OPI Pirates of the Caribbean Collection Review and Swatches

Recently I purchased a few of the polishes from the OPI OPI Pirates of the Caribbean Collection. For me, personally, this is more of a Fall collection. It has very subdued, muted, dusty colors. In the Spring and Summer I prefer brighter polishes. These would be perfect for Fall/Winter time! It's a very murky polish theme, I guess because pirates are murky? lol

 

Stranger Tides- This is a light, muted, yellow green. The formula is nice and applied evenly in 2 coats.

 

Mermaid's Tears- This is a dark green. It's more of a subdued sea foam green. Again, the formula is great and was opaque in 2 coats.

 

Silver Shatter (over Mermaid's Tears)- This is a silver crackle polish. To be honest, I'm a little crackled out! Crackle here, shatter there. There's so many companies coming out with crackles that there are plenty to choose from. This shatter isn't very opaque, which is my only con with it. I do like the effect of this, it adds some sparkly, especially to the more muted colors in this collection.

Have you picked anything up from the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean Collection? How do you like it? Will you wear these colors in the Spring/Summer?

TAG: The Top 10 Award

I was tagged by the absolutely sweet and amazing Nouveau Cheap tagged me for the Top 10 Award. I'm incredibly flattered and LOVE her! If you don't already follow her blog, why not?? (hehe) She posts only about drugstore makeup and not only does she help you find amazing affordable makeup, she'll suggest coupons and deals on how to make it MORE affordable. She's not only a sweet blogger but a great friend and I highly recommend you guys check her out if you don't already love her!

Before this turns into an "I love Nouveau Cheap" serenade, let's get onto the tag!

The Rules:

1) Link back to the person who tagged you

2) Nominate 10 other bloggers

3) List your 10 favorite beauty products

I nominate:

1) Silly Lilacs

2) 15 Steps then a Beauty Blog
3) Roamy Live
4) Ebrushka's Makeup Bag
5) Chi Chi
6) Lipstick Rules
7) Polish and Pearls
8) CocoBella

9) A Lady in Love

10) It's My Life

Please check out all of these blogs, I love reading each and every one of them!

My 10 favorite beauty products:

Nouveau Cheap put in this disclaimer and I will keep it since I agree!

(I have to put a disclaimer here: my favorite products are always changing and evolving, but currently these are my can't-live-without products; some of them have been holy grail products for years, while others are newer obsessions):

1) Too Faced Silk Teddy Eyeshadow

2) Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

3) Revlon Grow Luscious Mascara

4) NARS Sheer Glow Foundation (my shade is Deauville)

5) Dermorganics Volume Foam

6) Cetaphil Cleanser

7) Revlon Super Lustrous Gloss in Peach Petal

8) Prestige Total Intensity Eyeliner

9) Essie Van D'go Nail Polish

10) Wet n Wild Nutty Eyeshadow

Phew! That was so hard to choose not only just ten products but just ten bloggers. All of these products are things I love and keep going back to. I would even go as far as to call them essentials!

What are your favorite products? Do you have absolute essentials you reach for daily?

Current Polish: Sally Hansen Delphinium & Urban Outfitters Afterhours

A sweet Twitter follower recently sent me the Sally Hansen polish in Delphinium that I have been searching for. This is from their Tracy Reese collection and is nowhere to be found! Thankfully Erinn spotted it and sent one to me. I did a manicure with this polish and an accent glitter nail!

 

left to right: Sally Hansen Delphinium, Urban Outfitters Afterhours

 

Sally Hansen Delphinium- This is a gorgeous dusty lavender with a bit of mauve to it. If you are tired of bright spring/summer colors, this is a great color to change it up! This was 2 coats. 

 

I also added a glitter nail on my ring finger with Urban Outfitters Afterhours. I don't usually do an accent nail, lately I have been taking Nicole by OPI Make a Cometment and painting it over every nail. The Urban Outfitters polish seemed to match the Sally Hansen polish because it looks to have a purple tone to it. It's really a sheer, rainbow glitter and reminds me a bit of the Nicole by OPI, except the glitter particles are bigger. It also has some red/purple glitter, it's a nice multidimensional glitter.

Have you tried any of these polishes? If so, how do you like them? What's on your nails right now?

Sigma F80 Giveaway WINNER

Thank you to everyone who entered my Sigma F80 Giveaway! I loved reading all of your entries. I have chosen a winner through random.org.

Congratulations, Neny!!

I have already emailed the winner to the email she provided so Neny, please reply back with your address as soon as you can.

Thank you again to everyone that entered! I wish I could give all of you a prize. =]

WetnWild Comfort Zone Eyeshadow Palette Review and Swatches

If you saw my rave review about the WetnWild Walking on Eggshells post or heard me mention WetnWild's Nutty eyeshadow 500,000 times, you can probably guess that I love WetnWild eyeshadows. I think the quality and pigmentation is amazing and one of the best products I have tried (not just in the drugstore!). Today I have a review and some swatches of the Comfort Zone Eyeshadow Palette. Here is my review and giveaway video on this palette:



Please enter only in the comments of the video.

The eyeshadow palette is absolutely amazing. The pigmentation is the same creamy, soft consistency of shadows that are in their trios. I love that the consistency is consistent throughout the palette. Sometimes palettes have some shadows that are crappy/not very pigmented but this palette does not have a single dud. The colors are neutral, earthy toned so I was all over it. Not only are there neutral colors, but there are some green toned ones in case you want to do a colored look too.

WetnWild Comfort Zone Eyeshadow Palette

earth tones galore!

Swatches (as they appear in each row in the order of the palette, left to right):

Browbone colors

Eyelid colors

Crease colors

Definer colors

I highly recommend this palette and WetnWild shadows in general. You can find the 8-pan palettes at Walgreens for $5.

Have you purchased any of the WetnWild 8-pan Eyeshadow Palettes? What do you think of them? Will you be picking up the Comfort Zone Palette?

MAC Haul: Surf Baby and Permanent (Swatches and Comparisons)

I recently took advantage of a 20% off birthday coupon to Henri Bendel and treated myself to some MAC goodies. I picked up a few things from the Surf Baby collection and from their permanent range.Here is my haul video followed by some swatches and comparisons:



First up are the Surf Baby items, I only bought 2 eyeshadows.

 

left to right: Short Shorts, Swell Baby

 

swatches: (left to right) Short Shorts, Shroom, Nylon 

Short Shorts is almost identical to Nylon! (oops)

 

swatches: (left to right) Swell Baby, Groundcover (from Fashion Flower), Bough Grey (from Liberty of London)

 I also picked up some items from the permanent range that I have been eyeing.

 

left to right: All That Glitters, Quarry

 

swatches: (left to right) All That Glitters, Quarry 

 

left to right: Oyster Girl Lipglass, Pink Lemonade Lipglass

 

 swatches: (left to right) left to right: Oyster Girl Lipglass, Pink Lemonade Lipglass

I'm pretty happy with everything I got! They are definitely colors that I will get a lot of use out of.

By the way, don't forget to check out my Sigma F80 brush giveaway!

Have you picked anything up from the MAC Surf Baby collection? What do you think of it? What are your favorite MAC items?

Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki Brush Review and GIVEAWAY [CLOSED]

I have a very exciting post today, a review of the Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki Brush AND a giveaway for one of you! This is actually my first blog giveaway so I am so excited to give back to you wonderful readers. I have heard about the Sigma F80 brush from many Youtubers raving about it. When I was given the opportunity to try the brush and potentially do a giveaway with one, I jumped at the chance! I not only knew that I wanted to try this raved about product, but the fact that I could do a giveaway sealed the deal. Now that I have had about 2 months to try it, here's my verdict: I LOVE IT! Stay tuned for the giveaway further down!

I have been using the F80 with my NARS Sheer Glow foundation. I was previously only using my fingers for this foundation. After using this brush for the first time, I found that it is quicker to use my hands and that the brush takes a bit more time. However, the brush gave a bit of a more natural look with the foundation.After the first few times  It did not soak up any of the product as some brushes might do. The edges of the brush are also great for precise areas of the face like around my nose. If I wanted to add concealer to any blemishes, I patted it in with the brush and it worked great!

I use this brush with a downward motion mainly. I dot on the foundation throughout my face and then use the brush to blend it in. The flexiblility of the brush also allows me to easily spread it down my jawline to blend the color down. I also found this brush worked better at applying the foundation to my forehead than my fingers. I have combination/oily skin and my forehead gets dry. The F80 helped the foundation glide along the dry skin without catching on any dryness.

Pictures:

 

Behold the magical foundation brush!

 

Flat Top Synthetic Kabuki - F80

I have been keeping this brush in my on the go makeup bag and usually the MAC brush label would have started to wear off, but this one is intact! Also, it is synthetic hair, which is great for those of you that do not prefer to use animal hair brushes.

 

This is what the actual brush looks like. It is dark haired mostly and then white on top. Usually it is white but mine has gotten lots of use!

 

It is a pretty dense brush without being too dense. It has a perfect amount of give without being floppy.

 

The face brush also comes with a brush guard which I have been loving. Since it has been in my on the go makeup bag, the brush guard has helped it retain its shape and not get squashed by the other products in the bag.

You can purchase this brush through Sigma Beauty for $16.

Sigma was generous enough to also offer one for a giveaway for one of you guys to win the F80 brush. After I tried the brush and fell in love with it, I HAD to do one! I knew there was an option to do a giveaway when I got the brush but I had to make sure I liked it first. Now that I love the brush, I absolutely want to do a giveaway with it!

Giveaway [GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!]:

One reader will win the Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki Brush. Sigma will be shipping the prize.

Since this is my first giveaway, I borrowed Nouveau Cheap's method of entry for her giveaways with her permission. Thank you, G!

RULES:

1. Giveaway begins today, June 1, 2011 and ends Wednesday, June 8, 2011 at 11 PM EST.

2.. If you are under the the age of 18, make sure you have parental permission to give your address to Sigma in case you win.

3. There will be 3 ways to enter, each way counts as an entry for a MAXIMUM of 3 entries per person. Please include which of the entries you have done in one comment!

Entry #1: Leave a comment and tell me why you would like to win the Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki Brush.
Entry #2: Be a follower of the blog through Google Friend Connect. The link is on the right hand side of my blog under Followers, located under the Categories section. I should be able to see you in the list.
Entry #3: Follow me on twitter @cutegingerbread and tweet the following: "Enter to win a Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki Brush from @cutegingerbread http://bit.ly/kHnj80 " Please include your twitter name in the comment.

4. Leave your email address in the comment so that I can contact you if you win.

5. Giveaway will be open Internationally to all readers.

Good luck to those entering!

FTC: I received this brush for free through the Sigma Affiliate Program and this post includes an affiliate link through the program, which anyone can enter. The brush that is being sent to the winner is being provided by Sigma. I truly love this brush and even though I received it for free, I would not give it a positive review and agree to give one away unless I did really like it.