Sunday, August 10, 2014

Maybelline Color Whisper

Maybelline Color Whisper



From left: Coral Ambition (35), Pin up Peach (30), Pink Possibilities (65), Petal Rebel (60), Oh La Lilac ( 90), Lust for Blush (25), Rose of Attraction (75), Mad for Magenta (95), Who Wore it Red-er (45)
  • 0.11 oz
  • Retails between $5 and $10 depending where you go.
  • 20 shades available!
  • It is described as a weightless gel with no heavy waxes or oils. 
The Maybelline Color Whisper are the holy grail of drugstore lip colour. As you can see I have a total of 9 shades. I don't think I have ever bought 9 of the same anything for makeup.  

The packaging is traditional lipstick packaging its very easy to throw one of these into my purse for the day. Each tube has their own color depending on the shade inside. I love that its easy to see the shade I am reaching for without having to look at the bottom of the tube for the color. 

I find them easy to apply without a mirror and they glide on smoothly. They feel hydrating on my lips and I don't reach for my lip gloss as much when wearing them. I find they stay for a few hours and then have to re-apply. They are nicely pigmented and don't have that lipstick feel when on the lips. They also don't have that classic lipstick scent to them. I truly don't smell anything when applying them.

I find I often reach for the Lush for blush shade. It is a soft shade which I would describe as a nude pink. Its truly the perfect shade for any look I do and its very subtle. If I had to pick one out of this collection this would be it. 

Here are some swatches!


 Coral Ambition, Pin up Peach, Pink Possibilities, Petal Rebel, Oh La Lilac, Lust for Blush, Rose of Attraction, Mad for Magenta, and Who Wore it Red-er.







Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Tarte Rainforest After Dark Palette Review

Tarte Rainforest After Dark
Colored Eye & Cheek Palette Review


The rainforest after dark is another of Tarte's circle palettes it states that it includes:
  • 6 coloured clay eyeshadows in exclusive shades
  • coloured clay blush in unleashed
  • coloured clay bronzer in park ave princess
  • coloured clay highlighter in champagne
It also states it is formulated without: parabens, mineral oil, phthalates, triclosan, sodium lauryl sulfate, and gluten.

The amount of product the palette contains is as follows:
  • Highlighter 0.14 oz
  • Bronzer 0.14 oz
  • Blush 0.21 oz
  • Eyeshadows 0.035 oz
The palette itself is quite large and quite thick as well. I really don't see why it is necessary to make the palette so thick. In this regard I am disappointed the packaging isn't more sleek. However I would not want to give up the full size blush for more sleek packaging. Perhaps because the palette is a circle shape that it feels more bulky then my other square palettes. The palette is made of hard plastic with a jewel on the snake eye slightly raised. The packaging is very pretty and the jewel adds a nice touch to the palette. 

Included in the box is a card with two eye looks. The looks are Seductive Sunrise and Afterhours Adventure. The looks are a nice added touch to the palette. Theres also an instagram link on the bottom for @tartecosmetics for people to share their looks which I think is a neat idea. Here are pictures of the card:


The palette comes with a plastic overlay over the shades for the names. Im not crazy about this I prefer the shades to be listed on the actual palette. 


The shades are quite hard to read so i will list them the top two are champagne and park ave princess. The large circle in the middle is the blush unleashed. From the left the 6 shadows are bare to explore, make a mauve, plum away with me, up to no gold, tan-gled up in you, and don't turn a-brown. 

Here is a photo without the plastic overlay to better see the shades in the pans.


The is a very neutral fall toned palette. Im really loving the Up to no gold shade its just such a rich metallic gold. I also love the blush unleashed. I do however find it very similar to the blush elevated in the Tarte CC Matte palette. I'm fine with this because I love the blush in the CC matte palette and wish they would make a full size of it. Crossing my fingers they make unleashed or elevated in full size soon!

Here are some swatches!

Champagne, Park Ave princess, and Unleashed.


I don't particularly enjoy the champagne shade as a highlight for my face. I find it very shimmery I will probably end up using it as an eyeshadow for an under the brow highlight. I LOVE the blush unleashed it is one of my favourite shades for a Tarte blush. I also LOVE Park Ave Princess. I have it in another palette so it is handy to have it in this palette so I can use just one palette when doing my makeup. 

These are the shadows from the left the names are: Bare to explore, Make a mauve, Plum away with me, Up to no gold, tan-gled up in you, and Don't turn a-brown. 


The first shade Bare to explore I find to be very light and not well pigmented (against my skin tone anyways). I really have to pack it on to get the colour payoff I want. Like i said before I love the Up to no gold shade. It is the perfect pigmented gold metallic shade. Plum away with me is also a very nice plum shade. I have to be quite careful with this one and Don't turn a-bown because I am so fair skinned. Don't turn a-brown could probably be used as a liner as well. 

The placement of the shadows in the palette seems to be done specifically if you look closely at the swatches you could use the first three as a trio and the last three as a trio. 

Overall I find this palette very lovely. I think it is the perfect addition to my collection with the neutral colours in it. I am very excited to create some deep fall looks with it. I like the idea of these circle palettes however, I am hoping that Tarte changes up the highlighter and bronzer if they keep continuing with this concept. 





Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Maybelline The Nudes Palette First Impression

Its finally here!!! I am soooooo excited!


I have been waiting to see this in drugstores since I saw a review done by one of my favourite beauty bloggers in May before it was released in stores.

My first look at it I was surprised with how small the packaging is. Its very sleek and compact. I love that you can see the shades with the packaging shut. Im not a big fan of the mirrors in palettes I never use them so the lack of mirror in this does not bother me at all.

I got mine at Shoppers Drug Mart and it retailed for $14.99 CAD. For 12 shadows this is a steal! Some reviews said that this palette has matte shadows. I have found sparkle or flecks of glitter in every colour so I think they have been mistaken. Some of the shadows are more shimmery then others. Theres about 6 shadows that have minimal sparkle. It doesn't say on it how large each shadow is it just says 0.34 oz on the back of the palette.



Maybelline went the extra step with this palette and included a strategic placement of each shadows to either make them a duo, trio, or quad. I love this concept because it takes the guess work out of which colour combinations to use. 



Here are the swatches!


As you can see some of the lighter shades do not show up as pigmented as the darker ones. I feel like they can be build able. I would highly recommend using a shadow primer with these. The very last shade of the palette the Black colour looks extremely dark in the palette but does not swatch as a dark black. I love this because I could use it with a light hand to get a more smokey black instead of an intense black. For drugstore shadows Im loving the quality. I find them to be nice texture but not as buttery as the Maybelline Eye Studio Silk Shadows. I wish that Maybelline would have made them the texture of that line of shadows. These ones feel more like the Expertwear Shadows.

This palette would be great for travel. I always feel super nervous that my high end palettes will break. I actually dropped this palette on my kitchen floor before writing this and none of the shadows broke. It withstood a good fall.

I definitely recommend that everyone have this in their makeup collection. It is a good price for what you are getting and for drugstore shadows they are great quality. Im crossing my fingers Maybelline comes out with more colours in a 12 shadow palette like this.



Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil VS Tarte Park Ave Princess

Bronzer Comparison 

Today I decided to do a comparison between Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil Bronzer and Tarte's Park Ave Princess Bronzer. Too faced Milk Chocolate Soleil is described as a Light/Medium Matte Bronzer. Tarte Park Ave Princess is described as Matte bronze.

 Down below Milk Chocolate Soleil is shown on the left and Park Ave Princess is on the right.


As you can see the two are very similar in colour. When put next to each other. Both are a matte brown. I will be very clear they do not show any sort of shine on application.

Here are photos of the bronzers separate:
(I do apologize I have Tartes Park Ave Princess in the power couple duo palette so a small amount of the blush is shown in photos.
The Milk Chocolate Soleil appears to be lighter then Park Ave Princess but upon application I personally find that Park Ave Princess goes on lighter.


Below is a swatch left is Too Faced Milk Chcolate Soleil and Right is Tarte Park Ave Princess


A swatch in natural light, again Too Faced on the left and Tarte on the right



When swatched the Park Ave Princess looks more orangy and I have heard this before but I personally don't feel like when it is applied it has any orange tint to it at all. They are both a very nice texture I can't even give a comparison to texture because they are so similar. Too Faced is 0.35 oz and Tarte is 0.32 oz. Milk Chocolate Soleil retails for $38.00 at Sephora and Park Ave Princess retails for $36.00 at Sephora. In terms of cost they are very close you get two less oz for two dollars less in Tarte's Park Ave Princess. The Tarte bronzer is labeled as a waterproof bronzer. Personally I don't think you can jump into a swimming pool and have it stay in place but in terms of it withstanding humidity it is good. I find that Too Faced also withstands humidity as well. One clear difference is that the Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil Bronzer smells like chocolate.

Winner:

I personally prefer Tarte's Park Ave Princess right now just because it looks slightly better with my fair complexion. I find that when applying the Too Faced bronzer goes on a bit heavier. In terms of recommending one or the other its a honest tie. If you don't want to smell chocolate when applying bronzer I would go with the Tarte Bronzer. If you want a more sheer application I would also recommend Tarte because it goes on a little less pigmented. Packaging wise the Too Faced Bronzer is a harder more sturdy case with a snap closure. Tarte's full size bronzer has more of a soft packaging with a magnetic closure. In that regards Too Faced is the winner because magnetic packaging makes me nervous. If you are more loyal to one brand or another I would stick to the brand you are more familiar with. Both are great Matte Bronzers and are amazing products. Hats off to both companies!




Thursday, July 3, 2014

Review: Anastasia Tinted Brow Gel- Caramel


Hello Everyone!

I have been wanting to try this brow gel for a few months but I was not sure what colour matched my hair. I went on a trip and was able to go to a Sephora and found Caramel was best for me. I have red hair and it is always a challenge to find something to fill in my brows. When I say fill in I mean fill in entirely. My eyebrows are very light blonde and do not show up at all. I have used brow powders up until now. I found that brow powders did not have the staying power this gel has and they tend to wear off throughout the day. The Anastasia Brow Gel lasts through my day as long as I don't rub my eyebrows. I read a few reviews on the Anastasia Brow Gel before I purchased it and some people said they found it made their eyebrows crusty. I do not find this at all. I use a light hand when applying it just to get a hint of colour and keep my brows looking natural.




The Anastasia Brow Gel retails for $29.00 CAD at Sephora.

This is a swatch of the Brow Gel on my hand. As you can see it is a bit shiny. There is micro glitters in it but when it is applied you cant even tell. A girl at Sephora said she met Anastasia and she said that there are glitters in it so it doesn't make the eyebrow look so flat when applied.




Here are the before and after photos of my eyebrows. As you can see the Anastasia Brow Gel makes me look like I actually have eyebrows. I love this product. I have not used my brow powders since I purchased the Anastasia Brow Gel.

Left photo below is nothing on my brows. Right is with the brow gel. 



After using this product I now understand why Anastasia is the Queen of brows! Everyone should have this product in their makeup collection.

Lysh


Monday, June 30, 2014

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog. Here I will be posting my thoughts on different products I try. I've noticed in my travels through the web some reviews weren't posted so i thought I could contribute to the blog world.

xoxo Lysh