Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Radiant Magenta Review and Swatches

I am not a blush person. I mean, I wear it every day, because otherwise I look like a sickly ghost, but it doesn't excite me like lippies do. Still, every once in awhile, something comes along to catch my eye. The Hourglass Ambient Lights Blush line was one such thing. Upon swatching, I liked Diffused Heat and Radiant Magenta, but decided that the latter was more unique in my stash and picked it up during the Sephora spring sale (since $35 for a blush is, like, a lot).

It is pretty, though.

Quick Review: Hourglass Extreme Sheen High Shine Lip Gloss in Child Review and Swatches

I purchased the Sephora lip favorites before Christmas to give as gifts, but I selfishly kept one for myself: the miniature Hourglass lip gloss in Child, a nude. I wanted to see what it was like formula-wise, and I also hoped it would serve as a good nude lippie.

Currently Coveting: Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders

Just because Meteorites didn't work out for me doesn't mean I've given up hope for finding a natural luminous finishing powder! Hourglass's new ones look (and sound––no talc or parabens!) very intriguing. I look forward to reading reviews and seeing swatches, since I have no real Sephora nearby where I can check them out myself, le sigh. Part of me hopes they're no good, though, because $45 is ouchy-making.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders by beyondjustbeauty on polyvore.com (OMG YOU GUYS, Polyvore is the best)

I'm particularly intrigued by Ethereal, Mood, and Dim Light (available from Sephora, $45/.35 oz). What do you think?

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