I recently found a Walgreens with a fully stocked, updated-for-2014 Wet n Wild display, and I bought several of the new products to test out. Today, I have a review and swatches of the Wet n Wild Fergie Vicious Varnish High Shine lip gloss stains. The stains come in the following ten colors, and I bought five of them, which are in bold. Continue reading
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Maybelline Master Glaze Blush Stick in Make A Mauve
I purchased one of the new-for-2014 Maybelline Master Glaze blush sticks about a month ago, and the reason it’s taken me such a long time to review is probably because I feel pretty meh about it.
The Master Glaze blush sticks come in six colors ($8.99/Ulta, $7.49/drugstore.com), and I believe all six shades have some shimmer. Make a Mauve has a great base color – a rosy mauve – but the flecks of silver glitter are a huge downside for me. It’s smooth and blendable, but dries to a powdery finish that I don’t love – it feels oddly drying.
Make A Mauve – unblended // blended
Maybelline, I really want to love this. I love cream blush, and actually rarely wear powder anymore. But, it just doesn’t quite work for me.
I am in the process of moving (almost everything is packed, including most of my makeup & nail polish) so today I have a very short post for you. NYC recently released a new gold flake top coat called Top of the Gold – it’s on the -->website -->, so I think it’s permanent. Note that it’s not a real-gold-flake type topcoat – more of a gold-colored flakie topcoat. It looks to be a dupe for Zoya Maria Luisa – but I don’t own the Zoya to compare.
Above, I have two coats alone on the left and one coat layered over two different polishes in the middle / on the right. The polish is a bit thick/goopy, and I found that unless you allow it to dry completely, you can’t do a second coat – it will be uneven. I think it would be fairly opaque in three coats, but I didn’t have the patience for that!
However, when layered, it looks best (I think) applied in one thin layer – and a single thin layer is easy to apply evenly.
It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty! For $1.99, I’d definitely recommend it!
One of Covergirl’s new 2014 releases is the Bombshell Shineshadow, a sparkling cream shadow packaged in a small tube. It’s available online for $8.99 from Ulta / Drugstore.com, and for $6.99 from Target. (By the way, Ulta is currently having a 20% off almost everything – including most prestige brands. Go to ulta.com/friends and enter your information to get a coupon emailed to you, valid online & in-store through January 18th.)
Back to the Bombshell Shineshadow: I don’t love the packaging – using a tube works well, but it really needs a tapered / nozzle tip rather than the flat tip, because you only need a little and the current flat tip is not precise enough.
The shadow is quite creamy, and I found that it applied best with a brush. If I use my fingers, I accidentally blend away too much – but with a brush, I can get more opaque coverage. I have tried out the shadow both as a base and worn alone, and it didn’t crease on me.
I puchased the shade Copper Fling, which is a peachy copper that is relatively close to my skintone. It’s quite subtle (not blingy like I expected!), and, I think, quite pretty.
Copper Fling: dab, blended swatch
Copper Fling: Angled & fuzzy to show multicolored sparkle
Overall, this is quite a nice cream eyeshadow – it applies and it wears well, and has just the right amount of sparkle for my tastes. Recommended!
*I purchased the product(s) featured in this post. This post contains one or more affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.
NYC Expert Last Lipsticks:
Blue Rose // Creamy Caramel // Traffic Jam // Berry Me // Coralista
NYC has released several new (and permanent) products for 2014. They’re all viewable online at -->newyorkcolor.com --> now, but I can’t find a way to view all the new products together. So far I’ve noticed the following products which I think are new:
Today, I have five of the new $1.99 Expert Last Lipsticks – there were ten in the display, and there are -->twenty shades --> listed online.
Blue Rose // Creamy Caramel // Traffic Jam // Berry Me // Coralista
The lipsticks are packaged in coordinating colored plastic; note that some of the plastic casings are shimmery when the lipsticks are not and vice versa. The lipsticks, unfortunately, do not retract fully into the tubes, so you’ll need to be careful not to nick them with the lid.
In terms of texture, they lipsticks are fairly creamy and apply smoothly, but feel very faintly gritty to me. It’s not noticeable enough to be a problem, but they don’t feel luxurious either. The have a faint fruity-chemical scent, which is light enough not to bother me.
Blue Rose // Creamy Caramel // Traffic Jam // Berry Me // Coralista
The lipsticks are moderately pigmented except for Creamy Caramel, which is noticeably more sheer. Above, I’ve done three swipes of Creamy Caramel and two swipes with each of the others.
Blue Rose is a bright fuchsia with a very slight blue sheen. I don’t usually go for this type of color, but I quite like this one.
Creamy Caramel is a creme finish nude/brown; in addition to being sheerer than the other shades, it’s slightly more emollient and has a better texture. It’s a really nice nude on me – this is my favorite of the bunch.
Traffic Jam is a creme finish bright red. It’s fine, but nothing to write home about – there are several other options for a sub-$3 red lipstick that I prefer.
Berry Me is a creme finish berry – mauve. It’s a really nice color.
Coralista is an orange with a strong white base and silver glitter, though the glitter is not particularly noticeable when applied. This one clung to the dry patches on my lips and looked terrible in person – much worse than in the photo.
Overall, I’d say that these are decent but unremarkable. For $2 – and frequently on sale – they’re worth the price, and are a good option if you want to try out a color you don’t usually like. However, even in this price range, there are better options – I prefer the formulas of Wet n Wild’s lipsticks (MegaLast, Perfect Pout, and Silk Finish), ELF’s Moisturizing Lipsticks, and of course I love the formula of Black Radiance lipsticks.
CoverGirl recently released a reformulated version of their TruBlend Liquid Makeup foundations. There are a couple different versions of the temporary displays in drugstores now, and some of them have testers of all 21 shades! I was so excited to see this that I swatched several, and found what I thought was a good match in Light 7, Warm Beige.
It’s a thick, creamy, medium-to-full coverage foundation that dries down to a satiny, semi-matte finish on my dry skin.
Covergirl TruBlend Warm Beige
It’s obviously darker and warmer than my inner arm, and although I initially thought it matched my face well, seeing the below before and after makes me think that it’s not actually a good match at all – though I swear it looks better in person!
No makeup // Covergirl TruBlend foundation only
I like the creamy texture (it contains several silicones), and find it easy to blend, and easy to adjust the coverage level. In the “after” picture above, I have one layer of foundation on my nose, inner cheeks, and between my brows, two layers of foundation on my chin, and the foundation is blended away into nothingness near my hairline.
The foundation has no sunscreen (which I prefer; I use my own sunscreen daily), and when I took a few flash photos, I didn’t notice any flashback effect.
What foundations have you been wearing lately?
*I purchased the product(s) featured in this post. This post contains one or more affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.