Shop My Stash: Lip Products

Though I am no means a lipstick/lip product collector, I have ended up with far more lip products than one could ever need. That being said, I am pretty terrible about remembering to use them. Typically, I apply a lip product with color before I leave the house, and then just use lip balm for the rest of the day.

I would like to get more use out of my lip products. So I picked four out of my stash to remember to use this week.

Here they are:

 We have:

1.) A NYX liquid lipstick/gloss thing from their Steampunk collection in the shade Ignite

2.) A Stila balm in the shade Grayson

3.) A Hard Candy lipstick in the shade Nudist

4.) Maybelline Shine Compulsion lipstick in Taupe Seduction.

I also swatched them below, but not in that order.

Below, the first shade swatched is Taupe Seduction. I bought this because I am a lover of all things taupe, even if this particular shade is incredibly rosy/mauve. It is incredibly glossy, and I am hoping it will be a bit moisturizing. I have used it a bit, but not have used it long-term.

The second shade swatched is Nudist. These lipsticks from Hard Candy have a really nice formula, albeit a bit too soft. Still, I think it's an excellent color and formula, and I do feel it is a bit moisturizing.

The third "swatch" barely appeared because it is so sheer. Grayson is a gray-tinted, minty lip balm that actually works well underneath under colors as a way to cool them down. By itself, you do get a hint of gray, but only a hint.

Lastly, I'm a little intimidated by this product from NYX, in the shade Ignite. Aside from the fact NYX was borrowing heavily from Fenty's hexagonal designs, the applicator on this gloss dispenses way too much product, if you're not careful. This gloss is extremely pigmented, slightly minty, and has a great color. I feel like I was not being careful enough with it in the past, which resulted in the product getting on my teeth. I am not a fan of the level of care I am supposed to use when applying this product, but it really is an interesting product I want to get an actual full day's use of.

A testament to how pigmented Ignite is is how it blends out, compared to the other lip products (excluding Grayson). Each swatch was pretty much even, but Ignite just would not fade.

I am intrigued to see how this week will go and will follow up with my thoughts.

Thanks for reading!

Shopping My Stash

Good ev-uh-ning. Today I thought I would simply plot out the different things I will be trying this week, in an effort for me to use up more of my collection.

I base a lot of my makeup look on the time restrictions I have, as well as what I will be wearing that day.

Tomorrow the weather is nice and moderate, so I am wearing a linen-striped button up blouse with my usual black work pants, and black sandals, with silver earrings. This is a very cool-toned outfit, so I usually like to contrast that with warm-toned makeup.

After watching some videos online, I think I want to pay more attention to my Modern Renaissance palette. I especially want to use more of Golden Ochre, like I saw Kat (aka KitschSnitch). I kind of just want a very minimal, brown smoky eye.

Face wise, I am torn. I love using The Sweetest Bling highlighter, but that one is so cool-toned that I find it clashes with some of the things I wear. Also, one of my other makeup "rules" is that I can go with a more sparkly highlighter if my eyes are matte. Which is what I am attempting tomorrow. I know I want a straight up golden highlighter. I could do my fave- Colourpop Here Kitty Kitty, but I know I have been trying to get more use out of my Mary Loumanizer. Ugh. In my mind, the Mary Lou is just a drier formula. Okay, I will give it a go. We'll see if I can fall back in love with it.

Blush will be my usual matte colors.

Bronzer- not sure yet. I could give the Butter Palette use since I just got it. It depends what I am in the mood for. I have been enjoying contour sticks recently, especially from Milani and Jordana.

Lips- I am never deliberate with lip color. I can't find my Stila Balm in Grayson, which has been distressing to me. I know I misplaced it somewhere. Other than that, I could continue to use Clinique Black Honey, to keep going with my classic makeup motif.

Alright we are all set! Hopefully I will have enough time to post the look tomorrow with reviews, if it turns out decent.

Thanks for reading!

Duping the Soft Glam Palette

Though I think there is something very beautiful about the Soft Clam palette, I can't deny that it is a very dupe-able palette. So I decided it would be fun to go through my collection and see what I can actually dupe!

1.) Tempera. Now, I owned Tempera in my Modern Renaissance palette. I have used up most of it, though. While there is still a teeny bit of usable powder left on the sides of the pan, I thought the best thing to do would be to use the dupe of Tempera that is in some of the new WnW palettes. There is one in the Not a Basic Peach palette that I swatched. Basically, any satin cream color will do. 

2.) Our first (there will be more) golden shade. Temptalia noted this as having an olive-tone. I myself used the shade Hype from the Tarteist Pro to Go palette, swatched below. I am not sure if that has the same precise undertones as Glistening, but do I care? No. 

3.) Orange Soda was easy for me. I have two dupes in my collection, both by Coloured Raine. I've got the single Angel Face, as well as the shade Heir in the Queen of Hearts palette. 

4.) Rose Pink: This is a berry shimmer- but more red toned/pink. I honestly do not own something like that. I have a cool-toned pink shimmer in the Eyes Cream palette, but that would not do. I ended up settling for the metallic shade from the Zodiac Palette from BH Cosmetics. It is from the Leo segment of the palette. Though it is highly metallic and lighter than Soft Glam, it does have a rose tone to it. 

5.) Sultry. The picture of the palette is a bit deceiving. It looks pink, but ABH describes this as a "chocolate brown." So I chose the metallic copper shade from the Pro to Go called Boss. It is gorgeous, and has a pink tint to it. 

6.) Bronze. I don't understand this one. This is another gold, but it is called bronze. It has a strong yellow/brown tone to it, nearly a duochrome, but swatches pretty straightforward as gold. I pretty much just shrugged on this one and used what I thought worked as an actual bronze shade (which I am not even sure what that means anymore), from the Too Faced PB & J palette: Peanut Butter Cup. 

7.) Mulberry. This is the Mulberry from the Carli Bybel palette. Unlike the ABH, it is satin, not ultra-matte. I love the formula on this one.

8.) Dusty Rose. I mean, it's pretty much Buon Fresco, right?

9.) Fairy. Another weak gold?! I am honestly shocked. I have seen countless pictures of this palette online, but it really did not occur to me how many sheer gold shades this palette contained.  I decided to use Bananas from the Too Faced PB & J palette because that is a sheer gold.

10.) Burnt Orange. I have it! It's in the MR palette.

11.) Sienna. This one caused me some contention. Temptalia said a lighter dupe is from the PB & J palette, the shade "Nuts About U." I then swatched Realgar from the MR palette, thinking that could work. I ended up not liking either as dupes. The picture below contains two swatches- the left the second transition color from WnW's Not a Basic Peach palette, and the second one "Crisp" from the Tarte Pro to Go. I think the WnW comes out on top.

12.) Rustic: A neutral mid-toned brown. I used Duchess from the Queen of Hearts palette, though that may be too dark.

13.) Cyprus Umber: From the MR palette.

14.) Noir: A matte black. I have two in my collection, and one I really like. It is from the Zodiac palette, which is swatched on the right.

(l) WnW, (r) BH Cosmetics

What did I learn?

When I originally learned of this palette, I knew there were so many parallels to the Modern Renaissance. But I still thought it was a stronger palette than the Modern Renaissance. For starters, the shimmer shades in the MR were way too similar, and one had pretty weak pigmentation (Primavera). The variety of shimmers in SG APPEAR to be more diverse.

But, as a result of this project, I learned that the shimmers are still an issue in this palette. Three shimmery golds is not something I am too happy about. The only shimmer I don't actually own is that Rose one, but I could always get a single or something, if I really wanted to.

Ultimately, I can replicate the palette enough in my own collection, and there is no pressing urge to buy it.