Highlighters -NARS - New Order Highlighting Blush
Sparkle0117 8/15/2012 2:35:00 AM
This highlighting blush should be called, "The Pinky Lilac Sparkle Bomb." Holy smokes - the sparkle fallout is insane! The first time I wore this, my husband commented on how much he liked the way my "cleavage was sparkling!" I hadn't even noticed - I had been too busy doing damage control where I had actually applied the blush! Don't get me wrong, I *love* glitter, thus my SN, but this was just too over the top. The powder itself is a GORGEOUS, almost milky, muted pink with lilac tones to it. It's great for my cool toned skin, but I have rosy undertones, and this powder is very sheer. I understand it's a highlighter, but I wish it were a full pigmented blush. I never, ever run across cool toned pinky lilac blushes like this that don't "warm up" or lose the lilac tones once applied. =( This powder still gives a lovely wash of "cooled brightness" to the face, which is something a rosy cheeked girl, like myself, can appreciate, but the glitter really takes away from the overall usability of this product. This blush blends beautifully, and the texture isn't rough the way some glittery powders can be. It smells nice, too. If it weren't for the glitter, I would definitely repurchase, as this would be a HG product in my makeup stash.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lip Gloss -Illamasqua - Intense in Fierce
Sparkle0117 4/13/2011 9:07:00 PM
Holy Smokes! You do not need much of this to cover your lips! At first, I wasn't a fan of the tube applicator, but after seeing how pigmented it is and how little is needed, I totally get it. This is a vibrant mauvey/lilac on me. I love that it sheers out nicely while still delivering decent coverage. It seems to me that the biggest complaints people have with this is that it's gloppy and that it isn't "wearable." I disagree, though. Sure, if you glop it on and use as much as you use when applying other glosses it will be gloppy and sticky and bright. However, if you use a half-pea sized amount, it wears quite nicely and I don't find it to be sticky or gloppy at all. As for it being wearable, I think that totally depends on you. I don't see this working for someone with blonde hair and brown eyes or on very warm-toned girls. If you're a cool-toned blue-eyed brunette like me, this goes great with neutral greys/silvers on the eyes, black eyeliner, and under-done cheeks. Throw on a white top and it becomes very wearable for work/social gatherings. Throw on a black top or dress, and it can pass for classy with a nice pop of color. I read one reviewer saying this gloss has no shine. If you sheer it down a lot, it isn't very shiny but if you apply a glossy lip balm first, it stays glossy for a decent amount of time. I really like the versatility of this as it can be "BAM in your face!" or it can be quite subtle and pretty when sheered down and worn with a gloss.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Blush -MAC - Mineralize Blush in Sakura
Sparkle0117 4/9/2011 6:40:00 PM
I was hoping for a lilac/lavender blush with a cool-toned magenta heart... this is not that. The lilac portion is okay if I swiped it with my finger, but with the heart in the middle it is very hard to use the lilac portion on it's own. The magenta heart is just too pigmented and bright. When you blend the two parts together, you get a definite pink cheek with what I would describe as "bright warm peachy" undertones. I'm cool toned with blue eyes and the reddish peachy undertones just don't work for me. The texture is nice. This blush leaves a sheen on the skin which can look like a white shimmery cast if you're not careful; there are some tiny pieces of glitter in this too... not too much, but almost not enough either as it makes you look as if the glitter on your cheeks might not be intentional! Overall, if you don't have a pink blush and you're in love with the heart, then pick this up. If you're looking for a good cool-toned lilac with magenta tones in it, keep looking! This one was a major disappointment for me - it's almost what I was expecting Giggly to be.=/ If anyone knows how to cut the heart out without ruining the lovely lilac part, plmk!
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Blush -MAC - Beauty Powder Blush Feeling
Sparkle0117 3/5/2011 4:18:00 AM
This is review is only here to help you envision the actual color prior to buying or swapping for this. This shade should have been named Sun Toasted Graham Cracker. Or something like Rosey Amber Woods... there is definite reddish orange in this. There is brown in there to go with it. I'm not seeing any coolness in it as far as pinks go and the plummy color to it is a warm toned orange-ish plum - not a cool toned purple-ish plum. If you're looking for a light pink mixed mixed with a mid-toned purple type plum, this is not it. If you're looking for a reddened sun-kissed look, especially if you have a more olive skin tone, then this might be what you're looking for. A lot of swatches online make this look more like a lilac frosted cool toned mauve, but that has to be the lighting or something. Other pictures show this looking more like a bronzer. I think those pics are much more accurate, but this blush definitely has more rose to it than a bronzer would have. As far as the "silver pearl" goes, this is too warm toned to notice any silver pearl once it's on the cheeks. It leaves a very subtle sheen, but the sheen is more barely-there-golden than it is silver. I hope this helps some of you - I bought this based on the reviews that are already on MUA for it. Someone pointed out this is a red-based plum, not a blue-based plum.... looking back after purchasing this, that was the only review that could have saved me from buying this with false expectations. =/ If I had more olive toned skin and brown eyes I might be able to use this, but then I'd probably stick with something cheaper since this shade, while pretty, is still rather generic.
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Eyeliner -mark - No Place To Run (longwear eyeliner)
Sparkle0117 7/14/2010 2:41:00 PM
I love these eyeliners!! HOWEVER ~ the reason I love them is that they LAST forever once you get it on evenly. Getting it on evenly is the tricky part. The black shade (Jet Set) glides on MUCH more smoothly than the other shades. Some of the others (the green one and the purple one) pull and tug at the skin and do not go on smoothly at all. The green looked more teal in the magalog but it is indeed a dark grassy sort of green. The Jet Set is a creamy solid black. The purple is bright lavender color that goes on rather pale if that makes any sense. These have FANTASTIC staying power. Just for reference, I normally use MUFE's Aqua Eyes Eyeliner - and I'm super picky about which eyeliners I use. Compared to MUFE, UD and MAC, I'd have to say this is the best deal for OCCASIONAL wear (ie, weddings, marathons etc.) It's worth the time getting it perfect if you really need something to last all day. If you have time for touch ups throughout the day though, this wouldn't be worth the frustration. The colored ones do NOT work well on the waterline but the black one does a decent job and doesn't run or streak. Just make sure you apply the black one where you want it lol, especially if you apply your liner after your face makeup. =) The colored ones are easier to correct, but harder to see. These did not make my eyes itch or water, which many liners do. I know right now (July 2010) if you buy two of these liners, or one of these liners and one of the new Lipclick lipsticks, they'll send you a free full size mascara. However, I wouldn't recommend that particular mascara OR the new Lipclick lippies. But if you already like the mascara (or if you don't mind BIG wands) I would definitely recommend picking up two of these eyeliners! I answered that I would not repurchase this eyeliner, but only because I only plan on using this when I'm going to be in extreme in heat, under water, or somewhere where I may end up crying... so not very often. One of these will last me quite awhile.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lipstick -MAC - Up The Amp
Sparkle0117 5/18/2010 1:58:00 AM
I *love* this shade, it's a gorgeous purpley-pink and it's opaque in one coat. (LOVE the amplified cremes!) However, I recently purchased a cheapy lipstick on a whim at the supermarket - from LA Colors. It was .99 and the shade was Matte Lavender (or Lilac? - There's only ONE purple shade with MATTE in the title.) and it's VERY similar to Up the Amp PLUS it even smells like vanilla!!! Not an *exact* match, but when I put it on and asked Hubby to guess the shade, his response was, "Up the Amp?" So that made me happy. I didn't buy it for this reason as it did not look like UtA when I saw it in the store, only after I applied it. It doesn't last as long unless you use a primer, but you already use one or dont mind using one, this is a fabulous dupe! Back to MAC's Up the Amp though, it's beautiful!! Imagine your typical lavender lipstick and then swirl in some light berry (think: Raspberry Sorbet) and viola! Perfect for cool toned beauties!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Palettes -Unlisted Brand - BH Cosmetics - 120 Color Palette 1st Edition
Sparkle0117 4/26/2010 7:58:00 PM
I'm giving this product a high rating based on what it IS, not what a lot of people wanted it to be. I paid $9 for mine on Ebay, including shipping. It arrived with about 12-13 broken shadows and I contacted the seller who refunded me a third of my purchase price - so I got this for $6. The seller I bought from did not advertise this as MAC, nor would I be silly enough to believe it was if they did. This had it's dimensions listed so I knew about what size each pan would be before I bought it - there are a MILLION of these listed, just keep checking different listings until you find one that lists exactly what info you're looking for. Some do list the ingredients, weight, pan size, palette size etc. You just have to look. I would advise searching Eyeshadow Palette 120 and then selecting the Price+Shipping Lowest First option before you start browsing the listings. On to the palette. The pans are dime sized, the color payoff is decent when you consider the cost of each individual pan. These DO NOT compare to brands like Stila, Smashbox, MAC, Urban Decay, MUFE etc.... if you've ever tried LA Colors, Amuse or Starry (see them at Cherryculture.com), those are the brands you can compare the quality to. Similar to some of the Amuse shadows, these do have an unpleasant scent - a coppery scent - not very noticeable once applied, but if you run your finger across a pan, it will smell as if you'd been holding a handful of pennies. Again, this fades with application. A lot of people seem upset that they got such a low quality palette for their money, expecting the quality of MAC for the price of Amuse - get over it!! You get what you pay for and if you want the quality of MAC, you should shop at MAC. I got this palette so I could have a visual rather than guessing if a lemony yellow would look as horrid as I'd imagine or if the turquoise I thought would look fabulous would look as good as I'd hoped. I wanted several shades at my fingertips, in my own home, in front of my own mirror, so I could wear them in all the different types of lighting I'd normally be surrounded by. Trying e/s on at Sephora doesn't work well for that, nor does it work in most stores since the lighting is sooo very different from what you're normally surrounded by. Anyway, I played with all these shadows, and I admit, i did cheat. I was not expecting these to blend easily so I used a neutral skin toned eyeshadow from Stila as my base which I had used over my Pop Beauty eye primer. These all blended beautifully on top of that. I think removed the pans holding the shades that looked great on me and I took them to Sephora to shade-match them with good quality eyeshadows for my regular palette. So... in short - if you're looking to get MAC - this is not for you. If you're looking for a good everyday palette for regular use, this is probably also not for you. But, if you're truly looking to experiment with COLOR, not QUALITY, then you will love this palette. There is a wide variety and each color comes in several tones - which is great! The colors in this palette come with no glitter/shimmer, and I prefer shimmer/glitter in some of my eyeshadows, but since I didn't buy this for everyday use I wasn't really bothered by that. If you do buy this for everyday use and you want shimmer, I would recommend picking up a silver or white based Rocks! eyeshadow from Aromaleigh to dust over these eyeshadows when you're finished applying them. It works really well and is a super cheap way to transform any flat palette into a shimmer or glitter palette.
10 out of 11 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lipstick -MAC - Blooming Lovely (Amplified)
Sparkle0117 3/16/2010 11:40:00 AM
Okay.... so somebody else on here said this reminded them of NYX's Power lipstick - and that was my first impression too. The difference is the consistency, this one stays on MUCH longer than Power and it tastes much better imo. It's definitely more opaque, goes on thicker, creamier, more evenly, and it adheres to the lip much better. So if you just like the color, maybe try Power over a good lip primer. But if you're looking to layer this or to use it as a base (as I do) then I would choose Blooming Lovely. NYX's round lipsticks dont really "blend" well with lipglosses, they tend to get all yucky. MAC's amplified cremes blend perfectly with light glosses! I LOVE to pair this with NYX's round lipgloss in Dolly Pink. Not the Mega Shine gloss, because even though the color is the same, I prefer the lightness/blendability of the round lipgloss. The mega shine is a bit too thick to mix with Blooming Lovely without overpowering it... unless that's what you're going for! But when I mix the Dolly Pink round l/g with this lippie, I get the MOST gorgeous purpley-pinky shade! Side note: If you mix Blooming Lovely with Petals and Peacocks, it looks VERY similar to Up the Amp! lol My first impression of P&P was that it looked like UtA with much less purple, and that BL looked like UtA with much less pink.... so I mixed them on the left side of my lips and applied Up the Amp to the right side and my husband said it looked the same, but that maybe one side was a little lighter (and that second part was said more like a question, as if he thought I was quizzing him.) But if you like Up the Amp, I think you'll love both the amplified cremes that came out in this collection, especially if you like playing with layers.
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lip Gloss -Bonne Bell - Lip Smackers
Sparkle0117 12/1/2009 12:11:00 AM
Love these. I like to use them at night when the season changes since that's usually when my lips get dry. They provide good moisturization and my lips still feel soft in the morning. Prevents my lips from cracking, plus they taste yummy! When I apply at night, my lips are soft and supple and moist the next morning. Your lips MAY peel when you first use this IF you already have dead skin on your lips. If you exfoliate your lips (often), they shouldn't peel. These work as a wonderful after-exfoliation moisturizer. So many products are made out to be worse than they really are in order to sell more expensive products... "Does Not Contain Petroleum" puts a negative label on petroleum by saying their product is better for not containing it. And since their product is better, they charge more when all along, there wasn't anything wrong with that ingredient to begin with. I think that is very wrong and misleading. I wanted to address the "petroleum" contained in this as noted by another reviewer because she made Lip Smackers out to be harmful for containing Petroleum Jelly - which is made from Petroleum. Not only is Petroleum safe, it is used to treat burn victims and several skin emergencies. Petroleum jelly is an FDA approved over-the-counter skin protectant and is used widely in the cosmetics world - it's even used in paraffin dips and personal lubricants. You probably wouldn't want to eat a jar of it, but you also wouldn't want to eat a jar of mud. (And neither one would kill you if you did.) Just because something is used in something you shouldn't consume (ie, gasoline) does not mean it's unsafe. Petroleum has many uses. Sure, it's used in making gasoline. But so is oxygen.
4 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Cleansers -Mario Badescu - Glycolic Foaming Cleanser
Sparkle0117 10/31/2009 6:14:00 PM
I'll start with the negs: The packaging could be better in order to get more product out of the bottle - but it's a big bottle and it lasts a long time anyway. Okay, that was it for the negatives! I looove this wash - My skin is the type that needs to be exfoliated every other day. Blackheads on the nose, while barely noticeable, can be felt if I dont and that bothers me. My skin is dry also, so over exfoliating with beads/salts/crystals/ground almonds etc is never great for me. I've used a million things like that btw... MK's microdermabrasion system, Bobbi Browns' exfoliating beads, almond meal... just a bunch of different scrubs. Some of them are great, but they do bother the skin. This wash is fantastic. Smells fresh, lathers nicely, and actually EXFOLIATES... meaning it leaves my skin SMOOTH after use. Tons of "exfoliating" cleansers dont actually do this. If they do, it doesn't count, because I need to see and FEEL the difference you know? This one does it for me. I use this like I would a cleanser, only I use it longer, the way I would a scrub. If you just pretend a scrub and spend a couple extra seconds on the areas that need exfoliation, you'll notice a big difference. The price is a bit much, but definitely worth it. Will buy this over and over again!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Treatments -Paula's Choice - Extra Strength Blemish Fighting Solution
Sparkle0117 10/31/2009 6:06:00 PM
Loooove this product. I dont have extreme acne. If I did, I would try PC's products from the CLEAR line as they've gotten much better reviews for ongoing acne. I've read some complaints that this product "burned" their skin... it IS the extra strength version of PC's blemish fighter. It DOES say how much should be used to cover the entire area, regardless of severity of the breakout. It also says to shake well - which you should. It also says this can be used as a spot treatment - which is what I primarily use it for. I sample a lot of products and this ALWAYS does the trick for me when I get a major, sudden breakout. Not just one here or one there (I mean, it works for those too) but I'm talking all-over breakout. I had acne issues in middle school into high school and it all went away when I start using PC and MB. Love them both - now my skin is clear and I NEVER need anything for regular acne (which is more than fantastic bc, growing up, I never thought I'd have "nice skin.") I use this one as a spot treatment and I usually do it at night, then exfoliate in the morning. I've never HAD to use this two nights in a row since it works quickly - no, your skin wont be blemish free and perfect by morning, but it will have calmed down enough that you wont need the extra strength version of this again. My advice? Cleanse your face, apply this to the affected area ONLY - even if the affected area seems to cover your whole face, I'd still skip the clear spots. Go to sleep. Wake up, exfoliate with a non-abrasive wash (my favorite is MB's Glycolic Foaming Face Wash.) Then either apply the regular strength version of this, your foundation, or nothing at all. Give your skin time to re-coop. Repeat at night. Otherwise, your skin might burn and turn red... again, this is not meant to be worn like a day and night time moisturizer!! Only apply it to the actual blemish, not the surrounding skin. I think you'll be impressed with this product if you do it this way rather than covering your entire face with it. Keep in mind, if you want a product to BANISH your breakout, the most effective ingredients for that WILL irritate normal, healthy skin. Makes sense, right? Just dab it on the problem and be done with it. You wouldn't cover your entire face with concealer, would you? Same thing with this!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Lip Gloss -mark - glow baby glow luxe in orchid luxe
Sparkle0117 10/22/2009 11:35:00 PM
I got this to see if it could compare to MAC's dazzleglasses. The tubes are physically smaller, however, they actually hold about a third more lipgloss than the dazzleglasses! I compared this to my fuschia toned dazzleglasses and once on, the glitters all pretty much look the same since these glosses are wear sheer. Considering the price, I dont think I'll ever buy a "normal" shade dazzleglass again! I've tried Orchid, Pearl, Petal, Flirty, Lotus, Melon and Sugar. Love most of them, of course, when it comes to unique shades, like blues and purples, I will have to fall back on MAC until Mark makes something similar. And when they do.... so long Dazzleglasses!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Foundations -Rimmel - Rimmel Cool Matte 16hr Foundation
Sparkle0117 8/7/2009 2:35:00 PM
Eeeeewww. This foundation's consistency is similar to actual mousse (not like hair mousse, I mean like chocolate dessert mousse.) It's gloppy and heavy on the skin and leaves my face unable to move without feeling like I'm stretching my makeup. It dries sort of weird too and is extremely hard to blend well. It's like trying to blend half-dried nail polish or maybe more like half dried clay. Plus the open jar causes it dry from the container as well. It smells lovely.... but so does perfume and I dont think either one should be put on your face.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No