Haulage! First of 2015

Hey guys, it's been a while since I posted a haul and since I've been slowing building up a collection of products that I've purchased, I figured I'll do a combined haul post for you all.

Eyes:

L'Oreal Infallible 24HR Eyeshadow

 I can not lie, I am obsessed with the L'Oreal Infallible 24hr Eyeshadows... I now own 6 and continuing to slowly develop my collection of these. The latest addition to my collection are Golden Sage (333) and Midnight Blue (889). My only wish was that Trinidad got the limited edition shadows collections that come out ever so often with this line...Burst into Bloom I will find you (T_T). Excuse my melodrama, I adore the feel of these eyeshadows, they're buttery but not powdery, basically like a pressed pigment. They are easy to blend and when applied with your finger, which is my preferred method of application, the colour payoff is freaking ridiculous! I have included swatches below, and I kid you not when I say I just touched my fingers to the product, no swirling my finger around the eyeshadow, just touching. 

L'Oreal Infallible 24HR Eyeshadow 333 Golden Sage, 889 Midnight Blue

Golden Sage (left), Midnight Blue (right)

 Maybelline Color Tattoo 100 Caramel Cool
 I was lucky enough to grab the last one of this shade at SuperPharm recently, and I do believe this will soon become my new go-to everyday eyeshadow. It is beautiful. It's a metallic warm copper brown, and it blends like a dream. I believe this was part of the 2014 Spring collection from Maybelline and it's only now available in Trinidad.

Maybelline COlor Tattoo 100 Caramel Cool

Blended out swatch of 100 Caramel Cool 

Rimmel ScandalEyes Liquid Eyeshadow 019 Pomegranate
It's a liquid eyeshadow. It's not a eyeshadow base, nor does it have the consistency to be an eyeshadow base. I haven't yet tested the longevity of this product on the eyes, but the colour is gorgeous. I absolutely love red/cranberry shades on the eyes, so I'm really excited to wear this in the upcoming weeks.

RImmel ScandalEyes Liquid Eyeshadow Pomegranate

Blended out Swatch of Pomegranate

Lips:
Maybelline Color Sensational Matte Lipstick in 660 Touch of Spice
This colour is gorgeous! It's soft and creamy and glides onto the lips. The best part is, it does not dry out the lips! Oh and it smells like a vanilla cream cupcake....YES!

Maybelline 660 Touch of Spice

No Flash - Swatch 660 Touch of Spice

Flash - 660 Touch of Spice

I have some more products that I'd like to share with you, particularly some new brushes I've been trying out, so be on the lookout for that.
Side note, this week, Trinidad and Tobago is in full swing Carnival 2015 mode. If you're going to be out on the road, please be safe, we know how crazy the roads get around this time. If you're playing mas this year, I hope you have fun on the streets, and again be safe.
If you're not from Trinidad and Tobago and you won't be taking part in Trinidad Carnival, I hope you all have a fun and safe weekend and upcoming week.
I shall see you lovelies next Friday, with a new post.
Bye (^_^)/

January 2015 Favourites

Hey guys! Initially, I wasn't planning on doing a January favourites and now as  I am typing this, I'm in a terrible mood and really don't feel like posting anything at all. However, my promise to myself and to this blog was to post every Friday for 2015, so I'm going to fight through it and deliver a post.

I was ill for most of December into January and to the tail end of January I got ill again (T__T). I wasn't leaving the house much but when I did, I wore little to no makeup whatsoever. There were however a few products that I thoroughly enjoyed using, and they've snuck their way into my heart.

1. L'Oreal Magic Nude Liquid Powder Foundation (328 Sun Beige)
    A massive thank you to one of my best friends Stephie, for recommending this foundation to me. We both have oily/combo skin, and she told me about this foundation about a year ago. At the time, I wasn't ready to invest in a new foundation but I kept it on my list of things to try. During January, I did a massive cleaning out of my makeup collection and ended up with only two foundations, my L'Oreal True Match and Revlon Colorstay. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the Revlon Colorstay Oily/Combination formula, because it feels super heavy on my skin, I actually feel the foundation sitting on my skin, it's such a odd feeling. I decided, to give the Magic Nude foundation a try because I remembered Stephie saying that it was super lightweight and blended in like a dream, and after doing so searching around the internet, trying to find my shade match, I went to Superpharm (local drugstore) I picked it up. I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised by how liquidy this foundation is. You shake the bottle and it sounds like you're shaking a water bottle. I wish this foundation came with a pump or even a dropper, because it is so easy to spill or pour out excess product, which to me is the only major downside of this foundation.
  The shade match is perfect for me. I have extremely yellow/olive undertones and sun beige (328) is perfect for me (I'm a MAC NC44, L'Oreal True Match I can work with either W6 or W7). Very easy foundation to blend, it's recommended to be applied with your fingers, and that's how I apply mine, I think with it's texture and formulation, it would absorb into brushes and sponges quite quickly. To me this foundation is perfect if you're in a rush, it's lightweight, doesn't go on streaky, blends like a dream, has a powder finish. I've worn this foundation for 12 hours without setting it with powder and despite having to blot every 3-4 hours, the foundation didn't break down at all. I wear glasses, and the foundation stay put on my nose bridge where my glasses' nose guard is situated. I've gotten compliments a few times while wearing this foundation about how clean and healthy my skin looked, and people were in shock when I told them I was wearing foundation. Yay!!

2. Jordana 12 HR Made To Last Eyeliners
   Super creamy and pigmented gel formula eyeliner pencils, that don't smudge onto my lid and crease.....yes please and thank you! I have the shades, 02 Espresso Last, a beautiful and creamy dark brown, 04 Purple Fix which a straight up purple and 06 Jade Jewel which is a beautiful, rich jade/emerald green mix. I didn't intentionally choose liners that were even numbers (lol).  I'm usually all about Avon's Mega Impact/Supershock Gel Eyeliner Pencils, but those do have a tendency to smudge on my upper lids, but they tend to last in my waterline (weird huh!). However, the 12 HR Made To Last, were not made to last on the waterline so I'd recommend using it solely on your upper lash line.

  

3. Jordana Twist and Shine Moisturizing Balm Stain (05 Honey Love)
  Oh honey do I love this balm stain. I should stop trying to be funny (=_='). Despite my corny sense of humour, I genuinely love this balm stain, it's the perfect mix of pigmentation and moisturizing balm in a cute, twist up, jumbo lip pencil. Yes, it is essentially the same as the Revlon Kissable Balm Stains, but they're less expensive and they have a fruity/sweet scent. All in all, it's a win for me and I can't wait to get my hand on some more.

4. NYX Simply Nude Lip Cream (SN06 Sable)
  It's a nude that doesn't make me look like the living dead. Win! It's buttery smooth and pigmented. Although, I have very pigmented lips, this product is on me, my perfect my lips but butter shade. It makes my lips look so healthy and since I was using this when I was ill, having my lips look nice and healthy even when I technically wasn't is the best. To me healthy lips help to brighten up the complexion, especially when you're ill.

 

This my darlings is the end of my favourites post. I hope you all enjoy. Have a great weekend and I will see you all next week. 

Bye Bye (^_^)/

Makeup Battle Royale: Face Primer Edition - e.l.f Mineral Face Primer vs. Prestige Primed and Ready Face Primer

We about to showdown!!

Hey guys, today we will be having another battle royale. If you are new to the blog, hello there, it's nice to meet you! Basically this is were I compare two products, from two different brands and tell you which I prefer of the two. This is my second battle royal the first was about 'drugstore' eyeliner pens,which can be found in my blog archives. 
 Let's get ready to rumble! 

The e.l.f Mineral Face Primer became my favourite face primer late last year, but I kept wondering if I can find something a bit better. Don't get me wrong for an affordable face primer it works amazing well, but since I started my blog, I've felt more incline to test out new things, rather than just sticking with my ride or dies. So for my birthday in December, I went on a little makeup purchasing spree and picked up the Prestige Primed and Ready Face Primer (which came with a free sample size Primed and Ready Eye Primer, that will be reviewed in a future post).
                                                          

Packaging: 
I prefer the packaging of the e.l.f mineral primer over the Prestige. The e.l.f primer comes in a frosted glass bottle while the Prestige's is a hard plastic. The e.l.f primer just looks a lot more expensive and almost higher end, compared to the Prestige. 
The nozzle of the e.l.f primer is slightly wider than the Prestige, so you can get the perfect amount of product with just one pump, whereas the Prestige, one pump isn't enough but two is far too much product.

Cost: 
e.l.f Mineral Face Primer - TT$50-60 
Prestige Primed and Ready - TT$65-70

Prestige (Creamy White) on the Left, elf(transparent) on the Right

Product: 

The Prestige Primer comes out as a creamy white liquid, while the e.l.f is completely clear. They have a similar consistency, both have silicone feel to them and they both blend in smoothly, evening out the complexion.

Effect on the skin: 

e.l.f primer : 

• Blurs pores and any fine lines on the skin
• Keeps skin matte, controls oils well 
• Helps foundation to blend smoothly and evenly 

Prestige Primer: 

• Blurs pores
• Creates a smooth and flawless canvas
• Helps foundations blend in smoothly  

As you probably noticed I didn't mention anything about the Prestige primer it's oil control ability, and that's simply because I still get extremely oily when I wear this primer. Unlike the e.l.f primer which tends to keep my oils at bay for 3-4 hours after application, the Prestige primer only controls my oils for 1-2 hours at most, which sucks! I absolutely love the way my skin looks and feels after applying the Prestige primed and ready but the fact that I still get extremely oily when I wear it, makes me reach for it less than the e.l.f Mineral primer.

However, despite the lack of oil control, I still truly like the Prestige primer and I think for dry to normal skin types, it will be awesome. I will continue to use it but I will have to pair it with a mattifier. 

Results:

Who wins this face primer battle royale?!!!!

e.l.f Mineral Face Primer!!! Go one with your bad self! 

This truly has become my favourite face primer I have ever tried and I will continue to repurchase it. If you're in the market for a face primer but don't want to spend a lot of cash give the e.l.f primer a try. 

That's all from me for now. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a great upcoming week. I can't believe January is finished already (O_O). As usual stay happy, positive and healthy and I will see you Next Friday.

Product Review: L'Oreal Paris Miss Manga Mascara

Hello everybody! 

How was your week? 

Mine was hectic as heck. I found out I registered online for the wrong Masters' program and I'm in the process of correcting it. Writing my research proposal has me feeling to rip my hair out! However, I got access to Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm Beta, and oh man me likey! I've also been reminiscing and playing an old favourite of mine, Metroid II Return of Samus. It was the first game I ever played and completed and I still love it. I bought through Club Nintendo last year and I still feel all the frustration I felt back when I first played it. Sighs...the good ole days of my original Gameboy. 

Anywhosies, you guys came here for a makeup review. 

The Voluminous Miss Manga

1. I'm a fan of anime and manga so this mascara got me super hyped just by the name
2. I thoroughly enjoy L'Oreal mascaras, The Voluminous Butterfly is my favourite mascara! 
3. Most Beauty YouTubers raved about this mascara
4. One of my besties tried it and it made her lashes look amazing! 

So, do I love this mascara?.....Not really. It's not the best mascara nor the worse mascara for my lashes. My lashes are mid-length and have a natural curl, so this mascara does give them lift,and defines them, but it makes my lashes clump together, especially on the other corners of my eyes. Both my brother and my mother commented on how clumpy my lashes looked every time I used this mascara. 
At first I thought it was because it was brand new and just needed sometime to dry out but despite that my lashes still clump together. 

The brush is tapered at the tip and is really great for reaching those itty bitty inner corner lashes but I've noticed that the bristles tend to hold a lot of product on it and even when I wipe off the brush, i still get clumping. (T~T)

 In the end, the Voluminous Miss Manga is a good mascara but it's not really what I expected with all the hype I've seen on YouTube. Maybe if you have long, luxurious lashes like my bestie you may like more than I do. 

That's it for today's post, I'll be back with a new post next week, possibly with another makeup battle royale or a product rave. I haven't made up my mind just yet. I hope you all are doing well and until I speak to you again, stay healthy, happy and positive! 

Bye guys (^_^)/