Le Métier de Beauté True Color Eye Shadows in Naked and Tamarack

Disclaimer:  I purchased these.

I took advantage of one of Le Métier de Beauté's (LMdB) bundle offers on their Vault back in November.   Included were the True Colour eyeshadows in Naked and Tamarack, two of their matte shadows.

Naked is a pale cream shade that is hard to tell in my arm swatch as it blends into my skin tone perfectly.  What's worth noting is that it is not chalky or powdery at all, which I find important for such a light shade.  Tamarack is a warm medium brown that applies smoothly and again is not chalky or powdery when applied.  Important components for matte shadows :-)

Basic shades that we've all probably got more than one of, and at $30 a pop, on the expensive side.  I do find myself reaching for these generously sized shadows fairly often, which is an indication of their quality.  While they are lovely on their own, LMdB is all about layering products, so it's fortunate that I've also got the Dualistic eye pencil in Tamarack from the November VIP subscription box.  

Layering the powder Tamarack over the pencil Tamarack gives a really nice brown smoky eye.  The Dualistic pencil is a water-based gel pencil that is easy to smudge out and really does make a nice base for powder shadows.  My biggest issue is getting it smooth enough over my lids, but the final result looks nice.  The colors are perfect for my blue eyes, as the bronze tones contrast and enhance blue.

Tamarack shadow layered over Tamarack pencil

I've become quite the fan of Le Métier de Beauté's products, and even signed up for their Summer Kaleidoscope program where you receive one kaleidoscope (eye, face, or lip) per month as part of a limited edition seasonal collection.  Really looking to seeing what I get!

Empties! Products I Used Up in March and April

Time for another look at the products I used up in March and April.  I'll be highlighting a few of my favorites, including a new holy grail product!

• derme e Hydrating Mist with Hyaluronic Acid (full size):  I liked this a lot! Featuring hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, and green tea in the ingredient list, it's got a nice formula that gets the job done, plus it's 100% vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free, sulfate-free, mineral oil-free, lanolin-free, gluten free, GMO-free.  
• John Frieda Luxurious Volume Fine to Full Blow-Out Spray (deluxe sample):  Good stuff, and I think it did add volume to my hair when I blew it out.  
• Urban Decay b6 Vitamin-Infused Complexion Spray:  Loved how fine the mist was, and the formula worked well with my skin.   The price is a bit prohibitive ($33 for 4 oz.), so I'd go with the derma-e over this one.
• Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's Colder and Colder:  A seasonal LE perfume oil that I didn't really care for, so I used it in my fragrance burner to scent the house.

• Neutrogena Rapid Tone Repair moisturizer with SPF 30 (full size):  Holy Grail item alert!  I hate sunscreens, hate them.  This one I love, so that's saying something.  Plus, it helps to correct skin by lightening dark spots.  I won this in a giveaway from Karen at the Makeup and Beauty Blog around Christmas time, and I've been using it every day since.  I will be getting another, and at $21 it's a reasonably priced staple item for me.

•  St. Tropez One Night Only Instant Glow Body Lotion (deluxe sample):  This is my go to product for color on my legs in the summer.  It's not a self tanner so doesn't have that obnoxious odor, but does give me moisture and transfer resistant color for the door.  You can see my full review here, and I've already invested in a full sized tube for the summer.
• Ole Henriksen Truth Serum Collagen Booster (deluxe samples):  I'm quite fond of this serum, and would invest in a full sized version if I didn't have a few other brands I'm testing.  Good stuff.

 

• DHC Pore Cleansing Oil (full size):  I'm a fan of DHC cleansing oils over all other brands, with the original Deep Cleansing Oil (review here) having achieved holy grail status.  I decided to give the Pore Cleansing Oil a whirl to see how it compared.  It's a thicker oil composed of coconut, argan, evening primrose, olive, grape seed, jojoba, avocado, sesame and rice bran oils. It is supposed to reduce your pore size, which is an appealing thought.  It does cleanse well and was an overall good performer, but I'm still liking the Deep Cleansing Oil better.  There is also the price factor, as this one is more expensive at $31 for 5 oz. vs. $28 for the larger 6.7 oz. Deep Cleansing Oil

Now on to the foils:

• Jergens Shea Butter:  This was sample from a magazine, and I remember it being a nice lotion.
• DHC Salicylic Acne Wash:  My skin does well with Salicylic Acid and I like using this cleanser with my Clarisonic.
• First Aid Beauty Face Cleanser:  Another really good and gently facial cleanser.  I've got a more extensive review of it here.
• Clinique Stay Matte Foundation in Neutral:  A good foundation for my oily skin, although I find the Pore Minimizer foundation from Clinique a bit more to my taste.
• Clinique Super Primer:  I don't remember much about this one, so it must not have impressed me much.
• Skin Food Agave Cactus Cream:  this was a nice gel texture, I liked it. 
• DHC Nuance Hair Wax:  One of the fun things about having short hair has been using hair waxes and creams.  This one was pretty heavy duty and had good hold.  
• DHC Pore Face Wash:  Part of the Pore Minimizing line from DHC.  I'd need more to really form an impression.
• DHC Head Oil:  This is a pre-wash hair clarifier that removes product buildup.  I really like it and always get samples whenever I place a DHC order.  My full review is here.
• Benefit the Porefessional:  I'm the perfect test market for this product, but it doesn't really wow me. 

It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Vol. 1 Matte Eyeshadow Palette

 Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

I've bought eyeshadow palettes that are languishing unloved and unused in palette purgatory (hello, more than one of my Urban Decay palettes), but Naturally Pretty by It Cosmetics is not one of them.  Containing 14 matte shadows and one transforming pearl shadow, this baby is getting lots of use.

First of all, I'm not sure I'd classify all the shadows as strictly matte.  Some veer more into satin territory, which is fine with me.  What is consistent across the board is how nice these are:  soft, smooth, good pigmentation, easy to use, and good performance.  Factor in a talc free formula that includes peptides, hydrolyzed collagen, acai, green tea, silk and antioxidants to enhance your lids, and I'm a smitten kitten!

Sun

Included in this palette are:

1. Sheer Joy - light cream-pink
2. Soft Light - light taupe
3. Warmth - nude
4. Soulful - pink-taupe
5. Mocha - warm taupe-brown
6. Violet - soft violet 
7. Midnight - deep blue
8. Noir - gray-black
9. Love - soft light pink
10. Sunrise - gold-taupe
11. Sunset - copper
12. All Heart - mauve
13. Java - warm brown
14. Iconic - gray-purple
15. Transforming Pearl - translucent pearl

Shade

The Transforming Pearl is designed to be used over any of the other shades to turn them into a pearl finish.  I mainly use it as an inner eye highlighter, but here are some swatches to show you the difference over the matte shadows.

 

The colors really work well together, and I find myself reaching for Sheer Joy as a browbone color and Warmth, Soulful, and Mocha as all over lid colors on a regular basis.  Totally worth the $42 I paid for it at Ulta!

Taffy and Miami Beach Silk Lipsticks by MAKE

Taffy

Disclaimer:  GWP and a purchase.

I received Taffy as a GWP from Barney's, and based on the name I was expecting a warm leaning neutral of some sort.  Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find a soft, medium toned pink that looked extremely wearable! 

Taffy

I've also got another Silk Lipstick from MAKE called Miami Beach that I purchased.  It's a lovely peachy coral that rings true to the moniker "Miami Beach", which is known for it's retro coral splashes of color in the architecture.  Miami Beach the lipstick even has a light frosty touch to it, which would have made it right at home in south Florida in the 1980's.  I should know, as I lived there then.  Interesting area, and I'll leave it at that:-)

Great colors, not so great formula.  Wah wah.  I wanted to love these, I really did.  But they are so dang unforgiving on the lip and emphasize any little imperfection, as well as adding a few of their own. 

Miami Beach

I made a point to exfoliate and prime my lips prior to applying, but this is a good as I could get it.  It's almost as if the formula adds a few nubbies of its own:

Taffy

Miami Beach

It's not horrid or anything and from a distance looks fine, but for a $25 lipstick - I'm just not impressed.  Fortunately, there are several other great items in the MAKE catalog that I'll be showing  you soon.  For me, the Silk lipsticks are not one of them, however.

Miami Beach

Rainy Days and April Birchbox

 Disclaimer:  I subscribe to Birchbox for $10/month.

Rainy Days was the theme of April's Birchbox and considering all the rain we got in the last few days, quite appropriate.  I don't think any of us were expecting what came our way, as the amount of water received is more than we usually get during hurricanes:

A rare and extreme weather pattern has produced obscene and devastating amounts of rainfall from Mobile, Alabama to Pensacola, Florida.  Up to 2 feet of rain fell in the last 24 hours in isolated locations in this region. (Source:  Washingtonpost.com)

Airport Blvd. in Mobile, AL (Source: nola.com)

St. Francis Street in downtown Mobile

I'm grateful we didn't get the tornadoes that others received, but this was pretty ridiculous.  People in Pensacola had to be rescued from their attics and rooftops, the water rose so quickly! 

Okay, back to what I received from Birchbox in April.  My favorite item so far is the Clarifying Shampoo from Number 4.  It's quite thick and you only have to use a small amount, plus I love the scent.  Sample value is $3.76.

I've received a few hair items from Number 4 now, and I've got to say they are solid.  I also received a foil packet of the Reconstructing Mask, but have yet to try it.

I also received a nail polish from Color Club in a pretty pale gold metallic shade called Gold Struck.  It's part of a 4 piece mini set inspired by the retro lacquers of the 70s and 80s, complete with a luxe pearl finish.  Sample value is $3.25.

The makeup item this month was a black eye pencil from Cynthia Rowley.  The quality appears to be quite good, as the swatch I did was an intense black that did not smudge.  I don't need another black eye pencil, but these do come in other colors so it's nice to know the quality is there.  Sample value is $8.

Representing skincare is a night time moisturizer from Derma e.   This contains Panthenol (aka Pro Vitamin B5) and hyaluronic acid to work together to draw moisture to the top layer of skin and bind it there, along with Vitamins E and C to repair damage and vitamin A to stimulate the production of collagen.  Sounds great, and the sample is a nice size so I should get a good feel for it once it enters my rotation.  Sample value is $7.38.

Last up was a food item, which was promptly eaten for breakfast as soon as I finished taking these pictures :-)  Sample value is $2.38.

Nice variety of products and the total value of my April Birchbox was about $25.  Not bad, and I'm glad the sun has finally come out!

March Eco Emi: Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

I'm a bit behind on posting my Eco Emi subscription boxes, but didn't want to skip March as I'm really loving one of the enclosed items.  In fact, I'm going to focus mainly on it, with just pictures of the other items.

When I first saw this plastic pouch of shea butter from the Canadian company Karitex, I was like "hmm".  I decided I'd transfer it to a container, but in the meantime clipped a corner in order to test it out.  Squeezing the butter from the packet has proven such an easy way to use it that I'm no longer going to transfer to a container.

Even better, I really like it!  I know we've all probably used shea butter before, but I can't say I've really thought much about where it came from or how it's produced.  This is organic, raw shea butter harvested from  premium quality Shea nuts from Burkina Faso and is free from pesticides and chemical fertilizers.  It's ethically produced, reasonable priced $10, and perfect for moisturizing skin year round.  I primarily use it on my legs as it's quite emollient does have the signature shea butter scent. Great stuff!

Dawn Lip Gloss by Purely You

Hydrating Lip Therapy & Cuticle Treatment

Quick post, but we've had almost 2 feet of rain in the last 2 days so I'm playing cleanup and catchup!