Becca Lurex Eyeshadow — One More Antique Gold to Love
Earlier this week, I reviewed Becca Shantung Eyeshadow ($24.00 for 0.03 oz.), and today, I have Becca Lurex Eyeshadow ($24.00 for 0.03 oz.) for you! Lurex is a tarnished gold–it doesn’t cast very green, so it’s very wearable as neutral without being “boring.” The texture is smooth, soft, and nicely pigmented, just like Shantung. Becca’s eyeshadows seem to have an excellent texture with good color pay off, but they’re just on the small side given their price tag.
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- Product: 29/30
- Value: 6/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
RECOMMENDATION: If you don’t think you’ll ever hit pan on your eyeshadows, the downfall of Becca’s Lurex likely won’t be an issue for you! It is a high quality eyeshadow in a beautiful shade of antique gold.
AVAILABILITY: Becca
MAC Cremesheen Glasses: You’ve Got It, On the Scene, Fashion Whim, Chillin’, Right Image, Going Casual
MAC In the Groove Collection: Cremesheen Glasses
In the Groove launches on the 8th, and it contains six new and limited edition shades of Cremesheen Glass–a thin, non-sticky, sheer gloss. They coordinate rather obviously with the majority of the lipsticks, with the exception of Chillin’ which doesn’t quite align with any of the lipsticks from this launch.
- You’ve Got It is a subtle grayish brown with multicolored shimmer, predominantly white, though. It has that same mushroom-y look as Call My Bluff lipstick, so it would pair well with that. It would also wash out any of the other brighter shades a bit, too. It’s like a lighter, non-sticky version of Chai lipglass. It’s semi-sheer on lips–it tones down my natural color a bit and makes it look rather nude/washed out almost. Definitely not very brown on lips.
- On the Scene is a light orange-peach with subtle white shimmer. I know someone is going to ask me if I’m sure I didn’t mess the swatches up, but On the Scene looks incredibly similar to Fashion Whim when applied to [my] lips. I’m not even joking. I put them on side by side to make sure, and I couldn’t tell. On the Scene is just barely warmer than Fashion Whim. On the full-face, you can see the way one is warmer, one is cooler. At first, I thought it was like Ember Glow, but on lips it’s a little different.
- Fashion Whim is a light peach with pale gold shimmer. This is like a pinky nude that goes on semi-opaque . It’s kind of like Creme d’Nude in lipgloss form, or else a pinker version of C-Thru lipglass. It’s a little milky on my lips, so it has a tendency to emphasize lip lines.
- Chillin’ is a very light, pale cloudy blue. On lips, it really just like a milky cool-toned white with multi-colored shimmer. I think it may be nice to use to add glossiness and a bring out the cool tones of a lipstick. If you were hoping for a truer blue or something pigmented, this isn’t it.
- Right Image is a neutral-yellow pink with white shimmer. It’s just a pretty medium pink that applies semi-opaque with pink and white shimmer. Even though it’s pretty, you may own something similar.
- Going Casual is a cool-toned, blue-based pink with iridescent purple and white shimmer–almost leans a little purple. It has a very milky look and does settle into my lip lines.
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- Product: 27/30
- Value: 6/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
RECOMMENDATION: If you like ultra sheer, milky glosses, then these are totally up your alley!
AVAILABILITY: MAC
Make Up For Ever Lab Shines: M0, M2, M4, M6, M8, M10, M12, M14, M16
Make Up For Ever Metal Lab Shines
Make Up For Ever Metal Lab Shines have nine shades. According to a phone call to the Make Up For Ever Boutique in NYC, these will retail for $18 for 0.09 oz. and are currently available. According to Make Up For Ever PR, these aren’t officially launching until Spring 2011. My lovely friend Pursebuzz was so nice as to be my personal shopper at IMATs last week, and she grabbed me one of each of the Lab Shines they had (I think they were missing two or three). This post features five of the nine Metal shades, and part two will follow with the other four.
- M0 Onyx is a semi-opaque black with silver sparkle. In the swatch, it’s certainly black and glossy, but it’s not 100% opaque, so on its own, it looks a bit messy. Definitely needs a very dark liner to make it look opaque.
- M2 Grey Pearl is a metallic warmed-up pearly silver. It’s very much the color of pearl, with a little silver cast. Kind of like a platinum shade. It’s semi-opaque with a frosty finish. Surely not designed to be an ultra wearable shade, but I could see it working for some more avant garde looks or layered over a darker lipstick.
- M4 Tobacco is a soft peachy brown with chamagne beige and gold shimmer. It has the same frosty finish as M2, and it’s semi-opaque as well.
- M6 Hazel Brown is a darker brown than M4 but not by much. I had some streaking issues with this one – the color just didn’t want to lay down nicely for me. It has light copper and gold shimmer.
- M8 Brown is a plummy brown with multicolored shimmer and a semi-opaque look. This is the most universally wearable of the ones featured in this post!
The Metal Lab Shines use Make Up For Ever’s Metal Powder in the lip gloss (which is where it gets its name). These are supposed to be the most opaque shades out of the 35 in total, with each formula getting progressively sheerer. I found that these were semi-opaque but intensely so. Some shades were nearly opaque, but the majority are semi-opaque, particularly the lighter shades.
The formula itself has this lightly sweetened fruity scent–I want to say melon or grapefruit (why does my nose suck?)–with a non-sticky texture. It’s almost like thicker lip balm on lips–maybe like a thinner Lip Gelee. It has a good amount of slip and slide, but it doesn’t slide right off lips. I don’t get ultra long wear out of these (two to three hours), and they don’t seem to leave much of a stain behind. They have a brush-flecked applicator, so you get plenty of product out for each application, and you have some precision to get a crisp, defined lip look, too.
I like the packaging a lot more than other Make Up For Ever lipglosses–it feels more solid and sophisticated; more suitable for the price tag of Make Up For Ever products. Unfortunately, despite the solid and thick feel of the packaging, they don’t pack much product in those tubes–just 0.09 oz., while the average lip gloss is around 0.17 oz. (Make Up For Ever’s Fascinating lipgloss contains 0.20 oz.). I don’t know if the addition of their Metal, Star, or Diamond powders should merit 50% less at the same cost, you know? Kind of feels like a MAC Dazzleglass situation (though those are worse — more than regular lipglass and 0.06 oz.).
I like the gloss, but I’m not sure I love it. I like that these shades are on the more pigmented side, wear decently (though not long-wearing), and look pretty on. They’re also very moisturizing and comfortable on lips. Not quite weightless, but they’re very jelly-like, so it’s not heavy or clingy.
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- Product: 27/30
- Value: 6/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
RECOMMENDATION: For semi-opaque, frost-metallic finished lip gloss, you may like the Metal Lab Shines.
AVAILABILITY: Make Up For Ever Boutiques
Becca Shantung Eyeshadow
Becca — The Stealthy Shangtung
Becca Shantung Eyeshadow ($24.00 for 0.03 oz.) is a beautiful warmed-up molten brown with bronze shimmer and golden sheen. It has subtle red undertones, and it’s such a gorgeous bronze shade. The texture is smooth, soft, and almost buttery, but without any powderiness. It almost feels like it melts onto the skin (but it’s not a cream, it is a powder).
What a great first shadow for me to try from Becca! However, the higher price point accompanied by the below average quantity has me a bit jarred. Really, 0.03 oz.? Most high-end brands at similar price points put at least 0.05 oz., which is nearly double.
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- Product: 28/30
- Value: 6/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
RECOMMENDATION: For a beautiful bronze, Becca’s Shangtung doesn’t disappoint in color, quality, or pay off. Just in value.
AVAILABILITY: Becca
MAC Haute & Naughty Mascara
The Tale of Two Mascaras
MAC Haute & Naughty Lash Mascara ($18.00) is the latest in mascara innovation from MAC, and though the formula itself isn’t the key innovation here, it’s actually a nice formula.
I’m personally a big fan of MAC mascaras — Plushlash is my favorite MAC mascara (and second favorite mascara–Chanel Exceptionnel being the first), with Zoomlash and Opulash coming in second and third, respectively. Haute & Naughty Lash is as two-in-one as they lead you to believe, but I don’t love the fuller, more dramatic part nearly as much as the softer, more defined half.
The daytime end (the smaller opening) really cleans off the brush so that there really isn’t much mascara on it, but it keeps all that actual mascara in the tube–so you’re not wasting it, like you would if you blotted off excess with a tissue or the like. The smaller opening has a fairly large mascara wand with a tapered end, and the effect it gives is longer, fuller lashes with definition and great separation. It doesn’t clump at all, and it gives a nice full-lash look with nice length and blackness. All it doesn’t do it thicken lashes. It also seems to lift lashes a bit, too, and it held a curl well for me.
The evening end (the larger opening) allows for more mascara on the brush, even though the brush itself is essentially the same. It thickens quite a bit, but it also has more of a tendency to clump if you get too much on the brush (much like most mascaras). It lengthens, but I think because it tends to clump, it looks like there is less volume and length.
The way this mascara works is when you open using the smaller end (the first opening – the pink ring), the entire brush pulls through the opening of the larger mascara. There are actually two handles, not so much wands (the brush itself is the same) — when you open with the small tube, the skinnnier handle pulls through the larger, hollow handle of the dramatic opening. It’s kind of hard to describe, but I took a photo for you.
I don’t recommend playing around too much with it to see how the technology works (once should be sufficient!), because it does show how much mascara is removed from the brush itself as you pull it through the smaller opening–but you get it all over the larger wand when it’s outside of the tube, so you end up having to wipe it off with a paper towel rather than keeping it in the tube for later use–aka wasteful!
I dig the separation technology they’re using here, because it’s not so much in the formula as it is in the packaging itself, which is nice, since they did up the price by $6 just for it. You’ll need to comb through your lashes, and you may even need to blot the brush, if you’re going to use the more dramatic end of it, because it has a tendency to clump a bit on lashes.
Both mascaras held up well during all-day wear–no smudging, budging, or flaking. My lashes also felt soft, never crunchy, which was really nice. I also felt like I could put on a quick layer of additional mascara in the evening without much fuss, just in case you want to refresh your mascara without removing all of your eye makeup.
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- Product: 25/30
- Value: 7/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 5/5
RECOMMENDATION: If you like longer and defined lashes, Haute & Naughty Lash does this amazingly well. It also gives you the option for thicker lashes, too, which is kind of convenient to have in one mascara.
AVAILABILITY: Nordstrom
On-the-Go Makeup Fixers
MAC Cleansing Tips ($14.50 for 30) are my absolute favorite when it comes to easily fixing any minor application mistakes. They’re basically dual-ended cotton swabs that have been soaked in makeup remover and are individually packaged (though each sheet has ten, you just tear them off individually). One side is the usual rounded swab, while the other is tapered and more precise.
I actually really, really love these. They work so well for cleaning up under the eyes when you work with shadows that have fall out, but they’re great for touching up during the day if you happen to be testing one smudger of an eyeliner, too! They remove everything without a fuss. Since they’re individually wrapped, you can just toss one into your purse when you need to (e.g. a special occasion), too.
So, I did not pay attention to how much these run you when I originally purchased them. These wonder-swabs don’t come cheap! They end up costing about $0.50 a pop! Even the small package of MAC Wipes are cheaper ($0.40), while the bulk package of MAC Wipes are half the price ($0.26). This is so saddening for me! This is a great product, but it’s not something one should use often at that kind of cost.
They do work incredibly well to clean-up any faded or smudged eyeliner if you’re out and about. I’ll continue to purchase them as I need to, but I will make myself only use them when I’m on the go or traveling–no more using those at homes. Gotta go the extra step and use my own swabs and separate makeup remover, LOL!
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- Product: 30/30
- Value: 4/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
RECOMMENDATION: If you use them sparingly, they can be an excellent time-saving, space-saving tool to have in your evening bag when you want to look your best. Just don’t use them by the dozen!
AVAILABILITY: MAC Cosmetics
