About a month ago (yeah, this post is overdue…what else is new…) I attended a fun Benefit event at Macy’s in Westminster. I got my makeup done by supersweet MUA Katie, and she and I talked about the latest and greatest (and some cult favs) from Benefit! Inspired, here is my list of favorites from Benefit. If you’re new to the brand, or just want to try some new things, check these out! [Read more…]
MAC Art of the Eye Collection
Launches 5/2/2013 at all North America MAC locations/counters. (Probably online 4/30/13)
Mid-May launch internationally.
It’s November favorites time!!! Woo woo! Since I started a new job in November I have been wearing a lot more makeup, but I’ve also been getting up super early and spending a LOT of time in my car, so I’ve just been keeping a few choice products in a makeup single makeup bag and “living” out of that bag (plus the various lip products in my purse…) [Read more…]
Raise your hand if you got excited when NYX launched a collection of 7 new mascara formulas with 7 unique wands? Ooohh, me, me, me!
Raise your hand if you’ve also tried a couple of them and been sorely disappointed.
Me. [Read more…]
Let’s talk about a mascara. Particularly, Too Faced Better Than False Lashes mascara. Okay, right there in the name that’s a pretty lofty claim. And just LOOK at the ridiculous picture on the box. There is no early way a mascara did that to someone’s lashes. There just isn’t. But whatever. The reviews on this so far that I’ve seen have been positive, so I had pretty high hopes.
I’ll let the pictures do the talking first. Here are my bare lashes:
I wouldn’t say my lashes are bad or anything, but I prefer a bit more length, separation, darkness, etc. Just a bit more. My lashes on steroids is kind of the look I’d prefer. Here’s my lashes, but the eye on (your) left has 1 application of this system (which consists of a base coat of mascara, a coat of fibers, and a top coat of mascara).
Hello! I saw much darker lashes, significantly more length, and volume. Here’s the mascara on both eyes:
HELLO. In mega close-up world, my lashes look a little spidery. But from normal person distance they look pretty spectacular. So I am somewhat impressed. But here are all my initial first impressions, good and bad:
GOOD:
– Great length.
– Not as messy as it sounds having to coat the fibers on top of the mascara and then mascara again on top of fibers.
– Mascara is a glossy dark shade of black (which might sound silly, aren’t all blacks dark? but some moreso than others).
– Did I mention LENGTH? Holy shit.
BAD:
– You can feel it on your lashes. I’m not a regular fiber mascara user (they kinda scare me) so I don’t know if this is typical, but I can feel it on my lashes as I blink and go about my day with the mascara on. I don’t particularly like being “aware” of my mascara all day.
– The mascara itself is kind of wet so the opportunity for smudges is pretty big.
– The occasional fiber + mascara will brush off as you’re applying the 2nd coat of mascara, and that kind of makes a mess.
– It’s 35 fucking dollars. For a mascara. Yes it’s a fancy mascara, but you have to toss mascara every 3 to 6 months! STEEP. It’s not the most expensive mascara I’ve ever seen (that honor goes to Cle de Peau) but it’s pretty close.
I’m still trying it out, as this is just a “first impressions” review. I think in the future things that will help this mascara look even better are combing my lashes before and after I apply it, and more practice.
Have you tried this mascara? What did you think?
Hello hello everyone! It’s MARCH, so that means it’s time to talk about FEBRUARY. Err, in other words, my favorites from February. Woot!
Favorite Hair Products
Um realistically my favorite hair product in February was my beloved Stephanie, aka Awesome Colorist, but since calling her a product is kind of rude, I’ll go with the kind that are in bottles!
I’m still learning how to deal with my dry skin. For years I had oily skin, and I’ve really only had dry skin for the past year or so. It’s a whole new experience! I took for granted that I never had the problem of my skin looking too matte. Now, even on days where I’m not wearing any makeup, I like to go over my whole face with MAC Strobe Liquid. It’s just a thin, slightly hydrating lotion that has a very pretty pearly pink luminescent quality. It gives my face that natural glow that has since left me along with my overactive oil producing skin, lol. I’ve also been using my MAC Fix+ more, as it takes down the powderiness of face powders. (Strobe Liquid and Fix+ are available from MAC for $30 and $20 respectively.)
Remember how I said I don’t like reviewing products I feel “meh” about because I don’t think those posts are interesting to read, or products I don’t like…? Yeah. Well. Sorry in advance, because I feel ‘meh’ about this mascara! I was excited to try it since I’d never tried a Lancome mascara before and I know so many girls who love these. However, my results with this particular one are just blah.
But then as part of the Vogue Influencer program I received a CoverGirl NatureLuxe mascara to try out and I thought “eh, why not?”. I mean after all it was here in my hands already, and I was thoroughly fed up with L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black (Not)Waterproof mascara (review for that abomination coming shortly).
So what exactly is NatureLuxe mascara? It is a mousse formula mascara that claims your lashes will feel 20% lighter than when wearing other mascaras, and give you 2x more volume than bare lashes. The product description is really vague as to what makes this mascara “nature” luxe, other than there’s honey in it. It says they removed a “heavy synthetic”. They don’t say explain heavy synthetic what. Just because things are synthetic doesn’t make them bad, so the nature part of it seems really gimmicky to me.
As to the mascaras claims, I do feel that it’s very lightweight. Is it 20% lighter than when I wear other mascaras? Hell if I know. How do you measure 20% lighter when it’s your eyelashes. We’re talking about such infinitesimal differences who would really be able to tell? Whatever, haha. The volume is nice, and probably about 2x more than my bare lashes, like it says. I really like the length I get from it too.
Even though it sounds like I’m bashing the mascara, I’m really not. I actually like this mascara quite a bit. It’s lightweight, doesn’t clump my lashes together, and doesn’t smear all over the place despite being a mousse.
And now…pictures! These pictures were taken with one coat only, on my top lashes. I later discovered you can layer this and wore a couple of layers together without it clumping up. Pictures can be enlarged if you need.
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| Flaking mascara makes me a sad panda. |
Oddly enough, I never set out to try this mascara. I placed an order some months ago at Apothica. I actually bought Hourglass’ other mascara, Superficial Lash, and a lipstick. I received a little sample tube of Film Noir mascara with my order, and since I had other mascaras open at the time I decided to try the little sample before opening another full sized mascara.
And thus, my love affair with Film Noir Full Spectrum mascara began.
From the moment I first applied this mascara, it has been love and bliss. Hourglass says this mascara is designed to give length, volume, jet black color and sheen, lift, and separation. That’s a mighty list of claims for one mascara. But oh, let me tell you. It delivers! I have what I would say are average lashes. Not super long, but not short and stubby either. I want DRAMA. I want big huge black fluttery lashes. I never understood those adjustable mascaras where you can choose ‘day’ or ‘night’. I want drama lashes. All the time. I definitely get that with this mascara! True to the name of the brand, Hourglass Film Noir mascara has an hourglass shaped brush, which is best illustrated with this photo from Sephora:
I took these photos purposefully without any eyeliner because I wanted you to see truly how my lashes look just with the help of this mascara. No mascara was applied to the bottom lashes in this case. I did comb my lashes afterward, but that was more because my lashes tend to criss cross each other and point all weird directions on their own. No curler or primers were used. In fact, when I tried this with Urban Decay’s Lash Primer Potion, the result was an epic clumpy fail. This mascara does not play well with others– a bit of a diva. Like a film actress!
