Elf Disney Snow White Beauty Book

Hello My Beautiful Makeup Addicts!

If you are a lover of makeup, then you probably know the company E.L.F (also known as Eyes, Lips, Face). It is a makeup company where many of the products are $1 and are all around relatively inexpensive. Over the past 2 years, ELF has been collaborating with Disney to make affordable makeup books based on Disney characters. They have done two sets of villains books and this summer they decided to create books based on Disney Princesses (FINALLY!!)

The first book that came out was Ariel (which will be my next review). The second was Snow White. Seeing as how Snow White was the first Disney Princess movie to be made, it would have been cool to see her collection first, but both collections are amazing for the price. I really hope they come out with more Princess Look Books (*cough cough Pocahontas*) in the future because these books bring out the makeup lover as well as the inner child in me. Anyways, to the reason why you came here: the review.

The Snow White is similar to the previous look books as it comes with instructions on a particular look, eye shadows, primer, liner, and lip gloss. However, I believe this is the first time these books came with a blush/bronzer color.

The Snow White Beauty Book contains:

• 7 shadows (all shimmery)
• 1 Eye Primer
• 1 Pencil Eyeliner
• 1 Eye shadow applicator
• 1 Blush
• 1 Blush Brush
• 1 Lip Color

For $10, you are receiving 13 products (11 if you do not want to count the brushes). That is less than $1 per product, which is a steal.

Front Cover

Back Cover

Inside of book

Inside Flap

Products

Swatches: Top Row with ELF Primer; Bottom Row: without primer
Also Swatches of (top to bottom): Eyeliner, Blush, and Lip Color

Left: Snow White Blush in Keep Singing
Right: Milani's Luminoso

Lip Color in Brett

Swatch of Brett Lip Color

Brushes/Applicators

My Thoughts:

I loved the concept of these palettes. The reason why: I am a 90s baby and Disney movies were my life when I was growing up.

Should you get these palettes? Yes and no.

• If you want it as a collectible or are new to makeup, then this palette will be good for you.
• If you are a makeup guru/love long lasting, non-powdery eye shadows, then you will not like this palette.

Pros:

• Inexpensive
• Love the tips that come with the book
• Neutral and pop of color eyeshadows
• Eye, lip, and cheek products included

Cons:

• Eye shadows are powdery
• The three lighter shades lack pigmentation (I'm Wishing, Diamond Mine, and Heigh-Ho)
• Heigh-Ho is the least pigmented, which is sad because it is a beautiful rose gold color
• Lip Color (Brett) applies very splotchy on the lips. It is also not as red as I would like for a Snow White inspired look. However, it is a great red for someone who does not like to much of a pop of color on the lips.

Overall: It is only $10 and if you love Disney as well as makeup, I say get it. Since these shadows are shimmery, I am going to try them wet to see if they have a different appearance. (Update: I did try Heigh-Ho wet and it is definitely more pigmented that way). I personally love these Beauty Books and will continue to purchase them as long as ELF and Disey continue to make them. 

ALSO: I wish ELF advertised these more. I had no idea these even existed until I saw it on YouTube or if I visit a Walgreens (if they have it).

Lip Alternatives:

Since I did not think the Lip Color in Brett was red enough for a Snow White Lip Color, I decided to look for alternatives. You can also include MAC's Ruby Woo, but I neither own it or tried it before. Leave your Snow White lip color options below in the comments. My two favorite are the Mirenesse Lip Bomb and the Napoleon Lipstick.

Alternatives (Left to Right): ELF Lip Color, Mirenesse Lip Bomb in #2, Be A Bombshell Lip Gloss in Hot Mess, Be a Bombshell Lip Crayon in Hot Damn, Love & Beauty (Forever 21) Lipstick in Red, & Napoleon Perdis Devine Goddess Lipstick in Aphrodite

• ELF Lip Color in Brett - $2
• Mirenesse Lip Bomb Glossy Lacquer Stain (Reds) in #2 - $35.10 on their website (Can find it on Hautelook for $12)
• Be A Bombshell Lip Gloss in Hot Mess - $14
• Be A Bombshell Lip Crayon in Hot Damn - $14
• Love & Beauty Lip Stick (Forever 21) in Red - $3.80
• Napoleon Perdis Devine Goddess Lipstick in Aphrodite - $35

Disclaimer: I was not asked nor sent this ELF Beauty book to review. I purchased it with my own money and my reviews are honest.

Worth the Hype?: Anastasia Brow Pencil

Hi Beautiful Beauty Addicts!

I have not blogged since March seeing as I was finishing my last semester of college. I cannot believe that chapter of my life is over and I am starting a new one. I thought that since I graduated last Saturday, I should start blogging again. What better way to do that then by starting a new series on my blog.

Every time I watch a YouTube video or go into Sephora or CVS, I always wonder if the product I am eyeing is worth the hype. All over YouTube I have seen countless beauty gurus praise this product for transforming their brows. Since my brows are naturally thick, I never saw the hype of filling them in without looking like this:

Eyebrow Fails

*Not me in the picture*

April was my birthday month (22!) so I decided to go to Sephora with my gift cards and pick some things up (i.e., my birthday gift). If you have ever been into Sephora, you know that before you check out, there are little containers on the wait line that have deluxe samples of products for a fraction of the price. This is where I saw Anastasia's Go Brow. In this kit, there is the brow gel, a small pencil in the color brunette, and a tweezer. For $16, this is a steal. Even if you never fill in your brows, get this kit. THE BROW GEL IS AMAZING...I REPEAT...THE BROW GEL IS AMAZING. My brow hairs never move. Also, the pencil is hard, but it creates light feathery strokes, which allows for easy blending and unharsh lines.

Swatch of Brunette: This is with pressing down several times

Brow Gel Wand

I am definitely considering getting her other kits, especially since I think the brunette color is too harsh for the ombre hair color I am using right now.

The Big Question: IS IT WORTH THE HYPE?

Answer: YES IT IS! Go to a Sephora and try it out. Especially the gel. It will change the way you think about your brows forever.

Now if only I could meet Anastasia herself so that she can help me take my eyebrows to another level.

Go Brow in the color Brunette

NEXT WEEK: Worth the Hype: Benefit Hoola Bronzer

Ipsy: Beauty by You...but is it worth it?

Hello my Fellow Beautiful Makeup Addicts!

I apologize for not blogging in the past 2 months. I am currently in my final semester of college (eeks...I know) and I have not found the time to blog while also preparing for the real world. Now that I am on spring break, I thought it would be cool to try to blog as much as I can. 

A while back I wrote a blog on whether any person looking to join a beauty subscription should either purchase Ipsy or Birchbox. If you like skin care (and foil packets that you can only use once) you should go with Birchbox. They offer their subscribers more high end products unlike Ipsy. Last year I decided to end my Birchbox subscription after about a year but do not feel bad. With the $10 I saved I ordered a second subscription of Ipsy.

As of the month of March, I have been with Ipsy for 1.3 years. While there have been bags that could have been better, there is always at least one product from this company that I love.

Reasons why I love Ipsy:

• Deluxe/Full size makeup samples: Thanks to Ipsy, I have been able to expand my makeup collection. While I do get duplicates in my bags from having two subscriptions, I give those dupes to my family members. I have never had a problem with a product and they tend to last me a long time.

• Only $10: I live in New York so there is a small tax, but for $10, you can get a variety of makeup from face products to lip products. I was never a nail polish girl but because of Ipsy, my nail polish collection has grown overnight.

• Amazing customer service: Due to high demand, some problems do happen in shipping. Some products may come cracked and some may be missing. While this has happened to me, Ipsy's customer service is amazing and they will send you a replacement right away. They are so sweet that I have been secretly trying to find a way to work for them. (Shush...our little secret ;) haha)

P.S. If you don't think you are getting your moneys worth, in my favorite Ipsy bag (featured below) the Mirenesse Lip Bomb Glossy Lacquer Stain retails for almost $40. That is 4 times the price of the bag not including the other products.

If you don't believe me, try out Ipsy for at least a month. The worse that could happen is that the bag did not meet your expectations. But you will get at least 4 beauty products for $10 and a makeup bag. $10 is a steal and you do not want to miss it.

If you want to join Ipsy, click this link http://www.ipsy.com/r/2n8h. This is perfect for anyone who wants to learn about different brands of makeup without spending too much money as well as for beginners who want to start or expand their collections.

Previous bags:

First Ipsy Bag

#1 Ipsy Bag  (Most Favorite)

Latest Ipsy Bag (from my first subscription)

Naked 3 Palette

Hello my Fellow Beautiful Makeup Addicts!

I know I am a little late, but I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year. Since I have not blogged in a while, I thought it would be good to have my first blog of the year be on a new product.

If you are familiar with Urban Decay, then you know about the Naked palettes. UD has come out with 4 palettes under this line (Naked, Naked 2, Naked Basics, and Naked 3). Unlike the first 3 palettes before it, Naked 3 is totally different from the previous palette.

I received the palette as a birthday gift (shout out to my mom) and I am obsessed. I never thought I would enjoy pink/pinkish tone eyeshadows, but I love the palette. In MAC, I am a NC40, and the colors in the palette really brings out my skin tone. 

For $52, you receive 12 buttery eyeshadows and a weeks worth of all of the Urban Decay primer. All of the eyeshadows are very pigmented and blend out like a dream. According to the UD website, these are all of the eyeshadows you will receive:

From left to right:
Strange - pale neutral pink matte-satin
Dust - pale metallic pink shimmer with iridescent micro-glitter
Burnout - light pinky-peach satin
Limit - light dusty rose matte

From left to right:
Buzz - metallic rose shimmer with silver micro-glitter
Trick - light metallic pinky-copper shimmer with tonal micro-sparkle
Nooner - medium pinky-brown matte
Liar - medium metallic mauve shimmer

From left to right:
Factory - pinky-brown satin
Mugshot - metallic taupe shimmer with slight pink shift
Darkside - deep taupe-mauve satin
Blackheart - smoky black matte with rosy red micro-sparkle

Brush inside the palette

Flat eyeshadow brush

Flat eyeshadow brush

Crease Brush

Crease/Denser eyeshadow brush

Brush from Naked Palette

Brush from Naked Palette

Brush from Naked 2 Palette

Brush from Naked 2 Palette

From top to bottom: Naked, Naked 2, Naked 3

Unglued eyeshadow from Naked 2

Sad face

Here are my opinions:

Pro

• Colors - very pigmented, buttery, easily blended
• Unique

Con

• Price - $52: quite expensive

All in all, I love the Naked 3 palette. There are a lot of colors in this palette that I do not have in my collection. If you are just starting out with makeup, I would purchase the first Naked palette to start off with. Out of all three palettes, Naked 3 is my favorite color wise. However, package wise, I love the original Naked palette. With the tin packaging that comes with both the second and third naked palettes, it appears bulkier and some of the eyeshadows have a tendency of ungluing itself from the palette. From the picture above, you can clearly see how Blackout from the Naked 2 palette is shattered. I do not have the Naked Basics palette since it is so similar to the other Naked palettes, but if you want to own one of the palettes but do not want to spend as much money on it, then the Naked Basics palette is for you.

Overall, I am a huge supporter of Urban Decay and I cannot wait to play with my Naked 3 palette more, especially with my college graduation coming up. Look out for a eye look using this palette in the upcoming months. If you want a more in-depth review on this palette or the other two, let me know in the comments below.

Disclaimer: These palettes were given to me as gifts from my mom and a friend. I have purchased a Naked palette before for a friend as well. I am not being paid for this review. The descriptions of the shadows are from the Urban Decay website.

Smashbox Oil-Free Photo Finish Foundation Primer

Hello my Fellow Beautiful Makeup Addicts!

I hope you are having an amazing Christmas Eve or Christmas with your families. For me this Christmas is very special. I get to spend it with my family, who I am super thankful for. They allowed me to experience things I never thought were possible, which ultimately taught me how to love and be happy with myself as a person. I'm sorry if this sounds mushy but for me, the holidays are supposed to be filled with love and everything mushy. But anyways, onto to the blog. (Sometimes I question how my brain goes from topic to topic...sheesh, I'm crazy haha). 

Now that I got all of that mushy/"feely" stuff out of the way, I can talk about what I came to talk about. Which if you read the title you know that I will be talking about Smashbox's Photo Finish Foundation Primer.

Now for me, I was never a huge primer girl. Heck, I was not even a huge foundation girl until my sophomore year of college. Now as a second semester senior in college (O_O I will be entering the "real world" soon...gasp) I still have not found the purpose of primers. I rarely wear foundation, unless I am going out to an event, and it seems so trivial to put on primers when I just wear concealer. To be honest, I am also super lazy, so any steps I can skip, I will skip them. 

Well anyways, if you have a Facebook account and are obsessed with makeup or certain brands, then you probably like their page. I noticed that Smashbox was having a contest where they were giving away samples of their primers for people who never used them. I decided to try it out even though I had tried primer before (Makeup Forever HD Microperfecting Primer in 0).

Picture courtesy of Sephora.com

Even though I had tried primer before, I just did not understand the hype (well, face primer...I love eyelid primer). I did not expect to win anything but then one day I received an email that stated that a primer was being sent to the address I provided. First, I could not believe I won, then I thought it was a hoax. Whatever, that does not matter.

When I receive the primer, I knew it was nothing like the one I tried from Makeup Forever. The Smashbox one is more silicone based, which I liked. To me it was similar to the Mirabella one I received from an Ipsy bag months prior.

Well to not drag out this blog anymore, I decided to make a good, bad, and will I purchase the product.

Good

• Silicone based: left my foundation very smooth, untacky, and it did not seep into my pores
• Smell: If you do not like the smell of silicone, then you might not like the primer. It was neither good nor bad. It was not something I noticed or thought would impede me from actually liking the product.
• Thick: When comparing Smashbox's primer to the Mirabella one I received in my Ipsy bag, I noticed the Smashbox primer is a lot thicker than the Mirabella one. The Mirabella one was more watery.
• Oil-Free

Bad

• Small sample size: Since it is so thick, it was hard to have multiple trials with the primer.

Purchase?

• Yes...when I get money: On the Sephora website, the primer costs $10 for a 0.4 oz bottle or $36 for a 1 oz bottle. As a college student $36 is pretty steep, but I really do love the primer. Next time I am at Sephora or Ulta, I will definitely splurge on the item.

Smashbox Oil-Free Photo Finish Foundation Primer Sample (.25 fl oz)

Smashbox Primer

Mirabella Prime for Face and Eye (.45 fl oz)

From left to right: Mirabella & Smashbox

Both primers blended in to the skin

Foundation sample on both blended primer sections

Blended into the skin

Have you tried any primers? Which ones do you love? Comment below telling me what are your favorite primers.

Before I go, I want to wish everyone Happy Holidays and that you receive all of the love and support from your family and friends. Also, if you can, please try to support the people who do not have the same love and support you receive from your loved ones. You do not know how a dollar, a sandwich, a blanket, or even an acknowledgement can make someone's day a whole lot better. 

                                                                                              xoxoxoxo