A little hometown pride

Even if you ignore sports, you have to know that the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA playoffs and brought home the city's first major sports trophy in 64 years.  Cleveland had partying in the streets on Sunday, more partying when the players came home on Monday, and a parade on Tuesday.

I work in Akron, which is LeBron James's hometown, and we got to wear Cavs gear on Wednesday and today, and tonight Akron is throwing its most famous local boy a party.  I did up my nails and my eyes in honor of the Cavs.

The gold is Color Club Cherubic, the wine is Nabi 3-D Rainbow Effect in Wine and the navy is Darling Diva Queen of the Night

The gold is Milani ShadowEyez in Golden Bronze, the wine is ColourPop Porter and the navy is the darkest shade from Inglot Rainbow shadow #110.

Pür Minerals Starry Eyed palette

purchased by me

I grabbed a few things from Pür Minerals in autumn colors, and I really love this little palette.  It comes with five shadows and a mini Volume Vixen mascara, which I have set aside for a friend.

Zodiac is a pinkish burgundy shimmer

Virtue is a light, warm pink shimmer

Icon is a warm white matte

Mystic is a cool-toned brown shimmer

Eternal is a reddish-brown matte

Two swipes of each color:

I have worn this about a zillion times since I got it.  Okay, not a zillion, but lots.  The shadows are soft and kick up some powder, but the intensity is good and the wear time is almost 8 hours.  On its own it's a good buy, but for $15 + shipping, it's a great buy and you can get it at the Pür Minerals website.

My Ulta haul

purchased by me

I had one day to use a 20% off coupon, so I just grabbed all the prestige products I wanted:

The Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue sample kit, Too Faced Le Grand Chateau, Too Faced La Petite Maison, Butter London Invite Only and IT Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Romantics.

Pretties from pixi!

purchased by me

referral link

I pulled the trigger on my first pixi by petra order, and it's definitely not going to be my last!  If you're interested in ordering and would like to use my referral link, it's here.  Otherwise, please just click on any of the product links below.  First of all, look at the adorable shipping box my order came in:

More pictures and details after the jump!

Nyx Cosmetics Prismatic Eyeshadows

purchased by me

Over the last year or so, I've come to a bigger appreciation for Nyx products, so when they came out with their Prismatic eyeshadows, I bought nine of the twelve.  I love eight of the nine, because they are reasonably priced, smooth, pigmented, soft and long-wearing.  The only failure is Frostbite, which is less because of the shadow itself than that it's just too close to my skin color!

All swatches are one swipe over bare skin.

Left to right: Punk Heart, Blue Jeans, Bedroom Eyes, Girl Talk

Punk Heart is a deep plummy brown.

Blue Jeans is a denim blue.

Bedroom Eyes is a medium brown.

Girl Talk is a pale beige.

Left to right: Frostbite, Smoke & Mirrors, Liquid Gold, Mermaid, Golden Peach.

Frostbite is a very soft white.

Smoke & Mirrors is a dark grey.

Liquid Gold is a medium copper.

Mermaid is a mint green.

Golden Peach is a pink-peach.

If you'd like to indulge in one or a dozen, the Prismatic shadows can be found on the Nyx website for $6.00 each (told you they're reasonably priced!) plus shipping.

November Ipsy bag

purchased by me

This month's Ipsy bag is another slight improvement, but I wish Ipsy would ask what colors I like, because the eye pencil is intriguing but completely the wrong color for me!

My November bag included:

be Delectable from Cake Beauty Lemon & Cream Mini Hand Cream ($5.50)

Temptu S/B Highlighter pink pearl sample

J. Cat Beauty Wonder Lip Paint ($4.99)

clariSEA Sea Salt Solutions Instant Glow Powder Exfoliant sample

Starlooks Gem Eye Pencil Ultra Olive ($17.00)

The hand cream is very nice, moisturizing but non-greasy.  The scent is very sweet with only a tiny pop of lemon.

The facial exfoliant is one I'm excited to try, probably in tonight's shower.

The eye pencil is much too yellow of a green for me, so it will find a new home.

The Temptu sample is meant for an airbrush system, so I have to wonder WTF Ipsy was thinking.

I'm most excited about the Wonder Lip Paint, because it's been all over the beauty blogosphere of late, plus I've been meaning to see if I can rock a red lip!

October Ipsy bag

purchased by me

My October bag, unlike my September bag, had two products that I will use, and sadly, three that just don't do it for me.

I've already reviewed On A Gilt Trip, and my only quibble with this full-size nail polish is that other folks got full sized Cirque Color polishes (a significant price difference).

The sample-size Ayres Patagonia Body Butter is very nice, moisturizing without being greasy and completely scent-free, which makes it a great option for work.

The epicé facial exfoliant is gentle, but the scent is all high-pitched florals and comes across as hairspray to my nose.

The ModelCo mascara is a complete wash, and I was blessed by genetics with long, full, dark lashes, so this went to a co-worker.

The noyah all-natural lipstick sample in Deeply in Mauve was a pretty color and a decent texture, but it smelled like a 1980s drugstore lipstick.  Ugh!  I could not get it off my face fast enough!

The bag itself seems as very cheap and disposable to me.

I'm giving it until the end of the year and if the bags don't improve, I'm canceling my subscription,

First Giveaway prize

purchased by me

Ya'll can thank G at Nouveau Cheap for this prize.  It was her post on how to get this beauty for a great price that made me buy it.  Then I had some buyer's remorse because I have about a zillion palettes that I rarely wear, so it became the first prize!  What is it?  Take a look after the jump!

My first Ipsy bag was a bust. :(

purchased by me

I finally got off the wait list and onto the monthly bag list, just in time to get a bag full of nothing I could use.

The be a bombshell face powder is made is China, and given the multiple cases of contamination of food products we've seen from there, I'm certainly not putting it on my face!

The Cailyn Art Touch Tinted Lip Gloss is slightly sticky, lightly moisturizing and gets points for being made in the US.  However, it loses points for being much too orange for me and for the fact that it doesn't come safety-sealed.

The Briogeo Don't Despair Hair Repair is too heavy for my fine hair.

The Pacifica Waterproof Eye Pencil was such a light brown, I thought it was an eyebrow pencil for a blonde!

I am reluctant to try the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel, both because of my experience with the Revlon Color Stay polish and because of the color.  Piggy Pink is a coral-pink crème, and honestly, if I'm going to be stuck with a polish that long, it's not going to be boring.

What I do love is the bag.  It's a soft gunmetal imitation leather with four little pewter-colored studs.  It seems reasonably well-constructed, and the pyramidal studs give it a bit of a steampunk edge, which I am a complete sucker for.  So, one out of six.  If next month's bag isn't a whole lot better, I'm going to cancel.

Haul post!

I haven't done one of these in a while, and I've been rather piggy lately, so I thought I might as well admit to my greed. :)

From Ninja Polish:

Dandy Nails Cashmere Night, Ninja Polish Will You Be My Valentine?, Ninja Polish Cupid Floam

More good stuff after the jump!

Urban Decay on Hautelook

Palettes and eyeshadow singles and glosses and blushes, oh my!

Ulta Lavender Fields set: Eyeliners, lipglosses, lipstick and blush

These are the rest of my Ulta freebies.

The eyeliners are lovely, very pigmented and long-wearing (about eight hours) but relatively small because they're double ended. The colors are basic colors, but quite useful. From top to bottom, one stroke each of raisin, black, brown and plum.

With flash:



Without flash:



The lipstick looks like a dark purple in the tube, but it's much lighter when worn. It's a bit drying and slightly shimmery, but wore evenly (only lasted about two hours, though).

With flash:



Without flash:



The glosses are scentless and shimmery. They were firm with just a little slip and no tackiness. They weren't particularly moisturizing, but very shiny and they did last about three hours.

With flash:



Without flash:



The blush was a terrible disappointment, shimmery but too pale to show up even on my white skin!

With flash:



Without flash:



Overall, the quality was hit-and-miss, and with the exception of the eyeliners, which I like quite a bit, most of the stuff in the bag was "Well, it was free" in terms of how I felt about it. I probably wouldn't bother to buy enough stuff to get a second bag.

Ulta Lavender Fields set: eyeshadow quads

My free beauty bag from Ulta included two eyeshadow quads, one in warm browns and one in warm purples. These are my first-ever eye shadow swatches, so I apologize in advance for the quality. I promise I'll get better!

The browns, clockwise from upper left, are Espresso, Mystique, Bone and Gold Dust.

Espresso is a cool brown matte, Mystique is a shimmery cool brown, Bone is a very light shimmery peach, and Gold Dust is a shimmery coppery brown.

Dry, top to bottom: Gold Dust, Espresso, Bone and Mystique:



Wet, top to bottom: Gold Dust, Espresso, Bone and Mystique:



The purples, clockwise from upper left, are Charm, Haze, Eggplant and Pashmina.

Charm is a shimmery pale taupe-y purple, Haze is a nearly matte purplish brown, Eggplant is a shimmery deep reddish-brown purple and Pashmina is a shimmery medium purple.

Dry, top to bottom: Haze, Eggplant, Charm and Pashmina:



Wet, top to bottom: Haze, Eggplant, Charm and Pashmina:



None of the shadows were very pigmented dry, and Charm and Bone failed even wet and with a ton of product used. The others were okay, but I can't imagine reaching for either quad on a regular basis.

Ulta Freebies

When Ulta had their free shipping with $25 purchase last week, I decided it was time to grab one of the 13-piece sets free with $17.50 worth of Ulta products. I got the Lavender Fields one, I'm quite impressed at the sheer quantity--this is a pretty fabulous set in terms of value. I'll evaluate the individual products in further posts this week.

The set consists of a mini polish, two full-size eye shadow quads, two mini double-ended eyeliner crayons, a mini blush, a double-ended lipgloss, a full-size lipstick, three brushes and a full-size mascara.