For Dry Eyes Only: Review of IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Full Coverage Anti-Aging Waterproof Concealer

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I have a wandering eye when it comes to makeup, and it usually doesn't do me much good. I have a totally reliable, nearly perfect under-eye concealer in the form of Sephora Gel Serum Concealer (reviewed here), and yet . . .

It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye [insert long name here] is one of those concealers that comes up whenever people ask for recommendations, alongside things like Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer. So I was tempted. I should have known better, since it claims to be waterproof. Things can usually be waterproof or oil-proof, but not both (which makes perfect sense). I do have pretty watery eyes, so a waterproof concealer isn't a bad idea in theory, but my skin also tends to get oilier and oilier as the day goes on. It's almost always more important for my makeup to be able to withstand my oily skin than to resist water.  This concealer just doesn't hold up for me, unfortunately.

It has some great qualities that I'm sure contribute to its popularity. For one thing, it's incredibly pigmented, so that you only need a tiny bit of the thick product to cover the entire under-eye area. For me, this is all it takes for one eye:

It also blends easily and covers well enough, initially. The packaging, a simple squeeze tube with a very narrow dispenser is great--it will limit the amount of air and bacteria that can get in, but also makes it easy to squeeze out the last few specks. Bye Bye Under Eye only comes in six shades. I chose the lightest, called Light (Very Fair). In makeup lingo, "light" and "very fair" are usually two different things, but sure. Here is a swatch compared to a bunch of other concealers to help you decode that label:

From left to right: (1) IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye in Light; (2) Sephora Gel Serum Concealer in Fondant; (3) Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Chantilly; (4) Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer in Sx02; (5) Urban Decay 24/7 Concealer Pencil in CIA (discontinued); and (6) Hard Candy Glamoflauge Concealer in Ultra Light.

It Cosmetics Light is closest to Nars Chantilly. I found it to be a good match for my skin tone, fortunately, since the shade options were limited. It's probably a closer match than Sephora Fondant, in fact, though the extra warmth of Fondant means it actually does a better job of canceling out my dark circles. The consistency and pigmentation of Bye Bye Undereye is most similar to the Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer, but the IT doesn't have that strong floral/powdery fragrance. (By the way, Hard Candy Ultra Light is the lightest concealer I have ever found, so if you have trouble finding something pale enough for you, it's worth a shot.)

On the downside, I found that Bye Bye Under Eye creased really badly on me and highlighted fine lines and flakiness that I didn't even know were there. I tried various application methods with no improvement. The photo below was taken immediately after application, patted on with my finger over well-moisturized but not primed skin. I'm not wearing any other makeup besides eyebrow pencil. (I forgot to take a before photo, but you can see the bare state of my dark circles here or here.)

The coverage is good, but the texture isn't ideal, and it's creased a whole lot. Not a huge deal, maybe, because most concealers crease right after I apply them, and I can usually blend a little more after a few minutes to soften the creasing.

Here it is with the rest of my makeup applied, after a little more light blending with a sponge, and setting with No.7 loose powder (reviewed here).

The texture is worse, and instead of the creases smoothing out, the concealer has basically just lifted out of them. It has also already faded quite a bit just in the amount of time it took me to apply the rest of my makeup. Sigh. (As I said, I tried a few different application/blending/setting methods with the same results.)

Besides the lack of a smooth surface, the other big problem, which I mentioned above, is that the oil in my skin just devours this stuff. By the end of the day, there's very little left, except what was caught by those lines and flakes. Lovely.

The photo above was taken after about eight hours on not a particularly hot or sweaty day. My skin is what you might euphemistically describe as dewy. Even so, my mascara (Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes) and my eyebrow pencil (Essence Eyebrow Designer Pencil) have stuck around just fine. My dark circles are on major display, though.

To be fair, this is what happens to most concealers on my face. One of the things that impressed me so much about the Sephora Gel Serum (please never discontinue it, please, please, please) was that it was still there at the end of the day. So this problem doesn't necessarily make this concealer worse than all other concealers, just worst than my fave.

Clearly a lot of people out there like this stuff. My guess is that those people do not have oily skin. If you have drier skin and teary eyes, maybe this is great. (Though I would still be concerned that it would highlight flaky skin, to be honest.) But if your skin type is similar to mine, I certainly wouldn't recommend this product. I've already bought another tube of my trusty Sephora concealer, which costs $14 versus IT Cosmetics' $24--though note that the IT tube contains twice as much product, so if you like it and can get through it all before it starts to dry up, it's actually a better value.

If this concealer is your holy grail, I think it would be really helpful for people reading this review if you would comment and let me know what type of skin you have and what you look for in a concealer.

Anyway, lesson learned.

Maybe.

Probably not.

New and improved? The new Wet N Wild Comfort Zone palette compared to the original

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I have something of a series now comparing reformulated Wet N Wild products with their predecessors (here and here), among them some of my favorite affordable makeup. Those previously revamped products didn't exactly measure up to the originals in my comparisons, so I have to admit I had serious doubts about the new Wet N Wild Comfort Zone palette. Why change something that has been consistently recommended as one of the best drugstore eyeshadow palettes on the market?

I've been thinking the answer to that question for a while. Unlike many redesigns by other brands, Wet N Wild didn't reduce the product size while jacking up the price. In fact, the price has remained the same, while the weight has actually increased (minimally) from 0.3 to 0.32 oz. Because two new matte shades were added, and they are in the largest pans, that should mean that the size of each of the original shades has decreased, however, which is worth noting.

If I had to guess why the change was made, I'd point to the fragility of the shadows, and maybe the packaging too. I can't be sure, but I do know lots of people complained about their Wet N Wild shadows crumbling and shattering with the slightest bump. I don't know if you can see it in the photo above, but the duochrome in the in bottom right of my old palette does has a small chunk missing--I have no idea when or how that happened. If the eyeshadows broke too often after people bought them, you have to assume that they also frequently broke in transit and while they were in stores, so the amount of product discarded might not have made up for the number of sales. (I'd be curious to hear if anyone's new palette has crumbled, but the shadows seem a bit more durable to me.) Of course, there's also the fact that a new release/re-release generates publicity and increases sales.

I've had my OG Comfort Zone palette since 2011 or 2012, and despite appearances, I've used it quite a lot. It has intense, smooth, metallic shimmers that perform really well. I'm not such a fan of the matte shades with glitter ("Definer" on the left and "Crease" on the right) though they are decent for lining the eyes. I like it so much that the reformulation had a lot to live up to. I'm not going to do a full review of each palette, but I am going to compare each shade and show you some swatches and eye looks.

Here is the first row of shimmers, in the (new) order of the new palette, starting with the left hand column. All applied over Wet N Wild primer (reviewed here) to make the colors and finishes as clear as possible for comparison. The old version is on the left and the new version is on the right.

The duochromes always get me: Review of L'Oréal Infallible Galaxy Lumiere Holographic Eyeshadows in Crescent Moon, Full Moon, and Moon Kissed

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Two duochrome posts in a row? Is that allowed? (As usual, we ignore the word "holographic" when it's in the name of a makeup product.) I love duochromes, and they make me pay more for drugstore eyeshadows than I normally would. More for eyeshadow singles in general (though there was that time I paid full price for Urban Decay X, and I don't even really like it). These (deep breath) L'Oréal Infallible Galaxy Lumiere Holographic Eyeshadows are $13 a piece, so I suggest waiting for a sale, which will always come sooner or later for drugstore makeup. I had a B2GO Free deal from, but if I hadn't also had Ulta points from my credit card to spend, I might have balked even at that.

None of that is to say that I don't think these eyeshadows are amazing and totally worth picking up if you are a duochrome fiend like I am. They're absolutely lovely.

The formula of these eyeshadows is interesting. Though they have the "Infallible" name attached to them, they're not the same as the regular Infallible singles (reviewed here), which come with little plates on top to keep them densely packed. These Galaxy shadows have a more spongey texture--not as squishy as Colourpop Super Shock eyeshadows, but if you press your finger into the pan, you can feel it compress a bit. I dropped Full Moon on the floor and, instead of shattering, the whole shadow came loose in one piece inside the pan. I was able to press it back in place with a finger. Like the L'Oréal Infallible eyeshadows and the Colourpop Super Shock shadows, these apply best with a finger. With a brush they go on very sheer and a little patchy.

How about I let my many, many photos do the talking? My swatches were made with a brush without primer. Each one is several layers, because these shadows are sheer, and in swatch form they don't show up clearly in a single layer.

Left to right: Crescent Moon (sheer beige with green shift), Full Moon (white gold), and Moon Kissed (purple with blue shift).

Plummy bronze: Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Accident and Urban Decay Revolution Lip Gloss in Shadowheart

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Can you tell I couldn't come up with a good title? Titles are always the hardest part of any writing. In general, though, I've been struggling a bit with motivation/inspiration to blog lately, even though I've been fully enjoying my beauty products. I think I've figured something out. I usually have some kind of angle to my posts, like a comparison or an analysis, you know? At the very least I'm trying to write about whether or not something is worth buying. But right now I have a lot of products that I haven't written about, but that don't exactly have a hook. So I've been feeling like I have nothing to write about, even though I actually have a ton of shit. It's not that these products aren't interesting; it's just that they aren't gimmicky or controversial, etc. But I'm just going to go ahead and write about them anyway. Why not? We'll look at some pretty (I hope) pictures together and think about makeup and skincare. I definitely still have some of my old tricks up my sleeve, but I'm also going to work my way through my hoard and show you all the things. Does that sound cool?

I'm starting with a lipstick I bought in the fall, Urban Decay Vice Accident, and a gloss I bought earlier in the winter, Urban Decay Revolution Shadowheart. They're an obvious pairing since they're almost exactly the same color in two different formulas and finishes (obviously). Shadowheart has been discontinued, along with the rest of the Revolution glosses, but you may still be able to get it for $11 on Urban Decay's site, which is where I got this tube. It's also been included in their new lip gloss formula, which isn't available yet.

(Side note: It looks like Urban Decay changed their loyalty program so that you don't get free shipping until the second tier, which is too bad. But if you're going to shop from their site anyway, I think it's still worth joining to get the birthday gift, etc. This is my referral link, which gives you 10 points.)

Accident is one of the metallized Vice lipsticks, with a plummy brown base and gold shimmer. The brown is on the neutral side (is neutral a side?), but it will probably look different depending on your natural lip color, since it's just a little sheer. Shadowheart looks a bit redder in the tube, but is also a brown base with gold shimmer, though not nearly as metallic as Accident.

Why did I buy a gloss the same color as a lipstick I already had? I DON'T KNOW.

Here, swatches! Accident on the left, Shadowheart on the right.

See how similar they are? Shadow heart has a little more red in it, but it's very close.

It's interesting how Accident doesn't look very reflective in a swatch, like it does on the lips. Arm swatches can only tell you so much. Let me show you.

Here is Accident on my lips:

Like I said, it's a bit sheer, so I apply a layer, blot, and then apply a second layer. I haven't had any trouble with bleeding or settling into lip lines. The wear time is decent, and it doesn't look ugly as it wears off, though it's certainly not an unusually long-wearing lipstick. It's extremely comfortable, just like almost every Urban Decay lipstick I've tried. (The exception is Sheer F-Bomb, reviewed here.) It feels lovely--I'd go as far as to say it's a actually moisturizing.

Here's my whole face. (Excuse the terrible reflections on my glasses. I've yet to find the right lighting for selfies in this apartment. If I go out on the balcony, I end up squinting and frowning, but inside in front of a window this happens. I'm working on it. Maybe I should get Lasik for purely blogging purposes.)

I think that the pink in my lips enhances the plum in this lipstick a little, and those purplish undertones help it to be more flattering on me than a true brown lipstick would be. The gold shimmer gives Accident a glossy look as much as a metallic finish. It's a really fun and unusual lipstick, but totally wearable for pretty much any occasion. Here's another photo of it in warmer indoor lighting.

Shadowheart was a little disappointing, because it looks more shimmery and opaque in Temptalia's photos. I also have the Revolution gloss in After Dark, which is so opaque that it's almost a liquid lipstick, so I had high expectations.

In the photo above, I've applied a pretty heavy layer of Shadowheart, and you can see that it's still pretty sheer and a little patchy. It doesn't look bad from a distance, though (below). The gold shimmer is extremely understated. It's a nice gloss in a great color that I didn't have--it just doesn't have the impact of Accident. It is, however, just as comfortable and moisturizing as the lipstick.

See? A pretty gloss, for sure. Using Too Faced's Lip Insurance (reviewed here) helps a bit with the pigmentation, and Shadowheart also looks great layered on top of Accident.

As you can see, I've now fully embraced the brown lipstick life. I'm enjoying both of these, though if I had to choose, obviously I'd go with Accident. It's a really special lipstick in my overflowing collection. Shadowheart has been included in the new Urban Decay lip gloss selection, though, so maybe they've amped up the shimmer and pigment. Here's hoping!

Shadow Swatches: Miscellaneous Eyeshadow Singles and Quads from Stila, L'Oréal, Tom Ford, Butter London, Revlon, and Urban Decay

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I didn't buy anything during the Sephora sale, did you? 20% off just isn't very exciting for me. I mean maybe if there was something I was definitely planning to buy anyway, it would be better to get 20% off than no discount at all, but there wasn't. Plus I have a bunch of Ulta points to use on frivolous shit.

Instead of shopping, lately, I've been playing with what I already have, including these eyeshadows which I realized I'd (mostly) never written about on my blog. Rather than doing a full review of them, I thought I'd just take some swatch photos and say a little about what I like or don't like about each. Not all of them are currently available, but I hope you enjoy the pretty pictures anyway.

The swatches below were made with a brush over primer (Black Radiance eyeshadow primer, reviewed here). If this were a proper review, I would have swatched them with and without primer for your information, but I just really wanted to show you the color and finish clearly. You can still tell which ones are shitty even over primer, anyway.

Oh, and I took way too many photos, which probably all look the same, so here's a cut.

Sephora Play! May Review

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I've had a Sephora Play! sample subscription for three months now, so I think it's time to post a quick review. I liked the selection I received in May, my most recent box, quite a lot. The first two months, however, left me with some doubts. I was convinced to keep it going for another month, and I hope this is the beginning of a positive trend. You can see my March bag here (which was just ok) and my April bag here (which I found really boring). I do like this subscription so far more than I liked Birchbox, particularly at the end of my year of that subscription. The sizes of the samples here are generous, and if you're judging by the prices of the full-size versions, you're certainly getting your $10 worth. (You can decide for yourself if you think those prices are reasonable.) No hotel toiletries!!!

The theme of May's box was The Rising Stars, which may explain why I enjoyed it so much. It contains some brands that I'd heard of, and some that I hadn't, but nothing here that I'd tried before. I haven't used every sample in this box yet, but I'll give you my thoughts on those that I have. Here's what I got:

Grande Lips Hydrating Lip Plumper: Full size $27. This seems to be a sort of lip serum that does the usual thing that lip plumpers do, i.e. irritate your lips so that they swell up a bit. I haven't tried it, and I'm not sure that I will, because products like this tend to make my lips worse in the long run. Have any of you used this one? If I try it, will I regret it?

Maison Margiela Replica Beach Walk Eau de Toilette: Full size $126. I'd been wanting to try one of the Replica fragrances. This stuff smells really interesting when I first apply it, but it dries down to a one-note coconut sunscreen scent on me, unfortunately.

Christophe Robin Cleansing Purifying Scrub with Sea Salt: Full size $53. This is a shampoo with salt in it. I've used it two or three times so far, and I have at least that many uses left, so the sample is a great size. It smells fantastic and works well to clean the build up from dry shampoo from my scalp. My hair feels a little rough when I rinse it out, just like it feels after it's been in salt water. Conditioner fixes the texture just fine. But instead of buying this scrub, I'd suggest just mixing a lot of salt into your regular shampoo.

Nudestix Magnetic Matte Lip Color in Greystone: Full size $24. Sephora calls this "greige" for some reason. You can see from the swatch below that it is in no way either grey or beige. It's a dark, neutral brown. It's not a particularly great color for me, but I applaud Sephora for including a more adventurous option than the typical red or nude. The formula is light and comfortable.

Tréstique Highlight & Perfect Multipurpose Stick: Full size $34. I haven't used this highlighter stick on my face yet, but it feels similar in texture to Benefit Watt's Up. I swatched them together below. If Watt's Up is too warm or dark for you, you might prefer this (though there are a million cheaper ways to highlight).

Left: Tréstique. Right: Benefit.

Sunday Riley Ceramic Slip Clay Cleanser: Full size $45. I've been curious about Sunday Riley, because it gets all the hype. I would have been more excited to try something other than a cleanser, but hey. Particularly since this cleanser warns that it shouldn't be used around the eyes, and I have oily eyelids, so I need to be able to use my cleanser near my eyes. I have seen this cleanser on Instagram a lot, so it seems to be popular, but I haven't tried it yet. I tend to save cleanser minis for travel.

All in all, May was an interesting month. I should get my June bag before too long, so fingers crossed for another winner!

Matte lipstick for people who are afraid of matte lipstick: Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Mattes in Lust for Blush, Touch of Spice, and Divine Wine

Even though I am trying not to buy more shit (and I've been doing pretty good), I somehow ended up with these three lipsticks. A bit of a gamble for someone who isn't a huge lipstick wearer, and who has found almost every matte lipstick I've ever tried to be hideously fucking uncomfortable, but I'd seen such good reviews that they seemed worth a shot. I also had some CVS coupons to use, and I wanted some more neutral lip colors for work. I ended up being way, way more impressed with these things than I'd hoped, so I don't regret them a bit.

Swatches of Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Mattes in Lust for Blush, Touch of Spice, and Divine Wine

My lip swatch photos aren't particularly impressive, and I'm not sure if the camera, the lighting, or my lips themselves are to blame. (Blogger is also doing that annoying fucking thing where it washes out the color of my photos when I upload them, even though I have photo enhancing turned off and I saved them as PNGs, etc., etc.) Let me direct you to other photos Touch of Spice and Divine Wine, so you can get a fuller sense of how they might look on you. I've included my mediocre photos below so you can see the contrast between these shades and my pasty skin, in case you are similarly pale. For example, Touch of Spice looks like the medium neutral on many people, but on me it is really quite dark and warm. It doesn't look vampy, but it's definitely a bit intense. Flattering though! Divine Wine is very vampy on me, and I haven't actually worn it out yet, because drama. But I will! The nice thing about it is that it isn't completely purple. Purple lipsticks tend to draw out the purple in my face and require a lot of other makeup to make sure I don't look like a corpse. This one has enough brown in it that it doesn't do that, while still looking like a true wine color. Lust for Blush is close to my natural lip color, but pinker. It looks pretty subtle when I wear it.

Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte Lipstick in Lust for Blush

Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte Lipstick in Touch of Spice

Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte Lipstick in Divine Wine

The formula of these is delightful in every way. They texture is just perfect, so I can apply Touch of Spice and Lust for Blush directly from the bullet and get a neat enough line without having to fuck around with a lip liner. I think they look a little sloppy in the close up, but from a normal distance, they look perfectly neat. I used a Jordana lip liner (in Cabernet Wine) to clean up the edges of Divine Wine, because it is so dark that any unevenness is more obvious.

They're not drying at all - and I'm really picky about products drying out my lips. I just won't even bother with anything that dries out my lips, because they get chapped easily enough already. And these lipsticks wear fantastically well, despite not being uncomfortable like more long-wearing products. They last for hours. You can snack and have a drink and your face will still look great. They go on opaque in one swipe and aren't patchy (despite the somewhat misleading photo of Divine Wine above). If your lips aren't perfectly smooth, they won't look like shit. This lipstick doesn't exactly camouflage roughness, but it also doesn't highlight it or settle into lines. It has no real scent or taste. I honestly have no complaints about this shit. It's some of the easiest, best lipstick I've ever tried. I'm thinking 2015 might be the year I finally embrace lipstick, though ideally without buying a bunch more of them. Because look: dupes. Well, sort of.

Swatches/dupes of Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte in Lust for Blush vs ULTA Lip Crayon in Fashionista, and Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte in Touch of Spice vs. Lord & Berry 20100 Lipstick Pencil in Intimacy.

The ULTA pencil is a little cooler and a bit more drying. It also has a slightly gross lipsticky smell. The Lord & Berry pencil is much nicer than the ULTA one, though it smells a bit too. The color is almost identical to Touch of Spice, but it's creamy rather than matte. I'm a big fan of the L&B, but the formula isn't as long wearing or foolproof as the Maybelline.

No dupes for Divine Wine! That one is a whole new adventure for me.

Are expensive dry shampoos better? Review of Oscar Blandi Pronto Dry Shampoo

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Okay, so maybe the title of this post is a little grand considering I'm just going to discuss whether or not one particular example of an expensive dry shampoo is "better." But I've pointed out before that I'm a dry shampoo Goldilocks, and I still haven't found the one that's just right. (If you would like to spend your precious time looking at dozens of nearly identical photos of the top of my head - who wouldn't! - check out my dry shampoo tag.) So when I had some HauteLook credits and Oscar Blandi showed up, I decided I would give their dry shampoo a try. I'd heard about it from a few people who love it.

So fancy and Italian., it's like the Renaissance.

This stuff sells for $21 at Sephora (though you can find it for less on Amazon and it was $10.50 on HauteLook), so I sure as shit wouldn't have bought it at full price. Consider also that my $3 Suave dry shampoo contains 5 oz. and the Oscar Blandi only contains 2.5 oz. (though I'm not sure if the propellant etc. in the Suave can counts toward that weight?). But what if paying more is really the secret? What if, to find the perfect dry shampoo, I actually had to spend more than $5? Ugh. What a thought.

Maybe there are brilliant and expensive dry shampoos out there.  But my conclusion from trying this product, at least, is that you're not necessarily going to get a superior dry shampoo just by spending more. This stuff works, and it's fine, but it's not noticeably better than any of the cheap dry shampoos I've used in the past.

Dupe Test: e.l.f. Shimmering Facial Whip in Lilac Petal ($1) vs. Benefit High Beam ($26)

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e.l.f. Shimmering Facial Whip in Lilac Petal is frequently mentioned as a cheap dupe for the much beloved but very expensive High Beam highlighter from Benefit. I'll be the first to admit that I am pretty liberal with applying the term "dupe". I'm no stickler. If it's basically the same and performs the same function, I'm fine with it. Nevertheless, after comparing these products (and two other pinkish highlighters I own), I have some mild reservations about calling them dupes. They can be used for the same purposes, successfully, but there are some significant differences. Rather than a dupe, I'd say that the e.l.f. highlighter is a good product, and a reasonable alternative to the Benefit version. A near dupe, maybe. Since I'm convinced that there are cheap options that are comparable to almost all higher-end beauty products, and since I'm on a weird quest to determine which e.l.f. products are decent and which ones are shit, this kind of comparison is my idea of fun. Wheeeeee.

Left to right: e.l.f. Shimmering Facial Whip in Lilac Petal, Benefit High Beam, Stila All Over Shimmer Liquid Luminizer in Pink Shimmer, Pixi Brightening Primer in Pearl Essence

I threw two other similar highlighters into the mix, just for the sake of completion, and in case anyone else has them and would like to see how they fare. None of these are dupes. You can see just from the photo above that the e.l.f. highlighter is quite a bit pinker than the Benefit or Stila, and it is pinker than the Pixi option too, though the bottle for that one is opaque. On to the swatches!

Top left to bottom right: Swatches of e.l.f. Shimmering Facial Whip in Lilac Petal, Benefit High Beam, Stila All Over Shimmer Liquid Luminizer in Pink Shimmer, Pixi Brightening Primer in Pearl Essence

Let me break them down one by one - I'll end with e.l.f.

In which I wear orange lipstick and don't look like a clown corpse

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There were two truths that I once thought I knew about myself: I don't really like lipstick, and I can't wear orange makeup. I look okay in orange clothing, so I've always felt like I should be able to wear orange on my face, but it always goes horribly wrong somehow. Orange eyeshadow = fresh zombie. Orange blush = consumption victim. Orange lipstick = clown recently murdered by jealous competitor. I've given orange lip products that look dreadful on me to my sister, and she looks great in them - despite the fact that looking at us, you would think we had very similar coloring, and we've even been mistaken for twins (although I am 4 years older, haha, sucka). Even coral on the orange side has been a disaster.

I've eased up a bit on the lipstick hate lately, though I still prefer a stain or a gloss or a balm, etc. But I'm still not completely sure what compelled me to spend my precious Ipsy points (shout out to whomever used my invite link!) on an orange lipstick. In the photos and swatches that I found online, bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie lipstick in Light It Up looks pretty bright fucking orange. Exactly the kind of thing I've never been able to wear, and yet I ordered it. Morbid curiosity?

When I got it and opened up the tube . . . yeah, it still looks pretty fucking orange. An orangey coral, but definitely orangey. As I should have expected. Yikes.

bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie lipstick in Light It Up

By the way, I find the locking mechanism on the tube somewhat annoying. I guess it would help to prevent it from coming open in your purse or whatever, but this way you have to flip it upside down, slide the little knob, then flip it back over and pull the lipstick out. It's 5 seconds, but it seems unnecessarily gimmicky. I'd prefer a regular lid that just clicks into place.

Since I already spoiled the end of this fascinating drama in the title of the post, I'll get to the results, where - surprise! - this lipstick actually doesn't look terrible on me.

bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie lipstick in Light It Up

When it's on my face, it looks like it has a lot more pink in it than it does in the bullet. Its definitely a coral shade, not a pure orange. Quite bright, and yet there's something about this one that does not turn the rest of my face the color of death! I don't know what it is. Needs more research.

The formula of the lipstick is pretty nice. It's creamy and goes on opaque. The best way to apply it is to put on one coat, blot the fuck out of it, and then add another coat. If you just do a single layer, it will show lines and dryness much worse. Two layers evens most of that out. Because it's very creamy, it will settle into lines slightly as time passes, but honestly, I am pretty damned picky about that sort of thing, and I don't think it's noticeable unless you look extremely closely. The creaminess also means that it will transfer easily. This is definitely not a long-wear lipstick, but nevertheless, the color lasts several hours (I'd say 5+ even if you drink a cup of coffee and eat a snack or something), and the creaminess means you can press your lips together and keep it spread around as the day goes on. It wears off pretty nicely, not patchy. Because of the texture, it feels great on my lips and isn't drying, which I appreciate. The lipstick has a light vanilla-mint scent, kind of like mint-flavored white chocolate, but it's very subtle and dissipates quickly.

Pretty Neutral: Revlon Lip Butter in Pink Truffle vs. Revlon Balm Stain in Honey

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Of all the products with bizarrely and needlessly long names, Revlon ColorStay Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain is probably my favorite (swatches of all the ones I own here). Of all the neutral lip colors I've ever tried, Revlon Color Stay Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain (*deep breath*) in Honey is definitely my favorite. Most beigey or browny neutrals wash me out, but Honey is a really flattering rosy neutral that totally works for me. I wouldn't call it "my lips but better," since my lips are naturally more of a pink than a neutral. Instead, I would call it a neutral that makes my lips look awesome - not invisible - and is totally appropriate for professional occasions when I need to look polished but not too made up. My go-to job interview lip shit.

My second favorite Revlon products are the ColorBurst Lip Butters. They're comfortable and easy to use and wear. So when Pink Truffle came out a while back, looking intriguingly similar to Honey, I thought maybe it would be worth adding a sort of dupe in a different formula to my hoard. (I'd tried something like that once before with the ColorBurst Matte Balm in Elusive and failed, but you have to admire my perseverance, right? Right?) So how do Pink Truffle and Honey compare?

Swatches of Revlon Balm Stain in Honey (left) and Revlon Lip Butter in Pink Truffle (right)

Powder for the Pasty: Review of e.l.f. Tone Correcting Powder in Cool (and a comparison with Nars Light Reflecting Pressed Powder)

Disclosure: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.
I'm going to discuss an e.l.f. product that I know a lot of people hate right now, and I'm going to give it a favorable review. I came to my conclusions about this stuff before I posted a review of some stupid sparkly e.l.f. shit and people commented how much they also disliked this non-sparkly e.l.f. powder. So I decided to take a little more time to test it and to think about it, and ultimately I ended up in the same place I started. I like it. But as with all personal reviews of cosmetics (and other things), you'll have to consider how much you have in common with me when you try to decide whether or not e.l.f. Tone Correcting Powder in Cool ($3) will work for you. In particular, I think this is a product that will work best for people with very pale, cool- or neutral-toned, combination or oily skin. Like me.

e.l.f. Tone Correcting Powder in Cool

As you can see, I've already used up quite a bit of this stuff, so the embossed e.l.f. logo on the bottom right is starting to fade away. I find it useful and wear it regularly.

This is one of those multi-colored products that promises to correct whatever skin-tone problems you have. At first I was really skeptical, because when you mix the colors together, won't they just cancel each other out? Like if green is supposed to cancel redness, and you mix it with pink . . . yes, yes they will. The more I thought about it, though, I realized that the point is to create a neutrally-colored powder to cancel whatever you've got going on. In this case, as the shade name suggests, the powder will end up a bit cool toned, because it has more blue than any other color in it (because it has both blue and green). If they mixed all the colors together in advance, you'd have a palette full of an ugly greyish powder. So they give you pretty pastels and let you do it yourself.

Unlike other multi-colored neutralizers, like the Stila One Step Correct Primer, with this powder you have the option (in theory) to just use one shade at a time to counteract a particular skin issue (green for redness, blue or blue+pink for sallowness, yellow for makeup that is too cool or for purple undereye circles, pink+yellow for bluish undereye circles, etc.). Of course, the effectiveness of this technique will depend how pigmented or opaque the powder is. I decided to swatch each color over black (Urban Decay eyeliner in Zero), because if I just swatched them on my pale-ass arm, you would be looking at photos of nothing right now. Swatching over black makes the pigmentation/color of each part of the powder easier to detect and can also provide an idea of how sheer this stuff is.

e.l.f. Tone Correcting Powder in Cool: heavy swatches (from left to right) of yellow, blue, green, pink, and all four colors combined.

When the individual colors are heavily swatched over black, it's clear that the blue powder is the least opaque. The green has least tint, showing up as nearly white here. When all four colors are combined, you get, as expected, a greyish white. A cool neutral. (This post is a long one with some large photos, so click through to see the rest.)

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

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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.

Glossy/sheer red lip comparisons

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

I wanted to swatch all of my red lip products that are on the sheer side to see if I had any dupes that I could eliminate. I figured I might as well take a photo and post it, in case that sort of thing is useful to anyone else.

From left to right above:

Revlon ColorStay Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Romantic
Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Candy Apple
Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Cherry Tart
H&M Lip Pencil in Million Dollar Lips (Red)
Sephora Gloss Lipstick (unknown shade name)*
Stila Lip Glaze in Persimmon
Be a Bombshell Lip Gloss in Hot Mess
e.l.f. Super Glossy Lip Shine in New York City*

* These ones seem to be discontinued.

In the end, the only ones that are really very close are the Stila and Be a Bombshell glosses. I prefer the BAB formula. It's thinner, and so it will bleed slightly more, but it's easier to apply, feels better, and lasts really well. So bye bye Stila.

Here's a lip swatch of Hot Mess:

You can see lip swatches of a couple of the Revlon ones here. The color of the Revlon Balm Stain in Romantic and the Revlon Lip Butter in Candy Apple look pretty similar, but the formula is totally different, so they can both stay. I fail at eliminating things! Sheer reds with some sheen are just so fucking pretty, though.

e.l.f. Baked Eyeshadow in Enchanted: Worth the trouble?

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I bought this eyeshadow even after reading a handful of reviews saying it pretty much totally lacked pigmentation and sucked, because it looked so fucking pretty. I got it for half price ($1.50), and so I figured I wouldn't hate myself too much if  I ended up with someone inside my head doing the "I told you so" dance.

e.l.f. Baked Eyeshadow in Enchanted

Turns out I don't hate myself at all. It is definitely more hassle than your average eyeshadow, but the shifty rose gold gorgeousness is worth it, in my opinion. Basically, you must use primer with this shadow or you're going to get fuck all from it. Even better, though: use a wet brush. You can see in the photo above that I've been using half of the thing wet and half dry. I don't like to get the entire surface of a powder product wet, because sometimes that creates a hard film which makes more trouble if I want to use it dry in the future.

The swatches below show it dry without primer, dry with primer, wet with e.l.f. Lock & Seal, and wet with water. On the left, the part where you pretty much don't see anything at all: that's without primer. I used the same brush to swatch it over my favorite Wet N Wild primer, and it's much prettier. It works nice this way on the eyelid, but it's sheer.

Swatches of e.l.f. Baked Eyeshadow in Enchanted (left to right): dry, dry with primer,
wet brush with e.l.f. Lock & Seal, wet brush with water

The Lock & Seal and water create a similar effect (the difference in sheen is mostly from the angle of the lighting). The main distinction between them is that the Lock & Seal will make the product last longer. In the swatches below, I rubbed over them both a few times with a dry cloth, and more eyeshadow wore off the water swatch. Be careful with the Lock & Seal though: if you apply too thick a layer of eyeshadow, it can end up flaking off. Don't go crazy.

Swatches of e.l.f. Baked Eyeshadow in Enchanted after wear test (left to right): e.l.f. Lock and Seal vs. water

Finally, here's a comparison with the rose gold-looking shade from the Wet N Wild Coloricon trio in Sweet As Candy, just to compare with another cheap pink eyeshadow. At least it seemed like it was rose gold until I put them side by side. It's looking a lot more rose and a lot less gold here. The shimmer is pretty silvery in comparison. Both are swatched with a damp brush.

Comparison swatches of e.l.f. Baked Eyeshadow in Enchanted
and "eyelid" shade from Wet N Wild Coloricon trio in Sweet As Candy

The other shades of e.l.f. Baked Eyeshadow are all supposed to be much easier to work with. I own Burnt Plum, and it definitely performs better on its own - I'd still recommend primer, though, to get the most out of it.

I do not regret buying this eyeshadow at all. It's a bit more finicky than usual, but since I always need primer anyway, I don't mind much. I'll take the slight increase in hassle to have such a spectacularly pretty eyeshadow for $3 or less. But now you know what it's going to take to make it work, if you're considering picking it up.