Review & Swatches: Wet n Wild Halloween 2014 Megaslicks Balm Stain - Limited Edition

Wet n Wild has released a whole new Halloween 2014 Collection and it can be found at Walgreens and Duane Reade. I have purchased "2AM Call Time" and "Senorita" and wanted to compare them to two colors from the permanent collection of Megaslicks Balm Stains. I only skipped out on one of these from the Halloween collection, it was a gold color called "You're Golden" but it just wasn't my cup of tea!

Now as you may already know the Megaslicks Balm Stains are a moisturizing formula combining both color and nourishment for your lips. They are an easy alternative to the lipstick and they go on smooth and wear comfortably. They stain the lips, specifically leaving a color if they are darker or brighter-toned (the nudes don't do this as much). The Balm Stains also have a minty refreshing feeling which perks your lips up and even has a slight plumping effect in my experience.

You may be able to tell from the swatch that "Senorita" was by far the most glossy of the Balm Stains, and the new shades ("2AM Call Time" and "Senorita") seemed to apply even more smoothly than "Rico Mauve" and "Pinky Promise" form the permanent collection.

Lip Swatch of Wet n Wild Megaslicks Balm Stain in "Senorita", ambient lighting

"Senorita" is a true red in every sense of the word, it seems to be a mid-tone red that doesn't lean orange or plum. I really love this shade for a night out or a bold lip with a muted eyeshadow look. It made my lips look full, didn't settle into any creases and the shine left a healthy glow.

Lip Swatch of Wet n Wild Megaslicks Balm Stain in "2AM Call Time", with flash

"2AM Call Time" is a bold color, not for the faint of heart! It is a bright purple shade, not cranberry-like in the slightest. It reminds me of more expensive lipsticks such as LimeCrime's which specialize in bold colors. I'm so happy I bought this color, it's truly unique! I can see myself lightly patting this on my lips for a hint of color for daytime.

I was so intrigued by 2AM Call Time and I just had to compare it to other similar colors from the drugstore from my collection. I have the Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in "Shameless" and the Jordana Twist & Shine in "Cranberry Crush" for comparison.

Wet N Wild Megaslicks Balm Stain "2AM Call Time" Comparison

You can see from the swatches above that the Jordana Twist & Shine Moisturizing Balm Stain in "Cranberry Crush" is the most wearable of the bunch, applying more as a cranberry than a purple. The Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in "Shameless" is a more matte, blue-toned purple, slightly deeper in saturation than the Wet N Wild Balm Stain in "2AM Call Time". I actually thought the Revlon Balm in "Shameless" was much patchier (you can even tell in the swatch) and it settles into the fine lines of my lips, something that the Wet N Wild Balm Stain does not. The biggest difference between the Revlon and Wet N Wild products is that the latter has a good amount of moisturizing and shine, while the former can be described as drying on the lips and is best worn with another balm underneath.

Do you own any of the Wet N Wild Megaslicks Balm Stains? Which color is your favorite and why? Let me know in the comments 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!)

New ELF Limited Edition Mineral Pearls (Guerlain Meteorites & Essence 'Me & My Ice Cream' Shimmer Pearls Dupe)

Exciting news! There's a new product from ELF and it is a Limited Edition Mineral Pearls dusting powder. These are a lower budget dupe of the Guerlain Meteorites set, coming in at $8 as opposed to the $60 price tag of the high-end version. It is worth nothing that this is one of the most expensive single items on the ELF website.

The mineral pearls come in 2 shades, Skin Balancing (to even out skin tone coloration and complexion) and Natural for a sheer wash of color. You are meant to brush your powder puff or kabuki brush and gently swirl around on the pearls before buffing onto the eyes, cheeks or body. This is an illuminating product which helps to reflect color on your skin and give a radiant glow (best used over foundation). 

ELF Mineral Pearls - Natural

ELF Mineral Pearls - Skin Balancing

6 multi-colored pearls are blended together when brushing them to brighten and mattify skin for a brightened look. ELF has created these not to be just beautiful on the skin but also to condition and hydrate skin since they are infused with Vitamin A, B, C & E for a silky feel.

Other similar products include the Guerlain Meteorites (which are touted as the original of this style of pearl powder - they now have created dozens of variant color combinations) and the Essence 'Me & My Ice Cream' Collection (Summer 2013) Shimmer Pearls. Many of these have been limited edition and can no longer be purchased unless you stalk one down on eBay!

Guerlain Meteorites example

Essence 'Me & My Ice Cream' Shimmer Pearls - courtesy Qtplace.com

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.

Eyes of the Day: Mrs. Mia Wallace Look

Since this year is the 20th anniversary of the cult classic Pulp Fiction and Urban Decay has released a Limited Edition Pulp Fiction eyeshadow palette  (based on the iconic character Mrs. Mia Wallace), I decided to do an Eyes of the Day post about her iconic look using the new palette.


In case you've been living under a rock for the past 20 years, this is what Mia Wallace (aka Uma Thurman) looked like in the movie, she was the quintessential babe of the 90s (1994 to be exact). She is subtle and natural and yet so dramatic with her severe lips, haircut and perfectly groomed brows.

The eyeshadow look tends to be quite wearable and natural, the guide for this look are on an insert inside the Pulp Fiction palette packaging. You can add more drama by using a black liquid or cream eyeliner, but I opted for the original with the eyeshadow "Furious" from the palette.

How to get the look:

This is what the shadows look like (you can re-create this look even if you don't own the palette, something similar like the Naked Basics or Physicians Formula Matte Eyeshadow Quad in Canyon Classics would do the trick).

I absolutely love this palette, it's so cute and reminds me of the 90's, I'll do a review very soon on it!

First Look: Anastasia Amrezy Palette (Limited Edition)

For those of us that are avid fans of Anastasia Beverly Hills, whether it be for their brow products or eyeshadows, there is an exciting newly released palette created by a very popular Instagram makeup artist named Amrezy. Since this collection was formulated through a collaboration between Anastasia's own daughter (who is responsible for the buttery texture and pigmentation of the company's eyeshadows) and a makeup artist who clearly has great taste, since her own Instagram photos are breathtaking, this palette is a huge win. You can purchase the palette on the Anastasia website or through ULTA.

I am in awe at the color selection. These colors are everything I have ever wanted in a palette... it has a good mix of neutrals for every day wear and some pops of gemstone colors (Iridescent Purple and Emerald) which are flattering for all eye colors. There are 10 shadows in total, with the top row containing shimmery satin finish and the bottom row being matte (a format popularized by the Lorac Pro palette).

The palette also features a double-sided brush with one side suited to deposit color onto the eyelid and the other side is a small crease brush, perfect for creating cut-crease looks or blending out your colors.

You might think that this palette looks familiar to the Lavish Palette but I think that the shades and formulations of the eyeshadows is superior in the Amrezy palette. The reason I say this is that although Sienna performs similarly to Morocco, Pink Sapphire, Ballet and Black Diamond were disappointing (they do not stay on the lid well and need to be packed on heavily). The pigmentation seems to be much more potent with the colors of the Amrezy palette (Iridescent Purple is far superior to Pink Sapphire) and I have not yet noticed any fall out.

All of the swatches below were created with a single swipe:

Anastasia Beverly Hills Amrezy Palette - Top Row Swatches (Shimmer)

Anastasia Beverly Hills Amrezy Palette - Bottom Row Swatches (Matte)

If you don't own any Anastasia palette, I think this is an amazing introductory palette for your collection, especially since it is VERY reasonably priced at $29. You will get a lot of wear from these colors and manage to achieve a wide variety of looks. The packaging is absolutely adorable and extremely feminine, this is a product that feels much more luxe than its price tag.

If you have other Anastasia palettes in your collection, you should still pick this one up since I'm 99.9% positive that this is the best eyeshadow formulation so far from the brand.

Hautelook Exclusive Pucker Up! Lip Beauty Bag

I've got a great deal to share with you guys today but it's exclusive to Hautelook members (Hautelook is free to join, by the way, so if you aren't a member, go sign up!). The best part of this "mystery bag" is that it's no mystery at all! I will give you the whole list of products and even the colors they come in! Talk about smart shopping! I will also be providing you with the retail prices of each single product. As a bonus, everything comes in a cute lipstick case as a freebie bonus. The only catch is that with Hautelook, you do have to pay for shipping (which depends on your location I believe, but mine was around $7.00). Hautelook values this bag at $160 worth of products and we can buy it for the absolute steal of $24! You can purchase the bag here.

The bag contains the following items (sources are linked for the retail value):

1. Laura Geller Italian Marble Lipstick, Sugared Maple (glazed caramel with creamy vanilla) - Retail: $18
2. LORAC Lip Lustre Gloss, Ruby - Retail: $15
3. Mirenesse Glossy Kiss, Flirty Kiss - Retail: $29.95
4. Mirenesse Lip Bomb #2, Siren Red - Retail: $39.00
5. Swoon Lip Gloss Reusable Wand - innovative cosmetic tool that is designed to retrieve every bit of gloss from a lip gloss tube - Retail: $15.00
6. La Fresh Lip/Eye Makeup Remover Packette - just 1 of these - Retail: 0.83
7. Lord & Berry Shining Lipstick 20100, Fire (orangey red) - Retail: $16.00
8. Allegro Lip Gloss Case - couldn't find this anywhere
9. Crown Brush Lip Liner Brush (synthetic hair) Retail: $3.00
10. NYX Retractable Lip Liner, Ruby, Fruit Punch, Nectar, Nude Pink, Citrus (as far as I can tell, this is the only product with variation) - Retail: $4.50

So when everything is totaled up, I get a value of $141.28, the price Hautelook has of $160 is definitely a little bit over-inflated. But I'm not adding in the values of the lip gloss case or the makeup bag (because those, to me, with any mystery bag or subscription box, are essentially freebies).

Hope you guys enjoyed this and I hope it helps you decide whether or not you want to purchase the bag!

Also, please keep in mind what it says on the bag (at least when I'm looking at the page today)!

Happy shopping!