October Favorites

October Favorites! These were well received last time so I'm at it again!

1. Dior Quint in Ready to Glow - I've been wanting to splurge on some top notch eyeshadows for some time now, and why not continue my addiction to Dior? I LOVE every single one of these colors! If I was going to spend a lot on this quint I wanted to make sure I loved every single dang color, no exceptions. The texture is smooth and heavenly but not sparkle crazy like other quints I've seen. This retails at $58, but if you divide it by 5 it's $11.60 per color which ain't so bad.. okay it's bad BUT I bought this on ebay for $40. So that's about $8 per shadow which is more reasonable.

2. Batiste Dry Shampoo - I've tried many low end and high end dry shampoos but I'm always itching to get back to this one. I stopped using it for a couple months while testing any other one I could find just to experiment. When I finally used this again this month it was like night and day regarding the difference in effectiveness. Zaps grease, no residue left once massage in, smell manageable, low price. That's all I really need. $7.99 at Ulta.

3. Givenchy Play for Her - I got this deluxe mini size from Sephora with code "herplay" and I'm so glad I did because this fragrance is LOVE! The only downside is that it's not very long lasting. If you like the pretty and sweet florals then give this a whiff! It has Bergamot, Sweet Pea, Amyris Wood, Tiare Flower, Sandalwood, Musk. I dry down was a pleasant musk which surprised me b/c I usually do not like Musk but it really works in this case.

4. Milani Polish in Bare To Wear - The perfect muted purple light gray color. Good quality creme polish! Limited Edition but you can buy it directly Milani.

5. Mac lipstick in Innocence Beware - The perfect pretty light pinky nude color. I grabbed for this the most in October. Since it's a cremesheen there's a slight shine which is nice. It's limited edition, but Hue may be a good color dupe from what I've heard.

6. Neutrogena lipstick in Just Whisper - see my review here.

7. Isqueen Crystal White Series Pore Refiner - I like how it's pink.. haha, AND that nothing bad has happened from using it so far! It gets the grime that my cleanser may have missed. Not so sure about the "pore refining" bit but it leaves my skin refreshed. Def worth checking out.

8. Milani Liquif'eye pencil liner - no smuding on my eye so far! It's deep black and inexpensive, and goes on smooth. Possibly replacing my mufe liner. It's only $5.99!

9. OMI Ume Softcream lipbalm - waaay better than any EOS lipbalm. It smells like peach and ume (plum) but more so peach. It's not better than Espie but I really enjoyed using this all month! It's now sold out on sasa.com but there are similar ones on ebay if you search OMI lip.

mac pigments and shady sellers!

I decided to try out some Mac Pigments. I didn't want to shell out $20 for a whole bottle of a pigment I knew I wouldn't finish so I went searching for sites that sold pigment samples. I ended up at a shop on ecrater.com. Not only did it take more than 3 weeks to arrive, there was no communication between the seller and I, plus 1/4tsp is really a very tiny amount! My goal was to find them for no more than $3 each including shipping. I managed to find a seller who had all the colors I was interested in at a great price... but service was just not there. It's a trade off I suppose since other sites charge $4-5 + shipping for the same amount. Ecrater had sent me an email to rate my transaction with the shop after a few weeks of placing my order. Since I had still not received the package or any response to my mail from the seller I left a negative feedback. Then suddenly I get a response! She e-mails me asking if I can remove the negative because she had a death in the family... and it will hurt her sales... I dunno if that's true or not but it's shady. She also said she'd refund me the money... Sounds like she'll give me a refund if I take back my review.. well sorry lady that is just wrong! If she had family problems she could have put a notice on her page or sent an e-mail. I ended up just ignoring her e-mail. Funny thing is the next day my order came!

I was curious about Melon and Mauvement at first, and then I added in Circa Plum for fun. I realize now I should've shown you the inside so you could see how little 1/4tsp is.

Turned out to be my favorite! I think this came out with the Rose Romance Collection. It also may be a Pro color? I would love some more- anyone want to share? :P

Awesome, but not particularly amazing. It looks different at different angles.

I was hoping this would be much prettier. It's not!

All three swatched here. Circa Plum, Melon, Mauvement. All in all the pigments in general are pretty cool. It's not something I'm going to start collecting or lusting after though. Actually I have been curious about how Lithe pigment is.. hehe :)

I used Mauvement and Circa Plum, plus I added About Face's The Big Guns to the lower outer corner. You can hardly see anything. My photos never capture the colors on my eye. I also used Milani Liquif'eye pencil in Black and Diorshow Extaste mascara (thanks Cat!).

The Milani pencil is nice but not completely smudge proof. It glides like an Urban Decay pencil but it's still prone to small amounts of smudging. I'd say it's pretty good for a drugstore pencil though.

 MAC pigments are the easiest to press so here's how they look. Even though I ordered 1/4 tsp of each I didn't get 1/4 tsp of each. As you can see I got the least of Circa Plum. :( Showing that you CAN press 1/4 tsp of pigments! Just add alcohol!

Here's the whole palette in case you were curious. It's really random stuff together that I don't even use anymore. Random Everyday Minerals and The She Space (about face) minerals.

Here is something that I've been working on. It's my Urban Decay Naked inspired palette! Using all About face minerals. I'm still trying to figure out what colors to put in. I need to pull up a picture of the Naked palette and try to pick out the ones I have. Pressing mineral shadows is another animal haha.

Happy New Year

First FOTD for the year (5 minute look)

Had dinner with my grandpa at my Aunt's today. Me in my glasses! Just a plain look for dinner.

Maybelline DREAM LIQUID Mousse Foundation in Natural Beige Medium 2.5- the coverage is good, and the shade matches really well! I just don't like how it still feels "wet" right after you put it on. It's like floating on my face or something. When I apply powder with a kabuki the brush will just stir the foundation on my face instead of glide over it with setting powder. I have to wait too long for it to "dry." It could also be breaking me out, I dunno.

24.7 Skin Care Mineral Highlighting Bronzer Palette- can't be seen, but I used it earlier today. I do LOVE this stuff though. It looks like the shimmer bricks.

Julu Jewelry Island Citrus Earrings

smashbox Waterproof Shadow Liner in Bronze- like it but it may be dried out now...

MUFE Aqua Eyes liner in Dark Grey 21L- great staying powder, no smudges! Great alternative to black.

Définicils High Definition Mascara in Black- it's okay, not too picky about mascara. my lashes are wonky and curve toward my nose on one eye.

Maybelline Volume XL Seduction Lip Plumper in 605 (Seductively Nude)- I like the glossy shine it adds and how it plumps my lips by getting rid of the lines. I was in dire need of chapstick before putting this on, but I don't even need it now! It also gives you a little tingle like most plumpers do. Very smooth! I love this stuff!

Some people may not like the twisty lip glosses, but this one does not have a brush. You don't have to wait and keep twisting for the gloss to come up. It's plastic with 6 holes that the gloss comes out of. Favorite drugstore gloss so far!
Note: I don't rate this based on the plumping effect, mainly just smoothness or stickiness and the look you get on your lips. I don't believe anything will really plump the lips.

Happy New Year everyone! 2010 woo hoo!

Silly question, will you be saying twenty-ten or two thousand ten? Currently I'm saying two thousand ten.

my mailbox is stuffed

Just posting things I should have posted looong ago. :) This is for those of you who like to look at photos of stuff. haha!

Check out these amazing handmade cards by Calia! I am so impressed with these cards, so creative and detailed. eee! I love handmade paper things. Thank you! They will go to special people. I keep staring at them thinking "how'd she do it?" She's also having a giveaway on her blog!

So I won this giveaway (2nd place) from Maria awhile back. It was one of the first ones I entered, really surprised to win! Thank you!

My order from Sephora awhile back. Loving these Make Up For Ever pencils so far. Will do a review once I use them some more! I also got a little benefit lipstick sample to try! I usually hoard new items, and never try them until a month later. Megan likes it, so I'll try it soon! I only got into liking lipsticks after blogging. I used to just stick to foundation. Blogging has made me poorer! All these new products to try and buy. But it's all fun!

I always save stuff to use in the future. But that day never comes and I find this old but new product around my room. Anyone else know the feeling?

Even though I still don't know your favorite perfume, the winner of the secret VS giveaway is kittynail. :) You have until today 1pm cst to email me at julujewelry@gmail.com with your mailing address. (12 hours) I will pick another winner if you do not email me by then! Wow, didn't know there was such love for VS products from overseas. Will be putting up more surprise giveaways!

I was doing some cleaning, and I filled up a giant shopping bag full of just plain packing paper that is from online orders. I hate how Sephora will pack a small tube of lipstick in a giant box with tons of tissue. Other beauty places too! Well, the mufe pencils were shipped in a bubble mailer this time(a first!), but then my next package was in a box again. I dunno what their system is, but it's wasteful!