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becca

The BECCA Be a Light Face Palettes in Light to Medium, and Medium to Dark

June 26th, 2018 by Karen 10 Comments

becca be a light face palette medium dark
The BECCA Be a light Face Palette in “Medium to Dark” (there’s also one called “Light to Medium”) on my face and cheeks

If we’re talking about a palette from BECCA, invariably I’m gonna compare it to Chrissy Teigan’s, because it’s the best one BECCA’s ever made. Even after a year, I still go “HOT DAMN, THAT’S GOOD!” every time I bust it out.

So the question I faced (haha) today is, “Do the new BECCA BE a Light palettes kick Chrissy’s palette to the curb?”

Hey, phones can make you look like a cat now, so stranger things have happened. ?

The BECCA Be A Light Face Palette ($46, two versions — Light to Medium, and Medium to Dark)

With the two Be a Light palettes, BECCA is introducing a new powder formula to their line. Allegedly, the powders bounce light and blur pores like the Hourglass Ambients…and they do!

That’s great, right?

They aren’t exactly dupes, though. The Ambient powders are finer, and I think they do a better job overall, but that’s not to take anything away from these.

“Introducing the next generation of glow. This palette features Sheer Glow Filter Powder, a brand new, skin-smoothing powder, in four different finishes designed to blur, brighten, contour, and add a radiant flush of color. Microfine, luminescent pigments diffuse light to soften the look of skin and blurring pigments even skin’s texture so light bounces off it more effortlessly. The light-as-air, buildable shades brighten, blur, and softly define the complexion to create a sheer, natural glow—effortlessly. Unlike heavier powders, the oil-absorbing formula retouches and sets without disrupting makeup, making it your perfect 3pm-pick-me-up in a palette.”

— sephora.com

becca be a light face palettes
Medium to Dark (top) and Light to Medium (bottom)

In fact, if it weren’t for one thing, I’d be proclaiming my undying love for them. I even love the way they look from the outside (the rose gold is pretty!), but dang the shade selection, though!

The girls in the middle like me are getting the short end of the stick. The “Light to Medium” palette is too light for me (I’m an NC42 in MAC), while the “Medium to Dark” is a smidgen too dark.

To the powers that be, why didn’t you make a dedicated Medium version?! That said, I can get Medium to Dark to work for me, but only if I use the sheerest application and do an annoying amount of buffing.

becca be a light face palette swatches

If the shades work for you and you have combo or straight-up dry skin, you’re in luck, and the powders will do what they’re supposed to. Your skin will look effortlessly satiny and beachy with a touch of glow. Very, very BECCA.

On the other hand, if you have oily skin and want to completely matte everything down, well…you’ll be more shiny than dewy after a few hours (which is what happens to me on the oiliest spots on my face, like my forehead). The lack of oil control is another weakness, but, on the flip side, the powders layer really well, so even if you have to touch-up often, these powders won’t look heavy, which is always a plus.

As for the blush, it’s not my fave… It’s awfully shimmery, but at least the pearl particles are fine, so your pores shouldn’t look crazy big.

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There are 10 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Becca, Face, Makeup, Palettes, Product Reviews Keywords: becca, palettes

A Bronzed Babe Face of the Day With Too Faced, Estee Lauder, Hourglass and More

April 4th, 2016 by Anna Oh 25 Comments

Inspired by DVF SS16's beauty look
Inspired by DVF SS16’s beauty look

Too Faced Chocolate Bronzers

I’m in shorts right now! So let’s chat about bronzers!

I recently created a look inspired by Diane Von Furstenberg’s Spring-Summer 2016 makeup because I wanted to challenge myself to finally use some colorful eyeshadow. And…I loved it! I can’t wait to experiment with more colors now, and I would love your suggestions for eyeshadow looks!

Too Faced Chocolate Bronzers

Too Faced Chocolate Bronzers
Too Faced Bronzers (L-R) Milk Chocolate, Chocolate Soleil, Dark Chocolate

Anyways, besides the bright color on the lids, the focus of my look was all on the tanned skin. I used two different bronzers to get a multi-dimensional effect. I grabbed the Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Bronzer in 02 Medium ($37 for .74oz!!!) and dusted this all over the perimeter of my face and the tops of my cheeks. This is my favorite bronzer, and I use it all-year! It’s not completely matte, so it blends into skin perfectly.

Finally, I finished with the Too Faced Bronzer in Chocolate Soleil ($30 for .35oz) right in the hollows of my cheeks.

Swatches Too Faced Chocolate Bronzer Estee Lauder Bronzer Goddess
Swatches (L-R) Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Medium, Too Faced Milk Chocolate, Chocolate Soleil, Dark Chocolate

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There are 25 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Becca, Estee Lauder, Face, Face of the Day (FOTD), Guest Post, Makeup, Too Faced Keywords: becca, estee lauder, too faced

Becca Cosmetics Now Available at Sephora

August 29th, 2012 by Karen 40 Comments

BECCA  at sephora

Just a quick heads-up for the Becca fans. The makeup line is now available online at Sephora.com.

The selection’s pretty limited, but the brand plans to add more items in the future. 🙂

If you’re hungry for recommendations, you may want to check out the following…

  • Flowerchild, You’ll Look Like a Fly Damsel in the New Becca Halcyon Days Mineral Blush
  • Songbirds Sing, Gypsies Dance and Moonstones Shimmer on Becca Counters This Fall
  • Becca Mineral Blush in Wild Honey Creates Sweet Cheeks That Never Go Out of Style
  • Mauve Over, Heavy Makeup, and Make Room for Becca Eye Tint in Romanticism
  • When I Wear Becca Beach Tint in Fig, I Can’t Even Tell (and That’s the Idea)
  • With the New Becca Automatic Eye Pencils, the Extras Make the World Goa Round

I tweeted the gals at Becca to ask if the brand’s products will also be available in-stores, and from this tweet it sounds like all signs point to yes.

Becca’s been a little hard to track down over the last few years, so I’m so very, very excited about this!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 40 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Becca, News Keywords: becca

Songbirds Sing, Gypsies Dance and Moonstones Shimmer on Becca Counters This Fall

August 23rd, 2012 by Karen 32 Comments

becca songbird mineral blush
Wearing Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Moonstone and Blush in Songbird

Why? Because it was the early 90s.

That’s what I say now when I think about some of the things I did back in my late teens and early 20s.

Matte makeup was all the rage, and I’d slip on my plaid, button-down shirt over a floral print dress and black leggings, blast my worn out Nevermind tape in the car on the way to school, slick MAC Paramount on my lips and attack the day!

My little makeup bag was filled with matte goodies, like eyeliner, eyeshadow and face powder (I hadn’t yet discovered blush), and almost all of it was in shades of brown, oy vey!

When makeup shelves and counters started twinkling with shimmery makeup later in the decade, it was a revelation! — like the first time I had a salad with blueberries in it from Panera Bread (so tasty!). Suddenly, the makeup universe opened up before me, revealing new looks and ideas I never knew existed.

becca gypsy songbird shimmering skin perfector in moonstone
Clockwise from the bottle on the left: Shimmering Skin Perfector in Moonstone ($41), Mineral Blush in Gypsy ($32) and Mineral Blush in Songbird ($32)

There’s just something about shimmery makeup that always puts a spring in my step. No doubt, I still lurves me my mattes, but sometimes I need the lift I get from shimmers, like when I feel like my skin looks a little blah, like when I have a cold or bad allergies, or when I’m just having a really rough day.

Sooner or later, though, there always comes a time when I have to get serious again, and out come the matte lipsticks.

This fall, Becca is introducing three new shimmery pieces built to add a little bounce to your step. 🙂

Shimmering Skin Perfector in Moonstone ($41)

This water-based pearly golden beige behaves as both a sheer liquid highlighter and a moisturizer, illuminating while moisturizing and diffusing uneven skin tone.

Becca also incorporated antioxidants, and broad-spectrum SPF 20+ to protect against 96% of UVA/UBD rays. Plus and plus.

But the shimmer is my favorite thing about it. The mica particles are almost imperceptibly fine, so the product doesn’t spotlight my pores as much as many other highlighters can.

Kinda pricey, but I love the results. When I layer it under NARS tinted moisturizer, I feel like I look 10 years younger! And so far it hasn’t broken me out (knock on wood).
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A-

Mineral Blush in Gypsy ($32)

I’m a sucker for Becca’s baffling Mineral Blushes. How can they be so easy to blend and yet so pigmented at the same time?? Awesome!

And I love their approach to shimmer. It’s never too obvious. Just right.

Gypsy, a delicate neutral pink with golden pearl, gives a soft, natural glow to cheeks. love

It may be a little too light for some darker damsels, but light-to-medium skin tones might just fall in love.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A

Mineral Blush in Songbird ($32)

With a name like Songbird, it had to be great. 🙂 A new addition to Becca’s Mineral Blush line, Songbird is a warm, heavily pigmented peach pink with golden pearl, and seeing as how I love warm, peachy pink blushes, I was hoping Becca would hit this one out of the park…

They did!

Brighter and more intense than Gypsy, I think it still finds a way to look natural. Nothing clownish here, and if you crave even more color from Songbird, it’s also buildable.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A+

becca gypsy mineral blush
Gypsy

becca songbird mineral blush
Songbird
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There are 32 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Becca, Collections, Face, Makeup, Product Reviews Keywords: becca

Celebrating 10 Years of Makeup With the Multi-Use Becca Anniversary Palettes

April 19th, 2012 by Karen 16 Comments

becca anniversary palettes
Wearing the Becca Anniversary Palette in Vintage Jewel on my cheeks and lips

Oh, Starbucks Soy Chai Latte… You’ve powered me through countless first drafts. But sometimes you can be sooo demanding! Sorry, but isn’t it better to hear bad news from a friend?

It might not always be obvious, but when we meet at Starbucks in the mornings, I’m usually…asleep. Or very nearly. It’s often terribly early, but I look forward to our visits, and so I’ve made some time-saving adjustments to my regular makeup routine in order to make our appointments.

I know you’ve wondered about my cheeks…and how they can look so fresh and flushed, and how my lips can look so glossy, so early in the morning.

You see, I have a secret, and I’m about to share it with you (because that’s what BFFs do). The credit goes to Becca’s new Anniversary Palettes.

Becca recently released two $36 limited edition palettes to commemorate their 10-year anniversary (makeup-versary?), and they’re both really great for creating quick makeup looks without a lot fuss.

Both Dusty Rose and Vintage Jewel come with four cream products each (a Lip & Cheek Crème, a Crème Blush, a Lip Gloss and a Crème Highlighter) in a mix of new and old shades, which I usually use my fingers to apply (because I lack the coordination for brush work so soon after dawn). The palettes are about the size of a regular powder compact, and they come with what looks like a makeup Snuggie — a cute chocolate brown zippered pouch.

becca vintage jewel
Vintage Jewel includes 1) Lip & Cheek Crème in Snapdragon (a bright orange pink, new), 2) Crème Blush in Hyacinth (a bright watermelon pink, repromote), 3) Lip Gloss in Cosmopolitan (a deep berry shimmer, new) and 4) Crème Highlighter in Beechnut (a golden bronze, new)

One thing I admire about Becca is how well they seem to understand girls on the go, because the last thing I have time for when I’m rushing out the door at 6:30 in the morning is a smokey eye and a layered lip look with liner, lipstick and gloss. And maybe I don’t want to spend 15 or more minutes on my makeup. With the Anniversary Palettes, I can look refreshed and put-together in less than 5.

Say it’s the crack of dawn… I splash some water on my face, apply sunscreen, fill in my brows, swipe a little concealer under my eyes, and curl my lashes. Then, I grab one of the Becca Anniversary Palettes, blend a bit of Crème Blush and Crème Highlighter on my cheeks, and pat either the Lip & Cheek Crème or the Lip Gloss on my lips.

The blushes and highlighters last a good 6-8 hours on me, and the lip products, about 2 (I also have to reapply them after meals).

becca dusty rose anniversary palette
Dusty Rose includes 1) Lip & Cheek Crème in Tuberose (a coral pink, repromote), 2) Crème Blush in Turkish Rose (a rosy nude, repromote), 3) Lip Gloss in Cassini (a pink, new) and 4) Crème Highlighter in Narcissus (an opalescent peach, repromote)

becca anniversary palette swatches
Swatches from the left: Vintage Jewel Palette with 1) Lip & Cheek Crème in Snapdragon, 2) Crème Blush in Hyacinth, 3) Lip Gloss in Cosmopolitan and 4) Crème Highlighter in Beechnut; Dusty Rose Palette with 5) Lip & Cheek Crème in Tuberose, 6) Crème Blush in Turkish Rose, 7) Lip Gloss in Cassini and 8 ) Crème Highlighter in Narcissus
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There are 16 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Becca, Makeup, Product Reviews Keywords: becca

Me Encanta la Becca Balearic Love Nail Colours

April 12th, 2012 by Karen 8 Comments

becca balearic love nail colour

Looks good on Saturday

Greetings from (now) sunny Novato! — home of the most intense hailstorm I’ve experienced in years.

No joke. Last night around 3 in the morning, I awoke to the most frightening sound! A roar of thunder that shook my world to its foundation (and must have terrified Tabs), and then a deafening tick-tack-tack sound from what I quickly realized was hail pelting the house.

It wasn’t raining when I went to bed last night, but the storm must have blown in from the ocean some time after midnight. El Hub said he was awake for a little while before the thunderous boom that jolted me awake, laying there with his eyes closed. He saw the flash of lightning through his closed eyelids, and then the counting, 1-2-3, before the big boom. Three miles from the heart of the storm.

SCARY!

Anywho, the weather looks pretty good now, both here and in the Balearic Islands (in case you were wondering). Partly cloudy and mid-sixties? I’ll take that, and to go with it, swatches of the three Nail Colours from the new Becca Balearic Love collection, $15 each. 🙂

The first thing I noticed about these polishes — I mean, after the colors — is how thick they are. Two coats deliver full coverage.

I really like the wide brush! It just sweeps over the nail, covering such a large area that I only need about three swipes per layer.

I’m still testing for wear time, but so far so good. Here are some swatches to whet your appetite.

Becca Wine Red
Wine Red

Becca Sandy Nude
Sandy Nude
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There are 8 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Becca, Nails Keywords: becca

Mauve Over, Heavy Makeup, and Make Room for Becca Eye Tint in Romanticism

April 10th, 2012 by Karen 20 Comments

becca eye tint in romanticism

Lately, like a good love song, Becca Eye Tint in Romanticism ($24) has been my weekend jam! Since I haven’t been in the mood to wear a full eye look on Saturdays and Sundays, I’ve been turning to this creamy eye tint in a tube.

A lightly tinted mauve with silver shimmer and a finish with a glint of gloss, this cream-to-powder eyeshadow from Becca’s Balearic Love collection may not be flashy, but I sure do like how it looks. I love that when I stand a few feet away from a mirror, I can tell that I’m wearing a little color on my lids, but I don’t feel like I’m wearing a ton of makeup.

For more on the Becca Balearic Love collection, check out…

  • Becca Balearic Love’s Violet and Bronze Line and Define Pencil in Cabrera Beckons Brown, Green and Hazel Eyes
  • Roses Are Red Before They’re Pink With Becca Sheer Tint Lip Colour in Valentina
  • Becca Mineral Blush in Bolero Gets Better as the Day Wears On

It’s one of those products that doesn’t broadcast itself over the loudspeakers, if you catch my drift. People will think to themselves, “Pretty! She did something different with her look today, but I’m not sure exactly what…” Like getting highlights a shade or two lighter or darker than your natural hair color, Romanticism might not be obvious at first, but it’s easy to spot upon closer inspection.

With a dewy finish, it looks a little bit wet to me, like a raven-haired mermaid’s lids when she pokes her head above the water.

And speaking of water, that’s something Romanticism was designed to resist. It does a decent job, too, holding up fine to rainy days and light workouts. Now, I wouldn’t wear it to spend the day at the beach or pool, but it can stand a little water (for a full day of frolicking in the surf, the Make Up For Ever Aqua Creams might be a better bet).

becca romanticism

becca romanticism swatch
Romanticism unblended (left) and blended (right)
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There are 20 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Becca, Eyes, Makeup, Product Reviews Keywords: becca

Becca Mineral Blush in Bolero Gets Better as the Day Wears On

April 9th, 2012 by Karen 31 Comments

becca bolero blush

I was quite the Flowerchild back in my Becca Halcyon Days. Yup, they called me Damselfly…

When Flowerchild and Damselfly, two of Becca’s flawless Mineral Blushes from last spring’s Becca Halcyon Days collection, worked their way into my heart and my everyday makeup routine, it was just like the first time I tasted bubble tea. I wanted, needed, craved them 24/7 for weeks.

Mmmm, tapioca pearls…

With the Balearic Love collection, the compact Becca Mineral Blush clan grows by one member. Bolero ($32), a bronze with faint reddish tones and the sole blush in the release, is just as pigmented, easy to apply, long-lasting and resistant to fading as the other Mineral Blushes I’ve tried, but those pluses aren’t even my favorite things about it.

What makes Bolero really stand out to me is how it just seems to look better and better over the course of the day.

I’ve been trying to unravel its secret, and I keep coming back to one thing: the finish. Becca loves combining shimmers and mattes (like Cabrera liner, also from Balearic Love), and with Bolero and its semi/demi-matte finish, they’ve done it again.

Bolero rides into town on a mostly matte finish with a super subtle sheen, but as the day wears on and oil builds up on my skin, Bolero turns up the radiant shine (picture a gal holding her surfboard on the cover of Shape). I’ve been wearing it as both a blush and a bronzer for sun-kissed, sculpted looks.

I also love how Bolero caters to my lazy side looks when it’s worn with minimal makeup. Over the past couple weeks, I’ve tried it on top of bare skin, tinted moisturizer and full-coverage liquid foundation, and it seems like the less makeup I wear with it, the better Bolero looks.

becca bolero blush

becca bolero swatch
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There are 31 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Becca, Face, Makeup, Product Reviews Keywords: becca

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