Beauty Spotlight - ft. Younique (Sample Assortment)

YOUNIQUE

UPLIFT. EMPOWER. MOTIVATE

Sample Assortment

"Our mission is to uplift, empower, validate, and ultimately build self-esteem in women around the world through high-quality products that encourage both inner and outer beauty and spiritual enlightenment while also providing opportunities for personal growth and financial reward." - youniqueproducts.com


Happy Monday everyone! Hope your week started off well, so far I can't complain (and I am NOT a Monday person....well come to think of it, who is? ::giggles::). Today I have a variety of samples from Younique to share with you, including four pigments, a cleanser and a primer. If you haven't heard of Younique before, it's a beauty brand that includes skin care and cosmetics that was created by brother and sister team, Derek Maxfield and Melanie Huscroft. As you can see by the quote from Younique's website, Younique is not only for purchase of beauty products for yourself, but also also offers a means to join the team and become a Younique Presenter yourself, based out of the comfort of your home.


Let's take a closer look at what I received!....


AWAKE FACIAL CLEANSER

(Image from youniqueproducts.com)

"Awake contains a range of beneficial ingredients that awaken and cleanse the skin. Its thick texture transforms into an effective lather to dissolve oil and makeup, rinsing away pore-clogging surface debris, impurities, and excess oil. It refines the skin texture, brightens skin clarity, and minimizes the look of pores over time." - youniqueproducts.com

I am always on the lookout for new, exciting cleansers that provide a deep cleanse, smoother skin, smaller pores, hydrates well, etc., so I was so happy to see a cleanser in the selection of samples!

   

One thing that I really love about Younique's website, is that it not only lists the ingredients in the product, but it breaks each one down and explains what the ingredient is for and how it is used in the formula! The first thing I noticed about this cleanser is that it has a good number of anti-inflammatory products, which is always something I look for, since I have rosacea. It includes aloe vera (LOVE it), garden chrysanthemum, and licorice root extract for calming irritation, as well as palmitic, lauric and stearic acid, all wonderful for nourishing and softening the skin. 

I LOOOOOOVE using this cleanser. A little goes a very long way, and when I say it lathers, it LATHERS. I don't know why, but I absolutely love when a facial cleanser gets really sudsy and lathers well. It spreads nicely, and I can really feel it get into the pores and gently work out all the impurities, dirt and excess oils. You know a cleanser cleanses well when you're splashing the product off your face and you hear the skin on your face making a squeaking sound when your hands rub against it! This is really both a good and possibly a bad thing. If you're like me, with combination to oily skin, you'll love the finish this cleanser gives, it mattifies your skin to an extent and removes a good bit of excess oil. However, if you have dry skin, you're not going to want to strip away your skin's natural oils too much. 

It doesn't have too strong of an aroma, just a very light slightly perfume fragrance, however I didn't really notice it unless I was holding it right under my nose and breathing in deep. A strange thing that I really love about the look of the product, though, is the color! It's has a shiny, melted-down silver appearance, but once it start lathering, it all becomes white. I don't know why, but I just think it looks luxurious, and definitely FEELS luxurious.

I used this cleanser for about a week, and I did notice some small changes in my skin. The pores have begun to look a little tighter, smoother and just a teensy bit brighter. It didn't really make any difference for my acne as far as fading or lessening it, but I'm just happy that it didn't flare it up at all. 

All in all, I really loved using this cleanser! It gave me a super deep clean, my skin's appearance improved, it looked brighter, smoother and overall just felt better. I'd definitely love to purchase some in the future!






MOODSTRUCK GLORIOUS FACE & EYE PRIMER

(Image from youniqueproducts.com)

"Younique Glorious Face & Eye Primer creates a flawless canvas as it evens out the skin's texture, and primes and prepares the skin for premium application of mineral makeup. The resulting appearance is porcelain-perfect, velvety-soft skin with incredible long-wearing, sweat-resistant coverage of mineral makeup that lasts all day. Ingredients are naturally-based, free of parabens, oils, synthetic fragrances, and cheap fillers. Suitable for all skin types." - youniqueproducts.com

I'm most definitely a primer girl. I seriously won't go a day without primer, my skin just loooooves to get way too oily. I depend on my primer to give me a smooth canvas, and keep my makeup fresh and intact after hours of wear. 

   

This primer's formulation is fairly simple, but definitely has some great ingredients. Once again, Younique has been kind enough to list and explain them on their website:


Elastin functions as a good water-binding agent, which can help the skin hold in moisture.

Dimethicone feels like silk on the skin as it works as an emollient (skin softener) and long-lasting water-binding agent.

Trehalose is a plant sugar with water-binding properties for skin, as well as humectant (moisture preserving) and moisturizing benefits.

Vitamin E is considered an antioxidant superstar. It is one of the most well-known and researched antioxidants.

Hyaluronan boosts skin's moisture content and helps to hinder moisture loss.

Butylene Glycol is a commonly used slip agent that has multiple functions in cosmetics: humectant (moisture preserver), humidifier, and ingredient deliverer.

Silk Crosspolymer has water-binding properties for skin conditioning.



The texture is very smooth, silky and spreads very easily. It's not at all sticky and doesn't feel oily. As with the cleanser, a little does go a long way, you can get full coverage on the face with just a pea-size amount.

I tried this primer under a variety of foundations, BB creams and powders, as well as a variety of methods for applying including fingertips, brushes and my Beautyblender. It certainly helped application by giving my skin a smooth, soft surface to apply on. I did notice that using a makeup brush to apply foundation/BB cream was a bit easier than usual! It just smoothed the product right over the skin and I did not have to do anywhere near as much blending as I normally do it make it appear flawless. The primer is mainly presented as a facial primer on their website (aside from the name), but it is listed as being gentle enough to be used around eyes so I did also try it as an eyeshadow primer.

As a facial primer, I do think it does a decent job. It's not the strongest primer I've ever used, but at the end of the day after hours of foundation wear, when I used a makeup remover to remove my makeup I did see quite a bit of product coming off on the towelette, so I know that makeup was staying put! I didn't notice that any particular type of foundation (liquid, mousse, BB creme, powder) performed any better than another with this primer, they all blended well and they all lasted just as long. One thing to note, I did notice with this primer that my creme BLUSHES seemed to go on so much better! I used the exact same blush with two different types of primers and when I used the Younique primer, the blush looked smoother, whereas with a different primer, it seemed a bit patchier. 

As an eye primer, it really didn't live up anywhere near as well as my other eye primers. It's just not strong enough for me. I love wearing bright pigmented shades majority of the time, and usually have a cat-eye or winged eyeliner, so my eye primer needs to be hardcore! It definitely did help prime the eyes for application, AND did provide a bit more hold compared to not wearing any primer at all, but no where near as I'd like. However, if you're looking for a gentle primer, or only wear very little eyeshadow, well blended in, then you may not mind using this primer both for face and eyes.

To sum up on this primer, I think it's not bad! I was pleased with it's finish on my skin, it's blendability and it has decent hold for foundations. My only disappointment with it was as an eye primer, but I certainly wouldn't mind having it as a facial primer! If you have delicate skin and need a gentle primer, then I'd highly recommend this for you.




   

MOODSTRUCK MINERAL PIGMENT POWDERS
in Curious, Regal, Awestruck, and Corrupted

(Image from youniqueproducts.com)

"100% natural, mineral-based pigment powders consisting of finely crushed minerals that bond to the skin offering long-lasting, sweat-proof coverage. High-quality pigments that do not contain talc or other unnecessary filler ingredients. Apply wet for a more dramatic impact of color, or apply dry for a blending of colors or for a softer look. The possibilities are endless as you tap into your "inner mood" for the day. To experience optimal results first apply Younique's Glorious Face & Eye Primer all over your face and eyelids prior to using mineral pigment eyeshadows." - youniqueproducts.com

First of all, how ADORABLE are those little pigment containers! Seriously, I'd buy them just because of the design. I'm a sucker for cute packaging, what can I say. Teehee.

Here are the ingredients listed on Younique's website:

Mica is a safe, natural, and plentiful mineral that has a reflective, glittery appearance, and brings a sleek shimmer to any pigment. Easy to wear, natural, and a beautiful way to enhance the appearance of your skin, Mica glides easily onto your skin.

Titanium Dioxide is an inert earth mineral used as a thickening, whitening, and lubricating ingredient in cosmetics.

Iron Oxide is a naturally-occurring mineral that acts as a colorant, giving pigment powder its vibrant hue.

Tin Oxide functions as an expanding and opacifying agent.

Bismuth Oxychloride is an inorganic refined mineral used for its distinct shimmery, pearlescent appearance, and its fine, white powder texture adheres well to skin. It can help to prevent cosmetics from appearing dull and flat.

Carmine is a red pigment used as a colorant.

Zinc Oxide is an inert earth mineral used as a thickening, whitening, and lubricating ingredient.


Here are the sample colors I received:

   

Let's look at how gorgeous these shades are! I absolutely love the finish on them! They all have a gorgeous almost satin-frosty effect, and are decently pigmented for being all natural. On Younique's website, they list their pigments of having either a shimmer or matte finish. Three of the shades I receive are part of their shimmer collection and one is from the matte. All of these swatches are done WITHOUT primer.

Regal is a gorgeous shimmery frosty violet that leans towards some pink and blue tones throughout. It's without a doubt, my favorite of the four, I mean, LOOK at it! So gorgeous. It blends beautifully, is very smooth, soft and easy to work with and can be built up for a stronger pigmentation. The more you add, the more purple it looks, and the blue tones are not quite as apparent.

Curious is a beautiful almost duochrome cream shimmer. The slight duochrome effect has some pink and nude sheen that is subtle but still present. It makes an absolutely gooooorgeous highlighter on the eyes for the inner corners and below the brows. It's not highly pigmented, but because it has a slight duochrome effect, it picks up well used with other colors and it looks gorgeous lightly patted over other colors.

Corrupted is a off-black matte-satin, although it's listed as a matte on Younique's website. I was actually fairly impressed with it's pigmentation. It blends well, barely has any patchiness (which I'm very particular about when it comes to black shadows) and can be lightly built up for a bit more pigmentation.

Awestruck is a lovely cornflower blue satin with a very slight frost. It's a bit more pigmented than Regal, but it blends so easily. It can be built up for a bit more pigmentation as well. 


All of the shades are very easy to work with and look so gorgeous on, they have an almost smokey effect without even trying to achieve a smokey eye. The only thing is, they WILL fade and much quicker than a typical higher quality eyeshadow. I tried different primers underneath, including my never fail duo of Urban Decay's Primer Potion and NYX's Jumbo Pencil in Milk, and even then, about 3-4 hours later, the shadows started to fade, HOWEVER, they did not smudge off, crease or completely fade away. Instead, they faded to a very soft still smokey effect that I actually really loved! I almost want to say they SOFTEN instead of fade. The frostiness isn't quite as strong (on Regal, Curious and Awestruck) but they still retain nice color. Corrupted was the only color that I did have some smudging with, however, that only happened when I applied it over an eyeliner. When I blended it out and used it straight on the lid over primer, it did not smudge nearly as much, hardly at all.

I really think the shadows are gorgeous, and if you're looking for something that isn't heavily pigmented, that gives you a soft-looking eye, then I think you'd absolutely love these pigments. They're very soft, easy to use, aren't incredibly messy and used with a good primer, do provide some gorgeous color. However, if you like strong, vivid shades with a lot of pop, then you may not like how these soften over wear. 

I'm really curious to try other colors! They have the cutest names, and as I said, I love the packaging! I mean, how could you resist Twiterpated, Sassy, Giddy, Precocious, Glamorous, and Fiesty......I couldn't. ::giggles::

PURCHASE:
   
Here are the listed prices for the full-size version of the products I received:
     
*Awake Facial Cleanser (100 g) - $39

*Moodstruck Glorious Face & Eye Primer (40 ml) - $39

Moonstruck Minerals Pigment Powder (1.1 grams each) - $10

    
All of these products are available for purchase at Younique's website or can be ordered through a Younique Presenter, even through their Younique page on Younique's site! Here is the Younique's direct website:
    
www.youniqueproducts.com




 You can use the website to find a Younique Presenter in your area, however, here is the info for my Presenter, if you would care to order through her! -

Christine Richards
Independent Presenter

myyouniquebeauty@gmail.com

www.myyouniquebeauty.com



*Just to note, the Cleanser and Primer are currently temporarily on back order, however it does say that orders CAN be placed for them and will ship as soon as they're back in stock. All other items purchased in that order will ship normally if they are in stock.

FINALE

I love eyeshadow finales! Haha, these past few weeks I've been doing multiple eyeshadow looks for the blog (many that you haven't seen yet ::winkwink::) but I have to say, this is one of my favorites...

Could you not die, isn't that color GORGEOUS. Seriously, I think blues and purple together are my favorite.

For this look I began with Urban Decay's Primer Potion in Original, as well as NYX's Jumbo Pencil in Milk as my primers. For the shadows, I used Curious (cream-white) as a brow bone highlight and on the inner corners of my eyes, then Awestruck (blue) all over the lid. I then blended on Regal on the outer 1/3 of my lid and up into the outer crease, as well as under my bottom lashes. I used a black eyeliner pencil for a simple wing then blended on Corrupted (black) over it to soften the line, as well as lightly blending it directly under my bottom lashes. I finished the eyes with a few coats of mascara! Voila! 



That's it for my review on my Younique brand samples! I hope you enjoyed. I really loved using these products, I'm definitely a huge fan of the cleanser and the pigments, and I certainly think the primer wasn't half-bad. I'll probably be purchasing the cleanser in the future and I wouldn't mind trying out some other pigment shades. With 32 colors to choose from, I'm sure I can find a few that will pique my interest. Heehee.

Happy Makeuping!

   

*Disclaimer: I received these complimentary products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and experiences are my own and I received no compensation for them. This entire review was written only by me and was in no way influenced by the brand provider.