Lali Amora's Kiss Awards 2011

So many new items in our glamorous world and yet so little time! In 2011 not only did I pay close attention to the products that were recommended to me but I did take notes of those that I will be trying this year :) The 'Kiss Award' is given to my personal favorite picks...Believe me there were many 'nominees' but in the end there is only 1 winner.....or winners in this case!

So a round of applause for the big winners of 2011...Every beauty product favorite of mine deserves a big Kiss!!!!

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure

Milani Liquif'eye Metallic eye liner pencil in Black

Yuko Gold Repair Through spray

L'Oreal Youth Code skincare

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation

Sephora Lash Plumper mascara

Tarte Amazonian Clay blush

Clarisonic Mia Sonic Skin Cleansing system

Maybelline Color Sensational Lipcolor

..............

Giveaway: L'Oreal Voluminous False Lashes Mascara

Is it possible to love a mascara so much? Yes it is! Here is my official review and thoughts....Don't forget to enter my giveaway for this wonderful gem...Details at the end of the review :)

Price: Depends where you buy from, but I have seen them retail between $7 and $10.

Pros: Packaging is beautiful, formula is great, no smudging, no flaking, affordable, easy to use.

product: 5 stars out of 5

packaging: 5 stars out of 5

quality: 5 stars out of 5

overall : 4.9 stars out of 5

would buy again? Yes

My thoughts: 

Sent to me specifically to try out and review, I was super excited at the chance to try this mascara that as soon as I received the package I tried it on and loved it, haha. Ok so many of us have this 1 mascara in our lifetime that is a holy grail item, we go out and buy 3 at a time and have gone through so many to count.....Well....I have a feeling this mascara is going to be mine :)

Packaging - Isn't it gorgeous! I was using it in my office and a couple of people came in and asked me if it was Chanel or Gucci or something, lol....I love the gold tube, so shiny! I think the best part of the packaging is that it doesn't look cheap or gaudy instead it looks elegant and expensive.

Formula - I find this formula to be perfect. I always tend to wait a few days before using a new mascara because I can't stand to use a new one since the formula always tend to be watery. This formula was actually very nice, it wasn't too watery nor too dry. The formula doesn't create a glob on the wand, the wand holds the perfect amount needed to do the lashes. There is not a weird smell or scent in the formula, I know scent is a concern with some. When you first look at the wand you can see the small fibers in the formula, they are not large or too small, they are perfect. 

Applying - This is the easiest to apply! I like to curl my lashes then apply it. I can see both length and volume, maybe more length than volume but still they come out gorgeous! I don't see any odd fibers in place and as a matter of fact I don't see them at all as I am applying which is great since they blend very well while applying to create the false lash effect. 

Wear - There is no flaking nor smudging. The hold lasted all day, I usually put on makeup between 8 and 9am in the morning and I take it off as soon as I get home which is in between 6 and 7pm. The hold is pretty good, lasting the curl nearly all day, by 5pm the curl was still there but not as great as it was in the morning.

Notes:

The wand is comparable to the Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara. As you can see I am merely comparing the 2 side by side as I find the wands look similar in shape and size.

The formula is available in waterproof and in black-brown color as well.

Lash Stiletto and Voluminous False side by side.

In these pics I tried to capture the fiber on the lashes, as you can see on the above picture. Of course when blended well it looks alot better. The other 2 pics are with 2 coats.

Win one Voluminous False Lashes Mascara - GIVEAWAY!

All you have to do is 'Like' Lali Amora Beauty Blog's on Facebook and you are entered to win a tube of Voluminous False Lashes Mascara! Deadline is January 31, 2012..... I have plenty to give away so make sure you enter today!

Good Luck gals!

Makeup Diary: Collective Haul

With the holidays finally over I've been able to enjoy my cash for important stuff: Makeup! I placed a Hautelook order to finally retrieve some Jane blushes that I really love, I also dropped a few eyeshadows in my shopping cart. The 2 OPI's and NYX gloss I bought on a extended lunch break and I've been looking for a metallic blue eye kohl since losing my MAC one so I found one by essence that is really great :)

Jane Blush - Babydoll, Petal, Orchid Shimmer
Jane eyeshadows - Clubbing, Midnight
OPI - Sparrow me the Drama, Play the Peonies
NYX - Sweetheart
Essence - Heavy Metal

Lots of new polishes have been catching my eye lately so I managed to buy only the unique ones to add to my collection....But I am most excited about the light blue Revlon in the front there which is called Whimsical - a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Glitter in the Air.

Sally Hansen - Glass Slipper
Nicole - Snowman of my Dreams
WetnWild - On a Trip, I need a Re-fresh Mint
Revlon - Buttercup
Revlon - Smoldering, Graceful, Mischievious, Chic, Whimsical

I can never have too many lipsticks! :) Don't know how I could have missed a few from Covergirl but I picked up Flame and from Maybelline Red Revolution and Pink Me Up. I found those new 14 hr lipsticks from Maybelline but only picked up Perpetual Peony to try. Had to pick up WetnWild's Megashield lipstick in 'It's a Girl'....seems like it would be a great color for the summer.

I ran into the new Rimmel lipsticks by Kate and picked up 08. That same day I passed by the Maybelline Dream Bouncy blush display and decided to get Hot Tamale. Something tells me to keep the Maybelline Color Tattoo cream shadow which I got in Painted Purple, but I feel like I should return it because the amount in the pot and the amount said it contains doesn't add up. Finally I fell for another blue eyeshadow, WetnWild in Stagedive.

Gotta love Sephora and their clearance sales plus free shipping with tons of samples! I picked up a Tarte for Trueblood Liptint, Hello Kitty nail polish in Red Sparkle, 2 Hello Kitty Glittercute eyeliners in Grapesoda and Telephone and a Tokidoki glitter eyeliner in Skeletro. I finally got around to trying the newest and lovely Tarte Amazonion clay blush which the color Blissful was calling my name. Wanted to try the Lancome L'Absolu Rouge lipstick so I picked up Fleur de Lis.

My Apothica sponsorship giftcard came in handy this month so I picked up Too Faced shadow insurance, my first Paul and Joe product ever, which is the undereye concealer in 01, and Deborah Lippmann's nail lacquer in Happy Birthday.

The Balm and the Beautiful palette I picked up at a recent trip to Marshalls, and at more than half the price off the original I couldn't resist getting it... I'm glad I did, the eyeshadows and creme blushes inside are amazing.

Both orders gave an array of samples: Tom Ford edp Violet Blonde, Skyn Iceland eye cream, Smashbox Photofinish primer and luminizing primer, Tocca edp Cleopatra, Ahava Extreme day creme, Nuxe body cream, Cartier edp Baiser Vole, and 2 Super Melon cartenoids eye creams.

Review: NARS Outremer

Quality: 2 stars

Would repurchase? No

Recommend? No

Pros: The color is very pretty

Cons: NARS packaging, Chalky, Fades, Sheer, Bad Pigmentation, Blotchy, Too expensive for below standard quality.

My thoughts: I bought this color because I collect eyeshadows that of the Blue color wheel. I was attracted to the color first seeing it on Flickr and knew that I had to see it for myself. I will say that the color is nice in the pan and is sheer when on the skin. Because of my own preferences (I prefer bold, bright, and rich in pigmentation eyeshadows) I find that this color is not my cup of tea. That doesn't necessarily mean that others may not like it....Some people do prefer a muted -sheer soft blue, of which I would say that Outremer would be perfect for. So depending on your own preference you may or may not like Outremer.

         What strikes me odd is that Sephora had many colors in stock, everything looked very neat for being around the holidays, all the colors had testers, but yet this color was the only one that did not have a tester. I did not test it in the store because I would have had to open and swatch a new shadow.....I am not willing to do so because I want to avoid confrontations with Sephora's staff. As soon as I swatched it at home I quickly decided that this shadow would be going back. NARS, you really disappointed me! I am surprised at the quality of this shadow because everything else you make seems great, except this...

Outremer is chalky, fades after 5 minutes, and is blotchy on the skin. I tried it with 3 different eyeshadow primers (UDPP, Michael Todd, ELF) and it still looks gross. I admit though, it is a very nice color in the pan but I just can't add to my collection I'm sorry.

I took the time to compare to other similar blue eyeshadows. Here I used Cargo's Quad in Tahiti, MAC eyeshadow in Submarine, and my favorite Tokidoki in Skeletrina. Look at how the colors compare. Of course the sheer chalky one is Outremer. These are swatched on eyeshadow primer.

Comparisons with flash

Comparisons with natural light

Skeletrina, Submarine, Tahiti

My advice: If you happen to like Outremer then go for it, but if you happen to want a bold, bright, better blue then try MAC or even MakeUpForever or Inglot.

ELF Shadow Pans Project

I like to have my palettes simple and easy to grab and use...While I do love my ELF Beauty books I don't always have the time to haul them out of my vanity and pick and choose the prettiest colors from each book to mix and match....I find it's a hassle! So I decided to toss the paper packaging and magnetize them into a empty MAC palette. Ah! So much better! and I use them now! In this post I show you my way of how I did it!

Step One: I gently pulled off the black foam outline, I started from the top but I held onto the mirror so it wouldn't pop off along with it.

Along the way and thru the shadows I kept gently pulling....On 2 books some of the shadows came up with it but that was ok and I gently pushed them out the back and set them aside.

Here is what it looked like - the aftermath LOL

Step Two: I only pulled off the shadows that I really liked. I must admit not all of the shadows in these books are worthy, so in this step I only pulled off the ones that were awesome. Some of them came up with ease while some of them were more difficult to take off. I had to use a small fruit knife to slide under and pull up. I gently did this because even the slightest dent will ruin the pan and the shadow.

Here is what it looked like after I pulled it off. Some shadows came up with the foam while others came without which was great because it was ready to clean and apply the magnets.

Here I demonstrate how I would pry the foam off the back. Some shadows were a pain to seperate from the foam as the adhesive was way too strong, but I did this gently being extra careful not the warp the pan.

Step Three: I cleaned the back of the pan with a dampened paper towel and applied a plain white sticker (which I bought from Office Depot, like mailer labels) to the clean surface of the pan. I had to trim the stickers the right size for the pan. Last but not least I applied an adhesive magnet to the back.

My daughter wanted to help! :)

Step Four: I put them all in an empty MAC palette. I did remove the wells because obviously they would not fit in the circular space! Inside the palette the black metal sheet was glued on but I did add more glue so that it would stay put better....All in all I think it came out great and I enjoy using all of them!

If you have any questions or like more of these DIY projects, comment below and let me know! Thanks for reading and Happy New Years! :)