Zoya Summer 2014 Bubbly Collection: Muse

Swatches & Review

Muse is a shade from Zoya's Summer Bubbly Collection. Unlike the Tickled Collection, which consisted of cremes, the Bubbly Collection has six glitter jelly shades. I would call it a glitter jelly because the base color of the nail polish itself is sheer, and the glitter is not gritty at all once it is on the nails like regular glitter finish nail polishes so it looks more like a glitter-jelly sandwich.

Zoya describes Muse as "a blue raspberry holographic fizz with a subtle vein of gold," which looks like it in the bottle.

For the swatches of Muse, I took all the pictures in this post in low-light/in the shade. I originally swatched all of the shades from the Bubbly Collection under sunlight without being able to view it on my camera (the screen broke so the only time I was able to see it was after I uploaded, big mistake =x) and once I uploaded it all after swatching onto my computer, they were basically horrible looking under direct sunlight, so I had to redo it and I started with Muse.

Muse is a gorgeous blue-green that reminds me of a mermaid's tail. The first coat was very sheer, but by the second coat, it looked fully opaque in shade, however, you would be able to see the nail line under direct sunlight so I would recommend three coats with this. Compared to the bottle, I feel like you see more color variation of the glitters in it instead of on the nail because the blue base totally covers it.

For Muse, I actually wore this shade for the whole week without a base coat and a top coat to see how it wears. Normally without a base coat & top coat, blue colored nail polishes will stain my nails like crazy and it will chip a lot by the 3rd day. I did not find that with this because by the 5th day, I only noticed some minimal tip wear, which was crazy good at lasting on my nails. During that time, I have washed many dishes, my hair many times, and my three dogs and it did not peel or chip. When I took it off, there was no staining, but the glitter itself sticks on the nails even after the color of the nail polish is gone, which kind of irritated my nails (from my previous infection) because my nails itself has been thin and peeling a lot so the glitter sticking on it was painful to remove each time I had to remove them (it felt like I was peeling skin off of myself when the glitter came with it). The wear and no staining was what made me like the formula of this.

When Zoya first introduced this as a scattered holographic collection, I was expecting it to be like the previous ones from their Holiday collections such as Dream, Blaze, Aurora, etc. However, this was totally different so I was a bit disappointed because it does not really seem that holographic.

Overall, I really liked the color (when it was in the shade), formula, and the wear time. No staining for a blue nail polish is also a plus. I just wish the glitter would "pop" out more and have it look better under direct sunlight. Under direct sunlight, this polish looked "bleh" like it was not interesting at all, but I liked how it looked in low-light, and pretty much the same applied to all the other colors I have tried in this collection.

Muse retails for $9 and can be purchased at Zoya.com.

*Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review from the brand. I was not paid for this review & all opinions are my own.

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BA Star Tropical Eyeshadow Palette

Swatches & Review

For this month, BrandBacker has partnered with BA Star once again for their Summer Tropical Palette and I was sent the BA Star Tropical Palette and an eyeshadow primer for free to review as part of the campaign. Unlike the Midnight Smoky Eye palette that I have previously reviewed, this palette is filled with fun, bright summer colors!

The packaging for this is the same as the Midnight Smoky palette, which is plastic with five pans for eyeshadows.

Like how to reviewed the Midnight Smoky palette, the top part has no primer, and the bottom half has primer, which is more noticeable with the purple shade because at the half, the color payoff is a bit more intense than the top part.
I will go from left to right because there are not names to each shade:
1) Lime green with a metallic finish. I used two swipes in swatches because it applies sheer, but a primer helps intensify it a bit. I also found it a bit powdery.
2) Bright metallic blue. I used two swipes, but it isn’t as sheer as the green.
3) Metallic purple. I used four swipes because this applied very sheer.
4) Bright pink. This seems more of a satin since it isn’t as metallic, but it’s not matte either. This was very powdery, but pigmented. I used two swipes for this.
5) Metallic silver. This is also sheer, but would be nice to use over the other colors for more of a pop of metallic.

I found that most the shades applied sheer except the blue and the pink, which were very pigmented. However, the pink was a bit chalky and very powdery. All the shades are build able, and I feel like using a white base would make the colors pop more. The primer helped a bit, but it did not really make too much of a difference and it feels heavy on the skin, which is why I probably would not prefer using this primer. However, I recommend using a primer (any kind you prefer) because without it, the eyeshadows will stain your skin. Although the shades do apply sheer, I actually like this palette because it is perfect for summer and the shadows do stay on for a while without rubbing off easily.

From now until July 4, 2014, you can purchase this palette for 50% off with the code 50TROPIC if you are interested in buying this product.

This palette retails for $8.75 and can be purchased at www.bastar.com.

*Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review from the brand via BrandBacker. I was not paid for this review & all opinions are my own.

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Zoya Summer 2014 Magical Pixie: Bar

Swatches & Review

In addition to the Summer Tickled Collection from Zoya, they have also released their Magical Pixie Dust line for Summer, which comes with three shades. One of the shades from the Summer Magical Pixie Collection is Bar.

In this picture, the swatch of Bar was taken in direct sunlight. Bar is a shimmery nude/sand beige. The first coat applied sheer so I used three coats for my swatches, however, my nail line was still visible. Although it is sheer, it is very very sparkly, so I notice the sparkle in sunlight more than my visible nail line. Like the rest of their Pixie Dust line, these dry quickly, which is a plus!

This was pictured outdoor in the shade. In the shade, it definitely looks gritty since it's not in your face shining, but it's still nice.

This was taken outdoor in sunlight, but away from the sun and not directly from the sun.

When the picture is blurred, you see the different colors from the glitter a lot better.

Taken up-close, you can see the texture of the nail polish better. Although it looks gritty, the gritty-ness of it wears off after a few hours of wear.

Overall, I like how sparkly these Magical Pixie Dust more compared to the ones from the original line, however, they do feel a lot more gritty than the regular textured ones. As always, I like applying these a few hours before I shower so once it's dry and I take a shower, it definitely helps lessen the gritty-ness of it so that will not cling onto things like your clothes or cotton as easily. I'm more of a fan after the gritty feeling has dulled down to a sandy feeling than when it's rough.

What are your thoughts of the Magical Pixie Dust? Do you prefer the Magical ones, or the ones from the regular textured line?

**Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review from the brand. I was not paid for this review & all opinions are my own.

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Zoya Summer 2014 Tickled Collection (Part 2)

Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! A few days ago, I posted the first part of the Tickled Collection, which is part of Zoya's Summer 2014 line. Today, I have the last three shades in the Tickled collection, which consists of six creme shades.

The shades from left to right:
Rocha, Tilda & Ling

Rocha: Orange with very subtle shimmer. This is the only shade in the Tickled collection that I noticed shimmer in when I was applying it, however, it really is not noticeable at all once it is dried on the nails. The formula on this was good. It applied evenly and was opaque in two coats.

Tilda: Bright apple green. Tilda was a bit on the thick side and looks very goopy when too much is used to apply so I recommend using thin coats for this. I used three thin coats for the swatches to make it look less goopy, and more even.

Ling: Medium blue creme. The consistency & formula on Ling was great. It was very opaque in one coat, and applied very smooth and evenly. I used two coats for my swatches.

Overall, I feel like the Tickled Collection is a great addition to creme finishes. Before, I always found that creme finish nail polishes would be very streaky, however, I did not experience that much in this whole collection with the exception of Kitridge, which did not have the best formula. In this part of the review, I found the color with the best formula was Ling, and it did not stain my nails, which surprises me every time a blue is not staining my nails since they usually stain my nails. Although the colors are bright, I did not experience any staining with any colors in this collection.

What do you think about the Tickled Collection for Summer from Zoya?


*Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review from the brand. I was not paid for this review & all opinions are my own.

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Zoya Summer 2014 Tickled Collection (Part 1)

Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! I'm back with posting nail swatches and the reason why I have not been painting my nails much both on my blog and instagram is because I had a funky nail infection, so I had to stay away from swatching for more than few weeks because constant painting and removing the nail polish would have only made it worse. Anyway, for Summer 2014, Zoya has sent me their collections to try and review. One of the three collections is the Tickled Collection, which consists of six creme finish shades, and I will be reviewing three of the six in this post.

The shades from left to right:
Kitridge, Wendy & Rooney

Kitridge: Bright bubblegum pink creme. The color on this was a bit hard to capture in natural lighting because with any camera I used, the pink will be super washed out and lighter than it appears. Indoors with a lamp lighting, it shows a more accurate shot of the color. I found that this was watery and applied streaky, however, the streaky-ness of it evened out in three coats. I also noticed that this dried semi-matte.

Wendy: Bright melon/coral creme. The formula on this was great. It applied evenly and smooth. I used two coats for my swatches of Wendy.

Rooney: Medium magenta creme. The formula on this was also great, and it applied pretty opaque in just one coat. I used two coats for my swatches, but you could definitely get away with one thick coat.

I feel like these dry better than many Zoya nail polishes that I have reviewed before, and Kitridge and Wendy dry semi-matte, with Kitridge being more noticeably matte without topcoat. My favorite color from this is Wendy because I do not have many coral shades like this in my nail polish collection, and my favorite formula was Rooney because it applied very evenly in just one coat.

What do you think about the Zoya Summer collections? Have you purchased any to wear for summer? :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review from the brand. I was not paid for this review & all opinions are my own.

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Maybelline Color Tattoo: Leather Collection

Swatches & Review

Maybelline is releasing a bunch of new permanent items in the months of June & July, which is exciting because they are finally adding to their line of Color Tattoos! The new Color Tattoos will have the theme of Leather, so the shades are named after leather shades. There are five colors in the Leather Color Tattoo collection, however, I only want four so my boyfriend purchased four of the five for me to review. Out of the four shades I purchased, two were matte, and two had a shimmery finish.

Like all the Color Tattoo products from Maybelline, all of them are shrink-wrapped.

From left to right, the colors are: Creamy Beige (80), Deep Forest (85), Vintage Plum (90) & Chocolate Suede (95)

The full set of swatches show them in indoor lighting, and outdoor lighting.

Creamy Beige: Shimmery medium beige. This was very creamy and smooth. This applied very evenly and pigmented. The shimmer is not very noticeable unless you're in direct sunlight. This was my favorite in application, and color.

Deep Forest: Matte grey-ish/green. This did not feel creamy like Creamy Beige, but a bit stiff from the pot. It also applied patchy and uneven since it was a bit dry. I tried to layer it about four times in the swatches because the first layer was incredibly sheer and patchy.

Vintage Plum: Matte violet. It did not look very plum-like to me, but more of a purple/blue to me. This also applied patchy & uneven, but it was better than Deep Forest.

Chocolate Suede: Shimmery chocolate brown. Chocolate Suede was very pigmented, and applied evenly & smoothly. The color reminds me of leather couches whenever I'm furniture shopping.

I was expecting all the shades to be mattes from this collection so I was not expecting Creamy Beige & Chocolate Suede to be shimmery, but then they were two of the best applying ones because they were so creamy straight from the pot. The two matte ones applied patchy, similar to Just Beige from the Holiday Gilded in Gold Matte Color Tattoos collection, but Vintage Plum is buildable, while Deep Forest just was not working for me. What do you think about these new additions to the Color Tattoo line?

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BA Star Midnight Smoky Eye Palette

Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! Sorry for the lack of reviews these past few months. It has been a hell of a semester at school, but if you have been following me on instagram, I am graduating this semester (this coming week)! But of course, I still have finals up until the day that I graduate. Anyway, I today, I have a review of the BA Star Midnight Smoky Eyeshadow Palette from a BrandBacker campaign. There were two shade selections for the palettes, and I was sent the Smoky palette. I have never tried anything from BA Star before so I was curious to try it, especially since I love eyeshadows.

The Midnight Smoky Palette came with a small primer.

The top part did not have primer, and the bottom part had primer. It is the most noticeable with the black shade since it has a line where the primer begins.
I don't believe there were any names to the shades so I will go from left to right:
One: Pearly white. This applied sheer, but would be nice to use as a topper for other shades. It wasn't very powdery either.
Two: Shimmery silver. This also applied sheer.
Three: Shimmery grey. This applied sheer, but was build-able.
Four: Matte black. This shade was dry, chalky, and powdery.
Five: Shimmery blue. This is the most pigmented shade, and the least powdery shade in the palette.

The primer I used on the bottom half were from the primer provided with the palette, however, there is not much difference when it is used. I found that the primer was easy to use and non-sticky, but it did not really help in keeping the eyeshadow in place. When I wiped the eyeshadow on my arm with a tissue, I found that the half with the primer came right off, while the half without the primer stayed better on my arm. The shade that performed the best for me was the blue shade on the right, and the one that performed the worst was the black shade. Even when I used a brush, the black shade was super powdery and gave a lot of fall-out, despite tapping my brush. Overall, I was not a big fan of the palette itself.

Here are a few other things I noticed:

There was hair, or strands of black string in the white eyeshadow, and black dots all over, which did not make it look appealing.

The brush: Even though I barely ever use the brushes the come with palettes, this one looked terrible. Not only was it hard and scratchy, the hair of the brush was sticking out on the other side of the brush, which looked poorly made to me. I understand that this is a low-price makeup palette & I should not expect much, but these two problems I noticed would make me not even want to buy it if I saw it in person.

This palette retails for $8.75 and can be purchased at www.bastar.com.

*Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review from the brand via BrandBacker. I was not paid for this review & all opinions are my own.

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Influenster Uni VoxBox

Swatches & Review

I have received the Uni VoxBox for free from Influenster to review. My package was delayed getting to me, and after receiving it, I did not really have a chance to test out the products until this past week. Anyway, Influenster is a site that sends out complimentary products from time to time depending on the badges and questionnaires that each individual has taken. If Influenster feels you are the right match for the box, they will select you to take an additional survey to see if you qualify for the box. I have qualified for the Uni VoxBox, which is perfect because it includes some cosmetics, and essentials for me as a college student.

The Uni VoxBox includes: imPRESS Press-On nails, NYC Cosmetics Expert Last Lip Color in Forever Fuchsia, Pilot Acroball pen, Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation, Playtex Sport Fresh Balance tampons, and Red Rose REAL TEA Premium Water Enhancer.

If you follow me on Instagram, or know me personally, you know that I absolutely love, and hoard pens. I can never have one pen in class, I need variety, and color. Ball-point, gel, liquid, I have tried them all. The Pilot Acroball PureWhite pen retails from $4.59 for a 3-pack to $7.49 for a 5-pack. The Pilot Acroball pen has a nice grip for your fingers to hold onto the pen, and the ballpoint is not very thick, which makes the writing easier to control. Although it claims that it is smooth writing, I feel like it does cut in and out whenever I am writing in class. Some letters sometimes end up having no ink, while some do. For the price, I would probably skip out on this one because the writing feels like the free pens that are frequently passed out for free on campus. The grip itself is nice though, but not worth the price.

Before receiving the Rimmel London Stay Matte foundation in the VoxBox, I have already tried and used the foundation before. The color I chose for this is Classic Beige because I already own True Beige, and Sand. Classic Beige seems like a good fit for me in the winter because it is lighter than the other two I own. The foundation comes in a squeeze tube, which makes it easy to control the amount that comes out of the tube. It comes out pretty thick, and mousse like, which is what the foundation is described as. Be careful to not put too much because it becomes hard to blend, feel heavy, and look cakey. I feel like this foundation would be best for those who have normal to oily skin because this shows every single dry spot that I have on my face, but definitely moisturize before using this.

NYC Cosmetics recently released their Expert Last Lip Color in new packaging, but the colors are the same as when they were in the black packaging that has been recently discontinued. The Expert Last Lip Color has a sweet fruity scent, which I am not a fan of. Although the product itself looks a bit dark, it applied lighter on me than it appeared. Forever Fuchsia has silver shimmer in it, which is very noticeable on the lips. The formula in this shade felt drying, and needed the lips to be exfoliated before applying. I have tried other shades that I have liked, but this shade and the formula just did not work for me. Forever Fuchsia looked like a Nicki Minaj/Barbie Pink on me.

The last cosmetics item I received was the imPRESS Nails in First Date. It is like a light brown shade. I am not a fan of false nails, but I decided to try this. However, I wasn't able to really use it since the "biggest" nails for too small for my nail beds. The middle picture is the nail on my pinky, and the one on the bottom is on my index finger. Although there's 12 sizes, none worked for me at all, so if you have big nail beds, avoid this!

Have you received any VoxBoxes from Influenster? What are your thoughts about these items if you have tried them before?

Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review from the brands via Influenster. I was not paid for this review & all opinions are my own.

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Studio Gear Cosmetics Hydrating CC Cream: Wheat

Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! Today, I have a review of Studio Gear Cosmetics Hydrating CC Cream for you today as part of a campaign with BrandBacker. I have never tried any CC Creams before so I was curious to try it. I also have not tried much from Studio Gear except their lipsticks so I was curious about their face products as well.

The CC Cream is packaged in a squeeze tube packaging, which I like because you are able to control how much you squeeze out, and bacteria does not get into it as easily since there's no double dipping or having a wide opening. This CC Cream also contains SPF 20.

When I first squeezed the product out, I was like "wow, this is really pale," but after blending it out, I realized that the shade gets darker. According to the packaging, this product is supposed to adapt to the skin of the person using it. Although it looks like it adapts to the skin, I feel like it just always results in the same color because I have tested it on my mother, who has a lighter skin complexion than I do and when we compared the color that it was once it's blended, it was the same color. It was pretty cool seeing the color show up and change though.

So the reason why I did not show the product on my face is because when I decided to try it last week when I received it, my face immediately started to feel itchy and red bumps were starting to form on my face so I took the item off after applying it. During the time it was on my face, it did not feel very lightweight and felt greasy, which was not a good feeling at all. I also noticed that the coverage was very minimal so it did not cover the red spots on my face, and there was a strong floral detergent-like scent to it. I do not know if it really does hydrate for 72 hours since I didn't even have it on for over half an hour, but if you are sensitive to scents and break-out easily, I would not recommend the Studio Gear CC Cream.

The Studio Gear Cosmetics CC Cream retails for $34 and comes in three shades.
You can view the CC Cream directly here:
http://studiogearcosmetics.com/shop/best-sellers/hydrating-cc-cream/
If you are interested in the Studio Gear CC Cream, or any other Studio Gear products, Studio Gear is offering 10% off your next purchase at studiogearcosmetics.com with the code: bloggercc.

Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review from the brand via BrandBacker. I was not paid for this review & all opinions are my own.

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Zoya Magical Pixie Dust: Cosmo

Swatches & Review

For Spring, Zoya released three new Pixie Dust shades in Cosmo, Lux, and Vega. Although Zoya has had many Pixie Dust shades in their textured nail polish line, the Magical Pixie's are different because they contain holographic glitter, which the previous textured shades did not have. The first shade that I tried from the Magical Pixie line is Cosmo.

Zoya describes Cosmo as a "silver crystal sparkle."

I used two coats for the swatches. These swatches were taken indoor.

These swatches were taken outdoor.

To me, Cosmo is exactly how Zoya describes it, which is a silver crystal sparkle. Although it is a bit hard to see in pictures, Cosmo was very very shiny and sparkly in real life. Wearing it made me feel like I had princess nails because it was shiny like Cinderella's glass slippers. If you have tried the regular line of Pixie Dusts before, these feel grittier than the sandy texture that the regular line has, but the gritty feeling wears off after showering. Cosmo applied nicely because it was not too thick, or thin and it dried quickly, which made it fast and easy to put on a second coat.

These are available on Zoya.com now and retails for $10 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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