Holiday Giveaway!

FINALLY, the time is here! This promised giveaway has finally arrived! I'll break down what everything is and include supplemental photos (tomorrow!), but first, the rules.

Rules for the Giveaway

• You must be 18 or older; no exceptions
• You must enter using the Rafflecopter app provided below, no other submissions accepted.
• All entries must be received by December 24th, 2013 by 12 a.m. CST.
• Winner will receive (1) Package of Fatty Sundays PB&J Milk Chocolate Covered Pretzels, (1) "I Need Lipstick" cosmetics bag, (1) Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Native, (1) Stila Sample Pack [that includes (1) mini Stay All Day Liquid Liner, (1) mini Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Beso, and (1) mini Kitten eye shadow], (1) Benefit Primer Trio [that includes (1) mini That Gal primer, (1) The Porefessional primer, and (1) mini Stay Don't Stray primer].

Other general info:

This is open internationally, so anyone over 18 can enter. I will post the winner on December 24th and I will send you an email to let you know that you have won. I will mail the winnings to you, so you must provide your mailing address within 48 hours of winning; if you don’t provide me your mailing address within 48 hours, I will re-draw and there will be a new winner.  All items are brand new and have never been used.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Naked 3 : Swatches & First Impressions

I just finished filming a two look tutorial using the Naked 3 palette, but before that video goes up, I wanted to write a blogpost talking about my first impressions of the palette and to show you some swatches. Continue to read this post to see what I thought about it!

You get 12 shades of rosy hued neutrals and double sided brush for $52 in this palette; some of the shades are warm and some are cool toned, but it's a pretty good mix of both. Since it contains such a good mix, people with all skin tones should be able to partake. The first three shades, Strange, Dust, and Burnout, are the lighter shades and are a matte, shimmer, and satin finish (respectively). Limit, Buzz, Trick, Nooner, and Liar are your more mid range shades and are a grab bag of finishes. The last four shades are the darker shades and they are Factory, Mugshot, Darkside, and Blackheart which are almost all shimmer shades except for Blackheart which has glitter.

There isn't a substantial amount of fallout for most of the shades in this palette, but the shades that do have fallout have a massive amount of fallout. The shade with the worst amount of fallout is Dust, which might as well not even be in this palette. If you put dust on your finger and then wipe it across your hand, it barely applies any color and it flakes off. That's the biggest disappointment in this palette, but the other 12 shades are fantastic. Buzz and Trick also have a bit of fallout, but it's nothing that can't be controlled with careful application. If you have a base that is somewhat sticky (like NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk), Buzz and Trick will stick to it very easily and stay in place. 

I've heard that some people have found that the matte shades are chalky, but I don't agree in the slightest. All of the matte shades in this palette are buttery and smooth and apply and blend like a dream. The shimmer shades are very typical Urban Decay shimmers, beautiful and smooth.

1) Strange

2) Dust

3) Burnout

4) Limit

5) Buzz

6) Trick

7) Nooner 

8) Liar

9) Factory

10) Mugshot

11) Darkside

12) Blackheart

Slightly different lighting

The palette also comes with samples of Urban Decay's Primer Potions; all four of them. I'm not a big fan of Primer Potion, it doesn't work very well with my skin, but I will probably try these out to see if they can change my mind. As for the brush that comes with the palette, it's decent, but it's nothing to write too much about. It's a synthetic brush, which isn't great for powder products, so I highly suggest using different brushes for this. I might use the supplied brush for creme shadows and concealers; we'll see. 

Overall, I think this palette is pretty great. I love rosy and rose gold shadows, so this is something that I was highly anticipating. I have a warmer skin tone and greenish eyes, so this is something that feels like it was made explicitly for me. If you're on the fence about this palette, I would highly suggest checking it out in person and swatching against your own skin. It's available now in Ulta and Sephora, so go check it out!

Questions, comments? Leave them below!

Vice 2 Palette : Swatches and First Impressions

For those of you follow the makeup realm closely, you know the lore of the Vice palette that Urban Decay put out last year. If you look up prices for the original, you'll find them pretty close to $200, which is a good chunk of change considering it retailed for $59. Now, what made that palette special? It was 20 brand new shades that were limited edition and only available in that palette. Obviously, the palette sold out and then prices sky rocketed (just like most designer collections at Target). So, fast forward a year and here we are with the Vice 2 palette. In my humble opinion, I don't see this palette doing nearly as well as the previous and to me, it's because of one shade in particular; this palette is missing anything as amazing as the original Vice's Chaos. 

Just google the original palette and you will see what an amazing masterpiece the shade Chaos was. Even if you don't care for blue shadow, you have to admit that there is something magical about that shade. It was matte (ok, there were some chunks of glitter), royal blue, and the depth on it was amazing. This palette doesn't have a run away shade like that.

That's not to say of course that this palette is bad, as it has a lot of really awesome shades in it that will be awesome, just nothing that lives up to Chaos (for me). All of that being said, let's talk about this palette. It's 20 shades again, all brand new, and all limited edition. You have all different colors, but they all pretty much have the same finish, which is shimmer. However, if you've ever bought Urban Decay eye shadow before, you should know that shimmer and glitter are kind of their namesake.

I'm not really impressed with the case itself since it feels really cheap and plastic-y, but I do really like the jewel like UD on the front. I assume some people may not like that since it makes it so that you can't put anything on top of the palette, but it's pretty, so who cares? You get a huge mirror on the inside, which is a great thing to include since so many palettes these days still don't include one. You also get a double ended brush...

If you don't have a good brush collection, then this is going to be a welcome addition, but if you have something going on in the brush department, this will be useless. For me, I have a lot of brushes and I have a lot of soft, nice brushes (nothing fancy like Hakuhodo; I wish), so this brush will probably not get used. Its bristles don't feel great to the touch and they're pretty stiff. 

And now for the swartches! I'm going to break it down by shade, so here we go:

Smokeout: Meh. Smokeout is your standard black matte shadow with silver glitter. I am not a fan of silver glitter in my black shadows, so this will hardly be used.

Lovesick: Not quite black, not quite charcoal. It has some shimmer to it and will be great for creating a smoky eye. Applies very nicely.

Shellshock: SILVER. Even though I can't remember the last time that I wore silver eye shadow, this is one of the nicest shadows in the palette. It applies beautifully and the pigmentation is A+. It makes me want to brush this on, add only mascara, and berry lips for a total 90s throwback.

Coax: This is a very true pink, shimmer shade. It is very, very pretty and fairly pigmented. Unfortunately, it kind of blends into my arm so you can't see it too well, but it will look great on the lids. Very much a princess pink and would look good with any of the browns from this palette.

X-Rated: And pastel pink! Maybe because it's lighter it looks a lot more shimmery than Coax or it could, in fact, be more shimmery. Not my favorite shade of eye shadow, but this might be the jam for some people.

Prank: Swatch wise, this one was really hard to swatch and I hope that it doesn't translate that way to the eyes. This is a navy blue shadow with a mermaid blue green shimmer to it. Ugh, you guys, I wanted this one to be magical, but it was just not cutting it. I'm really really hoping that it will be better on the eyes, but I'm scared. I'M SCARED.

Madness: This shade is gorgeous! It's not really my cup of tea, but I won't deny that it's one of the prettiest shades in the palette. It swatched easily and is very pigmented.

Strike: Yo. This is going to be my new go to gold shadow. I have a L'Oreal Infallible shadow that is gold (and amazing), but it is shimmery like a disco ball and sometimes I want something a little less reflective on my eyes; this is that shadow. So pretty. So great. Pigmented and swatched crazy easy.

Stash: Don't be offended by this description, but this shade is weed green... I mean, there's a reason is called stash. I don't mean marijuana leaf green, I mean like sticky icky green (too much?). Again, very pigmented, smooth, and easy to apply.

Poison: This is like a lighter, better version of Smokeout. Shimmery, pigmented, and smooth.

Radar: WOOIE! This is a coppery brown that is super gorgeous and pigmented and smooth. You see a pattern here? If you have green or blue eyes, this is going to make them pop like crazy because it's great warm shade.

Damaged: This is actually one of the shades that made me want to buy this palette and it does not disappoint. I love dark green shadows because I think that they are awesome and that anyone can wear them. Bright green? Not as wearable. Dark green though? AWESOME. Just like the previous shades, it's crazy pigmented and smooth.

Voodoo:  This is one of the other shades that made me buy the palette and it's not as awesome as Damaged. I find that purple is one of the hardest colors, for any brand, to make extremely pigmented. Not light purples and lilacs, but dark purples are almost impossible. This is a very pretty shade, but it took some work to get it to look that pigmented. I will make it work though since it looks so pretty in the pan.

Betrayal: For light purple lovers, you have this amazing shade. Betrayal is a duochrome shade, so the base is a warm lilac shade and has a blue-violet shimmer to it. This one is a little thinner than some of the other shades, but it applied easily and it will definitely be buildable. Not my favorite shade, but pretty quality.

Derailed: This is your basic, dark taupe-y brown. You know those shades that you can just sweep all over your lid and call it a day? This is one of those. It has great pigmentation and goes on so, so smoothly. Say hello to your new best friend.

Dope: SO PRETTY AND IT DOESN'T SHOW ON MY ARM. Ugh. You guys. SO pretty. This is a light, shimmery, peachy pink. It's pigmented and buttery smooth and wonderful and will go great with....

Toxic: SO PRETTY. Ok, I think you can tell by now what my two favorite shades in the palette might be. :D Toxic is a beautiful rose gold shade and like the other winners in the palette, super buttery and pigmented. I plan on doing so many looks with this shade. Or just wearing it all over my lid. It's fantastic.

Habit: Wait... There isn't a shade called Habit pictured above! Yeah, there's a reason for that. Habit is one of two true matte shades in this palette, but unfortunately (for swatching purposes) it is the exact shade of my arm. I mean, I swatched it and then accidentally swatched over it because I didn't see it. It's a great, matte, nude shade and will be great as a base for you pale ladies and awesome to help blend.

Ambush: Another coppery brown shade. Ambush is more on the brown side, but it's still kind of similar to Radar. In fact, it's so similar that I kind of had to question why they put both shades in the palette. I like them both, so I'm not complaining and they both apply well.

Rewind: And here is our other true matte shade! This applied a bit splotchy when i used my finger, but I find that a lot of matte shadows do that and that it will apply much, much better with a brush. Just a very nice, neutral brown that will be great for a quick easy matte look with Habit or as a fantastic blending shade.

And there you have it! Questions, comments? Let me know down below!

Everyday Look Twisted : Tutorial

 

Let me clarify what I mean by an everyday look twisted; an everyday look is generally very laid back and simple to do but this look, while very simple looking, takes a bit longer and is a bit more spruced up. It can definitely pass as something minimal, but it's much more polished than what I would do everyday. Keep ready to find out more about this look and how to achieve it.

Face of the Day : February 1

Occasionally, and not very often, I will wake up and a makeup idea will come into my head and I have to execute it that day. This morning, I woke up with the color pink in my head and thought it would be fun to play with pink shadows. The color pink is often hard to wear around the eyes because it gives a really sickly appearance if the shade isn't right. I chose to go bold and just do pink all over. Click through to read about what products I used and more full look pictures.

Black Eyeliners : Real Talk

Longwear Black Liner : Comparisons

Black liner. This makeup product is constantly being used, improved, and remarketed. I think that the latest batch of black liners have become something amazing; they're incredibly pigmented, they apply smoothly, and they last for hours. Keep reading to check out how these 5 liners compare to one another and how they wear.