NEW: 2014 Sugarpill Sparkle Baby Eye Shadow Swatches

Long time no see, everyone!

I figured the best way to make a "bang" coming back is to show you guys the new Sugarpill eye shadows that are due this year. Now, they aren't released on their website nor most web shops from the looks of it. I acquired mine locally at Nigel's Beauty Emporium and snagged them up as soon as I saw them! This is as wearable as Sugarpill is going to get (for now).

 There are four beautiful colors, part of the Sparkle Baby collection. I am unsure of the official release date for them, but let me tease you some, yes?

I did not see a palette with all four shades per usual Sugarpill collection-releasing, but they did have the shades individually. Lets take a look at these beauties:

Sugarpill Kitten Parade

First, we have Kitten Parade which is my favorite from all four. My kitten seems to think so too since he gouged my eye shadow when I got around to using it!

This is a peachy coral with gold shimmer flecks. Contains a metallic finish. Applies smooth as buttah.

Sugarpill Candy Crush

Next, we have Candy Crush. It is a metallic light blue with ice blue flecks. Has the same metallic finish and buttery soft texture of Kitten Parade.

Sugarpill Hotsy Totsy

 Sugarpill also released two matte-ish shades for the collection.

First one of the two is Hotsy Totsy, a hot pink with a hint of magenta. It has subtle glitter in it; nothing chunky a la Urban Decay. Again, it has the matte eye shadow base, so it isn't super smooth like the two metallics in the collection. It is slightly powdery as well.

Sugarpill Frostine

Lastly, we have Frostine, a matte lilac shade with very understated shimmer. You can only see it if you look closely at the pan. This one feels more satin than matte.

I find the name strange for this one. I would've found that if this and Candy Crush would've swapped names, then it would be more fitting to the colors. Whatever floats Shrinkle's boat I guess! I have no complaints as long as I get my eyes shadow, dang it!

And of course, le swatches:

L-R: Kitten Parade, Candy Crush

L-R: Hotsy Totsy, Frostine

How do you feel about this collection? Do you see yourself picking it up once it's released in its entirety?

Available at Nigel's Beauty Emporium in North Hollywood. 3.5g/.12 oz @ $12USD
xo Renee

Review: Too Faced La Crème Lipstick in Juicy Melons

I apologize for lack of update yet again... I really must get myself in the habit of posting blogs.

Here is a small review for the somewhat new range of lipsticks that Too Faced is offering. The La Crème range has 16 lipsticks in their current line up, plus a Sephora exclusive color. The range consists of four colors in the nude, spice, pink, and red families. I have only tried one shade thus far -- Juicy Melons.

Juicy Melons is a beautiful balance of pink and coral. Very appropriate for Summer. It has good pigmentation if you like sheer shades. This is buildable to medium opacity and has a glossy look on the lips. That being said, it has a lot of slip, reminiscent of Revlon Lip Butters so it might be hard to make it look even without it sliding around on the lips a bit. Because of this, a simple drink of water results in the middle portion of the lips looking very sheer. It may just be the characteristic of a sheer color, but I haven't experienced that with Laura Mercier's sheer lipsticks or even Lip Butters themselves.

There is a lovely perk to this formula though! It is very hydrating on the lips. I tend to avoid wearing it if my lips are peeling a bit since I found that it exacerbates it a bit, like most lipsticks. The moisturizing characteristics are likely the result of white lotus flower and power peptides included in the formula.

Too Faced also released a range of lip liners to accompany the lipsticks. I don't do lip liners though.


All in all...
Yay for:
1. Moisturizing qualities -- true to claim
2. Builability of pigmentation
3. Permanent availability
4. Sleek tube
5. Color range having a little of everything

Too Faced La Crème lipsticks are $21 USD for .11 oz. Available at Sephora.

Ingredients:

Juicy Melons

Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Vegetable Oil, Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Sterols, Polyethylene, Polybutene, Diisostearyl Malate, C12-15 Alkyl Lactate, Isostearyl Hydroxystearate, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax (Candelilla Cera/Cire De Candelilla), Triisostearyl Citrate, Trimethylolpropane Triisostearate, Isostearyl Isostearate, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Tridecyl Trimellitate, Flavor (Aroma), Limonene, Benzyl Benzoate, Citral, Linalool, Geraniol, Hydrogenated Polycyclopentadiene, Nelumbo Nucifera Flower Extract, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Tribehenin, Sorbitan Isostearate, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, Phenoxyethanol, Mica. May Contain/Peut Contenir (+/-): Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Red 7 Lake (CI 15850), Red 30 Lake (CI 73360), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140).

Review: Sephora Microsmooth Foundation Face Powder

25 Beige

I ordered this bad boy last week and finally got around to trying it on Sunday. I ordered 25 Beige for my NC25 skin tone. It seemed that color wise, I may have been able to use 15 Nude instead, but the undertone for Beige was warmer. This is a little bit dark on me, but since the coverage is light, buildable to light medium at most, it's pretty forgiving. Since summer is around the corner, Beige would probably end up matching me. Darn you California sun!

 Compared to my Studio Fix Powder, the Microsmooth powder is a lot more golden. It looks nearly orange in comparison! That could also be from oxidation since I have oily skin. For comparison purposes, here are both side by side. I use NC30 in the Studio Fix Powder range since it runs lighter than Mac's liquid formulations. Sephora carries 8 shades in the Microsmooth Foundation Face Powder range.

The coverage of the Microsmooth powder as I mentioned before is light. Sephora claims that "coverage can go from sheer to high". However, I found that the more I applied with a kabuki, the more I can feel it on my face. Applied with a kabuki, the most coverage I got out of it was a light medium coverage. I feel I picked the right time to do a review for this one since I have a lot of acne going on right now as you will see in my before application picture. To get a little more coverage, I'd press the kabuki onto the area and gently buff. It did manage to cover up some of my cheek's redness but some of my acne is still visible. It also slightly emphasizes flakiness, but nothing like a matte powder would, so I would say it is forgiving in that department.

This didn't last very long on my oily skin. I tried this out on a work day by itself and around the 3 hour mark, the oil on my nose was already breaking the foundation down. I was shocked because I had my HG sunscreen/primer on! I have yet to try this out on top of foundation. It might work better that way (and I will make sure to write another post updating on that aspect) than used as a foundation by itself on oily skin. It has zero oil control alone. I'm telling you now that it would be a recipe for disaster! I do have a theory to make it last on my skin by prepping my skin with oil absorbing powders underneath (a la silica powder or Laura Mercier). I will definitely put that to the test as well.

Sephora did manage to pull off the satin finish successfully in this powder. It looks like your skin has a natural glow going on. Like an aura. It's what I'd imagine Guerlain balls to look like on the face. I feel that it diffuses light with the slight sheen that it has. It's not a garish sheen nor glitter. It's just... natural. That's the best way to describe it, in my opinion.

Here are some before and after shots to show the coverage it gives on the face. I took these in the shade because someone was in the pool and giving me the stink eye for having the camera out.. I'm not creepin' neighbor, I promise!

Full face done!

No Foundation

As you can see, it doesn't entirely cover my blemishes, but it does a good job of evening the redness. My dark circles are still visible, too, but I wasn't expecting this to cover them! ;) There are some areas where the application looks patchy. It's actually from sweating since it's really hot in my area. So if you are sweating, I recommend applying this in front of a fan to get the most even coverage possible. This has also happened to me with mineral make up, so it's not a factor of the Microsmooth powder.

In case you wonder how color magically appeared on my lips, it's because I applied Laura Mercier Courtesan Stick Gloss on because my lips look so dead and zombie like. They're also dry, so I decided to spare you guys from that. 

Bottom line: Yay for light coverage and normal/dry skin. Use with caution on combo/oily skin.

Available at Sephora for $22

Ingredients for 25 Beige:

Mica, Talc, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), Dimethicone, CI 77492 (Iron Oxides), Isopropyl Palmitate, Polysorbate 20, Acrylamide/Sodium Acryloyldimethyltaurate Copolymer, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate, Isohexadecane, Caprylyl Glycol, Sorbitan Stearate, CI 77491 (Iron Oxides), Lauroyl Lysine, Coral Powder, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Polysorbate 80, Hexylene Glycol, CI 77499 (Iron Oxides), Nylon-12, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Sorbitan Oleate, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Tocopherol.

EOTD: Springy Brights

I decided to do a bright eye shadow look to a festival I went to on Sunday. Decided to put my Deluxe Palette to use since it doesn't get enough love as it used to. I'm aiming to hit pan on at least one eye shadow in this bad boy.

Eyes:
NYX HD eye shadow primer - HG for me!
Wet n Wild - Stagedive
Urban Decay - Peace, Graffiti
MAC - Going Bananas, Shroom
Urban Decay eye liner - Zero
Inglot gel liner - 77
Maybelline One by One WP

Brows:
Inglot e/s - 376

MAC Iris Apfel & Naturally Haul

Decided to stop by the Mac store in Valencia to take a look at the new Iris Apfel lippies.. of course, they're all mine now! I got lucky as none of them were sold out (yet) when I went in at 2 p.m. I got a little more than I intended to. Lets take a look.

Matchmaster 2.0

Redhead MSF

Blushbaby pro pan (missing from picture)

Party Parrot Lipstick

Scarlet Ibis Lipstick

Flamingo Lipstick

Pink Pigeon Lipstick

L-R: Pink Pigeon, Scarlet Ibis, Party Parrot, Flamingo

I'm absolutely in love with the texture of the lipstick. Scarlet Ibis was the only lipstick I was iffy about since I don't wear red lips very often, but it's surprisingly very flattering on my skin. Matchmaster was the star of this purchase. The color matches me perfectly, feels light, and makes my skin look very natural. I liked pro long wear, but had issues with coloring. Matchmaster is PLW but better. The only thing that might go back is Redhead MSF. It's a bit too much shimmer for me. Additionally, I recently purchased Dior Amber Diamond, so that was kind of an impulse purchase. 

Maybelline Bouncy Blush Ingredients

Bouncy blush ingredients:
Talc, Dimethicone, Hydrogenated c6-14 olefin polymers, diisostearyl malate, silica, paraffinium liquidium / mineral oil / huile minerale, dimethicone/vinyl dimethicone crosspolymer, hexyl laurate, butylene/ethylene/styrene copolymer, ethylene/propylene/styre copolymer, synthtic fluorphlogopite, phenoxyethanol, triethoxycaprylylsilane, alumina, tin oxide [+/- may contain/peut contenir: mica, ci 77891 / titanium dioxide, ci 77007 / ultramarines, ci 77491, ci 77492, ci 77499 / iron oxides, ci 15850 / red 7, ci 19140 / yellow 5 lake, ci 15850 / red 6, ci 45410 / red 28 lake,  ci 77120 / barium sulfate, ci 73360 / red 30, ci 15850 / red 7 lake, ci 15985 / yellow 6 lake] F.I.L d48237/4 US Patent Pending

Maybelline Color Tattoos

I'm quite shocked how drugstore lines are stepping up their game. First Wet n Wild and now Maybelline. I must say, their Color Tattoo cream shadows are a hit & are not to be missed by oily-lid gals like me.

Maybelline's line up of Color Tattoo consists of 9 vibrant colors varying from a metallic gold to bright turquoise. I had a hard time picking out my colors. I had seen a few posts raving about Tough as Taupe along with swatches. That definitely had to come home with me! Especially as a taupe fiend. I also picked out a gold color, Bold Gold, and a bronze called Bad to the Bronze. Lets take a look!

Tough as Taupe

Tough as Taupe could be described as a matte, mousy taupe. It has a prominent grey base over a purple/mauve one. I'd like to say that this is Mac Copperplate's creamy sister. I'm pretty sure they'd be identical dupes. This theory will be put to the test tomorrow (hello swatches!). The texture is very creamy and smooth. This is the only matte one I picked up from the display. I suspect the orange one may have been matte as well. Mattes have the reputation of being chalky. This isn't chalky by any means. The color applies evenly and blends seamlessly. Similar to Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadows, they dry a bit fast so quick blending might be needed. 

Bold Gold

Bad to the Bronze

Bold Gold is a metallic true gold with gold sparkles. The formulation of Bold Gold and Bad to the Bronze would be described the same: smooth and creamy like Tough as Taupe. The light bronze sheen in Bad to the Bronze adds a beautiful dimension to the shadow itself. I would say this color is suitable for warm skin tones due to its warm undertone. 

Left to Right: Tough as Taupe, Bold Gold, Bad to the Bronze

The longevity of this shadow is what surprises me most. I have extremely oily eyelids which means my eye shadow creases easily. My HG eye shadow primer is NYX HD eye shadow primer. It beats NARS big time, but that's another post. This has held up on my eyelids for over 8 hours (over primer) without any creasing. That's a huge miracle. I'm not sure how this would hold up over the summer since summers = sweating & oily heaven (cough hell). But as of right now, I'm beyond satisfied with its performance. It is true to color; what you see in the pot is what you get on your eyes. I'm tempted to test this without primer to see how it does. 

I'd also like to note that it applies perfectly with a Mac 217 brush (my favorite for cream shadows).