Maybelline Vivid Lipcolors in Shocking Coral, Pink Pop, Vivid Rose, Brazen Berry, Hot Plum, Vibrant Mandarin - Review, Photos, Swatches

Being the shameless bargain-hunter that I am, I'm always on the lookout for cheap drugstore makeup products that are of stellar quality. (It also helps if the color options come with a healthy dose of pizazz!) No surprise, then, that I was super stoked to pick up a few of the new Maybelline Colorsensational Vivids!

This collection features ten gorgeous, vibrant hues, of which I purchased a whopping six! :o

First is Brazen Berry, a surprising favorite of mine. This isn't a berry, really, but a soft, cool violet. Love it!

 Hot Plum, a warmer, more red cousin to Brazen Berry -

Pink Pop, a cool light to medium pink -

 Shocking Coral, a warm, taupe-y coral -

Vibrant Mandarin, a bright orange-red. Don't be scared! While nice and vivid, this color is ultra wearable and I can't wait to wear it in the summer! In real life Mandarin appears a touch brighter and redder.

Vivid Rose, a fab pink-red -

L to R: Shocking Coral, Vibrant Mandarin, Vivid Rose, Hot Plum

 Pink Pop, Brazen Berry

What do you think? I love this bright, in-your-face line from Maybelline! I also love that they are very user-friendly as they are not completely creamy/opaque; you can certainly get full coverage with a couple of coats, but you have the option for a more subtle, semi-sheer wash with just one swipe. The formula is soft and fairly moisturizing, super comfortable to wear, and the scent is your standard vanilla. This ColorSensational Vivid collection is perfect for the upcoming beach-y summer weather, and a great transitional option for those that normally wear neutrals but perhaps want a pop of color for the warmer seasons. My two stand-outs here are Brazen Berry (a great bright violet) and Vibrant Mandarin, and I see myself reaching for them often in the next few months. Overall a great showing from Maybelline!

Maybelline's ColorSensational Vivid Lip Colors are available at most drug stores such as Walgreens and CVS (be on the lookout for sales; it's how I justified purchasing six!) for about $7.49 each, as well as through online retailers such as drugstore.com. 

Have you tried these only to fall madly in love?Are you also itching to head to the beach?!

Thanks for reading! :)

CoverGirl Jumbo Gloss Balm Pencils in Berry Twist, Haute Pink - Photos, Review, Swatches

These new CoverGirl Jumbo Gloss Balm pencils caught my eye the other day at Target (I don't actually know when they were rolled out, but they're new to me!). I love chunky lip pencils so this purchase was a no-brainer, really. Here we go!

Berry Twist, Haute Pink

Here's Haute Pink, a cool, sheer pink -

Berry Twist, a rosy raspberry -

Top to bottom - Berry Twist, Haute Pink

These are touted as colored, moisturizing balms and, for the most part, they live up to that description. These CG jumbo pencils provide a sheer wash of color that is very fresh and easy-breezy to pull off; not overwhelming or loud, by any means! I should mention that Berry Twist is very similar to my natural lip color, so I don't see much of a difference. However, I'm sure it delivers a whisper of pigment based on Haute Pink - I can quite clearly see the subtly pink tint, so I know it works! On me, both Berry Twist and Haute Pink were only moderately moisturizing. I do have SUPER dry lips and usually have to use a heavy-duty balm to whip them into shape, so it's very possible that for the average person these balms would suffice.

Overall, a nice product! Very shiny, low maintenance, and great for summer! What do you think?

CoverGirl's Jumbo Gloss Balm Pencils are available at drugstores for around $6.99. You can also purchase online from drugstore.com.

Lime Crime Lipstick in Countessa Fluorescent - Photos, Review, Swatches

Lime Crime has been on my radar for quite some time but did not join my happy collection family until, funnily enough, I saw it in person, in Jaipur, India, thanks to a lovely Canadian fellow traveller we met! (Incidentally, the last photo in this entry was taken by her!) Typically I'm over the moon for sleek, modern packaging, but I dissolved into a puddle of cooing goo once I laid eyes on the shiny unicorn design and the girly pink. Take a look at how adorable it is -

:3 The color I purchased is called Countessa Fluorescent, and it's a bright neon pink -

Super awesome, no?!? It's a bit brighter in real life as my camera seemed to dampen the color a tad, but hopefully you can tell how lovely it is nevertheless. Besides the amazing, pigmented hue, the formula on this is wonderfully creamy, soft, and hydrating! Countessa Fluorescent smells of vanilla, similar to the MAC scent. 

You can purchase Lime Crime lipstick and other products from the site. Lipsticks are $15.99 each. 

PS - I mentioned Jaipur earlier and I must say, it's one of my favorite cities ever. Great people, beautiful architecture, and perfect weather in winter. We were bummed when we had to leave, and I can't wait to go back <3

MAC Fashion Sets Lipstick in Embrace Me, Silly, and Ablaze - Photos, Review, Swatches

I know people who are giant MAC fanatics, and others who wouldn't touch the brand if it were the last cosmetic company on earth; as with most things, I am not quite so polarized! I don't buy MAC products too too often but some collections do catch my eye, and I have a few staple items that I love and repurchase often. Additionally, MAC holds a special place in my heart for being one of the very very first brands from which I purchased makeup! 

So, today I have three lipsticks from the recent MAC Fashion Sets collection. I'm always looking for quality, bold mattes, so I knew I had to get these! Here's the typical MAC bullet, if you're unfamiliar:

First is Embrace Me, a deep, bright fuchsia -

Silly, a bright medium pink -

Ablaze, a medium orange-red with a hint of pink -

Top to Bottom - Ablaze, Silly, Embrace Me

As you’re able to tell, all three had amazing color payoff! The formula was very smooth and what I would deem just the tiniest bit moisturizing and certainly comfortable to wear. Like all MAC lipsticks, these had a mild vanilla scent. The most matte-like was Silly, though I would say the finish is more of a satin/matte hybrid – it still gives a mostly flat look but has just the smallest amount of sheen. Lovely shades overall, definite winners for those who like bright, bold colors and/or ‘matte’ finishes!

MAC lipsticks are available for $15 each. It seem that they are sold out on the MAC site and most places online but I would keep an eye on sites like Macy’s and Nordstrom, and check the counters as well!

What do you think? Are you a MAC girl or boy?

Bite Beauty High Pigment Matte Lip Pencils in Tart, Velvet - Review, Photos, Swatches

I positively j'adore lip pencils and can hardly restrain myself when I stumble over new ones! Though I'm only reviewing now I purchased the following Bite Beauty High Pigment Matte lip pencils over a year ago and, based on my happy experiences, I am excited to try the new releases now available at Sephora. Woo! 

Anyway, here are my lovely little Bite starlets, Tart and Velvet -

Tart is a tomato-paste red, with a hint of orange and a dusty quality to it -

Velvet is a bright light rose -

These lip pencils are pretty spectacular - they go on quite easily, smoothly, and feel like butter! I love the soft, rich texture, and the pigmentation is superb. The finish is shiny more than matte as the name indicates, but it's still quite pretty. Additionally, the formula is moisturizing and long-lasting. These are winners and have converted me to Bite Beauty! I'm curious to try some of their other products as, based on the pencils, I doubt they'll disappoint.

Bite High Pigment Matte pencils are available at Sephora for $24 a piece. 

Thanks so much for reading, I appreciate it! Have you tried Bite? What do you think?

BONUS -

Bite claims that this lipstick contains resveratrol, which "fights free radicals with potent long-term antiaging benefits". Hmm. Being the anal scientist that I am I can't help checking the research to confirm this claim. So, armed with my skepticism and my institution's journal subscriptions, I searched the literature.

I should mention that red wine is a particularly strong source of resveratrol. Bite points out that one lip pencil has the resveratrol content of five glasses of wine - which is great, if you want to spend $24 on a lip pencil just to eat it (personally, I'll take the wine), if it even does benefit your health in any significant way.

So does it?  Well, the evidence is spotty at best, and many positive outcomes have been the result of animal model experiments (for example, in one study resveratrol was found to have increased the life-span of obese mice fed high-fat diets). Animal models are useful in many ways, but mice are not humans (obviously 8D); it's incorrect to extrapolate to humans without additional studies, and when human trials have been performed, the effects of resveratrol have been inconclusive or much less significant. So Bite's claim of "potent" anti-aging benefits are exaggerated at best. And, again, the proposed benefit comes from consumption of resveratrol, and not topical application.

In conclusion, take Bite's claim with a grain of salt and cast it aside with the many other unfounded beauty claims out there ("xyz mascara increases your lash volume by 923678687%!!!1"). I like my evidence like I like my men: strong, replicable, and peer-reviewed (that doesn't really work, does it 8D), and the evidence here is inconclusive (in addition, the long-term effects of resveratrol have not yet been studied). So please, err, don't eat the lipstick. 

[I've not included my sources because this is a beauty blog, darnit, and not a fancy scientific paper (also... laziness D:), but if anyone is interested, I am happy to provide links!] 

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?