NYX Color Correcting Concealer

So, if you visit the Sephora website, it's obvious that there's a big focus on "Color Correcting".  I had dabbled with color correcting before, but it wasn't until I started to notice how dark my under eyes were that I actually decided to start testing it out.

As many of you know, NYX Cosmetics, has really great product at a good price point.  I didn't want to invest $40 - $50 on the higher end color correcting palettes without first trying it out to see if it was even worth it.  So, I got the NYX Color Correcting Concealer palette to give it a try... As you can tell from the photos I was really excited and have been using the palette for a bit.

In general, I do love how pigmented the colors are, you don't have to use a ton of product to get a good amount of coverage.  Currently, I haven't found use for all of the colors, but what I like about this palette, is that I will have the additional color correctors in my arsenal without having to spend a ton of money.

My main concerns for color correction, are dark under eye and redness, so I focused on the salmon colored concealer and also the green.  I realize that they do recommend yellow for undereyes of tan skin, but I've also heard that yellow is better color corrector for tanned skin, but also that it's better for neutralizing bluish/purplish hues, such as bruises and veins, etc.  This made me try using the salmon colored concealer instead.

The green concealer works fantastic for diminishing red areas on my face before foundation.  To apply, I simply use a flat detail/foundation brush over the red spots, and then use my beauty blender and pat the color out.  However, I did find that the salmon colored concealer was too light for my skin tone.  What I ended up doing (and worked really well), was mixing the NYX concealer with the brighter coral color from the Anastasia Beverly Hills cream contour kit.  Although my under eye isn't super dark, it's definitely helped give me a much nicer look of my foundation.

Overall, I think for $12, it's not a bad palette.  Perhaps I haven't played around with them enough to be in love with it, but in the future, I'll probably try to invest in just a green concealer and just an orangey coral concealer.

The Color Correcting Concealer can be found online at the NYX Website, in their brick & mortar locations, and I also did see them recently inside Target stores.  If you're interested in learning more about color correction, this is a good and affordable starter palette.

Lime Crime Velvetines

If you haven't noticed by now, I've become pretty obsessed with Matte/Liquid Lipsticks.  I have the best BFF ever, and she hooked me up with some new lipsticks to try for Galentine's Day!  The flavor of the day is Lime Crime's Velvetines.  I had been wanting to try these out, so it was a really awesome surprise!

The packaging on these is very cute.  I love the little rose design, and also the frosted tube.  The size of the tube is also slightly shorter than some of the other liquid lipsticks I've tried recently.  My favorite part of these lipsticks is the smell.  Like the Kylie ones, these have a cake/chocolate scent that is very pleasant.

The two colors that I have are Shroom and Pumpkin.  I'm most excited about Pumpkin, as it appears to be a similar color to Kylie's 22 which I just purchased and am currently waiting to receive.  Shroom looks much better in person than it does in photos, I think the shade doesn't necessarily work well with my skin tone.

Pumpkin

Shroom

Unfortunately, I'm not super crazy about this formula.  For me, I had to apply several layers of the lipstick to get the correct pigment.  I'm not sure if I just wasn't letting it dry enough in between applications, but I noticed several unsaturated patches after two layers.  The Pumpkin shade went on pretty decently, but I put on about 4 or 5 layers of Shroom before it looked acceptable for me.  It also bled into the cracks around the outside of my mouth, so I really wished that I had a lip liner.  After the Velvetines dried, there was minimal transfer by touch, but noticed that the color faded quickly the more that my lips were exposed to moisture from drinking and eating.

What I did like about formula, was that it was very light even after applying so many layers, and it also felt very moisturizing, and of course as I mentioned earlier, I did enjoy the scent.

Overall, it's not my favorite liquid lipstick, but they're not terrible.  I would still wear them if the shades went well with my make-up of the day!  The Velvetines go for $20 and can be purchased online from the Lime Crime website.

Kylie Lip Kits!

I cannot tell you how excited I am to be making this post.  I will admit, the Kardashian's are my guilty pleasure, but when Kylie announced that she was going to be making her own lipsticks, I was a little skeptical.  But now that I've gotten my hands on them, I am completely OBSESSED.

I've seen Kylie's social media posts, and I think it's amazing that she has the opportunity to have a vision and bring it to life.  Everyone has been obsessed with Kylie's lip looks, so it only made sense that she would create her own, and that they would be insanely popular.  I love all the personal touches like how the label itself is her signature, to the copy of her handwritten note that comes in the box.  The best thing about it all, is that this liquid lipstick is much more than just a name, and it does not disappoint!

All of the lip kits come in an adorable box complete with the signature Kylie drips that continue onto the actual tubes of lipstick themselves.  Each kit comes with a matte liquid lipstick and a matching lip liner.  On the box, Kylie's Tip is to line the lips first and then use the lip color to fill in the color.  I like to do this, but I do also like to feather my liner into the lips and then use the lip color and blend it all together.

The lipsticks have the delicious scent of cake batter.  The lipstick goes on very smooth, and you can get full coverage with just one coat of application.  It also dries very fast.  Once it's dry, the lipstick has a great matte finish, and pretty much stays where it is.  I wore Mary Jo K for 12-hours, ate breakfast, lunch and dinner, and also had numerous drinks and did not have to reapply at all!  Although I only have three of the six (soon to be seven) shades, I've seen many reviews and photos of other folks wearing the colors I don't have, and all of the colors seem to work well on all skin tones.  I think that Posie K has just become my absolute favorite every day color, it a perfect shade of pink that's not too dark, and not too bright, it's literally just right.  Candy K is great for a neutral look, and Mary Jo K is just that perfect bright red.  I hope to have the opportunity to get my hands on the rest of the colors soon!

From Left to Right - Candy K, Posie K, and Mary Jo K

Overall, this is an amazing liquid lipstick.  As you all know, I love love love the NYX Lip Lingerie's, but I won't lie, I love these a little bit more! At a price point of $29, that's actually a great price for the lipstick and lip liner.  These babies are incredibly hard to come by right now, but rumor has it that the lip kits are gonna be restocked in less than a week.  I can't say enough how fantastic the formula is.  When they are available, you can get them at the Kylie Cosmetics website.  Hopefully she'll be able to keep a regular stock soon, as they typically sell out right away.If you can get your hands on a kit, I would most definitely recommend it.  

Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani - Blush Palette

Gwen Stefani is one of my absolute favorite celebrities.  When I first heard that she was doing a make-up line with Urban Decay, I was completely obsessed!  Two of my favorite things together had to be good, and although I didn't need them, I bought damn near everything.  Today, I'm going to give my thoughts on the UDxGwen Blush Palette.  Before I start, I just want to say that regardless of my review, I would have bought this palette solely for the fact that it was Gwen and Urban Decay.

I had seen several photos of the product, and I bought it online from the Urban Decay website, before I had the opportunity to see it in person.  In some photos many of the colors looked darker than they actually are, so I thought it may be a palette that would work for me.  However, when I received it, the pigments were much lighter than I had initially thought.

The palette features six blushes (from Top to Bottom, Left to Right) - 

Cherry, Easy, Angel, Lo-Fi, Hush and OC

I would say that this palette is not really geared towards tanner complexions.  As you can see from the swatches above (swatched from Top to Bottom, Left to Right).  The palette does feature shades that have a matte finish, and some with a shimmery finish.  The matte shades don't really work well for darker skin.  This photo was taken with flash and you can barely see the Cherry, Lo-Fi and OC shades.  On the other hand, the other three more shimmery colors do work quite well.  Easy is now my go-to blush, and I use Angel and Hush for my highlight.

Overall, this palette is 6 out of 10 for me, as I am only able to really use half of the colors.  I wish that the selection of colors was more versatile for all skin tones. If the palette wasn't branded with Gwen's name, I probably would have skipped it and stuck with the Naked Flushed blush palette.  However, the devil is in the details, and the packaging is super cute and very Gwen-esque.  I especially love the little "Magic's in the Makeup" quote found on the inside of the mirror, as that is one of my favorite No Doubt songs!

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette

I know, I know... Urban Decay has already come out with the Naked 3 Palette, and the Naked Smoky Palette.  But what can I say, when you have a go-to, it's your go-to!  :)

Naked 2 is an amazing eye shadow palette that features 12 beautiful, neutral colors that are perfect for any look, day or night.

From Left to Right:
Foxy, Half Baked, Bootycall, Chopper, Tease, Snakebite, Suspect,
Pistol, Verve, YDK, Busted, Blackout.

I did a couple different swatches of the colors on my skin.  The first set shows each pigmented shade with natural sunlight, and the second set are indoors with flash.  I always make it a point to test eyeshadows in both types of light - especially if you know that you're going somewhere where photos may be taken, as some shades look very different in various lighting.

Natural Light

Indoors with Flash

My absolute favorite shades in the palette are "Blackout", "Tease" and "Foxy".  I use these three shades almost on a daily basis for my daily look.  My day to day look consists of using a black eyeliner pencil, and smudging "Blackout" throughout my lash line.  I then take "Tease" and blend the colors upward into my crease.  Finally, I blend it all out using "Foxy" to highlight my brows.

The result?  A very neutral and pretty look that is perfect for work, or just a day out shopping with your bestie!  If you're going out later in the evening, you can touch it up using "Snakebite" for a little bit of a shimmery glow.

NYX Lip Lingerie

Two weeks ago, my favorite local mall hosted a Grand Opening for one of the very first NYX stores.  After standing in line for hours, we finally made it into the store and one of the first things I got my hands on was their Lip Lingerie, and I'm now absolutely obsessed with it.

I'll admit, not all of the shades looked good with my skin tone, so I narrowed it down to three that look fantastic!

The packaging is very reminiscent of the Kylie Lip Kits (which I wish I could get my hands on, boo!).  They're a good size, and are perfect to keep in your make-up bag or purse.

What I love about these, is that you can get a great look without needing to use a lip liner.  The brush is thin enough, where you can basically use the tip to line your lips first, and then blend the color into your lip.  Plus, once the product is set on your lips, it pretty much stays in place.  There is very little transfer of color, and in many cases it's not even necessary to reapply after you eat (although of course, it depends on what you're eating).

The three shades that I have in my collection are Beauty Mark, Ruffle Trim and Exotic
(swatched from Left to Right).

Beauty Mark is a deep brown shade.  I definitely wouldn't wear this shade everyday, but the color is very pretty.  Because of its dark color, I need to put on three coats for the color to completely cover my lips.  This does make it a little more difficult to remove at the end of the day.

Ruffle Trim is a neutral shade, which is close to a nude shade for my skin tone.  This one is my absolute favorite.  It's perfect for everyday wear and can work with a natural look, or paired with a dramatic eye for a night time look.

Exotic is slightly darker than Ruffle Trim, with a slightly more red almost brick shade.  The color is very versatile.  Much life Ruffle Trim, it will definitely work with a daytime look or a night time look.  However, due to the red pigment, it can leave a red tint on your lips for a little while even after removing it.

Below are all three shades after they have set onto my lips (again swatched fron Left to Right).

With an excellent price point of only $7, I would buy all of the shades if they looked good on me!  It's definitely a great alternative to some of the pricier liquid lipsticks.  The formula is great, feels very light on the lips, and is long lasting.  If you haven't tried them yet, I would definitely recommend them!  Although NYX is available in many stores, I've only seen them at the NYX brick and mortar locations, online at the NYX Cosmetics website, and very recently online at Ulta.com.  Hopefully that means that they'll be rolling out the line to other locations like Target and CVS very soon!