Perfect Palette TAG!

Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

I have loved watching these tag videos on YouTube, so I thought I would go ahead and do this tag myself. 

One of the things that was really fun for me while I was putting together this post was pulling together the pictures. I used the ones I already had, so it shows how my photos have changed since my blog started. I've used a variety of backdrops and lighting setups over the past two years. 

On to the palettes!

1. Best Packaging

I'm going to choose theBalm's Balm Jovi palette for best packaging. It is nice and slim. Best of all, theBalm has figured out how to include both cream and powder products in a palette without it creating a huge mess. 

You can check out my review of this palette here. 

2. Best Color Payoff

I'm going to choose the Urban Decay Vice 2 palette for the best color payoff. All of the colors are well pigmented, and there aren't any glitter bombs! 

Vice 2 Palette - Row 1 Swatches

Vice 2 Palette - Row 2 Swatches

Vice 2 Palette - Row 3 Swatches

Vice 2 Palette - Row 4 Swatches

 I haven't reviewed the Vice 2 palette. Would anyone still be interested? I just checked, and it is still available.

3. Most Versatile

Unfortunately, the palette I consider to be most versatile was limited edition. I love the Too Faced A Few of My Favorite Things palette. It has a really nice mix of finishes. It has the basics that include a matte cream a and few matte brown blending shades. It has neutrals and brights. As a bonus, it also includes two blushes and two bronzers.  

You can check out my review of this palette here.

4. Best for Traveling

I'm going to break the implied rules here and choose Z Palettes for this category. The ability to choose the exact shades that you want and put them all in one palette is the ideal, which is precisely what a Z Palette provides. With the different size options, I can travel with just a few shadows or a wide range of them.  

5. Biggest Regret

I regret buying the Too Faced Naked Eye Collection. Most of the colors aren't very pigmented, so I didn't use it very often. It has been listed on my blog sale for a while now.  

6. Best Color Names

 I was trying to choose a different palette for each of these categories, but I have to give this one to theBalm's Balm Jovi palette too. I love how they play on band names and use musical terms. They just put together their theme really well. 

7. Least Used

I think theBalm Shady Lady palettes are my least used palettes that I'm still keeping. The shadows themselves are beautiful, but it didn't seem like there was much of a plan when choosing the shades. I couldn't come up with many looks from those alone because the shades seemed so random and disconnected. I have them depotted at this point, so I need to start playing around in my Z Palettes to work on pairing them with other shadows in my collection. 

Shady Lady Volume 1

Shady Lady Volume 2

Shady Lady Volume 3

8. Most Used, Most Loved, Desert Island

This category has to go to the original Naked palette. I got it within the first year of it being released, and it is still my go-to palette when I don't know what to wear.  

I never actually reviewed this palette individually because I had it long before I started this blog, but you can check out my post where I compare it with the Naked 2 palette here. 

I'm going to be lazy and tag EVERYONE to do this tag! :-)

Have you found a perfect palette yet? What is it? If you've done this tag yourself, please let me know so I can check it out.

theBalm is on Hautelook!

Disclosure: All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own. I am including my HauteLook affiliate link.

A while back I posted a review of the two InStain blushes that I owned and mentioned that theBalm is regularly on HauteLook (affiliate link). The past couple of times that theBalm has been on HauteLook though, the InStain blushes weren't included. You're in luck though because today they are! HauteLook also has their new Balm Voyage! palette listed. It looks like everything listed is 50% off.

It's a great time to pick some things up if you love the brand already or if you want to try it out for the first time.

Happy shopping! Do you have any beauty deal tips to share? I'm stalking sites waiting for some Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals to be announced. :-)

Disclosure: All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own. I am including my HauteLook affiliate link.

theBalm InStain Blushes - Review and Swatches

  Disclaimer: All products were purchased by me, and all opinions are my own.

I have been back home for over a week now, and I still don't want to do much of anything. I have spent a lot of time reading and a lot of time sleeping. Oh yeah...I also watched the Syfy movie Sharknado last night with a friend. It was so horrifically awful that it was amazing. I hadn't laughed so hard in a long time.

In the meantime, my blog has been mocking me with my lack of motivation. I have a bunch of pictures downloaded onto my computer - some have been edited, some haven't - and a pile of products in my new product bin. Getting caught up isn't really an option at this point, but making progress is.

This is one of those reviews that has been waiting around for a while. It's another purchase I made during theBalm's 50% off everything sale. I wanted to pick up the entire collection of InStain blushes, but I restrained myself and only picked up two of them.Their regular retail price is $22, so I ended up paying $11 each for mine.

Packaging 

theBalm InStain blush in Argyle

theBalm InStain blush in Argyle

theBalm InStain blush in Toile

theBalm InStain blush in Toile

theBalm always seems to do a fantastic job with their packaging. It's cute and quirky. The exterior of the packaging looks like a magazine from the 1920s. The interior design around the blush pan matches the name of the blush color. The Argyle blush has an argyle pattern surrounding it; the Toile blush has a toile pattern surrounding it. The packaging itself is a sturdy cardboard with a magnetic closure.

Product

theBalm InStain blush in Argyle

theBalm InStain blush in Argyle

Argyle is a much brighter pink than my pictures (and the pictures on theBalm's website) show. It's a slightly warm, hot pink shade that is completely matte.

theBalm InStain blush in Toile

theBalm InStain blush in Toile

 Toile is also brighter than my pictures show. It is a matte, coral pink shade.

Both blushes are highly pigmented. Do they stain? Sort of. With the swatches on my arm, I could get a little bit to come off with a dry towel. I could get even more off with just water. However, in order to completely get rid of the swatches, I had to use soap and water. On my cheeks, they last on my and look fresh ALL day. The one downside that I've noticed with these is their "staining" aspect makes then a little challenging to blend. It's practically impossible for me to NOT over-apply blush, and I rely on a kabuki brush to blend them out after I apply them. These blushes don't want to blend out as easily as other blushes in my collection.

Final Thoughts 

These are really good quality blushes. If you have trouble with getting blushes to stay, they are definitely worth checking out. There are 6 shades in the collection, and the shades have a broad enough range that there should be a shade that appeals to everyone. I'm happy to have Argyle and Toile in my collection. I may or may not pick up any more in the future. If you are thinking about picking these up, I would suggest waiting until theBalm goes on sale on Hautelook. I haven't seen the InStain blushes show up on there, but since most of theBalm's regular line goes on sale there regularly, I can see them listing these blushes there as well.

Have you tried theBalm's InStain blushes? Do you have the tendency to over-apply blushes like me?

Disclaimer: All products were purchased by me, and all opinions are my own.

theBalm Balm Jovi Palette - Review and Swatches

Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own. I used my Hautelook invite link in this post.

Everyone else seems to be doing it, so here's my reminder that Google Reader is going away after this weekend. If you want to make sure you still see my new posts, which should start going up more regularly again, I highly suggest following me on Bloglovin'. It's a simple site to use. I'm also loving a new feature on Bloglovin' that allows you to mark posts as favorites. I know I'm going to use that feature a lot to check back on posts because I want to see if my comment was responded to or if I'm interested in the conversation going on in the comments.

Now that I got that out of the way, on to the review!

I'm a child of the 80's, so I grew up with Bon Jovi. Then I had one of my first experiences feeling old when I was in college. Bon Jovi had released their album Crush with the hit single "It's My Life." One of my friends was in WalMart and overheard some younger kids talking about Bon Jovi saying, "That Bon Jovi band is pretty good. They're going to make it big." D'oh!

With my affection for 80's hair bands, and Bon Jovi in particular, I was immediately drawn to the cute concept of the Balm Jovi palette. I resisted for a while but caved when theBalm had their 50% off sale. The full price for the palette is $39.50, so I got it for $19.75. The nice thing is that theBalm shows up on the website Hautelook (affiliate link) frequently, and their permanent products are marked down around 50% on there as well, so it's not too difficult to get a really good deal on this palette (or any of their other palettes).

Packaging

 
theBalm always has fantastic packaging. They are creative with it, but they don't make their packaging bulky.

One of the best packaging features for this palette is the divide that you can see about 3/4 of the way down the palette. Why is that a good feature? The top flap covers the powder products, and the bottom flap covers the cream products in the palette. This means that you don't have to worry about powder getting into the cream products. Love it! I hate when palettes combine powder and cream products because it creates a huge mess.

Another nice packaging feature is the mirror on the inside. It isn't a great mirror, but it would work in a pinch. Besides, they integrated it into the design so well that it's super cute.

The flap that covers the cream products has four suggested looks formatted to look like a Top 20 hits list, which is cute and helpful if you aren't sure how to combine the colors in the palette on your own.

Product

 
This palette includes 12 eye shadows, a highlighter, and a blush (and the two cream lip/cheek products that aren't pictured here but will be pictured later). The eye shadows are divided into three color groups: Heavy Metal, Classical, and Alternative.

Heavy Metal Shades:

From left to right: Metal-ica, Iron Maid-in, Lead Zeppelin, and Alice Copper

Metal-ica is a classic silver shade, and Iron Maid-in is a soft gold shade. I think I've used Iron Maid-in the most out of the all the shades in this palette. It's a great, easy lid shade.

Lead Zeppelin

My camera has a bad habit of dulling down shimmer and complexity in shadows. If anyone has any tips to help with that, I'd love to know. Here's a better shot of Lead Zeppelin to show that it does has shimmer in it. There's muti-colored shimmer, but most if the shimmers are gold like the ones you can see in this picture. The base shade is a dark forest green.

Alice Copper

Alice Copper is a burgundy purple shade with silver shimmers, that didn't even show up well in this picture. There is less shimmer in this shade than there is in Lead Zeppelin.

Classical Shades:

From left to right: Adagio, Allegro, Moderato, Presto

The classical shades are all matte shades, which is great. Adagio is a classic matte cream shade. It's a little too dark for my vampire-fair skin, but for most people, it will be a perfect highlight shades. Allegro is a great mid-tone brown that leans slightly warm. These types of shades are my favorite for the crease. Moderato is a deep purple, and Presto is a dark chocolate brown.

Alternative Shades:

From left to right: Blink 1982, The Stroke, rem, and Third Eye Blinded

Blink 1982 is a dusty light purple shade with subtle shimmer. The Stroke is a deep navy blue with blue shimmer. rem is a light lilac shade with a gold sheen, and Third Eye Blinded is a dusty soft pink shade.

Here's a picture that shows the shimmer in The Stroke a little bit better.

Another picture to show the gold sheen of rem. Sadly, even though this shade swatches really nicely, when I tried using it on my lids, it applied really patchy, and it was hard to work with.

Highlighter and Blush

Left to right: Solid Gold and Don't You Want Me?

Solid Gold

Solid Gold is a standard gold highlight shade that is almost identical to theBalm's Mary Lou-manizer highlighter. Don't you want me a a standard peachy-pink shade that is matte.

Lip and Cheek Colors:

 

Left to right: Milly and Vanilly

Milly is a dusty rose shade, and Vanilly is a sheer red. 

I've never been a huge fan of cream lip products in palettes. There's the mess issue when they are in the same palette as powder products (thanks for solving that one theBalm!). There's also the convenience factor. I don't want to take a big palette with me to touch up a lip color. Because of that, I like that these cream products can be used on the lips or the cheeks. I haven't used them much yet. I think I've tried both once on the lips, and I used Milly on my cheeks one day (I applied it with a stippling brush). It was actually a nice cheek color that seemed to last pretty well. I wouldn't consider these a selling point for the palette, but they aren't a detractor from it either.

Final Thoughts 

Overall, this is a really nice palette. It's got a great mix of shades and finishes. theBalm's powder products are good quality, and the cream products in this palette are decent and are stashed in their own section, so they don't make the entire palette look like a mess. Since it is somewhat regularly available on Hautelook for around $20, it's a great steal.

Will you be picking this up the next time it goes on sale? What are your favorite products from theBalm?

Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own. I used my Hautelook invite link in this post.

I'm alive! I swear! + a Haul

Disclaimer: The items from PHAMExpo and Luxury Lane Soap were sent to me. Everything else was purchased by me. I have also included my referral link for HauteLook. I would receive a $10 credit if you use that link and make your first HauteLook purchase. All opinions are my own.

Things went a bit crazy here over the past few weeks, and, clearly, blogging fell to the wayside. Sorry about that.

Over the past few weeks, I've been super busy working and preparing for teaching summer school. On top of that, I've been dealing with an ingrown hair that got so infected that it has required several trips to the doctor (enough that the receptionist today didn't even ask for my name because she already knew) and antibiotics. Oh yeah...one of those antibiotics also gave me a rash all over my body this week. *sigh*

Thankfully, the infection is clearing up, the regular school year has finished, and summer school doesn't start for a couple of weeks. Now is the time to play catch-up around the house and with blogging.

Today, I thought I would keep things really simple and just show you a few items that I've gotten somewhat recently.

I'll start with a package that was sent to me by PHAMExpo (Professional Hair and Makeup Exposition), which is an event being held June 29-30 at the Pasadena Convention Center.

I had entered a contest PHAMExpo was hosting on Facebook where they asked for people to send in pictures of how they use their Z Palettes. Although I don't think they officially reached the number of ZPalette fans on Facebook needed to conclude the contest, Cheryl emailed me and said she would like to send me a couple of Z Palettes for my collection. Needless to say, I was really excited. I love the Z Palettes that I already have. Things have been so busy though that I haven't put anything in my new ones yet. I think I want to play with my current ones first and come up with a better organization system for them before I depot more items. I'm looking forward to being able to depot some more things soon though.

The other items that were sent to me were from the company Luxury Lane Soap. I while back, I found out that the company was looking for product testers, and I filled out the application. I was really excited when I received my first tester box from them.

When I received the email stating that I was part of the testing team, I was asked to choose two products I would be interested in trying out of a list of six. I chose the Nourishing Body Lotion and the Whipped Up Sugar Scrub. Both came in the scent Blackberry Tea. Kylee also included two mini bars of soap, and yes, the bar on the left is R2-D2. :-)

I'll probably do a full review of the lotion and scrub later, but I'll tell you now that I love both of them. There was a 15% off coupon in my box as well, and I used it today. I ordered another mini lotion, a full size of the scrub, a hemp body wash, and a candle.

Aside from getting items sent to me, I made some purchases recently too because there were deals that were just too good to pass up.

theBalm Cosmetics launched their new website a few weeks ago, and they had a 24-hour sale where everything on the site was 50% off. I couldn't help myself!

I picked up the Balm Jovi Palette, two of their new InStain blushes (Argyle and Toile), Mary-Lou Manizer highlighter, and Cabana Boy blush.

Then, HauteLook (referral link) had a Spring Beauty Bag deal. They advertised it as $200 worth of product for $25 (with tax and shipping, my bag cost $35).

Here's a list of the contents (taken from the original posting for the bag):

• Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil Travel Size in Demolition-- deep brown with matte finish (0.03 oz., Imported)
• LORAC Full-Size Eyeshadow in Celebutante-- aquamarine with shimmer (0.06 oz., Made in USA)
• Crown Brush Pro Blending Fluff: This professional style Blending Fluff is perfect for blending and shading both powder and cream shadows.
• LORAC Full-Size Multiplex 3D Lashes Mascara in Black (0.143 oz., Made in USA)
• NYX Cosmetics Full-Size Lipstick in Shiva-- blue-toned fuchsia (pearl) (0.14 oz., Made in USA)
• Stila All Over Shimmer Liquid Luminizer Packettes in Pink, Rose Gold, and Bronze Shimmers (0.03 fl. oz. each, Made in USA)
• Laura Geller Mini Blush-n-Brighten in Berry (0.06 oz., Made in USA
• suki skincare full-size exfoliate foaming cleanser (4.0 fl. oz., Scent: Lemongrass and Natural Sugar)
• La Fresh Beauty Wipes -- 5-Pack of Bestsellers - 2 Oil-Free Face Cleansers (6" x 7.75" each, Scents: Refreshing [Natural Yuzu Aromatherapy] and Fragrance-Free), Waterproof Makeup Remover for Eyes and Lips (5" x 4", Unscented), Anti-Aging Face Cleanser (6" x 7.75", Scent: Maqui Berry), and Instant Body Soother (6" x 7.75", Scent: Natural Peppermint) (Made in USA): This 5-pack set includes 1 wipe from each of La Fresh's bestsellers.
• Jessica Simpson Vintage Bloom Fragrance Sampler Vial (0.19 fl. oz.)
• Smile Sciences $50 Gift Certificate: This gift certificate gives you $50 towards Smile Sciences' Rx Strength Teeth Whitening Pen. It is not redeemable for cash value, does not expire, and is to be exclusively used towards the Rx Strength Whitening Pen in any quantity. (Not pictured) 
• Cosmetics Bag (10.5" W x 7.75" H x 3" D): Transport your makeup must-haves in this charming striped beauty bag. (Not pictured) 

The last purchase I'm going to feature in this post is from Stila Cosmetics. They had a 50% off flash sale (I think it lasted less than 24 hours. Again, the bargain was just too good to resist.

I picked up an eyeshadow palette in In the Moment, a Smudge Pot in Kitten, a Color Balm Lipstick in Amelia, the Positively Pink Set for Breast Cancer Awareness, and the Mini Smudge Crayon Try-Me-Set. 

So...I've had quite a few new things to play with lately, but I haven't tried everything yet. I haven't even had time to take individual pictures of everything. That's on my goal for the next few days.

What have you been hauling lately? Have you gotten any really good deals? Is there anything in particular you would like to see a review on?

Disclaimer: The items from PHAMExpo and Luxury Lane Soap were sent to me. Everything else was purchased by me. I have also included my referral link for HauteLook. I would receive a $10 credit if you use that link and make your first HauteLook purchase. All opinions are my own.

theBalm Shady Lady Palettes Deal!

I wanted to do a quick post to share a deal I originally saw on Temptalia.com.

theBalm is selling all three Shady Lady palettes for the price of one ($39.50). This is an awesome deal! Each palette contains 9 eye shadows, so you get 27 shadows total. That breaks down to about $1.50 a shadow. This deal is ONLY good for today, Friday, May 25.

I haven't tried any eye shadows by theBalm yet, but I have heard really good things about them. I have already caved and order them (BTW: Shipping is free inside the US). 

Will you be taking advantage of this deal?