Monthly Favorites ::: July 2016!!!

July was clearly a month of highlighters and bronzers! It was actually going really good in terms makeup application until I got a scary, BIG big zit right on the center of my left cheek last week! It has not shown any sign of shrinking down yet :-( Anyway, here are my July favorites –

Cover FX Custom Enhancer Drops: I have this in Sunlight and Candlelight. The formula of these highlighters are unlike any other! It’s a liquid product but very refined and so very easy to mix and use. It’s quite pigmented so yes, blending it is not always the easiest and I do need my “patient pants” on while blending it but I always love, love the outcome. I have a very detailed review and swatches on these here, please have a read. I absolutely love mixing these with my foundation for a beautiful and very subtle glow :-)

Hourglass Ambient Luminous Light Palette, Nordstrom exclusive: Aah, another highlighter type palette! This has a highlighter, a blush and a bronzer. The blush and bronzer will actually be more flattering for skin tones that are a shade or two lighter than me.  On me it looks very subtle! It give me a great feel of "luxury" :-) I totally love it.

Marc Jacobs Beauty Highliner Gel Eye Crayon Eyeliner: These are by no means new favorite. They were in fact in my 2015 Beauty Favorites. I have seven shades of these and I religiously use them at least twice or thrice each week. I LOVE these; they apply nicely and have such nice pigmentation. And they don’t budge at all throughout the day! I have a full review here. My VERY favorite shades are – Midnight in Paris, Th(ink), O(vert).

Makeup Geek new eyeshadows in Fashion Addict & Tuscan Sun: These are some of Makeup Geek’s not-so-new eyeshadow shades. I bought a few of them and I like all of them but these two shades were my absolute favorite. They are such pretty, soft colors. Very smooth formula, easy to blend and not overly pigmented which I actually prefer for these shades. They work great as crease shades and I also like using it all-over-the-lid.

Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Foundation: I am not the one, who is overly enthusiastic about foundation or concealers, however this coming October, my sis is getting married and I need to good foundation for all the dozen events during the wedding. I love this formula, it served well during her engagement ceremony. I had a 10% discount code from Sephora and I bought Y415 but it is bit light for me; I cannot find the right shade for the life of me. Right now I am using a mix of Y415 and Y445. No matter the shade, I enjoy the formula. It stays put, does not get too greasy and it is easy to apply quickly.

How was July for you? What are the products that you have been enjoying this month? Do share :-)

Love,

~Arrru

New Makeup Geek Eyeshadows - Spring '16

Many of us already know that Makeup Geek (MUG) Cosmetics has an incredible range of eyeshadow shades! But lucky for us this Spring they decided to add a few more! There are 9 matte and 9 shimmers in this collection. The pretty soft-warm “sunset” themed mattes shades are what drew my attention to this release. However when I watched the swatches of the shimmer shadows in online videos, I had to pick some up! :-) I will discuss the shades first and then touch up on the prices and other details towards the end of this post!

MUG shimmer shades are always very beautiful; and I strongly feel that they are well worth the $6 price tag! All the previous shades that I have are quite consistent in formula! But to my surprise, all three shades that I ordered this time seem so very different – formula and texture-wise!

Venom (buy here): Without a doubt, this is the best performing shade in this bunch. It is a khaki shade and it looks very similar to their duo-chrome shade in “Typhoon” but it is much more deeper and does not have a lot of shift in it. It has incredible pigmentation; whether you are using a brush or your finger tips, it is very easy to get an even and intense color payoff on the eyelids! It feels just a bit chalky to touch however it goes very even on application, quite easy to blend. Did I tell you that the pigmentation of it is just out of this world? I absolutely love this shade.

Toxic (buy here): This has a formula that is much more finely milled than Venom, therefore it feels much smoother to touch. It is very, very pigmented but because it is smoother, it appears less strong of a shade and may be because of that it does not appear as vibrant as I wanted to! That’s not a bad thing though; this type of shades are best to use when you long for color and yet not ready to indulge in a “va-va-voom”/”pop”  of color! I also like to use my fingers to dab this on my eyelids to get a stronger and brighter color payoff!  It is almost a blackened purple of a shade and every now and then I like wearing this type of shade as an alternative of dark black/brown shades!

Rebel (buy https://www.makeupgeek.com/makeup-geek-eyeshadow-pan-rebel.html): Now this is a very unique color. It has a periwinkle blue-grey base with a gold shade. It is almost a duochrome! I am not sure if these two “shift” shades complement each other! Under some light I like the combo and really enjoy the shift but under some different some light, it don’t like it at all! It also feels much drier in comparison to Venom and Toxic. It has a smooth texture but it surely is dry! It is not my favorite but I enjoy the fact that I can still wear it to work for a quick everyday-glam look!

I bought 3 new matte shades from this release and they all were really consistent in formula!

Tuscan Sun (buy here): This feels so incredibly smooth, when I was swatching these I felt I could just keep on swirling my fingers on it :-) It is a gorgeous soft pinky-coral shade – reminds me of soft corally shades during sunset! It is quite an enchanting shade for me :-) Not very heavily pigmented like some of their other mattes. But for this particular shade, that “less stronger pigmentation” actually works out better. I have worn it as crease shade and as well as all-over-the-lid shades. Both ways, it performs the same. I adore this shade.

Fashion Addict (buy here): About 2 months ago, my sister was vigorously looking for Pink/Hot Pink eyeshadows. While doing the research for her I realized, there are not a whole lot of pink eyeshadows. Some are more corally, some are orangey, some are red and a lot of them are more purple than pink. But I love this shade. I know that on MUG website, it is described as an orchid purple. But I see it more of a true pink when applied on the eyes. Such a happy shade! It will immediately brighten up your entire look. It has the same soft texture as Tuscan Sun, easy to blend and has beautiful pigmentation. Very happy!

Tiki Hut (buy here): Such a cute name! I have recently developed a love for these type of deeper brown shades. It is very versatile; sheer it out to use as crease shade, or add on the lower lid, use it as an alternative for a boring black. This appears to be a bit less smoother  and less pigmentation than Cocoa Bear, one of my absolute favorite shade (review here). But on the eyes, it performs the same.

Chickadee (buy here): This is an existing shade! I bought it in this order, so I thought of including it in this review. It’s a beautiful deep mustard-yellow shade; very unique shade. It’s excellent to slightly warm up your looks! It’s not an everyday color for me but I do enjoy it as crease and blending shades in my looks! 

With Urban Decay Primer Potion and Mac Paint Pot underneath, these stayed on for entire day- at least for 11-12 hrs. But on a daily basis, when I am not putting much effort and time in my makeup in the morning, it fades by afternoon ie after 7-8 hrs of application! The price for these shadows is now $6.00/pan for 0.064 oz. (1.8 g). I know MUG gained popularity because of its incredible quality at much affordable price but I opt for MUG shadows more when I am looking for particular shades! I have reviewed a few of MUG shades before (you can check them here and here). Apart from Rebel, I really have been liking these new shades :-)

Today is my off Friday, and I have crap ton of chores to take care of! So it is gonna be one of those “busy-for-nothing” weekends! What about you guys, any fun plans?

Love,

~Arrru