Newness from Rimmel and Sally Hansen for Spring!!

MAGNIF’EYE YOUR EYE-LOOKS

ALL-IN-ONE PALETTE FOR NATURAL TO KNOCK-OUT EYE-LOOKS

Rimmel Introduces New Magnif’Eyes Eye Contouring Palette:

12-Pan All-in-One Eyeshadow, Liner & Highlighter Kit

Get ready to take your eye-look from day to night! Rimmel introduces new Magnif’Eyes Eye Contouring Palette, a twelve-pan all-in-one pressed eyeshadow, liner and highlighter kit. Now it’s easy to create endless contoured eye-looks, just like a beauty pro.

Rimmel has put everything you need for multi-dimensional eye looks in one handy kit. A spectrum of stay-true shades with a soft, double-ended applicator.

The line-up is a mix of twelve high-shimmer and matte shadows, which offers the perfect complementary colour range for infinite creations. Sculpt, shade and define your eyes to create day to night, and nude to daring looks. The beautifully blendable, ultra-smooth powder can be used on the lid, in the crease of the eye and as a liner to enhance and magnif’eye your eye color and shape. The non-crease, non-fade formula has serious staying power for eyes with lasting impact.

With three on-trend shade combos to choose from, there’s a kit for every Rimmel girl:

Keep Calm & Wear Goldoffers a molten mix of gold and copper hues with pale taupes to highlight and rich coffee and grey blue colors to define. Ideal for an edgy-elegant daytime eye. Or build-up the drama to create shimmering party looks.

London Nudes Calling spans an array of warm blush tones from beige through tawny to taupe to rust and plum. It’s easy to create a multitude of wear-anywhere nude eye-looks that look natural or intense. 

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Grunge Glamour is the perfect palette for a sultry smokey eye. Neutral greys and browns are set against fierce, bronze and pewter hues for irresistible eyes. Be as subtle or as bold as you dare.

Presented in a chic transparent case, Magnif’Eyes Eyeshadow Palette has a contemporary look. The lid is see-through to reveal the full array of shades inside as well as two duo sponge applicators.

Get creative! Design limitless eye-looks to take you from day to night with a single kit, with Magnif’Eyes Eyeshadow Palette. Get the London look. 

Price: $7.99

 BOHEMIAN BLOOMS: SALLY HANSEN LAUNCHES LIMITED EDITION MIRACLE GEL™ “FESTIVAL FLORAL” COLLECTION

Get festival-ready with these new Miracle Gel™ shades for Spring 2017

Take your dreamy aesthetic to your nails! This Spring, the prettiest finishing touch to your wardrobe is a playful, floral manicure you can do at home. Sally Hansen Miracle Gel™ is the revolutionary #1 no light gel system that is more chip-resistant than regular nail polish – it’s the next best thing to a salon gel manicure! Keep nails free-spirited with these eight festival-inspired shades.

The “Festival Floral” color collection:

Lilac Insomniac (new shade) – You won’t lose sleep over this taupe-tinged violet shade

Make Me Mauve (new shade) – Dance the night away in this deep, bright mauve

Aqua Chakra (new shade) – Get centered in a tempered turquoise

Birthday Suit – Celebrate in a neutral, complementary nude tone

Pink Cadillaquer – Be your vibrant self in this poppy pink hue

Red Eye – Get ready to bloom with this fresh geranium red

An innovative and award-winning development in nail color, Sally Hansen Miracle Gel™ is a two-step, no light gel manicure system; simply apply two coats of the Miracle Gel™ color of your choice, then follow with the Miracle Gel™ Top Coat. The polish is cured by natural light, so you can get the same volume and high gloss, mirror shine without the use of a UV lamp. Enjoy up to 14 days of color and shine, and then easily remove with regular nail polish remover – no soaking necessary! Sold in Duo Packs with top coat.

Price: $14.99

Barielle Naturale Eye Shadow Palette Swatches and Review

*Gift from Barielle*

Happy hump day!! The lighting hasn't been good for polish swatching the last few days, so I figured I'd show you a little something different for today. Did you know that Barielle has eye shadow palettes?? I didn't know until they sent me one as a gift over the holidays! I have been wearing this a bunch of times lately, so I thought it was time to tell you about it. The Barielle Naturale palette is a nice selection of six gorgeous neutral eye shadows. There is a matte medium brown, a shimmering pale rose gold, a shimmering gray-taupe, a shimmering champagne, light copper with glitter flecks, and a dark shimmery brown. 

I like the finish on these shadows a lot. The shimmers are soft, glowing shimmers, rather than super metallic ones. I also like that they did include a matte brown, because I always think you need to use at least one matte in your shimmery shadow looks, and this is a perfect crease shade.

These swatches were done with the included foam applicator over bare skin- no primer! I have been wearing them with a Maybelline Color Tattoo or MAC Paint Pot as a base. They last for at least 8 hours with no creasing or fading for me!

This palette is relatively small in size and the packaging is a light cardboard. I like both of those features, because it makes this the PERFECT palette to throw in your purse for touch-ups or taking your work makeup into the evening. As much as I love my UD Naked palettes, they are not exactly purse friendly, unless you like to tote your whole life around. This takes up only a few inches of space and weighs next to nothing!

I am impressed with this eye shadow palette and am happy I got to try it. The Barielle Naturale shadow palette is available now on Barielle.com.

Barielle also has some great deals and events coming up in February. Here's a list for you so you can get in on these offers!

February 2nd - February 29th: Treat Yourself for Valentine's Day Contest
Sign up on our Facebook for a chance to win the grand prize:

• 3 Barielle Purple Shades
• Barielle Nail Rebuilding Protein
• Barielle No Chip Speed Dry
• 1-800-Flowers $25 Gift Card
• Purple Coach Tote ($395 value)

February 5th - National Wear Red Day
Bundle Price: $15 | Total Value: $40

• 5 Barielle Red Nail Shades for $15 + Free Shipping

February 9th: Mardis Gras
Bundle Price: $15 | Total Value: $40

• 5 Barielle Mardis Gras Shades for $15 + Free Shipping

February 10th - National Umbrella Day

• Free Barielle Shade "Pink Parasol" with Every Purchase

February 12th - 14th - Valentine's Day Sale
20% Off + Free Shipping on Every Order

February 18th - National Drink Wine Day (one of our favorites!)
Bundle Price: $15 | Total Value: $40

• 5 Barielle Vintage Wine Nail Shades for $15 + Free Shipping

February 22nd - National Margarita Day
Bundle Price: $15 | Total Value: $40

• 5 Barielle Tiki Bar Nail Shades for $15 + Free Shipping

February 26th - 29th - Site Wide Sale
30% Off + Free Shipping on Every Order

NYC Sparkle Eye Dusts- The Perfect Holiday Eye Shadow!

 *Sent for review*

Are you looking for an inexpensive way to jazz up your eye makeup for upcoming holiday parties? Grab some of the new NYC Sparkle Eye Dusts! These are really great shimmery powder eye shadows that come with their own doe foot applicator. The packaging is extremely convenient for tossing in your purse for quick touch-ups or transitioning your makeup from office to party. I have three shades swatched for you today. From left to right in the pictures we have NYC Pink Topaz, Smokey Topaz and Bronze Shimmer. The top picture is indoors in low light, the second is outside in natural light and the third is in full sun.

Pink Topaz is a lovely pinky champagne shimmer. This would be perfect as a wash all over the eye lid with black winged liner and a red lip! Smokey Topaz is my favorite of the three and a MUST SEE for taupe lovers! It is a sparkling smoky taupe with some hints of purple-y grey. The sparkles in this really pop in person and look multi-colored. The exact shade of Smokey Topaz changes in different lighting situations, sometimes it looks darker and more brown, other times lighter and more purple or grey. Bronze Shimmer is a gorgeous rich shimmery bronze. It looks more coppery in some lights, with almost a reddish tinge.

 Below you can see Smokey Topaz swatched over a base (Maybelline Color Tattoo in Nude Compliment). When worn over a base like a Maybelline Color Tattoo, these last all day on me with no creasing or fading. I experienced a bit of fall out when I first applied them, but I found that tapping the excess shadow off of the applicator first really reduces that fall out to almost nothing. These are beautifully smooth and really nice to apply!

 *Sent for review*

After being so impressed with the NYC Halloween eye shadow palette I tried, I had high hopes for these and they certainly lived up to my expectations! I own a lot of higher end eye shadow, including NARS, Chanel, Dior, Armani and YSL.  In fact, it's hard to say which is larger- my makeup collection or my nail polish collection! I can honestly say that the NYC eye shadows I have tried, including these Sparkle Eye Dusts, are as pigmented and smooth as many of the eye shadows I own that are more than 10 times the price. NYC Sparkle Eye Dusts are available at drugstores near you for $2.99!!!

NYC Halloween Goodies 2014 Swatches and Review!

 *Sent for review*

Today I have a bunch of goodies from the NYC Halloween 2014 collection to show you. Don't forget that you can win some of the treats shown here (and more) in my Trick or Treat Giveaway! First up is NYC Animal Instincts, a peachy orange creme. Animal Instincts really has more of a pumpkin orange base, but then it has some hidden shimmer that looks pink to me, so it ends up with a peach appearance more than straight pumpkin orange. The shimmer is pretty subtle, but it adds dimension to the polish. I love this color!

This is three coats of Animal Instincts. It was pretty much opaque at two coats, but it looked a little uneven, so I used a third to even it all out. It dries nice and fast, like the In a New York Color Minute line is supposed to. The formula is the perfect consistency, not too thick, but not too thin either.

NYC I am Not AffRED was much cooler on the nails than in the bottle. In the bottle, it looks very murky and dark red, almost black. However on my nails, it became a vampy berry wine creme, almost jelly finish. It is too opaque to really be a jelly, but it has that squishy quality to it. I am Not AffRED is a great vampy, almost bloody looking polish. Perfect for Halloween. I think the name is supposed to be a play on "I am Not Afraid"... but afraid only has one "f", so maybe that second "f" is a typo LOL.

This is three coats of I am Not AffRED. Like Animal Instinct, it was opaque in two, but needed some evening out. The formula was the same lovely consistency though, and was easy to apply.

Hello new favorite eye shadow quad!!! I love these NYC IndividualEyes palettes and have several now. They come with four eye shadows, a base/primer, and a highlighter. This one, Vampiress, has a lovely champagne shadow, a reddish purple, a darker taupe-y purple with some reddish shimmer, and a smooth pigmented black shadow. The highlighter is a creamy, silver-tinged white. I find these NYC shadows to apply beautifully, they are buttery and smooth. They are very pigmented when layered over the included base (as shown in my swatches). I applied these just with my finger. These shadows sometimes have a bit of fallout, but otherwise I find them to perform beautifully. They last all day when I wear them over my primer of choice, Urban Decay Anti-Aging Primer Potion.

That purple-y taupe shade is my favorite! So gorgeous! I will get a ton of use out of this palette.

NYC Dark Rebirth is a great black lipstick for Halloween. It's a deep creamy black and covers my medium pigmented lips nicely. Below I swatched it straight from the tube. On the left is 3 passes, on the right is one pass. I have a horrible cold right now and my lips are in bad shape, so no lip pics. I did try it on my lips and had to use a few passes to cover my lips evenly, but other than that it applied nicely. It goes on creamy, but dries to more of a satin finish.

 

*Sent for review*

Overall, I love everything I got from the NYC Halloween collection. My favorites are Animal Instincts polish and Vampiress eye shadow palette. That palette is amazing, if you like make-up at all or even sometimes wear eye shadow, go get that palette! It rocks! NYC Halloween is available at a drugstore near you. Don't forget to enter my giveaway to win some of these items and other items from the collection!

Sephora + Pantone Color Grid Shadow Block Preview!

I was lucky enough to receive a picture of one of the items from the Sephora + Pantone Emerald collection. Pictured is the Color Grid Shadow Block in Bionic. Doesn't it look so cool???? I am drooling!! I got a bunch of Sephora gift cards for Christmas and I am saving them for this collection!

·         Color Grid Shadow Block  –  $26

Features three color-coordinating eye shadows – this trio allows you to create a variety of on-trend beauty looks

o    BIONIC –  Emerald, White Alyssum and Crown

Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 Hour Eyeshadows

Left to right: Fierce and Tangy, Tough As Taupe, Audacious Asphalt

I've already mentioned a few days ago that I don't buy much drugstrore make-up, so I personally found it interesting how excited I was for these Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 Hour Eye Shadows. My relationship with the Color Tattoos was very similar to my typical relationship with a new NARS collection. The first stage is called "stalking" and that may include: reading every review of the product that I can find on various blogs, tweeting about how much I want said product, Googling the name of the product at least once a day to see if any new swatches or reviews have been posted, and making a list of exactly which shades of the product I want to buy.

Left to right: Fierce and Tangy, Tough As Taupe, Audacious Asphalt

The second stage of the relationship is "buying". I don't know about you, but I plan my beauty purchases. Last week, I knew I would be getting paid on Wednesday, and I also happen to get out of work a bit early on Wednesdays. Thus, the plot to stop at CVS on my way home from work began! Sadly, this turned into stopping at CVS, Walgreens AND Rite Aid because CVS was sold out of these babies, and Walgreens didn't even have a display for them. Rite Aid FTW.

Left to right: Fierce and Tangy, Tough As Taupe, Audacious Asphalt

Naturally, being that I am a blogger, the third step is "reviewing". Maybelline's claim that these shadows last 24 hours is a big one. I did not test these for 24 hours yet. I have no need to wear eye shadow for 24 hours normally, EXCEPT when I fly overseas. When I fly overseas, I usually put my make-up on at around 11:30 a.m. at my house. My flight normally departs around 9 p.m. I don't arrive in Europe until approximately 3 or 4 a.m. our time, and normally then have quite a journey to my hotel. So, I do actually probably wear eye shadows for almost 24 hours in that situation. Next time I fly overseas, I will definitely let you know how it goes!

Left to right: Fierce and Tangy, Tough As Taupe, Audacious Asphalt

OK, onto actual reviewing. The pigmentation of these shadows is excellent. For these swatches, I swirled my finger around in maybe two circles, then swept it on to my arm. When you use these in a look on your eyes, you do need to blend quickly, as they set very fast. Once set, they don't budge! I had to use make-up remover to remove these swatches from my arm. 

Left to right: Fierce and Tangy, Tough As Taupe, Audacious Asphalt, in shade

So far I have worn Fierce and Tangy and Tough As Taupe. I wore Fierce and Tangy for about 8 hours, and Tough As Taupe for about 10. I did choose to give these a difficult test and wear them each to a two hour dance class. I don't know how much Irish dancing you've ever seen, but let me just say that we SWEAT. A LOT. I can do other forms of exercise (running, pilates, Ab Ripper X) and barely break a sweat, but not so with Irish dance. Consequently, eye shadow normally doesn't hold up so well in my dance classes. 

Fierce and Tangy all over the lid, MAC 100 Strokes (burgundy brown) in crease

Both Fierce and Tangy and Tough As Taupe held up admirably. I must mention that there was very very slight creasing in both cases. The creasing occurred in places where I had applied MAC powder shadow over the Maybelline shadows, not where I had the Color Tattoos alone. I have yet to test these on a day that I don't have to be covered in sweat for two hours, but I will be doing that this weekend.

Fierce and Tangy all over the lid, MAC 100 Strokes (burgundy brown) in crease

I think Maybelline did an amazing job with the colors they chose to release these shadows in. I do not own any orange eye shadow like Fierce and Tangy. It is gorgeous!!!! Orange eye shadow may seem scary, but if you have blue or green eyes, you should try it. It will make your eyes REALLY pop. Just use some brown shadow in the crease and lots of black mascara, and it won't look too crazy.

Fierce and Tangy all over the lid, MAC 100 Strokes (burgundy brown) in crease

So far, I am a big fan of these eye shadows! I can't wait to see how they fair in a normal environment, minus the sweating. I want lots of the other colors, including Pomegranate Punk, Bad to the Bronze, and Tenacious Teal. I would have bought them this week if Rite Aid had had them in stock!!

Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 Hour Eye Shadows are available now at a drugstore near you, or online at Ulta.com.

MAC Glitter & Ice Holiday Eye Look

I finally got around to taking pictures of a look I did today using MAC Snow Season and Fresh Ice Mineralize Eye Shadows from the holiday Glitter & Ice Collection. I've been wearing these eye shadows a lot since I got them, they're very useful for daily wear!

I used MAC Fresh Ice as the highlight shade under my brows and in the inner corners of my eyes.

I applied MAC Snow Season all over my lids, up into the creases. I used a deep blue shadow from a past MAC collection (Blue Flame) in the creases, but any deep navy shadow will do.

The finished look is pretty and glowy, and simple enough to wear anywhere. It was also nicely flattering. Snow Season is such a beautiful gleaming color, I think it would wake up any skin tone.

I like to apply MAC Mineralize Eye Shadows using my fingers, not a brush. I find I get less fall out this way and I can pack on the color better. Many people also like to use these eye shadows wet. I did not do this for this particular look, but the colors here could be amped up by using the shadows wet.

MAC Fresh Ice and Snow Season Mineralize Eye Shadows are available online now at maccosmetics.com.

Quick MAC Glitter and Ice Holiday Collection Swatches!

I've just started to play around with my goodies from the MAC Glitter and Ice collection. I have a few quick swatches for you today and I'll definitely post an eye look later in the week. In the first picture, you can see a very light shimmer/color on top. That's MAC How Beautiful beauty powder. It is gorgeous!! It's really subtle, but adds a nice peachy glow to your cheeks, or any other area of your face. Underneath that is MAC Dressed to Dazzle dazzleglass, a sparkling nude rose lip gloss.

Above is Dressed to Dazzle on it's own. It imparts just a hint of color to lips, but a lot of shine. It would look  amazing over a number of lipsticks, or just by itself!

On the left is MAC Fresh Ice Mineralize Eye Shadow and on the right is MAC Snow Season Mineralize Eye Shadow. I swatched these damp. Using these shadows damp really increases their pigmentation and shine.

On top is Snow Season, on the bottom is Fresh Ice. I really like all of the items I got from Glitter and Ice. They're really subtle and neutral, but super flattering. I don't own a lot of neutral make-up. I tend to go for super bright colors and glittery items. These are a nice departure and create a soft glow. I'll try to post a full face picture of myself wearing How Beautiful beauty powder so you can see how amazing it looks on, but sometimes I look like an alien in self-taken pictures LOL.

I also bought the glitter nail polish, Unconditionally Fabulous, so that will be getting it's own post very soon!

The MAC Glitter and Ice Collection is available online now at maccosmetics.com