I debated as to when I would post this one; on one hand I wanted it to be the big hurrah of the series because lipstick is my favorite thing in the universe, but on the other hand I wanted to make sure that I got this posted in good time for the majority of fall - so this happened. I had to, I have no restraint.

And as a bonus, the weather is feeling kind of fall-y this week. I mean, its still awful hot, but the humidity isn't quite as crazy as it has been of late and we're not getting those afternoon Florida thunderstorms quite as much as we do in the depths of summer. Although, it may just be my wishful thinking.

I intentionally broke up this post into two categories because I hoard dark lipsticks and I have some phenomenal ones that have been discontinued or limited edition, so the first group are readily available and the second group are "honorable mentions" that you need if you find them discounted or in a blog sale or a CCO or something of the like.

Enough with my ramblings, here's some lipstick!

Okay, yeah. I'm obsessed.

The top row, from left to right is; 

- Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie - This was my intro to "dark lips". Its a great way to deepen your natural lipcolor for fall, but without being dramatic.

- Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey - As with the prior, it isn't a statement lip, but it darkens things up just a bit. I've reviewed this here.

- ELF Matte Lipstick in Tea Rose - I love mauves and this is a darker, cool mauve. If I'm wearing  lighter, paler mauves in the summer, then I'm moving onto something like this in the fall and winter.

- L'Oreal Colour Riche La Laque in Laquer-ized - I just reviewed this yesterday. Its bright, but the color saturation and cool tone to it is perfect on my skin for fall.

- Smash Cosmetics Lipstick in Pale Mauve - This is a touch more purple than ELF Tea Rose and that's right up my alley!

- Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Vintage Pink - I probably purchased this one for the name, but its a cooler toned berry shade that I really like against my skin.

- CoverGirl Lip Perfection Lipstick in Divine - This is a less purple and intense version of MAC Heroine. The way it interacts with the natural color of the lips is very nice.

- MAC Up The Amp - If you are new to purple toned lipsticks, but really like the look of them, try this. It wears very comfortably and is quite wearable. I've reviewed this here.

- NYX Round Lipstick in Lala - This shade is a quite dark take on mauve and it, in turn is a really unique shade.

And the bottom row, from left to right, is; 

- MAC Rebel - Does this surprise anyone? No? Duh.

- NARS Afghan Red - I really love this shade because its a red, but its not super intense and it makes it really easy to wear. I've reviewed this here.

- NYX Round Lipstick in Snow White - Another lipstick that I purchased for the name, but I LOVE that this shade is a cool toned red that somehow has a touch of brown to it, so it sets itself apart from the rest of my collection.

- MAC Diva - This is my favorite dark red, and I hesitated putting this in the Fall picks because I'll probably wear this a lot this winter, but whatever - you'll probably see it then too. I've reviewed this here.

- Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Moss Lipstick in 04 - This shade is holding me off until I can get my hands on NARS Train Bleu. Its a blackened purple with some brown in it and I love it so incredibly much.

And onto the honorable mentions..I had to...

From left to right these are;

- MAC Mattene in Nocturnal Instincts - I wore the heck out of this last winter, and spring, and...well you get the point. Its a mauve shade thats kind of a paler mauve, but has a touch of warmth to it that makes it more wearable and if they ever repromote it, I'll probably buy like three..

- Revlon Violet Frenzy - I'm not sure if this is discontinued completely, but it's no longer listed on the website. I'd sweep it up if I were you. Its a semi sheer take on a dark, purple toned berry and I love it.

- MAC Heroine - Again, is anyone surprised. This needs to be part of the permanent range. If you've been living under a rock, Heroine is a darkened matte violet shade. I've reviewed this here.

- MAC Strong Woman - Definitely an under-appreciated shade from the MAC camp. This is slightly redder than Heroine, and for that reason, a bit more wearable across the board.

- MAC Boyfriend Stealer - I'm glad I picked this shade up. This collection was a springtime-ish collection, so I'm glad to finally get to have it in my normal rotation. I've reviewed this here.

- Maybelline Midnight Plum - This is still available in most drugstores, if  yours hasn't already sold out. Go NOW! Its a super dark plummy purple and I can't wait to rock it.

Can we tell this is my favorite color family? Maybe. Stay tuned for the rest of this series, coming soon!

Review - L'Oreal Limited Edition Color Riche La Laque in Lacquer-ized

One of the best feelings in the world is when you wear something - makeup, clothing, hairstyle, whatever - that makes you feel incredible. When I purchased this shade I was a bit intimidated by it; I've been doing a nude lip more than anything as of late, but when I tried this shade on for the first time, I fell in love!

I'm fairly certain that this line, as well as the Le Matte Line are limited edition - and hard to track down, but if they're all like this one, they're SO worth thee search!

Both the La Laques and Le Mattes are housed in a twist up pencil without a sharpener. The tip does tend to get dull, but because of the circumference of the product itself, that really doesn't cause much of a problem. There isn't as much product in these as an average lipstick, however.

Lets start off with the color, shall we? Its just...ugh...literally the perfect super blue based hot lilac pink and I just can't even deal with how much I love the shade. I wore it out tonight and I got more compliments than I knew what to do with.

The texture of this product is different than anything I've really tried before, and it actually really impresses me. It applies very opaque and glossy from the get go - and pretty much stays that way. The thing about it that I find strange, however, is that it isn't all too ridiculously thick or sticky. Yes, it has a slight bit of tackiness to it, but its not much worse than the average high pigment lipgloss; just with a much better wear time. 

In terms of wear, the color- nor the glossiness for that matter - didn't really fade until at least the five hour mark, but the fading was actually quite minor. It did transfer when I ate dinner, but when left alone, it isn't going anywhere. I'm quite pleased!

I really thought that I would have dupes to this color in my collection, but I was actually pretty surprised that nothing was close enough to dupe it! L'Oreal Lacquer-ized is on the left, while MAC Daddy's Little Girl is next, and MAC Outrageously Fun is on the right. Daddy's Little Girl is a bit darker and not quite as cool toned, while Outrageously Fun is the closest, but lighter and sheerer. 

Overall:

Pros - 

- Longwearing.

- Maintains glossy finish.

- Opaque 

- No/minimal fragrance.

Cons- 

- Small amount of product for the price.

I'm not going to lie, I'm really impressed with this product! I love the longevity, finish, color, everything. If I have the ability to actually find it, I really want to try Never Laque-ing - which is a rosy nude shade. Hopefully I'll be able to review on of the Le Mattes early next week!

10/10 Completely Recommend! 

My Picks for Fall - Lipgloss!

I'm going to be real with you here - I live in Florida. It was about 90 degrees even today...and that's been the coolest its been thusfar this Fall. Fall and Winter are my favorite times of the year, but I feel cheated out of them.

However, as soon as September arrived I broke out the vampy lips, warm brown shadows and pretty much Pumpkin Spice, well, EVERYTHING. If the weather is nice and fall-y where you are, I ENVY you.

These are some of the glosses that I'm excited to rock this fall, regardless of the lack of cool weather!

I tried to break these up from lightest to darkest, for the most part!

Top Row, Left to Right - 

- MAC Deelight Cremesheen Glass - We all know I wear this all year round, everywhere and anywhere. Paired with a super sultry eye, it completes a great fall look. I had to include it, don't judge me...I have a problem. I've reviewed this here.

- Revlon Colorburst Lip Gloss in Sunbaked - I'm quite fair, so this is a darker nude on me than most. Its a good transition from my lighter nudes for summer to my deeper nudes for fall.

- Too Faced Glamour Gloss in Erotic - What a name, huh? This is actually a plumping gloss that I'm usually feeling more for Christmastime, but I find myself reaching for it quite a bit already.

- Buxom Big and Healthy Lip Polish in Dolly - Another plumping gloss. It has a really understated mauve tone that is really flattering on top of my natural lip color. I've reviewed this here.

- Rimmel Show Off Lip Lacquer in Galaxy - Can we just call these Apocalips here in the USA too? Soooo much cooler than "Show Off". Either way, this is a lighter mauve berry shade with incredible opacity and I'm just in love.

- Milani Crystal Gloss in Sheer Dark Honey - If I need to darken things up without a full on vampy lip, this is my jam. I love it. Very sophisticated, but still has a slight goth-y tone to it which I'm all about.

- Maybelline Color Sensational High Shine Lipgloss in Raspberry Reflections - I've had my gripes about the fragrance of these, but they really are great drugstore glosses as a whole...maybe why I keep buying them?? Raspberry Reflections is a "me" shade. Its not totally pink, but theres a good amount of purple to it. I've reviewed this here. Did I include this in my summer picks as well? Absolutely. Again, I have a problem.

Bottom Row, Left to right - 

- Clinique Full Potential Lips Plump and Shine in Voluptuous Violet - I received this in a kit a while back, which is why its double ended. Its a plummy shade without being too red.

- Hard Candy Lip Def in Midnight Strole - Yes, the spelling is driving me nuts as well. But we all saw this coming, right. Its purple. Perfect.

- Smash Cosmetics Lipgloss in Wine and Dine - These glosses are SUPER pigmented and I love the subtle shimmer this one has.

- Maybelline Color Sensational High Shine Gloss in Chocolate Lust - I'm REALLY feeling the brownish burgundies lately, so I had to have this one. It shines over a liner or lipstick.

- Victoria's Secret Sweet Pout Gloss in Love and Confection - Very similar to MAC Rebel in gloss form. Great pigmentation and cute packaging. Because that matters to me..

So if you thought that was excessive, wait until you see my lipstick post! Just like I did for the summer, I'm going to make this into a series - keep an eye out for my picks for Lipstick, Palettes, Single Eyeshadows, Blushes, Nails and Fragrances soon!

Shiro Cosmetics Haul!

Its been a rough week around here - that much is certain. You know how you just have those times where you just feel discouraged left and right. My life this week. Or month. You get the idea.

This Shiro haul has definitely been in the making for some time now. I remember stumbling across a picture of an eyeshadow on Tumblr called "Nic Cage Raking Leaves on a Brisk October Afternoon" and I just had to check out the brand. I didn't buy that shadow because I wanted only mini sizes, but it definitely caught my attention!

Shiro Cosmetics is basically one of the greatest marriages of makeup and geekdom I've come across in a LONG time.

I thought the stamp was cute! I definitely tried my hardest to keep it intact when I opened these!

I purchased three minis (in jars) and one sample (baggies). The other two samples were free with my purchase. 

From left to right, the top row is the group of minis and they are; Temple of Time, Master Sword, Not Very Effective, Ganondorf and The Last Homely House. The bottom row are the sample sizes and they are; What's That Smelt?, Farewell Wherever You Fare and Master Ball. 

Did I shop by collection? Absolutely. Most of my spoils were from the Legend of Zelda themed collection, followed by the Pokemon themed collection and The Hobbit themed collection. There is one from the Minecraft themed collection, I think, but I don't play Minecraft, so I'm not sure. From the picture, that's what I gathered. 

These were hard to photograph, because I feel like it didn't capture the true color. The Last Homely House is a really unique Red/Green duochrome, Master Sword is a unique white gold and Ganondorf is pretty freaking all around awesome, just to name a few. 

Shipping was within the turnaround time, and I had no issue with my order whatsoever. The owner was also quite nice!

I can't wait to start playing with these - this week has put much of my beauty routine on the back burner, so I'm ready to play with all the pretty things!

BFTE Haul!

BFTE - Beauty From The Earth - is one of the most well known of the indie makeup brands, so I'm surprised that I'm just now hauling from them. As per usual, I decided on sample sizes so I could get a feel for the brand and their products.

One thing that stood out to me from the get go is their turn around time. I think I placed my order on Saturday, and already received it (its Thursday here) so needless to say, that was a pleasant surprise. In addition to the items I hauled, I also received a free sample of another shade.

I love the way indie products are packed and shipped. Always cutesy and fun. The sample I was given was inside the little card! And I'm not going to lie, the glitter from the tissue is EVERYWHERE. You may see it show up in swatches.

These are BFTE's sample sizes, which are in an average sized jar, but a good amount less than it holds. Some shades seem to have a bit more in them than others.

From left to right these are; Chantilly Lace, Spring Fever, Harvest, Kiss the Frog, Celtic Charms, Cocoa and (across the bottom) Lollipop Kid. All of these are shimmery, minus Kiss the Frog, which OMG..I can't even process how amazing it is. Another one of my favorites is Harvest, which has incredible pigmentation. I'm glad that I picked up this bunch, because its a good mix of staple shades and great fall shades as well!

I've got a lot of testing, playing and swatching on my hands so bear with me! I've got a couple other indie brand hauls that came in before this one, so I'm trying to tackle them in the order I hauled them..."trying" is the key word!

Review - Maybelline Limited Edition ColorSensational High Shine Lip Gloss in Flash of Pink.

With all of these new collections along with all the indie shadows I've hauled lately, I'm feeling a serious "review-a-palooza" in the near future...which would be easier if my camera didn't trick me into thinking it was fixed. It is definitely SUPER frustrating because I just spent $30 on a brand new battery and that turns out to not be the issue. It still won't charge most of the time, so I'm wondering if its the cable? I actually got it to charge just as I sat down to write, but I'm terrified that if I move an inch it will change it's mind! - Looks like I'm sitting here for a while! Either way, I'm about 800% done with the whole thing. We'll probably be working with mobile photos for a while until I can figure it all out, but since my phone has such a decent camera, its not exactly a terrible thing. I'm playing with setting and lighting so hopefully that will all be copacetic soon.

The Maybelline Fall Fashion Week 2013 items that I hauled have for the most part been tested, so I hope to bust those out during the next few days! First is Flash of Pink - one of the most wearable items in the entire collection.

The ColorSensational Glosses are housed in a rectangular tube with a good amount of heft to it. It doesn't feel or look overly cheap. The labeling is minimalistic, but in the actual store you can tell if yours has been tampered with as there is a perforated plastic label. Also, when you pull the wand out of the tube the first time, gloss will be displaced into the top neck part, further showing you that it's brand new or swatched. Despite how giant it may look, there is actually only the same amount of product in this tube as a MAC Lipglass (0.17 fl. oz) and it retails for anywhere between $6.99 to $9.99 depending on where you shop. 

Flash of Pink is a pale, blue based pink with a bit of a lavender tone to it. When I saw it, I knew it was definitely a "me" shade. Think MAC Snob - thats the kind of color you're getting here. Maybe I should try it over MAC Snob...

The consistency is moderate - not super thick and sticky, but does have a bit of a weight to it. I've tried several of these glosses before and most of them have this texture. The shade itself only stained my lips very minimally - which this line normally does for me - but it wasn't anything like their deeper or brighter shades. The wear time of this shade was so-so; definitely not as longwearing as darker shades like Raspberry Reflections (reviewed here). The glossiness wore off after about an hour leaving a faint pink tint, but I had to reapply more often than I would have liked to keep it at the initial opacity. 

The thing that just rubs me the wrong way about these glosses is the flavor/smell. It is very strongly - I don't know how to describe it - almost like synthetic plastic passion fruit flavored and it does tend to linger. I take medications that happen to have side effects that make me quite nauseous sometimes, and I have to avoid these glosses by all costs when I'm having a bit of an episode with my medicine. By the end of the day today, the queasier I got, the more the fragrance bothered me. 

I'm not a stranger to this shade family, so its not all that much of a surprise that I had some similar shades in my collection already. On the far left is Flash of Pink, and right beside it is MAC Going Casual from the Lavish Rose Lip Set that was part of Holiday 2012. Going Casual is VERY similar - its just sheerer and a hair warmer. If you missed out on Going Casual and are kicking yourself because of it, you may very much appreciate Flash of Pink - I'd say they're almost dupes. On the far right is NYX Butter Gloss in Meringue - which is a little less lavender pink and a bit more opaque. They're in the same color family, but I wouldn't say they're dupes. 

Overall:

Pros - 

- Good color payoff.

- Medium texture - neither too thin or sticky.

- Unique shade in terms of drugstore availability.

Cons - 

- Strong fragrance.

- Short wear time. 

Overall, its definitely a shade that's up my alley. Lavender Pinks make me happy, and I felt that this shade was one of the most wearable shades for day to day from the NYFW Fall 2013 collection...even though we all knew I was going to partake in some purples! I'm going to try to get the reviews for the remainder of the collection that I hauled, so check back soon!

7/10

Smash Cosmetics Sample Haul!

Just in case you're not already dog tired of the indie brands on my blog these days, keep in mind that I have two more indie hauls on their way after this one. Its a newfound obsession of mine really, as I find that many indie brands have a lot more unique shades, formulas and textures to offer than your average corporately established beauty brand.

Smash Cosmetics is a small indie makeup brand that I found through another blog - Beauty Redefined by Pang, who recently posted a haul from them. The brand does offer very unique shades in terms of eyeshadows, but what really struck me is their extensive collection of lip products. I purchased the blogger review kit, so I was sent samples of 5 eyeshadows, 5 lipsticks and two glosses of my choice. Since I purchased something that was discounted for review purposes, I'm not sure if samples are included in regular orders.

I did not encounter any customer service issues with the brand - and since my order took a bit longer than is the standard for the brand, I received a discount off of my next purchase. The only thing strange about the order was  the shipping. I received an e-mail from the brand through Etsy saying that my order had shipped on August 20th and I received it today. I didn't contact the brand, as I knew that there would be a delay in shipping, but I don't know if the message was sent terribly early from Etsy or what. Regardless, I received my package in a timely manner in terms of what I'm used to across the board in the indie world.  Either way, the customer service was good regardless of the shipping oddity, and I'll most likely buy again.

Onto the swatches!

The pots with the circular white sticker on the top are eyeshadows, whole the ones with the heart are lip products - of course the full sized lip products aren't housed in these jars.

 Eyeshadows -

Left to right, these are; Grape, Sleeping Beauty, Muse, Deathstar and Medusa. I tried to get a unique mix of colors and I think I succeeded. I'm really loving Muse and Deathstar so far.

Glosses - 

These are SUPER pigmented. I was really surprised! On the left is Wine and Dine and on the right is Fetish. Very "me" shades, so I'm super excited.

Lipsticks - 

Since they were samples, I wanted to get some fun shades! From left to right, I have; Pale Mauve, Tainted, Hazen, Aurora and Dahlia. Pale Mauve and Aurora are super wearable on my skin, and I could probably pull off tainted as the weather cools down. I think Dahlia is going to be so fun though! The photo does not do it justice, but it does have purple shimmer to it!

I don't even know where to start. I'm really excited about the lip products, as I've only tried lip products from one other indie brand. I'm glad I chose such wearable shadow shades to, as I can see myself getting a good amount of use out of all of them. 

In the near future I have a BFTE haul as well as a Shiro Cosmetics haul, so if you're loving the whole indie cosmetics theme, keep your eyes peeled. BFTE should be here before we know it!