Sephora+PANTONE UNIVERSE Color of the Year: Marsala!

In late December, Pantone announced the color of the year: Marsala. Last year's color was Radiant Orchid, and while it's a very pretty shade, it can be a little intimidating for makeup, so I was so excited to see a deep, wine color for this year. It's very versatile and the red-brown hue can easily be worn on any skin tone and look amazing. 

 In collaboration with Pantone, every year Sephora releases a collection based on the color of the year, and this year I picked up a couple of things that really caught my eye. The first thing I grabbed was the Color of the Year Facets of Marsala eyeshadow palette. Last year's palette was a lot bigger with bigger eyeshadow pans, but I didn't like how there were only two orchid shades and the other colors just didn't mesh well with orchid. 

The palette this year, albeit smaller, has 24 shades that all complement each other, with a few surprising pops of color. The palette itself is a pretty gold metallic plastic case, with a full sized mirror inside. There are four true Marsala shades, each with a different finish which I really love. This palette is all about earthy rich tones. The middle two columns are all warm Marsala based shades, the left two are warmer golden shades and the right two columns are cooler tones. A few of the shadows are quite chalky, patchy, and a little hard to blend, but the rest make up for it. There is a nice mix of mattes, shimmer and Velvet shades with a few metallics thrown in too. Pigmentation is amazing for this palette, with one swipe giving full color payoff when I swatched it on most of the shadows. 

Autumn Blonde, Toasted Nut, Marsala (matte), Marshala (satin), Shifting Sand, Cocoa Brown

Burro, Deep Taupe, Marsala (metallic), Marsala (glitter), Kelp, Dusty Olive

Desert Mist, Butterum, Macaroon, Chutney, Nimbus Cloud, Moonlight Blue

Carob Brown, Bracken, Russet, Hot Chocolate, Castor Grey, Red Mahogany

The other thing I picked up was the Color of the Year Marsala Layering Lip Collection. It's a collection of five chubby lip cream pencils meant to hydrate, tint and plump lips. 

 

The shades are all complementary shades to Marsala, with Marsala being one of them. They're super hydrating, just as advertised and they feel nice on the lips without being too waxy or slippery like most balms. They're pretty sheer, but once layered, the color intensifies, but still looks quite natural. I've been loving Muted Clay and Rose Dawn especially. 

Marsala, Dusty Cedar, Canyon Clay, Rose Dawn, Muted Clay

The packaging again is super nice, each pencil is golden with a clear cap and they come housed in the usual Sephora + Pantone Universe style, a white box with a see through Marsala-tinted sleeve. 

Overall I'm super impressed with this new collection. I talked myself out of getting the blush set unfortunately, but I'm pleased with these two products. I can definitely see myself using the palette in my every day routine and a few of the balms have already found a home in my purse for on-the-go. 

What are your thoughts on 2015's color of the year? What kinds of Marsala inspired goodies are on your wish list? Let me know in the comments, I love hearing feedback from you guys!

xoxo

LivforLashes

A lot of the Color of the Year products are sold out on Sephora's website :( but if you use the "search for in store" option, I found quite a few of the products still available! 

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Email: liv_2008@icloud.com

Fresh Face Makeup

Recently I tried the new GlamGlow ThirstyCleanse daily cleanser and it completely dried out my face. I mean straight up burned the top layer of skin. For over a week I had bright red, painful peeling skin. Not a pretty visual I'm sure, but any who, Sunday was the first day that I could actually use foundation without my face burning. I wanted a simple makeup look with the focus being on luminous skin, a very fresh faced brightening look. 

In this post I'm going to show you how I got from the left to the right :)

So as you can see, my face was still quite red and dry. The first thing I did was moisturize with my Clarins Beauty Flash Balm. It's nice and thick and doesn't leave my skin greasy, and it's meant to tighten, moisturize and brighten the skin. Then I immediately went in with my Loreal Lumi Magic primer. This will brighten up my skin, which was looking pretty dull. 

For foundation, I decided to use Nars Sheer Glow. It has a pretty dewy, almost satin, finish on me. Matte foundations tend to dull the skin a bit so I wanted to stay away from that. 

I concealed under my eyes and highlighted a little with Nars Creamy Concealer in Honey. I didn't use powder to set the foundation, but I did set the concealer with a bit of BareMinerals Well-Rested. 

To add a healthy glow to the skin, I used a fluffy brush to sweep Nars Laguna bronzer into the outer parts of my face and cheeks. 

I wanted a blush with a bit of shimmer, again for added glow, so I swept a little Benefit Coralista blush on to the apples of my cheeks. 

I then filled in my brows with Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Soft Brown. 

Moving on to the eyes, i used my It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty palette, and I went very simple. First I applied a light matte shadow (Love) to the lid. 

Then I blended a slightly darker shade (Soft Light) in the crease, for a bit of definition. 

To define the lash line some, I grabbed my angled brush and created a wing with some darker shadow (Java mixed with Iconic). 

Then, I blended out that line to really soften it up. 

To brighten up the inner corner, I packed on a frosty pink eyeshadow. For this I used my L'oreal Infallible Shadow in Always Pearly Pink. 

Then I lined my lower lash line with the Rimmel Scandal Eyes nude liner. I didn't want black eyeliner, since black can really make your eyes look smaller and not as bright, but white can also tend to look a little off.

I added a few coats of mascara to finish off the eyes. 

To finish the entire look, I used a soft pink lipstick, Buttercup from Gerard Cosmetics. 

I topped that off with Buttercream lip gloss, also from Gerard Cosmetics. 

And that does it for this brightening makeup look! It's super easy and soft for everyday wear. It's simple and pretty and definitely good for if a fresh-faced, minimal makeup look is what you want. 

Let me know how you like this full-face makeup post! I usually do just the eyes, but I really enjoyed writing this up for you guys!

Have a good day everyone!

xoxo

LivforLashes

Products Mentioned:

Clarins Flash Beauty Balm

L'oreal Lumi Magic Primer

Nars Sheer Glow Foundation

Nars Creamy Concealer

BareMinerals Well-Rested 

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Benefit Coralista Blush

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz

It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty eyeshadow palette

L'oreal Infallible Eyshadow

Gerard Cosmetics Buttercup lipstick

Gerard Cosmetics Buttercream lipgloss

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Email: liv_2008@icloud.com

Ipsy January Glam Bag Review

Hey guys! So I thought it'd be fun to do a monthly feature doing a review and swatch type of deal with my Ipsy bags! If you don't know what Ipsy is, it's a beauty sample subscription service where you take an online quiz and they send you five deluxe samples of products to try each month, and they come in a cute little cosmetic bag for only $10. The samples are chosen based on your quiz for the most part and throughout that month, you get discounts emailed to you from the companies sponsoring ipsy that month. It's a good starter subscription if you don't want to try other options like BoxyCharm which runs about $20ish. One downside is that there is a wait list. I got off the wait list immediately by subscribing to the ipsy stylists' YouTube channels and some other little tasks, but if you don't want to do that, it can take weeks or even a month or two to get off the wait list. There is a referral code you can use though to get off the wait list, I'll list mine down below if you are interested. 

Some months I've gotten all makeup, and some months I've gotten more skin care or hair products. I like how it's a good mix of products and if there is a month that I'm disappointed in, well it's only ten dollars so I don't sweat it too much. 
 

Each month is a different "theme" and for January it was "Fresh Start." The bag for this month is a vinyl-faux leather pouch, one side white the other side blue, with a red zipper. It's a little boring and not my taste, but still a good sturdy little bag. 

 

The first item I pulled out of the bag is this pink Elizabeth Mott All Over Shadow Brush. I've barely heard of this brand, but the brush seems pretty soft. The bristles are densely packed, so ideally it's good for packing in shadow to the lid. I test washed this brush twice and there's no shedding and it did do a good job of placing and blending out eyeshadow. 

The next item is a single eyeshadow by Pacifica in the shade Treasure. Pacifica is one of my favorite drugstore eyeshadow brands so I actually really like this. This shade is a pretty bronze shimmer shade and it's super pigmented too. 

 

Next is this Nourish Organics Renewing Eye Cream. I tried this brand's facial wash thanks to Ipsy and really enjoyed it so I was pretty excited to try this out. It's made with avocado oil, Argan oil and Shea butter, perfect for hydrating which is good for me since I'm so dry right now.

 The next item is this BellaPierre Cosmetics Shimmer Powder. This is a new brand for me, but I really like this loose power. It's a super pigmented white/silver shimmer, perfect for a hint of shimmer on the lid or inner corner, and I even tried it out mixed into my foundation to illuminate and it looked gorgeous. 

The last item in this month's bag is a mojito lip balm by Malin+Goetz. Just in the two days I've been using this, my lips are so smooth and hydrated so this is  definitely a product I would considering purchasing. 

So overall, I'd say this month's glam bag was worth the $10. There's a few products I like and maybe even one or two I'd go out and buy. What about you? Are you an ipsy subscriber? What were some of the things you received this month?

xoxo

LivforLashes

Ipsy referral code:

http://www.ipsy.com/r/9gn1?sid=ipsypoints&cid=email

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Email: liv_2008@hotmail.com

Colourpop Super Shock Shadows | Review + Swatch

This last year, you've probably heard of Colourpop Cosmetics somewhere. They've been all over Instagram and YouTube and EVERYONE have been raving about them. Their shadows are known for they're unique consistency and super opaque pigmentation. And their lipsticks, or Lippie Stix, are also spot on with the formulation and wear. 

Recently, I made two orders from Colourpop and at first I intended to do both orders for one post. But then I realized that it would be a VERY long post. Instead, I'm going to do the Lippie Stix and the Super Shock shadows in separate posts. 

For my original order, I picked out ten shades that really intrigued me either for the color, or the finish. A lot of their shadows have some kind of sparkle or duo chrome finish. My second order was right after Colourpop released they matte shades, so I picked them up as well. 

First with the packaging, each pan of shadow comes in a white plastic container with a screw on cap, with a holographic "Colourpop" on the lid. The pans are pretty decent size, bigger than a MAC shadow but slightly smaller than say a Stila single shadow. The packaging is a little bulky, since you can't depot these without ruining the formula, so that is slightly inconvenient for storage purposes. The shadows themselves are pressed in the pans with a scale effect. The really unique thing about these is the formula. The shadows feel almost like a sponge. Just barely dipping your finger in and it's loaded up with the product. They feel almost creamy but apply feeling like a powder. 

Let's look at the shades I bought. Just a heads up, there's 17 shades total. 

The first shade I bought was Bill. This is one of the newer matte shades. It's a dusty rose color in the pan and applies very smooth and easy to blend. This is a perfect transition shade. 

The next shade is Hanky Panky. Very similar to MAC Soft Brown, this one is also a matte shade, more warm than Bill. 

Next up is Play. This is more orange toned than Hanky Panky. It's very similar to MakeupGeek's Peach Smoothie. This is another matte shade. 

I was immediately drawn to Hustle because I'm obsessed with wine and cranberry colors. This one has slight (very slight) shimmer in it, almost a satin, and it's buildable.  

Cheeky is very similar to Shell from the Venus Palette. It's a peachy salmon color with subtle iridescent shimmer and it's so pretty for a lid color.  

Getting into the more shimmery and glittery shades, Amaze is a very pretty bronze-gold shade. These are super pigmented and best applied with a finger for the most color/shimmer payoff. 

Following that is Fringe. I LOVE this one. It's a cool toned gold with light gold reflects, perfect for the lid or inner corner. 

Next up is So Quiche. This one look more bronze in the pan and it has these beautiful purple reflects in it. It comes off as more of a super shade when swatched. 

Sequin is a copper shade with copper and gold reflects and this just screams smokey eye to me. The little glitters do fall out a little though. 

Hammered is a khaki green color, earthy and warm. It has gold reflects throughout and this one is one of my favorites. 

Bae is another one of those deceiving shades. It looks navy brown, or like a dupe for MAC Blue Brown pigment in the pan but when swatched I was happily surprised to find a purple shadow full of blue reflects.

I bought Rex totally because of Desi Perkins. She used it in a recent video (watch it here) and it looked amazing. It's even prettier in person. It's a black based shadow with multidimensional blue shimmers. 

Envy is Bae's purple cousin. It's also black based, but with the most amazing purple shimmers in it. It is like a toned down, less silver version of MAC's Black Grape pressed pigment. 

Next is Fantasy. I bought this for reasons unknown because the color just totally caught my eye. It's a super bright fuchsia shadow with fuchsia reflects. Super pigmented and such a fun color. 

Sugar is another one that instantly caught my eye. It looks like a grey based light blue and when swatches it's a really pretty icy blue shade. 

Chipper is next and it totally reminds me of that perfect mermaid inspired green. It's a minty green when swatched with silver and green shimmers. 

The last one I bought is Ibiza. Ibiza makes me think of summer and the ocean and for good reason. It's a bright turquoise blue with tiny duo chrome silver and blue sparkles. 

I am in LOVE with these eye shadows! They're so unique and totally one of a kind and they're so affordable too! For $5 you usually don't expect much but the quality is awesome. I'm already planning my next order!

What Colourpop Super Shock shadows have you bought? Which are your favorites or which ones are in your wish list? I would love to hear your thoughts in these so please leave a comment and let me know! And stay tuned for the second part of my Colourpop review on their Lippie Stix coming in a few days :)

Thank you for reading and have a good weekend everyone!

xoxo

LivforLashes

To purchase, visit the Colourpop Cosmetics website. Sign up for their newsletter and receive $5 off of your first order! 

Follow me on Twitter! @LivforLashes

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Email: liv_2008@icloud.com