Category Archives: Tarina Tarantino

My Favorite “MLBB,” Neutral, & Natural Lipsticks & Glosses

Purchased – Affiliate Links

MLBB lipstick

Good morning! Today I have quick reviews & swatches of five of my favorite mlbb (my lips but better) / neutral / natural lipsticks & glosses. These aren’t what I’d call nude lipsticks – I think of those as paler than my natural lip tone – but rather rosy, natural colors. I tend to wear this type of lip color to work, and all five of these are frequently used.

MLBB lipstick

MAC Out For Passion // Tarina Tarantino Queen Alice // Revlon Pink Truffle // Maybelline Intoxicating Spice // Essence Choose Me!

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Weekly Loves #1

Purchased – No Affiliate Links

I decided to start a new series, Weekly Loves.  I’ll be (hopefully!) posting it every week on Sunday so I can discuss my loves / favorites from the week.  I’ll use the following four prompts to structure the post:

  1. A newly purchased product I am loving;
  2. A long-time or rediscovered favorite I am loving;
  3. My most-wanted wishlist item; and
  4. A blog post I especially enjoyed reading.

Let’s get started –

A newly purchased product I am loving

I really love thermal nail polish right now, and Polished by KPT makes my favorites ones.  The newest addition to my thermal polish family Harvest Moon, which is especially great because it’s work appropriate – nude/beige when warm & orange when cold (and holo, too!).

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Tarina Tarantino Queen Alice Conditioning Lip Sheen Lipstick Review & Swatches

Tarina Tarantino Queen Alice Conditioning Lip Sheen

Tarina Tarantino Queen Alice Conditioning Lip Sheen

Today I have a review of my third Tarina Tarantino lipstick – Queen Alice. As I’ve written before, I am already a huge fan of the formula.  It’s very moisturizing and comfortable, yet manages to be long wearing as well.As noted in my earlier reviews, the lipstick has very nice packaging – substantial, pretty, yet understated and not too heavy.  Queen Alice wore X hours on me, and was very comfortable to wear.  This is definitely a “my lips but better” shade on me, and slightly more pink than Tarina Tarantino Prong (also a “my lips but better shade” for me).

This shade wore for about 3-4 hours on me, and was very comfortable the whole time.

I also have a comparison shot of all three of the Conditioning Lip Sheens I own:

Tarina Tarantino Prong, Queen Alice, Floriculture - swatches

Tarina Tarantino Prong, Queen Alice, Floriculture

Overall, I absolutely recommend the Tarina Tarantino Conditioning Lip Sheens in general.  I would recommend Queen Alice for anyone who prefer a natural lip.

Although only four shades are left on Sephora.com, I’ve seen two fully-stocked Tarina Tarantino displays in two different Sephora stores in the last week or so.  Tarina Tarantino cosmetics will also eventually be available on Tarintatarantino.com, but are not as of right now.

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This post is from Project Swatch. All rights reserved.

Tarina Tarantino Floriculture Conditioning Lip Sheen Lipstick Review & Swatches

Tarina Tarantino Conditioning Lip Sheen - Floriculture

Tarina Tarantino Conditioning Lip Sheen – Floriculture

I only tried my first Tarina Tarantino Conditioning Lip Sheen a few weeks ago, but I am already a huge fan of the formula.  It’s very moisturizing and comfortable, yet manages to be long wearing as well.  So, while they’re still available at Sephora for 40% off, I decided to buy another two – Floriculture (which I will be reviewing now), and Queen Alice.

As noted in my earlier review, the lipstick has very nice packaging – substantial, pretty, yet understated and not too heavy.  Floriculture wore about five hours hours on me, and was very comfortable to wear.  The color starts off as a vibrant pink, and fades to something a little more muted.  The color really brightens up my face!

Overall, I absolutely recommend both the Tarina Tarantino Conditioning Lip Sheens and Floriculture in particular. It’s a great color and a great formula.

Although only four shades are left on Sephora.com, I’ve seen two fully-stocked Tarina Tarantino displays in two different Sephora stores in the last week or so.  Tarina Tarantino cosmetics will also eventually be available on Tarintatarantino.com, but are not as of right now.

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This post is from Project Swatch. All rights reserved.

Tarina Tarantino Pure Nude Sparklicity Pure Loose Pigment Review & Swatches

For today’s final installment of Tarina Tarantino products, I have the Pure Nude Sparklicity Pure Loose Pigment.  This pigment can be used any way you like; I’ve tried it as eyeshadow and I’m planning to try mixing a little in to nail polish.

The packaging of this is nice; it’s a small clear plastic pot with a metal lid.  The holes were originally sealed with a clear sticker, which I have removed – I would actually recommend that you not remove the entire sticker, as the loose pigment can get a little messy if you do.

When I photographed the pigment without flash, it appeared quite yellow (see above), and when I photographed it with flash, it appeared quite pink (below).  But, in person, the pigment is a translucent beige with gold sparkle.  The beige base virtually disappears on my skintone, leaving just the sparkle.

Pure Nude Sparklicity pigment

Pure Nude Sparklicity pigment – with flash

It was hard to capture how this looks in a swatch on camera – in person this is prettier, a twinkling, sparkling shimmer. As you can see, the glitter particles are very fine.  This is a heavy swatch over bare skin.

Tarina Tarantino pure nude sparklicity pigment swatch

natural light

Tarina Tarantino pure nude sparklicity pigment swatch

flash

Although I swatched this dry over bare skin, I would recommend applying it damp or over a sticky base to prevent fallout. I found that it adhered to the skin better than I expected, but as a loose powder it is quite messy.

Overall, this is a really lovely pigment with many different uses. However, I find loose pigments a bit tricky to work with, so I’d only recommend it to those who have the patience to play with it and figure out a way to make it work for them.

Tarina Tarantino Prong Conditioning Lip Sheen Lipstick Review & Swatches

Tarina Tarantino Prong

Tarina Tarantino Prong

Next in my Tarina Tarantino series is her Conditioning Lip Sheen (a moisturizing lipstick) in the shade Prong, a my-lips-but-better type shade.

The packaging on this is really nice – substantial and weighty, but not too heavy.  It’s also a little more understated than most of her packaging, which is nice.   Do note that it holds fingerprints if that bothers you.

Conditioning Lip Sheen packaging

Conditioning Lip Sheen packaging

True to the Conditioning Lip Sheen name, I found this to be very moisturizing and comfortable to wear. Because the shade is so close to my natural lip color, I had trouble determining how long it lasted – I could feel it on my lips for about three hours, though the color may have lasted longer.  Temptalia has tested a few shades, both brights, and each lasted her 5.5 hours – quite long-wearing for something this moisturizing!

Swatches:

Tarina Tarantino Prong

Prong – natural light

Tarina Tarantino Prong swatch

Prong applied, natural light

As you can see, this is a very natural (not nude) shade on me – it’s quite close to my lip color. If you have less pigmented lips, this is probably a perfect my-lips-but-better shade.  Since it doesn’t show up well on me, I’ll probably end up using it to mix with other lipsticks to tone them down. But, it’s so comfortable to wear that I can also see myself just wearing it on it’s own for a very natural look.

Overall, this is a fantastic product – it’s so comfortable to wear, yet still manages to last well.  If I didn’t have too many lipsticks already I would definitely buy more shades, and as it is I still might!