sobota, 10 stycznia 2009

Hooray for X-mas Money !




I took advantage of the post-X-mas sale at Sephora (30% on all makeup items, 20% on all X-mas sets). I caved in and bought the Urban Decay Urban Essentials Kit - it comes with a supersized (16.3ml!!!!) Urban Decay Primer Potion (UDPP) and two of their best-selling eyeshadows (Goddess & Midnight Cowboy). It was the supersized version of UDPP that convinced me to give this set a shot. And boy am I glad I did!
Let me start with the UDPP. I already had two different eyeshadow bases that I was quite happy with - Lumene Eyeshadow Base and ArtDeco Eyeshadow Base. Both of these are extremely popular in Poland and always receive raving raving reviews on makeup review boards. The latter is also very popular in other European countries. They are both really good, and I should know since I have very oily eyelids. Still, after about 8 hours of wearing eyeshadow on top of them I did experience some minimal creasing. Enough a reason to try the cult favourite UDPP. And despite not having very high expectations I have to say I love it. Although I have yet to try it with a cream shadow as a base for powder shadow. If it prevents creasing of cream shadow it will win all the awards in my book.
On to the eyeshadows. Midnight Cowboy is a pretty champagne pink with serious glitter. To me it's a great shadow to wear with bright winged liner for an easy-breezy party look. I used it on my sister-in-law on New Years Eve along with electric teal winged liner and it turned out fabulous. However, the glitter fall out you get with this shadow is unfreakin'believable. Even if you very carefully press it onto a sticky eyeshadow base with a brush designed for packing on eyeshadow you will always have LOTS of glitter under your eyes, on your nose and your cheeks. It's crazy. So, this is one eyeshadow with which I will allways do my eyes first.The glitter in this is also so chunky that, at least to me, it's definetely a shadow to use for party or night-time looks.
Goddess is a dark navy blue with electric blue shimmer - great to use as a contour shade with a beige shimmer or taupe eyeshadow, it's also fabulous on it's own for a smoky blue party look(although you would need some sort of a cream base for it to really show up since the colour pay off is so-so), or even as a liner for a pop of colour when paired with a neutral lid colour. I really like this one. Of course, it goes great with the Midnight Cowboy for what Urban Decay describes "a dangerously sexy look".
All in all, this is a great set. Great value for the money. Totally recommended!

niedziela, 4 stycznia 2009

Hooray for Christmas presents!


What better excuse for a makeup junkie to buy new makeup than Christmas. I mean, you just have to buy something new so you have something to put under that Christmas tree, right? In my case, it's also the only time of year when family memebrs, who generally frown upon my buying makeup ("But you already have so much of it, honey! Why don't you use it all up first and then buy something new. Or better yet, buy a nice bag or dress. You don't have enough dresses."), are actally willing to enable me in my addiction. If given the chance, I'll tell them exactly what I want and where they can get it. Most of the time, though, I end up buying it myself and giving it to them already gift-wrapped thereby saving them the hassle of shopping altogether. And they can be sure I'll scream with excitement when I unwrap it on Christmas Eve. So basically, in December I get to splurge and buy more makeup than usually (or just more expensive makeup) without actually spending much money myself. And, best of all, my loved ones are happy for me for doing so. Aah, the guiltless makeup high. It's the best kind.

My DH got me the Glow Pretty makeup set by Clinique which includes Fresh Bloom AllOver Colour in Camellia (LE) and Full Potential Lips Plump & Shine in Glamour-full. This was a Nordstrom Exclusive limited edition set in 2008 but DH bought it on an online auction.The Fresh Bloom AllOver Colour is a wonderful multitasking product- you can swirl your blush brush all over the flower and the background to get a pretty shimmery blush shade or just over the background to use the most shimmery part as a cheekbone highlighter. You can even use it as an eyeshadow palette. I have three of these - Posy, Peony and now Camellia - and plan to review them later in the week as I am very satisfied with all of them. For now I'll just say that Camellia is a gorgeous bronzey salmon colour with pretty copper shimmer particles - the lovechild of bronzer and a coppery blush. The color payoff is great. The shimmer particles give skin a nice sheen without making you like a discoball (Hello, REVLON Skinlights Illuminating Powder, circa 2001). And it's just so beautiful in itself, packaged in a sleek silver compact with a sizeable mirror. Very elegant and well worth the money. Needless to say, I loooove it. My DH sure has great taste in makeup. He did good.