Sleek Pout Polish in Powder Pink and Peach Perfection

A couple of weeks ago, I placed a big order on the Sleek MakeUp site.  Sleek is one of those brands that I've been lucky enough to receive in swaps with UK friends, but it's not available readily in the US.  

As a side note here, the prices are great and the shipping was super cheap - like $8 cheap for international shipping!  (Though it did take about two weeks to arrive.)

Anyway, I've been lucky enough to try a lot of the Sleek powder products, but I've never tried any of their lip products.  So ... I picked up two of the Sleek Pout Polishes in Powder Pink and Peach Perfection.  The Pout Polishes are basically like tinted lip balms.  They come in 9 colors.

They are very sheer.  You get just a hint of color.  They aren't the most fantastic lip balms ever, but they're decent.  The texture was okay.  I didn't find them to be sticky and I didn't find the scent to be particularly noteworthy (good or bad), but I'm not particularly sensitive to either of those.

You do get a ton of product, but since they come in jars, you have to apply them with your fingers.  This isn't a deal breaker for me, but I know it would be for a lot of people.

The packaging is cute.  They come in a range of colors (most of which will offer only the barest hint of color on the lips).  They are pretty much a take it or leave it product for me.  They're okay, but I don't think I would purchase them again, even at this (very good!) price point.

Sleek Pout Polish contains 10 grams of product and retails for $5.99 each.

Overall: 6/10

Sugarpill ChromaLust Loose Eyeshadow in Lumi

Valentine's Day is the anniversary of Sugarpill Cosmetics.  I remembered from last year that on their birthday, they ran a 20% off sale, so I waited and sure enough, they did it again this year.

Sugarpill isn't exactly one of my go-to brands.  I definitely live day to day in a variety of neutral eyeshadows and blushes.  Sugarpill excels in vibrant pressed eyeshadows and pigments and they have a truly awe inspiring array of false lashes.

So I will note that I made my Sugarpill purchase knowing that I'm going to have to work to find a way to use these products.  Lumi is really sheer, it's mostly blue and green sparkle and it is stunningly pretty.

The packaging is cute, sturdy and functional.  The product is well labeled and since the packaging is see through, you can tell what it is without having to open it up.  The downside is that this product (like any pigment or loose product) is super messy.  You have to take care not to get it everywhere (unless that's what you're going for).

Sugarpill individual loose eyeshadows contain 6 grams of product and retail for $12 at Sugarpill's website.

Overall:  9/10

Milani Color Statement Lipstick in 12 Flamingo Pose

Most of you probably already know about Milani's new Color Statement Lipstick line, but let me tell you about it anyway ;)

Here's what Milani has to say about the line:

Make a statement without saying a word!  True Instant Color. One stroke, full coverage application. This next generation lipstick gives the ultimate in color, texture and finish.  The lightweight creamy formula contains Vitamins A, C, & E to moisturize and nourish lips.  Paraben-free. Available in Vinyl, Metallic, Cream, Shimmer, Pearl & Matte finish.

I had a 20% off coupon for CVS, so I decided to go ahead and pick up one of the Color Statement lipsticks in #12, Flamingo Pose.  Cora at VintageOrTacky used it in one of her recent tutorials and I thought it looked perfect for spring.

Milani describes the color as flamingo coral cream.  That is a pretty apt description.  It's definitely a coral lipstick, but it's a cool coral, so it doesn't look orange on the lips.  It is incredibly pigmented.  It is totally opaque in one swipe and it stains like crazy.

The formula is on the thicker, stiffer side, but I didn't find it uncomfortable to wear.  As I said, it does stain the lips, so the wear time is extended.  I got six hours out of it before it started looking really gnarly.

The Color Statement lipsticks contain 3.97 grams of product and retail for $5.49 wherever Milani is sold.  I got mine on sale at CVS.

Overall:  8/10

Givenchy Healthy Glow Powder in 1 Premiere Croisiere

I absolutely love bronzers and blush.  This is a known fact.  And lately I've been really curious about some higher end, harder to find brands, specifically Rouge Bunny Rouge (which I will talk about in a separate post) and Givenchy.

Givenchy is available exclusively through Sephora, but is not carried in my local Sephora, so there's pretty much no way to see before you buy.  So in a fit of impulse buying the other day, I decided to pick up the Givenchy Poudre Bonne Mine Healthy Glow Powder, which Sephora categorizes as a bronzer.

It's lovely, by the way.

And the description sounds lovely.  Sephora says:

 "Totally weightless and invisible on the skin, this creamy formula provides ultimate softness and a light-as-air natural finish. With a consistency that’s easy to blend, this bronzer can be applied alone with the Givenchy Kabuki brush or over Mister Radiant. Use it year-round to smooth pores, even the skin’s texture, and provide a healthy glow."

I will fully admit it's my own fault for not looking up swatches first.  (Here, go look - Karla Sugar has some fantastic swatches.)  I made an assumption based on the Sephora description that this was indeed a bronzer (it may be if you buy it in one of the darker shades, but it doesn't seem that the line as a whole is a bronzer line).

I think this is more of an illuminating finishing powder, much like the MAC Mineralize Natural line, Guerlain Meteorites, Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders, etc, etc.  And like the Guerlain and Hourglass products, it is hella expensive.  $50 for 7 grams of product.

Don't get me wrong, it does look lovely.  I'm sure it looks nice on the skin.  I don't know.  Because I need another illuminating finishing powder like I need a hole in the head, so I returned it (without swatching, not that you would have been able to see anything even if I did swatch it.).  

I wanted a bronzer.

Even for my pasty pale skin, this shade is certainly not a bronzer.  I probably would have had to get the darkest shade if I wanted something approaching a bronzer, but that doesn't really seem to be what this powder is designed to do.

I'm not going to bother rating this product since it seems designed to do something vastly different than the purpose for which I purchased it.  I am thankful that Sephora did give me my refund without any hassle (though I did get a dirty look, which whatever.)

I was really curious about Givenchy.  I picked up several different products (reviews coming soon) and it was really hit or miss.  At this price point, I expect more.  The packaging is underwhelming and it is really irritating not to be able to see it in person before purchasing.  

Lush Lip Scrub in Mint Julips

I generally try to avoid sweeping statements on my blog, but today I'm going to make one.  Lush's Mint Julips Lip Scrub is hands down the tastiest beauty product that has ever existed.  Seriously.

I've been doing DIY lip scrubs for a while.  Sugar + olive oil + toothbrush = nice results, but a less than pleasing taste.  Unless you're into sweet olive oil, I don't want to judge here.

However, I was watching the video that Pixiwoo and Beauty Crush did together and Sammi mentioned that one of her favorite beauty quick fixes is this lip scrub.  I was at Lush a couple of days later and I picked some up and it is divine.

As you can see, the ingredients aren't exactly earth shaking.  And I can't say that it works any better than my DIY version, but it does taste loads better.

Lush Mint Julips Lip Scrub contains .8oz of product and retails for $9.95

Overall:  10/10

Flower Beauty Color Play Creme Eyeshadow in Wild Geranium

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up another item from Flower Beauty.  It's the Color Play Creme Eyeshadow in CP3, Wild Geranium.  

The online swatches look like a pale pink, which this color most certainly is not.  The line comes in a dozen shades.  If you want to pick some up, I would recommend either doing it in person or if you have to order online, make sure to check out blogger swatches first, because the online swatches, in my experience, do not line up to what you get in the little pots.

Wild Geranium is a warm peachy copper.  The color applies very true to pan with excellent pigmentation.  The texture of the cream shadow is very light and whipped.  It applied evenly and smoothly for me.  I didn't find it to be patchy at all.  The color is buildable, but you need to let it dry down a bit between coats.

The color does "set".  It doesn't have a powder finish and remains slightly tacky, but not enough that I found it objectionable.

I know that some people had problems with the Flower cream eyeshadows creasing.  I did not personally have any problems with this shadow creasing.  I wore it for a good 8 hours with no primer underneath and it didn't crease.  That said, this is a pretty forgiving color.  If it had creased, I don't think it would be very apparent.  And my eyelids aren't particularly oily.  Your mileage may vary.

Surprisingly, while this cream shadow stayed put during the day, it removed without a problem at the end of the day.  Just using my normal cream cleanser, it removed completely without having to fight it.  I didn't experience any eyelid staining from this color.

The Flower creme eyshadows contain 3.5 grams of product and are available exclusively at Wal-Mart for $7.98 each.

Overall:  10/10

Essence 3D Eyeshadows 04 and 09

I recently subscribed to Babycake390 on YouTube and in one of their recent videos, they were talking about how much they loved the new Essence 3D Eyeshadows.  I was at Ulta last weekend and I had my 20% off coupon, so I thought why not?

I picked up two of the duos, 04 Irresistible Caramel Cream and 09 Irresistible Chocolates.  First off, I will admit to peeling off a sticker that was on the front of all the Essence shadows.  It said "WOW!".  I just ... oh dear.  There is a reason I don't buy a lot of drug store items.

First up, 04 Irresistible Caramel Cream.  So the shadows aren't even.  There is definitely more of the lighter product.  Also, the lighter product is raised up considerably and the darker portion is flat.

You can see it swatches pretty true to the pan.  The first shade is a warm light champagne beige.  The second shade swatches a bit lighter than it looks in the pan.  It's a warm medium golden brown.

As with all of the baked mineral shadows I've ever used, these have a metallic finish and you can use them wet or dry (I only swatched them dry).  I think that either color would work well as a highlighter.  The shadows are on the drier side.  I had to sort of fight with them to get the product, but it is a drugstore item.

The second duo, 09 Irresistible Chocolates, is considerably darker than the first and both shades swatch very true to pan.  The fist shade is a beautiful medium neutral pink.  The second shade is a cool dark gray brown that looks a little gold in the pan, but doesn't really on the eye.

Overall, I can't say that I'm really in love with these products.  They're okay, especially at the price point, which truly is fabulous, even for a drugstore brand.  Milani, which is slightly more expensive, has some very similar colors in their recently released nude versions of their Runway Eyes palettes.  

As I mentioned, the shadows are very dry and stiff, but I do think that once you get them applied, they look really pretty.  As with wet/dry shadows, you'll get more intense color payoff if you use them wet.  The colors are natural enough for them to be multipurpose products (eyeshadow, highlight, bronzer, etc) depending on how you want to use them.

The packaging is super flimsy and they have domed tops which means they don't stack (my personal pet peeve - I hate that about the Milani individual baked eyeshadows too).

Essence 3D Eyeshadows contain 2.8 grams of product each and are available at Ulta for $3.99 each (unless you have a 20% off coupon like me!)

Overall:  6/10

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Diffused Light

I had heard people raving about the new Hourglass Ambient Lighting powders, so I decided to pick one up in Diffused Light.  Hourglass describes the powder as "a soft, warm, pale yellow powder that reduces redness and gives skin clarity – like a soft ray of morning light".

This is indeed a beautiful finishing powder.  It is super finely milled, applies like a dream.  It sets makeup beautifully without making you look like a disco ball.  In fact, I really couldn't find any detectable shimmer at all to the powder, though once the whole face was powdered, there was a bit of a ... I guess you could call it a luminosity (nothing terribly glowy and definitely not shiny or oily looking ... just nice).

I'm more than a little skeptical about the yellow powder neutralizing redness.  I really don't think there's enough pigmentation in the powder to really do that.  In fact, it was hard for me to even tell the powder was supposed to be yellow.  It looked like a translucent pressed powder to me.

As I said, this is a beautiful product.  And I am intrigued about the rest of the line.  However, after a week of use, I was soft of left feeling flat.  I really didn't feel like I got incredibly different results from this product than I get from my MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural or even my Sleek Luminous Pressed Powder (both of which have better price points.)  Don't get me wrong, this product is discernibly more higher end than either MAC or Sleek.  But for me, the results were not dramatic enough to warrant the price difference.

Other colors in the range are supposed to have more obvious effects and are intended to be used more as highlighters or even bronzers.  I am much more interested in the colors Dim (neutral peach beige) or Luminous (champagne pearl).

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders contain 10 grams of product and retail for $45 wherever Hourglass is sold.  I got mine at Sephora.

Overall:  7/10

MAC Mineralize Rich Lipstick in Grande Dame

MAC revamped and relaunched their Mineralize range in early 2013.  They discontinued their Mineralize foundation, replacing it with the Mineralize Moisture SPF 15 foundation.  They also added a new range of 12 permanent Mineralize Rich lipsticks.

All of the packaging for the Mineralize products is similar, so the Mineralize Rich Lipstick bullets look different than any of the other MAC lipstick bullets.

The lid has a magnetic closure which holds the cap on securely.  The only other lipsticks I've seen with packaging like that are the Burberry lipsticks, so it may be gimmicky, but I like it ;)

Last weekend, I picked up the Mineralize Rich lipstick in Grande Dame.

MAC describes Grande Dame as "midtonal neutral rose cream".  Honestly, I'm not sure what the hell that is supposed to mean.  It's a medium neutral pink.  I don't think cream really applies as this is a slightly frosty lipstick with some super fine glitter.  Sitting here staring at the lipstick, I can definitely see the glitter in it, but I don't notice it at all on the lips (it should be noted that I am not particularly sensitive to texture on the lips, if you are, buyer beware.)

Grande Dame has surprisingly good color payoff, considering some swatches I've seen of the more vibrant colors.  I feel like Grande Dame really delivers on color.  And the texture is fantastic.  I find it super moisturizing without being sheer.  I also got really decent wear time out of it - 3 1/2 - 4 hours easily.

MAC Mineralize Rich Lipsticks contain .14oz of product and retail for $22.

Overall:  8/10

Review: NARS American Dream Palette

The NARS American Dream eyeshadow palette #9976 was one of two limited edition release for Fall 2012 (the other was New Wave, which as of this writing, is still available at NARS.com).  The American Dream palette is sold out, however, all six shades are available in the permanent range, though, obviously, not in this packaging.

I don't have any of these particular shades in the standard, permanent packaging, so I can't really compare the quality of the LE packaging to the permanent line.  Sorry!

The palette contains six eyeshadows: (Belissima, Alhambra, Silk Road, Galapagos, Bali and Tzarine).    In total, the palette contains 9 grams of product.

(top row: swatched under daylight bulbs)

• Belissima - This shade is permanent as part of the Belissima duo.  It is a matte white with gold glitter. Despite the way the swatch looks, it does have decent pigmentation.  The glitter doesn't immediately fall out, as is an issue with some of the other glittery NARS eyeshadows I've tried *cough*NightFlight*cough*
• Alhambra - This shade is permanent as part of the Alhambra duo.  It is a metallic peachy gold with phenomenal color payoff.
• Silk Road - This shade is permanent as part of the Silk Road duo.  (Are we seeing a trend?)  The shadow is a warm rose pink with gold glitter.  The base seems a little frosty, but not straight up metallic.  The color payoff is good.

(bottom row: swatched under daylight bulbs)

• Galapagos - This shade is permanent.  It is a warm medium dark brown with gold and copper sparkle.  It is a very soft shadow with good color payoff.
• Bali - This shade is permanent.  It is a dark gray/brown matte eyeshadow.  It is buttery soft with excellent payoff. 
• Tzarine - This shade is permanent as part of the Tzarine duo.  It is a blue/silver/gray with gold sparkle.  It felt dry when I was swatching it, but it had great color payoff.

Unlike the other palette released in this collection, I think American Dream is very wearable across the board.  I think it is a nice collection of darker and highlight shades and for someone like me who really doesn't have many NARS shadows, this was a good opportunity to pick up some of their most popular shades at a better price point.

This product originally retailed for $55 and I got mine from NARS.com

Overall: 8/10

Flower Beauty Eye Quade in Smoke & Mirrors

The last of my haul from Flower Beauty is the Eye Quad 4 in Smoke and Mirrors.  There are currently 4 Eye Quads in the Flower Beauty range.  As far as I can tell, these are the only powder shadows in the range.  The individual eye shadows are all cream eyeshadows.

I thought all of the Eye Quads were striking, yet still wearable.  I picked the Smoke and Mirrors quad mostly because it's the one that struck my fancy that day.

Clockwise from the top left:

• Soft Gray-Brown - Satin.  Super soft and buttery texture.  It looks a lot more gray-brown in the pan.  Swatched, I think it almost leans purple.  Payoff was disappointing.
• Blue-Gray - Satin.  Super soft and buttery texture.  Color is true to pan.  Payoff was disappointing.
• Matte Light Peach - Matte.  Super soft and buttery texture.  Slightly powdery when applied.  Color is true to pan.
• Brown with Copper Glitter - Soft texture.  Good color payoff.  The glitter seemed to disappear when swatching.

(day bulbs)

(sunlight)

(flash)

Overall, I wasn't blown away by how this palette performed.  The color payoff was disappointing on two of the four colors had disappointing color payoff.

Again, the packaging drives me nuts.  The quads won't stack and aren't square.  It just seems unnecessary.  It's probably great when you only have one eyeshadow palette, but when you have an extensive collection that you have to organize, the outliers are just irritations.

The Eye Quad contains 6 grams of product and retils for $9.98 at Wal-Mart.

Overall: 5/10