rating: c

NYX Cool Blue Eyeshadow

NYX Cool Blue Eyeshadow

NYX Cool Blue Eyeshadow ($5.00 for 0.088 oz.) is a light-medium sky blue with a matte finish. MAC Styledriven is lighter, less cool-toned. The color payoff is decent to good, though there is an underlying sheerness. theBalm Great Gonzo is less cool-toned and brighter. MAC Sky Blue is paler, less blue. Inglot #367 is lighter. Make Up For Ever #118 is much more vibrant and less cool-toned.

Surprisingly, the shade holds it own in a sea of sky blues, because it’s darker than most sky blues (which tend to have an airy, ethereal blue quality to them) but not vibrant enough to be similar to brighter blues. The lightness in the color with the matte finish does give the texture a chalky feel, and the texture is more powdery compared to other NYX eyeshadows. It’s very soft and powdery, so while it blends easily, it fades and sheers out just as easily. When worn, even over a primer, I felt it had faded a bit after six hours of wear.  Without a base, it doesn’t crease (probably because of the drier texture!) but does look faded after four hours or so.

Where to Buy: NYX, $5.00

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Chanel Superstition Rouge Coco Lipstick

Chanel Spring 2012: Superstition Rouge Coco Lipstick

Chanel Superstition Rouge Coco Lipstick ($32.00 for 0.12 oz.) is described as “golden beige.” It’s a semi-sheer warm, light beige with a pale golden shimmer-sheen. It has color payoff, but it’s more of a translucent color, so it allows more of the natural lip color to peek through while giving the illusion of more coverage. On my lips, it helps to even out my natural lip color and provide a subtle shimmer, but overall, it’s more my-lips-but-better in regards to color. MAC Mellow Mood has a more golden shimmer and a pinker base color. MAC Freckletone looks similar swatched but has more color payoff, so it gives a very peachy color instead. Similarly, MAC To the Future has a similar color as the swatch but opaque color coverage and a creamy finish, rather than a shimmery one.

It’s semi-sheer to semi-opaque, but it’s translucent enough that it’s definitely not an opaque lipstick.  It seems to be one of the sheerer Rouge Cocos I’ve tried (more like a Rouge Coco Shine).  It’s just shy of being a heavier frost.  The wear time on Superstition was disappointing–only a mere hour and a half when I typically average four hours across a regular lipstick–and it wasn’t moisturizing (which is a selling feature of these lipsticks), unfortunately.  They’re non-drying, at least, so I didn’t find my lips were chapped after reapplying this two or three times (I thought perhaps the short wear was a fluke!).

Where to Buy: Nordstrom, $32

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MAC Fresh Ice Mineralize Eyeshadow

MAC Glitter & Ice Mineralize Eyeshadows

MAC Glitter & Ice Beauty Mineralize Eyeshadows ($21.00 for 0.07 oz. each) include six limited edition shades: Fresh Ice (white silver melange), Frozen Blue (blue silver melange), Hold That Pose! (pale mauve melange), Shimmermint (pale green melange), Snow Season (soft taupe melange), and Winterized (dirty purple with silver, indigo, and pink melange). The collection is slated to hit stores on October 27th.

• Fresh Ice is a cool-toned, icy pink with a strong, white frost. When applied dry, it’s a little powdery and semi-opaque, but when applied damp, it’s much smoother and opaque. I couldn’t think of a dupe for this one–everything I thought of was darker, pinker, or too purple. It is a little reminiscent of Pink Opal pigment, but it’s cooler-toned and doesn’t have the duochrome shimmer of Pink Opal.
• Frozen Blue is a bluish-gray with a frosted finish. Like Fresh Ice, it comes together when applied damp, though it’s still less than fully pigmented when used damp. Urban Decay Crystal is similar in color but suffers from payoff problems as well. It’s much lighter and less brown compared to MAC Hint of Sapphire.
• Hold That Pose! is a grayish mauve with a frosted finish that borders on metallic when it is applied damp. It’s a little gritty to work with, and it was still on the sheerer side when applied damp. It reminded me of theBalm Come Hither. Bare Escentuals Romp is deeper and purpler. MAC Shale is similar but a touch browner.
• Shimmermint is more like a minty blue than a minty green with silver sparkle. It’s a cool-toned aqua blue with a touch of gray. It’s very sparkly and frosted. Giorgio Armani Airy Jade is lighter and bluer. Wet ‘n’ Wild Enter a New Realm is less aqua.
• Snow Season is a rosy champagne with a golden shimmer and sheen. It has a frosted, almost metallic-like finish. It’s pinker than Urban Decay Sin.
• Winterized is a muted plum with brown edges. It has a soft, frosted finish–more of a pearl reflection than lots of shimmer. It is similar to Bare Escentuals Romp. Lancome Zip Me Up is purpler.

I haven’t been a fan of Mineralize Eyeshadows, and these six haven’t converted me yet.  I’d love to come to the other side–truly, I would–because they always look so stunning in their pots, but the quality isn’t there for me.  Most of these shades were sheer when applied dry, which means you have to use it with a good base, whether it is a sticky cream eyeshadow or water or mixing medium.  I find that using it dampened with water helps to give more intense color payoff, but once it dries, it looks faded from how it did initially, and the color continues to fade over the next six to eight hours.  

I used three of the six in a look (and over a paint pot) and all three were a faded disappointment after four hours. I’ve tested this product range more than most products by brands, and yet I still find them lacking. I don’t enjoy writing negative reviews–it means I’ve wasted my time and, in this case, my money. I have better results using mixing medium, especially in combating fall out, but it’s still not quite there.  I had fall out issues with Hold That Pose! and Shimmermint, while Fresh Ice and Frozen Blue were the best of the six.

P.S. — What’s with all the recycled names?  Hold That Pose was a lipstick, while Shimmermint was a shadestick.

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MAC Black Tied Eyeshadow

MAC Black, Silver, Gray Eyeshadow Swatches

• Black Tied is a matte black base with silver sparkles on top. The color payoff is decent but the texture is on the drier, almost chalky side. It has a velvet finish. It is similar to NARS Night Breed.
• Carbon is a matte black with a matte finish. The payoff is decent but performs better applied than merely swatched. It has a drier texture. It isn’t the richest/deepest black on the market. It’s similar to Inglot #391.
• Nehru is a grayish black with a matte finish. It is more pigmented than MAC Double Feature 7.
• Print is a dark gray with a subtle sheen. It has a satin finish. The color is a little browner than MAC Double Feature 7. Decent to good color payoff and not dry.
• Scene is a smoky gray with a hint of blue and a satiny sheen. It has satin finish. The color payoff is decent but not great, and the texture is drier overall. Inglot #339 is a touch lighter but similar.
• Copperplate is a grayish brown with a Matte2 finish.
• Electra is a light-medium silver with an almost metallic sheen. It has a frost finish officially. The color payoff is decent, and it applies smoothly. It’s warmer-toned than Lancome Style Section.
• Filament is a chunky, silvery white with large sparkles. It has a lustre finish. It’s fall out city along with really sheer, uneven color payoff.
• Forgery is a bright white with a hint of silver along with chunky sparkles. It has a lustre finish. It suffers from fall out issues as well as it doesn’t apply smoothly.

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Sinful Colors HD Nails (926) Nail Lacquer

Sinful Colors HD Nails (926) Nail Lacquer

Sinful Colors HD Nails (926) Nail Lacquer ($2.50 for 0.50 fl. oz.) is a grassy green with a subtle cool undertone and silver shimmer. It’s still on the sheer side after three coats–you can definitely see the nail line. The finish has a slight metallic feel to it, so there are noticeable brush strokes (but they’re “as expected” for a more metallic finish). Zoya’s Apple seemed to be the closest shade I had to compare to, but Apple is a yellower green with lots of gold sparkle.

The consistency wasn’t really thin, but it seemed watery, which I imagine accounted for the low color payoff per coat. For swatches, I don’t like to go beyond three coats, as most polishes should be opaque (or reach the opacity level they’re supposed to have) by two coats, so three is being generous and more to show you what can be achieved. The biggest drawback with this particular shade was the post-manicure staining, which was a yellowy-green (I’d refer to it as the color of fungus, really), and this was over a base coat. I know that green pigments have a tendency to stain, but this was rather unappetizing and it took both buffing and a few soaks in lemon juice to minimize the staining aftermath. The good news there was it did last a week when worn!

Sinful Colors’ bottles have a slick cap (no rubberized cap), so use some care opening (especially when they’re new and very tightly screwed on), or else you might fling your polish across the room–which I totally did the first time I opened one. Luckily, it hadn’t opened, and it was over carpet, so it landed with a soft thud as opposed to a loud shattering!

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Dior DiorAddict Sweet Peach Crystal Gloss

Dior DiorAddict Crystal Gloss – Where’d you go?

Dior launched a new gloss for summer, and it actually prompted today’s question about sheer lipgloss. Dior DiorAddict Crystal Gloss ($27.00 for 0.21 fl. oz.) is described as a “jelly gloss” that is “lightly tinted in vivid summer shades for shiny, radiant lips.” The “vinyl texture” is supposed to deliver volume to lips along with long-lasting hydration. There are four shades, two are translucent (Sweet Peach and Sweet Rose) while two are sparkling (Luminescent Peach and Luminescent Rose).

The description in itself is a contradiction, because there is no tint to these when swatched or worn. First, these are “lightly tinted” (but they’re not) and translucent (kind of, but not quite).  These are more transparent than translucent–it should be sheer and allow light to pass through but in a diffused manner. I specifically tried Luminiscent Peach (037) and Sweet Peach (047), and except for the shimmer in Luminiscent Peach, the two are the same in color (or lack thereof). They are completely clear when worn (I didn’t even bother with lip swatches, because as soon as I tested them, I could tell!).

Crystal Gloss is a scent-free formula with a very thick consistency–it has a thick, gel-like feel that’s cushiony on the lips but a little tacky. Despite the thickness, it does not feel as heavy as you would expect, but it is more noticeable on and heavier than your average lipgloss. It slides around quite a bit, and I find I need to reapply every two hours (glosses usually wear an average of three to four hours on me). They are comparable to Chanel’s Gloss Fluos from last year, but I didn’t find these to wear as well or as long–and at least the Gloss Fluos were tinted.

The glosses are moisturizing while you wear them but don’t impart as much hydration as I’d like over time (lip balms, generally, seem more effective than this gloss at that). They do deliver impeccable high-shine whether worn alone or layered over a lipstick–just don’t expect any color if you happen to pass by them, because they look rather different in the tubes than when swatched or applied.

This product lost points pretty much across the board, because it didn’t fully meet its moisturizing claims, falls short of “lightly tinted,” and wears away after two hours (which is below average).  A sheer gloss that’s not even sheer but clear always makes for a difficult rating experience!

Where to Buy: Nordstrom, $27

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