Ariel Collection Review/Swatches

As a little girl, I often watched The Little Mermaid. I loved her quirky personality and her voice. The colors really stood out to me, even as a little girl. I loved the aquas, teals, and turquoises. I'd brush my mermaid doll and wish I was so free and able to roam the ocean searching for treasures. So, naturally when I saw this palette was coming out from Sephora, I was very very giddy. It made the perfect graduation gift!

The first photo above shows what the palette looks like on the front. It shows Ariel's outline and some of her objects she collects. It has a really lovely shine that makes this palette great for sitting out on my vanity.

The actually eyeshadows pull out and have a popable tray so you can remove it to keep the ariel packaging. I have to thank Sephora for this lovely development in packaging. I will definitely keep the packaging from this palette for a jewelry box or something of the sort. 

The palette comes with 20 eyeshadows in a variety of shades and finishes. I appreciate the fact that some shadows are light colored and others are darker. I like the fact that there are also mattes in here. Some of the shadows are more of a sheen, while others have a little more glitter to them. 

Gripes: The Sha La La color doesn't really match Ariel's hair at all. I would have loved a vibrant red in this palette. It seems to be missing. Even the "Sebastian" color is orange, which doesn't match him at all. 

Swatches:

All of these swatches were taken in natural lighting without flash. The swatches are on bare skin without primer or a white base.

 Row One:

From left to right:
Blue Lagoon, Scuttle, Flounder,Sebastian, Flotsam

The lighter colors are pretty hard to see on my fair skin. They may pop on someone with darker skin. It took a little more to build up the lighter colors.

Row Two:

Sea Shells, Les Poissons, Caspian Sea, Your Voice, Unfortunate Souls

I didn't have any problems with color pay off from this row. All of the shades went on smoothly.

Row Three:

Atlantica, Fins, Sick of Swimmin', Ursula, Sha La La

No problems with pigmentation in this row either.

Row Four:

Triton, Wanderin' Free, Jetsam, Sea Witch, Treasures Untold

I want to just say that I love the Sea Witch purple. It's so vibrant and pretty.

Palette Thoughts:

I have to say that I am a fan of this palette. The colors are fun and lively, perfect for summer! Most of the colors are very vibrant and pigmented. There are only a few duds (the lighter colors aren't as pigmented).

I haven't had a whole lot of fallout with this palette. There has been some, but nothing that can't be worked around. 

I do find that the palette gets really messy from the colors. The shadows are very soft and tend to crumble a little when you put your brush into them. This creates a bit of a mess on the actual palette. If you hate messy palettes, you may want to stray from the Ariel palette. 

I found that the shadows were pretty easy to work with. They seem to blend pretty well. Some of the vibrancy can be lost on some of the colors when you blend. I just pack more color onto it. Easy!

The palette retails for $55 and is currently sold out online. You will be able to purchase this palette in Sephora stores any day now. Make sure to call your Sephora to see if it is in stock.

Would I repurchase? If it wasn't LE, I would probably buy a second one if this ran out.

The Ariel Mirror! 

It came in a cute little box that I promptly opened and discarded.

The packaging of this compact mirror is very sturdy. It has some weight to it, so if you are after a light weight mirror, I would not recommend this. The compact features Ariel and Eric in the Blue Lagoon. The packaging is blue and green, which I think suits the film very well.

The inside of the mirror says "You've got to be you". I think it is a cute nice touch for the mirror. One side of the mirror is a little more magnifying. I find it is helpful when I am doing my eyeshadow and want to be up close to my eye. 

I really love this mirror. It has already found a nice place in my purse and has been used constantly. 

Let me know what your thoughts are on this collection!

FOTD: Why not Zoidberg?

Happy Tuesday readers! I've officially finished up my schooling, so I should hopefully be able to blog a little bit more. Today I tried out the Ren Clean Skincare Satin Perfection BB Cream that I received as a deluxe sample from Sephora with the purchase of my Ariel mirror. I will have a post about the Ariel collection soon, so stay tuned for that. 

Ren BB Cream claims: "A silicone free BB cream that leaves the skin looking flawless, even toned and luminous with a perfect non-oily, satin finish. This true multi-function cream provides flawless coverage that banishes imperfections, gives SPF and anti-oxidant protection, while photo-rejuvenation technology reduces the appearance of underlying fine lines and wrinkles."

Quite a lot of claims for a BB cream, so I am naturally a little skeptical. 

Finish: It does feel somewhat satin like. It's not completely matte, nor is it shiny. 

How it feels on the skin: It feels very light weight and comfortable. No noticeable caking yet.

I did feel like this BB cream evened out my skin tone a little bit. This Ren BB cream is a fuller coverage than many others that I have seen, which makes me drawn to it. I do feel like the tone of it may be slightly pinker than my skin tone. It's subtle, but I think it's there. I'm not sure most people would notice wearing it out though. 

Overall, I think this BB cream isn't too shabby at all. I'll see how it holds up in the next few days of trying it!

Products used in FOTD:

Eyes:
UDPP
Urban Decay Naked 2 palette - YDK, Verve, Busted, Blackout
Mary Kay Lash Love Mascara
ELF Liquid Liner in Black
Anastasia Brow kit + pencil

Face:
Ren BB Cream in Light/Medium
Too Faced Chocolate Soleil
Tarte Blusher in Glisten
Mac Mineralized Skin Finish in Soft and Gentle
Mac Blotting Powder

Lips:
Shiro Why Not Zoidberg?

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Nails: Zoya Kimber

It's been awhile since I did a nails post. I just haven't been doing anything too interesting with them lately. I did want to share this Zoya polish in Kimber though. It's absolutely gorgeous. It's a hot pink that has a nice shine to it. 

Application: I found that this polish went on VERY easily. I'm not the most graceful person when it comes to nails, but this polish really made it super simple. The color was not streaky at all. I used just one layer of this polish to get the above look. 

Color: I love the way this polish catches the light. I have found myself staring at my nails a lot while wearing this color. It's a really nice pink for summer. 

Finish: Shine/sparkle. I would say that Kimber has shine with tiny sparkles in it. It's not like an overwhelming glitter bomb, but it's lovely in the sunlight.

Dry time: Kimber dried pretty quickly for me when I was using Out the Door topcoat. I didn't have any problems with drying. 

Review: Mary Kay Influenster Vox Box goodies

I recently received this voxbox free from Influenster for me to review. This time the voxbox was full of Mary Kay products. Surprisingly, I had never used Mary Kay products up until I received this box. Although I received this box for free, the reviews are 100% honest and 100% my own. As a beauty blogger, I think it is critical that you are able to trust me on products to tell the truth. Anyway, let's jump into it!

The products came wrapped up in this little box that says, "hello gorgeous." Reading that made me feel really fancy. It's nice when companies take the time to create adorable boxes. It makes unwrapping the boxes all the more fun.

The box came with four products and a brush. A lengthening mascara, lash primer, cream shadow, lipstick, and brush to apply the cream shadow were included. As a makeup addict, I was completely excited to see so many products! I really do love trying out new products.

The Mary Kay voxbox included a lipstick called Rose Cherie. The packaging is silver and is pretty sleek. The lipstick pops out of the tube to reveal the color. I like the packaging as it protects the lipstick and will not have the lipstick pop out on accident. It would be a good lipstick to take traveling for this reason. 

The lipstick is a more sheer coverage, similar to a Revlon Lip butter. I found that as a result, the lip color did NOT last very long at all. It was fairly hydrating, but the staying power just wasn't there. I found myself reapplying the lip color often to keep it showing up. 

The actual color was a very soft pink. The color was great for a natural look. I don't find the color to be very special though. I feel like a lot of brands have a similar color to this. Given the fact that you have to have a salesperson to get Mary Kay, it may be easier to just hit up the drugstore and get Revlon Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake. I find the colors to be pretty similar. 

It is also important to note that this lipcolor has a HEAVY perfumey scent. I found that I could still smell the lipstick even after it was on my face. If smells bother you, I'd stray from this lipstick.

The next product that I received was a cream eyeshadow in the color violet storm. I really enjoy using cream shadows as bases, so I was pretty excited for this one. 

The packaging is pretty similar to most cream shadows. It comes in a little jar with a screw on lid. The packaging faintly reminds me of Maybelline Color Tattoos. 

The color is a light purple, close to a lilac or lavender shade. The product has a bit of a shine to it too. 

 The swatch looks pretty accurate to what I see in the jar. The pigmentation was pretty similar to other cream shadows that I have used. I wore this cream shadow as a base for a purple shadow that I have. I used the included brush from Mary Kay to apply it. The brush applied the cream shadow pretty well, but I still blended it with my finger. I find that using my fingers to blend cream shadows is the best way to go about it. The cream shadow held up all day and did not crease.

The Voxbox also included Mary Kay's lash primer. I've never used a lash primer before, so it is a little harder for me to review this item since I don't have anything to compare it to. I'll try my best.

Here's what the wand looks like. When I combed it through my lashes, they seemed a little longer and more separated. I also found that mascara went on smoother and was less likely to clump if I used the lash primer. It seems like a good product to me.

The final item in the kit was Mary Kay's Lash Love Lengthening Mascara in black. I've tried a lot of mascaras, so I was curious what this mascara might offer me.

The wand is very similar to the curved wand in Covergirl's Clump Crusher mascara. This Mary Kay Lash Love mascara claims to be a lengthening mascara and I would completely agree with this claim. In fact, I've never used a mascara that made my lashes so long. Due to my hooded eyes, my lashes were actually touching the hood after using this mascara. This mascara did not clump on me and seemed to hold up all day. 

I enjoyed trying out these products for sure. I think the lash primer and the cream shadow were the real gems here. 

Review: Wet n Wild LE Going in the Wild Palette 2013

 Today I wanted to review for you the limited edition Wet n Wild Going in the Wild palette. This palette has been getting a lot of buzz online in the makeup community. Since I have had this palette for awhile, I thought it would be appropriate to do a full review with swatches. I just want to start out by saying that acquiring this palette was incredibly difficult and I was only able to find this palette with the top pan broken. 

Here's what this palette looks like up close. The shades have a fair amount of shimmer in them. The palette comes with a little application and no mirror. 

Here are some up close shots of the palette. Excuse some of the debris from the broken shadow.

The above swatches were taken in natural lighting without any flash without any type of primer or eyeshadow base. 

 Here's the back of the palette if anyone is interested. 

Review:

Pigmentation 6/10

The Going in the Wild palette has less pigmentation than normal Wet n Wild shadows in my opinion. Some of the shadows in the palette (the mint green) are definitely more pigmented than others. Some of the lighter shades have fairly weak pigmentation. I was shocked at the quality of these shadows compared to normal Wet n Wild. 

Blendability 7/10

These shadows weren't the worst at blending, but they definitely did not live up to normal Wet n Wild shadows to me. I found that some of the shadows would go on streaky, making it hard to blend. Some of the shadows would virtually disappear when I would blend.

Texture 8/10

I found these shadows to feel fairly smooth when going on, just as normal Wet n Wild shadows feel very buttery. The shadows in Going in the Wild feel somewhat softer than most shadows and as a result they tended to crumble for me.

Fallout 4/10

I am going to start out by showing the photo to the right. This was my first time using this palette. As you can tell, the mint color went on very patchy and created a very, very bad fallout mess onto my face. The mint color definitely had more fallout than the other shades. The fallout occured AFTER tapping off my brush.

Packaging 6/10

The packaging is pretty standard Wet n Wild but it has cuter white designs on it. The packaging is lacking a mirror, which is a down side in my opinion.

Overall 6.2/10

I was very disappointed by this palette, especially since I had hunted it down for so many weeks. The palette has pretty colors, but you must be super careful using them due to the enormous amount of fallout. Would I repurchase? No, I would not. 

Review: Lorac Unzipped

 Hello everyone! Happy Saturday! Today I have a review on Lorac Unzipped palette. This palette doesn't seem to get a lot of attention in the makeup community, so I thought I would try to give a detailed post with some honest opinions. I tend to reach for this palette a lot, so it definitely warrants a review.

 Packaging: As you can tell the palette is pretty sleek and features 10 neutral shadows that are either shimmery or matte. Four of the eyeshadows are matte and the remaining six are shimmery. The palette is small and would be easy to travel with. Lorac Unzipped features a good sized mirror that is very clear. 

 The above photo was taken in natural lighting with flash. As you can tell, the shimmery shadows have a gorgeous sheen that really catches in the flash. All of the shadows were swatches on bare skin without primer.

The above swatches were taken in natural lighting without flash. No primer or other base was used. You can click on the photo to get a more upclose view. 

Review: 

Pigmentation 10/10

The eyeshadows in Lorac Unzipped are incredibly pigmented. It only takes a little bit of the shadow to get the desired opacity I need/want. I find that Lorac shadows are just as pigmented as Urban Decay. 

Blendability 10/10

Lorac Unzipped's eyeshadows go on very easily and blend very easily. I was extremely impressed by how little effort it required to blend out any of these shades, including the mattes. I find that these shadows are good for a day where I don't want to sit there and blend forever. 

Texture 9/10

Lorac Unzipped's eyeshadows are very soft and feel very smooth on the lids. They do not show up patchy at all. Compared to Lorac Pro Palette, these shadows are not as soft, but as a result they do not crumble as easily either. 

Fallout 9/10

There is minimal shadow with this palette. If you go too quickly and pick up too much, you may notice a little bit of fallout, but not nearly as bad as UD shadows. I never have to clean up under my eyes when I use this palette. The lack of fallout makes this palette ideal for daily use when you don't want to spend too much time on  your makeup.

Packaging 9/10

There's nothing wrong with the packaging of this palette at all. It has a sleek design that is easy to take with you. It does not receive a perfect rating because the packaging is somewhat boring to look at. There's nothing wrong with the packaging of Lorac Unzipped, but there is not really anything special about it either.

Overall 9.4/10

I absolutely love this palette. The shadows are gorgeous with minimal fallout. I find myself reaching for this palette way more than any of my other neutral palettes. The shadows blend easily and have a variety of mattes and shimmers.

I would repurchase this palette.

Review/Swatches: Urban Decay Naked2 Palette

 Hello everyone! I finally have my review of Urban Decay Naked 2 palette to share with you all! This palette was the follow up

to the original Urban Decay Naked palette. Both palettes retail for approximately $50 or so. I think the original Naked palette may have dropped in price. I got this palette because I am in the process of becoming a professional, so I will be needing neutral colors for work. I wanted something with some shimmer to keep things fun! This palette had phenomenal reviews, so I thought I would pick it up. I think I got this palette back in August or late July. The above photo is the day that I purchased it. 
Let's take a look at some swatches before I jump into the actually review. 

The above swatches were taken without any kind of primer and were taken with flash. The shimmers really catch the  light from the flash well. 

 The above swatches were taken in natural lighting without flash and without primer. There are only 3 mattes in this palette. Blackout (the black) is matte!

Here are some of the eye shadows up close (no primer and using flash). 

Review: 

Pigmentation 10/10

These shadows are incredibly pigmented, even without an eye shadow primer or white base. Even the matte shadows have good pigmentation. 

Blendability 9/10

I do not have any issues blending these shadows. Some of the shadows blend a little easier than others, but overall no issues. 

Texture 10/10

In my experience, most Urban Decay eye shadows are buttery smooth. The Naked 2 palette is no exception. All of the shadows are very soft, but not too soft to the point where they crumble. They feel nice on the lids. 

Fallout 7/10

There is definitely fallout with the Naked 2 palette. In particular, Chopper has a lot of fallout due to the glitter that is in it. I do get fallout with most of these shadows. I recommend tapping off your brush before you use the shadows. I always use a patting motion to get the shadows on with the least amount of fallout. I would also recommend doing your eye shadow first when using the Naked 2 palette. 

Packaging 10/10

Urban Decay Naked 2 palette has wonderful packaging that is made of metal. The palette snaps closed, too. I have traveled with this palette many times and have not had any issues with shadows getting damaged. The packaging is a little thick, but overall nothing to complain about there. 

Overall 9.2/10

Urban Decay Naked 2 palette really doesn't have anything about it that is a turn off for the product (except the fallout). Despite this, I have found myself getting bored of this palette very easily. I tend to reach for other palettes. The age old question - do you need both the Urban Decay Naked and Naked 2? In my opinion, the two palettes are different enough. With that in mind, I would rather recommend to purchase one of the Naked palettes and then get something like Lorac Pro. 

Let me know what you think!

Lorac Glogetter - Swatches/First Impressions

Hello everyone! I am very excited to share with you Lorac's new palette, GLOgetter. With Spring in full bloom, I have been wanting a colorful palette that has good, quality shadows. I spotted this puppy on Ulta.com via a friend and could not resist! 

This palette is sold exclusively at Ulta stores and retails for $20. There is 0.6 oz/17.2 g of product. The packaging features this cute box that is blue and gold with shiny detailing. The palette features 8 vibrant shadows and two neutral/highlighting shadows that are larger. 

 Here's what the actual palette looks like once it is out of the box. It is brown with a gold border and features the LORAC name in blue. The palette is slightly larger than my cellphone, so it is very compact. The palette is also fairly thin. 

 The above swatches were taken with flash near a window. These swatches are without any primer or white base. 

 The above swatches were taken in natural lighting near a window without flash. No primer or white base was used. 

 The brown on the far left is the only true matte in the palette. The rest have some shimmer or shine to them. 

Here's a quick look that I did using the shadows. I am in love with that mint color!

My impressions of this palette: GREAT for spring. The colors feel velvety soft and blend very easily. The colors have a beautiful shine to them (esp on the mint color it has a gold shine to it!). This is exactly what I was wanting in a colorful palette. The shadows are gorgeous and very pigmented too. I didn't even need a white base to make them show up. The quality feels the same as other Lorac shadows that I have. I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND!