Influenster Surfs Up VoxBox and Not Your Mother's Beach Babe (#NYMBeachBabe)

Another Influenster Voxbox campaign is in progress! I was lucky to have received this box along with its contents! If you want an invitation to Influenster, just write a comment below with your email address and I'll make sure to send you one! 

This box had a tropical theme and I thought a fitting leaf display would be in order!

In the VoxBox, the stand-out products were the Not Your Mother's Beach Babe #NYMBeachBabe Texturizing Shampoo and Conditioner. They help keep braids in place, curls last and tame frizz, all of the things I look for in a texturizing product. Previously, I had only tried their Sea Salt Beach Spray but I really enjoyed these thoroughly and would definitely re-purchase. 

Another honorable mention was the Sinful Colors shade in Aqua, try out this inexpensive line at Walgreens for a huge variety of colors. 

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.

Confessions of a Palette Addict Tag & Palette Reviews

I wanted to do a post about my palette collection and I found a really informative way to do it through the "Confessions of a Palette Addict" tag. There are specific questions to answer and I'll list them below (providing as many photos as possible). I added a few questions of my own because there were some palettes I wanted to highlight, I've marked these questions with an asterisk (*). If you want to see any photos larger, click on them and they will expand to full size!

Questions:

1. How many makeup palettes do you have? I have 51 palettes in total (counting all palettes that have 4 or more wells of product).

2. How many of those are eyeshadow palettes? 50 are eyeshadow palettes, many of my palettes also include blushes (Be Bright & Be Merry, City Color Dreaming of Fantasy, Tokidoki palettes, Jasmine, Balm Voyage, and a custom mixed palette).

3. How many are non eyeshadow palettes? All except for my concealer palette, pictured below (so I own 50 eyeshadow palettes). I purchased this from eBay, it was very inexpensive, is good quality and great for contouring and having a wide range of colors.

4. What are you top 3 favorite palettes?

I have to give first place to my beloved Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland palette (unfortunately this was a very limited edition run). I absolutely love the color selection, you can create dozens of different looks with this and I don't even mind that there are no matte shades. I found my favorite shade with this palette, it is Curiouser in the palette but better known as Grifter eyeshadow single by Urban Decay.

I love Kat Von D's palette "Saint", which is very travel friendly, neutral oriented, but still contains a large range of colors, I can always create a nice muted look with this. The shades are very buttery and smooth and rival Urban Decay shadows in terms of pigmentation.

A nostalgic love of mine is the Disney and Sephora Cinderella collaboration. This palette brings me back to my childhood and combines beautiful and functional packaging with 20 eyeshadows that pack a punch. I am a huge fan of the greens and blues (specifically the light blues) for an ethereal princess look.

5. What are your palette regrets? I don't have too many palette regrets because I usually purchase them when they're on sale (unless they were limited edition) and I get a lot of use out of my palettes.

Although I picked this palette up at Nordstrom Rack for a measly $6 (it normally retails for $30 at Sephora), I wasn't very impressed with the pigmentation of these shades. Although they swatch well, they are not easily blended, buttery, and tend to have chunky glitter fall out. I also don't think the colors in this palette create nice looks together or are complementary. 

Another palette regret is the Tokidoki Arte Palette in Vegas, the pigmentation is just poor on these shades even though the color selection is pretty, so I don't reach for it.

6. How many limited edition or Holiday palettes do you own? So many. Here is a list: Tokidoki  Robbery Palette Trio, Too Faced Joy to the Girls and Be Merry & Be Bright and small holiday palette, the Tarte of Giving, Tarte's Bow n Go, Tarte for True Blood, Sephora Pantone Universe Elements Palette. Urban Decay: Glinda, Mariposa, Deluxe Shadow Box, NYC palette, Alice in Wonderland, Butterfly Book of Shadows IV, ELF Ursula & Evil Queen, Sephora + Disney: Cinderella, Ariel and Jasmine, City Color Dreaming of Fantasy, MAC Devoted Poppy, Estee Lauder Holiday Palette

7. How many of your palettes are custom? 6

I have 2 vintage custom MAC palettes with colors I chose and 1 new regular MAC eyeshadow palette full of Urban Decay singles and miscellaneous others.

 I have 2 Z palettes, one contains my domed shadows and blushes, the other is miscellaneous shadows. I also have a double-sided MAC palette filled with my Wet n Wild depotted shadows.

8. Of the palettes you own which 1 palette would you say wasn't worth the price?

My answer has to be the Dior 5-color shadow palette in 809 Petal Shine. Although the colors are beautifully pigmented and buttery smooth, the color payoff is good, but the price overall doesn't justify the purchase. I think you can find good dupes of these colors at the drugstore.

9. Of the palettes you own which 1 palette was worth every penny?

My custom Wet n Wild palette is extremely useful to me. It has 8 trios (Walking on Eggshells, Silent Era Film [LE], Sweet as Candy, I'm Getting Sunburned, Spoiled Brat, Cool as a Cucumber, I've Got Good Jeans, I'm Feeling Retro) and 3 of the 8-pan palettes (Comfort Zone, Petal Pusher, and Flirting at the After Party [LE]). These eyeshadows are among some of the best, rivaling high end companies. They are buttery, very pigmented, easily blendable, and beautiful all while being so inexpensive!

10. In the last 12 months how many palettes have you given away or returned? 7+ were given as gifts.

11. If for some reason one morning you woke up and all of you palettes vanished, which 3 palettes would you run out and get?
The Naked 1 palette (I feel it has the most variety of warm neutrals which I tend to reach for on a daily basis and for an easy beautiful look), my Wet 'n Wild custom palette for all the same reasons I mentioned before, and Balm Voyage for beautiful pops of unique colors, great quality and large pan sizes.

Naked 1 Palette

Balm Voyage

*12. What is your most loved/oldest palette?
The Estee Lauder Deluxe Shadow Palette (from the Holiday Gift set - I forget which year!), this was my very first palette and I received it as a birthday gift from friends of mine! I absolutely loved it and it's one of the things that got me so into makeup. The colors are so smooth, soft and easy to use, they blend well and go together perfectly for a variety of unique looks.

*13. What is the best palette for special occasion/wedding makeup?
From my collection, I absolutely love the Tarte for True Blood palette for special occasions. It has some wonderfully soft colors which can be pumped up with dark accents. It was absolutely stunning for my wedding makeup (which I did myself!) and it lasted all day. It actually far exceeds the current quality of Tarte eyeshadows, which I'm not too crazy about, partially because the color selection is so poor in their new palettes.

*14. What are some honorable mentions or palettes you'd like to share with exceptional quality?
I have to give a big shout out to my beloved Tokidoki Robbery Palette Trio, which has a wonderful color selection and nice blushes as well, and the City Color Dreaming of Fantasy palette which I snagged on eBay for an absolute steal! This palette is so cute and the colors are only slightly powdery but very soft and pigmented, so worth the purchase... Plus look at the packaging!

Product Swatches and Review: NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream

I picked up a pack of 3 soft matte lip creams about a year ago because I saw that there was a 3-pack on sale at a local Urban Outfitters. I didn't even know anything about them at the time and my expectations were very low. I used and loved my original three so much (Tokyo, Antwerp and Addis Ababa) that just last week I decided to pick up two more (Milan and Sao Paulo). 

 I wanted to take swatches of my mini-collection to give you guys an idea of the pigmentation of these (swatches were all done with one swipe) - these are highly bold, pigmented, long wearing and last well for me even through eating and drinking. I get a solid 6 hours of wear time from these before they start to disappear off my lips. They are not the most moisturizing product and can even leave your lips a bit dry but this is not a problem if you apply a tiny bit of vaseline or chapstick first.

Tokyo: Bubblegum pink

Milan: Mid-tone blue-toned pink

Antwerp: Mid tone yellow-toned pink

San Paulo: Plummy pink

Addis Ababa: Bright fuchsia

Antwerp is the most unique color of the bunch, I don't have a color like this in my lip product collection. The middle three, MIlan, Antwerp and San Paulo are my favorites. Let me know what you think about this collection and if you have any other recommendations for me to pick up!

First Impressions: NYX Hot Single Eyeshadows

Today I received my order from the NYX website (this is the first time I've ever ordered anything from them) and I was so surprised at the great deals and variety they had! I didn't even know NYX made SO many products, even Ricky's near me don't carry nearly the entire line. I read many reviews and recommendations for the new Hot Single Eyeshadows. I also found great discount codes online and they stacked with the memorial sale, so I managed to purchase quite a lot of things and get free shipping, a bonus free product, and a great price! 

I was eager to do a quick first impressions of these since I haven't had time to actually use them (though I'm sure I'll do some Eyes of the Day posts with these). 

As you can tell, the eyeshadows look very pigmented in their cute packaging, complete with bow-clasp. They are such a delight in their packaging that I don't even want to depot them (I had originally purchased them with this intention)

The swatches of these shades are absolutely beautiful. All of these colors were only swatched once. 

• They all have a satin finish except for Tweed which is a medium to deep matte brown (perfect crease or definition color). 
• Club Crawl is a duochrome taupe shade with golden reflects. 
• Flustered is a deep reddish copper, again another shade I would think is great crease shade paired with something lighter or darker on the lid. 
• Sex Kitten is a duochrome pink-based champagne with gold reflects (amazing for an all-over lid color or inner corner highlight). 
• Harlequin is a vivid violet fuchsia that is delightful for a very feminine look. 
• Dank is a yellow-leaning medium green which reminds me a lot of a shade in between MAC's Swimming and Lucky Green. 

I posted photos of the NYX website color previews and most colors looked darker in the pictured pot than what I received. I found that the truest to color were Flustered (copper) and Dank (green), Tweed (brown) appears lighter and Sex Kitten (champagne), Harlequin (purple) and Club Crawl (taupe) appear darker in the pot.

Sneak Peek: Maybelline Fall Matte Color Tattoo Collection (2014)

Photo from Beautezine's instagram: http://www.intagme.com/beautezine/734219344452265565_8519872/

There was a sneak peek of the new line of Maybelline Color Tattoos coming out this fall and they're all matte, folks! Yep, Maybelline is doing it again by releasing these colors in a totally matte formulation. I'm super excited, the colors are very fall-esque, with what appears to be dark maroon, brown, copper, black and a plum leaning gray.

I can't wait until we have more info on these but I just wanted to give you all a quick heads up, I know I got super giddy when I found out!