Sephora Must-Have: Benefit Confessions of a Concealaholic

I didn't want the first post showing up on my blog to be a negative and angry one, so I thought I'd post about a product that I've been loving lately. Since a Sephora just opened in my area, I'm going to start doing a series of posts called Sephora Must-Haves, showcasing great finds and good deals. I am really spoiled with indie makeup, where I mostly buy only $1 samples, and that's fine, because I have so many colors I have only to this day finished off two samples. I'm also a big believer in drugstore products, so If I am going to shell out extra cash from my paycheck to go to Sephora every two weeks, the stuff I'm paying for better be well worth it. I have been dying to try out Benefit products for quite a while, so naturally I gravitated toward their Confessions of a Concealaholic set, which has 5 different products in it. Blogger is pissing me off and won't stop rotating that photo no matter what I do. The set comes with a tube of That Gal brightening face primer, Erase Paste concealer in medium, 2 shades of Boi-ing concealer, Eye Bright, and Lemon-Aid. It also comes with a little booklet on how to use each product. I like using this stuff without any eyeshadow or anything, because it gives me that "no makeup" look. I often go out without makeup, but my problem is I have many sleep issues, as well as dark under-eye circles from genetics, so I look very tired all the time. This REALLY makes my face look better and more awake. Here's a before picture, me with no makeup on except some Bare Escentuals Buxom Gloss (I wanted the tingly feeling, haha) Try not to hide! Here is the after picture! Purely my opinion, but I think I look 10x more awake while still looking natural. Here are some more before and after pictures. Chin: Before Chin: After Eye: Before Eye: After Forehead: Before Forehead: After The only product I find really mediocre is the That Gal primer, and at $28 I don't ever see myself buying a full size of it. I do like the Erase Paste, but a full size of that would be $26, which I also think is too expensive. I like the Boi-ing concealers, and at $18, I might buy the lighter shade when I run out from this set. I am head over heels in love with Lemon-Aid and Eye Bright, and at $20 each for a full size they would be worth it to me for the difference I feel they make in my face. These are the superstars of the set, the things that REALLY change my appearance from tired to awake. Besides the primer, I like all the products, and it's really nice and convenient to have them all in a set like this, so I can do a super quick 5 minute makeup routine if I just want to run to the store or something. I love that I got to try all these out without spending a shit ton of money on the full sizes. Since I bought this I have used all of it every single day (except the That Gal primer). It was $36, and to me is very worth it. If you have dull, super tired looking eyes and skin like I do, you will absolutely love this. It was a great introduction to Benefit and I definitely want to try out more of their products now. Does anyone else have this set, or the full sizes of any of it's components? What do you think? ETA: Ok, I seriously just now noticed how bright and pretty my skin looks in the second picture... I am dumb, That Gal is awesome.

High Voltage Cosmetics Review

Let me just start off by saying I couldn't remember if I got free samples with this or not. Obviously, that's info I want to include, so I hunted around in my disgusting room which I SWEAR I will actually clean this weekend (yeah right) to find the invoice. I couldn't find it, so I even searched through my nasty trash, just because I love you guys so much. Well, I had an email invoice too. Obviously. Gross. And I just looked at their website, which says right on the front page that all orders get samples... geez. *_* The High Voltage Cosmetics website was super easy for me to order from. All the different categories are listed on the left sidebar, so it's really clean and simple. I ordered 11 eyeshadow samples, and one full size blush. I really like how the eyeshadows are listed so that you can click on them and add a sample size to your cart. I've been getting really sick of having to type out all the samples that I want when I order from someplace. They also have a page (under "sample lot") where you can order 20 eyeshadows for $14.50. It has 20 spaces, each with a drop down menu of all the colors in alphabetical order so you don't have to keep typing everything out. I like it! Samples were $1, and the blush was only $4 for the full size. A matte eyeshadow is $5.25 for a full size, and a shimmer in full size is only $3.50! These prices are great, they remind me of Evil Shades because you get so much product for such a low price. So, right off the bat, High Voltage was really appealing. They also have lip stuff, solid perfumes, a mineral eyeliner, some brow powders, a shimmer dust, an eyeshadow base, and a black creame shadow. Next time I order I'd like to try some of the lip products and the shimmer dust, and review the eyeshadow base. Swatches! With the macro setting on since I learned about it:P From left to right: Tree Hugger, Iron Butterfly, Ziggy Stardust, Totally Rad, Cocktail Party, Frostbite Do you love the goosebumps I have in all my swatch picture? Oh gosh, don't look at my gross room:P The greens all have this sort of sheer quality to them, I would recommend using them over a white base. Cocktail Party and Frostbite aren't as similar as they look in the pictures. Frostbite is for sure one of the best blues I have! More swatches. From left to right: Feel the Heat, Pink Heels, Just a Girl (free sample), Cupid's Arrow, Alter-Ego (free sample), High Voltage, Secrets & Lies You can barely see Feel the Heat, because it's a pale skin toned matte. I've been using it as a highlighter almost every day. If you only order one thing, order a full size of High Voltage! I didn't like the website picture that much, but figured it must be a good one since it's their namesake. I want to get a full size now, it's such a unique blue- somewhat metallic. You really can't tell until you swatch it! Pink Heels also surprised me. It looks like a peachy pink in the bag, but on my skin it was a bright neonish pink/coral. Very cool. I LOVE the blush I got, Hookin' Up. Supposedly it's a NARS Super Orgasm dupe, but I wouldn't know as I'm never going to pay $25 for a blush. Except I really want the Bobbi Brown shimmer brick in Nectar! It's $45 effing dollars, but isn't it gorgeous? Sorry for the mini ramble! The pictures are not as good as I would have liked, I couldn't capture it perfectly. The swatch of Pink Heels in the fourth photo is pretty close to what it looks like. It has pretty golden shimmer in it. The first swatch is using an eyeshadow brush, and the second is blended a little bit with a blush brush. I love it, but honestly I haven't yet tried a blush I didn't like... I always get peachy pink colors that are pretty similar, no matter where from. Here is a quick look I did today using High Voltage. I think I look really goofy in them, I just couldn't get a good one! I'm wearing Alto-Ego in the inner lid, Ziggy Stardust in the middle, and Secrets & Lies on the outer lid, as well as the Hookin' Up blush. Feel The Heat is my highlighter. I used NYX jumbo eye pencil in Milk as a base for the shadows. So, as you can tell, High Voltage cosmetics has really impressed me! I'd love to try more samples not just in my typical color range, as well as the lippies, shimmer dust, and the eyeshadow base. I totally recommend this company, they have gorgeous, unique colors that are totally not repackaged. Go! Order now! :D EDIT: I just now took this stuff off after wearing for 12 hours. True I had on UDPP, but this has stayed like no other brand I've tried before. These shadows will not budge. The color was still as vibrant as when I put them on, seriously! No creasing, fading, anything. Color me very impressed.

Evil Shades mini review

I got my order from Evil Shades yesterday! I did the create your own mini kit, with 3 eyeshadows and one gloss. I ordered shadows in Nymphette, Heartless Queen, and Suffocation, and gloss in Lethal Kiss. The gloss is a pinky nude color, which makes my lips look really nice. Also, it smells freaking awesome. Here are some swatches (these all have a slight to medium shimmer, you can't really tell with my swatches): From left to right: Nymphette, Suffocation, Heartless Queen, Lethal Kiss Here are the shadows in their pots, in backwards order. Heartless Queen may be my favorite color of all time... it is red with kind of a pinky shine, so so so pretty. I can't wait to try looks with all these colors. There was a big thank you written right on the envelope, it made me happy. :) I didn't get an invoice, but did get a free felt tip liner in eggplant! The website pictures are extremely accurate to what the colors actually looked like to me, so I feel confident if I order more, I know what I will be getting. And I do plan on ordering more very shortly- I think I'm going to do another mini set! I might also add, these are the first full sizes I have ever ordered from any company, and I'm glad they're so awesome!

Sassy Minerals Review/EOTD

I am so glad that the companies I have been ordering from lately have been impressing me so much. Sassy Minerals is no exception. I LOVE these eyeshadows, I'm going to order about 12 more samples. The envelope arrived with an invoice and a handwritten thank you. The envelope also said it was from Sassy Minerals, instead of from "Someone's Name", so I knew which package it was before I opened it. got the package just a few days after I ordered it, I think it was 3 days. Here's some crappy swatches (the lighting here has been so bad, I apologize). I did them slightly blurred so you can see the shimmer better- these are PACKED with it. The top swatch is as is, the bottom swatch was applied on top of Detrivore Primer. From left to right: Break the Silence, Glass House, Cynical, Lyrical, Ruby Slippers From left to right: Gasoline Rainbow, Flash of Brilliance, Starstruck (free sample included with order), Breaking the Rules, Endless Party, Risk Taker I took some picture of the colors in their jars as well, these pictures look very accurate to me. From left to right: Break the Silence, Glass House, Cynical, Lyrical, Ruby Slippers Yeah, I may have spilled Lyrical all over myself the other day, hence the tiny amount in the jar... From left to right: Gasoline Rainbow, Flash of Brilliance, Starstruck (free sample included with order), Breaking the Rules, Endless Party, Risk Taker These samples have a good amount in them, and come in jars, which is a great price for only 75 cents a sample. They are so shimmery and gorgeous, and very pigmented. My only problem with this company is their website pictures. All the eyeshadows look like barely pigmented, almost pastel, typical shades. In reality they are anything but. I don't know why the website has such lame pictures when the product itself is so amazing... you really have to read the color descriptions, don't even bother to look at the pictures. Here is my EOTD with Sassy Minerals. Cynical, inner lid Breaking the Rules, rest of lid Glass House, browbone (is that what that's called?) Starstruck, eyeliner And here is the totally rad shirt I was wearing, available from Deadworry.

Hi-Fi Cosmetics Review

Ok ok, I'm finally getting this done! This is going to be yet another rave review. Hi-Fi is now one of the companies that is the reason I love ordering indie makeup online. Beautiful colors, free samples, great customer service. Let's start! This was the cute little sticker that came on the packaging. Pretty and original! Attached to a very detailed 2 page invoice was this page, full of links. There was also a cute little business card that I have already managed to lose in the black hole that is my room. I ordered a set of 10 samples, which all came in this penguin bag! Sooooo cute. I also received 2 free samples, "Chicago" and "Beautiful". This must be someplace where they try to coordinate your free samples with the types of colors you order, because I almost ordered both of these colors. Here are my swatches. The lighting in my house is killin' me, but I think these are pretty accurate. From left to right: Tell Me Lies, Paranoid, Spike the Punch, Pixies, Alone From left to right: Beautiful, Raindrops on Roses, Millions of Peaches, Alive, Chicago, Lithium The only complaint I have is that Lithium was not fully blended- I couldn't get a good picture of it in the package, but there are white and dark blue flecks all over the top half of the bag. When I apply it the color seems even, though. I was VERY happy with Hi-Fi Cosmetics. The colors are so beautiful, I've been wearing them nearly every day since I got them. The samples are in baggies, and have a good amount of pigment in them. The packaging was adorable and I was impressed with the specific invoice, link page, and business cards. This is a company I will definitely be ordering from in the future, and I'd suggest you all try them out too.;]

Fyrinnae Review!

I'm so excited for my first review! I ordered from Fyrinnae Cosmetics, and I'm going to tell you right now this is a rave review! I am so impressed with their products. I am ordering a full size of all three non-eyeshadow items. This is a big deal, I have never ordered a single full size thing! So here we go! It came like an order from any other company, first class mail, filled with bubble wrap. There was also a hand-written "Than You" on the invoice, which I always appreciate. I adore buying from small companies because I feel like they care about all their customers. The actual products were in a cardboard tube, and wrapped with black paper. Then it was wrapped in another layer of cute zebra paper! Here is everything I ordered- 5 eyeshadow samples (they sent a free one also), a Lip Lustre in Lollipop-Pop, their Pixie Epoxy, and the Velvet Gel Silica Primer. Here are my swatches. From top to bottom: Kuroneko, Samhain Spirits (my free sample), Equality, Forbidden Lover, Banana Mochi, Immortality. I have to say I'm in love with Equality, Banana Mochi, and Immortality. I LOVE the rainbow sparkle in Equality and Immortality, and Banana Mochi is the shade of yellow I've been trying to hunt down for a while. I am also in love with the Lip Lustre! I can NEVER find the exact right shade of pink lip gloss that I want. Wet and Wild has many close ones, but they all smell like cotton candy or other food junk :/ I don't like food smells in my gloss. This doesn't really have a scent. It is my perfect bright pink, and if you get just the right light it has a light purple shine. It's so pretty, I actually got compliments on it. That's a first for any gloss I've ever used. I'm totally getting a full size. Here is without flash and with. I think the flash picture gets the color just right. I am also MAJORLY psyched about how awesome the Pixie Epoxy is. It's designed to keep your sparkles and shimmers to stay on better, but it also makes your colors about 5 billion times better. Here is the best picture I got (sorry it's kind of yellow). I will also be ordering a full size of this. The sample looks so small, I thought I'd get maybe 3 uses out of it, but you only need the TINIEST amount to cover your lids. I also love the silica gel primer, and I'll be getting a full size of that too. I have somewhat oily skin, and I have to reapply my powder about every 3 hours. I used this today and I only had to reapply powder twice. I'm very satisfied, having a shiny face is the thing I hate most, it makes me feel greasy and self-concious. Well, I think that wraps it up. I will definitely be ordering again, and I would recommend all the products I got! My next review will be on Meow Cosmetics, and I need to place a new order somewhere else tomorrow. I just have to decide where from!