Revlon Kissable Balm Stain....Smitten?

Sooo.... I finally got the Revlon "Just Bitten" Kissable Balm Stain!

I ordered it online, and I got "Smitten" since some of the others I'd seen didn't look very pigmented.  

Swatch: 

I am really glad I tried these before splurging on the Clinique one, because honestly, I don't love it.  It has a nice pepperminty scent and it's easy to apply, but I didn't find it all that "balmy".  Not to say that it's drying, but it wasn't very moist or smooth like a typical lip balm.  I guess I thought it would be more like a lip butter, so that is my mistake.  It did stain 4+ hours, which is nice, but I don't like the texture enough.  I like the lip butter texture more even if it doesn't stain, but overall, I think I'd prefer a lip stain layered with a gloss.  

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows: Recent Purchases

I was about to start collecting these- they do travel very well, much better than pressed shadows, but the task was a bit too difficult for me, so I've stopped (for now!) with these 5:

Smokey Green, Endless Chocolat, Bronze Goddess, Forever Pink, and Sassy Marshmallow.  

Smokey Green is the only matte I purchased, and I found it works better wet.  

Here is what it looks like in the pot, I swear it's matte! 

Swatches of the other 4: 

These are all gorgeous!  The pink one is probably my least fave, it has a bit of chunkiness to it that the others don't, but I still like it as a highlighting shade.  

You really get a lot of product in these, and they perform well.  The mattes are a bit of a bummer but the others are super easy to work with and very much worth getting.  

Color Club Halo Hues

I don't remember if I've ever owned a Color Club polish before, but I had to have these- too beautiful!

The shades I got are Harp On It (Silver) and Cloud Nine (Pink).  

I've heard really mixed things about these, but I thought they were really beautiful.  The swatches I took look good to me, especially considering I had the worst lighting ever.  I haven't used a holographic polish in a really long time, so I'm excited to give these a try! 

Garnier BB Cream

I only tried BB Cream once before and this one was really inexpensive, so I wanted to give it a try.

They only had two shades, light and medium, so I got light.  

(Blended)

The first thing you notice is the smell.  It is really overwhelming and even though it's fruity, I dislike it a lot almost to the point of being sickened by it.  

The texture is very thin and lotiony, and it takes a really long time to dry.  I have to put this on before eye makeup because it takes that long to dry.  But it does absorb into the skin, applying like a moisturizer- that is, you don't really need to do any blending like with foundation.  It also gives a wet look, even when it's dry, so it's not a matte finish.  Once it dries it's absolutely weightless.  But I didn't get hardly any coverage on my nose, it seemed to just not absorb there, probably because of the natural oiliness I have, so I powder there separately.  Unfortunately I also think the colour is off because it seemed to give off an orange tone along my jaw line, and I don't want to put the product on  my neck!

I also did not feel it moisturized much, I had to moisturize beforehand to avoid dry patchiness but in all fairness my skin is fairly dry most of the time.  

I've been using this a couple weeks and I do like the feel of it better than foundation and it's really easy to use but I just don't know if I like it enough to continue using it daily.  

Illamasqua Sealing Gel

I find pigments a bit difficult to use, but this product helps me out a lot.

The product is just like eye drops, it comes out drop by drop and it's almost the same consistency too.  It only takes a little bit- I'm about halfway through one bottle in six months, but admittedly it's not like I use it every day.  

To show what it does, here I have used it with MUA "Eye Dust": 

 


I dip the brush in the gel, then into the powder product.  It works with any pigments, and even pressed powders as well.  It turned the "eye dust" into basically a cream shadow:

You can still blend the product even when using it with the gel.  You can use it to turn powders into eyeliners, and I don't find I need a primer, it stays put just fine without.  I have a few of these sparkly pigments now, and I find it's much easier to use them with this gel first, rather than applying them on top of a sticky primer.  

Rimmel Kate Matte Lipsticks: 101, 103, 105

Just a quick swatch post- and a happy note that these do dry down very matte.  With that, they can be a bit drying which is to be expected, but they have just enough moisture that they don't leave me with the dreaded cardboard/starched lips feeling.

The packaging:

Swatches:

On lips:

My apologies- after seeing these pictures just now as I am posting, the arm and lip swatches do look completely different, but I think this is due to the lighting and the pigmentation of my lips- the arm swatches are probably more accurate.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

I miss this holiday the most... just because it meant everybody getting together.  And I can't remember the last time I ate any kind of turkey or even cranberries!

"Africa" Bronzing Powder by W7

W7 is an inexpensive brand that I found at Boots pharmacy.  I never tried anything from them before because honestly, everything I've seen doesn't look appealing.  But I saw these boxes in a stand by the front door and couldn't resist the leopard print.

So it's like a Benefit box without the mirror.... I didn't use the brush this came with, it just felt a little flimsy.  And I personally find Benefit to be overpriced unless it's one of their "value sets" but they aren't very popular here so I don't remember the last time I purchased something from them.  

Anyway, back to the product at hand!  I had a really hard time getting swatches of each shade individually, I almost had to scrape the pan.  But practically, I'm not going to use them separately anyway. Here they are: 

And all blended together: 

I think it's a really lovely bronzer, and even though it's not very pigmented, that helps me out because my old bronzers were either too pigmented or too glittery, and hard to apply just the right amount without overdoing it and looking weird.  

Here it is on my face: 

I think it's not bad, and at such a low price definitely worth a try.  

Lush "Let the Good Times Roll"

Lush is one of those brands that I love trying things from, but I don't have any "must-have" products that I continually repurchase.

Let the Good Times Roll is a lightly exfoliating facial cleanser and it just might change that.

For some reason my tub doesn't have a label at all.  It has popcorn in it- and by that I mean actual popped, puffy popcorn bits: 

I was like, ok... because I thought they meant ground up popcorn!!  Thankfully it was just those few pieces on the top, mine didn't have any more inside the product.  The cleanser is really nice, it gets my face clean without drying it out.  When I first used it, it felt like it was leaving a film behind, kind of like how my face would feel after using sunscreen.  But after a few times, my face must have gotten used to it.  

The scent is amazing, it's like caramel corn, and the texture is like a fine polenta.  

You get 100 grams, which is really a lot of product since you only need a little bit each time.  I really, really love this!! 

Inglot Launch: Rainbow DS Eyeshadows

Inglot just launched new Rainbow Double Sparkle eyeshadows:

They are also doing an awesome giveaway (40 pan palette!) when they get 5000 likes on Facebook: HERE. 

Play-proof Makeup?

My son needed something to do, so we went to the indoor playground and pool for several hours.  When we got back I was surprised to see my makeup still intact!!

Same time, just inside

I used MUA Undressed palette, Maybelline 24 lipstick and Essence gel eyeliner- so that's really good endurance for budget products!!  

Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadow in Eternal Silver

I could have sworn I already had this, but a search turned up nothing... but why don't we have Edgy Emerald???  Or Pomegranate??  I haven't seen Fierce & Tangy either.... Maybelline needs to do something about this!!

I didn't find this one as opaque as the others I've tried but I was able to layer it a bit.  This is actually my least fave of these.  For me it's a bit too sparkly, I do prefer a more metallic silver and this one the sparkles seem to roam everywhere, so I don't use it much.  

Essence Colour & Go Polishes

The new Essence nail polish bottles are out here now, and I really like them.  They had a two for one offer on the old ones, but almost all were gone.  I got Time for Romance and Sure Azure, and the new bottles I got are Absolutely Blue and Cookies & Cream.

Time for Romance 

Absolutely Blue 

Cookies & Cream

Sure Azure 

The new brush is also bigger- I didn't have a problem with the old one but this one is nice: 

I like all of these a lot.  They aren't too thin or thick, and they go on smooth.  I really love the Nude Glam collection, all the nudes in one place and they are beautiful.  Cookies & Cream is my third one from those, I like the shimmer in it a lot.  I think these are about the same quality as Sally Hansen (not the premium ones), and they don't chip any sooner and there is a nice colour selection now.  I am wearing Absolutely Blue today and it's a lovely periwinkle that was 2 coats.  I really love that shade, I even have a pair of pants the same colour! 

Lush Popcorn Lip Scrub

This lip scrub is really nice.

Very few simple ingredients: 

It is mostly sugar, and I didn't follow their instructions and lick it off my lips, but it leaves my lips soft and smooth.  It's a lot of product, so another thing I don't think I'll use up, but this one is a lot nicer than the mint one I had before which was too much like toothpaste!  

Underused and Underappreciated!

When I inventoried my brushes I found a couple of real gems:

Le Metier de Beaute Powder brush.  Soft, and picks up a good amount of powder without getting it all over the place.  Handle just the right length too.  Why have I ignored this brush for so long???  

MAC 179.  It is a limited edition, part of the Semi-Precious collection I believe.  I actually bought all of those brushes but this one I forgot about.  It's actually the only buffer brush I have, and it's really big so it's easy to get a smooth all over powder application.  It's really soft for a MAC brush too.  I should have been using it sooner, but better late than never!