Benefit World Famous Neutrals - Sexiest Nudes Ever Review

I have all the palettes in the W@orld Famous Neutrals series, and this one happens to be my favorite out of the three. The colors don't look like much in the pan, but they go really well together and compliment my brown eyes well. Let's have a lookie :)

So as you can see it looks like a little book! I adore the packaging, it's so freaking cute.

And yes, there is a hidden mirror behind the step by step guide :)

Swatches, dry and on bare skin:

The pigmentation improves over a primer but overall they are pretty good. The silver is the most pigmented color in the palette, the light matte pink/lavender fares pretty well on my lids. The shimmery white is light enough to be used on the brow bone, and the darker purple doesn't turn black eye when you apply.

Here are the cream shades

Overall this palette is really nice. The colors are a bit unusual for a neutral palette but I really like the variety. These palettes as a whole aren't super in your face pigmented, but they work to create a natural look very well. The cream shadows are also a nice addition that can be worn by themselves or as a base. They don't really crease on me either so another good bonus.

I have a video review including a tutorial if you are interested:

Smashbox Love Me Eye Shadow Palette Entice Me Review

I have been wanting this palette for awhile now. Every time passing it by in Ulta I swatched and just loved the texture. I would love the entire collection but I made myself choose just one thing. So I choose the fashion palette over the nude palette because I figured I was likely to have more similar shades with that one. But trust me it was a hard choice. Let's have a looksey.

Something I think was super smart is they made the Love Me panel moveable so you can lift it up to access the shades better.

Now swatched on bare skin and dry the shades are still pretty decently pigmented but the both the light blue and the navy have some patchy issues. They feel so silky in the pan so I figured let's try them wet. Here are the results dry then wet:

Here's them wet in artificial lighting:

I think it makes a huge difference using them wet. The shadows have more of a metallic finish to them that I really dig. They are super shimmery so be prepared for a ton of fallout. I recommend doing your eyeshadow first before applying your face makeup if you don't want to mess it up.

Overall I love this palette, the design is super cute and I got a lot of compliments when I did and eye look for it, which you can see below:

I used the shadows wet and it was fairly easy to do this look. I do think this palette should be reserved for night time, unless you like rocking bold looks during the day :)

Urban Decay Naked Skin Beauty Balm Review

I've had this product for quite awhile and I have to say I really love it, but there are conditions to that love. Let's take a look at the packaging and swatches.

This is the product fresh out of the tube and the blended in:

When it first comes out of the tube as this very orange looking cream it's kind of scary, but it blends in to an almost invisible finish. Also it helps that I have yellow undertones to my skin. I'm thinking maybe paler skin types with pink undertones might have some issues with the color.

Here's what it looks like on the face. My before then after:

I'm not sure if you can tell by my face looks subtly more even and refreshed. ***The camera lighting made me look more orange, not the cream by the way. It doesn't make a huge difference by itself, but enough for me to notice. My pores look more diminished and it just perks up my skin overall.

I firmly believe that this product works best when paired with the Naked Skin foundation. I wouldn't wear it just on it's own because I like a full coverage look. I would say this works as a fantastic primer, one of the best I have tried, but as a BB cream it is a little lacking. Here's what it looks like with the Naked skin foundation:

Together they work beautifully. The cream has a velvet finish to it, not sticky or silicone feeling. In terms of how it acts versus real Asian BB creams, Naked Beauty Balm has all the skin enhancing ingredients like Asian BB creams do, as well as a good SPF 20, but the lack of coverage makes it a truly American version of a BB cream. My oily skin reacts favorably to the formula and I hardly ever set with a powder with the Naked skin foundation anyway. I say if you already have the Naked Skin foundation it's worth getting the Beauty Balm, but otherwise I'm not sure if you need it.

I'm in the March Issue of Cosmopolitan Latina!

So I was lucky enough to have my nail art featured in the the March issue of Cosmo Latina. I was asked to do an easy nail art design that featured three polishes. I really like how they turned out :) The kindle version of the magazine is available now but the print version will be available 02/02/2013. Check out the designs below:

Here is the shot of the page where the nail art is:

Please check out the mag :)

Kat Graham - Wanna Say Inspired Makeup Look

I recently did a Kat Graham inspired loom from her "Wanna Say" music video. I really loved her makeup throughout the video, but this look caught my interest the most. It features blinged out eyes with rhinestones galore! The rhinestones were a pain in the butt to apply but the makeup turned out pretty and I got a lot of compliments from this look. Here are some pics of here look and mine:

Hope you like! Here is the tutorial:

Sweehearts Perfect Flush Blush

I was so excited for this blush launch because I am a sucker for cute packaging. I didn't realize in the pictures that this blush is in cardboard packing. It's kind if ironic that they changed the packing for the palettes from cardboard to tin, and made the blush in a cardboard packaging. Let's take a look:

Isn't it just adorable!

The pigmentation on the other hand is so-so. On my light skin it looks like a light pink shimmer. I'm guessing on darker skin tones it might be non existent. I think it's okay, not the best blush ever but it's not a bad blush either. They could have done better, especially since it's meant to work on all skin types. The middle shade is the least pigmented. The cute factor is keeping it in my stash but I think Too Faced dropped the ball on this.

Too Faced Budoir Eyes Soft and Sexy Eyeshadow Collection Review

This is the latest palette release from Too Faced and I'm pretty excited about it. I have many Too Faced palettes and they are all very dear to my heart, but this is the first one to come in a tin instead of cardboard. Honestly, I prefer the cardboard because it was cuter, but it is more sturdy. Let's check it out.

The palette comes with a little look book that's super cute:

And here are the swatches:

The pigmentation is great for all the shadows and I love how the colors go so well together. Here is a look I did with the palette:

I basically love this palette and definitely recommend it! $36 @ Sephora & Ulta

Tarte BB Tinted Treatment Review

I did a video on this where I show what it looks like with one layer on. I really love this product and I've been using it practically everyday! Watch the video for a detailed review:



I can't say enough good things about this product. I love how it gives a lightweight coverage to my skin without making me look oily. It works well on it's own as and even better with a bit of foundation on top. It cuts out the extra steps of having to put on a primer and a moisturizer on as it works as both. At $34 it's a little pricey but if you're looking for a multi-functional product that works better than a tinted moisturizer I think it's worth the buy.

Lancome Enduring Vert Infinite Luminous Eyeshadow Review

I happened to be browsing the Lancome counter when I happened upon this product. I just really feel in love with the color and how it was kind of unique and definitely nothing I had before. So picked this bad boy up and played around with it and came up with this look:

Enduring Vert is described as a Satin Pastel Green. I agree with that description, but I would add that it has a luminosity to it. I used the shadow wet and without a primer and got really nice color pay off. I also tried it on another occasion with just a primer and it looked as good as when wet. But using it on its own sans primer and dry it just gives a green hue to the lids that's pretty but not very pigmented. Here is what that looks like:

This product is very similar to the L'Oreal shadows and since they are made by the same company it wouldn't surprise me if it's the same formula. I am really happy with the shadow and I think it's a nice color for spring time. Temptalia didn't seem to like this product as much as me, so I guess it's really up to your interpretation. It's $24.50 so you really have to love the product to justify the price tag, and I happen to love it.

Oh and by the way, the wear time is fantastic, and it lives up to the long wear claim.

Zoya Lovely Collection

I love Zoya's new "Lovely" collection for spring 2013. It's all soft pastel colors with 3 shimmers and 3 creams. Here are some swatches and pictures.

Here is Jacqueline swatched on my nails:

Jacqueline could pass for opaque with one thick coat but I did two thin ones instead. The other colors need two coats as well to be opaque. The colors look true to how they look in the bottle when swatched and weren't runny or hard to use. The shimmery colors were a little sheerer than the the creams but with 2 coats they were just fine.

I love how fresh and girly this collection is. The soft blue polish is my favorite, it's just so mellow and calming. I chose to wear Jacqueline because I was itching to have mannequin hands and it's perfect for that purpose.