Smashbox Oil Cleanser and Stila Loose Powder

Heya =)

So I'm back with (yet) another review from the BeautyTicket.com haul. This time I've got the info on a giant bottle of Smashbox Cleansing Oil Makeup Remover and Stila Loose Powder in Fair.

Smashbox Cleansing Oil:

11.5 ounces doesn't sound like a lot, but that thing is huger than most things standing on my bathroom table! It pretty much dwarfs the Loose Powder, and Stila wasn't being skimpy with their product either. Anyways, it was a great surprise to get so much product from a popular and higher-end brand like Smashbox cause usually we end up paying for quality over quantity (eg products that make you go, "Couldn't they have made it just a LITTLE bigger?" ..you know what I mean). It also smells pretty nice, a cucumber-y cleanser smell.

However, although I love the minimalist feel of the bottle, the pump REALLY needs some work. Pushing it down basically lets loose a jet stream of oily...well, oil onto whatever happens to be in the way. Like my clothes. Or the carpet. You see where I'm going. Basically, in order to get the oil actually into my hand safely, I have to cup my hand right around the pump like some sort of shield and push down .. carefully. Kind of annoying, but I could get used to it (not).

The thing that I can't get used to, however, is such a subpar product from Smashbox. (Um, that's probably why it's discontinued and I had to buy it cheap from a discount beauty site...*cough*). Anyways... I guess Smashbox has learned from their failure and pulled this from production but still... they still DID produce it. And I did buy it. *tears*

Basically, Smashbox Cleansing Oil retailed for 42 bucks... and I've seen it as high as 60+. And it doesn't do nearly as good a job of removing my makeup as my 7 dollar Ponds Cold Cream, or any makeup removing towelette I've bought from a drugstore.

Here's the down-low:

-Even though it's a good size, it's still a ridiculous price for a makeup remover (thank god I had that promo coupon for BeautyTicket.. even 19.99 isn't worth it for this thing)

-It removes light summer makeup, but leaves a greasy residue on my face that's hard to wash off with even other makeup removers/facewash.

-No matter how hard I rubbed or how much I put on my face, it still wouldn't remove all my makeup on a normal day.

-It also doesn't even come CLOSE to removing my waterproof mascara so 0 points there.

-That stupid frickin pump. I hate it. I want to bash it against a wall.

Pretty much all I can think is that it looks cool on my table and smells nice and I could use it if I run out of Pond's and don't have time to hit the drugstore....

All in all... Amy gives this a big fat F for Effing Failure =(

Stila Loose Powder in Fair:

After the disaster of Smashbox Oil my standards were pretty low. Just kidding =) I will always be this picky. Forever. MWAHAHAH.

Um.

So anyways, to be quick about this review, my reaction to this product was pretty much a "meh". It's alright, but not amazing. It has some nice points and some bad points and they kind of balance out.

When I first opened it though, I was pretty scared because apparently Fair in Stila-language means "finely milled flour." Basically I was brushing white powder on my face (on top of the white powder already around my nose... hehe JK =P). Good thing is that it blends pretty well and I didn't look like Sadako or Samara or whoever from The Ring.

I didn't feel anything amazing from using the powder to set my tinted moisturizer. It just set my makeup. Didn't do anything amazing, didn't make me skinnier or give me bigger boo....uh, I think I've wandered a bit off track. (AKA : This product is a tad...boring >.<)

The bad: Packaging sucks. Again. I don't know how to explain this, but it just feels.. cheap... when you pick it up or touch it. Like it's some half-assed sample you got instead of a full-sized product. It barely weighs anything, so that probably contributes. Also I think the bottle is made of foil or something... OOOh and the freaking top! I hate it =(. It's hard to open and I have to wrestle with it everytime to turn the top open... so I ended up breaking it =P.

So.. it's an OKAY product. Nothing exciting. Grab it if you find it discounted. I think I got mine around 10 bucks. If I see for cheaper, I'll def. grab another one but otherwise....

Nail Deco: White tip with gold rhinestones =)

Hey all,

Nothing too exciting today, but I thought I'd share a nail deco I recently did on myself =)

It's pretty easy to do, and is one of my favorite variations on a French mani.

What basically happens is that since it's hard for me to paint a perfect white tip with a normal polish brush, I just cover up my mistakes with rhinestones =)

1. Base coat (Sally Hansen Advanced Hard as Nails Base Coat)

2. Base color (I first painted a light layer of Sally Hansen's Sheer Strawberry and then a layer of Revlon's Gold Get 'Em over that for a pink and gold hue)

3. Paint the White tip. You don't have to be too careful because you'll cover it all up with rhinestones =)

4. Stick on the rhinestones. I use a nail dotter tool dipped in any clear polish to get the rhinestones to stick to it and then place the gem on my nail. You can use a toothpick too.

5. Top coat.

Finished!

PS I bought my rhinestones from Ebay for just a few bucks =)

First post!!

=) Hi all!

Amy here.. I'm pretty dang guilty of buying ridiculous amounts of makeup and stashing them everywhere there's space. So here's some reviews and other random tidbits about makeup, life, and etc that I'll be posting on this blog. Hopefully my reviews will be helpful to you so you don't end up with piles of unused makeup (and an empty wallet) like me =P. Oh yeah, and I'm also a bit kooky, but we'll get to that later (hehe =D).

So without further ado, here's my first review!

Beauty Ticket May 29th Haul

Got a lot of great stuff in this haul but I'll only be reviewing a portion of what I bought since I haven't had time to try most of the stash yet =).

Lola Lip Sheer in Eloise:

This was up for extra discount on Beautyticket.com so I definitely grabbed it.. and it was well worth it too!

Eloise is a beautiful sheer nude dusty pinkish-rose with beautiful fine gold shimmer embedded. The packaging is also super sexy and comes with a handy mirror built into the cap for easy on-the-go touch-ups and application. Heres a pic of a swatch I did on my (extremely pale) wrist and a pic of me wearing the lippie =). I know it's hard to tell cause the pic is a little too bright but hopefully you can see the beautiful golden sheen in the swatch.

As with every lipstick I've ever worn, it is a tiny bit drying and it does tend to show the lines/wrinkles in my lips but I try to always wear a lipbalm underneath so it shouldn't be a problem. Staying power isn't bad, although I haven't tried eating with it on yet and there's no taste or scent, as far as I can tell, which is another big plus for me.

Overall, this is now one of my favorite lipsticks and I am definitely up for buying more Lola lip products!

Yves Saint Laurent Lip Twins Duo in Red Crystal:

Now YSL.. a great brand associated with luxury and money and fanciness. Definitely not me. However, the lip twins just looked so CUTE that I had to get one.. and since i had a discount coupon it was only 12 bucks =). Too bad for me the colors I chose were a disaster...

Still... the design is just so ... squee~! *cough* um, so this product is a combination of two lipsticks, one satin finish lipstick which "glides like silk onto the lips" (red) and "a sheer lipstick for irresistibly sparkling lips" (crystal), says the little YSL description sheet that came in the box. The lip brush can be stored in the lipstick and while cute, is a little too small for easy application. The red is highly pigmented and the crystal color, which is basically a translucent shimmer gloss, is pretty thick and creamy in texture.

Too bad for my pale-ass skin color that the red is REALLY red.... when I wore it it came across as a neon coral red, leaning towards orange -_-. To save your eyes from the terrible image, I'm not going to post up a pic of me wearing this product =P.

To access the 3 different sides of the lipstick tube, you just turn it for either Crystal, Red, or a small mirror face with Yves Saint Laurent etched onto it. Mirror is handy for touchups on the go but the logo is kind of in the way.

This lipstick duo thing also has SPF 8 in it.. you can smell the chemical SPF smell and you can also taste it.. a bit nasty actually.

All in all, not a bad deal for the 12-ish bucks I paid for it, but the color choice is definitely not for me. It's really pigmented but the chemical-y taste and smell aren't the greatest. Too bad really, because the packaging is really cute.

Mac Eyeshadow Suite Duo in Shallow v Deep:

So this isn't really part of my BeautyTicket haul but I bought it on the same day.. so it kind of counts, right?

Man, I did a really cruddy swatch =( that doesn't do this duo justice. Just to clarify, this is the first MAC eyeshadow(s) I've ever bought, and boy am I glad i did. They're both beautiful pigmented colors with the lighter color being an incredible light minty jade with ample sparkle and shimmer. I got this duo at a discount counter (woot) for around 11 bucks!!

Here's a few pics of me wearing Shallow (the lighter color) over the lid, with Deep (the dark teal/aquamarine) at the ends of my eyes and some gold shadow from Too Faced's Glamour To Go palette dabbed in the middle to highlight.

Ah, I really love this duo! I'm definitely going to buy more MAC eyeshadows in the future too! They're a bit on the pricey side so if anyone knows any good deals, do tell =DDD

Random Eyeshadow Samples from Estee Lauder, Lancome, and Clinique:

Haha, also another entry that falls into "not part of the BeautyTicket.com Haul". Basically I decided to gather together all the eyeshadow samples I've gotten over the past few months and swatch them for everyone! Yay! There are some really nice colors in here, here's a pic of all the shadows with cases closed and then opened:

From left to right we've got Estee Lauder's Signature Silky Eye Shadow Duo, Estee Lauder's Pure Color Single, Lancome's Color Focus quad, and Clinique's Color Surge Eye Shadow Trio.

Here's swatches of the shadows:

So I used a different color for the numbers to differentiate between which compacts the swatches come from.

Estee Lauder's Signature Silky Eye Shadow Duo in 05 Pink Dusk: #1 is Pink, which is a decently pigmented matte shadow. It's a very light color however, so it didn't really show up in the picture =(. #2 is Dusk, which is a dark brown that has better pigmentation and a very tiny amount of micro-shimmer/glitter but this is basically a matte duo for a conservative day look. These colors were a so-so for me.

Estee Lauder's Pure Color Single in 35 Cinnamon: #3, I really love this color. It has a decent amount of golden shimmer with a slightly metallic feel. It's a pigmented bronzey-brown that would go great with any nude look.

Clinique's Color Surge Eye Shadow Trio: These colors are the most shimmery out of all the eyeshadows and have a warmer tone than the others. #4 in the pic is Champagne, which is a light sand/champagne color that's actually got a metallic shimmery texture to it. #5 is Spicy, a warm light brown leaning a bit towards copper. Same foiled texture with fine shimmer as Champagne. #6 is Posh Squash a pigmented dark brown with fine shimmer. I've been using these for light earth-toned day looks ever since I got them as a free gift at my local Clinique counter.

Lancome's Color Focus quad: #6 is Positive, a matte beige-y brown. #7 is Horizon, another matte color, this time in a light peachy pink. I'm not really a matte girl, and pigmentation isn't that amazing so the first two colors are nothing exciting. #8 surprised me though, as Scene a coppery dark olive color was the most pigmented eyeshadow out of all the ones I swatched in that picture. Has fine gold shimmer too so yay =). #9 is another matte color with just barely some gold shimmer... it's really unnoticeable. A rather boring normal brown.

SO! That was a pretty long first post... probably since I've been "getting ready" for this blog for so long but never got around to it.. I suppose it's a good thing because that means I'll have plenty of material to use from now on! Anyways, it's 3 in the morning so time for sleep, but I hope everyone takes advantage of the Memorial Weekend sales! If you haul anything, let me know =)

PS I'm not sure why the formatting is all strange with different colored and sized text everywhere.. Sorry! I'll try to figure out what's wrong, but I'm new to blogging so please bear with me (>.<)