Makeup Withdrawal

Some More Polished by KPT Glitters

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Hi folks! Recently I was sent more Polished by KPT shades to show you all, so I decided to split them into two groups; glitters and thermals. Today I'm going to show you the super glitterbombs that are Crystal Ball, Disco Fever and Elle Bleu!

Elle Bleu is a mixture of various shades of blue hexes, silvery holo shards, small hex pink, small gold and black hex glitters. It looks very pretty in the bottle, and even prettier as a glitter topper. Here, I'm wearing one coat of it over Le Chat Dare to Wear Violetta.

Crystal Ball is a mix of gold and silver holo pieces in various shapes with a clear base. Very dense glitter, again just one coat is enough to top off any color. Here, I'm wearing Crystal Ball over China Glazze Traffic Jam.

I admit it, I saved my favorite for last. This is Disco Fever. It is jam packed with tiny, small and medium silver holo glitter with black hexes thrown in. The black hexes really make this polish unique! For some reason, the black reminds me of pepper. You can wear it by itself with three coats (shown) or wear it on top of other shades. Pictures don't do this scattered holo glitter justice, though I tried my best with an out of focus shot to show you the beautiful sparkle.

All three have very nicely dense glitter, so no fishing for large pieces. The formulas are also nice and smooth and do not dry very rough (I found I only needed one coat of topcoat).

These three glitters are $9 each at the Polished by KPT shop. Follow Katherine on Instagram (@polishedbykpt) for the newest updates (you HAVE to see the summer neon glitters thermals!). International folks, you can pick yours up at Shoppe Elclecticco!

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

Three Smudge Brushes at Three Price Points

Monday, June 3, 2013

One of the types of brushes that I've recently been infatuated with is the smudging brush. Short and stout with a rounded shape, it gives the user a lot of control and the ability to really pack on color. They're also great for creating smokey eyes and smudging out liner. Here are three very differently priced smudge brushes.

Let's start with the most inexpensive. Made and sold by Rite Aid, $3.99. Synthetic hairs. It looks like a duo fiber brush but that's just the coloring. The bristles are not varying sizes like a real duo fiber, but they are very soft. The least dense of the three brushes. Slightly tapered plastic handle.

Next, the Sigma E20 Short Shader. $10, natural hair. Medium density and the hairs are a bit blunt so it can feel a bit rough when smudging out color.

NARS Smudge Brush, $26. Natural hairs. The most dense out of all the brushes, softer than the Sigma.

Out of the three, my favorite is the NARS followed by the Rite Aid brush because it is very soft. The Rite Aid brush has slightly longer bristles that are more pliable than the other two. Having these two, the Sigma I could do without. However, Sephora Collection has a Pro Smudge Brush #11 that I think is VERY comparable to the NARS brush, I would most certainly call it dupe worthy as it very similar and cheaper at $18.

Have any favorite smudger brushes? The next one I have my eye on is the Laura Mercier one, because it has a smaller head than the ones I have.

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

Cirque Colors French Roast

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Recently the indie brand Cirque had a 40% off sale I couldn't resist. I had hoped to pick up two long time lemmings, French Roast and the rainbow glitterbomb XX. Unfortunately the latter wasn't in stock but I was really happy to get French Roast, I had longed for it ever since I saw it on The Swatchaholic.

Finally, French Roast was mine! I've been really into brown glitters lately. I was a bit surprised to see that French Roast was more orange in person than I was expecting. I decided to wear two coats of it over black, since the dark base would really make the glitter pop. The polish is a mixture of fine coppery glitter that flashes gold and green. There are also small dark orange hexes. The base is clear and the formula was absolutely wonderful for a glitter; very fluid and easy to apply.

It dried really matte and rough so I used one coat of Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food to smooth it out, as well as one coat of fast dry top coat. I loved this polish so much I wore it for three days (which is exceptionally long for me).

I like Cirque packaging quite a bit, the matte black logo on the bottle is a really nice touch. I also liked that there was an ingredients list, though the black printing on a dark polish and minuscule lettering makes it pretty much impossible to make out.

This is pretty much the prettiest brown polish I have ever seen! I really do enjoy wearing and I was very happy to pick up my first polish from Cirque Colors. I think the the normal prices ($12 for glitters, duochromes, shimmers and $16 for holos, I think. Site is down) are a bit too steep for me, but you can bet that if there are more sales like this I will definitely pick more up.

Cirque Colors can be purchased here. The site is currently down as the new Arcus Collection releases June 3rd. Watch the promo video, it is mesmerizing!

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

LORAC GLOgetter Palette

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Normally I don't post reviews of products as soon as I get them but since I was so impressed with this palette and I've heard that it's become hard to find, I thought swatches would be helpful for those who might want to hunt the LORAC GLOgetter Palette down.

There are ten summery shades in this palette. One matte, two satin shades, two frosts and the rest fall in the range between satin-y and shimmery.

Swatched on bare skin. From left to right, the colors are: satin sand, matte warm brown, shimmery dark peach, light shimmery orange, shimmery light teal, frosty light beige, shimmery ultramarine, shimmery mauve, a duochrome light teal/light yellow gold, a plummy satin with blue interference.

The textures are really great, silky and buttery. The colors are really interesting and perfect for warm weather. I also love that this palette is not overly warm like some LORAC palettes. Now THIS is the LORAC quality I fell in love with years ago! The pigmentation is also quite good, with the exception of the deep ultramarine shade (pigmentation isn't bad, just ok). The pans are also quite large, especially the highlight shades which are bigger than the rest of the shades.

The best part is that this palette is $20 (an Ulta exclusive). The packaging has both pros and cons for me. On one hand, I think LORAC is able to sell this palette at such a low cost because unlike other LORAC palettes, the packaging isn't super fancy. It's just plain, sturdy plastic. There also isn't a brush included (a plus for me, I abhor palettes that have a slot for a usually useless brush or sponge tipped applicator) or a mini Behind The Scenes Eye Primer included like quite a few other LORAC palettes. I also think that the construction isn't quite top notch because one of the pans in my palette was already wiggling loose when I first opened it. A couple drops of superglue fixed that, but I wanted you to be aware of it.

I think that this palette is already quite popular in a lot of areas. I was talking to a traveling brand promoter at Ulta yesterday and she told me that she had almost missed out on this palette because of the seven stores in my area, only one store had it left in stock. So if you see the LORAC GLOgetter palette, definitely snag one for yourself (and maybe a friend!).

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

Another DIY Freestyle Palette

Friday, May 31, 2013

A few years ago I made a little tutorial for a DIY freestyle palette using tins. Recently, I wanted more freestyle palettes to house my Inglot shadows (I like how their Freedom Palettes look but the general consensus is that taking shadows out to switch around is a huge pain in the ass) and my recently depotted Urban Decay Book of Shadows UD♥NYC. I also wanted bigger palettes that matched my MUFE and MAC ones, I am particularly drawn to black palettes.

I started out by ordering a empty palette from eBay. This one was like $4.50 including shipping. I bought one that held 10 36mm shadows.

As you can see, it is the exact same size and dimensions of those 10 MUFE palettes. They used to give these away for free if you bought 3 MUFE shadows or blushes at Sephora. Sure wished they still did! The only difference between these palettes (well outwardly appearance, anyhow) is that the MUFE has a matte, almost velvety texture while the cheap eBay one is just regular plastic (slightly darker in color and not quite as smooth in feel as the old MAC palettes, in case you were wondering).

All I did was to rip away the insert which is made of thin, really pliable plastic. There is glue at the bottom of the plastic which is rather annoying to remove. It took me a while to scrape this goo off, even with rubbing alcohol and a putty knife. Next time I'll try Goo Gone to see if it works better.

When it is clean, apply adhesive magnetic sheets. you might have to clip a small rectangular shape out so that the sheets fit near the closure. You can buy these sheets at Target, Walmart, near kid's craft supplies or find them at office supply stores (usually for turning photos into magnets). If you have a lot of MAC Pro pans (where there is already magnets, which do not stick all that well to the magnetic sheets) then you might consider making it a reverse palette. You'd have to buy thin sheet metal and shears (home improvement stores), cut it down to size and adhere it to the palette. Or you know, just rip off the magnets.

This palette holds shadows pretty well. I can flip it upside down and shake it and they won't fall off. However, dropping the palette on the floor will probably cause them to fall off (ok, not probably, I know this from experience. That's how my palette got a little dusty with shadows already!).

Hopefully you found that useful, if you were thinking about making freestyle palettes yourself that looked sleek and black.