Review: Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss

The Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss was reformulated late this last year. In May, Ipsy sent out an exclusive pre-launch of the reformulation to their subscribers. I discovered this product through Ipsy. Juice Beauty is a mostly organic cosmetics and skincare company, and this lip gloss is gluten free.

Review: Benefit's They're Real! Mascara

Sorry or putting this up late. I called in sick to work, and then slept the rest of the day! Oops!


Benefit's They're Real! Mascara is a cult favorite among beauty bloggers and vloggers alike. I don't think I've seen a single negative review from any of the people I follow myself, which is why I decided to pick up this mini size of this ever-popular mascara when I was at Sephora.

Review: MAC Quarry single eyeshadow

MAC describes their eyeshadow in the shade Quarry as a “soft muted plum-brown matte”. I bought this shadow after having my makeup done by an artist at a MAC store, and the artist used this shade on me. I was in need of a good subtle crease color for fall, and decided to give this one a shot.

More after the jump!

Giveaway: Rules, Prizes, and Bonus Entries.

After quite a while of being nearly there, I reached 100 followers on my Instagram account! To celebrate I'm doing a giveaway. This post is where you can find all the information about the giveaway, including prizes, rules, plus a couple of different ways to earn bonus entries.

Tons of pictures after the cut.

Review: Urban Decay Desperation Eyeshadow Single

Urban Decay describes their eyeshadow in the shade Desperation as a “greyish taupe brown satin-matte”. It's definitely an interesting color, and despite my aversion to neutral colors I just had to buy this shadow after using the sample card I received with one of my online Urban Decay purchases. This was my first Single eyeshadow from Urban Decay.

More after the break! (Several pictures ahead)

Reveiw: Almay Liquid Lipbalms

Almay's "Color + Care" Liquid Lip Balms are a fairly recent addition to the brand's lineup of products. The line launched with ten colors earlier this year, of which I own two; Cantaloupe Cream (left) and Apricot Pucker (right), which I purchased while on a bit of a coral kick.

                                                   

The ten colors are a decent selection, ranging from a deep plum shade, to red, hot pink, and even a nude. (See the other colors here) I feel like there's a color to suit most everyone, and the price point is good, according to a Google search, you can get them for $5.99, and if you get them somewhere like Walgreens, sometimes there will be coupons, or Buy One Get One deals.

The Lip Balms come in a clear rounded plastic tube, with a blue-grey screw-on cap. Around the top of the clear part of the tube there's a white band with the brand's name on it, and on the bottom of the tube you can find the shade name. It comes with a standard doe-foot applicator, that applies the product with usually two dips into the tube.  

                                     

The lip balm itself smells rather sweet, not an unpleasant smell in the least, though it doesn't seem to linger.

Both of the colors I own swatch well, giving the impression that they're far more pigmented than they really are. However, on the lips they're very sheer, offering a small amount of tint to your natural lip color, and decent amount of shine. If you have less pigmented lips, these may offer more color payoff, but on my own fairly pigmented lips, they're barely there.

Apricot Pucker (top), Cantaloupe Cream (bottom).

The wear time is also minimal -being that they're lip balms-, they sink into the lips and transfer off quickly. When they wear off, they do leave my lips feeling more hydrated, but not as much as my favorite lip balm, EOS Smooth Spheres.

Both of the colors I own feel the same on my lips, and you can definitely feel that you're wearing something; there's a small amount of stickiness to them, -but I don't find it unbearable.

If you like shiny, hydrating lip products, and aren't looking for anything super pigmented, these just might work for you. I don't think I personally will purchase more colors, but I will use the two I have, primarily for work appropriate lip colors.

Review: Profusion Twinkle Twinkle palettes.

The Twinkle Twinkle palettes by the brand Profusion Cosmetics are four eight pan palettes of shimmery eyeshadows. You can find these palettes on eBay or Amazon, as the brand's site does not appear to carry them.

I picked up the first three of these palettes that I owned several months ago, and only recently was able to find the fourth palette. I found them at my local Dollar Tree, for only a dollar each. Since they are not available on the Profusion website, to obtain these palettes, you have to search for them online, so prices for these palettes can vary. I've seen everything from one cent to more than five dollars, but even then they're extremely affordable, if you can find them.

As for the packaging, the shadows come in a long plastic compact. The clear plastic lid has the product name, and company logo printed in a metallic silver. The lid can be difficult to open at first, and chipped my nail polish a few times from wrestling with it.

The back of the palette has a full ingredient list, also printed in silver.

Inside, the eight pans of eyeshadow are laid out in a single row, with a small mirror below them. The mirror is practically useless because of it's position and size.

My biggest gripe about the packaging is that the pans come unglued from the plastic base far, far too easily. I've had to glue them back into two of my four palettes.

Also, the palettes are numbered, but nowhere on the packaging does it say the number.

The texture of these shadows are lovely, creamy, smooth and soft. I've had minimal problems with excess powder getting kicked up in the pans. There is a bit of fallout during use, but nothing extreme, or more than I come to expect from shimmer eyeshadows. They blend easily, and I find them overall easy to work with.

Color payoff is an area where I feel like these shadows excel. Every color, from the bright yellow, to the rich purple, and even the soft beige are all very pigmented. In swatching they never need more than one good swipe to show true to color, even without a primer. I should also note that across all four palettes, there are similar colors, but no exact repeats.

The wear time is really good as well, by my standards. I have worn a look using only one of these palettes, without a primer or a base, for more than seven hours. With a primer, I have had them last for more than eight hours, through a hard rock concert, that I was right in the crowd for, and that was about half of those eight hours. So clearly, they wear extremely well.

So overall, I adore these palettes. Despite being misleadingly cheap, they are possibly some of my best makeup purchases. 

I do think the packaging is just plain crappy, and I wish they were easier to find, but I still do highly recommend these palettes if you can get your hands on them.