Hey everyone!  Welcome to my latest installment of ‘New for 2016, drugstore edition!’  Today I will be reviewing Covergirl products.  While not typically a fan of Covergirl products; 2016 began with a bevy of newbies that were begging for attention.  They caught my eye, so I gave them a shot.  Here are my thoughts:

We’ll begin with the palettes.  I know many of you have tried at least one of these babies by now; but if not, below are the swatches for each palette and my experience using them.

The Palettes:

Covergirl Trunaked Palettes: $9.98-$12.99 (prices vary by retailer)

The Swatches:

The Nudes, up close:

All photos were taken in natural light (unfortunately there was no sun on this day) and I put face primer on my arm; not eyeshadow primer, just prior to application.

Now that we have all of the photos out of the way, my insight:

The palettes themselves are lovely; nice looking, lightweight and thin; making it easy to stack the 3 and store them in standard makeup organizer drawers, each shadow appears to be the typical eyeshadow palette product amount.  They each have a good selection of light and dark shades; both matte and shimmer finishes and are separated in to 3 different tones.  This is good if you want just one palette that is better coordinated to your skin’s undertones.

Pigment and finish:

These qualities were pretty good overall.  The lighter shades were the most powdery and required more effort to get good pigment than the darker shades.  The shimmers were smoother and had better consistency than that of the matte shades.  Whether you are a palette junky or a makeup lover on a budget I definitely recommend giving these babies a shot.  Which to choose?  It’s a tough one fore me as I really like shades from each palette…but if you want to chose just one:  The goldens would compliment an olive complexion beautifully; I think, while the roses a cool and the nudes for the neutral toned folks.  There are however; certainly shades in each palette that compliment my ‘on the cooler side of neutral’ toned skin. So; go with what you like, I find the pigment best on the Golden’s palette, but that’s not surprising; simply put:  The ivories and golden tones are going to stand out more amongst my light, cool skin.  Which palette is your favorite?!

Covergirl Oh Sugar: $6.94 – $7.99 (prices vary by retailer)

Ahh..the much debated ‘dupe’ for Fresh Sugar Lip treatment.  I’ve refrained from reading any in depth reviews on this product as to not accidentally sway my opinion either way.  I purchased two of these, pretty much the moment they hit the stores, knowing absolutely nothing about the product.  It was also the very first item from my 2016 stash I tried.  With the cute packaging and the adorable candy like names I could hardly wait to swipe ‘cupcake’ across my lips.  The moment I pulled off the cap and brought the product to my lips, my very first thought was:  Fresh! Duh…how had I not put two and two together at first sight of the display?  Likely b/c nothing in the drugstore industry has attempted to mimic the cult favorite that is ‘Fresh Sugar lip treatment’ in the many, many years of its existence…and certainly Covergirl wouldn’t dare; except they did and quite frankly, they did a pretty good job of it too.

It’s nearly impossible to review this product and not compare it to Fresh’s product at this juncture as it’s such a buzzed about topic.  So; here is my insight:  I’ve been an avid user of Fresh Sugar Lip treatment for more years than I can count; I currently own 5 of them, 3 of those in the popular ‘rose’ shade alone.  As a girl who suffers from chronic dry lips I rarely wear lipstick and tend to use many lip treatments, sticking to sheer shades in moisturizing formulas when I desire color.  Fresh, although built up to slowly, now boasts 10 shades to chose from in addition to the colorless formulas.  When I first smoothed on the cupcake, Oh Sugar balm it was impossible not to immediately think of ‘Fresh’ and begin comparing.  The Oh sugar had a more firm consistency than that of fresh and the classic lipstick tip as opposed to the flat top that ‘Fresh’ has.  It seemed a bit less emollient.  After several uses the product seemed to become smoother and more emollient.  The product will not likely treat and heal your very dry/chapped lips but to be fair the ‘fresh’ version does not do that for me either.  They are both great for adding some extra moisture to your lips when you want color as well and providing a non-sticky, non-waxy, smooth gliding application and consistency.  Major differences: Color selection Fresh: 10 shades plus a colorless formula.  Covergirl: 10 shades (though I hope since this is a permanent new product they will add additional shades with the seasons, etc)  Scent/Flavour:  Though the scent of the two is nearly the same, the fresh product has a more pleasant taste.  Packaging:  The fresh comes in a super sleek metal tube with a screw on cap and a high end look and feel (that you pay for) to where as the covergirl version is in a square, plastic ‘pop-y’ looking tube, snap on cap and has a youthful young vibe to it.  The biggest difference being the addition of SPF 15 in the Fresh version and the absence of an SPF in the Covergirl version.  Depending on your preference this could be a pro or a con.  Price point: Fresh $24.00 Covergirl: $6.94-$8.99

In my personal opinion the Covergirl, Oh sugar is an excellent product that gives me similar results to which the Fresh product provides.  I sometimes wonder if some folks just do not want to accept that the products are so similar b/c one is made by Covergirl and purchased from a drugstore for a fraction of the cost.  This being said:  I too, will continue to purchase Fresh for the sleek packaging and the SPF my lips require come summer but will absolutely continue using the Covergirl versions as well and highly recommend them to Fresh lovers and lip balm junkies alike.

Swatches; from left:  Cupcake, Taffy

Covergirl trublend face primer for oily skin: $8.44-$9.99 (prices vary by retailer)

Covergirl’s new primers come in 3 different formulas: Combo, Oily and dry.  While my skin is actually combination, I decided on the oily skin version.  My skins’ needs change with the seasons and also throughout each month so there really is not a primer type that does not suit me at some point.  I’ve got Smoothing primers, moisturizing/hydrating primers, matte, super-matte, luminzing/illuminating, pore-filling, line minimizing, acne control…you name it but; until this one, none that just say ‘oily skin’ so I went for it.  My skin at its current state is very dry on my lower face (around and under mouth area) patchy, flaky dry spots; yet my ‘T-zone’ forehead and cheeks get shiny pretty quickly after applying makeup with anything other than matte finish primers underneath or a matte foundation.  Because of my current skin issues I typically have to use dual primers or simply stick to moisturizers on my dry areas.  When I first squeezed a bit of this product in my hand its appearance is that of a thin-ish white lotion.  When I applied it to my face it also felt more like applying a lightweight moisturizer (not what I was expecting) but it did take on a matte-ish finish when dry.  I would say this reminded me more of a mattifying moisturizer I’ve tried a few times.  I actually liked this quality as it seemed to be OK for my dry areas as well, not intensifying them the way my typical Matte primers do and lending just enough moisture to my skin as not to have my skin try to over-produce oil due to a drying effect.  While this primer doesn’t do any other spectacular things when worn alone, my makeup went on nice and smooth and my oil control test went as follows:

Day 1:  Applied Makeup late morning (2 light layers of the primer, no moisturizer underneath, hard candy’s Glamoflauge foundation on top, a dusting of Physicians Formula bronzer, no setting powder) ‘did my day’ dropped the little off at afternoon pre-school, went to the gym for an hour, picked up the little, hit the grocery store and other errands…After all of that i arrived home at 5 and had just the slightest bit of shine on my forehead and cheeks.  One quick blot and I was good until bed time.  Not too shabby for an hour at the gym.

Day 2:  Applied mid-morning, same face makeup routine, typical day at home followed by an outing with the little and several errands.  Arrived home to a velvety matte finish.

I found that I really like this primer.  It feels light on, didn’t do any pilling or any other weird things when I decided to add an additional layer, didn’t dry out the dry areas but seemed to actually provide them with a bit of moisture, kept my oily shine at bay, felt very comfortable unlike your super matte finishes which often feel stiff and ‘I just glued my face like’ 😉  This product may not be enough for those with all over, super oily skin but if you are looking to control a little oil and shine without resorting to a hardcore super-matte primer, for the price, this is certainly worth a shot.

Covergirl BlastPRO Plumpify Mascara: $8.97-$11.79

First off this is the product to which I had the most skepticism toward.  I can honestly say: I have never liked a Covergirl mascara.  It was many years ago when the original lash blast came out and I tried a couple versions but they just didn’t do much for me.  I always threw them out after a few uses and stuck with L’orèal or Maybeline.  I still often like Mascaras by those two brands, and after trying many, many new mascaras I’ve found that they are the only two drugstore brands that make mascaras to my liking.  So you are familiar, my two favorite mascaras and most frequently used are: Too Faced, better than sex and Tarte, Lights camera lashes & flashes.  I always use a lash primer underneath as my lashes are both light and puny. 😦 My current fav is Manna Kadar.  I really loved the look of Benefit’s roller lash but it made my lashes fall out, like a scary amount of them  Anyway, back to the plumpify review: (I first applied my lash primer) The brush is quite large and has larger bristles that twist around the regular bristles with a bristle covered ball at the tip of the wand, you know, like a tiny little torture device.

I thoroughly coated the applicator (without pumping) to coat it thoroughly, which took a bit as there is so much going on with this brush. My lashes got pretty clumpy right away and more so with each additional coat but the crazy applicator and ball tip do allow you to go back and separate them quite a bit.  When I finished I had minimal extra length and extra thickness but definitely that whole ‘spidery’ effect going on:  Looks pretty good in the mirror or to someone at a normal distance but totally spastic close up

Ok, now don’t get me wrong I’ve seen [and given myself] much worse spider lashes than this but they were just too clumped together for my preference.  I will admit as far as the Covergirl mascaras that I have tried, this one was the best and because I’ve opened it I will likely try it out some more… I did give it a shot without a lash primer and it was OK, less clumpy but without the drama I prefer.  It did get a bit flaky toward the end of the evening and my extremely sensitive eyes can’t handle even the teensiest flake landing in my eye, so that was an added annoyance.  So; the verdict for me is that: I will not repurchase.  I do not hate it, but use several products that work much better for me.  If you have short, puny, light lashes and you would like the look portrayed above and can’t seem to achieve it with your current products than you might want to give this one a try.

And; thats a wrap!  Overall I was really impressed with Covergirl’s additions to the New drugstore products of 2016.  I would say it’s definitely their best year yet.  Thoughts?

I hope everyone found this informative and found answers to any questions you may have had.  If not; ask away!

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-Kelli xoxo