Archive for the ‘L’Oreal’ Category

But it is easy to wear green.  I love wearing green eye shadow.   I love shades of olive and emerald greens.  I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT BE AFRAID OF COLOR.  What some fail to realize that green is a neutral color.  When starting out use a color on the lid, place browns and/or smoky versions of the color in the crease and outer v.

Anytime, I try a new brand of makeup, I must get a teal or green e/s.  So I decided to try Barry M dazzle dusts. I have seen swatches, tutorials and reviews, so I had to get some for myself.  I purchased from asos.com, a UK online retailer.  Asos lists currencies for 5 different countries, so the customer can see the price at the current exchange rate.  Over the last few weeks, the US prices have been lowering, even the shipping cost has lowered.  *Check them out!* (More on Asos in a future post)

I purchased three Barry M Dazzle Dusts, one of which was the Emerald.  The Dazzle Dusts, loose eye shadows, are similar to MAC pigments and NYX Ultra pearl mania.  I think the Barry M marketing photos suck.  I will say, despite the official pics, they are worth adding to the collection. *I will post some swatches soon* A little bit goes a long way.  (Sidebar: the Emerald green dazzle dust was mixed with Moss Scape Paint Pot, so if used with another base it will not look olive green.)

Face

• MSF Dark
• NYX Concealer in Nutmeg

Eyes

• Matte Gel
• L’Oreal De-Crease Base
• Moss Scape Paint Pot
• Barry M Emerald Dazzle Dust
• Purely Cosmetics CTP in Bronzed Brown and Copper
• Glamour Check StarFlash
• Brown side from the L’Oreal Hip Duo Forgiving
• Retrospeck (Highlight)
• Tan side from the L’Oreal Hip Duo Adventurous (highlighter)
• Stila Multi-Effect Mascara in Black
• Urban Decay Gash and Zero Eye Liners
• Too Faced Foiled Liner – Black Beauty

Cheeks

Stark Naked Blush

Lips

• Sweet Tooth T/T

Mix Maven

Today was the first snowfall and, of course, I was bitter because last week the temps were in the high 60s and low 70s, plus I had an early morning appointment.   So to make my day go better, I decided to use one of my Nouba eye shadows, #61 (will post swatches).  Since, I have been obsessing on pink e/s, I wanted to get back to the purples, which are my favorite e/s colors….but purple is not even my favorite color! *Go figure*

(All products are MAC unless stated)

Face

• MSF Dark
• NYX Concealer in Nutmeg

Eyes

• Matte Gel
• L’Oreal De-Crease Base
• Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in Prenup
• Nouba Single e/s  61 on lid
• Ben Nye Amethyst
• Glamour Check e/s
• Purely Cosmetics Cream To Powder in Brown
• Tan side from the L’Oreal Hip Duo Adventurous (highlighter)
• L’Oreal Naturale Mascara in Black
• Duel Edge Eye Liner (Black Funk/Punk Blue) Black side only

Cheeks

Warmed MSF

Lips

• She-Boom lip gelee
• Urband Decay Sparkler Pen – Flare

In other News:

Urban Decay is having a Friends and Family sale from 11-10-2008 to 11-18-2008. The coupon code is FFH30 The discount is 30% off…woo hoo! So stock up for yourself and/or for holiday gifts.

Still working on finding a WordPress theme that I love that really works well.  I am thinking ‘how hard can this be’, but I think I am getting close.

Happy Haulin’,

Mix Maven

I received my StarFlash package from .com and went to a MAC freestanding store the same day.  *I know I know … Don’t judge me!!*

I received:

1. Sunset B. – I am not pleased with the texture …Lustre Lite is what it should be called.. Not smooth like the others. Tried with Fresco Rose and Nice Vice Paint Pots and it looked pretty decent, so all is not lost.  Someone mentioned that it looks great over Perky Paint Pot, but I do not have that one…oh well.  As Timm
2. Go – pretty and smooth (Definitely Tempting’s unchunky twin or close cousin.)
3. Grand Entrance – pretty and smooth
4. Talent Pool – pretty gorgeous and smooth (Has more blue than Shimmermoss and since I do not have Steamy nor Parrot, definitely a worthwhile purchase)
5. Mink and Sable – gorgeous and smooth (Greener and darker than Sumptuous Olive)  All I can say is delish!
6. Glamour Check! – pretty and smooth (What BeautyBurst [for Barbie Loves MAC] should have been.

FOTD from the weekend:

(Products used are MAC, unless otherwise stated)

Face

• Studio Tech NW 43/NC 50
• MSF Dark
• NYX Concealer in Nutmeg

Eyes

• Matte Gel
• Soft Ochre Paint Pot
• Grand Entrance e/s on lid
• Brown side from the L’Oreal Hip Duo Brazen
• Brown side from the L’Oreal Hip Duo Forgiving
• Tan side from the L’Oreal Hip Duo Adventurous (highlighter)
• Black Ore Solar Bits
• LA Colors Lash Building Mascara in Black
• NYX Eye Pen Felt Liner – Black
• Engraved PowerPoint Pencil

Cheeks

• Barbie Loves MAC Fab Blush
• X-Rocks Spaced Out

Lips

• Pucker Tendertone
• NYX Thalia l/s
• NYX Brown l/l

What did you all get from StarFlash, if anything?

Overall, this was a good collection.  I am not sure if I will get back-ups, but I think the collection was definitely more than hype.

Mix Maven

I was at Target and was too excited about the clearance sales.  There were many clearance items that piqued my interest, but after lingering in the baby department and school supply area, I did not have enough time to check out the beauty clearances, but I did make a stop in the L’Oreal aisle.

There I found:

The L’Oreal HiP Color Rich Cream Crayons had the ubiquitous red stickers on them.  I have a few of the cream crayons and have been pleased with them.  The price is under $6 (for now).  I am not sure if the clearance sale means the items are being discontinued or the stock is being replenished.

There was also a few HiP Duos that were marked $2.97, but I did not check if the non-marked ones were on also on clearance.  The tube lip glosses were also marked with clearance stickers.

So RUN to your nearest Target NOW!!!

Mix Maven

Whoa-wee I have been super busy, which results in super tiredness.  Mr. Maven and I have been taking some classes and we have family visiting.    Then I started Facebook-ing. *Sorry, I am late to that party*  I reconnected with some friends that I had not heard from in years (some years in the double digits.)  Good times.

Being on Specktra.net nor watching YouTube tutorials is not good for anyone’s wallet, especially mine.  I joined the site because I was a huge MAC fan.  Then I was exposed to other department store brands and even drugstore stuff that I poo-pooed. *Don’t judge me* LOL .  Most people start with drugstore brands, which I did back in the day e.g. Revlon and Max Factor only, then moved to Lancome, Estee Lauder, Clinique and  MAC.  I never thought I would go back to trying drugstore brands, except for mascara (never went high-end).

So I decided to get one L’Oreal Hip Duo in Brazen (at the recommendation of Yummy411 aka Kia).  Since she is a big time makeup artiste (She is quite humble), I ask her recs on various non-MAC products.  Anyway, I loved the brown side as a nice crease-creating color.   I will use the pink side soon.   Ok, so I decided to check out more.  Thank goodness, I waited for the BOGO Free at Walgreens and CVS.  I did not want to get too many as I have many dupes of the colors they offer.  (I know I am also late to the L’Oreal Hip Duo scene!)  Recently, I added Playful and Adventurous Duos to my collection.  I like the Hip Duos because they are a reasonably priced and suitable dupes of MAC products i.e. good pigmentation.  There is little fall out and you do not need to use a special base i.e tacky base too apply.  Since, I am a wonderful cousin, I have been getting my cousin, who is a poor college student, the Duos, so she can be extra cute when going around campus.

So here is my FOTD on my way to Costco.  (Who loves the free samples?!?!)

(All products MAC unless noted)

Face

• MSF Dark
• NYX Concealer in Nutmeg

Eyes

• Matte Gel
• Painterly Paint Pot
• Peach side from the L’Oreal Hip Duo Playful
• Expensive Pink
• Shimmery cocoa brown side from the L’Oreal Hip Duo Playful
• Too Faced Super NovaGlam e/s
• Twinks e/s
• Blonde brown side of L’Oreal Hip Duo Adventurous
• Tempting e/s (lower lashline)
• LA Colors Lash Building Mascara in Black
• Too Faced Foiled in Black

Cheek

• Sweet As Cocoa
• Nars Torrid

Lips

• Pucker Tendertone
• Strapless (Lustre)

I find that I have trouble with orange and corally shadows, regardless of the brand.  This is the first time I made Expensive Pink work.  I promised that I would not repurchase Expensive Pink, but I may change my mind.  I still cannot get the Orange side of Flare to work, maybe all I need is a better base.  I am definitely getting some UDPP (Urban Decay Primer Potion) ASAP!!

Are there any colors that just do not work for you?

Mix Maven