Review: Nyx's Blush in 'Dusty Rose'

"Our pressed powder blush delivers sheer, silky colour that glides on, blends beautifully, and creates a natural glow. The formula is richly-pigmented and lasts for hours. Available in 24 shades." 
Source

This is the first NYX blush that I've purchased, and let me just start by saying that I'm impressed! I wasn't expecting this to have very good pigmentation, but I was entirely wrong.

Without flash.

With flash. 

Without flash. 

With flash.

This colour is a darker shade of pink (for comparison, darker than Benefit's 'Hervana', lighter than Benefit's 'Dallas') which, in my opinion, compliments fair skin better than people tend to think. It also has a very light shimmer to it, which reminds me of mineralize blushes or highlighters.

I was completely surprised by how soft the product is; whether this is good or bad I have yet to decide. After use with a brush, the product is very powdery and it gets all over the container. However, it goes onto the skin very easily because of this.

The packaging is made out of plastic, which feels slightly "cheaper" than the plastic you would get with MAC for example. But that just goes to show that you get what you pay for. It isn't bad packaging though; there are no unnecessary features to it, it opens and closes well and it's a smaller sized blush, which means it fits into a purse much better.

Overall I'm very pleased with this purchase, especially because it was so much cheaper than my usual Benefit blushes. I always feel so happy when I find good drugstore products.

Available at Ulta for $5.99. 

Review: Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette

Let's face it; you all know what this is! But just in case you don't, this is the second edition of a much-loved cult favourite, The Urban Decay Naked Palette. I'll be doing a comparison on the two this month, so stay tuned for pictures of both products and my opinion on them. Therefore, this review is going to be kept pretty short, especially because I only just got it and haven't had much chance to play with it! 

I'm not the biggest fan of the packaging on this one, mainly due to how it feels. I do love the colours used as they reflect the colours of the shadows inside it (like the previous edition), but I wish it weren't quite so bulky. It does latch closed nice and tight, so if you were ever worried about your palette opening up in a bag and causing a disaster, then this solves that problem. 

I do love the addition of a much bigger mirror! I don't often take palettes with me anywhere, and if I do I usually take my own mirror, but this is the perfect size if I were to only bring this palette. The mirror is big, and I can see all the detail I need to. 

So, first of all, let me explain why there is a chunk of eyeshadow missing in the 'Bootycall' colour. When I opened the palette, there was a little tiny fuzz on the edge of the packaging; I pulled it gently off...and it turns out it was stuck way inside the eyeshadow. So it pulled some of the product out. Lame, but not a big deal as it's still pretty tiny. Anyways! 

These are the first six colours, all of them from a warmer family of shades. 

 'Foxy' and 'Tease' are both mattes, which makes me happy since sometimes the amount of frost/shimmer in Urban Decay shadows gets on my nerves. 'Half-Baked' was featured in the first edition of the palette, but I'm glad it's still in this one because it's such a pigmented, shimmery gold. It's very pretty and I haven't found a gold colour better than it yet. 

'Snakebite' and 'Chopper' are both very pretty shades of brown, my favourite one being 'Snakebite'. I like that 'Chopper', although it's leaning towards a copper colour, isn't quite orangey. I find that some coppery shadows can look a little strange on the eye, so I'll have to see if this one manages to avoid doing that or not. 

'Bootycall' may be a replacement highlighting colours for me! I love shimmery brow highlights, and this one is nice, pigmented, shimmery, but doesn't stand out as a big white streak (I used this one today). It's nice because, rather than leaning towards white, it's leaning towards skin colour, so it blends into the skin rather nicely. 

The next six colours are very obviously cool-toned in comparison to the previous six. These are also what I'm most excited for about this palette! 

I'm not particularly excited about 'Busted', simply because it's just another shimmery brown in my opinion. The same thing goes for 'YDK'; I love this colour, but it's not very unique. 

My favourites from these six are 'Verve' and 'Pistol'. I think 'Verve' is a beautiful, silvery taupe that seems like it would be so versatile. 'Pistol' is an almost green silver shadow, which reminds me of army related uniforms. I think that's so unique and I'm planning on wearing it tomorrow :) 

Finally, 'Blackout'. I'm not a huge fan of matte blacks because I think they're so hard to use, but I do love this one. I already own another UD palette that comes with this colour in it, so I've had a chance to play around with it before. It's so black! It's very strong, but if you take the time, it's blendable and can be made to fade out slightly, or be more sheer. 

Overall, I think this palette is beautiful. I loved the first one and I use it all the time, but always felt like the colours were too warm-toned for me. I'm so excited to be using this new edition with all of the cooler-toned colours it features. 

I don't think that, if you're just looking for some nice colours to wear and aren't necessarily too fanatic about make-up, that you would need both of these palettes, but if you did get them both I don't think it's a waste. I actually think you get a far more complete neutral colour collection by having them both. However, if you're looking for more matte or satin finishes, maybe rethink buying this; all of these (okay, minus three) are super frosty. 

Available at Sephora for $50. 

China Glaze Haunting Collection

Swatches of 'It's Alive' up in the next post!

October Favourites

Yes! I'm ahead this time with my favourites post! Or at least, not nearly as behind as I was with my September post! I won't go into as much detail with the products as I did last time (I said I would do a video, but I'm far too self conscious for that haha) so it should be much shorter.


BH Cosmetics 120 Palette 2nd Edition: 
I've had this for quite some time, but have only really used it this past month. Though I've used it before for one shadow in the palette, I haven't seriously based my looks off of the colours that are in it. This month however, I have, and I'm definitely pleased! This is a great palette and the quality it good, especially considering how cheap it is!


Prevage Anti-Aging Eye Serum by Elizabeth Arden: 
I've never used an eye cream/serum before, but I figure now's as good a time as any to start using anti-aging products, if only to get into the habit of using them. I can't say I would buy this product (this was a sample) because I know I can get just as good creams for cheaper, but it has been fun to use. My eyes are really soft as a result :)


Inglot Shadows (White & Brown): 
I still haven't found out how to get these shadows safely out of the palette! Help! I've been using the white shimmery shadow as a highlight colour for every look I've done since I bought it! It's perfect for the job and helps fade out colour really well also. The brown I've been using in my more neutral looks as a crease colour and I feel like I would be lost without it :) I can't wait to get more Inglot shadows when my mom and I go before I move!


Clinique Clarifying Lotion for Combination Oily Skin: 
I don't usually like toners that have high alcohol content in them because they dry me out and make my nose peel. Both this and previous toners I've used from Clinique are really good for my skin as long as I avoid the nose. If I do use it on my nose, I do it at night and use a very intense moisturiser afterwards to make sure my skin won't peel.


MAC Brow Crayon in 'Lingering': 
I don't tend to fill in my brows, but I've been trying to match the shapes of mine for quite some time. My left brow has a little gap between the hairs where nothing will grow. I'm using this pencil to fill that gap in to see if leaving the area for longer will eventually give hair time to grow. I just don't feel like walking around with a bald patch on my eyebrow! :)


China Glaze Nail Polish in 'Haunting': 
I am in love with this colour! I can't explain why, since all it is is black with light silver sparkles, but somehow I really like the way it looks on my nails. I'm waiting on some more of the China Glaze Haunting collection to arrive at my house and in the meantime, this is all I've  been wearing :)


Those were my favourites this month! Hope you enjoyed :)

September Favourites

September Favourites 2011

I know, I know, I'm extremely late on this post! But I don't remember doing an August favourites so I really didn't want to miss this one. I've been very busy the past couple of weeks and haven't been able to blog hardly at all. I'm back now though and should have some posts coming out regularly! 

On to the favourites! (From left to right):

Benefit Face Powder in 'Dallas': 

'For a natural, fresh glow lightly sweep this dusty sunset plum powder across cheekbones and chin, or anywhere you want look to linger (avoid eye areas).' 

I originally bought this to use as a contour colour and have been loving it for quite some time. Only recently did I start to use it as a blush when I wear darker looks on my eyes. I don't own very many blushes (including this one, I have three!) and the ones I have besides this are very light pinks. This one has a deeper, really nice plum colours which suits the brown colours I've been wearing for eyeshadow lately. 

This has a great, light shimmer and lasts pretty much all day (in my opinion, not many blushes last allllllll day). It's also very subtle, which is the main reason I love it! 

MAC Paint Pot in 'Constructivist': 

I am absolutely in love with this product! I use it with practically every look I've worn all September and all October (so far). It works great as a base for other shadows, but can be used on it's own just as well. If I'm using it as a base colour, I'll usually apply it with my fingers and spread the colour on in a thin layer. If I'm using it for an actual shadow then I'll apply it using a fluffy brush. 

This is my first cream shadow ever and I can't wait to get another paint pot! These are great! It doesn't crease at all, lasts all day, and I'm pretty convinced that if I went swimming with it then it would last really well (unless I wiped it with a towel, duh). 

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector (B.B. Cream): 

I wrote a tiny little review on this in a previous post (http://ziggybitter.blogspot.com/2011/09/battle-of-tints.html) in which I talked briefly about the texture of the product. Now that I've had more of an opportunity to actually use the product, I can say that I really like it! 

I still prefer my Origins VitaZing moisturiser, but this is a good replacement for it. VitaZing here is around £20 something. It's a little pricey. When I get more cash on my Debenhams Beauty card (which means I have to buy other stuff...grrr) then I can purchase the VitaZing for a lot less. But in the meantime, this is great replacement. 

The only downside is that it's not nearly as moisturising as VitaZing is. However, as long as you make sure to use a good night-time moisturiser, you should be fine :) 

Armani Code Perfume: 

I love this perfume! I've been wanting it for over two years! No kidding! One of my best friends used to wear it all the time and although I really loved it, I didn't want to smell the same as someone I spent so much time with! Plus, it's more expensive than the rest of the perfumes I own...put together. My perfumes are cheap! I finally bought it when I was at the Belfast Airport since it was so much cheaper and...come on...I've been wanting it for two years! 

Here's a good description of the scents if you're interested. I'm horrible at scent descriptions! To me it smells citrus-sweet? Haha! 

http://www.theperfumeshop.com/fcp/product/womens-fragrances/giorgio-armani/armani%20code/2832

EcoTools Travel Powder Brush: 

This came in a set of other travel-sized brushes (I love them all!) and I'm amazed at the quality! It was under £20 for all of the brushes (I believe there were six) and they are nothing like I thought they would be. This brush is super soft and applies powders like a dream. They have full sizes and I may just have to purchase those at some point too! 

That's all! I forgot to take a photo of the Urban Decay 15th Anniversay palette, but because I reviewed that already (http://ziggybitter.blogspot.com/2011/09/urban-decay-15-year-anniversary.html) I'll just say that it definitely has earned a spot in my September favourites! 

Phew! Super long post! Hopefully it gives you all the information you could want. Next time I think I'll just do a quick video instead of all the typing :P 

Inglot

If any of you are into makeup and watch makeup gurus on YouTube, you'll have heard about Inglot. They are known for their incredible colour pigmentation and their overall great quality. They also have really good palettes as well that have magnets to hold several palettes together. 

For a long time they didn't have an online store, so I wasn't able to order any of their products from the London store and haven't been able to get down to their store in person yet. However, my mom went down their the other day, saw the store, and bought me some eyeshadow :) I had to tell her what colours I wanted over the phone, so it was sort of a guessing game in that sense, but I'm really happy with what I got. Let me just say, I am definitely pleased with the products and seriously need to get my ass down to the London store to play with makeup! 

Packaging

I think this may be my favourite kind of palette. It's simple, it's portable (in this size) and it provides easy protection for the eyeshadows. The only thing I can say that is bad about it is that once the shadows are in, they are kind of difficult to get out. I chipped the edge of the yellow one attempting to find out what colours they were (they are numbers, not names, and I failed but will totally find out what colours they are!). 

Packaging without the lid. 

Eyeliner Gel Matte

Gel liner smudged and lined, shadows. 

The shadows are definitely pigmented and swatch beautifully. The liner is very creamy, which I didn't like as much. I prefer the texture of the MAC Fluidline better, but this can work nicely as a base for an eyeshadow. It did take me forever to get the liner off though and it kind of stained my hand a little bit. 

Overall, these are incredible. I love them! I'm so desperate to go to the actual store and get to choose more stuff. They lived up to my expectations and I'm so excited to actually use them, especially that matte brown! 

Go and get some Inglot products! 

August Favourites

Jack Black Intensive Therapy Lip Balm in Natural Mint & Shea Butter
Benefit Lipstick in Good-to-Go
MAC Frost Shadow in Satin Taupe (one of my all-time favourites and most used)
Origins Checks & Balances Frothy Face Wash 
Benefit Face Powder in Dandelion
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eyeliner Pencil in Corrupt
MAC Satin Shadow in Velour
MAC Satin Shadow in Orb