Dolce & Gabbana Caramel (50) Lip Gloss($29.00 for 0.13 oz.) is a muted, medium beige nude with a high shine finish. It tones down my natural lip color without washing me out, which I can definitely appreciate! Unlike some nude glosses, it doesn’t look thick or unnatural, and it doesn’t feel gloopy at all–but there is still some color to it, it’s not just a sheer gloss. There is a touch of tackiness, but I wouldn’t describe these as sticky.
Dolce & Gabbana Lip Glosses are moisturizing, and they fade really well when they wear away. I only get about two to three hours of wear, which is a little below average for me. These glosses are rose-scented but don’t seem to have any taste. With just 0.13 oz. in a tube (compared to 0.20 oz. for other high-end brands like Chanel, Guerlain, and YSL), these are pricey. Overall, they’re nice glosses, but it’s not quite the holy grail.
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Product: 26/30
Value: 6/10
Ease of Use: 4/5
Packaging: 4/5
RECOMMENDATION: It’ll work well to neutralize your natural lip color without washing out, which is nice, but it’s pricey.
Kat Von D Love & Fury (Adora) Eyeshadow Palette ($34.00 for 0.40 oz.) is a new and limited edition eyeshadow palette for the holidays that includes eight eyeshadows. There are five powder eyeshadows and three cream eyeshadows.
Albino is a sheer, shimmering silver-toned white.
Holy Bible is a bright blue-toned white with a metallic sheen.
Slayer is a bright metallic silver. This is a cream shadow, and it was a little on the drier side.
Glock is a darkened gray with a silver sheen.
Crucifix is a deep, dark black. It’s very creamy and smooth–it works well as an eyeliner in particular. This is a cream shadow.
Bloodletting is a burgundy red with purple flecks of shimmer. It is a little drier, like Slayer, but less so. This is a cream shadow.
Ace of Spades is a muted, gray-purple with soft violet flecksof shimmer. Just a touch sheer.
Oddfellow is a light gray-black with blue glitter flecks. This one was sheer and a little chalky for me.
The color scheme is very dark, foreboding, and it generally fits with the vibe I get from Kat Von D’s makeup line and the aesthetics of the range. If you love smokier looks, this is a palette with your name on it! It has four variations of silver/gray and then four dark, smoky shades.
I think the palette is decent, but I had a few issues with pigmentation on three of the powder eyeshadows (Albino, Ace of Spades, and Oddfellow). Oddfellow was the least pigmented and even looked it when swatched. It pops more when layered over the black base of Crucifix, but it’s hard to use on its own. Slayer is drier and the shimmer in the cream base makes it difficult to blend out evenly. Ace of Spades was a touch sheer while Abino was rather sheer. It’s more like a shade you’d dust over another shade because of the sheerness.
I like the concept more than the execution, just because for $38, there really shouldn’t be any sheer shades in it. I do, however, like that these are–essentially–the equivalent to eight full-sized eyeshadows, so you are getting plenty of bang for your buck. There are included brushes with the palette, but I don’t find them useful.
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Product: 24/30
Value: 9/10
Ease of Use: 4/5
Packaging: 4/5
RECOMMENDATION: I would probably pass unless you really love all of the shades in this palette and don’t mind using darker bases to amp up some of the sheerer shades.
Bare Escentuals High Shine Eye Color ($16.00 for 0.05 oz.) are kind of amazing. If you’re looking for intensely pigmented, smooth as silk, and bright, metallic-like eyeshadows, Bare Escentuals has you covered. There are six shades available: Frost (silver), Moonshine (deep plum), Patina (gilded khaki), Electric (deep teal), Bronzed (bronze brown), and Glisten (golden sand).
These apply so smoothly–as if they were creams or liquids, but they’re very much a loose powder. The powder seems incredibly finely milled, which helps give it that silky texture and intensifies the color as it holds together impeccably. Though I find these shades rather high-shine to wear alone, I love them as bases or mixed with other shadows. I did try wearing Glisten on its lonesome to test for creasing, and it wore well–no creasing six hours later.
Frost is a bright metallic silver. This is easily the most dupeable shade, as most silvers tend to be on the metallic side in finish (if it’s not, then it’s more of a gray, is it not?)
Moonshine is a softened mauve-tinged plum. This shade seemed the least metallic of the bunch.
Patina is a gilded olive green with gold shimmer-sheen. This one is gorgeous if you’re a green fiend!
Electric is a softened blue that pulls just slightly teal. It’s really not teal to me, though–maybe a dusty teal?
Bronzed is a warm bronze with a metallic sheen. This also felt a bit dupeable; it’s just one of those warm bronzes you see often. It doesn’t make it bad, just not necessarily the one to get.
Glisten is a tarnished gold with a metallic sheen. This was my other favorite, along with Patina, but I’m a total sucker for antique golds…
These are beautiful from first swatch to application, but there is a major drawback to this product line. The applicator/tube is a total no-go! However they managed it, when you pull the applicator out of the tube (which is a large sponge-tipped applicator), it also pulls a ton of product onto the edges. In essence, it pulls out far too much product on the applicator itself as well as leaves a lot along the rim of the tube (which just falls on your floor, lap, or wherever!).
I would recommend dumping the color into a jar or else cutting the applicator off — because it seems like the larger sponge-tip does pull much of the excess to the rim, so if you just snipped it off entirely (and used a separate brush to apply), you could leave it in the tube. (Ironically, they tout the applicator as a “convenient, quick-draw wand [that] allows for easy, on-the-go application.”)
I think these are all kinds of awesome, but due to the poor packaging design, the product's overall rating gets dragged significantly. If you don't mind fussing with the packaging to make these work, they're definitely worth checking out.
Product
10/10
Pigmentation
10/10
Texture
10/10
Longevity
10/10
Application
4/5
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Oooh, you are SO lucky! FedEx JUST dropped of a little black box that could only mean MAC… and inside was MAC & Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday lipstick. I say you’re lucky because I have to head to class in about fifteen minutes–I had just enough time to snap photos, swatch, crop, and upload.
Pink Friday is described as a “bright creamy pink lipstick,” and it has a satin finish (which means it has a creamy, semi-matte finish–no shimmer). It is a a creamy, medium pink with a noticeable blue undertone. It is pretty opaque on lips, and it almost has a chalky look, because it’s paler than it looks. I thought it was going to be a deeper pink, even based on seeing in the tube (in person), but it goes on paler. I also recommend prepping lips as satin lipsticks can often emphasize dryness or any flakiness on lips!
It is bluer-based (veers on purple) in comparison to All Styled Up. It is totally different from Chatterbox and Sweetie. Fun Fun looks washed out and muddy when swatched next to it. Lavender Whip is significantly glossier and purpler. Saint Germain and Snob are actually the closest to Pink Friday; both are just a hue lighter, but the colors are very, very similar. Funny enough, Viva Glam Gaga looks less blue-based against all of these stronger, bluer-based pinks (see swatch).
DUPES: Saint Germain, Snob
I apologize in advance — I do not have Pink Nouveau to compare this to. I was actually planning to purchase it along with Pink Friday on Friday but this press sample arrived this afternoon. I have a skin swatch of Pink Nouveauhere, and you can tell it is similar–not quite as bright, probably not quite as blue-based.
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Product: 25/30
Value: 8/10
Ease of Use: 4/5
Packaging: 4/5
RECOMMENDATION: The texture is a little off — it doesn’t apply as smoothly or as cleanly as other satin finish lipsticks. If you have either Snob or Saint Germain, this is close enough that you could skip. This is a shade that looks best on cooler skin tones because of the strong blue base.
Clarins Bronze Instant Sun Light Highlighter ($32.00 for 0.28 oz.) is a creamy–almost gel-like in consistency and texture–golden bronze with soft flecks of gold shimmer that glides onto skin and gives a warmer, luminous look. Though rather deep bronze in the compact, it applies rather sheerly and much lighter on the skin. On both paler and deeper skin tones, this is more of a highlighter than a contouring shade–on the palest of skin, I could see this working as a subtle bronzer. I like this best as a natural highlighter on medium to deep skin tones.
I do wish this product lasted longer on the skin, though; it seems to slide off within three to four hours, even on my normal skin, so I would imagine even shorter wear time on oilier skin types. It doesn’t dry down to a powdery finish, which is good news for those with drier skin types, because it won’t emphasize any dryness or flaking skin. I definitely recommend using a translucent setting powder to help this stay in place longer.
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Product: 25/30
Value: 8/10
Ease of Use: 4/5
Packaging: 4/5
RECOMMENDATION: I think those of light-medium to medium skin tones will find this most flattering, because it will add some warmth as well as sheen. It’s not ultra long wearing, though.
MAC Tartan Tale Dazzleglass Cremes ($18.00 for 0.09 oz.) feature five new and limited edition shades ranging from sheer neutrals to more opaque red. Dazzleglasses Cremes have a thicker consistency but aren’t as sticky as lipglass. I do find that they have a slightly gritty texture, which becomes more noticeable as the gloss disappears and the glittery bits are left behind. They smell like vanilla.
The shades include: Passing Fancy (bright orange coral with soft pearl), Gone Romancin’ (mid-tone lavender with multi-dimensional pearl), Lightly Prancing (light peach with gold pearl), Radiant Jewels (dark sparkly magenta), and Soft Dazzle (mid-tone peach pink with gold pearl).
Their biggest downfall is how little product you get in each tube: a measly 0.09 oz. To put that into perspective, a normal MAC Lipglass is $14.50 and contains 0.17 oz. I like Dazzleglasses for their high shine, glossy look and very dazzling shimmer, but the pitiful amount drives me batty.
Passing Fancy is a soft, sheer coral-nude with white shimmer. This is the least shimmer-filled of the five. I don’t know how this translates to “bright orange coral,” though. It may look it in the tube, but on the lips, not the case. Smile would be the closest permanent dupe, though it has a bit more shimmer.
Gone Romancin’ is a semi-opaque lilac pink with lots of light lilac and white shimmer. This one is full of shimmer! It reminds me of Negligee lipglass or a more lilac Cultured. It’s a bit pinker than Via Veneto.
Lightly Prancing is a semi-sheer, milky peach nude with soft gold shimmer. It is reminiscent of Sublime Shine, though less gold shimmer. The closest permanent dupe would be Bare Necessity.
Radiant Jewels is a semi-opaque, deep fuchsia raspberry with fuchsia shimmer. It looks very much like Creme Allure — maybe just a touch darker, but they look very, very close to me. Love Alert would be the closest permanent dupe.
Soft Dazzle is a semi-sheer, milky pink-nude with gold shimmer. Yes, it looks incredibly similar to Lightly Prancing–it’s just a little pink. Moth to Flame would be the closest permanent dupe –it doesn’t have as much gold sparkle.
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Product: 26/30
Value: 6/10
Ease of Use: 4/5
Packaging: 4/5
RECOMMENDATION: Gone Romancin’ is fun, and I think with the amount of lilac lip fans, it’ll go over well. The others are rather similar to past or present dazzleglasses/dazzleglass cremes, though.
