All posts filed under: First Impressions

Swatchfest: Le Métier de Beauté Kaleidoscope Eye Kit in Gravité

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I guess it’s safe to say that I broke my ban a few weeks. In the worst way. I’m paying for it—figuratively and literally—but for now, I shall enjoy my third eye kaleidoscope to date. I think that’s a pretty good exercise of self-control, given my intense love for these. Anyway, I got Gravité, which was offered exclusively as a GWP (!) on their official website when you spend a certain amount of money. This was the first kaleidoscope I’ve owned that I fully appreciate the concept behind the couches de couleur technique—layering each tier over the other for a beautiful, complex effect. The shades of Gravité are as follows: — Nova: effervescent tan for warmth — Solar: gilded saffron for femininity — Levity: patina brass for contrast — Dark Matter: jewel-toned aubergine for depth Usually, the layers are warm-cool-hot-cold, so I’m not sure what’s going on here, since it seems largely warm-toned, but like I said, I love the overall effect. Swatched, L-R: Nova, Solar, Levity, Dark Matter, 1-4 layered I mean, check out …

Testing the Waters with Urban Decay Ocho Loco 2

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Hello, everyone! I’ve been testing out the Urban Decay Ocho Loco 2 eyeliner set for about four days now, and I just wanted to share my thoughts. 🙂 This isn’t a full review by any means, but for the most part, I am enjoying this set a lot. That’s saying something, because I am not a big liner girl, since I usually play with my eyeshadow instead. Anyway, the Urban Decay Ocho Loco 2 is one of their holiday sets for 2013. You get EIGHT 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils, four of which are limited edition shades. Add to that a Grindhouse sharpener, which is celebrated in its own right. I haven’t sharpened anything with that yet, so thoughts on that are on hold. But it’s a really pretty color, and I love that it has a pick thing that sort of deals with the eyeliner/product gunk build-up by near the blades. Here are the initial swatches, from L-R: Roach, Twice Baked, Crave, Perversion, Mars, Deep End, Ultraviolet, and Tornado. These glide on so well and …

Unboxing & First Impressions: Le Métier de Beauté Beauty Vault VIP October 2013 Box

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Inside Le Métier de Beauté’s Beauty Vault VIP box for October is a skincare item: the Peau Vierge Complexion Serum & Dark Spot Corrector. I wasn’t planning on using this because I just read the “dark spot corrector” part, but thank the Lord for accompanying literature. A while back, LMdB challenged beauty lovers to use their Dark Spot Corrector for 28 days with a promise to deliver visible results. I don’t really have a problem with dark spots, but I do have some skin issues that I wanted to take care of. “Just what your skin ordered; a complexion pick-me-up created to energize your skin. It is an all over Complexion Serum, an Anti-Aging Treatment, Skin Tone and Texture Rebuilder, and Dark Spot Repair Cream.” I think that’s A LOT to promise, and when that happens, I tend to lower my expectations because there are things that can’t be that good. Aside from a “dark spot corrector,” this serum claims to improve skin complexion, be an anti-wrinkle and fine line treatment, rebuild/even out skin tone …

Quickie: Shiro Cosmetics Intertubes

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Just a short break from the eye bonanza happening on this blog currently. 🙂 Although, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who has gone out of their way to let me know what they thought of it and whether or not a post was helpful for them. If you have any requests for posts, please leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do for you. 🙂 Intertubes are lip thingies from Shiro Cosmetics, aka the place to be for funny geeky people who like makeup, too. I ordered some sample colors during my last weak moment and got for shades: Nyan Cat, Why Not Zoidberg?, Team Buffy, and Sad Keanu. LOL, I mean, really. How did you think I could resist these? Anyway, I’m happy I purchased these small samples as a test run because I’m not really sure about them. I’ve had them for a while, but I don’t know, they just don’t want to seem to work well on me? Here are some photos of me wearing each color: …

First Shiro Cosmetics Purchase: The Tributes Collection & There and Back Again: A Hobbit Collection

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I first heard about Shiro Cosmetics from Jen of Barely Organized Chaos, when she posted her loose shadow inventory. And you know me—I’m a sucker for geeky things and aptly-named things. I literally buy shit (not literal shit) because of what they’re called. Shiro Cosmetics released two collections that I fell for—hook, line, and sinker. The older collection is called “The Tributes,” and it’s based on Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, which I love. The newer/newest one is called “There & Back Again,” and it’s based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” which I LOVE MORE. So I pretty much was headed to Mount Doom at this point. Still, I did manage to hold back, and didn’t purchase the entire collections. In hindsight, I kinda wish I did, but it’s always good to not be a total hoarder. A little background: Shiro Cosmetics is owned by Caitlin, who loves makeup and geeky things. Their products are vegan and 100% cruelty-free. As you can see from the picture above, it’s basically mineral makeup, though they do have …

My MAC Haul Swatch-fest: Part II

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Hey all, So here’s the rest of the swatches from my MAC haul, on my part at least. I will ask my sister, Isabel, if I can borrow her stash and show you some swatches. We’ll see. Today, I have a paint pot, two eye kohls, three blushes, and five lipsticks, so it’s still exciting times over here at Softly Sometimes. To transition from Part I’s eyeshadow bonanza, let’s start with eye product swatches then go downwards on the face. Swatches from L-R: eye kohls in Teddy and Prunella, MAC Paint Pot in Bare Study and Rubenesque (for comparison) I didn’t think it would be possible, but I feel like I do love Bare Study as much as I love Rubenesque, though this swatch makes it look meh. Here’s a better one: The level of love I had for the Rubenesque made me think I didn’t really need or want another Paint Pot, but Bare Study is proving that to be false. I love both. As for the eye kohls, I haven’t tested wear time, …

Color it Spring: A Quick Swatch Review of the Le Métier de Beauté’s Mélange de Colour Fashion Palette

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OK, so where do I begin? This beauty is the Melange de Colour Fashion Palette by Le Métier de Beauté, and it is probably going to be the last eyeshadow buy for me in a long, long while (unless something remarkable comes out and I need to get it, stat). This was a palette I was going to pass up whilst on my makeup ban a few months ago. I was trying to pool together my ‘beauty budget’ for that trip to Japan that I ignored some of the later-announced Spring releases, and this was one of them. I came across a post by Emilie of the Cogitation Project, and of course I became obsessed with finding it. I looked at eBay but couldn’t afford the 50% markup + shipping + taxes, and then I resorted to the LMdB Facebook page, where an SA was saying they had a couple more left department store and could probably get one to whoever emails him/her. Of course I did, and after a few weeks of correspondence, it …