Clarisonic Mia, Now At A Better Price

After getting an email from Sephora stating that I was now a V.I.B. (very important beauty insider, which means I have spent way too much money there), I started perusing their site.  I noticed that the Clarisonic Mia was now $30 less than its original price.  Down from $149, the Clarisonic Mia is now $119!  And they have all these great colors now.  I've already written a rave review about it here.  If you can afford it, get it!  But if Sephora has their annual Friends & Family sale next month, you can get it for 20% off which makes it under $100!  A steal in my opinion.  You can also catch it on QVC which sometimes runs specials on it.  Meanwhile, I'll still be having my love affair with mine.

Manicure Mondays-Chanel Quartz

Released as part of their Fall 2011 collection, Chanel Quartz is a silvery taupe color that I really like.    I wish I could capture the fine pink and blue shimmer particles running throughout this polish.  It's so lovely.  This color joined Chanel's permanent line of polishes.  This needed only 2 coats to achieve full opacity.  It lasted 5 days without chipping with my CND Stickey base coat and Diamond Dry top coat.  I think this color would really flatter a bevy of skin tones.  It is one of my pricier polishes, costing $25, but I felt it was unique enough to splurge on it.

Sleek Makeup Blush In Sahara

Some months back, I did a swap with one of my favorite UK beauty gurus on YouTube, Jennie of BeautybyJJ.  As part of the swap, Jennie sent me this blush from Sleek Makeup in Sahara.  Sleek Makeup is a drugstore brand in the UK.  It produces high quality products.  Sahara is a beautiful burnt orange.   It is similar to NARS Taj Mahal but lacks the beautiful gold pearl that makes Taj Mahal so special.  The pigmentation is nice, though it is not crazy pigmented.  You can really build up the color depending on how deep you want to wear it.  This was one of two blushes that I took on the cruise and it looks phenomenal on tan skin.

The best part of this blush is that it is only $6.50 for 8 grams of product!  Us Americans can purchase products from Sleek from their website www.sleekmakeup.com but be prepared to pay at least $10+ in shipping costs.  Jennie and I have another swap planned soon, so I will definitely be asking for more Sleek products.

Wet N Wild-Walking On Eggshells Eyeshadow Trio

I have another product from Wet N Wild to rave about.  I've actually had this trio for a while now and I completely forgot about until recently.  The trio consists of a champagne shade, a bronzy brown shade, and a cream shade.  All are frost finishes.  As an added bonus, they even label the shades to show you where you should apply them.  However, you can place them wherever you want.  I personally like the "crease" shade as an all over eyelid shade as well.

 

Eyelid, Crease, Browbone

They apply so smoothly and last all day, however, I always use a base under my shadows.  I cannot comment on how they wear without a base.   These shades are very pigmented!  They blend very nicely as well and I did not experience any fall out.  Overall all, if you are looking for a nice neutral trio, look no further.  For $2.99, it's definitely worth picking up!

Manicure Mondays-OPI Brand New Skates

OPI's Brand New Skates is a gunmetal grey with multi-colored shimmer.  The formula was superb, but a little on the sheer side.  It needed 3 coats for opacity.  What impressed me the most was that it lasted for 7 full days!  As usual, I used CND Stickey base coat and Diamond Dry top coat.  I used to think OPI was overrated but I've totally been converted.  P.S. this photo was taken on day 6, no chips in sight!!

My Makeup Brush Collection Overview

Another requested video from a friend.  This is for you R.B.  Hope this helps!

MAC Up The Amp Vs. Revlon Berry Haute

I've read that MAC's Up The Amp and Revlon's Berry Haute are dupes.  I have both, so I decided to do a comparison.  Both are very similar in texture and pigmentation.  They both are cream finishes with Up The Amp being an amplified cream finish.  They both feel very moisturizing on the lips and only require one pass on the lips to get a good color payoff.

MAC Up The Amp (top), Revlon Berry Haute (bottom)

Now onto the the color comparison.  Berry Haute has a touch more pink in it than Up The Amp, which has more purple in it than pink.  Up The Amp is also a hair darker than Berry Haute.  Bottom line is that they're are not exact dupes but they are pretty darn close.  Close enough so that you don't need to own both, especially since Revlon only costs $6 compared to MAC costing $14.50.