Beauty Favorites - 2015

It was so easy and quick for me to pick up 2014 Beauty Favorites (click here to read more) and I am still loving and using most of them. This year I reviewed a lot of products and I had fun doing that! But at the same time these reviews kept me busy and I had very little time to go for products that I childishly enjoy rather than the ones that I have been reviewing. May be next year, I will take every single opportunity to play with the entire spectrum that I have at my disposal! I had to spend quite some time processing my thoughts and deciding my favorites this year. After a lot of analysis and deliberate decision making, here is what I think have been my most favorite and most used products this year :-)

Marc Jacobs Beauty Highliner Gel Eye Crayon Eyeliner ($25 for 0.01 oz.): I got this in a limited-edition set from Sephora (reviewed here). All of these are very gorgeous shades; apply easily and last the whole day with the same intensity and without any creasing whatsoever! Even the black one lasts on my waterline whole day which is typically a bit challenging on my watery eyes. I have been using these for a year now, and it feels like they have dried just a tiny bit, but I still love them especially to wear to work. It makes me feel glam without much effort and that’s why I use them at least three times a week. Even though it was challenging to compile the favorites list this year, these highliners are the only product that I did not have to think twice about putting at the top of my list :-) Sephora currently has a similar set here.

Stila Cosmetics Stay All Day® Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner in “Intense Black” ($22 for 0.016 oz.): One whole year with this liner! I have been using it at least ¾ th of the time that I use eyeliner and it still has not dried up yet. Its waterproof, has a felt tip that is very easy to control & draw a nice wing with and it truly stays all-day! The finish is slightly glossy but I like that. Whenever I want to ensure that I get a quick and easy wing liner that needs to last all day, this is what I use. It is almost a holy grail in my arsenal. 

Clinique Cheek Pop in "Fig Pop" ($22 for 0.12 oz.): There are a lot of reasons to love Clinique Cheek Pops. Incredible product - easy to blend, great pigmentation and good staying power; incredible packaging - genius, innovative and totally functional! It also comes in a great range of shades. This year, I reviewed a lot of colorful eyeshadows which essentially means I wore these shades to work in order to review them, so I had to wear subdued blush to make sure that my overall look still appears neutral enough to wear to work! “Fig Pop” (Reviewed here) has been my go-to blush for that exact reason! Apart from wearing to work, I have been noticing that I have been picking it a lot with any look; it’s just easy and very trustworthy to get a nice healthy look :-)

Bobby Brown Blush in “Sand Pink” ($28 for 0.13 oz.): To be honest, Bobbi Brown products do not hugely thrill me. May be because of the predictable black packaging, or the steep price, I never feel encouraged to try out her products. Having said that, I have to admit that whenever I wear this particular blush, I feel pretty! It adds just a tiny bit rosiness on my cheeks and immediately brightens up my face; it’s an excellent everyday shade on me. I prefer Fig Pop just a tiny bit more but both of these have been in constant rotation in my every day makeup routine.

Becca Cosmetics Shimmering Skin Perfector in “Champagne Pop” ($38 for 0.28 oz.): Actually every single cheek product from Becca has been my favorite, I am not lying! Everything I have tried from this brand has won my heart. I love the shimmering soufflés, beach tints, mineral blushes and all the highlighters, but decided to include only this in my favorites list. Before this, I never gave much importance to highlighters. But this completely changed my attitude towards them :-) I love how it makes me look luminous and healthy. It’s a strong highlighter, so you have to apply it carefully. But once you try it, you cannot deny the glow and subsequent feel-good. 

Beauty Blender the original beautyblender ($20): Before this I was using a $3 look-alike sponge that I bought from eBay, which at that time I thought was decent in performance. But once I tried the actual Beauty Blender, I absolutely loved it. It makes my foundation application very easy and super-fast. It takes just 2-3 minutes to get an even flawless skin. You need to try this!

Elf Cosmetics Complexion Brush ($3): Yes, it’s just $3 and it is an excellent quality brush. Does not shed, and incredibly soft. I have been using it mostly to apply matte bronzers and I love it.

Bare Minerals Original Foundation in ($28 for 0.28 oz.): I refuse to wear liquid foundation every single day as I need my skin to breathe :-) This is a powder foundation that is quite forgiving on my dry skin and just a little bit of it makes my skin look even. I have never tried to wear it as a full coverage foundation but for day-to-day wear I love it. I enjoy that I can apply cream or powder products on top of it with same ease. It’s not a product that thrills me with joy, but after using it for 1and a ½ years; I have grown to appreciate its importance in my daily routine.

Bdellium Tools Studio 942 Slanted Contour Brush ($11): I have smaller cheek area so I need a smaller brush. I had to search a lot to get the perfect blush brush. It’s such a nicely shaped brush. I love using this with my matte blushes. However it sheds a bit. So while I am not head-over heels on the product quality I love how it makes it easier for me to apply blushes these days :-)

Formula X Color Nail Polish in “Eureka” (Reviewed here): I wore this shade on my toes and on my hands all summer long! It’s such a lively hot pink shade. The formula is amazing; very creamy, applies without any streak and quite long lasting. I really enjoyed this particular shade this year.

Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Natural Lipstick in “N9” ($20 for 0.12 oz.): Tiny adorable innocent lipstick bullet! I got this as part of the birthday gift in 2014 from Sephora; I have finished more than half of it since. After 2 years of blogging and numerous trials with nude lips, I have come to a conclusion that this is the perfect nude shade on my skin tone. It’s not too warm, not too cool! Works great with any heavy makeup looks or on bare skin without any other makeup. I absolutely adore it. I just wished it would last a few hrs. more.

There is nothing like Red Lipstick: I am an ardent fan of red lip shades! That is no secret :-), but this year, I could not make enough opportunities to wear red lipsticks up to my heart’s content! J I still managed to try a few, and I have 3 new favorites! Coulis (Reviewed here) is Bite Beauty‘s highly trustworthy long lasting matte formula but it actually appears more like satin; looks incredibly sexy and demure at the same time! Cruella (Reviewed here) is classic cult favorite lip pencil from NARS. Whenever I need my red lipstick to stay all day without drying, I pick Cruella. It makes me feel like a boss! Classified Crimson (Reviewed here) is a new formula from Buxom and while the wear time is not the best, I LOVE the shade. It appears totally matte and does not dry your lips. It’s very sultry looking and beautiful.

Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer in “Med-Dark Neutral” ($28 for 0.16 oz.): I often tell my friends that when it comes to makeup, my philosophy is to have fun with splendid colors; each different from the other! Concealing, contouring type of thing does not interest me much! That is why I don’t really talk a lot about foundations or concealers! I know that as a Beauty Blogger it is a weird thing to say, but I guess I am wired that way :-) Anyway, I bought this concealer in late May! Since then, I have never gone back to my old concealer which at that time I thought to be quite good. This is very light-weight concealer with a thin, tacky (in a good way) but moist consistency so it is perfect on my dry under-eye area. I love that I can use it on bare skin or with any full-coverage base; liquid or powder foundations or bb creams! It’s very easy to blend, does not crease unless you put a lot of it. Very rarely I tend to be heavy handed and I have to set it with a powder.  Also it darkens up a slight bit from when you first apply it. The shade range of this product is not quite extensive here, that’s my only complaint with this product but other than that I adore it (I never thought I will say that about a concealer)!

I don’t do monthly favorites, but I absolutely love yearly favorites posts! I hope you enjoyed my favorites for this year. I know most of these are my everyday wear products, but I do have some bold pieces! :-) I just wished I would have been able to wear them more often.

What have you been loving this year? Are there any launches that are particularly exciting in the coming months? Share with me! :-)

Love

~Arrru

New Buxom Big & Sexy Bold Gel Lipstick "Graphic Grape", "Coral Confession", "Red Inferno" ::: Review and Swatches!!!

Look for swatches at the very end... :-)

Buxom Cosmetics recently released a new range of permanent lipsticks called “Big & Sexy Bold Gel” Lipsticks. There are a total of 30 shades in matte and satin finishes! I reviewed “Classified Crimson”, “Ultraviolet”,  “Evocative Petal” here. But, I did not realize that I ordered all matte shades! As I wanted to share my view on full range of products I placed another order with 2 satins. In my previous post, I have shared a bit about Buxom Cosmetics. It is exclusively available at Sephora. I have been quite happy with the shades mentioned above but these three were not that impressive!! 

Packaging of these are beautiful. It’s one of the broader tubes with magnetic closure! Fancy and functional! The shade names are at the bottom in coordinated color label so that’s helpful. The tube material itself is satin or matte corresponding to the formula. I love the packaging, except that it needs bigger slots than found in a normal lipstick holder. You can find these at a retail price of $22 for 0.09 oz. of products in Sephora. Let’s just dive into the colors.

Graphic Grape (satin): I don’t have a lot of purple lipshades. So, I may not be 100% correct when I say that this is very unique purple. But it is definitely unique in my vanity. It’s a deep purple+plum vampy shade! One of the reason I don’t like vampy shades on me, but this one has just the right mixture of vampy-ness and brightness so that I can wear it without being uncomfortable. However, the staying power is weak, lasts only for around 4-4.30 hrs. It was smooth to apply and I was able to get an even application in just one swipe. I love this shade and formula was good too; but I recently picked up “After Dark” Matte Revolution lipstick from Urban Decay. It is similar type of color and I think I am going to favor “After Dark” a bit more. So I might be returning this. But overall, other than relatively weak staying power, I really like this particular shade.

Coral Confession (satin): Being a medium olive skin tone, I find it easier to wear corals. But off late, I am not having much luck! Venezia (bright poppy coral) liquid lipstick from Stila was a disappointment and now this one! This is a very pale faint coral, so I can see it to be more flattering on fair and lighter skin tone. But if you have a deeper skin tone, I don’t think it will be suitable. I understand that every shade is not meant to suit everyone. But my main concern is the formula! It’s a satin finish but it was very patchy and uneven on application; it was difficult to apply and get a good opaque look even after 2-3 layers. I tried a few times on exfoliated and moisturized lips but I could not get an even layer of application any one time! I hoped for it to be a “My Lips But Better” color on my skin tone, but formula utterly disappointed me. I have already returned it. 

Inferno Red (matte): Red lipsticks are very hard for me to pass up on. The red shade I reviewed earlier – “Classified Crimson” had a hint of coral warmth and I wanted a neutral deep red. “Red Inferno” looked very interesting. But it actually has a pink undertone which is not my favorite when it comes to red lipsticks. Also, upon application on the lips, it was difficult to distinguish between this and “Classified Crimson”. So I returned it. But it was smooth, even on application and easy to wear. And even if it wears out a after 4-5 hrs, the stain left behind is really beautiful. If this is your kind of red, you might want to pick this up. 

Here is a quick look at all the 6 shades I tried! Check out the other shades here!As you can see, this was not a very pleasant review for me to write. But apart from “Coral Confession” formula wise rest of them were good! My biggest concern is their staying power. For a lipstick worth $22, its wear-time is low. Also after playing with these for a month, I have a confession to make! I am not really a big fan of the lipstick bullet shape. The curve makes it very easy to apply on the upper lip but for lower lips it not really comfortable to work with. I am still happy with the colors I chose the first time! But unfortunately these new three shades most likely will not find a place in my vanity.  … 

This was my first blogpost covering these many shades of a new release... I hope it was helpful :-)

Love,

~Arrru

New Buxom Big & Sexy Bold Gel Lipstick "Evocative Petal", "Ultraviolet", "Classified Crimson" ::: Review and Swatches!!!

Off late, I have been having a lot of fun trying BRAND NEW products and limited edition goodies! There is a certain kind of exhilaration in reviewing a product that is not written about in hundreds of blog just yet :-) I am not sure how long this phase will last but for now this is very exciting!

Today I am reviewing the new “Big & Sexy Bold Gel Lipsticks” from Buxom Cosmetics! This is a “permanent” line of 30 very beautiful shades of lipsticks in matte and satin formulas! Every single shade in this range appears really alluring! These were exclusively available for VIB and VIB Rouge in Sephora but it looks like now it’s accessible to everyone!

Buxom Cosmetics and Bare Minerals are both owned by Bare Escentuals; an SFO based company. The products, packaging and promotion strategies from Buxom (makes me feel)/(give me the feeling) that it’s a modern, bold and edgy “no-nonsense” company. They don’t have hundred different products but the few ones I have tried has installed my belief in the company. Their lip formulas are very famous and recently launched eyeshadows has been very well accepted as well.

I picked up 3 colors; for now! A true red - my favorite lip color to wear, an everyday shade and a purple - to branch out of my comfort zone. :-) The packaging is beautiful. It’s one of the broader tubes; sturdy with magnetic closure! Fancy and functional! The shade names are at the bottom in coordinating colored label so that’s helpful. The tube material itself is satin or matte corresponding to the formula- I think that’s very cool! If you love Kat Von D type edgy packaging you will love this. For me, this is the right amount of edginess in packaging :-) ;-) Also, you might need lipstick holders with bigger slots as they don’t fit in my standard 24-lipstick holder from byAlegory.

For 0.09 Oz. of product this lipstick will cost you $22. That is expensive! They are formulated without parabens and are cruelty free! After trying them for a week or two now, I do believe there are similar if not better lipsticks in the market at less or similar price. But, I am not repenting the purchase as I am liking their performance. I realized that I only got matte shades, so I placed another order so that I can offer you more expansive information on the product a few days later.  

They have very smooth formula for a matte lipstick! Applies on uniformily & opaque in one swipe and are very comfortable! They are very light and feathery on the lips! And unlike some other creamy mattes, these actually appear matte on your lips! I love that! I have been wearing “Evocative Petal” a lot and I only have to apply my lip balm once in my 12-hr work day!! However, I am disappointed in the staying power. For the price I am paying I would have hoped a little more wear time specially when I compare this with Bite Beauty products. They have decent stay for only about 4-5 hours! But they do stain beautifully once the initial pigmentation wears off; it’s such an even and beautiful stain! Especially with “Evocative petal”! Apart from the slightly disappointing staying power, I am a total fan of the matte formula! Here are the shades:

Evocative  Petal: I don’t wear a whole lot of nude shades, but I got this thinking that it will be a beautiful “My Lips But Better” shade for me to wear to work! But it turned out to be a little deeper than I expected. Buxom describes it as matte deep rose and it is exactly that. I generally wear my makeup at around 7 am and it starts to fade around 11 am -12 pm. But like I said, the stain is beautiful, even and comfortably light. I started to feel a tid bit of dryness around 2 pm. The color was completely gone by 4.50 pm but I cannot get over how beautiful the stain looks. I did not think that I would like it but now this shade has become one of the few maintenance free lipsticks I wear to work.

Ultraviolet: This is such a pretty color. So feminine, soft and yet a strong statement lip shade. I never pick violets to try, but I just could not shy away from this color! It is described as a bright violet but it is not as bright as I was expecting which actually worked out better for me. I can see a cooler under tone in it, but not very much. I was afraid to try this but if done properly it is a wearable color. I can see paler beauties rocking this color. This one lasted the least on me.  

            

Classified Crimson: Described as a true red. It may appear a little bit brighter depending on the lighting. I am no expert in dupes, but it is comparable to Rimmel London Lasting Finish Lipstick-Kate Moss Collection in 01. It is a beautiful red.  Sometimes it may transfer to your teeth, so you have to be little careful. If you are looking for a comfortable red, this might be it. It is not drying and there is no bleeding; it wore for 4-5 hrs. and left behind a gorgeous brightening even red stain. I have a few red in my stash; none of them looks this pretty after it wears off.

Overall, all of these have the same creaminess and opacity in the formula! I love a line where the formula is uniform throughout the whole range of shades. I am really looking forward to try the satins when my next order arrives :-) For the price, I was expecting a better staying power but overall I am satisfied!. Look out for my second review on the satins… I will talk about Graphic Grape, Red Inferno and Coral Confession!

Have you tried any of these? What’s your favorite shade?

Love,

~Arrru