Tag Archives: gel eyeliner

Buying Stuff: Episode 22

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Current status:  still freezing.  But thanks for checking.  I’ll just be over here wearing socks with my heels, sitting on a heating pad, holding my hand around my nose to keep it warm.  Or, looking like an idiot, as it is commonly known.

Gratefully, the weather is supposed to get warmer in the next few days, so perhaps my pouting and whining will calm down a bit.  Until the next polar vortex that makes it way through, that is.  Me and Winter? We ARE. NOT. friends.

In brighter news, I bought stuff:

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A little mini Inglot haul!  I picked up a lip paint in shade 59 (in the purple family), a gel eyeliner in shade 82 (also in the purple family; kind of a dark periwinkle), and a pigment in shade 56 (a teal).  I have decided that I love Inglot so much.  The gel eyeliners are the creamiest and best I’ve ever used.  They don’t set for 60 seconds, which works fantastically for me because I am never satisfied with my line on the first swipe.  In fact, I need a good 20 minutes – but I’ll accept 60 seconds.  I challenge you to buy one of these and then disagree with me.  It’s impossible I tell you; they’re amazing.  And if you think otherwise, well then you are WRONG.  There’s no other way to put it.

I adore the pigments.  I reviewed them in my Vegas haul if you’ll recall (and if you don’t, click here), and I still feel very much the same.  They are stunning, vibrant, and beautiful.  I now own four, and that’s a far cry from the zero amount I’ve owned in the past (i.e., my entire life) (i.e., forty years if you’re counting).

I’ve only purchased this one lip paint, and I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be a lipstick or a lip gloss.  It’s a very pretty color, but it sheers out somewhat on the lips which makes me think it’s a gloss.  But it’s not really sticky.  It’s creamy, but not thick.  Either way, though, I like it and I might end up buying some more.

More fun with purple.  See below:

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This is the Charlotte Tilbury eyeshadow quad in Glamour Muse.  I am so happy that Charlotte Tilbury is now being sold in the U.S.  I don’t even know why, as I hadn’t even heard of her until someone on YouTube mentioned her one time.  I’m gonna say it’s most likely cuz I wasn’t able to purchase her products that made me want to buy her products.  Don’t tell me I can’t have something.  That creates a panic in me so fierce that I could probably bend steel rods with sheer OCD force or something. Which I suppose is pretty genius marketing on their part.  And also how I ended up with this quad.

Okay, I’m torn about it. At first glance, it’s super pretty. The sparkle is just right.  But I bought this because I wanted something PURPLE not just purple.  And the vibrant looking shade does not transfer that well onto your eyeball.  How unfortunate, for me and for all of the world.  Now, if you like a more subtle purple, by all means buy this quad with confidence.  Do not be afraid.  It will probably most likely be the perfect purple for you.

On a happier note, the longer I wore it (and the more often I stared at myself), the more I actually started to enjoy the eye look.  So it turned out alright in the end.  It just wasn’t what I was expecting in the beginning, that’s all.

And then!  I bought this:

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I love having a Color IQ number with Sephora because it tells me when new foundations come out that will match my skin tone.  If you haven’t gotten your Color IQ done, I’m pretty sure you’ve stumbled upon this blog by accident, cuz anyone who’s everyone who loves makeup is (or should be) doing this.  If you like taking out guesswork, making shopping easy, buying foundation from the comfort of your home without fear and while wearing pajamas, that is.

So here is the Dior Diorskin Star foundation in 32 Rosy Beige.  For me, this is a really nice product.  It’s pretty lightweight, probably about a medium coverage.  Has a nice finish – not matte but not luminous – somewhere in between.  It claims to be brightening, which I didn’t really catch, but that might have more to do with my horrid complexion to start with.  That’s the problem with a lot of supposedly nice foundations.  You can’t put them on top of skin like mine and expect fabulous – it just doesn’t happen very often.  So, yeah, I wasn’t wowed or anything.  It didn’t knock my socks off.  It didn’t make me feel supermodelly (like the Guerlain Tenue de Perfection or Givenchy Photo’Perfexion does).  So this foundation will be in my second tier – a high quality, better than average, no IT factor foundation.

I bought a brush:

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A Wayne Goss #7 lip brush to be exact.  I bought this to go with the Inglot lip paint, as I didn’t feel like going all hillbilly fingers into the pot.  We use brushes like refined ladies in here, people.  Or else.

What can I really say about a lip brush other than it applies lip stuff? Not much.  But I will say the edges are very thin, so if you’re really good at using a lip brush I’d think this one would do a pretty good job for you.  Other uses of this brush include gel or powder eyeliner application.  I tried the gel version, and you know what?  I really suck at gel eyeliner.  But others who don’t suck might find this brush a dream.  It has somewhat stiff bristles so they don’t go flopping all over the place and allows for some nice precision.

Look at this beauty:

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This is the Marc Jacobs Sky-Liner Highliner gel eye crayons kit.  Let me preface this by saying this kit is a limited edition.  However, the eyeliners themselves are not, so even if it’s 17 months into the future and you are reading this blog, this review should still apply.  Unless Marc Jacobs goes out of business, so in that case, kindly carry on.

I love these eyeliners.  They are very creamy and easy to apply.  The shimmer is beautiful.  They last for a very long time on the upper eyelid or below the lower eyelashes.  On my waterline, though, they did not last as long.  Kind of went patchy in the afternoon.  But I have very wet eyeballs so that’s probably the reason.  I’ve yet to find an eyeliner with hardcore staying power – the Sumita Beauty one comes the closest, but I’m still on my mission.  Regardless, though, these are some pretty, good quality liners and you should go ahead and throw them in your basket.

Whatever you do, do NOT buy the travel size of this item:

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It’s the Omorovicza Thermal Cleansing Balm, and if you try it once you will fall madly in love, then wrestle with your conscience regarding the $105 full-size price.  Or you can ignore yourself like I usually do.  It’s your risk to take.  But I swear, I have no idea what this stuff is made of – okay I do; it’s made of thermal mud from the Hungarian Moors – but it’s truly magical.  Has an odd little smell verging on licorice, but I’m most likely conjuring licorice due to its black color.  Anyway, I use a very small amount and apply it all over my face.  The texture is soothing, soft, velvety smooth.  Wiping it off is even better cuz then you are left with the skin of a baby’s bottom.  At this point, you’re under its spell and your shopping hand starts to get itchy.  Also, it removes makeup very well, but that’s beside the point now isn’t it?

I have since bought an Omorovicza travel kit that includes another jar of this balm.  I’m hoping by the time I’m done with both jars, my fascination will have been satisfied and I will no longer feel the pull of buying the full size.  Because honestly, I don’t WANT to pay that much for a cleanser.  Although, I suppose I will if I won’t leave myself alone about it.  I can be soooo super annoying sometimes.

If you like colorful eyeshadows, you should buy this:

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Ack!  I die.  This Urban Decay Vice 3 palette is just lovely.  That gorgeous green on the top row is what caught my eye initially.  And the golds and purples.  There are hearts in my eyes right now.  I had no issues with pigmentation or blendability.  Fallout was pretty minimal if at all.  And it comes in a cutesy little iPad case to help make your shopping decision even easier.

So many stunning looks can come out of this palette.  My favorite (other than the green of course) is using Lucky – which is the color of a new penny – all over the lid, then adding Alchemy – a bold raspberry – in the outer v.  Of course, I’m sure some makeup artist could do it even better, but I was pretty proud of my invention.  Pretty sure Urban Decay is about to call me.  Or Vogue.

Behold, look what else:

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Is your mouth hanging open?  Mine is.  It’s the new Gucci makeup, specifically the eyeshadow duo in Fume.  It’s shockingly beautiful, very luxurious, fancy schmancy, and ooh la la. Practically too pretty to even use, what with all those little Gs stamped into the shadow.  However, I did use it – just once so far – and lemme just say that sometimes I question my own makeup skills.  How could something this lovely not turn out even more lovely once applied?  There was more pigmentation in the pan than on the eye.  What did I do wrong?  I suppose I could’ve wet my brush first to see if that made it better, but putting something wet into something dry gives me anxiety, like there’s a never-turning-back event about to happen, and it stops me from doing it.  That’s most likely the #1 reason I hate washing my hair.  Which has nothing to do with this eyeshadow, but still.

I’ll keep playing with it.  I’m determined to not give up.  I’ll do it for my people (that’s you), so you will continue reading (and loving) this blog.

We’re at the end.  You’ve made it.  Now wasn’t that fun?  Be sure to come back again and again cuz I write updates all the time.  You won’t want to miss out on anything.  Trust me.

Buying Stuff: Episode 18

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Today is my husband’s birthday, and to celebrate, I bought myself some stuff.  Because I have to go take him to see that dang Planet of the Apes show, and I tried to convince him it’s cool to go the the theater by yourself but he wouldn’t agree, so now I am forced to watch a boy movie for 11 hours straight.  Give or take 9 hours or so.

In other words, all things below immediately and undeniably JUSTIFIED.

First up:

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I was running out of cleansing milk – you know, what they call an emergency – so I thought I’d try something new.  Picked up the Le Couvent des Minimes version.  I haven’t used it yet because per usual, I think I’m about out of a product so I rush around to get my replacment ready, when suddenly my almost empty tube replicates itself and I get another two weeks of use out of it.  I did smell it, and it’s a very delicate rose scent.  I squeezed a little onto my fingers to discover the consistency is quite loose.  Not sure how I feel about that, as I like a thicker cleansing milk, but we’ll see.  I’m almost certain I have only 1 or 2 days left of my current product, as long as the planets are aligning properly as they should.

Then I got the Lorac Pro 2 eyeshadow palette.  I already have the first one, and it’s amazing and beautiful, so naturally I had to grab the little sister.  This time around, the shades are quite colorful versus the more neutral shadows of #1.  And as expected, this palette is perfect.  Using the same concept from before, there is a row of mattes and a row of shimmers.  The shadows are pigmented, buttery, smooth, glorious.  I am so happy I bought it.  If you have just $42 and you’re wondering what to do with it, stop thinking and put this in your basket.  No, I’m serious.  Do it right now.

Fine, here’s a close up first:

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I have been using Light Brown or Nectar in my crease, which are both great.  And the shades Rose, Chrome and Jade are beautiful lid colors.  Love Cocoa, Plum and Navy in the outer V.  Honestly, you won’t regret getting this palette unless you hate perfection.  I mean people are weird, sometimes.  But if you are a normal human and do as I tell you, you’ll be sitting home on Saturday night playing with your makeup while all your cool (stupid) friends are out having “fun.”  Such fools.

Perhaps one of the funnest (most fun?) lipglosses I’ve ever owned is Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie in the shade Hypnotist.  It looks like the future, like something Judy Jetson would wear.  That’s not even a joke.  Look:

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How pretty is that?  Who doesn’t want an iridescent lipgloss? (Crazy people.) However, I will say that this lipgloss doesn’t do a whole lot on it’s own. It’s mostly clear with shine. It fares slightly better on top of lipstick. Gave my nude lipstick a bit of extra dimension although nothing crazy. In fact, it’s more of a novelty than anything else. I don’t mind it. It’s pretty to look at, smells like mint chocolate, and feels good on the lips. I will most likely repurchase cuz I enjoy spending money on pretty things that don’t work. You probably should too.

I know. I’m ridiculous. But my lipgloss is holographic so try arguing with that. (You can’t.)

Picked up this batch too:

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I’ve never used any of the Body Shop body butters before, and Ulta had them on sale for 40% off. And naturally I can’t walk away from a good coupon, so I put the coconut one in my basket. This smells so good, like summer and the beach. Can’t wait to start using it, but as usual I’m constantly trying to finish up other products first. Hopefully I’ll get to it by the end of the month.

I’ve been feeling a little oily this summer so for the first time in my life I’m buying products to fix it. I have a few sheets of some Tatcha Japanese blotting linens left, and I really love them. Figured I’d try something different, especially cuz the Tatcha ones are kind of pricey. Decided on these little NYX matte ones. And guess what? Do not like. Of course I wouldn’t since they’re practically free compared to the other ones.

First of all, the packaging is awkward. It’s not easy to remove the papers. I have to unfold the whole packet and then put it all back together. It takes too much energy. If the choice is to remain oily or break a sweat fiddling with the dang packet thing, I suppose oily isn’t such a bad deal after all.

And second of all, I’m comparing them to the lovely texture of the Tatcha papers, and there’s just no comparison. Granted, the NYX ones are cheap, and Tatcha has made me spoiled.

Long story short, I bought some Boscia papers so I’m gonna try those instead.

I also picked up another NYX Butter Gloss. I own like 7 or 8 of these. That’s probably not a lot compared to some, but I carry them all in my purse so they take up a lot of space. However, I didn’t have a brown so what is there left to do but buy a brown? Got the color Praline and it’s so pretty on top of my nude lipstick.

Then of course at the check out counter they had these sample tubes of Peter Thomas Roth peeling gel. It says right there on the package that your dead skin will roll right off your face. I challenge anyone not to want to buy 15 tubes of this stuff. Seriously, dead skin. Rolling. Right off your face. I can’t even.

I used this the other night, and it really is quite amazing. After washing, apply this gel to your face in circular motions. Quickly, little balls of product and dead skin starts to ball up and fall into the sink. Then afterwards you literally feel as if you replaced your old face for a new one. It’s fantastic. I have a suspicion I’m about two seconds away from buying a full size.

Have you ever wanted a purple lipstick so bad that you ended up buying a purple lipstick? I did, and it was the Make Up For Ever one in #15. Now, the color is gorgeous. It’s true purple. There is a lovely pearl finish. However, the drawback is the formula. It’s so incredibly dry it practically drags across your lips. I have to do extra extra swipes just to cover all the surface area evenly. It was cumbersome and effortful. I had a lot of thinking to do.

Decided to go with it anyway cuz did I mention how bad I wanted a purple lipstick? Sometimes I do things against all practicality. However, it turned out alright in the end. Here is me wearing purple lips topped with the iridescent Hypnotist gloss mentioned earlier:

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Ooooh, purty! Totally worth it. I don’t even care about the formula anymore. I will spend the rest of my life applying this lipstick if the end result looks like this every time.

Last haul is this one:

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Another emergency – I was running out of eye makeup remover. So I thought I’d give this Mario Badescu one a try. It’s a gel, not a liquid, so it’s kind of weird. Also you have to really enjoy smearing black mascara all over your eye socket cuz that’s how you remove it with this stuff. But I will say it works really really well. And when you get it in your eye, it only stings for like 5 seconds. Success!

Then as a gift with purchase, I got this teeny sample of the Mario Badescu glycolic face wash. I had every intention of using it, but you know how I have like 7 or 8 tubes of cleansers in line already? One more might send me into an anxious fit. My daughter has it now. I have to bribe her for two-armed hugs you know.

Replacing my dried up pot of Maybelline gel eyeliner, I got the Napoleon Perdis China Doll one. I used it and it’s very creamy and easy to apply. I like it. Plus it was on sale at Ulta for $15. If I didn’t buy it at that point, I’d be accused of a mental imbalance, for sure.

Got a beautiful matte balm stain from Revlon called Sultry. One of my YouTube beauties raved about it so naturally it went on my wish list. And then about two seconds later I went ahead and bought the dang thing. This color is one of the prettiest I own, and I literally own a billion. Give or take. And this matte formula was not drying on my lips at any point, which was a nice surprise.

And finally, I bought a nail polish. No,
you did not misunderstand what I just said. I thought this Revlon color in Chameleon was so unique, I knew I had to have it. I love how the gold turned to green in different angles. I had never seen another color like it.

Well, sadly, it wasn’t quite as pretty on the nail. Mostly it was an antique gold/bronze and the green wasn’t that evident. A bit of a bummer really. I mean, I freaking bought nail polish; the least it could do was be amazing. Hmmmphf.

Well that’s it. You’re free to go about your weekend as you please. Bye!

Buying Stuff: Episode 2

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Well crap. This is always happening to me:

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I ain’t gonna lie. Buying stuff is fun. Buying stuff with gift cards is even better. But you know as well as I know that you cannot, under any means whatsoever, spend strictly what’s on a gift card and then walk away. I am not Superwoman. I do not have magic powers. I am helpless as a baby lamb among shiny packages.

In other words, I spent too much money today.

It started out alright. I had a snafu with an eBay purchase yesterday where I ordered a Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner that turned out to be 5+ years old (um, eww) so I needed to get a new gel liner like pronto. Trusty YouTube, my evil special friend, told me Maybelline had a good product so I picked up a jar for $10. Also had a $5 off coupon for it, so things are going really well at this point.

Then I walked to the other side of Ulta, the high-end area where dreams are made of. Dammmmmit. Why is everything so pretty? I’m about 98.63848% certain I own everything already, but I somehow managed to find a few new things. You know, the status quo.

First thing I picked up was the Stila In the Garden palette. I’ve seen this here every time I come in so why now of all times do I suddenly feel I need it? I just made a decision and went with it. Which always turns out to be a very expensive decision. My decision-making skills need some assistance.

But look how pretty:

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It just looks like spring. And anything that reminds me of spring, sunshine, warmth and happiness … well, that’s my jam.

Then I walk past the clearance table, and if you are able to walk the opposite direction from a clearance table you need to take your show on the road because that right there is inspirational. However, I am simply human so I stop for about 2 hours.

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This Too Faced Joy to the Girls kit was all the rage this Christmas and I almost bought it 15 separate times. But I have been rewarded by my steadfastness by saving $10.

And of course on the way out the door I passed the Smashbox display where they had one Must-Have Metallics Rose Gold kit left. Having one left of anything creates a moment of panic in me, so naturally I had to buy it before it went extinct.

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So precious. I actually wore this entire kit today and it turned out lovely. Rose gold. That’s all I need to say about that.

By the grace of God, I was able to leave Ulta without buying anything else. Although I had a Tarte foundation and a Bare Minerals highlighter in my bag at one point. I do try very hard to be frugal to some level so this very act of putting products back on the shelf is a miracle to the nth degree. The fact that I will regret is mightily and daydream about them incessantly is besides the point.

Like I said, I’m only human.