Weekly Beauty Tip #63: How to correctly apply under eye concealer

You should apply your under eye concealer in a triangular shape. Go from each outer corner of the eye to the top of the cheekbone. If you apply it in a half moon (or curved) shape, it won't conceal as well and it will accentuate any puffiness.

September Glam Bag review

It's the end of the month, know what that means? It's time for my review of this month's glambag (well obviously once you read the title). If you would like your own bag with 4 - 5 full and deluxe sized products for just $10 a month, please please please sign up using my refferal link ( http://www.ipsy.com/?refer=u-h051r3lzwoa89xn ). If you do, I will give you a thank you shoutout.

Each month's bag has a theme, this month's was classic beauty. I don't think all of the product options given fit the theme, but all off the products i got sure do. I love the bag its self, it is a beautiful blue color with a cute pattern. I actually am currently using it as my purse makeup bag.

Anyway, on to the products. 

 

Cailyn Tinted Lip Balm in Big Apple
*Full sized 

I'm going to get this out of the way first: Cailyn majorly mislabeled this product. It is nowhere near anything like a tinted lip balm. It is not moisturizing at all and it is way too pigmented to be a balm. Now that I have gotten that out of the way, I really did love this product. It is a lipstick in a pot that comes with a built in brush. The packaging is exactly like the Cailyn gel eyeliners  but in a different color. For a lipstick it is pretty bulky, but it is nice that the brush is attached so that it won't get lost.

Big Apple is a gorgeous matte (yes, matte) red. I have many reds but only one other matte one so this was definitely welcomed. Application was a breeze. It went on nicely and is very pigmented. It feels so lightweight that I nearly forgot I was wearing it. It can be pretty drying though (like most matte lipsticks). Lasting power was great until I ate. Overall I absolutely loved this product even though it is labeled as a tinted lip balm.

Nyx Single Eyeshadow in Morocco

*Full sized

I love Nyx and own several of their products. I own many of their eyeshadows. They are always very pigmented and non chalky. Blend great and stay. They come in so many different colors and finishes. Also you can't beat the price. The shade I got is a beautiful deep purple. I love the packaging of these eyeshadows, they're very compact and the lid to it is attached so you don't have to worry about losing it.

 Elizabeth Mott It's So Big Volumizing Mascara
*Deluxe sample sized

I had high hopes for this mascara. It claims to be a very volumizing mascara, which I need. Many mascaras I've tried just lengthen, my eyelashes are already long and do not need length but volume. This mascara does volumize a bit, but not as much as I'd hoped for. The very end of the brush gets clumpy but that is fixable. The formula and color seem nice. For me this was an ok mascara. Nothing phenomenal that I absolutely have to buy.

Butter London Nail Laquer in LA Moss
*Deluxe sample size

I have wanted to try some Butter London nail polish for the longest time, but the steep price tag has always held me back. I nearly literally jumped for joy when I saw this product in my glam room. I thought it would be a full size, but I'm not at all disappointed in the size. I have heard mixed things about Butter London polishes. Many people say they're great. But when I saw the comments on the Butter London page on Ipsy for this month's bag people were saying it chipped easily.I knew as soon as I saw the color, that I couldn't compare the formula to any of their other shades. The higher amount of pigment in darker/deeper nail polish shades cause them to chip more easily. This is something to keep in mind when trying out dark polishes.

LA Moss is a beautiful deep berry red. In the bottle I thought it would be an Oxblood color, but it has more berry tones. It went on fairly easily and pigmented. But, with such a deep color it took 3 or 4 coats to get the color as deep as it looked in the bottle. I was very impressed by how long it lasted, especially for a deeper color. It did not chip for at least a day or two then I got very minor chipping. I will definitely be trying more from this brand someday. I absolutely love the formula (it is three free as well) and the color.

Starlooks Obsidian Kohl Eye Pencil in Onyx

I mostly wear gel eyeliner, even in the outer rims of my waterline. I do sometimes use eyeliner pencils. My favorite eye pencil being Urban Decay's 24/7 liner. Compared to that, I absolutely did not like this eyeliner. It dragged and I could not get it to draw a straight line. I had to smudge it to get the liner on all the way. It wasn't creamy as I come to expect from eyeliners. It for me also ran. However, I gave this to my mom and she loved it. She applies her eyeliner to her waterline and she says that it stays on and it works great for her.

There was also a sample in my bag from Michelle Phan's new makeup line, Em cosmetics. This particular sample is from the Life Palette: Career Life. It is labeled look 4 natural talent. It contains 3 eyeshadow colors and a blush. The eyeshadows are pigmented and blend very nicely. The blush is very pigmented and does blend nicely as well.

I liked this bag. Although I was disappointed by some products I really loved the Cailyn tinted lip balm (lipstick), the Butter London nail polish and of course the Nyx eyeshadow.

Nyx Mega Shine Lip Gloss review

When thinking of a product to review for this week that I haven't yet, these lip glosses immediately came to mind. Not sure if you can tell, but I'm not a huge lip gloss fan. Most of them are sticky and barely last an hour.  At one point when I was trying to build my personal makeup collection up a bit, I decided to add some lip glosses. I saw one shade of the Nyx gloss in particular while browsing online and I had to buy it. This was my gateway into Nyx products.

 Anyway, that shade was Dolly pink. It is the perfect, bright Barbie pink lip gloss. From there I got  Perfect Red, a gorgeous red shade and beige, which despite the name is a lovely milky nude pink. The colors in the picture above are the true colors. The lighting in my lip swatches made the colors look off.

                                                                            Beige

                                                                       Dolly Pink

                                                                      Perfect Red


These are the best lip glosses I have ever worn. They are not sticky at all. They also feel very light. They feel pretty amazing compared to every other lip gloss I've tried. They are extremely pigmented as well. Very glossy. They last the normal amount of time as any lip gloss.

I love the packaging. It has the Nyx logo printed on the side with the shade name printed on the other side. On top of the cap is a really cute bow. To apply, it has  a doe foot applicator.

Even though personally I'm not a big lip gloss fan, I love these. They are an amazing product and the price of them (Usually $5, it depends on where you buy them) makes the quality just that much better. If you are a lip gloss junkie you absolutely need some Nyx Mega Shine Lip Gloss in your collection.

Weekly Beauty Tip #62: Eyebrows need not match

Your eyebrows do not need to match perfectly. Most of the time, they look better asymmetrically. They will also look more natural this way.

Lush Oatifix Fresh Face Mask review

As promised in my Catastrophe Cosmetic review, here is the Oatifix one! I decided to give this one a try after my best friend raved about it and when Lush was out of Catastrophe Cosmetic. I decided to just buy it instead of sampling and I'm really happy I did.

Lush Fresh Face masks are natural and fresh. They must be kept refrigerated, they also have a short shelf life. I keep mine in the freezer, which really extends their life. You can only purchase these in store, since they are so fresh.

                              (This isn't a picture of a fresh pot, it has been used a few times, fyi.)

Oatifix is great for dry skin. It contains ingredients like oatmeal, bananas, vanilla and ground almonds. It is also great for sensitive skin. This is a thicker mask with all of the oatmeal, so you may need to apply a thicker layer than you normally would with a mask. It smells really, really good. Just like a cookie! One of my favorite Lush employees told me when I bought it that she has to fight off the urge to eat it every time she uses it!

Every time I use it, my skin is calmed and it feels extremely soft and also moisturized. This is a great mask and is definitely one of my favorites. 

Weekly Beauty Tip #61 SPF first

SPF should be the first layer on your face before moisturizer and makeup. It does its job best when in direct contact with the skin.

Weekly Beauty tip #60 Use brushes or sponges

This is a very basic, yet very important makeup application tip. Apply your makeup with brushes or sponges, not your hands. It is much more sanitary and your makeup will look so much better.

Review: Lime Crime Palette D' Antoinette

As you might be able to tell, I love Lime Crime. I am a huge fan of their lipsticks and nail polishes. I spent months gazing upon their palettes until I finally decided to get one.

Palette D' Antoinette although the only Lime Crime palette I've tried has my favorite colors out of any of their palettes . I have never seen colors exactly like these anywhere else.

Just like the rest of their palettes, this one comes in a beautiful purple tin with a gold lime crime logo on the top. The tin came in a really cute box made to look like an envelope (I don't have that any more so I can't post a picture). On the bottom there is a sticker with the colors and their names. Inside of the tin the eyeshadow pans are imbedded in plastic. The tin is sturdy, but I wish this plastic were sturdier. The pans seem to be a good size. I should also mention the tin isn't bulky at all.

 (Swatched over primer)

The shades (I absolutely love the names):

Royal Flush: A bold matte pastel pink

Absintheminded: A bold matte pastel green

Macarooned: A bold matte pastel orange

Ribbonesque: A bold matte pastel purple

Mercurious: A shimmery, metallic silver

 There's a pretty design printed across the eyeshadows. All of the colors with the exception of Mercurious are matte. Although I do like Mercurious, I wish they had kept with the mattes and added a matte yellow or blue. The silver (although beautiful) looks random in this palette.

These are very pigmented eyeshadows, although Mercurious is a little less opaque. They feel very nice, not chalky at all. They glide on very smoothly. They blend really well too, I love blending Royal Flush and Macarooned.

I'm so happy that I bought this palette. Although I have many eyeshadows and try not to buy them, I am tempted to purchase the Aquataenia palette. I should point out that the matte shades match their corresponding colors of the Lime Crime nail polishes.