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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Rimmel London Lasting Finish Colour Rush Intense Colour Balm: Viva Violet (300)

Swatches & Review

Other than Lady Marmalade, which I have reviewed yesterday, another shade I have picked up from Rimmel London's Color Rush Intense Colour Balm is Viva Violet. Like Lady Marmalade, I believe that this shade is also exclusive to the US as of now because I have not seen this shade on Rimmel's UK website.

The name of the product is labeled right under the "Colour Rush" part of the lip crayon itself.

For a product with the name "Violet" on it, it looks a lot more like a magenta to me.

When applied, it is not very violet-like, but magenta, which is similar to how it looks in the tube. Although the tube does show the color a bit darker, it applied lighter. Viva Violet applied very smoothly and evenly, and it did not emphasize the dry spots on my lips at all, which is different than Lady Marmalade. I also feel like Viva Violet is more pigmented than Lady Marmalade because it was not as translucent as it when applied. Because of the finish, it does transfer, however, I did not experience any bleeding from the times that I was trying it. Viva Violet was lightweight and moisturizing, which is nice because this felt like a balm consistency, but with a bunch of color. After a while of wearing it, I ate a huge bowl of Pho and even though the color itself did not look like it did when I first applied it, the color was still intense on my lips, but without the shiny finish. It left a even-looking stain on the lips, which was nice and I had to remove it with my Bobbi Brown eye & lip remover to get the product off. Like the previous review, this also has a vanilla scent to it. Overall, I definitely liked the formula on Viva Violet because it did not emphasize the dry spots on my lips and felt very comfortable, however, I do wish the color was more like the name.

What do you think about Viva Violet? Is it a shade you would wear?

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Rimmel London Lasting Finish Colour Rush Intense Colour Balm: Lady Marmalade (620)

Swatches & Review

It's been a while, but Rimmel London has finally brought their line of Colour Rush Colour Balms to the United States! The Colour Rush balms are Rimmel's version of lip crayons. It totally seems like this is the year for lip crayons since many brands have them out for Spring, such as the ones from NYC & Wet n Wild. When I heard of its release of these in the US a week and a half ago, I went crazy looking everywhere for it pretty much every single day & I finally found them yesterday. It also seems like Rimmel London has also added some shades to the Colour Rush Intense Colour Balm line for stores in the US. One of the shades that I picked up is Lady Marmalade, which I believe is only released in the US for now.

The Colour Rush Colour Balms are packaged in the color that the lip color itself is supposed to be. The name of the product is right in the middle of the packaging, which I was not used to since it took me a while to find where the shade name was.

Lady Marmalade's color is exactly what it sounds like in the tube, which is a orange.

When applied, it looks more like a orange coral. I feel like this applied sheer, and even after a few swipes, it is still a bit translucent. This emphasized every bit of dry spot that I had on my lips so you would definitely need to exfoliate before applying Lady Marmalade. Although it emphasized dry spots, the product itself did not feel very drying on the lips. It feel creamy and lightweight on the lips, which made it comfortable, but since it has a shiny finish, it does transfer. There is a vanilla scent to the Colour Rush Balms, which smells like MAC lipsticks. I like it better than the Kate Moss and Show Off's line because I did not like the artificial fruity scent in those products. After wearing it for a few hours, it leaves a slight stain behind. Overall, I liked the feeling of the product on my lips since it was lightweight, but I wish it was a bit more opaque and did not emphasize the dry spots on my lips too much.

Since lip crayons are my weakness, products like these have been taking over for the new year & it is SO bad since I said I would spend less, but it was a major fail! Anyway, what do you think about the Colour Rush Colour Balms? Have you tried them yet? Are there shades that might interest you from this line?

I purchased mine from Walmart for $4.98 and it contains 0.095 oz of product.

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Wet n Wild Megaslicks Balm Stain Lip Colour: Lady and the Vamp (124), Red-Dy or Not (125), Rico Mauve (126)

Swatches & Review

It's 2014!!! I hope everyone had an amazing ending to 2013, and a fabulous start to 2014! :)

For Spring 2014, Wet n Wild have a new line added to their lip products called the Megaslicks Balm Stain Moisturizing Lip Colour. There are six shades in this line, but I have purchased three to test out. The Megaslicks Balm Stain are basically like Revlon's Balm Stains or Clinique's Chubby Sticks, where the product twists up and down with no sharpening needed.

From left to right: Rico Mauve, Red-Dy or Not, Lady and the Vamp

Like almost all Wet n Wild lip products, these are shrink-wrapped so you would be able to tell if it has been opened in the stores or not. The shrink wrap was actually really hard for me to take off, so maybe it will prevent some people from trying to open them without purchasing.

Rico Mauve: Pink-ish mauve. This was pigmented, applied smoothly & evenly. It left a nice pink stain behind.

Red-Dy Or Not: Bright classic red. This also applied smoothly & evently. This left a nice light red stain behind.

Lady and the Vamp: Brownish-berry. It was a bit sheer so I had to build the color up and applied kind of streaky. This also settled into lip lines, but it is not very noticeable unless it is upclose. This left a bright pink stain behind.

When I first smelled it, I didn't smell any scent, but if you really sniff it, you will smell a very very faint minty scent. It tingles a bit on the lips, nothing major, and it was comfortable to wear because it really felt like a balm. They all had a glossy finish, but it did not bleed/feather. However, it does transfer since it is glossy. They wore for about three hours and once the product itself is off the lips, an even colored stain is left behind so it looks like there's still lip color on the lips. For $2.99, these were actually really good. I'm definitely hoping that Wet n Wild will come out with more colors for this line!

These retail for $2.99 and contains 0.10 oz of product. Each of them had a $1 peel off sticker, which made them $1.99 when I purchased it.

What do you think about these Wet n Wild Balm Stains? Have you tried any of them yet?

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Too Faced La Creme Lip Cream: Loganberry

Swatches & Review


I have always wanted to try Too Faced's La Creme lip color, but I never had the chance to get it. When I found a good deal on it, I was able to purchase two of them to try. Loganberry is described as a berry pink from Too Faced.

The lipstick is packaged in a metallic golden tube, however, it is not a super-shiny finish to the packaging, which means that it does not attract fingerprints. It's taller than most lipsticks, but feel a bit slimmer at the same time.

Although Loganberry is described as a berry pink, I thought that it looked more like a berry red-pink, with the red being more visible when swatched & worn. Usually, I feel like berry colors are more for the fall & winter season, but Too Faced came out with their berry line for Spring & I can definitely see why. This berry shade feels like it can be worn year round! For my swatches, I used one swipe and it was super pigmented! It was very soft and lightweight, which made it feel comfortable on the lips. The downside to these are that because they are very lightweight, they wear off easily. When eating, I find that I would have to reapply right after because there would be nothing left by the time I was done. When worn without eating, it lasts about 3 hours before it fades away, so these are not long-wearing at all. I also found that these need to be applied carefully with not too much pressure because they are really soft, or else, it would break apart easily.

Overall, I like the color and I love how it feels very light on the lips, but because it is very soft and wears off easily, I kind of have mixed feelings about these. You would use a lot more product from all the re-applying you would have to do with these & it isn't always convenient considering they would melt easily if you were to carry these around out. I would get these if I find deals on these, but I probably would not pay full-priced out of pocket for these. The Too Faced La Creme Lip Cream's retail for $21 and can be purchased on TooFaced.com, Sephora (Online & In-store) & Ulta (Online & In-store).

What do you think about Too Faced's La Creme Lip Cream? Have you tried any? Which are your favorites?

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theBalm Cosmetics Instain Blush: Pinstripe

Swatches & Review



Earlier, I showed quick swatches of the blushes I recently purchased from theBalm Cosmetics. After the quick swatches, I started focusing on the blushes individually. Pinstripe is described as a plum shade from theBalm.


Like all of theBalm Cosmetic's products, it has a cardboard packaging and a slip on sleeve that is designed like the product itself. Each of the names are patterns that you will see on the inside of the packaging surrounding the pan of the blush. All of the blushes from the Instain line are designed like magazine covers. Three of the blushes say Spring on it and three of them says Fall on it, which I assume are blushes for the seasons.


When I posted the quick swatches, they were swatches applied from my fingers. In these swatches, the swatch on the left was applied with a sponge-tip applicator and the one on the right was applied with a brush.
Both of the swatches were applied with one swipe.
In the outdoor and the indoor in front of the window setting, the blush appears to be a berry-plum shade. When it is indoors and in the shade without being in front of the window, it shows more of a darker plum shade.
To me, Pinstripe is more than just plum, it is a berry-plum with a golden sheen. In the pan of the blush, it looks like it will be glittery-shimmer, but once applied, it looks very smooth and has a nice golden sheen to it. The finish reminds me of Hot Mama's finish.


In the close-up picture, you can see the golden sheen a bit more.

Pinstripe was very smooth and pigmented. It applied very easily & it shows a lot in just one swipe! However, I find it hard to blend because once it is on, it stays on, so it is important to be careful & use a light-hand with this to avoid having clown-cheeks. I was surprised at how much I actually liked this blush. When I ordered, I knew that this was not going to be matte from the picture that they have shown, but the swatch that they had on their website of Pinstripe looked very... terrifying to be put on the cheeks, however, this shade is one of my favorite shades from the five that I have purchased.

The Instain Blush line retails for $22 and can be purchased on thebalm.com & aveyou.com

What do you think about Pinstripe? Do you like your blushes matte, shimmery, glittery, or with a nice sheen?

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MAC Fashion Sets 2013

Swatches

After seeing promo images for MAC Cosmetics 2013 Fashion Sets, I have debating on which lipstick colors to get since they are colors that I have been into lately. Normally, I swatch them a week before they come out because my local MAC Pro location has them out for display before the release date. I went by today since I was about a mile away & to my surprise, they just got these in for display yesterday! Since it was there, of course I had to swatch them all!


This collection consists of four colors. Each of the color has a matching lipstick, lipglass, lipliner, nail polish and eyeshadow. The location had all of the items except the eyeshadows.


I have taken pictures of these in different lighting. The top row is when I was inside the store, the middle row was when I was outside in direct sunlight, and the last one was when I was inside the car with direct sunlight.

Originally, I planned on buying all four, but after swatching it, I feel like the one I want the most is Heroine. All of the lipsticks have a matte finish. Ablaze is similar to Maybelline's Vibrant Mandarin, but they have different finishes. Embrace Me is similar to Daddy's Little Girl and Maybelline's Hot Plum, but with different finishes as well.


In person, Embrace Me looked very similar to Candy Yum Yum, but after swatching & comparing it, Candy Yum Yum is lighter and brighter than Embrace Me.


Since these colors were bright and very pigmented, they left a bit of a stain behind.


Out of all the shades, I tried on Embrace Me on my lips. I like it, but I definitely do not need it. My hair looks very brown here, but I think it's because the sun is directly shining on it! I would LOVE to dye my hair into a color similar to that, but I don't think I want to get rid of my virgin hair :P


What do you think about the lip colors in this collection? Is there any that you are thinking about picking up?

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China Glaze: When Stars Collide & Strap On Your Moonboots

Swatches & Review


Last week, I purchased seven of the twelve colors from China Glaze's Spring Hologlam collection. When I first heard about this collection, I was super excited because it was supposed to have a holographic finish & China Glaze had some of the best in the past (OMG collection & Kaleidoscope collection). The first two I tried are When Stars Collide and Strap On Your Moonboots, which were the two I wanted the most from the collection.

When Stars Collide: Deep purple. It leans kind of like a maroon shade, but I wouldn't call it maroon since it is not too much on the red-ish-purple side.
Strap On Your Moonboots: Dark denim blue.

These two pictures were of the nail polish taken indoors. For two of my fingers, I used Nfu-Oh's aqua base, and for my other two, I used no bases at all.
What I found with using the aqua base was that the nail polish applied unevenly and there was folding. When used without the base, it definitely shows the imperfection of the nails, but applying it without the base was definitely easier. However, when used with the aqua base, the color of Strap On Your Moonboots was a darker blue than applied without the base. All of these were applied with two coats. When indoor, the holographic finish is very subtle. It looks more like a metallic nail polish finish than holographic because they are very silver-y.

These were taken outdoor. The holographic effect is better outdoor than indoor.

These were taken outdoor with my smart phone, which is why my fingers look a bit more washed out than the one above. Like the other one, the holographic finish is better outside than inside.

When Stars Collide and Strap On Your Moonboots are the two that are supposed to have the best holographic finish. If this is really true, then this collection is definitely disappointing. The colors are there and have great potential to be very nice holographic finish nail polishes, but when this is compared to their older collections, Color Club's Halo Hues & Urban Outfitter's holographic nail polishes, these are underwhelming. The colors of these two are gorgeous and they applied easily without a base. Although it shows imperfection of the nails, I definitely would apply these without a base because the way these applied after the aqua base was completely dried was not nice. It looks more imperfect then my nail itself. If I were to choose Color Club's Halo Hues or this, I would definitely choose the Halo Hues. These retail for $14 each, but can be found on online e-tailers for cheaper, such as nailetc.com, 8ty8beauty.com, etc.. (I am not affiliated with these websites).

What do you think about the Hologlam collection from China Glaze? Love it? Hate it? Let me know! :)

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Zoya PixieDust: Vespa & Godiva

Swatches & Review

I received the Zoya PixieDust nail polish set from the company for free in exchange for my honest opinion/review.

Last week, I reviewed two of the PixieDust nail polishes from Zoya for Spring. Today, I have the next two, which is Vespa & Godiva.


To apply these, you need to apply a thin first layer, wait for it to fully dry & then apply a second coat.

For my swatches, I used three coats each. Unlike Chyna & Dahlia, these were a bit more sheer.
Vespa: Light green with silver glitter.
Godiva: Nude-beige with silver glitter.

Since these were applied without a base coat and without a top coat, I decided to see how well they held up. What I noticed about Vespa & Godiva was that they held up a lot better than Chyna & Dahlia. It was quite surprising since I used more coats for these.

By day four, you can see there is noticeable tip wear on my right hand.

By day five, the nail polish on my right index finger was chipping off. However, the left fingers show some tip wear.

Day six was the last day I had these on. As you can tell, the ones on my left hand had a pretty good wear of these since they lasted very well. However, my right hand had nail polish on my middle & index finger that was chipping off.

Like Chyna & Dahlia, these held up very well for my left hand fingers (because I do not use my left hand much). On my right hand fingers, you can see that the ones on my index & middle finger was chipping off by the last day I wore these. They lasted four days on my right hand very well. These were more sheer than Chyna & Dahlia, which required them to be 3 coats each. I felt like these felt a bit softer than Chyna & Dahlia, but I don't know if it is because I got used to it. From the four I have tried so far, I really like Godiva. I love going to the beach and the nude-texture feeling reminded me of the sand. The removal was easy on these as well. I used Zoya's nail polish remover and placed the cotton with it onto my nails for about a minute. After having the cotton ball there for a minute, the PixieDust texture nail polish came off very easily without sticking to my nails & my skin. I think a lot of people have been interested in the texture because there were times when I was sitting through a lecture in class & a random girl sitting next to me would just start touching me nails (weird, isn't it?) & then say "it looks like it is fun to touch!"... haha! It happened to me three times. For a texture nail polish, it stays on well and it is easy to remove, which is a plus for me!

What do you think about Vespa & Godiva? Have you tried Zoya's PixieDust collection?

These are available for purchase on Zoya.com now, and they retail for $9 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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Revlon Color Burst Lip Butter: Sorbet

Swatches & Review

When I first heard of the new shades from Revlon's Lip Butter line from Nouveau Cheap's blog, I had to find them. It has been over a month and I have finally found them. I have been stalking Target locations for these & yesterday, I found them as they were putting up the new displays. I grabbed Sorbet & Wild Watermelon from the display & they were purchased by my boyfriend so that I can review them.

Like all of Revlon's Lip Butter, they have a quilted cap & the cap is the color of what the shade is supposed to be.


In the tube, it looks like a bright pink.

When swatched, the color is like a sheer bright pink. For my lips, I used one swipe & it shows a bit bright already.
For the first lip picture, I took it in direct sunlight. The other two were taken indoor, with the middle one being in front of the window, inside the car.

Previous lip butters I have owned were very pigmented, but this was not as pigmented when compared to Raspberry Pie, however, it is still a very nice shade. I felt like the formula for these were a bit different because these feel a lot more moisturizing than the older lip butter shades that I owned. I also noticed that there was a slight sweet scent to these, while my older lip butters do not. After a few hours of wear, it starts to wear off & leaves a slight stain, which is pretty nice.

My boyfriend purchased this at Target for $6.49 & these were found on the permanent display.

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Maybelline Color Sensational Vivids: Vibrant Mandarin

Swatches & Review

If you have been following my recent blog posts, I have been obsessed with Maybelline's Color Sensational Vivids. Around the end of January, I purchased two of the collection, which is Hot Plum & Brazen Berry. After, I purchased Shocking Coral (all which I have reviewed). Since I go to Target often, I ended up getting them one by one and now, I have 7 out of the 10 that are in the permanent line and Vibrant Mandarin is one of them.

From the picture, you can see that Vibrant Mandarin is a fiery red-orange.


It was kind of hard to get a picture of the lipstick in the tube with the accurate color because it was pretty bright.

You can click on the pictures to make them a bit bigger. Since the image uploader for blogger changed, it does not allow me to manage the size I want it to be to show on my blog.
For the first lip picture, I took it in direct sunlight. The other two were taken indoor, with the middle one being in front of the window.

From the tube, it looks like a red-orange. The color from the tube and on the lips is pretty accurate, but when applied, it is more like a red-orange coral (if that makes sense). When I'm outdoors, it looks more like a red-orange, but indoors and in indirect sunlight, it appears more coral. Although it is an orange-ish shade, it is very wearable because it leans more to being red. If your lips are dry, it is better to exfoliate before using this because it will apply looking very flaky.

Like the other shades from the Vivids line, I love it!


& here is a picture of me wearing it (indoor).

These retail for $5.50 at Target/Walmart and Ulta, CVS, & Rite Aid has them for $7.49 - $9.99.

What do you think about these lipsticks? Have you tried anything from Maybelline's Color Sensational Vivids line? Which is your favorite?

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