Covergirl Plumpify blastPro Review #plumpify

I love lashes. Really, I do. As a girl with pale lashes, nothing else quite pulls a look together the way mascara does for me. When I was in high school and college, I went through a HUGE volume phase. Anything promising lush, plump lashes piqued my interest. Now that I've gotten more interested in makeup and the way it can change a face, I like to play around with a variety of lash looks.

I spent Christmas in Washington with my family and boyfriend, and when I got home I had a belated package from influenster waiting for me! (Actually, I had two, but the other items are a subject for another post). One of the boxes was from Covergirl and contained their new mascara, Plumpify blastPro, which I'm going to review here today.




The wand on this mascara is unlike anything I've ever seen. Plumpify uses a spiky silicone wand with two types of "bristles", which I've tried to indicate in the lower left photo. The bristles indicated in (a) are your typical silicone spiky bristles. The bristles indicated in (b) are more like scales, if that make sense-- they're shaped like horizontal lines. These two bristle types alternate in a sort of spiral helix design across the circumference of the brush. The tip of the brush is also covered with spikey silicone bristles, which are extremely helpful in getting those hard to reach lashes in the inner and outer corners.

While the brush is certainly innovative, I think the unusual bristles have a tendency to hold onto extra product more than the typical silicone brush. I tried to capture this in the bottom right photo. If you can tell, there is a LOT of product on the brush-- especially concentrated in and around those flat bristles. The problem with this is that extra product can weigh down the lashes and look clumpy. This is not a problem that is unique to this wand-- in fact, I'd say more mascara wands than not tend to pick up extra product. I would just say that it's extra important to make sure you wipe off as much product as possible from the wand before applying to your lashes.



For reference, these are my bare lashes. They look fairly lackluster here because they're naturally quite pale at the tips, but I'd say I'm lucky in that I have decently long and thick lashes naturally. They're not amazing or anything, but I can get most mascaras to look decent provided the formula is not overly heavy.

Lashes post-mascara. The Covergirl Plumpify blashPro added both volume and length to my lashes, while still leaving them quite defined. This is my favorite type of lash look-- I'd rather sacrifice excessive length or volume for natural looking lashes, but if I can get both, I'm happy!

Right out of the tube, the formula is fairly wet. I can go either way with mascara formulas, but I tend to prefer wet ones as I have less issues with them flaking off throughout the day or looking unnatural after application. This formula was wet enough that I could brush through my lashes several time with the wand to ensure maximum separation, but wasn't so wet that my lashes were weighed down. I also thought the formula did a good job of holding a curl. I've worn this mascara numerous times since these pictures were taken, and I haven't experienced any issues with flaking or smearing.

So, overall I think you can get a very pretty, "plumpified" lash result from this mascara. I do think that while the wand is quite unique, I think the design makes the mascara a bit more difficult to apply than it needs to be. I'm referring again to the tendency of the wand to hold on to excess product, which COULD cause clumping if not wiped off. I also find that the wand itself is quite large, so you need to be very careful while applying so as not to make a mess on your lids. I've found that looking down into a mirror is a pretty safe way of applying the mascara without making a mess. So far, I've found that the cleanest method of coating the lower lashes is using the spiky end of the wand.

And here's the final look. I've added eyeliner to my waterline (Colourpop Workout) and applied a dark shadow to my upper lashline (Wet 'n' Wild Comfort Zone palette). All of the photos in this post are un-edited (with the exception of the watermark) so this is what the product really looks like. I've been pleased with the results of this mascara, but I do think it requires a bit of extra work the make sure the right amount of product is applied to the lashes. I am looking forward to seeing how the mascara applies as the formula dries down, and it this causes less product to catch on the bristles.



This product was provided complimentary for testing purposes from Influester and Covergirl. All opinions stated here are my own.

FOTD August 23, 2015: The calendar says it's summer, but my heart says it's fall

Base:
Primer MAC Prep + Prime Skin
Foundation Covergirl Ready Set Gorgeous in 105 Classic Ivory + L'Oreal True Match Lumi in W1-2
Concealer NYX HD Concealer in Porcelain

Eyes:
Brows e.l.f. Studio Brow kit in Medium
Primer Urban Decay Primer Potion
Shadows Matte light pink (inner 1/2 of lid) and mauve (outer half of lid) shades from the Coastal Scents Revealed 2 palette, Colourpop Sequin (outer 1/3 of lid), Colourpop Drift (outer corner and crease, outer 1/3 of lower lid), and Sultry from the balm Nude 'Tude palette (blended out above the crease)
Liner NYC liquid liner (tightline)
Mascara MUFE Smokey Extravaganza (top lashes), Covergirl Clump Crusher (bottom lashes)

Face:
Blush Three blushes from the Coastal Scents 10 Blush palette (in the top row, the two leftmost shades, in the bottom row, the rightmost shade)

Lips:
Lipstick Urban Decay Matte Revolution Lipsticks in Afterdark (applied first) and Bad Blood (applied on top)

Ever since starting grad school, the moment August rolls around I am ready to pack away my shorts and sandals and coral lipsticks and get ready for fall. Last year, the weather seemed to be in agreement with me and leaves were starting to fall in NYC by mid August. This year the weather is still resolutely summer, but my heart is already stuck on fall makeup.

I've been feeling anxious lately about some school/work things and so this afternoon I decided to play around with Colourpop Drift for the first time as a distraction. I can tell just from today that this is a shade I'm going to be loving this fall and winter. For the eyes, I started off by applying the light pink matte shade from the CS Revealed 2 palette all over my lids, with the light matte mauvey shade on the outer half of each lid. I then patted on Sequin, a gorgeous glittery rose-copper, with my finger on the outer half or third of each lid. On the outer corner of each eye, I patted on Drift with my pinky finger. I then use a Coastal Scents synthetic brush (BR-C-S51) to bring Drift up into the crease. I also used the same brush to bring Drift down along the outer 1/3 of my lower lashline. I've heard that the Colourpop shadows apply best with the fingers, and my experience so far using Sequin has confirmed this, but I actually thought that Drift applied quite well using the CS brush as well. Once I had blended this into the crease, I blended it out using Sultry from the balm's Nude 'Tude palette.

I decided I wanted to mimic the warm berry tones used in the eye shadow on my cheeks, so I used a couple of different Coastal Scents blushes to get a similar effect. I started by using a light peach shade (in the top row, second from the left-- I hate that they don't have names or numbers) and applied this along my cheek bones towards the apples of my cheeks. I then used a warm nude shade (bottom row, all the way on the right) and applied this just under my cheeks bones, almost like a contour. Finally, on the tops of my cheek bones, I applied a gorgeous mauvey shade (top row, leftmost) focusing only on the outsides of my face. I blended these lightly together with a fluffy kabuki brush. I like the effect a lot, although I think for a more monochromatic look the blush called Mellow Wine from Wet 'n' Wild would also look gorgeous. In the way of a mini review, I think the Coastal Scents are quite pigmented and come in a beautiful array of shades and finishes, but on my skin (which is not oily, although I will admit to resting my cheeks in my hands throughout the day) the blushes definitely do not last the day. I know that Coastal Scents also makes individual blushes called Forever Blush (or forever flush, or something like that)-- I'm not sure if these are the same formula or if they're longer lasting. TL;DR: The 10 pan blush palette is pretty for playing around with but doesn't hold up all day long.

Finally, I decided to use another new product I've been saving for fall-- the Urban Decay Matte Revolution lipstick in Afterdark. When I first put this on I was surprised by how purple it was-- it's a gorgeous color, but it didn't look quite right with the shadows. I layer the shade Bad Blood on top though and it become the Oxblood fall lipstick color of my dreams! They seriously make an amazing combo, if you happen to have both shades I highly recommend pairing them together.


I can't wait to wear this look again (outside of my apartment, even >>) when the weather becomes more appropriately fall! 

(P.S. My skin has been very sad lately thanks to hormones (and I somehow forgot to use moisturizer last night), sorry sorry.)

FOTD: August 15th, 2015

Base:

Foundation bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream in 02 Vanilla

Concealer Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Concealer in .5, NYX HD Concealer in Porcelain
Powder Tarte Smooth Operator (to set concealer), Wet 'n' Wild Reserve Your Cabana (all over)

Eyes:
Brows e.l.f. Studio Brow Kit in Medium (gel side) + Mocha from IT Cosmetics Naturally Pretty palette (to fill in some sparse areas)

Primer Urban Decay Primer Potion

Shadows Instinct (all over) and Wonder (above crease) from Stila In the Moment palette, two purple shades (in the crease and on the lower lashline), a pink shade (above the crease, the blend everything out), and a cream shade (inner lid) from Coastal Scents Metal Mania palette, a turquoise shade (deepest part of crease, outer corner) from the e.l.f. Summer Beauty Night Book, and Shattered (outer 1/3 of upper lid) from the Urban Decay Ammo palette
Liner NYC liquid liner (tightline), Jesse's Girl eyeliner in Lilac Shimmer (lower waterline) topped with Impulse from the Stila In the Moment palette
Mascara Makeup For Ever Smokey Extravagant (top lashes), Covergirl Clump Crusher (lower lashes)

Lips:
Lipstick ColourPop Lippie Stix in Lumiere (all over) and Westie (patted on top)


I'm so excited about how this look turned out! In my last FOTD I talked about how I wanted to work on my blending, and I think I really improved it a lot in this look. I based this off of a shadow look /u/Julia526 posted on the MakeupAddiction subreddit (you can find her post here), and I think having a guide for color placement helped a lot with getting the blending right. I didn't have any of the particular shadows that she used (I didn't even have similar colors, in some cases), but I'm really pleased with how this came out anyway. I feel like if unicorns wore eyeshadow, it would look something like this.

I've really been enjoying the Coastal Scents Metal Mania palette the last two times I've used it. Don't get me wrong, it's an inexpensive mega palette so it's got some flaws (there are a bunch of "dud" shades that produce no noticeable color, some fallout, etc) but it also has some beautiful and very unique shades. This serves as a reminder to self that it's good to shop your stash every once in a while.

Speaking of shopping your stash, I dug up this Jesse's Girl eye liner because I thought it would look perfect with the shadows I used and I haven't used it in a long time... but I just wasn't that impressed with it. The liner is unbelievably soft which makes it very difficult to get good color payoff (especially in difficult areas like the waterline). I ended up having to go over it with a purple shadow I sprayed with MAC Fix+. DO NOT DO THIS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! I don't know why I thought Fix+ was a good idea for shadows on the waterline but it burned my eyes for a good 5 minutes and they were a watery red mess. Thankfully they recovered and I can still see and all that good stuff so no permanent damage done, but an important lesson was learned.

Finally, my skin is in a bit rough shape as I'm trying to get rid of these freaking closed comedones I've had on my chin for a long while... I recently came to the realization that one of my favorite foundations was highly comedogenic so I've switched away from that and now I'm trying to improve the skin texture in that area. I've been thinking about maybe making a post about this and documenting what works (and doesn't work) during this process, but it will probably take a while to write, so we'll see.

Makeup of the day, 09/02/14

Products used:

Face

Covergirl Ready Set Gorgeous Fresh Complexion Foundation in Shade 105

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circles Eraser in Fair

Pop Beauty Sunkissed Bronzer in Secret Sunshine

Everyday Minerals Sunlight Color Corrector

e.l.f. High Definition Powder

Everyday Minerals Mineral Blush in At First Blush

Beauty Junkees Flat Kabuki

EcoTools Contour Kabuki

Eyes

Ulta Super Stretch Fiber Mascara

e.l.f. Mineral Mascara (lower lashes only)

Ulta Dual Ended Eyeliner (Black- upper waterline only)

Eye lash curlers (no idea what the brand is)

Ulta Eyeshadows in (from left to right) Truffle, Eggplant, and Buttercream

Brows

e.l.f. Eyebrow kit in Light (powder only)

Lips

Jordana Twist & Shine Balm Stain in Honey Love

I'm not even going to try to make excuses for why it has taken me so long to post here. Instead, I'm going to introduce a new series on this blog: my makeup of the day! I won't post a look every day (I tend to do the same look for a few days in a row) but I'll try to post a few looks a week. This is helpful for me because often I'll look back at pictures of myself and love the way my makeup looked on a particular day, but I'll have totally forgotten what I was wearing-- so I'm hoping that by documenting the process, I'll gain a better idea of what products I like (and what they look like, even if I haven't used them in ages) and hopefully this will push me to try out new things and make more use of products in my collection.

I wore this look on my first day of class, and I wanted to do a fall smokey eye that was still subtle and natural enough for school. I got these Ulta eyeshadows (along with the mascara, eyeliner, and some other great products) for free by spending $19.50 on Ulta products. I really L O V E all the shadows I've tried (but I haven't used all the shades yet). I swept Truffle, which is a gorgeous shimmery taupe, all over the lids and then added Eggplant in the outer corners and blended it into the crease. I realllllly blended it in (because it was looking a bit dark for daytime) and I used Buttercream to blend out and soften the edges. I'm also really digging the Ulta mascara-- I've always been afraid of using fiber mascaras because I have ridiculously sensitive eyes and I was worried about fibers falling into my eyes all day. I'm pleased to report that I haven't had any issues with that with this mascara. It really lengthens my lashes but in a natural, not clumpy way. My only problem with it is that it's a bit on the dry side and I feel like I have to run the brush through my lashes a million times to build it up. Also, that Jordana balm stain-- on point. The stain lasts literally all day (through three meals and countless cups of coffee). Seriously impressive and the color is gorgeous.

I've never been good at introductory posts-- I prefer to jump right into things-- but I thought I'd say a little about why I started this blog. My interest in photography that began about 4 years ago concurrently renewed my interest in beauty-- something about viewing things through a lens and trying to find beauty in the natural world made me even more interested in finding and enhancing it in human beings! I love researching and trying out new products and in my head I've always made little reviews for new things as I was trying them. I thought I might as well help out anyone who happened to stumble across this blog by putting them down in print. So welcome to my little corner of the web, you beautiful person, you!