Thursday, September 13, 2012

Eye primers galore!

So awhile ago I did a post about the Nyx eye primers ( and I mean ages ago) which can be found here.  I seriously just in the last week finished using my first of the 3 pots, and that's with daily use, every single day, 15 months out of one pot, how brilliant is that... crazy that one pot can last that long.  In the meantime I managed to collect a few more eye primers that I wanted to try out.   How the hell do I manage to collect so many things???

Anyway these are the next on my primer hit list :)


As you can see I still have one NYX left, and I'm pretty sure the neutral one is lurking somewhere too.

I'll throw in some close ups just so you can see better what I managed to collect while waiting to finish the first NYX pot.

The NYX shimmer base

Essence I love stage base, this a fairly new cheapie brand to hit Priceline and Target stores in AU, I think it's priced around $3.50 AUD.


Too Faced shadow Insurance, this is one of my all time faves.  I think I have a tube somewhere in a blue version that was discontinued.


Then the Face of Australia bases in both matte


And shimmer, both of theses are available at Pricelines and Big W stores and I can't remember how much they were at the time.



I have no idea which one I plan on starting with.....

Do you hoard products too, then realise later you have stacks of the same kind of thing squirreled away?  Has anyone tried any of these and what do you think of them?

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Revlon 24 hr Colourstay Whipped Creme foundation


Hey beauties, long time no blog!  To tell the truth I kinda decided to save my cash for Sydney Imats in September and haven't really bought much of anything worth blogging about since the Urban decay haul from the mini cruise, but I'm going to try and find things to blog on anyway. LOL.  
Recently I was sent Revlon's new 24 hr Colourstay whipped creme foundation as part of the Beautyheaven Trial Team. I am a die hard foundation wearer, it's my one staple beauty product that I have used for years and years, so I was very excited to be asked to trial Revlon's new foundation.

Revlon ColorStay Whipped Creme Makeup has a mousse-like texture  which is almost a bit bouncy to the touch that will give skin a soft matte silky feeling finish.  It contains silk and botanicals and features elastormeric primer technology to give you skin all day comfort and has SPF 20.  The range consists of 7 shades and retails for $34.95 and can be found anywhere you buy Revlon products.
When it arrived I was immediately impressed the glass pot looked like it was from a much more Luxe brand than Revlon. It felt heavy and expensive, that is actually a bit of a drawback  though, as after removing the seal that stops the product from ending up all over the inside of the lid, I discovered that the pot wasn't really user friendly.  If you are a pop your foundation on with your fingers kinda person, then you'll soon find out that trying to get the product out if you have long finger nails is a messy job.  In the end I resorted to using a foundation brush to get the product out of the pot.

the interior seal

the product looks really quite thick at first glance

I ended up using my Sigma F60 foundation brush to apply and it worked like a dream much better than my fingers!

The finish of the foundation is beautiful, with the bonus that it feels amazingly light and silky on.  It spreads well and even using a foundation brush leaves no patchiness or caking. The foundation covers reasonably well with small spot touch ups being needed for stubborn scars or marks and wears well throughout a 12 hr day with no caking or flaking or wearing off after that though it does start to wear off, so it is far from the 24 hr foundation that it is advertised as.  I found I had some problems with my bronzer not going on evenly over it and this just kept happening, and seeing as I wear bronzer daily found this a bit of a deal breaker.
I'm also unsure weather it would be the best foundation for sensitive skin, as my eyes which are quite sensitive have been watering non stop since using this foundation.  I'm trying to get my hands on an ingredients listing to see if there is anything in it that I know will set my eyes off, and have stopped using it, to see if they settle back down.  It does seem the most likely culprit as  I haven't been using anything else new.

oops, silly me discovered the ingredients on the bottom of the underneath label
If it wasn't for those couple of problems then this really would be a 5 star product, but as it stands it's not something I will consider purchasing until I find out if it was the cause of my eye soreness.

***EDIT***  I did eventually discover the ingredients listing on the underneath of the pot, but nothing stood out as being the cause of the irritation.  2 days after I stopped using it the irritation in my eyes stopped, so it was definitely the foundation, and to tell the truth, I'm really not sure I want to do the research and delve into all the ingredients and what they do, as I'd bet some of them would be really quite nasty to allow them to produce a brand that can claim to last 24hrs on your skin.  Plus do I really want to leave it on that long.... HELL NO!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Urban Decay, Black Palette

I recently went on a quick mini 3 day cruise to nowhere with the hubby to get away from the kids and recover a small amount of my sanity.  Boy was I surprised to find a shelf well stocked with Urban decay palettes on board the Pacific Pearl, not only that the were reasonably priced, on par for the US market but on board an Aussie ship, needless to say I felt I needed to indulge in 3 palettes plus the 24/7 shadow pencils :)  They had none of the NAKED palettes, but the SA informed me that when they do get them the retail price is around $44 AUD.

The Black palette is first up, this one was selling for around $33 AUD, which is actually cheaper than the US  RRP of $36 and has 6 shades, all black based shade, plus a 24/7 liner in zero and a mini primer potion.


The colours in this palette are black dog ( straight smoky matte black), barracuda ( smokey steel grey), jet ( shimmery smokey purple), sabbath ( smokey shimmer blue), cobra ( very glittery gold black), and libertine ( smokey olive green)

black dog, barracuda, jet, sabbath, cobra, libertine.
and a quick Eotd I put together using Jet and a a random purple on the inner corner.



Monday, June 4, 2012

Innoxia classic colour lipsticks, Matte shades

Just a quick follow up to the Innoxia classic colour lipsticks post from a few days ago, these are the 2 matte that I own from the range.  I find the pigmentation and lasting power about the same as the rest of the range, although if you have quite dry lips the colour can settle into the fine lines, I find that I can stop this happening if I remember to apply a balm before putting on my foundation.

The 2 colours I have are baby doll and watermelon

baby doll, watermelon
Baby doll is a pale barbie pink


and watermelon is a bright coral pink


Swatches, baby doll (left), watermelon (right)


So loving the lippie brights ATM, do you have a favourite all time bright lippie?

Urban decay, NAKED 2

So, I wasn't really going to bother doing a review on the NAKED 2 palette, but I thought I might as well throw my pictures and swatches out there as well.  My opinion on Urban decays shadows hasn't changed at all from the very first time I used a palette of theirs, and for my review of the original NAKED palette you can check here.

Basically NAKED 2 is a welcome addition to the original, I prefer the colours in this one a bit more, they are a bit cooler toned than the other one and these are colours I see myself getting more use out of.  The 2 palettes have a couple of shades in common, which I think wasn't really necessary.  It would have been nice to see a completely new palette with all new shades, but I guess they have done this so people who don't own the older one can still get some of the more popular shades without buying 2 palettes.

NAKED 2 comes with a double ended smudge/shadow brush and a mini lip gloss instead of the eye primer and is housed in a metal tin, which to me feels like it would be more solid for travelling or handbags than the original.




Contained in this palette are 11 shades, which are, Foxy, half baked, booty call, chopper, tease, snakebite, suspect, pistol, verve, YDK, busted and blackout.
 Foxy, half baked, booty call, chopper, tease, snakebite, suspect, pistol, verve, YDK, busted and blackout.

 Foxy, half baked, booty call, chopper, tease, snakebite, suspect, pistol, verve, YDK, busted and blackout.
I think both palettes have some really pretty neutrals, I just wish they didn't have that small colour overlap, and you had all different shades between the 2 palettes.

Do you have both Naked palettes and which one is your favourite?

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Innoxia Classic colour Lipsticks

Hi again ladies,

 I've been giving a bit of love to lippies lately, sometimes I spend months using glosses, then it's like I discover lipstick all over again.  Recently I fell in love with the colour range of the Innoxia range that is stocked at my local Priceline store, ( RRP $14.95 AUD) sadly their stand is always half empty or missing testers, but that hasn't stopped me from grabbing a few utterly fabulous bold colours.

I'm finding theses really creamy and smooth to apply, they don't settle into the lines of my lips or bleed at all.  They have a pretty standard lasting power, but what really caught my eye was the range of colours, can we say Va-VA-vavoom..... OMG so pretty.  They sent me into a 'Must have lipstick" frenzy.

The range comes in a variety of finishes from Matte, to Cremes and Sheen's.  I do have a couple of the matte finishes but I will pop those in a separate post.

Onto the pictures, always my favourite part.

pink peony, periwinkle, guava,plum, honeysuckle
lipsticks individually
Pink peony

pink peony
 Periwinkle
periwinkle
 Guava
guava
 Plum
plum
 Honeysuckle
honeysuckle
And the swatches
pink peony, periwinkle, guava, plum, honeysuckle

In my defence, I didn't actually buy honeysuckle, it was a freebie from one of the Priceline Beauty Bags, and it's a colour I doubt I'll ever use.  I most likely will melt it down, mix it with something else and re-set it so that I have a colour I can use.


Thursday, May 17, 2012

Revlon Colourburst Lip Butters

Hi guys

I know it's been a seriously long time since my last post, unfortunately health issues have had me on the sidelines for a while, but hopefully all is looking up and I can get back into the swing of things properly soon.

I thought I'd do a super quick post with some swatches of the new Revlon lip Butters.  I have 4 of them in my collection now, and to be brutally honest I wasn't even going to bother getting any as they are expensive here at $21.95 each and were far too hyped up when they were released,  but I bought them on the spur of the moment on a rainy day in Nelson Bay as it was either shop or be stuck in a musty damp cottage with nothing to do.  I bought them at Priceline when they had the 2 for 1 deal on them, which I think is much more reasonable.

They are very shimmery with some even having noticeable glittery pieces, they are also quite sheer and glossy depending on the colour you have, which means you need to re-apply quite often and the pigmentation isn't overtly great on some shades, so for the most part you end up with a sheer slick of glossy colour on your lips.  Sometimes I really don't mind that though and the colour range is very pretty and girly.

The 4 colours I have are, Peach parfait, Cotton candy, Cupcake and Lollipop.  Lollipop is by far the most obvious colour with the best pigment and it actually lasts quite well too.

Onto the pictures, as we all know they are the best way of showing the colours off.

All four together
Peach parfait, cotton candy, cupcake, lollipop

swatches of all four
peach parfait, cotton candy, cupcake, lollipop

peach parfait


cotton candy


cupcake


lollipop

Personally Lollipop is my stand out favourite, as it has more pigment and lasts longer on my lips, not to mention there's just something super fun about a bright fuschia lippie to brighten your day up :)