Almay Knows Their Blues!

A few product beauty shots for your Thursday, since we've been out of touch for so long! :) It's not been that long, but it feels long. I love you guys!

Last week, I talked a little about Almay Shadow Softies. I counted it up, and realized I had eight of them. I don't have four posts worth of unique things to say about them, but I did want to show them all off. Especially these, because I think the colors are really unique. Almay does some great work with blue eye shadows in particular (someone on their color development team must be a fan!), they're always really unique.

These shadows are soft and gentle. If you want a nice, soft wash of color, you will get along nicely with these. They're an interesting texture - they're not as hard as a typical powder shadow, but they're not as soft as a cream? See what I mean? It's interesting. Don't let it scare you away though. Think of these as the special snowflakes in your makeup bag. ;)

Midnight Sky, a royal blue with a slight shimmer running through it, and Seafoam, a powder blue with a little shimmer of its own. Don't let the depth of that blue intimidate you, it's not nearly as pigmented as it looks like it would be - in fact, of all the colors I've tried in the line, it's one of my personal favorites!

Just for the sake of curiosity, I swatched both with primer and without, to see if it'd make any real difference. This is Midnight sky, the bottom streak is no primer, the top streak is with primer. Fergie for Wet N Wild's "Take On The Day" primer, which if you've been reading a while, you know I'm a big fan of. In this case, it made a little bit of difference, not a lot. This is in natural light, standing by the big window in my living room. I got a little excited yesterday - Michigan got its first sunshine in a while, and I thought I could go outside bare armed. I pretty quickly learned the error of my ways! 

This is Seafoam, and this is also where the benefit of primer becomes a little more obvious. Bottom is primer free, top is with primer. You kind of have to look a little to even tell that there's a bottom swatch, right? And while the top is still awfully delicate, it's much more easily defined.

With fair skin, blonde hair, and blue/green eyes, I'm probably the poster child for "Ooh, child, you should NOT be wearing blue eyeshadow!", but I can totally pull these off, and I love them a lot. You should give them a try!

See you later, beautiful!

Today I learned...

...that not all Shadow Softies are created equal.

On Monday, I tried out some Almay Shadow Softies, and it seemed to go pretty stellar. So I was kind of excited today to continue digging in to my collection. Today's shadows are "Honeydew" (which is green with a slight gold shimmer, exactly the color of a piece of honeydew melon), and "Hot Fudge", a matte brown, which also greatly resembles it's namesake. "Honeydew" doesn't get done the justice it's due in my pictures, it's quite pretty.

The beauty shots, as they were;

Got experimental with my camera angles, trying to do "Honeydew" some justice. Like I said, it's quite pretty, it doesn't get a fair shake in pictures.

So, this is a nice, kicky, "maybe if I wear bright colors, Mother Nature will get the hint and make it Spring!?" combination for today, right?

Notice the biggest difference from Monday? I didn't change a thing - same brand of shadows, same brushes, same primer, same everything I did Monday...significantly reduced color payoff. Mamma no like-y! There's some payoff from the Hot Fudge color for sure, but if I didn't tell you I was wearing Honeydew, would you know I was wearing Honeydew? No you would not...

My eyes are open, and you still wouldn't know the Honeydew was there. Fun to look at, maybe not as much to wear.

Duck face for comedic effect. :D

So, what I'm saying is this - I'm a fan of the Shadow Softies as a general rule. I obviously don't think that they're for those that want a particularly bold look. But if soft, neutral and natural is what you're after, you'll get along with these shadows well.

But, today taught me that all shadow softies are not created equal, and Honeydew might be the lone outcast from the collection. Sorry, honeydew.

See you tomorrow, lovelies!

Aww, I'm Such a Softie...

...for Almay Shadow Softies.

I was perusing the beauty section at my local Target, as any good drugstore diva is known to do on the weekly, and noticed that the Shadow Softies by Almay are on clearance. I had some of that "Oh my gosh, gotta buy 'em all!" panic, came home, tweeted Almay to find out if they were going to stop making them all together (they aren't...), and started trying to figure out how many I had needed. Almay's website lists that they make 12. I currently own 8. I think I got a lockdown on the Shadow Softies, no?

So let's see how they work!

These appear like a powder when you look at them, but have a softer than powder consistency. I'd always just used my fingers to apply, but found a good, stiff eyeshadow brush today, and seemed to have some luck there.

These colors are all wearable and soft in appearance, and blend really well together. No odd scents, nothing overly sparkly or anything like that. Even the most intense appearing colors will go on really soft. And I did apply these over primer, but even with the primer, they match what I know to be true about these shadows otherwise, as far as performance goes, so I don't even know that the primer made much difference.

My only objection, I guess, would be to their longevity. I applied these around 2 this afternoon, and I got probably a solid 5, maybe 6 if I'm being optimistic, hours worth of wear. By the end of 8 hours, they'd virtually disappeared from my eyelids. Which, if you're like me, and you're a part timer, isn't bad, cause it'll get you through a full day. If you're someone who needs your eyeshadow to hang with you for 8, 10, 12 hours...this isn't going to get the job done for you.

Let's go to the pictures! This particular pairing is "Lilac" and "Vintage Grape", with purple Kat Von D liner. My son picked out this color pairing, I had to bargain him down from the Lilac with a royal blue shade, that you'll see later this week! :O He's normally got a very good eye for color, but his eye was feeling a little wild today!

Eyes open... (Sidebar: that lipcolor is City Color in Flirtini, which came in my most recent Ipsy bag, and looked shockingly bright initially, but has quickly become one of my favorites...I think I've worn it every day since I got it.)

Eyes closed. Soft, delicate, pretty, and they blend together really nicely. Like I said, if I had to complain at all, it'd be with their longevity. 

During the warm months, I like to actually go outside and let the sun be the natural sunlight. Today, it was record breaking cold, so I didn't go outside, but the sun light seemed to be pretty strong, so I decided to take a picture in natural light, and see what I got there. So this gives you a little bit more of an idea of what these would look like in natural lighting.

Trying to get a little arty with the product shot, haha. That's Lilac closer to the camera, and Vintage Grape farther away. Small containers that fit well in to your hand, and would no doubt go well in to a Z Palette if that's your thing.

I think that the best market for these shadows is probably someone who has a little bit of color bravery about them, but for the most part, wants to be able to rock a soft, clean, natural look. If that's you, then you will enjoy these shadows. In fact, not only will you enjoy them, they'll probably become your new favorites. If you are someone who thinks nothing of wearing lime glitter to your eyebrow, and needs your shadows to rock long in to the night, you should probably keep looking, you haven't found your new favorites here.

Me personally, I'm somewhere in the middle. I like these a lot. :)

Later, my loves!

The Naked Truth makes a return!

When last we all chatted back in November, I was raving over "The Naked Truth" 5 pan shadow kit from Wet N Wild. (Check it, I really was! Really!) Problem was, that while I showed pictures of me wearing the shadow, I never showed pictures of the actual shadow.

As my opinion never changed (it's a well curated set of colors. They go on nicely, blend well together, and you get decent wear time with them. Wet N Wild sometimes misses the mark, but when they hit it, they really hit it, and they did here), I decided to take a different way, and give you some glamour shots.

The requisite shot of me, in the shadow.

And eyes closed;

And eyes closed, smirking at my wall. And if I can get sidetracked here for a second; that lip color that you see is FLOWER lip butter in Wispy Wisteria. Wal-Mart is closing out some FLOWER makeup right now - mainly, it seems like, because they're changing out some packaging designs, and I snapped up this little guy for $3.50. If you're like me and love to look pretty, without parting with some pretty pennies, a stroll through your Wal-Mart makeup aisle is in order. But I'll speak more to that another day. Back to the matter at hand - 

Swatched on the inside of my arm. The dark line you see at the middle of my arm, from there to the left, that is swatched, with no primer (yes, there are five swatches there). Above the dark line is with primer.

So, no, the pigmentation is not super intense. But...say, if you had a 15 year old who thought they were going to die if they didn't get to own the Naked palette, and you're pretty sure you're going to die if you have to pay for it? This is close enough that no one will know.

My guy!

A matte cream as the "base" shadow, a shimmery pale gold for the "browbone", light brown with a fine glimmer for the "eyelid", copper with a gold glimmer for the crease, and a matte deep brown for the definer. Dig it! :)

I like this shadow set a lot. I'd recommend it to a friend. Oh, look at that, I just did!

Later, gorgeous!

I'm giving you the Silent Treatment!

...and other awkward puns. :D

Meet this delicious little guy:

also known as "Silent Treatment", a fantastic little three pan shadow kit from our friends at Wet N Wild. Wet N Wild always helpfully embosses their shadows with their suggested uses, which is handy if you're new to using multiple shadows, and aren't quite sure how to do it. Sometimes I'll follow their suggestions (like in the case of this one), and sometimes I'll just wing it.

This trio is a matte ballet pink, a medium brown with just the slightest hint of shimmer, and a gray with a pink undertone.

I've noticed with Wet N Wild, somehow, that their darker colors have a lot of fallout. This brown did not disappoint, I was even ready for it, and still, had to clean it up. I finished the makeup, and looked closely in the mirror, and looked like I'd gained a fine sprinkling of freckles. Not...that was not exactly the look I was going for. Luckily, it cleaned up well, and we were on our way!

The shadow in action. Worn over the Fergie for Wet N Wild eyeshadow primer, but of course.

Eyes open:

Nice, right? Sort of a neat play on a neutral eye. That little extra fleck of silver you see is a Kat Von D eyeliner pencil, which I know I usually only talk about drug store stuff, but her eyeliner is worth the splurge. That stuff lasts! And it's not much of a splurge if you're a TJ Maxx shopper, I got a kit with 8, maybe 10 eyeliners in it, for $7. That's comparable to drug store prices, for sure!

Eyes closed. The lighting is a combo of natural lighting from my big window by the stairs, and flash.

If I can get a little sidetracked by the lip for a second - I'm wearing J. Cat liquid lipcolor, if you're an Ipsy subscriber, you probably got one a couple of bags ago. That stuff is like liquid cement - once you set it down, you better be committed, because that stuff isn't going anywhere. But the color is gorgeous and the stuff lasts. So that's another for the "If you're going to splurge on something..." file. 

These shadows lasted really well. I rarely have a problem with WNW shadows and their longevity, which speaks both to the shadows themselves, and the primer, I think. I was wandering Sephora the other day and saw that Bobbi Brown has a shadow that is a dead ringer for the taupe shade on the bottom, which is handy information to have. Why pay a fortune when you don't have to?

See you tomorrow my lovelies!

Wet N Wild Wednesday!

Today, I reviewed a 5 pan eyeshadow set from Wet N Wild, called "The Naked Truth". I also forgot to take a picture of it in good light, and wanted to do it justice, so I'll have to add that tomorrow.

As the name would suggest, this is a neutral palate, with colors ranging from a shimmery nude, on to a copper shade with flecks of gold glitter, that was just kind of fun to look at. Like is typical for Wet N Wild, each shade is has the suggest application site embossed in it. I did it on their application tips. I don't get intimidated by much, but the contrast between the nude, and the copper, seemed a bit tough to get through.

I shouldn't have worried! These colors went on well, blended together easily, and looked terrific. I'm now...seven hours post application, and you can see the colors beginning to fade a little, but the look is still clean, and well put together.

Wet N Wild is one of those brands that when they hit the mark, they nail it, and they really hit the mark on this one. For the price point, this is as nicely put together a palate as you'll probably find.

The one thing that never fails to irk me about Wet N Wild though? The chips to my mani that I take opening up a new polish! Three safety seals is a bit much, right? I mean, for real. Three?

The chips to my mani aside, I recommend this shadow, very enthusiastically. For their price point, it's nicely pigmented, and a well curated selection of colors put together. Two thumbs up!

The pictures. This is over the Fergie "Take On The Day" primer. Kat Von D liquid liner. As for the things that look like wings - I'm working on perfecting my wing technique. It's not great (this one was a little bit of an uneven line), but I'm getting there. :D

Right? That's a solid group of colors, for their price range. Do recommend! Will update again with the picture of the shadow, when I can get it in good lighting.

Later, lovelies!

Alright, long time no chat!

Thanks to a case of the writers block, and then a case of the forgetfulness (hey, it happens), it's been a while since we all talked, but I'm back, baby!

I own weird quantities of Almay eyeshadow. Almay doesn't put out coupons a lot, but when they do, they don't play around. And as a result, I own a lot of Almay eyeshadow. I've spoken about some of them, here. And here. And I'm back for another round!

This time, we're on pressed powder shadows. The Almay I-Color kits come in three speeds - Bold Nude, Shimmer, and Smokey. As it happens, I don't own any of the Bold Nude sets, but I do have some of the other two to show off. Because I believe, as I've pointed out before, the Almay theory of matching eyeshadow to your eye color is just a neat advertising gimmick and not much more, I actually own a wide variety of color choices.

The colors in question:

Top Left is the Shimmer-I kit, for blue eyes. Silver, a very highly pigmented navy, and light pink. This navy is by far the most pigmented of the three, and is no small trick to blend in! Almay, as you'll notice, lays out the color in a possible suggested wear pattern, if you're not terribly adept at smokey eyes.

Top Right is the Smokey-I kit for brown eyes. A bronze, a purple and gold color. This trio would probably be the one I'd be the most likely to buy in the group, just based on the colors. If I were shopping on impulse. Which I do from time to time. :D
Bottom Left is the Shimmer-I kit for hazel eyes. I like this kit a lot, because I've never seen anything like that green. Green, black and a gold toned white, and this one is VI. VID. Don't wear this if you don't want to stand out!

Bottom Right is the Smokey-I for green eyes. I like this one quite a bit too. Plum, a taupe color, and a lighter pink. This is probably the one of the group that gets me the most compliments when I wear it out.

Speaking of which, I also took pictures of me, in these eyeshadows. Each is applied over the Fergie for Wet N Wild's "Take On The Day" Primer.

Blue eyed kt. Silver across the lid, navy in the V, pink across the brow bone.

Brown eyed kit. I used the purple across the lid, bronze in the crease, and white on the browbone. See what I mean here - if I were to just go grab some Almay eyeshadows, ignoring their blue eyed/green eyed/whatevers, this is the group I'd be the most likely to purchase.

Green eyed kit. I wore this Friday night. I used green across the lid, and black in the crease. Man, I was having a great makeup day, probably the best smokey eye I'd done in some time. Then it dawned on me that a forrest green and black smokey eye was probably a smidge intense for a hockey game (we had seats in my husband's company box seats for the hockey game that night...), and I should probably dial it down. So in a stroke of genius, I took my "smudge brush", loaded it up with the golden white that comes included in the kit, and patted it over the top of much of the green. Dialed down the intensity, and made me look like a blending genius at the same time. :D Probably still far to intense for a hockey game, but whatever. Own it, girl! LOL!

This is the hazel eye kit, and this is the one I get the most compliments on. The taupe across the lid, plum in the crease, and little bit of the pink patted over the top, and along the brow bone. As a sidebar, I'm wearing ELF liquid eyeliner pencil in this one, and I think I love it. The line isn't quite as thick as I'd like, but that's probably my issue. If you can use a sharpie, you can use it. I recommend it - especially for only $1!

So with my other mass Almay reviews, I could kind of narrow it down to my "Keepers", but here...I got nothin'. These are high quality shadows, especially for the price point. Nice color payoff, richly pigmented (in the case of the navy in the blue eyed kit, almost annoyingly so...), long lasting. Great value for the price - which is between $4 and $8 USD depending on where you shop, and whether or not you find on sale.

I recommend all of them - buy according to your eye color if you like. Buy according to whatever colors strike your fancy (I kind of did...), but buy early, and buy often. :D

In a couple of these, it looks like I might have some filter action going on, but to the best of my knowledge, I do not.

See you soon, lovelies!

Like Almay? Me too! I talk about it all the time!

Bite Sized Reviews of Rimmel!

We're talking Rimmel Scandaleyes eyeshadow sticks!

I talked about one of these a little bit once before, here, and had a real Murphy's Law type of experience with it, so I was hopeful this one would go different.

I used two of the colors, Bulletproof Beige. Bulletproof Beige is a nice, shimmer gold, that if you're fair skinned, could easily double for a highlighter. Then we revisited my old nemesis, Paranoid Purple, a matte royal purple, which is also the one I had so much trouble with in the post that I linked.

Pleasantly, the trouble I had was not duplicated. I had no trouble getting the lid off, no breakage, no nothing! Great!

These are uber-simple to use - if you can use a crayon, you can use these. I was interested to see how well multiples blended together though. Awesomely, as it turns out. I'd tried the Almay stick eyeshadows (read those details, here...), and they didn't blend at ALL, and I admittedly expected the same from Rimmel.

I set the bar too low, as it turns out, because these colors stayed nicely, blended well, and layers together great!

Here's a few snaps. I ran out of daylight before I could get daylight snaps, so all of these are swatched indoors, which isn't great admittedly, but I did what I could do for you, right? :D

The product on. See what I mean? Blends really well, looks nice on.

The colors swatched on the inside of my arm. That's Bulletproof Beige closer to the camera, Paranoid Purple farther away. Bulletproof Beige could easily work as a highlighter in the Highlight and Contour step (for fair to medium skin tones. After a medium skin tone...probably not as much, hah!). Paranoid Purple also makes a nice eyeliner, if you sharpen the pencil to a nice point.

You know, had I been left to my original experience to decide whether or not I'd recommend this product to you, I'd give it a solid "...meh? Maybe?", but I was much more impressed with the product - in terms of wearability and longevity the second time around, so I'd give this a solid yes. This is an impressive product for the cost!

All that, and my google spell check is still in one piece!

We're back for Wet N Wild Wednesday!

We're back for a special Wet N Wild Wednesday, and we're talking eyeshadow!

I already pitted the Summer 2013 and Summer 2014 eyeshadow collections against each other once, here, and we're back for round two!

In this corner, "To Muse and Carouse!"

This trio is a nice matte sky blue, a matte tan, and a deeper matte brown tone.

The colors didn't have the payoff that I was expecting to see (I'll admit, I was a little nervous of the potential impact of that blue!), but they went on nicely, and blended well. In fact, when you see the color on me, you'll see it with primer, and it still didn't have a ton of color payoff. But, it's a nice set of neutrals, and you can never have enough of those, right?

In action. I try to take pictures outside when I can, but it was pretty rainy this week, so these are all taken in the light of the big window in my living room. You can see - nice, and I actually like how the color plays off my eyes a lot, but if you're wanting big, splashy color - this isn't your guy.

In this corner, from the Summer 2014 collection, "Who's Carpooling?"

This collection is a matte white, matte kelly green, and matte royal blue. And unfortunately, suffers from far FAR too much of a good thing.

These colors are all CRAZY pigmented. Make no mistake - what you see in that pan is what will show up on your eyelid. Which is FINE, if you need a great matte royal blue, or kelly green. And had I been in the market for either one, I would have been thrilled. As matte kelly green and matte royal blue go, they're top notch. Seeing this much fire power in a drug store brand is truly impressive.

But unfortunately, everybody doesn't want all fire power all the time. I was just telling someone else about this, and I made the comparison to cooking with jalapeno. You don't cook full blast, all jalapeno, all the time, right? That's kind of what this palate suffered from. It needed some...something to dilute it. A little shimmer never hurt nobody!

And as if parsing down all this fire power wasn't enough, there was the problem that the minute I tried to blend these to dilute them, they started going EVERYWHERE. Let me start at the beginning.

I use my primer (Fergie "Take On The Day", also by Wet N Wild), and apply the white all over. Things are going swimmingly. I decide to follow my own color scheme rather than the Wet N Wild suggestion (royal blue across the lid, green in the crease, white to the brow), and decide that I'll go green across the center of the lid, and blue on the outside. I battle through the FOUR safety stickers Wet N Wild applies, and finally reach the product. White all over, great. Dip my brush into the green, apply to the lid. Ooh, boy. You guys, I may as well have gone across my lid with a green sharpie. The colors beautiful, but WOW. So I panic, and decide I have to have a new plan. I swirl the green through the white, which gives me a bit of a lime color, some of which is now deposited on my undereye, despite my not-at-all-aggressive-blending, and decide I'm going to use a dense bristled eyeshadow brush, and the blue liner, to give myself a pseudo eyeliner line.

I finally gave up, and decided I didn't have time to play with this, wiped the entire thing off, and went to work virtually bare eyed. What a disaster!

In action, with the three pan shadow in question. Also taken in the light by the window in my house, because it's still rainy and gross in Michigan! :)

So the dilemma I had was this;

Summer 2013's entry, "To Muse and Carouse", is a generally solid performer. Not exciting by way of color payoff, nothing to get excited about by way of longevity, but otherwise, a solid entry.

Summer 2014's entry, "Who's Carpooling?", is a bit more erratic of a performer. REALLY exciting by way of color payoff, but the color drift also calls the longevity in to question too, right?

So, based solely on wearability, I have to give this battle to - Summer 2013! Of these two, I believe that "To Muse and Carouse" is the superior eyeshadow. If you could only pick up one, "To Muse and Carouse" would hands down be my recommendation!

I'm really conflicted this week!

This week, I took on the Almay Intense i-Color Shadow Stick. Actually, if we're being fair, I took on THREE Almay Intense i-Color Shadow Sticks. The blue eyed, hazel eyed and green eyed version. I'm really conflicted on what I think of them.

First, let's get to what we know;

These colors, like almost every other eye color in the Almay stable, is "matched" to you based on your eye color. You pick your product range according to your eye color, you're ready to go. This entry, the "shadow stick" is sort of like the Almay answer to the 5 minute face. Two shadows, paired easily in to one pencil form. Nice creamy formula, easy to use - if you learned to color in kindergarten, you can use this - no muss, no fuss.

Which is great, but the problem? If you're a person who wants some color BANG for the buck, these aren't your guy. These are nice, and soft, and go on smoothly and easily, but don't offer anything by way of exceptional color payoff. In fact, I had to swatch these on the inside of my arm, because I felt like you didn't even get much of a look at it, otherwise.

Let's go to the pictures!

The product shot. From near to far, you see the blue eyed version (a light bronze, with a darker brown. This was the highest pigmented one of the three). Then in the middle you see the hazel eyed version, a light pink, and a brown with a pink undertone. I found this one most lacking in terms of longevity. By the end of the night, it was virtually gone. And the farthest away one is the green eyed version, a silver with a cool toned purple. I found this one the most interesting, because that's not a combination you go to a lot.

More pictures!

The blue eyed stick, swatched on the inside of my arm. Pic taken in as much natural light as the overcast skies would allow me. :)

Blue eyed stick, in action. Not for nothin', but the red lip is courtesy of Jordana. Pretty magical, for the price, right? :)

Green eyes, swatched.

Green eyed stick, in action. I've been battling the elementary school plague, and I think you can really tell it in this picture. Also, there wasn't nearly as much sun as the blue eyed stick got. But, still. ;)

Hazel eyes, swatched.

I don't know about you guys, but I think my makeup game was on point on this day! ;)

So, my conflict is that these are all not like the others. The blue eyed stick is the best pigmented, and longest lasting. But the green eyed stick is the most interesting combination. And the hazel eyed version is...there? I think of the three, I'd recommend the green eyed version for interest (and it did the most to play up my own eyes) or the blue for the pigment and lasting, and I'd tell you to just all together skip the hazel version. That one's not worth it.

See you soon, my lovelies!

Another special edition "Wet N Wild Wednesday"!

It's time for another special edition "Wet N Wild Wednesday" here at the Big Blog of Beauty, and this time, we're talkin' eyeshadow!

Our first entry is from the Summer 2013 collection, called "I'm Seeing Triples!" Despite the fact that everything I can find online attributes this collection to Summer of 2013, I'm still actively seeing it in stores, right up to today. So if you were on the ball and got one last summer, but want more, you're in luck. I've recently spotted these at Rite Aid, and bought this one personally at CVS.

At any rate - this collection is a matte lime, aqua and pink color, and I was initially attracted to them because they're so far outside of what I'd normally wear! :) I used Fergie Take On The Day primer, but came up with my own color scheme, because the labeling that Wet N Wild provides to give you a hint on how to use the colors...well that was bravery taken a little too far. Lime up to my eyebrows was more than I was ready to commit to! So I went with lime in the inner corner, the pink across the mid section of the lid, and the aqua in the outer corner, as well as in to the crease.

This shadow goes on great - I've read some reviews saying that it was better to use the sponge applicator, that you'd get more color pay off that way, but I had no problems with the payoff that I got. I did alternate a bit between sweeping the color on, and stippling the color.

I honestly don't know that I'd rock all three of these together at the same time again, but I do like all of these colors a lot. They reminded me a lot of the HIP line that L'Oreal has been selling for a while, but bonus - at a fraction of the price!

The actual palate. Wet N Wild, as you can see, provides some handy labeling, if you're not one for figuring out how to use the colors for yourself. But, like I said - matte lime up to my eyebrows was a bridge too far, so I threw their rules out the window, and wrote my own. Makeup's fun like that. :D

Wearing the shadow, eyes opened and closed. The look, in action. Nice color payoff, great durability - hung in solid for five or six hours - and a unique look. I got a lot of positive feedback on this one!

Now we move on to my Summer 2014 selection, "No Scalpers Allowed!". On its face, this one was much more wearable. A light, pinky tone, a mid-tone matte purple, and then a deeper purple with a slight iridescent quality. Everything sounds great so far, right?

Color goes on smoothly, and pretty well - I used the same brush as I'd used for "I'm Seeing Triples!", as well as a similar technique of application. Fergie Take On The Day primer, and a combination of sweeping and stippling to apply the color. Color went on smoothly. Not as much color payoff as with "I'm Seeing Triples!", but that's alright.

Looks nice, right? I used Wet N Wild purple eyeliner pencil in this one, where I'd used black eyeliner in the other, but everything else you're seeing in the pictures is the same.

So, does it sound like I'm hedging my bets a bit on exclaiming over this one? Because I kind of am. I had one giant, giant problem with this one - drifting color. The purple - and I never got a feel for which, they seemed to blend together at this point - just spread, everywhere. I had to clean up my eyes twice before I could leave for work, and twice while I was at work. Where I got 5 hours of pretty impeccable wear from "I'm Seeing Triples!", I got about 40 minutes worth of wear out of "No Scalpers Allowed!", which was a disappointment, to say the absolute least.

For the sake of equal opportunity, a picture of the palate. It all looks so promising, doesn't it?

Of these two, if I had to make a recommendation, I'd recommend "I'm Seeing Triples!" Wears well, nice color payoff, unique - it'll for sure attract attention. "No Scalpers Allowed" has only mediocre color payoff, and was suffering from constant melt down, the entire time I had it on. Pass on "No Scalpers Allowed!", unless you're just so fond of purple eyeshadow that you just can't help it. :)

Almay Intense I-Color Liquid Shadow Reviews...

...can we all just agree on something?

Almay markets their colors as being specially formulated and selected for your eye color. Can we just all agree that that's as much a smart marketing tactic as it is anything else? Because if that was the way to do it, that'd be the way everybody was doing it, right?

And can we agree on something else? That these don't take great pictures. They really don't. In fact, I wore the shadow for green eyes one day, and the shadow for blue eyes the next, and my seven year old asked me if I'd even changed my eyeshadow at all. Awesome.

Thanks to some savvy couponing, I actually had three of these to try - the color for blue eyes (a silvery blue), green eyes (a gold), and the color for hazel eyes (a darker gold shade. Like...gold, but almost an olive tone?)

There's little variation from one to the other, formula wise.

The product comes in a tube applicator, with a doe foot at the end of the wand - the packaging is actually really similar to the average lip gloss. Color goes on silky, soft and light. It doesn't layer particularly well - by the time you apply, and then blend out, you've lost pretty much all the color. You'll see the swatches on my arm that are applied to a small area, and completely unblended.

Almay markets that this color can be used as a primer as well, and it's actually not bad there - if you like their Shadow Softies, but wished for a bit more color payoff there as well, you'll find good luck using these underneath.

As just a shadow - not as a primer - the wear time is pretty good. I've had mine on about 12 hours now, minimal fading, no creasing!

A few beauty shots!

Swatched on the inside of my wrist (in bathroom lighting). Hazel eyes, blue eyes and green eyes, from left to right. The green eyed version is probably the most universal of the group - everybody can rock a nice delicate gold, regardless of your actual eye color - and the hazel eyed is the most pigmented of the three. The blue eyed one looks nice on - it's a nice, delicate wash of color - but would be the most challenging to use as a primer, I think. I've even tried it, and only did it with blue eyeshadows - it would really cool down the look of any shadows you use.

Hazel eyes, blue eyes and green eyes, from top to bottom. These aren't super stellar pictures - but then, they don't take super stellar pictures. They look very similar in photographs. A nice, delicate wash of color. I reach for these not as a shadow primer, but in one of those moments where you've overslept, and need to get out of the house looking reasonably pulled together, in about 10 minutes. Or, when you don't want to wear a lot of makeup, but you want a little polish.

Will these change the world? Of course they aren't. They aren't high octane enough for that. But they do give a nice wash of long lasting color that will keep you looking nice - or your eyeshadow looking primed - all day long, which is all anybody wants from their eyeshadow! So...I guess, I don't know if I recommend it exactly, but I don't think you'll hate owning it either? That's not a super glowing review, is it? Haha...

Mini-Reviews

I'm doing a little makeup bag spring cleaning this week - it's a little challenging to convince your husband you need new makeup when even he can see the makeup bag so full it won't close on the bathroom counter - so I decided I'd do a few quick, mini reviews of the products I was cleaning out, just to give them a little sayonara on the way out the door!

With that said...I have a beauty confession to make.

I have a long standing love/hate relationship with Revlon Colorstay eyeshadow. I'll go bonkers for it, and buy up a bunch of it, that I use happily. And then after a while, I come back to my senses, and go "You know, I don't think I like this that much..." and get rid of it. It is a cycle I've repeated...well, pretty much since Colorstay eyeshadow has been a thing.

I'm in the "come back to my senses" part of the cycle, but before I give them their big send off, I thought I'd talk a little about them first. Each color that you're seeing was applied over Wet N Wild Fergie eyeshadow primer.

Victim number one:

Meet "Inspired". This one is pretty kicky - white, aqua, lime and a deep purple. This is a color combination I like, and one I'd almost be enticed to keep, if it weren't for one problem - the massive, massive amounts of fall out from the lime. I had that lime eyeshadow everywhere. My lashes were lime, my under eye was lime, everything turned lime over that eyeshadow.

Although, in fairness to this particular quad - it does have more color payoff than the other two that we're about to meet, and had a nice little shimmer to it, which makes it feel kind of kicky and fun. This one is the closest I've come to sticking with a Revlon eyeshadow in probably a while!

Batter up, victim number two!

This is "Attitude". This is a nice, neutral, mellow palate. Pink, a light brown with a slight shimmer, a matte medium brown, and a matte darker brown. Nice, goes with everything.

My problem with this one is that without primer, there isn't a ton of color payoff. I'm a fan of the high contrast, I like to see a lot of color payoff, and I just don't get it here. I don't have a particular beef - the formula is nice, goes on smooth and velvety soft. I just don't get the amount of color I want.

And just for bonus points;

Victim number three!

This one is Mary Kay eyesicles cream eyecolor in Vanilla. This is a product that sort of rotates in and out of the line up for Mary Kay - it's currently out - and isn't all that satisfying to me. It's a nice eye brightener, and it'd probably make an excellent primer (honest, I've never tried, so don't hold me to that). But if you want to talk about color payoff - there's virtually none here - and I was noticing creases in about a half hour. No thanks, Mary Kay!

So, thanks for indulging a little bit of my makeup bag clean out! It's a little closer to closing now! :D
,br> See you later, lovelies!

This is like a three-fer of beauty information today!

You just can't pay for this sort of entertainment!

So today, I'm testing not one, but TWO tips from pinterest, as well as showing you a Revlon Colorstay eyeshadow quad.

Let's get to the action!

First tip that we're testing is what I've affectionatly dubbed the "Insta-brow lift". Groom your brows as you wish, apply a small amount of concealer above the brow, and a small amount below, and you'll get the insta-brow lift effect.

Now, this pic isn't today, but this is just an idea of what I was working with. This was the after;

I don't even think this picture does it justice you guys, I was really excited with this little trick. I'd do it again. I used a wand concealer (Wet N Wild Cover All if you're intrigued...), three dabs in the arch, three dabs above the brow, gently blended. I'll try to get a better picture of the results (I can do pictures of the pricess too, if you're so intrigued, but it seems pretty self explanatory...).

The second trick I tested was scotch tape. Yes, scotch tape. Trick being - if you're someone who tends to go a little wild with your eyeshadow, and it runs off the edges of your eyes, take a piece of scotch tape, and tape from the outer corner of your brow to the outer corner of your eye. And any color that might make a mess on the outer corner of your eye will instead be on the scotch tape, and bingo-bango, perfect eye makeup.

This is among the weirder tips that I've tried, but I actually really liked this one. I do have a tendency to run off the edges a little bit - in the crease is a particular weakness - and being able to simply peel away the tape, and the mess was gone, was fantastic! I don't know that I'd do this every single day, but if I were going to a special event, and really wanted my makeup to be on pointe, you bet I'd whip out a little tape!

And lastly, Revlon Colorstay Eyeshadow. This color quad was named "Bombshell", which I'm not even totally certain they make anymore, because I haven't seen it in the store in a while. White, yellow, a metallic grey, and a darker grey. Check it;

The white and yellow colors were a little on the flaky side, there was a lot of fall out from the two of them. The grey shades went on smooth and silky, they were nice to wear, and actually looked really nice together. And speaking of together, let's talk about that - this is an odd combination of colors. That's actually what drew me to it. But if you follow Revlon's instructions, the yellow gets completely washed out. Well why use it at all, then? Why not put in a different shade?

Speaking of instructions - if you like a nice smokey eye, but you're a little shakey on how to do it, Revlon includes a handy little instruction sheet, right on the back. All four colors, and right where they go on your lid. It's handy, and guarentees a nice look, don't be shy with it! And of course, if you're more adept with a smokey eye, go crazy, do whatever look you like! :)

Some pics. And I goofed these a tiny bit, because I didn't check the light before hand. That light across my nose is the sun coming in from the window in the bathroom. Haha...

Eyes open. Nice, right? I used Wet N Wild Fergie eyeshadow primer - which by the by, is fantastic - underneath, and there was the before mentioned concealer on the brow, and then the shadows. I'm pretty happy!

Eyes closed. See what I mean about the yellow? It's in the corners - in fact, there's probably extra yellow. And nada. You've got to really look for it. That's disapointing, for sure.

So I'm really happy with my tricks, and just as happy with the eyeshadow. I didn't get the 8 or 10 hours or whatever they promise - in fact, I barely got my aunts birthday party - but it wears and looks really nice, so I have no problems with it. I'd recommend it to a friend. ;)

And speaking of, look at that! I just did that! :D

See you later, gorgeous!