Elf Mineral Shadow Haul Part 2

A couple of weeks ago I brought you the first half of my Elf mineral eye shadow haul. Now it's time to take a look at the other 6 colors I picked up during the sale.

From L-R: Temptress, Trendy, Celebrity, Sassy, Seductive, Socialite

Temptress is a matte light brown. I think it's a really useful color for darkening the crease on a neutral look, and am pleased with it's color and wear. It goes on smoothly and has good pigmentation. 

Trendy is a very shimmery peachy gold. I didn't love this one as I found it quite sheer and it blended out to just large chunks of shimmer. I haven't tried it in a look, but it looks like it will be fallout central. 

Celebrity is a lighter, cooler toned gold. This one had much, much better pigmentation than Trendy. It is much lighter toned. This one looks gorgeous as a wash across the lids. 

Sassy is a beautiful rich copper tone. It reminds me of Orly Rage, or MAC's All That Glitters. It is very shimmery, so you need a light hand, but it is beautiful, rich color. 

Seductive is a matte charcoal gray. It's not quite black, but it's nearly there. I'm actually super wary of this color in powder form, as it is so easy to get too much, and too much of loose dark pigment can just smudge up a look, but if used lightly, this could be nice. For me though, it's too much work, and I'll stick to Carbon and Nehru for my dark looks. 

Socialite is a shimmery pewter taupe. It reminds me of MAC's Smoke and Diamonds, but it isn't quite as rich. It sheers out very nicely, and looks particularly gorgeous with Sassy. The shimmer content is very high, and it's not incredibly pigmented, but it leaves a gorgeous molten metal look on the eyes. 

So there you have the final round up of the Elf Mineral Eye Shadows. At just $3 a pop, and plenty of deals and discounts on the site, these are worth a look. My favorites? Sassy, Socialite, Natural. and Golden. Pass on Seductive and Trendy. 

Beauty Blogger Fail: Need Some Drugstore Love!

When scrabbling through my make up collection the other day, I realized that it has been a while since I indulged in some drugstore hauling. The vast majority of my make up collection comes from brands like MAC, Benefit, NARS and Tarte, with only the odd drugstore product nestling in there. I swear by Covergirl and Maybelline mascaras, and recently discovered the pretty shimmery summer glow that comes from Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Blush / Bronzer, but I have to admit that I don’t get the same excitement or thrill from a drugstore haul that I do from Sephora. Definitely a part of it is the packaging. Almost all drugstore packaging feels plasticky and cheap, which I don't love. Another part of it is the lack of testers to try out the shades - I do sometimes feel like I'm taking a leap into the unknown and just buying something based upon either the name or reputation.

BUT!!!! I know that there are some amazing, awesome, wonderful, must have, must buy drugstore products out there, and I really want to get to trying some. I wandered around Duane Reade today (NYC drugstore), and saw lots of great Maybelline Color Sensational lip products that looked like they'd be fun, and some Covergirl glosses. I need to find some great BOGO deals so I can go crazy in the summer jelly gloss department. Before I go wild in the drugstore aisles, I would really appreciate your ideas of what are must have products though - help a girl out! :)

Drugstore Dupe Alert! Aveeno Skin Brightening Daily Scrub

Back in November, I blogged about the amazingness that is the Philosophy Miracle Worker Kit. That kit really kicked my skin's ass, and put it in really smooth good shape. However, with the ever experimenting nature of a beauty blogger, I naturally had to go and see if there were alternatives to the awesome products I had been introduced to.

One of the products that came with the kit was the Microdelivery Exfoliating Wash. Standalone, it costs $25/8oz, so I consider it to be a bit of a pricey daily scrub. It promises to provide immediate resurfacing benefits, and acts as a cleansing mini-peel but it still gentle enough for daily use. It has a grainy texture, as you would expect. I used it on a daily basis until it was all used up (about 3 months), and I really loved the smoothness that it gave me, along with absolutely no irritation. My skin would feel drier than after having used a regular cleanser when I came out of the shower, but nothing that some moisturizer didn't fix. In all, I really, really liked it.

As I said, liking a product for me does not guarantee loyalty. Sorry, Philosophy.

I love both high-end and drugstore products, but had never tried Aveeno. I had heard great things about their Skin Brightening Daily Scrub ($7.49/5oz), so thought it would be worth trying out for a comparison. The Aveeno scrub has micro-exfoliating beads which do feel larger than the Philosophy scrub, and therefore less gentle from a scrub perspective, but not to the point that I would be concerned using it on a daily basis. Where Aveeno's main strength I feel comes from the scrubbing particles, the Philosophy scrub also seems to have some resurfacing coming from the actual cleanser (I checked - citric acid is waay down there as an ingredient).

The end result from these two daily scrubs was the same - smooth, clean, clear skin. The Philosophy one did feel like it was working just a touch harder, but $18 harder? No way. If you are looking to introduce a daily scrub into your skincare regime, I would highly recommend Aveeno's Skin Brightening Daily Scrub as a gentle, skin smoothing product with a price tag that doesn't hurt either.

Everyone Loves a MAC Dupe: Hello Milani Liquid Liners

A couple of bloggers have recently pointed out the great drugstore find that is Milani Liquid Liner ($7). I have never tried anything from this brand. Get this for an example of my laziness: it is not carried in my Duane Reade (when I say my Duane Reade, I mean the one on the ground floor of my building. This Duane Reade is kind of sucky, with only L'Oreal, Maybelline, and other typical brands. There is a CVS two streets away, but I hardly ever go, because of, you know, the whole two streets thing. I just want to point out at this point that I do actually exercise and run and stuff, and walk my dog about a gazillion times a day, but for some reason do not make it to the exotic far away CVS.

Until last week. I managed to drag my sorry ass those extra 50 yards and headed in to score some Milani Infinite liners. I have MAC's Liquidlast liner in Aqualine, which is gorgeous and amazing and a complete disaster when it comes to actually trying to remove it. I've been meaning to pick up the Blue Horizon color for about a year, so when I hear of a real actual dupe, I get excited. I got Infinite (bright blue) and Eternal (olive green). The brush isn't great but it's not horrible. They come out a little thinner than the MAC ones, but it's not a huge difference. The colors are gorgeous - rich and vibrant, with a little bit of shimmer. They do dry quite matte (the pictures below are dry). Wear is good, though not as good as the MAC liner, and I did notice some fading after 6 hrs wear. However, I could actually remove these, unlike the MAC liners, which leave me with the same color for 48hrs! Some bloggers have complained that these take a long time to dry. They took about 2-3 mins to dry, but so do the MAC ones for me, so I didn't notice this as a major deal breaker. All in all, I think that these are pretty awesome liners, and I fully intend on picking up any other colors that come out.

Cheapie of the Week: Cover Girl Lipstains

CoverGirl Lipstains are amazing. They are literally felt tip pens for your mouth. They provide an instant pop of color, and since it is a stain, that always suits you as it takes on whatever tint your lips are already. You can wear them on their own or as a base for another color. They last about 4-5hrs on me, and the only drawback is they can be a little drying, and the pen tips can actually dry out. On my arm, I've had Berry Smooch for a year, and the rest of the stains were all bought last week, so you can see a bit of a difference there. They retail for $7.49, and according to the CoverGirl website, they come in 10 different shades. For that price, you can try them all! MAC are bringing out a similar product to this in April which I'll be keen to compare too, but honestly, I really think that this product does exactly what it says it will. Awesomeness.

Cheapie of the Week: Burts Bees Lip Balm

I am not above wandering the drugstore aisles looking for a quick fix. I know that price does not always mean quality either. In this series I'll bring you an awesome find that won't hurt your wallet.

This week, it's lipbalm from one of my favorite brands, Burt's Bees, which costs just $2.99. The lipbalm comes in a number of flavors, including my favorites pomegranate and honey, and is made 100% natural ingredients. The ingredients list is reassuringly recognisable, with beeswax, sunflower seed oil, coconut oil and honey featuring in my Honey one. The Honey flavor is clear, and the Pomegranate has a yummy red tint. 

The last three lipbalms I have used have been Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment, Philosophy The Kiss, and MAC Tinted Lip Conditioner. Burt's Bees Lip Balm is more than equal to these. Actually, while Philosophy's The Kiss is a great balm in terms of moisture, as soon as it gets cold it is impossible to push out of the container, which is a total pain as cold weather is really when you need lip balm. Fresh's Sugar Lip Treatment is lovely, and provides a great cold weather balm as it's quite rich. Burt's Bees Lip Balm provides good moisture, doesn't take a huge amount of time to sink in, and has a lovely, lovely scent. Plus, at that price point, I have about 5, one for each of my handbags, one in the bathroom, and one in the office. No chapping for me, thanks! 

Have you used Burt's Bees? Or maybe there's another lip balm you are crazy about? Let me know in the comments and I'll check it out!