Flash Favorite: Femme Couture Lip Lusters

I finally figured out a way to get these reviews out of products that don't merit a full review, but are items that I'm enjoying using! So here's a new series: Flash Favorites.

I found these Lip Lusters at Sally's earlier this week, on clearance for $3.99. Their normal price is $5.99. It seemed like the store had a lot of holiday items on sale (I also nabbed some Ardell rhinestone lashes for $1.99) so I'm assuming that these were from some kind of limited edition collection.

What caught my eye about these were the flakies. The top one reminded me of Mac Club and the bottom was like those Finger Paints polishes that everyone is after. The top brownish one is named Sahara Rose and the bottom one is Angel Kisses.

Uuuuuugh, so pretty, right? I love Angel Kisses. These glosses are quite thin, akin to the NYX Mega Shine glosses, but have an amazing creme brulee/custard scent (no taste). They're really slick initially but once they dry down, they stick around for 3-4 hours. I can't wait to try Sahara Rose over a red lipstick.

You can just barely catch the hint of orange flakies on the right corner of the picture. I can't find much other info on this brand -- they don't even have a website and Sally's seems to be the only retailer, BUT these colors (including the clearance ones) are available on Sally's website here.

Green with Envy Weekly Showcase (using new 'Darling Grrl' products!)

I wanted to use some new Darling Girl products that Susan sent me recently, but I also wanted to try my hand at the 'Green with Envy' challenge on Never Too Much Sparkle. I'm absolutely in love with Susan's dupe of NARS Orgasm. Here's what I came up with!

FACE:

- Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream in #21

- Mac MSF Natural in Light Medium
- Maybelline SuperStay Concealer in Cream

- Darling Girl Cosmetics blush in She-Bop

EYES:

- Too Faced Shadow Insurance

- Darling Girl Glitter Glue

- Darling Girl Cosmetics eyeshadow in Vicar in a Tutu (lid)

- Darling Girl Cosmetics eyeshadow in Sunshine Daisy Bliss (outer crease)

- Darling Girl Cosmetics eyeshadow in I Wanna Be Sedated (to darken crease)

- NYX eyeliner in Teal (base for lower lashline)

- L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow in Golden Sage (lower lashline)

- Ben Nye eyeshadow in Ice (inner corner)

- Wet n Wild Mega Liner in 863 Turquoise (upper lashline)

- Rimmel Sexy Curves mascara (Black)

LIPS:

- Femme Couture Lip Lustre in Angel Kisses

Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadow Review + Swatches

Next in review-a-thon... the new Maybelline cream eyeshadows! This was another heavily buzzed about product as it reminded many people of the MUFE Aqua Creams.

I paid $6.99 for each of these from Walgreens, but they are now showing up in Target for $5.99, so you may want to check there instead. The range currently has 10 colors from brights to neutrals and the pots contain 4g/0.14oz of product.

As you can see, I picked up Bold Gold, Fierce & Tangy, Painted Purple and Pomegranate Punk. I have to apologize in advance for the varying lighting conditions in this post -- I purchased two of these and then the lovely Heather CPed the other two for me, by the time I got the last two, we hadn't had a sunny day in a while!).

For the swatches, I used my finger in the jar and swatched them on bare skin.

These swatch really nicely and even when blended out, have a decent color payoff. Pomegranate Punk is the most pigmented while Bold Gold contains a lot of shimmer, so it tends to blend out to nothing but gold glitter. It's similar to the Mac Paint Pots that came out with the Glitter & Ice holiday collection. A note: Fierce & Tangy stained my arm when I swatched it, so be wary of that.

I set off to begin testing these in a few ways. The first was to apply them from the jar with a clean finger directly to my eyelid with no primer. This garnered really messy and uneven results, observe:

Even though my fingers are small, these creams dry down quickly so if you get any in your tear duct or under your eye, or really anywhere you don't want them to be, you have to move fast to remove it. After applying, I actually slept in the shadows to see how they would hold up. When I woke up in the morning, I had no creasing but had a little bit of fading... pretty impressive as these claim 24 hour wear with no primer.

My tests over primer garnered great results -- no fading or creasing and I could easily get 14-15 hours of wear before needing to remove my makeup. These creams are similar to Mac Paint Pots in that you can wear them on their own (with a little work to get them even) or you can layer powder shadows over them. I saw no difference in the wear time by wearing them alone or with powder over top.

Next I set out to figure out the best way to apply them. Fingers gave messy results so I decided to try a small, flat shader brush. This gave me a much more even, smooth and opaque result. I think that this option is probably going to give you the most even and opaque coverage versus using a finger or a fluffy brush. The most noticeable difference was in using Bold Gold -- it didn't blend out to nothing but gold glitter if I used a brush.

My last test was as a cream eyeliner. I tested Pomegranate Punk and found that in one layer, I got a decent liner, but after letting that layer set and then going back over top one more time, I got a really gorgeous burgundy liner. I took some photos (I am wearing Bold Gold on the lid packed on with that shader brush):

You can see just above the center of my crease that I've got a little bit of unevenness going on from the flat brush. I think that if you move quickly and blend the color into the crease with a fluffier brush, you wouldn't have this issue like I did. I even got a little mascara smudge on my lid and flaked it off with my fingernail, and had no residue from where the shadow scraped off. Once these shadows dry, they are on there for good. This eye look had no primer or base, not even foundation on my lids. I'm about 3 hours into wearing it and I've had no creasing... color me impressed!

Overall, absolutely in love with these and I NEED the rest. I think these would be a great addition to someone's makeup kit if they freelanced or whatnot, and would be great for the average user that wants colored bases that don't crease! These knock NYX Jumbo Pencils out of the park.

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow Swatches + Review

The blogging world has been abuzz about these arriving on US shores and I was curious to try some out! I found a display and I have to say that I had a really hard time choosing colors. I decided I was only getting 2 but the color selection was quite interesting, so choosing was difficult. Here's what I ended up with:

As you can see, I picked up 892 Amber Rush and 333 Golden Sage. I knew I wanted Golden Sage from the start as so many people had said the color was gorgeous, and I wanted another color to test that I didn't have a ton of dupes for... so I chose the bronze.

I got these at Walgreens for $7.99 each, which I find to be a bit expensive. They are 3.5g/0.12oz though, so you get a lot of eyeshadow for your money. For reference, a Mac eyeshadow is 1.5g/0.05oz. I'm just not a huge L'Oreal fan, so I feel like $8 for a single eyeshadow is SO much, even though it's really not.

Swatches, shall we? Both eyeshadows are done over bare skin.

The texture of these shadows is extremely strange. They are spongy like and almost like a cream eyeshadow, but they have loose pigment when you touch them with a brush. They are extremely pigmented and smooth and I had virtually no fallout when using both shades. Even with the creamier texture, I had no issues with fading or creasing either. I wore Amber Rush on my lids over primer for around 13 hours, and it still looked fab when I went to take it off before bed. These give an interesting finish to the lid -- almost like you've foiled a loose eyeshadow with so much less work!

There's not much to say about these other than that I really like them! I want to get a few more shades while hoping that they are in fact permanent, so that I can wait for a good drugstore sale to nab some. When swatching them in the store, I felt like the sparkling black was a bit sooty and weird, but others may love it for a classic black smokey eye.

Just to show you them on the eye, I used both for this EOTD. The only additional shadows I used were Jesse's Girl Eye Dust in Pixie Dust to highlight my brow and inner eye, and a little bit of a dark taupe to give the illusion of having eyeliner on.

Do you have any of these? What do you think?

New Shades of Wet n Wild Megalast Lipsticks + Comparison

I spotted a big display of new Wet n Wild items at my local Walgreens the other day and decided to pick up a few things. The main items I wanted were the new Megalast lipsticks -- I love the formula on these so seeing new shades was exciting! They also reminded me of the Mac lipsticks that released with the Iris Apfel collection, so if you're on a budget, you may want to check these out!

Left to right: 967 Dollhouse Pink, 966 Don't Blink Pink, 970 Purty Persimmon and 965 Cherry Picking.

One thing I need to note about these is something I forgot to take a picture of: the number AND the name are now on the bottom of these! I really love that as trying to figure out what '905D' is was getting ridiculous.

I paid $1.99 each for these... and here are swatches (same order as above):

All four of the shades have fantastic pigmentation, even for them being nearly matte. What I love about these lipsticks is that they don't contain 80s frost or shimmer, but they aren't dry like many satins. They have a glossiness about them that is really flattering. The picture is one swipe down my arm, for reference.

I pulled out a few of my Mac lipsticks and another Wet n Wild lipstick I have to compare the colors so that you have a better idea of the shades:

On the left is Dollhouse Pink and on the right is Mac Viva Glam Gaga. Gaga is much paler. I would say Dollhouse Pink may be more akin to Snob or Pink Nouveau.

On the left is Don't Blink Pink, on the right is Megalast Lipstick in 905D (Smokin' Hot Pink) and on the bottom is Mac Impassioned. 905D isn't similar at all so let's ignore that one. Impassioned is in the same color family but is slightly more neon and red toned compared to Don't Blink Pink. If you weren't too concerned about having an exact dupe of Impassioned, this will do.

On the left is Purty Persimmon and on the right is Mac Morange. I'd say that these are pretty close... Morange is slightly less red toned, but you're talking a VERY minor difference. Again, if you're wanting Morange and on a budget, check out Purty Persimmon.

I didn't have any Mac lipsticks similar to Cherry Picking in my collection, but I would say that it's nearly identical to Girl About Town, if you're wondering.

Overall, really excited about these! I've only worn Cherry Picking and got about 4 hours of wear from it. You'll see some FOTDs with these for sure :).

Since You Like to Troll My Blog, Come and Read This

I received a comment on my Black Radiance palettes post that not only disturbed me due to the complete and utter misunderstanding of what this blog is, disgusted me by the rudeness of the person involved, made me angry, and made me even angrier because this person has now 'trolled' my blog twice. First was to comment on what she felt was a bad decision to dye my hair pink. Well, sorry honey, but you've ticked me off for the last time, and now you're going on blast. Enjoy.

Let's start off with the obvious: I make no money on this blog. Do you see any ads? Do you see anything cluttering up my page? No. Why? Because I HAVE NONE. I don't make a single fucking penny from this site and I don't ever plan on doing so. I'm not partner on my Youtube channel nor on The Makeup Heroes. I write this blog because I enjoy it as a hobby, not because I'm doing it for a living. So, you're assumption that I'm "making money off of a blog for review" is not only ridiculous, rude, and preposterous, but it's also stupid. If you took five seconds to look around my blog other than to make rude comments and troll me, you'd see that I have nothing to MAKE money on. You are sorely misunderstanding how the blogging world works, apparently.

Beyond that, why do you feel the need to cast hate on my little corner of the internet? Do you not have anything else better to do? Apparently not. You've never commented on my blog previously until the pink hair post. So... why should I give two shits about your opinion? The only reason you're on blast is because I want to make it clear and obvious to everyone who reads this blog what my intentions are. I don't want anyone thinking that I'm trying to misguide or dupe you into anything, because I'm not. I'm here, I'm me, I make no money off of the things I post (in fact I hurt my wallet quite a bit going out and buying all of these things to review, so you can go and do one, frankly.)

I'm gonna leave you be for the time being because I'm curious to see if you bother responding to this post. After that, buh-bye, see ya, because you're going to be BANNED.

Maybelline Illegal Length Mascara Review

I decided to test out the newest Maybelline mascara -- Illegal Length, and now that I've used it for about a week, I have a review for you!

I got this at Walgreens for $7.99 but it's showing up in Target now for $6.99, so you may want to try there instead. 

The packaging and the brush both reminded me of Maybelline Lash Stiletto, which is a favorite of mine, so I was interested to try this one out. The silver and pink writing is also unique; Maybelline always has nice mascara packaging. Unfortunately, I don't have a tube of Lash Stiletto at the moment to compare with this, so you'll just be seeing Illegal Length in this post.

This is a fiber extensions mascara, meaning that there are tiny little fibers inside of the cream of the mascara that attach to your lashes to lengthen them. This is one of the only fiberized mascaras I've tried so I don't have anything to compare this with. I did notice that you don't get that gloopy blob of mascara on the tip of this wand, which is appreciated.

Applying this mascara is pretty easy. The wand isn't so skinny that you get no volume from it, but it's not so big that you feel like you're going to poke your eye out. It wiggles through the lashes easily and gives them a really effortless curl (I don't normally curl my lashes but I can definitely skip it with this) without clumpiness. I've gone up to 3 coats of this and still had no thick clumps to speak of. Applying to the bottom lashes is also easy. I will occasionally bump my eyelid with the very end of the wand but that's usually me being in a rush. If I take my time, I can get really nice lashes with this.

Pictures, shall we? Naked lashes:

Lashes with 1 solid coat of the mascara:

For lasting power, I had no issues with flaking or smudging with this at all. I expected the fibers to fall off of my eyes throughout the day but sans -maybe- one or two stray ones on my cheek (that could have be an eyelash, to be honest!), I haven't had any issues.

Overall, I am really loving this mascara. I was a huge fan of Lash Stiletto and I feel like the fibers in this give me a little more body and length. If you liked LS, I would highly recommend this. As usual, mascaras will really perform differently on everyone depending on your lashes. If your lashes are sparse (as in volume wise), I wouldn't recommend this as you may end up with spider lashes due to how much lengthening this does.

What do you think of this one? Would you try it? Have you already tried it? Let me know!