Maybelline Color Elixir Swatches & Review

Two posts in a day! Huzzah!!!!!

These next new drugstore lip products I'm about to share with you are simply amazing, I kinda knew they would be great but I was still pleasantly surprised once I actually have them on my lips. If you noticed, I've been on a hunt for a straight up purple lip products and other than Revlon Matte Balm in Shameless, I had my eye on one of Maybelline Color Elixir called "Vision in Violet". Of course, I couldn't pick only one so I got "Celestial Coral" along with it.

CAN WE JUST LOOK AT VISION IN VIOLET OMFG!!!!!

Now, looking at the glossy consistency you might think they're just like regular glosses. Oh no no no, these are lip glosses on pigment-crack. They really show up on your lips and glide on like a dream. You could see how Vision in Violet on my lips below, and I kid you not, that was 2 swipes on each lip. The lip gloss themselves have short wand with doe foot applicator. 

On lips: Maybelline Color Elixir Vision in Violet

 Go run to your drugstore and get them NOW!

Revlon Matte Balms Swatches & Review

Hello loves,

Today I have a review of a new line that was released by Revlon, called Matte Balm. I'm sure you are familiar with their Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain (I did reviews on these product here 1 & 2) and these are just like them only the finish is matte.

As a matte lippy lovers, I quickly got interested and decided to grab 2 of the colors: Sultry & Shameless.

 Sultry is your medium pink with warm undertone. 

 Shameless is a stunning medium purple.

Unlike their long lost cousins, the Balm Stains, Matte Balms are super duper pigmented. They also don't drag on your lips like most matte lipsticks tend to do. I truly enjoy the color payoff, especially Shameless which is perfect for Fall.

Have you tried Revlon Matte Balms? Tell me your favorite because I might pick up a few more ;)

Toodles~

Product Focus: Sonia Kashuk Eye On Neutral Palette (Review & Swatches)

In a hope of assuring you that this blog hasn't yet to turn into an exclusively nail blog, I'm posting a review that I have promised to do a long time ago. It is none other than my favorite neutral eye shadow palette as of late, Sonia Kashuk Eye On Neutral from their Eye Couture Eye Palette line.

There are 3 "eyes" in its name, just in case you're not sure what they are for...

Now, as much as I love Urban Decay Naked Palette (original), there were moments when I wished to have just all matte eye shadows. UD Naked have gorgeous shimmers but let's be real here, the matte selections are fairly limited.

So when I was at Target to burn monthly moolah (I have issues, you see...) and saw this palette, I felt like the heaven's gate had been opened, the light was shining through and I could hear the angel sing. This was what I was hoping for and more. The fact that I happened to carry a $3 off coupon for Sonia Kashuk line was simply the frosting on my cupcake, really.

Without further ado, here is the sucker. 12, all mattes colors.

Now as you can see, Sonia Kashuk didn't go all fancy by naming her shadows with obscene pun and glory, instead she settled with numbers.

So the colors ranges from white, creams, warm-toned browns, cool-toned browns, taupe, gray and black. The first row (1-3) are highlighters (or at least they are for my Medium Tan skin) and they go darker as the numbers go higher (12 being black).

I simply can't stress enough how happy I was to find pigmented matte shadows, let alone having them all in one palette. Number 11, which is a charcoal gray, is simply stunning and unique. I'd buy this palette for this color alone, to be honest.

Here's how it looks with flash on

 Of course it's not complete without swatches.

Done on my skin, under natural light, no base

The pigmentation is amazing, not overly done so that you'd have trouble fixing them if you make mistakes. This is the kind of palette you'd want to carry around in your purse for a quick re-apply throughout the day, or just simply adding colors to your face without being so obvious. It's so professional and subdued, yet it's gorgeous and have a nice selection of colors. Just look at how many different medium browns they have! If I may add, the palette is also really compact and sturdy. It's not as thin as UD Naked palette, tho.

Overall, I would really recommend this palette if you're a bit bored with Urban Decay ones or still in search for matte eye shadow palette that aren't bright and rainbow-y. The price is not too bad as well, I've got mine at Target for $20 something (Everything is more expensive in Hawai'i ... EVEN TARGET THINGS!) but they always have coupons in their site, so make sure you keep an eye out for that.

Thank you for reading and let me know your thoughts if any of you owns or have tried this palette :)

Toodles~

Swatch: Drugstore Highlighter

For having an oily skin, I shouldn't have been bothered with finding products to "highlight" my face, as it tends to do its job quite naturally. However, I still think highlighting is as important as contouring, to accentuate areas you want to pop and gives your face more dimension when it comes to makeup.

Still, I wasn't ready to splurge on it. So I went the usual route, drugstores.

After contemplating for a while, going in & out of plenty of drugstores, reading plenty of reviews, I've finally settled with these two products.

 Wet 'n' Wild Color Icon Bronzer "Reserve Your Cabana" & Hard Candy So Baked Bronzer "Tiki"

(isn't it funny that the names are all beach-related? lol)

For reference I am NC35 or NC37 during summer months, and I found these two are the most natural yet still impactful highlighters.

Reserve Your Cabana is more subdued, it's almost like a lighter face powder with sheen. Whereas Tiki has more prominent and it gives you the most beautiful effect when applied on cheekbones, bridge of your nose, or even on cupid's bow.

Reserve Your Cabana is sold for around $4-$5 at my local drugstore and I believe Tiki is about $9-$10 at Walmart. So far I'm happy to report they didn't break me out and I really like the quality these product have so if you're looking for affordable and good quality drugstore highlighters, these two are definitely try-worthy.

Thanks for reading.

Review & Swatches: Wet'n'Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Palette in Drinking A Glass of Shine & Sparkle 'Til Morning

This post would be a review for two limited edition Color Icon eyeshadow palettes from Wet'n'Wild. I was thrilled to see they came out with one all mattes palette and I believe there is another one with the release that I didn't pick up.

The palettes I got are:

• Drinking A Glass of Shine
• Sparkle 'Til Morning

Closer look :)

I am absolutely digging the pigmentation, we all know WnW had been doing really well in their eyeshadow department since they reformulated, and these Holiday-themed palettes are no exception. The brushes still suck, however, but that's a minor issue I'd be willing to compromise for such an excellent quality and prices.

Swatches time, heck yesss!

Drinking A Glass of Shine

Left row

Right row

Sparkle 'Til Morning

 Left row

 Right row

The pigmentation is awesome, it's buttery smooth but not too smooth that it will flakes. I would totally recommend these if you can still find them in your local drugstores (I found mine at Walgreens), I think they run for about $5 per palette.

Thank you for reading & for next post I have some holiday nail polishes I can't wait to share with you :) Til next time!!!

NOTD: Everybody Loves Penguin

Winter is here and although in the Pacific we barely feel the cold, I'd like to surround myself with things that remind me of winter.......like overly sweet, and fatteningly glorious warm beverages I've been indulging myself with. Thank you, my dear Keurig! :)

Anyway, I have one nail polish called Everybody Loves Penguin from Pretty & Polished holiday collection. I purchased it from their Etsy store, however at the moment I don't see it there anymore.

Everybody Loves Penguin is yet another sheer white "crelly" (cream jelly) with  black and yellow hex glitters. There are HUGE black hex glitter that looks really cool but kind of hard to fish out.

I really like the hex glitters but my fiance kept asking, "What is wrong with your nail polish?"

while pointing at the black spots lol muggles

Applied 2 coats, no undies, Barielle TC

The minis are $5 and full size polish are $9.
Check them out at their new store here or on Etsy :)

Product Review & Swatch: L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow

Do you guys remember when I used to be all over loose mineral pigments and actually made an effort to press them since despite being so fabulous, they're quite a pain in the ass to use?

Well, apparently drugstores offer something similar to that. Only, they were hyped after Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill. They are pretty much a long-wearing pressed pigments in a jar. I was able to swatch most of them in the stores and ended up buying 2 of the colors I like use the most, Amber Rush and Continuous Cocoa.

Consistency: smooth, dry, densely packed
Finish: varied (matte, satin, shimmery)
Pigmentation: 5/5
Blendability: 4/5
Staying power: 3.5/5 (On oily lids, eye-primer is highly suggested)
Price: 4/5 (Range within $7-$8)

The ones I picked up:

Amber Rush is such a gorgeous coppery bronze which looks so pretty on tan skin. I usually wear this as a lid color and it gives a healthy beach bronze look without even trying. Continuous Cocoa is a deep brown with no shimmer at all, I like to use it as a crease color and today I just found out that Continuous Cocoa can also be used as an eyeliner. I hardly come across a dark brown liner that is not too red so this is perfect!

I think L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows are very versatile since you can use it as a base too if you like (use a primer before hand to prevent creasing) and the color pigmentation is just amazing. Let me know which color is your favorite :) Thanks for reading!!!

Part 2: Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain

Follow up of my last post on Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain, I did go and pick up 2 other colors and ended up loving these. Walgreens is having BOGO 50% on the new Revlon products, including the Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain so if you want to try them, try them NOW :)

The two other colors I got are Honey Douce and Cherish Devotion aside from the Lovesick Passionnee I already picked up earlier. Honey is a brownish pink color, a really nice and neutral pink which leaves a MLBB stain. Cherish is a gorgeous rose pink color.

Honey 

Cherish

Lovesick

Thanks for reading!

Product Review: Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain

Recently Revlon had come out with their new & improved lip stain/balm hybrid shizz which are called Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain.

Try say that 3 times.

I noticed people have been saying that this particular line is a dupe of Tarte LipSurgence and Clinique Chubby Sticks but since I've never owned those two products, I can't really say much in that area. However, I'm reviewing these for what they worth and what they claim to be.

Ok, first of all they look like fat crayons, which is cute...and they have this sweet minty candy initial scent. After a while the scent would disappear so if you're not a fan of fragrances on makeup products, don't worry about it. Having said that, actually the scent is not bad at all, you know. I could think of worse fragrances they could have put in there instead of mints.......like bacon or something. I love bacons but I don't want to give people impressions that I eat bacon whenever I apply this stuff, you know what I mean?

Alright, since this post is not about bacon, we should move along.

Does this balm/stain do what they promise to do? Yes and No.

Yes because they do stain my lips and not in a gross way. The stain looks very even on my lips, unlike most of lip stain products out there, and they last quite a while too. No because although this applies like lip balm, they're not the most moisturizing thing ever (still better than Revlon Lip Butters tho). You can always apply Carmex or whatever lip balm you'd like prior to this although that would defeat the purpose now, wouldn't it?

The color that I have is called Lovesick and it is a bright, gorgeous fuchsia pink. This color stains my lips as if I've been eating too much berries.

this how it looks on with heavy hand, the stain would look less fuchsia 

Do I like it? Yes, I quite do...surprisingly. What I like to do as an alternative, is to apply it all over, blot it with tissue so that I would be left with just the stain, and then apply lip glosses over it. I also like to use it as a base for my lipsticks that are too pale to be used on their own.

So far I only have Lovesick but perhaps in the near future I would get two or three more colors.This was $8.99 but I'm pretty sure you can find them cheaper on other places. I found mine at my local Target, not sure if the drugstores here in the island have them yet since we're always 2 weeks behind on pretty much EVERYTHING :'(

Hope that helps!