Friday, May 15, 2009

My most extravagent makeup purchase: Dior Electric Lights quint

Is everyone as happy as me that it's Friday?? I hope so! I thought it would be fun to share my most expensive makeup purchase to date: my Dior quint in Electric Lights.

This is a fairly new purchase for me, and I knew I had to have it after seeing swatches on Temptalia.com. I thought the bright blues would be great for summer. There are five shades, and in my opinion, the standout is the one in the middle. It's a gorgeous deep blue purple color - pretty unique. My main complaint are the other four shades - when on, the lightest two look too similar, as do the medium two. There isn't much difference - it's almost like you're getting three colors instead of five. I hope that makes sense. The colors themselves are all super frosty, smooth, and pigmented. The palette comes with two dual ended sponge tip applicators, and there's a nice mirror on the inside. The price for this was $56, and I got mine from Sephora.

Overall, I wouldn't say that this will be my last Dior purchase, but it'll take some super gorgeous unique colors to pull me in.

Have a great weekend everyone!!






Thursday, May 14, 2009

The Kat Von D Gypsy palette

















Hey guys! Today I'm going to swatch and review the new Kat Von D Gypsy palette. This is a limited edition item, and is available at Sephora for $34 - not a bad price for eight colors.

The compact itself is really cute - I love the design on the front. It reminds me of an anime cartoon or comic. It's really sturdy and on the inside is a nice, big mirror. It also comes with two small brushes that I really can't find anything nice to say about.

Inside are eight colors. They are (from left to right):

Luficer: A matte black - nothing special
Stryker: basically this is Club shadow by MAC or Lounge by Urban Decay - a reddish brown with green duochrome. A really cool color if you don't have something similar already
Frankie: A really pretty, wearable plum color.
Hawkwind: This is a really cool color. In the pan, it looks white. Swatched, it's a frosty white with major green/gold iridescence. It's kinda like a really kicked up version of MAC's Vex. It's really unique.
Brass Knuckles: This one is a cream shadow - I have no idea why they decided to put it in this palette. It's a super frosty light gold/yellow color, and I bet that it would work as a shadow or base. It's really thick and sticky, so I'm thinking a thin layer would be the best way to go. The color is great, I'm just not feeling the formula.
Birdcage: This is a light, shimmery yellow/green color. It's really pretty.
Ego Sum: This is maybe my favorite color in the palette. It's a super frosty medium green with a subtle golden sheen. Love it!
Gunner: This is a dark green with a good amount of glitter - not too much, but it's definitely noticeable.

All of the descriptions and swatches follow in the order of the palette from left to right, and the pictures are all clickable so that you can see them better.

Overall, I really love this palette. I think it'll be great for summer, and you could get so many looks out of it. The shadows are soft and pigmented, and it's a great deal. It's definitely worth checking out!

























Tuesday, May 12, 2009

My Mother's day haul
















Hey junkies! Today I want to share the goodies I picked up on Mother's day. The hubby knows that instead of trying to surprise me with a gift, he's better off taking me shopping so that I can pick up what I want. He's cool with that - he doesn't mind shopping, and it takes the guess work out of it. It's a win win.

It was a nice day, so we headed to the CCO (cosmetics company outlet). It's about 40 minutes away, so I've only been there once before. For those of you not familiar, the CCO's sell discounted high end makeup brands including MAC. It's a crapshoot - there could be lots, or not much at all. I'd say it was in between, here's what I picked up:

1. Delphic fluidline - fluidlines are gel eyeliners that you can also use as eyeshadow bases. This one is a medium teal with shimmer. Very pretty. I think it was permanent, but is now discontinued.

2. Pink Couture shadestick - I have been loving my shadesticks lately, and was excited to find this one. It's a shimmery pinkish mauve color - I think it would look great on it's own or under any pink or purple shadow.

3. Passionate shadow - This is part of the permanent collection, but I hadn't picked it up yet. It's a vibrant, matte hot pink - almost raspberry color.

4. Take A Hint tendertone - Tendertones are yummy scented lip balms. It's in a little pot, so you have to apply it with your finger, and they have SPF 12. They're not sticky, but they don't add much color either - just a nice glossy finish with subtle color. They feel great on your lips, and are perfect for summer. Take A Hint is a medium pink with silver shimmer.

5. High Top lipstick - This was released with Fafi (That was before my addiction began, so I'm always happy to pick up something that I missed out on). It's a very unique color - purple with blue shimmer and sparkles. But because it's a glaze, it's super sheer. It looks scary in the tube, but is actually very wearable.

6. Sweet William blush creme - I've really enjoyed experimenting with cream and gel blushes lately. I had heard about this color on youtube, but MAC has since discontinued it. I'm glad I found it at the CCO, cause it's so pretty! It's a creamy rosy pink color with a small amount of pearl to it. I think I'll be all over this when it's 100 degrees out.

7. Female richmetal highlighter - To be honest, I had never heard of this product and had no idea what it was. I just loved the color - so I asked the saleswoman what it was. She told me that you could use it as a shadow base, an actual shadow, or a cheek/face highlighter. It originally came out in the Colour Forms collection. Female is a frosty pale pink color - very opalescent. The texture is weird - it feels like a powder, but applies like a cream. I'm not sure how I'll end up using it, but it'll be fun to play around with.

8. Colour Forms warm eye palette - This came out last summer in the Nordstroms exclusive collection. It includes:
Chillproof (frost) - frosty white
Tancentric (veluxe pearl) - frosty beige pink
Rolled Gold (lustre) - shimmering golden olive
Rustic (veluxe pearl) - frosted copper red
Fertile (satin) - dark blackened brown
There is also a mini 213, as there is in most of the palettes. All of the colors are very pretty and wearable, and you could create so many looks out of these five colors.

That's my haul from the CCO, but then I went to Macy's. From MAC I got a foundation pump - I'm almost at the bottom, and it's a pain to get out. I also stopped at Clinique and picked up the new shimmering stripes blush in Cabana Pink. It's gorgeous! There's four stripes of coordinating pink/rose/bronze shades that you can use separately as shadows or swirl together for blush. It didn't photograph well, but trust me - it's definitely worth checking out.

If you add all that to a delicious brunch, beautiful tulips, and plenty of time with the family, you've got a perfect weekend. Big kudos to my man and kids. :)


































































Monday, May 11, 2009

Organizing the Stash: brushes

Happy Monday junkies!! I hope you all had a great weekend, and a nice Mother's day.

Today I'm going to do another organization and storage post. This one will focus on brushes. Again, I have a cheap, easy idea for you. It might not win any awards in the looks department, but it works.

I store my brushes in two pencil holders - one for eye brushes and one for face brushes. You can find these at any office supply store, Wal Mart, or Target. They will most likely range from $3-$6 each. I got mine at Office Max, and they're square which I like - I like that you can butt them up against each other nicely. The ones I picked are also divided into four sections so you can further organize the brushes.

This system works great for me - hopefully it gives you another idea on how to keep organized.

I'm working on another haul post - the hubby took me shopping for Mothers Day, and I want to share with you guys what I found at the CCO (cosmetics company outlet). I should have it up sometime tomorrow. See you then!!










Thursday, May 7, 2009

Super duper exciting news!

I was just on MAC's website (maccosmetics.com) and noticed that they are now selling the pro palette refills online, along with the actual palettes! Previously you could only get these items at a free standing MAC store. This not only saves you money (refill pans are $11 compared to shadows in pots that are $14.50), but in my opinion, it's a much better way to store and organize your MAC shadows. No more depotting for me! The price of the 15 palette is $12 and the empty quad is $3.50.

There are also blush palettes ($12) that hold 6 blush pans ($15). If you guys have any questions, let me know!

My new baby: The 2009 MAC cool eyes trip palette

Since I've only been "into" MAC for less than a year, I have a mental list of older colors that I want to get my hands on. These are colors that I have seen on other blogs/websites, or colors that everyone seems to love. Included on this mental list were Springtime Skipper (from the Barbie collection) and Waternymph (I believe from the Lure collection). Imagine my excitement when I found out that these two colors were going to be in one of the 2009 trip palettes!

I wasn't familiar with the trip collections until recently. It is an annual collection that is only available in duty free shops in certain airports. I knew I wouldn't be at an airport any time soon, so I figured I'd try to pick it up on Ebay or allcosmeticswholesale.com. Then I found a seller on makeupgeek.com who was willing to pick up anything you wanted, and ship it to you. I was so stoked - I ordered it from her immediately.
Let me say that I freaking love this thing. It's pure gorgeousness. Included are 5 colors. From left to right they are:

Prismique (lustre)
Springtime Skipper (veluxe pearl)
Waternymph (frost)
Knight Divine (veluxe pearl)
Flashtrack (veluxe pearl)

Prismique is a typical lustre - not great color payoff, and a gritty texture. Pretty good fall out too. Knight Divine is from the permanent collection. I already have this, but it's a wonderful color that everyone should have in their collection - I didn't mind having two of them. Flashtrack was in the permanent line, but was discontinued. It's a dark navy - very pretty, but I have others like it. So I basically got the palette for the two colors I wanted, and I'm totally okay with that. I'm so happy to finally have them in my collection, and I can't wait to play around with them.