Dupe Alert! Anastasia Brow Wiz | NYX Micro Brow Pencil

After watching Coffee Break with Dani's video on a dupe for Anastasia's Brow Wiz, I had to get one myself and compare.  Sure enough, it is GOOD and half the cost!  I agree with Dani, the spoolie is not so good, so keep your empty Brow Wiz for the awesome spoolie!  I went to Ulta and swatched 3 of the brown colors to see what would be close to Dark Brown from Anastasia.  The closest for me is Ash Brown.

Same size, same type of set up with a twist up product and the other with a spoolie.  Like I said, it is about half the cost, even less than the $21 Brow Wiz if you use Ulta's coupons.  I picked up two, one for home and the other in my purse.  I had a funny incident happen earlier this week where I didn't have enough product on one eyebrow because I wiped it off!  Doh!  I forgot I had make up on.  :(  Well, now I have more than enough brow product to last me awhile.  Go and try this...ASAP.

NYX Cosmetics Soft Matte Lip Cream

Obsessed!  I picked up San Paulo, then snagged Transylania and Monte Carlo.  I am loving the matte lip trend lately!

San Paulo - Plummy pink

Monte Carlo - Deep cranberry red

Transylvania - Matte deep violet

Lemming: Copenhagen - Matte rich plum (Not offered on Ulta.com anymore, but on the NYX site!)

Cost: $5.99 at Target & Ulta

Pros:
-Tons of colors from dark to light
-Comfortable matte lippy
-Soft application

Cons:
-Can be drying (exfoliate, then apply balm and blot before applying)

Would I recommend these to a friend?  Yes and I have!  Even with the scent making this product rating high on ThinkDirty, I still love these lippies and it is an affordable option to add to your collection.

Dirty! :( Mainly due to the scent

NYX Butter Gloss Additions!

I have been loving the NYX Butter Gloss in Tiramisu as featured in this entry and picked up a couple new colors at Ulta.  There is limited availability at the Issaquah Highlands location and most of the colors had already been swatched.  Ick.  I wish people would use the testers if you want to see what the color is, not the ones for sale.  :(  I got Maple Blondie and Peaches And Cream, still on the hunt for Angel Food Cake.

Peaches And Cream and Maple Blondie

Maple Blondie is a creamy pink.  I love how the color pops with the flash.  The swatches without the flash are pale in comparison.

Peaches And Cream is actually a bit more pink than Maple Blondie.  Again, the true color really pops with the flash.

Both are great colors that are neutral shades and can be used year round.  I would like to use this with a smokey eye for night time look.  Lately have been using these with my everyday neutrals and that has been a great match.  Ulta had a buy 1, get 1 50% sale when I bought these, so this was a great deal. 

A new MLBB? NYX Butter Gloss in Tiramisu

Have seen other bloggers rave about NYX Butter Gloss and definitely have been lemming to get one in a natural shade.  I have been using Korres Mango Butter Lipstick in Natural Purple (shade not for sale anymore on the website :( ) for my go-to My Lips But Better (MLBB), but wanted to find something else that might work well.  Out of the colors left at my nearby Target, I chose Tiramisu.  There wasn't much of a selection left and most of the other glosses had been opened and tried.  Ick.  I wish there were better options for testers sometimes.  NYX's website describes this shade as 'Brown.'  Hmmm, I didn't think it was a brown, but maybe against my skin tone, its different than someone who is more fair.  Not quite an MLBB, but a definite nice pink, nude shade on me.

With flash on bare lips

Without flash on bare lips

Looks more pink-peach than brown against my skin

What the website says:

Buttery soft and silky smooth, our scrumptious new Butter Lip Gloss tastes as sweet as a sugar cookie - and makes your lips look downright luscious.  Swipe it on alone or over your favorite lipstick for creamy sheer to medium coverage that melts onto your lips and is never sticky.

Pros:  -Deals!  You can find this at Target, Ulta (coupons!) and other drugstores
          -Variety of shades
          -Smell and taste is yummy

Cons:  -Like all creamy lip colors, you have to make sure your lips are exfoliated well and moisturized.  My lips flaked after a few hours wearing and I had to remove the gloss and flakes and re-apply.

Cost: Under $5 at Target.

Would I recommend this to a friend?  YES, YES, YES!  I wish I had tried these sooner!  I saw that June's Ipsy bags had Butter Gloss and saw some great reviews.  I may end up picking up some other colors like Maple Blondie and Angel Food Cake.  I saw a review on NYX's website that I thought was cute and funny.

"But my reason for coming on here is to rave about the new shades they have; specifically nude shades for dark skin tones (think Gabriel Union and darker. YES, FINALLY! To be more specific, i'm talking about the shades Praline and Gingersnap. Thank you so much NYX for finally coming out with nude shades that actually are nude for darker girls like me. No more ashy, milky, "i just ate a powdered donut and put on lipgloss before cleaning my mouth" look. Please DO NOT DISCONTINUE! I repeat, DO NOT DISCONTINUE the shades Praline and Gingersnap :)"

Yay to beauty products that brown girls can wear and rave about and that are also affordable.  *clap!*clap!*clap!* Great job NYX!

Nonpareil Boutique Haul - NYX, LA Colors swatches

Once again, make up I am literally just sitting on. I may end up selling or giving these palettes away. My parent's went to the Philippines this past spring and I had 2 Ziploc baggies full of make up that I only swatched or were still new to give away to my cousins and Aunties. SMH forreal at this addiction!

I ordered this haul from Nonpareil Boutique back in October! It has been almost a year! Geeze. I will give a brief review of the products and you will see swatches. Whether or not these make it to use in a EOTD or FOTD is a maybe.

LA Colors 5 Color Metallic Eyeshadow Palettes
I had been eyeing these palettes and these were a great deal for $3 each. Of course Ms. B got these too. The texture of these shadows are light, powdery but don't provide much pigment. You need to have a good base or primer and layer the colors in order to achieve the color that you see in the pan. I was hoping these would be similar to NYX eyeshadows which are highly pigmented and pretty true to color after one swipe. My favorites were the 'Tease' and 'Enchanted' palettes while 'Tea Time' and 'Unforgettable' just didn't do much for me. These swatches were done on my hand which was clean and unprimed.

Tea Time

Unforgettable

Enchanted

Tease


LA Colors Creamy Glitter Eyeshadow in Tropical Luau
Creamy eyeshadows don't usually do well on my lids or anyone else that I know. What they are good for though is providing a base for eyeshadow to stick to and make the color pop. I thought I would give this a shot and see how the texture was before investing in any more of these palettes. This was $2 and it came with a brush applicator which I ended up tossing because it was pretty useless to me. I chose Luau to pair up with the Tease palette since they are similar in color. I wasn't impressed with this product and will not be repurchasing. The pans are small and its difficult to get the actual product out. I would suggest scraping off some product with a spatula and using a petri dish or other flat surface to work the product into your brush or applicator. You could even use your fingertips to grab some color and warm up the consistency.

The color is very sheer and these will crease if you don't use a primer. I haven't paired this with Tease yet, so this might be revisited in a EOTD or FOTD.


NYX Lipstick in Clio & Megashine Lipgloss in Gold
I have not tried any of NYX's professional lipsticks and chose Clio to try. The color is light and the texture is a bit different than NYX's Round Lipsticks, which I like as well. This lipstick was more dense in texture, but still had great color. I like NYX's Megashine Lipglosses and had been looking for Gold on another boutique site, but they were always sold out! Well I found it at Nonpareil and am happy with the color payoff.
Clio is a very frosty pink. I don't think I could play this off by itself without thinking early '80s and the make up that my Sissy used to wear. I would have to mix this with either a cream or matte color or even just use this color to highlight the lips on the bow or center of the bottom lip.

I paired the Gold NYX Megashine Lipgloss with my MAC Mahogony lipliner and loved the result!
It looks a bit more orange here, due to the flash, but its a gorgeous red with a golden glaze. Something I would wear during the Holidays.


NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencils in Yogurt & Gold
I have tried NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencils, but wanted to add these colors to my collection. The first time I tried these, I was hoping they would be like MAC's Shadesticks, but they weren't. They are more creamy and they do crease so you do need to use a primer. I do like how easy these are to work with. I work the color in to my crease and blend with my fingertip.

Yogurt is a frosty pink and Gold came out looking like 24k gold. Pretty, pretty!