Shakeup Your Makeup

As mentioned yesterday, I went a little overboard with the remaining balance on an e.l.f. gift card I had and used the 60% off sale to my advantage.  Amongst all the brushes and nail polish, I did decide to give the eyes lips face SPF15 Mineral Concealer a chance.  As I'm sure you all know, I absolutely swear by Bare Escentuals mineral foundation and multi tasking concealer, but for $5, I figured why not?!

Above, I wanted to show you what a substantial size the product is, so I compared the e.l.f. concealer (left) to the XL size of Bare Escentuals Foundation (right).  That's pretty big, right?  The e.l.f. comes in 0.12oz, for comparison purposes.

OK, back to the actual concealer/multi tasking comparison.  Above is the e.l.f. concealer (left) compared to the Bare Escentuals Multi-Tasking Bisque (right), which is actually the smaller size container - that of an eyeshadow pot.  As you can see, the fair in the e.l.f. is quite lighter than the bisque, which has the warmer and yellow undertones that are usually required to help cover up imperfections and blemishes.

In swatching the two, I did notice that the Bare Escentuals is much creamier compared to the e.l.f., which has a chalkier consistency.  The e.l.f. didn't blend as well in the swatch above as the BE does, but at least you can get a color comparison for your reference.

As far as the last week's use of the e.l.f. Mineral Concealer?  It's not bad, but it's not great.  I do have a bit of difficulty getting it to blend into my skin and, more importantly, having it blend into the foundation once applied.  I notice I look kind of like a raccoon unless I do some super-duper blending.  This could be the result of the shade I chose - maybe I need something a step up in color?  This could also be because of how much drier this concealer is compared to the BE, which I am quite used to applying.  The product does last well, without creasing or smearing away.  I noticed that if I use a dense concealer or foundation brush (I use the EcoTools foundation brush) I get the best results.

Over all, I would give this a B-.  For the price, it's really quite a steal, especially when there are coupon codes for e.l.f. available. 

Have any of my other readers tried the e.l.f. Mineral Concealer?  I'd love to know what you think as well!

I love sales!  When e.l.f. cosmetics had their 60% off sale, I decided to take this as an opportunity to purchase some items that I haven't tried yet: e.l.f. nail polish, mineral concealor and the waterproof eyeliner pen.  I also stocked up on tons of brushes, as I absolutely LOVE the e.l.f. professional line, as well as a few from the original line as well.

I ordered five nail polish, all of which I am anxious to try out!  I decided I needed to update some of my bolder colors, as well as grab a few for fall.  I ordered two reds (Red Velvet, Cranberry), two purples (Plum and Purple Pleaser) and Coral.  All are absolutely gorgeous.  I will swatch these out for you as soon as I can.

As much as I love my Bare Escentuals, I am always on the lookout for a less expensive options on the market.  I had just run out of my bisque, and in the meantime had been using a basic liquid concealer I had in my stash.  I figured at 60% off, this would be a great opportunity to try out the e.l.f. mineral concealer in fair, so I picked up one of those.  I will do a review in the next few days on this item, comparing it to Bare Escentuals bisque as well, just for a reference.

The waterproof eyeliner pen I ordered is in Plum.  Although I will do a more intensive review of this item, this is truely as it is described - a felt-tip pen that dispenses a deep plum/black eyeliner and dries instantly.

Last but not least - the brushes!  I really don't know what else to say except that for the price, these are fantastic!  I purchased duplicates of some I already use, just to have a frew extras in my stash: the blending brush and the eyeshadow brush.  Both are so amazing, and have really helped make eyeshadow application a breeze!

Like I mentioned above, more details to come on these products!

I just received this in my email, and will definitely be looking for the new, revamped formula at my CVS!  Wet 'n Wild has reformulated their eyeliners, including the addition of four new colors: Green, Olive, Purple and Amethyst!  Have you come across these yet?  I have couple other liners, and honestly, depending on the color, the formula is either good or not, but at $0.99 it's definitely worth the try!

I have been having so much fun playing with my new obsession, the Aromaleigh mineral shadows I received last week.  I've discovered the shadows have so many colors and personalities - they are just gorgeous.  Ruthless Indulgence is a beautiful deep, taupey purple shade.  The color is so intense, and reflects pale pinks, golds, taupes, golds, and eggplant.  Applied over the pixie epoxy, it becomes a deep intense shade, and when applied wet, the shimmer and foiling comes out in full force.  Air & Light is a gorgeous pale white with hints of lavender and pink.  Depending on what color it is paired with, it will take on multiple personalities!  I am so impressed with the texture of the shadows.  Not only do they blend well, they are extremely pigmented and last all day. 

Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy

Aromaleigh Air & Light - highlight, lid

Aromaleigh Ruthless Indulgence - crease, applied wet as liner

Aromaleigh Mania's Locus - lower lashline

Maybelline Falsies Mascara

As I mentioned earlier, I ordered a ton of colors from Aromaleigh and have taken individual pictures below.  I am loving these, in the short time I've used them.  Obviously, I really liked "Blast", since I ordered it twice!  Whoops! 

I don't have a lot to say except that I wish I had discovered Aromaleigh earlier!  The products are smooth, easily blendible, and have such a variety of colors to choose from!  Enjoy the pictures below - there will be plenty of EOTD's as we go!  These are quite beautiful!

A recent swing by the Cosmetic Company Outlet, and I found a few MAC items I needed to have.  The first is the Mineralize Blush Duo from the Grand Duo Collection called Hot Planet, and the second is a Loose Beauty Powder in Dancing Light.  Both are beautiful in their own right!  The Loose Beauty Powders are milled loose powders that bring a sheer irridescence to the eyes, cheeks and even lips!  I believe these are/were available through the MAC Pro stores only, if memory serves correctly.

The Grand Duo Blush in Hot Planet is a split blush, one side swirled with pale and deep corals, bronze and ivory shimmer.  The other side is a beautiful warm rose shade.  Blended together, this creates a gorgeous pink/coral flush.  Like most of these mineralize blushes, especially those with darker colors, I would suggest using a light hand to apply the first time, at least until you learn how *bright* the color will be on your cheeks.

The Loose Beauty Powder in Dancing Light reminds me of crushed pearls, or a larger version of Bare Escentuals White Gold Glimmer.  This is truely an ivory base with golden shimmer.  When applied with a brush, it sweeps across the skin and leaves behind a beautiful pale golden shimmer.  This is perfect to add highlight, use as an eyeshadow, or add some shimmer to a lip gloss.  I use this one all the time, especially in the summer when the golden shade can play on sun-kissed skin.

Swatches are above - I swiped both sides of the Mineralize Blush, and then blended together.  As you can see, it is quite pigmented!  Next to the blush is the Loose Beauty Powder...gorgeous!

A few weeks ago I placed my first order with Aromaleigh.  I know, I know, I am WAY behind the time on this one, but I decided I needed to treat myself to some new makeup, and this would be the perfect way to try out their shadows.  (Of course, about a week later she announced that the store was closing - this is definitely Karma for me not placing an order sooner!)

Aromaleigh is an online retailer of pure mineral makeup, amongst other things, with an extremely vast variety of shades and finishes.  Talk about versatility!

I decided to try out a few shadows and then pick up some samples.  I chose three colors that I thought could be used as a shadow or liner: Blast, Bette, and Ruthless Indulgence. 

Blast is a deep olive shade with turquoise, blue and purple sparkle. 

Bette is a deep navy/purple sparkle on a matte black base.  There are also hints of turquoise and fushia sparkle.  This would be a great alternative to a basic black eyeliner.

Ruthless Indulgence is a beautiful egg plant shade with lavender sparkles.

The three samples I chose were: Window Shopping (peachy gold), Air & Light (pale silver base with pink and lavender flashes) and Dragon (dark silver smoke).

Swatches are below - feel free to click the image for a larger view.  I applied these dry and without a base, just to see how the texture was.  I was very pleased to find that these are very smooth, and even those with a lot of sparkle have some major staying power without a base (although I will definitely use the Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy when using as a shadow).  I am really loving Air & Light - this is a color unline anything I have, and has a lot of versatility as a highlight and base.

Earlier this week I posted a display, here, of the new nail polish lines that CVS is carrying.  I decided to grab a polish from each line, Confetti and 10 Professional.  Today, let's take a look at the Confetti Long Wearing Nail Color in "Belle of the Ball".  (For another opinion of the Confetti line, take a look at the Recessonista's review here).  Note, she also discovered that Confetti and 10 Professional are actually from the same company!  Interesting... 

Belle of the Ball is a cream, relatively opaque, true lilac shade.  It looks a little cooler in the bottle than it does on, but in all reality, you can't tell a difference in the product in the bottle once applied.  (I mention this because I notice a lot of creme's turn a lot darker once applied and dry, but not so much with this one).  Anyway...moving on....

The brush is a little funky.  I almost think it is too long for the bottle, so as a result, it kind of *scrunches* up at the bottom, and therefore isn't straight.  I might try cutting it a bit shorter to see if that helps.  It didn't really hinder application much, in my experience, but was a bit ackward.

Product consistency is smooth.  It's a bit runny, so I think I could have gone with a 3rd coat on my manicure.  I'm not sure if you can see it in the pictures below, but in some lighting (especially natural light) I can see a little streakiness. 

The product did dry extremely quickly, and seemed to have a built in top coat.  Instead of giving that matte appearance when dry, it did have a nice shine to it.  I didn't add a top coat as a result, but just a fast drying Seche Vite to make sure I didn't ruin my mainicure during the day.  So far, so good on the lasting power as well

All in all, I can't really complain too much about the product - I mean, let's be honest - it's $1.99, and it's hard to find a full size (not Bon Bon at Walmart) polish under $5 that is remotely decent.  I'd be willing to try out a few other shades, and see if I have any different experience, good or bad, with those.  As for the particular color I picked out, Belle of the Ball, I normally don't go towards the bright eclectic shades, but I might have to start now - I am really loving this purple.  It's bright, but not so pastel that it looks more appropriate for spring.  I'd say I'm pretty happy with my $1.99 investment.