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?

Please don't TEAL my credit card number...

My hair is looking shaggy and brassy so I've *cleverly* cropped it out of the photos! :-P

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Sugar Frosting

So, it finally happened.  After years of shopping online with abandon at innumerable retailers, somebody finally hacked my information and made fraudulent charges on my credit card.
I feel so violated!
It is a small comfort to know I likely will not be held liable, and I know other people that have been victims of this kind of fraud.
To cheer myself up, I've done a colorful EOTD!  It's been a while since I reached for colors this vibrant :-D Works a charm <3

Method: Too Faced Shadow Insurance is my base all over, followed by the champagne shade (rehab, fourth from left) on the inner third of the lid applied with a flat eye shadow brush.  Next I applied the purple-tinged blue (bellbottom, second from right) to the outer 2/3 of just the lid with the flat brush, avoiding the crease to tame the bright blues for daytime.  Using just the side of the flat eye shadow brush, I carefully traced the turquoise (peggy, fourth from right) into the crease and outer v, being careful not to take it up too high (for this look, I'm sort of sneaking blue eyeshadows into my office by hiding them in the crease only to be seen when I close my eyes).  This makes for a harsh line, which I softened by using the slanted blending/crease brush with the champagne color (rehab) around the turquoise and up on the browbone as highlight.  Lastly, I used the pencil brush in the teal color (bukowski, third from right) to line the outer 2/3 of my lower lashline, used a white pencil on the waterline, and applied mascara to top and bottom lashes.

Too Faced Shadow Insurance, Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara in Black, Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Mascara 1 (decent mascara, but not really worth the $30 price tag, in my opinion), Wet n Wild Color Icon Eye Liner in White, Kat Von D True Romance Eyeshadow Palette in Angeles, EcoTools flat eyeshadow brush (great for concentrating color, can be used to apply concealer), pencil brush, slanted crease brush

Revlon Holiday 2011 Colorburst Lip Glosses - Swatches

After a short hunt I finally located the display for the latest Revlon Colorburst Lipglosses!  Revlon has come out with some of my favorite lip products this year, and I'm so psyched they've released more shades of these awesome glosses.  I think the packaging is so nice and elegant, reminiscent of Chanel Glossimers at a fraction of the price <3
Revlon Colorburst Lip Glosses also don't really have any flavor or fragrance, are non-sticky, and are often on sale, yay!

Left to right: Ignite (shimmery), Cheers (not very shimmery), Decadent (not very shimmery), Glitz & Glam (shimmery but not very pigmented), Eggnog (no shimmer, sheer), Cocktail Dress and Chilled (surprisingly similar when swatched!)

Left to right: Glitz & Glam, Eggnog, and Cocktail Dress. I was a little disappointed with the pigmentation of these three.  In spite of their sheerness, they're all quite lovely!

I was hoping Chilled would be a dupe for MAC Dazzleglass in Pleasure Principle (they really look it in their tubes), but as you can see from my swatches here the Revlon isn't nearly as nice.  The shimmers are far smaller and more subtle in Chilled (it really just seems very shiny, rather than shimmery, in person. Some people will probably really like that!).  What a bummer, because the Revlon glosses are non-sticky whereas the MAC glosses are infamously sticky! It would have been awesome to have a cheap, non-LE, non-sticky version of Pleasure Principle, but no dice!

Revlon Colorburst Lip Gloss in Chilled

I got all but one of the colors. I skipped Spice it Up because I just couldn't see myself using such a browned, deep red much.  I'm sure there are lots of women that color would flatter, but I thought it would just make me seem pale. I didn't see any indication that these are limited edition; however, their Holiday-friendly names make me think there is a good chance they're only limited edition. Has anybody heard otherwise?

DUPE SMACKDOWN #3: MLBB GLOSSES

Left to right: NYX Spong Cake, Buxom Sugar, Revlon Rosepearl

My lips but better (MLBB) glosses are a must-have for women of every age - you can throw them on for any occasion, whether you want to play down your lips for a dramatic eye or just have an easy, everyday go-to daytime lip look.  Whether you prefer neutrals or colorful looks, an MLBB gloss is one that is likely to get tons of wear as long as you're not Gwen Stefani -- with a perpetually red pucker.

I'm comparing three shades that are MY lips, but better; I have rather pigmented lips and my skintone is NC25, though I think these picks would work for many people in a wide skintone range:
Buxom Big & Healthy Lip Polish in Sugar $18, described as "rose beige" in "original" finish (not super-shimmery).
NYX Mega Shine Gloss in Sponge Cake $5.50 on nyxcosmetics.com, and my favorite gloss formula and packaging by NYX.
Revlon Colorburst Lipgloss in Rosepearl $7.49 at my CVS.

In different lighting, the colors of these glosses all appear to change... they are all subtly nuanced but the effect when they are worn is basically a dupe.

It was really hard to capture their true colors. In different light, these glosses look nothing alike in the tube and in swatches!  But the picture of them on my lips at the top of this post is true-to-color .

Smell: If you like your lip products with minimal scent, the only one you're going to be okay with is Revlon Rosepearl.  Colorburst lipglosses do have a slight smell to them, but it is by far the subtlest of the three. Buxom Lip Polishes have an extremely sweet, almost cloying candy scent that you will definitely notice.  Most of the NYX Mega Shine Glosses smell of an artificial cherry fragrance, which some reviewers have called overly fake and sweet.  Personally, I like the fragrances of both the Buxom Lip Polish in Sugar and NYX Sponge Cake, so it is a toss-up for me.  I think Rosepearl wins this category because a larger range of people will be unbothered by its scent.

Taste: I don't think any of these really have a flavor, except the sweet fragrances of the Buxom Lip Polish and NYX Mega Shine Gloss impart a sweetness when you wear them.  If you can't stand sweet lippies, Revlon Rosepearl will win again.

Texture:  None of these glosses are what I would describe as sticky.  If I had to choose, I would say the Buxom Lip Polish is the the stickiest of the three, but it's generally not very tacky.  All three of these glosses last a couple of hours and are smooth and pigmented, though the Buxom is the most sheer.  It also has the most reflective shine of the three, which is also going to be a matter of personal preference -- Sugar has that wet-lips look to it.  It is also the only plumping gloss of the three so some might be irked by it's menthol-like tingle.  I often want to remove lip-plumping glosses immediately, but I am not at all bothered by the Buxom Lip Polish formula (though whether it actually plumps is questionable).  My husband complains of the "weird" tingle if I get it on him, though.  The NYX and Revlon glosses do not tingle or cool lips at all, but their shine is also more muted compared to the Buxom Lip Polish in Sugar.  Their relatively high pigmentation means you'll want to apply them with a mirror, but the Buxom gloss is sheer enough that you can apply it without looking.  If you have less pigmented lips than I have, you'll probably prefer the NYX or Revlon, but pigmented lips will appreciate the convenience of the Buxom Lip Polish.

Left to right: NYX Sponge Cake, Revlon Rosepearl, Buxom Sugar (so light-reflective that it looks quite different than the others in all my pictures. I swear in person these three look like dupes!)

Color:  These are all MLBB for me and look quite similar on, though the differences are infinitely more apparent in swatches.  The Buxom Lip Polish in Sugar's sheerness will make this look more different from the other glosses on another person.  It's so shiny, though, that I think it is actually less versatile than Rosepearl or Sponge Cake.  The glassy shine makes me feel I need a stronger eye look to pair with Sugar, and that it's best relegated to when I want to look sexy (it's okay, but not ideal, for the office).  Even though the pigments are MLBB, the shine level has a color-erasing effect in some light.  Also, the reflection is so obvious that I'm less likely to get a kiss from my husband when I wear it because he has a greater fear of transfer! Obviously the sore thumb in this lot is the Buxom Lip Polish - I think Sponge Cake and Rosepearl are basically interchangeable for color when worn.

With a different angle of light, Buxom Sugar (center) appears much lighter.

Winner: Revlon Rosepearl, my latest acquisition of the three, has got to be the winner for several reasons:
No intrusive smell or taste,
Affordable (especially if you get it like I did, with a coupon or on sale for $6.49 with $5 CVS Extrabucks in return!),
Widely available (at just about every drugstore vs. NYX at Ulta or online, Buxom at Sephora or BE Boutiques). 
All three have fairly nice packaging, but I do feel that the Buxom Big & Healthy Lip Polishes are just a bit gaudier and less elegant than the NYX and Revlon wands, due to the shiny silver topper and large BUXOM text.  They don't feel to me like they ought to be two- or three-times the price via the packaging.  While I appreciate the fragrance, feel, and finish of the Buxom Lip Polish in Sugar, I think the Revlon gives a comparable luxury experience that is only diminished slightly by how easy-to-find it is (no sense of rarity or exclusivity).  I think Revlon Glosses are the best drugstore lip gloss because of the high-end appearance of the packaging and quality of the product itself.
I'd love to know your MLBB glosses! Please comment below :-)