Milani Blush In Romantic Rose 01 Review With Swatches

Milani Romantic Rose 01

I've been lusting after this blush for eons. Ever since it came out and I heard it was a dupe for Tarte's Exposed I knew I had to have it. I didn't want to fork out the extra dough if I didn't have to on the Tarte blush- I'm always in for a good dupe. Since I don't own Tarte's Exposed I can't say if they are in fact dupes but the swatches online looked good enough to me.

It's difficult to find Milani products where I live and the one store that sells Milani near me is always sold out. Luckily, I found Milani online at Canadian retailer Well.ca and it was on sale for $8.49 from $9.99. Plus, my blogger friend gave me a code to get $10 off my order! I couldn't wait any longer and ordered this blush along with some other goods as I had to spend $40 to get the $10 off, but luckily we were in need of some other items too. And, shipping was free so I couldn't resist. Well.ca is new to me. After looking around their site, I found a ton of health and beauty brands that I love. They also had sales on several brands (including Milani at the time). It looks like they change the sales weekly.

I was so excited when my blush arrived as I've wanted it for so long. I immediately had to check my rather large blush collection for dupes (I'm a huge blush lover!)... to my surprise, I have nothing even close to this shade! yay!

I would describe Romantic Rose as a nude, warm, rosy-brown that is matte. I was afraid it would make me look ruddy, but luckily it doesn't at all. It's a great neutral colour that goes with any makeup look. I've been reaching for it constantly since it arrived! It performs like a high-end blush, I can't believe it was under $10, and the pan is huge at 17 grams!!

The blush has a creamy feel to it that I wasn't expecting, most of my powder blushes are much drier. It made me think that it may not blend well and go on patchy, yet it blended smoothly and evenly over my setting powder.

It's much more pigmented than I was expecting, so even on my tanned summer skin, a light hand and tapping of the brush is required.

Milani Romantic Rose 01

$9.99 / 17 grams

Get ready for a swatch-fest. I took several pictures of swatches on my inner arm, the back of my hand and at different angles. The back of my hand is tanned so you can see how it looks on medium skin tone. The inner part of my arm is fairer, so you'll see how it swatches on lighter skin tone. I have also shown the colour as I built it up.

In the next photo, I built up the colour more.

I give this blush 5 stars! Not only for the unique and beautiful colour that goes with any look, but also for pigmentation and lasting power. Never mind that it's under $10 and you get 17 grams of product! My only regret is waiting so long to purchase it.

Milani is also a cruelty-free brand.

I'm always on the lookout for a good dupe. Let me know in the comments if you know of any!

If you've never shopped at Well.ca you can also save $10 off a $40 purchase with promo code "healthbeauty10" (valid until September 16, 2016).

Makeup Brush Storage & Organization On A Budget!

I was doing my weekly makeup brush deep cleansing and I thought I should share with you how I store and organize them.

It may be an old idea to some of you, but hopefully, it will be helpful to others who maybe haven't seen or thought of this as a way to organize makeup brushes.

I purchased this great pen / office organizer for a few dollars at Home Sense. I thought it would make a great makeup brush organizer because of the dividers. This way I could separate my makeup brushes by type.

I think it's the perfect size. I keep my brushes that are not in use stored in makeup bags that are put away. This just houses my brushes that are in use (and yes, it holds all the brushes shown in the photo of my brushes drying on the towel above!)

Since there are 4 quadrants, I organized them by eye brushes, blush, bronzer & highlight, and face.

This system is working great for me! 

Here is where they are actually stored on my desk.

 I would rather keep the brushes inside my desk but due to a poor design, the drawer only opens 1/2 way so I lose 1/2 the space. ugh.. it's a "youtube made me do it" horrible purchase.

Ironically, after reading an article in a magazine about how it's not good to keep makeup in the bathroom due to humidity, I googled how to store makeup and that is how I discovered the wonderful world of beauty on Youtube and the web.

I also purchased this mail organizer to keep my makeup palettes in, but it just puts too much clutter on my desk for me. I ended up using for it's intended use (paperwork). 

Some of you may not mind having your palettes out and this would be a good way to organize them. Again, probably not new to a lot of you makeup junkies like me. 

I hope you liked seeing how I store my makeup brushes. I love organizing and I'm always looking out for new and better ways to do it. 

Let me know if you have any organizing tips!

PS. Come and join all the blogger linkup fun over at Fabulous and Fun Life & Best of the Blogosphere

Amy

xoxo

$1 Eye Makeup Brushes: 224, 222 and 217. Mac Dupes!?

Recently, I heard about these "Mac dupe" brushes selling on eBay and I had to check them out. At $1 a piece with FREE shipping, I felt I really couldn't go wrong. Here are the four that I purchased.  

From the top: #224 #224 #222 #217

The close up pictures above and below are after washing them two times and using them for two weeks,

My order:

Pictured above is a screenshot of my eBay purchase. 

As I mentioned, I heard that these were dupes for Mac brushes and I was in need of some pointed crease brushes. Again, not much to lose since they are $1 per brush and FREE shipping! yay!

I can't tell you how they compare to Mac brushes since I don't own any Mac ones, but I can tell you that I am LOVING these brushes! I can honestly say that I have been using these 4 brushes on the daily since I got them, and I haven't touched any of my other eye brushes since! Yes, I'm loving them that much. 

How they arrived:

They are really soft and washed well with no shedding. They also work amazingly well and blend my makeup like a dream. The handles feel like high quality IMO and each are stamped with their corresponding number. I would never guess that these are low-end brushes, let alone $1!

Insta Pic:

I ordered:
 2 x #224

1 x #222

1 x 217

I am so happy with my purchase and if I need anymore brushes I would definitely order these again or some others from this seller. Of course, only time will tell how they will hold up in the long run, but so far, so good. *Fingers crossed

Note: I've had some people on Instagram ask for a link. I will provide a link to one of the brushes from my purchase (not affiliate), but keep in mind that it may eventually expire. In that case I would recommend searching on eBay for makeup brushes with the number you are looking for eg. ``eye makeup brush 224`

eBay link: eBay makeup brush #224

I love finding great buys and bargains, so please leave a comment if you have any to share! Or, have you found any great bargains or dupes for higher end products?

All products were purchased by me and all opinions are my own.

ps. Come join the fun at a Blogger link up party over at a fabulousandfunlife

Amy
xx