February 4, 2011

Window Shopping: Nail Polish


I haven't had much time to post lately, so I thought I'd do a quick wish list. I took a trip to Sephora and fell in love with some different things.

Illamasqua Nail Varnish (images from Sephora.com)
 Grab
(grape magenta)

Phallic
(shimmering midnight navy)

Rampage
(dark forest green)

Velocity
(dusty gray purple)
Illamasqua polishes are very opaque and cost around $14 versus cheaper nail polishes that take 3-4 coats. You are getting your money's worth, but I suggest trying just one to start with.

Sephora by O.P.I. Urban Ballerina Mini Collection $18
                                               Urban Ballerina Mini Collection

Hard Candy Just Nails
Hard Candy Mr. Wrong Nail Polish
Mr. Wrong

Hard Candy Just Nails Nail Polish
Envy

These polishes are really nice and don't chip for a few days. They retail at Walmart for $5.


Love,

January 18, 2011

LOTD





Products Used:

  • Urban Decay Primer Potion
  • MAC Eye Kohl in I Get No Kick
  • Sephora Nano eye pencil in 11 Silver Green
  • Tarte emphasEYES aqua-gel eyeliner in Black
  • Sephora mascara Lash Plumper in black
  • MAC e/s in Dreammaker (discontinued?)
  • Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy
  • MAC Pigment in Vintage Gold
  • Spectrum Cosmetics e/s in Forrestry
Love, 

Favorites of 2010


Eye Products:
  • E.L.F. Elements single e/s
    • Pink Ice
    • Ivory
    • Moondust
    • Sage
  • NYX Trio e/s- Nude/Taupe/Dark Brown
  • Cover Girl e/s quad- (name?)- shade names: deep ocean/blue Caribbean/misty seas/arctic glow
  • Wet n Wild Color Icon palette- 249 Vanity
  • Boots No7 Stay Perfect shadow palette- 45 Beside the Sea
  • NYX e/s singles
    • 106 Golden Dune
    • 11 Iced Mocha
    • 122 Morocco
    • 55 Spring Flower
    • 39 Slate
    • 19 Flamingo
  • Rimmel Three-Sum-110 Platonic
  • E.L.F. Eye Brigtening e/s- Ivy
  • Urban Decay deluxe e/s- Underground
  • Rimmel Glam Eyes Mono e/s- Glam Ice
  • Urban Decay 24/7 pencil in Zero
  • Stila Smugdepot- black
  • Stila Smudgepot- Kitten
  • NYX Jumbo e/s pencil- Milk
  • L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara
  • Cover Girl Lashblast mascara in Black Brown 
  • Clinique High Impact mascara-black


Face products:
  • Bare Minerals Prime Time foundation primer
  • NYX Creme Rouge blush- 11 Boho Chic
  • Maybelline Mineral Power foundation w SPF 18
Lip products (not pictured):
  • E.L.F. Hypershine Glosses
    • Blossom
    • Joy
  • Mark Juice Gems
    • any shade
  • Victoria Secret Beauty Rush lipgloss- Slice of Heaven
  • Bath and Body Works Liplicious lipgloss- Whipped Vanilla
  • NYX Round Lipstick
    • Thalia
    • Indian Pink
  • Smackers lip balm stick- Strawberry 

Body products:
  • Bath and Body Works
    • Black Raspberry Vanilla EDT
    • " " handcream
    • Warm Vanilla Sugar body cream
    • Dark Kiss body lotion
  • Shakira EDT (there is a 2.7 fl oz. size for 50% at Walgreens in a gift set!)


Nail polish:
  • Wet n Wild Color Craze- 231 Shield
  • Essence Colour + Go- 27 No More Drama (only $0.99)
Love,



January 16, 2011

Cutest Blogger Ever!

My friend, Leah, recently started a baking blog. She's so amazing at what she does and is self-taught. Since this blog is (supposed to be) for all creative areas, not just makeup, I think it is appropriate. Please check her blog out: Double Take Cupcakes.


Images Courtesy of Double Take Cupcakes

Love,



(Nothing to disclose)

January 13, 2011

Website I've Been Loving

Recently, I happened upon the Into The Gloss website, started by beauty industry insider, Emily Weiss. It's told from a fresh perspective and is a juxtaposition of high glamor and street chic. Different types of stories are labeled different things. "The Makeup" showcases new beauty products and trends on anyone from everyday people to high profile models, and "The Face" displays shots of anyone Weiss finds interesting relative to the subject, while "The Top Shelf" reveals a trendmaker's products and beauty routine. Weiss describes her blog being "about fashion influencers and from a fashion person's perspective", but I truly love it for the beauty.

I read a very interesting interview on the blog and Weiss here, and you can visit Into The Gloss here.

Love,

Under Construction

Please excuse the mess. This blog is now a construction zone!

January 12, 2011

Upcoming Posts

Posts for this week:
-LOTD
-Favorites of 2010


Thanks to all my loyal readers. Love you guys!



January 10, 2011

Spectrum Cosmetics

A while back during my dupe-finding research for my Christmas haul, I discovered MAC's Vintage Gold pigment and that started it all. I spent HOURS on a tangent, looking at all sorts of sights and oohing and ahhing over the beautiful colors. It just seems like mineral eyeshadows and pigments are so much more complex than most pan-eyeshadows. Eventually, it recurred to me that my favorite website, www.etsy. com, had a category of mineral makeup, so I began my trek there. I looked at several sellers, but one stood out to me. Seller torik2009 of Spectrum Cosmetics runs a very easy to navigate, organized store. I really like the variety of products and the range of colors. Here is how she describes her company, "All of these products are 100% Natural Cosmetic Grade Mineral Pigments. They are PURE, and do not contain chemicals, fillers, talc, or any other ingredients that will harm you or your skin. Mineral Makeup is very light, it's actually GOOD for you to wear it! It provides a barrier, and protects your skin from particles in the air, while still allowing your skin to "breath" unlike other types of makeup. Spectrum Cosmetics Products are also VERY versatile! When you purchase an eyeshadow from the drug store, that's what you get....an eyeshadow. When you purchase a pigment from Spectrum, you get a shadow, a blush, a bronzer, a lip stick / lip gloss, an eyeliner, and even a nail polish! All of these pigments are cosmetic grade! With the exception of a few colors ( noted in listings) theses are FDA approved to be used on the Eyes, Lips, Face, And Nails. Apply Dry for a shadow, blush or bronzer, apply wet for an INTENSE shadow, or eyeliner, or mix with clear gloss or nail polish and make your own colors! All pigments mix well with each other, so you can even experiment and come up with your own colors,that NO ONE else has!! Such an Amazing product! Get the biggest Bang For your buck!! TRY IT! ". Plus, she charges a flat rate of $3 for shipping (to the US)! The shipping was fast and quick, even though it was the holidays, and she was very helpful and a delight to shop with.

When I received the package, I noticed how well everything was packaged. She included a business card and hand-written thank-you note that (this is what caught my attention) were wrapped separately to prevent from getting messy should anything happen during shipping. That small detail really made my experience rate even higher. As for the eyeshadow samples, they were a decent size, and I expect to get several wears out of each. They were very smooth and very pigmented.



(applied dry and then primed-artificial light)
T-B: Ferric, Forrestry, and Envy


I love all these colors! Forrestry is especially beautiful, but I would probably only wear this one with primer.

(artificial light, applied dry then primed)
Merlin, Poe, and Lenore
I would also only wear Merlin with primer.

They are all more beautiful than the photos can show.  I would recommend them all. My top five would be Ferric, Forrestry, Envy, Merlin, and Poe.

Other colors I would like to try include: Crocus, Haze, Sultana, and Cupcake.
A three gram jar is $3, a five gram jar is $5, and a sample is $1. She has pre-formed listings where you can purchase 5  five gram jars for $25, but if you want, say six, all you have to do is message her for a custom listing, which she responds to lightning fast. 

Spectrum Minerals also carries a variety of other products, such as solid perfume, perfume oil, primer, lotion, bath salts, etc. I would love to try:
  • Solid Perfume or Perfume Oil in the scents Blackberry Vanilla, Cedarwood Amber (mmm), Exotica, or Strawberry Lemonade
  • Bath salts or sugar scrub in the same scents
  • and the shadows I mentioned above (Crocus, Haze, Sultana, Cupcake)
Overall, I would purchase anything from her store, as impressed as I was with my samples.
Ratings:
Product: 5/5
Price: 5/5
Service: 5/5



Disclaimer: 
These samples were provided for me for review by Spectrum Cosmetics. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion. Remember,this was one of my first mineral/loose pigment eyeshadows, and I was extremely critical from beginning to end, because I did not want to believe the hype about mineral eyeshadows. However, through testing these shadows, I sincerely believe I like them more than samples I have purchased from Fyrinnae.


Christmas Presents Round Two- Eyes

I really wanted to buy the Special Effects Lashes in Victorian but I mistook the Doll style for them which was out of stock. So I missed out on those but bought these.
I haven't tried them yet but they look pretty :) 
They were $10 which is pricey...I don't know how I feel about it. NYX sells a line of lashes at a lower price line which I will probably purchase next time (the Victorian ones will me mine.). On the topic of lashes, Sonia Kashuk has GORGEOUS ones at Target.


(Artifical lighting)
L-R: Turquoise Pearl and Jade Pearl

(natural lighting)
I hated how small the hole was to begin with but now realize it makes it easier to apply.

T-B: Jade Pearl- dry and wet and Turquoise Pearl- dry and wet
 These are actually more pigmented than they appear in this photo.

Recommendations:
all
I would like to get the pearl pigments in other shades.

Love,

Christmas Presents Round Two- Cheeks

(natural lighting)
L-R: NYX Powder Blush in Stone, Angel, and Pinky 
(artificial lighting)

Swatches in artificial lighting- one swipe
T-B: Angel, Stone, Pinky

I was amazed at how buttery smooth these are. I like them more than the MAC blushes I have swatched. I recommend them all. Stone will me my favorite when I'm slightly tanner because I prefer bronzy-peachy cheeks to pink cheeks.

Christmas Presents Round Two- Lips

The rest of my Christmas presents (I know I took way too long to post this) was an order from cherryculture.com consisting of NYX products. NYX was one of my earliest makeup loves and the reason I refused to try MAC for so long. I was absolutely certain that the quality was the same for a lower price. Now that I have used a few MAC products, I would have to disagree. I think overall (and depending on the product) MAC is better. However, there were a few "out there" things I wanted to try, and I didn't want to pay full price at MAC and end up hating it. So I did literally hours of research trying to find dupes or similar shades to what I wanted from MAC, and thus for the $50 I was allotted for my present, I ended up being able to get more items and try more "trends". I like to put lots of photos, so I split this into Lips, Cheeks and Eyes.

Lip products was actually more than 50% of my purchase. I bought four of the Round Lipsticks and one Black Label lipstick.
Strawberry Milk, Paris, Power, Sierra
Poem
First thoughts:
I really like the round lipsticks. They aren't superb quality but for me they're fine. The Black Label is nicer and more expensive, but I cannot express how much I hate the packaging. I can't explain it. It reminds me of Maybelline CS lipstick packaging but I like that. So  I just don't know :)

I also purchased to Lip Liner Pencils.
(857 Nude Beige and 839 Dolly Pink)
They're okay. I really like Dolly Pink. Nude Beige is very brown. They're also a bit dry.


Swatches:
(natural lighting)
Top Row: 
Black Label L/S in Poem, Dolly Pink Lip Liner Pencil, Nude Lipliner Pencil
Bottom Row:
Round Lipstick in Power, Paris, Sierra, and Strawberry Milk.
(artificial lighting)
 I bought Power and Strawberry Milk because I wanted to try bubble gum lips. I bought Paris and Poem because I wanted to try bright pink lips, and I bought Sierra as a possible MAC L/S in Spirit dupe. I don't think it is, but I haven't seen Spirit in person.

I would recommend:
Round L/S in Power and Paris
Lip liner in Dolly Pink
(color of and quality not packaging of) Poem

What are your favorite NYX lip products?

Love,



January 2, 2011

Cover Girl AquaSmooth Makeup with SPF 15

Happy New Year everyone! On Christmas Day actually (this is sad), I stopped at CVS and grabbed this foundation which I read lots of postive reviews about online (in my defense I needed to buy feminine products). I bought it in the shade which I thought had a yellow-er undertone. From the packaging, I believe any shade ending in zero was pink-er while the ones ending in five were yellow-er. Truly, it's more beige and not quite yellow enough for me, but still matches my skin tone (if that makes any sense). It matches the beige tones in my face but not the overall more yellow tones. The packaging says,
"-Liquid perfect coverage feels incredible (rating: 3.5/5)
-Airtight compact keeps makeup fresh and mess-free(true but big-4.5/5)
-Vitamins B3,B5, and E and -Oil-free, hypoallergenic, won't clog pores (true so far 5/5)
-Smoothing formula, with vitamins, helps give you noticeably better looking, beautiful skin (overall rating: 3.9/5)
-To use: Sweep sponge applicator lightly over makeup, then your face. Control sheerness by blending and spreading(application using included sponge 4.5/5 even though I hate sponges and blendability and coverage control 5/5)

(bare face)



Would I recommend?
Yes

Price $9.99 retail
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