Review & Swatches - Julep: Glow Pore Minimizing Blush in Petal Pink

Hi! I've gotten a lot of products recently but I never gotten the time to do any reviews until now. I've been a busy bee! In my April Julep Maven Box, I received a  full size Glow Pore Minimizing Blush in the color Petal Pink. There were two blush colors and two bronzers to chose from, but I'm absolutely addicted to blushes. The second color was called Peach Bellini which was a gorgeous pink toned peach shade, but I'm more of a pink person than peach. I just opened it yesterday along with all my other packages that has been sitting waiting for me. It felt like Christmas all over again. I don't think there were any reviews about this product since recently considering it just came out in the April Box. On their website only the peach color is currently available. So let's get into it.

Their packaging is absolutely gorgeous. It's sleek and compact, and fits in the palm of my hand. The package closes with a snap sound so the lid doesn't open on its own, but it's not a struggle to open either. The casing is made of plastic and has a matte finish to it while the sides are glossy. Only the logo is printed on the front.

The back lists the product name and color as well as it's weight and some general information. It does not however list the ingredients. I'm pretty sure this came in a box but when it comes to packaging, I usually just tear it off and throw it away. Those curious of what's in this blush can click here to the product page, the ingredients are all listed down.

I took these photos under an opened window, natural lighting without flash. The pan of the blush sits snugly in the packaging and the lid side has a compact mirror, which I love considering how you can never have a shortage of mirrors with you on the go. It's convenient for me when I want to touch up while I'm out and about and if I left (Which I of course always do) my compact mirror at home. The quality of the blush itself looked  pretty amazing in the pan so I made a few swatches on the back of my hand and then I was immediately disappointed in not the colors itself, but how powdery and chalky the product was. Applying it came off smoothly but just dabbing my fingers or a brush lightly on it produced powder everywhere.

This kind of really upset me because for a $24 RP blush, you'd expect it to be higher quality than that. I could go out and buy a M.A.C. blush for less and receive better quality. I feel like since most of the product won't be picked up by your brush but instead break off into powders, you'd be losing a whole lot more than you paid for. It makes everything messy and the fall out can easily get on your clothes while applying. I feel like other than the RT price ($19.20 for Maven Members), the fall out really ruins the blush overall.

Even so, I did continue to take pictures of the swatches I've done. The pigmentation was gorgeous and the color did truly give an amazing glow. It didn't come off patchy or powdery as the product in the pan was and it gave off a dewy like finish. The color is a true pink, that reminds me of cherry blossoms or a peony. You know how lipsticks have this frosty kind of finish, this blush has a frosty pink finish.  Looking really close there's no fine glitter or anything and not much of a shimmer, more of a frosty sheen. I don't think I see that often which is why I think the glow is amazing.

I gently picked up some product on my blush brush and swept it over my hand and tried to blend out the swatch I placed down with my finger. My whole hand looks pretty pink right now instead of it's usual yellowy undertone and looks glowy in a frosty sensation. I seriously have no other way of explaining it but it's gorgeous. I'm just really bummed out about the fallout of the blush and how messy it is. I feel like this may be one of those products you should apply with a slightly moistened sponge. I also do suggest using a proper primer underneath and or even a cream blush because as I'm typing up this review, I'm not sure what I rubbed my hand up against but a lot of the color has faded. I don't think this would be a very long lasting blush, maybe something practical for a nice subtle glow throughout the day. It wipes right off when I smudged my thumb over it. Overall I do have very mixed feelings about this blush. It's beautiful but I don't think its worth it, it has very short lasting power and it's a really messy application process. There are better and more affordable blushes out there and I'm sure if you tried hard enough you'd probably find one that would give off the same glowing frost effect.

For those of you that ARE interested though, you can head over to Julep and sign up for your own monthly Maven Box here. What it is is a monthly subscription box that focuses on nail polishes and beauty products. Each month you usually receive two themed nail polish (Which I do love considering the price you're paying for and the quality you're getting.) and a newly released tool or beauty product. I highly recommend this box to those who are new to starting a nail polish collection. What are some of your favorite spring colors for nails? Leave a comment because I'd really like to know.

Thanks for dropping by!
Crystal xo

Review & Swatches - Sleek Makeup : Blush by 3 Sweet Cheeks Candy Collection

Guess what came in the mail todayyyyy! My Blush by 3 Sweet Cheeks Palette by Sleek Makeup! Mind you this is all truly my own opinion on it, and everyone will have mixed opinions about their products. Sadly, this will be a love hate kind of thing set with excitement and disappointment. Let me tell you, this was a highly anticipated purchase for me considering all the good things I've heard about their collection. I got mine in the shade Sweet Cheeks because of all the purples I saw when I was browsing their site. I'm really, really into purple toned makeup at the moment. Don't know why. So let's just jump in, starting with the packaging, shall we?

The packaging was super cute. Though I found it funny how it was a candy collection yet they had cupcakes on the cover instead of candy? I actually didn't know it was a limited edition product. I actually bought mine from Amazon since the shipping and cost overall was a lot cheaper than buying it from their website. It's current out of stock/off their amazon list so I'm so glad I purchased this. I normally don't keep the packaging but I really liked the design on this one so I left it as it is.

Remember my last post how I mentioned a couple of times how I just love love love sleek packaging. Not the brand Sleek but the term as in how smooth and stylish it looks. It's simplistic and modern and I absolutely love that. Granted, it's slightly larger than most blushers considering how there's three in one, it's really lightweight and it isn't bulky to the point where you can't throw it into your pouch.

The three colors the came in the palette were named Candy Floss, Dolly Mix and Cupcake. Candy Floss and Cupcake, I understand. They're sweet. But Dolly Mix had me stumped.

And here's where I'm slightly bummed out. Yes, the light in my room is more yellow toned than I'd like, such as natural lighting, but it doesn't change the fact that on their website it showed more purple than pink if anything. I was like noooooo, it was so purple. Why do you deceive me, why?

With flash, gave it a more true to color tone, but trust me. Go on their website and see for yourself. The first color was a bright plum color and the second was a vibrant lilac. Dolly Mix and Candy Floss doesn't really bother me, but the first shade was just - just urgh! Now it looks like an orchid color and much much more on the pink side than compared to the image on their website. I feel really picky considering how most people won't find it such a big difference but I was super excited for a deeper purple color. Like, so excited. Dolly Mix is still a light lilac color and comes out purple toned when swatch so I'm okay with it.

I honestly don't have the best lighting in the room. Let's just skip the whole without flash because I honestly don't have anything good to say other than the fact that they're really pigmented,

With flash! Bottom half primed with Smash Box Photo Finish Primer. I don't think I needed a primer because either way, these blushes were highly pigmented. This was one full swipe of each color.

Starting off with the one to the very left, Cupcake is a orchid pink cream blush. Cool toned, it has a very nice sheen to it and goes on so soft and creamy. It goes on and blends really smoothly and is probably the most pigmented/easily swatched out of all three. There's no shimmer to it and I can just imagine when you apply it to your cheeks it would give you an amazing glow with a semi dewy finish. As far as color goes, I can't say I'm disappointed in it from pigmentation and color itself, it's just that I personally had higher hopes of it being a deeper purple. Alone and away from the whole plum shade, I do love this blush and would wear it during spring if I wanted to go for a more natural skinned yet vibrant blush look.

Next we have Dolly Mix, my favorite out of the three. It's a lilac pink, cool toned powder blush that is supposedly matte, but comes off with a nice sheen to it. It doesn't have any glitter in it and applies smoothly and is yet again- highly pigmented. For me, this would be perfect during winter where I'm all about the pale skin (Aren't I always?) and winged liner. I think if I paired this with also a lilac colored blush it would look amazing. This came off slightly patchy though I do have a lot of fine lines on my hand. It kind of sat in the crease but if I had to apply it on my cheeks, I think it would look amazing.

And last, we have Candy Floss. It's a bright rose pink powder blush with shimmer to it. Up close you can see very fine glitter and as photographed above, I think it's lovely with flash. This is also a spring color for me. It'd be cute with a peachy/cream floral sundress and light peachy pink colored lip. I find that pinks on me are hard to match with a red lip because your face will look really colorful, almost clown like, but for a natural glow I think just brushing it on lightly would be gorgeous.

So overall, yes I do love this palette and would highly recommend it. I'm thinking about getting the palette in Lace as my next buy, which I think would be better for people who are just starting out with blush and are scared to just dive in to such vibrant colors. I think even though it's starting to get warmer, I'd really get a lot of use out of Dolly Mix from my pale skin. What other color blushes do you like? Are there any other brands/palettes you recommend?

Until next time,
Crystal xo

March Ipsy Bag - Everyday makeup!

I had a few samples lying around that I wanted to try out, as well as my March Ipsy Glam Bag that I received. I already did a full review on all the products that I got. So now, I'm just going to load a bunch of pictures (unedited) and show you what I did with my products!
Product List:
-Benefit's It's Potent Eye Cream
-Pixi Flawless Primer
-Hourglass Immaculate Liquid Powder Foundation in Shell
-Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser in Fair
-Benefit's Watts Up! Highlighter
-Tarte's Amazonian Clay Blush in Memorable
-NYX Rio in Love Amazonian Babes
-Chella Indigo Blue Pen Liner
-Cover Girl's Clump Crusher
-Marvelous Moxie in Get Ready

 Bare faced, moisturized and eye creamed. Brows in desperate need of a plucking. It was already dark out so hurray for artificial lighting!

 Pixi Primer all over, including my eyelids. My right cheek has scar pigmentations but feels baby smooth. My left cheek has a few zits and plenty of scars. It's odd how it usually only breaks out on one side. I got two fat pimples on my chin and redness all over :(

 Hourglass Immaculate Foundation all over. I felt like I could have left it at that, but since this IS picture heavy, I continued on. I'm not going for full coverage considering how my acne doesn't bother me as much as it used to. I'm more concerned about getting an even skin tone and covering the redness around my nose and eyes.

 My age rewind broke so the product caked up completely. I was like, noooooooo I want to wipe this off now. :( Inc patchy forehead. I just applied a dab of product on areas I wanted to highlight.

 I tried to blend it out as much as I could but the product oxidized a little in the cap. Extremely high coverage tho, so it's amazing under my eyes. Just be warned, it will crease.

 A friend the other day asked me what I thought about Tartes Amazonian Clay Blush, and I was like, hm. Nothing really stands out about the product IMO. I like their stains more as a blush, it has this amazing natural glow about it. Anyways, I told her the next time I had the chance, I'd try it out again and see what I think about it. Pigment wise, it's buildable and adds a nice flush to your face. It goes on pretty smooth and even, but I don't know why, it's not my 'favourite' blush out there. I also highlighted the inner corners

 Excusssssssssse my eyebrows. Please. I applied the first color from the Nyx trio all over my eyelid, but not going over the crease. This reason is because I don't have a lot of eyelid space to being with even though I have double lids. If it covers all the way to my brow bone, it'd look weird. Asian eyelids. I swear. Also, super upset about how patchy my forehead got. ;_;

 I then took the darker chocolate color and added it to the other corner and blended it out with a fluffy brush. Mmmm, my lashes look so long here, Too bad they stay straight like 90% of the time, even after curling :'(

 Finally I lightly dabbed the shimmery champagne color into the center of my eyelid and smudged it out to give it a slight glow.

ANNNNND I thought someone knocked on the door so I'm like, shit I don't want to have to answer the door with half my faced done, again.. So I just applied some mascara, the Marvelous Moxie and Chella Liner. Overall look complete. The way I do my shadow is just enough to contour the eye, simple and natural. I realllllllllllly liked the foundation sample that I got and the lipstick. 10/10 would buy again. ;) I was super impressed with this month's Ipsy Glam Bag . Tell me what you think!

I hope y'all have an amazing day now! :3

Crystal xo

March Ipsy Bag Review + More!

Hey guys! I know, I know, it's been a while. Long while. I've been busy and abroad so I guess that's as good as any excuse gets. Missed me? :) Anyways, I've still been receiving my Ipsy glam bags and as much as I love them all and have all this spare time in my hands, I have been delaying reviews and what not. Lazy.
So this month's glam bag revolved around 'traveling' and 'destinations'. For anyone who wants to check out Ipsy by themselves, here's the link. Ipsy Glam Bags . So I just want to point out before we start, I didn't edit any of these pictures. Partially because Photoshop is still torrenting and I don't want to move to the table to connect the ethernet cable in.

The bag was designed by Klari Reis, and it's a geography-based series called 'Street Anatomy'. Personally, as art, I would say it's beautiful. But to me, I have a fear of dot's and I'm definitely a germaphobe. It reminds me of bacteria underneath the scope, so I was like, ehhhh, I'll just put this here. I usually keep all the bags they send and save them to hold loose change and just makeup to toss into my bag. The remaining bags I use to hold miscellaneous things for when I pack to travel back and forth. This bag has a glossy texture to it and inside has a sewn on patch of Klari's name on it and the Ipsy logo. Onward to the products!

Here's all the products laid out 'artistcally'. This month, I recieved a Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie Lipstick in Get Ready, a Chella Liquid Eyeliner Pen in Indigo Blue, a Pixi Primer and a Nyx Trio, Love in Rio in Amazonian Babes - I believe. Usually I get five items, but this month they only sent me four, which I'm totally okay with. The value of the Bare Minerals lipstick was already enough to cover a good portion of my  Ipsy subscription price. Let's do the math real quick. (Prices pulled off each items company's website.)
BMMM RP 0.12 Fl Oz - $18 USD. I got 0.05 Fl Oz so a little less than half the amount. Obviously I can't math for my life so let's say it was about $7.50 for what I got.
CLEP RP $24 USD - We got the full size! Holy, I genuinely did not expect the eyeliner to be worth this much.
NYXLiR RP $6 USD - I believe this is the full size. I doubt they come any smaller!
PIXIP RP $9 USD - They sell the mini version, which was what we got on their website too. Yay, no math necessary :)

Bag Total -This months total added up to $46.5 USD. I got 4.5x the value of what I actually paid for, so I'd say it was a steal! I actually loved most of the products I got. Personally, Pixi is a hit or miss for me and this month, I'm not that fond of their Primer. Keep reading to find out why!

 Super sleek and simple packaging. The thing I look out for in most products I buy is how compact it can be. I love things that I can simply toss into my makeup bag and take around with me. Anything slightly over 50 mL, I find to be a bother for two reasons. Weight and how I can't always bring it back with me to Canada without having to send my luggage away. Another thing I want to point out is that the packaging color is true to the product color on the inside. Shimmer included.

 If they can make pumps on squeeze tubes, that would be heaven. If not, that's still cool. As you can see, the color is pretty much exactly the same as the packaging color. It squeezes out easy as well, so I'd be careful when getting product out.

 The consistency is thinner than how I'd like my primers. It's tinted but not to the point where you'd notice it drastically change your skin tone. The moment I smudge it and try to blend onto my skin, you can see major shimmer.

 Completely blended in.

With flash. I don't think you can notice the shimmer as much with flash considering how fine it was, but it does have a satin like finish. The feel of it is smooth but nothing noticeably amazing comes out of it unlike Benefit's Porefessional or Hourglass' primer. The formula itself does contain anti aging and skin fortifying properties, so I guess that would be a +1. It's kind of just lingering in the meh zone. Like I'll use it if it's lying around, otherwise I wouldn't reach for it first thing. Out of ten, I give it a five. It'd be perfect though in the summer when you want a natural glow underneath your makeup. Or if your skin is already naturally nice, use this as a light highlighter!

 Next off we have the bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie lipstick in Get Ready. It's packaging is similar to the original, larger packaging. However, I do remember the full size packaging has a little 'button' that slides the product out so the cap doesn't fall off easily. I love how simple the design is, and how sleek the packaging is. Like NARS or MAC. YSL makes amazing lippies but I'm not a huge fan of their packaging.

 It's a beautiful warm dusty rose color, and whoops, should've took a picture before I swiped it on my hand. Oh well! I absolutely love their formula. It glides on so smooth, almost as if it was butter itself. It's enriched with Omega fatty acids and Abyssinian oils, as well as vitamin A, C, and E. My lips felt really nourished and moisturized (Images applied to lips in a separate post.)

 At first when I applied it to the back of my hand, I was like, hm, it looks pretty sheer. Which I didn't mind at all, I love products that are buildable. But when I applied it to my lips, it was like, DAMN, that is some pigmentation you got there! I remember wiping it off the back of my hand to see the 'longevity', and it left a pretty bright stain on my hand. I have the full size product in Never say Never from Sephora's lipset. As far as color goes, it's not for me. Maybe once in every blue moon I'll take it out and try it. I think it might be more suited for summer than anything. However, the one thing I noticed was how amazing the formula was. Overall, this would be a good buy if you want a rich moisturizing formula that doesn't accentuate chapped lips at an affordable price. It reminds me somewhat of Too Faced's La Cremes but at a better suited price.

With flash - You can see the amazing satin finish it gives off.

 Next off we have Chella's pen eyeliner in Indigo Blue. I loveeeeeeeee pen liners more than anything, and have been using them for quite some time now. I feel like it's so much faster than using gel and it's application is so fine and even. The packaging is similar to most if not every other pen liner, just the pen and a cap. It doesn't do refills unlike Shu Uemura's calligraphy pen liner so it doesn't have a clicker at the end. The best part about pen liners are that you can take them everywhere with you and you wont need to grab a brush or a sharpener.

 The tip is a super fine point, which easily means you can make fine wings or thick, however you please. It's tip is made of felt which applies evenly and doesn't bleed. One of my all time eyeliners is a brush tip, so the color pigmentation is amazing, but it does bleed every now and then which bums me out so much.

 Obviously, I can't draw a straight line for my life. Look how 'clean' that line looks. It's a dark navy blue color with amazing pigments and glides on super smooth. It doesn't feather, smudge proof and water resistant. This being said, I don't think it's water PROOF because I did run it under warm water for a while and managed to get some of it off. The product washed off completely with just a little bit of soap. Longevity wise, I have yet to be able to test out, but let me put this out there, every pen liner I have ever tried rarely smudge for me and I have oily lids and they can last throughout the whole day. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this brand though if you're looking for a good pen liner. There's many more out there on the market with the same if not better results for a much more affordable price. For $22, this is considered a splurge to me.

 I was super excited for the Nyx mini palette the most. Nyx has amazing shadows and pigmentation, and I expected no less from this trio. The packaging was really simple, but not photographed was where you open it. It has a cute little plastic bow which you pop up to open the lid. I got LIR03 otherwise called Amazonian Babes. I love neutral colors. It's like you can NEVER have enough. All three colors have quite the amount of shimmer. The two darker colors - a dark chocolate brown and a warm honey brown - have little chunks of glitter in them, nothing too noticeable but enough to give your eyes that extra pop and glimmer. The lighter champagne gold color has a nice satin shimmer finish to it.

 Applied one layer onto the Pixi Primed hand. The texture of the shadows are sooo creamy and pigmented. Nyx never fails to amaze me with their products. You're paying for amazing quality at a cheap price, you can't really lose anything to this. I feel like these three colors would go amazing with warm hazel eyes. If you want more pigmentation, I highly suggest you getting Nyx Jumbo Pencil Eyeshadow in Milk as a base. It would definitely make it pop. These three colors blend smoothly and they last pretty long.

With flash - sooooooo gorgeous. I highly HIGHLY recommend these three colors for anyone with a warm toned skin or just really warm eyes! The entire Rio in Love line is amazing, as well as Paris in Love.

So after all this, I have to say I am extremely satisfied with this months Ipsy. Obviously, I'm going to leave my referral link in case anyone else is interested (GO BACK UP!!). For only $10 a month, you can't really go wrong. I always love trying new things :) As well, I had a 'unique' code from Bare Minerals, where you receive a sample size of their lash domination mascara and free shipping on any purchases. I won't be needing it considering how I'm on a no buy right now :( So I'll leave it here and whoever wants it can use it. It is a one time code so if it's already gone, I'm sorry! The offer expires on April 30th, 2014. Remember to add in the hyphens too or it won't work! NZPX-BNQG-VTO3-3LR3

Happy blogging guys, and have a nice day!

Crystal xo

REVIEW: Lime Crime's Red Velvetine!

Hey everybody! I was getting the mail today, and I got super excited when I found a box sitting inside for me. My Red Velvetine from Lime Crime finally arrived! Yay! First, can I just rave about how cute the little packaging is? The red and white almost gives off a Christmas feel to me. I kind of don't want to throw the box away because it's just so darn adorable. It also came with this cute watermelon button with the words Lime Crime on it.

I absolutely love how the tube is in matte and the packaging itself matches the box. It is so beautiful. I loved how they engraved a unicorn at the top too.

So cool right?

It came in a doe foot applicator which I do love. It helps me make a more precise application that a brush does or those flat wide applicators. It also had a subtle sweet scent, almost as if it was candy. I kept sniffing the product when I first opened it because it just smelled so sweet. There was about 0.11 oz of product inside the tube and it's vegan and cruelty free. I'll be honest, I actually did drop the tube when I first opened it because it rolled off my table when I was getting the lights. I freaked out a bit because I was expecting it to crack since I thought the tube was made of glass. But the package is still intact and is perfectly so yay, happy about that.

So pre-applicaction, I made sure my lips were moisturized. Pleaseeeeeee excuse the peach fuzz and the patchy areas under my nose. I just quickly applied some foundation to remove the redness off my face for the sake of this review. Remember to moisturize your lips daily and at least exfoliate it weekly to have a smooth application. Your lips will thank you :)

Honestly, when I first applied it, it did have a really nice velvet feel but I wasn't sure if it was from the product itself or the applicator tip. This is a gorgeous shade of red, like a rose, which is where they got their inspiration from. It comes in the form of a liquid lipstick and it's supposed to dry matte, which was why I LOVED the idea of the matte packaging itself. I did have to apply two coats for it to become an opaque color. After applying the first coat I noticed there were some areas where my natural lip peaked through and it was slightly uneven so that bothered me. But it wasn't a big deal, just swipe on another layer. I gave it a while to dry while I cleaned up the edges a bit. I didn't use a lip liner for this.

After it dried, it came out as a nice soft matte texture. Some color did come off when I kissed the back of my hand but it wasn't enough to remove the products off my lips. I'm hoping this would be a long lasting thing, a lip color that would last through the day and you wouldn't need to reapply after meals. I do have a bad habit of forgetting to bring the lip color I'm wearing when I go out so I end up having plain dry lips by the end of the day with patchy hues from my previous lipsticks. I think the only thing I don't like about this product though is that when it was dry, it still had a bit of stickiness when I pressed my lips together. Like you can feel the product clinging onto each other as your lips rolled off the other. I do adore the finish though and the color is amazing. It's so pigmented.

Here's a shot without flash. I have a yellowish light bulb so my skin tone looks more yellow. You can definitely see the patchiness from my foundation here. No primer and concealer. But the lip product itself still looks fantastic. I absolutely love matte products rather than gloss. Overall, I would so recommend this to my friends and you! I give it a 8/10. I'm thinking about getting Suede Berry next and hoping that the pink one will come out soon too. Super happy with my purchase.

What are your favorite lip products? Leave a comment below!

Hope you'll all have a great week. Bye! :D