Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts

Monday, July 22, 2013

NYX Cosmetics

Back in April I did a review of Clinique cosmetics. I talked about the products I had used from the brand, what I thought about them, etc. This time I am going to discuss a drugstore brand, NYX cosmetics.

I have been using NYX for a few years and find more and more products from the line each year that I like. This brand is super affordable and does not skimp on quality with most of their products. The best time to buy these is when Ulta occasionally has 40% off on NYX or buy one, get one free. NYX isn't sold at any of the drugstores near me, but I know that they are sold in various drugstores in the U.S.

EYES:
Glitter Mania Glitters - I won't talk too much about these because NYX doesn't carry them anymore. I wish they still had them because I think they are really nice glitters. I have them in white, blue, and purple and they are bright and stay on well. When I put other glitters on my eyes sometimes, they tend to crease a lot. These don't do that. I'm sure there are other comparable glitters out there that I will try when I use these up.
Slim Eye Pencils - I have these eye pencils in the shades Black, White Pearl, Electric Blue, Purple, Acid Green, and Emerald City. These aren't my favorite eyeliners in my collection for a couple reasons. I don't feel like they are as pigmented as they should be when I use them. They also do not wear well on me and are usually faded after a few hours. My eyelids are extremely oily, so that may or may not have something to do with it. I guess I have so many because they are a really good price and I can pair them with other eyeliners I have. These are $3.50.
Jumbo Eye Pencils - I have these pencils in the shades Milk, Black Bean, and Pacific. I started using these jumbo pencils after I saw XSparkage using them in her tutorials a lot. It was love at first use. Milk Jumbo Eye Pencil is something everyone should have. It is a perfect base and makes any color placed on top of it pop and look much more vibrant. It surprisingly doesn't crease on my oily lids, but I do use a primer underneath the pencil. NYX has tons of different shades in these to create all different kinds of looks. They can be worn alone or as a base for other shadows. They are $4.50.
Studio Liquid Liners - I have these liners in shades Extreme Black, Extreme Coffee, Extreme Plum Purple, Extreme Purple, Extreme Blue, and Extreme Sapphire. On the bottles, the labels say, "Dramatic Color Payoff". That is totally true. These liners are awesome. They are vivid, don't rub off, and have a small brush in the lid that is pretty easy to use. The blue and purple are my favorites because I love bright colors. At such a great price, it is worth it to own at least two. They are $4.50.


Liquid Crystal Liners - I have these in the shades in Crystal Gun Metal, Crystal Pewter, and Crystal Jade. These liners are as equally freakin' awesome as the Studio Liners. They are very glittery and stay on just as well as the other liners. You can wear them on top of the Studio Liners to make them stand out really well, but they stand out on their own too. I love putting one of these on with a more nude eye look to spice it up. These are also $4.50.







LIPS:
Sheer Gloss - NYX doesn't have these Lip Glosses anymore, but I have them in shades Shangri-La, Rose, and Sweet Dreams if that means anything to anyone. They are decent glosses, but don't wear that well. I will have to try some of their newer glosses at some point, but I just have so many other glosses right now that I need to get through.



Soft Matte Lip Creams - I have these in shades Abu Dhabi ( rose-beige), Istanbul (a soft pink), and Amsterdam (a bright red). Here is a description of these creams from the NYX website: "Neither lipstick nor lip gloss, the matte lip cream is a new kind of lip color that goes on silky smooth and sets to a matte finish. Soft Matte Lip Cream is surprisingly durable and, unlike some matte lipstick formulas, also moisturizing." I think this is a pretty accurate portrayal of these babies. However, I do think they are kind of drying after a while, so I use a lip gloss with them. Amterdam also fades after a couple hours, so I like to wear it over a red lipstick. Istanbul is my favorite out of the three I have. I probably wouldn't buy more of these just because I like some of the other NYX lip products a lot better and, at $6.00, they are pricier than most of their other lip colors.

Diamond Sparkle Lispticks - Ahhh! Okay, so NYX doesn't carry these lipsticks anymore either! Sorry that three of three of the products I have to talk about are ones you can't even go out and buy. I didn't realize that until I started writing this post. Well, I have these in Sparkling Gold (a gold-toned nude), Sparkling Amber (a gold-toned pink), and Sparkling Orchid (a purple-pink). They are nicely pigmented, extremely sparkly, and I don't reach for them as often as I do their other lipsticks.
Jumbo Lip Pencils - I have one Jumbo Lip Pencil in Ice (an iridescent, light brown). I don't wear this color as mush as I should. It is a great brown-toned shade, and I have a hard time finding something like this that looks good on me. The wear on these is average, but I sometimes wear this with other lipsticks to help make it wear longer.




Round Lipsticks - I have these in the shades Mars (beige), Louisiana (bright strawberry pink), Spell Bound (Magenta), and Femme (orange-red) I counted on their website and this lipstick comes in 108 different shades. There is almost no way you couldn't find a shade you like. The hardest part is deciding which one or ones to get. These are pretty moisturizer, very vibrant, and last for a few hours before having to reapply. Use a lip liner to make these last longer. At $4.00, they are totally worth trying.


Retractable Lip Liners - I own one of these in Nude Pink and it looks slightly brighter than what I would imagine a nude pink lip liner to look like. This is a great lip liner that I can wear with a lot of different colors. I usually fill my entire lips in with this lip liner before applying lipstick. My lip color stays on for most of the day without having to reapply when I use this liner. They are available for $4.50.








FACE:
HD Photogenic Concealers - I have this in the yellow shade and it's supposed to help reduce the appearance of under-eye darkness. This concealer works really well. It brightens my eye area and hides the dark circles that I generally have. It goes on really smooth and the applicator wand helps control how much I put in without over-doing it. This concealer comes in different shades and colors to correct various problems and costs $4.50.



HD Studio Photogenic Grinding Blushes - I have this blush in the shade Sangria in Madrid. I really liked the idea of this blush, but I just don't really like it. It is slighty messy if you don't open it carefully and the shade I have looks clownish on me no matter how little I use. Maybe some of you would like these though. They are $15.




Powder Blushes - Okay so I have not personally tried these NYX blushes, but I have heard a lot of good things about them. I also know that they have a lot of good dupes for MAC blushes. These will be something I will pick up in the near future. They are $5.

Sometime today or tomorrow I will have another post with swatches of this stuff. I won't include the items that NYX doesn't sell anymore.

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Saturday, July 13, 2013

Smell This: Viva La Juicy Noir

We got A LOT of new fragrances in at work yesterday and I am so excited about them (well, most of them). I will eventually talk about almost all of them, but I'm going to start off with something I think a lot of people will be excited about: Juicy Couture's new fragrance, Viva La Juicy Noir.


I want to start by saying I saw this bottle and wanted the perfume just because of how in love I am with the bottle! That doesn't happen to me very often. This design is awesome! It is the coolest metallic pink and these pictures do not even begin to show how amazing it looks in person. It has the usual Juicy Couture symbol on the front and the usual lid, but with a satin black ribbon tied to it. I seriously cannot get enough of this bottle!


Now after getting that out of my system, the actual fragrance is pretty good too. The top notes are berries and mandarin. Middle notes are honeysuckle, gardenia, and jasmine. The base notes are amber, caramel, vanilla, and sandalwood.

When first sprayed, the berry scent stands out and the perfume seems fairly fruity, However, after I wore it for an hour and smelled it again, a mix of the middle and base notes became more noticeable on my skin. This end scent seemed very fitting for a fragrance with "Noir" in the name.

I don't think I like this scent necessarily more than the original Viva La Juicy or Juicy Couture, but I do really like it and would still buy this fragrance to wear. It would be a nice scent to wear on a date or for nights out. 

Viva La Juicy Noir is sold in various department stores and is $90 for a 3.4 fl. oz. bottle and $70 for a 1.7 fl. oz. bottle.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Review: CoverGirl Clump Crusher Mascara and Jumbo Gloss Balm

I recently went to Ulta and purchased the CoverGirl Clump Crusher mascara and the Covergirl Jumbo Gloss Balm. I have heard and read many great reviews from beauty bloggers, so I finally decided to try these products out for myself.

The Clump Crusher mascara, which I got in very black, lives up to the hype behind it. On the packaging it claims to deliver 200% more volume and ZERO clumps. I definitely feel like the mascara covers all my lashes and covers them from root to end. Sometimes I find that mascaras can leave the bottom part of my lashes looking great, but the ends don't get covered enough. This mascara solves that problem for me. This mascara reminds me slightly of Clinique's High Impact mascara. This may be a comparable mascara if you are looking for something a little less expensive.


I love the brush for this mascara as well. The curved brush helps deposit the mascara onto the lashes and then comb it evenly throughout the lashes. Of course, the biggest plus about this mascara for a lot of people is that there is no clumping. It doesn't matter how many times you comb the brush through your lashes, the mascara does not clump! Overall, I am very happy with this mascara and will repurchase it in the future. I definitely recommend it for anyone who is looking for a new mascara.


The CoverGirl Jumbo Gloss Balm I got is in the shade Ballet Twist. I was in need of a good nude/light pink lip color and this seemed to be the best one in this line. A ton of lines are coming out with packaging like this that are in a jumbo crayon shape and twist up. There are quite a few lines (mostly high-end) that have had lip colors like this for a while now, but it has just now kind of taken off and become super popular.




As for the color, I really love it. The shade is very similar to my natural lip color. It is just a little bit lighter with an added gold sheen to it. The balm feels nice and moisturizing on the lips. It stayed on my lips for a few hours before I had to re-apply.

Excuse my extremely dry lips
Both of these products were $8.99 at Ulta. They were buy one, get one 50% off when I purchased them and I used a coupon. CoverGirl is usually a dollar or so cheaper at Target or Walmart, so I would buy them at another store if you don't have a coupon for Ulta or there isn't a sale.


Let me know in the comments below if you have tried either of these products and what you think of them. If you haven't tried either of these products, let me know what your favorite drugstore mascara and/or lip color is. I really want to be able to interact more with you all, so don't be shy and please please please leave a comment so I can get to know you all. :)

If you haven't already, check out some of my previous posts like this one:  http://brightlipsanddyedtips.blogspot.com/2013/03/get-to-know-me.html

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