Ulta 21 Days of Beauty!

Ulta has this event sometimes, and it's basically what the title describes. It's 21 days of fabulous deals on makeup, hair, and other beauty products! I encourage you all to check this out.

Here is the event page. Enjoy!

Pinterest!

I joined the ranks of people signing up for Pinterest! Here is my Pinterest account. Pinterest is extremely entertaining. It's a site where you basically create collections of images that you like. If you see a cool makeup look, for example, you can "pin" it under a "board" you create, which is like an album. Other people can "repin" things. It's really cool, and you can follow either individual "boards" or everything people post. I have a board for products that I love, makeup looks I love, color combinations I love, and a board for pictures of the band One Direction, who I am totally obsessed with. If you want a Pintrest invite (there's currently a waiting list and they routinely admit people) then comment below with you email and I'll hit you up! They currently require you to link it to either Facebook or Twitter, but you can link it to a Twitter then delete the Twitter later once you finish linking it to your email, if you want to. Any questions, just ask! Happy Sunday 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!

February Loves and Blehs

This month, there were some things I fell in love with. There were also some that I grew to hate. In terms of beauty discoveries, February was a month where I bought quite a lot of makeup, since I had a Macy's giftcard left over from Christmas. I hit up Inglot and walked away with a pretty decent haul. I don't feel the need to review every Inglot eyeshadow individually, because basically all you need to know is they're amazing, and consistently so.

I'm currently planning on purchasing the new YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain (wow, mouthful of a name) in the color #15, so that will be my big purchase for March, and probably my only one. Anyway, here's what I loved this month:

Rain Cosmetics Undercover Concealer in Master of Disguise - new favorite concealer, has the best coverage out of any concealer I've ever tried. Matches my skintone very well, since it has yellow undertones (yay)!
theBalm Hot Mama Blush - I did a review on this here. Basically, a fabulous every day blush!
Inglot Pearl Eyeshadow in #434 - a complex grey-purple shade. Perfect to smoke out a look, to place in the crease, or in the outer corner.
L'oreal Infallible 24 Hour Eyeshadow in Perpetual Purple - the texture and pigmentation of this is lovely, and I love the color! A full review of this is coming.
Deborah Lippman Nail Polish in Glamorous Life - this was limited edition, I'm not sure if it's still out. It's a ridiculously beautiful rose gold color.


And then, there were things that I just didn't really like. You can't have good things all the time, every time. There's bound to be some duds. I mean, I wish that I could love every single makeup purchase I made. Unfortunately, I can't. This month, there haven't been many products I disliked, but there were definitely a couple.

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lip Gloss in Cherry Boost - the applicator doesn't apply color well, and the smell is unbearable for me. It's honestly not worth returning (I got it on clearance for 75% off). I did a review on this here.
Lorac Multiplex 3D Lip Gloss in 4D - I bought this months ago and lost it. I found it recently, and tried it. The first time I tried to apply it, the applicator was as hard as a rock. I had to sort of splay the bristles of the brush out until it softened. The color was also absolutely not for me, it was too much of a whiteish pink. It looked dreadful on my skintone. The formula was sticky and applied gloppy. I really dislike this lipgloss.

Overall, it was a pretty decent month for me. My major new loves were the L'oreal eyeshadow and the Rain Cosmetics Concealer. Happy beginning of March & start of the weekend!

Funky All Around: Review of Rimmel Moisture Renew Lip Gloss in Cherry Boost

This will be my first very negative review of a product on this blog. I'm usually fairly positive, in real life and online. I mean, negativity really isn't the most helpful thing. Constructive criticism and negativity are totally different, the way I see it. Constructive criticism is putting something towards a place where it can get positive comments, whereas negativity doesn't help anyone out -  it just brings people down. However, there are some cases where a dose of negativity is needed. In this case, when I bought a product I didn't like. I want anyone who reads my blog to know the facts about this product I disliked, so they can make a better informed decision of whether to buy it or not.

I bought a lipgloss the other day, and I showed it in my drugstore haul. It was the Rimmel London SPF 15 Moisture Renew Lip Gloss in Cherry Boost. I picked this up because I heard good things about Rimmel's products, and it was on clearance. For 75% off. It was hard to turn down. So I bought it and took it home, and swatched it for my drugstore haul. When I tried to swatch it, I was a bit puzzled, because the only way to deposit color was from the tip. Most lip glosses with a foam applicator absorb product and the wand is usually saturated with it. However, with this lip gloss, it was not so. The tiny tip of the wand was the only part that had any color. So to get a decent swatch, I had to dip back into the tube multiple times, which is firstly inconvenient, and secondly unsanitary since the more times you pump a wand in and out of a tube, the more bacteria you introduce into it. The applicator was plain funky. This was extremely annoying. And it would apply color in random places when you put pressure on the applicator. Also annoying.

I then took the wand out of the tube and smelled it. And no, this is not weird. Juuuust so you know. :P Scent matters a lot to me in terms of lip gloss and lip products. If they don't smell appealing, why would I ever put it near my mouth? So I sniffed the wand, and I practically reeled back in horror. It smelled awful. Like rotten plastic cherries. And I really did not want to let this lip gloss anywhere near my mouth. But I decided to give it a chance.

So I applied this (I had to dip back in the bottle multiple times), hoping for it to work moisturizing wonders on my lips. I have one lip gloss by Jouer that I love and is extremely moisturizing. And you can tell when you apply it that it's moisturizing. However, with the Rimmel lip gloss, this is not so. My lips didn't feel any less tight than they did before. With my Jouer lip gloss, you can feel the difference. With the Rimmel lip gloss, not so much. So it didn't live up to its moisturizing claims. It wasn't uncomfortable on the lips, but it didn't feel luxuriously moisturizing either.

However, this lipgloss was kind of a plumping lip gloss. I despise plumping lipglosses. I find the so called "tingling", which I mentally label "burning" to be annoying and not worth the small amount of lip plumping that occurs in the end. So, when this lipgloss was a mildly plumping lip gloss, it lost some points in my book. It wasn't as much of a burning sensation as some I've tried, but it was annoying. It was kind of funky that they made it a semi-plumping product. Although it wasn't moisturizing, it was decently comfortable on my lips (besides the plumping factor). The color was also really nice once I actually got it on - it was definitely wearable, something I could wear to school.

Overall, I didn't like this product. The applicator was frustrating, and the plumping action really annoyed me. The color was nice once I got it on, but it was definitely not worth the trouble. Good thing I got this on clearance, or else I'd definitely be returning it. I'm hoping that maybe next time I try a Rimmel lip product, I'll like it more, since I've heard such great things about their lip products.

Rating: 2/5

Happy International Women's Day!

It's International Women's Day today, as you could probably tell from the title. Anyway, I thought I'd do a mini blog post about it. I'm not a huge feminist, but I do believe that every woman should feel good about herself, inside and out. Love your body, it's the only one you've got. There will always be supermodels and other women who seem prettier or more put together. But honestly, nobody is perfect. And we are all beautiful in our own unique ways. So next time you look in the mirror, instead of counting your flaws, count the things you love about yourself and your life. Think of the people in your life who love and support you. And remember to smile. You are beautiful and amazing, and you deserve to know and embrace that.

Wednesday Wants

I'm going to start a new weekly post called "Wednesday Wants" which is basically going to be me showing you pictures of products I really want at the moment and probably will never get. Sounds fun, right? I'll do this every week, and I like the name. "Wednesday Wants" is some pretty snazzy alliteration in my opinion. Anyway, here's my Wednesday Wants for this week!

YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain in 15 Rose Vinyl

MAC 109 Small Contour Brush

MAC Chenman Force of Love Lipstick

What beauty or makeup items are currently on your wishlist?