Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Vegas Haul & Violent Lips








 Violent Lips Tattoo, let me say, it is the most awful product I've ever tried on my lips. They were very drying and each time my lips met, the "tattoo" got stuck together and would look as if it were about to peel off. 

Fortunately, it peeled off quite easily for me, not so much with my friends. I wouldn't recommend anyone to buy it. They came in a pack of 3 for $17 . What a complete failure of a product. How they are still in business is beyond me. They dont' even feel comfortable or lasts more than 1 hour.  17 bucks for 3 tattoos. A total bust.


Friday, February 10, 2012

Back to Basics II

Neutral shades are universal colors that flatter every eye. It's the one look that looks good on everyone. I mean i LOVE color, but it takes a lot of practice to master it so that it does not make you look cheap or ridiculous, and sometimes thats just too much work. That is why the neutral shades are fail proof.  It enhances, it disguises, it mystifies, it's elegant and timeless.

This blog is dedicated to my love for neutral shades.

I wanted to showcase the palettes I owned, particularly drugstore neutrals.

Elf : Neutral Eye Edition






l o v e:  It's the perfect shades of neutrals. The colors are on the cool spectrum. They are beautiful and blend well together. $5
h a t e: Extremely chalky and dry with a ton of fall out.  Eyeshadow primer is a must!



Sonia Kashuk: Eye on Neutral 02




l o v e: The range of colors are perfect. It's all matte. Travels well. I use this palette more than my Urban Decay Naked palette. 
h a t e: Extremely chalky and dry with a ton of fall out. Eyeshadow primer is a must! As with the elf eyeshadow above,  the chalkiness makes it so difficult to keep the palette clean and free from fall out.

Take Cover .  Fair and Square . Bronzed Beauty
Take Cover . Fair and Square . Brozed Beauty
                       
l o v e: The sugary glitter shade in each of the quads is really pretty. The consistency is like raw sugar. It goes on the eyelid and really creates shimmer. Love this on the inner tear duct and lid. These colors are not chalky and dry and i like that they dont have a ton of fall out.  They're quite pigmented. The colors really are beautiful.
h a t e: Fair and Square is too pink for me.  Bronzed Beauty is too warm for me.


Jemma Kidd : Smoke it out I-Kit

                          

l o v e:  It's really compact and sleek. You would make use of each of the shades. Excellent for travel.  It has a silver  shadow instead of gold and that makes this palette unique. Applies on smoothly. Fall out is minimal.
h a t e: The silver color's pigmentation is the least of all the shades. (But's its really okay)

Elf: Butternut

                               


l o v e: It's only $1. The colors are very wearable. The two dark shades have decent pigmentation.  All in all, I like the color combination.
h a t e: The 2 lightest shades hardly show up on my arm. The triangular shape makes it hard to use my fingers to apply the make up on my eyes (if im not using my brushes).


Forever21 Palette





l o v e: Great if you're going for a very natural and subtle look because these colors are fairly light. The cream color has the highest pigmentation.
h a t e: You can't build up the colors no matter how many applications you apply.






                   
Rock and Rose


















l o v e: The eyeshadow in the pan HAD a very pretty floral design. The colors are very shiny and has gold flecks of shimmer in all of them. The pigmentation of these are great.
h a t e: there are two shades that are pretty much the same color. 



An Austrailian Eyeshadow Quad. The box says "Sportygirl Wild Whisperer"

 





l o v e: I really like the softness and pigmentation of these eyeshadows. I think it's supposed to be a cheapy line, but the quality is awesome. Im really happy I bought this. The colors are cool and neutral and very blendable. The dark green on the bottom right corner does not really show up dark green on my skin. It looks like a dark charcoal grey. These look more matte than shiney, but definiately not completely matte. 
h a t e: I don't have anything bad to say about this. 


Lumene Duo

 


l o v e: I like the dark taupe color a lot in this palette. I will have to depot these and put them in my Z palette because I never reach for this just because it's only two shades. 

h a t e: The lighter cream color hardly shows on my skin.  (Im NC 30-35)


Wet 'n' Wild: Vanity

 


l o v e: The 3 matt shades. I love the middle caramel matt color. It's by far my favorite in the palette. It makes for a great crease blending shade. The shiney pearl color goes on smoothly and is great for highlighting or used in the inner lid and tear duct. The price of this palette makes it affordable that the one or two colors that I dont like so much isn't such a big deal.

h a t e: The matte white applies on very chalky. It doesn't look nice on the skin because it's blotchy. I also am not a fan of the shiney gold color. Im just not a fan of that hue of gold. It's too yellow and not a true gold. 

Loreal Hip Duo:

Dynamic

Mischief & Shady


Mischief/Shady/Roaring/Dynamic

l o v e: The pigmentation of these duo's is great. They are very long lasting on my lids as well. Shady is among one of my favorites as is Roaring. Shady is a great neutral toned duo. I really like the combination of the two for a natural eye look. Roaring is a beautiful combo as well. The neutral shade is a great contouring shadow for nose as well as blending crease colors. The electric blue works as a nice eyeliner for that pop of color. 

h a t e: The duo's are not finely milled and soft or creamy, can have some fall out, but nothing terrible enough to make it a deal breaker. 


Maybellene Eye Studio: Give me Gold

 
l o v e: The combination of the colors are really nice.  I can do without the yellow tone in there, but it's nice to have I suppose. I'm a fan of the shiney cream colored shadow. I like when palettes include a super light color for inner lids such as this and medium tone and dark as well. This was my first neutral palette purchased at a drugstore a really really long time ago. These shadows have a pretty good color payoff and lasts a while. 

h a t e: It can have some fall outs as well. I guess no shadow is really pefect. But I did like this line enough to buy 2 more of these palettes in different colors.  :)






Thursday, February 2, 2012

Back to Basics: Part I

In the past few months, I have been obsessing over neutral palettes. I get overly excited when a brand releases their versions of neutral palettes.  And though I have colors all in the similar range, I  c a n  n o t  help but  want them all! It's sort of a bitter sweet feeling because I know I shouldn't blow more money on the "same" thing, but at the same time, it brings me such joy! It's what I look forward to. It excites me!!

My friend, Kryzia, has been stopping me from purchasing the NAKED 2 palette. I really, really want it. But she's right. I have the Naked palette already, and I haven't hit pan on any of the colors, nor do I find myself reaching for it often. 

I have bought so many products over time, that I haven't gotten around to really using any one of them often enough. I have decided (as of today), that I will not buy another make up product (in similar color shades as what I already have) until I have finished what's already in my collection.   I take that back :(

My  neutral  collection, isn't horrendously large. It's really not even large. And while this challenge will be very difficult for me, it will allow me to revisit and fall back in love with the palettes that I already own. 

For now, all I can do is drool and admire these things from afar :

 Sleek's Au Naturel
Inglot's Freedom 10
Nyx's Caribbean Palettes




Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Newly Welcomed to My Life

Josie Maran Argan Daily Moisturizer with SPF 40 


Ultra lightweight. Paba-gree. Sweet scent. Repairs and protects. Hydrating with Argan Oil. Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide. 2 oz. ($32) 0.5 oz ($14)

I truly am in love with this product. I've never felt my skin so smooth and silky, and I've used just Argan oil on my face before, and it never left my skin feeling so soft for so long, as this product does.

I have sensitive skin, and am so thankful my skin loves this too!

I purchased the 0.5 oz bottle too just to have that handy for traveling. I really hope this product will never be discontinued. I might start having to hoard stashes of this each time I go to Sephora. Seriously. It's that good! I can honestly say that I have never been this excited about any product. And when I really enjoy something, I like to share it :)  .


Pequi Hair Oil Treatment

Fast-absorbing. Pina Colada scented. light. provides shine and softness to hair. Vitamin A & E. Fruit from the Amazon. Natural UV filter. Works on all hair types. 2 oz ($32) 0.5 oz ($12).

I can't really tell a difference between this and Moroccan Oil in terms of what they do for my hair. The both do my hair real good. Both very light weight and moisturizing. Both provides softness to my hair and added shine to make my hair look healthy.

The only true difference that is very obvious is scent. Pina Colada vs the Vanilla-esque argan oil. On Sephora's website it advertises that pequi oil supposedly makes hair "600 x stronger"  and "250 x shinier".  Seriously. Read all the hype about it from consumer reviews. It sold me. I've been eyeing this for quite some time because of the reviews I've read but hadn't purchased it because I was still using my Moroccan Oil.  I happened to be at Sephora to pick up the Josie Maran Moisturizer and I decided to pick this up since I used up all of my Moroccan oil.

I do like both of them very much for my hair. And because I am quite happy with the performance of this product, I am definitely going to try the Sephora's Couture Colour hair dyes (it comes with pequi oil).  I just haven't decided if I want to go a tad lighter or more black.