Favorite Fall Lip Products

 It is no secret that Fall is my favorite season.  I feel like I wait nine months out of the year for Fall.  The first cool night and I'm ready to break out the sweaters and boots.  I love pumpkin lattes,changing leaves, Thanksgiving and football games on cool Sunday afternoons.  Another one of my favorite things about Fall is dark, vampy lip colors. There are a lot of gorgeous products out there that help to achieve this look.  These are some of my favorites.

Revlon Lip Butters
Sugar Plum: The deep mauve color of this Lip Butter is great for those who like a little darker lip but can't quite commit to a super dark color.

Fig Jam: Hands down this is one of my favorite Fall lip colors.  It is a perfect brown-red with a slightly glossy finish.  One of the reasons that I love the Revlon Lip Butters is because they are so easy to use.  I can typically apply most of them without a mirror and they feel great on the lips. 
Red Velvet: A perfect deep cranberry red.  I am seriously obsessed with these things.  

Chubby Lip Pencils
NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Palais Royal: A deep wine color with a satin finish.  The only thing I had a little trouble with is feathering.  To help prevent feathering I used my Urban Decay Ozone lip pencil underneath as a base and it stayed put. 
Urban Decay Super-Saturated High Gloss Color in Apocalypse: One of the darker colors that I own, Apocalypse is a deep plum with a glossy finish. 
Cover Girl Jumbo Gloss Balm in Jam Twist: Jam Twist is more a wash of bright cranberry color and less opaque than the NARS and Urban Decay pencils. 

MAC Lipstick 
Talk That Talk (Limited Edition): This is a perfect deep maroon color with a retro matte finish.  
Dark Side (Permanent Collection): Dark Side is almost the twin of Talk That Talk but with a creamier texture and slightly glossy finish. 
Sweet Succulence (Limited Edition): This is definitely the darkest lipstick that I own.  It is a deep maroon that has deep purple tones. It is a lustre finish so it is the glossiest finish of the four lipsticks. 
Caliente (Limited Edition): Caliente was released with the Temperature Rising collection - it is a brown - bronze color.  It has a dazzle finish with glitter throughout the lipstick.  One thing I did not love about this particular lipstick is that the glitter can feel a little gritty on the lips.  However, that is not enough to keep it out of my favorites. 

Lip Gloss
MAC Lust for Life (Limited Edition) Lip Glass: Deep berry gloss with a lustre finish.  I hate that I love these limited edition products so much because it makes me not want to use them for fear of running out! 
MAC Liquer (Limited Edition) Lip Glass: This color is so difficult to describe - it is a bronze-brown color with hints of pink.  It is truly stunning. 
MAC Soft Serenade (Limited Edition) Lip Glass: While this is not a dark color it does look beautiful over some of the more matte lip pencils and lipsticks. It is a nude lip gloss with shimmery glitter. 
Revlon Colorburst Lip Gloss in Bordeaux: This is a great dupe for MAC's Lust for Life. 

With any of these deep colors I recommend using a lip liner to help prevent feathering and to maintain the deep color.  I have been loving my Urban Decay Ozone lip liner lately. It is a clear liner that helps hold color and stop feathering.  I have also been using my MAC Talk That Talk lip liner from the RiRi Hearts MAC collection.  It is a dark plum from the Pro Longwear collection and it seriously does not budge.

What are some of your favorite Fall lip colors?

My Current Foundation Routine

As a follow up to my recent post about my current favorite foundation I thought it would be a good time to write about my current foundation routine.  This tends to change because I am always trying new powders, foundations and concealers but for the most part these are the products that I have been using for the past few months.

Before I get into the products that I use let me first tell you a little about my skin.  I was not blessed with a naturally flawless complexion. I have very sensitive, temperamental skin that ranges from normal to oily.  I tend to breakout along my jaw and when I break out it gets extremely red and inflamed.  More often than not the skin around the pimples gets very dry and flaky which can be challenging to conceal.  I also deal with hyperpigmentation from breaking out.  It seems that almost every pimple eventually turns into a little dark mark aka one more thing to try to cover up.  Now that you know a little more about my skin and its challenges on to the products :)

I always begin by priming my skin.  I find that a good primer helps to create a smooth surface for my foundation especially around those dry flaky acne spots.  They also help my foundation last longer through the day.  Right now I am trying out the L'Oreal Revitalift Miracle Blur in the oil free version.  It has a nice texture and I find that it smooths out my skin but this product really is a miss for me mostly because of the price point.  I will be posting a full review on this product shortly.

I like to let my primer sink into my skin for a few minutes before I start applying foundation.  The foundation that I have been loving lately is the Cover Girl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1.  Right now I am the color golden tan but this will change in a few months as my summer tan really starts to fade. One thing I really like about this foundation is that it comes in a bottle with a pump.  I typically use two pumps of foundation.  I pump it out on to the back of my hand and then use my ring finger to evenly dot it all over my face. I really love using my Beauty Blender with this foundation.  I use the round end of the Beauty Blender to take all of that foundation and "pounce" it into my skin until it is all blended out.

While the Cover Girl foundation covers up most of my skins imperfections I still need a separate concealer to help cover up some of the darker marks.  The concealer that I have fallen in love with is the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer.  I just discovered this over the summer and boy oh boy is this stuff amazing. I find that some concealers cling to dry skin but this one does not at all.  It really is creamy and covers up blemishes beautifully. Creamy is the perfect word to describe it.  I will just dot this on top of whatever needs to be covered up and then use my Beauty Blender to blend it out to a flawless finish.

I admit I have gotten caught up in the Kim Kardashian inspired bright under eye look.  I use a few different products to help try to achieve this.  I start with the MAC Prep + Prime highlighter in the color Radiant. Taking the highlighter pen I create a "V" underneath both of my eyes that starts right under my eyes and goes down to about the tip of my nose - the top of the "V" starts at about my tear duct and extends out to where my eye ends.  Once I have that area all filled in with the highlighter I use the other end of my Beauty Blender to lightly blend all of that out.  I don't over blend because I still want it to show up pretty light.  After all of that is blended out I take my MAC Studio Fix concealer in a shade that is about 2-3 shades too light for me (NW-20) and dot a little bit on top of where I just blended out the highlighter.  I find that this just adds to the lightening of that area.  I also blend that out with my Beauty Blender.  To set all of that concealer I use the Ben Nye Banana Powder again on my handy Beauty Blender.  I just tap some into the lid of the container and then using then pick it up using the pointy end of the BB and lightly tap it all over the concealer/highlighter underneath my eyes.

To set the rest of my face I like to use my MAC Studio fix powder.  I use a big fluffy brush and pat the Studio fix into my face.  I have to be careful with this product as it can look very cakey if applied too heavily.  To help combat against the cake face look I spray a little bit of MAC's Fix + on my face after I''m finished. I realize that this sounds like a lot of product but this is what I have found works to help me achieve a nearly flawless face that lasts throughout the day.

What do you use in your foundation routine?

RiRi Hearts MAC - Swatches and First Impressions

It is no secret that I fell completely in love with the packaging of the Riri Hearts MAC Fall collection. Today was the first chance I had to actually play with the products and do a little swatching. As promised and without further ado - ladies and gentlemen I give you RiRi Hearts MAC :)

RiRi Woo Lipstick, Gloss and Liner: These were probably the items I was most excited about when I saw the collection.  I was so glad that I was able to get all three pieces.  RiRi Woo is reminiscent of MAC's famous Ruby Woo lipstick.  It is a perfect red - it is ever so slightly darker than Ruby Woo but has cool undertones so it will be flattering on many different skin tones.  In addition to the lipstick, MAC released a matching Pro Longwear lip liner.  These Pro Longwear lip liners are amazing. Talk about long lasting, after I swatched everything I went to wipe my hand off with a makeup wipe and the lip liner would not budge.  I had to really scrub it off and even then it left a red stain behind to remind me of its awesomeness.

Talk That Talk Lipstick and Liner: This duo is absolutely perfect for the Fall.  It is a deep, vampy purple with red tone lipstick.  I was excited for this because I love dark lips for Fall.  I wore this the other day and I didn't have any issues with feathering and the Pro Longwear liner helped the color stay on a majority of the day.  Like the RiRi Woo lipstick, this is a retro matte finish that I don't find to be drying on the lips.

Hibiscus Kiss Bronzer Duo: The MAC website describes this as "cool coral complements a neutral matte bronze in one gorgeous package". I had a really tough time swatching the bronzer - it barely shows up on my hand.  However, I did use this bronzer today to warm up my face and it shows up on my face beautifully.  The bronzer is a nice matte bronze with absolutely no shimmer (which I happen to prefer).  The blush is a very pretty bright coral.

Bad Girl Gone Good Blush: This is described as a "warm copper" blush with a satin finish.  I think the color is absolutely gorgeous but be warned - if you are fair skinned use a light hand.  This can pull a little orange if applied too heavily.

Diamonds Cream Base: To me this is one of the standouts of the entire collection.  It is a beautiful shimmery champagne colored cream highlight.  I used this today as a highlight on the tops of my cheeks and even though it is shimmery it is not sparkly or too dramatic.  It adds just the right amount of highlight.

Eyeshadow Quad in Her Cocoa: I was on the fence about the eyeshadow quads because to be honest the colors all looked like colors that I might have in other palettes.  After using this quad I am so glad that I bought it.  It creates the perfect light bronze smokey eye. I went for a wearable bronze eye look but you can definitely smoke the darker colors out for a more dramatic look. The MAC site describes the quad as "four warm shades: bright bronze gold, soft peach, chocolate bronze and antique gold".  I found that these quads do not swatch very well but they are very easy to work with on the eyes.  Unfortunately the individual names are not listed on the quad so I can't tell if these are from the permanent line or limited edition.  The swatches in order are left to right and top to bottom.

Eyeshadow Quad in Smoked Cocoa:  I have not gotten a chance to use this one yet but I am so looking forward to doing a very dramatic smokey eye. This one is described as "four cool shades: shimmering champagne, black with silver pearl, satin charcoal and matte grey". These also did not swatch well.  I'm hoping they will be easier to work with on the eyes.

I am really excited to see what the collection that will launch around the holidays is going to look like! Until then I will play with these little beauties <3

Haul: Riri Hearts Mac Fall Collection

The much anticipated Riri Hearts MAC collection launched in MAC stores on September 26th.  I had been lusting after the collection since I saw pictures posted online.  Given the popularity of the limited edition Riri lipsticks that launched online earlier this Summer, I knew that this collection would sell out fast.  I wasn't able to get to my MAC store on the day of the launch but was there bright and early the next day.  Surprisingly, they still had every piece of the collection and I was able to get everything I wanted.  Be still my beating heart.

Can we talk about how gorgeous the packaging alone is?  The boxes and packaging are the most beautiful rose gold color with red script writing and a big pink Rihanna "R" in the middle. MAC really got it right with this one.

I didn't get every piece of the collection because I just didn't think I needed it all.  Some of the pieces are from the permanent line just redressed in the rose gold packaging.  I also wasn't crazy about all of the lipstick colors and didn't want to buy them just to have them.

I was most excited about the Ririwoo lipstick, gloss and lip pencil.  The deep red is absolutely stunning and can be universally flattering on many skin tones.  I was also excited about the Hibiscuss Kiss bronzer/blush duo. I was really bummed when I didn't get this when it first launched this summer but now I'm so glad I didn't get it.  I much prefer this packaging over the plain black MAC packaging that it released over the summer.  The girl accidentally rang me up for two of the Diamonds cream bases so I was able to give one to my best friend who loves it as much as I do.

The whole collection is beautiful and I am so excited to have it to add to my own makeup collection. I will have another post with more pictures and swatches up shortly.

Limited Edition Maybelline Color Tattoo - Matte Shades

I was browsing Instagram the other day and saw someone had posted pictures of the new Maybelline Color Tattoos in matte colors. This was the first time I had heard mention of them. I immediately went out and googled them and found that they are part of the new limited edition Gilded in Gold holiday collection. From everything I read it looked like they were only available at Bed Bath & Beyond locations.  I have a few BB&B locations near me so I got in my car and went on a field trip.  Well, three BB&B trips later I was still empty handed. Every store had the small display out but the actual Color Tattoos were sold out.  I guess that's not surprising considering each display only had two of each color - probably not Maybelline's best idea ever.  Then the heavens opened up to me and I stumbled across a hidden gem. There is a store close to me called Harmon Face Value.  Harmon's is a pretty big health and beauty store and until the other day I had no idea they even existed.  Anyway, to make a long story short I went in and they had the FULL display.  Needless to say I bought all three of the Color Tattoos as well as some other limited edition items which I will be blogging about shortly.  If you want to get your hands on the Gilded in Gold run, don't walk, to your nearest drugstore as these beauties are bound to sell out quickly.

The Color Tattoos come in three matte colors: Matte Brown, Nude Pink and Just Beige.  Nude Pink has been called a dupe for MAC's Painterly Paint Pot.  Just Beige has also been compared to MAC's Soft Ochre Paint Pot.  The Maybelline Color Tattoos are $4.99 for 4 grams of product and the MAC Paint Pots are $20 for 5 grams of product.  Both products can be worn alone in lieu of eyeshadow but are more commonly used as an eyeshadow base.  I am particularly fond of Painterly by MAC and wear it under almost every eyeshadow look.

Just Beige is a light, opaque beige color. When blended out it becomes more of a yellow toned flesh color.  When compared to MAC's Soft Ochre Paint Pot it is almost an exact dupe.  Soft Ochre is the slightest bit more yellow than Just Beige but not much.  I also find the MAC Paint Pots to be creamier in texture than than the Paint Pot but for the price difference Just Beige is an excellent alternative to Soft Ochre.  

Nude Pink is an opaque, rosy pink color. I find Nude Pink to be a bit darker than the Painterly Paint Pot (my fav) and I don't think I would like it very much as an eyeshadow base.  If you have a darker skin tone this may work well as a base but on my lids it looked more like a wash of pink which would not work well under my favorite nude eyeshadow combo.

Claims: "Longest-lasting shadow"
Finish/Texture:  The Maybelline Color Tattoos have a creamy texture.  These particular products are creamy and have a matte finish. 
Scent:  None
Long Wearing:  Extremely long wearing, they also help to prolong the length of eyeshadow when used as a base
Packaging:  Like their more expensive counterparts the Color Tattoos come in small glass jars with a plastic lid.  The lid screws on to help prevent the product from drying out.
Price:  $4.99
Availability:  Extremely limited; found at my local Harmon Face Value and also seen at BB&B
Limited Edition:  Yes

Pros:

• Inexpensive
• Creamy texture
• Long lasting

Cons:

• Difficult to find

Overall: While the Maybelline Color Tattoos are not exact dupes for the MAC Paint Pots they surely come close.  They are great products that I hope Maybelline will consider making part of their permanent collection.  I highly recommend these if you are looking for a less expensive alternative to the much loved MAC products. 

What's in my Makeup Bag?

Hey Dolls!  So I thought I'd give you a quick glance into my makeup bag.  This does change from time to time but these are the staple I have had in my bag lately:

- Makeup bag is a Sonia Kashuk bag from Target
- Maybelline Dream Lumi Highlighting Concealer in Radiant
- NARS Lip Gloss in Belize
- MAC Lipstick in Blankety
- E.L.F. Contouring Blush & Bronzer
- MAC Eyeshadow in Phloof
- Clean & Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets
- Nivea Lip Butter in Vanilla & Macadamia Kiss
- NARS Blush in Orgasm
- MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Medium Plus
- Benefit They're Real Mascara (trial size)
- Travalo Perfume Atomizer (filled with Miss Dior)
- Maybelline Infalliable Eyeshadow in Bronzed Taupe
- Wet n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Trio in Sweet as Candy
- NARS Lip Gloss in Chelsea Girls
- Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette
- Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer in Medium
- MAC Pro Longwear Foundation in NC-25
- MAC Pro Longwear Eyeliner in Black Ice
- Rimmel Scandal Eyes Eyeliner in Nude
- MAC Lip Liner in Boldly Bare
- MAC Painterly Paint Pot
- Sephora Retractable Lip Brush

I know it doesn't look l like all of this will fit in that makeup bag but trust me it does ;-)

MAC Painterly Paint Pot vs. Maybelline Color Tattoo in Barely Branded

On days that I am going for a more natural look I like to use a natural wash of color on my lids just to give them a little bit of color. My two favorite colors for this look are MAC's Painterly Paint Pot and Maybelline's Color Tattoo in Barely Branded. They are both pale flesh toned colors.
Painterly is a matte flesh toned color that has the tiniest pink hue to it really evens out the color of your eyelids and gives the impression of a nude eye.

Barely Branded is more of a champagne color with shimmer. I tend to use this one when I'm looking or a bright eyed natural look. I use it all over the lid and then a tiny bit in the inner corners of my eyes. It really opens them up - with this color I don't line my lower waterline with a dark liner but line it with Rimmel's Scandal Eyes in Nude. The liner mutes out any redness and gives a big open eye look.

They are both great nude colors but I think my preference would have to be Painterly. I really like that I can swipe this on with my finger and not fuss with it too much.

MAC Archie's Girls Collecion

I am an absolute sucker for the fun MAC collections. I recently picked up some items from the new Archie's Girls collection. While I think it is absolutely adorable I don't think that I am really impressed with the actual products themselves.
I'll first give a quick listing of what I bought and then give you my impressions. I bought:

- Betty Powder Blush: Cream Soda
- Betty Lipstick: Girl Next Door
- Betty Lipglass: Summer Sweetheart
- Betty Lipglass: Kiss & Don't Tell
- Betty Lipglass: Stay Sweet
- Veronica Lipglass: Strawberry Malt

I was more drawn to the Betty collection because I typically like lighter pinks and nudes.
So, let's dive into my reviews. I'll start with the good - I love the Cream Soda blush. It is a gorgeous peachy nude color which I think is going to be really pretty for the Spring and Summer months. It has great color payoff and the packaging is adorable.

I was a little disappointed in the Girl Next Door lipstick. It looks like it would be a great pale pink color but I found that it is almost very sheer and doesn't show up on my lips at all. It is a lustre lipstick so I didn't expect for it to be super pigmented but all in all I think it was a miss for me.
And finally, the lipglasses! I do really like two of the colors - Kiss & Don't Tell is a great bright pink melon color and Strawberry Malt is a nice wash of red gloss. Kiss & Don't Tell is going to be a really great summer color to wear with a nude eye and maybe a little black sundress. Strawberry Malt really does remind me of a great cherry lipgloss that makes your lips nice and red and juicy. Interestingly enough I was not a huge fan of the two lighter pink colors. Stay Sweet was a little too milky in color for me. Summer Sweetheart was just too similar to other glosses that I already have and didn't impress me that much.

I am glad that I picked some things up from this collection but overall I was not in love with it. I didn't pick up any of the eyeshadow palettes or pigments because again I felt the colors were too similar to colors I already had in other palettes or by themselves. I am however, REALLY looking for the Rihanna and MAC collection coming out in May (I think).