beauty blogging for belly dancers

Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipstick

July 1, 2016Sophia Ravenna

Some months back, Bite Beauty discontinued their old lipstick line and replaced it with the new Amuse Bouche line. I wanted to try it out, but the colors I kept gravitating towards seemed pretty similar to stuff I already had and I’m trying not to have a bunch of lipstick dupes. But then they released some special limited edition colors for Summer, which included… Squid Ink and Kale.

Now, a deep navy blue and a blackened green seem like unusual choices for a summer launch, but I am not complaining. I love these colors and I just had to have them! I only wish I’d had Squid Ink last fall for my Deep One themed performance at Waking Persephone! I’m definitely going to wear these a lot in the Fall and Winter when my wardrobe gets darker.

So far I’ve only had the chance to wear Kale. What I really appreciate is that this color is fully opaque. I feel like when a green lipstick isn’t full-coverage, the underlying pinkness of the lip gives it a gross brown cast, or if the green is really sheer, it just makes you look sickly. This is a green that is not messing around.

What I don’t like is that it doesn’t apply very neatly just straight out of the bullet. I think to really wear this well, you should first put down a clear lipliner to define your lip shape and form a fence for the color, and then apply it with a brush to ensure you get nice, clean lines. Or apply from the bullet and clean up with a brush.

You may also notice that this color is a bit dark and harsh. It may seem unwearable. But let me share with you the secret for taking it from “I dunno…” to “Holy glitter this looks amazing!”

The secret is pigment! Pop a little pigment at the center of your lip to add dimension and fullness. I used Makeup Geek’s Kaleidoscope Duochrome pigment, which is a blue green purple color. But I think a soft green or a gold would look amazing, too. I was seriously amazed by how good this color looked when I put it on, and I can’t wait to try Squid Ink with a little Chameleon pigment (bue-green duochrome).

The Amuse Bouche formula has a nice satin finish… Not quite as budge-proof as a true matte, but not as drying either. I found it pretty comfortable to wear. That said, a color like Kale will make a bit of a mess. It transferred onto my retainer, and left green reside behind in my lip lines after I removed it. You’ll want a good remover and maybe even a lip exfoliator to really get rid of it!

If dark green and blue are not your jam, there are some really nice colors in the Amuse Bouche range. I also really like Whiskey and Thistle from the summer line, and hope I’ll be able to get them before they’re discontinued, because they also look great for fall.

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Viseart Chroma Palette

June 24, 2016Sophia Ravenna

Theory Palette III -- Chroma — Theory Palette III — Chroma

Hey all, bear with my on the photos here over the next few weeks… I’m still trying to figure out the lighting situation in my new apartment, and I left my cute butterfly paper backdrop in AZ.

So if you remember back in March, I reviewed a couple of the Viseart palettes and I pointed out that they were great, but expensive, and designed to be used together by professional makeup artists to create looks, so they weren’t really easy for a consumer to use to create looks from just a single palette.

Shortly thereafter, Viseart released three Theory palettes, which were smaller, more affordable, and featured coordinated shades that worked together. All three are really beautiful, but I chose the Chroma palette because the other two were more similar to colors I already had in my Paris Nudes palette, and I also wanted to have a rich matte black in the Viseart formula!

The packaging is a minimalist matte black cardboard, and small enough that you could fit it in basically any freebie cosmetics bag you have lying around, which makes it perfect for travel, or even keeping in your purse in case you have a sudden surprise gig come up.

The palette unfolds as shown above, and the one thing I don’t like is that the flap doesn’t really like to stay open! Also, there’s no mirror, which does help keep the palette small, but makes it harder to use on-the-go. Not shown in the photo is the small plastic tray that pops over the shadows for an extra layer of protection (it was too reflective in photos). One really nice feature is that the pans are held in by magnets and are designed to be easily removable — I was able to slip a fingernail under one and pop it out with no trouble or mess. This makes it really easy to put the colors in a Z-Palette, or if you buy more than one Theory palette you can mix and match the colors.

The arm swatch is in random order, because I was swatching colors as I put them on my eye, and then I figured I should go ahead and show all of them. These swatches were done with various brushes, over bare skin. You can see that the matte white is pretty much invisible on me. It’s a sheer color, well-suited for a brown bone highlight. And the palest shimmer, at the bottom, seems to be a little lighter on the skin than in the pan.

In these photos, I’m wearing the medium shimmer over most of my lid, with the medium matte (which is a bit satiny) in the crease, a touch of the matte black in the outer corner and under the lower lash line to darken it, and then the matte white under the outer third of the brow. Like the other palette, the colors are elegant and subdued, apply smoothly, and wore well for a few hours. They even survived me doing some pilates and dance practice!

These palettes break down to be more expensive per oz. than the other Viseart palettes, because you’re getting 6 pans of shadow for $45 vs. 12 pans for $80, but on the other hand, you’re getting hand-picked coordinated colors that you can use together, in the most travel-friendly palette I own. I mean this baby is so small, you could even put it in a tiny clutch evening bag. And the colors are really versatile, you can wear the lighter ones during the day and then add the darker ones for evening or performance wear. Just like the big palettes, this may be the sort of thing where you want to wait for a sale or a gift card and then splurge.

I really hope that Viseart will expand this line, I would of course love to see one in olive and gold colors, but a plummy one would also be really nice!

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My IKEA Vanity

June 17, 2016Sophia Ravenna

Of course it's green. — Of course it’s green.

If you didn’t already know, I’m spending the summer in a sublet in Tacoma. When the gal who usually lives here told me that she had her bed in the living room and the bedroom was pretty much empty, I immediately had visions in my head of a dance room! Well, it turns out the bedroom is TINY and I actually have more dance space in the living room, even with a bed, desk, and chairs in here.

But I wasn’t about to let that room go to waste! Since there was already a dresser and a mirror in there, I had visions of turning it into a vanity and dressing room. How luxurious!

This apartment is a really cute 1920s place with lots of age and character, so it would have been appropriate to comb the antique stores and flea markets to find something vintage… But vintage stuff is heavy and I live up a couple flights of stairs. Besides, I don’t know if I’ll have space for a vanity in my next few homes, so I wanted something cheap and versatile that I can either repurpose into a computer or craft desk, or give away on Craig’s List if I really don’t have space.

I gave myself a $200 budget, and $208 later I had everything I needed for my vanity room, plus some miscellaneous kitchen stuff I needed! Score! Now I’m here to tell you how you, too, can build your own IKEA vanity.

(Note, IKEA does have specific vanity tables that are pretty cute if you’d prefer something with built in mirrors and drawers, but I like my system.

The table/desk. IKEA has a lot of affordable table-desk options. I went with a table top and legs. I didn’t even get the cheapest table top, I think I could have gone $5-10 cheaper, but I wanted the white and green one, so I went with the LINNMON table top and 4 ADILS legs in silver. The table top and legs are pretty light weight so they were easy to take up the stairs, and I should be able to disassemble it when I move.
Makeup storeage. I knew I wanted the HELMER cabinet in green because I had wanted to purchase a similar one at The Container Store, but it was more expensive there and not big enough to hold all my makeup. I don’t have all my stuff here so this is more than enough room for what I do have, and once I move the rest of my makeup up here I can use this to store beads or I dunno, actual paperwork. I had seen this cabinet under this table in the store, so I knew it would fit perfectly.
Seating. Originally I was going to just roll the desk chair from the living room into the vanity when I wanted to do my face, but since my table was so cheap, I decided to get myself a cute chair. NILSERIK comes in the same white and green palette as the rest of my furniture, and it was pretty comfy and good for my posture. Plus it fits under the table when not in use. This was a little expensive and there’s a lot of more affordable stool options you could choose instead if you want to save some cash.
Lighting and mirror. The lighting in my vanity room sucks so I decided to grab the cute HARTE LED lamp, which is adjustable, comes in a few colors, and can be plugged into an AC outlet or a USB port. I might end up using it as a beading light too! The KAITUM mirror also has LED lights, and is battery powered, so I can bring it with me for gigs as well if I want to. Honestly, the lighting still sucks so I think I may need to put in another, more powerful lamp.
Accessories. The cup on the desk is actually a SKURAR candle holder but I liked the lacy pattern and figured it was perfect for collecting my used brushes as I do my makeup. I might go back for the matching candle tray to hold my perfumes and a few other objects I want to have at hand. The FNISS trash can is super cheap and just the right size for any trash I make while doing my face (q-tips, tissues, makeup packaging, whatever). The jade plant is not from IKEA, it was left here by the tenant but it looks cute on the desk!

I did my makeup for both of last weekend’s gigs at this vanity and it worked well. I had my makeup sorted into the different drawers, which made it easy to find things. There was plenty of room to work. I could have even brought my laptop in if I had wanted to follow a YouTube tutorial. Really the only thing that needs improving is the lighting situation! I’m really glad I did this because there is literally zero counterspace in the bathroom here, so this vanity is going to make my life so much easier.

NYX Plush Gel Lipstick

June 10, 2016Sophia Ravenna

You may remember seeing this product in my NorCal makeup shopping haul. When we visited the NYX store they had a few products I hadn’t seen before, like this Plush Gel Lipstick. I picked it up in Sacred Mix (cool name, right?), a lovely wine red shade.

What I like about this: The color is beautiful, nicely pigmented, and buildable. I like the slim-line packaging with the flat angled product. And I like how it feels on my lips. It has a cushiony, balm-like texture that feels smooth and slightly hydrating.

What I don’t like: This just doesn’t stay on. It’s quick to fade and transfers or wears off if you eat or drink anything!

I really can’t recommend this one for my fellow dancers, even though it’s only $7 and comes in some nice colors. There’s just no way it’s going to last for a night of performing, and it might even transfer onto your teeth. I mean, I’ll probably wear it occasionally for day-to-day stuff if I want to look cute and don’t mind reapplying every hour or two, but I’ll never wear this one on stage and I’m glad I tried it out on my vacation instead of test-driving it at a performance!

Disappointment aside…. LOOOK! LOOOKIE! I got my braces off! My teeth are freeeeeee…. well, actually, I have to wear retainers, but still. No more braces! I’m going to be rocking a lot of bold lips to show off my new mouth, so expect a lot of lippie reviews over the next couple of months.

PS: Do you enjoy my blog posts? Do you want even more blog posts? Do you have a dollar a month to spare? If so, you should check out my Patreon! I’ll blog more about it on Tuesday, but for now, this is the sort of shameless plug you’ll see at the end of my posts.

That time I played Beauty Advisor

June 3, 2016Sophia Ravenna

So it turns out that if you buy lots of makeup and blog about it on a weekly basis, your friends get the idea that you know what you’re talking about. So one of the things Sabien wanted to do while we were hanging out in CA together was pick up some more makeup, and get some input from me on how to use it. Now, I’m not an expert or a professional, just an enthusiastic and informed amateur, but I was happy to share with her what I’ve learned and some of my favorite resources for learning more (mainly Wayne Goss videos because he has a lot of short, no-nonsense tutorials and I love his accent).

It’s fun to help friends shop for makeup, because it’s almost like I’m shopping, but I don’t spend any money (except on whatever I’m picking up while I’m out with them). Also if they have different coloring or needs than I do, then I get to help them explore products that I normally pass up, and we both learn something as we go.

So I figured I’d share with you guys some of my thought process when I’m helping a friend build their belly dance makeup wardrobe.

First, you’ll notice that Sabien’s haul is a nice mix of budget-friendly brands like NYX and ColourPop, and mid-range prestige brands like Urban Decay and MUFE. I think that when you’re just starting out with makeup, it’s fun to splurge on a couple of things that you really like or that have no equivalent drug store dupe, but that when there’s a great, affordable option, you should take it — especially for things that you might want to have several colors of, like lipstick or eye liner, or things you might not wear a lot, like blue lipstick or an eye shadow you need for a specific costume that you’re only gonna wear a few times.

I really think that NYX has some of the best lip formulas on the market, especially for the price. You can see that Sabien likes lip colors, as there’s a few NYX, a ColourPop and one of those Urban Decay lippies that was half-off. She has a good mix of versatile colors for the stage, and unusual colors for a fun night out or for a special character piece. When it comes to buying lipstick, I think it’s important for dancers to choose a formula that is well-pigmented, feels good on their lips, and doesn’t move around a lot or stay tacky (because you don’t want your hair or veil getting stuck in it).

Sabien’s less eye color crazy than I am, so she stuck with making some smart purchases that went with what she already owned. A couple of eye liners, a shimmery eye shadow that coordinates with a matte palette she already owned, and my favorite Smoky Extravagant mascara, in the more affordable travel-size tube. For dancers, I like to recommend eye products that again, are well-pigmented, that have a long wear time and aren’t prone to creasing or fallout.

We looked at a few blush brands and decided on the Urban Decay. I haven’t used it myself but it has good reviews, and it looked really good on! Plus the packaging is pretty cool looking and not too bulky. For dancers, I recommend a blush that can build in intensity, depending on the lighting of your venue and how close you’ll be to the audience. It also has to have a good wear-time!

She also wanted a specific color-correcting concealer, which I’m not as familiar with, but I had seen the COVER FX one that she chose and liked how compact the packaging was. It’s part of a cool line where you can click them into a tube and have one at each end, although she only wanted the one. It worked really well for her needs, was easy to apply, blended out well and lasted all day, so if you need color correction or concealing, that’s a good brand to check out. When it comes to concealers, I look for one that does the job without being too thick, to avoid cakeyness.

One other purchase that I want to point out is the ever-handy Almay cleanup swabs. Especially when you’re learning, it’s good to have a quick and easy way to correct mistakes or remove product that you decided you don’t like after all. I’m always recommending them to dancers and makeup newbies. I love that they come in a little plastic case so it’s easy to bring them along to a show and clean up any mascara flakes or lipstick smudges that arise at the last minute, or to help out a fellow dancer whose makeup went awry.

Above all, when helping out someone who is newer to makeup or looking to branch out, I like to emphasize the fact that makeup should be fun. Swatch everything that you think you might like, and even a few things that you might not like. Then when you get home, play around with what you bought. Combine things! Try things out! Start out with a tutorial, and then branch out from there. If you don’t like it, you can just wash it off and start again.

All the way from Amsterdam…

May 27, 2016May 25, 2016Sophia Ravenna

What happens when a belly dancer from The Netherlands and a belly dancer from USA hang out together? They swap makeup, of course! I was really excited that my friend Sabien brought me this Durable Eyeshadow Mousse from Make-Up Studio, because it seemed like an interesting product and the color “Edgy Emerald” looked really stunning.

I expected this product to be like a typical cream base, but it actually has a texture like mousse, a lot lighter and softer than a cream or gel. As such I picked up more with my brush than I really needed!

Color is a bit off due to sub-optimal lighting conditions.

This product is a little tricky to apply. You have to let it dry before opening your eye, or it will crease. However, it dries pretty quickly, so you can’t really blend it out to diffuse the edges. If it does crease, you can apply more to smooth it out.

It seemed to either give my lids a weird texture, or over-emphasize the texture that was already there, so its not ideal for close-up photos. However, the color was vivid, intense and metallic. And best of all, once it is dried it does. not. budge. I wore it all day and my eyes still looked great at the end of the day. I first tried to remove it with the magic eraser cloth from Sephora and barely took any of it off. An oil-based cleaner did break it up, so you can remove it when the time comes.

I also applied it under my lower lash line and it worked great that way, so I think these would double as a liner really well.

This product seems ideal for all-day outdoor events and maybe even for mermaids who want something that can get wet. Unfortunately, you can’t currently get it in the US, but if you are traveling, you may want to look for a Make-up Studio store!

NorCal Makeup Haul

May 20, 2016Sophia Ravenna

Apparently I'm in a lippy mood. — Apparently I’m in a lippy mood.

I’m on vacation in Northern California, and my friend requested we do some makeup shopping, so of course I complied! We’ve hit Sephora, Ulta, and a NYX store, as well as the cosmetics department of Target. Here’s what I’ve picked up, some of which will be reviewed on this blog in the future.

Sun Bum lip balm. I picked this up because my usual lip balm has SPF 15 and we’ve been walking outdoors a lot, so I got a sunburn on my lips. Ouch! This untinted balm has a nice texture and wears well, but the coconut flavor is a bit too sweet and strong.
NYX Plush Gel Lipstick. I hadn’t seen this formula before so I decided to give it a try and I picked up a gorgeous red shade.
The Ulta we visited actually had a fair amount of the UD Revolution lipsticks left for 50% off, so I decided to pick one up, but when I was preparing for this photo I realized that it looks like it may have actually been used, as there is lipstick on the box and the tube. Gross. I’ll have to disinfect it before I use it.
NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Vancouver. One of the new colors they released what, earlier this year or the end of last year? There’s some good ones. This one is purple! I might eventually grab Moscow, which is blue, but I’ll wait for a sale.
NYX Extreme Shine Eye Liner. I hadn’t seen this formula either and this green is incredibly bright and shiny.
A brush belt! NYX had these for only $25 and I thought it would be cool to have one, especially when I’m doing my makeup someplace without counter space. It’s already been easier for me to find the brushes I’m looking for, too.

A pretty modest haul considering all the stores I visited, but then again, I didn’t really NEED anything.

What’s up with all this makeup?

May 6, 2016May 5, 2016Sophia Ravenna

opinion

We interrupt your regularly scheduled makeup review for this special report!

No seriously. I was going to review my new microfiber hair towel today. That’s what my content calendar calls for. But I have AN OPINION and it cannot be held in check. Opinions are more interesting than towels any day, right?

The question of the day is “What’s up with all this makeup?” It feels like not a day goes by that I don’t see a new launch of some sort in my Twitter feed or inbox, or on Temptalia’s blog. Then on Tuesday it really hit home when Urban Decay announced they were reformulating their lipstick (the current formula only dates back to like, 2013 or so) and relaunching… with 100 core shades, 20 Sephora exclusive shades, and 50 lip liners.

120 lipsticks at $17 each and 50 liners are $20 each. If you wanted to buy them all, and you didn’t happen to have a convenient coupon, that would set you back $3040 plus tax. Now, I’m sure they don’t expect most people to buy the whole damn line, but that hasn’t stopped them from sending out fancy display cases to prominent social media stars. I haven’t counted to see if they got all the shades or just the core 100 colors, but that’s at least $1700 worth of lipstick. Lest you think I’m just jealous because I’ll never be cool enough to get free makeup, believe me, I’m not. I’m in the middle of moving and there’s no way I want to drag 100 freakin’ lipsticks with me and try to find room for them in a tiny apartment, thanks anyway!

My problem isn’t specifically with the UD launch, but what it represents. I think we’re seeing a cosmetics bubble you guys. From constant launches and reformulations and special limited edition collections from the big companies, to blogs and YouTubers breathlessly gushing about the latest Insta-famous indie brands, we are drowning in cosmetics. We brag about our “hauls”, we buy the same color of lipstick in five different formulations and we all have at least ten different black eye liners. Why? Do we really need all this?

All of these products are surrounded by so much hype, thanks to Instagram and YouTube. Much of the hype is driven by supplying free products, or collaborating with popular makeup artists and style gurus for a line, or having these “beauty gurus” visit the company at their design labs, makeup show booths, or stores. While I don’t blame companies for taking advantage of the possibilities of viral marketing (after all, marketing is my day job!) it’s starting to feel a little over-done.

Already I can see people starting to lose their trust in beauty companies and the gurus who promote them. There are valid complaints about both sides. I see these issues cropping up over and over again:

First, people feel like the big companies are trying too hard. Too many launches, often of similar products (even the YT beauty vloggers who get them for free are starting to complain about neutral palettes!), too much blatant courting of social media stars, too many products that don’t live up to claims despite a high price tag.
Then when they decide to give the little guy a try and check out that hot indie company everyone’s suddenly talking about, they discover new problems. The scandals surrounding indie cosmetics range from stolen credit cards and drained PayPal accounts to shoddy packaging to weeks-long shipping delays to incomplete or missing orders to indie nail polish that caused serious damage to peoples’ nail beds. Any and all of these can be paired with poor customer service that clearly DNGAF unless you’ve got 10k Instagram followers. Taking a chance with an indie company can have bad results that range from wasting a few dollars on a substandard project to physical injury and stolen funds, which of course makes people wary of ever trying another indie brand, even though some are quite nice.
After being burned a few times by indie upstarts and failed launches from the big brands, you might feel tempted to sit back and wait for the reviews from now on. So before buying the hot new palette that everyone’s abuzz about, you watch a video by your favorite YouTube guru. She swatches the colors on her arm and they look great! She says they’re so soft, buttery, and highly pigmented. Sure she only swatched 3 colors, but they all looked great, so you buy it. When you get it, you find that those three colors are great, but there’s 4 or 5 colors that are just powdery and patchy. Well, maybe you’re not using them right. You go back to YouTube and watch another MUA channel. She swatches the same few really popular colors and says they’re so soft, buttery, and highly pigmented. Wait, this sounds familiar… It’s almost like they all received a promotional package that touted the brands new soft, buttery, and highly pigmented eye shadow formula.
Well, you’ve still got the palette so you might as well enjoy it. You see a tutorial for an eye look based on the palette, and you figure that will maybe help you learn how to work with some of the more difficult colors. But you find the tutorial difficult to follow because the person doing it has very different skin tone and eye color from you and makes no suggestions for how to adjust it. You do some digging and realize that despite presenting herself as a makeup expert, she is entirely self-taught* and actually has lots of videos full of terrible advice.

With all of this happening, it’s no wonder that some of the more cynical members of the community are starting to get a little burnt out. When you sit down and realize how much you’ve spent on makeup in the past year, and how much of it turned out to be not that great, and how much of it is fine but not your favorite so you rarely use it, you can start to feel a little silly. It spirals out of control so easily, because going to Sephora and buying a couple little things is a great pick-me-up on a bad day, especially since you can put that new lipstick right on in the store and feel cute and happy. But all those little purchases build up, and suddenly you see the appeal of the anti-haul, the purge, the no-spend, the “use up 7 products before July”.

I think much like the current backlash against the wasteful nature of fast fashion, we’re going to start to see a lot of resistance towards the constant new cosmetics launches and must-have products. I think there’s going to be more of a trend towards buying beauty products that are a real staple — a good classic red lipstick, for instance — instead of a rush to have one of every color of everything, and every limited edition palette that comes in a cute package. I’m curious if multi-taskers will become more popular too (such as products that can tint lips and cheeks), or if we’ll retain a preference for products that are really great at one thing instead of OK at two things.

Either way, I just don’t see this current growth as sustainable. Yes, millennials like to spend a lot on makeup, but they’re also facing a tough job market and high student loans and constantly rising housing costs in the most popular cities. How long are they going to keep dropping their paychecks on liquid matte lipsticks and highlighter palettes, instead of paying down their debt and investing in their future?

So there’s my thoughts. You’ll see my disillusionment with the current frantic release pace of the cosmetics industry reflected in less purchasing and less product reviews. Don’t worry! Beauty Blogging for Belly Dancers will still be posted on every Friday, but some of the reviews will be replaced by tips & tricks or opinion posts or brand overviews.

*Not that there’s anything wrong with being self-taught. I’m not a professional makeup artist, after all. I just think it’s important to be clear about who you are and what you know, and if you’re not a trained professional, maybe don’t go around giving people advice like telling them to make DIY face masks out of products that are terrible for your skin.

Products I Regret Buying

April 29, 2016Sophia Ravenna

Ok, so I’ve been meaning to sit down and film a YouTube video about this stuff for months, but my house is in disarray from my upcoming move, and I don’t want to haul this stuff to Washington with me, so let’s just talk about it here on my blog. Here’s an assortment of products I regret buying, most of which I never reviewed on this blog because I disliked them too much to test them more thoroughly.

Since I regret buying these and I don’t think anyone else is should buy them, I’m not going to link to any of these products. Let’s just talk about why I regret buying them.

First, the L’Oreal La Palette Nude 2. When I saw this at Ulta I thought it looked like a cheap dupe for Naked 3, which is probably what they wanted me to think, but really, it’s more plummy than rose gold. Also a lot of the colors are really similar to each other. Do I really need that many plummy nudes? Maybe? When I first started applying them, I thought maybe it would be an OK palette. Then I tried blending and the colors just disappeared. They have no staying power! I was left with a faded, muddy plum eye before I even left the house, let alone trying to dance. So pass this one by in your search for cheap Naked dupes.

ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip. I already reviewed this. I really love the color but the formula is too dry for my lips! I’m going to give it another try up in WA, to see if my lips are more forgiving in a less arid climate, but still. I wish I had liked this formula as much as so many YouTubers do.

I also reviewed that NYX liner. Just last week in fact. I just wanted to say again how grossly dry and cracked it looked. Yuck. Also my friend Becka Bomb said she had the same experience with the pink Vivid Brights liner, so I think the whole collection is no good.

Next up… I actually really love the Marc Jacobs Gel Crayon liners. And Peridot is the most beautiful color, and it looks amazing with my green Medina bra. So why do I regret buying it? Because this is from that bad batch where the lids don’t seal right, a problem that caused MJ to pull their liners off the market for MONTHS while they fixed the packaging. Every time I want to use this gorgeous green liner, I have to break off a disgusting chunk of dried-up gel liner, twist up more product, and shape it into a point. I wouldn’t complain if it was a $5 ColourPop liner, but these liners cost what, $25? And I bought myself this one as a special treat. So disappointed!

J. Cat Wondrous Lip Paints. Why did I think a cheap OCC Lip Tar rip-off would be a good idea? You can tell these have been sitting unloved in my collection for a long time, because they ripped off the OCC squeezy bottles too, while all the newer liquid lipsticks come in a tube with a doe foot — hell, even Lip Tar comes packaged that way now! I tried one of these once and had a very meh reaction and never tried them again.

Now, something that I actually thought should have been a good idea were the e.l.f. nail polish remover pads. They come in a cute, compact little round container so I figured they would be PERFECT for all of my traveling. It’s such a pain to travel with nail polish remover because if the bottle leaks it just messes everything up. I brought these along on my 3.5 week PNW adventure last fall, with the idea I’d be able to change my nail color a couple of times. Well, after about a week my nails were looking terrible so I broke these out and ugh, it took a whole bunch of wipes and a whole bunch of time to remove my nail polish! So a few months later I pulled them out again with the idea that I would use them again to count how many wipes it had taken, and guess what? Even though I had left the little plastic liner in, and closed the lid tightly, they had dried out completely. So they don’t work well, and they don’t last long. At least I didn’t waste much money on them!

Lastly, the product that taught me to wait for the reviews before jumping on a brand new product… The Makeup Geek Sparklers. I jumped on these when they launched because MUG had been hyping them all over the internet and I love glitter. Then while I was waiting for them arrive I saw some reviews and oh boy, were they a mess. And in such tiny jars! It was such a kerfuffle that MUG ended up issuing a small partial refund to everyone to make up for the shoddy packaging and the lost product. We were told sifters would be coming and that we’d be able to get them for just the cost of shipping… But you know what? That was back in late Dec/early Jan, and here we are, almost MAY, still no sifters, and the website still says they don’t have sifters yet. Anyway, I was so turned off by the reviews that I still haven’t even opened and tried these out! I really should, because the two colors I bought are pretty. I just don’t feel like cleaning up a glitter explosion.

Of course there are a few other things I regret buying (remember that 24/7 waterline liner from Urban Decay?) but I either returned them or threw them out, so they weren’t available for this blog.

Experienced some beauty product fails of your own? Let me know in the comments!

Two Nyx Eye Products

April 22, 2016Sophia Ravenna

Today I’m talking about a couple of new-ish Nyx products that I saw on YouTube and wanted to test out. I’m always looking for bold, affordable makeup options for the budget-minded belly dancer, and the pigmentation on these looked pretty impressive for the price — especially when you consider how often Ulta has sales on Nyx, or just sends out a $3.50 coupon that you could use. In fact, at the time of this writing, these products are BOGO 50% on Ulta!

Let’s start with the Avant Pop palette. This comes in three different color ways. I chose the Art Throb one because it’s the brightest and has two gorgeous greens! This palette is a nice mix of really bold colors with a few more neutral shades. Of the 10 colors, 8 are varying degrees of shimmery, one is a true matte and one is a satiny almost matte. I wouldn’t say that you could make a lot of different looks with just this palette, but it is a great way to add some variety to your eye shadow wardrobe, and it’s compact enough that you could travel with it and another equally compact palette.

The pigmentation here is not on par with say, Viseart or anything, but for the price, it’s surprisingly intense. I tested it out with a pretty thorough dance practice and then a day at work, and after a few hours I had a small amount of creasing and color transfer, which is common for me due to my hooded lids.

I tested these colors over just my usual UD primer potion on one eye, and then over a Nyx jumbo pencil in Milk, to see if a white base would make them brighter. I don’t think it made a huge difference. I’m wearing both greens, the blue, a bit of the palest pink under my brows and a pop of the silver in the inner corner. It’s a bit crazy, and that’s before I added the eye liner. These colors are great if you’re looking to do a really bold look, maybe for a fantasy character or circus-themed performance. I think they’re probably not quite pigmented enough to show under big stage lights, but for most smaller-scale gigs, they’ll be plenty visible.

Of course, this left me to try to combine the other 5 colors into one look, to somewhat weird results. The matte peach is hidden under the black. I have to say, that one didn’t really seem to show up well. It may work best as a soft shade for buffing out the edges of a look, rather than as a color you actually wear on its own.

Over all, I feel like this is pretty good for a $17 palette. Those of us who already have a pretty good makeup collection probably don’t really need to pick it up, but for those who are just starting out, it’s a great entry-level palette at a student-friendly price point. The pans are large enough to last you a good long time until you’re ready to invest in more strongly pigmented colors when you hit the big stage.

And then there’s this guy… Vivid Brights in Vivid Escape. I don’t normally wear liquid liners, because I’m not patient enough to wait for them to dry. But this line comes in some fun bright colors, and there was a BOGO 50% sale going on the day that I bought the palette, so I figured I’d give it a try. I shouldn’t have bothered.

First of all, the color leans a little more towards yellowy-chartreuse and less towards the intense lime the package lead me to expect. Also, look at how dry and cracked it looked. I was hopeful that maybe it was just having a strange reaction to some reside left from the wipe I used to remove the eye shadow swatches, so I went ahead and gave it a go…

It was just as dry and cracked looking under my eye, if not worse! Plus as it dried, it gave my skin a weird tight feeling. I had hoped that I could use it as a nice, bright base for more of the shimmery lime green from the palette, but I couldn’t get the eye shadow to stick. Maybe if I applied it with a wet brush? But since the liner doesn’t say it’s waterproof, that might just make a mess. Who knows?

I can’t really recommend this one. I mean, the color is intense but it just looks terrible up-close. I definitely wouldn’t ever wear it for photography, or any performance where I might be talking to the audience after, less they think I have some gross skin condition going on with my under-eyes.

So there you go. A hit and a miss from Nyx Cosmetics this time around.