Mary Kay Loose Eyeshadow Review

I don't normally buy Mary Kay products.  For one, I can't afford them and for another thing, most things I've tried from their line I'm not a fan of.  This is an exception.

This is Mary Kay loose eye shadow in Pink Organza.

Don't get excited, I'm not running some shady Cuban cigar import business, it is just a box I found.  =P

Here's what it looks like out of the package.

I LOVE this little gem in the end.  Such a nice, girly touch.  I know I've said this before, but I believe ALL makeup should have pretty packaging with little details like this.  I adore the merging of 'useful' and 'beautiful' in all things.

 This stuff did NOT want to show up in photos, but you can see it better if you open the picture up.  Top is without primer and bottom is with primer.  No wet swatch with this one, I forgot.  >.<  It is a very lovely, shimmery, baby-pink color.  It goes on smoothly, I've had no trouble with it creasing with or without primer, and it blends nicely as well.

I also forgot to take a picture of the applicator, which is different than any other one I've seen.  Instead of being tapered, it is a little round ball.  Sort of annoying as it makes it tough to get in the corners of your eye if you're wearing it on the bottom lid.

What I DO love about this is the tubey-thing it comes in.  Unlike every other loose shadow I've had that comes in a tubey-thing, this one seems to have mastered the art of tubey-thing-ing.  When you pull the wand out, you don't get this fine spray of color all over your hands, clothes, and the tubey-thing itself.  Most I've had end up being such a mess, but this one is nice and tidy and I adore that.

From what I can tell, you can pick these suckers up for around $10 with shipping on Amazon.  While I'd normally get my panties in a bunch over paying that for only one color, I do think this one is a worthy splurge.  The package is a generous size and a little bit goes a long way.

RECOMMEND!

Listening to: "Leshachimi Tropami" - Leshak

<3 WW

Ulta - Last one, promise!

I think this about wraps it up for the things that were in the box o' awesome that I'd planned to review.  Except for the Sephora lashes, which there are no pictures of on, but they rocked!

This color is quite beautiful, actually, no matter how you apply it.  This is ULTA eyeshadow in Peacock.

It is sort of a gunmetal grey with a blue sheen and is VERY metallic.  Also, for a dark color, it has surprisingly little fallout.

Definitely a great one to have tried!

Since that gets me caught up on beauty reviews, I suppose that means its time to do some makeup shopping, MUAHAHAHA!  Seriously, though, I have to soon, I'm almost out of concealer and...no.  Just, no.

<3
WW

Ulta Girl Next Door Palette Review

*This was a gift from a friend, but in no way is my opinion swayed by that.  :)

This one's getting some mileage...

This is the Ulta Girl Next Door palette.  Or quad?  Does it have to have more than 5 to be considered a palette?   Meh.

Either way, I love it.  Especially the top two colors.  The first and third color get used quite a lot as they go with almost any color, any look.

Dry, these aren't impressive and don't have much pigment to them, but wet and over primer, they are very nice.

The second color down, when wet, goes on this gorgeous metallic pastel green.  I've never really seen another color quite like it and this will be one of those colors I'll miss when its gone!

Problem?  I see nowhere to buy this online.  I did get this quite a while back, though, so that could be the issue...Will make me miss the pretty light green even more!!

<3
WW

Urban Decay Stardust Review!

**This was a gift from a friend, but all opinions are my own and 100% honest.  Urban Decay has no idea who I am and I was in no way compensated for this review.

Hello!!  I hope everyone is doing beautifully in whatever it is you're tackling this week.  I've been tackling a wicked evil summer cold, but I've also been working on a few long-neglected, unfinished (or, in some cases, unstarted) craft projects while sniffling, coughing, feeling sorry for myself, and watching Netflix.  Have only finished one project as of yet, but I've been making headway on some that have been just sitting around forever and ever, so be sure to keep your eye on the craft wing for new tutorials soon if you are interested and haven't subscribed or followed it in any way!  I've also been doing some cooking since, damnit, life doesn't just stand still when I get a summer cold, so there will be new recipes coming as well.  :)

ANYWAY...

I know some of you have been waiting on this review ever since I got the box o' awesome, so I'll just delve right in!

This is Urban Decay Stardust eyeshadow in Retrograde.  The case is cardboard or thick, sturdy paper of some sort, seems durable enough, and closes magnetically.  It is easy to open, yet has never come open on its own in my case or purse.

Shot of the back...I took new pictures since all this came in, so its been be-bopping around my makeup box/bag/bathroom counter because I love this one a lot.

Even when I don't use it, I like to just stare at it because it is pretty...Sometimes I'll be doing my makeup and I'll know I don't want to do purple that day, but I will pick this up, gaze at it, and for a moment consider clashing with or changing my outfit to do purple because...sparkles.

I took new swatches for this review and did them primer-wet-dry so you can see alllll the gorgeous.  This picture captures the way it sparkles in person better than most of the others do.

Over primer, this is a very pretty purple with a nice sparkle, though the sparkle does tend to want to spread its glow and the glitter doesn't all stay put - most does, but there is a tiny bit of fairy dusting onto the cheekbones.  It does take a little layering if you want it to be dark, though, and the fallout of the color itself seems to be worse than the glitter fallout, so you have to be careful and layer it on a bit at a time to avoid a mess.

Wet, this goes on a beautiful, pigmented, metallic purple with a heavy glitter that stays put.  This works great for dramatic looks or a purple and black smokey eye and just glides on when applied.  The pictures do not do it justice.

Dry and with no primer, as you can see in the pictures, is a barely-there lavender with only a few flecks of glitter that hang around.  The fallout in general is pretty bad, to be honest, as with over primer, but it is still a pretty light purple, though this color obviously stands out much better wet or over primer.

These are on sale for 6 bucks - including this color - on Urban Decay's website right now.  I'd say that's definitely worth it, even to my cheap ass, so go get one!  Or a few!  The payoff of the color wet and over primer WAY outweighs the poor quality when dry or the fallout problem.  Especially considering I've yet to come across *any* shadow that doesn't have a bad fallout problem.  I have decent MAC brushes, so I don't think they are the issue.  Does anyone else experience this?

Either way, I do love this stuff so much.  It is lovely to wear, lovely to look at.  In fact, Atmosphere and Griffith are going on my wishlist right now!

<3

WookieWifey

Sephora Colorful Mono(s) Review

I promised to put these up soon and that was forever ago when I posted this review, so sorry about that!

This first one is Strass No. 11 and I LOOOOVE IT!!  Sadly, I can't find this color on their website anywhere.  It doesn't seem to exist.  Cue crying jag.

It is sort of a champagne-colored shimmery color with tons of gold micro glitter thrown in.  However, the fallout for this one is BAD.  If you use it dry, even with primer, prepare to have glitter all over your cheeks.  It stays put well wet, though.

A closeup of the glittery goodness...

This one I like as well, but not quite as enthusiastically as the other one, and when we get to swatches of the two you will see why.  This is Strass No. 7 - Starry Sky, according to their website.

This is a dark grey with silver and blue micro glitter.

As you can see, it goes on very light when dry or over primer, it feels almost...grainy going on dry, and it does have the fallout of the other one.  You can even see where the glitter is all over my hand, especially on the dry swatch.

 You can really see in this closeup, though, that it looks just beautiful when applied wet and has a nice sparkle to it that stays put.  This looks gorgeous with Hard Candy Lash Tinsel over your regular mascara and Sephora Glitter Eyeliner.  Does not go well with the No. 11, though, as the blue and silver glitter clashes with the gold.  I tried it.  Don't.  :)

This is the No. 11.  I adore this.  It is just beautiful.  Dry it goes on so light it is almost like fairy dust.  Over the primer, you basically get a nice champagne shimmer as most of the glitter falls off.  Wet, this goes on a gorgeous, shimmery, pigmented color with lots of sparkle.  This goes with everything.  I've used it in several different makeup looks both alone and with all sorts of other colors and it is just gorgeous every time.

A shot in different lighting just because I love this.  Yes, the fallout sucks, but ITS SO SPARKLY!

You can pick these up for as little as 5 or 6 bucks on amazon and it looks like they are normally $12 on their site, but on sale for 5 at the moment.  I'd really recommend picking up No. 11, if you could ever locate it because fallout and all it is gorgeous enough to be worth it.

What's your favorite glitter eyeshadow?

<3 WW

Stila Merry and Bright Palette Review

*This was a gift from a friend, but opinions are 100% my own

I'm not a neutrals person, usually, but I adore this palette!  I know I already swatched a lot of the things I've been reviewing lately, but I wanted to do a full-review with a back cap on the swatches because I like to use a product for a bit before I pass judgement.  I realize this may leave me a bit behind in trends, but I never cared to be trendy anyway, and I'd prefer to give a good, honest, thorough review rather than rush it and have to come back later and say "you know what, this wasn't so great after all".

This is the Stila Merry and Bright palette, and it is so handy.  It is very convenient to just toss in your bag because the lip color is also for cheeks and the black is so pigmented and opaque that it can be used as an eyeliner in a pinch with a dampened brush.

Not to mention, it is cute as all hell.

The colors are, starting at the top and going clockwise, Chill, Glisten, Joyful, Ebony, Butterscotch, and Molasses.  The lip and cheek color is Lillium.  LOVE that name.  Every time I use it, it gets the song 'Lillium' by Silent Opera stuck in my head, which is an awesome thing!

Here are the swatches again, in case you need a refresher.  The lip color has an amazing formula.  It goes on nicely, is build-able, and isn't stick in the least and doesn't have that odd chemical flavor some lipsticks do.  Sadly, it isn't my color and makes me look rather dead-ish when I wear it, so I usually use it with a cheek color or blend it with a color from the BITE palette.

Chill and Glisten just baaaarely show up in the photos, but they are well-pigmented, just very light and blend in with my pasty arm, but are beautiful on and are light enough to go wonderfully with a retro cat eye.  In fact, I've now used almost all of Chill as I do that look a lot.  You can see from the top swatches that the darker colors are wonderfully pigmented.

This goes for about $20 on amazon with the lip glaze, which isn't bad.  On the Stila website, these palettes are on markdown for 9 bucks which is WHEEE!  They don't have this exact one, but they have several similar ones I'm salivating over, so I'd say definitely worth the value!

I have what will hopefully be a super awesome series starting in the near future, so keep guessing!

<3

WookieWifey

Sephora Kat Von D Rock N' Roll Eyeshadow Duo Review

*This was a gift, but opinions are 100% my own.

I was pleasantly surprised with this eye shadow.  As you can see, the case looks sleek and cute and I'm glad at least some effort was made at embellishment.  Down with plain cases!

This is the King Cobra Rock N' Roll Duo and it is two apparently nameless greens.  They are almost identical in the pan except that one is more sparkly than the other one and maybe a shade lighter.

The color on the left is on the top and the color on the right on the bottom.  The swatches are over primer, wet, and dry just so you can see the difference.  Dry, these go on quite light and go pretty much wherever they want.  Over primer, they stay put a little more and show up better, although still not stunning.  We'll discuss wet in a minute.

While I like the right-hand (bottom) color, I'm forever perplexed by it.  It looks almost the same in the palette as the other color, but it comes out with almost a blue tone to it that, oddly enough, makes the color not seem to match any blues or greens I have!  >.<  I've used it with just black and white a few times, but it just throws me off!

What really got me was the left-hand side color when wet.  It comes out this gorgeous, shimmer, reptilian, metallic green and I just love it.  It blends quite nicely with many of my other greens, coopers, blacks...This goes with almost everything and pairs especially beautifully with Sephora Colorful Mono in Strass N. 11, which I will be reviewing soon.  These colors have a horrible fallout, and, in my opinion, were born to be worn wet as they come out beautiful, pigmented, and stay where you put them when you dampen your brush.

I couldn't find this duo, but Sephora's website has Kat Von D singles for $16 and from what I can tell when this was around it was regular price about $20.  While that isn't too steep a price if the color is especially awesome, I noticed other reviewers had similar complaints about the bad fallout as well, so beware of that.  If you want to pick these up on ebay or something, keep in mind they work best as wet shadows and you should be golden.

Do you like seeing swatches done all 3 ways or do you prefer just over primer?

<3 WW

Estee Lauder Eye Shadow Review

*These were a gift from a friend, but all opinions are 100% my own.

As promised yesterday, here's today's Estee Lauder eye shadow review!

These two palettes were in the big box o' awesome and since they are the same colors I figured I'd review them at the same time.  The larger palette is above and I love the way the case opens.  One side flips up and slides out and there is a mirror inside.  Both palettes came with the standard, crappy sponge applicators, but that's normal and I don't count against a product for it.

These are Estee Lauder Pure Color Eye Shadow in Mocha Light, Mocha Dark, Smokey, and Rose Confetti.

I swatched these over a primer and had to lay them on very heavy to get them to show up in the pictures at all...So heavy, in fact, that you can see even in the pictures how cake-y they are!  >.<

The second palette only has two colors which are, as you can see, the same as the bottom two on the larger palette.

I swatched the colors on the smaller palette over the top of the ones from the larger one they correspond to.  They are even less pigmented as I tried to put them just as heavy, but this was the best result I got.  I will say that they do go on nicely and have very little fallout, to their credit.  I tried them both alone and over primer and had good results on both days.

The outside of the cases.  From what I can see, the quad goes for about $18 on amazon and the duo for around $5.

As you can see, they are the same colors as the ones on the other palette - Pure Color Smoky Ember and Rivera Rose - the names changed a touch, but the numbers are the same - 07 and 11 - and the 'Pure Color' is the same line, so I have no clue why they come out so much differently than the others.

Someone pointed out yesterday that Estee has less pigment in their shadows due to the fact that the crowd they cater to would tend to prefer lighter, less dramatic colors, and that makes sense, but it escapes me then why their blush is so bright!  *.*  If you like light, natural, neutrals with very little pigment, I could see this working for you.  I could see these also being great for anyone just learning to use makeup as they would take a concerted effort to over-do.

All in all, they aren't bad and go on nicely, so if they are what you are looking for, I'd say they are an okay buy.  I tend to still hold it against them a bit that they don't have much pigment and I also am pretty turned off by the fact that the quality seems to be so much different between batches.  I like to know I'm getting the same product every time when I find something I love enough to repurchase, not a crap shoot.  Consistency is key.

<3
Wookie Wifey