Shakeup Your Makeup

Although I looked and felt terrible the other day, I did want to get a quick FOTD up with the new Bare Escentuals Beautiful in Pearls collection I posted about yesterday.  This was done very quickly and without much imagination, but I find that it is a lot easier to get a feel for colors when you actually see them "on", and not just in swatches.

I used Bare Escentuals Fair foundation all over, with the Pearl Blossom blush.  I did a very basic eye-look with the Exotic Pearl all over the lid and the Black Pearl in the crease.  Although I am admitidly a liquid eyeliner gal, I used the Plum pencil on both the top and bottom to see how well it wore - which was wonderfully by the way!   As I mentioned yesterday, the Layer Cake lipgloss is a beautiful, everyday shade...this is definitely my new "go - to" in my bag!

I am so excited to FINALLY get to post these pictures!  I have been struggling with my Photobucket account (but only at work...maybe it's trying to tell me something!) so I got them all uploaded last night at home.  A while back I posted about the Bare Escentuals Beautiful in Pearls collection from QVC, and I was pleasantly surprised with my second shipment a few days ago!  To be honest, I forgot that I was set up on autodelivery, but am obviously thrilled to have something new to post about. 

The packaging of this box is absolutey beautiful.  I'm a sucker for pink and green, so when I opened the box to see the beautiful lime green lining and all the pretty pinks and irridescence on the outside, I was completely drawn in.  The shadows in this collection are right up my alley too - frosts and purple!

There are quite a few pictures below, so proceed with caution - remember these shadows are infused with real Honora Pearls :)

The mineral veil that came with this set is the same as the last one - a Brightening Pearl Mineral Veil.  This mineral veil isn't quite "white" or "transluscent" as the original - you can see it here.  Instead, this has a hint of color that is meant to correct your skintone, as well as "brighten" it.  There is a hint of shimmer to this mineral veil, but nothing like the feather light - it is so miniscule you hardly notice it unless you are really looking.

Pearl Blossom Blush is a bright berry with coral.  In the pot, it definitely looked very berry, but when I applied it, there were some golden shades that came through and "warmed up" the shade.  I would definitely suggest using a light hand with this blush, as a little goes a long way!  It's absolutely gorgeous, and can't wait to have a little bit of a tan - I think it will be even prettier then.

There were two beautiful eyeshadows in this collection: Exotic Pearl and Black Pearl.  Exotic Pearl is the first picture below - a white frost infused with a hint of sage green.  I can barely tell there is any green to this color when applied, but in the pot you can really tell.  Unfortunately that part of the shadow didn't exactly show through in the picture below - I think the flash washed it out.  This color is perfect as an all over lid color, highlight, or even to add a sweep of highlight to the cheeks.  Black Pearl is a deep egg-plant purple with beautiful purple and even hints of blue frost.  Although I have used this as a crease eyeshadow, I did play around with it wet and it would be a gorgeous eyeliner. 

Last but not least are the mascara, lipgloss and eyelining pencil. 

This time around, the pencil comes in a deep, gorgeous, matte plum.  This shade pairs very well with the Black Pearl eyeshadow, and is deep enough if you want a black-ish eyeliner, without acutally using black.

As you well know, I am in love with the new formulation, or Natural Lipgloss, that Bare Escentuals has come out with.  Don't get me wrong, I loved the Buxom glosses, but these are so smooth and long-lasting that they are hard to dislike.  The color in this kit is called Layer Cake, and it is a pale warm pink with shimmer.  When applied, it truely is so neutral it blends right into the lips and just adds shine and a hint of shimmer without being chunky or gloppy.  I think the second picture below gives you a good idea as to the lipgloss, as sometimes the flash distorts the color in the tube.

Finally the swatches!  I hope you like them - I will do a FOTD with this collection soon - they really are gorgeous!

I am a bit behind the times on this, but these two colors are so springy and bright, they are perfect to show here this first week of spring!  A few weeks ago I went to my Nordstroms and the Viva Glam collection was out, and although I had seen the colors online, I really liked them in person, so I ended up buying both!  I'm typically not a matte or pale pink lipstick wearer, but I purchased Gaga regardless.

One thing that popped out to me is that although these are very bright shades in the tube, the colors are actually quite sheer and buildable, so they do not apply cakey and over-the-top.  The texture is very light, but creamy, and each has a great lasting power without drying out.

Below are a couple of quick shots of these colors on, but I'll have some FOTD's with each coming up in the next couple of days.  Do you have either of these colors?  What do you think?

I have a bag of new products I need to review and swatch, which I am finally getting around to doing.  The first thing on my list was the new Prestige My Blackest Lashes Intense Black Volume Mascara, which also came with Prestige Ultimate Eye Definer pencil.  As you all know, I am always interested in trying out a new mascara, so I was very excited to crack the cap on this one and test it!

The Ultimate Eye Definer eyelining pencil reminded me a lot of MAC's Eye Kohl's.  The color I received with the mascara was brown/black.  The texture was very cream, without any shimmer, extremely pigmented, and wore all day without smudging or smearing down by my eyes.  I actually found that the liner reminded me a lot of my MAC Eye Kohl in "Teddy".  Although Teddy has a hint more gold, as well as a hint of shimmer in it, the colors were very close in wear, pigmentation and consistency.  Definitely a great drug-store buy if you can find Prestige Cosmetics near you.  My comparison picture of the MAC and Prestige are below.

Back to the mascara.  When I pulled the wand out of the tube, the first think I noticed was how BLACK this mascara was.  Obviously, I should have assumed it would be by the name...My Blackest Lashes...but let's be honest, there are tons of mascaras on the market with the name "Extreme Black", or "Blackest Black", and they still dry less than black.  The wand is also very bristley.  This, along with the smooth and buildable consistency of the mascara itself, made it very easy to apply without clumps or flakes.  I have to say, that after one sweep, my lashes looked like they had been dipped in black dye. 

Before:

1 coat:

2 coats:

I recently received an order from HauteLook.com, which had a day of sales on Stila.  After falling in love with my Barbie Loves Stila Smudge Pot that I received for my birthday, I decided that I needed to get as many of these as possible.  When Hautelook had their sale, I was excited to see that the Golden Noir shade was available, and quickly snatched it up!

In true Smudge Pot form, this is a very creamy and long lasting formula.  The base is a deep matte black with flecks of 24kt gold throughout.  They aren't large peices, so they won't fall into your eyes like glitter does, but there are enough that when applied you see a hint of glimmer along your lashline that is just gorgeous. 

My swatch below is just one swipe with an angled eyeliner brush.  The color payoff is very strong, and as I mentioned above, the golden shimmer comes through beautifully!  I will have a few EOTD's to come that will show you this beauty in action!