I got this eyeshadow as a freebie when i purchased the Primer from Models Prefer so i really had no idea what i was getting into with this; was it going to be a terrible chalk fest or a reasonable eyeshadow?
Overall after having used this a few times the pigmentation is really quite awesome, especially if you use your finger for application, the colors work quite well together as it;s basically a highlighting shade paired with a darker shade for contouring and both colors are quite pretty and fairly neutral.
I would say this eyeshadow is decent and as i said the pigmentation is impressible, when applied dry it does have a few transferability issues but applied wet or with a good eye primer i don't have the same issues. For $12.99 you can probably do better but you can certainly do worse.
So I'm not sure why i never reviewed this after i initially got it, especially since it has been my everyday blush since August. I think i just felt like it was so overdone, but now that i think about it another opinion is probably never a bad think if your trying to decide if this is for you or not. Or maybe you don't visit a lot of beauty blog and this is your first intro to lovely NARS blushes (hoora!).
Firstly, as i have said before i got this for my birthday because i was initially quite intimidated by the shimmer bomb that Orgasm was. Deep Throat is very similar in color to Orgasm but i think it leans a little more to peach then pink and has more shimmer then actually shine/glitter. Once again the color is probably dupe-able but not the quality, the blush is very finely milled and just glides onto your cheeks. It's a warm but ery wearable shade, as evident that i have worn if almost everyday since August.
It applies in a very lovely fashion, no rubbing and no patches, it's just very soft almost approaching a creamy consistency and lasts for hours. Can't go wrong with this one.
So previously we looked at NARS well known Orgasm blush, and since it's expensive i previously spent some time looking for alternatives and this is probably the best i found and even now that i own the NARS version i will continue to use this one as well since as i quite like the texture and the color pay off is very nice.
This is the Face of Australia Mineral Therapy Illuminator in the shade Angel Fire, there is also a regular white Illuminator, a slightly more orange variation and a bronzer as well in the range. I'm not always great with Illuminators on their own so i primarily bought this to use as a blush and it works very well lasting about 5-6 hours longer if you put a little powder on top.
I have to say this is a very impressive product, if just for the size and color; 50ml of product for $14.95. Being an illuminator or blush that amount will last you for years, possible your grandchildren will be inheriting this product. The color pay off is wonderful, you can blend it away as much as you like for a subtle look or a bit less so for a very amped up golden peach glow.
Suprised i havent seen this before to be honest, just sort of randomly came across it at Priceline, though i do not recall seeing them earlier so i don't know if they are brand new (i suspect not) or just making a come back but very much worth a look if your looking for something interesting to add to your make up pile :)
So with Christmas (read: Christmas Shoppers) everywhere it's been difficult to get my hands on all the polishes i wanted from the Snow White Essence collection, in the end i have ended up getting all but one that i want (02 The Huntsmen, the shiny gold topper).
I'm not too surprised to see that one gone all over the place as it's so very Christmas-sy. But so is this combination that i wanted; this is Essence Snow White 03 Prince Charming over 02 Grumpy.
02 Grumpy has a nice texture leaning slightly toward the thin side, it required the standard two coats; the first was a little watery and dull but the second really made the color pop. It's a really beautiful blue, almost reminds me of Revlon Royal just without the jelly finish.
03 Prince Charming is a gorgeous top coats; holographic glitters with small blue hexagonal glitter suspended in a clear base. Really Gorgeous i hope everyone can get their hands on it. I had no trouble applying this and it didn't require a lot of effort to get the blue hexagons out of the bottle. 2 Coats of this too.
As school is now over, I'm not sure how much longer it will be viable for me to stay as a pink headed girl but i figured id do a little review of the product i started using after Crazy Colors run out (that's what the salon gave me). I picked up this one as it didn't seem very complicated and seemed quite popular in the UK for hair coloring in crazy shades. Plus the color was a perfect match for what was on my head.
The product is quite watery and not very tacky so you do have to be careful with it, or else your entire bathroom will end up with hot pink stains. Trust me.
It's not very difficult to use however if you can be careful, use gloves, cover nearby surfaces and use a hair paint brush to apply to the product. As the pink is only on the front of my hair i used 4 foils to cover it up once it was slathered in the product; then heated it for maybe 10 minutes under a regular hairdryer to intensify the color then leave for an hour or more if it's not bothering you. The product is vegan so it's doesn't really smell like hair dye and doesn't seem to cause me any irritation.
The only issue i have is about three days after doing this my scalps gets very dry and i need to use a anti-dandruff shampoo to fix the issue.
Before (on foils)
After
The product lasts (brightly) for about two washes but then becomes more of a pastel shade and every time you wash it it will cause a flood of pink in your shower. This is on fact one reason I'm considering getting rid of the pink, much as i love it, half my life is stained pink now; my towels, my nails, my pillowcases and my shower walls. It's a lot to deal with for maybe a week of bright pink hair.
The product works but it's very temporary, its easy but it causes massive staining. (This is also a very easy and messy way to make a gradient nail polish effect, happened to me several times when i couldn't find my gloves when applying this).
I recently started running low on my first primer i ever got; the Burjois Flower Silicone Primer so i decided to go looking for something similar but maybe with a tad more usability; the Burjois primer is in a tub and you have to dig it out with your fingers; not great. I loved the use of silicon in the primer however; it gave the most wonderful silky smooth feeling and meant that my foundation could just glide on.
The reason i choose to test out the Models Prefer brand primer is for several reasons; the brand has been showing up more and more as i read through various blogs so i was interested. I also liked the idea of a mattifying primer as i hate to look shiny, just very unappealing to me. Thirdly, Models Prefer was at the time doing a gift if you spend i think over $20 or $25 so a nice way to try out the brand. (I picked up this and a eyebrow pencil to get a free eyeshadow duo)
The primer is a clear gel consistency and goes on incredibly smooth, one pump is usually enough to suffice as it spreads out a lot when you massage it in. It does a pretty decent job in terms of mattifying your complexion but i found that i could use a touch up maybe 6 hours in but for me that's not a huge problem.
I found this quite impressive for the price, it obviously decreased shine, helped reduce pore appearance and make my make up go on super easy and clearly made it last longer. I was happily surprised. The only down side i guess is that the bottle is a little small but price wise i think it probably makes sense. Also, i love the fact it's silicone based but i know this is a problem for some people so be aware of that.
I think for the coming heat of the summer or those going to the beach for the holidays this would be a great primer to help keep the shine down, it makes your makeup stay on surprisingly well and doesn't have a waxy effect I've noticed in some other primers. Perhaps not the greatest primer in the world but by far not the worst, and for only $12.95 (Priceline) it's certainly worth a try if your looking for something like this.
Well i admit I'm a little late with this one, it's been out about two weeks now but it just didn't get me that excited, so i decided to try some out anyway and here is my preview of this unique collections and some thoughts about how it actually functions.
The color/colour arts edition is a sort of "make your own" edition; it relies on these released pigments (word is there will likely be more coming out in the core collection, not sure if it will be in Australia) . You can use the pigments on their own or mix them however you please with one of the three bases the collection provides;
These are the Nail Base; for mixing up your own nail polish, a lip base for making your own lipstick/gloss, and a eyebase (the most useful of these i have found) for eyeshadows. Here's a little video essence released about how they think their color pigments can me used;
mini-REVIEW
I'm not really the best at using pigments; they tale a lot of extra work and make much more of a mess and honestly most of the time i can't really be bothered. Still, for science, i picked up the two most neutral pigments i could find so i was more likely to use them; smell the Carmel and Strawberry smoothie, and each of the three bases.
I have since getting these tried each of them with the provided bases and....well sadly besides the eye base acting as a wicked primer in terms of longevity there wasn't much there to boast about.
Nail Polish Base; this isn't a suspension base so you can't mix right in the bottle and make your own polish. Instead you have to mix it in a separate container and basically only make enough for one go as i have no idea how you would go about storing it.
This is crazy messy, and the nail polish base dries very quickly so you almost have to do one nail at a time meaning you don't get the same color every time so each nail looks like a different shade of whatever color you were going for (assuming you mix them, which is kinda the point). In addition to this, no matter how long i spent mixing the nail polish still came out in different consistency; super thin or super clumpy.
Nail polish is already a bother waiting for it to dry and not stain anything. Adding these extra steps just makes it not worth bothering with in my opinion. I didn't take photos because it was just too much of a disaster.
Lip Base; this is somewhat better, it's still a bit of work but the pigment seems to dissolve better and the end effects is more like a lipstick tattoo then a gloss. It's not sitting on top of your lip, it's closer to a stain in the regard that is actually colors the skin underneath it. It is very sticky though, however the base itself smells very fruity and sweet but you don't notice it much once it's mixed up. I think id prefer a lipstick or regular gloss.
Smell the Carmel and Strawberry Smoothie mixed together with the lip base.
Eyeshadow Base; This i actually like, it's a great primer; it keeps your eyeshadow on for ages and does a decent job of blending th pigments but i would use this more just as a primer rather then a blending base. It's clear and has a slightly tacky feel to it but it grips onto eyeshadow like no ones business.
Overall not the greatest edition, more like a play set to play around with. Way too much trouble to bother with for anyones regular make up routine but might prove fun for dress up or parties and the like.
Have you tried these? What's you opinion? Too much work or worth the extra effort?
Coming out this week is the new Essence "Snow White" collection, based it appears on the Disney version of the classic rather then the two movies that came out this year (Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsmen) but it's certainly "on trend".
This is primarily a nail polish edition and the only non nail polish things seem to be the nail stickers and nail file. So let's take a better look at the colors;
Snow White is the tall red with the other seven polishes named after dwarves; it's a super cute idea and so very simple yet creative, i love it. I feel like i have most of these colors however Grumpy, Bashful, Sleepy and Sneezy do catch my interest somewhat so I'll take a look when i find them in store and decide then.
Available in 01 Evil Queen, 02 The Huntsmen and 03 Prince Charming these special top coats are a mix of holo, hex and round glitters and look like they could work very nicely. I'd like to try Prince Charming over Grumpy.
Second last is the the nail file, looks pretty enough for a plain cardboard file but it makes a cute addition to any collection so i guess it might be fun but i don't think i really need this, i much perfer crystal nail files. Currently my OPI file is the best I've ever used.
These certainly won';t be for everyone, there's a very specific group that can walk around with dwarf stickers on their nails; those still at school or without long term work. But heck, they look kinda fun and the butterflies are a draw fr me, though I'm not sure what the green things are, grass? Not sure i want to wear tufts of grass on my nails.
A nice collection but probably no must haves here, still some of the colors seem unique and the collection looks super cute. What part of this collection do you like?
So it's December today :) Which for a lot of people means Christmas. So i thought id start of the celebration early by thinking about some of the things i wouldn't mind seeing under the tree this year. It's always nice to think about what you might like, even if just end up buying it yourself in the boxing day sales!
So here is the list i came up with, in no particular order; 1. Soft Kitty Jumper of Big Bang Theory Fame from Think Geek, 2. NARS Orgasm Blush, 3. Real Techniques Starter Kit Brushes, 4. OPI Skyfall Nail polishes (specifically Skyfall, Live and Let Die, Goldeneye, On Her Majesty's Secret Service,The Spy Who Loved Me,and Die Another Day) 5. Lufthansa Graphic Design (i like graphic design and planes) 6. Marc Jacobs Dot perfume annnnnd 7. Fox Plushie from Etsy.
How cute is that fox right? What's your most lusted for item this year?
