Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Khaki Review and Swatches

I am almost always late in the morning, because I always want that extra few minutes of sleep and tell myself I'll be speedy enough to make up for it. It's rarely true. In an effort to remedy this (while still getting those precious snoozes, of course), I've been trying to streamline my beauty routine. 

If I were extraordinarily efficient, I could do my whole beauty routine in 15 minutes, but I am not, so it usually takes about 25-30. Eye makeup is often a time eater, since applying/blending eyeshadow can be a challenge when tired and mostly blind, so I decided to cave and finally try one of the Laura Mercier Caviar Sticks in the hopes it could be a swipe-and-go kind of product.* I chose Khaki, wanting a versatile but not boring neutral, and owning too many (purpley) taupes to justify Amethyst.

a rather uninspiring picture of the unused product

Shiseido Luminizing Satin Eye Color Trio in RD711 Pink Sands Review and Swatches

HSN sent me a $10 off coupon for no reason at all, but I'm not one to ignore free money, so I used it to pick up a Shiseido eyeshadow trio after having heard nothing but raves. (Oddly, though, now all the Shiseido stuff is gone from their website! How peculiar.) I chose Pink Sands, because I don't have enough neutralish palettes, I guess? I wanted something I would get a lot of wear out of, anyways.

Beautiful untouched pans!

MAC Viva Glam V Review and Swatches

Larie threw this in with my order from her blog sale awhile back, because she is generosity incarnate :) I have many lippies, but few nudes, as they tend to make me look dead, but I thought Viva Glam V, which has been hailed as "universal", might work. And so it does!

Influenster Jolly VoxBox Review and Swatches

I signed up for Influenster in August and proceeded to not log-in again for another, um, 3 months. Somehow, they still thought I was a good candidate for the Jolly VoxBox (I'm great at filling out questionnaires!), so I gleefully received these goodies (for free, but all opinions are my own! Which you could probably figure out on your own after reading my comments, as they are not all favorable...):

Puffs Plus Lotion tissue 10-pack* 

(though the card in my box says I should have received 

the lotion-free kind, I'm not complaining)

These tissues are a welcome addition to my purse, now that we are solidly in winter cold season. They're soft, smell vaguely medicinal, and are very very lightly moisturizing, enough to keep my nose from getting chapped from nose-blowing. I can't say I would purchase them myself, because I am extremely cheap when it comes to some things (like tissues, for example) and would never opt for brand name when store brands are the same thing, but I'm certainly happy to have these!

Golden Rose Perfect Shine Lipstick 239 Quick Review and Swatches

This was the first makeup item I picked up while in Turkey. I wanted to try and find an MLBB, and since this was cheap (somewhere between $3 and $7, because my memory fails me), I decided to give it a try.

Taken on a bedspread in Bodrum in a hotel with very
inadequate a/c [not sure why I remember that and not the
price, and yet...]

ARTDECO Perfect Color Lipstick 82 Review and Swatches

We've been enjoying a resurgence of sunshine and relative warmth, very welcome after record-breaking rain at the end of September. Of course, school has started, and though I am not taking much in the way of classes, I am still teaching (in a tragically windowless room!), and between that and research (in a tragically windowless lab!), I've not had much time for blogging. My apologies! Here is a long-overdue review of a lipstick I purchased in Berlin.

theBalm Nude 'Tude

I picked this up from Birchbox several months ago when I had a coupon. I'd heard good things about it, and I was wanting a replacement for my Too Faced Natural Eye, which has deteriorated in the pigmentation department over the years.

Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs 06 Les Fumés Review and Swatches

I bought this from Tracy during her blog sale for $44 including shipping, which is more than 25% off the full price. It's still rather more than I would normally spend, but I wanted something compact and pretty for the conference. (Ironically, it was so hot that I only did my eye makeup one day out of the 4, but hey, best to be prepared?) Now that I have it, I see myself getting a lot of use out of it for school––between my new hair and the classy eyes this palette creates, I'm gonna get mad respect from my students.

Which is clearly warranted.

Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited BG 935 Review and Swatches

Sorry for my most recent absence! I went down to LA for a wedding of a friend of the boy's, which was lots of fun but didn't leave much time for blogging (or work, but shhhh, don't tell). I'm back at home again, though, and hopefully will be staying put for awhile! Which means more posts for you! Hooray!

So, I know the lipstick marks on the inside of the cap
are gross, but I figure it's good to show you what it
actually looks like after being used! (That, and I'm
too lazy to clean it. You're welcome.)

MAC Plumful Review and Swatches

After an emotional session with my therapist, I decided to indulge in some retail therapy. I was going to get a Dior lip gloss, but couldn't decide on a shade, and decided to wander over to the MAC counter to look for an MLBB lipstick. I did some swatching and settled on Plumful, a lustre lipstick. I was ecstatic at the reasonable-to-current-me $15 price tag (oh, how times have changed), and the sheer plummy pink was exactly the kind of color I was looking for.

Quick Review: Korres Quince Lip Butter

I've been wanting to try Korres' lip butters for years, but never got around to it. Until I was in Sephora, and they had 4 shades to try, and I had 15% off, and I figured why not. I debated between the deep red Wild Rose and the lighter, warmer pink Quince, and obviously decided on the latter. I figured I had enough reds already, and I wanted something "natural" but pretty.

It gets smudgy after you've used it for a bit. Sorry.

Burberry Mallow Pink Lip Glow Review and Swatches

Happy Easter! Here's a real, actual, beauty-related post.

I wanted it, and I got it! Hurray! This was my lone purchase at the Burberry counter at the Bellevue Nordstrom with Larie, as the hordes of people proved to be way too overwhelming for my frail psyche. Also, I didn't want to pay 10% sales tax on anything else! Because I am from Oregon, where we do not pump our own gas or pay sales tax. BUT I DIGRESS. Is it everything I hoped it would be?

Burberry Mallow Pink Lip Glow

Hello, Gorgeous: NARS Mascate Review and Swatches

Larie has given this lipstick no end of praise, so after I survived last term, I decided to pick one up for myself, because I don't already have enough reds (never enough!).

A Tale of Two Reds: Rouge Dior in Rouge Favori 752 and Lipstick Queen Chinatown Gloss Stick in Thriller

I've had Rouge Favori for months now and never gotten around to reviewing it, and since I recently picked up another red lippie, I thought I could kill two birds with one stone and review them together! Because I am lazy. I mean, because it made thematic sense. Obviously. (Also, a prefatory note: The Rouge Dior photos were taken in September, when there was still abundant sunshine, while the Thriller photos were taken in November, after the rain killed the sun and peed on it. What I'm trying to say is that the photos are not in the same style, and for that I apologize.)

Post-rain Lipstick Queen Thriller, pre-rain Dior Rouge Favori

Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti Review and Swatches

Another Lip Butter! This one I got because I felt I should have an orange lippie, even though I tend to look atrocious in orange, and even though the whole tangerine craze is rather done now. I'm rather behind the times––though I will say I was wearing leggings as pants when I was only 6 years old. (That doesn't mean I approve of the practice nowadays.)

One swipe Tutti Frutti

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Barely Beige Review and Swatches

Part of Maybelline's LE Fashion Week collection were a few new shades of Color Tattoo cream eyeshadows, including a shimmery champagne. I don't find myself wearing the other Color Tattoo I have (Bad to the Bronze) all that often because it's a little dark and really only works if I wear it as a base to a smoky taupe eye, but I bought Barely Beige in the hopes that it could be a good eyeshadow base/quick and easy nude eye.

Maybelline Barely Beige Color Tattoo

Quick(ish) Reviews of Two (~)Discontinued Products and a FOTD

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Revlon Colorburst Lip Gloss in Strawberry Review and Swatches

Hey, y'all! Today's the last day to enter the giveaway, if you haven't already! Also, you may have noticed I changed the look of the blog. It was done as a procrastinatory measure, but also because it's approaching summer now and I felt like a change (summer 'round these parts is GREEN, hence the color scheme). Let me know what you think/if there's anything you'd like to see different!

For anyone who's not read the blog before: I tend to hate lip gloss. It's sticky and messy and glops up all weirdly (though see Fraise Crème and pH Matchmaker for success stories). And yet, sometimes the hype is enough for me to be willing to try one, and when you combine that with a 40% off sale, you get the perfect gloss storm. Sometimes, though, the risk pays off, and such is the case with Revlon Colorburst Lip Gloss in Strawberry (though let me just say, no natural strawberry has ever been this color––not that it's a bad thing, just a slightly misleading name!).

Prettyyyyy

Neutral Eyes: Quick Reviews of Urban Decay Shadow Pencils in Juju and Sin and Hourglass Visionaire Eyeshadow Duo in Gypsy

I wanted to get my thoughts on Urban Decay's shadow pencils up before the end of the giveaway (extended through Memorial Day! Go enter if you haven't!), but didn't feel like doing a full review and happened to have swatches of Hourglass Gypsy that I needed to do something with, so...here's a quick combo review!

Juju (left),
Sin (right)

Urban Decay's eyeliners are cult favorites (I have Mildew and Rockstar, and love the former [the latter is a bit too glittertastic]), so everybody was pretty psyched when they came out with bigger shadow pencils. I picked up the 5 pack they'd released for the holidays when it was on super-sale and kept the two lighter neutrals for myself (the others are here), and have been using them on and off for the past couple months.

Juju (top), Sin (bottom)

Sin is a shimmery light champagne, and Juju is a shimmery taupe. They're pretty firm, so I just swipe it all over my lid and then blend to soften the edges. On their own, they crease and fade pretty badly on my oily lids, but they last ~8 hours over TFSI, and longer if I top them with powder shadow.

Sin blended all over lid, Juju blended in crease

They do need to be sharpened, but I've gotten a lot of wear out of them without needing to do so yet (the only reason I did was to test and make sure it could be sharpened before writing this review, and yes, it can––I used the larger hole in the $2 Revlon sharpener I have to no ill effects). I wouldn't pay $20 for one, but I'm very pleased to have the ones I do! Grade: B (if you get them for cheap, A-)
$20 for 0.10 oz, available from Sephora and Urban Decay

Guerlain Rouge Automatique Lipstick in Chamade Review and Swatches

I've wanted to try the Rouge Automatique line since Temptalia reviewed Champs-Elysees and showed that it lasted through an Italian meal and said it was moisturizing to boot. Guerlain's Rouge G line of lipsticks is widely regarded as one of the best lipstick formulas there is (and is Temptalia's favorite), and Rouge Automatique is apparently nearly as good for $11 less. Unfortunately, that still means it's $35, so I knew I needed a good excuse to buy one. Guet-Apens was my long-time lemming, but I ended up deciding on Chamade since I figured I didn't have anything else like it, whereas I do have other darker lippies. Temptalia's review, which said Guet-Apens was lacking in the formula department, just confirmed my choice.

Guerlain Chamade Rouge Automatique