Beauty

Steampunk Palette + Other Pretties from Emby Boutique (First Impressions Review & Swatches)

April 01, 2018

Hello my badass beauties!
Today I have a very exciting (and pretty long) first impressions review for you. I have this stunning steampunk themed eyeshadow palette, lipstick, lip gloss, & a loose highlighter all from the Etsy shop EmbyBoutique. She makes custom eyeshadow palettes that contain glitter, duochrome, shimmer, blacklight, and matte shades. You can also find highlighters, lipsticks, & lip glosses in her shop. However you want it, she can do it for you! The best part is, all of her products are vegan & cruelty free. Plus she has some of the fastest *FREE* shipping I've ever received. 
15 pan palettes like this one run for $40 but she also makes huge palettes with 28 pans that range from $70 to $100 depending on if it's a magnetic palette or not.


This particular Steampunk Palette has 6 glitters & 9 Shimmer/Duochrome shades.

Is this packaging not phenomenal?! It wouldn't be a proper Steampunk palette without the cogs & wheels on the outside and inside of the packaging!

Look at these shades! 
I'm most excited about the glitters, the duochrome green shade on the first row, and the shades on the bottom row. But who am I kidding, I love them all.
Now that you've seen the inside & outside of the palette, let's get to swatching!
Here are the six glitters. So stunning!
While you're drooling over these beautiful shades, let's talk about the formula. I have to say these are some of the best glitters I have ever tried. The texture is smooth and velvet like(not gritty at all), and are very easy to apply. I purchased NYX's Glitter Primer specifically for these glitters, so that is the primer I used for the swatches.

With flash.
Without flash.


The pigments themselves have a formula like no other, and are also sort of velvety in a sense, but a hard velvet if that makes any sense. It's hard to explain, but it's a really nice formula. You get such amazing pigmentation with one swipe, and if you foil them they become even more intense. I had a few slight problems with the black shade(nothing too major, I've had the same problem with dark shades from other brands) but once I wet my brush, it really came to life and it's honestly one of my favorite shades out of the palette. I have had so many people complement me from these eyeshadows and continue asking me where I got them, and that always makes me so proud.

Now onto the rest of the products, starting with this gorgeous deep red shimmer lipstick.
This particular lipstick actually reminds me of Colourpop's Lux Lipsticks due to the star imprint.
I love the creamy formula of this lipstick, plus it smells like peppermint! Peppermint anything is my absolute favorite so that was a nice touch, and it's not overbearing either. You get full opacity in one swipe but I did two coats for the photo below to make sure I didn't have any skin peeking through. This lipstick is long-wearing, moisturizing, comfortable on the lips, and I couldn't even feel I was wearing anything(which is a major bonus).


The next two items I have are sample size, but she also makes them in full size.
First we have this gorgeous loose blue highlighter that has a violet shift. This jar is a sample size, but she has full sized highlighter palettes available in her shop.


Blue & violet are two of my absolute favorite shades for highlighters so this is easily going to become one of my favorites. I have never used a loose highlighter like this before but I will definitely be buying more in the future. The pigmentation is on point and I love the iridescent shift in color depending on the angle you look at it and the lighting you're in.
Here's a finger swatch of this beauty:

Peek in the photos below to see this highlighter in action!

Last but not least is a gorgeous pink-purple iridescent lip gloss. This is also a sample size, regular sized tubes are available.

This is the red lipstick with the lip gloss as a topper, featuring the gorgeous highlighter above.
I really like this lip gloss. It's not too sticky like some glosses can be, and the pigmentation is insane. Usually I don't like lip glosses in containers like this because they can be pretty messy sometimes but I barely had to use any product at all to get the result above, so the ease of application was great.

My final thoughts:
I really love everything. I highly recommend you check out Emby Boutique & give her a like, maybe purchase something from her shop! Her products are seriously such high quality and I can't get over how beautiful these are. Don't take it from me, you need to try them for yourselves!

All of her palettes are custom made(including the palette I'm reviewing), but if you'd like a palette made just like this one or similar to this one, message her on her Etsy shop or Instagram! She's super sweet and can make just about anything you'd like.
I love supporting and spreading awareness for Indie makeup brands! You can find so many beautiful, affordable, high quality products like these.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them down below! As always, thanks so much for reading.

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

NYX Haul & Review!

February 02, 2018

Hey badass beauties!
NYX was having a sale going on recently and I saw it as the perfect opportunity to splurge and buy what I've been wanting to try.
The products arrived quickly & they came in the cutest black lace drawstring bag!


The products that I purchased are:
Pigments in Metallic Velvet
Highlight Pro Singles in Ice Queen 
Liquid Suede Metallic Matte in Go Rogue
Hot Singles Shadow in Dressed to Kill
Roll on Eye Shimmer in Onyx
Nail Lacquer in Opalesque, Roller Disco, & Navy Star




Let's get down to the full face look I created using all NYX products.

Using Hot Singles Shadow on the lid, Pigments in the crease, and roll on shimmer in the corner.

Liquid Suede Metallic Matte. Review here.

Hot Singles Shadow swatches with & without primer.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with my purchase! All of the items exceeded my expectations, and I don't really have any complaints. I'm definitely going to be buying from NYX more often! I'll probably do swatches of the nail polish in another post. 
I hope you guys enjoyed this review and as always, thanks so much for reading!

Beauty

Wet N' Wild Midnight Mermaid Metallic Liquid Eyeshadows First Impressions

September 27, 2017

Hey Badass Beauties!
I'm sure you've all heard of Wet N' Wild's coveted Midnight Mermaid Collection. Well, I finally ordered the Metallic Liquid Eyeshadows, because those are what caught my eye the most out of the collection. I bought three of the four, because there was one green shade that I just would have never actually worn. I purchased Moonlight Majesty, Aquatic Prism, & Mysterious Nights.

This is just a simple first impressions review & swatches, but I'll do a separate post whenever I actually use them on my eyes. I'm just so excited to finally have gotten my hands on these, as I have not been able to find them in stores anywhere here where I live!

Top to bottom: Moonlight Majesty, Aquatic Prism, Mysterious Nights.





I posted the two above photos to show the duochrome effects of these beauties! In the first photo the order is Aquatic Prism, Moonlight Majesty, then Mysterious Nights, and in the second photo is Moonlight Majesty & Aquatic Prism trade places to better show the effects and full color changes. Moonlight Majesty is a purple shade with orange-ish reflects, Aquatic Prism is a teal blue shade with purple reflects, and Mysterious Nights is a black shade with gold & silver reflects. SO. STUNNING. Seriously guys, these pictures don't even do the actual colors justice.

Swatches of Mysterious Nights, Aquatic Prism, & Moonlight Majesty.

Let me start off by saying these dry down beautifully! I was a bit worried they weren't going to dry completely, but they totally did & even with me rubbing them didn't make them budge. Some are a bit streaky when applying, but they are extremely easy to build up. There is some fall out, because there's just so much glitter. You can't even feel the glitter as you apply them though, that's how fine the glitter actually is(which is great!) In my opinion, you don't even need a base with these. That's how opaque they are. These performed well past my expectations.

There are two main reasons I really love Wet N' Wild: First, they are super affordable, but their quality is superb! Secondly, they are cruelty free & all of the Midnight Mermaid Collection is vegan except the red lipstick.
Since these are limited edition as a fall collection, I have one piece of advice for you.. Go. Buy. These. NOW. At least purchase one of them! A lot of people say the colors in this collection are too bold or dark, but if you're anything like me you'll easily be able to wear them all year round.

I also just purchased some of the items from the Fantasy Makers 2017 collection, so keep your eyes open for that very soon!

Have you purchased anything from the Midnight Mermaid Collection? What was your favorite item? I hope you guys enjoyed my first impressions review, I can't wait to do an actual eye look & share with all of you! As always thanks so much for reading!

Beauty

Fall Inspired Look & Profusion Color Me Glow 12 Shade Palette Review

September 10, 2017



Hello my badass beauties! 
There's only 12 days until Fall and I am so excited. Fall is my absolute favorite season, so I got inspired to do a fall beauty look. My boyfriend recently gave me one of the 12 shadow Profusion Colour Me Glow Palettes, and it's actually a palette that I have been wanting to own but just never got around to buying it, so I was excited to try it out!

Here is the palette. It has so many shades that I love!

Swatches with flash.

Swatches without flash.


As you can see from the swatches, the first shade is very light and pretty difficult to see. These shadows were swatched without primer, and all of the shades gave great color payoff even without it. I do have primer on my eyelids in the photos below, so you can see the color and sparkle intensifies with it. There is a small bit of fall out, but it's manageable. Overall, I really like this palette! I can no longer find these particular 12 shade palettes on Profusion's website, but from what I've seen these retail for around $5-$7 on ebay. There are quite a few different color palettes to choose from, as well.


Now let's get onto the Fall inspired look I created with three shades from this palette. I did this look by blending the seventh & twelfth shades in my crease and the second shade on the lid, as well as a simple winged liner using Elf's intense ink liner on the top & the burnt orange shade as liner for the bottom.

The finished product.


I really like how it turned out. 


I also used Witch's Blood Matte Lipstick by Moon Goddess Market on Etsy, which is a deep blood red that looks black on the lips. I will be reviewing it soon so stick around for that. 









Unfortunately these two photos came from my phone and they aren't that great of quality, but here's two full face photos featuring my bat shirt that I thought would go great with this look. I apologize if any of these photos are hard to see.


I hope you all enjoyed this review, leave me a comment & let me know what you'd like to see next! 
Thank you all so very much for reading.

PS: Once I reach 100 likes on my facebook page for this blog, I'll be having a small giveaway. :)