Soooo guys LONG time no post. I've re-vamped the whole website and changed the name to "The Little E". I'm in college now and mdbeauty98 was just too childish for me. Now I'm going to try and post content regularly both here and on YouTube, but posting here is easier when filming time is impossible to find in college.
Over winter break from school I ordered a few eyeshadows (Hot Pots) from Coastal Scents because they were having a sale for the holidays. I own the Creative Me #1 palette (Blog Post Here) and it contains 12 Hot Pots and I was very pleased with them, so this time I created my own 12 pan palette.
The Empty 12-Pan Palette
There are 2 options for their empty palettes; clear lid or the classic with a mirror. I chose the one with a mirror because I travel a lot and a large mirror in a palette is always nice on-the-go.
The 6 pans I bought didn't follow a specific color scheme. I just wanted to fill some holes in my collection with shades I didn't already own.
Hot Pot-Sand Dune
Sand Dune was the first one I picked out. I was trying to find a dupe for my beloved but discontinued NYX shade from one of their old style palettes. This one is close in shade but not in texture unfortunately. This makes a great brow highlight or a face highlight.
Sand Dune Swatch
Hot Pot- Caramel Ice
Caramel Ice is a lot darker in person than I imagined. This is a metallic warm caramel gold color and its perfect for a lid shade on me but would work as a great highlight or inner corner shade on darker skin tones.
Caramel Ice Swatch
Hot Pot- Oatmeal Tan
Oatmeal Tan is a perfect warm orangy matte crease/transition color (Kylie Royal Peach vibes). I accidentally added this color to my cart twice I liked it so much.
Oatmeal Tan Swatch
Hot Pot - Kokomo Cafe
Kokomo Cafe is one of my most used shades in the palette. It is a neutral mid- tone matte taupe. I use this shadow as a crease/transition color as well as a contour color for the face. The shadow isn't intensely pigmented; allowing for gradual color build up. I do appreciate some shadows having less pigmentation than others in certain cases just to allow variation in how bold they are when applied to the face or eyes.
Kokomo Cafe Swatch
Hot Pot - Paprika
Paprika is a beautiful bright brick red matte shade. This reminds me of the shades in the Anastasia Modern Romance Palette a lot but for a fraction of the cost. This works great in the crease or even on the lower lash line for a pop of red. Paired with Oatmeal Tan this creates an amazing warm crease.
Paprika Swatch
Hot Pot- Dark Goldenrod
Dark Goldenrod is such an appropriate name for this shadow. The photos didn't pick up the color right so I had to Photoshop them a little hence the green hint. This metallic green-gold is so multi-dimensional with almost a duo-chrome effect. On my green eyes this is such a great lower lash accent or lid color and really brings out the gold tones in my eyes.
These new Milani eyeshadows have been getting a lot of hype on Youtube and blogs lately so I decided to try them out for myself. I wouldn't normally go out and buy 6 new eyeshadows I'd never tried before, but I'd heard such great things I went for it. I purchased these at CVS for $4.69 a piece but they are listed on the Milani website for $3.99.
I love that Milani shrink wraps all their products in compacts because my biggest pet peeve is seeing touched makeup at the drugstore. They also tell you the finish of the shadow as well which is very helpful.
The shades I got are (From left to right, top to bottom) Bella Black, Bella White, Bella Purple, Bella Mandarin, Bella Rouge, and Bella Navy
I was really impressed by the color selection on the Milani website which includes 30 shades, but CVS only seemed to have around 15-20 I'm not positive because when I picked these up they weren't even in a display yet they were in a bin.
(Swatches with no primer) Bella Black (Satin Matte), Bella White(Satin Matte), Bella Purple(Satin Matte)
First let me point out that these are powder shadows. I am really impressed with the pigmentation, I don't know if that is the "gel" or what. The finish descriptions are quite accurate because the satin mattes have a matte base with a sheen, and the metallic is actually metallic (WOW! Captain Obvious). After testing these out and swatching them I was surprised at how sheer they applied to the eyes. I first tried with no primer and a normal shader brush, which gave a sheer patchy application. Then I switched brushes to a shorter-bristled denser brush which applied more color that wasn't as patchy, but still not as intense as the swatch. Then I tried them over the NYX HD eyeshadow base which I think is a necessity with these shadows (because it stays tacky which allows the shadows to stick better). But I have found the best application method is with your fingers (if possible, I know you can't be very precise, but for areas like your lid and inner corner it helps a lot with pigmentation). The wear is not different from any normal eyeshadow with a primer, they last around 6 hours before I notice some creasing. They are in no way long wearing, but they aren't marketed as such so I wasn't expecting them to be.
Overall these didn't live up to the hype like I thought, they swatch beautifully but apply sub par unless you work with them a lot. So would I go out and purchase more, no.
Hey Guys, this post was supposed to go up yesterday when the video was uploaded, but I ran out of time so here it is now, better late that never. I took a quick trip to Ulta on the day after Christmas because I couldn't wait to spend a gift card I got as a gift.
The first thing I got was the Rimmel Stay Matte powder in the shade 011 Creamy Natural which is a lighter shade than I had previously which was 004 Sandstorm. I have used this new shade a few times and its not to light but I should have repurchased the shade I used up. But overall the powder itself is great, it keeps you matte and doesn't require touch-ups during the day unless it's super hot outside.
The next thing I picked up is the Maybelline Dream Lumi Highlighting Concealer in Radiant. I really wanted a nice under-eye concealer that was also brightening. After using this a few times I can say it really cancels out my dark circles because of its peachy tone, but isn't super brightening/highlighting.
The next thing I picked up I've been after for EVER, the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush. I have been meaning to try these brushes out for ever and finally have one. I have used this brush 3 or 4 times to apply foundation and love it! It is super soft and dense st it blends out foundation smoothly. If you haven't tried any of these brushes before they are definitely worth it.
The last two things I got were Batiste dry shampoo in the original and cool and crisp fresh scents. I've heard this is one of the best dry shampoos out there for cheap so I picked up 2. I like the original scent but I like the fresh one a little bit more even though they are quite similar. But now I can say "what is life without dry shampoo??" this stuff has literally changed my hair's life. If you only wash your hair every-other day this stuff saves second day hair. So seriously try it.
But on a totally unrelated personal note there are a few exciting things going on I wanted to share, one is if you don't follow my Youtube channel you wouldn't know that I made Stylehaul partner!!!Yay!!! If everyone reading this would go over there and subscribe that would just mean the world to me. And today I also got a new Iphone 5C which is pretty awesome, I'm going to do a what's on my Iphone video soon so look out for that.
