Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadows: First Impressions & Swatches

I got these in the post a couple of days ago from a lovely friend in the US (hello, if you're reading!)

Top Row: Audacious Asphalt, Bad to the Bronze

Bottom Row: Bold Gold, Tough as Taupe

Audacious Asphalt

Bad to the Bronze

Bold Gold

Tough as Taupe

L-R: Audacious Asphalt, Bad to the Bronze, Bold Gold, Tough as Taupe

I've not done anything other than swatch these but I can't wait to use them! They're all very creamy - quite similar to BeneFit Creaseless Cream Shadows or MAC Paint Pots. Tough as Taupe is the only matte shade I have and it's extremely pigmented. 

I'll do a proper review on these once I've had the chance to use them. I don't know if/when these are being released in the UK but they're definitely worth a look; they're the best drugstore cream shadows I've tried so far, anyway!

I hope this was useful to some of you. Do you have your eye on any of these?

Stace xx

Revlon Lip Products # 4 - Just Bitten Lip Stains & Matte Lipsticks

These are the first lip stains I've ever tried and I've been enjoying them quite a bit! They are incredibly long wearing (although please bear in mind that I typically don't wear long wearing lip products) and I love the colour range! I picked my most recent one up on offer for £5 in Boots last week.

L-R: Gothic, Flame, Frenzy

L-R: Smoked Peach, Mauve It Over

I picked these up for around £2 each on Fragrancedirect.com about two months ago. I'm not typically a fan of matte lipsticks but these feel lovely. They're not drying at all and they apply so smoothy compared with some other matte formulas I've tried. I've worn Mauve It Over quite a bit but I expect I'll be reaching for Smoked Peach more as Spring and Summer approaches.

L-R: Smoked Peach, Mauve It Over

Phew! That's all from my Revlon collection for now!

Stace xx

Revlon Lip Products #3 - Super Lustrous Lip Glosses

Next up are the glossy sisters of Super Lustrous Lipsticks...

...I like these glosses. A lot. Which is why I have six of them!

They aren't sticky at all yet they wear pretty well compared with some other non-sticky glosses. Most of the shades are nicely pigmented, too.

L-R: Peach Petal, Nude Lustre, Coffee Gleam, Cherries In The Glow, Firecracker, Coral Reef

My most used shade is definitely Nude Lustre but I enjoy wearing Peach Petal and Coffee Gleam over nude lipsticks. Firecraker looks great over red lipsticks, as does Cherries In The Glow. Coral Reef is great worn alone in the summertime. 

These are priced at around £6.49 from Revlon stockists nationwide.I usually pick them up when they're on offer.

Are you a fan of these glosses?

Stace xx

Essie Fall 2011 Collection Mini Set

I bought this a couple of weeks ago from BeautyBay.com for £11.95 here. I was debating just picking up Very Structured but I love Essie minis so went for the set instead. This was the best price I could find and they had free delivery. I'll definitely be ordering from this site again; shipping was pretty quick and the packaging was great. 

So...on to the polishes!

L-R: Very Structured, Carry On, Lady Like, Power Clutch

L-R: Very Structured, Carry On, Lady Like, Power Clutch

I've worn Very Structured (the colour came out much darker on my nails but I still like it) and I've got Power Clutch on my toes. I'm currently wearing Lady Like:

I still have to try Carry On but I love dark red/purple/plum shades anyway so I'm sure I'll like it. 

I have to say, I love all these shades! They're all pretty neutral so will go with most outfits. I thought Lady Like would be my least favourite because it looked a bit more mauve in the bottle at first but I actually really like it. Power Clutch was a dream to apply and Very Structured was a bit more difficult and streaky but still only needed two coats. I was a bit disappointed that it didn't turn out to be the rusty orange shade I thought it would be. 

I love these little mini collections because I can try lots of different shades and since I already have a huge nail polish collection, the fact these are only 4.5ml bottles makes me feel slightly less guilty for adding to the stash! One of the reasons I like Essie minis in particular is because they're still easy to use; the brush is pretty much the same as the brushes on the full size bottles and the lids are easy to hold.

What do you think of this collection? Will you be picking anything up?

Stace xx

EOTD & Swatches: Wet'n'Wild Comfort Zone

Just another quick EOTD with a Wet'n'Wild palette! This time it's the neutral toned 8-pan palette called Comfort Zone. Of all the Wet'n'Wild palettes I own I think this is the one everyone should have. The greens give you the option of jazzing up your neutral eye looks and the neutral colours are all beautiful and go brilliantly together. In the above picture I'm wearing the browbone shade on my browbone and as an inner corner highlight, the lid shade on my lid and the crease shade in my crease. Totally going by the book on this one! It looks so natural on my medium-olive skin so if you've got a similar skin tone to me I definitely recommend you pick this up!

On to the swatches...

Do you own this? What are your thoughts?

Stace xx

EOTD & Swatches: Wet'n'Wild Blue Had Me At Hello

Blue Had Me At Hello

Left side swatches

Right side swatches

I was going to do swatches and review type posts for my Wet'n'Wild palettes because I have almost all the permanent palettes now and some of the limited edition ones...addicted to Wet'n'Wild, much?! But then I realised that I actually have to use each palette before reviewing it so I'm just going to post the looks I create along with swatches from the palettes as and when I use each palette.

I am not normally adventurous with my eye make up at all but I was really drawn to the aqua shade in this palette (right side eyelid shade). I used that shade on top of E.L.F. Eye Lid Primer and applied it with an E.L.F. Eyeshadow Brush. I then took the darker blue crease shade and applied it to my crease with a Revlon Eyeshadow brush (it's fluffier). I grabbed a Crown Brush Blending brush and a little of the browbone shade to  blend out the darker shade. I used Eyeko Big Eyes mascara.  Now, I don't think it looks amazing, I'm not the best at eyeshadow but I'm amazed that I'm wearing blue eyeshadow and it doesn't look terrible! On the rest of my face I wore MAC Viva Glam Gaga II with Barry M Toffee on top. I didn't put on any blush but highlighted with MAC Soft & Gentle MSF.

As for the shadows themselves, most were awesomely pigmented. A few of the darker matte shades could have been more pigmented but then they are matte and I always find matte shadows to be less pigmented anyway. The shades I used were easy to apply and blend so I really can't complain.

Overall I don't think I'll use this palette a lot on it's own but I can see myself picking out some of the shades to mix with my more neutral shadows. I might try a navy/bronze smokey eye next so watch this space!

What do you think?

Stace xx

Review & Swatches: NYX Round Lipsticks

Snow White

Ulysses

Doll (sorry this is a bit blurry!)

B52

Tea Rose

L - R: Snow White, Ulysses, Doll, B52, Tea Rose

I love these lipsticks....that's pretty much my review. They're cheap as chips, so easy to apply and the staying power of the darker shades is brilliant. I think everyone should own a few of these lipsticks! I love all of the shades I've swatched above; particularly Doll and Snow White.

The only criticism I have regarding this line of lipsticks is how vastly misrepresented the shades are on  the sites that sell them. I've bought other shades in this range and they've not been anything near what I expected - either because they're shown as having a cream finish but turn out to be frosty or because they're shown as red and end up being dark brown or something. They really could improve on that! 

Their shade range is huge but I've yet to find a good nude shade and a nice peach/orange type colour which isn't frosty. 

Do you own any of these?

Stace xx

Haul & Swatches: E.L.F. & Blog Sale Goodies

Blog Sale Buys!

Models Own polishes in Peacock Green and Raspberry Crush

Barry M Lip Paint in 145 (top swatch) and Lip Gloss Wand (below swatch - no shade name)

Avon Super Shock Gel Liner in Silver

MUA Professional Palette in Pretty Pastels

Maybelline Eye Studio Quad in Bronze Drama

E.L.F. had a 50% off discount code which I took advantage of! I picked up the following:

Eyeshadow Brush (I love these)

Eye Crease Brush 

Studio Flawless Finish Foundation in Caramel (too dark!)

Studio Matte Lip Colours in Coral and Praline

Eyelid Primer Collection

Oil Blotting Sheets

Mechanical Eyelash Curler

Studio Matte Lip Colours in Coral (L) and Praline (R)

It feels so weird to be able to buy things! Although I'm being as thrifty as possible...honest!

What have you bought recently?

Stace xx