February 2012 Favorites

I'm afraid I'm going to have to make this short and sweet, or in the case of one of my favorites, Spicy & Sweet.
(ha. ha.)

Lorac Multiplex 3D Lip Gloss in 3D and 4D $22 each (so much Zazzz! Sticky kiss-repellant, but so pretty <3) on my lips here, here, here, and here.

Physicians Formula Happy Booster Blush in Natural $11 (a go-to when I don't want to deal with more-pigmented peachy blushers. Lovely scent and obviously adorable!)

Hard Candy Fox in a Box Blush in Spicy & Sweet $6 (surprisingly natural flush)

Benefit Hervana $28 (I have to pick up TONS of product to get this to show, but it gives a fittingly angelic flush to cheeks when it finally does... and of course it smells heavenly, too!)

Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment $13.50 for 1oz. size (not pictured) (controlled my frizzies, no smell really, didn't flake like other stylers, didn't make me break out, and I managed to finish up the 1oz. size!)

Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer $17 (non-silicone feel for the most part, and makes my L'oreal Magic Smooth Souffle Foundation hang around until the work bell rings)

Adventure Time (with Finn and Jake)
I couldn't get enough this month. It might have left me poo-brained, but I watched it non-stop!

Not my property - got this screen cap off Wikipedia

DUPE SMACKDOWN #6: IS PHYSICIANS FORMULA HAPPY BOOSTER LIPSTICK IN I heart NUDE EVER HIP?

Hey Gals! Just a quick little comparison between my beloved MAC Ever Hip lipstick and my new Physicians Formula Happy Booster lipstick in I <3 Nude:

Left side of photo, MAC Ever Hip; Right side of photo, Physicians Formula Happy Booster in I <3 Nude

Fragrance/Taste: MAC lipsticks have a vanilla scent that I find delectable. I was a little afraid of trying the Physicians Formula Happy Booster lipsticks because they are supposed to have a violet scent and I usually despise any lip products with floral scents.  However, I find the scent to be surprisingly nice and not too soapy!  It's kind of like the Milani lipsticks in that it is floral but sweet.  While I could almost nom my Ever Hip, I don't mind I <3 Nude's scent at all and don't think either lipstick has a taste.

Texture/Color: Ever Hip is a Cremesheen formula and thus it is rather glossy.  Both lipsticks apply a bit patchy but can be easily built up and blended to full opacity.  Both can sheer down nicely, too.  I <3 Nude is more of a creamy lipstick finish without much gloss to it, but it certainly isn't matte.  It seemed to photograph slightly darker than Ever Hip and I think that's because it's not as glossy/light reflective.

Left, Physicans Formula I <3 Nude; Right, MAC Ever Hip

I visited the MAC counter yesterday and the lovely SA Janelle's jaw dropped and she exclaimed, "That lipstick looks incredible on you!" I asked her if she thought it looked like Ever Hip and she said yes, and that she has four backups, LOL.

Longevity: Both of these lipsticks pull over four hours of wear on me, which is excellent!

I don't really want to declare a "winner" because Ever Hip was limited edition (and I would buy a backup if I could) and the Physicians Formula is brand-new and permanent (I think).  With Ever Hip not being released this Spring (and quickly selling out when it is released), I think you ought to consider spending the $8.79 to get the Physicians Formula Happy Booster lipstick in I <3 Nude as a lovely stand-in (the closest I've found).

What do you guys think - Dupe or not?

Physicians Formula New Happy Booster Glow & Mood Boosting 2-in-1 Bronzer & Blush

Hi girls! Things still haven't slowed down since the holidays so I hope you'll excuse my reduced posting.  I read about the latest additions to the Physicians Formula Happy Booster Collection over at Musings, and I truly expected I wouldn't see any of these until February. It just so happens I needed a new shower pouf and headed to my closest CVS last night to pick one up and spotted a couple of the new displays! They had the new Eye Kohl Trios, the two Happy Booster Lipsticks (I got I <3 Nude, which isn't nude at all but is rather like a less-glossy MAC Ever Hip... comparison pending), the two new Happy Booster blushes (pink and warm, didn't get yet b/c I want a sale price), and Bronze/Rose and Bronze/Natural Happy Booster Glow & Mood Boosting 2-in-1 Bronzer & Blush!

 I just got Bronze/Natural.

Under the powder is a mirror and brush compartment, just like the original Happy Booster bronzers.

Left to right: bronzer, top heart (more of a highlighter and doesn't really show), middle heart, bottom heart

Super-cute, right?
Unfortunately, as the swatches show, it's quite lacking in pigment.  It smells really nice, is very adorably packaged, and goof-proof because of the lack of pigmentation. I had to really work for the swatches and the bronzer didn't show up on my NC25 face at all (though it did sort of work like a light-diffusing finishing powder).  I think this would be good makeup for a teen and it certainly doesn't look bad, but it's over-priced at $14.29 for something so unpigmented.  I'm going to carry it for blush-refreshing and cuteness but it's no workhorse product.  It's really a let-down because the original Happy Booster bronzers are much better!  If you want a festive Valentine's Day compact I'd go with the original Bronzer or Light Bronzer.

November 2011 Favorites

Another month... flew by! I imagine the last month of 2011 will be the same.
Here are the favorites that maintained my cosmetic obsession this November:

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters, $7.49 each
I have nothing to say about these that hasn't already been said, but here are a few in my current rotation:

Left to right: Sugar Frosting, Pink Truffle, Sugar Plum, Creamsicle, Strawberry Shortcake, Peach Parfait

Great reviews and swatches can be found at Beauties in Bloom, Don't Call Me Jessie, and Beauty Gala.
There is not a thing I do not LOVE about 'em!

Sephora #55 Airbrush for liquid foundation application $34
It can be a pain to wash it after every use, but I'd rather spend the time washing this (best cleanser I've found for this purpose: Beauty Blender Cleanser), than trying to scrub foundation off of my fingers!  The application tends to be sheerer than other methods (beauty blender, fingers), but also very natural and quick!  Thanks for Jessica from Don't Call Me Jessie once again for mentioning this on her blog ages ago (it was on my list until the F&F sale!).

Pond's wipes $5-ish
They're extremely easy to find at any drugstore, which I love.  I'll admit they're not as good at eye makeup as MAC or CVS wipes, but they are rather wet and seem to more thoroughly remove base makeup from my skin.  I must admit, though, that I'm dying to try E.L.F. makeup wipes since I read Yu's recent rave review!

Toss up: Harajuku Lovers Wicked Style Baby/Jingle G ($25 for the .33oz, $45 for the 1oz)
Obviously, the packaging is over-the-top adorable, but I really love how festive ornament Jingle G smells the way I wish fruitcake would smell!  I'm wearing it constantly in the cooler weather.
I had the mini-size of Wicked Style Baby, but I had been wanting one of the soft, felt-haired full-size bottles from the Wicked Style line.  I couldn't justify it until I noticed my husband sniffing me blissfully one afternoon... what a relief I remembered it was Wicked Style Baby that'd I'd spritzed that morning!  After confirming with a fresh spritz of it to the husband's nose, I ordered this during the V.I.B. sale at Sephora.  I heard Harajuku Lovers fragrances are going to be discontinued, so if you are wanting to collect them all you might want to get a jump on it!

Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Enhancing Gel CreamLiner Glam Eyes ($10.95 at drugstores, but often on sale)
These are really great gel liners you can get at most U.S. drugstores.  The brush they come with isn't even half bad.  They also make amazing creaseless eyeshadows (as seen here).  The Glam Eyes and regular line alike come in many colors and several of the colors have glitters... I love The Dark Side of Beauty writer Nancy's eye looks with Stila Smudge Pot in Little Black Dress (black with purple glitters), but I can't find it anywhere.  Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips makes a black with purple sparkles, too, but I can't remember which set it's in cuz I hauled them all... but if you're wanting to dupe Nancy's amazing looks, I think these work well for the cost!  Check the packaging to find out which glitter you're getting :)

Pictured: Top = Glam Brown Eyes trio (the gold is a dupe for UD Primer Potion in Greed, and I'm wearing the black with bronze sparkles thickly as liner here), Bottom = Glam Green Eyes trio

Lorac 3D Liquid Lustre ($16)
I'm on my second bottle (for sanitary reasons), but I never want to be without this gorgeous, multi-purpose shimmer fluid.  The dropper packaging is rather stupid, I'll admit.  It also tends to lighten shadows a bit but its sparkle is just too beautiful to let that bother me.  Reasonable price, too, in my humblest.  The quickest, no-brainer/no-skill evening look I do with it is just dab it across my lids and high up on my cheekbones over my day makeup.

Don't have dirty thoughts! The consistency is definitely water-like :-P

MAC Nordstrom Exclusive Holiday 2011 Festive Face Kit (no affiliation, if you're wondering) $59.50
I don't know if this is still available or not, but this is all I took on my Thanksgiving visit to family in St. Louis and I found it to be extremely versatile!  I apologize I don't have photos of the looks I did with it, but I found it was super-easy to just vary the placement of the very blendable shadows included to get completely different, flattering looks.  The colors look amazing with my light eyes, and even better with my reddish (dyed) hair.  The brushes are also pretty decent and I didn't miss any brushes I'd left at home.  My review and swatches can be found here.  If you've got similar coloring to me you will NOT regret picking this set up!

Y'all ready for Christmas/Hanukkah/New Years yet?

FOTD: Too Simple to Be a FOTD (using some swap goodies)

Mondays always leave me rushing out the door so I can never do a look that requires lots of blending.  Last night I watched Lisa Eldridge's video about doing a kitten flick and that stuck in my mind for today's look.  I'm sure I've done a cat eye on this blog before but I also played around with several of the products I recieved from Riya at Pinkstrawberrielove.

Swap products used:
Real Doll Makeup Base: I think this didn't prevent creasing around my eyes, nose, and mouth, and on the worry line between my brows (bummer) but I do feel that this nicely filled/smoothed my pores on my cheeks.  In the future I'll just use it on my cheeks :). 
Beauty Credit Blusher in Orange Heart: Looks scary-orange in the pan but becomes a lovely, buildable peach on the cheeks. I love it!
Majolica Majorca Lash Expander Frame Plus Mascara: this has a really interesting brush; it's a dual-sided plastic comb that is great at preventing clumps and separating this fiber-building mascara.  One side has shallow, wide teeth to deposit mascara and the other side is a finer comb.  It was suprisingly easy to put on and lengthens really well! I can tell why this is one of Riya's favorites.

Revlon Facets of Fuchsia on my nails at last ;-)


 Jacket: Express, Tie-neck blouse: Target (oooold), Foundation: Chanel Perfection Lumiere, Lips: Too Faced Glamour Gloss in Barely Legal, Eye Liner: Physicians Formula Glam Brown Eyes Gel CreamLiner (black with bronze sparkles), Eye Shadow: peachy shade from Almay Trio for Browns

Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel CreamLiner Rave

Today I washed my lid with a sheer coat of Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel CreamLiner, Glam Collection in Glam Green Eyes (phew! out of breath!) silvery shade:

I used a brush to apply it sheerly to avoid creasing, over TFSI.  I lined the top lid with Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Stray Dog.  The lower liner is actually just mascara from last night that I couldn't get off, LOL... I'm so rock 'n roll ;-P

SRSLY? Why don't more people rave these as cream shadows??

This is just super-pretty, shimmery in a good way, doesn't crease (applied sheerly), versatile (it's a liner but of course you can use it as a shadow base because it comes in a pot), cheap ($10.95 at drugstores and you can often get buy-one-get-one 50% off, and each selection comes with three shades so it's like $3.66 per pot! Um, and the brush it comes with isn't half bad), and long-lasting (above I didn't set it with any powder product at all and the pictures were taken an hour after application)!

I've bought these several times over the past year not because they've dried out, but because I'm really scared of eye infections so I always toss eye makeup after three months.  I always need to have these around!  I will be seriously bummed if they're ever discontinued (regular or glam eyes collections).  Have you guys tried these? Have you tried the lighter shades as sheer shadows?

Family Party FOTD

Today was my little nephew's birthday party, so I thought I'd go colorful with my makeup.  The result?  The 80's called and they said I can keep their look because it looks better on me, anyway ;-*

 My skin hasn't been so great so I've been avoiding FOTDs, but I don't want to hide forever!

 Some items used: the gold blush in the Stila loves Roxy palette, Revlon 91182 Flirty Beyond Natural lashes, Duo lash glue, Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Glam Brown Eyes black gel liner, Eco Tools Blush brush, MAC Mellow Mood lustre lipstick (one of my favorite lipsticks ever), Eco Tools angled liner brush, Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Deviant, Stila #7 shadow brush, NYX Yellow (from the Tropical/Yellow/Lime Green trio), NYX Team Spirit trio (all shades), L'oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara, Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara in black. Not pictured: Origins Vitazing, Boscia BB Cream, Beauty Blender sponge, E.L.F. Mineral Foundation in Light, Rimmel Stay Matte powder in Translucent, Garnier Tinted Eye Roller, Urban Decay Primer Potion in Greed