'Ip, 'Ip, 'Ooray!: December Ipsy Unbagging

Surprise!!! My ipsy bag came in before the end of the month!! Heck, it made it even before the middle! This month was a little hit or miss, but all in all, I can't complain (too much). Let's dig in, shall we?

For those of you just joining us, ipsy (and yes, it's all lower-case) is a monthly subscription sample service. It's ten bucks a month, and you'll receive a makeup bag filled with four or five (or sometimes six, it seems) deluxe- to full-sized items with a central theme. This month, there were five products, and the theme was "Celebration!"

Two products tied for favorite this month, and both were from beloved brands that have previously appeared in bags. The first was the Be a...Bombshell (the elipses are theirs) One-Stick in Girl Crush. Now, for some reason, the white balance on my camera decided that everything should be yellow. Yay. This is actually a pretty, cool, baby pink, shot through with lots of gold shimmer, and can be used on eyes, cheeks, and lips. Considering I'm day-glo white, it's a little too pale and frosty for my lips. It does, however, look gorgeous on the cheeks. It's creamy, pigmented, and blends beautifully. I used it as a base for a pink blush, and it worked wonderfully. My only gripe would be all of the gold glitter that it left behind, but I own NARS Super Orgasm. That sucker's a glitterbomb. I'm not allowed to complain about glitter on cheeks anymore.  

The other stand-out product was a NYX round lipstick in Iced Honey. Again, it's not anywhere near as dark and warm as it appears here. This is a frosty, neutral rose. Definitely a "my lips but better" kind of color. When I paired it with the One-Stick, my skin got all glowy and ethereal and pretty and stuff. It's not super long-wearing, but you can re-apply without a mirror, so that cuts down on maintenance problems. I haven't found it drying, and there's no noticeable taste or scent.

These swatches are a little more true to color. The top is NYX Iced Honey, and the bottom is Be a...Bombshell in Girl Crush.

Next, we have a POP Beauty eyeshadow trio in Smokin' Hot. The colors are pretty, and they swatched well enough. Unfortunately, I already have all of these colors in other palettes, and really don't use them all the much. As I've mentioned, I'm practically transluscent, and this color combo washes me out even more. This will probably end up going to my Mom or a friend.

Here's the trio swatched. They're not powdery, have decent pigmentation, and look like they'd be nice together...just on someone else.

Okay. I don't want to go hatin' on false eyelashes, because I don't want to be a hypocrite. Between theatre, theatre, and, well, theatre, I have worn more than my fair share of spider-legs in my day. If I needed to look like a doll (and I normally did), then out came the lashes. Were I in a stage production right now, I'd probably need a pair, and these are certainly dramatic enough. But...I'm not, and I don't. Even if I wanted lashes for a party, these are entirely too long and fake looking. They are perfect for stage, though, so I'll just put them up until I need them. I don't know what non-theatre people are going to do with them...

This next product--Nicka K nail polish in Classic Taupe--can best be discussed through a conversation between myself and Thomas.

Me: This is pretty. It looks kind of like my China Glaze Foie Gras. I love the bottle.

Me: (a few minutes later, while painting my nails) Ew. This sucks. I keep messing it up. It's just really thick. I'm just going to take this off and start over.

Me: (later, still painting nails) Well, that went poorly. It's just SO thick...and kind of stringy...

Thomas: Ew. That's gross.

Me: I know. I'm just...I'm gonna try this again.

Me: (later, still painting...) Yeah, this just sucks. I'm gonna call it and put on a top coat. This looks terrible.

Thomas: (looking at nails) It looks like it melted.

Me: You know what?

Thomas: It sucks?

Me: Exactly.

The picture below is after three tries and a top coat. It's terrible. The polish is thick, stringy, and glue-like in consistency. The color is a dead ringer for China Glaze Foie Gras, by the way. They're identical, as far as my eyes can see, so just get that one, if you can. On the plus side, it's already chipping, so I can take it off tonight (I put it on last night).

And now...the bag! I actually really like this month's bag. It's a definite step up in quality from last month, and looks like something I would actually carry as a clutch. The bag is a black faux patent leather with quilting detail and a red lining. I think it looks edgy and sophisticated. Thomas thinks it looks like the Governor's eye patch from The Walking Dead. To each their own.



Well, that's this month's ipsy bag. Two definite hits, a really nice product that's just not for me, a really nice set of theatrical lashes to put up, a definite miss, and a bag that can also double as an eye patch, in case Michonne shows up with her katana. I can't wait for January!

Attack of the Deadly Spider-Lashes!!: KISS False Eyelash Review

Well, Halloween happened, and I think the neighborhood kids enjoyed Mom's spooky front-yard cemetery. A very confident little Harry Potter made the low-lying fog "expelliarmus", and at least one mom thought Thomas' Batman was "sexy". Me? I fought my false eyelashes all night.

Note to self: Do NOT try something new on a day when you will NOT be able to do anything about it if it sucks. 

Okay, so a couple of weeks back, I received the Beauty Blogger Influenster VoxBox, which was filled with products for me to play with and report back to you on. For the most part, I've been impressed with the items, and even gave some mini-reviews on my box opening post. However, I decided to save the KISS false eyelash kit to use on Halloween...'cause I'm an idiot. 

I should have known better than to wait until the day of to try out a foreign object that must be attached to my eyes with glue. I mean, seriously, there are way too many things that can go wrong! Yeah...idiot...

Luckily, for me, the glue did not irritate my eyes. It's actually a very nice glue. There was a slight odor, but, as I said, no irritation, and the stuff really held. I wore these lashes for twelve hours straight, with no worries of the lashes coming off. That said, they did remove easily, and the glue wisked away with a little makeup remover. My only complaint with the glue is that it took ages to dry enough to apply, but I can deal with that. 

The applicator was a nice idea. It didn't work as well as a pair of tweezers, and I ended up just using my fingers, anyway, but it was helpful for clamping the lashes to my natural lashes. 

The lashes, however, were terrible. They looked fine when worn, but the strips were ridiculously stiff. Normally, I flex my strips a few times to help them contour to my eyes, but these wouldn't flex. I had to bend them in half--so that there was a crease and a point--before I could attempt to apply them. On top of that, I still couldn't get the inner corners to lay flat. I tried bending, I tried trimming, I tried yelling obscenities at them (that probably worked the best, believe it or not), but nothing did the trick. I spent the next twelve hours checking, clamping, re-checking, and re-clamping. On top of that, they were so heavy that they weighed down my natural lashes and impaired my vision. I had to close my eyes, from time to time, just to have a rest from the weight! Let me tell you, it sucked. When the last trick-or-treater exited the graveyard, those furry little spider lashes went straight into the trash can. I'll reuse the glue, and I'll hang on to the applicator, but I'm not bothering with any more of those strip lashes. 

Final Verdict: 5 out of 10. You can make 'em work...just don't plan to wear them too long. 

They look fine, but they just don't feel good. 

In unrelated news, I'm starting a challenge Monday! It's self-imposed! 'Cause I don't have enough on me, already! 

It's, ready or not, the Holiday season. I know a lot of you will be looking for makeup gifts to either give or put on your own lists, and I thought this might help you out. Last year, my "had to have" item was the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. I didn't do a review on it because it seemed unnecessary. We all knew that the shadows were fantastic quality, the packaging was amazing, and the brush was pretty darn good for a freebie. The colors, themselves, were completely open to debate, but it all boils down to personal preference. Me? I love it, and use it a lot. Other bloggers...not so much. The main complaint I run into is that it's not versatile. I haven't really run into that, but that could just be me. So, as a public service, I am going to wear and photograph a different eyeshadow look, made exclusively with shadows from the palette, every day for a week. God, help me. Then, you can judge for yourself if you think that the palette is versatile enough for you or your loved one. I know it's still a very popular, wished-for item, but it's also a fairly pricey item. I'd hate for anyone to spend the money on it, only to be disappointed. Conversely, I'd hate for anyone to miss out on something that would really enhance their routine. After all, 'tis the season for coupons and sales. 

Villainous Vanity: Disney and E.L.F. Villain Palettes

Once Upon a Time, the good fairies at Disney and the pretty pixies at MAC concocted a delightfully wicked collection of villainous cosmetics, and there was much rejoicing. Some time later, the good Disney fairies decided to create their own brand of magnificently malevolent makeups, and there was, um, less rejoicing. Now, the fairies have opted to bring on board the happy elves at, well, E.L.F. to magick up a new line of palettes for beautiful baddies, and I, for one, am ridiculously excited.

Available for a limited time at select Walgreen's, beginning September 15th (mark your calendars, guys!), will be three E.L.F. palettes, based upon Snow White's Evil Queen, Sleeping Beauty's Melificent, and 101 Dalmatians' Cruella DeVille. The palettes each contain colors themed to their specific villain, and each focuses on a different style of makeup. The Evil Queen's "Daringly Dramatic Eyes" palette is plummy overall. Melificent's "Sinister Smoky Eyes" are gorgeously green, and Cruella's "Evil Everyday Eyes" boasts a neutral, natural color scheme.

Photo Credit: Musings of a Muse

An Instagram photo was released on Friday, giving an up-close view of the Melificent palette. It appears to hold a set of false eyelashes and glue, eight eye shadows, an eyelid primer, two lip pencils, and what could be either an eyeliner or lipgloss (the pictures aren't the greatest in the world). Palettes will retail for $9.99.

Photo Credit: Instagram

I'm beyond thrilled at the prospect of bringing these home. The packaging is beautiful (I love the mirror!), and E.L.F. has some wonderful products. The brand has a tendency to be hit or miss, but when they get it right, they knock it out of the park. From these photos, it looks like they've gotten it right.

Soo-EE! I Like a Pig With Style!

This showed up in my email this morning:

Photo Credit (All): MAC Cosmetics

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I don't know about you, but I needed that laugh this morning. Of course, Miss Piggy should have her own products at MAC! She's a glamorous movie star with a highly-anticipated film set to roll-out nationwide next week, and can you name a bigger diva? I mean, besides Lady Gaga, who already has her own Viva Glam deal at MAC? Yeah, I couldn't either. 

It's not a full line, but the fine swine has a cute little collection that includes false lashes 36 ($15), a Penultimate eyeliner in Rapidblack ($17.50), and her very own Miss Piggy Pink eyeshadow ($15). There's no special packaging, but the shadow is a mid-tone blue pink, and supposedly (according to MAC, anyway), "the universe's most perfectly pink eye shadow." Moi recommends checking it out, s'il vous plait. 

P.S. Currently working on an upcoming Gift Guide. Here's a hint: Based on a 1961 Ricky Nelson song that has been stuck in my head since watching a rerun of Quantum Leap. Give me your best guess in the comments, and stay tuned!