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

Review & swatches: Orly "Uncharted" nail polish

I have been all about summer colors lately, well, it being summer and all. 

The other day I was at my local T.J. Maxx and came across the amazing nail polish section that they almost always keep fully stocked with the Orly four pack mini's and full-sized duos. So I snagged up two! One of the "Hot Shots" four packs of mini polishes ($6.99) that has a gorgeous dark-er teal (matte creme), muted purple (matte creme), hot magenta-pink (shimmer), and a gorrrrgeous peach (sparkle). I also picked up a duo of full-sized Orly nail polishes, one being a matte creme orange, and the other a true-yellow shimmer.

Safe to say I have pleanty of nail polishes to keep my review-queue full for quite some time! Phew! Today I will be reviewing & swatching the magenta-pink shimmer. It is beautiful to say the least, it is what I can only describe as a dragon fruit-type color. See that ring of color right around the white flesh of the fruit? That's exactly what this color looks like to me. 

GAH! I love it. This is a two coat formula for sure, it doesn't look terrible with just one coat but it's streaky and uneven and the second coat makes it completely opaque and perfect. It's not goopy at all and went on very smooth, not a lot of effort required to level the paint. I think I found my new favorite pink polish, it's essentially fruit-punch for your nails!

What's your favorite pink nail polish? Do you like this polish?

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.