November 2013: Ipsy Bag

I received my Ipsy Bag today in the mail and this month's theme is Glam it Up so there are a fair amount of shiny and bronzy products. I felt that this bag was more summer appropriate than fall, especially  because of the bronzer and the orange lip balm. Also, this month there are six samples instead of usual five, but I found the outer bag to be overly gaudy and tacky looking. 

Tresemme Tres Two Spray: I have heard a lot of things about this spray and always wanted to try it so I am really excited that I received it this month. 

Nailtini Lacquer in Champagne: I love this brand of nail polish, it is nicely pigmented and doesn't get streaky. Also, I am glad that I received this bronzey shade instead of the silver one. 

Star Looks Gem Pencil in Topaz

Star Looks Gem Pencil in Topaz: A month or two ago, Ipsy sent the black version of this pencil and I didn't like it at all. This time they sent  the color topaz, which is a sparkly silver shade and is kind of too much for me. Even though it is super creamy and soft but it doesn't last at all. 

Pixi Beauty Bronzer in Subtly Suntouched

Pixi Beauty Bronzer in Subtly Suntouched: Pixi is a high end drugstore brand which can be found at Target. I was really excited about this product but it is way too light for my skin tone. However, it can be used as a subtle highlight because of the pink undertones. 

Em Pillow Plush Balm in Creamsicle; Be a Bombshell Lip Crayon in Hot Damn

Em Pillow Plush Lip Balm in Creamsicle: I think this is the extra sixth sample this month. I found this balm to be very similar to L'Oreal Hip Studio balms minus the tackiness. It has a very pleasant sweet candy smell but this particular color is way too sheer to show up on my dark pigmented lips. It is a good product but I would never ever spend $15 for a lip balm. Also, I am a hygiene freak so I do not like to repeatedly stick my finger in the product. 

Be a Bombshell Lip Crayon in Hot Damn: I am a huge fan of lip crayons and jumbo lip pencils so I really like this product. The color appears corally red in the picture but is actually a pink based red with tiny sparkles. Also, it leaves a stain behind thus increasing its lasting power. 

I really liked some products from this month's bag so it was a hit for me. Usually, the bags with nail polish and lip products are my favorite and this month Ipsy had both. 

Have you received your Ipsy bag? Did you like it or not?

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!

Top 5 Favorite: Fall Eye Shadow Palettes & Urban Decay Smoked Analogue

For the most part, I wear neutral shadows but there is something about fall that intrigues me to bring out the jewel tones. Along with those deep, dark and rich shades, I also love using taupe during fall and winter months.

 I have several favorites but these are the top five most reached for palettes for this time of the year. 

Urban Decay Pistol, YDK & Pistol

Urban Decay Naked 2: This is a cult favorite of the beauty community and I love using it during fall and winter because of the cool toned shadows. I associate Naked palette with summer and Naked 2 with fall/winter. Some of my favorite shades from this palette are: Pistol, YDK and Busted.

Lorac Pro Palette: This is an absolute favorite of mine throughout the year. Not only it is great because of half matte shadows but I feel that the two halves of the palette depict two different seasons. The left half has a summery feel to it while the right half is appropriate for the fall. 

Some of my favorite shades for the fall from this palette are: Pewter, Garnet and Deep Purple. 

Sleek Storm: This is one of the popular palettes from sleek makeup. Even though I do not own the Urban Decay Smoked palette, but to me, this sleek palette looks very similar to it. It may not have the exact arrangement but the basic idea is interchangeable due to the homogeneous color tones. Nonetheless, I would not call it a dupe but definitely a cheaper alternative for those on budget. 

The shadows are very soft and pigmented but there is a lot of fallout which is somewhat inevitable and visible because of the deepness of the colors. 

Smashbox Click You're It: This is an old holiday palette that came in a red box but I depot-ted it into a regular palette because the original box was quite bulky. Although, this was a limited edition palette but I am still including it in this post because I have seen it on a lot of websites recently. 

This palette has a nice combination of jewel tones and neutral shades. I really like it because the colors are dark but not too deep, thus reducing the chances of messing up for novices like me. 

Maybelline Eye Studio in Cozy Cashmere: It took me over a year to find this palette in Canada but it was totally worth it. Most of the eye studio palettes are all shimmery but this one has two completely matte shadows and one semi matte with shimmer. The rusty orange and the deep orangish brown reminds me of the fall leaves and sets into the whole mood of the season. 

What are your favorite fall shadows? Do you have any recommendations?

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!

NOTD: Halloween Special

I love nail polish but I suck at nail art, so whenever I feel like doing something different I opt for a simple accent nail. And since today it is Halloween so I chose orange and black as the theme. As usual  along with the colors I used the Revlon Color stay base and top coat. 

The colors that I used are OPI Call Me Gwen-ever and Hard Candy Masquerade. 

The OPI shade is really nice and pigmented and gives an opaque finish in just two coats. I also used it as a base for the pointer finger under the glitter polish.

The Hard Candy nail polish screams Halloween to me. It has chucks of orange glitter in black base but goes on somewhat gritty because the base is not smooth polish but actually an accumulation of tiny black particles.  Nonetheless, it has really nice pigmentation as for the above look, I used only one coat over the orange base. 

What color did you paint your nails for Halloween? 

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!

Tarte: Gifts From The Lipstick Tree Achiote Color Collection

Tarte is one of my favorite blush brands from Sephora. It is a cruelty free, eco-chic brand. The amazonian clay blushes have a cult following because of their amazing lasting power and wide range of colors. This particular collection has been out for a while but it retailed for $85 so I never picked it up even though I absolutely loved the blush shade, which is exclusive to this kit. However, now this set is on sale for only $35 on Sephora website and that is the main reason behind this post. 

This set comes with three products: Maracuja Divine Shine Lip Gloss in Achiote, LipSurgence™ Natural Lip Luster in Achiote and Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Achiote.

Natural Lighting: Same order as above

Indoor Lighting: Same order as above

Maracuja Divine Shine Lip Gloss in Achiote: This is a corally pink gloss with some shimmer and thick consistency. It comes in a click pen form, which is not my favorite since it takes a while to come out and dispenses more product than needed. The gloss has a minty scent and feel to it, which is nice. Also, it is pretty opaque and gives decent coverage without any base. Overall, it is nice except the packaging. 

LipSurgence™ Natural Lip Luster in Achiote: Tarte LipSurgence are quite popular and comes in a twist up tube. This one is a shimmery coral, which leans more towards orange than pink as compared to the other two products in the set. Just like the gloss, it has a minty scent and feel to it. Even though there is shimmer, but the consistency is quite smooth and comfortable on the lips. Also, the shimmer may look intense in the swatch, but it is not that overpowering on the lips, so I like this product. 

Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Achiote: This is the product that inspired me to get this set. These blushes retail for $31 and this set is $35 right now which makes it an amazing deal. I absolutely love this blush, it is a matte pinky coral color. The consistency is very smooth and there is no fall out whatsoever. Also, the staying power is amazing. I would highly recommend this color. 

Result: This is an amazing set at a superb price. If you love amazonian clay blushes, then don't think anymore and just get it before it gets discontinued. 

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!

NOTD: A Corally Affair

Coral color is in trend every summer, and I love everything i.e. coral, whether it is blush, lipstick, nail polish or clothes. So I thought of doing a very subtle nail look using two different shades of coral. It is appropriate for those who want to experiment with accent nails but are not comfortable using contrasting colors. These two colors look a lot more different in the bottles than on nails. One leans towards red while the other is more of an orangy coral shade. Nonetheless, both shades complement each other and look amazing together. 

This time I used the same pattern on both hands. I used the orangy coral shade on middle two fingers while the reddish shade on other three. 

Both the nail polishes that I used are from Wet n Wild, which is a super inexpensive brand with amazing quality products. The applicator of these nail polishes is my one of my favorites. It is wide enough to cover the whole nail at once but small enough to not make a mess. Even the pigmentation and quality is superb, and comparable to some of the high end brands. 

Heatwave is the reddish shade while Club Havana is orangish. 

As usual I used my Revlon gel base and top coat, with two coats of the colored nail polish. Thank you for taking time to read this post. I hope you have a great day!

NOTD: Orange Blorenge

I know today's nail color is more of a pumpkin orange rather than coral, which is kind of Halloween-y color. But beauty and fashion has no rules and you can wear any color at any time of the year. The color that I used today is OPI Call me Gwen-ever. I love how OPI names their nail polishes. It has rusty undertones to it, which makes it deeper than regular orange shades. It is an absolutely beautiful color that has the potential to look good on a variety of skin tones.

Fun fact: Other than Sporange (check oxford dictionary), Blorenge (a city in South-east Wales) is the only word that rhymes with orange. 

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you have a great day!