Hoots of a Night Al

Best Drugstore BeautyBlender Replacement? Flower Beauty 3-in-1 Blending Sponge Review

August 20, 2018 2 Comments

If you’ve read my blog before, you know I’m a huge fan of drugstore beauty products. I love trying higher-end products from time to time, but I believe that you can get equally amazing results with cheaper products. Based on that, I was so excited to try out a “drugstore” 3-in-1 blending sponge from Flower Beauty.

For the record, I typically use the Original BeautyBlender, and I love it! It costs $20, but it lasts me for several months, so I consider that a good investment. However, I saw that the Flower Beauty Sponge was getting amazing reviews, and it only costs $10 (hello 50% savings!), so I figured I would give it a try!

As you can see, it’s a beautiful lavender color and offers three distinct areas for applying your makeup. According to their site, “The Precise Tip allows for application around the eyes & nose. The Flat Teardrop Surface may be used for contouring and hard-to-reach areas. The Cupped Base buffs foundation seamlessly to create airbrushed look.”

So, how does it stand up against my BeautyBlender? In some ways it’s better…but in some ways it’s worse. As you can see below, it’s roughly the same size as a BeautyBlender when dry. However, when dampened it. is. HUGE. I loved this! The rounded bottom got so large that I could apply my foundation in half the time! This is my current favorite foundation, so I’ve been pumping it directly on my Flower Beauty Sponge and just dabbing away.

While I love the larger size for applying foundation, it made applying and blending my concealer under my eyes and around my eyes much more difficult. The “precise tip” gets pretty wide once dampened, so it just doesn’t work for my under-eye area when blending. However, I did like the “flat teardrop surface” for contouring and applying setting powder around my nose.

So I guess you could say it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other. 🙂 The Flower Beauty 3-in-1 Blending Sponge is a great, cheaper alternative for applying your liquid foundation and setting powder quickly, but I would have another tool handy for applying and blending out your concealer. Do you have any other drugstore BeautyBlender alternatives I should test out?

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Decor, DIY

Share the Joy of Summer with Lone Star Living Bouquets

July 22, 2018 5 Comments

This post was sponsored by Lone Star Living, and I am thrilled to share their summertime fresh flowers with you!

Summer holds so many celebrations for my family. My dad, mom, sister, and nephew all have summer birthdays, we have an annual 4th of July party, and we take our yearly beach trip to Galveston. Basically, the fun just keeps coming all season long, and summer 2018 has been no exception! We enjoy one gathering after another and each one is an opportunity to showcase Texas, southern hospitality. Want to know the number one rule for any southern celebration? Never show up empty-handed! Whether it’s food, gifts, or flowers, your host will always appreciate your kindness. And I can guarantee no hostess will turn you away if you show up with fresh flowers from Lone Star Living!

Our most recent get-together was to celebrate my dad’s birthday at my sister’s home, and I knew the Lone Star Living July summertime flowers were the perfect thing to bring. The bouquet is full of red and yellow roses, lilies, carnations, alstroemeria, and more! The vibrant colors instantly brighten up any space and provide major summer decor inspiration.

I wanted to use a wide-mouth vase to showcase the fresh flowers, but because of the wide opening, they looked sparse. An easy fix if you have the same issue is to loosely band the flowers together within the vase, and your bouquet instantly looks fuller! Lone Star Living also recommends holding your bouquet by the stems and twisting it around to fluff it. These simple tricks will give you a professional-looking centerpiece in no time!

In case you missed my last post about Lone Star Living, let me share what makes them special. They are a Texas-based floral brand that creates dynamic, stunning bouquets for each month of the year. Their fresh flowers are sold exclusively at H-E-B in the H-E-B Blooms department, and each bouquet comes beautifully packaged in craft paper with the flower food included! As you can see, their July summer 2018 bouquet created the perfect focal point on the table at our birthday party.

I can guarantee if you show up to your next summer gathering with these blooms, they’ll be equally loved by adults, kids, and pets alike! 😉

Hurry over to H-E-B to grab your own July Lone Star Living Bouquet before the month ends! I’m sure August’s unique bouquet will be just as stunning, but I can’t think of a reason why you shouldn’t enjoy them both. After all, now that you know to never show up empty-handed, you have the perfect “excuse” to purchase all the Lone Star Living Bouquets your heart desires! 😉

Beauty

Best Dewy Drugstore Foundation for Oily Skin!

July 18, 2018 No Comments

As a drugstore beauty lover with oily/combination skin, it’s often hard for me to find the perfect foundation. Good news though…I have a new recommendation for you! The Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid Foundation is AMAZING. It works great not only on my combination skin, but my mom (who has super dry skin!) loves it, too!

According to Maybelline, this foundation provides “radiant, healthy looking skin with a luxurious feel.” And is, “an oil-free formula that is non-comedogenic and won’t clog your pores for flawless natural looking coverage.” I love the emphasis on natural coverage because I would definitely consider this a medium coverage foundation. Considering I usually go for medium-full coverage foundations, I was worried this would be too sheer for me. However, the coverage is definitely buildable, and it looks flawless after I use my Maybelline Fit Me Concealer.

As you can see, I am a pretty pale gal. Thankfully, the lightest shade in this foundation is a perfect match for me! Porcelain Ivory has slightly pink undertones and applies slightly lighter than it looks in the bottle. For reference, I wear Classic Ivory in Covergirl 3-in-1 Outlast Stay Fabulous foundation (my other go-to foundation!).

My favorite way to apply it is with a damp original BeautyBlender. If you choose to use a brush, the coverage may be even better, but I find this blends perfectly when I use a sponge. I also set this foundation with Coty Airspun Extra Coverage Translucent Powder, since I have combination skin and live in a very humid climate. However, if you don’t add concealer or have drier skin, you could skip the powder all together.

The Dream Satin Liquid Foundation has a hydrating serum in it that is supposed to provide up to 12 hours of moisture. I have worn this foundation for 12+ hours, and I can attest that my skin felt moisturized and still looked flawless after all that time. If you’re oilier you may need a shine sheet or some setting powder after several hours, but otherwise this should last you perfectly all day!

At under $10, I think the Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid Foundation is a perfect choice for anyone looking for a medium coverage, dewy foundation that will last all day! You know I love my drugstore beauty items, and this foundation has quickly climbed to the top of my favorites list! Let me know below if you have any new beauty favorites!

Here is what I used for the rest of my makeup look. Please let me know if you have any questions about any of these products!

Primer: Nivea Men Sensitive Post Shave Balm

Foundation: Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid Foundation in Porcelain Ivory

Concealer: Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in Fair 15

Setting Powder: Coty Airspun Loose Face Powder

Eyeliner: Maybelline Unstoppable Eyeliner in Onyx

Eyeshadow: Urban Decay Ultimate Naked Palette

Eyeshadow Primer: Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo Metal in Barely Branded

Mascara: Maybelline Lash Sensational

Blush: Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso

Highlighter: Wet n Wild MegaGlo Illuminating Palette in Catwalk Pink

Bronzer: Physicans Formula Bronze Booster in Medium

Brows: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Blonde

Contour: Wet n Wild Megaglo Contouring Palette in Dulce de Leche

Brushes: wet n wild & Real Techniques

Sponge: BeautyBlender Original

Decor, DIY

Beautiful Summer Flowers with Lone Star Living

June 28, 2018 2 Comments

Anyone who knows me, knows I love flowers. I can’t go into H-E-B without stopping by their floral department, and I rarely ever leave empty-handed! We’re officially one week into summertime, so lately I’ve been wanting vibrant, yellow bouquets to brighten up my home. Luckily for me, the Lone Star Living June bouquet satisfies all of my summer flower requirements! This post was sponsored by Lone Star Living, and I am thrilled to share their beautiful blooms with you!

Let me back up and tell you more about Lone Star Living. They share their love of Texas by crafting unique and dynamic bouquets that fit perfectly into any celebration from cookouts to birthdays to simply treating yourself on a weekly H-E-B trip. 😉 Speaking of H-E-B, Lone Star Living knows where loyal Texans shop, so they sell their fresh flowers there exclusively! Every month, they create a new bouquet theme that perfectly highlights the season.

For the first month of summer they combined sunflowers, alstroemerias, and more to create a yellow and green explosion of summertime fun! Their flower style stands out in the floral department, where their bouquets are sold in fun, craft paper packaging. I love that everything you need to make a vibrant centerpiece is already grouped together for you. They even include the flower food!

Once you get home, it’s easy to get your summer flowers prepped for display. All you have to do is remove any unwanted leaves, trim the stems at an angle, twist and fluff your bouquet, and place it in a vase that has fresh water and the included flower food. Lone Star Living also recommends placing your bouquet near sunlight. If you need extra flower care tips, feel free to check out their website as well.

As you can see, Lone Star Living bouquets easily brighten up any space and help bring the beauty of summertime inside! Utilizing all of the recommended tips, my fresh flowers are still looking perfect and are bringing me so much joy. Next time you visit H-E-B, pick up your own Lone Star Living bouquet, so you can bring some extra charm and loveliness into your home, too!

This post was sponsored by Lone Star Living, but, as always, all opinions are my own.

Beauty

Perfect Summer Waterproof Brows with Bella Brows!

May 21, 2018 No Comments

Who is ready for summer? It’s already heating up here in Texas, so I’ve been spending every minute I can in my parents’ pool! I usually go for light makeup on pool days that will protect my face from the sun and hold up in the water. This Bella Brow eyebrow sculpting gel from Alluricare is PERFECT for summer days because it’s…you guessed it…waterproof!

Each kit is less than $15 and comes with everything pictured above: eyebrow stencils, a dual-ended spoolie/angled brush, and the eyebrow sculpting gel. Directions are printed on the back of the box to help you with application.

The available colors are (from top to bottom): Dark Blonde, Auburn, Brunette, or Brown/Black. The Dark Blonde shade was the best match for me and is a cool-toned shade that would work best on darker blondes or ladies with light brown hair.

I found the eyebrow stencils a bit tricky to use, so I simply followed the shape of my natural brow. I used the angled brush to get product off of the gel wand, applied in strokes that matched my eyebrow growth, and then used the spoolie to evenly distribute the product. When I first applied the gel, I used the brush on the wand directly, but it was hard to control and applied much too dark. However, applying with the angled brush solved that problem.

As you can see up close, the product defines my brow shape without looking too dark or dramatic (which is what I prefer)…though please excuse my non-groomed brows… 🙂 The blonde shade may be too cool-toned for me, but overall I found it to be a pretty close match.

According to their website, “Bella Brow contains a premium blend of tiny hair-like fibers combined with specially treated pigments that easily attach to your skin and hair.” I can attest that these pigments attach to skin and hair VERY easily! If you happen to apply some of the gel where you don’t want it, you will definitely require a makeup remover to get it off!

That brings me to my next point; THESE BROWS WILL NOT BUDGE. Once you’ve applied this product it is THERE. TO. STAY. Make sure you have a good makeup remover (this one is my favorite) handy to remove this product as it claims it can last for up to 3 days. I haven’t attempted to keep it on that long, however, vigorous rubbing with soap and water wouldn’t remove my arm swatches at all! I had to use micellar water to get those off, and I use the same method to remove it from my brows.

Overall, I am very pleased with Bella Brows! I think the price point is great for the quality and amount of product you receive. I’m so excited they sent me some to test out just in time for them to become an integral part of my summer makeup routine!

If you want to try Bella Brows for yourself, you can use the code 10OFFNIGHTAL at this link for a discount! Let me know if you love them as much as I do, and tell me your favorite waterproof makeup in the comments!

Primer: Nivea Men Sensitive Post Shave Balm

Foundation: Covergirl 3-in-1 Foundation

Concealer: Maybelline Fit Me Concealer

Setting Powder: Coty Airspun Loose Face Powder

Eyeliner: Maybelline Unstoppable Eyeliner in Onyx

Eyeshadow: Urban Decay Ultimate Naked Palette

Eyeshadow Primer: Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo Metal in Barely Branded

Mascara: Maybelline Lash Sensational

Blush: Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso

Highlighter: Wet n Wild MegaGlo Illuminating Palette

Bronzer: Physicans Formula Bronze Booster

Brows: Bella Brow Eyebrow Sculpting Gel in Dark Blonde