Random Face Trios! (Day 1)

To get more use out of my single-compact products, I decided- through a ramdomizer- to sort and select one highlighter, blush, and bronzer, to do a look with. I could have done this for eyeshadow too, but I wanted my eyeshadow look to be inspired by the face products that were selected.

I thought this would be a good way to decide what I like about each product, as well as how they work together.

So, the three face powders I will be using are:

1.) Tarte Blush Feisty, described as a "golden nude," which doesn't seem quite right. Going off of my swatch, it seems to be a bright peach leaning pink.

-Initial thoughts: I've never actually used this since getting in an Ipsy bag a few months ago, and I am glad it was picked, as I am curious about this formula and the color.

-After applying it: This is a very natural looking, easy to use blush. It is a bit sheerer than I would have preferred, but for daily use

2.) Hard Candy Party Girl Baked Bronzer. This is a rose-brown bronzer with a luminous finish.

-Initial thoughts:  I have reviewed it here. I really like this bronzer, but I tend to use it as a combination blush-bronzer. I am not too sure how it's going to work with the Tarte blush. That's a lot of pink.

-After applying it:
It did work well with the blush, though I thought it was still a bit too warm for the bronzer. However, it was very subtle on the skin and I can see why these blushes seem to last forever.

3.) Revlon Color Charge Highlighter.

-Initial thoughts: I am kind of glad this one was picked because the bronzer is so luminous. This highlighter is not too intense, so I am hoping that these three products combined will create a flushed glowing look.

-After applying it: it wore a lot more golden than pink on the skin, which I was impressed with. I still really like this highlighter, even though Revlon and the collection it was a part of was a bit of a fail imo.


Pictures and swatches of the face products:

Feisty, Party Girl, Revlon highlighter

Would I wear this combo again?

I would wear the highlighter and the blush together again, but leave the Hard Candy Bronzer out. I am still of the firm belief it is good worn on its own, for very natural looks.

Anti-Haul: Trixie Mattel x Sugar Pill Collab

To start, I should note that I am going to approach this through the eye of someone who has never used Sugarpill Cosmetics. The brand strikes me as geared or at least friendly to pros, given their offerings of large pans of color, and their higher price tag.

Their most recent collab with drag queen Trixie Mattel strikes me as a bid to appeal to the more everyday consumer.

I mean, I don't mean to be mean, but it kinda looks like a Tarte palette.

Notice how the palette is adorned with yellow roses, even though yellow is not a featured color in the palette? Nice.

A couple of reasons I will be skipping this include the fact that I am not a Trixie Mattel fan. I hate how she was brought back in her season, and she got a lot of praise for mediocrity, while other queens were ignored. I think a lot of viewers saw themselves in Trixie, and made her out to be more interesting/special than she was. That's my hot take.

I am surprised by how low key and boring this palette is. Perhaps because The Little Twin Stars palette (which I thought looked cool) was not received well, Sugar Pill is trying a different approach to compete with other makeup companies? But the Twin Stars palette didn't have great pigmentation. That doesn't necessarily mean that people don't want color.

And before I continue, I know that neutral palettes are and always will be loved. But a limited edition collab should be fun, interesting, and special. If I did not know who Trixie Mattel was, or even Sugarpill, I'd guess this was a Lorac palette.

And guess what, with the liquid lip included, it costs $52.

Hm.

May I suggest two other face and eye palettes that I personally think are more interesting?

1.) BH Cosmetics x Its My Raye Raye Palette, $22

2.) The Balm Alternative Rock Face Palettes, $27.50

Sorry, Sugarpill.

Does the Modern Renaissance expire?

We're going to talk about the Modern Renaissance, I palette that I bought in August 2016. So, two years ago to the day. As you may or may not know, the palette has a shelf life of 6 months. After which, the quality of the shadows may be affected. This short shelf-life is due to the ingredients.

Now, I can't speak for everyone's experience. But I can show you swatches of the four colors that many claim have "turn bad," as a sign that the palette has "gone bad."

Before I do, I don't think fear-mongering is the right approach. If you sanitize your powder products, and they do not smell or affect your skin, they can last a good amount of time. In terms of the feel of these red-toned colors in particular, they have become grittier, but I find they perform pretty much the same.

Have they turned brown? No.

Here are the brush swatches.

Red Ochre, Venetian Red, Love Letter, Realgar

And the finger swatches:

Red Ochre, Venetian Red, Love Letter, Realgar

The colors are still pretty vibrant and distinct. In my opinion, Red Ochre and Venetian Red became more sheer than I remember, but if anything it makes it easier to work with.

To wrap up. Yes, makeup changes a bit the longer you have it. Just take care of it and use your own discretion.

Brands I Plan to Try This Year

This is a bit of a wish-listy post that is different than my usual ant-haul spiel. I've just been seeing a lot of affordable brands come out with truly interesting products and I plan to sample from them.

Of course, this means buying and expanding my palette collection, which I don't know if I necessarily want to do. Of course, if any of these brands decides to start putting out singles, I wouldn't mind, either.

1.) Makeup Revolution. I am swayed. After swatching the Soph X Palette and reading reviews on their Chocolate Bar palettes (a line that is continually added to in new and fun ways), I am resolved to try them. Right now the products I specifically have my eye on can be found in Ulta, but I've seen some Makeup Revolution products in TJ Maxx. Go figure.

2.) Juvia's Place. I have been low-key (beautuber voice) obsessed with the Douce for a while, but...that mint green. One, I already have it, and two, I don't use it. If they come out with another mini palette with the smaller pans, which I am sure they will, I will gladly buy it.

3.) Bad Habit Beauty. I know many people are divided on the "ethics" of mimicking or duping palettes. But the thing is. I was never going to buy Natasha Denona anyway. I was never going to buy Pat McGrath anyway. In the case of ABH, the Mario palette is long gone. So I really do appreciated Bad Habit making these things- that I NEVER would have tried otherwise- available to me.

Temptalia reviewed recently one the palettes they made that dupes Pat McGrath's Subliminal palette. The price difference between the two is $101.00. Ell oh ell. And though she gave the BHB palette a C- total, the most interesting colors for me scored in the B range, and are listed as the top dupes (in a very short list) for the PMcG palette. So. yeah, I do intend on trying a palette from them in the future. Probably one that dupes another higher brand.

So that's my short list! Have you got any products from these brands? If so, what are your thoughts?

Thanks for reading.

Local Ulta Opening + Haul

So today was a bit of an event. It was the opening of a local Ulta, and so many people just flocked there. I swatched a whole bunch of things, some of which had never been swatched before, so naturally I have some thoughts.

I also bought a couple of things.

Let's first go into what I swatched like a madwoman. Honestly, if the store wasn't so crowded, I probably would not have been so brazen about it, and probably would have limited the number of things I swatched.

1.) Mac

The Mac section of the store was super intense and professional-feeling. I swatched the highlighting trios in the square pans. The powders were silky and gave off a gorgeous and smooth sheen. It is no wonder why the palettes are so highly rated (and pricey).

The new Dazzle something liquid eyeshadows- I swatched an iridescent glitter, which was very pretty but took rather long to dry down, as well as a metallic warm pink, which dried fairly quickly and did not budge on my hand. I am strongly considering buying those in the future. For me, my eyes tend to react better to liquid eyeshadows with a metallic finish, such as the pink shade, and not to glitter toppers, which contain larger particles of glitter which seem to irritate my eyelids.

2.) Stila

I swatched a green eyeshadow duo, as part of their line of jewel tone duos. It was fine, but I don't really understand the functionality of this line. Basically the same tone of color with slightly different finishes? I wasn't blown away by the pictures of this product, and was less impressed by them in person.

Liquid eyeshdow- Sea Siren and another pink shade I cannot recall. Sea Siren was gorgeous, a cool pink with a blue-lavender shift. It is an Ulta exclusive, and I would strongly suggest purchasing that in the future.

Additionally, I swatched the putty highlighter in the iridescent shade. I was just curious about the texture of the product really. It is soft, but still powdery feeling, if that makes sense. The shade was quite pretty.

3.) Becca x Chrissy Teigen highlighting powder. I don't really care about Becca as a company anymore, but the powder was pretty. But of course it would be.

4.) Morphe 350 Palette Shimmer. One blogger I read commented that Morphe's shimmers are really good, but when I swiped my finger across a gold one (the palette that had not been previously swatched) the pay-off was barely there. It required more pressure from me, but at that point I had already moved on.

5.) Makeup Revolution- Various Palettes including the Chocolate Bars and SophX Collab. Okay, Makeup Revolution is the winner for me. The palettes were way better than I expected. I am extremely likely to purchase something from them in the future. Especially from that SophX palette- I swatched a pink matte and a green shimmer- and both would not rub off my hand.

6.) The shimmer and glitter from the Ulta Melissa Michelle collab palette. They were extremely chunky. A pass from me.

7.) The L'Oreal Paradise Enchanted palette. I should have swatched the mattes, as those are harder to formulate, but as I cannot resist shiny things I swatched two coppery shimmers. They were surprisingly opaque. The palette also has a distinct peach smell, which even though it was artificial, it was not unpleasant.

What I almost got:

The Laura Geller Gilded Honey highlighter mini, for $15. Couldn't do it. I knew I have so many highlighters already, but I was so close!

What I actually got:

From left to right, I got the Goodbye Blemish Liquid Patch from I Dew Care, the Essence Ultra Last Instant Color lipstick in So Ungreytful, and the Essence Volume Booster lash primer. Reviews for each product are on their way, but as a whole I am pleased with what I purchased.

The only little disappointment is that the Ulta does not carry BH Cosmetics, but I hope they will eventually. It was really cool seeing it on its opening day. Everyone- associates and customers alike- were super excited.

Thanks for reading!