POP Beauty Swatches & GIVEAWAY!

I just saw The Gloss Goss' blog post about POP Beauty... so I thought I'll do one as well :) You can click HERE to view The Goss' post. I mentioned I was going to do a post a few weeks ago and then I didn't get around to ever doing the swatches.. but I do have some pictures of their Eye Cakes and one Cheek Cake to share :)

Naked Mocha Eyes Eye Cake

Naked Blue Eyes Eye Cake

Naked Brown Eyes Eye Cake

Naked Green Eyes Eye Cake

These are all very fun shadows. The color payoff is pretty sheer & comparable to drugstore eye shadows.. but I do really like these. The colors are great & they are perfect for a natural sweep of color on your lids. I like using these as my daytime eye shadows. The tin packaging reminds me of Cargo's packaging. It may not be the prettiest packaging, but they are convenient to toss in your bag. You'd be surprised how light these are. Holding one tin feels as light as a piece of paper in my hand. lol

Beach Babe Beauty Cake



This duo consists of a soft pink & a golden bronzer. Both are very natural.

I'm not sure where you can purchase POP beauty (other than their website), but they do have all of these products on allcosmeticswholesale. Click the following link for cheap: http://www.allcosmeticswholesale.com/pop-beauty.html

GIVEAWAY!
I purchased a duplicate of all of these for one reader of mine! So, the winner will receive all 4 eye cakes & 1 cheeky cake shown (new of course). I will ship anywhere in the world, so anyone can enter. The rules are very simple. 1) You must be a follower of my blog. 2) Post a comment saying one fact about yourself, so I can learn more about you! And, include your e-mail address so I can contact you if you won.

The giveaway will end on MARCH 3RD. That's in one week! Winner will be announced on the 4th. Good Luck!

Anastasia Beverly Hills Highlighting Brow Kit Review, Photos & Swatches!

Anastasia Beverly Hills Highlighting Brow Kit

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: Flawless, fabulous coverage for brows and lids. Our uniquely blended terracotta baked trio is perfect wet or dry, on brows, or an all-over eye highlighter. Known to calm, soothe and soften skin our exclusive Balkan Botanical™ Infusion contains rare plant and herb extracts found only in the rich soil of Romania. Open your eyes to how good real beauty can feel.

This awesome little brow/highlighting kit comes with three shades of brow powder, three shades of highlighter and a mini brow gel. 

The brow trio includes a light golden ash brown (suitable for blondes), light brown/taupe (a universal shade from redheads to medium brunettes) & a med/dark brown (suitable for darker hair shades). 

The highlighting trio includes a shimmery/frosted white with a hint of silver, a shimmery light golden and a shimmery copper.

Highlighting Trio

Brow Trio

Anastasia Clear Brow Gel

Beauty Tip: "Apply baked brow powder (wet or dry) with a brush following the natural shape of your brow. Apply highlighting powder with any eyeshadow crease brush along the brow bone to create a higher arch" - Anastasia.net

I absolutely love this kit! The brow powders are very finely milled (super soft) and apply smooth and sheer, for a natural appearance. I really like the way it makes my brows look. I've tried several brow powders and many of them apply too dark, and I end up having to go over them with Q-tips to soften the color.

I'd recommend this if you like your eye brows to look natural and especially if your brows are very light and you'd like to mainly darken and fill them in, rather than precise shaping. I actually like mixing all of the shades together and it really works for me. I apply the powder using a MAC 266 brush. You can also dip your brush in water and apply the powder for a more defined look. I usually use the brush slightly damp so I can define the outline of my brows better. Lastly, I'll finish my brows off with a sweep of brow gel to keep them in place all day.

Anastasia Brow Powders have a rating of 4.5/5 with an 82% re-purchase rate based on 134 reviews. Click here to view the reviews.

As for the highlighting trio, I'm in love with them! These are very pigmented applied wet or dry. They are the perfect highlight shades, and I love using them on my brow bone (applied wet) and in the corner of my eyes. My favorite of the three colors is the gold. I've been sweeping a light dusting of it on my eyelids on most days of the week.

Price: $32, Ulta.

MAC Marquise D' Lipstick Review, Photos & Swatch! An oldie, but goodie!

MAC Marquise D' Lipstick

MAC Marquise D' Lipstick is described as a sandy, cream peach with a lustre finish. It's my perfect color! It's like a muted, warm, light pink with a golden sheen. It looks like a mix between Shygirl, Sandy B and the lightest touch of Myth to lighten it up.

The lustre formula is one of my favorites from MAC; it's creamy, smooth, feels comfortable on the lips and has a shiny finish.

The pigmentation is pretty good. It's a bit sheer, but buildable. It doesn't quite build to much more than medium, though. It's a fabulous every-day lip shade.

MAC Marquise D' was launched in the MAC Blonde, Brunette, Redhead '09 Collection, and was re-promoted in the MAC Wonderwoman '11 Collection.

MAC Marquise D' on my lips

I love this lipstick, and am so sad that it's limited edition. If you can get your hands on a tube, definitely do!

Nars Chihuahua Lip Gloss & Crazed Blush!

Nars Chihuahua Lip Gloss

This is my 1st NARS lip gloss! The color is "Chihuahua". It's a mauvey, neutral pink. In my opinion, its the perfect every day pink. Its very natural, and adds a little bit of color and brightness to my lips. Its like.. my lips but better. :) The color is very milky and sheer. It is also VERY moisturizing. I don't think I've ever tried another lip gloss as moisturizing and smooth as this one. (Same thing for NARS lipstick, they are soo moisturizing!) I'll be looking into some other shades as well.

What shade do you recommend? I know LOTS of people rave about Turkish Delight but it never tempted me. Do you think its worth the hype?

Nars Crazed Blush

Crazed is the color I think of when I think of Mixed Berry. It's a Raspberry/Magenta/Pink. Lol, that's the best I can explain it. Its super pigmented and slightly shimmery. With a light hand, it gives a real natural rosy flush. I think its a color that can compliment any skin tone. This isn't a color I would of normally picked, but I wanted to try something different. I'm very happy with this blush! The next ones I really want are Madly, Sertao & Luster.. I actually want to own them all one day. lol So far, I have Albatross, Angelika, Super Orgasm, Orgasm, Lovejoy & Crazed. I'm slowly getting there!!

What are your favorites?

Sigma Professional Brushes Eye Kit Review & Eye Shadow! Lots of Photos!

Sigma Professional Brushes Eye Kit

"7 professional quality brushes for the eye. Perfect to apply, shade, blend, and dust the eye with color and texture."- Sigma makeup

Click HERE to view the product description for these brushes. It explains what each brush is intended for.

I was SO excited to receive these brushes in the mail. I don't own many brushes and I don't make brush purchases very often, but new brushes are so exciting for me. Having a good quality brush makes me feel better about applying my makeup. As I'm sure it does for everybody. I've always been interested in trying Sigma brushes because I've heard so many bloggers RAVE about these and they're much more affordable than high-end brushes (MAC, Sephora, Etc). Onto my review!

Review: The first thing I noticed about these brushes are the QUALITY. Just from having them in my hands, the handle is so sturdy and heavier than all of my drugstore/cheapie brushes. They feel pretty much identical to a MAC brush. The shape of the handle is exactly the same as the MAC brushes as well. (All of the Sigma brushes correspond to the MAC brush #'s) They are very easy to handle and don't get in the way of application. The 1st brush I tried out was the SS266 (Small Angle Brush) I started using it to apply my every day cream eye liner (I've been using Stila Black Smudgepot) and I use it to blend my brows after I've applied my brow pencil. What I really like about this brush is that you can get a VERY precise line with it. The brush is very dense, but very soft. It doesn't bend while applying which makes it so much easier to achieve the most pigmentation. I don't wash it every day.. maybe once a week and I get absolutely no product build up on the brush and it doesn't harden. I'm not positive if it's because of the brush or the liner I'm using. I'm impressed. The 2nd brush I tried was the ss219 (pencil brush) which is pretty much identical to the MAC 219. I honestly like the Sigma 219 better. Its slightly smaller and it's more dense, so my outcome ends up being better. With my MAC brush, it would start to get fluffy and not keep its shape after uses, but this brush keeps its shape. I've been using this to blend shadows in my crease or to smudge eyeshadow on my lash line. I LOVE this brush. The next brush I tried (I can't believe I recall the order of which I tried these.. they were all different days. lol) was the ss252 (Large Shader Brush). I haven't tried the MAC 252, So I can't compare them.. but they look exactly the same. I've been using this every day to set my concealer under my eyes. After I applied my foundation, I swipe this across my MAC Medium skin finish & BE Well Rested and apply it under my eyes and it smooths the powder on so perfectly. I would usually use my MAC 224 for this, but the ss252 actually works better. It applies a little bit more product (probably because it's a lot more dense than the MAC 224) I can also see myself using this to apply concealer or to apply an all over color on my lids. I love this brush. Finally, I used the rest of the brushes at the same one day to create a dramatic eyeshadow look. I used the ss239 (Eye Shading Brush) to apply color to my lid (which works very well to build color) & the ss224 (a little bigger than the MAC 224) to blend the color better, ss219 to apply color in my lid crease, the ss275 (Medium Angled Shading Brush) to blend my crease color into the color I applied all over my lid & to apply my highlight. I then used the ss266 to apply my liner on my lash line and the ss209 (Eyeliner Brush) to apply liner to my waterline.

Overall, I am SO happy with these brushes. You can not beat the quality of these for the price. This whole set only costs $39! You can't even buy 2 MAC brushes for that price. I highly recommend these & when I have a little extra money, I'm 100% going to purchase Sigma's face brushes.

Also, I have one little review for an eye shadow that was included..

Sigma Indian Girl Eye Shadow

IndianGirl is a shimmery charcoal. Once applied, it has a very slight purplish bluish sheen. The consistency of the eye shadow is finely milled and very soft. The pigmentation is pretty good. It's not super pigmented, but its also not too sheer. I would recommend using a base or applying this wet for extra pigmentation. I would compare it to a NYX single eye shadow. I've been using this a lot lately as an eye liner with a small brush or as a daytime subtle smokey eye (not all over my lid, just smudged into my lash line). I would be interested in trying other shades.

Have you tried anything from Sigma!? Please Share!

MAC Viva Glam Gaga Lipstick Review, Photos and Swatches!

 MAC Viva Glam Gaga Lipstick

I was so excited when I heard news that Lady Gaga was doing a collab with MAC for Viva Glam. Lady Gaga is one of my favorite artists out right now, so I couldn't wait for the lipstick to hit MAC counters.

Viva Glam Gaga is a light, blue based pink with a Lustre finish. If you own MAC Snob or Saint Germain, this is almost identical to them (but sheerer than the two). 

It's the most flattering on light complexions, and a little light on dark complexions. When I'm tan, I find it a hard shade to pull off, but being that it's a Lustre finish, it's fairly sheer, which makes it easier to wear.

 MAC Viva Glam Gaga

As with all of MAC Viva Glam Lipsticks, 100% of the proceeds goes to MAC Aids Fund (for more info, visit http://www.macaidsfund.org). So, if you don't like the lipstick, your money is still going to a great cause.

MAC Viva Glam Gaga

It's not actually all that bad on my lips. It's a little too blue for my coloring, but I can definitely layer a warmer pink lipgloss over top for it to suit me better.

Viva Glam Gaga on my lips.

Did you pick up Viva Glam Gaga or Cyndi?

NOTD: Essie Mink Muffs!

Two (2) coats of Essie Mink Muffs (No top coat)

Mink Muffs is a creamy "milk chocolate" brown. It's very similar to OPI's You Don't Know Jacques!, but it's less gray toned than You Don't Know Jacques! and slightly more brown. 

It's a really lovely color and the formula is great - very creamy; not too thick, and is completely opaque with two coats. I also typically get a full weeks wear out of this polish.

FOTD, and very bouncy curls! :)

I wanted to do something a little different with my hair. So, when I got out of the shower, I applied a little Sebastian Wet Hair Gel and let my hair air dry. Once it dried, I took a 1" barrel and took thin sections of hair (about a 1/4-1/2 wide) and twisted the strand and wrapped it tightly around the barrel. I held it for around 5 seconds each and did that for all of my hair. It gives my hair a really pretty defined, wavy curl instead of a "lock" that clamping my hair in the barrel would. I finished it off with a few spritz of Paul Mitchell Freeze and Shine Hair Spray. Because my hair is naturally curly, my hair held the shape of the curls from the iron so well. I actually did my hair last night and went to sleep with it and I didn't have to touch it up all day! I'll be doing this more often (and add in my extensions).

Here's whats on my face-

Anastasia Beverly Hills Sheer Moisture Cream spf30
Make Up Forever HD Foundation #128
MAC Select Cover-up NW25
Make Up Forever HD Powder (I've been trying this out.. I don't really like it)
MAC Fad-dabulous Mineralize Blush
Chanel Bronze Universel

Stila Black Smudge Pot
MAC Typographic Eyeshadow
Cargo TexasLash Mascara
MAC Vanilla Pigment (In the corners of my eyes)
Cargo Reversible Lip Pencil (On my waterline)
Ardell 111's (Cut in half)

MAC Oak Lip Liner Pencil
Smashbox Sand Lip Gloss
Cargo Reverible Lip Liner (used to define the shape of my lips)

CARGO Texas Lash Mascara Review!

Cargo TexasLash Mascara

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: Maximum volume mascara for Texas-sized lashes! The fat, oversized brush allows for easy application with just one coat while the unique formulation heavily coats the lashes for immediate impact high volume lashes in an instant. An innovative elastic polymer formulation that forms small tubes around the lashes creating a smudge proof barrier that is removable with warm water and gentle pressure or make-up remover and gentle pressure.

I received this little surprise in the mail last week and I've been wearing it for a few days now and I have to admit, I LOVE this mascara!!! I just logged onto makeupalley and was shocked to see that the ratings of it wasn't higher. It has an overall 3 of 5 stars based on 52 reviews.

My thoughts: First off, I didn't know this was a "tube" mascara until I took a shower and my mascara was running off my face in little "tubes" or stands. I was pretty happy about that because tubing mascaras don't smudge. I have a huge problem with mascara smudging (with the exception of my beloved CG Lash Blast). The packaging, nothing special just a basic, black tube. I love the large fluffy applicator (some people prefer a small applicator, but I prefer large wands) It applies a generous amount of product to my lashes in a short time. For me, it both lengthened and volumized my lashes. I noticed you can't wait too long to apply your second coat because it dries fairly quickly, and once your mascara is dry it makes applying more a little yucky. You may need to use a lash comb in between application because it doesn't do the best job separating. Another thing I noticed is, I don't get as much volume on my bottom lashes as I do on my top lashes which is a little odd. When I used a mascara base before application of this mascara I got more dramatic results as opposed to applying it alone. Also, one of the days I was wearing a very natural coat of Anastasia Lash Lifting Mascara and I applied TexasLash Mascara over it, my eyelashes looked so black, long and voluminous that a few people asked me if I was wearing false lashes. I will most likely be repurchasing this once I run out. I'll keep you all updated if anything changes! I'll have pictures to come.

Have you tried this mascara?

**Update: Although this is a great mascara, I don't like the fact that it is so hard to remove! The only good way of removing this mascara is under warm water in the shower. Using my Neutrogena Makeup Remover wipes do not take it off adequately and I noticed I was losing lashes because I was having lots of trouble removing it every day. I have not yet repurchased this mascara.

Disclaimer: I was sent this product for free. I was not paid for this review. These are my honest opinions from my personal experience.

NOTD: CHI Brown Sands On Maui Beaches

While I was at ULTA the other day, I picked up this nail polish from the clearance rack for $1.99 (reg. $8). I'm really liking it! It reminds me of Autumn.
   
 
I bit off all of my nails in the past couple of weeks. I'm not sure why, I haven't bitten them in years. Hence why all of my nails are funny shapes. eeek!

What's on your nails?

Anastasia Beverly Hills Line Erasing Serum Review!

Anastasia Beverly Hills Line Erasing Serum

"This lightweight serum contains a unique blend of natural hydrators, Instalift™ Goji, and an exclusive Balkan Botanical™ Infusion to improve the appearance of skin and help reduce signs of aging. Designed for all skin types, it soothes, softens, and hydrates—leaving skin brighter and smoother. Fine lines and wrinkles don't stand a chance!"

-Instalift™ Goji (Tibetan Goji Berry): Gives the appearance of reduced fine lines, wrinkles, and sagging skin.

-Balkan Botanical™ Infusion: Helps soften, soothe, and hydrate skin.

-Sodium Hyaluronate: Delivers ideal hydration to smooth and refresh the eye area.

-Chrysin and Hydroxysuccinimide: Masks the appearance of redness while leaving the skin looking brighter and lighter.

The Line Erasing Serum ($45, 0.507 fl oz) is a fairly new product from Anastasia. The serum is a clear, lightweight, runny liquid. It's recommended to apply the serum lightly to areas where you have wrinkles and fine lines, and dab the product in with your fingertips. 

You can use it mornings and night, but I've been only using it in the morning and I'm really liking it so far (I've been using it every day for a week). The serum absorbs quickly into the skin and instantly my under eyes feel mildly tightened. I have never felt a product actually "tighten" on my skin. It's kind of a fun sensation!

You only need the tiniest bit, a little goes a very long way. My (minimal) fine lines appear to be less visible and my under eyes feel incredibly soft to the touch (even my finger felt soft and moisturized! ha!) Not too long after my application of the serum, I look more awake. 

Its very similar to the effects Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair ($85, 1 oz) gives me, with a very similar price tag. 

Since I only tried a sample, I won't be able to tell you of the long-term results of using this product, but I was impressed with it for as long as my sample lasted. 

If you're looking into a product like this, I definitely recommend you to give this a try next time you're at ULTA or Sephora. Ask for a sample!

Korres Wild Rose Body Butter Review + 25% Off All Korres!

Korres Wild Rose Body Butter 

"Luxuriously hydrating Body Butter enriched with Shea Butter to soften, moisturize and restructure the skin.A proprietary blend of Sunflower, Almond & Avocado Oils restores skin’s elasticity and smoothness. Quince extract acts as a soothing agent to heal and nourish stressed skin. The luxurious balm can be used over the entire body. Best when applied to warm, damp skin, after bathing to lock-in moisture." - Korres

First off, this lotion is 93.9% Natural and smells amazing. It smells like fresh roses (which some may or may not like) but I really enjoy the smell. It isn't overpowering (for me). The body butter also comes in "Guava", which I heard smells really good as well. When I first heard of this product, I thought "Hmm.. body butter." and automatically thought it was going to be like a greasy, heavy cream. I typically don't like "butters" other than cocoa butter because the textures are usually so thick. The consistency of this is like a buttery, whipped lotion. Its very light and dries within a minute or two and feels wonderful. It's like no lotion I have. I never really keep up with applying lotion to my body and hands, but ever since I've had this I've been reaching for it every day. It is so moisturizing and makes my skin so soft. I love using it on my body and legs after I shower and on my hands during the day.

I am officially addicted to Korres body butter and I'm very interested in trying their lip butters. Has anyone tried them? I'd love to hear your opinions.

Furthermore, Korres was nice enough to give my readers a little gift for Valentine's day! A 25% discount + a Free Wild Rose Shower Gel with your order!! Just type in coupon code "NATTY" at checkout. This sale will extend until Valentine's Day.

Price: $29, Korres.