butter LONDON Spring/Summer 2012 Swatches: Knackered

As you probably know, I use my very own hard-earned money to pay for everything I show on this blog. So you know if I feature an entire collection of something on this blog, I must love it a whole lot because I paid for it! Well, that's exactly what happened with the Spring/Summer collection from butter LONDON. I saw promo pics of it, and I knew that I was going to end up buying the whole thing. I just love every. single. color!

Which is precisely why I'm going to show swatches of this collection in separate posts. I can't wait to show you guys my first collection swatches, but I want to take my time and enjoy wearing them before I take them off to swatch the next one. So for the next 10-15 days or so, enjoy these swatches of the amazing spring/summer collection from butter LONDON! First up, Knackered, a sheer teal-gray/lavender duochrome with tiny holographic glitter! (I just shivered a little from writing that.)

This photo pretty accurately shows the color-shift of the duochrome.

On the first coat of this polish, I thought there was no way it would build up to opacity. It's very sheer. It would work well as a layering polish, although I personally don't think I would like the way that would look. It becomes pretty opaque at three coats - VNL is still slightly visible but not noticeable. It applies a bit brushstroke-y, and you must wait for each coat to dry before applying the next one or it will drag and create strange "ripples" in the polish - you can kind of see this effect on my middle finger, where I attempted to fill in a bald spot and messed it up.

Blurred to show the holographic glitter

This is such a unique polish, and while I'm still on the fence whether I love it or not, I'm very glad to have it in my collection!

Stay tuned for the remaining four colors from butter LONDON's Spring/Summer collection!

FOTD: Elementary, My Dear Watson

On my trip to Ulta today, I saw NYX was having a buy-one-get-one half off sale. I immediately grabbed their matte bronzer in Medium because I was looking for a nice big pan of bronzer with NO shimmer in it for contouring. The second thing I grabbed was their cream blush in Orange. I'm a big fan of this product in Glow, and I love coral and orange blushes on me, so this was a no brainer.

When I got home, I wanted to put a face together using the cream blush. So I was going through my eyeshadows, thinking about combinations that would go with an orange blush. I landed on my Bare Minerals Ready Eyeshadow Quad in the Elements. I've done a look with this quad before, but I didn't use the blue shade in that look. I think this eyeshadow quad is wonderful, and quite "elementary" to apply!

I started off the same way I always do - I prepped my eyelid with Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original. I swept Earth, a matte greenish grey, onto the eyelid, then blended Fire, a matte rusty orange, into the crease. I blended Air, a champagne beige shimmer, into the browbone and inner corner. I lined my waterline with NYX Slide On Waterproof Eyeliner in Tropical Green, then used a flat liner brush to line my lower lashline with Water, a tealish blue shimmer. (Sidenote: I also tightlined my upper lashline with black eyeliner, but I don't think I'll do that ever again because it kept rubbing off on my contacts all day long and irritating my eyes! Any tips on how to tightline for contact wearers?) Lastly, I swept my eyelashes with Lancome Definicils Mascara in Black.

 To finish the face, I contoured my cheeks with NYX Matte Bronzer in Medium and highlighted my cheekbones with Benefit Girl Meets Pearl in Golden Pink. (I also got this at Ulta today - a mini sample size to see if I liked it - and I do!) I blended NYX Cream Blush in Orange into the apples of my cheeks using my fingertips. On my lips, to go with the orange theme, I applied Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti.




What do you think of this look? I definitely think it's more of a summer look, but honestly, who cares what season it is when you look this good? ;)

I think I'll take photos of myself in my car every day! This lighting makes me look awesome!

NOTD: Another Hefesto masterpiece!

Gorgeous!

I've been dreaming up different layering combinations I could do with Speciallita Hefesto - a sheer holographic top coat - ever since I got it last week. On my first post about it, commenter Monica suggested I try it over a black or grey polish, and I thought that was a GREAT idea! I had never seen a true grey holo before. To bling it out even more, I decided to go with OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, a shimmery charcoal grey with hints of green and purple shimmer. With one coat of Hefesto over it, I couldn't stop staring at my nails! The sun even peeked out while I was driving, and I kept stretching my fingers out on the steering wheel so I could sneak glances at the rainbow goodness.

I love Hefesto for layering over a tired creme, but layering it over another glitter/shimmer polish is just out-of-this-world amazing. Great suggestion, Monica!! Any other ideas, folks?

China Glaze Prismatic Chroma Glitters promo pics

Just saw on Facebook that China Glaze is putting out a new collection of glitters this year. They put up some promo pics so I'll share them with you here.

I already can't wait for Polarized!!!
Follow China Glaze on Facebook for more information.

FOTD - Golds and Greens

I put this look on in an effort to motivate me to get out of the house and get a few errands done today. We have yet to see if that will actually happen.

For the eyes, I used two shadows from theBalm The Balm and the Beautiful palette, which contains the exact same shades from the Muppets palette from the same brand, just in different packaging and with different names. I started by blending theBalm The Supermodel, a shimmery warm gold (a dupe for Urban Decay Baked) all over the lid and on the middle of the lower lashline. I then blended the Balm The Step Brother, a medium olivey green shimmer, into the crease and bringing it down along the outer third of the lower lashline I lined the waterline and upper lashline with Stila Smudgestick Waterproof Eye Liner in Moray, an olive green with gold sparkle. I highlighted the browbone and inner corner with the matte white shade from the Sonia Kashuk Eye on Neutral palette. To finish, I swept my lashes with Lancome Definicils mascara in Black. (I have a sample tube of this mascara. I didn't like it at first, but now I really like the separation it gives!)

To finish the face, I used NYX Cream Blush in Glow, a medium rosy pink shade, on the apples of my cheeks. I've been looking to add to my cream blush collection, because powder blushes look too dry on my skin in the winter. This is a great addition, and for such a reasonable price I will definitely purchase more colors. I applied Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Sweet Tart on my lips.

OK, so I look hot, now let's see if I can actually motivate myself to get out of the house today and get stuff done!

NOTD - Choose-your-own-holo!

By now everyone knows about the amazing Speciallita Hits no Olimpo collection. I REALLY wanted to get the whole collection, but that was just not feasible with shipping charges from Brazil :) To satisfy my craving, I decided to just spring for Hefesto, which I was able to find on Ebay for a pretty reasonable price. Hefesto is a sheer holographic topcoat, which enables you to turn any color your heart desires into a holo!

I really wanted to try Hefesto on top of a color that I've never seen as a holo before. I decided to try it out on top of American Apparel Dynasty, which is a medium red-toned lavender creme. This is an untried polish for me. The reason I haven't gotten around to wearing it is because it was the third polish in a 3 for $15 sale they were having on their polish a few months ago, and while I was able to choose the first two immediately, none of the other colors jumped out at me and it took me a while to decide what my third one was going to be, so I just wasn't excited to wear it. It was a great choice to wear under Hefesto! It makes for a really unique combination. It's a good winter-to-spring transitional mani, I think.

What do you think of this combination? What color should I wear under Hefesto next?

NOTD - Coral and Gold

We had some weird weather in Chicago this weekend. On Friday, we had our first major snowfall this winter. I think it was about 8 inches by the end of the night. Then, last night, we had a rain and thunderstorm. Whaaaa? This morning, almost all the snow was melted, leaving huge gross muddy puddles, and the sky was gray and misty. Gloom and doom all the way. I needed something to remind me that we are on the other side of the winter solstice and spring WILL be here soon, darn it!

Flash - It's not really this pink

I thought that OPI I Eat Mainely Lobster, a bright coral with subtle gold shimmer, would look gorgeous layered with Essie As Gold as it Gets, a gold flaky topcoat. I was slightly disappointed the first time I ever wore Lobster because the gold shimmer didn't really translate onto the nail, but with a coat of As Gold as it Gets over the top, it becomes everything I ever wanted it to be!

I had a hard time photographing this polish! Under the flash, it came out looking pure pink, and you couldn't really see the gold flakies. In artificial light, it looks closer to its true color, although it's brighter than it looks in the photo. I'll have to try it outside tomorrow, if we have any sun. Pleeeease let there be sun tomorrow!!

On a side note, I just realized that twice in the past few days, I've layered an Essie luxe effect over an OPI polish. I guess they make a good team :)

Artificial light - This is more true to color

NOTD - Girly Glitter!

While on my Ajax run yesterday, I also picked up this little "gem". This particular color is called Be-Jeweled, from a new collection from Sally Hansen called Gem Crush. It's a light lavender purple micro glitter with large pink circular glitter that also flash holographic.

This photo shows the color most accurately.

The brush in this bottle is really weird. It's very wide, about the entire width of my pinky nail, and also very short with a curved end. It surprised me the first time I saw it, and I thought it was going to suck, but it actually worked very well for applying glitter polish. I applied two coats for these photos. Although you can kind of see the whites of my nail in the photo, you really can't see it at all in person; the glitter looks totally opaque.

The pink glitter is holographic from some angles.

It dries pretty quickly, and I think that's thanks to the brush; I didn't have to do a zillion coats to get it to cover evenly. I did do one coat of topcoat, but the glitter ate it up and it looks pretty matte once it dries. It's still insanely sparkly though. It feels gritty and looks bumpy, but that doesn't bother me.

Blingy glitter is not normally my style, but I think I'm starting to convert. This glitter, especially with its girly purple and pink color scheme, just puts a smile on my face. I'm sure that will turn into a scowl when I go to take it off, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it...

New Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butters!

I had to brave the snowstorm today to go to Target for a can of Ajax. To reward myself for having trekked all the way there (like I would have had the willpower to NOT stop at the cosmetics aisle, HAH!) I browsed the nail polish and makeup section. Under the Revlon display, I noticed that they must have freshly restocked their ColorBurst Lip Butter selection because I saw SO many colors that I haven't seen before! As you know, I love this product, so I snatched up three to add to my collection: Candy Apple, Sweet Tart, and Raspberry Pie.

Sweet Tart

Sweet Tart is a light cool-toned candy pink. It's a nice every day shade of pink.

Candy Apple

Raspberry Pie

Candy Apple is a bright medium red. I love this because red is hard for me to pull off with my light skin and hair, so the Lip Butter formula gives me the color I'm looking for without it looking too harsh on my face.

Raspberry Pie is a darkish berry pink. It looks much darker in the tube; I was expecting it to be a vampy wine red. I love this color though. Can you believe the pigmentation on this thing? I mean, holy cow!

I'm thrilled to add these three colors to my Lip Butter collection. This is one product I can definitely see myself owning in almost every color because I love the formula THAT much. If you haven't tried these yet, I say RUN, don't walk, to your nearest drugstore to try them! What color will you try first?

Smashbox Photofinish Hydrating Primer review

We had been having a very warm winter so far in Chicago, up until about two weeks ago when it finally started dipping below the thirties. The harsh effects of winter finally began taking its toll on my skin. I had been using a Bare Minerals primer for several months, but last week I noticed that it just wasn't cutting it anymore. Dry patches on my face were just being accentuated by my foundation, and my makeup would flake off throughout the day. Not a pretty look.

Then, on a trip to Ulta, a sales clerk broadened my horizons and told me that Smashbox had a line of primers for different skin types, including a moisturizing one for dry skin. I almost jumped for joy. Until I noticed the $42 price tag. "Are you out of your mind?" I inquired with my eyes to the nice sales clerk. "Forty-two dollars for a one-ounce tube of blue goop?"

But oh, what precious blue goop it turned out to be.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I pulled out some of my hard-earned birthday money out of my purse at the cash register. After plunking the red bag down in my bathroom when I got home, I promptly forgot about it until the next morning. After splashing some water on my face, I took a small squeeze of the primer and smoothed it onto my face.

It was love at first swipe. It felt so calming and hydrating to my thirsty skin. It absorbed very quickly, leaving a slightly tacky surface for my foundation to adhere to. I immediately noticed a difference in the way my skin looked after my foundation was applied. It looked healthier and more glowy. By the end of the day, my makeup was still fully intact and with no dry flakes!

If you have dry winter skin (or dry skin in general), I couldn't recommend Smashbox Photofinish Hydrating Primer enough. I think I'll switch back to my $18 primer when the weather gets warm again though...

NOTD - Sunrise at Sea

Just a quick NOTD - I call this one Sunrise at Sea because it reminds me of orange sunlight reflecting off calm waves on the beach in the morning :) I started off with two coats of OPI Stranger Tides from the Spring 2011 Pirates of the Caribbean collection. I absolutely love this polish - it's a very unusual, yet soft and gorgeous, murky sea foam green. I layered one coat of Essie Shine of the Times, an orange-green shifting flakie, over the top. I did not start getting into nail polish until after the original Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure was officially HTF, so I was over the moon when this Essie dupe came out. I prefer it over pastel colors such as this because I think it brings a softer, more ethereal look to the flakies, as opposed to the harsher color shift I see when it is layered over dark colors.

I love this mani! Have you snatched up this Essie polish yet? What is your favorite color to layer under it?

Happy belated birthday to me!

Hi everyone! I just had my 23rd birthday over the weekend! Saturday night, the family I nanny for offered to host my parents, boyfriend and best friend for dinner and birthday cake, which was lovely and delicious. My wonderful "boss" (I always hesitate to call her that because she feels like a friend/ family member, not a boss!) made us all boeuf bourguignon, and I of course made a crazy cake, a tradition in my family (although we always add a teaspoon of almond extract to ours to make it extra special). I know a lot of people think it's funny that I make my own birthday cake, but I love doing it and wouldn't have it any other way.

Me and my boyfriend

After dinner, we met up with some friends at a pizzeria/microbrewery in Wicker Park called Piece, where we go often on Saturday nights to do live-band karaoke! My boyfriend and I were both celebrating our birthdays, since his is only 2 weeks before mine, so of course we sang "Birthday" by the Beatles. Later, I sang "I Want You to Want Me" by Cheap Trick (I ain't afraid to go solo!), and then "Mother" by Danzig to relive some high school memories with my old band. I got to catch up with a bunch of cool people, and we had such a blast!

Last night, on my actual birthday, my lovely boyfriend took me out for a delicious steak dinner. We had some issues with the food, but we had a good time anyway. It just goes to show you that life is what you make of it: we could have complained about the problems we had but we chose to enjoy each other's company and have a wonderful evening instead!

Best birthday present a girl could ask for: someone who loves her as much as this guy right here!

Unfortunately, I totally ran out of time to photograph my makeup and nails before it got smudged, sweaty, and chipped. Although I don't have a photo, I can tell you that I wore OPI Excuse Moi! from the Muppets collection on my nails because it is THE most adorable birthday polish I can think of. It just makes me so happy. It looks like a pink glittery cupcake on my nails. Also, as you can see in the second photo, I purchased a Conair YouCurl curling wand to create loose curls in my hair, and I'm in love with the results. It's so much easier than trying to create waves with a flat iron, although I'm still trying to get the hang of it. I might do a post on it soon! Lastly, I received a Conair Reflections magnifying mirror from my best friend as a gift, and I love it! It has a 1x/8x dual sided mirror and a touch-control lighted ring. It makes applying my makeup in my dim bathroom SO much more precise - so precise, in fact, that after I filled in my eyebrows for the first time using it, I had to muss them up a bit afterward because they were so perfect they looked like they had been tattooed on!!

Anyway, sorry there's no detailed beauty information in this post, I just wanted to say that I had such an amazing 23rd birthday weekend, and a big THANK YOU! to the people I love that made it so special :)

EOTD - Smoky Purples!

I was bored a few days ago and wanted to challenge myself to use some eyeshadows that I haven't used in a while. I was feeling in a purple kinda mood, so I grabbed a few purple and pink eyeshadows that I think came together for a very fun purple smoky eye!

First, as I always do, I primed my eyelid with Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original. Then, I covered my whole lid with the "Eyelid" color, a grayish lavender frost, from the Wet n' Wild trio Silent Treatment. I then blended a Mary Kay eyeshadow in Sweet Plum, a deep shimmery royal purple, into the crease, on the outer third of the lid, and onto the bottom lash line. I used another Mary Kay shadow, in Raisin, a matte reddish purple, just above the crease. To finish, I blended the "Browbone" color, a light candy pink, from the same Wet n' Wild trio into the browbone and the inner corner. I lined my waterline with an Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Rockstar, a dark eggplant purple. Lastly, I coated my eyelashes with CoverGirl LashBlast mascara in black.

 

 Hope you liked this eye look! Purple is my favorite eyeshadow color because it is just so flattering to my skin tone and hair color, and it really makes my greenish/grayish eyes pop. What is your favorite eyeshadow color?

NOTD - Orly Fowl Play

I was loving my NOTD from yesterday, but for some reason the finish looked so dull already today that it was bothering me and I had to take it off. I have to fulfill another request - from my boyfriend, who wanted purple.

Flash

Purple is probably the color that I have the most of in my nail polish collection, so it was a little hard to decide which one I was going to do. Would it be dark purple? light purple? bright? muted? I finally landed on Orly Fowl Play, which I searched several Ultas for and finally snagged, only to wear once since then. It's a really awesome polish that I need to wear more often! It's a dark royal purple jelly with holographic flakie glitter in, as well as some silver shimmer. This polish builds up to opacity after two coats.

This polish is seriously one-of-a-kind. As soon as the first coat went on, I felt like my nails were becoming a work of art. The flakes shift from orange to green in the light. Against the shimmery dark purple base, it looks like a galaxy. It's one of the few Orly polishes I own, but I highly recommend you pick this up if you still can!

Artificial light to show the flakie color shift

FOTD - quick and easy sparkle liner for a polished 5 minute face!

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a good Monday. We cozied up with some warm brown sugar chili and cornbread muffins that I made for dinner. It's one of my favorite meals that my dad always made for my brother and I when we were kids, and I think the family I nanny for enjoyed it too. Although the girl was saying she didn't like the skin on the beans - the things that kids insist they don't like just to get out of finishing their plate! ;)

Monday for me means getting a week's worth of grocery shopping done, and making dinner early in the morning in the crockpot so it's ready for us when we get home at 6:30 from basketball practice carpool. Monday is a day that I need my makeup to be quick and easy, so here is a look that I do quite often because it literally takes 5 minutes!

I start out by using a tinted moisturizer all over my face instead of a foundation, because I can quickly swipe it on with my fingers. I currently am using e.l.f. Tinted Moisturizer in Nude. I like this product because it is very pigmented, so it offers pretty decent coverage for a tinted moisturizer. It feels very hydrating, and it is also SPF 20 to protect my face from the sun's rays during the day. I pat my HG concealer - Clinique All About Eyes concealer in Light Golden - on under my eyes to cover up my dark circles. If you are blessed with thick, shapely brows, you can skip the next step. However, my brows are so thin and blonde that I simply must fill them in. Using a Mac angled brush, I fill in the brows with Smashbox Brow Tech in Blonde. I do like this product, although I find that the wax does not keep the hairs perfectly in place, so I may try a brow gel when I use up this tub. On my cheeks, I did a quick swipe of Sonia Kashuk Beautifying Blush in Sunset. I used my new favorite product of the week - Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter - in Tutti-Frutti on my lips.

For my eyes, I used Stila Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner in Rock Candy on the upper lash line. Rock Candy is a bronzey brown with golden sparkle in it. The formula is a bit sheer on the first pass, so I always do two coats to bring it up to opacity. Also, you must remember to shake the tube before every use or else there will be no color or glitter on the brush. I find that because of the sheerness of the liner, it is very forgiving for a liquid liner, and you do not need to worry about being extremely precise like you do with other liquid liners. Although you do need to be careful to let it dry a bit before opening your eye, or else the liner will smear onto your upper eyelid. I can't explain how much I love this eyeliner. It looks gorgeous, and it will. not. budge. Seriously. It will only come off with makeup remover. I forgot to take it off before I showered, and it was still on after my shower!

To finish the eye, I blended some Urban Decay Bootycall into the browbone and inner corner just to give a highlight. Using a flat eyeliner brush, I lined my lower lashline with Urban Decay Busted, and blended it up to join with the slight wing of the eyeliner. I did not use any other eyeshadow on my lid for this look, because the liner is so sparkly that it gives just enough pizzazz for a daytime look. The final touch was coating my lashes with CoverGirl LashBlast in Black.

And with that, I'm good to go! With a face that took me five minutes to put on, I feel fresh, polished, and ready for the day! (Now if only I could do my hair in that amount of time! I attempted a french braid to disguise my not-so-freshly washed hair, and let's just say it was a big FAIL)

What is your favorite five-minute face look?

NOTD - Unintentional Chicago Bears mani?

These nails started out honoring my brother's request for a "blurple" nail polish. My mind immediately jumped to OPI Russian Navy. I love this color, and I don't wear it enough. It's a lovely dark navy blue base, but what makes it special is the pinky-purple shimmer running through it. It's unnoticeable indoors, but when the sun hits it, it glows.

Then, I was browsing through nail blogs, and I saw this amazing manicure. Chevron or V-gap manis are my favorite type of nail art because they are so easy and they allow you to experiment with different color combinations. Plus, they make my nails look longer and narrower, which is always a plus :)

I loved the olive green and glitter combination that Nailside used, but I had literally just finished my blurple mani! I didn't want to immediately remove the Russian Navy loveliness from my nails just yet. I dug through my stash to see what color would look good with it. I decided to go with OPI DS Classic, a beige-tan holographic glitter, for the V. To add a splash of contrasting color, I decided to outline the V with American Apparel Lopez Canyon, a pumpkin-orange creme one-coater.

V-gap mani using OPI Russian Navy, OPI DS Classic, and American Apparel Lopez Canyon

I used the Orly detail brush to outline the V with DS Classic, then used the OPI brush to fill it in. I layered two coats of DS Classic to build up opacity. I wasn't too concerned with keeping this part very neat, because I then used the Orly striping brush to line the edges of the V with Lopez Canyon, covering up any messiness. I really like the way this mani turned out! I can't wait to go out in the sun tomorrow to let it really come to life!

Do you ever try nail art, or do you just keep it simple with one color?

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter

On Friday night, I arrived early to the Chopin Theater in Chicago, where I was meeting some friends to see a burlesque show. It was on the same corner as a CVS, so to kill some time I wandered in and looked at the cosmetic aisles. I have been eyeing the Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter (you all know how I feel about Revlon's lip products, and anything that is moisturizing as well as tinted gets the thumbs up from me!) for a while, so I decided to grab a couple. The display was well-picked over, so many of the colors were missing, but I was able to snag Tutti-Frutti and Lollipop. Love me some orange and fuchsia lip color :)

Tutti-Frutti

Lollipop

I was pleasantly surprised at how pigmented these lip butters are! Tutti-Frutti is a bright orange in the tube, and on my lips it becomes a sheer wash of glossy coral-orange goodness. Lollipop is especially pigmented, giving my lips a bright pop of fuchsia. They feel very moisturizing, which is fantastic because my lips are very dry, especially during the winter. I also love the packaging: the tube looks like a lipstick tube, and the cap is a translucent plastic with a quilted design, tinted with the same color as the lip butter.

I can't wait to grab a few more colors of this. I have my eye on Red Velvet and Sweet Tart!

Oh, and by the way, the burlesque show was hilarious. My friends and I all agree that the best part of the show was the drunk woman who became a little too enthusiastic, and halfway through the first act tried to go on stage and hug the performers. Needless to say, she got kicked out.

FOTD - Friday night look!

 I'm going out on the town tonight with some friends! Yay! I can't wait to be outside for the first time in four days! 

I haven't worn color on my eyes in a while, since I recently got the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette and two neutral Duos from Bare Minerals, so I decided to match the bit of blue in my colorful sweater to my eyes.

First, I primed my eyelid with Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original. Then, using the fabulous brush that came in the Naked 2 palette, I swept Verve, a grayish highlighter, all over my lid and in the inner corner. Then I used the fluffy end of the brush to blend Pistol, a medium-dark gray, on the outer half of my lid and on the lower lashline. I then took Urban Decay Haight from the Dangerous palette, which is a tealish dark blue, and blended it into my crease. I highlighted the browbone with Virgin, a beige highlighter, from the Dangerous palette.

I used NYX eyeliner in Gray on the waterline and on the top lashline. I coated my eyelashes with CoverGirl LashBlast in Black.





For the rest of my face, I used Sonia Kashuk blush in Sunset on the apples of my cheeks, and CoverGirl Cheekers in Cinnamon Toast to do a bit of contouring. I highlighted my cheekbones and bridge of my nose with Virgin. On my lips I used Revlon Colorburst lip gloss in Peony (told I use this gloss all the time! Hah!)

Makes your face look like a different face!

Got any plans tonight? What makeup do you like to wear when you go out?

NOTD - China Glaze Skyscraper

Happy Friday! TGIF! This week has been miserable - both the kids I nanny are extremely sick with colds, and haven't gone to school this week so I've been home with them during the day. Poor guys. Not only that, but this dog of theirs is driving me absolutely up a wall. I can't wait to get out of the house this weekend!

Sunlight

Anyway, I asked my Facebook friends yesterday what color I should do my nails, and my friend requested China Glaze's Skyscraper specifically. (My boyfriend wanted purple, and my brother suggested "blurple". I'm amused that he knew that was a thing, considering he's a Marine. I'll do it this weekend, guys, promise!) This is a shade from their Fall 2011 Metro collection, and I absolutely adore it. It's a navy blue jelly base with silver and blue sparkles. It becomes opaque at three coats, which is what my photo shows. I love the color, and how the glitter comes alive in the sunlight!




What has your week been like? Do you have plans to get out of the house this weekend, or are you staying in?

Shade

Drugstore Goodness: My Revlon lip product stash

I am a big fan of Revlon's lip products. I recently started expanding my lip product interests past Burt's Bees lip balm, and Revlon has some great stuff for a lip newbie. I love the color range (they have multiple shades of orange lipstick!) their pigmentation, and how hydrating they feel on the lips.

Lilac Champagne, Blase Apricot, Siren, Orange Flip

I have four Revlon lipsticks, all creme finishes: three Moon Drops (in the green tubes) and one Super Lustrous (in the black tubes). They all feel very creamy, and don't make my lips feel dry. They do dry out after a few hours, and give the weird ring appearance around the inside of the lips where it meets the wet part of your mouth, but I think that's all lipstick in general (the main reason I don't wear lipstick very often). At that point I just blot the extra off, pat some lip balm in, and reapply, and I'm good to go for another few hours. I love how bright these colors are - for me, if I'm gonna go through the hassle of wearing lipstick, it has to be a great shade. Lilac Champagne (Moon Drops) is a bright, cool toned fuchsia pink. Blase Apricot (Moon Drops) is a light, coral-y pink, and the only one I'm not especially fond of on my skin tone. Siren (Super Lustrous) is a light orange, and Orange Flip (Moon Drops) is a darker orange, which looks almost red on my lips.

Crave, Flame

Flame

 I really love the Just Bitten lip stain from Revlon. I have two shades: Flame, a warm orange, and Crave, a dark berry color that appears almost red on my lips. Crave is the shade I'm wearing in my profile picture! It's quite easy to apply with the felt-tipped marker applicator, and it smells a bit fruity! They do not bleed on my lips, as you can see when you compare the swatch photo with the lip photo. I also adore how they included a moisturizing balm on the other end to apply on top of the stain for comfort and shine, as other lipstains don't have this, and I definitely feel like my lips need a bit of moisture after applying the stain. They last and last forever on me, wearing off only when I eat. The only downside is that the marker can sometimes apply the stain unevenly, as you can see on Flame in the swatch photo, leaving you with patchy spots. For this reason, I wait to press my lips together until after the stain is completely dry, otherwise it could get blotchy.

Peony

Fire

Hot Pink

Last but not least is the Revlon Colorburst lipgloss, which I ADORE. I have three colors: Peony, a neutral, nudey pink with shimmer, Fire, a creamy, super shiny red, and Hot Pink, which is a bright fuchsia with the same shimmer as Peony. They have a paddle-shaped soft spongy applicator, and I just love the way they feel when I apply them. Not to mention how sleek and sexy the tube itself is. Peony pretty much occupies a permanent home in my purse since it's a nice neutral every day color, with the gorgeous shimmer for a little kick. I want this gloss in every color!

All in all, I think Revlon makes a great lip product (although oddly enough I'm not a fan of their eye products), and I look forward to trying new colors and products from their extensive range!

 What is your favorite drugstore brand for lip products? Eye products? Nail polish? Let me know in the comments!