ULTA Holographic Eye & Cheek Palette: My alternative to the Kat Von D Alchemist and Anastasia Beverly Hills Moonchild Palettes (and all the others)

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This is really just a post about something fun and shiny I've been playing with lately. Tons of photos, so be prepared! I got this Holographic Eye & Cheek Palette recently using some ULTA points (it's normally $16, but on sale for $8 right now). I'd been moving the Kat Von D Alchemist palette in and out of my Sephora cart for a few months. I love anything duochrome or shifty, but I had a hard time justifying $32 when I don't wear noticeable highlighter very often, and I doubted how much I'd actually use it as an eyeshadow transformer. I'm more of a 1-2 shades of eyeshadow person. For while I considered the BH Cosmetics Blacklight Highlight Palette, which contains 6 huge pans of iridescent highlighter for $17--but then I remembered that I was trying to minimize the amount of makeup I traveled with, and carting around an enormous highlighter supply probably wouldn't help me achieve that goal. (I'm not going to do a whole price-per-ounce analysis right now, but I can tell you that in the BH palette, you'll get a lot more product than in the ULTA palette for close to the same price, and in the KVD palette you'll get significantly less for twice the cost.)

So I settled on this ULTA option, in part because of my points, and in part because I've had good luck with ULTA brand products in the past. I think they're pretty underrated--the eyeliners are particularly great--and they always have some sort of sale on the store brand, so that you should never have to pay full price for anything.

As it turns out, I'm very happy that I bought this palette and equally happy that I didn't buy Alchemist, because while it's a lot of fun to play with, my predictions about how I would or wouldn't use it were accurate.

ULTA's Holographic Eye & Cheek Palette includes, as you can see, four iridescent, shifty, sheer highlighters. Have another look at the pans, and then I'll show about a million swatches after the cut.

It looks really pretty in the bathroom lighting, ok?

Review: Marc Jacobs Beauty Glow Stick Glistening Illuminator in Spotlight

Disclosure: Affiliate links. Product provided free for review from Influenster.

To continue my recent theme of trying out products that wouldn't normally fit into my budget, today I'm reviewing Marc Jacobs Beauty Glow Stick Glistening Illuminator in Spotlight. This product was sent to me for free from Influenster. If you're not aware, anyone can sign up for Influenster and get things to review. It's not a blogger thing, but you do need to use social media.

Highlighter is one of those products that is proliferating the market right now, but if you are not a makeup collector or someone who regularly uses makeup to create editorial looks, you probably don't need more than one. In fact, you probably don't need one at all, because chances are you already have an eyeshadow that can function perfectly well as a highlighter. Personally, when I do my makeup, I am usually aiming to conceal things I don't like and to enhance or slightly alter things I do like, but rarely to draw a lot of attention to the makeup itself (with the occasional exception of lip colors and eyeliners). It's my impression that the majority of makeup consumers belong in this same category, though I am quite aware that people use and enjoy makeup for other reasons as well. Maybe you don't want to look naturally glowy, but like an android or an alien. That's a legitimate choice.

For me, two highlighters have been enough for a while now (and, again, eyeshadows will substitute just fine). Because I have a fairly neutral skin tone, I can adjust my makeup to be cooler or warmer, depending on my clothing, hair color, or mood, and it will still be flattering. So if I want to bring more warmth into my complexion, I'll use a gold/champagne highlighter (right now I have a mini tube of Benefit Watt's Up), and if everything else I'm wearing is cooler, a pearly or pink highlighter will often work better (I am currently working on a bottomless bottle of Benefit High Beam).

For a lot of people, either warm or cool will be more suitable for your skin tone, however. For everyday use, highlighter is generally meant to look like light is naturally reflecting off the high points of your face, and so having subtle variations of shade in various highlighters isn't going to make much difference, because the color shouldn't really show up, just the glow. For these purposes, you only need one good option that works for you.

That seems to be where Marc Jacobs Glow Stick Glistening Illuminator in Spotlight is meant to fit in. The Sephora description says that it contains both silver and gold pigments in order to be flattering to both cool and warm skin tones. I think you can see that that's a fairly accurate description when you compare the photo below to the first photo in this post. At some angles and in some lighting you get a warmer champagne or golden shimmer and at others a cool, pearly color like in the photo below. You may also be able to tell that it has a creamy texture here. If you've ever use Benefit's Watt's Up, the Glow Stick is much softer, slipperier, and more emollient.

The effect is on my skin is subtle and natural, so it works well for everyday use. I even applied this stuff to my entire face, and I just looked "dewier," not like some kind of combination human-fish cyborg. But I didn't take a photo.

 Here's how it looks on my cheekbone. I'm wearing other makeup in the photo, but no base product (just concealer and powder). I applied the Glow Stick by swiping my finger across the surface of the stick and then patting it along my cheekbone.

This photo was taken adjacent to direct sunlight (i.e. I was standing right at the edge of the shade on a very hot, sunny day) which intensifies the effect somewhat. It's not as shiny in indoor lighting. I think it looks pretty naturally "dewy." (I can't help but put scare-quotes around that word--sorry.) In fact, I'm not wearing the highlighter near the inner corner of my eyes, but the natural glare of the sun of my skin there looks similar to the reflection created by the Glow Stick. I don't think it makes the natural texture of my skin look any worse than it is, but it also doesn't do anything to disguise it.

Unfortunately, the creamy texture does not work well for my oily summer skin.  It disappears after just a few hours, and all I'm left with are a few stray sparkles. I think this would probably work much better for dry skin, but since I don't have that, I can't say for certain. I'll have to hold on to this until winter and see how it works for me then.

The product description states that you can get "one-swipe application" on your cheekbone due to the shape. I haven't had much luck doing that. It's not the right size or shape for me. Fingers are fine.

Here are some comparisons with some other products I own:

Left to right: Marc Jacobs Beauty Glow Stick Glistening Illuminator in Spotlight, City Color Shadow & Highlight Mousse in White Gold, the highlight shade from the Wet N Wild Walking on Eggshells eyeshadow trio, Benefit High Beam, and Benefit Watt's Up.

I thought that the City Color Mousse would be similar, but it's clearly more yellow and more intense. The main similarity is that it also doesn't work very well for my skin type, because it is very slippery. But the color is so pretty that I keep it around in hopes that I'll figure it out some day. I also looked for an eyeshadow that would be close to the Glow Stick as a powder alternative. Honestly, any pearly-cream eyeshadow is going to be pretty close, as you can see from the Wet N Wild swatch. And then I swatched my two usual highlighters, Benefit's High Beam and Watt's Up, just as points of comparison. You can see that when the light reflects off of these products, the differences are subtle. Noticeable in heavy swatches like these, sure, but when you use a lighter application like you ordinarily would on your face, the differences are going to be even less apparent.

$42 is out of my usual budget for a highlighter, especially since there are so many things that can be used to highlight the skin. But I was curious, so I did a cost comparison with some other stick highlighters out there (there are a lot these days!).

The Marc Jacobs Glow Stick is $42 for 0.49 oz., making it $85.71 per oz.

Glossier Haloscope is 0.194 oz. for $22, or $113.40 per oz.

Clinique Chubby Stick Sculpting Highlight is 0.21 oz. for $22, or $104.76 per oz.

Benefit Watt's Up contains 0.33 oz. for $30, or $90.90 per oz.

Maybelline Master Strobing Stick is 0.24 oz. for $10, or $41.67 per oz.

Milk Makeup Highlighter is 1 oz. for $24, or fucking huge.

I don't know how any of these but Watt's Up compare (and I like Watt's Up quite a bit--it lasts longer on my skin), but there's the cost breakdown for you. The Marc Jacobs Glow Stick is somewhere in the middle. Not cheap, not outrageous.

I think that the Marc Jacobs Glow Stick is going to appeal mainly to people who have dry skin and want to own a single, natural-looking highlighter that's easy to apply without going overboard. There's a lot of product in there, so it would be hard to use it all up if it were just one product in a rotation of many. I guess it would also appeal to people who like their makeup to look like deodorant. Who doesn't, though?

My cheap favorites: the best makeup under $10

Disclosure: Affiliate links.

I wrote a post like this way back when I started my blog, so I thought it might be interesting to update it and see how many of my favorites have stayed the same and how many have changed, now that I've tried a lot of new shit. I've also compared a lot of cheaper things to more expensive products along the way, and in all cases, the makeup in this list equals or outperforms pricier alternatives. I'm just doing makeup today, but I'll follow up with another post about my cheap favorites from other categories like skin care and hair products.

My cheap favorites are reliable and inexpensive. They're things that I replace when I finish them. Obviously I don't use these products exclusively, but I keep coming back to them because I prefer them to others. Below I've included links to previous reviews on my blog, if they exist. I've also tried to link to the best places online to buy these things, to my knowledge. Most of them are easy to find in any drugstore or Target/Walmart, etc.--in which case you might be able to get them on sale. But you might be like me and prefer online shopping when possible, so I've linked them below.

There are a few categories of makeup for which I don't have a current cheap favorite. For example, foundation: I'm picky about it and haven't found anything I absolutely love at any price point, though the Maybelline SuperStay Better Skin Foundation, reviewed here, is decent when sheered out, and Boots No. 7 Lift & Luminate Foundation is amazing if you can find a good color match (I can't). As for concealer, I have a favorite (reviewed here), but it's not cheap. I've used some good drugstore concealers, like Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circles, but I tend to run into problems with the range of shades available. I had a favorite powder (Maybelline Mineral Power Finishing Veil Translucent Powder--lots of Maybelline here in the "almost" category) but of course it's been discontinued, so I'll have to find something else soon. I don't have a favorite bronzer, because I almost never wear bronzer. I also don't currently have a favorite lip gloss, I guess because it's not a product I love to wear in general. There a plenty of perfectly fine lip glosses out there, but nothing that I am particularly excited about.

But let's get to my actual favorites. My photos aren't the prettiest, because I am currently using most of these things and, in many cases, have been using them for a long time, so they're a bit beat up. (Lots of images after the jump.)

Review: Paula's Choice Blush It On Contour Palette

Disclosure: Affiliate links.

I got this a few months ago as a free gift with purchase from Paula's Choice. All of the reviews I've read of this palette have been glowing, but I don't love it, so I thought it might be worth putting a dissenting voice out there. We all know how much I like to be a dissenting voice.

Although it has the word "contour" in the name, it's not really a contouring palette in the same sense as others out there like the ones from Anastasia or NYX. It's really a blush palette with a highlighter and bronzer included. I think that the color of the bronzer would make it unsuitable for contouring on most people (more on that below), so really the only contouring product in here is the highlighter.

I'll start with the part of the palette I like best: the highlighter (Pearl). In fact, if I could buy this on its own, I would. It's very natural looking. The best part is that I can use it on large areas of my face (like the middle of my forehead) and it just gives a subtle glow without emphasizing pores or texture in a way that I don't like. Usually, even with the best powder highlighters I've tried (like The Balm's Mary-Lou Manizer), I have to limit highlighting to pretty small zones to avoid that. Because this is so subtle on my skin, I originally assumed that it was extremely translucent. But then I swatched it over black eyeliner to test the translucency, and it turns out that it's not. It's quite opaque, in fact. It's just a near-exact match for my pasty face. Interesting! I suppose that means that it will be more dramatic the darker your skin is.

Heres an angle so you can get a better idea of the very smooth shimmer it contains. Though it looks slightly pink in the pan, the sheen is mostly just pearly with maybe a hint of yellow gold.

Now the worst part: the bronzer (Bronze). It's possible that this shade of bronzer would work for someone out there, but it is really awful on me. My skin tone is pretty neutral, leaning just slightly warm/yellow. This bronzer looks like dirt on my face. It's quite pigmented and not easy to blend, so it gets patchy, which only worsens the effect. The color is very brown, with a little red in it, which isn't good for me at all. I don't know if some people tan that color, but I certainly don't. Here it is compared to some other products I have for reference (left to right): Wet N Wild ColorIcon Bronzer in Princess, Tarte Park Avenue Princess, Paula's Choice Bronze, and NYX Blush in Taupe (which is not a bronzer, but works well for contouring pale skin since it's cool).

The Wet N Wild is warmer, maybe, but it's more of an orange-gold warmness than red, which makes it look less dirty on my face. Closer to an actual tan, I suppose. In the swatches, the Paula's Choice doesn't look so far off from the Tarte bronzer, but the Tarte works just fine for me - so that slightly cooler and slightly yellower color apparently makes a big difference. The nice thing about the Paula's Choice bronzer is that it has no shimmer in it, so on someone for whom the color worked, it would look more natural than a glittery bronzer. Presumably.

The blushes are somewhere in between the highlighter and the bronzer: they're okay, but they don't really work for me either. They have the same type of formula as the bronzer, i.e. matte, quite pigmented and difficult to blend smoothly. They are also all very warm and a little ruddy. They're just not colors I can use easily, and because they are all so warm, there isn't one in the bunch that I can really wear. Which isn't to say I can't ever wear coral or warm pink blushes - but not these ones. All of these, even Peony and Soft Mauve from the far right side of the palette - which look relatively cool next to the other two - are still too ruddy and just not flattering on me.

Top row: on the left, Delicate Coral; on the right, Peony:

Bottom row: on the left, Dusty Rose; on the right, Soft Mauve.

Delicate? Dusty? Soft? Not so much. See how, even though they look fairly different in the pans, they somehow look very similar on my skin? Not identical, but there's not exactly a great variety here. Disappointing.

The blushes cause the same problems with blending as the bronzer. Because they are quite pigmented and the colors are iffy to begin with, they create a blotchy, unnatural effect on my face. Blush is supposed to give you a healthy flush, but instead I end up looking sicker. The patchiness is worse if I wear moisturizer (or on days that my skin is particularly oily). In the photo below, I applied moisturizer to my arm and let it soak in for 10-15 minutes, and then swatched one of the blushes (unfortunately I didn't note which one, and they all look so similar that I can't tell what it is from the photo).

This is as smooth as I could blend it out with a nice, soft brush, and then it wouldn't budge. It's even worse on my face, because the skin on the inner side of my forearm here is smoother and less oily than the skin on my face. Primer doesn't seem to help. I would highly recommend using a stippling brush with these blushes, like the one e.l.f. sells for $3. That makes the application a million times easier, because it doesn't deposit all the blush in a couple of spots that you then have to blend out. In fact, I never really understood the point of a stippling brush until I used it with these blushes. I've never had a blush that applied like this. I get it now. On the plus side, the Paula's Choice blushes are quite long lasting, so if you can master the blending and want something that will stick, this is an option.

In the end, this palette was an interesting concept that really didn't work for me. I was excited about the vibrant colors, but I think they'd be better for someone with a different skin tone from mine (who also owns a stippling brush!). Warmer and maybe less pale? I considered keeping the whole palette just for the lovely highlighter, but I have enough other highlighters that are perfectly functional. At $38, I don't think it is worth buying for the little pan of highlighter alone (and I'm glad I didn't spend that money on it). My general experience is that while Paula's Choice makes great skin care products, their makeup is hit and miss and rarely worth the high prices.

I'm really curious how this might work for someone with different coloring from mine, so here's what I'm going to do. If you would like to try it and report back, I'd be happy to send it to you for the cost of shipping (in a small, flat rate USPS Priority box: $5.95, US only, Paypal). Send me an email at cheapasf AT gmail DOT com and it's yours. First come, first served! (Though I will send it to the second (or third or fourth) person who contacts me if I don't receive the shipping money within 48 hours of my responding to the first one.)

Is this a $6 dupe for TheBalm Mary Lou Manizer?

I have already posted my own cheap alternative, but what do you think about this Wet N Wild highlighter swatched by Allura Beauty? Has anyone compared it to TheBalm's version? It looks pretty close to me!

Buying things I shouldn't (in drugstore clearance sales)

Okay, I'm going to get back on schedule around here for real this time. I was swamped for a couple of weeks with a graduation (mine - you can call me Dr. Cheap now) and a wedding (not mine) in Canada, but now I have nothing to do but sit at home putting on makeup and being unemployed. That should mean more blogging for a while.

This is a short one. Just thought I'd show you what I got for about $6 at Walgreens today:

• e.l.f. Shimmering Facial Whip in Lilac Petal
• e.l.f. Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Pink Lemonade
• Milani Baked Blush in Corallina

All of these things were 50% off. Not a huge deal for the e.l.f. shit, since you can get it for that price regularly on their website, but I thought what the hell. I want to compare that Shimmering Facial Whip to Benefit High Beam, since it's supposed to be a dupe. I like the other Liquid Lipstick I have, so we'll see about this one. The Milani blush is a little more exciting. I've heard good things about this one, and $4+ isn't bad.

You can find very useful info about the Walgreens and CVS clearance sales on Nouveau Cheap. I went to CVS too, but didn't find much there except for some of the scented Revlon polishes for about $2.50. But no more nail polish for me. None!

$3 near-dupe/alternative to The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer (e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow in Elegant)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
I got The Balm's Mary-Lou Manizer highlighter not too long ago using some HauteLook credits (thank to whomever used my link!). I really like it. It's easy to use, and natural-looking, and effective. But if you don't buy it when it comes up on HauteLook (invite link), that shit is $24 (or $20 on Amazon)! I mean, it's a big pan, but still. That's a lot for some shimmery powder.

I've mentioned before that you can use just about any shimmery product as a highlighter, so long as it's close to your natural skin tone or a little lighter. I was playing around with my e.l.f. loose mineral eyeshadows the other day and decided to compare e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow in Elegant to Mary-Lou Manizer. Here are the swatches, using the same brush with two layers on the left and then blended out on the right:

Swatches of The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer (left) and
e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow in Elegant (right)

As you can see, the e.l.f. eyeshadow is cooler-toned and a bit more reflective. Even though The Balm's highlighter is a pressed powder and the e.l.f. shadow is loose, when applied the texture is very similar. They are both super soft and smooth. The both blend beautifully. The thing I find most annoying about highlighters is when you can actually see the product on the skin - like when it doesn't blend out seamlessly around the edges. For that reason, I'm not a huge fan of Benefit Watt's Up. It's hard to get it to blend subtly without just rubbing it off. But neither of these powders have that issue. They really just leave the impression of light reflecting off the parts of your face where you apply them, which is exactly the fucking point.

Though they look fairly different in the swatches, in actual practice, at least on my face, they look very similar. I don't have the right equipment/lighting at the moment to take useful comparison photos of highlighter on my face, so you'll just have to take my word for it. The only real advantages of The Balm's product are that, since it's pressed, it's less messy, and it wears a little bit longer. The e.l.f. eyeshadow, used as highlighter, lasts long enough, but the Mary-Lou Manizer is even more tenacious.

So if you've been considering The Balm's Mary-Lou Manizer, but don't want to spend so much, you might consider picking up this e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow in Elegant instead. It's normally $3, but e.l.f. shit goes on sale all the time. It's also a pretty eyeshadow, of course, if you like loose pigments.

My favorite thing to do with highlighter is to run it down the length of my nose and across the tip. I think it just gives my face a little more dimension, especially if I've used foundation or a matte powder. I also use it on my cheekbones, but since I wear glasses, I don't think it's particularly noticeable there.

(By the way, I only "got" the joke in The Balm's highlighter names a couple of weeks ago. Sigh. Luminizer. Get it?)

Some sparkly shit from e.l.f. (Studio Blush in Gotta Glow! and Studio Tone Correcting Powder in Shimmer)

I bought both of these products mainly because I didn't really understand what they were supposed to be. Even after googling them, they remained mysterious to me. They were cheap and I was curious, so whatever. I got them.

e.l.f. Studio Blush in Gotta Glow! and e.l.f. Studio Tone Correcting Powder in Shimmer

To explain my journey of discovery with e.l.f. Studio Blush in Gotta Glow! and e.l.f. Studio Tone Correcting Powder in Shimmer in more visual terms, before I tried them, I was like this:

 And then after I tried them, I was like this:

And also this:

So that about sums it up, I think. But I'll show you some photos anyway.

Adequate product roundup

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

I realize that most of the time I post about things either because I really love them or because I really hate them. It's just easier and more fun to write about something if I have strong feelings about it or if it's particularly intriguing in some way.

But I have a bunch of shit lying around that I thought at one point I would review here and just never got around to. Not because it's bad, but just because it's not exciting. I think, however, that pointing out that something isn't exciting can be useful, even if it doesn't make for the most enthralling blog post (or one filled with a lot of expletives). So I decided to make a single post with brief reviews of bunch of things that fit into the category of "adequate", rather than writing eight separate "meh" posts. They are not bad, but they are not wonderful. They are perfectly functional, and I don't feel like I have wasted money on them, but I wouldn't necessarily buy them again. They do their job, but they don't fill me with joy. They're adequate.

I can see two main responses to reading this: (1) you were excited about something, and you subsequently become less excited about it; or (2) you were excited about something, and you subsequently remain excited and are satisfied that it's not utter shit. No wait, the third possible response is that you didn't care before and you still don't care. Okay, a fourth possible response is that you are enraged that I am dismissing one of the BEST PRODUCTS YOU HAVE EVER USED. Be aware that there are few things on my list that many people out there seem to looooooooove, so if you're curious, you might as well give them a shot, knowing that they are not going to turn out to be garbage. You might turn out to be one of their fans.

Not Your Mother's Knotty to Nice Conditioning Detangler

This stuff is fine, but not exciting - which has been my experience with every product I've used from the NYM brand. It's a leave-in spray conditioner that does make wet hair somewhat easier to comb out. It smells okay, but not too strong. Sort of like fruity candy. I don't find that it has much effect on the appearance or condition of my hair. I can spray it very generously, and my hair doesn't get stringy looking.

Nivea A Kiss of Olive Oil & Lemon Moisture Rich Lip Care

Normally I'm not a big fan of these Nivea/Labello lip balms, so I'm not sure why I bought this one. This version does seem to be a little more effective than most, though. Less waxy and more moisturizing. The scent is pleasant: slightly citrusy, not too sour, like Sprite or 7Up. It has a faint perfumey taste, but it's not obnoxious. It has very little sheen. Good enough, but I wouldn't buy it again when there are a million other lip balms out there to try.

CeraVe Moisturizing Lotion

I know that people swear by this one, and it does have a good ingredients list. There are some things I really like about it and other things I find disappointing. For example, I absolutely love the way it feels when you apply it. It's like a refreshing drink of water for your skin. It soaks in very quickly and doesn't leave a greasy feeling. On the other hand, I don't find that the moisture it provides lasts very long. On dry days this winter (i.e. all of them), my skin feels parched again a few hours later, which doesn't happen so much with lotions that are less pleasant immediately. Maybe this would be best layered under something heavier, though that would mean more greasiness.

Smith's Rosebud Salve

Another popular one. Personally, I don't love it. I've tried it a bunch of different ways. On my cuticles, it's too greasy during the day, and it doesn't seem to have much effect when applied before bed and left overnight. I don't like it on my lips. I actually find it a little drying in the long run, and the floral scent means it doesn't taste very good. I have found a very specific use for it though. I tend to have dry, flaky skin on my nose. If I put some of this stuff around my nostrils before I go to sleep, it definitely cuts down on the dryness by morning. Plus it means I have a pleasant rosy scent to fall asleep to. $6 is kind of a lot of money for dedicated nostril balm, though. I don't advise buying it at Sephora, since you can get it cheaper elsewhere (like drugstore.com, link above).

Suave Moroccan Infusion Shine Conditioner

I had high hopes for this one after reading many, many positive reviews. My opinion is that it's a decent conditioner, but nothing special. It doesn't make my hair any shinier or smoother than other decent conditioners do. It may be that it works better for people with hair types that are different from mine (which is fine, but not thin, and quite straight). I also really don't like the scent, though I think that is one of the major selling points for a lot of people. It's very strong and sweet, slightly spicy. I'm not great at identifying/describing fragrances - sorry. But this is the sort of fragrance you get in a lot of drugstore products (like body wash) that are supposed to be "exotic" or "eastern". Maybe a hint of incense?

Here are swatches of the last three products on my list, the makeup:

Swatches (left to right): L'Oreal 24 Hour Infallible Eyeshadow in Sultry Smoke, Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Fig Jam, Revlon Photoready Eye Primer + Brightener

L'Oreal 24 Hour Infallible Eyeshadow in Sultry Smoke

Matte grey eyeshadow is tricky. It tends to be patchy and dry and not very pigmented. This one is very smooth, but it takes several layers to build up the color to anything other than very sheer. The swatch above is not over primer, which does increase the pigmentation somewhat. Like the other Infallible eyeshadows, it works best when applied with your finger, rather than with a brush. But it's not nearly as impressive as the shimmery Infallible shades, and it's not the answer to all your grey eyeshadow needs. Better than average, but not great.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Fig Jam

I heard that this was a dupe for the beloved Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey. I don't think that it really is, especially if "universally flattering" is the main attraction of the Clinique stuff. From photos, this Lip Butter seems to be warmer - it has more of a brick red/brown thing going on. It looks okay on me, but it's not something I find particularly attractive. The formula is just as nice as the other sheer Revlon Lip Butters, though.

Swatch of Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Fig Jam

(I guess I did include this Lip Butter in my previous post about them, but it seems worth talking about in more detail for its potential dupe status.)

Revlon Photoready Eye Primer + Brightener

I've had this for ages. I'm not sure why I bought it, either. I guess maybe I was wondering if it was a dupe for YSL Touche Éclat, though I don't have that, so I'm not sure how I would be able to tell. It's the same type of product, though: highlighter in a click pen with a brush. This packaging seriously suffers from the click-click-click-click-nothing, click-click-click-click-SPLOOGE effect. It it definitely not a concealer - it provides almost no coverage. It does seem to reflect the light from undereye circles in a way that makes using it slightly better than using nothing. It is not reflective enough to be used as a highlighter, though, at least on someone pale like me, and I have no idea what sort of priming effects it's supposed to have. It's not very good layered under something else, because it doesn't apply especially evenly. Overall it's just not that impressive. I use it on days when I'm not going to be out and about much, since it camouflages my dark circles a little bit, provided that no one looks too closely at me. I'm basically just trying to use this up at this point.

So there you go. None of this things are disasters, but none of them are revelations either, in my opinion. Feel free to rage at me in the comments about how shockingly wrong I am.

Do I Need This? Highlighting and Contouring (plus highlighter comparison photos and review)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Here is the latest installment of "Do I Need This?", a series about new and trendy beauty products (or just those that might be unfamiliar and baffling to both of us). I'll offer my experience and opinion about whether or not I think the product under consideration is worth shelling out for. Obviously, you don't need ANY beauty products, so the answer is always going to be no, a little bit. But is it going to change your life (or face)? Is it going to make things easier? Are you going to notice any difference at all if you use it? That's what I'm getting at. You may disagree with my verdict, because we all have different bodies/faces/brains/desires, but I'll try to give you a starting point at least.

Short answer: No, but if you want to play around with it, you probably already have something you can use.

50% off everything from theBalm for 24 hours only

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link.

Celebrating their new website design. I think I might pick up another one of their lip stains, though the one I have now seems like it's going to last forever. Anything else I need to try? I've heard that the MaryLou Manizer highlighter is good.

theBalm is on HauteLook today

I'm not going to buy anything! But you should. I've heard good things about the Meet Matt(e) palette (I've tried one of the shades and liked it), as well as the Nude 'tude palette, which is said to be a good alternative to Urban Decay's Naked palettes. The Mary-Lou Manizer highlight is supposed to be great, too. My favorite theBalm product, Staniac, isn't here, unfortunately. But these prices are significantly lower than on Sephora, etc. The tradeoff is that you often have to wait two weeks or more for purchases from HauteLook to get to you.

Here's my invite link, if you don't already have an account.