Price: $6 * Buy At: Ulta * Size: 0.27 fl oz / 8 mL The Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream in London is a warm tan lip cream with a matte finish. The Nyx Soft Matte Lip Creams come in a lipgloss-like tube with a doe foot applicator. London has a very smooth, creamy formula that glides onto the lips. It has an opaque formula and it has full coverage on the lips. The Soft Matte Lip Creams don't give the lips a dry look and don't have a dry feel, as many matte lip products do. It does dry out after about an hour or two, but the color lingers and is easily revived with a lip balm or nude gloss. XOX ♥
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Price: $38 * Buy At: Sephora * Size: 2 x 0.14 oz (contour/highlight) , 1 x 0.21 oz (blush) & 6 x 0.035 oz (shadows) The Tarte Rainforest After Dark Colored Clay Eye & Cheek Palette is a large round palette containing three cheek products and six eye shadows. The palette looks like dark wood and has a shiny gold snake design on the lid with Tarte written at the bottom. This is a limited edition product. The Rainforest After Dark palette includes Champagne, a shimmery highlight, Park Ave Princess, a warm matte contour shade, Unleashed, a matte neutral rosey blush, Bare to Explore, a matte pinky beige, Make a Mauve, a neutral browny mauve with a sheen, Plum Away With Me, a warm plum with a sheen, Up To No Gold, a metallic gold, Tan-gled Up In You, a matte warm tan, and Don't Turn A-Brown, a dark matte brown. Everything in this palette is a huge hit for me, not one cheek or eye product let me down. The highlight is very pretty and provides a nice sheen to the cheeks without being frosty. The contour shade is a popular product from Tarte and it doesn't disappoint in this palette. It is quite warm, however, and can look slightly orangey if you aren't careful. The Amazonian Clay blushes are one of my favorite formulas, and the fact that this blush is full size is amazing. All of the shadows have an amazingly buttery texture and have fantastic color payoff. I love the color combo in this palette, and I also love how half of the shadows are matte. I find the first three shadows to be quite unique, and the last three are more typical staple shades. XOX ♥
Price: $7.99 * Buy At: Ulta * Size: 0.08 oz / 2.5 mL The Revlon ColorStay Skinny Liquid Liner in Black Out is a matte black liquid liner with a very skinny brush. It comes in a typical cone shaped liquid liner package. The brush of this liner is very thin, much thinner than typical liquid liners, which you can see when it's compared to the original Revlon ColorStay Liquid Liner. The only downside to the liner's brush is that it is kind of long and flimsy, which can make application difficult for people that are used to shorter, stiffer applicators. It also makes drawing a line that isn't straight difficult, as you can see in the wavy swatch. The product inside is quite nice, it's very black and doesn't really need to be built up to achieve an opaque line. If you find that typical liquid liners make lines too thick for your liking, this liner would be perfect for you! XOX ♥
Price: $6.99 * Buy At: Target * Size: 0.17 oz / 5 ml The Maybelline Color Sensational Color Elixir in Vision in Violet is a mid tone true purple gloss. The Color Elixirs come in a lipstick-like package with a short, angled doe foot applicator. You can see the product's color through the packaging, which I really like. Vision in Violet has intense, almost opaque pigmentation. Vision in Violet isn't the most wearable color, but it does have the slighest bit of a pink tone. I actually feel like purple colors like this look better on me than a plum or berry lip product. The Color Elixirs feel very comfortable on the lips and are not sticky at all. They do feel a bit thicker than your average gloss, but I think it adds to the moisturizing feel on the lips. XOX ♥
Price: $11.99 * Buy At: Superdrug * Size: 12 x 1.1 g / 0.03 oz The Sleek iDivine Palette in Ultra Mattes V2 Darks contains twelve matte shadows with a darker color scheme. The iDivine palettes come in a black plastic package with the Sleek logo on the lid. Each palette has a large mirror on the lid and a double ended sponge applicator. The shadows in Ultra Mattes V2 Darks include Orbit, a dark teal, Ink, a navy, Highness, a bright cool purple, Noir, a black, Dune, a yellow beige, Pillowtalk, a white, Thunder, a medium grey, Maple, a muted red brown, Flesh, a beige, Paper Bag, a medium mid-tone brown, Villain, a dark red violet, and Fern, a darker bright green. Orbit has a slightly dry texture, but it is quite pigmented. This does make the shadow a little chalky, but if you are careful, it will look great. Ink is drier than Orbit, but it is even more pigmented. It can be slightly chalky, but less than Orbit. Highness has a buttery texture and is very pigmented. I feel that Sleek did a great job with this shadow, especially since it's a bright, matte purple. Noir is similar to Ink, but it is less dry. It's very pigmented, but the slightest bit chalky. Dune has a great texture and is nicely pigmented, but doesn't really show up on my skin due to the color. Since it is a slightly darker flesh tone shade, Dune would work nicely as a transition shade for darker neutrals or colors. Pillow Talk has a very buttery texture, but, it's quite sheer. This could be a good thing if you have trouble working with stark whites, but I would much rather use a really pigmented white (like Inglot #318). Thunder has a great formula and great pigmentation. It feels quite soft and applies evenly and pigmented. Maple was a bit of a disappointment to me. It's such a gorgeous color, but it feels quite dry and needs to be built up quite a bit. It still works for a more subtle crease color, but it does need to be darkened up quite a bit to get the color in the swatch pictures. Flesh has a slightly drier texture than most of the other shadows and is quite similar to Dune, in the fact that it doesn't really show up on my skin (it is called Flesh, after all). Paper Bag has a soft feel, but it is not super pigmented and it applies slightly uneven. It still is a nice matte brown, but I have so many similar shades in my collection and this one doesn't really stand out. Villain has a similar texture to maple, but it is much more pigmented. It is slightly uneven in application, but if you build it up a bit it will be opaque. Fern is very buttery and has intense pigmentation, but unfortunately it is chalky. However, the color is beautiful and if you work with it a little, it can work just fine. Although a few of the shadows were dry and a few were chalky, I still really like this palette and don't regret buying it at all. Good, matte shadows are quite hard to find at an inexpensive price, and I think that Sleek does a great job with them. I also love the color combination in this palette, since it doesn't contain many of the classic matte neutrals that I already have plenty of in my collection. While a lot of the colors could be considered smoky, you could definitely get an everyday look with this selection of shadows. XOX ♥
Price: $5 * Buy At: Ulta * Size: 4 g / 0.14 oz The Nyx Powder Blush in Terra Cotta is a light bronzey peach with subtle shimmer. The Nyx Powder Blushes come in a black plastic compact with a clear lid. Terra Cotta has a very smooth and soft texture without being powdery. It's also pretty pigmented, so I don't have to build it up for it to be noticeable on the cheeks. The shimmer isn't very noticeable when swatched, but it does give the skin a nice glow. XOX ♥
Price: $2.99 * Buy At: Walgreens * Size: 7 g / 0.25 oz The Well at Walgreens Candy Corn Lip Balm is a yellow lip balm in a spherical white package. This limited edition flavor was released with four others as a part of a Halloween collection. I absolutely love candy corn, so I just had to buy this when I saw it! To see how these lip balms compare to EOS, see my previous review HERE. This lip balm doesn't smell exactly like candy corn, but it still smells really good. It kind of has a vanilla cupcake scent. These lip balms are pretty average, it adds moisture to the lips, but isn't super thick. However, I do find that this lip balm lasts longer on the lips than most. XOX ♥
Price: $2.99 * Buy At: CVS * Size: 0.12 oz / 3.5 g The Wet n Wild Sweet As Candy Coloricon Eye Shadow Trio consists of a shimmery cream, medium brown and cool toned pink. Sweet As Candy comes in cheap feeling, plastic packaging, but that doesn't bother me at all since the trio is so inexpensive. Each trio comes with a little sponge applicator and angled brush, which I do not plan on using. Like the rest of the Coloricon eye shadow range, the shadows in the Sweet As Candy trio are great quality. They have a very soft and buttery feel, in addition to great pigmentation. It would be difficult to achieve a complete eye look with just this trio since all of the shadows are shimmery. The Wet n Wild trios are great for beginners looking for inexpensive shadows that have good quality. XOX ♥
Price: $1.00 * Buy At: Target * Size: 5 mL The Elf Eyelid Primer is a sheer, ivory tinted primer designed to "prep the lid for smoother, longer-lasting, crease-proof eyeshadow". The Elf Eyelid Primer comes in a lipgloss-like package with a doe foot applicator. I like to apply the primer straight to my lids, applying a few swipes on both lids and gently blending it in with my finger. The primer has a fairly thin formula that doesn't take much effort to blend in and gives the lids a smooth feel. It covers a little bit of discoloration on the lids, but not a lot since the product is sheer. Although some may be skeptical of a $1 shadow primer, this one actually works. It doesn't necessarily make shadows pop more, like a white base does, but it can help out the pigmentation of certain shadows. As for wear, the primer makes my shadows last all day without creasing. However, I would like to make it known that I have somewhat dry lids that don't have a problem with shadows sliding around or fading. My sister, on the other hand does have oilier lids and she also finds that this primer works for her. To see how this primer extends the wear of a shadow, see the demo below the swatches! After Shadow ApplicationTo test out the primer I used a bright purple shadow from a Sleek iDivine palette. I applied the shadow straight to my arm on the left side and I applied it over the Elf Primer on the right side. There isn't a huge difference in color payoff right away, but the purple is a bit more intense on the side that is applied over the primer. After a Few Hours of WearAfter a couple of hours you can really see the effect the primer has on the shadow. The shadow without the primer has faded quite a bit. While the other swatch isn't as intense as it was when first applied, it looks much better than the side without the primer. I had always liked this primer and thought that it worked for me, but now seeing this comparison, I can really see how it extends the wear of my shadows.
XOX ♥ Price: $11.99 * Buy At: Superdrug * Size: 12 x 0.03 oz / 1.1 g The Sleek Ultra Mattes V1 Brights iDivine Shadow Palette is a twelve pan eye shadow palette full of intense neon colors. The Sleek iDivine palettes come in a black plastic package with the Sleek logo on the lid. Each palette also has a mirror on the inside of the lid. The shadow names are not listed on the packaging, but an insert is included and it has the names of all the shadows. The twelve colors include, Chill, a pale blue, Pout, a warm pink, Sugarlite, a purple, Dragon Fly, a Chill has a nice, buttery texture, but is a little bit sheer and it looks best when built up a little. Pout has a very similar formula to Chill, but is more pigmented. Sugarlite's formula is soft and smooth. It isn't super pigmented, but it isn't chalky and it is a pretty color. Dragon Fly feels drier than the other shades and is lacking a bit in pigmentation. Two "layers" of Dragon Fly creates a nice opaque look. Pucker is almost the same color and formula as Pout, it also has a smooth formula and nice pigmentation. Bamm! feels slightly dry, but still maintains nice pigmentation. Like a lot of the other shades, it can be built up to be very bright and intense. Cricket is a bit dry and slightly uneven in application, but if built up it looks great. Bolt has a smooth formula and I find it to have the best pigmentation from the bunch. Strike has a nice texture and is more opaque with one swipe than most of the other shadows in the palette. Floss has a smooth formula, but like a few other shades is more on the sheer side, but it applies evenly and is not chalky. Crete isn't as soft as the other shades and feels slightly dry. It does need to be built up to be seen, as it is barely noticeable on my skin without being built up. Pow! has a buttery texture, but it is a sheer color, very similar to the matte white shadows in other iDivine palettes (like Ultra Mattes V2). Overall, I am quite impressed by the Ultra Mattes V1 Brights Palette. It's a great alternative to more expensive bright shadows and it's a great way to experiment with these intense colors without shelling out a lot of money. As with all shadows, these shadows will look even better when applied over a primer and/or a white base. XOX ♥
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