Drugstore Beauty Naturally: Sally Hansen Natural Beauty

Sally Hansen’s Natural Beauty line was created with the help of makeup artist Carmindy (you know her from What Not To Wear). I tried a few products from the line this past spring (see my review here). Recently I got some new samples to test out:

Luminizing Pace Primer
Sheerest Cream Blush Sunrise
Natural Powder Blush Poppy
Instant Definition Eye Shadow Palette in Storm
Natural Shine Lip Gloss Sweet Nectar

I added these into my usual makeup routine to see how they would work with my current products. I started with the Luminizing Face Primer. This primer comes in a tiny pump bottle and is very shimmery. The effect applied to my face was an all over glow that caught the light. The formula is light, but a bit on the greasy side. It seemed to sit on my skin, rather than absorb. It still worked well with my mineral powder foundation, but did leave a bit of greasiness on my foundation brush. The look was very natural glow under my makeup – like I’d just worked out or *ahem* a romp in the hay. My makeup did last longer in the day and didn’t settle into lines like it usually does.

One day I tried the Sheerest Cream Blush in Sunrise, a terra cotta color. The formula is very creamy. It was pretty sheer, but I did still need to apply just a tiny bit to get a natural look (the color may just be too dark for my skin to begin with). The effect was very natural looking and lasted all day. The next day I tried the Natural Powder Blush in Poppy, a shimmery dark pink. This was a great color, although I found the shimmer combined with the shimmer from the primer to be a bit more sparkle than I like for daytime. The powder blush blended well when applied with a brush and faded a little sooner than the cream blush, but did last through the work day.

The Instant Definition Eye Shadow Palette in Storm is a great idea! It contains 3 shadows that are marked with directions on where to apply them. Storm is a dark palette that gives a nice sultry eye. The shimmery black goes on the lid, the shimmery dark gray goes in the crease and a shimmery silver highlighter goes just below the eyebrow and in the inner corner of your eye. It comes with a sponge applicator that applied the eyeshadow a little stronger than I like. I tossed it and used eyeshadow brushes. (Tip: either use 3 different brushes or make sure you wipe all the darker color off the brush on a tissue before you try to apply the lighter shades). The look was great – maybe a bit dark for the office, but obviously there are other color palettes available that would work great for daytime wear.

I topped it all oft with Natural Shine Lip Gloss in Sweet Nectar. This is a pretty, shimmery, light pink gloss. It comes in a typical gloss tube with a brush applicator. The formula is very thick, but not sticky. It has a fruity/floraly scent that is a bit on the strong side, but not unpleasant. It is super moisturizing, shiny and the Sweet Nectar shade was enough of a neutral to counter balance the dark eye shadow I was sporting.

Overall I liked the look, but it was more shimmery than I’d like. In the future I’ll stick with one of the shimmery products at a time.