Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Invisible Gel SPF 40 Face Sunscreen Replacement For L’Oreal’s Miracle Blur

L’Oreal’s Miracle Blur was the bomb! Customers (including me) can’t understand why the retailer discontinued it. There was simply nothing at the drugstore like it! It blurred shine, fine lines, and wrinkles, leaving your face a velvety canvas. L’Oreal’s replacements for Miracle Blur don’t hold a candle to their old formula.

I’ve spent the summer trying to find a close drugstore match, and finally I found THE ONE that is fairly close, 🛢🥁🪘... Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Invisible Gel Face SPF 40 Sunscreen!

This recently launched product has the same light, gel consistency as Miracle Blur. In fact, it has more sun protection with SPF 40 (versus SPF 30). At 1.7 ounces, it’s the same exact size for less money (costing $11.28 compared to $20). Unlike Miracle Blur, Neutrogena’s Invisible Face Gel contains Vitamin E and is made fragrance-free for sensitive skin. It seems to lack the bit of powder which I believe was blended into Miracle Blur’s formula.

To spare you the unnecessary expense, I’ll list the 3 face primers that disappointed me, as each of them had little to no mattifying effect, leaving my face shiny and sometimes a wet, dewy mess:

Has a wet, dewy finish, not a matte finish 

- e.l.f. Power Grip Primer with 4% Niacinamide

- Milani Prime Protect SPF 30 Face Primer

- Neutrogena Invisibly Radiant UV Primer With SPF 30

- NYX Professional Makeup Blurscreen SPF 30 Primer

Moisturizing, but not matte enough.

The 4 rejected primers contain ingredients known to benefit the skin and may prolong your makeup's wear, but don’t expect them to remove shine or soften fine lines or skin imperfections like Miracle Blur.

This one leaves your face dry with a slight white cast. Perhaps right for oily skin, not mature skin.

Perhaps the 2nd most matte finish, yet not matte enough. Stays moist to the touch for about 20 minutes after application.

But now we have a winner: Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Invisible Gel SPF 40 Face Sunscreen, a face gel you could wear bare just like Miracle Blur. The new bomb has a matte finish, primes the face for makeup, and is invisible on the skin! The end look is close -- 95% of what Miracle Blur was, and I’ll take 95%. I’ll seal it with a dusting of powder for the complete old Miracle Blur finish.💣💣💣💣💣

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Look For An EWG Certification On Beauty Products

EWG stands for Environmental Working Group, an American non-profit organization that specializes in research and advocacy for human health and the environment. In the beauty industry, it is best known for its Skin Deep Database, a website where consumers can find a 1 (low) to 10 (high) hazard score to reflect unclean ingredients contained in their cosmetics. Beyond its rating system, the EWG runs a certification program. The EWG VERIFIED® seal on a makeup product means the cosmetic has passed the EWG's strictest standards, avoiding all of the group’s chemicals of concern. A product’s ingredients must also be fully disclosed (transparent) and be manufactured with robust safety practices.

A recent FDA report found 51 Forever Chemicals (PFAS) in the ingredients of over 1,700 products, frequently found in mascara, liquid lipsticks, and foundations. Forever chemicals are synthetic substances that companies add to makeup to improve durability, water resistance, and texture. Forever chemicals are bad because they never break down and have been linked to cancer and immune system suppression. Imagine using a mascara for years that contains chemicals that are compromising your immune system!

Despite some criticism from the beauty industry, the EWG VERIFIED® seal is your guide to safer personal care products. The organization doesn’t award its seal to brands but to a brand’s individual products. Its database is a useful tool in protecting your health!

3 brands that have the EWG VERIFIED® seal of approval on many of their cosmetics are:

Well People, which describes its products as makeup on the outside and skincare on the inside. It is a clean makeup powered by plants.

Ilia Beauty is highly rated for its clean ingredients and formulas that deliver a natural “your skin but better” glow.

RMS Beauty - offers natural makeup and skincare made with certified organic ingredients.

The EWG rates 1000s of products based on ingredient safety. You can check your favorite cosmetics in the Skin Deep Database to discover if they are clean or not because they contrain worrisome ingredients.👄

 

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Face Primer With SPF 30

Today I’m revealing a skincare secret, which frankly I’ve never kept a secret. Often, people tell me I have beautiful skin, which I appreciate before blurting out my secret, so they, too, can have beautiful skin. I've never used foundation because it doesn’t feel clean. To me, wearing foundation feels like I have a film of goop or a mask on my face. Instead, after washing my face in the morning, I apply L’Oreal’s Miracle Blurr with SPF 30. But! For some insane reason (which I’ll discuss below), L’Oreal has discontinued it, forcing me to reluctantly find a replacement UV face primer.

The Miracle Blurr gel with SPF 30, all 1.7 ounces of it, sold for $19.99, and I often scored deals to pay even less. Right now, I have 1/5 of the gel left in my very last tube of Miracle Blurr that I’m using up.

So what makes Miracle Blurr an excellent combination of skincare and cosmetics? It's what I’m looking for in whatever I find next to replace it:

1) The ease of applying the gel saves me time in my morning routine by creating a smooth canvas on my face with a matte finish.

2) The SPF 30 is my anti-aging secret, shielding my face every day of the year from the sun's harmful rays.

3) The matte finish prevents shine and blurs pores and fine lines (which is the makeup part). I could apply it either under or over my under-eye coverstick, blush, and powder. Usually under.

4) The gel extends the endurance of any makeup I might wear. It prevents coverstick, blush, or powder from fading during the day or evening, so I didn’t have to freshen up as often.

Oh, for crying out loud, what replacement face primer with SPF 30 has all of these same benefits? Already I've discovered that many face primers do not come: (1) in a soothing gel that disappears into the skin, (2) with sun protection, (3) in a bigger size, (4) and with the same affordable price point! I must grin and bear the size and price adjustments, but won’t compromise on the SPF 30 or the matte finish! No, no, never, never, un, un, un!

I aim to try the following face primers with SPF 30 until I find the one I like the most, and hopefully, I’ll find it before buying all of them!

I’m not looking to add another face cream to my routine, but if the tubes don’t work out, I’ll move on to these 5-in-1 face primer promises in a jar choices.

Finally, I’ve discovered that L’Oreal’s parent company continues to sell face primer gel with sun protection in its pricer sister Lancome line at $45 for 1 ounce. I can’t help wondering if Miracle Blurr SPF 30 at $19.99 for 1.7 ounces was discontinued because the retailer wants to make more profit!?! Was $20 too puny a sum, huh? Ironically, a formula of Lancome was the face matte gel I started with years ago, before switching to the cheaper and excellent drugstore brand L’Oreal Miracle Blurr.

If you use a face primer with SPF 30 to recommend, please do! The first brand I’m testing is the👆 top image from Neutrogena.

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What No Smudge Lipstick Does Taylor Swift Wear?

When Taylor Swift went on her Eras Tour, she wore bold red lips. The megastar singer needed a lipstick that would not smudge during the length of her shows. The lipstick she chose was Pat McGrath Labs LiquiLust Legendary Wear Matte Lipstick in Elson 4, a vivid blue-red lipstick in a luxurious, long-lasting formula. Wearers like its comfortable, weightless feel that glides on seamlessly for velvety full coverage with one swipe. It’s designed to last 12 hours, but I have yet to find any lipstick that doesn’t need freshening up every few hours. Certain brands like this one will endure longer than others.

Frankly, I never wear a bold red lip color because it's high-maintenance. For it to stay put, you have to prep your lips with either a dab of foundation, concealer, or primer, next line your lips with a lip pencil, and then lock in the color with a dusting of powder. Unless I’m going to a special event, I just want to get out of the bathroom! So I lean towards nudes and naturals, sometimes with a little shimmer, often skipping the prepping, linining and powdering even for a night out on the town. It’s time you never get back!😉 A nude lip color can be worn on its own, but it wears off faster than red lipstick, and you must reapply it several times during a day or night. Even a subtle touch of color gives a face more polish, which Glamour magazine calls creating facial contrast. Creating facial contrast is also why we wear eyeliner or shadow. In the 21st century, society views wearing cosmetics as a sign of enhanced femininity but not masculinity. I was into bolder colors in my 20s than I am now.

That said, you bet I'd follow Taylor Swift's lead if I were going on stage in front of 1000s of eyeballs with iPhones recording me! She needs her fans in the top tiers of an arena to see her. Pat McGrath Labs LiquiLust Legendary Wear Matte in Elson 4 is a glamorous color on her.

There is a 2-area rule when applying vibrant makeup hues to our faces, for example, wear it on your eyes and lips, or your eyes and cheeks, or your cheeks and lips, but not on 3 areas. One area must remain minimal. Intense hues applied to all 3: eyes, cheeks, and lips, isn't flattering but starts to look cheap and overdone. You’re welcome!

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Lady Gaga’s High Performance Makeup

Haus Labs is a vegan and cruelty-free cosmetic line started by Lady Gaga in 2019, focusing on high-performance, clean, and sustainably packaged products. The beauty company’s makeup consists of skincare-infused ingredients like fermented arnica (reduces redness), squalane (nourishes), hyaluronic acid & hydraberry (hydrates), vitamins C & E (antioxidants), prickly pear (nourishes with vitamin C, magnesium & copper) and proprietary complexes like BioFerment 7 Complex for anti-aging. It’s on the pricey but not obscene side as it contains rarer (as opposed to common) ingredients. I'm featuring it because beauty editors love every product in the brand from the makeup brushes to the foundation and concealer.

Consumers benefit from introductions to quality brands. One day if they land at discount retailers, or a major department store runs a bonanza beauty sale, you know about the cosmetic line.

It doesn’t surprise me that Lady Gaga would develop high quality makeup. We’ve never met, however, she impresses me as an artist who would never attach her name to junk, or subpar quality. Authenticity and excellence seems to motivate her over money and profits. She appears to be a hard-worker who is passionate about what she does and cares deeply about her fans.

Rarely would I spend this price point for makeup but if I did, I'd get the 3 makeup brush set. Good makeup brushes are a must-have and are never cheap. You need them for an even application of makeup, and the brushes will not shed.

You can find brushes for less, however repeatedly picking brush hairs off you face while applying makeup makes you open your wallet to stop the annoyance! 

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Bakeup Beauty

Bakeup Beauty is a brand started by celebrity makeup artist, Jo Baker. She sells an edit of 12 high performing staples she says we can’t live without. According to Jo Baker, "Makeup should take no longer than five minutes. It should perform, last, and make you feel like yourself - just with a bit more confidence.” Yes, I agree!

When you have a celebrity following it puts your company on the map! So what are those 12 beauty essentials? I’m linking them up here so you can check them out. Featured in Vogue, People, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar and Instyle magazines, the colors remind me of a youthful California girl look.

So here’s what I’d buy. The neutral hues eye palette called Desert Road Trip - Micro Palm. Unlike foundation or cover stick, eye shadow is a cosmetic item you can either splurge or save on when purchasing. Makeup artists recommend having one expensive palette with rich pigments that have staying power so you don’t have to reapply the shadows as often, but for trendy colors the less expensive palettes are fine too. Tip: Maybelline is a budget-friendly eyeshadow with rich pigments as good as the luxury brands.

Once you are introduced to various beauty brands, you can watch for deals, and when you stumble upon one, you’ll know whether to snatch the products up!

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T.J. Maxx Is the Best Retailer For Beauty Products

Korean beauty, Azure, is a top-notch retinol cream. 

T.J. Maxx’s beauty department rocks! It’s buyers find top-notch makeup, skincare and hair care from all over the world. In its aisles, the Korean, Japanese, French, Italian, German, Australian, organic, niche and luxury markets are well represented with beauty products for less than their full retail prices.

Because of the redutions T.J. Maxx must be discreet about the brand names that end up on its shelves. You cannot find brand names online via T.J Maxx’s search box. But I think it’s a great opportunity for brands to pick up new customers who are  first enticed to try them for less.

The quality, quantity and cost of a variety of personal care products are unbeatable. I haven’t bought cosmetics, skincare, or hair products at major department stores in years because I haven’t had to with such a wide array of awesome international beauty and luxury brands at T.J. Maxx. It's fun browsing the myriad of offerings and discovering new beauty products you wouldn’t otherwise try or even know about.   

At bargain prices customers can afford to up their beauty routines, as well as, take a few risks trying new products along with tried-and-true essentials. Think of it as an education without breaking the bank! You never know what stellar beauty surprises you’ll see on a trip to the retailer.  I’ll add links below of some of the T. J. Maxx beauty finds I highly recommend!

As a kit, $16 bucks for both, full-sizes

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Almay Color & Care Tint Stick, Lip & Blush Stick

Almay  Color & Care Tint Stick is new! Nowadays I buy new makeup super mindfully, but these multi purpose sticks are right up my alley. While there’s nothing wrong with experimenting and creating new looks, I always return to simply trying to look like my best self, so cosmetics designed to enhance our natural beauty always call my name. What’s more I’m always tempting by thick multi-tasking sticks that act as both check and lip color. 

Alway claims its Color & Care Tints work with the skin to provide the perfect natural shade with a dewy finish. The stick gives checks and lips a natural flush of color and glow by working with your skin’s PH balance. Formulated for sensitive skin, the multi-tasking stick is smooth and moisturizing to the skin. 

Equally important, the Almay Color & Care Tint Stick has real staying power so you don’t have to reapply it throughout the day. The tint is also buildable.

Since I don’t carry a lot of makeup when leaving home, I love carrying a richly pigmented big multi-stick for both cheeks and lips in a purse! When sticking to natural colors, I don’t have to carry a mirror to reapply it to my lips!

Years ago, consumers had to spend $40 for a similar multi-tasker by NARS called the Multiple that we also had to reapply throughout the day. Not anymore! The Almay Color & Care Tint Stick comes in 5 natural hues. Cost: An affordable $10. Right up my alley! How about you?

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Clinique’s Black Honey Dupes

This is #6 Baisen Diary in Honey

Clinique’s Black Honey is a popular shade. First launched in 1971 as a pot of gloss, it was later reformulated and released as the "Almost Lipstick" in 1989, the form customers recognize today.

We can understand why it’s taken over the internet all these years later. Black Honey is a beautiful subtle berry color with sheen that is buildable and flattering on all skin tones! So lovely Liv Tyler wore it in her Lord of the Rings role. 

Clinique calls Black Honey almost lipstick because it is a tint that is sheer with a shine finish.

← Images of the original.

After discovering it at $25 a pop, SAVVY SHOPPERS start looking for inexpensive dupes. Below are six of them:

1) e.l.f. Cosmetics Hydrating Core Lip Shine in Delightful

2) Honest Beauty Tinted Lip Balm With Avocado Oil in Plum Drop

3)  Revlon Super Lustrous Glass Shine Moisturizing Lipstick in o12 Black Cherry

4) Maybelline’s Glaze Balm in Acai Glaze

5) Covergirl’s Clean Fresh Tinted Lip Balm in Bliss You Berry

6) Baisen Diary in Honey - This made BuzzFeed’s Wishful List. Fans of it like it better than the original Black Honey as it leans brownish over a more reddish tint. 👆Compare the Baisen Diary in Honey top image with Clinique's Black Honey image below.👇

Original Black Honey on 3 different skin tones.

I have linked the 2 dupes, wearers tend to be the happiest with as nearly identical to Clinique’s original Black Honey Tint, however all 6 dupes have their fans as close matches for less. Look for them on Amazon, Walmart, Target, CVS and Walgreens to find the lowest price. Feel free to highlight the brand and color names, then enter each one in the search boxes of the 5 retailers for comparison to find your honey of a deal!🍯🐝

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Discover Nude Envie Cosmetics

At every age I’ve gravitated towards nude colors in makeup. Personally I'd rather look like my best self over wild and crazy combinations of bold colors, not that there’s anything wrong with bold colors, or experimentation. 

However bold hues require more maintenance and often more products to reapply during the day. For example, red lipstick means trips to the powder room for touchups and often you need underlying products so the red lipstick wears longer and bleeds less past your lip line. With a nude lip you can get away with wearing and reapplying only the nude lipstick at your desk without a mirror.

If like me, you love a nude palette, Nude Evie is a line of nude-ranging cosmetics. The usual suspects of makeup include lipstick, lip gloss, lip liner, eyeshadow, cream and powder blush in beautiful shapes of nudes that are designed to enhance not conceal all complexions. This means, the line flatters all skin tones ranging from light to dark. Made of velvety textures to achieve a flawless natural look.

What’s more, all the make-up in the collection will work together in any combination. Some are matte, while others have a touch of frost for a little extra pizzazz.

The price point of this luxury line is higher than drugstore brands yet not as outlandish as other luxe brands such as Chanel or Tom Ford or Dior. Nordstrom carries it, opening up the chances for promotions and sales.

The more brand choices consumers have the better. Put Nude Evie on your radar if you lean nude!

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