ColourPop Haul

Today I bring you my first ever ColourPop haul! ColourPop Cosmetics have been around for about a year and half. This past May was their one year anniversary, so they're still a fairly new company. They are an indie brand (independent), because they are not made by or owned by a large corporation. They're based out of Los Angeles, California and formed by two girls. The company has quite a cult following and many people love them, because they're so affordable. Their eyeshadows, lippie pencils, and lippie stix are only $5 each, while their new liquid lipsticks are only $6; prices that are hard to find outside of cheap drugstore brands. While their pricing is in line with a lot of other indie cosmetic companies, their rise to popularity is more of a higher-end brand.

I personally have always been curious of their line, but never had a reason to go purchase it until recently. All of the colors I am about to review run along the same color scheme, because they were choosen for a future cosplay that I'm working on. I was having a difficult time finding colors of eyeshadow that would work with my cosplay and it just so happened that ColourPop had a close enough selection. - Before purchasing ColourPop, I did some research. Again, mostly favorable reviews and a lot of fans of this company. I did read some complaints though. Some people said that for the price of their cosmetics you're not really getting that much product, so basically "you get what you pay for". There was also complaint of shadows drying up and some not liking the formula. -I'll cover all that later on.

My items arrived well padded and secured! They were well protected and to top it off the company hand writes a letter with your name on it! How cool and unique is that?!?! (Sorry, I scratched off my name there, but I don't feel like having my personal name out there like that.) Shipping is a low rate of $5, but spend $30 or more and they offer free shipping.

I'll start the review with the Lippie Stix and Lippie Pencil that I purchased:

I purchased the Lippie Stix in the color "Raw". 

ColourPop describes Raw as follows: Raw is always better and this clean aqua blue shade with a satin finish is no different. SATIN FINISH Full coverage, long wearing lipstick glides on smoothly with a hydrating feel & has a modern satin finish.

If you're unfamiliar with a "satin finish" in terms of lipstick, it usually means a demi-matte finish; so, it's not quite matte, but it's not going to be glossy or shiny either. It's that step right before "matte".

I purchased the Lippie Pencil in the the matching color "Raw". The description of the color is the exact same as it's partner and promises that same "clean aqua blue".

Here are swatches of the lipstick and the pencil side by side in natural light. The larger swatch is the Lippie Stix and the thinner swatch is the pencil. I'm not sure how it will look on your screen, but on the website the color looked more on the blue-ish/turquoise side on the website. However, when I received it, it was definitely more "aqua" and green-ish. I do not see as much blue here as I was hoping for, but in all fairness the site did state it was aqua-colored.

As for performance, I was slightly disappointed in the Raw lipstick. It is not as easy to work with as I thought it would be. It performs much more like a matte lipstick, because any dry patches on the lips will be highlighted and make the lipstick look rather messy. Also, dry lips in general make it quite hard to apply and have an opaque finish. So, obviously I suggest a good lip scrub before applying this and moisturize those lips! Winter is quickly coming and I can't see this lipstick being my friend during the cold season since my skin is always much dryer in the winter.

The Raw pencil performed great! It was easy to apply and very opaque! It's a smooth application with no tugging and matches the lipstick perfectly. I'm normally not a fan of filling in the entire lip area with the pencil, but I feel it does help in this case since the Raw lippie stix can be hard to make smooth if lips are not in the right condition. Another good option to help is a lip primer.

Next up are the Super Shock Shadows. Yes, a couple of these look smudged and that's because I couldn't resist trying them out as soon as I opened up the package! I promise they all arrived in perfect condition initially. I also have to add that not all of these colors are available to purchase. I had no idea that shortly after I bought these that they were going to do a final sale and then discontinue them. It kind of makes sense, because some of these colors were released for their spring collection this year and so they are probably just getting rid of them to make way for the winter and holiday collections, but I know it also can be disappointing to read a review and then not be able to purchase them. I apologize, but know that much of this review is to also inform the audience about the brand itself and the overall performance of the products.

The Super Shock Shadows are unique. They are a wet powder shadow. It's not the typical dry powder or compressed pigment. The feel is similar to the Maybelline Bouncy Blushes and I would best describe it as a cream-to-powder finish. With that being said, it does take a few seconds for these to set and if you're not use to a product that is not dry it may take a little bit of getting use to and figuring out how to apply these.

First up, I'll start with the blue shades. Left to Right: "Beauty Call" and "Taco". As of right now, Beauty Call is no longer available for order anymore.

Beauty Call is described as a "true powder blue with a matte finish". I would agree with Colourpop's description. Beauty Call was surprisingly thick and a little harder to apply then Taco. The issue with Beauty Call is that the formula is a bit thicker and takes longer to dry. Since it is a pastel shade, it takes a little bit of layering to get opaque for that true blue hue and so layering and dry time can take a bit. It's not an impossible shade to wear, but it does take some working with it to understand how to get it like the swatch appears.

Taco is described as a "mid-tone aqua in a matte finish". I can't agree with that description. I do not see much aqua in Taco at all. To me this would be considered a dark turquoise at best and is more of a muted blue. The "matte" part is correct. Taco applies nicely and has beautiful coverage. The formula is lighter than Beauty Call and so it dries faster and applies smoother. It's a very nice and easy product to work with.

In the picture above, I'm wearing the Raw lipstick and pencil. If you look closely towards the inside of my mouth you can see the dry patches and where the lipstick starts to separate. As the weather changes, my skin and body react pretty negatively, it's actually worse than in the winter. Changing of seasons is always rough for me. Anyway, the lipstick was not that well of a performer in the long run. I had about 2-4 hours with it before having to do touch-ups each time.

On my eyes, I have Beauty Call on the inside of the eyes and Taco on the outside. Both are applied over a primer and I always use primer! Both wore well for me. I had them on for about 7 hours. 

Rounding out the haul is the greens! Left to Right: Flux, Snap Dragon, Ibiza. Again, the two shadows on the left are only smeared because I had to swatch and feel these babies right away! They arrived in perfect condition.

Flux is described as a "light mint green with a matte finish" and I would say this is more of a hint of green then it is really a mint, or at least that is how it looks when applied. It is indeed matte. Flux will appear differently, depending on your skin tone. For me, it's almost white on my tan skin, but when I use it with other green shadows the green that Flux is shows up well. My only issue with Flux is the same issue I had with Beauty Call; it is a thicker formula than the rest and thus takes longer to dry and that only makes it harder to get the opacity of the color that most will desire.

Snap Dragon is described as "mid-tone sea foam green with a matte finish" and I would say that is a pretty accurate description. Snap Dragon performed much like Taco did, as it was easy to apply and set much faster than Flux did.

Ibiza is described as "bright turquoise with a silver and gold duo chrome finish". Ibiza is more of a bright teal in my opinion, but it definitely has silver and gold reflects that give it a shimmery finish. It is not easy to see the reflects and shimmer in my image, but it's there. This is not a matte shadow and ColourPop lists Ibiza as a "pearlized finish", which it is. I enjoyed Ibizia a lot. It is a pearlized finish, so to make it opaque it takes a few layers, but it's any easy shadow to work with and the color will look great on any skin tone. 

In the picture above I have Flux on the inner part of my eye; Snap Dragon on the outer part of the eye; and Ibiza is on the lower lash line.

Final Verdict

ColourPop as a brand definitely won me over! Everything from the well secured packaging to the hand written note! It all really showed that they care about their products and they care about their customers! I really like the eyeshadows and I enjoy the formula. My only issues were with Beauty Call and Flux, which were the 2 lighter shades. They're not the easiest to work with and I would probably use a base under them next time. I would most likely not repurchase those either, however they're both part of the Spring 2015 collection and Beauty Call is already permanently sold out and Flux is being phased out. All the other shadows are great! The Lippie Pencil is a solid will win also, but the Lippie Stix in "Raw" is not the easiest formula to work with unless the lips are primed and ready.

The only other topics I'll address is from the beginning of this post. As far as the complaints people launched about the shadows drying out and not receiving enough product, I'd have to say that is just people trying hard to find something to complain about. As you can see, in the picture above with Flux and Snap Dragon, I have technically hit pan on both. The issue here is that the shadows are creamy and they're moist, so they move and slide around a lot, so it's easy to look like the product is used more than it really is. It is true that you do not receive as much product as the jars may appear to hold and that is one thing that was a little surprising to me, but honestly for only $5 a jar you're still getting quite a bit of product. There's also the fact that most of us beauty consumers out there do not use up any one shadow in a week. The majority of us will still have that same shadow a year from now, so again it's not much to complain about at the price. The performance of these shadows is well over $5. As for the "drying" aspect, the ColourPop website does warn you to close the lids tight between uses, even if you're just switching between colors. I have had these shadows for a couple of weeks now and have not experienced any drying of the shadows, they still feel the same as when I opened them. So, I don't personally feel like these "issues" are a problem.

Feel free to share your ColourPop experiences and favorite products from there in the comments below! Any questions or other comments can be left below as well!

Drug Store Nail Polish Haul

I know I wrote in my last post, which was 2 and half months ago, that I was back and ready to post. Well, just as I wrote that, not much time went by and aunt passed away as well. To make matter worse, my family and I are still dealing with legal matters on my grandfather's death which was over a year ago. I'm coping and handling things the best way I can, but I have just been spending a lot of time with family and to myself. - I have taken a lot of time off from blogging and social media lately and I do feel like I am ready to jump back on this "horse" though. I'm saying this now without a thought and with hope that my family and I do not endure anymore loss.

I thought I would start with an easy post to get back into the swing of things. This is just a nail polish haul that I did over the last 2 weeks. It's pretty simple. Everything was bought from drug stores.

The first 4 polishes in this haul were from the SinfulColors polish line. These are the "SinfulShine" polishes that are suppose to be super shiny like gel polish, only you don't need the UV lamp or any special top coat. The bottles state that they have "Gel Tech". These have been out for a few years and were first spotted in Walgreens. I never picked any up as they were $1 more than the regular SinfulColors line and just didn't seem worth it to me. Recently, displays at Walmart started popping up with these SinfulShine polishes that are priced at $1.50, which is less than the average SinfulColors polish and so I couldn't pass them up! I placed the names of the polishes on the bottles for you all for fast referencing. I have not yet tried these out though, but when I do I will make sure to review!

The next week, I found the Sally Hanson Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear limited edition "Electric Summer" collection at Walmart, also. These were $2.97 a piece and this collection was released this year for Summer 2014. Unfortunately, it's the end of summer, but better late than never. Again, the names are on the bottles for fast reference. There are 2 more polishes in this collection that I did not get- "Pearl Up" that looked to be a very pale peachy pink, almost white & "You're Crabby" that looked a lot like "Peach Babe" only darker. I just felt like those 2 were not necessary for me in my collection and that I wouldn't use them. A lot of people were not excited about these when they were came out, because the colors are very similar and comparable to colors in the permanent line, but I felt like there was enough difference for me to go ahead and purchase them. I also do not own many polishes from this line, so that helped. Again, I haven't tested these exact polishes and when I do I will review. I've never had a problem with this line of polishes though.

Here are 3 random polishes I picked up last week and all 3 are from different Sally Hansen lines. Names are placed on the bottles for fast reference here, as well. They are all permanent shades. The first polish, "On Pines an Needles", is recently new this year for 2014, but it is permanent. The other 2 have been out for a while. I actually have never owned a Triple Shine polish before. When they first came out it seemed like everyone rushed out to buy them and within a few months it seemed like everyone had tossed them aside, which lead me to think they weren't all that, but I decided to pick this one up "Seanic" and test it out. If you have tried them let me know your thoughts!

Next up, these are the new "Miracle Gel" polishes that came out by Sally Hansen. (I promise this is the last of the Sally Hansen polishes!) I bought all 3 that have the "no light" written on the brush handle from CVS at $9.99 a piece and the "Style Maker" came in a 2 pack from Walgreens which included the special Top Coat that is suppose to help keep the shine and give durability to the polish and it was $14.99. These polishes claim to have the shine and look of a gel polish without the UV lamps, but last up to 2 weeks. These are what I am most excited to try! Around here these polishes have been selling out quite fast. It took me trying 3 different stores to find "Truffle Shuffle" after I passed it up the first time!

To finish this haul off, I'm showing off some Essie polishes. Essie is one of my favorite brands, they're a little pricey for drug store polishes, but I think the quality of them are great! Rarely do I need more than 2 coats and they last quite a while on my nails (more than a day or less, which is the result I get with a lot of drug store polishes). - "Fashion Playground" is a limited edition color from this years Spring 2014 collection and I still see it floating around at Rite Aids and Walgreens. I purchased mine from Rite Aid for $8.50. "Mojito Madness" is a permanent color and I bought mine at Walmart for $8.47.

Save the best for last! Here is the last polish of my haul and it is an Essie polish. This is "On a Silver Platter" and this came out for the holidays last year (Winter 2013). I wanted it when it came out and for some reason it was sold out every where and then I sort of felt like I didn't need it after the holidays. Well, now that the holidays are approaching again, I picked it up! I bought this one at CVS for $8.50. 

Hope you like the haul! I'm real sorry for my absence and making it look like I had abandon this blog, but it was more like I just needed some personal space. I will say that I did still receive activity while I was away, which made me feel encouraged that the content of my blog was still good enough to reach people, even though I was gone for a while. Thank you for your kind words and support. 

On a side note, I am seriously backed up from early summer until now with blog entries. Some may be irrelevant by now, but I am thinking I may still post them anyway. Let me know your thoughts!

Ready For Winter - Mini CVS/Revlon Haul

I know most people get annoyed when winter/holiday/Christmas things start to roll out earlier than November. Personally, I love seeing this stuff come out in October. I've always been an earlier shopper/planner when it comes to holidays, birthdays, and celebrations. I had a coupon for $5 off of $25 at CVS a week ago and picked up a few things.

Items from left to right:

• Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter - "Provocative" [limited edition]
• Sally Sugar Coat - "#210 Royal Icing" [limited edition]
• Revlon Photoready Primer, Shadow + Sparkle - "#540 Muse" 

Of the entire Opulence collection from Revlon (which is a limited edition collection released for this holiday season), the lip butters were the thing I was looking forward to the most. I thought I had completely missed this whole collection, since it came out around the time I moved and I hadn't seen it anywhere around here. I was so happy to spot it at CVS the other week! Unfortunately, I could only get my hands on 1 of the 2. There was so much talk about the blue shade, but when I finally found this collection, only 1 of each shade was left on the display and the blue shade had been opened and a chunk was taken out it. I asked a sales associate if there was anymore, but with most limited edition displays what was out was all they had.

The purple shade, "Provocative", was the only one I could buy and even if it wasn't blue I was still intrigued by it. 

I did my best to photograph it, but whether I used flash or not it was really hard to capture what it really looks like. It's basically a clear gloss or "butter" with purple sheen and sparkle. I feel for a party or a night out it will really set the look.

Let me just say- I'm not afraid to show my naked nails. I have not been putting polish on all the time, because I have been dealing with a peeling nail and have been more focused on treatments and nourishment. Anyway, as you can see (for the most part) this is an ice blue color with purple sparkle in it. For any of you who don't know- the Sugar Coat polishes are textured and limited edition.

Here are swatches of the eye shadow palette. This palette is not believed to be limited edition. I have read from a few other sites/blogs that this is the only part of the collection that is not limited edition, however I have yet to see it on a regular display. All of the shades have a ton of sparkle in them, even though it's not so easy to see it. I feel the shadows are decently pigmented and I have another one of these palettes from the same line and really enjoy it, so I have a good feeling about this one. The lightest color is the primer and it is my favorite. I look forward to the high intense sparkle it'll add to the look. FYI- I have never really found the primer shade in these palettes to really be a primer or replace a primer you would use before applying your shadow.

So, that's it for this little winter haul. I'm hoping to pick up more goodies from other holiday collections. Let me know what you all have or want!

CVS Haul & Reviews

Every once in a while I receive coupons or discounts at CVS, because I have a CVS discount card and I enrolled in their Beauty Club Rewards program. I rarely use these, because the most convenient CVS for me does not have the best product selection and these coupons usually last about 2-5 days, so not much time for me to get there. However, this time I did use a $5 off of a $25 purchase and I thought I would share with you all out there. Everything I bought was beauty related and with my own money.

Warning: This entry it pic heavy and very long!

My first selection was the limited edition Wet N Wild Hot Rocks collection. I have been eyeing these since they first appeared around my city and always passed on them, but this time I decided to scoop them all up before they disappeared for good. These didn't seem to sell out around here and I don't see too much talk about them around the beauty community, but I think they look like fun. This is the complete set, all 6 shades. If you have any, let me know if like them!

Next, I picked up 2 of the Revlon Colorstay quads. On the left you have #580 Free Spirit and the right you have #585 Sea Mist. 

These quads were part of the Spring 2013 collection from Revlon. However, I'd like to point out something- I work for Walmart and when we changed our permanent displays for Revlon early this year, these 2 quads were set in our permanent displays. We have not received much more of these quads in our shipments in the past couple months, but we did have them regularly this year. I'm thinking this may change once they change the modular again and new quads will take their place, but I'm not sure if these quads would really be considered limited edition. If anything, a better term would be "seasonal". I will say, Walmart did not receive all of the Pacific Coast collection; we did not get the gel liners, cheek tints, or limited edition lip butters that I saw on the displays in CVS and Walgreens around here. - Above is a pamphlet that was free that you could take with you from the display they had in Walgreens and inside it explains the collection by Gucci Westman and gives you looks you can create with the palettes. 

Before I get to the swatches, I'd like to say that I have never purchased or used any of these Colorstay quads before, so I had no idea what to expect. Obviously, I was hoping for good results and I must say I was surprised. Also, I'd like to add right now- I did not use any primer in any of these pictures. These are all straight from the palette to my hand!

This is the "Free Spirit" palette. I swatched this one first, because initially I thought this would be my favorite palette of the 2; the colors go together well and I like the overall look of the colors better than the other one. The picture above is with just one swipe of color with my fingertip. The colors didn't perform so great, at least not as I had hoped. The black color was the only color that really seemed like it had any staying power without primer. The lightest blue was a little on the powdery side, but overall these colors are not bad with fallout, just kind of drier than average. I do want to add that I swatch all 4 colors, but the tan shade really blends into my skin (it is the first swatch and really hard to see), but I foresee it being a very good base and all-over color for my eyes, and is actually my favorite of the 4 colors, which surprised me.

This second photo is the same palette ("Free Spirit"), but I went over the swatches a few times to build opacity. The colors are definitely buildable and look better with a few more swipes than just 1. Overall, I'm not that impressed with this palette though. I'd like to wear it on my eyes though and actually try it out. Like I said before, I think the tan color is going to be my best friend as an all-over color and it seems really blendable. These colors do go together well though, but they're also colors that you could get else where in either higher-end companies, as well as in drug store brands. These colors all came out matte, except the black has some sparkle in it, but still looks pretty matte when applied.

Here's where the real surprise came in- Initially I thought I would not like the "Sea Mist" palette. These colors do not look that appealing at first glance and I really didn't feel they went with each other that well. I almost didn't buy this palette at all, but decided to get both since they were a collection together. - Well, after swatching these babies, I still don't feel they go together that well (at least not for my style), but they perform well. The photo above is of just one swipe of color with my fingertip. These colors are shimmery, not matte and you can see the shimmer a little in this photo. They do not have sparkle and you do not need to worry about it being "too young" or "too party-like"; they just have a hint of shimmer that gives it a nice glisten. 

This second photo is of the "Sea Mist" colors with a few layers applied. Buildable colors, but unfortunately, because of light you cannot see the shimmer a little in this photo. The pink color is the very first swatch and it is nice, it's just hard to see on my skin, because I'm tan. (I always forget how tan I am until I do swatches, lol.) Honestly, I probably won't use all of these colors together, but they are the type of colors that give a nice pop of color to a look or give a little pick-me-up for a look without being too dramatic and they perform wonderfully.

Final verdict: These palettes have been around since spring and they are still available. I am finding them still around at Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart. However, the Pacific Coast displays are going away, so they are mixed in with the regular Revlon products, with the exception of Walmart, obviously. So, if you're interested I suggest scooping them up soon, because as I said before- I think they are going to disappear as fall and winter shades roll out. If you're on the fence, I would skip the "Free Spirit" palette. The "Sea Mist" palette performs much better and the colors are nicer, in my opinion; the colors will be nice for fall too. 

Side Note: Like the pamphlet from this collection, on the back of the palettes it has looks you can create with directions using these palettes.

Last, but not least, I bought a lipstick! The Revlon beauty products were "buy 1, get 1 50% off", so I needed to purchase 1 more thing to meet the $25 goal.

I purchased one of the new Milani Statement Lipsticks. I first saw these from YouTube beauty gurus and they were raving about them. Then Nouveau Cheap reviewed them and they all looked so great, so I wanted to get my hands on them. They are selling fast around here, so it's hard to get your hands on them. I have yet to see a full display, as I feel they are selling fairly fast as the stores receive shipments.

The color I bought was #16 Flirty Fuchsia. Let me say, that this was not my first choice in color. Sadly, most of the colors has been tested by customers before me. These tubes, thankfully, have a protective label on the back which you have to peel off to open. -I love products that have safety seals on them, because there are a lot of people out here who contaminate products and it makes me really weary. But enough of that! Someday I will rant about this though, so get ready!

The top swatch is just 1 swipe and the bottom swatch is with a few swipes. It doesn't have the best initial payoff, but obviously a few coats will solve that problem. For the price, about $5.50, it's not a bad buy. If you don't normally wear bright or noticeable colors on your lips, I suggest trying this line of lipsticks so that you aren't spending too much money, especially if it's just for a certain occasion; outfit; or costume. The lipstick has a nice smell to it. As I wrote in previous entries, I cannot stand the smell of Revlon lipstick and if a lipstick has a nasty smell, I won't wear it. There is a hint of that waxy/crayon smell, but it's not too bad.