Saturday, December 5, 2015

December 2015: Julep Maven All That Glitters Overview

I have been a Julep maven for about two years. Its a great service with free shipping and new colors every month. This months theme was All That Glitters and I got the IT girl box. It came with three nail colors and a cinnamon flavored candy cane along with a coupon for free nail polish.
 
Chrissy, Beatrice and Omelia
 
Chrissy: Beautiful creamy green shade that leans a little bit towards teal. UPDATE: This polish stains both the skin and the nails really really bad during the removal process. Even repeated washing with soap didn't get the color off my skin. I will never use it again. I will share the pictures in an upcoming post.
 
Beatrice: Shimmery gold with a hint of copper. Its a difficult to define kind of shade so I may be wrong but to me it looks like the liquid form of Becca Jacyln Hill Highlighter.
 
Omelia: This is a special edition 2015 wonder maven polish. It's purple with tiny pink sparkles in it.
 
On the first look I thought I already have these shades in my collection so I have done a brief comparison.
 
Omelia (bottom) and Barbara (top)
 Barbara is a lot more pink while Omelia is purple.
 
Chrissy and Emilie
 
Chrissy and Emilie
 Emilie is true leafy green shade while Chrissy has some bluish undertones to it, which makes it look a little bit teal when placed close to a true green.
 

Sienna and Beatrice
Beatrice has a lot more copper to it while Sienna is more of a cool toned silvery gold. Also, Sienna has a creamy and smooth texture while Beatrice has some finely milled glitter.
 
What did you get in your Julep maven box this month? What do you think about Julep polishes in general?  Also, do you have any thoughts on Julep matte lipsticks because I really want to try them.
 
Thank you for taking time to read this post. Hope you have a wonderful day.
 
 

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Review & Swatches: Fleur De Force Eyeshadow Quad in Lunar Rose

The infamous you tuber Fleur De Force recently came out with her own makeup line, which is available exclusively on feelunique. In her collection, along with lip glosses and lashes, she has two eye shadow quads, Cosmic Bronze (neutral brown shades) and Lunar Rose (pink shades). I picked up Lunar Rose because I already have tons of browns and I am currently kind of obsessed with pink shadows. I paid $12.38 CAD for it.
 
 
Packaging: Nice sleek compact packaging; comes with a tiny brush instead of the sponge tip applicator, which does not really matter to me because I don't use either of them.
 
 
Shade 1: Completely matte pale pink shade. This is the only matte shadow in the quad, it has nice texture and pigmentation. It is creamy and soft with barely any fallout.
 
Shade 2: Shimmery pink shade that has some taupe in it. Again, very smooth, creamy and pigmented shadow that works really well as all over the lid shade. It is not overly shimmery by any means, the smoothness of the shadow makes it a cross between satin and shimmer. This was the shade that inspired me to buy this quad because it looked kind of rose gold in some swatches but its actually a lot more pink. Nonetheless, I still like it.
 
Natural Light
 
 Shade 3: Cream shade with satin finish. This is not a straight up plain cream shadow but has some dimension to it, which makes it really pretty.
 
Shade 4: Matte dark burgundy shade with multicolor glitter specks. Even though this is supposedly the darkest shade of the quadbut it has the weakest color payoff. It barely shows up with one swipe. The swatch in the pictures took a while to build up. So, it may be an issue for some but I personally do not mind it because I never wear dark shades.
 
Indoors
 
Also, as I mentioned earlier, I am not sure why but all the swatches that I searched for before buying the quad, looked somewhat different, and I am talking about the swatches not the actual quad. So I am not sure if something is changed or it was just the lighting and how the pictures were taken.
 
Indoor with Lights On

 So, overall I liked the quad. Also I would like to add that even though $12.38 seems a little pricey for a brand that is marketed as drugstore but we need to keep in mind that it is released in the European market for £7.99, which is the perfect price range but it is the currency conversion that makes it appear a little expensive.
 
Have you tried Fleur de Force makeup line? What are you thoughts?
 
Thank you for taking time to read this post. Hope you have a great day!
 
 
 


Sunday, November 29, 2015

NOTD: Festive Red & Gold

 
Red and gold are the perfect festive colors for the holiday season. But I came up with this combination while looking for something to go with my red Indian suit with coppery golden stone work as red nail polish alone was just not enough.
 
Side note: It was really difficult to take the pictures because firstly, the sparkly golden shade over red looks different from different angles and secondly, the shine made it hard to capture the real beauty of the combination. So, I would recommend you to try this combination once to see how pretty it is because the pictures are not doing it justice.
 
 
 
To get this look, I used a coat of coppery gold polish (Sally Hansen Coin Flip) over a deep red shade (Essence Fame Fatale).
 
 
 
Essence Color & Go in Fame Fatale: Gorgeous true deep red shade and one of my most favorite polishes of all times. I have gone thru two of these and will probably be buying another one soon. It has a nice big flat brush and gives full coverage in just two coats. Retails for only $1.99 CAD.
 
 
 
Sally Hansen Xtreme wear in Coin Flip: Beautiful shimmery coppery gold shade. It can be worn over other polishes or on its own ( requires at least 3 coats). This shade has a couple of exact dupes, which I will share in another post. Retails for $2.47 CAD.
 
 
How did you like this combination? What are some of your favorite nail color combinations?
 
Thank you for taking time to read this post. Hope you have a great day!

Saturday, November 28, 2015

November 2015: Ipsy Bag


This month my ipsy bag arrived really late. Usually it is here in the second week but this time I got it almost at the end of the month. But anyways, for $20.21 CAD I received five products: Coolway Strong Hold Spray, Inspr Eyeshadow, Model Co Highlighting Trio, Trestique Lip Crayon and Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara.

 
Coolway Strong Hold Hair Spray: I personally did not feel that there is anything special to this spray. It holds well but so do my tressame tres two, which retails for under $5 CAD while coolway retails for $19.95 US.  

Inspr Eyeshadow in Carnival

Inspr Eyeshadow in Carnival: When I saw it online I didn't think I will like it but it is my favorite product from the bag. It is a beautiful shimmery taupe that has the slightest pinkish tint to it, which unfortunately is not showing up in the picture. The formula is very smooth and creamy so barely any fallout. I would definitely check out more shades.
 

Champagne, Peach Bellini & Bronze
 
Model Co Highlighting Trio in Champagne, Peach Bellini & Bronze: This is a cream product with somewhat thick consistency. It looks beautiful in the swatches but I find it to be very heavy and difficult to blend on the cheeks. So I would not recommend it.  

Trestique Matte Lip Crayon in Chile Red

 Trestique Mini Matte Lip Crayon in Chile Red: I am really into matte products these days but this lip crayon was quite disappointing. Even though it is in stick form, the formula feels very slick and watery. I am not sure how to explain that but its just weird. Also, it is quite sheer and it took me numerous strokes back and forth to build up the swatch in the picture. Therefore, I will not recommend it.
 
Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara: This is the only product that I have not tried yet so can't really say anything about it except that it has a huge brush.
 
Overall, this month's bag was kind of blah for me except the Inspr eye shadow. What did you get in your  bag? And what was your favorite product?
 
Thank you for taking time to read this post. Hope you have a great day!