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3 of My Favorite Affordable Unsung Makeup Heroes

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unsung makeup heroes
Coty Airspun Loose Face Powder, The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes Palettes, and Maybelline Full n’ Soft Waterproof Mascara

The long-running Unsung Heroes series here on Makeup and Beauty Blog features some of our all-time favorite permanent collection products.

When I was looking through all of my makeup, trying to decide what I should write about for a Makeup Unsung Heroes post, I realized that most of what I have are things that everyone else loves, and that’s probably why I bought them. Rarely do I just go out and buy a product because I think it looks good. But sometimes those are the best ones!

Here are three products that I sort of took a chance on and ended up loving, and I think you might like them, too. 🙂

Coty Airspun Loose Face Powder

When I heard about Coty Airspun Loose Face Powder, it was only about $7 bucks, and I was using a super expensive Makeup Forever powder at the time. I wanted to find something cheaper, and I was really loving how loose powders worked, especially for baking under the eyes.

The first time I tried it, I used my beautyblender and pressed it into my concealer under my eyes. The soft formula made my under-eye area feel like silk, ’cause it kind of absorbed the concealer. It made everything look perfect under my eyes, and that’s mostly why I love it.

I also use it to set the rest of my face, and here’s a trick. If you put a little bit more than you normally would where you’re going to be putting your contour, that helps your contour not go all patchy, like mine tends to do sometimes. It just helps everything blend so much better on top.

If you’re really sensitive to scented makeup, this is probably the strongest smelling makeup item I have. It literally smells like the strongest synthetic floral scent in the word, and it reminds me of how my mom’s makeup used to smell in the ’90s. Good thing I can only smell it when I’m applying it, and I don’t smell it on my face the rest of the day.

But just a fair warning if you’re super sensitive to fragrances.

unsung makeup heroes coty airspun powder
Coty Airspun Loose Face Powder ($7)

The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes Palettes

I actually used to work at The Body Shop, so I got a chance to try a lot of different things that I honestly would have never thought to pick up on my own, and one of my favorites from the store that I used to sell to everybody that came in were these The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes Palettes ($22 each).

I love both of these two. One is in these gorgeous, kind of gold-y, bronze-y, pink-y colors, and the other has shades of teal and blue, which are awesome for adding pops of color.

But the main reason I love these is because they have the most amazing metallic shimmer finish, and you can use them wet or dry.

When you use them dry, they do go pretty sheer, which I like in this case for a sheer wash of shimmer over the lids, for just like a summer daytime look, but when I’m going, like, buh-bam! with my eye shadow, I get them wet and pat them on the lid, and it’s amazing. I love them.

I also love the line’s single eye shadows, maybe even more than these. They’re just as pigmented as MAC shadows, and they act just the same way. But they’re actually quite a bit cheaper.

That was one thing I loved to show customers in the store. I would just walk over and rub my finger in one of the shadows, and people would be amazed at how pigmented they are.

Unfortunately, I lost my The Body Shop single eye shadows, sadly, so I couldn’t take pictures of them. 🙁 So I need to order some more.

The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes Palettes ($22 each)
The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes Palettes ($22 each)

unsung makeup heroes the body shop shimmer cubes

Maybelline Full n’ Soft Waterproof Mascara

I can’t even believe how much I’ve talked about Maybelline Full n’ Soft Waterproof Mascara (about $8) on my blog. I’ve recommended it to everybody I know.

It’s honestly one of my greatest discoveries, but before I discovered it, I was having a lot of problems with my lashes not holding a curl. It also seemed like every mascara I put on would transfer to my lids, or under my eyes, and it would ruin my makeup.

So I set out to find a mascara that would hold a curl, and then I heard about this one. I gave it a try, and now I freaking love it.

When you put it on, it goes on really softly, and it just adds a little bit of fullness and length. It has amazing separation, too, so you don’t have clumpy lashes at all, and you can leave it there, but I normally don’t. I normally like to add a second or third coat to kinda pump them up a little for these amazingly separated, fluffy lashes.

Or, I’ll use a separate mascara on top, but whatever you put on top of it it ends of working that much better. Just curl your lashes, then put this on. It’s going to stay put until you take it off, and it’s going to hold that curl from your eyelash curler.

Maybelline Full n’ Soft Waterproof Mascara ($8)
Maybelline Full n’ Soft Waterproof Mascara ($8)

Maybelline Full n’ Soft Waterproof Mascara

I know, it’s kind of scary to try products that you haven’t heard much about, but honestly, get out there and try stuff, ’cause a lot of the time, it leads to finding some of the best products. Because it’s really hard for every blog to write about every good product, so there’s a lot of good things out there that aren’t getting attention.

So…ya! OK, bye.

Jen Clark


Hi, beautiful! I’m Jen from Jen Leigh Beauty. Now, rather than just talking to myself about makeup, I write it down in a blog. Besides being madly in love with anything I can smear on my face (and sharing pics on Instagram), I’m more in love with my hunky husband, my sweet 2-year-old, and my fluffy fur baby. Thank goodness they put up with the madness, because I love chatting about my favorite things with people who understand the addiction.

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Comments

  1. Ah! Maybelline full n soft mascara has been on my wishlist forever! Have to get it soon.. Does it come off easily? Which remover do u use?

    Reply

    • Get it! I promise you won’t regret it! It actually comes off fairly easily for being a waterproof mascara. I just use the Garnier Waterproof Micellar Water and it works like a charm. I’ve used it with normal makeup removers as well and they work just as great!
      Jen Clark recently posted … What’s In My Bag?

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  2. Full N Soft has been my ride-or-die mascara for the last couple years. Whenever a new, flashy mascara comes out I run and buy it, thinking this will surely outrank that unassuming, boring silver tube found at the very bottom of every Maybelline display at CVS, but I ALWAYS come back to it. I’ve never found anything I like as much and I’ve tried hundreds at this point so I should really just give it up.

    Reply

  4. I love full n soft, but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere for a while, same with the Coty Powder.. Haven’t seen it for ages, and I know my CVS used to carry it. I’ve actually been looking for it, and can’t find it! Wah!! 🙂

    Reply

    • Oh no! I would die if I couldn’t find them! Pretty much everywhere should carry the mascara, but it can be hard to spot. Usually it’s tucked away at the bottom of the display and there’s usually only a couple. As far as the powder, I’m pretty sure I found mine at Walgreens, maybe try there! Good Luck!
      Jen Clark recently posted … What’s In My Bag?

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  5. That Maybelline mascara is literally the one I use every day. I love it! It gives my lashes enough definition without being too dark or extreme for daytime. And I love that they make a waterproof version!

    Reply

  9. Jen, I have a question about the Coty face powder. When you apply it with a beauty blender, do you use the blender dry or wet? That’s always confused me about loose powders and beauty blenders!

    Reply

    • I use it damp! It’s not sopping wet or anything. You just want to be sure to wash it almost immediately after, I feel like if you didn’t the powder might start to kind of cake up in the sponge and make it gross! Honestly though, I’m sure you could get the same result using it dry. 🙂
      Jen Clark recently posted … What’s In My Bag?

      Reply

  11. I’ve been hearing a lot about that Coty powder lately. I’ll have to give it a shot. Also the mascara sounds great. How does it work on uncurled lashes?

    Reply

    • I’m so glad other people are talking about the powder too! I’ve only heard of it from one other person and I feel like it should have way more attention. I actually NEVER put mascara on without curling my lashes because they pretty much grow strait down, it’s so sad haha! I’m sure it would still work great though if you’ve got a normal curl in your lashes.
      Jen Clark recently posted … What’s In My Bag?

      Reply

  12. Those shimmer cubes look so pretty! I’m allergic to heavy florals in face products, and allergic to Maybelline mascaras, so I can’t wear those. 🙁

    Reply

      • I’m all about shimmer! 🙂 I’ll definitely check out the shimmer cubes. Thanks for spot-lighting them. I’d heard of them, but they were never really on my radar.

        Reply

    • I’ve actually never tried that! That is an AMAZING idea though, I will have to try that soon. I think it would work great because they’ve got a high luminosity without having chunky glitter, so the lighter shades would probably look gorgeous on the cheek bones!
      Jen Clark recently posted … What’s In My Bag?

      Reply

  16. I was thinking about the shimmer cubes, since The Body Shop expanded their lip and cheek stain shades. Full and Soft mascara makes my eyes itch like crazy though! Shame, because it looks really nice.

    Reply

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