Emerald Stone My Heart: Review and Swatch of Azade Eyeshadow in Emerald Stone

This is going to be a bit of a mean post for anyone who lives in the US. This is an eyeshadow I picked up while in Greece about a year ago, and I'm not sure how someone in the US would go about procuring this shade. So I apologize in advance, but I just love this eyeshadow so much I wanted to tell those who would have access to it about it. This eyeshadow is from a brand called Azade. It's not the brand they have called Maquilllage, it's the brand Azade. I have no idea why this is so. Anyway, this particular shade is called Emerald Stone, and it's beautiful.

I find the packaging on this to be a bit cheapy, but that's fine since it keeps costs down - I think this was around 5€. Plastic, but it doesn't seem like it would break easily. The lid snaps shut. This eyeshadow is a bright turquoise that has an almost-duochrome effect of green and blue. It reminds me of the ocean. It's shimmery, but not glittery. It's pretty well pigmented. Here's swatches:

One layer

Two layers

The formula of this eyeshadow is super smooth, and it applies really easily. It won't crease under eyeshadow primer, but it will without in a couple hours (although I have unusually oily lids, even with UDPP I sometimes get creasing). And the fading on this eyeshadow throughout the day, even without primer, is seriously nonexistent. It's still just as vibrant and fun at the end of the day as it was at the beginning.

Overall, I love this eyeshadow! I only use it on my lower lashline normally since it's quite bright, and I want to conserve it as I have no way of repurchasing when this runs out. The formula and color are just fabulous. I really am sorry for raving about this eyeshadow and having no way for you to purchase it. >.< But I just had to share my love for this eyeshadow!

Rating: 5/5

I am still in Peru, I deeply apologize for the lack of posts in the past month (I was at debate camp for most of July and part of August, then I went straight to Peru after camp ended). This is the first time I have accessed a computer since August 3, my last post was written from my phone. Anyway, once I'm home, I have tons of posts to write and trip pictures to share with you!

Oh, and I have some REALLY exciting news. It was my birthday on July 30, and I got an SLR (the Canon Rebel T3). I was like fkjlsdfjklsdfjs. I can't even express my excitement...what this means for you guys is improved picture quality and shots that are more true to color. I love taking pictures, and it'll be amazing to finally do it with a decent camera (I usually use a point-and-shoot). I'm just sooooo excited and I hope you are all having great Tuesdays!

Wet N Wild Fauna Set

I was visiting my aunt and uncle in Seattle, and they have a drugstore there called Bartell's. We went to visit it, and they had a really exciting clearance section. I picked up the OPI dupe of Chanel Peridot (called Just Spotted The Lizard) as well. I used it and forgot to photograph it, so it chipped before I got to take any pictures. but I'll try to have a post on that up eventually. Anyway, I got this set for $3.50! Not bad for a blush, eyeshadow, and lip gloss! I'll review the products one by one.

First, the lip gloss:

When I first tried to use some, it came out all gross, where the pigment and the gloss were separated somehow.

So I went and shook it, and then it was pretty much fine after. Still, it gives me the impression that the set was kind of old. Here's a real swatch:

It's a really pretty mauve-rose color! However, it has really subtle silver shimmer in it somehow, and it causes me to look washed out when I wear it. It stays for about 2 hours, but it's super super super sticky. I honestly can't put up with sticky lip gloss, since my hair gets stuck on it. I'm going to give this to my sister or someone who might get more use out of it.

Then there's the blush.

I actually have a Wet N Wild blush by the name of Pearlescent Pink. However, the colors seem to be completely different. I'll do a swatch comparison for you guys sometime. Anyway, this is a pink with a tiny hint of peach and gold glitter that's not extremely chunky but isn't super subtle either. It's well pigmented, and very buildable for either a dramatic or natural flush. The narrow strip packaging is kind of annoying to fit a brush into, as you have to go sideways, and it opens vertically. It's fairly easy to pick up color, and it applies smoothly to the cheeks. It lasts about 4-5 hours on me. Not stellar, but not abysmal either. The blush is a solid item in this collection.

Lastly, my favorite item, the eyeshadow palette!

The palette has the typical Wet N Wild 3 pan packaging. Plastic and not particularly interesting or easy on the eyes. They also included the two useless brushes they usually do, both of which are going in the trash. However, the eyeshadows are a different matter. The top two shades, the white champagne color and the blueish teal (both shimmery), are perfect. They are both fairly soft but super, super pigmented. They apply beautifully. Unfortunately, the color I was most looking forward to, the purple with silver glitter, is just not pigmented.

Swatched without primer

As you can see, the purple's pigmentation is totally subpar compared to the other two colors. This was such a letdown for me, since I'm constantly on the hunt for a good purple that's not red based (red based purples make me look tired). I hoped I had finally found it in the Wet N Wild Fauna set, but I was wrong. It would be perfect, if only the pigmentation was better. This is how it looks when there's 4 layers:

Swatched without primer

They last all day without creasing over primer (I use UDPP).

Overall, this is a solid makeup set, especially for the amazing price. My only lament is the lack of pigmentation is the purple. I love the blush, and the teal and white champagne eyeshadows are gorgeous. The lip gloss is sticky and meh on my skintone, but someone who likes sticky lipglosses might enjoy it. I definitely don't regret purchasing this set, and I'd recommend it to anyone considering purchasing it; it's won't make much of a dent in your wallet, and you get good value for your money.

Make Up Forever 92 Eyeshadow Dupe!

I was looking through some old photos and realized I somehow had a side by side comparison of Make Up Forever 92 Eyeshadow and Inglot 114R. That is good news for you guys, because I now bring you the battle of the matte, red based purple eyeshadows! The bottommost, darkest stripe on the Inglot eyeshadow is the MUFE 92 dupe.

MUFE 92 left, Inglot 114R right

Can you tell which is which?

If not, MUFE is on the left, Inglot 114R bottom stripe is on the right!

Crazy, right? They're pretty much identical! Except for the fact that the MUFE eyeshadow is $19, and the Inglot eyeshadow is only $7 by itself! Sure, you get less product, but with something that pigmented, you won't need as much eyeshadow as you would otherwise. Both eyeshadows have fantastic wear time and soft texture, although the Inglot eyeshadow is a bit drier. They're both obviously matte, and are pretty much dupes for each other. Overall, I would say go for the Inglot. It's like the same eyeshadow, with less product but for much cheaper!
Hope you all enjoyed this post, don't forget to enter my Apothica/SkinCareRX giveaway!

Cloudy Skies: Makeup on my friend

If you can ignore the crappy title, this post is going to be a lot of fun, I promise. I haven't done a tutorial or FOTD in a while, and the other day my friend Anna (who would prefer not to have her real name disclosed) was over at my house and we decided to do makeup. Here's her before vs. after picture, with her  eye on the left undone and her eye on the right done:

I'm now going to tell you the steps to achieve this look.
1. Take Stila Cloud (a frosty silver taupe, but any taupe will do; try MAC Satin Taupe or Maybelline Silken Taupe) and place it all over the lid.
2. Take Inglot Pearl 423 (a dark brown with hints of burgundy, dupe could be Urban Decay Hustle) and place it in the crease.
3. Blend out
4. Take Inglot Pearl 397 (any shimmery light shadow will do, you could use the lightest shade in Wet N Wild Walking on Eggshells, or Urban Decay Sin if you like) and place it in the inner corner to brighten up the eye.
5. If you want, add eyeliner for more definition (I didn't, though)
6. Curl your lashes and put on mascara

And you're finished! Here's Anna's finished look.

The look came off looking more silvery in this light, and the brown tones in the crease don't show that well. However, nevertheless it's still an easy look that you can do with only 3 colors. Hope you all enjoyed the tutorial. Here's a full face picture of the finished look! Thanks a bunch to my gorgeous friend Anna for being my willing subject to put makeup on!

Nuts for this Eyeshadow: Review of Wet N Wild Eyeshadow in 252B Nutty

Everyone talks about this eyeshadow, and so I decided to purchase it. This won't be a long review, since the good reviews of this eyeshadow are numerous and easy to find. I got it on clearance for 75% off, hopefully Wet N Wild isn't going to discontinue this shade, because I really like it.

It's a very soft formula, the shadow isn't hard to the touch. It's very easy to pick up eyeshadow onto your brush. The eyeshadow is also extremely pigmented, especially for a drugstore eyeshadow. It applies really smoothly, and I've experienced no creasing problems during the day as long as I prime my eyes before I apply it.

Depending on the angle you look at it, this eyeshadow is either a medium taupe brown or an antiqued gold brown taupe. Mostly it looks like a medium taupe brown, though. It's a warmer shade, but cool toned girls could probably still pull this one off. It's a great shade to use as an allover lid shade to throw on and head out. An easy look is to put this all over your lid and then work a grey or some sort of darker color into your crease. It doesn't have any actual glitter particles, just shimmer.

Rating: 5/5

Altogether, this is a great eyeshadow that is amazing value for the price. Wet N Wild is one of the cheaper cosmetic brands, yet somehow they still manage to maintain incredible quality. It kind of makes you wonder why high end brands like Chanel and Dior charge so much for their products - I guess it really comes down to consistency and ingredients. Wet N Wild can be very hit or miss, whereas Chanel and Dior consistently produce extremely high quality items, with top notch ingredients. Anyway, my tangent about product pricing ends here. Have a nice day, everyone!

Perpetually Lovely: Review and Swatch of L'oreal Infallible 24 Hour Eyeshadow in 555 Perpetual Purple

The new L'oreal eyeshadows (calling them the L'oreal Infallible 24 Hour Eyeshadows is going to get really old, really fast) have been getting a lot of hype recently, along with the Maybelline Color Tattoo cream eyeshadows (none of which I've picked up yet, sadly) and the Revlon Lip Butters. I have a review on a Revlon Lip Butter in the works. However, on the topic of this eyeshadow. I'm going to come out and say it - I'm simply going to add my voice to the hyped up masses of beauty bloggers who love this eyeshadow line. Of course, I've only tried the one color. But if the other colors are as amazing as this one is, I'll soon be well on my way to owning the entire line.

Okay, see the little plastic cap? Notice how it says "DO NOT DISCARD" on it? Yeah, follow the instructions and don't throw it away. The cap keeps the shadow firmly pressed and helps to prevent it from drying out. This product is pretty original. It's a cream/powder eyeshadow hybrid, somehow. It applies very smoothly, and it has fabulous pigmentation going on. It's a pressed powder eyeshadow, but somehow it feels very creamy to the touch. I've got really no idea how they did it, but trust me when I say that it is somehow a cream/powder hybrid. It's just really, really cool! Here's a swatch:

As you can see, it's a deep purple eggplant color. You can't tell in this photo, but it has a bit of blue and purple glitter in it, although not enough to make it tacky. It applies very smoothly. There's been a bit of confusion in the blogosphere over how to apply these. Some say to use a sponge tipped applicator, some say your finger, some say an eyeshadow brush. Personally, I just use my finger to apply these. This and my MUFE Aqua Cream are the only products I apply with my finger - I feel it's a bit unsanitary, which is why I really try to steer clear of skincare products that come in tubs. I like squeeze tubes much better.

Anyway, product packaging tangent aside, I really love this product!

Rating: 5/5

The color is stunning - I like to put Wet N Wild Nutty all over my lid and this shade in my crease for a quick look that I can throw together. I can also use it to smoke out a look if I need to - the shade can be layered for greater intensity. Or I can just pop it on as an allover lid color. I should try using it wet sometime, I wonder if it could be used as a liner? The price is great as well! The quality is really great for a relatively low, drugstore price! Anyway, this product has earned a very solid rating in my book, it's just overall fantabulous! I will be extremely tempted to pick up more eyeshadows from this range next time I stop by the drugstore!

Drugstore Haul and Initial Swatches!

I went to Rite Aid, and there was a ton of stuff on sale! The Wet N Wild eyeshadow singles and some other products were 75% off, Revlon was 40% off, tons of Rimmel products were 75% off, and there were tons of other sales that I can't even remember now. But basically, as the new products roll in, the old ones must go, and I was never one to turn down a bargain! So I picked up some stuff, for a total of $20 or the like.

I got: Rite Aid Renewal Duo Fiber Blending Brush, Revlon Lip Butter in Sweet Tart, Wet N Wild Nutty Eyeshadow, L'oreal Infallible 24 Hour Eyeshadow, and Rimmel Moisture Renew Lip Gloss in Cherry Boost 

From left to right: Revlon Lip Butter in Sweet Tart, Wet N Wild Nutty Eyeshadow, L'oreal Infallible 24 Hour Eyeshadow, and Rimmel Moisture Renew Lip Gloss in Cherry Boost 

A review of all of these individually will be coming up!

Making Your Eyes Look Bigger

I'm half Asian, and half white. I almost have white eyes though, I don't have a monolid. Yet my eyelid is still smaller than that of many of my white friends. So I can't follow regular makeup tutorials, since my eyelid is too smal. However, I can't use monolid application techniques exactly because my eyelid is too big. All of this amounts to: half Asian problems.
Half Asian problems mean that there are pretty much zero makeup tutorials out there tailored for your eye shape. It means that if I wanted to learn how to do makeup, I had to watch tutorials and experiment. A lot. Which I did. And I am now decently proficient at applying makeup (hooray)!

So I made a list of things you can do to make your eyes look bigger, because I personally really like having the look of big eyes. I will add each step to my look until we have the completed look of larger eyes. You're really supposed to curl your eyelashes and apply mascara last, to prevent eyeshadow from getting on your lashes and ruining the jet-blackness of the mascara, but I was just grabbing stuff from my drawer and it just didn't happen in that order.

1. Curl your eyelashes and add mascara or apply falsies (I chose curling/mascara)

Take an eyelash curler, and curl your lashes. There are plenty of Youtube tutorials on this if you don't know how, like this one by MakeUpGeek, which is a great resource.

My eye after curling my lashes/applying mascara:

2. Put white or skin-colored eyeliner on your waterline
I used NYX Jumbo pencil in Milk for this. It makes the whites of your eyes appear larger, making your eyes therefore appear bigger. Other pencils to use would be Tarte EmphasEYES and Rimmel Exaggerate Eyeliner in White.

My eye after curling my lashes/applying mascara and putting white eyeliner on my waterline:

3. Put a light shimmery shadow all over your lid, then a lighter shimmery color in the middle. This emphasizes the high point of your eyelid, making your eyes appear bigger. I used Inglot Pearl #397 all over, and Urban Decay Bootycall in the very center. Also put a light shimmery shadow in your inner corner. This brightens your eyes and makes you appear more awake, because it brings more light into your eyes. I used Inglot Pearl #397. Other eyeshadows you could use would be MAC Naked Lunch, MAC Shroom, or the bottom shade in the Wet N Wild Walking on Eggshells palette.

My eye after curling my lashes/applying mascara, putting white eyeliner on my waterline, and applying light shimmery shadow all over my lid/inner corner and lighter shimmery shadow in the center:

4. Draw a thin line of eyeliner on the outer 1/3 of your lid and blend out. I could make up some fancy sounding reason why this makes your eyes look better, but to tell the truth, I have no idea. It just works, and that's good enough for me. My guess is it contrasts the high and low points of your eye, making it seem larger?

My eye after curling my lashes, putting white eyeliner on my waterline, applying light shimmery shadow all over my lid/inner corner and lighter shimmery shadow in the center, and putting a thin line of eyeliner on the outer 1/3 of my lid:

If you do those 4 things, your eyes will look bigger. Here's a before anything and then after everything picture:

Here's a picture I took where Eye X has all the steps done to it, whereas Eye Y does not. I think that Eye X looks at least a tiny bit bigger than Eye Y:

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Having bigger eyes will help you look more awake, and I generally just like the look that bigger eyes give me. Let me know what you think in the comments!

What methods do you use to achieve bigger looking eyes?

Mid-February Favorites

Just thought I'd do a mid month favorites post, since I missed the end of the month and I'm really excited about these couple items right now. From now on, I will do mid month posts when I remember, and maybe even end/beginning months posts (again, only if I remember). I was hoping to do some FOTD posts last weekend, but unfortunately I was at a debate tournament and had pretty much no time. I also have a debate tournament this weekend, so there goes more opportunities to put on makeup (I wear extremely minimal makeup at debates, just very natural/subtle looks). Anyway, I've been really loving each of these items recently.

They are: Inglot Cream Concealer in #21, Inglot Pearl Eyeshadow #397, Inglot Pearl Eyeshadow #434, Lipstick Queen Lip Stain in Medieval, Inglot Gel liner in #90, AMC Lip Pencil in #24

From top to bottom: Lipstick Queen Lipstain in Medieval, Inglot AMC Lip Pencil in #24, Inglot Gel Liner in #90

Lipstick Queen Lipstain in Medieval

It's a sheer red lipstain (it appears pink in the picture, but it is red). This stays on throughout a meal and about 6 hours. It's just really easy to put on and head out the door, and it's not a super in your face color, and it easily makes you look put together. The color is buildable, and it's just really easy and fairly natural, depending on how much you apply. I wore this during my debate tournament, because it required about three seconds to apply it - so easy, and if you accidentally get some outside your lips, you can just wipe it off, no makeup remover required.

Inglot AMC Lip Pencil in #24

Awesome natural and totally matte color, great for every day. I did a full review on it here.

Inglot Gel Liner in #90

This liner is just amazing. I know I rave about pretty much all Inglot products, but I can't help it - I just love everything they make. Only one of my favorites is non-Inglot this month. And this liner is no exception to the rest of Inglot's high quality products. It's totally waterproof, applies smoothly, and packs some serious pigment. It stays on and doesn't transfer.

From top to bottom: Inglot Cream Concealer in #21, Inglot Pearl Eyeshadow #397, Inglot Pearl Eyeshadow #434

Inglot Cream Concealer in #21

Okay, when I visited the Inglot counter looking for a concealer I had serious doubts that I was going to find one that matched my skin, since I have yellow undertones. This one has yellow-ish undertones and is lighter than my Make Up Forever Full Cover Concealer in #7, which is too dark for my cheeks (it doesn't blend out and leaves a sort of dark spot). There were other concealer choices with neutral or pink undertones, but the neutral one looked ashy on my skin and the pink undertones one simply didn't work. This one covers any blemishes I might have (I don't use it for undereye circles), and blends in perfectly with my skintone.

Inglot Pearl Eyeshadow #397

This is the perfect allover lid shade to wake your eyes up or to use as an inner corner highlight - its shimmery but not glittery, and I use it in the inner corner extremely often. It's a light pinkish white color, and it's just gorgeous. Super easy to swipe on and go.

Inglot Pearl Eyeshadow #434

This shade is actually remarkably similar to NARS Lhasa, now that I think about it. I got it after I returned Lhasa, so I can't compare them side by side. But Lhasa was a shimmery lavender grey, and #434 is also a purpleish gunmetal grey color. Here's a picture of Lhasa on the right and #434 on the bottom. 

The lighting is different in both pictures, but in all honesty the shades are at least decently similar. I'll try to take a picture of #434 in daylight next time we have any, so the comparison will be clearer. Anyway, this can be used for your average grey eyeshadow purposes (crease, outer corner, etc.), but better. It's slightly purple, so it adds a hint of intriguing color. People will stare at your eyes for hours, trying to figure out if you're wearing purple or grey eyeshadow. Well, maybe not quite that dramatic, but it is definitely a fascinating and unique color. I'm thinking I might do a post on different ways to use a grey eyeshadow. Valentine's day is coming up tomorrow, I might try to do a look with pink eyeshadow (which I normally avoid since it often makes me look tired).

What are you currently loving mid-month? Are you planning any special makeup for Valentine's day?

Am I the Only One? Review of NARS Lhasa Eyeshadow

I'm an honest blogger. And I'm going to be honest with you right now. I have no idea how to pronounce the name of this eyeshadow in real life. Which is why I'm so happy that I don't do videos - I would probably sit there for at least 5 minutes while I tried in vain to pronounce the name of this new eyeshadow. Luckily for you, I'm a traditional, writing type blogger. So you can just read the name and wonder to yourself how to pronounce it. Now, I saw the news about this eyeshadow's release on Temptalia's website. Lavender grey sounded like an intriguing color, so I waited impatiently for reviews.

The reviews were fabulous. Everyone loved it. It apparently was up to par with all other NARS eyeshadows. And I didn't have a lavender grey in my collection. In fact, I only own one grey (Knight Divine by MAC). So it wouldn't really be a terrible thing to have two greys, especially if one was as unique as everyone had said it would be, right? Or at least that's what I told myself when I walked into Sephora. I swatched the display tester on my arm, and was unpleasantly surprised by the lack of pigment it seemed to hold. But the color glistened and glimmered. The hints of lavender peeked through and the finely milled shimmer of the eyeshadow seemed to call my name. I gave in and bought it. I took it home with me and snapped pictures and swatches - here they are for you guys. It was a bit of an overcast day, but I think the pictures came out pretty decently - I had to tweak a couple of them a teeny bit to amp the exposure up, but I assure you I did not mess with the color of the eyeshadow at all.

Okay, there were two outstanding things about this eyeshadow. Firstly - it is not very pigmented, and I had to put on two or three layers of eyeshadow for this swatch. Secondly - it is such a gorgeous color. Unfortunately, those two factors are a bit at war with each other. But the color was so gorgeous, I thought I might willing to sacrifice pigmentation. So the next day, I tried to apply it to my crease. I had to go back to the eyeshadow three times for any impact. I have very few eyeshadows with low pigment - I find them very frustrating to apply and work with. The obvious solution would be to buy pigmented eyeshadows, which is what I do. And NARS Lhasa is really not one of them. Besides that, when I wore it in my crease, it creased. I hear a lot about NARS eyeshadows not creasing and wearing for eight hours. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to hold true for my oily lids. Every other beauty blogger seems to love this shade and had no complaints about pigmentation - I seem to be the only one who isn't in love, or at least like, with this eyeshadow. I'm more neutral - just like the shade itself. I've lost a bit of faith - this was my first NARS purchase, and after hearing so many fabulous things about the brand, I was somehow expecting more. Although the color is fabulous if I can get it to show up, the unpronounceable NARS Lhasa is headed back to the store. Thanks for reading!