Streak

Streak by Urban Decay is a beautiful trio of face powders that can be used each on their own or by swirling a powder brush into the entire compact for a different shimmery effect. I personally love using each on their own and it has quickly become a daily staple in my makeup bag. A gem of the Naked Collection by Urban Decay, this compact sells for $32 and what you get is a one of a kind beige-y powder (left), a very gorgeous shimmery highlight powder (middle) and a coral-y blush (right). And if this color combo isn't your cup of tea there are 3 other sets to choose from,

Naked, Native, and Strip - all with similar color palettes but each very unique.

The bronzer powder (left) I rarely use as a bronzer. It's actually very close in color to my own complexion that it would be difficult to acheive any bronze-y action to my face, so instead I chose to use this color as a setting powder to add a hint of luminousity to the skin. From the moment I applied it this way, it's been love at first swipe....I have worn it like this ever since. If you feel that the bronzer powder is your complextion match exactly then do try it as an all-over powder, you'll find the results amazing!

Beauty Balm. Where do I start?

This stuff is amazing! Retails for $34. It's an all around, foundation primer slash moisturizer slash luminizer slash BB cream slash sunscreen! And has anti-aging properties....Just wow! I can dab on a small amount under foundation and it gives the best finish. Regardless of which brand of foundation is used, the beauty balm improves the complexion almost like magic ;) I have tried with L'Oreal, Maybelline, Revlon, MAC, Urban Decay, and Covergirl. The results are always nice. Below is just a sample of what Naked skin Beauty Balm can do....I'm wearing with L'Oreal Tru Match Lumi W5 and Streak. You can wear the beauty balm by itself if you really wanted...I'm a huge foundation fan so I really wouldn't be comfortable wearing it by itself, I have though just around the house but I really think it looks beautiful when worn with foundation. It is luminous and just really glowy. There is only 1 underside: I don't like how the very small shimmer particles end up on my fingers instead of being all transferred to my face as I'm applying. It's definitely to be expected but I do end up with a generous amount. Many times I've tried to avoid it by applying with a foundation brush instead of fingers but with the same dilemma. Aside from the one setback the Beauty Balm is an awesome craft.

Disclosure: All items were sent to me for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Color Icon Eyeshadow Palette Floral Values by Wet n Wild

Wet N Wild (393A) Floral Values

Not impressed.

It's not typical that Wet n Wild create a bad eyeshadow palette, at least out of the past few years. All the other palettes I currently own are tremendous in quality and value (all under $5 each) and have all been put out in recent years. Gorgeous pigmentation and beautiful colors which this one seems to fall extremely short of. 

I have the Naked Truth quint which happens to be a beautiful neutral palette

...not sure why Floral Values came up short as far as pigmentation and performance.

After several attempts at Floral Values I gave up. The shadow is chalky, the colors are not strong, the colors fade, it's hard to blend and it has lots of fall out.

Rather disappointing big time, especially since the colors are pretty and the very pale/almost white pink near the top is pretty good and so is the darkest color, a rich dark eggplant purple with tiny glints of pink shimmer - actually the only 'good' shadows in the whole quint.

Here are the other quints available besides Floral Values

Art in the Streets 

I'm his Breezey 

The Naked Truth 

Tunnel Vision

In the collage below I demonstrate how chalky and unruly the pigmentation is. Left side I used eyeshadow primer and right side with a moisturizing eye primer. This was after numerous 'packing on' of the actual shadow which didn't make much difference since the color looked like it was disappearing within seconds. After a while the shadow was barely noticeable, like it just vanished into thin air.

Thank you Wet n Wild for making great affordable eyeshadow palettes but I think you should take this one back to the drawing board! :)

New: Urban Decay Eyeliners

A new matte black eye pencil has taken over my makeup bag in place of Urban Decay's Zero. It's a beaute....I love how matte it is, like pure charcoal but of course safe for the eyes :)

The new Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet eye pencil, Ink for Eyes and All Nighter eyeliner are here to make us eyeliner gals swoon. 

Here are swatches of the 3, sorry for a lack of a better photo but I was dying to write this out as soon as possible. Top to bottom: All Nighter Eyeliner, 24/7 Velvet in Black Velvet, and Ink for Eyes.

Ink for Eyes dried out tremendously before I even got the chance to swatch it/use it for the second time. I remember using it for the first time, for a wedding and it lasted great throughout the night - this was almost a month ago....I went to swatch and take pictures just last week and this is the amount available (above) I'm not sure if I just got a bad pen or if the cap wasn't on tightly enough but it is almost completely dried out, I can't use it at all. For this review I used it for a few strokes before it ran out. I'm devastated as I love using liquid eyeliners...It's a must during my makeup regime. For this EOTD I used Wet n Wild black liquid liner.

Quick Purple Eyes:

MAC Pink Bronze pigment on the lid

Urban Decay Psychedelic Sister on outer V and crease

Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet pencil Black Velvet on lower waterline and lash line

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on shadow pencil in Delinquent under Black Velvet and smudged

Wet n Wild black liquid eyeliner top lash line

Black mascara

I purposely made this quick eye to demonstrate the Velvet Pencil. I love how matte and dark it is. Absolutely one of the darkest if not as dark as the Milani Liquid-eye eyeliner pencil, both are very close in comparison but are not duplicates. Unfortunately I do not have the Milani pencil anymore so that I may swatch it up close. In regards to other 24/7 eyeliner pencils, the Velvet is not any different. If you are familiar with any of the UD 24/7 eyeliner pencils you'd know they are great as far as pigmentation and lasting quality goes. They come in an array of colors and of course versions of black. The 'Velvet' is just another version of a black - a matte black to be exact. Out of all the black 24/7's I found the Velvet to be the darkest and blackest.

All Nighter Eyeliner

It is definitely shinier. In fact I had trouble identifying what I would do with this eyeliner because I detest using it as upper lash line eyeliner since pencils tend to skip on my lids AND they usually purposely leave a small empty space between the line and where the hair folicle is. I hate that. Always with liquid eyeliner am I able to get in those nooks and crannies between the hair folicles....I end up with a perfectly covered lashline and a perfect line. That was a mouthful, I hope I've explained it well enough. I would use it on my lower lashline but.....what was the purpose of all the other glorious black pencil eyeliners such as Zero, Oil Slick and Velvet? So I tried it on the lower lashline just for experimental purposes. I don't like my lower lashline eyeliner looking too shiny but I sort of like the way it doesn't exude too much shiny. I guess it would work for only on the waterline near some pretty pop of color on the lash line. I'll try that next time.

All Nighter is a long-wear, waterproof eyeliner that comes in a retractable slim case. I wanted to see the true quality of 'long-wear' so I decided to take photos in increments. I love the intensity of the liner, a very true black and as I mentioned before minimal shine.

My first application - Intense and didn't budge, it pretty much stayed this way for 2 to 3 hours. Excuse the eyebrows I wasn't quite done cleaning them up :P

This is my 2nd photo - This was after 4 hours of wear, to be honest the liner stayed as I first put it, but waterline seemed to wear just a little.

This was my last photo - After 13 hours of wear and overnight with it on. Lots of wear with waterline almost gone. 

Eyeliner Details:

24/7 Velvet $20

Ink for Eyes $20

All Nighter $20

No other colors at this time. Available at Urbandecay.com or in stores now (check Sephora, Ulta, Macy's or Nordstrom).

Disclosure: All items were sent to me for review consideration. All opinions are my own.