NARS Super Orgasm illuminator Review

NARS Super Orgasm Illuminator

Grade: A

Purchase Price: $29.00

Purchase Place: Sephora

To the left is what Super Orgasm looked like after I blended it out on my skin a little. To the the right is just a swatch of color straight from the tube.

I saw NARS Illuminator one day when I was looking around at Sephora. I was never really into Illuminator before this however after I swatched some of the shades I absolutely had to have a NARS Illuminator in Super Orgasm. I put off purchasing it for a little while given that it was $29.00 and it just seemed a little steep for how much product you got, plus even though I loved the color I didn't know how much I would really use the product. One day while shopping this past summer I decided to go ahead and purchase it. I'm really happy that I did decide to go ahead and spend the money for it because I love the illuminator and I'm even considering purchasing Orgasm and Laguna NARS Illuminator now. The thing I love about Super Orgasm is that it looks great on my skin tone, I really love the shimmer. The glitter that Super Orgasm has in it is okay for me some days and on other days I wish I had the original Orgasm in the illuminator. Which is why one of the colors that I'm considering purchasing in the future is the Orgasm illuminator. With this illuminator you only need to use a little bit at a time so one tube should last a while. I've been applying this illuminator and very small dabs on my cheekbones, the bridge of my nose, and on occasion my brow bone. After I apply I blend out and it gives me a nice shimmery, glittery highlight. The illuminator blended well for me so no complaints there. Another thing I love about the Illuminator is that it gave me some color, as well as shimmer. I find that a lot of highlights one very popular one especially just blends right into my skin, no color and very little shimmer. Not with the NARS Super Orgasm Illuminator, it gave me great shimmer as well as great color, I even used it as a blush replacement one day when I was in a hurry doing my makeup and it worked wonderfully for me, gave me just enough color but wasn't overwhelming. If you are not someone who is into glitter, I would recommend skipping Super Orgasm and purchasing the original Orgasm shade. The illuminator can also be used in  few different ways, first it can also be mixed into a little bit of foundation for a all over glow second it can be applied under blush for a extra pop. Overall except for the glitter on occasion I don't have any complaints I pretty much love everything about the illuminator and I can't wait to purchase more of the NARS illuminator shades in the future. Anyone else own one of the NARS Illuminators? If so what do you think?

Ulta Eyeshadow Singles Review

Ulta Eyeshadow Singles

Grade: D-

Purchase Price: At the time they was $7.00 each regularly priced but I purchased for $3.00 each

Purchase Place: Ulta

Colors purchased: Bloom, Sunburst, Seashell, and Zephyr

I decided to purchase these eyeshadows last spring and bought all four at one time during a sale. I was excited to try them and had never used Ulta Eyeshadows until that point. What I expected was a decent shadow, with decent pigmentation, not the best but decent. What I ended up with was probably the worst eyeshadow i've ever purchased. The colors looked pretty in the pan however when I swatched them and played around with them after I got them the color was not as vibrant as I expected it to be. About the only good thing I have to say about these shadows is that they didn't irritate my eyes or make them feel tired. When i applied them dry I couldn't see them, I had to apply a lot to see color on my eyes and then it just looked cakey and awful. So I decided to apply wet the next time I used them, which was a big mistake. I still had little to no color and the color that did apply was streaky and uneven. I tried using both brushes and sponge applicators and nothing I did with them worked for me. Eventually after figuring there was nothing that I could do with them I eventually tossed them in the trash. Unless they have changed the formula since I last bought Ulta eyeshadows, I must say these are awful. I do know they have changed packaging since I bought these so maybe they updated the formula as well. All i know is no matter if these are on sale again or not I know I wont be purchasing these again.

What is the Difference Between NARS Orgasm and NARS Super Orgasm Blush?

When I first started getting into NARS products the first two items I bought was NARS Orgasm blush followed by NARS Super Orgasm blush. At the time i bought those I did not have a Sephora close to me so I had to purchase online without seeing them in real life. Now if you are are like I was at the time you may be wondering what the difference between NARS Orgasm and Super Orgasm blush is. To be honest with you just glancing at the two colors laying on my makeup table they look like pretty much the same thing in the pan except to me one has gold glitter. However if I take a closer look Super Orgasm is lighter than Orgasm, and more on the pink side with glitter and that is pretty much the difference. A lot of people say it is just the glitter that is the difference but as you can see from my photos there is a color difference as well. If you are wondering if you should buy both, my answer is yes. To me there is enough of a difference to justify buying both colors. When I apply Super Orgasm blush I never seem to notice any of the glitter on my face but I always apply my blush very lightly so that is probably why I never notice it. If you are wondering which my favorite is of the two it is Orgasm and Orgasm is also the shade I recommend trying first between the two.

The top photo was taken on a cloudy day in natural light top color is Orgasm bottom color is Super Orgasm.

Bottom photo was taken on a sunny day in natural light. Colors from left to right: Super Orgasm and Orgasm

Bodycology Island Coconut Hand & Body Lotion Review

Bodycology Island Coconut Hand & Body Lotion

Grade: C (average everyday lotion)

Purchase Place: Ulta

Purchase Price : $3.74 (on sale)

Regular Price $4.99

Other info: Bodycology lotion comes in several other scents as well.

I was shopping at Ulta one day stocking up for fall at the time and was interested in purchasing some lotion and happened to see the Bodycology lotion sale and noticed they had a scent called Island Coconut. Being that I'm a sucker for all things coconut scented I picked up and decided to purchase it. Plus I had never tried a Bodycology product before so I was curious about it which also was a part of why i purchased the lotion. I'm happy I made the purchase because I love the smell of it. To me Island Coconut reminds me a lot of Bath & Body Works Exotic Coconut but just a little different. I only use this lotion on my hands and it moisturizes well. Honestly I like it but it's nothing new to me it works just like most lotions, nothing spectacular, but I do like it. Which is pretty much why I gave it a C given that it's nothing to rave about and go crazy over however I do still like it and it's a decent product. I only have one complaint about it and it is that the lotion can be a little greasy, it leaves that kind of greasy feeling behind, like many other lotions do. Other than that I'm pretty happy with it. I got the 12oz bottle for only $3.74 and it was regularly priced $4.99 which to me was a good deal. It's a pretty good sized bottle and given that I only use on my hands the one bottle will last me a really long time. I've never used this on severely dry skin I just use this lotion for everyday dryness. I tend to use this lotion if my hands feel a little dry during the day I put some of this on my hands and it works well for that purpose. In the future if I ever see bodycology lotion on sale again for a good price I will more than likely purchase another bottle to use for everyday dryness.

Benefit BADgal Lash Review

Benefit BADgal Lash

Grade: A

Purchase Place: Sephora

Purchase Price: Free

Regular Price: Small Size: $9.00  /  Full Size $19.00

FYI: I'm reviewing the smaller size BADgal Lash

Cap is actually silver, but seeing as how it was a cloudy day the camera flash for some reason made it look black.

After having to throw all of my drugstore eye products (shadows, liners, mascaras) away because for some reason they all irritate my eyes horribly and leave them blood red, not sure why they do now because they never used to. Anyway I needed a new mascara because I didn't have any since up until that point I only used drugstore mascara. Luckily at the time the 500 point Sephora gift was something I really wanted and it came with a small Benefit BADgal Lash, which I was excited to try. I've been using this mascara for about a month now and I really like it. The first thing that I love about BADgal Lash is that it does not clump up on me. Being that I had always bought drugstore mascara I was used to occasional clumping. However BADgal don't leave any clumps behind. I already have very long lashes naturally so I really don't need mascara but I do use it any way and tend to layer it on for extra oomph, I generally apply about three coats. When I use BADgal on my top lashes two coats work perfectly. The first coat lengthens and separates and the second gives more volume and definition, no need for a third coat with this mascara. On my bottom lashes I only use one coat and it looks wonderful, it lengthens and separates my bottom lashes perfectly. I really like how my lashes look when I use this mascara. Another great thing about this product is that it does not cause me any eye irritation, goodbye tired eye feeling and goodbye red eyes. Also BADgal does not flake or give me raccoon eyes. I can wear it all day and I have no problems, it wears wonderfully. I love the mascara brush; it's much bigger than any mascara brush I’ve ever used before. I find that this brush it easier to work with than others I’ve used in the past. As you can see I really like BADgal Lash by Benefit, so much so that I will more than likely be purchasing a full size of it at some point in the future.

Kat Von D Angeles Palette Review and Swatches

Kat Von D Angeles Palette

Grade: B+

Purchase Place: Sephora

Purchase Price: $15.00

Angeles palette in the package

Back of the box

way the box opens

Angeles palette wrapped

Angeles palette unwrapped

Kat Von D Angeles palette

colors left to right: Venus, Leather, Specimen, Rehab, Peggy, Bukowski, Bellbottom, Morphine

Swatches taken in natural light without flash. Colors left to right: Venus, Leather, Specimen, Rehab, Peggy, Bukowski, Bellbottom, Morphine

The Kat Von D Angeles palette was something I had debated getting since the summer. The main reasons I was iffy about buying it was 1. the packaging, white packaging will get dirty fast and I like to keep my makeup containers looking nice and 2. I thought I could easily dupe every color in the palette and thought it was silly to buy a palette full of colors I probably already had. Every time I went to Sephora I always seemed to go look at this palette and swatch it and play the should I shouldn't I game. After a month or so of seeing the Angeles palette on sale for on $15.00 marked down a lot from original price I decided I might as well get it. After getting it and using it as well as comparing to colors I already had I am happy I bought it but yes I have half the colors in the palette already mostly the neutral ones. To me the brighter colors in the palette are well worth spending the 15 bucks, because while I have similar colors i don't have anything exactly like them and they are stunning. When you first open the box it opens from the bottom and folds out kind of like a folder. The palette comes wrapped in a shimmery charcoal colored paper with a pretty blue KVD sticker. After sliding the palette out of the paper I went ahead and opened it. Now I'm not sure if this is just my palette or all palettes but it is a little hard for me to get open, and when you are in the process of opening it, it's a little stiff to open, it doesn't open smoothly. Other than that upon opening of course the colors are stunning. The palette comes with 7 powder shadows and one cream shadow, along with two small brushes. The powder shadows are wonderful; they are very pigmented and soft. The cream shadow named Morphine I'm not to impressed with, it seems dried out. It's no so dried out i couldn't swatch it obviously but it just seems dry, clumpy and hard to work with. I hate it that the cream shadow is like that because it really is a pretty color. Morphine looks white in my swatch and it is white but it has a blue and green glittery, shimmery sheen to it that my camera didn't pick up. The brushes in the palette I find to be pretty much useless, I guess they could be used as liner brushes when you are in a bind. I don't see how they could be useful shadow brushes given how small they are. I have used this palette several days now and I love it, aside from the cream shadow I don't have any complaints. I find the powder eyeshadows to be long wearing and easy to work with the neutral colors are just as stunning as the brighter shades. Usually when I buy palettes there is at least one color in the palette I hate but not with this palette I love all of the colors in it. Also these eyeshadows didn't cause me any eye irritation, but the products I purchase from Sephora never seem to cause me any problems of that nature. Until I purchased this palette I had never purchased a Kat Von D product. After trying the Angeles palette I'm now interested in purchasing more of her palettes in the future.

BareMinerals Big, Bright, & Brilliant Trio of Mini Eyeliners Review

BareMinerals Big, Bright, & Brilliant Trio of Mini Eyeliners

Grade: B+

Purchase Place: Sephora

Purchase Price: $10.00

Colors: Black Diamond (black with silver glitter), Black Gold (black with gold glitter), and Midnight Moon (dark navy with blue shimmer)

Plus: these are preservative free!

FYI: I didn't do swatches because the liners are average everyday colors with glitter. I didn't see a need to do swatches but if anyone is interested in them I will post some.

This photo got a little blurry on me but you can still get the general item of what the point looks like.

This is how much liner you get in each one, it's completely rolled up. You can also see a little bit of the silver glitter in this liner as well. Color Shown: Black Diamond

When I saw these I knew I had to have them and couldn't wait to give them a try since I've never tried bareMinerals liners. I've used these for a couple of days now and while they are really just an average everyday liner with glitter I do like them. The thing I think I like the most about them is that I can get a very thin precise line on my eye especially my bottom lid. I find that many liners I apply leave a rather thick heavy line which is ok some days but I would rather have a nice thin line most days that defines my eyes just enough without overdoing it, and these give me that. The way they are sharpened is just perfect for a hint of definition. Another great thing about these is they they apply smoothly, no tugging no pain and they are smudgeable. These are also twist up liners so they do not require sharpening, when you want more liner simply twist up from the top and there you go. Bare Minerals claim that these liners will make the whites of your eyes appear whiter and brighter. The last few days I've wore the liners I didn't really see where my eyes appeared any whiter or brighter. BareMinerals also makes the claim that these have a little light reflective pearl in them, and it must be a very little bit of light reflective pearl because when I swatch them as well as when i use them I don't notice any light reflective pearl effect from the liners. What I did notice is that they wore well, they lasted a long time and I'm very pleased with how long they staid on and I didn't have any smudging or running of the liner during the day it staid put. I will say I don't ever put liner on my waterline because to me that just screams eye infection, so I can't really say how they would wear when applied to that part of the eye. Given that the liners do have glitter in them I wouldn't recommend putting them on the waterline. When I do apply them given that i do just make a very thin line I don't tend to notice any of the glitter,I never see it. If some of you prefer thicker lines I'm sure the glitter would be more noticeable. If you are not really a glitter person you may still enjoy these especially if you are like me and like a more natural looking line. In terms of the glitter it's not a chunky glitter it's very small pieces of glitter and there is more liner color than glitter, when swatching these I didn't notice a ton of glitter in these, it's there but it's not like a disco ball or anything. Also another wonderful thing about these liners is that they didn't cause my any eye irritation or any problems at all.  Overall it's a good deal for three liners and I really do love the liners, I'm happy I bought these.

Sephora Haul!

The first thing I purchased was the NARS blush in the color Amour. I had been wanting it for awhile and decided to go ahead and get it.

The second thing I picked up after that was the Buxom Mix & Mingle Collection. I love buxom glosses and and been wanting to try the big & healthy lipsticks for awhile but did not want to purchase a full-size yet before trying them. When I saw the Mix & Mingle Collection I had to have it. The plastic covering on the box made the photo look bad, sorry.

Next thing I bought was the Kat Von D Angeles palette. I had been interested in this palette since Summer. I kept going back and forth about if I should purchase it or not. After seeing this on sale I went ahead and purchased it and I'm glad I did. I've never purchased anything from Kat Von D so I'm very excited to try this palette out.

When looking around I saw the Bare Escentuals Trio on Mini Eyeliners and decided to give them a try.

I also saw the Clean Mini Perfumes for a decent price and decided to try those out as well. I had a sample of one of the scents before and liked it so decided to purchase the mini set of three.

The next item I purchased was the Sephora mini lipgloss set, they had something similar to it last year and I missed out on getting them so I decided to go ahead and pick up this years set. Same thing happened to this photo as the mix and mingle, the plastic covering made the photo look bad.

Finally the last thing I purchased was the Benefit Legally Bronze set. I had been wanting Hoola for awhile and was going to purchase it than I saw this set and thought what the heck! I figured why not get Hoola and spend a few extra bucks and get 3 other full sized items to try.

I also got samples which I'm very excited to try out, I adore perfume samples!