Monthly Favorites ::: Sept-Oct 2020

I didn't really have a lot of makeup items that I specifically loved in the month of September so I did not share a 'Monthly Favorites' post. But I feel like I have found a few items that I have been using and loving past two months! 😀 

So today, I am talking about the products that I have grown fond of in the month of September and October. Here we go -  

STILA Shimmer & Glow Liquid Eyeshadow in TWIG: I am pretty sure this is going to be in my Yearly Favorites 💓! I have worn this so many times this year, especially for special occasions. And more especially when I have Indian events where I get to dress up in full Indian Ethnic attires.  

It is a stunning shade; a dark coppery brown that immediately makes me feel and look sultry. I LOVE it! It is very easy to apply; I pat it on and just blend it with my fingertips. I do one eye at a time because it gives me enough time to blend it without having any sharp edges in my crease area! I think it has the perfect drying time. I get a little bit of time to play with it but I don’t need to wait forever to move/blink my eyes waiting for the eyeshadow to dry! I typically wear it all-over my lid and blend it on the crease with a dark brown shade. It is fast, super easy and yet it looks as if I spent a lot of time and effort in creating the eye look 😁. It also has tremendous staying power. Also, I can glam it up even more by layering glitter on top of it. I have worn this again for my festive glam looks this month. I am absolutely in LOVE!

DANESSA MYRICKS Colorfix Cream Color Foil in Alien: I am still trying to get a hang of the packaging and usage of the tube, it kind of squirts out a lot of products almost every time I use. It is a bit uncontrollable and thus annoying. But the product itself is soooooo good! It is a foil cream eyeshadow...when I say it's foiled...it's FOILED. It has a lot of multicolor glitter on a sheer base; it is described as rose gold with silver undertone in their website. I can wear it with warm shades and cool shades equally. It sets very quickly so you have work very fast but it stays put all day long! 

VISEART 12-pan Eyeshadow Palette in Editorial Brights: This was in my August Favorites and I am still having so much fun with this palette! Every time I pick up this palette to use (one or more shades), I feel happy. The looks come out great..all the colors show up as vibrant as they appear on the pan! I love the Yellow, and the Purple shades the most; they are simply amazing and you can already see I have made a little bit of dent in the yellow! The blue shades are a tad bit dry and takes effort in blending. 

URBAN DECAY 12-hr Glide-On Eyeliner Pencils: I have loved these eye pencils from UD for a long time. These are mainly from a holiday set I got some time ago. And I am constantly using them since the beginning of quarantine (from when I started to play more with makeup)! The shades here are mostly jewel tone colors and it matches with the eye-looks I have been creating! I love them on my upper lid but I have been mainly using them on the inner rim - it does not stay on my outermost corner (which is a problem I always have with any eyeliners) but I really do love them.

KEVYN AUCOIN Glass Glow Face in Prism Rose: Earlier this year, I got a sample card of this product with 3 shades with a Sephora order. I took it with me when I went home (to India) and to my 5-day trip to SriLanka and I loved using it! I did not really purchased the full size right away as I fountd the retail price of 38$ to be a LOT. Eventually few months ago, I found it in Beautylish at half of the price and I snagged it! I Love it! It is a liquid-y highlighter, a little bit sticky may be? But I do not mind it a bit! I will review it in detail in the coming weeks. 

RITUEL DE FILLE Inner Glow Creme Pigment in Delirium and Rare Light Creme Luminizer in Solaris: This brand has to be my most favorite discovery of this year. I tried their Bloodflower Color Nectar Balm (reviewed here) and Alchemist Highlighter which were in my past monthly favorites! This Delirium shade as blush is amazing; very flattering on my skin-tone especially during this time of the year. It is a beautiful orange, burnt reddish type of a shade and I love it. Solaris is a very unique highlighter in my collection! It is a warm champagne type of a shade with a very strong red-pink undertone. It almost has a flip to it! I find it very flattering on my tan olive skin-tone. It is not an everyday, wearable shade but I love how unique it is! 

JDGLOW Cosmetics Single Eyeshadows in Anomaly, Volcano, Prismatic, Lemonade, Unexpected, Good Gawd, Lavender and DEVINAH Cosmetics Single Eyeshadows in Salvatore, Blazed, Cleopatra, Kazookles, Rainbow Blossom, Confetti Kisses, Ilithiya: After researching for years, this year I finally have started to try out Indie Makeup brands! And I am in love! These eyeshadows are stunning! I have so much to say about these but I will reserve my thoughts for the dedicated review post! All you need to know is that I absolutely LOVE them! Absolutely! 

KOSAS Kosasport Lip Fuel in Pulse and BUXOM Evocative Petal: I have been having so much fun with eyeshadows that my love for lipstick is getting a little bit sidetracked. That combined with the current condition of the world with mask and all, has really reduced the number of occasions I have been able to use bold lip colors. I have been loving these two products though. They are very neutral and quite a perfect nude shade on me! Goes quite well with all the crazy colors I have been wearing on my eyes. (PS: The Buxom one has been discontinued!) 

That was it for this time! Almost 2 months for the Yearly Round Up! I am excited to figure out and compile the products that I loved and enjoyed all year round!

Love

~Arrru

Monthly Favorites ::: August 2020

So apparently, this is September. Some days I feel like 2020 is going very slowly and on some days I feel like it was March just moments ago! 

I shared in my Monthly Favorites post from May (see here: 'Monthly Favorites') how makeup has been a very positive distraction from all the chaos in the world during this quarantine. And I am still playing with makeup during weekends and I am still loving the process! This is one of the creative hobbies that is doing good things for me during these challenging times!

So here are the products I loved during the month of August -

VISEART Editorial Brights Palette: I had so much fun with this palette this month! So. Much. Fun! I shared in my IG feed how I have longed for this palette for years and I am so happy that I finally have it. All the colors show up as vibrant as they appear on the pan! I love the Yellow, and the Purple shades the most; they are simply amazing. The blue shades are a tad bit dry and takes effort in blending. 

I have created looks with all these shades, so I have enough info to write my blogpost and yet, I am still so excited to keep experimenting with the palette. Typically, once I have tested out all the shades in a new palette, I would move on to the next new (to me) eye product! The fact that I am still interested in playing with this palette is a tell tell sign for me that I am absolutely loving this palette. 

DANESSA MYRICKS Colorfix Cream Color in Matte "Primary Red": As anticipated, I have completely fallen in love with this Colorfix in Primary Red. This is the red of my dreams! Fierce and unapologetic RED! It took me a minute to figure out the best application technique but I think I have got the hang of it. I wear it alone or mix it with other cream formulas to get custom colors. I have been using it to create graphic liners and I absolutely love it.

MAKE UP FOR EVER Star Lit Powder in "Ultramarine": If the Colorfix above is the Red of my dreams, this is Blue of my dreams! You may or may not know, I am obsessed with this type of deep cobalt blue eyeshadows! And within the embarrassing amount of blue eye product I have, this is the most beautiful blue ever! This is a 'star powder'; it is an extremely refined powder that has a beautiful, soft but impactful shine! It looks simply gorgeous on the eyes! Its hella messy but I don't even care!

MILANI Ludicrous Lights Eye Toppers in "Pink-Aroo, Peach-Ella, Lalapa-Blue-Za": Sparkly eye toppers are my MOST recent favorite thing in makeup! Last few months I have worn them a lot and I just simply adore them! These eye toppers are fantastic; the shimmer particles in the formula are small but punchy; they shine so beautifully. All three shades here have a slight duochrome to them which makes them easier to pair it with more colors! I am also impressed with the wear time! I am still testing them out; but it's safe to say that I love them!

RITUEL DE FILLE The Alchemist Highlighter and  Color Nectar Pigment Balm in "Bloodflower" & TOWER BEAUTY Bronzino in "Best Coast": These has been a favorite last month and I am still loving and using them in my looks. 

Bloodflower is still an absolute favorite - I can wear it alone in lighter layer or increase the intensity to creating blush-draping type of looks. See my post here for detailed review! 

And yes, I am still enamored by The Alchemist. It has very visible but very intricate, beautiful glitter particles that just makes me sooooo happy. I have been creating fun, editorial looks which has made me feel like an artist 😀!

And yes, I am still using bronzino to create a fake sense of summer in my life, lol! I can read more about why I love the bronzino on my blogpost here.

NAILS INC "Naked in Neon" Nail Polish in "Knightriders Street": This is a set and I actually love all four shades in this set but this Neon green shade has my heart! I never thought I would find a neon green shade that would would look flattering on my skin-tone. It is very opaque in two coats, does not flake and on me it has lasted 10+ days. I have loved it since beginning of summer but I keep forgetting to add to my favorites list every month! Anyway, I am still gonna wear this even though the weather here has cooled down quite a bit.

Lip products: I haven't talked about lip products in a a hot minute. Mainly because between working from home, having no social event to attend and having to wear mask everytime I go out, Lipsticks has lost its intrigue. I only wear lipsticks if I am trying to pan something or to get a complimenting lip-shade to go with my eye looks. These are the products I have been using constantly to layer to custom color. Bite Beauty Cin Cin is a long time favorite, Ilia Beauty Nobody's Baby is kind of a neutral pink shade that I love to layer when I am trying to get a lighter version of my bolder lip shades - just like a wash-of-color. Lipstick Queen Magenta Fully Loaded, Berry Tacoma is relatively new but I am loving the formula and how easy it is to manipulate the shade.

That's it for this month! If you made it to this far, tell me what did you love this month?

Love,

~Arrru

Monthly Favorites ::: June-July 2020

It's been a month and a half since my last 'Monthly Favorites' post! In that post, I talked a bit about how makeup has been a very positive distraction from all the chaos in the world during this quarantine. Well, I am still continuing that habit and during weekends, I am creating full face of makeup looks! It is giving me a lot of chances to test out new products that I have bought as well as get a lot of use out of my stash! I am still having too much fun creating different eye looks, but this month, for some reason not a lot of eye product jumped out at me as my favorite!

Check my Instagram @arrru_t to check out some looks I did with these products!

Anyway, onto the favorites:

Rituel De Fille (RdF) Color Nectar Pigment Balm in "Bloodflower": This is a new product in my collection. See my post here for detailed review! It looks like a very strong red shade on the pan but it has a beautiful sheer-but-buildable translucent formula. I absolutely love this product; it is designed to be used everywhere - eyes, lips, and cheeks. I used it once or twice on the eyes and I loved the edgy vibe of the looks I created but I don't think that will be my main application type. I have been mainly using this as blush and occasionally as a lip-shade!  I love that I can wear it as a wash of color (to look more lively) or I can build up the intensity to make my cheeks look super red and editorial! I love it for summer but it would actually look extra brilliant in winter!

Rituel De Fille The Alchemist Highlighter: Along with Bloodflower I picked up a few things from RdF and this was one of them. I haven't talked about this in depth on the blog yet, but I have absolutely fallen in love with this. This is how RdF describes this product "The Alchemist is the highlighter for your highlighters, a transformative topper for your favorite luminous products. This remarkably radiant, glistening crème product enhances glow, adds a dewy finish and creates mesmerizing iridescent glimmer while maintaining the color of the highlighter beneath."  Based on my experience with this for the past 1.5 months, I completely agree with all the claims. When I first swatched it, my heart sung, for a quite some time. I apply it with my fingers and everytime I swatch it to apply, my heart sings again. And when I take my pictures,for sure, my heart sings again :-) Okay, enough romancing a highlighter, Aru! This is very aptly described as the highlighter for highlighters, it has very visible but very intricate, beautiful glitter particles suspended on an emollient base that feels like solid oil. It melts into the skin like butter, and after a minute or so sets beautifully! And granted I haven't been doing day-long rigorous activities during this quarantine, so I wouldn't know strong is its longevity. But for a simple day in a simple weekend, it did not budge the entire. I also absolutely LOVE to wear it on the eyes, it elevates any eye look I do and gives it a very wet, high fashion vibe. And the glitters does not fall-out throughout the day!

Tower 28 Beauty Bronzino Illuminating Bronzer in Best Coast:  This is another new product, I bought it when we first went into quarantine. I have been using it past 2-3 months and I have really started to love it. When I first got it and swatched it, it came across as a bronzer with ton of shimmer and a very strong red undertone. That was a bit intimidating! But upon application on the face, that feeling went away. Of course, it is very red and very shimmery but it really does compliment all the dewy colorful looks I have been creating! I intend to do a more detailed review and compare it against my beloved cream bronzer - RMS Beauty Buriti Bronzer. But yes, I have been really loving it!

Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter Liners in "Midnight Cowboy" & "Spandex": Like I mentioned above, I am still having fun with creating eye-looks. And that has ignited a love for wearing glitters in my looks. I am constantly adding glitters to add some extra oomph to my looks! Naturally, I have been reaching out to these two glitter liners from Urban Decay. I love the longevity, ease of application and the glimmer they add to any look!

Laura Mercier Cavier Stick in Plum: Yes, still lovnig this! I have a feeling that this will appear in my yearly favorites. This is a very a soft eye pencil but has quite the longevity. I have been wearing it on my lashline almost every time I wear eye makeup. It gives my eyes such a sultry look; I love it! Read my review here. 

Now this product below is just a honorary mention!

Danessa Myricks Beauty Color Fix Cream Color Matte in Primary Red: This is a VERY new product to me, honestly I have only used it once or twice. But this red is a TRUE RED, and that's enough to make me very happy. I will continue to work with this but I have a feeling that it will definitely be a favorite.   

Thank you so much for visiting my blog! Have a good week ahead and I will talk to you very soon!

Love,

~Arrru