Awhile back I tried some samples of the HD Cream Foundation and decided that C50 was my shade. It's been sitting in my Silk Naturals cart for awhile, and I try not to order much because I don't exactly NEED eyeshadows and lipsticks, but when the spring collection came out I decided I "needed" a few!

HD Cream Foundation C50 - Compare shades here. $11.99. This foundation comes in a tube. I was excited about this because tube foundation is so easy to apply, but I was really surprised by how small this tube is. It is 12 grams, or .42 oz. The full size is $11.99, so it's about a dollar a gram. For the sake of comparison my go-to cream foundation is The All Natural Face Cream Foundation Pot which is $6.50 for 10 grams. I really appreciate the convenience of a twist tube although my tube is a bit difficult to open. The color match isn't perfect on me but I think it's quite close. I was quite happy with the coverage this morning. This foundation did oxidize a bit throughout the day and is pretty much gone now at the end of the day but I didn't set it with a powder today. This is the perfect foundation for purse and travel so my guess is I will end up using this foundation frequently due to the convenience! 

Velvet Matte Lipstick, Garter, Camisole, Merlot. $5.99 each. I am so incredibly impressed with the Velvet Matte formula! I wore Merlot all day today and only applied three times, and I probably could have gotten away with twice! The formula is not as moisturizing as the other Silk Naturals lip products, but it's not drying! Unlike some of the more glossy formulas this stayed in place and didn't budge. I am so incredibly excited about these lipsticks, as you may have noticed with all the exclamation points. Garter is from the spring collection and is a soft lilac-inflused pink. Camisole is a pretty medium pink from the spring collection. Merlot is a super deep vampy red from the Valentine's collection. I am happy with all three colors, although I gravitate to dark reds so Merlot is my fav! All three have a gorgeous smooth matte finish which I believe is achieved using a higher percentage of titanium dioxide in the product. I cannot recommend these enough and will definitely be purchasing more! 

Trend, Gather, and Clever Eyeshadows. Full size eyeshadows are $4.50 each. I purchased Trend, Gather was my free selection with $35 purchase, and Clever was the gift with purchase shadow. I'm really impressed with Trend, which is fulfilling the role of my finished Lucy Minerals Sea Glass at the moment. This is more of a shimmery bright sky blue meets teal color. I also love Gather because it has so many colors of glitter in it! This is a gray purple but has a ton of glitter which makes it unique, but it is also soft enough to be a highlight color. Clever is a beautiful peachy pink shadow. It is powdery and feels matte, but does have a minimal amount of shimmer. 

I also received a sample of Lady Sheer Blush. This is the kind of color I would never buy because I have so much redness in my face, but I was pleasantly surprised by how nicely this sheer yet bold pink brightened up my face. 

As always I highly recommend Silk Naturals and I am so happy with my new spring acquisitions!

Now for a Sephora experiment...

My birthday was last week and the week before I traveled to Missouri to see my family. While I was there I picked up my Sephora Beauty Insider birthday gift. I knew this was a terrible idea beacuse NARS is decidedly unnatural, but the colors looked beautiful and it was complimentary so I got them and wanted to show the comparison between the NARS colors and the Silk Naturals colors.

NARS mini Velvet Matte Lip Pencil Cruella
NARS mini Satin Lip Pencil Rikugien

NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil Cruella, Silk Naturals Velvet Matte Lipstick Merlot
Silk Naturals Velvet Matte Lipstick Garter, NARS Satin Lip Pencil Rikugien, Silk Naturals Velvet Matte Lipstick Camisole

As you can see the matte lip pencil has a very similar texture to the Silk Naturals colors, making the Silk Naturals Velvet Matte Lipstick an excellent, healthy dupe for this NARS product! NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil rates a 6 on EWG. So the Silk Naturals is a much healthier and cheaper choice!