MAC Nude: Barelash Pro Longlash Mascara
MAC Barelash Pro Longlash Mascara ($13.00) is a nude-beige shade in the Pro Longlash formula. I definitely got length without spikiness, but the formula is on the drier side, so it has a tendency to clump if you don’t work quickly. On my lashes, it seemed to give me beige tips, but the root and most of the lash length was only a muted gray or else still a black-brown.
I have Pro Longlash in the black shade, so I’m definitely going to make sure to do an official review of that soon, but the formula can be difficult to work with such a short drying time. It lengthens well, and it doesn’t clump unless you work slowly. I also experienced no smudging, budging, or flaking while wearing this over eight hours. The brush is also small enough that it’s very easy to get to all the lashes from root to tip, including lower lashes.
Official description: Goes the distance. Makes lashes luxuriously long and silky: no spikes! Luxury and longitude in a pro-proven formula. Accelerates lashes into length, smooth and fast. Smooth silky finish. Wears long (all day!) Go the distance: bat-a-lash!
I tried to layer mascara on top of it, and it seemed to amp up colored mascara a bit, but it doesn’t work so well, since it dries quite quickly. I’ve had better results with a mascara primer, because they stay wetter longer and don’t require as many coats to mute your natural lash shade.
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- Product: 24/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: Barelash gives decent length and stays on without smudging or flaking off during the day, but the shade itself is a bit odd to work with (particularly since it’s hard to work with colored mascara on top of the dry formula), so I don’t think most customers would have a good use for it.
Availability: MAC PRO
NYX Ultimate Pearl Eyeshadow in Blonde Pearl
NYX Blonde Pearl Ultimate Pearl Eyeshadow ($7.00) is a brightened yellow gold with a soft frost finish. It’s nicely pigmented, and it has a very smooth, silky finish. Blonde Pearl is part of a new eyeeshadow formula packed with more shimmer for “a soft, shimmery, iridescent look.” The last NYX eyeshadows I tried were among their Trios, and the Pearl formula definitely has a smoother, more finely milled feel to it. It doesn’t have any powdery-ness. I did find that when used with a brush, it will diffuse a little, but it stays true-to-color for the most part.
It’s a good eyeshadow, and for the price–as compared to high end alternatives–it’s a bargain. Compared to other NYX eyeshadows, I’m not sure they’re significantly better than their singles ($5.50). The $7 price tag for a single eyeshadow seems a little steep for a brand known for their affordability. Blonde Pearl reminds me a lot of MAC’s Goldmine eyeshadow, though, so it’s a nice, slightly more affordable alternative.
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- Product: 26/30
- Value: 7/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: For a more affordable alternative to high-end eyeshadow, NYX’s Pearl formula is still worth checking out, but it may not be significantly better than other NYX shadows.
Availability: NYX
Urban Decay Loose Pigments Review, Photos, Swatches
A few weeks ago, I purchased all of the Loose Pigments available on HauteLook, which was twelve, and it seems to be all that are (at least, currently) in existence. They were $5, so they were such a steal, I couldn’t resist…
Loose Pigments are just that – loose eyeshadow or loose color. Urban Decay’s tend to be finely milled, so they’re soft, easy to blend, and apply smoothly. They all look and work better when used wet or with a slightly adhesive base like MAC’s Mixing Medium.
- Asphyxia is a pop of light fuchsia-pink with iridescent fuchsia sheen.
- Baked is a metallic copper bronze with a high sheen.
- Goddess is a smoldering black base with flashy teal flecks strewn through it. This one had a little more tendency to fall out, even when used wet, compared to the others.
- Graffiti is a medium grassy green. It didn’t seem to go on quite as bold or pigmented as I would have liked.
- Gunmetal is a silvered dark gray.
- Protest is a dark forest green base with flecks of silver shimmer. It has the same texture as Goddess.
- Rockstar is a darkened purple with an electric violet edge and shimmer.
- Shag is a gilded bronze with a metallic flash. Works pretty well dry, even though I’d still use these wet at all times!
- Shattered is a brightened aqua-blue with a frost finish. This one worked really well wet — very pigmented and intense.
- Smog is a darkened bronze with a copper edge.
- X is a peachy-melon with a gilded gold metallic finish.
- Yeyo is a shimmery white with a very frosty finish. I found the texture of this one to be the weirdest–a little chunky–so it didn’t apply as smoothly as I would have liked.
One of the reasons I’m not a huge advocate for these loose shades is that Urban Decay as all these shades available in eyeshadow-form, which are often easier to work with and more practical (easier to travel with). The other reason is they’re pretty expensive as compared to MAC Pigments — you only get 0.04 oz. for $20 (MAC is 0.15 oz. for $19.50). The packaging is just okay — a lot of the pigment sticks to the applicator and the edges of the applicator, so it can be pretty messy. I think I prefer the open-jar format of most loose color in comparison.
If you can nab these on sale, I think they’re totally worth it. (Hello, $5 each? More than worth it!) I don’t think I’d fork over $20 for these–might as well just buy the eyeshadow version (0.05 oz. for $17.50!). I believe Protest and Rockstar may be the only ones that don’t have eyeshadow counterparts. While the product is good, the value of these is poor and the packaging bulky (considering how little you get), plus wasteful–I found myself cleaning up a ton of pigment that fell off the brush just getting it in and out of the jar.
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- Product: 27/30
- Value: 6/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 3/5
Recommendation: These are nice shades of loose pigments, if you don’t mind paying the price.
Availability: Urban Decay
Philosophy The Color of Grace Coloring Book
($37.50) is a springtime palette that works if you’re looking for something soft, elegant, and delightfully feminine. It contains two sheer lipglosses (Be Sweet and In Love), two neutral eyeshadows (Angel and Dream), cream highlighter (7th Heaven), powder blush (Pure Joy), and powder highlighter (Amazing Grace).
- Be Sweet Lip Gloss is a sheer, pale pink with a little bit of milkiness and subtle white shimmer.
- In Love Lip Gloss is a sheer, medium pink with lots of shimmer.
- Angel Eyeshadow is a soft, whitish pink with just a little bit of shimmer and a very satin smooth feel.
- Dream Eyeshadow is a darkened brown with reddish undertones that goes on rather sheerly.
- 7th Heaven All-Over Illuminator is a pink-tinged champagne cream highlighter that can be applied heavily or sheered out for a subtle glow.
- Pure Joy Powder Blush is a semi-sheer brightened blue-based pink with subtle gold shimmer.
- Amazing Grace Shimmering Face Powder is a brightened soft white-pink with white shimmer.
I don’t think Philosophy is re-inventing anything here, but it’s a very girly palette that will appeal to those who want subtle color, whether it’s on their eyes or cheeks or lips. I wish Dream eyeshadow was more pigmented, because then I’d like the palette more. It’s a bit of a sheer wash when I tested it out, so it’s hard to get the amount of darkness out of it that I want.
The palette itself is packaged in a “leather-bound” book style, with white stitching on the edges. It’s cute and slim, and it’s also lightweight, so it’s great for traveling. It’s nice but not quite Amazing (ha).
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- Product: 25/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation:
Availability: Nordstrom
Quick Reviews: Guerlain Champagne Pearl Kiss Kiss Gloss, La Mer The Hydrating Facial Mask, Urban Decay Razor Sharp Finishing Powder
What are quick reviews? I’m glad you asked! Quick reviews are products that I just haven’t gotten around to reviewing but either photographed, swatched, and/or tested.
Guerlain Champagne Pearl (847) Kiss Kiss Gloss
($30.00) is a sheer, sparkly peachy beige with champagne and gold shimmer. It’s definitely a sheer wash of color on lips, but it provides tons of sparkle. I like it better over a lipstick, because it can bring out the depth of a lipstick that way, rather than just being a wash of shimmer on lips. Rating: B+
La Mer ‘The Hydrating Facial’ Mask
($250.00 for 6 applications) is the closest I’ve ever come to feeling like I’m getting a spa facial at home. Granted, I’ve only had about two facials in my entire life, but I felt like I might have spent a little time on cloud nine when I relaxed with this on. There are two parts to the mask–an upper and lower zone–and together they infuse skin with moisture. My skin felt as amazing as it looked, and I definitely wished I had more than one mask to try, ha! The price is steep, but it’s La Mer–not surprising. I still find it completely funny that my Mom, who is not a beauty junkie, LOVES La Mer and says she can tell the difference when she uses something else I’ve given her. At least every gift giving occasion for Mom is easy Rating: B+ — love the product, value drags it down a bit.
Urban Decay Razor Sharp Ultra Definition Finishing Powder ($30.00) is a nice, translucent powder to help set your makeup, but I really hated the delivery system. It annoyed me so much that I only used it twice and completely forgot about it. It’s a sponge that goes over the “nozzle” that disperses the powder. It just strikes me as particularly unsanitary, but aside from that, I much prefer a brush for a delicate, soft application. I feel like this presses more product onto the skin than necessary to set, but it can also smudge or over-blend your makeup if you’re not careful. I tried to twist/pry off the whole contraption on top, but to no avail, and thus why it’s taken me three months to review. Rating: B- — the product itself is decent, the packaging drives me batty.
Essie Nail Lacquers: Playa del Platinum, Lapis of Luxury,
Turquoise & Caicos, Splash of Grenadine (Natural Light)
Essie Resort Collection: Review, Photos, Swatches
For summer, Essie created the Resort Collection, which features four cream-finish shades: Playa del Platinum (elegant and sheer sandy gray), Lapis of Luxury (dreamy ocean blue), Turquoise & Caicos (flirt and pretty tropical aqua), and Splash of Grenadine (playful magenta pink). The collection will launch in May, and each bottle retails for $8.
- Playa del Platinum is a coffee-shaded gray. It reads more like a very light, grayish-taupe on me and not really flat out gray. This shade needed three coats for a solid, smooth look.
- Lapis of Luxury is a bluer periwinkle. It’s not quite a true periwinkle cream, because it does run a little bluer, but that was the first descriptor that came to mind. I found I needed three coats to get a smooth finish with no streaks.
- Turquoise & Caicos is a green-teal cream. If you thought it might be like China Glaze’s For Audrey or Chanel’s Nouvelle Vague, it’s most definitely not. Both of those shades are blue-based teal,while this is distinctly green-based. I found it a little streaky, so I wound up using three coats on this one.
- Splash of Grenadine is a red-based pinky purple. It’s not quite a purple, but it’s also not really a pink. This is the only shade I felt you could get away with just two coats on (which is what is pictured), and this also applied better than the other three.
All four colors are absolutely lovely–very fun and summery without being bright or neon. They’re playful, and I think they’ll be particularly pretty on toes. My only problem with the collection came with the formula. While definitely workable and worth working with, it’s a little on the watery/runny side, which made it a little more difficult to apply than I’d like. Because of the runny consistency, the polish has a tendency to apply streaky, necessitating three coats in most instances.
It’s not impossible or even that difficult to get a smooth, even look, it’s just a definite issue from the formula. I found that laying down a thin, streaky-as-all-get-out coat, and then building up with a slightly thicker second and third coat, produced the best results. Oh! and don’t forget to let each coat dry a bit before layering the next on top, totally crucial step with these. I think for those who have more than fifty polishes to their name won’t find these all that troublesome to work with. The formula is okay but not great; you can get good results, but you have to be patient.
Are you loving any of these shades?
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- Product: 24/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: I love the colors of the shades included in this launch but the formula is just okay, so if there’s a color that you absolutely love, it’s definitely worth picking up, but if it doesn’t leave you breathless, skip it.
Availability: Essie
