Hourglass Cosmetics - Ambient Lighting Blush - Luminous Flush and Diffused Heat - Swatches

Hey everyone! I have something new and exciting to share with you all. If you follow beauty Instagrammers, you will know of the new Hourglass Cosmetics blushes infused with their very popular Ambient Lighting powders. These Powders were released last week; first on the Hourglass website and out of nowhere, it was being sold on Sephora to VIBs and VIB Rouges. I ordered mine on Sephora and received them today :D!

I'm so so soooo excited about this line. The powders look stunning and the packaging is just to die for (figuratively haha). I kind of want them all... but I must resist... *lies to self*. I do plan to pick up two more though but I'll be checking up swatches on Temptalia for the other two ;).

Personally, I own one single Ambient Lighting powder and the limited edition palette that came out during the holidays. I do not own many Hourglass product but that will definitely change soon! (Many things have been added to my wishlist ;)). I love what I own and I cannot wait to try more.

In this post, I'll have pictures of the box, outside packaging of the compact, and images of the powders. I love the marbleized "pattern" of the blush. Makes every one unique.

 Can Hourglass make their products any more gorgeous?! Seriously... They are so beautiful.

Luminous Flush

Diffused Heat

*drooling* - this is why I want to collect all 6...but I must resist the temptation!! haha

Here are the swatches of the two blushes:

I tried to capture the blushes in three different angles, which is why the lighting is a little off in every square. It's funny to see these photographed and having them look similar haha. The left one is Luminous Flush and the right one is Diffused Heat.

Luminous Flush - I think that the blush color is very slightly cool toned but the Luminous Light powder that is mixed in warms it up a lot. In the swatch, it's more of a pink-y shade. I think this is a great winter to spring transition blush.

Diffused Heat - literally love at first sight. This was one I knew I HAD to have in my collection. It's more vibrant than Luminous Light. And Hourglass describes it as a "vibrant poppy" so it's a fitting description. This shade will be perfect for Spring and Summer, without a doubt. I can see this one being a best seller or a shade that's sold out a lot.

First impression: they are SO smooth and build-able. The swatches on my arm are two "layers", this comes to show that they are build-able in opacity and do not skip or apply splotchy. I love them so far and the quality from swatching on my arm makes me love them even more.

So, have you or will you be picking up some of these blushes? If so, what shades?

Since these are a new range of blushes...what is your currently favorite formula and brand for blushes?

I'd love to know what you think in the comments.

I hope I covered everything. I wanted to get this posted as soon as possible so if I missed anything, definitely feel free to leave a comment or question :)

Have a good night/day,
Bianca xo

Hakuhodo Brushes! - My First Purchase :)

Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing well :). I'm back with something exciting. Today, I'll be talking about my first Hakuhodo brush purchase. It's been a long time coming since I've been hearing about this line of brushes for a looong time, especially on YouTube.

I purchased on the US Hakuhodo website: HakuhodoUSA.com and had no problems with my order or shipping. Shipping costs are a con for me haha; there is no minimum purchase for free shipping. It is a flat rate shipping cost passed onto customers. For US customers, it is $9 Priority USPS Shipping so after it leaves the Hakuhodo warehouse, it should arrive at your door within 2-3 business days. They ship out from California so the closer you are, the faster you will get it.

I am not the most educated about this brand but I have done plenty of research on YouTube and Beauty Blogs about the must haves from the brand. And to be honest with you, no one has a bad thing to say about this range. It is that good. What I do know for sure is that the J and G series of the Hakuhodo brushes are the most affordable. You get AMAZING quality brushes for the price and they should last you years if you take proper care of them; which I already do :). (Some of my brushes are 5 years old and still going strong :D).

For my first purchase, I picked out three eye brushes. Because as a makeup lover, you can NEVER have enough blending/eyeshadow brushes ;). The picture will have the labels and numbers if you are interested in specifics.

 There is how they come packaged. If you order a ton of brushes at once, the brushes will be shipped in a cute box instead of this pod/thingy. Either way, they package their brushes really well.

The brushes come wrapped securely in their own plastic wrap, sealed at both ends to ensure sanitation and whatnot.

Hakuhodo: J5523BkSL, G5513BkSl, and J142BkSL

 Can just admire how beautiful these are?! Seriously, they look and feel luxurious. The top and bottom brushes were $18 and the middle one was $16. So it is really nice to see brushes cost less than $20 for really nice brushes.

I'm also a sucker for white goat hair brushes simply because they look so pretty, sleek, and luxe. You don't see this very often I think and if you do they are super pricey (I'm looking at you Tom Ford....)

Here is a full on view of the brushes. They do have a shorter handle compared to Sedona Lace or MAC brushes but it is nothing too crazy or unmanageable.

The embossed Hakuhodo name is in a silver holographic design and the handles are black with a shiny finish.

I used these brushes within the past 2 weeks and I'M IN LOVE!! I love that they feel SO soft and blend out eyeshadow so seamlessly. If you can check them out in person, only at IMATS and The Makeup Show - trade shows for makeup loves and professionals, do it!! If you cannot, like me, I checked a million blogs and saw many videos reviewing this line. You will run across ones that every one love.

The only downside to Hakuhodo is that if you want to return the brushes, you CANNOT take them out of the plastic casing/wrap they come in. They state for sanitary reasons, they will not accept brushes that have been out or used at all. So I do suggest researching beforehand.

Aside from that, I already have a wishlist going for the next brushes I will be buying from Hakuhodo. I love them that much and wholeheartedly recommend.

I hope you enjoyed this and that I covered everything. If I didn't, let me know! I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have :)

Talk to you all soon,
Bianca xo

L'Oreal Extraordinaire Colour Riche Liquid Lipsticks - Rose Symphony & Blushing Harmony

Hey! Hope you are all doing well. I'm here to bring you the new liquid lipsticks from L'Oreal that have recently hit the drugstore. It is the L'Oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire liquid lipstick. 

I purchased these from Walgreens about a week ago (approximately haha) and they retail for $9.99 (plus tax). The price may vary, depends on where you purchase them. I have yet to see them at my Target or Walmart... but Walgreens was on it haha and I was able to get my hands on two. 

There are not that many blog posts talking about these liquid lipsticks so I was iffy on just randomly picking out some colors but I purchased ones that did not seem too crazy and that I knew I would wear.

In the first picture, you will see what the packaging looks like. In my opinion, it looks pretty fancy for drugstore makeup so bear in mind that the packaging will impact the pricing too :\. The only con about this is that you do not see the name of the product so if you do not remember and someone asks you what you are wearing...you won't be able to tell them haha. Which sucks but it's not the end of the world if you don't know the exact name. 

 You can see that the "swatch" is on the packaging itself plus on the sticker. I can say that it is pretty accurate.

In the second picture, below, you will find swatches of the two colors. I tried to capture different angles to show you the dimension and shine that this product has. They are opaque but not so much that you can't work with the product.

The applicator is a tear-drop shape applicator, which I personally really enjoy in lipglosses/liquid lipsticks. It holds enough product on the wand to deposit a good amount of product on your lips, so you are not constantly applying to build up the color :).

Top swatch is Rose Symphony and the bottom is Blushing Harmony (for all swatch pics)

I wore Blushing Harmony to work the other day and I can say that the wear time on these is not great. Though they don't claim to be long wearing or a stain, I half expected a staining effect (I don't know why haha). This lasted about 2 hours on my lips. All I did was drink coffee through a straw and that was it so it's not like I ate or whatever haha. I would assume that if you did eat that the lipstick would completely go away.

So do not expect these to stain or last forever. If you love the color enough and do not mind re-applying every 2 hours or so, then I would totally recommend these! -- I am not one to remembers to reapply so I tend to go for long wearing lip products or stains (that's just me personally though).

When you apply them to the lips, the product does feel thick but not sticky. I HATE sticky lipgloss so this was really nice for me. Easy to apply and not messy either. If you do not like the feeling on a thick gloss on...you might not like these. This is a personal preference kind of thing...

I would wholeheartedly recommend these if they were cheaper though (maybe on BOGO or coupons) because $10 for one drugstore lipstick... eh... I do not know how I feel about that :\. You may or may not be able to find something better in the drugstore with so many brands coming out with new and amazing products basically every month ha. Or save your money and splurge on a MAC lipstick (or whatever you want). It's up to you.

If I had to give these a rating... I would give them a B/B+. They are pretty and nicely pigmented but the short wear time and price point makes me not want to buy more :\

What do you think? Will you or have you purchased from this line? Let me know in the comments :)

Thanks again for stopping by,
Bianca xo

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Custard - Review and Swatch

Hi everyone, I'm back with another review of the NARS Radiant Creamy concealer in the shade Custard. You might recall that I reviewed the color: Ginger last month here where I said that Ginger was a concealer I could use all over my face (not as a highlighting concealer). 

I picked up Custard and Honey on Amazon (this is what I spent my textbook trade in money on btw lol). I'll be doing another review on that Honey shade, don't you worry ;). 

For this review though, we will focus on Custard. This is a yellow toned concealer good for light to medium skin tones and a shade lighter from Ginger. 

I have been using/testing out this concealer for a week now and I love this one. It's really nice under the eyes, it blends out like a dream. It never feels heavy or looks cakey when you apply it. This is my experience though. It's really long wearing, it looks like I just applied it many hours later.

The packaging is amazing and sleek. NARS knows how to package their items...seriously it looks and feels luxurious in your hand.

The wand has a doe foot/ straight-ish applicator. It's stiff but soft, so it doesn't hurt your eye area if you apply straight from the applicator to your under eye. 

Here is the swatch of the Custard concealer. I did a heavy swatch and then a blended out one. As you can see the blended out swatch almost matches the skin under my fore arm (it's quite pale there haha). My point is, haha, that it looks like skin. There is no glitter, shimmer, sheen, or anything; but it's not 100% matte. It's basically just like skin. This is why this concealer is so popular and has a huge following among beauty bloggers and YouTubers.

I hope this was helpful for you! Have you tried these NARS concealers? If not, what's your favorite concealer or one that you are coveting?

Thanks for stopping by as always,
Bianca xo

Bare Minerals Ready Eyeshadow 4.0 - The True Romantic - Spring 2014

Hey everyone, hope you are all well and happy (belated) new year! *yay*. I thought I'd share with you all a piece of the Bare Minerals Spring 2014 collection. And I must say...the packaging is GORGEOUS! And very on trend with the Rose Gold (seriously how can you not love rose gold?!).

I purchased the Ready 4.0 quad from Ulta's website. It retails for $30 USD. And it's a good value for what you get. It's so pigmented and smooth, the colors are beautiful. It was love at first sight.

Here I'll show you some pictures and swatches of the quad :)

Even the packaging is gorgeous haha

Here is the case it comes with. Soooo beautiful.

love at first sight <3

Top (L to R: Love It and Woo Is Me) - Bottom (L to R: Louder and Head Over Heels)

Here you can see the powder-iness ( this is just hand swatch, it could be different once on the lid)

Woo Is Me - powdery in the pan :\ but who cares! it's a pretty gold/pink duo chrome :D

Description of palette:
Love It - light shimmer mint-y white color. Very frosty.
Woo Is Me - "apricot pink sheen" - it's like a soft duochrome between peach-y pink and gold. It's unique in my opinion
Louder (um crazyyyy pigmented, it's insane) - it's a gold toned cooper shade, metallic finish
Head Over Heels - matte slate/taupe color

Review and Rating: (A-). The eyeshadows are incredibly pigmented and with the smooth texture of these shadows comes powderiness and a little fall out. I just received this today so I cannot say if there is fallout upon application. With simply swatching on my arm, I can tell that I'm going to love it and wear it a lot. The colors work so well together and I can see many different looks being created with this quad. I would recommend it if you don't mind the powderiness. I think if you use a nice primer or eyeshadow base, the fall out and powderiness will be minimized :).

Have you recently picked up anything from the Spring collections (drugstore or high end)? and will you be picking this quad up?

Thanks for stopping by,
Bianca xo