Beauty Trove's Top 5 for July 2019!

Hey gorgeous!  I know this is late, summer has been passing me by this year.  But I have been trying on a ton of new makeup and wanted to let you all know what I loved in the month of July.  My top 5 are listed below.

1.  Violet Voss The Rainbow Palette ($30.00).  If summer could be compiled to a single palette, this would be it.  I love playing around with colorful eyeshadows especially during the summer.  The Rainbow palette by Violet Voss does not disappoint.  The color payoff is wonderful.  Each shadow is highly pigmented, goes on buttery smooth, and wears great throughout the day.  You can easily pair this palette with a more neutral one for transition shades and darker corner shades.  I especially love the blues and greens in this palette.  The navy color does have some fallout with it but I like I said the color payoff makes it totally worth it.  If you like the color scheme but don't think you will use such huge eyeshadow pans, Violet Voss has a mini palette with all the colors- Rainbow fun sized mini palette ($18.00).  This is a great palette to pick up during the Sephora summer VIB sale.  Use code SUMMERSAVE up to August 27th to save 20%.

2.  ColourPop's Jelly Much Shadow in Late Bloomer ($8.00)- This is fairly new to my collection and is the first jelly much shadow I have tried.  The consistency of the shadow is well, jelly-like.  The shadow feels very cool on the eyelid and applies fairly evenly.  This shade in particular is gorgeous.  It is a light purple with a lot of glitter.  It is such a fun and flirty shade and I am so happy I have this.  It come in handy during those days I am the busiest.  It is so easy to just smooth this on the eyelid, swipe on some mascara, and you are ready to go.  Right now ColourPop is having a sale, and Late Bloomer can be purchased for $6.00.

3.  ColourPop's The Headliner Palette ($40.00)-  If you want to add more glitter to your collection or are looking at trying some pressed glitters, look no further.  This is a great little palette that has a mix of stunning pressed glitters and neon matte shades.  Both pair perfectly together.  I love the pressed glitter formula.  It is so much easier to apply than loose glitter.  This would also go great with the VV Rainbow palette.   You can pick this up during ColourPop's sale for $20.00.

4.  E.l.f. Comsetics' Smudge Proof Mascara ($6.00) - I know that E.l.f. cosmetics is not traditionally known for their mascaras.  But this new formula is stellar.  I really love the bottom lash wand that coats all your lower lashes in this dark mascara.  In fact, this mascara is great just for your bottom lashes and is comparable to Clinique's mascara for the lower lashes. 

5.  Benefit Cosmetics' Roller Liner Liquid Eyeliner ($22.00)- Girl, if you are looking to make a statement, try the Roller liner out.  This pairs great with the VV eyeshadow palete and E.l.f. mascara.  This is one of my most darkest liquid liners.  I love how easy the felt tip applicator glides along the eyelid and how quick it dries.  I love creating cat eye liner looks with this.  The benefit roller liner is going to be a mainstay in my makeup collection. 

Try Again or Toss: e.l.f. Cosmetics Baked Highlighter

I love a beauty bargain!  Especially when the bargain comes from a company, like e.l.f. Cosmetics, that produces inexpensive products without compromising product quality.  I love the e.l.f. Cosmetics eyeliners and blushes.  So when I found out that e.l.f. Cosmetics has baked highlighters, I jumped right on board.  These highlighters sell out pretty fast so they must be really good, right?

My first impression of the highlighter I bought, which was Blush Gems ($3.00) was well...meh.  The payoff wasn't fantastic and to be honest looked like I did not have any highlighter on.  I found it difficult to get enough product on my cosmetic brush and it required too much effort to continuously swirl the brush in the product, then apply onto the high points of my cheeks, and repeat the same process over the areas I thought I just covered.

I hate discarding cosmetics, even if it just cost me $3.00.  So I gave it the old college try and worked at the highlighter again.  Check out this easy step out to decide if the e.l.f. baked highlighter is worth another try or a toss:

1.  Use your finger rather than a brush.  I know it sounds strange.  But your fingers have a lot of ridges, grooves, and oil that pick up pigment better than a brush can.

2.  Wet your finger and then press into the highlighter.  This is a baked highlighter, which means it can be applied on wet and wet actually increases the intensity.  Once you have picked up enough product with your wet finger apply to the high-points on your face.

So Toss or Try Again?  My verdict: try again.  It actually works out much better using a damp finger application.  Let me know what your verdict is!

First Impressions and Review: e.l.f. Cosmetics lip exfoliator

As part of my recent Ulta haul, I purchased the e.l.f. cosmetics lip exfoliator in clear.  The e.l.f. lip exfoliator also comes in mint and cherry tart.  I decided to give it a try since I am not happy with the other exfoliators I've tried out.  A lip exfoilator should be in everyone's cosmetics tool bag.  It is a great way to sloughs off dead skin from lips so that your lipsticks and lip glosses go on smooth.  Skin peels on lips make you look older and no one wants that!

The e.l.f. lip exfoliator comes in a black, cardboard container.  The packaging is a little bit (and unnecessarily) bulky for me.  The exfoliator itself is a black, sleek tube and fits nicely in any normal sized lipstick holder.  The clear lip exfoliator smells like vanilla and looks pretty cool.  You can see the microbeads inside the lipstick applicator.  The directions, which you will want to follow, have you wet your lips first.  This will help to move the applicator around your lips.  The first few swipes really did not accomplish anything.  You will have to move the lip exfoliator across your lips at least 4-6 times before you will feel the microbeads work.  Once you feel the beads across your lips, you do notice that your lips are softer and smoother.  To me, it feels like a nice massage.  After you are done, wash your lips and put on your favorite lip balm to moisturize.

Is it worth the hype?  Bottom line: yes!  The e.l.f. lip exfoliator was super easy to use and it did make my lips visibly smoother so that my lipstick application stayed on longer and looked flawless.  And at $3 per lip exfoliator, you can't go wrong.  If you would like to get your hands on the e.l.f. lip exfoliator, click here or here.