Quickie Swatch: NYX Pumpkin Pie & Summer Love

This Thursday is Thanksgiving in the US, so why not bust out with some pumpkin pie? I actually had a slice earlier. =) This cooler weather is also making me miss warmer temperatures, so I thought I'd add a swatch of NYX's Summer Love round lipstick along with Pumpkin Pie. You can find both lipsticks here.

Both colors have very subtle shimmer but do not look frosty on the lips.

Pumpkin Pie lip swatch - a mid-tone peach.

Summer Love lip swatch - a grayish pink.

I haven't hauled NYX Round Lipsticks in a while so I don't know if they changed the formula. The texture of these two colors are different than my older lipsticks, like Rea, Circe and Thalia, which have more of a matte texture and sticks to the lips better - making them longer lasting. Pumpkin Pie and Summer Love have much more slip to them, and I find them less opaque than other NYX lipsticks I own. I had to swipe them on a few times to build up the opacity. With my older lipsticks, all I have to do is pat them on because they're so rich. Pumpkin Pie and Summer Love are creamy and moist, but don't last long on my lips.

You can find some of my other NYX lip product swatches here. My favorite NYX lip combo is Rea, a deathly mauvey beige-brown, with the Mega Shine Lipgloss in Natural, a nude, mauvey-pink creme.

So, have a Happy Upcoming Thanksgiving! Eat lots of turkey and stuffing slathered with gravy and cranberries! Safe travels, as well! =)

Lil' Saturday Haul: Shoes & Lipstick!

I headed out today ONLY to get these over-the-knee boots from Forever 21 and ended up hauling three more items I didn't intend to.  Don't you hate when that happens?  I tell myself not to whip out the credit card, but I just had to get these really cheap Madden Girl shoes at Ross.

First up are these Matte Leatherette boots ($39.80) that I've been feening to get since I saw them on Forever 21's website.  I like the matte finish and opted for these instead of a faux suede, since that would get way too linty.  They fit true to size (I'm an 8) and there's still room to wear a thin pair of socks if I choose to.  The toe is semi-pointy - sort of almond shaped - but they do not squeeze my toes like my other almond-toed shoes (see last pic below).  I don't even think I need to break them in!  The zipper goes up two-thirds of the way, and there's a patch of elastic banding on the back of the boot at the very top.  A seam starts from the tip of the toe all the way up to the shaft.  I notice that they kind of bunch up at the ankles, but other than that, I'm in lurve with them!  Also, the lining is super soft if you choose to wear them bare-legged.

Then I headed over to Target to pick up another Maybelline Color Sensational (~$5.69) lipstick in Totally Toffee.  In my previous post, I had swatched Warm Me Up, but it was too much of a berry-pink, whereas Totally Toffee is more of a brown tone with a hint of pink - totally up my alley!  You can see in the swatches how much pinker Warm Me Up is compared to Totally Toffee.  It's funny how both of these colors are in the "Naturals" family when Warm Me Up is clearly a pink color.  Hey Maybelline, you got that wrong!

This holiday season, I may be traveling to another state, so I wanted to try out a dry shampoo.  I usually have to wash my hair everyday since I have an oily scalp, and it gets gross and greasy the latter half of the second day if I don't wash it.  So I picked up a dry shampoo from Sally Beauty Supply by Batiste.  I haven't tried it yet but hopefully it'll work for me, because I want to cut down washing my hair if I won't be staying at home for the holidays.  As a guest, I don't want to be hogging someone else's shower for too long!

Lastly, I found a cute pair of Madden Girl peep toes at Ross for only $17.99.  Score!

SOMETHING EXTRA

 Ever try to stretch out your shoes using the Freezer Method?  These almond toe pumps were killing my toes!  So I filled up a Ziploc bag a quarter way with water, stuck it into my shoe and let them sit for almost 24 hours.  When water freezes and turns into ice, it will expand and stretch your shoe out.  Well...it worked somewhat, but I still had to wear them around the house with some socks to further stretch it out.  I may try it again with more water.

I just thought this pic was funny. Hey, just throw your shoe into the freezer with a large tub of Cool Whip, Magnolia Ube ice cream (bomb!), pizza and waffles!  At least the Boca Burgers in the red box are healthy!...lol

Have a great weekend! =)

Give Me Some Lip: Revlon Soft Nude & Maybelline Warm Me Up

Do I really need some more lipsticks when I already have tons?  No.  Do I need to try them just because? Yes!  The following will be a review of a Revlon ColorBurst lipstick and a Maybelline Color Sensational lipstick.

 Revlon ColorBurst Lipstick in Soft Nude

THE RUNDOWN

PRICE: ~$6.50+ (I bought it at Target)
AMOUNT: 0.13 oz or 3.7 g
PRODUCT COLOR: Soft Nude #070 - a creme, peachy nude with no shimmer
TEXTURE: Creamy and moist, but still requires gloss over it
PIGMENTATION: Good, but with this color, I find I need to rub in on several times until I get my desired look since my lips are so pigmented.  But it's still nicely pigmented.
SCENT: I really can't detect any scent whatsoever
PACKAGING: Square, matte black tube with a quilted or fishnet etched pattern on two sides of the tube.  It has a round edge at the tip instead of the usual point, and the Revlon name is etched into the lipstick itself - very nice!  The colored swatch at the top of the cap seems to be very accurate to the actual product.  The sticker seals the tube so people can't test them in the stores, ensuring you get a clean product.
INGREDIENTS: Check them out at Drugstore.com (They also have very nice product photos of the other colors)

PROS: I find everything about this color and product is totally awesome! =)
CONS: I really can't find anything I don't like about it.

Top: True colors with flash; Bottom: Natural light

FINAL WORDS:  A perfect creamy and moist peachy-nude color with good pigmentation and lovely packaging.  It's now one of my favorites!

Love! <3

This is my FAVORITE lipliner: Flesh by Ulta. I used it with Revlon's Soft Nude and it works perfectly, but I also use this with my nude pinks. It's a matte, peach-toffee sort of color.

Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in Warm Me Up

THE RUNDOWN

PRICE: ~$5.50+ (I bought it at Target)

AMOUNT:  0.15 oz or 4.2 g

PRODUCT COLOR: Warm Me Up #235 (in the Naturals family) - a berry pink with a very subtle golden shimmer, which I didn't notice until I took macro photos.  I don't notice any shimmer when applied on the lips.  I don't understand why this is in the Naturals category, when it clearly is a berry pink color!  There's no brown in it whatsoever. A lot of pinks turn sort of purple-pink on me, and this one does that.  I don't know why; it could be my natural lip color or the lipstick just oxidizing?

TEXTURE: Creamy and moist. A hint more moist than the Revlon ColorBurst.

PIGMENTATION: Well-pigmented

SCENT: I can't place the scent but it's like a light candy scent which I actually love.  Those sensitive to scents may be turned off by it, though.

PACKAGING: Square transparent tube with a color-coded cap that corresponds to each lipstick, either belonging to the Pink, Plum, Red or Natural family.  It has a shiny silver base and the lipstick has a pointed tip.  Since the cap is almost the length of the whole lipstick, it can be a little hard to grasp onto the small base while opening the lipstick.  This is the only thing I don't like about it.

PROS: Great pigmentation, creamy, moist and inexpensive. Comes in 48 colors, not including the new Pearl colors.

CONS: Scented. May be a little hard to open since the base is so small and hard to grasp.  It's not sealed so the lipsticks in stores may have been tested on, so you might have to sanitize it when you get home, which is what I did just to be safe.

Lips are little crusty here...lol..because I just got done eating so I'm sorry for that. Also, this was before I decided to swatch Soft Nude by itself, hence, the half-lip swatches.

FINAL WORDS: I love the pigmentation and texture of Warm Me Up, but it wasn't really the kind of pink I was looking for. (I really want to try Pink Please or Totally Toffee.)  Other than that, it's a great, inexpensive lipstick with nifty color-coded caps.

Have a great day everyone! =)

REVIEW: Cargo PlantLove Palette & Urban Decay Lipstick Sample

I received my Sephora order and I'm very happy since it was only $25 plus tax. I needed to add $5 more to my cart to get free shipping, so this is how I ended up with CARGO's PlantLove palette. Yes, it was only $5.

THE RUNDOWN

• CARGO PlantLove, an eco-friendly line for the "green" girl
• Contains natural and organic ingredients; free of parabens, phthalates, synthetic dyes, or fragrances
• Packaged in a cardboard book-type palette with hidden magnetic closure
• Measures about 3 1/₄" x 3 1/₄"
• Comes with 4 eyeshadows, 2.5 g each (total 10 g)
  
• Price: $5
  

The front and inside covers

PROS

• Very inexpensive
• Made with all natural and organic ingredients for those with a "green" conscience
• Large amount of product
• Two colors, Iris (purple) and Ginger (orange bronze) have a better texture than the other two and have pretty good color pay-off when used over a good base (see swatches below)
• For $5, the purple color by itself is worth it
• Good to add in your cart if you need $5 more to get free shipping at Sephora.com

CONS

• If you sniff the shadows, they smell like cooking oil, but I don't notice that odor when wearing it
• Other two shadows, Zinnea (golden orange) and Thyme (light sage) have a gritty, flaky, rough texture (kind of like a MAC lustre) and aren't as pigmented as the other two
• Zinnea and Thyme are a little hard to blend
• Must use a good base - like a shadestick, paintpot, or cream eyeshadow - to get good color payoff
• No practical highlight color

Note: a MAC depotted shadow would fit into the first inner circle

Ingredients (click to ENLARGE)
They include: Karanja Oil, Argan Oil, Grape Seed Oil & Sunflower Seed Oil

COLOR DESCRIPTIONS

• IRIS: deep violet shimmer (frost finish)
• THYME: light sage shimmer (lustre finish)
• GINGER: warm orange bronze shimmer (frost finish)
• ZINNEA: golden orange shimmer (lustre finish)

Swatched over Scandalous Eyeshadow Magnet

IRL, the purple looks better than in this eye pic; it looks quite sheer here even if it wasn't. I can't seem to take a good eye pic...go figure. Plus I didn't use a dark base but IRL, the purple is really pretty. (Excuse the unfilled brow)

Base: TFSI & Physicians Formula ColorEyes shadestick in Champagne (discontinued)
Lid & lower lashline: Iris
Crease: Ginger
Inner corner: Zinnea
Hightlight: None

Base: Same as above
Lid & lower lashline: Ginger
Crease & inner corner: Zinnea
Outer corner: Iris
Highlight: None

Playing with my swatch

FINAL THOUGHTS
It was only $5 and I'm not complaining.

***********************************

SEPHORA SAMPLES

• Ole Henriksen Sheer Transformation (haven't tried yet)
• Bare Minerals Foundation Primer (haven't tried yet)
• Urban Decay Lipstick in Sellout (Love!)

The full-size Urban Decay lipstick in Sellout goes for $22 but it's so worth it! It's well-pigmented, creamy, dreamy, moist and glossy: perfection. I would definitely blow $22 on one lipstick plus the packaging is gorgeous. Sellout is not really my color - a medium/dark raspberry creme - but the texture blows me away. I have to say it's better than a MAC Cremesheen and the Sally Hansen Natural Beauty lipsticks are coming to mind right now. (I'm tellin' ya, those Sally Hansen lippies are good.) I was on the verge of buying UD's lipstick in Naked, but I promised myself I wouldn't buy any lip products until I used something up. Be aware of the color descriptions because some are labeled as sheer or semi-sheer coverage. Sellout is a full-coverage lipstick so it comes out opaque.

See how glossy it is? Skip the lipgloss when wearing these!

UPCOMING POST
I got my Stila palette (@ 50% off, $20!) and, ay Dios mio, it's so pretty in person. A review with swatches coming soon cuz I'm still playing with it....

Thanks for stopping by! =) You'll be seeing more eyeshadow review posts and some mineral foundation reviews this month.

NYX Haul: Pix & Swatches

Happy Mother's Day ladies! I hope you are having a wonderful day.


We had my favorite dessert today, tiramisu cake....yum. There's a slew of different ways to interpret tiramisu, but it's basically lady fingers soaked in espresso or strong coffee and layered with mascarpone and whipped cream, topped with a sprinkling of cocoa. Tiramisu in Italian means "pick me up" and I surely felt better after eating it!

Anyway, my NYX package came in yesterday so you know I had to take pictures of everything and do some good swatches to help you out.

You'll mostly see nude and pink lip products, and eyeshadow colors I don't really have yet. That 50% off sale was just too good to pass up.

I must say, NYX Cosmetics packs their products EXTREMELY well. Cutting through that huge ball of layers and layers of bubble wrap was like performing surgery. What am I going to do with all those packing peanuts? You know they're bad for the environment!

The Black Label Lipsticks are more moist and glossy than the Round Lipsticks but I feel they are less pigmented. I prefer more opaque lippies but these are still nice- love these colors! I also adore the packaging, however, they are a little hard to pop open.

I bought another Rea to add to my 4 backups. Haha! I use it almost everyday to neutralize my lips. I pat it on, never rub.
(Click to enlarge)

For more NYX lip swatches, click here.

I tried to heavily swatch this on my arm but it wouldn't show up. Hmm. It's a matte blush that contains talc, which I stay away from, but it's the second ingredient so I'll just try it out. This is a popular contour color. I love my EDM and Physician's Formula blushes, though!

On to the eye products. I just got trios I didn't already have (I forgot Lake Moss). I picked up another Nude pigment since it's good to mix with other colors. Lilac Pearl has a slight blue opalescence to it. The yellow trio is going to be great for summer! I am loving Antique Gold right now.

I'm disappointed with the light gray in this trio; it's not very pigmented. This is what Maite is supposedly wearing on her eyes in the picture on the website.

I decided to try a couple of the Ultimate Pearl Eyeshadows, which I don't see a lot of. They have the texture of a baked eyeshadow but I think the single eyeshadows have the best pigmentation. Some colors in the trios are better than others. Silver Pearl should definitely be renamed "light blue pearl" and Charcoal Pearl should be renamed "silver pearl."

The pink is very pale but if you pack in on over a good base, then it will come out this way. Silver & Charcoal Pearl are quite sheer on my eye. (Ignore the nasty arm hair!)

Brown, the single eyeshadow, is one of my favorite matte warm-toned browns, but in the Highlight/Brown/Suede trio, it's a completely different color. Boo! The same goes for Golden. It's hella different in those two trios. What's up with that?

Review coming up for the Eye & Lip Makeup Remover!

I also bought a nail polish in "Jungle" but I'll save that for a NOTD post. Hope the swatches helped! =)

NYX frappucino, rea, dusty rose, taupe, vanilla, lollipop, sky pink pearl, lilac pearl, antique gold, yellow pearl, golden, casablanca, highlight, brown, suede, silver pearl, charcoal pearl swatches