Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Eyeshadow in Abstraction - Review, Photos, Swatches

Today I have Fracas's soulmate and partner in Chanel's Spring collection, the Illusion D'Ombre Eyeshadow in 88 Abstraction. 

Abstraction is a coral-pink shimmer, soft and sophisticated. For those unfamiliar with Chanel's Illusion D'Ombre eyeshadow, the formula is a bouncy, light cream. They are long-lasting and super blendable, and great either as a base for a more intense look or on their own as a single wash of color. This is perhaps my current favorite formula for eyeshadow - truly excellent and top-notch, won't smudge or budge once it settles. Another winner (surprise, surprise) from Chanel ;)

88 Abstraction

Beautiful color, one of my favorite types of hues for this time of year. As mentioned previously, there's no criticism I can give to this lovely little gem. So what're you waiting for?! If it's within your budget I suggest you run to your nearest Chanel counter and snap up Abstraction for breezy, fresh spring and summer looks - you won't regret it!

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Eyeshadow in Abstraction is available through the Chanel site as well at through Chanel counters. It retails for $36.




Let's talk about tattoos, baby

I love tattoos, in theory. I love the way the quality ones look, I love the seemingly endless license for artistic creativity they allow, and I love the the deep meaning they can express. (In theory.) In practice, however, I am 100% tattoo-less. The reason for this is two-fold, I suppose - first, I don't have a clear idea of what design I would want; I have no special person or event to commemorate, and some of the traditional tattoo designs (owls, butterflies, hearts, etc.) don't really hold enough of a significance for me to be etched permanently onto my body. Secondly, I can't help but to wonder how my feelings for ink might change in 20+ years - will I regret my decision? Will the tattoo not age well? Will I have to spend a load of money later to have it removed?

So, will I ever pull the proverbial trigger and get one? Maybe, maybe not. Probably not. Possibly? Who knows!

What I do know, however, is that if I were to get some ink, I would love to get it done by the amazingly talented and brilliant Amanda Wachob. Here's some of her work, taken from her website - 

Positively stunning, no? Such a distinctive, delicate, brush-like style - reminds me watercolor paintings. I love to see that innovative minds like Amanda's are sharing their art with the us; as Dostoevsky said, 'beauty will save the world'. :) Check out more of Amanda's work here.

Do you have any tattoos? Please feel free to share links to your favorite tattoo artists - I love looking at creative portfolios!

Wantable Subscription Box - Review, Photos, Swatches

You may or may not be aware of my obsession with subscription boxes; this is not limited to beauty boxes, either - lifestyle, food, fitness... you name it, I'll try it! Today I have a have a review of my very first Wantable box. The cool thing is that Wantable tries to send products according to your preferences, based on a fairly thorough questionnaire that the customer is asked to fill out prior to purchase. Wantable promises to never send you products you mark as a 'dislike'. For example, if you indicate that you don't wear liquid eyeliner, don't expect to receive it; likewise, if you say you aren't fond of nude lipsticks, you won't be sent any in that color family. I automatically went through my survey to 'dislike' all skincare products offered as I've got enough of those from my now defunct Birchbox subscription. Overall I tried to guide my box to include a large amount of colorful makeup products, especially lip products, nail polish, and eyeshadow and liner. Each box costs $40. So what did I get? Let's take a look!

The items come directly inside the shipping packaging, with no second inner box:

Here are all the items included in my box, unwrapped:

The items you see are: Color Club nail polish, Be A Bombshell eye shadow, Be A Bombshell eye liner, 29 Reserves lipstick, Benecos eye shadow, Cailyn lipstick, and Milu Amber Sugar Scrub. Everything is full-size apart from the scrub (which I believe is a bonus item).

Here are the eye products:

Left to right: Be A Bombshell eyeliner marker in Provocateur (deep blue), Benecos Natural Baked Colours in Amazing (shimmery teal), Be A Bombshell Eye Shadow in Tease (shimmery teal).

I'm familiar with the BaB eyeliner marker as I've gotten the black one in an Ipsy (I believe) box some months back and have used it often for its precision and staying-power. I think the color included in this Wantable package is a very pretty one, and I've no doubt I will be using it with some regularity. I'm mostly pleased to have gotten this! Now let's move on to the painted elephant in the room, shall we? Tease and Amazing are very, very similar hues. Tease is a bit more intense, more pigmented, and softer in texture. Like some baked eyeshadows, the Amazing cake is hard and a tad difficult to get into with a brush. Besides that, it's on the sheer and powdery side, definitely not as smooth as Tease. I do like teals, though, and I expect to reach for Tease when the mood arises; I am, however, miffed that I got two shadows that are, for all intents and purposes, the same color! :/ Boo, it's disappointing.

Moving on to the lipstick:

Left to right, we have 29 Reserves Moisturizing Lipstick in Expressive Rose, and Cailyn Mineral Lipstick in #1 Lovely in Pink. 29R is a bright raspberry and Cailyn is a light peachy pink with fine, sparse glitter. I've yet to wear either of the shades, but I can tell you that these colors are right up my alley and I'm excited to try them. Wantable was pretty bang-on with this one!

Finally, I received a nail polish from Color Club's recent Fiesta Collection - Flamingo, an uber-bright neon pink:

Hmm... I suppose I'll take it! I do like Color Club polishes, generally, though I don't wear pink all that often. I am a sucker for neons, though, and this vibrant color will fit in well with the summer weather, if it ever decides to show its face (my area is having an unreasonably chilly late March, so far!).

Total value of my box -

Cailyn Mineral Lipstick - $15
29 Reserves Moisturizing Lipstick - $25
Be a Bombshell Eyeliner Marker - $14
Be a Bombshell Eye Shadow - $14
Color Club Nail Polish - $8
Benecos Natural Baked Eyeshadow - $12.99
(I'm not including the Milu Amber Sugar Scrub, both because I believe it's a 'bonus' item and because I've no idea how much product was included in my sample; for reference, however, a 250g jar is listed at $43.72.)

Total, excluding the Milu scrub: $88.99. Not bad, eh?

To summarize:

Yes, Wantable is more expensive at $40 than other beauty box services such as Ipsy, Birchbox, Glossybox, Beauty Allure, and Beauty Army; however, the biggest distinguishing feature is the ability to fairly thoroughly customize your package, short of choosing the exact items. I felt my products were as a whole decent and fit with what I expected from my questionnaire answers. Additionally, the value of the box was more than twice the price tag. The big, glaring negative is, of course, getting basically two of the same eyeshadow colors! I assume the samples were pulled randomly without any check. Still a bummer, though.

I'd be willing to try another box, and I do recommend checking Wantable out if you love these kinds of subscription services. It's a pretty neat service!

You can sign up for Wantable here! What do you think/what have been your experiences with Wantable?

Disney Jasmine by Sephora Magic Carpet Ride Palette - Review, Photos, Swatches

Truth: Aladdin was my favorite Disney movie as a child! (Sword in the Stone was a close second, it must be said.) I was never a huge fan of the iconic princess trifecta (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella) as they were a bit too frilly for me, but was drawn to Aladdin for its music, entertainment value, exotic setting, and fun plot. I wanted to live in the Arabic country the story took place; I wanted my very own Aladdin to sweep me off my feet; I wanted Jasmine's outfit and her pretty, long hairstyle (never happening, with my fine, naturally blonde hair!); I wanted a well-mannered pet tiger and kleptomaniac monkey; I wanted a singing Robin Williams to follow me around in my daily life, cracking jokes. 

Considering this, imagine my nostalgic delight when I read the Sephora Beauty Insider email about their Disney Jasmine collection release! Ultimately I purchased a couple of carefully selected pieces. One is the Magic Carpet Ride Eyeshadow Palette:

L to R, Top to Bottom: Carpet, Wonder by Wonder, Splendid, Diamond Sky

Beautiful, fitting packaging. Carpet is a rosy taupe shimmer; Wonder by Wonder is a deep matte burgundy purple with glitter; Splendid is an orange peach shimmer; Diamond Sky is a turquoise shimmer.

Overall, quite a nice little set. A surprising favorite was Carpet - such a flattering, interesting neutral that has gotten the most wear from me thus far. Wonder by Wonder is, however, the problem child - it's patchy and sheer, and took about 5-6 coats to build up to what you see in the photos. It's a shame, as I really enjoy how this hue relates to the palette's color story. Splendid and Diamond Sky were of good quality as well, similar to Carpet.

This Jasmine quad retails for $30 and may be purchased from Sephora stores and online.

I'm loving Sephora's Disney collaboration and can't wait to see what else they dream up! What do you think? Have you purchased anything from either the Jasmine or Cinderella collection?

Sugarpill Sweetheart Palette - Review, Photos, Swatches

I'm back from a looong vacation! Thanks for hanging in there with me :)

Picking up right where I left off, here is the last of my Sugarpill palettes, Sweetheart: 

The shades are Dollipop (hot pink), Afterparty (bright blue), Midori (vibrant green), and Tako (white). As you can tell, the quality, consistency, and pigmentation is (surprise, surprise), SUPERB.

As with all Sugarpill products I have reviewed thus far, I have absolutely no criticisms. Such a lovely brand with an equally lovely line. For a more detailed review, you can check out my Burning Heart palette post. You may also want to check out Heartbreaker!

Aren't these shades gorgeous? You can purchase Sweetheart and other palettes in Sugarpill's online shop for $34 each. For that price you get a very generous amount of high quality eyeshadow; you can't go wrong!

Sugarpill Cosmetics Heartbreaker Palette - Review, Photos, Swatches

Woo, I'm on a Sugarpill roll! Today I have another lovely 4-pan palette - Heartbreaker! After you see photos, I hope you realize why it's so hard to pick a favorite; they are all maximally fantastic and full of so much awesome it hurts. Even if you only have the budget for one, you can't possibly go wrong whatever you pick. Without further ado, here's Heartbreaker:

As with Burning Heart, the formula, pigmentation, texture, etc. are stellar. For a more detailed breakdown, you can check out my Burning Heart palette post. This palette and others are available from the online Sugarpill shop for $34 each. Gooo theeeere :D

Thanks so much for reading - I truly appreciate it! :)

Sugarpill Cosmetics Burning Heart Palette - Review, Photos, Swatches

Exhibit #273 that I'm losing my mind: as I was taking photos of today's product last week I started feeling an overwhelming sense of deja vu that I had photographed this palette already, and immediately began berating myself for my absent-mindedness. Well, it turns out I never actually did post this before (for shame!) so who knows what my brain was trying to tell me!. Anyway, today I am showing you the lovely, spectacular, stupendous, astonishing, wondrous (and many other positive adjectives) Sugarpill Burning Heart palette!

All swatches are over Too Faced Shadow Insurance. Look at how gloriously saturated and vibrant the colors are after just one pass of the brush!  The shades are beautiful and the texture of the shadows is soft with minimal fallout (much less than you would expect from such matte, bright hues). With primer they last all day while remaining fresh-looking. I've worn these in looks for a couple of my dance performances, and not only did the eyeshadows stand out under the bright lights, they withstood some serious sweat-age ;) 

The packaging is cute and sturdy, with a magnetic closure and a mirror on the top-side of the flap. The shadow pans are HUGE, so it's safe to say you are getting a mega-value for the price ($34). I highly, highly recommend this palette and can't say enough good things about Sugarpill and her products :) This palette and others are available from the Sugarpill Cosmetics online shop. Also, keep an eye out for the occasional sales!

What do you think? Do you love it or is it too much for you?

Kat Von D True Romance Eyeshadow Palette in Star-Crossed - Photos, Review, Swatches

D'oh! This entry has been sitting as a draft for a few weeks now, figure I should post it!

I have a love/hate relationship with Kat Von D makeup products, either coveting them like precious treasures or resisting urges to throw them across the room (I exaggerate, but only just!). Luckily, the True Romance Eyeshadow Palette in Star-Crossed falls into the former category! Here it is:

Cute, tattoo-like design packaging

Four deep, gorgeous, shimmery shades:

In terms of quality, this palette is about all I can ask for - long-lasting, pigmented, exquisite shades that don't fade for a good while following application. All swatches are over primer, and with that base these colors hold up quite well. The color story seems surprisingly warm and cozy, perfect for cold wintery evenings. I'm sure this isn't exactly the edgy and dark image Kat Von D had in mind, but I can't help what I imagine! :P

Overall, I feel the Kat Von D True Romance Eyeshadow in Star-Crossed in a decent addition to any collection!

Bonus - This palette is currently on sale at Sephora for $13 (down from $20)! You can find it here.

e.l.f. Disney Villains Sets in Maleficent, Evil Queen - Swatches, Photos, Review

I get so very nostalgic whenever I see products referencing Disney! While I haven't seen Snow White or Sleeping Beauty (I was more of an Aladdin and The Little Mermaid girl) I of course recognize the iconic characters featured in these little e.l.f Disney Villains makeup sets. I'm sure these will appeal to the women, like myself, who grew up on a steady diet of Disney cartoons and sparkling princess costume gowns!

e.l.f offers three different makeup sets, all limited edition and currently available at Walgreens stores for $9.99 each: Maleficent Sinister Smoky Eye, Cruella Evil Everyday Eye, and Evil Queen Devious Dramatic Eye. Each set contains eight eyeshadows (four for a 'day' look, four for a 'night' look), two lip/cheek pencils, a pair of false lashes with glue, eye primer, and a liquid liner. The inside packaging also contains instructions for creating a night and day look using the products provided.

Evil Queen:

Top to Bottom, L to R (day to night): One Bite, Vanity, Narcissistic, Potion, Fairest of the Land, Majesty, Peddler's Cloak, Poison Apple

The two lip/cheek pencils:

Maleficent:

Top to Bottom, L to R (day to night): Spindle, Sceptre, Fog of Doom, Fauna, Misfortune, Forest of Thorns, Deep Sleep, Diablo

The two lip/cheek pencils:

Some nice things going on here! Maleficent blew me away - most of the eyeshadows were super soft, decently pigmented (just look at Diablo!), and the only disappointing colors were Fog of Doom and Fauna, the matte purple and green; they were somewhat powdery, patchy, and difficult to apply evenly. However, I can't really bring myself to care as the rest of the palette is so, so disgustingly awesome. Evil Queen's eye shades were a tad lighter and subtler, but not too bad. Quality-wise, I wholeheartedly recommend Maleficent. Evil Queen is okay, but perhaps not worth purchasing if you already have a decent makeup collection unless you are a Disney collector lured by the limited edition-ness of these sets. 

I'll post Cruella soon!

Again, these sets are available from Walgreens in-stores at $9.99 each.

Are you a fan of these Disney-inspired sets? Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it! Please follow me if you like the contents of this blog :)