All posts filed under: Reviews

Makeup Inventory: Eyeshadow Quads

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I’ve been racking my brain for an “eyeshadow special” post that I can do, much like my Lipstick Week, but I can’t think of anything at the moment, so I’m going to show you my collection of quads. 🙂 I LOVE eyeshadow palettes. Those are decidedly my weakness. I showed you my favorite palettes a while ago, and here are all of my quads, aka 4-shadow palettes. I have six in total, clockwise from the top left: Guerlain Les 4 Couleurs in Turandot, Le Métier de Beauté Kaleidoscope Eye Kit in Northern Lights, Suqqu Eyeshadow in Sumiredama, Chanel Ombres Fleuries in Délicatesse, Le Métier de Beauté Kaleidoscope Eye Kit in Silk Road, and bareMinerals READY 4.0 in The Happy Place. The only permanent quads are Turandot and The Happy Place, but a lot of these are still available online and in store. 🙂 Guerlain Les 4 Couleurs in Turandot: This was my first high-end eyeshadow purchase and it remains one of my favorites. (Review) It’s very warm with a satin gold and pink, a matte …

Quickie: MAC Matte Lipstick in Mehr

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Here’s a super duper quick review of the lipstick I’ve been loving the most recently, Mehr. It’s a matte rosy mauve color and it’s my go-to lipstick for when I’m not quite sure what to wear. I hauled and swatched it previously, but I’ve never written up a proper review. Here’s what it looks like on the tube: And swatched: According to this website, “Mehr means promise, contract, and relationship between two or more people both in Sanskrit and Avestan languages. In modern Persian, Mehr also means love, friendship, reconciliation and promise. Upon such premises, and within the Iranian culture, Mehr is the antidote of lies and liars. You cannot expect a liar to keep her/his promises and whoever remains faithful to her/his promise has certainly chosen the path of rightfulness.” It was originally released in the Mickey Contractor collection in 2011 as a limited edition shade. It was repromoted in 2012 and is now a permanent shade, if I’m not mistaken. Mehr is described as a “dirty blue pink.” Here it is on my …

Quickie: Eye of Horus Natural Mascara*

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A few months ago, I was sent the Eye of Horus Natural Mascara by Glamour Box, via Paoie. It was my first chance to try the brand and I was pretty excited as I had read many good things about it online. Product Description: “If you’re after perfect natural mascara that won’t run, smudge or clump, Eye of Horus natural mascara is exactly what you are looking for. Formulated in the style of the ancient Egyptians, Eye of Horus mascara uses natural, non-irritating ingredients. Ideal for sensitive eyes and Eye of Horus Mascara strengthens and lengthens for ultimate Goddess lashes. Being formulated with nourishing waxes, removal is easy with a cloth warmed with water as the heat melts the waxes, cleaning lashes, making it gentle on the eyes.” What sets Eye of Horus apart from the usual makeup brands is its philosophy. Their products are based on traditional Egyptian beauty secrets, and they are all-natural, and cruelty-free. In fact, they advertise that their mascara can be removed using only warm water, because it’s basically made …

Blush Crush: Get the Perfect Pink with Tom Ford’s Cheek Color in Wicked

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Oh, Tom Ford. Le sigh. I was suckered into purchasing a lipstick and a blush at some point in the last few months, and I honestly do not know what possessed me to give in. JK, it was the pretties. It’s not that Tom Ford makes bad cosmetics… Because they are good products. It’s that they are freaking expensive. And I don’t know if they are good enough to warrant the price. But anyway. I caved and this is what happened with the blush. I got the Tom Ford Cheek Color in a shade called Wicked, because it looked vaguely purple to me. It turned out to be veeery pink. On the left is a heavy swatch, on the right is something more diffused. And here it is on my cheeks! I applied it a little on the apples, with most of the concentration on the outer parts of my cheeks. I know that that placement is debatable, but I find that it is more flattering to my face shape. Anyway, the pigmentation is alright. …

Quickie: Wing It with the MAC 266

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When I asked Laura for help picking out MAC items, she remarked that since I seemed to be having trouble applying liner (I was), I should take a look at the MAC 266 brush, a very small, stiff angled brush. She recommended that I use a dark eyeshadow (e.g. MAC Carbon) and push the color into my lashline. I’m a little better at eyeshadow now, but this remains an astonishing little tool that I’m glad I ended up getting. I used it to apply my KATE Gel Liner for my NARS Paramaribo review. I cleaned the brush right away, since I hate it when gel liner sits on brush bristles. I’m sure the brushes hate it, too. The line is awesome, and I get a lot of control with it. I’ve sworn by the Marionnaud N°37, which is basically the same thing, only with a little spoolie on the other end. They’re the same brush, in theory, because they are both stiff, angled brushes for the eyes. I use the N°37 all the time for …

NARS Duo in Paramaribo

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This NARS Duo called Paramaribo is one that I really wanted to love. It’s one of the first NARS Duos I got, the other one being Habanera (review) and I was so impressed by how velvety-soft the eyeshadows were, and how beautiful the pigmentation of both colors were. Paramaribo came out with NARS’ Spring 2012 collection, and it pairs two colors—a metallic brass & metallic bronze—together. To me, it just looks like two different greens, but as we’ve already established, I am sometimes unrefined. 🙂 Anyway, I busted it out for a proper review as it seems to be a very beautiful, very sunny duo. “Paramaribo” is the capital in Suriname, South America. It is located near the Suriname river, and viewed from the top, you can see where they may have culled inspiration from, when creating this duo. Suriname has a very rich history of European colonization, as well as very a diverse populace with a variety of religions, cultures, and beliefs. I guess, much like a lot of other places. 🙂 Though the …

MAC Mineralize Rich Lipstick in Elegant Accent

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The MAC Mineralize Rich Lipsticks are “a 77-Mineral Moist Complex that instantly nourishes lips with maximum moisture in a lightweight, non-sticky formula. Larger bullet applies bright, long lasting colour in a single stroke. Medium shine finish, buildable coverage. Magnetic closure.” Apparently its magnetic closure is something to note. It’s actually kind of cool, I must admit, and it seems to have a stronger magnetic attraction than that of the Guerlain lipsticks, which makes me feel better about throwing these in a bag, than I do when I throw those. But enough about that! I selected a shade called Elegant Accent, which looks like a deep, pinky coral on the website swatch, but is described as a “mid-tonal warm rose cream.” I bought this shade based on many, many swatch comparisons online, and it seemed to be the color that attracted me the most. Unfortunately, it pulls a little pink on me. It’s not a bad color; it just wasn’t what I was looking for. If you noticed, I don’t really use a lot of pink …