January IPSY Glam bag

Alright well we all know with my vacation I had a pretty busy January...what's my excuse for February, you ask? ....Let's move on and pretend I had one.

I almost let this go and skipped January's IPSY review but in the end I couldn't bring myself to.
I also want to start noting at the end of every product whether or not I would buy it again. I think this is more of a way to keep track of myself.

January's actual bag was a bit of a disappointment. Not cute at all. But of course still functional so not a waste. This might be good for sample/travel sizes of bathroom items..I'm not sure why but it just reminds me of that.

Here are the items that were included in my January glam bag...to me it seemed very left- field and seemed almost out of place to me.

Of course I'm sure the first things your eyes fell on is the best item in the bunch-

Yes I was one of the lucky few that got a sample of Benefit's Porefessional. I have never tried this, nor much from the brand in general so I was very happy to have gotten it.
I was mostly excited for this because I have heard so many good things about it, it's one of those cult favorites. However, pore minimizers are not really on my list of necessary products. I will use this sample I'm sure but it will take me a long time and I don't know if I will really need it.

When you dispense it it seems to have a nude color but once you rub it in, it disappears.

I haven't used this on my face yet but on my hand it did not seem to blur any pores.

This sample size is only .1 fl oz. The full size can be found here and is .75 fl oz and retails for $30. The sample size is worth approximately $4. Give or take. Math isn't my strong point, people.

Would I buy this again? I haven't tried it on my face yet but I'm not sure. Because of the cult following it has, I expect to love it. But it's not necessarily a product I need. So I'm really not sure if I will ever repurchase or not.

Another brand I have never heard of. This product actually comes in handy since its "winter"- FL winters hardly count but the weather IS bipolar enough to give me chapped lips.

This is mojito lip balm that claims to protect and soothe. This is a full size product which is nice.

As far as lip balm goes, I'm not an avid user even though I probably should be. This felt really nice on the lips so I'm going to make an effort to wear it.

This is full size and retails here for $12.
Would I buy it again? So far it seems like a great lip balm but the price is a bit too high for me to justify. The mary kay one that I love is only $10.

The next product was the one I was most surprised to receive-

a foundation sample. From a brand I have never heard of. It's kind of funny because I was talking with my friend and she said she had received so many foundations. I was surprised to hear that and told her I had never received one! And then what do you know, the very next month I got one.

I have to say that I'm very shocked this is a full size product. I thought for sure it was a sample size.

Above is the product straight out of the tube and then after blending in. You can see it is a little light for my hand but otherwise is a fairly good match.

Above it's on the left side of the picture. You can see it covers some of the redness that is present on my cheek but all in all it's not full coverage enough to be something that I can see myself using regularly.
It does cover fairly well- as you can see if you scroll up to the lip gloss swatch picture.

I understand that they included a more sheer coverage because that was the most likely to appeal to the larger audience but it doesn't so much appeal to me. There's nothing wrong with this per se, although I have yet to wear it all over my face or for an extended period of time.

This is a full size product and can be bought here for $13.55
For the price I would not re-purchase it. That's a little more than I pay for my drug store foundation and even though it's less than the Mary Kay foundation, it's also much much smaller.

Another brand I've never heard of! Which is not to sound like complaining, that's half the reason I have this membership!
But this product, Balm me up by Balanced Guru...is, a body balm, I guess?
Personally that's a product that I don't use.

As you can see the inside is a weird texture...I'm a texture kinda person. It weirds me out. It's completely organic though which is nice.
I guess this is used for extreme dryness. The website claims it won't leave you feeling greasy but I have to disagree. I put some on my arm and definitely thought it was an oily feeling, but I could have put too much.
All in all I would probably only use this on my elbows or maybe my feet in my extreme dry spots because I am always lacking in that moisturizing department.

This is the 1oz travel size that can be bought here for $12
Would I buy this again? No I don't think I would. It's nice that it's organic and it has a nice citrus-y smell, but it's not something I need in my routine and certainly not for $12 or even worse the $45 full size price!

Last but not least I received this pack of makeup remover tissues. I feel like this is a product that any makeup lover is always in need of.
I haven't opened it yet because it's the kind of package that gets dried out easily once you open it, so I am waiting. I haven't read the best reviews yet though!

This is a 10 ct which retails at this website for $2.49
To me that is too expensive for only 10 wipes so I would not buy it on my own.

So that wraps up my january bag! I have received my february bag but I haven't even opened it yet! I know, crazy.
So I will open and review that as soon as possible for you.

So overall the bag was valued at $44.05 , which is great next to the $10 I spend every month on the subscription.

If you're interested in starting your own IPSY subscription you can sign up through my referral link here.

If you're already a subscriber what did you think of your January bag? Were you impressed?

2 Concert makeup looks featuring Make Up For Ever Aqua Rouge #11

While cleaning up some of my pictures I realized I never posted two looks from last year that I really, really liked.

Because they were looks for concerts, I was in a rush and did not get to take as many pictures as I normally would. One of the days I even only had my phone camera. I didn't take note of which products I used (what I can remember I will note below)

In both of these looks I'm wearing Make Up For Ever Aqua Rouge lip color in #11, Dark Raspberry.

These are actually from September of last year. Whoops! As you can see I still have dark hair in these pictures.
In fact, looking at these made me miss my dark hair!! What do you think?

In this first look I wore a blue/green smokey eye to see Fall Out Boy in September. I had to apply my makeup in the car and my only camera was on my phone.
Not the most ideal for documenting but I still really loved how the look pulled together so I felt it was worth sharing!

The only things I remembered using are the Elf little black beauty book (I talked about it here, and to answer my own question, no, no I would not call it Holy Grail) and MUFE aqua rouge in 11.

Any discoloration you see is due to my crappy cell phone camera NOT a real reflection of my skin. My camera does this sometimes.

I like the general sharp winged shape I had here. It could have been blended a bit more but because this is such an old look, I didn't know as much back then.

My second look is from when I went to see my favorite band, Yellowcard.
I remember being so flattered because a few people complimented my makeup that night and of course that made my day.

For this look I used MAC pigment Bright Fuchsia which is the bright pink you see on the eyelid that ended up staying on all night through the concert AND sleep. Pretty impressive!

 A worse phone quality but you get the picture. I also really like my key clock necklace which I got for less than $5 on Amazon.

If you notice there is a part of my lips which are discolored...the MUFE Aqua Rouge didn't seem to stick to it.
I honestly have no idea why or how this happened...I didn't realize it until later when going through my pictures. It could have been a dry/chapped spot of lips or it could have been because I tried on a few different lipsticks before settling on this one. I don't know!

As you can see I smoked the pink out with a dark purple in the crease/outer V.

I had just dyed my hair again so it's extra dark so I was trying something different with my eyebrows here. I think they look a bit off but it's all apart of the brows journey!

So there are 2 looks that I put together back in September and needed to last all night.

I didn't think they were worth throwing away so I hope you've enjoyed them. The truth is the MUFE Aqau Rouge is my go-to lipstick. It lasts FOREVER and is waterproof, smudgeproof, etc and MATTE (if you don't apply the 2nd side which is how I usually wear it). This meets all my basic needs because I rarely re-apply lip products through the day. I need something to last me all day.

The MUFE Aqua Rouge is my go-to for any big events, anything where I will be eating/drinking, and really a majority of my full face looks! I really love it and I'm so glad I got it.

Revlon Super Lustrous Vintage collection swatches & review

So sometime last year one of my favorite beauty bloggers posted that Revlon would be bringing back a few vintage shades of their Super Lustrous lipsticks for a limited time.
They actually had an event where you could vote which lipsticks came out. Even though I was unfamiliar with the Super Lustrous lipsticks, I still cast a vote. Then I promptly forgot.

It wasn't until I heard they were finally being released that I remembered that I really wanted to get my hands on this collection!

I have been on a bit of a budget with myself and haven't bought new makeup in a while. So I went into Walgreens specifically looking for this and the Maybelline dare to go nude collections.

I saw the display and actually legit gasped. It was full! This was especially lucky since there is only 2 spots per color in the display. That's it!

Unfortunately the price took my by surprise a little bit. Like I said I have never bought the Revlon Super Lustrous lipsticks so I didn't know what price range I was looking at. They were about $7.25 each.

There are 5 shades and I knew I couldn't afford all of them. So I narrowed it down to just 3- Sandstorm, Icy Violet, and one of the peaches. But then, when we were checking out the cashier informed me that they were on sale for buy one get one half off! So I ran back to get the other peach shade.

There was one more shade, Fifth Avenue Red (first debuted in 1958) I already have so many reds that I decided I could skip this one.

So in the end I paid about $20 for 4, which really isn't a bad price.

Now on to the swatches!

I really liked the packaging for these lipsticks. The top is clear, letting you see easily which color is inside.

same order as above

I also like how there is a sticker on the bottom that is both easy to read and tinted with a general color to represent the lipstick.

I also really liked that they were all sealed with plastic (the kind with a perforated strip) which is my favorite kind of packaging. That way you know no one else tampered with it yet it's still easy to get your product out.

From left to right: Sandstorm, Jungle Peach, Snow Peach, and Icy Violet

When I first saw the press release I was a little confused as why people picked 2 peach colors. However as you can see they are not even remotely the same color. Jungle peach is more of  a nude neutral and Snow Peach leans way pink.

One swipe down & back up

Here they are swatched on my arm, in the same order as above. Once again you can see the difference between the two peach colors.

They are all pretty pigmented- the swatches above are with just one swipe down and then back up, and all of them are opaque.

First up is Sandstorm. Sandstorm first was released in 1999, which I think is very obvious. It just looks like something that came out of the 90s. It's a brown shade that looks kinda like copper- very metallic.

Doesn't it look like the 90s?

Since I spend most of my life pretending it's still 2001, this lipstick is perfect for me. I am so excited to own it! It feels very nice on the lips, in fact all of these lipsticks do. I think after this I am definitely going to check out the core line of the Super Lustrous collection.

Next is Jungle Peach which first debuted in 1963. This is a very nude peach and I did not expect to like it as much as I did!

Since it is so light it does tend to accentuate any dry areas on your lips- perhaps this could be prevented by properly exfoliating and priming prior to wear. Since I am a lazy daisy I did no such thing before putting it on. But I still loved it!

I'm not a nude person AT ALL but I really, really like this color. I see myself wearing it a lot in the future.

Next is Snow Peach, which first came out in 1956! Honestly I don't see how this is a peach color. Maybe if you are a different skin tone than me? To me it seemed very pink. At first I thought I didn't like it but after putting on Jungle Peach I decided that I did like them both, even if neither of them were what I expected.

Like I said, it leans very pink on me.

But I still think it's a very nice color and it's soft enough that I actually like it.

The last shade I got is Icy Violet, which seems to be to belong in the 90s as well. But this shade actually came out in 1946! Who knew there were such fun colors in the 40s!

This color did not photograph very well. It looks more purple on the skin to me. And yes, it is frosty.

Again, it pulls more purple in person. This is also the sheerest of the formulas. It can be built up to opacity though.

So all in all I'm really glad I picked these up AND I'm glad I got to get both peach shades. I truly can see myself wearing these a lot which is something I don't often say about lip colors. I also think Icy Violet can transform other colors underneath it so that will be fun to experiment with. The only thing I can't comment on is wear time- I tried these on consecutively and have yet to see how long they last on the lips.

Do you have any plans to pick up any of these vintage shades? Do any of you remember these before they discontinued them? If you like them I have to say, better hurry because these babies are going to sell out fast! Not to mention now is the best time to scoop them up during the Walgreens BOGO 1/2 off sale!

Valentine's Day Cut Crease FOTD

So as I am sure you remember, yesterday was Valentine's Day.

I am not going to get into defending this holiday because, I get it. A lot of people hate it.  But don't rain on my parade! I love all holidays! I love themes! I love red and pink actually no I don't which is why it's fun to like it on the holiday only! Hearts are fun! Chocolates are yummy!

You get the picture.

And it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm in a semi long term relationship. When I was in high school I was single as a nun and still had so much fun with it. I bought these super cheesy boxers with holographic hearts all over them and wore them to school along with wings and a bow and arrow and I ran around all day acting like cupid.
Sometimes I think of my high school self and ask, did that really happen? Yes, ladies and gents. It really did.
Which is why I don't buy the bitterness that people seethe out on V-day. I think it's fun to celebrate love- whether yours or someone else's!

SO as you may have learned by now, I like to do themed makeup looks that are over the top and utilize the holiday's colors (see: my Christmas look)

So for Valentine's day (which was mostly spent with friends as my man was working) I did an extremely colorful cut crease look.

I am still new at cut creases so it's still in a learning curve. And while I didn't take pictures for a tutorial because frankly I didn't know what I was doing, I still want to tell you how I achieved this look.


As you can see I did a red eyelid color (that really came across as more pink), with a purple cut crease and purple lower eyeliner, with a pop of bright pink in the inner corner.

The most dramatic part of this look is obviously the double/triple wing look. This is something that just kinda came about and I went with it.

So the first thing I did was prep my eyelids with Urban Decay primer potion + a coat of Nyx Milk to help the eyeshadow stand out.

Next I took out my BH cosmetics 120 palette and used the red color pictured above -marked with the daisy- and patted it all over my lids.

After that I took my MAC 212 brush to create a crease with the purple color marked BELOW from a Profusion palette that will be covered on this blog very shortly- consider this a sneak peak!

I was very careful to blend only the slightest bit as I didn't want to mess up the crease.

With the 212 I extended the crease to create a wing upward and then extended the red out as well.

Above the crease I blended out the purple color seen here. It seems really dark but it actually turns out to be a fairly light color. I think these 2 shades of purple blended perfectly together.

I forgot to mark it with a daisy but the pink that is 4 down from the red- that is the pink I used in the inner corner.

I again took the 212 and took the dark purple I used in the crease and ran it along my bottom eyelid. I extended it out to match the wing above it, creating a really interesting effect that I'm not 100% sure I liked.

Finally, I highlighted my brow bone with Virgin from the Urban Decay Naked palette.

Other products I used in this look are:
Mary Kay Time Wise matte wear liquid foundation in Ivory 7 (review of this coming up! this was the first time I used it! What do you think?)
Physicians Formula translucent multi colored pressed powder
eyebrows are the brown shade from the Wet n Wild I <3 Matte 8 pan
Covergirl lash blast volume mascara
E.l.f blush & bronzer duo in St Lucia for contouring
and Maybelline Superstay 24 hour lip color in Endless Ruby --I think. The label has completely rubbed off so this is just my best guess.

So did you guys do anything exciting for Valentine's Day? I didn't yet- I am going out to dinner with my guy tonight to celebrate. He also got me roses and Season 2 of Pretty Little Liars (a man after my own heart, huh!)

I hope you all had a great holiday and didn't get too bitter. Love is all around us and there's no reason not to celebrate it!

Profusion Neoperle eyeshadow palette (green version) : swatches & review

It seems like forever ago that I first talked about the Profusion Neoperle eyeshadow palettes.

and I know it's pretty far after Christmas so it may be hard or even impossible to hunt down these shadows. But I just feel like they are worth talking about.

As you can see they look the same as the blue version, just obviously green. 

Coming in at just $2 a pop, and housing 15 eyeshadows, you can't really go wrong. 

When I opened it my eyes zero-d in on one particular shade- can you guess which one it was??

I'll give you a hint: it's not a neutral!

The 2nd shade from the left, in the middle row is one of the most gorgeous colors I've ever seen.

It's a mint green hat has a beautiful golden sheen to it. The color is truly unique and very pretty.

The rest of the colors were your standard earthy tones. I also like the 2nd to last one on the bottom row.

I will tell you the one thing that was wrong with this, and you can see it in the picture above. It was really sloppily glued into the cardboard palette. Of course, it felt cheap. It was uneven. However this really didn't bother me. I mean, for $2? Wasn't expecting great packaging. Not a deal breaker for me. You get what you pay for, right?

I personally feel like the one mint green shadow was worth $2 all on its own. The rest were just bonuses!

In my swatches there is a strip of primer down the center. Since I prepared this post a while ago I can't remember if I used UDPP or Milani primer. But you can see the outline of where the primer is in most of the swatches. As with most swatches, they look better over primer. Brighter and a bit foiled.

However you can also tell that they are pretty pigmented on their own as well!

These swatches were done with a few back-and-forth motions as opposed to a one-swipe type of swatch.

Beautiful 2nd row. I am obviously smitten with the mint, and I really like the one in the middle as well.

So beautiful I had to include it twice.

I feel like this row embodies the jewel-toned mindset of shadows. You can barely even tell where the primer starts, because it is so pigmented on its own. Has a great finish and is very pigmented yet blendable as you can tell at the edges.

Here is after I wiped my arm with makeup remover a few times..as you can see most of the shadow is gone except for what was clearly on top of the primer. Which leads me to believe that these shadows, when on top of primer, have some GREAT staying power!

Did you get a chance to pick up any Profusion shadow kits this holiday season? What do you think of these colors?

There will definitely be many looks that I use that use these shadows in the future!