A while back, I snatched myself a little reviewer pack from Rockabetty Beauty, and tried out wee portions of their line, along with a full tube of Happy Chappy. While there were some things I absolutely loved from this company, there were some things I was rather iffy on – particularly, the eyeshadows. I said then that I would reserve my final opinion until a later date, as they were undergoing reformulation. Today, after months of collecting and testing (and just plain laziness), I’m finally getting around to throwing these up on the ol’ blahg.

To the swatches!! Read the rest of this entry »

Battling underemployment as I am at the moment, I recently decided to try selling mark. cosmetics to earn some cash money immediately flip on more makeup without feeling guilty about it. One of the things that caught my eye soon after signing up was the For Goodness Face Antioxidant Skin Moisturizing Lotion SPF 30 ($18 USD, 1.7oz). Because while I loved my old Olay, I hated that it had no sun protection. Convincing myself that I both A) Needed it to replace my Olay, and B) Needed it so I can test and believe in what I’m selling, I placed an order.

Two days later, it arrived. Hermes himself couldn’t have brought it faster. Read more below the cut!
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Recently, Revlon have dumped their 12-hour eyeshadow line in favour of a bigger, better, badassier collection of quads that last sixteen – count them – sixteen hours. The quads come in a fairly boring range of shades, with one exception being the “Inspired” quad, which is a mix of greens and blues. I initially picked up “Inspired”, as I love me some greens and blues, but something told me to just hold the phone and try something different. I heard on the Internets that taupe is all the rage, so with that in mind, I picked up “Siren” instead, which is a mix of grays and a hearty taupe.

As soon as I saw these quads, I wondered just what they meant by 16 hours. Are they suggesting that the shadows themselves, with no primer or base, will stay in put that long? Or are they counting on the fact that people use primers? Because if it’s the former, colour me impressed. To really test their words, I applied the quad as directed by their handy dandy diagram on one eye with primer, and the other eye without primer. Jump below the cut for more.
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In addition to pondering the wonder and beauty of music, I sat down to consider what I loved most in the beauty world this past year. Not all of these products will be new to this year – many of them are just new to me. And in some cases, we have old tried and true favourites. Either way, this is a list of things that have found a permanent place in my 2011 routine.

BEST BRAND

In any makeup brand, there are going to be things that are phenomenal, and things that just leave you feeling heartbroken and confused. I love e.l.f., but some of the products are utter crap. I love MAC, but the collections this year have been extremely boring and, I’ve heard, lacking in quality. Wet n’ Wild make fantastic polishes, but I just cannot understand the obsession with their eyeshadows (save for the Comfort Zone palette, which is ten kinds of awesome). But the one brand that I can purchase anything in and pretty much know that I’ll love it is Urban Decay. Primers, shadows, glosses, you name it. The only thing that I’ll hold against this brand is the lipsticks. I’ve yet to find one that I really love. I’ll leave the lipsticks to MAC, I guess.

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Happy 2012, y’all! Hope your new year’s celebrations went well. We spent ours indoors, making merry and playing Monopoly, as seems to have become something of a tradition for us. I don’t know about you, but I rather enjoy being boring. It’s very restful.

With the new year, I bring you something new. Or, at least, it’s new to me. A while back, I was searching Etsy for some good whipped soaps with a woodsy fragrance for Kev. The winter months tend to play hell on our skin, and while I can easily nab some good moisturizing body washes from work, his fragrance options are really quite limited. He’s been stuck using Bath & Body Works Sea Island Cotton Creamy Body Wash, the poor chap. He likes it just fine, but it’s not exactly masculine.

My search ended at PurplecatCreatives. Initially, I was drawn by the beautiful amber packaging with whimsical product labels. I’m a sucker for great packaging. Then, when I saw PurplecatCreatives is based right here in Kentucky, I committed myself to make a purchase. I browsed their fragrance library, and decide to make a small sampler purchase to test the fragrances. I purchased mini sampler body butter jars in Dragon Butter, Raven’s Blend, Pumpkin Macchiato, Twilight Gypsy, Woodland Amber, and Redwood Grove.

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