Makeup Withdrawal

Showing posts with label NYX. Show all posts

A Trio of Sparkly Highlighters: Benefit Watt's Up!, Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Aqua Illuminator, NYX Liquid Illuminator

Sunday, March 16, 2014

I recently realized that I had a few peachy/champagne highlighters sitting around and thought I would swatch them and compare them for a blog post. I'll be honest, I rarely wear any sort of shimmery highlight. I find the sparkles in my Guerlain Meteorites and NARS Light Reflecting Pressed Powder to be more than adequate! Since I have some pretty generous pores which create some less than perfect texture and often times develop quite a shine on the tops of my cheeks and nose, I usually skip the sparkle. That is, unless it's a super rainy day out and I know I won't be caught like shirtless Edward, then perhaps I'll run a tiny bit of BECCA Pressed Shimmer Powder in Nymph on my cheekbones.

NYX Wonder Pencil Review

Friday, October 11, 2013

Good afternoon!

I was given a NYX Wonder Pencil over the summer when I stopped by the NYX booth at CosmoProf North America. I like it so much that I ended up buying another one so I have swatches of both to show you today.

NYX Wonder Pencils are flesh toned pencils that have a myriad of uses; concealer, eye brightener, reverse lip liner all in one. They come in three shades (01,02,03 that are respectively Light, Medium and Dark) and the hardwood pencil sharpens really easily. I have shades 01 and 03.

I don't really like using this as a concealer because I don't find the texture to be creamy enough to blend, I think it's not very flattering for blemishes. However it makes a fantastic defining pencil for under the brow arches. These Wonder Pencils are also great at brightening the waterline and as reverse lip liner. I don't have many lip liners because I've been using the MAC Chromagraphic Pencil in NC15/NW20 for years to define lips and these Wonder Pencils are definitely a cheaper option.

Color wise, 01 is lighter than MAC Chromagraphic NC15/NW20 while 03 is darker. Stila Topaz is much creamier and peachier than both the MAC and the NYX. Formula wise I think the MAC and NYX are comparable, it's hard for me to decide which is actually the creamier of the two since my MAC is getting kinda old.

My one criticism is is that there needs to be more and darker shades. 03 Deep matches my outer arms when I'm at my tannest (probably a smidge darker than NC25) so there could definitely be more shades to be more friendly to a wider range of skin tones.

Price wise, these are a complete steal. They are normally $4.49 but NYX is 40% off at Ulta quite often so you can pick them up for $2 and change.

Some of the products featured were press samples. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

NYX Love in Florence "Prima Donna" Palette

Friday, September 6, 2013

Hi folks! Two posts for you tonight and this is the first. NYX has quite a few of these little palettes in fun coordinating color schemes. This is actually my second, I just haven't had time yet to review the first one I picked up a few months ago!

Prima Donna contains a frosty beige, a matte black with sparkle, one satiny plum, a shimmery aubergine and a dusty light taupe. Swatched with primer.

The quality is just ok, nothing to write home about but these are shadows that you absolutely NEED primer to wear. Without them, they do not show up very well and look rather muddy when you try to blend with them. You can sort of see on the bottom half of my swatches where the primer was blended out and how patchy they look over bare skin. I like the shimmery white beige quite a bit, ti's so pretty!

I think the colors photographed a bit more red than they are in real life. Definitely looks more pink eye in the picture. I used the two plummy shades all over the lid, lightly dusted the beige in my inner corer and smudged the black into the lash line.

Brows: NARS Bali

Eyes: NARS Smudge Proof Eye Base, NYX Prima Donna Palette, false lashes

The nice thing is that NYX products are very affordable so it's easy to pick a few new palettes up just to play with color you might normally shy away from.

Have you tried any of the newer NYX products lately?

Products featured were press samples. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

EOTD Using Wet'n'Wild Soldiers in Charms

Thursday, August 29, 2013

I used one of the new Wet'n'Wild trios I picked up for my EOTD yesterday. I absolutely love the green khaki matte color, so glad I bought it.

I decided to go with all budget friendly products for this look (aside from my brow color) The primer isn't my favorite though, I think it makes some of the blending look a little patchy.

Brows: NARS Bali, NYX Brow Shaper
Eyes: NYX HD Eye Primer, NYX Natural Palette*, Wet'n'Wild Soldiers in Charms, NYX Chocolate Collection Liquid Brown Liner*, false lashes.

Everything mentioned (again, aside from NARS Bali) is under $10. Not too shabby, right?

*Indicates a press sample. All other products were purchased by me, for my own use.

NYX Butter Gloss in Peaches and Cream & Cherry Pie

Friday, July 26, 2013

One of the products I've been trying out ever since the lovely folks at NYX sent me home with a package of goodies was their much loved Butter Glosses. I had two shades; the pinky Peaches and Cream as well as the red Cherry Pie.

The Butter Glosses come with a fairly standard doe footed applicator. The formula is very glossy, not sticky at all but a bit cushiony. There is a light sweet smell but very non-offensive.

Peaches and Cream on the left, Cherry Pie on the right. Though Peach is in the name, Peaches and Cream is rather pink (maybe a tad guava but definitely not peach). Cherry Pie is a nice blue based red, but not too cool at all.

Lip swatches are not exactly my forte but I think you get the idea! There is a fair amount of pigment in the glosses, the lighter shade does sink a little bit into my lines. The wear time is fairly good but because they are emollient rather than sticky, they do transfer off pretty easily. Overall, I like these quite a bit. I think that if you catch them on sale, they are definitely worth trying! They are $4.99 but go on sale fairly regularly at Ulta.

Have you tried NYX Butter Glosses? They're coming out with Butter Balms and Lipsticks! What are your favorite shades?

Products featured were given to me to review. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

NYX HD High Definition Eye Shadow Base

Sunday, May 5, 2013

I'll admit that when I bought this NYX eye primer, I was being cheap. I had just run out of my beloved LORAC Behind The Scenes Eye Primer and saw that NYX HD High Definition Eye Shadow Base was only $6.99 (plus it was BOGO50% off and I had a coupon), it felt like a steal. I briefly checked the reviews on MakeupAlley and saw four lipsticks (out of five)- not too shabby!

I think I've mentioned countless times already how much I hate doe footed primers (and concealers, anything but gloss really) so the packaging is not my cup of tea. It is however, very sturdy, I've had it for about six months and the white lettering is barely starting to fade and it is not drying out in the least bit.

This primer is a nude in color but blends out completely to become translucent. It feels a bit more fluid than other primers that I've tried so far.

I do like this primer quite a bit but with one caveat. When ever I apply this to my lids, it does seem to take a bit longer to dry than other primers. With larger arm swatches it is a bit more noticeable, it seems to stay a bit slick and silicone-y which can be a problem. Unless I blot first, I've noticed that brushes can pick up the "wetness" and transfer it back into the pan, creating that dreaded hard glazed surface on your eye shadow. For me, a quick blot with tissue or blotting paper to remove the excess slip solves the problem but I could see how for oilier eyes this might be an early indication that this primer might not be the best.

Here's a few comparisons.

The NYX swatches definitely look the darkest, since it is so wet. Actually now that I compare swatches, I think that in terms of shadow intensifying ability, the e.l.f. (and I mean the $1 one, not the one from the Mineral line) and the NARS look a lot a like.

For me, it's like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. NARS Pro Prime Smudge Proof Eye Base is too drying, NYX HD Eye Shadow Base is too oily but LORAC Behind The Scenes Eye Primer is just right. However, since the NYX is so cheap, I don't mind using it for arm swatches and taking that extra two seconds to lightly blot before applying shadow.

I'm so glad that there are way more options for drugstore eye shadow primers now than there were a few years ago. Prestige, Fergie by Wet'n'Wild, etc have finally made budget friendly primers. Have you tried any drugstore primers? Like, dislike?

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

NYX Girls Enchanted Forest over Hunter Green

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Good evening!

So the last few weeks I've been pretty heavy on the nail art, so today I thought I'd take a break and just appreciate a few of the new polishes I've purchased lately.
This is NYX Girls Enchanted Forest (a green jelly filled with small, medium and large green holographic hex glitter) over Hunter Green, which is as the name would suggest- a hunter green.

I love hunter green. This particular one is similar to OCC Tattoo, only more saturated and a tad more blue. I had wanted Enchanted Forest for the longest time, so finally last month I decided to make a NYX Girls polish order from a seller on eBay. Wouldn't you know, as soon as I ordered my polishes I found a Love & Beauty glitter from Forever 21 that was an exact dupe? Derp. It's a great polish to have, I only wish that there was more large hex glitter.

Have a great Saturday night!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

NYX Peach Ave Over OPI Sapphire In The Snow

Monday, December 12, 2011

Good evening! Tonight, I have an interesting combination to show you. I borrowed a friend's bottle of OPI Sapphire In The Snow last week and fell in love with how perfect this dark, rich indigo creme is. I need to get myself a bottle!
I never actually intended this to be actual mani- I was fooling around and slapped a coat of NYX Peach Ave on top, and the flakes absolutely popped against the dark base color. I think it looks even better than it does on top of black creme.
Here's what Sapphire In The Snow looks by itself:

The only thing about NYX Peach Ave... well, two things actually.
1.) The flakes are very sparse. In these pictures, I had to layer THREE coats of it and there's still not that many flakes on the nail.
2.) There are two different versions of NYX Peach Ave. One has these beautiful multichromatic flakes and the other has these large chunky orange foil bits. They're completely different.

Being the nut job that I am, I have both.
I can do a comparison post about them sometime, if there's interest. With actual pictures.

Have a great night!

OPI Sapphire In The Snow was borrowed from a friend. All other featured products were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

NYX Jungle + Essie Mesmerize

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Howdy!

I finally got around to taking pictures of one of my favorite in-the-bottle colors, NYX Jungle. Is Axl Rose crooning in your head right now? Because Welcome to the Jungle is certainly playing in my brain.

Back to the fabulous nail polish.

Jungle is a bright translucent blue jam packed with gold shimmer. At first, there looks like there is flashing duochrome teal or green but if you look closer, it's just this polish playing tricks on you! The teal or green flash is from how deep the gold shimmer is suspended inside the polish. It's a marvelous effect. It was quite sheer on the nail, with three full coats I could still see my smile line and I didn't think a fourth would really help so I decided to put on underwear. Of the blue variety.

Here's two coats of Essie Mesmerize underneath NYX Jungle:

Something about this combination just makes the color pop cobalt blue.

And here's a picture in the shade so that you can see how the shimmer gets that green cast.

Absolutely gorgeous. I wish I could get my nails to look exactly how it looks in the bottle, it has so much depth, so much color.

You should get this. You need this in your life. I'm doing you a favor by telling you how awesome it is, honest.

What's your favorite NYX polish?

Love, Mimi

Products featured in this post were purchased by me for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Sunken Emeralds

Thursday, September 1, 2011

1x Nail Tek Foundation II, 2x Savvy Garland, 1x NYX Purple Ave, 1x Barielle No Chip Speed Dry

Hullo all!
A few weeks ago, I discovered the most incredible combination of nail polish. Green flakies on a dark shimmering green base, it was truly dazzling. While I had this combination on, I really could not help staring at it, especially under the sun.
The green flakie is NYX Purple Ave, which is in a really translucent purple base (all it does is darken any base color you might have on, you really can't see it) and the base color is Savvy Garland, a glowing green shimmer in a blackened base.
Together, they look like emerald chips shining in the dark.

Unfortunately these pictures where taken inside, but they still turned out half decent. I strongly recommend clicking on them to enlarge them so that you get blasted in the face with the total beauty of it.

Have you discovered any awesome combos with polish lately?

Products featured where purchased by me, for my own use. Please refer to my disclosure policy for full details.

Awesome Things to Do With NYX Pearl Manias (pt 2) (Taupe!)

Friday, July 2, 2010

The other day I talked about NYX Ultra Pearl Manias (here) and hinted at a wonderful world of do-it-yourself that involved them. Today, I reveal the amazing beautiful taupe that I dubbed 'Franken-Taupe'. Ok, in the picture it says, 'Frankens-Taupe', but that just doesn't roll off the tongue well.

Remember this FOTD? That's me, with the
taupe!

I feel like the following pictures say it all! The recipe is simple, 1 part Mocha Pearl mixed with 1 part Silver Pearl. Easy, peasy.

Click any image to enlarge!

So that's the secret to this beautiful, almost metallic taupe. It's so much prettier in real life, honest- pictures don't do it justice!

Items shown were given to me as gifts, for my own use.

NYX Ultra Pearl Manias

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

First, another thanks to Mae- I only have these to talk about because of her!

Ultra Pearl Manias are another kind of loose shadows that NYX Makes. These however, are more closely related to mica samples that you get from mineral makeup companies than proper loose shadows. The interesting thing about them is that the finishes vary from shade to shade on these Pearl Manias, some being downright metallic while others being shimmer with a more subtle sheen. You'll see what I mean.

Without some sort of primer/base adhesive, the color payoff is pretty crappy. But add in a bit of Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy, and take a look:

Much prettier, right? Like I said before, the finishes are a bit different. Mocha and Silver are definitely metallic, where as the others have various degrees of shimmer. Space and Purple both have a bit of a blue under sheen to them and Jade is quite frosty.
Now the neat thing about these Pearl Manias is that you're not just limited to using them as eyeshadow. I'll talk more about this later, but *ahem* use your imagination.
Ah! I almost forgot the best part, these go for $2.50 per vial. Talk about cheap!
Till tomorrow then!

Items shown were given to me as a gift, for my own use.

NYX Chrome Eye Shadow Review

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

These were smudged with fingerprints even after
I wiped them off, wtf?

The lovely Mae also included a few NYX Chrome shadows in her package, and I also owned a few beforehand, so I figured that it was about damn time I actually reviewed them.

The seven I have are: Pearl White, Panic, Mink, Beauty Queen, Hard Core, Chaotic and Black. They're loose powders, the finishes of which seem to vary.
Some are pearly, others are shimmery/metallic and some even have glitter.
Grr. Stupid packaging. They come with a twist off cap with a small plastic insert sitting on top of the opening. Do not throw away the insert. It's the only thing keeping the powder from getting into the nooks of the cap and becoming a huge dusty mess when you open it. I learned the hard way, can you tell?

The packaging is the only thing holding me back from buying more of these lovelies.Good news though! These loose shadows can be easily pressed with just alcohol, and they'll work just as well in pan form!
Pearl White is ... well, pearly white.
Panic is champagne shimmer.
Mink is metallic bronze gold.
Beauty Queen is lavender with glitter. Kinda chalky.
Hard Core is a shimmering teal with gold and multicolored reflects.
Black is charcoal glimmer.

They can be used as eyeliner too, with a sealer- check it out:
I highly recommend using Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy with these loose shadows. I especially love Hard Core, it's actually rather complex.
These are a pretty good buy, great for those who love MAC pigments but don't want to shell out the money.
Eh, what do you think?

NYX Champagne & Caviar Palette

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Don't look at me like that. It was an impulse buy. It had neutrals. It was also on sale at Ulta for $7.49 so I couldn't help myself. Let me start out by saying that:

-If you like bright colors and candy colored eyeshadow, this palette is not for you.

-If you want a palette that is dramatic and great for nights out, this palette is not for you.

-If you already have a ton of neutrals, this palette is not for you.

I think you get the point. I just can't stress enough that if you aren't looking for this sort of thing, then of course you won't find it palatable.

1. Frosty champagne, slightly peachy

2. White matte

3. Satin light taupe

4. Shimmer medium golden taupe

5. Matte medium rose brown

6. Matte ashy dark brown.

7. Frosty champagne (similar to #1 but more golden)

8. Pearly pink

9. Shimmery taupe with a touch of plum

10. Matte black

Well, what is this palette actually good for? I think that if you're new to neutrals (is there such a thing?) and need a decent array of eyeshadows to play with. These light brown shades are pretty good as all over the colors.

I'll be honest though, some of these shades aren't the awesome buttery NYX texture that I'm accustomed to. The shimmery/pearly shades are pretty decent but the matte shades (2, 6, 8) are not as good as the NYX singles. Shade number 2, a matte white is in fact a little chalky (Is there even a non-chalky matte out there?).

This is the kind of palette you leave in your desk at work for the days you get there late and realize you forgot to look in the mirror.

You can do a near complete eye look with just this palette. In fact, for some reason the black in this palette (while far from the best black I have ever used) is remarkably amazing as a liner. You can highlight, contour your crease and line your eyes all in one, so I think it's a great value. But it just doesn't cut it for everyday use because so many of the shades are very similar.

I do however want to check out the rest of the palettes, perhaps the colors will draw me in more.

Have any of the NYX palettes?

Edit: After a few weeks, this shadows in this palette became utterly crumbled due to the soft, airy nature of the shadows. I didn't even travel with it or anything, it just crumbled while being with other palettes in a drawer!

NYX $1 Haul- Swatches

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Today is a snow day, and with 26 inches of the fluffy stuff piled on the drive way, there's absolutely no way that I'm going to be able to go anywhere. I guess I'll finally catch up with my swatching! I don't know why I've been putting it off, I had a fun new camera to play with (not really new- my fiance lost the expensive memory chip to his expensive camera and I finally found it again) the I ordered a ton of stuff off of the NYX website when they had a $1 sale going on about 3 weeks ago and I happily received my package sometime last week. I made a quick haul video on YouTube to quickly run over what I got (you can watch this here). Here's some of the items I got:

In addition to these- I also bought 5 boxes of false lashes and a few eye liners, but unfortunately it got too dark outside to take any more pictures.

Notice how all the shadows I bought were nice neutrals and I got very few wild looking colors overall? I made myself go easy and only buy items I thought I would actually use. *pats self on back* Now, Oro Brush on Lipgloss and Honey Jumbo Lip Pencil are a whole 'nother story. The swatches online were totally inaccurate and I ended up getting a tacky orange/bronze opaque lipgloss and a poop brown jumbo lip pencil. But hey, I think I made out ok- after all everything was $1 and I liked 28/30 items. Pretty good odds.

February is now officially a No-buy month.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

I've really been meaning to try to control my spending habits, swear to Bob. I'm not going to lie, since joining MakeUpAlley, my desire for makeup has increased, exponentially. I mean, you can't crave a product if you don't know about it. But MUA creates this database of products- fabulously detailed reviews all at your fingertips. Not to mention, a continuous stream of advice from real people- the human element you just can't get when you look at ratings. But these people are also great enablers- it's a struggle to keep my habit in check and let me tell you, I'm not winning! Just this morning I stumbled out of bed and logged on to read about a Lorac bundle (which I ended up buying, of course) that seemed like a really good deal. It's the New Year's Neutrals set, and it seemed like a really good idea. Of course, it doesn't help that it's so easy to buy things online, it takes a few clicks and I have myself another package on its way. So, considering my recent larger purchases (I'm over $250 this month) I've declared Feburary a complete no buy month. I'll still do numerous EOTDs and FOTDs, hopefully this will push my creativity and really use up some of those old palettes I've been neglecting. Plus, instead of spending money on this wicked habit of mine, I think I'll use it for a nice Valentine's Day surprise for the significant other and I- he's worked really hard lately, maybe we can spend some time in our favorite little town- New Hope.
On a side note, I made a haul video about my NYX purchase that arrived today. Check it out here.