Review: NYX HD Photogenic Concealer in Porcelain

I Bought This

I FINALLY GOT PORCELAIN. You may, or may not, have any idea how popular this shade of concealer is.

It's sold out just about every single day. I don't know if it's because it's bought up for highlighting or it's being used for concealing. But jeez, someone, leave some tubes behind!

Review: Rimmel London ScandalEyes Waterproof Kohl Eyeliner in Nude

I Bought This

I have no idea what to say about this eyeliner. It's a nice eyeliner. I really don't buy a lot of drugstore eyeliners, since I'm quite picky about formulas and colors.

Plus I have a lot of eyeliner already...

This IS Halloween: Eylure Limited Edition Spooky & Batwing False Lashes

We went to Ulta yesterday, since my mom needed nail treatments and I actually had to go across the street to Target.

While I wandered around, she pointed out the Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers collection though it was a very, very small selection of this year's items. And below the Fright Fest lashes, were the lashes that basically made my week.

Review: NYX HD Photogenic Concealer in Beige

I Bought This

Someone might be reading this and thinking "Did you buy the wrong concealer?! Return it!" I didn't buy the wrong concealer, I promise! Okay, maybe I did... Kind of.

I bought it for contouring, not concealing! But I do wish NYX had a more middle of the road, not heavily red/orange-y and not overly yellow medium shade.

Review: NYX Slim Lip Pencil in Black Berry

I Bought This

Thanks to Ulta having a massive 40% off sale, I was able to get this lip pencil for only $2.09 (regularly $3.49).

I was torn between their Slim pencil and the Retractable one. I dislike retractable pencils, they seem to break for me often... Or maybe it was just that particular eyeliner.

Review: Jerome Russell PUNKY COLOURS Semi-Permanent Conditioning Hair Colour (Flamingo Pink, Plum, & Turquoise)

I Bought This

This was the first really good, bright, semi-permanent dye I ever bought.

The colors I've used, I've liked but they have their issues!

Review: NYX Extra Creamy Round Lipstick in 595 Strawberry Milk

I don't really like strawberry milk, I never really liked it as a child. I can't even drink milk anymore.

But this is a Strawberry Milk I can actually have.

Dual Review: Benefit Watt's Up! Luminizer & They're Real! Mascara

I have my (second) birthday gift of the year!* It's from Sephora, being that I'm a Beauty Insider and very much enjoy it. Gifts are fun,especially little freebies from different brands.

This year, the gift is from Benefit, called "Real Birthday Turn-Ons." Oh Benefit...

Review: Lady Gaga FAME Holiday Gift Set

One day, when I had no idea what to review next, I asked Ze Boyfreind what I should do. He suggested the Lady Gaga FAME Holiday Gift Set I had bought in February from Sephora. You might think I'm completely nuts for asking Ze Boyfriend, who isn't much interested in my makeup, about reviewing makeup. Worry not, he gives some pretty good advice haha.

Review: Urban Decay The Ammo Shadow Box (Original)

This was my very first makeup palette. Ever. It was also my first Urban Decay product. This is the original formula, as Urban Decay reformulated their eye shadows last year (or was it in 2011?) and has revamped the Ammo palette and gotten rid of some others. It's actually, in all honestly, one of my favorite palettes. I used it pretty frequently, as you can see from the photos haha.

Review: NYX HD Studio Photogenic "Stay Matte But Not Flat" Powder Foundation

I am running out of HD powder! My beloved MAKEUP FOREVER HD Microfinish Powder!
GAH, THE WORLD IS ENDING!

Review: NYX Gel Liner & Smudger in Samantha

Gel liner has been the latest and greatest thing to come about recently, as well as potted cream eyeshadows, such as MAC's infamous Paint Pots, Maybelline's Color Tattoos that make some nice Paint Pot dupes and Estée Lauder's recent "Paint Pot" dupes as well. NYX has joined the band with their gel liner AND smudger combo (admittedly, people have been smudging gel liner and using it as a base long before but hey, these colors are pretty nifty). Yay for crazy colors!

Quick review: NYX Glam Liner Aqua Luxe Liquid Liners

I headed to Ulta today because I need more powder but don't want to buy more MAKEUP FOREVER HD powder because: 1) The one I bought in 2011 is a .35 oz jar, 2) They now only have a .3 oz jar for $35, 3) There are cheaper alternatives.

Wait, what? .3 oz of silica powder over .35? Really, MUFE? Really?

Review: NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Amsterdam, Monte Carlo & Tokyo

It takes a certain person to like and wear mattes. I don't really care much for matte, because of the drying factor and my lips tend to be dry without them. I only have one matte lipstick that I like but its quite drying. Matte looks great and really reminds me of the vintage 1950's look: barely-there shades of eyeshadow, cat wing eyeliner and sexy red lips. Its the perfect minimal look! Rather than using drying matte lipsticks, I bought NYX's Soft Matte Lip Creams. These won Temptalia's Editor Choice Award for 2012, so you know these have to be great.

L to R: SMLC01 Amsterdam, SMLC03 Tokyo, SMLC10 Monte Carlo

Review: Formula 10.0.6 Pores Be Pure Skin-Clarifying Clay Mask

I already reviewed the Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque (read here) previously, in hopes of clearing my pores and getting the nastiness of my nose. This particular mask has had some great reviews, it's been said to work more at clearing pores. People have also said it can leave the face red after washing it off, due to the fruits in the formula. It's pretty much a "Don't use directly before a big event! You might still be red faced!" You should be able to get away with using it the night before your event. My face didn't become red after using this, only a bit splotchy when I used a wash cloth to remove the product but immediately the redness went away.

Why is this so cool in my world?

Review: NYX Extra Creamy Round Lipstick in 513 Electra

Confession. When I originally started using makeup, I seriously hated lipstick. Just hated the stuff. I only wanted pigmented glosses. I don't specifically remember what changed my mind, I think it was the nude lip trend. I went out and got Viva Glam Gaga II lipstick from MAC, and really loved it. Later something possessed me to find my perfect red lipstick. Well, my perfect reds are blue-based reds and I picked up NYX's Extra Creamy Round Lipstick in Electra.

The tip of the bullet was already worn down when I got it, but it definitely hadn't been used.

Review: real Techniques Powder Brush

Why, packaging, do you not have much info?

I have four three (WTF?) powder brushes to be honest. One is the tokidoki Kabuki brush, one is a mini of bareMineral's Full Coverage Kabuki brush, and the real Technique's Powder Brush. You might be wondering why I have all these brushes. Well, the tokidoki one I bought because 1) I love tokidoki. I love tokidoki so much, I wanted the collaborated phone, 2) it is insanely soft and pretty! It does work for applying powder, don't worry. One complaint I do have is that the handle is square, so its a tiny bit of a pain to hold. The bareMineral's brush came in a sample I got from Sephora and I positively hate it. It is so incredibly scratchy! I also hated the foundation that came with it. It made me orange! The Mineral Veil was okay, didn't do it what it said it would: absorb oil. Now the last brush, the real Techniques brush is a godsend to me.

These really easily slide out of the box even though the brush head is snug in the box.

These brushes come in a sort of long, rectangular box with the tops rounded slightly. The top just pulls off and your brush can be slid out. Easy! The packaging is also pretty simple, doesn't say a lot about the brush on the front. A little more on the back, with a blurb from Sam(antha Chapman).

Pretty useless blurbs

As for the brush itself, let me tell you why I bought this one. I had a very generically labeled "face powder brush" I had had since I started using makeup. It was cheap and it was the only one I could find that was nice scratchy and fluffy. It was turned a little gray from the mineral makeup I used to use and I never actually thought to wash it. When I stopped using mineral makeup (God, how that stuff dried out my skin but I also didn't know about facial moisturizer or exfoliating) and switched to liquid, I decided to wash my brush. Black dye ran out of it as well as the brush sucking up water and soap. It was disgusting. Well, sometime later when I was washing it again on a separate occasion, the wood handle came away from the ferrule. Not cool. We re-glued it and all was fine until this past January. It happened again and I was annoyed more so now, because I thought I would try using conditioner on the brush to soften the bristles. Waste of my time! I went to Ulta's website and went hunting for a decently priced brush that wasn't going to be scratchy. I liked the size of the real Techniques' brush and happily bought it after feeling the one on display.

Stands up on its own! Great for when you might be using your brush, keeps your bristles clean.

I should tell you now that real Techniques has a few brushes that will supposedly work for powder. The Powder Brush, the Kabuki Brush and the Setting Brush and they even suggest using the Stippling Brush for powder. I didn't see the kabuki in person but it's got angular bristles and is apparently "2-in-1." It can be opened and used flat. Neat, but I don't want/need it. The Setting brush's head is also small. Very small and it resembles their Blush Brush. I personally associate stippling brushes more with liquid foundation, cream foundation and cream blush. I just can't imagine a stippling brush being really effective for powder application! I picked the Powder Brush because its fluffy, flexible yet dense and applies powder like a dream.

real Techniques logoing

Nice and fluffy! You can tell I've used mine recently.

These brushes are made with Taklon fibers, so they're just oh-so-touchably soft. I could spend hours petting my brush (pretty sad, huh?). Sadly I can't get it to fit in my makeup bag so I pop it back in the packaging to protect it while I travel. This brush picks up powder nicely and disperses it evenly, as well as being so gentle on the face. It washes well, super light and can be stood up on its own. Yay for a new, nice brush!

The only other words on the brush hand are "Powder Brush," no numbers to remember. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of it.

If you're in the market for a new brush and don't or can't spend a fortune on something like Crown, Sigma or even MAC, check out these real Techniques brushes. The Powder Brush is $9.99 from Ulta and I used one of their "$3.50 off $10" coupons, dropping the price to $6.50 before tax. Woohoo! Most will run you about $7.99 to $9.99 before tax, which is a sweet price for how delightful they are to use. The travel sets are more costly for 3 to 4 brushes, at about $17.99. Not too bad if you have a daughter or someone else just getting into makeup and needs some decent starter brushes, as the sets come in a case that can be stood up on its own. Since I already have a foundation brush I'm happy with and a powder brush, I won't be picking one up.

(Heads up, the person behind these brushes is Samantha Chapman, one of the Pixiwoo girls on YouTube. I don't watch Pixiwoo since I am utterly unimpressed by their looks. The links to "About Us" and "About Sam" on the real Techniques' site don't work. Dead links!)

SPOOKEHDOOM

Review: NYX Nude Matte Eyeshadow in Birthday Suit

Ah, NYX. I love NYX. They're cheap. They have stunning quality. I have found products I love, since there are so many! Today, however, is focusing on one. There aren't many reviews or swatches for the Nude Matte Eyeshadows and I really wanted to know whether or not I was getting a good product before I went searching for it at my local Ulta. I finally (FINALLY!) found a review and swatches from VampyVarnish, who I love. Her blog's name and the fact she's just a bag of awesome. You can read her review here: VampyVarnish

Review: Too Faced Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush

Pretty cute, right?

I said it in my pre-Valentine's Day post that I would be getting this beautiful product as a gift from Ze Boyfriend. I already said I don't buy or use blush and its true. Its a step I skip in my makeup routine normally. I may use a little of the blush that came in my Glamour To Go Dream Edition palette that came out in 2011 for nights when we go out. Why do I normally skip it entirely? I don't want to find my Smashbox travel-sized Angled Blush Brush, a little freebie from Ulta when Ze Boyfriend's mom bought some cosmetics. I also don't want to sweep, tap and then sweep-blend the product onto my cheeks either. I am lazy. I am aware of this.