Loose Powder

Last month Stila introduced their special $10 Stila Girl Travel Palettes. It was the first in a series of five to be released one a month until December.

The first one is called Road to Radiance Across the U.S.A. The cardboard palette has a mirror on the inside of the lid and contains four eye shadows and a convertible color.

The theme for this palette seems to be pink & lilac:

Four Eye Shadows:
- Snow Bunny (shimmery champagne)
- Southern Belle (mauve)
- Valley Girl (pink)
- City Chick (alloy)

Convertible Color:
- Hibiscus

The pigments are light a bit light, so I had to build up the color a bit. Eye primer did help and they’d probably be a bit darker if applied wet. Also, I’m not sure if this is the same formulation as their regular shadows, but the application felt a bit chalky (there is talc in the ingredients list). I didn’t use the convertible color much but I’m not a huge fan of cream blushes and it felt a bit drying on my lips. I do like the darkest color eyeshadow and Snow Bunny makes a nice highlighter/accent.

Overall, I’m not sure if I would purchase this again. The shadows are not as pigmented as I would like and I don’t have a need for the convertible color. I might get one of the three remaining yet-to-be-released palettes depending on the shadow colors, though, so I guess I didn’t dislike this enough to not buy any more!

Sorry it’s been so long since my last review! I’ve got quite a few lined up, though, so look for those in the coming weeks.

First up is a review of a neutral colors Stila palette called The It Girl Palette. I purchased this from their site last month for $10, which I thought was a great deal for three large shadow pans. It should be noted that these are a little bit smaller than their individual shadow pans, but if you’re looking to try out some Stila shades, this would be a great way to jump in.

The palette itself is a nice black plastic, not cardboard like many of Stila’s other palettes. There is no mirror on the inside of the lid, but that didn’t really matter to me.

The shades you get are Lamé (gold shimmer), Chloe (bronze shimmer), and Stila’s award winning shade, Kitten (nude pink shimmer).

These eyeshadows are formulated without parabens. Here are the ingredients as listed on the site:

ingredients: talc, zinc stearate, dimethicone, ethylhexyl palmitate, mineral oil\paraffinum liquidum\huile minerale, tocopheryl acetate, lauroyl lysine, caprylyl glycol, hexylene glycol, silica, boron nitride, magnesium carbonate, nylon-12, phenoxyethanol, calcium sodium borosilicate, may contain [+/- ] mica,  titanium dioxide (ci 77891), iron oxides (ci 77491, ci 77492, ci 77499), aluminum powder (ci 77000) , bismuth oxychloride (ci 77163), blue 1 lake (ci 42090), carmine (ci 75470), chromium hydroxide green (ci 77289), chromium oxide greens (ci 77288), ferric ferrocyanide (ci 77510),  manganese violet (ci 77742), ultramarines (ci 77007),yellow 5 lake (ci 19140) <iln c91027>

I do love these colors and find them very wearable. However, without any kind of eye primer, the wear with these was very short for me – a few hours at best. With a primer, though, they are great! I’ve been wearing Kitten on the inner corner, Chloe in the middle, and then an accent color (purple or aqua) on the outer corner. Sometimes I’ll blend with Lame for a nice gold shimmer.

Overall, I think this palette is a quite nice for the price. If you’re at Stila’s site looking at other items, add this to your cart!

Stila is a brand that I’ve always looked at in Sephora, but never purchased any products from. I found the price a bit high, I guess. However, there are a few products on the Stila site that are very affordable! One of these is their Charmed Eye Shadow Palette.

Description from the site: Adorned with authentic Indian bindis, this palette features four highly-pigmented new shadow shades all infused with genuine 24kt gold. Long revered for its skin revitalizing properties, this luxurious metal helps minimize the appearance of fine lines and creates a rich, shimmering effect.

There are four colors in this palette: coppery gold, warm gold, teal, and black/burgundy, all with a gold shimmer.

The palette itself is constructed of paper, but it seems rather sturdy.

I find the shadows very smooth and easily picked up with a brush. Here are some swatches:

From left: teal, black/burgundy, copper, warm gold.

The colors were easy to work with and blend, but they weren’t as pigmented as I was hoping. It might have been the e.l.f. mineral eye primer, though. I will have to try it again with Pixie Epoxie to see.

I used the warm gold all over my eyelids and above the crease first, then added the teal on my eye lid and blended it in. I used the black/burgundy on the outer corner to darken it a bit. Then I used a black gel eyeliner to finish my eyes.

To finish this look, I am wearing Fyrinnae Glow Blush in Enchant, Stainiac Lip Stain in Beauty Queen, and Korres gloss in Fuchsia.

It’s a great little palette and the four colors you get are good for every day wear or going out. Overall, I think this was a good purchase for the price.

This is a brown and teal eye look I threw on before heading out one Saturday.

Before starting, I’ve applied my primer (tarte Clean Slate) and BareMinerals matte foundation, then applied Fyrinnae’s Pixie Epoxie on my eyelids.

I used Fyrinnae‘s Cookie Dough on the inner corners and as a highlight and Species 8472 on my eyelid. For the outer corner and crease I used Aromaleigh‘s Rocks! Sonic shadow in moonagedaydream. I finished off the look with black gel eyeliner from The All Natural Face.

For blush, I’m using Fyrinnae’s Glow Blush in Enrapture and their lip lustre in Romantique.

Speaking of Aromaleigh… I’m sure the news has spread by now that Aromaleigh will be closing. I have no idea what the circumstances are of this, but you can read Kristen’s announcement here. They are discounted all remaining stock and you can use the coupon code ADIEU35 to get 35% off any products through August 10, 2010.

I’ve been wary of mineral eyeshadows ever since my disenchantment with Garden Botanika products when I was in high school.  The appeal of the “natural” is understandable; if you’re going to spackle layers of gunk on your eyes, why not choose products that are made with harmless minerals instead of fish scales, rust, or crushed insects?  Non-comedogenic is the magic word here. But I was always disappointed with how the colors looked different when applied, or how the color would get sucked into my skin and disappear. But that was years ago! It was a different brand. They have shadow primers now. I decided I was ready to give mineral products another go.

Aromaleigh has gorgeous eyeshadow palettes that make me want to buy all of them. Lucky for my wallet, they have free samples when your friendsyou buy something. I tried Chantal and Colette. I apologize for not putting up pictures of the samples. My camera is MIA and you can’t really appreciate the colors in the tiny ziplock bags anyhow. If you wish, they can be seen here. Chantal is a gorgeous, lustrous brown. Colette is a dark, glittery blue (though not disco-ball glittery).

It sounds like a contradiction, since the simplest solution would be to not wear any makeup, but always being short on time requires me to be very practical with my makeup. Control, durability, and efficiency are really important factors when choosing an eyeshadow.

And just to make sure I wasn’t being biased (call it my “control group”), instead of using concealer I applied Aromaleigh’s eyeshadows over Too Faced eyeshadow primer, and over a Benefit cream eyeshadow base, and then over both. I’ve seen people use mineral eyeshadows with success. I’m not one of them. I really, really wanted to love this product. But I don’t.

First I used Colette in combination with a neutral base color. The color just didn’t look quite as sparkly, no matter how many times I dabbed at my eye. I was hoping the blue would pop a bit more. I know that a blue cream base would take care of that, but then it would lose its subtlety. It’s always disappointing when a color doesn’t look the way you expect it to, but sometimes you can learn to like it the way it is.

Lack of staying power, however, is a deal breaker. I don’t believe in reapplying makeup. Carrying a little bag around with all your essentials is the opposite of practical, and with all the primers and tints and cream bases there are today, makeup can last a long, long time. Chantal is a very pretty color, but it faded in a few hours.  Colette ended up all over my eye, even though I only applied it to half. I don’t apply eyeshadow with so much care so two hours later it can look like I’m wearing one color, uniformly applied — or like I’m wearing a touch of an indistinct color. Eyeshadow needs to blend when I want it to and stay where I put it.

Also, fallout. It’s not just a a really cool video game, it’s a serious problem with these eyeshadows. Once upon a time, I wasted a lot of product and time wiping my cheeks clean and reapplying foundation. I’m disappointed with the dusting of powder left on my cheekbone, where I didn’t put it. It makes me feel like an awkward teenager again.

I came to a conclusion, inspired by a night at the opera with AthenaKTT: Mineral eyeshadows are my cosmetic Rheingold; they’re beautiful and shiny when all I do is admire them, but as soon as I get hold of them, the consequences are ruinous.

So back to my question: If I’m going to plaster my face with product, why not choose some that will cause the least amount of damage to my skin? Answer: because it’s ineffective and inefficient. It doesn’t matter if  Aromaleigh is cheaper and better for my skin. I use 4–5 different colors in one application. I don’t want to buy an eyeshadow if I have to spend a full five minutes playing with just one color on one eye because it’s not showing up, after which I have to clean my face again. The pigmentation doesn’t hold up in the substantial company of colorful, vibrant lineups from Mac, Urban Decay, Make Up Forever, etc.  The benefit of a high pigment eyeshadow is that you can use less of it, and there’s less fallout, which also means you’ll be done faster. I think that’s worth paying for.

I’m not giving up on the Aromaleigh brand altogether. They have some other products I really want to try and I believe they’re in the middle of improving their formulas. I just don’t think their eyeshadows are right for me.

If you’re a minimalist with sensitive skin, and use just a bit of color here and there, Aromaleigh might be just thing for you. Just get yourself a good primer and apply carefully.

Eyeliner is my main man when it comes to makeup. I can go without anything else, but I have to line my eyes and I’ve used just about everything: powder, pencil, liquid, and gel.  On my latest drugstore run, I bought L’oreal’s  High Intensity Pigment Color Rich Cream Crayon in Perfectionist (i.e. black).

Once you use it, you'll never get back the nice, sharp tip it had when it was new.

I think “eyeliner” is loosely applied here. Marketed as a versatile eyeliner and shadow product, what it really delivers on is the high intensity. The product’s thick and creamy texture make it a poor eyeliner. It’s hard to control and easy to smear, especially once the tip becomes blunt from use. It does have a conveniently-placed “sharpener” at the other end, but the crayon is so soft the tip just keeps breaking off and making a mess all over my fingers.

I wouldn’t recommend this as an eyeliner, unless you’re about to play football or single-handedly annihilate a dictator and his army for kidnapping your daughter.

It does, however, make a great eye shadow base, especially for the sparkly, bright colors in my palette that I couldn’t otherwise wear to work. So far I’ve tried the black HIP Crayon under greens and purples, with great success. I applied the black base all over the lid, then patted the desired color over most of it, starting at the outer corner, blending out the edges, and working my way in. The effects depend on the composition of the eye shadow, but the variety of the Color Rich Cream Crayon colors seems like a great way to tone down a bright shade or make a sparkly shadow pop.

Pros: Long-lasting, bold color that makes a great base.

Cons: Too sloppy to be practical as an eyeliner.

I feel like there’s a use for every kind of eye liner, but gel liners are really my favorite so far. So aside from the crayon that wished it was an eyeliner, I also bought the Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner in blackest black.

Mac Fluidline

I’ve actually been using Mac’s Fluidline eyeliner since I first saw it a few years ago. Not every day, but it’s a very good liner. Gel is easier to control than a liquid liner, and I think it stays put a bit better. At the very least, you can layer more on and it won’t fade or flake, or dry with that weird plasticky sheen that some liquid liners unfortunately have.

Maybelline Lasting Drama

But after trying  Maybelline’s gel liner, Lasting Drama is my new daily must. It’s every bit as good as  Fluidline for half the price. It lasts all day and has passed the sweaty work-out test without smearing at all. I will definitely be buying more of this liner and trying out the other colors.   But here’s the bonus:

It comes with a brush—a  small tapered brush that comes to such a fine point, you can really control what you do. That’s not to say it’s 100% mistake-proof, but I’m getting really good at doing fine lines at the outer corners, which I could never quite pull off with the angled eyeliner brush (sold separately) I used with the Fluidline product.

Pros: Easily manipulated, waterproof, long-lasting gel liner paired with a great brush. It’s a conveniently-packaged duo of eye-defining perfection.

Cons: I haven’t found any yet, but I will keep you posted.

Fyrinnae (pronounced “fyeer-ih-nay”) is a company I am fairly new to, but I am loving their unique and vibrant eyeshadows and blush, both of which I’ll talk about in future posts. In this article I am reviewing their fabulous product, Pixie Epoxy.

Fyrinnae does not claim to be a mineral makeup company, but all their products are vegan: they don’t contain silk, carmine, pearl, or beeswax. Some of their ingredients are man-made or lab treated and thus aren’t technically “natural,” but they’re pretty much the same things you find in “mineral” make-up: mica, titanium dioxide, iron oxides, etc. Category and product pages will list all the ingredients in an item.

As stated on the site, Pixie Epoxy is not an eye primer or a base.  It’s a unique “glue,” that is “designed to hold the sparkliest, most shimmery eye shadows in place, minimize ‘fallout’, and also to easily create a foiled look without foiling.”

Ingredients: Glycerin (vegetable derived), Purified Water (Aqua), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Silica, Acrylamide/Ammonium acrylate copolymer, Polyisobutene, Polysorbate 20, Propylene Glycol, Carbomer, Polyaminopropyl Biguanide, Potassium Sorbate.

Personally, I use it without an eye primer because I’m usually too lazy. When I use it with a primer, though, I don’t notice any performance difference.

Prior to discovering Pixie Epoxy, I used e.l.f.’s Mineral Eye Primer. For me, it worked about as well as Urban Decay’s Primer Potion. Eyeshadow went on all right, a little bolder than without a primer but by the end of the day, it was noticeably faded. However, Pixie Epoxy sticks eyeshadow to your lids! I can go 8+ hours and my eye makeup will look almost exactly like it did before I left the house. I say almost because sometimes eyeliner or mascara will run/smudge, but that’s not Pixie Epoxy’s fault.

Now on to the demo swatches! I used several brands of eye makeup as well as both loose and pressed types. The first image below is what the Pixie Epoxy looks like when applied: it’s a bit shiny. You don’t need nearly as much as you think you do! A little dab spread over your lid is plenty and if you use too much you might get some creasing.

In the swatches below, the upper row has Pixie Epoxy, the middle is bare skin, and the lower row is with Urban Decay Primer Potion.

From left to right: Urban Decay Uzi, Urban Decay Flipside, Hard Candy Backstage Pass (gold & aqua), Orglamix Lagoon, Everyday Minerals Starry Eyed, Aromaleigh Palmetto (matte), Aromaleigh Wonderland (gothic lolita), Fyrinnae Cupcake Sprinkles, Fyrinnae We’re All Mad Here, e.l.f. e/s duo Berry Mix (mauve & plum)

As you can see from the swatches, there’s a huge difference in the shadows that were applied over Pixie Epoxy versus just bare skin. There’s also quite a difference between Pixie Epoxy and UDPP except for a couple of the colors.

Here are a couple more photos of the swatches that are a bit more in focus:

Even though Pixie Epoxy is a bit tacky (which is really helpful for glitter shadows like UD’s Uzi), I don’t find there’s any difficulty blending my colors. As I said above, I’ve been using this on my lids instead of a regular eye primer for the last couple months and haven’t had any skin problems.

At less than half the cost of UDPP, do yourself a favor and get the 10ml tube of Pixie Epoxy. While you’re there, be sure to check out their awesome eyeshadow shades!

Nope, the title is not a pun on “All My Bright Eyes” or something. This is actually a review on the products in Almay’s bright eyes collection that consists of a concealer, eye shadow, and eye liner that doubles as a highlighter.

The “bright eyes” collection supposedly “instantly refreshes and enhances your eyes”.

I decided to try this collection because there was a “buy one get one free” sale at CVS Pharmacy. Also since I’m a natural look kind of girl, I thought this collection would be great for me because I could use something that made me look more awake than my usual half asleep stumble into the office each morning.

For this collection, Almay suggests that certain colors should be used for specific eye colors, which I found useful since I’m horrible at figuring out what colors play up my eyes and which don’t. There are choices for the three major eye colors: blue, green, and brown.

Since I’m a brown eyed girl, I picked up the suggested base + concealer in Medium, eye shadow in Bronze, and liner/highlighter duo in Soft Black/Champagne.

Base + Concealer – Medium ($8.99)

The concealer comes in a squeezable tube. The concealer is squeezed out of the tube into a brush tip applicator, which seems like a great idea if you were planning to line your eyes with concealer. The brush tip is on the thin side and it is fine for dotting the black shadows under your eyes, but it takes a bit more work to cover your whole eyelid. I also found out that squeezing the concealer through the tube into the brush could get messy really quickly because you have to squeeze the tube pretty hard for any concealer to come out of tube and into the brush applicator. Additionally, the brush applicator did not help in giving me an even distribution of concealer. Instead I had problems where I would have a lump of concealer where I first applied the brush and run out by the time I reach the end of my eyelid. So I still ended up using my fingers or a makeup sponge to make sure the concealer evenly covered my eyelids and under my eyes.

As for concealing any puffy eyes and dark under eye circles, I don’t see much of a difference compared to other concealers. It might have lightened up the area a bit, but not enough for a significant difference. On the other hand, using this concealer as an eye base is actually not bad at all. I’ve tried it a few times and it lasted all day with no creases. But I suggest using this as a base for powder shadow because the cream shadow that Almay suggests you use with this base in this collection creased the moment I opened my eyes. To prevent creasing, I had to add another layer of powder eye shadow (Neutrogena’s Nourishing eye duo in Iced Coffee) over the cream eye shadow. The addition of the powder eye shadow worked beautifully leaving no creases.

Pros: good eye base for powder eye shadows

Cons: applicator brush not very effective and can get messy, very hard to squeeze, and not a good concealer

Cream-to-powder shadow – Bronze ($8.99)

When I first bought this, I had no idea it was a cream shadow, and I had never used cream shadows before I got this. It was serendipity because I ended up loving this cream shadow, and the color in this set is perfect for a natural day look. The eye shadow is a duo that consists of two colors light beige and brown. I have used this shadow by itself or with a layer of powder eye shadow over it, and I like the final result of both looks.

This cream eye shadow also works well as base if you happen to run out of primer, concealer or just don’t have any thing other than the cream shadow handy.

Pros: good colors, cream shadow, good eye base

Cons: none really unless you hate cream shadows

Liner/Highlighter duo – soft black & champagne ($8.99)

Like the cream shadow, the moment I used this eyeliner I was in love. The soft black color goes very well with the bronze shadow set. It was very easy to line my eyes with this pencil. The lines came out smoothly, and I didn’t even need to apply pressure on the pencil it to get a smooth line.

The champagne highlighter color is a nice iridescent off white color that I like for highlighting the corners of my eyes. Like the liner it did not need pressure to achieve a smooth line.

Pros: Liner and highlighter in one, no struggle needed to get a smooth line, good color combination

Cons: The liner is on a thicker pencil which means I need a different sharpener when the tip gets blunt.

Now that I’m done talking about each individual product, let’s see how they work together.

Instruction on the Almay Bright Eyes site suggests the following steps in applying the collection.

1. Apply the base + concealer under eyes and over eyelids.
2. Apply eyes shadow on eye lids. Darker shade on lid to crease and lighter shade from crease to brow bone.
3. Apply darker eyeliner along upper/lower lash line. Then apply highlighter to inner and outer corners of eyes and highlight brow bone below eyebrows line.

After doing my usual regimen for preparing my face with foundation, concealer and powder, I applied the bright eyes collection as directed. As noted before, the base + concealer with the eye shadow leads to immediate creasing.

Aside from the creasing, bright eyes does make my eye seem more “refreshed” since the eye shadow and liner/highlighter added definition to my eyes. Out of the three products in the bright eyes collection, I would consider purchasing the eye shadow and liner/highlighter duo again. I would definitely pass on the base + concealer and try something else.

I consider myself a Girl About Town. I am not really sure where I think I’m going, but I feel I am always on my way. This is why I’m quite the fan of The Palette. I am also one of those people who pays attention to expiration dates on make up, I mean really, it goes on your FACE.  So I am a big fan of a big palette that gets ditched every year. Also, and this is important, I am swayed by things that I can only get for a limited time.

Three years ago I bought the Tarte Holiday Special Edition Palette on a whim, it was named “We wish you wealth” and I am a sucker for that kind of marketing.  I’ve been buying the new one each year since then.  As it turns out, Tarte makes a pretty great product and can afford to be cheeky.

You must pick up the Holiday Palette about a month before Christmas, almost the minute its released, or you may have some trouble getting your hands on it. This years box did not come with brushes so you may find that annoying, and you have to expect to pay around fifty bucks, which can be difficult at holiday-time.

However, and I say this with fan fare, the first time you open your Tarte box, all of that will fade away…and because I like silly puns… your eye shadow won’t.  The make up that they put in there is the same products you can buy separately for more money than I care to throw down. Tarte uses vibrant colors and quality bases that I neither find too cakey, too smudgy, too light or too itchy. I would call their eye and cheek colors “just right”. The glosses tend to fade before I get to where I’m going, but sometimes makeup is just that boost you need to get yourself out the door. For that, it works just fine.

The first year’s box came with Shadow Insurance and a selection of their highly toted cheek stains,  those products alone were worth the money. The second year’s palette was filled mostly with sparkle eyeshadow and lip glosses. It boasted a mascara, light pink blush and a bronzer and some nice brushes. This this year’s has twice the shadows of the past collections. A perfect mix of matte and sparkle that compliment each other and go on silky smooth and stay put until its time to turn you “day look” into your “night look”.  Frankly I don’t think a girl can ask for much more, but in case she does, there’s a tray of lip glosses and a light blusher and bronzer as well.  You wont be anywhere feeling washed out or undershadowed again! Possibly glossless but you can’t have everything.

The best thing about a palette is that you can get your “day” and your “night” looks in one place, that it travels well and can be tossed in your work bag… The worst thing about a palette is if it is made badly and you bump it, all your makeup can get wrecked.

The great thing about a Tarte Palette is  that they are very securely made (I do try to pack mine flat and upright just in case, as it is my years supply) and that the products in there are as close to full size as can fit in such a compact case.

For the record, I do happily use colors from past years. For instance, I forgot to mention that the first year’s came with vivid green and black cream eyeliners. I think I’ve needed them about five times in my life, but, when I did, nothing else would do. For the most part I haul around the current box and use it daily.

I highly recommend this product to all of you,  just be sweet enough to make sure I got one before you clear out the store.