Beauty

Hard Candy's Out of This World Galactic Eyes Eyeshadow Palette!

March 13, 2018

Hello my badass beauties! I was finally able to find Hard Candy's Galactic Eyes palette at Wal-Mart so obviously I snatched it up. If you know me personally, you know I love anything and everything space(and beauty, obviously) so this palette is right up my alley.
The shades in the pans look stunning, & the packaging of the palette had me hooked due to it's holographic/iridescent lettering and design. This palette retails for $8 & you get 10 galaxy inspired shades that can be worn alone or layered on top of other shadows for a transforming effect.


I absolutely love the holographic packaging!


Close-Up on the shades along with their names.


One of the things I was pleasantly surprised about this palette is it actually comes with a real double ended brush instead of one of the spongy type applicators that most drugstore palettes have. For these swatches I didn't actually have to dig into the palette, I only lightly used my fingers to get the product out of the pans so I know if you are more aggressive with swatching they will be even more pigmented. One thing I noticed is it seems certain shades seem to have different formulas, because Supernova(purple) & Meteor(red) are very dry compared to the other shades that seem silkier and more pigmented, and easier to apply. Another thing is they are very hard to apply with brushes so I do not recommend doing so, it's much easier to apply them with your finger and then blend them out with the brush. So let's get to the swatches! 




From left to right: Constellation, Shooting Star, Alien, Blue Moon, Meteor, Eclipse, Nebula, Spaceship, Retrograde, & Supernova.

I used the shade Blue Moon all over my lid & it performed decently. It blended well & there's a lot of sparkle packed in there.


The whole palette has a foiled type formula & I did one to two swipes of the pigment for each swatch. Out of all 10 shades, I was most disappointed with the purple and red due to the formula difference & they were the hardest to build up. Hopefully these two will be much more pigmented the more you build them up. I love how sparkly all of the colors are because there's really no duds in this palette, it just takes some patience for a few of them. 
I've been using Hard Candy for quite some time now & I remember back when the Meteor Eyes Baked Glitter Eyeshadow Collection came out, which had some of my absolute favorite shades at the time. Hard Candy has really stepped their game up in product range, selection, & quality over the years and I love how affordable their products are.
What do you think of this palette? Have you tried it? Let me know in the comments down below!
As always, thank you so much for reading.

Beauty

Possible Stila Dupe?

February 26, 2018

Hey badass beauties!
As you all know from my Wet N Wild Midnight Mermaid review, I bought 3/4 of the liquid eyeshadows, and if you haven't seen that review you can read it here!
One of the shades I purchased is called Mysterious Nights, and I realized it looks extremely similar to my Stila Magnificent Metals Liquid Eyeshadow in Molten Midnight. Coincidence? Maybe! Possible dupe? Let's find out!


Alright so I swatched both on my arm side by side to really see how similar they are, because just looking at them in their packaging they look super similar.

Here are the swatches, both only one swipe across my arm:

Stila on top, Wet N Wild on the bottom.

You can definitely see a difference in the two.


Results?
Both dry down completely and are beautiful when swatched and applied on the eyes. Neither feel heavy or uncomfortable on my eyes, but both have quite a bit of glitter fallout. Stila's is definitely more opaque and glittery, whereas Wet N Wild's has a good amount of glitter but is definitely more metallic and more buildable. For the price, I think Wet N Wild's Liquid Catsuit Eyeshadows are a good, affordable alternative to Stila's Magnificent Metals! Since Mysterious Nights was from their limited edition Midnight Mermaid collection you can no longer purchase that exact shade, but Wet N Wild just dropped a whole new line of Megalast Liquid Catsuit Eyeshadows & included all of the liquid shadows under different names. Mysterious Nights is now known as Black is the New Black! Yes I realize there aren't as many colors to choose from on Wet N Wild's line (as of yet) & this shade is more metallic, so this is probably a truly coincidental dupe.
If you love the high sparkle, stand-out eye & can afford to splurge, I highly recommend buying one of Stila's Liquid eyeshadows! However, if you aren't ready to make that big of a commitment to one product & still want that glittery metallic eye, Wet N Wild is a perfect choice!
In case you didn't know, Stila's Magnificent Metals Liquid Eyeshadows retail for $22 and you get .153 fl oz of product, while Wet N Wild's Liquid Eyeshadows retail for $5 & you get .12 fl oz of product.

What are your thoughts? Do you have any dupes for Stila's Magnificent Metals? Let me know in the comments below! As always, thanks so much for reading!

Beauty

Halloween Nails

October 24, 2017

Hey badass beauties!
You'll probably hear me say this a lot, but Halloween is my absolute favorite time of the year! I always get super inspired around Halloween time, so I wanted to do a Halloween inspired theme for my nails.
I decided to do a red and black sort of bloody inspired look.
For my thumb nail, I did a simple black base with a sparkly red overcoat. On my pointer finger I used a shimmery black base and painted a spiderweb on top of it, although you can't see it that well in the photos because of how dark the base is. The third nail is a simple black & red glitter mix nail polish. For my ring finger I did a black base with the same red sparkly overcoat used as a blood splatter at the top of my nail. Lastly, my pinky is the same black shimmer I used on the second nail.

I really like the way they turned out!

You'll have to forgive me for the pointer finger having a bare spot at the very tip of my nail, I took this picture a day or two after I did my nails.

What is your favorite makeup look to do around Halloween? Let me know in the comments below!
As always, thanks so much or reading!

Beauty

My Top 3 Affordable Highlighters!

October 23, 2017

Hello my badass beauties!
I know it's been a while, but I'm trying to get back in the swing of things! I apologize for being inactive as of lately. I haven't been feeling well at all. I've had an awful psoriasis flare and my lupus has been flaring up pretty badly as well, so I just haven't felt up to posting. I still feel pretty bad but I'm trying to keep myself distracted, so I figured it'd be a great time to post again!
I posted a preview of my top 3 favorite highlighters on my facebook page(go give it a like!) yesterday and promised I'd do a detailed blog post so here it is! All three have great color payoff & can either be as subtle as you'd like or built up for a more intense look.


Brands from left to right: Smoke & Mirrors, Wet N' Wild, NYX.


The first highlighter is by a brand I had never even heard of, but it is absolutely beautiful and the color payoff is intense! The best part? I purchased it at Five Below for only $3! The Mermaid Vibes Glow Stick is by a brand called Smoke & Mirrors.
I believe this beauty is a dupe of Milk Cosmetics Holographic Highlighting Stick. It has a strong iridescent shift from a neutral skin tone to a beautiful blue & pink depending on the light. I have mainly been applying it straight from the stick to my skin, because it seems to be the easiest way and it blends very well with a simple highlighting brush.

Smoke & Mirrors Mermaid Vibes Glow Stick


The next highlighter is Wet N' Wild's Megaglo Highlighting Powder in Royal Calyx. I have been dying to get my hands on this highlighter since I first laid eyes on it online, but I could never find it in stores. I finally found it in Wal-Mart at the beginning of October with their Halloween Fantasy Makers display so I snatched it up! It retails for $5 & is a beautiful sparkling lavender shade.

Wet N' Wild Royal Calyx


Last but not least is The Highlight Pro Single in Ice Queen by NYX Cosmetics. This beauty is a pearly pale white shade(perfect for my pale skin, which is why I picked it up in the first place!) You do have to build this up quite a bit if you have a very fair skin tone like I do, because it pretty much matches my skin tone. The more you layer it, the more prominent it does become and it gives a beautiful silvery-white sheen on the skin! It's simple, but so pretty.

NYX highlight & contour pro singles Ice Queen.


Did I mention they're all super affordable?!  If these prices along with swatches don't convince you to go out and purchase at least one of these right now, I don't know what will. I hope you all enjoyed this post. What are your top three affordable(or not so affordable) highlighters? Are you more on the subtle side or do you like dramatic looks like yours truly?! Let me know in the comments below! As always, thanks so much for reading!

Beauty

Sinful Colors Halloween 2017 Collection!

October 16, 2017

Hey Badass Beauties!
I have been meaning to post this for a while but this month has been kind of hectic. At the beginning of October I went to Ingles & took a stroll down the cosmetic aisle, as always... I was delightfully surprised to find the new Sinful Colors Halloween collection Night of the Living Red! There are 10 limited edition shades & two Walgreens exclusive shades, totaling 12 Frightful LE shades!
There were only 7 of the 10 on the display at the Ingles I went to, so I purchased two out of the bunch because they stood out the most to me. One is a shade called Bite Me and is a metallic dark red with flecks of black glitter & somewhat resembles blood splatter (in my opinion), and the other is a glow in the dark shade with black skulls called Witch Hazel Bohn.



Bite Me. (with flash)

Without flash.

I did take these pictures a day or two after I painted them, so there are some thin spots at the tips of my nails that are bare now unfortunately. One of the things I noticed with this particular polish is it was a bit sticky, sort of like a used nail polish gets after a while or if it hasn't been closed up good. Since it was sort of sticky, it was a bit difficult to apply but this is with two coats so it is a nice and opaque coverage to see the full beauty of this color! I'm not sure if I just maybe got a bad batch or a particular one that wasn't closed good, but I do plan on repurchasing because I absolutely love this color, so I'll update this whenever I purchase a new one!

Witch Hazel Bohn. Look at that luminous green glow!

All of the skulls do settle at the bottom so you have to give it a good shake and leave it upside down for a few seconds to get them to disperse throughout the bottle. The formula on this polish is also thick but I assume that is due to the fact that it is glow in the dark, maybe? It was easier to apply than the other so I wouldn't say it was sticky, just thick formula. I couldn't get a good picture of it on the nails but it is just a glow in the dark coat with black skull glitter.

I really love both of these polishes because they do truly scream Halloween to me! I love Sinful Colors and the variety of collections they come out with. I'm hopeful that I only got a bad batch of the collection for Bite Me, because it truly is gorgeous. I plan on buying the two Walgreens exclusive polishes as well, so I'll update this post once I do!

You can view the entire collection on their website here or find it at your local Ingles or Walgreens! I hope you enjoyed this post, and as always, thanks so much for reading!

Beauty

Reason For Inactivity

October 04, 2017

Hi badass beauties!
I'm so sorry for not posting anything in a few days. I've had psoriasis on & off the majority of my life, and one of the main spots I've had it is on my eyes. Here lately it has gotten really bad on my right eye and my face, so I've been trying to wait until it *hopefully* starts clearing up to where I can start applying makeup again.
I'm hoping I'll be back at it in no time!
Thanks for being patient, & I hope to start posting more soon. <3

beauty blog

Wednesday Addams Dress & Makeup

September 20, 2017

Hey badass beauties!
I have been drooling over this black velvet collared dress in Hot Topic for a while, because of how much it resembles Wednesday Addam's dress.. AND IT'S VELVET. I have always wanted a black velvet dress. Well it just so happens that I found it on clearance the other day, the only one there and it was in my size. How lucky is that?! It was like the Dress Gods sent it specifically to me. Yes, of course I bought it.
I figured I'd channel my inner Wednesday Addams and do a makeup inspired look to go along with the dress, and I think it turned out really well! I attempted the braids like she has, but you can't see them too well due to it being black on black, as well as my hair being so layered & thinned out due to lupus.
Anyways, let's get down to business!



You can't tell me I didn't pull it off, because I totally did. I am so proud. I did edit my eyes a bit to make them more dramatic, but only in this photo.

Can we just talk about this beautiful dress for a second?!


Makeup:

I thought I'd do a silver-grey with a dark lip.

Closeup



Products Used:
ELF Intense Ink Eyeliner in Blackest Black
Sleek Bad Girl Palette in shades Blade & Innocence
Bitzy Metallic Eyeshadow in Shooting Star
Moon Goddess Market Witches Blood Matte Lipstick
NYX Highlight & Contour Pro Singles in Ice Queen



This isn't really a review or anything, just something different I wanted to do in the spirit of Halloween, even though I'll definitely be wearing this dress & makeup all year long! 
I hope you enjoyed this post and as always, thanks for reading!