iron spy

SpaRitual Sacred Ground Swatches, Review

Laura — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:00:19 +0000

Just wanted to share one of my absolute favorites of the bajillions of nail polishes I got recently. Sacred Ground is a taupe polish with gold, purple, and blue shimmer. It is seriously gorgeous and perfect for fall. Application was a dream too, not too thick or too thin and gave perfect coverage in two coats. I know SpaRitual can be kind of difficult to find, but if you can get your hands on this one I highly recommend you purchase it. On to the pics!

Macro!

Revlon Diamond Lust Eyeshadow Swatches

Laura — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 02:20:43 +0000

Ugh, sorry for the relative no-posting lately, work has been kicking my butt. Anywhos, I’ve been drugstore hopping lately, trying to find the Wet n Wild Halloween polishes (no luck yet – le sigh). I came across a new Revlon display today, with these gorgeous shimmery shadows. I usually try to avoid impulse buying mu at the drugstore because the quality is rarely there, but they were so shimmery I couldn’t control myself. I picked up Night Sky–a black chock full of small silver shimmer and larger purple, green, and orange shimmer–Neptune Star–a blackened metallic blue with small blue shimmer and larger purple, green, and orange shimmer–and Plum Galaxy, a blackened metallic burgundy plum with small pinky-purple shimmer and larger purple shimmer. There were also 2 other colors, a white-silver and a light pink, but they looked kinda blah so I passed. Now, these swatch pretty boring just over UDPP, but when put on a sticky base like Fyrinnae’s Pixie Epoxy, they pop like woah. See the pics if you don’t believe!

CLICK for full size! Plum Galaxy, Neptune Star, Night Sky

Swatched once over UDPP. Kinda boring, some fall out. But…

Swatched once over Pixie Epoxy. Ohhh yeahh.

Once again for good measure

Sooo all in all I’m pretty pleased with my impulse drugstore purchase. These would even be lovely used wet as a liner. Now, to find those darn WnW polishes…

Dior Mitzah 5 Couleurs Palette Swatches

Laura — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 20:11:47 +0000

The Dior Mitzah quint ($60/.21oz, Limited Edition) has recently been released as part of Dior’s special mini collection honoring Mitzah Bricard, a woman who apparently served as muse to Christian Dior. Now, I’m not usually big into Dior quints; I find many of them overly frosty with at least 2 shades I would never wear. However, the color combination in this one caught my eye, and since I had a Sephora gift card to soften the blow, I went ahead and pulled the trigger. I am SO glad I did. The colors are amazing, in color and pigmentation. The quint includes a warm ivory shimmer, a deep chocolate brown shimmer, a very warm golden tan shimmer, a khaki brown shimmer, and a camel shade with a sheeny finish. Obviously, this quint is beyond warm. If you can’t pull off warm colors, definitely pass. However, if you can, run, don’t walk, to Sephora and grab this baby right up. Mitzah is gorgeous. The pictures were taken indoors (been raining the whole week), but they are very color accurate. Enjoy!

OPI It’s My Year Swatch

Laura — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 03:48:40 +0000

Quick post, a polish from the OPI Miss Universe collection. It’s my year is a pinky purple with heavy gold fleck glitter. It has a foil finish. It’s the purple fraternal sister to OPI Rally Pretty Pink. These pics were taken at night and as such are taken with flash, which really brings out the base color. In natural light, you get much more of the gold foil finish showing through. This is 3 coats with 1 coat of SV.

Tarte Maracuja Cheek Tint Swatches

Laura — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 21:30:55 +0000

Tarte recently debuted a new cheek product on QVC, a gel-based tint called Maracuja Cheek Tint ($25/.35oz). They come in a mini pump, like the Make Up For Ever cream blush. Unlike the MUFE formula, which is an uber pigmented, somewhat dry cream, the Tarte tints are a sheer yet buildable gel. And they wear FOREVER. Seriously, much longer than their current cheek stain line up, even though those still wear great as well. The two shades I got were Sheer Red and Light Nectar. Sheer Red is a warm, slightly orange red, that’s buildable so will be suitable for all warm skin tones. Light Nectar is a bright reddish peach, great for light to medium tones.

Sun

Shade

Sun again!

So pretty! Here I put on Sheer Red to demonstrate how natural it can look when applied on cheeks and lips. Ignore the terrible brows and skin. I thought it was a TM day but macro shots of my face prove it to be a more full coverage day haha.

I love these things! I can’t wait to get the other 2 available. In their line of cheek stains, Sheer Red would probably be closest to Natural Beauty, but they are still very different. Natural Beauty is more of a neutral red, whereas Sheer Red is definitely a warm red. Light Nectar is similar to Blissful, but a bit brighter. I hope they release tons more colors!

Fresh Sugar Tinted Lip Treatment Swatches

Laura — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 22:31:06 +0000

In my last Sephora order, I tossed in the last two Fresh Sugar Tinted Lip Treatment ($22.5/.15oz) balms I was missing. I thought I’d post them all together here so you can see the colors available. The shades currently available are Fresh Sugar Passion (sheer neutral red), Fresh Sugar Plum (sheer neutral-leaning-cool berry), Fresh Sugar Rose (sheer pinky rose), and Fresh Sugar Honey (sheer, warm nude). They are sheer but all four definitely show up on my lips. The sheerest one is probably Sugar Rose, just leaving a slight pinkish tone. The level of pigmentation in your lips will definitely determine how well these show up. If you have very pigmented pink lips, then you could probably pass on Sugar Rose. All of them are pretty moisturizing, and have an SPF 15 which I love. They also have a clear one available if you just want the moisture/SPF and no tint. All 4 share the same light citrusy scent that I love. I will probably repurchase all of these, except possibly for Sugar Plum. It leans a hint cool and I prefer berries that pull more red. In fact, Clinique’s Almost Lipstick in Black Honey is very similar to Sugar Plum, except for the fact that it has more red tones. Anywho, on to swatches!

Family Portrait!

Clockwise from top left: Rose, Passion, Honey, Plum

Swatches in Sun (I mislabeled Passion here as Crimson, oops!)

Swatches in Shade (I mislabeled Passion as Crimson again – Crimson is totally a better name!)

Sugar Passion

Sugar Plum

Sugar Rose

Sugar Honey

I love these for both winter and summer, and I hope you do too!

Orly Fowl Play Swatch, NOTD

Laura — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 02:58:43 +0000

Last trip to Ulta I impulse bought one of the new fall Orly’s, Fowl Play ($7.5/.6oz). Fowl Play is a really deep red based purple jelly base, with tiny silver and blue glitter and flakes that flash red/green. It’s also a dupe for OPI’s Merry Midnight, which was released as part of their 2010 holiday collection. I have to say, it’s quite a stunner! Formula was smooth, and I used 3 coats to get opacity. Pictures are 3 coats + 1 coat of Seche Vite topcoat.

Fowl Play is limited edition and selling out fast, so get one while you can!

Tarte Sunkissed & Dollface Cheek Stain Swatches

Laura — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 22:48:08 +0000

I totally have a disorder. A collector’s disorder. If I have all but a few of something, I feel the need to get those last few just to have a complete set. Even if I don’t particularly want those few, I’ll get them anyway if the opportunity presents itself. And the opportunity to get the last two permanent Tarte cheek stains I didn’t have presented itself recently during the Tarte 30% off sale. I recently swatted the other eight I own (seven permanent ones and the True Blood LE one) here. I’ll add these to that post when I get a chance.

The two I didn’t have were Dollface, a very very sheer light neutral baby pink with soft shimmer, and Sunkissed, a red toned bronze. I have to say, these two are definitely the weak links in the Tarte stain line up. Dollface isn’t bad, it’s just extremely light. I’d say if you’re NC25 or over to just pass this one up entirely, unless you really want to use it as a base for a powder blush. I’m NC15/20 and though it does show up, I’m definitely on the upper end of tones able to wear it as is. The formula is the same as Tipsy, with some shimmer that isn’t really noticeable on the face.

Sunkissed is an entirely different story. There’s something really weird with the formula, even though I can’t find a real difference in the ingredients list. Sunkissed is like a liquid in a barely solid form. If you push the product up and back down again, it juices over the sides. And when you press it down your finger will leave a big indent in the top. Anyone familiar with other Tarte stains will know that they do have moisture to them, but they are still very solid. Sunkissed is like actual jello. I put it in the fridge to try to solidify it, and I put it open in front of a fan for a few hours to try to dry it out, but nothing made much of a difference. The color is nice though, a reddish bronze that is easily buildable for intensity. It also seems to share the same wear time as the others. I’m not going to return it, since I did get it on sale and I do like the color, but I can’t say I recommend purchasing it. I also know it didn’t just melt in transit or anything, since it hasn’t been hot out this week and because Dollface arrived perfectly fine. I always wondered why this was the only one I could never find in stores anywhere, and now I know why. It would completely melt under store lights. I think it might be an old formula or something, since I noticed on the back it says “tartecosmetics.com” and not “tarte.com” like my other stains.

Sunkissed, Dollface swatches, natural overcast light

Sunkissed, Dollface swatches, flash

Light swatch of Sunkissed

Heavier swatch of Sunkissed

I think it is obvious why these were my last two cheek stain purchases, but I’m still glad I have them. Both are definitely wearable for me, though they are obviously not my favorites. I generally love Tarte stains and I can’t wait to see what new ones come out in the future!

NARS Night Porter Polish Swatch

Laura — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 07:27:57 +0000

Released a part of the limited edition Night Series collection, Night Porter is a blackened green with tons of green shimmer and sparser gold shimmer. I think this one is my favorite of the four polishes, I looove blackened greens. The formula was really good, perhaps a little thick, but I got great even coverage in two coats.

CLICK for full size!! Can really see the gold shimmer in the sun

CLICK for full size!! Flash. Excuse the tip wear, this was after a long day of errands!

Love this one! I will review the remaining two in the series shortly (see my review of Night Rider here).

Tarte Joy Lipsurgence Swatch

Laura — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 06:11:54 +0000

One of the many things I got in the recent Tarte Friends & Family sale was Tarte Lipsurgence Natural Lip Tint in Joy ($24/.1oz). I love it! The color is a warm peach with a hint of pink. I think the pinker your lips are, the more pink it’ll look on you. I didn’t know whether to classify this as a gloss or a lipstick, but I’d say it’s more of a lipstick with a really glossy finish. The wear time is decent, nothing remarkably long or short. They are decently moisturizing and definitely not drying. My favorite part is that they give your lips a very juicy look, like you’ve been sucking on a popsicle of an amazing color.

Swatch, shade.

Swatch, sun.

Mmmm, juicy.

I definitely will add more of these babies to my shopping list!!