Review: E.L.F. All Over Color Sticks

I did my bronzer series and much in the same vein, I'm going to start a new series on highlighters.  I have tons of different highlighters in all sorts of formulas, brands and price points.  I wanted to start off the series with a brand that's accessible to almost anyone.

E.L.F. All Over Color Sticks
$1
4g of product

I have the following colors:

• Pink Lemonade
• Persimmon
• Golden Peach

As you can see from the photos, they are well loved.  I'm kicking myself for not at least taking pictures of new products before using them over the last year.  

You get what you pay for, so as you can see there are some pretty big variations in packaging.  

Pink Lemonade is by far the most pigmented of the All Over Color sticks I have.  It is fairly iridescent, but it also has a good deal of pigmentation.  It definitely doesn't sheer out as much as the other colors and I use a very light hand with this one.  I don't know that I would ever use it as a straight up highlighter.  A shimmery cream blush, yes, but highlighter, no.

I didn't use a flash on this one and still it's so iridescent that it's hard to get a good feel for the color.  It's sort of a pinky purple beige.  It is incredibly reflective, but it does sheer out fairly well.  This is definitely a highlighter.  I don't think it has enough pigmentation to be a blush.

This is the color I tend to use the most.  It is very sheer, but had just enough color.  It's iridescent, but not overly so.  I use it interchangeably as either a highlighter or a blush.

I prefer the All Over Color Sticks for highlighting with E.L.F. products.  Their "official" highlighters, the Shimmering Facial Whips, do not impress me.  I only have 1, but it is incredibly sticky.  I have no idea why you would ever want to have a sticky face product, but I suspect the one dollar price tag has something to do with it.

I love the All Over Color sticks and at $1 each, they can't be beat.

Overall: 10/10

Review: CoverGirl Cheekers Bronzer in Copper Radiance

Wrapping up my series of bronzer posts, is my review of CoverGirl Cheekers Bronzer in 102 Copper Radiance.

I picked up this product at Wal-Greens as part of a CoverGirl buy 1, get 1 half off sale.  The other item I picked up was a regular CoverGirl Cheekers blush and it was a total dud.  But this Cheekers Bronzer is really nice.  It goes on creamy and it has excellent color payoff.

As you can see from the pictures, it does have a gold sheen, but no glitter chunks.  The finish reminded me a lot of the Tarte Amazonian Clay Bronzer in Park Avenue Princess.  It doesn't go on quite as evenly and is a smidge redder, but it's also a fraction of the price.

Because of the golden sheen, I wouldn't use it as a contour.  But to warm up the face and give a nice glow, it works great.

You get .12 oz or 3g of product.  It retails for around $6, but it's not hard to find sales.

Overall:  9/10

Review: Milani Illuminating Face Powder

The other day at CVS I picked up a bunch of Milani products and one of them was the Illuminating Face Powder in 01 Amber Nectar.  The powders are designed to be used as highlighters, blushes or bronzers depending on your skintone.

I had seen a couple of review for these online and I was most interested in the pinky one, Beauty's Touch, however my CVS didn't carry that one.  They had the other two, Amber Nectar and then Hermosa Rose, which is the darkest of the illuminating face powders.

On my skintone, Amber Nectar is much more of a blush or bronzer.  Like the Milani Baked Bronzer in Glow, I don't really feel like it's dark enough for me to really consider it a bronzer.  And like the baked bronzer, I really had to pile the product on to get it to show up in the swatches.

With patience and a small brush, you could definitely get just the color (or colors) you want for strategic highlighting application.  I'll admit I'm not patient enough for that and I have plenty of highlighters so it's not worth the effort.  But if you're on a tight budget and you need products to do double duty, this may work great for you.

Swirling a cheek brush in the product you end up with a pinky/peachy/tan color.  It reads fairly tan on me, but it has shimmer that keeps it from looking muddy.  Is it significantly different from the effect I get using my Milani Baked Bronzer in Glow?  Eh, not really.

I do think it's a lovely product.  And the packaging is adorable.  If you don't already have something in your stash that gives you comparable results, it would be a great addition.

This retails for about $8 and contains 10g of product.

Overall:  7/10


I haven't tried the Physician's Formula highlighters, but if you have, how do you think they compared?  In this price point, that's pretty much the only thing I could think of that is being marketed this way that might be a close dupe.

Review: Milani Baked Bronzer in Glow

I haven't really tried a lot of Milani products and I have hardly any baked products at all, and I've heard great things about them.  Locally, the only place I can find that carries Milani is CVS.  The cosmetics section at the CVS next door to my work always looks like a disaster area, so I trekked across town to the other CVS and lo and behold, they had a fantastic cosmetics selection, complete with a fully stocked Milani display.  I was so happy to be able to pick up a couple of items including the Baked Bronzer in 04 "Glow".

It's described on the Milani website as a light golden tan with gold shimmer.  To me it is a decidedly pinky gold, which I think is very pretty and flattering.

I really had to build this up for it to be dark enough to show up on camera.  It is incredibly sheer.  For that reason alone, I don't think I would ever use it as a bronzer.  Even on my MAC NW15 skin tone, it doesn't impart much color at all.  Certainly not enough for me to consider it a bronzer.

I like it as a blush.  It's still very sheer, but it has a good deal of shimmer.  It's a little too pigmented for me to use it as a highlighter, but like I said, I do like it as a blush and I wear it often.

It retails for around $8 for .25oz or 7g, but in my experience it's easy to find sales.

Overall:  7/10

Review: L'Oreal Infallible Lipglosses

I am going to have to try more products in the L'Oreal Infallible line.  I absolutely LOVE the Infallible Eyeshadows (OMG, have I really not done a blog post on them?  The horror!  I'll get on that stat.)  So when I saw the Infallible glosses, I decided to try them.

L'Oreal has at least 3 different Infallible Lipgloss lines.  There are:

• 6 hour 
• 8 hour "Le Gloss"
• 8 hour plumping

I tried the 6 hour and the 8 hour glosses.

In the 6 hour, I tried #115, "Blush".  This stuff wears incredibly well.  6 hours?  Probably.  It's tacky rather than sticky like some other long wearing glosses I've tried.  The texture reminded me a lot of longwear lipsticks except without the need to put the gloss on top.  Overall, I'd say the formula is much more like a liquid lipstick than a gloss.

In the 8 hour formula, I tried #240, Glistening Berry.  This is a much more vibrant color than the 6 hour formula I tried and I can't say that I got two additional hours of weartime out of it.  I can chalk that up to the color being so much darker and therefore being much more apparent when it did start to fade.  I'd say that I did still get a solid 6 hours of wear out of it.  And like the 6 hour formula, the 8 hour is much more of a liquid lipstick than a gloss.

Gloss is not my favorite thing because it disappears so quickly on me and I feel like I do nothing but re-apply all day long.  But this product certainly solves that issue.

The product has a doe foot applicator.  The tube contains .21oz or 6.3 mL of product.  It retails for around $7 and comes in 20 shades.

This is a solid home run for me.

Overall: 10/10

Have you guys tried it yet?  What did you think?

I must admit, this is one of the most amusing product gimmicks I've seen in a while.  I hope you can read this, but there is a sticker on the top of the lip gloss that read "Mirror underneath".  So if you take off the sticker, supposedly you can use the top of the gloss as a mirror.  LOL!  This could be standard on glosses, I honestly don't buy them enough to know, but it really tickled me.

Review: Tarte Amazonian Clay Bronzer

Next up in the bronzer review, Tarte Amazonian Clay Bronzer in Park Avenue Princess.  I received this product as part of Tarte's One Fine Clay collection (click link for my first look post).  So this is a mini size rather than the full size.

The bronzer has this beautiful golden sheen to it.  It is pretty reflective, so I would not recommend using this to contour.  But for a sunkissed look, it is just beautiful.  It's fragrance free, which really isn't a plus or a minus for me, but I know that's important for some people.

I like this product.  A full size retails for $29.  I tend to like my bronzers to do double duty as contour, so this product isn't a home run for me, but I do like it for those days when I just want a nice warm golden glow.

On my dry/combination skin it wears really well.  It seems to wear at least as well as the 12 hour Amazonian Clay blushes, which isn't necessarily the touted 12 hours, but it's still good enough for government work ;).

Tarte does have a deeper bronzer called Hotel Heiress that has a bronze shimmer.

Overall: 7/10

Review: Nars Laguna Bronzer

I guess I should have pointed out in my last post that I am very fair.  I'm a MAC NW15ish.  I know there are a lot of great bronzers out there for people with deeper skintones, but I don't have any first hand experience with them.  If anybody does and would like to guest post, drop me a line.

Continuing with my series of bronzer posts, here's my take on the Nars Laguna Bronzer.

It's provides a great warmth either as a contour or all over the face for a sun kissed look.  I have dry to combination skin and it wears well on me.

I don't really feel like Nars Laguna is going to be a big surprise to anyone.  It's a great bronzer.  When you initially buy it, it has a gold shimmer, but that's just an overlay.  Once you get past that first layer, the product is matte.

For comparison, here are side by side pictures of pristine condition and after it has been loved muchly.

For me, this is a go-to bronzer.  It's a solid performer and I definitely recommend it.

Laguna is one of Nars best selling blush/bronzers so you can get it packaged in a several ways: alone, as a duo or a trio (above).  For a single, you're going to pay $34 for .28oz of product.

Overall 9/10

Review: E.L.F. 100 eyeshadow palette

I posted a first impressions on this last week, but I wanted to follow up with an actual review.

As with all things, E.L.F, the price is right.  $10 for 100 eyeshadows.  It's a great buy for someone who wants to experiment with colors or textures they don't usually wear.  As with all the other E.L.F. palettes I've purchased, it's a mixed bag.  Some of the pans are great quality, others are total duds.

The styling on this palette is different from any of the other E.L.F. palettes I've purchased.  First off, it's white.  Every other palette I have from E.L.F. came in black packaging.  And as you can see from the photos below, the pans themselves are a lot more stylized than usual with mottled pans.  Personally, I love that.  I think this palette is really visually stunning.

Also, as with a lot of palettes with dozens of pans, a lot of the colors are really, really similar.  Witness the swatches of the 3 gray shades on the far right of the palette.  Can you tell a difference?  I really can't.

I think this is a good buy if you're on a budget or you just want to experiment with colors.  I don't think it's something I'd use a whole lot, but at this price point, it's great for those rare bold colored looks.

Overall: 8/10

Review: Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel Bronzer

It's getting to be that time of year again.  Everyone is wanting that sun kissed glow.  To that end, I'm going to do a series of bronzer reviews and to start off, I'm going to go with my new favorite, Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel.

Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel (redundant much?) is unique in that it has a gel consistency.  It can be applied very sheer, but it is also easy to build up.  It is matte and very warm.  I point out the warmth only because I know this is popular as a contour.  Some contours can skew cool and gray.  Not this one.  It is very warm and IMO quite lovely.

It is pricey.  It retails for $48, but you get 1oz or 30g of product.  I can't even imagine how long it is going to take me to burn through this.

Have you tried this product?  If so, what did you think?

Overall 8/10 just because it's so expensive.

Pics:

First Impressions: E.L.F. 100 palette

I went to Target tonight to pick up a couple more of the Up & Up crease brushes (which are SHOCKINGLY good and less than $2 each) and one of the Sonya Kashuk Beauty Blender dupes.

While I was looking around, they had their new E.L.F. display up and I picked up the new 100 palette eyeshadow for the lovely price of $10.  It's very springy.  It's white and the shadows are pressed to look like the colors are spilling from one pan to the next.  I haven't had a chance to swatch it yet, but it looks awfully pretty

I picked up a couple other E.L.F. items, an all over color stick in Persimmon and a shimmering facial whip in lilac petal.  I'll try and get them swatched and posted tomorrow.

Cheers,

indie

Review: OCC Lip Tars

I'm sure, you've already heard all the hype about OCC Lip Tars.  I just have one thing to say about all those rave reviews:

They are absolutely true.

I should start this post off by saying that I am not a big lip person.  I try.  I’m just not.  It always ends up on my teeth, so usually I wear chapstick or some variation on chapstick like the Revlon Lip Butters.  But when I do want to 'put on a lip', I almost always reach for my OCC Lip Tars first.

The OCC Lip Tars are fantastic.  They are so incredibly pigmented.  I had seen reviews where people said “a little goes a long way” and wow, are they right.  You only need the tiniest amount of product to get complete opaque coverage with vibrant payoff.  Plus, I've been using these regularly for almost a year and the tubes still have so much product.

Their range of colors is stunning.  I feel like OCC is really known for their super vibrant colors.  But the thing that really shocked me is that they do neutrals really well.

Most of the shades that I own are neutrals.  I picked up Trollop, Hush and Divine just under a year ago and if anything I am more pleased with them now than when the package arrived in the mail.  They are just beautiful neutral colors.  And the thing that I love so much about the lip tars is that it is so easy to mix the shades together to get exactly what you're wanting for any given look.

I did break from the neutrals to pick up Anime which is this gorgeous neon pink.  Gah.  I am so in love with this color.

(I'm working on the lighting for product photos and swatches.  I think it's getting better, but Trollop still photographed way darker than it is in person.)

Paraphrased from OCC:

OCC Lip Tars are 100% Vegan and Cruelty-Free.  They are also free of parabens and other harsh preservatives. A simple, elegant formula that contains Hemp Oil, Peppermint Oil and Vitamin E, OCC Lip Tar feels as good on the lips as it looks!


Overall:  10/10

First Impressions: Nars Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer SPF 30 / PA++

So this isn't a review per se.  I haven't given this product enough of a test drive to be able to say for certain that I love it.  But I'm pretty sure I'm going to love it.

I hadn't planned on writing this post and then this morning when I was trying my hardest to eek the last bit of product out of the tiny sample jar I picked up at Nordstrom last weekend, I figured I should own up to it.

The evidence:

It's getting warmer and going into spring/summer, I'm going to have to find a different foundation routine.  I've been using Neutrogena Healthy Skin foundation all winter and it has been fabulous.  But I think it's going to be too emollient for warm weather.

I'd heard great things about the Nars tinted moisturizer, so last week at Nordstrom I picked up a sample of Finland (the lightest shade).  I've been burned before many times with tinted moisturizer, but I have to say that this product is phenomenal.  Unfortunately it is priced accordingly at $42.  It's in wide release now, so you can get it just about anywhere - Sephora, Beauty.com, etc.

The product comes in a whopping 9 shades, so you shouldn't have trouble finding a shade that works for you.  This is especially helpful if you, like me, have been burned before by tinted moisturizers that just don't work on your skin tone. *cough* Origins VitaZing moisturizer *cough*.

The coverage from this product is on par with a foundation.  And it has a great level of SPF and it performs well as a moisturizer.  And a little goes a long way.  The sample I had was very small and yet I got three applications out of it.

And now, look at the pretty pictures from the press release: