Cheap eBay Find: Pro 88 Warm Eyeshadow Palette

Hello everyone! I recently had the urge to try something cheap from eBay and after browsing the web for some ideas, I decided to try the Pro 88 Warm Eyeshadow Palette. This appeared to be very similar to the Coastal Scents Warm 88 Palette but it was only $13 so I decided to give it a go.

The palette has a ton of neutral colors, as well as some pops of color which include some blue and pink tones. There are many different shades of brown, beige, taupe, and yellow/orange-based nudes. The entire palette measures around  9in. x 6.5 in. and the eyeshadow pots are a little bit larger than a dime. There seem to be a few duplicate colors though so this should last me a while.

As for pigmentation, some colors are definitely more pigmented than others. The texture of these eyeshadows are definitely on the more powdery side. I would best compare them to Wet & Wild eyeshadows which are not my favorite but I think I'll be able to make it work. They would definitely look better over a primer.

And as far as finish goes, there are many shimmer and matte finish eyeshadows for whatever look you are going for. You can create all kinds of daytime and nighttime looks with all the colors available. There are also plenty of highlight shades and darker shades for a more intense look.

Here are a few swatches of the eyeshadows. I used the sponge applicators they provided and swatched them on my forearm with no primer.

I haven't yet used this on my eyes yet but I'll definitely be posting about it and include one of the looks I come up with. So far, I think this may be worth the $13 I paid for it but I'll know better once I put it to use. Have you tried anything on eBay like this?

Color Club Halo Hues- Angel Kiss Swatch & Review!

Hello everyone! We finally got some decent sunshine in my part of California so I thought it was time to finally whip out one of the Color Club Halo Hues holo's that I bought! I have to say... this color is amazing! It's a light seafoamy green with a bluish tint to it. Indoors, it can look anywhere from a pearly finish to a faint holographic finish, but when you take it out in some bright light, you won't believe your eyes!

This polish has such an amazing holographic finish! It's very smooth and vibrant and you won't be able to take your eyes off of it. Applying this wasn't bad at all. The first layer was slightly streaky but if you apply a thin/medium coat and then apply a second thicker coat, you should be fine. My swatches have one coat of Seche Vite base coat, 2 coats plus of Angel Kiss, plus one coat of Seche Vite QD topcoat. The best thing about this polish is that the holo effect doesn't dull after applying topcoat.

It's funny... after I bought this nail polish, I decided to browse through other people's blogs and see what they had to say about it. I came across one user (don't remember who and won't say the name anyways) and she wrote that one of the major cons to this collection is that the holo effect wasn't very strong... Lol what? I'm sorry, I don't know how much more of a holo effect you want lol. This is probably the strongest holographic finish I own! Sorry for the rant, I'm still shaking my head at what I read lol.

Anyways, onto the swatches! Brace yourselves!

Indoors w/ Flash

Indoors w/ Flash

Indoors w/ Flash and Underwater white balance

Bottle shot! Indoors w Flash

Indoors w/o Flash

Indoors w/o Flash in darker lighting

Outdoors w/ direct sunlight

Now tell me, is this the most amazing nail polish or what? I'm so crazy about it and I can't stop staring at my nails! They are very distracting haha! I can't to get some from the Spring 2013 collection. What do you think of this? Do you own any of the polishes from the Halo Hues collection?

First Attempt on Galaxy Nail Art

Hello everyone! I finally decided to give it a go and tried a nail art design that looked like a galaxy in outer space. I used a tutorial by MissJenFABULOUS from PolishAndPearls and used this tutorial she posted on youtube.

It was actually very fun and easy to do! It consisted of sponging on colors over black and putting a couple types of glitter topcoat over it. Before I did the design on myself, I picked out some colors I liked from myself and tested it over the black to make sure it delivered the effect I was looking for. I noticed it's best to use opaque colors, either with a creme finish or with little to no shimmer.

Here's what I used:

Liquid Leather by China Glaze (black)
Splish Splash by China Glaze (shimmery blue)
Pelican Grey by China Glaze(light grey)
Pink Shock by Maybelline (pink with subtle blue shimmer)
Northern Lights (glitter topcoat)
Techno by China Glaze (chunky glitter)

Aaaaaaand this is what I ended up with!

I really loved how it turned out. It definitely looks best when the colors are applied in different parts of the nail. This would definitely look nice with some green and orange in it so I might be attempting that in the future. Also, after I get some practice, I think it would be awesome to throw some spiral galaxies on it as well. I tried that at first and it was an utter fail -___-

Have you tried doing galaxy nails before? I would love to see some of the designs you've tried or came up with :)

Morgana Cryptoria Fire Brick Swatch & Review! Best Metallic Red Lipstick!

Hello again. Today, I'm going to show you my new favorite red lipstick. It's called Fire Brick and it's by a brand called Morgana Cryptoria. I didn't hear of this brand until I browsed through Blix's blog and saw some posts showing off this amazing red lipstick. When I saw it, I fell in love!

Let me start off by saying that I am in love with this color. It's a very vampy deep red with a frosted metallic sheen to it. It is highly pigmented and rich in color. It is opaque and applies very nicely due to the shape of the lipstick, which I will show  towards the end of this post. I haven't had a chance to wear this out yet, but I suspect that it would last a long time. It was definitely more on the difficult side to remove but that is a quality I would need in a red lipstick.

In the photo below, I only have the lipstick applied with no lipliner underneath so I can show you how easy it was to control. It would probably look even better with a lipliner for maximum definition and wear-time.

Taken with flash

Photo of the product to show the shape of the tip

 Overall, I really love this lipstick and can't wait for the right night to wear it out. This is definitely a good quality lipstick and would purchase it again in the future. Have you tried this brand before? Are you brave enough to wear a red like this?

Maybelline Color Whisper Pin Up Peach Swatch and Review!

Hey readers! As an effort to get back into blogging, my goal is to update my blog every day. I have already came up with a list of things I want to blog about in the near future so we'll see how this goes :)

Today, I'm going to show you a lipstick called Pin Up Peach from the Color Whisper line by Maybelline. First of all, I thought the packaging was adorable. Each lipstick had a translucent bright color container and had a shiny silver label. It reminded me of Victoria's Secret for some reason!

I really loved the texture of this lipstick. It's very creamy, balmy and moisturizing. The color itself is buildable and decently pigmented as well. It also has a very nice scent to it. I would best describe it as a light peachy/fruity smell with maybe a hint of vanilla.

The color, Pin Up Peach is something that I thought would be most flattering to my skin tone and I would also be able to add a fun pop of color. I would describe it as a pinky peachy color with a slight hint of shimmer. I love it, I think it would look great on many skin tones.

Now, I'm going to show you an enlarged swatch on my lips, how the color looks in the container, and the packaging. The lipstick swatch was taken in daylight with flash. The picture of the product in the container was taken with no flash.

What do you think? Do you like the color? If anyone has photos of other colors they're tried, I would love to see them. I definitely plan on buying more :)

Happy Belated New Years Nails

Hello readers, it has been a very long time since I posted on here and I feel awful about it. I feel like I lost my mojo and inspiration a few months ago due to a lack of focus but I'm going to try and keep this up like I did in the past.

I know I'm about a week late but I really wanted to show off my New Years nails! I wanted to do something super blingy that standed out so I ended up doing a glittery metallic manicure.

I was originally just going to do silver (favorite metallic color) but I began to envy my sisters gold blingy nails that she did for new years and ended up with a mix of both manicures.

Before I get to the photos, I'm going to list what used and how I did it!

Cheers To You by China Glaze (metallic foil, 2 coats)
Techno by China Glaze (chunky silver holo glitter, 1 coat)
Northern Lights Hologram Topcoat (fine holo glitter topcoat, 1 coat)
Midnight Kiss by China Glaze (gold foil, sponged on tips)
Queen Of Drums by Dare To Wear (chunky gold glitter, sponged on halfway from tips)
Golden Enchantment by China Glaze (fine gold holo glitter topcoat, 1 coat)

I really love how Cheers to you and Midnight Kiss blended so perfectly together, These photos honestly don't do this mani justice and it is crazy how blingy they are in person. PS please ignore the fingernail imprint on my thumbnail... I have no idea how that got there =P

Indoors (With Flash)

Indoors (Indirect Sunlight)

Outdoors (Sun)

Outdoors (Shade)