Cutiegingerbread Beauty Ballot #2

Thank you so much to everyone for voting in my first ever Cutiegingerbread Beauty Ballot! It was so interesting to see the different answers and what categories got more votes. I am really excited to make this a regular thing.

Last week's question was "What types of products do you stick to once you've found your favorite?" My personal choices are Skincare, Foundation, Concealer, Eyeliner, and Mascara. These are all things that I have found my Holy Grail products in and am not too interested in experimenting in others. (Eyeshadow and nail polish, on the other hand, is a whole different story!)

The results where very interesting and seemed to resemble what I feel like my HG "stick to" products are. Here are the highest scoring top 5 categories:

1. Skincare- 22.34%
2. Foundation- 19.15%
3. Concealer- 13.83%
4. Mascara- 9.57%
5. Eyeliner- 8.51%

From the results, I can see that those that were the highest scoring categories were the "basic" items that would most likely be "staples" in the person's makeup bag. As ShaGlam said, the basic stuff "isn't really 'fun' to buy". Ashleigh also added the phrase "if it works, it stays". I can definitely see that things like eyeshadows, blushes, and lipsticks are more fun to buy and use a variety of. Of course, everyone is different and each category received at least two votes. There are people that find it exciting to try out different foundations, skincare, etc. and don't really stick to a general favorite.

Thank you again to everyone that voted. I hope these polls are as interesting for you as they are for me! Here is the Cutiegingerbread Beauty Ballot  #2:




Personally, I do my eye makeup first, then face, then lips. I do so in case there is fall out from the eyeshadow I'm using. Once I finish my eye makeup, doing my foundation, concealer, etc. just ties everything together.

Do you have any suggestions for the Cutiegingerbread Beauty Ballot questions? What do you think of the new feature?

Product Rant: Yes To Cucumbers Facial Towlettes

I usually don't like to rant about products. Like most makeup products, what works for some may not work for others. This is the case with the Yes To Cucumbers Facial Towlettes. From the reviews of these makeup wipes, it's either love or hate. It works great for some people but I'm in the "hate" group. I know hate is a strong word but this product did absolutely nothing for me.

These wipes come with 30 towlettes. The packaging is like a regular makeup wipes packaging in the plastic-y container but this packaging has the flip top closure. I like that a lot better than the sticker closure many others have because the sticker gets weaker as you open and close it over time. I think that's the only plus I can think of (eek).

The sticker on the inside is really cute. But it's evil, don't fall for it's tricks!

First of all, the smell is supposed to be like cucumbers. It's ok but gets clawing. Of course scent is a very personal thing, but I'm not usually sensitive to them so if it bothered me, then it will probably bother others.

Because of the winter, my cheeks have apparently become a little sensitive. I never even noticed until I wiped these horrible monsters on my face and the sensitive area burned. Owie =[

The main reason I didn't like (and used "hate") these towlettes is because when I say they didn't do anything for me, I mean it. They did NOTHING. My skincare routine consists of makeup wipe to remove all makeup, then cleanse, tone, moisturize. These wipes removed almost no makeup and if you try hard to remove your makeup, you have to rub hard and irritate your skin. When I tried to remove my mascara, nothing came off (NADA!).

In an attempt to use these up and not waste my money, I've been using them when I have been doing swatches for the blog. Sucking up the smell issue, they barely take off the swatches unless I rub kinda hard. Then my hand is red and I hate them more.

Like I said, different things work for different people. Some people LOVE these and some don't. This is just my opinion, though so if it does work for you...sorry I called them evil =]

Do you use the Yes To Cucumbers Facial Towlettes? How do they work for you?

Cutiegingerbread Beauty Ballot #1- VOTE!

I wanted to add a new feature to the blog, a weekly poll. One of my favorite bloggers, Nouveau Cheap, does a weekly question and I always scroll through the answers to see what others reply. For me it seems like a fun way to continue the interaction and see what everyone's different answers are! I wanted a fun name for it if it'll be weekly and thank you to Ash for the idea of "Beauty Ballot".

Here is the first one:






Thank you so much for taking the time to vote! If you want, I can do a follow up in a week about the most popular answers. 

For me there are definitely products that if I find the right one, I stick to it and don't venture out to buy other types.
1. Skincare: I've had the same skincare routine for about 2 years now and it's worked great for me.
2. Face Products: I usually stick to the same Foundation, Concealer, and Bronzer
3. Eyeliner: I'm not a fan of having tons of eyeliners and the ones I use, I really like for their quality and lasting power. I have a few colored liners but rarely use them.

Eyeshadow and nail polish is my weakness! Even though I have tons I love buying knew ones and experimenting.


What do you think of the Cutiegingerbread Beauty Ballot? Do you have any suggestions for future poll questions?

MAC Peacocky Haul, Swatches, and Comparisons

I was so excited to check out the new MAC Peacocky Mega Metal Shadows. I really liked the formula and texture and them, however some of the colors aren't too original. I did my best to control myself and get colors that I would use and are unique to my collection.

Here is my haul:.



Pictures:

top row: (left to right) Dalliance, Prance

bottom row: (left to right) Unflappable, Centre Stage

Prance- This is a pinky champagne color (clearly I can't have enough of them!) The pigmentation and texture is so smooth and amazing.

Dalliance- This is a golden shade with a hint of olive. Again, amazing pigmentation and texture.

Centre Stage- This is a chocolate brown with some red shimmer to it. You know what I'll say, great pigmentation and texture!

Unflappable- This shade is a deep dark purple. This is one of the sheerer shades of the ones I got. Though it still has the soft texture, it seems like more matte and harder to swatch unless you build it up. I hope it's one of those shades that's better in use than swatched.

top row: (left to right)  Prance, Dalliance

bottom row: (left to right) Centre Stage, Unflappable

 

I also wanted to do some comparisons to things I already have. This can both give you an idea of what the color is like compared to other shades and possible dupes.

left to right: Prance, Stila Kitten, Too Faced Silk Teddy

left to right: Dalliance, Nylon, L'Oreal HIP Duo in Electrified (left champagne shade)

left to right: Centre Stage, Mulch, Milani Java Bean, Satin Taupe

left to right: Unflappable, Wet n Wild Sugar Plum Fairy Holiday Palette (brown shade), MAC Mystery

Overall, I'm happy with what I purchased. I haven't used any of them yet but have high hopes. They retail for $19.50 and are larger than the regular MAC eyeshadows. To be honest, I'd be happy with a regular sized shadow. I highly recommend you guys check out this collection and see what you like!

Will you be checking out the MAC Peacocky Collection? Have your already hauled from it? What are your must haves?

A Little Blog Update

I started thinking about how to improve this blog and make it more enjoyable and user friendly for you guys. Ever since I have gotten more inpspired to work on my blogs and make posts, I wanted to make this blog as interesting as I can.

I have seen tags at the bottom of posts on many blogs but had never thought about them until I started posting more. Tags are an easy way for readers to navigate the blog to see posts under specific categories. I have just added tags to all my relevant blog posts! All the tags on my blog can be found on the right hand sidebar under "Categories". Thanks to the feedback from my twitter followers, I decided it was a very helpful features for my blog. I hope it makes browsing the blog quicker and easier!

I want to add even more features that will benefit the blog. One of the ideas that came to mind was maybe a weekly poll. I love Nouveau Cheap 's polls and love seeing the results of what people think. Let me know if this is something you guys would like to see and would enjoy. Also, please feel free to provide any feedback or ideas that you have to help the blog be better. =] This blog is something that I not only get enjoyment out of but something I do to benefit you guys so any improvements or additions to it would hopefully help you and other readers!

What do you think of the "category" feature? Does it help your browsing? Do you have any suggestions or feedback for the blog?

Glamour Doll Eyes Review and Swatches (Picture Heavy!)

I had previously made an order with Glamour Doll Eyes and was sent some eyeshadows for free a few months ago. And then I made another order, so I definitely have the view of someone that is a customer and someone that was sent products. Here is my review video:



Pictures:

These are the six shadows that I received for free.

top row, left to right: Skin of a Killer, Graves in May, Behind the Scenes

bottom row, left to right: Picture Whore, Show Off, The Perfect Cure

Skin of a Killer- The site describes this as a "pale pearly white with gold sparkle". This is a sheer, sparkly white color. I loved using this in the inner corner for intense eye brightening. The red lid means it's from the Twilight collection.

Graves in May- The site describes this as a "grey with pink undertones and multi colored shimmer". This is a really pretty smokey eye color. For some reason, on me the undertones really came out when I used it dry and the shade turned a hot purple color. I didn't have the problem when I used it wet though.

Behind the Scenes is a classic "Yuliya" color. The site describes it as a "metallic-ish brown with gold and bronze sparkle". It's a gorgeous netural lid color.

Picture Whore is described as a " light metallic-ish pink with black undertones and silver sparkle". This color is a really pretty purple toned color. This is another color that gave me issues though. For some reason, it turned hot pink on my lid when it was dry, but was normal when used wet.

Show Off is a "medium sparkly brown". This reminds me of MAC's Mulch and Tempting. Those shades and this color are amazing when used in the outer corner and crease. I was previously nervous about using a loose shadow in the crease but this worked very nicely with no fallout.

The Perfect Cure is another Twilight Shadow. It's described as a "medium brown with a low sheen, almost matte, with a tiny bit of gold and green sparkle". It's another amazing golden lid color like Behind the Scene but The Perfect Cure has less shimmer.

Swatches

top row, left to right: Skin of a Killer, Graves in May, Behind the Scenes

bottom row, left to right: Picture Whore, Show Off, The Perfect Cure

Recently, Glamour Doll Eyes had a "jar makeover". The old jar is on the left and the new one is on the right. The new jar has a different design and the name of the color is no longer on the lid. The products are the same, but the packaging was revamped. 

On the new jars, the name of the shade is on the bottom.

These are the colors I had purchased myself in a recent order.

left to right: Dazzle Me, Katie's Storm, Chocoholic, Pistol Pistol

Dazzle Me- This is a gorgeous neutral subtle lid shade. It's described as a "light beigish sheen with silver shimmer". This color was inspired by Michele1218, one of my favorite enablers.

Katie's Storm- This is described as a "light to medium gray with a bit of sparkle". This is a nice, light grey color that would work nicely for a smoked out eye.

Chocoholic- This shade is described as a "deep brown copper color". Since I used some of the other colors in the crease without any trouble or fall out, I wanted to get another dark, chocolate brown to use it for that. This brown has lots of red tones to it.

Pistol Pistol: This shade is described as a "blackened silver (almost gunmetal) with multi colored shimmer, but mainly red shimmer". It's a gorgeous gunmetal, smokey color.

Swatches

left to right: left to right: Dazzle Me, Katie's Storm, Chocoholic, Pistol Pistol

Overall, I highly recommend Glamour Doll Eyes. I love the quality of the shadows and that even though thy are loose shadows, you get no fallout. All of the shade descriptions I used it from the website. It's nice to have accurate descriptions so that you can get what you expected when you receive your order. Also, the customer service is amazing. Any problem or question I had, Vee, the owner, was more than happy to help on twitter.

If you are ordering, I recommend being patient since it is just one person working on everything. In a way, it's refreshing to know you are getting something handmade and done by one person and not something massly produced by many people.

You can buy GDE products at http://glamourdolleyes.com/.

Will you be checking out the site?  Have you tried GDE already and love it as much as I do?

MAC Peacocky & Mickey Contractor (Info & Wishlist)

I have done this before with some other MAC collections on this blog where I post the info of the collection and highlight what I'm wanting. I have been meaning to do this but haven't had the time. But the good news is both the MAC Peacocky and Mickey Contractor are available online now!! I am definitely more excited for Peacocky and will do my best to exercise self control =] 

I have highlighted in pink what I am lusting after. I'm not too interested in the lip colors but the neutral mega metal shadows are SCREAMING my name! Temptalia already has swatches here of the collection.

MAC Peacocky Collection for Spring 2011

U.S. Launch Date: January 6th, 2011

Kissable Lipcolour ($18.00 U.S. / $21.50 CDN) (Limited Edition)

• Enchantée Light blue pink
• Exxxhibitionist Red-toned coral
• Flaunting It Grey mauve
• Love Peck Blackened blood red
• Peacocky Sky blue with red pearl
• Scandelicious Blue fuchsia
• So Vain Muted dirty coral
• Strut Your Stuff Bright true red
• Super Muted neutral brown
• Temper Tantra Mid-tone reddish brown
• Vanity Fair Mid-tone blue pink
• Woo Me Light pinky nude

Mega Metal Shadow ($19.50 U.S. / $23.50 CDN) (Limited Edition)

• Centre Stage Frosted chocolate brown
• Dalliance Light champagne
• Dandizette Navy with silver pearl
• Ego Forest green
• Mating Call Dirty frosted violet
• Noir Plum True purple with silver pearl
• Odalisque Deep teal
• Paparazz-she Deep copper bronze
• Peek-at-You Frosted yellow white
• Prance Frosted mauve pearl
• Sexpectations Metallic burgundy
• Spectacle of Yourself Deep bronze
• Top of the Posh Frosted white pink
• Tweet Me Gold bronze
• Unflappable Frosted black with purple pearl

Source

The other collection out is the Mickey Contractor one. I'm not too thrilled about this one but I'll post the info for you guys anyway. It's geared toward natural beauty but I keep hearing the pigmentation isn't that great. I'm going to pass on this one. Temptalia has swatches here of the collection. Natural makeup doesn't mean poor quality, MAC. 

It says that this collection is for select stores so I'm not sure if it will be available at your local MAC store but it is online!

MAC and Mickey Contractor Collection

U.S. & International Launch Date: January 6th, 2011 at limited MAC locations, 1.800.588.0070 and www.maccosmetics.com.  International January 2011 – locations unknown at this time.

Lipstick ($14.50 U.S. / $17.50 CDN)

• Yash Deep neutral (Matte) (Limited Edition)
• Mehr Dirty blue pink (Matte) (Limited Edition)
• Gulabi Bright fuchsia (Amplified) (Limited Edition)
• Mocha Peachy yellow-brown (Satin) (Permanent)

Lipglass ($14.50 U.S. / $17.50 CDN)

• Flesh Dirty nude brown (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• Lust Soft muted pink (Frost) (Permanent)

Athma Eyeshadow Quad($36.00 U.S. / $40.00 CDN)

• Folie Reddish-plum brown (Satin) (Permanent)
• Carbon Matte black (Matte) (Permanent)
• Jaan Light neutral with soft gold pearl (Lustre) (Limited Edition)
• Vivah Brown with gold pearl (Lustre) (Limited Edition)

Eyeshadow ($14.50 U.S. / $17.50 CDN)

• Saffron Deep coral caramel (Satin) (Limited Edition)
• Rani Bright fuchsia with soft pink pearl (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• Marvel Deep purple with soft pink pearl (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• Oomph Forest green with soft gold pearl (Veluxe Pearl) (Limited Edition)

Fluidlines, blushes, and more + photos!

Fluidline ($15.00 U.S. / $18.00 CDN)

• Ivy Bright green (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• Siahi Deep turquoise blue (Frost) (Limited Edition)

Blush ($18.50 U.S. / $21.50 CDN)

• Gana Bright white gold (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• Sur Dirty rose brown (Satin) (Limited Edition)

Studio Fix Fluid Foundation ($26.00 U.S. / $31.00 CDN)

• NC41, NC43.5, NC44.5 (Limited Edition)

Moisturecover Concealer ($16.50 U.S. / $20.00 CDN)

• NC23, NC43, NC44, NC45.5 (Limited Edition)

Moisturecover Double-End Concealer ($21.00 U.S . / $24.50 CDN)

• Coral Corrector/Yellow Corrector (Limited Edition)

Brushes

• 219 Pencil Brush ($24.50 U.S. / $29.50 CDN) (Permanent)
• 239 Eye Shader ($24.50 U.S. / $29.50 CDN) (Permanent)
• 116 Blush Brush ($32.00 U.S. / $38.50 CDN) (Permanent)

Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Powder ($22.00 U.S. / $27.00 CDN) (Permanent)

Source

MAC currently has a free shipping code of LASH which will probably help any of you making orders from the site! Happy Shopping!

What do you think of these collections? Does anything catch your eye? If you hauled already, what did you buy?