Review: M.A.C. Nicki Minaj Lipstick

"Starships were meant to fly ...

Hands up and touch the sky ...

Can't stop 'cause we're so high ...

Let's do this one more time!"

Alright, I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't the biggest Nicki Minaj fan when this lipstick came out. Heck, I don't think I cared for or against her to be honest. She's growing on me. What I can is that I am a sucker for the Viva Glam lipstick packaging! When I saw this bright color inside I just died and went to bright lip colored heaven! Viva Glam Nicki Minaj is a yellow based bright pink color. It's out for te year and all proceeds ($14.50) go to the M.A.C. Aids Fund.

This lipstick is a Satin finish and I'm not that familiar with what a satin finish entails. It had a bit of sheen, not so much gloss, to it which I liked it. It was a little difficult to apply this lipstick. It seems to accentuate the lines and dry spots on your lips. The color is absolutely gorgeous when you wear it on what I call a "perfectly-smooth-lip" day and the pigmenttaion is opaque. The only thing I would say is that this formula leans toward the drier side. 

The lipstick wore on me about two hours before it started to fade. I am a lip biter and lick my lips a lot for some reason and unintentionally so regardless of the lipstick wear, I always seem to need reapplication. On someone without these odd tendencies I'd give about 3 - 4 hours before it started to fade. 

Viva Glam Nicki Minaj is what I like to call the bright Barbie pink lipstick. I really do feel like a Barbie doll whenever I wear it out. It'll be perfect for the summer time wether you're going out with friends, on a date, or just to the beach. I, personally, would even wear it out (if I had somewhere to go that is). 

I'm on the look out for more Barbie pinks! If you guys have any that you've seen be sure to let me know! Also, let me know if how you like this lipstick or if you're thinking about picking it up soon!

xo

Benefit Watts Up ... I Will Not Be Subscribing to Your Vlog

Does anyone else watch that gosh awful Beauty Vlogger Boot Camp mini-show by the Fowler sisters? It's like a really bad car accident where I want to look away so badly but I can't... I just can't!

Anyway, on to my very disappointing rant? Is that what I would say about a product I am quite disappointed with? I guess. So yes, my rant on Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up highlighter stick-type-product, haha!

Let me just let you guys know how excited I was to buy this! I chose this out of all the other powder highlighters that I was absolutely in grosses with as well but though ... cream blush, all the way! Now this little guy is very deceiving. 

Whenever I swatched it on my hand and on my cheeks in the Sephora store it looked SO good and SO flattering. I bring it home, go to use it and it looks like absolute nothingness. I'm lying; it actually looks like my cheeks are sweating, and not just that but sweating shimmer in a bad way. I'm all for covering every inch of my body in glitter but this was just ... wrong. And don't even get me started on the itty bitty applicator it comes with. It does zip, zilch, didly squat. It just bends when you go to blend and only glides (not very smoothly) on your face without doing a thing!

I was so disappointed by it that I am now KICKING myself for not looking at some of the awesome highlighters that M.A.C. came out with a while ago. I hate returning things, but this one is going back to Sephora. I don't even have the receipt but this just needs to leave my collection. I feel this was a little hyped up. It's not that great and there are WAY better highlighters out there I'm sure of it. When I find it I'll be sure to share it with you all!

Have any of you recently bought products you're less than thrilled with?

xo

Review: LUSH Cosmetics Dirty Springwash Shower Gel

It's late at night (3:19 am to be exact) which is when I type up most of my reviews. But this one just seems so appropriate for the moment. So I live in New York and summer if quickly and swiftly (I say it like that because where is the gosh darn transition?!) approaching. If you live in New York then you probably know that summer time here is like hell. 80 degrees can easily feel like 100 degrees here cause of all the humidity. It's not even a rare chance that it's humid, it's just ALWAYS humid and hot. Which explains why I cannot sleep. And why I bring you this review... 

Dirty Shower Gel is the perfect shower gel to use in these upcoming hot months. It has spearmint in which gives it it's minty and refreshing smell and the tingly, cooling sensation when you scrub it onto your skin.

The description on the bottle says loads more than I could ever say. I just showered with this twice in one night and each time I come out my skin feels refreshed, I feel refreshed and the sticky, gross feeling on my skin is completely gone. I'm just a big fan of minty scents to freshen up with in the summertime. I do enjoy cinnamon scents a lot, as well, but it just makes me feel even more warm and candy scents don't make the sticky skin feeling go away.

You can get this shower gel at LUSH shops or order them at lushusa.com! If you're unfamiliar with LUSH shower gels they come in 3 sizes: 100 mL, 250 mL, and 500mL, which range in price. As a former LUSH employee I can tell you that if you really like a scent of any shower gel, go for the 250 mL or the 500 mL cause you're getting way more bang for your buck! I can't wait to finish this little guy and by myself a much needed 500 mL Dirty Shower Gel. I feel like I'm gonna need a lot of it this summer!

xo

Review: Deborah Lippmann Candy Shop

Before I even begin my review I'd like to take this small space to say a few words about Deborah Frickin' Lippmann. I first saw her nail polishes reviewed on the beauty blog Temptalia and then a small hand full on Amarixe's beauty blog. My first reaction was "eh". I'm not kidding. I said eh, and was astonished that these polishes sold for $16 ($18!!! if it was a glitter). But then beauty.com was having a 20% sale and I saw her polishes on the site. So I decided to investigate a little further and looked up some swatches of a handful of colors.

OH. MY. GOOD GOLLY. GOSH. This women makes polishes for a reason. Deborah Lippmann has some of the most unique glitter and holo and even plain jane nail polishes that I have ever laid eyes on. And she even got me with a mermaid nail polish (remember? sucker for the mermaid polishes...) So I shelled out the money and I bring you this review ...

Candy Shop is a Deborah Lippmann polish that is so fun and so girly. It is unlike any glitter I've ever had. The polish has a sweet candy pink base and then is jam packed (would injected be a better word? haha) with rainbow glitters. Just looking at the polish in the bottle makes me salivate for cotton candy!

with flash

I love that in this nail polish the glitters come out with the base. Unlike most glitters I've worked with where you almost had to scoop to get any glitters. When you apply the brush to the nail the glitters transfer and don't start to migrate with every brush stroke. This is especially good for those like me who always layer two coats no matter what the polish. It creates dimension and layers of glitter that I personally have never seen with glitter polish. Everything lays flat and with a good thick coating of top coat you shouldn't even be able to feel the glitters. 

The pink of the base really shines through and enhances the whole polish rather than fighting to be seen under all the happy and fun glitters.

without flash

It saddens me to do this but there are a couple of cons to this otherwise gorgeous nail polish. As I said before, when you apply the polish the glitters transfer and then don't budge. The bad thing about that is that if you get too much glitter on one side of the nail, babam! It's staying there in a heap of glitter. There's no moving it around, otherwise you're just helping the mountain grow.

Lastly, this is going to be a doosey and pardon my French as I say this, this polish is THE most ANNOYING FREAKIN' THING TO WIPE OFF. The pink base comes off beautifully but then you're left with monster glitters on your nail that only shred cotton pads and balls to bits! I was scraping off the glitters with my teeth for a good 30 minutes on just one hand!

I'm not sure if that would ever be a deal breaker for me because this polish is truly one of a kind in my book, but my GOD. There needs to be a better way to remove this guy! 

I look forward to trying and buying more of Deborah Lippmann polishes. These polishes are one of those things that when I fork over $18 I don't feel a gut-wrenching guilt in the pit of my wallet. So I'd say this was absolutely worth a look-see. And perhaps go on the hunt for a super hero nail polish remover? Haha!

xo

NOTD: Not Your Average French

I recently got a new Essie nail polish in Turquoise & Caicos so I decided to play around with it and also do an accent nail in Essie E-nuf is E-nuf. Accent nails seem to be a really popular trend lately and it seems  like you can really do no wrong with this sort of manicure! 

 Polishes used:

• Essie Turquoise & Caicos(main color)
• Essie E-nuf is E-nuf (accent color)
• Art Deco Silver Glitter (tip on top of the Turquoise & Caicos)
• Art Deco Gold Glitter (tip on top of the E-nuf is E-nuf)

Hiding Your Online Shopping Problems

Some of you may read that and wonder, "what kind of cuckoo blog post title is that?". It won't be that weird when I get into what I am trying to say. First off let me start by saying that this is not an informational post. I'm not about to teach you how to properly hide your online shopping parcels and habits. I would have to know how to properly do that to share any tips and tricks. Which brings me into my post. I am completely rubbish at hiding my online shopping addiction.

For example: I have boxes upon boxes stacked away in my closet. They're just sitting there and any sane person trying to hide something would have them thrown away! Nope, instead I'm just waiting for the opportune moment to brag about all the wonderful boxes I seem to have collected.

Another example: I, stupidly, keep all the things I buy out in the open! Instead of putting them in a drawer where it won't be seen I keep them in a bin that just multiplies in size every other weekend. I like to think that I'm so clever and no one will ever notice. Well, they notice...

A third example: When a package does indeed arrive and I'm not quick enough to catch it, I become a complete airhead. My mom will pick up the parcel and start shooting out questions: 

What did you order?

When did you order this?

How much was it?

Why are you spending all your money on this stuff?!

My answers to these question are simple ... and one answer applies to all: "I didn't order that!" Here would be the part where you would insert a face palm. Why do I think that that answer will suffice? Why do I get myself to believe that she'll just think I didn't order it and let me keep the items that I had not ordered.

Which brings me to my final example at how rubbish I am at hiding my online shopping addiction. Instead of having the package sent to my dad's house or my boyfriend's house I got it sent to my house. Now why is that an example? Well because it wasn't that I wanted to send it to my house. I stupidly put in my own address in the shipping and was so sure it was being sent there. So my package comes today but it ended up at my house. Now I am really dumbfounded, not even expecting the package, and have to answer to my mother.

IN SHORT: Make sure that those of you out there who are hiding your online shopping addiction, do so properly! I am an example of how not to go about this. My methods are entertaining and just plain laughable.

The title of this post is completely ironic, but if there are tips that you'd like to share please them here!

xo

[NOTE: I do have an excessive shopping problem, but I do spend my own money, so just keep that in mind! :) ]

Review: Butter London Knackered

with flash

I have only ever dreamed of owning a Butter London nail polish. Every time I would seem them in a Ricky's store I would hyperventilate right there in the middle of the aisle. At $14 a pop though, I never saw a color I would gladly give up lunch for. Until I saw Knackered. Knackered is an unexpected beautiful color! It's a silver/gray base with purple and green/blue duo chromes. On top of that it has super micro rainbow glitters in it which is just twenty cherries atop this brilliant sundae.


Aside from the color itself, I didn't actually believe Butter London would live up to its hype. The polish applies beautifully; no streaks, not to thick of a polish and the nail brush is just a work of magic. The color did not chip for about a week. Had it not been for my awful nail biting habit I can imagine it would have lasted a little while longer!

without flash/natural lighting

I would recommend this so, so, so highly to every one! It's such a unique color to have in your collection and I feel as though everyone needs it! I have seen other gray/purple-y duo chromey nail polishes, but with the formula and the micro glitters (that remove SO EASILY) I'd say this is the one you'll need!


xo

Review: M.A.C. Lady Bug Lipstick & M.A.C. Redd Lipliner

Most people start off with a pinky, nude, or beige lipstick when they got into makeup. I plunged head first and started with a fuchsia one and worked my way to reds. I love, read it LOVE red lipsticks. I love them on myself and I adore them on others. Anyone who wears red lipsticks knows how you can have 50 different shades but it is the most difficult thing in the world to find your red, the perfect red that will suit you beautifully and make you feel like a millions bucks. M.A.C.'s Lady Bug lipstick was that for me.

Sorry about the wanky way I applied the lipstick,
but you see how the color appears quite nicely! 

Most people don't go bonkers over M.A.C.'s lustre finishes, but I love them! They're not to opaque and have a wonderful shine. I think that's why I am so in love with Lady Bug. It's a lustre finish. It's not your classic red color and has more of a yellow base to it which my skin color seems to love. It makes my eyes light up, my lips look absolutely kissable (if I do say so myself ;) ), and it's just my perfect red. I am not good at recommending lip shaes. I feel this would suit a lot of fair skin tones, but then again who am I to judge that a darker skin tone can't pull it off?

M.A.C. Lady Bug / M.A.C. Redd  

The only downfall of Lady Bug is that it is a bleeder! Ironic, considering it's a red, huh? So if you pick this one up I highly (not even highly, I'm TELLING you) to get/use a lip liner. The day after I bought Lady Bug I went back to M.A.C. and got myself a nice all around red lip liner called, har har, Redd. It's a classic red but blends nicely into the lipstick and most importantly keeps the color in!


Lady Bug is a stunning color and one I recommend you check out! Just don't forget liner, liner, liner!


xo

Birchbox May 2012: Gossip Girl

It's finally arrived! My first (and the Gossip Girl) Birchbox!

 When my mom told me it came in the mail I literally ran towards my door, snatched up the box, and ran to my room to tear it open! You can't really see in this shot (surprisngly!) but there's a HUGE gash on the box. I couldn't wait to open because 1.) it was my first ever Birchbox and 2.) I did some digging around (accidentally, on purpose) and sort of knew what my be in some of the boxes and was hoping one of my favorites would be mine! 

Above is what was inside my box. I was so excited that I hadn't bothered to read the little card that was on top of the tissue paper. I was SO thrilled to see the Stila Waterproof Eyeliner in Curacao! I've been getting into colored liners so this was just amazing! Then I saw mini Color-Club nail polish in Disco Nap (two things I would never have thought to put together). I've always wanted a mini polish, I just think they're so cute and the fact that it was gold was cherry on top! I've been dying to find a metallic gold that was just purely that and no other gizmos inside. This was perfect and I can't wait to try it out!

The next things I got, I'll be honest, I was not to thrilled about and kind of smacked me out my sample high. I got three Kerastase hair product samples. The two packets (which I thought were the same sample) are a shampoo and conditioner for fine and luscious hair. My hair may be luscious but it certainly is not fine. And I also got a serum of some sort for dry ends which I actually got sort of excited to try because fine hair I don't have, but dry ends I certainly do!

After the excitement died down I went to read the card and discovered that I was actually missing a sample! The one that I was hoping wholeheartedly to get! It was the Dr. Jart BB Cream! I was kicking myself because it said on my note card that I was supposed to receive it and it was no where to be found! I didn't want to have a problem with my first box, but I feel sort of initiated now. I e-mailed customer service and hopefully they get back to me soon and send me off my sample!

All in all, this was really exciting and I'm happy with my box, regardless of the BB Cream not being there (even though I REALLY wanted it!). Unfortunately, I don't think I will continue with my subscription. These days $10 may not seem like much but I feel like I could put that towards beauty products I know I'll like.

xo

Late Night Thoughts

This isn't going to be any sort of review as it's 1:39 am here in New York and I can't create any more logical sentences after writing my 8 page paper all in one go. Now I'm sitting here wondering if the previous sentence was a run on ...

Have you ever been in that weird daze where you're tired but you can't fall asleep? That's me right now and how do I spend my time? Online shopping. Or browsing at least. 

I'm going to the city tomorrow and sort of want to stop by LUSH because I seriously haven't in the longest time! Except for my little impromptu dash into the Atlantic City shop. I want to pick up all two of their Mother's Day bubble bar wands and maybe a Twilight bath bomb. I have officially run out of bubble bathing products and their by far my favorite. Have any of you ever gone into a LUSH before? How addictive is it?

I'm thinking of reviewing the bubble wands and comparing it to the Magic Wand bubble bar that came out during the Holiday season. 

I also sort of want to stop by the M.A.C. Pro Store and see if they have any Show Orchid in stock. It's a beautiful fuchsia lipstick that would take a pretty ballsy person to wear, but I need it for my collection! Have you ever just needed a color to have in your collection? I went in the PRO store last week and they didn't have any. It was so strange going into the Pro store. I felt like I totally did not belong in there and the workers all knew it. It's SO intimidating, but I'll call tomorrow and see if it's in stock. Fingers crossed!

It seems that I can never have enough lipsticks. I have a lipstick holder that fits 24 lipsticks and it's already more than 2/3 full. I still want more! Hahaha, all of them are bright lipsticks that sort of fit an 'occasion' so I've been thinking of getting M.A.C. Chatterbox or Angel. Have any thoughts on which?

Haha, so I see from rereading this that my late night, term paper fried thoughts consist of a shopping list. No wonder my wallet's always empty! Well I'll leave it at that, as to not make the shopping list any longer. Have a goodnight!

Recreating A Look

Every time I see a picture on the web and the model's make up is done brilliantly I always wonder how I can go about recreating it. I am as amateur as amateur gets with make-up. Figuring out colors is one hurdle, the next one is trying to figure out what order all of it goes in! 

I saw this picture on a tumblr dashboard (I couldn't find out who the photo belongs to so if it is yours please let me know! I want to give proper credit). I had just bought the MakeUp Forever Aqua Eyes 5 eyeliner and needed to procrastinate from studying for finals so I decided to take on my first recreation!

That's what I came up with. The colors are a lot brighter in the original picture and I couldn't seem to get my black eyeshadow as dark as the models! I'm pretty pleased with the eyeliner (color and application) although the model's eyeliner makes mine look as dull as a cloudy sky! The make up looks a lot better in the photo than in person if I'm going to be honest. If I closed my eye, it was just all over the place!

Regardless, I did have trying to recreate a look. I think it's good practice for when I apply my own make up. It really helps me see what colors would look great together in a make up application! Let me know what you guys think! :)

Review: Essie Super Bossa Nova

With flash

Super Bossa Nova is a fuchsia based nail polish with, I guess you would call it, purple reflects. I seem to be very drawn in by fuchsia/purple mixes, lately. The combination of either in anyway always creates such an exciting color! The formula of this polish is great! Both photos are of the manicure in two coats, but honestly I could have gotten away with one if I had wanted to. For some reason I always apply two coats regardless! It does however take FOREVER to dry. I don't know if it's just this polish or I'm impatient, but it did still get marks in it 3 hours after drying. It's not a very forgiving color for that but if don't do anything, it's gorgeous!

Without flash

I would wear this color anywhere but it would be amazing to wear to the beach or out on the boardwalk. It's that burst of summer color that's always in for summer and especially this summer! 

Retail Therapy: Birthday Haul!

So Wednesday, May 2, was my 19th birthday! Although my mom thought it was my 17th considering she got a '1' and '7' candle, hahaha! It seems that every year there's something I become completely enchanted with and I get a lot of it for my birthday! Last year it was LUSH Cosmetics gift cards and products and this year it's beauty items! Which I was so thrilled for! Now I didn't get this all in one day (all in one week, but not in a day!) and some of it I bought for myself as a well deserved present (my birth makes me well deserved, haha!) 

• Mrs. Bunny Collection Sigma Brushes (from my Sister) - I was SOSOSO excited for these! I have been using a crease brush from Sephora and the Urban Decay Karma brush that came with the Naked Palette for the longest time, and only those two brushes! I love the blue and pink colors of the brush, I think they are so pretty. It's also awesome that they come in their own sort of brush holders! I can't wait to use them more!
• Ciate Caviar Manicure (from my Aunt) - So I have basically been lusting about this caviar manicure kit since I saw a YouTube guru (FleurdeForce) demo it on her channel! I knew it would be a sort of gimmicky (but awesome) sort of nail thing, but that didn't stop me from wanting it! The only thing though is the price is absolutely outrageous for nail polish, micro beads, and a plastic tray! I'd never buy it myself. When I went out to dinner my aunt (who I never see) handed me a Sephora bag with the kit inside and I freaked! I cannot wait to show you guys a nail of the day with it!!!
• Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Palette (from my boyfriend) - Boyfriend. You're doing it right! If I just insert a giant exclamation point would that convey the proper amount of excitement? Probably not. I know he was originally planning to get me the Naked 2 Palette but then this bad boy came back on the Sephora website and I spammed his Facebook with links, hahaha! I've been lusting after this palette for FOREVER. I wasn't too into make-up when I saw gurus reviewing it so it didn't phase me, but now MUST HAVE!

things I bought for myself

• MakeUpForever Aqua Liner (5) - Blue eyeliner. Jennifer Lawrence wore it in the Hunger Games. Jennifer Lawrence is girl crush. Nuff said.
• Urban Decay Deluxe Eyeshadow (Fishnet) - I am so glad the the Sephora on 5th Avenue didn't get the new look of the Urban Decay Eyeshadows! Two reasons, one: I LOVE the Deluxe Packaging x a million! two: the deluxe shadows are $18 and have  more product, while the new ones would be the same price and the same color, but less product! It's such a beautiful purple color similar to MAC Stars 'N Rockets but 10x more pigmented.
• MAC Morange Lipglass - Walked into a MAC store on the day of a collection launch (unintentionally) and happened to be in the flagship store that had EVERY COUNTRY'S FASHION SET. *dead I've always wanted Morange Lipstick but didn't think I'd have the cajones to wear it out but when I put the lipglass on I could not look away. It made my eyes pop and it was out there without being out there.
• OCC Makeup Lip Tar (Queen) - Gah! This color. No words for it. I've always wanted an OCC liptar (many, at that!) but when I went to IMATS I was so tired that I didn't have the strength to wait in the mob. Then I saw OCC retweeted someone saying they "popped into an OCC store" and I was like THEY HAVE STORES?! Thank you Google for helping feed my addiction and cleaning my wallet ;)

Have you deduced anything from this list yet? Not yet? Well I'll help you out... I'm not buying any make-up for a LOOONG time. But don't fret! I've got so many reviews to write up that time will fly, make up will get used and I'll be able to buy once more! I'm very thankful for everything I've been given and everything I was able to buy. Hopefully this fortune will follow me into my 19th year!

Quick Update!

I have a birthday haul post and a few reviews coming soon but I just needed to get this out there! If you don't already own Sigma brushes, get some! They seriously do the work for you. I'm doing my make-up right now and I can't get over how beautifully it's picking up the color and blending everything! So amazing and just wanted to update for you guys ;)