Review: Maybelline ColorSensational lipstick in Born With It

Hello again everyone!

I was reading blogs all over today and it really gave me the kick in the butt I really needed to start posting regularly again, even if it's just an Eye Of The Day (EOTD). I like to tell myself I don't write more often because of being busy, but let's be real.. I find myself sitting on my ass more than one might think a new parent would (perks of having a very happy baby!). So that's that, now on to the good stuff!

So about a month ago (almost exactly, actually) my mom was in town and that's when I picked up everything fautured in my Walmart Haul one of those items was Maybelline's ColorSensational lipstick in "Born with it". This color is absolutely gorgeous, it's the perfect pinkish-nude on me. It reads "my lips but better" (MLBB) without a even a hint of "my lips are covered in concealer" and honestly, what more could a girl want in a nude lipstick?! 

However, this lipstick is not without a fault or two, which we'll talk more about in a few moments. Alright on to the review!

   Packaging is nice and solid-feeling.

    Giving some perspective size-wise.

   If you look veryyy closely at the part of the lipstick where I used it and broke the "seal" you can see the hidden sparkle.

    Swatch on the left is two swipes and the right swatch is one swipe.

Color and texture: This lipstick, like I said, is a perfect pinky-nude. It is by no means more-pink-than-nude but juuust pink enough where it doesn't look concealer-y or unnatural. The texture I find to feel semi-moisturizing and not drying at all (unless you already have chapped lips in which case, you should be wearing lip balm, not lipstick!), and very creamy! It does settle into my lips fine lines ever-so-slightly but is only noticable if I look at my lips about three inches away from the mirror. Basically unless you live with someone who has a lip fettish or finds themselves staring at lips very close up as a pastime then you should be good to go! 8/10

Pigmentation: This lipstick is well pigmented, its medium opacity which is how I prefer my lip-products because I feel like if it's too heavily pigmented it can bring out flaws and accentuate dryness. With one swipe I get the perfect pigmentation for the "MLBB" look and if I want it to kind of "override" my natural lip color I'll go two swipes because even then it's very flattering. 9/10

Fragrance or Flavor: I don't detect any fragrance or flavor to this particular lipstick, maybe a very light vanilla scent but just barely-there. 10/10

Downfall(s): The singular and pretty big downfall to this lipstick is that once the color fades away from the lips (after about 4 hours) it leaves behind this verrrrry fine silver glitter. God Forbid if you touch that sparkle, it gets everywhere and is hard to get off of hands, face, boyfriends face, etc. I mean I like that it's not gritty at all and the glitter doesn't show up initially but I just sooooo wish Maybelline had left out the shimmer all together. The name of the color is Born With It, who on Earth is born with glitter all over their mouth?! Major downfall for me but it won't stop me from wearing it although it might stop me from repurchasing. It's a real shame.:(

My favorite way to wear this product is with a very thin layer of a thicker lip balm on my lips (Carmex in my case), let it sink in a minute or two, and then the lipstick.

Overall verdict: I really enjoy the color, texture, and wear of this lipstick but that glitter hassle might be a deal breaker for me. Hopefully Maybelline has something similar sans glitter or will reformulate in the future because other than that it's HolyGrail worthy. 6/10

Walmart Haul & Micro-Reviews

Hello ladies! Today I bring you my very first haul, ever!

I went to Walmart with my mom the other day while she was in town, and I may or may not have spent more than expected on makeup.. But it was well worth it as I love every single thing I purchased! Here is a photo of everything I ended up bringing home.

1: I finally picked up the ever-infamous Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder in Translucent to use for setting powder over my foundation to help keep oils and shininess at bay.

2: I was previously using the Rimmel 9-in-one BB Cream (and I will have a specific review coming for that soon but basically I despised it) and I wanted to find something I liked better, so going off of many blog reviews I bought the Covergirl TruMatch liquid foundation in L3. It has a pummmmp!

3: After seeing it in Marie Claire on Rita Ora I was suuuper excited to purchase the Rimmel Color Rush Balm in Viva Violet, which is significantly less purple than one would expect from a lip color with violet in it's name; however, it is wonderful!

4: I have some really pathetic unfortunate eyelashes, short, thin, and straight as a pin (haha, rhyming) and I had heard some splendid things about Hard Candy's Lashaholic Mascara in Blackest Black lengthening and volumizing abilities so I decided to give it a go!

5: I was planning on picking up Blissful Berry from the Maybelline Color Sensational lipstick line but that being one of their top fall lippies, it was sold out. However, I did end up finding a beautiful pink-nude color that is an exact "my lips but better" (MLBB) shade called Born With It. I love the color, there appears to be shimmer in the color in the tube but isn't apparent when applied but to my dispare once it fades from the lip a pretty good amount of glitter (not chunky though) is left behind which I'm not a fan of. 

6: I've been using a Milani spoolie/brow pencil combo for quite a while and I've never really liked it that much, it just got the job done. Hard Candy just released their brand-new brow product that's supposed to be a dupe of Benefit's Gimme Brow, it's called Brows Now! I must say, there's a tad of a learning curve to it, especially if you're like me and have never used tinted brow gel before (this stuff is "fiberized" too, which is great!) but once you get the hang of it it's easy-peasy. I promise!

7: Whenever they released back in January or Fedruary I really wanted to pick some up and I finally got my paws on the Maybelline Mater Hi-lite in Coral. Its a smidge shimmerier than I expected but it's really really gorgeous and has great staying power and pigmentation to give a really natural glow. I used to yesterday for a "5 minute face" on my eyelids just to brighten my face up since with a newborn tiredness is common in this household and it was beautiful!

8: I am so excited about this one ladies! I've been wanting to try a makeup setting spray for ages, but this girl is not going to pay $20 for MAC Fix+ and hunting down Vegtable Glycerine is just as hard as finding a drugstore setting spray so DIY-ing was out of the question. Just as we were walking out my mom spotted the Elf  products and I saw this beauty! I still have to get the hang of it and test some more before I can review but for $3 why not!?

9: As a brown-eyed girl I know greens and purples flatter me, especially because I DO have some green in my eyes. I was going to get an all-matte neutral palette called Birthday Suit but then thought I already have the Lorac Pro palette so I decided to snatch up the Hard Candy Top Ten eyeshadow palette in Green With Envy. Before purchase I of course googled swatches and I must say, they lived up to my high (for drugstore eyeshaow) expectations! They also have some pretty unique colors in here that I love.

10: Being constantly tired isn't a cute look on anyone, insert the Hard Candy Sheer Envy Illuminating face primer! They have a lot of different options there, like color-correcting, mattifying, etc. etc. I think there were like 6 to choose from. This one has a very slight purple tinge to it and some subtle shimmer which makes for a brighter appearance when used under or blended in with your foundation.

11: this is a looonng time favorite concealer of mine, you have to be careful because it can definitely get cakey but it is a seriously heavy-duty concealer. It's the only concealer that makes my under-eye bags look diminished, with the teensiest dot and my Beauty Blender dupe (and a light hand with the setting powder!) it looks very nice and conceals wonderfully. You don't have to use quite as much caution when using it on zits, which it totally disguises!

I hope you all are having a great October so far, we certainly are having finally settled into our new home in Arizona and enjoying our baby girl bundles.:) 

~best wishes~

Review & Swatches: Rimmel ScandelEYES Waterproof Gel Eyeliner

So I have been on the hunt for ages for this eyeliner. I wanted to pick up both colors (black & brown) and every time I went they only had one or the other and there's only one place in town where it's available. Persistence pays off! Finally after many disappointing trips to K-Mart I finally found both colors stocked about a week ago.

This eyeliner is the ScandalEYES Waterproof Gel Eyeliner, is about $6 -depending on where you buy, I got mine for $6.59 each- and comes in four colors, black, brown, purple, & blue (I picked up the shades 001 Black and 002 Brown). Rimmel London makes these claims about the eyeliner: 

• Up to 24 hours of rich, intense colour that doesn't flake, smudge, smear or run.

• Easy to apply, glides easily.
• Professional brush for complete control to draw the lines you want.

Bold move, Rimmel boasting up to 24 hour wear! Now on the Rimmel website there isn't an ingrediant list and, sadly, I tossed my packaging before snapping a picture, my apologies. There's also 4 shades listed on the Rimmel website, black, brown, purple, and blue. No fancy color names here, but I don't mind.

Now, on to the good stuff! 

Included brush: It comes with a brush, which I tested on my hand doing the initial swatches and it just made too think of a line for my taste and so I kept them, but haven't used them to apply the product to my eyes. However, that's not to say they're bad brushes, they're very soft and firm enough to use in a practical way, not so firm that they'll hurt your eye though.

Application: this eyeliner applies very smoothly, it's nice and soft in the pot, easy to pick up on your brush, and doesn't drag or skip at all during application. It takes a minute to set so you have some time to smudge (if you want to), go back and correct any little blips if you have shakey hands, etc.

Wear: this product wears AMAZINGLY on me. I am beyond impressed, Rimmel! I have major issues with gel eyeliners, every single one I try either is too dry, cracks and crumbles, or just never truely dries causing endless smears. I can put this eyeliner on at 8 in the morning when the forecast is calling for 90% humidity, thunderstorms, and a high of 86 and know that I will see only the slightest transfer onto my lower lash line. The performance is amazing with these! It does not smudge, it doesn't crack or flake, and I only see the slightest hint of transfer if it's extremely humid/hot that day and I'm wearing it on my upper waterline.

  **Note: in the above photo, I wet the entire swatch, and rubbed only the.    right-most side with my index finger. Much like in the photo above that, except I omitted labeling the original side/adding the white "wall" to seperate them.**

Formula: the formula is very, very creamy, rich, pigmented, and smooth. It glides on without any extra effort to "make it cooperate", and there is zero need to "work with it" for any length if time to get the desired result. You do need a relatively steady hand, however, not as steady as you'd need with, say, liquid eyeliner. This is the blackest black gel eyeliner I have ever used (I've used high end, drugstore, etc. everything from Maybelline to Smashbox) and it doesn't fade whatsoever. I'm also pleased to say the brown is a true brown, no "black brown", and the brown is just as beautifully pigmented as the black! It's gorgeous. In the pot the Black appears completely matte (and applies so). The brown appears to have a very small amount of micro-shimmers in it but once applied they're really not noticable at all, and you won't get any crazy shimmer on your face when removing or if you accidentally sleep with it on.

My final verdict: both of these eyeliners can wear for 12+ hours on me (I would never wear one for a whole 24 to test that claim, sorry!) without any sliding around, cracking, flaking, etc. The pigmentation is beyond perfect, super rich and saturated colors. The waterproof claim is definitely true also, I washed my swatches on my hand with dish soap and water and they didn't budge, it's insane. Although, they do remove easily with an oil-based makeup remover (I use olive oil to remove all my eye makeup). 

These are my new Holy Grail gel eyeliners, I'm absolutely in lovvveee. 10/10 stars for me, and I'd definitely reccomend these to anyone in search of a great, and affordable, gel eyeliner.