Monthly Favorites: August 2023 Edition!

[AlexBT]

Monthly Faves: August 2023!

Happy late summer, fellow BIC-ers! Team BIC was working remotely for the first half of the month (preparing to move into our new Sephora HQ!) so I bounced around a bit and enjoyed a change of scenery away from my typical desk setup. ✈ Exploring new places is fun, but there’s something so comforting and satisfying about coming home and getting to settle back into my routine again. No shade to all our fave minis (we had so much fun during ourMajor Minis Challenge!), but there’s nothing quite like having access to all my full-size beauty must-haves from my home stash after a few days of being limited to the pared-down regimen I’ve managed to fit into my carry-on!

Here are the products I’ve been loving this August:

• Danessa Myricks Beauty Infinite Chrome Flakes Multichrome Gel for Eyes & Face Monarch 
• Farmacy Lip Smoothie Vitamin C + Peptide Lip Balm Apple 
• MATTER OF FACT BRIGHTENING + FIRMING SERUM with 20% Vitamin C + Ferulic Acid 1 oz / 30 ml 
• SEPHORA COLLECTION Silicone Scalp Massager 
• Yves Saint Laurent Candy Glaze Lip Gloss Stick 02 healthy glow plumper and Yves Saint Laurent Candy Glaze Lip Gloss Stick 15 Showcasing Nude 

Your turn, Community! Hit the reply button and tell us about your August favorites. Be sure to tag those products with the “#” symbol (hair, makeup, fragrance, wellness, skincare, etc.)!

[itsaliwhyy]

I’ve been loving the Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez Positive Light Under Eye Brightener 

Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez Soft Pinch Liquid Blush Happy 

Glossier Boy Brow Volumizing Eyebrow Gel-Pomade Auburn 

Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez Perfect Strokes Universal Volumizing Mascara Black 

NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Medium Coverage Foundation 

I know it’s mostly Rare Beauty but the products work great with my extremely fair and sensitive skin

[CookieGirl1]

@itsaliwhyy Rare Beauty is a great brand!  Besides that, it's one of the more "affordable" brands at Sephora, which is nice 🙂

[CynthieLu]

There's nothing wrong with all your Rare Beauty loves @itsaliwhyy You know a fantastic brand when you see it. 😄 I know I'm obessed with her highlighter compact, it's fantastic! 😉

[sonnydee]

 

DIOR Dior Addict Lip Maximizer Plumping Gloss  yea, might have a lil bit of a obsession with this stuff🥰

Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm for Hydration & Shine Brown Sugar - sheer nude 

Herbivore Prism AHA + BHA Exfoliating Glow Serum 1 oz/ 30 mL  this stuff saves my butt errr face everytime! 

Drybar Detox Dry Shampoo  probably my favorite. Still need to give Oribe Gold Lust Dry Shampoo 8.5 oz/ 300mL  a try though 

[CynthieLu]

Ooh they are sooo beautiful! ❤️😍 @sonnydee 

[sonnydee]

Thanks @CynthieLu I really need to line them all up to show them in all their gorgeous glory🥰

[CynthieLu]

Yeees they need thier shinning star moment 🌠 the collection you have is jaw dropping  @sonnydee 🤩

[curlychiquita]

I love the Dior lip maximizers, too, @sonnydee!

[sonnydee]

I only have a few more spaces available (there were 4 not in the picture in the back row) went looking today for a new case🤣  @curlychiquita 

[CorgiMommy]

My August favorite is from Ulta.  I love their Everyday Faves Eyeshadow Palette.   Great palette for a nice day or evening look.  Took it on a road trip and used it for every occasion.

[lnum]

@AlexBT Oh I love that scalp massager!! 

This month I was reaching for my two newest cream blushes:

MAKEUP BY MARIO Soft Pop Plumping Cream Blush Veil Just Peachy -the stick formula is my favorite cream blush so it was no surprise I love this formula too 

Tower 28 Beauty BeachPlease Lip + Cheek Dewy Cream Blush Party Hour -finally a purple cream blush I actually like! I also love this formula so I knew I’d love it. 

[ather]

@lnum  Ooooo I also love the Party hour!!! It’s so pretty! I bet it looks fantastic on you! 

[lnum]

@ather Thank you!!! Anything you like I’m sure I’ll love too!!!

[WinglessOne]

Aw, I meant to join in the Major Minis Challenge but never did. I’ll have to browse that thread sometime. 🙂 

Makeup faves: 

Forgot to account for print-on-glass/plastic shadows when I set up lighting for this photo. Oops. 😄

Notes: 

Spoiler

DIOR Dior Forever Skin Correct Full-Coverage Concealer 4.5 Neutral and 4 Neutral - sits well on my bumpy undereye skin, blends like a dream (I often use a finger for that), leaves a natural radiant skin finish, and doesn’t oxidize on me throughout the day. I wish I didn’t have to mix two shades for a better match; heck, sometimes I use a 3rd shade (warm olive) in the mix, so that’s three bottles of this kinda pricey concealer I keep on hand. 🙄 I still love it though. 

Yves Saint Laurent The Bold High Pigment Lipstick 09 Undeniable Plum - my August purse live-in, and one of my top 3 favorite plummy berry lipsticks for both its color and very comfy performance. 

Gucci Luminous Matte Beauty Blush 08 Soft Red - my first and (currently) only Gucci blush. I didn’t expect to love it so much. It’s the only powder blush I’ve worn all month. This warm red is surprisingly very pigmented on my skin tone. When sheered out, it looks like a natural flush. And it doesn’t fade throughout the day. 

Danessa Myricks Beauty Dewy Cheek & Lip Palette Dew It Undercover - I’ve used this cream palette mostly as blush and color corrector. The darkest shade is a deep rich chocolatey blackberry on my cheeks. The lightest shade is a good inner eye corner + tear trough brightener. I’m not normally a neutral/nudes kinda gal, yet I’ve enjoyed this palette. 

UOMA Beauty Drama Bomb Mascara (Salute To The Sun collection), shade Azurite - I haven’t worn much mascara this month, but this is what I’ve worn most: my favorite blue mascara. I prefer Pat McGrath’s Dark Star Mascara formula, but her blue mascara’s not quite as electric cobalt as UOMA’s. For the heck of it, here’s a photo of Azurite in action: 

Photo with sharpness digitally increased for better visibility, hence the graininess you may notice.

Skincare & nail faves: 

3 nail care items and 1 skincare item.

Notes:

Spoiler

COSRX The Niacinamide 15 Serum - I bought this to compare to The Ordinary’s niacinamide serum and, for my particular skin, COSRX’s wins. It doesn’t irritate my skin (TO’s causes some stinging in the center of my face) and leaves my face feeling kinda emollient-moisturized. I’m not a fan of glass droppers but I like the one in this bottle: the wide oblong cap is easy to open and the dropper is short, so I don’t feel like I’ll break it. 

e.l.f. Nourishing Facial Oil - by far my favorite facial oil, but also my favorite for hands and nails. This is my last bottle forever because e.l.f. has reformulated it for worse: they added lavender and sandalwood oils. 😭 (My facial skin is very sensitive to all forms of lavender.) I could use the new version if I could also resist touching my face and neck at all during use. Sigh. 

e.l.f. All The Feels Facial Oil - similar to Nourishing Facial Oil, except this one replaces avocado and sweet almond oils with hemp seed oil and squalane, plus carrot seed oil and aloe vera. It’s a good substitute of my fave oil for hands and nails, but it can feel heavy on my face. 

CND Solar Oil pen - a fairly simple nail oil I’d like more if it wasn’t fragranced. I keep this pen in my bag to use on the go after each hand washing/sanitizing. 

[JoSometimes]

@WinglessOne These are some amazing faves!

I thought it was just me when I tried Inkey’s Niacinamide serum and couldn’t handle the irritation from it. Good to know COSRX’s doesn’t irritate. I find their stuff is generally great for those of us with sensitive skin.

That CND pen is such a great idea! I need to find that for work. 

That blue mascara is stunning. I remember seeing that YEARS ago as an alternative to blue eyeshadow. Very edgy and cool. You pull off fun colours like this so effortlessly.

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @JoSometimes ! Hmm, which Inkey List niacinamide serum did you try? They have two now: one’s 10% and contains a couple of skin soothers (panthenol and allantoin); the other newer one’s 20% and doesn’t contain those soothers. I tried the 10% serum a few years ago and I’m trying to remember if it ticked my skin off… I stopped using it because I didn’t really need it at the time (a couple other products I used back then contained enough niacinamide) and I hated the way the serum always crusted on the flip-top bottle. 😄 Anyway, COSRX’s serum might play nicer with your skin. I wish COSRX offered a mini or DS of this and their other new products, so folks could test them. 

As a goth punk teen in the ‘80s, I wanted to wear blue mascara but couldn’t because it irritated the heck outta my eyes, just like all other mascaras did back then. 😒 So I resorted to the next best thing: blue hair. If I was willing to risk hair damage and didn’t love my natural salt & pepper so much, I’d dye some of my coils blue right now. 💙 I’m glad blue mascara’s come such a long way since the ‘80s, with a few formulas that don’t try to kill my eyeballs. Ditto for a few other colors of mascara (green, purple, red, pink) in my collection. I still say anyone can wear colored mascara if they want, or any color of makeup they like. I bet you could pull off blue mascara with no trouble. 🙂 

[JoSometimes]

@WinglessOne It was the 10% version. I know some products can tingle for a moment depending on what’s in them but this was borderline unbearable. I read that some people can have a niacinamide sensitivity, though it’s not very common. 

And thank you for your encouragement to try fun colours!

[WinglessOne]

@JoSometimes  Yep, niacinamide sensitivity is a thing. Folks can be skin-sensitive to nearly any ingredient: there are people whose skin can’t tolerate a lot of hyaluronic acid, of all things. COSRX’s 15% niacinamide might be too much for your skin, especially if that ingredient’s already in some of your other products. If you think you need a standalone niacinamide serum, maybe look for one that’s 5% or lower. 

And yes, play with all the pretty colors! Even if it’s just at-home playtime, when you can wear something for a half or full day to see how you feel about it before facing the world. Not that the world should even get a say in your makeup preferences, unless you have to follow a strict dress code somewhere. If you’re someone like me who tends to put others before yourself and can’t flip your empathy switch to the off position (or even dial it down a few notches), it’s good to have a few things you do just for you instead of other people’s comfort level, reactions, judgements, acceptance, etc. One of those things could be blue mascara. 

[JoSometimes]

@WinglessOne Thanks for confirming my research. 15% might be a bit much for me. 

And I totally agree with you about doing things for yourself. I wore makeup in guy mode for the first time in public today while I took my girls out. It wasn’t anything flashy, just brows, mascara, eyeliner, and a nude-ish lippie. It did bring me joy to think that out if all the dads who were around, I had the prettiest eyes of them all. 😉

[WinglessOne]

@JoSometimes  Congrats on your first guy-mode makeup adventure! I bet you looked fantastic!