Tag Archives: ulta

Born to Glow with NYX Liquid Illuminator

Posted on May 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

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Let’s end the week with some sparkle, shall we?

I fully believe in shimmer. A dab on the cheekbones, in the arch of the eyebrow, or the inner corner of the eyes can do wonders for a Dull Face Day. What’s a Dull Face Day, you ask? You know what it is… One of those days where your skin is rebelling in 15 various ways, you need 6 more hours of sleep, and you could probably stand to drink a gallon of water every hour. One of those days.

Bring on the highlighters.

The NYX Born to Glow Liquid Illuminator in Sunbeam was introduced around the beginning of the year and has been sitting around my desk since I purchased it. I’ve used it a few times and have come to several conclusions:

  1. I appreciate a break from my usual powder highlighters on occasion and find this option easy to use and to blend.
  2. It doesn’t have straight-up glitter, but it’s perilously close to having chunks, and a chunky highlighter equals no bueno.
  3. I don’t care for how it looks blended into my foundation, but like the effect it gives when strategically applied with my fingers.
  4. Though the color appears to be a light pink, no color shows on the skin, just shimmer, making it useful for almost all skin tones.
  5. Over my cream foundations, this product wears a standard 6-8 hours before fading into the night.

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Highlighters are one of those products that can go wrong very, very quickly. Too large of particles leave every pore visible from a 20-yard distance. Too much pigment and you have an extra stripe of color on your face. And too much shimmer/glitter in general and you look like a showgirl. There’s a very fine line here, folks.

Sunbeam walks the line well enough to make the $6.99 price tag well worth it, especially since it will work for so many skin tones. As I go through it, I’ll let you know if I would repurchase it or not. :) Find this product at Ulta and at NYXCosmetics.com

HAPPY FRIDAY! Any amazing weekend plans I can live vicariously through?

-Laura

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Posted in Cheek Products, Highlighters

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Warm Glow? Yes, please.

Posted on May 15, 2013 | Leave a comment

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Lately, I’ve been wearing a lot of bronzer for blush. I’ve just been wanting definition and warmth without adding a specific color to my face, which will just compete with all the color I’ve been wearing on my eyes. (And there has been plenty, lately.)

{Disclosure: This product was given to me as gratis at work. It was not provided for the purpose of reviewing on the blog, and neither my work nor Smashbox know about this post. Sucks for them.}

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I love that they named the blush “Warm Glow”. That’s EXACTLY what I’m going for.

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This is the line of Halo blushes by Smashbox, which deposits product by grinding the solid color into loose product. I feel like this method is a bit unnecessary, as I would just rather pound on a solid brick with my brush, and I surely don’t want loose color. Blech. But at least with the grater you can control how much you scrape off.

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The primary reason I like this blush so much is simply because of the color. It’s just a perfect, easy shade to wear that doesn’t compete. It doesn’t hurt that it is a long-wearing blush and that it lasts around 8 hours on me.

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Not too red or pink, not too brown, but just right for…everything. (This is starting to sound like Goldilocks and the Three Bears.)

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Here I am staring off into the distance while I wear Warm Glow on my cheekbones. I’m probably thinking about something important, like finding a great quinoa salad recipe or something. Holler.

*****

You can find this blush at Sephora and Ulta for $24.

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Posted in Cheek Products

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Only have $20 to spend? Spend it on the Lorac GLOgetter palette. You won’t regret it.

Posted on May 2, 2013 | 1 Comment

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I was talking with someone at work the other day about how so many special edition palettes are so overpriced. Anywhere from $35-55, and quality that doesn’t warrant that high of a price. And we’re not talking about that much product, ya know? Really just grind my gears.

Knowing all of that made the discovery of the Lorac GLOgetter palette that much more glorious.

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Isn’t she pretty? I feel like most skin tones could wear this, although it might lean a little warm, if anything. It feels complete enough to be able to travel and not need anything else. Of course, if you’re like me, you may want more.

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The warm brown shade swatched a little unevenly on my hand, but it applied well with a brush on my eyelid. All of the shades are soft, smooth, and gorgeous. The matte cream shade is almost the EXACT same shade as my skin, which makes it a perfect blending shade for me. If your skin is darker, it will be a great highlight!

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While I like the whole palette, I LOVE these shades. All of them applied smoothly on my hand and on my lid and blended incredibly well. I think the blue, the turquoise gold (OMG I LOVE THIS SHADE), and the plum colors are my favorites. THE PLUM. (This palette calls for a lot of capital letters.) Again, the highlight shade is basically the same as my skin tone, so it’s hard to see. It is a really nice highlight shade, not too shimmery, but shiny enough.
Here’s a look I did yesterday with the aqua, plum, and orange shades. I wanted them to look almost like watercolors, since I was going to work and all, and I think I achieved it:

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The moment when you know it's time to put. the camera. down.

The moment when you know it’s time to put. the camera. down.

This little palette is such a great value. It only costs $20!! I still can’t wrap my head around that… It’s exclusive to Ulta stores and Ulta.com, and if you want one, you’re going to have to jump on it soon!

 

So what do you think? Does it catch your eye?

-Laura

 

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Posted in Eye Products, Limited Edition, New Products, Summer

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Awestruck by Moonstruck (See what I did there?)

Posted on April 12, 2013 | Leave a comment

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Oh, have I got a winner for you today.

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Remember the post I did about the two Prestige Total Intensity shadow singles I did a while back? They have since added more shades and have also added trios, like the one above. Prepare yourselves- you’re going to want ALL of them.

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I bought Moonstruck, which is a color palette I don’t typically go for, but after seeing Vampy Varnish’s review on these, I couldn’t stop myself. I love the combination of cool, icy blue, dark cobalt, and warm copper-bronze.

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The dark blue has a black base, but not too much, and the blue is just GORGEOUS. It is one of those shades that looks striking with every eye color- from dark brown to green and everything in between. This is the dark blue I’ve been looking for!

The lightest shade has a blue-lavender iridescent duochrome, which just looks so cool on the eye. It looks ridiculously awesome on its own, or layered over a darker shade to give the dark shade more depth.

And the last shade, the copper gold, is just perfect. It’s exactly what I would have added to the trio to make the other two colors work with my warm coloring. It’s bright and complex, and it’s exactly perfect.

All three shades in this trio are smooth, buttery, incredibly blendable, and have no fallout in sight. I cannot get over how insanely amazing the quality of these shadows are, as well as how undiscovered they are.

I wore these yesterday and received compliments all day at work.

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I wore this palette with one of my favorite navy eyeliners and some super dark mascara. Easy peachy cheeks and subtle nude gloss helped balance out the drama on my eyes.

Some people may have a problem with the price tag: $12.49. It is a little steep for “drugstore” brands, but the quality is phenomenal. The packaging is a bit bulky, but is still substantial and feels like it might actually protect the shadows if dropped. I know Wet ‘N Wild can produce great quality shadows for a cheap price, but apparently they’re the only ones…

You can find Prestige Cosmetics at Ulta stores and Ulta.com.

I’m absolutely in love with these shadows so don’t be surprised if more of these trios show up on the blog…

What do you think? Would you wear these, and if so, how would you wear them?

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

-Laura

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Posted in Eye Products, Laura's Favorites, Makeup Looks

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NYX Spring 2013: The Natural Palette

Posted on March 19, 2013 | Leave a comment
NYX Natural Palette

NYX Natural Palette

Despite loving bright, colorful eyeshadows, my everyday life lends itself to more neutral shades. So when NYX came out with their new Spring 2013 products, including a palette of nothing but neutral, you know I was on it.

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I was really excited about the color selection and I liked that the colors are warmer toned, which I prefer. The range is nice too, with a really light cream color all the way to a dark, matte brown. The variety of look possibilities is endless, going from day to night and back again.

The problem, though, is the saturation. The colors just aren’t pigmented enough overall, and it’s really disappointing.

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The swatches were done over a primer and I used a brush and a lot of product to achieve the results you see above. The only shade I didn’t have trouble with is the dark brown, which is soft, blendable, and completely matte.

The cream shade barely shows up, the light gold is a bit chunky and sheer, the peach shade isn’t too bad, and the next two are soft and have a satin finish. The brown worked really well as an accent shade when I wore this most recently. I don’t know if NYX wanted to them to be lighter and softer, since I know they do pigmented shadows well, but it’s just not working for me. I want them all to be like the brown shade!

Overall, it’s not the worst palette ever, and I still plan to use it, but I do wish NYX had put some more ooomph into it!

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If you decide this palette is what you’re looking for, you can find it at Ulta stores or at Ulta.com for $6.99.

*****

In other news, it snowed here in Boston…again. I love cold weather and all, but I think I’m officially ready for Spring! I’m ready to break out my sandals and flip flops, too. :)

-Laura

 

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Posted in Eye Products, New Products

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