LA Splash Art-ki-tekt Liner in Chromate: Review

First off, the name is terrible. I keep wanting to type Ark-i-tekt. Because that's the word, sort of. But LA Splash wanted to get a bit clever, a bit punny, didn't they? Didn't work.

The eyeliner itself does work, though, and I am happy to review it for you here, today. This is what the pen looks like:

I would show you a picture of my own pen, but because the rose gold packaging is so reflective, I can't get a decent pic of the entire pen. 

So, let's get into specs. The liner is a brush-tip eyeliner, which is a must for me. Because of my protruding eye shape, felt tip liners skip, while brush tip liners can mostly follow the contour of my eye. I am always in the market for affordable, matte (as matte can be), very black brush tip eyeliners. Believe it or not, they are quite hard to find.

But on the recommendation of one of my fave youtubers, I bought this from Amazon for $14.00. It is currently out of stock on the LA Splash site, but not on Amazon, where it has a rating of four out of five stars.

LA Splash claims the liner is waterproof. The pen contains 1 mL of product.

For funsies, I decided to also compare it to my HG Physician's Formula Eye Booster Liner (I mean that's not even the full name but really people we have got to talk about these names), in Ultra Black. I have a couple of back-ups of these, but retail price ranges from $9-$11, for 0.50 mL, which frustrates me, because I do feel like I run out of the PF one quickly.

So, as of now it seems like the Art-ki-tekt pen is a better deal. Let's get into swatches:

This is a picture of my eye about six hours after application, and two hours of walking in the park in 80-degree weather. Aside from the fading on the outer edge of my eye, it held up pretty well. No leaking. 

This is a close-up of the brush-tip. Out of nowhere, a bristle got trapped and won't seem to bend back into place, no matter how carefully I put the cap back on. Sometimes I get that kind of problem with the PF liner, but it always resolves itself. 

 Swatches! Physicians's Formula on the left, and LA Splash on the right. PF I noticed dispenses more product and creates a thicker line. In terms of darkness, opacity, and sheen, the two are nearly identical. They do have very similar ingredients. LA Splash, though, contains Jojoba oil.

And the wear comparison. After rubbing the back of half with a wet cloth, the Art-ki-tekt liner broke down, while the PF liner held up. 

Is this liner as good as my usual choice? Product-wise, no. The finish, color, and opacity are the same, but the durability of PF cannot be beat. However, LA Splash wins with a better value. If you wanted to pay for a full mL of PF's eyeliner, you'd be paying about $20, while LA Splash is less. 

The pen on LA Splash is also thinner, making it easy to control and draw on the line. I don't mind this eyeliner and am happy to have it. It just makes me want PF to be even better when it comes to product value. 

If you are in the market for a brush-tip eyeliner, this one is worth trying out. 

I am not that familiar with LA Splash as a brand, but I am definitely interested. If anyone has tried anything from them, or knows of a different brand that sells brush-tip eyeliners (of any price range), I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Almay Shadow Squad in Fairy Tale: Review and Swatches

So, as part of Almay's rebranding, they've released these little quads of eyeshadow called "Shadow Squads," packaged in a sleek transparent little square, with many different colors out there. Each quad (because I am not going to keep typing Squad) contains colors in the same family, but with different finishes.

I purchased at CVS the shade Fairy Tale quad, because 1.) I am a fairy tale nerd, and 2.) these appeared to be iridescent versions of the primary colors, in the same vein of the Kat Von D Alchemist Palette. I paid $6.99, for  3.5 g of product.

Let's get into some pictures:

 Order of swatches: Green, Blue, Red, and Yellow

 All the colors mixed together.

As for my assessment, the only positive thing I can say is that the powder is very soft, and when I initially placed my finger in, I was hopeful based on the texture of the product. However, there is barely any color pay-off. Each shade is vaguely the color as shown in the pan, but each is filled with glitter of the same color. I will say that the glitters are small and could be very flattering, but they are so sparse and the iridescent base so sheer that there is hardly any impact on the eye.

The eyeshadow even failed the Pixie Epoxy and wet brush tests, as normal quality shadows are able to be enhanced by either medium.

I also tried to swirl a face brush in the pan to make a highlighter, but again, no impact. The swatch I provided looks pigmented, but when blended out, it disappears. All that remains is the glitter.

This line is so weird, and I am quite disappointed. It is almost as if Almay is desperate to gain some footing in the market, but they have seemed to underestimate or misunderstand what customers are looking for. I expected pigment. My last Almay purchase was a couple of months ago, when I bought a liquid eyeliner because I was in a pinch. That stuff washed off so easily, and had no staying power. So how updated is this company, really?

I regret this purchase and wish I didn't fall for the gimmick.

Beauty Bookmark #2, The Norvina Palette

I thought this release was worthy of its own post. Today Norvina of ABH released the promo image for their upcoming palette, the Norvina Palette:

Now, right of the bat I am super excited for this palette, and wanted to buy it as soon as I saw it. However, I also wanted to think about parallels with my own collection, and what I would need to make sure of before actually buying the palette.

So, let's go shade by shade.

1. Dreamer: A light gold shimmer. I know I have tons of these in my collection. 
2. Summer: A brassier, darker gold. Another shadow I feel I have in my collection.
3. Wild Child: A cool-toned pink frost, that seems to be a bit more rich in color. This I sort of have? From the Dose of Colors Eyes Cream Palette, we have the shade Bubblegum. My only issue with Bubblegum is that I feel it's a bit on the sheerer side, with flecks of glitter dispersed throughout, which is not exactly the look I am going for. Wild Child, however, does seem to be the frosty pink that I've been looking for.
4. Rose Gold: I have many a rose gold shadow, including my HG, Rose Gold from Ardency Inn. 
5. Celestial: This is really pretty and interesting to me, and I know I don't have anything like it in my collection. I have been looking for the perfect purple frost, and I feel like I have yet to find it. I could also be reaching, but going by the name and the picture, it might have a slight light blue reflect? 
6. Dazzling: A bronze shimmer. 
7. Drama: A red-toned purple shimmer. I hope it has more of a frostier finish. I might have something a bit like it in the Tarte Pro to Go palette, in the shade Dominate, or the shade Queen Mother by Coloured Raine. 
8. Base: Matte cream shade. I've got these.
9. Soul: Going by its satin finish, I have nothing like it in my collection.
10. Incense: Reminds me of Bobbi Brown Wheat. I do have Warm Taupe from the Modern Renaissance palette. 
11. Love: A pink matte, but warmer toned. I do have a gorgeous Inglot matte shadow #362 that is like a true pink, but this shadow also reminds me a lot of Lay Low by Colourpop, which I also have, and is slightly more peachy. 
12. Volatile: A reddish/rosier brown. Could be similar to Cone from the Dose of Colours palette. 
13. Eccentric: In the palette it looks really striking, like a mustard-brown, but I wonder how similar it is to Burnt Orange or Raw Sienna. 
14. Passion: Mulberry from Soft Glam? There's a shade in the Carli Bybel Deluxe palette that could be sort of similar. 

This palette also drew immediate comparisons to the Soul Blooming Palette from Nabla:

The Huda Desert Dusk:

And the Lime Crime Venus 3:

Truthfully, though, out of all of those options, ABH's palette still is most appealing to me. Too much blue in Nabla, too much warmth in Desert Dusk, and I heard the most gorgeous looking shade in the Venus 3, the shade REM(?), was a let down. 

So what do I need to do know before buying this?

• How distinct are the shimmers? I have critiqued a lot of ABH palettes in the past for lack of distinct shimmer shades, and there are four neutral shimmers in this palette. If any of them have a nice finish, or even a duochrome quality, I would love that. 
• How does Soul swatch? Soul is that satin-looking lilac. The last not quite shimmer I can think of in an ABH palette was Antique Bronze and I hated it. 

What do I like about this palette?

• I like the way the shades were paired together. Because there are so many mattes, the "quad" configuration doesn't really work for me here, but grouping them in pairs seems promising to me. 
• PINK AND PURPLE. Those have been my colors this summer and I want to keep the party going.

Will I buy this?

• At this point, the only way I am going to be sure this is not redundant and a waste of money is if I see swatches. I am in the camp of wanting to buy this, though, very much so.

What do you think? Are there enough neutrals vs. pinks and purples for you to buy this? Please feel free to let me know below!

Neutral-ish Sunset EoTD and Tutorial

Tonight I was bored so I experimented with a couple of colors and techniques.

First, I used concealer to prime my eyes this time. I used the Colourpop No Filter concealer because it does have a dry finish and sets quickly.

After, I took a very fluffy blending brush and used the two yellow mattes from the BH Cosmetics Take Me Back to Brazil Palette:


I do this only because I can never remember which of the two is the pigmented one.

I was very generous with the yellow, and it did need to be built up a bit. I went high up with this color, even up to my brows, and also on my lid.

Then, I took the orange shade Empress from the Coloured Raine Queen of Hearts palette. This was a good shade of orange because it was midtoned. Darker oranges run the risk of appearing brown on me. I blended the orange into the crease, but beneath the yellow.


Finally, I did use four colors from the Modern Renaissance palette.

I used Venetian Red blended into the outer corner and a bit into the orange, and Red Ochre concentrated on the outer corner and slightly blended. Burnt Orange was placed on the lid, but that could have easily been replaced with any color or finish. 

Primavera, a gold shimmer, was placed in the inner corner. 

 Overall, I really like this look!

Thanks for reading!

Looxi Beauty Aurora Shadows (Swatches and Review)

So I guess my haul was not 100% over with. As one last hurrah, I did a bit more research into duochrome shadows, and found the brand Looxi Beauty. I picked up a couple of more work-friendly duochrome colors, for $20. Using Angelica Nyqvist's code almost covered the shipping fee that was already pretty minimal for me.

The four colors I got were:

1.) Boujee. This was the winner for me- hands down. I was not sure what the site meant that it contains all the colors of a rainbow- but after wearing and swatching it, it totally does. So on the surface, this appears to be a copper/gold with a metallic yellow reflect, but it has reflects of blue, which also shine a bit green and purple at times. On my eye it looks really elegant.

2.) Bohemian. I am kind of disappointed in this one, because it definitely reads warmer and copper on me than I would have liked. Aside from the fact that it is high quality with bits of purple microshimmer in it, I do have shades like this in my collection. That is my own fault, really, for not selecting shades carefully enough. However, it really is a gorgeous shadow and I do intend on using it.

3.) Mirage. I hate to say it, but the formulation on this one confuses me. It's not smooth, it creates a lot of fall out, and it didn't behave with Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy. I have never meet a shadow that doesn't play nice with PE! For my swatches, I have a dry finger swatch, and then on top of primer, but even then there does not seem to be much of a difference. For what it is worth, the colors are pretty, but I could not do a complex look with it- I imagine it would be good as a one-shadow color. Maybe.

4.) Charmed. This is a light lilac with blue-green reflect and is super pretty. It also wears well as a highlighter.

Swatches, and eye looks:

(l-r) Charmed, Bohemian, Boujee, Mirage

Mirage on top of WnW eyeshadow primer. Not much of a difference. 

For this look, I used Bohemian on top of Mac Paint Pot in Painterly. I regret doing this and won't do so in the future. Because the eyeshadow is so intense already, it got kind of muddy in my crease on top of Painterly. The color is super pretty, though. On me it just needs a drier base. 

The above is my eye look with Mirage. I used Wet 'n Wild eyeshadow primer, and then the Physician's Formula matte shadows to set it and deepen my crease. On top of that I used Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy, which did not agree with Mirage, which flaked a lot, and created a lot of fallout. 

I used the same process with Boujee, but as you can see, Boujee looks a lot nicer. I will be wearing this look in the future.

Final thoughts:
 Looxi has gorgeous shadows, but I need to be more careful about the formulas and shades that I choose. I do plan on picking up more in the future, though! If there are any that are in the more pink-brown-gold family that you think are worth it, please let me know!