Bobbi Brown Hibiscus pot rouge for lips and cheeks - swatches & review

Hello beauties,

Today I thought I would take a little break from indie product posts and do a bit of a review on a more high end product. It isn't very often that I indulge in more high end brands, but every now and then you come across one that you simply cannot resist and well; it finds a new home in your collection! This is exactly what happened when I stumbled onto the new Hibiscus pot rouge by Bobbi Brown while browsing my local Military Exchange.

I cannot deny that I drool over pretty much all of Bobbi Brown's products, I mean those shadows are AMAZING right!! Well, I was just about to walk away from the counter ( I know, I know I am so strong); when I happened to spot the prettiest cream product I have ever seen. I asked the girl working the counter if the product was just your average cream blusher, and came to know that this product doubled as both a cream blush as well as a lip product; and even better it did not leave behind that God awful sticky feeling that you get when you apply most cream products!! Needless to say I bought it and yeah... So onto the photos (YAY!!)

Photo swatches:

This is what the Hibiscus Pot rouge compact looks like. The packaging is very sleek and nice

The back labeling of the #31 Hibiscus Pot rouge for lips and cheeks

Here we have a photo taken before swatching the product, as you can see this is a gorgeous hot candy coral shade!! It might look a bit scary in the pan but don't let the vibrancy of this shade turn you off because you can absolutely build it up or sheer it out

The top swatch is a heavier swatch in order to show you how this color can be built up, especially for the lip use while the bottom swatch is a much lighter version which has been blended out with my finger. I will note that this product blended out fantastically as well as applying like butter!

 

Wear:  I tested out this product on both my lips and face while out and about yesterday here in Honolulu. For the lips I just dabbed it on with my fingers for a sheer wash of color, more of a stained look rather than a full on lipstick appearance then topped that with a bit of lip balm. I will say that this product on the lips does feel dry so while it is a gorgeous color I would suggest that you top it with a little balm before heading out the door. For the face, I applied my normal foundation first then applied this product to my cheeks using just my fingers. It blended out very easily. I then went over my whole face with just a bit of my smashbox halo finishing powder to set, and topped the look off with just a bit of MACs stereo rose which complimented the color perfectly. It was very humid outside, and even while being in the sun pretty much all day dealing with humid conditions my look was still intact by the time I came home that evening! This cream product held up very well :)

 

Final thoughts: All in all I am super happy with this purchase, I really think this product is very worth the money considering the awesome pigmentation, the ease at which it applies, and its overall longevity 



EOTD: feat Notoriously Morbid!

Hello beauties, today I thought I would do an EOTD break down since I am really feeling this look I just did! Most all of what I used came from the recent slay me collection wave 1 put out by Notoriously Morbid, which I have to say I really love! I know sometimes matte shadows get a bad rep but trust me, these are NICE! So anyhow, let me show you what I put together for you and you can be the judge ;)

Products used:

1. Nyx milk- base for lids and eye brow
2. NM-she names the stars
3. NM-teacher in tweed
4. NM-quiet storm
5. NM-boca del inferno
6. Catrice- navy liner
7. Milani- mascara
8. Tarte for True Blood- Fairy shadow

 

 

Breakdown:

This look as pretty simple to create, first you want to take your milk pencil or any white base you have and lay that down all over the lid and into your brows as well. Make sure with your brows if you have dark brows like I do you coat them fairly well and just blend it a bit with your finger (if you have a little comb even better!). Once the base is down, get a flat stiff brush out and pick up she names the stars with it. Make sure you press that color into the lid before you apply it, this will help minimize any fallout onto your face. So basically we just want to pat that color all over our lid stopping at our crease. Once you do this you can take a blending brush and softly blend out the edge so there isn't a harsh line. She names the stars when blended will go a bit blue ;) Next we will pick up teacher in tweed and take that into our crease as a transition color. Starting from our outer corner run that shade back and forth in the crease then blend just above with a fluffy brush. For our brow, and to further diffuse everything we will take quiet storm which is a faint pink shade. We will apply this just above where we blended out teacher in tweed and onto the brow. For some sparkle on the brow I used Fairy from the Tarte cosmetics True Blood palette, but you can use anything you like up there. Along the lower lash I took a mix of Boca del inferno and she names the stars on a liner brush and lined just under the waterline. I then added a navy liner to the actual waterline. The brows are also Boca del infero and She names the stars applied with a liner brush. I simply started with the one shade then began about the middle of the brow for the second shade and built up the color a bit by wetting the brush. To finish I added a coat of Milani mascara

 

I hope you enjoyed this look of the day!

 

Where to purchase: Notoriously Morbid



Candii Blossom Cosmetics Review

Halo & Purple Rain

Hello loves, I am back today with a review of another fab indie cosmetics line known as Candii Blossom cosmetics . Candii Blossom Cosmetics is a cute little Etsy shop run by owner Brenda Ortiz, who first began making her own products as a more economical way of simply enjoying make-up; because lets face it make-up is an expensive love (am I right!). Located out of Ephrata, PA,  Brenda has been gradually growing her business to ship worldwide.

Brenda was kind enough to allow me to review a few of her gorgeous shadows, and was excited to have me be her first shipment to the Hawaiian islands as well! I was able to choose four shadows from her collection to conduct my review, which she shipped to my hot little hands within about a week and a half roughly :)

My picks:

1. Halo
2. Purple Rain
3. Fairyland Green
4. Radioactive

Shipment: The package arrived in a small sealed plastic envelope with all of the clamshell samples wrapped up snuggly in bubble wrap. Brenda also included a thoughtful note for me as well :)


The contents of my review pack: 4 sample sized shadows, adorable business card and very thoughtful note (love personal touches!!)

Here we have a shadow shot prior to digging in for swatches, Top left is Purple rain, top right is fairyland green, bottom left is Halo, and bottom right is Radioactive.

Swatch of Halo applied over too faced glitter glue. I absolutely love this shade of gold, for me this is the perfect shade of gold, that tarnished color!! Agh perfection, ohh and it pairs beautifully with Purple rain ;)

This stunner is Purple Rain Aka the most beautiful purple in all the land! You see all that going on, ohh yeah ;)

Fairyland green!! This is a heavy swatch of fairyland applied over too faced glitter glue just to show how the color can be built up however you can totally layer this color over other bases to get different effects from it! It is such a unique and amazing color

Last up we have Radioactive which is so very pretty! I absolutely love duo chrome shades because you are getting so much more than one simple color. This shade goes from a golden green in one light to a reddish brown similar to Mac club in another light. It is so stunning

Affordability: Sample sizes of each shadow will run you $1 each, collections range between $10-$18 and individual full sized shadows (5gram jars) run at $4

Customer service: My experience with customer service has been great, Brenda makes a great effort in maintaining communication; and even kept track of my package as it made its way out to me :)

Product rating: of the shadows I was able to test out I give them a 10, each had great pigmentation good blend ability and they weren't fussy at all which is a huge plus in my book

Would I recommend? Yes, yes I would! This little shop is slowly growing and if what I was able to test out is any indication of its potential you are in for a very pleasant surprise because I really enjoyed these goodies

Where to buy: Candii Blossom shop
Where to like: Candii Blossom Facebook


Jewel toned Spring look using Glamour doll eyes and Catrice

Yesterdays EOTD was a jewel toned spring look inspired by a photo I had of an amazing purple daisy I came across while in Germany.
For this look I used a combination of :

1. glamour doll eyes sex appeal shadow
2. nyx jumbo pencil in purple
3. Catrice Pretty little lilacs quad

My inspiration photo

Full FOTD, for foundation I have been using the Revlon whipped in shade 300 I believe. I really love the coverage of this foundation! I apply that with a real techniques buffing brush. For my under eye area I apply Bare minerals well rested luminizer under both eyes and buff that out, then set with Bare minerals well rested powder. That is my go to eye routine!! HG products ;) Eye brows are benefit gimmie brow

For blush I went with a Tarte cosmetics 12 hour blush, I wish I knew which one it was but it isn't from their normal collection it is a small one that came from a holiday kit which I absolutely adore! This color is a bit of a dusty rose. For lips I went with a Nars gloss in the shade Chihuahua, you can't go wrong with Nars gloss! I love the formula and the shades they are just amazing 

The Chequered Lily Apothecary review

The Chequered Lily Apothecary is a hidden gem in the indie beauty world. Based out of California, this amazing Etsy shop creates some of the most stunning and unique shadows I have ever seen. I first learned about this shop while browsing another beauty bloggers (Makeup Zombie) reviews of various indie cosmetic companies. When I stumbled upon her review I was instantly in love with the shade "Hearts on Ice" which is one of the most amazing purples that I have ever laid eyes on! All the swatches I saw were amazing and spoke to the quality of this shop but this single amazing shade sealed the deal for me.

I checked out the Chequered Lily's shop online and found out that there was a blogger review kit available for purchase, all together I paid about 6 dollars which includes shipping for a set of 7 sample baggie shadows of my choosing. I was actually sent one extra shadow as well which was a nice surprise. It took about a week and a half to receive my order which arrived via mail in a bright green envelope.

Review shades: the seven shades I picked to review were Hearts on Ice, Hearts on Fire, Ring master, Invocation, Milky Way, Storm Bringer and Ginger Sushi. The extra shade I was sent was Captain Jack.

 Swatches:

The Ring Master

 

 

Hearts on Ice



Hearts on Ice

Invocation
Top to bottom: bare skin, over nyx purple, over nyx black bean



Milky way

Storm Bringer

 

Captain Jack

 

Affordability: a full size 5 gram jar of shadow runs $6.50, there are also options for stackers of up to three shades which cost $16.50. It isn't the cheapest, but what you have to keep in mind when it comes to these matters is what you are getting as far as quality and uniqueness. These are two factors I take into consideration when it comes to whether or not I will purchase from any shop.

Customer service: I wish I had more to say in this area because I hold any companies customer service to a high standard and with me it is a huge make or break thing. Unfortunately I honestly just didn't have a lot of interaction with this vendor. Again this is not to say I had a bad experience, there just wasn't anything to talk about lol.

Would I recommend: Yes, I would recommend this shop. I feel that there are some very unique and beautiful shades worth checking out here! I absolutely loved the texture of these shadows as well, and I thought that it was really interesting how none of them seemed to need any extra help (primer, foiling etc) all that they needed was to be patted on and they were good to go!

Where can I find this product?
The Chequered Lily Etsy
Facebook fan page

Goodies from the beautiful Loliloooo!!

Not long ago beauty guru  Loliloooo hosted a giveaway via youtube which I entered and was fortunate enough to win :) Some of you might already know Loliloooo , but for those of you who do not let me just say she is fab! She is much more than the just the average beauty junkie, she is passionate about causes, positive about life, and a supporter within the beauty community; all in all this girl has an amazing heart and a great personality which she shares with all not to mention some great talent as well! So all that being said, if you haven't checked her out stop by her Facebook or Instagram and show her some love (links to all her media sites will be at the bottom)!!

As I previously mentioned, I was fortunate enough to be able to win a giveaway for all of Loliloooo's favorite things! Most of the items I received are actually things that I had never tried before so I was super excited to give all these babies a go!  I was sent a pretty big box in the mail, full of goodies and the cutest letter inside congratulating me on winning her contest, as well as breaking down the contents of the box. I thought that was a very nice touch :)

This is a photo of all the contents of my prize box, an amazing smelling Bath and Body Works perfume, some Elf brow gel, L'Oreal mascara, UD primer (huge!!), a nyx mosaic blush, three sally girl glitters with adhesive, a black eye pencil, an EOS lip balm (love these) some Olay facial wipes (have never tried but I am excited to!), and an Elf HD blush (ohh, I have never seen these)

Here is a swatch of the elf HD blush, I will have to figure out the best way to use the pump because as you can see it did come out a bit heavy. But that's okay. Gorgeous color huh, very highly pigmented!



This is the elf HD blush blended out, can you see it has some micro shimmer in it, I was not expecting that. I actually couldn't detect it really with my eyes and the unblended swatch you couldn't see it at all..Pretty cool huh

This is a swatch of the blue sally girl glitter that I was sent. I have never used or seen this brand prior to Loliloooo sending me these in this prize package but I have to say this is gorgeous! I though the glitter would have felt very gritty or something, but it didn't really when I touched it. I think this is a beautiful kind of unexpected blue as well, as you can tell it isn't just all one shade of blue, there is blue and then an almost teal or light blue mixed in there as well..

 

A huge thank you to Loliloooo for sending me these amazing goodies, I love and appreciate them all, I really love getting introduced to products I haven't found before it is a lot of fun! I am def going to have to track down more of these Elf HD blushes now!

 

Check out Loliloooo:

Facebook

Youtube

Instagram

Darling Girl Cosmetics review

Darling Girl cosmetics is an indie brand that I have been dying to try out for awhile now especially after discovering that DGC had created a Beetlejuice themed collection, which is one of my all time favorite movies! Finding out Miss Argentina was an eye shadow sealed the deal for me and naturally I had to dive right into all that :)

I placed my order for a blogger review package which was approximately $4 plus shipping and included a total of 4 sample baggies and one petite size jar sample in the shades of my choice. I also received a few extra goodies as well with my shipment, an adorable sticker, a GWP shade and one of the new fabulous Easter shades.

 

The shades that I requested to review are: Inferno Room, King Kong, The Count, Miss Argentina, and Frankenstein. The additional goodies I was sent were my peeps from the soon to be released Easter collection, and a previous GWP shade called Tonight, Tonight.

Inferno Room

King Kong

The Count

Miss Argentina

Frankenstein

My peeps

Tonight, tonight

Quality: I think that the quality if these shadows is fantastic! They have superb color payoff and excellent bendability, not to mention the colors themselves are unique

Customer service: From my experience the customer service provided by DGC has been great, the owner even aided me in setting up a private listing in order to complete my transaction

TAT: The turn around time is a bit long (I am so impatient lol), but its not too bad on site it is listed as an average of 14 to 16 days not to include weekend or holidays. I would say that is pretty average for most indie brands though and I think most of us are willing to wait that kind of TAT for a great quality product such as this anyhow :)

Where can I purchase this awesomeness?
Darling Girl Cosmetics

Would I recommend?
In a heartbeat! What's not to love, amazing makeup at an affordable price with an owner who provides good customer service?!? Jump on it my friends