Now We Resume This Blog, After That Long-A** Break

     Hi everyone! My blog has been terribly neglected this past year; I've just had so much going on, personally, that writing has been one of the farthest things from my mind. My husband and I separated last year, and I've been treading the waters of single-parenthood, trying to stay afloat. It hasn't been easy, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.
     Breakups are never easy, but I hope that in the case of my children's father and I, we can make this as easy as possible for our 2 girls. There is no drama, no hurt feelings, and no ill-will toward one another. We've been growing apart for some time now, and just realized that if we want to be happy, we should make the decision while the kids are young.
     Alright, now that I've delved deep enough into my personal life, let's get into the reason I started this blog; MAKEUP! I've been acquiring quite a bit of it these last several months, and though I have been using it, I thought I should put my buying on hold for a bit and try to use what I have more. (And when I say 'hold', I mean a soft hold. I'll probably still dip into the wallet when something really good comes along.)
     After making a few hasty purchases simply because they were new and exclusive, I made the decision to think before I buy. For example, the new Huda Beauty lip contour pencils; I bought the Shade "Bombshell", simply because of all of the hype around the launch. And for $25.50, I should've had better intentions. When I got it in the mail a couple days later, I immediately regretted my choice. It was a lip liner. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but for $25, it wasn't supposed to be "just" a lip liner. Coupled with the fact that the shade was identical to MAC's "In Control" liner that I already had (and paid $6 less for) and the formula wasn't anything new or innovative, I put it back in it's packaging, grabbed the receipt, and back to Sephora it went. 
     Point being; I have a lot of makeup. A LOT. More than some people, less than others, but for me, it's a lot. And I do love it. But I think in order to really appreciate it, I need to use what I have and make educated decisions when buying any more. So in this new chapter of my life, that will be my mission, to use and document my beloved beauty items, and share it with those who appreciate it: the beauty community.
     I hope to be better at writing - and taking time out, now that I have more of it - for the passion I have for beauty products, :) 

Maybelline "Blushed Nude" vs Coastal Scents "Revealed 2"

Okay, so I'll start off by saying that I know everyone and their grandma's neighbour has talked about the Maybelline Blushed Nudes palette. I resisted the urge to buy it because of the horrible reviews I was seeing. But I recently picked up Coastal Scents' Revealed 2, and realized that I'm really into rosy toned shadows, so when I saw the Maybelline on sale, I grabbed it to compare. 

The Revealed palette retails for around $25-$30CAD (I got mine from Birchbox.ca, using a promo code and points, so I only paid $2.50. 🙌) and the Maybelline is usually $15, depending on where you go. Mine was purchased at Shoppers on sale for $12.50. 

Both palettes have the same rosy, 'Naked 2' type of feel. The Revealed boasts 20 shadows, most of which are buttery smooth, pigmented, and extremely blendable, while the Blushed Nudes has 12 shades, and I found all but 3 to be powdery, dry, and extremely hard to transfer to the lid. 

I did some side-by-side comparisons of shades that I feel are similar in tone/finish. The swatches shown will all be of the Maybelline on the left, and the Coastal Scents on the right. 

First is the lightest shade in the Blushed Nudes palette. The quintessential pale matte highlight shade. The Revealed 2's version is buttery and pigmented; the Blushed Nudes is dust. I had to dig to get anything out of the pan, and it STILL didn't show up. :/

These two shades don't quite match on the skin, but they're quite similar in the pan. Powdery Maybelline, creamy Coastal Scents (yes, there is a trend here.)

Here's another shadow that's important in every palette; the crease/transition shade. Again, barely anything out of the Maybelline. The CS is a beautiful taupe-mauve that's perfect for blending. Probably my favourite of the whole palette. 

I'll just show the next few shades and you can see for yourself the difference in texture and pigmentation. As I've said, the Maybelline swatches are on the left, the Coastal Scents are on the right. 

I have to say, I'm not impressed that the Blushed Nudes doesn't have a matte black, but it DOES have a black with Rose glitter. But it doesn't transfer into the skin AT ALL. It barely looks like I touched it, the glitter shows up more than the shadow. The same shadow (and in the pans they do look the EXACT same) on the CS palette is exactly what it should be- black with glitter flecked throughout. 

Overall, I'm (obviously) disappointed in the Maybelline Blushed Nudes palette. There is just NOT enough pigmentation. How this made it out the door is beyond me. It's obviously not hard to do affordable, pigmented shadows if Coastal Scents (not to mention Makeup Geek, Colourpop, even L'Oreal) can do it. I'd say skip over the Maybelline palette, and DEFINITELY grab the Revealed 2 (and heck, even the 1 & 3!) You won't be disappointed. OR bored, there are tons of options for different looks.    

 

 

L'Oreal La Palette Nude 2 review

I've been wanting this palette ever since NOT getting the Maybelline Nudes palette; every review/video showed disappointing and chalky shadows, and I never wanted to waste my money on it. So when I went to my local Rexall, and saw a new display with both of the "La Palettes" (I'm in a small town, we're  usually weeks behind on releases) and the price tag read $12.99, I grabbed the purple shades. It was a very convenient pricing mistake, to say the least. 

These shadows are phenomenal; pigmented, creamy, and blendable. There is some kick-up when you dip your brush in a couple of them, but tapping it off before application works fine. 

As someone who loves purple/neutral colours, I'm absolutely thrilled with the colour range; there are dark mattes, shimmery taupes, light creamy pinks, and muted brown/mauve shades for the crease. The one thing it's missing is a bright satin white/champagne for the inner corner, but I don't mind supplementing. 

The back of the packaging provides several different look options, with step-by-step instructions.

I created an easy, simple look using the first 3 shadows, first by using the matte taupe shade in the crease, the cream shade on the lid, and the satin soft-cranberry colour on the outer half, blended into the lid shade. 

The brush included is nice enough; the foam applicator side is actually very soft and smooth, and dense enough that it doesn't suck up all the colour. The brush is small, but soft, more of an outer-edge brush, good to blend a little. 

Basically, I love, and am really excited to use this palette. I don't think I'd ever pay $30 for it (when you get down to it, it's drugstore, and that's a lot of money for drugstore makeup). There are palettes at Sephora for not much more--Urban Decay Basics is something I've been eyeing, even though it has half the amount of shadows as the L'Oreal palette, they're amazing quality and I'd probably use it just much-- but since I got this on a fluke at a good price, it's a big winner. 

***Nik's Bits***

-Summer's here, and I'm dying to stock up on maxi dresses and jean jackets. I don't know why. 

-The local parade (you know how every town has their own 'festival' and centres an entire weekend around it?) is in a few weeks and I've decided to get involved. I look forward to being sunburned and pilfering free candy. 

-My nails are in a TERRIBLE state again; it must be the amount of handwashing and sanitizer I use at work. I have to get them back in shape soon, I just bought a macro lens to take swatch pictures. Fingers crossed! (Pun intended)

 

 

March Ipsy GlamBag

     It's been awhile since I've had an Ipsy bag; I hadn't really been wowed by previous bags. But when I learned that everyone would receive a NYX Butter lipstick, I was all "SIGN ME UP!" Plus, anything springtime and floral gets my heart fluttering. 

     The bag, as most of Ipsy's bags, is absolutely precious. I am getting quite a collection of little bags piled up, so I don't know how much use this little gem will get, but it's nice to have for travel. 

     The first item I pulled out was this Pixi by Petra eyeshadow duo in "Apricot Glow". I was happy to see an eyeshadow in my bag, finally. Eye makeup was lacking lately from ipsy. 

     The colours are pretty, but also very powdery, and don't apply to the eye with much pigmentation. If you're using primer and a finger to apply, you might have better luck. I don't know if a wet brush would help, because with them being as powdery as they are, I feel that that would make them a little chunky (ie not cute).

Here they are swatched.

     Next up is a Crown brush. Another exciting item. I love eye brushes, and this is a definite winner. It's soft and fluffy on one side, perfect for blending, it gets right in the crease, and the other side is a narrower crease brush. There wasn't any stray hairs that came out when I pulled gently on the bristles (which I do when testing my brushes) so that's a good sign. I hope this stands up to washing, because I want it in my collection for a long time!

     For the only non-makeup item, I received a makeup remover. Fitting, I would say.
     This is a non-foaming, cream cleanser. It's great at gently removing makeup, but I found it stung my eyes, even though it states that it's good for removing even waterproof mascara. And though I did find it moisturizing, it didn't feel like my skin was completely rid of makeup, so I had to go over my face with a foaming cleanser on a washcloth (I'm a fan of rough-cleaning, I usually use a scrub).

     And now we've come to my favourite item, the one that actually made me squeal when I saw it. NYX Butter lipstick in "Little Susie". This shade has been on my wishlist for awhile; it's creamy, pigmented, and the perfect poppy-pink shade for Spring. The formula is amazing, it's so comfortable. I'm defintely going to pick up more of these babies. 

    The colour is a really flattering shade; I think it would be perfect on minimal makeup days, just to give that pretty punch of colour.

     Lastly, is a lipgloss from Cargo that I used my points for, in the shade "Anguilla". The first time I saw this Nicole from +Young Wild and Polished was reviewing it. It's a white-based pink gloss, that really pigmneted. I tried wearing it on it's own, but the colour was not flattereing. I paired it with Milani's Spice liner, filled my lips with it, and topped it with this gloss, and it became the most perfect nude. The formula is pretty thick, however, so if you're one for light glosses that you can't really feel, this might not be for you.

     Overall, I'm extremely satisfied with March's ipsy bag. I'll be using almost all of the items, and that hasn't happened for a long time. As for continuing my subscription, I'll wait and see what April brings.

Late to the Party feat. itsjudytime Palette

So I finally pulled the trigger on BH Cosmetics. Which isn't supposed to sound so homicidal; I haven't ordered from them before because I'm hesitant to buy makeup online before testing it in person, so I thought I'd take a stab (hey-oh!) at one of their palettes. I was watching an itsjudytime video and she was announcing her palette was going on sale-- the lowest price ever of $8.95 each or two for $14.95, I believe. I never gave it much of a thought before, but the whole "low price, now or never, limited edition" thing had my heart doing flip flops. So after reading all of the reviews and watching tutorials, and deciding that this needed to be in my life, I grabbed one (the deal for 2 was good, but I wasn't going to risk paying for 2 of something I didn't like, and I don't know any makeup lovers. I'm the ONLY one) feeling like the sale price justified the $8 shipping. I HATE when American companies charge so much for shipping. I have yet to order from ColourPop because I REFUSE to swallow that $15 shipping fee. C'mon ColourPop!... Anyways, back to the palette: it arrived a few days ago, and I ripped into it immediately and was very impressed on first look. 

Eee, so cute!!

Ugh, come on with the gorgeous colours

I dipped my dirty little digits into the shadows and found the matte shades to be creamy and pigmented with, surprisingly, little to no fallout. And the mattes were what turned me onto this palette. I was surprised that this little gem could do what the Naked Basics 2 couldn't; make neutral matte shades without stirring up a bunch of shadow. 

The shimmer shades are a different story. Not as pigmented, and the shimmery-er (yep, just made that up. I stick by my decision) shades had chunky glitter that kind of gets whisked away the more you swatch. 

TOP ROW, sorry for the crappy lighting. Although my skin IS translucent and absorbs colour more than shows it

The top row is my jam. The first (cream), second (ochre) , fourth (pink-toned brown) and fifth (espresso) shades are the mattes, and they are buttery, soft, blendable and pigmented. The third shade is a shimmery gold/champagne colour that shows up better in a swatch than on the eye, and the sixth shade is a dark brownish gold with gold shimmer. The shimmer kind of separates from the colour, so it's more of a fine glitter, which is what happens with the rest of the more shimmery shades.

Bottom row: I hate to say it, but MEH.

 The bottom row is probably going to be the less used end of this palette. The only matte is the fifth one, a light indigo, that's a little chalky. The first and second shades are shimmers, a rose-gold and a bronze colour. These go on light, but can be built;more with the fingers than a brush. The third shade is the big let-down; it looks like a beautiful burgundy in the pan, but swatched is a weak black with red glitter that leaves at the first swipe of a brush. The fourth, a satin lilac is also too light, and the last shade is this amazing navy shimmer in the pan, but isn't pigmented enough. Big womp-womp for the burgundy and navy. I had high hopes for those guys.

So all in all, not a total bust. I essentially wanted this for the matte neutrals, and they are the best ones. They work wonderfully together and blend like a dream. The darker colours just don't work very well. Although if you really pack them on, maybe use some Fix+ they'll behave. I still love this palette for what it is. And considering it's sold out on the website (and the price is back up to $20) I'm glad I purchased it. 

I think I might order some more from BH Cosmetics. The Dark Rose, Wild Child, and Forever Nude palettes look really pretty. 

NEXT WEEK: Julep's Sweep Photogenic Palette. Be prepared for the obsession that is Julep.

***Nik's Bits***

-Christmas is in full swing in my house. Which means I've put a whole box of candy canes on the tree, and only three remain. Thanks kids.

-My husband and I made the dumb decision to go Black Friday shopping (sorry, I made the decision. He drove.) We got to Target at 10 am with smiles and hot coffee and left with NOTHING I had hoped to buy. We still got some good deals, but the craziness that was running through that store was not worth it. Cyber Monday next year.

-My skin is acting horrible. I'm getting dry flaky patches on my chin and cheeks, around my nose. Time for a new winter moisturizer. And tons of Lypsyl. Best lip balm EVAR.