BA Star Spicy Natural eyeshadow palette review

*This post is sponsored by Brandbacker. I was able to try this in exchange for my review

If you've been reading my blog for a while you may remember that I have gotten to review this brand a few times before. So when I saw the opportunity to try their eye shadow palettes, I was all for it. Their products have always surprised me with their quality.

BA Star is a brand that specializes in performance makeup- for cheerleading, dancing, or stage makeup. Because of this you can usually bet on them being pigmented and long-lasting.

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I got the Spicy Natural eyeshadow palette. I don't know what type of name that is...I definitely don't want anything spicy near my eye. The thought makes me cringe in pain!

But I suppose it gets it's name from the fact that the first half of the palette is natural shades, and the last two are a pop of color, to "spice it up". It also came with the BA Star eyelid glue.

The colors are nice but I must admit it's a strange collection of colors. When I think of palettes I think of being able to have a whole look inside one item. But this isn't always the case. I'm assuming the first 3 colors are meant to be the base colors and the purple and yellow can be added for small pops of color.

Notice the nick in the yellow eyeshadow...these shadows are definitely soft and just swiping my nail against it accidentally took out a chunk.

The bottom half of these swatches- aka the right side of the picture- are on top of the eyeshadow glue. You can see that the colors are more vibrant on that side.

The colors are rather pigmented and I like the orange-toned one more than I thought. The yellow ends up being more of a gold, and not as bold as I expected.

I think this product falls nicely into the spectrum with BA Star's other products. They are nice and affordable but they aren't mindblowingly unique. However they have never let me down, and that's nice.

I personally would prefer to use a different primer. I don't like the way their primer feels on my skin but as you can see it definitely improves the look of the shadow.

You can buy this and all their other palettes at bastar.com for $8.95.
A cool thing is that if you buy 6 or more the price drops down to $5 each. This is mainly for cheer and dance teams that might need to all have the same makeup. I think it's a nice deal since that is their target audience.

What do you think of these eyeshadows? Have you tried BA Star before?

BA star Holiday Red lip pencil review

You might remember my last review of BA Star, here, which was of their mineral eyeshadow.
BA Star is a a makeup company mostly used by cheerleaders, dancers, and other performing artists.
When I think of cheerleaders competing, I think of bright, long lasting colors.

The mineral eyeshadow left me feeling a little bland. It wasn't bad by any means, it just wasn't anything GREAT.
Because of that, I wasn't sure what to expect when I was chosen to review the lip pencil. I was mostly excited for the chance to review a completely different type of product from them.

To put it bluntly, I was pleasantly surprised.

When you first look, Holiday Red seems to be your average chubby lip pencil. One thing I really like about the packaging is that the lid has little grooves in it that prevents you from accidentally pushing it up too far and squishing the pencil against the lid.
It seems dumb but somehow I do that a lot. Ha!

To avoid confusion I have to clarify that I know the silver part looks like it might be retractable, it is definitely a pencil you have to sharpen with your large sharpener.

As far as color goes, it's quite true to its name. This shade of red brings to mind the holiday season without a doubt. It's a true red, no orange or pink undertones to my eye.

One thing that immediately caught my attention was the golden sheen the pencil had. Definitely intriguing.

It may be hard to see but the top of the pencil in this picture is after it's been swatched... the golden sheen is just an over-spray of sorts, and disappears as soon as you swipe it.
Also, I don't know what the deal is with the color bleeding on the base...it's clearly not a big deal I just don't know how it got there. I'm unsure if it was like that when I got it or if it might have melted a little here in the florida heat.
Either way it obviously doesn't effect the product, just makes my pictures look kinda messy!

Here is the color swatched on my hand. I think you can see here that it is a blue-based red. Very opaque, no need to build for coverage, here!

And here it is on my lips! I honestly like this WAY more than I expected. It feels pretty waxy but that doesn't bother me at all. The color is so bright and like the name suggests, the perfect finishing touch on any holiday look!

It was also very easy to apply. Went on smoothly and since it's a pencil it is pretty precise.

Honestly, I can't wait to wear this during the upcoming holidays, and even after that. It's the only no-fuss true red I have so I am happy to wear it in the future.

I will be talking about this lip pencil more in my November Ipsy bag review as it's comparable to one of the products I received. And spoiler alert- it's a lot cheaper! Especially when......

You get hooked up with this 50% off discount for my readers! Just enter the code BBLIPS and you'll score 50% off!

This lip pencil sells for $8.75 normally so with the discount you'll get it for just 4.37! Definitely worth it in my opinion!

HOWEVER if you want this baby for even CHEAPER you can snatch it up during their pre-thanksgiving sale! The sale ends 6am Thanksgiving morning.

During this crazy sale ALL of their makeup is going for just $2.99

So be sure to go to to bastar.com during this 2 day only sale! Honestly I think 2.99 is a steal for the lip pencil and I'm going to probably pick up a couple of the other shades!

How do you like this Holiday Red lip pencil? Do you think you'll pick up anything during the sale? Let me know!

Follow your bliss,

Ember Darling

this post is sponsored by Brandbacker. 

All opinions are my own!

BA Star mineral eyeshadow review

powered by brandbacker

Recently I got the opportunity to review some mineral eyeshadow from the brand BA Star. You may be familiar with this brand if you do competitive cheerleading, dance, or other performing arts.

I received both the loose mineral shadow and the glue base that is required to set the makeup.

Right out of the box I was already into the color I received - deep plum star dust. It wasn't a bland or boring color so I was already a fan of that. It is a plum shade with shimmer. 

The glue base perplexed me a little. I always apply my eyeshadow, especially lose pigments, over primer. But I had never used a glue base. I expected it to be like primer but it's not. It is much more of a liquid. It doesn't exactly 'rub in' to your skin like primers do. The instructions said "let dry" after it said to apply the shadow so that's exactly what I did.

I swiped some on my hand and eyelid, and then used my finger to pack on the color. I'm not sure if it would have been better to use a brush or sponge applicator to get a more precise look, but I wasn't sure how any of my tools would react with the glue base so I stuck with my trusty hands.

One thing I was pleased with was the lack of fall out. I am used to a lot of fallout with loose pigments but the glue really prevented that!

Out of curiosity I swatched the shadow both with and without the glue base on my hand to see the difference it made.

with glue base on left/top, without base or primer on right/bottom

Right away it was obvious that the glue base made a world of difference, as you can see. It makes it more pigmented, and has better hold on the product to get more product to stay put. I mean, duh! It's glue. ;)

I wore the eyeshadow on my eye for about 6 hours. Then, N*SYNC showed up on the VMAs. Needless to say, I cried. And then I wiped my tears and rubbed my eye.

I expected some color to stay through that, honestly. When I heard that BA*star was a company used for sports, I thought that it would be sweat resistant. But when I ran my hand under water the swatch washed away without any effort. 

Of course, the product doesn't claim to be waterproof. And for it's part it definitely stays put for 6 or more hours. 

My overall thought is that while this may not be a brand you immediately think of to use for makeup unless you are performing. However, it's not a bad choice at all.

The stardust loose mineral shadows retail for $8.75 and you can find it here 

By looking at the website I can't tell for sure if the glue base is included. If it's not, that also retails for $8.75

But here's the cool part! As a reader of mine you can use the code BBDUST for 50% off their website until Sept 30th! 

Everyone knows I can't say no to such a great discount so I'll probably pick up another star dust, especially since I already have the base!

Let me know if you end up buying this product and loving it! I can pretty much guarantee you won't hate it. It may not be a standout product but I have absolutely no complaints about it. The glue base may seem like a weird added step to some of you but it does help it stay on. 

Follow your bliss,

Ember Darling

*This sample was provided by brandbacker in exchange for an honest review. All opinionss expressed here are my own!