Tarte Cosmetics Pure Delights 8-Piece LipSurgence Set

Swatches & Review

Another set I purchased from Tarte Cosmetics Holiday 2013 Tarte of Giving collection is their Pure Delights LipSurgence lip set. The past two years, Tarte has released LipSurgence sets that are full-sized, but this year, they made a set with eight deluxe-sized LipSurgence's. I was hoping for one that was all matte, but since half of this set is with their matte formula, I had to get it.

The four matte shades are: Glee, Generous, Destined & Cheerful.

Generous: Orange-ish, neutral. On their website, Generous is described as a pink-nude, but to me, it seems a bit more orange when swatched. I was surprised how wearable this nude was because nude lip colors normally wash me out.
Glee: Watermelon, coral-pink. This was very pigmented & glided on smoothly.
Destined: Raspberry pink. This was also very pigmented & glided on smoothly.
Cheerful: This is a coral shade, but it also kind of leans almost bubblegum pink on me. Out of all the matte shades, this shade seemed to show up dry spots on my lips more than the other three.

The four shades of their regular lip tint formula are: Enamored, Grateful, Believe & Lovely.

Lovely: Mauve-pink. It applied smooth & even on the lips.
Enamored: Cool toned red. After applying, I felt like this looks kind of uneven on the lips compared to the others I have tried. However, this was the most pigmented of the bunch, but was still a bit see through on the lips because it is more of a tint to the lips than to cover it up.
Grateful: Nude. Like Generous from the matte shades, I felt like this was more of a orange-nude, which made it wearable for me. This was one of the least pigmented ones in the set and seems more like a MLBB shade.
Believe: This is a medium pink & like Lovely, it applied smooth & even on the lips.

Comparison:

Compared to a full-sized LipSurgence, these deluxe-sized ones look a bit more than half of a full-sized. A full-sized contains 0.10 oz of product & the ones in the Pure Delights set contains 0.06 oz each.

Overall, I like this set more than I thought I would. When I first received it, I initially thought "Wow, these are SO small," but after comparing them to full-sized ones, I guess it really isn't THAT small. I really like the matte formula of LipSurgence's because they are not very drying & they pack a bunch of pigment as well. I feel like it would be faster to use up the regular formula lip tints because they use more products because the product itself feels very soft, while the mattes have a bit of a harder feel on the product itself. These have a slight peppermint scent to it & it feels kind of cool once applied to the lips, but the scent fades away after a while of wearing it. I believe the colors in this set are exclusive so once it's gone, it's gone. These are so cute, they would definitely make great stocking stuffers! The Pure Delights LipSurgence set retails for $34 and can be purchased from Sephora (in-store & online), Ulta (in-store mid October & online now) & tartecosmetics.com.

What do you think about this LipSurgence set? Do you like the matte LipSurgence formula?

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Tarte Cosmetics Leave Her Blushing Blush Set

Swatches & Review

Every year, Tarte Cosmetics comes out with holiday sets with amazing values to them so I was definitely looking forward to how the sets offered are for this year. When it was first released on Sephora, I was disappointed that they did not have individual deluxe-size blushes like last year's Fantastic Foursome (link). To my surprise, they actually released a set of three mini-blushes and a blush brush on their website a few days later. Tarte Cosmetics Leave Her Blushing set seems to be exclusive to tartecosmetics.com & has three blushes and one blush brush included.

Looking at the pan, the blushes look very bright.

The three blushes are Honored, Imagined & Treasured. Each of these blushes has 0.053 oz of product, which is about 1/4 of a full-sized blush from Tarte.

Taken with a light over them, you can see that the blushes look slightly shimmery. Treasured is the one with most shimmer visible under light.

Honored: To me, this looks like a neutral rose pink, which is pretty much how Tarte described it when they said it is a nude rose. This has a slight silvery sheen to it, but it was not too noticeable. This was smooth and pigmented.

Imagined: Tarte describes this as a candy pink shade. In the pan, this looks like it would be super bright and pigmented, but when swatched, it ended up being a light-lavender pink. I was actually very surprised because it looked like it would be very intense when swatched. Imagined was very stiff and not very pigmented. With a finger swatch, it was hard to pick up the product on my finger and with a brush, it was barely able to pick up any product at all. This was very chalky once applied & even when I tried on my cheeks, it just looked very dry-chalky looking. This also has a slight silver sheen, but I was very disappointed this this shade.

Treasured: Tarte describes this as a melon, but it is more of a apricot-pink to me, so goldish-pink. I was not able to capture the golden sheen well on camera, but this was very NARS Orgasm-like. It is like a subtle pink with a strong golden sheen to it, but it applied very smooth, I like it more than NARS Orgasm. This is not the most unique shade, but it is nice if you do not already have NARS Orgasm or a bunch of similar shades close to it.

Overall, I feel like this set is not something that is a "must have" like last years set. Last year, the blushes has 0.10 oz of product and this year, it is half of that size, which makes it come out to $6.50 per blush this year since a full-size retails for $26. This years set also has colors that seem like it can easily be duped, or it would be easy to find colors very similar to what this set has to offer. I did not picture the brush, but after using it, I actually like it. It is soft and it blends out blushes nicely. I tried the blush on other products such as theBalm's Instain blushes and since it was soft, it made it look very natural looking since theBalm's blushes tend to easily give you clown cheeks. Altogether, the blushes come out to be $19.50 & the brush is $28, which makes the total value of this set at $47.50, which is not an "amazing" deal since it's $13.50 less, but if you want this set for the new & exclusive shades, then this would probably be more of a collector's item. This set retails for $34 and can be purchased on tartecosmetics.com (not affiliated).

What do you think about Holiday sets? Have you indulged in any Holiday sets yet, or are you waiting until later on in the season since it is only a few days into fall?

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Maybelline Dr. Rescue Baby Lips: Berry Soft

Swatches & Review


When NouveauCheap mentioned the new Maybelline Dr. Rescue Baby Lips a few months ago, I was on the lookout for them. About a week and a half ago, my boyfriend found them & helped me pick some up. One of the shades he picked up was Berry Soft, which is the first shade I tried out of the two he picked out. These are different from the regular line of baby lips because these are supposed to be medicated with eucalyptus, menthol, & alcohol.

The Dr. Rescue baby lips are all packaged in white with different word colorings depending on the shade, but the "Baby Lips" is not labeled right onto the tube like their regular ones because it actually peels out for ingredients. It makes it feel kind of cheap &it feels like it would be ugly if it just came off.

From the tube, the color looks like a pink berry.

For the top picture, I am wearing Berry Soft on the top lip and just regular lip balm on the bottom lip to show pigmentation. The bottom picture with Berry Soft on both my lips. The color shows up a bit & is noticeable, but is pretty sheer.

Although it looked more pink from the tube, it looks like a pink-lavender to me when swatched.

What I first noticed from the Dr. Rescue baby lips is that they do not smell sweet like the regular ones. They have a very faint minty smell, but it also smells kind of bitter, which was not nice at all. It had a slight tingly feeling & a cooling sensation, which I liked because I like it whenever I wear lip balms & they are cooling (like Carmex). However, when I tried it on, I did not like the way it sat on my lips because it just felt greasy whenever I rubbed my lips against each other. After wearing it for about an hour, it did not feel moisturizing at all. Instead of moisturizing, it felt like something on my lips that was just sitting there waiting for me to wipe it off, kind of like the feeling after eating some chow mien from Panda Express on the lips just waiting to be wiped off with a napkin. Once I wiped it off, it was fully gone. No stain left behind & no moisturizing feeling at all! I was super disappointed with this because I was hoping it would be more moisturizing than the regular ones since they are supposedly "medicated". I would not recommend these & I am thinking about having my boyfriend return the other one he purchased for me because for about $3.50, I would rather buy 2 Carmex lip balms instead of having these do nothing for my lips. Skip!

Have you tried the new Dr. Rescue Baby Lips? What are your thoughts?

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Budget Friendly Fall Lipstick Picks

Swatches

I have not posted in a while because of school, but since I was taking a break from all the homework assignments I have for the weekend, I decided to do a lipstick post for Fall. At first, I was going to mix up all the fall lipstick picks I have, but I decided to do one that's for drugstore lipsticks & I will probably end up doing one for the mid-range brands as well.

(This picture is on my instagram as well)

Revlon Pink Truffle: Creamy neutral pinkish-brown. This is lightweight and moisturizing. Not too cool of a nude for fall. Depending on location, this is sold for $5.50 - $8.99
Rimmel London 107: Berry red with a matte finish. This glided on very smooth on the lips, but has a fruity scent to it. This is sold for $5.00 - $7.50.
Wet n Wild Ravin' Raisin: Dusty purple with a matte finish. This is very pigmented, but is a bit heavy on the lips. This retails for $1.99 at many locations.
Maybelline Color Whisper Berry Ready: Creamy pink berry. This is very pigmented, lightweight & moisturizing. Since it's very creamy & lightweight, it wears out fast so you would need to reapply this throughout the day. It kind of smells like fruity pebbles to me. This is sold for $6.00 - $8.00
Wet n Wild Cinnamon Spice: Matte brick red. Like Ravin' Raisin, this is very pigmented & a bit heavy on the lips, but it is not too uncomfortable. This retails for $1.99 at many locations.
Milani Black Cherry: Creamy deep red. This applies a bit patchy and it has a strong fruity scent to it. I blot the first layer so the second layer will not be as patchy & exfoliating the lips before applying is also recommended. This is sold for $5.49 - $6.49.

What do you think about these lipsticks from my picks? What are your picks for Fall? :)

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Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick: Manic

Swatches & Review

Manic is one of the shades that were released with twenty-one other colors from Urban Decay's new Revolution lipsticks. After trying them, I just had to buy some & I ended up with a total of eight! Manic is the second color I tried from the ones I have purchased after Jilted(link), which I have reviewed.

The Urban Decay Revolution lipsticks are packaged in a slim gunmetal packaging, however, it attracts fingerprints.

Manic is described as a soft wine. There is a bit of shimmer when you look at it from the tube.

Applied, it looks like a pink-ish plummy wine on me. The shimmer is not noticeable after applying it, but there is a slight sheen to it when outdoors. This is like a not so very neutral, neutral to me & seems like it would be nice for everyday wear. As for the creamy, badass luxury, this did not disappoint! Manic was very creamy so it applied smoothly and gave full coverage. I did not notice any bleeding/feathering with Manic without any lip liners. It lasted about four hours for me with minimal eating and drinking & it was not too drying either. 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.

Have you tried any shades from Urban Decay's new line of lipsticks? Which shades do you prefer?

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Urban Decay Vice 2 Palette

Preview:

For a few weeks now, I have seen some pictures about the Vice 2 palette and I have been super excited about it because I really like that the last Vice Palette was not as bulky as the previous Book of Shadows palettes. This Holiday, Urban Decay is coming back with Vice 2, which is the second year of them making Vice! The outside of the palette is kind of like a tie-dye look compared to a solid color from the first version. I found a few pictures on instagram, but these two were the best that shows the inside of the palette.

Credits to the Instagram of SephoraMX (Sephora Mexico) & fer_rosas29

From the looks of it, some of the shades seem to be new shades because of the shade names that I was able to make out from the pictures.

The few shade names I was able to get from this are:
Coal, X-Rated, Poison, Derailed, Rewind, Ambush, Betrayal, Stash, Voodoo, Habit, Strike, Dope, Radar, Prank, Smokeout, Toxic & Damaged.

It also seems that this palette, like the Vice Palette does not have much matte shades, which is a bummer because Urban Decay has had amazing matte shades that they have discontinued & it seems like half the shades are also neutral, which is like almost all their palettes now. I would love more color & mattes (maybe Vice 3? I will not give up hope!), but this looks nice enough to grab too! I heard the release for this is not until November, but the date can always change since it is not official yet & for the last few years, their Holiday sets are usually offered around mid to late September.

I have also heard that this Holiday, they may be coming back with their old beloved face palettes. Here's a few images of the face palettes Urban Decay has offered in 2010:

Image from makeupandbeautyblog.com

& the ones from 2004:

Image from londonbeautyreview.com


So far, what do you think about the Vice 2? Does it look pretty enough for you to indulge? & what do you think the return of the face palettes would be? :)

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