upcoming swatches & reviews

Here's a list of upcoming swatches and reviews I'm going to do over the next few weeks

• Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Mistress
• Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss in Lily Rose
• Illamasqua Matt Primer 
• Clarisonic Mia Update
• Skinceuticals Retinol 0.5
• Sephora Smoothing and Mattifying Primer
• Fyrinnae Velvet Gel Silica Primer & various eyeshadows
• Kerastase Nectar Thermique
• My Beauty Diary Face Masks
• Tony Moly BB Cream in Brightening
  

Korres Lip Butter in Plum

So I finally used my Sephora $15 gift card on the Illamasqua Matt Primer and picked up a lip butter to meet the $35 minimum. I've been looking for a tinted lip balm lately and decided to go with the Korres lip butter. I swatched all the colors on my hand and fell in love with the plum color; it was also the most pigmented out of the bunch. Since I never, ever try on any lip products on my lips at Sephora I bought it w/o knowing how it looked on me. Well.... big mistake. My lips are naturally pink and with two applications of lip butter that lovely plum berry color becomes an ugly bright fuchsia.

By "application" I mean, an extremely thin layer where my lips feel slightly moisturized. I don't know if it's because my lip butter is new or not, but mine is very thick. The first application gives no moisture at all and only a sheer color. Since I do expect the lip butter to function as a lip balm, I apply another thin layer. It looks like a lovely "just bitten" berry color at first and as soon as I turn away from the mirror it becomes a nasty fuchsia.

Now I've got to return the lip butter back to Sephora because it's just not working for me. Soo did not live up to the hype! =(

Covergirl Lash Blast Rave (BOGO 50% off)

A rave about CG lash blast which I've been using for a while now. I thought I would hate it because of the plastic bristles. (I absolutely hateeeee plastic bristles. I prefer a nice, fat regular brush) With LB its actually not so bad and I'm able to coat all of my eyelashes evenly. LB is a volumizing mascara and it *really* does its job. My lashes look so full and thick that they look like they're falsies. Best part is that it doesn't smudge (and believe me, I've got oily skin) and lasts until you remove it. I've slept in this mascara with no problems. No hint of raccoon eyes at all. None. Nada. Zilch. It also washes off very easily. There's also a waterproof version which apparently works so well that it's hard to wash off. But regular Lash Blast is already fantastic, I doubt anyone would even need to use waterproof unless they wanted to swim or something. Honestly, after using this mascara for a while I think LB is my HG mascara.

Which leads me to.... stocking up on more LB before I'm even remotely close to being done with the one I already have. I couldn't help it. I happened to wander into a Rite-Aid today and discovered that they're doing a BOGO 50% off on all Covergirl merchandise. I ended up buying 2 more LB mascaras in Very Black and Black Brown.

I believe there's a sale on other brands too so if you're going to do a drugstore haul you should probably check out your nearest Rite-Aid (or their website). The sale ends this Friday 12/5/09.

Illamasqua Nail Varnish

I'm loving the products from Illamasqua! I've gotta get more of their stuff soon =)

Here's the swatch for Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Muse. Retails for $14 at Sephora.

 One coat w/ flash

One coat w/o flash

Two coats w/ flash

Two coats w/o flash

As you can see I was able to get the exact color from the bottle with just one coat. But if you look at it from a certain angle, you can sorta see my nail underneath. It doesn't really bother me though so I actually just used one coat. For swatching purposes I showed them both (btw please ignore how messy it looks!)

After an entire week and a half there was minimal chipping. I was wearing Essie 3-way glaze over it though and a base coat is a must because this nail varnish will bleed on to your nails. All in all a great polish! Long lasting, high pigmentation, easy to remove. I love it =)

Revlon Matte and Creme Lipstick Swatches

Lately I've been trying to find a good red lipstick. I have yellow undertones and have never worn red lipstick before so I didn't really know where to start. I've been trying out a bunch of lipsticks/lipglosses at Sephora but still haven't found one that matches well. I was recommended to try Revlon's Matte Lipstick in "In the Red" #007 and so I went out and got it today. I also picked up Revlon's Creme Lipstick in "Kiss Me Coral" #750.

 In The Red - Nicely pigmented berry red. Works well with my yellow undertones and doesn't look "off". It's truly a matte formula and there was no shine at all despite being layered over a lip balm. It's still a little too bold for me during the day time but becomes more wearable after I've blotted a few times.

Kiss Me Coral - An orange-coral shade. Since my lips have a pink tone, the color doesn't come out so orange. I really like Revlon's creme formula. Even over bare lips, the creme formula was very smooth and has just a hint of shine. The swatch with flash makes it look more glossy than it really is. It's just as pigmented as the matte lipstick as well. Both lipsticks retail for $7.99.

it's here!!!

My Clarisonic Mia has arrived! It took ages for it to get here because it was backordered. I used it last night and this morning to wash my face. Going to give it some time before reviewing but so far it's made my face ridiculously smooth. Like, I didn't know my face could feel *this* smooth and soft. I'll probably give it a proper review in 2 weeks or so. =)

I also got some samples from the NIA24 line with my order. I'm interested to see how the products are since I've heard some good reviews.

Redken Hair Cleansing Cream & Kerastase Sublimateur Jour

I have a confession to make. I have never, ever used a clarifying shampoo before. There I said it. I don't know how I managed all these years without clarifying somehow I just did. Thinking about all the product buildup is just horrifying to say the least. Thankfully, I have now seen the light and am using Redken's clarifying shampoo. The Hair Cleansing Cream left my hair squeaky clean. Which is great I suppose but it also left my hair very dry. I followed up with my Shiseido Tsubaki conditioner as usual but that didn't cut it. So it was a perfect time to try out the leave-in conditioner by Kerastase.

The leave-in itself has a very light, non-greasy consistency. It actually looks and smells like a light lotion, except that it's lotion for your hair. Sublimateur Jour uses hydrolized wheat protein that forms a protective layer around the hair fiber. While UV filters protect the hair fiber from oxidation and silicone eliminates dryness and frizz. Now I've been hearing nothing but raves for SJ so I was expecting something miraculous to happen. I was expecting super soft and glossy, hair-from-shampoo-commercials hair. With all that hype I should've known that it wouldn't live up to expectations. Which is exactly what happened...at first.

I put SJ in my slightly damp hair and left it in while I air dried. I woke up the next day and.... nothing. In fact, my hair was still feeling a little straw-like from clarifying the night before. Soo... I put in some more SJ (and wondering if I had just wasted 40 bucks) in my dry hair and went about my day. Strangely enough, as the day went on my hair became more and more soft. By the end of the day, my hair was soft and glossy and definitely didn't feel like straw. Now I don't know what to think about SJ. I don't have hair like the girls in shampoo commercials, but it is soft and shiny and overall looks healthy. The only problem is that it took half a day for SJ to work! One thing I will say is that the effect lasts for a long time. It is now the next day and my hair still feels and looks great.