Circle lens reviews and photos

I wear contact lenses daily to correct my vision, but plain contacts are boring.  Life's short.  I need to extract every last ounce of fun from it that I can.  And you know what's fun?  Purple eyes. So, sometimes I wear circle lenses in different colors instead of my regular clear contacts. May as well do a few quick reviews of some of the ones I've been wearing lately!

EOS Ice Violet

(before and after)

These are my current favorite lenses. They have a thin limbal ring and a wide center so they look much more natural and realistically iris-like compared to other colored contacts. They have a great enlarging effect without looking too alien, and the color is subtle but noticeably violet. They're also really comfortable and don't seem to get as dry as my usual (Acuvue Oasys) contacts.  I also have these in brown.  I purchased these from honeycolor.com.

Dolly+ Red

These are my second favorite pair. They have a very pronounced limbal ring and a bright, opaque red iris. The center is also nice and wide which helps to give them a more natural look as it doesn't remove as much of the depth of the eye. They're also nice and comfortable and give me no problems when I wear them.  I've gotten so many compliments on these!  I purchased this pair from honeycolor.com as well.

Vassen Latte Pink

These are a mixture of different shades of brown and pink arranged in a swirl pattern.  They're super pretty, view the closeup for a better look! They enlarge the iris quite a bit and are noticeable but not bright. They're not as comfortable as some of my other lenses. They feel thicker than most I've worn and they dry out faster. I still really love them. I purchased these from pinkyparadise.com.

Vassen Cloud Nine Violet

I love purple and these are really purple.  This photo was taken with flash, but in natural sunlight they look lighter and more lavender, but still very obviously purple. They have a nice wide space around the pupil, which is what I prefer, but they're not at all natural looking.  The iris is opaque, the color is vibrant, the limbal ring is thick and patterned.  The EOS Ice Violet are more for subtle but believable violet eyes, and these are for super fun POW! violet eyes.  These, sadly, aren't very comfortable for me so I don't wear them very often.  I purchased these from Pinky Paradise as well.

EOS Pop C Dark Green

I wanted to try green contacts and these were on sale at Pinky Paradise.  Green eyes and purple hair sounded like a great combination to me. I like the color of these. They're a bright grass green surrounded by a very, very thick black limbal ring so that all the green is right around the pupil. I'm not really a fan of how defined the center ring is because it gives me that odd robot eye look.  I have a few pairs of EOS lenses that are very comfortable, but these aren't. 

Love Pink

These are just called Love Pink (purchased from honeycolor.com) so I'm not sure what the brand is.  I don't have the jars they came in anymore, either.  Anyway, these are really subtle but SO CUTE. Not much in the way of enlargement, though they do have a soft black limbal ring. The iris is clear, but it has three groups of three pink hearts around it. I mean, really. How much cuter can it get? They don't look like you're wearing colored contacts, it looks just like your natural eye until you look at them up close, then you see the hearts. They seem comfortable on my eyes, but I haven't worn them enough to really get a feel for them.

Zombie White Screen Halloween Lens

These were just for fun. I got them in my prescription (from honeycolor), but there's not really a point because I can barely see out of them anyway. There is still visibility, but since the pupil is covered in a white mesh, it's like a thick fog looking through them. I wish they were larger because they don't quiiiiiite cover all of my naturally dark brown iris and that becomes noticeable when I look from side to side. I think I should have gone with the full white screen for that sort of cloudy, ghostly look.  Oh well.  Next time!  They're comfortable aside from the blurred vision.

By the way, my eyeshadow is Bare Minerals 5-in-1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow in Barely Nude, Bare Minerals Ready shadow in Fuze (also used on my brows), eyeliner is Maybelline gel liner, and lashes are Red Cherry 747L.

(post contains an affiliate link)

bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 8.0 The Cocktail Hour Limited Edition Palette Swatches and Review

I've been resisting these ever since they came out, but after walking past the display at Ulta one last time and feeling how soft and rich the shadows felt, I finally caved and ordered one. There are currently two bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 8.0 palettes, a warm (The Playlist) and the one I have, The Cocktail Hour, which is cool toned.


The palette comes in a shiny metallic red box with gold foil accents. It's quite striking. The front flap unfolds so you can remove the palette from its cardboard pocket. The back of the box has a full ingredient listing and has the names and colors of the shades in the palette.


The palette itself is a shiny, mirrored gold. It hinges open to reveal a full-size mirror, a mini double-ended eyeshadow brush and eight penny-sized shadows.

Bare Escentuals bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 8.0 The Cocktail Hour
Top row: Black Tie Optional, Icebreaker, Swanky, Spiked
Bottom row: Elixir, Invite Only, Libation, Shaken Not Stirred


Black Tie Optional, Icebreaker, Swanky, Spiked
(No primer, natural light)


Elixir, Invite Only, Libation, Shaken Not Stirred
(No primer, natural light)

What I liked:

• The shadows have an amazing texture. They're soft, smooth, creamy, silky, basically what every shadow should feel like.
• The shades are versatile.
• The payoff was great on almost every color.
• Some of the colors have a really fine microglitter type sparkle that actually sticks to the eye and looks really delicate and pretty.
  
• The packaging is beautiful.
• The little brush they included is actually useful- not too scratchy or limp.
  
• Much less messy and a lot more convenient than the little jars of loose shadow Bare Escentuals / Bare Minerals is known for.
• Better color payoff and easier blending than the loose shadows.

What I didn't like:

• The colors are pretty bland. They can look a little muddy and I don't feel like they all compliment each other.
• Most of the shades are super frosty.
• Most of the shades apply a different color than they look in the palette.
• The lavender shade fades really quickly.
  
• The mirror-like palette is a magnet for fingerprints and scratches.
• The sparkles in Shaken Not Stirred don't show up on the eye.
• $40 is a lot for this. Yeah, the shadows feel amazing, but they're small (net weight of the palette is 8g / 0.28 oz). For comparison, the Urban Decay Naked Palette has a net weight of 14.4 g / 0.6 oz (twelve shadows), a mini primer and a full sized brush for only $48.
  

Overall, the quality is there but I'm not wild about the colors. I should have gotten The Playlist, but I changed my mind at the last minute because I thought it would be too warm for me. The shades in The Cocktail Hour are all really good as staple/everyday shades (especially the taupe), but I wish there was something in here that didn't look so muted/muddy, just to liven things up a bit. I'd definitely buy another READY palette if the colors were more interesting, the texture of the shadows is awesome. My only real complaints are that the colors are dull and that $40 is too much for such little product.

I got mine from beauty.com, but Bare Escentuals and Sephora also have the READY 8.0 palettes. They're both limited edition.

Eye of a couple days ago- with taupe!

This one turned out surprisingly nice for such a plain look. I wore MAC Tunnel of Love Superglass with it.

This was Sunday... you can see how much worse my brows have gotten in only two days!

I used:
MAC Paint Pot in Painterly
Fyrinnae Species 8472 on lid (applied wet with MAC Water Based Mixing Medium)
Fyrinnae Equality dabbed on center of lid
Bare Escentuals Creme de Menthe in crease and on lower lashline
Fyrinnae Nijiro to highlight
Urban Decay Zero 24/7 tightline and waterline
MAC Blacktrack Fluidline
Urban Decay Lash Primer
Cover Girl Lash Blast

I've been using a lot of Fyrinnae lately. I decided to try them again after trying them a few years ago and not having much luck. I'm trying to incorporate one new (to me) Fyrinnae color into my look every day. I still can't get every color to work for me/apply perfectly but I'm really enjoying a lot of them. Species 8472 is a subtle taupe with a lot of little sparkles that don't really show up, so I put some Equality on top to satisfy my sparkle craving. Bare Escentuals Creme de Menthe has green sparkles on a warm brown base, but I still needed more. Creme de Menthe reminds me a little of MAC Club.

I like taupe. I feel like I'm always wearing taupe and grey, purple and grey and green and yellow combinations. Which is cool, because I think those colors suit me well, but maybe I need more variety. I need to do a blue look or a pink look this week or something. Mix it up a little. Hm.

Eye of the Day with DuWop Payoff

Lately I've been making an effort to take a picture of my makeup every day... Now I have a ton of eyeball pictures to post! I think with all this practice I'm starting to get the hang of taking makeup pictures.
Thought I'd post today's since I'm using the DuWop Payoff I just got and the memory is still fresh in my mind.



Took a million pictures of this one to try to show the neat red sparkle in Bare Escentuals Cherry Coco Truffle!

This is:
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Fyrinnae Half Elf Hottie on lid (mixed with DuWop Payoff and applied wet)
Bare Escentuals Cherry Coco Truffle in crease and lower lashline (mixed with DuWop Payoff and applied wet)
Fyrinnae Finnegan's Wake as highlight
MAC Blacktrack Fluidline
Urban Decay 24/7 in Zero
Cover Girl Lash Blast

So... this Payoff stuff. I used it yesterday with liner and today with my shadow. I like it but I'm not seeing much of a difference between it and MAC Water Based Mixing Medium. Well, I do see one big difference- the price! DuWop Payoff is $17 for .25 oz and MAC is $18 for 1.7 oz. I haven't compared ingredients yet as my MAC bottle seems to be lacking an ingredients label... but for that price maybe they should change the name to DuWop Ripoff... Kidding, kidding. It's not bad at all, just overpriced- you get nearly 2 ounces of the MAC for only $1 more... A bit more economical, don't you think?

That Bare Escentuals shadow has a really pretty pink-red sparkle to it that I tried to capture. I find that the red sparkle doesn't show up unless I apply this wet, and I hate applying crease colors wet for lots of reasons... But luckily this shade is easier to blend after applying wet than most I've tried.

I think it even brings out the color of my eyes a little... Sometimes I wonder, "what color?" as my eyes seem mostly black to me.... But this seems to compliment dark eyes and even pull out a few warm reddish golden tones that I don't usually see. Yay!

Also tried out the sample of Stila One Step Makeup that came in my Sephora order yesterday... I think I like it! It's smooth and not very heavy and has a nice silicone texture like primer. I'll have to see if it makes me break out. I haven't been wearing foundation lately. This shade might be too dark for me though.

One more note- Shiseido eyelash curler is amazing. I'm never going back to Shu. I'll post about that later.
I'll have to remember to keep posting these, I did a really pretty taupe look on Sunday that I liked and I want to show you!