeze the bottle to get some out, but it's not hard to get out either. I find that a tiny bit of this goes a long way. Specially since it has a color to it, I can see where I have applied it, so I take a tiny amount and it is enough for my whole eyelid. The color is sort of champagne but it has a little pink undertone to it. They have one called Candlelight, which I tested that with this together in the store, that one is a lot more yellow, and this has a lot of pink to it. So obviously, I bought this because personally I think this shade looks very good on me. I sometimes use this just by itself, since it's like two products in one, it has the staying power because it's a shadow primer, but them it has a shimmery pink color to it, so I don't particularly need to put shadow on top if I don't want to. Some other times, I do use eyeshadow on top of this, it just depends on what I like to do with it. The whole reason I got this in this particular color was to get away with using eyeshadow on days that I couldn't spend a lot of time on my eye look. It still looks like I spend time and made an effort, even though I just used this one product.

The first eye primer I ever purchased was the Urban Decay Primer Potion, which was super new back then and it was getting all the hype and attention of every makeup lover. I find that just using the UDPP doesn't really keep my eyeshadows in place. I don't have super oily lids or anything, in fact it gets a bit dry sometimes, but UDPP didn't do all that much for me really. I find this Too Faced primer work a lot better on me. It doesn't matter if I use the primer by itself or put shadow on top, my eyeshadow stays all day with this stuff and I am so much more satisfied than I was with UDPP.

Overall, I really love this eyeshadow primer from Too Faced. I have to be honest, I don't have that much experience with this brand's makeup. The first thing I purchased by this brand is this eye primer. Then I got the famous Stardust Palette, which came with a mini original shadow primer, a mascara and an eye pigment, which allowed me to experiment more with this brand's products. So far I am happy with everything I have tried from Too Faced Cosmetics. Hopefully it stays that way.

Have you tried any of the Too Faced eyeshadow primers? What are your thoughts on it?

Post your comments down below, I will be more than happy to read them and reply.

Don't forget to G+1 and follow my blog for more reviews to come. I'm always happy to have more blogging friends!

Lots of love,
Dina
♥

Milani Baked Powder Blush in Berry Amore - Review & Swatches

Happy 1st of January, 2016 to all of you. This is going to be the last post with the decorations I used for the Christmas and the holidays. I loved how it changed my posts and made them festive, compared to the regular pictures I take for my blog during normal times. I hope you enjoyed the decorations as well.

I thought I should start the new year with another product review. I personally love reviewing products and share my thoughts and opinions on the stuff I buy and try out. This Milani Baked Blush has been around a while, and so many people enjoy it. So like a good makeup lover that I am, I bought it to try it out for myself. I actually bought this a long while back, and the reason I just got one of the shades is because I wasn't into blush all that much before. My tastes keep changing and now I am enjoying wearing blushes a lot more. But back then I wasn't so I didn't purchase a bunch of them. Now that I am into blushes, I have a few from other brands that I don't feel like I need any more. So I'll be sticking with just this one shade from the line.

This Milani baked blush comes in a gold packaging. It's really beautiful and I love that you can see the blush from the packaging without opening it. Even though the packaging looks absolutely beautiful, the quality is not all that great to be honest. It's a light weight, delicate plastic packaging. I would say not travel friendly because it feels like it could break easily, or if you drop it even, it would break. The color I have is absolutely gorgeous. Berry Amore is a shimmery rose color with soft, fine gold flecks. The blush itself, feels soft and smooth, not dry or chalky. It's very pigmented, gives the skin a natural, healthy glow. The gold flecks blend out really nicely, so it's not in the face, gold glitter on the cheeks. This color is very wearable. I would say the staying power is around six to eight hours for me. After that, it does fade, but not in a bad way, as in getting blotchy or patchy. It's just not as much as it was first applied, which is fine really. It also goes on the skin evenly and smoothly, so I haven't had any problem with application either. One downside to this product is the bottom half of the packaging. I feel like the brush they provided is really unnecessary since it's not that good of a quality and I would never use it. So it's just waste of packaging to be honest. But I don't let that bother me a lot, since I enjoy the blush so much.

Overall, I think this is an awesome, affordable drugstore blush. I would hope the other colors are as amazing as this. Honestly, all I have heard from people using these, are positive feedback. I would say this isn't a blush for those who love a matte look on their cheeks. This gives the skin a little shimmer and a glowy  look so it might not be for everyone, but it looks really pretty on the skin. I do love this and if I am looking for a new blush shade, I would definitely check out the rest of the colors from this line first.

Have you tried any of the Milani Baked Blushes? What are your thoughts on it? Share them with me in the comments section down bellow.

Don't forget to G+1 and follow my blog for more reviews to come. I'm always happy to have more blogging friends!

Lots of love,
Dina
♥ 

✦ ♪ ✯ ✮ Happy New Year - 2016 ✮ ✯ ♪ ✦

So this post is dedicated just for New Years. It's not midnight yet for us Canadians, but it will be in a couple of hours, so I just thought to post this now before all the partying and celebration starts. woot woot!

I wanted to wish you guys an amazing, wonderful New Year. I hope 2016 is full of joy, happiness and good health for you, your families and friends. I hope it brings you success in whichever form you wish for your selves. I just hope that we all get our wishes but most importantly, I want to wish you a healthy life. Nothing is enjoyable, if we are not healthy. I'm not going to make this a long one. Just stay safe, warm, cozy with your loved ones and I will see you in 2016 which is tomorrow for me haha so that's pretty soon.

Love you for reading and keep coming back to my little world I call DinazDiary. Thank you so, so much for your support and feedback. I appreciate all of you. I hope I can keep writing enjoyable blog posts for you in the future so this blog can keep on growing.

Lots of love,
Dina
♥