Review: Benefit Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow in Pre-Nup

Name: Creaseless Cream Shadow in Pre-Nup

Product: 0/5

Price: $14.25-$19.00

Available: Sephora, Benefit Counters

Lately, I’ve been all about cream shadows, always looking for the best base that will give me long wearing, non creasing eyeshadow. So far there are only three things that do not crease on me, two I’ve reviewed, and another one that I haven’t yet. Those are MAC Paint Pots, UDPP, and L’Oreal HiP Color Rich Cream Crayons. I was hoping that this would be one I could add to my list, but unfortunately, that was a no go.

The texture of the Creaseless Cream Shadows are very similar to Maybeline’s Dream Mousse products, they are very soft and easily spreadable. I found these to be much softer than the MAC Paint Pots and oilier as well.  I applied Pre Nup which is a warm pinky color to my naked lids around 2pm, and when I got off work at 7pm, it had faded, and creased terribly. Some people would use these with UDPP to stop creasing, but for me, the point of these type of shadows is to not need UDPP as a base. That pretty much ruins the product for me, because I want to use these instead of UDPP, not with UDPP. So there is no reason for me to keep these, since they don’t do the job I want them to be able to do.

Review: Physician’s Formula Baked Oatmeal Trio

Name: Baked Oatmeal Trio

Product: 4/5

Price: $7.99

Available: Anywhere Physician’s Formula is available

Whenever a brand goes on sale, I try to grab something to review for this site. This past week I Walgreens had Physician’s Formula on sale, and it’s a brand that I like – but don’t love. However I have been interested in the Baked Collection Trios, so I grabbed a few to review. I got Baked Oatmeal, Baked Sands and Baked Sweets. This review is for Baked Oatmeal.

Baked Oatmeal has three colors, a very light taupey beige color, a light true beige and a darker plummy brown. All three colors are very shimmery and are very smooth – these can be applied either dry or wet for a stronger pigmentation. All three colors work together to make a subtle daytime look for the office, and can be upgraded to a night look when applied wet. The main difference between the baked shadows and the normal shadows is that the baked ones can be used with water, and it does not ruin the entire shadow. This makes this palette very versatile, and you get plenty of products in the little bubbles of shadow. However, don’t travel with this palette, because it’s quite fragile, and the shadows can easily be broken.

I totally recommend this to anyone who wants a quality neutral palette, that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. I think that these lighter colors will brighten up the eyes without bringing too much attention to the face. This is great for everyday office work!

Amazing Eyeshadow Combo & MAC Rose Romance Dupe

Primer: UDPP

Lid: Ben Nye Grande Lumiere Pressed Shadow in Iced Gold (White Gold)

Crease / Outer V: NYX Loose Pigment in Mocha Pearl (Taupe)

Contour (Over NYX): L’Oreal Wear Infinite in Golden Olive: (Golden Green)

Eyeliner: HiP Cream Liner in Brown

I truly wish I could take a picture of this – it is absolutely amazing, and I’m completely in love with this look. I think this will become my go to everyday green and gold look. It’s soft enough to wear during the day, especially using brown eyeliner instead of black. This makes my brown eyes shine, and even gives them a hint of green.

I used a peachy blush – Wet N Wild Mega Glo powder in Spotlight Peach and a lipglass from the new MAC Rose Romance Collection in Steal My Heart, which is being returned.

I am returning Steal My Heart, because it looks like a meduim bright pink in the bottle, and then when it is on the lips or swatched, it adds very little color to the lips. I also recently purchased some of Wet N Wild’s new Speed Glosses and the color Untamed is a more pigmented version of Steal My Heart. They look different in the bottles, but when they are on the skin and lips, Wet N Wild wins in the pigmentation arena. It’s also less sticky and thinner than the lipglass as well.

So skip Steal My Heart and grab Untamed instead. Infact Walgreens has Wet N Wild on sale right now, BOGO Free.

High End / Low End Comparables: Eyeshadows

This is somewhat of a continuation of my previous post on products that I’ve loved that I haven’t found a comparable lower priced item to. This post is all about the products that have a cult following, that actually HAVE lower end comparables, that I have personally used and loved. I haven’t used all of the higher end products, but I have tested them on several occasions that I feel I have a good idea of how well they work for me, anyway.

Eyeshadows – This is a biggie. I am torn on this one, because I’m in love with MAC’s Mineralized Eyeshadows, but I feel that there are many eyeshadows out there that are just as good, or even better than MAC and other Higher End shadows for a lower price:

• Ben Nye Eyeshadows – These range from about $6-10, and are available from costume shops, and speciality online stores.  These are almost twice as big as MAC and Urban Decay shadows, and are pigmented like no one’s business. I use my Ben Nye shadows more than my more expensive ones.
• Wet N Wild Ultimate Expressions Palettes. These palettes have 8 huge colors, and are extremely pigmented. I own 6 of these palettes, both permanent and limited edition. The eyeshadows are soft and extremely blendable. These palettes have mostly neutral colors that are wonderful!
• NYX Shadows – NYX has many different types of shadows, and the vast majority of them are wonderful, they are pigmented, and dirt cheap. The price of these range from $1-6, depending on what you pick up. I’ve tried them all, and I have loved almost all of them.
• L’Oreal HiP Eyeshadows Duos – These are simply some of the best drugstore eyeshadows that you will easily find in the drugstore. Each duo has two cordinating colors that are simply amazing, and some can be considered as dupes to higher end colors. These often go on sale BOGO Free, so it’s well worth your time to pick some up. You can easily get four huge, pigmented colors for the same price as one MAC shadow during a BOGO Free sale.
• L’Oreal Wear Infinite Singles – I recently tried my first eyeshadow from L’Oreal – apart from the HiP line, and I was flabbergasted when I used it. It is extremely soft and pigmented, and it blended like dream on my skin. I am looking forward to trying more in the future. I haven’t tried the quads though. So those maybe different.
• Milani – Milani makes some amazing eyeshadows. The ones that are very comparable to MAC and other brands were their little regular singles. These were amazing smooth and more pigmented than you can imagine. Unfortunatley Milani decided to get rid of these, but they are still available in some places. I’ve seen them in select Walgreens. These cost around $3-4 and were totally worth the money. Another good choice from Milani are the quads, they for about $6-7 and have four huge colors with tons of pigment and are really soft. These are available everywhere.
• TKB Trading Pigments – These are pure pigments of color, that you buy from TKB Trading for $1.50 per sample. Samples are a full table spoon of pigment – this is about the same amount of product that you get in a full sized MAC jar filled. These are definitely worth your time to check out for cheap, but not cheap quality pigments.

So far, these are the shadows I’ve used that are comparable to higher end products. These may not be as smooth as higher end shadows, or they may be slightly more sheer, but the money that you save is worth it. I feel that the price difference and more than decent quality makes these shadows the better choice than the higher end ones.

Imcomparables….

I’m all about using products that are just as good or even BETTER than the more expensive higher end products. I just love the feeling of knowing I can make a product that is only $6 look like it’s $30+. However, sometimes there is just no comparision when it comes to certain products, and I’ll happy shell out the $20 or so for the product in question.

Fortunately for me, this is a rare occurance, and I don’t feel quilty at all when I splurge on the more expensive products. Especially when I can get them as some sort of discount.

Urban Decay’s Primer Potion – This product has been talked about forever and a day now in the beauty world, and there is a good reason why. I have already reviewed this item a long time ago, when I first started this blog, and my love for it has not diminished yet. I have yet to find an eye primer that works as well for me as this one. There are some drugstore items that people have used as eye primers, and some of them have worked, others not so much. I personally have used L’Oreal HiP Paints, HiP Color Rich Cream Crayon, and Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Inspired by Carmindy Fast Fix Eyeshadow Base, and all of these products, except for one, have wrecked havoc on my eyeshadows. I haven’t tried L’Oreal Decrease, but I don’t have very high hopes for it. I haven’t tried any of the higher end eye primers, because I’m happy with UDPP and the point of this post is focused on products that have the drugstore price point.

MAC Paint Pots – Here is another item that has no lower priced comparable. There are cream eyeshadows available in drustore form, but none in a pot with the color range and long wearing ability as the Paint Pots. There are of course creaseless pot cream eyeshadows available from more expensive brands. However all of those are more expensive than the Paint Pots, which clock in at $16.50. These work amazingly well on my hard to please eye lids. This is one of the few products that do not crease on me. The only somewhat comparable item to the paint pots are the Indelible Creme Eye Shadows, that are available from MadMinerals.Org for $8.99. I have yet to try these because I am waiting for a good sale from Mad Minerals to happen. These cream shadows are not available from physical stores unforunately.

As of right now, these are the only two products that I haven’t found a worthy adversary in a lower price point. This is just my opinion and I’m sure everyone feels differently about these products. Many people love the Too Faced Shadow Insurance , a recent contender to the UDPP. I haven’t tried this product, because I’m happy with what I have now. However, this doesn’t stop me from finding something cheaper that works .

You Need This: Mad Minerals’ Drama Queen

Name: Drama Queen

Product: 5/5

Price: Varies

Available:  Mad Minerals

This color is a MUST HAVE in my humble opinion. Drama Queen is a lavender / gold duocrome that is spectacular. It’s a very light color, and in certain lights it looks like a pure gold shimmer on the skin. In fact, it’s hard to call this color a duochrome, because when you look at it dead on, it is a perfect mixture of purple and gold. I have nothing like this color in my collection. It is truly one of those unique colors.

The only color that even comes near this color is Prism by Paula Dorf, but there are literally nothing alike. Does that make sense? Prism is a light lavender with gold shimmer, but Drama Queen is like Prism on Steroids. I think this color would work well on all skin tones. It’s a cool color – but the gold shimmer would make this work on warm tones as well. You can work this color during the day and at night. It is pigmented enough, so that you do not have to use this color wet to get awesome pay off.

Review: L’Oreal HiP Kohl Eyeliners

Name: L’Oreal HiP Kohl Eyeliner

Product: 0/5

Price: $11.99

Available: Anywhere L’Oreal HiP is sold

I bought these from Walgreens during a BOGO Free sale on all L’Oreal products. I was hoping for something truly amazing – because the reviews I had read on this product had been had been glowing. I purchased two of them, Burgandy (black with red pearl) and Teal (blue), because those were the only two that hadn’t been tampered with. One of the first problems I had with this product, was that none of the items were wrapped. This made it very difficult to pick up a product that hadn’t been opened and tested by others. I try not to purchase items that had been opened before me, if I can help it.

I tested these two liners over a few days and I was very disappointed in both of them. These are suposed to be long lasting on the waterline, and both colors disappeared off of my waterline shortly after applying it. I also tried these liners on my upper lash line and both had migrated to my crease when I blinked my eyes. I’ve had this problem before with eyeliners, and honestly that is a deal breaker for me with it comes to liners. Neither color stayed on my upper or inner rim. The main reasons for why I purchased these items. I ended up returning them to Walgreens, got my money back. I don’t recommend these at all.

Small CVS Haul

I hit up CVS after work today, because I had some coupons that were about to expire today, and I wanted to use them while I had the ability. I hit up the sales that start today, because I feel that getting to the store on the day it starts, gives me the best selection of products. Today I took advantage of the Milani Buy one Get One 50% off sale, and the Physician’s Formula 40% off everything sale. I love the 40% off sales, because that allows you to get a good discount off of something without having to purchase items in pairs. I also really dislike the BOGO 50% off sales, because to me, that’s a pretty lousy sale – but brands like Milani NEVER go on BOGO Free sales, so I just have to suck it up and deal with it. LOL.

I almost bought some of the big domed wet dry singles that Milani released, but most of the reviews I had read of them basically say that they are terrible in performance and quality.  So I decided against those and I went for something else instead.

Here is my little 4 item haul! LOL…

Milani:

Earthly Delights quad – this has some GORGEOUS Greens colors in it.

Glimmer Stripes in Berry Glimmer – I already had two other colors – Bronze and Honey – which are more bronz-y than the Berry color. Berry is very cool toned with lots of pinks and purples. I have been eyeing it for a while now. I think it will make an awesome blush and eyeshadow. I can’t wait to use it!

Physician’s Formula:

Baked Collection Wet / Dry Eyeshadow in Baked Oatmeal & Baked Sands. I have a thing right now for baked / domed eyeshadows. I have been loving my MAC and Stila baked shadows and I wanted to get more to add to my collection. Since CVS had these 40% off and I had a $5 off coupon for PF, I decided to splurge and pick up two of these trios. I have never used these before, but I had heard some vey good things. Both of these trios have very pretty neutral colors, so I’m looking forward to trying these babies out!

Products I’m Currently Testing….

Right now, I’m in what I would call a testing phase. I’ve bought a lot of new face products over the past few weeks, including foundations and other products. I’m super excited about this, because I used to think that my skin didn’t work with foundations, because I kept breaking out, but so far I haven’t had any problem with my skin so far. All of my testing products are from the drugstore, and I’m quite impressed right now.

Here is a list of everything I’m working on right now:

Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Inspired by Carmindy:

Your Skin Liquid Foundation in Nude Beige

Truly Transulcent Loose Powder in Light/ Meduim

Forever Stay Pencil Eyeliner in Jade

Fast Fix Shadow Eye Base

Maybelline:

Dream Matte Mousse Foundation

Dream Matte Pressed Powder

Dream Mousse Blush in Rose Petal

Mineral Power Finishing Veil

So far, I’m pretty pleased with some of the items. I was more than pleasantly surprised to learn that Maybelline makes foundations that actually match my skin perfectly. I also haven’t broken out from Maybelline yet either… so that is either because my skin works with the brand or the primer I use is doing a bang up job right now. Either way, I’m definitely pleased.

I can’t say much for the Sally Hansen products, because I don’t want to say one way or another because I may end up having to change my mind on the product. Right now I’m borderline on certain products, and it would be unfair to talk about them until I’m sure.

Otherwise, what would be the point?

Total Beayty Web Tour

Beauty411 loves the new Guerlain Summer Splash Makeup Collection! Get all the fabulous details here!

I Heart Heels suggests how to get Vivacious lips & lashes – the secret’s out!

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Check out Upcoming and Current Cosmetic Collections HERE at A Little More Beautiful

Looking for the hottest looks of summer.. Image and Style news gives us the hottest hairstyles to wear for summer 2009.

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eye4style travels in style with Lisa Hoffman. Check out her review here!

Advice Sister Alison of advicesisters.net hopes you will follow her on Twitter (“Advicesisters”) and check out her post this week about how Beyonce believes in Safe Sex, and what she’s doing to promote it with MTV AND The Body Shop!

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The Shades Of U shares swatches and her review of MAC’s A Rose Romance, the new romantic, dreamy collection of the season.

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Melissa from The Makeup Divas finds another Holy Grail foundation and thinks you will love it to! While you are there, check out all of her giveaways, and enter them today !

Beauty Anonymous brings you Givenchy Summer 2009 Makeup Collection.

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Makeup Files teaches you how to use colored mascara in many different ways!

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Glossypink tells you how to get the shiniest and best-smelling hair of your life!

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