Product Spotlight-Wet'n'Wild Silk Finish Lipstick in 501B

As a devout makeup junkie, there are times when I've felt quite elitist with my stash. I've walked right past the otherwise alluring drug store displays in favor of niche brands (like NYX) or high end brands (like Urban Decay and MAC.) I've often felt too good for those $2 eye shadows or those $4 lip glosses. In the case of Wet'n'Wild Silk Finish lipsticks, I was really missing out on something great!

First off, these bad boys are only about $1 each, depending on where you buy them. The makeup snob in me always says something like "If it's just a dollar it must be horrible!" After spending some time on the makeupalley.com boards, I decided to ignore my inner makeup diva for a while and indulge in Wet'n'Wild.
This lipstick, 501B (also known as "Tokyo A-Pink-Pink") is a bright pink-coral hybrid and it gets lots of raves and excellent reviews. When I looked at it in the tube I felt like it might be too much for me because, as I mentioned before, I am not very comfortable with really bright or bold lipsticks. I tried it on when I got home from Rite Aid and was generally really impressed. Full strength it is a little much for me because it is heavy on the pigment. If I blot it down just a little it's probably one of the most perfect lipstick shades for me. Just enough of the coral shines through the pink to make it a fun, fresh summer shade.

It's probably not something I would've picked otherwise, but I have seen a lot of gorgeous pictures that showcase this lovely shade. It seems to me it would work on most light to medium skintones in the same manner in which i used it, but darker gals could definitely rock this one full strength. All in all, I think I am very happy with my investment as this lipstick is a winner!

In Summation:

Product Name: Wet'n'Wild Silk Finish Lipstick in 501B
Price Range: Dirt cheap! (99 cents at Rite Aid.)
Star Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (I am not a fan of Wet'n'Wild's packaging, but that's really the only downside for me.)
Would I repurchase this?: Heck yeah! I am very interested in trying some other shades as well.

I will try to take a good swatch picture and update this entry tomorrow. ^-^

Product Spotlight: Bare Minerals Starter Kit (Light)

This kit, available in a couple of variations at Sephora, Ulta and even Bare Escentuals infomercials, usually contains the same basic products with an instructional DVD. The kit that I ordered via sephora.com contained the following:

-Light and Fairly Light foundations
-Mineral Veil setting powder
-Warmth all over face color/bronzer
-Kabuki brush
-Flawless Face brush
-Concealer Brush
-Skin Rev-er Upper pre-makeup lotion
-Instructional DVD


The good:

DVD was pretty easy to follow and had a couple of different techniques. I felt like I could jump right in with application given all the tools that they used in the DVD were right there in front of me. The Skin Rev-er Upper is a decent, light lotion that has glycolic acid and salicylic acid. It absorbs well and leaves skin soft for makeup application. This would probably be something I would use every single day if it had sunscreen in it. Mineral Veil is a great translucent setting powder made predominately of super-fine milled rice, allowing it to absorb lots of oil without looking too powdery or cakey.

The mediocre:

The brushes work well enough, but they don't feel nice on the skin at all. They're pretty coarse and feel like they're scratching some of the more delicate skin on your face. Both of the foundation shades that came in this kit were too dark for my skin, despite being for fairer complexions. (For reference, I'm not freakishly white, I'm in the NW15/N3 range at MAC.) Warmth was far too dark and heavy for my fair skin, giving my entire face an orange cast.

The ugly:

I had to order an additional foundation in Fair, which is still a smidge too dark and yellow-toned for me. It oxidizes (changes color) after a couple of hours and it offers very little coverage. With liquid foundation, I can spend three or four minutes and have my skin look pretty good. With the Bare Escentuals foundation I had to spend about 10-15 minutes buffing, tapping, concealing, buffing more and still not have my face look nearly as good. The main draw of the kit is that it's supposed to offer naturally good looking skin while helping with breakouts and redness, but I didn't find any of this to be true. Bare Escentuals is loved by millions of women, but this kit, and their foundations in general still didn't work for me.

In summation:

Product Name: Bare Minerals Starter Kit (Light/Fairly Light)
Price range: Moderate (For the amount of products you get, the price is reasonable.)
Star Rating: 2 out of 5 (If you match color-wise it might be okay)
Would I buy this again? No. I won't swear off the brand totally, but I won't try their foundations again either. I definitely wouldn't recommend the kits to my friends and family.

Update: Birthday Haulage Planning...

So my birthday isn't for a while, but I've been on a self-imposed no-buy since I've been unemployed. I've picked up a couple of super-cheap items, but I haven't really gotten anything for myself lately. I do want to go hog wild at Sephora for my birthday, but I want to plan out all of my purchases so I'll be happy with them. Here's what I'm thinking of getting:

urban decay foreshadow palette *

urban decay single eye shadow in blaze *

urban decay deluxe shadow box

urban decay 24/7 pencil in gunmetal

urban decay 24/7 pencil in covet* (replacement of used one that got broken)

urban decay blender brush * (replacement of mac 217?)

too faced shadow insurance

benefit silky finish lipstick in rocket pop

*=definitely getting

(taken from my MUA notepad)

Inside my Vanity-Favorite Lips

For the longest time, I was very anti-lipstick. Having somewhat full lips with lots of natural pigment, I usually just opted for sheer glosses or just plain lip balm. No matter how done-up the rest of my face was, I spent the least time (and money) on my lips. Even to this day, I wrestle with certain lipstick colors, but in general I now adore lipstick. I don't really know when or how the love affair began, but I am a true convert.

Somehow, I managed to find a bunch of lipsticks that are similar colors, but look different enough either in tone or texture to justify keeping them all. I'm very in to neutral pink shades, especially something shiny (think MAC Lustre formula lipsticks.) On a day to day basis I do like to have my lips "done," but I don't ever go too bold with them. I like to stick to soft, pretty shades, instead of vibrant, bold shades. That's what works for me, I'm still not too adventurous in the lip department just yet.

I've taken a pretty decent swatch photo of some of my favorites. These are the ones I currently have in my makeup bag, along with a couple of sheer glosses that are in my bag as well. Some of these are HGs for me, and some are lipsticks that I like a lot.

(Top: Cargo 'Mariska', Stila 'Jane', Wet'n'Wild MegaShine 'Fling', Sephora pencil #400; Bottom: MAC Mattene 'Composure', MAC 'Rubia', MAC 'Embraceable', MAC Lip Gelee 'Amber Russe', MAC Lip Gelee 'Moonstone'.)

Major Lemming Alert-Urban Decay Big Fatty Mascara and Blaze Eye Shadow

Not since my jr. high days (mid to late '90's, if you're curious) have I thought much about wearing mascara that's any color other than black. Urban Decay really knows how to tempt me. I'm rethinking my whole mascara philosophy with the release of these vibrant, volumizing mascaras.

According to urbandecay.com,
each shade accentuates a different eye color. They're moderate in price ($17 each) but I don't know if I could really splurge for more than one since I wouldn't wear it every day. I definitely want to try Purple Haze as I've been wearing a lot of purple, gold and silver eyeshadow lately.

This will surely be on my list of things to check out at my next visit to Sephora.

Urban Decay has also released a few new eyeshadow colors. The one that gets my blood pumpin' is called Blaze. I'm not a stoner, and I never have been, but this color is just pure gorgeousness. I already told D we're getting it during our birthday shopping extravaganza. Here's Urban Decay's stock swatch:

They describe the color as "golden peach." Sounds like a winner to me!

Inside My Vanity-"Desert Island Neutrals" Custom Palette

I would like to welcome everyone, for the very first time, inside my vanity.

If I was going to be stranded on a desert island, I wouldn't have to ponder what makeup to take. I'd take this fabulous custom palette, made by me (with a little help from MAC and NYX.)

(Clockwise from top: NYX Aloha, NYX Mink Brown, MAC Club, MAC Woodwinked.)

It started out humbly enough, just an empty four pan palette from MAC. Eventually, I depotted my NYX trio in TS15 (see previous post about this!) and my MAC Woodwinked and Club eyeshadows. All I did after that was apply magnets on the back. These shadows all work well paired with other shades or used in combination. I can do a nice neutral eye using Mink Brown on the lid, Club in the crease and Aloha to highlight. I can also do a look with a little more drama using Woodwinked on the lid with Club in the outer corner and crease. For me, these are the perfect neutrals and I use the shades from this palette very often.

(Clockwise from top: NYX Aloha, NYX Mink Brown, MAC Club, MAC Woodwinked.)

Almost every time I travel, I take this palette along. The shades are neutral, but they're not boring in any way.

Major Lemming Alert-Urban Decay De-Slick Mattifying Powder

I typically do not like to carry powdery makeup items in my purse due to the many, many powder disasters I have encountered in the past. This little gem from Urban Decay really makes me want to change my no-powder-on-the-go ways.

Urban Decay has really been stepping it up with the new products in the past few years. I've always loved their amazingly silky, long wearing eye shadows complete with funky names, but they're really making their brand shine with other fantastic products like their renowned Primer Potion, 24/7 Glide-On liners, and their Deluxe Shadows. De-Slick looks like the unassuming kind of product that could be one of the more perfect makeup items out there.

A lavender-to-clear pressed powder isn't terribly unique, but the fact that this one contains rice powder does make it pretty special. Even rice powder isn't new to the makeup world, but it is an excellent oil absorber and mattifier. Plus, it's natural, so it shouldn't do crazy stuff to your skin.

I personally tend to get very oily on my nose, forehead and cheeks after six or seven hours of wearing makeup. I'm typically too lazy to reapply anything, but I'm getting the feeling that as summer creeps closer I might have to start excusing myself to the powder room at least once a day. I would feel both prissy and a little bad ass popping out this amazing little purple compact and dabbing the powder on my face. It's $28, but for touch ups it should last for quite a while (that is, if we can avoid the powder disasters I mentioned before.)