Wet n Wild Beauty Army: Enlisting for Beauty Palette

Swatches & Review

Wet n Wild's newest release is their Fall Beauty Army collection. The collection consists of four packs of their Coloricon Eyeshadow Trios along with their Mega Protein Mascara. Although there were four different palettes to purchase, I only purchased the trio with all brown eyeshadows called Enlisting for Beauty.

The trios are in the same format as the ones from the permanent line with the browbone color on top, crease in the middle, and eyelid on the bottom.

All of the eyeshadows have been swatched on top of Too Faced's Shadow Insurance
Browbone: Matte creamy light brown. This was kind of chalky, but the pigmentation is build-able.
Crease: Dark brown with subtle shimmer. The shimmer is not too noticeable so the crease color looks kind of matte. This was smooth and very pigmented. Because it is smooth, there is slight fall out with this.
Eyelid: Shimmery taupe. This was also smooth and pigmented, but with a bit of fall out.

After trying their Pop Art Craze trios, I was kind of underwhelmed because I felt that the shades from the Pop Art Craze collection were not as good as how they are normally, but after trying this, I am definitely loving Wet n Wild again. The eyeshadows in these were a lot better than the ones I have tried from Pop Art Craze because they are not sheer and super chalky. This palette is a good palette for everyday use because the colors go together very nicely. Although the browbone shade is kind of chalky, it is still better than others that I have tried from them before.

I purchased this at K-mart for $2.99 & I hear NouveauCheap is going to put up a sightings map for these so keep a lookout on her blog!

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Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick: Jilted

Swatches & Review

Urban Decay recently came out with a new line of lipsticks called the Revolution Lipsticks after about a year of discontinuing their old ones. These lipsticks are supposed to be "creamy, badass luxury" because they are supposed to be super pigmented. I purchased a few of them and the one I was most excited about was Jilted.

The new Urban Decay lipsticks are packaged in a gunmetal packaging. I like it because it looks very slim and sleek, but I hate that it is a fingerprint magnet! I literally have to micro-fiber cloth it after touching it. The lipstick shape is round and not pointed. What I noticed is almost all new lipsticks are now round (Cargo, Too Faced, Stila, etc..), but I wish it was pointed so I would be able to make the lines look sharper when applying. Another thing I noticed is that this is also packaged like Too Faced lipsticks and the new Cargo Essential Lip Color with just a different outer packaging.

Jilted is a deep fuchsia, and when it is upclose, you can see a bit of blue shimmer in it.

Although there are slight blue iridescent shimmer in the lipstick, I did not notice it on the lips much. On the lips, it is a nice bright, but deep fuchsia. Look at how creamy it is!

With bold lips, I wore it with neutral eyes & winged liner.

I am seriously loving these new Urban Decay lipsticks! What I love the most about these is that they are not scented at all & they do not taste like anything, which is hard to come by. Compared to their discontinued lipsticks, the quality of these have definitely improved. Jilted was very creamy and pigmented, I used only one swipe for my lips in all the pictures above and it lasted me about four hours before fading and feeling a bit dry because the creamy feeling wore off. Although it was super pigmented, it also felt light on the lips. I have tried these without a lip liner and they did not bleed/feather, which is great for a bright lipstick. The only downside is that they are a bit pricey because the size of these are a bit less than an average lipstick at 0.09 oz per lipstick & they retail for $22.

What do you think about the new Urban Decay Revolution lipsticks? Have you tried anything from the new line? Are there any colors you might be interested in? :)

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Lorac Downtown Drama Eyeshadow Palette

Swatches & Review

Lorac Cosmetics Downtown Drama is the second palette that is also exclusive to Nordstrom Rack locations. Unlike Uptown Allure, the shades in Downtown Drama are supposed to be cool, while Uptown Allure has warm eyeshadow shades.

Downtown Drama's palette is in a silver packaging.

There are five shades in this palette and each shade contains 0.06 oz of product.

The eyeshadows in this palette does not have names so I will go from left to right.
1) Frosty White: This was smooth, but it was powdery when being applied, so there is a bit of fallout with this.
2) Frosty Silver: This was smooth and pigmented.
3) Shimmery Cool Grey: This is a cool grey and was the most pigmented shade in the whole palette.
4) Lavender: This shade has a matte finish, but it was very dry and chalky, so it does not apply as vibrant as the shade in the pan.
5) Dark Grey: This also has a matte finish & was also dry. I feel like this applies kind of patchy, which is disappointing.

I purchased this palette mainly for the two matte shades because I do not have much of matte lavender shades, or grey so I was hoping that they would be better, but they were disappointing because they were the only shades that were dry and chalky. Although mattes are known to be dry and chalky, I have tried many matte shades that are smooth, such as the ones in their Pro Palette so these were definitely disappointing. I feel like the two best shades in this palette are numbers two and three because they are pigmented and easy to apply. Although this is priced at $12, I feel like if I were to choose between this and Uptown Allure, I would choose that because the quality for Downtown Drama is not really there like it was for Uptown Allure. Skip!

Have you seen the two Nordstrom Rack exclusive palettes from Lorac yet? Have you picked one up?

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Buxom Time to Shine Full-On Lip Collection

Swatches & Review

Last Holiday, Buxom came out with an exclusive Time to Shine collection, which I have reviewed here (link). About a few weeks ago, I noticed that Sephora had a new set of the Buxom Time to Shine Lip Gloss set up. At first, I thought it was similar since these sets normally does not come out until around Fall, but after looking at it, I realized this set has different colors in it.

Like the collection last Holiday, this set includes six mini lip glosses. Three of the glosses have a creamy finish, and the other three have a diamond finish. Each mini lip gloss are about half the size of full-sized Buxom lip glosses.

Kir Royale: Creamy wine red. It looks a bit dark, but when applied to the lips, it sheers out to a nice red without it being too dark.
Cherry Flip: Creamy bright red.
White Russian: Creamy nude pink.
Tiffany: Shimmery red.
Gabby: Shimmery maroon.
Amy: Shimmery beige.

Out of these six shades, one is a repeat shade from last year's Time to Shine collection, which is White Russian. I actually prefer this set more than the one I purchased before because it seems like the cream finish ones will match well with the diamond finish ones because the colors are similar, but with a different finish, such as Kir Royale & Gabby, and Cherry Flip & Tiffany.

Buxom lip glosses are my favorite because I like the tingly feeling from them, but one thing to note is that you should not put too much onto your lips because the feeling will become a bit overwhelming, and a bitter taste comes with over applying, so it is best to not use too many layers of them. This set retails for $32 and can be found at Sephora (online & in some stores).

What do you think about Buxom lip glosses? Do you have a favorite brand of lip gloss you always stock up on?

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Lorac Uptown Allure Eyeshadow Palette

Swatches & Review

Lorac Cosmetics Uptown Allure palette is exclusive to Nordstrom Rack. On the box, Lorac notes this as the warm eyeshadow palette because there are two palettes they had exclusive to Nordstrom Rack, which the other notes that it is the cool eyeshadow palette for cooler shades.

The palette is packaged in red all over, which is just like the Sweet Luxuries palette, but in a different color.

When you open the palette, there are five warm neutral shades. Four of the shades are shimmery, and one has a matte finish.

These eyeshadows do not have names on them so I will go from left to right.
1) Frosty Beige: This was very smooth and easy to apply, but it is very very shimmery.
2) Frosty Champagne: This was also very smooth, but it was very shimmery.
3) Warm Brown: This had a golden shimmer to it. When I looked at it in the pan, it looked a lot more shimmery, but after being swatched, the shimmer is not very overwhelming. It was very smooth and pigmented.
4) Purple/Mauve: In the pan, this looked more purple, but when swatched, it's a gorgeous mauve shade. It had a shimmery finish, but it was also not too overwhelming, I really liked this more than I thought I would.
5) Dark Brown: This had a matte finish. Even though it was matte, it was not chalky and applied easily.

From this palette, shades one and two look very similar, and although there are slight differences between them because one is more yellow and the second leans more pink, I would have liked to see another shade in the pan instead of two similar colors. Since used cosmetics cannot be returned to Nordstrom Rack, I was a bit on the fence about these because some shades from Sweet Luxuries (Ulta Black Friday exclusive) were chalky, but after swatching these, I fell in love with them! They were all very smooth and not very powdery either, which is definitely good. The shade I did not think I would like was the fourth shade because I am not too big on purple eyeshadows, but it ended up being my favorite because it was more of a purple-brown, which makes it very wearable. I did not like that packaging that much because it feels very cheap, but for the price, I guess I can't really complain too much about it. If you missed out on the Sweet Luxuries from Ulta, I recommend getting this because the colors are a bit similar, and it is definitely a good deal.

This palette retails for $12 and each eyeshadow is about 0.06 oz in size, which pretty much a full-sized Urban Decay eyeshadow. When I went to Nordstrom Rack, they had a shelf full of these on the display (a bit more than fifty) so if you are interested, definitely call your Nordstrom Rack and see if they have it in stock.

What do you think about Lorac eyeshadows? Have you tried Lorac Cosmetics? What is your favorite neutral eyeshadow palette?

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Maybelline Fall 2013 On The Runway Collection Lipsticks

Swatches & Review

For Fall, Maybelline has released four limited edition lipsticks for the On The Runway collection. Out of the four lipsticks, I picked up two, which are Lavender Voltage & Violet Intrigue. I was initially going to pick all four up, but once I saw them in person, I felt like I was not going to use Midnight Plum and my Vivids collection had colors similar to Fuchsia Fierce.

For my swatches today, the picture above is used from my instagram because my laptop is being fixed so I do not have an editor to watermark my pictures.

The picture on the left is with Lavender Voltage and the one on the right is with Violet Intrigue.
Lavender Voltage is a medium purple that looks like a blue-purple and Violet Intrigue is more of a pink-purple.

For purple lipsticks, I feel like they are very wearable because they are not too dark. I loved the application and wear of Violet Intrigue because it was very opaque with one swipe. With Lavender Voltage, it required more than one swipe because it was a bit sheer when first applied, but it builds up nice, but when you press your lips with Lavender Voltage, the color seems to move around so blotting it before applying a second/third layer would help. Both of the lipsticks left a slight magenta looking stain on my lips, which is not bad. The scent is like normal Maybelline lipsticks, which smell a bit like honey, but very plastic-y.

Overall, I liked these two lipsticks that I have picked up and for the price, it is definitely worth it! The only downside is that these do no have a seal so anyone is able to just open it and swatch it in stores, which is like all Maybelline lipsticks.

I picked mine up for $5.49 at the beauty section of Bed Bath & Beyond. It should be found in drugstores soon, but prices may vary depending on store & location.

What do you think about purple lipsticks? Would you wear them for fall? :)

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Zoya Fall Cashmeres Collection

Swatches & Review

In addition to the Fall PixieDust collection, Zoya also has two additional collections for fall called Cashmeres and Satins. The Cashmeres part of the collection consists of six creme finish nail polishes for fall.

Flynn: A camel nude creme. It is a nice nude that is not too light so it actually works well with my skin-tone. I used two coats for the swatches.

Louise: Dark brown creme. This applied kind of streaky, but it evened out by the time I put on the third coat.

Hunter: Dark green creme. I did not really like apply this because it was super watery, so I had to use very very thin coats. I used three coats for swatches.

Livingston: Bright cherry red. I feel like this is a sheer creme, almost jelly-like because it is sheer. I loved the formula because it applied smooth & gave me no problems at all, but you can still see my nail line after three coats. This also stains the nails so I recommend using a base coat.

Pepper: Brick red creme. This has the perfect formula and everything! This is actually my favorite from the whole collection & will be my favorite for the fall season. I used two coats in the swatches.

Sailor: Dusty navy blue. This was a bit on the sheer side, so I used three coats. After three coats, I was still able to see my nail line so I think four coats may have been best for this.

Overall, I felt that this collection is okay. The only color that stood out to me that I loved was Pepper because it does not look like a lot of the nail polishes that I already own. The other colors does not seem too unique like Pepper was to me, so I can easily have done without some of the colors from this collection. What I actually liked from this collection as a whole is that it actually dried quickly for me, which normally does not happen when I use Zoya creme finish nail polishes.

These are available for purchase on Zoya.com now, and they retail for $8 per 0.5oz bottle.

What do you think about Fall collections? Do you think they come too soon since it's not even the end of summer yet?


**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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Pink Lipstick Comparisons

Comparison

I was looking at a few of my lipsticks a few days ago and I was wondering how some looked like when compared to each other. From my lipstick stash, I picked out four lipsticks to compare. The four I chose are Milani's Rose Hip, Maybelline's Fuchsia Flash, Hot Plum & Vivid Rose from their Vivids lip color line.

The lipsticks from the tube each looks different than one another. Rose Hip looks like a warm bright pink, Fuchsia Flash looks like a cool bright pink, Hot Plum looks like a purple-pink & Vivid Rose looks like a red-pink.

When swatched on the arm, Fuchsia Flash and Hot Plum look kind of similar, but there are differences because Hot Plum looks a bit more purple. Rose hip looks a lot warmer, while Vivid Rose is more red than the rest.

All of these haave a shiny finish to them. When swatched on the lips, the one that does not look similar to the rest is Vivid Rose, and the other three looks pretty similar. Although the arm swatch shows that Rose Hip & Hot Plum are different, I feel like they are the most similar on the lips because when I apply Rose Hip, it is slightly purple on my lips for some reason, but Rose Hip is definitely creamier and slightly more pigmented than Hot Plum.

Out of the four lipsticks, I have previously reviewed two of them, which are two of the Vivids in this post from Maybelline. I thought it was pretty interesting to see a slight difference when swatched on arm & lips.

What do you think about bright pink lipsticks? Is there a favorite pink for you? :)

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Milani Cosmetics Coming Up Roses Blush: Romantic Rose

Swatches & Review

Milani's Coming Up Roses Powder Blush in Romantic Rose is the last one that I have purchased from this collection because I did not buy Warm Petals. Like all the blushes in this collection, Romantic Rose is shaped like a rose.

I feel like when I place this blush with the other two (on my instagram), it looks like it is more mauve-y, but when it is on its own, it looks like a rose-y pink.

Like Flora Passion, I feel like this applied way better than Bella Rosa did. Romantic Rose is smooth & not dry, but I feel like when using a brush, it required a bit more layers than Flora Passion. On my swatch, I used two swipes with my finger and about four swipes with my blush brush. On my arms, it looks like a dusty rose pink with a matte finish.

From trying the three blushes, I think the only one I would recommend is Flora Passion (if you really want it for the packaging & want to use it once in a while). This is also nice because it will give a nice flush, but I do not like using too many layers of blush on my cheeks because my cheeks end up looking very dry. If you do not mind using more than two layers to build up the color, this would be nice as well, but I feel like this collection isn't something you would really need. I had high hopes for these blushes because I have had many positive experiences with Milani blushes (baked & their discontinued mineral powder blushes), which is mainly why I am disappointed, but if you are not comparing these to their other items, you might end up liking it just because everyone has different preferences.

These are sold out on Milani's website (which retailed for $7.99) & the price may vary depending on location and store. I purchased this for $6.99 at Walgreens, but I have seen others and an empty display at my local CVS selling these for $9.49.

Have you found these blushes in your area yet? Are you planning to buying some to try?

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Milani Cosmetics Coming Up Roses Blush: Flora Passion

Swatches & Review

A few days ago, I have reviewed another blush from the same limited edition collection from Milani Cosmetics called Bella Rosa (link). Today, I will be reviewing the second shade out of the three that I have purchased, which is Flora Passion.

All of the blushes in the Coming Up Roses Powder Blush collection are shaped like a rose, which is super pretty.

Flora Passion is a pinkish-coral shade.

On the right with the black borders, the blush was applied with a brush with two swipes. The left swatch is swatched with a finger with one swipe.

If you have read my review of Bella Rosa, I was super disappointed with that one because it was impossible for it to show up with using a brush and without having to scrap the item off the pan. Flora Passion definitely applied way better than Bella Rosa, but it still is not too pigmented. Flora Passion is a pink-coral with a matte finish. With a brush, the color of the blush shows very lightly, but it is build-able because the brush is able to actually pick up the product with this. I also noticed that it kicked up quite a bit of powder when using a brush, so it is better to tap the brush before applying it.

The color of Flora Passion is very pretty, and subtle enough for everyday wear. I like this better than Bella Rosa, but I wish this was still a bit pigmented. I am very happy that this was smoother than Bella Rosa, which was very dry. If you are looking for a subtle blush for everyday wear, this would be nice, but I prefer my blushes to be a bit more pigmented. I'm not super disappointed in this like the first one I have tried, but I'm still kind of disappointed since I had high hopes for these.

The price may vary depending on location and store. I purchased this for $6.99 at Walgreens, but I have seen others and an empty display at my local CVS selling these for $9.49.

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CK One Color Pure Color Lipstick: Wanted

Swatches & Review

This summer, I have been obsessed with Calvin Klein's line of lipsticks, which is their CK One cosmetics line. The first color I tried from their lipstick collection is Wanted.

CK One has revamped their packaging not too long ago and it is super cute. The lipstick looks like a pill. The top part (white) is plastic, and the bottom part (black) has a rubberized feeling to it (think NARS).

It was super hard to capture the color of this so this looks a tiny bit more red than it really is, but it is pretty similar to how it looks like in person.

Wanted applied as a bright medium pink.

The application of this was fantastic. It was super creamy, smooth & pigmented! I swipe the lipstick once and it was already enough coverage with one layer! Although I applied it when my lips were kind of dry, the dryness did not show much, which is good because most lipsticks tend to show the dry spots even more. The CK One Pure Color Lipsticks have a vanilla scent to it, which is similar to MAC Cosmetics, but I feel like the vanilla scent on these are slightly stronger than MAC lipsticks.

I found that this was very long wearing. Normally, lipsticks that are creamy and smooth does not last long on my lips because they wipe off when I eat, but this lasted through eating a meal and drinking from a water bottle. After six hours, the color is not as vibrant as it was when first applied, but the color that lasted was not bad either. It did not leave any patchy-ness of colors all over my lips, which is also a good thing. There was no feathering/bleeding when tried without a lipliner, which also surprised me because bright shades like these normally bleed without lipliners for me. This quickly became one of my favorite lipstick line and priced at $16, the quality is very nice. I really do not have anything bad to say about Wanted because it is amazing! I only wish that they were a bit easier to purchase with more shades because the only location that sells it around the area is at Ulta, and the shades are limited, but I see that they offer more shade selections in other countries.

What do you think about CK One Cosmetics line? Have you tried any of their products?

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