Loose Powder

My October Birchbox arrived yesterday and of course I had to open it up right away and see what goodies I got this month! The theme for this month is Prep & Finish.

I love the way Birchbox packages the items inside and it’s always fun to open them to see what I’ve gotten. I’m a huge fan of the items in this month’s box!

Here’s a list of the items from the box:

• blinc mascara
• Caudalie Vinoperfect Cell Renewal Night Cream
• Korres Guava Body Butter
• Stila Eyeshadow in Rain
• Extra: The Laundress Delicate Wash detergent

I’m pretty excited to try out the blinc mascara! I’ve tried a couple fiber mascaras before, but blinc is the brand lots of people love. I have tried the blinc eyeliner from a previous Birchbox, but I didn’t really like it.

The Stila eyeshadow is a nice brown color that will be great for contouring. I think I’m going to have to look into getting a Stila magnetic palette soon!

I love the Korres brand, of course, and this body butter will make a great travel item. The Caudalie night cream is not something I will probably use regularly, but it would be great for a travel bag.

My mom’s Birchbox came with a few different items like a Laura Geller tinted primer and a bag of bath salts. She also got a Stila Forever Your Curl mascara which she gave me since she doesn’t use mascara.

This month’s Birchbox was a great selection of things I will certainly be using. Totally worth the subscription price!

The Korres glosses are already my favorite type of lip gloss, so I’ve been wanting to try their Raspberry Liquid Lipsticks for a while.

I ordered this set from Sephora.com a couple months ago when they had Korres items on sale. The three colors in the set are Soft Pink (13), Berry (28), and Red (56) and each tube is 3.5mL.

The  Korres liquid lipsticks are free of parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances, phthalates, GMOs, and triclosan. It has raspberry and pomegranate extracts that are supposed to help smooth lip lines and protect against free-radical  damage.

The wand has a standard doe foot applicator, which works fine for me. The liquid lipstick is highly pigmented cream and spreads nicely. It has about the same wear as a lip gloss, but because it goes on so pigmented, it is more noticeable as it fades. It doesn’t dry my lips and they do feel soft even after the lipstick is gone.

Here are swatches in both shade and bright sunlight:

From left to right, the colors are Soft Pink, Berry, and Red. You can apply them sparingly to get a little color or apply heavier for more vivid color.

I do like the liquid lipsticks, but I think they’re a bit more pigmented for my taste so I will probably stick with the Korres glosses.

Korres Liquid Lipstick is $22 for a 3.5mL tube and they are available exclusively at Sephora.

Korres is a Greek cosmetics company that develops natural skincare, color, and body products using natural ingredients.

I’ve been using the cherry gloss for years (and I should probably review them), but I recently decided to try their lip butters, which are available at Sephora for $10.

I use a brush to apply the lip butter and it gives a nice color to my lips. Without eating or drinking, the lip butter keeps  my lips moisturized for a few hours. Due to the pot design, it’s kind of inconvenient to carry in my purse, so I tend to just use it before I leave for a night out.

Korres Lip Butter is free of parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances, synthetics dyes, petrochemicals, and GMOs.

Ingredients:

Polybutene, Trimethylolpropane Triisostearate, Hydrogenated Polydecene, Hydroxystearic Acid, Polyethylene, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Propylene Carbonate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate, Sucrose Tetrastearate Triacetate, Tocopherol, Aroma (Flavor), Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Rosa Canina Flower Extract, Oryza Sativa Cera (Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Wax), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) Extract, Geraniol, CI 15850 ( Red 7 Lake ), CI 15985 (Yellow 6 Lake), CI 42090 (Blue 1 Lake).

I would probably buy this product again, but I might try the Lip Butter Glaze as well since that seems to be similar to this product but in a squeeze tube applicator.

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.