Month: May 2013

Project Pan: Going Cruelty-Free

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Project 10 Pan was created by lollipop26 on YouTube as a way for her to purposefully use up 10 items in her collection that are near to being used up, before buying any more makeup. Since I am on a No Buy until the end of November, and am trying to go cruelty-free, I think this is the perfect opportunity to do just this. I’ll start with 10 items from companies that test on animals. I’m quite happy as I had a bit of trouble finding these items in my collection, as a lot of them are cruelty-free. 🙂 Also, I’m concentrating on the items that have been in my collection for a long time as opposed to items that I’ve nearly used up. I was thinking of adding the Revlon Lip Butter in Sugar Plum in here, but I am rationing it, as I will not be repurchasing it until Revlon revises its animal testing policy. Anyway, here are the items I’ve picked out: L’Oreal Lucent Magique Liquid Foundation (G5 Gold Shell) — This …

The Perfect Neutral Eye with a Pop: NARS Duo in Grand Palais

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I wasn’t going to get this particular duo, but it caught my eye. I was lemming for Charade for the longest time, but found that it didn’t swatch very well on my skintone and I feared it would look a little flat. So, I ended up choosing between this, Grand Palais, and Kuala Lumpur, which is somewhat similar but had two shimmery shades. Robbie, the SA, said this was a better option and you know me, I am very easy to convince. The two colors in this duo are a “silver taupe” and a “dusty rose.” The reason why I chose this over Kuala Lumpur, which I was instantly attracted to, is because of the finishes. The silver taupe shade has a slight sheen to it, nothing overly shimmery, and the dusty rose shade is a full-on matte. This is pretty much a full eye look right here, which is what duos are supposed to be for, right? Here are two colors from the duo, as well as a swatch where I have them blended …

Step Into Your Perfect Light With Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders

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I have a peculiar relationship with overhyped products. Sometimes I am very much skeptical about them, but other times I just get suckered into the whole dealio and when the dust has settled, I find myself several dollars poorer with no clue as to why I bought into the whole thing. This could very well be the latter situation, except… these “Ambient Lighting Powders” by Hourglass Cosmetics are so worth the hype. If these things were horrible products, I’d be kicking myself in the face for falling for something so pretentiously named. But, I needed to know if these “Ambient Lighting Powders” could actually artificially create a lighting effect on the face using powders. It sounds like sorcery to me and anything that brings me a step closer to being able to get Lumos! to work is worth a try. First, I ordered Luminous Light to try out. Since I enlisted the help of Carefreeshopper, I needed to wait about a month to get my order. I was really getting antsy and meant to get …

Cruelty-Free Update!

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Hello! If you remember, I made a personal pledge to cut down on cruelty-free cosmetics about a month ago. You can read that here. So, here’s an update! Mainly, I received a shitload of MAC Cosmetics that I ordered prior to the cruelty-free pledge. Technically, MAC Cosmetics don’t test on animals, unless required by law. My friend Laura explained it to me. Basically, MAC themselves don’t test on animals. But, for countries like China who require animal testing for cosmetics to be sold there, they authorize animal testing in that country. There’s still animal testing involved, but it’s not as bad as thought. I really hope they can eliminate all of this testing, because they’re a company who started out cruelty-free. Aside from that, I caved only once since then, I think. I bought three Maybelline Color Whispers from an online shop. Was it worth it? Not really, although, I do really like them. I feel sad when I think about the bunnies, though, so that’s really my motivation to keep away from non-CF brands. …

Quickie: Le Métier de Beauté Indelible Inks in Castalia and Artemis

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I have a hard time saying ‘no’ to things. Which is how I ended up with both colors of the Le Métier de Beauté Indelible Inks. These are great liquid liners with amazing colors: Artemis, which is a deep navy blue that has a little sheen to it, and Castalia which is a creamy, eggplant-y purple. I initially wanted to just get Artemis, but I can’t resist a pretty purple liner. The formula is a little thicker than I’m used to, definitely more creamy than liquid-y. Which I find kind of weird because the brush bristles are super duper thin and fine. I don’t know if the formula is to be blamed for this disaster: Or… if it’s just because of the brush’s super fine-ness. D: Now I have to heavily apply the formula to get the lines straight. I’ll try to apply it with a separate brush, though, but that just has “TOO MUCH EFFORT” written all over it. Still, it’s a beautiful color, don’t you think? Additionally, the formula is very long-wearing. To …

Makeup No-Buy

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Yeesh. So. This was bound to happen. The previous makeup bans I’ve had were kinda laughable, just because I gave myself wiggle room to get some items, but no more! I have to be tough on myself if I want my savings to stay intact. I’ve been thinking of a makeup no-buy for a while now, but the dilly-dallying was caused by me, trying to squeeze in as much makeup purchases before I announced my decision to be more conscious of my spending habits. Well, that’s not very smart. I realized, as I was filling up my Nordstrom shopping cart with quite a few items, that this was not healthy and I didn’t want to be that kind of person. So I walked away from my cart, and sat down to write this post after I surveyed my current makeup stash. I didn’t even feel bad, exiting the screen. So, the rules are pretty simple: no buying of makeup until the end of November. I was thinking of lifting it in time for my birthday, …

Sayonara, Lipstick Week: My Lipstick Collection

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I saved the “best” for last. Here’s my embarrassing lipstick collection. Do I need all of it? Probably not. I think I have a nice, round collection, however, and I don’t own too many dupes. I know this because I tried to make a dupe post for Lipstick Week and failed. Ahem. I keep most of my lipsticks inside a small MUJI bag that I’ve fitted with the plastic containers. I put this bag inside a drawer because I like to keep the top of my desk relatively clean. Honestly, this isn’t the most ideal situation, but it works. Other lip products like glosses and stuff are in a clear jar. Others like balms, lip butters, lip tars, etc. are in a small drawer on my desk. OK, so let’s talk about the lipstick. Here’s pretty much everything I have: I know it looks like a lot, but I really try and clean out this collection and see if I haven’t used a lipstick in x number of months. I also try to keep the …