It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Celebration Palette FOTD

 I told myself I didn't need the It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Celebration Palette ($42), but alas, I found myself picking this up in ULTA...and not putting it back down again.  The warm neutrals in both warm and cool shades paired with the silky smooth texture had me in love at first swatch.

First, the packaging is absolutely gorgeous. 

And it gets better when you open it.

FOTD with some new items! Josie Maran Coconut Watercolor Cheek Gelee

 In the middle of all my essay writing and studying, it is only natural that I would do a little.....okay, a lot of hauling to tide me over.  Unfortunately, as busy as I was, I didn't actually get to wear any of what I bought until this week, making this a very fun week of trying and wearing new products.  It 
has resulted in me wearing possibly every new product I have at once, but at least now my mornings are a little more exciting!

Today, I will be featuring the Josie Maran Coconut Watercolor Cheek Gelee in Berry Bliss, a deep wine shade that lightly stains the cheeks for an all day wear.  I've had my eye on this product for months now, and I'm so glad I was finally able to pick it up during the sales this year.

I was looking something to make me look flushed, and Berry Bliss looked like the best shade, although some of the other shades looked gorgeous as well.

It looks pretty scary in the pan, but swatched and on the cheeks it is a sheer and natural looking berry shade.  I think even very fair skintones would be able to pull this off because it is so sheer upon first pass, but it is definitely buildable.

Catrice: Mini Reviews and Swatches

 Aaah,Catrice.  One of my favorite drugstore brands.  Every time I travel to Europe, I am always eager to check out their collections.  They are always changing up their core collection - good if you want to try different things, but bad if you really like a product because you have no idea how long they'll be around for.

I already have a good selection of eyeshadows and nail polishes from Catrice, and I've been a fan of their products since the beginning.  For only 2,75, their eyeshadows have consistent quality.  The mattes are pigmented and buttery smooth, and they always manage to come up with unique colors.  I can safely say that some of my favorite eyeshadows are from Catrice!

Their nail polishes are also always on pointe. They have a fantastic selection of colors, both shimmery and matte, and I love their formulas. The nail polishes are conistently pigmented, opaque, and last for a long time - around a week - with my standard Seche Vite base and top coat.

I also really like the lipsticks from Catrice, although a lot of the shades aren't quite my style.  I have one MMLB-ish shade, but that's about as extensive as my lip collection from them goes.  This time, I found a couple more shades that I wanted to try, but I didn't actually go crazy for once.

Hot Off the Shelves: Kiko Daring Game Collection and Queen of Hearts Eyeshadow Palette (review and tutorial)

Stumbling into another Kiko store, I picked up some of the remaining items that I wanted to buy before going back to the states (which I'll be compiling a huge post for soon!), I was about to check out before I realized that I missed an entirely new display in the store. 

It seemed to be completely new, as the testers looked barely touched, and I can't even find it online on the website yet, but everything was gorgeous.   I had to exercise restraint not to buy everything in the collection.  Although I didn't take pictures of the display (oops), it seemed to be designed after a deck of cards.  Everything was card (aka rectangular) shaped in a white pearly packaging with an image of a suit on the front. The image is metallic and reflects light beautifully.  I believe that all the palettes have a different color, as well!  Kiko always impresses me with its packaging - I love standard black packaging, and I'm sure that that's the reason I'm so drawn to Kiko in the first place, but their limited edition packaging is always so unique and well thought out that they deserve extra points for that, too.

Although I've been saving all my recently acquired items for a master post later on, I wanted to try this out and let you all know to be on the lookout for this in your Kiko stores.  It wasn't too hard for me to walk away from the blush palettes since I could think of a dupe I already had for most of the shades but oh lord the eyeshadow palettes.  There were three that looked equally gorgeous, but I made myself choose just one.  It wasn't hard.  It was the neutral one. 

To be fair, it reminds me of the MAC  x Pedro Lourenco nude quad that I lusted after, but decided not to buy.  This quad had the same rosy neutral shades, but for much less money.  I could see myself using this one to death, especially as fall rolls around.

Even the outer packaging of this is gorgeous!  I think I'll definitely be saving the box of this one.

Most of the items in the collection (bronzer, blush, and eyeshadow palettes) were 14,90.

Read after the jump for my thoughts, swatches, and a full face look!

New in My Life

It's safe to say that my no-buy is officially over. From January to about the middle of March, I kept myself from buying any makeup to 1.) really use what I had and 2.) make an effort to save some money.  It worked for awhile - I was able to resist all the new products, new releases, and I was perfectly content rediscovering and finding new things in my collection.

However, eventually sales and the new summer products got to me and I had to add some new things to my collection.  Needless to say, my makeup buying is back with a bang, and I'm happily rolling in some new products!

I may or may not have jumbled up all my drugstore, Ulta, and other miscellaneous purchases with my Sephora purchases from dramatic purposes.

Click below to see the details!

March 2014 Favorites

I think I'm getting better at this....instead of being two weeks late, my favorites post is now up just one week late.  I actually don't have that many favorites, and they are all predictably products that I have posted about recently with a couple surprises here and there.  Apart from the blushes that I posted about earlier, I have been reaching for the same things pretty consistently.

 Keep reading to see what I've been using!

Fyrinnae: the company that makes me giddy about makeup. Review, Haul, and Swatches!

I don't know what it is, but I've never really been into Indie makeup companies.  I have nothing against them, but I tend to forget about them, despite how FABULOUS they can be.  I think I can safely say that has changed.

Sometime around January, I had a sudden desire to start buying from Indie brands - I have no idea what prompted me to do so, but all of a sudden, I was spending hours browsing through various website and deciding what pigments and eyeshadows to get.  I think what drew me in was how complex different pigments could be - how one taupe shade could somehow have reflective shimmer in every color of the rainbow.  Most mainstream eyeshadow are not that complex, and let's face it - the prices of Indie companies is often more attractive, since a decent sized 1/4 tsp. sample is only around $1.75-$3.  These small samples are the perfect size to try a lot of different shades without having giant sizes of pigments that I'll never finish (MAC, I'm looking at you!)

Enter Fyrinnae into my life.  Within the beauty community, they are probably one of the best and unique Indie makeup companies.  Every time I see a look with Fyrinnae products, I'm kind of starstruck by how gorgeous everything looks.  The only thing that's tricky about Fyrinnae is that it can be difficult to order from them because their website is down a lot.  It's understandable - Fyrinnae is a very small company with a small staff, and since all their batches are handmade, it's easy to get overloaded with orders.  A lot of the times that I wanted to order something from their website, they were not taking orders, so when I saw that they were finally open again in January, I jumped at the chance to try some things out.

After furiously looking up swatches online, here's what I ended up with:

Keep reading for tons of pictures and swatches!

FOTD Catch Up #5439503

I seem to always have a backlog of FOTD's to show.  I take pictures of what I wear fairly frequently, but as for updating them here....well that obviously hasn't been going so well.

Here is a backlog of some FOTD's that I've done in the past couple months.  I honestly can't remember some of what I used, but I did my best to list whatever I did use!  Something in common with all of these photos is that I used the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Palette.  It has definitely aided in giving me a more flawless glowy look.  I never thought I would fall for the hype, but the palette is a total must-have in my routine! 

For this first one, the focus is on the lips - I used a pair from my  January favorites, the Clinique Berry Freeze lipstick with the Milani Crystal Gloss in Baby Love layered over it.

 

To see more faces and the products I used, click below!

Review and Swatches: A Few of My Favorite Things - this Too Faced Palette for Holiday 2013 is one of them

The holiday offerings from Too Faced always draw me in with their gorgeous packaging, shade selection, and the simple fact that they are always palettes, and I love palettes.  They are a total weakness of mine, and I should know by now that I will always be suckered in, despite how many palettes I already have.

This time I absolutely could not resist.  With the perfect balance of neutrals (because a girl can never have too many neutrals) and some color to spice up my look.  What I like most about the shade selection is that the colors aren’t too bright.  While they will most certainly add something to my look, all of these shades are still in my comfort zone.  That, none of these are BAM out there shades, but are subtle attempts to be “fun” for people like me.

This has already been pretty extensively reviewed, so I’ll try to keep it short.

Look after the jump to see a detailed review and lots of swatches!

Some new things....

Just a quick little post to update you on a couple new things I picked up...

I've been so busy with school and moving into a new apartment that my makeup experimenting and blogging has been put on hold!  

Don't worry though, I have quite a few posts planned which I will post...as soon as I get the mountain of work that I have under control.

I noticed that MAC was having a sale on their empty palettes and pro pans, so I just had to pick up a couple things that have been on my wishlist for forever.

I believe the single pro palette is usually $18, and they have it online right now for $8, so I definitely had to snag that as I'm running out of space in my old palette.

Their pro pans, which are usually $12, are also now $10.

I bought two eyeshadows that have been on my wishlist for FOREVER-

Ricepaper and Greensmoke.

They are definitely shades that almost every MAC lover probably has, but I have just gotten around to them. 

I may actually make another order soon, but my current obsessions with stocking my pantry with weird and unusual foods has taken over my life...

Until later, lovelies!

A Haul Long Forgotten

Back when I was in Germany, I did some European makeup hauling that somehow never made it onto my blog.  I tried not to spend too much money on makeup, but I couldn't resist picking up a few things, mainly from Kiko and Art Deco.  I've already used and shown quite a few of these products, but never got around to reviewing them.  This month, I will definitely be taking these products out to get reviews up!

Here is all the damage!  I'm happy to say I've been loving ALL of these!

Read on to see more detailed pictures, swatches and more!

The 'Shop Your Stash' Project

So, last week I started something new. Although I've been going through my stash and rediscovering new things the past month, I wanted to find a way to use them all on a consistent basis.  This isn't a new concept - taking out a few products that haven't been used very much or in a long time, but it isn't something I've tried in awhile.

Here's what I'm trying to do: I took out 21 products for the month of June and my goal is to use each product at least twice, just so I can get some use out of it and be creative about the way I use it.  I've had this going for about two weeks now and I'm really pleased with how its going.  I certainly am enjoying products that I either haven't used in a long time or haven't used much at all.
I have a total of 5 face products, 7 eye products, and 9 lip products to use before June is over.  Some of these will undoubtedly end up in my June favorites, while others may just be average products - we'll see which ones make the cut!

To see what products I'm using, as well as tons of swatches, keep reading!

And the hauling monster returns....

Stepped into a Rite-Aid for the first time this year, and I couldn't resist picking up a few things. 

L-R clockwise: Maybelline Vivids Lipstick in Electric Fuchsia, Covergirl 3 in 1 Outlast Foundation, Covergirl Lash Exact WP mascara, Maybelline Color Tattoo in Icy Mint.

Covergirl Foundation, Maybelline Color Tattoo in Icy Mint, Maybelline Electric Fuchsia

I've never been a huge Covergirl fan, but I've heard so many good things about the new Outlast Stay Fabuous 3 in 1 Foundation.  I picked it up today, and was pleasantly surprised by its light and watery texture.  I haven't worn it yet, but a quick swatch on my hand reminds me of MAC Face and Body.  The shade in 857 Golden Tan is a perfect match - such a perfect match on my hand that you can't even see it blended it in under the pumped out swatch.

I was also excited to see the new Maybelline ColorSensational Vivids collection, and had to resist getting all the shades.  I picked up Electric Fuchsia to begin with and the initial swatch is gorgeous.  I don't any shades like this so it'll be interesting to see how it looks on my face.

The Maybelline Color Tattoo in Icy Mint was a total impulse buy as I saw this all by itself and was drawn by its icy blue-mint color.  This will be a perfect base for some summer looks!

Last of all, I picked up the Covergirl Lash Exact mascara because I know my Max Factor one will dry up soon.  This is a tried and true waterproof mascara - it will not budge.  It provides some perfect volumized and lengthened lashes!

Although this was an unplanned haul, at least I know they were things I've wanted for awhile!  I'm sure I'll be back with more soon. Oops, there goes my bank account...