Swatches: Jordana Cosmetics Modern Matte Lipsticks! ( New Shades!)

Six New Shades!

Jordana Cosmetics recently expanded their Modern Mattes line and I have the six new shades to share with you today! If you're looking for more details + swatches on the original shades make sure to check out my review by clicking here! :-) But to sum up my feelings on this formula... pure love! haha. These lippies are so creamy, long wearing and the best part? Only $2.49! I use these lipsticks all the time, specially for work because once they're on they don't budge at all. These are amazing and I love that they released these new colors so quickly!

The first picture was taken with flash which shows the true colors of the lipsticks. I love all the new shades, specially the first four because they are on the muted side. These colors are all fun and perfect year round shades...I just can't get over the fact that they're only $2.49!

I did purchase them directly from the Jordana Website as soon as they released so I can't confirm when they will available at your local drugstore but hopefully soon. :-)

Here are the swatches! From left to right:
*Matte Whisper- a brown-mauve shade, really beautiful! It's along the lines of the Marsala family.

*Matte Innocent- a creamy beige-nude, one of my favorites! I've been wanting a shade like this for a minute. It's really different but looks stunning on.

*Matte Goddess- a bright pink with lilac tones, really pretty!

*Matte Divine- a light baby pink, it's extremely light for me to wear alone but topped with a gloss it looks amazing.

*Matte Gorgeous- a wine shade, always a shade I gravitate to and with this formula it's a great one!

*Matte Ambition- a blue based red, super flattering and a classic shade to add to your collection.

If you fell in love with the Modern Mattes line like I did make sure to get your hands on these six new shades because they are everything! I can't wait to create some looks and add the finishing touches with one these lippies! :-)

Review: Maybelline Eye Studio Master Graphic Liner!

Great For Winged Liner!

Today I have a quick review on the NEW Maybelline Eye Studio Master Graphic Liner! I don't tend to review liners because I only use one which also happens to be by Maybelline (Line Stiletto) and if it's not broke don't fix it right?! ;-) I don't wing out my liner much at all because in all honestly I SUCK! haha. It's so difficult to make it look decent and if you mess up you have to start your entire eyelook again which... ain't nobody got time for that!
This liner appealed to me because of it's shape. It's literally a sharpie! It seemed promising to get that perfect edge for your winged liner so I gave it shot. It retails for about $7, not bad at all.

The pigmentation is really amazing! It's extremely black and it doesn't skip at all when you're drawing a line which is huge plus.

I find that the tip is a bit tricky to use. Even though it makes winged liner easier, it's kinda hard to get that thin liner across. I find that the best way to achieve a thin line is by stamping it on. You need patience to get the line to look amazing... not my strength though haha. What I do now is use my Line Stiletto just to get the thin line I like and then use this for winging out the liner and it works!

I guess more experienced gals shouldn't have a problem just using this liner on its own. It's a pretty cool idea and the price is also affordable. I really like it and would recommend it! :-)

Follow Me On Pinterest! (Makeup Looks, Beauty Obsessions, etc!)

Let's Connect!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to quickly let you guys know that I'm on Pinterest and it would be awesome to connect with you! I have a few boards up including my own makeup looks/creations and another one full of my beauty obsessions!  Follow me by clicking on the icon on the right of my blog or this link! :-) 

Here are a few looks I've done in the past!

Review: Too Faced Natural Matte Eye Shadow Palette! (+ Swatches!)

The Best Formula!

Too Faced kills me every time when it comes to their new releases! The brand is so innovative and different which I love! While I was out and about with my hubby recently, he spoiled me with the NEW Too Faced Natural Matte Eye Shadow Palette *insert heart eyes emoji here* I've had a chance to test it out and hands down this palette is amazing! It retails for $36 and it's available on the Too Faced Site & Ulta. It's an all matte version of the Natural Eyes Palette which is pretty cool!

This is my first "tin" palette from Too faced and I'm loving the compact style of it. It's ideal for traveling and easily stores away.

The colors are really sultry, it's different from your typical neutral palette! I love the layout of the shadows as well, the ones you would use up quicker are bigger so that's a plus. You can easily go from day to night with these colors and if you need inspiration it comes with a Glamour Guide!

These shadows are so buttery, the best matte shadows I've ever worked with. They are not powdery at all and they blend so effortlessly, it left me in Awe! The texture is so smooth and silky... truly impressed! Lets get into swatches by row:

The color selection is awesome! It has light tones, mid tones and deeper ones... everything you need to create a look. At first I thought it needed a black shade but after using it so much I don't miss the black. Sexpresso and Risque are great shades for deepening up a look! Those shade names though... kinky! haha.

Here's a look I wore to work! I love how the colors blended with each other, such an easy palette to use.

Bottom line: I love it! I can't stop raving about it. From everything that I've tried in the matte world these are the best in texture. It's a great everyday choice for a palette and price wise it's on the more affordable side of the higher end spectrum. I'm grateful for my sweet hubby who knows exactly what makes me happy haha! 

Swatches: Urban Decay Ammo Palette!

On Sale!

Urban Decay makes some of the best shadows... ever! The formula is pretty much on point and rarely disappoints. For that reason whenever I see a palette of theirs go on sale I purchase it right away because I know I'm gonna love it! :-) Today I'll be sharing swatches of the Urban Decay Ammo Palette which recently went on sale for $16! It was sold out but it keeps coming back in stock on the Sephora site every now and then so make sure to keep your eyes peeled if you're interested. 

Packaging is really edgy yet simple, love it! It's a really small palette, ideal for traveling. It came with a travel size of the Primer Potion which I forgot to photograph (haha) but overall this is a bargain for the sale price!

Here's an overview of the palette. The palette is made up of 10 of Urban Decays bestsellers which is pretty awesome! It's like owning a piece of Urban Decay history! The colors are all so stunning and up to par with my other palettes.

Here's a close up! All the shadows are metallic so you would need to include some matte shades from other palettes to make a complete look. The palette also comes with a tiny shadow brush... not the greatest but in a pinch it gets the job done.

I love this first row of shades, must me the warmer shadow lover in me haha. They are so pigmented and silky!

Here is the bottom row, more cooler colors. I love how unique the shades are, full of cool shifts and duo chromes. These will be great for the spring time! 

This palette retails for $34 but most beauty sites like Sephora, Ulta and the Urban Decay website have it for $16 so make sure to take advantage of the great deal! I love all the colors and I'm excited to add this palette to my collection! :-)

Review: Rimmel Show Off Lip Velvet! (Meteoric Matte & Burning Lava!)

Great Formula!

Rimmel London is participating in the matte trend with their new Show Off Lip Velvet! I'm personally loving the matte trend and I'm on the search to find the best formula so I decided to give these a try :-) They're actually one of the most affordable in the market at about $5 each. There's five shades in the line and I have two to share with you!
They're packaged just like their lacquer formula but with a matte feel to them. The pigmentation is outstanding! In just one swipe you get bold, opaque color, such a fan of the formula! They are very similar to the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams but with a bit more color pay off to them and (hurts to admit haha) more comfortable! The NYX ones are one of my faves in the matte lip cream department but I'm kinda surprised with these, in a good way!

The applicator is pretty awesome, it has a little dent where the product settles, just enough to go around your lips once. I find that these don't actually dry to the fullest which helps with how comfortable they feel. They stay slightly emollient so your lips don't feel dry at all. That also becomes an issue because after a few hours the color tends to feather out the lip lines so it doesn't look as crisp as when your first applied. But these two colors are GORGEOUS! So the feathering doesn't bother me too much haha. I do recommend to wear a lip liner with them.

Here are the swatches. The pigmentation is amazing, look how bright and vibrant they look! They last a good 6 hours. They feel so good on the lips and personally I think they make your lips look better and even! Lets get into lip swatches:

*Meteoric Matte- a stunning berry shade, definetely a must have! Wears beautifully and feels even better on!

*Burning Lava- a bright red, classic color!

Bottom line: I'm obsessed with these! The price is unbeatable and they compare to highend lip creams I've tried that are triple price or more. The only thing you need to make these perfect is a lip liner to prevent the feathering... other than that these are a drugstore gem! I truly hope that they release a ton more colors because I love'em!  :-)

Review: NYX High Definition Blushes! (Intuition & Electro!)

NEW From NYX!

I tend to accumulate tons of NYX products because they are such amazing quality at a great price! Hands down one of my favorite drugstore brands :-) I'm a self proclaimed blush hoarder (haha) so when the NEW NYX High Definition Blushes released I wanted them all... but then I came into my senses and only picked two. I've had these for about a month so I've given them a fair chance and here are my thoughts!

They retail for $6.50 so just a little bit more than their original powder blushes. There's a few finishes in the line, I went with a shimmer blush and a matte one just to test the waters. The color range is very extensive with a few new shades and other reformulated ones (like Taupe) from the original line.

Packaging is everything on these! They are super slim and pretty adorable with the bow detail, love it! I love how large the pan is, makes it simple to get your brush in there without a problem. I wanted so bad to love these but the formula is so smooth to the point of being powdery and crumbly. I experienced that more with the shimmer blush, powder was everywhere! It was a huge turn off, I hate the mess and it just gets everywhere... annoying. The matte blush wasn't too bad. It went on nicely and lasted all day! I do give them that, once they're on they don't budge.

*Intuition- a pink with golden shimmers, beautiful color but awful formula. Once on it's OK but I wouldn't pick this color over my other blushes. The mess is too much in my opinion. But if you're looking for a similar color to Nars Orgasm this one is pretty close!

*Electro- a bright matte fuchsia shade, really pretty and vibrant! The formula was better with this one, not so much fall out. The pigmentation is great but keep in mind that a little goes a long way!

Bottom line: I had high hopes but I'm not loving these blushes. I highly recommend the $5 powder blushes over these because they're easier to work with. I can't see past the fact that they crumble easily. Ugh.... I wish it were different because the packaging is definetely an upgrade! :-)

Must Haves: bh Cosmetics Missy Lynn Palette!

Truly Amazing!

You know something is good when you own so much makeup but you keep reaching for the same palette over and over again! Missy Lynn or Start2FinishMUA is someone I've been watching on YouTube for years. When I first saw that she was releasing her own palette with bh Cosmetics I was so excited to get my hands on it haha. She is such an inspiration and so relatable, definetely one of favorites to watch! :-) The Missy Lynn Palette retails for $18.95 but I purchased it during a sale for only $11.95... such a bargain! It comes with six pretty large shadow pans and two baked eyeshadows/highlighters which makes this palette so versatile. It has such an incredible color selection that is suitable for any skintone!

You all know that I love little details that companies add to their products. This quote is a great one and it's such a nice touch to have, inspiration before your makeup application.

Here's an overview of the palette. The overall color scheme is beautiful! I love how the packaging matches the actual makeup inside. I also enjoy the diversity of finishes in the palette. My favorite thing in this palette is the baked shadows/highlighters, they look amazing all over the lid and super gorgeous on your cheekbones! Initially I thought they would be too dark for my face but they both look stunning on!

The size of these shadows are so generous! I don't see myself hitting pan anytime soon haha. bh Cosmetics makes great shadows, really smooth and pigmented. These are all super nice in texture, the only one that was slightly powdery was the purple shade on the bottom right corner but nothing horrible.

Here are the swatches. That second shade is gorgeous! I love to use it all over the lid for a daytime smokey eye. The shade next to it is amazing too, awesome color for adding dimension in the outer corner. My favorite shade within the shadows is the fourth shade, it's the perfect crease/transition shade! Purples are the perfect pops of colors for us brown eyes girls so I'm excited to have those in this palette too.

Here are the highlighters. The first one is more of a rose gold and the second one has more true gold to it. I'm a huge fan of these because they are baked, it gives a prettier sheen on the cheeks! They go on pretty smooth, no chunky glitters. 

I wore the palette to work recently and got a few compliments! It's always a great day when someone asks what you're wearing :-D I added the last purple shade on my lower lash-line to slightly smoke it out and it turned out really pretty!

I used the first baked shade all over the lid, love it!

This palette quickly made it to my must haves category! It's affordable and truly amazing quality! It's great for day to night looks and even though it has your typical neutral shades, it's far from boring! I love the pops of color it has and I adore the highlights too. This palette will be suitable for anyone and having the Missy Lynn approval is pretty damn cool haha. :-)

Swatches: Nars Audacious Lipstick in Anna!

Birthday Splurge!

I caved. I had a gift card and decided to get this beauty for my birthday! Everyone has been raving about the NEW Nars Audacious Lipsticks, specially the shade Anna so I picked it up during my Vegas Trip and I love it! This is the only higher end lipstick I own aside from Mac or Too Faced so I must emphasize how giddy I was with this purchase. It feels expensive, it better for being $32! Haha. I had a few colors in mind but at the end of the day I just wanted a wearable, everyday color just to make sure I get my moneys worth and Anna is perfect! ;-)

The packaging is without a doubt spectacular! Feels heavy and the coolest part is the the magnetic cap... love! It's definetely an investment but you do get what you pay for.

The formula is amazing! It effortlessly coats your lips with color without being patchy nor tugging. It's really creamy and just glides on like nothing I've tried before. It has a beautiful satin finish that lasts about 4 hours before needing to touch up.

I'm such a fan when companies add little details to their products to make them different from the rest. I love how it says Nars on the lipstick... so fancy haha.

Here's the swatch. It's described as a "smokey rose" color, a new take on your everyday nude! 

All you need is one swipe and you get pure saturated color, simply gorgeous! I find that you don't need a lip liner, this lipstick is perfect by itself. The price is up there so I don't see myself purchasing anymore but I'm so excited to have this color in my collection. I'll be looking through my things to see if there's anything that compares. :-)

Review: Lorac Unzipped Gold Eye Shadow Palette!

All Gold Everything!

The original Lorac Unzipped Palette is one of my favorites! Then they announced the release of the Gold one and I was so stoked! It retails for $42 and it comes with a mini eyeshadow primer which is actually one of my faves. I managed to catch this palette on sale during an ULTA 20% off sale + I had some points to redeem so it ended being a fraction of the price. Gold is practically all I wear on a daily basis so the idea behind this palette instantly interested me. I've used it for a few weeks now and here are my thoughts!

The packaging is sleek and thin just like the original. I appreciate a compact palette because if you have as much makeup as I do finding storage space can be a struggle haha.

At first glance these colors are gorgeous! I love all the different shades of golds and the complementary browns. I did find that once I started creating looks I was dipping into other palettes for a good transition color because this palette is lacking one. The matte browns are a bit too dark to work as a transition shade. Of course you can mix in a bit of the matte cream shade but it's a bit tedious.

The matte shades are so smooth and super blendable! I'm really impressed by them. Now the metallic/shimmer shades are really pigmented but they are pretty crumbly. The two on the top row don't adhere too well unless you use a sticky base. The bottom three are way better in texture and are easier to work with. Unleashed is my favorite color in this palette, it's incredible! It's more of a pressed pigment. It looks so stunning on, instantly looks foiled (without wetting it!). Let's get into swatches:

Here's the first row! The matte cream shade is an essential color in this palette, love having it. The third shade is so unique! It's a peachy duo chrome with a golden sheen, loooove! Normally shades like these look cool in the pan but don't translate the same on the eye but this one does! 

The second row has more of my favorites! The first shade is a white gold, perfect as a inner corner highlight or all over the lid. The second one is more a true gold, not too yellow and not too orange... just right ;-) Then we have the rock star of palette right next to it. I barely touched that shadow when swatching, it's pretty darn pigmented! 

This is what Unleashed looks like on the lid! It's so intense, such a great shade!

Bottom line: This is a great palette for someone who doesn't already own a neutral palette. For me, I wasn't too impressed overall, I just thought a few of the colors were amazing and the rest were OK. My opinion might have changed if it had a good blending shade because I find the ones in the palette to be too dark. I'll still get some use out of it because I already fell in love with unleashed haha. I don't think it's the best palette but it's a great choice! It's also very different in tones from the original unzipped palette. The textures are better in the first one though in my opinion. :-)