Silent Treatment by Wet n Wild

Hello!

I'm showing you Silent Treatment by Wet n Wild today! I kept hearing lots of buzz about these new Color Icon shadows on blogs, and decided to try them out. Unfortunately, it took me awhile to find one that I wanted; most drugstores around me don't carry the full line of Wet n Wild products, and so I only had a few of these to choose from. I went to K-Mart on a whim the other day, though, and I saw Silent Treatment, a trio of colors that I actually wear! And for only $2.99, I couldn't resist.

The Color Icon trios come with three colors; one for the brow bone, one for the eyelid, and one for the contour. I don't know that I always agree with the suggested placement for these colors, but I think it's a nice idea for people just starting to experiment with more complicated makeup looks. Silent Treatment comes with a mauvey lavender eyelid shade, a pale peach brow bone shade, and a deep warm brown with copper shimmer for the crease.  These colors last all day on me with a primer or base, and they're very soft- almost to the point of being powdery.

In the following pictures, I'm wearing MUFE's Aqua Cream in 16 as a base, the eyelid shade on my lid into the crease, the crease shade in the crease and over to the corner of my eye smudged down to the lash line. I have the brow bone shade above the crease on the ocular bone, but I used UD's Sellout as a highlighter right underneath the brow bone and in the inner corner. I used UD's 24/7 liner in Rockstar on the upper and lower lashline with Buxom mascara.

Wet n Wild Silent Treatment

The back of the Color Icon packaging

Silent Treatment Color Icon trio

Here are the three shades from Silent Treatment swatched! 

Wearing Silent Treatment in an eye look; no flash. 

And here's Silent Treatment with flash

Rating: 8 out of 10 

I'm pretty happy with this! The packaging is pretty flimsy, and I expect it will break sooner or later, and the shadows are a tad on the powdery side, but these are very comparable to much pricier shadows; it's one of the best drugstore options, in my opinion. I'm not sure why they chose to match up the colors they way they have, but at $2.99 a pop, I don't mind only using 2 of the 3 colors, or mixing in a fourth shade to use as a highlighter. They also don't look as vibrant on the skin as they do in the palette, but I'll have to experiment with using these over different colored bases to try to maximize the colors. Have you guys tried these out? What are your favorite palettes? I'm a fan, and if I find more in colors I like, I'll definitely be picking these up! I'm not sure I like this formula as well as my favorite eyeshadow formulas, like Urban Decay, but these are unsurpassed for the price.

Naked: Cleopatra

Hey Dolls!

Today I'm posting a quick look I threw together before work/ school the other day. I was aching for summer to be here and wanted to do something that felt more "warm-weather" than usual, but also keep it low key enough to not feel like a freak at work and in class. So, as I so often do on rushed mornings when I'm getting ready for work, I turned to Urban Decay's Naked palette. I know I haven't reviewed it here yet, and I guess it's because I feel like so many other people have done a great job of it. I love it enough that someday I may feel the urge to devote an entire post to its virtues, but for now, suffice it to say that I have found it indispensable. And I never thought I'd fall in love with a palette of just "neutrals". Anyway, I digress. I used the Naked palette as a base for my eyes, and then started feeling the Liz Taylor Cleopatra thing. Here's what I used in this look.

Face: I used MUFE's primer in green to neutralize redness, Revlon's Photo Ready foundation, and Fresh's Face Luster pressed powder.

Eyes: MUFE Aqua Eyes in 16 as a base. From the Naked palette: Half Baked all over the lid, Smog in the outer 2/3 of the crease, Sin on the inner corner and blended onto the inner 1/3 of the lid, also used above the crease, Virgin under the brow bone. I used Lola Lola, a single eyeshadow by NARS in the outer crease to warm it up a little, and then used the Sephora Collection Doe Eyed felt tip eyeliner in black to do a cat eye on the upper lash line, tapering out to avoid lining the inner corner. I used Urban Decay's 24/7 liner in Electric on the outer 2/3 of the lower lashline, extending that out to mirror the cat eye, but leaving some space between. Then I used Urban Decay's 24/7 liner in Baked to line the inner corner, lining above the black liner on top, beneath Electric on the bottom, and then filling in between the two winged lines. I finished it off with a coat of Buxom Lash mascara in black to define, lengthen, and separate lashes, and a layer of DiorShow Black Out to volumize and darken lashes.

Cheeks: I used NARS' blush in Exhibit A, avoiding the top of my cheekbone, and then used Urban Decay's Urbanglow in Wicked to highlight along the top of my cheekbone and up to my temples.

Lips: I patted Bite Luminous Cream Lipstick in Apricot onto my lips directly out of the tube and then blotted it with a tissue to give it a matte, stained look.

Et voila!

Here it is, with more pictures than you probably want and/or need:

No flash...!

And with flash!

So there you  have it! I've been digging orange-reds, lately. I did my nails to match, too:

And my sweater was that color. Hah!

At any rate, I like to think that this is what Elizabeth Taylor's version of Cleopatra would have done for a "daytime casual" makeup look ;)

MAC Lipstick in Riveting Rose

Hi Guys!

I'm throwing this review up here before you can no longer get Riveting Rose, a lipstick in MAC's frost formula that was promoted with MAC's Jeanius collection, but was still available with the rest of the lipsticks the last time I checked MAC's website. If you have the chance to get your hands on it, I'd take it- it's a gorgeous color, very unique, but still versatile since it's just another take on plum/berry. There's this sort of deep royal  purple tilt in it; not quite duochrome, but something approaching that iridescent effect, and it's definitely got some shimmer going through it. It should run you $14.50 for .1 ounces of product, and is packaged just like all of MAC's other colors, in their signature black bullet case. It has the faint synthetic vanilla scent that all MAC lipsticks have, although I didn't find it to be particularly strong with this color. I have to say, I think I like MAC's frost formula much more than some of the other ones they put out; it seems to stay put on my lips better than some of the glossier textures, but I don't find it drying.

p.s., I forgot to take my glasses off for these pictures since I was only putting stuff on my lips. Sorry!

MAC lipstick; Riveting Rose

The bottom of the case

The bullet twisted up; Riveting Rose!

Wearing MAC's Riveting Rose on my lips , no flash

Riveting Rose, no flash

MAC's Riveting Rose on my lips, flash

MAC's Riveting Rose lipstick, flash

I include this one even though it's blurry since you catch some of the sparkle in this shot; enlarge it! 

Finally, a swatch of Riveting Rose on the left

Rating: 7 out of 10 

I looove the color of this lipstick! Sure, it's not a perfect formula; I'm not a fan of the scent, and it feels a bit heavy on the lips, but there's nothing wrong with it, per se. I certainly like this frost finish more than some of the other MAC finishes I've tried; it's not necessarily moisturizing, but it doesn't dry out my lips and it stays put for 4 or 5 hours on me, which is on the long side of average. This was supposed to be a limited edition shade as far as I know, but it's being shown as still available with the rest of the regular, permanent lipsticks... So that's curious. Anyway, if it's a must-have for you, make sure you get it sooner rather than later, just in case!

New Poll: What types of posts do you want to see?

Hey guys!

I posted a new poll; while the last couple have been fun, this one is a little more serious. What kinds of posts do you want to see more of here? I've been focusing on in-depth reviews of products with lots of pictures, showing it on my face, etc... Do you guys want to see more of those? Would you rather I just throw up a bunch of swatches, but not show you everything on my face or go into great detail about the products (quantity over quality, basically!)? Do you want to see more nail polish swatches, or more skin care/ body care products reviewed? Let me know in the poll! You can choose more than one answer, and the poll will be open until the 30th of this month (April). If you have specific requests that aren't included in the poll, please tell me in comments here! I can't promise I'll be able to fulfill all requests, but I'll try my best, and it's always helpful to get new ideas and inspiration.

- Sari

Hard Candy Glamoflauge Heavy Duty Concealer

Hey guys!

Still working through this backlog of pictures... I've been reluctant to post some from one batch because it was right before I got my hair cut, and my bangs look absolutely wretched. However, in the name of sharing beauty finds, I'm moving beyond that to bring you these reviews. Today I'm showing you Hard Candy's Glamoflauge Heavy Duty Concealer. I'd read a few reviews from other bloggers raving about this concealer, and seeing as how I've had fairly good luck with Hard Candy products, and haven't found a great concealer yet (despite having tried many!), I figured I'd give this a go. After looking at a few Walmarts for a few weeks, I finally found it in stock in my shade- Light 312- and have been using this ever since. It's a creamy concealer in a squeeze tube, and comes with a concealer pencil that is supposed to be used to help cover tattoos. I'm just using it for imperfections on my face, and the pencil has been relatively useless for that, so I haven't been using it. At $6 for a .71 ounce tube, I don't feel cheated that I'm not using the pencil. Surprisingly enough, I like this more than other concealers I'd been switching around between, which were Kat Von D's Tattoo Concealer, MUFE HD Concealer, and Bobbi Brown's concealer. Those all "cracked" under my eye (I'd get little fine lines after a few hours) to some degree, or had difficult to use packaging. I won't get into it now, since that's for a separate review, but suffice it to say that Hard Candy's Glamoflauge performed above my expectations. I figured it might have the same issues as the more expensive products, but at least it would be cheaper. Instead, I found something significantly cheaper that actually works better! Hard Candy is a line available exclusively through Walmart, and they are cruelty free.

You can use this on top of or underneath foundation, and then set everything with powder, although I've found it looks most natural underneath foundation; sometimes if I use it on top, it gets a little makeup-y looking. I use it under my eyes, across my nose (I get a lot of redness there!) and then on any blemishes I may have. I let it dry down for thirty seconds or a minute, and then gently blend foundation on top of it, set with powder, and it stays all day with no patchiness, wear, or cracking.

Hard Candy's Glamoflauge!

The claims; enlarge to read the back of the package

Glamoflauge and the little pencil

The pencil is on the left; the Glamoflauge concealer is blended out on the top right, and is freshly squeezed on the bottom right, to give you an idea of consistency.

I am wearing Glamoflauge in Light in the following pictures under my eyes, on my nose, and to cover up some blemishes on my chin; it's on top of foundation, but under powder in these photographs.

Using Glamoflauge concealer, with flash

Wearing Glamoflauge concealer, no flash.

Rating: 9 out of 10

I'm thrilled to have found this product! It works better than concealers I've tried from other drugstore brands, and even better than concealers that are five times its price! That being said, I'm always on the lookout for something that looks just like skin; this is close, but not so close that I won't be keeping my eyes open for the next best thing. That being said, I feel like I may be using this for a long time to come; it's a heavy-duty, very pigmented concealer that doesn't get patchy or crack halfway through the day, which is a problem I have with a lot of other concealers. Plus, the color is a very close match, although I wish they had a wider range of colors, since I realize I'm just lucky that one of their 3 colors worked for me. The scent is a little funky- it's not perfumed, I think it's just the way the chemicals smell- but once it's on my face, I can't smell it. If you're able to get your hands on this, give it a try and see what you think; it seems like I'm not the only one who's been pleasantly surprised by this product, and I came in a skeptic, but now, after a few weeks of wear, consider me a convert!