Review: Rimmel London Show Off Lip Velvets!

Purchased by me.

Good Tuesday morning lovelies! Have you all had your coffee yet? As you read this I am currently at work, most likely dealing with people and or sitting at a computer working on some training that I am trying to complete.

Today I bring you swatches and a quick review of the Rimmel London Show Off Lip Velvets! That is a very long name for a product if I do say so myself.

These lippies came out I believe last fall, which puts me way behind on the game of reviewing them, but I just saw a Youtuber I follow recently review these and so I thought if she can do one so can I!

I am a huge fan of matte lip products. I don't do lip gloss much and sometimes a glossy lip just doesn't look good on me. A couple of years ago I fell in love with wearing a matte red lip pretty much all the time. I haven't worn one in a while, I should probably get on that! So it was no idea that I wasn't going to be picking these up when they came over from the UK.

I snagged two colors, Meteoric Matte and Burning Lava. I do want to pick up Atomic Rose, which is a lovely pink nude color.

Meteoric Matte is my favorite amongst the two I own. Dark, blue toned red/berry colors are my favorite next to a good nude color. Burning Lava, while not my favorite is a close second, it comes very close to duping my all time favorite matte red lip color; Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in Standout. God forbid they ever get rid of that color.

The formula on these are smooth, and feel nice when applied on the lips. They are not streaky at all because obviously they're super pigmented. They look slightly glossy when first applying them but they soon dry matte.

Revlon Age Defying Firming and Lifting Foundation

Happy Friday guys!!!! How are you? Everything is semi okay on my end. Battling a lot of stress and depression right now. Just trying to make to the light at the end of the tunnel or find that silver lining.

Today I have for you another foundation review. I reviewed the Almay Smart Shade Skintone Matching Makeup a while back and raved about it. I still rave about it, heck I am wearing right now, but I have found a foundation that is rivaling it for my affections.

Revlon introduced this foundation I want to say towards the beginning of the year, but I just got my hands on it about a month ago. Living in a middle of no where place in New York we don't always get new products right away. I had seen a couple of other reviews on this foundation and people seemed to be loving it.

This foundation runs about $10-$15 depending on where you purchase it from. I got a great deal on it at Rite Aid. They were having a 40% Revlon sale, so I got this for around $8 instead! This is also a great tip for those of us who don't like shelling out a bunch of money on product that were not sure about. I recommend waiting until it goes on sale at the drugstore, they are always running 40% sales every now and then. I say buy the new product then and give it a try, at least your not paying the whole price if you wind up not liking it so much.

Here is what I love about this product. First off it has really nice coverage. Its about a medium coverage foundation that you can build on to make full coverage. I love how this evens out my skin tone and helps reduce under eye circles with just one thin layer. If I am having a bad skin day I can add a little more to the problem areas, and it doesn't look cakey.

Can you see by the photo above this has a  pump! Not all drugstore foundations have pumps, you can get optimum control with this foundation by that pump. Usually or my face I use a pump and a little more. The packaging itself is sleek and nice, it has a glass bottle so it is a little heavy but not too bad at all.

Another good thing about this foundation is it has a broad spectrum SPF of 15, which isn't too high but its nice to have some protection from the sun. The size on this is the standard 1.0 fl oz and I wear the color #30 Soft Beige.

Here is a little swatch of it against my hand. The formula is creamy and smooths on to the skin nicely. It especially looks nice when you pair it with the Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser which I just reviewed a few days ago. Pairing those to products together makes my foundation last all day, even when I haven't paired it with the primer it still last a decent amount of time.

As for the age defying claims of firming and lifting, I can't really tell so much because I don't have really any wrinkles or saggy skin yet. But it does make my complexion look nice and gives my face an overall flawless look.

I have always loved Revlon foundations. Revlon was the first brand I bought liquid foundation from so its no surprise I like this one.

Check out your local drugstores today if you want to try out this foundation. Remember if you don't want to shell out $15 bucks for it, wait for a sale and look out for coupons. There are coupons for everything these days!

Until next time! <3 Nicole

My 2013 Beauty Favorites!

Hey guys! Happy Monday evening!! I hope that your Monday was awesome!

Today I have a post that I worked on over the weekend, I know its late, but better late than never, its my 2013 Beauty Favorites!!

This is the first time that I have done this type of post, normally this would be a Free For All Beauty Friday thing but by then it would way too late to do this post. Last year and I believe the year before that I did my top nail polish posts, you can find them here and here.

As much as I love nail polish I do love all things beauty as well, I taught myself how to put make up on and how to use different eye shadows, and liquid liner all by watching tons of YouTube videos. My make up stash however is not nearly as big as my polish stash but its getting to the point I need more storage for make up.

Anyway to start off this post I am going to start with foundation!

My favorite foundation of 2013 is Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Foundation. 

Now this isn't a new foundation out on the market but its new to me in as I have never tried it before. I have used the concealer which I don't care for but this foundation is nice. I'm a liquid foundation girl, I love the coverage I can get by building it up or just buying a decent covering foundation.

I only got this foundation towards the end of the year but from the first time I tried it which was the day I bought it I knew it would be a favorite for me.

For a thin formula foundation it really covers a lot of my imperfections, especially my dark circles under my eyes! That is when I know a foundation is a keeper in my book. It also doesn't cake up under my eyes like my other liquid foundations and BB Creams that I have tried.

What I like most about this foundation is the applicator, usually a sponge tip applicator to me isn't the most sanitary thing, but since I am the only one using it it doesn't bother me so much. The sponge on this foundation is very soft so when I use it under my eyes I know I'm not inflicting any damage to my already 26 year old bags.

My next beauty favorite of 2013 is: Cover Girl and Olay Simply Ageless Concealer. 

I purchased this concealer back during the spring time just before I went to Florida. I had always looked at this when I saw it in the drugstores but the price tag kind of made me turn away and tell myself that I don't need it. I happened to get this concealer on clearance for half off when I bought it. I don't believe that they make this anymore, it has been replaced by a concealer/serum CC cream?

In the pot its a mix of the concealer and the Olay Regenerest. I would show you the inside of it but I have hit pan on it and its just doesn't look pretty. During the summer this was my go-to concealer, it covered up my under eye well. It is a fairly decent coverage concealer, when I was on vacation sometimes this was all I put on with some setting powder since it was so hot outside and it worked well.

I don't know if it did anything for under my eye like helping my few fine lines I have. I know, fine lines at 26? Yes I have them and I hate them.  Darn insomnia.

I found myself being drawn to buying a lot of blusher this year. I think I used to only own one which is NY Color Downtown Wine I believe. ( I could be so wrong on the name). I then went to having by the end of this year five all together. Out of those five the one that I reached for the most was Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso. 

I bought this blush after I heard Ingrid (Miss Glamorazzi on YouTube) talk about it all the time. I honestly thought I would never find it because sadly my local CVS is the only place to carry Milani products and they never keep anything in stock and never get anything new. Finally one day while wandering through the beauty department I just happened to look and found the last one left. This blush is beautiful! Its a rosy goldish tone that  just adds this glow to your cheeks that warms up the complexion. It is a shimmery blush but its not the in-you-face shimmery.

This favorite was featured in my July favorites over the summer and I have now realized I have a love affair with this brand. I'm talking about the Lorac Pro Palette.

I cannot get enough of Lorac Cosmetics. Since featuring this in my July Favorites post, I have used it everyday since and worn the heck out of it. I love that you get eight matte shades and eight shimmery shades, you have endless combinations. Right before Thanksgiving my dad and I took a trip to our local Kohls. The first thing that I noticed was there revamped beauty bars. They now carry Lorac, and The Balm, plus a few other high end brands. I was so excited that I wasn't going to have to wait to go to Sephora, or order online. That is when I also purchased my second Lorac product. Its called The Sweet Temptations Eye Shadow Kit. I will be doing a swatch and review post of that soon!

Next up we have some lip favorites.

Revlon came out with some pretty cool lip products this fall that I fell head over heels for. They were the new Color Burst Matte Balms and Lacquer Balms. I purchased three of the Lacquer Balms and two of the Matte Balms.

The three lacquer balms I bought are called: Demur (#105) , Flirtatious (#125), and Vivacious (#120).

This Lacquer Balms are kind of the same as the Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains but there not really a stain. However the more pigmented the color, you do get a slight stain on your lips as it starts to wear off.

This fall I found myself drawn to buying brightly colored lip products and pinks and berries were most certainly on the list. Demure (middle) is a light nude-pink, which I love but it has visible bits of glitter in it and it does transfer to the lips and once the initial product wears away you are left with some glittery lips. That is the only downside of the product I have. The other two Vivacious and Flirtatious I could see shimmer but no chunks of glitter.

For the Matte Balms these are my favorites by far! I also was searching for a perfect red lip product this fall. I have never really worn red lipstick before because I always thought it made me look like a clown. So I bought shade #240 Stunning, it is a orange toned red, and I have to say I was very afraid of it. It wasn't perfect. I like how it looked on me but  I think I will try it out more in the warmer months. Then I saw a YouTuber ( I can't remember who) wearing shade # 250 Standout. I knew when I saw that shade that's the red I had in mind for myself. It was dark and velvety and just amazing.

As you can see my DSLR hates reds but you can still tell the difference. Stunning is the top shade and Standout is on the bottom. Any how when I put Standout on, I fell in love with it and have worn it almost every day I have to go to work. My job was the first place I wore this red out in public. I figure if I want to get over my fear that was first step. I knew my female co-workers would give me honest opinions, were cool like that!

One of my last favorites that I got in 2013 were two Real Techniques Brushes! I found them at Kohls! I got the Expert Face Brush ( orange handle)  and Stippling Brush ( pink handle). For those of you that don't know they were created by Samantha Chapman of the Pixwoo sisters on YouTube!

I have seen such a difference in how my foundation blends with the Expert Face Brush, it literally makes your foundation look airbrushed. It blends it out evenly and the bristles of the brush are super soft against your skin. The Stippling Brush I have been using to apply blusher thats why the bristles are pink. I love how it just fits nicely over my cheek bones to add the perfect amount of color.

I believe you can also get these brushes online or at Ulta, I hear even some Wal-Marts have them now too.

So thats it for my beauty favorites of 2013! I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did even if everything kind of found there way to me from the summer on!

Whats your favorite things of 2013?? It can be anything! Comment below!! 

Until next time!
<3 Nicole

Free For All Beauty Fridays! May Favorites!

* I have nothing to disclose, everything but the Simple Skin Care Protecting Light Moisturizer was purchased by me with my own money. The Simple Skin Care Protecting Light Moisturizer was a free sample I signed up for via the internet.*

Be prepared for a long post with lots of pictures! Trust me though its worth it!

Ok any girl who is obsessed with beauty products, makeup, nail polish, etc., and if they watch YouTube videos then its a safe bet that some of them have watched favorites videos. I know I love watching them from all my favorite beauty YouTubers.

So since I don't do the whole YouTube thing, ( yet, I want to start trying, and I am getting a pretty decent camera for my birthday so I might just start.) I thought that I would start doing favorites post for Free For All Beauty Fridays! 

And yes this post is going up Saturday night because yesterday I had technical difficulties with posting!

So on to my May Favorites!

First up is eye shadow. I have two drugstore palettes that  are super affordable and great for wearing to work or even going out with the girls, or your guy.

Wet 'n' Wild makes some of the most affordable make up in the drugstore, I have used many of their polishes and never really touched the make up but I'm so glad I finally have tested the waters. the "Comfort Zone" Palette is one of WnW eight pan palettes that will run you about $4.99 at your local drugstore.

 The first three colors on the left hand side of the palette are the colors I have been reaching for ever since I purchased this palette. The fourth color on the left to the last four on the right are colors I don't always use but have tested the waters with by playing with them n my own home. The very last shade is unique to this palette as it is a duo chrome shade that flashes a rusty brick color to an amazing green. One of the best things about this palette is that the shadows are labeled as to where they should go on your eye, and on the reverse side of the palette there are little guides to help you. The pigmentation of these are also amazing a little goes a very long way.

The second drugstore eye shadow I have is a quad from Maybelline. Its from their Eye studio line. These quads will run you a little more than the Wet 'n' Wild palettes but the color pay off is pretty nice and the color ranges are also good too.

Once again this quad has the ' wear to work' colors, not bright or stand out-ish. I don't really like to wear bright colors unless its on my lips and even then I don't wear too many. I purchased this quad off the recommendation from my absolute favorite YouTuber Emilynoel83. If you don't know who she is I suggest you do if you love all things beauty. She is amazing! She gives great reviews and great how-to videos! This quad was featured in her Color Lovers video featuring rose gold make up products!

The pigmentation on these is about the same for the WNW palette,  its small and thin which makes it great for travel and will be finding its way into my make up bag when we go to Florida in two weeks.

Next in makeup, I think I have become obsessed with concealer, I currently have three concealers I use to help conceal my imperfections and under eye circles. This is the newest of the three and currently my favorite.

I chose the Cover Girl-Olay Simply Ageless Concealer not because Ellen endorses it, or the fact that it was on clearance for half off, but for the fact that I have always wanted to try it and don't own many Cover Girl products. I'll be the first to admit Cover Girl is not my most favorite brand of drugstore make up. I have used one of their 'Clean' Foundations in the past but I didn't like it and so hence didn't give anything else a try. This concealer though is amazing!

I am the shade #215 Light/Medium. This concealer is great for under your eyes to conceal those not so flattering dark circles. It comes in a little pot which isn't too hygienic, having to dip your finger in each time but since I am the only one who uses this I don't mind. This concealer is swirled with Olay's Regenerist serum, so it helps with fine lines and doesn't sink into your fine lines either. That is something I noticed, this doesn't sink in to what I call my smile lines under my eyes and they are pretty deep, I have had them since I was a kid.

Next I have a blush that I can't believe I love wearing. When I first started getting into make up I wouldn't be caught dead wearing this bright color.

This is the Revlon Photoready Cream Blush in # 200 Flushed.

 My Camera makes the blush slightly brighter than it actually is. Its not really that florescent. It is pretty bright however. A little swirl on my finger gives me the perfect blushed look. Since the color is a bright pink/fuchsia you have to be light handed otherwise you will look like  a clown or a doll.  This blush is more on the higher priced spectrum at $9.99 I was hesitant on buying it.
Every time I walked past it in Wal-Mart it called out to me and I would pick it up and put it down, then finally one night while just out for some 'me' time I took the plunge and bought it, and I'm so glad I did.

Finally on the makeup front I have a lipstick that I think I have worn everyday since I bought it at CVS. This is the Milani Color Statement Lipstick in #26 Nude Crème.

This lipstick is a-mazing! It is the perfect nude color. It is a pink nude but basically its my lip color but a tad lighter and better. The formula is smooth and goes on nicely, it is a bit drying so I do use a lip balm underneath just so the lipstick doesn't settle into the lines on my lips. I definitely plan on investing in some more color from their collection!

The last four favorites are skin care related and one perfume. So lets get started.

First up is the Simple Skin Care Eye Makeup Remover.

I want to say that this makeup remover is like the famous Bio-derma. Its probably the best eye makeup remover I have found next to baby wipes. You can't tell from the bottle shot but I have already used half the bottle up and will be needing to repurchase it. All I do is moisten a cotton pad, hold it on my eye for ten seconds and swipe away all the makeup on my eye. Its even safe to use on my lashes and my lower lash line. It has Pro-Vitamin B5 to help soothe the skin, restore it and soften. Its oil free which so if you have oily skin this won't make you look like an oil field. The fact that all Simple products have no perfumes or dyes is just one of the benefits, I know in the past using certain makeup wipes my skin actually breaks out if things are too heavily scented. Its fairly affordable at about $7 a bottle. I got mine at Walgreens and it seems to be the only place I will be able to get it, none of the other drugstores carry it.

Next is The Simple Skin Care Protecting Light Moisturizer. I got this after signing up to receive a full size sample via the blog Vampy Varnish, she had done a review on it and had a link that offered the full size product to the first 500 people who signed up.

This moisturizer is pretty awesome, it light weight absorbs into the skin quickly without leaving you feeling sticky or gunky. It has SPF 15 which isn't super high but enough to protect you if you going to be running around doing errands. Put on a regular sunscreen if you are going to be at the beach all day in the sun that has a high SPF. I know that Simple doesn't add perfumes or dye to their products but there is a slight sunscreen smell to this, its not horrible I actually like that kind of smell. I use this under my daily makeup (which already has SPF in it) and my makeup goes on smoother. I'm pretty sure you can find this in the local drugstore for around $9.99.


The final skincare product I'm loving for the month of May is the Clean & Clear Morning Burst Skin Brightening Facial Cleanser.

I have used Clean & Clear products since I was teenager and started having pimple issues. It seems so long ago, actually  I haven't been a teen in 7 years (seems forever right? Kidding!) Anyway I picked this up because I wanted a cleanser that was just to make me feel clean, I didn't need anything that had anti aging, or blemish control because I have products for those problems already. I wanted something to just make me feel clean in the morning.

This lathers really well even with only one pump. I also like the fact that the pump locks so you don't accidently hit it in the bathroom and waste product. The smell is very pleasant its lemon and papaya, it also has caffeine in it to help wake your skin up! It is slightly drying but that's okay and it leaves my skin brighter and  matte. It also helps control the oil on my face. You can find this in drugstores for about $5.97, I got mine at Wal-Mart.

Finally the last favorite I have for you is a perfume that I'm glad I found. I absolutely love the Victoria Secret PINK body mist. My most used one is Fresh and Clean. It smells like a boys' perfume but for girls. I have had friends tell me it smells like Dolce and Gabbana. So when I was in Five Below last month I always check out their body sprays since they always do their own versions of the high end perfumes.

This is called BE Cool & Clean.

This tiny little flat bottle is great for travel, I have two of these and one of them is in my purse at all times just in case I need to freshen up. Its just about a half ounce of liquid so it probably won't last long but it was only $2 so you get what you pay for. But this perfume smells exactly like my favorite Victoria's Secret scent. So when in comparison its worth it to me. It smells so clean and crisp and I love that kind of smell when I am going to be at work or just not in the mood for a fruit-y scent. 

So that s it for my favorites of May! I hope you enjoyed and sorry this post was so long! But if you did get through it than Thank you for reading it!

Until next time! Nicole

Nails Inc. Sprinkles, The final two!

Good afternoon polish lovers! I hope you all are having a great day! I myself just got done with work about an hour and a half a go and boy could I go for a nap. 7:30 mornings are killer!

Today I bring you the final two Nails Inc Sprinkles Polishes, Pudding Lane and Sweets Way.

We shall start with Sweets way. Now when I saw swatches of this polish I initially like it, but for some reason when I swatched it on my nails I didn't like it. I had tried it once before over a white polish since the base on Sweets Way is milky white. Sadly that didn't look good either. I thought maybe by pairing them with a thin layer of a similar base color might help lessen the amount of coats you need to get the jelly effect but nope, not a chance.

Sweets way is opaque in three coats, and in dealing with a glitter polish three layers is quite a lot of glitter. This polish is also similar to Revlon's Whimsical and Deborah Lippmann Glitter In The Air only in the sense that the glitter color is the same baby pink, baby blue and silver. Although with Sweets way its all small round glitter and way more densely packed.

The pictures I have for you are three coats with a top coat in natural sunlight.

The final polish is Pudding Lane. I think that  this one is my favorite out of all of the collection. I don't have a blue this vibrant, or in this shade. Pudding Lane's glitter is gold and a darker blue glitter, which when the gold polish is mixed with the blue it almost looks like a lime green which is awesome. Two coats is more than enough to get this polish opaque. I suggest though with this polish to put on a couple layers of base coat because it DOES STAIN when removed. It doesn't stand horribly like Sally Hansen's Insta Dry Freeze but your nails will have a blue tinge to them.

Now the weird thing was that not all of the nails had the stain, its was like maybe 3 out of my 5 fingers. The way I removed the stain was by going back over my nail with a clean cotton ball and more acetone and then going into the bathroom and taking some soap (I used my Bath and Body Works Deep Cleansing) and a nail brush and gave my nails a good scrub. The little micro beads in the soap paired with the nail brush took off the stain in no time!

These pictures were taking in natural sunlight and no top coat.

So that's it for the Nails Inc. Sprinkles collection! I do really like these polishes and hope that more companies will continue the trend of all mixed together jelly polishes! I hope you all enjoyed this post , and I will talk to you all soon!

Nicole

Nails Of The Day! Aquadelic and Whimiscal Man!

I feel like when I say the title to this post that it should be with that hippie vibe! Oh and while holding up a peace sign!

Happy Superbowl Sunday! If you live in the states of course! Today I finally broke out my Revlon Whimsical! I didn't have any blue polish to pair it over, and definitely did not like the look of it by itself, its a milky polish that is just too sheer, you could see major nail line :( It would probably take like 8 coats to become opaque!

So I took China Glaze Aquadelic as my base color. I can't rave how much I love this color and the name! Its like a robins egg blue creme that just stands out on its own, and 2 coats makes it perfect,  pairing it with Whimsical was a good choice!

My own sort of whimsical.

Hi! 13 days until Christmas, and I am sort of officially done with shopping for my family. I just need to get a couple of things for friends and I am done!

Sally Hansen Gem Crush

Good evening!

So I literally just got home from work 10 minutes ago and jumped on the computer to post this. Today doing laundry at the laundry mat with my mother, I took a trip across the street to the local CVS. Usually they disappoint me because they never seem to get anything new in.

What I reach for...makeup Part 2

Okay in part one I talked mainly face products that I use. Now what works for me may not work for you and I  completely understand that. What I hope these post do are give insight to these product so if someone has seen and read reviews on something and is still on the fence about it.

What I reach for...makeup. Part 1

Hello!

I'm not sure if I am going to make this a series type of a thing, but that's the way I'm feeling this could go. What I reach for in things such as makeup, nail polish, beauty products etc. Its a work in progress and since I am in between post until my new China Glaze Polishes come in and I take my little shopping trip with my friend Lauren tomorrow.

Sorry I've been gone ...Pic heavy

Hello everyone!

So sorry I haven't been blogging much in the last almost month. Life has been very stressful. I have been going through a lot with my job and my family.