My Minions

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Wet n Wild Fall 2014 Matte Lipsticks Review & Swatches

Hi beautiful people,

Continuing my everlasting love for matte lip products, I am ecstatic to share with you guys some amazing drugstore gems I found recently.

It's none other than my trustworthy go-to brand when it comes to awesome and affordable matte drugstore lipstick brand, Wet 'n Wild. They recently came out with limited edition Matte lipsticks for Fall 2014 and I was so happy to hear the positive reviews on them.

"Matte, but creamy." 

How can you say no to that? It's like describing a guy; hot, but rich. 

Wow......umm, YES, I'll take 10 of those, kthxbye.

Honestly, I understand what people complain about matte lipsticks and they mostly because matte lipsticks tend to feel "draggy" when you apply them. Some of the colors in Wet 'n Wild regular matte lipstick line are like this, I can't even try to sugarcoat it, but the ones I'm about to show you are different.

I think they have 4 new colors that are out in the collection, but I only picked out 3 because the other color (which is fiery red) didn't really appeal to me.


Sweet cream - Bordeaux Boulevard - Urban Night

Sweet Cream: nude beige
Bordeaux Boulevard: deep plum
Urban Night: blue tone red

They really apply smoothly and easy and you can just see how pigmented they are.





They can be distinguished by the matte tubes instead of shiny plastic that the regular line has, and the price ranges from $1.99-$2.99 depends on where you get them.

Please do share if you have them, I'd like to hear your thought.

Also I have another NYX lip haul coming so stay tune on that one :)

Until next time!
Xoxo

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Maybelline Color Elixir Swatches & Review

Two posts in a day! Huzzah!!!!!

These next new drugstore lip products I'm about to share with you are simply amazing, I kinda knew they would be great but I was still pleasantly surprised once I actually have them on my lips. If you noticed, I've been on a hunt for a straight up purple lip products and other than Revlon Matte Balm in Shameless, I had my eye on one of Maybelline Color Elixir called "Vision in Violet". Of course, I couldn't pick only one so I got "Celestial Coral" along with it.

CAN WE JUST LOOK AT VISION IN VIOLET OMFG!!!!!

Now, looking at the glossy consistency you might think they're just like regular glosses. Oh no no no, these are lip glosses on pigment-crack. They really show up on your lips and glide on like a dream. You could see how Vision in Violet on my lips below, and I kid you not, that was 2 swipes on each lip. The lip gloss themselves have short wand with doe foot applicator. 


On lips: Maybelline Color Elixir Vision in Violet
 Go run to your drugstore and get them NOW!

Revlon Matte Balms Swatches & Review

Hello loves,

Today I have a review of a new line that was released by Revlon, called Matte Balm. I'm sure you are familiar with their Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain (I did reviews on these product here 1 & 2) and these are just like them only the finish is matte.

As a matte lippy lovers, I quickly got interested and decided to grab 2 of the colors: Sultry & Shameless.

 Sultry is your medium pink with warm undertone. 

 Shameless is a stunning medium purple.

Unlike their long lost cousins, the Balm Stains, Matte Balms are super duper pigmented. They also don't drag on your lips like most matte lipsticks tend to do. I truly enjoy the color payoff, especially Shameless which is perfect for Fall.

Have you tried Revlon Matte Balms? Tell me your favorite because I might pick up a few more ;)

Toodles~

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

NOTD: Turquoise Gemstone ( Waterspotted Nail Art )

Hey guys!

A quick post on a mani I did today. It's called "Turquoise Gemstone", where I was trying waterspotted mani for the first time. I've seen this technique a lot, starting from watermarble nail art which I'm not really a fan of, but this particular style actually looks cool.

What I did, basically:
1. Paint my nails with turquoise nail polish (I used Icing Marine Blue), let it dry.
2. Fill a plastic cup/container with water (preferably filtered and room temperature).
3. Drop a dollop of black nail polish (I used WnW Black Creme) and make sure it dissolve within the surface of water, it'd look grayish and transparent.
4. Quickly spray any liquid containing alcohol (I used perfume, you can use hairspray or spray-able hand sanitizer) on the dissolving polish. This should "crack" the smooth surface into random spots.
5. Dab your nails on those spots. Wait 10 seconds before you lift up your fingers from the cup.
6. Dab gold nail polish (I used SH X-treme Golden-I) randomly on the empty spots very lightly.
6. Clean up. Apply top coat.

It does take a lot of practice & trial/error since not all nail polish dissolves nicely on water, also the alcohol spray..sometimes they don't work if the nail polish has been left for too long in water. 
I think it's so cool to try and you could even use more than 1 color if you like.

Tip: Tape your fingers around the nail beds with scotch tapes, it's simplify the annoying process of cleaning process. Trust me, you would want to do this.

Have fun & experiment!
 

Thanks for checking out!

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Indie Focus: Pahlish August Duo & Moats and Boats and Waterfalls

Hey guys!

I'm back with new indie polishes from Pahlish, an indie seller on Etsy. The first one is called:

 "Moats and Boats and Waterfalls"
It's a dark teal jelly with blue, silver, lavender and teal hex glitters in various sizes. I think it's such a unique combo and the lavender certainly makes it much more interesting than the usual blues/teals mix that many indie polishes currently have.

Used 2 coats with Seche Vite
It looks a bit like a galaxy, don't you think? :)
 Some cool macro shot

Second one is actually a new upcoming August duo called "Old Fires Were Burning" which consists of:
1. Slow Like Honey
2. Heavy With Mood

According to Pahlish:
Slow Like Honey: nude/putty cream with copper shimmer and green glass flecksHeavy With Mood: clear based glitter topper with copper metallic glitters in several sizes, small moss green hex, and medium midnight green squares accented by sparse gold shimmer

"Slow Like Honey"
 
LOOK AT DEM FLECKS THO


2 coats with Seche Vite 
 I love this one so much, it's subdued and the flecks is very subtle. 
Kinda wish it'd show up more, actually.

"Heavy With Mood"

I like how in certain lighting the copper glitters look like rose gold,
and in another angle they just look like peas & carrots :P
 Macro shot because WHY NOT

Check them out on Etsy and Facebook for further info and sales.



*Disclaimer: these products were sent to me for review purposes*

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Product Review: NYX Matte Lipsticks in Euro Trash & Strawberry Daiquiri

I trust NYX when it comes to lip products. Until recently I've been using their Soft Matte Lip Cream exclusively. I know some people don't like them for various reasons (mostly they can't get over the "It's a lip gloss, but why is it not glossy?" state). I, on the other hand, hate sticky and shiny glosses (I remember my fellow blogger Whitney called them jelly doughnut lips lol) so obviously I'm all about this product. Plus, they're uber pigmented and amazing...so what's not to love? Read my review here, if you haven't tried them.

Now, I've been seeing these matte lipsticks on NYX display for quite a while now, but I was so content with the lip creams so I never got around to try them. All I know was they were good products, have wide selection of colors and of course, affordable. Gravitating towards the pigmented matte lipstick, I knew it was only a matter of time before I cave in and hoard them all.
Fortunately, I have decent self control this time around and only purchased 2 to try. The reason being, simply because I have too many lipsticks. The colors I've chosen are Euro Trash and Strawberry Daiquiri. Not sure if NYX had something in mind behind naming this line, but they seem to be quite random. I thought they were beverages-inspired (there are also Merlot, Bloody Mary) but then they have "Butter" ... so I was like,
lol idk
 Anyway, here they are
 Euro Trash: muted pink (has brown undertone)
Strawberry Daiquiri: peachy pink (has warm undertone)
For my NC37 ish skin, these two look really subtle on my lips despite how bright they may look in the tube. Euro Trash is gorgeous but I think the winner here is Strawberry Daiquiri. If you're about my skintone and want to try a semi-bright lip for the summer, try Strawberry Daiquiri (or Sierra, a tiny more orange compared to Strawberry Daiquiri).

VERDICT

Packaging (3/5): Sleek black plastic tube, easy to open, no hassle, overall very nice but nothing to write home about.

Texture (5/5): Pretty creamy and glides on lips very easily, unlike WnW Matte lipsticks which sometimes tug on your lips if you haven't moisturize. 

Performance (3/5): NYX Matte Lipsticks are actually not that matte in appearance when you just applied them but they do dry to a matte finish after a while. Not all the colors are buttery smooth like Euro Trash & Strawberry Daiquiri. Some are chalky and hard to work with.

Pigmentation (5/5): Just look at the swatches :) They're amazing.

Scent (4/5): No scent detected, which is a plus in my book.

Longevity (4/5): Pretty decent. Always use lip balm underneath.

Overall (4/5): Try them, at least one, to see how you like it. I think it's worth it especially if you're a fan of matte lipsticks.