August 2014 Favorites!

August has been a busy month for me. My class is starting to end soon and it has a lot more work than I expected, but it's been so much fun. Because I've been so busy, I started to gravitate to more quick products to use in the morning so I can just rush out the door. This month, I had a mix of old(ish) favorites and new favorites!

I'll go from top to bottom on my arm and then the Clarins product!

Etude House Play 101 Pencil in #28 - I was supposed to write up a post about this, but most of my pictures either include #21 (glossy red shade) or the white balance is way off. #21 is more for the lips and/or cheeks and my lips are in a bad condition right now so I haven't been able to use that shade. #28 is a pink shade with silver glitter. I thought the glitter would be chunky and even be scratchy, but it's so creamy and smooth! I even use it on my waterline and it doesn't irritate it at all. It is a bit tacky for a few minutes if I use it all over my lids and creases if you put on too much, but a few quick swipes is all you need and then you're done! I haven mostly been using it on my lower lashline and surprisingly, it brightens up my eyes instead of making them look tired like how some other pinky shades do. 

Life's Entropy Particle Contour Stick in Neutron - You can read my full review on this product here, but the short review is that it's amazing and you need it. Well, you might not neeeed it, but I think it's great. I blend it out using my fingers and set it with a tiny bit of powder. It's the perfect shade with just the right amount of grey to create a natural looking shadow. It can be built up or even sheered out to fit your skin color. I'm about an NC35 / MUFE HD Foundation 127 / Maybelline Fit Me! Shine-Free Foundation Stick 220 for reference. It's not going to work for those who have very dark skin, but it will fit a large range of people. 

Marc Jacobs Beauty Highliner Gel Eye Crayon in Brown(Out) - The full review on this product is here. Brown(Out) also has some glitter particles and it's also creamy and easy to use. It stays in place all day long and can be used as a cream eye shadow too. I've been using this to give myself a quick and easy subtle brown smokey eyed look. It doesn't need a primer either and so this with some brows and mascara makes a very fast eye look. 

Maybelline Fit Me! Shine-Free Foundation Stick in #220 Natural Beige - I bought this because of Kate of Gh0stparties. She talked about how it was great to use as a concealer along with being a foundation. I love the consistency of this. I make some stripes across my cheeks and I just use my hands to blend it into my skin. The color is a bit more beige and a tad lighter than my skin tone, but it still works. I just add a bit of bronzer or face powder that's a bit darker / yellower and I'm good to go! It's buildable, but I can't get full coverage out of it. I don't use this as a concealer though since my acne marks are too dark right now. 

Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch - I actually got this in a deluxe samples bag from Sephora 1-2 years ago but I didn't really see any difference. I thought primers weren't necessary and so I just tucked it away. Since I was trying to use up all of my things, I pulled it out to finish it. By now, I've tried different primers and so when I used this product again, I finally realized why it was so raved about. It "fills in" my pores and gives my face a more smooth appearance (hence the name). It's thicker than other primers I have tried but I just need a tiny dab to put on my t-zone and cheek areas. I focus it more on my cheeks since my pores are quite noticeable. It's way better than Benefit's Porefessional and Maybelline's Baby Skin. I'm almost scared to finish this tiny pot now that I've realized how great it is. 

CK One Color Mascara in True Black -  I got this mascara for free on my birthday from Ulta. It has a twistable section on the handle to create two kind of applicators. The top of the two pictures creates more volume while the bottom separates the lashes. I mostly keep it twisted because it just deposits the products so nicely to create thicker and fuller lashes. The straight wand isn't bad and it does take out any clumps the twisted wand gives me. I feel like the formula is just okay and it doesn't hold my curl, but the wand is something special. I really like layering this mascara with the one I'm going to talk about next!

Dior Diorshow Maximizer Lash Plumping Serum - My full review of this is here. I previously mentioned that I wanted to save this for special occasions, but I really haven't been doing anything special and I don't have anything special in the near future. I don't want it to go bad and waste $28.50 dollars, and so I've been using it a lot more. The plastic wand helps separate my lashes and the formula boosts any mascara that I put on. The twisted wand of the CK One Color Mascara plus the Dior Diorshow Lash Plumping Serum gives me such amazing volume without being clumpy or spidery. 

Whew! That's a lot of text. Now that I've written out my favorites, tell me some of yours in the comment section below! I love hearing about great products!

Review & Swatches: Life's Entropy Eyeshadow / Pigment in Shadow Walk and Owl Always Love You

Life's Entropy Eyeshadow / Pigment in Owl Always Love You is described as a "shimmery reddish silver-grey with strong silver gold shift" and can be used on the face, eyes, and lips. Shadow Walk is described as a "shimmery reddish dark brown with gold shift and sparkle" and can also be used on the face, eyes, and lips. 

Review & Swatches: Life's Entropy Eyeshadow / Pigment in Horsing Around

Life's Entropy Eye Shadow / Pigment in Horsing Around is described as a "medium golden brown with a strong red shift" and is supposed to be semi-shimmery. Instead of red, I see a more plum / red-y plum shimmer. The golden is more apparent in finger swatches, but the reddy plum shimmer is the thing that really appears on the lids. 

This or That: L'oreal Silky Sheer Face Lotion 50+ vs. Lancome Bienfait UV 50+

I've previously mentioned that I bought Lancome's Bienfait UV 50+ Sunscreen and I liked it enough to consider repurchasing. The high price point bothered me and so I was looking into other sunscreens and fortunately, my local Target had L'oreal's Silky Sheer Face Lotion 50+ Sunscreen on sale. 

I know that Lancome is under L'oreal, but I was expecting some difference in the two sunscreens. I haven't gone super in depth with the comparison, but they're pretty much the same thing. The packaging is exactly the same size with the same opening design. It's like they just changed the colors and sold the products under the different brands. 

You can click to enlarge the images, but you can see that even the percentages of their active ingredients is the same. 

They're both very liquid-y and are thin enough to go under makeup. 

Even though both of them claim to not make the face greasy, I do feel like my face is kind of slippery and oily when I put both of them on. The L'oreal one seems to sink in a bit faster though. 

The recommended amount is 1/4th of a teaspoon for the face and neck and I try to do that. It's not thick and heavy like Neutrogena's Dry Touch Sunscreen. I recommend putting on thin layers and giving it some time to sink in before putting on makeup. It gives more slip to my makeup and so my foundation fades faster if I don't wait enough. If you can't wait, I also recommend using the "Wayne Goss Method" of putting a thin layer of powder on and then foundation. It soaks up some of the oily-ness and keeps the foundation on longer. 

Final thoughts: You really don't need to splurge and get the Lancome one. They're pretty much the same sunscreen under different brands. I'm almost kind of upset that I spent so much on the Lancome bottle, but at least I know and have tried both now. 

Review & Swatches: Marc Jacobs Beauty Highliner Gel Eye Crayon in Brown(Out)

I recently got a deluxe sample size of Marc Jacob Beauty Highliner Gel Eye Crayon in #54 Brown(Out) and it's described as a "bronze with shimmer." I would actually say that it's a medium brown that leans more on the warm side with gold glitter and a bit of red shimmer. The full size retails for $25 and contains 0.01 oz of product.

Review & Swatches: Life's Entropy Particle Contour Stick in Neutron

Life's Entropy Particle Contour Stick in Neutron is described as a "medium golden brown," but there is some slight greyness to it to create a natural looking shadow. Life's Entropy claims that this is a dupe (but cream version) of Kevyn Aucoin's Sculpting Powder in Medium. I don't have that product to compare this to, but there are comparison swatches on Life's Entropy's Website. There is 5 grams of product and it retails for $8. 

Review & Swatches: Life's Entropy Eyeshadows / Pigments in Dream Coil, Exorcism, and Refraction

In this post, I will be talking about three of Life's Entropy's eyeshadows in Dream Coil, Exorcism, and Refraction. Refraction is the shadow that I got for the free sample. All three of the shadows are in little baggies because they are the sample sizes. 

A day late, but I wanted to write this all up after I finished some life stuff. Let's start on the review!

Makeup Lust List #2

It's been about 2 months since my last Makeup Lust List and it just keeps on growing! There are some new products out, but I'm also looking at some older products that I've heard a lot about that that I really want to get. 

Let's get started! I'll be going from left to right and the top row first.

Stila Eyes Are The Window Shadow Palttes in Body - Stila recently released some new eye shadow palettes and even though all of the others are very beautiful, Body caught my eye because of the non-neutral colors. I especially love the bright aqua blue and the purple and pink shades on the left column. Stila tends to have pretty good sales every once in awhile and so I'm probably going to wait until then to get it. 

Becca Ultimate Coverage Complexion Crème is supposed to be full coverage foundation that'll cover uneven texture too. I've read some reviews and someone even said it's like Kat Von D's Tattoo Foundation, but without the heavy feeling on the skin. I'm starting to look into more full coverage foundations and this one looks pretty good so far. 

Urban Decay Subversion Lash Primer was also released along with the Perversion mascara (review here) and when I looked at it in stores, it reminded me of Lancome's lash primer (review here). Since Perversion gave me good results but with disappointing curl hold, I'm interested in the lash primer to see if it'll give me the same volume as the mascara. 

Lush Liquid Eyeliner in Quietly Motivated caught my eye while I was in Lush recently. Happiness (their copper / rose gold) cream eyeshadow actually caught my eye more, but it made me interested in some of the other cosmetics Lush had to offer. I used to wear a bronze liquid eyeliner from mark. so much but they kept increasing the price and I didn't want to deal with shipping so I stopped using that one. The applicator for Quietly Motivated doesn't look like it'll fit my hand that well, but the color does look really nice. 

Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder in Medium has been raved about so much and since I'm in such a contouring kick, I've really been eyeing this product. Life's Entropy has a cream contour stick that's a dupe for this color and I kind of want to get the real thing to try out now. 

Kevyn Aucoin Cream Glow Duo in #4 Candlelight / Sculpting - Speaking of cream products, there's a cream duo version of the above powder. The highlight, Candlelight, is supposed to give a super light from within without being glittery look and I'm always interested in that. The duo is supposed to be pretty small though and so I'm wondering if it's really the price. Either way, I really want it in my collection because I'm a hoarder. 

Inglot Freedom System Eyeshadow in #24 is a light mint green eyeshadow with a "shine" finish. The Stila palette has a slightly similar color and the Sugarpill Palette I mentioned in my last Lust List also had a similar color. I was super excited to check out the Inglot store near me, but then I realized that it was closed! I really want to swatch this color or the matte version before I get it, but I don't have any colors like this in my collection and I think it'll make a nice pop of color. 

What have you been lusting after recently?

EOTD - August 15, 2014 // Pink Twinkle

I went kayaking in San Diego yesterday and even though I didn't put on face makeup, I wanted to add a little something to my eyes and do my brows. It's a very easy, simple, and most importantly, waterproof look. I recently got two Etude House Play 101 Pencils in #21 and #28 and I've been playing around with #28 as a liner and shadow. It creates the most beautiful inner highlight, but also works wonderfully as an eye shadow. 

Please excuse the stray hairs on my brows. I'm trying to regrow my brows to create a better shape for my face. 

Products used - 

Stila Stay All Day Liquid Eye Liner in Black (review here)

Etude House Play 101 Pencil in #28 for the inner half of the bottom lash line - review soon!

Jane Cosmetics Water-Resistant Eye Liner in Rose Gold (review here)

L'oreal Telescopic Shocking Extensions Waterproof Mascara in Blackest Black as a "base" on the top lashes and lower lashes

Dior Diorshow Maximizer Lash Plumping Serum (review here)

CoverGirl LashBlast Volume Waterproof Mascara in Very Black on top of the serum

Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Dark Brown

What are some of your favorite waterproof products?

Review & Swatches: Life's Entropy Eyeshadow / Pigment in Just Kitten

Life's Entropy Eyeshadow in Just Kitten is a "medium pink-mauve with strong gold shift" with shimmer and how it looks like can depend on what the base is. All of Life's Entropy's full sized shadows are loose and they contain 2.0 grams / 0.07 ounces of product and retails for $6.00. There is not sifter and so be careful with opening and using the product. Just Kitten is part of their Animal Sanctuary collection. 

Introducing Life's Entropy And A Sneak Peek At My Order!

Life's Entropy just launched and it's owned by Jane and Danny. Their shop link is here, their blog/making of link is here, and Jane's blog link is here. I first came across their shop while on Reddit and I was so impressed that I bought their blogger black which included a full sized eyeshadow (loose pigments), 10 sample baggies of eyeshadow (loose pigments), a full sized Particle Contour Stick, and a full sized Lip Theory (liquid lipstick) that could be used on the cheeks too.

I have not been able to test all the products yet, but I will be rolling out the reviews, EOTD, and LOTD / FOTD as soon as they're ready instead of the usual schedule I try to keep. I believe that the store is closed until the end of August and so there's enough time for me to review their products before they open up again. The lip theory will probably be the last product I review because my lips are in a pretty bad condition right now. 

So far, I am impressed with what I've tried and the swatches I've done. Some of the things I love about Indie Companies are that they're very affordable and tend to have more unique products/colors. The Particle Contour Sticks are supposed to be dupes of other popular contouring products and the Lip Theories remind me of OCC Lip Tars because they're so pigmented with one drop. Below this jump will be some more pictures of their products I got and their packaging. 

Hao Are You? #7 // Reunited and it feels so good!

What have you been up to?

I've previously mentioned that I have a boyfriend and now here's his debut! We're in a long distance relationship and he came to visit so that we could celebrate our 3 year anniversary. We've actually known each other for 13 years before we started dating because we met in kindergarten. 

We celebrated twice because I have work and classes during the week days. We had the most amazing dinner at Houston's in Irvine and the service was the best I've ever had. I highly recommend it to anyone that wants to have a more fancy dinner. The treatment I get at higher end places is always lacking because I'm young and well... I look younger than I am. The service at Houston's was incredibly welcoming and even those who weren't at my table were incredibly friendly. 

My boyfriend and I also went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. They have discount tickets at night and so we took advantage of that. We went a bit earlier than the starting time to check out Long Beach and the area we were in was a really cute. 

What are you looking forward to?

I'll be going to San Diego again soon because some friends from my hometown will be visiting. They're still currently planning what we're doing, but I haven't seen them in awhile so I know it's going to be fun regardless of what we end up doing. 

As for blog updates, a new indie store called Life's Entropy just opened up and I ordered their blogger pack. I will be rolling out the reviews starting this week, but it will take me awhile. There's a lot of stuff to try out and because I have a bit busier with my boyfriend's visit, I haven't really had time to put on makeup. I also had a pretty bad cold sore this past week (I blurred it out in the above picture. Sorry!) and so I didn't want to try out any lip products either. I also misplaced my camera for a couple of days. I was planning on posting a review up today, but I couldn't finish reviewing and taking pictures by now. 

Some other products I've recently purchased include Etude House Play 101 Pencils! They're multipurpose products and I got a red and a rose gold, which is incredibly typical of me. Whoops! But at least I'll have other products to compare them too!

How have you been?

My Trip To Lush! ft. Let the Good Times Roll, Celestial, Grease Lightning, and Cosmetic Warrior

Actually, it's two trips to Lush that I will be talking about. A few weeks ago, I decided to try a more natural skincare routine and so I went to Ulta for the Juice Beauty Organics to Clearn Skin trial Kit and Lush. I usually try not to get too specific about my locations, but I really want to talk about the Newport Beach Fashion Island Lush Location. The person that helped me was either Sierra (or Cierra?). I asked for her name, but I wasn't quite sure about the spelling. 

I came in telling her that I wanted to try a more natural skincare routine and was so helpful. She asked for my skin type and I told her that while I was back home, my skin was so dry but it's mostly normal to slightly oily on the t-zone in Southern California. I've been using a lot of Acne products lately and the majority of them are targeted towards oily skin and so they tend to dry me out. I also told her that when I break out, it's cystic acne that is red and sometimes hurts. 

She told me that her skin also gets really dry and so she showed me some of her favorites and another sales associate came over to help that had more normal skin. If you haven't been to Lush before, they have warm water bowls out so that you can try out their products. Sierra tried out Let the Good Times Roll and Celestial on one arm and I believe Dark Angels on the other arm. She also used a different moisturizer, but I can't remember what it is right now. She recommended the spot treatment, Grease Lightning, for future breakouts too. 

I was expecting her to push some products for me to buy, but I was so surprised that she didn't! After washing off the products and asking me which ones felt better, she packed up some samples for me and told me that I was pretty much done. She also included a sample of Ocean Salt for me (I have already tried a sample of this) since she said it was one of their best sellers. She said she couldn't give me a sample of Grease Lightning, but I ended up buying the full size anyway since I wanted to try out a new spot treatment. 

For the second trip, I ended up buying the full size of both the cleanser and moisturizer AND a fresh face mask. I'm done with my story now, but I'll be describing the products and my experience with them next!

Review & Swatches: Revlon Colorstay Liquid Eye Pen in #001 Blackest Black

Revlon Colorstay Liquid Eye Pen in Blackest Black claims to stay on for 16 hours and be easier to apply "than traditional liquid liquid liners." It has a felt tip applicator and Revlon recommends storing the liner horizontally. There is 0.056 oz / 1.6 g of product and the price varies depending on the retailer. 

Review & Swatches: Maybelline Expert Wear Eyeshadow Single in Pink Wink

 Maybelline's Expert Wear Eyeshadow Single in Pink Wink is a a rose gold eyeshadow that leans more pink. It has gold shimmer shift and the glitters can sometimes be chunky. The more you pack it on, the more pink it looks. Pink Wink contains 0.09 oz / 2.6 grams of product and retails for around $3 depending on the location you're buying it from. 

July 2014 Favorites!

My first favorites blog post! So exciting, but kind of filled with basic boringish products. I've been trying to use up a lot of my makeup products before I move. During my hiatus, I didn't really experiment that much besides from the products I was trying out but I found myself consistently using these products and fell in love with them all over again.