Giorgio Armani Spring 2013

Face and Eye Palette ($88)

 

Face Fabric foundation ($49)

 

Maestro eraser/dark circle concealer ($40)

Lip Maestro Matte lip lacquer ($32)

 

Maestro Foundation ($62)

 

 

New items galore

Last time my haul featured new Wet n Wild lipstick colors and I focused on getting out my first impressions of Garnier's BB cream (which I love to death). With the anticipation of the arrival of my newborn and becoming a full time mom, my shopping for products windled down a bit for most of 2012 so I apologize if this new items article isn't scintillating much...but my main focus for 2013 is to buy the latest products so I can get the reviews out as soon as I can.

 

 

 

 

Sephora Jumbo Crayon Waterproof wear ($12) One of the best long lasting jumbo eye color pencils I've discovered

 

 

Probably the most interesting find of this article would be the new Maybelline Color Tattoo's (24 hour) by Eyestudio. Below is the chart of how they look on the eyes, bare, without primer. The Larenim color loose pigment is from a store in my city which features natural or organic cosmetics.

 

Some lip colors that I grabbed for during the autumn days

 

Urban Decay Feminine Palette ($36)

 

 

 

Brown Eyeliner Comparisons

To settle the dispute going on in my vanity I decided to compare a few brown eyeliners that seem identical when sitting next to each other...but upon further testing and research I've found that each eyeliner is different in it's own way. Using brown eyeliner for me is a nice escape from the sometimes harsh black eyeliner. My first brown eyeliner pencil was Bourbon and I was in love, the way it defines and those cute tiny sparkles that Urban Decay loves to add to their products. Thinking this brown was the ultimate color I used it all the time. Without much thought I decided to try MAC's Teddy and found it to be almost identical to Bourbon. While Bourbon is a nice dark chocolate frosted brown, Teddy was just like it except without the tiny sparkles.

Here is my take on each color:

Teddy (MAC) is a dark bronze, it has a slight rusty orangey tint to its frost, at first glance it is a frosty brown but when swatching or on my eyes the bronze is dominant. It has no sparkles like Bourbon has.

Bourbon (Urban Decay) is a dark brown with very tiny silver and bronze sparkles, it is more darker than the teddy and they are obviously 2 different colors.

Corrupt (Urban Decay) is darker than the both and is my favorite from all of them. A darkened black/brown with what it looks like is tiny silver sparkles. I love Corrupt because it is dark enough to add definition without too much of the shimmer showing through yet it is light enough to tell it is a dark brown. Corrupt is so unique I may even say there's a tiny tint of pewter in it.

Whiskey (Urban Decay) is a dark chocolate matte brown.

Urban Decay currently has another brownish eyeliner in it's Smoked set called Demolition...I have not been able to locate this set, everywhere I go it is sold out!

 

Corrupt (Urban Decay)

 

 

 

 

Battle of the Butterbalms

When it comes to tinted lip balms, choosing can be tricky. There's the softness factor, longevity, SPF, quality, packaging (it must be easy to carry), and anything else you might consider while at the drugstore. I was getting a few questions pertaining to the infamous lip butters and balms...."which were your faves?" and  "Which ones were good in pigmentation?" So I decided to put these balms in a battle.

My personal favorite are the LOreal Colour Riche Caresse's. Stumbling upon these after finding a coupon I picked one up and hoped for the best. It's sweet scent, pretty color, moisturizing texture and smooth application got me. Another favorite of mine are the Revlon Lip Butters, and pretty much for all the same reasons! And while this article only feature items from the drugstore doesn't mean other nice tinted balms and butters from the higher end aren't as good, it's just taking me a while to discover (or I can't find myself to spend $20 on a little tinted lip balm from Sephora) :)

When it comes to pigmentation: The Revlon Lip Butters take the prize....

...more pigmented than the LOreal Colour Caresse, the LOreal Colour Riche Balm, Maybelline color Whispers, and the Revlon Just Bitten kissable lip balm stain. I must say that both Revlon's (Lip butters and Just bitten) seem to be almost at tie, lip butters are slightly more pigmented.

When it comes to moisturization longevity: It's a sweet tie between LOreal Balm with Argan and LOreal Caresse. The Revlon Lip butters are moisturizing except a little drying after a while.

When it comes to true shine: LOreal Colour Caresse take the prize. I had a little difficulty testing this out, it seems as though the shine is amazingly the same when swatched on the hand but on the lips it tells a different story. Revlon's Lip butters almost took this prize but the Colour Caresse's were shiny as if I'd put on a dab of gloss, but it was very close! Also keep in mind that the color of the product will make a difference in the shine, I found that most of my darker colors had more shine than the nudes or light pinks.

When it comes to color longevity: Revlon Just Bitten took this prize, but I didn't think it was fair since it is a lip stain, so all in all it was the Revlon Lip butters that took this prize. There was a little resistance with the Color Whispers so was it possible for a three way tie? Just to be on the safe side, yes. I think all three of them fair the best color longevity.

When it comes to color selection: Revlon Lip Butters and Maybelline Color Whispers tie. They both have 20 colors in the collection. I kind of hoped that the Color Whispers could of had more variety of bold colors versus that many light pink and nudes that almost make half of the collection. But nevertheless the colors suit any taste. Judging from the Revlon Lip Butter pic at the top you could tell that my love for them took over in my vanity. In my opinion the nude colors are sort of absent in this area. I just love the texture of them and I'll be first in line if Revlon ever makes more colors! 2nd prize in this category goes to the Colour Caresse's with 16 shades to choose from. The bottom of this list: Just Bitten with 12 colors and LOreal Colour Riche Balm with a mere 8.

 

Swatches of the participants -Top to Bottom:

 

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable in Cherish

Maybelline Color Whisper in Mad for Magenta

Revlon Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake

LOreal Colour Riche Caresse in Merino Mauve

LOreal Colour Riche Balm in Rose Elixir

 

 

 

Vidal Sassoon Pro Series Repair

Something I'm always willing to try is new hair stuff. My hair can act so stangely sometimes it's so funny. AND I can never just be happy with my natural hair color, I am always coloring it or highlighting it, you name it and I've probably done it to my hair! I currently have ombre hair and the first time it was bleached (near the ends) my hair felt and looked so damaged...it would take 2 more dyes to get the ombre just right so by the time it was complete I worked on applying luxurious conditioners and after a few times my hair started to feel a little better.

I am grateful to have been able to try out Vidal Sassoon's new Pro series Repair even before it hit shelves, which is why I am writing this today. The quality is amazing. For me, the shampoo is one of the best. It leaves my hair strong, shiny, moisturized, healthy and velvety. Sometimes I don't feel like applying the conditioner because I'm satisfied with just a shampoo. The conditioner is pretty good too, during testing I would rarely use it but it is a good healer, my hair ends felt and looked better. For the times I did not use the conditioner I usually apply my favorite leave-in conditioner or smoother and spritz a little argan oil to finish off.

 

VS Pro Series - it says:

 

"For more than 50 years Vidal Sassoon's passion and professional expertise have been defining fashion in hundreds of salon worldwide. The Vidal Sassoon brand has developed this expert range of care, styling, and color products so you can get the look you want. All you have to do is log on to vidalsassoon.com to watch step-by-step tutorials from our stylists so you know exactly how to achieve your fashionable salon transformation at home."

 

VS Pro series retails from $5 and up

 

The VS pro series has 5 care collections, a classic control line and hair color line. I received the Repair Shampoo and Conditioner. The other 4 collections are Smooth, Moisture, Volume and Color care. Perhaps when I get tired of my ombre I would love to try out the hair color! 'Browns' in the hair color line currently have 8 different shades to choose from.

 

 

Shampoo and Conditioner were sent to me to try out by Briana and the very nice people of Devries Global on behalf of Vidal Sassoon. My opinions about these products are my own.

 

Fergie Collection for Wet n Wild

The Fergie collection by Wet N Wild hit my store as early as December 26th. What I love about the collection is that there is a little something for everyone...lipsticks, eyeshadow palettes, eyeliner, shimmering face powders, and nail polishes. The packaging is cute, polished, and hip....but it's Fergie so of course it is!

There are plenty of colors! I would list them except no info is available on Wet n Wild's website as of today. The eyeshadow palettes seem promising but I was not ready to buy just yet so my eye wandered to the lipsticks. I happen to fancy light pinks or raspberry colors, so for starts I got V.I.Pink and Penthouse Sweet.

V.I.Pink (below) A light pink with a hint of sheen

 

Penthouse Sweet (below) A darkened hot pink - the color is saturated, it's gorgeous

Swatches of the 2 on my hand - V.I.Pink and Penthouse Sweet

 

 

Honestly, these lipsticks are creamier than the very popular Mega Last lip color lipsticks. I own 12 of the Mega Last lip colors, and while they don't disappoint I really love the texture and feel of the Fergie lipsticks. There is a small size difference, Mega Last size is .11oz or 3.3 grams while Fergie lipsticks are .10oz or 2.5 grams....and depending where you buy them, Fergie lipsticks cost more than the Mega Last, but ever so slightly.

Fergie pic credit: Wet n Wild beauty

 

 

Wet n Wild Megalast Liquid lip color

 

 

Wet n Wild has really proven to us that they can make great products at great (and I do mean awesome) prices...but the new Megalast liquid lip colors are some that I wished WnW would have taken a little bit more time to perfect. If I may say not all of WnW lip products are gems, taking into consideration that they are lower in price than Covergirl and even Milani, so I'm not too surprised that these didn't work out all too well. BUT, its ok, they were worth the try, and I'm keeping these just to see how else I can work with them because the colors are indeed cute!

 

Colors I have:

Pocketful of Roses - Muted rosy pink

Click on my Hyperpink - Bright Barbie doll pink, almost neon (think Nicki Minaj)

Back to the Fuchsia - Medium Raspberry hot pink

 

0.23 fl oz. Retail $2 and up

 

I have seen the entire collection, while I only have 3 the collection offers almost everything from nudes to dark reds.

 

First impressions:

These were dry to the touch - after drying. When you first apply them they apply wet (smooth and creamy), then after about 60 seconds they dry to a matte finish, almost as if they were acrylic paint. Lips are dry and rough to the touch, with or without lipbalm applied previously. My second time applying I had to keep my mouth open to avoid lips touching so it would dry evenly. I had to apply lower lip first then upper lip without rubbing them together.

 

The lip color has almost no scent to it, but you can smell a faint plastic scent, but it is not bothersome to me.

 

 Pocketful of Roses on the lips after drying

 

 

Pocketful of Roses with gloss on top



 

When trying on Click on my Hyperpink, I ran into a few problems. Color would not apply evenly so a second coat was necessary for it to look opague without spots. This bottom pic is after I finally got it to look even. This took a while to achieve.

 

 

Lip color will peel off a bit if you rub lips together after drying, which looks like the bottom pic. I also experienced the wet lip color transferring to my teeth during application :)

 

 

Using Megalast Liquid lipcolor was not any different when used with balm, clear lipgloss or lip protectant. Trying out Back to the Fuchsia proved just that. I applied Carmex before applying. Color applied a little more evenly but after color dried lips felt dry and rough. I applied Sephora Glossy Gloss over top of it. Putting on gloss over something really dry is a little odd. It felt like I was applying lipgloss over texture paper.

 

When I wore all colors my lips felt slightly dry but not sticky or tacky. When wearing the lipcolor with the gloss, my lips felt heavy. Probably the color that gave me least problems was Back to the Fuchsia....It applies evenly and dries up but to avoid it flaking off I applied the clear gloss, it was wearable but a little uncomfortable.

 

Back to the Fuchsia after drying  

 

Back to the Fuchsia after drying with Sephora clear Glossy gloss on top

 

WnW Megalast liquid lip color in Pocketful of Roses is pretty good at not transferring, on the bottom pic I kissed my hand after a few minutes of wear. The only ones that transferred a little bit were Click on my hyperpink and Back to the Fuchsia, keep in mind I had gloss on with both. Transferring was little to none when wearing without the gloss

 

 

Here are swatches on the hand, first pic taken while lip colors are wet and bottom pic is after drying

 

 

My honest opinion? Lasting quality of the lip color was good. In the 8 hours of wear, my lips felt dry....I ate and drank water wearing only Pocketful of Roses, color had a bit of wear and unevenness but was still visible.