Sunday, October 27, 2013

Wet n Wild Fergie BB Cream: Medium/Deep


Swatches & Review

Since I thought Wet n Wild's Coverall Foundation was a decent drugstore foundation that is super cheap, I decided to try their new BB Cream from the Fergie line. Unlike other BB Creams offered in the US, there are five shades in this line so I was able to find one that would fit my skintone better. I purchased this in Medium/Deep & I am NC 30 - NC 35 in MAC and 123 in MUFE foundations. This is supposed to be a 8 in 1 product, which is supposed to hydrate, brighten, prime, conceal, smooth, oil-control, even tone & have SPF 15.


The packaging of the BB Cream is similar to Wet n Wild's Coverall Foundation, and contains 1 fl. oz. of product.

The tube that dispenses the product is smaller when compared to the Coverall foundation, however, they are not sealed like the foundation is.

You can see that the opening for the BB Cream is smaller than the foundation so it is easier to control the amount of product that comes out.

With my bare face, you can see my uneven skintone because my forehead is darker than the rest of my face and I have uneven rosy cheeks. After applying the BB Cream, it evened out my skintone. The coverage for the BB Cream is light to medium.


Okay so I would like to say that this product smells terrible. The scent was not too strong when I smelled it from the tube and when I smelled it from the product I placed on my hand because it just smelled like foundation, but once applied to my face, the odor was strong and pretty much stayed on my face the whole time I had the product on.

Compared to BB Creams I have tried from Korean brands, this feels more like a tinted moisturizer than a BB Cream, and I'm not surprised since most brands that have "BB Creams" are more like tinted moisturizers. The BB Creams I have (Etude House, Missha, Lioele) all have an SPF of 30 and over and this is only 15. This felt light on the face and the consistency was thin, whereas BB Creams are lightweight, but thick and creamy. Although this "BB Cream" claims to have oil-control, I was pretty shiny after applying this and even after using powder, I quickly became oily again so I would say that there is no oil-control on this at all, and the skin area around my lips dried and were flaky after wearing this, which is weird because this does not usually happen to me and this claimed to be hydrating, which it is also not, so wearing this made my skin greasy and dry at the same time? Sorry Wet n Wild, but I do not like this "BB Cream". I would rather stick to using the Coverall Foundation because it is cheaper, does not have a super strong odor, and it has a bit more coverage. The Wet n Wild Fergie BB Cream retails for $5.62 and can be purchased at Walmart locations that carry Wet n Wild.

What do you think about BB Creams? Have you tried one you really liked?



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Saturday, October 26, 2013

NARS x Guy Bourdin: One Night Stand Cheek Palette


Swatches & Review

Two years ago, NARS came out with their first Cheek Palette that contains six cheek colors in them. They have always been the first to sell out so when I heard they were making one this year, I knew I had to get it. Unlike the two released in the past, the One Night Stand Cheek Palette has three exclusive limited edition shades. The Guy Bourdin One Night Stand palette is exclusively sold at Sephora for the Holiday season.


The box that this palette comes in.

The palette taken in natural daylight.

The palette taken indoor with light.

The six shades in this palette are:
Devotee, Laguna, Mistinguette, Deep Throat, Orgasm, and Goulue.

Devotee: Frosty highlighter with a slight pink sheen. Devotee is very pigmented and a little goes a long way. This is a nice highlighter to pair with matte shades.

Laguna: Bronzer with golden shimmer. In previous palette sets, Laguna applied patchy for me, however, this barely even showed up on me at all! This was stiff and a bit hard to apply. I used many layers before it actually showed up a bit. In my swatch, it does not look like anything is there, but it is.

Mistinguette is described as a bright pink, but on me, it is more like a pale light pink. This is the only matte shade in the palette and this was quite powdery and chalky for me when swatched. When applied with a blush brush, it is not as powdery, but it definitely emphasized the dry patches on my cheeks.

Deep Throat: Sheer peach with slight golden shimmer. If you compare this to Orgasm, you can definitely see that Deep Throat is more peachy, while Orgasm is more pink. I feel that the individual blush of Deep Throat is more pigmented and smooth compared to what is offered in this palette. However, it is still a nice subtle blush for a natural look.

Orgasm: Peachy-pink with golden shimmer. The shimmer in Orgasm is more noticeable than in Deep Throat. This also was not as pigmented and smooth when compared to the individual blush and the other Orgasms I own from other palettes, but the shade is buildable.

Goulue: Medium pink with subtle golden shimmer. This was the most pigmented shade in the whole palette. This was buttery smooth and a light-hand is definitely needed with this if you do not want to overdo it. This is my favorite shade in the palette.


Overall, I feel like this palette is a good value if you do not already have the shades that are permanent in here (Laguna, Deep Throat & Orgasm. NARS definitely needs to stop putting those shades in everything). Although they did not perform as well as they do individually, Deep Throat and Orgasm are build-able to achieve the color that is in the individual ones. Laguna just did not work for me at all, and Mistinguette is a bit too light for my liking, but I did really like Devotee, and Goulue, which are exclusive to this palette. Each blush contains 0.14 oz of product, while each blush sold individually contains 0.16 oz of product, so it is almost full-sized, and buying it for those two almost justifies the price (if you do not mind another Deep Throat, Orgasm or Laguna).

The One Night Stand palette retails for $65 and is exclusive to Sephora (Online & In-Stores although it is listed as "online only" on their website, it is not).

What do you think about this cheek palette? Would you buy it for the exclusive shades?



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Saturday, October 19, 2013

IMAN Cosmetics Lip Affair Lip Kit


Swatches & Review

For Fall, IMAN Cosmetics came out with a small lip palette to introduce new shades to their lipstick line coming in 2014. The IMAN Lip Affair Lip Kit is a fun little kit because it has bright, bold colors that will suit many skin-tones instead of a neutral, which is harder to use with different skin-tones.


The Lip Affair Kit is packaged in a small black plastic case. Inside of it, there are five lipstick shades. When I first saw this online, I immediately thought of Inglot's Colour Play lip pans, but these are a lot smaller. There is about 0.03 oz of product in each color. There is a lip brush included in this kit, but mine was very stiff and it smelled really bad so I did not use the lip brush provided.

Kinky Pink: Pink red. This was pretty sheer when I applied it with a lip brush.

Flirtatious: Light fuchsia pink. This was more pigmented when compared to Kinky Pink, but it took a few layers to get it like the shade in the pan.

Taboo: Purple. Although it looks like it has shimmer in the pan, the shimmer is not noticeable at all once it is on the lips. This was pigmented and creamy.

Scandalous: Red. This was one of the most pigmented shade in the palette.

Hot: Orange. This was also pigmented like Scandalous.

Pictures of four of the five shades on me. I tried these on when I did not have makeup on, so excuse the uneven skin-tone on my bare face. When I have foundation on, I am around NC 30 - 35 in MAC and 123 in MUFE if that helps!

Overall, I like that the lip colors in this palette has no scent or taste. I found that these shades apply a lot better when applied with your finger (and it stains your finger too), but I prefer using a lip brush. When using a lip brush, the color applies sheerer than when you would apply it with your fingers so it may require a bit more layers. These feel lightweight and comfortable on the lips. I did not see any feathering around the lips when tested without lip liner however, they do transfer easily since it is more of a glossy finish. Even though it requires more layers when used with a lip brush, this palette retails for $5, yes, FIVE DOLLARS, which is not bad at all if you want to try some bold shades to experiment with them, and there are five of them so you can see which shades you like the most when you are actually ready to buy a full tube of lipstick.

This is available now, but it is currently out of stock. However, it does pop in and out of stock on target.com once in a while, but drugstore.com has taken down its listing for it. From what I have heard, this palette should be released around November in stores such as Walgreens and Target locations who carry IMAN Cosmetics.

What do you think about this palette? Would you be picking it up for $5 if you are able to find it in your area?


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Thursday, October 3, 2013

Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm


Swatches & Review

A few days ago, my boyfriend found the new Revlon items I have been searching for. In addition to the ones he purchased, I also purchased Striking for a total of five out of the ten new matte balms from Revlon. I was super excited to try these since I love a matte finish lip products so I just had to dive in as soon as I could and test some out, as well as swatch the rest in the collection.


The new matte balms are packaged like their Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain's, however, these are on the Colorburst line instead of the Just Bitten line. Since these are matte, the packaging has a matte look & feel to it. These twist up so that you would not need to sharpen them as well.


From left to right: Showy, Sultry, Striking, Standout, Shameless


Unlike the Balm Stain's, these are not shrink-wrapped. They have a small piece of tape and I don't like it because it makes it easier for people to open it to tamper with it. I tried to peel it off & seal it back to see if it is noticeable if it has been tampered with & I was not really able to tell because it just taped right back on to how it was before.


These are the lip swatches I have also posted on my instagram.



Full-face with the lip products.

Showy: Bright candy pink. Although in the full-face picture it shows more as a bubble-gum pink, I feel like it looks a lot more like the lip swatch in person where it has a slight lavender tint to it. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like bright and light colors like these normally shows up a bit lavender on me while it does not to many others (such as Candy Yum Yum) so it might be different on me depending on my skintone/lip pigmentation. This applied a lot lighter than I thought it would because it looked like it would be a magenta from the packaging. This shade definitely shows the dry patches on the lips a lot more than the other shades so I would recommend exfoliating before using this.
Sultry: Mauvey-pink. This was very pigmented and one of my favorites. It is a nice shade for everyday wear because it is like a neutral, but not very neutral.
Striking: Tomato Red/Red-Orange. This was a surprise favorite because I thought it would be more of an orange, but after trying it, it kind of reminded me of Maybelline's Vibrant Mandarin, but this is more on the red side. This is very wearable.
Standout: Classic red. This is similar to many reds that I own so this is not a "must" have if you have a lot of reds, but it was very nice.
Shameless: This shade was the shade I was most excited for because I absolutely love purple lip colors! However, this was not as pigmented as the others I have tried because it required more swipes and it applied a bit patchy. It definitely reminds me of one of the recent limited edition Maybelline purple lipsticks.

Overall, these dried into a nice matte shade, but nothing that is super matte like MAC Cosmetics Retro Matte, but more of a regular matte where it is not very drying. Although it is not as moisturizing as the Revlon's Balm Stains since these are not balms, they did not feel drying the first two hours of wear, but it felt drying a while after that. It has a very lightweight feeling so that is good because sometimes, mattes sit weirdly on my lips. Like the Balm Stains, these have a minty scent to it and it has a slight tingle to it, but nothing that tingles too much, so if you do not like the Balm Stains for the scent, these would probably not be for you. I find that after these set, they do not transfer much. The formula was also pretty consistent with all the ones I have tried except for Shameless, which was a bit patchy. They glided on smoothly without tug & it was perfect! The only thing I would have liked better is if these were shrink-wrapped rather than it having just a piece of tape over it.

My boyfriend picked them up for me from Bed Bath & Beyond for $6.99 each and I am still unsure if these are supposed to be a part of the Holiday/Winter collection or Spring because when I first heard about these, they were supposed to be a part of the Spring collection. Since these are already at Bed Bath & Beyond, these may pop up soon at local drugstores that usually carries Revlon, but the price may vary. I would also like to note that six out of the ten of the matte balms only have one of each color per display, while the lacquer balms have two of each color in the display. The ones with only one each are Shameless, Standout, Mischievous, Elusive, Striking & Complex.

What do you think about these Matte Balms from Revlon? Are you a fan of mattes? Are you looking forward to the Lacquer Balms more?


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Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm & Lacquer Balms;
Maybelline Gilded in Gold


Best Boyfriend EVER:

Since NouveauCheap has mentioned that these had landed, I HAD to look for them. Although I spent all weekend hunting, they were nowhere to be found. When it's the weekdays, I have no car, so I have no access to stalk products & normally by the time it's weekend, the things I want are sold out. Well, my boyfriend is the sweetest ever! Knowing that I have been looking for these & after showing him pictures while I was hunting over the weekend, he ended up going to look for them for me himself so I would not miss out on them. This morning when he told me they had it in & I was SO excited!

Here's some display pictures:


Revlon's new Lacquer Balms & Matte Balms. My boyfriend had a full display, but he took the picture after he took the ones that he was going to buy for me, which is why it's not full, but he did good! I like how half the display itself is glossy, and the other half is matte!


The next collection he found that I was looking for was Maybelline's Holiday Gilded in Gold collection. Normally, I do not use their Color Tattoos, but the fact that the ones in this display are matte and limited edition, I just had to have them, so he picked all three up for me as well.

The few that he purchased for me:

A few of both the Revlon Lacquer Balms in Vivacious, Provacateur & Enticing, Revlon Matte Balms in Standout, Shameless, Sultry & Showly, as well as the three color Tattoos in Matte Brown, Just Beige, and Nude Pink.

One thing I would like to note is that 6 of the 10 matte Revlon Matte Balm shades only have one for each display, such as Shameless (the purple) & Standout (deep red), so they may be harder to find. I was lucky enough to have my boyfriend be able to go look for these everyday & for them to put them up when he was there.

I cannot wait until I get to see him later on this week so that I can see these in person! & I will definitely try them out when I have the time to if I am not loaded up with homework this weekend so I can have swatches & review up for you guys! :) Like I have mentioned before, I appreciate my boyfriend SO much and for him to understand and be so helpful with this makeup obsession of mine is amazing! I seriously do not know what I would do without him because he seriously is the best I have ever had.

Do you think you will be picking up some of these new Holiday Collection items?


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