I have a secret to tell you. Even though I love makeup...I've never really used a lot of it! My main obsession has always been lipsticks. Oh, with all the delicious array of colors to choose from they've blinded me a bit to other makeup products so that's why I'm about to tell you a secret. I've never used a makeup primer before...and OMG, why haven't I used a makeup primer before?!! It boggles my mind to think about what I've been missing out on. The finish of my makeup is a bazillion times better when using a primer and I owe this revelation to the fabulous makeup brand Studio Gear. I've reviewed some of their wonderful lipsticks before & so when I saw a chance to review another one of their products I took it. 

This review is about Studio Gear's Prime Objective Skin Perfecting Face Primer. The very first face primer I've ever used and it is awesome. First let's look at the packaging. I love all the white. So chic! The bottle comes in a white box with the Studio Gear logo. It's simple, but sooo pretty to look at. The bottle is a pump treatment bottle and slightly transparent just like the look of the primer itself and has some nice font typography. I do love me some font typography...especially since I design all of my own beauty labels. 

The back says that it's Prime Objective....get it...Prime Objective! is to.."...retouch or visually diminish imperfections in the surface texture of the skin. It contains a sustained release liposome system with retinol that can help promote cell turnover and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, as well as a milk protein complex that can help to balance and protect the skin against environmental stresses. The "skin perfecting" effect of this state-of-the-art formula is further enhanced with optical diffusers. Apply after moisturizing all over the face avoiding eyelids."

Pretty good stuff and I can attest to that. Without even any makeup on I can see a difference in my skin! It appears to slightly blur my skin almost like an Instagram filter!  Way cool.  It comes out like a gel with a slightly transparent look to it and a velvety feel when you apply it to your face. It's fragrance free and is silicone based. Make sure to avoid the eyelids as instructed. I even tried some out on the back of my hand and you could soooo totally see a difference in that my skin looked blurred and more "perfect" Man, do they have this in a bigger bottle for the whole body?!! Haha!! Gimme!

Now, for the other products I used to complete my makeup look on top of the Studio Gear Prime Objective Primer. My skin type is combination. I have a really oily t-zone and the rest of my face is normal to dry which is why I like to use a tinted moisturizer for my makeup as it keeps my skin very moisturized so I haven't had that dry, tight feeling for a very long time. I've been using Sonia Kashuks Radiant Tinted Moisturizer SPF15 in Fair for the longest time and decided I wanted to try something different. Be adventurous! heehee... 

Sooooo.....I decided to try another Sonia Kashuk product. I figured I liked their Radiant Tinted Moisturizer so much it had to be good. I got their Perfecting Luminous Foundation in 02 Vanilla which is a medium coverage. Um, I did not like it at all. It had a tacky dragging feel to it that I did not like and it made my pores look extremely large, the coverage didn't seem to be all that great and the "luminous" glow was more of an "oily" glow. Ew.... to be honest with you I was going to throw it away but as luck would have it I had gotten the Studio Gear primer in the mail that day & decided to try it with that Sonia Kashuks Perfecting Luminous Foundation since I didn't have any other makeup. I was really impressed. The Studio Gear Prime Objective Primer made the foundation totally bearable to wear. The "oily" look was greatly lessened and my pores looked a lot better. So I'll finish the bottle of the Sonia Kashuks Perfecting Luminous Foundation as long as I have the primer to use with it but I definitely will not be getting that foundation again.

Now, I also got a sample of another tinted moisturizer I wanted to try out. That's that little unlabeled bottle in the photo below. It's a sample size of the Nars SPF 30 Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in Alaska. It's totally the wrong color for my skin. The color Alaska has a yellow undertone to it and I think their Groenfeld would have been better because it has a pink tone to it but they didn't have a sample of that color and I really wanted to try it out before getting a larger size especially since I had bought the full size Sonia Kashuk foundation and been disappointed. 

Whoa, no disappointment here just like with the Studio Gear primer I'm in love! The Nars Tinted Moisturizer is sooooooo extremely moisturizing I can't even believe it. It makes my skin GLOW like a Moon Goddess and has an amazing coverage for a tinted moisturizer. In fact, it almost covers up my translucent under eye area. I mean, it's my one area on my face I can't stand...how translucent my skin is there. My skin is probably a vampire's dream come true actually...it's sooo transparent you can see my veins. hahaha....  I sometimes wish I had perfect porcelain or peaches and cream skin, but alas nope it's very transparent. The smell is also sooo lovely! Like walking through a citrus grove and the wind gently wafting the sweet smell of oranges under your nose. Sooo nice. And it looks phenomenal on top of the Studio Gear Primer. Like I said...Moon Goddess worthy. 

I used two other products, a concealer called Skin Food Salmon Cream Concealer in #1 which really brightens, moisturizes and almost provides a complete coverage of my under eye area. It's still not quite completely covered up. I fear I may have to try a full coverage foundation but I'm afraid it will be heavy and cakey. *sad pout*  And for a blush my Etude House Cupcake All Over Color in Blueberry. Ha, you can see I've been using that for quite a bit by the photo. I love it even though it doesn't last all day and has to be reapplied. It's such a pretty color and reminds me of Snow White's rosy cheeks and it was only $5 so. *wink* 

With all of those products used by the time I got done applying everything my skin looked amazing, so dewy soft and glowy like a Moon Goddess with the Nars Tinted Moisturizer SPF 30 being used with the Studio Gear Primer, Skin Food Salmon Concealer and a touch of Snow White Rosy cheeks with the Etude House Color. I even put a bit of the Luminous Foundation over the Nars Moisturizer to even out that yellow tone and it looks quite lovely. 

I highly suggest you try out the Studio Gear Prime Objective Primer....I know I'm going to be purchasing it when I run out. Ah, the curse and joys of being a beauty blogger...when you get to try out a product and fall head over heels in love with it you need it no matter what! You can find the Studio Gear Prime Objective Primer "here" on their website and for all you fabulous peeps here's a discount code you can use!! Yay!!! Just use the code BB at checkout to receive 10% off your order. 

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LIFESTYLE ♥ Pizza is Bae ♥

Awhile back I won a giveaway up on Instagram...a PIZZA themed giveaway with prizes from JuliaAnnArt.com, Honey and the Hive, and Everyday is a Holiday so I thought I'd share some photos of the delicious prize. Haha, no, I didn't win *real* pizza, though I wish I had some right now but some fabulous stationary and art pieces that resemble pizza. Take a peek my beauties.

 It all came in this cute pizza box! Perfect right?

I'm hangry for pizza now!!!

 Let's see what's inside, shall we? Love the tissue paper...it was pink and a turquoise green.

Pizza Themed Stationary & pencils and the cutest enamel pin from Honey and the Hive that says, "Nice Pizza Ass" hahaha! 

Look!! A Pizza Shaped and hand painted wall plaque! from none other than Everyday is a Holiday's Jenny and Aaron! I've been envious of their pretty designs for the longest time and soo wanted to get one...I have my eye on their kitty cat one and a cupcake! This pizza wall plaque is SO freaking adorable! I love it.

Look Pizza Themed Washi Tape!! Sooooo cool!! 

Look at this beauty! I love everything! What do you think?

Awesome goodies, or what?! What's your favorite prize?

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REVIEW ♥ Sweet Treats from Japan Candy Box + Giveaway ♥

Eee! Another box from Japan Candy Box. I never get tired of these sweet deliveries that I get from Japan filled with delicious snacks and treats I've never tried before. I can't wait to show you what was in this box and of course Japan Candy Box was kind enough to do a giveaway at the end of this post too. Exciting, right? 

Let's see what we got in this delicious box!!! Look at all the fun packaging!! The colors, the cute illustrations. It's always so much fun discovering what the goodies are. I can recognize at least one treat....caramel corn!!! Yeah! Let's dig in peeps.

First we have these colorful little candies called Kabaya Mixed Fruit Bottle Candy.

 So yummy and fruity...they remind me of mini Dum Dum lollies. I liked these and the packaging was super cute. Rilakkuma Bear agrees! lol...

Next, we have a DIY kit. There are actually two DIY kits in this box! Fun! This one is called Kracie Dodotto Octopus Eggs DIY Kit that creates a sort of soda pop frothy candy snack.  It comes with little packets that you add water to, and one packet has colorful hard rock candy in it. There's a mixing spoon, a container with two cavities and a little Octopus Shaped tool that creates the "Octopus Eggs". The packets come numbered and I'm not gonna lie...I couldn't read the directions so I looked up a YouTube video of how to make it. haha...

Packet one goes in one part of the cavities and packet two goes in the other. You add a certain amount of water to it and voila. The clear candy water tastes like soda pop! and the blue one is what creates the "Octopus Eggs".  You take the little Octopus shaped comb tool and suck the blue candy liquid into it and release it into the soda pop liquid which creates these little gel balls or "Octopus Eggs"! It's sooo neat! 

Once you do that you leave a little bit of the blue liquid in the other cavity and add packet three and you get a kind of candy foam! A foam. How freaking neat is that? Now, just scoop out the "Octopus Eggs" into the foam and open the last packet which has the colorful rock candy in it. It's has a very sweet soda pop flavor to it and the foam, the jelly like eggs and hard rock candy are quite a combination of textures.  It was a lot of fun discovering how to make it and eat it. I quite liked those "Octopus Eggs"...they had a very bubbly effervescent flavor.

Onward we move to the Lotte Pokemon Ramune Candy. Cuuuute little Pokeman on the bag. These were like little tabs that tasted like pineapple. They were okay. Not my favorite but quite tasty. 

Eee! Another cute DIY kit. This one is called Popin' Cookin' Oekaki Animal Candy Land DIY Kit. It comes with two little blocks of white candy, a cute little animal mold, a painters palette with multiple cavities and little color packets. 

First thing you do is take the little blocks of white candy and open them and press them into the molds until it's all used up. You'll get multiples of some of the cute animal shapes. This mold has a cute seal with a ball on his nose, a star, and some fishes! Adorable! So press the white candy in and simply bend back the mold to release the candy. 

Here they are taken out of the mold and placed on a plate.

Now, take the candy color packets and add one to each cavity on the right hand side. You'll get three primary colors; yellow, blue and red. Now, just take the mixing tool that came with the kit and take a bit of whatever colors you can to create another color in the smaller cavities. Red and blue to make different variations of purple, red and yellow for orange and so on! 

You take the tool and simply add the color of your choice to the little indentations on each molded candy shape like below! Cute, right? They have a sweet candy taste to them. Not too bad but not quite my favorite flavor. They were loads of fun to make though!!

Now, to one of my absolute favorite treats in this box...the Tohato Caramel Corn. OMG, these were incredibly tasty!! Nom...nom...nom...nom...I couldn't stop nibbling on these. Two thumbs up from me. I'll be looking for these to buy in the future. 

These little green rectangular shaped cuties tasted like apple gum! I believe they are the Coris Soft Candy. I quite liked these a lot!! 

Ahh, look at these heart shaped treats! The Calbee Vegetable Snacks. Yep, they're made from vegetables! Sooo neat and quite tasty. Not sweet but very savory and sooo pretty to nibble on. 

These....these were my absolute favorite candy in the whole box. Mmmm....OMG, I want more right now. The Kanro Pure Mini Gummies. Grape flavored gummies that remind me of Sour Patch Kids!! These babies are soo yummy and I'll be looking to purchase some more most definitely. If I had to recommend one treat to get from this box this would be it and the Tohato Caramel Corn. My favs!!!  

Coming up cute little round Grape Gum...Coris Soft Centered Grape Gum. They look like Jaw Breakers but are soft and chewy!! Pretty darn good. 

Doraemon Ramune Squash Soda Bubble Gum...cute little sticks of yummy gum. Definitely had a soda pop taste to them and were yummy. 

So what did you think....cool candy right? Which one was your favorite and you'd love to try? Leave me a comment below and enter the giveaway for one of these fun boxes below! Yas!! You can also visit their site and order some of their subscription boxes!! They make a great gift as well. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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GIVEAWAY ♥ A Very English Christmas! ♥

Hey pretty babes...I thought I'd do a little giveaway and feature some of our pretty potions from our Christmas Collection, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!" in this post. First, let's check out these goodies and what they are! Yay! We recently had a little custom Christmas order from our Custom Bar Collection and we just had to snap a few pretty photos. These beauties are scented in our "A Very English Christmas" Rose Jam scent. Such a pretty & heavenly sweet sniff...fresh citrus, red rose petals, hints of innocent strawberry, musk and vanilla. Heavens...

When designing the labels we opted for a pretty pink gingham...one of our most favorite patterns *wink* and a pretty blue themed illustration of a lovely English lady. She's just sooo darling!! I love the popping color combo, don't you? We whipped up three lovely potions below, a golden shimmery dry body oil, an Organic Aloe based perfume mist and a delicate and softening body and hair powder. Aren't they so pretty? They'd be perfect to display on your vanity or heck, even anywhere peeps can see them. They're way too pretty to be kept hidden away, am I right? *wink*

The body powder is made with a mixture of arrowroot powder for it's softening qualities and kaolin clay for it's oil absorbing qualities. It's colored a delicate pink just like the bottle itself. The cap is a pretty sparkly pink twist on cap. Ahhh, and it smells soooo amazing. Just twist off the cap and lightly tap some of the pink powder into your hand. You can use it to dust all over your body or even in your hair to help absorb any excess oils and of course it'll make your tresses smell delightful.

Next, we have our perfume mist made with Organic Aloe! in the same scent. It comes in a gorgeous glass perfume bottle that you can mist over your skin any time of the day for a burst of English Christmas Cheer. They're very popular little pretties and small enough to put in your purse and carry around with you all day. Your friends will be asking you where you got such a pretty little potion and of course, we know you'll tell them..."Margarita Bloom!" *warm smiles*

Finally, our "A Very English Christmas" Rose Jam Shimmery Golden Dry Body Oil. This stuff is gorgeous! First of all, can we just admire the bottle...it's made in France. Oui, in France. Ooh, la, la! If we could have found one made in England we would have...haha...it would have been better with the English theme but France is just as nice. *wink* It has a lovely heavy feeling to it... sooo elegant. Again, our lovely "Rose Jam" scent...fresh citrus, red rose petals, hints of innocent strawberry, musk and vanilla. 

This dry body oil is a lovely combination of Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Olive Oil,  and more with a shimmery, mesmerizing subtle golden glow to t! Perfect to get sparkling for the holidays. Simply, spray it into your hand and slather all over for a goldeny glow and get ready to sniff yourself....constantly. You're going to smell delicious! *haha* Our Shimmer Dry Body Oil comes in a sparkly organza bag with an info card inside.

What do you think? Dreamy and full of Christmas Cheer? I wish you could smell these potions through your computer. Sigh... to find these body treats just click to our home page and look at the bottom right hand corner...you'll see a link to our PDF Catalog of our "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"!! Christmas Collection where you'll find prices and scent options for the products listed.

I thought wouldn't it be nice to have a giveaway for Christmas! So we're going to be giving away one of our "A Very English Christmas" Rose Jam body powders as seen below! Just enter our Rafflecopter below to get entries. Open to US and Canada only.

Have a very Merry English Christmas! *wink wink*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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BEAUTY ♥ Spritz yourself to heavenly delights! ♥

Hey beauties!! In need of some pretty to look at and pretty to smell perfumes?

Oh, yeah! I thought so. Here are a few snaps of some of our lovely perfume mists you can get in our storenvy shop. They're only $15! What a steal and in scents like Hot Cocoa and Marshmallow you'll be smelling delicious. *wink*

Our "Frothy Hot Cocoa" Perfume Mist. Smells ah-mazing!!

Look how pretty!! They come in 1 oz spray perfume glass bottles.

So retro chic. *wink*

For when it's super cold out or not...our "Sweater Girl" Marshmallow Perfume Mist.

Did you know our perfume mists are made mostly with Organic Aloe? Yep.

This smells marshmallow sweet and on point. A popular scent for our peeps. 

Originally, from our Valentines Collection "The Lonely Hearts Club" (coming soon!!!) our "Girls Want Cats NOT Boys" Milk & Peaches Puuurrrfume Mist. Heehee...couldn't resist. 

Aren't they fabulous? You can get them in our shop and at 15% off (Code: santababy15) for the holidays that's a steal!! No coal for you this Christmas....just pretty perfumes!! 

Which one is your favorite?

Visit our perfume page!!! More scents to choose from or if you have a scent request just email us. We LOVE custom orders. *wink* Happy Holidays!

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