Revlon Color Burst Lip Butter. Swatches!

I went to Walgreens a few weeks ago to get one of Revlon's Color Burst Lip Butters, but ended up getting three! There were so many colors to choose from, I couldn't just settle with one.

Anyway, I've been using them for a couple of weeks and just love love love them. They provide the pigmentation of a lipstick, and the moisture of a lip balm.

070 Cherry Tart, 050 Berry Smoothie, 040 Red Velvet

This one got a little bit out of order. 050 Berry Smoothie, 070 Cherry Tart, 040 Red Velvet

From top to bottom: 040 Red Velvet, 070 Cherry Tart, 050 Berry Smoothie

From left to right: 040 Red Velvet, 070 Cherry Tart, 050 Berry Smoothie

I find myself using Cherry Tart the most for the nice pop of color in an everyday look. The color is buildable so you can make it lighter or darker depending on how many layers you apply. Berry smoothie is more pink and light, so I use it when I want to be low-key. Red velvet is a bit dramatic-I only use that when I want dark red lips. 

Overall, this is a great buy. At under $10 USD per lipstick, the quality is awesome.

EOTD and moving out

I told myself I wouldn't buy anything I didn't need because I'm already borrowing loans and tuition for grad school is 18k for one semester. I hung out with some friends today, just loitering around and I saw this Physician's Formula Duo Eye Shadow in Natural Minerals for $3 at Big Lots. I really love neutral shades and most of the ones I have have shimmer to it, so I decided to buy it.

I was also bored one day and decided to use this facemask I bought from China last year. It was okay.. it kinda stinged my face.

Here is the first EOTD of this blog! I was really bored so I used Physician Formula's Shimmer Palette for Hazel Eyes (even though I have brown eyes). The outer color is a nice dark brown and the lid is supposed to be light pink. But the color looks all washed out here.. oh well.

I'm also using Ardell's false lashes in Demi I think. Also, on a sad note, while I was cleaning out the lashes, I was running the water in the sink to rinse them, one of them slipped out of my hand and fell down the drain :(

Life: I'm moving out from the west to the east coast this friday for grad school. I'm excited and scared.. but mostly excited because living at home is no fun since parents can be very controlling most of the time.

It's hard to fit life in 2 standard check-in luggage.

NYX Round lipstick swatch

I got bored so I decided to do some swatches of my NYX round lipsticks in lots of different lighting.. It's kind of sad because I don't really use them that much. I think I use Herades and Frosted Beige most when I first bought them, I like lipgloss more. Oh! I also have Doll, but I forgot to include it here.. so I'll probably include it in a later post. They're all really nice and pigmented, (maybe a little TOO pigmented if that makes any sense.) However, I don't really like the color of Sun Flower.. it looks too orangey on me so I end up looking like an Oompa Loompa.

(click for larger images!)

L-R: Earth Angel, Circe, Sun Flower, Frosted Beige, Rose, Herades

Indoor lighting

bottom to top: Earth Angel, Circe, Sun Flower, Frosted Beige, Rose, Herades

The top two are NYX eye shadow pencils in Mocha (Top) and Lavender.

I actually kind of like the eye shadow pencils, at first I tried using them just as eyeshadows and these creased like no other.. so I just started using them as a base.. it's perfect as a base.

With camera flash

With flash

Indoor lighting

Indoor, direct sunlight.

Memorial weekend, NYX Haul

I remembered I ordered stuff from cherry culture during their 50% off NYX sale so I was excited to come home with a package waiting for me. I think I just like ordering stuff online because I like opening packages, :P. Anyway, I didn't order much, just 3 round lipglosses (apricot, mauve, ballerina pink) and 2 eyeshadow cubes (suede, antique gold). Still searching for the perfect golden brown eyeshadow color...

Swatches!

Without Flash

With Flash

On the lips! I felt kinda weird taking these cause they're so zoomed in, you could see my pores and 'stache :P

Swatches on the hand!

During the week, I visited the garden at my school and took some photos. I miss photography.

Me parody-ing studio glamour pic poses.

We saw this weird pot of... what looked like moldy, leaf soup inside a tree trunk? It was pretty interesting...

It took a million attempts to get this picture of the dragon fly. It was on some grass right next to a river and stupid me forget to bring my telephoto lens (super zoom). So I had to bust a national-geographic-photog status. It came out okay, but I really wish I had my other lenses!

So many red-slider turtles, can you find them all? There's probably about twenty altogether (there's some across the stream too!)

I felt so stalkerish taking this pic. I didn't even know she was in the background until after I saw the pic! I swear I was focusing on the lavendery flowers.

I think this was called "Japanese Cherry tree" not sure if it's the same as "Cherry Blossom."

I have two more weeks of classes and I'm done with undergrad! Of course the last few weeks are always packed with work to do.. so back to work for me.. :(

P.S. What are you girls doing this memorial weekend?

E.L.F. Haul and Mini Reviews

So I've been using Revlon's ColorStay with Softflex foundation recently with my Target Stippler Brush, and I've got to say, it's awesome. The coverage is medium to full, but I get the airbrushed look with the brush and no cakey-ness. I don't use foundation everyday (just whenever I feel like it.. about once or twice a week) but when I wear this foundation, it really feels lightweight and I can hardly tell its there.

I've also been using the Hidden Agenda Concealer by Sonia Kashuk pretty much everyday since I bought it. I have small red marks from acne scars and the olive based color (bottom right) really covers it up well. Previous to this, I used Maybelline's coverstick in Deep Beige and although it was pretty good at concealing, the color didn't really work that well with the redness, so it would take a while to blend and such.

Oh Cetaphil.. how I love thee... I've been using it about every other day (and using St. Ive's Apricot Scrub the other days) and I really love it. Since Cetaphil is soapfree, you don't need to work up a lather, all you do is slather it on your face, rub. and rinse. It makes face cleansing so much easier over the sink because I usually hate doing it with other soapy facial cleansers. Another plus is that you can use it by leaving it on your face and just wiping it off with a towel, leaving a sheen. This relieves my worry about leaving soapy residue on my face as with other cleansers.

Here's the E.L.F. Haul!

83601 -	blushed/bronzed	Qty: 1	$3.00
2201 -	Crystal	Qty: 1	$1.00
1705 -	Eye Lash Curler	Qty: 1	$1.00
81302 -	medium	Qty: 1	$3.00
85006 -	Mini Eyelash Curler	Qty: 1	$3.00
3101 -	Pink Lemonade	Qty: 1	$1.00
84003 -	Powder Brush	Qty: 1	$3.00
2807 -	Watermelon	Qty: 1	$1.00
cstmpalette -	Custom Palette	Qty: 1	$0.00
2567 -	Compact	Qty: 2	$1.00

----------------------------------------------------

Sub Total:	$18.00
Shipping:	$6.95
Tax:	$0.00

Discounts:

----------------------------------------------------

50% off orders up to $15.00!

($7.50)

----------------------------------------------------

Total:

$17.45

Unfortunately, They shipped a wrong item to me. I ordered a mini eyelash curler, but they gave me a regular one instead. I emailed them immediately and they responded the very next day that they would send the correct item out ASAP. I'm still waiting, but it's only been a few days.

The goodies in the bag

I guess I should've flipped these two pics over because they are upside down. They're supposed to be in the order that the swatches are on my hand.

L-R: Lipgloss in watermelon, all over color stick in pink lemonade, blush and bronze duo (supposedly a nars dupe), and the eyebrow kit in medium (wax and powder)
swatches with direct natural light from the window

Oh! I was also tagged by GiLing for the "Kreativ Blogger" award that's been circulating around lately. It's interesting, why is it spelled "Kreativ" is it because it's 'creative'? Yeah, just a random thought. btw, remind me to list a bunch of things I hate about blogger next time.

Maybelline Dream Liquid Mousse

In my Glamour magazine, there was a free sample(s) of Maybelline's Dream Liquid Mousse foundation! I thought it was pretty cool..

With flash!... Without flash!

So I thought I knew what shade I was since I used Maybelline's Pure Makeup in Medium 2: Pure Beige.. but I knew it was a little off because it was a bit too rosy for me.

So I sampled the ones next to it!

L-R: Medium 1: Sandy beige, Medium 2: Pure Beige, Medium 2.5: Natural Beige

The shades are the same in this one, but reversed. (Medium 2.5 on the left)

Conclusion: I think my shade is Medium 2.5: Natural Beige. Even though Medium 2 looks like it works, it's actually too pink for me. Medium 1 and Medium 2.5 looks similar to me though, except Medium 1 is probably lighter.

Have any of you gals tried this? If not, what foundation do you usually use?

CG haul and grad school

Okay so I went to Rite-aid recently and bought some stuff from CoverGirl. CG Lipslicks (in Daring and Demure) and Outlast Smoothwear Eyeliners (Smoke and Indigo)

Daring (The red one), Demure (The pinkish one). Liners top to bottom: Smoke and Indigo

Demure

Daring

I really like CG's lipslicks in Daring. This is the 3rd one I've bought because I use it so much. It gives a nice red tint without being overwhelming and it's casual enough to wear to school. Plus it's shiny and feels soothing to my lips. It also smells nice too! Kind of like.. some sort of lotion.

Left to right: Smoke, Indigo. I like Smoke because it's not as harsh as black, but it's dark enough to make the eyes pop. I use Indigo mostly for the bottom waterline.

Left to right: Indigo, Smoke. There's also a sharpener at the end, but it don't think I'll use it much.

Random picture of some blossoms at school.

This part is non-beauty related so don't read it if you want :)

In other news.. I AM SO EXCITED/ SHOCKED because I got into my top choice for grad school (Masters program). Seriously, when I applied I knew I had like a 5% chance of getting in because my grades aren't the greatest, none of my recommenders were even professors, and I don't have nearly as much research experience as most people applying to grad school. I guess somehow, I beat the odds.

I am still in shock (I found out yesterday) but nevertheless ecstatic. I was actually considering going to a less prestigious state school because I haven't heard from anywhere else and was seriously expecting all rejections because they're all top tier research schools. After checking forums and finding out that people were already admitted to those schools, I was just waiting for the rejection letter. Here's how it went down...(yes, I feel the need to document this magical moment)...

Yesterday...

I check my email the billionth time, expecting nothing because I haven't received anything grad school related for almost a month or so.. the first message I saw was something semi-important about class enrollment so I immediately click that. Then I notice an email with the subject "Admission Decision" and think, "It's about time they sent the rejection." So I click it and the first line says "Congratulations!" and I'm like.. "okay.. WAIT. WHAT?!.. WHAT WHAT WHAT!!?" Then I started freaking out and reread the email to make sure they sent it to the right person, if they spelled my name right, etc. My roommate was in the bathroom and I started screaming. "I GOT INTO CARNEGIE MELLON OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG. Is this a dream, is this a dream, is this a dream?" I swear my roommate probably thought I was on drugs or something and that I'll probably go to hell because I said "God" so many times. (She's Christian and has a thing about saying the word "God" in vain.)

I guess the bad side to this is that I will be in a lot of debt after I get the degree. Especially since I've already taken out loans for undergrad. The tuition (not including ANY other expenses) for CMU is about 35,000 a year... ouch. Anyway, I'm still trying to convince myself that this isn't a dream. And looking for housing isn't going to be fun..

N.Y.C. Bronzer and Blush

I had a $2 off for N.Y.C. cosmetics for CVS and they were having a buy one get one 50% off. I didn't really know what to get so I looked up some reviews on makeupalley.com and got the "Color Wheel Mosaic Face Powder" in Pink Cheek Glow and All-Over Bronze Glow.