Inexpensive Blush Off

Presenting the Blush off :) I thought this would be more fun then doing these each on their own/ plus this gives a chance to see how they compare to each other. So without further clutter here are the contestants;

1. Essence 02 Beauty on Tour Lip and Cheek Tint - I mentioned this in my previous post as my "go to" blush for everyday wear. This is for several reasons the biggest of all which is longevity. It last 5+ hours and then fades away very clean without any marks or splotches. 

The color is a lovely coral pink so it's quite a natural shade; it blends out extremely easy and can be layer like a dream for more or less brightness. It might seem mega bright when it first goes on but a little blending is all that's needed as it really isn't that strong (unless you want it to be). Since it's a cream i recommend layering it over powder so it has something to hold on to as it doesn't have the same lasting power on bare skin or just foundation.  It makes a decent lip tint but not that special in my opinion. Cost: $3.50

Note: for some reason no matter how much i use this it always self evens out hence why it looks untouched in the photos.

2. Essence Blush Soufflé in Prima Ballerina -  Another Essence blush, this was from the Ballerina collection and is similar to Maybeline dream blushes.  This blush is probably the most natural looking one i own. The pink is very subtle and slightly dusky, plus it mixes with your own chemistry very easily and just looks like a very real and natural glow to your cheeks. 

Due to this i tend to use it for more subtle occasions; interviews or formal events at school. It doesn't have the same staying power as the cheek/lip tint above but it feels much lighter and looks much more real. Price $3.50

3. Burjois in Lune D'or - This is my 3rd Burjois blush, and this shade is  the NARS "Orgasm" dupe although i think this one probably came first though i haven't actually looked into it. It's a gorgeous shade; when you can get it out of the container. It's very sheer and thus i usually tend to scrape the top a bit to make it more powdery as otherwise it takes too long to apply but the color pay off is very much worth it. This blush when applies properly looks like glows.

Though it takes a  bit more work this blush is great for travel and for special occasions; it's also quite nice in the mornings if you need a bit of a lift because the rose scent in the product is soft and pretty. If you can deal with sheerness in the product and the fact it requires a little effort to get going then this product is great. Lasting power is very average.  Price $20

4. DB Pink Blush 593 - I bought this blush at the start of the year and for a while it was my go to blush due to the fact it kind of looks like your not actually wearing blush. The color is very dusky and warm, it gives the sort of look that your cheeks are just warm not that your actually blushing.

 Like maybe you've been in the sun for a bit. It kind of sits the line between a bronzer and a blush really. It's a good color but the product itself has a lot of fallout which depending on how applies isn't a bad thing. Lasting power is about 4 hours and it fades very evenly. A fair product for a subtle look. Price $8.99

5. Physician's Formula Flawless Complexion Mineral Blush in Rose Glow - i did a bit of a review on this when i first got it. It's a nice blush and super pigmented; too pigmented in my opinion. I like the dark plum color but find it hard to use; it doesn't like blending out well and is prone to leaving streaks from where i try to blend it out; fingers works a bit better then a brush which does nothing but even that doesn't achieve a nice look. I'm not sure how much it is on it's own but the kit i got it in was $29.00 and included a foundation powder and "mineral veil". Still not sure how it's different from powder?

The color is great and will lasts ages if you can manage to spread it and blend it out,  I would say skip it, you can find a much more useful and pretty blush elsewhere.

Swatch time; As you can see the Essence Beauty on tour is crazy thick and bright when it goes on but blends out to a pretty pale coral, the soufflé is a bit harder to work with but is a nice subtle pink. The Burjois is lovely and if you can find a way to make it work well is the pretties color with lovley shimmer. The DB is closer to bronzer then blush almost but is a nice yellow toned coral blush with good color pay off. Lastly the PF, the swatch as you can see if crazy bright and that's just one swipe. Hard to blend and use but the color, admittedly, is quite pretty. 

What's your go to blush?

Review: Tickled Pink by Savvy (by DB)

I'm so very confused. Not in a million years did i think this polish was going to be any good. It was $2.99 at Priceline from a bin. I got it because of the fuck-off-bright-pink. I was expecting it to be really bad. Horrendously bad. So bad that i could happily berate it for being cheap, and crap, and not to bother.

I will now have to swallow those thoughts because it's the exact opposite of all of that. It's wonderful and beautiful and smooth like butter. It's better then any nail polish i have used ever. It's better then my well loved OPI's or China Glaze. I don't get it, i really don't.

(I picked this up in my about 2 weeks ago: see My First Haul Post! )

This post may be a bit picture heavy but that's just because i couldn't believe how well it did.

I wasn't expecting much, I've heard quite bad things about neon polishes. It is a bit sheer, this is 3 thin coats, but two thicker coats would work just as well. It dries quite matte but i used a top coat over it and it had no chipping for 4 days.  

(Then i wanted to try something new but certainly going back to this in warmer weather, or maybe now i have pink hair i can just pull of it normally?)

FYI it's made in China and without a website or anything I'm going to have to assume it's not 3 free, so beware that it might be chemical heavy. On the other side though it didn't smell very "nailpolish-y" so can't say for sure.

I have nothing bad to say about this. I've still seen it around since i got it; go get it! It's just amazing. I can't stop saying that because it is really and truly epic. 

On a slightly diffrent note, I'm not sure what to think of this brand. It doesn't seem to be mentioned on their website at all. Not to mention that in general DB is quite an average brand, their packaging isn't fantastic but they do solid if not amazing products. I have a nice peachy blush from them, an illuminator which works quite well and even a base nail coat.

Nothing amazing but good for the price and if you don;t care too much about make up a perfectly reasonable brand to choose. So where does this "Savvy by DB" come into it? Is this some kind of secret weapon they wield against those who nay-say their brand? 

Anyone else tried this line of polishes or tried the Savvy brand?

Blogger's First Haul Post

Yay! I got's me some stuff.

Firstly i need to start with a thank you to my dear boyfriend who was a complete champion about driving almost two hours to Cannigton as until next week they seemed to have the only Priceline carrying the two new (to Australia) Essence collections; Season of Extremes and 50's Girls Reloaded and i couldn't wait that long. But as you can see i only got one of the lipsticks so i might need to keep an eye out next week. So Thank You!!!!

So as far as i can tell the collection came out Tue/Wed , and i went in on Thursday an already almost half the stock was gone, and it's a trend edition so they won't usually be getting any more in. Blah!

Back to the fun stuff; 

Probably the most exciting part of this for me the 50's Girl's Reloaded stuff!

The colors maybe aren't that exciting but i was sold by the awesome retro design and just the fact i have seen nothing like this...ever. The pretties i got are; 

"03 come on board captain" eyeshadow (almost perfect match to the two nail polishes) a brave step for me, my eyeshadow preferences have (since getting into this whole makeup-pretty-thing) has leaned towards safe neutral colors - brows, creams, coppers, and the occasional gray. 

So a bright navy blue is a big step for me. Also not completely sure how to do these colors together but im sure the result will be good...or hilarious. It's pretty nice and sturdy, plastic case with a nice big mirror in the compact but no brush so not really sure how good that is, i guess you can just open it at dinner and admire yourself if the conversation gets dull?

The lipstick is and the red nailpolish are  "01/02 Back to the 50’s"

These are basically the 50's bombshell colors; they are pretty stunning vivid bright and just scream at you to put them on. I did kind of want the other lipstick more so I'm a little afraid of the brightness on this thing; scared of clownface-ness. But they look so pretty it might just help me overcome my fear.

The red nail polish is pretty sexy, it's in the realm of your basic standard every woman red but it's certainly got a lot more pop to stand out, so although red nails are a little traditional I'm quite looking forward to trying this out. (For the record i have only ever worn red/red nail polish once before in my life).

 The other two nail polishes are "03 I’m a marine girl", and "04 love me tender". Marine girl is a very deep blue with a hint of shimmer but nothing that's going to blind passersby. It goes on very smoothly, the brush is a little long for my liking but it worked okay. It was a thick one coater for me and seems to be holding on pretty tight, no chipping yet. (Btw the purple-y stuff on my ring finger is from the extremes collection down the bottom of this post) 

"04 love me tender" is an interesting color; judging by the bottle it is somewhere between silver and gold, a kind of champaign kind of color which i can't wait to try, maybe once i finish writing this I'll swap them over. I'll post back later with a pic, hopefully it doesn't lean too far silver. 

Tha's it so far for the 50's collection, till i can get that other lipstick and do some swatches, maybe?

I didn't go quite as crazy with the Extremes collection, mostly because i had very similar colors already and was already spending way too much money there. The whole collection was separated into pastels and brights and judging from what i got i was leaning more towards brights that day.

These ones are in photo order; "02 Brightsmates", "03  We are all bright" and "04 just the nude of us" and at $5.50 these were individually more expensive then anything from the other collection and this is actually a little pricey for Essence.

Looking forward to trying the taupe/nude color as i have nothing even vaguely similar. My other issue however is something i realized when i got home; i don't quite know how to store these? They don;t fit in my nail polish box and fall over if i put them in the fridge with my higher end polishes??? Help?

This was a .... not greatly thoguht out purchase but it was cheap ($2.95) and the color was visible halfway across the store it calls itself "Tickled Pink" but if it was up to me it would be renamed "Fuck off Pink". I have a couple of neons i've picked up recently but it's been too dark and cold and rainy for them, so this one might have to wait for warmer weather but right now it blinds me every time i look in the nail polish box. Never tried this brand so don't really have a lot of thoughts about it yet, might do some research and see what other people think.

Last but certainly not least this time is my pretty new Blush Brush (and friends) 

Although i was originally tempted by the angled blush brush i saw this and had to have it, it was only $5 more then th angled brush i was holding in my hand at the time and i was staring at them both going ummm and ohh when my boyfriend pointed out that a) the ecotools were a much better deal and b) the brushes were much much softer. So ecotools won.

Now here is somehting that never occured to me when reading blogs, until i was actually writing one (now); i wanted to take out the brushes and play with them as soon as i got home; but it was already dark and i wanted to take a nice unopened picture to post here. So i had to wait till this morning as i don;t have a lightbox or any space for one. That was a weird experience but something to keep in mind.

I'm quite excited about this brush; as it's replacing a fairly awful brush from a brand called "Miss Makeup" that i bought when i was 16 and my google-ing now tells me either no longer exists or never existed and the brushes i have from the brand traveled to me via wormhole from the universe of terrible brushes.

I look forward to a much less painful makeup routine in the morning, now that i think about it this terrible brush might have been responsible for some of my breakouts in years past as it is very prickly and irritating on the face. Oh what a fool i was to put up with it for so many years!

So now off to play....or rather make raster images for my dads company :(

OH! almost forgot, this may of no interest to anyone but me but on the off chance theres a history/geek girl out there who wants a shiny new game to play i have recently come across "Crusader King;s 2" from face value a standard rts like game about ruling Europe (and who doesn't enjoy that) in the early middle ages, the fun lies in the fact that most of the game is played through interacting with your court and family;

I played for a few hours last night and my firstborn daughter and heir turned out to have the traits "homosexual", "ambitious" and "arbitrary" and then proceeded to try usurp my crown. Now why is this interesting you might ask? Because there's a Game of Thrones mod. As in you can play one of the houses; Starks, Lannisters etc

Plus the game has absolutely hilarious ads;

(There are eight of these ads, one for each sin plus an extra one about piracy)