ground covered in snow... lips red as blood...

Okay, so not exactly true to Snow White's story...

but winter time always makes me want to put on red lipstick.

What I use to achieve mine...

Revlon ColorBurst Lipstick in Crimson - 

 

• has got to be the most pigmented, smooth, even, and vibrant drugstore lipstick I've ever bought. And maybe not even drugstore, maybe just EVER. (Hands down my holy grail perfect deep and vibrant red lipstick)
• no taste or smell
• complements my NC25 skin tone (which basically means I'm very pale with red/pink undertones)
• with a lip liner or stain on underneath, (which I always use, just haven't found one that I think is super great) this sucker lasts! 

Revlon ColorBurst Lipgloss in Fire -

• on it's own, it very pigmented and vibrant
• long lasting
• thick, but by no means gloopy or overly sticky
• a bit drying
• not glittery or shimmery - jelly finish
• no taste, but smells the slightest bit like paint..

My favorite ladies who rock the red lip...

 

Also... one of my favorites, Avery, did a really nice video 

guide on how to rock dark lips. Check it out!

Slow night, so long!

(art by Caitlin Shearer)

I'm just ready for winter..... Autumn is still treatin' me oh so right though.

 Face:

Revlon Age Defying Concelar 

MAC Studio Fix Powder

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

 Star's Makeup Haven Shadow in Bohemia and Warm & Fuzzy

MAC's Old Gold Pigment

Urban Decay Bourbon Eye Liner

Stila Smudge Pot Gel Liner in Black

Maybelline Pulse Perfection Mascara in Blackest Black 

Lips:

Maybelline Moisture Whip Liner in Rose

Ulta Lipstick in Moroccan Red

Rose Bud Salve

L'Artisan Parfumeur: Nuit De Tubereuse Review

Yo fumeheads,

I give you L'Artisan Parfumeur: Nuit De Tubereuse.

I won this trinket from Ms. Puckrick Smells' Summer Fragrance contest back in July. She is a sparkling gem of a reviewer! - you can watch her review on Nuit De Tubereuse here, 

just skip to 9:15.

What L'Artisan has to say, "Built around an absolute of tuberose, this magnificent perfume magnifies every single facet of this mysterious, ambivalent flower. The top note is delicately spicy (a hot and cold bouquet of cardamom, clove absolute, pink berries and pepper) and citrus fruits which turn to velvet beside sweet notes of tender but highly narcotic white flowers (tuberose, orange blossom and ylang-ylang). Rose takes its place in the form of essential oil and absolute to give the floral heart notes warmth and color. Mango gives it that touch of sparkle. An almost mineral vibration that emanates from tuberose root mingles with angelica in an unusual harmony. Gorse absolute strengthens its mellow but slightly tangy aspect. And its base vibrates in concert with an ensemble of rare woods ranging from sandalwood to pallissander, glazed with sensual musks and enveloping balms (benzoin, styrax)."

 

At first spray... very spicy, earthy/woodsy (dirt like), powdery, and a bit un-original.

After 10 minutes... super powdery, very mature smelling (I feel like I'm 50+ years old - not quite Elizabeth Taylor White Shoulders though... thank god), not so much spice anymore, still that dirt earth smell though, almost a little incense-y, absolutely no floral, rose is there though... a very powdery rose, still no tuberose in sight.

All in all, I don't like it. It's not my kind of scent. It's very Grandma to me. I thought the spice would stay strong throughout the perfume's life on my arm (tuberose would have been nice too, although, like I said, I smelled none), but it quickly faded into the incensed powdery rose smell that I detest.
 
 Perfume's I love:
Guerlain's Aqua Allegoria Mandarine-Basilic
Marc Jacob's Daisy
Chanel's Chance
Stella McCartney's Stella
Gucci's Flora
and if anyone's familiar, Soap & Glory's Clean On Me scent - I love it!

OPI Swiss Collection: Irre-swiss-ables

A few swatches of OPI's new(ish) Swiss Collection for Autumn. I have a hard time choosing sometimes, so I usually get these little packs before buying a full bottle. And I can tell you now, I will absolutely be buying a full size of Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous. While all the colors here are beautiful, the blackened silver is so, so nice and a little out of the ordinary for me.

(Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, Yodel Me on My Cell, Color So Hot it Berns, RapiDry Top Coat)

(Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, Yodel Me on My Cell, Color So Hot it Berns)

Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous - needs the average 2 coats for full potential. gorgeous blackened silver.

 Yodel Me on My Cell - sheer coverage w/o at least 3 coats. blue semi-jelly finish with green/blue sparkle.

Color So Hot it Berns - opaque in 1-2 coats. amazing "proper primary red". creme finish. 

 

MAC Venemous Villians...

...and late at that!

...the polishes were all sold out, Bite of An Apple was all sold out, the lighter of the "magical" liquid powders was all sold out.... wah wah wah.

But I did get two things from Miss Malificent!....

(Briar Rose Beauty Powder and Revenge Is Sweet Lip Glass)

Briar Rose: Really enjoying this! I'm not usually a blush wearer, or a color on the cheek wearer, rather. I don't like that "just came out from the cold" look (I'm weird, yes), and I'm not THAT keen of the "Kardashian glow".... on me at least (yes, I'm very weird). I normally do bronzer or extremely boring (but certainly not to me! ;)) blush colors. Think MAC's Prism or Blushbaby. When I'm feelin' really sassy I'll go for a purple-y, blue toned pink blush so I thought, "Sure, ok! I'm gettin' that Briar Rose!!" And I'm glad I did.It stays on FOREVER! I love that, as MAC blushes usually disappear on my in only a few hours.

Revenge Is Sweet: Your typical MAC lipglass... drying, sticky, awesome smell, awesome shade, etc, etc. Nothing I'll be writing home about, although my mom does love this! And it's certainly not as scary on your lips as it is in the tube, it's just a nice blue-toned jelly pink.

Goodies from Vacation.

While in Minnesota, I was staying in a hotel literally a walk across the street from The Mall of America so I ended up going every single day. Partly from convenience and partly because there wasn't much else to do in Bloomington. (St. Paul is a different story though - it's beautiful there!)


LUSH:
LUSH was my first stop. (You could smell it from 2 or 3 stores away.) I didn't get much because nothing in there really inspires me anymore and I didn't want to bring a heavy load of things back with me on the plane.


(Angels On Bare Skin Face Wash/Light Exfoliant and Rub Rub Rub Shower Scrub)



I'm very underwhelmed with both products. Angels is not how I remembered it... though it still smells nice, I don't feel like it's doing anything extra special for my skin anymore. Plus, it's sort of a bother making a "paste" of face wash every time I have to wash my face, you know?

And I haven't tested RRR yet, but from what I smell/see/feel, it seems pretty standard. Maybe I'm speaking too soon though.

Blind purchases! ;/


Urban Outfitters:

(Blue 1, Orange 6, Purple 7, Grey 4)

 

Needs a good 2-3 coats, but for the sleek bottles and nice color range? Plus they are now on sale - 2 for $8.




 

So cute! I can't wait to decorate onesies for my new Godbrother, make pillowcases, shirts, etc. I'll show you how some turn out?




I love this dress. It fits very well, plus it's super comfortable. I wore it to see Wicked and then out to dinner and I was so comfy the whole time.


Scattered:


(Silk Flowers from H&M, OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender from Trade Secrets, Native American Earrings from For Love 21 by Forever 21)


(Lucky Lucky Lavender compared to UO's Purple 7)


LLL is a bit more "dusty", milky-er and more white based. The picture is deceiving... they are close duplicates, but LLL is just a little lighter.


(Lace Pom-Pom Scarf from For Love 21 by Forever 21, Snow White doll from The Disney Store)


(from Heritage 1981 by Forever 21)




(from Barnes and Noble)

Til next time!

Cherry Culture Buys.

I placed a small order on Cherry Culture not too long ago. The package took a long time to show up (and I really wouldn't call it a "it was worth the wait, though" sorta thing...). I've had a week or so to play with the items so I'll let you know what I think!

Also...
10% off all Cherry Culture orders now through July 25th using code: save10

 NYX Trio in Purple, Deep Purple, Prune

Excellent pigmentation! These swatches are dry, with no base. For the money, you definitely do not go wrong. And being the same size as MAC shadows, I depot them from their original home and move them into my MAC palette. They blend right in - I cant tell that I'm mixing 'high end' with 'lower end' eyeshadows.

All NYX eyeshadow trios have treated me the same, so all you have to decide on is colors! You can order these pretty shadows pretty much anywhere! (Ulta, Cherry Culture, Makeup Geek's Store, etc.) Hop around blogs and look at swatches.

NYX Trio in Casablanca

As I said above ^. I love this trio!

NYX Cream Blush in Natural 

This creme blush is non-oily, super pigmented and easy to work with. The color, first of all, lives up to it's name in that it is very natural. I was a little in the dark on how to apply this, just because I've never used anything like a creme blush before - but after deciding (or really, having the product scream in my face) that it is extremley pigmented and that you only need the teeniest bit, I loved the end result!

Milani Blush in Luminous

This would not show up on camera no matter what I did. I'm quite sad too, becuase this blush is lovely! It was said to be a NARS Orgasm dupe (I couldn't say... I dont own, nor have I ever even swatched Orgasm), but Orgasm or not, it's beautiful! A light peachy-pink with shimmer. Really perfect for summer.

NYX Glitter Liners in Disco Queen and Jade

These glitter liners also got a lot of rave reviews! I love glitter liners, and use them frequently, so for the cheap price, I couldnt resist! I think NYX does have two different kinds of glitter liners though... please make sure you get the one with the tassle on the top, if you do. The tassled liners are packed with glitter, unlike some more expensive glitter eyeliners that only come out in patches. The color range is awesome and I definitely plan on getting more!


Please mention your favorite NYX and/or Milani products down below. I'd love to make another order!

MAC's Liberty Of London Haul + Reivew.

Give Me Liberty of London.

What I got:
Eyeshadows:

• Give Me Liberty Of London (Matte)
• Dame's Desire (Frost)
• Birds & Berries (Veluxe Peral)

Blush:

• Prim & Proper (Satin)
  

Lipstick:

•  Ever Hip (Cremesheen)

Lipglass:

• Perennial High Style
• English Accents
  

Nail Polish:

• Blue India

Eyeshadows-

L-R: Give Me Liberty of London, Dame's Desire, Birds & Berries

Birds & Berries is a very creamy and pigmented shadow. When swatching them, this one was by far the easiest to apply. It was one swipe and it was on all shimmery and lovely. Cant wait to play around with this on a black or dark base. I think it'll look really nice.

Give Me Liberty of London is a very nice flat, light pink color. On my hand it was really just blending into my skintone for some reason and that scared me... so honestly, I only bought it cause it was the only one with the cute little yellow flower on it. I just used it yesterday as an all over lid color though and it looked lovely! Great to pair with shimmery shades like Birds & Berries.

Dame's Desire is shimmery/satiny lilac color. Nothing really *special* about it at all. But it's nice! Pigmented, easy to apply, all that jazz.

My camera is being repaired right now so I haven't been able to swatch these.
Here are some true to color swatches from Krasey Beauty:

L-R: Birds & Berries, Give Me Liberty of London, Dame's Desire, 
and Free To Be and Bough Grey (Which I didn't purchase.)


Blush-

Prim & Proper

Prim & Proper is a nice bronze-y blush. I feel that sometimes it can get a little 'dirty' looking on my fair NC25 complexion... I don't know if it's something I'm doing or if you just have to apply it sparingly. Advice on how you'd apply this would be wonderful.

True to color swatch from Karla Sugar's Blog or The Next Best Thing To Going Shopping Yourself:

Nail Polish-


Blue India

Blue India is a lot more matte then I thought I'd be. It's a teal, dirty blue, gray color. Not sure if I'm as crazy about this as I thought or would have liked to have been. I think this was maybe a little too over hyped?

True to color swatch from Karla Sugar's Blog or The Next Best Thing To Going Shopping Yourself:



Lips-

I'm trying to partake in the "Gloss Out" trend going on in the makeup community. A little like Project 10 Pan, (I think Lolipop26 made up "Gloss Out", too) you can't buy any lipglosses in 2010. 

Some girls are changing the rules up a bit like, "for every 10 I use, I can buy 2" or "I'm only going to buy mini lipglosses that I know I will use up quickly" or "I'm only going to buy LE or really special lipglosses."

I love lip gloss, they might be my favorite out of all cosmetic products- it makes up at least 35-40% of my kit! So I have way too many and would not be able to stand it if they all went to waste, so I'm limiting myself to only buy LE lip glosses and can buy a 'regular' one once 5 are used all the way up.

So I ended up getting 2/4 lipglosses from the Liberty of London Collection, but I wont open or use them until 5 of my others are used up. I just dont want them to go rotten as it does, ironically, take me forever to go through a lipgloss.

Here are true to color swatches from Karla Sugar's Blog or The Next Best Thing To Going Shopping Yourself: