NARS Happy Days Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil Swatches and Review

     Since this summer season, I've crept away from my previous look of creamy full coverage lipsticks to sheerer and healthier finishes. I like to see some of my natural lip and I've come to love lip products that give a beautiful flush of color across the lips with a beautiful natural balmed or glossed texture. I still tend to shy away from actual gloss as I find it too overpowering and "fake". NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencils caught my eye because the line carries a hot pink (Mexican Rose) which I got, and will be reviewed later. I also went ahead and got Happy Days, and without further jib-jabbering, here are some swatches:

top to bottom: one swipe, three swipes, a bunch of swipes

bare lips

 



     NARS Happy Days Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil is a glossy orange coral with small golden shimmers. It swatches more coral on my hand than on my lips and it looks very healthy. In terms of the look of the product, I don't have too many complaints though it isn't the most special thing in the world. I do have to say that I find if I apply a light layer of MAC Myth with a heavy layer of this product I get my perfect warm baby pink lip (killing two birds with one stone since I don't have a use for Myth and I get the perfect color). However, I don't know if this product is worth keeping for such purposes as there are quite a few negatives to this product. The gloss is quite comfortable and it isn't very sticky. It feels like a heavy balm. I cannot feel any of the shimmers.
     First of all, in terms of wear, the product isn't bad as it last about how long a regular gloss would 3-4 hours without eating and drinking. However, it wears away unevenly and the center of my lips looks paler than the sides creating the "only lip liner look," a look I am not very keen on.
     Second, the application is not perfect. If you have any dry patches, the product will gather around those areas creating a patchy lip. Not attractive and it's not something I expect from a non-cream lip gloss product.

     Third, probably my biggest criticism of this item is that you don't get enough product for how much you pay and you use a large amount each time you use it. In the picture you can see I've already your the product quite a bit, but really, I've only used it 4 times max! Also, you barely get any product for the hefty 24$ price tag! (2.8g/0.09oz.) compared to the 4.8g/0.17oz od a regular MAC lip gloss which is 10$ less...Not cool NARS.
     All in all, I'm going to have to think about this item. I also have Mexican Rose, but I love the color (and other things to be addressed in its own review) that I will most likely keep it. Now on that beautiful warm pink lip that I can create with this item...I will try the combination for a couple more days and also try to create the same look with other products. And if in the end I decide to return this product, I will tell you all in the review of Mexican Rose!

Thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment. Byebye. C:

Video: What's in My Makeup Bag?

     What's in my handy dandy makeup bag? Well currently...this stuff changes once in awhile, but you can get the gist of it in this bag. I must say I don't love the bag, but I'm going to use it till it dies so I ca get my money's worth. I carry a crap ton of stuff in this bag for reasons I explain in the video, but yah. Hope you enjoyyyy!



Thanks for watching! Byebye. :D

Don't Bite Your Nails: Illamasqua Nomad Nail Varnish Swatches and Review

     It's been sooo long since I've made a nail post! I recently picked up two Illamasqua nail polishes, and Nomad is one of them. This color is from a recent collection and it's been getting a lot of love so I wanted to try it for myself. I'm not usually pulled into the color family that this polish belongs but it's nice to explore once in a while. Here are some swatches!




     There's something special about Illamasqua Nomad that's made it so popular. It's a different color from the oh-so-dominant trend of mint green polishes. It's hard to describe the color perfctly as it's been described as a bright jade color. But I don't get it because there are so many shades of jade...just me nit-picking. I can only say, Nomad is a intensely saturated mid-tone slightly yellowed green with no blue. It's definitely a statement shade because of it's saturation that really makes be want to say it's neon. The Illamasqua cream polishes I've tried have always applied decently well though I think they're a bit thick and if the bottle is open too long, the polish can get even more goopy.

     I can't say too much about wear right now because I seem to be having trouble with base coats and top coats. I don't know what it is but my nail polish has been chipping very quickly. Please recommend to me any top coats and base coats you like!

Thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment. Byebye. o u   o''

MAC Cut A Caper Lustre Lipstick Swatches and Review

     Hahaa! The second part of my most recent purchase from MAC's mineralized collection for 2012. Cut A Caper Lustre Lipstick is not only a lipstick in my favorite MAC lipstick formulation, but it's also a repromote lipstick that sold out too fast for me to get. I wasn't really sure about getting it, but after swatching it in store, I was like, "what the hey.." Here are some swatches:










     MAC Cut A Caper is a glossy neutral leaning cool rose coral. The lip swatch isn't the perfect representation of the color and the hand swatch is much more true to color. Like I said before, the MAC Lustre finish is my favorite formula or lipstick as the colors tend to have a type of juicy sheerness I like so much right now. The product is smooth and of a thick balm texture, but I find that this lipstick doesn't always apply evenly. you also need to swipe the lipstick on the lips more than once to get good color payoff. What I love however is that it's a color that leans cool, but doesn't clash with my skintone. (Creme Cup from MAC is horrendously purple on me, I hate it.) On the other hand, I find this lipstick makes me look tan...Hmmm.
     Now to compare to the previous lipstick I reviewed, Pleasureseeker...they are in the same range in terms of darkness, but this lipstick contains no shimmer and they are different colors. In comparison to the limited edition MAC Ever Hip Cremesheen Lipstick, Cut A Caper is definitely more blue and Ever Hip has an apparent warm peachy hue that Cut A Caper lacks.
     Other than that, I don't have much else to say. I recommend this to light to medium skin tones both cool and warm as the hue sits in the more neutral category.


Thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment. Byebye. O:

Life Update: Tech and Wholesome Funnn!

This is a text heavy post with pictures at the end. I don't expect anyone to read this.. ; -;...


Update of life: THE TECHNOLOGY GODS HATE ME. If you've followed me for a while, you know I haven't had much luck with anything tech involved whether it be Windows Live Movie Maker, my camcorder, my always missing SD cards, and now my laptop. I'm currently working on a 4 to 5 year old MacBook, yeah, one of the cute little white ones. What happened was my regular Toshiba has some major flippin' problems with the connection between the battery and the charger; it's not the charger because I tried a new one and I'm just sure. So I finally cannot charge it and it won't turn on. In desperation, I grabbed this MacBook my dad had used once a long time ago. It's crappy as well... All the Microsoft apps are gone and I don't know how to get them back. All of the editing systems are gone and the computer is too old to update or something. I'm just plan like WTF am I supposed to do. So yah...how did I edit my last post? I used some online editing site which is such a hassle. I don't think any videos will be able to get on any time soon. FML, summer plans= ruined. I'm going to beg for a new computer...

     Another thing! I'm slightly annoyed with my newly done nails, which I will post a swatch post on later. I have two top coats (butter London and Sally Hansen Instant Dry). The first I think<-- chips in like two days, and the second which I used this time caused bubbles! I used it last week and it didn't do that! What is going on...

     ON THE HAPPIER SIDE OF THINGS. One of my best friends (I wonder if she will read this) and I were thinking about how teenagers (us included) have fun through only technology. And it's true, so we made a little summer bucket list of things that are technology-less. Good wholesome fun. So we combined this goal with one of my favorite things everrr. We went nectarine and peach picking! Whutwhut. Another one of my best friends (I wonder if she's reading this) joined us and oh my god it was so amusing. We also had a bit too much fun in the car, stuff I will not divulge in. I'm not sure if they're cool with me posting their faces on my blog, so I'll try to only pick ones with me. Here some pics, creds to one of the best friend's awesome Canon T3i and multiple photographers:

     I highly recommend anyone who wants to have a good day off with some delicious smelling fruits to go fruit picking. It's great. (:

I'm too tired to think and type more so I'll leave it off for now.


Thanks for reading, if you actually read this. Byebye. :3

Passion for Peach: MAC Pleasureseeker Glaze Lipstick Swatches and Review

     I love peach, it brightens my complexion and gives me a girly glow, I feel so much more alive wearing it. I wear neutral eyes so much, like most girls, and I find that peach blushes and lipsticks look gorgeous paired with a brown eye. Anywho, this series will provide swatches and reviews (or quick reviews) on peach colored products I adore. (I was looking back on the Passion for Peach posts I did before and realized that none of them are reeeaaalllyyy "peach"... I think we can all assume now that I like to link peaches, corals, and oranges together. Well, I'll try from now on to keep it more peach based.)

     MAC recently launched a new mineralized collection for summer 2012. I'm getting bored of MAC like most people who have begun to settle into the makeup world. It's just too much stuff to keep up with and too much money spent on too many most likely will not be used items. Well, I saw the items being promoted and at first I wanted more than just one thing, but I looked at the items in person at a counter and was not amused. I only really wanted two of the lipsticks, Cut a Caper and Pleasureseeker. Pleasureseeker, the lipstick I am swatching and reviewing in this post is the first Glaze formula MAC lipstick I've ever gotten! Here are some pictures and such! The shots are a bit warm today, sorry about that.

MAC Pleasureseeker Glaze Lipstick is a medium-light pinked peach with a soft silver sheen. If compared to the permanent, popular MAC Shy Girl Lipstick, I would definitely say that Pleasureseeker is more pink and more natural because it lacks the opacity of Shy Girl's Creamsheen formula; the shimmer that the two contain is also different.--> Currently, because I'm so much more attracted to sheer, slightly glossy, natural lipsticks, I can see myself choosing Pleasureseeker over Shy Girl (!!!).The lipstick is sheer upon a first coat but within a couple of strokes it can reach a semi-opaque finish. The product is smooth, but not a wet type of creamy, if you know what I mean; it's just very comfortable and my hair doesn't stick to my lips +++. The silver sheen makes applying a gloss over top a bit of an overkill for me (seeing that I don't like extremely glossy lips). The overall effect of Pleasureseeker is very pretty and natural, I could see it working with nude and smokey eye looks.

That's all I can remember saying for now.

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