For those of you that don't already know, this year's Sephora birthday gift is from Benefit! I was beyond excited when I found out what the gift was at the beginning of the year. This year, you get a deluxe sample of the extremely popular Benefit They're Real Mascara and the Watts Up Highlighter. These are my top 2 Benefit products I have been wanting to purchase, so it was amazing that I (and all the other Sephora Beauty Insiders) get to try it for free! Benefit They're Real MascaraHoly cow. This mascara truly is as amazing as everyone says it is. I have never considered spending $20+ on a mascara...until now. It thickens, separates and makes my lashes long enough to touch my eye brows! Above you can see the size of this little guy, as well as the brush. It has a bunch of tiny bristles as well as a little "spiky ball" on the end. Below you can see one coat of this mascara on me, with minimal eye makeup. Benefit Watt's Up HighlighterThe Watt's Up highlighter is unique because of it's lip balm like application. Its a shimmery champagne gold color, but, it's not too shimmery. It's a great highlight for people like me who don't like glittery highlights. It's also reflective, but, not enough to make your face appear greasy. It's slightly dry, but, still easy to apply without pulling on your skin. XOX ♥
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Product Information Price: $5 Buy At: Ulta Size: 0.23 oz / 6.5 g Shades Avaliable: 12 (Maple Blondie, Eclair, Creme Brulee, Cherry Cheese Cake, Merengue, Peach Cobbler, Cherry Pie, Apple Strudel, Tirimisu, Vanilla Cream Pie, Strawberry Parfait and Peaches & Cream) Ulta's Website: http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?skuId=2254800&productId=xlsImpprod5050009&navAction=push&navCount=1&categoryId=cat80060 Nyx's Website: http://www.nyxcosmetics.com/p-191-butter-gloss.aspx Nyx's new Butter Gloss line has been hyped up a little bit throughout the beauty community. Nyx is pretty well known for being a brand with great quality and a nice price tag. They are also very well known for their lip products whether it be the Round Case Lipsticks, Lip Liners, Mega Shine Glosses, Xtreme or Soft Matte Lip Cream, Jumbo Lip Pencils or Matte Lipsticks. So, I thought it would be great to try out their latest lip product. The Butter Glosses are thicker and shorter than the Mega Shine Glosses, but they are longer than the Round Case Lipsticks. (SIZE COMPARISON HERE) Sadly, I don't have any of the Mega Shine Glosses to compare these to, but, I have heard that the Mega Shine Glosses smell like cherries or cherry cough drops. While many say that they love how the Butter Glosses smell and that they smell like a bakery or baked goods, I am not a big fan of it. I was really imagining them to smell like cake and cookies and stuff like that, however it just had this really fake sweet smell that doesn't smell like a bakery at all. It's not a bad smell, and you can't really smell it once it's on, but, I am definitely not a fan of the smell. On to the colors. I picked up the shades Peach Cobbler & Creme Brulee. Nyx describes Peach Cobbler as an Orange-Red and Creme Brulee as Natural. These are pretty right, however, I would say Peach Cobbler is more of a pink red than an orange red. These glosses add a nice shine to your lips and are nicely pigmented for a gloss. Creme Brulee didnt show up as pigmented as Peach Cobbler, but, that's understandable considering Creme Brulee is a natural-lip-color gloss. I do like that these glosses aren't sticky. They may feel a bit sticky after a little bit if you keep opening and closing your mouth, but they don't feel sticky when rubbing your lips together. My last thing to mention about the Butter Glosses is that you can see the product on your lips, similar to the Round Case Lipsticks. I don't mean you can see the color, because, obviously you can, but you can actually see the product, if you can kind of understand what I'm saying.
Will you be picking any of these up? XOX ♥ Baby Lips Product InformationPrice: $2.99 at Target Other Permanent Shades: Quenched, Pink Punch (I also have this one) , Peppermint, Cherry Me & Grape Vine. Limited Edition Shades: Pink Wink, Coral Crush, Twinkle, Melon Mania & Yummy Plummy On Maybelline's Website: http://www.maybelline.com/Products/Lip-Makeup/Lip-Balm/Baby-Lips.aspx#shadedetails On Target's Website: http://www.target.com/p/maybelline-baby-lips-lip-balm/-/A- 13521055#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=maybelline+baby+lips I absolutely love the Baby Lips line. They are super moisturizing and add just a little color making it great for "No Makeup" makeup looks and on the go. Honestly, they feel like butter when applying. I probably will purchase a few more. I want to get Melon Mania, then Yummy Plummy & maybe Pink Wink. Peach KissPeach Kiss is from the permanent Baby Lips line. Peach Kiss is quite sheer and not as pigmented as Coral Crush or Pink Punch. It is a light peach / apricot color. Coral CrushCoral Crush is a limited edition Baby Lips. This color is a sheer coral. The product itself looks much more orange than on your hand or lips. Swatches Compared to Pink PunchXOX ♥
LIP LINERS (from left to right)
BROW THINGS (from left to right)
MASCARAS (from left to right)
LIP BALMS (top row, then left to right)
****DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT EXPECTING TO GET ALL OF THIS FOR MY BIRTHDAY. I JUST LIKE TO ASK FOR A BUNCH, I ALWAYS HAVE****
XOX ♥
Products I Used:
Look 1:
Look 2:
XOX ♥ The famous Naked & Naked 2 palettes have been compared to the Lorac Pro palette all over the beauty world. I'm here today to compare the two palettes side by side to give you an idea of similar and unsimilar shades to help you decide which you want to get or if you find them different enough to purchase both! Product Information
Based on the stats alone, the Naked 2 Palette is a MUCH better deal. Even though it is $8 more than the Lorac Pro, you get FULL sized shadows that are each 0.03 oz bigger than the Lorac ones & better extras. Don't get me wrong, I love both palettes, but, don't be fooled by the Lorac Pro being $8 cheaper & have 4 more shades. The Palettesmaterial itself isn't prone to getting dirty, mine still is. Both palettes have mirrors inside, with the Naked 2's mirror being larger & taking up the entire space. As you can tell in the photo, the Lorac Pro comes in 2 rows of 8 square shadows. The top row is mattes & the bottom row is shimmers. This is something I prefer over the Naked 2 Palette, the Naked 2 Palette only has 3 matte shades (Foxy, Tease & Blackout) while the Lorac obviously has 8. The Naked 2's shadows are in thinner, rectangles and have a space to hold the brush that it comes with. Neither one of the palettes wins for me on packaging because while the Lorac's feels less protective, it is thinner and easier to store and bring on vacation. Naked 2's feels more protective but is more bulky and thick. Light ShadesUD Foxy, UD Bootycall, Lorac Nude, Lorac Champagne, Lorac Cream & Lorac White The 2 light shades in the Naked 2 Palette are Foxy & Bootycall. Foxy is a matte shadow that is a pretty good mach to my NW20 skin. Bootycall is lighter & more pink than Foxy and is shimmery. The Lorac Pro Palette comes with 4 light shades. Nude is a shimmery color similar to Bootycall, but it is more pigmented. Champagne is darker than Nude and is also shimmery. The 2 matte light shades from Lorac are Cream which is similar to Foxy, but more pigmented and less yellow, and White which isn't similar to either of the UD shades, and is a pigmented white. The wear on all these shadows are very nice and seem to last about the same length (UD being a little longer) with out a primer. Also, the Lorac shadows feel much more buttery. Blacks, Greys & SilversUD Blackout, Lorac Black, Lorac Slate, UD Pistol & UD Verve The first thing I notice when these shadows are side by side is that Blackout from the Naked 2 Palette is much more black than Black from the Lorac Pro Palette. The other 3 shades aren't very comparable, though. Slate from Lorac is a dark shimmery silver. The two silvers from Urban Decay are much lighter and warm-toned than Slate. Pistol is a medium warm-toned shimmery silver & Verve is a light shimmer silver. Gold & BronzeUD Half Baked, UD Chopper, Lorac Gold & Lorac Lt. Bronze Both of the palettes come with a gold & bronze shadow that makes as a great all over the lid color. The Naked 2 Palette comes with the super popular gold, Half Baked. It also comes with a more bronze color, Chopper. They are both shimmery, but, Chopper contains some of the "obnoxious glitter" that falls out onto your face, like most of the UD glitter shadows. From the Lorac Pro Palette is a much more orange gold, creativly named; Gold. I like to pair Half Baked and Gold together to give more demension to a gold lid. Lorac also has a color called Lt. Bronze. It is fairly similar to Champagne & Nude in the earlier section, but, it is darker. Lt. Bronze is the lightest of the gold/bronzes. Light BrownsUD Tease, Lorac Taupe & Lorac Mauve Here is the Naked 2 Palette's last matte shade, Tease. I get a lot of use out of this as a crease color. The two medium browns from the Lorac Pro Palette are fairly similar to Tease, however, Taupe is more yellow and Mauve is more purple. They had the same pigmentation so here it's just a matter of what tone you prefer in your crease. Medium BrownsLorac Pewter, UD Suspect & UD YDK These were the shades that I couldn't get to photograph 100% true to color. They also look like this in the entire palette swatch down below. From the Naked 2 Palette is YDK and Suspect. YDK is a medium-dark taupe that is very shimmery and reflective. This color is gorgeous! In real life, it isn't as pink as the photo looks. Suspect is lighter and more yellow than YDK and isn't as shimmery, but it still is shimmery. Then from the Lorac Pro Palette is Pewter. Pewter falls in between YDK and Suspect and is more pink than both of them. This shade is more shiny than it is shimmery. Dark ColorsUD Busted, UD Snakebite, Lorac Espresso, Lorac Sable, Lorac Garnet & Lorac Dp. Purple Just like the light colors, the Naked 2 Palette only has 2 dark colors, while the Lorac Pro Palette has 4. The darkest brown from the Naked 2 is Busted which is a dark shimmery brown with a purple undertone. The other dark shade is Snakebite which is lighter than Busted and has a yellow-green undertone. The darkest color from the Lorac Pro is Deep Purple which really is just a brown with a purple undertone. It's similar to Busted, but, it's darker and less warm. The other 3 Lorac shades are fairly similar. Espresso is a darker brown that didn't apply as nicely. Sable is about the same darkness as Espresso, but it has a red undertone. This one also didn't apply very nicely. Garnet is more red than Sable, and applied more evenly. Swatches of Entire PalettesExtrasThe Lorac Pro Palette only comes with one extra, a mini Behind The Scenes Eye Primer (0.17 oz) It is a fairly light skin-toned color as you can see in the bottom swatch (or maybe you can't because my skin is about as pale as the primer) I would say it is a nice primer, however I haven't tried others like UD's Primer Potion or Too Faced Shadow Insurance. The Naked 2 Palette comes with 2 extras. To the right you can see one of the extras, the Good Karma Shadow/Crease brush. You can't buy this exact brush separately from Urban Decay, but, you can buy the Crease & the Shadow brush separately (both $26). The brush isn't super soft, but it's still soft and doesn't shed. I frequently use it when I use the palette, and it can come in handy when travelling. The Naked 2 Palette also comes with a mini Lip Junkie Lip Gloss in Naked (0.11 oz) It's a neutral pink that will look good on any skin tone. It isn't sticky at all & has a minty smell and taste because it is supposed to be cooling and plumping. I do find it cooling, but, not really plumping. It does have a little bit of the tingly plumping feeling, but, it isn't enough to bother people that don't like the plumping feeling. OverallIn the end, if you don't have either palettes and are deciding between the 2, I would go with the Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette. I feel that all the shadows are consistent with texture and how they apply, most being an easy one-swipe product. The Lorac Pro Palette has some nice shades that Naked 2 doesn't and I like that it has more matte shades, but, some of the shadows didn't apply evenly or where hard to get opaque. Also you get a much better deal with the Naked 2. If you already have the Naked 2, I think it's worth adding the Lorac Pro Palette to your collection. At first glance of the palettes, they may look similar, but, actually there weren't many super close dupes.
I hope this post helped you out! XOX ♥ PrepBefore putting any product on your brows, you want to make sure they look good! For me, this means getting them waxed to add a bit of arch, thin them a little & clean up the hairs that shouldn't be there. Some people may not need to do this or just pluck, but I prefer getting them waxed. If your brows are sensitive to plucking, like mine, I suggest an eyebrow razor. I know, it sounds scary to use a razor near your eyes. I like the Tinkle eyebrow razors, I heard Kandee Johnson talk about these, and immediately knew I needed some! They are super cheap and can be purchased on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Tinkle-Eyebrow-Razor/dp/B002C89J96 Using these can get rid of the random hairs between waxes. Fill 'Em InMy filler of choice is the Sephora Brow Editor in Honey Blonde. If you haven't seen my review on this, it comes with 2 brow powders & a brow wax. When it comes to filling in your brows you have 4 choices; powder, colored wax, tinted gel & pencil. I lean towards powders & waxes because using a brush is more accurate and tends to look more natural & hair-like. However, if you are in a rush, gels & pencils are faster. I start with a lighter powder to fill in the inner half of my brows, using a light hand to avoid too dark brows. People with dark hair don't need to worry about doing this. Then, I use the darker powder to fill the rest of my brows. In case you didn't know, brow sets frequently come with two colors because the lighter one is meant to fill in the denser, inner half of your brows & the darker is meant to fill in the less dense half of your brows. Hold The HairsYou can get an actual brow wax, or just get a clear mascara. I use Elf's Wet Gloss Lash & Brow Mascara. You can also choose to use a tinted brow gel to take care of filling & shaping in one step. I do this to hold the sha
XOX ♥ Price: $3.99 (Target) * Product Size: 0.042 oz / 1.2 g The packaging reminds me of UD's 24/7 Glide On pencil, this isn't a surprise, as lots of brands have been coming out with liners that are supposed to be similar to the Glide On pencil. Just like the UD liner, you can sharpen it. I think the Scandaleyes liner lives up to their claims. It is smooth and creamy and also is very water and smudge proof. As you can see in the swatch, this liner is very black and pigmented. vs. UD 24/7 Glide On PencilBoth swatches on the left are Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide On Liner in Zero. Both swatches on the right are Rimmel's Scandaleyes Liner in Black. The top two swatches were made with 2 layers and the bottom two were made with only 1 layer of liner. As you can tell, the Rimmel one is much blacker than the Urban Decay one. However, Urban Decay also has a pencil that is more black, called Perversion. As for the feel of the liners, they feel fairly similar. Both are pretty smooth, creamy & easy to apply. I love liners like this because it's easier to get a neat, clean line and it doesn't hurt your eye lids. For lasting power, I feel that they once again are very similar. I have had the swatches of both on my hand all day and they have faded the same amount. If you have been wanting the 24/7 Glide On liner, but don't want to throw out $20 for it, I suggest trying the Rimmel Scandaleyes. XOX ♥ |
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