I feel pretty--NOT! THE COSMETICS THREAD

Is it sad that I can recognize the Bourjois eyeshadows and lipglosses in the box?

lol well I did too. I guess they must be owned by the same parent company.

oh i got the hand cream in my first box. i loved it! i keep thinking i should buy a full size.

i got hair oil
redken stuff
nail polish (pandora)
philosophy cleanser

so freakin jealous of FFM

seriously! such an exciting box of stuff omg!

that box makes me want to go buy large quantities of makeup, stat!

Is the hair oil some of the argan stuff? b/c I've been using some of that for the past few months (10 drops every week or so) and it's pretty great.

it's this

Nice! I use sweet almond mixed with jojoba and castor oils for OCM; it's got a great light non-sticky texture.

I am a jojoba oil superfan.

anyone watch the pixiwoo makeup channel on youtube? they're two brit sisters who are professional MUAs. i really like their tutorials: no stupid music or titles, no waffling about boring stuff, just straight-up makeup techniques. i actually watch/listen to them for relaxation purposes (kind of weird, but they both have really pleasant voices). anyways, they have lots of super glam looks for some ilxor ladies that want to go a little crazy, but also really basic techniques and product reccs.

i got bored saturday morning and put on a full face of makeup, incl. foundation: it looked... weird. like, i would feel really REALLY self conscious wearing that much makeup out during the day, but if i was going to a fancy event at night, i would feel okay about it.

i still don't like either of the foundations i have, but i realised that foundation actually does look a lot better once it's well-powdered - less painterly.

of course, now i want to buy lots of useless makeup to play with. i kind of enjoy the process of putting it on, i just don't like wearing it out so much.

If you like lipstains, and god knows I do, check out Revlon's Once Bitten. I've tried two colors (Twilight (rmde) and Gothic) and I loooove them both. Twilight is a good every day color and Gothic is a fantastic red.

Prior to this I was on board with Sephora's Merlot (or maybe cabernet, I don't know it's named after wine) and before that with Benetint but this Revlon stuff is my new jam. It's also $9 and BOGO half off at my Walgreens.

(still looking for the perfect mascara, btw. the Lancome smeared everywhere and some Rimmel stuff a coworker suggested is clump city. bought a different flavor of Voluminous today that smells like honeysuckle, which is super weird. I remain hopeful.)

i've been waiting for lip stains to take it up a notch since the last time i tried to use them and it was like either coloring my lips with a marker (nagl) or tacky to the touch and tasted bad (no thanks). good to hear that there have been developments.

The Revlon stains are like markers but the product is wet enough that you can blend/blot before it sets and get a good natural looking color. There's a nice balm on the other end, too, that gives you some shine.

You might like the Sephora stain (consistency wise at least). It's more like a gel. It can be a cheek stain, too, but I can never quite get that technique down.

i've tried those and in the past they have tasted terrible and worn unevenly. that was a few years ago though. i don't have very full lips, so usually i just go with a gloss or a glossy lipstick. or lip balm.

honestly i still rely on dr pepper lip smackers a lot for on-the-go application. at least i don't need a mirror or have to stick my finger in it.

When I was using them, I always lined my lips with them, made a few up and down strokes on the rest of my lips, and then blended. And I finished it up with some clear gloss.

still loving this picture
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5315/5912405163_9e34e34730.jpg

agh!
it's the pink plastic armadillo on top of the mountain range of computer monitors that really makes it for me

the pose just makes me smile so hard! but now that I see the armadillo, he will too!

:-D

dear birchbox, love you boo, but i don't need hair oil 2 months in a row.
some really cool natural/chemical-free facial peel thing, though!

E.L.F. Is this stuff for real? It's $1! It can't be any good, right?

it's not good
i tried it
they will also never stop sending you super duper annoying emails

in fact, this is how i learned that cheap cosmetics are not worth the space they take up in my life
the lip gloss is maybe ok? everything else has sucked imo

Awesome. That takes care of the urge to buy a bunch of $1 makeup.

Think about it -- what would you smear on your face that could only cost $1 unless it's like, I dunno, juice you extracted from a $1 cucumber. Your face deserves better than $1 cosmetics. I'm not saying that all expensive cosmetics are necessarily better, but some of them are. I'm sure someone will disagree with me; still, I will tell you that I bought probably ~ $25 worth of shitty cosmetics and brushes from that company a few years ago and would not do it again.

I bought a bunch of their brushes though. For $1, they're great!

ooh i bought the revlon just bitten (lol) lipstain in frenzy/frénésie and it is totally the perfect red for my skin tone! and makes my eyes look so green! though i'm really not used to wearing so bright a lip colour. very 40s and adorbs tho!
(am hoping my sensitive lips do not react in a frenzy of their own...)

Yes! Love that stuff so much.

Also I think I finally found my mascara but need to give it a few more days to be sure before I announce.

lol can't wait for the big reveal.

i got an anastasia mascara in my birch box this month and i am not overly crazy about it's feel when i put it on BUT it has not flaked and doesn't smudge unless you rub pretty hard, which i really, really like.

It's so funny how subjective this stuff is. I loved the anastaia stuff almost more than my beloved voluminous but it isn't waterproof and I can't do that.

Oh and t I loved the peel thing but it is p expensive full size.

i know. i want it sooo badly.

Voluminous is the shizz IMHO

I am wearing Voluminous today! It is good stuff.

Yeah I've never found anything I like better. The waterproof one in black is my go to. For me to works way better than any other and I've tried TONS.

I had to go back to Cover Girl Professional smudgeproof for money reasons, but this time I got the one with the curved brush, and it works quite well.

Hey rrobyn I got that Revlon Lipstain stuff (Frenzy!) on your recommendation. Liking it! Afraid this now has me on a lipstain aquisition mission. . .

I want more now toooo! :D

Note: that lipstain does not work as a cheek stain as evidenced by the fact that I look like someone smacked me in the right cheek with a small wooden dowel. I moved QUICK to blend and that stuff set is a nanosecond.

Yeah I'm not even gonna try! I've only used powder blush, because even creme blush seems tricky.

On my way home from work I stopped at the lolmall and got new underwear and some makeup from MAC! "Sumptuous Olive" eyeshadow and some eyeshadow brushes. Also a Sephora-brand lip stain in "pinot." Will report back on that one.

Oh! I have that one! I like it a lot, too.

*midwestern lipstick twins high-five*

LOL

Repping for Bobbi Brown cream blush now (thank you Jenny!) Blends just fine.

I have some Smashbox creme blush that blends fine too!

I was apprehensive though.

Hey - Tza - you get your birchbox yet this month?

I mine should be in the mail tonight but they updated my "box" page so I know I got the

nail decals
lip moisturizer
pangea organics face cream
some perfume sample

Psyched for everything except the perfume. Despite the fact that a perfume is the only full size thing I've actually bought from BB so far, getting those little vial samples just seems like a letdown since you can get them free anywhere.

Oh and I think I remember you writing about getting hair oil twice in a row, right? I didn't but I got last months (the amika one) and am not really a hair oil person so I've been using it on my cuticles and love it for that.

i got the same things!
i have wanted to try the nail stuff but i honestly don't know if i can pull off blue sparkles at work!

i really like the last month hair oil - i have used it pre-blow dry and it's a nice treatment.

i bought the Revlon just bitten lip stain in another colour today: "Victorian" - it is like my lips but brighter! i love this stuff
i also bought an Essie nail polish called "big spender" lol :)
and i went to a spa/skin esthetics place and got some samples of face cream

have fun with your nail decals, tza & enbb! pics pls!