January 12, 2012

Looks featuring Mi Vida Loca Palette

Hi! These are looks I wore today and yesterday featuring shades from Mi Vida Loca.  The shades built up enough for my tastes, but if you're looking for Sugarpill or Makeup Forever quality here, you're going to be disappointed.  Any who, these are looks I came up with. One is using the left half of the palette, and the other is using the right.

Look 1: Harlequin eyes


What I used:
eyes
Mad Max- outer half
Sparklehorse- Inner half
Dublin- crease and lower lash line
Altruism- highlight
Wonderchild- top lashline and waterline

Lucifer- eyebrows
Urban Decay Urban Lash mascara

cheeks
Benefit Coralista blush

lips
Coral Castle painted love lipstick

Look 2: Hologram eyes!
What I used:
eyes
Wonderchild- waterline and lower lash line
Drama for Your Mama- lower lash line, outer V
No Regrets- blended into DfyM on lower lash line, and into crease
Marya- inner half, blended into No Regrets
Swan Song- highlight

also used:
Lucifer- eyebrows
Sephora Full Action Extreme Effect mascara
MAC Pink Swoon blush
Viva Glam Gaga lipstick
Gunshine Lightning sheer lipgloss
(I spared you from a full face picture for this because my left eye started leaking and ruined my makeup. You're welcome!)

How would you wear this palette?  Let me know in the comments!


January 11, 2012

Review: Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca True Romance palette


Mi Vida Loca is the first new True Romance eye shadow palette from Kat Von D for Sephora for 2012! It's a collection of rainbow hues, inspired by the 80s. As with every True Romance palette, there are eight shadows. Included in Mi Vida Loca is a completely new eyeliner: Wonderchild.



Left to right:
  • Swan Song: Cream with pink shimmer. This is VERY sheer, but had a velvety texture. 
  • Marya: Frosty pastel pink. This was a bit sheer, but had a good texture.
  • No Regrets: Shimmery rasberry. Better color payoff than the previous two, but the texture wasn't as good.
  • Drama for Your Mama:  Purple with faint shimmer. The texture was a bit dry.
l-r: Swan Song, Marya, No Regrets, Drama for Your Mama


Left to right:
  • Mad Max: Matte electric blue. Sadly, this was a bit chalky, but had decent color payoff.
  • Dublin: Shimmery yellow-based grass green. Color payoff and texture-wise, this was the best of the bunch.
  • Sparklehorse: Shimmery golden yellow. Good color payoff, good texture.
  • Altruism: Shimmery pale butter yellow. A bit sheer, but had a good texture.
l-r: Mad Max, Dublin, Sparklehorse, Altruism


  • Wonderchild: Metallic navy. 

The right half of the palette performed much better than the right half, but it wasn't so bad that I'd recommend skipping Mi Vida Loca.  I didn't build up the color in the swatches, but the colors (with the exception of Swan Song and Marya) can all be built up so that they look truer to the pan.  As for the eyeliner, the formula is no different than the other Autograph pencils I've tried: it's creamy, waterproof, long lasting, and has great color payoff. 

The packaging is no different than the last set of True Romance palettes that have come out. It's still the same metal case with the big mirror that won't stay propped up if I need it to.

All in all, if you are a fan of rainbow shadows, I feel there are better brands from which you can get your multicolored fix (namely Sugarpill).  However, if you are curious to test the rainbow shadow water, I'd say Mi Vida Loca is a pretty good start. Plus, that eyeliner is preeetttyyy amazing and isn't available on its own.

You don't have to take my word for it! The Mi Vida Loca True Romance palette is available now for $34 at Sephora.

Review: Kat Von D Everlasting Love Liquid Lipstick- Jeffree


Everlasting Love Liquid Lipstick is one of the brand-spanking-new-to-the-brand products launched for spring 2012.  Of the six shades offered, I chose Jeffree A. because it didn't look like anything else I have B. its namesake, Jeffree Star, is a devastatingly fabulous creature.
 If you're not familiar with who he is: Jeffree is a makeup artist, musician, and model. Truthfully I'm not a fan of his music, but I'd let him do my makeup any day!

Jeffree is a matte bright coral. In the tube, it looks like a tame color that my grandmom would love, but on the lips- wow! It is opaque, and really lives up to its title of "long lasting."  I put the formula through the following tests:

  • The swatch on my arm was rubbed (hard!) and scratched at. It did not flake or budge!
  • I drank two glasses of water. It didn't transfer on the glass, nor did any come off.
  • I smooched the back of my hand. Still on.
  • I ate delicious, but greasy, Indian food. I also blotted the lunch off my mouth (I'm a messy eater haha). STILL DID NOT BUDGE!!!
 The formula offers no additional moisture to your lips.  I put this on lips that were already in need of balm, and it was not a good look! With that said, it didn't dry my lips out more.  It surprisingly applied smoothly and evenly, it just sort of emphasized how dry my lips were (as most matte lipstick would).

As texture goes, the formula is a true liquid--very thin, almost watery. The first two times I had put the wand back in the tube,  some product tried to escape from it.  Considering the backlash that happened with the High Voltage mascara, which had the same problem and was ultimately discontinued, I foresee the same thing happening with Everlasting Love l/s. Hopefully I'm wrong!!

The packaging itself is just skinny plastic tube that houses 0.18 fl oz of product.  Inside there is a doefoot applicator wand. I really like how you can see the product through the tube-- it makes it easier to find in a sea of lipsticks or the black interiors of my bags!

When I read about the launch of the Everlasting Love liquid lipsticks, I immediately thought they would be a re-packaged version of Sephora's cream lipstains with a bigger price tag.  Hear me now: THEY'RE NOTHING ALIKE! Despite the leakage that happened, I would still recommend these. The formula is fantastic, and I personally can't wait to buy more colors.

Don't take my word for it, all six shades of Everlasting Love liquid lipstick are available now for $18 at Sephora.

Review: Kat Von D High Voltage Lacquer- No Regrets

High Voltage Lacquer is the first nail polish offered from Kat Von D for Sephora.

0.25 fl oz of product is contained in this stubby cylindrical bottle. I don't have a huge nail polish collection, so in comparison to the brands I have, this bottle feels really small. The brush is a good size despite the small bottle.  It applies even color to an entire nail in about 2 strokes (it may take 3 strokes if you have a wider nail bed). 


No Regrets has superfine hot pink glitter suspended in a hot pink base.  It definitely has a blue undertone to it.  Now that I'm thinking about it, the sparkliness of it reminds me of sparkly vinyl handbags. I'm usually not a fan of glitter polish because with polishes I've used before, not only did the glitter create a rough texture on my nails, but it was also was annoying and difficult to remove. Probably because the glitter is so fine, the surface of this on my nail is relatively smooth. The formula is thin, but applies very evenly and smoothly.  It takes two coats to reach opacity. Drying time per coat was under a minute!

UPDATE: 1/13/12: I noticed my first chip on my right middle finger. Truthfully, the polish started wearing off at the tips by the second day in, but I wanted to wait until I actually saw a chip to update the post. I don't have a base or top coat on my nails, so the color would probably last longer if it had those helper products to keep it in place.  On top of that, I'm in the process of moving, so my nails have really been through the ringer the past few days.

Overall, I like this nail polish, but I don't love it.  I feel for a $12 price tag, there should be something better about it-- Bigger bottle/more product? Opaque in one coat? Better wear time? Plus, due to my ignorance to what's out there in nail polish land, I don't really know how unique the four shades are.

You don't have to take my word for it, High Voltage Lacquer is available now at Sephora.

January 10, 2012

Nowhere special makeup

Who doesn't like to leave the house without makeup? *raises hand* Maybe I'm koo-koo, but I am not all that keen leaving the house like this:

 With that said, who wants to go crazy putting on the face when you're just going outside to run errands? (not me, usually) So this is my super easy and fast look for when I'm not going anywhere special.

Step one: Face!
You should always start with a clean face before applying any makeup-- you don't want to set yourself up for clogged pores or makeup going on weird!  So after I've washed + dried my face, I put on tinted moisturizer.  Since I have some scars and things going on, I'll put some concealer on underneath my eyes and scars/blemishes.  If I feel like it, I'll put on blush.

Steps 2/3: Lashes and Lips!
Crazy easy, folks: put on the mascara of your choice and a tinted lip balm!


What I used:
  • Urban Decay Urban Defense Tinted Moisturizer
  • Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer
  • Benefit Coralista Blush
  • Urban Decay Urban Lash Mascara
  • Clinique Superbalm in Black Honey
What's your routine when you want a quick look? Let me know in the comments!

Review: Clinique Black Honey Superbalm

Lately my makeup routine has been very low-key, and my lips have been pretty dry and flaky. It is for both of these reasons that Clinique's Super balm has been a welcome addition to my arsenal. It's a shimmer-free sheer lip gloss that has awesome moisturizing capabilities.



While the color I bought, Black Honey, looks intimidatingly dark in the tube, it's actually a very sheer dark nude.  Personally, I think this color would work for  everyone. If you're super fair like me, it may not work well if you're going for a "no makeup" look, but you gals with medium and dark complexions could definitely use this for one.



The squeeze tube packaging is pretty no-nonsense, but on mine there is this annoying extra lip around the hole where the product dispenses. Hopefully this is just a one-off flaw, because it kind of scratches against my lip during the application process.

Despite the packaging flaw, I'd definitely recommend this. At $14, it might seem expensive for a tube of lip balm, but the sheerness of the color makes it so versatile, and the insane moisturizing properties make this worth every penny.

You don't have to take my word for it, it's available now (in this and lots of other colors!) at Sephora.

January 7, 2012

Kat Von D Spring 2012

This week, Sephora put up the spring KvD collection. The launch is pretty big-- in addition to a new eyeshadow palette, there is also a new liquid lipstick formula, as well as an eyeliner set and nail polishes!

Mi Vida Loca True Romance Eyeshadow Palette
Definitely a departure from the spring palette of 2011! I'm very excited to try the matte blue and the new blue eyeliner.  According to Sephora, the color inspiration for Mi Vida Loca is totally 80s, but it reminds me personally of all the Lisa Frank stuff I had when I was a kid in the early 90s.
It's currently available on sephora.com!

High Voltage Lacquer
Brand spanking new for spring is NAIL POLISH!! It's coming in four colors that reflect those in Mi Vida Loca: purple, yellow, hot pink, and teal.  Miss Von D herself had tweeted about this a while back, calling them her "stained glass nail polish." When I think of stained glass, I think of translucent color,  but apparently these have actual shattered glass in the formula.  All of the colors but the yellow are available at Sephora right now.

Everlasting Liquid Love Lipstick
This new liquid lipstick boasts vibrant color with a matte finish and comes in six shades, mostly mostly in the pink and red family.  Sephora's description of this makes it sound exactly like their cream lip stains, which isn't a bad thing-- the one I have kicks major patoot! All of the colors are available now at Sephora

Triple Threat Tattoo Liner Set
Lastly, there is this felt-tipped eyeliner set. Instead of the normal brush of the normal Tattoo eyeliner, there are three different tip widths: chiseled  (which looks exactly like Tokidoki's Perfetto pen eyeliner), skinny, and medium. Personally, I'm not a fan of felt-tipped eyeliners-- it's hard to control the line width and the ones I've used (including the aforementioned Perfetto eyeliner) dry out too fast for my taste. I most likely won't be picking this up, but maybe seeing it in person will change my mind.  It, too, is available now at Sephora.

Speaking of eyeliner, it appears that the best liquid eyeliner I've ever used, the KvD Autograph Liquid liner, is being discontinued. It's only now only available in one color on Sephora's site, and in store I noticed the color I use was totally out of stock. Insert biggest sadface ever :(

There you have it! Four new products for your lady arsenal. Personally, I think it's weird that two of the products are similar to existing items in Sephora's other house brands.  Regardless, I couldn't help myself and ordered a nail polish, the Mi Vida Loca palette, and one of the Liquid Lipsticks.

Anything strike your fancy from this KvD launch? Have you tried any of these already? Let me know in the comments!