Product Review & Swatches: Too Faced La Belle Carousel - New Release for Holiday 2014

This is going to be an extremely picture-heavy post, so I apologize in advance but I am extremely excited about receiving the Too Faced "La Belle Carousel" after ordering it from Macys.com. The outer packaging is absolutely stunning, I love the artistic ornamental garlands surrounding the box and the scalloped golden edges of the packaging... plus it's a french carousel! What an adorable theme!

The inside looks just like a Christmas ornament, you could even hang it! The miniature palettes are held together pretty tightly by the glittery pink end-caps (these are made of a heavy duty cardboard).

Once the top is removed, inside you will find a look-book  with 4 looks: Sweet Soiree, La Belle, La Vie en Rose, and La Bonne Nuit. I always love it when companies include look-books, specifically when I'm feeling rather uninspired, I just take a peek and voila, a new look to try out!

When you pull out the individual components you will find that you have 5 miniature palettes and 1 Better Than Sex mascara (deluxe sized sample). The whole set retails for $49 but has an expected value of $282, so you're getting quite a deal!

A closer look at the opened palettes reveals 2 blush/bronzer palettes and 3 eyeshadow palettes (with 4 shadows in each - so you're getting 12 eyeshadows altogether). Let's take a closer look at the specifics of each palette.

The blush and bronzer palettes consist of Who's Your Poppy, Luminous Peach, Chocolate Soleil and Sun Bunny Dark. Who's Your Poppy is a rose red with glitter particles and Luminous Peach is a satin mid-toned orange. Chocolate Soleil is cocoa scented cool-leaning mid-tone bronzer and Sun Bunny Dark (the dark strip from the Sun Bunny bronzer) is a metallic orange-brown which reflects a lot of light.

Some of the shades in this range are re-promotes. Yule Log is a re-promote from last year's "Joy to the Girls" holiday palette and I find that they have the exact same consistency and performance. Sugar Plum Fairy also appears to be a re-promote of Sugar Plum from that same palette, it may be half a shade darker but they both suffer from pretty serious pilling in the pan due to the amount and size of glitter. Christmas Tree could be a shade close to Evergreen from the "A Few of my Favorite Things" Holiday 2013 palette, but I do not own that palette so I can't confirm it. Haute Chocolate is a re-promote from the Chocolate Bar palette as well, I don't see any difference between the two shades.

All of the shades performed well, though I want to make note that Frost is essentially an "overshadow" color that provides just some sparkle and glitter, but will not really provide much of a color on its own. I like that they included Tufted Suede in the palette (it's hard to see in my swatches since it is very close to my the color of my tanned skin). Santa's Boots was the only color I found to be chalky and rather hard to blend, also the black was not very pigmented and didn't travel easily when swatching. Some standout shades that I think are an absolute success in this palette are: Tin Soldier, Christmas Tree, Boxes & Bows, Angel Hair, Haute Chocolate (this one was my absolute favorite) and Yule Log.

I absolutely love this set and I think it would make a wonderful gift for any makeup lover! What a wonderful set, full of some new shades and a couple of re-promotes of successful holiday shades from last year. The eyeshadows feature a range of colors from highlighting colors to transition shades, darker crease shades and even pops of color. I love the size of the blushes and bronzers, you're getting a decent amount of product and all of the colors are very wearable on almost any skin-tone.

Is this set on your wishlist for the holidays?

 

Product Review: Wet 'n Wild Intuitive Blend Foundation + Primer

I was perusing the aisles of my local Rite Aid a few days ago and I stumbled upon the Wet 'n Wild Intuitive Blend Shade Adjusting Foundation + Primer. Now, I realize this isn't a new product to their line but I hadn't seen it in previous displays, so it took this extended display for me to realize it was even there! It is a foundation AND primer priced only at $5.99 so I figured I would give it a go and review it.

The applicator is a simple squeeze-tube and I find these perfectly hygienic and simple to use. I like the ombre yet simple packaging of this foundation - and what really intrigued me was that this product claims to be a primer as well as a foundation, which would cut one step out of my morning beauty routine (and I'm all about simplifying).

I took a series of photographs to show you how the microbead shade-adjusting technology works:

This foundation provides light to medium coverage and performs like a BB cream or tinted moisturizer, but it really does do everything that it claims! I haven't experienced any pilling or greasiness, the foundation wore all day on my skin and my skin still felt smooth 8 hours in. I applied it with a brush and my fingers, I typically prefer a brush but it works well both ways. I did find that I had to use concealer for my under-eye circles as the coverage wasn't enough to give me the brightness I like (but this can be true for many medium coverage foundations).

All in all, I think this is a fantastic, well-priced product. It really is a no-muss no-fuss sort of morning product that is a ton of fun to use. The product range only consists of 4 shades Fair, Light, Medium and Tan, so choose the one that you normally fall into with other foundations you may use.

If you're interested in this product, I've linked all 4 shades (fair, light, medium and tan) below:

Wet 'n Wild Fall 2014 ColorIcon Eyeshadow Palette Collection

The new Wet 'n Wild Coloricon eyeshadow palettes have arrived for the Fall 2014 collection, I was able to find these at Walgreens in the LA area this week. I picked up 3 of the 4 palettes released (Melrose at Night, Smoke and Melrose, Angels in Aubergine), I was not drawn to High Waisted Jeans because I'm not a big fan of blue eyeshadow, I don't find that it's the most flattering on my amber/brown eyes and fair skin tone.

Originally, I was skeptical about the performance of these quints because I have heard rather poor reviews of the permanent collection of quint eyeshadow palettes from Wet 'n Wild's new formulation, but I am so happy to announce that these shadows seem to be the old formulation!!! I hope you get a chance to pick these up if you're a fan of the old, phased-out, color icon shadow palettes. All of the shades are buttery smooth, ultra-pigmented, and have little fall-out.

These quints also feature a variety of glitter, metallic, mostly matte and satin eyeshadows, with Melrose at Night and Smoke and Melrose featuring many dupes of the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette.

Melrose at Night is a perfect daytime look palette if you're looking for a no muss, no fuss, palette. It's great for work or night time, you can always add more of the definer shade in the outer-V of your eye for increased dramatic effect. The Crease shade is my least favorite because it was probably the least pigmented shade out of all of the palettes, but still a better-than-average shadow.

The Smoke and Melrose palette is my absolute favorite, the Browbone shade is as perfect crease transition shade for me and I absolutely adore it (it is a dupe for Nooner from the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette). Smoke and Melrose is a darker, more warm-leaning palette than Melrose at Night, with the crease shade being much more metallic than the rest.

Angels in Aubergine features a wonderfully pigmented Base color, a nice pop of color in the browbone shade and a great way to create a few variations of the smokey eye palette with aubergine (maroon-purple) undertones. This was my least favorite of the palettes, only because I am less of a fan of smokey eye looks than other variations - that isn't to say you couldn't create a rather usual look with just the Browbone, Base and Definer shades. The crease color seems to have the most chunky glitter of all the shades in this range.

New Release: Anastasia Beverly Hills Maya Mia Palette (Limited Edition)

This week, a brand new palette was released from Anastasia Beverly Hills, and it is a collaboration between them and the Tanzanian makeup artist Maya Mia (maya_mia_y on Instagram), this is right on the heels of their Amrezy Palette Release last month. I notice familiar names between their latest palettes so let me delve right into my review of this palette.

The outer packaging and the cover of the palette itself are identical on top, the color choice is vibrant and frankly my favorite to date from Anastasia. I feel like their packaging has gotten more attractive and complex as their palettes have progressed over time.

The palette itself comes with the same dual-ended brush that was seen in the Amrezy palette and it is a very handy, usable brush (one side is a shadow packing brush and the other is a fine crease brush).

The back of the outer packaging includes a small preview, short explanation of the style of the palette, and details ingredients used.

Repeat colors from the Amrezy palette: Glisten, Vanilla and Caramel. 

Repeat colors from the Lavish palette: Sienna.

Unique colors: Nude, Deep Brown, Warm Taupe, Aqua, Fresh Peach, Gold Bar.

Out of the unique colors, the ones which performed best were Deep Brown, Warm Taupe, Gold Bar and Fresh Peach. I found that Aqua had to be packed on in multiple layers to get decent pigmentation, otherwise it just seems like a sheer wash of light blue. I really liked the impact of Deep Brown, it's a great shade to cut your crease with and darken your outer corner. I like that although there are repeats of colors in this palette range, the pops of color are unique, since those are probably the colors used least.

This palette included something extra special: 5 free look cards which detail how to achieve each look on the back - this is a great inclusion to inspire your daily makeup, especially if you want to do something extra special.

I used the first look card, it consisted of 4 shades: Vanilla, Warm Taupe, Sienna and Deep Brown. I chose to go with a less dramatic black winged liner, and this is the look I achieved:

Overall, I really thoroughly enjoyed this palette and I was able to pick it up from the Anastasia Beverly Hills flagship salon and store in Beverly Hills, close to Rodeo Dr. - which made it an even better experience for me! I also picked up a Contour Kit and am excited to review that for you soon (I have used it every day since purchasing it!)

Sleek Arabian Nights Palette

The packaging on the Sleek Arabian Nights Palette is absolutely breathtaking, it gives you a smokey, mysterious vibe, which is exactly what this Limited Edition palette is all about. It features 12 shades so you can create a versatile Arabic eye, whether it be vibrant, smokey or neutral.

The packaging of the palette itself is a sleek, thin, black plastic design with the name of the palette printed for clarity. This palette is ideal for travel, with each color being about the size of a nickel. 

There is an overlay which has all of the shade names printed on top, this isn't my favorite feature but a majority of palettes are made this way - I much prefer having the names printed on the actual packaging. However, seeing as this palette retails for about $12, this is definitely not a big deal if it keeps the retail price low. 

The variety of colors is what really drew me to purchase this particular palette as my first Sleek palette. I really like that there are shades of beige, yellow, taupe, green, teal, blue, bronze, brown, gray, plum and black - wow what a selection! One thing to note, however, is that almost all of the colors have micro-glitter, glitter, or a metallic sheen with the exception of Stallion which appears to be mostly matte.

I'm really impressed with the pigmentation of the Sleek eyeshadows - they have really great color payoff. They're easy to blend and really do pack a punch when you use them on your eyes. However, I have noticed that it's easiest to get the color I want by packing it on with my finger than with a brush, especially on my lid. I also think they're chalkier than the shadows I'm typically used to (but I am comparing them to much more expensive, high end makeup). Simbad's Seas is a shadow that is so pigmented and beautifully unique, as a mix between blue and purple, that it's worth the entire purchase of this palette just to get it.

I am a huge fan of the brown-leaning shades, I think they're hits in this palette (see Genie, Stallion, Aladdin's Lamp). The one with the least color payoff is Valley of Diamonds but it is such a beautiful blush pink with gold glitter that I would work with this shade just to use it - I personally adore this color and it can soften an otherwise fairly severe color palette. 

I only have 1 other smokey eye palette and this really fills a need I had in my makeup collection, so I'm very happy with this purchase. I really am very surprised with the great quality of these shadows (specifically for the price point) and I recommend that everyone purchase at least 1 palette from Sleek to try out (they have a huge selection of options). I got my palette from Amazon, since it's not readily available in the US, but the delivery only took a couple of days!

Product Review: Boots No 7 Stay Perfect Blemish Cover Stick Concealer

Recently, at my local Duane Reade, I discovered a 50% off sale on the Boots No. 7 line (an import and blogger favorite from England) so I had decided to try out the Stay Perfect Blemish Cover Stick. This product is a spot or stick concealer which reminds me a lot of the Chanel Estompe Eclat Concealer (this is a huge throwback for me, it's the first concealer I ever used and I loved it to bits) in consistency, but it slightly less smooth/creamy. 

The packaging is sleek, it's a nice product for on-the-go cover-ups, and I even like it for under my eyes as it is thick enough that it does a good job of camouflaging the blue undertones when I have bags. It's a twist-up design which I think is far more hygenic than the MAC Studio Finish SPF35 Concealer. I chose the shade "Medium" because I thought the colors ran very fair in the range, which may be a problem if you're deeper skinned and want to look into this product.

In swatches of the Boots No. 7 Stay Perfect Blemish Cover Stick, it goes on fully opaque in one swipe and even when blended out, you can see how the consistency remains thick and it is full coverage. The medium has yellow to neutral undertones. I do find that the wear time is good, and there is little to no creasing, but I do make a point of setting all of my under-eye concealers with Tarte's Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder - this is just a habit I picked up years ago and you can use any translucent powder.

Overall, if you're in the market for a full-coverage spot concealer, definitely check this one out, it's not too oily that it will run down your face and will definitely stay in place all day. If you're having a hard time spreading thicker concealers, remember to warm them up with the tip of your finger and gently pat them onto your skin.

Product Review: Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Palette (Limited Edition)

Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Box Packaging

When it comes to cool packaging and unique ideas for palettes, Urban Decay definitely takes the cake. They're a company that's always thinking out of the box and creating unique, trendy packaging and products. The Urban Decay Pulp Fiction palette was released as a limited edition product, along with their entire Pulp Fiction line, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the release of the movie.

The front and back of the packaging are very informative and even have a little blurb about Mrs. Mia Wallace and why she was chosen as the inspiration for the palette. I especially like the blood red double-ended brush and the little band-aid at the bottom of the packaging.

Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Box Packaging - Back

Samuel L. Jackson's (aka Jules Winnfield) famous quote is even included on the packaging (this is somewhat of a strange decision though because his character isn't really connected with Mia Wallace's in the movie, so it's cool but seems a little out of place).  Regardless, it's an amazing quote that my husband has memorized from the movie!

Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Palette Packaging

When you open the packaging up, it has a very grungy chaotic feeling of paint splatter and blood stains (very reminiscent of the movie)1. The palette consists of 5 eyeshadows and 1 double-ended miniature brush.

To see a look created with this palette, refer back to my Mrs. Mia Wallace Eyes of the Day - this post went into the look card which came in the box and how to re-create Uma Thurman's look in the movie.

You can easily use this palette for every day looks and this palette, upon first glance, looks fairly similar to the Naked Basics palette. However, upon further inspection, Vengeance (Pulp Fiction) is more bronze than the taupe-leaning Faint (Naked Basics), Anger (Pulp Fiction) is more silver than cream-based Venus (Naked Basics) and Righteous (Pulp Fiction) is lighter and less peachy than W.O.S. (Naked Basics).

I think if you were to own both Naked Basics and Pulp Fiction palettes (like I do) that you wouldn't be disappointed. I particularly love the color Tyranny since it's a perfect caramel for warming up the crease or transitioning between shades.

I love the quality of the cruelty-free synthetic dual sided brush, it has one end as a shadow-packing brush and another for precise inner corner or brow-bone highlighting (or even defining your eyebrows).

I think if you have the extra $34 and you're a big fan of Urban Decay, this is a palette you could pick up, enjoy and not be upset about how much you spent. However, if the price is a little steep or you're not a Pulp Fiction fan (and then you must clearly not be a child of the 90's!) then you can easily make do with the Meet Matt(e) palette from theBalm, Physicians Formula Matte Eyeshadow Quad (in Canyon Classics), or Urban Decay's Naked Basics. If you own Naked 1 and 2 you probably already have a large quantity of neutral eyeshadows as well and this wouldn't be too unique in your collection.

Product Review: NYX Haul

Ulta had a 40% off sale on all NYX cosmetics last week and I indulged in getting some of the products I had been eyeing. If you've seen my previous review, you'll know that I really enjoyed the NYX Hot Singles. I have heard other bloggers and vloggers rave about the HD concealer and the Baked Blush, the color lip balm and roll on shimmer actually arrived in my Total Beauty Favorites Sampler Box (use code 2FER to get 2 boxes for the price of one)

I purchased 2 eyeshadow hot singles in the colors Money Maker and Dare. The pigmentation of these is on par with the other colors I have reviewed in the past. They are similar to MAC eyeshadows in terms of color, wear and staying power. I also got the NYX Baked Blush, which appears in the pan to be quite shimmery, in the color Wanderlust. To my surprise, this was very lightly pigmented and is probably better used as a highlight or cheek topper rather than a blush - or you can use it as a blush for a bronze-y more blended look. The shimmer really doesn't show up as much as I thought it would, but that isn't necessarily a negative.

Here are my swatches of the products.

I received the NYX Color Lip Balm in the color Merci and the NYX roll on Shimmer in Taupe from my Total Beauty Collection box. I was pleasantly surprised with the lip balm! It has a sweet taste to it, takes only 1 swipe for a sheer wash of color and can easily be built up into a bold, vibrant color on your lips. This is a great item for on-the-go application where you don't want to worry too much about getting perfect edges, it's very forgiving.  The shimmer in Taupe is very pigmented and has extremely good color payoff, but is very prone to glitter fall-out, so I don't know if I could use this all over my lid, as I would probably fear the glitter falling into my eye. If you're going to use this on your eyes, I highly recommend using a setting product or some cosmetic glitter glue. 

The NYX HD Concealer in Fair was my "gut instinct" purchase, because from all of the swatches I saw online, this looked like it had good opacity and would be a great brightening concealer. My gut was right, it is! You can tell by my swatches, it even retains the majority of its opacity when blended out. I think the color is a good match for me and it does act brightening because it doesn't have as yellow of undertones as my skin, so it makes certain areas appear slightly more highlighted. This concealer has good staying power but I did set it with my Tarte Maracuja powder, as with all under-eye correctors.

Hope you found this catch-all review helpful!

Product Review: Smashbox Full Exposure Travel Palette

The Smashbox Full Exposure Palette is one I've constantly looked at in Sephora but have never purchased because the packaging wasn't gimmicky enough to draw me in or there was always something else I was coveting more. However, when I learned that Macy's had a travel sized version of the palette featuring 8 shades from the original 14 of the palette, I was thrilled! This was exactly what I wanted - to dabble in the palette and avoid colors I may not be incredibly fond of (such as some of the repeating nudes and grays).

The travel-sized Smashbox Full Exposure palette is so small it fits in the palm of my hand (and I have small hands) and it retails for $22 (Macy's often has discounts, however so I got mine for $15). The full sized palette features 14 colors and retails for $49. The travel palette features 8 shades at .02625oz each versus the 0.035 oz sized shadows of the original palette. The travel palette is sleek, can fit in any purse and seems quite resilient as it is made out of plastic - it even contains a miniature mirror for any on-the-go touch-ups.

Top Row: Chocolate brown with golden pearl, soft gold with gold and silver pearl, light tan with gold and silver pearl, midtone slate with silver pearl

Bottom Row: Matte warm chocolate brown, soft matte midtone tan, creamy matte beige, ashy dark brown

Here are my swatches of the palette. I'm incredibly happy with this travel-sized palette as I don't think I would have splurged on the full size and this really satisfies my craving for this line. I really think this palette is fairly similar to the Lorac Pro Palette but it is a travel friendly version. The shadows are buttery, perform well and are easy to blend... I find that this would be particularly useful for someone who wants an easy look or is new to eyeshadow combinations.