Maybelline x Puma Color Gloss Face Stick: Review and Swatches

Greetings!

I had a mini-Ulta haul recently and among the things I purchased was a piece from Maybelline's newest collaboration with the brand Puma. Puma has a soft spot in my heart because for me it is one of the hallmarks of early-mid 2000's fashion, though I never was a sport-glam kind of person.

The collection has been met with a kind of bemused ambivalence, aside from the Chrome highlighter in the shade Knockout. Swatches of the highlighter are certainly impressive, but I did not buy it because I have the suspicion it is a close enough dupe of Lilac Geode from Becca, which I already own.

Instead, I opted to buy the product that looks like play-makeup. I don't mean that necessarily as an insult, but there is a plasticine quality to the product itself.

Anyway, the blush and highlight duo stick contains 6 g of total product, cost $11.00, and is housed in a nice looking tube the color of a kind of millennial lilac, if you will. Maybelline claims this product is waterproof and blendable. I can't attest to the waterproof claims, but I agree that the product is quite blendable.

The blush is a blue-toned red that applies in a nice wash of color. It was very easy to blend out.

The gloss half looks pearly, and I was afraid that when it would apply the pearl would be patchy, but that is not the case. We'll talk more about application shortly.

So below is all three swatches of product, but the most prominent swatch is the red, of course. 

Then, in a much brighter light, from left to right we have 1.) both the gloss and blush swatched together, 2.) the blush on its own, and 3.) the gloss on its own. 

I think the big question for many people is if the "gloss" side of this product actually behaves like a gloss. My answer? Sort of. On my skin the pearl pigments do look glossy. The product did not really dry down, but it wasn't sticky, either- just slightly powdery and emollient. The gloss can be blended out and leave microshimmers- the desirability of which depends on one's preference.

It did last longer than I thought it would- 5 hours on the face. I did reapply halfway through the day, which was easy to do. I have been very into the trendy, glossy look lately, especially during the time of year my skin is actually dry and craves moisture, and I definitely looked dewy, but in a good way.

This product is definitely not as long lasting as my Pearl highlighter from PF and my cream blushes from Lipstick Queen. I have never tried stick/glossy products from Milk or Glossier, so I can't exactly comment on how this product compares to others from those brands. 

In sum, I think this is a nifty product that I will continue to use, but if you are looking for durability and a super bright highlighter, I would not look here. The blush was nice, especially because I do like when blushes are on the sheerer side, and the color is definitely different than anything else I own in my blush collection.

I also had the urge to put this on my lips, but I have not done so. Yet. 

As always, thanks for reading. 

Wet 'n Wild Color Icon Blush in Blazen Berry: Swatches and Review

I believe this a new color offering from Wet 'n Wild. When I saw it at Walgreen's the other day, I was struck by how unique it looked. Clearly, it was berry-toned, but also a brick-red color? And shimmery? I knew that I had never used anything like it before, so for $2.49, I picked it up.

Let's look at some pictures!

The formula is really nice. Though it is shimmery and soft, it is not "wet" feeling, and very easy to blend. I don't even mind the little brush.

 We have a heavy finger swatch. In the picture below it is also blended out.

I was really struck at how the shimmer sheer out with the color, and how it was sheer but in a good way.

This is a really nice blush to also pair with highlighter.  In the picture below, I basically went ham and draped it all over my face, and then just applied Mac Snowflushed on top to see what would happen.

I don't hate it.

I have also been wearing this blush to work, but not in such a crazy way. It is quite easy to apply and I do feel it lasts a long time. Even though I am fair and have cool-toned skin, I think the blush works well on me. I think it also brings out the green tones in my eyes. 

I would highly recommend this blush and I think Wet 'n Wild introduced such a cool color and finish to their line. 

Thanks for reading!! 

Sleek Californ.i.a Cream Blush Palette Review

I am having a cream blush moment. I know that when it starts getting hot out and my skin gets oily and sweaty again,  this moment will be over, but for now, I am enjoying myself. Cream blushes blend really well on the skin and have a very natural finish.

After being quite happy with Lipstick Queen's very pink Frog Prince blush, I decided I wanted something coral- a true coral. The only true coral I have is Milani's Coral Cove, and I do think the formula- which includes synthetic wax- is very powdery and does not stay long on my face.

So I did some research, and found that Sleek, a UK drugstore brand, has an entire blush line of powder and creme formulas that look really nice. I settled on Californ.i.a, a name that I don't quite understand.

It cost $5.00.

The palette is composed of three pans. In total, the palette contains 13 g of product. The shades are, from left to right:

1. Newport Peach, a bright peachy-pink

2. The Surf, a very light creamsicle orange with a bit of gold shimmer

3. OC, warmer than Newport Peach, a true coral

I enjoy all the shades in this palette and even enjoy mixing them. To use the blush, I dab the product with a small face brush with synthetic bristles, and then blend it out on my face. A little does go a long way, but the product is buildable.

I found that the shades lasted most of the day, which I found quite impressive.

Below is a picture of me wearing The Surf, which I was surprised to find wears more like a highlighter/blush topper.

I would definitely recommend this blush palette, and I am looking forward to trying more face products from Sleek in the future. 

Thanks for reading! 

Lipstick Queen Frog Prince Blush Review

There are so many ways I want to start this review. One option is amazement at how TJ Maxx can be such a cool source of makeup- albeit makeup that is "off season." Though I've come away with a few duds, there are some staples in my collection that come from there.

Another thing I want to say is how much I love fairy tale-themed makeup. Mostly because I love Fairy Tales, in all their forms. One of my earliest experiences learning about the Frog Prince was the Shelley Duvall The Fairy Tale Theatre episode with Robin Williams. We watched it in elementary school and I remember being scandalized at the half-naked Robin Williams prince after he transformed.

My favorite Fairy Tale Theatre episode, by the way (and I have not yet seen them all) is the Princess and the Pea with Liza Minelli. That one speaks to me.

Moving on, I've always been quite put off by Lipstick Queen because the high price tag, and because one can commonly find their products at discount stores, like TJ Maxx. It seems to me they need to find a way to make their products $5-$10 cheaper, in my humble opinion, if they want to gain more traction and attention.

That being said, I love this blush.

I have combination skin, and both powder and cream formulas have disappeared on me by the end of a (long) work day. But Frog Prince didn't.

Frog Prince is quite the loyal, hardworking blush and I can easily see myself using up the entire pan. One thing I will say is that it applies best with a synthetic blush brush. What made this blush hard to swatch was because it stuck to my finger tips and would not transfer to my hand very well.

Normally I absolutely loath swatches on finger tips (not real swatches), but in this case that is the truest representation of what the product looks like, without showing you my glorious face.

Onto the pictures!

Though the pink looks rather faint on my hand, it's because transferring from my finger to my skin was difficult. Best application is with a brush- it blends out on the skin easily, and builds up nicely. The finished product is natural and incredibly long lasting.

This is a charming blush and I highly recommend it if you find it at TJ Maxx or any other discount store.

Thanks for reading!
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Wet 'n Wild Hummingbird Hype: Review and Swatches

Good evening! I have so many reviews planned, but I wanted to do this one first, because I am so excited. My local Walmart, which usually is very behind in selling new product collections, actually had the Wet 'n Wild Flights of Fancy collection! Out of all the products, I had decided to go for Hummingbird Hype, a golden-orange luminous blush.

It is sold as a baked blush, and is in the same packaging as their mega-glo highlighters, in the standard amount of 5.4 g. However, for some reason, instead of $4.98, which they are usually sold for, I paid $3.98. Hm.

Anyway, let's get into the pictures and swatches! As always, you can click on the image for a larger picture.

The design for this collection, which benefits hummingbirds, is a chevron-floral mix. I think I am in the minority that really dislikes chevron. It clashes a bit with florals, and I wonder why they did that. 

 The product in the pan. How gorgeous!! 

On my hand we have a heavy finger swatch on the left, and a blended out swatch on the right. As you can see, this blush has serious shine. It reminded me a lot of Precious Petals, the highlighter, and I was concerned that the blush would act like a highlighter and not a blush. So I decided to compare the two. 

Precious Petals on the left, Hummingbird Hype on the right. PP is brighter and shinier, and HH pulls more orange. 

When the two are blended out, you can really see the difference in the two types of products. PP blends out shiny, but HH still has a color to its base. 

On the face, HH offers a very natural tint of orange, while giving me some glow. Staying power is pretty impressive, and this is one line of products I have no problem collecting.

Hummingbird Hype will be very good for the summer! Also, hummingbirds are glorious creatures. 

Thanks so much for reading! 

Worst Blush Ever? 😞 Revlon's No Rules

Many drugstore brands have rolled out new lines, or entirely given themselves a makeover. Covergirl, for instance, has definitely updated its brand to be a bit trendier. And I feel Revlon, my least favorite drugstore brand (second only to Almay) has followed suit.

They released a strange little line called Color Charge, which is their spring line for "bold" and "customizable" looks.

I was in Walgreen's yesterday when I encountered this line. The first thing I noticed was the lip powder, which comes in two shades. I didn't pick them up, though I had hoped upon first glance, before realizing what it was, that this:

was an eyeshadow palette. Alas, I was wrong, and alas, I would still be met with some additional disappointment.

I saw the blush "No Rules," and snapped it up immediately. A purple drugstore blush, I thought to myself, how fun! It's called "No Rules," so it must be bold! Nope. It should be called "No Pigment," because it actually has no pigment. There is no pigment in this TEN DOLLAR (I am so sad right now) blush.

Oh, you need evidence? I shall oblige.

First off, the packaging is super misleading. You think the pan of product actually is the size of the container. Wrong. The space below is a compartment for a tiny brush that I tossed because it shed horribly. 

With flash. What is shown on my finger is after running it across the surface of the blush 5-6 times. In person, it is a very thin layer of powder, as if nothing was picked up. 

Some ingredients and specs below.

And now onto the most disappointing swatch. 

Do you see that vague sparkly strip of lavender with a slight (a whisper) of blue sheen? No? Trust me, it is there. Building this up on my face was a struggle too.

This was such a waste of money, and I think Revlon was incredibly lazy to misfire this way. A purple blush in a collection about being BOLD,  called "NO RULES," and yet we get basically a suggestion of a product?

I don't out-right fail many products on this blog, but this by far is a perfect example of a fail. Avoid.

The Year of Blush

I am not saying this as a generalization about beauty trends overall, but I do think that there will be a shift away from highlighters. Speaking for myself, I have a medium-sized highlighter collection that I still plan on using, but recently I've become more interested in blush.

Take Makeup Geek's Puppy Love. I bought this on sale last year, determined to try a browned-toned blush. And for a year, I did not touch it because it was too pigmented, and I felt it did not blend easily. Furthermore, I did not feel I enjoyed the "apple of your cheeks" bush placement.

But I learned. I learned that I could mix blushes, and that I could be a lot more creative with blush placement. And I haven't looked back.

Last night I was doing a video interview, and I wanted my makeup to be minimal. So I took a shimmery gold and placed it all over my lid, I used mascara, Clinique's Black Honey on my lips, and a mix of Puppy Love and Pixi's Beach Rose, which is even browner than Puppy Love, but less pigmented. Using my elf kabuki brush, I stamped the blush and blended upwards to my temples, creating a really natural flushed look.

I liked it so much I wore it today. And I probably will wear it tomorrow.

What is lovely about blush is that it is timeless in a way highlighter is not. No matter what, if over-done it emphasizes texture. I've seen it ruin countless tutorials. Blush doesn't do that.

If the highlighter trend does eventually slow down, we might see an interest in matte highlighters. Whatever that means.

Hard Candy Fox in a Box Review and Swatches: Party Girl

Today I'm so excited to talk about a new product from Hard Candy. I think the Fox in a Box powders are strongly inspired by Benefit’s Boxed Blushes, as well as Hourglass’ powders.

For perspective, a  full size of Benefit box blush costs $29, but the amount of product in each varies drastically. Rockateur and GALifornia only contain 5g, while Coralista contains 8g.

Hourglass Ambient Light powder contains 10 g, and costs $46.00. Damn.

Hard Candy’s Fox in a Box contains 5g of product, and costs $7.00.

I know I'm on a low-buy, but this is just the sort of product that gets me excited. It's innovative, it is a drugstore dupe  for higher-end, as well as high-quality.

Hard Candy Fox in a Box powders are not new, per se. This is a relaunch, but I'm not sure what the original shades were. The shade that I picked up is Party Girl which is marbleized baked bronzer.

There are other shades in the collection, which include blushes and highlighters, but since I recently used up a  bronzer, I thought that that would be the best choice for me.

As you will be able to see from my swatches, Party Girl is a rose-toned bronzer. . I feel as though I'll probably get away with using it as a blush,  too. It's got a satiny, almost shimmery finish, and does not come off as glittery.

The powder also smells like chocolate. It is incredibly soft and very blendable. At first, it reminded reminded me a little bit of the Nyx baked blushes and bronzers, which concerned me because those had very weak pigmentation. On first swipe, Party Girl seemed a little sheer, but I found that it builds up easily, and doesn't budge.  When I tried to rub off the swatch with clean fingers, the color barely faded.

Overall, I'm really pleased to have Party Girl in my collection. The only downside of this product is that the brush it comes with is pretty much useless. I tried to apply the product with it, and it started shedding immediately. You are better off  using your own brushes.

So, if you're ever in Walmart and in need of an affordable bronzer, highlight or blush,  I would highly encourage Hardy Candy’s Fox in a Box.

Wet 'n Wild: Fair Trade Coffee Trio

If you don't see how reading a review of a discontinued product from 2015 is useful for you, then I totally understand. Feel free not to read.

For me, this is useful to write because I've got a weird collector/treasure hunter mentality about discontinued Wet 'n Wild products.

It started when I bought their elusive six-pan palettes for less than a dollar on Amazon.

And then came Kimberly Clark, one of my favorite YouTubers who swore  up and down that the highlighter from this trio was one of her HG highlighters.

I love Wet 'n Wild, but never paid much attention to their makeup in the past. I am shuddering to think about all I missed out on. After buying the Greed palette, and hearing about this trio, I paid another visit to Amazon, to see if there was a chance of someone selling the product.

And there was! I bought it for $5.00, and it's still on Amazon!

But was it worth it?

Let me first show you the swatches:

If I did not have so many highlighters and bronzers and blushes already, I'd be buying a backup of this on Amazon. It's special.

The formula is very soft and creamy, to the point where the blush and bronzer have a satin effect. The blush is very cool on me, which I like a lot, and the bronzer could read a little orange if I overdo it. If I use it with a light hand, it's all good.

But the highlighter? It's stunning. The creamy consistency really lends itself to a beautiful effect, and even though there is microshimmer, it's not chunky or glittery. Just finely milled sparkle.

If you can, I would snap this up immediately. It's an excellent product, and Wet 'n Wild needs to make some of this stuff permanent. I'm getting tired of hunting down discontinued gems. I even- in a moment of madness- bought the I Love Matte palette (re-released as Drinking a Glass of Shine) that was released a while ago. Like, a whiiiiile ago.  Here's hoping it's still safe to use.

Thanks for reading!

Organization of My Blush and Highlighter Pans + Swatches of Ittse highlighter

Welcome!

Today I received in the mail an order I placed with Ipsy last week. It is an ittse palette, with two highlighter pans, all for $15.

I decided, however, to use the ittse palette for my blushes, and I am very happy with the result. All the blushes fit perfectly, and I know I will get much use out if it. The palette itself it sturdy and substantial, and has a plastic sheet to protect the mirror from the powder. I didn't think I would appreciate this, but I definitely do.

This is what the palette looks like on the outside:

It is a cool-toned gold faux leather casing.

In the palette, the first four shadows are my depotted Tarina Tarantino dollskin palette blushes. I do not regret depotting those, because the packaging was awful. The bottom two blushes from left to right are Makeup Geek Puppy Love and Pixi in Beach Rose. The Pixi blush was super easy to depot, and I am so pleased with the result. Not to give myself too much praise, but this looks like the scheme to one of those Nars holiday blush palettes. It makes me excited to use more of this.

In addition to this palette, I've got four other blushes, and one of them I am about to finish up. They are also all drugstore/budget-friendly. Overall, I feel as though my blush collection is pretty manageable.

Now, in order to place all the pans in this ittse palette, I had to take them from my medium z-palette, which originally contained blushes and highlights. As the ittse palette became my blush palette, the z-palette is now my highlighter palette. This includes the two ittse highlighters I got in the mail today.

This is what it looks like:

I'm not going to review every single one, but what I've been doing this week is mixing the two largest pans: Wet 'n Wild Precious Petals, and Mary Lou-Manizer. By itself, Precious Petals is a little too orange. 

To fill up space in this palette, I also moved my eyeshadow sample of UD Fireball to this palette, because I want to see what it would look like. I also depotted my sample of The Balm's Kuwakaribisha to place in there, because it is a highlighter but I was keeping it with my eyeshadows. 

Let's take a closer look at the ittse highlighters. I've never used an ittse face powder or eyeshadow before. 

The two on the left, from top to bottom are Run the World and Hustle and Glow. Also, the pan on the bottom right that looks white is from Vanessa's Vanity, a sparkler called 6 pm. (I'll provide a separate review for 6 pm, all I will say is that I believe this is a TRUE blush topper).

Run the World and Hustle and Glow (H & G)  are from a collaboration with a YouTuber. The full collab included four highlighters, and I personally think the ones Ipsy was selling were not the prettiest ones in the collab.

They still are pretty, though. Run the World is on the left, and  H & G is on the right:

It's not clear from the picture, but Run the World is very sparkly. I don't know if I can see myself using this. H & G, however, is gorgeous. It reminds me a little of Laura Gellar's Gilded Honey or even Champagne Pop- very metallic. I am much more partial to this one. I will provide a formal review of this stuff after I have more time to test it out.

In addition to the z-palette, I also own three highlighters, all drugstore. I do think my highlighter collection is a bit crazier than my blush collection, but I can say with certainty that I've got no repeats or dupes.

Thanks for reading!

My Blush Collection and Swatches, pt 1.

I only recently started collecting blushes this year. Before, I had no idea what to do with blushes and would dread using them. However, once I got the hang of blush placement and stopped worrying about the apples of my cheeks, blush became fun.

Today I am going to share some of blush collection. I also bought the Tarina Tarantino Dollskin blush palette a few months ago off of ebay, but I will save that for another post.

From left to right on my arm, we have:
1._ Fyrinnae blush in Mesmerize
2._Makeup Geek blush in Puppy Love
3._ Flower Beauty Blush in Sweet Pea
4._ Nyx Baked Blush (+ Illuminator + Bronzer) in Chiffon

flash

no flash

Let's start with Fyrinnae's Mesmerize. I do not use this often, but I did buy this for its strong purple tone. Besides this, I do not own many purple blushes, and one can see that it is quite pigmented. A little goes a long way, which is why I wish I had a pressed version of this, rather than loose. It makes using it a little difficult.

Next, is Puppy Love. Very pigmented formula and is a little dark for me. I find it hard to blend on my skin. It still is a beautiful rose brown color that I use when I want to avoid pinks. 

Speaking of pinks, Sweet Pea by Flower Beauty is a perfect pink for me. It is buildable formulation, and very easy to apply. 

Last is a weird one, Chiffon by Nyx.  I found these in my local CVS, on the very bottom of the Nyx display. Its packaging is a little bulky, but I do like the product itself. It does give off a lot of shimmer, and works well with highlighter that has already been applied. The color of the powder itself is a very sheer rose-brown.

I read online about a blush application technique for working with more pigmented blushes. It was suggested that you mix the pigmented blush a little with a more sheer one to "dilute" the pigmented one a bit. For me, mixing Chiffon and Puppy Love is perfect, especially with Chiffon's lighter and more powdery formula. 

As far as favorites goes, it really depends on my mood. All four blushes are  useful to me, depending on the season and weather. 

My Z-Palettes

This has been one of the most stressful weeks. It is characteristic of this time of year, I know that. But it does not make it any easier. The good thing, though, is that the school year will end soon enough and life will begin again in the fall.

Okay, enough rambling. You know what else is difficult but rewarding? Depotting.

Now, I know a lot of people are not fans of depotting. And certainly I think it is a personal thing. For example, I would never de-pot my Modern Renaissance palette or my Eyes-cream palette. To me, they are cohesive palettes and exist in its totality. However, I have done plenty of depotting over the last couple of months, and have come to some important conclusions.

Let's take a look at my two magnetic palettes:

My face powder palette

 I. The blushes: the one in the left-corner is a MUG blush in "Puppy Love." It is very pigmented and a rose-brown shade. It was easy enough to pop out of its compact- I should have just ordered the refill without the compact.

The rest of the blushes come from Tarina Tarantino's Dollskin blush palette- all are really nice though my favorite is the one to the right of "Puppy Love," called Feather. I depotted all four of these because the packaging was becoming too bulky for my container.

II. Highlighters: The largest highlighter is Mary Lou-manizer. This was incredibly easy to pry out with no damage. I found myself with so many compacts that I wanted an easier place to store all my face powders.

The square pan is Urban Decay's Sin, came as an Ipsy sample. Very generous sample size. I prefer it to the Mary Lou ,because it is pinker and paler.

The small circle highlighter is a sample of Candlelight by Kevyn Aucoin. Not really too impressed yet with it.

The rectangle is Japonesque pixellating (?) powder. I don't know what this does.

III. Contour: The light grey is from Lunatick Cosmetic labs. I ordered it as a single. It is best mixed with my taupe contour powders for even more of a shadowy look.

The actual taupe powder, though, came from a Bliss contour palette. This was the only one I kept, because it is cool toned and perfect for me. I was really impressed with the silkiness of the powder, and I wonder if Bliss sells single contour pans.It was really cheap from TJ Maxx and I hope to find a powder like it once I run out. I currently also own Nyx's blush in taupe, but I do find it has red-undertones that are not as flattering as the Bliss poweder.

As you can see with the Taupe color, depotting did some damage to it. It had to be repressed but it still is crumbly.

The eyeshadow. For clarity's sake, I won't break down each eyeshadow. Most of these singles are depotted from the BH Cosmetic's foil eyeshadow palette. It was extremely easy to depot these, but they did require a magnet. I also have four ABH singles, one Lunatick Cosmetic Lab's single, one Stila single (the larger circular pan, have only swatched it a couple of times), as well as a repressed shadow from a Sleek palette.)

The rectangular pans are Kat Von D, because I think that the palettes I had from her were inconsistent in color choice. I really like her matte formula. For me, when I depot her palette's damage is guaranteed.

I use both of these z-palettes constantly. The eyeshadow palette especially demonstrates my color preferences- I enjoy both warm and cool toned browns, purples, and golds- and a whole lot of shimmer.