Greetings lovely ladies,
It's the end of the year and as the new year approaches it means one blindingly glaring thing for me beauty-wise; a strict no-internet-buy/swap period for me until stash pictures are complete (Unless UD AIW BOS is released, as it was NOT released yesterday as previously rumored. The exact release date is unknown...though my guess is that at the very least it'll be after UD's wonderful free shipping offer ends..it'd be too kind of them to let us have it with free shipping...now wouldn't it? But I digress...)
Anyways..I slipped up just a bit this weekend and made a couple of orders online (some Korres...due to arrive Jan 6) and a possible order for the Px Holiday Eye and Cheek palette in Warm from Nordies. I ordered the 2nd one by phone from a store and by the time I asked the SA to place this order, it had already been removed online, so we'll see if I get this (I hope so, but if not, whatever..I saved some money). So stash pictures will be somewhat later than expected. Unlike last year's photos I plan on labeling everything too..so this will be a pretty big project...let's hope I'm lucky enough to have some non-overcast days.
On to other news...What's everyone's beauty resolution for the new year? And what was it for this year? How did you do?
For the new year, my resolution is to finish at least ONE of my face powders. (It shouldn't be too hard as the middle of my Chanel pressed powder gave out in the middle and I lost maybe 1/3 of the product (I have two like this...the first one I thought it was just because I depotted it to put in the compact but the 2nd time it wasn't a depot so I'm wondering if the middles of these are just weak?)
My resolution for this year was to start wearing sunblock on a daily basis.
How I did: I stopped wearing sunblock maybe around July of this year altogether, and was irregular about it starting in maybe April. Altogether it failed miserably...I couldn't stand the itching anymore (I have some bad sensitivity to sunblock...Shiseido's is the only one I've found so far that I can wear without breaking out badly or getting rashes..and even then I don't particularly like the feel of having sunblock on..I prefer keeping my skin bare). I'm thinking of possiby trying again this year, but it won't be my main focus beauty-wise. I'll probably post a couple of NOTDs before the new year, but for the most part I think that my next makeup related post will be stash pics. I guess the question is... Do you guys want me just to post makeup stash pics or do you want makeup AND nail polish? (Either way it'll be massively pic heavy. Leave a comment below with your opinion.
Anyways, that's the scoop on what's up here...I hope you guys have a great deal of fun at whatever you guys decide for NYE!
Much Love,
ESA
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sleek Palettes-- Storm, Original, and Safari
For the last few months I've had these Sleek palettes sitting around waiting to get swatched. I was lucky enough to get a CP of these. Sleek palettes are decently priced palettes available at Superdrug in the UK. I don't actually remember what they retailed for, but I think I paid under $10 each for them. They're all super pigmented and soft.
The Originals palette is a nice, colorful palette full of colors that all work on me for the most part. The colors don't lose to Urban Decay's and I think are actually more vibrant without all the chunky glitter that UD loves putting in. They are all shimmery though except for the black shade.
Sleek Storm is a gorgeous palette capable of creating a variety of neutral or smokey looks.
Safari was a LE palette released over the summer I believe. It's actually my least favorite out of the 3 I own, but only because the colors in it aren't as nice as the other two to me.
I really don't have much to say about these except that they're a good buy for the price. I like them, but they sort of sit around unused in my stash..mostly because I'm a brand whore. My only gripe about them is that there's a black shade in every one of the palettes. I don't need multiples of the same black shadow. Past that, they're great
The Originals palette is a nice, colorful palette full of colors that all work on me for the most part. The colors don't lose to Urban Decay's and I think are actually more vibrant without all the chunky glitter that UD loves putting in. They are all shimmery though except for the black shade.
Sleek Storm is a gorgeous palette capable of creating a variety of neutral or smokey looks. 
Safari was a LE palette released over the summer I believe. It's actually my least favorite out of the 3 I own, but only because the colors in it aren't as nice as the other two to me.
I really don't have much to say about these except that they're a good buy for the price. I like them, but they sort of sit around unused in my stash..mostly because I'm a brand whore. My only gripe about them is that there's a black shade in every one of the palettes. I don't need multiples of the same black shadow. Past that, they're great
Sunday, December 27, 2009
NARS Day and Night Palette
Today's post is another short one; it's for the NARS Day and Night palette. The Day and Night palette was released with NARS's 15th anniversary collection and comes in the same packaging that the 6 pan palettes have all come in; except that the NARS lettering on the palette is in red instead of white. As usual, the palette contains 6 eyeshadow shades from the permanent line and retails for $50 at Sephora or on NARS's webpage. I forgot to mention this in my last post, but there's currently a 20% off code on NARS's site with $60 purchase or more. (CP9H1211) which expires 12/31/2009.
Here are the shades:
Abyssinia- This shade is also in the Pleasures of Paris palette. It's a nice shimmery beige color. For some reason I feel like the Abyssinia in my Day and Night palette is smoother than the one in the Pleasures of Paris palette
Sugarland-I'd describe this as a sparkling bronzed peach I guess. The texture's slightly gritty, but it applies just fine
Fathom- light pink with silver microglitter. This has a drier texture and the payoff is kind of poor. It makes a good base though I think.
Cleo- shimmering seafoam green in the pan, this one shows up nearly white on my skin with a green tinge.
Underworld- shimmery deep blue with some grey tones in it. Passable as a crease color, works nicely as a liner shade
Night Breed- Black with silver glitter. Unlike the majority of the Night Series shades, this one isn't chalky. I'll still probably never use it.
My overall thoughts on the palette are that it isn't bad, but it isn't great. I don't feel it's worth the $50 really. It's not a particularly versatile palette and I bought it when I was in my nude wash of color + colored liner phase so I'm okay with keeping it as I can find a couple of looks to do with it..unlike Modern Love which I couldn't work with that well. I do recommend Abyssinia as a single though..it's nice
Here are the shades:Abyssinia- This shade is also in the Pleasures of Paris palette. It's a nice shimmery beige color. For some reason I feel like the Abyssinia in my Day and Night palette is smoother than the one in the Pleasures of Paris palette
Sugarland-I'd describe this as a sparkling bronzed peach I guess. The texture's slightly gritty, but it applies just fine
Fathom- light pink with silver microglitter. This has a drier texture and the payoff is kind of poor. It makes a good base though I think.
Cleo- shimmering seafoam green in the pan, this one shows up nearly white on my skin with a green tinge.
Underworld- shimmery deep blue with some grey tones in it. Passable as a crease color, works nicely as a liner shade
Night Breed- Black with silver glitter. Unlike the majority of the Night Series shades, this one isn't chalky. I'll still probably never use it.
My overall thoughts on the palette are that it isn't bad, but it isn't great. I don't feel it's worth the $50 really. It's not a particularly versatile palette and I bought it when I was in my nude wash of color + colored liner phase so I'm okay with keeping it as I can find a couple of looks to do with it..unlike Modern Love which I couldn't work with that well. I do recommend Abyssinia as a single though..it's nice
Friday, December 25, 2009
NARS Doucers de Paris (Pleasures of Paris) palette and Christmas NOTD
Merry Xmas everyone! Today I have swatches of the NARS Doucers de Paris palette or the Pleasures of Paris palette. This palette contains 6 shades (Nepal, and retails for $50 on NARS's site or at Saks. Of the 3 6 pan eyeshadow palettes NARS put out this year, this one's my favorite.
Nepal is a bronzed peach shade
Violetta is a very nice smooth matte grayed light purple
Demon Lover is a dark matte purple
Fez is a beautiful bronze
Abyssinia is a smooth beige color
Cordura is a deep brown with gold shimmer
I also did my nails for the holidays. I woke up after the sun had gone down yesterday, so here's my mani on day 2 yet again. It's China Glaze 2030 over Zoya Isla (3 coats)
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows?!
I spend a lot of time on the makeup board so when this baby was posted I could not conceal my excitement. Urban Decay is releasing a 3rd Book of Shadows in collaboration with Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland. This comes with 16 (renamed? Midnight Tea Party looks suspiciously like Midnight Cowboy) shades and 2 eyeliners (Zero and Flipside?) as well as a UDPP mini (I swear I'll never run out of UDPP now). Pricing is currently unknown, but the palette is supposed to be released on 12/28 on UD's site. I will definitely be snagging one of these if only for the packaging itself.
China Glaze Wizard of Ooh Ahz: NOTDs China Glaze C-C-Courage and Good Witch?
Today is a quick post with the other two colors I picked up from the Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection; Good Witch? and C-C-Courage. (other than Ruby pumps, which is perm) Good Witch is a warm pink with pink glitter dispersed throughout (I think the glitter's really hard to see in my picture...sorry) I did actually manage to get good lighting for once though. This is on the 2nd day of wear, with what I believe is 4 coats (I had a power outage in my room for a few days)
C-C-Courage is a frosty purple with glitter, but despite the glitter in the polish, this one just doesn't shine for me and looks rather dull on my hands. For that reason I don't really like it despite it being purple (I love purple polishes usually). This is 3 coats, topcoated, warm indoor lighting on 2nd day of wear. I decided to snap a pic right before removing this.
So out of the 4 polishes I have from this collection I like Dorothy Who? the best, though I'm not in love with any of them.
C-C-Courage is a frosty purple with glitter, but despite the glitter in the polish, this one just doesn't shine for me and looks rather dull on my hands. For that reason I don't really like it despite it being purple (I love purple polishes usually). This is 3 coats, topcoated, warm indoor lighting on 2nd day of wear. I decided to snap a pic right before removing this.
So out of the 4 polishes I have from this collection I like Dorothy Who? the best, though I'm not in love with any of them.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Korres Lip Butters and NOTD Dorothy Who?
Today I have some swatches of my Korres lip butters for you guys. Korres lip butters are tinted lip balms with decent pigmentation. Color-wise, they remind me more of glosses instead of balms, but the texture is definitely that of a light balm.
Here are the usual arm swatches:
I'm also going to show you guys some lip swatches this time. Here are my bare lips for reference, since my lips are decently pigmented. All the swatches are a bit more vibrant rl than in photographs, but they still came out okay, so I'll show them to you guys. All lip swatches were done in warm indoor lighting
Jasmine is a very light milky pink. It's good for muting down pigmented lips. It has a scent to it, but it doesn't smell like jasmine. It's a somewhat sweet scent that I can't put my finger on, but it's not unpleasant.
Mango is kind of scarily orange in the pot, but it's not nearly as bad on the lips as it sheers out. The result is a peachy tint on my lips. The scent is mango-ish, but not quite mango. There's a perfumed quality to it.
Pomegranate is my favorite of the Korres lip butters. It has a light, kind of fruity scent to it (though I still can't place the scent, I think it smells the best). It's a nice warm pink
Quince is cooler toned pink than Pomegranate. I think it also lends a bit more pigmentation than Pomegranate as well. The scent is probably the lightest of the lip butters I own and is slightly floral.
A plummy-red in the pot, Plum swatches a fuschia-plum on my lips. The scent is similar to that of my Pomegranate lip butter.
NOTD is China Glaze Dorothy Who? from the Wizard of Ooh Ahz Collex (did I spell that right? probably not) This didn't photograph all that well..the blue is more vibrant in real life, though the frosty silver glitter is definitely still apparent. This is 4 coats, with topcoat.
Anyways, now I'd like your opinions on something, so I'd appreciate a quick comment below if you can spare it. Are lip swatches helpful? Should I try to include them in future posts with lip products?
Here are the usual arm swatches:
I'm also going to show you guys some lip swatches this time. Here are my bare lips for reference, since my lips are decently pigmented. All the swatches are a bit more vibrant rl than in photographs, but they still came out okay, so I'll show them to you guys. All lip swatches were done in warm indoor lighting
Jasmine is a very light milky pink. It's good for muting down pigmented lips. It has a scent to it, but it doesn't smell like jasmine. It's a somewhat sweet scent that I can't put my finger on, but it's not unpleasant.
Mango is kind of scarily orange in the pot, but it's not nearly as bad on the lips as it sheers out. The result is a peachy tint on my lips. The scent is mango-ish, but not quite mango. There's a perfumed quality to it.
Pomegranate is my favorite of the Korres lip butters. It has a light, kind of fruity scent to it (though I still can't place the scent, I think it smells the best). It's a nice warm pink
Quince is cooler toned pink than Pomegranate. I think it also lends a bit more pigmentation than Pomegranate as well. The scent is probably the lightest of the lip butters I own and is slightly floral.
A plummy-red in the pot, Plum swatches a fuschia-plum on my lips. The scent is similar to that of my Pomegranate lip butter.
NOTD is China Glaze Dorothy Who? from the Wizard of Ooh Ahz Collex (did I spell that right? probably not) This didn't photograph all that well..the blue is more vibrant in real life, though the frosty silver glitter is definitely still apparent. This is 4 coats, with topcoat.
Anyways, now I'd like your opinions on something, so I'd appreciate a quick comment below if you can spare it. Are lip swatches helpful? Should I try to include them in future posts with lip products?
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