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. 

Review: Revlon Colour Burst Lip Butter

Yes, I think all beauty lovers know by now what this is! This is the newest (as far as I'm aware) lip product that Revlon has come out with. Now, usually I avoid buying Revlon products. I'm not sure why, but in the past I've never been attracted to their packaging, which may be the reason why I'm not familiar with their products. However, the packaging for this is a 10 out of 10 for me. I hate having lipsticks that are all the same colour on the outside, like the MAC Cosmetics lipsticks. It means you have to search and open them up to see what colour they are. 

With these Lip Butters, the lid is the same colour (or as close as it can get) as the product itself. So when you look at them, you know without having to open them up what colour it is. If you had several of these, then it would make grabbing the right colour very simple. 

The lid also closes onto the product quite strongly; if you carry this around in your purse, it's not going to open up very easier. However, after a couple of times opening this, I felt like it wasn't closing as well as before. So possibly, after enough use, the "closing strength" may not be as good as it was to begin with. Personally, I've never had a lipstick lose it's lid before, so this isn't a big problem for me. But to some of you, it may be :) 

The colour I bought is called 'Raspberry Pie'. It's a beautiful bright pink that reminds me more of a fuchsia pink. It's a colour that I am not accustomed to wearing (which is why I bought it) so I'm still experimenting on what colour eyeshadows go best with it. 

The only thing I don't like about this colour, is that it's very bright. When I apply it, I use it straight from the tube, but don't take the colour all the way to the edges of my lips because it would be very noticeable if I messed up. That's also the fault of the shape of the lipstick itself, but you can't win everything! 

To fix this problem, I fill in the edges of my lips with an angled brush. That way I'm able to apply it more precisely and it looks better, and it doesn't go over the edge of my lips. 

This lip butter is definitely more moisturizing than other lip products I've tried, which is so nice to have in the winter because my skin always gets so dry (especially in this climate!). I've found that it also last a super long time; I was wearing this all day and it didn't come off! Plus, I drank out of a big straw and the product didn't come off. The only thing it did lose was the pretty glossy shine that it had when I put it on. It's a very pretty shine, but it doesn't last all day like the colour itself does. But who cares! If you want to keep the glossiness, either reapply some more or put some clear gloss on over it! 

I'm very, very happy with this purchase. I went and bought another one (you'll see it in the video I'm posting this week) and I love them both! They are so affordable, long-lasting, and come in a lot of different colours. I'll be slowly adding more of them to my collection! 

Ulta Haul

My Ulta experience was no fun. It was my first time ever going to Ulta and I chose the absolute worst time to go. It was right after Christmas and literally...all of the shelves were practically empty. There were tons of shelves that literally had nothing on it, others that had, oh, one of two things, and then maybe three or four that were actually filled. Seriously. They were wiped out. 


I did manage to find what I had gone there to get, but overall it left me kind of disappointed because I'd heard such amazing things about it and didn't get to experience it. I definitely need to go again now that it's been restocked so I can get the full effect of Ulta awesomeness. 


So, here's the couple of things I did manage to get! 

I've been using this blush with almost every neutral/natural look since I got it. I thought that 'Dandelion' by Benefit was the perfect, natural blush shade for me, but boy was I wrong! This is definitely the perfect blush for my skintone. It has mostly a satin finish, so I sometimes like to add a little bit of a shimmery highlight to it. 

I finally got NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in 'Milk'! Hurray! These are the creamiest, most blendable pencils I've ever owned. I was impressed by Urban Decay 24/7 pencils and how creamy I thought they were (especially 'Perversion') but they do not even come close to comparing to these! I wouldn't wear these are actual eyeliner, but as a base they work fantastically. I've also been using 'Milk' in the inner corners of my eyes, something that I've never caught on to before using the NYX pencil. Nothing would last long enough in the inner corners, but now that I've been using this, the colour has been lasting all day. So happy I bought these! 

Since my hair has gotten longer, I've been blowdrying it every morning. If I don't, it just sits flat on my head at the top, and poofs out at the bottom, giving me triangle-head. Not pretty. So I've been on the lookout for a heat protection spray. Voila! This ones awesome. It has a nice smell (kind of fruity, kind of sweet) and I like the way the little spray nozzle was made. It's easier to use that way. I've found that less is more when using this product. Hopefully in the long run this will make a big difference to the "quality" of my hair. 

Okay, so I snuck this one in; it wasn't bought at Ulta. I've been using Nivea makeup remover wipes for as long as I can remember and I honestly thought I would never change. However, as I'm now starting to realise, the state of Utah doesn't seem to sell Nivea facial products. Which sucks majorly because those are the only ones I like. So I had to stray from my comfort zone and buy something else. 
This is, by far, the most effective, awesome, incredible, I-will-never-buy-anything-else makeup remover wipe that I have ever come across! It doesn't matter what kind of makeup I'm wearing, whether it be waterproof or just a hell of a lot of eyeshadow, these wipes take it off with literally no effort. With Nivea, I had to kind of scrub, but with these, it just wipes off so nicely! I'm so glad I got these. 


And that's it! I love all of these products and am so happy I was able to get them. I recommend the Neutrogena wipes and the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils! 

BH Cosmetics 120 Colors Palette: 3rd Edition

I purchased the 3rd edition of the 120ColorsPalette fro, BH Cosmetics during December when they were having a bunch of their sales. This is one of the reasons I like BH Cosmetics so much; they have some of the best discount sales I've ever seen! It's worth signing up for emails from them just because of the amount of discounts they do, most of which only last for either one week or 24 hours. Of course, it also helps that the quality of these eyeshadows is pretty damn impressive too. 

I already own the 2nd edition of the 120 palettes, which has far more vibrant, colourful shadows. This one I decided would be a good investment because the colorful shadows they have are more pastel than vibrant, so are different from the colours I already own. 

Top Tray

The bottom tray of this palette comes with far more earthy, neutral shadows. I really loved this because of all the green and blue shades they had, none of which I have real dupes of. Any blue that I have tends to be far more bright and harder to use for the everyday looks I tend to go for. 

Bottom Tray

As usual, all of these shadows are a mix of shimmers, glitters, mattes, and satin finishes. From what I can see, this edition has a less glittery shadows than the 2nd edition, but I haven't looked closely to compare them yet. All I know is that any matte/satin shadow I've used from this edition has been beautifully pigmented, which can be so hard to find. 

I've been using this bottom tray since I got the palette and have been loving it. It honestly works so well for the type of daily looks I like to wear, and I can't help reaching for it everyday. I recommend any of the 120ColorsPalettes to anyone looking for a good beginners palette, but especially this one because of all the neutrals it has. This kind of palette is a great option because it has so many non-brown, but still natural, colours.

You can get it here: 

https://www.bhcosmetics.com/products/eyes/120-Color-Eyeshadow-Palette-3rd-Edition/

It isn't on as great of sale as when I bought it, but it's currently 10% off of the original, already really cheap price, of about $35. Now, I believe they do ship internationally, but I've found that the best way to order any American product to somewhere in Europe (for example) is to find a contact in America, ship it to their house, and then have them send it to you from their house. This way you often avoid customs and having to pay taxes on it. And no, that's not illegal, haha! 

If I know you personally and you'd like to have this palette (or anything other american product), send me an email and I'll see if I can help :) 

Kat von D 'True Romance' Eyeshadow Palette

SEPHORA! Yes, I went yesterday finally. It's one of the things I've been waiting to do since I got to the US. Pretty pathetic. Anyways, I finally went and got a present for a family member, some skincare, and the Kat Von D 'True Romance' palette. There were some by the check out, as well as by the actual Kat Von D section. I don't have a ton of money to spend this Christmas, but I saw this and because it wasn't too expensive ($20) I figured I could get it as a little present for me. 

Palette

Without Flash

With Flash

Without Flash

With Flash

Without Flash

With Flash

Without Flash

With Flash

These shadows are all very shimmery/frosty, but don't have a lot of fallout which is really nice. You don't have to put a lot of to make the darker colours pigmented, but the two lighter colours go on kind of sheer. Luckily though, they're easy to pack on to make bolder, or blend out to make more sheer. I think they're worth the money, especially because I don't own a colour like 'Rad Purple'. 

The packaging is perfect for me. It's perfect to take in a purse (which is something I'm always looking for) and with the four colours you could easily make an everyday look or a night-time look. Overall, with the small size of the packaging, the quality of the shadows, and the price, I definitely recommend this. 

Inglot Shadows

So finally I'm updating my blog again! I've got some time now to do it and I'm taking advantage of that. Let me being by saying that having a good internet connection makes a huge difference! Rather than 30 minutes, it took me about 5 to upload all the photos for this post. Needless to say, that saves me a hell of a lot of time and makes it far more pleasant to post! 


These are the five Inglot shadows I got when I went to the London store. I've been using the light brown non-stop for almost every single look that I've done! They are incredible! Although I have no photos of the colours swatched, they don't need anything. These colours (minus the brown) look exactly like they do in the palette as they do on my skin! 

I got a 5-shadow Freedom System palette. I had originally wanted more, but I was more than happy with these colours! One day, if I get the chance to shop there again, I'll buy some more :) 

Pearl 414

(More accurate photo of the colour in the picture just before this one). This colour is a dark, shimmery, mossy green. It can be blended out to give a beautiful, pearly sheer colour, or packed on to look more pigmented. 

Matte 387

This is the only matte grey of this colour that I own. It's a deeper, more visible grey than others I've seen and looks best when packed onto the lids. I like to use it as a crease colour with lighter greys or silvers. 

Pearl 447

This colour isn't so much pearly as it is frosty. It's a very pretty, light silver and is a nice change from other silvers I own that are flaky and thick with glitter/frost. 

Matte 390

Now, this colour is the one I've been using the most out of all my shadows lately (if I do a favourites post, I'm sure it will make an appearance!). It's the only shadow out of the Inglot ones that I own that doesn't actually show very well on my skin. However, that's in no way the shadows fault; this colour is far more similar to my skin colour than I thought it would be, so when I use it, it tends to blend into my skin and not show up too much. I love this about though, as I prefer to wear more natural colours shadows for everyday looks (a darker crease colour and very sheer lid). So this is perfect when paired with another matte, darker brown. It's also great to blend out the edges of other looks to take away harsh lines. 

Matte 367

This baby blue has the chalkiest texture of all five shadows. It doesn't come off super blue, instead showing up as more of an icy white. However, I bought a matte gel liner in the same colour specifically to use with this shadow as a base. This will make the colour pop. I've been waiting for a good opportunity to wear it! 


These shadows stay true to the Inglot quality that people are so crazy about. I've been loving using them :) 

Inglot & MAC Haul

So, I finally got to shop at Inglot, which if you've followed me for awhile, then you know I've really been wanting to go there. I was so impressed with the shadows I got from my mom when  she had gone (especially the matte shadow!) that I knew I had to buy some more from them.


Normally I wouldn't make a special trip all the way to London because the train ticket is so ridiculously expensive, but I had to go down to the Spanish Consulate in London anyways. Therefore, it made sense for my mom and I to combine the two things.


Going into the store was really fun. There were so many shades of lipstick! I've never seen so many colours of lipstick before. But I was there for the eyeshadow. It was fun to walk around and be able to make my own palette, swatch all the different colours, etc. I would have loved to have had enough money to buy the giant matte shadow palette! So pretty.


I wasn't too impressed with the help though, partially because there were just two girls working, but partially because the girl who did help me spoke very quietly and had a difficult accent to understand. The combination of the two made it hard for her to help me out, but that's entirely my own fault :P I wish they would have had more people working to truly be able to help everyone in there. The girl who helped me was multi-tasking and I felt pretty bad for her.


After I spent all the time I needed to at Inglot, I went to the MAC store they had there and bought a couple things from the Glitter and Ice collection that I had been eyeing. I'm extremely tempted to go back and buy some more stuff! I usually don't get too impressed with MAC collections, but something about this one caught my eye.


I'll have a video of these products (along with one or two others) as well as accompanying blog posts up within then next few days. I can't promise they'll all be up since I'm in the process of packing my stuff to move, but I'll do my best!

China Glaze 'It's Alive' Pictures

China Glaze 'It's Alive' 

China Glaze 'It's Alive' 

I love 'It's Alive'! It's such a perfect colour for Halloween and reminds me exactly of a lizard/monster. It's hell to get off of course, because it's super chunky pieces of glitter. The glitter is a dirty, green-yellow, on a black base. So cool!

China Glaze 'Ghoulish Glow' 

The 'Ghoulish Glow' polish is awesome. It's very noticeably glow-in-the-dark when you see t in the bottle. So far, I've only tried it on top of China Glaze's 'Haunting', which is a black polish. On a dark colour like that, the glow didn't show up almost at all. I'm guessing it would show up far better on a lighter surface, which I will be trying next!


Keep an eye out for the comparison between OPI Black Shatter and China Glaze's Black Mesh!

China Glaze Haunting Collection

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