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2014

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Rescue Beauty Lounge Anatomy of a #Kdrama

July 9, 2014

Rescue Beauty Lounge has a new collection called Anatomy go a #Kdrama with seven new Nail Polish shades ($20 each). The polishes have a diverse range of finishes, colors and textures – creams, shimmers, and glitters. The shades include Not Your Baby, Oh Slap!, Instant Amnesia, Cue the Montage, Will They Won’t They, Monologue, Burn the Evidence: 

Not Your Baby is a stunning complex mix of taupe, brown and silver shimmer infused with subtle blue and green shimmer flecks. It’s a more pigmented and darker version of Chanel Quartz. It has perfect flawless smooth coverage with two coats.

Oh Slap! is a semi-sheer jelly cream pink. It’s a three-coater nail polish for me otherwise the nail shows through underneath. Coverage is really smooth with a shiny high gloss finish.

Instant Amnesia is a nude tan with a hint of pearl. It’s not a full shimmer but there is a visible sheen in the color. On me it’s very nude with a warm undertone. Coverage is full and smooth with two coats.

Cue the Montage is a textured yellow with a hint of green and silver glitter flecks. It dries to a very different textured finish like sandpaper. The polish applies with full coverage with two coats but the uneven finish. I rarely wear yellow on the nails. This one was extremely unflattering on my skin tone. The glitter chunks stuck to the nails and it took over 15 minutes to remove from my nails.

Will They Won’t They is a soft lilac purple with a pretty shimmer. Some of the shimmers have a flash of blue making this unique compared to other purples. It’s a two coater as well with a smooth texture.

Monologue is shimmery teal. The texture is slightly thinner than most RBL nail polishes. It covers well with two coats but was slightly less fluid/smooth in the application. There is a slightly bright quality to the base which makes the blue stand out.

Burn the Evidence is a sparkling copper glitter. The glitter particles are very fine. It has a transparent base with one coat. With two coats the shimmers cover the nails more. It’s shown below with two coats. It’s extremely glitzy. I’m not sure I can wear this one comfortably for everyday.

Comparisons shown below. I’ll link prior nail swatches:

My top picks are Not Your Baby, Will They Won’t They and Oh Slap! The collection is online for purchase now at Rescue Beauty Lounge. Be sure to check out the other blogger’s reviews linked on the RBL website.

This collection was provided courtesy of Rescue Beauty Lounge for review. For more information see my Disclosures.
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Uncategorized

Loving Right Now / Sneak Peek

July 9, 2014
Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope everyone’s week is going well. Here are a few things that I’m loving right now:
I’ve also included a sneak peek of some items coming soon in the next week:

What are you loving this week? I love reading about your favorites or what you’ve been testing lately. Do you have any items on your wishlist? I have a few Nordstrom Anniversary items on my wishlist that I hope to check out later this week.
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NUDESTIX Eye Pencils and Lip & Cheek Pencils

July 8, 2014

NUDESTIX is a new line of simple easy-to-use multipurpose makeup crayons designed for a nude but better look. The line is exclusive to Space NK with four pencil products, a pencil cap sharpener and one mascara. The pencils come packaged in a cute black metal tin for storage. I have two of the Eye Pencils and Lip and Cheek Pencils to share with you today.

The NUDESTIX Eye Pencils ($24 each) are a multi-purpose eye liner, eye shadow and highlighter ‘all-in-one’ product. They come with a sponge tip on one end to smoke out or smudge the shadow. I was sent Smoke, a shimmery light grey taupe and Stardust, a neutral champagne shimmer for review. They are really creamy in texture and glide on the eyes easily. Given the pale neutral color I found I liked to swipe and blend with my fingers rather than use the sponge tip. Both blend well and are easy to layer. They both give a neutral wash of color on the lids. After you apply they set on the lids to a slightly drier finish (not as creamy as when you apply them). Once blended the color sheers out for a slight all over the lid glow. I like these as eye bases rather than a pigmented shadow. Used under powder shadow helps make the colors pop.

The NUDESTIX Lip & Cheek Pencils ($24) are also multi-purpose pencils. Soul is a neutral peachy pink and Whisper is a pale nude. These are super creamy pencils that hug the lips and blend easily on the cheeks. I prefer to use these on the lips. On the lips you get full coverage with a slightly glossy sheen.  I like how they act like a lipliner and give full coverage but are creamy like a lipstick. On the cheeks I found the color disappeared once blended (at least it did for my medium skin). 

Close ups and swatches. The pencils measure a little over 4 inches long making them compact in size so they will fit easily into a small clutch or makeup bag.

Lip and Cheek Pencil swatches, just on the lips (on the cheeks it’s barely visible).
Soul is the perfect creamy nude peach. It’s an easy swipe and go kind of lip pencil. It applies a bit more peachy on my lips compared to when you swatch it on the arm or hand.

Whisper is super-nude and super pigmented. Since the pigment is so rich it emphasizes my lip lines, adding a bit of gloss or dabbing it helps minimize the look of the lines but I wanted to show you how pigmented it was. You can’t see any of my natural lip underneath.

Overall I am really happy with the Lip & Cheek Pencils. The creamy texture makes them glide onto the lips and the texture hugs the lips making them last fairly long (no detectable scent either). I suspect any of the medium to dark shades will be easy to wear for most skin tones. Soul is peach perfection. Whisper is a bit light for me but those with fair skins will love it.
The Eye Pencils are stunning neutral shimmers but the colors are pretty easy to dupe with other brands. I do like the convenience of the eye pencils though – they are easy to swipe and blend with the fingers making them the perfect on-the-go kind of pencil (no brushes needed). Stardust is a good your-lids-but-better kind of shade. Smoke is a lovely taupe grey shimmer that is a great color for a base shadow.
The NUDESTIX Lip & Cheek Pencils and Eye Pencils retail for $24 each, exclusive to Space NK. There is a wide range of color options from neutral to dark. If you like that nude but better look the line is definitely worth looking into. I have a list going of what to check out the next time I can visit one of the stores.
P.S. Tomorrow (July 9) is the last day for the Space NK + Beauty Look Book Gift with Purchase offer. Check out the details here for the code and terms. A few readers mentioned their gifts were missing an item, I contacted Space NK and they told me due to an overwhelming response to this offer it appears Space NK ran out of the Hourglass mini sample and they apologize for any inconvenience.
This post contains press samples sent courtesy for review consideration. For more information refer to my disclosures.
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Uncategorized

3.1 Phillip Lim for NARS | Crossroads, Other Side and Insidious Nail Polish

July 8, 2014

This month there will be nine nail polishes released for the 3.1 Phillip Lim for NARS Collection ($20 each for 0.5 fl oz/15 ml) – available July 15 on narscosmetics.com. I have three shades to share today in Crossroads (a deep purple cream), Other Side (chocolate cherry perfection) and Insidious (a metallic blackened bronze khaki). You can see all the shades on Vampy Varnish.

All the colors come with removable caps. The brushes are wide and slightly rounded at the tips but I found them to be on the larger side making it a bit hard for me to apply on my small fingers. It was still manageable but I had to do a lot of cleaning up with remover and Q-tips after application. I had to play around with various base and top coats. The new formula of the NARS nail polishes did not perform well with my usual Deborah Lippmann Rehydrating Base Coat (the polish didn’t glide over it) and Chanel Top Coat (it didn’t want to cover the polish smoothly). After testing with several of my go-to’s I found these worked best with Sephora Formula X Base and Top Coat.

The shimmer color applied well with just one coat. The creams I tested looked streaky with the first coat but evened out with the second for full smooth coverage.





Crossroads is a dark violet cream. It looks lovely on the hands but the texture of this one was a bit hard for me to work with. It bled easily making a mess of the cuticles. This one was really difficult to remove although it didn’t stain the nails. If you’re patient with this one, I think it’s worth the extra work it takes to apply.








Other Side is the perfect chocolate cream with a hint of red. It applied unevenly with the first coat but smoothed out with a second. It’s a dark almost vampy color but there is enough brown to prevent it from looking too dark.

Insidious is a metallic blackened khaki. It’s dark but not too dark. The shimmers make it glow in the sunlight. This shade will be exclusive to NARS boutiques and narscosmetics.com.


Comparisons to Tom Ford Bitter Bitch
Chanel Vamp
Chanel Diabolic (discontinued)
Dior Ultra Violet (discontinued)
Chanel Vendetta (discontinued)



I’m in love with NARS Other Side and Insidious as a close second. The colors are rich in pigment and with two coats you get full coverage. I did find application a bit hard because the brush is on the larger side. The formula has a medium liquid texture, not thin but not thick. I wore Cross Roads on the nails for 5 days before taking it off to test another color. By Day 5 I had a bit of tip wear on the index finger and thumbs but the rest were fine.
The nine shades will be available online at Narscosmetics.com July 15th and all other NARS locations starting August 1.
This review contains press samples sent by NARS for review consideration. For more information refer to my Disclosures.
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NARS Lip Gloss Swatches | Sweet Dreams, Istria, Angelika, Risky Business, Tasmania, Supervixen, Ophelia and Sixties Fan

July 7, 2014
Here are the lip swatches of my NARS Lip Gloss picks, left to right include Sweet Dreams, Istria, Angelika, Risky Business, Tasmania, Supervixen, Ophelia and Sixties Fan. (Descriptions and arm swatches one post below.)

Thumbs up for almost all the shades. Only Istria needs extra work because it’s so sheer and milky. I like to apply Tom Ford Spanish Pink or Pink Dusk Lipstick underneath. Risky Business and Ophelia are pretty close, only a few shades away – Risky Business is darker and deeper while Ophelia is lighter in color but just as pigmented. In terms of texture, most of the shades all have the same lush glossy smooth texture (even shimmer ones). Angelika is slightly thinner and drier (at least mine is) but it’s still very smooth.
All shades are listed as permanent (yay!), available now in stores and online at Nordstrom, Sephora and narscosmetics.com (complimentary mini Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base on orders over $25 through 7/8/14 at 11:59pm ET or while supplies last with code SUMMERHEAT at checkout).
Have you tried the new formula yet? What’s your favorite? 
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Uncategorized

NARS Lip Gloss Relaunch/Reformulation – Beauty Look Book Picks

July 7, 2014

NARS launched a new reformulation and packaging design for their Lip Gloss back in April. There are 30 shades that were released ($26 each for 0.18 fl oz/6 ml). I splurged on several shades over the past few months. The new NARS Lip Glosses have a similar design to the original tubes but now come with a modern updated look with a sleeker looking tube. The pigment of the new glosses is slightly smoother with better pigment. NARS also removed the plastic smell from the gloss (which didn’t bother me but the new ones smell better).
The colors I splurged on from Nordstrom (at one of the trend shows) and Sephora (because I love their Beauty Insider program) include:
  • Sweet Dreams is a stunning pale pink sparkle, the shimmer in the new one is more finely milled and less chunky (although the old one was one of my favorite glosses)
  • Istria is a pale sheer milky pink with a slight iridescent quality
  • Angelika is a hot cool pink with gold flecks
  • Risky Business is a lovely deep raspberry shimmer
  • Tasmania is a sheer cantaloupe peach color
  • Supervixen is a complex nude brown rose shimmer
  • Ophelia is a lighter watermelon pink shimmer
  • Sixties Fan is a sheer plum that applies like a wine/red color
The original packaging came in a clear but frosted tube at .28 oz, the new one comes with a completely clear tube at .18 oz. Differences in packaging and colors for a few of the shades shown below. The overall color is pretty similar for Angelika and Supervixen. There is a huge difference in pigment for Ophelia, the new version has much better pigment:

Close ups and swatches:

I’m in love with the new formula of the shimmers. The pigment is smoother and richer with really good coverage. The non-shimmers are hit and miss for my lips. I was head over heels in love with Istria and Tasmania in the tube but on the lips they are really sheer. They do perform well over lipsticks with similar tones though. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but so far my top three picks include Risky Business, Supervixen and Sweet Dreams. Lip swatches in this post.
NARS Lip Glosses come in 30 shades at $26 each. Available at all NARS locations, online at Nordstrom, Sephora and narscosmetics.com.

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Bronzer + Blush Urban Decay

Urban Decay Naked Flushed Palettes – Native and Streak

July 6, 2014

Earlier in the spring, Urban Decay released some new shades of their Naked Flushed Palettes ($30 each for 14g/0.49 oz). These are well-packaged face trio compacts with a bronzer, highlighter and blush. I’m a huge fan of their Naked Eyeshadow Palettes (#3 is my fav) and thought these had a lot of promise. I purchased Native (pink) and Streak (peach) in store at Sephora after reading an overwhelming number of rave reviews (4.5 stars out of 5 average rating with 600+ reviews).  
  • Native is a pink option with a medium-dark bronzer with a soft shimmer, a opal pinkish champagne highlighter and a matte pink blush
  • Streak is a warmer option with a lighter shimmery bronzer, a pale peachy shimmer highlighter and a stunning coral matte blush 
Swatching them in store on my hands revealed a soft well pigmented texture that seemed easy to blend. Testing at home with a variety of brushes has me less than pleased. I purchased these late May/early June and have been desperately trying to make these work for me.

The texture is finely milled and soft which is easy to pick up with brushes but the bronzer and blush are both very powdery resulting in a lot of debris/powder kick-up. They don’t show up well on lightly powdered skin. Right over foundation the color picks up more but the colors look muddy and look like they just sit on top of the skin. The highlighters are creamier in texture (although they are powders) and blends easily but the frost factor highlights imperfections and after softly applying on the cheeks, I suddenly have large visible pores. I’ve tried both with a large variety of brushes, cream highlighters, foundations, dewy cheek products as a base even. With the right amount of creamy base underneath I can get the bronzer and blush to apply ok sometimes (I like Tom Ford Fire Lust and Armani Fluid Sheer #3 or #10 the best), but I cannot wear the highlighter on the cheeks at all. That being said, the highlighters are pretty on the eyes. Half of the times I’ve applied these I ended up taking them off immediately after putting them on the face.

Photos and swatches:

Swatches side by side:

Closeups of each palette, up first is Native:

Streak

One last view, Streak (left) and Native (right):

I’m overall disappointed. I’ve tried numerous times to make these work, and with extra tweaking I can only make them work 1/2 the time. They look so beautiful in the compacts and when swatched on the hands or arms. On the face the pigment and texture don’t quite translate the same. Given the overwhelming number of rave reviews, I suspect I’m in the minority with my thoughts. I’ve mentioned in recent posts I’ve had skin issues and breakouts – my skin issues aren’t on the cheek area in case you’re wondering if it’s skin problems causing the issue in application. For additional reference, Temptalia has detailed thoughts on Native, Streak and Strip, my experiences are similar to hers.

Based on the price, packaging and convenience, if you’re at a Sephora or Urban Decay counter I think you should still give these a try. If there are clean brushes available, ask a makeup artist or sales associate to apply it on you.
If you’ve tried these, I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you have these which shade do you have and who do you apply them?
The Urban Decay Naked Flushed Palettes retail for $30 each. I found mine at Sephora. They come in four options, Naked, Native, Streak and Strip.
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