Scrangie

Rescue Beauty Lounge Georgia On My Mind Collection 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-05-25T11:00:00.002-05:00

The new Georgia On My Mind collection from Rescue Beauty Lounge is a set of seven shades inspired by the life and works of American artist Georgia O'Keeffe.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Georgia On My Mind

Rescue Beauty Lounge Abiquiu. Abiquiu is a light, yellow-toned green with very subtle yellowed silver shimmer. Some of the shimmer is darker and more green, but most of it is a very light metallic greenish-yellow. This shade has a very faded, weathered look to it that does make me think of cactus and dried grasses in New Mexico.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Bella Donna. Bella Donna is a soft, clean white. It's the only one in the collection that has no shimmer at all. Instead, it has a creamy, soft-looking, translucent jelly finish. I found this color to be too streaky to wear alone with only one coat, but it was perfectly even at three, which is what I'm wearing here.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Faraway Nearby. This is a light turquoise with bright blue-green shimmer. The shimmer is small, subtle and is not immediately noticeable. In dim light, it adds a green cast to the polish, but in brighter light you can see that it's bright and green against the turquoise base. Makes me think of what Pure Ice Heartbreaker would be like with an opaque creme base. The shimmer in this is smaller, but the colors are similar in both.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Ghost Ranch. Ghost Ranch is a medium bronze shimmer. It looks quite dark here, but it is a bit lighter in real life. The base of the color looks like a neutral medium brown, but it's filled with iridescent metallic shimmer that adds warmth and multicolored sparkle to the polish. When the light hits this just right, the fine shimmer particles flash a rainbow of colors.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Jack In The Pulpit. This one is a dark and strongly blue-toned green with subtle teal and aqua shimmer. In indoor light, the very fine shimmer appears as a reflective blue haze across the surface of the polish. It only begins to look sparkly or shimmery in bright, direct light.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Oriental Poppy. Oriental Poppy is a warm, bright poppy red with subtle pink-red-orange duochrome glass fleck shimmer. The shimmer in this is different than the usual Rescue Beauty Lounge ultrafine shimmer. It's shiny, crisp and reflective, much like glass fleck shimmer, but with a smaller particle size. The bright red-orange base is ever so slightly sheer which, in conjunction with the lighter shimmer, gives the polish extra depth that the others don't have. The shimmer in this is very subtle, though, and only really makes itself known in bright light.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Santa Fe Road. Santa Fe Road is a light, yellow-toned orange base with subtle green-teal-gold duochrome shimmer. I have to say, this one is definitely my favorite. The combination of soft, faded orange with the glow of the green-gold color-shifting shimmer is so gorgeous. The shimmer in this is a little heavier than in the rest of the shades, so it is actually visible in any light. Bright light or sunlight only amplifies the green glow in this polish.

The formula on these was varied, but generally good. Bella Donna was the oddball since it's a jelly. It wasn't thick or gooey, but needed three coats to look even due to the sheerness and slight streaking on the first coat. Oriental Poppy and Faraway Nearby had the nicest texture, thinner and smoother flowing than all the others. The rest were a little thicker and didn't flow quite as evenly, but were still very nice to apply. All but Bella Donna were completely opaque in two coats. Dry time is average. All are shown with a coat of Rescue Beauty Lounge topcoat.

I'll admit, I'm no expert on Georgia O'Keeffe, not by a longshot. I only know a little about her life and her backstory, but I have seen a lot of her work. I think this collection really captures those Georgia colors. What do you think?

Georgia O'Keeffe, Ram's Head With Hollyhock (1935)

The Rescue Beauty Lounge Georgia On My Mind collection goes on sale in July and there will be a pre-order in June, but I don't know the exact dates for either.

(This was sent for review.)

TokyoMilk Dark Femme Fatale Collection Lip Elixir Review

2012-05-24T12:40:00.002-05:00

TokyoMilk Dark's Femme Fatale Collection Lip Elixirs are my new obsession. Actually, I take that back. It's TokyoMilk that's my new obsession and these perfect tins of lip balm are just part of it. On a whim, I picked up two TokyoMilk Dark fragrances and these four Lip Elixirs and it was love at first sniff. I don't know how else to describe these but perfection.

TokyoMilk Dark Femme Fatale Collection Lip Elixirs

The Lip Elixirs come in a black tin sealed with a paper band. The paper band features a number and a small image on the ends, which fold over the top of the tin (Clove Cigarettes has the Eiffel Tower, Smoked Salt has a pistol, Salted Caramel has a bee and Coco Noir has a top hat.). The name of the scent is along the bottom, on the center of the band. On the tin itself, the TokyoMilk Dark logo is embossed into the metal with grey and black, but the back label is a sticker.

The tins themselves are surprisingly large. They're bigger than a tin of Smith's Rosebud Salve, almost identical in size to a MAC blush compact. They contain a respectable 0.7 oz (19.85 g) of product.

You can remove the paper bands (they are stickers) from the tin, or you can cut the stickers along the edge of the lid and leave them on. This is how the tin looks with the band removed. I prefer the look of the tin with the band intact.

The back label has a full list of ingredients, TokyoMilk's phone number and URL, a lot code and a tiny version of the picture from the sticker.

Ingredients:
petrolatum, microcrystalline wax, flavor, canola oil and aloe barbadensis (Aloe Vera) leaf extract, tocopherol (vitamin E), tocopheryl (Vitamin E) acetate, stevia rebaudiana (Stevia) leaf extract, organic camellia sinensis (Green Tea) leaf extract, carthamus tinctorius (safflower) seed oil and jasminum officinale (Jasmine) flower extract, monarda didyma (Bee Balm) leaf extract.

TokyoMilk Dark Lip Elixir in 18 Clove Cigarettes
Crushed Clove, Lavender Rose, Saigon Cinnamon, Vanilla Bean

The strongest note in here is clove. It's spicy and fresh, not like the dusty half-bottle of stale cloves kicking around in the back of your spice cabinet. At the back of the scent is something warm and smooth, the combination of cinnamon and vanilla bean. I don't smell any lavender rose. The flavor is stevia-sweetened clove that feels slightly numbing. It tastes just like an unlit Djarum Black kretek, sweet black paper and all.

TokyoMilk Dark Lip Elixir in 22 Smoked Salt
Smoked Sea Salt, Burnt Sugar, Molasses, Vanilla Bean

This smells like a light, dry smoke in the tin. There's a bit of leather scent in with the smoke, but it's sweet and light. It actually smells just like an Irish flake tobacco, or a lighter, sweeter Latakia. There is something salty and savory about the scent, but underneath the smoke is a sweet and slightly sharp scent. I can smell molasses and burnt sugar, but only lightly. It tastes a little smoky with a strong scent of dry tobacco and leather, a little bit of a 'perfume' flavor, and it is sweet-tasting from the stevia.

TokyoMilk Dark Lip Elixir in 36 Salted Caramel
Sweet Cream, Sea Salt, Caramelized Sugar, Toasted Vanilla Bean

This one smells exactly as it should. I smell actual salted caramel, not artificial/perfumey sharp, fake caramel like most caramel-scented beauty products. It smells rich and buttery, smooth, not excessively sweet and has a little bit of a candy corn or caramel popcorn note to it. It tastes lightly of buttery caramel and is slightly sweet.

TokyoMilk Dark Lip Elixir in 60 Coco Noir
Dark Rum, Maraschino Cherry, Sweet Milk, Cacao Bean

This is the only one that didn't smell exactly how I expected it to. It's odd, but good. It smells very sweet and syrupy, like cherry and something else. I can't quite identify the other scent I smell with the cherry and the rum is rather faint. The next strongest note I smell is chocolate, and then something milky and a little dusty or waxy smelling. Not unpleasant, just unusual. I actually really like how it smells. The taste is sweet, mostly like perfume with a little cherry and some of that milky-dusty note.

The balms themselves are colorless. The texture is firm and waxy, but not hard or dry. Imagine a slightly thicker, more dry Jack Black Lip Therapy. Like a cross between soft wax or hair pomade and vaseline. It's not melty or slippery and it is very thick and protective on the lips. It adds no color or shine, only a slight hint of a sheen that's barely noticeable.

What I liked:

I adore the packaging. Everything about it is beautiful and very much my style.
The scents are unconventional and awesome. It's not every day that you find a Smoked Salt flavored lip balm. Despite the unusual notes, they all smell and taste very good.
The scents are strong, but not too strong. Strong enough to enjoy but not strong enough to make me sick.
The balm is long-wearing and soothing, even though it feels more protective than truly moisturizing.
The tin contains a lot of product. 0.7 oz. I'm sure I'll never be able to finish one of these.
They're very inexpensive for how nice they are. Only $7. That's a steal.
They can be used as cuticle balm or hair balm, so they're versatile.
They don't seem to melt into a liquid if I leave them in the car when it's warm out.
There's only enough stevia in the formula to make it taste sweet. Too much stevia in lip products makes them taste bitter and I really hate the taste of stevia to begin with, so I'm glad these don't go overboard on it.

What I didn't like:

I don't normally like lip balms in tins. I hate having to put my fingers in them or remember to carry a lip brush. I'll make an exception for these just because everything else about them is so great.
The tins get nicked and scratched fairly easily.
If you cut the bands instead of removing them, the ends can peel up and catch dirt and lint.
This is really a complaint about beauty.com, not about the product itself, but something important to be aware of nonetheless: If you order these from beauty.com, they put a sticker over the back that's hard to remove without damaging the label or the band. They also send glass TokyoMilk Dark eau de parfum bottles unboxed, with stickers over their labels, bouncing around in cardboard boxes without bubble wrap.
The ingredients aren't so great; the first three are petrolatum (aka Vaseline), wax and canola oil. Not the most high-end formula, but at least they feel and smell nice.

I love these. I already have La Vie En Rose on the way from Sephora, and I plan on picking up the rest of them at some point in the near future. With as many lip balms as I own, it's hard to believe that I could find something unique to add to my collection, but there it is. I do wish that they weren't in tins, but then they probably wouldn't look as cool if they weren't. The tins are charming. Look at them! How could anyone resist?

TokyoMilk has their own web shop, and if you sign up for the newsletter, they'll send you a code for a free gift on your first order. Sephora has also just started carrying the TokyoMilk Dark line, though the Lip Elixir selection is limited.

Illamasqua Naked Strangers Collection Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-05-23T14:55:00.001-05:00

The Naked Strangers collection from Illamasqua is a different take on summer colors. Instead of the usual summer brights and neons, they've created a mixture of fleshy nudes and gleaming metallics. The full collection consists of two new lipglosses in Intimacy (nude pink brown) and Stranger (platinum gold), Powder Blusher in Naked Rose (neutral beige brown), Cream Blusher in Zygomatic (naked pink brown), and three new nail varnish shades (Faithful, Monogamous, Swinger).

Illamasqua Naked Strangers Collection Nail Varnish

Faithful, Monogamous, and Swinger.

Illamasqua Faithful. Faithful has a light, dusty-looking, slightly grey-tinged brown creme base with lots of bright, shiny copper metallic shimmer and just a touch of golden broken flake microglitter. The contrast in this color is really interesting. In dim lighting, it looks like a dusty, faded, almost taupe-like brown with a bit of red shimmer. In daylight indoors it looks like an earthy copper bronze. When you see the polish in sunlight, then it really shines. All the metallic copper shimmer comes out and adds a glow to the dusty base color, like smoldering embers. Very cool color.

Illamasqua Monogamous. This color dries to a rubbery matte finish, much like the Illamasqua Theatre of the Nameless rubber mattes. The top photo is its natural finish, the bottom photo is with a coat of topcoat. This color is a light pink-beige creme. It looks like a bottle of liquid foundation, it's a very fleshy, skin-like color. Unlike a lot of pale beiges, this one has a very soft look and it isn't chalky or harsh at all. Because it lacks that harsh, chalky finish, it's very easy to wear and looks clean and flattering without being sheer. It looks a lot more peach against my fair/cool skin tone, but it seems lighter and more pink by itself in the bottle.

Illamasqua Swinger. Swinger is a foil comprised of multiple shades of metallic particles. The main color is gold, but a neutral, non-yellowy gold. There's also platinum, champagne, very light bronze and metallic taupe. The overall look of the polish is rough and speckled with a slight green tinge to it. It only looks rough, though. It dries flat and smooth, even without topcoat. Sparkly and dense.

The formula on these was perfect. They glided onto my nails like a dream and none of these shades gave me even a hint of trouble. I did two coats of each and that's all they needed. The drying time on these is slightly faster than the usual Illamasqua dry time, which was a nice surprise. Flawless formula and application, no complaints here.

Overall, a small collection, but a good one. I like the slightly different take on summer color that they've presented here. The palette of matte nudes, browns/bronzes and pinks with the contrast of gleaming metallics is really great for summer, especially on tanned skin. I was especially pleased with the formula of the nail polishes, it was even better than I expected.

This collection doesn't officially release until the end of the month, but if you're a registered member on Illamasqua.com, you can order these items starting today. Details below.

All you need to do is log in to your Illamasqua.com account, or register for an account. A hidden Naked Strangers pre-release category will then be revealed within the COLLECTIONS section on the left menu within the shop.

The Illamasqua Naked Strangers Summer 2012 Collection goes on sale May 31st, 2012 and will be available at Sephora starting on June 7th, 2012. Registered members on Illamasqua.com can order the collection now.

(This was sent for review.)

Wet n Wild ColorIcon Eyeshadow Palette in Walking on Eggshells Swatches and Review

2012-05-22T15:30:00.000-05:00

Another amazing drugstore discovery to add to the list. This one's from Wet n Wild, so it's no surprise that I loved it. I don't think I've disliked a single Wet n Wild product that I've tried in the last few years. Their ColorIcon eyeshadow palettes are some of the most heavily used items in my stash (especially the Comfort Zone palette!) and this tiny trio of neutrals is just what I've been needing lately.

Wet n Wild ColorIcon 3-Shadow Palette in Walking On Eggshells

The front is sealed with a safety seal and the back includes a small diagram on how to use the shadows.

The clear plastic lid flips open to reveal the three shadows, miniature plastic-bristled eyeshadow brush and miniature sponge-tip shadow applicator.

Swatched without primer, natural light and flash. Browbone, which is a light ivory shimmer, Crease, which is a light bronzed brown shimmer, and Eyelid, which is a light neutral peach-pink shimmer.

Here's a look I did using the shadows as directed on the packaging: Eyelid on the lid, Crease in the crease and Browbone on the browbone.

What I liked:

Super cheap! I paid $2.99 for this.
Easy to find, available at drugstores.
Great formula on the shadows. Smooth, silky, pigmented, easy to blend, long-wearing (over a primer).
The neutral shades in this trio aren't too warm for my skin tone.
Using the shadows as suggested results in the easiest, nearly no-effort-required, basically foolproof 2-minute neutral eye. You barely even need to blend it. Perfect for when I'm running late or just don't have the patience to do anything more complicated.

What I didn't like:

The crease shade could be a little darker.
The plastic brush is useless.

I'm not usually into neutral eyeshadows, but sometimes they're necessary. When I'm not feeling well, when my allergies are really bad, when I can't decide what colors to wear, when I want to wear a strong lip color and not have it clash with my eyes, when brightly colored eyeshadow is inappropriate, then I reach for neutrals. This palette is just right for when I want neutrals. Not too warm, not too cool, not chalky or streaky or hard to blend and it goes really well with a big, thick stripe of winged black eyeliner. The formula of the shadows in this palette is better than a lot of the higher-end neutral shadows I have, but it only costs $3. In my opinion, this (along with all the other ColorIcon palettes) is one of the best drugstore buys out there. Cheap and good!

China Glaze Summer Neons Collection for Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-05-18T13:25:00.000-05:00

China Glaze has a set of twelve new and updated neons out for summer 2012. In the past, the majority of neon colors released were creme-finish polishes, but the new China Glaze Summer Neons polishes have a hint of ultra-fine, iridescent shimmer to them. The colors are:

China Glaze Beach Cruise-r. This is a medium fuchsia with subtle blue, red and purple shimmer. It's not quite neon bright, but it is very colorful. In real life, it's more vibrant than it appears in the picture, just not exactly neon vibrant.

China Glaze Hang Ten-toes. Bright, blue-toned neon pink with faint, silvery, blue-violet shimmer. Such a great neon pink. The shimmer in these keeps the neon finish from looking too chalky or rubbery and adds a nice colorful glow to them.

China Glaze Flirty Tankini. Such an unusual neon! It's an orange-based neon coral and it has silver, pink and coral shimmer throughout. The shimmer in mine has all settled on one side of the bottle, making it appear light pink, but it's definitely coral on the nail. The only thing I don't like about this polish is the name!

Every picture I take of China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard comes out looking like this. It's so bright that my camera can't comprehend it. It took one look at this color and said "You have got to be kidding me. &^%$ this! I quit!". Eventually I figured out how to capture it with flash in total darkness:

China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard. Ultra-bright yellow-toned neon green with bright green and gold shimmer. It's a bit like the old, discontinued shade In The Limelight, to give you an idea of the intensity. It's really amazing, a must-have green, if you ask me.

China Glaze Love's A Beach. Bright neon pink with glowy pink shimmer. This one is darker than Hang Ten-Toes and more warm toned. The shimmer in it doesn't make the color any less bright, but it does give it a less harsh, more glowy finish than other similar-colored neon pinks.

China Glaze Orange You Hot? Light yellow-toned orange neon with coral, orange, silver and pink shimmer. This is one of those "fake cheese" shades of orange, like the packet of frighteningly bright cheese powder that comes in boxed macaroni and cheese. The shimmer adds a warm glow, so that makes it even nicer.

China Glaze Pink Plumeria. This one is hard to describe. It's a lighter, more orange-tinted pink than Hang Ten-Toes, but not as orange as Flirty Tankini. It has soft pink and gold shimmer particles that accent the warm light pink base perfectly.

China Glaze Ride The Waves. This one isn't a shimmer, nor is it really truly neon, but it's still great. It's a bright blue jelly. Not as dark as Rescue Beauty Lounge IKB 2012, lighter and cleaner than Revlon Royal, not quite as bright at Nubar Blueberry.

China Glaze Splish Splash. A bright blue shimmer. This one doesn't really strike me as being neon either, but it is bright. The shimmer in it is all blue, but it's a slightly more green-leaning blue, almost an aqua, while the base is more of a light primary blue.

China Glaze Sun-Kissed. AWESOME. A highlighter yellow neon with warm gold shimmer. This is not pure yellow. There's a lot of green in it. This is what it would be like if China Glaze Limonyte and China Glaze Celtic Sun had a baby. Crazy bright neon yellow goodness with the added glow from the smooth gold shimmer. My favorite color in the collection.

China Glaze Surfin' For Boys. Neon red-coral with pink and purple shimmer. Very, very bright and extremely rich.

China Glaze Under The Boardwalk. This one lacks shimmer found in the other shades and it also doesn't appear neon to me. It's a purple-fuchsia-berry color, creme finish. It is perkier and slightly less blue-toned in real life, reminds me of another color they did recently. I'm thinking Traffic Jam from the Metro Collection? Haven't compared them, but it struck me as being similar when I saw it.

The formula on these is thick. I had some trouble getting them to apply smoothly because the thickness of the formula caused a ridge of polish to form at the edges of my nails unless I was very careful to avoid it. The thickness can also cause the polish to bubble, especially in the summer when it starts getting hot and humid. I'd recommend either thinning these with some polish thinner, or doing very thin coats and letting each one dry for at least two minutes before adding another. I did three coats of each, though most were opaque in two. The dry time was long. Since these are neon, they dry to a matte finish and you will need to use topcoat if you want them to look glossy.

Overall, these rock. It's hard to find different looking neons. It's like all neons are made out of the same pigments so there's rarely any significant variations between collections/colors. These, however, have that added hint of shimmer that makes them look more soft and glowy than the average chalky-finished neon. I think it's a nice update to their existing line of neons, they definitely feel more modern with the addition of the shimmer. The formula could be a little smoother, thinner and easier to handle, but the colors are all excellent. The only one I don't care for is Under The Boardwalk, but the rest are all awesome.

If I had to narrow it down, my top six would be Sun-Kissed, I'm With The Lifeguard, Hang Ten-Toes, Flirty Tankini, Love's A Beach and Surfin' For Boys.

Also available: 8-piece box collection featuring Under The Boardwalk, Ride The Waves, I’m With The Lifeguard, Sun-Kissed, Orange You Hot?, Surfin’ For Boys, Flirty Tankini and Pink Plumeria.

China Glaze® Summer Neons will be available as open stock colors and 12-piece counter display. Individual polishes retail for $7 MSRP and the 8-piece box set retails for $56. China Glaze® Summer Neons will be available at fine salons and beauty supply stores nationwide in June 2012.

(This was sent for review.)

GLOSSYBOX April 2012 Box Review

2012-05-16T08:00:00.001-05:00

Glossybox has just arrived here in the States, and I had a chance to test out their very first US sample box. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Glossybox, allow me to briefly explain the concept behind it: Glossybox is a subscription-based luxury beauty sample service. Each month, Glossybox puts together a set of five deluxe or travel-sized beauty samples and delivers it to your door. I was quite surprised at what my Glossybox contained- have a look below to see what was inside!

The first thing I noticed about the Glossybox was the packaging. Everything was color-coordinated and carefully wrapped. Even the shipping box was decorated. The pink Glossybox box is very sturdy and can definitely be re-purposed. I know that it's just paper and cardboard, but the attention to detail in the packaging made it feel really special.

Glossybox USA April 2012 Box

The Glossybox will contain a different set of products each month, but the April box contained these items:

Basq Cucumber Tea Eye Gel (full size) - A cooling, hydrating eye gel. I found it to be a bit sticky, and the menthol in it made my eyes water and burn a bit (I was not expecting an eye cream to contain menthol!), but when stored in the fridge and applied lightly, it is rather refreshing.

CARGO EyeBronzer (full size) - This is an orange-bronze metallic powder eyeshadow with a sponge applicator. I didn't think CARGO made this anymore. This one I already have; I bought it on clearance when Sephora was clearing out CARGO a few years back. I can't find this item on CARGO's website, so I'm fairly sure it is actually discontinued.

C.O. Bigelow Lavender Peppermint Shampoo (full size) - I really enjoy the calming, herbal scent of this, but it leaves a soapy film in my hair and makes it feel dry and squeaky. Would probably make a better shower gel or bubble bath than a shampoo.

Erno Laszlo The Hollywood Collection (sample packets) - The only item in the box that wasn't full size. I haven't used this yet.

Kryolan High Gloss Brilliant Lip Shine in Toffee (full size) - Has a great creamy formula and a nice, soft brush applicator. Unfortunately, I can't wear the color at all. It's the type of color that makes me look like I erased my lips with foundation. I like the formula enough that it's made me want to try other shades of Kryolan Lip Shine.

OPI Nail Polish in Kiss Me On My Tulips - A brand new shade from the Spring 2012 Holland collection. I've previously reviewed this, but you really can't go wrong with OPI nail polish.

A closer look at the color cosmetics included in the April Glossybox.

Kryolan Lip Shine in Toffee (top)
CARGO EyeBronzer (bottom)

What I liked:

Nearly everything in it was full sized. I was not expecting that, but it was a really nice surprise!
A good variety of items included in this box. Color cosmetics, skincare, haircare and nail polish.
Gorgeous packaging. Re-useable pink box.
The service is inexpensive and the value of the products included (in this box) far outweighed the cost of the box.
A one-month subscription is only $21. Six months is $150 and a full year is $220.

What I didn't like:

The subscription/purchase page on the Glossybox website only seems to be accessible when there's a new box available, making it hard to sign up in between boxes. You must subscribe to the newsletter to know when the next box is available.
I already owned some of the items in here. This is bound to happen at least once, especially if you're really into beauty products. Not really an issue, but something to consider if you have a sizable makeup stash.
I'm not certain if the box is customizable at all. The website mentions the ability to fill out an online profile and create a "bespoke beauty profile to start receiving your personalized beauty samples." I didn't see this option for the first box, but it may become available during the next box.
If you wish to cancel your subscription, you must do so at least 14 days before the next box is due to ship. If your account is terminated by Beauty Trend for any reason, they will not refund any remaining/unused time on your subscription. Full details are available on Glossybox's Terms and Conditions page.
The box reviewed here was a "promotional" box and may not accurately represent the contents of future boxes.

I think this is an awesome idea and I'll definitely be subscribing when the next box becomes available. Based on the products included in this Glossybox, I think it's worth the $21 a month. The retail value of everything in this month's box combined was $85, though there's no way to know if each subsequent box will have the same value. I'm looking forward to the next one. Can't wait to see what's going to be in it!

EDIT: After a short conversation with a Glossybox representative, I've been able to verify that the featured Glossybox (April) was a one-off "promotional" box. The representative was disappointingly evasive when I asked about future Glossyboxes containing any full-sized items, so I'm not sure if the next Glossybox will be of similar value to this one. I guess I'll have to wait and see when the next box goes on sale.

The next Glossybox should be available soon, but for now you can view the details of this month's box (no longer available to purchase) or find out more about how Glossybox works here.

(This was sent for review.)

Essie Resort Collection Spring/Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-05-15T11:30:00.000-05:00

Essie's annual Resort collection is an odd one this year! It has a clear theme like resort collections of the past, but it has a somewhat random-looking color selection. That's not to say that it's bad... In fact, it's really quite good:

Essie No More Film. A dark indigo creme. It's very dark, but not so dark that it looks black. You can tell that it's blue in every type of lighting, though it is still very close to that blackened-blue territory. It has a slight faded/weathered look to it after it dries.

Essie Pink-A-Boo. This is a sheer, cool-toned milky pink base with color-shifting glass fleck shimmer. You can see it very strongly in the bottle, and unlike a lot of other colors like this (including Essie's own To Buy or Not To Buy), the duochrome does actually show up on the nail. It even seems to have more shimmer than Jessica Rolling Rose. The main color is a light turquoise and it shifts to darker pure blue and purple at one angle and pink, red and gold at another angle. Very pretty.

Essie She's Picture Perfect. This one is my favorite. It's a light blue-toned lavender creme base with some subtle purple-pink-red iridescent shimmer. The creme base is so dense that the shimmer doesn't look shimmery, it's more of a flash of color that glows rather than sparkles. The shimmer is very subtle but it comes out more in bright light. The flash photo washes out the color, but it brings out that lovely shimmer so you can get a better look at it.

Essie Sure Shot. Glowy, slightly duochrome dark magenta. It has a subtle blue-purple flash that sits on top of the polish when you view it at an angle, but head-on it looks like a plain deep pink shimmer. This reminds me a lot of an ancient Wet n Wild polish I used to wear in the early 90s... I think it was called Cherry Fudge or Chocolate Cherry or something like that. This color brought back so many memories of that old polish!

The formula on these was good. Not too runny, not too thick. I had no trouble with application. I did three coats of each and all but No More Film needed the third coat. Dry time is fast.

Unusual grouping of colors, yes, but they're all good ones. I like the duochrome shimmer in Pink-A-Boo and She's Picture Perfect and I like the deep, rich-looking color of No More Film and Sure Shot. My favorite is definitely She's Picture Perfect, though.

The Essie 2012 Resort collection is available now.

(This was sent for review.)

Too Faced Friends and Family Sale - 20% off Everything

2012-05-11T11:33:00.002-05:00

Our Friends & Family Sale just started and we can't thank you enough for helping us spread the word! The sale offers 20% OFF EVERYTHING on TooFaced.com with promo code FFSPRING12 and will run from 5/10/2012 - 5/16/2012.

Wanted to pass this along in case you hadn't seen the email- Too Faced is having their Friends and Family sale right now. The 20% off code (FFSPRING12) is good for anything on the site, including clearance. My personal favorite items from Too Faced are:

Too Faced Sun Bunny Bronzer

Too Faced Shadow Insurance Anti-Crease Eyeshadow Primer

Too Faced Starry-Eyed Glitter Liquid Eyeliner

Too Faced Galaxy Glam Baked Eyeshadow in Moon Beam

NARS Trouville Nail Polish for Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-05-11T10:30:00.000-05:00

In addition to the gorgeous limited edition Thakoon for NARS collection, NARS is releasing one more brand new nail polish color as part of their full Summer 2012 line. It's called Trouville and it's quite different from Thakoon's saturated brights.

NARS Trouville. Trouville is a soft pink creme. It's slightly warm-toned and not completely opaque, almost jelly-like in finish, but not quite that sheer. It's soft, but it's not pastel. It has a vintage, 1940s-1950s look to it.

The formula on this was nice, but not as perfect as the Thakoon collection's formula. This one is thicker, doesn't flow as smoothly and isn't as opaque, but it didn't give me any trouble. I did three coats. Drying time is average.

Usually I have a hard time wearing these types of warm pinks, but this one doesn't give my hands that strange, dirty look like others do. It's actually kind of flattering and the color isn't too washed out or bland. It stands out, but not with the intensity of an opaque, white-based "mod" pink. Still, not really my type of color, but definitely not a bad polish overall.

The NARS Summer 2012 collection, including Trouville nail polish, is available now.

(This was sent for review. Post contains an affiliate link.)

Comparison: IT Cosmetics Heavenly Luxe Powder Brush versus Tarte Airbrush Finish Bamboo Foundation Brush

2012-05-09T14:30:00.000-05:00

I recently purchased the new Tarte Amazonian Clay foundation in a duo set that also included their new Airbrush Finish foundation brush, and as soon as I opened the package and saw the brush, I knew is was the same as another brush I own, the IT Cosmetics Heavenly Luxe powder brush. After comparing them side-by-side, I can see that there are a few very subtle differences, but they're basically the exact same brush, only with different handles.

IT Cosmetics Heavenly Luxe Powder Brush vs. Tarte Airbrush Finish Bamboo Foundation Brush

Top: Tarte Airbrush Finish Bamboo Foundation Brush

Bottom: IT Cosmetics Heavenly Luxe Powder Brush

Observations:

Both brushes feel identical. The bristles on each are very soft and fluffy but fairly dense. Less dense than a MAC 182; more dense than a MAC 187.
Both handles measure 3cm in diameter.
Domed shape of bristles is the same on both brushes and brush head is 5cm across on both.
Tarte Brush has a lighter wooden handle with a gold ferrule; IT brush is heavier with a rubberized plastic handle and a silver ferrule.
The Tarte brush is slightly longer than the IT Cosmetics brush, but only by a few millimeters; both are approximately 14cm / 5.5" long.
The bristles at the base of the Tarte brush seem slightly wrinkled or crimped.
Tarte brush costs $32, IT Cosmetics brush costs $48.

These brushes feel identical to me and they both seem to apply product the same way. I actually don't like applying foundation with these because the recommended circular buffing motion makes my foundation look uneven, but using a stippling/tapping motion instead irritates my skin too much, despite giving a nicer finish. It's also really difficult to wash all the foundation out of these brushes and it tends to stain the bristles. They're good for applying or dusting off excess powder, though, and they feel super plush and nice on my face.

If I had to choose one over the other, I'd have to go with the Tarte Airbrush Finish brush at $32. The bristles are the same on both, but the black rubberized handle on the IT Cosmetics brush is a magnet for fingerprints and dust and is difficult to keep clean. I do prefer the black and silver color of the IT Cosmetics Heavenly Luxe brush even if it is harder to keep clean, but looks aren't worth the $16 price difference between the two.

Color Club Take Wing Collection Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-05-08T19:00:00.000-05:00

Color Club's Summer 2012 Take Wing collection is summery, sparkly and 100% awesome. Each polish in the collection is a combination of iridescent, flashy glass fleck shimmer and bright, vibrant color. The colors are:

Daisy Does It - Sparkle and Soar - Fly With Me - Metamorphosis - Sky High - Wing Fling

Color Club Daisy Does It. This has a sheer, warm yellow base with iridescent yellow, gold and green/blue duochrome glass fleck shimmer. The green doesn't come across very well in my picture, but it's visible from every angle in real life. Similar to Kat Von D High Voltage Nail Lacquer in Sparklehorse / The Painted Nail Mestiza.

Color Club Sparkle and Soar. A warm tangerine base with orange shimmer, yellow-green duochrome shimmer, and heavy gold metallic shimmer. The large, opaque bright gold pieces give this a bit of a speckled look, but also create a glimmering gilded look to the polish. The color is so bright and cheerful and the duochrome and iridescent shimmer particles are constantly shifting and sparkling, it's extremely fascinating to look at when it's on your nails, like smoldering embers. Reminds me of The Painted Nail Citrus Sparkle.

Color Club Fly With Me. A sheer, leafy green base with gold, light green and darker blue/green duochrome shimmer. Very bright and fresh with little glints of orange highlight here and there. Similar to The Painted Nail Fairy Wings.

Color Club Metamorphosis. A sheer teal base with bright metallic blue shimmer and teal/purple/pink/gold multichrome shimmer. This one has a lot of multichrome color shift visible in the bottle, but it doesn't translate onto the nail. There is some slight green/blue/purple shift, but nowhere near as dramatic as it is in the bottle. Still a very rich, sparkly and pretty color, even without the strong duochrome effect. Reminds me of a less-duochrome version of Nicole Iceberg Lotus.

Color Club Sky High. A sheer blue base with aqua, metallic silvery-blue and purple/gold duochrome shimmer. Like Metamorphosis, this has a very strong duochrome look in the bottle, but once it's on the nail, it's nearly invisible. Little glints of purple here and there, but nothing major. The finish on this one is smoother than the rest of the shades since the particles are smaller- it's somewhere in between glass fleck and foil. This is similar to Kat Von D Mad Max / The Painted Nail Electric Blue.

Color Club Wing Fling. Wing Fling is a bright and saturated magenta jelly base with pink/purple/yellow duochrome shimmer and metallic silvery-pink shimmer. This one has lots of depth to it and is very glowy from the combination of deep, saturated base color and lighter, slightly warmer-toned shimmer.

The formula on these was perfect in texture, but a little bit sheer. Each shade was smooth and easy to apply, no running or pooling, no ridges or clumps due to thickness. I did three coats of each and they're not 100% opaque at three, but they looked good enough that I didn't feel the need for a fourth coat. Dry time is nice and fast. These dry rather dull, so a nice shiny topcoat is a must.

I love all the shades even if they do seem like dupes of existing colors. One, because you can never have too many brightly colored duochrome glass fleck polishes, and two, because these are less expensive than the colors that they're imitating. A mini-sized bottle of Kat Von D High Voltage Nail Lacquer? $12. Color Club? Full sized bottle for $3. Sure, I would have liked to see a brand new collection of unique colors, but these still rock even if they are similar to colors I already own.

The Color Club Take Wing collection is available now.

(This was sent for review.)

Zoya Blogger Collection by Birchbox Spring/Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-05-07T16:45:00.000-05:00

A brand new, limited edition trio from Zoya. This Birchbox-exclusive collection was inspired by bloggers and voted on by fans. Each shade has a bright wash of color with a buildable jelly finish.

Zoya Belle. Belle has a sheer grapefruit pink base and a good amount of iridescent pink shimmer. The shimmer shifts from pink to coral to yellow depending on the angle, and has some pretty gold flecks scattered throughout for even more color.

Zoya Coraline. Coraline is a light tangerine orange jelly. It has a slight yellow tone to it, but it's not as yellow-toned as Zoya Arizona. Very much in line with the Tangerine Tango trend we're seeing this spring.

Zoya Kate. Kate is a medium coral jelly. It's quite red toned, but definitely appears coral on the nails rather than true red.

One of the ways that Birchbox recommends wearing these shades is to layer them. I layered the shimmery shade, Belle, over the two cremes to see how it looked and I really liked the results:

Zoya Belle (one coat) over Zoya Coraline

Zoya Belle (one coat) over Zoya Kate

The formula on these was thick but manageable. These are sheer, but they build really well with each additional coat. I did three coats and thought they looked great that way. You can add more coats to make them completely opaque, but I prefer the slightly sheer jelly look these have at three. Drying time is a little on the slow side.

All three shades are very pretty and fit in perfectly with this season's color trends. I love jelly finish polishes so I'm always happy to see more of them being released, but two of these feel rather similar to last year's OPI sorbet shades. That said, they still look great on the nails, lots of depth from the jelly finish with a nice bright pop of color.

The Zoya/Birchbox Blogger Collection is limited edition and available only from Birchbox, $22 for the set of three.

(This was sent for review.)

Urban Decay Showboat Nail Kit for Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-05-02T17:00:00.000-05:00

More nail polish from Urban Decay! This summer's mini nail set, Showboat, is mostly neon with a shimmery jewel-tone and a black creme thrown in for contrast. Every shade is bold, eye-catching and very appropriate for summer.

The six mini (5ml / 0.16 fl oz) polishes come housed in the same foam tray as the previous collections, but with bright, summery artwork on the front and back. The ingredients are listed on the back of the tray. Urban Decay nail polish is free of toluene, dibutyl phthalate, formaldehyde and formaldehyde resin. The colors in the Showboat set are:

Radium - Covet - Perversion - Fishnet - Woodstock - Showboat

Urban Decay Radium. Radium is a medium blue shimmer. This is little more smooth glowy than the average shimmer because it has a slight metallic finish, but it's not quite approaching chrome territory yet.

Urban Decay Covet. This one is a bright teal with subtle silver and green shimmer. This is one of those nearly-neon teals that I can never seem to photograph accurately. In real life it's more green-colored than it appears here and a bit more saturated. It dries matte like a neon.

Urban Decay Perversion. Standard black creme. Good pigmentation, but it needs two coats for full coverage.

Urban Decay Fishnet. A neon purple creme. Like most neon purples, it's not completely purple, but rather a deep yet fluorescent fuchsia. This one is very vivid and my picture does it no justice at all. To give you an idea of the true color, it's somewhere in between Essie Perky Purple and Illamasqua Stance.

Urban Decay Woodstock. This one has been in two previous nail kits (Rollergirl and Summer of Love). It is a neon pink creme and it is extremely bright.

Urban Decay Showboat. This one's a neon orange and, like Woodstock, it's extremely bright. It kinda hurts my eyes to look at it, it's so bright. Awesome.

The formula on these was great. It is a definite improvement over the previous sets. It's less thick, more pigmented and has a much better texture and application. I had no trouble whatsoever with the application of any of these colors, the formula on all of them was perfect. I did three coats of each, but only Woodstock and Showboat actually needed the third. Dry time is very fast. The neons dry to a matte finish like all neons do, so you will need to use topcoat if you want them to look shiny (I used topcoat).

This set might be best for someone who doesn't own much nail polish; someone with even a modestly-sized collection may likely already own dupes for almost every color. The only one in here that I can't think of a match for is Covet, though it is somewhat similar to Zoya Zuza. Duplicate shade issues aside, the colors are all insanely pretty and the formula is great, not a single bad one in the bunch in terms of formula or color.

The Urban Decay Showboat Nail Kit retails for $28 and is now available on urbandecay.com.

(This was sent for review.)

Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish Swatches and Review

2012-05-01T14:45:00.001-05:00

Holos! Glorious, shiny, rainbow-filled holos. The new Hologram Effect collection from Italian nail care brand Layla (who you may already be familiar with from their Magneffect polishes) is exactly what we've all been hoping for. Strong, linear, colorful holos. Not flakies, not metallic polish with a little hologram glitter thrown in, but actual, genuine holographic effect nail polishes. See for yourself:

Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish in 01 Mercury Twilight. This is the requisite silver hologram. Every collection needs one. This one is especially nice, though. It's linear, but the particles are larger than most linear holos so it has more of a TV-static-esque effect. It's very cool.

Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish in 04 Ultra Violet. Light purple hologram. Blue-toned and a tiny bit deeper in color than some of the other light purple holos I've worn. (Sidenote: this is with one full day of wear, no basecoat or topcoat. It has more tipwear than a normal polish would have after this same amount of wear time.)

Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish in 05 Jade Groove. Light green hologram. Blue-toned. Doesn't look all that holographic here, but it is in real life. It's just as strong as all the others.

Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish in 06 Mermaid Spell. Light blue holo. Like Ultra Violet, it's slightly more saturated than some of the other light blue holos I've worn.

Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish in 08 Flash Black. Charcoal / dark grey holographic. This one is my favorite of the bunch. It's not quite black, like the original version of OPI My Private Jet, but it is darker than China Glaze Let's Do It In 3D.

These pictures were taken on an overcast day, indoors, with only natural/ambient light. As you can see, they actually look fantastic in indoor lighting conditions, unlike a lot of linear holos which tend to look dull and non-holographic or like frosty metallic shimmers unless they're in direct sunlight. Bright light, camera flash and full sunlight do enhance the holographic effect, but they really look amazing in any lighting.

Layla Mercury Twilight (flash)

Layla Flash Black (flash)

The application on these is good if they are applied as directed. When I apply them over my normal basecoat, application is a streaky nightmare. When applied over clean, bare nails that have been prepped with the Layla nail buffer (see below), application is a breeze. If you have one of those special Aqua Base-type basecoats for holographic polishes, I'm sure that would work, but I don't own one. I did three coats of each (giving each coat about two minutes to dry before applying the next), no basecoat, no topcoat and had very good results. These do chip faster on me than normal polish, especially since I skip basecoat when I wear them, but using a non-quick-dry topcoat (like Gelous) helps them resist chips longer and doesn't dull the holo effect.

This is the Layla Hologram Effect Base File that's recommended for use with these polishes. Instead of applying a basecoat, you prep your nails with this before applying the Hologram Effect polishes. It really does apply better that way, but there are two things I need to mention about this: One, this is just a regular two-sided nail buffer (a very fine grit side for removing shine/evening out ridges and then a smooth glossing side). You don't need this specific one; any similar buffer will work. And two, I'd really recommend going easy with the buffing step or skipping it entirely because it can weaken your nails if you do it too often.

I wanted to see how the holographic effect in these compared to some of the other holos in my collection, so I gathered a few of my favorite ones and did a side-by-side comparison:

Layla Hologram Effect in Mercury Twilight - China Glaze OMG - China Glaze Sexagon - Sally Hansen Magical Nail Makeup in Crystal Ball

Left to right (pinkie to index):
Sally Hansen Magical Nail Makeup in Crystal Ball (three coats)
China Glaze Sexagon (three coats)
China Glaze OMG (three coats)
Layla Hologram Effect in Mercury Twilight (three coats)

As you can tell, they're all quite different. The Layla has a larger, chunkier holo particle than the Sally Hansen Magical and the China Glaze OMG Collection holos (like OMG), but it's less chunky than the China Glaze Kaleidoscope Collection holos (like Sexagon). The Layla is the most strongly holographic in low light. It's not as fine, smooth and completely linear as the OMGs or Magicals, but it is linear. I think it stacks up pretty well against my other favorite holos, both in application and in hologram effect.

What I liked:

Very strong holographic effect, visible even in low light.
Every single color I tried looked gorgeous and super holographic.
Dries extremely fast.
The holographic finish is different from other holos I have.
Removes easier than regular nail polish.
Available online from Zappos (Free overnight shipping rules! Plus, amazing customer service.)

What I didn't like:

They're very prone to chipping.
They don't hide imperfections in the nail (like ridges).
They can be very difficult to apply over normal basecoat (streaky and patchy).
Expensive ($15.50 for 10ml / 0.33 fl oz).
The colors are pretty, but they're also very common colors for holographic polishes.
Promo images are slightly misleading; colors are lighter in real life.

I think these are awesome. What I like the most about them is that they look good even in low light / indoors. The hologram effect is strong and it manages to balance itself between having a strong linear finish without losing its hologram effect indoors and having chunky/substantial enough particles to not look frosty without being a scattered holo. The biggest downsides are the price and the fact they chip so quickly. But, overall, I think they're great holos and I'd definitely buy more shades of these.

Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish comes in eight colors. Not pictured here are Coral Glam, Ocean Rush and Retro Pink. All are available online from Zappos, $15.50 each.

(This was sent for review.)

Jessica Bliss is This Bridal Collection for Spring/Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-04-30T11:54:00.004-05:00

Check out this little three-shade bridal collection from Jessica. Very different from the usual pale, washed-out pinks and sheer whites that usually make up bridal nail polish collections. The shades in Jessica's 2012 bridal collection, Bliss is This, are:

Jessica Desire. An odd light wine shade with a creme finish.

Jessica Flirtation. A medium dusty tea rose color with a creme finish.

Jessica Love Story. A light cantaloupe orange with a creamy jelly finish.

Formula on all was good. Slightly thick in texture, but easy application. Just be careful about applying thin coats and the formula shouldn't give you any trouble. Perfect brushes. I did three coats of each and all were completely opaque in three. Somewhat long dry time.

It's cool that they chose three very non-traditional colors for their 2012 bridal collection, but I can't say I really like any of them. Not much else to say about it!

Chanel Le Vernis in April, June, May

EDIT: Apparently these three Jessica shades are dupes of Chanel's Spring 2012 Le Vernis collection! I hadn't seen the Chanel collection, so thank you everyone for pointing it out!

The Jessica Bliss is This collection is available in both regular polish and in GELeration Soak-Off Gel polish and can be purchased directly from Jessica Cosmetics.

(This was sent for review.)

New Additions to the Illamasqua Human Fundamentalism Collection Spring/Summer 2012

2012-04-27T11:00:00.001-05:00

Illamasqua has just introduced phase two of their Spring/Summer 2012 Human Fundamentalism collection. The new additions to the line include two new lipsticks (Eurydice and Liable) and four new powder eyeshadows (Hype, Inception, Fledgling, Vapour). You can see the entire Illamasqua Human Fundamentalism lineup here, and I have a few swatches to post below.

New Illamasqua shades: Lipstick in Eurydice, Powder Eyeshadow in Inception and Hype.

Illamasqua Lipstick in Eurydice

Eurydice is a bright matte fuchsia. It looks nearly neon in the tube, but it tones down a little once it's on the lips. It's not completely full coverage, but does provide a ton of color. It is a matte formula with no shine or shimmer and the texture is very dry.

Illamasqua Powder Eyeshadow in Inception (left) and Hype (right).

Illamasqua Inception

Inception is a sheer matte purple. It leans toward the blue side of purple. It appears more clean and bright in the pan, but on the skin it has a very dusty/dirty/faded look.

Illamasqua Hype

Hype is a sheer medium yellow matte. Like Inception, it seems rather bright and clean in the pan, but on the skin it take on a muted/faded/dusty looking finish.

Powder Eyeshadow ingredients
(click to enlarge)

Lipstick ingredients
(click to enlarge)

What I liked:

I always love Illamasqua's packaging. It looks sleek and elegant with a hint of Gothic edge.
Love the bright color of the lipstick.
Lipstick is long-wearing.

What I didn't like:

The two eyeshadows were disappointingly sheer and chalky. I was never able to make them fully opaque on their own (over my usual eyeshadow base) and they did not blend well. Both colors also fade rather quickly after they're applied, which is not something I normally experience with powder eyeshadows.
The lipstick is extremely dry and feels uncomfortable on the lips. The dryness of the matte formula accentuates flaky skin on the lips, so it's best to exfoliate before applying and then wear a balm on top.

The eyeshadows were, sadly, quite problematic for me, but that's usually the case with matte purples and yellows so it wasn't entirely unexpected. Hype and Inception might perform better when applied over an opaque white base (such as NYX White Eyeshadow Base), but I was not able to get them to work for me on their own over my usual eye primers (Too Faced Shadow Insurance and Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion). If you're looking for an easier to use matte purple or yellow eyeshadow, you may have better luck with MAC Chrome Yellow and Make Up For Ever #92.

The color of the lipstick was bright and gorgeous, but the dry formula was uncomfortable to apply and wear. This is eliminated by using lip balm before or after application, but the balm takes away the nice matte finish of the lipstick and also reduces wear time.

Also, on an Illamasqua-related note, how would you like to star in Illamasqua's next ad campaign? I love the concept, as it's something I strongly believe in. Take a look:

As I'm sure you know... we like to break rules, which is why are now breaking the unspoken prejudice of age with a revolutionary casting call!

We are looking for beauty without limits – age limits, beauty has no sell-by date. That’s why our new campaign will feature people of all ages... Our professional products and brand ethos are transcendent of age; anyone can self-express, be empowered and feel beautiful with bold make-up, so if you’re someone who never lets age define you, or you know someone who fits that description we want to encourage you to nominate your mothers, aunts, grandmothers or any strong person in your life to be part of our next campaign in a glamorous beauty shoot celebrating all ages and diversities.

As well as individuals, we are looking for pairs – from mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, nieces, nephews, aunties, uncles, grandmothers and grandsons. The combinations are endless!

Nominate yourself or someone else at www.illamasqua.com/beauty-before-age before May 15th 2012, and if chosen you and/or that person would need to be available to attend an open casting mid-May 2012 and be part of the shoot taking place in London on Wednesday May 23rd and Thursday May 24th 2012 - competition is open internationally!

In return, all those featured in the campaign receive £500 cash, a new Illamasqua make-up kit worth £500 and a framed photo of yourself like you've never looked before! Ready to stand up for beauty that defies age limits?

“Why should it be the case that you hit 40 and morph into a dull, boring version of your original self? Bombarded by products to hide your age rather than celebrate your experience and vitality." - Joseph Corrė –Illamasqua Joint MD

“From day one we said that Illamasqua could never be defined by social demographics, age or sex, but simply by a mindset. Our customers come to us to seek out permission or gain confidence to wear make-up louder and prouder.” -Julian Kynaston - Illamasqua Founder and Joint MD

“Lauren Bacall said ‘think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that’ I agree. What makes one person unique from another is in their soul and what is projected through their eyes, their wisdom, life story, experience, individuality and presence.” - Alex Box - Illamasqua Creative Director

For full details on the Human Fundamentalism Collection or the Beauty Before Age competition, visit illamasqua.com.

(This was sent for review.)

Milani Shadow Eyez 12 Hour Wear Eyeshadow Pencils Swatches and Review

2012-04-25T13:55:00.000-05:00

Yet another new release from Milani this year: a line of long-wearing eyeshadow pencils in vibrant colors. They're called Shadow Eyez and the promise a creamy formula with crease-proof, water-resistant all day wear.

Ingredients and instructions
(click to enlarge)

Left to right:
Winter White, Brown Deluxe, Champagne Toast, Green Safari, Aquatic Style, Royal Purple

Milani Shadow Eyez Eyeshadow Pencil in 01 Winter White

Winter white is a sheer, bright white shimmer. It's a little chunkier shimmer-wise and a little more sheer than the other shades in the collection.

Milani Shadow Eyez Eyeshadow Pencil in 02 Brown Deluxe

Brown Deluxe is a gorgeous sparkling brown. It has a bronze-brown metallic base with a good amount of gold and copper shimmer on top.

Milani Shadow Eyez Eyeshadow Pencil on 03 Champagne Toast

Champagne Toast is a medium peach metallic base with heavy silvery-champagne shimmer. It can appear darker or lighter at different angles due to the way the reflective metallic shimmer sits on top of the base color.

Milani Shadow Eyez Eyeshadow Pencil in 04 Green Safari

Green Safari is the green I've been wishing for forever. It's a true green- not teal, not sea green, not aqua. It has a more yellow-toned base than any green shadow or liner pencil I own. It has a metallic finish that adds a nice reflective glow to the already bright color.

Milani Shadow Eyez Eyeshadow Pencil in 05 Aquatic Style

Aquatic Style is an aqua blue metallic. It has a darker blue base with a bit of green and the metallic shimmer is lighter and more cool toned.

Milani Shadow Eyez Eyeshadow Pencil in 06 Royal Purple

Another impressive color. It's a bold purple and the only matte shade in the collection. There is some blue shimmer in the color but it doesn't appear shimmery on the lids.

What I really like about these pencils is that you don't have to use them as eyeshadow, you can use them as eyeliner just as easily. I'm not much of a fan of cream shadows, but I do love a good waterproof liner...

Milani Shadow Eyez in Green Safari used as eyeliner

What I liked:

I don't think I could have asked for a better color selection. The colors are bold, vibrant and shiny, there's a good mix of brights and neutrals, and every single one is gorgeous. The only thing this collection is missing is a grey or taupe smoky eye color and maybe a good orange, gold or red.
Smooth, easy application. The pencil is soft and glides on without any skipping or tugging whether you're applying it to your entire eyelid or just using it as liner.
Most of the colors are opaque in one coat.
When I wore these as a lid color, I didn't experience any fading, creasing or flaking. They really do last all day.
They make a good sticky base for sparkly pressed or loose eyeshadows. Good at holding shimmer and glitter in place.
Cheap! MSRP is $5.99.
Easy to remove. It recommends dual-phase eye makeup remover but they came off just fine with plain facial cleanser for me.
They are water resistant, they won't run if they get wet. They're not completely waterproof, though, and will start to come off if you rub your eyes a lot.
The packaging is attractive and I love the way the color of the pencil matches the product inside.

What I didn't like:

The lids don't fit very well. They tend to fall off even when I thought I'd capped them tightly. You have to really jam them down onto the pencil, but I can see that leading to the cap splitting eventually. Be careful carrying them in your purse or makeup bag because they will come open at some point.
Shadow Eyez? Really? That's the best name they could come up with? Eyezzzzzz. Urgh.
They take a little longer to set than I'd like and they're kinda sticky, which could cause the shadow to come off in some spots if you blink too much while waiting for them to dry.
Winter White and Royal Purple are the two sheerest colors. They will become opaque if you apply two coats, but it can be hard to apply a second coat without smudging or removing the first coat.
Can look chunky and thick if you apply too much product/too many layers.
They interfere with shadow blending too much for me to use them in the crease with a powder shadow on top. They really grab onto powder shadow, which makes them great as a base for other shadows on the lid, but create harsh lines if you try to blend them out. They're lid and liner only colors for me.
You need a large-barrel sharpener for these. I'd prefer if they were twist-up pencils, that way they waste less product and are more convenient.

I like these a lot. I am not really into cream shadow, so I can't see myself using them for that purpose very often, but they rock as eyeliner. You wouldn't think that such a chubby/wide pencil would make a thin enough line for eyeliner, but they actually do! The bright color combined with the shiny metallic finish makes them really eye-catching. They're just as nice as the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencils, but about a quarter of the price. Better/brighter color selection and slightly smoother application, too. These are really similar to the Milani Liquif'Eye eyeliner pencils I love, just a lot bigger.

Milani Shadow Eyez 12 Hour Wear Eyeshadow Pencils are a CVS exclusive and retail at $5.99 for each 0.1 oz / 2.8 g pencil.

(This was sent for review.)

Anise Grape Is The Word and Jewelry Optional

2012-04-24T13:00:00.001-05:00

While I'm waiting for my broken nail to grow out enough to finish swatching the spring/summer nail collections I was working on, I've been browsing through some old, un-posted swatches and these caught my eye. I almost forgot about these awesome polishes I found at DSW a couple years ago!

The brand is Anise and I know nothing about them except that the company headquarters are in Florida and the polishes are (were?) sold at DSW. They have a website showing some of their recent collections, but you can't purchase from it, nor can you order them online through DSW.

Anyway, the two colors I have are:

Anise Grape Is The Word. This is a super-rich dark purple shimmer. It's comparable to other bold, dark purple shimmers like NARS Purple Rain or Illamasqua Baptiste. It has visible red and blue particles and a velvety-glowy looking smooth shimmer finish.

Anise Jewelry Optional. This color flashes between orangey-gold and golden olive with a slight amount of red-orange duochrome. Like Grape Is The Word, it's very rich looking. Lots of color, very luxurious and velvety looking finish. Reminds me of a green version of Sally Hansen Bronze Ablaze.

It's been a long time since I've worn either of these, but I remember the formula being good. Not too thick, not too runny, very opaque.

Now I'm kinda wishing that I had picked up more of these because I don't remember seeing them the last time I was in DSW. Or maybe the reason I bought just these two is because they were the only good ones? Hm. Anyone have any of these? Do they still sell them?

Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo 24 Hour Cream Gel Shadow Swatches and Review

2012-04-23T11:00:00.001-05:00

I'd been resisting these ever since the day they first came out when I stumbled across a brand new full display of them and I almost bought every single shade. I stopped myself. Not because I thought they'd be bad (though that thought crossed my mind as well), but because... What am I going to do with cream eyeshadow? It's just one of those products that I never use, and when I do use it, it's almost always as a base for another color. That's also the reason why I haven't bought any of those Make Up For Ever Aqua Creams yet, even though I drool over the display every time I'm in Sephora. The fact that you're seeing this review makes it kinda obvious that I caved and picked up that orange one that's been calling my name since day one... And a gold one to keep it company.

Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo 24 Hour Cream Gel Shadow in 10 Fierce & Tangy

Fierce & Tangy is a light orange color. It looks like it's a shimmer-free matte, but when I look really closely at it on my lids, it seems like there actually is a little shimmer in it. The color applies somewhat sheer but can be built up to complete opacity. Here's what it looks like on my eye (this is what I was wearing in my eyeliner review from the other day, in case you were wondering):

This was:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance Lemon Drop
Maybelline Color Tattoo in Fierce & Tangy on lid and lower lashline
MAC Pigment in Off The Radar in crease and outer lower lashline
NARS Albatross on inner corner and on browbone
Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner in Eggplant
Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes!

The color is vibrant and it plays well with powder eyeshadow. I applied it over my entire lid and blended it out softly into my crease and when I applied the MAC Pigment over it, it didn't cause any of the weird blending problems that I usually experience when using creme and powder shadows together. For this application I started with a primer. I first applied a fairly thin layer to my lids using my fingertips, not patting but spreading, gently blending the edges of the color into my crease. To build the color, I patted on a second layer using a fluffy eyeshadow brush. The only reason I used the brush was to see how well it worked with the cream shadow formula. It worked with this shadow, but not the gold one. I've since worn this color a few more times and have just used fingers only for application with good results.

Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo 24 Hour Cream Gel Shadow in 45 Bold Gold

Bold Gold is a light/medium neutral gold that applies sheer but builds to near-opacity when layered. The finish is a rough metallic sparkle, not the smooth liquid metal finish I was expecting. The color of it is also different from what I expected. It's not strongly warm/brassy/yellow but it's not strongly greyed or taupe-looking either. It almost seems greenish in some lights, like a gold approaching olive. Here's how it looks on my eye:

This was:
Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bold Gold on lid and lower lashline
Urban Decay Mildew in crease
Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner in Blackest Black
Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes!

This one was not as opaque as Fierce & Tangy. It applies as a sheer layer of gold shimmer when applied normally, but patting on more layers helped me build it to the density shown here. It has a subtle twinkly sparkle to it without having any actual glitter.

What I liked:

Good variety of colors available (click here to view the full shade range on Maybelline's website), not just plain neutrals.
Super creamy formula. It's soft and smooth, somewhat firm, not quite melty but not dry and dragging. Nicest cream shadow texture I've ever felt. Makes me think of buttercream frosting.
Color really does last all day without creasing.
Doesn't take very long to dry.
Would be especially good for people who like to wear just a color wash since it applies so quickly and lasts all day without creasing.
Inexpensive. I paid slightly too much for mine at CVS (about $7), but every other store I've been to has them for around $5.
Didn't irritate my eyes, dry my eyelids or flake off during the day.
Didn't interfere too much with blending when I applied a powder shadow alongside it. Normally creme shadows grab onto the powder and don't allow it to blend seamlessly, leaving me with harsh edges and weird dark streaks.

What I didn't like:

It makes my eyelids look rough, dry and wrinkly. Possibly because I apply multiple layers, but I need my shadow to be opaque, so multiple layers are a necessity.
It didn't experience any creasing as I'd normally expect (a thick line of product building up in the crease of my eye with bald spots from where the shadow has migrated), but I did notice lines of visible skin along the tiny natural wrinkles and creases of my eyelid. Hard to explain in text, but it is visible in the pictures above.
This is gross, I know, but I slept in my makeup to test the 24 hour claim and when I woke up, the shadow had mostly worn away. I can see it lasting the full 24 hours if you stay up the entire time... But that's the only reason I can think of for wanting 24-hour makeup.
Applying multiple layers of this product can be tricky. Too much pressure and you'll remove the layer you've already applied and have to start over. Not dry enough and the product won't stick, too dry and it will look cakey/chunky. A gentle patting/rolling motion with a fingertip is what worked for me.
I can't figure out how to use them as a crease color and have them look opaque and smoothly blended, so these are lid-only colors for me.
Packaging is very ugly. Has nothing to do with the performance of the product, but they're really not nice to look at.

I liked these more than I expected to. I have used a lot of cream shadows in the past that were either too greasy/slippery so never dried and creased massively, or too stiff and dry and were difficult and uncomfortable to apply. These are neither. The formula feels fantastic and glides smoothly onto the lids, but then sets quickly into a dry finish, almost like a cream-to-powder formula. I really like Fierce & Tangy a lot. It's a perfect light orange and I love that it has a matte finish. Bold Gold, I could take it or leave it. It's not bad, but I have about a million gold eyeshadows that I love and there's really nothing special about it that sets it apart from them.

In all honesty, I'll probably never wear these with any frequency. The two shades I tried were better than I expected a cream shadow to be, and they are definitely the nicest cream shadows I've ever used (especially impressive since they're drugstore and under $10), but not amazing enough to make me want to go through the process of applying multiple coats on a daily basis. I did order the taupe one because I thought it might make a good shadow base (and I had drugstore.com dollars that were about to expire, heh), but I don't feel compelled to own them all. Now, if they released a line of Color Tattoo shadows that were colored bases with heavy glitter in the same cream-gel formula, then I might change my mind...

Urban Decay Reformulated Eyeshadow (New for 2012) Swatches and Review

2012-04-20T09:45:00.000-05:00

Have you seen Urban Decay's newly overhauled shadow line? They took their current lineup of shadows (which were already good), completely reformulated them for better texture, adhesion, fallout- and crease-resistance, updated the packaging to not only look better, but so that the pans can be easily popped out and placed into customizable palettes, plus they even added a few shades previously only available in palettes. Sadly, quite a few shades were discontinued in the process (some of my favorites, too), but they're still available on the website until they run out.

Anyway, let me walk through the brand new packaging really quickly before I start talking about the formula.

The new box is really attractive. It's a sturdy cardboard box with a window cutout to show the shade. The color is a dark purple gradient and the Urban Decay logo is printed in silver chrome lettering.

The label on the top is colored to match the shadow inside, but it also acts as a safety seal. The bottom flap isn't sealed, but it has a series of cardboard flaps that prevent you from being able to remove the shadow without completely destroying the box.

Ingredients are listed on the sticker, not printed on the box itself.

There's even a nice surprise waiting inside the box, too. The interior features an abstract green leafy design. No detail was overlooked here!

The new shadow compacts are really special. They've kept their signature subway token motif, but translated it into a sleek, shiny dark chrome material instead of the matte silver plastic they were made of previously. The Urban Decay logo and motto are a lighter color than the packaging and are floating above the inner design, giving the text a really fascinating 3D effect. The new packaging is seriously gorgeous, whoever designed it did an amazing job making it look cool and modern while still preserving Urban Decay's historic subway token compact design.

The back label is colored to match the shadow, just like the sticker on the top of the box. Small detail, but much appreciated.

The new shadow containers open the same way as the old ones, but unlike the plain black casing those had inside, the new ones use the chrome material used on the outside on the inside as well.

And here's the new feature: The shadow pans pop out easily (no prying with a butter knife required) so that you can place them into a 6-pan Build Your Own Eyeshadow Palette.

For comparison, that's the old design on the left, the new one on the right (the shadow is SWF). I didn't dislike the old design at all, but now that I've seen the new one, I don't think I'm going to miss it.

I have a few of the new shadows to review, five I've used before and one that's new to me. The shades are (clockwise from top):
Mildew
Mushroom
Snakebite
SWF
Woodstock
Midnight Cowboy Rides Again

No primer, natural light and flash. Left to right: Midnight Cowboy Rides Again, Mildew, Mushroom, Snakebite, SWF, Woodstock.

Urban Decay Midnight Cowboy Rides Again

Urban Decay Midnight Cowboy Rides Again, original (left)
Urban Decay Midnight Cowboy Rides Again, new (right)

There's a slight variation in the shades here- the old one seems a little darker and has a lot more glitter, the new one is a little lighter, slightly more pink, has less glitter. In the old version, all the glitter would fall out of the shadow the minute you put it on your lids. In the new version there's still some fallout but, shockingly, a good portion of the glitter actually sticks!

Urban Decay Mildew

Urban Decay Mildew, original (left)
Urban Decay Mildew, new (right)

I think in this instance, I actually like the old version better than the reformulated one. The older one feels softer to me, and it also goes on darker. The new one isn't bad by any means, but it feels less soft and doesn't have the same pigmentation.

Urban Decay Mushroom

Urban Decay Mushroom, original (left)
Urban Decay Mushroom, new (right)

These seem mostly the same to me. The new one might be a little more dense and have a softer texture, otherwise this one didn't seem to change much with the reformulation.

Urban Decay SWF
(flash picture shows the microglitter)

Urban Decay SWF, original (left)
Urban Decay SWF, new (right)

The old one has more silver microglitter, but none of it stays on anyway. The new one is softer, sticks better, but seems to have less microglitter.

Urban Decay Woodstock

Urban Decay Woodstock, original (left)
Urban Decay Woodstock, new (right)

I have Woodstock in the Rollergirl palette (I love that palette so much), but it was my least favorite shadow from that palette in terms of formula. The old one is hard, which makes it difficult to pick up much shadow, but even when you get enough, the pigmentation isn't very good. The new one is much softer and has improved color payoff.

Urban Decay Snakebite

I don't have another version of this, so this one is new to me. I believe it was exclusive to the Naked2 palette, which I don't have yet. The texture of this one is like butter and it has excellent pigmentation.

The first newly reformulated shadow I tried Midnight Cowboy Rides Again. I had to see if they'd found a way to make the glitter stick. Here's the look I did:

Urban Decay Midnight Cowboy Rides Again on lid
Urban Decay Snakebite in crease and on lower lashline
Urban Decay Demolition, smudged as liner and on waterline
(With flash and fluorescent light)

None of the glitter shows up on camera, but it's there. It's there and it actually stayed on my lids without me having to use any special product or technique other than my usual primer. In fact, I didn't even use a brush. I applied it with my fingers. Pigmentation in both shades was excellent and glitter fallout was minimal. How did they do it?!

What I liked:

New packaging is GORGEOUS. It's both elegant and edgy, modern but true to Urban Decay's history and style.
New shadows haven't changed colors drastically. I'm always worried about color changes in reformulated products.
New formula is buttery soft and applies like a dream.
A lot of shades that were previously only available in palettes are now part of the permanent line (Mushroom!!).
They figured out how to make most of the glitter stay in the glitter shades. It's a miracle!
Most of the Deluxe shades have been absorbed into the regular line, so no more trying to store those little weird-shaped domed compacts that never stacked well.

What I didn't like:

Some of my favorite colors got discontinued :(
Price increase of $1 per shadow. That's not a bad increase at all, but worth mentioning.
The palette system seems expensive to me. The Build Your Own Palette is an empty six-pan palette that comes with a free shadow and a brush, but it costs $18 for the palette itself plus $18 for each shadow. $126 for a full palette. I don't believe there's a way to get the pans separately for a reduced price (á la MAC Pro Palette Refills), but I hope that's something they will do in the future.
Also, if you're planning on buying shadows to fill the palette, all that pretty new packaging is wasted since you take the shadow pans out of the single compacts to put them into the palette. The old Eyeshadow Vault allowed you to place the entire compact into a palette, but it did take up a huge amount of space and the new one is significantly easier to store.
A lot of the shades are really frosty.

The formula on the shades that I tried was divine. They were all velvety soft and smooth, not chunky or grainy, beautifully pigmented and easy to blend, just all around lovely. Urban Decay's eyeshadow formula was nice before, but it actually is even nicer now. I haven't tried any of the newly reformulated matte shades, but these shimmer/frost/glitter shades are excellent. And don't get me started on the new packaging design... It is gorgeous. I can't say enough good things about it, it's so pretty and shiny and a definite aesthetic improvement over the old design. And this is coming from someone who hates it when brands change their designs, be it logo, website or packaging. So, yes, I'm definitely okay with the changes in formula and packaging for once. The only thing that makes me sad about this change is that some of my favorite shades didn't make the cut (Urb, Honey, EL DORADO (!), Lounge, Uzi...), I would have loved to try them with the newly updated formula. At least they kept most of my favorites, like X, Last Call and Blunt.

You can click here to see which shades were discontinued and see what new shades they recommend to replace the old ones. You can also view the entire current lineup of 68 shades and get started on building your own palette. All of the original shades are still available at the moment, so you might want to stock up in case your favorite color was one of the discontinued ones.

The new Urban Decay single eyeshadows are $18 each, and are now available on urbandecay.com.

(This was sent for review.)

a-england Gem of the Month: Princess Tears

2012-04-19T14:00:00.000-05:00

I just noticed that this month's featured polish on a-england's website is Princess Tears! I haven't posted this color yet, so what better time to show it than now? It's really beautiful and not at all what I thought it would be...

a-england Princess Tears. This shade is from the newly released Legends collection. It's described on the website as a lilac, so I was expecting it to be one of those really common pale lilac/borderline pink holos. It's not, it's way better than that. It is lilac, but it's dark and silvered. It's a grey and lilac duochrome that also flashes pink and green. In addition to the amazing multichromatic color shift, it's also holographic like the rest of the Legends collection. The combination of holo and duochrome makes this polish look amazing in any type of light; it doesn't have to be viewed in full sunlight to look its best. I think this looks pretty similar to a-england Ascalon, but like a lighter, softer version. Ascalon is a darker grey with a deeper blue-toned purple in it, this is lighter and more pewter colored and the purple part of it appears more pink than the purple in Ascalon.

The formula on this is just as nice and smooth as the other polishes from the Legends collection. It's a little thinner than the dark colors like Bridal Veil and Saint George so it's not opaque in one coat like those are, but looks great at two or three coats (depends on how strong you want the duochrome to be). I did three and I like it best that way, it brings out the green flash more.

Holo and duochrome at the same time. Perfection.

This is currently in stock on a-england's website, £9 with free worldwide shipping (!!!).

(This was sent for review.)

Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama 24 Hour Gel Eyeliner Swatches and Review

2012-04-19T08:00:00.001-05:00

Here's something I haven't tried yet: Drugstore brand gel eyeliner. I saw these at the store and thought they looked pretty nice, so I figured I'd give them a try. My jar of MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack is on its last legs, so it was about time for me to pick up another anyway. Historically, I haven't had the best luck with Maybelline products, but I took a chance on these and I'm really glad I did. They rock.

Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner

The colors I chose are Blackest Black, a matte deep black, and Eggplant, a shimmery blackened purple.

Instructions and ingredients.
(click to enlarge)

Each Lasting Drama liner comes with its own brush. It's not your typical eyeliner brush, either. It's small, flat and rounded at the end. It feels like it has synthetic bristles.

Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama 24 Hour Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black

Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama 24 Hour Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black applied using included brush

Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama 24 Hour Gel Eyeliner in Eggplant

Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama 24 Hour Gel Eyeliner in Eggplant, applied using included brush

What I liked:

Easy to find; available in any drugstore.
Blackest Black is nice and opaque, no need to go over the line multiple times to achieve full, even coverage.
The formula is extremely smooth and creamy. Not too dry, not too wet, perfect gel texture.
Each liner comes with a brush and the brush is actually really good for applying this type of gel-textured liner. One thing I like about it is that it is flat and has a precise edge so it's easy to draw winged liner without making the lines blurry or too wide.
Quick drying.
I haven't experienced any flaking, smudging or eye irritation while wearing Blackest Black
Under $10 each, depending on where you shop.

What I didn't like:

The Eggplant shade is not as opaque as the Blackest Black shade. I had to apply multiple layers to make an opaque line. Applying multiple coats causes the liner to flake when touched.
The Eggplant shade isn't as strong of a color, either. It looks soft and faded and it lacks impact. I would have liked it to look more like Eggplant.
Blackest Black could be a little blacker; it's not quite as dark as MAC Blacktrack. It's really not bad, though.
While some places carry these for under $10 (I paid about $7 for mine), I've seen others price this as high as $12. MAC Fluidlines only cost $15 for the same amount of product.
Very small shade selection. Only four colors (black, brown, charcoal, purple).

Like I mentioned above, I'm really glad I took a chance on these. I'm rather impressed by the quality of them. The Eggplant wasn't exactly up to par, but I'm definitely going to buy Blackest Black again. It applies just as easily as the MAC Fluidline gel liner I normally buy, lasts just as long and looks just as good. The formula is creamy and a little on the wet side so it applies smoothly and without skipping. Plus, the brush it comes with actually works perfectly and I honestly wasn't expecting it to. Add another one to the list of shockingly awesome drugstore makeup items.

Deborah Lippmann 3D Holographic Nail Lacquer in Ray of Light Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-04-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

When I was ordering my Deborah Lippmann Chromes, I noticed this little gem hiding at the bottom of the page. I never saw an official announcement for it, but I'm assuming it's new for Summer 2012 because I've never seen it before. The website describes Ray of Light and its pink counterpart, Sweet Dreams, as "3D holographic", so I knew I had to have it. Let me get this out of the way first: It is not holographic. It is a flake glitter (aka, a "flakie"). Lately it seems like polish brands are calling all sorts of random things holographic and none of them actually are. This is holographic:

Gosh Holographic

Deborah Lippmann Ray of Light. Ray of Light is a deep indigo with a good amount of red/gold/green flakes. It's not sheer like I expected it to be. It's slightly jelly-finish, but nearly opaque enough to be a creme. The flakes are medium to small in size and appear red in most lights. These have a really subtle color shift compared to all the other flake glitters I have. The indigo base is very dark and tends to cover the flakes on the bottom layer of polish.

The formula on this one was not good. It's very thick and doesn't apply smoothly or evenly. I tried to do really thin coats, but it just insisted on being globby and creating thick ridges of polish at the edges of my nails. It's hard to do a thin, smooth coat with this in its current state and I plan on thinning mine the next time I use it. The coverage of the polish was good, I did three coats and it was completely opaque. However, due to the thick formula, dry time is long. Quick-dry topcoat is advised.

I really like the rich color of this and I love the contrasting red flakes, but the formula could use some work. This was way thicker and harder to apply than an $18 polish should be. Plus, I'm a little let down that it's not holographic. I pretty much expected that when ordering it, but I had to get it and find out for sure. It is a unique color in my collection (I have no other flakies with a dark indigo base), but you can approximate this look by doing a "jelly sandwich" technique by alternating coats of a deep blue jelly (NARS Midnight Express, Illamasqua Propaganda, OPI Dating a Royal) and a red/green/gold flake glitter (Essie Shine of the Times, Nubar 2010).

I ordered mine straight from Deborah Lippmann's website.

LORAC TANtalizer Highlighter and Matte Bronzer Duo Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-04-17T10:30:00.000-05:00

LORAC has a new TANtalizer bronzer palette out for Spring/Summer 2012 and it's enormous. The size of this bronzer makes all my other blush compacts look so tiny in comparison! It's so big I could practically eat my dinner off of it. But the size is not important, really... I care most about the performance of the product. I absolutely adore the baked marbled TANtalizer that LORAC released a while back, so I had high hopes for this new one.

The LORAC TANtalizer Highlighter and Matte Bronzer Duo comes in a large mirrored bronze compact. I wish I had included something in the photo for scale, but it's the largest blush compact in my drawer. It's four inches across, larger even than a Milani baked bronzer. Inside the compact is a full mirror and two large pans of product; highlighter on the left, bronzer on the right.

LORAC TANtalizer Highlighter and Matte Bronzer Duo

The highlighter is a light, warm peach. It has a slight pinkness to it and a tiny bit of brown. The shimmer is fine and smooth, not chunky or glittery. The bronzer half is a dark matte coffee brown. Swatches applied heavily, no primer, in natural light and with flash.

Ingredients are on the back of the box, but are not listed on the actual palette.

What I liked:

The bronzer seems intimidatingly dark, but it actually looks light and natural on my skin. It doesn't look orange or muddy, either. Just a nice, neutral brown.
The highlighter isn't excessively frosty/silvery. Blends nicely.
Very pretty packaging that stands out among my other bronzers.
Tons of product.
Very smooth, velvety, creamy powder texture on both the highlighter and the bronzer.
Can be used on face and body.
Didn't make me break out.
Both the highlighter and the bronzer make good eyeshadow colors, especially used together.
Reasonable price considering how huge this product is. For comparison, my favorite Too Faced Sun Bunny bronzer is 0.33 oz and costs $29, this is 0.4oz and $32. Not bad at all.
The large mirror in this is great. The size of the mirror should really help with on-the-go application since you can see your entire face in it.

What I didn't like:

Reflective mirror-like compact collects scratches and fingerprints easily.
Very large compact can be awkward to carry in a makeup bag or fit into a small drawer for storage.
The highlighter looks too shiny if not blended carefully. When I use it to highlight my cheekbones, I need to use an extremely small amount of it and blend well for it not to look shiny/dewy.

I'm happy to say that this new TANtalizer didn't disappoint me! I was kind of intimidated by the deep color of the bronzer, but once I tried it on, my fears dissipated. It is a little darker of a bronzer color than I'm used to, but it blends beautifully and doesn't look orange. I apply it lightly (with a small, dense brush) on and under my cheekbones and a little tiny bit up toward my temples and it looks very natural on my fair, cool skintone. I'm not a fan of the highlighter powder on my face (looks too shiny for me, accentuates rough skin areas) but it works great on the inner corners of my eyes, a little on my browbones, and a touch on my collarbone when I'm feeling fancy. The texture of both is nice, they blend smoothly and they stay on without fading for a good long time.

The LORAC TANtalizer Highlighter and Matte Bronzer duo is available now at Sephora. $32 for 0.4oz.

(This was sent for review.)

OPI The Amazing Spider-Man Collection Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

2012-04-13T18:00:00.001-05:00

OPI's new Spider-Man collection was a bit of an unexpected surprise for me. A comic book themed collection?? For real? That's AWESOME. Okay, not exactly based on comic books, but it was created to coincide with the release of the new 3D Spiderman movie, The Amazing Spider-man, that's coming out in July, so close enough. Still Spiderman. The collection consists of six colors plus a new shade of OPI Shatter crackle topcoat that creates the look of Lizard's scales.

The colors are:Call Me Gwen-ever - Into The Night - Just Spotted The Lizard - My Boyfriend Scales Walls - Number One Nemesis - Your Web Or Mine?

OPI Call Me Gwen-Ever. This is orange, but it's not the vibrant orange we've been seeing a lot this year. This one is lighter, more of a medium orange than a dark orange, less saturated, less clean, less bright. It's soft and muted, a little dirty even, and has a pink/coral tone instead of yellow undertones.

OPI Into The Night. This is a deep metallic blue with a very slight hint of indigo / purple tone to it. It's not a super dark vampy blue shimmer like OPI Yoga-Ta Get This Blue, it's actually rather light looking with a faded denim type of finish. It is a frost but it doesn't suffer from any weird formula or brushstroke issues like most frosts.

OPI Just Spotted The Lizard. A golden-green chrome with blue, aqua/teal and pure green duochrome. Shiny metallic finish, slightly brushstroke-prone. Chanel Péridot dupe (see below).

OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. This is described as a "cityscape white" on the press release, but to me it looks grey. A very, very light grey, as light as you can go before it becomes pure white. The slight dirty/dingy look of it keeps it from being extremely white-out bright and chalky, but it is still pretty dense and bright on the nails.

OPI Number One Nemesis. A deep greenish-grey shimmer that's made up of lots of different colored particles. There's charcoal, gold, green, a silvery color, even a little hint of blue. In bright light it sparkles like a glass fleck. In dim light it looks speckled. I highly suspect that this is an exact match for Chanel Graphite, but since I've lost my bottle, I can't do a comparison. From memory, though, I want to say it's practically the same.

OPI Your Web Or Mine?. Super frosty warm medium pink. Leans coral. Yikes. DO NOT WANT.

Sidenote: I can't even see the name Spiderman anymore without hearing Jenna Marbles' voice saying, "Bye, Spiderman!"

OPI Shatter Topcoat in Shatter The Scales
The collection also includes this shatter topcoat to layer over any of the shades. It's a dark blue-toned green shimmer with silver foil microglitter.

OPI Shatter the Scales over Call Me Gwen-ever.

OPI Shatter the Scales over Into The Night.

OPI Shatter the Scales over Just Spotted the Lizard.

OPI Shatter the Scales over My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

OPI Shatter the Scales over Number One Nemesis.

OPI Shatter the Scales over Your Web Or Mine?

Unfortunately, I can't compare Number One Nemesis to Chanel Graphite at the moment (hoping my bottle will turn up somewhere, though I feel like I've turned my house upside-down looking for it), but I can compare Just Spotted the Lizard to Péridot:

Comparison between OPI Just Spotted the Lizard and Chanel Péridot
Left to right (pinkie to index):
OPI Just Spotted The Lizard (three coats)
Chanel Péridot (three coats)
OPI Just Spotted The Lizard (three coats)
Chanel Péridot (three coats)

Exact match. I can't tell a difference at all. The OPI seemed more green in the bottle, but it was just an illusion due to the rounded bottle shape. The OPI's formula is a little smoother and more opaque, but that's the only difference I could discern.

The formula on all the polishes was excellent. I didn't have a single problem with any of the shades. The texture was neither thick nor thin, just a nice, smooth, flowing-but-not-runny, in-between texture. No running or pooling, no ridges, no bubbles, nothing. All shades except My Boyfriend Scales Walls were opaque in two coats, but I did three coats of all anyway. Very fast dry time.

Overall, I'm kinda disappointed by this collection. I think it's awesome that they've finally released a collection for geeky polish-lovers like me, but I think the color selection is.... bizarre. Random. It doesn't feel like comic books or Spiderman at all. Okay, I see Lizard green and spiderweb white/grey, but to me, those are the most Spiderman-ish colors in here. Normally I'd not ask for another red, but come on... It's Spiderman! A Spiderman collection with no red! Plus, two Chanel dupes in one collection. I'm all for more affordable Chanel dupes, but really wish they had saved them for another collection and included two superhero/villain themed colors instead. How about a radioactive glow-in-the-dark shade? No? And why does that frosty pink even exist? At least the formula was great.

The limited edition OPI Spider-Man Collection hits shelves in May.

(This was sent for review.)