Archive for November 2013

China Glaze 2013 Happy HoliGlaze

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Good afternoon!

Today I have six shades from the 2013 China Glaze Holiday Collection - Happy HoliGlaze to share with you. The shades I have are the glitter and foil shades. They are all incredibly sparkly and eye catching, the colors are vibrant. While some are traditional colors, others are a bit of a twist on the holiday theme.

Just Be-Claws. Two coats. A bright red with foil type shimmer. Good application, very Christmas-y.

Mingle With Kringle. Two coats. A gold yellow foil loaded with more bronze-y bigger flakes. I really like this one a lot, which was a surprise.

This Is Tree-Mendous. Three coats. A microglitter packed with light green and evergreen glitter. The formula was really smooth and thin despite the density of glitter.

So Blue Out With You. Two coats. An icy blue foil that looks really electrifying. I'm so glad this wasn't a frost!

All Wrapped Up. Three coats. Another microglitter, this one is muted blue based purple.

Put A Bow On It. Three coats. A fuchsia micro glitter.

The formula on all six were very good. I liked in particular that all the microglitters were wearable on their own because they were nice and dense, but not thick.

Have you picked up any of these sparkly holiday shades? The other half of the collection is also beautiful, glitters and other foil shades.

Six New Revlon Colorburst Matte Balms

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Good evening!

I've been frantically searching for these Revlon Colorburst Matte Balms ever since they were released. Sadly I only found empty displays until this last week. I managed to find a relatively full display and bought six shades (Walgreens had Revlon 40% off, plus I used $2 store coupon and $2 manufacturer's coupon to bring the price of each down to $1.79).

They come in matte plastic twist up barrel, not unlike a child's twist up crayon. I appreciate how Revlon's lip products come in packaging that matches the shade, they make it easy to spot which shade I'm looking for. The one thing I dislike is that once the point wears down, the balm will be really chubby and harder to apply straight from the tube. In particular, I worry about the darker and brighter shades because it is much more apparent when you've missed.

Left to right: Striking, Audacious, Mischievous, Complex, Elusive and Shameless.

The pigmentation and formula varied on these. Shameless and Audacious had the best pigmentation and were exceptionally creamy while Complex was drier and more patchy. Striking and Mischievous were pretty smooth but more sheer. These Matte Balms also have a slight minty scent and overall look pretty matte.

Striking. A fairly neutral red but pulled a bit warmer and more poppy red once I actually wore it.

Audacious. This is the shade pictured on Emma Stone on the display. It looked darker and more vivid on her for sure. Oh me it looks like a bright intense coral red.

Mischievous. A medium apricot.

Complex. A fairly neutral nude. I liked the color but the application was really unforgiving. It emphasizes any dryness and all my lip wrinkles.

Elusive. A mauvey pink. I was surprised by how much I liked this one.

Shameless. A really great pansy purple shade. My favorite. The color looked really saturated and the application was great.

I really liked these Revlon Colorburst Matte Balms. The shade I've worn the most, Shameless was also incredibly long wearing (the other shades haven't been worn as extensively). I wore Shameless for about six hours including a steak dinner and it looked great even after eating. I only needed to blot to remove a bit of shine from dinner and a slight touch up to intensify the color again. I only wish that Complex was a bit creamier because it is such a light color, it really looked harsh on my dry lips.

Have you bought any of these Revlon Matte Balms yet?

Products featured were purchased by me for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Nails

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Hello! Today was the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who and a special aired, Day Of The Doctor. I had to celebrate by painting my nails, especially since I've been out of practice.

My favorite finger is the Van Gogh's Exploded TARDIS painting. The Ood turned out pretty cute too!

I used:

Nail Pattern Boldness Hello, Sweetie!, Oodiful, Bigger On The Inside and The Slow Invasion as my base colors and acrylics to paint the rest. Yeah, all DW themed polishes- I really couldn't help myself!

I asked Morgan if we could have fish fingers and custard (if you watch, you'll know why). He insisted we buy two boxes of fish sticks since it was likely that I'd eat one all by myself.

Some of the products featured were press samples. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

An Overview of Real Techniques Brushes

Friday, November 22, 2013

I recently expanded my collection of Real Techniques brushes thanks to a nifty Klout perk. I received a total of 8 brushes and since the kits don't match up with online sets, I'm sort of reviewing them brush by brush and as a whole.

First, eye brushes. Left to right: Deluxe Crease, Base Shadow, Pixel-Point Eyeliner, Brow.

I don't use any of these brushes for their inscribed purpose. The Deluxe Crease is very large and round compared to my crease (and to my entire eye region) so I use it to blend under eye concealer. The Base Shadow is very similar in shape and also function to a MAC 217 so I use that to blend instead of patting on any base eye shadow. The Pixel-Point Eyeliner is too thick to really apply eyeliner that is gel or creme. The lines drawn by it are incredibly thick despite the name. Instead, it could be used to smudge out liner but I have brushes that are more suitable for that purpose. In the end, the Pixel-Point ends up being a lip color brush. The last eye brush, the Brow, seems much too soft and too big to shade in brows. It's really quite thick and does not produce the precise brush strokes that are idea for brows. I don't really use this brush too much but I guess in a pinch I can use it to apply colors in the crease without disrupting other parts of the eyelid.

Face brushes. Left to right: Buffing, Contour and Pointed Foundation.

I like the Buffing Brush quite a bit. It's a great multitasking brush; it can be used for buffing in foundation, applying bronzer, blush, contour, etc. Great work horse. The Contour Brush is also useful, great for either highlighting or contouring. The Pointed Foundation Brush became pretty round after a couple washes and virtually no different from any other flat type foundation brush other than being on the small side. I use it to brush on primer.

The Blush Brush. I'm really not found of using this for applying blush as the head is really rather large. In fact, it's bigger than all but one of my face powder brushes. Though the head comes to a nice rounded taper, I really prefer blush brushes that are more domed and much smaller for applying blush. It makes a splendid powder brush though.

All the brushes are pretty soft, though not as soft as other synthetic brushes (such as Ecotools). They are well constructed, definitely on the cheaper side of the brush spectrum and made with synthetic materials. As I've said to many friends, I think you will be really pleased with them as long as you disregard the names of the brushes and use them for what feels right rather than the intended purpose. They're not my favorite brushes by a long shot but I am really glad to have them in a pinch when my favorite are dirty or drying from being washed.

Products featured were a free Klout Perk. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Shades from KBShimmer 2013 Winter Blogger Collection

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Good evening!

Tonight I have four more KBShimmer winter release shades to show you. Each of these shades was made in collaboration with a blogger, how neat is that?

Plum Tuckered Out. By The Pointless Cafe. This is three coats of a deep plum creme filled with beautiful glass fleck that looks blue/fuchsia. Really smooth formula.

Toast-ess With The Moastest. By Peachy Polish. This is one coat dabbed over Essie Luxedo. You might need to spread the glitter around so that the largest circles are placed exactly where you want them to be but the nice thing is that they are evenly dispersed throughout the polish, no sinking.

Snow Much Fun. By The Manicurator. Three coats, plus a bit of dabbing. A light sky blue jelly filled with snowflake glitter and various other blue and white glitter. Those with curved nails may find that the snowflakes stick out a bit. I used two coats of KBShimmer Clearly On Top to smooth them over.

Green Hex And Glam. By Kayla Shevonne. Three coats plus some dabbing. This is hands down my favorite! I absolutely adore green jellies and this just takes the cake. The shade of green is so perfect and the holo hexes are even more beautiful in person, throwing off light in all directions. Even Morgan liked this one and he 1.) doesn't like green, 2.) doesn't like glitter 3.) doesn't like polish. I had to fish out the hexes to place them but other than that, it applied really well.

All four polishes were really pretty and applied well despite being all different kinds of finishes. KBShimmer polishes are $8.75 and available here. Be sure to check out all the winter shades, the collection is extensive and there's definitely something for everyone!

Laura Mercier EOTD

Monday, November 18, 2013

Good evening!

Today I'm showing you a look I recently did with my Laura Mercier Artiste Palette For Eyes. I have last year's version which was limited edition. This year's version contains many overlapping shades, too many for me to justify buying another.

I used:

Brows: Anastasia Brow Duo in Granite, Essence Brow and Lash Mascara
Eyes: LORAC Behind The Scenes Eye Primer, Laura Mercier shades in: African Violet, Plum Smoke, Vanilla Nuts, Coffee Ground, Rich Coffee, Chocolate. False lashes, La Femme Eye Liner Sealer

Smashbox Photo Matte Anti-Shine

Saturday, November 16, 2013

For years now, I've relied on Urban Decay De-Slick In A Tube as the oil absorbing primer for my greasy t-zone. The crazy thing is that I bought my tube around two years ago and just finally ran out, even though I used it every day. It was an absolute staple product for me and I was pretty bummed out to discover that it had been discontinued.

I had heard that Smashbox Anti-Shine Anti-Brilliance was a similar product with very similar ingredients, so I figured I'd give that a shot. I picked up Smashbox Photo Matte Anti-Shine thinking that it was the one I was looking for (as it turns out, Anti-Shine Anti-Brilliance had also been discontinued). You can see how I made that mistake, yes? The product names are incredibly similar and I actually didn't figure out that I had a completely different product until after I had used it.

Photo Matte is a beige colored gel/cream that comes in . It blends into my skin but I noted that on the Smashbox website, a fair redhead had mentioned in the reviews that it definitely showed up on her skin. I'm guessing that darker beauties would see a light cast if they wore it by itself. The formula definitely has a very slick silicone feeling to it. Here's the ingredients:

Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, HDI/Trimethylol Hexyllactone Crosspolymer, Silica, Isononyl Isononanoate, Isododecane, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Vinyl Dimethicone/Methicone Silsesquioxane Crosspolymer, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Lauroyl Lysine, Tocopheryl Acetate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phytosteryl/Octyldodecyl Lauroyl Glutamate, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Methicone, Stearyl Glycyrrhetinate, Water\Aqua\Eau, Coconut Acid, Phenoxyethanol, Mica, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499)

As you can see, silicones are high up on the list. Silica, the wonderful oil absorbing and blurring ingredient that was the star of Urban Decay De-Slick In A Tube, but I felt like any benefits it may have had were completely negated by all those slick 'cones.

After the very first application, I knew that it wasn't the right product for my t-zone. Though it made my skin look matte for an hour (silicones tend to look a bit cloudy and matte), it felt absolutely greasy. After three hours, I was shinier than ever, even worse than if I hadn't applied a primer at all. On the drier parts of my face, it was quite nice. It held my foundation in place nicely and my skin looked very smooth.

In short, as an anti-shine product (as the name would suggest), I found it to be unsuitable for oily skin along with the rest of the Smashbox Photo Finish line of silicone rich products. I would only recommend it as a primer if you had normal to dry skin and don't mind the slick sensation. For the amount of product that is in each tube, it is rather expensive ($25 for 0.50 fl oz) and I think there are better primers out there (such as Black Radiance Complexion Perfection).

I'm currently testing two other mattifying products. Are you currently using any oil control products?

EOTD: Femme Fatale Jewel Scarab

Friday, November 15, 2013

Good evening! This was a fairly recent EOTD.

I used:

Brows: Anastasia Brow Duo in Granite, Essence Lash & Brow Mascara
Eyes: LORAC Behind The Scenes Eye Primer, LORAC Beige, MAC Cork, MAC Copperplate, Femme Fatale Cosmetics Jewel Scarab, NYX Black Bean Jumbo Pencil, Rock & Republic Fatalistic, La Femme Eye Liner Sealer, false lashes from eBay

The green iridescence is so pretty! I'm slowly working through all my FF samples and I'll admit, the indie bug has bitten me again.

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. for additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Shades from KBShimmer Winter 2013

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Hi folks!

Tonight I have some really spectacular polishes to show you. I have four brand new shades from KBShimmer's winter offerings, a whooping 22 new polishes were released! The four shades you can feast your eyes on tonight are Maybe Navy, Kringle All The Way, When The Doves Sigh and Urban Camo.

Maybe Navy. Whoa! If you loved Teal Another Tail from the Fall 2013 releases, you'll love this one! This has chunky multichromatic flecks with the finest hex glitter in a blue tinted base. I've applied three coats here and it looked incredible from all different angles. I'm dying to wear this next over black!

Kringle All The Way. A clear topper with medium and large circle glitters as well as a sprinkling of holo particles. There's no doubt about it, this is one winter holiday polish for sure. The glitters stay really well suspended, despite their size. I dabbed one coat over L'oreal In the Buff.

When The Doves Sigh. This is one of my favorites from the whole collection. An opaque grey with cheery bright glitter. I used two coats and then dabbed on the bright glitter because the base can hide it a bit. I love the indigo/pink/blue color scheme!

Urban Camo. Uhm, how mind blowing is this? This is my first multichrome polish ever and it did not disappoint! I took this picture underwater to show you the whole spectrum of color this polish has to offer. Form the truest emerald green to teal, purple, pink and even gold. This is truly a beetle wing/oil spill color! I'm wearing two coats over black creme.

All four shades were topped off with KBShimmer Clearly On Top, a great fast drying topcoat.

I really loved all four of these shades. The formulas were consistently good, despite being four different kinds of polish. This is just four of the shades! You need to see what the other 18 look like, it's really a beautiful collection. I dare you to look at them all and not find a single one that you'll want to gift yourself this holiday season!

KBShimmer nail polish and body products can be found here. Polishes are $8.75 per bottle. For the latest news, be sure to check out the KBShimmer Facebook and Instagram.

Products featured were sent to me for review. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.