Category Archives: x – Negative

Maybelline Master Duo Navy Gleam Liquid Eyeliner Review & Swatches

Maybelline Master Duo Liquid Eyeliner – Navy Gleam

I’m not usually a liquid liner person – I prefer pencils, pens, and gels – but I was still excited about the prospect of Maybelline’s new liquid liner, advertised as a glossy liquid liner with a dual tip and long wear. Unfortunately, it’s quite bad.

First, the applicator is annoying. On the package, it looks like the entire applicator is thin in one direction and wider in another, and perhaps if it were shaped like that it would work better – but the actual applicator tapers, and has an oddly shaped tip that is hard to work with on the eye. It is possible to draw a wider or a narrower line on your hand or arm, but on the eye, it’s hard to control the direction of the tip and the width of the line.

Being unable to draw a fine line would be enough to make me mildy dislike the liner, but that’s not why I say it’s a terrible product. It’s extremely sheer, which is not what I want in an eyeliner! On the left, I’ve tried to do a heavy swatch, which is still somewhat sheer, and also is taking a long time to dry. On the right is a single swipe (the narrowest I could manage), which is very sheer as you can see. It is possible to go over the liner a second time once it has dried to darken the color, but it still does not become dark and opaque.

Yet another problem is the slow dry time – a thin line takes about 30 seconds to dry, and you must keep your eyes closed the whole time, or else you’ll end up with spots of eyeliner all over your eye area.

But, there are positive attributes as well: The liner is, as advertised, glossy and long wearing. It is completely waterproof and smudgeproof – it will flake off with oil, makeup remover and/or enough pressure, but it won’t ever smudge.

Overall, I cannot recommend this eyeliner to anyone. The applicator problem is worth working around – you could always use a brush. It’s long wearing and totally smugeproof, so would be great for anyone with oily lids. But, the sheerness of it, and the difficulty / impossibility of building up the color make this a poor choice for anyone.

ELF $1 Eyeshadow Primer Review, Swatches, Photos

E.L.F. eyelid primer

Given my success with NYX HD eyeshadow primer – it’s my daily eyeshadow primer now – I decided to try an even cheaper eyeshadow primer, the ELF (or is it E.L.F.?) $1 eyelid primer. I have normal (non-oily) eyelids, so the most important purpose of eyeshadow primer for me is to intensify eyeshadow color; almost any primer is sufficient to prevent creasing.

To cut to the chase: the ELF primer failed completely to intensify eyeshadow colors, and I am pretty sure that it actually decreased the wear time of my eyeshadow.

First, the packaging: the ELF eyelid primer is in tube, with a doe-foot applicator. I’m fine with that style of packaging. Squeeze tubes (like Too Faced Shadow Insurance) seem more hygienic, but I actually find the tube-with-doe-foot easier to use, because it’s easier to control how much I use. I usually lightly tap the applicator to my eyelid, which applies a tiny little drop – then I blend out with my fingers.

heavy swatch // mostly blended swatch

When I first swatched the ELF primer, I was taken aback – texture of the ELf primer was lightly grainy, a little bit separated with some very small chunks. Ew. The color was fine – it’s similar to my skintone, and blends out to be almost invisible.

Next, to test out how the primer intensifies eyeshadows, I took a shimmery eyeshadow with sheer to medium pigmentation (NARS Lhasa), and swatched it four ways; alone, over Too Faced Shadow Insurance, over NYX HD eyeshadow primer, and over the ELF $1 eyelid primer.

eyeshadow primer comparisons

As you can see, TFSI and the NYX primer intensified the eyeshadow significantly; the ELF swatch is slightly more intense than the “no primer” swatch, but significantly less intense than the other two primers.

So, I thought I would swatch a fairly sheer, matte shadow over the same primers to see how it performed. This is the red side of the NYC halloween Devilish Duo.

more eyeshadow primer comparisons

Again, Too Faced Shadow Insurance and NYX HD primer intensified the shadow beautifully. The NYX application looks a little less smooth than the TFSI one. However, the ELF eyelid primer did not intensify the eyeshadow at all – it looks identical to the sheer application that you get without any primer at all.

So – ELF eyelid primer is a poor choice for intensifying eyeshadows. But how does it perform at preventing creasing?

As I said, I rarely have any creasing – my eyelids just aren’t oily. But, on the day I tested out the ELF primer, my eyeshadow didn’t just crease. When I checked back after two hours, it was about 50% missing – it had just disappeared entirely. I had put ELF primer on one eye and NYX HD primer on the other eye, and the NYX eye still looked perfect. So, I’m comfortable in stating that the ELF primer is terrible at extending eyeshadow wear as well.

One last note: I don’t hate ELF – I have several ELF brushes I use regularly (in general, the studio line is soft and well made), and I’ve tried several other products that were nice quality as well. ELF does a great job of making affordable, good quality products overall – but like every brand, they have some hits, and some total misses – and the eyelid primer is a total miss.

Revlon Orbit and Milky Way Nail Art Moon Candy Review, Swatches, Photos

Revlon Nail Art Moon Candy – Orbit and Milky Way

Revlon recently released a collection of double sided nail polishes – one side is a creme, and the other is a shards of glass type flakie. I happened upon a full display the other day, and since Revlon was on buy-one-get-one-half-off sale, I bought two: Orbit, a deep purple creme with purple flakies, and Milky Way, a deep grey creme with silver flakies.

The quality of the polish seems inconsistent. The purple creme in Orbit applied flawlessly. It was smooth and thin, and although it took two coats for perfect opacity, each was even. However, the flaky in Orbit – while absolutely gorgeous – was a total nightmare to apply. It was lumpy, thick, and jelly-like. Additionally, it WOULD. NOT. DRY. – even with a reliable quick-dry topcoat over it.

Revlon Orbit Moon Candy

The gray creme in Milky Way applied decently, but not great – the first coat was streaky, but it evened out with a second coat. The flakies in Milky Way applied fairly well – good coverage, and the base was thin enough to apply easily. I have not yet tried them on my nails, however.

Revlon Milky Way Moon Candy

As you can see, both colors of flakies dry with a bumpy surface. This is a bit annoying, but not really a problem, as a couple coats of top coat will smooth it out.

I had hoped to wear the Orbit flakies over Illamasqua Collide – a gorgeous neon pink jelly that I have been wearing a lot lately – and I actually tried to make the layered polishes work twice. However, both times, the flakies never dried, and I ended up destroying the manicure before I was able to take photos of it. It is a lovely combination though, so I swatched it on a nail wheel in order to photograph it. It’s even prettier in person, with the shifting colors! I’m disappointed I couldn’t make it work on my hands; maybe I’ll try it a third time when I have the patience to sit still for a very long time.

Revlon Orbit flakies over
Illamasqua Collide

Overall, I can’t recommend these polishes. Milky Way has a slightly superior formula, but China Glaze Luxe and Lush (from the Hunger Games collection), is far superior for about the same price (or cheaper – it’s on clearance at sallybeauty.com and similarly inexpensive on .) Luxe and Lush is not identical – see it here at Vampy Varnish – but it is quite similar.

I am not aware of any similar polishes to Orbit (though I’m sure they’re out there and I would love to hear about them if they have a better formula!), but the formula is just not worth it for me.

Have you bought any of the Revlon Moon Candy polishes? Were your experiences similar to mine, or did you have better luck? And do you know of any polishes similar to the Orbit flakies, but with a good formula?

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Sally Hansen Cuticle Eraser plus Balm Review, Photos

As a recovering nail-biter and nail-picker, it’s important for me to keep my cuticles neat so I don’t pick at them. I’ve tried various cuticle remover products, and the latest is Sally Hanson Cuticle Eraser + Balm.

The first thing I noticed about this product was the texture. It’s thick and a little bit sticky, but it rubs in fairly easily. It’s moisturizing, but not very. I don’t love the texture, but it’s okay. The next thing I noticed was the scent. It’s not heavily scented – it’s a mild, fresh scent, which I enjoy.

It’s packaged in a small plastic screw-top container which is easy to open. The black “Sally Hansen” on the top is smudged, which doesn’t really bother me. The swirled design on the product goes all the way through – it’s not destroyed by use.

My hope for this product was that instead of using a cuticle-remover once a week or so, I could just rub this in once a day or so, and in addition to having moisturized cuticles, it would also remove them. However, it does not work AT ALL to remove my cuticles. I’ve been using it every day for about a week, and it looks like I haven’t done anything to my cuticles for a week.

So, I would not recommend this product. It doesn’t have a great texture – it’s a little too sticky for my tastes, though it’s not terrible. It’s not very moisturizing, though not terrible. But – it doesn’t remove cuticles at all. It simply does not live up to its claims.

If you’re looking for a good cuticle remover, I recommend the instead – it’s what I normally use, and it’s great.

(I’ve also received many comments that the container is difficult or even impossible to open; the comments got left at my old blog address, unfortunately. Yet another reason to pick a different product!)

This post contains an affiliate link. For more information please see my disclosure policy.

Boscia B.B. Cream SPF 27 PA++ Review, Swatches, Photos

A while ago, I received a free sample of Boscia B.B. Cream SPF 27 PA++ along with my Sephora order. I was excited to try it, as it’s the first BB Cream that I’ve owned.

However, when I first swatched it on my arm, I was confused – why on earth would a foundation type product be filled with silver glitter specks? I was so puzzled that I thought there might be some mistake – maybe I got a defective tube, maybe I had leftover eyeshadow on my hand that I hadn’t noticed. So, I checked the makeupalley review (registration required), and sure enough, several people mentioned the glitter.

I tried to photograph the sparkle, but it was very hard to capture – you can see some sparkle in the below picture, but it actually has even more sparkle / glitter than this.

Note that it’s not shimmer; it’s fine specks of silver glitter. Additionally, as you can see from the swatch, it’s quite orange-y.

The texture of the BB Cream is fine; then again, I’ve never actually applied it to my face. If you were so inclined, you could buy it at Sephora.

Have you tried this BB Cream? I’m really curious to hear what you thought!

I received this product as a gift with purchase. This post contains an affiliate link. For more information please see my disclosure policy.

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NYX Femme Round Lipstick Review, Swatches, Photos

I have mixed feelings about the NYX Round Lipsticks. I have owned a couple NYX Round Lipsticks at various times, but the only one I still own is Femme. I’ve kept it because it’s a really great color – a vibrant coral – but the problem is the formula. I find it really slippery – not moisturizing, but flat out greasy. It looks nice and glossy from a distance, but it feels quite uncomfortable to me to wear. Because it’s so uncomfortable, I’ve actually never worn it out – so I can’t speak to wear time.

photo taken with flash; color appears a little more vibrant than reality

While swatching for this post, I did discover that this shade also looks quite lovely blotted down, which takes care of the greasiness and turns the lipstick into a moisturizing, comfortable stain. It lasts quite well like this, and I’m really happy with the color.

photo taken with flash; photo is relatively color-accurate

Overall, the difficultly of the formula means that I would not recommend the NYX round lipsticks. Yes, it’s possible to make the colors work by blotting them down, and yes, they’re inexpensive and come in a wide range of colors. But the formula is just SO uncomfortably greasy for me that I can’t in good faith recommend it to anyone!

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