Silk Naturals Boss Gloss in Big Wig: Review and Swatches

I am on a lip gloss kick, specifically in the mood for lip glosses that are hydrating, but also with visible sparkle. Before I found one of my HGs, a gloss by Pixi, I placed an order with Silk Naturals. They have a line of lip glosses called Boss Gloss, and their most neutral one with visible sparkle was Big Wig:

The product comes in a standard container, but the product is only visible when looking at the bottom of the tube. It was $4.75, and contains 3.5 mL, which is not a lot, but given the lip glosses I have purchased last week cost a lot more, I do not mind too much.

Shipping was pretty quick for me, and I got the product within a week of ordering.

The lipgloss has a light vanilla scent, which disappears once applied on the lips. The formula is not gritty and gives a decent shine and sparkle, as well as a cool-toned rose tint, while moisturizing your lips. I would say for a gloss it is fairly long-lasting, and fades away nicely, leaving behind a bit of glitter.

I would definitely purchase more gloss from Silk Naturals. Specifically, I am interesting in getting both Top Dog and CEO, as those contain shimmer.

Onto the swatches! On top of bare skin:

So, though the size of the gloss was disappointing, the quality and price is right and I will probably end up picking up more of these in the near future!

Silk Naturals Great Impressions Pressing Kit Review

Loose shadows are inexpensive, and very common among indie brands. Personally, I know that as lovely as my loose shadows are, they do not nearly get as much use as my pressed shadows. I have been researching options for pressing shadows for quite some time, and stumbled upon the NY-based indie brand, Silk Naturals. Silk Naturals sells a pressing kit that comes with 15 magnetic pans, a palette, two mixing spatulas, a container for the pans, and a 30 ml bottle of their Great Impressions gel- a pressing/mixing medium that contains "Ethanol, water, propanediol, carbomer."

After watching their company youtube video tutorial, I decided to go for it. 

I pressed 10 shadows. Unlike the video tutorial, I did not use pliers to press, because I feel like that would make the shadows too brittle and prone to breakage. It was easy enough to do, though I felt like I was eyeballing the amount of gel. For me, the whole process was a bit messy, and I wish I did it over newspaper. 

I'll organize the results by brand, and note the finish of the shadow. This is after leaving the pressed shadows to dry for 24 hours.

Shiro Cosmetics:

-Fleece-Lined Pillow Fort: A white satin. This was the first one I pressed. As this is my HG white shade, I was a little scared to press it. In the pan, I did not use enough product so the pan is about halfway filled. However, it seems to be holding its own and swatched beautifully. 

-Pietrisycamollaviadelrechiotemexity: A matte tan. There was not enough product to fill the pan and the end result is kind of crumbly. Swatches fine, though.

Meech and Mia: Both of these worked out beautifully. I am not going to write up separate comments for either shadow, because something about the ingredients of these powders reacted really well to the pressing medium. Both look gorgeous in the pan- high shine, and are holding together. They swatch smoothly and with intense pigment. 

-Purple

-Copper- **update. After two days, the top layer of the shadow in the pan crumbled. Maybe I was too rough with the palette? Most of the product is in there tightly packed, though, so I am not sure what happened.

Fyrinnae:

-Serendipity: Pressed excellently. Would still use Pixie Epoxy as a base, though, because it is a sheer shadow.

-Rapunzel Had Extensions: Reacted the best to the mixing medium. Swatches very opaque and still retained its duochrome quality. 

-Nepenthe: Not sure if I did not have enough product, or the ingredients in this one was slightly different, but pressing really did not do anything The shadow is pretty much still loose in the pan.

-Mythical Dalliance- This is a sheer glitter. Some of it has crumbled, but overall it is staying packed in the pan.

Silk Naturals:

-"Convertable" (free shadow w/ lip gloss). Useless. In 24 hours it turned back into a loose shadow in the pan.

Dose of Colors:

-Cone (shattered shadow from the Eyes Cream palette). Holding its own and swatches a little more sheer than it used to, but maybe that's because this press is more firm. But overall it is usable and pretty!

Overall, I didn't really have a set method for these, but I think shadows that were "drier" to begin with pressed the best. The ones that were looser and wetter to begin with did not react well.

Would I recommend this: Yes, just know there is a learning curve, and that drier formula loose shadows (ones that don't ball up because of a binding agent) will press more successfully!

Here are some pics and swatches:

This is the magnetic palette that accompanies the kit, as well as all the shadows I pressed. 

This is my super special awesome z-palette. I moved my favorite pressed ones here to get more use. The white shade is "Fleece Lined Pillow Forts," and then we have the two Meech and Mia shadows in the second row, starting from the left. They're the ones that look lumpy but shiny. Finally, the very last shadow, the last row far right is "Rapunzel Had Extensions."

A swatch of the four:

Shiny!

Have you ever tried pressing your own products? If so, how did it go?

Eyeshadow Palette Collection Post

Hi everyone! I was inspired to do a palette collection post. I am not going to count my two z-palettes, but rather complete, pre-made palettes.  With each palette I'll talk about how much I use it and give my thoughts on each.

The first section of palettes I am going to talk about are all from BH Cosmetics.

The Carli Bybel Deluxe Palette (top)

I have had this for one year. I have hit pan on the cream shade, and reorganized some shades from this palette by depotting two of the highlighters to put in my highlighter z-palete. Overall, this is a really easy to use palette with some excellent lid shades. It has subtle color to what could be considered neutral shades, which is what I prefer.

Where the palette falls short is just the sheer amount of highlighter/repeat shades. If she could have just stuck to an eyeshadow palette and maybe a separate highlighter palette, that would have been a lot less overwhelming and I'd want to use the palette even more.

I use this palette especially for a matte burgundy shade when I need something for the outer corner of my eye, because it is so soft and does not skip on my skin.

The Zodiac Palette (right):

My own palette is a bit of a mess because the center highlighter cracked and got everywhere. Other than that, though, I love this palette for glittery and high-shine lid shades. The mattes are of excellent quality, but I find they blend (especially the dark brown ones) little too easily, so less is more when it comes to those shades. It's a great palette, especially for the fall and winter.

Take Me Back to Brazil Palette (bottom):

This is such a fun palette but the shimmers are useless. They have no pigmentation. The reason this palette is worth anything is the mattes, which have pigment, but should be built up. In this way, for me at least, this palette is very useful for infusing colors into a look. I stick to the yellows, purples, pinks, and reds, though, and far away from the blues.


The next set of palettes are some of my smaller ones:

The Tarteist Pro to Go palette (left):

I got this from ebay after obsessing after it for months. Why? Ugh. I don't know. It feels so long ago. It is a nice little palette, with a nice selection of shimmers and mattes. It just feels like a thoughtful palette. The mattes are very smooth and soft.

The Wet 'n Wild Not a Basic Peach Palette (top):

This was part of WnW's brand update and reformulation. I really enjoy the this palette, especially the transitional mattes. However, the quality is a bit inconsistent, as I did discard two shades that were not working for me.

The Too Faced Peanut Butter and Jelly Palette (bottom):

I got this from TJ Maxx on discount, but I don't regret it. This is an adorable palette, and really easy to make orangey brown looks with it. I really like the quality of the eyeshadow, except I think Bananas is very sheer.

Physician's Formula Classic Nudes (left):
This was part of their anniversary collection, and my review of this palette was very positive. It is a handy palette to have around.

Wet 'n Wild, Walking on Eggshells (center):

I purchased this solely to have the original formula in my possession. The quality is lovely. Unfortunately, I do have many overlaps with the color in this palette, but I do occasionally use it when I am in the mood for an easy look.

Wet 'n Wild 6-pan Palette in Greed (right):
I don't use this palette as much any more, but the salmon matte is my everything and I can't let it go because of that.

Finally, we have my larger, higher-end palettes:

ABH, Modern Renaissance.

I'll be honest. I am still using it after two years, and have panned six shades. I still really enjoy the quality of this palette.

Coloured Raine, Queen of Hearts palette.

This is a gorgeous palette, and the quality is commendable. The mattes are super blend-able, except for Ladyship. She's a (royal) pain. For me, the shimmers are a little intense for the day to day, which is why I don't use this palette as much as I'd like. If their mini-palettes would have been of better quality, I think I would have been better off using that. Still, I really enjoy using this palette.

ABH, Norvina.

 I have been using this for a couple of days now, and I am very pleased. This palette has a lot of what I have been looking for color-wise. I do think there are too many shimmers, and that the palette would benefit from one or two more mattes. Still, I really enjoy this palette and look forward to continue using it. I find it to be very inspiring.

I have decluttered a couple of palettes in the past that I definitely talked about on the blog. These include The Balm Meet Matt(e) Nude, The Balm Nude 'Tude, Urban Decay Pulp Fiction (this one pained me), Cargo Venice Enchantment, and Kat Von D Chrystalis and Innerstellar. With that in mind, I really like the collection I ended up with today.

The Norvina Palette: Swatches and Pics

This is not a review post just yet! But I thought I would show some pictures of my newly arrived Norvina palette!

I have a review in the works so stay tuned!

5 Products I Did Not Expect to Love

This title might seem a bit weird because why would somebody buy something not expecting to enjoy using it?

But allow me to explain.

Either my first impressions of these products were wrong, or I purchased them not really expecting much, but have since learned that it is more than it appears. This all sounds cryptic. Let's just get into it.

I did not expect to love the Pixi Lower Lash mascara. I remember there were a lot of lukewarm reviews about this product, which actually was a collaboration with someone I don't know, but the overall consensus was just confusion about the utility of such a product. Furthermore, I don't really love Pixi as a brand. I have had terrible luck with their lip products and eyeshadows, though I admittedly use the Glow Tonic. But I really really like the lower lash mascara. I bought it and the brow gel for $8.00 (retail $16) at TJ Maxx on a whim, and have not regretted it.

The mascara defines and lengthens the lashes in a natural way, creating a feathery effect. I enjoy using it on my top lashes as well. As my eyelashes can be difficult, the brush is fine enough to comb through them. After, I typically layer on another mascara, such as Essence Lash Princess, and my lashes really pop.

And actually, I learned that Pixi is coming out with a mascara that contains both a lower lash and upper lash wand. If it performs the way mine currently does, I would happily buy it! I really think they are on to something with this.

The second product was in the same duo. Though I use the Essence Make Me Brow, sometimes I don't want color. I didn't really think the Pixi one was going to be anything special, but it does an excellent job of shaping my brows and keeping them in place. I would say, though, it is more of a light hold if anything.

Next, I did not expect to love the Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in Fair (15). I bought this after hearing a lot of glowing reviews, but around that time I also got the Colourpop No Filter Concealer, and the BH Cosmetics Pro concealer. Those two are very light and bright, and good for under the eye, and I just wasn't paying any attention to the Maybelline one, which is closer to my skin-tone. But when I needed to spot conceal, the CP and BH ones didn't cut it. Not only is the Maybelline one great because it is a good match, but also because it is pigmented and durable, and will last on your face as a spot-concealer.

My first impressions of the Looxi Shadow Mirage were not stellar, because I explained how it is on the sheerer side, and doesn't play well with my more dependable bases, such as Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy. However, I have since learned that the shadow does better wet, or with regular eyeshadow primer all over the lid. I really like the effect of it that way, and have since learned to be happy that this shade is in my collection. If you want to see a look featuring this shade, check-out my LA Splash eyeliner review from earlier today.

Lastly, I did not expect to love the Milani Contour & Highlight Cream and Liquid Duo. I bought this last summer for $11 from their website because it was new. I was not impressed by the liquid highlighter, which is more on the natural, subtle side, and decided that the whole product was not for me.

But then I got into cream stick contouring, and there is something about the Milani one I really enjoy. It blends well, does not disappear, and has a bit of a grey tone to it. I have been using it for a couple of weeks. It contains 3.6 g of product, which compared to the KKW contour stick, is about 4 times as much. Just saying.

What have I learned? In most if not all of these cases, my first impressions were off because I only was thinking of one intended use for the product, or way to use the product, which was incredibly limiting. I learned to get the full use out of my products and I ended up with five things that I not only use a lot, but really like.

What are some products you did not expect to love?