Review - Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Snare

Its  not often that the Sephora inside JC Penney actually carries a product that the standalone stores don't, (hello, no Illamasqua except for the nail polishes?? Foul!) but lo and behold - it has happened!
Snare is one of 7 shades that Urban Decay added to their permanent line, which are available exclusively to UD's website and Sephora in JCP. I purchased this shade during Sephora's Chic Week along with NARS Sin and UD Laced!

Urban Decay describes Snare as a "smoky olive green with gold micro glitter". Its a subtly olive toned green that has a very subtle gold shift to it. What confuses me is that UD categorizes this shade as a shimmer/satin finish, in which both claim that there is no microglitter in the finish. However, the shade description mentions microglitter. Which one is it??? Honestly, it reads a bit more metallic than glittery, but there is a touch of microglitter there. 

While I am not particularly complaining but the shade is a bit more green than I was anticipating; I honestly thought it would turn out a bit more neutral. I wore this with UD Laced all over the lid and UD Snakebite in the crease and it was a very flattering, cohesive look.

As far as the formula, the shade was on par with Urban Decay's standard as a whole. I had no problem with a shorter wear time or fading, but I do wish that this shade had a tad bit more depth.

What worried me is that I may have had a dupe in my collection for this shade; I thought that L'Oreal Golden Sage might have been a dupe. Above, I have UD Snare on the left and L'Oreal Golden Sage on the right. Snare is a bit darker, and while they are in the same color family, I wouldn't exactly consider them dupes.

Overall:

Pros:

- Great color payoff.

- Longwearing.

- Neutral toned green; wearable.

Cons:

- Not as vibrant as I'd wished.

- Slight bit of fallout.

While Snare is definitely a good performing shade, it wasn't as showstopping as I thought it would be. I'm definitely getting use out of it, but if had been either a bit more vibrant or a bit more neutral, it would have been a must have!

8/10

Another Darling Girl Cosmetics Haul!

Between the fact that I NEEDED a full sized version of the Yes, Virginia Soft Focus Blush (check out my review here), the huge shade range the brand has and the incredible customer service, I hauled some more from the brand!

I purchased two items along with the review kit, so I have tons of samples, the products I purchased and a GWP to play with. Sweet!

As per usual, the products are sent in pure cuteness!

From left to right, there are two samples included with my purchase; Belle Eyeshadow and Mercurial Eyeshadow, as well as the GWP for spending at least $10 before shipping, which was a petit size of South Of Heaven. Also included are a couple business cards and a Darling Girl logo sticker, which is too cute!

These products are part of the press sample kit that I took part in. The top two shades are; Faux Pas Eyeshadow and Angel Face Shimmer Blush and the bottom two are; Sassy Sakura DuoChrome Blush and Viva La Revolution Eyeshadow. Off to the right is the Kiss You Off: Color Rich Lip Balm in Honey Love.

Finally the core of my actual purchase. On the left, which you can probably guess, is a full size of the Yes, Virginia Soft Focus blush which is literally at holy grail status for me. I just ADORE it! To the right is the Glitter Glue which is a mixing medium that I needed something fierce! 

It bears mentioning that this order was sent out like lightning compared to the expected turn around time! For indie brands, its important to remember that these people are running a small business and working their tails off! I was expecting, as per what the site had noted, up to 16 days of waiting. Turns out, I only had to wait a tiny bit over half of that. Once it was shipped out it only took 2 days to get to my house! I'm impressed! I had the same experience last time, so it definitely shows how consistent the brand is!

I'm super excited to start playing with these, as Darling Girl has quickly become one of my favorite brands; indie or not! I've got a lot of testing and reviewing on my plate as of late, so I'll get some reviews posted for you guys ASAP! (And I still have some to review from my last haul!)

Top 5 Picks for Summer - Nail Polish.

I've been on my nail polish game this year! (Ironically writing this post with no nail polish on..) I've managed to come across some great shades so far this year and finally successfully swatched out my entire collection, rediscovered some gems and threw out some that were just too old to function.

So here goes; These are my Top 5 Nail Polishes for Summer!

From left to right, these are; Essie - In the Cab-ana, Essie - Turquoise and Caicos, Essie - Sand Tropez, Revlon - Seashell and China Glaze - Pool Party.

The swatches are all on the middle "nail"!

Essie - In the Cab-ana. A bright light blue that is just too fun to pass up!

Essie - Turquoise and Caicos. The name says it all; turquoise and one of Essie's most popular shades.

Essie - Sand Tropez. I had to include a neutral and this one is the perfect, beachy neutral!

Revlon - Seashell. Peachy with pink tones to it. Pastel and lovely.

China Glaze - Pool Party. Even the name is summery! This is a neon pink that totally rocks your enitre summer!

There you have it! We've got two more categories to go, so stay tuned! What polishes are you all loving for summer?

Review - Too Faced Summer Eye 2013 Summer Sexy Shadow Collection.

Neutrals are my comfort zone, so the fact that I wore three colorful looks in a row this week both surprised and excited me! C'mon Summer! And it doesn't stop there, I've still got the Lorac GloGetter Palette to play with as well!

Let's dive right in, shall we? This palette is somewhat of a repromote from last year's with a few changes made; different shade, different packaging. I found mine at ULTA, and Too Faced's website lists this as out of stock. Its definitely been popular!

Too Faced definitely wins when it comes to the visual presentation. The packaging is straight out of the pool with the brand's vintage inspired logos.

Most of Too Faced's newer palettes are housed in a square tin with a mirror in the lid nowadays; which began with the Boudoir Eyes palette. It feels sturdier and cleans easier than the old cardboard ones, but my only complaint is that it is held closed by a somewhat weak magnet. I expected it to, and would have preferred that it would snap shut; if you pick this up the wrong way it will swing open.  

As with most of Too Faced's Palettes, Summer Eyes is broken up into three sections; the "Day" look, the "Classic" look and the "Fashion" look. Each section has a large base shade and two smaller shades.

Cute little note on the back of the insert with the looks - too cute!

From left to right, the "Day" look is;

- Seashell: A matte apricot shade with decent pigmentation. This shade performed better than I expected and I can totally see myself getting a whole lot of use out of it. (This shade was in the place of Sugar Sand from last year's version)

- Plumeria: A candy pink with a shimmer sheen and no glitter. Pinks are never as pink on my skin as they are in the pan - maybe over a white base with a darker pink in the crease I could get this true to pan, but it could take work. However, it is quite soft and when paired with Seashell gave me a sunset eye like effect.

- Cocoa Beach: I highly doubt that it is named after it, but I've been to Cocoa Beach nearly hundreds of times! Its such an easy drive from where I live! Thank God that I loved this shade, because I would have been heartbroken because of the name! Cocoa Beach is a neutral to cool medium brown that can read a bit taupe-y depending on what you pair it with. It has a bit of glitter but I noticed no fallout. 

From left to right the "Classic" look is;

- Peach Fuzz: This shade is a peachy beige with microglitter. Its not a showstopper - there's not a whole lot of pigment to it and using it as a base is the only place I would think to apply it. It also caused a decent amount of fallout.

- Coral Crush: Coral Crush is a true coral with microglitter. I actually rather loved this shade, for something with glitter it had minimal fallout and it wore forever and a day on the eye. Its not the most vibrant coral I've come across, but that may be in my best interest. 

- Chocolate Sun: A chocolate brown with microglitter. It had great color payoff and minimal fallout, just as Coral Crush did. The two pair very well together.

The "Fashion" look from left to right is;

- Sunbeam: A pale yellow gold with decent pigmentation, but a good amount of fallout. It performed better in terms of pigment than Peach Fuzz, but worse in the fallout category. Meh.

- Mermaid: I had incredibly high hopes for this shade because its more of a grayish, teal-ish blue that swatched quite stunningly. On the eye it was a mess to apply - it was sheer and patchy and floofed all over the place except for where I wanted it. It needs a base with it to aid in application, and keep it from disappearing like it did in a very short time on my lid. Such a bummer!

- Toasted Coconut: This shade is a warm. medium, demi-matte brown that applied well, but is quite dupeable. 

As per all of Too Faced's palettes, three step by step guides on the looks is included!

I'm pleased but not over the moon with this palette. Most of the shades were good, a couple were great and one was a total let down. The deal breaker for most will be the fallout, as there are a few glittery shades in here. Its not the greatest Too Faced Palette that I have, but it isn't terrible, just a teeny bit fussy. 

Overall:

Pros: 

- The neutral shades in this palette performed very well, as well as two of the bolder shades and one of the bases.

- Great mix of summer color and neutral shades.

- Includes a mirror.

- Packaging is easy to clean.

Cons: 

- Two of the shades had a good amount of fallout.

- Three shades were under-pigmented. 

- The blue shade was a total let down.

- Palette does not snap shut, has a weak magnet.

If the blue shade had not performed so badly, I may have had a slightly more positive review. Its workable, but in order to get a super amount of vibrance with palette, one should probably consider a cream, tacky base or applying these wet. The mix of shades, however, makes it perfect for summer, and shades such as Seashell, Coral Crush, Cocoa Beach and Chocolate Sun were actually pretty great.

7/10

Top 5 Picks for Summer - Lipgloss

Its been quite a week around here! Phew! I'm trying my goshdarn hardest to even have time to sit in one place for more than 5 minutes so I can get at least a tiny bit of blogging accomplished. Tomorrow doesn't look like it will be all too crazy, so expect me to bang out a couple reviews for you guys then. In the meantime, I need to go to sleep!

Staying with our top 5 theme, these are my Top 5 Summer Lipglosses!

From left to right these are;

- Maybelline Color Sensational High Shine Gloss in Raspberry Reflections - This shade is a plummy fuchsia  that is nice and bright and fun. Will stain lips! I reviewed this not too long ago here.

- Lorac Lips With Benefits in Christian - This was part of the ULTA version of the Mint Edition Collection, and I reviewed the gloss after the palette. This shade is the perfect coral pink for my skin; basically because it is only a tiny bit coral. Very fun shade!

- Milani Crystal Gloss in Summer Baby - The name says it all, Summer Baby is a golden pink that is perfect for the warmer months! I reviewed this earlier this week!

- Clinique Long Last Glosswear in Bonfire - A deeper option than Summer Baby this one makes me feel summery and sultry at the same time. Mine looks a little different, as it has a rollerball of Clinique Happy (LOVE IT!) on the other side! The shade is available for purchase by itself.

- Milani 3D Glitzy Glamour Gloss in Fashion Diva - This is a vivid violet shade with tons of glitter and is surprisingly wearable! I can tone it down for work and build it up for fun! It pairs very well with MAC Heroine!

For someone who doesn't wear gloss very often, I was able to choose these in a snap! I can't wait to get more wear out of these; c'mon summer!

What glosses are you guys wearing this summer?

Top 5 Picks for Summer - Blush

My favorite blushes are usually pale pastels that most people usually hold of on until springtime - For me, on the other hand, you'd have to pry MAC Full of Joy, Illamasqua Katie and Darling Girl Yes, Virginia out of my cold dead hands before I rotate them to the back of my stash when the seasons change.

For summer, however I try my hardest to loosen my grip and wear something a bit more bright and bold. C'mon, I'm so fair skinned that this is the only time of year where I can really pack up some punchy blush without looking like I'm going out on a tropical getaway. ( I mean I live in Florida, but once you live here for 15 plus years even 65 degrees feels cold to you!)

I scoured my stash of blushes and narrowed it down to 5 that my cheeks will be seeing a whole lot of this summer!

From left to right the top row is;

- Tarte Fantastic - This was part of last year's Fantastic Foursome Four Piece Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush Enthusiast Set. It is a bright, candy pink with strong blue tones to it and I absolutely adore it against my skin. I'm also quite a fan of Tarte's Amazonian Clay blushes.

- ELF Studio Blush in Pink Passion - Probably the brightest blush in my collection, Pink Passion is a hot, candy pink with a matte finish and pigmentation out the wazoo. 

- NARS Orgasm - Yeah, yeah. Groundbreaking choice, huh? It's there for a reason; The big O is a perfect summer shade that will look good on anyone. The golden peachy pink warms up anyone!

- Tarte Magic - Also was in the same set as Fantastic, Magic a pretty true coral - I'm not 100% sure how this is as flattering as it is on my skin, but I'll totally run with it!

And across the bottom because I ran out of room is;

- Boots No.7 Natural Blush Cheek Colour in Coral Flush  - A gutsy pink coral with incredible strength of pigment. This was a forgotten favorite of mine.

As the weather gets warmer, my makeup gets brighter - And I am totally okay with that.

What blushes are you loving for summer? Let me know!

Stay tuned for my other picks for summer, coming soon!

Top 5 Picks for Summer - Lipstick

I feel like I just blinked once in January and opened my eyes in May; I can't believe its almost summer! Here in Florida, we're starting to feel our summer weather. It's hot and very humid and we're starting to see those afternoon thunderstorms that we are oh so used to every summer roll in.

For me, summer is when I break out my bright, saturated hues that just weren't fitting in my winter rotation. The weather is warm, the sun is bright and so is my lipstick!

You should understand the difficulty I faced when narrowing down my extensive collection to just 5! I'm all about a statement lip!

From left to right, my picks for summer are;

- Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Coralberry - So far as coral as I can get; I only wear this during the warmer months. The pink tones to this make it wearable on my oh so cool toned skin, and it was just too fun and summery to pass up!

- Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Sorbet - Lovely, glossy, neutral toned hot pink with a touch of translucency for that "Popsicle stained" lip look. Bright and easy.

- MAC Shy Girl - While not as bright as its counterparts, this shade gets a lot of rotation in the summer. Nude with a touch of coral that goes great with a coral blush!

- MAC Pink Nouveau - I couldn't leave this one out. The lippie that started it all and a perfect bright pink; not to mention a total compliment getter!

- Maybelline Color Sensational Vivids in Hot Plum - A bright fuchsia that gets me noticed in all the right ways whenever I wear it!

So there you have it! These five shades will definitely be on heavy rotation for me this summer! 

What shades are you loving for the warmer months?

Stay tuned for Parts 2 though 6 later this week!