Third Trimester Beauty Favorites (July, August, September)

Today feels like a Wednesday...I'm a little behind schedule but better late than never, right? Here is my third trimester favorites post for 2013. Since I just can't do them every month, the trimester favorites is much more manageable. As always, if I've posted a review or have additional pictures, they will be hyperlinked.

Face / Body / Hair

1. Aussie Moist Conditioner. Love the smell. It smells fruity and sweet like a tropical smoothie. It's also very moisturizing.
2. L'Occitane Pivoine Flower Shower Gel. It smells so good, like a real flower. Soft and floral.
3. theBalm TimeBalm Skincare White Tea Almond Microdermabrasion Face Exfoliating Scrub. It smells nice and the scrubby beads are not too harsh or too gentle.
4. Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Cleansing Pads. Works like a makeup remover and facial cleanser in one.
5. NYX Eye & Lip makeup remover. Gentle and effective for even waterproof makeup. Only problem is the bottle is kinda small.

Face Makeup / Eye Makeup / Fragrance

1. Missha Cho Bo Yang BB Cream. Medium to full coverage. Natural finish. Has a bit of an ashy overcast but I still love using it as a base.
2. L'Oreal Magic Nude Liquid Powder. I loved pairing this foundation with the Missha Cho Bo Yang BB cream to counteract with the ashy overcast and give a bit of warmth to my face. I don't like it so much on its own since the coverage is light.
3. NYX HD Photogenic Concealer. Been reaching for this concealer almost every day. Has great coverage and last all day.
4. Yves Rocher Cream Eyeshadow Bronze. The color is gorgeous. The formula is great as well.
5. Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Crayong Blacquer. Best gel liner I've tried to date. I'm afraid that when I'm done with this sample, I might actually give in and buy the full size. It's really growing on me now.
6. Fyrinnae Eyeshadow Shenanigans. Love all the Fyrinnae eyeshadows I got but this is the one I'd wear most since it's a neutral color. This one is a beauty and needs to be seen in person to be truly appreciated.
7. Smash Cosmetics Pulchritudinous. Ok the spelling got me and I can't even pronounce it. Other than that, it's a lovely shade of mauve with a subtle gold shimmer. So flattering and easy to wear. Hope to post the review soon.
8. Versace Yellow Diamond. My new favorite scent. The perfect balance between citrucy, floral, with just a little hint of fruitiness. The scent reminds me of fresh flowers.

Lips

1. Jordana Twist & Shine Moisturizing Balm Stains Nude Chic. These are the 3 shades I've been reaching for the most. Be sure to check the review if you haven't already. 

2. Jordana Twist & Shine Moisturizing Balm Stains Terra Crave

3. Jordana Twist & Shine Moisturizing Balm Stains Honey Love

4. Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick Shine Berry Couture. Light-weight and pigmented. Love this color. 

5. Yves Rocher Grand Rouge Rose Hale. The formula is fantastic, luxurious, and pigmented. The shade is a great every day pinkish nude color. 

Nail Polishes

1. Butter London Scuppered...I wore this polish with some green glitters on top and I just couldn't take my eyes off of my nails.
2. Wet N Wild Atten Hut! A stunning and unique shade of textured green.
3. Zoya Pixie Dust Dhara. Gorgeous bright and coral with some gold shimmer. I love all the Zoya polishes I got but this is the one I truly got to enjoy this past trimester.
4. Nicole by OPI Grumdrops Cinna-Man of My Dreams. Stunning and unique. You need this polish!
5. Nicole by OPI Grumdrops My Cherry Amour. I can't get over the holo shimmer in this deep berry textured polish.
6. OPI Alcatraz Rocks. Yep more textured polish. Another lovely favorite that looks so much prettier in person.
7. OPI Peace, Love, & OPI. A must have for a duochrome and nail polish fanatic.
8. Kleancolor Salsa Much. Layer this baby over a black nail polish and your nails will look drop dead amazing.
9. I Love Nail Polish Ultra Chrome Mutagen. It glows like kryptonite! The colorshift is mesmerizing. So in love with it.

10. Rimmel Metal Rush Bronze Princess. Another new duo-chrome favorite that shifts from greyish mauve to olive green. Quite a unique color I must say.


Other Favorites I Almost Forgot To Mention

Ardell Color Impact Demi Wispies Blue. Colored eyelashes are the next best thing to eyeshadows. 

Missha Masks. Beside the scents, I can't really tell the difference in the effect between the Pure Source and the Real Essential masks. The scents are pleasant and easy on the nose. I love both. They are very moisturizing and make my skin feel so good, soft, and supple afterward. I need to restock on these. They also make me feel very relaxed when I'm using them cause they have a cooling effect.

So this sums up my most recent favorites. Thanks for checking.

Problem With Bad Picture Quality On Blogger & How I Fixed It

Ok, guys, I don't know if you noticed it but recently I've been having some major issues with the picture quality on my blog. Especially, when my skin tone and textured is involved. It drove me up the wall and I finally figured out how to fix that.

Below is the original picture and that is how it was supposed to look BUT right after I upload it on Picassa and add it to my draft, I ended up with the ugliness above. What the freak! Right? My skin look like crap and like I've aged 30 more years. Google was doing "something" to my pictures.

The Solution

If you had the same issue I did, the problem lies within Google+. Go to your Google + profile setting and scroll all the way down to Photos and uncheck Auto Enhance and check the box with Upload my photos at full size. This way it doesn't alter or compress the quality of your original picture and what you see is what you get. After I changed the setting, I no longer have issues with my picture coming out looking like crap. The auto-enhance actually made my pictures look terrible.

Jordana 12 Hr Made To Last Eyeshadow Pencils - Swatch and Review

So glad this review with conclude the new Jordana makeup I purchased about a month ago. If you've missed the previous posts, I have reviewed the Jordana Twist and Shine Moisturizing Balm Stains and the 12 Hr Made To Last Liquid Eyeliner Pencils.

Now, let's jump into this review...

Packaging

• Jumbo eyeshadow pencil. I like simple and colorful packaging. Love the fact that it has a colored end, which makes it easy to find the shade that you want. 
• .10 oz or 2.8 g

Endless Emerald is a deep shimmery emerald shade

Continuous Almond is a matte peachy nude. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Could this be a dupe for the limited edition Milani Shadow Eyez Almond Cream? I will do a separate post comparing the two.

Pink Evermore is a shimmery and frosty pale pink. This one had fine silver glitter in it.

Product

• These Jordana eyeshadow pencils are available in 8 colors but I was only interested in those three.
• I was pleasantly surprised at how creamy and pigmented these eyeshadow pencils were. They go smooth and glide easily on the lid. They set fairly quickly but still give you a few seconds to blend them out before they set. 
• I haven't got the chance to try out Endless Emerald as an eyeshadow because it was just too dramatic for an office look but I did wear it out as a liner and it wore well for the 12 hours. It only sustained minimal fading. 
• I tested the Continous Almond as a base and I think that would be how most people would use it. It did a good job evening out the skin color on my lid and did a good job as a base when I applied a powder eyeshadow over it. I did notice some minor creasing after 6 hours of wear thought and by 12 hour there was some fading with the eyeshadow as well. So as far as longevity, this is pretty average for me and didn't stick to the claim. 
• I tested Pink Evermore as an eyeshadow and this is the one that really stuck up to the 12 Hr mark without creasing or fading. The silver glitters mostly stay put and I didn't have any stray glitters unless I happen to unconsciously touch my eye and rub them somewhere else on my face. I was afraid that the glitters might be too much but it was actually pretty wearable I think. I wore it to work paired with a soft nude brown on the crease and it looked great. 

Final Thought

I tested these products without the use of any other eyeshadow primer and so on their own I think they did fairly well overall even if they didn't completely live up to their 12 hr claim. I have moderately oily lids by the way. The consistency and longevity vary between the shades but they apply smoothly and give you enough time to blend out before setting. I think as liners, they performed actually better than their new liquid eyeliner pencils.

Rating: 8.5/10

Price: $3.99
Availability: Walgreens

Kiss Gradation Polishes Film Noir

Hello Lovelies,

I don't know if I am coming or going anymore but my personal and work like is havoc. Ok, maybe I'm being a little dramatic there. I don't have much of a personal life, just some slight changes with my oldest going to College but work has been more demanding and that alone is what makes me want to collapse at the end of the day. So with that said, lately, balancing work, life, and blogging has been a challenge for me. Lack of rest and migraine have also resulted from it. The good thing is I have a high tolerance for stress. If you didn't know me better you wouldn't have noticed cause I always look calm and collected.

Anyways, I'm losing track of my drafts. I receive this set from Influenster a little while ago and my draft has been sitting around for a while as well so it's time I do something productive with it.

Basically this set contains all that you need to create the lovely gradient that you see on the packaging.

Step 1. I applied two coats of #1, which is a semi-sheer shimmery light silver all over the nails.
Step 2. I applied one coat of #2, a shimmery semi-sheer dark grey on 1/3 of the nail bed.
Step 3. Now it's very important that you apply #3, a sheer jelly dark polish with silver holo glitters, before #2 dries because it helps with blending and creating that gradient look. Apply #3 to 1/2 of the nail bed.
Step 4. Seal the manicure with a top coat.

You are not going to get a perfect gradient by just layering these polishes with the brush but if you are careful, the blending is fairly decent. Can't say this is one of my favorite mani but it turned out good I think. All these layers seem to take a while for the mani to dry and I guess the formula of the polishes may play a part in it too. I tried the sponge method and I don't know if it is user error or if the polish just isn't cut out for it, lol, but I couldn't get this nail look to work with a sponge.

The average retail price is $7.00 and each bottle contains 6 ml of products. You could very well do a gradient with similar colors if you already have them available in your stash; however, if you don't I think this set is a convenient one stop kit. Overall, I kind of like it but still feel a little underwhelmed.

What do you think? Would you purchase this set to create this mani?

Cherry Culture Haul

It's a little past Midnight here and I hope your weekend is off to a good start. I got home about an hour ago. Yeah I was stuck at work all this time. It has been one hell of a week. Frankly, I just wanted to crawl into bed but had to post this haul. Lucky for me, the majority of it was already pre-drafted.

Back with another haul...this time beauty related stuff. I hope you took advantage of the Cherry Culture sale that happened last week because everything was 40% off and I just couldn't pass up this deal because it doesn't happen very often. There wasn't a whole lotta things I wanted, which was a good thing I guess.

I snagged two new China Glaze nail polishes from their latest Halloween collection for 2013. Well they were the only two that looked interesting to me. Regularly priced at $3.75, I was able to get them for $2.25 each. I got annoyed when I broke my nail the other day so I decided clip all my nails. I can't remember the last time I cut my nails this short.

I got curious and decided to try out one of the Jordana Matte lipstick. Regularly priced at $2.25, I got it for $1.35. I picked the shade Caramel Latte, which looks like a brownish red.

At last, the star of my haul...the reason why I had to jump on the sale...the Mehron INtense pressed eyeshadow palettes! I didn't start hearing about Mehron until pretty recently actually. I believe they specialize in theatrical makeup. These eyeshadows are matte and as the name states intensely pigmented. I can't wait to review and swatch these for you. These are priced at $52.95 each but with the sale, I got them for $31.77 so the sale was a big deal. I definitely was waiting for a sale to snag them and I'm so excited to have them now.

Did you know about the sale and if you did, what did you get?

Charming Charlie Haul

Hi everyone,

I'm making a quick post of my haul. I stopped by Charming Charlie a few days ago and couldn't help myself but purchase these items.

I picked up this buckle ring because it has that chic appeal and design to it. It has gold tone detail and a silvery glittery band. This was $8.00. It also comes with a rose gold tone but they didn't have my size, which was unfortunate cause I actually like the rose gold better.

I love this pretty chain necklace. It was $15.00. I mainly purchased it to hold my work ID tag. It goes with pretty much anything I wear. The chain is a little long but can be adjusted.

This rose gold cross bracelet was $10.00. I love the simplicity of it and the rhinestone just give it a bit of sparkle. What's interesting is that it has a nut that hold the metal strings together, which makes putting on and removing the bracelet really easy. At each end of the string is a mini cross. That's very cute detail I think.

I needed some new flats for work and when I slipped these grey pair on, I absolutely loved how it fit my foot perfectly. The material is almost mesh like semi transparent with what looks like little glitter polka dots. I only tried the right side and to my surprised when I got home, the left side is one size bigger. Ughhhh, I fail. I should've checked before I bought them. I was so looking forward to wear them this week. Looks like I'm gonna have to return to Charming Charlie to get the right size. These were $25.00.

Lastly, I grabbed another pair of flats. I couldn't help but love the metallic green color. Normally, I don't really care for these curvy flats but they felt pretty comfortable when I slipped them on. These were just $20.00.

This concludes my haul. If you'd like to see more about what Charming Charlie has to offer, visit their website or a store near you.

Green Cream Eyeshadow Swatches

My round of cream eyeshadow swatches sort of went to the back burner for a while but here it is once more and I still have some more to go. 

Maybelline Color Tattoo Mossy Green is a dark olive green with a gold shimmer. Though these Color Tattoos started out fairly creamy, they do dry up before I have a chance to use much of it. I think this one is limited edition.

Maybelline Color Tattoo Edgy Emerald is a bright shimmery teal.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Shadow Creme Precious Jade is a medium shimmery cool tone green with a gold shimmer. The formula is excellent. Creamy, pigmented, and long-wearing...everything that I want in a cream shadow.

Hard Candy All Lid Up Cream Eyeshadow Pining 4 U is a mossy golden green shimmer cream shadow. I threw this out after barely using it. It felt dry from the get go but completely shortly after.

I got some hauls I need to post but I've been busy and burned out these past few days. I apologize in advance if I'm not making any sense. The tiredness is fogging my brain. Can't wait for the week to be over. Deadlines are kicking my butt.