Getting Married

Noooo, not me, silly! One of my dear friends!

I had the pleasure of attending my friend Amanda's wedding on Saturday and it was absolutely lovely! They did such a great job decorating and the location was beautiful. I will be sure to post the professional pics when I see them, if you guys are interested!

Anyway, I was one of her bridesmaids and she asked me if I was able to help with makeup. When I got there, I was tasked with doing eyes, lips and cheeks on two girls, and then her (the bride's) blush and bronzer... here's how everything came out!

























Her bronzer is Smashbox Pressed Powder/Bronze Lights Duo in Fair/Light, discontinued.
Her blush is Mac's Shell Pearl Beauty Powder from Liberty of London, also discontinued.

She also wore Cover Girl's Lip Perfection lipstick in Fairytale (not shown).

The first bridesmaid that I made up was Moriah. She had already done her foundation and eyebrows, and I set out to do something natural and effortless looking. She wears glasses, so I wanted her brown eyes to stand out without being over the top. So I went with very soft purple tones.
















































I used the shades from the WetnWild Petal Pusher palette, along with a little bit of e.l.f.'s single eyeshadow in Pebble in the crease. For her top and bottom lashline, I used Physician's Formula liners for green eyes (just the black shade, it has a little green sparkle).

For her cheeks, I used NYX Desert Rose blush.

On her lips, I used NYX round lipstick in Thalia with NYX Baby Rose gloss over top.

Next up was Questa. She has lovely blue/green eyes so I wanted to still incorporate purple (her and Moriah were both wearing purple dresses) but use more grey to intensify her eye shade.
















































On her eyes I used Maybelline's Velvet Crush quad (all 4 shades). I also used MUA Shade 3 (grey pearl) to intensify the crease, and a little of the "Crease" shade from WetnWild Petal Pusher. I applied the purple liner from the Physician's Formula green eyes gel liner set on the lower waterline, and then the black shade on the upper lashline.

I used Ardell #110 false lashes, which were perfect and natural looking.

On her cheeks, I applied Hard Candy's Living Doll blush for a bit of glow.

Her face powder was the matte shade in Mac's Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light Shimmer. I used just a little of the shimmer side on her cheekbones to highlight.

I unfortunately do not know what was on her lips, she applied it herself!

Overall, I am really happy with how the makeup turned out and I think everyone (especially the bride) looked beautiful. Since I did my own makeup, guess you want to see that right? Wouldn't want to leave you guessing!

























Crap photo but we were in a rushed tizzy all afternoon... on my eyes I used e.l.f. Cream Eyeshadow in Dawn as a base. Over top I used WetnWild single eyeshadow in Nutty and Kitten (lid and crease, respectively). I darkened the crease with a little bit of Make Up For Ever #92. The liner on both the upper lashline and lower waterline was Mac's Fluidline in Blacktrack.

False lashes were Ardell Accents #305 (which are bloody fantastic btw, so much more comfortable than full ones on me!)

On my cheeks I used Mac Prism blush as a contour, and Mac Prim and Proper as a blush. I added a VERY small amount of my MeMeMe liquid highlighter on top.

On my lips was none other than Mac Up the Amp lipstick (oh yes, the bride WANTED me to wear it =P) with Mac Perky lipglass over top.

If you're still with me, a little more about what we wore. I will have some full outfit photos later but all I had was a half mirror to take a photo with!

























Feather hair piece made custom by the bride.
Necklace is from Francesca's collection (purple and topaz with ribbon).
Cardigan is from Target (slightly greyed purple).
Belt is black patent leather from Target.
Dress is grey with a sequined bust from American Eagle.

Andddd... that's it :). Hope you enjoyed!

WetnWild 8 Eyeshadow Palette Comparisons + Dupes

Today I have the 2nd part of this weekend I will dub "WetnWild Madness" (that sounds... off...).

I figured I would post pics of comparisons between the new palettes and the original 6 pans, as well as the limited edition 6 pans from Christmas. I also pulled out my pressed eyeshadow stash and did some comparisons there...

First up, the new 8 pans vs. original and limited edition 6 pans.

(Note that on ALL swatches, the new 8 pan swatch will be on the left)











































Petal Pusher v. Lust: The top 2 swatches are the blackened burgundy shades... I would say they are dupes. The newer 8 pan seemed to swatch more vibrantly and had a bit more sparkle. The bottom two don't match, even though they seemed very similar in the pans.














































Top photo: Petal Pusher (left) v. Sugar Plum Fairy (right)
Bottom photo: Sugar Plum Fairy (left) v. Petal Pusher (right)
























It is safe to say the pale lilac and golden plum shades are identical (top row).
The bottom row shades are sort of close... the newer palette has better pigmentation on the blue/purple shade. The blackened red shades are close enough, but the Sugar Plum Fairy palette has a slight grey lean... which is strange.










































Blue Had Me At Hello v. Pride: The sparkling white shades are 100% identical, even down to the chunky glitter fallout ;-). The bottom row... not so much. The far left is the darkest blue from Blue Had Me At Hello, it is definitely nothing like the other two, even though they look similar. The other two are like fraternal twins. Same idea, but weirdly enough the new palette doesn't swatch as smoothly as the Pride palette.










































(Awkward top photo, sorry!)
Comfort Zone v. Night Elf: Dupes, that is all :) Night Elf has a bit more of a green/blue flash.
Blue Had Me At Hello v. Night Elf: Pretty close, Night Elf's sparkling black has a stronger base. I'd still call them dupes.












































Comfort Zone v. Night Elf: Duuuuuppppesss! The pale, golden taupes are again, 100% identical.
Comfort Zone v. Golden Goddess: The only thing from Golden Goddess I could find to compare to the new ones... and no dice. They aren't even remotely close. Golden Goddess is a plum with gold while Comfort Zone is more of a blackened brown.

Overall, I couldn't find many to compare to. There were a couple of dupes, but nothing that would make me say for someone to not purchase them. There are enough shades that are different for it to be worth it, even if you have all of the original and limited edition like I do. Now, I do not have Snow Sprite from Christmas, so there may be one or two similar ones in there.

I only found a few remotely similar shades in the rest of my collection, and swatched them...




















The two dark blues are Blue At Me At Hello v. Mac Deep Truth. Deep Truth has a bit of pink sparkle, which makes it different, but I'd still say they are darn close.
The bottom olive green and brown/olive are Comfort Zone v. Mac Sumptuous Olive. Not close at all.
The right swatches are Comfort Zone v. Mac Mink & Sable, a discontinued shade. Again, no real similarities other than being in the same color family.

























Top row is Comfort Zone v. Urban Decay Hustle (from the Naked Palette. Similar in the pans but Comfort Zone is much darker.
Bottom row is Comfort Zone v. Urban Decay Sidecar. Both are taupes but Comfort Zone is much more golden and lighter.




















Top row is Blue Had Me At Hello v. Urban Decay Peace. This was the closest thing I had and Peace is a very vibrant sky blue... not teal at all like the other swatch.
Left swatch on the bottom is Comfort Zone v. Urban Decay Underground. Comfort Zone is much, much warmer and more golden.
Right bottom swatch is Blue Had Me At Hello v. Urban Decay Zero. I always thought Zero was a matte black... but look how dumb I am. Obvious difference.

























Top is Comfort Zone v. WetnWild Nutty (single eyeshadow), again, Nutty is much warmer.
Middle is Petal Pusher v. WetnWild Kitten (single). I thought these were the same but once I photographed them, Kitten is lighter. Similar bases though.
Bottom is Blue Had Me At Hello v. Urban Decay Revolver. Again, looked similar in normal light but the flash brings out a pink/purple flash in Revolver. Whether it transfers on the eye, I am honestly not sure. I've never noticed it.

Hopefully that helps some of you! Sorry it was so long and a bit confusing... let me know if you have any questions! :)

WetnWild Color Icon 8 Pan Eyeshadow Palettes Reviews + Swatches

You do not understand how crazy excited I am to bring you this review... many a beauty blogger have been after these bad boys for a few weeks now, myself included, and I FINALLY found them.

These are part of WetnWild's spring release, which includes new 3 pan eyeshadow palettes, a lash growth serum (testing that right now, actually), and new nail polishes. There was some speculation as to whether these items were permanent or limited edition.

This is going to be a long review, so if you just want swatches, feel free to scroll past my rambling. However, I'm going to go into some important details on these and also tips on finding them so if you're interested...

For finding them, I've set foot into no less than 10 Walgreens and had zero luck. I found one location that had the new 3 pans/serum/nail polishes, but it was a small cardboard stand. When I located these last night, that same cardboard stand was empty, and these were actually incorporated into an entirely new HUGE WetnWild section where their normal line stuff was. The new nail polishes had their own slots and labels, the cream eyeliners, etc. This location also had a Milani section, so that could be indicative that only the "full beauty counters" are getting them at this time (and it also says that it's possible your store will roll out the small display of 3 pans/nail polishes first, and then this reorganization will happen). I do not exaggerate when I say the section is now massive and at least 3 times the size it was previously.



































Hopefully that helps you find them, HOWEVER... here is the bad news. As far as I can tell, the old 6 pans are discontinued (Lust, Greed, etc.). If your counter still has them and you've been eyeing them but on the fence... get what you want, because they will be gone once your store adds these new ones in. The location I went to had actually used the original display for the 6 pans to store these new 8 pans, and the 6 pans were nowhere in sight. This could be why Walgreens kept running 50% off sales so often these last few months... there was a renovation on the horizon.

NOTE (added 2/6/2011): I am not saying for sure that these ARE discontinued. I was simply noting that the locations I've visited so far do not have them in the new layout. I also noticed that the single eyeshadows were gone as well. The displays looked completed, there were no gaps, so while I'm not saying the company has officially discontinued production... Walgreens and other retailers may not stock the old with these new ones.

I will admit to thinking that their discontinuation is a bit of a shame. WetnWild had some of THE BEST mattes in the drugstore, and to me were honestly competing with high end formulas. I preferred their matte eyeshadows over Mac, Urban Decay.. you get the idea.

As far as I can tell, these are permanent, along with the new nail polishes and everything else you've seen from their Spring 2011 collection.

Anyway, stupid discontinuations or not, I've got these for you and they're pretty exciting.


















Now, I was originally only going to get the blue one... but I swear the other two jumped into my cart. It was a fight to the death, and they won.

All swatches in this post are done over Too Faced Shadow Insurance.

First up is Petal Pusher, the purple palette:




























































For the swatches of these palettes, I did the left side top to bottom on the top row, and the right side top to bottom on the bottom row.

This palette contains:
- Sheer skintone shade that leans purple
- Medium lilac with subtle shimmer
- Not-quite-deep grapey plum with blue shimmer
- Grape shade with gold and white shimmer
- Pinky lilac with heavy frost
- Golden plum with a strong red base (look familiar?)
- Satin, blackened burgundy with burgundy shimmer (and again...)
- Deep charcoal with silver shimmer

Out of the 3 palettes, this is the least pigmented. Most of the swatches were 2 swipes except for the deeper shades. I admittedly got this for a wedding I am attending in February, and doing the makeup for. I was eyeing a Rimnel quad but realized this had similar shades, more colors, and was less expensive so I went for this. It is very similar to the Sugar Plum Fairy palette from their Christmas release, with some colors from Lust thrown in (I'm doing comparisons in a separate post). Pretty palette (I especially like the shade on the bottom right in the swatch photo), definitely worth a purchase if you like purples, or want to expand your collection of them.

Next up is Blue Had Me At Hello (har), the blue palette:









































This palette contains:
- Sparkling white (more sparkle than white)
- Pale grey that leans blue (think China Glaze Sea Spray in an eyeshadow kinda)
- Blackened deep blue with medium blue sparkle
- Matte black
- Very pale blue shimmer
- Teal with gold flash
- Medium blue with blue sparkle
- Matte black with loose silver sparkle

My only criticism of this palette is that it has a lot of dark shades. I like dark blues, but it would have been nice to have a couple of lighter shades... maybe a sky blue one? All of the palettes are split into two sides with a browbone, lid, crease and definer shade, so I can see what they were going for. The matte black is VERY pigmented and necessary as none of the other palettes have a matte shade. I think my favorite, however, is that teal. It is absolutely AMAZING, and totally unique. I can't think of another eyeshadow I own that is quite that tone... most teals lean blue or green (and turn pale when you swatch them) but this has a strong base and transfers so well:


















This is without flash, and I upped the contrast a little to help show the shimmer... even the color to the right of it is amazing in natural lighting!

For the price ($4.99), this one is definitely worth it... That teal is MORE than worth it, and I really love the pale blue above it in the palette. Again, very unique.

The last palette is Comfort Zone, the "neutral" palette:
























































This palette contains:
- Buttery skintone shade
- Pale bronze (slightly orange)
- Deeper bronze with gold shimmer
- Deep chocolate brown with red shimmer
- Pale golden taupe
- Olive green with gold shimmer
- Blackened dark brown
- Red brown with blue/green duochrome

The colors in this palette are beautiful! I wasn't expecting this to be my favorite, but I think it is. The colors are unique, and well varied, so I feel like you get a lot of bang for your buck. I've not seen an olive like that from the drugstore... the pale taupe appears to be a dupe for Mac Dalliance (from the Peacocky collection), and the pale bronze is beautiful. If you can only afford one, go for this.

Just for good measure... a natural light photo:





















After all that, what can you really say? Even with Petal Pusher being less pigmented, it is still a lovely palette. The eyeshadows' formula is pretty consistent across the board, especially with those that are the same type. Comfort Zone's shades were particularly buttery and glided on.

I do feel like WetnWild is tossing a bit of it's unique flair by losing the matte shades, however. Among 24 eyeshadows, I've got one matte here, and it's a black. I will give them props for actually including deeper shades to define the crease with in every palette -- I see a lot of drugstore sets that have very flat colors, and you end up having to dig in your stash for something dark if you want that look.

I will do a post tomorrow comparing these to shades from the old 6 pans and the limited edition Christmas palettes, so stay tuned!

Even so, for $4.99, you really can't (and shouldn't) pass these up.

Which ones of these are you lusting after? Or have you already gotten them? Let me know!