NEW BLOG + A Coastal Scents Haul!!!!

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.

Dark Goldenrod Swatch

My 9 Favorite Kylie Jenner-esque Lip Products

Hey guys, long time no see on here! I know I don't blog regularly but every once in a while I come up with a good idea for a blog post I try to follow through. If you watched my recent room tour  I mentioned that I was working on this. But on the subject at hand I've assembled 9 of my favorite lip products that fall in the realm of "Kylie Jenner" lip colors. Some of these are a long shot but I still included them because not everyone wants to 100% imitate her look.

Milani Lip Liner in 03 Nude

  This Milani lip liner is what I've decided is a good baseline to compare everything to.

Maybelline Color-sensational Lipstick in Make Me Pink

 This Maybelline is a lighter and more pink/lavender toned. What I would consider a spring/summer take on Kylie's look.

Makeup For Ever Rouge Artist Lipstick in N9

This lipstick I would assume many people have because it was included in the 2014 Sephora birthday gift. But this lipstick is very close to what I would consider a true "Kylie" lip color.

NYX Matte Lipstick in Natural

This lipstick is matte, which helps achieve the exact look you might be looking for but this color is cooler than our "baseline" color.

Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick in 08

This lipstick is a very neutral toned option. Depending on your coloring if neither warm or cool neutrals look good on you this might be a good option.

Elf Matte Lipstick in Natural

This is my favorite matte lipstick formula! This color is a perfect pinky nude for me. Its lighter and cooler than our baseline

Elf Matte Lipstick in Tea Rose

This color is farthest from what our baseline color is but I decided to include it none the less. Its very purple and cool toned but I think it still falls in the realm of colors we are describing as "Kylie Jenner" colors.

Well guys, I realized this post seems kind of thrown together, but I didn't take as much time as usual to perfect this post. But I hope you still enjoy regardless!

Review-New Milani Bella Eyes Gel-Powder Eyeshadows

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) 

Bella Mandarin (Satin Matte), Bella Rouge(Metallic), Bella Navy(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.

5 Favorite "My Lips But Better" Products

If you guys haven't seen the video that corresponds with this post or vice-versa I just wanted to go a bit more in-depth on the specific colors I mentioned.

  

From Right to Left Elf Matte Lip Color in Natural, Kate Moss #17 by Rimmel, Revlon Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie, Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Honey, and the Buxom Full On Lip Polish in Dolly

• The Elf Matte Lip Color is the least expensive of the bunch at $3, and it is also the most brown toned. I love the formula of these matte lip colors because they don't dry my lips out and feel semi-moisturizing if that is even possible. 
• The Kate Moss Lipstick is the most opaque of all and is also the most pink. I love this lipstick because it is your basic everyday pink with just enough nude to be considered a "My Lips But Better" type shade.
• The Revlon Lip Butter is the most moisturizing option out of the 5 and is subsequently the most sheer. But since the color is sheer it gives the appearance of slightly berry toned lips without being too opaque and vampy.
• The Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain is also a balmy formula but it isn't as moisturizing as a lip butter. I chose this product because of its staining abilities, I can put this on on the morning before school and still see color when I return home. The color is a pink toned mauve and makes my lips look just slightly deeper and glossy. And that will wear off and leave your lips looking naturally mauvey.
• The most expensive product here is the Buxom Full on Lip Polish which I wasn't sure the price of in my video but I checked and a full-size retails for $19 (more expensive than I said in the video). But I love this formula of lip gloss/lip plumper because it is sticky enough to make it very long-wearing but not annoying sticky. This color is almost identical to the Revlon balm stain but just in gloss form.

Sally Hanson Big Matte Top Coat Review

Today I'll be reviewing the Sally Hanson Big Matte Top Coat, this product was released in the recent I Heart Nail Art collection from Sally Hanson with a variety of other "Big" top coats. They have a Big Shiny Top Coat, Big Glitter Top Coat, Big Smokey Top Coat, Big Shimmer Top Coat, and a Big Crackle Top Coat. The only other one I am curious about trying is the smokey top coat, I've never seen or heard of another product that is a smokey top coat. But the display I saw at my local CVS only had the matte and shiny top coats still in it, if I had the option I would've picked that one up too. I know Sally Hanson makes some amazing top coats and that made me confident enough to pick this one up because it was a total impulse buy.

Two coats of Revlon Colorstay Bold Sangria with one coat of the Big Matte Top Coat

 As you can see one coat totally mattifies the polish and I left a sliver of polish without the top coat to show the contrast. 

After 3-4 days of wear

Unfortunately after a few days of wear time the completely flat matte turns into what I would call somewhere between a glossy matte and satin finish. It hasn't totally turned shiny, as you can see the sliver at the base of the nail is still a bit more shiny. If I wanted to I could re-apply and that would take away the shine, but I wanted to just stick with one for this review's sake. And since Revlon Colorstay polish is very long wearing I really can't say if this extended the wear of my polish at all even thought it didn't claim to. Because this is the only matte top coat I own I don't know if this fading is normal, but I intend on purchasing a "high-end" (OPI or Essie) matte top coat  for comparison and then I can possibly recommend or not recommend this product as I will mention in the haul when it is uploaded on Friday. When that video does go live you can view it by clicking the videos tab at the top of the page. And on a somewhat related note if you want to keep up to date with my posts you can follow me on Bloglovin or Google Friend Connect which are also at the top of the page.

Wet 'N Wild Fast Dry Nail Polish Gift Set Review and Swatches

First of all I would like to say a big thank you to my best friend in the whole entire world, Becca for gifting me this for Christmas this year and making this review possible. She said she got this set at Wegmans and I don't know if it's available anymore but all these colors are permanent in their regular line so you can still buy the full sizes of all 8. The full size polishes sell for $1.99 a piece if you were interested. All swatches were done without top or base coats. Also I am going to apologize for my inability to paint my nails and not get polish on my cuticles beforehand.

I love how these polishes are named after TV shows, and I'm glad they have names because numbers don't have any resonance with me. The first two are Everybody Loves Redmond and The Gold & the Beautiful. 

2 coats of Everybody Loves Redmond

Everybody Loves Redmond is a jelly red bordering on scarlet with no shimmer, and as you can see it is pretty opaque in 2 coats. 

3 coats of The Gold & the Beautiful

The Gold & the Beautiful is an orangy gold glitter, but the glitter isn't dense enough to be worn alone. As you can see above my nail is still visible through the polish.

1 coat of The Gold & the Beautiful over 2 coats of Buffy the Violet Slayer

It looks much better as a glitter top coat, and gives a nice even finish over the entire nail in one coat.

Now I realized I photographed them out of order...but  the next two I swatched were Silvivor and Saved by the Blue.

2 coats of Silvivor

Silvivor is your standard metallic silver foil polish, nothing special about it.

2 coats of Saved by the Blue

Saved by the Blue is a metallic royal blue, again pretty opaque in 2 coats but a third would make it solid.

The second to last group I swatched were SaGreena the Teenage Witch and Buffy the Violet Slayer

3 coats of SaGreena the Teenage Witch

SaGreena the Teenage Witch is a nice emerald green with shimmer. This polish was the only one I had application problems with, it was patchy and streaky on the first 2 coats abut the third evened it out.

2 coats of Buffy the Violet Slayer

Buffy the Violet Slayer is a royal purple with shimmer, and this is my favorite color from this set .

And the last two in the set are Party of Five Glitters and the Clear Coat

1 coat of Party of Five Glitters over 1 coat of Saved by the Blue

Party of Five Glitters has large silver, medium pink, blue, and green, and small red hexagonal glitter. If applied properly in one coat you can get good coverage across the whole nail. And the clear coat is nothing special, just a clear nail polish.

And now that we are done with swatches let's talk about the formula, wear time etc. This polish claims to dry in 60 seconds so I broke out the timer to test that.

And it did dry in under 60 seconds! Yay! But when wearing these polishes without a base coat but with the included top coat I see major chipping within 1 or 2 days. That can be easily fixed with a heavy duty base and top coat. A few of these shades are very unique and worth picking up like Everybody Loves Redmond, The Gold & the Beautiful, Party of Five Glitters, Buffy the Violet Slayer, and Saved by the Blue. The ones that aren't worth it are Silvivor because it's such a basic shade and you can find the same shade with a better formula for around the same price, SaGreena the Teenage Witch for the bad application and the Clear Coat because there are much better topcoats at the drugstore. If you do see this kit though I would recommend picking it up.
P.S. The file sucks don't even bother.

Coastal Scents Creative Me #1 Palette Swatches

Hey Guys, today I will be swatching on of my Christmas gifts this year; the Coastal Scents Creative Me #1 Palette. This palette retails for $14.95 on their website and contains 12   0.05 oz/1.5 g eyeshadows called hot pots which are removable and interchangeable with any of the other 240 hot pots in the line. 

The shades are Light Yellow, Bright Yellow, Light Tangerine, Bright Tangerine, Neon Red, Neon Bright Pink, Deep Grape, Magenta, Indigo, Electric Blue, Teal Green, Shamrock Green.

All of the colors in this palette are super vibrant and pigmented, but don't be intimidated by colors like these because they can be used in your everyday looks like I demonstrate below. 

In this look I mixed Indigo and Deep Grape and sheerly placed them in the crease, then I smudged Indigo on the lower lash line and put a little of Light Yellow in the inner corner. Overall I think this palette is a good quality, affordable, and unique product. And I would recommend it for anyone looking to expand their makeup collection with some fun colors or anyone who wants to add some pop to their everyday look.