Wet 'n' Wild 8 Pan Eyeshadow Palettes

Last weekend I picked up the 3 new 8 pan Wet 'n' Wild eyeshadow palettes at my local Walgreens. They retail for $4.99 and are a great value for the money. For the most part I like them, despite generally being a total brand whore, but Wet 'n' Wild has always been one of those exceptions for me; the quality is always great.


First up is the beautifully neutral toned Comfort Zone. The quality on this one is nice; it's soft and pigmented and delightful to apply. I do feel like the left side of the palette is too warm for my taste, but I love the green side of the palette (minus the ugly warm brown duochrome shade)

The second palette is Petal Pusher, the purple toned palette in the new collection. Again, one side is cooler toned than the other. The cooler toned left side is far less pigmented than the other. I had a bit of trouble applying the lid shade without packing it on, and even then it didn't show up too well. I haven't applied the right side yet, but it swatched pretty nicely. I would say that this is the least pigmented of the 3 palettes, which is a bit dissapointing to me because I'm fond of purple eyeshadows.

The last palette; Blue Had Me at Hello is the most pigmented of the 3 palettes, and oddly enough my favorite. I'm wearing the right side of the palette today, and it applied smoothly and coordinated perfectly. The silver shade is also the most amazing silver I've come across. I feel like this palette is worth it for that shade alone if nothing else. I am a little bummed that they shoved two black shades in this palette that are nearly identical; the glitter in the right side of the palette falls off pretty much immediately leaving it identical to the other black shade. The blue on the left side is also black based; making it come off as nearly black on my lids. I really wish that the creative team at Wet 'n' Wild had seen fit to put a different shades in here, but I'm still happy with the palette overall.

The last thing I have for you ladies today is my manicure for the day; China Glaze Cracked Concrete over ORLY Cashmere Cardigan. It's not my favorite combination, but it works I guess.

Guerlain G Serie Noire

After seeing post after post about this blush, I felt that I had to have it. Unfortunately, my local counter was sold out of this, and I was told that it was completely sold out in the Nordstrom network. Of course, when it popped up on Sephora's site, I quickly plopped down the ridiculous amount of money that this blush was to cost me.

When the blush did arrive, I was completely underwhelmed by it due to the gold shimmer that was laced so strongly throughout its entire surface. Revisiting the swatches I'd seen on various other blogs, I was even more disheartened by it's comparison to blushes such as NARS Orgasm, which I had hated for it's gold sheen, as well as the overall shimmer in each shade. I was sorely tempted to take this blush back to Sephora without even trying it; however, it was still getting rave reviews online. I decided to suck it up and give this blush a whirl before I made my final decision; so taking my favorite R&R blush brush, I carefully ran my brush through all 4 colors and applied it to my face.

Sadly for my wallet, I found that I rather like this blush. I think that it's comparison to Orgasm, Deep Throat, and other peachy-pink blushes is a bit of a sad generalization about this blush as it does not even begin to describe this blush. While it's true that running your brush through all 4 colors will create a shimmery peachy pink blush, it does not have the gold sheen that Orgasm does (or it's sheerness), or is even quite as strong a shimmer as Deep Throat (though I could be wrong on this one). Plus with the way this blush is striped, you could make it as pink, peach, or coral colored on your face as you'd like. To me, this says that it is mutiple blush colors in one, making it my blush pick for the spring (though I'm not sure I could bring myself to travel with this sucker...it's far too pricey for me to want to tote it anywhere past the safety of my own home. I'm fairly excited to see what the summer blush will look like when it comes out.

I chose not to swatch this blush as I can't bring myself to wreck the G emblazoned throughout the surface of the blush, but decided instead to share my thoughts with you ladies on this blush. My honest opinion is to pick up this blush if you find one. It's well worth the splurge if you can afford it.

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Boy

To replace the old Aqualumiere line, Chanel has come out with a new line of lipsticks called the Rouge Coco Shine, which is set to come out in early April. However, a few counters did a pre-release of a single shade from this line, Boy, which I was lucky enough to be able to pick up yesterday from my local Chanel counter. A few weeks ago, my favorite Chanel SA had flagged me down when she saw me walking by and basically strongarmed me into buying this lipstick, telling me that this is the only lipstick I will want to own after this, because it would become my every day color. I was a little skeptical of this, but as my SA is generally prone to keeping me from buying things, and because I did not yet own a Chanel lipstick, I relented and preordered one, despite her insisting that I should get more than one.
I am generally not a lipstick girl, but I have found myself a very happy girl with this new lipstick. Chanel Boy is a sheer mauvey, slightly cool toned pink with multidimensional shimmer, making it similar to a gloss on the lips, but not quite as shiny (although it is still fairly shiny on the lips). It reminds me a lot of a cross between a MAC Lustre and the old slimshines actually (The sheerness of a lustre with the shine from the slimshine). However, it's not drying and better lasting than a Lustre, and has a much smoother finish to it. It's wonderful and emolient on the lips and so far today I've only had to reapply twice (once after eating lunch, and once more just now) With the exception of lunch (because what's really going to last past my sushi and a quick makeout session anyways?), my other try lasted quite long; at the 5 hour mark there was a bit of color left on my lips, though the shine was gone. Then again I had taken a 1.5 hour food coma induced nap after my lunch date, so it could have attributed to the lasting power of my lipstick.


This is more pigmented in real life, but the picture gives a nice idea of the finish of the lipstick. I'm fairly certain that I will be picking up the other colors in this line when they come out in April; given that I have the funds to do so.

NARS Calanques Trio

The only item that I had actually preordered from NARS Spring 2011 was the Calanque Trio, which I had originally thought would be beautiful, taupey goodness. Unfortunately it didn't quite live up the the promises the stock photo seems to promise me. However, it wasn't that the stock photo was altogether decieving...as you can see below, the picture I took of the palette matches the colors in the stock photo pretty accurately. However, the middle shade is not taupey at all, but is instead a relatively nude shade.

The colors themselves apply smoothly, with the exception of the largest shade, which is a bit grittier in texture and sparkly. It's more of a sheer sparkle on my lids without much color on it's own. The darkest shade in this palette is sheer love for me. I love that it is a warm, green-tinged brown. However, I don't know if it's altogether worth keeping this for the price point. It's a smidge steep at $45... If these colors do float your boat though, you can use 132011cp on the NARS site to get 17% off with $65 purchase. (Expires 2/7/2011)

NARS Happy Days Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil

I picked up NARS Happy Days today when I wandered into Nordstrom to try to find a new foundation. Coincidentally, they had just gotten the Spring stuff in, so I picked up my preorder for NARS Calanques, as well as one of the new gloss pencils. In my opinion, Happy Days was the best one out of the bunch, and thus, it came home with me. I did think that Baroque and Frivolous were kind of pretty, but Frivolous was too sheer and nothing special to me, and Baroque, while pretty, seems a little frosty on my lips, but I didn't have a whole lot of time or attention to devote to deciding on it. I figured I'd pick it up later if necessary. Happy Days is a beautiful coral color with gold shimmer. It's really not as warm (or sheer) as my camera suggests, but my camera likes to wash things out sometimes.





I'm fairly happy with this, though I feel like it was a tad pricey at $24, as I feel like it's kind of similar to the discontinued Stila lip glaze sticks (which I loved...coincidentally, the 2 I own are MIA). I would probably say that I prefer the Stila ones though, as the Stila had a bit more slip to them and smelled nicer. They were also cheaper than the NARS pencils, even at full price. Happy Days has this slight chemical/waxy smell to it to me when I first apply it that I didn't notice when trying out Baroque. It fades off within minutes though, so it's nothing that really bothers me.

Overall, I'd say it's worth picking up and trying if the colors of the gloss pencils appeal to you and you have the cash, though it wouldn't be the end of the world if you couldn't get at them.