Beauty – Page 3 – Pixiemama

pixiemama5000 / January 27, 2012

Inglot Eyeshadow & Blush Swatches

Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit an Inglot standalone store. There are only a few in the US so I was very excited to check out the store. For some of you who are not familiar with Inglot they are an International cosmetic company that originated in Poland. In many cases they are compared to MAC in the makeup world, however, they are significantly cheaper than MAC. Ingot is more famously known for their customizable palettes called the Freedom System. They have several configurations of palettes to fit your needs. The palettes are magnetized and extremely durable. Check out the possibilities:

http://www.inglotusa.com/Freedom_System-Palettes.html

One notable thing about Inglot is that the eyeshadows are twice the size of MAC Shadows. A single MAC shadow is 1.5g ($11.50) where an Inglot square shadow is 2.7g ($5). You really do get more bang for your buck with Inglot. In addition, the pigmentation and color payoff is amazing. You barely have to rub your brush on the shadow to get intense color. The only downfall is that Inglot is not as easily accessible as MAC. They are starting to branch out and adding counters in select Macy’s locations, however, there are only 9 stores in the US. They do have a website that you can order from. I know how difficult it is to purchase makeup online, however, if you decide to it’s probably best you locate some swatches on blogs to have a better idea of what you will get. I definitely recommend giving Inglot a try. Here are some of the goodies I picked up. I am also attaching pictures of the palette I bought last November so that you can see the swatches.

I originally purchased the 4 pan blush palette as I was told that each of the blush pans can fit two shadows-they gave me the wrong palette in my bag 🙁

Eyeshadow swatches with the shadow names

Blush swatch – in the color 25

Trio eyeshadow palette with blush

Swatches – The rainbow shadows are $7, it’s like getting 3 shadows in one!

I’ve also purchased a nail polish last year and really like it. Has anyone else tried any Inglot products and what are your thoughts?http://www.inglotusa.com/Freedom_System-Palettes.html

pixiemama5000 / January 15, 2012

Maybelline Color Tattoo First Impressions

So I gave into the buzz and jumped onto the Maybelline Color Tattoo bandwagon. After watching a few video reviews on YouTube I decided to give it a whirl. I purchased one at Rite Aid last Tuesday and was skeptical on picking up any more until I knew it would be worth it. On Friday night I watched Makeupbyleina’s YouTube review raving about all of the colors, so on Saturday morning I embarked on a mission to locate a few more. I scored two more at CVS for $7.50 each and was able to get $5 in CVS bucks when I bought two so it wasn’t too bad.

Now many people are comparing these little beauties to MAC paint pots. Although I own a few paint pots, I can’t say if they perform the same way as I use paint pots strictly as a eyelid primer so the colors that I own are neutral skin toned ones that I put eyeshadow over. If you are familiar with MAC paint pots they do not have nearly the color range that these Maybelline shadows have. As well, MAC paint pots are 5g and Color Tattoo’s are 4g.

As a test, before we went out to dinner last night I used the color tattoo on my eyelid without using any primer (which is rare for me as eyelid primer in my book is a must), but since I read reviews that the color tattoos do not need a primer I wanted to test this out. I wore the shadow for about 6 hours and noticed no creasing whatsoever. As well, the vibrancy of the color seem to last. It applied smoothly using my finger and blended well with my eyeshadow that I used in my crease. I really do think these are a great deal and the packaging is nice and durable, it’s worth a try and if you search around you may find a deal on these.

Here are some photos to enjoy 🙂

From L-R and Top to Bottom: Pomegranate Punk, Tough as Taupe and Audacious Asphalt

L-R Description:

Pomegranate Punk – A Maroon Shimmer

Tough as Taupe – A Dark Taupe Matte

Audacious Asphalt – A Gunmetal Shimmer

Swatches L-R: Pomegranate Punk, Tough As Taupe and Audacious Asphalt

Wearing Pomegranate Punk on my eyelid and MAC Beauty Marked in my outer V

Another photo of Pomegranate Punk on my eyelid

I apologize for the bad lighting on the close up photos of my eye, however it was already evening and couldn’t get any good lighting. Did any of you pick up any Maybelline Color Tattoo’s shadows and what are your thoughts? If so, what are your favorite colors?

pixiemama5000 / October 7, 2011

Tarte Starlet Collection Unboxing and First Impressions

I was absolutely THRILLED yesterday when my order of Tarte Cosmetics arrived from Sephora. I’ve been anxiously awaiting this delivery as I have been eager to try “natural” makeup. I have been migrating my life towards natural/organic products about 6 years ago when I was pregnant with my first daughter. We’ve transitioned our food consuption and household cleaning items to about about 70% organic/natural. I chose to do this mostly for my kids. Although I’ve given up soaps and lotions with parabens in it a while ago I didn’t think I would be able to give up some of the “harmful ingredients” when it came to cosmetics….until I found Tarte though a friend Jenn, take a look at her blog.

http://www.jennstaz.com/2011/09/parabens/

She’s in the process of eliminating toxic ingredients out of her cosmetic useage. And I’m all for it. Which is why I decided to put Tarte Cosmetics to the test.

This wonderful Tarte Starlet set has just about almost all eyeshadows you’ll ever need unless you want to get super colorful looks that something like a Coastal Scents 88 Matte would come handy. The packaging is sooooo irresistably cute. It comes in this miror-like acrylic case that resembles a fancy jewelry box that can actually be reused after you finish all of the shadows. You get so much bang for your buck with this set for $52 you get (24) shadows, (1) eyelash primer, (1) mascara, (2) blushes, (1) bronzer and (1) shimmering powder. That is such an unbelieveable deal it’s hard not to get excited about it.

One of my friends who’s an avid makeup junkie warned me that Tarte had quite a bit of fallout so I was very mindful of that this morning when I was using it. I made sure I “tapped” my brush several times after I swiped the shadows with my brush to minimize fallout. I honestly did not find the shadows to have extreme fallout. No more than my Smashbox shadows which I found to have more fallout than MAC. The Tarte shadows were powdery as you might be able to see from the swatch pictures. The pigmentation is good, I wouldn’t say extremely pigmented but I actually don’t mind my shadows being what I like to call medium pigmentation because it allows me to build on the look and color. I primed my eye with a MAC paint pot and I found that the shadow stayed on pretty well all day without any creasing. Unfortunately the pictures I took of the look I did, did not do the colors any justice. The colors were so much more vibrantly plummy than the pictures show. As well, I wore the pink blush and it stayed put all day. I have to say that I am extremely happy with this Tarte set so far! I will definitely be trying more Tarte products. And to make it better, it’s made with “good ingredients.” Tarte has earned another fan-Me!

Ok, so here is the method to the madness in the swatching, I swatched each row of shadows i.e. top left and top right were row one swatched. And I tried to include pictures with flash and without. Hope this is helpful!

The gorgeous case!

Swatches with flash of the top/first row of shadows

Swatches of the first row without flash

Swatches of the second row of shadows with flash

Swatches of second row of shadows without flash

Swatches of the third row/second drawer of shadows with flash

Swatches of the third row/second drawer without flash

Bronzer, (2)blushes and shimmer powder with flash

Swatches of bronzer, (2) blushes and shimmer powder without flash

Close up with flash of e/s-I used the 2nd row plummy quad

Full face look!

Thanks for reading! Hope this was helpful! xoxo Jen

pixiemama5000 / October 3, 2011

Dior – 5 Couleurs 708 Amber Design Review

So recently I befriended a Dior Make Up artist and we had talked makeup a few times and he peaked my interest in trying out some of the Dior line of cosmetics. Dior is obviously one of those “nice to have” things in your makeup collection but definitely not a must. I do have to admit though, it is quite luxurious. The packaging alone is solid and luxurious feeling and palette comes with a little slide on velvet like cover.

Right off the bat I could tell that this is an expensive shadow as from swatching it alone the shadows are sooooo unbelievably silky like I have never seen. I think I chose a palette that may have been a bit “cooler” on the brown side for me to wear as an everyday look, however, I haven’t experimented that much with different looks. The dark brown color that you see is a very cool toned brown, one you could definitely use for smoking out your eye. When I applied it in my crease it was definitely a little more dramatic looking than I was expecting. My next look will be to try applying the dark brown directly on my lid and use the other colors on my crease and browbone to see if that produces a more “everyday” look that I was looking for. The gel liner was firmly packed-just just give you an idea, when you rub your brush along it, it makes no dent whatsoever unlike the essence gel liner and even the Smashbox one I bought recently. Fall out was almost non-existant and the shadow was extremely blendable.

Every girl deserves a little luxury in their makeup collection, right?

Check out the gorgeous packaging-if you can see there is a CD under laid beneath the blue cover

Swatches without flash

Swatches with flash – they have a fun glittery color third from the left

Close up of eyes

Close up of eye with flash

Full face look 🙂

pixiemama5000 / October 2, 2011

Wet n Wild Petal Pusher Palette and MAC Dupes – Smoky Eye

I decided to try out my Wet n Wild Petal Pusher palette tonight before we went out to dinner. In all honesty, I used it one time before and applied my makeup at 8AM and by 12:30AM I noticed it creasing on me. Tonight I used it just for the evening out and I did not have any creasing. I do believe the colors on this palette are really gorgeous. When I saw this palette at Ulta immediately I thought in my head, wow, there are a few noticable MAC dupes. I will point that out later in my post.

I used the three colors on the right from the bottom up and the top left color as my highlighter. I used the shimmery maroon color on the bottom left labeled “crease” for my lid, then applied the color on top in my crease. I then took the bottom black glittery color and defined the outer corner of my eye. Now I did feel that the eyeshadow did have a bit of fall out and was not as blendable as some of my other shadows but overall I was happy about the look it produced. And even bonus Wet n Wild is so reasonably priced!

As well, I had another fabulous find at Target this week, the Physicians Formula Organic Wear Eye Makeup Remover pads. I actually bought some MAC wipes last weeked that are unopened that are going back to Nordstrom because I found these! These little pads are just the right size to do a quick clean up of any fall out. Some added bonuses are that they are organic and they have a pleasant lavendar smell!