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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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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theBalm Cosmetics: Smoke Balm Smokey Eye Palette

Swatches & Review

After seeing theBalm's new eyeshadow palettes on Kohls online, I waited for them to show up at the retail locations so that I can see them in person. My local Kohls was able to get them in this week so I went to Kohls as soon as I could. I do not know when the official release of these are supposed to be or if it is exclusive to Kohls because I have not seen it on theBalm's website. The Smoke Balm has two separate palettes, but they are only named by "Set One" & "Set Two". The one with the grey packaging is Set One, and the one with the green is Set Two. Each palette has three eyeshadow shades.

As always, the packaging for theBalm is super cute. In Set One, it says, "Warning: Men may stop drop and roll" & in Set Two, it says, "Warning: May cause shortness of breath in men." Totally theBalm-like. This is also packaged in cardboard packaging with the design on the sleeve exactly like the design on the product itself.

Set One: These were swatched with my fingers, but I will also have swatches with a brush later on as well.
Blaze: Black with silver glitter
Spark: Matte grey-taupe
Flame: Shimmery pearl

Set Two: These were also swatched with my fingers.
Kindle: Shimmery blackened-green
Glow: Matte light brown
Combust: Shimmery beige

Set One & Set Two applied with a brush with two swipes, except Flame & Combust, which only required one swipe.

When swatched using my fingers, both of the first two shades in each palette apply a bit patchy. The third shade in both palettes, the shimmery pearl & beige were very pigmented and a little goes a long way. However, the eyeshadows itself felt like most of theBalm's eyeshadows I have tried, which are smooth and buttery.

When swatched using a brush, the eyeshadows applied better, which was not as patchy as when I applied it with my fingers. The eyeshadows are very smooth, so it did kick up a bit of powder, which may lead to some fall-out, so tapping the brushes used with these are definitely recommended.

Overall, I feel like both of these are pretty similar to actually purchase both. These are perfect for a simple little palette for a smokey eye and each eyeshadow contains 0.12 oz of product, which is like twice the size of a full-size Urban Decay eyeshadow. I also like how it has different finishes in the three eyeshadows provided in each palette because there's a glittery one, a matte one, and a shimmery one. These retail for $12 and can be purchased online at Kohls(link)--non-affiliated & at Kohls with an extended beauty department.

What do you think about these Smoke Balm palettes? Do you prefer Set One, or Set Two?

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Milani Cosmetics Power Lip Gloss Stain

Swatches & Review

For Spring 2014, Milani has released a while bunch of lip colors, as well as other products as well. A few months ago when they posted a sneak peek of the Power Lips, I originally thought they would be like lip crayons, but these are gloss stains with a brush attached to the tube to apply. Although they were not what I expected, I still wanted to try these so I was excited when I finally found them after a display reset at a few CVS locations. Milani claims that the Power Lips have a long lasting shine, stain, and color coverage. Milani also states that these have a cushion feel on the lips for a comfortable wear. There are a total a eight shades in the Power Lip line, but I have only purchased five of the eight.

All of the Power Lip products are packed individually, which is nice since it discourages people to open these to try in store.

Each shade is packaged in a plastic tube that is supposed to be the shade. Personally, I don't like this too much because I am unable to see how much product is inside so I wouldn't know how much I have used and if I am running out.

The brushes are attached to the tube.

To get the product out, you would have to twist the tube. I didn't like that because I did not know when to expect product and it takes quite a lot of twists before the product comes out. After about ten twists, I recommend twisting them slowly or a bunch of product would just ooze right out of the brush. The brush itself is firm and not too soft to use, so it is nice to be used to apply the product. I prefer the brush of these over the Stila glosses that have similar packaging.

These swatches were taken outside in direct sunlight. The amount of product that was shown above from the brush was the amount I used in all of my swatches because a little goes a long way.

Mango Tango: Orange coral. This was pigmented and applied evenly. The stain it left behind was a slight orange-red stain.
Cabaret Blend: Deep berry. Although this is the only one with the tube that has shimmer on it, I did not notice much shimmer from the gloss itself when applied to the lips. This was very pigmented and applied evenly and smooth. The stain was a medium berry on the lips.
Red Control: Classic red. For me, Red Control was a bit hard to get it to be even on the lips. This was also the only shade that feathered around the lips after only an hour of wear, so a lip pencil is definitely recommended for this. This stained my lips a bit more pink than red.
Raspberry Tart: Medium mauve. This applied evenly & smoothly. I feel like this is one of the neutrals, but not neutral. Definitely very wearable as an everyday lip. This left a slight berry stain, which I liked.
Pink Lemonade: Pink-red. I feel like out of all the shades I have tried, this is the only shade that made my teeth look very yellow. Although I do not really like how it makes my teeth look, the formula on this was good. This left a bright pink stain after wearing it for a while.

The swatches for this set of collage was taken in the shade so you can have an idea of how it would look like in different lighting. The colors are in the same order as the collage above.

Overall, I feel that these are all very pigmented and a little goes a long way. These applied smoothly and does feel comfortable on the lips the first hour, but after about an hour, I feel like these feel a bit sticky and tacky on the lips, which I do not like. The shine does go away quickly so I would not say that the shine is long lasting, but the stain that it leaves behind does last until you remove the product. The color of the product wore off evenly, which is also good because it means that there's no patches on your lips where one part has more color than the others. These did not feel drying, but not moisturizing either, so I would not say these made my lips more smooth. There was only feathering when I tried Red Control, but all of these do transfer since they are glossy to start with. Although I do not like the packaging too much, I do think that the formula on these are nice since they are very pigmented and most applied smoothly and evenly without settling in my lip lines. The shades I would recommend, which are my favorites are Raspberry Tart & Cabaret Blend.

These are supposed to be available this month at locations such as CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, and Milani Cosmetics online. These retail for $6.49, however, it does depend on your location depending where you buy these so it could range from $6.49 to $7.49.

What do you think about these new lip products added into Milani Cosmetics line? Have you seen the displays yet?

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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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