It’s really difficult to see in these photos, but this sheer polish shifts from lilac to pink to a pale green. It’s very pretty!

This is a great color for when you feel like you need a break from bold manicures and because of the sheerness, chips are far less noticeable.

Here’s a quick post to show you the manicure I did for Avengers! If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s a fantastically fun movie and I highly recommend seeing it. My design is based a little on Iron Man’s suit – metallic red and gold.

For this look, I used three colors of polish.

China Glaze Thunderbird, Milani Good Morning Sunshine, and Sephora OPI Only Gold For Me.

I absolutely love the way this looks. Thunderbird is a gorgeous blackened red that reminds me of automotive paint. I wish the gold was bit more metallic gold than yellow, though.

I did a bit of chunky gold glitter at the tips with the OPI top coat. It adds a really fun touch!

This wore surprisingly well for over a week and a half with little edge wear. I find that’s typically the case when I put chunky glitters on. I would absolutely wear this look again, maybe without the gold accent nail.

Hm. I wonder if I have a dark green polish that looks similar to the red so that I can do a Loki inspired manicure – possibly with a gold scrolled nail stamp…

I’ve been after a BB cream that works well for me for some time and I think I’ve finally found it! After reading numerous reviews and trying a sample packet, I decided that Missha M Signature Real Complete is my BB cream of choice. Well, for now, until I find something that works better.

I ordered this from seoulglamour on Amazon for $13.99 plus shipping in the shade No. 23 Natural Yellow Beige. There are actually fake BB creams being sold online, so you have to be careful, but I’ve purchased from this seller before and feel confident that this is the real product. Also, comparing it to sample packets of this BB cream, the products looked, smelled, and felt the same. So, yep, confident that I got the real deal for a good price.

One of the reasons that I decided to try the M Signature Real Complete BB Cream is that this formulation claims to be 7-free. It’s supposedly free of chemicals (though I doubt this one a bit), mineral oil, parabens, alcohol, triclosan, GMO, and benzophenone. I wasn’t too concerned about most of that, but the lack of mineral oil was a plus since all the other BB creams I’ve tried have turned very oily on me.

This BB cream also has SPF 25, as well as skin brightening and wrinkle repairing properties. I’ve been using this product off and on for about 3 months, but haven’t noticed any skin brightening effects. Then again, I haven’t spent that much time outdoors, so who knows! It’s a nice bonus to have in the product, I suppose.

I love the very pretty packaging of this product! It’s a hard shelled tube with a pump in a silver/maroon color scheme with floral designs. The cap allows you to stand the tube on end to keep the product flowing to the opening. I’ve seen people complain about the difficulty cutting the tube open to get product out, but I have no idea why you would need to do that – the top unscrews.

Here’s a  swatch on the back of my hand, with some of the BB cream spread out and blended in on the left. This BB cream is a little runnier than others I have tried, but that didn’t bother me too much. It spreads easily and has a faint, pleasant, floral scent.

I had previously tried the Missha M Perfect Cover BB cream, but found that it turned very oily after a couple hours and also left a grey tone to my skin. Thankfully, M Signature Real Complete doesn’t do that! You can see that it’s a good match for my skin already, without waiting for it to oxidize.

And now… here are some possibly scary before and after photos. When I took these, I was having some kind of terrible face skin day with pimples and redness – bad for me, but good for this review, I guess.

clean face, moisturizer only

right after applying

after 2 hours, with powder, blush, & a little concealer

Coverage is quite good and is buildable if needed. I only used a pea-sized amount (about half a pump) for my face and a tiny bit more on spots like under my eyes and some larger blemishes. This definitely evened out my skin tone and covered up the red areas fairly well without making it look like I have a makeup mask on. One other thing I didn’t expect was that it smoothed out the slightly rough texture of my skin.

The Missha M Signature Real Complete BB cream is lightweight – it doesn’t feel any heavier on my face than a moisturizer. I usually wear this over moisturizer, so I’m not sure if it’s moisturizing on its own, but it’s non-drying without turning oily. Oxidation is minimal and if I set it with a finishing powder, it looks great all day.

I do wash my face twice when removing it at night because I want to make sure all traces of the product are completely gone. Even though the ingredients in this are not supposed to cause breakouts, I have gotten pimples when I’ve been lazy about washing this or I’ve worn it several days in a row. This probably sounds like a huge negative, but previous bb creams I’ve tried have broken me out after a couple days, so for me this is a big improvement. Also, the pimples are very small and if I apply tea tree oil right after washing my face, they never come to a head and are usually gone by morning.

This has been my go to foundation for months; I haven’t used my previous mineral foundation except for a couple of times. Of course, that was during the Winter/early Spring months, so I still have to see how this performs in hot weather. Hopefully it doesn’t just melt off my face!

Missha M Signature Real Complete BB Cream is available from their official website. A full size 45g tube retails for $45.99  there, but they often have sales and reduced prices during the year. You can also buy it for lower prices online, but be careful as there are fakes being sold. I also suggest looking on eBay to see if you can buy sample packets of the shades to find the right one for you.

The base coat for this was New York Color In a Minute in MOMA and ELF polish in black. I used BndleMonster plate BM-214 for the design.

I’m actually not extremely happy with the quality of the stamping. It was partially the polish I used for stamping and partially that the BundleMonster plates. They are definitely inexpensive if you’re looking too get a bunch of designs, but the quality of the etched designs are a little iffy. I don’t think the feathers are deep enough, so scraping the extra polish often resulted in me scraping it out of the design.

When I was able to get the design to apply, it looks pretty good. I had to redo two nails, though, because the designs transfered so poorly.

I think maybe I should practice stamping some more.

Apricot is a sheer apricot color, while Queen of Africa is a sheer bright purple with blue toned glitter. Even though this is a less expensive product ($3.00 vs $5.50), I like the packaging of this NYX Round Gloss better. They feel much sturdier and I like the way the thick outer plastic looks.

The applicator is a bent doe foot, which I like for getting the most product out of the container. These glosses apply smoothly without being too sticky. They have a strong lemon-scent that kind of reminds me of lemon cleaners, but it disappears quickly and thankfully doesn’t also taste the same. If you’re sensitive to scents, keep that in mind.

Apricot doesn’t add much color to my lips, but gives them a pinker tone (direct and indirect sun):

I was afraid Queen of Africa might be too much for me to wear out, but I actually love this color quite a bit:

I love this one a lot! On me, it’s a very wearable fuchsia shade and a great spring color.

NYX round glosses are definitely a new favorite product and I will definitely be ordering more shades of these in the future!

I’ve been wearing this Milani Minerals Blush in Luminous for about three months. There were numerous blogs and forums reporting that this was a drugstore dupe of Nars Orgasm blush, so of course I had to check it out. I was able to find one on sale for about $3 during CVS’ clearance sale.

The clear plastic lid has a slight domed shape which makes stacking kind of annoying. The base is also quite high because on the other side, there is a mirror and a brush. I wouldn’t ever use these included brushes to apply blush with as they never do a good job. I’ve been wearing it almost every day since I got it, though. I absolutely love this blush!

As for it being a Nars Orgasm dupe – it’s very close to what I have swatched in the store. Actually, during a Sephora visit, a consultant asked if I was wearing the Nars blush and I told her nope, it’s a $3 drug store dupe. Ha!

Unfortunately, it seems like Milani has discontinued this line of blushes and replaced them with new baked blushes. Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso is the closest match to Luminous, though it’s not exactly the same.

The packaging seems a little sturdier, but it’s a big compact because of the mirror and brush compartment on the other side. Once again, I wouldn’t use the included brush. For me, they don’t apply the product right and always feel stiff and scratchy. I purchased this for $7.99 at CVS.

Luminoso looks a bit more coral than Luminous. It also feels (and sounds) a bit chalky. Once on the cheeks and blended out, though, they look nearly identical.

Here are side by side comparisons of the palettes as well as a swatch:

Luminous Mineral Blush is on the left, Luminoso Baked Blush is on the right.

Next to each other, you can see that Luminoso looks more orange/coral. In the swatch, Luminous (left) has more of the golden shimmer. These are both very heavy swatches, though, and once you blend these out how you would wear them, it’s very difficult to tell which is which.

Personally, I prefer the Luminous mineral blush. It feels smoother in application and it’s easy to build the color up to wear I want it. However, I think the Luminoso baked blush is also very good and if I ran out of the mineral blush, I’d buy one of the baked ones. Both blushes look lovely, though, and are long lasting so your blush won’t disappear on you part way through the day.

The Luminous mineral blush might be nearly impossible to find in stores as they’re being replaced on the fixtures by the bakes blushes. There are some shops online you might be able to find them in – Cherry Culture usually has Milani products on sale. Just keep in mind that the retail price should be about $6.99 so don’t crazy trying to order one. If your local drug store has the baked blush in Luminoso, I think that would be a fine substitute and it would save you the searching online.

I hope this review and comparison have been helpful. I wish I could swatch the Nars Orgasm blush next to these to see how close they are, but I don’t actually own it.

I’ve tried the mascara before, but I’ve actually never used any kind of eyelash primer before, so I was excited to try the MultiplEYE.

I love Tarte mascaras (and products) because they’re made without parabens, mineral oil, petroleum, sodium lauryl sulfate, or phthalates. The packaging is always fun, as well! The MultiplEYE primer comes in a square tube and the mascara comes in a leather-like sleeve.

I’ll start with the MultiplEYE Primer.

This white colored primer has very tiny fibers that are meant to add length and volume. I applied a single coat of this to my lashes and let it dry before applying mascara. Lashes stay soft and don’t get crunchy with this primer on. I did feel that the mascara adds a bit more spidery with the primer, but that could just be me. Here are photos of my bare lashes, the MultiplEYE applied, and then also with mascara.

I would definitely say the primer makes a difference in the length and volume of my lashes. Application probably needs some work though, as you can see that the ends are a a little spidery.

Next, here’s a look at the Lights, Camera, Lashes! mascara:

This dark black mascara adds quite a bit of length and volume on its own without the primer. It was able to give my lashes a little bit of a curl even though I didn’t use a curler. With two coats, my lashes got a little clumpy, but the lashes did stay soft and there was no flaking or raccoon eyes after 12 hours of wear.

Here are photos of my bare lashes (left), one coat of mascara (center), and two coats (right):

As you can see, one coat adds some volume, but not too much length. Two coats adds length and volume, but starts to look spidery.

I like both products together for a dramatic look. It does take a bit more time because of the extra step the primer adds, but I think it’s worth it. I would definitely buy these both again when I run out. Thanks so much to Annie for gifting them to me!

Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! mascara retails for $19 and MultiplEYE Lash Primer retails for $22. Both products are available at Sephora and Ulta.

These pigmented eye shadows are like a packed powder shadow in a glass jar. Reviews I’ve read had said this is a long lasting product that applies smoothly. Using a CVS coupon, I picked up one in Continuous Cocoa for 20% off.

I chose Continuous Cocoa for my first color because I think it would work well as an all over lid color and as a contour shade.

When you open the jar, you’ll see a plastic gray plunger – keep that! It goes back in the jar before you cap it to keep the powder pressed.

L’Oreal advertises this as a 24 hour creaseless eye shadow. I don’t know about 24 hours, but with a primer, I was definitely able to wear these for 12 hours. Without a primer, this color started to fade after about 8 hours.

Below are two sets of swatches. The first shows the shadow applied with a smudge brush and with a finer brush point. The second are the first swatches after I’ve let the eye shadow set and then rubbed pretty aggressively.

You can see that there is a lot of the color still remaining (right swatch). I was impressed! It actually took more scrubbing and makeup remover to get the rest of it off.

The one thing I’m still having difficulty with here is deciding what brush applies this type of eyeshadow better. A softer brush doesn’t seem to pickup enough product and ends up just packing the shadow into the pot. A stiffer brush picks up more product, but I can’t get it to apply well – and it also seems to pack the product in the pot. So far, I’m finding the best way to apply this product is with my fingertip.

Overall, I like the L’Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow, but for me the Maybelline Color Tattoo is a bit easier to work with. I have since purchased a few more of these which I’ll review soon.

L’Oreal Infallible 24 Hour Eye Shadow retails for $9-11, depending on the store you purchase them in.

This polish dries with a satin finish, so you’ll definitely need a top coat for a glossy finish.

This is a pretty polish on its own, but I wanted to add a little sparkle with Pirate’s Booty, a gold glitter top coat.

I tried to do a glitter gradient with it, but I think the look could have used a chunkier gold glitter on the tips.

Spoiled nail polishes retail for $1.99 and can be found at drugstores like CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens.

Candy Apple was a Christmas gift from my friend Annie and I purchased Peach Parfait for myself during a drugstore BOGO50% sale.

Candy Apple is an orange toned red that you can wear as a sheer wash of color or layer for a bolder look. Peach Parfait is a peachy pink with fine golden shimmer. Here are some lip swatches of both colors in direct and indirect sunlight:

Candy Apple

I found that Candy Apple applied a little drier than Peach Parfait, but it still went on smoothly.

Peach Parfait

You can see the shimmer in Peach Parfait a little better in the first photo. This is probably my favorite every day color.

I’m still a fan of Revlon’s lip butters and I’ll be swatching a few more of these in the future!