NYX Caribbean Collection Five-Pan Palettes

NYX came out with a series of palettes a few months back, with different themes and at extremely reasonable prices. Are they worth it? I have some pictures and swatches to help you decide.

The following are four palettes from the "I Dream of" Caribbean Collection. These are done on bare skin, no primer.

I Dream of Aruba.





I Dream of Jamaica.





I Dream of Barbados.





I Dream of Nevis.





Aruba definitely has some of the best color payoff, but that's not surprising, because bronze shades tend to be softer and more pigmented in general. Beautiful colors, and possibly my favorite out of these four.

Jamaica is ok, but not amazing. I'm not sure if the last color is meant to be black or charcoal, but it's the chalkiest of the bunch, with the most fallout. Might be ok for a smoky eye, but I would probably stick with a more neutral eye design.

Barbados was a pleasant surprise, because purples are notoriously difficult. All the colors were workable, and if you were lemming the Dior Midnight Butterfly quint and couldn't justify the 56$ price tag, this might be something to tide you over until the lust passes. Really quite pretty.

Nevis has some lovely neutrals, except for the glitterbomb FAIL that is the second-to-last shade. Complete waste of a shade. However if you remove that one, this is avery good neutral, work-friendly palette. I prefer this one to the Jamaica, if you were choosing between the two.

These are nice but fairly simple colors. If you want something unique or dimensional, you won't find it in these palettes.

Overall I wouldn't compare these to high-end brands. They don't have the pigmentation and tenacity of the better MAC shades, the butteriness of Stila, the smooth silkiness of Dior. They tend to be more sheer overall (they wipe away easily), and the matte shades more powdery, but all in all, for 8$, you could do a LOT worse.

In terms of comparing these to the NYX singles, it really depends on the color you select, both in the palette and the singles. I've found there to be a lot more variability within each type than between them, if that makes any sense.

As I said, I did these swatches on bare skin to get a fair idea of application, but with a good primer or paintpot (or even foundation and powder) underneath, I think they are a good option if you're on a budget, or want to experiment with colors you don't usually wear. (Or if you're a beauty junkie like me and just like collecting.)

One more caveat - these are made in China, if that's a problem for you. (But then again, so are a lot of the holiday palettes that the Big Names put out.)

Available from www.nyxcosmetics.com, www.cherryculture.com and www.nonpareilboutique.com, as well as some drugstores and Ulta. Prices range from 8$ to 11$, depending on location, though you can always wait for discount codes at the websites.

OPI - Matte Russian Navy

What. The. Hell.

That's all I've got for the matte nail trend. I've seen some gorgeous examples of it on Scrangie's blog, but then she's got preternaturally beautiful nails and faultless application.

On mere mortals, this is what it looks like:

Ignore the bottle - I picked up the wrong one for this shot. It is a matte, but Lincoln Park after Dark rather than Russian Navy.

In other words: EEEEWWWWWW.

Matte polish is incredibly unforgiving. It dries so fast that any hesitation in application results in a streaky, uneven mess. (Bear in mind, the nails in that picture where done by a good friend who is a polish pro. You do NOT want to see what resulted from my attempt.) The texture is also unkind - if you have any ridging or defects, matte polish will magnify them.

They also recommend not using hand lotion, I assume because it can ruin the matte effect, or otherwise weaken the bonds somehow. I'm not sure how true that is, but to test this out thoroughly, I followed that directive. The result? Crusty, mangled cuticles that could probably rival Wolverine for shredding power. (Ok, slight exaggeration but still.)

The worst part is the wear. Now, they warn you right on the label that mattes will not last as long as regular polish. That's a vast understatement. This picture was taken less than 24 hours after application and I already have tipwear and some light chipping, after a task-free weekend day. Taking the polish off was obnoxious as well - not quite the fight glitter puts up, but for something that flakes off so easily, it's remarkably stubborn when it comes to actually removing it. Even with a basecoat, the result was stained nail beds and three times as many cotton balls required.

Now lets talk about the aesthetics. Like I said, I've seen some really stunning pictures of this look. In real life, on me, it just doesn't work. It looks like the half-assed 'manicures' we used to do in 7th grade, with liquid paper. There's a fun, punky quality to the darker mattes that I appreciate, but it's just not something that gels well with my personal style. I think a brighter, girlier polish might look better on me, but again, that still doesn't resolve the various other issues I've described.

I think if you have a perfect application technique, smooth nails, trouble-free cuticles and no problem redoing your nails after a day or two, then this might be a trend that works for you - assuming you like the look of the finish.

For me, it seems like more trouble than it's worth. I might try out some of the mattes that apparently have a more lenient drying time (Nubar, for example), or maybe I'll pick up a matte-finish top coat. I'm not ready to completely throw in the towel, but neither am I as enthused as I was before trying it out.

Pistachio store visit

I was in Toronto a couple of weeks ago and had the chance to stop by one of the two Pistachio stores - a green-concept boutique owned by Indigo that offers paper goods, toys, apothecary products and other assorted do-dads made from an ecologically conscious perspective.

The store itself was mildly underwhelming, in the sense that I've seen more creative and appealing merchandizing in places like Anthropologie. Where Anthropologie excels in creating ambiance and beautiful little stories within nooks and niches, the set-up at Pistachio featured somewhat random-seeming assortments of products on tables and blank white walls. The effect as less zen, and more confusing and, to be honest, boring.

There is a feeling of a shop in transition, and from what I've heard, this reflects where they are at right now, moving from originally much higher price-points to something more in keeping with a middle-income demographic.

That said, the actual choice of product was intriguing, and most of it quite lovely. I made off with just a few things, though I was certainly tempted to get more. From a beauty-buyer's perspective, they have a few things very much worthy of investigation, including the Jurlique skincare line, Butter London nail polishes and Saipua handmade soap (which I originally posted about here.)



I think this is a store-concept with a lot of promise, and I look forward to returning closer to the Holidays.

Villainess- Chloroform Soap

I was digging through my soap box the other day and found a bar of Chloroform soap from Villainess.




There are many reasons to love Villainess - the beautiful packaging, the great customer service, the skin-loving formulations and the awesomeness of Brooke herself being just a few of them. This soap reminded me of another: the unique scents. Lavender Oatmeals are a dime a dozen, but Villainess offers some more imaginative blends.

Chloroform is listed as having notes of "crisp cucumber, sickly sweet green vegetation, a dizzy whiff of violets, mind-numbing plum, and a stiff shot of anesthetising vermouth." To me the big standouts are the wet greens and the plum, juicy and sharp and crispy. Not my usual thing, but it's very refreshing, like napping in freshly cut crass.

Like all the other Villainess soaps, the lather is silky-soft and as emollient as you're likely to get in bar soap, without sacrificing that 'clean' feeling. (Very emollient soaps often feel like they're leaving an ooky layer behind on my skin. With these, my skin just feels soft, not slick or overly squeaky.)

Hmmm. Now that I think about it, I should probably stock up on some Trauma soap from the limited edition page, before it's gone.

Available on the Villainess site, as well as The Soap Box Co. for 5$USD

BPAL - Sunbird

This is inadvertently turing into BPAL Week. (If you do not know what BPAL is, a wrote a brief introduction to the brand here.)

I just received my Sunbird order! Much rejoicing was had!

Lookit at the pretty!




Much like the Snow, Glass and Apples special duo featured a while back, this was another collaborative effort between Neil Gaiman, the folks over at the Lab and artist Julie Dillon. In case you're not aware, they have all collaborated extensively on a variety of projects benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, including a permanent not-for-profit series based on Neil and Terry Pratchett's book Good Omens, as well as the previously mentioned book-and-oil duo.

Like that other, the Sunbird pair features and special-edition chapbook of one of Neil's short stories, illustrated by Ms. Dillon. Beth, the genius nose and creatrix behind BPAL formulated a perfume oil specifically meant to capture the essence of the story.

Does it? I think it does. What does Sunbird smell like? Gorgeous, to put it simply. It is a base of rich amber resin, a blast of citrus brightness, desert air, and the suggestion of something burnt. There is a smoky feeling to this, without an obvious note of firewood or ash. It doesn't have that fishy or savory odor that some smoky blends possess. It's rich and bright at the same time, dry yet richly languorous.

Hands down one of my favorite blends.

It is EXTREMELY limited, as there are only about 250 left in stock at this moment. If you want it, I suggest the earlier the better, unless you want to be haunting eBay down the line.

Available only at this part of the BPAL site, 50$ USD for the set.

How much do I want this necklace?



A lot. A freakin' LOT. It's somber, delicate, weighty, graceful. Just beautiful. And somehow perfect for fall, despite not being obviously autumnal. It makes me think of overcast skies, still nights, spare trees, the crunch of cooling leaves on the forest floor.

Alicia Dabney is the artist behind this piece. She has her own etsy shop featuring her jewelry and some select artwork, called Elements and Artifacts. She is also one of the artists associated with Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and has done some gorgeous work for them: Act V of the Carnival Diabolique series, as well as a limited edition, San Diego Comic Con version of Tarot: The Fool (for an oil/tarot card series that will be premiering at BPAL in the coming month).

A super-talented lady, truly. I'm off to plot a custom order I've been pondering for a while.

Tarte Friends and Family

In case you haven't seen it, Tarte is having a Friends and Family promotion. I would be more excited about this one except that Tarte not only doesn't have international shipping, but they also don't accept non-american credit cards. Which means that you have to go through a third party for everything. (Normally I order myself and have things shipped to a family member and pick it up when I'm south of the border.)

Sorry, but this is a pet peeve of mine. Urban Decay at least accepts payment via paypal, and Beautycrunch will accept credit cards with foreign billing.

That being said, this is a pretty sweet special, so if you were jonesing for something from Tarte, now is your chance.



The Femme Fatale palette is out of stock (of course) but the Day to Night palette is available and very nice. I'll do a review and post some swatches as soon as I can. They still have some stock available of older sets, like the Lip Couture set I reviewed a while back.

Personally, I'd love to get some of the cheek stains, which I have yet to try. Oh, and the Purse Your Lips set.

Aaaargh! Damn you Tarte! *fistshake*

(Random aside: looking at the other posts under the Tarte tag, I realize that I still haven't done a review/swatch post on the Vanity palette. Is it even available anymore? Oh well, I might do one anyway, in case anyone is interested. Wow, not blogging for a few months really put me behind.)

Lorac - Pink Python Palette

Since there are only a couple of days left on the Lorac GWP promotion, I thought I would do a quick review of one of the items I ordered a while back. The Pink Python Palette is actually part of their VIP section - the discounted products, that is. It will still be available after this little promo is over, as will everything else on that page, while they still have stock.

If you've never tried Lorac products, I highly recommend starting with one of their palettes. They eyeshadows and blushes have beautifully soft, silky, pigmented textures and the colors are usually very well selected. I have yet to come across one (and I own six so far) that's a lemon.

This one is a variation on their classic Croc and Snake Charmer palettes, done in fun summer colors, including the girlie pink python exterior.





The first three eyeshadow colors are slightly punched up neutrals - a glimmery cream-gold, a lush pink-beige and a warm, mid-range reddish brown. They are all slightly shimmery. The last color is a lovely turquoise - a fairly simple version of that shade, without the duochrome effect that I've seen from other brands, but lovely all the same. The texture across the board is incredibly soft and buttery, with that curious almost-cream consistency that is trademark Lorac. These colors can be applied sheer or packed on with ease, with the teal shade being the sheerest initially.




The blush is stunning - a bright pop of pink of that works well on both pale skin and tanned summer skin. My only caveat is that it seems a little too cool-toned for the eyeshadows.

This is a palette that I would have easily snapped up at the original price, and at 50% off, it's practically guilt-free.

If you're going to be shopping from the VIP section, I highly recommend scoring the Snake Charmer palette as well. And some individual eyeshadows while you're at it. They're more than worth the sale price.

Available at www.loraccosmetics.com, originally priced at 35$ USD, now 17.50$ USD. The site does not ship internationally at the moment, but if you can get someone to do a CP for you, it's worth the hassle.

Urban Decay Sales

Urban Decay is having two sales, yay!

One - an auction on Hautelook, which features some select products for 50% off. (My invite link is here.) This one is great if you're looking for specific eyeshadows and liners. It ends tonight at midnight PST.

Two - a Friends and Family sale on their own site. It applies to all product, includes free shipping over 50$ and gives you 30% off. This one runs until the 20th of August. They don't ship outside of the US, but they do accept paypal as payment, so you can order internationally - you just need to have it shipped to someone who can pass it off to you after.



A good time to stock up on essentials or give something you've been secretly craving a try. I just placed my order with Hautelook for some eyeshadows and liners, and I'm contemplating my FnF haul - the XL Primer Potion will feature, that I'm sure of.

BPAL - Summer Garden Series

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab has evolved over the past few years into having some distinct - and much-anticipated - seasonal collections. There are limited edition scents based around Halloween/Fall, Yule/Winter and Lupercalia/Spring. The fall series just debuted this past week, in fact, and I'll be doing a breakdown of that shortly.

And while there are certainly enough new blends over the course of the summer to please even the most fickly consumer, there haven't really been and summer-themed series. Until now.

The Summer Garden series is truly whimsical, a fun and irreverent encapsulation of that most noble of artistic expressions - lawn art.



LAWN GNOME - Benevolent groundskeepers, these carefree plaster and stone companions lighten the hearts of passers by.
Red currant, molasses, vanilla cream, moss, and patchouli.

A wonderfully dirty, distinctly un-foody vanilla. Rich and almost cakey from the bottle, it settles into something earthier on the skin, eventually fading into a soft, soft oakmoss. I am shocked that I adore this, as oakmoss is usually Babe-bane. This feels almost like a Gourmand Chypre, if such a thing is possible.

PLASTIC PINK FLAMINGO - Vigilant day-glo guardians of lawn and patio, stalwart protectors of the home.
Pink sugar-crusted marshmallow, dandelion, and sap.

In the bottle, this is indeed a thick blend of mooshy marshmallows and the almost bitter tang of dandelion sap - at once creamy white and sharply green. A unique and strangely pleasing combination. However, on my skin this devolves into that burned powder note that many foody blends fall victim too. I can only curse my skin chemistry and hope that this plays more nicely with others.

SPINNING MULTICOLORED METALLIC PINWHEEL - Polycarbonate and metallic film monuments to domestic whimsy, whirling merrily in the summer breeze.
Raspberry, lime, blueberry, tangerine, lemon, juniper, and white grape.

This is an amazing scent memory for me. It smells like those packets of fruit-flavored sugar that I used to eat with those solid-sugar spoons - the ones that eventually made my tongue hurt, and had to be chased down with iced coke. Sniffing this, both in the bottle and on the skin, I can pick up every nuance of that tart and sweet mix, that watered-down aroma of coke in the summer - and then something cool and almost faintly metallic underlying it all. It's sweet but not cloying. Refreshing in fact, and if they could bottle this as a drink, I think they would make a killing. It smells like childhood.

And the bottle art! So bright! So cute! Not the usual thing I associate with BPAL, but so perfectly delightful for these blends.

There are also some other summer-based blends that have come out recently, though they are not identified specifically as part of a series. However, the other seasonals started out, once upon a time, quite humbly as well, with nary more than a handful of blends. I can only hope that this is the first in what will be a yearly tradition.

The Summer Garden is live on the Limited Edition page until September 6th. Each bottle is 17.50$.

Girlactik

My local Sephora is featuring a new brand. At least, they've been told it's a new brand, according to the consultants, but I'm pretty sure I saw it on the Sephora site a few years back.

Girlactik? Ring any bells? Looks like the lovechild of Too Faced and a slumming Hourglass?

This is what the display looks like (slightly blurry due to Stealth Mode Photography):



I did a few quick swatches of the eyeshadows and they feel veeeeeery similar to the Too Faced ones - that sort of thin, slippy, very pigmented texture that goes on like a dream but tends to crease easily. A few of the colors were absolutely gorgeous though, so I might go back for a second look.

Any thoughts on this one?

LORAC - GWP and Discounted products

If you follow this blog at all, you know I'm pretty damn obsessed with LORAC's palettes.

If you are as well, take advantage of their current promotion: with any purchase of 50$ and more, you get a trio eyeshadow in Bronze Bombshell, a make-up bag and free shipping. Now, that in and of itself is not that exciting - shipping is always free over 50$, the bag is cute enough but not, you know, amazing.

What's really worth taking a look at is the VIP Discount section. There are some truly awesome deals there, and when you throw in a couple of freebies - hell yeah.

This is my wee little haul from a little while back:



That's two palettes and six eyeshadows for about 50$. A steal.

I have another one that was delivered to my shipping buddy in the States (they don't ship outside of the USA), and hopefully I'll be able to collect it in a few weeks.

I ordered before this little promo went live, but you guys can still take advantage; it runs until the 15th of August. If you haven't tried Lorac before, this is definitely a good time to give it a go. I highly recommend the Snake Charmer palette (I reviewed it here), as well as the eyeshadows generally. They are pigmented and silky soft, somewhat similar to MAC's Starflash finish.

Let me know what you're thinking of hauling! I'll have some swatches of mine up soon.

Blog Pimp - Scrangie

I've recently gotten back into nail polish, and I've been searching swatches of different brands, to know what to look for. I was guided to Scrangie's blog just recently and Holy Motherload, people!

Her blog is AWESOME. She's reviewed a ton of brands and colors, her pictures are up close and high quality and she gives very detailed (and funny!) reviews. Of course, her nails are too perfect for words, and make nearly any nail polish look fantastic. But it's also an inspiration to get my stubby little digits into some sort of shape.

Seriously, if you're not following...why the heck are you not following??

China Glaze - Frostbite

Ok, there's clearly something wrong with my camera, because it is NOT REMOTELY conveying the pure cobalt gorgeousness of this color. No matter what light I use, the deep royal blue shows up as something a wee bit lighter and brighter. So bearing that in mind, I give you:



In real life, Frostbite is a very deep, true blue with a very fine shimmer. If Zoolander's "Blue Steel" was a color, it would be this one. I can't say enough how beautiful this color is, and completely contradictory - outrageous and flashy on one hand, utterly classic on the other.

I love it, and hopefully it lasts through my week.

Updated after 5 days of wear:



Very minimal tip-wear, and some chipping that started the day after this. WIN.

I bought this color at Sally's Beauty Supply, though you might find it at Trade Secrets as well. I don't recall the exact price, but about 5$ sounds right.

Nixie - Gone Under

Well, of course. A few days after drooling over their site and planning an order, I find out that the Nixie brand is defunct. This is too damn bad, as they truly had some gorgeous eyeshadows and blushes. Victims of the recession I guess, and their own low-key advertising.

If you're interested in scooping some up, though, Camera Ready still has some stuff left for 40% off.