L'Oreal Visible Lift Serum Absolute Advanced Age-Reversing Foundation

I bought this foundation in August, and I've almost used up a bottle, so it's probably time for me to review it (jokes, what is my life).  This foundation has probably the longest name of any foundation I've ever used--Visible Lift Serum Absolute Advanced Age-Reversing Foundation.  The idea is that this foundation has Vitamin C and Retinol in it, so it's supposed to have skincare-esque properties.  I picked up the Classic Ivory shade at CVS for about $14--it's currently $15.79 at drugstore.com.

It comes in a one ounce glass pump bottle with a plastic cap.  My bottle is gross and dirty, but I really like the overall packaging.  The bottle is nice and weighty, and it has a very clean feel to it.

Classic Ivory on me is almost identical to NARS Sheer Glow's Mont Blanc, and it's right between MAC's NW15 and NW20.  It's a perfect color match for me.  This foundation comes in a surprising range of pale shades, although it doesn't have as great of range in the darker shades.  And it doesn't oxidize on me throughout the day!  On the left is a pump of foundation so you can see the texture, on the right I've blended it out across the top of my hand.

Formula: This foundation is a thick liquid or a thin cream, depending on your perspective.  It almost feels a bit whipped.  It blends into my skin very easily, with no streaks, and has a natural finish that skews a bit matte.  I don't usually go for anything remotely matte, but since I have oily skin, the matte aspect of this foundation works really well for me.  I don't think it would be great if you had very dry skin, as I find this emphasizes any dry spots that I have.  It almost may not be very good for extremely oily skin--I think it's perfect for normal or combination skin types.  Also, I've used this for almost a semester, and it hasn't broken me out AT ALL.  I'm pretty paranoid about breakouts, and I was afraid of both the retinol in this foundation and how much coverage it has, but it's actually made my skin a little nicer!

Application: I love that this has a pump! I use two pumps on my entire face, and I apply it with my fingers to really work it into my skin.  I find that it dries down pretty quickly, and then it doesn't budge.

Coverage: I find that this is medium-heavy coverage.  Two pumps on me covers basically everything, but doesn't look heavy or unnatural.

Wear time: I can put this on in the morning (over my Korres primer), run around, go to the gym, get caught in an unexpected rain storm (story of my life) and 15 hours later, it still looks great!  I think this has even better wear time my beloved NARS Sheer Glow.  

Awkward Chic rating: A.  It's great for my skin color and my skin type, lasts forever, and covers all manners of sins.  I wish it was a little cheaper and had a wider range of colors, but I have trouble finding flaws with it.  I will absolutely repurchase.

Review: Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadow

Confession--I bought these like three months ago, and have totally forgotten to review them.  I generally have little faith in drugstore cream eyeshadows, but Tanya Burr (Pixi2woo, she's adorable, please watch her YouTube channel) endorsed these in one of her videos, and they were on sale at CVS, so I picked up two.  I got Bad to the Bronze (25) and Pomegranate Punk (30)--click to enlarge the photos.

Bad to the Bronze is honestly more of a warm, metallic taupe for me than an actual bronze--it's very similar to MUFE's Aqua Cream in 15 (Taupe), which I also own, albeit a slightly warmer and more shimmery taupe.  Pomegranate Punk is such a fantastic color. It's a rusty cranberry metallic with some silvery shimmer shot through it.  It's a little like MAC's Vainglorious eyeshadow and Cranberry eyeshadows had a baby.  I'm one of those strange people who really loves brownish-red eyeshadow, which is admittedly a little strange and hard to pull of at times.  However, I think Pomegranate Punk looks fantastic on the lid and on the lower lashline when anchored with a black line.  It feels a little glam/rock and roll, and can transition nicely from day to night.  Bad to the Bronze is just a pretty neutral that I like to swipe across the lid on days where I don't want to do a lot of work in terms of eyeshadow.  I can just use that and some liner and call it a day, or I can use it as the base of a brown smokey eye.

Application: the shadow feels very firm in the pot, but goes on like butter.  I use my finger to apply, and two or three swipes across the product is enough to cover my entire lid.  I'll blend it out a bit with my finger, and then use a blending brush to smooth out the edges and the crease.  I find that this applies very smoothly, with no patchiness at all, and you have a good minute or two to put everything out before it sets entirely.  The application reminds me of the MUFE Aqua Creams--those have slightly more slip, whereas these are a little more tacky, but it's very similar.

Wear time: I usually put this on around 9AM, and take it off at around 12AM, so I'm wearing it for about 15 hours.  Part of the name of this shadow is 24hr, which implies that it lasts 24 hours.  I don't think it does.  When I get to 15 hours, it's still clearly on my lids, and the color hasn't faded a ton, but it does start to crease and fade just a tad.  I think at 20 hours it would be on its last legs.  I always wear this with primer (MAC's Paint Pot in Painterly), so I can't speak to how it wears without primer.  But who needs to wear eyeshadow for 20 hours?!

Packaging: It comes in a thick glass pot with a black plastic screw-on lid.  The labeling information comes on a sticker, which is a little blah, but I think the swankiness of the glass pot makes up for it.  You get .14oz of product, and in about 3 months I've used up about 1/4 of shadow.  So far they haven't shown any signs of drying out, so I think you could get a lot of use out of these.

Awkward Chic rating: A-.  I wish these lasted a tiny bit longer, but the lasting power is definitely comparable with the much more expensive MUFE Aqua Creams.  The pigmentation and application are great, and these are only $6.99 at drugstore.com.  I think I want to pick up Bold Gold and Tough as Taupe too.

Review: Clinique Black Honey Almost Lipstick

So in my last post I mentioned that I've been dealing with the LSAT and applying to law school and hopefully I'd be done with all of that soon--jokes!  Long/boring story short, I have a stomach condition, it likes to act up randomly to terrorize me, and it was horrible on the day of the LSAT.  As in, I couldn't eat anything and almost threw up on the way to the test horrible.  But I took it anyways, because I had studied literally SO MUCH and I'm crazy stubborn, and basically that was a mistake and I'm taking it again on December 1! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy (all of the sarcasm in the world).

 I thought I'd try to get back to blogging regardless, because I kind of miss it (and because I just finished midterms and now I have nothing to be neurotic about in my free time).  I have so much stuff to review!  Here's one of my new favorite things, Clinique's Black Honey Almost Lipstick.

 The casing is very long and skinny--it almost looks like it's going to be a lip gloss.  It's a simple brushed steel on the bottom and shiny steel on the top.  Not ugly, but very plain.  The lipstick twists up, and you can see immediately that it looks insanely dark.  One of my housemates thought I was putting on black lipstick--side note, my nail polish is not black!  It's a super vibrant and dark purple from Zoya that's called Pinta, and it's just lovely, and my pictures aren't doing it justice.

Back to the lipstick!  It doesn't really have a smell, aside from the faintest hint of that typical 'lipstick smell.'  It's extremely sheer, as you can see in that swatch.  I swatched heavily, probably about 8 times, and that's how sheer it is.  Which is actually a good thing, because it gives your lips the prettiest berry flush without looking like you just drank a gallon of grape juice.  It looks really natural on, with just the smallest hint of vampiness.  The formula feels lovely on your lips, almost like a lip balm, and it has a nice amount of shine.  It terms of lasting power, it's called Almost Lipstick for a reason--the lasting power isn't amazing.  This is basically a lip balm and lipstick hybrid, so I'd say it lasts about two hours on me before I feel the need to reapply.  However, it wears off evenly, leaving behind no stain, and doesn't leave my lips feeling chapped.

So, Clinique's Black Honey--does it live up to the hype?  I say yes!  I bought it because I was feeling super '90s nostalgic, and I've worn it almost every day since, and lipstick SCARES ME.  I'm not an easy sell in that realm.  Plus, it's only $15 at sephora.com, so if you want to dip your toe in the pool of vampy lipsticks, it's a good way to ease into the look without spending a ton of money.  Awkward Chic rating: A.

PS: If you like Pride and Prejudice (aka if you're breathing), you should watch this modern adaptation web series.  It has murdered my productivity.

Rimmel Foundation Failures

I've been on a drugstore foundation buying spree.  I love my NARS Sheer Glow and Revlon Colorstay to death, but I wanted to branch out.  And I am so sorry that I did.  This is going to be a short review, because both these foundations were so bad that I only wore them once.

Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hour Foundation, $7.29 at ulta.com, Rimmel Clean Finish Foundation, $4.99 at ulta.com: I got both of these in Warm Ivory.  I like the packaging.  The squeeze tube on the 25 Hour foundation is easy to use, and the packaging for clean finish feels very fresh.  Both foundations smell straight up like chemicals, big, nasty chemicals.  Clean Finish dried semi-matte on me, whereas 25 Hour was slightly dewier.  25 Hour is full coverage, Clean Finish is medium coverage.  Both foundations went on nicely, blended easily, and seemed promisingly.  AND THEN:

Cue three hours later.  I tried 25 Hour first, went to look in the first, and screamed.  My face was orange.  Dirty, bright orange, dripping with oil, and completely splotchy.  I looked like a practical joke.  Not only that, but I had started to break out.  I wrote 25 Hour off as a fluke, and tried Clean Finish the next day.  The exact same thing happened.  More pimples, more orangey-hued oxidizing, more oil.  

In short, these are horrible.  Do not buy them.  Both oxidized horribly on me, and while I am pale, so it does look conspicuous, they seem to oxidize on darker skin tones as well.  Plus they both broke me out and seemed to break down in the presence of any oil on my face.  

Awkward Chic rating: F.  Stick to Revlon Colorstay if you're looking for a new drugstore foundation, or try one of the new L'Oreal anti-aging ones instead, but run, RUN away from these foundations.


Images via ulta.com, realbeauty.com.

Review: Benefit Watt's Up!

I'm a huge fan of highlighters--they're great for making it look like you have cheekbones.  I've used powder and cream highlighters, ranging from MAC MSFs to highlighter cremes.  However, this newest one is my current favorite.  I picked up Benefit's Watt's Up on my last trip to Sephora, and I've been using it everyday since.

Benefit Watt's Up!  $30 at sephora.com: How cute is that packaging?!  The box has a sweet, retro vibe, and is cute enough to actually keep and not toss out.  The product itself comes in a shiny, metallic lilac plastic tube with the product twisting up on one end and a foam blending sponge on the other.  A string of retro-style outdoor lights run around the tube, adding to the packaging's charm.  Overall, I really like the presentation of Watt's Up.  It's modern with it's clean lines but retro in its styling.  Plus, I like that they include a blender, even if I'll never use it--I hate attached brushes.  How do you wash them?!

Here's a medium heavy swatch out of direct sunlight and then in sunlight.  See how the product barely appears in the shade but then pops once in the light?  That's what you want from a highlight, it just looks like your skin is shining.  Watt's Up is highly pigmented, with one or two swipes on the finger covering everything you need.  It's has a solid cream texture, and feels like butter.  The rosy-champagne hue is extremely flattering, and the very fine shimmer keeps it from looking like you have a disco ball on your face.  It blends easily, layers nicely, and is all around very easy to work with.  I just swipe it across my finger twice, dab it on top of my cheekbones and brow bone, and blend it with my finger, and that's it.

The downsides: I'm not sure this would work on darker skin tones--it could end up looking ashy if over-applied.  The lasting power is also meh--I put it on this morning, went for a vigorous workout, and it was barely hanging on by the time I got home.  Given that it's so pigmented and you get so much product, that doesn't concern me very much, but be aware that this won't last you all day.


Awkward Chic rating: A-.  The packaging and application are great, the hue is gorgeous, but the lasting power is less than exceptional.  However, it's still a good value for the money, and I'll likely repurchase if I ever run out.

Dove Nourishing Oil Care Detangler

I've been itching to try Moroccanoil for a longgggg time.  I know it's so over-hyped, but I have dry hair, and anything that promises to fix that catches my attention.  It's pretty expensive though, and I haven't been able to justify buying it yet.  So when I saw that Dove had come out with a detangler spray with argan oil in it, I had to buy it.  Unfortunately it was harder to find than I expected!  I finally found it at Target, on sale, no less, and had to take it home with me.

The Dove Nourishing Oil Care Detangler is $5.69 at drugstore.com: You get just over 6 oz of product, which is pretty solid.  You can see that the product separates in the bottle, with a lighter fluid on top, and you shake it to apply it.  It sprays on lightly and very evenly, which I really like. 

Smell: I don't love how this smells.  I think it's the sweet almond oil in this, because it smells like marzipan.  I hate marzipan.  Luckily the smell fades, but I cringe a bit when I apply it.


Packaging: Like I said, the application process is very easy because the spritzer works really nicely.  I like the bottle--it's simple, but clean.


How it feels: I really like that this has oil in it, but doesn't feel oily when I apply it.  It really feels like my hair absorbs it right up, no matter how much I spritz on it.

What it actually does: I use this to detangle my hair and to give my dry ends some moisture.  It's really great at detangling.  My hair gets gnarly after I shower, and this prevents me from growing dreadlocks, which is always nice.  In terms of moisture, I've only been using it for a few days, but I can say that it does help give my hair more moisture.  My hair feels softer and healthier when I use this.  However, it's certainly not a miracle product.  The amount of argan oil in this is admittedly pretty small, so my hopes weren't sky high.


Awkward Chic rating: B+.  It's a good detangler and moisturizer that applies easily and is pretty darn affordable.  But the argan oil it totes is pretty far down the ingredients list, and I don't think it's a life-changing product by any means.

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette

I have wanted an Urban Decay Naked palette for SO LONG.  They are so pretty, and have so many sparkly eye shadows, and are such a good value.  I finally caved and bought myself one for my upcoming birthday (hehe).  I picked up Naked 2 instead of the original because Naked had at least two shades I would never use (Creep and Gunmetal skew way too blue for me) and the overall shades were a little warm and a little similar to colors I already owned.  Also, the packaging on Naked 2 is prettier, in my humble opinion.


Anyways, this is the Naked 2 palette, which is $50 at Sephora.  It comes in this plastic tray that holds the palette and the lip gloss.  The palette itself is a warm grey metal, with Naked 2 embossed on the lid.  It opens up to reveal 12 eyeshadows, a good-sized mirror, and a double-ended brush.  I really like the packaging.  It feels modern and sleek, but still luxurious, and very study--I have no worries about this palette breaking at all, and I tend to break things.

Lip Junkie gloss in Naked: The lip gloss is itty-bitty, and has a squeeze applicator.  The color is a pinky-brown with frosty shimmer, and a minty vanilla flavor.  It's a nicely packaged little gloss, but I'm honestly never going to use it.  I don't like sticky glosses, the color is a little blah, and I hate frosty shimmer in my lip glosses.  I wish it had been replaced with a Primer Potion sample instead, although I'm sure the color and the formula of the gloss will really work for some people.

Once you open the palette, you can see that the mirror is actually large enough to apply your eyeshadow with!  So that's exciting (usually those tiny mirrors in eyeshadow palettes are just ridiculous).  You have the 12 shadows, arranged kind of from light to dark, although not consistently, and the Good Karma brush below the shadows.  I really like this brush.  I've been using it with the shadows every day.  It has a flat applicator side and a skinny, but fluffy, blending brush on the other.  The bristles are synthetic (yay), and work really nicely.  It applies shadow neatly and blends it flawlessly.  I'm so glad this brush comes with the palette, because it really does make it travel appropriate.  If you don't need primer, you could just bring that little palette with you and be done with all your eye makeup needs.

From left to right: Blackout, Busted, YDK, Verve, Pistol, Suspect, Snake Bite, Teas, Chopper, Bootycall, Half Baked, Foxy.  I swatched all of these dry--you could get more pigment if you applied them wet, but I found that they all applied very nicely dry and without a lot of effort.  The only issues I had were with Tease and Pistol, which I had trouble getting to show up on my arm, although I haven't had trouble getting them to show up on my eye.

Left to right: Foxy, Half Baked, Bootycall, Chopper, Tease, Snake Bite: Foxy is a matte, creamy bisque.  It's hard to see on the far left there because it's such a light color, but it is very pigmented.  It's similar to MAC's Brule, and makes a nice lid shade or highlighter shade if you don't like sparkle in your highlighters.  Half Baked (also in Naked 1) is a shimmering golden bronze.  It's very metallic and applies like butter.  I don't love that it's in both palettes, because that makes it harder to justify buying Naked 1!  Bootycall is a lightly shimmery nude champagne that also makes a great highlighter or lid shade--it's a pink, shimmery version of Foxy.  Chopper is a shimmery copper with silver microglitter.  It's a very similar shade to MUFE's Aqua Cream #12 (which I also own) with the inclusion of silver shimmer.  I like that mixed metallics idea.  It applies, again, like butter, with a small amount of fallout.  Tease is a medium, warm matte brown that reminds me of a slightly warmer, darker version of MAC's Wedge.  It is slightly less pigmented than other shadows in the palette, not to the point where it's hard to use, but the contrast is pretty noticeable when 10 other shadows are much more pigmented.  Snake Bite is a bronzey-brown with a metallic base.  It looks much prettier in real life than on my arm, and it's actually one of my favorite colors in the palette.  It's just such a flattering, easy to work with color.  I've been using it on my lashline and crease for smokey definition that creates shape but isn't too dark.

Left to right: Blackout, Busted, YDK, Verve, Pistol, Suspect: Blackout is a matte black, plain and simple.  It's not exciting, but it is very nicely pigmented, especially compared to other matte blacks I've tried, like MAC's Carbon.  I like that it's in this palette because it's not something I'd buy on its own, but it's such a good color to own, especially for smokey eyes!  Busted is a shimmering deep brown, slightly darker and cooler than Snake Bite.  I like that this palette gives you two different brown options for contouring and smokey eyes.  YDK is another one of my favorite colors.  It's a cool bronze metallic shade, with a bit of a rose gold feel.  It looks like a million bucks on your lids, and it's just such an interesting color that really pops.  Verve is a brownish grey with a lot of metallic shimmer.  I don't usually go for grey eye shadows, but this one pulls warm on me, which makes it much more flattering and easy to wear.  Pistol is a shimmery, deeper, more grey grey-brown (say that 10 times fast) that was really hard to swatch on my arm.  It's not the kind of color I'll wear all the time, but it is nice to have a solid, neutral grey in the palette.  Lastly, Suspect is a golden beige with a metallic, shimmery finish.  It's another one of my favorites because it's such an interesting neutral that would be flattering on a wide range of skin tones.

In terms of lasting power, I've been wearing these with a primer (MAC's Painterly) in the 80-90 degree humid Boston heat, and getting about 10 hours of wear before I get significant fading and creasing.  Given that this heat and humidity is not normal, I'd say the wear time on these shadows, especially in a cooler climate, is pretty darn good.


Awkward Chic rating: A+!  This is such a good value for the money.  $50 for a mini gloss, a good quality brush, and 12 sizeable shadows is fantastic.  I know I'm going to wear at least 10 of these shades all the time, and this is so convenient for traveling.  I'd definitely buy this for a friend--it's a great buy for a makeup addict or a makeup newbie.

My Perfect Face Routine (Drugstore and High-end!)

I thought I'd do a round-up of all my face makeup--primer, BB cream, and foundation.  These are all products that I use either everyday or very often.  I like them all, none of them irritate my skin or break me out, and I'd buy them all again, so I really recommend them all.  For the record, I'm very pale with warm undertones, with acne-prone combination skin.  Oh, and there's a pretty nail polish at the end.


Primer: Korres Quercetin & Oak Age-reversing Primer, BB Cream: Garnier Fructis BB Cream:
A friend of mine gave me this primer.  It comes in a 1 ounce, flexible tube, smells like grapefruit, and goes on feeling like a light moisturizer.  I use a pea sized amount for my entire face in-between moisturizing and BB cream. It's chockful of anti-oxidants and other things that are supposed to be good for your skin, and it has no silicone!  Yay!  Silicone primers break me out like there's no tomorrow.  I've been using it every day.  I put my foundation on around 10AM, go to the gym, and bop around all day, and I've noticed that this definitely keeps my foundation lasting longer.  It still fades off my blemishes by the end of the day, but in terms of overall lasting power and keeping redness at bay, I get about 3 hours more wear from using this primer.  That makes me very happy!  I think this tube is going to last me a long time, but I think I'd buy myself one when I used it up.  After my primer I use a BB cream.  I know that sounds silly since I also use a foundation, but I've noticed that with a lighter foundation, like Colorstay, the BB cream helps give me just a little extra coverage and a slightly nicer finish.  I grabbed the Garnier Fructis BB cream because, well it was cheap.  I have the light-medium shade.  It's a pretty thick, moisturizer-esque consistency, with a yummy citrus-floral smell and SPF 15!  Yay SPF!  I love it for that reason alone.  Light-medium is definitely dark on me.  I couldn't wear this as my only coverage (both because it's too dark and it's too sheer), but it has a really pretty finish on the skin, and it's going to last me a long time, so I think it's a winner.

Drugstore Foundation: Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Buff Chamois 150, Nars Sheer Glow in Montblanc:
Sheer Glow I've reviewed before, and I still love it.  However, it's still $42 a bottle.  So that's difficult.  I picked up Revlon's Colorstay foundation as a day-to-day alternative to save some money.  Colorstay is about $12 at CVS and comes in a nice range of shades if you're pale, not so nice if you aren't.  It has a pretty, natural finish, layers nicely (I need 2-3 layers for good coverage), applies easily with my fingers, and lasts almost all day.  It's pretty liquidy and has a certain chemical smell, but I have no major qualms with it.  Long story short, Sheer Glow is definitely a nicer foundation, but Colorstay is a pretty good buy.  In terms of shade comparisons, Montblanc is slightly pinker and deeper than Buff Chamois, which is lighter and more neutral-toned.  Either one is a good match if you're NW15-20, but Buff Chamois is actually a better color for me.   Colorstay has a more natural, slightly matte finish than Sheer Glow, which has a very dewy finish.  They're both pretty negligible in terms of SPF.  Sheer Glow is a medium coverage foundation on me, and Colorstay is light-medium.  They both last for the same amount of time on me, and both work equally well with my combination skin (not making me too oily or dry and not breaking me out).  I wouldn't say that Colorstay is a dupe for Sheer Glow, but it's a viable alternative, especially if you want to save some money.

I know the Korres primer and Nars Sheer Glow are on the expensive side.  They are lovely, and if you can swing them, I recommend them.  However, the BB Cream does act as a decent primer and the Colorstay is a nice foundation, so they're good drugstore alternatives if you're like me and on a student budget.

OPI polish in Call Me Gwen-ever: Please excuse the horrible picture.  Call Me Gwen-never is a really lovely, muted orange-coral.  It's an opaque cream, covers in 2 coats, and lasts a full week on me with Poshe topcoat.  I've been wearing it for weeks--it looks equally good on fingers and toes, and I think it would be flattering on a wide range of skin tones and hues.  I got bored and did two stripes of Chanel Graphite with some tape.  Yay attempted nail art!

Images via: sephora.com, amazon.com, drugstore.com.

Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream Eye Shadows

I HAVE INTERNET!  I know that's not exciting for most people, but it's really exciting for me (I'm paying bills, kids!) and now I can blog! (And just using exclamation points, I swear).


So I meant to review these a while ago, but I got distracted with life things.  I actually bought the taupe one in January, and used it almost every day this past semester, and I'm only about a third of the way through!  You can see the little dent I made below.  I have #15 Taupe and #12 Golden Copper, both $23 at sephora.com.  With the MUFE Aqua Creams, you get .21 oz.  That's $109.52/ounce, compared to $118.75/ounce for the Benefit cream shadows, so it's a good deal.  


They come in these little plastic tubs, with screw on black lids.  I like that the tubs are clear, so you can really see the color you're getting, and while I'm usually scared of twist-on lids for cream products, because I think they tend to dry out, I've had that taupe one for months and it's still going strong.  The packaging doesn't feel super luxurious, but it's sturdy and clean, which I like. 

As for the colors, you can see in the swatch that the taupe on the left is warm taupe with a slight metallic sheen, and the copper is a very warm, golden copper with a strong metallic finish.  I love the formula.  It does a have chemical smell that isn't so pleasant, but it doesn't linger on the skin.  In the tub, it feels firm, but when you run your finger across the shadow, it comes off on your finger like butter.  It is so intensely pigmented that I can just dab it two or three times and cover my entire lid.  I can really see one of these lasting a year with constant use.  You do have to blend them pretty quickly, as they set and then do NOT budge, but I don't have trouble blending them.

The lasting power is phenomenal.  I can go to the gym and run around all day, and it's still going strong 10 hours later, with little to no creasing (I do use a MAC Paint Pot as primer).  What I really love about these is that I can throw one on my lid, blend it with a crease color, throw in a little highlight, and be done for the day.  It's simple, but it can still be really high impact.  I've honestly stopped using powder shadows on my lids because I just love the wet-look finish you get from cream shadows.  Usually that comes with short staying power, but not in this case!


These Aqua Creams come in a wide range of fun colors, from the more neutral to the very dramatic.  I'm looking at picking up the pretty Warm Beige next.  


Awkward Chic rating: A+.  I am so sold on these.  I have next to no criticisms of them (the smell?  Eh), and the price is right.

Review: Anastasia See and Be Seen Kit

Guys, I am all of the busy.  I have finals for the next 2-3 weeks :(  But on the other hand, I have a pretty beauty kit to review for you guys!


So the kit comes in this cute little box, packed with tissue paper, and four products inside it.  The four products in the kit are the Brow Gel in Caramel, two Hydrafull Lip Glosses in Heiress and Plastic, and an Illumin8 Eyeshadow Duo in On Set.  It's coming out early this summer, and I don't know how much it's retailing for, but you get $86 worth of product (everything in it is full size! Yay!) and I assume it'll retail for less than that.

So from the left we have the Heiress lip gloss, then the lip gloss in Plastic, then the brow gel, then the shadow duo.  The shadow duo has a shimmery champagne shadow and a coppery gold shadow, and comes in a metal-looking plastic case that's extremely reflective (which acts as a mirror on the inside).  The duo comes with a little shadow applicator too, which is nice as far as these kinds of applicators go, but not something I'd ever use.  I'd prefer a mini-eyeliner, but that's just me.

The lip gloss has a very interesting applicator--it's like a flat plastic paddle.  I have mixed feelings.  On the one hand, I see how it could be useful in not using too much product.  On the other hand, I have a really hard time applying the lip gloss with it.  I have to be right in front of a mirror watching it or there's uneven lip gloss everywhere.  Here are the swatches: from the top, the shadow duo, the brow gel, Plastic lip gloss, and Heiress lip gloss.

 Okay!  The products:


Eyeshadow: I really love this.  The packaging is decent, it looks very polished but doesn't feel that luxurious given that it's plastic.  But the eye shadows are lovely!  They are soft, go on like butter and very opaquely, have great lasting power, no fallout and are easy to blend.  Both colors have a fine shimmer that really brightens the eye.  I really, really like them!  The champagne makes a nice inner-eye highlight color, and the copper-gold is a very pretty lid color that reminds me of MAC's Amber Lights a bit.  It does pull a bit orange on me, and makes me look a little ill without being anchored by some black liner, but it's lovely against green or blue eyes.  It's just bright enough to pop without being so bright that it looks garish or unflattering.  The shadows have a Youthful Synergy Complex that claims to hydrate and firm the skin, which sounds lovely, but I'd have to use it for a few weeks straight to see if it works or not.


Lip gloss: Heiress is a medium coral-pink and Plastic is a straight-up Barbie pink.  In terms of opacity, both of these glosses are very opaque--surprisingly so, really.  They smell lightly like vanilla, but don't have a discernible taste.  The formula is glossy, and has a nice, moisturizing feel on the lips without being heavy or greasy feeling.  The lasting power is really impressive--my gloss lasted through dinner and then some, which is pretty good for me.  My two qualms would be that it's a little on the sticky side, and that I don't like the applicator.  Given that the gloss is so opaque, I can't casually apply it on the go because the applicator is a bit unwieldy for me, and I get really uneven application without a mirror.  However, I really like the color of Heiress--applied thinly, it amps up my natural lip color nicely, and applied thickly, it's dramatic and lovely.  Plastic just doesn't work for my skin tone, but it's a cute color.  Apparently the gloss is packed full of moisturizing plant extracts that will make your lips look better, but I can't speak for that yet.  The tubes themselves are above average quality, but you don't get that much product for $21 a pop--but given how pigmented they are, they probably last a while.

Brow gel: I really like the packaging on this.  It's cute, but not too cutesy.  The applicator is a spooly-brush (similar to a mascara brush) which makes it easy to comb through my brows.  It goes on nicely, and looks very natural on my brows, adding a bit of color and a nice amount of hold, which definitely lasts all day.   The isn't the color I would choose for myself, but Caramel is a medium golden brown with a hint of golden shimmer (which I didn't notice on my brows at all).  I could see this being a really nice product if you have naturally shaped brows that don't need much filling in but maybe need a little control.  My brows are lighter than my hair and full of scars and such, so I need a bit more of a heavy-duty product to fill them in, but I like the idea of this for a natural look.  It also claims to plump hair follicles with botanical extracts, but I have thick brows already, so I can't judge that either.  It retails individually for about $21.

Awkward Chic rating: Would I buy this?  Probably not, just because the brow gel and one of the lip glosses don't work for my coloring.  But would I buy the Heiress gloss and the shadow duo separately?  Yes!  Especially the shadow duo.  I'd buy other Anastasia shadow duos in fact.

Disclaimer: this product was provided to me for review, but all my opinions are my own, and I am not paid to review products.

Review: Fresh Sugar Rosé Tinted Lip Balm

I feel like I've started every post this semester with something along the lines of, "I promise, I didn't die."


Well, I promise I didn't die.  So much busy, so little sleep, so little free times (all of which are being spent watching The West Wing, which I am now hopelessly obsessed with.  Someone make me a White House Press Secretary, okay?).  Anyways, I've bought some stuff over the last month that I'm going to try to review, starting with this lip balm.


I really, really wanted to hate this product.  I know that sounds weird.  But I've seen so much about these floating around the Internet, mostly positive, some negative, but all pointing towards me loving it.  Do I want to love a sheer, $22 lip balm?  No.  Not at all.  $22 for lip balm is kind of obscene.  Did I end up loving it in spite of that?  Sadly, yes.


I'm talking about the Fresh Sugar lip balms.  They are all $22.50 at sephora.com, come in a wide range of colors with SPF 15, and are basically the best thing since slice bread and Nutella.  So the colors are Original (clear), Coral, Rosé (berry rose), Honey (nude), Passion (crimson red), and Plum (berry plum).  I would have picked up Coral, but it came out just about a week after I originally bought Rosé, which is what's pictured below.  It's not really worth swatching, because the picture is pretty true to life and it swatches pretty sheer.

Here's the rundown:


Packaging: Oh, the most excellent of packaging.  First off, it comes in a pretty, printed little box that was almost too lovely to throw away.  The actual tube itself is metal, and has a really nice, luxurious weight to it.  You twist off the cap, and then twist up the base to push up the lip balm.  I love this packaging.  It looks gorgeous, it feels expensive (haha, well, it is), and it's functional--I never loose the lid in my purse and risk damaging the lip balm.


Formula: Oh goodness.  It goes on like butter.  It really does feel like a balm, in that it actually goes beyond the surface of my lips to deal with dryness, and doesn't just sit on top of them.  My lips are noticeably less chapped when I use this on a daily basis.  Furthermore, the lasting power of this balm is impressive.  I can still feel it on my lips more than 2 hours later, which is more than I can say for most lip products.  The SPF is a really pleasant bonus here.  Plus, it tastes like lemon cookies!  The taste/smell doesn't linger, but it's yummy.


Color: Sephora describes this as a berry rose, which I'd say is pretty accurate.  On me it goes on as a sheer pink-red that amps up the color of my lips just enough to be noticeable but not so much that I can't apply this without a mirror.  I am a huge fan of sheer lip colors that still pack a color punch, and am dying to try the Coral and Nude versions of this.


Awkward Chic rating: A reluctant A.  It's overpriced, and I'm probably going to go through a tube of this in a few months, but I LOVE IT.  I use it all the time.  It's upsettingly fabulous.  I will probably spend an obscene amount of money on these.


Image via sephora.com.

Review: NARS Sheer Glow in Mont Blanc

Blogger fail.  100% fail.  Someone come and take all my midterms and go to all my meetings for me, okay?  Blargh.

Well, on a less fail-tastic note, I have a foundation review for y'all!  Before I get to the review, let me give you some background on my skin and foundation routine.

My skin is combination, meaning that it's dry on the cheeks but oily on the t-zone.  I have the occasional breakout, redness, and acne scarring that I want covered up.  I used to use MAC's Face & Body foundation, which is a water-based, very sheer foundation.  I really like how it sits on my skin and doesn't break me out, but Face & Body comes in a limited shade range (and was always too dark for me), and since it's so sheer, I have to use a LOT of product to get the coverage I want.  On top of that, it oxidizes throughout the day and doesn't have the best lasting power.  So I wanted a foundation that would match my NW-15/20 skin, not break me out, last through the whole day, and cover all my blemishes.  I also like a dewy finish, and not a very matte finish, because I feel like it makes me skin look fresher and more radiant.

I decided to pick up NARS Sheer Glow because I'd seen it in action on Pixi2Woo's YouTube channel (look her up, she is fab), and it looked so natural but had such nice coverage.  So I ran to Sephora with my Christmas money, did some arm swatches, and picked up a bottle of Siberia.  The Nars Sheer Glow foundations are named after locations--so Siberia is snow-white.  Which made me cry a little instead about how pale that I am.  Siberia is the lightest Nars shade with both pink and yellow undertones. 

Well, Siberia worked on my face in the store, but when I tried it in my bathroom the next morning, it was "Hello there, Casper!"  I looked dead.  So I ran back to Sephora and exchanged Siberia for Mont Blanc, which Sephora calls "fair with slight pink undertones."  Mont Blanc is a much better match for my NW-15/20 skin, but I love that NARS has a good amount of options for us crazy-fair people.

Here's the 1 oz. bottle, and a swatch on my hand--it's blended out a little to the left.

And here's a less than adorable picture of me so that y'all can see what it looks like on my skin.

Let's break it down.

Application: I uncap it (sadly there's no included pump, but you can buy one from NARS), put my finger on the opening of the bottle, and flip it over so that I get a little product on my finger.  Then I rub it into my skin with my fingers in a circular motion.  I really like how this applies with my fingers, but I've never been a foundation brush kind of gal.  I use about one finger dab on each cheek and one on my forehead, and then I go back for more if I need more coverage.  Then I put on concealer and set it with powder.

Formula/lasting power: Sheer Glow is a relatively thick liquid foundation, but I find that it goes on easily and blends nicely without looking heavy or cakey.  What I find really interesting about this foundation is that it's called Sheer Glow, and there is a Sheer Matte version, so this one is supposed to be dewy.  But when I put it on, it somehow manages to cut down on the oiliness on my t-zone while making the drier parts of my face look dewier and more radiant.  It certainly doesn't make me look oilier, which was what I expected from a 'glow' foundation.  The one problem I have with the formula is that it emphasizes any dry flakes that I have, and makes them look much worse.  So if you have really dry since, it's not for you.  In terms of lasting power, I can actually get from 9AM to midnight or later with only minimal touch-ups and no oxidation.  It really hangs on!  It definitely fades faster on the oilier parts of my face, but even that is barely noticeable.

Coverage: My skin has gotten better, but I do have occasional breakouts, redness, and scarring, so I want at least a medium coverage foundation.  This is called Sheer Glow, but I find even with one layer I get medium coverage.  With two thin layers I get almost flawless looking skin that doesn't look too heavy, which is lovely.

Color: I am very pale, with lots of pink undertones to my skin.  Mont Blanc is a perfect match in terms of how pink my skin is, but it is the tiniest bit dark for me.  Given that Siberia is way too light, Mont Blanc works fine, but I do have to be careful with blending at my hairline.  I think that if you're a MAC NW-15/20, Mont Blanc would be a great match for you.

Packaging: I love the heavy glass bottle.  It feels very luxurious.  The packaging is standard NARS, with the pretty black lid that collects fingerprints and dust like no other.  I also don't love that this has no pump--much less hygienic.

Awkward Chic rating: A.  I don't love that it has no pump and that it's $42 for a 1 oz. bottle.  But I think I can get 4-6 months out of each bottle, so it's expensive, but doable.  In terms of the physical foundation, I love it.  The shade range is great, and it works so well for combination skin, has lovely coverage, and a really natural-looking finish.  I'm calling this Holy Grail for me (as of right now.  Don't hold me to that).

In other news, Anastasia Beverly Hills sent me these adorable brow guides.  They're breakdowns of how to get different brow styles, as seen on some of your favorite past and present Hollywood Starlets, and product suggestions.  Personally, I love that Bombshell Brow.