Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush :: Blissful

Hello!!! Today's post is about Tarte's blush in the color Blissful!!!

Tarte is famous for their Amazonian Clay Blushes (probably their most well-known product). They are extremely pigmented and have amazing staying power!!! They have a range of about 15 blushes; I've tried several and have had positive experiences with all of them (more posts about others to come).

As for packaging, these come in a plastic case that matches the color of the product inside and also the finish (a more shimmery blush will have more shimmery packaging while a more matte blush will have more matte packaging). They have a mirror that takes up the entire inside of the lid and a high-quality snap-closure  to ensure the blush inside is safe from outside harm!!! The bottom also has a tiny hole where one can take a pin and poke out the pan of the product to put into a blush palette.

Blissful is a bright, warm peach with lots of pink and coral (the perfect blush recipe!!! haha). It has a matte finish and great pigmentation. This is a great blush for both the spring and summer to give a nice flush to your cheeks that will compliment any tan nicely!!! Because these blushes are so pigmented, a little goes a long way, ensuring that these blushes will last you quite a while!!!

I've included two pictures of swatches because I feel the top one shows the true color of the blush while the bottom one shows just how pigmented it is!!!

Because they are formulated with Amazonian Clay, these blushes are supposed to last all day, control oil, and provide other skin benefits. I think they live up to their standards quite nicely.

These blushes retail for $26 and can be found at tarte.com, Sephora, or Ulta. I think they are totally worth the price tag, and if this isn't the color for you, I definitely recommend seeing the rest of the line to find you perfect blush!!! There are some truly amazing colors!!!

xoxo

Essie :: First Timer

Today's post is yet another NOTD (I have quite a few coming up)!!!!

Essie's First Timer is a bright green creme with a hint of mint that makes it so fresh for spring!!! I've never seen a green quite like this, it's almost a bright kelly green but not quite because there's some underlying minty/pastel-ness to it!!! I absolutely love this color!!! Another bonus? This polish was opaque in one to two coats!!! It wasn't streaky at all and has amazing lasting power. So far, it's the only color I've picked up from the 2013 Resort Collection Essie has put out this year. There's also a bright red-coral, a sky blue-turquoise, and a pinky lavender. All of the colors in the collection are bright, fresh, and so right-now.

Essie is definitely my favorite nail polish brands out there. I always look forward to a new collection release because they never seem to disappoint!!! This polish retails for about $8.00 and can be found at Ulta or drugstores.

xoxo

New Revlon Lip Butters for Spring and Summer!!!

Hi there!!! Today's post is about some very new exciting projects at the drugstore: new Revlon Lip Butters!!!

In the new spring/summer collection by Gucci Westman, there are four new lip butters and I picked up two!!! Out of the four, I got the two lighter colors, Pink Lemonade (a warm, light pink) and Juicy Papaya (a light coral with orange undertones). There are two darker colors, Sorbet (a hot pink) and Wild Watermelon (a red with pink undertones) that I didn't get.

These are sheer, creamier than the original lip butters, and have a cream finish (no shimmer). They leave a shiny, gloss-like sheer wash of bright colors on the lips that is on-trend for spring and summer. They are slightly moisturizing and very comfortable on the lips. The lip butters last a pretty good amount of time on me (a few hours) for being so creamy. I love how easy and on-the-go-friendly these are!!!

These can be found at any drugstore or Ulta and retail for about $6-8 depending on where you find them. Overall, I definitely recommend these, as well as many shades in the permanent range as well. Go check them out before their all gone!!!

I'm thinking about picking up the other two colors from the new collection and will do a separate post if I do!!!

xoxo

Maybelline Quad :: Copper Chic

Today's post is from Maybelline's EyeStudio line: a quad in the shade Copper Chic!!!

This quad features four neutral colors (a light shimmery white-ish color, a tawny pink, a copper, and an espresso brown). They are all shimmery, so there is really no variety in finishes here (which is something I really like in a palette). They are buttery soft and highly pigmented, quite high-quality eye shadow from the drugstore. I find that a quad is the perfect number of shadows to create anywhere from a very simple look to a rather dramatic as well (highlight, lid, crease, and outer corner), and this palette contains four perfect colors to do so.

I've not tried many eye shadow products from the drugstore so these definitely leave me wanting more. This line has many other quads with a range of colors and combinations to create any look. They range for about $10 at the drugstore, though with any product at the drugstore its easy to find deals or use coupons (I try not to pay full price haha!).

xoxo

Stella and Dot :: My Favorite Earrings!!!

Hello there!!! Today I am doing a jewelry post– the first non-beauty post on my blog!!! I'd like to include some non-beauty posts from time to time, be it fashion or lifestyle related!!!

I love a good stud earring. I'm all about simple and sparkle. So these are perfect!!! I love a classic, everyday stud that will easily go with any look I want it to (but also one that I don't have to take out every night!!!).

They are called the Glint Flower CZ Earrings. They are amazing quality, have an amazing sparkle, and are the perfect size for an everyday stud that can also be worn out at night!!! They are so versatile and I will continue to wear them for years to come!!! My friend gave me a pair for my birthday a few years back and I adore them.

They are priced at $39 and can be ordered online at stelladot.com or purchased at at a hosted event at your house or one of your friends!!!

LORAC PRO Palette

Eeeeeeeeeeeeepp!!! I'm so excited for today's post: all about the LORAC PRO Palette!!!

I've wanted this palette for a few months now and I finally got it and I could not be more excited to share my thoughts with you!!! The beauty community has been buzzing about this palette for a little while now and I'm over the moon with excitement that I finally got my hands on it!!!

As for packaging, the palette comes in a super thin, super sleek, black rubberized case with a magnetic closure (quite similar to the original Naked palette). I compared its size and width to the original Naked Palette and an iPhone 5.

The LORAC PRO Palette contains sixteen eye shadows, eight of which are matte (the top row), the other eight are shimmer (the bottom row). The mattes include white (white), cream (nude), taupe (warm medium brown, very similar to UD's buck form the Original Naked Palette), light pink (light milky pink), mauve (browny-mauve), sable (warm reddish-brown), espresso (dark brown), black (deep black). The shimmers include nude (pink-champagne), champagne (slightly darker, more neutral champagne), gold (bright antique gold), light bronze (light golden champagne-bronze and one of my personal faves from the palette), pewter (taupey brown), garnet (red-brown), deep purple (rich dark purple), and slate (gunmetal blue-gray).

I own a quad from LORAC from a while ago, which is nice, but the shadows do not compare to these in quality. These are super soft and buttery, and extremely pigmented shadows, that last a fair amount of time (although I always use a primer). A little will go along way with these, especially with the darker colors (and the color gold on the bottom row, I was blown away)!!! So snaps to LORAC for stepping up their eye shadow formula in the last few years!!! However, the amount of actual shadow in each pan is minimal at only 0.02 g, compared to the more standard amount of 0.05 g (in the Naked palettes, MAC eye shadows, etc.)

I'm a big fan of neutral-colored makeup, so this palette is right up my alley. It gives the perfect variety of finishes and shades for every day looks, night out looks and everything in between!!! Just looking at the shades gives me a thousand and one ideas on looks that can be made with this!!! On an everyday basis, I know I'm going to get a lot of use out of colors like nude, champagne, light bronze, taupe, and mauve (among others haha), and I'll use colors like deep purple and slate for those special occasions when I want an extra dramatic eye!!! I'll also be using espresso and black as an eyeliner (shadow as a liner can be more smoked out but also less dramatic).

As a little bonus, this palette also comes with a mini version of LORAC's Behind The Scenes Eye Primer. This is a neutral fleshy color that turns invisible after blending onto the lids. In comparison to Urban Decay's Primer Potion, this is thinner in consistency (UDPP is quite thick). This makes shadows last longer than they would on their own and makes the colors appear more vibrant. I would say this primer is good, but not amazing; so far nothing has quite matched up to UDPP for me, although most of the primers I've used, including this one, is quite similar.

This palette can be found at Sephora and Ulta and retails for $42. I used a 20% off coupon and $3.00 in Ulta Rewards and after tax payed about $33 for this palette-- a total steal!!! So after all this, I definitely recommend this palette and am completely in love with it!!!

If you read all the way through this very long post then thank you very much haha!!!

xoxo

Revlon ColorStay :: Buttercup

Hi there!!! Today's post is another nail polish post from Revlon's long-wearing line, ColorStay in the color Buttercup!!!

This particular line from Revlon has been out for about a year (I think!!) maybe a little more, but I had never tried one until now. I saw Butter LONDON's Jasper, a light buttery yellow color that's out with their spring collection and didn't really want to pay the $15 for it, so I picked this one up instead!!!

Buttercup is the perfect name for this nail polish, it is a pastel buttery yellow cream. It's so pigmented and easy to work with!!! Fully opaque in two coats and finished off with a shiny top coat (I used Sally Hansen Diamond Strength) this is the perfect spring color!!! Not a lot of people like wearing yellow on their nails, which makes this a more unique color for some people; a little pop of yellow can be so unexpected and fresh!!!

This retails for around $8.00, but with all drugstore products, the price will vary depending on where it is purchased!!!

xoxo

BaubleBar :: My First Order!!!

Today's post is another jewelry post, but this time a necklace from BaubleBar's Anniversary Collection: the Pavé Tab Strand Necklace!!!

This piece is the first that I've ever ordered from the site, although I do have my eye on a few more pieces. ;) This piece was originally from the Anniversary Collection (As I've already said several times haha) but it is still available on the site, so I recommend picking it up as soon as possible!!! I've heard about this site many times before from other bloggers and reviews and I have been waiting for the perfect piece to come along and snatch up my heart (as I don't buy jewelry much) and I'm ecstatic that I finally found something that did!!!

This is the most gorgeous, most sparkly thing I own!!! I like the look of statement necklaces, but I don't own many and find that they are too "done up" for my rather casual California style. But every now and then I do like to add a little sparkle to a dress to make it a little more formal. When I saw this necklace, I knew I had to have it, but there was a waiting list for it, so I had to wait a few days. BaubleBar is a smaller company, so they do not have as large of an inventory so I recommend picking up those special pieces that you love while you can because they can sell out pretty quickly!!! Most of their pieces are really reasonably priced as well as being unique!!!

This necklace retails for $48, but all new members get $10 off (so I paid $38). BaubleBar also has a point system where you get one point for every dollar you spend and ten points is a dollar (so I now have $3.8 to spend on my next purchase or keep saving to get more and more points!!!).

xoxo

Revlon Colorburst Lip Gloss :: Killer Watt

Hi!!! Today's post is about a new lip gloss from Revlon that's perfect for spring and summer!!!

I love Revlon lip products, especially the Colorburst line. The lip butters are to die for and their lip glosses are the unsung heroes of the line!!!

I saw this bright new shade in a display at Walgreens along with lots of different nude polishes from their colorstay line. I knew I had to have it right away!!!

In the tube it's a very bright, almost neon coral, but when it's applied to the lips it's rather sheer. It really brightens the face and adds a nice pop to your lips without looking too dramatic or overdone. I think it's perfect for spring and summer because sheer but bright lip colors are super in (and I happen to prefer a sheer lip color to a more opaque one anyway)!!! These are slightly moisturizing (not too hydrating but definitely not drying) and have pretty good staying power!!!

All in all, I recommend this gloss (and for you to check out others from the line!!!). I saw it originally at Walgreens and then again at CVS. These have a big price range, from about $6 to about $10 depending on where you find them (I picked mine up at CVS, earned extra bucks and got 50% because I also got a nail polish!!!). There are always sales and deals at the drugstore, though, so I'm sure you can find it for a lot cheaper (like I did!)!!!

xoxo