NARS Pierre Hardy Blush: Rotonde

Swatches & Review

Rotonde is one of the two blushes released for NARS x Pierre Hardy Summer 2013 collection. When I first saw the blushes online, I thought that they looked amazing, but the price tag on these made it hard for me to order them immediately. When they were released at Sephora, I swatched them at the store and I knew I had to have them. NARS Rotonde is described as "tiger lily."


The front of the packaging says Pierre Hardy on it.


This blush was incredibly hard to capture on capture, no matter what lighting I used indoor or outdoor. It is definitely brighter in person. It is a bright orange with golden over-spray to create a pattern on it. It was too pretty to touch so I waited a week before messing it up :P


On the left, it is swatched without the over-spray and on the right, it is swatched with the over-spray. It is a bit hard to see, but you can kind of see some shimmer with the over-spray. Without the over-spray, it is a matte vibrant orange.


Left is without the over-spray and right is with the over-spray.

Although it is $41 the one thing that made me have to have this was it was incredibly pigmented. This blush is very very smooth, pigmented, and easy to blend. When I swatched these, only one swipe was used and it stained my finger. I have tried these on my cheeks and on the cheeks, it looks a bit like a bronze-ish orange, which does not look bad at all. It is important to use a light-hand with these because it can easily be overdone & just a dab with a brush onto the pan is enough. After using it twice, the golden over-spray on the parts I have been using is pretty much gone. It lasted about seven hours on me before it started fading, which was really good for a blush.

For $41, you get 0.45 oz of product, which is not bad considering one NARS blush is $29 for 0.16 oz of product, so this is about three times the amount of a regular NARS blush.

What do you think about NARS x Pierre Hardy collection for Summer?

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Rimmel London Show Off Lip Lacquer: Comet

Swatches & Review

Yesterday, I reviewed Rimmel London's Show Off (Apocalips) Lip Lacquer in Aurora. After that wore off & I completely removed it, I tested out Comet next. Comet seems like one of the Lip Lacquers that may be exclusive to the US since I have not seen it listed on Rimmel's website.



Like Aurora, it is packaged in a plastic tube and the bottom indicates the color of the product.


The Show Off Lip Lacquer's have a doe-foot applicator.


For the first lip picture, I took it in direct sunlight. The other two were taken indoor, with the middle one being in front of the window. (These were taken after sunset so the lighting is not as good).

Comet is a rosy brown creme. Normally, I am wary about buying "neutral" lip products because some products make my lips look dead, but this was a perfect neutral for me. This also has the Asian salty dried plum scent. These have a glossy finish and felt comfortable on the lips. For Comet, I tested it out with no drinking or eating and I felt that the glossiness of this wore off in about an hour and a half, which was faster than Aurora. Comet also felt very drying after the glossiness wore off. With a slight stain, I had about three hours of wear until it was pretty much completely off. I would recommend using a balm underneath Comet because it is drying. I did not experience any bleeding or feathering from this, which is good.

Overall, I like that this shade is the perfect everyday shade for me, but I am not a fan of the scent and I wish that this lasted longer because it felt incredibly drying after the glossiness wore off. It is kind of like a love/hate relationship with Comet because I absolutely love the color, but not the wear.

These retail for $4.99 and can be purchased at Walgreens and online at Walgreens.com and Drugstore.com (but they are currently sold out).

What do you think about Comet? Do you have a go-to neutral shade for everyday wear?

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Rimmel London Show Off Lip Lacquer: Aurora

Swatches & Review

After going to many Walgreen locations these past few days, I have finally found Rimmel London's Show Off Lip Lacquers! When G from NouveauCheap posted up that the Rimmel Apocalips have been spotted in the United States, I immediately went on a search for them (and yes, I wasted a lot of gas.. like always. lol) and after many stores, I have finally found them! When I went to the last store I planned on going to today, the lady literally took the display out of a box & I nearly screamed in excitement, so the items were not set on the display yet. I ended up purchasing four of the fourteen shades, and Aurora was one of them, and was the first one I decided to try on.


These are packaged in plastic tubes and on the bottom, you are able to see the color of each shade so you have a good idea of the color you are purchasing.


Unlike the Kate Moss lipsticks, I like that these are sealed. Although these are very easy for people to open to test out, it is a good indicator on whether or not the product has been tampered with before you purchase, so it is definitely helpful.


As you pull the wand out, you can see that there is something on the top of the tube that controls the amount of product that comes out and leaves the excess product inside the tube. You can see the wand having product on it and because of the thing that squeezes out the amount of product before it comes out, the wand ends up becoming clean. The Show Off Lip Lacquers have a doe-foot applicator.


For the first lip picture, I took it in direct sunlight. The other two were taken indoor, with the middle one being in front of the window.

Aurora is a coral-red, which is very wearable. In the tube, I thought it would be more like a pink, but it leans more red, which is not bad at all. These have a glossy finish and it felt very comfortable on the lips. After applying these, I would recommend not pressing your lips together for the first five minutes because I found that when I pressed my lips together in the first five minutes, the product moves around leaving some parts of the lip looking like it is missing color, but after a while, it does not move as much even though it is glossy. The glossy finish wore off in about two hours for me, and it lasted about three and a half hours for me with the color fading around the third hour (this was probably because I went to eat dinner). It left a slight stain, but when I went to remove it, it came off easily. Although the product itself is nice, I absolutely hated the scent! I am sensitive to scents so this was very overwhelming for me. Like the Kate Moss Matte lipsticks, these have an Asian salty dried plum scent to it, but it was stronger than the lipstick scent. After applying, I tasted the scent I smelled and the scent lasted pretty long before it went away, which was what I did not like the most. Other than that, I really liked the product itself. It did not feel drying on my lips because it was glossy and I did not experience any feathering/bleeding. Compared to other liquid lipsticks I have tried (Stila's Liquid Lipstick & Wet n Wild's Liquid Lipstick), these are A LOT better because they do not dry matte and feel weird after it dries. It is also pretty cool how it comes out with just the right amount of product!

These retail for $4.99 and can be purchased at Walgreens and online at Walgreens.com and Drugstore.com (but they are currently sold out).

Here is the display from my Walgreen's. Everything is still in its package so I know that no one has opened any of them yet! :P


What do you think about Rimmel's Show Off Lip Lacquers (Apocalips)? Have you tried them? Which colors are you interested in?

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OCC Lip Tar: Authentic

Swatches & Review


After Sephora came out with Pro's Pick V2.0, they have not come out with V3.0! I thought it was quite fast because I was expecting the next set to come out around the Holidays. Authentic is one of the shades in the V3.0 set, which was one that I was most excited about because it has a metallic finish, which is not like all the previous lip tars that I have reviewed.

Authentic is described as a copper metallic


In the tube, it looks like it would be a very rusty brown shade. When applied onto my lips, it looks more of a light red-rusty copper brown shade.

When applying these, I used a very little amount because a little goes a long way. I think if you would want the color to be more brown, adding a bit more may make it look a bit darker. I wore this for about six hours yesterday with slight fading. However, I felt that by the 2nd hour, this felt incredibly drying. I tested this out without the clear base, which is probably why, so I recommend using the clear lip tar or a lip balm underneath. I really like this shade because it has a metallic finish to it, which does not make my lips look as dry as the ones without the metallic finish because it is super shiny when worn outdoors.

This retails for $18 individually and the Pro's Pick Lip Tar Set v3.0 retails for $49. They can be purchased on Sephora.com (Non-affiliated).

What do you think about Authentic? Have you tried the newer lip tars with the metallic finish?

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Zoya Summer PixieDust

Swatches & Review


Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates, but it has been a crazy last month of school & it's almost over, which means I will have more time to blog! Anyway, Zoya has provided me with their Summer PixieDust to review & I was definitely excited because the original line of PixieDust grew on me & the Summer PixieDust has amazing vibrant colors.


Left to right: Solange, Beatrix, Destiny & Miranda.

To apply these, you apply a thin first layer, wait until it completely dries & then apply a second coat. If you want to add a third coat, wait for the second coat to completely dry.

Taken Outdoor -
Pointer: Solange
Middle: Beatrix
Ring: Destiny
Pinky: Miranda


Taken Indoor:
Solange is a yellow gold with golden shimmer and it is very sparkly.
Beatrix is a tangerine orange with golden shimmer, perfect to match with cuties tangerines before you eat them all! haha :)
Destiny is a coral-pink with golden shimmer.
Miranda is a raspberry-red/pink with silver shimmer.

When I first tried the PixieDust from the Winter release, I was not too big on it, but after testing them for a week, I ended up liking them. Although the texture is a bit rough after it is first applied, it will start feeling softer (like sugar) after running them through water. Like the previous PixieDust nail polishes I have reviewed, these last a good 6 days on my left hand with minimal tip wear, and about four days on my right hand (the hand I use the most) until noticeable tip wear.
The removal was easy on these as well. I used Zoya's nail polish remover and placed the cotton with it onto my nails for about a minute. After having the cotton ball there for a minute, the PixieDust texture nail polish came off very easily without sticking to my nails & my skin.

Overall, I like the shades from the Summer collection a lot, but from these four, my favorites are Solange & Beatrix because I love yellow & orange for summer & Solange is super flashy when it is outdoors!
What do you think about Zoya's Summer PixieDust collection? Have you tried Zoya's PixieDust collection? Do you think they should come out with more shades?

These are available for purchase on Zoya.com now, and they retail for $9 per 0.5oz bottle.

**The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review. I was not paid nor compensated for the review.

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