Review: Bobbi Brown Long Wear Gel Liner in Graphite Shimmer + Photos & Swatches!

Bobbi Brown Long Wear Gel Eyeliner

Product Description - This award-winning liner offers the precision of a liquid liner and the ease of a gel-based formula. Awarded: "Elle" Magazines's ‘Top 5’ (Nov. 2009), "In Style" 'Best Beauty Buy' (2008), and "Allure" ‘Reader's Choice Award’ (2008).

To apply: Dip tip of Ultra Fine Eyeliner Brush into gel formula (coat both sides of brush head). Wipe off excess on tissue before applying to eye. Work quickly as product becomes transfer-resistant once dry.

This is a product I've been wanting to try for EVER! I picked Graphite Shimmer Ink. On the website, it says that it is a dark gray. I would maybe call it a deep charcoal gray with silver flecks. Once applied, it looks much darker. It basically looks black. Its very creamy and spreads very well. For me, it doesn't fade throughout the day. And, at the end of the night, I don't have trouble removing it. I usually will powder my lids so my liner won't smudge or budge, then apply it to my lash line with an angled liner brush. I've been using Sigma's angled brush. I prefer BB now, over MAC Blacktrack Fluidline, Stila Smudgepot & Wet n Wild Creme Liner.

Here are a few descriptions of what I like and don't like about the following liners..
MAC Blacktrack Fluidline - I love this, but the texture always gets dry for me halfway throughout the pot. I LOVE when I first purchase it, but it doesn't ever stay creamy. I can tell its a bit thicker than the other creme liners mentioned. Also, this sometimes crumbles on me. What I do like about it is, it is extremely black and the lasting power is pretty good. I have repurchased this several times.
Stila Black Smudgepot - I love the consistency of this product. The consistency is somewhat similar to BB. It is very creamy and light. It applies very nicely & black. For me though, it fades throughout the day and I'll have to reapply. I'm not sure If I would repurchase this.
Wet n Wild Creme Liner - Again, good creamy consistency. It doesn't crumble for me, but just like the Stila Smudgepot, this fades throughout the day. Great deal though and will probably repurchase b/c of the price and it works well.

Here are some swatches, courtesy of kmbirkel. Indigo Ink & Ivy Ink look gorgeous! They look like they would go well with any of the NARS eye shadows I posted in my previous post! I think Black Ink will be my next purchase.



Do you have a favorite gel/cream liner? What is your preference or HG liner?

NARS Night Clubbing Eye Shadow + Photos & Swatches!

I'm on a complete NARS craze. I got my first single eye shadow and I think it may be my favorite eyeshadow I own, or at least in the top 3.

NARS (powder) eye shadows are broken down into 3 categories-
The Matte Collection: Ultra velvet, non shimmering shades with high pay off. Great for lining & creating depth.

The Shimmer Collection: Rich, soft, lustrous shades with a subtle sheen.

The Nightlife Collection: Ultra velvet shades with tone on tone sparkling effects & high pay off.

Night Clubbing falls into the Nightlife shades. It is a rich black with golden shimmer. With the mixture of gold and black, it sort of plays tricks on your eyes and makes it appear olive colored. Olive is the color you would get from mixing black and yellow/gold together. The payoff is absolutely amazing. To get the swatch I only had to touch the eye shadow I didn't even have to swipe my finger across it. It is very intense. You could also intensify the color by applying it wet. I bet this would make a pretty amazing liner applied wet.

I'm wearing it today smudged into my black liner and I'm in love :)

How beautiful is this!? The pigmentation is crazy!

The color somewhat reminds me of MAC Gilt By Association or MAC Carbon with Antiqued Gold Pigment over it.

I'm so excited to get my hands on more NARS. Some eye shadows I've got my eyes on next are:

Ashes to Ashes, Baby Girl, Cairo, Fathom, Fez, Galapagos, Mekong, Night Porter & Voyage.

Here are some pretty awesome swatches of the Night Collection I found..

Do you have any favorites????

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.