REVIEW: MAC Zoom Lash & Maybelline Lash Stiletto

Hello! Here's my one post for November and I'm sorry I didn't do more this month. I have a double mascara review for you - one high-end and one low-end. Let me go over each product and then I'll compare them. All swatches were done with ONE COAT, which is the ideal application for everyone on-the-go.

By the way, excuse the bloodshot eyes. I have semi-insomnia or something. =)

MAC ZOOM LASH

• PRODUCT NAME: MAC Zoom Lash in Zoomblack; also comes in Lofty Brown
  
• PRICE: $13
• AMOUNT: 9 g or 0.31 oz (mine is a sample size)
  
• PACKAGING: Matte, plain round tube
  
• BRUSH TYPE & SHAPE: Skinny non-rubber/plastic brush that tapers at the tip; when viewed on end it's round in shape
• WATERPROOF: No
• TEXTURE: Wet (not too creamy but more gel-like), although Lash Stiletto is a wet formula as well, this is slightly more wet
• ODOR: Whew! I thought Lash Stiletto was stinky but this is probably the worst. I thought they smelled similar and I'm not fond of them. Funny thing is, I opened a new Lash Stiletto for this review and it didn't smell as bad as my first tube, so maybe Lash Stiletto doesn't stink after all. But I don't care for Zoom Lash at all.
• PRODUCT CLAIMS: "Instant volume; power lifts lashes into length; curls; smudgeproof; long-wearing."

ZOOM LASH REVIEW: This is definitely more of a lengthening mascara then a thickening one, and the "instant volume" claims don't ring true, as you can see my long but spidery lashes in the bottom-right quadrant. It doesn't curl my lashes but it holds the curl all day. I don't find it smudgeproof because it's not waterproof. There was no flaking when I applied it and there was very minimal flaking throughout the day. It applies very smoothly, though, and didn't clump my lashes together. I would not repurchase this because it was unimpressive, but if you're a diehard MAC fan looking for a natural-looking mascara that somewhat lengthens and defines your lashes, then you might want to try this. Otherwise, you can save your money and stay away from this.

FINAL WORDS: Where's the zoom, MAC?

MAYBELLINE LASH STILETTO

• PRODUCT NAME: Maybelline Lash Stiletto in Soft Black; also comes in Very Black and Brownish Black
• PRICE: ~$7 - $9
• AMOUNT: 6.5 ml or 0.22 fl oz
• PACKAGING: Square, shiny tube that resembles a stiletto heel
• BRUSH TYPE & SHAPE: Skinny, non-rubber/plastic brush that tapers at the tip; when viewed on end, it's square in shape, like the tube itself
• WATERPROOF: No, but there is a new waterproof version
• TEXTURE: Wet, gel-like formula
• ODOR: The first tube I've ever used was the stankiest mascara I've ever tried but my second tube didn't smell like the first. Hmm...maybe it's a hit or miss. (The second tube was my BOGO purchace.)
  
• PRODUCT CLAIMS: "Seductive length; shiny patent finish"

I definitely needed a lash comb for the outer lashes after one coat.

LASH STILETTO REVIEW: This did not give me the "ultimate" length I was expecting nor did it thicken my lashes. The spikey brush, although skinny, took me a little while to get used to because I was afraid of poking my eye with the bristles. It also clumped some of my lashes together and I had to bust out with my lash comb, which I hardly ever need to use. The patent finish is non-existent and I don't know how they can claim that on their packaging. There was no flaking when I applied it and experienced very minimal flaking throughout the day. It's not waterproof so it can smudge just a tad at the outer corners of the eyes.

FINAL WORDS: It's more of a low heel than a stiletto.

COMPARISON

Sorry for the bad picture

Looking at the above picture, I don't see much a difference between the two. Do you? They were both rather unimpressive. The good thing about Zoom Lash was that it didn't leave my lashes feeling stiff, like Lash Stiletto. Both products gave me the "natural lash look" and they easily wash off.

If you were to ask me which one I'd choose between the two, I'd say the MAC, but I would never purchase the full size. Instead, I'd stick with my absolute favorite mascara that I reviewed a couple months ago: Maybelline Volum' Express Turbo Boost Waterproof mascara.

Thanks for reading this review and I hope you didn't miss me too much. I missed you! ^_^
Scroll down the sidebar and check out my new TwitPic widget for bonus pics.
Happy Holidays!

Copyright © 2009, Lady Lostris

NOTW (Nails of the Week): Half 'N Half

The inspiration for this nail design came from watching one of mayparis' videos entitled "Day to Night Nails." I loved it so much because the design looks like you may have put some time into it, but it's actually really quick and easy to do. For me, though - since I'm so sloppy - I can't help to get polish all over my skin, but a Q-tip with a little bit of nail polish remover fixes that! I tried to avoid the cuticle area to get that nice edge but it's impossible for me. LoL! Mayparis' nails came out way better.

HOW TO DO IT

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• Two opaque nail polishes (make sure they're not sheer) - one dark color and one light color (this makes for a nice contrast)
• A toothpick, needle, pushpin or any sharp object to do the slash marks (I like using a needle)
• And, of course, a base coat, top coat, and cotton swabs and nail polish remover to clean up the edges

THE TECHNIQUE:

1. Paint one side of your nail with one color. Make sure you apply it thickly or else the colors will not swirl together easily, and you may scrape down to your nail leaving a bare spot. (It took me four hands to finally get it down right. Don't sweat the technique...you'll get it.)
2. Paint the other half of your nail with the other color (Don't worry, you won't contaminate your polish bottle with the other color you used.)
3. Then quickly, before it dries, use the needle or toothpick to make horizontal slash marks back and forth where the two colors meet.
4. Voila! Let dry and apply your top coat.

My right hand was an epic failure and that's why I didn't include a picture of it. But my thumbnail came out awesome! It's the first photo. I used Hard Candy Envy - a dark, shimmery, blackened emerald green - and Carolyn New York Hangin' on the Stoop - a medium gray creme.

I used Pure Ice Taupe Drawer (#966) and Sally Hansen White On for these nails.

EXTRA DESIGN

I was playing around with my nail art polishes but I completely forgot to paint the tip white or gray before laying down the purple. Aghh! I went back in with the copper color on the thumbnail but decided I didn't like it. Then I was going to paint the bare tip white but decided not to mess it up even further. Oh, well...

Sketch effect is cool


I'm going to try a deep navy and peach, or orange, the next time I do the half 'n half nail design.

Copyright © 2009, Lady Lostris

REVIEW: NYX Luscious Lip Gloss Palette - The Nudes

I usually don't like lip palettes because most are sheer and they come with dinky brushes with short handles, just like my MAC Intriguing Scarlet holiday palette from last year. When I first got this NYX palette, I was very skeptical because the surface of the glosses looked dry and hard. Man, was I wrong! Let's get on with the review...

NYX LUSCIOUS LIP GLOSS PALETTE in THE NUDES

SPECS

• PRICE: $6-$8
• WHAT: A palette of 5 lipglosses
• WHERE: NYX Cosmetics, Non Pareil Boutique, Cherry Culture & other NYX sellers
• AMOUNT: 7.5 g total or 0.26 oz (1.5 g for each color)
• COLORS: Available in 8 different palettes
• DIMENSIONS: 10.2 cm x 6.7 cm x 1.2 cm (metric's so much easier, America)
• INGREDIENTS: Beeswax, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Was, Ceresin, Polyethylene, Octyldodeanol, Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate, Bis-Diglyceryl Polyacyladipade-2, Isostearyl Isostearate, Diisostearyl Malate, Polyisobutene, Tocopheryl Acetate, BHA, Mica, Pigment (C.I.)

Label: click to enlarge

"The Nudes"

COLOR DESCRIPTIONS for THE NUDES

1. Mid-tone warm brownish-nude creme
2. Mid-tone mauvish berry-pink creme
3. Light peach-orange creme
4. Light baby pink or Barbie pink creme
5. Light cool-toned nude beige or khaki creme

Other palettes available: Red Rediscovered, The Naturals, The Perfect Everyday Colors, Dance in Africa, Pinky Promise, Sweet Oranges, Champagne Sparkle
(MakeupGeek has great pics of these palettes at her store.)

Flash pics, above, are truer in color

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY

PROS:

• Nicely pigmented (make sure you load up your brush)
  
• Creamy, moist, smooth texture
• Not sticky
• Glossy finish
• Coverage is just about opaque if you apply enough product
  
• Convenient, easy-to-open packaging with mirror and lip brush (it's better than no lip brush)
• Inexpensive/affordable
• Good range of colors
• You get 5 different colors in one palette

CONS:

• Lip brush bristles are frayed, not tapered, not stiff enough, not dense and too long. Make sure you use another brush that's stiffer for better application (the brush is basically the only bad & ugly thing)
• Fruity scent may bother some, but I don't find it offensive
• Not available in stores (you'll probably have to order it)

The Sephora brush is longer but the bristles are stiffer and of better quality than the NYX. See the little strays on the NYX brush?

PERFECT NUDES

The 1st & 2nd colors mixed together with a little of the 4th.


The 1st and 3rd colors mixed together. When you mix the browns with any brighter color, you'll get a perfect nude lippie. Love 'em!


The light pink first, then I added the dark pink.


The 2nd and 5th color mixed - my fave. I'm loving this palette more and more each day!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Despite the horrible lip brush, I love "The Nudes" lip gloss palette because it offers a nice range of colors in one palette - two nude browns, a berry color, a peach and a pink. It also comes with a convenient mirror and the glosses are well-pigmented, non-sticky and creamy. The best thing about it is that you get 5 colors for about $7. You gotta love that!

But I wonder how well-pigmented are the shimmery colors in the other palettes. Lemme know!

FINAL GRADE: A

Related Link: Swatches: NYX Lipsticks & Lipglosses

Thank you for checking out this review! =)

Copyright © 2009, Lady Lostris

Review: HARD CANDY Reawakens at Walmart

Remember when Hard Candy used to be sold in department stores or Sephora? Well, the line is now offered at Walmart at a more affordable price, and if you're lucky enough to find a display that isn't ravaged - like mine was - you'll see that they have a wide range of products, such as eyeshadow palettes, baked eyeshadow duos, lipsticks, glosses, nail polish, blushes, bronzers and eyeliners. They also had body glitter, a tinted moisturizer (?), a double-ended loose eyeshadow stick, and some metallic shadestick thingy. There was something called "Eye Tattoo" but I wasn't too sure what that was - something like an eyeshadow on a sheet that you rub onto your eye. The prices ranged from about $5 to $10 and Hard Candy does not test on animals.

JUST NAILS Nail Color

This deep and mysterious blackened emerald green with lighter green shimmer is called Envy, and I envy it so. The polish went on a little streaky on the first two strokes, but after that it was quite pigmented and very smooth (I used two coats in the swatch). All the nail polishes ($5) come with a plastic ring shaped either like a hemisphere or a puffed heart (I wish Envy came with a heart-shaped one). They have a small selection of glittery finishes, cremes and shimmers. Their polish contains Formaldehyde Resin, which some people like to stay away from so that can be a con. Each nail polish contains 0.35 fl. oz., which is less than your usual 0.5 fl. oz. =/

I have to go back and get this peachy-pink color with golden shimmer. I had it in my hands but decided to put it back. I hope it's still there!

MOUTHING OFF Sheer Lip Shine

• PRICE: $6
• AMOUNT: 7.5 g or 0.26 oz
• APPLICATOR: Sponge-tip
  
• OPAQUENESS: Sheer, as the product states
• TEXTURE: Smooth and moist without feeling oily; absolutely NOT STICKY like MAC Lipglasses
• SMELL: Vanilla, like MAC Lipglasses
• SHININESS: Almost as shiny as a MAC Lipglass
• PACKAGING: Cardboard handle and bottom, which I didn't notice at the store because it was shrink-wrapped, but it has a waxy coating. I don't like how the bottom of the tube is covered with the cardboard because I won't be able to tell how much product is left.
• LIPGLOSS FINAL THOUGHTS: If you like MAC Lipglasses minus the stickiness, then go and get these Hard Candy ones. But remember, these are very sheer (like a lot of MAC Lipglasses, anyway) and look better over lipsticks. I wish they were more opaque but I would definitely try out another color.
• FINAL GRADE: B, if it were more opaque, I'd give it an A. But I can't complain about something being sheer when it's advertised as such.

Gossip is a sheer peachy-pink with golden shimmer, like a light Expensive Pink eyeshadow in a tube. When blended out, the color is sheerer than in the pic.

IN THE SHADOWS Eyeshadow Collection

SPECS

• PRICE: $7
• AMOUNT: 8 g total
• PRODUCT: A palette of 5 shadows with a mini-sized primer
• PACKAGING: Cardboard with a shiny coating, hidden magnetic closure, small double-ended sponge tip applicator (the good kind like in NYX trios), see-through plastic film window, has small elastic band to hold primer to the palette
  
• PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: "This ensemble sizzles with five pigment drenched, blendable shades. Shadow primer is a superbly effective way to instantly eliminate creasing, fading and smudging." (Yeah, right.)

Ingredients (Click to enlarge)

Notice the embossed design

PRIMER REVIEW

• AMOUNT: 4.3 ml or 0.14 oz
• TEXTURE: Like a watery, starchy glob. It dries clear but basically leaves a sticky, tacky residue on your lid and takes a long time to dry.
• SMELL: Kind of like when you mix water and flour together, or water and cornstarch. I don't like it.
• INGREDIENTS: Water-based; click picture below
• CREASING: Definitely did not help with creasing because after 3 hours of wearing this alone on my lids, the colors creased and practically disappeared off my lids. It did not crease when I used it as a base over TFSI (Too Faced Shadow Insurance). That's why I love TFSI on my oily eyelids!
• MAKING COLORS POP: In the swatches below, it actually made the first two colors look better than on the other two bases, but I think that was only because it was still somewhat wet when I swatched the shadows over them. It's better than nothing but it's not the best base to make your eyeshadows pop. I used the primer under some other drugstore eyeshadows and it just did ok. I really don't like using it and it will probably just sit in my drawer.
• PRIMER FINAL GRADE: C, I'm not going to use it again

Click to enlarge

EYESHADOW REVIEW - VICE PALETTE
Pictured from bottom to top

• COLOR DESCRIPTIONS: 1) shimmery, taupey-silver, 2) shimmery mid-tone warm purple, 3) matte light beige, 4) shimmery light mint green, 5) shimmery dark steely gray
• TEXTURE: I love the smooth texture and the product easily gets into the bristles of your brush, but wait for the pigmentation comments...
• PIGMENTATION: A major disappointment for the first two colors, especially the purple. The matte light beige is what it is, so I can't really complain about that one. The most pigmented color is the dark gray, followed by the mint. It's a 2 out of 5 for me. You'll definitely need to use a better base like a cream shadow or shadestick to bring out the colors.
• VICE PALETTE FINAL THOUGHTS: I wish I could return it and get my $7 back. LoL! But since the dark gray was nicely pigmented, I wonder if the other palettes with the darker bronzey colors would be more pigmented than this palette. These colors are fairly light, you know.
• VICE PALETTE GRADE: C-, but if you like softer colors, you may like it. Otherwise, pass on by!
  

The HC Primer isn't that good, even though the first two colors look better than on the other two primers. The primer was still a little wet when I swatched the shadows, so maybe that's why. Plus, I kept packing on those first two colors to make them show up.

Even over my trusty Scandalous Eyeshadow Magnet, the first 2 or 3 colors are so washed out.

Finger swatches are so misleading. That's why I don't do them!

HARD CANDY OVERALL

Did I mention that I love the designs on the packaging? The lipsticks have tattoo-like designs on them and I was going to buy one called Perfect, but decided to wait on someone else's swatches before I buy more Hard Candy. I just wish that the Vice Palette was more pigmented because I love the packaging and the idea that it came with a mini primer. Most of the items on my display were completely gone, so I hope you find a well-stocked one. Well, for now, I'll be going back for more nail polish!

Have you tried any new Hard Candy stuff?

I found my old skool HC Jewel Box from 4 years ago...hardly touched. Tsk.

For updates, sneak peeks at upcoming posts and random pics, follow me on my new Twitter account: @lady_lostris

UPDATE: I got two more polishes...yay! I think the rings are size 7.

Copyright © 2009 Lady Lostris