I Take it Back!

Ok NYX, you remember how I bashed your matte lipstick in Nude a while back?

Well I was wrong...

Though the first time I used it it was kind of chalky looking and an unpleasant tan color, I recently tried it again assuming I would confirm my suspicion that this was not the lipstick I'd been hoping for. AND I LOVED IT! I don't know why the color was so tan on my first try, or why it was too chalky (ok, this one I have my suspicions) but it was a beautiful color maybe one shade darker than my skintone (And I'm a pale little girl, so Kudos to you guys) and there was no sign of chalky or graininess anywhere to be found. I am so excited to wear this out with a gorgeous bold eye look. I was so excited in fact that I threw away the concealer I had been using as a nude lipstick.

That's right... The concealer I've used for YEARS as a nude lipstick has LEFT THE BUILDING!

Now as for my suspicions about the chalky texture... I started obsessively using my moisturizing lip balm again a few weeks ago, which may have contributed to removing the weird texture because I have heard a lot of other gurus say that using matte lipstick on dry lips shows all the cracks and dry loose skin very easily and can look chalky and weird if you are not careful to exfoliate or moisturize well. Hopefully the texture stays as gorgeous as it is now, I love it so much and I can't wait to start wearing it out all the time. This may be a holy grail product for me. Let me know if you're interested in the posting of my list of holy grail beauty products.

I'm planning on picking up two more shades from this line as soon as Ulta has them in stock. If you want to know what my next shade purchases are leave comments below or send me an email.

I may also be posting a list of the products I would kill to own if that is of interest to anyone. Let me know what you guys want to see posted next!

Stay warm and cozy, kids!

And as always, Stay Beautiful.
BNB

Beauty Product Wants

As Christmas is coming and I'm making a list for my family of things that I would want for our family gift-giving I'm noticing it's mostly makeup products. I'm not expecting most of my family to be buying them for me, but it's become a hobby of mine to find products to play up my edgy style, while playing with color.

1. I'm in love with bold, bright colors, so finding the Sleek makeup palette in V1 was awesome, they're all matte finishes (if you've read most of my posts you know this excites me because I dislike glitter with a passion), and the bold neons are a must have for me.
2. I saw the Intense Pro Palette in Earth from Mehron, and I instantly fell in love with it. The swatches of the colors looked gorgeous. This palette is a must have for my coming independent photoshoot (which I will be sure to post some photos if I can get my hands on a good one) where I'll be doing a Native American war paint inspired makeup. This palette is more mattes, which are something I'm always looking to get more of, because it's often hard to find only mattes.
3. I found a single person selling MAC's Ombre Blush in Vintage Grape, which I've wanted since the day I saw it launch, but I've never had the kind of money necessary to spend on it until recently. I'm so happy to see it still exist, This could be the perfect edgy, unexpected blush color for my skin. But, since it was limited edition, I only have one shot at it on the internet for way higher of a price than I think it originally costed, buuuuut... I think I'm pretty hooked and willing to splurge.

These are the things I want the most. A lot of the new palettes coming out these days don't excite me because I have the colors already, but this stuff caught my eye!

Stay beautiful!

BNB

I'm an Influenster!

I joined Influenster.com today after hearing about it from one of the beauty bloggers I follow on YouTube. It is an amazing way to put my opinion out there about all of the products I use in my daily life, outside of just beauty products. I've had so much fun already, and I've only been on the site for two hours. You can comment on stores, brands, specific flavors/colors. It's a great way for opinionated consumers to get their opinions heard. It's free to join, and you don't need an invitation. You can earn rewards, in a sense, simply for you honest opinions on products you purchase all the time.
Every month or so, the company chooses a group of site users, and sends them a gift box of items that they can review. You don't get chosen every time, but you can get good stuff from it for your hard work. This site is by no means something you sign up to do if you don't enjoy giving your opinion on products, because you don't get paid to do it, but you do get rewards like promo codes to get money off of items you shop for and other small things like that, but this is not a check in the mail every month site.

Super Cool News

I've been slowly working on prying all of my eye shadow pans out of their singles and small palettes. I pulled a few face powders out a couple days ago that have really big pans, 2.5 inches roughly compared to the 1 inch Zpalette pans that you can purchase online. And when I searched for larger pans they didn't exist, so I decided that I would shoot customer service at Zpalette an email. It went along the lines of this:

I noticed today while shopping on your site that you guys only make eye shadow pans for putting in your palettes. As someone who has a lot of loose face powders I'm looking to pot and put in palettes I thought I might bring this up with you guys and offer the suggestion that making foundation and blush sized pans would be a cool thing. I would love to get a bunch of them, however it seems they are not being made by anyone yet. I love having the ability to change out my colors and customize my palettes, but I currently have no way of putting these loose powders into pans so I can add them to the palette. I know you guys probably get suggestions from your customers all the time, and it's hard to keep up with all of them and make everybody happy. I love your products, and look forward to maybe hearing back from you guys at some point!

And they actually responded within about 48 hours. They thanked me for my suggestion and told me they would take the idea into consideration in the future. Which is pretty freaking awesome if you ask me. I don't often have ideas that haven't been done before, so it was pretty cool to feel like I came up with something useful. And just the fact that they even responded at all made me feel quite amazing.

Along with this email they also said they would be releasing a product in the near future to allow Zpalette users to put loose pigments in their palettes. Which is also pretty awesome because I was deciding if potting all my pigments was a task I'm willing to undertake, and I might just wait until this product is released instead.

Thanks for listening Zpalette. You get an A+ for customer service and all around politeness from me!

Stay beautiful everybody. BNB

Talk to the Hands (and Feet)

So about a month or so ago, I bought Maybelline's Color Show Nail Polish in Neutral Statement and Wine and Forever from Ulta as part of a haul. After my first use of both colors I figured it was worth posting my thoughts. It's been about 3 weeks since I applied the polish. (Neutral statement on my fingers, and Wine and Forever on my toes for those of you who were wondering.)

Color-wise I am happier with Wine and Forever than Neutral Statement, because the lovely wine red color was much easier to apply than the neutral. The neutral color was much thinner and less opaque and this made it hard to apply it without messing up the smoothness of the nails. But the darker wine color went on smoothly with only one coat which made me infinitely happier. I also personally like the darker color more than the neutral as it suits me more.

As far as how long the polishes lasted the fingernails went about 3 days before they started to chip, but weren't really chipped up until about a week went by. And the toenails... They haven't chipped at all (but pretty much they've been in socks or shoes at all times.

Love the wine red... Will buy again!

Stay beautiful and be thrifty!

BNB

Rescue me! Cold Weather Remedy

I was given Garnier's Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel Cream as a Christmas gift and I tried it out once last winter and wasn't particularly happy with it, but now that the weather is getting colder, my skin needs a little bit of a rescue from the dryness. On the packaging it says it's for normal to combination skin, and while I don't consider myself to fit either of these categories I tried it out anyway. It comes in a quite handy little glass pot, which makes it easy to get product out without risking squirting it everywhere or wasting a ton that you can't end up getting out of the container. It doesn't have a particularly noticeable scent, which I find to be a positive because I don't much care for putting chemicals on my face that have the chance of giving me acne (which perfumed lotions do a lot more often than I feel they should).

The consistency was at first a little disconcerting for me. It 's more fluid than I had expected initially, but it works to the products advantage in a way because it is super light on the skin and doesn't leave behind a residue like some lotions can. It also definitely moisturizes. I find my skin to be quite dry most days and this lotion worked like a charm, even though it was for normal to combination skin. The formula is super easy to apply and a little goes a long way, which you all know I love using less when I can.

The only real problem I have with it is that it seems to make my skin tingle (in a not so pleasant manner) after I put it on, and this continues until it dries. This isn't particularly going to stop me from using the product, though I may read the ingredients and speak to a doctor to determine if I have some kind of sensitivity to something in the product.

I do hesitate to use any moisturizers around my nose however so I will have to try this out and see how I feel about it on my nose, because it is particularly oily (but somehow my skin is still dry).

As always, stay beautiful!

(And warm...)

BNB

DIY Project: Makeup Palette

I undertook a giant project in hopes of downsizing the amount of space all the makeup I hoard will take up, without having to actually throw things away that I still find useful. I may not use the products every day, but I'm not ready to let them go just yet. So I decided that maybe my best bet was to pull all of the makeup pots out of their palettes and place them in a magnetic palette, much like the Z palettes you can buy.

This process was a lot harder than I expected in some cases... Some palettes are better constructed than others for sure. Depending on the type of glue and how much was used simply prying the pots out may or may not be your best option. A lot of the cheaper palettes I actually heated up with a lighter and softened the glue enough to pry it off the trays, but for the ones that didn't work for I had to use nail polish remover, or simply pry at the pots and hope for the best. I cracked a few shadows and bent a few trays, but I got them all out. The cracked ones may or may not stay in the same trays, a lot of them are sort of weird shaped (whoever decided it was a good idea to make triangle trays I hate you...).

The next part of the process involved building the palette base. I had started out putting magnets on the bottom of the pots themselves and putting them in a metal box, but realized that the actual Z palette brand has a magnet palette base and metal pots, so I quickly changed my plan and glued a magnet sheet to the bottom of my one plastic palette I wanted to use and stuck the few trays I had that were metal in it. I only did this because if I want to buy a Z palette at any time I want my pots to be compatible with it without any issue.

I have to figure out how I'm going to go about making the cheaper aluminum pots react to magnets. I thought about washers, metal paint like you put on the walls, buying a thin metal sheet, using magnets that will attract to the base, or simply just splurging on the little metal stickers from Z palette when I buy the empty trays to finish my potting adventure.

I still have a bunch of lipsticks, loose shadows, and cream eyeshadows that have to be potted into metal trays so that I can put them in the tray as well. I don't intend to put many of my lipsticks in the case, as I much prefer applying them from the bullets themselves, but there are a few that I hardly every apply that I figured might be better off as part of a palette rather than taking up space in a drawer or just sitting in my train case hoping that I remember they exist one day and using them.

I haven't tried the potting process for loose shadows or the melting process for lipsticks and cream shadows, but I will post a little blurb once I have time. I only have one empty pot at the moment so I have to wait for my Z palette pots to come in the mail before I can undertake this part of the process.

Hope this is helpful!

Have Fun and as always Stay Beautiful!

BNB

One Use Sample: Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey

This product was a one use sample that I received in the mail. But let me say right away, this product was not at all what I expected, and I'll give you the reasons why straight up.

1. I felt like the general quality wasn't spot on for this one.
2. I felt like the color payoff wasn't what I expected it to be. I know it's supposed to be between a gloss and a lipstick, but it wasn't really tinted right.
3. I had to really pile it on my lips to get the color to show up.
4. The color was so brown-ish that it didn't suit my skintone at all. the packaging it came in made it seem more like a deep wine red than a brown red.

I've never used many clinique products because I find them to be pretty expensive, but I thought I'd give it a try. Sadly, I was unimpressed, but at least I hadn't purchased and entire tube of product only to be disappointed.

First Thoughts on NYX Lip Primer and NYX Matte Lipstick

When I bought NYX's Lip Primer in Nude, I had heard it being raved about on YouTube by a few beauty bloggers I follow, and I decided that maybe I would give it a chance and see if it helps me cut down on the amount of times I have to fix my lipstick. I haven't gotten to try it with many of them yet, but the ones I did try it with so far gave me inconclusive results as to whether it works or not. I tried it first with my new lipstick from NYX which I will also review in a moment. Some people were complaining that the formula was tacky and kept lipstick from applying smoothly, but I had no problem with that myself, the lip primer went on smoothly, as did the lipstick. I will have to see though how other lipstick apply over it as time goes.

NYX's Matte Lipstick in Nude has a smooth application texture, and the finish is very matte, but my biggest issue is that this color is not at all the color I expected it to be when it said Nude. The color is so much more yellow-y tan than I had imagined and it looks like I'm applying a horribly mismatched color of concealer to my lips. I probably should have actually bought this in the store rather than ordering it online to save myself the trouble of not getting the right color, but they only had one nude shade, so I had assumed it would be a more versatile shade than it was... (You all know what Assuming does.)

Long story short: Pale Girls Beware.

Maybe I'll learn to love these products over time, or maybe not.

As always, Stay Beautiful!

BNB

Haircut and Product Sample Review

So I finally went and got a haircut yesterday at my local barber shop. Which sounds as weird to say as it probably does for you all to hear that I don't go to a salon instead. I've got really short hair so the guy at the shop pretty much just shaves the back down really short and then cuts the top until the hair doesn't get in my eyes when it's pulled forward (it sounds pretty boy-ish when I describe it, but it's really cute I promise).
It's a pretty versatile cut, I can style the top in just about any direction I want, and even with the back being so short I can still keep from having the same hairstyle every day, which was one of my issues with having long hair because I pretty much wore it the same way every day.

Anyway, to go with this new haircut I decided to try out a product sample I got last month in my purchase from Ulta.
I started out using it yesterday evening, and I'm already loving it.

Get Action Wax from a company called Matrix on their Design Pulse line of hair products.

It's a spray wax. Yes, a wax that sprays on like hairspray. I never thought I would find a wax that didn't require me to scoop out a bunch of goop and try to spread it evenly about in my hair. I've been unsuccessful with regular styling wax so often that I hardly ever bother anymore, but this product sample changed my mind. I'm going to be purchasing this product and using it every day until I decide to grow my hair out again.

Pros;
It has great hold, it's definitely waxy, but it doesn't get hard and crispy over time. You can move the hair around and style it after it dries to some extent, though the product does hold in place enough that it's not going to fall flat quickly. It's minimally messy, and doesn't have any real type of smell that I've noticed (It's definitely not a bad smell, but I can't really smell any strong scent of any kind after I spray it).

Cons:
I find it to be a bit of a downer that I have to buy their products through their site or through amazon. I figured Ulta sold them, since it was after all a free sample from their store, but this is not the case which I found a little misleading and made me grumpy. The only other not so great thing about it is that it seems a little more on the expensive side, but I'm willing to shell out a little extra money for a product that works as well as this one does.

Stay Beautiful!
 BNB

NYX Matte Blush Review

I decided today was a wonderful opportunity to try out the new NYX blush that I got in my giant haul. I purchased the Matte Blush in Cinnamon, which is a lovely coral-orange shade. It's perfect for my pale skin in the summer to just give me a beautiful warm glow without being overpowering like a lot of the blushes I own. The pigmentation is also crazy great so I find it lovely for the summer because I don't have to pack a bunch of powder on when it's hot out to look like I actually have some color. It's very light and airy and the color stays nicely even after hours walking and sweating in the hot sun. The fact that it's a matte is appealing to me because I dislike makeup products with a lot of shimmer in them especially when putting them on my face because I feel as though the shimmer reflects too much sunlight and makes me look shiny, but this product doesn't have that problem for me. I will continue buying this product for as long as NYX makes it and if they ever stop I'm going to stock pile it before it's gone because I love, Love, LOVE this blush so much! I actually feel like I look a little tanner with is on than before applying it.

Application:
I pretty much only apply this product to the apples of the cheeks and then occasionally blend it a little out and up following the curve of the face. I rarely ever blend it up but it's a nice touch when I blend it in with the color of my bronzer slightly to give the bronzer an orange hue sometimes right near the cheeks, which helps give it a warmer tone since my bronzing choice is a matte brown (it came with a shimmer which I occasionally place sparingly in certain spots). Then, I use a highlighter (which surprisingly has that shimmer in it I dislike so greatly) and lightly contour the rest of the face.

I'll try to actually start posting pictures as to how I apply my products as well, but I'm still working out the best place to take pictures and film videos. Maybe I will get the Youtube channel running before the end of the year. (Or maybe a New Year's resolution has been found?)

Summary: LOVE this product till the end of time itself! I recommend it to everybody everywhere!

Stay beautiful everybody!
BNB

The Giant ULTA Haul of Doom!

I recently decided that it was necessary for me to pick up a few things I ran out of a while ago and was just making due without. AND let's face it, splurge on a few things that just looked really freaking awesome. So I'll list the products I bought here and then as I use them (and probably abuse them) over the next fee weeks, I'll give you my thoughts on them.

1. NYX lip primer in Nude

2. MYX Matte Lipstick in Shy

3. Duo Lash Glue in Dark

4. Maybelline Color Elixir Lip Color in Vision in Violet

5. Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish in Neutral Statement    6. AND Wine and Forever

7. The New Black's Rock and Roll Royalty 5 Piece Set

8. Sally Hansen's Big Matte Top Coat

9. NYX Powder Blush in Cinnamon

I also got a load of samples from them which I will from time to time write about when I get a chance to try them out. 

I have to say though, LOVING the blush, not so happy with the matte lipstick in Shy, and half the time I wear the lip primer on its own because it feels like a chapstick, but more on all this later...

As always,

Stick out, Be daring, Get noticed and Stay Beautiful!