Mani Monday: Illamasqua Viridian

What it says: Hardwearing and chip-resistant, apply 2 coats for intensity and use with Illamasqua Base coat and Nail Top Coat for the Perfect Finish.

On my nails I used Orly top2bottom for the base and top coats and only one coat of polish. This was pretty opaque and like most people if it looks good enough I will stop at 1 coat. I will review the Orly top2bottom seprately.

I had this polish on my nails for 4 or 5 days before I changed it. It was chipped a little at the edges but I would consider that normal. In my everyday life I am a bit hard on my nails. These photos were taken right before I changed my polish so it shows the wear.

HELLO!

So, I'm starting this new blog to go with my new Youtube Channel (which I will link videos from).
The purpose of the blog and youtube is to share my love of beauty products and thoughts that I have about products with you. As well as showing you swatches of products so that my fellow Women of Color can know how certain products will potentially look on them.

I previously had a different blog and have linked some of the old posts to here so you have something to check out. At this point in time I am trying to create posts and videos so that I can start on 8/1 with a good stockpile of content and a regular posting schedule in both places.

Leave a comment or a link to your blog down below. Its been awhile since I've been in the blogging game and some of the blogs I used to frequent no longer exist :-( 

New Acquisitions: Lip products

Lip color is something that I normally shy away from but since its spring I've been wanting to break out of my shell a little. I'm not going to say that I new products I got are super crazy colors but I'm trying things that I usually don't wear.

Mac- So Vain Kissable Lip Color
$12.75 at CCO
This is a nudey- Baby pink color. It is also my first Kissable lip color and I really do like the formula of it. Its not too sticky and its not too dry and like all other MAC products it has that vanilla scent that I like. The only thing I don't like is that it goes on a little streaky when worn alone.

Bare Lips

So Vain

Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil - Toundra

$10 Sephora

This is a metallic burgundy color. I certainly do not own anything like it. I got it because I've been wanting to try Nars Lip Pencils and this one was on sale. Plus, Sephora has the best return policy so If I hated it I could get my money back. I'm still on the fence about the color - it is exactly as described. I'm just not sure how often I would wear this.

Bare Lips 

Toundra

Nars Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil - New Lover

$24 Sephora/ Nars

This color is described by Nars as a gold infused strawberry pink. I really like this color on my. Beacuse my lips are so pigmented the color is not as bright on my as it could be on others but I think it adds a subtle pop of color to my lips. I like how it is glossy but not sticky like a gloss. The product dries and doesnt look as glossy after a while but the color still stays which is nice.

 Mac- Viva Glam Cyndi Lipglass
$10.25 CCO
This is a coral-pink with micro shimmer. When I bought this I got it solely to put in my collection. I am surprised by how much I love this and how much I want to wear it. I'm not used to colors this bright so I'm still trying to fit it into my look but this makes me so excited for summer! It applied a little streaky on me so I've been trying to find a good lipstick/ liner to wear under it.

Mac Viva Glam VI

$10 at CCO

This is definitely a MLBB color. Its nothing outrageous, it just kind of pulls a look together. Somedays I get a little self conscious about my lips so I don't like to bring too much attention to them.

I also did some swatches on my hand so you can see the colors that way too

Top to bottom: New Lover, Toundra, So Vain, VG Cyndi, VG VI

New Acquisitions: Eyeliner

Eyeliner is a staple in my everyday makeup routine. Some people wont leave the house without mascara, I would leave without eyeliner. Its like if I forgot to put on pants. So, that being said, I like to try out new products. I definitely have favorites but why should I only use those. What if there is something better out there? Anyways, lets get started with some of the new liners I picked up over the last 2-3 months.

Stila Smudge Sticks fall into my favorite liner category. I love, love, love these! I first tried them last year when Ulta had a buy one get one free where I got Stingray(Black) and Lionfish(Bronzy/Brown). It was love at first use! They glide on ultra smooth, color lasts all day. They don't need to be sharpened! All things I love. So I had some Bloom dollars to use up (see these posts about Bloom.com) so I got another Smudge Stick in Stingray since my other one dried out. Then like 2 weeks later Ulta had the buy on get one sale again so I picked up another Lionfish as a backup and decided to try Bluefin which is gorgeous.

Then the next time I went into Ulta they had this set which included 2 full size smudge sticks and a sample mascara on sale for $15. I could not say no. I have no self control. This set included oscarfish which looks a lot like lionfish it might be a little bit lighter, and stargazer which is like a shimmery charcoal black.

Top to Bottom: Stingray, Bluefin, Lionfish, Oscarfish, Stargazer

L to R: Stingray, Bluefin, Lionfish, Oscarfish and Stargazer

I have no idea when I picked up this Urban Decay 24/7 liner set. It was probably late January or sometime in February so I don't think these are available anymore. Normally this set was $29ish but I think I got it for $15ish. This set comes with Flipside, Whiskey and a sharpner. I got this simply for Whiskey because I loved the one that came in the Naked 1 palette. 

Flipside, Whiskey

I also wanted to try some more drugstore liners. I heard about this prestige liner from Emi at Project Swatch since she did a liner test and this was the one that lasted all day and had the most intense color. (link to her post here). The liner is Prestige Total Intensity eyeliner in deepest black and I have to say it is the most intense black that I own. The only other black thats as deep as this is probably the Tarte Aqua liner in black. I might do a swatch test like Emi and see what lasts longest and which is most intense. Other than the prestige liner, I also nabbed the Milani easyliner for eyes in black and brown. These are alright. Nothing special to write home about. 

Swatches: Prestige deepest black, Milani black and brown

So thats "it" Lol. I told you i was crazy about eyeliner. Overall I prefer twist/ retractable liners over pencils because I never have to worry about sharpening them. I have recently noticed though that pencil liners tend to have more product in them so they might be a better value at the end of the day.

Jess

Review: Butter London - Slapper

Omg this is my new favorite nail polish! Teal is probably one of my favorite colors ever and this is literally the perfect shade of teal. The only thing that I don't like is that it photographs blue and nothing that I did made the picture show up true to color.

Application- This required two coats which is normal for polish. The color is opaque and not streaky when applied.

Wear - I'm pretty hard on my nails so I saw some chipping after about 2-3 days. It wasn't too bad but for the price of this polish I wish it would have held up better.

Cost - $14 (ouch)

This was just a super quick review of the polish. Let me know if you want to know anything else!

Long Lost MAC Haul (picture heavy)

This is a bunch of stuff that I picked up forever ago. I think I got this stuff in late April. But I found the pictures on my camera so I figured I would share. This is a collective haul from my first visit to a MAC "store" (counter) plus some stuff that I picked up at the CCO.

I got a couple lipsticks, MSF Blushes, lip conditioner, eyeshadow and blush.

This is what I picked up from the MAC counter. I got the Ricky Lip conditioner, Extra deminsion Skin Finish in Glorify and a blush in Raizin.

I got the EDMSF in Glorify from the Extra Dimension Collection. This was actually the last one they had left. I really wanted Superb from this collection but I think that was the one that sold out quickest. This beast was $29 and I have used it a handful of times this summer and I know I'm probably not going to get much wear out of it for the winter months so idk.

This is MAC's Raizin blush. This is a cult classic blush for women of color. I have a full review of this coming up soon. Its darker than blushes I normally use but I do love how it looks on my skin tone.

I got the limited edition Ricky Martin Lip Conditioner which I love. It keeps my lips super nourished the only thing I dont like is that sometimes I will get a white ring on the inside of my mouth. Its a problem that I only have with this lip product. Super Weird.

Everything else I show I picked up at the CCO. This is Speaklouder lipstick this is a cremesheen finish. Its a bit bright but I love love it.

Next, Syrup which is a lustre. I remember reading about this on Karen's Blog (Makeup and Beauty Blog) and I knew I needed it. I had been debating on getting it on the make website but I wanted to see it in person. This was also the last one they had so I knew it was a sign that I needed to buy it.

Swatches: Speaklouder on top and Syrup on bottom.

Eyeshadows in Wedge and Tempting. I loved both of these the moment I saw them. I was also toying with the idea of getting swiss chocolate as well but it was wicked dark and I never use my super dark brown shadows. I chose wedge because I have heard lots of people rave about it and it is a perfect matte skintone color. Tempting was love at first sight. I love anything that is gold/bronze with shimmer. Its over and done ~ its going home with me.

I also picked up Semi Precious Rose Quartz MSF, Improvise Mineralized Blush, and Pink Porcelain MSF. Improvise is like a rose goldy blush which I love, I use it almost as much as I use light over dark. The 2 MSFs show up a little light so I tend to use them as highlights.

 Thanks for reading. Let me know if you have any questions or if you want a more thorough review of anything.

NOTD: Butter London Big Smoke

This is Butter London's Big Smoke. I seriously love Butter London polishes. I'm not a huge fan of the price but the colors are brilliant, application is easy and they don't chip for days. I'm really hard on my nails so most polishes chip in about 2 days for me. I've actually had this on since Thursday and it is just now showing wear but I have been doing a ton of cleaning so my nails have been dealing with cleaning products.

Anyway this is with 2 coats and with seche clear base coat and seche vite top coat. I really love this shade of blue its got the right amount of shimmer and the blue base is not too dark nor too light.

You can buy Butter London polishes from Butter London or Ulta. Butter London polishes retail for $14.

Notd: Butter London All Hail the Queen

Can I just say right now that I love this polish but- huge BUT I don't like it on me and that makes me infinitely sad. This is such a lovely nude color with a wee bit of shimmer. I was so excited to try it on my nails but I could tell once I finished the first nail that this was not going to work. I ended up leaving this polish on for only 1 day because I was hoping that I would change my mind. No dice. Time did not make it any better. :sadface:

Nail Polish Haul

So I like nail polish okay.

These are few polishes that I picked up from bloom.com awhile ago. They are disconituing their online store they deeply discounted the products that they still had available. I was able to pick up Essie Go Overboard, OPI Vampsterdam, OPI I Eat Mainely Lobster, and OPI Road House Blues. I like all of these polishes so far. I was a little concerned that the polishes would be seperating and gross but they arrived in perfect condition so I was super happy.

Ulta is having a nail polish clearance currently. These two polishes were not on clearance of course but as soon as I saw them I had to have them. One is Live and Let Die from the OPI Skyfall Collection. It has like a dark greenish/black base with green/gold shimmer. The second polish is the definition of impulse buy. I saw it and grabbed it because I have nothing like it. Plus, it's what I think of when I think of spring nail polishes. I think this is from the OPI Brights Collection and its called Significant Other Color. The color is a shimmery pink/lilac with green duochrome elements to it.

I grabbed a couple polishes from Sephora when they had their 20% off a sale items. I got two Sephora by OPI glitter top coats and an Illamasqua duo. The two glitter polishes are Hollywould if I Could and The Golden Age. Hollywould If I could has a clear base with bar glitter that goes red/orange to blue/green. The Golden Age is a chunky gold glitter polish. The Illamasqua duo includes Viridian (which I wore here) and Glitterati (which I can't wait to wear.)

Also at Ulta I grabbed this OPI Drip Dry drying drops and top coat duo. I've already tried this once and I am not in love. I'm going to try it a couple different ways to see if it works.

Swatches on nail sticks of the colors (all 2 coats and Seche Vite top coat): I Mainely Eat Lobster, Vamsterdam, Go Overboard, Road House Blues, Hollywould If I Could, The Golden Age, Glitterati, and Viridian.