Review: Lancome Color Fever Glosses from Bronze Azure Collection

Hi dolls :)

I am very excited to show you guys what I purchased from the Bronze Azure collection. These are my very first Lancome products ever! I was never really Lancome products because everything seemed very toned down, and did not think their products would suit me very well.

When the Bronze Azure collection came out last month, I saw many people raving about the products. I saw swatches of the colors and I was amazed to find that Lancome had released products that, in my opinion, were more colorful and fun. I thought that the best time to try out my first Lancome products would be now~

Price and Availability:
I purchased my products online at Nordstrom. This is a limited edition collection, so check your local Lancome counters or online stores to see if these products are still available. [They are still available online at Nordstrom].

~Color Fever Gloss in 'Hibis-Kiss' [$26]
~Color Fever Gloss in 'Peach Paradise' [$26]

Products

Hibis-Kiss:
~is a coral-strawberry shade with tons of shimmer. It is a little sheer, but the color shows up on my lips. This looks amazing over coral lipsticks as well. The name is so adorable too!
I have no dupe for this.

This is true to color

It looks redder for some reason...

Peach Paradise:
A creamy pinky-peach with gold shimmer. This one is more pigmented than Hibis-Kiss, and it shows up a lot more. I personally like to wear this on top of nude lipsticks or over pinks.

See the gold shimmer?

I thought this color was going to be similar to Revlon's 'Peach Petal' but they are very different. Peach Paradise is darker, and more peach while 'Peach Petal' is a more pink-toned nude peach.

Lancome 'Peach Paradise'/ Revlon 'Peach Petal'

Product Review
~The texture of these is very nice. They are not sticky, they are no thick, and they are not runny and they feel very nice on my lips.
~These have a very noticeable rose fragrance. I like it, but sometimes it bothers me because I am not used to the smell. But once you apply it, you can't really smell it.
~As far as wear, they don't last that long on my lips, maybe like 1-3 hours. But they are lipglosses, so long wear was not expected.

The Good
~Gorgeous colors
~Beautiful shimmer
~The packaging is really cute, and sophisticated
~I personally adore the applicator

 

Color Fever Gloss Applicator

The Bad
I didn't find anything I hated about these. Well, maybe just the price tag. The colors are really pretty, the shimmers in these are gorgeous, and they have a very classy scent.
There are things they could improve on, though:
~Increase in pigmentation; they a little sheer.
~Perhaps make the scent a little more subdued
~Make it cheaper? Haha, yeah that is not going to happen. 

Verdict:
These are great lip glosses, the only problem is the price tag. I think if you are a person who likes department store makeup/ high end brands, then I highlyrecommend these two colors.
But if you don't like spending much money on makeup or you only buy high end cosmetics occasionally [like me] then I think these are not worth the $26. Revlon makes really great lip glosses that definitely are better than these Lancome ones. Also, Revlon lip glosses are usually about $4-7.

Check out my BLOG SALE~
http://yamismakeup.blogspot.com/2011/06/blog-sale-everything-must-go.html 

Essie 'Cute As a Button'

I don't own many coral colors, and I haven't owned this Essie polish for that long. But this color really won me over quickly, and like a parasite it wiggled its way into my favorites list. It is a perfect coral for me, and I ♥ it!

Price and Availability
About $8. This color is part of Essie's permanent line so you can find it in Rite Aids, Walgreens, CVS, and many placed online.

Formula and Application
This is sheer and a little streaky, and you need at 3 coats to make it completely opaque. But it dries fast, so the number of coats needed does not matter to me. After the application, it is a smooth, creamy coral. To me, it leans on the pinkish/reddish side, but it is still a gorgeous coral color. It wears really nicely too, I wore this for a whole week with no chipping. As you will be able to see from the pictures, I get really bad tip wear, and I guess I don't bother to clean up the polish around my cuticles either...LOL. I usually take a shower after I do my nails, and that extra polish comes off after I shower, so I don't bother to properly clean it up with acetone.


Swatches
I have on 3 coats of 'Cute As a Button' and one coat of Seche Vite.

Thanks for reading :)

Nail Polish Favorites #7: Nicole by OPI 'You're S-Teal The One'

Damn Target and its awesome makeup section. Every time I got to Target, I always end up buying something. This time, I fell victim to an amazing nail polish by Nicole by OPI.

Price and Availability
$7 at Target

You're S-Teal The One (playing on 'your still the one')
A metallic teal (is way more blue than green) with a purple duo chrome. The closest things I own to this color are:
~OPI 'Catch Me in your Net', but this is too green and does not have a purple duo-chrome
~L'oreal 'Blue Marine', is still too green and has a little bit of a purple duo-chrome, but its not very visible.
~Love and Beauty 'Seafoam', is also too green and not metallic enough, but does have a slight purple duo chrome.

Formula
This polish is quite sheer. When I applied the first coat, it was very sheer and I was disappointed by it. But, each coat dries super fast! So the 3 coats that it takes to get this polish opaque still dry extremely fast. Taking this off is not that fun though; it takes a little more effort to remove than your average polish.

Swatches

 Okay, now excuse my very ugly nails...but I am showing these for the sake of showing you the color!

 In the picture below, you can see the purple duo chrome~

The purple duo chrome is very hard to capture in camera, but it is much more prominent in real life. It is the most prominent purple duo chrome in a blue polish that I have ever seen.  And seriously, in real life this polish is simply gorgeous!~

More nail swatches coming soon ;)

Top Lip Picks for Spring/Summer 2011

Hello everyone!
I was tagged by Suzanne from Don't They Know Who I Am? to do the Lipstick Tag, but I actually already did that tag. So instead, I decided to do my favorite lipstick picks for this season! I hope you enjoy :D
A couple things to keep in mind:  This season has been all about the corals/oranges, so my lip picks reflect that quite a lot. Regardless of trends, I love orange lip products so that is also why I have a lot of oranges in my top picks~

Lip Glosses

Peach Petal/ Lilac Pastel/ Papaya

1. Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss 'Peach Petal'
~A light, pinky-peach gloss. Really nice over nude, pink, or coral lipsticks or even on its own. I love this color because it is a subtle way to get a nice peachy color on the lips without going all out on the coral trend. I like this for everyday looks, or for occasions were bright makeup is not appropriate (work,church, job interviews, ect...).
2. Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss 'Lilac Pastel'
~I am super obsessed with anything purple, specially lip and cheek products. It is hard to find nice purple lipglosses, but this is probably my favorite purple lipgloss.  It is a pastel purple, so it is easier to wear than other purple lip products. You can make it more wearable by applying it over a pink lipstick, or enhance a purple lipstick to make it even more purple. This spring, pastel purples has been very big too, so this is an easy way to wear trendy lips.
3. Revlon ColorBurst Lipgloss 'Papaya'
~These new Revlon lipglosses are amazing! For drugstore products, they are great quality. 'Papaya' is a bright coral, with a slight red undertone and very fine micro shimmer. It is almost hard to describe this color. I guess I could describe it also as a brighter, orangier papaya color. LOL, that didn't make sense. Anyways...this lipgloss really impressed me! It is so pigmented, it almost feels like a liquid lipstick. If you want to lighten the color of the lipgloss, you can apply a nude lipstick underneath.

Swatches: Peach Petal/ Lilac Pastel/ Papaya

*Papaya looks redder than it actually is. I looks more true to color in the above picture of the container.

'Papaya' over NYX 'Orange Soda'

Lipsticks

Ever Hip/ Siren/ Donutella/ Coral/ Airborne Unicorn

1.MAC Cremesheen Lipstick 'Ever Hip'
~A very light, sheer coral. This lipstick is my favorite coral, because it adds a touch of color without being so overwhelming.Unfortunately, this color was limited edition :( It was recently re-promoted so your MAC store might still have it. I use mine very sparingly. If anyone knows a dupe for this, I would be very grateful if you told me!
2.Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick 'Siren'
~A very bright orange, with a slight red undertone, but still leans more to the orange side. Love this for a more dramatic look. And this lipsticks looks great under 'Papaya'.
3.Tokidoki Lip Balm Tint 'Donutella'
~A coral-pink lip tint. It is more sheer than the rest, but it is a lip stain so it lasts a lot longer than any lipstick. Great during the summer, when it is really hot and you don't want to wear lipstick.
4. Revlon ColorBurst Lipstick 'Coral'
~A red with a very strong orange undertone, or is it an orange with a very strong red undertone? Well anyways, for this season, I have liked a red lip that leans on the orange side and this is definitely my color. Very pigmented and smooth. A bit expensive for a drugstore product though.
5. Lime Crime Lipstick 'Airborne Unicorn'
~Nice purple-pink lipstick. Goes great with Lilac Pastel or on its own. It doesn't last that long on my lips, but it leaves my lips stained a reddish color, which I actually like. The most perfect and flattering purple lipstick EVER~ Well, maybe besides MAC 'Lavender Whip' which was LE.

Swatches w/ Flash:Ever Hip/ Siren/ Donutella/ Coral/ Airborne Unicorn

Swatches w/ No Flash:Ever Hip/ Siren/ Donutella/ Coral/ Airborne Unicorn

Airborne Unicorn

*I know I had a lot of Revlon products, but they are really good products! They are also much more readily accessible to me than other brands. All these products were purchased with my own money~

What are your favorite Spring/Summer Lip Picks?

P.S. Don't forget to check out my Blog Sale!
http://yamismakeup.blogspot.com/2011/06/blog-sale-everything-must-go.html

Zoya 'Akyra'

I want to apologize for my lack of nail polish posts. I have wanted to swatch so many nail polishes, but my nails are very uneven at the moment, and they just don't want to cooperate.
I also want to apologize for the crappy swatches! But anyways, at least you will be able to see the color!

Price and Avalability
$7. I bought this at Nugget :D

Akyra
Is a shimmery, darkened green/teal. I love the color, and I have no dupes for this!

Formula
A little sheer and watery. 2-3 coats needed to get really opaque color. The amount of coats does not bother me, but they just take so long to dry. For a sheer polish, it takes waaaay too long to dry. I absolutely hate the formula of this polish.
Sheer+long drying time= No good!

Swatches

Verdict
I hate the formula, but the color is beautiful! I think I will just suck it up and deal with the fact that the formula sucks. This is the first Zoya I have used that has a crappy formula, so I was very surprised!

Shoppingholics.com Review: Geo Princess Mimi Circle Lenses 'Chocolate Brown'+ EOTD

Yes, circle lenses. Very controversial product, but whatever.
These are the first circle lenses I have EVER tried and reviewed, so keep that in mind. Have it in mind? Yes? Okay, good.

I bought these out of sheer curiosity, because I really wanted to know what these would look like on my eye. A little background: I have extremely dark brown eyes and normal sized eyes, leaning towards the smaller side. I thought the 'Chocolate Brown' would be the most flattering and natural color on me so I purchased that one.

Price Availability:
I bought these at Shoppingholics and they were $23.90. They kindly sent me a cute contact case as well as a few extras.
Shipping and Packaging
Shipping was $3.90! That is such a great price for products that are being shipped from Asia! But it did take a while for the package to arrive. I made my order on 03/20 and received it on 03/31. It wasn't too bad, its not like I urgently needed circle lenses! And everything was packaged so cute and neat! I recommend this site!

 The box in which the lenses were in was so freaking cute~~

Nice, eh?

Case

Thank You card

Some extras :D

Application and Comfort

At first, these were difficult to apply, but that is because I am really inexperienced and such a noob T_T [Noob Alert!!] But, once I found a technique that worked for me, it was really easy to apply these. I lift my eye lid upwards and apply the lens with my index finger directly into my eye, and then blink several times.
*Remember that you have to soak new circle lenses in cleaning solution for 8 hours prior to using them!

When I first put these on, they were a little uncomfortable. And like I said before, I have never worn circle lenses before. I could definitely feel them there, but over all they weren't that uncomfortable once I got used to them.  I have heard that these are very comfortable as far as circle lenses go, but I can't compare them since I've never used any other ones before. I can't wear these for very long though.

Overall Thoughts
I can't say I love these, honestly. I think I look super creepy with them on, and rather soulless. I think maybe the color doesn't suit me very well. Also, although these aren't uncomfortable, they still feel weird to have on. And although they make my pupils look bigger, I don't think they make my eyes look bigger.
I would still try some other circle lenses, and I actually want to try the Princess Mimi gray lenses.

Here is what they look like on my eye:

I seeeee you ~~~

EOTD:
I paired the lenses with a dramatic purple look~ I used all Shiro Cosmetics eyeshadows.

I Used:
~Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy to prime my lids and lower lash line
~Shiro Cosmtics 'Lance the Dragon Trainer' on the lid
~Shiro Cosmetics 'Rattata' on the crease
~Shiro Cosmetics 'Spiritomb' on the inner corner
~ELF pen liner
~KKCenterhk lashes
~GC Lash Blast Fusion

I can see into your soul Bwahahaha!

Thank you all for reading xD I hope I didn't look too soulless in these pictures!
*I will take more pictures with these lenses on so you can can see how they look better.

Have you tried circle lenses? Which are your favorite?

OPI Pirates of the Caribbean Dupe Alert

Hey guys!

Image from: http://www.coloresdecarol.com/

Really quickly I just wanted to give you guys a heads up that Sinful Colors has a collection called 'Adventure Island' Collection which consists of colors super similar to the OPI POTC colors. I bought three colors from the collection, including a dupe for 'Mermaid Tears' called 'Open Seas' and and one that is a dupe for 'Stranger Tides' that is called 'Seaweed'. If you missed out on the OPI collection and you have Sinful colors available to you, definitely check it out! From what I can see 'Open Seas' is pretty much a dead on dupe of 'Mermaid Tears'. And the best thing is that they are only $1.99! I found mine at my local Rite Aid. :D