Let me start off by saying... I love Milani products! Their blushes, eye shadows, and eye liner are all fabulous and equivalent to that of department store brands. This is why I decided to try their cream foundation. (Well, the persuasive MakeupAlley reviews helped, too.)

My hopes were high. I've tried cream foundations before: Revlon New Compexion (smudges too easily, but good coverage), various Clinique compacts, Max Factor's Pan-Stik (mineral oil city), and probably others along the way. I had been using Milani's mineral compact prior to this, which I like a lot, and I figured this cream foundation would up the ante, coverage and moisture-wise. Boy, was I wrong.

First off, this product has a strong scent. It smells like, for lack of better terms, "old lady makeup". It has that heavy baby powder perfume odor. Actually, it smells just like Max Factor's foundation. I can't stand it, especially not on my own face. Strike one!

Now, I purchased the shade called "Buff" because in the minerals, I am "Nude Buff" and usually colors tend to correspond. Well, the Buff shade was too light. There are about 4 color choices at my CVS, so I knew I wasn't going to find a closer match than this even if I attempted to go back. Strike two! The coverage was mediocre. You could see the streaks that this formula applied in, and it was difficult to blend because it turned to that thick "powder" so quickly. Once it "sets" it looks a little better... but for this just wasn't agreeing with my face, and certainly wasn't the look I was going for. Yup, that's the third strike, ladies.

No one with a large pore problem, combination skin, or dry skin should try this. Ever. It will settle into every pore and highlight bumps and flakes like no one's business. Bumps and flakes should instead, truly be no one's business! They should be treated, exfoliated off, moisturized, and covered, if necessary. Milani failed at the covering part. I'd say the coverage was about light to medium, but if I even built up to medium my face would've caked up and shriveled dry. If Milani was benched at this point for striking out, they would now just be kicked out of the game entirely for creating this product.

So, overall, I am genuinely disappointed. MakeupAlley had be fooled with their "100% of reviewers would rebuy" statistic. Milani had me fooled with their otherwise good product reputation. Maybe this foundation works for some ladies, but not me... soooo, back to CVS it went! Gotta love that beauty-buyback guarantee!

Another lip addiction! I have lately been using Juice Organics (NOT Juice Beauty) Lip Amplifier and I really like it so far :)

It comes in a squeezy tube with a slanted tip, and is a thick cream consistency with a slighty creamy citrus scent. I really like the idea of organic cosmetics and skincare so this product was really appealing. This product is called Lip Amplifier because it is supposed to naturally plump up and hydrate lips. It is made with certified organic ingredients, and I don't know if it is so much a plumper as just a nice moisturizer, but I like it! There is no bad tingle, and no cinnamon burn.

I purchased this for $3.75 at CVS on the clearance table!! It is also available in it's new packaging at Ulta for about $10.

If you can find it, and you like the idea of a lip balm in a tube instead of a stick... try this out!

Ok, I wanted to give this product a while to work so I've waited 2-3 weeks to review. This is the second eye product I've used... as I'm not really showing any signs where I'd feel I'd need one, but just as a preventative measure. If anything, I was dealing with some dark circles, little bags and occasional puffiness. (That's all, lol!)

So I put L'Oreal's Skin Genesis Eye Serum (also called Derma Genesis if not in the U.S., I believe) to the test... and I think it is a very good product. I am also using Almond Oil in conjunction, as I've previously mentioned, around my eye area so that could be helping to combat my issues as well. I just apply a tiny, tiny, dot of this serum to my ring or pinkie finger after washing and moisturizing my face and gently pat it onto the area under my eye, smoothing it around until it is evenly applied. I do this two times a day.

This product is very gentle and has not caused milia or any dryness. Yesterday, my mom told me that I did not have dark circles and I wouldn't need to find an eye cream (she wasn't aware that I had already been using this product for weeks). Basically, that sums it up for me... this product MUST be working because I definitely did have dark circles before and now they are practically nonexistent!

I can't say much about the firming aspect of this because, as I said, I am somewhat young to be experiencing under-eye wrinkles/crow's feet, etc. The other eye product I've tried in the past was L'Oreal's Dermo-Expertise Eye Defense... which truly did nothing at all. I think Skin Genesis is working so far, and I'm overall pretty happy with it!

This product is available at CVS for just around $20!

If you're in the market for a new eye treatment, give this a shot! :)

After much avoidance, "upscale" drugstore brand Lumene finally reeled me in. I picked up their Beauty Base, Vitamin C+ Energy Cocktail, and Double Stay Mineral Foundation at my local CVS.

Now, not gonna lie, but on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give the beauty base a 4. I don't want to mess around, so I think that is fair and to the point. Its priced at $10, which is not bad at all. The packaging looks very professional and classy, so no complaints there either. There is no real scent to this product either, which is a plus. The label claims that it "fades out fine lines and imperfections optically" and that your makeup will "glide on unbelievably smoothly and stay in place beautifully even for several hours (also on oily skin)".

From my brief experience with this product, I don't think that these claims are accurate. My skin still oiled up after only 3 hours of use, and my pores are still visible. My makeup applied the same way, with or without this product. Superficially, the product was very promising, but in actuality, it did nothing good or bad. Not worth it. Even beauty secret Monistat Soothing Care Gel ($7) performs as a better primer than this!

And... speaking of let downs, I also tried Lumene's Double Stay Mineral Makeup, which is a brand new liquid mineral foundation. It was very expensive for a drugstore brand, at around $16. The color match was great, but I found that the product settled into my deeper acne scars, highlighting them more than I'd like. If you have poreless, lineless, scarless skin, I'd really suggest giving this a try... because otherwise it seems like it might settle and not cover as much as it should. I bought the one for Combo/Oily skin, so of course it seemed to highlight dry patches as well.

They did have a tester on the display, but on my hand it was much less problematically noticeable. It did feel nice on though, and I feel like it would control oil, but I just couldn't handle it. I really wanted to love it, but it just wasn't happening. I tried it again on my whole face this time and the excessive fragrance in there made my face itch!

Also, just FYI: This was my first attempt back with liquid foundation after months and months of Milani Compact Minerals. I will stick to my Milani, thank you very much.

Lastly, after reading good reviews on MakeupAlley for their Vitamin C+ Energy Cocktail (previously called Pampering Drops I believe), I attempted to try this product as well. Well, seconds from taking it out of the package, this bottle is gorgeous by the way, I realized that it had the same excessive fragrance that upset my skin in the Mineral foundation. At this point I'd had enough. No go, and no way for $20. Bye bye, Lumene.

The verdict: Mediocre Primer, Bad Mineral Liquid Foundation, Potentially good Moisturizer but I won't give it a shot. I feel like they are making products that you just plain and simple don't really need either way. A good marketing ploy by CVS but I just am not buying into it, even if I wanted to love them. They are way overpriced, even though the packaging is classy and the products claim to be loaded with quality ingredients like "cloudberry" and such, whatever that is. I should've trusted my instincts! All three are going back to CVS tonight, by the way.

Well, thanks anyway Lumene, for giving me something to blog about!