I'm Alive!

Just a quick "Hello" to my bloggers, old and new.  Yes, I'm still alive and I'm sorry for not blogging since the beginning of the year.  Here's a picture of some of the random items I've purchased since I've been gone, and honestly, I haven't bought as much makeup as I did in the past.  Maybe it's because I'm running out of storage space...lol.

But my favorite item pictured is CoverGirl's Liquiline Blast eyeliner in Brown Blaze.  It's the first CoverGirl product that I absolutely love and it's making me cheat on my Revlon ColorStay eyeliners.  Shh, don't tell them.

I also bought Aquolina's new perfume called, Pink Sugar Sensual, without smelling a sample of it.  That's probably the last time I do a crazy thing like that because I ended up returning it.  I liked the "oriental" scent, which reminded me of Armani Code, or Fantasy, but after five minutes it gave me a headache.  Thank goodness Sephora has an awesome return policy for purchasing items online.  Even if you open a perfume and use it a few times, you will be able to return it for a full refund, which I had not known before.  Love you, Sephora!

Well, that's my quick hello and I hope all of you are doing well!  I'll try to start doing more reviews in the future.  Thank you for following my blog.  <3

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.

SALE: What's Coming To Me From Sephora

First of all to my email subscribers, if you didn't already know, you must click on the blue post title in order to view the entire post with pictures. I don't think some people knew about that. And thanks for subscribing!

Anyway, I was browsing the Sephora website today and found two great deals. The first is the Stila Precious Pearl Palette that was originally $40 but now it's only $20. This is the palette that comes with 6 colors and has mother-of-pearl inlay on the cover. Yuppers! I couldn't pass that up.

Click here for SWATCHES & REVIEW

Then I wanted to use the free shipping code on all orders $25 or more (CODE: TAX74) so I added to my cart a PlantLove (CARGO's eco-friendly line) palette that's a $25 value but it's only $5. I hope it turns out good because I've never tried this line before.

Click here for REVIEW & SWATCHES

Then, of course, you always get 3 free samples so I added those to my cart.


But I was caught off guard today because I haven't ordered something from Sephora in a while. Remember when you had a choice of free gift wrapping - a satchel or a sturdy box? Well, it's not free anymore! You have to pay $2 for the satchel and $4 for the box. WHAAATTT?!?!? I was bummed because I love those sturdy boxes with the magnetic closures that are great for storage. I just reorganized my makeup stash on the weekend and used a bunch of these boxes for extra stuff. =(
Damn the economy!

But anyways, I'm waiting for some foundation samples from Meow Cosmetics (the shipping is taking FOREVER) and EG Minerals. I've also picked up a few makeup items from various places in the past few days as well as a couple of items from some clothing stores. Those posts will be coming up.

Hope you're having a wonderful day! It's dinnertime for me and I'm craving fish tacos from Rubio's. Bye <3

Too Faced Eyeshadow Insurance Policy: Primer & Palette

New at Sephora is the Too Faced Eyeshadow Insurance Policy which comes with a full sized 11g Shadow Insurance (my HG primer) and a 6-color palette filled with some of their best selling eyeshadows that are 1.8g each. An elastic band at the bottom edge of the spine will snugly secure your Shadow Insurance to your palette...cute! The cardboard palette has a hidden magnetic closure and measures about 3.75" x 4". This set goes for $35.

"This full service insurance policy protects you against fading, creasing, or smearing eye shadow! Use the enclosed full size tube of our world famous "Shadow Insurance" to lock down eye shadow for limitless hours of perfection. We've set you up with six of our best-selling eye shadows to get you started."

"Apply a small amount of "Shadow Insurance" shadow base to lids and blend with finger. Apply eyeshadow and watch their color intensity as they lock down and set for hours of playful perfection."

Swatched over Scandalous Eyeshadow Magnet
(upcoming post)

MAC Humid is darker and less shimmery than Too Faced Lucky Charms

COLOR DESCRIPTIONS

• Full Frontal: Deep bronze brown with a satin-like finish
• Glamazon: Champagne with fine pieces of silver glitter
• Socialite: Orangey-amber with fine pieces of multicolored glitter (but not sparkly like Glamazon)
• Boy Toy: Barbie pink shimmer
• Skinny Dip: Royal blue shimmer but can look slightly purple at certain angles
• Lucky Charms: Shamrock green shimmer

REVIEW

• Highly pigmented
• Smooth formulas
• Gorgeous colors
• Shadow Insurance primer is worth $17 by itself but for $18 more ($35 for the set) you get six 1.8g shadows so I think that's a great deal
• Shadow Insurance primer is my Holy Grail primer because it prevents my eyelids from getting oily
• The only color I don't like is Glamazon because of it's fine pieces of silver glitter which is too sparkly and has tons of fallout. It's not chunky sized glitter like some other eyeshadows though but this is too sparkly to use as a highlight. I didn't like it as a lid color either; it's probably best at the center of the eyelid. If it weren't for the glitter, this would be a pretty color.
• No highlight color in the palette because Glamazon is too sparkly
• Quoted on the back of the palette: "Product tested on celebrities, not animals." & Made in USA

FINAL VERDICT: "Pleased"


Click image to see this @ Sephora.com


INGREDIENTS

Eye Shadow Insurance Policy High Impact Eye Shadow Collection: Shadow Insurance: Isododecane, Talc, Cyclopentasiloxane, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Triethylhexanoin, Polyethylene, Trihydroxystearin, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Isopropyl Lanolate, VP/Eicosene Copolymer, Propylene Carbonate, Dimethicone, PEG-40 Stearate, Phenoxyethanol, Tocopherol, Mica. (+/-): Bismuth Oxychloride (CI 77163), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499).

Single Eye Shadows: Talc, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Zinc Stearate, Kaolin, Zea Mays (Corn) Starch, Silica, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Mica, Polyethylene Terephthalate, Acrylates Copolymer. (+/-): Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Ultramarines (CI 77007), Carmine (CI 75470), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Ferric Ferrocyanide (CI 77510), Bismuth Oxychloride (CI 77163), Chromium Oxide Greens (CI 77288), Chromium Hydroxide Green (CI 77289), Aluminum Powder (CI 77000), Bronze Powder (CI 77400).

Vanilla Cupcake by Sephora

Woo this stuff smells like you're swimming in vanilla frosting with toasted almonds. If you are a vanilla scented lover like me, these items are a must. So if you like Aquolina Pink Sugar perfume (my absolute fave) I guarantee you'll love the Sephora Brand Vanilla Cupcake line.
I believe if you're signed up for their Beauty Insider program, you get a small size of the Bath and Shower Bubbles for free around the time of your birthday!

Tarte Eye Couture Day-to-Night Palette

So here's the Tarte palette that I'm still waiting to get. When I receive it, I'll do a video on it as soon as I can. I'm so excited! How could I pass up this purple quilted gem filled with 10 eyeshadows that are great for everyday or for that more dramatic smokey look. I opted for this palette rather than another one I was eyeing because I'm curious about Tarte eyeshadows. I don't hear a lot about them but I've read some great reviews. This is a limited edition item so I couldn't pass it up. Plus it also comes with a double ended brush and a double ended brown and black eyeliner.

Urban Decay Book of Shadows Palette

OMG! Check out the new palette by Urban Decay. This lovely box comes with 16 shadows ranging from neutral tones to colorful tones. It also comes with two brushes and a mini size Primer Potion. But what's the best thing about it besides the awesome range of shadows? The packaging! The inside cover is just like a pop-up book with 3-D cutouts of all things pretty. Check out the Sephora website for this baby going for $45. Too bad I had already ordered the Tarte Eye Couture Day-to-Night Palette. I guess I'll have to save up for this one but it's already sold out! =(