Bare Minerals Eye Liner + Shadow Review!

Okayyyy if you remember from one of my recent hauls posts I picked up a bunch of Bare Minerals make up while visiting Ohio! 

It's my favorite kind of make up everrrr!  I decided that since I hinted towards the eyeliner I was wearing in yesterday's post, I'd talk about it today!

So here's what I've got to review for you ladies today:

Wearable Browns Eye Shadows

ANnndddddd

The Retro Lounge Powder Eyeliner

I'm actually going to do a comparison of the two liners that I picked up that day, the Retro (seen above) and a pencil called Sage that was featured in the Girlfriend collection (seen in my haul post).

I'll just post all the pictures first and then discuss 'em:

Wearable Light Brown, Wearable Medium Brown, Wearable Dark Brown

Artsy perspective...oooh.  These shadows are all used in the pics below (of my eyes...duh)

Up close of the Retro powder eyeliner + brush

My favorite Bare Minerals eyeliner is a powder eyeliner, so I had high hopes for this one!  Not to mention it came with a brush, albeit much wider than the normal liner brush I use.  It, however, was much darker than the liner color I usually use and it was pretty much a jet black:

 

Retro gave a pretty smooth line...it's a little shaky though 'cause I wasn't used to using the giant applicator brush!

Up close of the Sage eyeliner pencil...you can see (and probably tell by the name) it's a brownish-green color!

This was a very unique color for me!  It's a dark shimmery green.  It didn't give as smooth of a line as the Retro, but I think I like it better anyway:

Dark green/gold = pretty.  It would look better with a gold or bronze shadow

Here is a picture of both of my eyes so you can see the differences in the liners side by side:

I think I'm quite terrible at applying and blending eyeshadow.  I used the wearable light brown above my lids and under my brows, wearable medium brown on the lids and wearable dark brown on the crease.  Here's a few more pics of my eyes, open...which covers up the fact that I suck at applying makeup lol:

Sage

Retro

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with all my purchases!  I really like the three shadow colors, I just need to work on blending a little better.  I don't wear too much vibrant-colored make-up so these neutral browns are just up my alley! 

In terms of color and ease, I loved the Sage eyeliner pencil.  It's so much faster just to swipe on a pencil!  I do think, though, that this would be better suited for a colored shadow!  In this case, I did like how Retro looked a little better.  It ended up being a much cleaner line which suited the neutral colored shadows quite nice.

Also, if you're wondering, the mascara I have on is the Maybelline Lots of Lashes mascara featured in yesterday's post (and my giveaway).

Hope you all are well!
<3

Wet n Wild Eye Shadow Trios Review! Picture Heavy!

Okay SO let me show you the past two hauls I've gotten since my Giveaway Haul.  Let's not discuss the money aspect of it...

Five Below Haul #1 

Okay one of the girls from the Polish-Aholics Anonymous Facebook group requested some of the Funky Fingers polishes, so I went out and got those for her and picked up this stuff while I was out!  Two Art Club polishes in white and red to attempt art with, Funky Fingers Baby Baby Baby (teal holo glitter), Funky Fingers Sand & Stilettos (Silver holo glitter), Funky Fingers Golden Coast (gold holo glitter), and Funky Fingers Down to Earth (Gold Metal).  All those along with three of the Wet n Wild eye shadow trios Don't Steal My Thunder, I Got Good Jeans, and Spoiled Brat. 

Five Below and Ulta Haul #2

On Saturday I went back to Five Below and picked up three more of the Funky Fingers Holo Glitters (Baby Baby Baby, Sand & Stilettos, and Golden Coast), for swaps (Seriously guys, check my swap list if you want to trade for any/all of these).  And I also finally picked up ORLY Out of This World and OPI DS Reserve!  AH.  They're both so awesome.  DS Reserve will be my Pink Wednesday post this week.  It's gorgeous. 

I guess I should also mention I chipped off my blue ruffian before Memorial Day so I didn't add anything to it, but it's all gravy.  What I'm here to talk about today is eye shadows!  I've tried two of the Wet n Wild trios so far: Walking on Eggshells (from Giveaway haul) and I Got Good Jeans!  There are a shit ton of pictures of these, just a warning :)

Walking On Eggshells

Beige and Brown Trio (This is the product picture from google)

Here's mine...already been used :)

Swatched on my hand...this is also outdoor sunny lighting!

Before the application pics I just want to say that I really loved this trio when I saw it in the store.  Initially I heard about these at Nouveau Cheap, although the one that I really wanted that she swatched was Go for the Gold, so I'm still on the lookout for that one!  But this one is still very pretty, too.  It's pretty subtle and natural so this is what I've been wearing for my everyday look since I got it.

 

Both eyes

Closed

Open!

Closed again

Now I'm not super great at putting on eye shadow.  I have tried every type of brush but I still have a hard time blending!  Do you guys have any brush recommendations?  Honestly, for both sets of trios I've just been using the brushes it came with because I don't see a point in anything else since they all work about the same for me.  I'm willing to try anything new, though!  These colors all work really well and blend together nicely, though, which is why after buying this one, I went out and bought three more :)  And they're only $2.99!!

Anyway, in the pics above I have it pictures with Lorac liquid eyeliner and a combination of mascaras...I think probably Buxom Mascara and Maybelline Define a Lash Waterproof in Black.  They were taken inside, but next to the window so it's like half outdoor lighting.  I really like this for everyday wear!

I Got Good Jeans

Also, I went OUT the other night and decided to try I Got Good Jeans since the colors matched the shirt I was wearing, hah!  I liked how it turned out a lot, but its not something I think I would wear during the day time.  Also, sorry all of these pictures are inside with bathroom lighting or the flash since it was dark when I got ready :)

Wooo look at that dark blue.

Swatched on my arm...outside!

Closed

Open!

Flash to see the sheen

I can't keep my eyes open during a flash lol

Bathroom lighting

Different angle

Anywho--like I said, I like this and didn't have a hard time blending the dark blue in, which was good 'cause I wasn't tryin to look like a skank or anything.  The light blue brow bone shadow was a little TOO blue and I tried to wipe most of it off.  It's a lighter shade but it still gave off a barbie look I wasn't going for.  This color was also paired with the Lorac liner and same mascaras as the other one.

Overall I totally think these trios are worth the $3 you pay for them!  You can get Wet n Wild at pretty much any drug store and I found a ton of them at Five Below!  I'm hesitant to try the last two I bought 'cause they're not really "me" so it'll probably be a while before I test those out :)  I like that they come with a duster brush and a sponge applicator!  Like I said, those are the brushes I've been using 'cause I'm lazy and am not very good at makeup either way!

Let me know if you've tried either of these or are planning on it!  Hope you all had a super great weekend ;)

<3 Whitney

P.S. I also just noticed, but let's ignore the state of my eyebrows at this time! k thanks :) 

Christian Siriano Kajal Eyeliner for VS

Hey all!

Today was nice out, finally, so I tried to be out of the house most of the day!  I didn't really clean up my nails from last night but I posted some new outdoor pictures of the Zoya polishes I tried in my blog post yesterday.

I decided today to try the Christian Siriano Kajal Eyeliner in Eclipse for Victoria's Secret that I got in my prize package from Tracy and Beauty Reflections!

Wonder what you do when it gets down to the bottom?  Can you sharpen this??

Sooooo like I've said before, I usually wear brown powder eyeliner, but I wanted to try out this black pencil for my something new of the day.  I wasn't planning on wearing any eyeshadow with it but when I realized how dark it was I threw on some brown shimmer on top of it, so in some of the pictures you can tell I did it this way instead of putting on the liner last.  Whoops!  That's ok, check it out:

You can see I got eye shadow on the liner, but it's all gravy

You can't tell as much with my eyes open...woo I got a crap ton of mascara on.

Up close

Closed up close

So overall I liked it.  It went on super smooth and super easy.  I usually have to press pretty hard to get a dark line with pencil eye liner but this went on super dark when I barely touched my skin!  It rubs off, but not super easily--it's stayed on with pretty much the same opacity all day!

I love the packaging, but I'm kind of confused as to what to do once you use a lot of it...I don't know if you can sharpen it back to a point or if you kind of use it so one side is pointed...like a lipstick.  Any ideas??

This runs for about $12.  I really like it and I'll definitely use it up eventually, but I probably wouldn't buy it again unless it comes in a brown.  I can't seem to figure that out with a quick google search.  I'm kind of uninformed, haha. 

Have you guys tried this?? Let me know!

<3 Whitney

PS...check out the haul I won from Stephanie over at Imperfectly Painted:

Ahh so many Sinful Colors!  I'm super excited about these, the purple is something that I was trying to buy for myself the other day but I was already beyond the three polish limit for the sale at Walgreens!  So I'm pretty happy I got it!

The keeki glow-in-the-dark (!!!) polish in the middle was a gift from my boyfriend!  It came in the mail today!  He even researched natural, organic nail polish all by himself!  So cute :)  Have you guys heard of this brand or used it??

Stepping Out of my Comfort Zone for Lorac Liquid Eyeliner!

Hey all.  I told you all a while ago that I won Tracy at Beauty Reflections' giveaway!

Wellll one of the items I won was Lorac's Front of the Line Pro Liquid Eyeliner in black:

Photo from Sephora

So I haven't worn liquid eyeliner in years but it was in such a fancy shmancy container that I was super excited to try it.  Marketing works I suppose.

Wooo lookin' a little cross eyed in this picture hah

It went on very smooth but let me tell you, once it's on and dried, which it does so quickly, you can not get it off.  So you need to be super patient when putting it on and try not to get in places you don't want it.

Ignore my spidery looking eyelashes

Overall I think it changed my opinion of liquid eyeliner.  I never used it because I thought it was too much and smudgy and yuck, but I really liked this.  The formula is great and stayed on all day!  It went on so easy and in a super thin line.  I think for night time it would be perfect but for day time it was a little dark.  My hair is light brown/blonde as are my eyebrows so the black was so dark for me I actually had to darken my brows the day I tried it!  However, I would love to try the brown!

This liner runs for around $22 at Sephora and on Lorac's website.  That's a little steep for eye liner, I have a hard time paying $13 for my BE powdered liner, but then again up until a year or so ago I'm used to spending ~$5 on cheap pencil liners! 

Have you tried Lorac or are you against liquids like I was?  Let me know!

<3 Whit

PS...super excited to participate in Pink Wednesday tomorrow :)

Another quick post...

Hey lovelies!

Although I am fully aware that it is Pink Wednesday, I just don't have the time this week to paint my nails again.  :(

I'm super super bummed because it was going to be my first one, but my thesis calls.  I had a big meeting today and I pretty much need to double what I've written by Friday.  But that's for me to worry about!

BUT I am going to post some pictures of of Bare Minerals Powder Eye Liner in Tiger's Eye that I took while I was in TN a few weeks ago for an interview:

Liner and the brush I use

Yes, that IS an eyebrow brush that I use.  I know you can get thin, pointed eye liner brushes but I like the angled brush much better.  It allows me to get it all the way to the inside point of my eye and I can also easily drag it out for a "cat eye" type look.  Sometimes I even use the leftovers to darken my brows a bit.

Here's the color on the back of my hand, it's a pretty dark brown.  You can easily make it look darker by adding a few more coatings of it, though! 

That's the liner on my eye with BE Kudos eye shadow.  I *love* the powdered eye liner.  I know most people prefer liquid or pencil, but if you haven't tried this, go to the store and try it out!  It's pretty good at lasting the whole day but sometimes I have to reapply just to darken it again if I'm going to go out for the evening or something.  However, as with all BE makeup, you can add a little water to it to change the color a bit and get it to last longer.

This is usually how I wear it for day time, although when I'm headed out to go dancing or something, I'll apply a bit more to make it darker.  But you know, the only dancing I do is line dancing, which sounds lame but it actually gets pretty intense, so there's no point in whorin' it out too much 'cause I'm just gonna sweat it off lol.  Haha sorry I'm feelin crude today.

All right, have a good week.  I'm looking forward to Friday when I can actually have time to do things again!  Hope you're all well :)

Whitney

PS I won a giveaway from Tracy @ Beauty Reflections and just got the stuff in the mail today!  I'm SO excited to try it out :) Thanks, girly!

Bare Minerals Eye Shadow

Hey everyone, I wanted to update again today because I'm going to be busy working on my thesis this week and may not have time to post again (although I do get distracted easily, so it's possible I'll still be on here!).

Anyway, if you've checked out my favorite products page you'll have figured out that I'm all about my Bare Minerals make up!  So while I was bored at my hotel last night, I decided to get some pictures of my make up routine so I could review some of the products I use on the regular.

Today I'm going to be reviewing two of their eye shadows: Kudos, a gold, and Idol, a plum color.  Both of these came in kits and aren't available for purchase alone, at least not on THEIR website, but they are very similar to the True Gold (glimmer) and Heart (glimmer).  You can, however, find the original colors online elsewhere and possibly in stores.

Idol (left) and Kudos (right) Eye Shadows

As you can see, they're both lovely, shimmery colors.  What I like to do for my "everyday" look is use the gold as my base color (sometimes even using it to highlight under my brows) and then use the plum in the crease and the corners.  It sounds a little odd but the purple isn't dark enough to clash with the gold so I think it ends up looking quite nice.

A few sweeps of both on my hand

Here's a picture of my eye, open and closed, with just the Kudos (gold) applied. 

Gold only, pretty subtle and good for work!

A little more added, you can apply more for a darker color

Like the caption says, you can generally apply a nice coating if you want a little bit darker color.  It's decently sheer and if you like wearing metallic colors but don't want them to be too loud, this is perfect color for you.

The cool thing about Bare Minerals make up is that you add a few drops of water it for a slightly different color that lasts a bit longer.  I usually don't have a problem getting my makeup to last all day, but I like having that option!  All of my images are of the dry application, though--I was getting ready to go out last night and didn't want my eyes looking too different!

Here is a picture of JUST the idol on my other eye. 

Idol

Like I said, it's pretty transparent and not "in your face" purple.  I like that it's a more subtle brownish plum color that blends well with the gold (see below).

Idol on Kudos

I was very disappointed with my pictures of the purple and gold together.  You can't really see it, which is unfortunate.  This is my best photo out of about ten or twenty, so I apologize!  It even actually looks like the Idol is on the inside crease of my eye when really I applied it to the outer edge!  Hopefully you can see a little difference between just the Kudos and this picture, though.  Like I said, the plum blends pretty well.

During the day I don't like to have too much of a "shadow" or too dark of a color in the crease of my eye, so this combo works well for me when I'm going to work.  If you're going out at night and want to rock the smoky eye then these colors probably aren't as dramatic for you!  But like I said, I love it for the daytime!  They shine in the sun, which is also a plus.

Let me mention real quick what brushes I use for these shadows:

Brushes!

They both are Bare Minerals brushes but you can use the colors easily with any brush.  The one I use for the gold is actually their Max Coverage Concealer brush and not an eye brush!  I like it because it's really wide and flat which makes for a quick application!  It's pretty thin at the end so I can get the shadow in the spots I want pretty easily!  I like larger brushes for eyeshadow, but that's just my preference.

For the crease and corners of my eye I use their Wet/Dry Eyeshadow brush.  It's small and chunky which helps if you don't want the color all the way across your eye.

Overall, I love these colors!  And the brushes.  Generally their eye shadows run about $13-$18 each in stores and the brushes are $6-$30.  I think that's semi ridiculous, especially because I'm a poor college student, so I highly recommend getting one of their kits!  I've collected about 10 brushes from buying kids which probably saved me something like $200.  Don't buy their brushes alone unless you're desperate!

Their nice concealer brushes and usually an eye brush comes in their starter kit so start with something like that if you've never tried the make up before.  I guess I should also mention that if you can get your kits either online (although then you can't see the stuff in person) or at an outlet mall!

I saved SO much money buying kits from outlet malls, if you get them at the end of the season you still get great stuff for a low price.  I got a $40 kit for something like $13 a few months ago at an outlet store in Maryland!  Love it.

So if you think you can't afford Bare Minerals, I promise you, there are good deals out there.  If you just go in and buy a foundation or eye shadow alone, you're going to spend so much more money.

If you don't already know, Bare Escentuals make up is available at their store, Sephora, online.  Sometimes you can find it at JC Penny if they have a Sephora make up counter!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Have a great next couple of days :)