Lipstick -Revlon - Colorburst Lip Butter
nikki5 11/25/2011 4:39:00 PM
The Revlon marketing folks scored an ace here. Name a product "moisturizing lipstick" meh, ok but name it a "lip butter" and all heck breaks loose. They must have been working with Paula Deen, because seriously butter makes everything better. In all seriousness though, I think this is a decent product. Revolutionary, no. Ground breaking, no. Holy Grail, no...but decent yea. This is a good moisturizing lipstick, decent color selection, cute packaging. I got 4 colors, Pink Truffle, Candy Apple, Sugar Plum, and Red Velvet. Red Velvet is def my fav. Very pretty, very pigmented, wearable red with cooler undertone, but I think all skin tones could do this one. The wear was pretty good too, survived a turkey day meal and I had a nice stain on my lips afterwards. Pink Truffle pulled more pink on me to be an actual MLBB color. Candy Apple was a nice bright red with orange undertone. Sugar Plum just looked too dark for me, really got a deep berry tone on my lips. So all in all, here's my .02 on this hype of the moment product, do not wear yourself out trying to track these down. They will be permanent early next year. They are nice moisturizing lipsticks, but wait till you find them on sale, cause you know they will be... :)
9 out of 9 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Foundations -Maybelline - New Instant Age Rewind
nikki5 10/23/2011 2:06:00 PM
Wow, I haven't been this excited to write a review in a looooong time. Probably since Maybelline introduced the Instant Rewind Double Perfector concealer, my former HG. Sadly that is discontinued, hopefully Maybelline won't pull another bone headed move again and discontinue this. Word to MU companies, you can have have more than one concealer in your arsenal and you don't need to keep mixing it up. So, my initial hesitation in purchasing this product to replace the Double Perfector concealer was that I assumed this product was supposed to be a competitor type product to the Garnier anti dark circle roller. Have it like it, but didn't want or need another supplement to that as my circles are so dark I always needed to add concealer on top. Also, sorry girlies, but I ain't going to listen to a concealer review from some YT pop tart that is barely legal to drive with just a smidge of purple underneath her eyes and this was getting so much hype on YT it also turned me off from this. Boy was I wrong...I finally gave in because I was just intigued and had to give it a go. This is in no way like the dark circle roller...AT ALL. This is an excellent standalone concealer for those with truly dark circles!! It is not as runny as the roller, it is liquidy, but creamy. Perfect consistency. It is also an excellent concealer for those of us that...ahem..are victims of the inevitable aging process. So here is my routine. I use the neutralizer shade 1st. 1 maybe 2 layers depending on how bad my circles look on a given day. Note: They are always bad, but somedays when my daughter wakes me up at 5am I am full on exorcist type scary vs. just normal night of the living dead scary. So this neutralizer has a yellow undertone beware...I have yellow undertones in my olive skin so it works like a charm, if you are pinkie you prob won't like this as much. It covers...alot just right there. But when you got serious circles, you know this is a layering process. One product won't do it all, have yet to see one, and I have tried it all. Then I use the concealer shade in Light on top. Again depending on the day 1-2 layers and I am good. I set with my BE Matte foundation and I am good. No creasing, no settling, not drying. Like I said, nothing can totally cover all my circles, but this combination gives me pretty good full coverage. I was not expecting that really. If its a super duper bad day, I use the 2 concealers and then Hard Candy Glamoflauge in Light just to brighten, but that is a rare occurrence these days as the coverage in this concealer is wonderful. Sorry for the novel, but this product I feel really lives up to the hype. I would definitely recommend to those with serious dark circles and fine lines. New HG for me...at least until they discontinue it :)
14 out of 15 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Top/Base Coats -Orly - Ridge Filler
nikki5 3/25/2011 10:40:00 AM
I am there with the gals that said this ridgefiller needs a ridgefiller. Horrid application. I have more of a problem with horizontal ridges (thumbnails are the worst) and I feel this product is more of a ridge highlighter than filler. I love Orly's polishes and ran out of my OPI filler so figured would give this a go...BAD idea. It applies so unbelievably streaky. I love sheer polishes and no way in heck are you going to get an even application with anything remotely sheer. I tried under a color too just to be fair and it was also dreadful to apply. My CND stickey base coat hides my ridges better than this goop. Definitely do not recommend this product.
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Eye Shadow -MAC - Pigment in Tan
nikki5 3/16/2011 1:01:00 PM
Sigh...I absolutely loved this color. But alas, the curse of the pigmented lids has struck again and this turned scary, out of this world crazy orange on me. I am NC20 and I knew this one could go either way with me but I could not resist. It swatched so beautifully in the store like a gorgeous coppery color. I tried it with diff bases and no luck still orange. Thus 3 lippies as its not the pigments fault it doesn't work for my skin tone. It blends beautifully and the texture is fantastic. As others have said I think this would work beautifully for tan, darker skin toned gals. But if you have lighter skin or have pigmented lids like me, its def hit or miss. :(
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Eye Shadow -MAC - Blonde's Gold Pigment
nikki5 3/15/2011 5:20:00 PM
LOVE...LOVE..LOVE. I can hear bells ringing and birds chirping. This pigment is FABOOSH! I actually got this on a whim. I was ordering a bunch of pigment samples and needed to add one more, this looked pretty in some swatches I saw so figured would give it a shot. Didn't have high expectations at all as golds are so tough for my skin tone (think Gold Mode yuck, Gold Stroke yuck). I am NC20-25 and golds can turn all sorts of scary orange on my pigmented brown lids. This however, did not, and I am in love! This is such a brightening shade! I like this actually on its own, its enough oomph to give you a beautiful sheen and with a little eyeliner, bam you are done! This comes off as a true golden shade (the pics above really capture the beauty), perhaps with a slight brown undertone. But it wakes up my eyes and it blends very well. No fallout issues whatsoever. I love this in the spring/summer. I pair this with Nars Luster blush and Mac High Tea l/s and its just the perfect combo. You will not be sorry if you try this!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -Essie - Secret Affair
nikki5 2/28/2011 6:09:00 PM
Darn you Essie/L'oreal!! I am on my 3rd bottle of Secret Affair, and have been having a hard time lately finding it where I live. This of course triggered my worst fears, no way in heck they would discontinue this!! Just on a whim, I emailed Essie to find out the scoop and sure enough this color has gotten the axe. Let the tears fall now...for me at least. This is hands down my fav sheer. Now because I am on this website and the rest of us reading this are, we all look for something else that "could" be better, because thats how us MUA'ers work. I have strayed many a time and always come back to this. The pearl in this polish is what makes it stand out to me. Its a pale pink and taupe and cream shade in one. And the great thing is with this color, unlike with other sheers its not heavy towards any of these colors, not to taupey (think Tickle my Francey), or too pink (think OPI Sweetheart). Its just perfect. I love it, HG for me. Beautiful, classy, color. I like a VNL and I get that and no streakiness in 2 coats. 3 coats is opaque coverage. So now I am grabbing what I can online and on swaps. If someone has a dupe for this, pls let me know. Bye Secret Affair, you will truly be missed :(
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -Essie - Ballet Slippers
nikki5 2/5/2011 11:21:00 PM
Well on my never ending hunt for the perfect nude color I stumbled across this color in Ulta. Seems they are many MUA'ers that are still super pissed off that OPI changed Bubble Bath to be more of pinky color than the glorious milky white pink that it used to be. I declare, I am also one of those super pissed off MUA'ers. So I saw in various blogs that this color was like the "old" Bubble Bath, and figured I would give it a shot. I saw the reviews on this applying very streaky. I didn't think it was quite that bad. For all of my nude nail colors, I usually use 3 coats anyways and this was fine in 3 coats. The problem I had with this is the color. I get no subtle pink from this at all. It looks so white on my fingers. Now not like white out, but white, not the natural milky pink I wanted. So here we go again, another crappy nude, why is it so hard to find a nude color? You would think it would be so much easier than colors but its ridiculous how hard it is!! So in all my woes and sorrow, alas I came up with an idea!! Why not use the new pinkier (is that a word?) Bubble Bath shade and put this over it. So that's what I did. Used 2 coats of Bubble Bath and 1 coat of Ballet Slippers. Shazow!!! It worked! Shut the front door!! Not streaky, got the exact flipping color I wanted. So there you have it ladies, if you liked the old Bubble Bath or just are looking for a slightly more milky pink shade give it a shot.
10 out of 11 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Eye Shadow -Wet 'n' Wild - Color Icon Trio - Silent Treatment
nikki5 1/12/2011 2:10:00 PM
This is one of the new WnW trios that came out in early January. This particular trio is considered the "neutral one." As with the other Color Icon shadows I have, this little gem has high quality, buttery textures with beautiful colors. I saw this on noveaucheap's blog and knew it would be fantastic. It looked to be more on the cool tone side but I think warm tones could pull this off just fine. So let's talk about the colors: Top color labeled browbone - in the pan looks like peachy color almost with a pink understone and little gold shimmer. Swatched it shows as a light peachy shade with slight shimmer. On my eyes, however, it comes off a little more powdery, not quite matte, but not shimmery, satin I guess. It actually doesn't show up as pigmented unless you really pack it on, so it would/and does work as a highlight. I have been using this on my lid with the eyelid color in crease or in the inner third of lid with eyelid shade just to brighten. Middle color labeled crease - in the pan looks like a heavenly deep chocolate shade with golden flecks. Reminded me of Mac Tempting just much deeper. Swatched its a very deep brown, almost black like color with beatiful golden sparkles. This shade is the hardest to work w. in the trio for me at least because....wait for it...not what you are thinking....its almost TOO pigmented! Crazy, I have to use the lightest hand with this because it made the look very intense. This really gives you that smokey look, I barely tap my brush in it and that is all I need to define my outer-V. I also have been using this as a liner. Such rich pigment in this, love it. Bottom colored labeled eyelid - this is the HG right here!! This color is just amazing and totally unique in my ever growing collection of taupe shadows. Its unlike anything I have...a shimmery grey brownish taupe shade that almost leans towards a mauvey undertone. I swatched it next to Satin Taupe, NYX Iced Mocha, WnW Nutty, and its completely different than all of them. Blogs I have seen said its very comparable to LE shade from Mac called Style Snob. Don't have it so I can't say for sure. But its a must have for any neutral lover. I am an avid fan of the "one shadow, then you go" look. This is it. I put this all over the lid and into the crease and use the middle shade for liner, done! Its beautiful, uplifting. The texture is perfect, not too shimmery. I think this shadow would look fantastic on many skin tones. Overall, this trio is a total winner! Such a variety of looks that you can create from this, and the price is too die for!! I even got it 1/2 off as Wags has them on sale, so I paid like $1.60 for this, INSANE!! You really can not go wrong with this, absolutely, definitely pick this up if you see them in your d/s, you will not be sorry!!
23 out of 23 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -China Glaze - Ruby Pumps
nikki5 12/21/2010 4:49:00 PM
I got this in a swap in November and haven't changed the color ever since. Love the color! Beautiful bright red with sparkles. So why only 4 lippies?? For some reason, at least on me, the staying power is awful. One day and I see tip wear and chips with Seche Vite top coat. Regardless though, I adore the color so much I don't mind doing my nails every couple of days. It's such a vibrant red, perfect for the holidays or whenever you want something spunky on!
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Polishes -OPI - Diva of Geneva
nikki5 10/13/2010 1:24:00 PM
I love this color, perfect for fall! This immediately caught my eye at Ulta. This is part of the Swiss collection. The color has been described already but my take is this is a fuschia color with radiant red micro shimmer. A very nice alternative to the ever popular dark purple/black polishes that you see this time of year. I love this on my hands and toes. The only reason I knocked a lippie off as a reviewer said below this does seem to chip rather quickly. I used Seche Vite top coat which usually does the trick so not sure why. I also have the green color from this collection and that staying power was unbelievable so it's def not an issue w/ the formulation of the collection. Now w/ this said, the color is so gorgeous, I don't mind the extra touch ups. This would work on all skin tones. Such a unique, beautiful color!
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Polishes -OPI - Vodka & Caviar
nikki5 10/4/2010 2:49:00 PM
This is one of my favorite red polishes to wear! It is a vibrant red. Not quite fire engine red but bright red. Looks great on toes/hands. I get great coverage with 2 coats. Just a very classy color you can rock all year long!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -OPI - Cuckoo For This Color
nikki5 9/28/2010 2:43:00 PM
GORGEOUS!!! I am absolutely in love with this color!! I am "cuckoo for this color" LOL...dork I know. Seriously who is the OPI person that comes up with these names?? What a fantastic gig that would be...I digress....This is part of the OPI Swiss collection, found this at my local Ulta. I must say I looked this over when I 1st saw it. My inital reaction was, there is no way in heck that I can pull off green at my age. No, I am not old, too old I guess, but I thought this would be more geared towards the youngins out there. Wrong, wrong, wrong. This color would work on all ages. I kid you not, my 67 year old mama loved it so much she got it at her last mani/pedi and it looks faboosh!! Anywho, the color has been described in the the other reviews very accurately. Its a complex color. Looks green in some lights, more blue in others. If I had to categorize it, I would say blue-green teal color with turquoise shimmer. The shimmer makes this color. It is amazing! Brings a vibrancy to the color and makes it unique. There is another color out there now from China Glaze that looks very similar to this, in the bottle at least. Its called Emerald Fitzgerald. I have both, but I prefer Cuckoo much more. It leans more towards blue as the Emerald really does lean more towards that darker green. Def on the bandwagon for teel colors this fall!! Lovely shade, you can not go wrong with this one.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -Sephora - Sephora by OPI Metro Chic
nikki5 9/23/2010 3:52:00 PM
WARNING: Not all taupes/grays are created equal! I learned this the hard way after purchasing Metro Chic. Can you tell where I am going with this?? Background...I love love love OPI You Don't Know Jacques. Super fun, but good for work type of color. I heard a lot of great things about Metro Chic, saw some swatches online. They looked pretty close from what I saw, wrong!! I previously thought, taupe or gray is pretty straightforward, having no clue that just a shade difference can make a Metro Chic look a Metro Sickly on me. Be weary of the purple undertone that this polish has. I discovered that I can do the gray/taupes that truly have more of a grayish/brown undertone. But a lot of these popular colors, Metro Chic included, are going with a purple undertone and that is a major no-no for me. I am more of a fair olive skin tone (NC20) and this looked all sorts of bad. I think this would work for gals with medium to darker skin tones. That is issue #1 with this polish which I can't really knock off too many lippies on, the color just did not work. What really hacked me off is the quality of the polish. I have 1 or 2 other Sephora by OPI polishes and quality is not an issue. This polish was streaky even after 3 coats!! So I spent all this time getting the polish on and then not even 12 hrs in, I had 3 nails chip. And mind you I used Seche Vite top coat as well. That was it, polish....buh bye. And sorry to my dear sweet Jacques, I have since re-purchased and will not stray again. :)
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Treatments -Clairol - Long Term Relationship Split-End Protector
nikki5 8/27/2010 3:10:00 PM
I bought this about 6 months ago as I wanted to find a cheaper alternative to the Biosilk I was currently using. 1st impression was that this stuff smells very nice, totally digging the smell. However, my biggest problem with this product is the consistency. It is way too thick for me. It just feels clumpy and gooey when I put it on my ends. I feel like it just sits on the hair and doesn't soak in like my Biosilk does. And I don't feel that it helped my hair, in fact, I think it dried it out. So for this reasons, obvi won't be purchasing again. :(
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Highlighters -BeneFit Cosmetics - High Beam
nikki5 8/23/2010 4:41:00 PM
Yea...I don't think this product lives up to the hype. I was on the search for a pinky tone highlighter. I have a couple powder ones that are more goldy (Mac Soft and Gentle MSF). I was torn b't High Beam and Mac CCB in Shell. Ended up with High Beam (at least for a week or so before I returned it). The main thing I didn't like about this was no matter what I did, it never really applied evenly. I didn't find it to be very blendable, which I still don't understand, its a flipping liquid, but whatevs. I didn't really like the sheen it gave either, it looked whitish on me, and it wasn't flattering at all. I expected it be a seamless sheen. Not sure if its my skin or what but it didn't work. So ironically a few days after I bought this, I was strolling though my local target and saw a Boots Illuminating Lotion. Its an EXACT DUPE of High Beam but....not in price. I think I paid $12 for it and its at least twice the size of high beam. Its much easier to blend and gave me the effect I wanted. So if you are having problems with High Beam or are on a budget def check that out!
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No