First impression: Em Cosmetics shadows and blush

I received this sample in my September ipsy bag and finally got around to swatching it, so I thought I'd share some pictures and my 2 cents~ 

Em cosmetics shadows:

• good pigmentation (2 swipes each swatch)
• no fall out
• the colours were nothing 'special'

Em cosmetics blush:

• good pigmentation
• not fond of the colour for cheeks, but it made an excellent all over the lid colour

I thought it was a nice idea to include this sample in the ipsy bag so that the subbies can test out the shadows for themselves, though, I wished that the colour varied a little bit more. When the three shadows were used together, the makeup was way too dark for my taste and you couldn't really tell that there were three different colour used. I guess they blended together well? I probably won't be picking up any shadows from the Em Cosmetics line, but I am very curious about their eyeliners. I wonder when will they be available in Canada. 

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter: Swatches

Hello lovelies~

Like many others, I decided to jump into the lip butter wagon last year, unfortunately due to the change of weather, allergies and other issues with my lips I didn't get to test them out until much later... mainly because by the time my lips were okay I had forgot about them... this post was started some time ago, but I finally decided to share my 2 cents :)

I'm not really consistent eh? the last one had to be photographed on the wrong side of the tube -__-

from top: Lollipop, Cherry Tart and Tutti Frutti

Overall Rating *** / 5 (1 = worst 5 = best) If not for the adverse lip reaction, I would have loved these. These creamy lipbalms wear very nicely,  are moisturizing and give a lovely hint of colour.

Price **/5 (1 = soooo cheap! 5 = pricey!) I thought that the price is decent for what you get.

Packaging Quality ****/5 (1 = worst 5 = best) Cute and playful. I love having colour in my makeup bag and these fit the bill. I feel that the opacity of the cap is a nice touch to the design as a whole. I think that it managed to look fun without looking too 'kiddish' or cheap. I like the clicking sound when you put the cap back on. Cap off, it reminds me of my beloved Dior Addicts :)

Scent? Sweet? IMO, not too irritating.

Would you buy this product again? If I didn't have a bad reaction to these, I think I would love it. It provides decent moisture for everyday use and I felt a wide range of colours for a tinted lip balm (mind you I'm not very adventurous with lip colours...) 

Week 2: Eyes painted

The first week I took up this challenge I did a lippies post, and for week 2 I chose shadows. As shown in my makeup storage and collection post (here), I have a lot of eyeshadow palettes, so I will be doing more posts in the following weeks of eyeshadows. Here are the eyeshadow palettes I've used in the past week. 

For reasons I cannot really explain, this picture makes me very happy :) I love eyeshadows

Monday: Smashbox Eye Shadow Trio (Vanilla, Champagne, Brazilian Bronze.)

• This was part of a Sephora VIB 500-points perk a while back. I love carrying this in my makeup bag until the darkest brown (Brazilian Bronze) popped out of the pan... So sad~~ Anyways, this is a lovely trio with great pigmentation, easy to apply and the colours were perfectly put together, definitely a fave for this eyeshadow addict. The fact that it was free, is pure awesome :)

Tuesday: Maybelline Expert Wear Eyeshadow in Designer Chocolates

• This is my favourite drugstore palette/quad ever! I would choose this over some of my high-end palettes. The cranberry/purple/red shade is one of my favourite colour. I bring this palette to work on days I'm too lazy to put makeup at home and eventually work these colours onto my lids over the day. Quick and simple, portable and beautiful! This palette is proof that you don't have to spend a fortune for great colour payoff and lovely quality. Picked this up at the L'Oreal warehouse sale a while back, best $3 spent :)

at night: Lancome Color Design eye palette (Filigree, Tropique Glow, Island Kiss, Simmering and Lézard)

• I changed my look for our Tuesday meet, kept it simple and neutral~~ Started the week off lazy with pretty fool proof colours :) This shadow palette reminds me of the Naked 1 palette, but with some pinks. Lovely palette I got from a Lancome gift set that was on sale at DFCC. Lovely steal :)

Wednesday: Clinique Colour Surge Eye Shadow (Pink lollipop, Sugarplum duo, Crystal berry and Come Heather trio)

• This eyeshadow palette started my collection. This palette is perfect for more playful and awake look. I love the purples in this palette (especially now that I'm back in my purple phase.)

Thursday: Smashbox - Heartbreaker Eyeshadow palette in Hot Date

• Of all the palettes I used this week, this has to be my least favourite palette. The shadows are too soft and therefore hard to apply evenly, another fault was the amount of fallouts, it was particularly disappointing considering how much I enjoyed my free Smashbox trio~ Another reason this was kind of a derp buy for me is because the teal colour was not very flattering on me if it decides to show up at all~ I couldn't wait to go home to take these shadows off~

Friday: Urban Decay Naked 1 palette - (Virgin, Naked, Buck, Darkhorse and Half Baked)

• I LOVE THIS PALETTE. I lusted it from the first day I set eyes on it, and it is still one of my most reached for palettes. My only issue with this is that on a weekend trip to my in laws, this is just too big a palette to carry around (I'm also paranoid that I might break one of the shadows if I move it around too much.) In any case, I had a lot of time Friday morning so I played with a few of my favourite shadows from this palette and created another daytime smokey look~ Darkhorse is such a gorgeous dark brown~~ *drools* I will stop here because I'm sure most people have heard enough about this specific palette. :)

Sorry that this post was a little late on being posted, the swatching actually took a long time to do and then the cropping and uploading... I have a new level of appreciation for bloggers who consistently do so many swatches on their blogs! Very time consuming!

Anyways, I was thinking that I will do blushes for week 3, what do you think?? Yay or nay??? It better be yay! JK :)

Sephora Favourites: Give me some lip 2012

I purchased this lip sampler set a while back and finally got around to trying them all out.

Laura Mercier Lip Glacé in Baby Doll - pretty decent wear, it lasted 3+ hours after some tea and coffee. I thought this was pretty impressive for a lipgloss. I am surprised that this product has a light sweet scent that is barely noticeable. This is awesome since it doesn't clash with other lip products I use under it :) I also like the colour of the gloss as it has just a hint of pink with some shimmer. Subtle, but very cute. The product is very thick and I think its applicator is perfect for it simply because I prefer dotting some products on and let my lips do the rest. I don't like 'brushing' on lipglosses because I feel like I have less control on how much product I use and I don't like wiping the products on the edge of the tube, it's too messy looking. Hmm... I know I sound like I'm praising this product, but I just don't have a bad things to say about it yet... I might find something... but for now, I'm loving this :)

Tarte LipSurgence Natural Matte Lip Tint in Hope - I really wanted to try this product out, but I saw beeswax as an ingredient for the Tarte Lip Tint and hesitated... So I was glad that when I checked this specific colour and I found out that it did not contain beeswax :) Happy! The colour is very lovely and natural. It is a matte warm pink that is great for work and is beautiful under the LM lip glacé. It has a minty scent which I am not crazy about, but it goes away after some time. On its own the product is very drying, so I need to apply a balm before using it. This product lasts a very long time and does stain your lips.

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Sugar Rosé - Love the colour, love the fresh citrus scent. Even though this had beeswax, it did not cause my lips to peel, then again, I do apply either a layer of Vaseline or LM lip silk under it. I wonder if it might have cause a barrier to prevent a reaction? In any case, I've used it a few times and I like the lovely flushed looking lips I saw. It's nice that Sephora gave this out as a birthday present last year and that I managed to grab a set.

Hourglass Extreme Sheen High Shine Lip Gloss in Child - This is a sheer gloss, with little to no pigmentation. I've applied this gloss over nude lipsticks and it didn't really make a difference. However, when applied over a matte lipstick or lip stain, this product gives the lip a very lovely slight gloss finish and I want to say makes the colour look a lot more 3D. This product is scented, reminding me of Garden cookies (from HK.) I like the non-sticky feeling of this gloss, as well as the application of the product. The applicator is also something that I quite enjoy, it is a flat brush with a flexible/bendable tip/sponge. I enjoy using this product more now that I use it on top of a more dry matte lipstick that is not nude.

Sephora Collection Glossy Gloss in Precious Pink - I won't be reviewing this product, since I am giving it away. This is described as a very sheer pink with an iridescent shimmer. I have used the Sephora gloss before and thought they were ok. This colour looks pretty enough in the packaging.

Bite Beauty Lip Shine in Vintage - I'm on the fence about trying this one. I haven't been too curious about this brand since its products contain beeswax, and I don't really want to fall in love with products that I know I shouldn't. It is described as a sheer mauve. Please let me know if you've tried this product and if it's worth me risking the lip issue. Thanks!

Swatches:

With Flash from left to right: Laura Mercier Lip Glacé in Baby Doll, Tarte LipSurgence Natural Matte Lip Tint in Hope, Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Sugar Rosé, Hourglass Extreme Sheen High Shine Lip Gloss in Child and Bite Beauty Lip Shine in Vintage.

no flash

with flash

no flash

rant: Don't you just hate...

limited edition products?

I don't like reading up on new products only to find out at the end that they are limited edition... The last time I got suckered into buying something limited edition, I still have not used it yet which are the lipsticks and eyeshadow trio from the Paul and Joe 2012 Spring Creation collection (post here) sigh~! And this past weekend because of the Dior's Cherie Bow Spring 2013 collection and some SDM bonuses I  gave in and bought these...

Dior Addict 437 Charmant (LE) and DiorSkin Shimmer powder 001 Rose Diamond (permanent collection, though there were rumors last year that it might be discontinued... clearly, some marketing tactic...)

haul with the freebies

I'm determined not to repeat the mistake I made last year and started using the lipstick this weekend :) Here's some swatches~

left is without lipstick, right is with 437 Charmant

This is a sheer coral, but for some reason looks a lot more girly pink in picture. This lipstick is moisturizing and I like the fact that it gives my lips just a hint more colour.

pretending to be cute~ at this angle my eyes look kinda big...

The purchase with tax was $85.88. I received a 10$ gift card for Tim Hortons and 10$ from Shoppers which deducted the total to $65.88 putting me $2.17 over my MU budget this month :( boooo... I start February with a $97.83 budget~

On a brighter note, I got me some awesome girlfriend. She cheered me up with this love package XD

I really enjoy Bath and Body Works body lotion in Berry Vanilla, however, it is now discontinued, so I was literally quite surprised that she found it for me as well as the Katy Perry Sweetie Pie lashes which I also had rotten luck looking for... I am very lucky to have a great friend in Moose :) 

and... to further distract my reader (you) from the fact that I overspent this month... here's a picture of Aries that I took over the weekend :)

Thanks for reading and have an meowwww day :)

LUSH - Indulgence Haul

Guess who decided to indulge herself to some awesome smelling bath stuff? Yep, the hub-to-be wouldn't get it for me, so I got them myself :)

Ma Bar Bubble Bar, Bubblebeard Bath Bomb, Dreamtime Bath Melt, So White Bath Bomb and a lipstick in Believe

These are honestly such a lovely treat for someone who needs to feel pampered every once in a while.

My late movember - stache

I've been dying to try out the Lush liquid lipstick, and even though I thought I liked Perspective, I didn't end up getting it. Instead, I bought Believe home with me. :)

Quick picture of Believe on my lips :D

Details?

01/12/12 --> Used the Ma Bar, and I loved the chocolatey sweetness of this bubble bar! The scent had lingered even hours into the night without being overwhelming. I can see why this was a favourite that couldn't be retired!
11/12/12 --> Used the So White Bath Bomb and Dreamtime. It was just perfect to use for the day before my big day since it relaxed me and allowed me a few hours of sleep that night. My room was filled with the lovely scent afterwards, just what I needed!

Swatched: OCC lip tars and YSL Sheer Candy gloss

I picked up these lovely lippies during the VIB sale, just thought I should swatch them and show you the colours. For the OCC lip tars I wanted to show you how little products is needed to get the opaque colour as shown on the swatch. They were not joking when they say the tiniest drop... There was still quite a bit of products left on my fingers after. I'm pretty sure these lip tars really will last me forever...

no flash, from left: OCC Memento, OCC Grandma, YSL Sweet Fig

with flash

no flash: OCC Memento, OCC Grandma, YSL Sweet Fig

with flash

On the Sephora website, Memento is described as midtone pink plum, Grandma is a classic coral and Sweet Fig is a sheer brick red.

Have you tried these products before? Are there any colours you'd recommend I check out or avoid? Share!