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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It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Matte Luxe Eyeshadow Palette

Swatches & Review

Since matte eyeshadows are my favorite finish, I had to purchase It Cosmetic's Matte eyeshadow palette. I purchased this when they had their 25% off friends & family sale and finally got around to trying it. The Naturally Pretty Matte Luxe Eyeshadow Palette Vol. 1 comes with fifteen shades. Fourteen of the shades are supposed to be matte and one of them is a transforming pearl shade, which you can layer over the matte shades for a pearl finish, or used alone.

The palette itself is packaged in a pink soft suede-like cover on the outside, and the inside is a reflective gold, which I actually do not like because the gold looks a bit tacky and the cover would easily get dirty and it would be hard to clean.

The format of it reminds me of LORAC's Pro Palette with 8 eyeshadows on the top, but the bottom of this palette has the Transforming Pearl shade that takes up two eyeshadow spaces.

First Row:

Sheer Joy: Pink-ish white with a slight sheen.
Soft Light: Matte light taupe
Warmth: Matte light/medium warm brown
Soulful: Light copper with a slight sheen
Mocha: Brown with a slight sheen
Violet: Demi-matte lavender
Midnight: Matte navy blue
Noir: Matte black, but chalky

With the Transforming Pearl over the eyeshadows:

Second Row:

Love: Champaign w/ a slight sheen
Sunrise: Copper with a slight sheen
Sunset: Reddish-orange with a slight sheen
All Heart: Pink-ish brown
Java: Matte dark brown. This applied chalky and was a bit dry
Iconic: Matte grey. This was also chalky and a bit dry
Transforming Pearl: Sheer white with a pearl finish

With the Transforming Pearl over the eyeshadows:

Although the matte is supposed to be a matte palette, some shades were not fully matte, but had a slight sheen to them. Most of the shades were buttery and applied smoothly, but I feel like some of the true matte shades applied pretty chalky because they were a bit dry (Noir, Java & Iconic). There is a bit of fall out with the eyeshadows because they were either too soft, or a bit powdery so I would recommend tapping your brush before applying. I just wish all of the shades were really matte instead of having a slight sheen to them.
When layered with the transforming pearl, the colors do lighten a bit, but the concept is pretty nice.

Even though this is not about the palette, I would like to say that they have amazing customer service. When I purchased this, they had a guaranteed delivery within 7 business days. Since I had free shipping, it was supposed to be delivered with standard ground shipping, but because they were backed up in processing, they upgraded my shipping to next-day air so I would get the palette within the time-frame free of charge. They were quick to respond to messages via e-mail and were super helpful, which is definitely a good thing about the company.

This palette retails for $42 and can be purchased from itcosmetics online (non-affiliated link) & Ulta locations that carry the brand.

What do you think about this palette? Do you like matte finish eyeshadows, or do you prefer other finishes?

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EM Cosmetics Creamy Color Matte Lipstick: Passion Berries

Swatches & Review

When EM Cosmetics had a 30% off promotion with Ipsy, I purchased Passion Berries because I have been wanting to try their lip products, but did not want to pay full-price. From the website itself, I purchased it because I thought it would be more of a deep purple berry color, but once it arrived, the shade was definitely lighter than I thought it was.

The lipsticks come in a glossy black & white box.

The lipstick itself is a bit more red than the purple berry color it shows on the website.

Swatched, Passion Berries is a pink-red berry. I was a bit disappointed because I was hoping it would be more of a purple-berry, but the color itself is not too bad. This definitely is not the most unique color though. For a matte lipstick, I found that it was pretty creamy and not too drying, but it definitely does emphasize dry spots on your lips so you would definitely need to exfoliate before using this. Because it is matte, it does not transfer a lot and it stays on the lips for a while. After about four hours of wear, I found that this started bleeding so I would recommend using a lip liner with this also. After removing, the color still stayed on my lip lines and it was super hard to get it off, so it was not very flattering because the stain lasted about a day and it wouldn't even come off when I exfoliated. This was a nice color, but not enough for me to actually want to pay full-price for this.

The EM Cosmetic's lipsticks retail for $16.50 and can be purchased from emcosmetics (non-affiliated link).

What do you think about EM Cosmetic's Michelle Phan's line? Have you tried anything from them? Is there anything you would like to try?

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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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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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Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish Matte Lipstick: 107

Swatches & Review


Since purchasing Rimmel London's Kate Moss lipsticks a few months ago when they had their 50% off sale, I only tried two since I have been trying to use up some lipsticks I already have before opening new ones. I have always wanted to try 107, but it seems like it is more of a Fall shade, which is why I decided to try it now as the end of summer is nearing.

107 is a berry red shade in the tube.

The lipstick is packaged in a plastic semi-matte red tube. The red tube is from the Kate Moss line of Matte finish lipsticks and I like how the package is semi-matte because it does not attract fingerprints so I don't have to whip out the microfiber cloth after using :P

Swatched on the lips, it definitely looks similar to the color straight from the tube. It is a gorgeous berry red and this glided on the lips very smooth. This was super pigmented so I used one swipe from the tube. I did not use any lip liners to see if it bleeds or feathers and it did not, which is good since dark and bright shades usually bleed/feather around my lips. This lasted on me for about four hours with minimal eating and drinking before I had to reapply it. The downside to this is like 109. Although it claims to be matte, it is not very matte. It seems more like a semi-matte finish, which is more matte than their black tube lipsticks, which has a bit of shine to it. Because it is not really matte, it was not very drying on the lips. Another downside to this is the scent. Like 109 and the Show Off/Apocalips Lip Lacquers, they smell just like Asian dried plums, while the black tubes have a sweeter scent, but the scent does not linger around the lips after applying.

Overall, this is a nice berry red lipstick for fall and the holiday season & the price is not too bad (about $5.99 depending on location and store). I wish there were names of the lipsticks instead of just numbers, but I think after a while, the numbers aren't too bad to remember. Rimmel London Kate Moss Lipsticks can be found at some drugstores, and Target/Walmart.

What do you think about Rimmel London's Kate Moss lipstick line? Do you prefer the red tubes, or the black tubes? (I wish they had the pink tubes in the US).

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Giveaway: NYX Bohemian Chic Palette

Giveaway!

Hi everyone! This morning, I logged onto my blog right before class started & I saw that I have reached 300 followers! I was super excited because I have also been planning a giveaway for it for a while now.

NYX's Bohemian Chic Palette is an all-matte eyeshadow palette & it is neutral with a few blue shades in the pullout drawer along with two matte blushes.




Please enter using Rafflecopter. The two mandatory things to do is to follow my blog via GFC and to leave a comment on what your favorite eyeshadow finish for the spring/summer season is. There are also optional entries, such as letting the word out about the giveaway, as well as following me on Instagram, and facebook. I will be checking on whether or not you have did the things that you have submitted, or your entry will be deleted.

This giveaway will end on April 5th 2013 at Midnight PST and I will announce the winner on the blog after the giveaway has ended, so remember to check back! This giveaway is open to US residents only 18 & above.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Disclaimer: This giveaway is not sponsored by NYX. I have purchased the item(s) in this blog post with my own money. This is for a new NYX Bohemian Chic Palette, meaning it has never been used. However, I have opened it before purchasing it to make sure the eyeshadows were not broken.

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theBalm: Meet Matt(e) Nude Palette

Swatches & Review

When theBalm announced that they were coming out with another Meet Matt(e) palette, I was excited especially since it was going to be a all "nude" palette. theBalm is one of my favorite brands of cosmetic products because they have the cutest packaging/names & very nice blushes/eyeshadows. When Hautelook hosted theBalm event on February 1st, it had their newest Meet Matt(e) Nude palette so I had to buy it!

Like all theBalm products, it is packaged with cardboard packaging.

I was super excited when the package finally came, but to my surprise (again), the palette had fingerprints on it!

In this palette, it seems that three of the eyeshadows were tampered with. When I ordered from theBalm's event the first time on Thanksgiving, one of my palettes came just like that too. Honestly, I do not know if it is because theBalm is sending out "defective" palettes, or if someone at Hautelook is going through the palettes before sending it out. When I order any items, I expect it to be brand-new & that I do not have to sanitize it before using. I have ordered multiple times from Hautelook from various cosmetic events and only theBalm products have been having this problem. I contacted Hautelook and they refunded me for the product & they said they will look into it considering it has happened before as well.

Anyway.. swatches!

First row:
Matt Johnson: Matte grey. Pigmented and smooth.
Matt Garcia: Matte red-brown. Smooth, but it applied sheer. Pigmentation is build-able.
Matt Malloy: Matte white. Chalky & applied sheer. Pigmentation is build-able.

Second row:
Matt Rosen: Matte medium brown. Smooth and pigmented.
Matt Wood: Matte dark brown. This was the smoothest and the most pigmented one in the whole palette.
Matt Singh: Matte beige. This was smooth, but it took a bit to show up because the first few layers blended into my skin.

Third row:
Matt Abdul: Matte taupe. This was chalky & stiff. It was not very pigmented, but it is build-able.
Matt Lombardi: Matte pale yellow. This was stiff & did not apply well with a brush. The pigmentation of this was okay, but it was pretty sheer.
Matt Hung: Matte light plum. This was smooth & pigmented.

All of these were swatched on Too Faced's Shadow Insurance. From this palette, I liked Matt Rosen, Wood, Singh & Hung the best. Matt Lombardi looks like it could be a good color, but it was a bit hard to get the color out of the pan for me.

Although some of the colors from this palette is chalky, it is build-able. Most of the eyeshadows were very smooth to the touch. This is definitely a good option for an all-matte palette considering the price (which is 50% off at Hautelook whenever theBalm has an event), BUT I am definitely having a problem with getting my theBalm products from Hautelook since it comes looking like it has been tampered with, which is not okay at all. I like that Hautelook has refunded me for this, but this should not happen to anyone. This happened to be twice & I know of a few people who have also experienced this from theBalm's event.

Anyway, what do you think of this palette? Have you had problems with your theBalm products whenever you order online directly from them, or from Hautelook?

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Stila: In The Know

Swatches & Review

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend gave me Stila's In The Know palette as a gift. Since I have been using matte eyeshadows a lot lately, this was perfect since this palette has all matte finish shades.

This is packaged in cardboard with a magnetic closure.

There is a quote on the top of the mirror. I find it true, haha!

There is 10 eyeshadows in the palettes & they are all matte!

The top row has more lighter shades:
Air: Matte cream
Wind: Matte beige (This looks kind of similar to Air on me)
Desert: Peachy matte
Clay: Matte light-brown
Earth: Matte chocolate brown

The bottom row has darker colors & it complements the top row nicely:
Driftwood: Matte dark brown
Fire: Matte red-orange
Rain: Matte taupe
Smoke: Matte light grey
Ebony: Matte black

Out of all ten shades, I found that nine of the shades were very smooth and pigmented. The only one I had problems with was Ebony, which is the matte black. It was kind of rough and did not apply smoothly like the other ones did. The standout shade for me is definitely Fire. Fire is a gorgeous red-orange shade and it really stands out from all the other colors in the palette, which is more on the neutral side. Compared to Urban Decay's NAKED Basics, I feel like the top row of In The Know is similar (minus the last color). Stila's In The Know was released before the Naked Basics, so if you have this already, you probably don't need the Naked Basics.

This is the first time for me to try Stila eyeshadows and I really like these. They are smooth and pigmented. Some had a bit of fall-out, but it was not much. I like how it is all matte, which is what a lot of people are also interested in. This retails for $39 and is sold at Sephora (In-store & Online) & Ulta.

What do you think about Stila products? Which is your favorite?

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Inglot Counters in Macy's: Bay Area

Beauty News:

Before this year, Inglot was only available online for me because there was no stores in the Bay Area. I always thought ordering Inglot online was inconvenient because their online store does not show any shade description at all, so before buying it online, I would have to search through many reviews (and a lot of times, they did not have much reviews on specific items I want).

The beginning of this year, I learned that they started to open up Inglot counters at select Macy's locations that has their impulse beauty section. The only one closet to me was in Downtown San Francisco. Being from San Francisco, I would avoid downtown at all costs. Parking is $3 per hour if you're lucky enough to find meter parking, or garages are around $4-$6 per hour depending on the time you enter and exit.

Today, I found out that other Inglot counters are opening around the Bay Area. On Inglot's store locator, it shows coming soon for Macy's Valleyfair (Santa Clara) & Macy's Stoneridge (Pleasanton). I heard that the Inglot in Pleasanton opened this weekend so I am thinking about checking it out soon, but to me, this was awesome news since Stoneridge and Valleyfair both have a parking structure for shoppers. I love going to Inglot counters because you can actually see and swatch everything first to see if you like it!

What do you think about Inglot? Have you purchased online from them? Do you prefer going to their counters/are there any counters near you?

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Wet N' Wild: Drinking A Glass of Shine Palette

Swatches & Review

For the past 3-4 weeks, I went to pretty much all of the CVS locations around the Bay Area (over 50 for sure) looking for the Limited Edition Wet n' Wild palettes. All the ones I went to either had empty displays, or did not have the display at all. My last trip, I was able to find one of the palettes, which is Drinking A Glass of Shine (and it was the last palette on the whole display!). I was super excited to finally find it.

Drinking A Glass of Shine is one of the three palettes from Wet n Wild's Holiday Where's The Party? collection. The other two limited edition palettes are brand new, whereas Drinking A Glass of Shine is a re-promote palette, which was previously named as I ♥ Matte.

Drinking A Glass of Shine consists of 8 matte shades.

The left column has bright colors.
Browbone: Matte white. It was very powdery and chalky.
Eyelid: Matte green. It reminds me of Urban Decay's Chronic without the yellow sparkles. This was very smooth, probably the smoothest of the palette and had major fallout, but it was quite pigmented.
Crease: Matte bright blue. Chalky and powdery.
Definer: Matte purple. This was probably the worst color in the palette. It was very hard. The pigmentation of this sucked.

The right column has neutral colors.
Browbone: Matte creamy beige. This was very smooth and pigmented. Perfect for highlighting.
Eyelid: Matte peachy-orange. This was very smooth and pigmented. This color had the best color payoff in my opinion, and is my favorite shade in this whole palette.
Crease: Matte brown: Pigmented
Definer: Matte black with slight shimmer. Kind of chalky, but workable.

Overall, this palette is only okay to me. A lot of the shades were not as pigmented as I hoped that it would be, and I can definitely do without it. I am probably going to keep it since I spent so much effort looking for it, and it being my first drugstore palette. If you are looking for a matte palette, this is a good choice for the price ($5.29). All the locations I went to had these for $5.29, where the sticker of the price covered the $4.99 price tag. However, I do not recommend anyone to do what I did, which is go all over looking for it. It is not worth the gas price for this.
The palette I wanted the most was Sparkle 'Til Morning, but I have not found it yet. Am I going to try to find it? Nope, probably not anymore because I'm at the point to where these aren't even worth it anymore. It is not because this palette isn't the "best" palette I have tried, but it is because I would rather spend my money on something more expensive and have an easier time accessing it. Going through all the stores, my boyfriend had to fill up gas twice, which was about $50 in GAS money. I am disappointed for not finding Sparkle 'Til Morning, but I guess I will just indulge myself in the Cinderella Storylook Palette.

What do you think about these palettes?

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