Best & Worst Makeup of the Month + Updates!

Which products did I keep reaching for in August? Let's find out. Hey everyone welcome back my name is Carmel and in today's video I'm sharing with you my beauty roundup for August. So I'm going to be sharing with you the products that have definitely impressed me the most and some that just didn't quite hit the mark. So if that sounds like something that you might be interested in then please do keep on watching. August was definitely a great month but I am not going to talk about every single product that I tried. I'm only going to talk to you about the standout products. Standout products for one reason or another. So we're going to kick off with a new brow product that I have pretty much fallen quite in love with and it's from NYX. This is the NYX the brow glue crazy lift. So last month I did talk about this which is the NYX brow glue. I'd only just got around to testing this when they brought this out. Basically this new crazy lift is just an extreme hold product. If you want something that's going to be a little bit more natural then just go for the original brow glue. But this in my opinion is far superior. It's far superior in every single way. So this is described as a brow lamination gel and it's supposed to give you hold which lasts for up to 24 hours. You can sculpt and shape all of your unruly brow hairs with this flake proof sweat resistant formula. Obviously I've not gone for a laminated brow look because I don't have the brow hairs. My brows are extremely extremely sparse but it still works really well. So my other favorite is the e.l.f. brow laminating gel and that is an absolute love of mine and this does a job that's just as good as the e.l.f. brow laminating gel. The only thing is I feel like the e.l.f. brow laminating gel makes my brows look a little bit more full around the tail of the brow but that's it really. I think it's to do with the applicator on this. I really don't like it. I don't, look I can understand where they're coming from so they're trying to give you one product that you don't have to faff around with but I'd rather that to be honest. This is just not ideal because I can never really get the perfect amount of product dispensed on the applicator. I either apply too much or too little but what I really appreciate about this is it goes on shiny and it dries matte so that is great and I really think it's a great product from NYX. So this month I've been testing this from Morphe which is the Morphe colour corrector. It's actually called the Wake Up Artist under eye correcting concealer. So Wake Up Artist is the line and within that line you can choose either a concealer shade or a corrector shade. So I'd already tried the concealer and I thought it was really really nice. I thought it was very hydrating, beautiful under the eyes but it didn't kind of wow me. But this, this on the other hand has really wowed me. So I have this in the shade peach and honestly you can apply a really good amount of this and it's never going to look heavy or cakey because it has a beautiful serum formula. Before I tried this I was much more of a cream colour corrector fan and still am okay. I still am but this has really become such a go-to for me. It's definitely one of the best colour correctors that I've used because any concealer works over the top of this. So if you're looking for a new one definitely take a look at this. So I've been fully testing the new RMS Revitalize Hydra concealer this month. I have this in the shade ON08 which is a light olive shade. So I think this is a beautifully creamy concealer. This is an ideal concealer for someone who feels like they have more problematic under eyes. So in particular if you have fine lines and wrinkles. For me this is a creaseless concealer. Now no concealer is completely crease free at all. If there's lines there the most hydrating concealer is going to sit into it but there's no horrible dry creasing with this and this sits beautifully under my eyes all day. I actually don't really have to set this concealer. I find it self-setting. I thought it would have a great deal of luminosity to it like a lot of serum type concealers do but this does not have that for me. I can happily walk out the door without setting my under eyes which is unusual enough for me now. I really appreciate how budge proof it is. How crease proof it is and let me tell you I wore this concealer when I went to see Oasis recently. My favourite band since I was a kid. They reunited and got back together and I cried a lot during that concert. A lot. I cried all day pretty much and this concealer didn't budge. I didn't have to try and fix my under eye concealer. It looked just fine. I enjoy using it but I think that I can just see a little bit too much of my darkness peeking through and maybe it's the shade that I've got. I know a couple of people did comment saying that that shade's too light for you but actually it's not at all. If you take it out in the daylight it looks absolutely fine. Maybe if I got more of a warm or peachy shade then it would do a little bit of a better job at colour correcting. So that's my only issue with it. I feel like I need to wear a colour corrector with it. Really do think it's a lovely product for dry and mature under eyes. I want to talk about this next which is the Armani Skin Tint. I don't really know how I properly feel about this because it's been a really inconsistent product that I've tried this month. So this is a skin tint which contains golden hour pearls for a radiant and healthy skin look. So I was worried that this was going to be a little bit luminous, a little bit metallic and it's not at all. So I picked it up in the shade L4 and I've mentioned previously that I had a real hard time picking my shade and I think the shade that I got is fine. I'd say it's a little bit of a peachy shade but it's fine because it's a fairly sheer to light product so you can get away with it. The shades are pretty flexible. So this claims to be a buildable coverage from low to medium and claims to be undetectable on the skin leaving a radiant finish. I thought that this was going to be kind of more dewy than what it is. I know it doesn't claim to have a dewy finish but it claims a radiant finish and I do think that it has a radiant finish but I was really surprised at how much this product dries down on the skin. It really is incredibly self-setting. I don't always appreciate that in a foundation. Sometimes when I wear this it can look really heavy and sometimes when I wear this it can just dull down a little bit too much. In fact, somebody did comment on my initial review of this saying that it dried to a matte finish on them and although it doesn't dry to a matte finish on me, it's definitely more natural. Sometimes it just doesn't look flattering so sometimes it looks too heavy around my mouth and sometimes like today it emphasizes all the texture on my cheeks. I don't know. So I wore this yesterday when I was at one of my son's sports matches and it was raining. The whole two hours I was there I was soaked and this did not budge all right. I had full-on rain in my face but it's not consistent. There's nothing about this that I feel is mesmerizing or super impressive. Some days it looks really good, some days it doesn't look good and also one thing I've noticed more and more is the fragrance of it. It actually has a bit of an SPF-y smell even though there's no SPF in there. It's neither great nor terrible. It's just meh. I just want to talk about this really quickly which is the Road Glazing Mist. Now this is a beautiful product. Now it's not a setting spray, it's not a finishing spray, it's a hydrating mist. So if you have similar skin to me, so dry skin, I think you'll really like something like this. If I feel like my makeup is looking or feeling a little bit heavy I will spray this. I will spray this in between my makeup steps so after I've done my foundation I'll give my skin a little spray and then go in with my bronzer and my blush. And I've been really enjoying using it at the end of my makeup routine so just to melt everything together. You don't just use this with your makeup, you can use it on bare skin when you're doing your skincare routine but my skin just feels so much nicer when I've used this. So yeah, I just wanted to give a mention to that because I've been really enjoying it. I'm going to talk about this as well. I haven't used this today because I've been using the Glazing Mist but this is the Catrice Blend and Bond Setting Spray. This is really, really good. A lot of the time really good setting sprays will just give you a matte finish to the skin but this gives a natural look. So let me show it to you in real time here. I think this only costs about five euros, something like that. But when it dries down I feel like it really does do what it says. So it really does set your makeup to a natural finish and for me that's always the goal, having a more natural or glowy finish. It feels similar to the Rode Glazing Mist but they are obviously two different products but I've definitely noticed more of a longevity in my when I've used this. So I just wanted to give you a little update on that. It's a really, really good little setting spray. During August I was testing the Morphe Sudden Heat Cream Bronzer Stick. I have this in the shade Ignite. Really gorgeous, gorgeous product. This has just a beautiful level of creaminess. You know, some products can be a little bit too creamy, a little bit too emollient feeling. This is just perfect and it's so incredibly lightweight. That's the first thing that you'll notice about this if you ever use it. It's absolutely seamless in the blending so you really don't need to do much to it for it to blend. So I feel like this is very user-friendly. What I really like about the shade Ignite is it's just the perfect level of warmth. Sometimes bronzers can be too warm, sometimes they can just be a little bit too neutral and not actually give you the warmth that you need in your skin and this just gives me the perfect level of everything. You will honestly be shocked at how weightless these are on your skin. If you've been here before you'll all know that one of my holy grail powders, loose powders, is the Huda Beauty Easy Bake. Now every time I talk about that people say to me, I love the Huda Beauty Easy Bake too but my favourite shade is Cherry Blossom which I'd never tried but Huda has brought out some minis and I saw that she had some minis of her Easy Bake. Look at these. I mean why is that so cute? Every time I see this shade online it looks really, really pink but it's not that pink at all honestly. Now I've made a bit of a mess of I put the puff in the wrong way round and now it's full of powder but can you just see past that please? Look at this teeny weeny little puff. I'm sorry but what? Look at that. Is that not the absolute cutest thing you've ever seen? I think I might actually prefer this to the original that I have. I have the original in the shade Pound Cake which I still adore okay, nothing's going to change that. I'm still going to use it but I think Cherry Blossom works for me because it helps to really brighten my under eyes. Obviously you know that I think the formula is amazing but the shade Cherry Blossom, oh my goodness, it's amazing. Now if you are thinking why would I spend all that money on a mini but I want to show you something. So we've got two powders here right and I looked up the prices in dollars. The Huda Beauty mini is $23 okay. The L'Oreal Infallible Blurfection is $16. Guess how much is in these two? This has six grams of product and this has six grams of product. Now I love the Blurfection but it's not as good as the Huda Beauty okay. It's just not. This has the same amount okay as a full size from L'Oreal so just bear that in mind. I'm always the one to bang on about how much you get but it's definitely just worth taking into consideration because sometimes I think we're getting a little bit tricked. But anyway, Cherry Blossom, an absolute new favourite of mine. So I really wanted to talk about this product from Morphe and I did review this in a previous video and I seem to be making a habit out of this but I said the wrong shade. So I actually have the shade Sunrise but I said it was Sunset because there's something wrong with me okay. There's something wrong in my head. I think I'm actually going to stop putting the shades on the screen because I can't edit it after I put it out there okay but I can edit the description. So I'm really really sorry if you are confused by me. I confuse myself if that makes you feel any better. Morphe say that this is a sheer weightless multi-tone powder that sweeps on so softly to set and finish your look with natural radiance. Sunrise is beige with balancing yellow. This I think is used better as a finishing powder rather than a setting powder so just quickly the difference. A setting powder is supposed to basically set your makeup in place. It's not going to give you any luminosity. It might give you a little bit of coverage actually but its job is to make your makeup last. A finishing powder is different. It's supposed to give you a little bit of a filtered look to the skin and just blur everything and you're either going to love or hate a finishing powder. I find that this is a great finishing powder but for me it's a little bit of a hybrid. It does set my makeup at the same time as finishing off and filtering my skin. So a lot of people have asked me is this a dupe for Hourglass finishing powder. Now it's very hard to swatch powder but I swatched this next to my Hourglass finishing powder and also next to my Say slip tint powder because this claims to be a setting powder but for me it's a finishing powder. Basically I would say that out of the three, the Hourglass, the Say and this, this is definitely the more luminous on the skin. It's not a highlighter type powder like some people might be worried about. I would say these two are the most similar so the Say and the Morphe. However, I would say that out of these two, the Morphe definitely lasts better than the Say. Again, I really do stand by the fact that I think it's a hybrid so it does look like a finishing powder but it definitely sets my makeup in place too. It's beautiful but definitely if you're looking for a dupe for the Hourglass or the Say, then you cannot go wrong with this. It's a stunning powder and has definitely found its place in my top drawer. I've got another Rode product to talk about. This is the Rode Pocket Blush. I picked this up in the shade Tanline. So I basically dipped into Rode products for the first time recently and from what I can gather, I think they've just arrived at Sephora US. So all I can say after trying this is that I want every single shade of the Pocket Blush. Oh my gosh, these are so unbelievably beautiful. So Tanline is described as a pinky tanned. I know that people think this is the perfect summer shade and it really, really is. But this is also perfect moving into the fall as well. It really is absolutely stunning. So this is not a glowy blush. This is a complete satin blush and the one thing that will strike you about this blush is how long it lasts on your face. This is a blush that I'll wear when I don't want my makeup to budge. Again, I wore this when I went to see Oasis recently and I was bawling, crying. I had it on all day and it didn't budge off my face. But if you've been wondering about these and wondering if they're worth the hype, yeah, they are. They definitely are. My only concern now moving forward is how is the takeover by e.l.f. going to affect Rode products? Because the few products that I've tried from Rode I've loved. Are things going to change now moving forward? I guess we will see, but maybe I need to buy all the Pocket Blushes now and then I won't have to worry. Another blush that I've been using this month that I've been absolutely loving is this new palette from Catrice. This is their Blair Balm Blush Palette and this is called Blush Blindness. Yes, something that I suffer with quite often, probably on a daily basis actually. I have been really liking this and people have been commenting on my review of this saying that they absolutely adore it too. The only thing I'm going to say is I haven't really used any shade apart from this one very much because I'm too scared. I'm too scared to use the really, really pigmented shades. I mean, look at these, right? That is pigment. That is real, real pigment and I'm not the best at putting little amounts of blush on my face. So, you'd think because of the consistency of the blushes that it'd be really tacky and although it goes on and it feels a little bit tacky, it dries down. So, this is the palette that I wore at that recent sporting match where I got absolutely drenched and it didn't budge. It was totally fine. I have tried a lot of blushes from Catrice. I think these are their best formulas. These are worth every single penny. I don't think they're available in the US yet, but I'm sure that they are on the way soon. I really want to talk about a sample that I got from Armani. Now, this is not a new product to the channel, the Armani Eye Tints, but I have to talk about this because I've been very confused, very baffled this month. So, when I ordered the Armani Skin Tint, they sent me a load of samples. I mean, this is a deluxe sample, obviously, but it's going to last forever. So, this is the Armani Eye Tint and this is in the shade 44. Now, I've always said on this channel that I love the Armani Eye Tints, but I would always choose the matte over the shimmers because the shimmers just didn't work for me. Now, I have the full size of 11S and on paper, this should be the perfect shade for me. Just really subtle and lovely, but for some reason, this just applies really patchy on my eyes. So, that's why I've always said on this channel, if you're going to pick up an Armani Eye Tint, go for the mattes. However, they sent me this in shade 44 and I thought, well, this is not going to be the best, but I'll whack it on my eyes anyway and look what this shade is perfection. So, I'm wondering now, did I get a bad tube of this? Is it just 11S that doesn't work on me? I mean, look at that and it is stunning. These are the most perfect one and done eyeshadows. They are so incredibly easy. Okay, so if you want really pretty looking eyelids, but you don't want to put in the time and effort and maybe you've got more mature eyelids and you find that powder sits into them or you find that powder disappears from your eyelids, then these are perfection. As I said, I've always said to you, the matte eyeshadows are phenomenal, but this shade in particular here that I've got on my eyes today, just stunning. I've got nothing else on my eyelids today apart from shade 44 of the Armani Eye Tint and it's beautiful. So, I just thought that it was really, really important for me to give you that update that, yeah, maybe just certain shades of the Shimmery Armani Eye Tint don't work very well, but this is literal perfection. Armani, they send you all these samples, don't they? And they know what they're doing. They know it's going to make you buy the full size and that's exactly what I'm going to go and do now. I'm easy. I'm easy, aren't I? I'm an easy one to convince. So, I got my hands on the new Catrice Stay in Place Mascara this month. What a winner. What a winner this is. So, I do love a good tubing mascara. I love a mascara that I can pop on and I don't have to think about, I don't have to worry about it flaking or my eyelashes dropping or having any transfer with it. Tubing mascaras are the next best thing to a waterproof mascara, but they are just incredibly easy to remove. So, I have this in the shade black and it's just everything that I hoped it would be. The only thing I'd say about this is it claims to be a volume mascara. Now, I do think it's important to acknowledge the fact that I don't have volume in my lashes. So, I do struggle with any mascara to get volume in my lashes, but there are volumizing mascaras out there that will give me volume in my lashes. This one is definitely for me more lengthening, which I'm happy about. I'm happy with length. So, I'm not disappointed that it's not volumizing and I wasn't surprised because I've never really used a volumizing tubing mascara before. In relation to how you remove tubing mascaras, normally you just do it with warm water. Now, I've tried both. So, I've tried with warm water and micellar water. For me, it definitely comes off better with micellar water. I found that I had to work a bit harder with warm water than I did micellar water, but that's just my experience. It doesn't mean that it'll be the same for you. And again, as I said in a previous video, if you're looking for a replacement for the lash extender from ELF, this is better. Okay, this is better and it's six euros. Bagging. You've probably noticed during the video this on the back of my hand. This is a new lip liner that I've been trying. Now, I am a drugstore lip liner girly. I don't have full lips, okay, and it definitely makes me jealous when I see people with really full lips, but I know that I can get full lips from lip liners. So, I'm trying to try a lot from different price points and I picked up one from Pat McGrath. So, this is the Legendary Longwear Lip Liner and this retails for around about 30 euros. Obviously, it being Pat McGrath, it's going to be more on the pricey side. I think I got this when it was 20% off. So, I have this in the shade Done Undone, which is described as a light pink nude. This has lots of claims. So, a creamy gel formula, no skipping, absolutely zero feathering, is transfer resistant and it is all those things. Oh gosh, I knew I would like this. I knew it. Now, my other favourite high-end lip liner is from Westman Atelier. This has a different consistency to that. So, this is more of a gel type lip liner and it does have that creamy-ish feeling, but it's not as creamy as the Westman Atelier. However, this has way more longevity than any lip liner I've ever used in my whole entire life and the one thing you need to be wary of with this is it dries down really, really fast. So, you need to be really, really careful when you're applying it. So, once it's on, it's on. I have been testing this out for about a week now and it's the lip liner I wore to my son's hurling match where I got doused, doused in rain and this did not move. It just doesn't budge. The only way it's coming off here is with a wipe. So, look, you know how I feel about lip liners. You can just go to the drugstore and get an amazing lip liner, but if you like high-end and you love budge-proof lip liners, this is really nice. I've actually tried a lot of good lip products this month, but there's been one that I've been reaching for more over any other and it's this one from Beautypie. So, this is the Wonder Gloss Collagen Lip Oil. You know I love Beautypie. If you go back right to the beginning of the start of my channel, I spoke about Beautypie. So, obviously, Beautypie had no idea who I was, but they actually reached out and sent me some things. Now, I've always spoken about Beautypie skincare on the channel. I had tried Beautypie makeup in the past and it was nice, but nothing that really bowled me over. So, I was interested when they sent me this. So, they sent me this in the shade Nude Nectar and they did allow me to choose my shades. There's only four that I can see online. So, there's a cool-toned red, a cool-toned plum and a warm-toned peach. So, this claims to be made for lip gloss connoisseurs. So, it helps to target dry, dehydrated lips. It has moisture and plumping and a non-sticky shine in one and it is made in Italy, which a lot of Beautypie products are. So, this is infused with hibiscus and cherry oils. It's formulated with collagen to help to plump the lips and it's superbly shiny without feeling sticky. So, before I tried this, my number one lip oil glass type product is from MAC, which is the MAC lip gloss. Oh my gosh, I love this. But this, I have been reaching for most days this month. So, I love the shade. Now, obviously, I've got it on with my Pat McGrath lip liner at the moment. So, this is incredibly comfortable, but I love how it is plumping. So, not plumping in the way that it's going to sting and tingle your lips. It's not that plumping. It plumps out your lip Can you see? And I've had this on for the whole video now and it has not started to gather in the corners of my mouth. It's not become sticky. It's not faded. I've been a member of Beautypie for years and you know that because I've spoken about them for years. Basically, you can go on there and you can buy these products for a one-off fee, but it's going to be a bit pricey. But you can pay a membership. If you are a member of Beautypie, you can pick this up for £12. Now, I say pounds because Beautypie is only available in the UK and the US, which is really annoying. It's annoying for me because I live in Ireland. So, when I was sent this PR, they wouldn't send it to me here. They would only send it to my parents' address. So, I had to get it when I went to the UK. So, that is annoying. I don't know why that is. Why are they only in the US and the UK? I don't know. Yeah, I would definitely recommend this lip oil. It's absolutely gorgeous. And if you're looking for a cheaper alternative to the MAC, it's right here. Okay, I just want to end with talking about this, which is the Rare Beauty perfume that I picked up this month. I said I wasn't going to blind purchase it, but guess what? I did. I did purchase it because there was just something really drawing it to me. So, the top notes of this are caramel, pistachio, and pink pepper. The heart notes are vanilla, ginger, and cocoa beans. And then the dry notes are sandalwood, tonka beans, and skin musks. This is a really musky perfume, in my opinion. It says that it's warm and spicy, and I don't really get much spice from it, but I definitely get a lot of warmth from it. I'm definitely someone who opts for more of a floral fragrance these days. I do like my fragrances to be quite fresh. This is a little bit overpowering if you spray more than one spray. Honestly, fragrances are very subjective. They're very personal. So, what one person loves, another person won't. And how one fragrance smells on one person won't smell great on another. I think this smells nice on me, but it smells nicer on my 10-year-old daughter. So, my daughter actually pinched this from my room because she was so drawn to it. And do you know what? It just suits her. Look, you're either going to love this or hate it. The thing that I've noticed about this is when I spray it, I smell it very, very strongly for a good two hours, and then it just dissipates. Then it just disappears, really. Now, I love vanilla. Love it, but it's too vanilla for me. It's too strong, and it just, yeah, it just smells too youthful for me, personally. And that might sound absolutely ridiculous. Like I said, fragrance is very, very unique to a person. And yet, this one just smells better on my daughter than it does on me. So, please do let me know what works for you in the month of August and what didn't, and have you tried any of these products? And what's your opinion on them? Thank you so much for joining me for this video. I so appreciate you being here with me. I'm really looking forward to seeing you in the next video. But until then, take care and bye for now.