Drugstore Haul and Mini Reviews

I picked up a bunch of products in the last few months from Milani than I had been eyeing and gave them all a try.
I picked up 3 blushes, 3 single eye shadows, 2 liquid lipsticks, 2 lip oils, a lipstick and an eye shadow palette. The gold packaging feels very elegant and expensive and I love to have these products around on display. Some of the packaging I find to be bulky (like the blushes) but regardless they are wonderful.

The first blush is from the rose blushes line and is in Romantic Rose (01) and although it has a slightly weird and chemical scent it is a gorgeous color and very difficult to over apply as it had a lighter pigmentation and a buildable formula. The cool toned mauve color is perfect and very unique at the drug store.The next two blushes are from the baked blush line in the shades Red Vino (09) and Bella Rosa (11). Red Vino is a red blush with gold shimmer and Bella Rosa is a vivid bright pink matte. This formula is by far my favorite baked blush formula. Unlike most baked products these are still soft and extremely pigmented. Red Vino does require an extremely light hand on fair skin, but the color is gorgeous even when applied lightly, just be careful of overdoing it. Bella Rosa also requires a bit of a light hand, though less so than the other color. but both colors last a long time on the skin and apply evenly and easily.
The single eye shadows I haven't played with too much, but they're from the Bella Eyes collection of gel powder shadows. I picked up specifically shimmers and metallics because they seemed like things I would use the most. First up is Bella Rouge, a metallic red; then Bella Gold, a metallic yellow gold; and finally Bella Chiffon, a metallic creamy white. The formula is very interesting and is said to be simlar to the colour pop shadows, so before springing for those I decided I would test the Milani formula first in case I didn't like it. It's definitely applied best with the fingertips in my opinion, but a brush may work well for some colors. All of the colors are very pigmented and blendable with each other and other shadows. I find I like them best as an accent on the center of the lid or in the inner corner of the eyes to bring dimension. I plan to pick up Dolci the 31st shade in the line which is a beautiful rose with a gold metallic shimmer in an order online in which I will hopefully pick up some of the new metallic liquid lipsticks.
The Amore Matte Liquid Lipsticks I have a love-hate relationship with. I own Loved (12) and Obsession (18). Loved is a medium nude brown color, which I love, and obsession is a red-toned purple. Both colors definitely dry completely matte, however they may dry too matte. After a drink of water I can feel the lipstick suck the leftover moisture out of my lips. The formula is quite patchy when I apply it, but I find it to be less noticeable in the nude color than in the deeper purple shade. Before it dries it looks fine and then when it dries it becomes streaky and patchy. the mousse-y formula is wonderful and soft to apply without dragging, but stains outside the lipline if it finds its way there so be warned. The scent is to die for; it smells like vanilla cake icing.
The lip oils are definitely one of my favorite products. I use them before applying lip products to help moisturize, and then again after I take off my makeup to replenish moisture and repair any damage or irritation from longwear products. I have moisturizing coconut (01) and repairing rose (05). Each oil is supposed to do different things, and while I haven't seen these do different things from each other I still think they are a great product to help hydrate and care for your lips.
I also picked up the Milani Color Statement Lipstick in 38 Double Espresso. This deep brown with gold shimmer is the perfect 90's lip color in my opinion. It is glossy and moisturizing but does not find its way outside the lipline or fade quickly after application. It is not long wearing, but doesn't require constant touchups either.The scent of this product is also delicious, but is more of a fruit candy scent.
Finally, the palette I chose was the Everyday Eyes palette in Earthy Elements (05) which consists of 6 shades of warm tones. 2 shades are matte (a burnt orange and a warm fawn brown) and 4 are shimmers (a deep reddish brown, a peach champagne, a warm dark brown, and a cream). All the colors are pigmented and soft. They kick up a little bit of powder when used with a brush, but not extremely much. I wish one of the darker shades was matte instead of shimmer because the palette feels slightly off balance without it. This palette is one of my go to's for when I need warm colors, but I do have to pull other colors in due to the lack of mattes. The brush in this palette is not cheap and useless like most palettes in the drugstore. It's one of the few brushes I have actually have kept and frequently use during makeup application.

Quite the pile pf products!
Always enjoy your beauty and whatever products you choose to use.

BNB

Nail Polish Mega Haul

I cleaned out the vanity and reorganized, and along the way I found a lot of nail polish that was really old or I don't use anymore. Afterwards, I noted that I lacked cool tones and more neutral colors. Neutrals are my favorite lately and I only had about two, so I decided to make a few purchases.

Below I will list the colors I purchased and a description of the color and the finish. I will also let you know the place of purchase, though some were on clearance so they may be gone by now.

Creme colors:
Whim Nail Lacquer in 405 Faux Real - teal (Ulta)
Whim Nail Lacquerin 490 Thyme to Celebrate - blue-toned grey (Ulta - Clearance)
Ginger + Liz Color Collection in Grounded - slate grey (Ulta - Clearance)
Sally Hansen Insta-dri in 310 Slick Slate - grey-toned mauve (CVS)
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in 430 Royal Hue - purple blue (CVS)
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in 230 Pep-plum - warm-toned purple (CVS)
Avon Speed Dry Nail Enamel in Red Red - true red (Avon)
Maybelline Color Show in 115 Pretty in Peach - pastel orange (Ulta)
H&M Nail Polish in Go Lemon - pastel yellow (H&M)

Sheer colors:
Revlon Nail Lacquer in 215 Daydreamer - shimmery pink with a green shift (CVS)
Revlon Nail Lacquer in 565 Wild - shimmery green with a silver fleck (CVS)
Revlon Nail Lacquer in 933 Chameleon - shimmery dark green with an orange and yellow shift (CVS)

Metallic colors:
Wet n Wild Wild Shine in 446C Caribbean Frost - metallic teal green (Dollar Store)
Arissa Nail Lacquer in ABN374 Beaming Bronze - metallic warm brown (Dollar Store)

Shimmer colors:
Sally Hansen Insta Dri in 155 Making Mauves - soft beige with silver micro shimmer (CVS)
H&M Nail Polish in Precious - orange and yellow duochrome (H&M)
H&M Nail Polish in Amaranthine - red and orange duochrome (H&M)
H&M Nail Polish in Skylight - pastel blue-white and purple duochrome (H&M)

Clear Glitter colors:
Whim Nail Lacquer in 260 Midnight Wink - sheer blue with blue green and purple glitter (Ulta - Clearance)

Opaque Glitter colors:
Avon Nailwear Pro+ in Rave - pink toned mauve with silver glitter (Avon)
Avon Nailwear Pro+ in Absinthe - chartreuse green with silver glitter (Avon)
Avon Nailwear Pro+ in Ruby Slipper - true red with silver glitter (Avon)
Sinful Colors in 1383 Gilded - light pink with pink and gold glitter (Big Lots)
Pure Ice in Purple Reign - lavender purple with gold glitter (Big Lots)
Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant in 80 Violet Flicker - deep purple with purple and blue glitter (Big Lots)
Maybelline Color Show in 240 Twilight Rays - black with gold glitter (Big Lots)
Whim Nail Lacquer in 425 Cable Knit - white with white glitter (Ulta - Clearance)
OPI Nail Lacquer in Cosmo with a Twist - navy with purple and blue glitter (Big Lots)

I've pretty much loved all of the colors. There have been a few I was slightly disappointed in. Starting from the top, Slick Slate from Sally Hansen was very hard to apply cleanly because of the wide flat shape of the brush, it applied way too much product despite being wiped off prior to application. I was not so pleasantly surprised that the Revlon colors were all sheer and had little color payoff despite looking very opaque in the bottles. They require multiple coats to get them to be opaque, but still do not have the best color payoff. Making Mauves by Sally Hansen has the same brush as Slick Slate and also applies way too thick despite my efforts to fix it. Whim's Midnight Wink was surprisingly sheer compared to how it looked in the bottle, and while it's pretty over Whim's Faux Real I was much more hopeful to wear it on its own, but the glitter is very sparsely dispersed during application and is not easy to create a sufficiently opaque coverage to wear it on its own. Still very pretty. Finally, Rave from Avon was far more pink than I expected, from the color swatch online it seemed like more of a purple than a pink so I was surprised to apply it and have it dry into more of a pink color. Other than these few things the formulas and colors of them all are true to color and easy to apply, requiring only one coat, maybe two to even out any areas of thinness.

New Products From The Drug Store

Here's a quick list of the new products I will be reviewing from the drugstore in the next few weeks. So far I'm in love with the products that I've tried of them, but more on that after I try them out further.

Hard Candy:
1000 Lashes Fiberized Lash Weave Primer (279)
Glow All The Way Ombre Blush in SunBurst (993)
Ombre Lipstick in Playful (761)

Wet N' Wild:
4 Coverall Correcting Palette (C349)


Stay beautiful, Ladies!
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!