May Hits and Misses

May flew by so quickly! I feel like I blinked and the weeks literally passed by in minutes. I’m rounding up this month’s hits and misses in beauty. I have a little bit of everything from skincare, hair care, complexion products and other makeup items.

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Chanel Favorites

I’ve loved a lot of new launches from Chanel this month. They’ve been on a roll with new releases in makeup, skincare and fragrance. My favorites:

• CC Cream with SPF 50 * is my favorite CC cream with medium coverage, I wear either shade 30 or 40 (application and review here)
• Le Vernis in Afterglow, Open Air and Purple Ray* from cruise are the prettiest ones I think I’ve seen in a while from Chanel, I’m really loving the purples! (swatches here)
• Rouge Coco Flash (my picks here, cruise colors swatched here) are among my most-worn for an effortless swipe and go kind of lip color
• Les Beiges Water Fresh Tint in Medium (review here) is all kinds of wonderful for a natural glow
• Hydra Beauty Camellia Water Cream* is probably my favorite moisturizer of the month, it has a lightweight texture and adds hydration and leaves the skin feeling softly refreshed and glowing, it works well with their foundations and after using this regularly skin feels more radiant and plump
• L’Eau Micellar Water* is a new launch from Chanel, it’s a cleansing water that has a soft refreshing feel to it, it’s alcohol-free and gentle, it is scented similar to their Hydra Beauty line but isn’t irritating or overpowering, I use this as a first step for cleansing

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Hair Care Hits and Misses

I’m on my third round of highlights and for some reason this time my hair has been so high maintenance. I feel the strong sun, salty ocean water, hard water plus beach time has been giving my hair so much grief. I’ve tried a number of shampoos and conditioners for color treated hair, most have been mediocre at best for color maintenance. I finally found something I love:

• Hits include:
  • Kerastase Blond Absolu line has been overall one of the best for me to maintain highlights for me. I’ve tried three things from the line so far including the Anti-Brass Purple Shampoo (I use this 1x per week and leave on for a few minutes), I use the Hydrating Illuminating Shampoo almost daily to cleanse and I’ve been loving the Strengthening Ciccaflash Conditioner. All three lather well and rinse even in Florida water.
  • Moroccanoil Hydrating Styling Cream* has been a life saver for dry hair, I can’t rave about this enough! It hydrates, conditions and reduces frizz.
  • Briogeo Farewell Frizz Blow Dry Heat Protectant Creme is my favorite blow-dry heat protector, it also works if I apply after to smooth out flyaways without weighing down my hair.
  • P.S. I’m still loving Olaplex (review here) – it’s great but for me it’s more for strengthening versus for color-maintenance.
• Misses
  • Kerastase Reflection Sulfate Free Shampoo and Reflection Conditioner were recommended to me by a friend, she swore by it! I kept using both until they were finished, but these were among the worst for me. I suspect it just does not work with Florida water. They would not lather well or rinse easily and they did nothing to maintain or protect color.
  • Oribe also came highly recommended. I really love their styling products so I am so sad to report that their Bright Blonde Shampoo and Shampoo for Beautiful Color did not work for me. I also used their corresponding conditioners when testing. The blonde one left my hair on the stringy side and the beautiful color option did not rinse well. I feel like their Gold Lust formula is far superior and I still love the Cleansing Cream. The color shampoos + conditioners (and mask) were an expensive miss for my hair.

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Most-Worn Nail Polishes
(also the ones asked about the most!)

I rotate nail polishes quite frequently but these are my most-worn polishes. Anytime I have my hand showing on Instagram, stories, blog posts I get tons of questions about what I’m wearing. I try to list and label them as much as possible, these are the ones that get the most questions:

• OPI Machu Peachu is my favorite peachy nude cream
• OPI Samoan Sand is sheer and I usually apply 3 coats, it’s a sheer beige
• Chanel Le Vernis in Jaspe* is the best coral cream, I’ve loved this on the toes too! (swatches also here)
• OPI Tiramisu for Two is a neutral pale nude pink
• Essie Bare with Me is a soft peachy pink cream
• Essie Topless and Barefoot is another great nude pink beige

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Complexion / Glow / Bronzers

I feel like right now everything is still focused on getting that healthy glow. This month was filled with so many hits! I will have a full bronzer/glow post coming up soon, for now the best ones I tried this month:

• Charlotte Tilbury Glowgasm Palette in Lovegasm has the ultimate glow for medium to tan complexions (full review + swatches here)
• Natasha Denona Tan Bronze and Glow Palette is probably going to be my holy grail bronze and glow palette of the season (review here)
• Fenty Beauty Sun Stalk’r Bronzer in Shady Biz is the best matte bronze for my skin tone right now, I also tried the Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter in Afternoon Snack/Mo’ Hunny and am so impressed by how smooth and beautiful the shimmer is (review soon)
• L’Oreal True Match Lumi Bronze It is the best budget-bronzer I’ve tried (on the face here)
• Maybelline Master Chrome Metallic Highlighter is one of the creamiest powder highlighters I’ve tried, if you want a beautiful budget option this formula is excellent!
• Also wanted to mention that a new favorite base combo is the Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Primer + Soft Matte Foundation, the trick to getting this look smooth is using the primer with the foundation, my match is 235, it stays on all day, doesn’t oxidize too much (warms up just a little after it dries) and looks flawless!

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Eyes and Lips

This month’s favorites for lips and eyes include:

• Tom Ford Acqua Metal Shadow in Violet Argente (swatches here)
• Charlotte Tilbury Eyes to Mesmerize in Rose Gold (swatches here)
• Pat McGrath LUST Gloss in Faux Real* (swatches here)
• NARS Oil-Infused Lip Tint in Orgasm (review here)
• Hourglass Unreal Lip Gloss in Truth (swatches of all my picks here)

The biggest miss for me was:

• Dior Addict Stellar Shine in D-Galaxy – hauled this during the Sephora sale and it swatched so pretty on my hand, on my lips it’s a very slippery oily feeling glittery mess, perhaps the other colors are better, this one did not work for me!

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Skincare Hits and Misses

I’ve had so many issues with sunscreens this year on the face and body. I am testing one more formula and then I’m done and will most likely stick with my go-to’s. I can’t deal with the recovery time for allergic reactions. Right now my arms and legs are covered with bumps from my last test. It’s been a painful week for me. I just discovered that some sunscreens will cause a reaction when exposed to sunlight. I’ve also had ones that I’ve had an allergy to just from testing indoors. Full sunscreen post as soon as I’m done testing this one last formula (for those curious I’m testing out a couple from EltaMD).

The biggest misses:

• Kopari Sundaze Mineral Sunscreen with SPF 30 – some people say that mineral is better than chemical for those with sensitive skin. I’ve tried both types and for me there’s really no guarantee because there are other ingredients to take into account. I’m not entirely sure what caused a reaction in this one, but it left a white cast on my face and within a couple hours tiny red bumps started to appear. Even after washing off it left my skin bumpy everywhere and it took a solid week for my face to go back to normal.
• Neutrogena Hydroboost Water Gel Lotion with SPF 50 worked amazingly on my face when I tested it so I thought I found a winner. The day I tested it I was indoors the entire day and had no issues. Our next beach trip I applied it on my arms and legs (rest of my face/body I had something else on to test/compare). By the time we got back home my arms and legs started to develop swelling spots. They turned into red bumps everywhere. It does contain oxybenzone which I suspect could be the culprit for my allergy when exposed to direct sun, but I’ve tried Neutrogena formulas before and never had issues. As I’m writing this post my arms and legs are still recovering.

The hits:

• Tatcha Silken Pore Perfecting Sunscreen is one of my favorites that won’t irritate my face. It also lasts long on my skin and doesn’t leave a white cast. Since it does adhere well to the face I recommend you be extra thorough with cleansing to fully remove it.
• Tatcha Dewy Skin Cream* has been really nice as my skin has felt dry for months with the air conditioning I’m in constantly. It has a nice rich texture that is surprisingly not too heavy for my skin type.
• Glamglow Supertone Exfoliating Acid Toner is the best clarifying toner I’ve tried to keep my skin clear, minimize pores and help control oil on the T-zone.
• Farmacy Beauty Better Daze Ahead* is the first CBD cream I’ve been able to tolerate the scent of. It still has an earthy kind of scent but it’s not overpowering like other CBD infused creams. It has a lightweight feel and was one of the few creams I could use post-sunscreen allergic reaction without having my face feel like it was on fire. It really did work to help moisturize and calm down my skin.
• Rodin Luxury Face Cream* is a new launch that is an oil-infused cream for dry skin. I’ve found it pleasantly soothing and hydrating. It does have scent to it but it’s not irritating and smells like licorice and flowers mixed together. It has a lot of different oils mixed in so if you’re sensitive to oils you may want to try or patch test first. I’ve had no irritation issues and will keep on using this!

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That wraps up this month’s hits and misses! Would love to hear what you loved or didn’t like in the beauty world recently. Let me know in the comments!

Press samples have a * next to them. Other items purchased by me.