J.Cat Beauty Wonder Lip Paint

I was at Ulta yesterday afternoon and was bummed over not finding the NYX matte lip creams I really wanted and was just about to leave when I spotted these beauties. I've been really wanting to try out the OCC Lip Tars for the longest time but could never justify the price tag for what I considered a novelty lip product. I love the pigmentation an intensity of the swatches I've seen on other blogs but $18+ for a difficult to apply and not very forgiving lip product just seemed silly to me. 

Luckily these babies had a beautiful $4.99 price tag and all inhibitions were gone! I walked out with 3 gorgeous shades and have swatched them below. 

Shade: Much Mucher

Shade: 2nd Impossible Thing

Shade: Red Potion

Much Mucher, a very light orangy-peach-nude shade. It applied probably the best of the 3, was really opaque and I really loved how it looked. 

2nd Impossible Thing, in the tube and the swatch made it look like an electric red, but it ended up applying a bit less vibrant. It ended up on the lips as a slightly transparent berry red. Still beautiful, but not really true to the swatch. 

Red Potion is a super deep plum/berry shade that applied again a little more transparent than I was expecting, but still bold enough. It was a little patchy so I think it would do better on me if I'd exfoliated my lips first as they were a little dry. Overall I LOVE the color, but don't love the need for prepping my lips before applying it. 

While I can't compare them to the OCC Lip Tars, I can say that I really enjoyed them and was pleasantly surprised by how wearable they were. I still think they're more work than they're worth but for a night out or just for fun, they're awesome!

XOXOXO

\

Happy Belated Valentines Day!

Per my usual, I'm posting this late :) HAPPY BELATED VALENTINES DAY!!!

I 

Best News Ever

...well maybe not EVER, but pretty awesome news! So I was at a Target in Fridley, MN on Mother's Day and while taking a peek in the makeup isle, I found.........

 

When the hell did Target start selling NYX!? So far Fridley is the only store I've seen it in but it's only a matter of time until it's in every store! (I hope...) NYX is one of my favorite makeup brands ever and to be able to get it at 15% off?? (w/ my employee discount) WOO!!! Heaven! So that was a lovely little find. I didn't actually buy anything because I was in a rush but I really hope to find it in my stores soon!

 

****UPDATE****

They added one in the Knollwood, MN store! WOO!!

 

I DID get this month's Glam Bag in the mail (www.ipsy.com) and I must say it's probably my favorite one to date. It came with some really great products and a bonus full size Urban Decay Stardust shadow in Space Cowboy.

 

The other products that came were a Mirabella lip tint, a gorgeous soft blue Zoya nail polish, a Yaby concealer refill, a Juice Beauty reflecting gloss and lastly, a St Tropez self-tanner.

 

 

I really love the shade they sent for the Mirabella lip tint. It's packaged like a lipstick but it's not extremely opaque and just gives a really pretty glow of color on the lips. I love the UD Stardust shadow I got. I already had a sample from ages ago in violet (can't remember the name) and it seems like they've reformulated it since then. The color is really pretty and subtle, but gives a nice pop of glitz over any look. Again, I LOVE the nail polish and have been a long time fan of Zoya polishes, so no complaints there. I'd never used Yaby concealers before but I tried it on my under eyes and it seemed to do the trick fine. Had good coverage without being too heavy and didn't set in any of my fine lines. The shade was just a bit too dark for me for every day use, but I would consider buying it full size in my shade in the future.

 

The only 2 products I wasn't crazy about was the Juice Beauty gloss and the self-tanner. I don't tan, so nothing against the product itself, but I'll probably be giving that to one of my friends as a gift. I didn't really like the consistency of the gloss. Since it was promoted as a "reflecting" gloss, I'm assuming it wasn't meant to have a ton of color payoff or be used alone, but it basically just felt like water on my lips. I tried it alone and on top of a lipstick and it just felt like it made my lipstick slip around. It also didn't seem like it had enough shimmer/glow to it to be used strictly as a "spot of shine" for the lips either, so unless I figure out how to work with it, I probably won't be getting much use out of it.

 

So that's about what I've had going on makeup/beauty wise. I did also finally order the Nude-Tude palette from the Balm which I'm really looking forward to. I ordered it off Hautelook for 50% off, so its taking a while to ship. Once it's in I'll be sure to post pics/swatches and 1st impressions!

 

Lastly, a random Instagram pic! Datenight selfie fail! :)

 

 

XOXOXOXOXO

 

 

 

NYX Haul + Makeup Look

 

I've been avoiding makeup shopping for the last several months to work on saving money, and well... because I know I basically have more than enough makeup to my name as it is. BUT, be that as it may, NYX recently released a ton of new products and I've been dying to try them out. SO, I took a trip to Ulta and came out with a few new (and not so new) things.

 

First off, not so new products I purchased was the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, a must have which I was running very low on. I also re-purchased the HD Photogenic Concealer in Fair. I LOVE this concealer. Its turned in to my favorite. Its medium to full coverage, but doesn't set in to fine lines and matches my foundation perfectly.

 

Now, on to new things!

 

I'm a big fan of the NYX Stay Matte But Not Flat powder, and when I saw they came out with a foundation I had to give it a go. First thoughts, after just using it once: I'm not really sure about it.

The color is *gasp* nearly to light for me!? I can still work with it, it's just very light. When I tested it on my hand, it appeared to be more on the full-coverage side, but when actually applying it to my face, it took a bit of work to get it blended and appeared to be more of a light-medium coverage. I'll have to do a more in depth review after I've used it a bit more.

 

A not new product, but new to me is the Jumbo Eye Pencil in Knight. When I swatched it, it looked like a black to almost mossy green shade with gold flecks in it. Very beautiful, and I think it will go great to make a simple smokey eye.

 

One thing I got that I was very excited about is the Collection Noir Powder Brown Liner. After my first use, I'm not 100% sure how I feel about it. I really liked the idea of using it to give a less harsh, smoked out liner but it leaves a lot of fall out, and the product is VERY pigmented. I would advise against using it without something to catch the fall out or you could end up with raccoon eyes.

 

I bought 2 single eyeshadows. The first is the Nude Matte shadow in Underneathe It All. It's a medium warm brown shade that I thought would be perfect for defining the crease.

The 2nd is a Glam Shadow in Sparks. It's a cream/champagne shadow with gold glitter infused in it. It's a gorgeous color, but the glitter has some serious fall out you need to watch out for.

 

 

Finally, last but not least, I got the Love in Florence Palette in Meet My Romeo. I was attracted to the colors in this palette because they looked like they could be used to make a great natural/neutral look or a smoked out evening eye. Plus I fell instantly in love with the shimmery taupe. I created a quick eye look using this palette that you can see below.

 

 

 

I must say, I'm a tad disappointed with this palette. I was really hoping for more color payoff, especially with the 2 shimmery shades but as you can see in the above swatch, they came out very faint. I refused to give up on the palette though, and found foiling the shadows with a little water helped bring the color and metallic sheen out.

 

Above is me with just foundation/concealer and my brows done.

I started by applying the taupe color with a little water to the inner corners of the eyes to brighten up the look.

 



 

I also used water to apply a wash of the bronze all over the lid, up to the crease.

 

I used a pencil brush to add the matte light brown at the outer crease, bringing it up to about halfway across the eye.

 

I went over that with a small amount of the dark brown.

 

I blended the 2 brown shadows out with a fluffy brush to diffuse the harsh lines.

 

I applied the peach shade to the brow bone.

 

I used my favorite Physicians Formula Eye Booster Eyeliner in Deep Brown to line the eyes.

 

And applied a coat of black mascara to the top and bottom lashes.

 

And the eyes are complete!

 

I finished off the look with Physicians Formula Happy Booster blush in Warm and Covergirl lipstick in Delish.

 

Let me know if you've tried any of the new NYX products and if there are any must have's!

PHEW!!! Back in Action!

So apologies first, I know I've been MIA for a while, SORRY! These last 5 or so weeks have been absolutely insane. I had both my sisters' birthdays to celebrate as well as my boyfriends. That on top of Christmas, New Years and being sick for 3 weeks straight SHOULD have been enough, but then last week my boyfriends car basically exploded and we had to scramble to get him a new one. So that's what I've been up to!

I haven't been a complete bum though, I took a few pics of the makeup I wore on New Years to share! My boyfriend and I went to the Cheesecake Factory and had an amazing dinner, then laid low at home and had a Mad Men marathon to ring in the new year :)

I put this look together with eyeshadows from my Urban Decay Vice Palette and for the lips, I used my new NARS matte lip pencil in Cruella. I LOVE that lip pencil! It's a gorgeous red, has an amazing texture and just looks beautiful. 

A new tutorial will be up very soon so keep an eye out! 

XOXOXO

Giveaway Coming Soon!!! Sneak Peek!

Hey everyone! I'm posting a quick sneak peek of my upcoming Giveaway! It's been several months since my last giveaway and I wanted to make this one bigger and better!

 

Once I get everything in, I'll post a video with the details on my Youtube channel and will also update here. Don't forget to check back once the giveaway starts because there's a good chance I'll have added more stuff by then :)

 

I wanted to do this to thank all of my followers both here on my blog and on Youtube. I really appreciate all the support I get and thought this would be a great way to show my thanks and give back the love! Hoping to have everything together in the next week or so, so follow me for updates and ENTER!!!

 

XOXOXO