NYX Stick Blush Swatches

I know I don't use this blog anymore (I'm over here if you're looking for me), but since all my other NYX swatches are here  and 99% of the hits on this blog are people looking for NYX swatches this is the logical place. 

I haven't done more than have a bit of a play with these so I can't really give a proper review as yet. First impressions are - highly pigmented, easy to blend, might need a powder over them to last the distance on oilier skin.

Orchid (the apparently compulsory Orgasm dupe), Tulip, Hibiscus

Orchid, Tulip, Hibiscus in outdoor light

Orchid, Tulip, Hibiscus under Tungsten light

I bought these on eBay from Joy's Cosmetics, but Aussies can also get them from Cherry Culture and Crush Cosmetics.

Silk Naturals Swatches

As promised in my Silk Naturals haul post, here are the swatches of the makeup I received. (I don't know what that dent is in Noodles' arm - she appears to have been leaning on something.) The samples of brow powder and the two freebie samples of eyeshadow came in bags and I just put them into plastic pots for ease. The eyeshadows are swatched over Detrivore primer, and the blushes and brow powders on bare skin.

My Favourite Stand Alone Eyeshadows

Recently Emily from Beauty Broadcast did a video about her favourite 'stand alone' eyeshadows - that is, eyeshadows you can wear on their own. I've been doing this almost exclusively for about a year - certainly during the week when I don't have the time or the inclination to faff around choosing different colours that go together and then blending them just so. One of the reasons I have gravitated away from colour to neutrals is because with neutrals, you can pretty much get away with using any one of them on their own.

Having said that, I do have some particular favourite 'swipe and go' shadows. I haven't included any of the Benefit Creaseless Creams here, though I do use them often and always on their own. But I've talked about them before, so if you want to see swatches of those you can find them here. For the record, the ones I use most often are Flatter Me, RSVP and Pre Nup.

Sampling Samples

Since it's Sunday and I have nothing better to do other than clean the house (and who wants to do that!), I thought I'd kill a bit of time testing out one of the many foundation samples I have. Today I am trying out Estee Lauder Individualist Natural Finish Makeup.

As usual the sample is slightly too dark for me (the colour is 01 Fresco*, so if that's the lightest then pale chicks won't be able to get much use out of this one), though once it's blended in I could probably get away with it if I had to nip down to the shops for milk or something. It's quite liquidy and applies lightly, but you can build it up to get a good coverage. It sets fairly quickly and is quite matte, so I didn't feel like I needed a powder of it. Which is good, because I'm not overly jazzed with powder in general and it's one of those things I use with slight resentment because I have a shiny T-zone.

As you can see it does a pretty decent job on the redness in my cheeks, though I did use a couple of layers in that area. On the other hand, I would normally have concealer under that and I don't here, so I'm pretty happy with the coverage.

Unfortunately, what I didn't like was the feel of it. It's one of those foundations that I am aware I am wearing. It feels a bit... 'masky'. I get about the same or more coverage from Chanel Mat Lumiere and Revlon ColorStay and neither of those feel like that on my skin.

On the whole, I don't think this is a foundation I would buy, though it did have its good points. It retails in Australia for $68AUD (!!), but you can probably get it cheaper on Strawberrynet.

*Regarding the colour, it would seem that Fresco is the second lightest as on the Australian website it's called 2C2 Fresco. But only three colours - really Estee Lauder? You think there are only three skin shades in this country?

NYX Matte Lipstick: Angel and Perfect Red

No matter how much beauty crap I have, and no matter how much I swear that I am not going to buy anything no matter what for the next 25 years, I cannot resist a new NYX product. Actually, that's not entirely true - I have little interest in their face products (foundation, primer, concealer, etc). I cannot resist their coloured products - lips, eyes, cheeks. So even though I've been on my alleged No Buy for some time, when I was idly checking out Cherry Culture with no intention of buying anything (why do I do that?) and saw that NYX has new matte lipsticks, I had to try them.   

From left: Angel and Perfect Red

As usual, the swatches on the site are pants, so I Googled around and found one that looked like my kind of shade - Angel. Unfortunately, the swatches I looked at are either not true to life, or my computer screen has gone awry (more likely explanation), as it's not quite what I was expecting. The colour reminds me a lot of their Round Lipstick in the shade Fig, which I always wanted to love but could never quite make work on me.  

I deliberately chose a red shade for the second one, even though I don't wear red lipstick (my lips are too thin). That sounds ridonk, but I find that matte lipsticks are good for applying a 'stain' so I thought it might be a nice way to get away with a red shade on my angry little Nelly Olson mouth. 

These are modelled (as usual) by Noodle Arms - for reasons outlined above. 

Top - Angel, Bottom - Perfect Red

I wore Perfect Red around the house on the weekend to test out the feel of it and the staying power. Like all matte lipsticks, it is a little drying, though I didn't find it too bad - I've definitely had worse. It's got great staying power - it even lasted through brushing my teeth!
Aussies can buy these from the US via Cherry Culture or Nonpareil Boutique (and as always with those two stores, I recommend waiting for one of their many sales to get more bang for your buck and make up for the shipping a little - the next one will no doubt be Hallowe'en). Most of the range is also available at Crush Cosmetics, if you want to pay more but get them faster. 

Swatches: Shiro Cosmetics

Everyone's been talking about Shiro Cosmetics lately, particularly the Intertubes, lip tint/lipsticks named after internet memes.

This isn't a review as I haven't really used any of this stuff properly, I just thought I'd show you the swatches and give my initial impression, which to be honest isn't much.

SMH Eyeshadows

I bought some SMH eyeshadows from ACW a couple of months ago and then kind of forgot about them. I happened across one earlier this week and decided to test them out.

From left: Cashmere, Warm & Fuzzy, Sex Kitten

Wet'n'Wild Mega Last Lipstick

I'm a fan of the Wet'n'Wild eyeshadows and I decided to branch out a while back and test some of their other products. I bought two of these Mega Last lipsticks from Nonpareil Boutique - 902C Bare It All and 904B Rose Bud. Bare It All was horrible on me - it was one of those nudes that just washed me out immediately. I gave it to Jacquie, as it was much more her kind of colour. So the pictures here are only Rose Bud.

Wet'n'Wild Color Icon 8 Pan Eyeshadow Comfort Zone

Wet'n'Wild is a brand not available in Australia. On the one hand, that's bad, because they've really stepped up their game - especially with their eyeshadows. On the other hand, it's probably just as well, because although it's a brand that's as cheap as chips in the US, no doubt we'd be paying $25AUD for these 8 colour palettes if they were in Priceline or Target.

I bought Comfort Zone a while back on eBay, and although I loved it immediately for some reason I didn't start using it. It was around the time when we still had a few hot days so I wasn't really wearing eyeshadow much. However, I've been seeing swatches and looks from it in other blogs quite a bit lately so I figured it was time to haul it out and have a crack at it.

NYX Lipstick Swatches: Random Ones I Forgot To Include Elsewhere

These are lipsticks that should have been included in other categories but for one reason or another I forgot. The only one of these I ever wear is Heather, which I quite like - it's a nice shade for Winter.

How Many Is Too Many?

For years I've been ragging Jacquie because every couple of weeks she buys a new lipstick, and they almost all look the same colour to me. However, I think we're all probably guilty of buying essentially the same thing over and over. For me it's pinky-nudish lipsticks and taupe-ish eyeshadows.

NYX Round Lipstick Swatches: Browns

Mars, Hades, B52, Peony

Face of Australia Mineral Lip Shine Fairy Floss

The Face Of Australia Mineral Lip Shine is one of those products that's somewhere between a lipstick and a lip gloss. It reminds me of the Stila High Shine Lipsticks, without the glitter.

NYX Round Lipstick Swatches: Nudes

Or as I like to call it, The Corpse Lips Collection...

Roadtest: Detrivore Eye Shadow Primer with UDPP

A few weeks ago I did a review of Detrivore Eye Shadow Primer, and found that it did a fantastic job of bringing out the colour of eyeshadow, as well as providing a nice sticky base to reduce fallout. However, it did crease quite a bit after 5 hours or so, and I wanted to try it again with UDPP underneath. I've finally gotten around to doing just that.

NYX HD Eye Shadow Base

I have to admit, I'm a bit 'meh' about Urban Decay Primer Potion. I think it makes eyeshadow go on a bit patchy, and it creases on me after a few hours. (I've yet to try Too Faced Shadow Insurance, so I have no opinion on that.) It's one of those products that in my opinion is massively over-rated. However, I use it because I have oily eyelids (how does that even happen?), and I need something to keep the eyeshadow there for as long as possible, but I'm always trying other products to see if they're any better.

NYX Eyeshadow Trio In The Woods

I don't know about you, but I just don't feel that the colours in the NYX In The Woods trio go together at all. There's a super shimmery, pinky-yellow champagne highlight, a matte rust brown with warm reddish undertones, and a shimmery cool-toned taupe. It's just not happening for me - though I do like the taupe quite a lot I already have at least half a dozen others so this one doesn't get much of a look in.

YSL Ombre Duo Lumiere Antique Gold

I bought this a couple of years ago on Strawberrynet purely because it had a green eyeshadow and it was (relatively) cheap. I don't know what I was thinking - I don't think I've used it more than once or twice and I would never wear yellow eyeshadow (or yellow anything - I hate yellow). I think it was just one of those times when I was looking for something to spend money on and there it was all shiny and classy looking.

NYX Round Lipstick Swatches: Corals

Some of these are probably more pink than coral, but I think they cross both shade groups, and we're here now anyway. This is one colour group I find really difficult to pull off - people always say that coral suits everyone but it really doesn't.

ELF Brightening Eye Color Quad in Luxe

I've been sick since last weekend and today is the first day I've felt vaguely human again. Needless to say I haven't been wearing any makeup - in fact I'm lucky if I've managed to wash my face. It's - uh - probably been a couple of days...

The ELF Quad in Luxe is one of the ones I tested early last week and hadn't gotten around to posting yet. I found these eyeshadows to be very powdery - they go everywhere when you try to pick them up with a brush. They don't blend all that well - everything seems to moosh into one shade rather than keeping the disparate colours. The creamy yellow colour is useless - chalky and virtually invisible.