Cherry Culture NYX Haul!

I placed an order with http://www.cherryculture.com last week when they had the 20% off promotion and just received everything in the mail today. I placed the order last Monday night, so it took exactly 1 week. This is my 2nd time ordering from cherryculture and I'm really pleased. :) I took these pictures quickly on my lunch break because by the time I get home its pitch black outside and can't get good pictures. I will have swatches and pictures of the actual lipsticks to come soon!

All pictures are click-able to view the full size.

Powder Blushes: Chocolate Moose, Sand & Dusty Rose. $6 each
Eye Shadows: Dune & Midnight. $3.50 each

Round Lip Gloss: Sorbet (back up), Natural, Real Nude, Mauve, Pinky Natural. $2 each

Round Lip Sticks: Rea, Frosted Flakes, Echo, Summer Love, Strawberry Milk, Fig, Louisiana. $1.75 each

Not NYX, but also ordered..

Milani Easybrow Automatic Pencil in Dark Brown. $4.99

All together I paid $40 with the 20% off, and free shipping! watch out for my upcoming posts with swatches and fotds :)

Covergirl Lash Blast Mascara Review!

Covergirl Lash Blast Mascara

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: Get a blast of lush, volumized lashes! LashBlast's patented volume-boosting formula and patent-pending brush are designed to max out each and every lash, leaving you with the ultimate big-lash look. It's smudge, smear-proof and hypoallergenic.

I recently decided to try "The Best Selling Mascara in America", Covergirl Lash Blast. I didn't have high expectations for this. I figured if there is a good mascara out there.. I know about it or I've tried it. lol I never had the desire to try this because I don't use Covergirl makeup & the products I have tried from Covergirl I haven't liked.

Let me start off by explaining why I was searching for a new mascara. I had a big dilemma I was facing with all of the mascaras I've been using. (YSL Faux Cils, MAC Zoomlash, LOREAL Extra Collagen & Voluminous, Maybelline Great Lash, etc) They all gave me smudges under my eyes!

I get little black dots that settle into my under eye makeup which is basically from my mascara rubbing against my skin when I blink, close my eyes.. or whatever. This happens a lot of times when you are wearing an oily/very dewy foundation or a heavy concealer. For example cake/cream concealers that tend to be very oily/greasy (ie: MAC Studio Finish Concealer, MAC Studio Sculpt Concealer, Ben Nye Concealer, etc). And, we all know oil breaks up mascara so it will defiantly smudge when it comes in contact with oils. So you should always powder your under eyes with a setting powder to prevent smudging. I use MAC Blot Powder or Ben Nye Neutral Set Powder, and switched to a liquid concealer and even tried waterproof mascara! (And lots of other things.. lol) But, I was still having this problem. I started to just deal with it for a long time and just check my face often and rub under my eyes.

I was recommended to try a tubing mascara such as: Kiss Me Mascara or Loreal Double Extend Beauty Tube Mascara (reviewed here by Cheryl). Well, Instead on impulse I bought Covergirl Lash Blast.. not thinking for one second that it was most likely going to cause the smudging problem I had.

After the 1st use, I didn't really like it. Personally, I think you need to "break in" a mascara and use it for a week straight before you can really see how it works. 1st thoughts were, this wand is humongous, I hate the rubber/plastic wand (I like a normal mascara wand, not the rubber, plastic or comb wands) and it's like any other mascara on the market.

Well, I've been using it daily for two weeks and I'm in love. Yeah, yeah it doesn't really give me length. But, I have never used a mascara that SEPARATES as good as this. I don't own a lash comb, nor do I feel the need to ever comb out my spider lashes. I like dramatic lashes. But the problem with lots of volumizing mascaras is, they clump your lashes together like crazy so it looks like you have 5-10 long, fat lashes. This mascara, does not clump my lashes together at all. It also holds a great curl.. it doesn't weigh them down, and you can build good volume with it. AND, dun dun dun, IT DOESN'T SMUDGE! I've tried it with my Shiseido's Makeup Mascara Base and I get better results (a bigger curl, thicker lashes, slightly longer). Overall, I am thrilled with this and I recommend it to anyone that has had the same problem as me. :) 


I hope this helped!

MAC Freckletone Lipstick Dupe!! & Palladio Cosmetics Haul!

While shopping at Sally's Beauty Supply, I was looking at Palladio Cosmetics. I purchased something called Herbal Lip Slix - ultra shiny lip gloss crayon in the shade Creme Cocoa PLC09. It's basically a lip stick crayon. The texture is very smooth and creamy and the finish is shiny and pretty opaque. I've been wearing it for a few days and noticed that it looks exactly like one of my MAC favorites.. Freckletone. When comparing both, I couldn't tell them apart. The texture, finish, color.. It is the perfect dupe if you want to try Freckletone without spending $14.50 plus tax, and maybe not liking it. This crayon is $5.99, but I got it for 20%. They also sell this at ULTA, and ULTA always has buy one get one sales.. and they have great weekly coupons.

I also bought a concealer stick in the shade "light". Medium looked a little dark for me for a concealer. I already have a yellow color corrector concealer stick and it covers really good.. so I wanted to give another shade a try. Great coverage, it's very creamy and doesn't crease.

and, I bought a beautiful baked blush that reminds me of a mac mineralize blush, but I can't think of which one it looks like. Palladio has a realllyy nice selection of blushes. And they have great lasting power. This one is called "choc-au-lait"

YSL Touche Eclat Radiant Touch Highlighter Review!

 

YSL Touche Eclat #1 Radiant Touch

Item Description: Light, luminosity, radiance. The award winning, must-have, take anywhere instant highlighter that banishes shadows, erases signs of fatigue and leaves your skin looking radiant. Touche Éclat is 8 hours of sleep in a pen - the one item no woman can be without.

Touche Éclat is ideal at any time of the day over bare skin, under or over foundation, crème or powder. Use this best-selling pen-brush around the eye area, the hollow of the chin, the contour of the lips and the sides of the nose. Just slip it into your bag to ensure a brilliant glow, anytime, anywhere. Suitable for all skin types.

Touche Eclat comes in four shades to suit your individual skin tone:

1) Luminous Radiance (for fair/ light/ medium complexions with pink undertones)

2) Luminous Ivory (for fair/ light/ medium complexions with yellow or golden undertones)

3) Light Peach (for warm and golden beige complexions)

4) Luminous Toffee (for deep complexions)

Here are swatches of all of the shades, courtesy of Karla Sugar.

This is an item I've been wanting to try for the longest time. While I was waiting in line to check out, the rack with miscellaneous travel items caught my eye. I immediately picked up the touche eclat and swatched it on my hand. The only shade available at that Sephora location was shade #1 Luminous Radiance, which is a universally flattering light, peachy-pink shade.

It has a very creamy, milky consistency. The brush is actually very soft, and isn't exactly useless like most of the brushes of similar applicators. I use 1-2 clicks and dot it under my eyes after I've already applied concealer and foundation, and smooth it out with a small concealer brush or I pat it in my skin lightly with my ring finger until it's blended.

I also like to run it down the bridge of my nose and under the arch of my brows for a subtle highlight.

Some people argue this is not a concealer, but it does conceal a bit. The coverage is very minimal, so if you have severe darkness, it should be used in conjunction with a concealer. It's like a light concealer and highlighter all-in-one. In contrast to Benefit High Beam which is also a pearly pink highlighter, Benefit only highlights, it doesn't conceal, and its also a lot more luminescent than the Touche Eclat. Touch Eclat is a lot more natural.

It really does make me look more awake and it does an awesome job brightening so no darkness shows through. I was looking at a tutorial on the YSL site which was very helpful. You can also apply this around your lips to make them more defined.

Overall, great product. I'd love to try shades 2 and 3 as well.

Price: $40, 0.1 oz.