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ColourPop Super Shock Eyeshadows - Not a Box of Chocolates

ColourPop Super Shock Shadows: Not a Box of Chocolates

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One of the reasons I finally made my ColourPop purchase was a set from the holiday collection, Not a Box of Chocolates. I had my eye on a lot of colors in their permanent range, but I was too indecisive to make a rational decision, a.k.a. not buy all of them, so I relied on the convenience of a set. Part of me wishes I had gone with their late holiday release, Barely Blitzed, but that is just a small part.

ColourPop Not a Box of Chocolates

Not a Box of Chocolates features 6 limited edition shades of ColourPop's Super Shock Shadows in 4 different textures/finishes: satin luxe, metallic, pearlized, and matte. They come in this super-cute box—not unlike a box of chocolates—that feels really festive.

ColourPop Super Shock Eyeshadows - Not a Box of Chocolates

The box looks really luxe, but it's just a really thick board and a mosaic-like sticker sheet over some foam with holes cut out for the shadows themselves. It doesn't look cheap, necessarily. I'm just saying, don't expect stained glass or anything like that.

ColourPop SuperShock Eyeshadows - Texture 2

If you've heard anything at all about these eyeshadows, I'm sure it's about the weird-ass texture. These are a type of cream-mousse hybrid that feels wet to the touch but apply like a powder. (I'm serious.) This explains the screw-top packaging… you need to close these babies up tight as they're prone to drying. The company is very upfront about this issue, so just to reiterate: CLOSE THESE AS WELL AS YOU CAN.

ColourPop SuperShock Eyeshadows - Texture 1

This is how they look with minimal pressing… hehe. It's really fun to press into these! They're also supposed to be applied with a finger, if you want maximum color payoff. Applying with a brush will result in a sheer wash of color, so that's great if you plan to use it as a crease or transition color.

ColourPop SuperShock Eyeshadows - Not a Box of Chocolates - Swatches - Halo, Tinsel, Partridge, Sleigh, Drift - Doe-a-Deer - Swatches
Swatched, L-R: Halo, Tinsel, Partridge, Sleigh, Drift, Doe-a-Deer

Halo is a pale gold in a satin luxe finish. It's an amazing lid color, especially for anything festive! Tinsel is a grey-lavender with a smattering of silver glitter; it is metallic. Partridge is a blue-brown duochrome in a pearlized finish. I absolutely love this shade. Sleigh is a golden pear shade with flecks of shimmer and a metallic finish. Drift is a cranberry red with a pearlized finish. Lastly, Doe-a-Deer is a blackened purple with a matte finish—perhaps my favorite of the bunch.

These swatch really, really well but you have to work with them quite a bit to use on the lid. The metallic shades have a bit of fallout, so that's kind of annoying. They do blend nicely, though, and work well on top of a base or primer.

I also think they nailed the holiday theme of the set, as these shades call to mind the holidays with it being so typical or blatantly obvious. I think I'd love to see Partridge, Sleigh, and Doe-a-Deer as part of the permanent range.

Have you tried any of ColourPop's Super Shock Shadows? Tell me your faves!

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Project Pan: 2015

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Earlier this year, I made the declaration that I will be keeping a “strict” Project Pan this year. To be honest, I am very wishy-washy when it comes to my intentions to downsize… and I know that that fact hasn’t been lost on all of you. However, I really cannot ignore the gross accumulation that has been happening in my beauty and makeup life. This is, by no means, a rejection of makeup. I just want to stop buying new things for the sake of buying new things. And I realized that, when I was making extra effort to not buy things last month, I was actually rediscovering old items in my stash that work for me so, so well.

Following a makeup clear out, where I got rid of pretty much everything I hadn’t been using, I surveyed the remains (lol) and found some items that I couldn’t throw away and ended up wanting to actively use them. Now, this challenge always seems particularly impossible and gargantuan, but I think it can be done if I keep my mind to it and stop having shopping episodes.

Project (10) Pan originally called for a list of 10 products you focused on using up before you could even buy a new item in the same product category. Project Pan, get it? As in hitting pan, a.k.a. being thisclose to finishing a product. I don’t know if I’ll be super strict about this, but sometimes I feel like I need to be. Anyway, I think that 10 is a good, round number to start with for my personal Project Pan: 2015. Here are the items I’ve picked out.

THE NEARLY EMPTIES: 3 items

LUSH Cream Eyeshadow in Sophisticated: This is probably my most visibly used up eye shadow. I like the shade, but I’m sick of it, and it’s so near getting finished, I might as well go all the way. It’s a great everyday base for eyeshadow, so that’s a plus.

NARS Sheer Lipstick in Vendanges: I’d been working on this lipstick since early November. No point in stopping now! I kind of don’t want to finish this up, to be honest, but the lure of actually finishing a lipstick is far too great, haha.

Faith In Face Truly Waterly Cleanser*: I actually hope I don’t run out of it, but it’s nearly empty and I might as well go all the way and finish it before I go on to a different makeup remover.

THE I-JUST-NEED-YOU-OUT-OF-MY-LIFES: 3 items

NARS Pro-Prime Smudgeproof Eye Primer: I will hate-use this until the end. You might work for everyone else, Pro-Prime, but you were a great and expensive disappointment for me.

DHC Lip Cream: This is a great product (with lanolin), but it smells like hell (probably because lanolin). I really want to use it up—or get as close to finished as I can get—because I really can’t shake off the image of sheep hair oil on my lips whenever I take a whiff of this.

NARS x Andy Warhol Larger Than Life Lipgloss in Viva: I loved this when it came out but then I very, very slowly admitted to myself realized that I’m just not a gloss person. This is the most used one in my stash, and it’s neutral enough to wear everyday, so I figured I’d start with this.

THE TOO-MANY-ALTERNATIVES: 4 items

BECCA Resurfacing Primer: I have a shit ton of primers. This is one of the ones I like but don’t love, so I’ll slowly make my way through my primer stash starting with this one.

Le Métier de Beauté Anamorphic Lash Mascara in Midnight: OK, so this is mostly a hygiene thing + a too many open mascaras thing. I love this mascara, in case anyone was wondering.

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Ginger: I love this concealer, but I just want to finish the tube! It’s been feeling a little thicker than usual, and I’m not sure if it’s because it’s going off or because my skin has been extra finicky lately.

Kosé Suncut Water in UV Protect Essence (not pictured, left in the car): I think the trick to finishing stuff up faster is to stop rotating them… so this is the sunscreen that has earned the prime spot for my attention. I love this since it’s meant for the face, is Asian, and is SPF 50+ PA+++ but it gets a bit too greasy for the weather here. Alas. The weather’s been cooler, so it’s a perfect time to try and use this up. I sometimes use this for the body, too.

And that’s it! Ideally, I’ll check back in at the start of the next month, but if I’ve made no visible progress, I’m not going to bother making an update. Because, duh.

Anyone else doing a Project Pan? Let me know. 🙂

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ColourPop Lippie Stix Feminist Lumière

ColourPop Lippie Stix: Feminist & Lumière

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I got two of the ColourPop Lippie Stix to try over the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale, namely Feminist and Lumière. I’ve been seeing this brand all over the Internet, mainly YouTube, and you know I can’t resist a hype, especially if it comes with a $5 price tag.

Everything ColourPop sells is priced at $5 each, though from what I understand, they contain considerably less product than usual (e.g. the Lippie Stix have 1.5g and the MAC lipsticks have 3g). Read More

Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipstick in Cava

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The Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipstick in Cava was pretty much an impulse buy from a Sephora VIB sale. I wanted a new shade off of the Bite Beauty line—from any range at all!—but everything didn’t look appealing enough. Until Cava.

Admittedly, it is a really strange shade. Sephora describes it as a “lilac beige,” and I can definitely see that definition working because all I have in my head right now is “mauve, mauve, mauve!” As part of the Luminous Crème Lipstick line, Cava is supposed to be a “lush, long-lasting, moisture-rich lip color.” (It is.)

Bite Beauty Luminous Creme Lipstick in Cava - Swatch

Funnily enough, I have a lip mini with 2 LCL shades that are also on a nuder side of the spectrum, if you will. Because the color is so strange, in the best possible way, Cava is a little tricky to wear. If you don’t play up your eyes enough, there is a tendency for it to pull out the deadness in your face. When paired with the right look, though, this color soars to great heights.

BITE Beauty Luminous Creme Lipstick in Cava

I pretty much love everything I’ve tried from the Bite Beauty range, and the LCLs are no exceptions. They are very creamy on the lips and impart an opaque and rich color. The great thing about this is that these are made from food-grade ingredients. That’s not something I actively look for in cosmetics—I’m kind of done looking at new stuff for now—but that’s a great perk, I think, for people who are worried about lipstick ingestion.

Bite Beauty is cruelty-free.

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Simple Human Mini Sensor Mirror

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I received (jk, I asked for…) the Simple Human Mini Sensor Mirror for Christmas. It seems like a weird thing to ask for, I know, but I’d been wanting a circular vanity mirror that lit up for a long, long time. About a month or so into using this (I received and opened it early because I’m a cheater), I’m still on the fence about it, though I’m teetering more on the side of “I’m so glad I got this.”

A part of me really, really loves it. The Mini Sensor Mirror has an LED ring light around a circular mirror that lights up with a motion sensor. You can completely turn it off if you want to, and it charges via a USB cable so there’s no need to use wasteful alkaline batteries. I love that it folds into itself and can be tucked into a case for travel.

But, sometimes the 10x magnification is a bit too much for me. It’s very useful for reshaping eyebrows, getting rid of stray hairs, and precision makeup, but it’s a little too close for someone who is a bit slapdash when it comes to her makeup. I think I have to go too near to reach the correct focal point, and so I don’t get a wide view or complete face reflection… which means that I can’t get rid of my trusty folding MUJI mirror.

I do really like it, but it just doesn’t cover all the bases, to be frank.

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Happy New Year

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Hey everyone! Happy new year. 🙂 I’m going to go back into the swing of things. The holidays really threw me for a loop. I have an irrational fear of being unproductive but at the same time, the holidays really exist to get together with friends and family and to spend time with them. So no more to feeling guilty!

We had a family photo (my dad’s side/extendeds) and it’s kind of funny but I kept going back to old faves and reliables. Here’s a not-so-great photo of me, my sister, and our dog, Noah, that I nicked from her Instagram account:
New Year Face
I’m wearing Ellis Faas Skin Veil in S104L*, Ellis Faas Concealer in S204*, LMdB Eye Brightening and Setting Powder in Refresh, NYX Blush in Taupe, Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Palette (Dim, Incandescent, and Radiant Light), NARS And God Created the Woman Palette (Alhambra and Galapagos), K-Palette 1Day Magic Liquid Eyeliner*, Nature Republic By Flower Auto Eyebrow in 2, NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Bahama, and FALSIES. :0 I’m wearing Red Cherry Lashes in #747S.

I’ve got to ask: Do you have beauty resolutions this year? Read More

Favorite Finds of 2014

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Hey everyone! Here’s a quick post on some of my favorite finds this year. I had a really, really hard time narrowing down my picks because, frankly, 2014 was a great year of discovery for me, as far as beauty products and cosmetics are concerned.

I’ve mixed in fragrance and skin care picks, as well as other products I really wanted to mention that I really loved as well. Let’s start with makeup! Read More