BA Star mineral eyeshadow review

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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!

My thoughts on the VMAs- and they're probably not what you're thinking

Since Sunday the internet and general american world has been in a tizzy over the MTV VMAs.

I want to address this as delicately as possible without alienating people who might have different views from me. First and foremost I am not conservative in any sense of the world. I believe in live and let live. I have posted on personal social media my thoughts on Miley Cyrus as a whole, and the performance in general.

But this is more than that.

I am a feminist, thus making this a feminist beauty blog. So I really, really felt that this was something I needed to address. On top of that, I am a fat-positive blogger- more on that later.

I don't care what you think about Miley Cyrus.

I care about why you think it.

If there's one recurring theme that I have seen ALL over the interwebs, it's this: sexism rooting in slut shaming.

Statements such as:

"She had potential to be classy, now she's trashy"

"She's trying so hard to be a mature woman but that's not how women behave!"

"Disgusting"

Here's where I have a problem with all of that :

It's not a woman's job to be classy.

That's right, repeat after me. It is not a woman's duty to be 'classy'.

It does not make you less of a woman if you are not 'classy'.

It does not make you less of a woman to perform in your underwear.

It does not make you less of a woman if you make provocative gestures.

I understand that lewd gestures and sexual images might make some people uncomfortable. My question to those people is: Why are you watching MTV?? 

MTV has quite the reputation for being filled with sexualized images and mature content.

Why did you expect anything else?

But the biggest part that I have a problem with is the deafening silence I hear about Robin Thicke.

Robin Thicke faced some flack when he released his hit song "blurred lines", a song that, at best, is a little creepy, and at worst, advocates rape culture. 

Literally the only thing I have heard about Robin Thicke is that he looked like Beetlejuice.

& as true as it is, how is that the only thing people have to say?

When Miley shook her ass against him (a dance move that you can find in any high school prom- I promise you), everyone has expressed vehement disgust against her. Yet not a peep about him. 

Funny how that works, isn't it?

This saddens me most because all of this backlash came on Women's Equality Day.

You cannot make this up, people. 

I saw some of the most disgusting sexist comments on a day dedicated to women being equal to men

What the actual fuck is up with that?

Women will not be equal to men until the male singers in that performance were held to the same responsibility she was. Women will not be equal to men until they can wear what they want without it throwing the whole world into a tizzy. Women will not be equal to men until the fact that they danced in a provocative way doesn't land the FRONT PAGE of CNN. 

I saw no equality in the criticism of Miley Cyrus- just blatant sexism.

The second issue I have with the whole thing :several advocate groups are up in arms about the commercials used in the program: specifically, a condom commercial.

I feel like my friends and I were the only ones who were absolutely disgusted by the Kia Soul commercial.

In case you missed it: the commercial shows the KIA cute cuddly hamsters obsessively working out in all different ways, then arriving at a red carpet event - the MTV VMAs perhaps? in suits and guess what! Now they are skinny!

Yes they took the adorable chubby HAMSTER spokesmen of Kia and turned them into "suave" "sexy" (??they are hamsters.) skinny 'famous' people (hamsters?) all in the name of the slogan: total transformation.

It was immediately apparent that this was just another way that the media had turned to fat-shaming. They took hamsters, an animal that by default is 'chubby', and turned it into a sickly thing that wouldn't be possible in nature (not that a hamster driving a car would occur in nature but I digress).

The thing that puzzles me the most is, where is the outcry here? Parents want to cry out about condom commercials...yet a commercial that glorifies obsessive workouts is A-okay?

Here's the thing: obsessive working out is a form of bulimia. True story. And kids these days have self esteem that's in the shitter, as evidenced by the studies suggesting a good portion of kids have dieted in elementary school.

That's not cool. 

If you think that those kids won't pick up on the undertones of that commercial- you're wrong. 

They are taking it to heart. 

They are developing eating disorders due to commercials like these.

 And I am outraged that not more people are outraged. 

I have a lot of opinions about the whole situation but I chose to only try sticking to the ones that were relevant to this blog. I encourage RESPECTFUL discussion in the comment section and will engage in all types of conversations. Please leave a comment with your thoughts. Hopefully you took more from this article and your comment won't be about Miley, or her outfit. It will be about feminism and fat-shaming, and your opinion on the two. 

Follow your bliss, 

Ember Darling

August Ipsy glambag: Glamour Academy

This month's theme for Ipsy was back to school, glamour school that is!

The bag itself is really cute in my opinion. It's a great wine shade and has gold "coat of arms" decorations with beauty products. Pretty fitting for glamour academy! 

August Glambag

Keep reading after the jump for all of this month's content, and LOTS of pictures!