NYC New York Color - Color Wheel Mosaic Face Powder in Pink Cheek Glow

I think I just got ripped off. I went to a store and bought a pack of 10 face masks for $20. I originally went for My Beauty Diary Masks but they were around $18. I knew they were originally $11-15 so I passed. They lady told me that these Face Q masks were better and that they had better firming properties than the other ones. So I coughed it up and bought them. As I passed by a different store on my way out of the mall, I saw a pack of MBD masks for $10, along with a better variety. When I went back to the original store, they told me that all sales were final and they they don't do any refunds. If only the other store was open... I realize that this is my fault but still... No one likes paying over the retail value. Never going back. Even the Face shop masks are $1.50 each.

In order to assuage my boiling anger, cheap makeup was in order. Saw that NYC were on 40% off and I couldn't stop myself. Managed to walk away with two falsies and this blush *and a box of Rocher*. This blush in Pink Cheek Glow looks absolutely gorgeous.

 It looks to be a mixture of dark to light pinks with a beautiful sheen to it. Now you know that I would normally try to swatch all of the colors by themselves but it was difficult to do so. By themselves, they have not much color. When swirled together they make a glowing bright pink that makes my skin look glowy and sightly flushed.

 The shimmer is more like a sheen and isn't really noticeable when applied. I took my brush and swirled all over rather than concentrating on one color patch. This color can be over applied in an instant. I started to think that I needed more but after one more application, it looked to be too much. Had to buff it out. It applied smoothly with no patching and with no fall out. It also buffed into the skin nicely. For a $5 plus 40% off, it is a great deal.

This looks extremely natural on my skin because it look like my usual color of rosecea  pink but just a tad brighter. Now this may not sound attractive, but I was blessed with a rosecea on only my cheeks where blush would usually be applied. I always look like I have blush on. People tell me that I'm stupid for buying blush when I have it naturally. It's a skin condition and I'm not a chameleon where the color of my cheeks change naturally depending on my clothes. I need variation. Pink, peach, orange, coral, red and gold please.

Rimmel's Santa Rose...and a personal rant

Before you start reading this massive non related rant, just decide whether to skip a paragraph or two down or sit there and laugh about my predicament. Have you decided? Ok, just to let you know, I can never say no to almost anyone especially if they are family. I don't like children but have gotten stuck with watching my three cousins ages ranging from 8 to 2 many a times because of this trait. I also hate camping because last time we went, we got stuck on a campground with no available water or electricity and the bathroom was a good hike away. Now, I'm a city girl but that was a minor inconvenience to the circumstances of this trip. I had to go with the previously mentioned children, two people who had pink eye, and a relative I despise.

Now you might say tough titties and suck it up, but no. I ended up getting food poisoning and puking up my guts in a public campground toilet and being the youngest responsible adult there also made me an official babysitter. My sister ended up contracting pink eye, and the rest of the week ended up with me doing everything I can to avoid the infection. Just the memories bring out the rage but guess what it is happening again. This fourth of July, I have to go camping again with the same people with minor subtle differences. This time I will be minus the one relative I hate replaced by two relatives I mildly dislike and I will no longer be the youngest responsible adult there. Being wusses must run in the family because none of us has the balls to tell our relatives that we don't want to go. UNSPEAKABLE RAGE!!

The Rimmel blushes were bought a year apart with the smaller one of .14g first then the .15g later. Both are shimmery soft and sheer and are named Santa Rose.

Now when I bought the bigger one, then realized that I had the same shade at home, I was not happy. I swore that i didn't have a color like this, but I guess i was wrong... not really. Now my camera and lighting skills may throw you off, but these blushes look similar but when swatched, they look a bit different.

You may be able to see a bit of a difference, but not really noticeable until you have it in front of you.

The swatch on the left is from the bigger one while the left is from the smaller one. The bigger seems to be a lighter peachy shade while the other one tended to run a bit darker a bit redder. I confirmed my thoughts with my former pink-eyed sister and she agreed with me. I don't know if the color changed within a year, or maybe the blush was reformulated, but something definitely changed. Overall, this blush is subtle and sheer, so it's nice for a natural look and I would purchase it again.

Laura Geller's Baked to Go Blush-n-Brighten in Sunswept

Last year Sephora had this great sampler called the "Sephora Favorites Glitz & Glam Shimmer and Shine Deluxe Sampler", and all of the products there were great. It had everything you needed to make your body glisten and shine, especially with a sample of Guerlain's face illuminator. I snatched that set up quickly after camping in front of the computer with the refresh button all worn out, beaming with undeserved pride. Goodness, buying makeup is a addictive and dangerous habit.

Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating but this was truly a good deal. While I still love those products, it seems that i have out grown of love with this blush. Laura Geller's Baked to Go Blush-n-Brighten in Sunswept came in a 1.8g container at $26.

With swirls of dark and light browns and a shiny raspberry and baby pink, it was smooth and one of my favorite blushes.
No glitter but it does shimmer quite a bit so take a light hand with this because it is also fairly pigmented.

Without Flash

There are many variations you can make with this blush but the three main colors were the two browns and one pink with no flash. On the bottom is how the three colors swirled together look like. However, when you apply this blush you get mainly a golden color rather than any of the pink. I had to find a rare small strip of untouched pink in order to swatch because while this blush may look mainly pink, you can't really get it to show up on your face.

With Flash

You get a bronzeish gold colored blush rather than any pink and right now, my tastes don't lean to those colors anymore. I think its time to retire this one to my eyeshadow rather than blush collection. I don't want to waste it and I've always heard that recycling is the gift that keeps on giving. Maybe this would look better on darker skinned ladies but now that I'm aiming for the pale trend this summer, yes I want to be pale in the summer, this is not for me.

Is it me or was this review boring as hell? Although I doubt hell could be boring but... I don't know.

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone has a great holiday and throws themselves in a pit of gluttony for this holiday. I recently made a small purchase at cherryculture for mostly Nyx products. I can't find Nyx in my neighborhood, so the only way that I'll get some is through the internet. Most of what I had bought was really good, with the exception of these two products. One is the Jordana stick concealer in Light/Medium and the other is Nyx's cream blush in Boho Chic. Something to note is that while the blush looks like a brighter pink. in reality it looks like a muted peachy pink when blended into the skin. I swatched the concealer on top, then the blush, and then the blush blended on the bottom.

The concealer is a dead ringer for my skin color and when blended in, it was perfect. However, when I did let it sit, it slipped off and didn't stay. The reason why it blended so well was because it was so oily, that it spread nicely for a stick concealer but it was too oily to stay on. Plus the stick isn't really hygienic for reapplying purposes, so no repurchasing for me.
Isn't the bush so pretty? The only downside is the amount of sparkle that goes onto my cheeks when I blend this in. Its not the subtle sparkle that catches in the sun but the do you have glitter on your face look. The sparkles aren't chunky like glitter but they are still very bright and noticeable on the skin and it stays for a long time. Long after your blush has faded, the sparkles remain. I tried layering it under powder, but nope, still there. Its much more noticeable in the picture below so take a gander at it.
Once again, hope everyone has a happy holiday and enjoys their days off school or work.

NYC Creme Stick in Wild Berry

I know you've probably seen this before, so and if you skip this review, totally understandable. I never really used creme blushes but I recently fell in love with the NYC Creme Stick in Wild Berry because of the review on Mocha Mish Mash's site. I don't know if the stores in NY are the last to get them, or if its just my neighborhood, but I've had a lot of trouble finding this. The only one that I have that comes similar to this that I own, is the Stila convertible in Lillium. I got the stila one a long time ago in a mini set, so I'm not sure how much it is, but wait let me google it... The full size is $25 for .15 oz. / 4.25 g !!! Glad I got the mini in a sample case. The NYC is $4 for .28oz/8.0g, almost double the price. I don't use the stila often, but I still have a ton of product left, so I don't think I'll be repurchasing both anytime soon. Get ready for my awesome photo shopping skillz...

You can't really see it based on the photo but both show up nicely, blended smoothly and is nice. The stila is a bit stickier, and the NYC is a bit smoother. Both last fairly well, but the stila lasts just a bit longer on my skin.

In natural light, it seems that you can't see it well, but be warned. I tries putting a blush on top, and nope I shouldn't have. It looked like I was drunk with my rosy cheeks. Maybe I shouldn't have put on the hot coral blush but, worn alone it looks nice and natural. I probably wouldn't purchase a Stila one because of the price. However, the NYC one is well worth getting again.
BTW:

Happy Birthday to my dad! Got him a manly birthday gift. Power Tools. I know I hate getting gifts for him because he is pickier about things more than anyone in the family. If all else fails, get your dad a home depot gift card or some power tools. Guaranteed best gift.

Fyrinnae Review

Sorry for being away, but yay.. I'm back. No excuses, so lets jump right into it. I got 2 blushes, two highlighters, one oil control powder, and four lipglosses and they are all in sample size. First off the blushes and highlighters,

From L to R: Yellow Highlighter, Pink Highlighter, Charm Blush, and Enchant Blush

With Flash, they all give off a high sheen and there are tiny sparkles in the blushes and the highlighters that I adore. Since I like a matte foundation, and prefer to choose where I like to have a sheen to my face, I tend to go for shimmery blushes often. I didn't really didn't care for the highlighters too much, because they weren't anything special, but the blushes are what really impressed me.

No flash. In the container, I thought they were matte, but upon clearer inspection, it had pink sparkles for the Charm blush, and orange sparkles for Enchant. They are some of the most gorgeous colors that I have, and I would totally repurchase them again in the full tub. I dust Charm on lightly on my skin and it gives me a light pinkish lavender "dolly" look. They last for a long time, and my sister has been taking Charm and using it as an eyeshadow instead. As for the oil control one, I haven't tested that out thoroughly and will tell you if it works out well.

As I mentioned before, the lipglosses are what gave me a bit of a problem, highly pigmented, they have a scent but its different for each lipgloss and none of it is offending. But believe it or not, the highly pigmented part is what gave me a problem.

From L to R: Visual Kei,Pink Guitar,Lollipop Pop, Mega Hold, and Romantique

Imagine having Romantique on your lips exactly how I swatched on my hand, and not sheered out. Yikes! They are not sticky, slides smoothly, no chunky glitter, long lasting and bright. What I do is take a neutral brown color, like Nyx's Thalia or Champagne and apply this over my lip gloss. It tones down the bright colors and makes them more wearable.

This is Visual Kei mixed with Champagne lipstick. I put the lip gloss on the bottom because f I apply it on top, the Visual Kei will overpower the Champagne, and you will get a different brighter color than when you do the opposite. More wearable than ...
this. Don't let the flash fool, you. It is crazy bright on my skin and not to be worn alone in the day for work. It reminds me of Milani In Vogue, minus the fuschia glitter.

Overall, Fyrinnae is a company that I would definitely go back too, especially since I can try samples along with the low shipping costs. The website states to wait 22-28 days but I only waited two weeks, and it is not mass produced one size fits all. You can read more about the company, on their website, and they sent me a sample of a eyeshadow that I will not review since I didn't buy it. But I plan to repurchase their blushes and try out their eyeshadows really soon, so watch out for that. But until then, the next review will be...

Fyrinnae

This was a small purchase that was $20 from Fyrinnae, and I love this stuff. While there are some faults, they are my own and not the company's fault. The shipping was fast and free with a purchase of $20. So it was my first time, and I was pretty happy with this purchase. Look at that orangeish coral blush on the right.
I am going to do a review and swatches in a while, but just a sneak peek.

Rawr, the colors are so pretty and pigmented, but unfortunately not right for my skintone. But still I managed to make it work and will tell you in the next post.