Sweet Butter Roasted Almonds

Look, guys!  I'm posting about something besides beauty!  My blog title is no longer nonsensical!  Me being me, of course, this is about food.  Delicious sweet, crunchy, butter-roasted nuts, in fact.  They're easier than falling off a log to make, and even easier than that (though I'm not sure what could be easier than falling off a log, if we're being honest) to eat.  If you don't dilly dally, these take about 20 minutes to make; if you're like me and continually get distracted/feel the need to wash your hands because you can't stand it when they're dirty, it'll take more like half an hour or 40 minutes.  Roughly half of that is waiting for them to cook, though, so it hardly counts--you could even write a blog post about them while you're waiting for them to cook (which may be what I'm doing...).

theBalm Read My Lips lipstick in Wanted Review and Swatches

And we've gotten to the last section of the Balmbini palette: the lips!  First up is Wanted, a sheer red lipstick.

Read My Lips in Wanted on the left

Meow Cosmetics Cat Glow Highlighting Powder Review and Swatches

Before I got the Balmbini palette and experienced the joy of Mary-Lou Manizer, I'd ordered a sample of Meow's Cat Glow highlighting powder to experiment with the whole luminizer concept.  Keeping in mind that my skin is very oily/shiny on its own (I've got a whole series of posts devoted to my quest to end oiliness, under the tag "oil control"), and that my glasses obscure much of my upper cheekbone, where luminizer typically goes, it should be pretty clear that luminizer/highlighter isn't something I should wear on a regular basis.  In spite of this, I have still experimented some with this and hopefully my notes will prove useful to you.

Cat Glow highlighting powder heavily swatched

Meow Cosmetics Blush in A Lick and a Promise (from the Lush Blush Collection) Review and Swatches

Because I can never have too many blush samples (or so one would be led to believe), here's another Meow blush for your consideration.  This is from their Lush Blush collection, which they describe as being their "premium line of mineral blushes, featuring a creamy texture and dewy sheen".  I picked A Lick and a Promise to try, which is described as a "cherry/rose", but the lilac shimmer makes it look quite cool in the swatch.

A Lick and a Promise

Meow Cosmetics Concealers in Sleek Siamese Review and Swatches

Meow has three kinds of concealers: Purrrfect Cover concealer, which is intended for use on the face and which has matte, heavy coverage; Undereye Concealer, which (as the name would suggest) is supposed to minimize dark circles under the eyes; and C3: Color Correcting Concealers, which come in various tints (yellow, lavender, green, blue) and in both allover and undereye formulations, to cancel out color imperfections.  I've tried both the Purrrfect and the Undereye concealers, and I will elucidate my thoughts on them!

UPDATED: mark. I-Mark Custom Pick Eye Shadow Master Post

This is a review for one of my oldest makeup items; I got it sometime junior year, and for a long time it was my only regularly-used eyeshadow.  It's since been replaced for the most part by other shadows, but I wanted to evaluate it and share my thoughts!

mark shadows, left to right: Tiki, Minx, Retro Peacock, Night Owl, in the Mezzo Custom Color Palette

mark. I-Mark Custom Pick Eye Shadow in Royal Peacock Review and Swatches

Finishing off my Mark eyeshadows is the lovely Royal Peacock, a richly pigmented dark teal.  This is truly the standout of the palette, even though it's the one I've used the least.  Read on for why!

Retro Peacock, second from the right

Meow Cosmetics Blush in Elephant (from the Pink Inc Collection) Review and Swatches

Elephant, a pale shimmery warm pink-peach, was a free sample that Meow sent with one of my orders.

image from meowcosmetics.com
I would never have chosen it for myself, since the swatch and description online ("like an orange dreamsicle dipped in cotton candy pink") do not call out to me, but I'm not sad to have gotten it from them.

Neutrogena Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover Review

This is oft-cited as the best drugstore eye makeup remover option (best high-end is Lancome's Bi-Facil), and many moons ago I found myself running low on my Almay Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover Pads (very quick mini review: really loved these, but the value [$5 for 80 pads], while decent, wasn't enough to persuade me from branching out and trying Neutrogena's, since I'd heard so much about it) so got a bottle of the Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover.

Image from neutrogena.com

mark. I-Mark Custom Pick Eye Shadow in Night Owl Review and Swatches

You can file this post under "things I can't have," as this color of I-Mark has been discontinued since I bought it.  I feel I would be remiss not reviewing the entire palette, though, so I shall plow forward with this nonetheless (though in an abbreviated fashion), and perhaps Mark will someday decide to bring it back.

Night Owl, far right