Collective Haul and Swatches (Pic Heavy)

WHHHHEWIE! I'm sowie for being away but while I was away from me blog I was also busy shopping. It's been crazy in my world and needed some serious retail therapy. So here's what I've collected from the past few days.

These new NYX Prismatic eyeshadows are now available at Ulta for $6 a pot. So far, my first impression is wow, these are so pigmented and swatch beautifully! They feel so creamy! Need...to...get...more! It's currently on BOGO sale at Ulta right now.

LORAC Behind The Scenes Eye Primer Review

These past few days have been brutal but we just finished our entries and reports today. I'm not quite out of the woods just yet but perhaps I can breath a little more easily for the next few days...Yeah hopefully. I have a long list of drafted reviews that are waiting on me. I worry that the longer I stall the lazier I'll get.

I've been a long time user of the Urban Decay Primer potion and it was a nice change of scenery when I acquired this primer as free gift with purchase.

Packaging

• A fairly generous amount for a try out tube if you ask me a little less than half the size of the regular tube. 
• I found the applicator a little odd. I personally wouldn't use it to apply it on my eyes. I prefer to just squeeze a little bit out and then apply it with my finger.

Product

• The LORAC primer has a thin and smooth consistency. It appears like a light beige but becomes transparent once you apply it on the skin, which reminded me a bit of the Too Faced primer. 
• I also noticed that when I haven't used it in a while, it would separate in the tube just like the Too Faced primer also. 
• I have moderately oily lids. I like the fact that this primer did a very good job at preventing creasing and fading and also helped bring out the colors of the eyeshadows. My eye makeup last about 8-10 hours with this primer. 
• The eyeshadows also blend easily over it, which is nice. 

Final Thought

I don't know how this will hold up if you have very oily lids but for my moderately oily ones, it performed well, and prevented creasing and fading for up to 10 hours. The thin and smooth consistency is nice and makes blending easy but formula will start to separate if you don't use it for a while. 

Rating: 9/10

Price: $21.00 (for the full size product)
Availability: Ulta, LORAC

LORAC Ready, Set, Splash Eyeliner Set - Review & Swatches

Hello Lovelies,

Today, I felt worst then yesterday. It wasn't until last night when the pain started to kick-in. I'm sore everywhere. Nothing alarming or life-threatening but I suppose that's expected since I slammed pretty hard on the ground.

I've had the chance to try out this new eyeliner set for the past couple of days and wanted to have this review up as soon as possible. As stated on the packaging, this set is exclusive to Ulta. You get 4 full size eyeliners for $28.00.

What it says on the packaging...

Make a splash with LORAC's 3-in-1 waterproof eyeliner pencil collection. These BUDGE-PROOF, SMUDGE-PROOF pencils have a creamy and velvety-smooth texture for intense, rich color that glides on easily for a precise line that lasts. Each pencil features its own built-in sharpener and smudger for effortless, versatile application. 
Pencil set includes 4 sizzling shades in: Ultra Black, Charcoal, Jade, Navy. 

Packaging

• I didn't realize these were automatic pencils until I opened the package because they look like regular pencil liners.
• Each pencil comes with a sharpener and smudger. I like that they also included a cap on the smudgers.
• The smudger/sharpener don't fit as snug as I would like so they can fall off easily. Otherwise, the overall packaging is nice. 
• Net weight per liner is .02 oz or .6 g

Product

• Obviously, right off the bat, I'm sure you can predict what I'm going to say based on the swatches above. The texture of these liners are pretty dry and they feel a bit waxy in spite of their matte appearance. Because of that, they don't apply smoothly and even pull and tug a bit more than I want during application. At this point, this was already a deal breaker for me. I cannot stand eyeliners that do that. I even ended up breaking the tip of Jade as I was swatching it due to the amount of pressure I had to use. 
• Pigmentation was nothing to rave about. I mean yeah, it does show but is it intense and rich in color? I don't think so. You need to apply pressure in order to get some color and that's not good to do that on your eyes. 
• While I found these to be waterproof'; however, if you have oily or somewhat oily lids, eventually the color is going to dissolve, smudge, and fade. I notice that happening after 3 hours of wear. Yep, they gave me panda eyes.
• This doesn't work very well on the waterline since I can't get a decent amount of color to show up. 

Final Thought

Honestly, if they had testers I probably wouldn't have picked it up. I should've asked but I thought that since this is a high-end brand that I wouldn't need to worry about the quality. I was wrong. I wanted to have this review up asap so that you are aware of the issues I've had with them. And since I'll be going to Ulta tomorrow to pick up the Too Face BB Cream, I definitely plan to return these. 

Bottom line is they are nothing as described except waterproof. I'm so disappointed that the formula was a big fail, really not what I was expecting from LORAC. 

My rating: 5/10.

My High-End Lipgloss Collection and Swatches

Here's just a quick post of my high-end lipgloss swatches. To be honest, MAC makes up for most of my lip products so I feel that it would need to have it's own post or category. I've already posted a post of my MAC lipstick collection and some swatches (by now, I must have acquired a few more already) but I have not done one with the MAC lipglasses.

Unfortunately, some of these high-end glosses were limited edition or discountinued but who knows if you might still be lucky enough to come across them. Nonetheless, I'm throwing it out there just for the love of blogging and because some of these shades are still available.

 

I listed a brief description of these in order from left to right according to the photos and swatches.

YSL Glosss Pur 49 black (limited edition). I purchased this one from allcosmeticswholesale.com a while back but it's no longer available there. However, when I googled it it seems like you may still be able to find it online. To be honest, I rarely reach for this, lol. I believe most people won't go for this type of shade anyways but I just bought for the quirk of having something unusual. Plus, considering it's the YSL brand and I got it for about half of its retail price, I thought eh why not?!

Josie Maran Natural Volume Lip Gloss Soledad. I got this as part of a value package from Sephora, which I did a review HERE. For lip swatches, you can view it in this post. It is still availabe for purchase if you are interested, you can find it on Sephora's website. This is a sheer coral lipgloss that feels nice on the lips and looks natural. It doesn't last very long unfortunately. To be honest, I wouldn't have purchased this on it's own due to the sheerness and price ($20).

Hourglass Extreme Sheen Siren. For review and additional swatches of this lipgloss, click HERE. This gloss is fantastic! By far, my favorite red. The formula is extremely pigmented, smooth, glossy, and metallic. I have not come across anything like it. I highly recommend if you love bright bold red lips. This shade is a stand out and I have got so many compliments when I wore this. Available at Sephora for $28.00.

Lorac Tie Dye for Gloss Berry Blender (limited edition). This came out with a set of  5 colors I believe and thet set was around $30. It thought it was such a great value deal. They were all pretty pigmented. I only kept this one. The rest of the shades were given as gifts. It has an interesting marble look in the packaging.

Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss Hermetic. I love intense metallic lipglosses because they are hard to come by and really make your pout stand out. I haven't come across anything like this shade either. It's a metallic burgundy plum. Gosh I bought a while back and should've done a review by now but still haven't. This is still availabe at Sephora for $20.00.

Chanel Rouge Allure Lacque Santal 77 (limited edition). I heard through Temptalia that these were being discontinued and I was quite sad when I heard the news because these are amazing! They are technically not lipglosses but more like liquid lipstick. For swatches and review of this shade, please click HERE. Otherwise, this is still available for a limited time on Chanel's website.

Chanel Rouge Allure Lacque Coromandel 72 (discontinued). I guess this is no longer available since I wasn't able to find it on Chanel's website. This is a very pigmented warm red. For additional swatches and review, check out this post.

Have you tried any of these brands? What's your favorite high-end lipgloss?

Luuux Shared Link

Day and Evening Makeup Looks with Lorac Eyeshadows

I did these two makeup looks over the weekend and should've had them up already but work is kicking my ass again and I'm pretty beat at the end of the day. I was hoping to post these last night but I ended up going to bed super early, which is unusual but the extra sleep helped give me a little boost of energy today.

Anyhoo, if you've seen my previous post, you know that I was given a Lorac eyeshadow palette by Huda. I've already done swatches of it too.

Daytime Look

I try not to do anything too dramatic for a daytime look but this ended up to be more colorful than I anticipated so I tried to keep the look soft and girly. I should've taken the pictures with flash cause it normally captures the colors better but I forgot since it was daytime, lol.



Eyes

• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Lorac eyeshadows from the Time to Shine palette. Silver with blue undertone all over lids. Pink eyeshadow on the crease. A little bit of black on the outer V. Light shimmery beige on brow bone.
• Physicians Formula Gel Creamliner, pinkish purple from the Hazel eye set (lower lash line)
• Stila Smudge pot Black (upper lash line)
• Lorac Multiplex 3D mascara
• Clinique bottom lash mascara
• ELF eyebrow Kit

Face

• Physicians Formula Cashmerewear bronzer
• Josie Maran Illuminizer
• Elf Candid Coral blush

Lips

• NYX Black Label lipstick-Poem

Evening Look

Wow, is it just me or can you tell how different and much more mature I look with dramatic makeup? I think the green contacts complements the colors of this look. I am madly in love with the green PF eyeliner.

Eyes

• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Lorac eyeshadows from the Time to Shine palette. I used the plum color all over my lids. I applied the green on the crease and outer V. I used the beige eyeshadow to highlight brow bone.
• Hourglass Calligraphy liquid eyeliner (upper lash line)
• Physicians Formula Gel Creamliner Green from the Green Eyes set (lower lash line)
• Prestige Total Intensity Fearless Teal (waterline)
• False eyelashes, top and bottom

Face

• Mac Dirty Plum blush
• Josie Maran Bronzer

Lips

• Wet N Wild Perfect Pair Lipwand 123

Thanks for checking out my post and hope you enjoyed.

Last weekend Haul -- PF, ELF, Lorac, Bath & Body Works, Nail Polishes, and a Purse

Since I worked my butt off for the past couple weeks and got paid last Friday. I thought I was going to blow my money and splurge but I think I actually did pretty good. Spent less than I anticipated. I guess I can blame it on the Sephora coupon I got in the mail because April 14-21, VIB can save 15% off their purchase. So with that said, you can expect a Sephora haul post by this weekend.

Anyways, the point of this post to to show you what I got last week.

I purchased more ELF eyeshadows from Target. I bought the Blooming Eyeshadow Collection, which comes with 4 duo eyeshadows and a brush/pencil. I also decided to try more mineral eyeshadows and got the Sea Blue set. Each of these sets are sold for $4.99.

I bought the Physicians Formula Cashmere Wear Bronzer from CVS. I used the $5.00 coupon. The PF blushes and bronzers were on sale for $6.00 off so with the coupon, I literally paid $3.00 for it.

I stopped by this nail supply store next to an asian market. My sister told me about it so I decided to check it out. The selection was ok and the prices could have been better but it is still cheaper than paying retail. They were selling China Glaze for $4.00 and OPI for $6.00. From left to right I have Eyes Like Sapphires, Sea Spray, and Simmer & Shimmer.
If you live in Milwaukee area and would like to check out this nail supplier, here's the address info:

Central Nail Supply

5455 S 27th St
Milwaukee, WI 53221
414-282-5555

 If you know any other nail supplier in Milwaukee, feel free to let me know too! I hate paying retails, lol.

I didn't purchase this Lorac eyeshadow palette. This is actually a giveway that I won and was sent to me by Huda Kaake. So thank you so much Huda. I was stoked when I unwrapped my package. This palette is called "time to shine" and according to the packaging, is being sold at Ulta for $28.00.

The palette comes inside a clutch-like packaging with a wide mirror and 10 eyeshadows. They are all shimmery, except for the black one. I don't really like the rough glittery texture of the cover. I experienced a bit of glitter fall out but nothing extreme.

There was also a mini-size Multiplex 3D mascara included with this eyeshadow palette. I tried it the other day and was pretty happy with the result. The formula is a little wet but it allows me to build up volume and length without clumping.

Here are the swatches. The top row is definitely more subtle and day-time appropriate. The bottom row has more dramatic colors for an evening look. The eyeshadows are soft to the touch and blend easily. As you can see on the picture, the pigmentation isn't the greatest but with a good eyeshadow primer, they are doable.

Huda also sent me 2 hand lotions from Bath and Body Works and a small travel-size hand sanitizer...It's so small and cute and I love shoes! One lotion is not pictured because I lost the original photo of my giveway prize and I gave it to my daughter. But yeah, she sent me some awesome goodies.

I was browsing through DSW hoping to find a cute pair of shoes. Surprisingly, I didn't find any that I liked enough to buy. I managed to spot this lovely purse. Made by Etienne Aigner and genuine leather. The original price was $132.00. It was marked on sale for $55.00 and with my $5.00 birthday coupon, I got this baby for only $50.00. I like how classic and casual this looks. It's large enough to hold all the things I need. It also comes with a detachable shoulder strap.

That's all for now...I will be posting a couple makeup looks I did with the Lorac palette. So stay tuned, if you are interested in it. Thanks for reading :)