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
Kat Von D True Romance Eyeshadow Palette: Memento Mori
Kat Von D Memento Mori Eyeshadow Palette ($34.00 for 8 x 0.05 oz. eyeshadows) has been on my radar for awhile, but I’ve only now been able to really try it out! It contains eight eyeshadows, each pretty much the equivalent of a full-size eyeshadow (MAC eyeshadows are 0.05 oz., for reference), so it’s a great affordable palette. It’s also a rather colorful selection, so it’s very fun to play around with and apropos for summer.
- True is a violet-blue cream shadow that goes on glossy but seems to dry down to a nearly matte finish. I found the surface of mine a bit dry, but once I got deeper, it was fine. I thought it was an eyeliner at first, actually!
- Solitude is an iridescent lilac purple with a soft sheen. It’s the least shimmery shade of the bunch.
- Meditation is a light bronze with a little copper in it. It has a frosty finish.
- Agatha Pink is a pale peach with a shimmery/frosty finish.
- Sugar Skull is a shimmery white-gold.
- Peggy is a true teal base with flecks of white-gold sheen/shimmer. Almost strikes me as a duochrome. It’s so pretty, but I found that this shade seemed to fade a little when worn.
- Hard Luck is a deep forest green mixed with gray.
- Tijuana is a darkened black-brown base with flecks of gold and copper glitter-shimmer. This shade at ridiculous fall out, even when used sparingly. It’s a beautiful shade, but clean-up seems to be a must. Use less rather than more, too, and tap brush against your wrist to avoid excess fall out.
I thought the box the palette comes in was beautiful, and I was a bit let down by the cheap, white plastic palette inside. It just looked and felt like something I’d buy for $10 at the drugstore–not something that’s $34 and from Sephora. The included dual-ended brushes are actually bristled brushes, but they’re rather flimsy. They just kind of flop and make it a pain to really pack on color–plus they’re so tiny, I don’t have the patience to use ‘em myself!
All of the shades have a very smooth texture, and they go on evenly and are richly pigmented. I do find that they’re a little on the powdery side, and may even work best with sponge applicators–at least with some of the shades (like Peggy and Tijuana). Tijuana was the troublemaker of the group, which frustrated me as it was also the prettiest (to me), so I really wanted it to be as beautiful on as it was swatched!
Overall, though, I think these are solid eyeshadows worth taking a look at if a particular palette color scheme grabs you. It took some getting used to using these before I was able to minimize the fall out with these. They also blend very easily, which is nice, but it means use softer strokes and feather rather than sweep for most of the work! I have heard that the Beethoven palette is one of her best palettes, so I might check that out next.
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!
- Product: 25/30
- Value: 9/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 3/5
RECOMMENDATION: I like the palette overall, and I’m impressed at the level of pigmentation of the shadows. I think it’s a great option for a palette of colorful eyeshadows, especially if you’re on a budget.
AVAILABILITY: Sephora
Bobbi Brown Raspberry Shimmer Lip Gloss
Bobbi Brown Denim & Rose: Raspberry Shimmer Lip Gloss
Bobbi Brown Raspberry Shimmer Lip Gloss ($20.00 for 0.14 fl. oz.) is a softened rosy brown with light pink micro-shimmer. It’s not at all raspberry on me (it’s not even very pink!), which was kind of disappointing as an avid consumer of raspberries (as in the fruit!).
One of the best attributes of Bobbi Brown’s lipgloss is they’re longer wearing than your usual lip gloss–I get around three to four hours myself. It’s a thicker, stickier gloss, and I’ve yet to run into an ultra opaque, pigmented shade–but this is the brand’s credo. (I’m actually surprised that these are touted as “non-sticky shine” on the brand’s website, because I find them rather tacky!)
I still have the same complaints I did the last time I reviewed the Shimmer Lip Glosses: not enough product for the price (why, by ounce, is it as expensive as Chanel?) and the plastic-bristled brush applicator doesn’t do it for me. I find it a little stubby and prickly; I’d prefer something with more length and softer feel.
I do love how long and well these lipglosses wear, though, and they’re great to layer over your favorite bolder, more opaque lipsticks for fun color combinations. Luckily, I like my glosses stickier (always makes for longer wear), so I have no issues with the texture. But I am finding it curious they’re supposed to be non-sticky. Raspberry is surprisingly pigmented for the range–it’s semi-sheer to semi-opaque–and delivers nice, even color and shimmer coverage.
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!
- Product: 28/30
- Value: 7/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
RECOMMENDATION: If you like your lipglosses on the sheerer side and are looking for muted pinky-brown with a healthy dose of shimmer, Raspberry might be the shade your heart (and lips) long for. If you like your gloss non-sticky or opaque, I’d recommend you try before you buy.
AVAILABILITY: Bobbi Brown, Nordstrom
Urban Decay Lip Junkies: Midnight Cowboy, Naked, Runaway, Jilted, Perversion
Five Shimmery Shades from Urban Decay
Now, part two of new Urban Decay Lip Junkie Lip Gloss ($19.00 for oz.)! This post features the shades: Midnight CowboyNaked (pink nude with pink shift), Runaway (shimmering deep coral), Jilted (hot pink with blue shift), and Perversion (sheer sparkling obsidian). (shimmering beige),
- Midnight Cowboy is a sheer, pale champagne-shimmered gloss. It really has no color, but it adds some shimmer to lips.
- Naked is a lightened peach-pink base with nearly iridescent pink micro-shimmer. The shimmer in this gloss felt smaller than Midnight Cowboy, and it has more of a reflective quality to it. This seems to be a your-lips-but-better kind of gloss–not a ton of color, some shimmer.
- Runaway is a semi-sheer, light coral with white shimmer. The shimmer here is average in size and like Midnight Cowboy’s. This one delivered more color on lips as well.
- Jilted is a semi-sheer fuchsia-pink with iridescent fuchsia-purple shimmer and a very glossy finish. It’s like a jelly pink base with pretty shimmer in it. It added more pink to my lips, but it’s a very wearable shade–don’t let the tube fool you.
- Perversion is a blackened plum with almost silver shimmer. Like most dark glosses, it does settle into lip lines and may bleed on those who find themselves prone to bleeding lip color (I didn’t experience it myself). The color is semi-opaque, but it’s not an opaque black gloss at all, so never fear the way a product looks in the tube–at least not until you swatch it. Oh, and this will make your teeth look a little yellow.
Make sure you’ve read part one to get a full review of the formula and all that jazz!
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!
- Product: 25/30
- Value: 9/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
RECOMMENDATION: This is a solid gloss, but I don’t think it’s necessarily groundbreaking, you know? It’s another good lip gloss that’s non-sticky, smells nice (much better than the creme brulee scent typical to Urban Decay lip products), and feels lovely on the lips.
AVAILABILITY: June 29th @ UrbanDecay.com; August 1st @ Sephora, ULTA, Macy’s, and Beauty.com
Urban Decay Lip Junkies: Red Light, Crush, Peroxide, Wallflower, Heavy, Love Junkie
Say Hello to the New Gloss on the Block
Urban Decay Lip Junkie Lip Gloss ($19.00 for 0.34 fl. oz.) is an entirely new product line for the fall season. They’ve released eleven shades in total (WHY! eleven! Even Steven, please!), and I’ve split them into creamy shades and shimmery shades. This post features the shades: Red Light (sheer candy apple red), Crush (sheer coral), Peroxide (palest pink), Wallflower (medium nude), Heavy (shimmering nude), and Love Junkie (deep but very sheer wine).
- Red Light is a semi-opaque apple red that’s not overly bright or in-your-face, since it’s not fully opaque. No distinguishable shimmer really–gives off a jelly kind of look. It’s actually not as red as it appears in the tube, so those who prefer lighter lip glosses, don’t despair from the tube alone!
- Crush is a semi-sheer magenta pink. It’s almost like magenta met bubblegum pink, and then they had a lovechild. I don’t know why it’s described as a “sheer coral,” because I did not get any coral feel from this at all! It has the same jelly look as Red Light.
- Peroxide is a pale, milky pink. I didn’t love how this looked alone on lips, just because the milkiness of it tends to emphasize lip lines as the product settles into them, and it’s difficult to make the gloss look even (see the lip swatch). I like that it’s pale and light without being ultra cool.
- Wallflower is a nearly opaque shade of pink with a nude edge. It’s very wearable, and I think this would be universally flattering. It has only a little milkiness, but overall, it applies smoothly and evenly without a fuss. It is also one of the more opaque shades of the bunch.
- Heavy is a darkened peach-nude with subtle white shimmer. In the tube, it looked pretty creamy to me, but it does have subtle shimmer in it. It is surprisingly opaque, and it has the best coverage and look overall out of all eleven shades–beautifully even and smooth while making lips look lush.
- Love Junkie is a semi-sheer reddened plum (think the inside of a plumcot!). This one did have a tendency to settle into lip lines, but I didn’t find it terribly noticeable from an average viewing distance. It looked a little splotchy on my lips, though.
Lip Junkie has a jelly feel and the less shimmery shades look it, too. They’re not nearly as thin as Pocket Rockets, but they don’t reach the weight or texture of XXX Shines, either–they’re a little jelly, not thick but noticeably not thin. These glosses do include Maxi Lip, which is a lip plumper, and normally, my lips don’t seem to do well with lip plumpers–but I managed to get through swatching all eleven shades back-to-back without any damage to my lips. (The last time I did a session of swatches of a lip plumper, my lips looked and felt like hell for a week–bleeding, peeling, and painful!)
There is a little tingle, but I wouldn’t call it a sting or a burn at all. They smell quite peppermint-y, so I actually thought that it was just more of a cooling, minty tingle rather than a particular plumping ingredient like Maxi Lip. It seemed to dissipate after a few minutes, and it really wasn’t that big of a deal. The sensation was more noticeable than MAC’s Plushglasses (which I barely notice and thus rank lowest on the painful-lip-plumper scale–DuWop’s Lip Venom is the highest for me). But then again? I really didn’t see much, if any, plumping of my lips. Pictures of my lips on the first swatch (Red Light) compared against to pictures of my lips on the last swatch (Perversion) didn’t show any plumping action.
These are non-sticky, peppermint-scented, sweet-tasting lip glosses with a medium thickness and a moisturizing, jelly feel. I wore Naked (in the next post!), and it lasted a solid two hours, with it beginning to fade and become just a thin layer with some glossiness in hour three. I did notice that these seemed particularly glossy, which helps give the illusion of juicier, plumper lips, too.
According to Urban Decay, the lip glosses are packaged in a single piece, rather than a lot of other squeeze-tube glosses which have a crimped end–and that crimped end can sometimes lead to lip gloss explosion extravaganzas in your purse or pocket (soooo not fun!). The cap is metallic-looking but feels plastic and a little cheap to me. I don’t love the way the packaging feels in my hands, but I do like that it feels solid and the cap screws-on and pulls off–both characteristics which should keep it from staying on your lips and not all over your bag!
I do like that these have good value in them–a little less than double of your average lip gloss (but in line with other squeeze-tube glosses like MAC Lipgelees and Make Up For Ever Glossy Full Couleurs). I did find that I needed what seemed like more than the usual lip gloss for full coverage, but it didn’t seem or feel heavy or obnoxious in the amount I applied.
So here’s the rub: these are supposed to plump, but I didn’t see any plumping. Though Lip Junkies seem to be a perfectly good gloss, I’m just not seeing any results on something that the marketing material was really pumping up (you’re lucky I didn’t say plumping up!). It purports to increase lip collagen by 40% in a month, and on the tube, it says “cools and plumps.” If you’ve managed to read this far into the review–first, kudos–but more importantly, these are like B+ glosses; not perfect, not the greatest ever, but they’re good. But since they don’t do everything they’re supposed to based on my experience, I have to lower the score down.
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- Product: 25/30
- Value: 9/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
RECOMMENDATION: This is a solid gloss, but I don’t think it’s necessarily groundbreaking, you know? It’s another good lip gloss that’s non-sticky, smells nice (much better than the creme brulee scent typical to Urban Decay lip products), and feels lovely on the lips.
AVAILABILITY: June 29th @ UrbanDecay.com; August 1st @ Sephora, ULTA, Macy’s, and Beauty.com
The Jewel of Your Eye with Becca
Becca Jewel Dust ($24.00 for 0.04 oz.) are loose multi-purpose powders made without talc or fillers. There are sixteen shades in the full range, from shimmering champagnes to baby blues. I picked up three shades when Becca was on HauteLook a few weeks back.
- Erzulie is a soft lavender with a gray cast and lighter lilac and blue shimmer.
- Luella is a gold shimmered green-toned turquoise with a deeper turquoise base.
- Erlina is a lightened, spring green with a strong yellow undertone with a near metallic, slightly frosty finish.
One thing I really enjoyed about these was that they work nearly as well dry as they do wet. When they are used wet, they do create a smoother, more solid color, but used dry, they hold together pretty well. They worked well over eyeshadow primers as well as cream eyeshadows.
All three shades I tried out are actually colors that I don’t quite have in loose form, and the way they shimmer is very reflective and sophisticated, actually–particularly when used on eyes. I could see some of the lighter, more neutral shades being used as an all-over dusting on lids for a little oomph without doing much else.
The packaging is stylish and easy to store–small, mostly square, and just elegant. I really wish you received more for the price, though — 0.04 oz. is so underwhelming for a product that costs $24 — and it’s a little less and a little more in cost than other loose shadows by high-end brands. I’m sure most of us will not get through a single container all that quickly, though, and like most loose colors, a little goes a long way.
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!
- Product: 28/30
- Value: 6/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: I wish you got a little more product in each container, but the colors I tried were beautiful and shades I haven’t seen too often. The quality was lovely with smooth, rich color and beautiful shimmering finishes.
Availability: Becca
