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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