Maybelline Color Show: Amethyst Ablaze

Two coats, applied like a dream especially for a metallic. Color is much more fuschia purple than royal purple as it appears in the bottle.

Unboxing Urban Decay's Vice Palette

I am a sucker for all things Urban Decay. It's probably the only brand of makeup my husband can name because I talk his ear off about how I want this or that new palette. So when the Vice Palette launched I just knew I had to get it. Why? Because limited edition palettes from UD are my vice (like many of you I'm sure).

It sealed the deal when I heard the list of colors. Occupy? Anonymous? Be still my little left-wing heart.

Outer Box

I like to see palette unboxing(s) because there are frequently knock-off palettes made but the one thing they never seem to do exactly right is the packaging. They almost always skip some step. If you look on Ebay right now you'll probably find fifty sets of the "Naked" and "Naked2" palette being sold in sketchy beige boxes. Not legit. Sad too because people are paying legit money for them.

Inside there is a foam insert which protects the jeweled UD lettering

Up Close

Special Push Button Thing

Vice Palette open

And here she is in all her glory. The shades are (from top left to bottom right): Desperation, Muse, Jagged, Blitz, Penny Lane, Junkie, Chaos, Occupy, Unhinged, Black Market, Provacoteur, Rapture, Vice, Noise, Armor, Nevermind, Echo Beach, Anonymous, Freebird, and Laced. These all claim to be new shades but some are fairly close to some other UD colors you might have if you have older palettes. For example Noise is pretty similar to Woodstock except Noise has better formula. These all have the new formulation so that's something to consider if you're debating picking this palette up.

I recently noticed that UD released a Book of Shadows III Redux which is apparently like BOS III but with a few shades replaced. I considered getting it since it was $39 and a good value but I couldn't justify it having just purchased the Vice Palette. I'm glad I got the Vice Palette though because they're sold out near me already and I would gladly take the newer formula shadows over the vintage ones. Also the color I reeeeeally wanted from BOS III was Kush and they  took that one out and replaced it with Mildew, ugh....rambling.

So, I've used the Vice palette several times now and it's safe to say I am happy with my purchase. I love the little push-button opening mechanism. It slowly lifts the lid until the mirror is in full view, or at least mine does I've heard complaints. The double sided mini Good Karma brush is nifty and not at all too small to do the job. The shadows are smooth and most have good payoff. The only dud color is Jagged. The packaging is sturdy although it collects fingerprints and smudges quickly. Nowhere near as bad as the velvet casings though IMO. I've been really loving the color Muse in this collection. It's a shimmery brown shadow and is a great neutral for my skin tone and not a repeat from either of the Naked palettes. My favorite, favorite, favorite color in this palette though is of course Chaos the bright blue matte color. I could wear that color everyday although it would probably be inappropriate.I'm already the cray-cray mommy at play dates. It's the perfect color for roller derby though!

I give this palette an A, but I was bound to be biased because I eyed this palette for weeks and am a UD fiend.

Have any of you guys picked up this palette? Whaddya think?

Hitting Pan

Iman: Perfect Response Oil Blotting Pressed Powder

I hit pan again the other day. Surprisingly, kind of, because I swear I didn't hit pan so quickly on this before. Today I have for you my favorite (right now) pressed powder. It's the first non drugstore powder I ever tried  and it matches my skin so well. OK, I have to admit the first two times I bought this I LOVE LOVE LOVED it. This past time since they incorporated the "New Enriched Minerals" I'm not sure I love it as much. I swear I go through it faster and if I'm not mistaken it's slightly less red-toned which is one of the reasons I buy it in the first place. I purchase this powder in the color "Medium Deep" but I noticed last time I was in the store "Deep" appeared lighter than Medium Deep and some of the "Medium" palettes appeared darker than "Medium Deep". I was slightly confused. Honestly I feel like the amount of minerals in makeup varies bottle to bottle and I look at each package before I buy it. 

So here's a shot of the packaging. I find that it's a very sturdy compact. In fact my very first one is probably still floating around the center console of my truck for those "just in case" moments. The mirror is good sized and the plastic doesn't chip or crack. It comes with a little powder buff underneath but I never use it. When you open it, it tends to open to the applicator though so then if you don't use the applicator you have to flip the powder down. Super minor complaint. 

The powder itself is silky and not strongly scented (which is good because I hate overly perfumed cosmetics). It really does seem to control oil better than ordinary powders however I generally use it in conjunction with the Iman Time Control Oil Control Primer so I couldn't tell  you which one is doing the trick. The main reason I love this powder is the color which is why I was kind of disappointed last time. I swear they added "minerals" that gave me a slightly darker cast than usual. Also the first time I bought this product I didn't run out for at least nine months. The second time I hit pan in maybe a third of that time. I'm pretty sure I didn't start wearing 3 times as much makeup per day but who knows maybe it's my brushes. I ordered my re-up online because I couldn't get to the store and nearly ordered a shade lighter... but I didn't so we'll see when it gets here later this week how different the tones are. 

If I had to rate this product I would give it a B+. I'm sure there's probably a better HE product out there but for now I'm willing to give this another shot.

OPI: Your Web Or Mine

OPI :Your Web Or Mine

Quick Nail Of The Day. Today I'm wearing OPI Your Web or Mine from the Spiderman Collection. I just felt like today was a good day for a frosty pink. I usually don't care much for anything remotely frosty.

OPI Your Web Or Mine

Here it is in the bottle. For some reason my pictures are making this lean much more warm toned pink than it is. I thought it might be similar to Orly Sterling Silver Rose, but it's more salmon-y than that. 

OPI Your Web Or Mine (ring finger  - NOPI Step To The Beat of My Heart)

And on the nails. It's a pretty color but not very unique. Somehow I felt as if I allowed my entire manicure to be this color it would be too boring so I painted my ring finger blackened glitter with Orly After Party and then put NOPI Step 2 The Beat of My Heart over that. Yes, A Justin Bieber themed polish...I know don't tell my adult friends. I had to pick and place the hearts but they were still fun. Smoothed everything out with a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry top coat and this was the final result. So shiny I can practically see my reflection! I wore this mani for 2 days with no tip wear but alas I'm a fickle chick so tomorrow the frosty pink has to go. It may or may not be clashing with my new highlights which are bright red/magenta...story for another day.

Sinful Colors Winter Shimmer Collection 2012

Hey all. I'm certainly not the first to post about these but I noticed that there weren't many swatches available of the new Sinful Colors Holiday Shimmers Collection. This collection is being released in drugstores right now for the Holiday 2012 season. Above is a picture of the display. I spotted these at my local Rite-Aid when I was wandering cosmetic "browsing" (shopping) between Open Skate and a late night movie. It was funny because when I got to the register to pay for them there was no cashier. There was a bell, but it was broken and it took me and another customer several minutes to find anyone to ring up our purchases. I was diligent though in the name of polish!

L-R: Superstar, Winter Wonder, Nova, Faceted

There are eight polishes in the collection but I only got four. I ended up picking out Superstar (1138), Winter Wonder (1142), Nova (1137) and Faceted (1139). There were one or two dupes in the collection, Queen of Beauty and one other that I can't remember the name of but is duped all over the place. 

L-R: China Glaze Smoke & Ashes, Sinful Colors Nova

When I first picked up Nova I thought it might be a dupe for China Glaze Smoke and Ashes from the Hunger Games collection. I bought it anyways because I love S&A and it was on sale (sucker, I know). 

L-R: China Glaze Smoke&Ashes (2 coats), Nova (2 coats), Nova (1 coat)

When I got home and swatched them however it was apparent that Nova is a dark blue jelly base whereas Smoke and Ashes is a black base. After two coats the difference is negligible but at one coat it is very obvious. With a good hand it would be possible to wear Nova at one coat, but I was hastily swatching for the sake of swatching. Two coats makes a beautiful night sky dark blue with glittery "stars" if you will. The glitter flashes green and gold. It's a very pretty polish and my favorite of the bunch maybe. Slightly more glittery than S&A in my opinion.

L-R: Faceted over Orly Liquid Vinyl, Faceted over Snow White, Faceted over Mesmerize

Above we have Faceted. I'm not usually a big fan of bar glitter but for some reason this one seemed really pretty in the bottle. Tiny blue hex glitter with duochrome gold and green bar glitter in a clear base. First I swatched it over a basic black, then a plain white. Over the white polish the bar glitter seems to disappear. Last I swatched this over Sinful Colors Mesmerize (1128) which I think is from the "Enchanted" collection. This was my favorite combination out of all of them and probably my next mani! The light blue glitter over the  dark eggplant polish is really pretty. It's a slightly softer look than layering over black. 

Top: Winter Wonder, Bottom: Super Star

Last we have Winter Wonder and Super Star. Winter wonder is a gorgeous dark silvery shimmer with tiny flecks of gold and blue. This polish had an excellent formula and two coats was enough.Super Star is blue and purple hex glitter with tiny irregularly shaped blue flakies in a blue jelly base (mouthful right?). There's another polish in this collection that looks similar but with pink glitter, but it's been part of the standard display for some time so many of you will already have that one. Super Star builds up to full opacity with 3 coats and dries relatively rough but that problem could be solved with Gelous or another thick top coat. I like to use Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat over glitters like these. I left the swatches free of top coat however. 

So that's it. I heard Sinful Colors was shutting down their factory and laying off their workers so you never know this collection might be their last. As far as quality goes I have to say I would miss them if they were gone though especially at the price!