Tag Archives: lip gloss

Buying Stuff: Episode 24

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I feel like I haven’t done a Buying Stuff post in light years.  But trust me when I say there’s been stuff being bought, like an embarrassing amount.  I mean, if there’s a day that goes by without a UPS box sitting on my porch, someone needs to call the authorities cuz a crime has happened in my neighborhood.

So let’s get started.  After wasting miles and miles of toilet paper, I finally decided to do this:

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It’s the Vera Mona Color Switch Solo and you can wipe the eyeshadow off your brushes with it and simultaneously save the planet.  It truly is a magical little tool.  And handy too – sometimes I just don’t have the time to root around in my brush cup looking for something particular.  I just take the brush I was already using, swipe the bristles around the mesh trap and voila!  Clean brush to use again.  It’s the lazy person’s (i.e., ME) best friend.

And because you’ll be saving billions of trees in the process, you can pat yourself on the back with a Sephora gift card.  There, doesn’t that feel good?

Wanna see something pretty?  Look below:

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Can you stand it?  Ugh.  It’s the Chanel Camelia de Plumes highlighter and it’s too pretty to actually use.  Like literally I’ve used it maybe 4 or 5 times then felt really guilty about it so I’ve put it away.  It’s practically an art piece with all that leafy design on top (technical term, obviously).  It is a limited edition and probably not even available anymore except on Amazon or eBay.  But I wanted to show you anyway because it’s simply too lovely not to share.  The color is a glorious mix of silver and gold, and if you don’t feel like a queen when holding/using/owning this, then you’re doing life wrong.

Now wanna see something ugly?  Look below:

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I know, right?  It’s the Marc Jacobs nail polish in Lux (a chartreuse yellow), and it’s so verging on hideous that it’s practically cool.  You know how male models can walk down the runway with a fanny pack on, and all of sudden you need a fanny pack like nobody’s business?  Well, it’s that kind of cool.  Except sadly my fanny pack would be less Chanel embossed leather and more Target-nylon-from-the-camping-aisle.  But still.

Anyway, this color caught my eye because of it’s rare ugliness.  Y’all know I don’t like nail polish.  I barely buy it and wearing it from one week to the next is a crapshoot.  So the lone fact that I bought nail polish and in THIS color speaks a thousand words.  I absolutely loved it.  It’s the most unique thing in my (albeit small) nail polish collection, and I don’t regret buying it for a second.

Then I bought this darling thing:

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Is this too much beauty in one post for you?  Everyone doing okay – heart rates behaving normally?  Cuz this Tom Ford blush in Love Lust about gives me palpitations.  If you’ve heard from other (more knowledgeable) people that Tom Ford blushes are beautiful and worth it – believe them.  Highly pigmented, natural looking and luminous.  It’s what cherub cheeks are made of.  And if I have an extra $57 laying around, I’m buying me another one.  However, how often does an extra $57 lay around at my house?  Not very.  I write a beauty blog.  I’m not sure what else you expect.

The below happened because Nordstrom couldn’t just SHUT UP about their damn mascara coupon:

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It was a Buy 2 Get 1 Free coupon, and I literally could not NOT take advantage.  Who doesn’t want something for free? (Crazy people.) And if I don’t cash in on it, what does that say about me as a person other than being really, really bad at math?  Cuz free is free, even if you have to spend $60 to get it.

First one is the Trish McEvoy Lash Curling mascara.  I wanted to give this one a try since I didn’t own any Trish McEvoy products, and even though you might assume I own all the products of all time everywhere, sadly that isn’t the case.  I mean, I am currently on my journey to own all the things but it’s going to take a lifetime at the very least.  That’s okay though.  Why be obsessed if you can’t do it proper?

But back to the mascara.  This is one of those tubing mascaras, the kind that forms little tubes around your eyelashes.  I’ll be honest when I say what is the point of tubing technology?  Does it make things more voluminous?  Or make your eyelashes touch your eyebrows?  Well, not for me it doesn’t.  It was just an okay find for me.  It does remove very easily, so the fact I don’t lose eyelashes in the process is enough motivation to make me use this product.

The Dolce & Gabbana Secret Eyes mascara fared better.  It is a lengthening version and it does alright.  I mean, don’t go expecting falsie-status or anything, but I don’t think you’ll hate it.  However, mascara is such a personal thing – one works for one doesn’t work for another.  Although if you tell me you don’t enjoy the YSL Babydoll mascara or the Charlotte Tilbury Full Fat Lashes one, then obviously you are WRONG.  But other than those two, I get it.

So this one gives decent length, separates and fans out lashes, but to get volume you’re gonna have to swipe on about 3 coats.  Luckily this didn’t cause a clumping fiasco otherwise I’d have to trade my morning Starbucks run with pushing a stick pin between my lashes and manually, tediously separating them.  Risking the safety of my eyeball isn’t always the best idea at 6:30 in the morning.  But then again, nothing sounds particularly awesome at 6:30 in the morning.  Aside from that, don’t make me choose between eyelashes and Starbucks.  What is the point of the Constitution if I can’t have both?  I ask you: WHAT. IS. THE. POINT.

My favorite of the three is the Burberry Curve Lash.  It takes the least amount of effort to make an impact.  The brush is small and does a pretty good job of volumizing.  Length is about standard, but I’ve come to the conclusion that fat lashes are better than tall ones anyway.  I wouldn’t say it curls them any better than other mascaras, but what do I want in a $30 mascara – a fecking miracle?  (Yes.)

Last thing I bought are the Gerard Cosmetics Jaclyn Hill lip thingies:

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If you don’t know who Jaclyn Hill is, it’s clear you don’t spend enough time on YouTube watching makeup tutorials, which in that case I can only assume your life is much more exciting than mine.  I mean, I’ve been reading the same 200-page book for roughly 3 months now because I keep using all my free time on YouTube.  I should really have more responsibilities in life.  If it wasn’t for the fact I have a full time job, I’d probably be winning in the Couch Pajamas Olympics event (but failing at the Cheetos-slash-Little Debbie Cake Resistance Program).

Well anyway – Jaclyn Hill.  She is a very popular makeup artist on YouTube and she has teamed up with Gerard Cosmetics to develop her own colors of lip gloss and lipstick.  I already own one of her lip glosses (called Rose Hill, a beautiful rosy pink) so this lip gloss in Buttercream and these lipsticks in 1995 (brown) and Buttercup (pink) complete the collection.  I absolutely love these products.  The lip glosses are very pigmented, which I prefer in a lip gloss.  Super shiny, not terribly sticky (or not annoyingly sticky).  If I had to pick my least favorite, though, it would be the 1995 lipstick.  It’s very much a Kylie Jenner-esque shade and I don’t always think it looks good on me.  But it looks good on loads of other people.  Which happens to me a lot with lipstick.  Skin tone can be such a bitch sometime.

Welp, that’s it for today.  I have two box reviews to finish out the month and if my math is correct, I should be able to fit them in with one day to spare.  If I can be a proper blogger and focus my attentions, that is.  I get very distracted by lounging.

Bye!

Buying Stuff: Episode 17

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You ever have those times where you think you are doing so good at shopping, not spending too much, then on the way out the store you see something you most desperately need and end up ruining all your good work?  Except you technically didn’t ruin anything because now you have something amazing, therefore you go home feeling like you quite literally saved the world from a stock market crash.  Well here is one of those times:

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It’s a cute little mask set from Peter Thomas Roth and I am in love.  Even if you don’t like masks, you could buy this cuz it has pretty colors, and who doesn’t love that? (Crazy people.)  I’ve been wanting to try the two gel masks for awhile, so finding this kit made me var var happy.  I didn’t know the pumpkin one existed, so that was a bonus.  Although I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin smells.  The last pumpkin thing I had was a mask from Michael Todd, and it had the consistency and appearance of baby food.  Not necessarily a bad thing if you love pumpkin; however, I do not.  But this Peter Thomas Roth thing is an exfoliator and the opposite of baby food, so I think it will be fine.

And remember how I saved the world from a stock market crash.  So everything mentioned in this post, including the pumpkin scrub, is immediately justified.

Below is a small Sephora haul:

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I love it when I run out of something cheap like body wash or makeup remover.  I have a legitimate shopping excuse at that point, and anything else that happens to find their way into my little basket is just a hazard of the emergency.  I mean, what can you do without body wash?  You can’t take a bath, that’s for sure.  So probably “emergency” is too mild a term to describe this situation, but “catastrophic misadventure” is much too long to type.

So I picked up a Philosophy body wash (that triples as a shampoo and bubble bath) in the scent Melon Daiquiri.  It smells like summer in a bottle, and I really like it.  They have tons of scents to choose from, and I spent an obnoxiously long time sniffing each and every one of them.  I almost bought all of them at one point, but finally decided on the melon.  But the Animal Cracker and Coconut scents are probably my next buy.

Wanted to try one of the Too Faced La Creme lipsticks because YouTube haunts me about 95% of my day.  Lots of my gurus talk about how they like the formula of these lipsticks, and I am easily persuaded, so there ya go.  I swatched a few of them in the store, decided on Pink Chocolate, and proceeded to walk around with it in my hand for about 45 minutes.  Right before checkout, I had an attack of conscious and realized I didn’t need to buy another lipstick.  I put it back, then stood in line at the register behind a lady taking an extraordinary amount of time signing up for the rewards program.  Or just long enough for me to ignore my rudely interrupting conscious and grab the lipstick off the shelf again and put it in my basket.

Well.  People need to be quicker in dealing with their transactions, that’s all I’m saying.  Hardly my fault.

Also got suckered into buying the Sephora #55 airbrush foundation brush because I am helpless and need a psychiatric evaluation.  Honestly, how many foundation brushes do I need?  In my defense, none of them say the word “airbrush” in the title, and I don’t know about you, but that word sucks me in almost 97.90567% of the time.  As evident by the fact I bought the dang thing.

I primarily wanted it because back in May when Sephora opened, the sales girl applied the Kat Von D foundation on me using this brush.  The finish was spectacular, which prompted me to buy the foundation.  Since that day I have not been able to duplicate the finish.  In fact, I almost hate the Kat Von D foundation because it is so thick and dry that applying it is about zero fun.

So now that I have this brush, one of the first things I did was apply the Kat Von D.  I read the directions of how to use the brush, and it says to dip it in the product, swirl it on the back of your hand, then apply to your face.  I did all that, and I still didn’t get the finish I was looking for.  Drat.  Perhaps I am not the makeup artist I pretend to be?  Perhaps my brush is broken?  Whatever the case, I have yet to achieve the look of airbrush, but I’m still working on it.

And then for no reason whatsoever, I needed to buy the Becca Beach Tint Shimmering Souffle.  For one, it’s a new product and there was a lot of excitement circling the Becca aisle because of it.  And two, the texture of this is pure fun.  It’s like the bubble wrap of makeup – you can’t stop touching it.  Whoever decided to call it a souffle gets an award, because that’s the perfect name.  It’s cushiony, airy, light.  Here’s a better close up, complete with finger indention.  Not a big one cuz I didn’t want to ruin it right off the bat:

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This is the color Guava/Moonstone.  It’s a cream blush – but the easiest application of a cream blush I’ve ever used.  It’s no fail.  If you get circus cheeks from applying this, then you need to sit down, as messing this up would be nigh on impossible.  The color payoff is very sheer and subtle, which could be a good thing if that’s what you’re looking for.  Beachy and glowy is what it is and var var beautiful.  Now, this is the only color I’ve used.  The others may be completely different.  You may get circus cheeks out of them for all I know.  But the Guava/Moonstone is golden and sunkissed – probably works best as a highlighter since the coral in it does not pop like you might expect.  I also have medium light skin, so depending on how dark or light you are, this may or may not be your dream blush.

How’s that for a review?  Maybe, maybe not, could be, could not be, yes, no … You might just need to swatch them for yourselves cuz I ain’t getting sued for misleading information.  All I’m saying is I like it.  Mostly because it’s squishy in its jar.  I dare you not to want to stick your fingers all in this stuff.  If you are somehow able to refrain yourself, you might need to take that show on the road, because that amount of willpower is downright inspirational.

Next up is this horrible picture below.

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I can’t even pretend there’s not cat hair all over this blanket.  I’m sorry.  What can I say?  They lay about as if they own the place.  And I guess that’s somewhat correct since my girl cat poops wherever she feels like and we still let her live with us.

The only thing in the picture I bought was the Bobbi Brown blush – the rest I got for free.  Perks of being VIB Rouge, y’all!  Which did not cost me a small fortune to begin with or anything (you know, in case the husband is reading this).  But back to that Bobbi Brown blush.  I got the color Sand Pink, and it’s a really nice medium shade that looks good with my skintone.  I’d say it’s pretty pigmented, but right now I’m distracted by how much cat hair is on that blanket and I can’t think of anything else.  I need to page-down real quick or something.

So all that Fresh lip care stuff was a little sample set.  It includes the lip polish, two lip balm treatments, and a sugar shine gloss.  I am really enjoying these products.  Aside from the weird brown sugar smell, that is.  I don’t prefer it.  But I believe the scrub is the best one I’ve ever used.  It keep my lips exfoliated the longest.  Which is quite a feat because I have the flakiest lip skin in all the land.  I don’t even understand why.  It couldn’t be because I sleep with a fan blowing in my face for 8 hours or anything.

The lip balms are nice as well.  The Rose one has a slight pink tint, but it’s not super evident, so don’t expect a whole lot.  I do like the way they feel on the lips; very moisturizing.  The shine gloss is just a top coat.  I probably won’t use this as much, but it’s not a bad product.  I just don’t wear a lot of clear glosses.

Then I cashed in a couple hundred rewards points and got the next two things.  First one is the Aqua Eyes eyeliner by Make Up Forever. I didn’t realize when I got it that it was a brown pencil, but I’m kind of happy it was. I have a lot of black liners, but very few brown ones. I was mostly interested in it cuz I needed a really good liner that stays put in my waterline. And even though this one is waterproof, my eyes somehow, miraculously, couldn’t give a shit. So this isn’t the one, needless to say. Still searching. Story of my life.

Last product is the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil bronzer. I know I’m the last person aside from nomads and cavewomen to own this bronzer. Better late than never. I can’t own all the things all at the same time ya know? Anyway, I thought this bronzer would be too dark for me cuz it kind of appears that way in the pan. But it’s PERFECT. Goes on lovely, blends fantastically, and smells like chocolate. Plus it’s matte so old people like me can wear it with confidence. Yayuuuuuus. In short, it’s my favorite bronzer now.

Congratulations, you’ve reached the end of this post. Your reward? Another post tomorrow.

You’re welcome.