Okay... I'm warning you that this will more than likely end up an extremely long post because I have lots of pictures. First up will be what I got for Christmas, and later on in the post I'll add what I got with a gift card for Ulta.
I've been watching a lot of Pixiwoo videos lately. I've been trying to replace some old brushes that are getting uncomfortable to use, and Sam's brushes looked like they apply product nicely, so I thought I'd give them a try. I bought the Real Techniques Expert Face and Powder brushes. I haven't had a chance to use them yet, but they do feel pretty soft.
Ulta had a BOGO 50% off on most of the cheaper brands the night my mom and I went (yes, I pretty much picked out all my Christmas presents beforehand. That tends to happen as we get older). I've wanted to try a lot of things from NYX, so I thought this would be good chance. I got an HD concealer in Glow, a blush in Pinched, and two Mega Shine lip glosses, one in French Kiss and one in Beige.
Beige is so opaque! I was really not expecting it. Both glosses are beautiful and the blush is as well. I haven't tried it on my face, but the swatch was beautiful. I was surprised at the intensity of the blush's swatch. I only wish it showed up in the picture better. I tried to take pictures at different angles to help show the color. It's pink with a golden iridescence. I can't wait to try it out. I just hate using products that have a pattern imprinted because I don't want to ruin it! That's the only thing that's kept me from using it yet.
That same night, I got a "Build Your Own Palette" thingy from Urban Decay. I only got it because I had a 20% off coupon that worked for everything in the store. Coupons don't usually work on the more expensive makeup. I really wanted to get the palette then for the "exclusive" eyeshadow that it came with. The name of it was Melt. I like UD's eyeshadows, and I know I'll buy more in the future, so I might as well get the palette and an eyeshadow at a discount. Here's the cute packaging and a swatch of the shadow.
I must say, the shadow is drier than I thought it would be. The eyeshadows I have already are smoother feeling, and those are the old formula. I thought this was supposed to be a shadow in the new formula. Bummer there. Maybe it will feel better after a few uses. I find that some shadows have a hard layer, but after you rub that away, they're wonderful. I just expect a little more when I pay $18 for an eyeshadow, ya know? And sorry it doesn't really show up in the picture. It's quite pigmented, but it blends in too well with my skin!
Here's all the different eyeshadows I ended up with. There's UD's Melt, Maybelline Color Tattoos (Metals line) in Inked in Pink and Barely Branded, and from The Balm I got the Balm Jovi palette and an Overshadow in If You're Rich, I'm Single. I love The Balm's packaging! I want to learn to paint like that, and then I want to do artwork for them.
First let's see the swatches of the Color Tattoos.
Of course, you've already heard all about Barely Branded from me. Both of these shades are lovely, though. I was a little bit nervous about getting the Inked in Pink because I haven't done a lot of pink tones on my eyes, and I've heard that they can make you look sick if used improperly. I got it anyway, and I don't think it was a mistake. I have used both and they are fantastic! I think most people know by now that the whole line is. I can't believe that they don't crease. But you watch--Maybelline will discontinue it because they have a good thing going. They always do that. I don't understand.
This is TheBalm's Overshadow in If You're Rich, I'm Single. Their names for stuff are so funny. I absolutely love TheBalm. I can't say enough good things about them! I have the two differently lighted pictures side by side in an effort to show the complexity of the the shadow. It can be quite coppery, but when it's buffed into the skin, it can be quite dark. It's a very interesting color. While I like it, I don't think I'll get as much use out of it as the Overshadow I already had in Work is Overrated. That's more along the lines of my skintone, and I really like it. The great thing about these shadows is that they're loose pigments and it doesn't take much to get a strong color, so they'll last forever.
Here's the Balm Jovie palette from TheBalm. I had to break this up into two different pictures, because I have to talk about so much. The picture above is to show the packaging. They have such funny names for the eyeshadows! Maybe not funny so much as clever. I just love how they broke the colors into the different categories. As you may have guessed, the Heavy Metals have metalic finishes, or at least some sparkle, the Classical shadows are all matte, and the Alternatives are a mix of matte, satin, and shimmer. My favorite part of the packaging is the little flap that covers the lip/cheek creams. If you click on the picture, you can see it bigger and read it. It's so cute!
I was a little disappointed with the color payoff of Moderato, Presto, and rem. The dark colors just didn't show up as rich as I'd like. Granted, I never use eyeshadow on bare skin, there's always some sort of base, but still. The rest of the colors are so pigmented, I feel kind of let down by these guys. And although rem isn't dark, it felt really smooth so I figured it would be well pigmented. I was a little confused by the naming of Alice Copper since it isn't a coppery color, but oh well.
I must say, though, that I was so pleasantly surprised when I touched Metal-ica. I've never used TheBalm's pressed shadows, so I didn't know what to expect, but Metal-ica certainly gave me a good impression. Metal-ica, Iron Maid-in, Adagio, Allegro, Blink 1982, rem, and Third Eye Blinded all feel so very smooth and creamy. The rest have a tendency to feel a little dry, but what can you do? It's overall a very good palette.
I forgot that I also had swatches of the face products. Disco Disco is Mary-Lou Manizer, and Pop! Pop! is FratBoy blush. The first thing I thought when I made the swatches was, "Holy Canolies, these things are pigmented!" I barely touched the blush and it's swatch was so opaque. The little sample in the palette is going to last me sooo long. Thankfully, Disco Disco isn't quite so opaque. It's quite gold and you don't want to go around with gold obviously on your face. Luminizers (or highlighters--whatever you want to call them) need to be a bit sheer.
Here's all the stuff I got with an Ulta gift card I got for Christmas. It's amazing how quickly $25 can be spent on makeup, even drugstore makeup. That mascara was the most expensive thing, and it wasn't even worth it. I'd heard so such great reviews, but I think I've used other mascaras I like better. Too bad. I got the Maybelline eyeshadow duo in Sunkissed Olive in hopes that it would have the same gold from the Enchanted Forest quad, but it doesn't. Well, it kind of does, but not the gold I wanted. In this picture also is a NYX eyeshadow in Flamingo, and Essence glosses in Big Night Out and True Love.
Flamingo doesn't really show up because it's actually quite close to my skin tone. It looks pinker in the pan, but it's really just a pinker version of my skin. Now about the duo from Maybelline. I got it because I love the darker gold color in the Enchanted Forests quad. I bought the quad a while back and at that time they packaged it so all four colors had the same amount of product. I like that style best. But now they have it so that gold is a small little rectangle. I already had a similar shade to the light gold, but of course that's what the light shade in this duo is most similar to. It's not exact, though. This one seems to have little bits of glitter in it, while the shade from the quad is just shimmery.
Finally, the swatches of the Essence glosses. Both are about middle-of-the road when it comes to opaqueness. Big Night Out has a slightly lavender tone to it, which can be quite lovely, I almost think it should be worn on someone else than me. Oh well, I'm still going to use it. True Love is nice because it's more of a blue red (almost a berry) and it's semi-sheerness helps make it a little more wearable.
I must address something that I learned from buying True Love. On the barcode, it says, "Contains Carmine." It of course made me curious as to what carmine is. If something is but specifically on a label like that, it must be important. Also, I remember reading about how there can be trace amounts of the metals they use to create pigments. After Art Orientation--where they warned us not to touch the paint because it has harmful metals in it--I was a little concerned about metals being in my lipgloss, although I read an article that said the FDA wouldn't allow a harmful amount of the metals.
So I Googled carmine and it turns out that carmine is actually ground up beetle shells. That's better than metals! People all over the world eat bugs, so I'm okay with it. Especially when they go through such a thorough process to sterilize the shells. The only reason I can think of that they put the warning on the label is that 35 people have reported going into anaphylactic shock after using something with carmine. So if you are allergic to things like this, take the necessary precautions. I'm not really sure how things like that work because I don't have severe allergies. You know yourself, so do what you need to do to stay safe.
That's about it. I'm sorry this was so long, but I got quite a bit of makeup for Christmas. I'm pretty satisfied for now :) Talk to you later!
~Stacie
