It Cosmetics- Bye Bye Under Eye

I was born with bags under my eyes.  In addition to being tired every moment of my life for about 13 years now, genetically, I was gifted by my foremothers with under eyes that could carry the vacation luggage for a family of four.  Even my daughter, at age two, has the bags.  We also have extraordinary Anthony Davis-esque Unibrows, so in general, our eye regions need help.  We did all end up with fairly pretty and interesting eye colors because God is a fair Guy.

I started wearing makeup in the first place because I was sick of people telling me that I looked tired all the time (even though I was, in fact, tired all the time) and ever since that day, I have been on a quest for the perfect potion, the snake oil of my dreams, to banish these under eyes.

The elevator at my job is filled with nothing but mirrors, which leads to a lot of examination by me.  I noticed today that my under eye area was looking pretty crepe-y.  I'm 35 now and these "fine lines and wrinkles" are upon me.  I'm of two minds about this.  There is the wise part of me, who recognizes the gift of aging and who tells me I should embrace my laugh lines as a sign of a life well lived, and then there is the Norma Desmond part of me who wants to draw the shades and find the nearest plastic surgeon to handle this shizz.

My current under eye area regime consists of the following:

Smashbox Color Correcting Primer

Benefit The Pore-Sessional primer (I don't really love this primer.  Some people do.  I prefer Smashbox.  But I bought it, and it was expensive, so... its getting used.  I usually put the Smashbox on first all over my face, and then the Benefit under my eyes and down my nose into my smile lines, because its thicker.)

Laura Geller Baked Liquid Radiance Foundation in the shade "Fair"

Too Faced Air Buffed BB Cream in the shade "Snow Glow" (note, this is for brightening, which is why it is so light.  This would look insane on the rest of my face.)

And then over that, I use the highlight color from the Balm Voyage II Palette, its called "Kuwakaribisha," according to their helpfully informative website.


So all of that together is about $200 worth of stuff I spackle under my eyes in the morning, and it still isn't enough to get rid of the dark circles, except in very forgiving lighting.

I have tried everything I can think of, but there isn't really anything, and probably won't ever be anything short of surgery that totally takes the bags away.  So, I'm left with doing what I can for the circles at least.

The one product that I keep hearing about, but have yet to try is It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye.  Since I was already at Ulta today, taking advantage of their after Christmas savings, I decided to pick some of this too.  Also, I really decided today was the day when I looked at myself up close in the elevator and had to call on the name of Jesus.  Jay-Z says 30 is the new 20, but he only has one child, two if you count Kanye.

After trying out their supply I couldn't really decide between the shades "Fair" and "Medium."  The salesgirl asked me if I was looking for brightening or concealing, and though my first instinct was to say "brightening" I had to be honest with myself that this mission was about concealing.  This stuff is powerful, and to use it for brightening could, I think, end up looking really scary.

Someone on the internet once said something along the lines of "though she is tiny, she is fierce."  That's this stuff.  I know what you're thinking, "$24 for .28oz?? I thought this was a budget blog??"  Well, yes, okay, but I am telling you, this tube will last forever.  My grandchildren will be using this tube.  Not really.  If Donald Trump doesn't kill us all, and I am actually lucky enough to have grandchildren, they'll probably wear holographic makeup. Or we'll all be avatars by then, who can say.  The point is, this tube actually has a lot of product.  Only the teeniest tiniest dab is required to do both eyes.  This cream is THICK.  It is serious, and it isn't playing around.

Hopefully, the before and afters here are pretty obvious.  While it didn't take the dreaded bags away, I feel like it did a pretty great number on the dark circles.  All of these pictures were taken within just a few minutes of each other, so as to get basically identical lighting and have really the only difference be the Bye Bye Under Eye.  I have to say, I was impressed.

The only down side (because there is always a down side) is that after about an hour I noticed that the product made itself niiiice and comfy down in the fine lines under my eyes.  I went into the bathroom at work (fluorescent lights are nobody's friend) but in absence of just avoiding bad lighting for the rest of myself, which seems a viable if laborious option, I feel like I need to find yet and still another primer to keep the makeup from settling.  I'm very open to suggestions if anyone has any that they love.

I tried to get a photo of the creasy line action here. You can sort of see it, but it does not do justice to the settling that was occurring in real life.  You've been warned.

The interwebs tell me that Ulta also sells a travel size version of this product, it was not available at the store I went into.  It also only seems to be available in the shade, "medium" which happens to be what I have on, but then wouldn't really work for everyone.  If yours happens to have it, and you happen to wear medium, you might give it a try and see if you like it.

My verdict is that I really, really love how much it covers my dark circles, so I will definitely keep using it.  I wish it didn't settle so much though, and if anyone has an under eye primer that they love, please let me know!

Essence Long-lasting Lipsticks+ bonus Liquid

For almost as long as I have been obsessed with Red Lipstick (yes, it is a proper noun) I have been obsessed with the perfect nude.  As I slowly but surely feel more confident in my makeup skills and branch beyond the lips, nude colors allow for a lot more in the eye region.  Coco Chanel told us that before we leave the house we should always look in the mirror and take one thing off.  In makeup, its either a bold eye and a passive lip or the other way around.  If you wear busy eye makeup and a bright red lip at the same time, you end up looking like a baby prostitute.  Not a good look.

Anyway.

In my search for the perfect nude, I discovered Essence Long-lasting Lipstick in shade 06 Barely There.  I'm in love with it.  The problem is, so is everyone else, so it is REALLY hard to find, and the jerks at Ulta won't let you buy the tester tube, no matter how hard you protest that this is not your first rodeo, and lipstick is actually really easy to sanitize.  The lesson you should take away from this is, if you are somewhere that actually has this shade in stock, buy it.  Buy two. Buy three, and send one to me.  At $2.99, it is not a bank breaker, and, I'm telling you, not matter your coloring, it is going to look AMAZING on you.  You're welcome.

I tell you all of this to come full circle in the story, which is, that I DID find ONE tube a few weeks back, and bought it, and promptly lost it, after putting it in a safe place and then not remembering where that safe place was.  Clearly, it was very safe.  Fast forward to this morning, where I found it, zipped inside the tiny little pocket of the bigger of the two wallets I carry at any given time, that holds my medicine, whatever important papers we need, and the lipstick that's too important to just be tossed in my purse.  Imagine my happiness!  I had on a lot of pink and purple and gold eye shadow today in what I lovingly refer to as my Tequila Sunrise Look, so a nude lip was definitely just what the doctor ordered.

I haven't been to Ulta in a few weeks now, but I decided to go on my lunch break today and see if there were any good after Christmas sales that I could get into.  Spoiler alert: 40% off.  Get thee to Ulta.  Really, I was going to see if they had any of the Ulta 12 Days of Christmas sets I talked about a few posts back, because I really want that rock gold foil eyeshadow, but, alas, it was not to be.  Guess what I did find though??

The whole thing ended up costing literally about $4.50 with the sale.  I did see that it contained my favorite 06, and that there was an above average chance that I would like at least one other color, so it seemed like a good deal.   In addition to the four Long Lasting Lipsticks in shades 04, 06, 07, and 12 (aka "On The Catwalk," "Barely There," "Natural Beauty," and "Blush My Lips") there is a bonus Liquid Lipstick in the shade 06 Make A Statement.

The shades pictured here are in the same order as mentioned above, with the liquid across the bottom.

Essentially (see what I did there?) we have two nudes, a reddish pink, a hot pink, and the liquid is sort of a berry color.  And I ended up really loving all of them.

One of the main things that I love about this product, besides it being cruelty free, and besides the price point, is that it is super duper moisturizing, which is especially fantastic in the winter time.  Also, the extra moisture is a little bit more forgiving if you are wanting to wear a red.  A classic matte red lip takes more practice to apply and maintain, but with something like this, that is really like a lipstick mixed with a chapstick, it goes on a little easier and isn't so hard to keep in the lines.  So its a really safe place to start if that is what you are looking for.

Top Left is the 04- On The Catwalk would be a really great "starter red."  Its full bodied and has just a hint of berry to it, which makes it great for winter time.  Its super easy to apply-I did all four of these at stoplights, it has a cool tone to it, but I feel like even if your coloring was warm, it would still look killer on you.  Because it does have the moisture component to it, it also isn't going to have staying power and is going to get all over everything your lips touch, but its such a pretty, fun, festive red that you probably won't mind too much.  It might be a little heavy in the summer time depending on your coloring, but hey, its still going to be really cold for several months around these parts.

Top Right is 06-Barely There, which we have already covered.  Like most of the nude shades I gravitate to, this one has a a heavy mauve undertone.  For me, this is probably just about as dark as I could wear and still call it a nude.  If you have darker skin than I do, which should be pretty much everybody, its going to read lighter on you.

Bottom Left is 07-Natural Beauty, which I feel like really lives up to its name.  Its on the pinkier side of nude, and if you have light to medium skin, its going to come across as a pink nude.  If you have darker skin, its going to come off very light pink in that sort of retro 60's kind of way.  It would be very Darlene Love or Dixie Cups, which is to say, pretty freaking fabulous.

Bottom Right is 12- Blush My Lips, which is probably the only one of the bunch I wouldn't have ever bought on its own.  The photo doesn't do it justice, it is BRIGHT PINK.  Sort of hot pink, mixed with a little berry, mixed with a little dark pink.  Its hard to put my finger on it exactly.  The main takeaway here should be that it is really, really bright.  They will see you coming.  I am actually glad to have it, I really like it, I'm just not sure how to categorize it, and what exactly to wear with it.  It could be fun to try some ombre lips with a lighter pink.

The Liquid Lipstick color is called 06- Make A Statement.  Calling it liquid lipstick is pretty generous.  This is really just lipgloss.  A true liquid lip is going to dry, probably matte, and be set in place.  This is none of those things.  This is lipgloss.  But, when the whole thing cost me less than $5, I'm not going to pick at what they want to call it.  Its a pretty pinky color, much lighter and brighter than how it looks on the website.  That is actually something I could say for all of the colors- the way they display on the website is pretty inaccurate.  If I were you, I'd try them on in person or find other reviews like this one online (or hell, just by them all, they're only $2.99) because if you try to pick a color just by looking at the website, I think you'll be disappointed.

Overall, this line is going to give you fantastic bang for your buck.  The colors are pretty and cheerful, but the formula is unfussy and very easy to work with.  It feels great on, especially in the winter time.  All the berry colors can move with you right into spring, and then you go back and buy up the summer colors, because did I mention $2.99?

If you scout out your local Ulta in the next few days, you might even be able to find this particular gift set.  I'd get it, if for no other reason than it has the Barely There in it.  Its seriously so, so hard to find, if you spot it in the wild, don't miss your chance!

Urban Decay Dupe: NYX Liquid Crystal Eyeliner

Admittedly, I am turning into a magpie as I age.  Anything with glitter or sparkles, my eye is immediately drawn to.  Yes, I'm 35.  Yes, I do consider this a problem.  No, I don't plan to do anything about it.

I went to Ulta today for this. Admittedly, it is marketed towards teenage girls, but its a good price, looks like fun, and they had me sold at Gold Rock Foil Eyeshadow.  Despite Ulta's helpful store locator telling me that I could purchase my 12 Days of Beauty at the location nearest my job, I searched all over and there was none to be found.  I also couldn't purchase the eyeshadow I wanted individually, so, weak sauce, Ulta.

If you follow me on Instagram then you know I am higher level obsessed with Urban Decay Liquid Moondust Eyeshadow.  I feel like a jerk about it, because if ever there was a makeup product NOT made for soccer moms approaching middle age, it is this.  And yet, I love it so.  I'm not brave enough for liquid liner, but this one is pretty idiot proof and it comes in lots of pretty colors.  Here are two of them:

This color is "Recharged"

This color is "Vega"

I absolutely love them.  I could quite easily mess around and own every last one.  I always feel like kind of a jerk about it though, because they are $22 apiece.  Do you know how much makeup you could own for $22?  I mean, the entire 12 Days of Beauty is $18!  In my experience, often times, the prestige brands don't work any better than the store brands.  Much like with any consumer product, you are paying for the name and the packaging.  And the UD's are a fabulous little Treat Yo Self, because absolutely nobody needs $22 glitter liquid eyeshadows.

Since I was already there, and in need of some sparkle, I decided to check out the NYX area, because I had heard that NYX had come out with a similar product.  I'd been scared to try it because theirs is marketed as an eyeliner, while Urban Decay's is marketed as a eye shadow.  And while liquid eyeliner makes me super nervous, I aint afraid of no eye shadow (said in my best Ghostbusters voice.) 

NYX, in fact, makes a few different products that seem like this one.  The first, and the one you want, is NYX Liquid Crystal Eyeliner. Amazing.  And, at $4.49, a much better price.  The shade I watched was Crystal Pink and it was love at first sight.  Not only was the pigment lovely and metallic, but once it dried, that swatch was not moving.  It has been on my hand all day, through several hand washings, through cooking dinner and cleaning the kitchen, and it has not budged.   I was super sad to see though, that my local Ulta had let me down again, and while they had a tester, there were no Crystal Pinks for sale.  Sad, sad me.  

Directly to the left, I noticed a product in a slightly thicker tube.  This product was NYX Roll On Shimmer.  I didn't so much pay attention to the name at the time, though I wish I had.  I just swatched some colors, and, running short on time, and still mad that the other products I wanted were not available, I decided to get a few.  Though they roll on, they feel like a powder, like a traditional eyeshadow, not a liquid, and I was impressed with how pigmented they seemed.  I ended up getting Pink and Taupe.  

See? Really pigmented, right? Both of these cost me a whopping $6.60. 

Except not.  I had initially swatched the Taupe underneath my swatch of Crystal Pink.  When I got in my car, and buckled my seatbelt, my hand must have brushed against something, because when I pulled my hand back up, there was nothing left of the roll on shimmer.  I even took a picture, and because you will never find where the swatch once existed, I circled it for you.

Its like when you stare at a pregnancy test too long. You start to see where a line "should" be.

I was further disappointed when I got back to work, and read the name of the product, and realized that I had just purchased the little sister of the body glitter popular in my youth.  This is body glitter 2.0, except its in eye shadow form.  This eyeshadow has what I hope our next president has- no staying power.  (Ba dum bum ching!  See what I did there?  Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying, folks...)

So what should we take away from this?  Get the NYX Crystal Liquid Eyeliner.  Its just like the Urban Decay, except one fourth the price.  Both lines have a great array of colors.  They are literally the exact same amount of product at .17oz.  Both have incredible staying power and a metallic finish without being too much glitter.  I love them both, but I can have five NYX for the same price as one Urban Decay.  Sometimes its quality over quantity, and sometimes its not.

Fontella Cosmetics: Blessed + Clever + Sincere

Hello Lovelies!

I originally wrote this blog back in 2016.  Since then, Fontella has undergone a re-branding and has really beautiful new packaging.  The babes at Fontella reached out and asked if I would be willing to do a new review.  I did receive these lipsticks from the company free of charge; however, the opinions below are totally my own.

Long time no blog!  Sorry about that!  Around the end of September, life in our household went haywire and we are just now finding our footing again.  Also, the dog ate the charger cord to my laptop, and due to the afore mentioned craziness, I have just not been able to get my act together enough to go get a new charger, which means, currently, my laptop is a very lovely paperweight.  I miss blogging though, and, for today anyway, we’re not going to let anything like lack of electricity to a computer get in our way!

In 2016, my friend Alison introduced me, World Wide Web style, to her friend Imogene Dent.  The lovely Mrs. Dent (seriously ya’ll, she’s gorgeous!) was doing a demo of her new line of liquid lipsticks before the launch of her website, and I was lucky enough to get to participate.  

Mrs. Dent is a makeup artist by trade and she is quite talented at what she does!  You know there are few things I love more than supporting woman owned businesses, so I was definitely interested in what I was seeing!  Currently, her line includes twenty one liquid lipsticks in a wide array of colors.  They also carry two special collections, She Reigns and Expresso.  The Expresso collection is specifically designed to suit skin tones of women of color, and the shades are absolutely stunning!

To that end, one thing that I think is cool is that Mrs. Dent uses herself and other women of color to model the swatches.  There is a huge lack of diversity in makeup e-commerce, and I know that I have several friends comment that it is frustrating to try and buy colors online, because the models are all white.  Not the case with Fontella! 

When I placed my first order in 2016, shipping was incredibly fast.  I placed my order late Friday night and it was in my mailbox on Wednesday.  I can honestly say that nothing has changed since.  This has always been a company the values customer service and I have never once encountered an issue.


Today I'm going to talk about three colors:

Blessed a cool toned blue-red

Clever a cool toned pink

Sincere the website describes this one as "natural baby pink" but to me it looks much more like a darker brownish/nude

So the first thing I noticed when I opened the box is that the packaging has undergone a big upgrade!

See that little pink bunny at the bottom? That means that this product is vegan and no animals were harmed in the making of the product.  The exterior packaging is brightly colored with the same chrome highlights that match the lids of the lipstick.  

The tubes themselves have the smoked glass look on the bottom that almost gives the product kind of a retro vibe.  They feel solid in my hand, and not like something that is going to come apart and spill all over your purse!

I had to try the Sincere color first.  I'm never sure if nudes are going to love me as much as I love them, so I decided to put it on first and sit with it while I did my makeup.  When I pulled out the applicator to apply, I was really impressed with what I found:

It has a traditional doe foot applicator, but it has a really hard slant to it.  Many of them don't and it makes it harder to get the edges and corners straight.  Especially when you are wearing an unforgiving color like red, an applicator like this helps a lot!



I really love the scent of it!  It sort of had a root beer smell or a marshmallow smell.  It’s hard to describe exactly, but it sort of reminds me of the scent of Jeffree Star liquid lips, though not quite as strong.  The formula isn't too drying or sticky, which is damn near impossible with liquid lipsticks.  Imogene Dent knows what she's doing!

It does take a minute to dry and set, and you can build the color with a second coat.  I've worn each of the colors over several hours, and they do need to be reapplied (especially the red) after long periods of time or after eating.  You can do a touch up with the lighter colors, but with Blessed or another of the darker hues, its probably best to just start over.

Each tube will run you $15.00, which is probably in the higher end of the mid-range for this type of product.  The thing that impressed me the most was the ease of application.  I think it's worth the price though.  This is a quality product from a quality company, started by a woman of quality.

This is Sincere.  At first, I wasn't sure I would like it, its a little bit darker than the nude shades I usually wear, but the longer I sat with it, the more I love it.  This color is going to look darker on lighter skin tones and lighter on darker skin tones.  I know some women of color shy away from nudes that look lighter on them, but I don't think they should.  You can find this beauty on Instagram at @b.lynnmakeup and, I mean, I can't take my eyes off her! She looks incredible.

This is Clever. The stunner on the left is the creator of Fontella Cosmetics, Imogene Dent (find her on Instagram at @imogenethemua) At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is why it is so cool that she displays her lipsticks on models of color on her website.  White privilege can be hard to see while you're in it, and it is much harder for women of color to judge how a makeup color will look on them because many companies and websites only display the color on white women.  It's one of hundreds of little microagressions that women of color deal with on a daily basis and I commend Mrs. Dent for creating a space where that isn't an issue.

I also have to confess that Clever is my favorite, and has been a staple color for me for the last two years.  I wear it once a week at least, and use it in various ombre looks as well as mixing it with other colors.  If you scroll around my instagram, you will see Clever over and over again!

Last but not least, we have Blessed.  If you are new to the red lip game, or wary of such a bright color, look for one that describes itself as a blue red.  Blue red looks great on everyone.  Blue red makes your teeth look whiter.  It looks great no matter your age, no matter your skin tone, no matter what else you have one.  I promise you, if you step outside your door with a blue red lip, you will look like you have things handled and are living your life on purpose! Blue red has magical powers!

This particular blue red is a good one! The applicator makes it pretty easy to apply (don't get me wrong, its still red and will take a few practice runs) but isn't bad at all.  It wears well.  It isn't drying.  Its a great formula and it smells yummy!  This is a great red to make a commitment to!

Overall, I am really pleased with this product.  I definitely recommend that you check out her website.  She carries the more traditional pinks and reds, but also colors like green, blue, and black.  I'm passionate about supporting women owned businesses.  Mrs. Dent is a Saint Louis native, so we're practically neighbors.  She's put the work in to make a product that she can be proud of.  You can feel confident that shopping with Fontella means a quality, ethically made product.

The day that I got them I was so excited that I couldn't decide and ended up wearing Clever and Sincere blended together.   That one is definitely going to be a go-to combo as well!!

Happy Holidays xo

Cargo Cosmetics Land Down Under Palette

I'm in love with Cargo Cosmetics.

After being permanently scarred by the total disappointment that was Mermaid Palette, I'm totally drawn to eye colors that I feel like are going to live up to my hopes and dreams as far as pigment goes.  Cargo Cosmetics is killing it.

For reasons that I cannot properly articulate, I have also fallen in love with gold eye shadow.  Though it sounds tacky as hell, its actually universally flattering and looks fabulous on literally any skin tone. Of all the amazing gold eye shadows, and there are many, and I know this, because I've worn them all in the last week or so, Mojave is the absolute best.  Please stop what you are doing and buy it immediately.  It's even on sale!

Cargo has all of these amazing rich shades, and I love them all.  Mojave was my first love, and so, because its sort of a sand-like color, I picked a sea color to go with it, one called Aegean.  Behold:

I mean, look at those! Tell me you don't want to dive in and swim around.  These pots typically run $16.00 apiece, though various websites currently have them on sale between $8.00 and $12.80.  I can tell you though, that for your money, you'll get a huge amount of product. Cargo's single eye shadows are 3.5 grams.  By comparison, Urban Decay's single shadows are 1.41 grams and $19.00 each.

After falling so deeply in love with these two colors, I just wanted to replicate them over and over.  Luckily for me, Cargo makes a palette for that!  The Land Down Under Palette is nothing but sand and water colors and they are just as rich and deep as the colors that I originally fell in love with.

In addition to the twelve gorgeous colors, the palette comes with a two sided brush, one side for blending and the smaller side for smudging.  The brush is really firm, but at the same time, the bristles are very soft.  I can already tell it will be one of my favorite brushes.

The last thing included is a black eyeliner pencil.  I typically prefer using gel pencils, rather than the old school ones that look like colored pencils, because those tend to be chalky and cheap and not apply well.  This one is an amazing exception.  Even though it looks like an old school pencil, it slid on like a dream.  I was so impressed.

I actually had to blend the colors a ton so as to not look like a clown.  The only downside to these colors is that they powder up, like baby powder, very easily, so there was a lot of dust, but I really had to tone it down despite using a super light tough to apply the colors.  The pigment is crazy good. 

When I got home, I decided to separate out the sand colors from the sea colors and see what they looked like on their own.  About half way through, I remembered I have an almost two year old daughter who is completely obsessed with makeup, and simultaneously totally destructive to anything she touches.  I knew she would never stand for me doing two totally different sets of makeup, so I did one on each eye.  I look bananas, just put your thumb over one side of my face or something.

The bottom line here, and this cannot be said enough, is that I am so super pleased with these eye colors.  I seriously don't think there are any I've liked more.  Also, I'm not kidding about the gold eyeshadow, it really looks good on everyone.  Try it out, you wont be sorry.

The balm- Balm Voyage Palette

Well, the Mermaid Palette this weekend was a total bust.  I really had high hopes for it and I was super bummed out by how poorly it performed.  I really needed something to lift my spirit.  Enter, The Balm's Balm Voyage Palette.

You guys.  This is everything.

The palette is designed to be all the face you need when you go on vacation, as it has eye, cheek, and lip colors, including contour and highlight.  Much like the balm products I talked about before, these smell delicious and the color payoff is amazing.  Also, look how cute:

Have I mentioned how much I love their packaging? Because I love their packaging.  The whole website is just chalk-full of gorgeous retro kitschy chic packaging.  This makeup could seriously not be more fun to look at.

And the colors:

As you can see, "bienvenido" and I have already become very good friends.  Seriously though, the pigment here is really fantastic.  As face colors go, I am sticking to the left side.  The contour shade, Croeso, is way too dark for me, but for someone blessed with a little more melanin, it could be fantastic.  In the pictures, I am wearing the highlight and blush on the left, and I love them both.  They are light but pigmented. 

I am also wearing my very favorite balm lipstick, Trustworthy, in the photos. You can see that gorgeous, shimmery, Bienvenido, over top, on the center bottom of my lid.  Ugh, I love it, the color payoff is amazing.

Even though it took me forever to hear about the balm, I am definitely making up for lost time!  This product is cruelty free, talc free, the packaging is gorgeous, it smells amazing, and there is crazy good color payoff.  Okay, yes, its a little bit more on the expensive side, but its so nice to pick up a color and see it actually transfer to the eyelid.  I cant wait to branch out and try some of their other products!  I know if you're like me, you hate to shell out money for more expensive stuff, but in some cases its worth it, and this is one of them!!

Makeup Revolution Mermaid Palette + bonus lip colors

The universe heard my cries, because the last time I wrote, I was talking about how I've tried everything at Ulta.  I went yesterday, and they had completely re-arranged the store, and had so many brands that I had never even heard of before.  Lucky me.

The reason I went yesterday is because  I wanted to check out the Makeup Revolution Palettes. I had only just heard about Makeup Revolution, but the online reviews were comparing them to the Morphe Palettes.  I would consider Morphe a prestige brand, but for being one, they are incredibly reasonably priced.  I also think Morphe has excellent quality.  I have nothing bad to say about Morphe, other than you can only buy it online.  I hate paying shipping, and I vastly prefer to go into brick and mortar stores.  The Makeup Revolution palettes are $5-$7 cheaper than Morphe + no shipping, so if the quality was on par, I was switching.  I'm disloyal like that.

I wasn't sure what palette I wanted, there are so many pretty ones, but I have plenty of neutrals, so, magpie, that I am, I opted for the big, shiny one.  The Mermaid Palette.

The palette runs $15 and for that money, you get 32 colors.  I was pretty excited!  I also bought two lipsticks.   I bought two of the Amazing Lipsticks.  I wanted a nude and a red.  I picked the colors "Love Nude," and in honor of my nephews and niece who call me Aunt Lady, a bright red color called "Lady."  It was made for me.

I couldn't wait to get them home and try them out.  I mean, look at all these beautiful colors:

Unfortunately, I soon discovered that these colors are not pigmented at all.  I started with the color, "Bay" as my base color and I couldn't see anything.  I have on my Arbonne eye primer, which usually makes colors go on so smoothly and deeply, but there was just nothing there.  When you see the pictures, note that I am wearing ALL of the following colors:

Bay

Ariel

Pretty

Princess

Sea

Waves

Turtle

Land

Mineral

Whale

See what you can see when you seen the pictures.  Not much.  I will say that the colors are very blendable, and the matte colors especially do seem to build a little, but I was really disappointed.  I may end up just giving this palette to my toddler daughter to play with because there just isn't much danger of her making a mess.

As for the lipsticks, they are pretty colors, but very, very, sheer.

I already broke Love Nude because I was pressing so hard to try and get some color transfer.  I will say, the lipsticks have this awesome, sweet sort of orange creamsicle flavor.  They taste great.  I am a big fan of that.  The texture of the Love Nude is also stickier than Lady.  Love Nude is sort of difficult to apply, but Lady slides right on.  Love Nude is also very much a matte, whereas Lady has more of satin finish.  Honestly, for $3, I  am not going to complain about either one, because I do like both of the colors.  The website does describe the line as "everything from matte to creamy" but doesn't say which colors are which.  I guess you just get to be surprised.  If you buy these colors, Lady is on the creamy side, and Love Nude is definitely on the matte side.  For a matte though, it is not drying, and even though its hard to apply, once its on, it isn't hard to wear.

First up, here's Lady:

It wasn't the true red that I was expecting, its pinkier, but that is probably because it is so sheer.  It does build, and sort of becomes red, but it takes a little work.  I actually really like it though.

And here is Love Nude:

I really like this color too.  I broke it trying to get a color transfer, so I had to be pretty gentle with it but it did eventually provide a transfer and its  nude that I really like.  I probably would buy more lipsticks from this line.

When I was buying the products, the checkout lady said that from Makeup Revolution, she really likes the blush palette and the eyeliner.  They are all really reasonably priced, so I may try them out.  As for the eyeshadow palettes? Stick with Morphe.

the Balm Meet Matt(e) Hughes Liquid Lipstick + bonus Matt(e) Trimony Eye Palette

Who has heard of the Balm before?

I am sad to say that I didn't know about them until today.  I had seen something on Instagram about the Nude Dudes palette, and I remember liking the packaging, not because of the guys, but really because of the sort of vintage feel of the packaging.  I love vintage and vintage inspired makeup.  I happened to be out shopping today, and saw more of that vintage style packaging in the form of this sign on the wall:

Liquid Lipstick? Vintage packaging? Clearly, we had to get to know each other better. 

the Balm is a Los Angeles based company that was started, essentially, in 2004 by Marissa Shipman.  You can learn more about here team here.  I made a commitment a few months ago to only buy cruelty free makeup going forward, and beyond that, I prefer to support women owned businesses, and American businesses, so this one hit all three.

I also decided to try out one of the eye palettes, because the packaging suckered me in with how cute it was:

The Matt(e) Trimony palette will run you $42 for nine colors and though I think they are very, very pretty and velvety, for me, that feels like too much.  You can get a Morphe palette with a gang more colors for about half the price, so I am not sure I'd splurge here, unless you are just dying to have this palette.  I have the colors on in these pictures, so check them out, and do what you will.

Having said that, the real super star is the liquid lip.  Oh. My. Gosh. Love.

First off, look at this color selection:

I would have loved to have taken them all home, but that was more than my watch and my pocketbook would allow, so I narrowed it down to three in the shades Adoring, Charming, and Trustworthy.

The top swatches are wet and the bottom are dry. The mauvy color on the left is Charming, the brownish color in the middle is Trustworthy, and the berry color on the right is Adoring.  I love them all.  I don't know that I feel like lipstick is the right word though.  To me, they feel more like a stain, especially Charming and Adoring, which I put on several layers of.

Having said that, I really enjoy the formula.  It smells amazing!  It has this fantastic sort of mint chocolate chip smell, and the smell really lasted.  I kept wanting to smell my lips, and I left the swatches on my hand, because they just smelled so good for the rest of the day.  Even after washing my hands several times, I could still smell the lipstick.  It faded over the day, and eventually smelled just like MAC Russian Red, which I don't wear anymore, since MAC isn't cruelty free, but I do still love the smell of. 

So, this is Charming, and it is!  I really love it!  It took some layering to build the color, and to keep it from streaking, I had to massage it into my lips, as Jeffree Star says, but once it was on, oh man, I absolutely loed the color.  Its sort of mauve and pink and awesome all at once.  I seriously wanted to wear all three of the colors all day.

I think Trustworthy might actually be my favorite, because look at this brown goodness!  I never look good in brown lipstick, but I actually really loved the way this one looked.  It had just enough pink it in it that I didn't look asinine, but I think it would be incredible on a variety of skin tones.  It was really hard to pick which pictures I wanted to use for this color.  I took a million, and even though I looked goofy in several, I just loved the lip color.  Amazing.  Brown on me.  Who knew?

When I picked Adoring, I really thought it was going to be a traditional bright red, but it actually turned out to be more of a berry color.  It is really, really thin compared to the other two, and it took many, many layers to build up the color.  Once I did, I actually loved it.  I don't often wear this sort of dusty rose color, but it was really fun.  Pink might be the new red for me, and I feel like thise color is a great place to start.

None of the colors felt overly drying, in fact, they had a good bit of moisture in them.  And they were just so pretty.  Those packaging designers at the Balm are killing it, I tell ya.

There are 12 total colors in the line, and if the first three are any indication, I want to own the other nine as well.  They are so divine, and so much fun to wear.  If you feel like trying something fun and new and different, this would be a great lippie to try out!

Arbonne "Its A Long Story" Mascara

I don't talk much about eyelashes, but I'm pretty obsessed with them.  My real ones are short and blond.  My kids, lucky for them, have their dad's mile-long lashes, but it was not a gift I was given.  When I was a kid my dad always told me that wearing mascara would make my eyelashes fall out so I wasn't sure what to do.

I wrote awhile ago about getting my eyelashes lifted vs. my favorite mascara. It was actually one of my most popular posts, because a lot of people were interested in the lash lift.  I really felt like Benefit's They're Real was as good as the mascara game would ever get, and that the time was coming for me to just transition to false lashes.  I was wrong about They're Real though, its not the best one out there, Arbonne is.

You can see everything Arbonne has to offer here and the incredible Its A Long Story Mascara here.   I was lucky enough to be sent a variety of Arbonne products to try, and I am sure I will have more to say about Arbonne later, but I want to talk about this mascara right now because it is my FAVORITE.

Check out this creepy up close picture of my eyes:

You guys. 

I was amazed by this product!!  First off, it has he rubber applicator, which I love so much.  Everyone has their own thing, but I feel like the natural fiber brushes really tend to clump, and you can grab the little eyelashes better with rubber applicators. 

Probably though, my real favorite thing about this mascara is the way it feels.  Most mascara, but especially the They're Real mascara is super plastic-fantastic, and it feels like I'm wearing plastic lashes, they feel sticky and really unpleasant.  This mascara, on the other hand, feels almost soft. I don't know if its because Arbonne is vegan, so it just has less stuff in it, but it feels really good on.  It doesn't bother me or irritate my eyes at all during the day.  It also doesn't flake at all.

The only real downside is the price.  At $38, this mascara is pretty pricey.  Honestly though, you get what you pay for, and there is a reason this is the best mascara I have worn.  I was talking to my friend Angie tonight, and our sons' football practice and she commented that my eyelashes looked full but not heavy.  I think its an excellent way to describe this mascara.  It gives my lashes a really full look without looking like I have a bunch of stuff gooped on your eyes.  Also, you get quite a bit of product.  They're Real is .3oz and Its A Long Story is .42oz, so that's really generous amount. 

This was me first thing in he morning.  My face looks insane, but I was trying to really show the length that this product gave me.  Even better though, here it is eight hours later:

As you can see, its still in place, as strong as it was in the morning.  It didn't budge all day.  Yesterday was an emotional day with lots of laughter and tears both, and this mascara hung in like a champ.  And yet, and the end of the day when I was ready to remove it, it came right off.

You know me.  Cheap, frugal, thrifty, call it what you want.  I hate spending money.  I don't want to big money on makeup unless its going to be life changing.  This is life changing.  Its isn't a lash lift, and it isn't falsies, but in terms of eyelashes that come out of a tube, it really doesn't get better than this!!