ELF Studio Cream Eyeshadows

WARNING: I didn't do as a great of a job taking pictures of these swatches and labeling them so just bare with me :)

I know many of you have been dying to try this product.  I just began the training for my job, and I haven't been able to fully review/test these babies out because I don't want them to start fading during my 7-hour day! However, I imagined most of you would appreciate seeing swatches and hearing what I think so far...

(****THE FIRST SHADE ON THE LEFT IS Natural Glow)

Originally, I just had one shade: Dawn.  I did research and read reviews on these cream shadows and Dawn seemed to get the most hype. Just as a heads up, Candlelight is still the one that gives people the most trouble as far as the product's consistency goes. 

Although Dawn is a beautiful, shimmery, taupe shade...I realized that after receiving the rest of my cream eyeshadows, I noticed that the consistency and feel of Dawn wasn't as creamy and smooth as all the other ones I had purchased at a later date.  Understand that my product may be a faulty one, but regardless...I still enjoy the shade. This is the only one that I have worn on it's own, and it seemed to hold up pretty well without creasing.

Natural Glow is a very shimmery, gold color with flecks of gold glitter.

Teal Party is a light, teal blue with golden shimmer.

Bronzed is a very pigmented copper color.

Eggplant is a medium purple with a metallic sheen.

Finally, Dawn is the cool-toned, taupe shade.  You can see in the swatch that there is a little clump of the cream eyeshadow. I haven't had that problem with the other cream eyeshadows, the clumping, but I haven't used the other ones enough to know if that happens later or not.

Hopefully I can review these more in-depth later and actually place them on my lids so you can see!

 Stay tuned for that!

Blog Award!

The rules are:

01. Thank the person that gave you the awards, and link back to them.

02. Post seven things about yourself.

03. Pass the love to 15 bloggers.

                                                   04. Let them know they receive an award

Thanks Kat @Kaleidoscope Colors for giving me my first award ever =)

1.  I love nail polish, but I don't have the patience to let my hands dry before I start working on something that usually causes them to chip immediately or rub off. 

2.  I am going to be a first grade teacher in two weeks! 

3.  I am a huge writing utensil addict.  I love to have as many colors as I can in markers, gel pens, ink pens, ball-point pens, colored pencils, crayons, sharpies, felt-tip pens, etc. 

4.  I am a social butterfly.  I can/will spend any day and every day with my friends if it were possible!

5.  I rarely splurge on a makeup product or spend full price on a product. I am always waiting for a sale.

6.  Eating = love.  I like trying new restaurants every opportunity I get, and I enjoy eating foods from different cultures.

7.  I have a ginormous soft spot for animals. I tend to like them more than people.. =P 

Now I pass this award to the following people:

Silly Lilacs
a-noelle
Savvy Sidd Speaks

Nouveau Cheap

Pammy Blogs Beauty

Pink Cupcake

Product Rater

xteeener

The Makeup Drawer

The Lacquer Log

In Her Makeup Bag

Affordable Beauty

Beauty Defined By Pang

Everyday Makeup Blog

Will Work For Makeup

MAC Amber Lights Dupe!

I try not to blog more than once a day, but this dupe is too awesome to not share right away! I only have a few MAC eyeshadows because they are pricey, and I think there are cheaper alternatives that are just as pigmented, smooth, etc.  Anyways, if you have been wanting to get your hands on MAC's Amber Lights..here is a dupe that is pretty darn close. 

Go out to your drugstore and purchase Maybelline's Trio in Bronze Glitz.  The top shade resembles it's high-end counterpart, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.  The whole quad in itself is very pigmented and smooth, but most importantly, the texture of that top shade feels just as creamy and butter-smooth as Amber Lights. 

From the swatch, you can tell that Amber Lights is slightly more golden, but I promise the difference is so slight that they look almost identical on the eyelids. Yay for cheap alternatives! :D

ELF Mineral Eyeshadows

If you want to experiment with loose pigments at an affordable cost, you have to get your hands on some ELF Mineral Eyeshadows. The colors are absolutely gorgeous! I love placing the color onto the center of my lids because some of the eyeshadows look like liquid metal and give your eye that instant brightening look! These shadows retail for $3.00 each and can be found at eyeslipsface.com

I swatched all the ELF mineral eyeshadows that I have below.  Please forgive the images. I'm new to blogging so they aren't all aligned the same way and don't have that professional touch yet.  However, all the pictures were taken without flash, without a primer, and in natural lighting.  Also, remember that these shadows may appear differently on your skin!

Make sure to check out Kat's blog on an easy trick to use when applying these loose shadows or pigments so that there is no fall-out on your face. :)

There are many more colors on the site, but as you'll come to see...I love sticking to my neutrals. I used to have more of the colors, but I gave them away to people who would actually wear them.  If you're into color, you should definitely check out their green shade in Earthy and their intense pink shade called Sweet. 

Hope you enjoyed! :)

Blog Giveaway!

http://prettymaking.blogspot.com/2011/07/prettymakings-almost-200-followers.html is doing a giveaway with amazing prizes! It's not hard to enter. Check it out! :)

ELF Haul!

ELF (Eyes Lips Face) had a site-wide sale where everything was priced at 60% off!!! I couldn't help myself and picked up quite a few things as you can see below:

Shimmering Facial Whip in the shade Toasted

Hypershine Lip Gloss in the shade Fairy

Both Toasted and Fairy were recommended by one of my favorite youtube gurus, Emilynoel83. If you haven't seen her videos, you should definitely check them out. 

Studio Cream Blushes in the shades Tease and Vixen

I already have one of these studio blushes featured in one of my past posts on cream blushes called Heartbreaker. That product convinced me to purchase two more shades because of their lasting power and the way they apply onto the face.  The texture is also too unique to pass up with a 60%  sale going on! I thought Tease was a more natural color, while Vixen would be a great shade to wear during the fall season.

Mineral Lipstick in Rosy Raisin and

Mineral Eye shadows in Natural, Celebrity, Caffeinated, Confident, and Sassy

This will be my first time trying a mineral lipstick. I have purchased all these mineral eye shadows in the past but decided to give them away to a friend.  However, I decided that I missed having them in my collection.  These mineral eye shadows are loose, pigmented, and shimmery.  They are beautiful when layered on top of the eyelid! I'm sure I will do a post soon showing the swatches of all my ELF mineral eye shadows.

Duo Cream Eye Shadow in Olive

I also already have two of these duo cream eye shadows, so this is just another one added to my collection!  They are extremely pigmented and work as an amazing eye shadow base.  They will crease when you wear them on your bare lid, but if you are wearing a green eye shadow, for example, you can make the green eye shadow appear brighter and more vibrant when you place the green cream eye shadow in a thin layer before applying the green eye shadow. 

Studio Cream Eye Shadows

Finally, I have been waiting to get these babies in so that I can do a review and application post for one of my followers, Kat . For now, I can say that they are pigmented, smooth, and creamy! I have high hopes for these as I would love them to replace my expensive MAC Paint Pots. 

Professional Blending Brush and Studio Stippling Brush

After almost 3 years, my professional blending brush is finally giving out and starting to come loose from the ferrule.  3 years is a pretty long time for such a soft, dense brush that only cost me $1.00.  I also purchased the Studio Stippling brush because I have been wanting to try it out as a blush brush. I'll see how that works.

If you love makeup or you're a beginner...definitely check out ELF at eyeslipsface.com.  The site sells quality, affordable makeup that you can try! 

Benefit's Feelin' Cheeky

I picked up this little treasure at Sephora not too long ago, and if you rush now, you can still get a hold of it! It's a limited edition set located around the counter area at your local Sephora store.  Each jar contains .13 oz of product--which may not sound like a whole lot, but because a little goes a long way with these products, you can bet that you will get plenty of uses out of each! 

If you buy each of these separately, you can expect to pay $28.00 for around .4 oz of product. Benefit's Feelin' Cheeky set is only $15.00 for a chance to test and try all 3! I felt so lucky to have found this product because I have been itching to try Benefit's products..specifically Benetint and High Beam!

The applicators resemble nail polish wands, and they do a pretty good job of placing the product where it needs to go.  For the most part, you're using your hands to blend and apply anyways...

For darker/tanner skin tones, such as my own, you need to apply a couple of layers to get a good flush on your cheeks.  Don't even think about getting Posietint as a cheek stain because it just won't show up! As a lip stain, though, both work well and look nice with a gloss topped over.  High beam was my favorite out of this trio because it gave me the most natural highlights on my face.  I placed a couple of small dots on my cheekbones, the bridge of my nose, and my cupid's bow for a light, shimmer effect!

My Favorite Summer Cream Blushes

I love a dewy, fresh-faced glow for the summer.  To help me achieve that look, I turn to my creamy blush products!  Shown above are my favorites...E.L.F. cream blush in Heartbreaker, NYX Rouge Cream Blush in Glow, Two NYC Blushable Creme Sticks in South St. Seashell and Pink Flash (special edition), and Benefit's Benetint.   Let's take a closer look at each! 

This blush really wakes the face up! It's super creamy though, and it can be applied with your fingers...however, I suggest using a stippling brush or a synthetic brush because a little goes a long way.

You can see here just how delicate the product is because I accidentally nicked it while I was trying to pick it up. Boo...anyways, here's a swatch!

It's pretty vibrant on my medium/tan skin, but don't worry...we can blend it out!

This blush is easily build-able for those days that you just want to look extra flushed. Below is another thin layer of Glow:

Hopefully you can see a slight difference. Trust me, it's more obvious on your face!

 Next up is ELF's Studio Line cream blush in Heartbreaker. This is another vibrant, BAM! in your face color.  The consistency of this blush is very different from any I've tried before.  It's squishy, foamy, and kind of reminds me of playdough. I really like it though because it's also very buildable and the color lasts a good while on the cheeks. 

On my skin, you can tell that the color appears more muted than what is shown in the jar. This could also be due to my lighting..it was a cloudy day, so I apologize!

If you're looking for a product that is inexpensive and readily available in stores such as Rite-Aid, Target, and Walmart...try NYC Blushable Creme Sticks.  I believe they retail for $3.99 at Rite-Aid.  

South St. Seashell (left)  is part of their permanent line, where as Pink Flash (right) is not.  One thing I noticed about these creme sticks is that the color of the tube is the same as the product! Pink Flash is matte, while South St. Seashell is a light beige/brown with a slight shimmer or satin finish.  I believe that these blushable creme sticks come in different finishes. 

These blushable creme sticks are in fact creamy and easily blendable.  They also have incredible pigmentation..which may be difficult to see because of my tanned skin tone.  I don't think the lasting power of these creme sticks are very good on their own, but they are a wonderful base for helping your powdered shadows last longer. 

Finally, we have Benefit's Benetint.  I have a mini jar that I got in a value set from Benefit. 

To use this product, you use the brush applicator to place a few dots on your skin. Then you blend it out! 

This is what I get after one layer.

Two layers...

Three layers. PERFECT...for me =P Keep in mind that if you are fairer in skin tone, you will not need as many applications to get the product to show up.  I love this tint because it really does last a good few hours for me, and it gives me the most natural.."i just took a run around the neighborhood" flush. Right now, you can get a Benefit minis set called "feelin' cheeky!" at Sephora stores near the check-out area.  It includes posie tint, high beam, and benefit for $15.00--which is a steal! 

What are your favorite blushes for the summer?