CVS Haul 1/29/2011

Hey guys~

I have terrible will power plus I get this insane high when I buy new makeup.  I bent one of my makeup buying ban rules today.  Technically I'm on a buying ban but I went to CVS today and couldn't resist picking up some things.  My local CVS had these free Biore makeup cloth samples so I grabbed one of those.  I also got this gorgeous bright red (well, it says coral) lipstick by Revlon.  I was going to the counter to pay for the things when I decided to print out some coupons (if you scan your Extra Care card at the price check machine, some coupons will print out).  I got one for $5 any two Revlon products so I hurried back o the makeup section to find something else I wanted.  I spotted two Revlon lipglosses that were marked on clearance but did not have the 75% off sticker on them.  I explained to the cashier that there must be a mistake, and she was having a long day so instead of dealing with it like she should have, she just scanned my lipstick 3 times so that I would get a discounted price on glosses as well.  I picked up a pink pigment because I wanted to do some Valentine's Day looks, but I don't wear pink eyeshadow so I don't own any.  Hopefully, I'll have some time to do some tutorials before Valentine's day.

Hope you guys are all having a fab day, and if you're on a makeup buying ban too, best of luck!

Cheers,
Janny

Review: Kat Von D True Romance Palette in Ludwig

Aloha fellow makeup lovers~

Right now I'm deciding which is the best way to review this product: through my constant ramblings or with bullet points.  I'm going to try to do a compromise.

Basic info:
Kat Von D Cosmetics are only available at Sephora or Sephora.com.  The palette I will be reviewing today is one of her True Romance Palettes.  Here is how Sephora describes it:

"A smoky eye adds an instant air of mystery—create your own with the True Romance Eyeshadow Palette. Designed by reality television star Kat Von D especially for Sephora, this artistic spectrum of shades brings an edgy-glam creativity to your makeup. The sleek black eyeshadow palette is stenciled with silver roses and arrives packaged in a silk-screened black and silver box that is itself a work of art—and inspired by Kat's favorite tattoo."

Price:
You can purchase this for $34 USD, but if you're lucky, Sephora may put these on sale again for $24 USD.


Packaging: 
As mentioned above, this palette comes in a sleek black case, perfect for travel.  There's a nice honking big mirror which is pretty useful until the eyeshadow dust dirties it up.  The case is fairly sturdy, and the feel of it reminds me a bit of the packaging of NARS cosmetics.  There are 8 eyeshadows, each with 0.05 ounces of product, and 2 double ended mini brushes.  The shades include:

- Lucifer (matte charcoal black)
- Orbi (golden green shimmer)
- Dimebag (metallic lime green)
- Clay (beige with gold glitter)
- Tequila (metallic cornsilk shimmer)
- Downtown (metallic light copper shimmer)
- Baroque (golden bronze shimmer)
- Leather (matte deep chocolate brown sheen)

No flash

With flash

Quality 
Overall, these eyeshadows are soft and blendable.  The pigmentation is decent, but certainly not impressive.  The lighter colors (dimebag, tequila, and clay) are quite sheer, so use a colored or extra sticky base under these colors.  Otherwise, it may end up like this:

Yeah, just bad.  In this picture I used Stila's One Step Primecolor in Kitten, and I didn't really pack the color as I should have.  UDPP actually isn't much better.  You can definitely make the lighter colors work but just takes some effort.  The darker colors are decent, and the black is fabulous, but for the majority of the palette, they probably won't show up on your skin if your complexion is any darker than mine.  I'll let these swatches speak for themselves.  These are swatched on bare skin with no primer.

With flash

No flash

Clay just kinda blends into my skin so you can't really see it that well.

I want to say that the quality is similar to Maybelline eyeshadows.  They're slightly powdery and delivers decent pigment, but again, they're not amazing.


Final Verdict:
If you're looking for a palette with fairly wearable colors, and you want to break into color, this palette is for you.  While the site describes it as "edgy-glam," I honestly don't think the eyeshadows deliver this promise.  I do love the packaging, inside and out, and I will reach for this palette when I want to do a day look.  I don't particularly like the neutral colors in this palette, because they're too shimmy, and I would have much preferred some taupes or rich chocolate browns as opposed to coppers.  Even though my skin is not particularly dark, I think I'll have to use a paint pot under these eyeshadows.  Definitely not worth the $34, and I would not buy it again.




I think one of the best ways to judge a product a product is through application, so look forward to a tutorial using this palette.  Here's a sneak peak:

I've actually heard some pretty positive reviews on the other True Romance Palettes, so maybe Ludwig is just not up to par?  Any thoughts?

My Free Zoya Polishes are Here!

Hey ladies and gents~

At the beginning of the month, Zoya had a promotion to celebrate their 20,000 fans on Facebook, and decided to give away 3 nail polishes free (just pay shipping)!  I only ordered one order, but I really regret not making another one because they are absolutely gorgeous.  They just came into the mail today!

Marry, Jo, and Ki

As usual, Zoya delivers beautiful nail polishes that I really think are unique to other brands.  Just one tiny problem with this order: They sent me the wrong color.  I had ordered MarryJ, which is a gorgeous purple, but they sent me Marry instead.  Easy mistake to make.  I do love this color and I already have a purple (Ki is purple, more on in a second!), but I don't think warm colors look too good on me.  So I'm going to contact Zoya and see how that turns out.

I fell in love with Jo (the nail polish, mind you) when I saw it on the website, but I'm not sure how I feel about it now. I thought it would be more duochrome, perhaps with gold shimmer in it, so Jo is brighter than I expected.

Ki....I don't remember why I ordered this one.  But it sure looks complex, almost similar to Edyta, which you can see a swatch of in my last post on Zoya.  It looks purple, but if you tilt it, it can look green or brown.  Crazy sauce.

I promise I'll do swatches later, but for now I have two papers to do.  I just got so excited to share these that I jumped on my computer right after I got my mail.  I hope everyone one else is having a less stressful day!

Cheers,
Janny

FOTD: Daylight Vamp

I totally wasn't going for a vampy look by any means, but that's what it kind of turned out like.  I just wanted to use purple and I ended up using too much black in the crease, and my lipstick had a purple sheen to it so voila.  Daytime vamp. Hahahaha.

I've gotta start using a different eyeliner or start sharpening my pencil more often. The eyeliner is always thicker than I want it.


Face:
-Smashbox Healthy FX Foundation in Light 3
-Cover FX Setting Powder in Light
-NYC Matte Bronzer in Sunny
-Benefit Coralista Blush

Eyes:
-UDPP
-Smashbox Classifieyed Palette (Deep purple and taupe with purple undertones)
-Inglot Eyeshadows (a bronze and a deep purple with rainbow shimmer)
-Kat Von D eyeshadow in Lucifer (matte black eyeshadow)
-Korres Matte beige eyeshadow
-UD 24/7 eyeliner in Zero
-L'oreal Extra Volume Collagen Mascara

Lips:
-Burt's Bees
-Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in On the Mauve


Meanwhile, I hope you're all doing well today?  I wish I was. I had horrid cramps kick in and I had to miss class.  I hate missing class. 

Anyhoots~I hope to get more FOTDs up more often.  Stay tuned for the next one!

FOTD: Stila's Backstage Eyeshadow Palette

I rarely have time to do my makeup before school in the mornings.  When I do apply makeup, I do it at night, bum around my room, and then wipe it off.  Since wearing makeup out is a bit of a rare occasion for me, I decided to doll up today....to get groceries.  Sad, I know. 

I did this look using mainly Stila's Backstage Eyeshadow Palette that I featured in my December 2010 Favorites.  I really want to do a review on this palette because I absolutely LOVE it! I don't think this palette is available anymore, but Sephora has another version of this palette, just with different colors.  It's on sale and it's online only, so snag it while you still can.

I used the 3 colors on the bottom plus the one on the top left.

Face:
-Smashbox Healthy FX Foundation in Light 3
-Cover FX Setting Powder in Light
-NYC Matte Bronzer in 720A Sunny
-NARS Blush in Deep Throat

Eyes:
-UDPP
-Stila Backstage Eyeshadow Palette: Chiffon, Luster, Poetic, & Cool
-UD 24/7 Liner in Zero
-Korres Single Eyeshadow in Matte
-Maybelline Falsies Mascara

Lips:
-Vaseline Lip Therapy
-Viva Glam V lipstick
-Lancome Rose Tempest lipstick
-Quo Lipgloss in Pout

Urban Decay 15 Anniversary Collection Swatches!

Hey ladies and gents~

Urban Decay recently released a collection of 15 full-sized 24/7 eyeliners (6 of which are new shades) that comes with a pencil sharpener to celebrate their 15th anniversary!  Each pencil (even perversion which looks a bit shorter) contains 1.2 grams or 0.4 ounces of product.  The set itself retails for $92  and you can purchase it both on Urban Decay's and Sephora's website.  If you'd like to see more of the packaging itself, please click here.

Without Flash

With Flash

Color names and descriptions are straight from Sephora's website, and are in order from left to right.

1. Stray Dog (shimmering taupe brown)
2. Corrupt (dark metallic brown with silver glitter)
3. Bourbon (medium brown with sparkle)
4. Midnight Cowboy (beige sparkle)
5. Baked (bronze)
6. Stash (mossy gold-green)
7. Mildew (deep mossy green)
8. Perversion (blackest carbon black)
9. Electric (bright blue)
10. Binge (deep metallic blue)
11. Ransom (bright purple)
12. Asphyxia (pinky iridescent purple)
13. Rockstar (deep reddish purple)
14. Zero (black)
15. Uzi (sparkling gunmetal gray)

 Hope this helps =)

Urban Decay 15 Anniversary Collection: Is it worth it?

If  you guys don't know already, Urban Decay released an exclusive collection of eyeliners to celebrate their 15 year anniversary.  This set includes 15 full sized eyeliners (6 of which are entirely new shades) and 1 duo pencil sharpener (the Grindhouse).  For swatches of this product, please click here.  I recently acquired this collection from Sephora, but not before really thinking about if I really needed/wanted this set.  I don't think I'm the only one who has trouble deciding whether or not to get this, especially when it comes to really good deals and/or limited edition items such as this one.  While the price per eyeliner breaks down to a little bit over $6 per pencil, you still have to swallow the total price of $92 plus tax.  I decided to break down the pros and cons here, and then go on about why I decided to buy this for myself. 

Reasons why you may want to buy this:
-You're okay with spending $92 in one go.
-Quality eyeliners.  These are amongst the smoothest, creamiest pencils I've ever used.  I've been hooked ever since I first acquired my first Urban Decay 24/7 liners.  Really excellent pigmentation and I'm perfectly happy to only use these eyeliners for the rest of your life.
-Retail value for 15 full sized eyeliners (were they to be purchased individually) is 3x the cost of this collection.  You would essentially be getting each eyeliner for a little over $6 plus a free pencil sharpener.
-You already use multicolored eyeliner pencils either as an alternative to black eyeliner or you like to use them as an eyeshadow base, etc.

Reasons why you may want to pass on this collection:
-$92 is 3 weeks' worth of groceries (*cough cough* university student here).  In other words.  You can't afford it.
-During the holidays, Urban Decay releases more affordable eyeliner collections.


REALLY BAD reasons that you may use to justify this purchase:
-You're thinking about using different colored eyeliners more often.  If you're only used to black and/or brown eyeliners and you want to break into color, you really don't have to break into color with such a massive purchase.  Drug store brands like L'oreal, Milani, and CoverGirl have dupes of UD's famous eyeliners.  Start with a couple, not 15.  I once bought a crapload of gel liners from ebay thinking I was going to use them all but I haven't even touched most of them.
-It's limited edition.  The collection may be limited edition but the colors aren't.

I hope that was helpful to some of you who were struggling with the decision.  I ultimately decided to buy it despite being on my spending ban because I felt like this is something that I could definitely use.  With that said, I don't need any new pencil eyeliners for a really long time.

MORE INGLOT?! + Rant

My sister went to Las Vegas last weekend with some friends.  It took me a few days to register but a couple days before going it suddenly hit me that MY SISTER WAS GOING TO VEGAS. HOLY SHIT VEGAS. HOME OF NOT *ONE* BUT *TWO INGLOT STORES!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I ALMOST DIED.  No I didn't.  But I did contact her right away via facebook asking her to get me some things at Inglot.  Then I immediately hop onto InglotCosmetics.com to find the 10 colors I want in my 10-pan eyeshadow palette and write down all the numbers.  I think on that same day, I decided to buy the Urban Decay 15 Anniversary collection of eyeliners after much debate.  And thus, I decided to let go of Inglot for another day....

Well, my sister decided to buy me some Inglot goodies anyway.  Here is what she got:

 

You should have seen me dancing around the house when I saw this.  And not just once.  I left it on the table because I didn't have time to play with them but I wanted to keep them by me, and so every time I walked past my new toys, I started dancing with joy like an idiot.  My sister instantly regretted not getting me the 10-pan palette lol.  What you see is a waterproof mascara, and a 4-pan palette from their Freedom System.  The palette was what I was really freaking excited about haha.  Inglot has some original eyeshadows where they have a matte color with explosions of fine, multi-colored glitter in it.  They are freaking amazing.  I don't have swatches in this post because I wanted to save them for an overall swatch/review sort of blog and video.

Which brings me to my rant.

I've been eyeing and lusting and crying for Inglot products ever since I've first seen Koren (of EnKoreMakeup) do a video tour of the Inglot in NYC.  Seriously.  The way I was lusting over their makeup wasn't pretty.  And so my boyfriend found out about this, and realized there were 3 Inglot stores where he lived.  THREE.  Can you say unfair?  So a little more than a year ago, I received my first Inglot palette.  I nearly had a heart attack.  If you watch some of my videos, you may have seen them featured in tutorials.  I love love love them to death.  More than when I first found out about the company.

So that was a year ago.  When I went to Canada last December, I had planned to do an exclusive and thorough informational video/blog on Inglot, since I had no access to the store near where I live in California (although I heard they just opened one in OC but that's still too far away).  Then before I get a chance to do that, all these big, popular gurus on Youtube start popping up raving about Inglot eyeshadows.  Now I KNOW that they have done nothing wrong in doing so, in fact they are in their every right, but I really felt like I've been kicked down.  I have so much STUFF to share to people about Inglot and because other gurus beat me to it, I'm going to look like a copycat.  Maybe I'm petty but I don't know....I've put a lot of work into getting the information and products in the first place.  Heck I had to have other people fly the products to me in the first place.  But yeah, that's what I'm a bit upset about.  Inglot used to be pretty much never heard of amongst the Youtube beauty community.  Trust me I know.  I searched and searched and only found Koren's video and 2 haul videos.  Now they're popping up all over the place like a disease and I really do think it's the influence of the big gurus out there. 

Now, you may ask, exactly what work did I put in Inglot in the first place? I just have the makeup!  You're wrong. Wrong I tell you.  With a big slice of moldy cheese.  I had to call a representative a number of times to get permission film inside an Inglot store and take pictures.  This same representative offered to do a text interview, which I am still waiting on.  This was all going to be a surprise, but I guess there's no point anymore since it's been about a month already. 

If you made it this far into reading this blog entry, I salute you, and thank you for making it this far.  I think I'll end this entry with what informational stuff you may expect in regards to Inglot:

-How to order
-Prices
-Swatches: Eyeshadows, lipsticks, and nail polish
-General product information
-Touring inside Inglot
-Review
-Other information on Inglot (History, sales, rewards, etc)

Meanwhile, I have just finished filming 3 videos which I hope to edit and upload VERY soon.  I like to accompany my videos with blog posts because I know personally, I prefer reading the information most of the time as opposed to watching a video.  I hope you will all stay tuned.

Much love and much relieved after my rant,
Janny

It's Official: My Beauty Buying Ban

Now, I've been on these kinds of bans on and off, and I found that I am able to control myself best when I am not stressed.  Before I go into the details of this time's buying ban, let me briefly go through my history of beauty buying bans.

I want to say maybe about a year ago when Project 10 Pan was floating around, I decided to have a go at it.  If you haven't heard about this before, it's when you are restricted from buying any beauty products until you have finished 10 products in their entirety.  I am ashamed to report that I lasted 2.5 weeks and didn't finish a single product.

The next ban was during the summer of 2010, from mid-August till the Christmas collections started coming out.  I was very good with the ban during the summer, when school was still out and I did not have to stress about anything in particular.  Once school started and got rolling around early October, I started stressing out again and felt impulses to buy makeup.  Granted, I was not successful during this period, but I instead of quitting my ban altogether when I did succumb to making a purchase, I continued the ban the best I could.  I don't remember how many times I broke the ban, but I don't think it was any more than three.

This time, I started my ban recently.  I don't think it was at the beginning of the year, but within the first couple of January.  I think right away, I broke it when I decided to purchase Urban Decay's 15 Anniversary eyeliner set (which arrived today! I'll be doing swatches later!).  I've been debating over whether or not to purchase this ever since it came out, and I did want it quite badly.  I paid less than $90 for the entire set with the VIB discount, which amounts to less than $6 for each full-sized eyeliner that usually retails for $17.  I'm a huge eyeliner junkie and I use colored liners quite often, so it is definitely a good investment.  However, I daresay I won't be purchasing any more eyeliners soon.

In any case, here are the conditions of my ban:
-NO makeup or other unnecessary beauty purchases.  Lotion and shampoo are not included.
-I'm allowed to replace mascara and black eyeliners.
-This ban will last until mid-March.  Stop for one week (I'm heading to Canada again, but my spending will still be limited.  Just not as limited.).  After that, it will continue till June.
-Brushes are ok.  I recently gave away some to my boyfriend's mom, and my sister has a set of my brushes as well so I'm pretty low on those.
-Giftcard purchases are ok.  I still have a Sephora giftcard! Now I just have to find it...
-Steals from stores like TJ Max are ok within reason.
-Gifts for others are okay as well.  So a way I could get around this is by doing a swap (not anytime soon though).

I think this is just about it.  In the past couple of weeks, I've been digging through my stash and rediscovering things.  I think I have more than enough to blog about till June, and I really want to enjoy what I have purchased.

I've typed this entire blog during class, which is about to end soon.  I'll see you folks later! Take care, all!


Love,
Janny

Yayyy!!! My prize from Emma!

Back in December, the lovely Emma of Birds Decorate Branches hosted a giveaway.  If my memory serves me right, the prizes included Sleek's Storm Palette, A mini NARS Orgasm nail polish, and a MAC lipstick of the winner's choice.  I was absolutely ECSTATIC to find out that I had won!  That joy and giddiness rekindled when I opened my mailbox and found this waiting for me.  Before I go any further however, I just want to give one BIG FAT THANK YOU to Emma! 

Protected by yet another layer of stuffing :)

A lovely little note from Emma:

And the prizes!  I absolutely love the leopard print tissue paper! Super cute! I believe everything wrapped were the prizes initially mentioned, and the Vaseline lip therapy and MUA lipgloss were extras!

 Ahhhh I've heard so many good things about this product in the last couple of months from different beauty bloggers.  I haven't had a chance to pick this up and I've running extremely low on my beloved EOS lip balm so I'm so glad to have a chance to try this! Love the rose scent and how light it feels on my lips!

I love trying different brands of makeup, and if I'm correct, MUA is only available in the UK. Lucky ducks!  I'm loving how this peachy pink lipgloss looks in the tube and I can't wait to try it out!

Can you say true love?  I had the opportunity to choose a MAC lipstick, which I was absolutely ecstatic about because I have not tried many MAC products.  I based my decision off MAC's official website, and I'm very pleased with how it looks like in real life.  I wanted to get something that I knew I would use often.  I was so excited that I tried it straight away!

Holy molecakes.  I do believe I've found "my lips but better" color.

This is the cutest little nail polish I have ever seen.  It's the size of my thumb.  It's the perfect size because I never use up all my nail polish anyway!  I love the golden sparkle in this peachy pink polish!  If I didn't have any nail polish on right now, I would have swiped this bad boy on right away.

Last, but certainly not the least, I was gifted a Storm palette.  Holy cow.  I must be the worst blogger ever because for some reason I thought the Storm palette only had blacks, greys, and silvers in it.  Slap me.  This must be one of the most versatile palettes ever. I can totally see myself using this palette for all sorts of looks!  This is so me.

Once again, I want to thank Emma for her generosity and the fabulous prizes.  If you haven't already, please follow her here.

Until next time,
Janny

Canada Trip Haul!

I don't know why it took me so long to post this.  On my last trip to Canada, I laid my hands on a number of goodies that were either not available in the U.S., difficult to acquire in the U.S., or just because.  I didn't go too crazy because I was on a budget (which I ended up breaking anyway), but I picked up quite a few goodies.  My boyfriend actually got at least 1/3 of these for me =)

Above you'll see some products from Inglot, Gosh, Marcelle, Gosh, and Quo.  I'm hoping to do extensive reviews on these products (ESPECIALLY Inglot!) eventually.  I wish I could dish out reviews faster but I think people get a bit testy about reviews nowadays, and I want to be as informational as possible.  My boyfriend also purchased the Benefit Femme Metale holiday set for me, as I was eying it longingly at Sephora,  Unfortunately, this is no longer available, but I will do a special mention post on this as well.  Sad thing is, I acquired everything around mid-December, and I have only had a chance to try a lipstick.  Yargh!

I think I always tend to be a bit depressing when I post.  I get stressed out really easily but I must learn to lighten my mood. 

NOTD: OPI Glove you so much

After my last day of work (food service = no nail polish), I swiped on some color to my nails the next day.  I was searching through my mini collection for something fun, maybe a bright matte color.  But I have very little mattes in my collection so I settled for this sparkly wine color instead.  Funny how things turn out the very opposite as you had initially hoped for.  One coat is plenty, but here you see 3 because I tried multitasking while waiting for the nails to dry which was a very bad idea.  Don't mind the bad skin or the uncleaned polish.  Works always takes a toll on my skin, and I am struggling to finish some school work on time hence the sloppy edges.  I've missed blogging terribly so I've decided to post a NOTD nonetheless.

Just for fun, I swiped on a bright lip color, which looked like it could match the nail color in the tube but turned out a lot brighter than I expected.

This color is Maybelline's Color Sensational Lipstick in Madison Mauve.  I picked it up at CVS on clearance for 50% off, and I love love love it.  I find it very wearable, and will feature it in a FOTD hopefully some time soon.  I'm not wearing any other makeup right now other than this lippie so I will spare you my very exhausted and dehydrated skin today. 

That's all for now folks.  I hope you all had a fabulous long weekend, and were able to resume the week's activities without wishing too hard for the next weekend to arrive.

Boyfriend TAG

I know this tag was so 6 months ago but I recorded this the last day I was in Montreal, also the last day I spent with my François.  Excuse me if I seem pissed off or uninterested.  I was still feeling shy in front of my camera and was plenty depressed because I knew we wouldn't see each other for a long while.  I hope you all find it entertaining.

DAVE, CARMEN, IF YOU'RE READING/WATCHING THIS ~ Do it when  mom and dad aren't hanging around.  And you guys are my best friends too. <3

Much love,
Janny



Questions:

She's sitting in front of the TV. What is on the screen?

You're out to eat. What kind of dressing does she get on her salad?

What's one food she doesn't like?

You go out to eat and have a drink. What does she order?

What size shoe does she wear?

If she was collecting anything what would it be?

What is her favorite type of sandwich?

What would this person eat everyday if she could?

What is her favorite cereal?

What music does she like?

What is her favorite sports team?

What is her eye color?

Who's her best friend?

What is something you do that she wishes you wouldn't?

What is her heritage/where is she from?

I'm Digging My Toes ;D

Warning: This post is not for toe-phobic people.

That aside, it's not really my toes that I've been admiring but the lovely nail polish.

Friends, meet Akyra by Zoya.  It's a gorgeous sparkly teal that seems more blue for some reason in the photo.  I applied two coats of it on my toes a few days ago and have been admiring them ever since.  What you see in the bottle is exactly what you get on your nails.

I have a thing for blue toes.  I've tried red before and it just looked too old ladyish.  There is something magical about blue toes....I can't quite put my finger on it.  But nail color on my toes usually last a good couple of weeks, and I don't have to worry about the nail polish chipping off into the food I prepare.  Speaking of which, do you guys have any tips on long lasting nail color?  I don't usually use a top coat, and maybe that could be it.

I do realize this is an unusually short post.  My mind is kind of ...hmm....how do I put it?  I think about random things all the time and I won't share all of them, but maybe sometimes I can't help it.  This is one of those times.

Back to reading I go =( I hope you are all sporting amazing toe colors :)

Much love,
Janny