Fyrinnae Velvet Vampire Look

Remember the other day when I said that Fyrinnae's Velvet Vampire was a must have? I meant it. It is one of the greatest eyeshadows I've ever seen. It's a burgundy based duochrome; if it were a nail polish I'd call it a glass fleck. It has little pearls of iridescent crystal-like shimmer that shift colors and sparkle even in really low light. I did this look with it the other day and I couldn't get over how amazing Velvet Vampire looked. I wore Kat Von D Lightning Sheer Lipgloss in Stormy (smoky red shimmer) with it, but my pictures of that didn't turn out. My lip pictures never turn out... But anyway, I took a bunch of pictures of the eyeshadow. Gah, I love it so much.

Natural light:




Flash:


This was:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Fyrinnae Velvet Vampire applied wet on lid
The black half of the Hourglass Prism duo in crease and lower lashline
MAC Reflects Blackened Red glitter on top of the black in the crease
Fyrinnae Cheeky to highlight
Black liquid liner (I don't remember which one I used)
Cover Girl Lash Blast

I know I didn't capture the full beauty of this color, but you can at least get an idea of how it looks. It shifts colors when you blink! It's so sparkly and sexy and vampy, it really does look like velvet. I couldn't have picked a more perfect name for this color myself.

On a sidenote, Cheeky is my new favorite highlight color. I'm going to have to order a full size soon. It's close to the color I would normally use on my browbone, but it's special 'cause it has a hint of red shimmer to it. Subtle, but really special. Makes a nice neutral lid color, too.

OPI Black Shatter over Color Club Jackie OH!

Another layering combination with OPI Black Shatter that I really liked.


OPI Black Shatter over Color Club Jackie OH!. I love the combination of the neon with the black on top, it makes the neon look so much brighter. This reminds me of lava. If you have a neon pink or orange, you have to try this, it looks so cool in real life. I've noticed that my Black Shatter always crackles into vertical stripes... that's odd. I want some more random square chunks to happen when it crackles... The kind that make it look like a giraffe pattern... How do I get it to do that?

OPI Black Shatter over Nicole My Lifesaver

The full manicure picture of this didn't turn out, but I wanted to post this cause I liked the combination so much:

OPI Black Shatter over Nicole My Lifesaver. Washed out (and my skin looks weirdly red) because of the flash, but this is really more about the Shatter than the base color. Look how perfectly it crackled! I love this stuff so much. It's so much better than the old crackle polishes. It crackles so quickly and doesn't take an hour to remove.

I also think it's quite funny that I'm wearing a Katy Perry nail polish over a Justin Bieber nail polish. Two musicians that I know next to nothing about and would rather eat my mother-in-law's turkey lasagna than listen to even one their songs.... Yet here they are on my nails, their colors joined together in perfect harmony and greatly admired by me.

But, yeah, I really love this combination. Nice contrast between light base color and black crackle effect.

Fusion Beauty Limited Edition Objects of Desire Lip Infatuation Set

I've mentioned before how much I adore LipFusion, so I thought I'd review this set I bought a while back. I'm really skeptical about most product claims (like lip plumping or lash growth) yet I still feel compelled to try things that claim to enhance your _____ (fill in the blank: lips, skin, lashes, hair...). LipFusion is one of the few things that actually does what it says it does. It's not dramatic, it doesn't compare to plastic surgery, but I actually see and feel a difference and that's what matters to me and why I continue to buy it. Anyway, when I saw this new InFATuation formula from LipFusion I really wanted to try it. I covered it briefly in this review, but this set deserves its own post.

It comes in one of the prettiest boxes I've ever seen:

With flash and without. It has a black front with silver sides and the text is embossed in silver metallic. I know it's just a cardboard box, but it's just TOO PRETTY. Check out the detail on the side of the box:

I like pretty packaging. It's obvious that a lot of thought went into this packaging design; it really embodies the 'Objects of Desire' title on the box. It looks enticing and luxurious. Really, if you saw this on a shelf in a store, wouldn't you want to pick it up and take a closer look at it?


It comes with mini tubes in four shades of LipFusion InFATuation:

First Crush, Screen Siren, Angelic and Lollipop.

Left to right:
First Crush, a light chocolate brown nude creme
Screen Siren, a bright red creme
Angelic, a pink based warm nude shimmer
Lollipop, a hot pink/fuchsia shimmer

As you can probably tell by the swatches, they're extremely opaque. It's definitely a full coverage gloss. They're so pigmented, they're almost on par with OCC Lip Tars. You will only need a tiny bit to cover your lips- what's on the wand will be more than enough for complete opacity and coverage. It's rare to find a gloss with this much pigmentation, it's almost like a lipstick, but it's smooth, liquid and glossy.

The scent is the same as normal LipFusion; a slight menthol-tinged sweet citrus scent. They taste sweet also. That's a bonus for me! Sweet and not really minty tasting.

The texture is thick, smooth and only just barely sticky. It's one of the least sticky glosses I've used, but it's not entirely slick. It has a really great texture, in my opinion. It feels thick and protective but not too heavy. It lasts a very long time on the lips as well, you can easily go several hours without having to touch up and the darker shades leave a nice stain after they've worn away.

As for the plumping, I'm still undecided on it. It doesn't give me that slightly numb, fat lip feeling that regular LipFusion does. Instead, it has a cold tingle much like Bare Escentuals Buxom Lips. I don't notice much of a plumping effect, but if it's anything like the regular one, it will take a couple weeks of use before I see the full effect. And, since I'm currently still using regular LipFusion, I'm not sure if I'd be able to tell anyway! But, whether or not it provides a much plumping as the other formula, it's still a good gloss.

The only downside for me is that I can't wear the two nude shades. Since they're so opaque, they completely erase my lips. The shades are too brownish and foundation-like for my skintone. I'm fair and with pretty pigmented lips, so it's no surprise that I can't pull off these colors. Nudes and pale shades rarely, if ever, work on me. The two in this kit would look great on someone with a really dark skintone or possible someone even fairer than me where the colors would create contrast instead of just blending in.

The other two shades, Screen Siren and Lollipop, are great. The colors work with my skin and they're nice and bright. They are very. very. very. colorful. No joke. Super opaque bright color. Extremely bold.

I'm going to continue using these and see if I notice any lip enhancement from them, but so far I can't really tell! It's supposed to increase body fat where you apply it. That sounds... bizarre. Here's the info on the InFATuation formula from Sephora.com:

LipFusion Infatuation
What it is:
A shining, liquid, multi-action lip fattener.

What it is formulated to do:
Discover the first liquid lip color with extraordinary Amplifat™ technology to increase and maintain body fat just where you need it most!

What it is formulated WITHOUT:
- Parabens

What else you need to know:
This groundbreaking plumper boosts natural lip fat without surgery or injections. It does not contain irritants or silicone.

-AmpliFat™ Concentrate (Perennial Sea Fern Derivative): Works with the skin's triggers to increase two key, naturally occurring proteins (ADFP and FABP5) that induce diffusion and storage of fatty acids.
-Lip Vantage: Creates instant and sustained plumping effects using dual-encapsulated plumping technology; promotes cellular renewal for a more youthful-looking pout.
-Peptides: Enhance collagen synthesis for naturally lush, youthful, healthy lips.
-Dehydrated Marine Collagen Filling Spheres: Penetrate skin's surface on contact, then seek out body's natural water, and rehydrate to instantly plump and smooth lips.

All shades contain:
Polybutane, Hydrogenated Polydecene, Hydrogenated Styrene/Isoprene Copolymer, Octyldodecanol, Methyl Diisopropyl Propionamide, Ethyl Methane Carboximide, Menthyl Lactate, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Tribehenin, Sorbitan Isostearate , Lauryl Laurate, Zea Mais (Corn) Starch, Hydrolyzed Corn Starch, Hydrolyzed Corn Starch Octenylsuccinate, Silica Dimethyl Silylate, Butylene Glycol, Gamma Aminobutyric Acid, Sodium Chonodroitin Sulfate, Atelocollagen, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Dictyopteris Membraneacea Extract, Flavor (aroma), Phenoxyethanol, Glyceryl Behenate/Eicosadioate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Methol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl, Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Sodium Saccharin, Tocopherol, Limonene, Linalool, Citral.


So... if I put it on my boobs, will it store more fat there and make them bigger?! Actually, no, I don't think I want that, but think of the possibilities! O_O

I got mine from Sephora for $29, which is reasonable because one full size (0.19 oz) is $29 and there are four .09oz glosses in this set. I like being able to try a variety of colors in smaller sizes more than buying full sizes.

But I'm curious, am I the only one who uses this stuff? I want to hear your experience with it, if you've ever used it.

Peace and Love Nail Kit from TJ Maxx!

Back in December, while I was out Christmas shopping, I stumbled across this little set at TJ Maxx:

Yeah... it looks pretty dorky. That's why I initially didn't grab it off the shelf. But then the light hit it just right and I noticed something sparkly inside...


Oooooh! A light purple toned holo glitter!

There's a few really nice colors in the set, and it was only $7, so not a bad deal.


All of the best colors are in the top row. A sheer green/gold/red duochrome that's the most amazing thing ever, a fine silver glitter, a sheer glass fleck blue/purple/grey duochrome sparkle and a black/silver sparkly color.


The bottom row has a sorta ugly warm brown shimmer, a purple holo glitter, a hot pink shimmer and a purple shimmer. There's also some purple press-on nails, purple toe separators with peace signs and some little stick on nail gems.

Man, look at these, they're so hot:


It's a little hard to tell in this picture, but it's a bit like OPI Fireflies. It's very sheer and it looks white, but at one angle it's a crazy strong green and gold and at another angle it's red and orange. I can't get over this. I love it SO MUCH.

Here's the periwinkle-slate-lavender-purple-grey whatever duochrome shimmer. Again, hard to tell how sparkly and pretty it is in the picture, but it's gorgeous in real life.

Plus, they're made in China and smell like crazy awesome chemicals, hooray!

I love stumbling across random unexpected inexpensive gems like this.

Press Release for Orly Precious Collection Spring 2011

Interesting... Is that a blue/purple duochrome for spring? A possible duplicate of SpaRitual Health, Wealth and Happiness? Guess I'll have to wait and see. I apologize if you've seen this already, but the two greens and a duochrome grabbed my attention.

ORLY Spring 2011 Collection

Luxurious, Sophisticated Hues to Covet

For centuries, people around the globe have been enamored with lush fabrics, rare stones and extravagant finishes. ORLY celebrates the refined glamour of porcelain, the vibrant sheen of silk, and the lush sparkle of priceless gems with Precious. Lend a sense of romance and richness to every spring ensemble by sporting lavish shades on fingertips and toes. The six lacquers in the Precious Collection signal a fresh approach to spring fashion and a renewed appreciation for the exotic workmanship, ornamental engravings, and sumptuous fabrics known to accompany the luxe life.

The six Lacquers in the Precious Collection include:

Pure Porcelain: Beige Crème

Gilded Coral: Coral Gold Shimmer

Fancy Fuchsia: Pink Crème

Ancient Jade: Green Crème

Sapphire Silk: Deep Teal Crème

Royal Velvet: Purple Blue Shimmer

All ORLY Nail Lacquers including the Precious Collection are free of DBP, Toluene and all traces of Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde Resin.

The Precious Collection Lacquers will be available starting March 2011 for $7.50 each. ORLY Nail Lacquers and Treatment products are available at orlybeauty.com, Sally Beauty, Ulta and other purveyors of beauty throughout the U.S. and in over 70 countries worldwide.

Too Faced Cheap Thrills Kit

I saw this in the sale section on Sephora.com a couple months ago and I had to get it. It has a whole bunch of stuff I wanted to try and it was only $20, which is a pretty good deal for all this stuff.

Look at all this full sized stuff you get for $20! A full sized Lash Injection Pinpoint Mascara, Mirror Mirror gloss, Chocolate Galaxy Glam Shadows in Amber Asteroid and Magenta Moon plus mini Pink Leopard bronzer and lipstick in Free Love.

Here are the Chocolate Galaxy Glam shadows in Amber Asteriod (left) and Magenta Moon (right). I keep wanting to type Andy Asteroids. Whooaaaa nelly!

Here's where my first disappointment is: Look at my pathetic Magenta Moon! Barely any pink veining at all. What's the point? :(

The Lash Injection Pinpoint brush. In case you can't tell the scale from this picture, let me describe it: TINY. It's super super tiny. It's designed to define every single lash, but it doesn't add any volume. For me it's essentially worthless as I don't want definition, I want volume.


The mini Pink Leopard bronzer. Look how pretty that is. I love it. It's a little bit on the shimmery side when used as bronzer, but I just really love looking at it. The mini size makes it even cuter. Not the least bit disappointed with this, I adore it.

The Lip of Luxury lipstick (shade: Free Love). The color looks nice enough in the tube, but on the lips it's a frosty nightmare. It's unwearable. And the smell, oh good gravy, the smell is horrible. Super perfumed but not a nice perfume, a bad old lipstick perfume. This doesn't resemble the Too Faced Lip of Luxury formula with its subtle sweet perfume scent. It doesn't seem like a Too Faced product at all, actually. I have a full sized Lip of Luxury in Cupcake and it's nothing like this.



Here are the items swatched: Andy Amber Asteroid, Magenta Moon, Pink Leopard, Free Love. Aw, those Galazy Glam shadows look so pathetic. I love my Moon Beam shadow so much, I can't believe these aren't as good. They're not pigmented enough and there's barely any duochrome. Not like Moon Beam at all. The bronzer is a little too shimmery, and the lipstick doesn't look too bad swatched on my arm but it's awful on my lips.

I didn't swatch the gloss because it's clear. The Mirror Mirror formula is actually really nice. I have a set of the minis from a few years ago and I really enjoy them. The shade included in this kit is I Know You Want Me. It's clear and it's heavily scented with apple. The Mirror Mirror glosses are all essentially clear (some with slight tints but very sheer) and super strongly scented. They're some of the shiniest gloss I've ever used. Very thick and very glossy. Really nice for a clear gloss.

If I didn't use my Sephora money on this (you know, that $20 they sent all the Beauty Insiders a while back?) I would return it. I don't think I'll ever use those Galaxy Glam shadows, the lipstick is awful, and the mascara isn't right for my needs. I like the Leopard bronzer and the gloss, but I already have a mini size of that gloss so it was basically $20 for me to get a mini Pink Leopard bronzer.

This makes me sad. I normally love Too Faced! I'm devoted to their Shadow Insurance eye primer, their Sun Bunny bronzer is quite possibly the best bronzer ever made and I've recently fallen in love with their Enchanted Glamourland palette. Seeing that sad, nearly non-existent veining on my Magenta Moon was so disappointing. I wonder if I could do an exchange? I'd much rather have one of the Naked/Natural/Smoky/Romantic palettes.

MAC Bad Fairy Nail Polish

I never got a chance to review this while it was still relevant. It sold out before it was even released! I ordered online and by the time the collection was fully added to the website, it was long gone. I hate that about MAC. There's such a rush for the limited edition items that they're usually sold out before we can order them :(

Nevertheless, it's still gorgeous so it's worth posting:

MAC Bad Fairy nail lacquer (Venomous Villains collection)

It has a sparkly glass-fleck finish (think Orly Cosmic FX) and it reflects coral, gold, burgundy magenta and a little bit of green. It's not a match anything I have in my collection; it's a little similar in theme to OPI The Show Must Go On but definitely not a duplicate.

Tarte MultiplEYE Lash Enhancing Mascara

Along with Revlon Grow Luscious, I have fallen for another mascara that claims to increase lash growth: Tarte MultiplEYE. It's more than twice the price of the Revlon so I'm only using a sample of it, but so far the mascara formula is impressive.

This was one of the samples I was most looking forward to from that Sephora deluxe sample set, but of course, they didn't include it in mine, waaah :( My mom, who ordered days after I ordered, got all the correct samples in her set, so she gave me her MultiplEYE sample. Thanks, mom :)

Here are all the lofty claims it makes on Sephora.com:

MultiplEYE™ Clinically-Proven Natural Lash Enhancing Mascara
What it is:
A one-of-a-kind mascara that is clinically proven to immediately increase the appearance of lash volume by 638%, while also increasing the appearance of lash length with regular use.

What it does:
Fortify lashes by naturally increasing the appearance of lash volume by 638%, while also increasing the appearance of lash length and growth. Using a unique blend of high-performance natural™ botanical nutrients, tarte has engineered a nourishing onyx-black mascara base infused with their proprietary HydroPlant™ peptide (a soy-amino super protein) to help stimulate lashes for a 638% increase in the appearance of lash volume and increased appearance of length, growth, and strength. For even more volumized and lengthened lashes, use with multiplEYE™ clinically proven natural lash enhancing primer for an incredible 1102% increase in the appearance of lash volume! The towering spiral brush separates and envelops each lash in the nutrient-rich formula to help promote the appearance of sky-high lashes.

What it is formulated WITHOUT:
- Parabens
- Sulfates
- Synthetic Fragrance
- Synthetic Dye
- Petro-Chemicals
- Phthalates
- GMOs
- Triclosan

What else you need to know:
To achieve maximum results use as a part of the multiplEYE™ 3-step regimen for naturally enhanced lashes without the prescription or the harmful side effects. This product is free from gluten, animal testing, formaldehyde donors, oil, talc, MEA/ DEA/ TEA.

Size: 0.31 oz

638%!! How can I resist a claim like that? It really does look nice, though:



That's the mascara by itself, no lash primer or Magic Lash or anything. I told you it was nice.

The eyeshadow is:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
MAC Pink Bronze pigment wet on lid
MAC Heritage Rouge pigment in crease and on lower lashline

I re-did the look the next day and added more eyeliner:

Everything is the same as before, except this time I used MAC Smoke Signals pigment wet as liner. A little less mascara, too. The sample was drying out already... It's only been used four times. Guess I'm pushing it a little.

I think I might have to splurge on a full sized tube. It looks great. Takes more coats than my favorite Lash Blast or Grow Luscious mascara, but the end result is so nice. The promises of lash growth might also be clouding my judgment... $24 mascara... Normally I'd be like, hell no! But... lash growth! 638% increase in appearance of volume!

638%. What a random number. But it's even better than that 500% effective voodoo curse removing spell that I keep getting ads for at the top of my email...

New items from Pixi Beauty for 2011

These items showed up on my doorstep the other day to announce the re-launch of the Pixi Beauty website. I had almost forgotten about Pixi! I used to love to look at Pixi when it was at Sephora- it may have been the picture of the hot Swedish chicks they had- the blonde, brunette and redhead sisters? In fact, I think that picture is still up here... And Target has carried Pixi for the past few years, too, now that I'm thinking about it... Anyway, their new website is here and they're currently running a 20% off sale with code TWENTYOFF.

Here's what I got to review:

Succulent Lip Twin in Nude Lily, Lumi Lux Radiance Powder and Endless Silky Eye Pen in Black Blue.

Look how pretty the pencil is!

It's a very deep blue black shade. It says eye pen but it's definitely a pencil. It has an extremely silky, smooth, soft texture and it's very smudge-able. I tried to swatch it alone, but the tip snapped off; I think getting frozen in the negative temperature weather messed with it a little.

Succulent Lip Twin in Nude Lily. It took me a minute to figure out what this was. The tip looked like a spongy applicator and I accidentally scratched it because I didn't realize it was a solid lip/cheek stain. The clear cap opens the stain end, but the entire green cap unscrews to open the balm. The stain has a very balmy texture and it applies much lighter than it appears. The balm has a very loose, melty texture and applies about the same shade as in the tube. It's a little too nude/foundationy/warm for my skin tone. The scent is really strong and rosy, it reminds me of old Avon lipstick samples.

Lumi Lux Radiance Powder. This is so pretty! It looks really dark in the pan- almost like bronzer and blush together, but it applies really sheer. It's a perfect highlighter-brightener shade and it really warms up my face without looking obvious or blush-like. It's not very shimmery on the skin, either, which is a major plus for me.


Here I am wearing the Black Blue Endless Silky Eye Pen smudged on my lashline and on my waterline. Very sultry. See how subtle the blue tone is? Really brings out my brown eyes. I'm also wearing the Revlon Lilac Shimmer eyeshadow that came with my Grow Luscious mascara (which I'm also wearing), and let me describe it in three short words: MASSIVE GLITTER FALLOUT. But the liner is nice. Really nice. I'd buy it again if I had the choice.


I like the liner and the Radiance powder the best. I like how subtle, brightening and non-shimmery the powder is and I love the smooth formula and blueness of the liner. The balm/stain duo was just okay- it was the wrong color for me, a little too perfumey and not as moisturizing as I'd hoped it would be with a name like Succulent Lip Twin. Cute packaging on all the items. I'm curious about the rest of their line now. They have nail polish and perfume that I might have to check out!

(These were sent to me for review.)