Best Drugstore Concealer

Forgive my absences, I had finals and then I went on a mischievously marvelous trip for a week and just recently I remembered "Oh shit, I have a blog and wonderfully loyal readers" and I better book it and give my fingers a work out on SpotBlog if I want to keep both of them.

This is my second attempt at a "Best Concealer" post. I went back and looked at my draft on it a year ago and all I wrote was:
"This concealer is thick enough to give you a perfect coverage yet it doesn't look like you plied on makeup!" 
Haha Amy. Plied? Oh girl.


Best Drugstore Concealer


E.L.F. All Over Cover Stick



This little concealer is tiny and come in a cute little container with a lid on it. You don't get a lot of product, but for $1 it doesn't matter that much. It has a very creamy consistency and the coverage is buildable to full. There is a slight orange smell but it's quite faint. The coverage of this product is great for under the eyes and discoloration, but does it settles into lines a little. A downfall of this is that shades are limited (around 5) and they do take on more of a orange hue. Also, those with oily skin may want to stay away as the combo might look greasy.


Hard Candy Glamoflauge

Found at local Walmart stores, this little gem comes in a lipgloss style squeeze tube with a mini pencil concealer. Glamoflague is extremely pigmented and is full coverage so all you need is a small dot for your entire face. It blends well, covers dark circles and has a creamy consistency. Don't over-apply or it will look cakey. The colour selection is disastrous, however; there is light, medium and tan. If you are in between categories then you will need to dilute the concealer with witch magic or just pray for more shades. :(


Cover Girl CG Smoothers Concealer




Resembling a nude lipstick at first glance, Smoothers comes in a lipstick tube to be dabbed on the face in a similar manner. It has a creamy consistency, gives smooth application and covers up blemishes and dark circles. The coverage is medium but can be built up and the product is easy to blend. This product is considered to be a cult classic and has been a staple for years. This product also comes in 'Neutralizer' and 'Illuminator'.


Maybelline Dream Mousse Concealer




Lightweight and fluffy, it's like a marshmallow confection for your face! Glides on soft and creamy and dries to a powdery finish. It does not cake up, even though it may look heavy, and gives good coverage. It comes in a heavy glass container and doesn't give a lot of product but a little goes a long way. Use in conjunction with Dream Mousse Foundation for a rockin' flawless airbrushed look.

* I believe this product has recently been discontinued. Stock up if your drugstore is still carrying them.




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Maybelline EyeStudio Color Pearl Marbleized Eye Shadow Review

Maybelline EyeStudio Color Pearl Marbleized Eye Shadow


This is a continuation of my Maybelline EyeStudio products that I've received from a word of mouth campaign, sent to me for reviews! I haven't had a lot of time to finish these reviews since I've been crazy busy and my camera broke down (again) but luckily I managed to fix it!
So without further ado, let's get on with it (:

Website States:

Color Pearls Marbleized Eyeshadows feature dual-sided complementary shades on one side, and solid color on the other, to use separately or mix together. Concentrated pigments with swirls of pearls, in a new baked technology for high pearl finish, create a shimmer effect in a customized look.


Website Also States:

• Now a swirl of pearls makes shadow new again.

• Baked technology gently swirls together 7 different uncrushed pearls with pure colour pigments. Pearls stay intact to create ultra-luminous finish and multi-dimensional colour.

• Unique duo format delivers the purest and most brilliant colour, effortlessly.

• Available in 10 dazzling duos expertly colour coordinated.



I Say:

Just like the Eyestudio Palettes, these Duos are extremely shimmery and well pigmented. Every shadow has some form of glitz in it, ranging from low to high sparkle. All the duos are expertly colour coordinated and can be worn separately or together for a perfect look. Also, by mixing the shades together in the center, you create an additional colour to wear! It can also be applied wet for higher intensity. However, they do crumble afterwards.

Each of these Colour Pearl Duos come with one marbleized, swirly colour and one bold shade. The Duos come with two tints; one to go on the crease and the other to use all over the lid. Of course, you can use them however you want to, Maybelline just likes to provide a general guideline (:

These Duos look just like M.A.C.'s Mineralize Eyeshadow Duo, with all the swirls and coloured pearls, but the pigmentation is more sheer when compared to M.A.C. In my opinion these aren't dupes for MSD.

EyeStudio Colour Pearl Marbleized Shadows (that's quite a mouthful!) go on creamy and smooth and are easy to blend on the lid. There is some glitter fallout from the shadows so use tape or a fan brush to get rid of it.

The lasting power is just okay with these Duos, they tend to fade and crease a little at the end of a day without primer. I always use a primer with my eye makeup and I'm sure many girls do as well so I don't think it's a big problem.


Bright, flashy, snapshot photos!
Let's go, let's go!


LOOK 1:

The Colour Pearl shade used is Tantalizing Teal.

Teal, Marble, MIXED

The colour payoff is decent, but doesn't go on as bright as it appears in the compact.
Super shimmery and glittery, this duo can be used separately or together for a beautiful bold look.

LOOK 2:

Carbon Frost
Black shade, marbleized one, MIXED
I swatch them like that because I believe that sweeping them differently gives a different colour. I'm somewhat correct.

I absolutely ADORE this shadow duo. Whenever I'm in a rush and want a little colour on my eyes, I take my brush and sweep it on and I'm good to go! It's a gorgeous purple-plum colour on the lid and it looks quite mysterious because of all the different tints in this shadow. When used with a primer, it lasts all day long and it's nicely pigmented (:
I don't normally use the black shade however, the colour payoff is not as nice as the purple and there's chunks of glitter in it.

LOOK 3

Used: Bronze Blowout

The bold brown shade in this duo is amazingly pigmented! Glides on a nice, deep bronze. The other marbleized shade is a golden champagne colour that goes on much lighter compared to it's darker counterpart. Using the champagne by itself gives a shimmery, natural look with just a wash of gold.
Tons of fallout in this duo particularly.

Conclusion:

This line has 10 expertly coordinated duos with great colour selection. Pigmented colours and so easy to apply, these duos are a drugstore must-have. Duos are shimmery and consist of one solid colour and one marbleized swirled colour. Can be used wet or dry for different intensities.
The colours are soft and super blendable, and easily wearable. I would recommend buying!

4.5/5 on the rockin' scale


**Disclosure: I am participating in a word of mouth marketing program and I received these products on behalf of Maybelline, WOMMA and Matchstick. However this will have no effect on my opinion or reviews. **


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Maybelline Eyestudio Color Plush Silk Eyeshadow Ready-to-Wear Palettes

Maybelline Eyestudio Color Plush Ready-to-Wear Palettes

So I recently got sent some Maybelline palettes from a word of mouth promotion and I've been testing them out everyday for the past two weeks. What's really interesting about these palettes is that they're perfectly coordinated already, all the shades compliment each other and blend seamlessly into one another. No more staring at your eyeshadow collection, wondering if those two different colours would mesh well together. The matching shades have already been picked out for you!


Website States:

NEW! EYE STUDIO READY-TO-WEAR COLOUR PALETTES

Now silk makes shadow new again, no makeup artist needed.

• The Color Plush Shadow Collection has an exclusive formula with silk pigments to create the ultimate shadow texture and luminosity.

• Glides on effortlessly, reflecting light for a naturally rich lustre.

• Available in 12 stunning ready-to-wear shadow palettes.



I Say:

Important: These eyeshadows are S-H-I-M-M-E-R-Y!! Every single one has finely milled glitter in the formula and helps reflect light. I had to mention that in case someone thought that there's a matte shade somewhere. Nope!

These quads would be fantastic for someone new to using eyeshadow, these can be their training wheels until they learn because they're quite foolproof. This is from their new makeup artist inspired line I think.

Each palette comes with 4 expertly coordinated colours: a light, highlighting shade (the largest in the quad), two lid colours and one dark tint for lining.
I'm guessing that Maybelline would like you to work from left to right on the palette: highlight, base, crease, line.. but you can work with it however you like (: In fact, you don't even need to use every shade that they give you, you can mix and match quads to your preference.

Each palette also comes with a sponge tipped applicator with a wide, fluffy end and a flat, slender tip. It's good for packing on the shadow, use this when applying the makeup.
I just want to mention here that the packaging is very sturdy, but careful opening it the first time. I wrenched it open and scored a gash in one of the squares.


Colour Plush Palettes are nicely pigmented and are long lasting (with primer).
Girls looking for cheap M.A.C. dupes may not be satisfied, these shades will appear subtle when compared to M.A.C. eyeshadows. Therefore, Plush Palettes are suitable for everyday wear and give a more 'natural' and seamless look.


The best word to describe the Maybelline palettes is simply: silky.
-Similar in appearance or texture (especially in softness and smoothness) to silk
-satiny: having a smooth, gleaming surface reflecting light
-Smooth, sinuous texture and finish.
-of or like silk; smooth, lustrous, soft, or delicate

Yes, that's the best comparison possible. The shadows glide on so smoothly and softly onto the eyelid. The colours are shimmering and gleaming and seems to reflect light from the eyes. Even the shadow pigments feel like silk when you rub them between your fingers.




Here are looks that I've created with the Colour Plush Palettes, taken with my trusty camera named Flashcity. She's named that because of all the love that flash gets, it goes off every single bloody time and completely washes out my face. But I love Flashcity anyways, she's like an old friend and she rocks.


LOOK 1

Rocking shades from two different palettes here. From Green with Envy, I used the green shade and from Give Me Gold, the white and yellow shade.
I really liked all the colours, both palettes were well pigmented and the shades showed up nicely on the eyes. The last colour on both the quads were a bit too sheer to be used as liners.

LOOK 2

Pink Persuasion shown on the lids. In terms of pigmentation, this palette kind of disappointed me. The colours were a little too sheer to make the look that I wanted. The white highlight was very nice but pink and the grey shades were too lucid and didn't show up as bright as I hoped. As a result, all you would see is the highlight and the black eyeshadow because the others were too faint to show up! And speaking of the black.. it is terrible. I mentioned this before, but the last colour is often the sheerest in the palettes. This doesn't make any sense because it is for lining the eyes and it barely shows up at all=/

LOOK 3

Sorry for all the dark circles, I was REALLY tired that day.
The palette I'm wearing is called Legendary Lilac. The colours in this quad were really pretty but after a while, all the colours blended and started to look like one shade =/


LOOK 4

Without flash. This is what my face looks like without Flashcity bleaching it out.

Going for a underwater Mermaid theme (: It was also my first time curling my hair.. those things could be classified as weapons!

Please excuse the homework written on the hand, I forgot my agenda that day.. BTW this is Sapphire Siren.

This palette looks deceiving.. you might think it's a candiate for a M.A.C. dupe with all those bold shades but when you apply the pigments, they go on quietly, like a muted version of the colours. I'm not saying it's bad, the tints show up quite nice on the eyes. It's just that it's more subtle than Urban Decay for example.
The green goes on more of a greenish-blue, and the blue goes on darker than it appears. And the black is just bad, you can see two streak marks from when I tried to layer it :D

In Conclusion

This line of eyeshadow palettes is pretty neat, I like the concept of having eyeshadows pre-chosen for you because it lessens the work you for. Colour Plush Palettes make it SO EASY to apply on eye makeup, you can't mess up with these (: The colours are a little subtle which has it's advantages and disadvantages. The pro is that it looks really natural and not like you have on a M.A.C. forcefield. Bad thing is that it's not loud enough for a bold or nighttime look. Maybe it can be layered.. I haven't tried it yet.
The staying power is mediocre without a primer, so it is a must to apply it before makeup.
Maybelline Eyestudio Color Plush Silk Eyeshadows are shimmery, super blendable, pigmented and surprisingly wearable. I would recommend buying!

4.5/5 on the rockin' scale.


**Disclosure: I am participating in a word of mouth marketing program and I received these products on behalf of Maybelline, WOMMA and Matchstick. However this will have no effect on my opinion or reviews. **


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