Lipstick Swatches on NC35

Face decided to act up (trying a new prescription, it messed up your face before it actually helps -- aaaaawesome). SO.. no vlog.. and my blog felt a little neglected (yes, it has feelings too!) so I decided to do a post on lipstick swatching.. I'm reorganizing my makeup anyways :P so it was all sitting out on my desk! Convenienceeeee.

Total of 14.. I have another one.. but I can't find it o__O and it's brand new too! I hope I didn't give it away, LOL. And if I did.... ah, well..

Swatched on NC35(ish) skin

Swatchity swatch swatch!

"Good thing Swatches weren't made in Kroatia.."

MAC Viva Glam Cyndi

MAC Viva Glam VI

Maybelline Sugar Plum Ice

Yve Saint Laurent Peach Passion (gifted)

Dior Spotlight Coral / Orange Ovation (gifted)

Maybelline Mauve-ulous

Revlon Soft Nude

Revlon Soft Rose

MAC Cutester (HK, LE)

MAC 40's Pink

MAC Hug Me

MAC Creme d'Nude

MAC Dubonnet

MAC Freckletone (no idea why it looks so bright!)

All purchased by me unless noted.

Blushers (random)

Continuation of my blushers! These are the random ones sitting around (not in my palette).

Bourjois Peche

- Ranges from $7~11 online (but this was a gift from Catherine) for 2.5 grams.

- Comes with a handy mirror that's just big enough to see your cheek

- Very pretty shimmery orange (or maybe a true peach?) with golden microglitter.

- Texture is a little rough.. I feel like I have to dig in my brush to get enough to show up on my face (or maybe I'm just dark.. haha, I wonder how this would look on fairer skin tones?). The swatch was preeeeetty heavy and definitely layered on.

- Very compact, great for traveling. BUT I feel like the container itself could be a little smaller since it seems like there's lost space between blush and the mirror.

- Very pretty but if I *had* to narrow down my collection, I would definitely think of this one--just based on texture and pigmentation.. and how it shows up on my NC37 skin. And I would be sad that I thought of this one, because it really is a very pretty color IMO.

MAC Dainty

- Bought off a blogsale

- MAC describes it as a "light yellow pink with gold pearl"

- I was planning on depotting it.. then I realized.. MSF's probably aren't too keen on the whole depotting thing, haha. So.. it just sits in my drawer and I don't really get around to using it. Blah! In fact, this is the second time I've swatched it, hahaha. And that's it!

- Swatched, then blended (last pic). Probably over blended. Swatched below with comparisons.

- Texture is great, definitely smoother than the Bourjois but not as smooth as the pan ones.. because it's a mineralized blush.

- Price is at $21.00 (ouch!). Not a MUST HAVE but more of a "nice to have". I should definitely start reaching for this one soon.

Milani Luminous, MAC Peachykeen, MAC Dainty (it looks so pale!)

Swatched on NC37 skin (probably looks a little darker) in reverse. All fairly similar but not similar enough to truly knock one out of my collection. I'll have to actually wear this one for a little while, then report back.

PAUL & JOE 002 Flower (Disney collection)

- Gifted from Angie (who needs to blog more!) at our meet up last year :D

- Super pretty! Swatched the mix (L) then the two pearls separately. Awesome for a soft innocent flush.

- Powder puff that comes with it is super cute and feminine, not to mention VERY soft.

- Unfortunately limited edition and sold out (as far as I can tell).. so I'm not sure about the price either.

- Packaging is beyond adorable but it's hard to travel with, I'm always afraid I'm doing to dent the packaging or something. Fairly sturdy card board.

- In love with this blush.. and definitely need to use it more often.

Sonia Kashuk: Flamingo

- Can be found at Target.. I'm sure other drugstores or markets as well. I assume the price is $10 or less, this one was gifted to me by Katie. She says this is a dupe for MAC PINK SWOON (check out the other gifts/dupes from her in this post).

- Very pretty matte! GASP! I think it's the only matte shade in my entire collection.

- This has been my RECENT "go-to" blush.. perfect flush.. super natural.. hard to over do with my normal application. The picture shows pretty heavy swatching.

- Texture is super smooth.. very pigmented.. reminds me of MAC blushes, honestly.

- Comes with a handy dandy mirror.. and a brush. I haven't used the brush (honestly I haven't even taken it out of the packaging until JUST NOW lol) but it feels very soft and smooth.

- Packaging is very sturdy, very clean, flat, stacks well.

- RECOMMENDED! I want to go check out the other blush shades :D

Let me know if you have any questions ^___^ hope this helps!

Blushers (MAC palette)

Helloooooo! I almost forgot about this blog post.. hahaa. Trying to keep up with the "one post every 3 days" thing. Yesterday was suuuch a tiring day.. woke up at 3AM.. left the house at 4AM.. met up with my intern boss.. drove down to San Clemente (well, I passed the f out, LOL) and.. then.. we had a photoshoot at Lowe's (yah, like Home Depot).. didn't leave until about 6PM.. it was "CRAY CRAYYYY" (haha).

Anywayy.. decided to show you guys my BLUSHERS.. give you a quick idea on pigmentation, rough color descrip (probably just copy paste from MAC or where ever site), etc. Might end up doing an "OVER ALL" ranking post if I'm feeling lazy.. hahaha. We'll see :P

ON TO THE PICS/SWATCHES~

TOP (L-R): MAC dollymix, MAC peachykeen, MAC margin

BOTTOM (L-R): MILANI luminous, blank, MAC harmony (hit pan!)

MILANI Luminous

- It looks weird because it totally was owned when I was depotting it.. sigh!

- Very pretty color, supposedly a dupe for NARS Orgasm but I don't have it to compare (well, I did but never though to compare it.. mostly because.. I hated the glitter in the NARS!)

- Found at drugstores, can't remember how much but I bet it's $10 or less.. plus it's the same size pan (sliiiiiightly smaller, as in the edges don't meet all the way.. but you can hardly tell) as MAC.. definitely cheaper than NARS.. good stuff!

- Good color pay off.. mine is a little weak.. I think it's because of how I re-pressed it. If I suddenly get lots of money (helloooo loan check in Feb!) I think I may repurchase it, because I really do love this color, it was definitely a "go to" shade for me.

- Pigmentation is good, it's hard to over do it (in my opinion, maybe my brush sucked back then) since it has a pretty "duotone" sheen.. peachy pink.

- Recommended!

MAC Dollymix

- Bought off a blogsale (thanks Sher!)

- MAC describes it as a "pure candy pink (sheertone shimmer)".. looks like there are smaaaaaall silver microglitter (I guess microglitter would cover the "small" huh?) but you don't really notice it. Not quite as natural since it's a shimmer, but that's fine with me.

- Swatched (L) once, (R) heavily

- As you can see.. you can only really wear this blush if you're IN THE MOOD FOR BLUSH. Either that, or apply with a light hand. That's why it doesn't really look like I've used this shade very much~ because I really haven't.

- Great for "dolly" looks, sweet innocent flush that's popular with "gyaru" looks.

- MAC prices.. $18.50/per (unless you buy just the pan) which is kind of a bummer.. I'm sure there is a drugstore dupe out there if you're strapped for cash.

- Pigmentation is great (as you can see).

MAC Peachykeen

- Bought the pan off the MAC website.. after a recommendation from Whit

- MAC describes it as "very baby peach (sheertone shimmer)"

- MAC prices.. $18.50/per (unless you buy just the pan) which is kind of a bummer.. I'm sure there is a drugstore dupe out there if you're strapped for cash.

- Definitely my current "go to" blush.. LOVE this color! It's hard to over-do in my opinion, swatched once on the left side, swatched heavily on the right. Pigmentation is on point.

- Downside is that it IS a shimmer.. so it's not as natural as a matte blush. But I don't really care :P harhar.

- RECOMMENDED!

MAC "Margin"

- MAC describes it as "peach with golden shimmer (frost)".. definitely not as natural. I still like the color.. but.. I'm sort of leaning towards finding a similar color but in shimmer or matte.

- Bought at the store while looking for a pretty peachy blush. Definitely warms up your complexion, and can be used as a sort of orangey/peachy bronzer.

- Definitely kind of sits in here in my palette.. I don't want to get rid of it but I don't really tend to use it either. It also chipped during my depotting process but instead of repressing the pieces that fell out, I just dumped it.

- Texture is SUPER smooth (as are the other MAC blushes!). Feels like butter.. or silk.. or something.

- Pigmentation is SUPER. It's easy to overload your blush and go crazy, so be careful.

- MAC prices.. $18.50/per (unless you buy just the pan) which is kind of a bummer.. I'm sure there is a drugstore dupe out there if you're strapped for cash.

SWATCHED

Sonia Kashuk: Flamingo (in a later post)

Milani: Luminous

MAC: Dollymix

MAC: Peachykeen

Swatched on my arm in reverse order.. I'm about NC37. See the pretty sheen that Luminous gives?? And how silky/powdery the MAC blushes are--I guess I swatched a bit too heavily xD

MAC Harmony

- I don't really consider as a blush, since I use it to contour. I bought this when I was looking for MAC Emote (recommendation for contour) but.. of course.. it was d/c'd so the SA and my friend said this was a good dupe, if you don't want to shell out $30+ to get a hard-to-find Emote.

- MAC describes it as a "muted rose-beige brown (matte)".. I don't really see the "rose tone" part of it since it seems more neutral to me. Some people don't like this because they think it looks muddy. As far as contouring goes.. and bronzing.. I've also tried the NYC Bronzer but I feel that it's too orangey to truly contour with.

- Pigmentation is great.. texture is great.. etc.

- MAC prices (again) sort of suck at $18.50 and I hear there are a few other good drugstore dupes.. like NYX "Taupe". You can also use 1-2 shade darker powder for contour.

If anyone's interested, I haven't listed it up on my blogsale.. I'd be willing to sell MARGIN and DOLLYMIX for $10/ea.. or both for $17. They're both depotted (obviously). Let me know :)

Love and Friendship

*Scheduled post*

I know this polish has been around for awhile--from the MAC "A Rose Romance" collection. And this is definitely not the first time I've worn this polish.. BUT.. as long as I'm on a roll with this "beauty blog" thing, I figured why not!

PS- I received this polish as a gift from a dear friend.

Three coats plus one coat Seche Vite top coat.

Three coats were used to get complete opacity.. though I'm sure two coats would've been enough. I'm just especially picky :P

MAC described it as a "creamy-dirty mid-toned lavender". I think this polish has a touch more PINK than purple (though the purple is still there), so I would dub it a "dusty mid-tone pink-with-some-purple". Very exact and scientific, I know :P

Here are some other reviews:

Steph's Closet

The Beauty of Life

Perfume-Smellin' Things

The Shades of U (Konad-ed)

I think everything they say is true, so if you've read these before, I'm basically regurgitating and repeating information that you already know.

Application is great and the color is pretty unique--definitely unique in my own personal collection. I like the shape of the bottle and the sound it makes when you shake the polish--definitely deeper toned than, say, Wet n' Wild (I know, it's really random). The polish looks opaque under light but when your finger pad is facing towards a light:

This happens. It looks streaky, but I mean.. how often do you come across lighting like this?

I'm not much of a PINK person, much less pink nailpolish.. but this is definitely interesting enough for me to keep around and use again in the future. Definitely a spring-y shade (what's with me and these springy colors?). Girly but not overly done.

Overall, great polish!

* Update: about 20 hours later.. TIP WEAR!

So I posted pictures of both of my hands, just to show you. I do have to say.. I'm not the *best* critic about tip wear, since I use my hands HEAVILY.. *plus* I'm a big scratcher. I have psoriasis on my scalp, so if I don't shower every day, it just gets.. bad. I have medication to help me stop the itching, but yesterday was a bad day.

I painted my nails around 5PM, went to tennis from 6:30-10:30, came home and showered.. then this devastation happened.

In all fairness, I don't know if this was caused by my intense scratching OR if it was the nail polish. All I know is that this is.. really bad tip wear, usually something I get on day two, not within the first 24 hours. I didn't photograph my thumbs, but the tip wear there is about the same as the rest of my fingers--the ones with the most damage have been my pointer fingers--and again I apologize for the horrible cuticles.

I just wanted to post this up to show you guys the reason why I don't tend to wear nail polish.. because I get such bad tip wear in ONE day, so I have to take the polish off because I'm so OCD about it. But I did find a new way to take off my polish, so I'm more inclined to paint my nails more often.. so maybe I'll do a post about that :P

Best Beautymarked? & Tropez Maui Mauve

While going through my collection, I noticed a few similarities.. especially from one of my favorite eyeshadows, MAC Beautymarked. I prefer using this instead of black (ie: Carbon) because it's just.. less harsh.

NYX 143 Eggplant

MAC Beautymarked

*picture is overall slightly warmer than in real life

Tropez 39310 Maui Mauve

* only the top right shade was swatched

Stila Charmed EyeShadow Palette

* only the bottom right shade was swatched

**gift from Catherine (love!)

Kanebo KATE PU-1

* left three shades were swatched

N1 - not sure why I swatched this.. NYX Alaska

N2 - NYX Plum

M - MAC Beautymarked

K - *whoops, mislabeled!* Stila

T - Tropez

K - Kate.. three purple shades along the bottom left

The shades I really wanted to compare..

MAC Beautymarked

-VERSUS-

Stila Charmed Eye Palette

-VERSUS-

Tropez Maui Mauve

* in the same order as the picture above. they all look remarkably similar, no?

Glitter: MAC wins out, this shade almost looks duo-toned instead of black (I think they said maroon? on the MAC site) with glitter. Next is Stila, then Tropez.

Pigmentation: Tropez almost looks like it's the best.. look how dark the swatch is! One swipe, mind you. I think I had to swipe MAC twice. Stila is somewhere in the middle.

Texture: Tropez definitely feels a bit more gritty in comparison to Stila and MAC (both about the same smoothness).

Application: I wiped my fingers onto the tissue paper.. and MAC actually won out! Interesting.. so I guess Tropez is more powdery (sort of like KATE)?

Packaging: MAC wins in terms of a single eyeshadow being put into a 15-palette.. by itself, your collection can get kind of cluttered. Tropez is next, since it's slightly more sturdy-feeling plastic than the cardboard-esque packaging that Stila is in.

Overall, I think MAC Beautymarked is actually.. the best Beautymarked there is!

UNLESS we're talking about price/value!

In terms of price and value, the Stila palette was $28USD for 4 shadows ($7 per eyeshadow), the single MAC eyeshadow is $14USD. The Tropez palette, I'm actually not sure about the price since it was given to me as a present.. but it can be found at drugstores, and I can't imagine that it costs more than $8-10USD, plus you get 6 shadows. I think Tropez definitely wins out in this category; then Stila, then MAC.

In my own personal collection, I don't think the Tropez palette stands out enough for me to want to keep it (in efforts of uncluttering my collection).

The lovely looking cranberry shade is actually much more brown than I would've imagined, making it more of a mahogany--though it does have some very pretty silver microglitter. And the pretty peachy-champagne shade can be pretty easily duped (though not EXACTLY.. Tropez's shade is slightly more pink) by Wet and Wild "Fine Wink".

I swatched the Stila shade to show you what I sort of wanted the Tropez shade to look like--except darker, of course.

As for the lilac and salmon-esque pink in the Tropez palette.. I don't see myself reaching for those colors very often (as I'm not a big pink fan). BUT, I do have to say that this certain pink in the Tropez palette tempts me.. hahaha.

Overall, the Tropez "Maui Mauve" palette is a GREAT buy if you're starting your kit or you don't have like colors.. but for me, I think this is a pretty clear one to be phased out--check for it on my blogsale (will be updated soon)!