wet n wild Fergie On Edge Longwearing Eye Liner Swatches!

I picked up these eye pencils in the shades HyperSky (the blue) and Ex-Stacey (the pink) the other day at Walgreens, and they were too pretty not to swatch right away! I love brightly colored liners like these, they add such a fun touch to any makeup look!

Fantastic pigmentation on these! They were very creamy - almost a little too soft, in some cases - and smudged pretty easily, but I'm not sure how they would fare on the eyes because I haven't worn them yet. But I'm sure I'll find a fun way to wear both of these for a pop of color!

XOXO,
Ally

Easy Tip for Wearable Glittery Eyes

One of my favorite ways to spice up my eye makeup and add a touch of glitter (while still being totally wearable!) is to use a black glitter liner! This one is by Collection, and has black glitter as well as some sparkly silver flecks. On top of a black liner, it adds a beautiful touch of glitter without being too over the top. I just apply my liquid liner as I normally would, and then once that dries, I go over it with the glitter. If you're a glitter lover, this is definitely a tip you should give a try!

XOXO,
Ally

CoverGirl Liquiline Blast Eyeliner - Violet Voltage Swatches

Hey guys! Today I have a quick swatch of the CoverGirl Liquiline Blast Eyeliner in Violet Voltage!

This eyeliner pencil promises "liquid-like intensity" from a pencil liner, and comes with a smudger tip on one end.

In the second picture, I used the smudger tip to smudge out the end of the line. Personally, I found the tip to be a little too stiff, and I could see it being a little harsh to use on the eyes. I also felt like when I smudged the liner, it lost a lot of its intensity. I don't normally use the smudgey tips on liners, but I wanted to at least see how it would perform in a swatch for you guys. I like the color of this liner and when I swatched it, it was definitely pigmented and creamy. I don't know if I would call it "liquid-like intensity," but the color payoff was still good.

Until next time!

XOXO,
Ally

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils & Eyeliner Pencil: Review & Swatches

It seems likely that by now, everyone has heard of the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils, and for good reason - they come in a massive range of colors, and work wonderfully as eyeshadow bases or liners. The set that I picked up on HauteLook came with 601 Black Bean, 608 Cottage Cheese, 606 Baby Blue, 618 Purple, 612 Gold, and 613 Lime. Another set also came with one of their Slim Eyeliner Pencils in 903 Dark Brown, which I'm including in this post since after all, it is a pencil.

All of the colors are pretty shimmery, even when they don't look like they should be, although colors like Cottage Cheese and Gold are particularly shiny. Black Bean is fairly matte, and only gives off a tiny bit of sheen in the pictures because of its creamy consistency. But even the shades that are very shimmery can be used underneath matte shadows, because it is possible to cover up the shimmer with a few layers of a matte shadow. The formula on these is great, and they smooth onto the eyes very easily. They do crease so I don't wear them without using a primer first. But the primer is worth it, because layered underneath a similar color of eyeshadow, they make your entire look pop.

The slim eyeliner pencil is just as creamy as the jumbo ones, which means it does move around during the day if you don't set it with a primer underneath or a shadow on top. The color is very pretty and I love it as an alternative to black eyeliner, and the staying power is not bad by any means. But if you're someone like me, who has to be at class by 9 AM and then doesn't take her makeup off until 11 PM or later, you're going to need some touch-ups. For me, this tends to be the case with all of the pencil liners that I use, so the NYX one definitely doesn't under-perform compared to other liners. And like I said, all it needs is a bit of primer or shadow to hold it in place. The application is pretty effortless because it is so creamy, and all you need are one or two swipes to get a nice opaque line.

Rating:
Jumbo Eye Pencils: 4.5/5
Slim Eye Pencil: 4/5

Recommendation: If you don't already love the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils, give them a try - the only real negative is that they crease, but with a primer that's hardly an issue. And the Eyeliner Pencils are great quality and come in 31 different colors; for just $3.50, a fraction of the price of an eyeliner from Mac or Urban Decay, you get a smooth, pigmented liner with only a few drawbacks. Both products live up to their descriptions without a doubt.

XOXO, Ally

Urban Decay on HauteLook! - Haul and Swatches

Much to my excitement, my order from HauteLook was dropped off just as I was cutting myself and my sister a slice of cake. Cake and new makeup? Yeah, it was pretty amazing.

Everything I ordered was priced at $2, and with shipping the total came to about $21 for eight items. I got five of the loose pigments in Shag, Goddess, Graffiti, Gunmetal, and Smog. These are all available on the Urban Decay website for $20 for .04 oz/1.2 grams, although some of the boxes that mine came in said .03 oz/1.0 grams, and some said .04 oz/1.2 grams. Either way, since I only paid $2 for each, I'm not really too concerned about .2 grams. I also got the Smoke Out Eye Pencil in Maui Wowie, which is a discontinued item but is still available on the UD website for $6 - the original price being $14. I picked up the matte eyeshadow in Chronic, which is $17 for .05 oz on the UD website; it can also be found on the Sephora website packaged with Sin as a set, which is discounted to $10 from the original $34. Finally, I got the Big Fatty Mascara in Electric Blue - I've always wanted to experiment with bright mascaras but I wasn't convinced it would look good on me, so I didn't want to shell out a lot of money for one, but $2 seemed like a fantastic price. Anyway, these normally go for $17 for .26 oz both on the UD website and from Sephora.

In other words, getting each item for $2 is definitely the best price I could possibly have expected to pay for them. Sure, none of the items are necessarily Urban Decay's hugely popular cult classics, but they're still the same products that someone else must have paid full price for. The only product I'm slightly disappointed in would be the loose eyeshadows - I swatched them quickly over my arm without primer, but they didn't show up as nicely as I would have liked. For $2 I still consider them a steal and I would buy more colors if they showed up again for the same price, but I'm not at all convinced that they would be worth the full $20. The matte eyeshadow was very pigmented and the packaging was cute, and I think the blue mascara is one of the most entertaining things I've ever gotten a chance to experiment with. I literally cannot resist putting it on my lashes! And I haven't tested the eye pencil too much yet, but from swatching it on my hand it seems like it would be a nice neutral color for my skintone. Honestly I'm not sure how helpful the little smudger end would be, but if you're into that I guess it's a nice addition.

(I have a few more pictures to upload tomorrow, so I might head over to Starbucks later in the day to get those done - I'm so sleepy tonight that I can't even be bothered to watermark the pictures I'm putting up tonight. Also, I didn't swatch Smog because I have the same color in a bunch of palettes so I gave it to my mom.)

To be completely honest, the price that I got these for pretty much cancels out any negativity I feel towards the products - but had I paid full price, I'm not so sure I would be saying the same thing.

XOXO, Ally