Shakeup Your Makeup

I love birthdays, and I definitely loaded up this year! My mom gave me the last set in the Bare Escentuals Diamonds collection, which is Black Diamonds. The colors in this set are leaning more to the true-smokey eye look, with charcoal, black and taupe for the eye colors, and very neutral colors for the cheeks and lips.

The Black Diamonds set also comes with three brushes. As I've mentioned in the past, I love the BE brushes. The quality is great, and when you get them in a collection such as this, they are practically "free"! The three brushes in this set were the Soft Focus Liner Brush, the Tapered Blush Brush and the Contour Shadow Brush.

I was in need of a new liner brush, and I love the softness of this one. As opposed to needing a stiff bristle to pick up gel eyeliner, this allows you to use your eyeshadows dry and create a beautiful, soft line along the upper or lower lash line. This is a great way to blend the liner into the deep and dark colors in a smokey-eye without the work of having to smudge gel eyeliners.

The Tapered Blush Brush is a great brush to add a luminizer or high light along your cheeks and face. It's very soft, not very dense, and picks up just enough to give a healthy glow, without having to worry about using a heavy hand.

Everyone should have a Contour Shadow Brush of some make or model. The Bare Escentuals brush is extremely soft and allows you to build your color to the desired depth without much effort.

The Radiance in this kit is "Bare Radiance", which is not exclusive to this set. A very basic color, this is a beautiful flesh-tone with pink/peach shimmer.

Decadent Diamond Blush is a pale, but bright coral with a hint of shimmer. I love this color with the eyeshadows below because it isn't overwhelming, and doesn't make your face look made up or over-the-top. Instead, it adds just the right warmth to the cheeks. If you are looking for an added *umph* to the color, sweep the Bare Radiance over the top and your set!

The darkest shade in this collection is called Midnight Diamond. It is about as dark charcoal can get without being black, and has a hint of graphite shimmer in it. Although this is meant to be a liner, it works very well as a crease color, our contour to create the smokey look. It's not a true matte, but the because it isn't overly sparkly, it works very well with blending into other shades.

Chic Diamond is described as a lilac color, but I think a better description is a very beautiful, warm taupe with gold and lilac shimmer. This is the frostiest color in the set, and depending on your skin tone, I think this could be used as a lid color or a crease color. I think this might be a lighter shade of Bare Escentuals Drama - I'll have to do a comparison!

The lightest shade, Heavenly Diamond, is a pale iced-ivory. This reminds me very much of MAC's Vanilla Pigment, and has the same family of color weaving through it, without the rich pigmentation of the MAC shade.

I absolutely adore the new Natural Lip Glosses that Bare Escentuals have come out with, and this is no exception. The color in the Black Diamonds set is called Biscotti. To me, it matches my lip tone perfectly with a bit more pigmentation. It is a very pretty peachy pink with pink and gold shimmer running through. It's pigmented and lasts very well, and again, works effortlessly with the darker eyeshadows of this collection.

The swatches are below. As you can see, this is a very neutral kit - the blush, radiance and lip gloss look as though they are all one-in-the-same, and as a result, are perfectly coordinated together. I'll put together a FOTD for you to see...soon!

As all of you know, Hard Candy is back, and now available at Walmart! With such an extensive display section (see Nouveau Cheap's pictures here!), it was hard to decide what to pick up last weekend when I was there, but I immediately was drawn to the now-infamous nail polish in Mr. Wrong.

A beautifully unique color, Mr. Wrong is the mix of a black base, bright silver-purple micro glitter, and gold micro glitter. The thing I find very interesting about this shade is that of all the reviews I've seen and read online, not one person's swatch looks the same. Mr. Wrong takes on a different personality with every person, which is probably why this little guy is Mr. Wrong!



Mr. Wrong pulls out mostly purple shades on me. I love this polish because I can't quite bring myself to rock the black nail polish, as much as I really like some of the black and shimmer shades out on the market right now. Much like the Stila Smudgepot in "Little Black Dress" is a great option for those who want a dark eyeliner without the harshness of black, Mr. Wrong is a great way to wear a dark and edgy color without going to the extreme of black. And, at around $5 a pop, these are a great little bargain for the quality!

Part 2 of my Barbie Birthday - the Stila Smudge Pot in "Little Black Dress".

Sephora says that this is a black base with pink sparkles. To me, it looks like a very deep egg plant purple with purple shimmer. I suppose it could be all the pink and black mixed together, but regardless, this is a beautiful color.

The swatch is below. If you are hesitant to use black eyeliner, but want something darker than brown, this would be a great alternative. It isn't as harsh as black, but still gives you the depth of color that black does along the lashline, and the little bit of shimmer is just an added plus. Like all Stila Smudge Pots, this goes on very smooth, and can be "smudged" into a base or used with a liner brush for a smooth crisp line. Once this is set, it doesn't budge!

I saw on Sephora's website that there are a set of four Smudge Pots for the Holidays, including the new Kitten Smudge Pot. This might be on my wishlist for Christmas! Stila is quickly becoming one of my favorite brands in my collection. I love the quality and lasting power of Stila, and they keep coming out with such cute sets!

What is your favorite Stila product?