Review: Marc Jacobs Beauty’s Glow Stick

Welcome to a special post, reader! We’ve got a press sample! I was contacted by Influenster to review the Glow Stick highlighter from Marc Jacobs. It’s a wonderful product, I’m happy to say! I was pretty wary of this at first. In general, I don’t use highlighters. I’m quite oily, so I don’t seek out dewy skin, it just happens naturally (and then some). I always equate dewiness with oiliness so I skip this step in my makeup routine. Learning to use the Glow Stick has certainly been a long-due makeup lesson.

The packaging is sleek, almost to the point of sterility. It works like a deodorant stick; the cap pops off, and you turn the dial at the bottom to raise the product from the tube. Ease of use is definitely something Glow Stick has going for it. From here, you can apply it any way you wish: you can pick some up on your fingertip or favorite brush, or you can apply it directly.

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The stick itself is pretty creamy, but it’s very blendable. I find myself avoiding anything that’s too creamy, not only because it’s oily, also because it tends to disturb any powder products I’ve already used. Glow Stick blends easily into my powder, going undetected to the touch, leaving behind only the white-gold shimmer. I’ll also mention that there’s not a very strong scent to it, that’s a huge plus for me as well. I’m really digging the formula.

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For this look, I applied Glow Stick directly on my cheekbones, above the brow, and my chin, with my fingers on the bridge of my nose and my brow highlight, and with a lip brush around my Cupid’s Bow. I also used a clean brush to blend it out. As you can see, the coverage is buildable and you can use as much or as little as you need. As I mentioned, I used it very sparingly so as not to be lit up like Christmas morning.

When you have to get your boyfriend to take pictures of your makeup and the only good one is of your RBF

When you have to get your boyfriend to take pictures of your makeup and the only good one is of your RBF

 

Don't be frightened by this, I went over this four or five times for the full disco effect.

Don’t be frightened by this, I went over this four or five times for the full disco effect.

So here are the issues I have with it. The products I already use are pretty luminous, and I feel like it’s a little redundant, at least for the summer. In the winter when I’m not as oily and my matte foundation makes me look a bit flat, I might use it more then. Also, it only comes in this one shade, which works well for me, but may not be the best option for people of color. Lastly, I need to mention that it retails for $42 at Sephora, which probably would have deterred me if I were buying it myself. It is a Marc Jacobs product, so that’s to be expected. Seeing as how sparingly I’ll use this, though, it will last me virtually forever, so maybe it would actually be a pretty good bargain.

Glow Stick and other Marc Jacobs Beauty products are sold at Sephora.

Other products I used in this look:
Face:
Dr. Jart+ Premium Beauty Balm SPF 45
NYX Color-Correcting Concealers (yellow and green)
Revlon Photoready powder in Translucent
Benefit Dallas bronzer
Marc Jacobs Beauty Glow Stick
Anastasia Beverly Hills Clear Browl Gel

Eyes:
Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin
Urban Decay eyeshadows Foxy and Suspect, found in the Naked 2 palette
Urban Decay 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Liner in Perversion
Maybelline Great Lash waterproof mascara

Lips: Burt’s Bees Lip Crayon in Sedona Sands

Earrings: ABC Stores

The Marc Jacobs Beatuy Glow Stick was provided by Influenster for an honest review. All other products were purchased myself.

Empties Roundup: June 2016

Hello, reader! Today’s post is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I love reading empties posts, but I rarely empty products, and it’s not worth it to me to write about the one BB cream or the bottle of Seche Vite I used up this month. For this inaugural Empties Roundup, I have five whole things to talk about. Let’s get going!

OPI’s Expert Touch Lint-Free Nail Wipes

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I picked these up out of a Sally Beauty Supply sale bin for four dollars. I wasn’t sure what they were at the time, but I grabbed them, just to try them out. The box says they absorb polish very quickly, and while this is true, they also absorb remover very quickly as well, and eventually gain this gross tacky feel to them, which I really disliked. The wipes themselves are small, so between the tacky feel and the size, I used a wipe or two per nail, or 10-20 for each manicure. They left lint on me, so they’re definitely not lint-free. They do remove polish, however, so it wasn’t a total miss. They even work in the foil method of glitter removal. I didn’t hate these wipes, but the day the box ran out and I could go back to regular cotton pads was a pretty good day. I won’t be purchasing these again.

Benefit’s Bathina “Take a Picture, It’ll Last Longer” Body Balm

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This is truly a momentous occasion, because I’ve had this tin since 2010 and it is finally empty. The balm itself was a rosy gold with a soft powdery scent, and came with a puff for applying it to the skin. I didn’t use it continually since 2010, only in the summers, because this stuff looks amazing over a tan. It can be a bit much on very hot days, but I happen to like looking like I sweat glitter, so that’s okay with me. I loved this product, but I don’t know if I’ll ever re-purchase it. I’ve got other body shimmer products I need to work through first, and who knows how long that will take.

Maybelline Lash Sensational Waterproof Mascara

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This wasn’t an empty as much as it was just time to toss it. I’d been using it since March. I really wanted to love this, but I couldn’t get past the brush. It was really big and unwieldy with a pronounced curve, often giving me too much product where I didn’t need it. There was one side of the brush with very short bristles, and that was the only way I could use it. Mostly I’m just sad this mascara isn’t the old Volum’Express in the red tube; that was my HG waterproof mascara, and now Maybelline has discontinued it and wants me to have scary spidery lashes now. I replaced it with the Great Lash Waterproof mascara, also from Maybelline.

Bare Escentuals Buxom Lip Gloss in Clair

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This is another oldie from my collection that’s finally going to the big vanity drawer in the sky. I really love the Buxom lip glosses for their minty tingle and sheer wash of color; I have dozens of these glosses but I’ve ever finished like two, including this one. Because I have so many, I probably won’t more, and even if I wanted to replace this one, I don’t think they make it anymore. That’s actually how old this lip gloss was.

Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Virgin

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Do you ever look at your eyeshadow palettes and notice there’s one shade that’s visibly more used than all the others? In my UD Naked palette, Virgin is that shade. You can tell because the pan is completely empty. And because no Naked look is complete without Virgin, I got a single to replace it. This is actually the second single eyeshadow I’ve gone through. I’ll definitely be replacing this.

Tarte Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder Sample

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I actually forgot I had this in my makeup bag until I ran out of my regular powder. Finding this actually saved my life. I have no idea where this came from, since I don’t normally buy Tarte; it must have been a Sephora sample, or an ipsy bag offering. It was a pretty nice powder, though it felt a little creamy for a finishing powder; my skin didn’t feel 100% finished. In the summer, though, that’s not so important, because it ends up just disappearing into sweat anyway. I’m not sure I’d buy a full size of this, I’d rather just go back to my Make Up For Ever powder.

And there you have it, the first-ever Empties Roundup on wacie.com! Looking at these photos, I feel very accomplished. I rarely use something for so long that I actually use all of it, so to have this many empties at the end of the month is really special. Now all I have to do is avoid buying more stuff and setting myself back!

I bought these products myself.

Hawaiian Beauty Haul!

Hey guys! Today’s post is something new, because I don’t typically post about things I bought and haven’t used yet. However, because I didn’t post for two weeks, I feel like I need to make up for the time I took off. Also, because all these products are locally made in Hawaii, they’re new and exciting to me, and I want to tell you about them, too! These are all the beauty goods I bought while I was on vacation.

First I’ll talk about Island Girl nail polish. This was the one product I knew I’d be buying ahead of time, because I’ve seen so many other people on the nail polish internet wearing it. It’s also the only one of these you can buy on the mainland, as ABC Stores, the carrier of Island Girl, also has stores in Las Vegas. I won’t talk too much about these, since these are pretty popular items, and I’ll be swatching one this weekend for Swatch Sunday.

The teal is called Aloha Paradise, and the neon pink is called Mahalo Color. The three glitters came in a three-pack and, for some reason, are missing their shade labels.

The teal is called Aloha Paradise, and the neon pink is called Mahalo Color. The three glitters came in a three-pack and, for some reason, are missing their shade labels.

I bought the polishes on the last day of my trip, but I bought this cuticle oil at the beginning because my cuticles looked like garbage around day two. I liked that it came in a large one ounce bottle, and the colorful little flowers in it. The scent is strong, floral and fruity. The oil itself is a blend of mineral and safflower oils, and may not be the most nourishing oil blend, but it really saved my cuticles while I was travelling. And it’s so cute!

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I also bought these solid lotions to use as cuticle balms, but they got buried in the shopping bags and I didn’t get to them until I was home. I’ve only opened the plumeria one; you can see the aloe one is still sealed along the edges. It was left in the hot Hawaiian car for most of the trip, and so it melted and can’t be removed from the tin easily, so I’ve just been digging in with my finger. It works really well as a cuticle balm; it absorbs quickly and doesn’t leave shine and grease behind. The scent is strong but very natural-smelling.

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I haven’t used any of these soaps yet, but they smell so delicious that I’ll probably open them up soon. All three of the Indigenous soaps have very earthy scents, scents like patchouli, ginger, and camphor. They’re all recently made, too, as each bar has a “born on” date stamped on the label. The very natural ingredients list is something to behold as well.

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I didn’t even want to buy this guava glycerine soap. I knocked it off a display, and when I picked it up, it was dented and I felt like a jerk just putting it back. The presentation of this soap is beauitful, though; the raffia ribbon and cowrie shells really say “Hey, I came from Hawaii”, probably moreso than any of the other things I bought. The scent is citrusy and floral (pikake is a jasmine variant).

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More soaps! These are from Garden Isle Bath and Body, based in Kapa’a, Kauai. I haven’t used these yet, but they smell amazing!

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These lotions, also from Garden Isle, are the real reason I ended up buying the soaps. I actually just wandered into the store to kill time before a kayaking trip, but I saw the after sun creams and bought a few, expecting to have an epic sunburn by the time the kayaking was over. I didn’t, thankfully, but now I’ve got some really nice creams. These were on the pricy side — $6 for the lotion tubes, $10 for the after sun jars — but the quality seems high. They’re very fragrant and very moisturizing, as well as handmade.

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Left: Ginger Blossom; Right: Sandalwood

Left: Ginger Blossom; Right: Sandalwood

Ingredients

Ingredients

I’m a little surprised I bought so few beauty items! Usually those are my favorite. I bought a lot of jewelry and rum and books. And SPAM. I hope I don’t come across like a braggart writing about stuff I bought, but I love these products, and I hope you’re interested in trying them! Here are some links.
Sarah’s Sweet Scrubs
Indigenous Soap
Garden Isle Bath and Body
Kauai Gems

I bought these products myself.