NOVEMBER'S HITS AND MISSES

These are the items that had the biggest impact on me -- for better or worse -- this past November. 

Items reviewed:

-Chanel Beige Lame

-E.L.F. Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Pink Lemonade

-Lush The Comforter Bubble Bar

-E.L.F. Blush in Tickled Pink

-Dior Couture Golds Palette

What I’m wearing in this video:

-Eyes: M.A.C. Deckchair pigment, Elizabeth Arden Teak, Elizabeth Arden Wheat, M.A.C. Naked pigment, Milani Liquif’eye Liner in Brown and Sephora Advanced Lash Booster in Black

-Cheeks: M.A.C. Pink Cult

-Lips: E.L.F. Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Pink Lemonade

-Face: Garnier Anti-dark-circle roller, M.A.C. Select Cover-Up and Laura Geller Balance ‘n Brighten in Porcelain

-Nails: E.L.F. Royal Purple

NAIL NEWS: BATTLE OF THE GLITTERY NAIL POLISH (HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUPES)

I have been waiting most of my young-adult life for glitter nail polish to come back into mainstream popularity. Now that it has, I couldn’t be happier. Each time I run to the mall to do some holiday shopping, I stop at my favorite beauty stores to swatch the glorious sparkly varnishes and see if I “need” any new ones.

Most recently, Deborah Lippmann’s confetti-esque Happy Birthday caught my eye. The bold mixture of green, orange, red, silver and gold certainly looked like a party in a bottle. Unsure of how it stacked up to other polishes I own, I applied two coats to one finger and left. Once at home, I dug through my stash to find Sephora by O.P.I. Spark-tacular! top coat and Confetti Tazmanian Devil. I applied two coats of each over bare nails.

For any of you nail polish connoisseurs, can you tell which is which before we begin? (You can click on the photos to enlarge them.)

No flash

With flash

Left: Clear base color with silver microglitter throughout. Large multicolored hex particles and medium round glitter. (This one is my favorite!)

Middle: Clear base color with multicolored large and medium hex particles. Also has very tiny multicolored round glitter.

Right: Clear base color with multicolored large hex particles as well as smaller square and round glitter.

**Cue Jeopardy music.**

Give up?

In the photos above, the polishes from left to right are as follows: Confetti Tazmanian Devil, Sephora by O.P.I Spark-tacular! top coat and Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday.

Here are some more photos, but they've been flipped. They are now the opposite from above.

No flash: Happy Birthday, Spark-tacular!, Tazmanian Devil

With flash: Happy Birthday, Spark-tacular!, Tazmanian Devil

As you can see, these nail polishes are quite similar, but I wouldn’t call them exact dupes. Happy Birthday has a lot less going on in the background, whereas Tazmanian Devil has an obvious microglitter throughout. Spark-tacular! kind of looks like Happy Birthday and Tazmanian Devil had a baby, don’t you think? Another big difference in these polishes is the price. Tazmanian Devil is $1.99 at CVS, Spark-tacular! is $9.50 at Sephora and Happy Birthday is $18.00 at Nordstrom.

Overall verdict: These three glitter polishes are similar, but definitely different. However, the effect is close enough that if you have one, I don’t think you need to run out and purchase one of the others. If I had to choose one as my must-have, it would be Confetti Tazmanian Devil. Wallet-friendly and cute always works for me!

WET N WILD/E.L.F. HAUL AND REVIEW

For those of you have seen my YouTube channel, this post may be redundant; however, I want to try something new and see how it works. I've stumbled across some bloggers who link their YouTube pages in posts and I like the idea. Despite the fact that most of my hits so far are from my YouTube subscribers, I've decided to link my most recent video and list my makeup, nails, hair, etc. underneath.  If this experiment is an epic fail, I'll definitely stop (lol)!

Many of my recent videos have been about designer makeup, which can be very expensive. My anorexic wallet would agree, especially after my most recent shopping endeavor. I know that shelling out $28.50 on a single eyeshadow (I'm looking at you, Chanel) is a lot, even if you aren't on a budget. And if you are, that seems like an absurd expense. Fortunately, there are some quality products out there that won't break the bank. Today, I'm going to focus on Wet n Wild and E.L.F.

Products shown:
-Wet n Wild Sweet as Candy
-Wet n Wild Cool as a Cucumber
-Wet n Wild Silent Treatment
-Wet n Wild I'm Feeling Retro
-E.L.F. Holiday Nail Polish Set with Golden Goddess, Royal Purple, Mod Mauve, Red Velvet and Metal Madness

What I'm wearing:
-Eyes: Wet n Wild Sweet as Candy trio, Urban Decay Uzi 24/7 liner, Sephora Advanced Lash Booster mascara
-Cheeks: E.L.F. Tickled Pink blush
-Lips: E.L.F. Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Pink Lemonade
-Face: Garnier Anti-dark-circle roller, Mac Select Cover-Up concealer and Mac Blot Powder
-Nails: Chanel Particuliere
-Sweater: from Target

SHOP ONLINE AND SAVE MONEY

With the holidays (and Black Friday/Cyber Monday) coming up, I just had to pass this information along. If you’ve seen my YouTube channel or read about my recent Nordstrom excursion, you know I love to shop! This time of year, I try to avoid the stores. I don’t feel like dealing with the crowds, being near sick people, waiting on lines or driving around the mall looking for a parking spot. Instead, I prefer to shop online so I can stay in the comfort of my own home and in my pajamas.

This is where Ebates.com has come in handy for me over the years. (Disclosure: this is a referral link. Each person you refer will get you the same deal.) I’ve been using the website to shop since 2009 and to date, I have earned $277.27 cash back on my purchases and found coupons or stores I would have never otherwise discovered. Ebates pays its members via cash back checks or Paypal deposits quarterly, so if you join, you will receive payment every three months. The company is backed by the Better Business Bureau, so it is 100% legitimate and safe to use.

My most recent "Big Fat Check."

It's free to join and after signing up, you can pick one of the current bonuses: $10 gift card to Barnes & Nobles, $10 gift card to Target, $10 gift card to Home Depot, $10 to magazines.com, or $5 extra cash back in Ebates. For individuals who live outside of the United States and Canada, Ebates still works as long as the store you want to buy from ships to your country.

I’ll explain how Ebates works, but I think it’s easiest if I use the company’s own words. “Ebates is the pioneer and leader of online cash back shopping. Ebates pays members cash back every time they shop online as well as provide them with the best coupons and deals online “ (from the website’s “How Ebates Works” page).  “People often ask: ‘This sounds too good to be true, how are you able to do it?’ It really is quite simple. Just like almost every other online shopping center, we get a commission from the stores when you make a purchase. Instead of keeping that money - like almost all other sites do - we share it with you!” (found under “About Ebates”).

They work with over 1,200 stores that range from appliances to travel and everything in between. All stores they work with have secure transaction policies in place, so your personal data is safe. Ebates does not sell your information, nor will you see an increase in spam. Ebates will have some really big deals on Black Friday (November 25^th) and Cyber Monday (November 28^th), so check it out and start saving!

DIOR COUTURE GOLDS EYESHADOW PALETTE REVIEW (LES ROUGES OR HOLIDAY COLLECTION)

I’ve always admired Dior’s eyeshadow palettes. Whenever I would walk by one in a store, I would stop, swatch, and drool (away from the tester, of course). Then I would promptly sigh and walk away, all the while wishing I could bring myself to spend so much money on makeup. Most recently, I was attracted to the Les Rouges Or Holiday 2011 display.

The shadows seemed right up my alley – tinged with gold, but still fairly neutral. While in the store, 4 of the 5 shadows swatched like a dream on my fingertips. Thus, after years of pining, I finally caved and bought my first Dior eye palette: the 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in (554) Couture Golds.

After driving 90 miles per hour and nearly causing several traffic accidents (I kid, I kid.) I arrived home and excitedly opened my new treasure. The palette comes in Dior’s standard packaging: tucked inside a black velvet pouch is a navy blue lacquered case with “Dior” embossed in silver atop a pearly blue “CD” holograph. It contains 6 grams/0.21 ounces of shadow and cost $59.

Despite having a beautiful mix of colors, this palette was an utter disappointment. As I mentioned, most of the shadows seemed very pigmented and silky on my fingertips. It wasn’t until I tried creating a few looks with brushes that I realized I had been deceived.

Colors breakdown (from top left to right, center is last):

• Shimmery white with a hint of champagne. Buttery smooth and extremely pigmented.  Excellent for highlighting the inner tear duct and brow bone (although it did emphasize my need for a good tweezing). Blended easily.
• Shimmery bronzed gold. Buttery smooth and seemed pigmented when swatched, but poor color payoff when applied on the lid. Required multiple layers to have the shadow show up as expected.
• Matte espresso with gold and red microglitter. It appeared to have real depth and dimension in the pan, but was nothing special on the eye. Very chalky and applied unevenly.  Sheer and required multiple layers to create tolerable color intensity. Difficult to blend.
• Shimmery antiqued gold. Buttery smooth with excellent color payoff.  Blended easily. This was my favorite color of the palette, but it was a bit too similar to my skin tone (NW20 in MAC) to show up as intensely as I would have liked.
• Pale gold with gold microglitter. Extremely sheer and difficult to build. When applied, the gold is very faint and all that jumps out is glitter.  Prone to a lot of fall-out. Reminiscent of Urban Decay Midnight Cowboy Rides Again … for grown-ups.

Regular color intensity. White, bronze, espresso, antiqued gold, pale gold. (Yes, the pale gold is there. It's that sheer.)

Concentrated color intensity. White, bronze, espresso, antiqued gold, pale gold.

The looks that I have put together at home took so long and required extra work to make the shadows behave the way I wanted them to.  I don’t know too many women who have the time or patience to spend over 10 minutes on what should be a 5-minute eye.

And because all of the shadows looked pretty much the same on my lid (with the exception of the dark brown), the colors appeared muddy even without blending. Blending required an extremely light hand or else most of the color intensity disappeared, especially with the dark brown.  Also, even worn over a primer, I found that the colors faded over the course of a few hours. Christine from Temptalia rated this palette a B+, but I have to respectfully disagree. Perhaps this is more flattering on warmer skin tones because it brings out the golden nuances of the shadows? Regardless, this was an expensive mess on me.

Overall verdict: Beautiful in the pan, not so beautiful on the eyes.  For the damage done to my wallet, this palette should be of a much higher quality. Instead, it was a complete disappointment and will be returned. 

NAIL NEWS: DIOR VERNIS MERVEILLE REVIEW (LES ROUGES OR 2011 HOLIDAY COLLECTION)

Red nail polish in a holiday collection? How original! Ok, maybe not, but there’s just something I can’t resist about shimmering red fingertips when the air is crisp and ripe with holiday cheer. I’m a sucker for any shade of red this time of year, but I fell especially captive to the nail polishes released in Dior’s 2011 Les Rouges Or holiday collection: Apparat and Merveille.  The former, a lovely ruby red, reminded me too much of Sephora by OPI’s What’s Your Pointsetta. I couldn't think of any dupes for the latter, so it came home with me.

In the bottle, Merveille ($22 for 0.33 fl. oz.) is a fire engine red with shimmery gold veining. I find the color to be much more multifaceted in the bottle than when worn. On the nails, there is a subtle shimmer only when the light strikes it. When not near a good light source, Merveille seems more like a cream with a slight metallic sheen– still pretty cool looking, though. The color is cherry red on me, but it might lean more orange on individuals with warmer skin tones.

All too often, I encounter nail polishes with thin consistencies that streak and require multiple layers, but Merveille was different. The formula was fluid and applied easily on the nails. The polish was opaque in one coat (yaaaay), but I prefer it with two. In terms of wear, I got a solid week with only minor tip wear – not uncommon for Dior. The polish chipped on the end of the 7^th day after I had been scrubbing some stubbornly dirty pans. Had I worn rubber gloves, I imagine I would have gotten a few extra days out of my manicure.

Overall verdict: This is a beautiful, well-performing polish. It’s not the most unique shade, so you may want to save your money and get a dupe. However, in terms of quality, it’s worth the price.

AN EPIC NORDSTROM HAUL

I love to shop! Anybody who has seen my YouTube channel probably knows that. Last week, Nordstrom had a double points event, so I decided to stop into my favorite store for a refreshing morning facial and some light shopping.  I only intended to purchase the M.A.C. Matchmaster foundation, Vanilla pigment and some Arcona skincare staples. Two hours later, I emerged with this:

Ok, so I went out of control. I wholeheartedly admit it. I’m going to blame my manic shopping spree in part on the fact that I recently finished a 6-week “no buy,” but also.... the holiday makeup collections just looked so pretty! 

It started innocently enough at Arcona. I had a 30-minute facial that transformed my tired, dull-looking skin into that of a goddess.  I bought the Basic-5 kit for problem skin and the Triad makeup removing pads before the SA threw in a few samples. I walked away with enough skincare to last at least 3 months and spending what I had intended.

I then went to the M.A.C. counter where my favorite SA was working. I told her I was interested in the Vanilla pigment and Matchmaster foundation, but she said the foundation isn’t ideal for my skin. Being the doll that she is, she gave me 3 sample jars filled to the brim with my correct shade so that I wouldn’t have to “waste [my] money.” Again, I walked away with what I had expected to buy. Less, actually.

The trouble started when I walked past Chanel. I wanted to try the Vitalumiere Aqua foundation after hearing such rave reviews. I was only interested in picking up a sample when I heard these dangerous words from behind the counter: “Would you like a complementary make over?”

I knew better, but I parked my bottom in that chair and didn’t leave for almost an hour. The makeup artist applied product after product, completely negating my facial. Once she finished caking makeup all over my face (a seriously terrible application), I walked away with the Vitalumiere Aqua in Beige Rose – Pastel, Ombre Essentielle in Beige Lame and Rouge Coco Shine in Boy. The SA threw in a white vinyl Chanel Beaute makeup bag, a disposable mascara wand to de-clump the lashes, a Coco Mademoiselle vial, a sample of the Ultra Correction Lift cream for lips and pint-sized Spark glossimer and Inimitable Intense mascara. Ok, so she hooked me up with gifts, but I spent much more than I had planned!

From Chanel, I wandered past the Dior counter while en route to my car.  I caught a glimpse of the Les Rouges Or collection out of the corner of my eye and stopped dead in my tracks. I swatched the Couture Golds palette and immediately had to have it. (Ironically, a major disappointment. Read about it here.) I also walked away with the stunning cherry red Merveille nail polish. With my wallet bleeding and my head spinning, I went home.

One would think this is the end of my financially woeful tale, but alas…it is not. The next day, I was surfing the web when I stumbled across some other Chanel and Dior holiday items that I had somehow overlooked.  Being the impatient but lazy buffoon that I am, I ordered three more items from Nordstrom to pick up at the store later that afternoon. Thus, to add insult to financial injury, I bought the Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss in Triomphal, Dior Rouge Dior in Bell de Nuit and the Dior Celebration Collection deluxe multi-look palette…all for an additionally absurd $150.87.

As penance for my spending binge, I’m not allowing myself to buy the new storage unit(s) I’ve been drooling over for months (and really need) and I might start another project pan sooner than anticipated. Maybe that’ll teach me! (Or maybe I should just return most of what I bought.  **Pffft** Fat chance.)

Keep an eye out for swatches, photos and reviews of the items featured in this haul!

JUST A QUICK INTRODUCTION

Hello fellow beauty lovers!  My name is Amanda and I am a self-professed beauty addict. Through this blog, I hope to provide you with a glimpse into my world. I will post tips and tricks, product reviews, swatches and more, so please check back often. I also have a channel on YouTube devoted to makeup and beauty that I'd love for you to visit.

 Thanks for stopping by!