Review: Looxi Beauty Shimmer Eyeshadows ‘Pistol Whipped’, Savant’, ‘Saints & Sinners’, ‘Urbane’

A brand spankin’ new makeup brand hopped on my radar recently and I’m so excited to tell you about it! I found Looxi Beauty on Instagram and was immediately drawn to the shimmer eyeshadows. I purchased a few to test out and share my findings with you all. Ready to know what I thought of them? Read more below!

I often come across a variety of makeup brands on Instagram. After a while, they all seem to run together, but every once and a while, I see a company that could really be on to something. These companies really get me excited about makeup and beauty in general because they offer some really cool products that break up the monotony of offerings from major beauty brands.

Looxi Beauty caught my eye with their shimmer eyeshadows.

And these aren’t just any shimmer shadows, some of them are duochrome. And I loooooove my duochromes!

I’ve been searching for more single duochrome shadows since Kat Von D pulled her Shape Shifter shadows from Sephora stores. I have a couple of palettes with one or two duochromes each along with several MAC pigments, but those are so expensive. I need my ‘drugstore price’ fix sometimes! After diving head first into the land of ColourPop Cosmetics ($5, have you tried Kindness!? Gawdddddd it’s beautiful!) and Ultimo Cosmetics ($1, you guys should know how I feel about these beautifies if you are a consistent reader of my blog), I have been more accepting of duochrome colors and colorful shadows in general. 

So I’m here today to show you four gorgeous shadows from Looxi that will make your day! The shadows come in standard-size  single, magnetized pans so you will need a Z Palette or something similar to store these.

I surprised myself at how much I was drawn to Pistol Whipped. I don’t own any shadows in the silver family so this purchase was really outta left field for me! But it looked so pretty in the product shots that it somehow found its way into my cart at checkout.

As much as I loved this color, it had some problems staying put on my lid. I used a black base when I applied it the first time and a regular eyeshadow primer the second time I wore it, and both times the color faded in the middle of my lids and my natural oils peeked out. The color stayed fine on the inner and outer corners so I’m not sure if its just not compatible with my lids or what. The second time I used it, I really packed on the color to try and work around the problem, but it still happened. If you have oily lids, you might want to stay away from this one.

Finally, I just want to point out a quick comparison I saw when I opened Urbane. I received Urbane as part of a ‘Buy Three, Get One’ promotion so it wasn’t one I originally picked out to purchase. I don’t think I would have gone for it on my own, but who knows, I may have gotten around to it.

Urbane is a gold with an olive shift. It’s more of a metallic shadow than a shimmer and the pigmentation is insane! When I received the Anastasia Beverly Hills Shadow Couture palette, the color ‘Metallic’ looked similar, but it actually swatched a lot lighter and of course without the shift making Urbane color truly unique in my collection.

If you are looking for some quality shadows to switch up your everyday neutral game on a budget, I would tell you to look up some options at Looxi. For $5, you really can’t beat the price for the quality. Their crazy color selection might be intimidating to some makeup lovers, but you can always use as little or as much as you want. You can experiment all you want for $5!

Review: Anastasia Beverly Hills Fall 2015 Eyeshadow Palette – ‘Shadow Couture’

I present to you the Anastasia Beverly Hills Shadow Couture World Traveler Palette! I have been patiently waiting for this product to come out and I am SOOO glad I finally have it in hand so I can give you all the scoop! I haven’t been purchasing much makeup this July, but this was maybe one of five products on my list to get in the midst of a flurry of beauty releases this month. Was I impressed? Keep reading to find out!

I wanted to play around a do a look with this palette before I gave my full review just to make sure my first impressions were accurate. Sometimes just swatching some shadows doesn’t give me all the necessary info to share an informed review. However, this time, my first impressions stayed consistent throughout use and there won’t be too many surprises in this review.

Up first, my favorites – Morocco & Soft Peach. Really the entire left side of the palette is like a neutral-lovin’ gals heaven! You have a quad of shadows that includes Soft Peach, Morocco, Fudge, and Spoiled. All but Spoiled are matte and make for the best on-the-go neutral, smoky eye I have ever done. Morocco is a very warm reddish-brown (definitely more brown, less red) but it has just enough color in it to actually show up on my skin instead of blending in with my naturally complexion.

Morocco and Soft Peach stood out for me because, combined, they offered me the perfect transition shade. Soft Peach by itself was a bomb brow highlight and Morocco on its own gave my crease just enough depth for daytime wear. Fudge and Spoiled compliment this duo by offering a shade to further deepen the crease to take the look from day to night (Fudge) and a beautiful lid color that will shimmer beautifully under sunlight and glimmer under lights at night (Spoiled). Can you see why that left side is my fav!? I would have paid $30 just for those four colors. The final neutral color in the palette, a true matte black called Noir, is on the far right side and if anyone has the Tamana ‘DressYourFace’ palette, you know this shade is killer! I’ve already used up most of the shade in the Tamana palette so it’s good I now have a backup.

The other seven shades in the palette were satisfactory, not outstanding, but still worth talking about. I was most dissapointed in Heirloom (purple shimmer) and Chic (I don’t even know how to describe this). Heirloom did not show up purple on my lid! I tried it with primer and concealer and a combination of both as a base and the shade got so muddied I just had to wipe it off and start over. Chic is a weird color to me. It is very cool toned and looks almost pewter in the pan, but if you look at it from a different angle you can see some green undertones in it. It did not compliment my skin at all.

Pink Champagne is a beautiful color, but it has some rather large chunks of shimmer/sparkles in it that makes it hard to work with. I tried putting it in my inner corner, but instead of a consistent pink shimmer, my corners reflected as if I had just stuck some silver glitter right there and called it a day! Bellini, Azure, Intense Gaze, and Metallic are true shimmers and they are so velvety smooth it is insane! But with that smoothness comes the fallout of all fallout. I used Intense Gaze on my lid and my eyelashes and cheeks ended up being covered in it too! This was even after I tapped by brush after picking up the product, but before applying to my lid. Metallic is the same way. Bellini is a shade I feel could be easily replicated and you probably already have it in you collection. Look for an alternative before you reach for this one because the pigmentation of the one you already have might be better. I had such high hopes for Azure and it let me down! I wanted an intense royal blue, but it showed up nearly navy against my skin even with a base. I used it on my lower lash line and while I’m happy with the color, it wasn’t what I was expecting or hoping for.

I’ll post some pictures of my swatches as well as the initial look I did with the palette so you can see it in action. Questions? Hit me in the comments! Happy shopping!

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This picture came out a little bright. All shadows are darker in person than they appear here.

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True to color photograph. All swatches are two swipes of the finger across my arm. Skin is MAC NC50 foundation shade with a fading tan so maybe a tad bit darker than NC50.

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If you were interested to see how this 12-pan size compared the to size of the 8-pan palettes. Next to the Anastasia Beverly Hill Tamana Palette (bottom).

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Brow Bone: Soft Peach, Transition Shade: Morocco & Soft Peach
Crease: Fudge, Inner Corner: Pink Champagne, Lid: Intense Gaze
Lower Lash Line: Heirloom & Azure

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Brow Bone: Soft Peach, Transition Shade: Morocco & Soft Peach
Crease: Fudge, Inner Corner: Pink Champagne, Lid: Intense Gaze
Lower Lash Line: Heirloom & Azure

First Impression: ColourPop Cosmetics Ultra Matte Lip Haul + Swatches!

A few weeks ago, mega hot brand ColourPop Cosmetics released their Ultra Matte Lip Liquid Lipsticks to the masses … and the masses showed up. In fact, so many people showed up to buy these goodies that the site crashed and stayed down for hours! I was able to snag 12 of the 25 new colors and I can’t wait to share my thoughts with you! Keep reading for more!

You guys, ColourPop is really taking over the world! Not only are their products super affordable, but equally as amazing! I am a big fan of their shadows and support their expansion into highlighters, blushes, and bronzers.

Their “lippie stix’ and lip pencils have become a staple in my daily makeup routine and I was excited to hear of the launch of their new liquid lipsticks. Twenty-five shades have been released initially and I’m sure more colors will pop up as new collections are announced. I got 12 on launch day to test out before I grabbed any more!

So if you didn’t pay attention to the name of these products, you should take another look: Ultra Matte Lip. And when ColourPop says ‘Ultra Matte’ they MEAN ‘Ultra Matte’. I’d say these are the driest liquid lipsticks that I own. After you apply them, you can feel the formula drying on your lips. It almost reminds me of how a mud mask would dry on my face. It’s not going anywhere until you take it off! 

I only used one coat for most of the swatch photos. I found that two coats of product became gunky (for lack of a better word) and started to flake off on my lips. Most of the colors only needed one coat for full coverage, but a few lacked the pigmentation to get away with a single coat. These culprits were mostly the pinks and corals I purchased: Mars, Ouiji, Highball, and Succulent. Of these four, Ouiji was the most streaky and could have befitted from another coat had it not been so flaky. Mars was patchy and didn’t evenly cover my lips so a lot of my natural lip color peaked through, especially on my top lip.

My absolute favorite color is Limbo. Another favorite is Tulle, but I like Limbo a teeny bit more. I think both of these colors should be a staple in the makeup bag of any beauty lover of color! Both these colors, along with LAX, Lychee, Zipper, Bumble, Solow, and Trap, applied flawlessly. No streaking or patchiness. I only used one coat and I didn’t feel like I needed to add another one.

I was very surprised by the lighter colors and how well they performed! Usually lighter colored liquid lipsticks aren’t pigmented enough to cover my natural lip color, especially in only one coat. I thought Trap did especially well and I’m happy to add it to my ever growing greige lip color collection.

If you are looking to place an order for these liquid lipsticks, I’d definitely steer you towards Limbo and Tulle! Also, any of the other six (LAX, Lychee, Zipper, Bumble, Solow, and Trap) that applied perfectly are great options.

All of these lip colors are permanent additions to the ColourPop line and they will be back in stock on the ColourPop website by the middle of August 2015. Let me know which colors are on your wishlist in the comment below!

First Impression: BECCA Cosmetics x Jaclyn Hill Champagne Pop

I was fortunate to get my hands on the BECCA Cosmetics x Jaclyn Hill brainchild that is ‘Champagne Pop’ Shimmering Skin Perfecter Pressed and I’ve got so many feels for this product! Want to know what I thought? Read on!

This collaboration is one of the biggest of the year and I’m so excited to share my initial thoughts with you all! This item released online today at Sephora.com. It will come to all Sephora stores July 17th. I was able to snag it at a Sephora store that had them out early a few days ago.

In my first time playing with the product, there is no denying that ‘Champagne Pop’ is absolutely exquisite. If you are familiar with BECCA Cosmetics and their Shimmering Skin Perfecter formula, you know all about the silky smooth feeling you get when you touch the product. It has extremely fine shimmers scattered throughout the product so you won’t look like Edward Cullen if you don’t want to.

The product is buildable to an intense shine, but a single layer will probably suffice for everyday wear. It is a pale gold color that has more of a peach undertone that other products I have making this product really unique in my collection. Upon initial photgraphs (and indoor lighting), I thought this looked similar to ‘Wisp’ by ColourPop Cosmetics. However, upon further inspection (aka walking outside in sunlight), I could see that ‘Wisp’ is more of a true champagne color and ‘Champagne Pop’ is definitely warmer.

I was hesitant to purchase this because I thought it might be too light for me. But the tone is flattering on my skin and doesn’t wash out my cheeks of look like a bunch of ashy shimmer. Like I said before, it is unique in my collection and it is probably the lightest I will go for a highlight. I lean towards deep golden and bronze highlights, especially in the summer, because I am typically outside and get super tan for a majority of the season. I can see myself using this more in the winter as it will flatter my natural skintone as well and add a healthy amount of glow where a bronze highlight might look too forced for the season.

Overall, I’m happy with this color and am happy with my purchase! However, if Jaclyn Hill’s name had not been attached, I probably wouldn’t have given this color the time of day. It just goes to show how much attention I pay when an influential name is attached!

‘Champagne Pop’ sold out in record time today on Sephora.com reportedly selling as many as 1,000 units per minute and it was gone within a matter of hours. The Sephora site indicates that this item will be back in stock online at some point soon since the term ‘Coming Soon’ can be found on the page. It would probably say ‘Sold Out’ or the listing would be removed if they didn’t have more on the way.

If you weren’t able to get this today, definitely check back everyday! I say everyday because the next batch might sell quicker than this one, so be ready and good luck!

Questions or comments? Let me know in the comments below! Stay glowing my friends!

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L-R: ColourPop ‘Wisp’, BECCA ‘Champagne Pop’, ColourPop ‘Lunch Money’

Review: Glitter Elixirs Cosmetics Lip Elixirs ‘Home’, ‘Touchstone’, ‘Extreme Possibility’, ‘Paranormal Activity’

I’m very excited to bring you this review some new products from my favorite small cosmetics company, Glitter Elixirs! I purchased several of the reformulated Lip Elixirs and, let me tell you, these are BOMB. Don’t want to pay $18 for an OCC Lip Tar? Glitter Elixirs has the answer!

It’s no secret that I love Glitter Elixirs! I have written reviews on several of their liquid lipsticks and some of their glitters before. I’m a huge fan of Kennedy, owner of Glitter Elixirs, and we have become fast friends in the past few months. She runs the company with professionalism and always presents a quality product. I’ve never had any issues with shipping and no issues during checkout via her Etsy page. She’s very active on social media (especially Instagram) and often offers flash sales or discounts. Taking advantage of discount codes allows you to try more products from her shop, for a lower price!

Glitter Elixirs has just released a new collection of ultra creamy liquid lipsticks, called Lip Elixirs. Think OCC Lip Tars ($18), but for half the price. Glitter Elixirs offers two sizes of their Lip Elixirs, Travel Size ($8) and Full Size ($11). Both sizes come in bottles with doe foot applicators to erase the need for a lip brush and allow for easy on-the-go touch ups. I love applicator wands and hate lip brushes so this was a plus for me! The only thing that bothered me with the packaging was that the travel size containers leaked when placed any way but up. I didn’t find this problem with the full size containers.

This new collection is based on the X-Files which is totally awesome and the available shades are definitely kind of ‘other-wordly’. I picked up three shades a week ago and Kennedy was generous enough to throw in another travel size shade because we are tight like that (just kidding, she adds samples to every order LOL).

My favorite shade is ‘Paranormal Activity’. You guys, I LOVE this shade. Like, my heart started beating faster when I put on the first layer. It was super dramatic! But the shade demands a reaction like this because it is absolutely beautiful. This color is very opaque and has a metallic sheen to it. One coat on top and two on my bottom lip, and I was ready to walk out the door!

Another favorite is ‘Extreme Possibility’. This shade is the color of rust, but the lip swatch is making it look a little more red than it really is. In person, it looks like rust so it must be my camera messing with the color. This shade has a creamy satin finish. I know I will be wearing this color more in the fall as an alternative to my usual nude, winter lip.

‘Home’ is a repromote of a previous Glitter Elixirs shade that is no longer available, ‘Re-Education’. ‘Home’ stayed put on my lips, but it had an intense metallic glitter reflection that made it hard to tell what color it really is. In some angles it’s brown, and in others, it looks different making it truly hard to photograph.

It also makes it more difficult to wear because I got glitter all over my face when trying to remove it at the end of the day. Not cute. I’ll probably use this more as a gloss instead of an all over lip color to reduce the amount I put on. It’s a very transformative shade that can be placed over a ton of different lipsticks.

Lastly, I received ‘Touchstone’ as my freebie shade and it really surprised me. When I first saw it in the tube, it brought back memories of ’90’s baby girls with the slicked back baby hairs, big ole’ hoop earrings, and tons of bubblegum poppin’. They always seemed to have on a frosted pink lip! That’s not really the look I’m going for so I was hesitant to put it on.

However, I’m happy to say that I don’t think I looked half bad! It’s not a color I would pick up on my own, but it is truly different. But I still don’t have the courage to wear it out in public. I feel like everyone else around me will begin having ’90’s baby girl flashbacks too.

Have any questions about these new Lip Elixirs? Or want to tell me about your best (worst) ’90’s fashion statement? Hit me in the comments below!

These products were purchased by me with my own money. None have been sent to me for my consideration.

HAUL! Coastal Scents Eyeshadow Hot Pots

A few weeks ago, Coastal Scents was having a great sale and I went a little crazy! All of their eye shadow hot pots were only $0.99 each and I couldn’t resist. I nearly walked away with one in every color, but I restrained myself and only purchased some warm shimmery shades perfect for summer. Want to know which ones I grabbed? Read on!

I was so stoked when I saw on Instagram that Coastal Scents had restocked all their shadows and they were having a sale to boot! The company often has some pretty awesome deals, but most of the time nearly all their eye shadows are always sold out. So this was a huge win for me and I immediately went to order #alldashadows.

I ended up *only* getting 16 shadows and in total, I spent $20 including shipping. This is a great deal on shadows! To compare, I could get 2 MAC shadows, and 3 Makeup Geek shadows for this same price. I’d say 16 beats 2-3, what about you?

I know what you are thinking: “But how do these compare quality wise?”

I’d say these were pretty good! Not stellar, but totally worth $1. My budget shadow go-to’s are typically from Morphe Brushes. Their single shadows are only $2, but their shipping is a flat rate of $8 anywhere in the US and that’s what normally kills the sale for me. I rarely order from their website. Shipping for Coastal Scents was around $4 to Georgia, but it varies depending on your location.

I wouldn’t say these were even Morphe quality, but I maybe something similar to Wet ‘N Wild. You definitely need a primer and there will be some fallout. But the color are gorgeous and (as I will keep repeating) you can’t beat the price tag! The shadow pans are also the same size as a MAC or a Makeup Geek shadow.

On this go round, I purchased all shimmery, warm colors. I’ll probably grab some deeper mattes in the fall, but these will do for now. I was able to swatch the colors without primer on my arm and they did fine. However, when I went to put the colors on my eyelid, I needed the primer. The colors didn’t have the same vibrancy on the darker skin color of my eyelid that they had on the smooth area of skin I swatched on my arm. I use the HD primer from NYX for nearly all my eye looks so this wasn’t a turn off for me.

My Order:

Frosty Taupe
Chocolate Berry
Cherry Chocolate
Copper Pot
Dark Golden Olive
Lava
Bright Copper
Amber Bronze
Raisin Berry
Watermelon
Light Bronze
New Penny
Deep Cantaloupe
18 Karat Gold
Mauve Frost
Light Apricot
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R-L: Mauve Frost, Watermelon, Bright Copper, Lava, Raisin Berry, Chocolate Berry, Cherry Chocolate

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L-R: Light Apricot, Light Bronze, New Penny, Amber Bronze, Frosty Taupe

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L-R: Dark Golden Olive, Golden Lemon (MAC Pigment), 18 Karat Gold, Deep Cantaloupe, Copper Pot

Review: Babydoll Beauty Cosmetics Ultimate Highlighter Bundle

When I opened up this package, I was the happiest person on the planet at that moment. I knew immediately that I was going to be glowing from ear to ear for the rest of year with these six beautiful highlighters that I purchased from Babydoll Beauty Cosmetics. With names like ‘Luxurious’ and ‘Mermaid Skin’, this had to be a good buy, right? Will the pros outweigh the cons? Find out below!

It’s no secret that I am constantly on Instagram scouring the makeup pages looking for amazing looks, products, and beauty fans! I came across Jess G.’s page a few months ago and fell in love with her brand immediately. She (all by herself) makes some of the most popular indie highlighters on the market through her company, Babydoll Beauty Cosmetics. She began months and months ago when there were very few people coming out with their own makeup brands and using social media to push products into the hands of consumers. I truly admire the work she has put into her company and wish her the best as she plans to expand her cosmetics line in the future. I should also mention that a portion of her profits go to R.A.I.N.N (Rape Abuse Incest National Network) to help women affected by sexual violence.

When I first decided I was going to purchase these babies in February, Babydoll Beauty had put all new business on hold. Jess was trying to fulfill orders and had become backlogged with work and stated she would not reopen her online shop to new orders until all existing orders were fulfilled. So I waited patiently until April when the shop was finally reopened and I ordered the bundle within an hour of the shop’s grand reopening announcement.

I tell you all of this back story so you can really understand that when I say it took a looonnnggg time for my package to come, it took a looonnngggggg time. Jess was very upfront on her Instagram account saying that orders would not begin to ship for at least two weeks after purchase.

However, my order did not arrive for nearly six weeks.

I understand that Jess is a one-woman crew and that she is trying to balance a lot, but hell, we are all trying to balance a lot! At the beginning of the third week of waiting, I emailed Jess at her business email address requesting an update on my order. No response. At the beginning of the fourth week, I took to her Instagram page (which she is very active on promoting products and what not) with the hope that she would see my comment on a recent picture asking her to respond to my email. At the beginning of the fifth week, I received an email from her personal email address with a tracking number and not much else. No “sorry for the delay” or anything like that.

I wasn’t and still am not an ‘angry’ customer. I understand that things happen and sometimes a little extra time is needed. However, small business (and large business) need to remain transparent with their customers AT ALL TIMES. If things aren’t going as planned, send a professional email update just to let people know you haven’t run away with their money. All I wanted was a little security that someone was working on my order and that my money wasn’t floating in cyberspace. Even if you run a business that is primarily advertised via social media, sometimes a post on social media about a serious issue isn’t the best response.

I’m writing this all as a big disclaimer if you do decide to order from Babydoll Beauty in the future. I believe Jess is still backlogged, but working diligently to fulfill orders. I wasn’t scammed or anything, the proper communication just wasn’t there and most likely won’t be there until Jess gets some help building the empire of her dreams.

Now on to the ACTUAL review of the products I ordered!

These colors are absolutely beautiful! I purchased the loose highlighters that come in 20g jars. The jars include a sifter, but I found it a little hard to get the product out with the sifter so I just popped it off to get closer to the product.

Three of the colors (Gold Digger, Luxourious, and J-Glow) look very similar on my skin. I would say that J-Glow has most bronze flecks in it, Luxurious is a pale gold, and Gold Digger is a true gold. My favorite of the three is J-Glow because the bronze blends smoothly with my skin allowing me to pack on as little of as much as I like without it getting too bright.

My favorite from the bundle is pink diamond. As you can see in the picture, it has some gold reflects to it making it one of the most unique highlighting colors I own. I have plans to pair this with my MAC ‘Love Thing’ blush and I know it will be breathtaking.

So was the whole ordeal worth it? While I was very pleased with the products I ordered, I probably could find the colors somewhere else with a shorter processing and ship time. I do love to support small business owners, but in this case, I would rather be safe than sorry. I may order from the company again in the future maybe after they grow a bit more. Happy shopping makeup lovers!

Review: ColourPop Cosmetics x CoffeeBreakWithDani ‘Metamorphosis’ Eye Quad

As a self-proclaimed ColourPop fanatic, of course I was going to buy this quad from one of my fav vloggers! You guys should know me well enough by now to know that I purchased this the second it released. This quad contained one matte finish eyeshadow, one satin, and two with a  sheer opal finish, a new finish for ColourPop, that is similar to a duochrome finish from MAC or Kat Von D. What did I think? Keep reading!

I’m so glad we have established that this purchase was a no-brainer! I hope you guys felt the same way! If you haven’t seen any of Dani’s YouTube videos, you should definitely check out her channel. Dani is one of the most interesting vloggers that I watch because she isn’t a pro makeup artist and instead, chooses to review products for you in an awesome way! Her style is very “if I knew you in real life, we would be besties4lyfe” kind of way. She’s very personable and has definitely gained my trust from her honest first impressions and detailed reviews.

While Dani has collaborated with ColourPop before on a lippie stix and pencil, this is her first eye shadow collab with the brand. The quad has a much deeper meaning than most of the collabs released by bloggers today. The name of the quad (‘Metamorphosis’) and the names of the individual shadows (‘Kindness’, ‘Hope’, ‘Strength’, ‘Bravery’) aren’t typical of eyeshadows currently on the market. Most of the time I expect a name like ‘Super Orgasm’ from NARS or ‘Sin’ or ‘Virgin’ from Urban Decay .. something a little raunchier than ‘Kindness’.

But the names made me curious about the naming process and production process in general, which led me to Dani’s explanation that she hoped these shadows would encourage consumers to ‘be the change’ they wanted to see in the world. To use the names of the shadow to spur a similar action from the user. Dani wants us to be strong in the face of adversity, be brave when venturing into the unknown, be kind to yourself and others, and hope that everyone else would do the same. Now if you watch Dani’s channel, this detailed though process shouldn’t come as a surprise. If you haven’t seen any of Dani’s videos, this is classic Coffee Break lingo.

Now on to the review of the individual shadows! I was most excited to try out the new sheer opal finish shadows. The swatches provided by ColourPop on their website made these colors out to be duochromes similar to the finish you would get from a MAC ‘Blue Brown’ pigment or a Kat Von D ‘On The Road’ Shape Shifting eye shadow. When I popped these open and finally stuck my finger in for a swatch, I could immediately tell that the product wasn’t as gelled together as the original formula satin finish shadows. The product immediately started flaking as soon as I swatched my finger across my arm. You can see in the picture how the swatch of ‘Kindness’ isn’t as clean as the swatch of Bravery or Strength. ‘Hope’ did a bit better, but the product was still much harder to control than the matte or satin finish colors.

Since sheer opal is a new finish for ColourPop, I don’t have any other shadows in this finish to compare to the one’s in the Metamorphosis quad. This might be just a batch problem or ColourPop could still be working out the kinks in the formula. I remember when they introduced the matte formula, some of the matte shades were quite a bit drier than the satin finish shades, but ColourPop has since made changes to the formula and now they are of the same quality. I’m hoping that they will continue to work on their sheer opal formula before they release any more colors.

Once I had these colors swatched, a few possible dupes came to mind and I went ahead and photographed them. I found out that I don’t have anything similar to ‘Kindness’ even though I own several red/green duochromes. ‘Castor Gray’ is from the Sephora + Pantone Universe Facets of Marsala Limited Edition Palette (read my review). ‘Pay Dirt’ is from Ultimo Cosmetics (read my review). ‘Blue Brown’ is from MAC Cosmetics.

Surprisingly, I found that I had a dupe for ‘Hope’ and it was another ColourPop goodie! The Super Shock Cheek Peralized shade ‘Monster’ would be identical to ‘Hope’ with just a few more layers. Two layers of each shade seen in my swatch above.

‘Bravery’ and ‘Strength’ were exactly what I expected from ColourPop. Both are reliable transition and highlighting shades that can be worn a variety of ways. I expect to get quite a bit of use out of ‘Bravery’ this summer because it is the perfect transition shade for my dark skin. I’m a big fan of ‘Mittens’ in the winter, and this is a tad bit lighter – perfect for the current weather here in Atlanta.

If you guys have any more questions about the colors or the quad in general, let me know in the comments below and I will get back to you!

Review: MAC Cosmetics The Matte Lip Collection – Stone, Whirl, Men Love Mystery

This was probably the most popular non-special packaging collection MAC released this year because you can’t get enough of a good matte lip! Interested in how these babies perform? I’ve got the rundown of three of the most hotly anticipated shades below!

Last week, MAC released a ton of new matte lipstick shades! There were 22 shades in The Matte Lip Collection with a mix of re-promoted shades from their existing permanent line, limited edition colors making a comeback, and a handful of brand new colors. All these colors will now be added to the permanent line so there isn’t too much of a rush to buy any right away (unless you are a makeup junkie like me).

Since the announcement of this collection, all eyes went immediately to two shades: Whirl and Stone. Both shades were initially sold as lip liners and were sold out everywhere largely in part to Kylie Jenner’s love of the overlined, 90’s brown lip color trend. Upon hearing these colors were now being made into a lipstick, lipstick lovers shrieked with delight!

Another shade that stirred up some talk was Men Love Mystery, a gorgeous lavender violet color. After the success of Dodgy Girl and Lavender Jade, two limited edition lavenders released in 2014 and 2015 respectively, MAC was long overdue for a lavender permanent addition to complement Heroine and Up The Amp in this color range.

The big question is, how do these perform? So far, I’m a fan!

I also have the accompanying lip pencils for Whirl and Stone and was very impressed at how close the lipstick colors match the pencil. Sometimes, I don’t want the dry feeling of the pencil all over my lips, but I still want the color. I will now have a creamy matte lipstick option on those days. The lipstick formula doesn’t seem any different than the pre-exisiting permanent colors. The standard vanilla lipstick scent is there, the bullet is there, I’m a happy camper.

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Men Love Mystery, Stone, Whirl
(NC50 Skin)